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# List of presidents of the United States - Wikipedia
The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College. Under the U.S. Constitution, the officeholder leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.
The first president, George Washington, won a unanimous vote of the Electoral College. The incumbent president is Donald Trump, who assumed office on January 20, 2025. Since the office was established in 1789, 45 men have served in 47 presidencies; the discrepancy arises from two individuals elected to nonconsecutive terms: Grover Cleveland is counted as both the 22nd and 24th president, while Trump is counted as both the 45th and 47th president.
The presidency of William Henry Harrison, who died 31 days after taking office in 1841, was the shortest in American history. Franklin D. Roosevelt served the longest, over twelve years, before dying early in his fourth term in 1945. He is the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms. Since the ratification of the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1951, no person may be elected president more than twice, and no one who has served more than two years of a term to which someone else was elected may be elected more than once.
Four presidents died in office of natural causes (William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Warren G. Harding, and Franklin D. Roosevelt), four were assassinated (Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy), and one resigned (Richard Nixon, facing impeachment and removal from office). John Tyler was the first vice president to assume the presidency during a presidential term, setting the precedent that a vice president who does so becomes the fully functioning president with a new, distinct administration.
Throughout most of its history, American politics has been dominated by political parties. The Constitution is silent on the issue of political parties, and at the time it came into force in 1789, no organized parties existed. Soon after the 1st Congress convened, political factions began rallying around dominant Washington administration officials, such as Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Concerned about the capacity of political parties to destroy the fragile unity holding the nation together, Washington remained unaffiliated with any political faction or party throughout his eight-year presidency. He was, and remains, the only U.S. president who never affiliated with a political party.
## Presidents
| No. | Portrait | Name (birth–death) |
Term | Party | Election | Vice President | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Washington(1732–1799) |
April 30, 1789 – March 4, 1797 |
Unaffiliated
|
1788–89 1792 |
John Adams | ||
| 2 | John Adams(1735–1826) |
March 4, 1797 – March 4, 1801 |
Federalist | 1796 | Thomas Jefferson | ||
| 3 | Thomas Jefferson(1743–1826) |
March 4, 1801 – March 4, 1809 |
Democratic- Republican |
1800 1804 |
Aaron Burr George Clinton | ||
| 4 | James Madison(1751–1836) |
March 4, 1809 – March 4, 1817 |
Democratic- Republican |
1808 1812 |
George ClintonVacant afterApril 20, 1812 Elbridge Gerry Vacant after
November 23, 1814 | ||
| 5 | James Monroe(1758–1831) |
March 4, 1817 – March 4, 1825 |
Democratic- Republican |
1816 1820 |
Daniel D. Tompkins | ||
| 6 | John Quincy Adams(1767–1848) |
March 4, 1825 – March 4, 1829 |
Democratic- Republican National Republican |
1824 | John C. Calhoun | ||
| 7 | Andrew Jackson(1767–1845) |
March 4, 1829 – March 4, 1837 |
Democratic | 1828 1832 |
John C. CalhounVacant afterDecember 28, 1832 Martin Van Buren | ||
| 8 | Martin Van Buren(1782–1862) |
March 4, 1837 – March 4, 1841 |
Democratic | 1836 | Richard Mentor Johnson | ||
| 9 | William Henry Harrison(1773–1841) |
March 4, 1841 – April 4, 1841 |
Whig | 1840 | John Tyler | ||
| 10 | John Tyler(1790–1862) |
April 4, 1841 – March 4, 1845 |
WhigUnaffiliated
|
– | Vacant throughout
presidency | ||
| 11 | James K. Polk(1795–1849) |
March 4, 1845 – March 4, 1849 |
Democratic | 1844 | George M. Dallas | ||
| 12 | Zachary Taylor(1784–1850) |
March 4, 1849 – July 9, 1850 |
Whig | 1848 | Millard Fillmore | ||
| 13 | Millard Fillmore(1800–1874) |
July 9, 1850 – March 4, 1853 |
Whig | – | Vacant throughout
presidency | ||
| 14 | Franklin Pierce(1804–1869) |
March 4, 1853 – March 4, 1857 |
Democratic | 1852 | William R. KingVacant after
April 18, 1853 | ||
| 15 | James Buchanan(1791–1868) |
March 4, 1857 – March 4, 1861 |
Democratic | 1856 | John C. Breckinridge | ||
| 16 | Abraham Lincoln(1809–1865) |
March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865 |
Republican National Union |
1860 1864 |
Hannibal Hamlin Andrew Johnson | ||
| 17 | Andrew Johnson(1808–1875) |
April 15, 1865 – March 4, 1869 |
National Union Democratic |
– | Vacant throughout
presidency | ||
| 18 | Ulysses S. Grant(1822–1885) |
March 4, 1869 – March 4, 1877 |
Republican | 1868 1872 |
Schuyler Colfax Henry Wilson Vacant after
November 22, 1875 | ||
| 19 | Rutherford B. Hayes(1822–1893) |
March 4, 1877 – March 4, 1881 |
Republican | 1876 | William A. Wheeler | ||
| 20 | James A. Garfield(1831–1881) |
March 4, 1881 – September 19, 1881 |
Republican | 1880 | Chester A. Arthur | ||
| 21 | Chester A. Arthur(1829–1886) |
September 19, 1881 – March 4, 1885 |
Republican | – | Vacant throughout
presidency | ||
| 22 | Grover Cleveland(1837–1908) |
March 4, 1885 – March 4, 1889 |
Democratic | 1884 | Thomas A. HendricksVacant after
November 25, 1885 | ||
| 23 | Benjamin Harrison(1833–1901) |
March 4, 1889 – March 4, 1893 |
Republican | 1888 | Levi P. Morton | ||
| 24 | Grover Cleveland(1837–1908) |
March 4, 1893 – March 4, 1897 |
Democratic | 1892 | Adlai Stevenson I | ||
| 25 | William McKinley(1843–1901) |
March 4, 1897 – September 14, 1901 |
Republican | 1896 1900 |
Garret HobartVacant afterNovember 21, 1899 Theodore Roosevelt | ||
| 26 | Theodore Roosevelt(1858–1919) |
September 14, 1901 – March 4, 1909 |
Republican | – 1904 |
Vacant throughMarch 4, 1905 Charles W. Fairbanks | ||
| 27 | William Howard Taft(1857–1930) |
March 4, 1909 – March 4, 1913 |
Republican | 1908 | James S. ShermanVacant after
October 30, 1912 | ||
| 28 | Woodrow Wilson(1856–1924) |
March 4, 1913 – March 4, 1921 |
Democratic | 1912 1916 |
Thomas R. Marshall | ||
| 29 | Warren G. Harding(1865–1923) |
March 4, 1921 – August 2, 1923 |
Republican | 1920 | Calvin Coolidge | ||
| 30 | Calvin Coolidge(1872–1933) |
August 2, 1923 – March 4, 1929 |
Republican | – 1924 |
Vacant throughMarch 4, 1925 Charles G. Dawes | ||
| 31 | Herbert Hoover(1874–1964) |
March 4, 1929 – March 4, 1933 |
Republican | 1928 | Charles Curtis | ||
| 32 | Franklin D. Roosevelt(1882–1945) |
March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945 |
Democratic | 1932 1936 1940 1944 |
John Nance Garner Henry A. Wallace Harry S. Truman | ||
| 33 | Harry S. Truman(1884–1972) |
April 12, 1945 – January 20, 1953 |
Democratic | – 1948 |
Vacant throughJanuary 20, 1949 Alben W. Barkley | ||
| 34 | Dwight D. Eisenhower(1890–1969) |
January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961 |
Republican | 1952 1956 |
Richard Nixon | ||
| 35 | John F. Kennedy(1917–1963) |
January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963 |
Democratic | 1960 | Lyndon B. Johnson | ||
| 36 | Lyndon B. Johnson(1908–1973) |
November 22, 1963 – January 20, 1969 |
Democratic | – 1964 |
Vacant throughJanuary 20, 1965 Hubert Humphrey | ||
| 37 | Richard Nixon(1913–1994) |
January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974 |
Republican | 1968 1972 |
Spiro AgnewVacant:October 10 – December 6, 1973 Gerald Ford | ||
| 38 | Gerald Ford(1913–2006) |
August 9, 1974 – January 20, 1977 |
Republican | – | Vacant throughDecember 19, 1974 Nelson Rockefeller | ||
| 39 | Jimmy Carter(1924–2024) |
January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981 |
Democratic | 1976 | Walter Mondale | ||
| 40 | Ronald Reagan(1911–2004) |
January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989 |
Republican | 1980 1984 |
George H. W. Bush | ||
| 41 | George H. W. Bush(1924–2018) |
January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993 |
Republican | 1988 | Dan Quayle | ||
| 42 | Bill Clinton(b. 1946) |
January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001 |
Democratic | 1992 1996 |
Al Gore | ||
| 43 | George W. Bush(b. 1946) |
January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009 |
Republican | 2000 2004 |
Dick Cheney | ||
| 44 | Barack Obama(b. 1961) |
January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017 |
Democratic | 2008 2012 |
Joe Biden | ||
| 45 | Donald Trump(b. 1946) |
January 20, 2017 – January 20, 2021 |
Republican | 2016 | Mike Pence | ||
| 46 | Joe Biden(b. 1942) |
January 20, 2021 – January 20, 2025 |
Democratic | 2020 | Kamala Harris | ||
| 47 | Donald Trump(b. 1946) |
January 20, 2025 – Incumbent
|
Republican | 2024 | JD Vance |
## See also
- Acting President of the United States
- Founding Fathers of the United States
- Historical rankings of presidents of the United States
- List of vice presidents of the United States
- President of the Continental Congress
## Notes
## Works cited
## External links
- Media related to President of the United States at Wikimedia Commons
- Quotations related to List of presidents of the United States at Wikiquote
|
# Animal - Wikipedia
| Animals | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
Clade:
|
Amorphea |
Clade:
|
Obazoa |
Clade:
|
Opisthokonta |
Clade:
|
Holozoa |
Clade:
|
Filozoa |
Clade:
|
Choanozoa |
| Kingdom: | Animalia Linnaeus, 1758 |
| Major groups | |
| |
| Synonyms | |
|
**Animals** are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom **Animalia** (consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a hollow sphere of cells, the blastula, during embryonic development. Animals form a clade, meaning that they arose from a single common ancestor. Over 1.5 million living animal species have been described, of which around 1.05 million are insects, over 85,000 are molluscs, and around 65,000 are vertebrates. It has been estimated there are as many as 7.77 million animal species on Earth. Animal body lengths range from 8.5 μm (0.00033 in) to 33.6 m (110 ft). They have complex ecologies and interactions with each other and their environments, forming intricate food webs. The scientific study of animals is known as zoology, and the study of animal behaviour is known as ethology.
The animal kingdom is divided into five major clades, namely Porifera, Ctenophora, Placozoa, Cnidaria and Bilateria. Most living animal species belong to the clade Bilateria, a highly proliferative clade whose members have a bilaterally symmetric and significantly cephalised body plan, and the vast majority of bilaterians belong to two large clades: the protostomes, which includes organisms such as arthropods, molluscs, flatworms, annelids and nematodes; and the deuterostomes, which include echinoderms, hemichordates and chordates, the latter of which contains the vertebrates. The much smaller basal phylum Xenacoelomorpha have an uncertain position within Bilateria.
Animals first appeared in the fossil record in the late Cryogenian period and diversified in the subsequent Ediacaran period in what is known as the Avalon explosion. Earlier evidence of animals is still controversial; the sponge-like organism *Otavia* has been dated back to the Tonian period at the start of the Neoproterozoic, but its identity as an animal is heavily contested. Nearly all modern animal phyla first appeared in the fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion, which began around 539 million years ago (Mya), and most classes during the Ordovician radiation 485.4 Mya. Common to all living animals, 6,331 groups of genes have been identified that may have arisen from a single common ancestor that lived about 650 Mya during the Cryogenian period.
Historically, Aristotle divided animals into those with blood and those without. Carl Linnaeus created the first hierarchical biological classification for animals in 1758 with his *Systema Naturae*, which Jean-Baptiste Lamarck expanded into 14 phyla by 1809. In 1874, Ernst Haeckel divided the animal kingdom into the multicellular **Metazoa** (now synonymous with Animalia) and the Protozoa, single-celled organisms no longer considered animals. In modern times, the biological classification of animals relies on advanced techniques, such as molecular phylogenetics, which are effective at demonstrating the evolutionary relationships between taxa.
Humans make use of many other animal species for food (including meat, eggs, and dairy products), for materials (such as leather, fur, and wool), as pets and as working animals for transportation, and services. Dogs, the first domesticated animal, have been used in hunting, in security and in warfare, as have horses, pigeons and birds of prey; while other terrestrial and aquatic animals are hunted for sports, trophies or profits. Non-human animals are also an important cultural element of human evolution, having appeared in cave arts and totems since the earliest times, and are frequently featured in mythology, religion, arts, literature, heraldry, politics, and sports.
## Etymology
The word *animal* comes from the Latin noun *animal* of the same meaning, which is itself derived from Latin *animalis* 'having breath or soul'. The biological definition includes all members of the kingdom Animalia. In colloquial usage, the term *animal* is often used to refer only to nonhuman animals. The term *metazoa* is derived from Ancient Greek μετα *meta* 'after' (in biology, the prefix *meta-* stands for 'later') and ζῷᾰ *zōia* 'animals', plural of ζῷον *zōion* 'animal'.
## Characteristics
Animals have several characteristics that they share with other living things. Animals are eukaryotic, multicellular, and aerobic, as are plants and fungi. Unlike plants and algae, which produce their own food, animals cannot produce their own food a feature they share with fungi. Animals ingest organic material and digest it internally.
### Structural features
Animals have structural characteristics that set them apart from all other living things:
- cells surrounded by an extracellular matrix composed of
- collagen and
- elastic glycoproteins
- motility i.e. able to spontaneously move their bodies during at least part of their life cycle.
- a blastula stage during embryonic development
Typically, there is an internal digestive chamber with either one opening (in Ctenophora, Cnidaria, and flatworms) or two openings (in most bilaterians).
### Development
Animal development is controlled by Hox genes, which signal the times and places to develop structures such as body segments and limbs.
During development, the animal extracellular matrix forms a relatively flexible framework upon which cells can move about and be reorganised into specialised tissues and organs, making the formation of complex structures possible, and allowing cells to be differentiated. The extracellular matrix may be calcified, forming structures such as shells, bones, and spicules. In contrast, the cells of other multicellular organisms (primarily algae, plants, and fungi) are held in place by cell walls, and so develop by progressive growth.
### Reproduction
Nearly all animals make use of some form of sexual reproduction. They produce haploid gametes by meiosis; the smaller, motile gametes are spermatozoa and the larger, non-motile gametes are ova. These fuse to form zygotes, which develop via mitosis into a hollow sphere, called a blastula. In sponges, blastula larvae swim to a new location, attach to the seabed, and develop into a new sponge. In most other groups, the blastula undergoes more complicated rearrangement. It first invaginates to form a gastrula with a digestive chamber and two separate germ layers, an external ectoderm and an internal endoderm. In most cases, a third germ layer, the mesoderm, also develops between them. These germ layers then differentiate to form tissues and organs.
Repeated instances of mating with a close relative during sexual reproduction generally leads to inbreeding depression within a population due to the increased prevalence of harmful recessive traits. Animals have evolved numerous mechanisms for avoiding close inbreeding.
Some animals are capable of asexual reproduction, which often results in a genetic clone of the parent. This may take place through fragmentation; budding, such as in *Hydra* and other cnidarians; or parthenogenesis, where fertile eggs are produced without mating, such as in aphids.
## Ecology
Animals are categorised into ecological groups depending on their trophic levels and how they consume organic material. Such groupings include carnivores (further divided into subcategories such as piscivores, insectivores, ovivores, etc.), herbivores (subcategorised into folivores, graminivores, frugivores, granivores, nectarivores, algivores, etc.), omnivores, fungivores, scavengers/detritivores, and parasites. Interactions between animals of each biome form complex food webs within that ecosystem. In carnivorous or omnivorous species, predation is a consumer–resource interaction where the predator feeds on another organism, its prey, who often evolves anti-predator adaptations to avoid being fed upon. Selective pressures imposed on one another lead to an evolutionary arms race between predator and prey, resulting in various antagonistic/competitive coevolutions. Almost all multicellular predators are animals. Some consumers use multiple methods; for example, in parasitoid wasps, the larvae feed on the hosts' living tissues, killing them in the process, but the adults primarily consume nectar from flowers. Other animals may have very specific feeding behaviours, such as hawksbill sea turtles which mainly eat sponges.
Most animals rely on biomass and bioenergy produced by plants and phytoplanktons (collectively called producers) through photosynthesis. Herbivores, as primary consumers, eat the plant material directly to digest and absorb the nutrients, while carnivores and other animals on higher trophic levels indirectly acquire the nutrients by eating the herbivores or other animals that have eaten the herbivores. Animals oxidise carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and other biomolecules, which allows the animal to grow and to sustain basal metabolism and fuel other biological processes such as locomotion. Some benthic animals living close to hydrothermal vents and cold seeps on the dark sea floor consume organic matter produced through chemosynthesis (via oxidising inorganic compounds such as hydrogen sulfide) by archaea and bacteria.
Animals evolved in the sea. Lineages of arthropods colonised land around the same time as land plants, probably between 510 and 471 million years ago during the Late Cambrian or Early Ordovician. Vertebrates such as the lobe-finned fish *Tiktaalik* started to move on to land in the late Devonian, about 375 million years ago. Animals occupy virtually all of earth's habitats and microhabitats, with faunas adapted to salt water, hydrothermal vents, fresh water, hot springs, swamps, forests, pastures, deserts, air, and the interiors of other organisms. Animals are however not particularly heat tolerant; very few of them can survive at constant temperatures above 50 °C (122 °F) or in the most extreme cold deserts of continental Antarctica.
The collective global geomorphic influence of animals on the processes shaping the Earth's surface remains largely understudied, with most studies limited to individual species and well-known exemplars.
## Diversity
### Size
The blue whale (*Balaenoptera musculus*) is the largest animal that has ever lived, weighing up to 190 tonnes and measuring up to 33.6 metres (110 ft) long. The largest extant terrestrial animal is the African bush elephant (*Loxodonta africana*), weighing up to 12.25 tonnes and measuring up to 10.67 metres (35.0 ft) long. The largest terrestrial animals that ever lived were titanosaur sauropod dinosaurs such as *Argentinosaurus*, which may have weighed as much as 73 tonnes, and *Supersaurus* which may have reached 39 metres. Several animals are microscopic; some Myxozoa (obligate parasites within the Cnidaria) never grow larger than 20 μm, and one of the smallest species (*Myxobolus shekel*) is no more than 8.5 μm when fully grown.
### Numbers and habitats of major phyla
The following table lists estimated numbers of described extant species for the major animal phyla, along with their principal habitats (terrestrial, fresh water, and marine), and free-living or parasitic ways of life. Species estimates shown here are based on numbers described scientifically; much larger estimates have been calculated based on various means of prediction, and these can vary wildly. For instance, around 25,000–27,000 species of nematodes have been described, while published estimates of the total number of nematode species include 10,000–20,000; 500,000; 10 million; and 100 million. Using patterns within the taxonomic hierarchy, the total number of animal species—including those not yet described—was calculated to be about 7.77 million in 2011.
| Phylum | Example | Species | Land | Sea | Freshwater | Free-living | Parasitic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Arthropoda
|
1,257,000 | Yes 1,000,000 (insects) |
Yes >40,000 (Malac- ostraca) |
Yes 94,000 | Yes | Yes >45,000 | |
Mollusca
|
85,000 107,000 |
35,000 | 60,000 | 5,000 12,000 |
Yes | >5,600 | |
Chordata
|
>70,000 | 23,000 | 13,000 | 18,000 9,000 |
Yes | 40 (catfish) | |
Platyhelminthes
|
29,500 | Yes | Yes | 1,300 | Yes 3,000–6,500 |
>40,000 4,000–25,000 | |
Nematoda
|
25,000 | Yes (soil) | 4,000 | 2,000 | 11,000 | 14,000 | |
Annelida
|
17,000 | Yes (soil) | Yes | 1,750 | Yes | 400 | |
Cnidaria
|
16,000 | Yes | Few | Yes | >1,350 (Myxozoa) | ||
Porifera
|
10,800 | Yes | 200–300 | Yes | Yes | ||
Echinodermata
|
7,500 | 7,500 | Yes | ||||
Bryozoa
|
6,000 | Yes | 60–80 | Yes | |||
Rotifera
|
2,000 | >400 | 2,000 | Yes | Yes | ||
Nemertea
|
1,350 | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
Tardigrada
|
1,335 | Yes (moist plants) |
Yes | Yes | Yes |
## Evolutionary origin
Evidence of animals is found as long ago as the Cryogenian period. 24-Isopropylcholestane (24-ipc) has been found in rocks from roughly 650 million years ago; it is only produced by sponges and pelagophyte algae. Its likely origin is from sponges based on molecular clock estimates for the origin of 24-ipc production in both groups. Analyses of pelagophyte algae consistently recover a Phanerozoic origin, while analyses of sponges recover a Neoproterozoic origin, consistent with the appearance of 24-ipc in the fossil record.
The first body fossils of animals appear in the Ediacaran, represented by forms such as *Charnia* and *Spriggina*. It had long been doubted whether these fossils truly represented animals, but the discovery of the animal lipid cholesterol in fossils of *Dickinsonia* establishes their nature. Animals are thought to have originated under low-oxygen conditions, suggesting that they were capable of living entirely by anaerobic respiration, but as they became specialised for aerobic metabolism they became fully dependent on oxygen in their environments.
Many animal phyla first appear in the fossil record during the Cambrian explosion, starting about 539 million years ago, in beds such as the Burgess shale. Extant phyla in these rocks include molluscs, brachiopods, onychophorans, tardigrades, arthropods, echinoderms and hemichordates, along with numerous now-extinct forms such as the predatory *Anomalocaris*. The apparent suddenness of the event may however be an artefact of the fossil record, rather than showing that all these animals appeared simultaneously. That view is supported by the discovery of *Auroralumina attenboroughii*, the earliest known Ediacaran crown-group cnidarian (557–562 mya, some 20 million years before the Cambrian explosion) from Charnwood Forest, England. It is thought to be one of the earliest predators, catching small prey with its nematocysts as modern cnidarians do.
Some palaeontologists have suggested that animals appeared much earlier than the Cambrian explosion, possibly as early as 1 billion years ago. Early fossils that might represent animals appear for example in the 665-million-year-old rocks of the Trezona Formation of South Australia. These fossils are interpreted as most probably being early sponges.
Trace fossils such as tracks and burrows found in the Tonian period (from 1 gya) may indicate the presence of triploblastic worm-like animals, roughly as large (about 5 mm wide) and complex as earthworms. However, similar tracks are produced by the giant single-celled protist *Gromia sphaerica*, so the Tonian trace fossils may not indicate early animal evolution. Around the same time, the layered mats of microorganisms called stromatolites decreased in diversity, perhaps due to grazing by newly evolved animals. Objects such as sediment-filled tubes that resemble trace fossils of the burrows of wormlike animals have been found in 1.2 gya rocks in North America, in 1.5 gya rocks in Australia and North America, and in 1.7 gya rocks in Australia. Their interpretation as having an animal origin is disputed, as they might be water-escape or other structures.
## Phylogeny
### External phylogeny
Animals are monophyletic, meaning they are derived from a common ancestor. Animals are the sister group to the choanoflagellates, with which they form the Choanozoa. Ros-Rocher and colleagues (2021) trace the origins of animals to unicellular ancestors, providing the external phylogeny shown in the cladogram. Uncertainty of relationships is indicated with dashed lines. The animal clade had certainly originated by 650 mya, and may have come into being as much as 800 mya, based on molecular clock evidence for different phyla.
### Internal phylogeny
The relationships at the base of the animal tree have been debated. Other than Ctenophora, the Bilateria and Cnidaria are the only groups with symmetry, and other evidence shows they are closely related. In addition to sponges, Placozoa has no symmetry and was often considered a "missing link" between protists and multicellular animals. The presence of hox genes in Placozoa shows that they were once more complex.
The Porifera (sponges) have long been assumed to be sister to the rest of the animals, but there is evidence that the Ctenophora may be in that position. Molecular phylogenetics has supported both the sponge-sister and ctenophore-sister hypotheses. In 2017, Roberto Feuda and colleagues, using amino acid differences, presented both, with the following cladogram for the sponge-sister view that they supported (their ctenophore-sister tree simply interchanging the places of ctenophores and sponges):
Conversely, a 2023 study by Darrin Schultz and colleagues uses ancient gene linkages to construct the following ctenophore-sister phylogeny:
### Non-bilaterians
Sponges are physically very distinct from other animals, and were long thought to have diverged first, representing the oldest animal phylum and forming a sister clade to all other animals. Despite their morphological dissimilarity with all other animals, genetic evidence suggests sponges may be more closely related to other animals than the comb jellies are. Sponges lack the complex organisation found in most other animal phyla; their cells are differentiated, but in most cases not organised into distinct tissues, unlike all other animals. They typically feed by drawing in water through pores, filtering out small particles of food.
The Ctenophora and Cnidaria are radially symmetric and have digestive chambers with a single opening, which serves as both mouth and anus. Animals in both phyla have distinct tissues, but these are not organised into discrete organs. They are diploblastic, having only two main germ layers, ectoderm and endoderm.
The tiny placozoans have no permanent digestive chamber and no symmetry; they superficially resemble amoebae. Their phylogeny is poorly defined, and under active research.
### Bilateria
The remaining animals, the great majority—comprising some 29 phyla and over a million species—form the Bilateria clade, which have a bilaterally symmetric body plan. The Bilateria are triploblastic, with three well-developed germ layers, and their tissues form distinct organs. The digestive chamber has two openings, a mouth and an anus, and in the Nephrozoa there is an internal body cavity, a coelom or pseudocoelom. These animals have a head end (anterior) and a tail end (posterior), a back (dorsal) surface and a belly (ventral) surface, and a left and a right side. A modern consensus phylogenetic tree for the Bilateria is shown below.
Bilateria
|
|
Having a front end means that this part of the body encounters stimuli, such as food, favouring cephalisation, the development of a head with sense organs and a mouth. Many bilaterians have a combination of circular muscles that constrict the body, making it longer, and an opposing set of longitudinal muscles, that shorten the body; these enable soft-bodied animals with a hydrostatic skeleton to move by peristalsis. They also have a gut that extends through the basically cylindrical body from mouth to anus. Many bilaterian phyla have primary larvae which swim with cilia and have an apical organ containing sensory cells. However, over evolutionary time, descendant spaces have evolved which have lost one or more of each of these characteristics. For example, adult echinoderms are radially symmetric (unlike their larvae), while some parasitic worms have extremely simplified body structures.
Genetic studies have considerably changed zoologists' understanding of the relationships within the Bilateria. Most appear to belong to two major lineages, the protostomes and the deuterostomes. It is often suggested that the basalmost bilaterians are the Xenacoelomorpha, with all other bilaterians belonging to the subclade Nephrozoa. However, this suggestion has been contested, with other studies finding that xenacoelomorphs are more closely related to Ambulacraria than to other bilaterians.
#### Protostomes and deuterostomes
Protostomes and deuterostomes differ in several ways. Early in development, deuterostome embryos undergo radial cleavage during cell division, while many protostomes (the Spiralia) undergo spiral cleavage. Animals from both groups possess a complete digestive tract, but in protostomes the first opening of the embryonic gut develops into the mouth, and the anus forms secondarily. In deuterostomes, the anus forms first while the mouth develops secondarily. Most protostomes have schizocoelous development, where cells simply fill in the interior of the gastrula to form the mesoderm. In deuterostomes, the mesoderm forms by enterocoelic pouching, through invagination of the endoderm.
The main deuterostome phyla are the Ambulacraria and the Chordata. Ambulacraria are exclusively marine and include acorn worms, starfish, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers. The chordates are dominated by the vertebrates (animals with backbones), which consist of fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
The protostomes include the Ecdysozoa, named after their shared trait of ecdysis, growth by moulting, Among the largest ecdysozoan phyla are the arthropods and the nematodes. The rest of the protostomes are in the Spiralia, named for their pattern of developing by spiral cleavage in the early embryo. Major spiralian phyla include the annelids and molluscs.
## History of classification
In the classical era, Aristotle divided animals, based on his own observations, into those with blood (roughly, the vertebrates) and those without. The animals were then arranged on a scale from man (with blood, two legs, rational soul) down through the live-bearing tetrapods (with blood, four legs, sensitive soul) and other groups such as crustaceans (no blood, many legs, sensitive soul) down to spontaneously generating creatures like sponges (no blood, no legs, vegetable soul). Aristotle was uncertain whether sponges were animals, which in his system ought to have sensation, appetite, and locomotion, or plants, which did not: he knew that sponges could sense touch and would contract if about to be pulled off their rocks, but that they were rooted like plants and never moved about.
In 1758, Carl Linnaeus created the first hierarchical classification in his *Systema Naturae*. In his original scheme, the animals were one of three kingdoms, divided into the classes of Vermes, Insecta, Pisces, Amphibia, Aves, and Mammalia. Since then, the last four have all been subsumed into a single phylum, the Chordata, while his Insecta (which included the crustaceans and arachnids) and Vermes have been renamed or broken up. The process was begun in 1793 by Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck, who called the Vermes *une espèce de chaos* ('a chaotic mess') and split the group into three new phyla: worms, echinoderms, and polyps (which contained corals and jellyfish). By 1809, in his *Philosophie Zoologique*, Lamarck had created nine phyla apart from vertebrates (where he still had four phyla: mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish) and molluscs, namely cirripedes, annelids, crustaceans, arachnids, insects, worms, radiates, polyps, and infusorians.
In his 1817 * Le Règne Animal*, Georges Cuvier used comparative anatomy to group the animals into four
*embranchements*('branches' with different body plans, roughly corresponding to phyla), namely vertebrates, molluscs, articulated animals (arthropods and annelids), and zoophytes (radiata) (echinoderms, cnidaria and other forms). This division into four was followed by the embryologist Karl Ernst von Baer in 1828, the zoologist Louis Agassiz in 1857, and the comparative anatomist Richard Owen in 1860.
In 1874, Ernst Haeckel divided the animal kingdom into two subkingdoms: Metazoa (multicellular animals, with five phyla: coelenterates, echinoderms, articulates, molluscs, and vertebrates) and Protozoa (single-celled animals), including a sixth animal phylum, sponges. The protozoa were later moved to the former kingdom Protista, leaving only the Metazoa as a synonym of Animalia.
## In human culture
### Practical uses
The human population exploits a large number of other animal species for food, both of domesticated livestock species in animal husbandry and, mainly at sea, by hunting wild species. Marine fish of many species are caught commercially for food. A smaller number of species are farmed commercially. Humans and their livestock make up more than 90% of the biomass of all terrestrial vertebrates, and almost as much as all insects combined.
Invertebrates including cephalopods, crustaceans, insects—principally bees and silkworms—and bivalve or gastropod molluscs are hunted or farmed for food, fibres. Chickens, cattle, sheep, pigs, and other animals are raised as livestock for meat across the world. Animal fibres such as wool and silk are used to make textiles, while animal sinews have been used as lashings and bindings, and leather is widely used to make shoes and other items. Animals have been hunted and farmed for their fur to make items such as coats and hats. Dyestuffs including carmine (cochineal), shellac, and kermes have been made from the bodies of insects. Working animals including cattle and horses have been used for work and transport from the first days of agriculture.
Animals such as the fruit fly *Drosophila melanogaster* serve a major role in science as experimental models. Animals have been used to create vaccines since their discovery in the 18th century. Some medicines such as the cancer drug trabectedin are based on toxins or other molecules of animal origin.
People have used hunting dogs to help chase down and retrieve animals, and birds of prey to catch birds and mammals, while tethered cormorants have been used to catch fish. Poison dart frogs have been used to poison the tips of blowpipe darts. A wide variety of animals are kept as pets, from invertebrates such as tarantulas, octopuses, and praying mantises, reptiles such as snakes and chameleons, and birds including canaries, parakeets, and parrots all finding a place. However, the most kept pet species are mammals, namely dogs, cats, and rabbits. There is a tension between the role of animals as companions to humans, and their existence as individuals with rights of their own.
A wide variety of terrestrial and aquatic animals are hunted for sport.
### Symbolic uses
The signs of the Western and Chinese zodiacs are based on animals. In China and Japan, the butterfly has been seen as the personification of a person's soul, and in classical representation the butterfly is also the symbol of the soul.
Animals have been the subjects of art from the earliest times, both historical, as in ancient Egypt, and prehistoric, as in the cave paintings at Lascaux. Major animal paintings include Albrecht Dürer's 1515 *The Rhinoceros*, and George Stubbs's c. 1762 horse portrait *Whistlejacket*. Insects, birds and mammals play roles in literature and film, such as in giant bug movies.
Animals including insects and mammals feature in mythology and religion. The scarab beetle was sacred in ancient Egypt, and the cow is sacred in Hinduism. Among other mammals, deer, horses, lions, bats, bears, and wolves are the subjects of myths and worship.
## See also
- Animal coloration
- Ethology
- Lists of organisms by population
- World Animal Day, observed on 4 October
## Notes
## External links
- Media related to Animals at Wikimedia Commons
- Data related to Animal at Wikispecies
- Tree of Life Project. Archived 12 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- Animal Diversity Web – University of Michigan's database of animals
- Wildscreen Arkive – multimedia database of endangered/protected species
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# Eukaryote - Wikipedia
| Eukaryotes | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978 |
| Major subdivisions | |
| Synonyms | |
The **eukaryotes** (*yoo-KARR-ee-ohts, -əts*) constitute the domain of **Eukaryota** or **Eukarya**, organisms whose cells have a membrane-bound nucleus. All animals, plants, fungi, seaweeds, and many unicellular organisms are eukaryotes. They constitute a major group of life forms alongside the two groups of prokaryotes: the Bacteria and the Archaea. Eukaryotes represent a small minority of the number of organisms, but given their generally much larger size, their collective global biomass is much larger than that of prokaryotes.
The eukaryotes emerged within the archaeal kingdom Promethearchaeati and its sole phylum Promethearchaeota. This implies that there are only two domains of life, Bacteria and Archaea, with eukaryotes incorporated among the Archaea. Eukaryotes first emerged during the Paleoproterozoic, likely as flagellated cells. The leading evolutionary theory is they were created by symbiogenesis between an anaerobic Promethearchaeati archaean and an aerobic proteobacterium, which formed the mitochondria. A second episode of symbiogenesis with a cyanobacterium created the plants, with chloroplasts.
Eukaryotic cells contain membrane-bound organelles such as the nucleus, the endoplasmic reticulum, and the Golgi apparatus. Eukaryotes may be either unicellular or multicellular. In comparison, prokaryotes are typically unicellular. Unicellular eukaryotes are sometimes called protists. Eukaryotes can reproduce both asexually through mitosis and sexually through meiosis and gamete fusion (fertilization).
The word *eukaryote* is derived from the Greek words "eu" (εὖ) meaning "true" or "good" and "karyon" (κάρυον) meaning "nut" or "kernel", referring to the nucleus of a cell.
Eukaryotes are organisms that range from microscopic single cells, such as picozoans under 3 micrometres across, to animals like the blue whale, weighing up to 190 tonnes and measuring up to 33.6 metres (110 ft) long, or plants like the coast redwood, up to 120 metres (390 ft) tall. Many eukaryotes are unicellular; the informal grouping called protists includes many of these, with some multicellular forms like the giant kelp up to 200 feet (61 m) long. The multicellular eukaryotes include the animals, plants, and fungi, but again, these groups too contain many unicellular species. Eukaryotic cells are typically much larger than those of prokaryotes—the bacteria and the archaea—having a volume of around 10,000 times greater. Eukaryotes represent a small minority of the number of organisms, but, as many of them are much larger, their collective global biomass (468 gigatons) is far larger than that of prokaryotes (77 gigatons), with plants alone accounting for over 81% of the total biomass of Earth.
The eukaryotes are a diverse lineage, consisting mainly of microscopic organisms. Multicellularity in some form has evolved independently at least 25 times within the eukaryotes. Complex multicellular organisms, not counting the aggregation of amoebae to form slime molds, have evolved within only six eukaryotic lineages: animals, symbiomycotan fungi, brown algae, red algae, green algae, and land plants. Eukaryotes are grouped by genomic similarities, so that groups often lack visible shared characteristics.
The defining feature of eukaryotes is that their cells have a well-defined, membrane-bound nuclei, distinguishing them from prokaryotes that lack such a structure. Eukaryotic cells have a variety of internal membrane-bound structures, called organelles, and a cytoskeleton which defines the cell's organization and shape. The nucleus stores the cell's DNA, which is divided into linear bundles called chromosomes; these are separated into two matching sets by a microtubular spindle during nuclear division, in the distinctively eukaryotic process of mitosis.
Eukaryotes differ from prokaryotes in multiple ways, with unique biochemical pathways such as sterane synthesis. The eukaryotic signature proteins have no homology to proteins in other domains of life, but appear to be universal among eukaryotes. They include the proteins of the cytoskeleton, the complex transcription machinery, the membrane-sorting systems, the nuclear pore, and some enzymes in the biochemical pathways.
Eukaryote cells include a variety of membrane-bound structures, together forming the endomembrane system. Simple compartments, called vesicles and vacuoles, can form by budding off other membranes. Many cells ingest food and other materials through a process of endocytosis, where the outer membrane invaginates and then pinches off to form a vesicle. Some cell products can leave in a vesicle through exocytosis.
The nucleus is surrounded by a double membrane known as the nuclear envelope, with nuclear pores that allow material to move in and out. Various tube- and sheet-like extensions of the nuclear membrane form the endoplasmic reticulum, which is involved in protein transport and maturation. It includes the rough endoplasmic reticulum, covered in ribosomes which synthesize proteins; these enter the interior space or lumen. Subsequently, they generally enter vesicles, which bud off from the smooth endoplasmic reticulum. In most eukaryotes, these protein-carrying vesicles are released and their contents further modified in stacks of flattened vesicles (cisternae), the Golgi apparatus.
Vesicles may be specialized; for instance, lysosomes contain digestive enzymes that break down biomolecules in the cytoplasm.
Mitochondria are organelles in eukaryotic cells. The mitochondrion is commonly called "the powerhouse of the cell", for its function providing energy by oxidising sugars or fats to produce the energy-storing molecule ATP. Mitochondria have two surrounding membranes, each a phospholipid bilayer, the inner of which is folded into invaginations called cristae where aerobic respiration takes place.
Mitochondria contain their own DNA, which has close structural similarities to bacterial DNA, from which it originated, and which encodes rRNA and tRNA genes that produce RNA which is closer in structure to bacterial RNA than to eukaryote RNA.
Some eukaryotes, such as the metamonads *Giardia* and *Trichomonas*, and the amoebozoan *Pelomyxa*, appear to lack mitochondria, but all contain mitochondrion-derived organelles, like hydrogenosomes or mitosomes, having lost their mitochondria secondarily. They obtain energy by enzymatic action in the cytoplasm. It is thought that mitochondria developed from prokaryotic cells which became endosymbionts living inside eukaryotes.
Plants and various groups of algae have plastids as well as mitochondria. Plastids, like mitochondria, have their own DNA and are developed from endosymbionts, in this case cyanobacteria. They usually take the form of chloroplasts which, like cyanobacteria, contain chlorophyll and produce organic compounds (such as glucose) through photosynthesis. Others are involved in storing food. Although plastids probably had a single origin, not all plastid-containing groups are closely related. Instead, some eukaryotes have obtained them from others through secondary endosymbiosis or ingestion. The capture and sequestering of photosynthetic cells and chloroplasts, kleptoplasty, occurs in many types of modern eukaryotic organisms.
The cytoskeleton provides stiffening structure and points of attachment for motor structures that enable the cell to move, change shape, or transport materials. The motor structures are microfilaments of actin and actin-binding proteins, including α-actinin, fimbrin, and filamin are present in submembranous cortical layers and bundles. Motor proteins of microtubules, dynein and kinesin, and myosin of actin filaments, provide dynamic character of the network.
Many eukaryotes have long slender motile cytoplasmic projections, called flagella, or multiple shorter structures called cilia. These organelles are variously involved in movement, feeding, and sensation. They are composed mainly of tubulin, and are entirely distinct from prokaryotic flagella. They are supported by a bundle of microtubules arising from a centriole, characteristically arranged as nine doublets surrounding two singlets. Flagella may have hairs (mastigonemes), as in many stramenopiles. Their interior is continuous with the cell's cytoplasm.
Centrioles are often present, even in cells and groups that do not have flagella, but conifers and flowering plants have neither. They generally occur in groups that give rise to various microtubular roots. These form a primary component of the cytoskeleton, and are often assembled over the course of several cell divisions, with one flagellum retained from the parent and the other derived from it. Centrioles produce the spindle during nuclear division.
The cells of plants, algae, fungi and most chromalveolates, but not animals, are surrounded by a cell wall. This is a layer outside the cell membrane, providing the cell with structural support, protection, and a filtering mechanism. The cell wall also prevents over-expansion when water enters the cell.
The major polysaccharides making up the primary cell wall of land plants are cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin. The cellulose microfibrils are linked together with hemicellulose, embedded in a pectin matrix. The most common hemicellulose in the primary cell wall is xyloglucan.
Eukaryotes have a life cycle that involves sexual reproduction, alternating between a haploid phase, where only one copy of each chromosome is present in each cell, and a diploid phase, with two copies of each chromosome in each cell. The diploid phase is formed by fusion of two haploid gametes, such as eggs and spermatozoa, to form a zygote; this may grow into a body, with its cells dividing by mitosis, and at some stage produce haploid gametes through meiosis, a division that reduces the number of chromosomes and creates genetic variability. There is considerable variation in this pattern. Plants have both haploid and diploid multicellular phases. Eukaryotes have lower metabolic rates and longer generation times than prokaryotes, because they are larger and therefore have a smaller surface area to volume ratio.
The evolution of sexual reproduction may be a primordial characteristic of eukaryotes. Based on a phylogenetic analysis, Dacks and Roger have proposed that facultative sex was present in the group's common ancestor. A core set of genes that function in meiosis is present in both *Trichomonas vaginalis* and *Giardia intestinalis*, two organisms previously thought to be asexual. Since these two species are descendants of lineages that diverged early from the eukaryotic evolutionary tree, core meiotic genes, and hence sex, were likely present in the common ancestor of eukaryotes. Species once thought to be asexual, such as *Leishmania* parasites, have a sexual cycle. Amoebae, previously regarded as asexual, may be anciently sexual; while present-day asexual groups could have arisen recently.
In antiquity, the two lineages of animals and plants were recognized by Aristotle and Theophrastus. The lineages were given the taxonomic rank of kingdom by Linnaeus in the 18th century. Though he included the fungi with plants with some reservations, it was later realized that they are quite distinct and warrant a separate kingdom. The various single-cell eukaryotes were originally placed with plants or animals when they became known. In 1818, the German biologist Georg A. Goldfuss coined the word *Protozoa* to refer to organisms such as ciliates, and this group was expanded until Ernst Haeckel made it a kingdom encompassing all single-celled eukaryotes, the Protista, in 1866. The eukaryotes thus came to be seen as four kingdoms:
The protists were at that time thought to be "primitive forms", and thus an evolutionary grade, united by their primitive unicellular nature. Understanding of the oldest branchings in the tree of life only developed substantially with DNA sequencing, leading to a system of domains rather than kingdoms as top level rank being put forward by Carl Woese, Otto Kandler, and Mark Wheelis in 1990, uniting all the eukaryote kingdoms in the domain "Eucarya", stating, however, that "'eukaryotes' will continue to be an acceptable common synonym". In 1996, the evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis proposed to replace kingdoms and domains with "inclusive" names to create a "symbiosis-based phylogeny", giving the description "Eukarya (symbiosis-derived nucleated organisms)".
By 2014, a rough consensus started to emerge from the phylogenomic studies of the previous two decades. The majority of eukaryotes can be placed in one of two large clades dubbed Amorphea (similar in composition to the unikont hypothesis) and the Diphoda (formerly bikonts), which includes plants and most algal lineages. A third major grouping, the Excavata, has been abandoned as a formal group as it was found to be paraphyletic. The proposed phylogeny below includes two groups of excavates (Discoba and Metamonada), and incorporates the 2021 proposal that picozoans are close relatives of rhodophytes. The Provora are a group of microbial predators discovered in 2022.
One view of the great kingdoms and their stem groups. The Metamonada are hard to place, being sister possibly to Discoba or to Malawimonada or being a paraphyletic group external to all other eukaryotes.
The origin of the eukaryotic cell, or *eukaryogenesis*, is a milestone in the evolution of life, since eukaryotes include all complex cells and almost all multicellular organisms. The last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA) is the hypothetical origin of all living eukaryotes, and was most likely a biological population, not a single individual. The LECA is believed to have been a protist with a nucleus, at least one centriole and flagellum, facultatively aerobic mitochondria, sex (meiosis and syngamy), a dormant cyst with a cell wall of chitin or cellulose, and peroxisomes.
An endosymbiotic union between a motile anaerobic archaean and an aerobic alphaproteobacterium gave rise to the LECA and all eukaryotes with mitochondria. A second, much later endosymbiosis with a cyanobacterium gave rise to the ancestor of plants, with chloroplasts.
The presence of eukaryotic biomarkers in archaea points towards an archaeal origin. The genomes of Promethearchaeati archaea have plenty of eukaryotic signature protein genes, which play a crucial role in the development of the cytoskeleton and complex cellular structures characteristic of eukaryotes. In 2022, cryo-electron tomography demonstrated that Promethearchaeati archaea have a complex actin-based cytoskeleton, providing the first direct visual evidence of the archaeal ancestry of eukaryotes.
The timing of the origin of eukaryotes is hard to determine, but the discovery of *Qingshania magnificia*, the earliest multicelluar eukaryote from North China which lived 1.635 billion years ago, suggests that the crown group eukaryotes originated from the late Paleoproterozoic (Statherian). The earliest unequivocal unicellular eukaryotes, *Tappania plana*, *Shuiyousphaeridium macroreticulatum*, *Dictyosphaera macroreticulata*, *Germinosphaera alveolata*, and *Valeria lophostriata* from North China, lived approximately 1.65 billion years ago.
Some acritarchs are known from at least 1.65 billion years ago, and a fossil, *Grypania*, which may be an alga, is as much as 2.1 billion years old. The "problematic" fossil *Diskagma* has been found in paleosols 2.2 billion years old.
The Neoarchean fossil *Thuchomyces* shares similarities with eukaryotes, specifically fungi. It especially resembles the problematic fossil *Diskagma*, with hyphae and multiple differentiated layers. However, it is over 600 million years older than all other possible eukaryotes, and many of its "eukaryote features" are not specific to the clade, meaning it is almost certainly a microbial mat instead.
Structures proposed to represent "large colonial organisms" have been found in the black shales of the Palaeoproterozoic such as the Francevillian B Formation, in Gabon, dubbed the "Francevillian biota" which is dated at 2.1 billion years old. However, the status of these structures as fossils is contested, with other authors suggesting that they might represent pseudofossils. The oldest fossils that can unambiguously be assigned to eukaryotes are from the Ruyang Group of China, dating to approximately 1.8-1.6 billion years ago. Fossils that are clearly related to modern groups start appearing an estimated 1.2 billion years ago, in the form of red algae, though recent work suggests the existence of fossilized filamentous algae in the Vindhya basin dating back perhaps to 1.6 to 1.7 billion years ago.
The presence of steranes, eukaryotic-specific biomarkers, in Australian shales previously indicated that eukaryotes were present in these rocks dated at 2.7 billion years old, but these Archaean biomarkers have been rebutted as later contaminants. The oldest valid biomarker records are only around 800 million years old. In contrast, a molecular clock analysis suggests the emergence of sterol biosynthesis as early as 2.3 billion years ago. The nature of steranes as eukaryotic biomarkers is further complicated by the production of sterols by some bacteria.
Whenever their origins, eukaryotes may not have become ecologically dominant until much later; a massive increase in the zinc composition of marine sediments has been attributed to the rise of substantial populations of eukaryotes, which preferentially consume and incorporate zinc relative to prokaryotes, approximately a billion years after their origin (at the latest).
- Eukaryote hybrid genome
- List of sequenced eukaryotic genomes
*Parakaryon myojinensis*- Vault (organelle)
- "Eukaryotes" Archived 29 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine (Tree of Life Web Project)
- "
*Eukaryote*".*The Encyclopedia of Life*.
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# Bird - Wikipedia
| Birds Temporal range:
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| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade:
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Sauropsida |
Clade:
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Archosauria |
Clade:
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Avemetatarsalia |
Clade:
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Dinosauria |
Clade:
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Theropoda |
Clade:
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Ornithurae |
| Class: | Aves Linnaeus, 1758 |
| Extant clades | |
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| Synonyms | |
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**Birds** are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class **Aves** (Latin: [ˈaːwεs]), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the 5.5 cm (2.2 in) bee hummingbird to the 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in) common ostrich. There are over 11,000 living species and they are split into 44 orders. More than half are passerine or "perching" birds. Birds have wings whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have further evolved for swimming. The study of birds is called ornithology.
Birds are feathered theropod dinosaurs and constitute the only known living dinosaurs. Likewise, birds are considered reptiles in the modern cladistic sense of the term, and their closest living relatives are the crocodilians. Birds are descendants of the primitive avialans (whose members include *Archaeopteryx*) which first appeared during the Late Jurassic. According to some estimates, modern birds (**Neornithes**) evolved in the Late Cretaceous or between the Early and Late Cretaceous (100 Ma) and diversified dramatically around the time of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago, which killed off the pterosaurs and all non-ornithuran dinosaurs.
Many social species preserve knowledge across generations (culture). Birds are social, communicating with visual signals, calls, and songs, and participating in such behaviour as cooperative breeding and hunting, flocking, and mobbing of predators. The vast majority of bird species are socially (but not necessarily sexually) monogamous, usually for one breeding season at a time, sometimes for years, and rarely for life. Other species have breeding systems that are polygynous (one male with many females) or, rarely, polyandrous (one female with many males). Birds produce offspring by laying eggs which are fertilised through sexual reproduction. They are usually laid in a nest and incubated by the parents. Most birds have an extended period of parental care after hatching.
Many species of birds are economically important as food for human consumption and raw material in manufacturing, with domesticated and undomesticated birds being important sources of eggs, meat, and feathers. Songbirds, parrots, and other species are popular as pets. Guano (bird excrement) is harvested for use as a fertiliser. Birds figure throughout human culture. About 120 to 130 species have become extinct due to human activity since the 17th century, and hundreds more before then. Human activity threatens about 1,200 bird species with extinction, though efforts are underway to protect them. Recreational birdwatching is an important part of the ecotourism industry.
## Evolution and classification
The first classification of birds was developed by Francis Willughby and John Ray in their 1676 volume *Ornithologiae*.
Carl Linnaeus modified that work in 1758 to devise the taxonomic classification system currently in use. Birds are categorised as the biological class Aves in Linnaean taxonomy. Phylogenetic taxonomy places Aves in the clade Theropoda as an infraclass or more recently a subclass or class.
### Definition
Aves and a sister group, the order Crocodilia, contain the only living representatives of the reptile clade Archosauria. During the late 1990s, Aves was most commonly defined phylogenetically as all descendants of the most recent common ancestor of modern birds and *Archaeopteryx lithographica*. However, an earlier definition proposed by Jacques Gauthier gained wide currency in the 21st century, and is used by many scientists including adherents to the *PhyloCode*. Gauthier defined Aves to include only the crown group of the set of modern birds. This was done by excluding most groups known only from fossils, and assigning them, instead, to the broader group Avialae, on the principle that a clade based on extant species should be limited to those extant species and their closest extinct relatives.
Gauthier and de Queiroz identified four different definitions for the same biological name "Aves", which is a problem. The authors proposed to reserve the term Aves only for the crown group consisting of the last common ancestor of all living birds and all of its descendants, which corresponds to meaning number 4 below. They assigned other names to the other groups.
The birds' phylogenetic relationships to major living reptile groups. (The turtles' position is uncertain: Some authorities embed them inside the Archosaurs, with birds and crocodiles.)
|
- Aves can mean all archosaurs closer to birds than to crocodiles (alternately Avemetatarsalia)
- Aves can mean those advanced archosaurs with feathers (alternately Avifilopluma)
- Aves can mean those feathered dinosaurs that fly (alternately Avialae)
- Aves can mean the last common ancestor of all the currently living birds and all of its descendants (a "crown group", in this sense synonymous with
**Neornithes**)
Under the fourth definition *Archaeopteryx*, traditionally considered one of the earliest members of Aves, is removed from this group, becoming a non-avian dinosaur instead. These proposals have been adopted by many researchers in the field of palaeontology and bird evolution, though the exact definitions applied have been inconsistent. Avialae, initially proposed to replace the traditional fossil content of Aves, is often used synonymously with the vernacular term "bird" by these researchers.
| Cladogram showing the results of a phylogenetic study by Cau, 2018. |
Most researchers define Avialae as branch-based clade, though definitions vary. Many authors have used a definition similar to "all theropods closer to birds than to *Deinonychus*", with *Troodon* being sometimes added as a second external specifier in case it is closer to birds than to *Deinonychus*. Avialae is also occasionally defined as an apomorphy-based clade (that is, one based on physical characteristics). Jacques Gauthier, who named Avialae in 1986, re-defined it in 2001 as all dinosaurs that possessed feathered wings used in flapping flight, and the birds that descended from them.
Despite being currently one of the most widely used, the crown-group definition of Aves has been criticised by some researchers. Lee and Spencer (1997) argued that, contrary to what Gauthier defended, this definition would not increase the stability of the clade and the exact content of Aves will always be uncertain because any defined clade (either crown or not) will have few synapomorphies distinguishing it from its closest relatives. Their alternative definition is synonymous to Avifilopluma.
### Dinosaurs and the origin of birds
Cladogram following the results of a phylogenetic study by Cau et al., 2015
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Based on fossil and biological evidence, most scientists accept that birds are a specialised subgroup of theropod dinosaurs and, more specifically, members of Maniraptora, a group of theropods which includes dromaeosaurids and oviraptorosaurs, among others. As scientists have discovered more theropods closely related to birds, the previously clear distinction between non-birds and birds has become blurred. By the 2000s, discoveries in the Liaoning Province of northeast China, which demonstrated many small theropod feathered dinosaurs, contributed to this ambiguity.
The consensus view in contemporary palaeontology is that the flying theropods, or avialans, are the closest relatives of the deinonychosaurs, which include dromaeosaurids and troodontids. Together, these form a group called Paraves. Some basal members of Deinonychosauria, such as *Microraptor*, have features which may have enabled them to glide or fly. The most basal deinonychosaurs were very small. This evidence raises the possibility that the ancestor of all paravians may have been arboreal, have been able to glide, or both. Unlike *Archaeopteryx* and the non-avialan feathered dinosaurs, who primarily ate meat, studies suggest that the first avialans were omnivores.
The Late Jurassic *Archaeopteryx* is well known as one of the first transitional fossils to be found, and it provided support for the theory of evolution in the late 19th century. *Archaeopteryx* was the first fossil to display both clearly traditional reptilian characteristics—teeth, clawed fingers, and a long, lizard-like tail—as well as wings with flight feathers similar to those of modern birds. It is not considered a direct ancestor of birds, though it is possibly closely related to the true ancestor.
### Early evolution
Over 40% of key traits found in modern birds evolved during the 60 million year transition from the earliest bird-line archosaurs to the first maniraptoromorphs, i.e. the first dinosaurs closer to living birds than to *Tyrannosaurus rex*. The loss of osteoderms otherwise common in archosaurs and acquisition of primitive feathers might have occurred early during this phase. After the appearance of Maniraptoromorpha, the next 40 million years marked a continuous reduction of body size and the accumulation of neotenic (juvenile-like) characteristics. Hypercarnivory became increasingly less common while braincases enlarged and forelimbs became longer. The integument evolved into complex, pennaceous feathers.
The oldest known paravian (and probably the earliest avialan) fossils come from the Tiaojishan Formation of China, which has been dated to the late Jurassic period (Oxfordian stage), about 160 million years ago. The avialan species from this time period include *Anchiornis huxleyi*, *Xiaotingia zhengi*, and *Aurornis xui*.
The well-known probable early avialan, *Archaeopteryx*, dates from slightly later Jurassic rocks (about 155 million years old) from Germany. Many of these early avialans shared unusual anatomical features that may be ancestral to modern birds but were later lost during bird evolution. These features include enlarged claws on the second toe which may have been held clear of the ground in life, and long feathers or "hind wings" covering the hind limbs and feet, which may have been used in aerial maneuvering.
Avialans diversified into a wide variety of forms during the Cretaceous period. Many groups retained primitive characteristics, such as clawed wings and teeth, though the latter were lost independently in a number of avialan groups, including modern birds (Aves). Increasingly stiff tails (especially the outermost half) can be seen in the evolution of maniraptoromorphs, and this process culminated in the appearance of the pygostyle, an ossification of fused tail vertebrae. In the late Cretaceous, about 100 million years ago, the ancestors of all modern birds evolved a more open pelvis, allowing them to lay larger eggs compared to body size. Around 95 million years ago, they evolved a better sense of smell.
A third stage of bird evolution starting with Ornithothoraces (the "bird-chested" avialans) can be associated with the refining of aerodynamics and flight capabilities, and the loss or co-ossification of several skeletal features. Particularly significant are the development of an enlarged, keeled sternum and the alula, and the loss of grasping hands.
Cladogram following the results of a phylogenetic study by Cau et al., 2015
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### Early diversity of bird ancestors
| Mesozoic bird phylogeny simplified after Wang et al., 2015's phylogenetic analysis |
The first large, diverse lineage of short-tailed avialans to evolve were the Enantiornithes, or "opposite birds", so named because the construction of their shoulder bones was in reverse to that of modern birds. Enantiornithes occupied a wide array of ecological niches, from sand-probing shorebirds and fish-eaters to tree-dwelling forms and seed-eaters. While they were the dominant group of avialans during the Cretaceous period, Enantiornithes became extinct along with many other dinosaur groups at the end of the Mesozoic era.
Many species of the second major avialan lineage to diversify, the Euornithes (meaning "true birds", because they include the ancestors of modern birds), were semi-aquatic and specialised in eating fish and other small aquatic organisms. Unlike the Enantiornithes, which dominated land-based and arboreal habitats, most early euornithians lacked perching adaptations and likely included shorebird-like species, waders, and swimming and diving species.
The latter included the superficially gull-like *Ichthyornis* and the Hesperornithiformes, which became so well adapted to hunting fish in marine environments that they lost the ability to fly and became primarily aquatic. The early euornithians also saw the development of many traits associated with modern birds, like strongly keeled breastbones, toothless, beaked portions of their jaws (though most non-avian euornithians retained teeth in other parts of the jaws). Euornithes also included the first avialans to develop true pygostyle and a fully mobile fan of tail feathers, which may have replaced the "hind wing" as the primary mode of aerial maneuverability and braking in flight.
A study on mosaic evolution in the avian skull found that the last common ancestor of all Neornithes might have had a beak similar to that of the modern hook-billed vanga and a skull similar to that of the Eurasian golden oriole. As both species are small aerial and canopy foraging omnivores, a similar ecological niche was inferred for this hypothetical ancestor.
### Diversification of modern birds
| Major groups of modern birds based on Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy |
Most studies agree on a Cretaceous age for the most recent common ancestor of modern birds but estimates range from the Early Cretaceous to the latest Cretaceous. Similarly, there is no agreement on whether most of the early diversification of modern birds occurred in the Cretaceous and associated with breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana or occurred later and potentially as a consequence of the Cretaceous–Palaeogene extinction event. This disagreement is in part caused by a divergence in the evidence; most molecular dating studies suggests a Cretaceous evolutionary radiation, while fossil evidence points to a Cenozoic radiation (the so-called 'rocks' versus 'clocks' controversy).
The discovery in 2005 of *Vegavis* from the Maastrichtian, the last stage of the Late Cretaceous, proved that the diversification of modern birds started before the Cenozoic era. The affinities of an earlier fossil, the possible galliform *Austinornis lentus*, dated to about 85 million years ago, are still too controversial to provide a fossil evidence of modern bird diversification. In 2020, *Asteriornis* from the Maastrichtian was described, it appears to be a close relative of Galloanserae, the earliest diverging lineage within Neognathae.
Attempts to reconcile molecular and fossil evidence using genomic-scale DNA data and comprehensive fossil information have not resolved the controversy. However, a 2015 estimate that used a new method for calibrating molecular clocks confirmed that while modern birds originated early in the Late Cretaceous, likely in Western Gondwana, a pulse of diversification in all major groups occurred around the Cretaceous–Palaeogene extinction event. Modern birds would have expanded from West Gondwana through two routes. One route was an Antarctic interchange in the Paleogene. The other route was probably via Paleocene land bridges between South America and North America, which allowed for the rapid expansion and diversification of Neornithes into the Holarctic and Paleotropics. On the other hand, the occurrence of *Asteriornis* in the Northern Hemisphere suggest that Neornithes dispersed out of East Gondwana before the Paleocene.
### Classification of bird orders
All modern birds lie within the crown group Aves (alternately Neornithes), which has two subdivisions: the Palaeognathae, which includes the flightless ratites (such as the ostriches) and the weak-flying tinamous, and the extremely diverse Neognathae, containing all other birds. These two subdivisions have variously been given the rank of superorder, cohort, or infraclass. The number of known living bird species is around 11,000 although sources may differ in their precise numbers.
Cladogram of modern bird relationships based on Stiller *et al* (2024)., showing the 44 orders recognised by the IOC.
Aves
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The classification of birds is a contentious issue. Sibley and Ahlquist's *Phylogeny and Classification of Birds* (1990) is a landmark work on the subject. Most evidence seems to suggest the assignment of orders is accurate, but scientists disagree about the relationships among the orders themselves; evidence from modern bird anatomy, fossils and DNA have all been brought to bear on the problem, but no strong consensus has emerged. Fossil and molecular evidence from the 2010s is providing an increasingly clear picture of the evolution of modern bird orders.
### Genomics
In 2010, the genome had been sequenced for only two birds, the chicken and the zebra finch. As of 2022[update], the genomes of 542 species of birds had been completed. At least one genome has been sequenced from every order. These include at least one species in about 90% of extant avian families (218 out of 236 families recognised by the *Howard and Moore Checklist*).
Being able to sequence and compare whole genomes gives researchers many types of information, about genes, the DNA that regulates the genes, and their evolutionary history. This has led to reconsideration of some of the classifications that were based solely on the identification of protein-coding genes. Waterbirds such as pelicans and flamingos, for example, may have in common specific adaptations suited to their environment that were developed independently.
## Distribution
Birds live and breed in most terrestrial habitats and on all seven continents, reaching their southern extreme in the snow petrel's breeding colonies up to 440 kilometres (270 mi) inland in Antarctica. The highest bird diversity occurs in tropical regions. It was earlier thought that this high diversity was the result of higher speciation rates in the tropics; however studies from the 2000s found higher speciation rates in the high latitudes that were offset by greater extinction rates than in the tropics. Many species migrate annually over great distances and across oceans; several families of birds have adapted to life both on the world's oceans and in them, and some seabird species come ashore only to breed, while some penguins have been recorded diving up to 300 metres (980 ft) deep.
Many bird species have established breeding populations in areas to which they have been introduced by humans. Some of these introductions have been deliberate; the ring-necked pheasant, for example, has been introduced around the world as a game bird. Others have been accidental, such as the establishment of wild monk parakeets in several North American cities after their escape from captivity. Some species, including cattle egret, yellow-headed caracara and galah, have spread naturally far beyond their original ranges as agricultural expansion created alternative habitats although modern practices of intensive agriculture have negatively impacted farmland bird populations.
## Anatomy and physiology
Compared with other vertebrates, birds have a body plan that shows many unusual adaptations, mostly to facilitate flight.
### Skeletal system
The skeleton consists of very lightweight bones. They have large air-filled cavities (called pneumatic cavities) which connect with the respiratory system. The skull bones in adults are fused and do not show cranial sutures. The orbital cavities that house the eyeballs are large and separated from each other by a bony septum (partition). The spine has cervical, thoracic, lumbar and caudal regions with the number of cervical (neck) vertebrae highly variable and especially flexible, but movement is reduced in the anterior thoracic vertebrae and absent in the later vertebrae. The last few are fused with the pelvis to form the synsacrum. The ribs are flattened and the sternum is keeled for the attachment of flight muscles except in the flightless bird orders. The forelimbs are modified into wings. The wings are more or less developed depending on the species; the only known groups that lost their wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds.
### Excretory system
Like reptiles, birds are primarily uricotelic; that is, their kidneys extract nitrogenous waste from their bloodstream and excrete it as uric acid, instead of urea or ammonia, through the ureters into the intestine. Birds do not have a urinary bladder or external urethral opening. With the exception of the ostrich, uric acid is excreted along with faeces as a semisolid waste. However, birds such as hummingbirds can be facultatively ammonotelic, excreting most of the nitrogenous wastes as ammonia. They also excrete creatine, rather than creatinine like mammals. This material, as well as the output of the intestines, emerges from the bird's cloaca. The cloaca is a multi-purpose opening: waste is expelled through it, most birds mate by joining cloaca, and females lay eggs from it. In addition, many species of birds regurgitate pellets.
It is a common but not universal feature of altricial passerine nestlings (born helpless, under constant parental care) that instead of excreting directly into the nest, they produce a fecal sac. This is a mucus-covered pouch that allows parents to either dispose of the waste outside the nest or to recycle the waste through their own digestive system.
### Reproductive system
Most male birds do not have intromittent penises. Males within Palaeognathae (with the exception of the kiwis), the Anseriformes (with the exception of screamers), and in rudimentary forms in Galliformes (but fully developed in Cracidae) possess a penis, which is never present in Neoaves. Its length is thought to be related to sperm competition and it fills with lymphatic fluid instead of blood when erect. When not copulating, it is hidden within the proctodeum compartment within the cloaca, just inside the vent. Female birds have sperm storage tubules that allow sperm to remain viable long after copulation, a hundred days in some species. Sperm from multiple males may compete through this mechanism. Most female birds have a single ovary and a single oviduct, both on the left side, but there are exceptions: species in at least 16 different orders of birds have two ovaries. Even these species, however, tend to have a single oviduct. It has been speculated that this might be an adaptation to flight, but males have two testes, and it is also observed that the gonads in both sexes decrease dramatically in size outside the breeding season. Also terrestrial birds generally have a single ovary, as does the platypus, an egg-laying mammal. A more likely explanation is that the egg develops a shell while passing through the oviduct over a period of about a day, so that if two eggs were to develop at the same time, there would be a risk to survival. While rare, mostly abortive, parthenogenesis is not unknown in birds and eggs can be diploid, automictic and results in male offspring.
Birds are solely gonochoric, meaning they have two sexes: either female or male. The sex of birds is determined by the Z and W sex chromosomes, rather than by the X and Y chromosomes present in mammals. Male birds have two Z chromosomes (ZZ), and female birds have a W chromosome and a Z chromosome (WZ). A complex system of disassortative mating with two morphs is involved in the white-throated sparrow *Zonotrichia albicollis*, where white- and tan-browed morphs of opposite sex pair, making it appear as if four sexes were involved since any individual is compatible with only a fourth of the population.
In nearly all species of birds, an individual's sex is determined at fertilisation. However, one 2007 study claimed to demonstrate temperature-dependent sex determination among the Australian brushturkey, for which higher temperatures during incubation resulted in a higher female-to-male sex ratio. This, however, was later proven to not be the case. These birds do not exhibit temperature-dependent sex determination, but temperature-dependent sex mortality.
### Respiratory and circulatory systems
Birds have one of the most complex respiratory systems of all animal groups. Upon inhalation, 75% of the fresh air bypasses the lungs and flows directly into a posterior air sac which extends from the lungs and connects with air spaces in the bones and fills them with air. The other 25% of the air goes directly into the lungs. When the bird exhales, the used air flows out of the lungs and the stored fresh air from the posterior air sac is simultaneously forced into the lungs. Thus, a bird's lungs receive a constant supply of fresh air during both inhalation and exhalation. Sound production is achieved using the syrinx, a muscular chamber incorporating multiple tympanic membranes which diverges from the lower end of the trachea; the trachea being elongated in some species, increasing the volume of vocalisations and the perception of the bird's size.
In birds, the main arteries taking blood away from the heart originate from the right aortic arch (or pharyngeal arch), unlike in the mammals where the left aortic arch forms this part of the aorta. The postcava receives blood from the limbs via the renal portal system. Unlike in mammals, the circulating red blood cells in birds retain their nucleus.
#### Heart type and features
The avian circulatory system is driven by a four-chambered, myogenic heart contained in a fibrous pericardial sac. This pericardial sac is filled with a serous fluid for lubrication. The heart itself is divided into a right and left half, each with an atrium and ventricle. The atrium and ventricles of each side are separated by atrioventricular valves which prevent back flow from one chamber to the next during contraction. Being myogenic, the heart's pace is maintained by pacemaker cells found in the sinoatrial node, located on the right atrium.
The sinoatrial node uses calcium to cause a depolarising signal transduction pathway from the atrium through right and left atrioventricular bundle which communicates contraction to the ventricles. The avian heart also consists of muscular arches that are made up of thick bundles of muscular layers. Much like a mammalian heart, the avian heart is composed of endocardial, myocardial and epicardial layers. The atrium walls tend to be thinner than the ventricle walls, due to the intense ventricular contraction used to pump oxygenated blood throughout the body. Avian hearts are generally larger than mammalian hearts when compared to body mass. This adaptation allows more blood to be pumped to meet the high metabolic need associated with flight.
#### Organisation
Birds have a very efficient system for diffusing oxygen into the blood; birds have a ten times greater surface area to gas exchange volume than mammals. As a result, birds have more blood in their capillaries per unit of volume of lung than a mammal. The arteries are composed of thick elastic muscles to withstand the pressure of the ventricular contractions, and become more rigid as they move away from the heart. Blood moves through the arteries, which undergo vasoconstriction, and into arterioles which act as a transportation system to distribute primarily oxygen as well as nutrients to all tissues of the body. As the arterioles move away from the heart and into individual organs and tissues they are further divided to increase surface area and slow blood flow. Blood travels through the arterioles and moves into the capillaries where gas exchange can occur.
Capillaries are organised into capillary beds in tissues; it is here that blood exchanges oxygen for carbon dioxide waste. In the capillary beds, blood flow is slowed to allow maximum diffusion of oxygen into the tissues. Once the blood has become deoxygenated, it travels through venules then veins and back to the heart. Veins, unlike arteries, are thin and rigid as they do not need to withstand extreme pressure. As blood travels through the venules to the veins a funneling occurs called vasodilation bringing blood back to the heart. Once the blood reaches the heart, it moves first into the right atrium, then the right ventricle to be pumped through the lungs for further gas exchange of carbon dioxide waste for oxygen. Oxygenated blood then flows from the lungs through the left atrium to the left ventricle where it is pumped out to the body.
### Nervous system
The nervous system is large relative to the bird's size. The most developed part of the brain of birds is the one that controls the flight-related functions, while the cerebellum coordinates movement and the cerebrum controls behaviour patterns, navigation, mating and nest building. Most birds have a poor sense of smell with notable exceptions including kiwis, New World vultures and tubenoses. The avian visual system is usually highly developed. Water birds have special flexible lenses, allowing accommodation for vision in air and water. Some species also have dual fovea. Birds are tetrachromatic, possessing ultraviolet (UV) sensitive cone cells in the eye as well as green, red and blue ones. They also have double cones, likely to mediate achromatic vision.
Many birds show plumage patterns in ultraviolet that are invisible to the human eye; some birds whose sexes appear similar to the naked eye are distinguished by the presence of ultraviolet reflective patches on their feathers. Male blue tits have an ultraviolet reflective crown patch which is displayed in courtship by posturing and raising of their nape feathers. Ultraviolet light is also used in foraging—kestrels have been shown to search for prey by detecting the UV reflective urine trail marks left on the ground by rodents. With the exception of pigeons and a few other species, the eyelids of birds are not used in blinking. Instead the eye is lubricated by the nictitating membrane, a third eyelid that moves horizontally. The nictitating membrane also covers the eye and acts as a contact lens in many aquatic birds. The bird retina has a fan shaped blood supply system called the pecten.
Eyes of most birds are large, not very round and capable of only limited movement in the orbits, typically 10–20°. Birds with eyes on the sides of their heads have a wide visual field, while birds with eyes on the front of their heads, such as owls, have binocular vision and can estimate the depth of field. The avian ear lacks external pinnae but is covered by feathers, although in some birds, such as the *Asio*, *Bubo* and *Otus* owls, these feathers form tufts which resemble ears. The inner ear has a cochlea, but it is not a spiral as in mammals. Several species have been demonstrated to hear infrasound (below 20 Hz) and a few cave-dwelling swifts and oilbirds emit ultrasound (above 20 kHz) and echolocate in darkness.
### Defence and intraspecific combat
A few species are able to use chemical defences against predators; some Procellariiformes can eject an unpleasant stomach oil against an aggressor, and some species of pitohuis from New Guinea have a powerful neurotoxin in their skin and feathers.
A lack of field observations limit our knowledge, but intraspecific conflicts are known to sometimes result in injury or death. The screamers (Anhimidae), some jacanas (*Jacana*, *Hydrophasianus*), the spur-winged goose (*Plectropterus*), the torrent duck (*Merganetta*) and nine species of lapwing (*Vanellus*) use a sharp spur on the wing as a weapon. The steamer ducks (*Tachyeres*), geese and swans (*Anserinae*), the solitaire (*Pezophaps*), sheathbills (*Chionis*), some guans (*Crax*) and stone curlews (*Burhinus*) use a bony knob on the alular metacarpal to punch and hammer opponents. The jacanas *Actophilornis* and *Irediparra* have an expanded, blade-like radius. The extinct *Xenicibis* was unique in having an elongate forelimb and massive hand which likely functioned in combat or defence as a jointed club or flail. Swans, for instance, may strike with the bony spurs and bite when defending eggs or young.
Feathers are a feature characteristic of birds (though also present in some dinosaurs not currently considered to be true birds). They facilitate flight, provide insulation that aids in thermoregulation, and are used in display, camouflage, and signalling. There are several types of feathers, each serving its own set of purposes. Feathers are epidermal growths attached to the skin and arise only in specific tracts of skin called pterylae. The distribution pattern of these feather tracts (pterylosis) is used in taxonomy and systematics. The arrangement and appearance of feathers on the body, called plumage, may vary within species by age, social status, and sex.
Plumage is regularly moulted; the standard plumage of a bird that has moulted after breeding is known as the "" plumage, or—in the Humphrey–Parkes terminology—"basic" plumage; breeding plumages or variations of the basic plumage are known under the Humphrey–Parkes system as "" plumages. Moulting is annual in most species, although some may have two moults a year, and large birds of prey may moult only once every few years. Moulting patterns vary across species. In passerines, flight feathers are replaced one at a time with the innermost being the first. When the fifth of sixth primary is replaced, the outermost begin to drop. After the innermost tertiaries are moulted, the starting from the innermost begin to drop and this proceeds to the outer feathers (centrifugal moult). The greater primary are moulted in synchrony with the primary that they overlap.
A small number of species, such as ducks and geese, lose all of their flight feathers at once, temporarily becoming flightless. As a general rule, the tail feathers are moulted and replaced starting with the innermost pair. Centripetal moults of tail feathers are however seen in the Phasianidae. The centrifugal moult is modified in the tail feathers of woodpeckers and treecreepers, in that it begins with the second innermost pair of feathers and finishes with the central pair of feathers so that the bird maintains a functional climbing tail. The general pattern seen in passerines is that the primaries are replaced outward, secondaries inward, and the tail from centre outward. Before nesting, the females of most bird species gain a bare brood patch by losing feathers close to the belly. The skin there is well supplied with blood vessels and helps the bird in incubation.
Feathers require maintenance and birds preen or groom them daily, spending an average of around 9% of their daily time on this. The bill is used to brush away foreign particles and to apply waxy secretions from the uropygial gland; these secretions protect the feathers' flexibility and act as an antimicrobial agent, inhibiting the growth of feather-degrading bacteria. This may be supplemented with the secretions of formic acid from ants, which birds receive through a behaviour known as anting, to remove feather parasites.
The scales of birds are composed of the same keratin as beaks, claws, and spurs. They are found mainly on the toes and metatarsus, but may be found further up on the ankle in some birds. Most bird scales do not overlap significantly, except in the cases of kingfishers and woodpeckers. The scales of birds are thought to be homologous to those of reptiles and mammals.
### Flight
Most birds can fly, which distinguishes them from almost all other vertebrate classes. Flight is the primary means of locomotion for most bird species and is used for searching for food and for escaping from predators. Birds have various adaptations for flight, including a lightweight skeleton, two large flight muscles, the pectoralis (which accounts for 15% of the total mass of the bird) and the supracoracoideus, as well as a modified forelimb (wing) that serves as an aerofoil.
Wing shape and size generally determine a bird's flight style and performance; many birds combine powered, flapping flight with less energy-intensive soaring flight. About 60 extant bird species are flightless, as were many extinct birds. Flightlessness often arises in birds on isolated islands, most likely due to limited resources and the absence of mammalian land predators. Flightlessness is almost exclusively correlated with gigantism due to an island's inherent condition of isolation. Although flightless, penguins use similar musculature and movements to "fly" through the water, as do some flight-capable birds such as auks, shearwaters and dippers.
## Behaviour
Most birds are diurnal, but some birds, such as many species of owls and nightjars, are nocturnal or crepuscular (active during twilight hours), and many coastal waders feed when the tides are appropriate, by day or night.
### Diet and feeding
are varied and often include nectar, fruit, plants, seeds, carrion, and various small animals, including other birds. The digestive system of birds is unique, with a crop for storage and a gizzard that contains swallowed stones for grinding food to compensate for the lack of teeth. Some species such as pigeons and some psittacine species do not have a gallbladder. Most birds are highly adapted for rapid digestion to aid with flight. Some migratory birds have adapted to use protein stored in many parts of their bodies, including protein from the intestines, as additional energy during migration.
Birds that employ many strategies to obtain food or feed on a variety of food items are called generalists, while others that concentrate time and effort on specific food items or have a single strategy to obtain food are considered specialists. Avian foraging strategies can vary widely by species. Many birds glean for insects, invertebrates, fruit, or seeds. Some hunt insects by suddenly attacking from a branch. Those species that seek pest insects are considered beneficial 'biological control agents' and their presence encouraged in biological pest control programmes. Combined, insectivorous birds eat 400–500 million metric tons of arthropods annually.
Nectar feeders such as hummingbirds, sunbirds, lories, and lorikeets amongst others have specially adapted brushy tongues and in many cases bills designed to fit co-adapted flowers. Kiwis and shorebirds with long bills probe for invertebrates; shorebirds' varied bill lengths and feeding methods result in the separation of ecological niches. Divers, diving ducks, penguins and auks pursue their prey underwater, using their wings or feet for propulsion, while aerial predators such as sulids, kingfishers and terns plunge dive after their prey. Flamingos, three species of prion, and some ducks are filter feeders. Geese and dabbling ducks are primarily grazers.
Some species, including frigatebirds, gulls, and skuas, engage in kleptoparasitism, stealing food items from other birds. Kleptoparasitism is thought to be a supplement to food obtained by hunting, rather than a significant part of any species' diet; a study of great frigatebirds stealing from masked boobies estimated that the frigatebirds stole at most 40% of their food and on average stole only 5%. Other birds are scavengers; some of these, like vultures, are specialised carrion eaters, while others, like gulls, corvids, or other birds of prey, are opportunists.
### Water and drinking
Water is needed by many birds although their mode of excretion and lack of sweat glands reduces the physiological demands. Some desert birds can obtain their water needs entirely from moisture in their food. Some have other adaptations such as allowing their body temperature to rise, saving on moisture loss from evaporative cooling or panting. Seabirds can drink seawater and have salt glands inside the head that eliminate excess salt out of the nostrils.
Most birds scoop water in their beaks and raise their head to let water run down the throat. Some species, especially of arid zones, belonging to the pigeon, finch, mousebird, button-quail and bustard families are capable of sucking up water without the need to tilt back their heads. Some desert birds depend on water sources and sandgrouse are particularly well known for congregating daily at waterholes. Nesting sandgrouse and many plovers carry water to their young by wetting their belly feathers. Some birds carry water for chicks at the nest in their crop or regurgitate it along with food. The pigeon family, flamingos and penguins have adaptations to produce a nutritive fluid called crop milk that they provide to their chicks.
### Feather care
Feathers, being critical to the survival of a bird, require maintenance. Apart from physical wear and tear, feathers face the onslaught of fungi, ectoparasitic feather mites and bird lice. The physical condition of feathers are maintained by often with the application of secretions from the . Birds also bathe in water or dust themselves. While some birds dip into shallow water, more aerial species may make aerial dips into water and arboreal species often make use of dew or rain that collect on leaves. Birds of arid regions make use of loose soil to dust-bathe. A behaviour termed as anting in which the bird encourages ants to run through their plumage is also thought to help them reduce the ectoparasite load in feathers. Many species will spread out their wings and expose them to direct sunlight and this too is thought to help in reducing fungal and ectoparasitic activity that may lead to feather damage.
### Migration
Many bird species migrate to take advantage of global differences of seasonal temperatures, therefore optimising availability of food sources and breeding habitat. These migrations vary among the different groups. Many landbirds, shorebirds, and waterbirds undertake annual long-distance migrations, usually triggered by the length of daylight as well as weather conditions. These birds are characterised by a breeding season spent in the temperate or polar regions and a non-breeding season in the tropical regions or opposite hemisphere. Before migration, birds substantially increase body fats and reserves and reduce the size of some of their organs.
Migration is highly demanding energetically, particularly as birds need to cross deserts and oceans without refuelling. Landbirds have a flight range of around 2,500 km (1,600 mi) and shorebirds can fly up to 4,000 km (2,500 mi), although the bar-tailed godwit is capable of non-stop flights of up to 10,200 km (6,300 mi). Some seabirds undertake long migrations, with the longest annual migrations including those of Arctic terns, which were recorded travelling an average of 70,900 km (44,100 mi) between their Arctic breeding grounds in Greenland and Iceland and their wintering grounds in Antarctica, with one bird covering 81,600 km (50,700 mi), and sooty shearwaters, which nest in New Zealand and Chile and make annual round trips of 64,000 km (39,800 mi) to their summer feeding grounds in the North Pacific off Japan, Alaska and California. Other seabirds disperse after breeding, travelling widely but having no set migration route. Albatrosses nesting in the Southern Ocean often undertake circumpolar trips between breeding seasons.
Some bird species undertake shorter migrations, travelling only as far as is required to avoid bad weather or obtain food. Irruptive species such as the boreal finches are one such group and can commonly be found at a location in one year and absent the next. This type of migration is normally associated with food availability. Species may also travel shorter distances over part of their range, with individuals from higher latitudes travelling into the existing range of conspecifics; others undertake partial migrations, where only a fraction of the population, usually females and subdominant males, migrates. Partial migration can form a large percentage of the migration behaviour of birds in some regions; in Australia, surveys found that 44% of non-passerine birds and 32% of passerines were partially migratory.
Altitudinal migration is a form of short-distance migration in which birds spend the breeding season at higher altitudes and move to lower ones during suboptimal conditions. It is most often triggered by temperature changes and usually occurs when the normal territories also become inhospitable due to lack of food. Some species may also be nomadic, holding no fixed territory and moving according to weather and food availability. Parrots as a family are overwhelmingly neither migratory nor sedentary but considered to either be dispersive, irruptive, nomadic or undertake small and irregular migrations.
The ability of birds to return to precise locations across vast distances has been known for some time; in an experiment conducted in the 1950s, a Manx shearwater released in Boston in the United States returned to its colony in Skomer, in Wales within 13 days, a distance of 5,150 km (3,200 mi). Birds navigate during migration using a variety of methods. For diurnal migrants, the sun is used to navigate by day, and a stellar compass is used at night. Birds that use the sun compensate for the changing position of the sun during the day by the use of an internal clock. Orientation with the stellar compass depends on the position of the constellations surrounding Polaris. These are backed up in some species by their ability to sense the Earth's geomagnetism through specialised photoreceptors.
### Communication
Birds communicate primarily using visual and auditory signals. Signals can be interspecific (between species) and intraspecific (within species).
Birds sometimes use plumage to assess and assert social dominance, to display breeding condition in sexually selected species, or to make threatening displays, as in the sunbittern's mimicry of a large predator to ward off hawks and protect young chicks.
Visual communication among birds may also involve ritualised displays, which have developed from non-signalling actions such as preening, the adjustments of feather position, pecking, or other behaviour. These displays may signal aggression or submission or may contribute to the formation of pair-bonds. The most elaborate displays occur during courtship, where "dances" are often formed from complex combinations of many possible component movements; males' breeding success may depend on the quality of such displays.
Bird calls and songs, which are produced in the syrinx, are the major means by which birds communicate with sound. This communication can be very complex; some species can operate the two sides of the syrinx independently, allowing the simultaneous production of two different songs. Calls are used for a variety of purposes, including mate attraction, evaluation of potential mates, bond formation, the claiming and maintenance of territories, the identification of other individuals (such as when parents look for chicks in colonies or when mates reunite at the start of breeding season), and the warning of other birds of potential predators, sometimes with specific information about the nature of the threat. Some birds also use mechanical sounds for auditory communication. The *Coenocorypha* snipes of New Zealand drive air through their feathers, woodpeckers drum for long-distance communication, and palm cockatoos use tools to drum.
### Flocking and other associations
While some birds are essentially territorial or live in small family groups, other birds may form large flocks. The principal benefits of flocking are safety in numbers and increased foraging efficiency. Defence against predators is particularly important in closed habitats like forests, where ambush predation is common and multiple eyes can provide a valuable early warning system. This has led to the development of many mixed-species feeding flocks, which are usually composed of small numbers of many species; these flocks provide safety in numbers but increase potential competition for resources. Costs of flocking include bullying of socially subordinate birds by more dominant birds and the reduction of feeding efficiency in certain cases. Some species have a mixed system with breeding pairs maintaining territories, while unmated or young birds live in flocks where they secure mates prior to finding territories.
Birds sometimes also form associations with non-avian species. Plunge-diving seabirds associate with dolphins and tuna, which push shoaling fish towards the surface. Some species of hornbills have a mutualistic relationship with dwarf mongooses, in which they forage together and warn each other of nearby birds of prey and other predators.
### Resting and roosting
The high metabolic rates of birds during the active part of the day is supplemented by rest at other times. Sleeping birds often use a type of sleep known as vigilant sleep, where periods of rest are interspersed with quick eye-opening "peeks", allowing them to be sensitive to disturbances and enable rapid escape from threats. Swifts are believed to be able to sleep in flight and radar observations suggest that they orient themselves to face the wind in their roosting flight. It has been suggested that there may be certain kinds of sleep which are possible even when in flight.
Some birds have also demonstrated the capacity to fall into slow-wave sleep one hemisphere of the brain at a time. The birds tend to exercise this ability depending upon its position relative to the outside of the flock. This may allow the eye opposite the sleeping hemisphere to remain vigilant for predators by viewing the outer margins of the flock. This adaptation is also known from marine mammals. Communal roosting is common because it lowers the loss of body heat and decreases the risks associated with predators. Roosting sites are often chosen with regard to thermoregulation and safety. Unusual mobile roost sites include large herbivores on the African savanna that are used by oxpeckers.
Many sleeping birds bend their heads over their backs and tuck their bills in their back feathers, although others place their beaks among their breast feathers. Many birds rest on one leg, while some may pull up their legs into their feathers, especially in cold weather. Perching birds have a tendon-locking mechanism that helps them hold on to the perch when they are asleep. Many ground birds, such as quails and pheasants, roost in trees. A few parrots of the genus *Loriculus* roost hanging upside down. Some hummingbirds go into a nightly state of torpor accompanied with a reduction of their metabolic rates. This physiological adaptation shows in nearly a hundred other species, including owlet-nightjars, nightjars, and woodswallows. One species, the common poorwill, even enters a state of hibernation. Birds do not have sweat glands, but can lose water directly through the skin, and they may cool themselves by moving to shade, standing in water, panting, increasing their surface area, fluttering their throat or using special behaviours like urohidrosis to cool themselves.
### Breeding
#### Social systems
95 per cent of bird species are socially monogamous. These species pair for at least the length of the breeding season or—in some cases—for several years or until the death of one mate. Monogamy allows for both paternal care and biparental care, which is especially important for species in which care from both the female and the male parent is required in order to successfully rear a brood. Among many socially monogamous species, extra-pair copulation (infidelity) is common. Such behaviour typically occurs between dominant males and females paired with subordinate males, but may also be the result of forced copulation in ducks and other anatids.
For females, possible benefits of extra-pair copulation include getting better genes for her offspring and insuring against the possibility of infertility in her mate. Males of species that engage in extra-pair copulations will closely guard their mates to ensure the parentage of the offspring that they raise.
Other mating systems, including polygyny, polyandry, polygamy, polygynandry, and promiscuity, also occur. Polygamous breeding systems arise when females are able to raise broods without the help of males. Mating systems vary across bird families but variations within species are thought to be driven by environmental conditions. A unique system is the formation of trios where a third individual is allowed by a breeding pair temporarily into the territory to assist with brood raising thereby leading to higher fitness.
Breeding usually involves some form of courtship display, typically performed by the male. Most displays are rather simple and involve some type of song. Some displays, however, are quite elaborate. Depending on the species, these may include wing or tail drumming, dancing, aerial flights, or communal lekking. Females are generally the ones that drive partner selection, although in the polyandrous phalaropes, this is reversed: plainer males choose brightly coloured females. Courtship feeding, billing and are commonly performed between partners, generally after the birds have paired and mated.
Homosexual behaviour has been observed in males or females in numerous species of birds, including copulation, pair-bonding, and joint parenting of chicks. Over 130 avian species around the world engage in sexual interactions between the same sex or homosexual behaviours. "Same-sex courtship activities may involve elaborate displays, synchronised dances, gift-giving ceremonies, or behaviours at specific display areas including bowers, arenas, or leks."
Many birds actively defend a territory from others of the same species during the breeding season; maintenance of territories protects the food source for their chicks. Species that are unable to defend feeding territories, such as seabirds and swifts, often breed in colonies instead; this is thought to offer protection from predators. Colonial breeders defend small nesting sites, and competition between and within species for nesting sites can be intense.
All birds lay amniotic eggs with hard shells made mostly of calcium carbonate. Hole and burrow nesting species tend to lay white or pale eggs, while open nesters lay camouflaged eggs. There are many exceptions to this pattern, however; the ground-nesting nightjars have pale eggs, and camouflage is instead provided by their plumage. Species that are victims of brood parasites have varying egg colours to improve the chances of spotting a parasite's egg, which forces female parasites to match their eggs to those of their hosts.
Bird eggs are usually laid in a nest. Most species create somewhat elaborate nests, which can be cups, domes, plates, mounds, or burrows. Some bird nests can be a simple scrape, with minimal or no lining; most seabird and wader nests are no more than a scrape on the ground. Most birds build nests in sheltered, hidden areas to avoid predation, but large or colonial birds—which are more capable of defence—may build more open nests. During nest construction, some species seek out plant matter from plants with parasite-reducing toxins to improve chick survival, and feathers are often used for nest insulation. Some bird species have no nests; the cliff-nesting common guillemot lays its eggs on bare rock, and male emperor penguins keep eggs between their body and feet. The absence of nests is especially prevalent in open habitat ground-nesting species where any addition of nest material would make the nest more conspicuous. Many ground nesting birds lay a clutch of eggs that hatch synchronously, with precocial chicks led away from the nests (nidifugous) by their parents soon after hatching.
Incubation, which regulates temperature for chick development, usually begins after the last egg has been laid. In monogamous species incubation duties are often shared, whereas in polygamous species one parent is wholly responsible for incubation. Warmth from parents passes to the eggs through brood patches, areas of bare skin on the abdomen or breast of the incubating birds. Incubation can be an energetically demanding process; adult albatrosses, for instance, lose as much as 83 grams (2.9 oz) of body weight per day of incubation. The warmth for the incubation of the eggs of megapodes comes from the sun, decaying vegetation or volcanic sources. Incubation periods range from 10 days (in woodpeckers, cuckoos and passerine birds) to over 80 days (in albatrosses and kiwis).
The diversity of characteristics of birds is great, sometimes even in closely related species. Several avian characteristics are compared in the table below.
| Species | Adult weight (grams) |
Incubation (days) |
Clutches (per year) |
Clutch size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris)
|
3 | 13 | 2.0 | 2 |
House sparrow (Passer domesticus)
|
25 | 11 | 4.5 | 5 |
Greater roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus)
|
376 | 20 | 1.5 | 4 |
Turkey vulture (Cathartes aura)
|
2,200 | 39 | 1.0 | 2 |
Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis)
|
3,150 | 64 | 1.0 | 1 |
Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus)
|
4,000 | 40 | 1.0 | 1 |
Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)
|
4,800 | 40 | 1.0 | 2 |
Wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)
|
6,050 | 28 | 1.0 | 11 |
#### Parental care and fledging
At the time of their hatching, chicks range in development from helpless to independent, depending on their species. Helpless chicks are termed *altricial*, and tend to be born small, blind, immobile and naked; chicks that are mobile and feathered upon hatching are termed *precocial*. Altricial chicks need help thermoregulating and must be brooded for longer than precocial chicks. The young of many bird species do not precisely fit into either the precocial or altricial category, having some aspects of each and thus fall somewhere on an "altricial-precocial spectrum". Chicks at neither extreme but favouring one or the other may be termed or .
The length and nature of parental care varies widely amongst different orders and species. At one extreme, parental care in megapodes ends at hatching; the newly hatched chick digs itself out of the nest mound without parental assistance and can fend for itself immediately. At the other extreme, many seabirds have extended periods of parental care, the longest being that of the great frigatebird, whose chicks take up to six months to fledge and are fed by the parents for up to an additional 14 months. The *chick guard stage* describes the period of breeding during which one of the adult birds is permanently present at the nest after chicks have hatched. The main purpose of the guard stage is to aid offspring to thermoregulate and protect them from predation.
In some species, both parents care for nestlings and fledglings; in others, such care is the responsibility of only one sex. In some species, other members of the same species—usually close relatives of the breeding pair, such as offspring from previous broods—will help with the raising of the young. Such alloparenting is particularly common among the Corvida, which includes such birds as the true crows, Australian magpie and fairy-wrens, but has been observed in species as different as the rifleman and red kite. Among most groups of animals, male parental care is rare. In birds, however, it is quite common—more so than in any other vertebrate class. Although territory and nest site defence, incubation, and chick feeding are often shared tasks, there is sometimes a division of labour in which one mate undertakes all or most of a particular duty.
The point at which chicks fledge varies dramatically. The chicks of the *Synthliboramphus* murrelets, like the ancient murrelet, leave the nest the night after they hatch, following their parents out to sea, where they are raised away from terrestrial predators. Some other species, such as ducks, move their chicks away from the nest at an early age. In most species, chicks leave the nest just before, or soon after, they are able to fly. The amount of parental care after fledging varies; albatross chicks leave the nest on their own and receive no further help, while other species continue some supplementary feeding after fledging. Chicks may also follow their parents during their first migration.
#### Brood parasites
Brood parasitism, in which an egg-layer leaves her eggs with another individual's brood, is more common among birds than any other type of organism. After a parasitic bird lays her eggs in another bird's nest, they are often accepted and raised by the host at the expense of the host's own brood. Brood parasites may be either *obligate brood parasites*, which must lay their eggs in the nests of other species because they are incapable of raising their own young, or *non-obligate brood parasites*, which sometimes lay eggs in the nests of conspecifics to increase their reproductive output even though they could have raised their own young. One hundred bird species, including honeyguides, icterids, and ducks, are obligate parasites, though the most famous are the cuckoos. Some brood parasites are adapted to hatch before their host's young, which allows them to destroy the host's eggs by pushing them out of the nest or to kill the host's chicks; this ensures that all food brought to the nest will be fed to the parasitic chicks.
#### Sexual selection
Birds have evolved a variety of mating behaviours, with the peacock tail being perhaps the most famous example of sexual selection and the Fisherian runaway. Commonly occurring sexual dimorphisms such as size and colour differences are energetically costly attributes that signal competitive breeding situations. Many types of avian sexual selection have been identified; intersexual selection, also known as female choice; and intrasexual competition, where individuals of the more abundant sex compete with each other for the privilege to mate. Sexually selected traits often evolve to become more pronounced in competitive breeding situations until the trait begins to limit the individual's fitness. Conflicts between an individual fitness and signalling adaptations ensure that sexually selected ornaments such as plumage colouration and courtship behaviour are "honest" traits. Signals must be costly to ensure that only good-quality individuals can present these exaggerated sexual ornaments and behaviours.
#### Inbreeding depression
Inbreeding causes early death (inbreeding depression) in the zebra finch *Taeniopygia guttata*. Embryo survival (that is, hatching success of fertile eggs) was significantly lower for sib-sib mating pairs than for unrelated pairs.
Darwin's finch *Geospiza scandens* experiences inbreeding depression (reduced survival of offspring) and the magnitude of this effect is influenced by environmental conditions such as low food availability.
#### Inbreeding avoidance
Incestuous matings by the purple-crowned fairy wren *Malurus coronatus* result in severe fitness costs due to inbreeding depression (greater than 30% reduction in hatchability of eggs). Females paired with related males may undertake extra pair matings (see Promiscuity#Other animals for 90% frequency in avian species) that can reduce the negative effects of inbreeding. However, there are ecological and demographic constraints on extra pair matings. Nevertheless, 43% of broods produced by incestuously paired females contained extra pair young.
Inbreeding depression occurs in the great tit (*Parus major*) when the offspring produced as a result of a mating between close relatives show reduced fitness. In natural populations of *Parus major*, inbreeding is avoided by dispersal of individuals from their birthplace, which reduces the chance of mating with a close relative.
Southern pied babblers *Turdoides bicolor* appear to avoid inbreeding in two ways. The first is through dispersal, and the second is by avoiding familiar group members as mates.
Cooperative breeding in birds typically occurs when offspring, usually males, delay dispersal from their natal group in order to remain with the family to help rear younger kin. Female offspring rarely stay at home, dispersing over distances that allow them to breed independently, or to join unrelated groups. In general, inbreeding is avoided because it leads to a reduction in progeny fitness (inbreeding depression) due largely to the homozygous expression of deleterious recessive alleles. Cross-fertilisation between unrelated individuals ordinarily leads to the masking of deleterious recessive alleles in progeny.
## Ecology
Birds occupy a wide range of ecological positions. While some birds are generalists, others are highly specialised in their habitat or food requirements. Even within a single habitat, such as a forest, the niches occupied by different species of birds vary, with some species feeding in the forest canopy, others beneath the canopy, and still others on the forest floor. Forest birds may be insectivores, frugivores, or nectarivores. Aquatic birds generally feed by fishing, plant eating, and piracy or kleptoparasitism. Many grassland birds are granivores. Birds of prey specialise in hunting mammals or other birds, while vultures are specialised scavengers. Birds are also preyed upon by a range of mammals including a few avivorous bats. A wide range of endo- and ectoparasites depend on birds and some parasites that are transmitted from parent to young have co-evolved and show host-specificity.
Some nectar-feeding birds are important pollinators, and many frugivores play a key role in seed dispersal. Plants and pollinating birds often coevolve, and in some cases a flower's primary pollinator is the only species capable of reaching its nectar.
Birds are often important to island ecology. Birds have frequently reached islands that mammals have not; on those islands, birds may fulfil ecological roles typically played by larger animals. For example, in New Zealand nine species of moa were important browsers, as are the kererū and kōkako today. Today the plants of New Zealand retain the defensive adaptations evolved to protect them from the extinct moa.
Many birds act as ecosystem engineers through the construction of nests, which provide important microhabitats and food for hundreds of species of invertebrates. Nesting seabirds may affect the ecology of islands and surrounding seas, principally through the concentration of large quantities of guano, which may enrich the local soil and the surrounding seas.
A wide variety of avian ecology field methods, including counts, nest monitoring, and capturing and marking, are used for researching avian ecology.
## Relationship with humans
Since birds are highly visible and common animals, humans have had a relationship with them since the dawn of man. Sometimes, these relationships are mutualistic, like the cooperative honey-gathering among honeyguides and African peoples such as the Borana. Other times, they may be commensal, as when species such as the house sparrow have benefited from human activities. Several species have reconciled to habits of farmers who practice traditional farming. Examples include the Sarus Crane that begins nesting in India when farmers flood the fields in anticipation of rains, and the woolly-necked storks that have taken to nesting on a short tree grown for agroforestry beside fields and canals. Several bird species have become commercially significant agricultural pests, and some pose an aviation hazard. Human activities can also be detrimental, and have threatened numerous bird species with extinction (hunting, avian lead poisoning, pesticides, roadkill, wind turbine kills and predation by pet cats and dogs are common causes of death for birds).
Birds can act as vectors for spreading diseases such as psittacosis, salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis, mycobacteriosis (avian tuberculosis), avian influenza (bird flu), giardiasis, and cryptosporidiosis over long distances. Some of these are zoonotic diseases that can also be transmitted to humans.
### Economic importance
Domesticated birds raised for meat and eggs, called poultry, are the largest source of animal protein eaten by humans; in 2003, 76 million tons of poultry and 61 million tons of eggs were produced worldwide. Chickens account for much of human poultry consumption, though domesticated turkeys, ducks, and geese are also relatively common. Many species of birds are also hunted for meat. Bird hunting is primarily a recreational activity except in extremely undeveloped areas. The most important birds hunted in North and South America are waterfowl; other widely hunted birds include pheasants, wild turkeys, quail, doves, partridge, grouse, snipe, and woodcock. Muttonbirding is also popular in Australia and New Zealand. Although some hunting, such as that of muttonbirds, may be sustainable, hunting has led to the extinction or endangerment of dozens of species.
Other commercially valuable products from birds include feathers (especially the down of geese and ducks), which are used as insulation in clothing and bedding, and seabird faeces (guano), which is a valuable source of phosphorus and nitrogen. The War of the Pacific, sometimes called the Guano War, was fought in part over the control of guano deposits.
Birds have been domesticated by humans both as pets and for practical purposes. Colourful birds, such as parrots and mynas, are bred in captivity or kept as pets, a practice that has led to the illegal trafficking of some endangered species. Falcons and cormorants have long been used for hunting and fishing, respectively. Messenger pigeons, used since at least 1 AD, remained important as recently as World War II. Today, such activities are more common either as hobbies, for entertainment and tourism.
Amateur bird enthusiasts (called birdwatchers, twitchers or, more commonly, birders) number in the millions. Many homeowners erect bird feeders near their homes to attract various species. Bird feeding has grown into a multimillion-dollar industry; for example, an estimated 75% of households in Britain provide food for birds at some point during the winter.
### In religion and mythology
Birds play prominent and diverse roles in religion and mythology. In religion, birds may serve as either messengers or priests and leaders for a deity, such as in the Cult of Makemake, in which the Tangata manu of Easter Island served as chiefs or as attendants, as in the case of Hugin and Munin, the two common ravens who whispered news into the ears of the Norse god Odin. In several civilisations of ancient Italy, particularly Etruscan and Roman religion, priests were involved in augury, or interpreting the words of birds while the "auspex" (from which the word "auspicious" is derived) watched their activities to foretell events.
They may also serve as religious symbols, as when Jonah (Hebrew: יונה, dove) embodied the fright, passivity, mourning, and beauty traditionally associated with doves. Birds have themselves been deified, as in the case of the common peacock, which is perceived as Mother Earth by the people of southern India. In the ancient world, doves were used as symbols of the Mesopotamian goddess Inanna (later known as Ishtar), the Canaanite mother goddess Asherah, and the Greek goddess Aphrodite. In ancient Greece, Athena, the goddess of wisdom and patron deity of the city of Athens, had a little owl as her symbol. In religious images preserved from the Inca and Tiwanaku empires, birds are depicted in the process of transgressing boundaries between earthly and underground spiritual realms. Indigenous peoples of the central Andes maintain legends of birds passing to and from metaphysical worlds.
### In culture and folklore
Birds have featured in culture and art since prehistoric times, when they were represented in early cave painting and carvings. Some birds have been perceived as monsters, including the mythological Roc and the Māori's legendary *Pouākai*, a giant bird capable of snatching humans. Birds were later used as symbols of power, as in the magnificent Peacock Throne of the Mughal and Persian emperors. With the advent of scientific interest in birds, many paintings of birds were commissioned for books.
Among the most famous of these bird artists was John James Audubon, whose paintings of North American birds were a great commercial success in Europe and who later lent his name to the National Audubon Society. Birds are also important figures in poetry; for example, Homer incorporated nightingales into his *Odyssey*, and Catullus used a sparrow as an erotic symbol in his Catullus 2. The relationship between an albatross and a sailor is the central theme of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's *The Rime of the Ancient Mariner*, which led to the use of the term as a metaphor for a 'burden'. Other English metaphors derive from birds; vulture funds and vulture investors, for instance, take their name from the scavenging vulture. Aircraft, particularly military aircraft, are frequently named after birds. The predatory nature of raptors make them popular choices for fighter aircraft such as the F-16 Fighting Falcon and the Harrier Jump Jet, while the names of seabirds may be chosen for aircraft primarily used by naval forces such as the HU-16 Albatross and the V-22 Osprey.
Perceptions of bird species vary across cultures. Owls are associated with bad luck, witchcraft, and death in parts of Africa, but are regarded as wise across much of Europe. Hoopoes were considered sacred in Ancient Egypt and symbols of virtue in Persia, but were thought of as thieves across much of Europe and harbingers of war in Scandinavia. In heraldry, birds, especially eagles, often appear in coats of arms In vexillology, birds are a popular choice on flags. Birds feature in the flag designs of 17 countries and numerous subnational entities and territories. Birds are used by nations to symbolise a country's identity and heritage, with 91 countries officially recognising a national bird. Birds of prey are highly represented, though some nations have chosen other species of birds with parrots being popular among smaller, tropical nations.
### In music
In music, birdsong has influenced composers and musicians in several ways: they can be inspired by birdsong; they can intentionally imitate bird song in a composition, as Vivaldi, Messiaen, and Beethoven did, along with many later composers; they can incorporate recordings of birds into their works, as Ottorino Respighi first did; or like Beatrice Harrison and David Rothenberg, they can duet with birds.
A 2023 archaeological excavation of a 10,000-year-old site in Israel yielded hollow wing bones of coots and ducks with perforations made on the side that are thought to have allowed them to be used as flutes or whistles possibly used by Natufian people to lure birds of prey.
## Threats and conservation
Human activities have caused population decreases or extinction in many bird species. Over a hundred bird species have gone extinct in historical times, although the most dramatic human-caused avian extinctions, eradicating an estimated 750–1800 species, occurred during the human colonisation of Melanesian, Polynesian, and Micronesian islands. Many bird populations are declining worldwide, with 1,227 species listed as threatened by BirdLife International and the IUCN in 2009. There have been long-term declines in North American bird populations, with an estimated loss of 2.9 billion breeding adults, about 30% of the total, since 1970.
The most commonly cited human threat to birds is habitat loss. Other threats include overhunting, accidental mortality due to collisions with buildings or vehicles, long-line fishing bycatch, pollution (including oil spills and pesticide use), competition and predation from nonnative invasive species, and climate change.
Governments and conservation groups work to protect birds, either by passing laws that preserve and restore bird habitat or by establishing captive populations for reintroductions. Such projects have produced some successes; one study estimated that conservation efforts saved 16 species of bird that would otherwise have gone extinct between 1994 and 2004, including the California condor and Norfolk parakeet.
Human activities have allowed the expansion of a few temperate area species, such as the barn swallow and European starling. In the tropics and sub-tropics, relatively more species are expanding due to human activities, particularly due to the spread of crops such as rice whose expansion in south Asia has benefitted at least 64 bird species, though may have harmed many more species.
## See also
- Biodiversity loss
- Climate change and birds
- Glossary of bird terms
- List of individual birds
- Ornithology
- List of bird genera
- Breeding behaviors of birds
## Further reading
*All the Birds of the World*, Lynx Edicions, 2020.- Del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew; Sargatal, Jordi (eds.).
*Handbook of the Birds of the World*(17-volume encyclopaedia), Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, 1992–2010. (*Vol. 1: Ostrich to Ducks*: ISBN 978-84-87334-10-8, etc.). - Lederer, Roger; Carol Burr (2014).
*Latein für Vogelbeobachter: über 3000 ornithologische Begriffe erklärt und erforscht*, aus dem Englischen übersetzt von Susanne Kuhlmannn-Krieg, Verlag DuMont, Köln, ISBN 978-3-8321-9491-8. *National Geographic Field Guide to Birds of North America*, National Geographic, 7th edition, 2017. ISBN 9781426218354*National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds: Eastern Region*, National Audubon Society, Knopf.*National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds: Western Region*, National Audubon Society, Knopf.- Svensson, Lars (2010).
*Birds of Europe*, Princeton University Press, second edition. ISBN 9780691143927 - Svensson, Lars (2010).
*Collins Bird Guide: The Most Complete Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe*, Collins, 2nd edition. ISBN 978-0007268146
## External links
- Birdlife International – Dedicated to bird conservation worldwide; has a database with about 250,000 records on endangered bird species.
- Bird biogeography
- Birds and Science from the National Audubon Society
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- "
*Bird*".*The Encyclopedia of Life*. - Essays on bird biology
- North American Birds for Kids Archived 9 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- Ornithology
- Sora – Searchable online research archive; Archives of the following ornithological journals
*The Auk*,*Condor*,*Journal of Field Ornithology'*,*North American Bird Bander*,*Studies in Avian Biology*,*Pacific Coast Avifauna*, and the*Wilson Bulletin*. - The Internet Bird Collection – A free library of videos of the world's birds
- The Institute for Bird Populations, California
- List of field guides to birds, from the International Field Guides database
- RSPB bird identifier Archived 5 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine – Interactive identification of all UK birds
- Are Birds Really Dinosaurs? — University of California Museum of Paleontology.
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# List of states and territories of the United States - Wikipedia
The United States of America is a federal republic consisting of 50 states, a federal district (Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States), five major territories, and various minor islands. Both the states and the United States as a whole are each sovereign jurisdictions. The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution allows states to exercise all powers of government not delegated to the federal government. Each state has its own constitution and government, and all states and their residents are represented in the federal Congress, a bicameral legislature consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each state elects two senators, while representatives are distributed among the states in proportion to the most recent constitutionally mandated decennial census. Additionally, each state is entitled to select a number of electors to vote in the Electoral College, the body that elects the president of the United States, equal to the total of representatives and senators in Congress from that state. The federal district does not have representatives in the Senate, but has a non-voting delegate in the House, and it is also entitled to electors in the Electoral College. Congress can admit more states, but it cannot create a new state from territory of an existing state or merge two or more states into one without the consent of all states involved, and each new state is admitted on an equal footing with the existing states.
The United States has control over fourteen territories. Five of them (American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands) have a permanent, non-military population, while nine of them (the United States Minor Outlying Islands) do not. With the exception of Navassa Island, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, which are located in the Caribbean, all territories are located in the Pacific Ocean. One territory, Palmyra Atoll, is considered to be incorporated, meaning the full body of the Constitution has been applied to it; the other territories are unincorporated, meaning the Constitution does not fully apply to them. Ten territories (the Minor Outlying Islands and American Samoa) are considered to be unorganized, meaning they have not had an organic act enacted by Congress; the four other territories are organized, meaning an organic act has been enacted by Congress. The five inhabited territories each have limited autonomy in addition to having territorial legislatures and governors, but residents cannot vote in federal elections, although all are represented by non-voting delegates in the House.
The largest state by population is California, with a population of 39,538,223 people, while the smallest is Wyoming, with a population of 576,851 people; the federal district has a larger population (689,545) than both Wyoming and Vermont. The largest state by area is Alaska, encompassing 665,384 square miles (1,723,340 km2), while the smallest is Rhode Island, encompassing 1,545 square miles (4,000 km2). The most recent states to be admitted, Alaska and Hawaii, were admitted in 1959. The largest territory by population is Puerto Rico, with a population of 3,285,874 people (larger than 21 states), while the smallest is the Northern Mariana Islands, with a population of 47,329 people. Puerto Rico is the largest territory by area, encompassing 5,325 square miles (13,790 km2); the smallest territory, Kingman Reef, encompasses only 0.005 square miles (0.013 km2), or a little larger than 3 acres.
## States
| Flag, name and postal abbreviation |
Cities | Ratification or admission |
Population (2020) |
Total area | Reps. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capital | Largest | mi2 |
km2
| |||||
| Alabama | AL | Montgomery | Huntsville | Dec 14, 1819 | 5,024,279 |
52,420 | 135,767 | 7
|
| Alaska | AK | Juneau | Anchorage | Jan 3, 1959 | 733,391 |
665,384 | 1,723,337 | 1
|
| Arizona | AZ | Phoenix | Feb 14, 1912 | 7,151,502 |
113,990 | 295,234 | 9
| |
| Arkansas | AR | Little Rock | Jun 15, 1836 | 3,011,524 |
53,179 | 137,732 | 4
| |
| California | CA | Sacramento | Los Angeles | Sep 9, 1850 | 39,538,223 |
163,695 | 423,967 | 52
|
| Colorado | CO | Denver | Aug 1, 1876 | 5,773,714 |
104,094 | 269,601 | 8
| |
| Connecticut | CT | Hartford | Bridgeport | Jan 9, 1788 | 3,605,944 |
5,543 | 14,357 | 5
|
| Delaware | DE | Dover | Wilmington | Dec 7, 1787 | 989,948 |
2,489 | 6,446 | 1
|
| Florida | FL | Tallahassee | Jacksonville | Mar 3, 1845 | 21,538,187 |
65,758 | 170,312 | 28
|
| Georgia | GA | Atlanta | Jan 2, 1788 | 10,711,908 |
59,425 | 153,910 | 14
| |
| Hawaii | HI | Honolulu | Aug 21, 1959 | 1,455,271 |
10,932 | 28,313 | 2
| |
| Idaho | ID | Boise | Jul 3, 1890 | 1,839,106 |
83,569 | 216,443 | 2
| |
| Illinois | IL | Springfield | Chicago | Dec 3, 1818 | 12,812,508 |
57,914 | 149,995 | 17
|
| Indiana | IN | Indianapolis | Dec 11, 1816 | 6,785,528 |
36,420 | 94,326 | 9
| |
| Iowa | IA | Des Moines | Dec 28, 1846 | 3,190,369 |
56,273 | 145,746 | 4
| |
| Kansas | KS | Topeka | Wichita | Jan 29, 1861 | 2,937,880 |
82,278 | 213,100 | 4
|
| Kentucky | KY | Frankfort | Louisville | Jun 1, 1792 | 4,505,836 |
40,408 | 104,656 | 6
|
| Louisiana | LA | Baton Rouge | New Orleans | Apr 30, 1812 | 4,657,757 |
52,378 | 135,659 | 6
|
| Maine | ME | Augusta | Portland | Mar 15, 1820 | 1,362,359 |
35,380 | 91,633 | 2
|
| Maryland | MD | Annapolis | Baltimore | Apr 28, 1788 | 6,177,224 |
12,406 | 32,131 | 8
|
| Massachusetts | MA | Boston | Feb 6, 1788 | 7,029,917 |
10,554 | 27,336 | 9
| |
| Michigan | MI | Lansing | Detroit | Jan 26, 1837 | 10,077,331 |
96,714 | 250,487 | 13
|
| Minnesota | MN | Saint Paul | Minneapolis | May 11, 1858 | 5,706,494 |
86,936 | 225,163 | 8
|
| Mississippi | MS | Jackson | Dec 10, 1817 | 2,961,279 |
48,432 | 125,438 | 4
| |
| Missouri | MO | Jefferson City | Kansas City | Aug 10, 1821 | 6,154,913 |
69,707 | 180,540 | 8
|
| Montana | MT | Helena | Billings | Nov 8, 1889 | 1,084,225 |
147,040 | 380,831 | 2
|
| Nebraska | NE | Lincoln | Omaha | Mar 1, 1867 | 1,961,504 |
77,348 | 200,330 | 3
|
| Nevada | NV | Carson City | Las Vegas | Oct 31, 1864 | 3,104,614 |
110,572 | 286,380 | 4
|
| New Hampshire | NH | Concord | Manchester | Jun 21, 1788 | 1,377,529 |
9,349 | 24,214 | 2
|
| New Jersey | NJ | Trenton | Newark | Dec 18, 1787 | 9,288,994 |
8,723 | 22,591 | 12
|
| New Mexico | NM | Santa Fe | Albuquerque | Jan 6, 1912 | 2,117,522 |
121,590 | 314,917 | 3
|
| New York | NY | Albany | New York City | Jul 26, 1788 | 20,201,249 |
54,555 | 141,297 | 26
|
| North Carolina | NC | Raleigh | Charlotte | Nov 21, 1789 | 10,439,388 |
53,819 | 139,391 | 14
|
| North Dakota | ND | Bismarck | Fargo | Nov 2, 1889 | 779,094 |
70,698 | 183,108 | 1
|
| Ohio | OH | Columbus | Mar 1, 1803 | 11,799,448 |
44,826 | 116,098 | 15
| |
| Oklahoma | OK | Oklahoma City | Nov 16, 1907 | 3,959,353 |
69,899 | 181,037 | 5
| |
| Oregon | OR | Salem | Portland | Feb 14, 1859 | 4,237,256 |
98,379 | 254,799 | 6
|
| Pennsylvania | PA | Harrisburg | Philadelphia | Dec 12, 1787 | 13,002,700 |
46,054 | 119,280 | 17
|
| Rhode Island | RI | Providence | May 29, 1790 | 1,097,379 |
1,545 | 4,001 | 2
| |
| South Carolina | SC | Columbia | Charleston | May 23, 1788 | 5,118,425 |
32,020 | 82,933 | 7
|
| South Dakota | SD | Pierre | Sioux Falls | Nov 2, 1889 | 886,667 |
77,116 | 199,729 | 1
|
| Tennessee | TN | Nashville | Jun 1, 1796 | 6,910,840 |
42,144 | 109,153 | 9
| |
| Texas | TX | Austin | Houston | Dec 29, 1845 | 29,145,505 |
268,596 | 695,662 | 38
|
| Utah | UT | Salt Lake City | Jan 4, 1896 | 3,271,616 |
84,897 | 219,882 | 4
| |
| Vermont | VT | Montpelier | Burlington | Mar 4, 1791 | 643,077 |
9,616 | 24,906 | 1
|
| Virginia | VA | Richmond | Virginia Beach | Jun 25, 1788 | 8,631,393 |
42,775 | 110,787 | 11
|
| Washington | WA | Olympia | Seattle | Nov 11, 1889 | 7,705,281 |
71,298 | 184,661 | 10
|
| West Virginia | WV | Charleston | Jun 20, 1863 | 1,793,716 |
24,230 | 62,756 | 2
| |
| Wisconsin | WI | Madison | Milwaukee | May 29, 1848 | 5,893,718 |
65,496 | 169,635 | 8
|
| Wyoming | WY | Cheyenne | Jul 10, 1890 | 576,851 |
97,813 | 253,335 | 1
|
## Federal district
| Flag, name and postal abbreviation |
Established | Population (2020) |
Total area | Reps. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
mi2 |
km2
| |||||
| District of Columbia | DC | Jul 16, 1790 | 689,545 | 68 | 176 | 1 |
## Territories
### Inhabited territories
| Name and postal abbreviation |
Capital | Acquired |
Territorial status | Population (2020) |
Total area | Reps. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
mi2 |
km2
| |||||||
| American Samoa | AS | Pago Pago | 1900 | 49,710 |
581 | 1,505 | 1
| |
| Guam | GU | Hagåtña | 1899 | Unincorporated, organized |
153,836 |
571 | 1,478 | 1
|
| Northern Mariana Islands | MP | Saipan | 1986 | Unincorporated, organized
|
47,329 |
1,976 | 5,117 | 1
|
| Puerto Rico | PR | San Juan | 1899 | Unincorporated, organized |
3,285,874 |
5,325 | 13,791 | 1
|
| U.S. Virgin Islands | VI | Charlotte Amalie | 1917 | Unincorporated, organized |
87,146 |
733 | 1,898 | 1
|
### Uninhabited territories
| Name | Acquired | Territorial status | Land area | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
mi2 |
km2
| |||
| Baker Island | 1856 | 0.9 | 2.2 | |
| Howland Island | 1858 | Unincorporated, unorganized |
0.6 | 1.6 |
| Jarvis Island | 1856 | Unincorporated, unorganized |
2.2 | 5.7 |
| Johnston Atoll | 1859 | Unincorporated, unorganized |
1 | 2.6 |
| Kingman Reef | 1860 | Unincorporated, unorganized |
0.005 | 0.01 |
| Midway Atoll | 1867 | Unincorporated, unorganized |
3 | 7.8 |
| Navassa Island | 1858 | Unincorporated, unorganized |
3 | 7.8 |
| Palmyra Atoll | 1898 | Incorporated, unorganized |
1.5 | 3.9 |
| Wake Island | 1899 | Unincorporated, unorganized |
2.5 | 6.5 |
### Disputed territories
| Name | Claimed |
Territorial status | Area | Administered by | Also claimed by | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
mi2 |
km2
| |||||
| Bajo Nuevo Bank (Petrel Island) | 1869 | Unincorporated, unorganized
(disputed sovereignty) |
56 | 145 | Colombia | Jamaica Nicaragua |
| Serranilla Bank | 1880 | Unincorporated, unorganized
(disputed sovereignty) |
463 | 1,200 | Colombia | Honduras Nicaragua |
## See also
- Aboriginal title in the United States
- Historic regions of the United States
- List of Indian reservations in the United States
- List of regions of the United States
- Lists of U.S. state topics
- List of U.S. states and territories by population
- Local government in the United States
- Organized incorporated territories of the United States
- Proposals for a 51st state
- Territorial evolution of the United States
- U.S. territorial sovereignty
- Compact of Free Association
## Explanatory notes
- Radan, Peter (2007).
*Creating New States: Theory and Practice of Secession*. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 9780754671633.
|
# Arthropod - Wikipedia
| Arthropods | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Subkingdom: | Eumetazoa |
Clade:
|
ParaHoxozoa |
Clade:
|
Bilateria |
Clade:
|
Nephrozoa |
Clade:
|
Protostomia |
| Superphylum: | Ecdysozoa |
Clade:
|
Panarthropoda |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda Gravenhorst, 1843 |
| Living clades | |
|
For fossil groups, see text | |
| Diversity | |
| around 1,170,000 species | |
| Synonyms | |
|
**Arthropods** (*AR-thrə-pod*) are invertebrates in the phylum **Arthropoda**. They possess an exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (metameric) segments, and paired jointed appendages. In order to keep growing, they must go through stages of moulting, a process by which they shed their exoskeleton to reveal a new one. They form an extremely diverse group of up to ten million species.
Haemolymph is the analogue of blood for most arthropods. An arthropod has an open circulatory system, with a body cavity called a haemocoel through which haemolymph circulates to the interior organs. Like their exteriors, the internal organs of arthropods are generally built of repeated segments. They have ladder-like nervous systems, with paired ventral nerve cords running through all segments and forming paired ganglia in each segment. Their heads are formed by fusion of varying numbers of segments, and their brains are formed by fusion of the ganglia of these segments and encircle the esophagus. The respiratory and excretory systems of arthropods vary, depending as much on their environment as on the subphylum to which they belong.
Arthropods use combinations of compound eyes and pigment-pit ocelli for vision. In most species, the ocelli can only detect the direction from which light is coming, and the compound eyes are the main source of information, but the main eyes of spiders are ocelli that can form images and, in a few cases, can swivel to track prey. Arthropods also have a wide range of chemical and mechanical sensors, mostly based on modifications of the many bristles known as setae that project through their cuticles. Similarly, their reproduction and development are varied; all terrestrial species use internal fertilization, but this is sometimes by indirect transfer of the sperm via an appendage or the ground, rather than by direct injection. Aquatic species use either internal or external fertilization. Almost all arthropods lay eggs, with many species giving birth to live young after the eggs have hatched inside the mother; but a few are genuinely viviparous, such as aphids. Arthropod hatchlings vary from miniature adults to grubs and caterpillars that lack jointed limbs and eventually undergo a total metamorphosis to produce the adult form. The level of maternal care for hatchlings varies from nonexistent to the prolonged care provided by social insects.
The evolutionary ancestry of arthropods dates back to the Cambrian period. The group is generally regarded as monophyletic, and many analyses support the placement of arthropods with cycloneuralians (or their constituent clades) in a superphylum Ecdysozoa. Overall, however, the basal relationships of animals are not yet well resolved. Likewise, the relationships between various arthropod groups are still actively debated. Today, arthropods contribute to the human food supply both directly as food, and more importantly, indirectly as pollinators of crops. Some species are known to spread severe disease to humans, livestock, and crops.
The word *arthropod* comes from the Greek ἄρθρον *árthron* 'joint', and πούς *pous* (gen. ποδός *podos*) 'foot' or 'leg', which together mean "jointed leg", with the word "arthropodes" initially used in anatomical descriptions by Barthélemy Charles Joseph Dumortier published in 1832. The designation "Arthropoda" appears to have been first used in 1843 by the German zoologist Johann Ludwig Christian Gravenhorst (1777–1857). The origin of the name has been the subject of considerable confusion, with credit often given erroneously to Pierre André Latreille or Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold instead, among various others.
Terrestrial arthropods are often called bugs. The term is also occasionally extended to colloquial names for freshwater or marine crustaceans (e.g., Balmain bug, Moreton Bay bug, mudbug) and used by physicians and bacteriologists for disease-causing germs (e.g., superbugs), but entomologists reserve this term for a narrow category of "true bugs", insects of the order Hemiptera.
Arthropods are invertebrates with segmented bodies and jointed limbs. The exoskeleton or cuticle consists of chitin, a polymer of N-Acetylglucosamine. The cuticle of many crustaceans, beetle mites, the clades Penetini and Archaeoglenini inside the beetle subfamily Phrenapatinae, and millipedes (except for bristly millipedes) is also biomineralized with calcium carbonate. Calcification of the endosternite, an internal structure used for muscle attachments, also occurs in some opiliones, and the pupal cuticle of the fly *Bactrocera dorsalis* contains calcium phosphate.
Arthropoda is the largest animal phylum, with the estimates of the number of arthropod species varying from 1,170,000 to 5~10 million and accounting for over 80 percent of all known living animal species. One arthropod sub-group, the insects, includes more described species than any other taxonomic class. The total number of species remains difficult to determine, as estimates rely on census counts at specific locations, scaled up and projected onto other regions, then totalled - allowing for double-counting - to cover the whole world. Modeling assumptions are involved at each stage, introducing uncertainty. A study in 1992 estimated that there were 500,000 species of animals and plants in Costa Rica alone, of which 365,000 were arthropods.
They are important members of marine, freshwater, land and air ecosystems and one of only two major animal groups that have adapted to life in dry environments; the other is amniotes, whose living members are reptiles, birds and mammals. Both the smallest and largest arthropods are crustaceans. The smallest belong to the class Tantulocarida, some of which are less than 100 micrometres (0.0039 in) long. The largest are species in the class Malacostraca, with the legs of the Japanese spider crab potentially spanning up to 4 metres (13 ft) and the American lobster reaching weights over 20 kg (44 lbs).
The embryos of all arthropods are segmented, built from a series of repeated modules. The last common ancestor of living arthropods probably consisted of a series of undifferentiated segments, each with a pair of appendages that functioned as limbs. However, all known living and fossil arthropods have grouped segments into tagmata in which segments and their limbs are specialized in various ways.
The three-part appearance of many insect bodies and the two-part appearance of spiders is a result of this grouping. There are no external signs of segmentation in mites. Arthropods also have two body elements that are not part of this serially repeated pattern of segments, an ocular somite at the front, where the mouth and eyes originated, and a telson at the rear, behind the anus.
Originally, it seems that each appendage-bearing segment had two separate pairs of appendages: an upper, unsegmented exite and a lower, segmented endopod. These would later fuse into a single pair of biramous appendages united by a basal segment (protopod or basipod), with the upper branch acting as a gill while the lower branch was used for locomotion. The appendages of most crustaceans and some extinct taxa such as trilobites have another segmented branch known as exopods, but whether these structures have a single origin remain controversial. In some segments of all known arthropods, the appendages have been modified, for example to form gills, mouth-parts, antennae for collecting information, or claws for grasping; arthropods are "like Swiss Army knives, each equipped with a unique set of specialized tools." In many arthropods, appendages have vanished from some regions of the body; it is particularly common for abdominal appendages to have disappeared or be highly modified.
The most conspicuous specialization of segments is in the head. The four major groups of arthropods – Chelicerata (sea spiders, horseshoe crabs and arachnids), Myriapoda (symphylans, pauropods, millipedes and centipedes), Pancrustacea (oligostracans, copepods, malacostracans, branchiopods, hexapods, etc.), and the extinct Trilobita – have heads formed of various combinations of segments, with appendages that are missing or specialized in different ways. Despite myriapods and hexapods both having similar head combinations, hexapods are deeply nested within crustacea while myriapods are not, so these traits are believed to have evolved separately. In addition, some extinct arthropods, such as *Marrella*, belong to none of these groups, as their heads are formed by their own particular combinations of segments and specialized appendages.
Working out the evolutionary stages by which all these different combinations could have appeared is so difficult that it has long been known as "The arthropod head problem". In 1960, R. E. Snodgrass even hoped it would not be solved, as he found trying to work out solutions to be fun.
Arthropod exoskeletons are made of cuticle, a non-cellular material secreted by the epidermis. Their cuticles vary in the details of their structure, but generally consist of three main layers: the epicuticle, a thin outer waxy coat that moisture-proofs the other layers and gives them some protection; the exocuticle, which consists of chitin and chemically hardened proteins; and the endocuticle, which consists of chitin and unhardened proteins. The exocuticle and endocuticle together are known as the procuticle. Each body segment and limb section is encased in hardened cuticle. The joints between body segments and between limb sections are covered by flexible cuticle.
The exoskeletons of most aquatic crustaceans are biomineralized with calcium carbonate extracted from the water. Some terrestrial crustaceans have developed means of storing the mineral, since on land they cannot rely on a steady supply of dissolved calcium carbonate. Biomineralization generally affects the exocuticle and the outer part of the endocuticle. Two recent hypotheses about the evolution of biomineralization in arthropods and other groups of animals propose that it provides tougher defensive armor, and that it allows animals to grow larger and stronger by providing more rigid skeletons; and in either case a mineral-organic composite exoskeleton is cheaper to build than an all-organic one of comparable strength.
The cuticle may have setae (bristles) growing from special cells in the epidermis. Setae are as varied in form and function as appendages. For example, they are often used as sensors to detect air or water currents, or contact with objects; aquatic arthropods use feather-like setae to increase the surface area of swimming appendages and to filter food particles out of water; aquatic insects, which are air-breathers, use thick felt-like coats of setae to trap air, extending the time they can spend under water; heavy, rigid setae serve as defensive spines.
Although all arthropods use muscles attached to the inside of the exoskeleton to flex their limbs, some still use hydraulic pressure to extend them, a system inherited from their pre-arthropod ancestors; for example, all spiders extend their legs hydraulically and can generate pressures up to eight times their resting level.
The exoskeleton cannot stretch and thus restricts growth. Arthropods, therefore, replace their exoskeletons by undergoing ecdysis (moulting), or shedding the old exoskeleton, the exuviae, after growing a new one that is not yet hardened. Moulting cycles run nearly continuously until an arthropod reaches full size. The developmental stages between each moult (ecdysis) until sexual maturity is reached is called an instar. Differences between instars can often be seen in altered body proportions, colors, patterns, changes in the number of body segments or head width. After moulting, i.e. shedding their exoskeleton, the juvenile arthropods continue in their life cycle until they either pupate or moult again.
In the initial phase of moulting, the animal stops feeding and its epidermis releases moulting fluid, a mixture of enzymes that digests the endocuticle and thus detaches the old cuticle. This phase begins when the epidermis has secreted a new epicuticle to protect it from the enzymes, and the epidermis secretes the new exocuticle while the old cuticle is detaching. When this stage is complete, the animal makes its body swell by taking in a large quantity of water or air, and this makes the old cuticle split along predefined weaknesses where the old exocuticle was thinnest. It commonly takes several minutes for the animal to struggle out of the old cuticle. At this point, the new one is wrinkled and so soft that the animal cannot support itself and finds it very difficult to move, and the new endocuticle has not yet formed. The animal continues to pump itself up to stretch the new cuticle as much as possible, then hardens the new exocuticle and eliminates the excess air or water. By the end of this phase, the new endocuticle has formed. Many arthropods then eat the discarded cuticle to reclaim its materials.
Because arthropods are unprotected and nearly immobilized until the new cuticle has hardened, they are in danger both of being trapped in the old cuticle and of being attacked by predators. Moulting may be responsible for 80 to 90% of all arthropod deaths.
Arthropod bodies are also segmented internally, and the nervous, muscular, circulatory, and excretory systems have repeated components. Arthropods come from a lineage of animals that have a coelom, a membrane-lined cavity between the gut and the body wall that accommodates the internal organs. The strong, segmented limbs of arthropods eliminate the need for one of the coelom's main ancestral functions, as a hydrostatic skeleton, which muscles compress in order to change the animal's shape and thus enable it to move. Hence the coelom of the arthropod is reduced to small areas around the reproductive and excretory systems. Its place is largely taken by a hemocoel, a cavity that runs most of the length of the body and through which blood flows.
Arthropods have open circulatory systems. Most have a few short, open-ended arteries. In chelicerates and crustaceans, the blood carries oxygen to the tissues, while hexapods use a separate system of tracheae. Many crustaceans and a few chelicerates and tracheates use respiratory pigments to assist oxygen transport. The most common respiratory pigment in arthropods is copper-based hemocyanin; this is used by many crustaceans and a few centipedes. A few crustaceans and insects use iron-based hemoglobin, the respiratory pigment used by vertebrates. As with other invertebrates, the respiratory pigments of those arthropods that have them are generally dissolved in the blood and rarely enclosed in corpuscles as they are in vertebrates.
The heart is a muscular tube that runs just under the back and for most of the length of the hemocoel. It contracts in ripples that run from rear to front, pushing blood forwards. Sections not being squeezed by the heart muscle are expanded either by elastic ligaments or by small muscles, in either case connecting the heart to the body wall. Along the heart run a series of paired ostia, non-return valves that allow blood to enter the heart but prevent it from leaving before it reaches the front.
Arthropods have a wide variety of respiratory systems. Small species often do not have any, since their high ratio of surface area to volume enables simple diffusion through the body surface to supply enough oxygen. Crustacea usually have gills that are modified appendages. Many arachnids have book lungs. Tracheae, systems of branching tunnels that run from the openings in the body walls, deliver oxygen directly to individual cells in many insects, myriapods and arachnids.
Living arthropods have paired main nerve cords running along their bodies below the gut, and in each segment the cords form a pair of ganglia from which sensory and motor nerves run to other parts of the segment. Although the pairs of ganglia in each segment often appear physically fused, they are connected by commissures (relatively large bundles of nerves), which give arthropod nervous systems a characteristic ladder-like appearance. The brain is in the head, encircling and mainly above the esophagus. It consists of the fused ganglia of the acron and one or two of the foremost segments that form the head – a total of three pairs of ganglia in most arthropods, but only two in chelicerates, which do not have antennae or the ganglion connected to them. The ganglia of other head segments are often close to the brain and function as part of it. In insects, these other head ganglia combine into a pair of subesophageal ganglia, under and behind the esophagus. Spiders take this process a step further, as all the segmental ganglia are incorporated into the subesophageal ganglia, which occupy most of the space in the cephalothorax (front "super-segment").
There are two different types of arthropod excretory systems. In aquatic arthropods, the end-product of biochemical reactions that metabolise nitrogen is ammonia, which is so toxic that it needs to be diluted as much as possible with water. The ammonia is then eliminated via any permeable membrane, mainly through the gills. All crustaceans use this system, and its high consumption of water may be responsible for the relative lack of success of crustaceans as land animals. Various groups of terrestrial arthropods have independently developed a different system: the end-product of nitrogen metabolism is uric acid, which can be excreted as dry material; the Malpighian tubule system filters the uric acid and other nitrogenous waste out of the blood in the hemocoel, and dumps these materials into the hindgut, from which they are expelled as feces. Most aquatic arthropods and some terrestrial ones also have organs called nephridia ("little kidneys"), which extract other wastes for excretion as urine.
The stiff cuticles of arthropods would block out information about the outside world, except that they are penetrated by many sensors or connections from sensors to the nervous system. In fact, arthropods have modified their cuticles into elaborate arrays of sensors. Various touch sensors, mostly setae, respond to different levels of force, from strong contact to very weak air currents. Chemical sensors provide equivalents of taste and smell, often by means of setae. Pressure sensors often take the form of membranes that function as eardrums, but are connected directly to nerves rather than to auditory ossicles. The antennae of most hexapods include sensor packages that monitor humidity, moisture and temperature.
Most arthropods lack balance and acceleration sensors, and rely on their eyes to tell them which way is up. The self-righting behavior of cockroaches is triggered when pressure sensors on the underside of the feet report no pressure. However, many malacostracan crustaceans have statocysts, which provide the same sort of information as the balance and motion sensors of the vertebrate inner ear.
The proprioceptors of arthropods, sensors that report the force exerted by muscles and the degree of bending in the body and joints, are well understood. However, little is known about what other internal sensors arthropods may have.
Most arthropods have sophisticated visual systems that include one or more usually both of compound eyes and pigment-cup ocelli ("little eyes"). In most cases, ocelli are only capable of detecting the direction from which light is coming, using the shadow cast by the walls of the cup. However, the main eyes of spiders are pigment-cup ocelli that are capable of forming images, and those of jumping spiders can rotate to track prey.
Compound eyes consist of fifteen to several thousand independent ommatidia, columns that are usually hexagonal in cross section. Each ommatidium is an independent sensor, with its own light-sensitive cells and often with its own lens and cornea. Compound eyes have a wide field of view, and can detect fast movement and, in some cases, the polarization of light. On the other hand, the relatively large size of ommatidia makes the images rather coarse, and compound eyes are shorter-sighted than those of birds and mammals – although this is not a severe disadvantage, as objects and events within 20 cm (8 in) are most important to most arthropods. Several arthropods have color vision, and that of some insects has been studied in detail; for example, the ommatidia of bees contain receptors for both green and ultra-violet.
A few arthropods, such as barnacles, are hermaphroditic, that is, each can have the organs of both sexes. However, individuals of most species remain of one sex their entire lives. A few species of insects and crustaceans can reproduce by parthenogenesis, especially if conditions favor a "population explosion". However, most arthropods rely on sexual reproduction, and parthenogenetic species often revert to sexual reproduction when conditions become less favorable. The ability to undergo meiosis is widespread among arthropods including both those that reproduce sexually and those that reproduce parthenogenetically. Although meiosis is a major characteristic of arthropods, understanding of its fundamental adaptive benefit has long been regarded as an unresolved problem, that appears to have remained unsettled.
Aquatic arthropods may breed by external fertilization, as for example horseshoe crabs do, or by internal fertilization, where the ova remain in the female's body and the sperm must somehow be inserted. All known terrestrial arthropods use internal fertilization. Opiliones (harvestmen), millipedes, and some crustaceans use modified appendages such as gonopods or penises to transfer the sperm directly to the female. However, most male terrestrial arthropods produce spermatophores, waterproof packets of sperm, which the females take into their bodies. A few such species rely on females to find spermatophores that have already been deposited on the ground, but in most cases males only deposit spermatophores when complex courtship rituals look likely to be successful.
Most arthropods lay eggs, but scorpions are ovoviviparous: they produce live young after the eggs have hatched inside the mother, and are noted for prolonged maternal care. Newly born arthropods have diverse forms, and insects alone cover the range of extremes. Some hatch as apparently miniature adults (direct development), and in some cases, such as silverfish, the hatchlings do not feed and may be helpless until after their first moult. Many insects hatch as grubs or caterpillars, which do not have segmented limbs or hardened cuticles, and metamorphose into adult forms by entering an inactive phase in which the larval tissues are broken down and re-used to build the adult body. Dragonfly larvae have the typical cuticles and jointed limbs of arthropods but are flightless water-breathers with extendable jaws. Crustaceans commonly hatch as tiny nauplius larvae that have only three segments and pairs of appendages.
Based on the distribution of shared plesiomorphic features in extant and fossil taxa, the last common ancestor of all arthropods is inferred to have been as a modular organism with each module covered by its own sclerite (armor plate) and bearing a pair of biramous limbs. However, whether the ancestral limb was uniramous or biramous is far from a settled debate. This Ur-arthropod had a ventral mouth, pre-oral antennae and dorsal eyes at the front of the body. It was assumed to have been a non-discriminatory sediment feeder, processing whatever sediment came its way for food, but fossil findings hint that the last common ancestor of both arthropods and Priapulida shared the same specialized mouth apparatus: a circular mouth with rings of teeth used for capturing animal prey.
It has been proposed that the Ediacaran animals *Parvancorina* and *Spriggina*, from around , were arthropods, but later study shows that their affinities of being origin of arthropods are not reliable. Small arthropods with bivalve-like shells have been found in Early Cambrian fossil beds dating in China and Australia. The earliest Cambrian trilobite fossils are about 520 million years old, but the class was already quite diverse and worldwide, suggesting that they had been around for quite some time. In the Maotianshan shales, which date back to 518 million years ago, arthropods such as *Kylinxia* and *Erratus* have been found that seem to represent transitional fossils between stem (e.g. Radiodonta such as *Anomalocaris*) and true arthropods. Re-examination in the 1970s of the Burgess Shale fossils from about identified many arthropods, some of which could not be assigned to any of the well-known groups, and thus intensified the debate about the Cambrian explosion. A fossil of *Marrella* from the Burgess Shale has provided the earliest clear evidence of moulting.
The earliest fossil of likely pancrustacean larvae date from about in the Cambrian, followed by unique taxa like *Yicaris* and *Wujicaris*. The purported pancrustacean/crustacean affinity of some cambrian arthropods (e.g. Phosphatocopina, Bradoriida and Hymenocarine taxa like waptiids) were disputed by subsequent studies, as they might branch before the mandibulate crown-group. Within the pancrustacean crown-group, only Malacostraca, Branchiopoda and Pentastomida have Cambrian fossil records. Crustacean fossils are common from the Ordovician period onwards. They have remained almost entirely aquatic, possibly because they never developed excretory systems that conserve water.
Arthropods provide the earliest identifiable fossils of land animals, from about Silurian, and terrestrial tracks from about appear to have been made by arthropods. Arthropods possessed attributes that were easy coopted for life on land; their existing jointed exoskeletons provided protection against desiccation, support against gravity and a means of locomotion that was not dependent on water. Around the same time the aquatic, scorpion-like eurypterids became the largest ever arthropods, some as long as 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in).
in the LateThe oldest known arachnid is the trigonotarbid *Palaeotarbus jerami*, from about in the Silurian period. *Attercopus fimbriunguis*, from in the Devonian period, bears the earliest known silk-producing spigots, but its lack of spinnerets means it was not one of the true spiders, which first appear in the Late Carboniferous over . The Jurassic and Cretaceous periods provide a large number of fossil spiders, including representatives of many modern families. The oldest known scorpion is *Dolichophonus,* dated back to . Lots of Silurian and Devonian scorpions were previously thought to be gill-breathing, hence the idea that scorpions were primitively aquatic and evolved air-breathing book lungs later on. However subsequent studies reveal most of them lacking reliable evidence for an aquatic lifestyle, while exceptional aquatic taxa (e.g. *Waeringoscorpio*) most likely derived from terrestrial scorpion ancestors.
The oldest fossil record of hexapod is obscure, as most of the candidates are poorly preserved and their hexapod affinities had been disputed. An iconic example is the Devonian *Rhyniognatha hirsti*, dated at , its mandibles are thought to be a type found only in winged insects, which suggests that the earliest insects appeared in the Silurian period. However later study shows that *Rhyniognatha* most likely represent a myriapod, not even a hexapod. The unequivocal oldest known hexapod is the springtail *Rhyniella*, from about in the Devonian period, and the palaeodictyopteran *Delitzschala bitterfeldensis*, from about in the Carboniferous period, respectively. The Mazon Creek lagerstätten from the Late Carboniferous, about , include about 200 species, some gigantic by modern standards, and indicate that insects had occupied their main modern ecological niches as herbivores, detritivores and insectivores. Social termites and ants first appear in the Early Cretaceous, and advanced social bees have been found in Late Cretaceous rocks but did not become abundant until the Middle Cenozoic.
From 1952 to 1977, zoologist Sidnie Manton and others argued that arthropods are polyphyletic, in other words, that they do not share a common ancestor that was itself an arthropod. Instead, they proposed that three separate groups of "arthropods" evolved separately from common worm-like ancestors: the chelicerates, including spiders and scorpions; the crustaceans; and the uniramia, consisting of onychophorans, myriapods and hexapods. These arguments usually bypassed trilobites, as the evolutionary relationships of this class were unclear. Proponents of polyphyly argued the following: that the similarities between these groups are the results of convergent evolution, as natural consequences of having rigid, segmented exoskeletons; that the three groups use different chemical means of hardening the cuticle; that there were significant differences in the construction of their compound eyes; that it is hard to see how such different configurations of segments and appendages in the head could have evolved from the same ancestor; and that crustaceans have biramous limbs with separate gill and leg branches, while the other two groups have uniramous limbs in which the single branch serves as a leg.
Further analysis and discoveries in the 1990s reversed this view, and led to acceptance that arthropods are monophyletic, in other words they are inferred to share a common ancestor that was itself an arthropod. For example, Graham Budd's analyses of *Kerygmachela* in 1993 and of *Opabinia* in 1996 convinced him that these animals were similar to onychophorans and to various Early Cambrian "lobopods", and he presented an "evolutionary family tree" that showed these as "aunts" and "cousins" of all arthropods. These changes made the scope of the term "arthropod" unclear, and Claus Nielsen proposed that the wider group should be labelled "Panarthropoda" ("all the arthropods") while the animals with jointed limbs and hardened cuticles should be called "Euarthropoda" ("true arthropods").
A contrary view was presented in 2003, when Jan Bergström and Hou Xian-guang argued that, if arthropods were a "sister-group" to any of the anomalocarids, they must have lost and then re-evolved features that were well-developed in the anomalocarids. The earliest known arthropods ate mud in order to extract food particles from it, and possessed variable numbers of segments with unspecialized appendages that functioned as both gills and legs. Anomalocarids were, by the standards of the time, huge and sophisticated predators with specialized mouths and grasping appendages, fixed numbers of segments some of which were specialized, tail fins, and gills that were very different from those of arthropods. In 2006, they suggested that arthropods were more closely related to lobopods and tardigrades than to anomalocarids. In 2014, it was found that tardigrades were more closely related to arthropods than velvet worms.
Higher up the "family tree", the Annelida have traditionally been considered the closest relatives of the Panarthropoda, since both groups have segmented bodies, and the combination of these groups was labelled Articulata. There had been competing proposals that arthropods were closely related to other groups such as nematodes, priapulids and tardigrades, but these remained minority views because it was difficult to specify in detail the relationships between these groups.
In the 1990s, molecular phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequences produced a coherent scheme showing arthropods as members of a superphylum labelled Ecdysozoa ("animals that moult"), which contained nematodes, priapulids and tardigrades but excluded annelids. This was backed up by studies of the anatomy and development of these animals, which showed that many of the features that supported the Articulata hypothesis showed significant differences between annelids and the earliest Panarthropods in their details, and some were hardly present at all in arthropods. This hypothesis groups annelids with molluscs and brachiopods in another superphylum, Lophotrochozoa.
If the Ecdysozoa hypothesis is correct, then segmentation of arthropods and annelids either has evolved convergently or has been inherited from a much older ancestor and subsequently lost in several other lineages, such as the non-arthropod members of the Ecdysozoa.
| Arthropod fossil phylogeny |
| Summarized cladogram of the relationships between extinct arthropod groups. For more, see Deuteropoda. |
Aside from the four major living groups (crustaceans, chelicerates, myriapods and hexapods), a number of fossil forms, mostly from the early Cambrian period, are difficult to place taxonomically, either from lack of obvious affinity to any of the main groups or from clear affinity to several of them. *Marrella* was the first one to be recognized as significantly different from the well-known groups.
Modern interpretations of the basal, extinct stem-group of Arthropoda recognised the following groups, from most basal to most crownward:
- The "Giant" or "Siberiid Lobopodians", such as
*Jianshanopodia*,*Siberion*and*Megadictyon*, are the most basal grade in the total-group Arthropoda. - The "Gilled Lobopodians", such as
*Kerygmachela*,*Pambdelurion*and*Opabinia*, are the second most basal grade. - The Radiodonta, which traditionally known as anomalocaridids come in third position, and are thought to be monophyletic.
- A possible "upper stem-group" assemblage of more uncertain position but contained within Deuteropoda: the Fuxianhuiida, Megacheira, and multiple "bivalved forms" including Isoxyida and Hymenocarina.
The Deuteropoda is a recently established clade uniting the crown-group (living) arthropods with these possible "upper stem-group" fossils taxa. The clade is defined by important changes to the structure of the head region such as the appearance of a differentiated deutocerebral appendage pair, which excludes more basal taxa like radiodonts and "gilled lobopodians".
Controversies remain about the positions of various extinct arthropod groups. Some studies recover Megacheira as closely related to chelicerates, while others recover them as outside the group containing Chelicerate and Mandibulata as stem-group euarthropods. The placement of the Artiopoda (which contains the extinct trilobites and similar forms) is also a frequent subject of dispute. The main hypotheses position them in the clade Arachnomorpha with the Chelicerates. However, one of the newer hypotheses is that the chelicerae have originated from the same pair of appendages that evolved into antennae in the ancestors of Mandibulata, which would place trilobites, which had antennae, closer to Mandibulata than Chelicerata, in the clade Antennulata. The fuxianhuiids, usually suggested to be stem-group arthropods, have been suggested to be Mandibulates in some recent studies. The Hymenocarina, a group of bivalved arthropods, previously thought to have been stem-group members of the group, have been demonstrated to be mandibulates based on the presence of mandibles.
List of arthropod groups and genera († denotes extinct taxa)
- "Dinocaridida" † (generally considered paraphyletic, sometimes treated as lobopodians)
- Kerygmachelidae †
*Pambdelurion*† (possible lobopodian)*Mieridduryn*† (possible opabiniid)*Parvibellus*† (possible "Siberiid Lobopodian")- Opabiniidae †
- Radiodonta †
*Cucumericrus*† (possible radiodont)*Caryosyntrips*† (possible radiodont)
- Deuteropoda
- Artiopoda †
- Trilobita †
- Agnostida (possibly trilobites) †
- Nektaspida †
- Aglaspidida †
- Cheloniellida †
*Bushizheia*†*Erratus*†*Fengzhengia*†- Fuxianhuiida †
- Isoxyida †
*Kiisortoqia*†*Kylinxia*†- Marrellomorpha †
- Bradoriida †
- Megacheira † (possibly paraphyletic, alternatively placed as stem-chelicerates)
- Chelicerata
- Habeliida †
- Pycnogonida
- Prosomapoda
- "Synziphosurina" (paraphyletic)
- Xiphosura
- Dekatriata
- Phosphatocopina (possible stem mandibulate) †
- Mandibulata
- Artiopoda †
*Incertae sedis**Aaveqaspis*†*Arthrogyrinus*†*Bennettarthra*†*Burgessia*†- Cambropachycopidae †
*Cambropodus*†*Camptophyllia*†*Chuandianella*†*Keurbos*†*Notchia*†*Parioscorpio*†*Pleuralata*†*Rhynimonstrum*†*Sarotrocercus*†- Strabopida †
- Sunellidae †
*Wingertshellicus*†*Zhenghecaris*†
The phylum Arthropoda is typically subdivided into four subphyla, of which one is extinct:
**Artiopods**are an extinct group of formerly numerous marine arthropods that disappeared in the Permian–Triassic extinction event, though they were in decline prior to this killing blow, having been reduced to a handful of orders in the Late Devonian extinction. They contain groups such as the trilobites, nektaspids, aglaspidids, and the cheloniellids among others.**Chelicerates**comprise the marine sea spiders and horseshoe crabs, along with the terrestrial arachnids such as mites, harvestmen, spiders, scorpions and related organisms characterized by the presence of chelicerae, appendages just above/in front of the mouthparts. Chelicerae appear in scorpions and horseshoe crabs as tiny claws that they use in feeding, but those of spiders have developed as fangs that inject venom.**Myriapods**comprise millipedes, centipedes, pauropods and symphylans, characterized by having numerous body segments each of which bearing one or two pairs of legs (or in a few cases being legless). All members are exclusively terrestrial.**Pancrustaceans**comprise ostracods, barnacles, copepods, malacostracans, cephalocaridans, branchiopods, remipedes and hexapods. Most groups are primarily aquatic (two notable exceptions being woodlice and hexapods, which are both purely terrestrial) and are characterized by having biramous appendages. The most abundant group of pancrustaceans are the terrestrial hexapods, which comprise insects, diplurans, springtails, and proturans, with six thoracic legs.
The phylogeny of the major extant arthropod groups has been an area of considerable interest and dispute. Recent studies strongly suggest that Crustacea, as traditionally defined, is paraphyletic, with Hexapoda having evolved from within it, so that Crustacea and Hexapoda form a clade, Pancrustacea. The position of Myriapoda, Chelicerata and Pancrustacea remains unclear as of April 2012[update]. In some studies, Myriapoda is grouped with Chelicerata (forming Myriochelata); in other studies, Myriapoda is grouped with Pancrustacea (forming Mandibulata), or Myriapoda may be sister to Chelicerata plus Pancrustacea.
The following cladogram shows the internal relationships between all the living classes of arthropods as of the late 2010s, as well as the estimated timing for some of the clades:
Arthropoda
|
||
Crustaceans such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, and prawns have long been part of human cuisine, and are now raised commercially. Insects and their grubs are at least as nutritious as meat, and are eaten both raw and cooked in many cultures, though not most European, Hindu, and Islamic cultures. Cooked tarantulas are considered a delicacy in Cambodia, and by the Piaroa Indians of southern Venezuela, after the highly irritant hairs – the spider's main defense system – are removed. Humans also unintentionally eat arthropods in other foods, and food safety regulations lay down acceptable contamination levels for different kinds of food material. The intentional cultivation of arthropods and other small animals for human food, referred to as minilivestock, is now emerging in animal husbandry as an ecologically sound concept. Commercial butterfly breeding provides Lepidoptera stock to butterfly conservatories, educational exhibits, schools, research facilities, and cultural events.
However, the greatest contribution of arthropods to human food supply is by pollination: a 2008 study examined the 100 crops that FAO lists as grown for food, and estimated pollination's economic value as €153 billion, or 9.5 per cent of the value of world agricultural production used for human food in 2005. Besides pollinating, bees produce honey, which is the basis of a rapidly growing industry and international trade.
The red dye cochineal, produced from a Central American species of insect, was economically important to the Aztecs and Mayans. While the region was under Spanish control, it became Mexico's second most-lucrative export, and is now regaining some of the ground it lost to synthetic competitors. Shellac, a resin secreted by a species of insect native to southern Asia, was historically used in great quantities for many applications in which it has mostly been replaced by synthetic resins, but it is still used in woodworking and as a food additive. The blood of horseshoe crabs contains a clotting agent, Limulus Amebocyte Lysate, which is now used to test that antibiotics and kidney machines are free of dangerous bacteria, and to detect spinal meningitis. Forensic entomology uses evidence provided by arthropods to establish the time and sometimes the place of death of a human, and in some cases the cause. Recently insects have also gained attention as potential sources of drugs and other medicinal substances.
The relative simplicity of the arthropods' body plan, allowing them to move on a variety of surfaces both on land and in water, have made them useful as models for robotics. The redundancy provided by segments allows arthropods and biomimetic robots to move normally even with damaged or lost appendages.
| Disease | Insect | Cases per year | Deaths per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malaria | Anopheles mosquito |
267 M | 1 to 2 M |
| Dengue fever | Aedes mosquito |
5 M | 5,000 |
| Yellow fever | Aedes mosquito |
4,432 | 1,177 |
| Filariasis | Culex mosquito |
250 M | unknown |
Although arthropods are the most numerous phylum on Earth, and thousands of arthropod species are venomous, they inflict relatively few serious bites and stings on humans. Far more serious are the effects on humans of diseases like malaria carried by blood-sucking insects. Other blood-sucking insects infect livestock with diseases that kill many animals and greatly reduce the usefulness of others. Ticks can cause tick paralysis and several parasite-borne diseases in humans. A few of the closely related mites also infest humans, causing intense itching, and others cause allergic diseases, including hay fever, asthma, and eczema.
Many species of arthropods, principally insects but also mites, are agricultural and forest pests. The mite *Varroa destructor* has become the largest single problem faced by beekeepers worldwide. Efforts to control arthropod pests by large-scale use of pesticides have caused long-term effects on human health and on biodiversity. Increasing arthropod resistance to pesticides has led to the development of integrated pest management using a wide range of measures including biological control. Predatory mites may be useful in controlling some mite pests.
- Gould, S. J. (1990).
*Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History*. Hutchinson Radius. Bibcode:1989wlbs.book.....G. ISBN 978-0-09-174271-3. - Ruppert, E. E.; R. S. Fox; R. D. Barnes (2004).
*Invertebrate Zoology*(7th ed.). Brooks/Cole. ISBN 978-0-03-025982-1.
- "
*Arthropod*".*The Encyclopedia of Life*. - Venomous Arthropods Archived 31 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine chapter in United States Environmental Protection Agency and University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences National Public Health Pesticide Applicator Training Manual
- Arthropods – Arthropoda Insect Life Forms
|
# Michael Jackson - Wikipedia
Michael Jackson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Michael Joseph Jackson August 29, 1958 |
| Died | June 25, 2009 Los Angeles, California, US | (aged 50)
| Cause of death | Cardiac arrest caused by acute propofol intoxication |
| Burial place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California, US |
| Other names | Michael Joe Jackson |
| Occupations |
|
| Spouses | |
| Children | 3 |
| Parents | |
| Family | Jackson family |
| Awards | Full list |
Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instrument | Vocals |
| Discography | |
| Years active | 1964–2009 |
| Labels | |
| Formerly of | The Jackson 5 |
| Website | michaeljackson |
| Signature | |
**Michael Joseph Jackson** (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "**King of Pop**", he is regarded as one of the most culturally significant figures of the 20th century. Over a four-decade career, his music achievements broke racial barriers in America and made him a dominant figure across the world. Through songs, stages, and fashion, he proliferated visual performance for artists in popular music; popularizing street dance moves including the moonwalk, the robot, and the anti-gravity lean. Jackson is often deemed the greatest entertainer of all time based on his acclaim and records.
The eighth child of the Jackson family, Michael made his public debut in 1964 at age six, as a member of the Jackson 5 (later known as the Jacksons). After signing with Motown in 1968, the band achieved worldwide success with him as its lead singer. Jackson achieved solo stardom with the release of his fifth album *Off the Wall* (1979). He followed it up with *Thriller* (1982), the best-selling album of all time, which catapulted him to a rare level of fame, whilst aiding in the popularization of MTV and revolutionizing the music video medium with the videos for its title track along with "Beat It" and "Billie Jean". Jackson furthered his position as a global superstar with *Bad* (1987), the world's best-selling album of both 1987 and 1988, as well as the first album to produce five US *Billboard* Hot 100 number-one singles: "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror", and "Dirty Diana". *Dangerous* (1991) marked a new era for Jackson, lauded as his most artistic and socially conscious album. *HIStory* (1995) produced "You Are Not Alone", the first song to debut at number one on the US *Billboard* Hot 100. His final album, *Invincible*, was released in 2001.
From the late 1980s, Jackson became a figure of controversy and speculation due to his changing appearance, relationships, behavior, and lifestyle. He was accused of sexually abusing the child of a family friend in 1993. In 2005, Jackson was tried and acquitted of further child sexual abuse allegations and all other charges. While preparing for This Is It (a series of comeback concerts), Jackson died in 2009 from an overdose of propofol administered by his personal physician Conrad Murray, who was convicted in 2011 of involuntary manslaughter. Jackson's death triggered reactions around the world, creating unprecedented surges of internet traffic and a spike in sales of his music. His televised memorial service, held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, was estimated to have been viewed by more than 2.5 billion people.
Jackson is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 500 million records worldwide. He had 13 *Billboard* Hot 100 number-one singles (the fifth-highest in Hot 100 history) and is the first artist to have a top-ten single on the chart in five different decades. Jackson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (twice), the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Dance Hall of Fame (the only recording artist to be inducted). One of the most-awarded artists in popular music, his accolades include 13 Grammy Awards, the Grammy Legend Award, and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award; 26 American Music Awards, including Artist of the Century; 12 World Music Awards; six Brit Awards; the Bambi Pop Artist of the Millennium Award; and three presidential honors. In 1992, Jackson founded Heal the World Foundation, donating an estimated $500 million to charity throughout his lifetime. In 2024, half of his music catalogue sold to Sony for $600 million, the largest music acquisition for a single artist in history.
## Life and career
Michael Joseph Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana, on August 29, 1958. He was the eighth of ten children in the Jackson family, a working-class African-American family living in a two-bedroom house on Jackson Street. His mother, Katherine Esther Jackson (*née* Scruse), played clarinet and piano, had aspired to be a country-and-western performer, and worked part-time at Sears. She was a Jehovah's Witness. His father, Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson, was a former boxer, crane operator at US Steel, and guitarist for local rhythm and blues band the Falcons. Joe's great-grandfather, July "Jack" Gale, was a US Army scout; family lore held that he was also a Native American medicine man. Michael grew up with three sisters (Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet) and five brothers (Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Randy). A sixth brother, Marlon's twin Brandon, died shortly after his birth.
In 1964, Michael and Marlon joined the Jackson Brothers—a band formed by their father which included Jackie, Tito and Jermaine—as backup musicians playing congas and tambourine. Michael said his father told him he had a "fat nose", and physically and emotionally abused him during rehearsals. He recalled that Joe often sat in a chair with a belt in his hand as he and his siblings rehearsed, ready to punish any mistakes. Joe acknowledged that he regularly whipped Michael. Katherine said that although whipping came to be considered abuse, it was a common way to discipline children when Michael was growing up. Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon denied that their father was abusive and said that the whippings, which had a deeper impact on Michael because he was younger, kept them disciplined and out of trouble. Michael said that during his youth he was lonely and isolated.
Later in 1965, Michael began sharing lead vocals with Jermaine, and the group's name was changed to the Jackson 5. In 1965, the group won a talent show; Michael performed the dance to Robert Parker's 1965 song "Barefootin'" and sang the Temptations' "My Girl". From 1966 to 1968, the Jacksons 5 toured the Midwest; they frequently played at a string of black clubs known as the Chitlin' Circuit as the opening act for artists such as Sam & Dave, the O'Jays, Gladys Knight and Etta James. The Jackson 5 also performed at clubs and cocktail lounges, where striptease shows were featured, and at local auditoriums and high school dances. In August 1967, while touring the East Coast, they won a weekly amateur night concert at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
The Jackson 5 recorded several songs for a Gary record label, Steeltown Records; their first single, "Big Boy", was released in 1968. Bobby Taylor of Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers brought the Jackson 5 to Motown after they opened for Taylor at Chicago's Regal Theater in 1968. Taylor produced some of their early Motown recordings, including a version of "Who's Lovin' You". After signing with Motown, the Jackson family relocated to Los Angeles. In 1969, Motown executives decided Diana Ross should introduce the Jackson 5 to the public — partly to bolster her career in television — sending off what was considered Motown's last product of its "production line". The Jackson 5 made their first television appearance in 1969 in the Miss Black America pageant, performing a cover of "It's Your Thing". *Rolling Stone* later described the young Michael as "a prodigy" with "overwhelming musical gifts" who "quickly emerged as the main draw and lead singer".
In January 1970, "I Want You Back" became the first Jackson 5 song to reach number one on the US *Billboard* Hot 100; it stayed there for four weeks. Three more singles with Motown topped the chart: "ABC", "The Love You Save", and "I'll Be There". In May 1971, the Jackson family moved into a large house at Hayvenhurst, a 2-acre (0.81 ha) estate in Encino, California. During this period, Michael developed from a child performer into a teen idol. Between 1972 and 1975, he released four solo studio albums with Motown: *Got to Be There* (1972), *Ben* (1972), *Music & Me* (1973) and *Forever, Michael* (1975). "Got to Be There" and "Ben", the title tracks from his first two solo albums, sold well as singles, as did a cover of Bobby Day's "Rockin' Robin".
Michael maintained ties to the Jackson 5. The Jackson 5 were later described as "a cutting-edge example of black crossover artists". They were frustrated by Motown's refusal to allow them creative input. Jackson's performance of their top five single "Dancing Machine" on *Soul Train* popularized the robot dance.
*Off the Wall* (1975–1981)
The Jackson 5 left Motown in 1975, signing with Epic Records and renaming themselves the Jacksons. Their younger brother Randy joined the band around this time; Jermaine stayed with Motown and pursued a solo career. The Jacksons continued to tour internationally, and released six more albums between 1976 and 1984. Michael, the group's main songwriter during this time, wrote songs such as "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" (1978), "This Place Hotel" (1980), and "Can You Feel It" (1980).
In 1977, Jackson moved to New York City to star as the Scarecrow in *The Wiz*, a musical film directed by Sidney Lumet, alongside Diana Ross, Nipsey Russell, and Ted Ross. The film was a box-office failure. Its score was arranged by Quincy Jones, who later produced three of Jackson's solo albums. During his time in New York, Jackson frequented the Studio 54 nightclub, where he heard early hip hop; this influenced his beatboxing on future tracks such as "Working Day and Night". In 1978, Jackson felt unsatisfied with his nose, and decided to have a rhinoplasty. He was referred to Steven Hoefflin, who performed his operations.
Jackson's fifth solo album and first album as an adult, *Off the Wall* (1979), established him as a solo performer and helped him move from the bubblegum pop of his youth to more complex sounds. It produced four top 10 entries in the US: "Off the Wall", "She's Out of My Life", and the chart-topping singles "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and "Rock with You". The album reached number three on the US *Billboard* 200 and sold over 20 million copies worldwide. In 1980, Jackson won three American Music Awards for his solo work: Favorite Soul/R&B Album, Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist, and Favorite Soul/R&B Single for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". He also won a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for 1979 with "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". In 1981, Jackson was the American Music Awards winner for Favorite Soul/R&B Album and Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist.
Jackson felt *Off the Wall* should have made a bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his next release. In 1980, he secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit.
*Thriller*, *Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever* and Pepsi incident (1982–1984)
Jackson recorded with Queen's lead singer Freddie Mercury from 1981 to 1983, recording demos of "State of Shock", "Victory" and "There Must Be More to Life Than This". The recordings were intended for an album of duets but, according to Queen's manager Jim Beach, the relationship soured when Jackson brought a llama into the recording studio, and Jackson was upset by Mercury's drug use. "There Must Be More to Life Than This" was released in 2014. Jackson went on to record "State of Shock" with Mick Jagger for the Jacksons' album *Victory* (1984).
In 1982, Jackson contributed "Someone in the Dark" to the audiobook for the film *E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial*. Jackson's sixth album, *Thriller*, was released in late 1982. It was the bestselling album worldwide in 1983, and became the bestselling album of all time in the US and the best-selling album of all time worldwide, selling an estimated 70 million copies. It topped the *Billboard* 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to produce seven *Billboard* Hot 100 top-10 singles, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It", and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'".
On March 25, 1983, Jackson reunited with his brothers for *Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever*, an NBC television special. The show aired on May 16 to an estimated audience of 47 million, and featured the Jacksons and other Motown stars. Jackson's solo performance of "Billie Jean" earned him his first Emmy Award nomination. Wearing a glove decorated with rhinestones, he debuted his moonwalk dance, which Jeffrey Daniel had taught him three years earlier, and it became his signature dance in his repertoire. Jackson had originally turned down the invitation to the show, believing he had been doing too much television. But at the request of Motown founder Berry Gordy, he performed in exchange for an opportunity to do a solo performance. *Rolling Stone* reporter Mikal Gilmore called the performance "extraordinary". Jackson's performance drew comparisons to Elvis Presley's and the Beatles' appearances on *The Ed Sullivan Show*. Anna Kisselgoff of *The New York Times* praised the perfect timing and technique involved in the dance. Gordy described being "mesmerized" by the performance. *British Vogue* called Jackson "a fashion pioneer [...] who gave new meaning to moonwalking, immortalised solitary, [and] sparkly gloves".
At the 26th Annual Grammy Awards, *Thriller* won eight awards, and Jackson won an award for the *E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial* storybook. Winning eight Grammys in one ceremony is a record he holds with the band Santana. Jackson and Quincy Jones won the award for Producer of the Year (Non-Classical). *Thriller* won Album of the Year (with Jackson as the album's artist and Jones as its co-producer), and the single won Best Pop Vocal Performance (Male) award for Jackson. "Beat It" won Record of the Year and Best Rock Vocal Performance (Male). "Billie Jean" won two Grammy awards: Best R&B Song and Best R&B Vocal Performance (Male), with Jackson as songwriter and singer, respectively.
*Thriller* won the Grammy for Best Engineered Recording (Non Classical), acknowledging Bruce Swedien for his work on the album. At the 11th Annual American Music Awards, Jackson won another eight awards and became the youngest artist to win the Award of Merit. He also won Favorite Male Artist, Favorite Soul/R&B Artist, and Favorite Pop/Rock Artist. "Beat It" won Favorite Soul/R&B Video, Favorite Pop/Rock Video and Favorite Pop/Rock Single. The album won Favorite Soul/R&B Album and Favorite Pop/Rock Album. *Thriller*'s sales doubled after the release of an extended music video, *Michael Jackson's Thriller*, which sees Jackson dancing with a horde of zombies.
The success transformed Jackson into a dominant force in global pop culture, and the album "conquered racial divides". Jackson had the highest royalty rate in the music industry at that point, with about $2 for every album sold (equivalent to $6 in 2024), and was making record-breaking profits. Dolls modeled after Jackson appeared in stores in May 1984 for $12 each. In the same year, *The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller*, a documentary about the music video, won a Grammy for Best Music Video (Longform). *Time* described Jackson's influence at that point as "star of records, radio, rock video. A one-man rescue team for the music business. A songwriter who sets the beat for a decade. A dancer with the fanciest feet on the street. A singer who cuts across all boundaries of taste and style and color too." *The New York Times* wrote "in the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else".
In November 1983, Jackson and his brothers partnered with PepsiCo in a $5 million promotional deal that broke records for a celebrity endorsement (equivalent to $15.8 million in 2024). The first Pepsi campaign, which ran in the US from 1983 to 1984 and launched its "New Generation" theme, included tour sponsorship, public relations events, and in-store displays. Jackson helped to create the advertisement, and suggested using his song "Billie Jean", with revised lyrics, as its jingle.
On January 27, 1984, Michael and other members of the Jacksons filmed a Pepsi commercial overseen by Phil Dusenberry, a BBDO ad agency executive, and Alan Pottasch, Pepsi's Worldwide Creative Director, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. During a simulated concert before a full house of fans, pyrotechnics accidentally set Jackson's hair on fire, causing second-degree burns to his scalp. Jackson underwent treatment to hide the scars and had his third rhinoplasty shortly thereafter. Pepsi settled out of court, and Jackson donated the $1.5 million (equivalent to $4.5 million in 2024) settlement to the Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, California; its now-closed Michael Jackson Burn Center was named in his honor. Jackson signed a second agreement with Pepsi in the late 1980s for $10 million (equivalent to $27.7 million in 2024). The second campaign covered 20 countries and provided financial support for Jackson's *Bad* album and 1987–1988 world tour. Jackson had endorsements and advertising deals with other companies, such as LA Gear, Suzuki, and Sony, but none were as significant as his deals with Pepsi.
The Victory Tour of 1984 headlined the Jacksons and showcased Jackson's new solo material to more than two million Americans. It was the last tour he did with his brothers. Following controversy over the concert's ticket sales, Jackson donated his share of the proceeds, an estimated $3 to 5 million, to charity. During the last concert of the Victory Tour at the Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Jackson announced his split from the Jacksons during "Shake Your Body".
With Lionel Richie, Jackson co-wrote the charity single "We Are the World" (1985), which raised money for the poor in the US and Africa. It earned $63 million (equivalent to $184 million in 2024), and became one of the best-selling singles of all time, with 20 million copies sold. It won four Grammy Awards in 1985, including Song of the Year for Jackson and Richie. Jackson, Jones, and the promoter Ken Kragen received special awards for their roles in the song's creation.
Jackson collaborated with Paul McCartney in the early 1980s, and learned that McCartney was making $40 million a year from owning the rights to other artists' songs. By 1983, Jackson had begun buying publishing rights to others' songs, but he was careful with his acquisitions, only bidding on a few of the dozens that were offered to him. Jackson's early acquisitions of music catalogs and song copyrights such as the Sly Stone collection included "Everyday People" (1968), Len Barry's "1-2-3" (1965), and Dion DiMucci's "The Wanderer" (1961) and "Runaround Sue" (1961). In 1984, Robert Holmes à Court announced he was selling the ATV Music Publishing catalog comprising the publishing rights to nearly 4,000 songs, including most of the Beatles' material. In 1981, McCartney had been offered the catalog for £20 million ($40 million) (equivalent to $138 million in 2024). Jackson submitted a bid of $46 million (equivalent to $139 million in 2024) on November 20, 1984. When Jackson and McCartney were unable to make a joint purchase, McCartney did not want to be the sole owner of the Beatles' songs, and did not pursue an offer on his own. Jackson's agents were unable to come to a deal, and in May 1985 left talks after having spent more than $1 million and four months of due diligence work on the negotiations.
In June 1985, Jackson and Branca learned that Charles Koppelman's and Marty Bandier's The Entertainment Company had made a tentative offer to buy ATV Music for $50 million; in early August, Holmes à Court contacted Jackson and talks resumed. Jackson's increased bid of $47.5 million (equivalent to $139 million in 2024) was accepted because he could close the deal more quickly, having already completed due diligence. Jackson agreed to visit Holmes à Court in Australia, where he would appear on the Channel Seven Perth Telethon. His purchase of ATV Music was finalized on August 10, 1985.
Jackson's skin had been medium-brown during his youth, but from the mid-1980s gradually grew paler. The change drew widespread media coverage, including speculation that he had been bleaching his skin. His dermatologist, Arnold Klein, said he observed in 1983 that Jackson had vitiligo, a condition characterized by patches of the skin losing their pigment. He also identified discoid lupus erythematosus in Jackson. He diagnosed Jackson with lupus that year, and with vitiligo in 1986. Vitiligo's drastic effects on the body can cause psychological distress. Jackson used fair-colored makeup, and possibly skin-bleaching prescription creams, to cover up the uneven blotches of color caused by the illness. The creams would depigment the blotches, and, with the application of makeup, he could appear very pale. Jackson said he had not purposely bleached his skin and could not control his vitiligo, adding, "When people make up stories that I don't want to be who I am, it hurts me." He became friends with Klein and Klein's assistant, Debbie Rowe. Rowe later became Jackson's second wife and the mother of his first two children.
In his 1988 autobiography and a 1993 interview, Jackson said he had had two rhinoplasty surgeries and a cleft chin surgery but no more than that. He said he lost weight in the early 1980s because of a change in diet to achieve a dancer's body. Witnesses reported that he was often dizzy, and speculated he was suffering from anorexia nervosa. Periods of weight loss became a recurring problem later in his life. After his death, Jackson's mother said that he first turned to cosmetic procedures to remedy his vitiligo, because he did not want to look like a "spotted cow". She said he had received more than the two cosmetic surgeries he claimed and speculated that he had become addicted to them.
In 1986, it was reported that Jackson slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to slow aging. He denied the story, although it was alleged that Jackson leaked an image of him sleeping in a glass chamber (according to Jackson, this was a promotional shot from an upcoming space opera featuring himself) to *The National Enquirer*. It was also reported that Jackson took female hormone shots to keep his voice high and facial hair wispy, proposed to Elizabeth Taylor and possibly had a shrine of her, and had cosmetic surgery on his eyes. Jackson's manager Frank DiLeo denied all of them, except for Jackson having a chamber. DiLeo added "I don't know if he sleeps in it. I'm not for it. But Michael thinks it's something that's probably healthy for him. He's a bit of a health fanatic."
When Jackson took his pet chimpanzee Bubbles to tour in Japan, the media portrayed Jackson as an aspiring Disney cartoon character who befriended animals. It was also reported that Jackson had offered to buy the bones of Joseph Merrick (the "Elephant Man"). In June 1987, the *Chicago Tribune* reported Jackson's publicist bidding $1 million for the skeleton to the London Hospital Medical College on his behalf. The college maintained the skeleton was not for sale. DiLeo said Jackson had an "absorbing interest" in Merrick, "purely based on his awareness of the ethical, medical and historical significance".
In September 1986, using the oxygen chamber story, the British tabloid *The Sun* branded Jackson "Wacko Jacko", a name Jackson came to despise. *The Atlantic* noted that the name "Jacko" has racist connotations, as it originates from Jacko Macacco, a monkey used in monkey-baiting matches at the Westminster Pit in the early 1820s, and "Jacko" was used in Cockney slang to refer to monkeys in general.
Jackson worked with George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola on the 17-minute $30 million 3D film *Captain EO*, which ran from 1986 at Disneyland and Epcot, and later at Tokyo Disneyland and Euro Disneyland. After having been removed in the late 1990s, it returned to the theme park for several years after Jackson's death. In 1987, *Ebony* reported that Jackson had disassociated himself from the Jehovah's Witnesses. Katherine Jackson said this might have been because some Witnesses strongly opposed the *Thriller* video, which Michael denounced in a Witness publication in 1984. In 2001, Jackson told an interviewer he was still a Jehovah's Witness.
*Bad*, autobiography, and Neverland (1987–1990)
Jackson's first album in five years, *Bad* (1987), was highly anticipated, with the industry expecting another major success. It became the first album to produce five US number-one singles: "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror", and "Dirty Diana". Another song, "Smooth Criminal", peaked at number seven. *Bad* won the 1988 Grammy for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical and the 1990 Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Short Form for "Leave Me Alone". Jackson won an Award of Achievement at the American Music Awards in 1989 after *Bad* generated five number-one singles, became the first album to top the charts in 25 countries and the best-selling album worldwide in 1987 and 1988. The Bad tour ran from September 12, 1987, to January 27, 1989. In Japan, the tour had 14 sellouts and drew 570,000 people, nearly tripling the previous record for a single tour. The 504,000 people who attended seven sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium set a new *Guinness World Record*. *Bad* cemented Jackson's status as a dominant music force; the album has sold over 35 million copies worldwide, which ranks it amongst the best-selling albums ever.
In 1988, Jackson released his autobiography, *Moonwalk*, with input from Stephen Davis and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. It sold 200,000 copies, and reached the top of *The New York Times* bestsellers list. Jackson discussed his childhood, the Jackson 5, and the abuse from his father. He attributed his changing facial appearance to three plastic surgeries, puberty, weight loss, a strict vegetarian diet, a change in hairstyle, and stage lighting. In June, Jackson was honored with the Grand Vermeil Medal of the City of Paris by the then Mayor of Paris Jacques Chirac during his stay in the city as part of the Bad tour. On July 20, he became the first commoner in history to enter London's Guildhall through the building's Royal Entrance. In October, Jackson released a film, *Moonwalker*, which featured live footage and short films starring Jackson and Joe Pesci. In the US it was released direct-to-video and became the bestselling video cassette in the country. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it as eight times Platinum in the US.
In March 1988, Jackson purchased 2,700 acres (11 km2) of land near Santa Ynez, California, to build a new home, Neverland Ranch, at a cost of $17 million (equivalent to $45 million in 2024). He installed a Ferris wheel, a carousel, a movie theater and a zoo. A security staff of 40 patrolled the grounds. Shortly afterwards, he appeared in the first Western television advertisement in the Soviet Union.
Jackson became known as the "King of Pop", a nickname that Jackson's publicists embraced. When Elizabeth Taylor presented him with the Soul Train Heritage Award in 1989, she called him "the true king of pop, rock and soul." President George H. W. Bush designated him the White House's "Artist of the Decade". At the 38th BMI Awards in 1990, Jackson was the first person to be honored with an award named after its recipient. From 1985 to 1990, Jackson donated $455,000 to the United Negro College Fund, and all profits from his single "Man in the Mirror" went to charity. His rendition of "You Were There" at Sammy Davis Jr.'s 60th birthday celebration won Jackson a second Emmy nomination. Jackson was the bestselling artist of the 1980s.
*Dangerous* and public social work (1991–1993)
In March 1991, Jackson renewed his contract with Sony for $65 million (equivalent to $150 million in 2024), a record-breaking deal, beating Neil Diamond's renewal contract with Columbia Records. In 1991, he released his eighth album, *Dangerous*, co-produced with Teddy Riley. It was certified eight times platinum in the US, and by 2018 had sold 32 million copies worldwide. In the US, the first single, "Black or White", was the album's highest-charting song; it was number one on the *Billboard* Hot 100 for seven weeks and achieved similar chart performances worldwide. The second single, "Remember the Time" peaked at number three on the *Billboard* Hot 100 singles chart. At the end of 1992, *Dangerous* was the bestselling album of the year worldwide and "Black or White" the bestselling single of the year worldwide at the *Billboard* Music Awards. In 1993, he performed "Remember the Time" at the Soul Train Music Awards in a chair, saying he twisted his ankle during dance rehearsals. In the UK, "Heal the World" made No. 2 on the charts in 1992.
Jackson founded the Heal the World Foundation in 1992. The charity brought underprivileged children to Jackson's ranch to use the theme park rides, and sent millions of dollars around the globe to help children threatened by war, poverty, and disease. That July, Jackson published his second book, *Dancing the Dream,* a collection of poetry. The Dangerous World Tour ran between June 1992 and November 1993 and grossed $100 million (equivalent to $220 million in 2024); Jackson performed for over 3.5 million people in 70 concerts, all of which were outside the US. Part of the proceeds went to Heal the World Foundation. Jackson sold the broadcast rights of the tour to HBO for $20 million (equivalent to $45 million in 2024), a record-breaking deal that still stands.
Following the death of HIV/AIDS spokesperson and friend Ryan White, Jackson pleaded with the Clinton administration at Bill Clinton's inaugural gala to give more money to HIV/AIDS charities and research and performed "Gone Too Soon", a song dedicated to White, and "Heal the World" at the gala. Jackson visited Africa in early 1992; on his first stop in Gabon he was greeted by more than 100,000 people, some of them carrying signs that read "Welcome Home Michael", and was awarded an Officer of the National Order of Merit from President Omar Bongo. During his trip to Ivory Coast, Jackson drew larger crowds than Pope John Paul II on his previous visits. He was crowned "King Sani" by a tribal chief in the Ivorian village of Krindjabo, where he thanked the dignitaries in French and English, signed documents formalizing his kingship, and sat on a golden throne while presiding over ceremonial dances.
In January 1993, Jackson performed at the Super Bowl XXVII halftime show in Pasadena, California. The NFL sought a big-name artist to keep ratings high during halftime following dwindling audience figures. With 133.4 million viewers, it was the first Super Bowl whose halftime show drew greater audience figures than the game. Jackson played "Jam", "Billie Jean", "Black or White", and "Heal the World". *Dangerous* rose 90 places in the US albums chart after the performance.
Jackson gave a 90-minute interview with Oprah Winfrey on February 10, 1993. He spoke of his childhood abuse at the hands of his father; he believed he had missed out on much of his childhood, and said that he often cried from loneliness. He denied tabloid rumors that he had bought the bones of the Elephant Man, slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, or bleached his skin, and stated for the first time that he had vitiligo. After the interview, *Dangerous* re-entered the US albums chart in the top 10, more than a year after its release. The interview itself became the most-watched television interview in United States history to date, with more than 90 million viewers.
In January 1993, Jackson won three American Music Awards: Favorite Pop/Rock Album (*Dangerous*), Favorite Soul/R&B Single ("Remember the Time"), and was the first to win the International Artist Award of Excellence. In February, he won the "Living Legend Award" at the 35th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. He attended the award ceremony with Brooke Shields. *Dangerous* was nominated for Best Vocal Performance (for "Black or White"), Best R&B Vocal Performance ("Jam") and Best R&B Song ("Jam"), and Bruce Swedien and Teddy Riley won the Grammy for Best Engineered – Non Classical.
In early 1993, Michael Jackson befriended 13-year-old Jordan Chandler through Jordan's stepfather who became acquainted after Jackson had rented a vehicle. On July 8, 1993, Evan Chandler, Jordan's father and a Los Angeles dentist, was recorded threatening to "destroy" Jackson's career with a "carefully planned plot, with people in place ready to set it in motion" if Jackson did not meet his demands, revealing clear financial motives: "If I go through with this, I win big-time. There’s no way I lose". On July 9, Jackson's investigator, Anthony Pellicano, met Jordan, who denied any abuse or inappropriate touching by Jackson. Evan Chandler's lawyer would later call Beverly Hills psychiatrist Dr. Mathis Abrams and present him with a hypothetical situation. In reply and without having met either Jordan Chandler or his parents, Abrams sent Rothman a two-page letter in which he states that "reasonable suspicion would exist that sexual abuse may have occurred" after receiving the letter from Dr Abrams Evan Chandler allegedly received a confession from his son Jordan. Evan demands $20 million from Jackson on August 4, 1993, without going to law enforcement regarding the reports of the abuse that was claimed to have taken place, but Jackson refused and sued Chandler for extortion. Later a meeting at the Westwood Marquis Hotel, Evan and his son Jordan met Michael Jackson and Anthony Pellicano without their lawyer Barry Rothman, Evan greeted Jackson with a hug before pulling out a letter from Dr. Mathis Abrams and reading its allegations of child molestation aloud, As Evan cited the molestation references, Jordan lowered his head and then looked at Jackson with evident surprise, casting doubt on the claims as he had reportedly already reported his confession weeks prior. The encounter concluded with Evan pointing at Jackson and declaring, "I'm going to ruin you," revealing a clear intent to threaten rather than seek justice—a stark contrast to the embrace that opened the meeting. From August 9–13, 1993 Evan Chandler and his legal team made various counteroffers to secure a settlement from Jackson, escalating their financial demands after his refusal to pay the initial $20 million, with Evan later filing a civil suit in September demanding $30 million for alleged damages which were all denied by Jackson, prompting Chandler to go public with the claims of child molestation. Jackson's older sister La Toya accused him of being a pedophile; she later retracted this, saying she had been forced into it by her abusive husband.
Prosecutors raided Neverland Ranch and other places of residency while Jackson was on tour in August, but no leads were found as the investigators ruled that there was no medical evidence or physical evidence. Additionally hundreds of children were investigated but all of them stated no abuse or improper behavior had taken place. Attention was later brought to two legal art books depicting featuring young boys playing, running, and swimming in various states of undress, however Jackson denied knowing of the books' content and claimed if they were there, someone had to have sent them to him and he did not open them. No child pornography or other incriminating evidence was found. In December 1993, Prosecutor Tom Sneddon filed a strip search on Jackson based on the drawing obtained by Jordan Chandler which had been sent to the authorities, however the drawing did not match and prosecutors sought out Jackson's doctors and family inquiring about the possibility the singer had altered his genitals as to explain the mismatch. In November 1993, Jackson requested that the civil trial be postponed until after the criminal hearing was completed due to a violation of his civil rights, under the circumstances of having to defend himself under double jeopardy. This motion was denied and in January 1994 the civil lawsuit was settled for $15,331,250 with separate payments of 1.5 million for Evan and June Chandler coming out to a total of 18.3 million allocated to the Chandler family, lower than the initial demand of 20-30 million requested by Evan Chandler. The document shows that the Chandlers dropped the child molestation allegations from their complaint with Jackson's settlement being filed over claims of negligence. It was later revealed that this settlement did not prevent the Chandlers from testifying in the criminal case The police never pressed criminal charges. The prosecution continued to investigate Jackson from January to June 1994 with Jordan Chandler continuing to co-operate with investigators, by July 1994 multiple grand juries had been called however jurors remarked that no damaging evidence was heard against Jackson. "The [Santa Barbara] grand jury in Michael Jackson's case was dismissed and one juror said he heard no evidence against [Jackson]... Another juror told CNN that he heard no evidence against him [Jackson] during the hearing." On September 21, 1994, after 400 witnesses had been investigated with another 30 called in front of the grand juries, the investigation was closed. A few potential leads had been found but all of them turned out to be false.
Jackson had been taking painkillers for his reconstructive scalp surgeries, administered due to the Pepsi commercial accident in 1984, and became dependent on them to cope with the stress of the sexual abuse allegations. On November 12, 1993, Jackson canceled the remainder of the Dangerous World Tour due to health problems, stress from the allegations and painkiller addiction. He thanked his close friend Elizabeth Taylor for support, encouragement and counsel. The end of the tour concluded his sponsorship deal with Pepsi.
In late 1993, Jackson proposed to Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley, over the phone. They were married in La Vega, Dominican Republic, in May 1994 by civil judge Hugo Francisco Álvarez Pérez. The tabloid media speculated that the wedding was a publicity stunt to deflect away from Jackson's sexual abuse allegations and jump-start Presley's career as a singer. Their marriage ended little more than a year later, and they separated in December 1995. Presley cited "irreconcilable differences" when filing for divorce the next month and only sought to reclaim her maiden name as her settlement. After the divorce, Judge Pérez said, "They lasted longer than I thought they would. I gave them a year. They lasted a year and a half." Presley later said she and Jackson had attempted to reconcile intermittently for four years following their divorce, and that she had traveled the world to be with him.
Jackson composed music for the Sega Genesis video game *Sonic the Hedgehog 3* (1994), but left the project around the time the sexual abuse allegations surfaced and went uncredited. Jackson's involvement was the subject of fan speculation for decades until *Sonic* co-creator Yuji Naka confirmed it in 2022. Sega Technical Institute director Roger Hector and *Sonic* co-creator Naoto Ohshima said that Jackson was terminated and his music reworked following the allegations. However, Jackson's musical director Brad Buxer and other members of Jackson's team said he went uncredited because he was unhappy with how the Genesis replicated his music. The game's credits theme served as the basis for Jackson's 1996 song "Stranger in Moscow".
*HIStory*, second marriage, fatherhood and *Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix* (1995–1997)
In June 1995, Jackson released the double album *HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I*. The first disc, *HIStory Begins*, is a greatest hits album (reissued in 2001 as *Greatest Hits: HIStory, Volume I*). The second disc, *HIStory Continues*, contains 13 original songs and two cover versions. The album debuted at number one on the charts and has been certified for eight million shipments in the US. It is the bestselling multi-disc album of all time, with 20 million copies (40 million units) sold worldwide. *HIStory* received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. The *New York Times* reviewed it as "the testimony of a musician whose self-pity now equals his talent".
The first single from *HIStory* was "Scream/Childhood". "Scream", a duet with Jackson's youngest sister Janet, protests the media's treatment of Jackson during the 1993 child abuse allegations against him. The single reached number five on the *Billboard* Hot 100, and received a Grammy nomination for "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals". The second single, "You Are Not Alone", holds the Guinness world record for the first song to debut at number one on the *Billboard* Hot 100 chart. It received a Grammy nomination for "Best Pop Vocal Performance" in 1995.
In 1995 the Anti-Defamation League and other groups complained that "Jew me, sue me, everybody do me/ Kick me, kike me, don't you black or white me", the original lyrics of "They Don't Care About Us", were antisemitic. Jackson released a revised version of the song. In late 1995, Jackson was admitted to a hospital after collapsing during rehearsals for a televised performance, caused by a stress-related panic attack. In November, Jackson merged his ATV Music catalog with Sony's music publishing division, creating Sony/ATV Music Publishing. He retained ownership of half the company, earning $95 million up front (equivalent to $196 million in 2024) as well as the rights to more songs.
"Earth Song" was the third single released from *HIStory*, and topped the UK Singles Chart for six weeks over Christmas 1995. It became the 87th-bestselling single in the UK. At the 1996 Brit Awards, Jackson's performance of "Earth Song" was disrupted by Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker, who was protesting what Cocker saw as Jackson's "Christ-like" persona. Jackson said the stage invasion was "disgusting and cowardly".
In 1996, Jackson won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form, for "Scream" and an American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist. In July 1996, Jackson performed for Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah's fiftieth birthday at Jerudong Park Amphitheater, which was specifically built for that birthday concert. Jackson was reportedly paid $17 million (equivalent to $34 million in 2024). Jackson promoted *HIStory* with the HIStory World Tour, from September 7, 1996, to October 15, 1997. He performed 82 concerts in five continents, 35 countries and 58 cities to over 4.5 million fans, his most attended tour. It grossed $165 million (equivalent to $323 million in 2024). During the tour, in Sydney, Australia, Jackson married Debbie Rowe, a dermatology assistant, who was six months pregnant with his first child.
Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. (commonly known as Prince) was born on February 13, 1997. His sister Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson was born on April 3, 1998. Jackson and Rowe divorced in 2000, Rowe conceded custody of the children, with an $8 million settlement (equivalent to $15.1 million in 2024). In 2004, after the second child abuse allegations against Jackson, she returned to court to reclaim custody. The suit was settled in 2006.
In 1997, Jackson released *Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix*, which contained remixes of singles from *HIStory* and five new songs. Worldwide sales stand at 6 million copies, making it the bestselling remix album. It reached number one in the UK, as did the single "Blood on the Dance Floor". In the US, the album reached number 24 and was certified platinum.
*Invincible* (1997–2002)
From October 1997 to September 2001, Jackson worked on his tenth solo album, *Invincible*, which cost $30 million (equivalent to $53.3 million in 2024) to record, making it the most expensive album of all time. In June 1999, Jackson joined Luciano Pavarotti for a War Child benefit concert in Modena, Italy. The show raised a million dollars for refugees of the Kosovo War, and additional funds for the children of Guatemala. Later that month, Jackson organized a series of "Michael Jackson & Friends" benefit concerts in Germany and Korea. Other artists involved included Slash, The Scorpions, Boyz II Men, Luther Vandross, Mariah Carey, A. R. Rahman, Prabhu Deva Sundaram, Shobana, Andrea Bocelli and Luciano Pavarotti. The proceeds went to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, the Red Cross and UNESCO. In 1999, Jackson was presented with the "Outstanding Humanitarian Award" at Bollywood Movie Awards in New York City where he noted Mahatma Gandhi to have been an inspiration for him. From August 1999 to 2000, he lived in New York City at 4 East 74th Street. At the turn of the century, Jackson was awarded with the Artist of the 1980s Decade Award at the 27th American Music Awards, and the Best-Selling Pop Male Artist of the Millennium Award at the 12nd World Music Awards. In 2000, *Guinness World Records* recognized him for supporting 39 charities, more than any other entertainer.
In September 2001, two concerts were held at Madison Square Garden to mark Jackson's 30th year as a solo artist. Jackson performed with his brothers for the first time since 1984. The show also featured Mýa, Usher, Whitney Houston, Destiny's Child, Monica, Liza Minnelli and Slash. The first show was marred by technical lapses, and the crowd booed a speech by Marlon Brando. 45 million people watched the television broadcast of the shows in November according to Nielsen Media Research. After the September 11 attacks (in which Jackson narrowly avoided death by oversleeping and missing a scheduled meeting at the World Trade Center), Jackson helped organize the United We Stand: What More Can I Give benefit concert at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C., on October 21, 2001. Jackson performed "What More Can I Give" as the finale.
The release of *Invincible* was preceded by a dispute between Jackson and his record label, Sony Music Entertainment. Jackson had expected the licenses to the masters of his albums to revert to him in the early 2000s, after which he would be able to promote the material however he pleased and keep the profits, but clauses in the contract set the revert date years into the future. Jackson sought an early exit from his contract. *Invincible* was released on October 30, 2001. It was Jackson's first full-length album in six years, and the last album of original material he released in his lifetime. It debuted at number one in 13 countries, and went on to sell eight million copies worldwide, receiving double-platinum certification in the US.
surrogate mother gave birth to his third child, Prince Michael Jackson II (nicknamed "Blanket"), who had been conceived by artificial insemination. On November 20, Jackson briefly held Blanket over the railing of his Berlin hotel room, four stories above ground level, prompting widespread criticism in the media. Jackson apologized for the incident, calling it "a terrible mistake". On January 22, promoter Marcel Avram filed a breach of contract complaint against Jackson for failing to perform two planned 1999 concerts. In March, a Santa Maria jury ordered Jackson to pay Avram $5.3 million (equivalent to $9.3 million in 2024). On December 18, 2003, Jackson's attorneys dropped all appeals on the verdict and settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount.
On April 24, 2002, Jackson performed at Apollo Theater. The concert was a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee and former President Bill Clinton. The money collected would be used to encourage citizens to vote. It raised $2.5 million (equivalent to $3.8 million in 2024). The concert was called Michael Jackson: Live at the Apollo and was one of Jackson's final on-stage performances.
In July 2002, at Al Sharpton's National Action Network in Harlem, Jackson called the Sony Music chairman Tommy Mottola "a racist, and very, very, very devilish", and accused him of exploiting black artists for his own gain. The accusation prompted Sharpton to form a coalition investigating whether Mottola exploited black artists. Jackson charged that Mottola had called his colleague Irv Gotti a "fat nigger". Sony issued a statement calling the accusations "ludicrous, spiteful, and hurtful" and said Mottola had championed Jackson's career for years. Sony refused to renew Jackson's contract and said that a $25 million (equivalent to $43.7 million in 2024) promotional campaign had failed because Jackson refused to tour in the US for *Invincible*.
*Number Ones*, second child abuse allegations and acquittal (2002–2005)
Beginning in May 2002, a documentary film crew led by Martin Bashir followed Jackson for several months. The documentary, broadcast in February 2003 as *Living with Michael Jackson*, showed Jackson holding hands and discussing sleeping arrangements with a twelve-year-old boy. He said that he saw nothing wrong with having sleepovers with minors and sharing his bed and bedroom with various people, which aroused controversy. He insisted that the sleepovers were not sexual and that his words had been misunderstood.
In October 2003, Jackson received the Key to the City of Las Vegas from Mayor Oscar Goodman. On November 18, 2003, Sony released *Number Ones*, a greatest hits album. It was certified five times platinum by the RIAA, and ten times platinum in the UK, for shipments of at least 3 million units.
On December 18, 2003, Santa Barbara authorities charged Jackson with seven counts of child molestation and two counts of intoxicating a minor with alcoholic drinks. Jackson denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty. The *People v. Jackson* trial began on January 31, 2005, in Santa Maria, California, and lasted until the end of May. Jackson found the experience stressful and it affected his health. If convicted, he would have faced up to twenty years in prison. On June 13, 2005, Jackson was acquitted on all counts. FBI files on Jackson, released in 2009, revealed the FBI's role in the 2005 trial and the 1993 allegations, and showed that the FBI found no evidence of criminal conduct on Jackson's behalf.
*Thriller 25* and This Is It (2005–2009)
After the trial, Jackson became reclusive. In June 2005, he moved to Bahrain as a guest of Sheikh Abdullah. In early 2006, it was announced that Jackson had signed a contract with a Bahrain startup, Two Seas Records. Nothing came of the deal, and the Two Seas CEO, Guy Holmes, later said it was never finalized. Holmes also found that Jackson was on the verge of bankruptcy and was involved in 47 ongoing lawsuits. By September 2006, Jackson was no longer affiliated with Two Seas.
In April 2006, Jackson agreed to use a piece of his ATV catalog stake, then worth about $1 billion, as collateral against his $270 million worth of loans from Bank of America. Bank of America had sold the loans to Fortress Investments, an investment company that buys distressed loans, the year before. As part of the agreement, Fortress Investments provided Jackson a new loan of $300 million with reduced interest payments (equivalent to $470 million in 2024). Sony Music would have the option to buy half of his stake, or about 25% of the catalog, at a set price. Jackson's financial managers had urged him to shed part of his stake to avoid bankruptcy. The main house at Neverland Ranch was closed as a cost-cutting measure, while Jackson lived in Bahrain at the hospitality of Abdullah. At least thirty of Jackson's employees had not been paid on time and were owed $306,000 in back wages. Jackson was ordered to pay $100,000 in penalties. Jackson never returned to Neverland after his acquittal.
In mid-2006, Jackson moved to Grouse Lodge, a residential recording studio near Rosemount, County Westmeath, Ireland. There, he began work on a new album with the American producers will.i.am and Rodney Jenkins. That November, Jackson invited an *Access Hollywood* camera crew into the studio in Westmeath. On November 15, Jackson briefly joined in on a performance of "We Are the World" at the World Music Awards in London, his last public performance, and accepted the Diamond Award for sales of 100 million records. He returned to the US in December, settling in Las Vegas. That month, he attended James Brown's funeral in Augusta, Georgia, where he gave a eulogy calling Brown his greatest inspiration.
In 2007, Jackson and Sony bought another music publishing company, Famous Music LLC, formerly owned by Viacom. The deal gave Jackson the rights to songs by Eminem and Beck, among others. In a brief interview, Jackson said he had no regrets about his career despite his problems and "deliberate attempts to hurt [him]". That March, Jackson visited a US Army post in Japan, Camp Zama, to greet more than 3,000 troops and their families. As of September, Jackson was still working on his next album, which he never completed.
In 2008, for the 25th anniversary of *Thriller*, Jackson and Sony released *Thriller 25*, with two remixes released as singles: "The Girl Is Mine 2008" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008". *Thriller 25* was the last recorded work released during his life which he was extensively involved with, with Jackson co-producing the album's remix tracks. For his 50th birthday, Sony BMG released a series of greatest hits albums, *King of Pop,* with different tracklists for different regions. That July, Fortress Investments threatened to foreclose on Neverland Ranch, which he had used as collateral for his loans. Fortress sold Jackson's debts to Colony Capital LLC. In November, Jackson transferred Neverland Ranch's title to Sycamore Valley Ranch Company LLC, a joint venture between Jackson and Colony Capital LLC. The deal earned him $35 million. In 2009, Jackson arranged to sell a collection of his memorabilia of more than 1,000 items through Julien's Auction House, but canceled the auction in April.
In March 2009, amid speculation about his finances and health, Jackson announced a series of comeback concerts, This Is It, at a press conference at the O2 Arena. The shows were to be his first major concerts since the HIStory World Tour in 1997. Jackson suggested he would retire after the shows. The initial plan was for ten concerts in London, followed by shows in Paris, New York City and Mumbai. Randy Phillips, the president and chief executive of AEG Live, predicted the first ten dates would earn Jackson £50 million.
The London residency was increased to fifty dates after record-breaking ticket sales; more than one million were sold in less than two hours. The concerts were to run from July 13, 2009, to March 6, 2010. Jackson moved to Los Angeles, where he rehearsed in the weeks leading up to the tour under the direction of the choreographer Kenny Ortega, whom he had worked with during his previous tours. Rehearsals took place at the Forum and the Staples Center owned by AEG. By this point, Jackson's debt had grown to almost $500 million. By the time of his death, he was three or four months behind payments on his home in San Fernando Valley. *The Independent* reported that Jackson planned a string of further ventures designed to recoup his debts, including a world tour, a new album, films, a museum and a casino.
## Death
On June 25, 2009, less than three weeks before his concert residency was due to begin in London, with all concerts sold out, Jackson died from cardiac arrest, caused by a propofol and benzodiazepine overdose. Conrad Murray, his personal physician, had given Jackson various medications to help him sleep at his rented mansion in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles. Paramedics received a 911 call at 12:21 pm Pacific time (19:21 UTC) and arrived at the property four minutes later. Jackson was not breathing and CPR was performed. Resuscitation efforts continued en route to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, and for more than an hour after Jackson's arrival there, but were unsuccessful, and Jackson was pronounced dead at 2:26 pm Pacific time (21:26 UTC). Murray had administered propofol, lorazepam, and midazolam; Jackson's death was caused by a propofol overdose.
News of his death spread quickly online, causing websites to slow down and crash from user overload, and it put unprecedented strain on many services and websites including Google, AOL Instant Messenger, Twitter and Wikipedia. Overall, web traffic rose by between 11% and 20%. MTV and BET aired marathons of Jackson's music videos, and Jackson specials aired on television stations around the world. MTV briefly returned to its original music video format, and they aired hours of Jackson's music videos, with live news specials featuring reactions from MTV personalities and other celebrities.
### Memorial service
Jackson's memorial was held on July 7, 2009, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, preceded by a private family service at Forest Lawn Memorial Park's Hall of Liberty. Over 1.6 million fans applied for tickets to the memorial; the 8,750 recipients were drawn at random, and each received two tickets. The memorial service was one of the most watched events in streaming history, with an estimated US audience of 31.1 million and a worldwide audience of an estimated 2.5 to 3 billion.
Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, Jennifer Hudson, and Shaheen Jafargholi performed at the memorial, and Smokey Robinson and Queen Latifah gave eulogies. Al Sharpton received a standing ovation with cheers when he told Jackson's children: "Wasn't nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal with. But he dealt with it anyway." Jackson's 11-year-old daughter Paris Katherine, speaking publicly for the first time, wept as she addressed the crowd. Lucious Smith provided a closing prayer. On September 3, 2009, the body of Jackson was entombed at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
In August 2009, the Los Angeles County Coroner ruled that Jackson's death was a homicide. Law enforcement officials charged Murray with involuntary manslaughter on February 8, 2010. In late 2011, he was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and held without bail to await sentencing. Murray was sentenced to four years in prison, but was released after one year and eleven months.
### Posthumous sales
At the 2009 American Music Awards, Jackson won four posthumous awards, including two for his compilation album *Number Ones*, bringing his total American Music Awards to 26. In the year after his death, more than 16.1 million copies of Jackson's albums were sold in the US alone, and 35 million copies were sold worldwide, more than any other artist in 2009. He became the first artist to sell one million music downloads in a week, with 2.6 million song downloads. *Thriller*, *Number Ones* and *The Essential Michael Jackson* became the first catalog albums to outsell any new album. Jackson also became the first artist to have four of the top-20 bestselling albums in a single year in the US. Within the year following his death, Jackson sold over 75 million records worldwide. By the end of 2013, Jackson had sold over 50 million albums worldwide since his death.
Following the surge in sales, in March 2010, Sony Music signed a $250 million deal (equivalent to $360 million in 2024) with the Jackson estate to extend their distribution rights to Jackson's back catalog until at least 2017; it had been due to expire in 2015. It was the most expensive music contract for a single artist in history. They agreed to release ten albums of previously unreleased material and new collections of released work. The deal was extended in 2017. That July, a Los Angeles court awarded Quincy Jones $9.4 million of disputed royalty payments for *Off the Wall*, *Thriller*, and *Bad*. In July 2018, Sony/ATV bought the estate's stake in EMI for $287.5 million.
In 2014, Jackson became the first artist to have a top-ten single in the *Billboard* Hot 100 in five different decades. The following year, *Thriller* became the first album to be certified for 30 million shipments by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). A year later, it was certified 33× platinum after Soundscan added streams and audio downloads to album certifications.
In February 2024, Sony Music acquired half of Jackson's publishing rights and recording masters for an estimated $600 million. The deal includes assets from Jackson's Mijac publishing catalog, but excludes royalties from several Jackson-related productions, including the *MJ* Broadway musical and the *Michael* biopic. The deal is possibly the largest transaction ever for a single musician's work.
### Posthumous releases and productions
Jackson's posthumous releases and productions are administered by the estate of Michael Jackson, which owns Jackson's trademarks and rights to his name, image and likeness. The first posthumous Jackson song, "This Is It", co-written in the 1980s with Paul Anka, was released in October 2009. The surviving Jackson brothers reunited to record backing vocals. It was followed by a documentary film about the rehearsals for the canceled This Is It tour, *Michael Jackson's This Is It,* and a compilation album. Despite a limited two-week engagement, the film became the highest-grossing documentary or concert film ever, with earnings of more than $260 million worldwide. Jackson's estate received 90% of the profits. In late 2010, Sony released the first posthumous album, *Michael*, and the lead single "Hold My Hand", a duet with Akon. The Jackson collaborator will.i.am expressed disgust, saying that Jackson would not have approved the release.
The video game developer Ubisoft released a music game featuring Jackson for the 2010 holiday season, *Michael Jackson: The Experience*. It was among the first games to use Kinect and PlayStation Move, the motion-detecting camera systems for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. In April 2011, Mohamed Al-Fayed, the chairman of Fulham Football Club, unveiled a statue of Jackson outside the club stadium, Craven Cottage. It was moved to the National Football Museum in Manchester in May 2014, and removed from display in March 2019 following renewed sexual assault allegations.
In October 2011, the theater company Cirque du Soleil launched *Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour,* a $57-million production, in Montreal, with a permanent show resident in Las Vegas. A larger and more theatrical Cirque show, *Michael Jackson: One,* designed for residency at the Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas, opened on May 23, 2013, in a renovated theater.
In 2012, in an attempt to end a family dispute, Jackson's brother Jermaine retracted his signature on a public letter criticizing executors of Jackson's estate and his mother's advisors over the legitimacy of his brother's will. T.J. Jackson, the son of Tito Jackson, was given co-guardianship of Michael Jackson's children after false reports of Katherine Jackson going missing. *Xscape*, an album of unreleased material, was released on May 13, 2014. The lead single, a duet between Jackson and Justin Timberlake, "Love Never Felt So Good", reached number 9 on the US *Billboard* Hot 100, making Jackson the first artist to have a top-10 single on the chart in five different decades.
Later in 2014, Queen released a duet recorded with Jackson in the 1980s. A compilation album, *Scream*, was released on September 29, 2017. A jukebox musical, *MJ the Musical*, premiered on Broadway in 2022. Myles Frost won the 2022 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Jackson. On November 18, 2022, Epic released a 40th-anniversary edition reissue of *Thriller*. A biographical film based on Jackson's life, *Michael*, directed by Antoine Fuqua, is scheduled for October 2025. Jackson is played by his nephew Jaafar Jackson. *Deadline Hollywood* reported that the film "will not shy away from the controversies of Jackson's life". Since Jackson's death, his estate has grossed $2 billion in ticket revenue from *MJ the Musical*, *Michael Jackson's This Is It* and two Cirque du Soleil productions.
### Posthumous child sexual abuse allegations
In 2013, choreographer Wade Robson filed a lawsuit alleging that Jackson had sexually abused him for seven years, beginning when he was seven years old (1989–1996). In 2014, a case was filed by James Safechuck, alleging similar sexual abuse over a four-year period starting when Safechuck was ten (1988–1992). Both had previously testified in Jackson's defense during the 1993 allegations; Robson did so again in 2005. In 2015, Robson's case against Jackson's estate was dismissed as it had been filed too late. Safechuck's claim was also time-barred.
In 2017, it was ruled that Jackson's corporations could not be held accountable for his alleged past actions. The rulings were appealed. On October 20, 2020, Safechuck's lawsuit against Jackson's corporations was again dismissed. The judge ruled that there was no evidence that Safechuck had had a relationship with Jackson's corporation, nor was it proven that there was a special relationship between the two. On April 26, 2021, Robson's case was dismissed because of a lack of supporting evidence that the defendants exercised control over Jackson.
Robson and Safechuck's allegations were the subject of the documentary film *Leaving Neverland*, released in March 2019. Radio stations in New Zealand, Canada, the UK and the Netherlands removed Jackson's music from their playlists. Jackson's family condemned the film as a "public lynching", and the Jackson estate released a statement calling the film a "tabloid character assassination [Jackson] endured in life, and now in death". Close associates of Jackson, such as Corey Feldman, Aaron Carter, Brett Barnes, and Macaulay Culkin, defended Jackson in the wake of the documentary's release, saying that Jackson had never molested them.
Documentaries such as *Square One: Michael Jackson*, *Neverland Firsthand: Investigating the Michael Jackson Documentary* and *Michael Jackson: Chase the Truth*, presented information countering the claims suggested by *Leaving Neverland*. Jackson's album sales increased following the documentary screenings. *Billboard* senior editor Gail Mitchell said she and a colleague interviewed about thirty music executives who believed Jackson's legacy could withstand the controversy. In late 2019, some New Zealand and Canadian radio stations re-added Jackson's music to their playlists, citing "positive listener survey results".
On February 21, 2019, the Jackson estate sued HBO for breaching a non-disparagement clause from a 1992 contract. The suit sought to compel HBO to participate in a non-confidential arbitration that could result in $100 million or more in damages awarded to the estate. HBO said they did not breach a contract and filed an anti-SLAPP motion against the estate. In September 2019, Judge George H. Wu denied HBO's motion to dismiss the case, allowing the Jackson estate to arbitrate. HBO appealed, but in December 2020 the appeals court affirmed Wu's ruling.
In 2020, a state law passed in California which granted plaintiffs in child sex abuse cases an additional period to file lawsuits. In October 2020 and again in April 2021, the Los Angeles County Superior Court ruled that MJJ Productions Inc. and MJJ Ventures Inc. employees were not legally obligated to protect the two men from Jackson. In August 2023, California's Second District Court of Appeal overturned the ruling, and the case was approved to move forward to trial court.
## Legacy
Jackson has been referred to as the "King of Pop" for having transformed the art of music videos and paving the way for modern pop music. For much of Jackson's career, he had an unparalleled worldwide influence over the younger generation. His influence extended beyond the music industry; he impacted dance, led fashion trends, and raised awareness for global affairs. Jackson's music and videos fostered racial diversity in MTV's roster and steered its focus from rock to pop music and R&B, leading to the discontinuation of the album-oriented rock format previously dominant on the channel. In songs such as "Black or White", "Heal the World", "Earth Song" and "They Don't Care About Us", Jackson's music emphasized racial integration and environmentalism and protested injustice. He is considered one of the most significant figures of the 20th century, and his contributions to music, dance, and fashion, along with his publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades.
Jackson's meteoric rise in the 1980s catapulted him to global stardom, and his influence transcended borders. In Africa, his influence was compared to Nelson Mandela for his ability to inspire and unite diverse audiences through his music. Similarly, in India, Jackson was likened to Mahatma Gandhi, with his art championing themes of social justice and humanitarianism, and his influence extending to Bollywood where it was said that anyone who danced well was compared to Jackson. In Europe, Jackson's impact was compared to that of the Pope, drawing huge crowds of people who gathered to see the singer in public and even more to his concerts, which spread messages of love and healing during rough economic and political times. His presence in the Middle East was considered as widespread as Coca-Cola, symbolizing a shared global culture through his music. Additionally, Jackson is considered the backbone of the K-pop industry in South Korea, influencing countless artists and shaping the genre's development.
Trying to trace Michael Jackson's influence on the pop stars that followed him is like trying to trace the influence of oxygen and gravity. So vast, far-reaching and was his impact—particularly in the wake of
Thriller's colossal and heretofore unmatched commercial success—that there weren't a whole lot of artists whoweren'ttrying to mimic some of the Jackson formula.
Danyel Smith, chief content officer of Vibe Media Group and the editor-in-chief of *Vibe,* described Jackson as "the greatest star". Steve Huey of AllMusic called him "an unstoppable juggernaut, possessed of all the skills to dominate the charts seemingly at will: an instantly identifiable voice, eye-popping dance moves, stunning musical versatility and loads of sheer star power". BET said Jackson was "quite simply the greatest entertainer of all time" whose "sound, style, movement and legacy continues to inspire artists of all genres". In 1984, *Time* pop critic Jay Cocks wrote that "Jackson is the biggest thing since the Beatles. He is the hottest single phenomenon since Elvis Presley. He just may be the most popular black singer ever." He described Jackson as a "star of records, radio, rock video. A one-man rescue team for the music business. A songwriter who sets the beat for a decade. A dancer with the fanciest feet on the street. A singer who cuts across all boundaries of taste and style, and color too." In 2003, *The Daily Telegraph* writer Tom Utley described Jackson as "extremely important" and a "genius". At Jackson's memorial service on July 7, 2009, Motown founder Berry Gordy called Jackson "the greatest entertainer that ever lived". Jackson is recognized as the Most Successful Entertainer of All Time by *Guinness World Records*. He has also appeared on *Rolling Stone*'s lists of the Greatest Singers of All Time.
Craig Glenday, the Editor-in-Chief of *Guinness World Records*, called Jackson the most famous person in the world in 2006. Following Jackson's death, Glenday wrote in an obituary that Jackson had maintained this status up until his death, later remarking that his fame had exceeded that of Confucius. *The Guardian* wrote that he was in a league of his own in terms of fame, noting that Jackson had become so famous that the number of people who might not know who he was had become statistically insignificant. Due to his unprecedented influence, Jackson is recognized today as one of the most globally renowned figures in history. Reports of his fame extend from the Middle East, Africa, India, and China to tribes in the Amazon. His influence even reaches remote corners of the world such as São Tomé and Príncipe, or Tristan da Cunha, where tribute artists keep his legacy alive by celebrating his music.
In 2018, the National Portrait Gallery named Jackson the most depicted cultural figure of the century, later stating that Jackson's influence on art rivaled that of Jesus Christ. Nicholas Cullinan, director of the National Portrait Gallery and curator of the Michael Jackson: On the Wall exhibition, described Jackson's impact on art as unprecedented and claimed in 2018 that Jackson was the most depicted figure in the history of contemporary art. In 2014, a comprehensive study conducted by researcher Young-Ho Eom at the University of Toulouse identified Jackson as one of the most influential people of all time. The study utilized advanced ranking methods, including 2D Rank and PageRank algorithms, to analyze the impact of historical figures. Jackson was prominently placed on the list of top influencers, alongside Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, Adolf Hitler, and Jesus Christ. An additional study conducted in 2013 also identified Jackson as one of the most influential people of all time. This study ranked Jackson at the top of the list, alongside Napoleon Bonaparte, highlighting the extraordinary influence and global recognition that Jackson achieved throughout his career. Additionally, numerous publications and academic studies have recognized Michael Jackson as one of the most influential figures in history, noting his impact beyond music in fields such as psychology, law, chemistry, and engineering*.*
## Philanthropy and humanitarian work
Jackson is widely regarded as having been a prolific philanthropist and humanitarian. Jackson's early charitable work has been described by *The Chronicle of Philanthropy* as having "paved the way for the current surge in celebrity philanthropy", and by the *Los Angeles Times* as having "set the standard for generosity for other entertainers".
By some estimates, he donated over $500 million, not accounting for inflation, to various charities over the course of his life. In 1992, Jackson established his Heal the World Foundation, to which he donated several million dollars in revenue from his Dangerous World Tour.
Jackson's philanthropic activities went beyond just monetary donations. He also performed at benefit concerts, some of which he arranged. He gifted tickets for his regular concert performances to groups that assist underprivileged children. He visited sick children in hospitals around the world.
Jackson donated valuable, personal and professional paraphernalia for numerous charity auctions. He received various awards and accolades for his philanthropic work, including two bestowed by presidents of the United States. The vast breadth of Jackson's philanthropic work has earned recognition in the *Guinness World Records*.
On May 14, 1984, President Ronald Reagan gave Jackson an award recognizing his support of alcohol and drug abuse charities, and in recognition of his support for the Ad Council's and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Drunk Driving Prevention campaign. Jackson allowed the campaign to use "Beat It" for its public service announcements.
## Artistry
### Vocal style
Jackson was known as an expressive vocalist with absolute pitch. Critics describe his vocal theatricality having a range from clear and soft to harsh and aggressive, depending on the genre sung. Principally in history, Jackson is the sole recipient to receive Grammy Awards for three different genres of vocal performance (as a soloist), winning Pop Vocal for "Thriller", Rock Vocal for "Beat It", and Rhythm and Blues Vocal with both "Billie Jean" and "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". Bruce Swedien, his long-time sound engineer, emphasized that a critical element of their vocal recordings are of him and Jackson trying numerous approaches to rhythmic, emotional and technical distinctions to consummate a "sonic character". His stylings, such as common use of staccato, legato, falsetto as well as vocal hiccups, adlibs, wailings and growls are all signature to his sound.
Jackson sang from childhood, and over time his voice and vocal style changed. Between 1971 and 1975, his voice descended from boy soprano to lyric tenor. He was known for his intonation and vocal range. Through each music release, his vocal development and changes were positively narrated by music journalists. With the arrival of *Off the Wall* in the late 1970s, Jackson's abilities in his coming-of-age period had *Rolling Stone* comparing his vocals to the "breathless, dreamy stutter" of Stevie Wonder, and wrote that "Jackson's feathery-timbred tenor is extraordinarily beautiful. It slides smoothly into a startling falsetto that's used very daringly." By the time of 1982's *Thriller*, *Rolling Stone* wrote that Jackson was singing in a "fully adult voice" that was "tinged by sadness". The turn of the 1990s saw the release of the introspective album *Dangerous*. *The New York Times* noted that on some tracks, "he gulps for breath, his voice quivers with anxiety or drops to a desperate whisper, hissing through clenched teeth" and he had a "wretched tone". When singing of brotherhood or self-esteem the musician would return to "smooth" vocals. Of *Invincible*, *Rolling Stone* wrote that, at 43, Jackson still performed "exquisitely voiced rhythm tracks and vibrating vocal harmonies". Joseph Vogel notes Jackson's ability to use non-verbal sounds to express emotion. Neil McCormick wrote that Jackson's unorthodox singing style "was original and utterly distinctive".
### Influences
Jackson was influenced by musicians including James Brown, Little Richard, Jackie Wilson, Diana Ross, Fred Astaire, Sammy Davis Jr., Gene Kelly, and David Ruffin. Little Richard had a substantial influence on Jackson, but Brown was his greatest inspiration. When Jackson was a small child, his mother would wake him whenever Brown appeared on television. Jackson described being "mesmerized".
Jackson's vocal technique was influenced by Diana Ross; his use of the *oooh* interjection from a young age was something Ross had used on many of her songs with the Supremes. She was a mother figure to him, and he often watched her rehearse. He said he had learned a lot from watching how she moved and sang, and that she had encouraged him to have confidence in himself.
Choreographer David Winters, who met Jackson while choreographing the 1971 Diana Ross TV special *Diana!*, said that Jackson watched the musical *West Side Story* almost every week, and it was his favorite film; he paid tribute to it in "Beat It" and the "Bad" video.
### Musicianship
Jackson had no formal music training and could not read or write music notation. He is credited for playing guitar, keyboard, and drums, but was not proficient in them. When composing, he recorded ideas by beatboxing and imitating instruments vocally. Describing the process, he said: "I'll just sing the bass part into the tape recorder. I'll take that bass lick and put the chords of the melody over the bass lick and that's what inspires the melody." These were shown in his demos for "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" where he vocalized the melody, bass instrumentals as well as lead and backing vocals by overlaying each component. The engineer Robert Hoffman recalled that after Jackson came in with a song he had written overnight, Jackson sang every note of every chord to a guitar player. Hoffman also remembered Jackson singing string arrangements part by part into a cassette recorder.
### Dance
Jackson danced from a young age as part of the Jackson 5, and incorporated dance extensively in his performances and music videos. According to Sanjoy Roy of *The Guardian*, Jackson would "flick and retract his limbs like switchblades, or snap out of a tornado spin into a perfectly poised toe-stand". The moonwalk, taught to him by Jeffrey Daniel, was Jackson's signature dance move and one of the most famous of the 20th century. Jackson is credited for coining the name "moonwalk" for this street dance move, previously known as the "backslide". His other moves included the robot, crotch grab, and the "anti-gravity" lean of the "Smooth Criminal" video.
### Themes and genres
Jackson explored genres including pop, soul, rhythm and blues, funk, rock, disco, post-disco, dance-pop, and new jack swing. Steve Huey of AllMusic wrote that *Thriller* refined the strengths of *Off the Wall*; the dance and rock tracks were more aggressive, while the pop tunes and ballads were softer and more soulful. Its tracks included the ballads "The Lady in My Life", "Human Nature", and "The Girl Is Mine", the funk pieces "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", and the disco set "Baby Be Mine" and "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)".
With *Off the Wall*, Jackson's "vocabulary of grunts, squeals, hiccups, moans, and asides" vividly showed his maturation into an adult, Robert Christgau wrote in *Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies* (1981). The album's title track suggested to the critic a parallel between Jackson and Stevie Wonder's "oddball" music personas: "Since childhood his main contact with the real world has been on stage and in bed." With *Thriller*, Christopher Connelly of *Rolling Stone* commented that Jackson developed his long association with the subliminal theme of paranoia and darker imagery. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted this on the songs "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". In "Billie Jean", Jackson depicts an obsessive fan who alleges he has fathered her child, and in "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" he argues against gossip and the media. "Beat It" decried gang violence in a homage to *West Side Story*, and was Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece, according to Huey. He observed that "Thriller" began Jackson's interest with the theme of the supernatural, a topic he revisited in subsequent years. In 1985, Jackson co-wrote the charity anthem "We Are the World"; humanitarian themes later became a recurring theme in his lyrics and public persona.
In *Bad*, Jackson's concept of the predatory lover is seen on the rock song "Dirty Diana". The lead single "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" is a traditional love ballad, and "Man in the Mirror" is a ballad of confession and resolution. "Smooth Criminal" is an evocation of bloody assault, rape and likely murder. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine states that *Dangerous* presents Jackson as a paradoxical person. The first half of the record is dedicated to new jack swing, including songs like "Jam" and "Remember the Time". It was the first Jackson album in which social ills became a primary theme; "Why You Wanna Trip on Me", for example, protests world hunger, AIDS, homelessness and drugs. *Dangerous* contains sexually charged songs such as "In the Closet". The title track continues the theme of the predatory lover and compulsive desire. The second half includes introspective, pop-gospel anthems such as "Will You Be There", "Heal the World", and "Keep the Faith". In the ballad "Gone Too Soon", Jackson gives tribute to Ryan White and the plight of those with AIDS.
*HIStory* creates an atmosphere of paranoia. In the new jack swing-funk rock tracks "Scream" and "Tabloid Junkie", and the R&B ballad "You Are Not Alone", Jackson retaliates against the injustice and isolation he feels, and directs his anger at the media. In the introspective ballad "Stranger in Moscow", Jackson laments his "fall from grace"; "Earth Song", "Childhood", "Little Susie", and "Smile" are operatic pop songs. In "D.S.", Jackson attacks lawyer Thomas W. Sneddon Jr., who had prosecuted him in both child sexual abuse cases; he describes Sneddon as a white supremacist who wanted to "get my ass, dead or alive". *Invincible* includes urban soul tracks such as "Cry" and "The Lost Children", ballads such as "Speechless", "Break of Dawn", and "Butterflies", and mixes hip hop, pop, and R&B in "2000 Watts", "Heartbreaker", and "Invincible".
### Music videos and choreography
Jackson released "Thriller", a 14-minute music video directed by John Landis, in 1983. The zombie-themed video "defined music videos and broke racial barriers" on MTV, which had launched two years earlier. Before *Thriller*, Jackson struggled to receive coverage on MTV, allegedly because he was African American. Pressure from CBS Records persuaded MTV to start showing "Billie Jean" and later "Beat It", which led to a lengthy partnership with Jackson, and helped other black music artists gain recognition. The popularity of his videos on MTV helped the relatively new channel's viewing figures, and MTV's focus shifted toward pop and R&B. His performance on *Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever* changed the scope of live stage shows, making it acceptable for artists to lip-sync to music video on stage. The choreography in *Thriller* has been copied in Indian films and prisons in the Philippines. *Thriller* marked an increase in scale for music videos, and was named the most successful music video ever by the *Guinness World Records*.
In "Bad"'s 19-minute video—directed by Martin Scorsese—Jackson used sexual imagery and choreography, and touched his chest, torso and crotch. When asked by Winfrey in the 1993 interview about why he grabbed his crotch, he said it was spontaneously compelled by the music. *Time* magazine described the "Bad" video as "infamous". It featured Wesley Snipes; Jackson's later videos often featured famous cameo roles. For the "Smooth Criminal" video, Jackson experimented with leaning forward at a 45-degree angle, beyond the performer's center of gravity. To accomplish this live, Jackson and designers developed a special shoe to lock the performer's feet to the stage, allowing them to lean forward. They were granted U.S. patent 5,255,452 for the device. The video for "Leave Me Alone" was not officially released in the US, but in 1989 was nominated for three *Billboard* Music Video Awards and won a Golden Lion Award for its special effects. It won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form.
He received the MTV Video Vanguard Award in 1988; in 2001 the award was renamed in his honor. The "Black or White" video simultaneously premiered on November 14, 1991, in 27 countries with an estimated audience of 500 million people, the largest audience ever for a music video at the time. Along with Jackson, it featured Macaulay Culkin, Peggy Lipton, and George Wendt. It helped introduce morphing to music videos. It was controversial for scenes in which Jackson rubs his crotch, vandalizes cars, and throws a garbage can through a storefront. He apologized and removed the final scene of the video.
"In the Closet" featured Naomi Campbell in a courtship dance with Jackson. "Remember the Time" was set in ancient Egypt, and featured Eddie Murphy, Iman, and Magic Johnson. The video for "Scream", directed by Mark Romanek and production designer Tom Foden, gained a record 11 MTV Video Music Award Nominations, and won "Best Dance Video", "Best Choreography", and "Best Art Direction". The song and its video are Jackson's response to being accused of child molestation in 1993. A year later, it won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form. It has been reported as the most expensive music video ever made, at $7 million; Romanek has contradicted this. The "Earth Song" video was nominated for the 1997 Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form.
*Michael Jackson's Ghosts,* a short film written by Jackson and Stephen King and directed by Stan Winston, premiered at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. At over 38 minutes long, it held the Guinness world record for the longest music video until 2013, when it was eclipsed by the video for the Pharrell Williams song "Happy". The 2001 video for "You Rock My World" lasts over 13 minutes, was directed by Paul Hunter, and features Chris Tucker and Marlon Brando. It won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Music Video in 2002.
In December 2009, the Library of Congress selected "Thriller" as the only music video to be preserved in the National Film Registry, as a work of "enduring importance to American culture". Huey wrote that Jackson transformed the music video into an artform and a promotional tool through complex story lines, dance routines, special effects and famous cameos, while breaking down racial barriers.
## Honors and awards
Jackson is one of the best selling music artists in history, with sales estimated of over 500 million records worldwide.[Note 2] He had 13 number-one singles in the US in his solo career—more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era at the time of his death. He was invited and honored by a president of the United States at the White House three times. In 1984, he was honored with a "Presidential Public Safety Commendation" award by Ronald Reagan for his humanitarian endeavors. In 1990, he was honored as the "Artist of the Decade", which was awarded by the National Children's Museum, by George H. W. Bush. In 1992, he was honored as a "Point of Light Ambassador" by Bush for inviting disadvantaged children to his Neverland Ranch.
Jackson won hundreds of awards, making him one of the most-awarded artists in popular music. His awards include 39 Guinness World Records, including the Most Successful Entertainer of All Time, 13 Grammy Awards, as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and 26 American Music Awards, including the Artist of the Century and Artist of the 1980s. He also received the World Music Awards' Best-Selling Male Artist of the Millennium and the Bambi Pop Artist of the Millennium Award. Jackson was inducted onto the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1980 as a member of the Jacksons, and in 1984 as a solo artist. He was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Vocal Group Hall of Fame as a member of the Jackson 5 in 1997 and 1999, respectively, and again as a solo artist in 2001. In 2002, he was added to the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2010, he was the first recording artist to be inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame, and in 2014, he was posthumously inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame. In 2021, he was among the inaugural inductees into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame.
In 1988, Fisk University honored him with an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. In 1992, he was invested as a titular king of Sanwi, a traditional kingdom located in the south-east of Ivory Coast. In July 2009, the Lunar Republic Society named a crater on the Moon after Jackson. In August, for what would have been Jackson's 51st birthday, Google dedicated their Google Doodle to him. In 2012, the extinct hermit crab *Mesoparapylocheles michaeljacksoni* was named in his honor. In 2014, the British Council of Cultural Relations deemed Jackson's life one of the 80 most important cultural moments of the 20th century. World Vitiligo Day has been celebrated on June 25, the anniversary of Jackson's death, to raise awareness of the auto-immune disorder that Jackson suffered from.
## Earnings
In 1989, Jackson's annual earnings from album sales, endorsements, and concerts were estimated at $125 million. *Forbes* placed Jackson's annual income at $35 million in 1996 and $20 million in 1997. Jackson has been one of the wealthiest celebrities and musical artists; estimates of Jackson's net worth during his life range from negative $285 million to positive $350 million for 2002, 2003 and 2007. *Forbes* reported in August 2018 that Jackson's total career pretax earnings in life and death were $4.2 billion. Sales of his recordings through Sony's music unit earned him an estimated $300 million in royalties. He may have earned another $400 million from concerts, music publishing (including his share of the Beatles catalog), endorsements, merchandising and music videos.
In 2013, the executors of Jackson's estate filed a petition in the United States Tax Court as a result of a dispute with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over estate taxes. The executors claimed that it was worth about $7 million, while the IRS that it was worth over $1.1 billion. In February 2014, the IRS reported that Jackson's estate owed $702 million; $505 million in taxes, and $197 million in penalties. In 2021, the Tax Court issued a ruling in favor of the estate, ruling that the estate's total combined value of the estate was $111.5 million and that the value of Jackson's name and likeness was $4 million.
In 2016, *Forbes* estimated annual gross earnings by the Jackson Estate at $825 million, the largest ever recorded for a celebrity, mostly due to the sale of the Sony/ATV catalog. In 2018, the figure was $400 million, and by 2024, it rose to $600 million, bringing Jackson's postmortem total to $3.3 billion. *Forbes* has consistently recognized Jackson as one of the top-earning dead celebrities, and placed him at the top spot from 2010 to 2024, except for 2012, 2021, and 2022.
## Discography
*Got to Be There*(1972)*Ben*(1972)*Music & Me*(1973)*Forever, Michael*(1975)*Off the Wall*(1979)*Thriller*(1982)*Bad*(1987)*Dangerous*(1991)*HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I*(1995)*Invincible*(2001)
## Filmography
*The Wiz*(1978)*Michael Jackson's Thriller*(1983)*Captain EO*(1986)*Moonwalker*(1988)*Michael Jackson: The Legend Continues*(1989)*Michael Jackson's Ghosts*(1997)*Men in Black II*(2002)*Miss Cast Away and the Island Girls*(2004)*Michael Jackson's This Is It*(2009)*Bad 25*(2012)*Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall*(2016)*Thriller 40*(2023)
## Tours
- Bad World Tour (1987–1989)
- Dangerous World Tour (1992–1993)
- HIStory World Tour (1996–1997)
## See also
## Notes
### Citations
### Print sources
- Boepple, Leanne (1995). "Scream: Space Odyssey, Jackson-Style. (video production; Michael and Janet Jackson video)".
*TCI: Theatre Crafts International*.**29**. Theatre Crafts International. ISSN 1063-9497. - Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (2004).
*The Rolling Stone Album Guide*. Fireside. ISBN 978-0-7432-0169-8. - Bronson, Fred (2003).
*Billboard's Hottest Hot 100 Hits*(3rd ed.). Billboard Books. ISBN 978-0-8230-7738-0. - Campbell, Lisa D (1993).
*Michael Jackson: The King of Pop*. Branden. ISBN 978-0-8283-1957-7. - Campbell, Lisa D (1995).
*Michael Jackson: The King of Pop's Darkest Hour*. Branden. ISBN 978-0-8283-2003-0. - Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: J".
*Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies*. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 0-89919-026-X. Retrieved February 27, 2019. - DeMello, Margo (2012).
*Faces Around the World: A Cultural Encyclopedia of the Human Face*. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-618-8. - George, Nelson (2004).
*Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection*(booklet). Sony BMG. - Inglis, Ian (2006).
*Performance and Popular Music: History, Place and Time*. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7546-4057-8. - Jackson, Michael (2009) [First published 1988].
*Moonwalk*. Random House. ISBN 978-0-307-71698-9. - Knopper, Steve (2016).
*MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson*. Scribner. ISBN 978-1-4767-3037-0. - Lehman, Christopher P. (2008).
*A Critical History of Soul Train on Television*. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-3669-9. - Lewis Jones, Jel D. (2005).
*Michael Jackson, the King of Pop: The Big Picture: the Music! the Man! the Legend! the Interviews: an Anthology*. Amber Books Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9749779-0-4. - Mansour, David (2005).
*From Abba to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century*. Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN 0-7407-5118-2. - Palmer, Robert (1995).
*Rock & Roll: An Unruly History*. Harmony Books. ISBN 978-0-517-70050-1. - Parameswaran, Radhika (2011). "E-Race-ing Color: Gender and Transnational Visual Economies of Beauty in India". In Sarma Hegde, Radha (ed.).
*Circuits of Visibility: Gender and Transnational Media Cultures*. NYU Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-9060-1. - Ramage, John D.; Bean, John C.; Johnson, June (2001).
*Writing arguments: a rhetoric with readings*. Allyn and Bacon. ISBN 978-0-205-31745-5. - Rojek, Chris (2007).
*Cultural Studies*. Polity. ISBN 978-0-7456-3683-2. - St John, Graham (2004).
*Rave Culture and Religion*. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-31449-7. - Tannenbaum, Rob; Marks, Craig (2011).
*I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution*. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-1-101-52641-5. - Taraborrelli, J. Randy (2009).
*Michael Jackson: The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story, 1958–2009*. Grand Central Publishing, 2009. ISBN 978-0-446-56474-8. - Vogel, Joseph (2012).
*Man in the Music: The Creative Life and Work of Michael Jackson*. New York: Sterling. ISBN 978-1-4027-7938-1. - Young, Julie (Fall 2009). "A Hoosier Thriller: Gary, Indiana's Michael Jackson".
*Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History*.**21**(4). Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society. Archived from the original on April 15, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
## Further reading
- Hidalgo, Susan; Weiner, Robert G. (2010). "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin': MJ in the Scholarly Literature: A Selected Bibliographic Guide" (PDF).
*The Journal of Pan African Studies*.**3**(7). - How Michael Jackson Changed Dance History –
*biography.com*
## External links
- Michael Jackson at the FBI's website
- Michael Jackson at IMDb
|
# Antarctica - Wikipedia
| Area | 14,200,000 km25,500,000 sq mi |
|---|---|
| Population | 1,300 (winter) 5,100 (summer) |
| Population density | 0.00009/km2 to 0.00036/km2 (seasonal) |
| Countries | 7 territorial claims |
| Time zones | All time zones |
| Internet TLD | .aq |
| Largest settlements | |
| UN M49 code | `010` |
**Antarctica** ( ⓘ) is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent, being about 40% larger than Europe, and has an area of 14,200,000 km2 (5,500,000 sq mi). Most of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, with an average thickness of 1.9 km (1.2 mi).
Antarctica is, on average, the coldest, driest, and windiest of the continents, and it has the highest average elevation. It is mainly a polar desert, with annual precipitation of over 200 mm (8 in) along the coast and far less inland. About 70% of the world's freshwater reserves are frozen in Antarctica, which, if melted, would raise global sea levels by almost 60 metres (200 ft). Antarctica holds the record for the lowest measured temperature on Earth, −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F). The coastal regions can reach temperatures over 10 °C (50 °F) in the summer. Native species of animals include mites, nematodes, penguins, seals and tardigrades. Where vegetation occurs, it is mostly in the form of lichen or moss.
The ice shelves of Antarctica were probably first seen in 1820, during a Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev. The decades that followed saw further exploration by French, American, and British expeditions. The first confirmed landing was by a Norwegian team in 1895. In the early 20th century, there were a few expeditions into the interior of the continent. British explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton were the first to reach the magnetic South Pole in 1909, and the geographic South Pole was first reached in 1911 by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen.
Antarctica is governed by about 30 countries, all of which are parties of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty System. According to the terms of the treaty, military activity, mining, nuclear explosions, and nuclear waste disposal are all prohibited in Antarctica. Tourism, fishing and research are the main human activities in and around Antarctica. During the summer months, about 5,000 people reside at research stations, a figure that drops to around 1,000 in the winter. Despite the continent's remoteness, human activity has a significant effect on it via pollution, ozone depletion, and climate change. The melting of the potentially unstable West Antarctic ice sheet causes the most uncertainty in century-scale projections of sea level rise, and the same melting also affects the Southern Ocean overturning circulation, which can eventually lead to significant impacts on the Southern Hemisphere climate and Southern Ocean productivity.
## Etymology
The name given to the continent originates from the word *antarctic*, which comes from Middle French *antartique* or *antarctique* ('opposite to the Arctic') and, in turn, the Latin *antarcticus* ('opposite to the north'). *Antarcticus* is derived from the Greek ἀντι- ('anti-') and ἀρκτικός (*arktikos*, 'of the Bear [Ursa Major], northern'). The Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote in *Meteorology* about an "Antarctic region" in c. 350 BCE. The Greek geographer Marinus of Tyre reportedly used the name in his world map from the second century CE, now lost. The Roman authors Gaius Julius Hyginus and Apuleius used for the South Pole the romanised Greek name *polus antarcticus*, from which derived the Old French *pole antartike* (modern *pôle antarctique*) attested in 1270, and from there the Middle English *pol antartik*, found first in a treatise written by the English author Geoffrey Chaucer.
Belief by Europeans in the existence of a *Terra Australis*—a vast continent in the far south of the globe to balance the northern lands of Europe, Asia, and North Africa—had existed as an intellectual concept since classical antiquity. The belief in such a land lasted until the European discovery of Australia.
During the early 19th century, explorer Matthew Flinders doubted the existence of a detached continent south of Australia (then called New Holland) and thus advocated for the "Terra Australis" name to be used for Australia instead. In 1824, the colonial authorities in Sydney officially renamed the continent of New Holland to Australia, leaving the term "Terra Australis" unavailable as a reference to Antarctica. Over the following decades, geographers used phrases such as "the Antarctic Continent". They searched for a more poetic replacement, suggesting names such as *Ultima* and *Antipodea*. *Antarctica* was adopted in the 1890s, with the first use of the name being attributed to the Scottish cartographer John George Bartholomew.
Antarctica has also been known by the moniker *Great White South*, after which British photographer Herbert Ponting named one of his books on Antarctic photography, possibly as a counterpart to the epithet *Great White North* for Canada.
## Geography
Positioned asymmetrically around the South Pole and largely south of the Antarctic Circle (one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the world), Antarctica is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. Rivers exist in Antarctica; the longest is the Onyx. Antarctica covers more than 14.2 million km2 (5,500,000 sq mi), almost double the area of Australia, making it the fifth-largest continent, and comparable to the surface area of Pluto. Its coastline is almost 18,000 km (11,200 mi) long: as of 1983[update], of the four coastal types, 44% of the coast is floating ice in the form of an ice shelf, 38% consists of ice walls that rest on rock, 13% is ice streams or the edge of glaciers, and the remaining 5% is exposed rock.
The lakes that lie at the base of the continental ice sheet occur mainly in the McMurdo Dry Valleys or various oases. Lake Vostok, discovered beneath Russia's Vostok Station, is the largest subglacial lake globally and one of the largest lakes in the world. It was once believed that the lake had been sealed off for millions of years, but scientists now estimate its water is replaced by the slow melting and freezing of ice caps every 13,000 years. During the summer, the ice at the edges of the lakes can melt, and liquid moats temporarily form. Antarctica has both saline and freshwater lakes.
Antarctica is divided into West Antarctica and East Antarctica by the Transantarctic Mountains, which stretch from Victoria Land to the Ross Sea. The vast majority of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, which averages 1.9 km (1.2 mi) in thickness. The ice sheet extends to all but a few oases, which, with the exception of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, are located in coastal areas. Several Antarctic ice streams flow to one of the many Antarctic ice shelves, a process described by ice-sheet dynamics.
East Antarctica comprises Coats Land, Queen Maud Land, Enderby Land, Mac. Robertson Land, Wilkes Land, and Victoria Land. All but a small portion of the region lies within the Eastern Hemisphere. East Antarctica is largely covered by the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. There are numerous islands surrounding Antarctica, most of which are volcanic and very young by geological standards. The most prominent exceptions to this are the islands of the Kerguelen Plateau, the earliest of which formed around 40 Ma.
Vinson Massif, in the Ellsworth Mountains, is the highest peak in Antarctica at 4,892 m (16,050 ft). Mount Erebus on Ross Island is the world's southernmost active volcano and erupts around 10 times each day. Ash from eruptions has been found 300 kilometres (190 mi) from the volcanic crater. There is evidence of a large number of volcanoes under the ice, which could pose a risk to the ice sheet if activity levels were to rise. The ice dome known as Dome Argus in East Antarctica is the highest Antarctic ice feature, at 4,091 metres (13,422 ft). It is one of the world's coldest and driest places—temperatures there may reach as low as −90 °C (−130 °F), and the annual precipitation is 1–3 cm (0.39–1.18 in).
## Geologic history
From the end of the Neoproterozoic era to the Cretaceous, Antarctica was part of the supercontinent Gondwana. Modern Antarctica was formed as Gondwana gradually broke apart beginning around 183 Ma. For a large proportion of the Phanerozoic, Antarctica had a tropical or temperate climate, and it was covered in forests.
During the Cambrian period, Gondwana had a mild climate. West Antarctica was partially in the Northern Hemisphere, and during the time, large amounts of sandstones, limestones, and shales were deposited. East Antarctica was at the equator, where seafloor invertebrates and trilobites flourished in the tropical seas. By the start of the Devonian period (416 Ma), Gondwana was in more southern latitudes, and the climate was cooler, though fossils of land plants are known from then. Sand and silts were laid down in what is now the Ellsworth, Horlick, and Pensacola Mountains.
Antarctica became glaciated during the Late Paleozoic icehouse beginning at the end of the Devonian period (360 Ma), though glaciation would substantially increase during the late Carboniferous. It drifted closer to the South Pole, and the climate cooled, though flora remained. After deglaciation during the latter half of the Early Permian, the land became dominated by glossopterids (an extinct group of seed plants with no close living relatives), most prominently *Glossopteris*, a tree interpreted as growing in waterlogged soils, which formed extensive coal deposits. Other plants found in Antarctica during the Permian include Cordaitales, sphenopsids, ferns, and lycophytes. At the end of the Permian, the climate became drier and hotter over much of Gondwana, and the glossopterid forest ecosystems collapsed, as part of the End-Permian mass extinction. There is no evidence of any tetrapods having lived in Antarctica during the Paleozoic.
The continued warming dried out much of Gondwana. During the Triassic period, Antarctica was dominated by seed ferns (pteridosperms) belonging to the genus *Dicroidium*, which grew as trees. Other associated Triassic flora included ginkgophytes, cycadophytes, conifers, and sphenopsids. Tetrapods first appeared in Antarctica during the Early Triassic epoch, with the earliest known fossils found in the Fremouw Formation of the Transantarctic Mountains. Synapsids (also known as "mammal-like reptiles") included species such as *Lystrosaurus*, and were common during the Early Triassic.
The Antarctic Peninsula began to form during the Jurassic period ( ). Africa separated from Antarctica in the Jurassic around 160 Ma, followed by the Indian subcontinent in the early Cretaceous (about 125 Ma). *Ginkgo* trees, conifers, Bennettitales, horsetails, ferns and cycads were plentiful during the time. About 80 million years ago, flowering plants became the most diverse groups of plants on the continent. In West Antarctica, coniferous forests dominated throughout the Cretaceous period (146–66 Ma), though southern beech trees (*Nothofagus*) became prominent towards the end of the Cretaceous. Ammonites were common in the seas around Antarctica, and dinosaurs were also present, though only a few Antarctic dinosaur genera (*Cryolophosaurus* and *Glacialisaurus*, from the Early Jurassic Hanson Formation of the Transantarctic Mountains, and *Antarctopelta*, *Trinisaura*, *Morrosaurus* and *Imperobator* from Late Cretaceous of the Antarctic Peninsula) have been described.
During the early Paleogene, the Antarctic land bridge continued to connect Antarctica with South America as well as to southeastern Australia. Fauna from the La Meseta Formation in the Antarctic Peninsula, dating to the Eocene, is very similar to equivalent South American faunas; with marsupials, xenarthrans, litoptern, and astrapotherian ungulates, as well as gondwanatheres and possibly meridiolestidans. Marsupials are thought to have dispersed into Australia from South America via Antarctica by the early Eocene.
Around 53 Ma, Australia-New Guinea separated from Antarctica, opening the Tasmanian Passage. The Drake Passage opened between Antarctica and South America around 30 Ma, resulting in the creation of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current that completely isolated the continent. Models of Antarctic geography suggest that this current, as well as a feedback loop caused by lowering CO2 levels, caused the creation of small yet permanent polar ice caps. As CO2 levels declined further the ice began to spread rapidly, replacing the forests that until then had covered Antarctica. Tundra ecosystems continued to exist on Antarctica until around 14–10 million years ago, when further cooling lead to their extermination.
### Present day
The geology of Antarctica, largely obscured by the continental ice sheet, is being revealed by techniques such as remote sensing, ground-penetrating radar, and satellite imagery. Geologically, West Antarctica closely resembles the South American Andes. The Antarctic Peninsula was formed by geologic uplift and the transformation of sea bed sediments into metamorphic rocks.
West Antarctica was formed by the merging of several continental plates, which created a number of mountain ranges in the region, the most prominent being the Ellsworth Mountains. The presence of the West Antarctic Rift System has resulted in volcanism along the border between West and East Antarctica, as well as the creation of the Transantarctic Mountains.
East Antarctica is geologically varied. Its formation began during the Archean Eon (4,000 Ma–2,500 Ma), and stopped during the Cambrian Period. It is built on a craton of rock, which is the basis of the Precambrian Shield. On top of the base are coal and sandstones, limestones, and shales that were laid down during the Devonian and Jurassic periods to form the Transantarctic Mountains. In coastal areas such as the Shackleton Range and Victoria Land, some faulting has occurred.
Coal was first recorded in Antarctica near the Beardmore Glacier by Frank Wild on the *Nimrod* Expedition in 1907, and low-grade coal is known to exist across many parts of the Transantarctic Mountains. The Prince Charles Mountains contain deposits of iron ore. There are oil and natural gas fields in the Ross Sea.
## Climate
Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, and driest of Earth's continents. Near the coast, the temperature can exceed 10 °C in summer and fall to below −40 °C in winter. Over the elevated inland, it can rise to about −30 °C in summer but fall below −80 °C in winter.
The lowest natural air temperature ever recorded on Earth was −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F) at the Russian Vostok Station in Antarctica on 21 July 1983. A lower air temperature of −94.7 °C (−138.5 °F) was recorded in 2010 by satellite—however, it may have been influenced by ground temperatures and was not recorded at a height of 2 m (7 ft) above the surface as required for official air temperature records. Antarctica is colder than the Arctic region, as much of Antarctica is over 3,000 m (9,800 ft) above sea level, where air temperatures are colder. The relative warmth of the Arctic Ocean is transferred through the Arctic sea ice and moderates temperatures in the Arctic region.
Winds are strong and persistent.
Antarctica is a polar desert with little precipitation; the continent receives an average equivalent to about 150 mm (6 in) of water per year, mostly in the form of snow. The interior is dryer and receives less than 50 mm (2 in) per year, whereas the coastal regions typically receive more than 200 mm (8 in). In a few blue-ice areas, the wind and sublimation remove more snow than is accumulated by precipitation. In the dry valleys, the same effect occurs over a rock base, leading to a barren and desiccated landscape.
### Regional differences
East Antarctica is colder than its western counterpart because of its higher elevation. Weather fronts rarely penetrate far into the continent, leaving the centre cold and dry, with moderate wind speeds. Heavy snowfalls are common on the coastal portion of Antarctica, where snowfalls of up to 1.22 m (48 in) in 48 hours have been recorded. At the continent's edge, strong katabatic winds off the polar plateau often blow at storm force. During the summer, more solar radiation reaches the surface at the South Pole than at the equator because of the 24 hours of sunlight received there each day.
## Climate change
Despite its isolation, Antarctica has experienced warming and ice loss in recent decades, driven by greenhouse gas emissions. West Antarctica warmed by over 0.1 °C per decade from the 1950s to the 2000s, and the exposed Antarctic Peninsula has warmed by 3 °C (5.4 °F) since the mid-20th century. The colder, stabler East Antarctica did not show any warming until the 2000s. Around Antarctica, the Southern Ocean has absorbed more oceanic heat than any other ocean, and has seen strong warming at depths below 2,000 m (6,600 ft). Around the West Antarctic, the ocean has warmed by 1 °C (1.8 °F) since 1955.
The warming of the Southern Ocean around Antarctica has caused the weakening or collapse of ice shelves, which float just offshore of glaciers and stabilize them. Many coastal glaciers have been losing mass and retreating, causing net ice loss across Antarctica, although the East Antarctic ice sheet continues to gain ice inland. By 2100, net ice loss from Antarctica is expected to add about 11 cm (5 in) to global sea-level rise. Marine ice sheet instability may cause West Antarctica to contribute tens of centimeters more if it is triggered before 2100. With higher warming, instability would be much more likely, and could double global, 21st-century sea-level rise.
The fresh meltwater from the ice dilutes the saline Antarctic bottom water, weakening the lower cell of the Southern Ocean overturning circulation (SOOC). According to some research, a full collapse of the SOOC may occur at between 1.7 °C (3.1 °F) and 3 °C (5.4 °F) of global warming, although the full effects are expected to occur over multiple centuries; these include less precipitation in the Southern Hemisphere but more in the Northern Hemisphere, an eventual decline of fisheries in the Southern Ocean and a potential collapse of certain marine ecosystems. While many Antarctic species remain undiscovered, there are documented increases in Antarctic flora, and large fauna such as penguins are already having difficulty retaining suitable habitat. On ice-free land, permafrost thaws release greenhouse gases and formerly frozen pollution.
The West Antarctic ice sheet is likely to completely melt unless temperatures are reduced by 2 °C (3.6 °F) below 2020 levels. The loss of this ice sheet would take between 500 and 13,000 years. A sea-level rise of 3.3 m (10 ft 10 in) would occur if the ice sheet collapses, leaving ice caps on the mountains, and 4.3 m (14 ft 1 in) if those ice caps also melt. The far-stabler East Antarctic ice sheet may only cause a sea-level rise of 0.5 m (1 ft 8 in) – 0.9 m (2 ft 11 in) from the current level of warming, a small fraction of the 53.3 m (175 ft) contained in the full ice sheet. With global warming of around 3 °C (5.4 °F), vulnerable areas like Wilkes Basin and Aurora Basin may collapse over around 2,000 years, potentially adding up to 6.4 m (21 ft 0 in) to sea levels.## Ozone depletion
Scientists have studied the ozone layer in the atmosphere above Antarctica since the 1970s. In 1985, British scientists, working on data they had gathered at Halley Research Station on the Brunt Ice Shelf, discovered a large area of low ozone concentration over Antarctica. The 'ozone hole' covers almost the whole continent and was at its largest in September 2006; the longest-lasting event occurred in 2020. The depletion is caused by the emission of chlorofluorocarbons and halons into the atmosphere, which causes ozone to break down into other gases. The extreme cold conditions of Antarctica allow polar stratospheric clouds to form. The clouds act as catalysts for chemical reactions, which eventually lead to the destruction of ozone. The 1987 Montreal Protocol has restricted the emissions of ozone-depleting substances. The ozone hole above Antarctica is predicted to slowly disappear; by the 2060s, levels of ozone are expected to have returned to values last recorded in the 1980s.
The ozone depletion can cause a cooling of around 6 °C (11 °F) in the stratosphere. The cooling strengthens the polar vortex and so prevents the outflow of the cold air near the South Pole, which in turn cools the continental mass of the East Antarctic ice sheet. The peripheral areas of Antarctica, especially the Antarctic Peninsula, are then subjected to higher temperatures, which accelerate the melting of the ice. Models suggest that ozone depletion and the enhanced polar vortex effect may also account for the period of increasing sea ice extent, lasting from when observation started in the late 1970s until 2014. Since then, the coverage of Antarctic sea ice has decreased rapidly.
## Biodiversity
Most species in Antarctica seem to be the descendants of species that lived there millions of years ago. As such, they must have survived multiple glacial cycles. The species survived the periods of extremely cold climate in isolated warmer areas, such as those with geothermal heat or areas that remained ice-free throughout the colder climate.
### Animals
Invertebrate life of Antarctica includes species of microscopic mites such as *Alaskozetes antarcticus*, lice, fleas (*Glaciopsyllus antarcticus*), nematodes, tardigrades, rotifers, krill and springtails. The flightless midge *Belgica antarctica*, the largest purely terrestrial animal in Antarctica, reaches 6 mm (1⁄4 in) in size.
Antarctic krill, which congregates in large schools, is the keystone species of the ecosystem of the Southern Ocean, being an important food organism for whales, seals, leopard seals, fur seals, squid, icefish, and many bird species, such as penguins and albatrosses. Some species of marine animals exist and rely, directly or indirectly, on phytoplankton. Antarctic sea life includes penguins, blue whales, orcas, colossal squids and fur seals. The Antarctic fur seal was very heavily hunted in the 18th and 19th centuries for its pelt by seal hunters from the United States and the United Kingdom. Leopard seals are apex predators in the Antarctic ecosystem and migrate across the Southern Ocean in search of food.
There are approximately 40 bird species that breed on or close to Antarctica, including species of petrels, penguins, cormorants, and gulls. Various other bird species visit the ocean around Antarctica, including some that normally reside in the Arctic. The emperor penguin is the only penguin that breeds during the winter in Antarctica; it and the Adélie penguin breed farther south than any other penguin.
A Census of Marine Life by some 500 researchers during the International Polar Year was released in 2010. The research found that more than 235 marine organisms live in both polar regions, having bridged the gap of 12,000 km (7,456 mi). Large animals such as some cetaceans and birds make the round trip annually. Smaller forms of life, such as sea cucumbers and free-swimming snails, are also found in both polar oceans. Factors that may aid in their distribution include temperature differences between the deep ocean at the poles and the equator of no more than 5 °C (9 °F) and the major current systems or marine conveyor belts which are able to transport eggs and larva.
### Fungi
About 1,150 species of fungi have been recorded in the Antarctic region, of which about 750 are non-lichen-forming. Some of the species, having evolved under extreme conditions, have colonised structural cavities within porous rocks and have contributed to shaping the rock formations of the McMurdo Dry Valleys and surrounding mountain ridges.
The simplified morphology of such fungi, along with their similar biological structures, metabolism systems capable of remaining active at very low temperatures, and reduced life cycles, make them well suited to such environments. Their thick-walled and strongly melanised cells make them resistant to UV radiation. An Antarctic endemic species, the crust-like lichen *Buellia frigida*, has been used as a model organism in astrobiology research.
The same features can be observed in algae and cyanobacteria, suggesting that they are adaptations to the conditions prevailing in Antarctica. This has led to speculation that life on Mars might have been similar to Antarctic fungi, such as *Cryomyces antarcticus* and *Cryomyces minteri*. Some of the species of fungi, which are apparently endemic to Antarctica, live in bird dung, and have evolved so they can grow inside extremely cold dung, but can also pass through the intestines of warm-blooded animals.
### Plants
Throughout its history, Antarctica has seen a wide variety of plant life. In the Cretaceous, it was dominated by a fern-conifer ecosystem, which changed into a temperate rainforest by the end of that period. During the colder Neogene (17–2.5 Ma), a tundra ecosystem replaced the rainforests. The climate of present-day Antarctica does not allow extensive vegetation to form. A combination of freezing temperatures, poor soil quality, and a lack of moisture and sunlight inhibit plant growth, causing low species diversity and limited distribution. The flora largely consists of bryophytes (25 species of liverworts and 100 species of mosses). There are three species of flowering plants, all of which are found in the Antarctic Peninsula: *Deschampsia antarctica* (Antarctic hair grass), *Colobanthus quitensis* (Antarctic pearlwort) and the non-native *Poa annua* (annual bluegrass).
### Other organisms
Of the 700 species of algae in Antarctica, around half are marine phytoplankton. Multicoloured snow algae are especially abundant in the coastal regions during the summer. Even sea ice can harbour unique ecological communities, as it expels all salt from the water when it freezes, which accumulates into pockets of brine that also harbour dormant microorganisms. When the ice begins to melt, brine pockets expand and can combine to form brine channels, and the algae inside the pockets can reawaken and thrive until the next freeze. Bacteria have also been found as deep as 800 m (0.50 mi) under the ice. It is thought to be likely that there exists a native bacterial community within the subterranean water body of Lake Vostok. The existence of life there is thought to strengthen the argument for the possibility of life on Jupiter's moon Europa, which may have water beneath its water-ice crust. There exists a community of extremophile bacteria in the highly alkaline waters of Lake Untersee. The prevalence of highly resilient creatures in such inhospitable areas could further bolster the argument for extraterrestrial life in cold, methane-rich environments.
### Conservation and environmental protection
The first international agreement to protect Antarctica's biodiversity was adopted in 1964. The overfishing of krill (an animal that plays a large role in the Antarctic ecosystem) led officials to enact regulations on fishing. The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, an international treaty that came into force in 1980, regulates fisheries, aiming to preserve ecological relationships. Despite these regulations, illegal fishing—particularly of the highly prized Patagonian toothfish which is marketed as Chilean sea bass in the U.S.—remains a problem.
In analogy to the 1980 treaty on sustainable fishing, countries led by New Zealand and the United States negotiated a treaty on mining. This Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities was adopted in 1988. After a strong campaign from environmental organisations, first Australia and then France decided not to ratify the treaty. Instead, countries adopted the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (the Madrid Protocol), which entered into force in 1998. The Madrid Protocol bans all mining, designating the continent as a "natural reserve devoted to peace and science".
The pressure group Greenpeace established a base on Ross Island from 1987 to 1992 as part of its attempt to establish the continent as a World Park. The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary was established in 1994 by the International Whaling Commission. It covers 50 million km2 (19 million sq mi) and completely surrounds the Antarctic continent. All commercial whaling is banned in the zone, though Japan has continued to hunt whales in the area, ostensibly for research purposes.
Despite these protections, the biodiversity in Antarctica is still at risk from human activities. Specially protected areas cover less than 2% of the area and provide better protection for animals with popular appeal than for less visible animals. There are more terrestrial protected areas than marine protected areas. Ecosystems are impacted by local and global threats, notably pollution, the invasion of non-native species, and the various effects of climate change.
## History of exploration
Early world maps, like the 1513 Piri Reis map, feature the hypothetical continent *Terra Australis*. Much larger than and unrelated to Antarctica, *Terra Australis* was a landmass that classical scholars presumed necessary to balance the known lands in the northern hemisphere.
Captain James Cook's ships, HMS *Resolution* and *Adventure*, crossed the Antarctic Circle on 17 January 1773, in December 1773, and again in January 1774. Cook came within about 120 km (75 mi) of the Antarctic coast before retreating in the face of field ice in January 1773. In 1775, he called the existence of a polar continent "probable", and in another copy of his journal he wrote: "[I] firmly believe it and it's more than probable that we have seen a part of it".
### 19th century
Sealers were among the earliest to go closer to the Antarctic landmass, perhaps in the earlier part of the 19th century. The oldest known human remains in the Antarctic region was a skull, dated from 1819 to 1825, that belonged to a young woman on Yamana Beach at the South Shetland Islands. The woman, who was likely to have been part of a sealing expedition, was found in 1985.
The first person to see Antarctica or its ice shelf was long thought to have been the British sailor Edward Bransfield, a captain in the Royal Navy, who discovered the tip of the Antarctic peninsula on 30 January 1820. However, a captain in the Imperial Russian Navy, Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, recorded seeing an ice shelf on 27 January. The American sealer Nathaniel Palmer, whose sealing ship was in the region at this time, may also have been the first to sight the Antarctic Peninsula.
The First Russian Antarctic Expedition, led by Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev on the 985-ton sloop-of-war *Vostok* and the 530-ton support vessel *Mirny*, reached a point within 32 km (20 mi) of Queen Maud Land and recorded sighting an ice shelf at , on 27 January 1820. The sighting happened three days before Bransfield sighted the land of the Trinity Peninsula of Antarctica, as opposed to the ice of an ice shelf, and 10 months before Palmer did so in November 1820. The first documented landing on Antarctica was by the English-born American sealer John Davis, apparently at Hughes Bay on 7 February 1821, although some historians dispute this claim, as there is no evidence Davis landed on the Antarctic continent rather than an offshore island.
On 22 January 1840, two days after the discovery of the coast west of the Balleny Islands, some members of the crew of the 1837–1840 expedition of the French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville disembarked on the Dumoulin Islands, off the coast of Adélie Land, where they took some mineral, algae, and animal samples, erected the French flag, and claimed French sovereignty over the territory. The American captain Charles Wilkes led an expedition in 1838–1839 and was the first to claim he had discovered the continent. The British naval officer James Clark Ross failed to realise that what he referred to as "the various patches of land recently discovered by the American, French and English navigators on the verge of the Antarctic Circle" were connected to form a single continent. The American explorer Mercator Cooper landed on East Antarctica on 26 January 1853.
The first confirmed landing on the continental mass of Antarctica occurred in 1895 when the Norwegian-Swedish whaling ship *Antarctic* reached Cape Adare.
### 20th century
During the *Nimrod* Expedition led by the British explorer Ernest Shackleton in 1907, parties led by Edgeworth David became the first to climb Mount Erebus and to reach the south magnetic pole. Douglas Mawson, who assumed the leadership of the Magnetic Pole party on their perilous return, retired in 1931. Between December 1908 and February 1909, Shackleton and three members of his expedition became the first humans to traverse the Ross Ice Shelf, the first to cross the Transantarctic Mountains (via the Beardmore Glacier), and the first to set foot on the south Polar Plateau. On 14 December 1911, an expedition led by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen from the ship *Fram* became the first to reach the geographic South Pole, using a route from the Bay of Whales and up the Axel Heiberg Glacier. One month later, the doomed *Terra Nova* Expedition reached the pole.
The American explorer Richard E. Byrd led four expeditions to Antarctica during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, using the first mechanised tractors. His expeditions conducted extensive geographical and scientific research, and he is credited with surveying a larger region of the continent than any other explorer. In 1937, Ingrid Christensen became the first woman to step onto the Antarctic mainland. Caroline Mikkelsen had landed on an island of Antarctica, earlier in 1935.
The South Pole was next reached on 31 October 1956, when a U.S. Navy group led by Rear Admiral George J. Dufek landed an aircraft there. Six women were flown to the South Pole as a publicity stunt in 1969. In the summer of 1996–1997, Norwegian explorer Børge Ousland became the first person to cross Antarctica alone from coast to coast, helped by a kite on parts of the journey. Ousland holds the record for the fastest unsupported journey to the South Pole, taking 34 days.
## Demographics
The first semi-permanent inhabitants of regions near Antarctica (areas situated south of the Antarctic Convergence) were British and American sealers who used to spend a year or more on South Georgia, from 1786 onward. During the whaling era, which lasted until 1966, the population of the island varied from over 1,000 in the summer (over 2,000 in some years) to some 200 in the winter. Most of the whalers were Norwegian, with an increasing proportion from Britain.
Antarctica's population consists mostly of the staff of research stations in Antarctica (which are continuously maintained despite the population decline in the winter), although there are 2 all-civilian bases in Antarctica: the Esperanza Base and the Villa Las Estrellas base. The number of people conducting and supporting scientific research and other work on the continent and its nearby islands varies from about 1,200 in winter to about 4,800 in the summer, with an additional 136 people in the winter to 266 people in the summer from the 2 civilian bases (as of 2017). Some of the research stations are staffed year-round, the winter-over personnel typically arriving from their home countries for a one-year assignment. The Russian Orthodox Holy Trinity Church at the Bellingshausen Station on King George Island opened in 2004; it is staffed year-round by one or two priests, who are similarly rotated every year.
The first child born in the southern polar region was a Norwegian girl, Solveig Gunbjørg Jacobsen, born in Grytviken on 8 October 1913. Emilio Marcos Palma was the first person born south of the 60th parallel south and the first to be born on the Antarctic mainland at the Esperanza Base of the Argentine Army, on 7 January 1978.
The Antarctic Treaty prohibits any military activity in Antarctica, including the establishment of military bases and fortifications, military manoeuvres, and weapons testing. Military personnel or equipment are permitted only for scientific research or other peaceful purposes. Operation 90 by the Argentine military in 1965 was conducted to strengthen Argentina's claim in Antarctica.[ better source needed]
Antarctic English, a distinct variety of the English language, has been found to be spoken by people living on Antarctica and the subantarctic islands.
## Politics
Antarctica's status is regulated by the 1959 Antarctic Treaty and other related agreements, collectively called the Antarctic Treaty System. Antarctica is defined as all land and ice shelves south of 60° S for the purposes of the Treaty System. The treaty was signed by twelve countries, including the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Chile, Australia, and the United States. Since 1959, a further 42 countries have acceded to the treaty. Countries can participate in decision-making if they can demonstrate that they do significant research on Antarctica; as of 2022[update], 29 countries have this 'consultative status'. Decisions are based on consensus, instead of a vote. The treaty set aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and established freedom of scientific investigation and environmental protection.
### Territorial claims
In 1539, the King of Spain, Charles V, created the Governorate of Terra Australis, which encompassed lands south of the Strait of Magellan and thus theoretically Antarctica, the existence of which was only hypothesized at the time, granting this Governorate to Pedro Sancho de la Hoz, who in 1540 transferred the title to the conquistador Pedro de Valdivia. Spain claimed all the territories to the south of the Strait of Magellan until the South Pole, with eastern and western borders to these claims specified in the Treaty of Tordesillas and Zaragoza respectively. In 1555 the claim was incorporated to Chile.
In the present, sovereignty over regions of Antarctica is claimed by seven different countries. While a few of these countries have mutually recognised each other's claims, the validity of the claims is not recognised universally. New claims on Antarctica have been suspended since 1959, although in 2015, Norway formally defined Queen Maud Land as including the unclaimed area between it and the South Pole.
The Argentine, British, and Chilean claims overlap and have caused friction. In 2012, after the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office designated a previously unnamed area Queen Elizabeth Land in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee, the Argentine government protested against the claim. The UK passed some of the areas it claimed to Australia and New Zealand after they achieved independence. The claims by Britain, Australia, New Zealand, France, and Norway do not overlap and are recognised by each other. Other member nations of the Antarctic Treaty do not recognise any claim, yet have shown some form of territorial interest in the past.
- Brazil has a designated "zone of interest" that is not considered an actual claim.
- Peru formally reserved its right to make a claim.
- Russia inherited the Soviet Union's right to claim territory under the original Antarctic Treaty.
- South Africa formally reserved its right to make a claim.
- The United States reserved its right to make a claim in the original Antarctic Treaty.
| Date | Claimant | Territory | Claim limits | Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1840 | France | Adélie Land | Originally undefined; later specified to be 142°2′E to 136°11′E | |
| 1908 | United Kingdom | British Antarctic Territory | 80°0′W to 20°0′W
|
|
| 1923 | New Zealand | Ross Dependency | 160°0′E to 150°0′W | |
| 1931 | Norway | Peter I Island | ||
| 1933 | Australia | Australian Antarctic Territory | 44°38′E to 136°11′E, and 142°2′E to 160°00′E | |
| 1939 | Norway | Queen Maud Land | 20°00′W to 44°38′E | |
| 1940 | Chile | Chilean Antarctic Territory | 90°0′W to 53°0′W
|
|
| 1943 | Argentina | Argentine Antarctica | 74°0′W to 25°0′W
|
|
| – | (Unclaimed territory)
|
Marie Byrd Land | 150°0′W to 90°0′W (except Peter I Island) |
## Economy and tourism
Deposits of coal, hydrocarbons, iron ore, platinum, copper, chromium, nickel, gold, and other minerals have been found in Antarctica, but not in large enough quantities to extract. The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, which came into effect in 1998 and is due to be reviewed in 2048, restricts the exploitation of Antarctic resources, including minerals.
Tourists have been visiting Antarctica since 1957. Tourism is subject to the provisions of the Antarctic Treaty and Environmental Protocol; the self-regulatory body for the industry is the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators. Tourists arrive by small or medium ship at specific scenic locations with accessible concentrations of iconic wildlife. Over 74,000 tourists visited the region during the 2019–2020 season, of which 18,500 travelled on cruise ships but did not leave them to explore on land. The numbers of tourists fell rapidly after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some nature conservation groups have expressed concern over the potential adverse effects caused by the influx of visitors and have called for limits on the size of visiting cruise ships and a tourism quota. The primary response by Antarctic Treaty parties has been to develop guidelines that set landing limits and closed or restricted zones on the more frequently visited sites.
Tourism in Antarctica is, in part, ecologically focused with expeditions being offered for bird watching tours due to the high numbers of Adélie, King, and Gentoo penguins – among other species. One site in particular – McDonald Beach – is known to be a high-traffic area for tourists watching the Adélie penguins who number more than 40,000.
Overland sightseeing flights operated out of Australia and New Zealand until the Mount Erebus disaster in 1979, when an Air New Zealand plane crashed into Mount Erebus, killing all of the 257 people on board. Qantas resumed commercial overflights to Antarctica from Australia in the mid-1990s. There are many airports in Antarctica.
## Research
In 2017, there were more than 4,400 scientists undertaking research in Antarctica, a number that fell to just over 1,100 in the winter. There are over 70 permanent and seasonal research stations on the continent; the largest, United States' McMurdo Station, is capable of housing more than 1,000 people. The British Antarctic Survey has five major research stations on Antarctica, one of which is completely portable. The Belgian Princess Elisabeth station is one of the most modern stations and the first to be carbon-neutral. Argentina, Australia, Chile, and Russia also have a large scientific presence on Antarctica.
Geologists primarily study plate tectonics, meteorites, and the breakup of Gondwana. Glaciologists study the history and dynamics of floating ice, seasonal snow, glaciers, and ice sheets. Biologists, in addition to researching wildlife, are interested in how low temperatures and the presence of humans affect adaptation and survival strategies in organisms. Biomedical scientists have made discoveries concerning the spreading of viruses and the body's response to extreme seasonal temperatures.
The view of space from Earth is improved by a thinner atmosphere at higher elevations and a lack of water vapour in the atmosphere caused by freezing temperatures. Astrophysicists at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station study cosmic microwave background radiation and neutrinos from space.
The largest neutrino detector in the world, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, is at the Amundsen-Scott Station. It consists of around 5,500 digital optical modules, some of which reach a depth of 2,450 m (8,040 ft), that are held in 1 km3 (0.24 cu mi) of ice. Scientists also observed higher radiation dose rates around the coast of Antarctica compared with the global average: this is attributed to cosmic rays going through the thinner atmosphere compared to equatorial latitudes.
Antarctica provides a unique environment for the study of meteorites: the dry polar desert preserves them well, and meteorites older than a million years have been found. They are relatively easy to find, as the dark stone meteorites stand out in a landscape of ice and snow, and the flow of ice accumulates them in certain areas.[ citation needed]
The Adelie Land meteorite, discovered in 1912, was the first to be found. Meteorites contain clues about the composition of the Solar System and its early development. Most meteorites come from asteroids, but a few meteorites found in Antarctica came from the Moon and Mars.
Major scientific organizations in Antarctica have released strategy and action plans focused on advancing national interests and objectives in Antarctica, supporting cutting-edge research to understand the interactions between the Antarctic region and climate systems. The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) released a 10-year (2023–2033) strategy report to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to focus on creating sustainable living on Earth. Environmental sustainability is named as one of the top focus areas by the BAS strategy, highlighting the main challenge and priority to embed environmental sustainability into everything.
In 2022, the Australian Antarctic Program (AAP) released a new Strategy and 20-year Action Plan (2022–2036) to modernize its Antarctic program. The global climate system was highlighted as one of the main priorities that will be supported and studied through the AAP Strategy Plan. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the vital role of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in climate and weather to improve current knowledge and inform management responses.
In 2021, the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) released a Midterm Assessment on the 2015 Strategic Vision for Antarctic and Southern Ocean Research, stressing the prominent role of the Southern Ocean in the global carbon cycle and sea level rise. The USAP outlines the Changing Antarctic Ice Sheets Initiative as a top priority to enhance understanding of why ice sheets are changing now, and how they will change in the future.
Antarctic ice sheets are a central focus of contemporary climate research due to urgent questions about their stability and reaction to global warming. Satellite technology enables researchers to study the ice sheets both through on-site fieldwork and remote sensing, facilitating detailed analyses of ice dynamics to predict future changes in a warming world.[ citation needed]
The INStabilities & Thresholds in ANTarctica (INSTANT) Scientific Research Programme proposes three research themes, investigating the complex interactions between the atmosphere, ocean, and solid Earth in Antarctica. Its aims include improving the understanding and predictions of these processes to aid decision makers in risk assessment, management, and mitigation related to Antarctic climate change.[ citation needed]
The Australian-led ICECAP project utilized advanced aerogeophysical techniques to map deep subglacial basins and channels that connect the ice sheet to the ocean. This mapping improves predictions of ice sheet stability, the impacts of climate change on the ice sheets, and their potential contributions to global sea level rise.
## Culture
### Music and film
The southernmost music festival in the world, Icestock, has been held at McMurdo Station since 1989. The organizers, performers, and attendees of Icestock are all personnel working at McMurdo or nearby Scott Base. The Antarctic Film Festival is held annually between bases, with 48 stations registered to participate as of 2022. The festival is designed for short films of 5 minutes or less.
In 2011, Australian classical harpist Alice Giles became the first professional musician to perform in Antarctica. The first full-length fictional film to be shot in Antarctica was *South of Sanity*, a 2012 low budget British horror film. An upcoming film directed by Nick Cassavetes and starring Anthony Hopkins, *Bruno Penguin and the Staten Island Princess*, will be the first major Hollywood production to shoot in Antarctica.
### Sport
Sporting events held on Antarctica include the Antarctic Ice Marathon & 100k ultra race, Antarctica Marathon and Antarctica Cup Yacht Race. Association football has been played since the early twentieth century, with teams representing bases or visiting ships.
### Holidays
There are two principal holidays celebrated across Antarctica: Midwinter Day on the day of the southern winter solstice (June 20 or 21) and Antarctica Day on December 1, which commemorates the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959.
## See also
## Notes
## Bibliography
## Further reading
- De Pomereu, Jean; and McCahey, Daniella.
*Antarctica: A History in 100 Objects*(Conway, 2022) online book review - Kleinschmidt, Georg (2021).
*The geology of the Antarctic continent*. Stuttgart: Bornträger Science Publisher. ISBN 978-3-443-11034-5. - Lucas, Mike (1996).
*Antarctica*. New Holland Publishers. ISBN 978-1-85368-743-3. - Mardon, Austin Albert; Mardon, Catherine (2009).
*The use of geographic remote sensing, mapping and aerial photography to aid in the recovery of blue ice surficial meteorites in Antarctica*. Edmonton: Golden Meteorite Press. ISBN 978-18974-7-235-4 – via Internet Archive. - Stewart, John (2011).
*Antarctica: An Encyclopedia*. Jefferson, N.C. and London: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-3590-6. - Ivanov, Lyubomir; Ivanova, Nusha (2022).
*The World of Antarctica*. Generis Publishing. 241 pp. ISBN 979-8-88676-403-1
## External links
- Official website of the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat (de facto government)
- High resolution map (2022) – Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (REMA)
- Antarctica. on
*In Our Time*at the BBC - British Antarctic Survey (BAS)
- U.S. Antarctic Program Portal
|
# Catholic Church - Wikipedia
Catholic Church | |
|---|---|
Ecclesia Catholica | |
| Classification | Catholic |
| Scripture | Catholic Bible |
| Theology | Catholic theology |
| Polity | Papal supremacy - Episcopal |
| Governance | Holy See and Roman Curia |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
Particular churchessui iuris | Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches |
| Dioceses | |
| Parishes | 221,700 approx. |
| Region | Worldwide |
| Language | Ecclesiastical Latin and native languages |
| Liturgy | Latin and Eastern |
| Headquarters | Vatican City |
| Founder | |
| Origin | 1st century Judaea, Roman Empire |
| Separations | |
| Members | 1.272 billion according to World Christian Database (2025)1.406 billion according to the Annuario Pontificio (2023) |
| Clergy | |
| Hospitals | 18,000 clinics 5,500 hospitals |
| Nursing homes | 16,000 |
| Primary schools | 95,200 |
| Secondary schools | 43,800 |
| Official website | vatican.va |
The **Catholic Church** (Latin: *Ecclesia Catholica*), also known as the **Roman Catholic Church**, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization. The church consists of 24 *sui iuris* (autonomous) churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and eparchies around the world, each overseen by one or more bishops. The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the chief pastor of the church.
The core beliefs of **Catholicism** are found in the Nicene Creed. The Catholic Church teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church founded by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission, that its bishops are the successors of Christ's apostles, and that the pope is the successor of Saint Peter, upon whom primacy was conferred by Jesus Christ. It maintains that it practises the original Christian faith taught by the apostles, preserving the faith infallibly through scripture and sacred tradition as authentically interpreted through the magisterium or teaching office of the church. The Roman Rite and others of the Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic liturgies, and communities and societies such as mendicant orders, enclosed monastic orders, third orders and voluntary charitable lay associations reflect a variety of theological and spiritual emphases in the church.
Of its seven sacraments, the Eucharist is the principal one, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest, the sacrificial bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. The Virgin Mary is venerated as the Mother of God, and Queen of Heaven; she is honoured in dogmas, such as that of her immaculate conception, perpetual virginity and assumption into heaven, and devotions. Catholic social teaching emphasizes voluntary support for the sick, the poor, and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church operates tens of thousands of Catholic schools, universities and colleges, hospitals, and orphanages around the world, and is the largest non-government provider of education and health care in the world. Among its other social services are numerous charitable and humanitarian organizations.
The Catholic Church has profoundly influenced Western philosophy, culture, art, literature, music, law, and science. Catholics live all over the world through missions, immigration, diaspora, and conversions. Since the 20th century, the majority have resided in the Global South, partially due to secularization in Europe and North America. The Catholic Church shared communion with the Eastern Orthodox Church until the East–West Schism in 1054, disputing particularly the authority of the pope. Before the Council of Ephesus in AD 431, the Church of the East also shared in this communion, as did the Oriental Orthodox Churches before the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451; all separated primarily over differences in Christology. The Eastern Catholic Churches, which have a combined membership of approximately 18 million, represent a body of Eastern Christians who returned or remained in communion with the pope during or following these schisms due to a variety of historical circumstances. In the 16th century, the Reformation led to the formation of separate, Protestant groups and to the Counter-Reformation. From the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticized for its teachings on sexuality, its doctrine against ordaining women, and its handling of sexual abuse committed by clergy.
The Diocese of Rome, led by the pope as its bishop, constitutes his local jurisdiction, while the See of Rome—commonly referred to as the Holy See—serves as the central governing authority of the Catholic Church. The administrative body of the Holy See, the Roman Curia, has its principal offices in Vatican City, which is a small, independent city-state and enclave within the city of Rome, of which the pope is head of state and absolute elective monarch.
## Name
*Catholic* (from Greek: καθολικός, romanized: *katholikos*, lit. 'universal') was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century. The first known use of the phrase "the catholic church" (Greek: καθολικὴ ἐκκλησία, romanized: *katholikḕ ekklēsía*) occurred in the letter written about 110 AD from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans, which read: "Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be, even as where Jesus may be, there is the universal [katholike] Church." In the *Catechetical Lectures* (c. 350) of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the name "Catholic Church" was used to distinguish it from other groups that also called themselves "the church". The "Catholic" notion was further stressed in the edict *De fide Catolica* issued 380 by Theodosius I, the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire, when establishing the state church of the Roman Empire.
Since the East–West Schism of 1054, the Eastern Orthodox Church has taken the adjective *Orthodox* as its distinctive epithet; its official name continues to be the Orthodox Catholic Church. The Latin Church was described as *Catholic*, with that description also denominating those in communion with the Holy See after the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, when those who ceased to be in communion became known as Protestants.
While the *Roman Church* has been used to describe the pope's Diocese of Rome since the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Early Middle Ages (6th–10th century), *Roman Catholic Church* has been applied to the whole church in the English language since the Protestant Reformation in the late 16th century. Further, some will refer to the Latin Church as *Roman Catholic* in distinction from the Eastern Catholic churches. "Roman Catholic" has occasionally appeared in documents produced by the Holy See, and has been used by certain national episcopal conferences and local dioceses.
The name *Catholic Church* for the whole church is used in the *Catechism of the Catholic Church* (1990) and the Code of Canon Law (1983). "Catholic Church" is also used in the documents of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), the First Vatican Council (1869–1870), the Council of Trent (1545–1563), and numerous other official documents.
## History
### Apostolic era and papacy
The New Testament, in particular the Gospels, records Jesus' activities and teaching, his appointment of the Twelve Apostles and his Great Commission of the apostles, instructing them to continue his work. The book Acts of Apostles, tells of the founding of the Christian church and the spread of its message to the Roman Empire. The Catholic Church teaches that its public ministry began on Pentecost, occurring fifty days following the date Christ is believed to have resurrected. At Pentecost, the apostles are believed to have received the Holy Spirit, preparing them for their mission in leading the church. The Catholic Church teaches that the college of bishops, led by the bishop of Rome are the successors to the Apostles.
In the account of the Confession of Peter found in the Gospel of Matthew, Christ designates Peter as the "rock" upon which Christ's church will be built. The Catholic Church considers the bishop of Rome, the pope, to be the successor to Saint Peter. Some scholars state Peter was the first bishop of Rome. Others[ who?] say that the institution of the papacy is not dependent on the idea that Peter was bishop of Rome or even on his ever having been in Rome.
Many scholars hold that a church structure of plural presbyters/bishops persisted in Rome until the mid-2nd century, when the structure of a single bishop and plural presbyters was adopted, and that later writers retrospectively applied the term "bishop of Rome" to the most prominent members of the clergy in the earlier period and also to Peter himself. On this basis Bart D. Ehrman,as well as protestant scholars Oscar Cullmann and Henry Chadwick, question whether there was a formal link between Peter and the modern papacy.
Raymond E. Brown also says that it is anachronistic to speak of Peter in terms of local bishop of Rome, but that Christians of that period would have looked on Peter as having "roles that would contribute in an essential way to the development of the role of the papacy in the subsequent church". These roles, Brown says, "contributed enormously to seeing the bishop of Rome, the bishop of the city where Peter died and where Paul witnessed the truth of Christ, as the successor of Peter in care for the church universal".
### Antiquity and Roman Empire
Conditions in the Roman Empire facilitated the spread of new ideas. The empire's network of roads and waterways facilitated travel, and the *Pax Romana* made travelling safe. The empire encouraged the spread of a common culture with Greek roots, which allowed ideas to be more easily expressed and understood.
Unlike most religions in the Roman Empire, however, Christianity required its adherents to renounce all other gods, a practice adopted from Judaism (see Idolatry). The Christians' refusal to join pagan celebrations meant they were unable to participate in much of public life, which caused non-Christians—including government authorities—to fear that the Christians were angering the gods and thereby threatening the peace and prosperity of the Empire. The resulting persecutions were a defining feature of Christian self-understanding until Christianity was legalized in the 4th century.
In 313, Emperor Constantine I's Edict of Milan legalized Christianity, and in 330 Constantine moved the imperial capital to Constantinople, modern Istanbul, Turkey. In 380 the Edict of Thessalonica made Nicene Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire, a position that within the diminishing territory of the Byzantine Empire persisted until the empire itself ended in the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Elsewhere the church was independent of the empire, as became particularly clear with the East–West Schism. During the period of the Seven Ecumenical Councils, five primary sees emerged, an arrangement formalized in the mid-6th century by Emperor Justinian I as the pentarchy of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem.
In 451, the Council of Chalcedon, in a canon of disputed validity, elevated the see of Constantinople to a position "second in eminence and power to the bishop of Rome". From c. 350 – c. 500, the bishops, or popes, of Rome, steadily increased in authority through their consistent intervening in support of orthodox leaders in theological disputes, which encouraged appeals to them. Emperor Justinian, who in the areas under his control definitively established a form of caesaropapism, in which "he had the right and duty of regulating by his laws the minutest details of worship and discipline, and also of dictating the theological opinions to be held in the Church", re-established imperial power over Rome and other parts of the West, initiating the period termed the Byzantine Papacy (537–752), during which the bishops of Rome, or popes, required approval from the emperor in Constantinople or from his representative in Ravenna for consecration. Most were selected by the emperor from his Greek-speaking subjects, resulting in a "melting pot" of Western and Eastern Christian traditions in art as well as liturgy.
Most of the Germanic tribes who in the following centuries invaded the Roman Empire adopted Christianity in its Arian form, which the Council of Nicaea declared heretical. The resulting religious discord between Germanic rulers and Catholic subjects was avoided when, in 497, Clovis I, the Frankish ruler, converted to orthodox Catholicism, allying himself with the papacy and the monasteries. The Visigoths in Spain followed his lead in 589, and the Lombards in Italy in the course of the 7th century.
Western Christianity, particularly through its monasteries, was a major factor in preserving classical civilization, with its art (see Illuminated manuscript) and literacy. Through his Rule, Benedict of Nursia (c. 480–543), one of the founders of Western monasticism, exerted an enormous influence on European culture through the appropriation of the monastic spiritual heritage of the early Catholic Church and, with the spread of the Benedictine tradition, through the preservation and transmission of ancient culture. During this period, monastic Ireland became a centre of learning and early Irish missionaries such as Columbanus and Columba spread Christianity and established monasteries across continental Europe.
### Middle Ages and Renaissance
The Catholic Church was the dominant influence on Western civilization from Late Antiquity to the dawn of the modern age. It was the primary sponsor of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Mannerist and Baroque styles in art, architecture and music. Renaissance figures such as Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Fra Angelico, Tintoretto, Titian, Bernini and Caravaggio are examples of the numerous visual artists sponsored by the church. Historian Paul Legutko of Stanford University said the Catholic Church is "at the center of the development of the values, ideas, science, laws, and institutions which constitute what we call Western civilization".
In Western Christendom, the first universities in Europe were established by monks. Beginning in the 11th century, several older cathedral schools became universities, such as the University of Oxford, University of Paris, and University of Bologna. Higher education before then had been the domain of Christian cathedral schools or monastic schools, led by monks and nuns. Evidence of such schools dates back to the 6th century CE. These new universities expanded the curriculum to include academic programs for clerics, lawyers, civil servants, and physicians. The university is generally regarded as an institution that has its origin in the Medieval Christian setting.
The massive Islamic invasions of the mid-7th century began a long struggle between Christianity and Islam throughout the Mediterranean Basin. The Byzantine Empire soon lost the lands of the eastern patriarchates of Jerusalem, Alexandria and Antioch and was reduced to that of Constantinople, the empire's capital. As a result of Islamic domination of the Mediterranean, the Frankish state, centred away from that sea, was able to evolve as the dominant power that shaped the Western Europe of the Middle Ages.
The battles of Toulouse and Tours halted the Islamic advance in the West and the failed siege of Constantinople halted it in the East. Two or three decades later, in 751, the Byzantine Empire lost to the Lombards the city of Ravenna from which it governed the small fragments of Italy, including Rome, that acknowledged its sovereignty. The fall of Ravenna meant that confirmation by a no longer existent exarch was not asked for during the election in 752 of Pope Stephen II, and that the papacy was forced to look elsewhere for a civil power to protect it.
In 754, at the urgent request of Pope Stephen, the Frankish king Pepin the Short conquered the Lombards. He then gifted the lands of the former exarchate to the pope, initiating the Papal States. In the 860s, Rome and the Byzantine East were in conflict during the Photian schism, when Photius criticized the Latin west for adding of the *filioque* clause, after being excommunicated by Nicholas I. Though the schism was reconciled, unresolved issues would lead to further division.
In the 11th century, the efforts of Hildebrand of Sovana led to the creation of the College of Cardinals to elect new popes, starting with Pope Alexander II in the papal election of 1061. When Alexander II died, Hildebrand was elected to succeed him, as Pope Gregory VII. The basic election system of the College of Cardinals which Gregory VII helped establish has continued to function into the 21st century. Pope Gregory VII further initiated the Gregorian Reforms regarding the independence of the clergy from secular authority. This led to the Investiture Controversy between the church and the Holy Roman Emperors, over which had the authority to appoint bishops and popes.
In 1095, Byzantine emperor Alexius I appealed to Pope Urban II for help against renewed Muslim invasions in the Byzantine–Seljuk wars, which caused Urban to launch the First Crusade aimed at aiding the Byzantine Empire and returning the Holy Land to Christian control. In the 11th century, strained relations between the primarily Greek church and the Latin Church separated them in the East–West Schism, partially due to conflicts over papal authority. The Fourth Crusade and the sacking of Constantinople by renegade crusaders proved the final breach.
In the twelfth century, Inquisitions—Church investigations of individuals under suspicions of heresy—began in the Catholic Kingdom of France. The trials spread throughout other European countries in the succeeding centuries, through multiple forms and papacies. The Inquisitions represented an intensification of prior possible punishments for heresy, including torture. By 1256 Alexander IV's *Ut negotium* allowed the inquisitors to absolve each other if they used instruments of torture.
In the early 13th century mendicant orders were founded by Francis of Assisi and Dominic de Guzmán. The *studia conventualia* and *studia generalia* of the mendicant orders played a large role in the transformation of church-sponsored cathedral schools and palace schools, such as that of Charlemagne at Aachen, into the prominent universities of Europe. Scholastic theologians and philosophers such as the Dominican priest Thomas Aquinas studied and taught at these studia. Aquinas' *Summa Theologica* was an intellectual milestone in its synthesis of the legacy of ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle with the content of Christian revelation.
A growing sense of church-state conflicts marked the 14th century. In 1309, to escape instability in Rome, Clement V became the first of seven popes to reside in the fortified city of Avignon in southern France during a period known as the Avignon Papacy. The Avignon Papacy ended in 1376 when the pope returned to Rome. In 1378, a 38-year-long Western Schism began, with claimants to the papacy located in Rome, Avignon and after 1409, Pisa. The matter was largely resolved in 1414–1418 at the Council of Constance, with the claimants in Rome and Pisa agreeing to resign and the third claimant excommunicated by the cardinals, who held a new election naming Martin V pope.
In 1438, the Council of Florence convened, which featured a strong dialogue focussed on understanding the theological differences between the East and West, with the hope of reuniting the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Several eastern churches reunited, forming the majority of the Eastern Catholic Churches.
### Age of Discovery and Counter-Reformation
The Age of Discovery beginning in the 15th century saw the expansion of Western Europe's political and cultural influence worldwide. Because of the rise in power overseas of strongly Catholic nations of Spain and Portugal (as well as France), Catholicism was spread to the Americas, Asia and Oceania by explorers, conquistadors, and missionaries, as well as by the conversion of people who lived in these societies to the Catholic faith. Pope Alexander VI had awarded sovereignty rights over most of the newly discovered lands to Spain and Portugal (later confirmed by the Treaty of Tordesillas) and the ensuing *patronato* system allowed state authorities, not the Vatican, to control all clerical appointments in the new colonies. In 1521 the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan made the first Catholic converts in the Philippines. Elsewhere, Portuguese missionaries under the Spanish Jesuit Francis Xavier evangelized in India, China, and Japan. The French colonization of the Americas beginning in the 16th century established a Catholic Francophone population and forbade non-Catholics to settle in Quebec.
In 1415, Jan Hus was burned at the stake for heresy against the Catholic Church. His reform efforts encouraged Martin Luther, an Augustinian friar in modern-day Germany, who sent his *Ninety-five Theses* to several bishops in 1517. His theses protested key points of Catholic doctrine as well as the sale of indulgences, and along with the Leipzig Debate this led to his excommunication in 1521. In Switzerland, Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin and other Protestant Reformers further criticized Catholic teachings. These challenges developed into the Reformation, which gave birth to the great majority of Protestant denominations and also crypto-Protestantism within the Catholic Church. Meanwhile, Henry VIII petitioned Pope Clement VII for a declaration of nullity concerning his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. When this was denied, he had the Acts of Supremacy passed to make himself Supreme Head of the Church of England, spurring the English Reformation and the eventual development of Anglicanism.
The Reformation contributed to clashes between the Protestant Schmalkaldic League and the Catholic Emperor Charles V and his allies. The first nine-year war ended in 1555 with the Peace of Augsburg but continued tensions produced a far graver conflict—the Thirty Years' War—which broke out in 1618. In France, a series of conflicts termed the French Wars of Religion was fought from 1562 to 1598 between the Huguenots (French Calvinists) and the forces of the French Catholic League, which were backed and funded by a series of popes. This ended under Pope Clement VIII, who hesitantly accepted King Henry IV's 1598 Edict of Nantes granting civil and religious toleration to French Protestants.
The Council of Trent (1545–1563) became the driving force behind the Counter-Reformation in response to the Protestant movement. Doctrinally, it reaffirmed many central Catholic teachings such as transubstantiation, the keeping of the sacraments, and the requirement of good works anchored in love and hope to justify one's salvation, as well as faith as a necessary condition to attain such salvation. In subsequent centuries, Catholicism spread widely across the world, in part through missionaries and imperialism, although its hold on European populations declined due to the growth of religious scepticism during and after the Enlightenment.
### Enlightenment and modern period
From the 17th century onward, the Enlightenment questioned the power and influence of the Catholic Church over Western society. In the 18th century, writers such as Voltaire and the *Encyclopédistes* wrote biting critiques of both religion and the Catholic Church. One target of their criticism was the 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes by King Louis XIV of France, which ended a century-long policy of religious toleration of Protestant Huguenots. As the papacy resisted pushes for Gallicanism, the French Revolution of 1789 shifted power to the state, caused the destruction of churches, the establishment of a Cult of Reason, and the martyrdom of nuns during the *Reign of Terror*. In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte's General Louis-Alexandre Berthier invaded the Italian Peninsula, imprisoning Pope Pius VI, who died in captivity. Napoleon later re-established the Catholic Church in France through the Concordat of 1801. The end of the Napoleonic Wars brought Catholic revival and the return of the Papal States.
In 1854, Pope Pius IX, with the support of the overwhelming majority of Catholic bishops, whom he had consulted from 1851 to 1853, proclaimed the Immaculate Conception as a dogma in the Catholic Church. In 1870, the First Vatican Council affirmed the doctrine of papal infallibility when exercised in specifically defined pronouncements, striking a blow to the rival position of conciliarism. Controversy over this and other issues resulted in a breakaway movement called the Old Catholic Church.
The Italian unification of the 1860s incorporated the Papal States, including Rome itself from 1870, into the Kingdom of Italy, thus ending the papacy's temporal power. In response, Pope Pius IX excommunicated King Victor Emmanuel II, refused payment for the land, and rejected the Italian Law of Guarantees, which granted him special privileges. To avoid placing himself in visible subjection to the Italian authorities, he remained a "prisoner in the Vatican". This stand-off, which was spoken of as the *Roman Question*, was resolved by the 1929 Lateran Treaties, whereby the Holy See acknowledged Italian sovereignty over the former Papal States in return for payment and Italy's recognition of papal sovereignty over Vatican City as a new sovereign and independent state.
Catholic missionaries generally supported, and sought to facilitate, the European imperial powers' conquest of Africa during the late nineteenth century. According to the historian of religion Adrian Hastings, Catholic missionaries were generally unwilling to defend African rights or encourage Africans to see themselves as equals to Europeans, in contrast to Protestant missionaries, who were more willing to oppose colonial injustices.
### 20th century
During the 20th century, the church's global reach continued to grow, despite the rise of anti-Catholic authoritarian regimes and the collapse of European Empires, accompanied by a general decline in religious observance in the West. Under Popes Benedict XV, and Pius XII, the Holy See sought to maintain public neutrality through the World Wars, acting as peace broker and delivering aid to the victims of the conflicts. In the 1960s, Pope John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council, which ushered in radical change to church ritual and practice, and in the later 20th century, the long reign of Pope John Paul II contributed to the fall of communism in Europe, and a new public and international role for the papacy. From the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticized for its doctrines on sexuality, its inability to ordain women, and its handling of sexual abuse cases.
Pope Pius X (1903–1914) renewed the independence of papal office by abolishing the veto of Catholic powers in papal elections, and his successors Benedict XV (1914–1922) and Pius XI (1922–1939) concluded the modern independence of the Vatican State within Italy. Benedict XV was elected at the outbreak of the First World War. He attempted to mediate between the powers and established a Vatican relief office, to assist victims of the war and reunite families. The interwar Pope Pius XI modernized the papacy, appointing 40 indigenous bishops and concluding fifteen concordats, including the Lateran Treaty with Italy which founded the Vatican City State.
His successor Pope Pius XII led the Catholic Church through the Second World War and early Cold War. Like his predecessors, Pius XII sought to publicly maintain Vatican neutrality in the War and established aid networks to help victims, but he secretly assisted the anti-Hitler resistance and shared intelligence with the Allies. His first encyclical *Summi Pontificatus* (1939) expressed dismay at the 1939 Invasion of Poland and reiterated Catholic teaching against racism. He expressed concern against race killings on Vatican Radio, and intervened diplomatically to attempt to block Nazi deportations of Jews in various countries from 1942 to 1944. However, the Pope's insistence on public neutrality and diplomatic language has become a source of much criticism and debate. Nevertheless, in every country under German occupation, priests played a major part in rescuing Jews. Israeli historian Pinchas Lapide estimated that Catholic rescue of Jews amounted to somewhere between 700,000 and 860,000 people.
The Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church was at its most intense in Poland, and Catholic resistance to Nazism took various forms. Some 2,579 Catholic clergy were sent to the Priest Barracks of Dachau Concentration Camp, including 400 Germans. Thousands of priests, nuns and brothers were imprisoned, taken to a concentration camp, tortured and murdered, including Saints Maximilian Kolbe and Edith Stein. Catholics fought on both sides in the conflict. Catholic clergy played a leading role in the government of the fascist Slovak State, which collaborated with the Nazis, copied their anti-Semitic policies, and helped them carry out the Holocaust in Slovakia. Jozef Tiso, the President of the Slovak State and a Catholic priest, supported his government's deportation of Slovakian Jews to extermination camps. The Vatican protested against these Jewish deportations in Slovakia and in other Nazi puppet regimes including Vichy France, Croatia, Bulgaria, Italy and Hungary.
Around 1943, Adolf Hitler planned the kidnapping of the Pope and his internment in Germany. He gave SS General Wolff a corresponding order to prepare for the action. While Pope Pius XII has been credited with helping to save hundreds of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust, the church has also been accused of having encouraged centuries of antisemitism by its teachings and not doing enough to stop Nazi atrocities. Many Nazi criminals escaped overseas after the Second World War, also because they had powerful supporters from the Vatican. The judgment of Pius XII is made more difficult by the sources, because the church archives for his tenure as nuncio, cardinal secretary of state and pope are in part closed or not yet processed.
The Second Vatican Council (1962–65) introduced the most significant changes to Catholic practices since the Council of Trent, four centuries before. Initiated by Pope John XXIII, this ecumenical council modernized the practices of the Catholic Church, allowing the Mass to be said in the vernacular (local language) and encouraging "fully conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations". It intended to engage the church more closely with the present world (*aggiornamento*), which was described by its advocates as an "opening of the windows". In addition to changes in the liturgy, it led to changes to the church's approach to ecumenism, and a call to improved relations with non-Christian religions, especially Judaism, in its document *Nostra aetate*.
The council, however, generated significant controversy in implementing its reforms: proponents of the "Spirit of Vatican II" such as Swiss theologian Hans Küng said that Vatican II had "not gone far enough" to change church policies. Traditionalist Catholics, such as Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, however, strongly criticized the council, arguing that its liturgical reforms led "to the destruction of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the sacraments", among other issues. The teaching on the morality of contraception also came under scrutiny; after a series of disagreements, *Humanae vitae* upheld the church's prohibition of all forms of contraception.
In 1978, Pope John Paul II, formerly Archbishop of Kraków in the Polish People's Republic, became the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. His 26 1/2-year pontificate was one of the longest in history and was credited with hastening the fall of communism in Europe. John Paul II sought to evangelize an increasingly secular world. He travelled more than any other pope, visiting 129 countries, and used television and radio as means of spreading the church's teachings. He also emphasized the dignity of work and natural rights of labourers to have fair wages and safe conditions in *Laborem exercens*. He emphasized several church teachings, including moral exhortations against abortion, euthanasia, and against widespread use of the death penalty, in *Evangelium Vitae*.
### 21st century
Pope Benedict XVI, elected in 2005, was known for upholding traditional Christian values against secularization, and for increasing use of the Tridentine Mass as found in the Roman Missal of 1962, which he titled the "Extraordinary Form". Citing the frailties of advanced age, Benedict resigned in 2013, becoming the first pope to do so in nearly 600 years.
Pope Francis became in 2013 the first pope from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first Pope from outside Europe since the eighth-century Gregory III. Francis made efforts to further close Catholicism's estrangement with the Eastern churches. His installation was attended by Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the first time since the Great Schism of 1054 that the Eastern Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople has attended a papal installation, while he also met Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, head of the largest Eastern Orthodox church, in 2016; this was reported as the first such high-level meeting between the two churches since the Great Schism of 1054. In 2017 during a visit in Egypt, Pope Francis reestablished mutual recognition of baptism with the Coptic Orthodox Church.
## Organization
The Catholic Church follows an episcopal polity, led by bishops who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders who are given formal jurisdictions of governance within the church. There are three levels of clergy: the episcopate, composed of bishops who hold jurisdiction over a geographic area called a diocese or eparchy; the presbyterate, composed of priests ordained by bishops and who work in local dioceses or religious orders; and the diaconate, composed of deacons who assist bishops and priests in a variety of ministerial roles. Ultimately leading the entire Catholic Church is the bishop of Rome, known as the pope (Latin: *papa*, lit. 'father'), whose jurisdiction is called the Holy See (*Sancta Sedes* in Latin).
In parallel to the diocesan structure are a variety of religious institutes that function autonomously, often subject only to the authority of the pope, though sometimes subject to the local bishop. Most religious institutes only have male or female members but some have both. Additionally, lay members aid many liturgical functions during worship services. The Catholic Church has been described as the oldest multinational organization in the world.
The hierarchy of the Catholic Church is headed by the pope, currently Pope Leo XIV, who was elected on the 8th of May 2025 by a papal conclave. The office of the pope is known as the *papacy*. The Catholic Church holds that Christ instituted the papacy upon giving the keys of Heaven to Saint Peter. His ecclesiastical jurisdiction is called the Holy See, or the Apostolic See (meaning the see of the apostle Peter). Directly serving the pope is the Roman Curia, the central governing body that administers the day-to-day business of the Catholic Church.
The pope is also sovereign of Vatican City, a small city-state entirely enclaved within the city of Rome, which is an entity distinct from the Holy See. It is as head of the Holy See, not as head of Vatican City State, that the pope receives ambassadors of states and sends them his own diplomatic representatives. The Holy See also confers orders, decorations and medals, such as the orders of chivalry originating from the Middle Ages.
While the famous Saint Peter's Basilica is located in Vatican City, above the traditional site of Saint Peter's tomb, the papal cathedral for the Diocese of Rome is the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, located within the city of Rome, though enjoying extraterritorial privileges accredited to the Holy See.
The position of cardinal is a rank of honour bestowed by popes on certain clerics, such as leaders within the Roman Curia, bishops serving in major cities and distinguished theologians. For advice and assistance in governing, the pope may turn to the College of Cardinals.
Following the death or resignation of a pope, members of the College of Cardinals who are under age 80 act as an electoral college, meeting in a papal conclave to elect a successor. Although the conclave may elect any male Catholic as pope, since 1389 only cardinals have been elected.
### Canon law
Catholic canon law (Latin: *jus canonicum*) is the system of laws and legal principles made and enforced by the hierarchical authorities of the Catholic Church to regulate its external organization and government and to order and direct the activities of Catholics toward the mission of the church. The canon law of the Latin Church was the first modern Western legal system, and is the oldest continuously functioning legal system in the West, while the distinctive traditions of Eastern Catholic canon law govern the 23 Eastern Catholic particular churches *sui iuris*.
Positive ecclesiastical laws, based directly or indirectly upon immutable divine law or natural law, derive formal authority in the case of universal laws from promulgation by the supreme legislator—the Supreme Pontiff—who possesses the totality of legislative, executive and judicial power in his person, while particular laws derive formal authority from promulgation by a legislator inferior to the supreme legislator, whether an ordinary or a delegated legislator. The actual subject material of the canons is not just doctrinal or moral in nature, but all-encompassing of the human condition. It has all the ordinary elements of a mature legal system: laws, courts, lawyers, judges, a fully articulated legal code for the Latin Church as well as a code for the Eastern Catholic Churches, principles of legal interpretation, and coercive penalties.
Canon law concerns the Catholic Church's life and organization and is distinct from civil law. In its own field it gives force to civil law only by specific enactment in matters such as the guardianship of minors. Similarly, civil law may give force in its field to canon law, but only by specific enactment, as with regard to canonical marriages. Currently, the 1983 Code of Canon Law is in effect for the Latin Church. The distinct 1990 *Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches* (*CCEO*, after the Latin initials) applies to the autonomous Eastern Catholic Churches.
### Latin and Eastern churches
In the first thousand years of Catholic history, different varieties of Christianity developed in the Western and Eastern Christian areas of Europe, Asia and Africa. Though most Eastern-tradition churches are no longer in communion with the Catholic Church after the Great Schism of 1054 (as well as the earlier Nestorian Schism and Chalcedonian Schism), 23 autonomous particular churches of eastern traditions participate in the Catholic communion, also known as "churches *sui iuris*" (Latin: *"of one's own right*"). The largest and most well known is the Latin Church, the only Western-tradition church, with more than 1 billion members worldwide. Relatively small in terms of adherents compared to the Latin Church, are the 23 self-governing Eastern Catholic Churches with a combined membership of 17.3 million as of 2010[update].
The Latin Church is governed by the pope and diocesan bishops directly appointed by him. The pope exercises a direct patriarchal role over the Latin Church, which is considered to form the original and still major part of Western Christianity, a heritage of certain beliefs and customs originating in Europe and northwestern Africa, some of which are inherited by many Christian denominations that trace their origins to the Protestant Reformation.
The Eastern Catholic Churches follow the traditions and spirituality of Eastern Christianity and are churches that have always remained in full communion with the Catholic Church or who have chosen to re-enter full communion in the centuries following the East–West Schism or earlier divisions. These churches are communities of Catholic Christians whose forms of worship reflect distinct historical and cultural influences rather than differences in doctrine.
The pope's recognition of Eastern Catholic Churches has caused controversy in ecumenical relations with the Eastern Orthodox and other eastern churches. Historically, pressure to conform to the norms of the Western Christianity practised by the majority Latin Church led to a degree of encroachment (Liturgical Latinisation) on some of the Eastern Catholic traditions. The Second Vatican Council document, *Orientalium Ecclesiarum*, built on previous reforms to reaffirm the right of Eastern Catholics to maintain their distinct liturgical practices.
A church *sui iuris* is defined in the *Code of Canons for the Eastern Churches* as a "group of Christian faithful united by a hierarchy" that is recognized by the pope in his capacity as the supreme authority on matters of doctrine within the church. The Eastern Catholic Churches are in full communion with the pope, but have governance structures and liturgical traditions separate from that of the Latin Church. While the Latin Church's canons do not explicitly use the term, it is tacitly recognized as equivalent.
Some Eastern Catholic churches are governed by a patriarch who is elected by the synod of the bishops of that church, others are headed by a major archbishop, others are under a metropolitan, and others are organized as individual eparchies. Each church has authority over the particulars of its internal organization, liturgical rites, liturgical calendar and other aspects of its spirituality, subject only to the authority of the pope. The Roman Curia has a specific department, the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, to maintain relations with them. The pope does not generally appoint bishops or clergy in the Eastern Catholic Churches, deferring to their internal governance structures, but may intervene if he feels it necessary.
Individual countries, regions, and major cities are served by particular churches known as dioceses in the Latin Church, or eparchies in the Eastern Catholic Churches, each of which are overseen by a bishop. As of 2021[update], the Catholic Church has 3,171 dioceses globally. The bishops in a particular country are members of a national or regional episcopal conference.
Dioceses are divided into parishes, each with one or more priests, deacons, or lay ecclesial ministers. Parishes are responsible for the day to day celebration of the sacraments and pastoral care of the laity. As of 2016[update], there are 221,700 parishes worldwide.
In the Latin Church, Catholic men may serve as deacons or priests by receiving sacramental ordination. Men and women may serve as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, as readers (lectors), or as altar servers. Historically, boys and men have only been permitted to serve as altar servers; however, since the 1990s, girls and women have also been permitted.
Catholics may enter into consecrated life either on an individual basis, as a hermit or consecrated virgin, or by joining an institute of consecrated life (a religious institute or a secular institute) in which to take vows confirming their desire to follow the three evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience. Examples of institutes of consecrated life are the Benedictines, the Carmelites, the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Missionaries of Charity, the Legionaries of Christ and the Sisters of Mercy.
"Religious institutes" is a modern term encompassing both "religious orders" and "religious congregations", which were once distinguished in canon law. The terms "religious order" and "religious institute" tend to be used as synonyms colloquially.
By means of Catholic charities and beyond, the Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and health care in the world.
### Membership
As of 2020, Catholicism is the second-largest religious body in the world after Sunni Islam. Catholics represent about half of all Christians. According to the *World Christian Database*, there are 1.272 billion Catholics globally, as of 2025. According to the *Annuario Pontificio*, church membership, defined as baptized Catholics, was 1.406 billion at the end of 2023, which was 17.4% of the world population: Under Pope Francis the church membership grew by almost 11 percent with growth concentrated in Africa and loss in Europe.
Brazil has the largest Catholic population in the world, followed by Mexico, the Philippines, and the United States.
Geographic distribution of Catholics worldwide continues to shift, with 20.0% in Africa, 47.8% in the Americas, 11.0% in Asia, 20.4% in Europe, and 0.8% in Oceania.
Catholic ministers include ordained clergy, lay ecclesial ministers, missionaries, and catechists. Also as of the end of 2023, there were 463,859 ordained clergy, including 5,430 bishops, 406,996 priests (diocesan and religious), and 51,433 deacons (permanent). Non-ordained ministers, as of October 2024, included 2,883,049 catechists and 413,561 lay missionaries.
Catholics who have committed to religious or consecrated life instead of marriage or single celibacy, as a state of life or relational vocation, include 49,414 male religious (as of 2022) and 589,423 women religious (as of 2023). These are not ordained, nor generally considered ministers unless also engaged in one of the lay minister categories above.
## Doctrine
Catholic doctrine has developed over the centuries, reflecting direct teachings of early Christians, formal definitions of heretical and orthodox beliefs by ecumenical councils and in papal bulls, and theological debate by scholars. The church believes that it is continually guided by the Holy Spirit as it discerns new theological issues and is protected infallibly from falling into doctrinal error when a firm decision on an issue is reached.
It teaches that revelation has one common source, God, and two distinct modes of transmission: Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, and that these are authentically interpreted by the Magisterium. Sacred Scripture consists of the 73 books of the Catholic Bible, consisting of 46 Old Testament and 27 New Testament writings. Sacred Tradition consists of those teachings believed by the church to have been handed down since the time of the Apostles. Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition are collectively known as the "deposit of faith" (*depositum fidei* in Latin). These are in turn interpreted by the Magisterium (from *magister*, Latin for "teacher"), the church's teaching authority, which is exercised by the pope and the College of Bishops in union with the pope, the Bishop of Rome. Catholic doctrine is authoritatively summarized in the *Catechism of the Catholic Church*, published by the Holy See.
### Nature of God
The Catholic Church holds that there is one eternal God, who exists as a *perichoresis* ("mutual indwelling") of three *hypostases*, or "persons": God the Father; God the Son; and God the Holy Spirit (also called the Holy Ghost), which together are called the "Holy Trinity".
Catholics believe that Jesus Christ is the "Second Person" of the Trinity, God the Son. In an event known as the Incarnation, through the power of the Holy Spirit, God became united with human nature through the conception of Christ in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Christ, therefore, is understood as being both fully divine and fully human, including possessing a human soul. It is taught that Christ's mission on earth included giving people his teachings and providing his example for them to follow as recorded in the four Gospels. Jesus is believed to have remained sinless while on earth, and to have allowed himself to be unjustly executed by crucifixion, as a sacrifice of himself to reconcile humanity to God; this reconciliation is known as the Paschal Mystery. The Greek term "Christ" and the Hebrew "Messiah" both mean "anointed one", referring to the Christian belief that Jesus' death and resurrection are the fulfilment of the Old Testament's messianic prophecies.
The Catholic Church teaches dogmatically that "the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son, not as from two principles but as from one single principle". It holds that the Father, as the "principle without principle", is the first origin of the Spirit, but also that he, as Father of the only Son, is with the Son the single principle from which the Spirit proceeds. This belief is expressed in the *Filioque* clause which was added to the Latin version of the Nicene Creed of 381 but not included in the Greek versions of the creed used in Eastern Christianity.
### Nature of the church
The Catholic Church teaches that it is the "one true church", "the universal sacrament of salvation for the human race", and "the one true religion". According to the *Catechism*, the Catholic Church is further described in the Nicene Creed as the "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church". These are collectively known as the Four Marks of the Church. The church teaches that its founder is Jesus Christ. The New Testament records several events considered integral to the establishment of the Catholic Church, including Jesus' activities and teaching and his appointment of the apostles as witnesses to his ministry, suffering, and resurrection. The Great Commission, after his resurrection, instructed the apostles to continue his work. The coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, in an event known as Pentecost, is seen as the beginning of the public ministry of the Catholic Church. The church teaches that all duly consecrated bishops have a lineal succession from the apostles of Christ, known as apostolic succession. In particular, the Bishop of Rome (the pope) is considered the successor to the apostle Simon Peter, a position from which he derives his supremacy over the church.
Catholic belief holds that the church "is the continuing presence of Jesus on earth" and that it alone possesses the full means of salvation. Through the passion (suffering) of Christ leading to his crucifixion as described in the Gospels, it is said Christ made himself an oblation to God the Father to reconcile humanity to God; the Resurrection of Jesus makes him the firstborn from the dead, the first among many brethren. By reconciling with God and following Christ's words and deeds, an individual can enter the Kingdom of God. The church sees its liturgy and sacraments as perpetuating the graces achieved through Christ's sacrifice to strengthen a person's relationship with Christ and aid in overcoming sin.
### Final judgement
The Catholic Church teaches that, immediately after death, the soul of each person will receive a particular judgement from God, based on their sins and their relationship to Christ. This teaching also attests to another day when Christ will sit in universal judgement of all mankind. This final judgement, according to the church's teaching, will bring an end to human history and mark the beginning of both a new and better heaven and earth ruled by God in righteousness.
Depending on the judgement rendered following death, it is believed that a soul may enter one of three states of the afterlife:
- Heaven is a state of unending union with the divine nature of God, not ontologically, but by grace. It is an eternal life, in which the soul contemplates God in ceaseless beatitude.
- Purgatory is a temporary condition for the purification of souls who, although destined for Heaven, are not fully detached from sin and thus cannot enter Heaven immediately. In Purgatory, the soul suffers, and is purged and perfected. Souls in purgatory may be aided in reaching heaven by the prayers of the faithful on earth and by the intercession of saints.
- Final Damnation: Finally, those who persist in living in a state of mortal sin and do not repent before death subject themselves to hell, an everlasting separation from God. The church teaches that no one is condemned to hell without having freely decided to reject God. No one is predestined to hell and no one can determine with absolute certainty who has been condemned to hell. Catholicism teaches that through God's mercy a person can repent at any point before death, be illuminated with the truth of the Catholic faith, and thus obtain salvation. Some Catholic theologians have speculated that the souls of unbaptized infants and non-Christians without mortal sin but who die in original sin are assigned to limbo, although this is not an official dogma of the church.
While the Catholic Church teaches that it alone possesses the full means of salvation, it also acknowledges that the Holy Spirit can make use of Christian communities separated from itself to "impel towards Catholic unity" and "tend and lead toward the Catholic Church", and thus bring people to salvation, because these separated communities contain some elements of proper doctrine, albeit admixed with errors. It teaches that anyone who is saved is saved through the Catholic Church but that people can be saved outside of the ordinary means known as baptism of desire, and by pre-baptismal martyrdom, known as baptism of blood, as well as when conditions of invincible ignorance are present, although invincible ignorance in itself is not a means of salvation. The Vatican II document Lumen Gentium further clarifies the possibility of salvation of those who "through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart," being "moved by (divine) grace"."*CCC*, 847". Vatican.va.
### Saints and devotions
A saint (also historically known as a hallow) is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness or likeness or closeness to God, while canonization is the act by which a Christian church declares that a person who has died was a saint, upon which declaration the person is included in the "canon", or list, of recognized saints. The first persons honoured as saints were the martyrs. Pious legends of their deaths were considered affirmations of the truth of their faith in Christ. By the fourth century, however, "confessors"—people who had confessed their faith not by dying but by suffering—began to be venerated publicly.
In the Catholic Church, both in Latin and Eastern Catholic churches, the act of canonization is reserved to the Apostolic See and occurs at the conclusion of a long process requiring extensive proof that the candidate for canonization lived and died in such an exemplary and holy way that he is worthy to be recognized as a saint. The church's official recognition of sanctity implies that the person is now in Heaven and that he may be publicly invoked and mentioned officially in the liturgy of the church, including in the Litany of the Saints. Canonization allows universal veneration of the saint in the liturgy of the Roman Rite; for permission to venerate merely locally, only beatification is needed.
Devotions are "external practices of piety" which are not part of the official liturgy of the Catholic Church but are part of the popular spiritual practices of Catholics. These include various practices regarding the veneration of the saints, especially veneration of the Virgin Mary. Other devotional practices include the Stations of the Cross, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Holy Face of Jesus, the various scapulars, novenas to various saints, pilgrimages and devotions to the Blessed Sacrament, and the veneration of saintly images such as the *santos*. The bishops at the Second Vatican Council reminded Catholics that "devotions should be so drawn up that they harmonize with the liturgical seasons, accord with the sacred liturgy, are in some fashion derived from it, and lead the people to it, since, in fact, the liturgy by its very nature far surpasses any of them."
### Virgin Mary
Catholic Mariology deals with the dogmas and teachings concerning the life of Mary, mother of Jesus, as well as the veneration of Mary by the faithful. Mary is held in special regard, declared the Mother of God (Greek: Θεοτόκος, romanized: *Theotokos*, lit. 'God-bearer'), and believed as dogma to have remained a virgin throughout her life. Further teachings include the doctrines of the Immaculate Conception (her own conception without the stain of original sin) and the Assumption of Mary (that her body was assumed directly into heaven at the end of her life). Both of these doctrines were defined as infallible dogma, by Pope Pius IX in 1854 and Pope Pius XII in 1950 respectively, but only after consulting with the Catholic bishops throughout the world to ascertain that this is a Catholic belief. In the Eastern Catholic churches, however, they continue to celebrate the feast of the Assumption under the name of the Dormition of the Mother of God on the same date. The teaching that Mary died before being assumed significantly precedes the idea that she did not. St John Damascene wrote that "St Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, at the Council of Chalcedon (451), made known to the Emperor Marcian and Pulcheria, who wished to possess the body of the Mother of God, that Mary died in the presence of all the Apostles, but that her tomb, when opened, upon the request of St Thomas, was found empty; wherefrom the Apostles concluded that the body was taken up to Heaven."
Devotions to Mary are part of Catholic piety but are distinct from the worship of God. Practices include prayers and Marian art, music, and architecture. Several liturgical Marian feasts are celebrated throughout the Church Year and she is honoured with many titles such as Queen of Heaven. Pope Paul VI called her Mother of the Church because, by giving birth to Christ, she is considered to be the spiritual mother to each member of the Body of Christ. Because of her influential role in the life of Jesus, prayers and devotions such as the Hail Mary, the Rosary, the Salve Regina and the Memorare are common Catholic practices. Pilgrimage to the sites of several Marian apparitions affirmed by the church, such as Lourdes, Fátima, and Guadalupe, are also popular Catholic devotions.
## Sacraments
The Catholic Church teaches that it was entrusted with seven sacraments that were instituted by Christ. The number and nature of the sacraments were defined by several ecumenical councils, most recently the Council of Trent. These are Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick (formerly called Extreme Unction, one of the "Last Rites"), Holy Orders and Holy Matrimony. Sacraments are visible rituals that Catholics see as signs of God's presence and effective channels of God's grace to all those who receive them with the proper disposition (*ex opere operato*). The *Catechism of the Catholic Church* categorizes the sacraments into three groups, the "sacraments of Christian initiation", "sacraments of healing" and "sacraments at the service of communion and the mission of the faithful". These groups broadly reflect the stages of people's natural and spiritual lives which each sacrament is intended to serve.
The liturgies of the sacraments are central to the church's mission. According to the *Catechism*:
In the liturgy of the New Covenant every liturgical action, especially the celebration of the Eucharist and the sacraments, is an encounter between Christ and the Church. The liturgical assembly derives its unity from the "communion of the Holy Spirit" who gathers the children of God into the one Body of Christ. This assembly transcends racial, cultural, social—indeed, all human affinities.
According to church doctrine, the sacraments of the church require the proper form, matter, and intent to be validly celebrated. In addition, the Canon Laws for both the Latin Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches govern who may licitly celebrate certain sacraments, as well as strict rules about who may receive the sacraments. Notably, because the church teaches that Christ is present in the Eucharist, those who are conscious of being in a state of mortal sin are forbidden to receive the sacrament until they have received absolution through the sacrament of Reconciliation (Penance). Catholics are normally obliged to abstain from eating for at least an hour before receiving the sacrament. Non-Catholics are ordinarily prohibited from receiving the Eucharist as well.
Catholics, even if they were in danger of death and unable to approach a Catholic minister, may not ask for the sacraments of the Eucharist, penance or anointing of the sick from someone, such as a Protestant minister, who is not known to be validly ordained in line with Catholic teaching on ordination. Likewise, even in grave and pressing need, Catholic ministers may not administer these sacraments to those who do not manifest Catholic faith in the sacrament. In relation to the churches of Eastern Christianity not in communion with the Holy See, the Catholic Church is less restrictive, declaring that "a certain *communion in sacris*, and so in the Eucharist, given suitable circumstances and the approval of Church authority, is not merely possible but is encouraged."
### Sacraments of initiation
#### Baptism
As viewed by the Catholic Church, Baptism is the first of three sacraments of initiation as a Christian. It washes away all sins, both original sin and personal actual sins. It makes a person a member of the church. As a gratuitous gift of God that requires no merit on the part of the person who is baptized, it is conferred even on children, who, though they have no personal sins, need it on account of original sin.
If a new-born child is in a danger of death, anyone—be it a doctor, a nurse, or a parent—may baptize the child. Baptism marks a person permanently and cannot be repeated. The Catholic Church recognizes as valid baptisms conferred even by people who are not Catholics or Christians, provided that they intend to baptize ("to do what the Church does when she baptizes") and that they use the Trinitarian baptismal formula.
#### Confirmation
The Catholic Church sees the sacrament of confirmation as required to complete the grace given in baptism. When adults are baptized, confirmation is normally given immediately afterwards, a practice followed even with newly baptized infants in the Eastern Catholic Churches. In the West confirmation of children is delayed until they are old enough to understand or at the bishop's discretion. In Western Christianity, particularly Catholicism, the sacrament is called *confirmation*, because it confirms and strengthens the grace of baptism; in the Eastern Churches, it is called *chrismation*, because the essential rite is the anointing of the person with chrism, a mixture of olive oil and some perfumed substance, usually balsam, blessed by a bishop. Those who receive confirmation must be in a state of grace, which for those who have reached the age of reason means that they should first be cleansed spiritually by the sacrament of Penance; they should also have the intention of receiving the sacrament, and be prepared to show in their lives that they are Christians.
#### Eucharist
For Catholics, the Eucharist is the sacrament which completes Christian initiation. It is described as "the source and summit of the Christian life". The ceremony in which a Catholic first receives the Eucharist is known as First Communion.
The Eucharistic celebration, also called the Mass or Divine liturgy, includes prayers and scriptural readings, as well as an offering of bread and wine, which are brought to the altar and consecrated by the priest to become the body and the blood of Jesus Christ, a change called transubstantiation. The words of consecration reflect the words spoken by Jesus during the Last Supper, where Christ offered his body and blood to his Apostles the night before his crucifixion. The sacrament re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, and perpetuates it. Christ's death and resurrection give grace through the sacrament that unites the faithful with Christ and one another, remits venial sin, and aids against committing moral sin (though mortal sin itself is forgiven through the sacrament of penance).
### Sacraments of healing
The two sacraments of healing are the Sacrament of Penance and Anointing of the Sick.
#### Penance
The Sacrament of Penance (also called Reconciliation, Forgiveness, Confession, and Conversion) exists for the conversion of those who, after baptism, separate themselves from Christ by sin. Essential to this sacrament are acts both by the sinner (examination of conscience, contrition with a determination not to sin again, confession to a priest, and performance of some act to repair the damage caused by sin) and by the priest (determination of the act of reparation to be performed and absolution).
Serious sins (mortal sins) should be confessed at least once a year and always before receiving Holy Communion, while confession of venial sins also is recommended. The priest is bound under the severest penalties to maintain the "seal of confession", absolute secrecy about any sins revealed to him in confession.
#### Anointing of the sick
While chrism is used only for the three sacraments that cannot be repeated, a different oil is used by a priest or bishop to bless a Catholic who, because of illness or old age, has begun to be in danger of death. This sacrament, known as Anointing of the Sick, is believed to give comfort, peace, courage and, if the sick person is unable to make a confession, even forgiveness of sins.
The sacrament is also referred to as *Unction*, and in the past as *Extreme Unction*, and it is one of the three sacraments that constitute the last rites, together with Penance and Viaticum (Eucharist).
### Sacraments at the service of communion
According to the Catechism, there are two sacraments of communion directed towards the salvation of others: priesthood and marriage. Within the general vocation to be a Christian, these two sacraments "consecrate to specific mission or vocation among the people of God. Men receive the holy orders to feed the Church by the word and grace. Spouses marry so that their love may be fortified to fulfil duties of their state".
#### Holy Orders
The sacrament of Holy Orders consecrates and deputes some Christians to serve the whole body as members of three degrees or orders: episcopate (bishops), presbyterate (priests) and diaconate (deacons). The church has defined rules on who may be ordained into the clergy. In the Latin Church, the priesthood is generally restricted to celibate men, and the episcopate is always restricted to celibate men. Men who are already married may be ordained in certain Eastern Catholic churches in most countries, and the personal ordinariates and may become deacons even in the Latin Church (see Clerical marriage). After becoming a Catholic priest, a man may not marry (see Clerical celibacy) unless he is formally laicized.
All clergy, whether deacons, priests or bishops, may preach, teach, baptize, witness marriages and conduct funeral liturgies. Only bishops and priests can administer the sacraments of the Eucharist, Reconciliation (Penance) and Anointing of the Sick. Only bishops can administer the sacrament of Holy Orders, which ordains someone into the clergy.
#### Matrimony
The Catholic Church teaches that marriage is a social and spiritual bond between a man and a woman, ordered towards the good of the spouses and procreation of children; according to Catholic teachings on sexual morality, it is the only appropriate context for sexual activity. A Catholic marriage, or any marriage between baptized individuals of any Christian denomination, is viewed as a sacrament. A sacramental marriage, once consummated, cannot be dissolved except by death. The church recognizes certain conditions, such as freedom of consent, as required for any marriage to be valid; In addition, the church sets specific rules and norms, known as canonical form, that Catholics must follow.
The church does not recognize divorce as ending a valid marriage and allows state-recognized divorce only as a means of protecting the property and well-being of the spouses and any children. However, consideration of particular cases by the competent ecclesiastical tribunal can lead to declaration of the invalidity of a marriage, a declaration usually referred to as an annulment. Remarriage following a divorce is not permitted unless the prior marriage was declared invalid.
## Liturgy
Among the 24 autonomous (*sui iuris*) churches, numerous liturgical and other traditions exist, called rites, which reflect historical and cultural diversity rather than differences in belief. In the definition of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, "a rite is the liturgical, theological, spiritual, and disciplinary patrimony, culture and circumstances of history of a distinct people, by which its own manner of living the faith is manifested in each Church *sui iuris*".
The liturgy of the sacrament of the Eucharist, called the Mass in the West and Divine Liturgy or other names in the East, is the principal liturgy of the Catholic Church. This is because it is considered the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ himself. Its most widely used form is that of the Roman Rite as promulgated by Paul VI in 1969 (see Missale Romanum) and revised by Pope John Paul II in 2002 (see Liturgiam Authenticam). In certain circumstances, the 1962 form of the Roman Rite remains authorized in the Latin Church. Eastern Catholic Churches have their own rites. The liturgies of the Eucharist and the other sacraments vary from rite to rite, reflecting different theological emphases.
### Western rites
The Roman Rite is the most common rite of worship used by the Catholic Church, with the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite form of the Mass. Its use is found worldwide, originating in Rome and spreading throughout Europe, influencing and eventually supplanting local rites. The present ordinary form of Mass in the Roman Rite, found in the post-1969 editions of the Roman Missal, is usually celebrated in the local vernacular language, using an officially approved translation from the original text in Latin. An outline of its major liturgical elements can be found in the sidebar.
In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI affirmed the licitness of continued use of the 1962 Roman Missal as an "extraordinary form" (*forma extraordinaria*) of the Roman Rite, speaking of it also as an *usus antiquior* ("older use"), and issuing new more permissive norms for its employment. An instruction issued four years later spoke of the two forms or usages of the Roman Rite approved by the pope as the ordinary form and the extraordinary form ("the *forma ordinaria*" and "the *forma extraordinaria*").
The 1962 edition of the Roman Missal, published a few months before the Second Vatican Council opened, was the last that presented the Mass as standardized in 1570 by Pope Pius V at the request of the Council of Trent and that is therefore known as the Tridentine Mass. Pope Pius V's Roman Missal was subjected to minor revisions by Pope Clement VIII in 1604, Pope Urban VIII in 1634, Pope Pius X in 1911, Pope Pius XII in 1955, and Pope John XXIII in 1962. Each successive edition was the ordinary form of the Roman Rite Mass until superseded by a later edition.
When the 1962 edition was superseded by that of Paul VI, promulgated in 1969, its continued use at first required permission from bishops. Pope Benedict XVI's 2007 motu proprio *Summorum Pontificum* allowed free use of it for Mass celebrated without a congregation and authorized parish priests to permit, under certain conditions, its use even at public Masses. Except for the scriptural readings, which Pope Benedict allowed to be proclaimed in the vernacular language, it is celebrated exclusively in liturgical Latin. These permissions were largely removed by Pope Francis in 2021, who issued the *motu proprio* *Traditionis custodes* to emphasize the Ordinary Form as promulgated by Popes Paul VI and John Paul II.
Since 2014, clergy in the small personal ordinariates set up for groups of former Anglicans under the terms of the 2009 document *Anglicanorum Coetibus* are permitted to use a variation of the Roman Rite called "Divine Worship" or, less formally, "Ordinariate Use", which incorporates elements of the Anglican liturgy and traditions, an accommodation protested by Anglican leaders.
In the Archdiocese of Milan, with around five million Catholics the largest in Europe, Mass is celebrated according to the Ambrosian Rite. Other Latin Church rites include the Mozarabic and those of some religious institutes. These liturgical rites have an antiquity of at least 200 years before 1570, the date of Pope Pius V's *Quo primum*, and were thus allowed to continue.
### Eastern rites
The Eastern Catholic Churches share common patrimony and liturgical rites as their counterparts, including Eastern Orthodox and other Eastern Christian churches who are no longer in communion with the Holy See. These include churches that historically developed in Russia, Caucasus, the Balkans, North Eastern Africa, India and the Middle East. The Eastern Catholic Churches are groups of faithful who have either never been out of communion with the Holy See or who have restored communion with it at the cost of breaking communion with their associates of the same tradition.
The liturgical rites of the Eastern Catholic Churches include the Byzantine Rite (in its Antiochian, Greek and Slavonic recensions), the Alexandrian Rite, the West Syrian Rite, the Armenian Rite, and the East Syriac Rite. Eastern Catholic Churches have the autonomy to set the particulars of their liturgical forms and worship, within certain limits to protect the "accurate observance" of their liturgical tradition.
In the past, some of the rites used by the Eastern Catholic Churches were subject to a degree of liturgical Latinization. In recent years Eastern Catholic Churches have returned to traditional Eastern practices in accord with the 1964 Vatican II decree *Orientalium Ecclesiarum*. Each church has its own liturgical calendar.
### Catholic social teaching
Catholic social teaching, reflecting the concern Jesus showed for the impoverished, places a heavy emphasis on the corporal works of mercy and the spiritual works of mercy, namely the support and concern for the sick, the poor and the afflicted. Church teaching calls for a preferential option for the poor while canon law prescribes that "The Christian faithful are also obliged to promote social justice and, mindful of the precept of the Lord, to assist the poor." Its foundations are widely considered to have been laid by Pope Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical letter *Rerum novarum* which upholds the rights and dignity of labour and the right of workers to form unions.
### Social services
The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world. In 2010, the Catholic Church's Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers said that the church manages 26% of health care facilities in the world, including hospitals, clinics, orphanages, pharmacies and centres for those with leprosy.
The church has always been involved in education, since the founding of the first universities of Europe. It runs and sponsors thousands of primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities throughout the world and operates the world's largest non-governmental school system.
Religious institutes for women have played a particularly prominent role in the provision of health and education services, as with orders such as the Sisters of Mercy, Little Sisters of the Poor, the Missionaries of Charity, the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. The Catholic nun Mother Teresa of Calcutta, India, founder of the Missionaries of Charity, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work among India's poor. Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo won the same award in 1996 for "work towards a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor".
The church is also actively engaged in international aid and development through organizations such as Catholic Relief Services, Caritas Internationalis, Aid to the Church in Need, refugee advocacy groups such as the Jesuit Refugee Service and community aid groups such as the Saint Vincent de Paul Society.
### Sexual morality
#### Chastity and marriage
Catholic teaching regarding sexuality calls for a practice of chastity according to their state of life, with a focus on maintaining the spiritual and bodily integrity of the human person.
In the church's teaching, sexual activity should be reserved to married couples without artificial birth control; marriage is considered the only appropriate context whether in a sacramental marriage among Christians or in a natural marriage where one or both spouses are unbaptized. Even in romantic relationships, particularly engagement to marriage, partners are called to practise continence, in order to test mutual respect and fidelity.
Chastity in marriage requires, in particular, conjugal fidelity and protecting the fecundity of marriage. The couple must foster trust and honesty as well as spiritual and physical intimacy. Sexual activity must always be open to the transmission of new life; the church calls this the procreative significance. It must likewise always bring a couple together in love; the church calls this the unitive significance. Artificial contraception and certain other sexual practices are not permitted, although natural family planning methods are permitted to provide healthy spacing between births, or to postpone children for a just reason.
Church teachings about sexuality have become an issue of increasing controversy in the Western world, especially after the close of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, due to changing cultural attitudes described as the sexual revolution.[ citation needed] Pope Francis said in 2015 that he is worried that the church has grown "obsessed" with issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage and contraception, and for prioritizing moral doctrines over helping the poor and marginalized.
#### Homosexuality
The Catholic Church also teaches that "homosexual acts" are "contrary to the natural law", "acts of grave depravity" and "under no circumstances can they be approved", but that persons experiencing homosexual tendencies must be accorded respect and dignity. According to the *Catechism of the Catholic Church*,
The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided... Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.
This part of the *Catechism* was quoted by Pope Francis in a 2013 press interview in which he remarked, when asked about an individual:
I think that when you encounter a person like this [the individual he was asked about], you must make a distinction between the fact of a person being gay from the fact of being a lobby, because lobbies, all are not good. That is bad. If a person is gay and seeks the Lord and has good will, well who am I to judge them?
This remark and others made in the same interview were seen as a change in the tone, but not in the substance of the teaching of the church, which includes opposition to same-sex marriage.
Certain dissenting Catholic groups, such as DignityUSA, oppose the position of the Catholic Church and seek to change it. The Catholic Church has banned all such groups from church property.
Orthodox Catholic groups, such as Building Catholic Futures, encourage parishes to incorporate celibate gay people into the church communities.
#### Divorce and declarations of nullity
Canon law makes no provision for divorce between baptized individuals, as a valid, consummated sacramental marriage is considered to be a lifelong bond. However, a declaration of nullity may be granted when the proof is produced that essential conditions for contracting a valid marriage were absent from the beginning—in other words, that the marriage was not valid due to some impediment. A declaration of nullity, commonly called an annulment, is a judgement on the part of an ecclesiastical tribunal determining that a marriage was invalidly attempted.
Marriages among unbaptized individuals may be dissolved with papal permission under certain situations, such as a desire to marry a Catholic, under Pauline or Petrine privilege. An attempt at remarriage following divorce without a declaration of nullity places "the remarried spouse ... in a situation of public and permanent adultery". An innocent spouse who lives in continence following divorce, or couples who live in continence following a civil divorce for a grave cause, do not sin.
Worldwide, diocesan tribunals completed over 49000 cases for nullity of marriage in 2006. Over the past 30 years about 55 to 70% of annulments have occurred in the United States. The growth in annulments has been substantial; in the United States, 27,000 marriages were annulled in 2006, compared to 338 in 1968. However, approximately 200,000 married Catholics in the United States divorce each year; 10 million total as of 2006[update]. Divorce is increasing in some predominantly Catholic countries in Europe. In some predominantly Catholic countries, it is only in recent years that divorce was introduced (Italy (1970), Portugal (1975), Brazil (1977), Spain (1981), Ireland (1996), Chile (2004) and Malta (2011)), while the Philippines and the Vatican City have no procedure for divorce (The Philippines does, however, allow divorce for Muslims.).
The church teaches that sexual intercourse should only take place between a man and woman who are married to each other, and should be without the use of birth control or contraception. In his encyclical *Humanae vitae* (1968), Pope Paul VI firmly rejected all artificial contraception, thus contradicting dissenters in the church who saw the birth control pill as an ethically justifiable method of contraception, though he permitted the regulation of births by means of natural family planning (NFP.) This teaching was continued especially by John Paul II in his encyclical * Evangelium Vitae*, where he clarified the church's position on artificial contraception, abortion and euthanasia by condemning them as part of a "culture of death" and calling instead for a "culture of life".
Many Western Catholics have voiced significant disagreement with the church's teaching on contraception. Overturning the church's teaching on this point features high on progressive agendas. Catholics for Choice, a political lobbyist group that is not associated with the Catholic Church, stated in 1998 that 96% of U.S. Catholic women had used contraceptives at some point in their lives and that 72% of Catholics believed that one could be a good Catholic without obeying the church's teaching on birth control. Use of natural family planning methods among United States Catholics purportedly is low, although the number cannot be known with certainty. As Catholic health providers are among the largest providers of services to patients with HIV/AIDS worldwide, there is significant controversy within and outside the church regarding the use of condoms as a means of limiting new infections, as condom use ordinarily constitutes prohibited contraceptive use.
Similarly, the Catholic Church opposes artificial insemination regardless of whether it is homologous (from the husband) or heterologous (from a donor) and in vitro fertilization (IVF), saying that the artificial process replaces the love and conjugal act between a husband and wife. In addition, it opposes IVF because it might cause disposal of embryos; Catholics believe an embryo is an individual with a soul who must be treated as such. For this reason, the church also opposes abortion.
The Catholic Church oppose all forms of abortion procedures whose direct purpose is to destroy a zygote, blastocyst, embryo or fetus, since it holds that "human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person – among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life". However, the Church does recognize as morally legitimate certain acts which indirectly result in the death of the fetus. The 1983 *Code of Canon Law* imposes automatic (*latae sententiae*) excommunication on Latin Catholics who actually procure an abortion, if they fulfill the conditions for being subject to such a sanction.
Due to the anti-abortion stance, some Catholics oppose receiving vaccines derived from fetal cells obtained via abortion. On 21 December 2020, and regarding COVID-19 vaccination, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith emitted a document stating that "it is morally acceptable to receive Covid-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process" when no alternative vaccine is available, since "the moral duty to avoid such passive material cooperation is not obligatory if there is a grave danger, such as the otherwise uncontainable spread of a serious pathological agent." The document states that receiving the vaccine does not constitute endorsement of the practice of abortion, and that "the morality of vaccination depends not only on the duty to protect one's own health, but also on the duty to pursue the common good." The document cautions further:
Those who, however, for reasons of conscience, refuse vaccines produced with cell lines from aborted fetuses, must do their utmost to avoid, by other prophylactic means and appropriate behavior, becoming vehicles for the transmission of the infectious agent. In particular, they must avoid any risk to the health of those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other reasons, and who are the most vulnerable.
### Death penalty and euthanasia
The Catholic Church is committed to the worldwide abolition of the death penalty in any circumstance. The current *Catechism of the Catholic Church* teaches that "in the light of the Gospel" the death penalty is "inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person" and that the Catholic Church "works with determination for its abolition worldwide." In his 2020 encyclical *Fratelli tutti*, Francis repeated that the death penalty is "inadmissible" and that "there can be no stepping back from this position". On 9 January 2022, Pope Francis stated in his annual speech to Vatican ambassadors: "The death penalty cannot be employed for a purported state justice, since it does not constitute a deterrent nor render justice to victims, but only fuels the thirst for vengeance".
There is controversy about whether the Catholic Church considers the death penalty intrinsically evil. American Archbishop José Horacio Gómez and Catholic philosopher Edward Feser argue that this is a matter of prudential judgement and that the church does not teach this as a *de fide* statement; others, such as Cardinals Charles Maung Bo and Rino Fisichella, state that it does.
The Catholic Church opposes active euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide on the grounds that life is a gift from God and should not be prematurely shortened. However, the church allows dying people to refuse extraordinary treatments that would minimally prolong life without hope of recovery.
Women and men religious engage in a variety of occupations such as contemplative prayer, teaching, providing health care, and working as missionaries. Catholic women have played diverse roles in the life of the church, with religious institutes providing a formal space for their participation and convents providing spaces for their self-government, prayer and influence through many centuries. Religious sisters and nuns have been extensively involved in developing and running the church's worldwide health and education service networks.
Holy Orders are reserved for men. Efforts in support of the ordination of women to the priesthood led to several rulings by the Roman Curia or popes against the proposal, as in *Declaration on the Question of the Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood* (1976), *Mulieris Dignitatem* (1988) and *Ordinatio sacerdotalis* (1994). According to the latest ruling, found in *Ordinatio sacerdotalis*, Pope John Paul II affirmed that the Catholic Church "does not consider herself authorised to admit women to priestly ordination".
In defiance of these rulings, independent opposition groups such as Roman Catholic Womenpriests have performed ceremonies they affirm as sacramental ordinations, with, reputedly, an ordaining male Catholic bishop in the first few instances, which, according to canon law, are both illicit and invalid and considered mere *simulations* of the sacrament of ordination. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith responded by issuing a statement clarifying that any Catholic bishops involved in ordination ceremonies for women, as well as the women themselves if they were Catholic, would automatically receive the penalty of excommunication (*latae sententiae*, literally "with the sentence already applied", i.e. automatically), citing canon 1378 of canon law and other church laws.
### Sexual abuse cases
From the 1990s, the issue of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy and other church members has become the subject of civil litigation, criminal prosecution, media coverage and public debate in countries around the world. The Catholic Church has been criticized for the way it handled abuse complaints when it became known that many bishops and various officials in the Church hierarchy had protected accused priests, transferring them to other assignments elsewhere, where they continued to commit sex crimes.
In response to the scandals, formal procedures have been established to help prevent abuse, encourage the reporting of any abuse that occurs and to handle such reports promptly, although groups representing victims have disputed their effectiveness. In 2014, Pope Francis instituted the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors for the safeguarding of minors.
### Environmental
The church has also addressed stewardship of the natural environment, and its relationship to other social and theological teachings. In the document *Laudato si'*, dated 24 May 2015, Pope Francis critiques consumerism and irresponsible development, and laments environmental degradation and climate change. The pope expressed concern that the warming of the planet is a symptom of a greater problem: the developed world's indifference to the destruction of the planet as humans pursue short-term economic gains.
## See also
- Catholic Church and politics
- Catholic Church and race
- Catholic art
- Catholic culture
- Catholic peace traditions
- Glossary of the Catholic Church
- List of Catholic religious institutes
- Liturgical year of the Catholic Church
- Lists of Catholics
- List of popes
- Role of Christianity in civilization
- Society of Jesus
## Notes
**NOTE:** *CCC* stands for *Catechism of the Catholic Church*. The number following *CCC* is the paragraph number, of which there are 2865. The numbers cited in the *Compendium of the CCC* are question numbers, of which there are 598. Canon law citations from the 1990 *Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches* are labelled "*CCEO*, Canon xxx", to distinguish from canons of the 1983 *Code of Canon Law*, which are labelled "Canon xxx".
## Bibliography
## External links
- Official website of the Holy See
- on 's channelYouTube
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# William Shakespeare - Wikipedia
William Shakespeare | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 23 April 1564 |
| Died | 23 April 1616 Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England | (aged 51–52)
| Resting place | Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | c. 1585–1613 |
| Era | |
| Organisations | |
| Works | Shakespeare bibliography |
| Movement | English Renaissance |
| Spouse | |
| Children | |
| Parents | |
Writing career | |
| Language | Early Modern English |
| Genres | |
| Signature | |
**William Shakespeare** (c. 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" or simply "the Bard". His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592 he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613) he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them *Hamlet*, *Othello*, *King Lear* and *Macbeth*, all considered to be among the finest works in English. In the last phase of his life he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) such as *The Winter's Tale* and *The Tempest*, and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623 John Heminges and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface includes a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, who hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".
## Life
### Early life
Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, an alderman and a successful glover (glove-maker) originally from Snitterfield in Warwickshire, and Mary Arden, the daughter of an affluent landowning family. He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, where he was baptised on 26 April 1564. His date of birth is unknown but is traditionally observed on 23 April, Saint George's Day. This date, which can be traced to William Oldys and George Steevens, has proved appealing to biographers because Shakespeare died on the same date in 1616. He was the third of eight children, and the eldest surviving son.
Although no attendance records for the period survive, most biographers agree that Shakespeare was probably educated at the King's New School in Stratford, a free school chartered in 1553, about a quarter-mile (400 m) from his home. Grammar schools varied in quality during the Elizabethan era, but grammar school curricula were largely similar: the basic Latin text was standardised by royal decree, and the school would have provided an intensive education in grammar based upon Latin classical authors.
At the age of 18 Shakespeare married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway. The consistory court of the Diocese of Worcester issued a marriage licence on 27 November 1582. The next day, two of Hathaway's neighbours posted bonds guaranteeing that no lawful claims impeded the marriage. The ceremony may have been arranged in some haste since the Worcester chancellor allowed the marriage banns to be read once instead of the usual three times, and six months after the marriage Anne gave birth to a daughter, Susanna, baptised 26 May 1583. Twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585. Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596.
After the birth of the twins, Shakespeare left few historical traces until he is mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592. The exception is the appearance of his name in the "complaints bill" of a law case before the Queen's Bench court at Westminster dated Michaelmas Term 1588 and 9 October 1589. Scholars refer to the years between 1585 and 1592 as Shakespeare's "lost years". Biographers attempting to account for this period have reported many apocryphal stories. Nicholas Rowe, Shakespeare's first biographer, recounted a Stratford legend that Shakespeare fled the town for London to escape prosecution for deer poaching in the estate of local squire Thomas Lucy. Shakespeare is also supposed to have taken his revenge on Lucy by writing a scurrilous ballad about him. Another 18th-century story has Shakespeare starting his theatrical career minding the horses of theatre patrons in London. John Aubrey reported that Shakespeare had been a country schoolmaster. Some 20th-century scholars suggested that Shakespeare may have been employed as a schoolmaster by Alexander Hoghton of Lancashire, a Catholic landowner who named a certain "William Shakeshafte" in his will. Little evidence substantiates such stories other than hearsay collected after his death, and Shakeshafte was a common name in the Lancashire area.
### London and theatrical career
It is not known definitively when Shakespeare began writing, but contemporary allusions and records of performances show that several of his plays were on the London stage by 1592. By then, he was sufficiently known in London to be attacked in print by the playwright Robert Greene in his *Groats-Worth of Wit* from that year:
... there is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his
Tiger's heart wrapped in a Player's hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you: and being an absoluteJohannes factotum, is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country.
Scholars differ on the exact meaning of Greene's words, but most agree that Greene was accusing Shakespeare of reaching above his rank in trying to match such university-educated writers as Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Nashe and Greene himself (the so-called "University Wits"). The italicised phrase parodying the line "Oh, tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide" from Shakespeare's *Henry VI, Part 3*, along with the pun "Shake-scene", clearly identify Shakespeare as Greene's target. As used here, *Johannes Factotum* ("Jack of all trades") refers to a second-rate tinkerer with the work of others, rather than the more common "universal genius".
Greene's attack is the earliest surviving mention of Shakespeare's work in the theatre. Biographers suggest that his career may have begun any time from the mid-1580s to just before Greene's remarks. After 1594 Shakespeare's plays were performed at The Theatre, in Shoreditch, only by the Lord Chamberlain's Men, a company owned by a group of players, including Shakespeare, that soon became the leading playing company in London. After the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, the company was awarded a royal patent by the new King James I, and changed its name to the King's Men.
All the world's a stage,
and all the men and women merely players:
they have their exits and their entrances;
and one man in his time plays many parts ...
In 1599 a partnership of members of the company built their own theatre on the south bank of the River Thames, which they named the Globe. In 1608 the partnership also took over the Blackfriars indoor theatre. Extant records of Shakespeare's property purchases and investments indicate that his association with the company made him a wealthy man, and in 1597 he bought the second-largest house in Stratford, New Place, and in 1605 invested in a share of the parish tithes in Stratford.
Some of Shakespeare's plays were published in quarto editions, beginning in 1594, and by 1598 his name had become a selling point and began to appear on the title pages. Shakespeare continued to act in his own and other plays after his success as a playwright. The 1616 edition of Ben Jonson's *Works* names him on the cast lists for *Every Man in His Humour* (1598) and *Sejanus His Fall* (1603). The absence of his name from the 1605 cast list for Jonson's *Volpone* is taken by some scholars as a sign that his acting career was nearing its end. The First Folio of 1623, however, lists Shakespeare as one of "the Principal Actors in all these Plays", some of which were first staged after *Volpone*, although one cannot know for certain which roles he played. In 1610, John Davies of Hereford wrote that "good Will" played "kingly" roles. In 1709 Rowe passed down a tradition that Shakespeare played the ghost of Hamlet's father. Later traditions maintain that he also played Adam in *As You Like It*, and the Chorus in *Henry V*, though scholars doubt the sources of that information.
Throughout his career, Shakespeare divided his time between London and Stratford. In 1596, the year before he bought New Place as his family home in Stratford, Shakespeare was living in the parish of St Helen's, Bishopsgate, north of the River Thames. He moved across the river to Southwark by 1599, the same year his company constructed the Globe Theatre there. By 1604 he had moved north of the river again, to an area north of St Paul's Cathedral with many fine houses. There he rented rooms from a French Huguenot named Christopher Mountjoy, a maker of women's wigs and other headgear.
### Later years and death
Nicholas Rowe was the first biographer to record the tradition, repeated by Samuel Johnson, that Shakespeare retired to Stratford "some years before his death". He was still working as an actor in London in 1608; in an answer to the sharers' petition in 1635, Cuthbert Burbage stated that after purchasing the lease of the Blackfriars Theatre in 1608 from Henry Evans, the King's Men "placed men players" there, "which were Heminges, Condell, Shakespeare, etc.". However, it is perhaps relevant that the bubonic plague raged in London throughout 1609. The London public playhouses were repeatedly closed during extended outbreaks of the plague (a total of over 60 months closure between May 1603 and February 1610), which meant there was often no acting work. Retirement from all work was uncommon at that time. Shakespeare continued to visit London during the years 1611–1614. In 1612 he was called as a witness in *Bellott v Mountjoy*, a court case concerning the marriage settlement of Mountjoy's daughter, Mary. In March 1613 he bought a gatehouse in the former Blackfriars priory; and from November 1614 he was in London for several weeks with his son-in-law, John Hall. After 1610 Shakespeare wrote fewer plays, and none are attributed to him after 1613. His last three plays were collaborations, probably with John Fletcher, who succeeded him as the house playwright of the King's Men. He retired in 1613, before the Globe Theatre burned down during the performance of *Henry VIII* on 29 June.
Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616, at the age of 52. He died within a month of signing his will, a document which he begins by describing himself as being in "perfect health". No extant contemporary source explains how or why he died. Half a century later, John Ward, the vicar of Stratford, wrote in his notebook: "Shakespeare, Drayton, and Ben Jonson had a merry meeting and, it seems, drank too hard, for Shakespeare died of a fever there contracted", not an impossible scenario since Shakespeare knew Jonson and Michael Drayton. Of the tributes from fellow authors, one refers to his relatively sudden death: "We wondered, Shakespeare, that thou went'st so soon / From the world's stage to the grave's tiring room."
He was survived by his wife and two daughters. Susanna had married a physician, John Hall, in 1607, and Judith had married Thomas Quiney, a vintner, two months before Shakespeare's death. Shakespeare signed his last will and testament on 25 March 1616; the following day, Thomas Quiney, his new son-in-law, was found guilty of fathering an illegitimate son by Margaret Wheeler, both of whom had died during childbirth. Thomas was ordered by the church court to do public penance, which would have caused much shame and embarrassment for the Shakespeare family.
Shakespeare bequeathed the bulk of his large estate to his elder daughter Susanna under stipulations that she pass it down intact to "the first son of her body". The Quineys had three children, all of whom died without marrying. The Halls had one child, Elizabeth, who married twice but died without children in 1670, ending Shakespeare's direct line. Shakespeare's will scarcely mentions his wife, Anne, who was probably entitled to one-third of his estate automatically. He did make a point, however, of leaving her "my second best bed", a bequest that has led to much speculation. Some scholars see the bequest as an insult to Anne, whereas others believe that the second-best bed would have been the matrimonial bed and therefore rich in significance.
Shakespeare was buried in the chancel of the Holy Trinity Church two days after his death. The epitaph carved into the stone slab covering his grave includes a curse against moving his bones, which was carefully avoided during restoration of the church in 2008:
Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare, |
Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear, |
Some time before 1623 a funerary monument was erected in his memory on the north wall, with a half-effigy of him in the act of writing. Its plaque compares him to Nestor, Socrates, and Virgil. In 1623, in conjunction with the publication of the First Folio, the Droeshout engraving was published. Shakespeare has been commemorated in many statues and memorials around the world, including funeral monuments in Southwark Cathedral and Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.
## Plays
Most playwrights of the period typically collaborated with others at some point, as critics agree Shakespeare did, mostly early and late in his career.
The first recorded works of Shakespeare are *Richard III* and the three parts of *Henry VI*, written in the early 1590s during a vogue for historical drama. Shakespeare's plays are difficult to date precisely, however, and studies of the texts suggest that *Titus Andronicus*, *The Comedy of Errors*, *The Taming of the Shrew,* and *The Two Gentlemen of Verona* may also belong to Shakespeare's earliest period. His first histories, which draw heavily on the 1587 edition of Raphael Holinshed's *Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland*, dramatise the destructive results of weak or corrupt rule and have been interpreted as a justification for the origins of the Tudor dynasty. The early plays were influenced by the works of other Elizabethan dramatists, especially Thomas Kyd and Christopher Marlowe, by the traditions of medieval drama, and by the plays of Seneca. *The Comedy of Errors* was also based on classical models, but no source for *The Taming of the Shrew* has been found, though it has an identical plot but different wording as another play with a similar name. Like *The Two Gentlemen of Verona*, in which two friends appear to approve of rape, the *Shrew*'s story of the taming of a woman's independent spirit by a man sometimes troubles modern critics, directors, and audiences.
Shakespeare's early classical and Italianate comedies, containing tight double plots and precise comic sequences, give way in the mid-1590s to the romantic atmosphere of his most acclaimed comedies. *A Midsummer Night's Dream* is a witty mixture of romance, fairy magic, and comic lowlife scenes. Shakespeare's next comedy, the equally romantic *The Merchant of Venice*, contains a portrayal of the vengeful Jewish moneylender Shylock, which reflects dominant Elizabethan views but may appear derogatory to modern audiences. The wit and wordplay of *Much Ado About Nothing*, the charming rural setting of *As You Like It*, and the lively merrymaking of *Twelfth Night* complete Shakespeare's sequence of great comedies. After the lyrical *Richard II*, written almost entirely in verse, Shakespeare introduced prose comedy into the histories of the late 1590s, *Henry IV, Part 1* and *2*, and *Henry V*. *Henry IV* features Falstaff, rogue, wit and friend of Prince Hal. His characters become more complex and tender as he switches deftly between comic and serious scenes, prose and poetry, and achieves the narrative variety of his mature work. This period begins and ends with two tragedies: *Romeo and Juliet*, the famous romantic tragedy of sexually charged adolescence, love, and death; and *Julius Caesar*—based on Sir Thomas North's 1579 translation of Plutarch's *Parallel Lives*—which introduced a new kind of drama. According to the Shakespearean scholar James Shapiro, in *Julius Caesar*, "the various strands of politics, character, inwardness, contemporary events, even Shakespeare's own reflections on the act of writing, began to infuse each other".
In the early-17th century, Shakespeare wrote the so-called "problem plays" *Measure for Measure*, *Troilus and Cressida*, and *All's Well That Ends Well* and a number of his best known tragedies. Many critics believe that Shakespeare's tragedies represent the peak of his art. Hamlet has probably been analysed more than any other Shakespearean character, especially for his famous soliloquy which begins "To be or not to be; that is the question". Unlike the introverted Hamlet, whose fatal flaw is hesitation, Othello and Lear are undone by hasty errors of judgement. The plots of Shakespeare's tragedies often hinge on such fatal errors or flaws, which overturn order and destroy the hero and those he loves. In *Othello*, Iago stokes Othello's sexual jealousy to the point where he murders the innocent wife who loves him. In *King Lear*, the old king commits the tragic error of giving up his powers, initiating the events which lead to the torture and blinding of the Earl of Gloucester and the murder of Lear's youngest daughter, Cordelia. According to the critic Frank Kermode, "the play...offers neither its good characters nor its audience any relief from its cruelty". In *Macbeth*, the shortest and most compressed of Shakespeare's tragedies, uncontrollable ambition incites Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, to murder the rightful king and usurp the throne until their own guilt destroys them in turn. In this play, Shakespeare adds a supernatural element to the tragic structure. His last major tragedies, *Antony and Cleopatra* and *Coriolanus*, contain some of Shakespeare's finest poetry and were considered his most successful tragedies by the poet and critic T. S. Eliot. Eliot wrote, "Shakespeare acquired more essential history from Plutarch than most men could from the whole British Museum."
In his final period, Shakespeare turned to romance or tragicomedy and completed three more major plays: *Cymbeline*, *The Winter's Tale,* and *The Tempest*, as well as the collaboration, *Pericles, Prince of Tyre*. Less bleak than the tragedies, these four plays are graver in tone than the comedies of the 1590s, but they end with reconciliation and the forgiveness of potentially tragic errors. Some commentators have seen this change in mood as evidence of a more serene view of life on Shakespeare's part, but it may merely reflect the theatrical fashion of the day. Shakespeare collaborated on two further surviving plays, *Henry VIII* and *The Two Noble Kinsmen*, probably with John Fletcher.
### Classification
Shakespeare's works include the 36 plays printed in the First Folio of 1623, listed according to their folio classification as comedies, histories, and tragedies. Two plays not included in the First Folio, *The Two Noble Kinsmen* and *Pericles, Prince of Tyre*, are now accepted as part of the canon, with today's scholars agreeing that Shakespeare made major contributions to the writing of both. No Shakespearean poems were included in the First Folio, partly because the collection was compiled by men of theatre.
In the late-19th century the critic Edward Dowden classified four of the late comedies as romances, and though many scholars prefer to call them *tragicomedies*, Dowden's term is often used. In 1896 Frederick S. Boas coined the term "problem plays" to describe four plays: *All's Well That Ends Well*, *Measure for Measure*, *Troilus and Cressida* and *Hamlet*. "Dramas as singular in theme and temper cannot be strictly called comedies or tragedies", he wrote. "We may, therefore, borrow a convenient phrase from the theatre of today and class them together as Shakespeare's problem plays." The term, much debated and sometimes applied to other plays, remains in use, though *Hamlet* is definitively classed as a tragedy.
### Performances
It is not clear for which companies Shakespeare wrote his early plays. The title page of the 1594 edition of *Titus Andronicus* reveals that the play had been acted by three different troupes. After the plagues of 1592–93, Shakespeare's plays were performed by his own company at The Theatre and the Curtain in Shoreditch, north of the Thames. Londoners flocked there to see the first part of *Henry IV*, Leonard Digges recording, "Let but Falstaff come, Hal, Poins, the rest ... and you scarce shall have a room". When the company found themselves in dispute with their landlord, they pulled The Theatre down and used the timbers to construct the Globe Theatre, the first playhouse built by actors for actors, on the south bank of the Thames at Southwark. The Globe opened in autumn 1599, with *Julius Caesar* one of the first plays staged. Most of Shakespeare's greatest post-1599 plays were written for the Globe, including *Hamlet*, *Othello,* and *King Lear*.
After the Lord Chamberlain's Men were renamed the King's Men in 1603, they entered a special relationship with the new King James. Although the performance records are patchy, the King's Men performed seven of Shakespeare's plays at court between 1 November 1604, and 31 October 1605, including two performances of *The Merchant of Venice*. After 1608, they performed at the indoor Blackfriars Theatre during the winter and the Globe during the summer. The indoor setting, combined with the Jacobean fashion for lavishly staged masques, allowed Shakespeare to introduce more elaborate stage devices. In *Cymbeline*, for example, Jupiter descends "in thunder and lightning, sitting upon an eagle: he throws a thunderbolt. The ghosts fall on their knees."
The actors in Shakespeare's company included the famous Richard Burbage, William Kempe, Henry Condell and John Heminges. Burbage played the leading role in the first performances of many of Shakespeare's plays, including *Richard III*, *Hamlet*, *Othello*, and *King Lear*. The popular comic actor Will Kempe played the servant Peter in *Romeo and Juliet* and Dogberry in *Much Ado About Nothing*, among other characters. He was replaced around 1600 by Robert Armin, who played roles such as Touchstone in *As You Like It* and the fool in *King Lear*. In 1613 Sir Henry Wotton recorded that *Henry VIII* "was set forth with many extraordinary circumstances of pomp and ceremony". However, on 29 June a cannon set fire to the thatch of the Globe and burned the theatre to the ground, an event which pinpoints the date of a Shakespeare play with rare precision.
### Textual sources
In 1623 John Heminges and Henry Condell, two of Shakespeare's colleagues from the King's Men, published the First Folio, a collected edition of Shakespeare's plays. It contained 36 texts, including 18 printed for the first time. Most of the others had already appeared in quarto versions—flimsy books made from sheets of paper folded twice to make four leaves. No evidence suggests that Shakespeare approved these editions, which the First Folio describes as "stol'n and surreptitious copies".
Alfred Pollard termed some of the pre-1623 versions as "bad quartos" because of their adapted, paraphrased or garbled texts, which may in places have been reconstructed from memory. Where several versions of a play survive, each differs from the others. The differences may stem from copying or printing errors, from notes by actors or audience members, or from Shakespeare's own papers. In some cases, for example, *Hamlet*, *Troilus and Cressida,* and *Othello*, Shakespeare could have revised the texts between the quarto and folio editions. In the case of *King Lear*, however, while most modern editions do conflate them, the 1623 folio version is so different from the 1608 quarto that the *Oxford Shakespeare* prints them both, arguing that they cannot be conflated without confusion.
## Poems
In 1593 and 1594, when the theatres were closed because of plague, Shakespeare published two narrative poems on sexual themes, *Venus and Adonis* and *The Rape of Lucrece*. He dedicated them to Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton. In *Venus and Adonis*, an innocent Adonis rejects the sexual advances of Venus; while in *The Rape of Lucrece*, the virtuous wife Lucrece is raped by the lustful Tarquin. Influenced by Ovid's *Metamorphoses*, the poems show the guilt and moral confusion that result from uncontrolled lust. Both proved popular and were often reprinted during Shakespeare's lifetime. A third narrative poem, *A Lover's Complaint*, in which a young woman laments her seduction by a persuasive suitor, was printed in the first edition of the *Sonnets* in 1609. Most scholars now accept that Shakespeare wrote *A Lover's Complaint*. Critics consider that its fine qualities are marred by leaden effects. *The Phoenix and the Turtle*, printed in Robert Chester's 1601 *Love's Martyr*, mourns the deaths of the legendary phoenix and his lover, the faithful turtle dove. In 1599, two early drafts of sonnets 138 and 144 appeared in *The Passionate Pilgrim*, published under Shakespeare's name but without his permission.
### Sonnets
Published in 1609, the *Sonnets* were the last of Shakespeare's non-dramatic works to be printed. Scholars are not certain when each of the 154 sonnets was composed, but evidence suggests that Shakespeare wrote sonnets throughout his career for a private readership. Even before the two unauthorised sonnets appeared in *The Passionate Pilgrim* in 1599, Francis Meres had referred in 1598 to Shakespeare's "sugred Sonnets among his private friends". Few analysts believe that the published collection follows Shakespeare's intended sequence. He seems to have planned two contrasting series: one about uncontrollable lust for a married woman of dark complexion (the "dark lady"), and one about conflicted love for a fair young man (the "fair youth"). It remains unclear if these figures represent real individuals, or if the authorial "I" who addresses them represents Shakespeare himself, although William Wordsworth believed that with the sonnets "Shakespeare unlocked his heart".
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate ...
The 1609 edition was dedicated to a "Mr. W.H.", credited as "the only begetter" of the poems. It is not known whether this was written by Shakespeare himself or by the publisher, Thomas Thorpe, whose initials appear at the foot of the dedication page; nor is it known who Mr. W.H. was, despite numerous theories, or whether Shakespeare even authorised the publication. Critics praise the *Sonnets* as a profound meditation on the nature of love, sexual passion, procreation, death, and time.
## Style
Shakespeare's first plays were written in the conventional style of the day. He wrote them in a stylised language that does not always spring naturally from the needs of the characters or the drama. The poetry depends on extended, sometimes elaborate metaphors and conceits, and the language is often rhetorical—written for actors to declaim rather than speak. The grand speeches in *Titus Andronicus*, in the view of some critics, often hold up the action, for example; and the verse in *The Two Gentlemen of Verona* has been described as stilted.
However, Shakespeare soon began to adapt the traditional styles to his own purposes. The opening soliloquy of *Richard III* has its roots in the self-declaration of Vice in medieval drama. At the same time, Richard's vivid self-awareness looks forward to the soliloquies of Shakespeare's mature plays. No single play marks a change from the traditional to the freer style. Shakespeare combined the two throughout his career, with *Romeo and Juliet* perhaps the best example of the mixing of the styles. By the time of *Romeo and Juliet*, *Richard II* and *A Midsummer Night's Dream* in the mid-1590s, Shakespeare had begun to write a more natural poetry. He increasingly tuned his metaphors and images to the needs of the drama itself.
Shakespeare's standard poetic form was blank verse, composed in iambic pentameter. In practice, this meant that his verse was usually unrhymed and consisted of ten syllables to a line, spoken with a stress on every second syllable. The blank verse of his early plays is quite different from that of his later ones. It is often beautiful, but its sentences tend to start, pause, and finish at the end of lines, with the risk of monotony. Once Shakespeare mastered traditional blank verse, he began to interrupt and vary its flow. This technique releases the new power and flexibility of the poetry in plays such as *Julius Caesar* and *Hamlet*. Shakespeare uses it, for example, to convey the turmoil in Hamlet's mind:
Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting
That would not let me sleep. Methought I lay
Worse than the mutines in the bilboes. Rashly—
And prais'd be rashness for it—let us know
Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well ...—Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 2, 4–8
After *Hamlet*, Shakespeare varied his poetic style further, particularly in the more emotional passages of the late tragedies. The literary critic A. C. Bradley described this style as "more concentrated, rapid, varied, and, in construction, less regular, not seldom twisted or elliptical". In the last phase of his career, Shakespeare adopted many techniques to achieve these effects. These included run-on lines, irregular pauses and stops, and extreme variations in sentence structure and length. In *Macbeth*, for example, the language darts from one unrelated metaphor or simile to another: "was the hope drunk/ Wherein you dressed yourself?" (1.7.35–38); "... pity, like a naked new-born babe/ Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, hors'd/ Upon the sightless couriers of the air ..." (1.7.21–25). The listener is challenged to complete the sense. The late romances, with their shifts in time and surprising turns of plot, inspired a last poetic style in which long and short sentences are set against one another, clauses are piled up, subject and object are reversed, and words are omitted, creating an effect of spontaneity.
Shakespeare combined poetic genius with a practical sense of the theatre. Like all playwrights of the time, he dramatised stories from sources such as Plutarch and Raphael Holinshed. He reshaped each plot to create several centres of interest and to show as many sides of a narrative to the audience as possible. This strength of design ensures that a Shakespeare play can survive translation, cutting, and wide interpretation without loss to its core drama. As Shakespeare's mastery grew, he gave his characters clearer and more varied motivations and distinctive patterns of speech. He preserved aspects of his earlier style in the later plays, however. In Shakespeare's late romances, he deliberately returned to a more artificial style, which emphasised the illusion of theatre.
## Legacy
### Influence
Shakespeare's work has made a significant and lasting impression on later theatre and literature. In particular, he expanded the dramatic potential of characterisation, plot, language, and genre. Until *Romeo and Juliet*, for example, romance had not been viewed as a worthy topic for tragedy. Soliloquies had been used mainly to convey information about characters or events, but Shakespeare used them to explore characters' minds. His work heavily influenced later poetry. The Romantic poets attempted to revive Shakespearean verse drama, though with little success. The critic George Steiner described all English verse dramas from Samuel Taylor Coleridge to Alfred, Lord Tennyson, as "feeble variations on Shakespearean themes". John Milton, considered by many to be the most important English poet after Shakespeare, wrote in tribute: "Thou in our wonder and astonishment/ Hast built thyself a live-long monument."
Shakespeare influenced novelists such as Thomas Hardy, William Faulkner and Charles Dickens. The American novelist Herman Melville's soliloquies owe much to Shakespeare; his Captain Ahab in *Moby-Dick* is a classic tragic hero, inspired by *King Lear*. Scholars have identified 20,000 pieces of music linked to Shakespeare's works, including Felix Mendelssohn's overture and incidental music for *A Midsummer Night's Dream* and Sergei Prokofiev's ballet *Romeo and Juliet*. His work has inspired several operas, among them Giuseppe Verdi's *Macbeth*, *Otello* and *Falstaff*, whose critical standing compares with that of the source plays. Shakespeare has also inspired many painters, including the Romantics and the Pre-Raphaelites, while William Hogarth's 1745 painting of actor David Garrick playing Richard III was decisive in establishing the genre of theatrical portraiture in Britain. The Swiss Romantic artist Henry Fuseli, a friend of William Blake, even translated *Macbeth* into German. The psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud drew on Shakespearean psychology, in particular, that of Hamlet, for his theories of human nature. Shakespeare has been a rich source for filmmakers; Akira Kurosawa adapted *Macbeth* and *King Lear* as *Throne of Blood* and *Ran*. Other examples of Shakespeare on film include Max Reinhardt's *A Midsummer Night's Dream*, Laurence Olivier's *Hamlet* and Al Pacino's documentary *Looking For Richard*. Orson Welles, a lifelong lover of Shakespeare, directed and starred in *Macbeth*, *Othello* and *Chimes at Midnight*, in which he plays John Falstaff, which Welles himself called his best work.
In Shakespeare's day English grammar, spelling and pronunciation were less standardised than they are now, and his use of language helped to shape modern English. Samuel Johnson quoted him more often than any other author in his *A Dictionary of the English Language*, the first serious work of its type. Expressions such as "with bated breath" (*Merchant of Venice*) and "a foregone conclusion" (*Othello*) have found their way into everyday English speech.
Shakespeare's influence extends far beyond his native England and the English language. His reception in Germany was particularly significant; as early as the 18th century Shakespeare was widely translated and popularised in Germany, and gradually became a "classic of the German Weimar era;" Christoph Martin Wieland was the first to produce complete translations of Shakespeare's plays in any language. The actor and theatre-director Simon Callow writes, "this master, this titan, this genius, so profoundly British and so effortlessly universal, each different culture – German, Italian, Russian – was obliged to respond to the Shakespearean example; for the most part, they embraced it, and him, with joyous abandon, as the possibilities of language and character in action that he celebrated liberated writers across the continent. Some of the most deeply affecting productions of Shakespeare have been non-English, and non-European. He is that unique writer: he has something for everyone."
According to *Guinness World Records* Shakespeare remains the world's best-selling playwright, with sales of his plays and poetry believed to have achieved in excess of four billion copies in the almost 400 years since his death. He is also the third most translated author in history.
### Critical reputation
Shakespeare was not revered in his lifetime, but he received a large amount of praise. In 1598 the cleric and author Francis Meres singled him out from a group of English playwrights as "the most excellent" in both comedy and tragedy. The authors of the *Parnassus* plays at St John's College, Cambridge, numbered him with Geoffrey Chaucer, John Gower and Edmund Spenser. In the First Folio, Ben Jonson called Shakespeare the "Soul of the age, the applause, delight, the wonder of our stage", although he had remarked elsewhere that "Shakespeare wanted art" (lacked skill).
Between the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and the end of the 17th century, classical ideas were in vogue. As a result, critics of the time mostly rated Shakespeare below John Fletcher and Ben Jonson. Thomas Rymer, for example, condemned Shakespeare for mixing the comic with the tragic. Nevertheless, the poet and critic John Dryden rated Shakespeare highly, saying of Jonson, "I admire him, but I love Shakespeare". He also famously remarked that Shakespeare "was naturally learned; he needed not the spectacles of books to read nature; he looked inwards, and found her there." For several decades, Rymer's view held sway. But during the 18th century, critics began to respond to Shakespeare on his own terms and, like Dryden, to acclaim what they termed his natural genius. A series of scholarly editions of his work, notably those of Samuel Johnson in 1765 and Edmond Malone in 1790, added to his growing reputation. By 1800, he was firmly enshrined as the national poet, and described as the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). In the 18th and 19th centuries, his reputation also spread abroad. Among those who championed him were the writers Voltaire, Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, Stendhal and Victor Hugo.
During the Romantic era Shakespeare was praised by the poet and literary philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and the critic August Wilhelm Schlegel translated his plays in the spirit of German Romanticism. In the 19th century, critical admiration for Shakespeare's genius often bordered on adulation. "This King Shakespeare," the essayist Thomas Carlyle wrote in 1840, "does not he shine, in crowned sovereignty, over us all, as the noblest, gentlest, yet strongest of rallying signs; indestructible". The Victorians produced his plays as lavish spectacles on a grand scale. The playwright and critic George Bernard Shaw mocked the cult of Shakespeare worship as "bardolatry", claiming that the new naturalism of Henrik Ibsen's plays had made Shakespeare obsolete.
The modernist revolution in the arts during the early 20th century, far from discarding Shakespeare, eagerly enlisted his work in the service of the avant-garde. The Expressionists in Germany and the Futurists in Moscow mounted productions of his plays. The Marxist playwright and director Bertolt Brecht devised an epic theatre under the influence of Shakespeare. The poet and critic T. S. Eliot argued against Shaw that Shakespeare's "primitiveness" in fact made him truly modern. Eliot, along with G. Wilson Knight and the school of New Criticism, led a movement towards a closer reading of Shakespeare's imagery. In the 1950s, a wave of new critical approaches replaced modernism and paved the way for post-modern studies of Shakespeare. Comparing Shakespeare's accomplishments to those of leading figures in philosophy and theology, Harold Bloom wrote, "Shakespeare was larger than Plato and than St. Augustine. He *encloses* us because we *see* with his fundamental perceptions."
## Speculation
### Authorship
Around 230 years after Shakespeare's death, doubts began to be expressed about the authorship of the works attributed to him. Proposed alternative candidates include Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe and Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. Several "group theories" have also been proposed. All but a few Shakespeare scholars and literary historians consider it a fringe theory, with only a small minority of academics who believe that there is reason to question the traditional attribution, but interest in the subject, particularly the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship, continues into the 21st century.
### Religion
Shakespeare conformed to the official state religion, but his private views on religion have been the subject of debate. Shakespeare's will uses a Protestant formula, and he was a confirmed member of the Church of England, where he was married, his children were baptised, and where he is buried.
Some scholars are of the view that members of Shakespeare's family were Catholics, at a time when practising Catholicism in England was against the law. Shakespeare's mother, Mary Arden, certainly came from a pious Catholic family. The strongest evidence might be a Catholic statement of faith signed by his father, John Shakespeare, found in 1757 in the rafters of his former house in Henley Street. However, the document is now lost and scholars differ as to its authenticity. In 1591 the authorities reported that John Shakespeare had missed church "for fear of process for debt", a common Catholic excuse. In 1606 the name of William's daughter Susanna appears on a list of those who failed to attend Easter communion in Stratford.
Other authors argue that there is a lack of evidence about Shakespeare's religious beliefs. Scholars find evidence both for and against Shakespeare's Catholicism, Protestantism, or lack of belief in his plays, but the truth may be impossible to prove.
### Sexuality
Few details of Shakespeare's sexuality are known. At 18 he married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, who was pregnant. Susanna, the first of their three children, was born six months later on 26 May 1583. Over the centuries, some readers have posited that Shakespeare's sonnets are autobiographical, and point to them as evidence of his love for a young man. Others read the same passages as the expression of intense friendship rather than romantic love. The 26 so-called "Dark Lady" sonnets, addressed to a married woman, are taken as evidence of heterosexual liaisons.
### Portraiture
No written contemporary description of Shakespeare's physical appearance survives, and no evidence suggests that he ever commissioned a portrait. From the 18th century, the desire for authentic Shakespeare portraits fuelled claims that various surviving pictures depicted Shakespeare. That demand also led to the production of several fake portraits, as well as misattributions, re-paintings, and relabelling of portraits of other people.
Some scholars suggest that the Droeshout portrait, which Ben Jonson approved of as a good likeness, and his Stratford monument provide perhaps the best evidence of his appearance. Of the claimed paintings, the art historian Tarnya Cooper concluded that the Chandos portrait had "the strongest claim of any of the known contenders to be a true portrait of Shakespeare". After a three-year study supported by the National Portrait Gallery, London, the portrait's owners, Cooper contended that its composition date, contemporary with Shakespeare, its subsequent provenance, and the sitter's attire, all supported the attribution.
## See also
- Outline of William Shakespeare
- English Renaissance theatre
- Spelling of Shakespeare's name
*World Shakespeare Bibliography**Shakespeare's Politics*
### Notes
### Citations
### Sources
**Books**
**Articles and online**
## External links
**Digital editions**
- William Shakespeare's plays on Bookwise
- Internet Shakespeare Editions
- The Folger Shakespeare
- Open Source Shakespeare complete works, with search engine and concordance
- The Shakespeare Quartos Archive
- Works by William Shakespeare in eBook form at Standard Ebooks
- Works by William Shakespeare at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about William Shakespeare at the Internet Archive
- Works by William Shakespeare at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
**Exhibitions**
- Shakespeare Documented an online exhibition documenting Shakespeare in his own time
- Shakespeare's Will from The National Archives
- The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
- William Shakespeare at the British Library. Archived 23 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine.
**Music**
- Works by William Shakespeare set to music: free scores in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
- Works by William Shakespeare set to music: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
**Education**
- Shakespeare at Home an online resource providing free educational resources on William Shakespeare and the Renaissance world. Activities are dyslexia friendly and suitable for all ages.
**Legacy and criticism**
|
# Amphibian - Wikipedia
| Amphibians | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade:
|
Batrachomorpha |
| Class: | Amphibia Gray 1825 |
| Subclasses | |
|
(partial list)
|
**Amphibians** are ectothermic, anamniotic, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class **Amphibia**. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all tetrapods, but excluding the amniotes (tetrapods with an amniotic membrane, such as modern reptiles, birds and mammals). All extant (living) amphibians belong to the monophyletic subclass Lissamphibia, with three living orders: Anura (frogs and toads), Urodela (salamanders), and Gymnophiona (caecilians). Evolved to be mostly semiaquatic, amphibians have adapted to inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living in freshwater, wetland or terrestrial ecosystems (such as riparian woodland, fossorial and even arboreal habitats). Their life cycle typically starts out as aquatic larvae with gills known as tadpoles, but some species have developed behavioural adaptations to bypass this.
Young amphibians generally undergo metamorphosis from an aquatic larval form with gills to an air-breathing adult form with lungs. Amphibians use their skin as a secondary respiratory interface, and some small terrestrial salamanders and frogs even lack lungs and rely entirely on their skin. They are superficially similar to reptiles like lizards, but unlike reptiles and other amniotes, require access to water bodies to breed. With their complex reproductive needs and permeable skins, amphibians are often ecological indicators to habitat conditions; in recent decades there has been a dramatic decline in amphibian populations for many species around the globe.
The earliest amphibians evolved in the Devonian period from tetrapodomorph sarcopterygians (lobe-finned fish with articulated limb-like fins) that evolved primitive lungs, which were helpful in adapting to dry land. They diversified and became ecologically dominant during the Carboniferous and Permian periods, but were later displaced in terrestrial environments by early reptiles and basal synapsids (predecessors of mammals). The origin of modern lissamphibians, which first appeared during the Early Triassic, around 250 million years ago, has long been contentious. The most popular hypothesis is that they likely originated from temnospondyls, the most diverse group of prehistoric amphibians, during the Permian period. Another hypothesis is that they emerged from lepospondyls. A fourth group of lissamphibians, the Albanerpetontidae, became extinct around 2 million years ago.
The number of known amphibian species is approximately 8,000, of which nearly 90% are frogs. The smallest amphibian (and vertebrate) in the world is a frog from New Guinea (*Paedophryne amauensis*) with a length of just 7.7 mm (0.30 in). The largest living amphibian is the 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) South China giant salamander (*Andrias sligoi*), but this is dwarfed by prehistoric temnospondyls such as *Mastodonsaurus* which could reach up to 6 m (20 ft) in length. The study of amphibians is called batrachology, while the study of both reptiles and amphibians is called herpetology.
## Classification
The word *amphibian* is derived from the Ancient Greek term ἀμφίβιος (*amphíbios*), which means 'both kinds of life', ἀμφί meaning 'of both kinds' and βίος meaning 'life'. The term was initially used as a general adjective for animals that could live on land or in water, including seals and otters. Traditionally, the class Amphibia includes all tetrapod vertebrates that are not amniotes. Amphibia in its widest sense (*sensu lato*) was divided into three subclasses, two of which are extinct:
- Subclass Lepospondyli† (A potentially polyphyletic Late Paleozoic group of small forms, likely more closely related to amniotes than Lissamphibia)
- Subclass Temnospondyli† (diverse Late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic grade, some of which were large predators)
- Subclass Lissamphibia (all modern amphibians, including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts and caecilians)
- Salientia (frogs, toads and relatives): Early Triassic to present—7,360 current species in 53 families. Modern (crown group) salientians are described via the name Anura.
- Caudata (salamanders, newts and relatives): Late Triassic to present—764 current species in 9 families. Modern (crown group) caudatans are described via the name Urodela.
- Gymnophiona (caecilians and relatives): Late Triassic to present—215 current species in 10 families. The name Apoda is also sometimes used for caecilians.
- Allocaudata† (Albanerpetontidae) Middle Jurassic – Early Pleistocene
These three subclasses do not include all extinct amphibians. Other extinct amphibian groups include Embolomeri (Late Paleozoic large aquatic predators)[ citation needed], Seymouriamorpha (semiaquatic to terrestrial Permian forms related to amniotes),
[among others. Names such as Tetrapoda and Stegocephalia encompass the entirety of amphibian-grade tetrapods, while Reptiliomorpha or Anthracosauria are variably used to describe extinct amphibians more closely related to amniotes than to lissamphibians.
*citation needed*]The actual number of species in each group depends on the taxonomic classification followed. The two most common systems are the classification adopted by the website AmphibiaWeb, University of California, Berkeley, and the classification by herpetologist Darrel Frost and the American Museum of Natural History, available as the online reference database "Amphibian Species of the World". The numbers of species cited above follows Frost and the total number of known (living) amphibian species as of March 31, 2019, is exactly 8,000, of which nearly 90% are frogs.
With the phylogenetic classification, the taxon Labyrinthodontia has been discarded as it is a polyparaphyletic group without unique defining features apart from shared primitive characteristics. Classification varies according to the preferred phylogeny of the author and whether they use a stem-based or a node-based classification. Traditionally, amphibians as a class are defined as all tetrapods with a larval stage, while the group that includes the common ancestors of all living amphibians (frogs, salamanders and caecilians) and all their descendants is called Lissamphibia. The phylogeny of Paleozoic amphibians is uncertain, and Lissamphibia may possibly fall within extinct groups, like the Temnospondyli (traditionally placed in the subclass Labyrinthodontia) or the Lepospondyli, and in some analyses even in the amniotes. This means that advocates of phylogenetic nomenclature have removed a large number of basal Devonian and Carboniferous amphibian-type tetrapod groups that were formerly placed in Amphibia in Linnaean taxonomy, and included them elsewhere under cladistic taxonomy. If the common ancestor of amphibians and amniotes is included in Amphibia, it becomes a paraphyletic group.
All modern amphibians are included in the subclass Lissamphibia, which is usually considered a clade, a group of species that have evolved from a common ancestor. The three modern orders are Anura (the frogs), Caudata (or Urodela, the salamanders), and Gymnophiona (or Apoda, the caecilians). It has been suggested that salamanders arose separately from a temnospondyl-like ancestor, and even that caecilians are the sister group of the advanced reptiliomorph amphibians, and thus of amniotes. Although the fossils of several older proto-frogs with primitive characteristics are known, the oldest "true frog", with hopping adaptations is *Prosalirus bitis*, from the Early Jurassic Kayenta Formation of Arizona. It is anatomically very similar to modern frogs. The oldest known caecilians are *Funcusvermis gilmorei* (from the Late Triassic) and *Eocaecilia micropodia* (from the Early Jurassic), both from Arizona. The earliest salamander is *Beiyanerpeton jianpingensis* from the Late Jurassic of northeastern China.
Authorities disagree as to whether Salientia is a superorder that includes the order Anura, or whether Anura is a sub-order of the order Salientia. The Lissamphibia are traditionally divided into three orders, but an extinct salamander-like family, the Albanerpetontidae, is now considered part of Lissamphibia alongside the superorder Salientia. Furthermore, Salientia includes all three recent orders plus the Triassic proto-frog, *Triadobatrachus*.
## Evolutionary history
The first major groups of amphibians developed in the Devonian period, around 370 million years ago, from lobe-finned fish which were similar to the modern coelacanth and lungfish. These ancient lobe-finned fish had evolved multi-jointed leg-like fins with digits that enabled them to crawl along the sea bottom. Some fish had developed primitive lungs that help them breathe air when the stagnant pools of the Devonian swamps were low in oxygen. They could also use their strong fins to hoist themselves out of the water and onto dry land if circumstances so required. Eventually, their bony fins would evolve into limbs and they would become the ancestors to all tetrapods, including modern amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Despite being able to crawl on land, many of these prehistoric tetrapodomorph fish still spent most of their time in the water. They had started to develop lungs, but still breathed predominantly with gills.
Many examples of species showing transitional features have been discovered. *Ichthyostega* was one of the first primitive amphibians, with nostrils and more efficient lungs. It had four sturdy limbs, a neck, a tail with fins and a skull very similar to that of the lobe-finned fish, *Eusthenopteron*. Amphibians evolved adaptations that allowed them to stay out of the water for longer periods. Their lungs improved and their skeletons became heavier and stronger, better able to support the weight of their bodies on land. They developed "hands" and "feet" with five or more digits; the skin became more capable of retaining body fluids and resisting desiccation. The fish's hyomandibula bone in the hyoid region behind the gills diminished in size and became the stapes of the amphibian ear, an adaptation necessary for hearing on dry land. An affinity between the amphibians and the teleost fish is the multi-folded structure of the teeth and the paired supra-occipital bones at the back of the head, neither of these features being found elsewhere in the animal kingdom.
At the end of the Devonian period (360 million years ago), the seas, rivers and lakes were teeming with life while the land was the realm of early plants and devoid of vertebrates, though some, such as *Ichthyostega*, may have sometimes hauled themselves out of the water. It is thought they may have propelled themselves with their forelimbs, dragging their hindquarters in a similar manner to that used by the elephant seal. In the early Carboniferous (360 to 323 million years ago), the climate was relatively wet and warm. Extensive swamps developed with mosses, ferns, horsetails and calamites. Air-breathing arthropods evolved and invaded the land where they provided food for the carnivorous amphibians that began to adapt to the terrestrial environment. There were no other tetrapods on the land and the amphibians were at the top of the food chain, with some occupying ecological positions currently held by crocodiles. Though equipped with limbs and the ability to breathe air, most still had a long tapering body and strong tail. Others were the top land predators, sometimes reaching several metres in length, preying on the large insects of the period and the many types of fish in the water. They still needed to return to water to lay their shell-less eggs, and even most modern amphibians have a fully aquatic larval stage with gills like their fish ancestors. It was the development of the amniotic egg, which prevents the developing embryo from drying out, that enabled the reptiles to reproduce on land and which led to their dominance in the period that followed.
After the Carboniferous rainforest collapse amphibian dominance gave way to reptiles, and amphibians were further devastated by the Permian–Triassic extinction event. During the Triassic Period (252 to 201 million years ago), the reptiles continued to out-compete the amphibians, leading to a reduction in both the amphibians' size and their importance in the biosphere. According to the fossil record, Lissamphibia, which includes all modern amphibians and is the only surviving lineage, may have branched off from the extinct groups Temnospondyli and Lepospondyli at some period between the Late Carboniferous and the Early Triassic. The relative scarcity of fossil evidence precludes precise dating, but the most recent molecular study, based on multilocus sequence typing, suggests a Late Carboniferous/Early Permian origin for extant amphibians.
The origins and evolutionary relationships between the three main groups of amphibians is a matter of debate. A 2005 molecular phylogeny, based on rDNA analysis, suggests that salamanders and caecilians are more closely related to each other than they are to frogs. It also appears that the divergence of the three groups took place in the Paleozoic or early Mesozoic (around 250 million years ago), before the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea and soon after their divergence from the lobe-finned fish. The briefness of this period, and the swiftness with which radiation took place, would help account for the relative scarcity of primitive amphibian fossils. There are large gaps in the fossil record, the discovery of the dissorophoid temnospondyl *Gerobatrachus* from the Early Permian in Texas in 2008 provided a missing link with many of the characteristics of modern frogs. Molecular analysis suggests that the frog–salamander divergence took place considerably earlier than the palaeontological evidence indicates. One study suggested that the last common ancestor of all modern amphibians lived about 315 million years ago, and that stereospondyl temnospondyls are the closest relatives to the caecilians. However, most studies support a single monophyletic origin of all modern amphibians within the dissorophoid temnospondyls.
As they evolved from lunged fish, amphibians had to make certain adaptations for living on land, including the need to develop new means of locomotion. In the water, the sideways thrusts of their tails had propelled them forward, but on land, quite different mechanisms were required. Their vertebral columns, limbs, limb girdles and musculature needed to be strong enough to raise them off the ground for locomotion and feeding. Terrestrial adults discarded their lateral line systems and adapted their sensory systems to receive stimuli via the medium of the air. They needed to develop new methods to regulate their body heat to cope with fluctuations in ambient temperature. They developed behaviours suitable for reproduction in a terrestrial environment. Their skins were exposed to harmful ultraviolet rays that had previously been absorbed by the water. The skin changed to become more protective and prevent excessive water loss.
## Characteristics
The superclass Tetrapoda is divided into four classes of vertebrate animals with four limbs. Reptiles, birds and mammals are amniotes, the eggs of which are either laid or carried by the female and are surrounded by several membranes, some of which are impervious. Lacking these membranes, amphibians require water bodies for reproduction, although some species have developed various strategies for protecting or bypassing the vulnerable aquatic larval stage. They are not found in the sea with the exception of one or two frogs that live in brackish water in mangrove swamps; the Anderson's salamander meanwhile occurs in brackish or salt water lakes. On land, amphibians are restricted to moist habitats because of the need to keep their skin damp.
Modern amphibians have a simplified anatomy compared to their ancestors due to paedomorphosis, caused by two evolutionary trends: miniaturization and an unusually large genome, which result in a slower growth and development rate compared to other vertebrates. Another reason for their size is associated with their rapid metamorphosis, which seems to have evolved only in the ancestors of Lissamphibia; in all other known lines the development was much more gradual. Because a remodeling of the feeding apparatus means they do not eat during the metamorphosis, the metamorphosis has to go faster the smaller the individual is, so it happens at an early stage when the larvae are still small. (The largest species of salamanders do not go through a metamorphosis.) Amphibians that lay eggs on land often go through the whole metamorphosis inside the egg. An anamniotic terrestrial egg is less than 1 cm in diameter due to diffusion problems, a size which puts a limit on the amount of posthatching growth.
The smallest amphibian (and vertebrate) in the world is a microhylid frog from New Guinea (*Paedophryne amauensis*) first discovered in 2012. It has an average length of 7.7 mm (0.30 in) and is part of a genus that contains four of the world's ten smallest frog species. The largest living amphibian is the 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) Chinese giant salamander (*Andrias davidianus*) but this is a great deal smaller than the largest amphibian that ever existed—the extinct 9 m (30 ft) *Prionosuchus*, a crocodile-like temnospondyl dating to 270 million years ago from the middle Permian of Brazil. The largest frog is the African Goliath frog (*Conraua goliath*), which can reach 32 cm (13 in) and weigh 3 kg (6.6 lb).
Amphibians are ectothermic (cold-blooded) vertebrates that do not maintain their body temperature through internal physiological processes. Their metabolic rate is low and as a result, their food and energy requirements are limited. In the adult state, they have tear ducts and movable eyelids, and most species have ears that can detect airborne or ground vibrations. They have muscular tongues, which in many species can be protruded. Modern amphibians have fully ossified vertebrae with articular processes. Their ribs are usually short and may be fused to the vertebrae. Their skulls are mostly broad and short, and are often incompletely ossified. Their skin contains little keratin and lacks scales, apart from a few fish-like scales in certain caecilians. The skin contains many mucous glands and in some species, poison glands (a type of granular gland). The hearts of amphibians have three chambers, two atria and one ventricle. They have a urinary bladder and nitrogenous waste products are excreted primarily as urea. Most amphibians lay their eggs in water and have aquatic larvae that undergo metamorphosis to become terrestrial adults. Amphibians breathe by means of a pump action in which air is first drawn into the buccopharyngeal region through the nostrils. These are then closed and the air is forced into the lungs by contraction of the throat. They supplement this with gas exchange through the skin.
### Anura
The order Anura (from the Ancient Greek *a(n)-* meaning "without" and *oura* meaning "tail") comprises the frogs and toads. They usually have long hind limbs that fold underneath them, shorter forelimbs, webbed toes with no claws, no tails, large eyes and glandular moist skin. Members of this order with smooth skins are commonly referred to as frogs, while those with warty skins are known as toads. The difference is not a formal one taxonomically and there are numerous exceptions to this rule. Members of the family Bufonidae are known as the "true toads". Frogs range in size from the 30-centimetre (12 in) Goliath frog (*Conraua goliath*) of West Africa to the 7.7-millimetre (0.30 in) *Paedophryne amauensis*, first described in Papua New Guinea in 2012, which is also the smallest known vertebrate. Although most species are associated with water and damp habitats, some are specialised to live in trees or in deserts. They are found worldwide except for polar areas.
Anura is divided into three suborders that are broadly accepted by the scientific community, but the relationships between some families remain unclear. Future molecular studies should provide further insights into their evolutionary relationships. The suborder Archaeobatrachia contains four families of primitive frogs. These are Ascaphidae, Bombinatoridae, Discoglossidae and Leiopelmatidae which have few derived features and are probably paraphyletic with regard to other frog lineages. The six families in the more evolutionarily advanced suborder Mesobatrachia are the fossorial Megophryidae, Pelobatidae, Pelodytidae, Scaphiopodidae and Rhinophrynidae and the obligatorily aquatic Pipidae. These have certain characteristics that are intermediate between the two other suborders. Neobatrachia is by far the largest suborder and includes the remaining families of modern frogs, including most common species. Approximately 96% of the over 5,000 extant species of frog are neobatrachians.
### Caudata
The order Caudata (from the Latin *cauda* meaning "tail") consists of the salamanders—elongated, low-slung animals that mostly resemble lizards in form. This is a symplesiomorphic trait and they are no more closely related to lizards than they are to mammals. Salamanders lack claws, have scale-free skins, either smooth or covered with tubercles, and tails that are usually flattened from side to side and often finned. They range in size from the Chinese giant salamander (*Andrias davidianus*), which has been reported to grow to a length of 1.8 metres (5 ft 11 in), to the diminutive *Thorius pennatulus* from Mexico which seldom exceeds 20 mm (0.8 in) in length. Salamanders have a mostly Laurasian distribution, being present in much of the Holarctic region of the northern hemisphere. The family Plethodontidae is also found in Central America and South America north of the Amazon basin; South America was apparently invaded from Central America by about the start of the Miocene, 23 million years ago. Urodela is a name sometimes used for all the extant species of salamanders. Members of several salamander families have become paedomorphic and either fail to complete their metamorphosis or retain some larval characteristics as adults. Most salamanders are under 15 cm (5.9 in) long. They may be terrestrial or aquatic and many spend part of the year in each habitat. When on land, they mostly spend the day hidden under stones or logs or in dense vegetation, emerging in the evening and night to forage for worms, insects and other invertebrates.
The suborder Cryptobranchoidea contains the primitive salamanders. A number of fossil cryptobranchids have been found, but there are only three living species, the Chinese giant salamander (*Andrias davidianus*), the Japanese giant salamander (*Andrias japonicus*) and the hellbender (*Cryptobranchus alleganiensis*) from North America. These large amphibians retain several larval characteristics in their adult state; gills slits are present and the eyes are unlidded. A unique feature is their ability to feed by suction, depressing either the left side of their lower jaw or the right. The males excavate nests, persuade females to lay their egg strings inside them, and guard them. As well as breathing with lungs, they respire through the many folds in their thin skin, which has capillaries close to the surface.
The suborder Salamandroidea contains the advanced salamanders. They differ from the cryptobranchids by having fused prearticular bones in the lower jaw, and by using internal fertilisation. In salamandrids, the male deposits a bundle of sperm, the spermatophore, and the female picks it up and inserts it into her cloaca where the sperm is stored until the eggs are laid. The largest family in this group is Plethodontidae, the lungless salamanders, which includes 60% of all salamander species. The family Salamandridae includes the true salamanders and the name "newt" is given to members of its subfamily Pleurodelinae.
The third suborder, Sirenoidea, contains the four species of sirens, which are in a single family, Sirenidae. Members of this order are eel-like aquatic salamanders with much reduced forelimbs and no hind limbs. Some of their features are primitive while others are derived. Fertilisation is likely to be external as sirenids lack the cloacal glands used by male salamandrids to produce spermatophores and the females lack spermathecae for sperm storage. Despite this, the eggs are laid singly, a behaviour not conducive for external fertilisation.
### Gymnophiona
The order Gymnophiona (from the Greek *gymnos* meaning "naked" and *ophis* meaning "serpent") or Apoda comprises the caecilians. These are long, cylindrical, limbless animals with a snake- or worm-like form. The adults vary in length from 8 to 75 centimetres (3 to 30 inches) with the exception of Thomson's caecilian (*Caecilia thompsoni*), which can reach 150 cm (59 in). A caecilian's skin has a large number of transverse folds and in some species contains tiny embedded dermal scales. It has rudimentary eyes covered in skin, which are probably limited to discerning differences in light intensity. It also has a pair of short tentacles near the eye that can be extended and which have tactile and olfactory functions. Most caecilians live underground in burrows in damp soil, in rotten wood and under plant debris, but some are aquatic. Most species lay their eggs underground and when the larvae hatch, they make their way to adjacent bodies of water. Others brood their eggs and the larvae undergo metamorphosis before the eggs hatch. A few species give birth to live young, nourishing them with glandular secretions while they are in the oviduct. Caecilians have a mostly Gondwanan distribution, being found in tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Central and South America.
## Anatomy and physiology
### Skin
The integumentary structure contains some typical characteristics common to terrestrial vertebrates, such as the presence of highly cornified outer layers, renewed periodically through a moulting process controlled by the pituitary and thyroid glands. Local thickenings (often called warts) are common, such as those found on toads. The outside of the skin is shed periodically mostly in one piece, in contrast to mammals and birds where it is shed in flakes. Amphibians often eat the sloughed skin. Caecilians are unique among amphibians in having mineralized dermal scales embedded in the dermis between the furrows in the skin. The similarity of these to the scales of bony fish is largely superficial. Lizards and some frogs have somewhat similar osteoderms forming bony deposits in the dermis, but this is an example of convergent evolution with similar structures having arisen independently in diverse vertebrate lineages.
Amphibian skin is permeable to water. Gas exchange can take place through the skin (cutaneous respiration) and this allows adult amphibians to respire without rising to the surface of water and to hibernate at the bottom of ponds. To compensate for their thin and delicate skin, amphibians have evolved mucous glands, principally on their heads, backs and tails. The secretions produced by these help keep the skin moist. In addition, most species of amphibian have granular glands that secrete distasteful or poisonous substances. Some amphibian toxins can be lethal to humans while others have little effect. The main poison-producing glands, the parotoids, produce the neurotoxin bufotoxin and are located behind the ears of toads, along the backs of frogs, behind the eyes of salamanders and on the upper surface of caecilians.
The skin colour of amphibians is produced by three layers of pigment cells called chromatophores. These three cell layers consist of the melanophores (occupying the deepest layer), the guanophores (forming an intermediate layer and containing many granules, producing a blue-green colour) and the lipophores (yellow, the most superficial layer). The colour change displayed by many species is initiated by hormones secreted by the pituitary gland. Unlike bony fish, there is no direct control of the pigment cells by the nervous system, and this results in the colour change taking place more slowly than happens in fish. A vividly coloured skin usually indicates that the species is toxic and is a warning sign to predators.
### Skeletal system and locomotion
Amphibians have a skeletal system that is structurally homologous to other tetrapods, though with a number of variations. They all have four limbs except for the legless caecilians and a few species of salamander with reduced or no limbs. The bones are hollow and lightweight. The musculoskeletal system is strong to enable it to support the head and body. The bones are fully ossified and the vertebrae interlock with each other by means of overlapping processes. The pectoral girdle is supported by muscle, and the well-developed pelvic girdle is attached to the backbone by a pair of sacral ribs. The ilium slopes forward and the body is held closer to the ground than is the case in mammals.
In most amphibians, there are four digits on the fore foot and five on the hind foot, but no claws on either. Some salamanders have fewer digits and the amphiumas are eel-like in appearance with tiny, stubby legs. The sirens are aquatic salamanders with stumpy forelimbs and no hind limbs. The caecilians are limbless. They burrow in the manner of earthworms with zones of muscle contractions moving along the body. On the surface of the ground or in water they move by undulating their body from side to side.
In frogs, the hind legs are larger than the fore legs, especially so in those species that principally move by jumping or swimming. In the walkers and runners the hind limbs are not so large, and the burrowers mostly have short limbs and broad bodies. The feet have adaptations for the way of life, with webbing between the toes for swimming, broad adhesive toe pads for climbing, and keratinised tubercles on the hind feet for digging (frogs usually dig backwards into the soil). In most salamanders, the limbs are short and more or less the same length and project at right angles from the body. Locomotion on land is by walking and the tail often swings from side to side or is used as a prop, particularly when climbing. In their normal gait, only one leg is advanced at a time in the manner adopted by their ancestors, the lobe-finned fish. Some salamanders in the genus *Aneides* and certain plethodontids climb trees and have long limbs, large toepads and prehensile tails. In aquatic salamanders and in frog tadpoles, the tail has dorsal and ventral fins and is moved from side to side as a means of propulsion. Adult frogs do not have tails and caecilians have only very short ones.
Salamanders use their tails in defence and some are prepared to jettison them to save their lives in a process known as autotomy. Certain species in the Plethodontidae have a weak zone at the base of the tail and use this strategy readily. The tail often continues to twitch after separation which may distract the attacker and allow the salamander to escape. Both tails and limbs can be regenerated. Adult frogs are unable to regrow limbs but tadpoles can do so.
### Circulatory system
Amphibians have a juvenile stage and an adult stage, and the circulatory systems of the two are distinct. In the juvenile (or tadpole) stage, the circulation is similar to that of a fish; the two-chambered heart pumps the blood through the gills where it is oxygenated, and is spread around the body and back to the heart in a single loop. In the adult stage, amphibians (especially frogs) lose their gills and develop lungs. They have a heart that consists of a single ventricle and two atria. When the ventricle starts contracting, deoxygenated blood is pumped through the pulmonary artery to the lungs. Continued contraction then pumps oxygenated blood around the rest of the body. Mixing of the two bloodstreams is minimized by the anatomy of the chambers.
### Nervous and sensory systems
The nervous system is basically the same as in other vertebrates, with a central brain, a spinal cord, and nerves throughout the body. The amphibian brain is relatively simple but broadly the same structurally as in reptiles, birds and mammals. Their brains are elongated, except in caecilians, and contain the usual motor and sensory areas of tetrapods. The pineal body, known to regulate sleep patterns in humans, is thought to produce the hormones involved in hibernation and aestivation in amphibians.
Tadpoles retain the lateral line system of their ancestral fishes, but this is lost in terrestrial adult amphibians. Many aquatic salamanders and some caecilians possess electroreceptors called ampullary organs (completely absent in anurans), that allow them to locate objects around them when submerged in water. The ears are well developed in frogs. There is no external ear, but the large circular eardrum lies on the surface of the head just behind the eye. This vibrates and sound is transmitted through a single bone, the stapes, to the inner ear. Only high-frequency sounds like mating calls are heard in this way, but low-frequency noises can be detected through another mechanism. There is a patch of specialized haircells, called *papilla amphibiorum*, in the inner ear capable of detecting deeper sounds. Another feature, unique to frogs and salamanders, is the columella-operculum complex adjoining the auditory capsule which is involved in the transmission of both airborne and seismic signals. The ears of salamanders and caecilians are less highly developed than those of frogs as they do not normally communicate with each other through the medium of sound.
The eyes of tadpoles lack lids, but at metamorphosis, the cornea becomes more dome-shaped, the lens becomes flatter, and eyelids and associated glands and ducts develop. The adult eyes are an improvement on invertebrate eyes and were a first step in the development of more advanced vertebrate eyes. They allow colour vision and depth of focus. In the retinas are green rods, which are receptive to a wide range of wavelengths.
### Digestive and excretory systems
Many amphibians catch their prey by flicking out an elongated tongue with a sticky tip and drawing it back into the mouth before seizing the item with their jaws. Some use inertial feeding to help them swallow the prey, repeatedly thrusting their head forward sharply causing the food to move backwards in their mouth by inertia. Most amphibians swallow their prey whole without much chewing so they possess voluminous stomachs. The short oesophagus is lined with cilia that help to move the food to the stomach and mucus produced by glands in the mouth and pharynx eases its passage. The enzyme chitinase produced in the stomach helps digest the chitinous cuticle of arthropod prey.
Amphibians possess a pancreas, liver and gall bladder. The liver is usually large with two lobes. Its size is determined by its function as a glycogen and fat storage unit, and may change with the seasons as these reserves are built or used up. Adipose tissue is another important means of storing energy and this occurs in the abdomen (in internal structures called fat bodies), under the skin and, in some salamanders, in the tail.
There are two kidneys located dorsally, near the roof of the body cavity. Their job is to filter the blood of metabolic waste and transport the urine via ureters to the urinary bladder where it is stored before being passed out periodically through the cloacal vent. Larvae and most aquatic adult amphibians excrete the nitrogen as ammonia in large quantities of dilute urine, while terrestrial species, with a greater need to conserve water, excrete the less toxic product urea. Some tree frogs with limited access to water excrete most of their metabolic waste as uric acid.
#### Urinary bladder
Most aquatic and semi-aquatic amphibians have a membranous skin which allows them to absorb water directly through it. Some semi-aquatic animals also have similarly permeable bladder membrane. As a result, they tend to have high rates of urine production to offset this high water intake, and have urine which is low in dissolved salts. The urinary bladder assists such animals to retain salts. Some aquatic amphibian such as *Xenopus* do not reabsorb water, to prevent excessive water influx. For land-dwelling amphibians, dehydration results in reduced urine output.
The amphibian bladder is usually highly distensible and among some land-dwelling species of frogs and salamanders may account for between 20% and 50% of their total body weight. Urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters into the bladder and is periodically released from the bladder to the cloaca.
### Respiratory system
The lungs in amphibians are primitive compared to those of amniotes, possessing few internal septa and large alveoli, and consequently having a comparatively slow diffusion rate for oxygen entering the blood. Ventilation is accomplished by buccal pumping. Most amphibians, however, are able to exchange gases with the water or air via their skin. To enable sufficient cutaneous respiration, the surface of their highly vascularised skin must remain moist to allow the oxygen to diffuse at a sufficiently high rate. Because oxygen concentration in the water increases at both low temperatures and high flow rates, aquatic amphibians in these situations can rely primarily on cutaneous respiration, as in the Titicaca water frog and the hellbender salamander. In air, where oxygen is more concentrated, some small species can rely solely on cutaneous gas exchange, most famously the plethodontid salamanders, which have neither lungs nor gills. Many aquatic salamanders and all tadpoles have gills in their larval stage, with some (such as the axolotl) retaining gills as aquatic adults.
## Reproduction
For the purpose of reproduction, most amphibians require fresh water although some lay their eggs on land and have developed various means of keeping them moist. A few (e.g. *Fejervarya raja*) can inhabit brackish water, but there are no true marine amphibians. There are reports, however, of particular amphibian populations unexpectedly invading marine waters. Such was the case with the Black Sea invasion of the natural hybrid *Pelophylax esculentus* reported in 2010.
Several hundred frog species in adaptive radiations (e.g., *Eleutherodactylus*, the Pacific *Platymantis*, the Australo-Papuan microhylids, and many other tropical frogs), however, do not need any water for breeding in the wild. They reproduce via direct development, an ecological and evolutionary adaptation that has allowed them to be completely independent from free-standing water. Almost all of these frogs live in wet tropical rainforests and their eggs hatch directly into miniature versions of the adult, passing through the tadpole stage within the egg. Reproductive success of many amphibians is dependent not only on the quantity of rainfall, but the seasonal timing.
In the tropics, many amphibians breed continuously or at any time of year. In temperate regions, breeding is mostly seasonal, usually in the spring, and is triggered by increasing day length, rising temperatures or rainfall. Experiments have shown the importance of temperature, but the trigger event, especially in arid regions, is often a storm. In anurans, males usually arrive at the breeding sites before females and the vocal chorus they produce may stimulate ovulation in females and the endocrine activity of males that are not yet reproductively active.
In caecilians, fertilisation is internal, the male extruding an intromittent organ, the phallodeum, and inserting it into the female cloaca. The paired Müllerian glands inside the male cloaca secrete a fluid which resembles that produced by mammalian prostate glands and which may transport and nourish the sperm. Fertilisation probably takes place in the oviduct.
The majority of salamanders also engage in internal fertilisation. In most of these, the male deposits a spermatophore, a small packet of sperm on top of a gelatinous cone, on the substrate either on land or in the water. The female takes up the sperm packet by grasping it with the lips of the cloaca and pushing it into the vent. The spermatozoa move to the spermatheca in the roof of the cloaca where they remain until ovulation which may be many months later. Courtship rituals and methods of transfer of the spermatophore vary between species. In some, the spermatophore may be placed directly into the female cloaca while in others, the female may be guided to the spermatophore or restrained with an embrace called amplexus. Certain primitive salamanders in the families Sirenidae, Hynobiidae and Cryptobranchidae practice external fertilisation in a similar manner to frogs, with the female laying the eggs in water and the male releasing sperm onto the egg mass.
With a few exceptions, frogs use external fertilisation. The male grasps the female tightly with his forelimbs either behind the arms or in front of the back legs, or in the case of *Epipedobates tricolor*, around the neck. They remain in amplexus with their cloacae positioned close together while the female lays the eggs and the male covers them with sperm. Roughened nuptial pads on the male's hands aid in retaining grip. Often the male collects and retains the egg mass, forming a sort of basket with the hind feet. An exception is the granular poison frog (*Oophaga granulifera*) where the male and female place their cloacae in close proximity while facing in opposite directions and then release eggs and sperm simultaneously. The tailed frog (*Ascaphus truei*) exhibits internal fertilisation. The "tail" is only possessed by the male and is an extension of the cloaca and used to inseminate the female. This frog lives in fast-flowing streams and internal fertilisation prevents the sperm from being washed away before fertilisation occurs. The sperm may be retained in storage tubes attached to the oviduct until the following spring.
Most frogs can be classified as either prolonged or explosive breeders. Typically, prolonged breeders congregate at a breeding site, the males usually arriving first, calling and setting up territories. Other satellite males remain quietly nearby, waiting for their opportunity to take over a territory. The females arrive sporadically, mate selection takes place and eggs are laid. The females depart and territories may change hands. More females appear and in due course, the breeding season comes to an end. Explosive breeders on the other hand are found where temporary pools appear in dry regions after rainfall. These frogs are typically fossorial species that emerge after heavy rains and congregate at a breeding site. They are attracted there by the calling of the first male to find a suitable place, perhaps a pool that forms in the same place each rainy season. The assembled frogs may call in unison and frenzied activity ensues, the males scrambling to mate with the usually smaller number of females.
There is a direct competition between males to win the attention of the females in salamanders and newts, with elaborate courtship displays to keep the female's attention long enough to get her interested in choosing him to mate with. Some species store sperm through long breeding seasons, as the extra time may allow for interactions with rival sperm.
### Unisexual reproduction
Unisexual female mole salamanders (genus Ambystoma) are common in the Great Lakes region of North America. These salamanders are the oldest known unisexual vertebrate lineage, having emerged about 5 million years ago. Genome exchange can sometimes occur between the unisexual female Ambystoma and males from sympatric sexual species.
## Life cycle
Most amphibians go through metamorphosis, a process of significant morphological change after birth. In typical amphibian development, eggs are laid in water and larvae are adapted to an aquatic lifestyle. Frogs, toads and salamanders all hatch from the egg as larvae with external gills. Metamorphosis in amphibians is regulated by thyroxine concentration in the blood, which stimulates metamorphosis, and prolactin, which counteracts thyroxine's effect. Specific events are dependent on threshold values for different tissues. Because most embryonic development is outside the parental body, it is subject to many adaptations due to specific environmental circumstances. For this reason tadpoles can have horny ridges instead of teeth, whisker-like skin extensions or fins. They also make use of a sensory lateral line organ similar to that of fish. After metamorphosis, these organs become redundant and will be reabsorbed by controlled cell death, called apoptosis. The variety of adaptations to specific environmental circumstances among amphibians is wide, with many discoveries still being made.
### Eggs
In the egg, the embryo is suspended in perivitelline fluid and surrounded by semi-permeable gelatinous capsules, with the yolk mass providing nutrients. As the larvae hatch, the capsules are dissolved by enzymes secreted from gland at the tip of the snout. The eggs of some salamanders and frogs contain unicellular green algae. These penetrate the jelly envelope after the eggs are laid and may increase the supply of oxygen to the embryo through photosynthesis. They seem to both speed up the development of the larvae and reduce mortality. In the wood frog (*Rana sylvatica*), the interior of the globular egg cluster has been found to be up to 6 °C (11 °F) warmer than its surroundings, which is an advantage in its cool northern habitat.
The eggs may be deposited singly, in cluster or in long strands. Sites for laying eggs include water, mud, burrows, debris and on plants or under logs or stones. The greenhouse frog (*Eleutherodactylus planirostris*) lays eggs in small groups in the soil where they develop in about two weeks directly into juvenile frogs without an intervening larval stage. The tungara frog (*Physalaemus pustulosus*) builds a floating nest from foam to protect its eggs. First a raft is built, then eggs are laid in the centre, and finally a foam cap is overlaid. The foam has anti-microbial properties. It contains no detergents but is created by whipping up proteins and lectins secreted by the female.
### Larvae
The eggs of amphibians are typically laid in water and hatch into free-living larvae that complete their development in water and later transform into either aquatic or terrestrial adults. In many species of frog and in most lungless salamanders (Plethodontidae), direct development takes place, the larvae growing within the eggs and emerging as miniature adults. Many caecilians and some other amphibians lay their eggs on land, and the newly hatched larvae wriggle or are transported to water bodies. Some caecilians, the alpine salamander (*Salamandra atra*) and some of the African live-bearing toads (*Nectophrynoides spp.*) are viviparous. Their larvae feed on glandular secretions and develop within the female's oviduct, often for long periods. Other amphibians, but not caecilians, are ovoviviparous. The eggs are retained in or on the parent's body, but the larvae subsist on the yolks of their eggs and receive no nourishment from the adult. The larvae emerge at varying stages of their growth, either before or after metamorphosis, according to their species. The toad genus *Nectophrynoides* exhibits all of these developmental patterns among its dozen or so members. Amphibian larvae are known as tadpoles. They have thick, rounded bodies with powerful muscular tails.
#### Frogs
Unlike in other amphibians, frog tadpoles do not resemble adults. The free-living larvae are normally fully aquatic, but the tadpoles of some species (such as *Nannophrys ceylonensis*) are semi-terrestrial and live among wet rocks. Tadpoles have cartilaginous skeletons, gills for respiration (external gills at first, internal gills later), lateral line systems and large tails that they use for swimming. Newly hatched tadpoles soon develop gill pouches that cover the gills. These internal gills and operculum are not homologous with those of fish, and are only found in tadpoles as both salamanders and caecilians have external gills only. Combined with buccal pumping the internal gills has allowed tadpoles to adopt a filter feeding lifestyle, even if several species have since evolved other types of feeding strategies. The lungs develop early and are used as accessory breathing organs, the tadpoles rising to the water surface to gulp air. Some species complete their development inside the egg and hatch directly into small frogs. These larvae do not have gills but instead have specialised areas of skin through which respiration takes place. While tadpoles do not have true teeth, in most species, the jaws have long, parallel rows of small keratinized structures called keradonts surrounded by a horny beak. Front legs are formed under the gill sac and hind legs become visible a few days later.
Iodine and T4 (over stimulate the spectacular apoptosis [programmed cell death] of the cells of the larval gills, tail and fins) also stimulate the evolution of nervous systems transforming the aquatic, vegetarian tadpole into the terrestrial, carnivorous frog with better neurological, visuospatial, olfactory and cognitive abilities for hunting.
In fact, tadpoles developing in ponds and streams are typically herbivorous. Pond tadpoles tend to have deep bodies, large caudal fins and small mouths; they swim in the quiet waters feeding on growing or loose fragments of vegetation. Stream dwellers mostly have larger mouths, shallow bodies and caudal fins; they attach themselves to plants and stones and feed on the surface films of algae and bacteria. They also feed on diatoms, filtered from the water through the gills, and stir up the sediment at bottom of the pond, ingesting edible fragments. They have a relatively long, spiral-shaped gut to enable them to digest this diet. Some species are carnivorous at the tadpole stage, eating insects, smaller tadpoles and fish. Young of the Cuban tree frog (*Osteopilus septentrionalis*) can occasionally be cannibalistic, the younger tadpoles attacking a larger, more developed tadpole when it is undergoing metamorphosis.
At metamorphosis, rapid changes in the body take place as the lifestyle of the frog changes completely. The spiral-shaped mouth with horny tooth ridges is reabsorbed together with the spiral gut. The animal develops a large jaw, and its gills disappear along with its gill sac. Eyes and legs grow quickly, and a tongue is formed. There are associated changes in the neural networks such as development of stereoscopic vision and loss of the lateral line system. All this can happen in about a day. A few days later, the tail is reabsorbed, due to the higher thyroxine concentration required for this to take place.
#### Salamanders
At hatching, a typical salamander larva has eyes without lids, teeth in both upper and lower jaws, three pairs of feathery external gills, and a long tail with dorsal and ventral fins. The forelimbs may be partially developed and the hind limbs are rudimentary in pond-living species but may be rather more developed in species that reproduce in moving water. Pond-type larvae often have a pair of balancers, rod-like structures on either side of the head that may prevent the gills from becoming clogged up with sediment. Both of these are able to breed. Some have larvae that never fully develop into the adult form, a condition known as neoteny. Neoteny occurs when the animal's growth rate is very low and is usually linked to adverse conditions such as low water temperatures that may change the response of the tissues to the hormone thyroxine. as well as lack of food. There are fifteen species of obligate neotenic salamanders, including species of *Necturus*, *Proteus* and *Amphiuma*, and many examples of facultative ones, such as the northwestern salamander (*Ambystoma gracile*) and the tiger salamander (*A. tigrinum*) that adopt this strategy under appropriate environmental circumstances.
Lungless salamanders in the family Plethodontidae are terrestrial and lay a small number of unpigmented eggs in a cluster among damp leaf litter. Each egg has a large yolk sac and the larva feeds on this while it develops inside the egg, emerging fully formed as a juvenile salamander. The female salamander often broods the eggs. In the genus *Ensatinas*, the female has been observed to coil around them and press her throat area against them, effectively massaging them with a mucous secretion.
In newts and salamanders, metamorphosis is less dramatic than in frogs. This is because the larvae are already carnivorous and continue to feed as predators when they are adults so few changes are needed to their digestive systems. Their lungs are functional early, but the larvae do not make as much use of them as do tadpoles. Their gills are never covered by gill sacs and are reabsorbed just before the animals leave the water. Other changes include the reduction in size or loss of tail fins, the closure of gill slits, thickening of the skin, the development of eyelids, and certain changes in dentition and tongue structure. Salamanders are at their most vulnerable at metamorphosis as swimming speeds are reduced and transforming tails are encumbrances on land. Adult salamanders often have an aquatic phase in spring and summer, and a land phase in winter. For adaptation to a water phase, prolactin is the required hormone, and for adaptation to the land phase, thyroxine. External gills do not return in subsequent aquatic phases because these are completely absorbed upon leaving the water for the first time.
#### Caecilians
Most terrestrial caecilians that lay eggs do so in burrows or moist places on land near bodies of water. The development of the young of *Ichthyophis glutinosus*, a species from Sri Lanka, has been much studied. The eel-like larvae hatch out of the eggs and make their way to water. They have three pairs of external red feathery gills, a blunt head with two rudimentary eyes, a lateral line system and a short tail with fins. They swim by undulating their body from side to side. They are mostly active at night, soon lose their gills and make sorties onto land. Metamorphosis is gradual. By the age of about ten months they have developed a pointed head with sensory tentacles near the mouth and lost their eyes, lateral line systems and tails. The skin thickens, embedded scales develop and the body divides into segments. By this time, the caecilian has constructed a burrow and is living on land.
In the majority of species of caecilians, the young are produced by viviparity. *Typhlonectes compressicauda*, a species from South America, is typical of these. Up to nine larvae can develop in the oviduct at any one time. They are elongated and have paired sac-like gills, small eyes and specialised scraping teeth. At first, they feed on the yolks of the eggs, but as this source of nourishment declines they begin to rasp at the ciliated epithelial cells that line the oviduct. This stimulates the secretion of fluids rich in lipids and mucoproteins on which they feed along with scrapings from the oviduct wall. They may increase their length sixfold and be two-fifths as long as their mother before being born. By this time they have undergone metamorphosis, lost their eyes and gills, developed a thicker skin and mouth tentacles, and reabsorbed their teeth. A permanent set of teeth grow through soon after birth.
Gills are only necessarily during embryonic development, and in species that give birth the offspring is born after gill degeneration. In egg laying caecilians the gills are either reabsorbed before hatching, or, in species that hatch with gill remnants still present, short lived and only leaves behind a gill slit. For species with scales under their skin, the scales does not form before during metamorphosis.
The ringed caecilian (*Siphonops annulatus*) has developed a unique adaptation for the purposes of reproduction. The progeny feed on a skin layer that is specially developed by the adult in a phenomenon known as maternal dermatophagy. The brood feed as a batch for about seven minutes at intervals of approximately three days which gives the skin an opportunity to regenerate. Meanwhile, they have been observed to ingest fluid exuded from the maternal cloaca.
### Parental care
The care of offspring among amphibians has been little studied but, in general, the larger the number of eggs in a batch, the less likely it is that any degree of parental care takes place. Nevertheless, it is estimated that in up to 20% of amphibian species, one or both adults play some role in the care of the young. Those species that breed in smaller water bodies or other specialised habitats tend to have complex patterns of behaviour in the care of their young.
Many woodland salamanders lay clutches of eggs under dead logs or stones on land. The black mountain salamander (*Desmognathus welteri*) does this, the mother brooding the eggs and guarding them from predation as the embryos feed on the yolks of their eggs. When fully developed, they break their way out of the egg capsules and disperse as juvenile salamanders. The male hellbender, a primitive salamander, excavates an underwater nest and encourages females to lay there. The male then guards the site for the two or three months before the eggs hatch, using body undulations to fan the eggs and increase their supply of oxygen.
The male *Colostethus subpunctatus*, a tiny frog, protects the egg cluster which is hidden under a stone or log. When the eggs hatch, the male transports the tadpoles on his back, stuck there by a mucous secretion, to a temporary pool where he dips himself into the water and the tadpoles drop off. The male midwife toad (*Alytes obstetricans*) winds egg strings round his thighs and carries the eggs around for up to eight weeks. He keeps them moist and when they are ready to hatch, he visits a pond or ditch and releases the tadpoles. The female gastric-brooding frog (*Rheobatrachus spp.*) reared larvae in her stomach after swallowing either the eggs or hatchlings; however, this stage was never observed before the species became extinct. The tadpoles secrete a hormone that inhibits digestion in the mother whilst they develop by consuming their very large yolk supply. The pouched frog (*Assa darlingtoni*) lays eggs on the ground. When they hatch, the male carries the tadpoles around in brood pouches on his hind legs. The aquatic Surinam toad (*Pipa pipa*) raises its young in pores on its back where they remain until metamorphosis. The granular poison frog (*Oophaga granulifera*) is typical of a number of tree frogs in the poison dart frog family Dendrobatidae. Its eggs are laid on the forest floor and when they hatch, the tadpoles are carried one by one on the back of an adult to a suitable water-filled crevice such as the axil of a leaf or the rosette of a bromeliad. The female visits the nursery sites regularly and deposits unfertilised eggs in the water and these are consumed by the tadpoles.
## Genetics and genomics
Amphibians are notable among vertebrates for their diversity of chromosomes and genomes. The karyotypes (chromosomes) have been determined for at least 1,193 (14.5%) of the ≈8,200 known (diploid) species, including 963 anurans, 209 salamanders, and 21 caecilians. Generally, the karyotypes of diploid amphibians are characterized by 20–26 bi-armed chromosomes. Amphibians have also very large genomes compared to other taxa of vertebrates and corresponding variation in genome size (C-value: picograms of DNA in haploid nuclei). The genome sizes range from 0.95 to 11.5 pg in frogs, from 13.89 to 120.56 pg in salamanders, and from 2.94 to 11.78 pg in caecilians.
The large genome sizes have prevented whole-genome sequencing of amphibians although a number of genomes have been published recently. The 1.7GB draft genome of *Xenopus tropicalis* was the first to be reported for amphibians in 2010. Compared to some salamanders this frog genome is tiny. For instance, the genome of the Mexican axolotl turned out to be 32 Gb, which is more than 10 times larger than the human genome (3GB).
## Feeding and diet
With a few exceptions, adult amphibians are predators, feeding on virtually anything that moves that they can swallow. The diet mostly consists of small prey that do not move too fast such as beetles, caterpillars, earthworms and spiders. The sirens (*Siren spp.*) often ingest aquatic plant material with the invertebrates on which they feed and a Brazilian tree frog (*Xenohyla truncata*) includes a large quantity of fruit in its diet. The Mexican burrowing toad (*Rhinophrynus dorsalis*) has a specially adapted tongue for picking up ants and termites. It projects it with the tip foremost whereas other frogs flick out the rear part first, their tongues being hinged at the front.
Food is mostly selected by sight, even in conditions of dim light. Movement of the prey triggers a feeding response. Frogs have been caught on fish hooks baited with red flannel and green frogs (*Rana clamitans*) have been found with stomachs full of elm seeds that they had seen floating past. Toads, salamanders and caecilians also use smell to detect prey. This response is mostly secondary because salamanders have been observed to remain stationary near odoriferous prey but only feed if it moves. Cave-dwelling amphibians normally hunt by smell. Some salamanders seem to have learned to recognize immobile prey when it has no smell, even in complete darkness.
Amphibians usually swallow food whole but may chew it lightly first to subdue it. They typically have small hinged pedicellate teeth, a feature unique to amphibians. The base and crown of these are composed of dentine separated by an uncalcified layer and they are replaced at intervals. Salamanders, caecilians and some frogs have one or two rows of teeth in both jaws, but some frogs (*Rana spp.*) lack teeth in the lower jaw, and toads (*Bufo spp.*) have no teeth. In many amphibians there are also vomerine teeth attached to a facial bone in the roof of the mouth.
The tiger salamander (*Ambystoma tigrinum*) is typical of the frogs and salamanders that hide under cover ready to ambush unwary invertebrates. Other amphibians, such as the *Bufo spp.* toads, actively search for prey, while the Argentine horned frog (*Ceratophrys ornata*) lures inquisitive prey closer by raising its hind feet over its back and vibrating its yellow toes. Among leaf litter frogs in Panama, frogs that actively hunt prey have narrow mouths and are slim, often brightly coloured and toxic, while ambushers have wide mouths and are broad and well-camouflaged. Caecilians do not flick their tongues, but catch their prey by grabbing it with their slightly backward-pointing teeth. The struggles of the prey and further jaw movements work it inwards and the caecilian usually retreats into its burrow. The subdued prey is gulped down whole.
When they are newly hatched, frog larvae feed on the yolk of the egg. When this is exhausted some move on to feed on bacteria, algal crusts, detritus and raspings from submerged plants. Water is drawn in through their mouths, which are usually at the bottom of their heads, and passes through branchial food traps between their mouths and their gills where fine particles are trapped in mucus and filtered out. Others have specialised mouthparts consisting of a horny beak edged by several rows of labial teeth. They scrape and bite food of many kinds as well as stirring up the bottom sediment, filtering out larger particles with the papillae around their mouths. Some, such as the spadefoot toads, have strong biting jaws and are carnivorous or even cannibalistic.
## Vocalization
The calls made by caecilians and salamanders are limited to occasional soft squeaks, grunts or hisses and have not been much studied. A clicking sound sometimes produced by caecilians may be a means of orientation, as in bats, or a form of communication. Most salamanders are considered voiceless, but the California giant salamander (*Dicamptodon ensatus*) has vocal cords and can produce a rattling or barking sound. Some species of salamander emit a quiet squeak or yelp if attacked.
Frogs are much more vocal, especially during the breeding season when they use their voices to attract mates. The presence of a particular species in an area may be more easily discerned by its characteristic call than by a fleeting glimpse of the animal itself. In most species, the sound is produced by expelling air from the lungs over the vocal cords into one or more air sacs in the throat or at the corner of the mouth. This may distend like a balloon and acts as a resonator, helping to transfer the sound to the atmosphere, or the water at times when the animal is submerged. The main vocalisation is the male's loud advertisement call which seeks to both encourage a female to approach and discourage other males from intruding on its territory. This call is modified to a quieter courtship call on the approach of a female or to a more aggressive version if a male intruder draws near. Calling carries the risk of attracting predators and involves the expenditure of much energy. Other calls include those given by a female in response to the advertisement call and a release call given by a male or female during unwanted attempts at amplexus. When a frog is attacked, a distress or fright call is emitted, often resembling a scream. The usually nocturnal Cuban tree frog (*Osteopilus septentrionalis*) produces a rain call when there is rainfall during daylight hours.
## Territorial behaviour
Little is known of the territorial behaviour of caecilians, but some frogs and salamanders defend home ranges. These are usually feeding, breeding or sheltering sites. Males normally exhibit such behaviour though in some species, females and even juveniles are also involved. Although in many frog species, females are larger than males, this is not the case in most species where males are actively involved in territorial defence. Some of these have specific adaptations such as enlarged teeth for biting or spines on the chest, arms or thumbs.
In salamanders, defence of a territory involves adopting an aggressive posture and if necessary attacking the intruder. This may involve snapping, chasing and sometimes biting, occasionally causing the loss of a tail. The behaviour of red back salamanders (*Plethodon cinereus*) has been much studied. 91% of marked individuals that were later recaptured were within a metre (yard) of their original daytime retreat under a log or rock. A similar proportion, when moved experimentally a distance of 30 metres (98 ft), found their way back to their home base. The salamanders left odour marks around their territories which averaged 0.16 to 0.33 square metres (1.7 to 3.6 sq ft) in size and were sometimes inhabited by a male and female pair. These deterred the intrusion of others and delineated the boundaries between neighbouring areas. Much of their behaviour seemed stereotyped and did not involve any actual contact between individuals. An aggressive posture involved raising the body off the ground and glaring at the opponent who often turned away submissively. If the intruder persisted, a biting lunge was usually launched at either the tail region or the naso-labial grooves. Damage to either of these areas can reduce the fitness of the rival, either because of the need to regenerate tissue or because it impairs its ability to detect food.
In frogs, male territorial behaviour is often observed at breeding locations; calling is both an announcement of ownership of part of this resource and an advertisement call to potential mates. In general, a deeper voice represents a heavier and more powerful individual, and this may be sufficient to prevent intrusion by smaller males. Much energy is used in the vocalization and it takes a toll on the territory holder who may be displaced by a fitter rival if he tires. There is a tendency for males to tolerate the holders of neighbouring territories while vigorously attacking unknown intruders. Holders of territories have a "home advantage" and usually come off better in an encounter between two similar-sized frogs. If threats are insufficient, chest to chest tussles may take place. Fighting methods include pushing and shoving, deflating the opponent's vocal sac, seizing him by the head, jumping on his back, biting, chasing, splashing, and ducking him under the water.
## Defence mechanisms
Amphibians have soft bodies with thin skins, and lack claws, defensive armour, or spines. Nevertheless, they have evolved various defence mechanisms to keep themselves alive. The first line of defence in salamanders and frogs is the mucous secretion that they produce. This keeps their skin moist and makes them slippery and difficult to grip. The secretion is often sticky and distasteful or toxic. Snakes have been observed yawning and gaping when trying to swallow African clawed frogs (*Xenopus laevis*), which gives the frogs an opportunity to escape. Caecilians have been little studied in this respect, but the Cayenne caecilian (*Typhlonectes compressicauda*) produces toxic mucus that has killed predatory fish in a feeding experiment in Brazil. In some salamanders, the skin is poisonous. The rough-skinned newt (*Taricha granulosa*) from North America and other members of its genus contain the neurotoxin tetrodotoxin (TTX), the most toxic non-protein substance known and almost identical to that produced by pufferfish. Handling the newts does not cause harm, but ingestion of even the most minute amounts of the skin is deadly. In feeding trials, fish, frogs, reptiles, birds and mammals were all found to be susceptible. The only predators with some tolerance to the poison are certain populations of common garter snake (*Thamnophis sirtalis*).
In locations where both snake and salamander co-exist, the snakes have developed immunity through genetic changes and they feed on the amphibians with impunity. Coevolution occurs with the newt increasing its toxic capabilities at the same rate as the snake further develops its immunity. Some frogs and toads are toxic, the main poison glands being at the side of the neck and under the warts on the back. These regions are presented to the attacking animal and their secretions may be foul-tasting or cause various physical or neurological symptoms. Altogether, over 200 toxins have been isolated from the limited number of amphibian species that have been investigated.
Poisonous species often use bright colouring to warn potential predators of their toxicity. These warning colours tend to be red or yellow combined with black, with the fire salamander (*Salamandra salamandra*) being an example. Once a predator has sampled one of these, it is likely to remember the colouration next time it encounters a similar animal. In some species, such as the fire-bellied toad (*Bombina spp.*), the warning colouration is on the belly and these animals adopt a defensive pose when attacked, exhibiting their bright colours to the predator. The frog *Allobates zaparo* is not poisonous, but mimics the appearance of other toxic species in its locality, a strategy that may deceive predators.
Many amphibians are nocturnal and hide during the day, thereby avoiding diurnal predators that hunt by sight. Other amphibians use camouflage to avoid being detected. They have various colourings such as mottled browns, greys and olives to blend into the background. Some salamanders adopt defensive poses when faced by a potential predator such as the North American northern short-tailed shrew (*Blarina brevicauda*). Their bodies writhe and they raise and lash their tails which makes it difficult for the predator to avoid contact with their poison-producing granular glands. A few salamanders will autotomise their tails when attacked, sacrificing this part of their anatomy to enable them to escape. The tail may have a constriction at its base to allow it to be easily detached. The tail is regenerated later, but the energy cost to the animal of replacing it is significant.
Some frogs and toads inflate themselves to make themselves look large and fierce, and some spadefoot toads (*Pelobates spp*) scream and leap towards the attacker. Giant salamanders of the genus *Andrias*, as well as Ceratophrine and *Pyxicephalus* frogs possess sharp teeth and are capable of drawing blood with a defensive bite. The blackbelly salamander (*Desmognathus quadramaculatus*) can bite an attacking common garter snake (*Thamnophis sirtalis*) two or three times its size on the head and often manages to escape.
## Cognition
In amphibians, there is evidence of habituation, associative learning through both classical and instrumental learning, and discrimination abilities. Amphibians are widely considered to be sentient, able to feel emotions such as anxiety and fear.
In one experiment, when offered live fruit flies (*Drosophila virilis*), salamanders chose the larger of 1 vs 2 and 2 vs 3. Frogs can distinguish between low numbers (1 vs 2, 2 vs 3, but not 3 vs 4) and large numbers (3 vs 6, 4 vs 8, but not 4 vs 6) of prey. This is irrespective of other characteristics, i.e. surface area, volume, weight and movement, although discrimination among large numbers may be based on surface area.
## Conservation
Dramatic declines in amphibian populations, including population crashes and mass localized extinction, have been noted since the late 1980s from locations all over the world, and amphibian declines are thus perceived to be one of the most critical threats to global biodiversity. In 2004, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reported stating that currently birds, mammals, and amphibians extinction rates were at minimum 48 times greater than natural extinction rates—possibly 1,024 times higher. In 2006, there were believed to be 4,035 species of amphibians that depended on water at some stage during their life cycle. Of these, 1,356 (33.6%) were considered to be threatened and this figure is likely to be an underestimate because it excludes 1,427 species for which there was insufficient data to assess their status. A number of causes are believed to be involved, including habitat destruction and modification, over-exploitation, pollution, introduced species, global warming, endocrine-disrupting pollutants, destruction of the ozone layer (ultraviolet radiation has shown to be especially damaging to the skin, eyes, and eggs of amphibians), and diseases like chytridiomycosis. However, many of the causes of amphibian declines are still poorly understood, and are a topic of ongoing discussion.
### Food webs and predation
Any decline in amphibian numbers will affect the patterns of predation. The loss of carnivorous species near the top of the food chain will upset the delicate ecosystem balance and may cause dramatic increases in opportunistic species.
Predators that feed on amphibians are affected by their decline. The western terrestrial garter snake (*Thamnophis elegans*) in California is largely aquatic and depends heavily on two species of frog that are decreasing in numbers, the Yosemite toad (*Bufo canorus*) and the mountain yellow-legged frog (*Rana muscosa*), putting the snake's future at risk. If the snake were to become scarce, this would affect birds of prey and other predators that feed on it. Meanwhile, in the ponds and lakes, fewer frogs means fewer tadpoles. These normally play an important role in controlling the growth of algae and also forage on detritus that accumulates as sediment on the bottom. A reduction in the number of tadpoles may lead to an overgrowth of algae, resulting in depletion of oxygen in the water when the algae later die and decompose. Aquatic invertebrates and fish might then die and there would be unpredictable ecological consequences.
### Pollution and pesticides
The decline in amphibian and reptile populations has led to an awareness of the effects of pesticides on reptiles and amphibians. In the past, the argument that amphibians or reptiles were more susceptible to any chemical contamination than any land aquatic vertebrate was not supported by research until recently. Amphibians and reptiles have complex life cycles, live in different climate and ecological zones, and are more vulnerable to chemical exposure. Certain pesticides, such as organophosphates, neonicotinoids, and carbamates, react via cholinesterase inhibition. Cholinesterase is an enzyme that causes the hydrolysis of acetylcholine, an excitatory neurotransmitter that is abundant in the nervous system. AChE inhibitors are either reversible or irreversible, and carbamates are safer than organophosphorus insecticides, which are more likely to cause cholinergic poisoning. Reptile exposure to an AChE inhibitory pesticide may result in disruption of neural function in reptiles. The buildup of these inhibitory effects on motor performance, such as food consumption and other activities.
### Conservation and protection strategies
The Amphibian Specialist Group of the IUCN is spearheading efforts to implement a comprehensive global strategy for amphibian conservation. Amphibian Ark is an organization that was formed to implement the ex-situ conservation recommendations of this plan, and they have been working with zoos and aquaria around the world, encouraging them to create assurance colonies of threatened amphibians. One such project is the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project that built on existing conservation efforts in Panama to create a country-wide response to the threat of chytridiomycosis.
Another measure would be to stop exploitation of frogs for human consumption. In the Middle East, a growing appetite for eating frog legs and the consequent gathering of them for food was already linked to an increase in mosquitoes and thus has direct consequences for human health.
## See also
- Amphibian and reptile tunnel
- Amphibious fish
- Cultural depictions of amphibians
- List of amphibians
- List of amphibian genera
- List of threatened reptiles and amphibians of the United States
- Softshell turtle – A taxonomic family of a number of turtle genera that ability to able to "breathe" underwater with rhythmic movements of their mouth cavity, which contains numerous processes copiously supplied with blood, acting similarly to gill filaments in fish.
- Annulated sea snake – A species of venomous sea snake that has ability to breathe underwater with help of extensive vascular network across the top of its head to absorb oxygen from the surrounding water.
- Cutaneous respiration
### Cited texts
- Dorit, R. L.; Walker, W. F.; Barnes, R. D. (1991).
*Zoology*. Saunders College Publishing. ISBN 978-0-03-030504-7. - Stebbins, Robert C.; Cohen, Nathan W. (1995).
*A Natural History of Amphibians*. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-03281-8.
## Further reading
- Carroll, Robert L. (1988).
*Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution*. W. H. Freeman. ISBN 978-0-7167-1822-2. - Carroll, Robert L. (2009).
*The Rise of Amphibians: 365 Million Years of Evolution*. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-9140-3. - Duellman, William E.; Linda Trueb (1994).
*Biology of Amphibians*. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-4780-6. - Duellman, William E., Berg, Barbara (1962),
*Type Specimens of Amphibians and Reptiles in the Museum of Natural History, the University of Kansas* - Frost, Darrel R.; Grant, Taran; Faivovich, Julián; Bain, Raoul H.; Haas, Alexander; Haddad, Célio F.B.; De Sá, Rafael O.; Channing, Alan; Wilkinson, Mark; Donnellan, Stephen C.; Raxworthy, Christopher J.; Campbell, Jonathan A.; Blotto, Boris L.; Moler, Paul; Drewes, Robert C.; Nussbaum, Ronald A.; Lynch, John D.; Green, David M.; Wheeler, Ward C. (2006). "The Amphibian Tree of Life".
*Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History*.**297**: 1–291. doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2006)297[0001:TATOL]2.0.CO;2. hdl:2246/5781. S2CID 86140137. - Pounds, J. Alan; Bustamante, Martín R.; Coloma, Luis A.; Consuegra, Jamie A.; Fogden, Michael P. L.; Foster, Pru N.; La Marca, Enrique; Masters, Karen L.; Merino-Viteri, Andrés; Puschendorf, Robert; Ron, Santiago R.; Sánchez-Azofeifa, G. Arturo; Still, Christopher J.; Young, Bruce E. (2006). "Widespread amphibian extinctions from epidemic disease driven by global warming".
*Nature*.**439**(7073): 161–167. Bibcode:2006Natur.439..161A. doi:10.1038/nature04246. PMID 16407945. S2CID 4430672. - Stuart, Simon N.; Chanson, Janice S.; Cox, Neil A.; Young, Bruce E.; Rodrigues, Ana S. L.; Fischman, Debra L.; Waller, Robert W. (2004). "Status and trends of amphibian declines and extinctions worldwide".
*Science*.**306**(5702): 1783–1786. Bibcode:2004Sci...306.1783S. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.225.9620. doi:10.1126/science.1103538. PMID 15486254. S2CID 86238651. - Stuart, S. N.; Hoffmann, M.; Chanson, J. S.; Cox, N. A.; Berridge, R. J.; Ramani, P.; Young, B. E., eds. (2008).
*Threatened Amphibians of the World*. Published by Lynx Edicions, in association with IUCN-The World Conservation Union, Conservation International and NatureServe. ISBN 978-84-96553-41-5. Archived from the original on October 30, 2014. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
## External links
- Amphibians – AnimalSpot.net
- ArchéoZooThèque : Amphibians skeletons drawings : available in vector, image and PDF formats
- Amphibian Specialist Group
- Amphibian Ark
- AmphibiaWeb
- Global Amphibian Assessment Archived April 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- Amphibian vocalisations on Archival Sound Recordings Archived May 26, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
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# Enzyme - Wikipedia
An **enzyme** (protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. Almost all metabolic processes in the cell need enzyme catalysis in order to occur at rates fast enough to sustain life. Metabolic pathways depend upon enzymes to catalyze individual steps. The study of enzymes is called *enzymology* and the field of pseudoenzyme analysis recognizes that during evolution, some enzymes have lost the ability to carry out biological catalysis, which is often reflected in their amino acid sequences and unusual 'pseudocatalytic' properties.
Enzymes are known to catalyze more than 5,000 biochemical reaction types.
Other biocatalysts include catalytic RNA molecules, also called ribozymes. They are sometimes described as a *type* of enzyme rather than being *like* an enzyme, but even in the decades since ribozymes' discovery in 1980–1982, the word *enzyme* alone often means the protein type specifically (as is used in this article). A third category of biocatalysts is constituted by those biomolecular condensates that have catalytic ability.
An enzyme's specificity comes from its unique three-dimensional structure.
Like all catalysts, enzymes increase the reaction rate by lowering its activation energy. Some enzymes can make their conversion of substrate to product occur many millions of times faster. An extreme example is orotidine 5'-phosphate decarboxylase, which allows a reaction that would otherwise take millions of years to occur in milliseconds. Chemically, enzymes are like any catalyst and are not consumed in chemical reactions, nor do they alter the equilibrium of a reaction. Enzymes differ from most other catalysts by being much more specific. Enzyme activity can be affected by other molecules: inhibitors are molecules that decrease enzyme activity, and activators are molecules that increase activity. Many therapeutic drugs and poisons are enzyme inhibitors. An enzyme's activity decreases markedly outside its optimal temperature and pH, and many enzymes are (permanently) denatured when exposed to excessive heat, losing their structure and catalytic properties.
Some enzymes are used commercially, for example, in the synthesis of antibiotics. Some household products use enzymes to speed up chemical reactions: enzymes in biological washing powders break down protein, starch or fat stains on clothes, and enzymes in meat tenderizer break down proteins into smaller molecules, making the meat easier to chew.
## Etymology and history
By the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the digestion of meat by stomach secretions and the conversion of starch to sugars by plant extracts and saliva were known but the mechanisms by which these occurred had not been identified.
French chemist Anselme Payen was the first to discover an enzyme, diastase, in 1833. A few decades later, when studying the fermentation of sugar to alcohol by yeast, Louis Pasteur concluded that this fermentation was caused by a vital force contained within the yeast cells called "ferments", which were thought to function only within living organisms. He wrote that "alcoholic fermentation is an act correlated with the life and organization of the yeast cells, not with the death or putrefaction of the cells."
In 1877, German physiologist Wilhelm Kühne (1837–1900) first used the term *enzyme*, which comes from Ancient Greek * *ἔνζυμον* (énzymon)* 'leavened, in yeast', to describe this process. The word *enzyme* was used later to refer to nonliving substances such as pepsin, and the word *ferment* was used to refer to chemical activity produced by living organisms.
Eduard Buchner submitted his first paper on the study of yeast extracts in 1897. In a series of experiments at the University of Berlin, he found that sugar was fermented by yeast extracts even when there were no living yeast cells in the mixture. He named the enzyme that brought about the fermentation of sucrose "zymase". In 1907, he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "his discovery of cell-free fermentation". Following Buchner's example, enzymes are usually named according to the reaction they carry out: the suffix *-ase* is combined with the name of the substrate (e.g., lactase is the enzyme that cleaves lactose) or to the type of reaction (e.g., DNA polymerase forms DNA polymers).
The biochemical identity of enzymes was still unknown in the early 1900s. Many scientists observed that enzymatic activity was associated with proteins, but others (such as Nobel laureate Richard Willstätter) argued that proteins were merely carriers for the true enzymes and that proteins *per se* were incapable of catalysis. In 1926, James B. Sumner showed that the enzyme urease was a pure protein and crystallized it; he did likewise for the enzyme catalase in 1937. The conclusion that pure proteins can be enzymes was definitively demonstrated by John Howard Northrop and Wendell Meredith Stanley, who worked on the digestive enzymes pepsin (1930), trypsin and chymotrypsin. These three scientists were awarded the 1946 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
The discovery that enzymes could be crystallized eventually allowed their structures to be solved by x-ray crystallography. This was first done for lysozyme, an enzyme found in tears, saliva and egg whites that digests the coating of some bacteria; the structure was solved by a group led by David Chilton Phillips and published in 1965. This high-resolution structure of lysozyme marked the beginning of the field of structural biology and the effort to understand how enzymes work at an atomic level of detail.
## Classification and nomenclature
Enzymes can be classified by two main criteria: either amino acid sequence similarity (and thus evolutionary relationship) or enzymatic activity.
**Enzyme activity**. An enzyme's name is often derived from its substrate or the chemical reaction it catalyzes, with the word ending in *-ase*. Examples are lactase, alcohol dehydrogenase and DNA polymerase. Different enzymes that catalyze the same chemical reaction are called isozymes.
The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology have developed a nomenclature for enzymes, the EC numbers (for "Enzyme Commission"). Each enzyme is described by "EC" followed by a sequence of four numbers which represent the hierarchy of enzymatic activity (from very general to very specific). That is, the first number broadly classifies the enzyme based on its mechanism while the other digits add more and more specificity.
The top-level classification is:
- EC 1, Oxidoreductases: catalyze oxidation/reduction reactions
- EC 2, Transferases: transfer a functional group (
*e.g.*a methyl or phosphate group) - EC 3, Hydrolases: catalyze the hydrolysis of various bonds
- EC 4, Lyases: cleave various bonds by means other than hydrolysis and oxidation
- EC 5, Isomerases: catalyze isomerization changes within a single molecule
- EC 6, Ligases: join two molecules with covalent bonds.
- EC 7, Translocases: catalyze the movement of ions or molecules across membranes, or their separation within membranes.
These sections are subdivided by other features such as the substrate, products, and chemical mechanism. An enzyme is fully specified by four numerical designations. For example, hexokinase (EC 2.7.1.1) is a transferase (EC 2) that adds a phosphate group (EC 2.7) to a hexose sugar, a molecule containing an alcohol group (EC 2.7.1).
**Sequence similarity**. EC categories do **not** reflect sequence similarity. For instance, two ligases of the same EC number that catalyze exactly the same reaction can have completely different sequences. Independent of their function, enzymes, like any other proteins, have been classified by their sequence similarity into numerous families. These families have been documented in dozens of different protein and protein family databases such as Pfam.
**Non-homologous isofunctional enzymes**. Unrelated enzymes that have the same enzymatic activity have been called *non-homologous isofunctional enzymes*. Horizontal gene transfer may spread these genes to unrelated species, especially bacteria where they can replace endogenous genes of the same function, leading to hon-homologous gene displacement.
## Structure
Enzymes are generally globular proteins, acting alone or in larger complexes. The sequence of the amino acids specifies the structure which in turn determines the catalytic activity of the enzyme. Although structure determines function, a novel enzymatic activity cannot yet be predicted from structure alone. Enzyme structures unfold (denature) when heated or exposed to chemical denaturants and this disruption to the structure typically causes a loss of activity. Enzyme denaturation is normally linked to temperatures above a species' normal level; as a result, enzymes from bacteria living in volcanic environments such as hot springs are prized by industrial users for their ability to function at high temperatures, allowing enzyme-catalysed reactions to be operated at a very high rate.
Enzymes are usually much larger than their substrates. Sizes range from just 62 amino acid residues, for the monomer of 4-oxalocrotonate tautomerase, to over 2,500 residues in the animal fatty acid synthase. Only a small portion of their structure (around 2–4 amino acids) is directly involved in catalysis: the catalytic site. This catalytic site is located next to one or more binding sites where residues orient the substrates. The catalytic site and binding site together compose the enzyme's active site. The remaining majority of the enzyme structure serves to maintain the precise orientation and dynamics of the active site.
In some enzymes, no amino acids are directly involved in catalysis; instead, the enzyme contains sites to bind and orient catalytic cofactors. Enzyme structures may also contain allosteric sites where the binding of a small molecule causes a conformational change that increases or decreases activity.
A small number of RNA-based biological catalysts called ribozymes exist, which again can act alone or in complex with proteins. The most common of these is the ribosome which is a complex of protein and catalytic RNA components.
## Mechanism
### Substrate binding
Enzymes must bind their substrates before they can catalyse any chemical reaction. Enzymes are usually very specific as to what substrates they bind and then the chemical reaction catalysed. Specificity is achieved by binding pockets with complementary shape, charge and hydrophilic/hydrophobic characteristics to the substrates. Enzymes can therefore distinguish between very similar substrate molecules to be chemoselective, regioselective and stereospecific.
Some of the enzymes showing the highest specificity and accuracy are involved in the copying and expression of the genome. Some of these enzymes have "proof-reading" mechanisms. Here, an enzyme such as DNA polymerase catalyzes a reaction in a first step and then checks that the product is correct in a second step. This two-step process results in average error rates of less than 1 error in 100 million reactions in high-fidelity mammalian polymerases. Similar proofreading mechanisms are also found in RNA polymerase, aminoacyl tRNA synthetases and ribosomes.
Conversely, some enzymes display enzyme promiscuity, having broad specificity and acting on a range of different physiologically relevant substrates. Many enzymes possess small side activities which arose fortuitously (i.e. neutrally), which may be the starting point for the evolutionary selection of a new function.
To explain the observed specificity of enzymes, in 1894 Emil Fischer proposed that both the enzyme and the substrate possess specific complementary geometric shapes that fit exactly into one another. This is often referred to as "the lock and key" model. This early model explains enzyme specificity, but fails to explain the stabilization of the transition state that enzymes achieve.
#### Induced fit model
In 1958, Daniel Koshland suggested a modification to the lock and key model: since enzymes are rather flexible structures, the active site is continuously reshaped by interactions with the substrate as the substrate interacts with the enzyme. As a result, the substrate does not simply bind to a rigid active site; the amino acid side-chains that make up the active site are molded into the precise positions that enable the enzyme to perform its catalytic function. In some cases, such as glycosidases, the substrate molecule also changes shape slightly as it enters the active site. The active site continues to change until the substrate is completely bound, at which point the final shape and charge distribution is determined. Induced fit may enhance the fidelity of molecular recognition in the presence of competition and noise via the conformational proofreading mechanism.
### Catalysis
Enzymes can accelerate reactions in several ways, all of which lower the activation energy (ΔG‡, Gibbs free energy)
- By stabilizing the transition state:
- Creating an environment with a charge distribution complementary to that of the transition state to lower its energy
- By providing an alternative reaction pathway:
- Temporarily reacting with the substrate, forming a covalent intermediate to provide a lower energy transition state
- By destabilizing the substrate ground state:
- Distorting bound substrate(s) into their transition state form to reduce the energy required to reach the transition state
- By orienting the substrates into a productive arrangement to reduce the reaction entropy change (the contribution of this mechanism to catalysis is relatively small)
Enzymes may use several of these mechanisms simultaneously. For example, proteases such as trypsin perform covalent catalysis using a catalytic triad, stabilize charge build-up on the transition states using an oxyanion hole, complete hydrolysis using an oriented water substrate.
### Dynamics
Enzymes are not rigid, static structures; instead they have complex internal dynamic motions – that is, movements of parts of the enzyme's structure such as individual amino acid residues, groups of residues forming a protein loop or unit of secondary structure, or even an entire protein domain. These motions give rise to a conformational ensemble of slightly different structures that interconvert with one another at equilibrium. Different states within this ensemble may be associated with different aspects of an enzyme's function. For example, different conformations of the enzyme dihydrofolate reductase are associated with the substrate binding, catalysis, cofactor release, and product release steps of the catalytic cycle, consistent with catalytic resonance theory. The transitions between the different conformations during the catalytic cycle involve internal viscoelatic motion that is facilitated by high-strain regions where amino acids are rearranged.
### Substrate presentation
Substrate presentation is a process where the enzyme is sequestered away from its substrate. Enzymes can be sequestered to the plasma membrane away from a substrate in the nucleus or cytosol. Or within the membrane, an enzyme can be sequestered into lipid rafts away from its substrate in the disordered region. When the enzyme is released it mixes with its substrate. Alternatively, the enzyme can be sequestered near its substrate to activate the enzyme. For example, the enzyme can be soluble and upon activation bind to a lipid in the plasma membrane and then act upon molecules in the plasma membrane.
### Allosteric modulation
Allosteric sites are pockets on the enzyme, distinct from the active site, that bind to molecules in the cellular environment. These molecules then cause a change in the conformation or dynamics of the enzyme that is transduced to the active site and thus affects the reaction rate of the enzyme. In this way, allosteric interactions can either inhibit or activate enzymes. Allosteric interactions with metabolites upstream or downstream in an enzyme's metabolic pathway cause feedback regulation, altering the activity of the enzyme according to the flux through the rest of the pathway.
## Cofactors
Some enzymes do not need additional components to show full activity. Others require non-protein molecules called cofactors to be bound for activity. Cofactors can be either inorganic (e.g., metal ions and iron–sulfur clusters) or organic compounds (e.g., flavin and heme). These cofactors serve many purposes; for instance, metal ions can help in stabilizing nucleophilic species within the active site. Organic cofactors can be either coenzymes, which are released from the enzyme's active site during the reaction, or prosthetic groups, which are tightly bound to an enzyme. Organic prosthetic groups can be covalently bound (e.g., biotin in enzymes such as pyruvate carboxylase).
An example of an enzyme that contains a cofactor is carbonic anhydrase, which uses a zinc cofactor bound as part of its active site. These tightly bound ions or molecules are usually found in the active site and are involved in catalysis. For example, flavin and heme cofactors are often involved in redox reactions.
Enzymes that require a cofactor but do not have one bound are called *apoenzymes* or *apoproteins*. An enzyme together with the cofactor(s) required for activity is called a *holoenzyme* (or haloenzyme). The term *holoenzyme* can also be applied to enzymes that contain multiple protein subunits, such as the DNA polymerases; here the holoenzyme is the complete complex containing all the subunits needed for activity.
### Coenzymes
Coenzymes are small organic molecules that can be loosely or tightly bound to an enzyme. Coenzymes transport chemical groups from one enzyme to another. Examples include NADH, NADPH and adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Some coenzymes, such as flavin mononucleotide (FMN), flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP), and tetrahydrofolate (THF), are derived from vitamins. These coenzymes cannot be synthesized by the body *de novo* and closely related compounds (vitamins) must be acquired from the diet. The chemical groups carried include:
- the hydride ion (H
−), carried by NAD or NADP+ - the phosphate group, carried by adenosine triphosphate
- the acetyl group, carried by coenzyme A
- formyl, methenyl or methyl groups, carried by folic acid and
- the methyl group, carried by S-adenosylmethionine
Since coenzymes are chemically changed as a consequence of enzyme action, it is useful to consider coenzymes to be a special class of substrates, or second substrates, which are common to many different enzymes. For example, about 1000 enzymes are known to use the coenzyme NADH.
Coenzymes are usually continuously regenerated and their concentrations maintained at a steady level inside the cell. For example, NADPH is regenerated through the pentose phosphate pathway and *S*-adenosylmethionine by methionine adenosyltransferase. This continuous regeneration means that small amounts of coenzymes can be used very intensively. For example, the human body turns over its own weight in ATP each day.
## Thermodynamics
As with all catalysts, enzymes do not alter the position of the chemical equilibrium of the reaction. In the presence of an enzyme, the reaction runs in the same direction as it would without the enzyme, just more quickly. For example, carbonic anhydrase catalyzes its reaction in either direction depending on the concentration of its reactants:
(in tissues; high CO2 concentration) |
(in lungs; low CO2 concentration) |
The rate of a reaction is dependent on the activation energy needed to form the transition state which then decays into products. Enzymes increase reaction rates by lowering the energy of the transition state. First, binding forms a low energy enzyme-substrate complex (ES). Second, the enzyme stabilises the transition state such that it requires less energy to achieve compared to the uncatalyzed reaction (ES‡). Finally the enzyme-product complex (EP) dissociates to release the products.
Enzymes can couple two or more reactions, so that a thermodynamically favorable reaction can be used to "drive" a thermodynamically unfavourable one so that the combined energy of the products is lower than the substrates. For example, the hydrolysis of ATP is often used to drive other chemical reactions.
## Kinetics
Enzyme kinetics is the investigation of how enzymes bind substrates and turn them into products. The rate data used in kinetic analyses are commonly obtained from enzyme assays. In 1913 Leonor Michaelis and Maud Leonora Menten proposed a quantitative theory of enzyme kinetics, which is referred to as Michaelis–Menten kinetics. The major contribution of Michaelis and Menten was to think of enzyme reactions in two stages. In the first, the substrate binds reversibly to the enzyme, forming the enzyme-substrate complex. This is sometimes called the Michaelis–Menten complex in their honor. The enzyme then catalyzes the chemical step in the reaction and releases the product. This work was further developed by G. E. Briggs and J. B. S. Haldane, who derived kinetic equations that are still widely used today.
Enzyme rates depend on solution conditions and substrate concentration. To find the maximum speed of an enzymatic reaction, the substrate concentration is increased until a constant rate of product formation is seen. This is shown in the saturation curve on the right. Saturation happens because, as substrate concentration increases, more and more of the free enzyme is converted into the substrate-bound ES complex. At the maximum reaction rate (*V*max) of the enzyme, all the enzyme active sites are bound to substrate, and the amount of ES complex is the same as the total amount of enzyme.
*V*max is only one of several important kinetic parameters. The amount of substrate needed to achieve a given rate of reaction is also important. This is given by the Michaelis–Menten constant (*K*m), which is the substrate concentration required for an enzyme to reach one-half its maximum reaction rate; generally, each enzyme has a characteristic *K*M for a given substrate. Another useful constant is *k*cat, also called the *turnover number*, which is the number of substrate molecules handled by one active site per second.
The efficiency of an enzyme can be expressed in terms of *k*cat/*K*m. This is also called the specificity constant and incorporates the rate constants for all steps in the reaction up to and including the first irreversible step. Because the specificity constant reflects both affinity and catalytic ability, it is useful for comparing different enzymes against each other, or the same enzyme with different substrates. The theoretical maximum for the specificity constant is called the diffusion limit and is about 108 to 109 (M−1 s−1). At this point every collision of the enzyme with its substrate will result in catalysis, and the rate of product formation is not limited by the reaction rate but by the diffusion rate. Enzymes with this property are called *catalytically perfect* or *kinetically perfect*. Example of such enzymes are triose-phosphate isomerase, carbonic anhydrase, acetylcholinesterase, catalase, fumarase, β-lactamase, and superoxide dismutase. The turnover of such enzymes can reach several million reactions per second. But most enzymes are far from perfect: the average values of and are about and , respectively.
Michaelis–Menten kinetics relies on the law of mass action, which is derived from the assumptions of free diffusion and thermodynamically driven random collision. Many biochemical or cellular processes deviate significantly from these conditions, because of macromolecular crowding and constrained molecular movement. More recent, complex extensions of the model attempt to correct for these effects.
## Inhibition
Enzyme reaction rates can be decreased by various types of enzyme inhibitors.
### Types of inhibition
#### Competitive
A competitive inhibitor and substrate cannot bind to the enzyme at the same time. Often competitive inhibitors strongly resemble the real substrate of the enzyme. For example, the drug methotrexate is a competitive inhibitor of the enzyme dihydrofolate reductase, which catalyzes the reduction of dihydrofolate to tetrahydrofolate. The similarity between the structures of dihydrofolate and this drug are shown in the accompanying figure. This type of inhibition can be overcome with high substrate concentration. In some cases, the inhibitor can bind to a site other than the binding-site of the usual substrate and exert an allosteric effect to change the shape of the usual binding-site.
#### Non-competitive
A non-competitive inhibitor binds to a site other than where the substrate binds. The substrate still binds with its usual affinity and hence Km remains the same. However the inhibitor reduces the catalytic efficiency of the enzyme so that Vmax is reduced. In contrast to competitive inhibition, non-competitive inhibition cannot be overcome with high substrate concentration.
#### Uncompetitive
An uncompetitive inhibitor cannot bind to the free enzyme, only to the enzyme-substrate complex; hence, these types of inhibitors are most effective at high substrate concentration. In the presence of the inhibitor, the enzyme-substrate complex is inactive. This type of inhibition is rare.
#### Mixed
A mixed inhibitor binds to an allosteric site and the binding of the substrate and the inhibitor affect each other. The enzyme's function is reduced but not eliminated when bound to the inhibitor. This type of inhibitor does not follow the Michaelis–Menten equation.
#### Irreversible
An irreversible inhibitor permanently inactivates the enzyme, usually by forming a covalent bond to the protein. Penicillin and aspirin are common drugs that act in this manner.
### Functions of inhibitors
In many organisms, inhibitors may act as part of a feedback mechanism. If an enzyme produces too much of one substance in the organism, that substance may act as an inhibitor for the enzyme at the beginning of the pathway that produces it, causing production of the substance to slow down or stop when there is sufficient amount. This is a form of negative feedback. Major metabolic pathways such as the citric acid cycle make use of this mechanism.
Since inhibitors modulate the function of enzymes they are often used as drugs. Many such drugs are reversible competitive inhibitors that resemble the enzyme's native substrate, similar to methotrexate above; other well-known examples include statins used to treat high cholesterol, and protease inhibitors used to treat retroviral infections such as HIV. A common example of an irreversible inhibitor that is used as a drug is aspirin, which inhibits the COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes that produce the inflammation messenger prostaglandin. Other enzyme inhibitors are poisons. For example, the poison cyanide is an irreversible enzyme inhibitor that combines with the copper and iron in the active site of the enzyme cytochrome c oxidase and blocks cellular respiration.
## Factors affecting enzyme activity
As enzymes are made up of proteins, their actions are sensitive to change in many physio chemical factors such as pH, temperature, substrate concentration, etc.
The following table shows pH optima for various enzymes.
| Enzyme | Optimum pH | pH description |
|---|---|---|
| Pepsin | 1.5–1.6 | Highly acidic |
| Invertase | 4.5 | Acidic |
| Lipase (stomach) | 4.0–5.0 | Acidic |
| Lipase (castor oil) | 4.7 | Acidic |
| Lipase (pancreas) | 8.0 | Alkaline |
| Amylase (malt) | 4.6–5.2 | Acidic |
| Amylase (pancreas) | 6.7–7.0 | Acidic-neutral |
| Cellobiase | 5.0 | Acidic |
| Maltase | 6.1–6.8 | Acidic |
| Sucrase | 6.2 | Acidic |
| Catalase | 7.0 | Neutral |
| Urease | 7.0 | Neutral |
| Cholinesterase | 7.0 | Neutral |
| Ribonuclease | 7.0–7.5 | Neutral |
| Fumarase | 7.8 | Alkaline |
| Trypsin | 7.8–8.7 | Alkaline |
| Adenosine triphosphate | 9.0 | Alkaline |
| Arginase | 10.0 | Highly alkaline |
## Biological function
Enzymes serve a wide variety of functions inside living organisms. They are indispensable for signal transduction and cell regulation, often via kinases and phosphatases. They also generate movement, with myosin hydrolyzing adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to generate muscle contraction, and also transport cargo around the cell as part of the cytoskeleton. Other ATPases in the cell membrane are ion pumps involved in active transport. Enzymes are also involved in more exotic functions, such as luciferase generating light in fireflies. Viruses can also contain enzymes for infecting cells, such as the HIV integrase and reverse transcriptase, or for viral release from cells, like the influenza virus neuraminidase.
An important function of enzymes is in the digestive systems of animals. Enzymes such as amylases and proteases break down large molecules (starch or proteins, respectively) into smaller ones, so they can be absorbed by the intestines. Starch molecules, for example, are too large to be absorbed from the intestine, but enzymes hydrolyze the starch chains into smaller molecules such as maltose and eventually glucose, which can then be absorbed. Different enzymes digest different food substances. In ruminants, which have herbivorous diets, microorganisms in the gut produce another enzyme, cellulase, to break down the cellulose cell walls of plant fiber.
### Metabolism
Several enzymes can work together in a specific order, creating metabolic pathways. In a metabolic pathway, one enzyme takes the product of another enzyme as a substrate. After the catalytic reaction, the product is then passed on to another enzyme. Sometimes more than one enzyme can catalyze the same reaction in parallel; this can allow more complex regulation: with, for example, a low constant activity provided by one enzyme but an inducible high activity from a second enzyme.
Enzymes determine what steps occur in these pathways. Without enzymes, metabolism would neither progress through the same steps and could not be regulated to serve the needs of the cell. Most central metabolic pathways are regulated at a few key steps, typically through enzymes whose activity involves the hydrolysis of ATP. Because this reaction releases so much energy, other reactions that are thermodynamically unfavorable can be coupled to ATP hydrolysis, driving the overall series of linked metabolic reactions.
### Control of activity
There are five main ways that enzyme activity is controlled in the cell.
#### Regulation
Enzymes can be either activated or inhibited by other molecules. For example, the end product(s) of a metabolic pathway are often inhibitors for one of the first enzymes of the pathway (usually the first irreversible step, called committed step), thus regulating the amount of end product made by the pathways. Such a regulatory mechanism is called a negative feedback mechanism, because the amount of the end product produced is regulated by its own concentration. Negative feedback mechanism can effectively adjust the rate of synthesis of intermediate metabolites according to the demands of the cells. This helps with effective allocations of materials and energy economy, and it prevents the excess manufacture of end products. Like other homeostatic devices, the control of enzymatic action helps to maintain a stable internal environment in living organisms.
#### Post-translational modification
Examples of post-translational modification include phosphorylation, myristoylation and glycosylation. For example, in the response to insulin, the phosphorylation of multiple enzymes, including glycogen synthase, helps control the synthesis or degradation of glycogen and allows the cell to respond to changes in blood sugar. Another example of post-translational modification is the cleavage of the polypeptide chain. Chymotrypsin, a digestive protease, is produced in inactive form as chymotrypsinogen in the pancreas and transported in this form to the stomach where it is activated. This stops the enzyme from digesting the pancreas or other tissues before it enters the gut. This type of inactive precursor to an enzyme is known as a zymogen or proenzyme.
#### Quantity
Enzyme production (transcription and translation of enzyme genes) can be enhanced or diminished by a cell in response to changes in the cell's environment. This form of gene regulation is called enzyme induction. For example, bacteria may become resistant to antibiotics such as penicillin because enzymes called beta-lactamases are induced that hydrolyse the crucial beta-lactam ring within the penicillin molecule. Another example comes from enzymes in the liver called cytochrome P450 oxidases, which are important in drug metabolism. Induction or inhibition of these enzymes can cause drug interactions. Enzyme levels can also be regulated by changing the rate of enzyme degradation. The opposite of enzyme induction is enzyme repression.
#### Subcellular distribution
Enzymes can be compartmentalized, with different metabolic pathways occurring in different cellular compartments. For example, fatty acids are synthesized by one set of enzymes in the cytosol, endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi and used by a different set of enzymes as a source of energy in the mitochondrion, through β-oxidation. In addition, trafficking of the enzyme to different compartments may change the degree of protonation (e.g., the neutral cytoplasm and the acidic lysosome) or oxidative state (e.g., oxidizing periplasm or reducing cytoplasm) which in turn affects enzyme activity. In contrast to partitioning into membrane bound organelles, enzyme subcellular localisation may also be altered through polymerisation of enzymes into macromolecular cytoplasmic filaments.
#### Organ specialization
In multicellular eukaryotes, cells in different organs and tissues have different patterns of gene expression and therefore have different sets of enzymes (known as isozymes) available for metabolic reactions. This provides a mechanism for regulating the overall metabolism of the organism. For example, hexokinase, the first enzyme in the glycolysis pathway, has a specialized form called glucokinase expressed in the liver and pancreas that has a lower affinity for glucose yet is more sensitive to glucose concentration. This enzyme is involved in sensing blood sugar and regulating insulin production.
### Involvement in disease
Since the tight control of enzyme activity is essential for homeostasis, any malfunction (mutation, overproduction, underproduction or deletion) of a single critical enzyme can lead to a genetic disease. The malfunction of just one type of enzyme out of the thousands of types present in the human body can be fatal. An example of a fatal genetic disease due to enzyme insufficiency is Tay–Sachs disease, in which patients lack the enzyme hexosaminidase.
One example of enzyme deficiency is the most common type of phenylketonuria. Many different single amino acid mutations in the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase, which catalyzes the first step in the degradation of phenylalanine, result in build-up of phenylalanine and related products. Some mutations are in the active site, directly disrupting binding and catalysis, but many are far from the active site and reduce activity by destabilising the protein structure, or affecting correct oligomerisation. This can lead to intellectual disability if the disease is untreated. Another example is pseudocholinesterase deficiency, in which the body's ability to break down choline ester drugs is impaired. Oral administration of enzymes can be used to treat some functional enzyme deficiencies, such as pancreatic insufficiency and lactose intolerance.
Another way enzyme malfunctions can cause disease comes from germline mutations in genes coding for DNA repair enzymes. Defects in these enzymes cause cancer because cells are less able to repair mutations in their genomes. This causes a slow accumulation of mutations and results in the development of cancers. An example of such a hereditary cancer syndrome is xeroderma pigmentosum, which causes the development of skin cancers in response to even minimal exposure to ultraviolet light.
## Evolution
Similar to any other protein, enzymes change over time through mutations and sequence divergence. Given their central role in metabolism, enzyme evolution plays a critical role in adaptation. A key question is therefore whether and how enzymes can change their enzymatic activities alongside. It is generally accepted that many new enzyme activities have evolved through gene duplication and mutation of the duplicate copies although evolution can also happen without duplication. One example of an enzyme that has changed its activity is the ancestor of methionyl aminopeptidase (MAP) and creatine amidinohydrolase (creatinase) which are clearly homologous but catalyze very different reactions (MAP removes the amino-terminal methionine in new proteins while creatinase hydrolyses creatine to sarcosine and urea). In addition, MAP is metal-ion dependent while creatinase is not, hence this property was also lost over time. Small changes of enzymatic activity are extremely common among enzymes. In particular, substrate binding specificity (see above) can easily and quickly change with single amino acid changes in their substrate binding pockets. This is frequently seen in the main enzyme classes such as kinases.
Artificial (in vitro) evolution is now commonly used to modify enzyme activity or specificity for industrial applications (see below).
## Industrial applications
Enzymes are used in the chemical industry and other industrial applications when extremely specific catalysts are required. Enzymes in general are limited in the number of reactions they have evolved to catalyze and also by their lack of stability in organic solvents and at high temperatures. As a consequence, protein engineering is an active area of research and involves attempts to create new enzymes with novel properties, either through rational design or *in vitro* evolution. These efforts have begun to be successful, and a few enzymes have now been designed "from scratch" to catalyze reactions that do not occur in nature.
| Application | Enzymes used | Uses |
|---|---|---|
Biofuel industry
|
Cellulases | Break down cellulose into sugars that can be fermented to produce cellulosic ethanol. |
| Ligninases | Pretreatment of biomass for biofuel production. | |
Biological detergent
|
Proteases, amylases, lipases | Remove protein, starch, and fat or oil stains from laundry and dishware. |
| Mannanases | Remove food stains from the common food additive guar gum. | |
Brewing industry
|
Amylase, glucanases, proteases | Split polysaccharides and proteins in the malt. |
| Betaglucanases | Improve the wort and beer filtration characteristics. | |
| Amyloglucosidase and pullulanases | Make low-calorie beer and adjust fermentability. | |
| Acetolactate decarboxylase (ALDC) | Increase fermentation efficiency by reducing diacetyl formation. | |
Culinary uses
|
Papain | Tenderize meat for cooking. |
Dairy industry
|
Rennin | Hydrolyze protein in the manufacture of cheese. |
| Lipases | Produce Camembert cheese and blue cheeses such as Roquefort. | |
Food processing
|
Amylases | Produce sugars from starch, such as in making high-fructose corn syrup. |
| Proteases | Lower the protein level of flour, as in biscuit-making. | |
| Trypsin | Manufacture hypoallergenic baby foods. | |
| Cellulases, pectinases | Clarify fruit juices. | |
Molecular biology
|
Nucleases, DNA ligase and polymerases | Use restriction digestion and the polymerase chain reaction to create recombinant DNA. |
Paper industry
|
Xylanases, hemicellulases and lignin peroxidases | Remove lignin from kraft pulp. |
Personal care
|
Proteases | Remove proteins on contact lenses to prevent infections. |
Starch industry
|
Amylases | Convert starch into glucose and various syrups. |
## See also
### Enzyme databases
## Further reading
|
|
## External links
- Media related to Enzymes at Wikimedia Commons
|
# Midfielder - Wikipedia
In the sport of association football, a **midfielder** takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundaries, with mobility and passing ability, they are often referred to as deep-lying midfielders, play-makers, box-to-box midfielders, or holding midfielders. There are also attacking midfielders with limited defensive assignments.
The size of midfield units on a team and their assigned roles depend on which formation is used; the unit of these players on the pitch is commonly referred to as the **midfield**. Its name derives from the fact that midfield units typically make up the in-between units to the defensive units and forward units of a formation.
Managers frequently assign one or more midfielders to disrupt the opposing team's attacks, while others may be tasked with creating goals, or have equal responsibilities between attack and defence. Midfielders are the players who typically travel the greatest distance during a match. Midfielders arguably have the most possession during a game, and thus they are some of the fittest players on the pitch. Midfielders are often assigned the task of assisting forwards to create scoring opportunities.
**Central** or **centre midfielders** are players whose role is divided between attacking and defensive duties to control the play in and around the centre of the pitch. These players will try to pass the ball to the team's attacking midfielders and forwards and may also help their team's attacks by making runs into the opposition's penalty area and attempting shots on goal themselves. They also provide secondary support to attackers, both in and out of possession.
When the opposing team has the ball, a central midfielder may drop back to protect the goal or move forward and press the opposition ball-carrier to recover the ball. A centre midfielder defending their goal will move in front of their centre-backs to block long shots by the opposition and track opposition midfielders making runs towards the goal.
The 4–3–3 and 4–5–1 formations each use three central midfielders. The 4−4−2 formation may use two central midfielders, and in the 4–2–3–1 formation one of the two deeper midfielders may be a central midfielder. Prominent central midfielders are known for their ability to pace the game when their team is in possession of the ball, by dictating the tempo of play from the centre of the pitch.
The term *box-to-box midfielder* refers to central midfielders who are hard-working and who have good all-round abilities, which makes them skilled at both defending and attacking. These players can therefore track back to their own box to make tackles and block shots and also carry the ball forward or run to the opponents' box to try to score. Beginning in the mid-2000s, the change of trends and the decline of the standard 4–4–2 formation (in many cases making way for the 4–2–3–1 and 4–3–3 formations) imposed restrictions on the typical box-to-box midfielders of the 1980s and 1990s, as teams' two midfield roles were now often divided into "holders" or "creators", with a third variation upon the role being described as that of a "carrier" or "surger". Some notable examples of box-to-box midfielders are Lothar Matthäus, Clarence Seedorf, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Steven Gerrard, Johan Neeskens, Sócrates, Yaya Touré, Arturo Vidal, Patrick Vieira, Frank Lampard, Bryan Robson, Roy Keane, and more recently, Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice.
In Italian football, the term *mezzala* (literally "half-winger" in Italian) is used to describe the position of the one or two central midfielders who play on either side of a holding midfielder and/or playmaker. The term was initially applied to the role of an inside forward in the WM and *Metodo* formations in Italian, but later described a specific type of central midfielder. The Mezzala is often a quick and hard-working attack-minded midfielder, with good skills and noted offensive capabilities, as well as a tendency to make overlapping attacking runs, but also a player who participates in the defensive aspect of the game, and who can give width to a team by drifting out wide; as such, the term can be applied to several different roles. In English, the term has come to be seen as a variant of the box-to-box midfielder role.
Defensive midfielders are midfield players who focus on protecting their team's goal. These players may defend a zone in front of their team's defence, or man mark specific opposition attackers. Defensive midfielders may also move to the full-back or centre-back positions if those players move forward to join in an attack.
Sergio Busquets described his attitude: "The coach knows that I am an obedient player who likes to help out and if I have to run to the wing to cover someone's position, great." A good defensive midfielder needs good positional awareness, anticipation of the opponent's play, marking, tackling, interceptions, passing and great stamina and strength (for their tackling). In South American football, this role is known as a *volante de marca*, while in Mexico it is known as *volante de contención*. In Portugal, it is instead known as *trinco*.
A holding or deep-lying midfielder stays close to their team's defence, while other midfielders may move forward to attack. The holding midfielder may also have responsibilities when their team has the ball. This player will make mostly short and simple passes to more attacking members of their team but may try some more difficult passes depending on the team's strategy. Marcelo Bielsa is considered a pioneer in the use of a holding midfielder in defence. This position may be seen in the 4–2–3–1 and 4–4–2 diamond formations. Writer Jonathan Wilson has identified three different types of holding midfielder, namely the *destroyer*, the *creator*, and the *carrier*.
Initially, a defensive midfielder, or "destroyer", and a playmaker, or "creator", were often fielded alongside each other as a team's two holding central midfielders. The destroyer was usually responsible for making tackles, regaining possession, and distributing the ball to the creator, while the creator was responsible for retaining possession and keeping the ball moving, often with long passes out to the flanks, in the manner of a more old-fashioned deep-lying playmaker or *regista* (see below). Earlier examples of a destroyer are Nobby Stiles, Herbert Wimmer, and Marco Tardelli, while later examples include Claude Makélélé and Javier Mascherano, although several of these players also possessed qualities of other types of midfielders, and were therefore not confined to a single role.[ citation needed] Early examples of a creator would be Gérson, Glenn Hoddle, and Sunday Oliseh, while more recent examples are Xabi Alonso, as well as Michael Carrick and Keira Walsh.
The latest and third type of holding midfielder developed as a box-to-box midfielder, or "carrier" or "surger", neither entirely destructive nor creative, who is capable of winning back possession and subsequently advancing from deeper positions either by distributing the ball to a teammate and making late runs into the box, or by carrying the ball themselves; recent examples of this type of player are Clarence Seedorf and Bastian Schweinsteiger, while Sami Khedira and Fernandinho are destroyers with carrying tendencies. Luka Modrić is a carrier with several qualities of the *regista*, and Yaya Touré was a carrier who became a playmaker later in his career after losing his stamina. N'Golo Kanté started out as the quintessential destroyer, but developed carrying tendencies under Antonio Conte at Chelsea.[ citation needed]
A deep-lying playmaker (Strolling 10) is a holding midfielder who specialises in ball skills such as passing, rather than defensive skills like tackling. When this player has the ball, they may attempt longer or more complex passes than other holding players. They may try to set the tempo of their team's play, retain possession, or build plays through short exchanges, or they may try to pass the ball long to a centre forward or winger, or even pass short to a teammate in the hole, the area between the opponents' defenders and midfielders.
In Italy, the deep-lying playmaker is known as a *regista*, whereas in Brazil, it is known as a "meia-armador". In Italy, the role of the *regista* developed from the centre half-back or *centromediano metodista* position in Vittorio Pozzo's *metodo* system (a precursor of the central or holding midfield position in the 2–3–2–3 formation), as the *metodista*'s responsibilities were not entirely defensive but also creative; as such, the *metodista* was not solely tasked with breaking down possession, but also with starting attacking plays after winning back the ball.
Writer Jonathan Wilson instead described Xabi Alonso's holding midfield role as that of a "creator", a player who was responsible for retaining possession in the manner of a more old-fashioned deep-lying playmaker or *regista*, noting that: "although capable of making tackles, [Alonso] focused on keeping the ball moving, occasionally raking long passes out to the flanks to change the angle of attack."
The historic central half-back position gradually retreated from the midfield line to provide increased protection to the back line against centre-forwards – that dedicated defensive role in the centre is still commonly referred to as a "centre-half" as a legacy of its origins. In Italian football jargon, this position was known as the *centromediano metodista* or *metodista*, as it became an increasingly important role in Vittorio Pozzo's *metodo* system, although this term was later also applied to describe players who operated in a central holding-midfielder role, but who also had creative responsibilities in addition to defensive duties.
An attacking midfielder is a midfield or forward player who is positioned in an advanced midfield position, usually between central midfield and the team's forwards, and who has a primarily offensive role.
Some attacking midfielders are called *trequartista* or *fantasista* (Italian: *three-quarter specialist*, i.e. a creative playmaker between the forwards and the midfield), who are usually mobile, creative and highly skillful players, known for their deft touch, technical ability, dribbling skills, vision, ability to shoot from long range, and passing prowess.
However, not all attacking midfielders are trequartistas – some attacking midfielders are very vertical and are essentially auxiliary attackers who serve to link-up play, hold up the ball, or provide the final pass, i.e. secondary strikers. As with any attacking player, the role of the attacking midfielder involves being able to create space for attack.
According to positioning along the field, attacking midfield may be divided into *left*, *right* and *central attacking midfield* roles but most importantly they are a striker behind the forwards. A central attacking midfielder may be referred to as a *playmaker*, or *number 10* (due to the association of the number 10 shirt with this position).
These players typically serve as the offensive pivot of the team, and are sometimes said to be "playing in the hole", although this term can also be used as deep-lying forward. The attacking midfielder is an important position that requires the player to possess superior technical abilities in terms of passing and dribbling, as well as, perhaps more importantly, the ability to read the opposing defence to deliver defence-splitting passes to the striker.
This specialist midfielder's main role is to create good shooting and goal-scoring opportunities using superior vision, control, and technical skill, by making crosses, through balls, and headed knockdowns to teammates. They may try to set up shooting opportunities for themselves by dribbling or performing a give-and-go with a teammate. Attacking midfielders may also make runs into the opponents' penalty area to shoot from another teammate's pass.
Where a creative attacking midfielder, i.e. an Advanced playmaker, is regularly utilised, they are commonly the team's star player, and often wear the number 10 shirt. As such, a team is often constructed so as to allow their attacking midfielder to roam free and create as the situation demands. One such popular formation is the 4–4–2 "diamond" (or 4–1–2–1–2), in which defined attacking and defensive midfielders replace the more traditional pair of central midfielders. Known as the "*fantasista*" or "*trequartista*" in Italy, in Spain, the offensive playmaker is known as the "*Mediapunta*, in Brazil, the offensive playmaker is known as the "*meia atacante*", whereas in Argentina and Uruguay, it is known as the "*enganche*". Some examples of the advanced playmaker would be Zico, Francesco Totti, Lionel Messi, Diego Maradona, Kevin De Bruyne, Wim van Hanegem and Michel Platini.
There are also some examples of more flexible advanced playmakers, such as Zinedine Zidane, Rui Costa, Kaká, Andrés Iniesta, Juan Román Riquelme, David Silva, and Louisa Cadamuro. These players could control the tempo of the game in deeper areas of the pitch while also being able to push forward and play line-breaking through balls.
Mesut Özil can be considered as a classic 10 who adopted a slightly more direct approach and specialised in playing the final ball.
The trequartista description has been used in Italian football to describe a player who is seemingly playing as an attacking midfielder in a 4–3–1–2 formation, but who eventually drops deeper into midfield, drawing opposing players out of position and creating space to be exploited by teammates making attacking runs; the trequartista will eventually sit in a central midfield role and function as a deep-lying playmaker. The trequartista is, therefore, usually a creative and tactically intelligent player with good vision, technique, movement, passing ability, and striking ability from a distance. They should also be a hard-working player, who is able to read the game and help the team defensively. Wayne Rooney has been deployed in a similar role, on occasion; seemingly positioned as a number 10 behind the main striker, he would often drop even deeper into midfield to help his team retrieve possession and start attacks.
The "false 10" or "central winger" is a type of midfielder, which differs from the trequartista. Much like the "false 9", their specificity lies in the fact that, although they seemingly play as an attacking midfielder on paper, unlike a traditional playmaker who stays behind the striker in the centre of the pitch, the false 10's goal is to move out of position and drift wide when in possession of the ball to help both the wingers and fullbacks to overload the flanks. This means two problems for the opposing midfielders: either they let the false 10 drift wide, and their presence, along with both the winger and the fullback, creates a three-on-two player advantage out wide; or they follow the false 10, but leave space in the centre of the pitch for wingers or onrushing midfielders to exploit. False 10s are usually traditional wingers who are told to play in the centre of the pitch, and their natural way of playing makes them drift wide and look to provide deliveries into the box for teammates. On occasion, the false-10 can also function in a different manner alongside a false-9, usually in a 4–6–0 formation, disguised as either a 4–3–3 or 4–2–3–1 formation. When other forwards or false-9s drop deep and draw defenders away from the false-10s, creating space in the middle of the pitch, the false-10 will then also surprise defenders by exploiting this space and moving out of position once again, often undertaking offensive dribbling runs forward towards goal, or running on to passes from false-9s, which in turn enables them to create goalscoring opportunities or go for goal themselves.
In modern football, the terms winger or wide player refer to a non-defender who plays on the left or right sides of the pitch. These terms can apply to left or right forwards. Left or right-sided defenders such as wing-backs or left or right midfielders, left or right attacking midfielders, or full-backs are generally not called wingers.
In the 2−3−5 formation popular in the late 19th century wingers remained mostly near the touchlines of the pitch, and were expected to cross the ball for the team's inside and centre forwards. Traditionally, wingers were purely attacking players and were not expected to track back and defend. This began to change in the 1960s. In the 1966 World Cup, England manager Alf Ramsey did not select wingers from the quarter-final onwards. This team was known as the "Wingless Wonders" and led to the modern 4–4–2 formation.
This has led to most modern wide players having a more demanding role in the sense that they are expected to provide defensive cover for their full-backs and track back to repossess the ball, as well as provide skillful crosses for centre forwards and strikers. Some forwards are able to operate as wingers behind a lone striker. In a three-man midfield, specialist wingers are sometimes deployed down the flanks alongside the central midfielder or playmaker.
Even more demanding is the role of wing-back, where the wide player is expected to provide both defence and attack. As the role of winger can be classed as a forward or a midfielder, this role instead blurs the divide between defender and midfielder. Italian manager Antonio Conte has been known to use wide midfielders or wingers who act as wing-backs in his trademark 3–5–2 and 3–4–3 formations, for example; these players are expected both to push up and provide width in attack as well as track back and assist their team defensively.
On occasion, the role of a winger can also be occupied by a different type of player. For example, certain managers have been known to use a "wide target man" on the wing, namely a large and physical player who usually plays as a centre-forward, and who will attempt to win aerial challenges and hold up the ball on the flank, or drag full-backs out of position; Romelu Lukaku, for example, has been used in this role on occasion. Another example is Mario Mandžukić under manager Massimiliano Allegri at Juventus during the 2016–17 season; normally a striker, he was instead used on the left flank, and was required to win aerial duels, hold up the ball, and create space, as well as being tasked with pressing opposing players.
Today, a winger is usually an attacking midfielder who is stationed in a wide position near the touchlines. Wingers such as Stanley Matthews or Jimmy Johnstone used to be classified as outside forwards in traditional W-shaped formations, and were formally known as "Outside Right" or "Outside Left", but as tactics evolved through the last 40 years, wingers have dropped to deeper field positions and are now usually classified as part of the midfield, usually in 4–4–2 or 4–5–1 formations (but while the team is on the attack, they tend to resemble 4–2–4/2–4–4 and 4–3–3 formations respectively).
The responsibilities of the winger include:
- Providing a "wide presence" as a passing option on the flank.
- To beat the opposing full-back either with skill or with speed.
- To read passes from the midfield that give them a clear crossing opportunity, when going wide, or that give them a clear scoring opportunity, when cutting inside towards the goal.
- To double up on the opposition winger, particularly when they are being "double-marked" by both the team's full back and winger.
The prototypical winger is fast, tricky and enjoys 'hugging' the touchline, that is, running downfield close to the touchline and delivering crosses. However, players with different attributes can thrive on the wing as well. Some wingers prefer to cut *infield* (as opposed to staying wide) and pose a threat as playmakers by playing diagonal passes to forwards or taking a shot at goal. Even players who are not considered quick, have been successfully fielded as wingers at club and international level for their ability to create play from the flank. Occasionally wingers are given a free role to roam across the front line and are relieved of defensive responsibilities. Johann Cruijff frequently exhibited this prowess, as a true model of Total Football, an ultimate "master-style" of play, in its earliest form believed to originate with the Hungary national football team - and nearly perfected - in the late 40s and early 50s.
The typical abilities of wingers include:
- Technical skill to beat a full-back in a one-to-one situation.
- Pace, to beat the full-back one-on-one.
- Crossing ability when out wide.
- Good off-the-ball ability when judging a pass from the midfield or from fellow attackers.
- Good passing ability and composure, to retain possession while in opposition territory.
- The modern winger should also be comfortable on either wing so as to adapt to quick tactical changes required by the coach.
Although wingers are a familiar part of football, the use of wingers is by no means universal. There are many successful football teams who operate without wingers. A famous example is Carlo Ancelotti's late 2000s Milan, who typically plays in a narrow midfield diamond formation or in a Christmas tree formation (4–3–2–1), relying on full-backs to provide the necessary width down the wings.
Left and right midfielders have a role balanced between attack and defence while they play a lot of crosses in the box for forwards. They are positioned closer to the touchlines of the pitch. They may be asked to cross the ball into the opponent's penalty area to make scoring chances for their teammates, and when defending they may put pressure on opponents who are trying to cross.
Common modern formations that include left and right midfielders are the 4−4−2, the 4−4−1−1, the 4–2–3–1 and the 4−5−1 formations. Jonathan Wilson describes the development of the 4−4−2 formation: "…the winger became a wide midfielder, a shuttler, somebody who might be expected to cross a ball but was also meant to put in a defensive shift." Two notable examples of wide midfielders are David Beckham and Ryan Giggs.
In Italian football, the role of the wide midfielder is known as *tornante di centrocampo* or simply *tornante* ("returning"); it originated from the role of an outside forward, and came to be known as such as it often required players in this position to track back and assist the back-line with defensive duties, in addition to aiding the midfield and attacking.
The historic position of **wing-half** (not to be confused with *mezzala*) was given to midfielders (half-backs) who played near the side of the pitch. It became obsolete as wide players with defensive duties have tended to become more a part of the defence as full-backs.
An inverted winger is a modern tactical development of the traditional winger position. Most wingers are assigned to either side of the field based on their footedness, with right-footed players on the right and left-footed players on the left. This assumes that assigning a player to their natural side ensures a more powerful cross as well as greater ball protection along the touch-lines. However, when the position is inverted and a winger instead plays inside-out on the opposite flank (i.e., a right-footed player as a left inverted winger), they effectively become supporting strikers and primarily assume a role in the attack.
As opposed to traditionally pulling the opponent's full-back out and down the flanks before crossing the ball in near the by-line, positioning a winger on the opposite side of the field allows the player to cut-in around the 18-yard box, either threading passes between defenders or shooting on goal using the dominant foot. This offensive tactic has found popularity in the modern game due to the fact that it gives traditional wingers increased mobility as playmakers and goalscorers, such as the left-footed right winger Domenico Berardi of Sassuolo who achieved 30 career goals faster than any player in the past half-century of Serie A football. Not only are inverted wingers able to push full-backs onto their weak sides, but they are also able to spread and force the other team to defend deeper as forwards and wing-backs route towards the goal, ultimately creating more scoring opportunities.
Other midfielders within this tactical archetype include Lionel Messi and Eden Hazard, as well as Megan Rapinoe of the USWNT. Clubs such as Real Madrid often choose to play their wingers on the "wrong" flank for this reason; former Real Madrid coach José Mourinho often played Ángel Di María on the right and Cristiano Ronaldo on the left. Former Bayern Munich manager Jupp Heynckes often played the left-footed Arjen Robben on the right and the right-footed Franck Ribéry on the left. One of the foremost practitioners of playing from either flank was German winger Jürgen Grabowski, whose flexibility helped Germany to third place in the 1970 World Cup, and the world title in 1974.
A description that has been used in the media to label a variation upon the inverted winger position is that of an "attacking", "false", or "goalscoring winger", as exemplified by Cristiano Ronaldo's role on the left flank during his time at Real Madrid in particular. This label has been used to describe an offensive-minded inverted winger, who will seemingly operate out wide on paper, but who instead will be given the freedom to make unmarked runs into more advanced central areas inside the penalty area to get on the end of passes and crosses and score goals, effectively functioning as a striker.
This role is somewhat comparable to what is known as the *raumdeuter* role in German football jargon (literally "space interpreter"), as exemplified by Thomas Müller, as well as Dele Alli and Tim Cahill, namely an attacking-minded wide player, who will move into effective central attacking areas to find spaces from which they can receive passes and score or assist goals, while other teammates create space for their runs by drawing opponents away from them.
The "false winger" or "seven-and-a-half" is a label which has been used to describe a type of player who normally plays centrally, but who instead is deployed out wide on paper; during the course of a match, however, they will move inside and operate in the centre of the pitch to drag defenders out of position, congest the midfield and give their team a numerical advantage in this area, so that they can dominate possession in the middle of the pitch and create chances for the forwards; this position also leaves space for full-backs to make overlapping attacking runs up the flank. Samir Nasri, who has been deployed in this role, once described it as that of a "non-axial playmaker".
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# Virus - Wikipedia
| Virus | |
|---|---|
SARS-CoV-2, a member of the subfamily Orthocoronavirinae
| |
| Virus classification | |
| (unranked): | Virus
|
| Realms | |
A **virus** is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Viruses are found in almost every ecosystem on Earth and are the most numerous type of biological entity. Since Dmitri Ivanovsky's 1892 article describing a non-bacterial pathogen infecting tobacco plants and the discovery of the tobacco mosaic virus by Martinus Beijerinck in 1898, more than 16,000 of the millions of virus species have been described in detail. The study of viruses is known as virology, a subspeciality of microbiology.
When infected, a host cell is often forced to rapidly produce thousands of copies of the original virus. When not inside an infected cell or in the process of infecting a cell, viruses exist in the form of independent viral particles, or *virions*, consisting of (i) genetic material, i.e., long molecules of DNA or RNA that encode the structure of the proteins by which the virus acts; (ii) a protein coat, the *capsid*, which surrounds and protects the genetic material; and in some cases (iii) an outside envelope of lipids. The shapes of these virus particles range from simple helical and icosahedral forms to more complex structures. Most virus species have virions too small to be seen with an optical microscope and are one-hundredth the size of most bacteria.
The origins of viruses in the evolutionary history of life are still unclear. Some viruses may have evolved from plasmids, which are pieces of DNA that can move between cells. Other viruses may have evolved from bacteria. In evolution, viruses are an important means of horizontal gene transfer, which increases genetic diversity in a way analogous to sexual reproduction. Viruses are considered by some biologists to be a life form, because they carry genetic material, reproduce, and evolve through natural selection, although they lack some key characteristics, such as cell structure, that are generally considered necessary criteria for defining life. Because they possess some but not all such qualities, viruses have been described as "organisms at the edge of life" and as replicators.
Viruses spread in many ways. One transmission pathway is through disease-bearing organisms known as vectors: for example, viruses are often transmitted from plant to plant by insects that feed on plant sap, such as aphids; and viruses in animals can be carried by blood-sucking insects. Many viruses spread in the air by coughing and sneezing, including influenza viruses, SARS-CoV-2, chickenpox, smallpox, and measles. Norovirus and rotavirus, common causes of viral gastroenteritis, are transmitted by the faecal–oral route, passed by hand-to-mouth contact or in food or water. The infectious dose of norovirus required to produce infection in humans is fewer than 100 particles. HIV is one of several viruses transmitted through sexual contact and by exposure to infected blood. The variety of host cells that a virus can infect is called its *host range*: this is *narrow* for viruses specialized to infect only a few species, or *broad* for viruses capable of infecting many.
Viral infections in animals provoke an immune response that usually eliminates the infecting virus. Immune responses can also be produced by vaccines, which confer an artificially acquired immunity to the specific viral infection. Some viruses, including those that cause HIV/AIDS, HPV infection, and viral hepatitis, evade these immune responses and result in chronic infections. Several classes of antiviral drugs have been developed.
## Etymology
The English word "virus" comes from the Latin word *vīrus*, which refers to poison and other noxious liquids. *Vīrus* comes from the same Indo-European root as Sanskrit *viṣa*, Avestan *vīša*, and Ancient Greek ἰός (*iós*), which all mean "poison". The first attested use of "virus" in English appeared in 1398 in John Trevisa's translation of Bartholomeus Anglicus's *De Proprietatibus Rerum*. *Virulent*, from Latin *virulentus* ('poisonous'), dates to c. 1400. A meaning of 'agent that causes infectious disease' is first recorded in 1728, long before the discovery of viruses by Dmitri Ivanovsky in 1892. The English plural is *viruses* (sometimes also *vira*), whereas the Latin word is a mass noun, which has no classically attested plural (*vīra* is used in Neo-Latin). The adjective *viral* dates to 1948. The term *virion* (plural *virions*), which dates from 1959, is also used to refer to a single viral particle that is released from the cell and is capable of infecting other cells of the same type.
## Origins
Viruses are found wherever there is life and have probably existed since living cells first evolved. The origin of viruses is unclear because they do not form fossils, so molecular techniques are used to infer how they arose. In addition, viral genetic material occasionally integrates into the germline of the host organisms, by which they can be passed on vertically to the offspring of the host for many generations. This provides an invaluable source of information for paleovirologists to trace back ancient viruses that existed as far back as millions of years ago.
There are three main hypotheses that aim to explain the origins of viruses:
- Regressive hypothesis
- Viruses may have once been small cells that parasitised larger cells. Over time, genes not required by their parasitism were lost. The bacteria rickettsia and chlamydia are living cells that, like viruses, can reproduce only inside host cells. They lend support to this hypothesis, as their dependence on parasitism is likely to have caused the loss of genes that enabled them to survive outside a cell. This is also called the "degeneracy hypothesis", or "reduction hypothesis".
- Cellular origin hypothesis
- Some viruses may have evolved from bits of DNA or RNA that "escaped" from the genes of a larger organism. The escaped DNA could have come from plasmids (pieces of naked DNA that can move between cells) or transposons (molecules of DNA that replicate and move around to different positions within the genes of the cell). Once called "jumping genes", transposons are examples of mobile genetic elements and could be the origin of some viruses. They were discovered in maize by Barbara McClintock in 1950. This is sometimes called the "vagrancy hypothesis", or the "escape hypothesis".
- Co-evolution hypothesis
- This is also called the "virus-first hypothesis" and proposes that viruses may have evolved from complex molecules of protein and nucleic acid at the same time that cells first appeared on Earth and would have been dependent on cellular life for billions of years. Viroids are molecules of RNA that are not classified as viruses because they lack a protein coat. They have characteristics that are common to several viruses and are often called subviral agents. Viroids are important pathogens of plants. They do not code for proteins but interact with the host cell and use the host machinery for their replication. The hepatitis delta virus of humans has an RNA genome similar to viroids but has a protein coat derived from hepatitis B virus and cannot produce one of its own. It is, therefore, a defective virus. Although hepatitis delta virus genome may replicate independently once inside a host cell, it requires the help of hepatitis B virus to provide a protein coat so that it can be transmitted to new cells. In similar manner, the sputnik virophage is dependent on mimivirus, which infects the protozoan
*Acanthamoeba castellanii*. These viruses, which are dependent on the presence of other virus species in the host cell, are called "satellites" and may represent evolutionary intermediates of viroids and viruses.
In the past, there were problems with all of these hypotheses: the regressive hypothesis did not explain why even the smallest of cellular parasites do not resemble viruses in any way. The escape hypothesis did not explain the complex capsids and other structures on virus particles. The virus-first hypothesis contravened the definition of viruses in that they require host cells. Viruses are now recognised as ancient and as having origins that pre-date the divergence of life into the three domains. This discovery has led modern virologists to reconsider and re-evaluate these three classical hypotheses.
The evidence for an ancestral world of RNA cells and computer analysis of viral and host DNA sequences give a better understanding of the evolutionary relationships between different viruses and may help identify the ancestors of modern viruses. To date, such analyses have not proved which of these hypotheses is correct. It seems unlikely that all currently known viruses have a common ancestor, and viruses have probably arisen numerous times in the past by one or more mechanisms.
## Microbiology
### Discovery
The first evidence of the existence of viruses came from experiments with filters that had pores small enough to retain bacteria. In 1892, Dmitri Ivanovsky used one of these filters to show that sap from a diseased tobacco plant remained infectious to healthy tobacco plants despite having been filtered. Martinus Beijerinck called the filtered, infectious substance a "virus" and this discovery is considered to be the beginning of virology. The subsequent discovery and partial characterization of bacteriophages by Frederick Twort and Félix d'Herelle further catalyzed the field, and by the early 20th century many viruses had been discovered. In 1926, Thomas Milton Rivers defined viruses as obligate parasites. Viruses were demonstrated to be particles, rather than a fluid, by Wendell Meredith Stanley, and the invention of the electron microscope in 1931 allowed their complex structures to be visualised.
### Life properties
Scientific opinions differ on whether viruses are a form of life or organic structures that interact with living organisms. They have been described as "organisms at the edge of life", since they resemble organisms in that they possess genes, evolve by natural selection, and reproduce by creating multiple copies of themselves through self-assembly. Although they have genes, they do not have a cellular structure, which is often seen as the basic unit of life. Viruses do not have their own metabolism and require a host cell to make new products. They therefore cannot naturally reproduce outside a host cell—although some bacteria such as rickettsia and chlamydia are considered living organisms despite the same limitation. Accepted forms of life use cell division to reproduce, whereas viruses spontaneously assemble within cells. They differ from autonomous growth of crystals as they inherit genetic mutations while being subject to natural selection. Virus self-assembly within host cells has implications for the study of the origin of life, as it lends further credence to the hypothesis that life could have started as self-assembling organic molecules. The virocell model first proposed by Patrick Forterre considers the infected cell to be the "living form" of viruses and that virus particles (virions) are analogous to spores. Although the living versus non-living debate continues, the virocell model has gained some acceptance.
### Structure
Viruses display a wide diversity of sizes and shapes, called 'morphologies'. In general, viruses are much smaller than bacteria and more than a thousand bacteriophage viruses would fit inside an *Escherichia coli* bacterium's cell. Many viruses that have been studied are spherical and have a diameter between 20 and 300 nanometres. Some filoviruses, which are filaments, have a total length of up to 1400 nm; their diameters are only about 80 nm. Most viruses cannot be seen with an optical microscope, so scanning and transmission electron microscopes are used to visualise them. To increase the contrast between viruses and the background, electron-dense "stains" are used. These are solutions of salts of heavy metals, such as tungsten, that scatter the electrons from regions covered with the stain. When virions are coated with stain (positive staining), fine detail is obscured. Negative staining overcomes this problem by staining the background only.
A complete virus particle, known as a *virion*, consists of nucleic acid surrounded by a protective coat of protein called a capsid. These are formed from protein subunits called capsomeres. Viruses can have a lipid "envelope" derived from the host cell membrane. The capsid is made from proteins encoded by the viral genome and its shape serves as the basis for morphological distinction. Virally-coded protein subunits will self-assemble to form a capsid, in general requiring the presence of the virus genome. Complex viruses code for proteins that assist in the construction of their capsid. Proteins associated with nucleic acid are known as nucleoproteins, and the association of viral capsid proteins with viral nucleic acid is called a nucleocapsid. The capsid and entire virus structure can be mechanically (physically) probed through atomic force microscopy. In general, there are five main morphological virus types:
- Helical
- These viruses are composed of a single type of capsomere stacked around a central axis to form a helical structure, which may have a central cavity, or tube. This arrangement results in virions which can be short and highly rigid rods, or long and very flexible filaments. The genetic material (typically single-stranded RNA, but single-stranded DNA in some cases) is bound into the protein helix by interactions between the negatively charged nucleic acid and positive charges on the protein. Overall, the length of a helical capsid is related to the length of the nucleic acid contained within it, and the diameter is dependent on the size and arrangement of capsomeres. The well-studied tobacco mosaic virusand inovirus are examples of helical viruses.
- Icosahedral
- Most animal viruses are icosahedral or near-spherical with chiral icosahedral symmetry. A regular icosahedron is the optimum way of forming a closed shell from identical subunits. The minimum number of capsomeres required for each triangular face is 3, which gives 60 for the icosahedron. Many viruses, such as rotavirus, have more than 60 capsomers and appear spherical but they retain this symmetry. To achieve this, the capsomeres at the apices are surrounded by five other capsomeres and are called pentons. Capsomeres on the triangular faces are surrounded by six others and are called hexons. Hexons are in essence flat and pentons, which form the 12 vertices, are curved. The same protein may act as the subunit of both the pentamers and hexamers or they may be composed of different proteins.
- Prolate
- This is an icosahedron elongated along the fivefold axis and is a common arrangement of the heads of bacteriophages. This structure is composed of a cylinder with a cap at either end.
- Enveloped
- Some species of virus envelop themselves in a modified form of one of the cell membranes, either the outer membrane surrounding an infected host cell or internal membranes such as a nuclear membrane or endoplasmic reticulum, thus gaining an outer lipid bilayer known as a viral envelope. This membrane is studded with proteins coded for by the viral genome and host genome; the lipid membrane itself and any carbohydrates present originate entirely from the host. Influenza virus, HIV (which causes AIDS), and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (which causes COVID-19) use this strategy. Most enveloped viruses are dependent on the envelope for their infectivity.
- Complex
- These viruses possess a capsid that is neither purely helical nor purely icosahedral, and that may possess extra structures such as protein tails or a complex outer wall. Some bacteriophages, such as Enterobacteria phage T4, have a complex structure consisting of an icosahedral head bound to a helical tail, which may have a hexagonal base plate with protruding protein tail fibres. This tail structure acts like a molecular syringe, attaching to the bacterial host and then injecting the viral genome into the cell.
The poxviruses are large, complex viruses that have an unusual morphology. The viral genome is associated with proteins within a central disc structure known as a nucleoid. The nucleoid is surrounded by a membrane and two lateral bodies of unknown function. The virus has an outer envelope with a thick layer of protein studded over its surface. The whole virion is slightly pleomorphic, ranging from ovoid to brick-shaped.
#### Giant viruses
Mimivirus is one of the largest characterised viruses, with a capsid diameter of 400 nm. Protein filaments measuring 100 nm project from the surface. The capsid appears hexagonal under an electron microscope, therefore the capsid is probably icosahedral. In 2011, researchers discovered the largest then known virus in samples of water collected from the ocean floor off the coast of Las Cruces, Chile. Provisionally named *Megavirus chilensis*, it can be seen with a basic optical microscope. In 2013, the Pandoravirus genus was discovered in Chile and Australia, and has genomes about twice as large as Megavirus and Mimivirus. All giant viruses have dsDNA genomes and they are classified into several families: *Mimiviridae, Pithoviridae, Pandoraviridae, Phycodnaviridae,* and the Mollivirus genus.
Some viruses that infect Archaea have complex structures unrelated to any other form of virus, with a wide variety of unusual shapes, ranging from spindle-shaped structures to viruses that resemble hooked rods, teardrops or even bottles. Other archaeal viruses resemble the tailed bacteriophages, and can have multiple tail structures.
### Genome
| Property | Parameters |
|---|---|
| Nucleic acid |
|
| Shape |
|
| Strandedness |
|
| Sense |
|
An enormous variety of genomic structures can be seen among viral species; as a group, they contain more structural genomic diversity than plants, animals, archaea, or bacteria. There are millions of different types of viruses, although fewer than 7,000 types have been described in detail. As of January 2021, the NCBI Virus genome database has more than 193,000 complete genome sequences, but there are doubtlessly many more to be discovered.
A virus has either a DNA or an RNA genome and is called a DNA virus or an RNA virus, respectively. Some RNA viruses, for example retroviruses, have a stage in their replication cycle where the genome is encoded in DNA. Most viruses have RNA genomes. Plant viruses tend to have single-stranded RNA genomes and bacteriophages tend to have double-stranded DNA genomes.
Viral genomes are circular, as in the polyomaviruses, or linear, as in the adenoviruses. The type of nucleic acid is irrelevant to the shape of the genome. Among RNA viruses and certain DNA viruses, the genome is often divided into separate parts, in which case it is called segmented. For RNA viruses, each segment often codes for only one protein and they are usually found together in one capsid. All segments are not required to be in the same virion for the virus to be infectious, as demonstrated by brome mosaic virus and several other plant viruses.
A viral genome, irrespective of nucleic acid type, is almost always either single-stranded (ss) or double-stranded (ds). Single-stranded genomes consist of an unpaired nucleic acid, analogous to one-half of a ladder split down the middle. Double-stranded genomes consist of two complementary paired nucleic acids, analogous to a ladder. The virus particles of some virus families, such as those belonging to the *Hepadnaviridae*, contain a genome that is partially double-stranded and partially single-stranded.
For most viruses with RNA genomes and some with single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) genomes, the single strands are said to be either positive-sense (called the 'plus-strand') or negative-sense (called the 'minus-strand'), depending on if they are complementary to the viral messenger RNA (mRNA). Positive-sense viral RNA is in the same sense as viral mRNA and thus at least a part of it can be immediately translated by the host cell. Negative-sense viral RNA is complementary to mRNA and thus must be converted to positive-sense RNA by an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase before translation. DNA nomenclature for viruses with genomic ssDNA is similar to RNA nomenclature, in that positive-strand viral ssDNA is identical in sequence to the viral mRNA and is thus a coding strand, while negative-sense viral ssDNA is complementary to the viral mRNA and is thus a template strand. Several types of ssDNA and ssRNA viruses have genomes that are ambisense in that transcription can occur off both strands in a double-stranded replicative intermediate. Examples include geminiviruses, which are ssDNA plant viruses and arenaviruses, which are ssRNA viruses of animals.
#### Genome size
Genome size varies greatly between species. The smallest—the ssDNA circoviruses, family *Circoviridae*—code for only two proteins and have a genome size of only two kilobases; the largest—the pandoraviruses—have genome sizes of around two megabases which code for about 2500 proteins. Virus genes rarely have introns and often are arranged in the genome so that they overlap.
In general, RNA viruses have smaller genome sizes than DNA viruses because of a higher error-rate when replicating, and have a maximum upper size limit. Beyond this, errors when replicating render the virus useless or uncompetitive. To compensate, RNA viruses often have segmented genomes—the genome is split into smaller molecules—thus reducing the chance that an error in a single-component genome will incapacitate the entire genome. In contrast, DNA viruses generally have larger genomes because of the high fidelity of their replication enzymes. Single-strand DNA viruses are an exception to this rule, as mutation rates for these genomes can approach the extreme of the ssRNA virus case.
### Genetic mutation and recombination
Viruses undergo genetic change by several mechanisms. These include a process called antigenic drift where individual bases in the DNA or RNA mutate to other bases. Most of these point mutations are "silent"—they do not change the protein that the gene encodes—but others can confer evolutionary advantages such as resistance to antiviral drugs. Antigenic shift occurs when there is a major change in the genome of the virus. This can be a result of recombination or reassortment. The Influenza A virus is highly prone to reassortment; occasionally this has resulted in novel strains which have caused pandemics. RNA viruses often exist as quasispecies or swarms of viruses of the same species but with slightly different genome nucleoside sequences. Such quasispecies are a prime target for natural selection.
Segmented genomes confer evolutionary advantages; different strains of a virus with a segmented genome can shuffle and combine genes and produce progeny viruses (or offspring) that have unique characteristics. This is called reassortment or 'viral sex'.
Genetic recombination is a process by which a strand of DNA (or RNA) is broken and then joined to the end of a different DNA (or RNA) molecule. This can occur when viruses infect cells simultaneously and studies of viral evolution have shown that recombination has been rampant in the species studied. Recombination is common to both RNA and DNA viruses.
Coronaviruses have a single-strand positive-sense RNA genome. Replication of the genome is catalyzed by an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. The mechanism of recombination used by coronaviruses likely involves template switching by the polymerase during genome replication. This process appears to be an adaptation for coping with genome damage.
### Replication cycle
Viral populations do not grow through cell division, because they are acellular. Instead, they use the machinery and metabolism of a host cell to produce multiple copies of themselves, and they assemble in the cell. When infected, the host cell is forced to rapidly produce thousands of copies of the original virus.
Their life cycle differs greatly between species, but there are six basic stages in their life cycle:
*Attachment* is a specific binding between viral capsid proteins and specific receptors on the host cellular surface. This specificity determines the host range and type of host cell of a virus. For example, HIV infects a limited range of human leucocytes. This is because its surface protein, gp120, specifically interacts with the CD4 molecule—a chemokine receptor—which is most commonly found on the surface of CD4+ T-Cells. This mechanism has evolved to favour those viruses that infect only cells in which they are capable of replication. Attachment to the receptor can induce the viral envelope protein to undergo changes that result in the fusion of viral and cellular membranes, or changes of non-enveloped virus surface proteins that allow the virus to enter.
*Penetration* or *viral entry* follows attachment: Virions enter the host cell through receptor-mediated endocytosis or membrane fusion. The infection of plant and fungal cells is different from that of animal cells. Plants have a rigid cell wall made of cellulose, and fungi one of chitin, so most viruses can get inside these cells only after trauma to the cell wall. Nearly all plant viruses (such as tobacco mosaic virus) can also move directly from cell to cell, in the form of single-stranded nucleoprotein complexes, through pores called plasmodesmata. Bacteria, like plants, have strong cell walls that a virus must breach to infect the cell. Given that bacterial cell walls are much thinner than plant cell walls due to their much smaller size, some viruses have evolved mechanisms that inject their genome into the bacterial cell across the cell wall, while the viral capsid remains outside.
*Uncoating* is a process in which the viral capsid is removed: This may be by degradation by viral enzymes or host enzymes or by simple dissociation; the end-result is the releasing of the viral genomic nucleic acid.
*Replication* of viruses involves primarily multiplication of the genome. Replication involves the synthesis of viral messenger RNA (mRNA) from "early" genes (with exceptions for positive-sense RNA viruses), viral protein synthesis, possible assembly of viral proteins, then viral genome replication mediated by early or regulatory protein expression. This may be followed, for complex viruses with larger genomes, by one or more further rounds of mRNA synthesis: "late" gene expression is, in general, of structural or virion proteins.
*Assembly* – Following the structure-mediated self-assembly of the virus particles, some modification of the proteins often occurs. In viruses such as HIV, this modification (sometimes called maturation) occurs after the virus has been released from the host cell.
*Release* – Viruses can be released from the host cell by lysis, a process that kills the cell by bursting its membrane and cell wall if present: this is a feature of many bacterial and some animal viruses. Some viruses undergo a lysogenic cycle where the viral genome is incorporated by genetic recombination into a specific place in the host's chromosome. The viral genome is then known as a "provirus" or, in the case of bacteriophages a "prophage". Whenever the host divides, the viral genome is also replicated. The viral genome is mostly silent within the host. At some point, the provirus or prophage may give rise to the active virus, which may lyse the host cells. Enveloped viruses (e.g., HIV) typically are released from the host cell by budding. During this process, the virus acquires its envelope, which is a modified piece of the host's plasma or other, internal membrane.
### Genome replication
The genetic material within virus particles, and the method by which the material is replicated, varies considerably between different types of viruses.
- DNA viruses
- The genome replication of most DNA viruses takes place in the cell's nucleus. If the cell has the appropriate receptor on its surface, these viruses enter the cell either by direct fusion with the cell membrane (e.g., herpesviruses) or—more usually—by receptor-mediated endocytosis. Most DNA viruses are entirely dependent on the host cell's DNA and RNA synthesising machinery and RNA processing machinery. Viruses with larger genomes may encode much of this machinery themselves. In eukaryotes, the viral genome must cross the cell's nuclear membrane to access this machinery, while in bacteria it need only enter the cell.
- RNA viruses
- Replication of RNA viruses usually takes place in the cytoplasm. RNA viruses can be placed into four different groups depending on their modes of replication. The polarity (whether or not it can be used directly by ribosomes to make proteins) of single-stranded RNA viruses largely determines the replicative mechanism; the other major criterion is whether the genetic material is single-stranded or double-stranded. All RNA viruses use their own RNA replicase enzymes to create copies of their genomes.
- Reverse transcribing viruses
- Reverse transcribing viruses have ssRNA (
*Retroviridae*,*Metaviridae*,*Pseudoviridae*) or dsDNA (*Caulimoviridae*, and*Hepadnaviridae*) in their particles. Reverse transcribing viruses with RNA genomes (retroviruses) use a DNA intermediate to replicate, whereas those with DNA genomes (pararetroviruses) use an RNA intermediate during genome replication. Both types use a reverse transcriptase, or RNA-dependent DNA polymerase enzyme, to carry out the nucleic acid conversion. Retroviruses integrate the DNA produced by reverse transcription into the host genome as a provirus as a part of the replication process; pararetroviruses do not, although integrated genome copies of especially plant pararetroviruses can give rise to infectious virus. They are susceptible to antiviral drugs that inhibit the reverse transcriptase enzyme, e.g. zidovudine and lamivudine. An example of the first type is HIV, which is a retrovirus. Examples of the second type are the*Hepadnaviridae*, which includes Hepatitis B virus.
### Cytopathic effects on the host cell
The range of structural and biochemical effects that viruses have on the host cell is extensive. These are called 'cytopathic effects'. Most virus infections eventually result in the death of the host cell. The causes of death include cell lysis, alterations to the cell's surface membrane and apoptosis. Often cell death is caused by cessation of its normal activities because of suppression by virus-specific proteins, not all of which are components of the virus particle. The distinction between cytopathic and harmless is gradual. Some viruses, such as Epstein–Barr virus, can cause cells to proliferate without causing malignancy, while others, such as papillomaviruses, are established causes of cancer.
### Dormant and latent infections
Some viruses cause no apparent changes to the infected cell. Cells in which the virus is latent and inactive show few signs of infection and often function normally. This causes persistent infections and the virus is often dormant for many months or years. This is often the case with herpes viruses.
### Host range
Viruses are by far the most abundant biological entities on Earth and they outnumber all the others put together. They infect all types of cellular life including animals, plants, bacteria and fungi. Different types of viruses can infect only a limited range of hosts and many are species-specific. Some, such as smallpox virus for example, can infect only one species—in this case humans, and are said to have a narrow host range. Other viruses, such as rabies virus, can infect different species of mammals and are said to have a broad range. The viruses that infect plants are harmless to animals, and most viruses that infect other animals are harmless to humans. The host range of some bacteriophages is limited to a single strain of bacteria and they can be used to trace the source of outbreaks of infections by a method called phage typing. The complete set of viruses in an organism or habitat is called the virome; for example, all human viruses constitute the human virome.
### Novel viruses
A **novel virus** is one that has not previously been recorded. It can be a virus that is isolated from its natural reservoir or isolated as the result of spread to an animal or human host where the virus had not been identified before. It can be an emergent virus, one that represents a new virus, but it can also be an extant virus that has not been previously identified. The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic is an example of a novel virus.
## Classification
André Lwoff, Robert Horne, and Paul Tournier were the first to develop a means of virus classification, based on the Linnaean hierarchical system. This system based classification on phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. Viruses were grouped according to their shared properties (not those of their hosts) and the type of nucleic acid forming their genomes. In 1966, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) was formed. The system proposed by Lwoff, Horne and Tournier was initially not accepted by the ICTV because the small genome size of viruses and their high rate of mutation made it difficult to determine their ancestry beyond order. As such, the Baltimore classification system has come to be used to supplement the more traditional hierarchy. Starting in 2018, the ICTV began to acknowledge deeper evolutionary relationships between viruses that have been discovered over time and adopted a 15-rank classification system ranging from realm to species. Additionally, some species within the same genus are grouped into a **genogroup**.
### ICTV classification
The ICTV developed the current classification system and wrote guidelines that put a greater weight on certain virus properties to maintain family uniformity. A unified taxonomy (a universal system for classifying viruses) has been established. Only a small part of the total diversity of viruses has been studied. As of 2024, 7 realms, 11 kingdoms, 22 phyla, 4 subphyla, 49 classes, 93 orders, 12 suborders, 368 families, 213 subfamilies, 3,769 genera, 86 subgenera, and 16,215 species of viruses have been defined by the ICTV.
The general taxonomic structure of taxon ranges and the suffixes used in taxonomic names are shown hereafter. As of 2022, the ranks of subrealm, subkingdom, and subclass are unused, whereas all other ranks are in use.
- Realm (
*-viria*)
### Baltimore classification
The Nobel Prize-winning biologist David Baltimore devised the Baltimore classification system. The ICTV classification system is used in conjunction with the Baltimore classification system in modern virus classification.
The Baltimore classification of viruses is based on the mechanism of mRNA production. Viruses must generate mRNAs from their genomes to produce proteins and replicate themselves, but different mechanisms are used to achieve this in each virus family. Viral genomes may be single-stranded (ss) or double-stranded (ds), RNA or DNA, and may or may not use reverse transcriptase (RT). In addition, ssRNA viruses may be either sense (+) or antisense (−). This classification places viruses into seven groups:
- I: dsDNA viruses (e.g. Adenoviruses, Herpesviruses, Poxviruses)
- II: ssDNA viruses (+ strand or "sense") DNA (e.g. Parvoviruses)
- III: dsRNA viruses (e.g. Reoviruses)
- IV:(+)ssRNA viruses (+ strand or sense) RNA (e.g. Coronaviruses, Picornaviruses, Togaviruses)
- V: (−)ssRNA viruses (− strand or antisense) RNA (e.g. Orthomyxoviruses, Rhabdoviruses)
- VI: ssRNA-RT viruses (+ strand or sense) RNA with DNA intermediate in life-cycle (e.g. Retroviruses)
- VII: dsDNA-RT viruses DNA with RNA intermediate in life-cycle (e.g. Hepadnaviruses)
## Role in human disease
Examples of common human diseases caused by viruses include the common cold, influenza, chickenpox, and cold sores. Many serious diseases such as rabies, Ebola virus disease, AIDS (HIV), avian influenza, and SARS are caused by viruses. The relative ability of viruses to cause disease is described in terms of virulence. Other diseases are under investigation to discover if they have a virus as the causative agent, such as the possible connection between human herpesvirus 6 (HHV6) and neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis and chronic fatigue syndrome. There is controversy over whether the bornavirus, previously thought to cause neurological diseases in horses, could be responsible for psychiatric illnesses in humans.
Viruses have different mechanisms by which they produce disease in an organism, which depends largely on the viral species. Mechanisms at the cellular level primarily include cell lysis, the breaking open and subsequent death of the cell. In multicellular organisms, if enough cells die, the whole organism will start to suffer the effects. Although viruses cause disruption of healthy homeostasis, resulting in disease, they may exist relatively harmlessly within an organism. An example would include the ability of the herpes simplex virus, which causes cold sores, to remain in a dormant state within the human body. This is called latency and is a characteristic of the herpes viruses, including Epstein–Barr virus, which causes glandular fever, and varicella zoster virus, which causes chickenpox and shingles. Most people have been infected with at least one of these types of herpes virus. These latent viruses might sometimes be beneficial, as the presence of the virus can increase immunity against bacterial pathogens, such as *Yersinia pestis*.
Some viruses can cause lifelong or chronic infections, where the viruses continue to replicate in the body despite the host's defence mechanisms. This is common in hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus infections. People chronically infected are known as carriers, as they serve as reservoirs of infectious virus. In populations with a high proportion of carriers, the disease is said to be endemic.
### Epidemiology
Viral epidemiology is the branch of medical science that deals with the transmission and control of virus infections in humans. Transmission of viruses can be vertical, which means from mother to child, or horizontal, which means from person to person. Examples of vertical transmission include hepatitis B virus and HIV, where the baby is born already infected with the virus. Another, more rare, example is the varicella zoster virus, which, although causing relatively mild infections in children and adults, can be fatal to the foetus and newborn baby.
Horizontal transmission is the most common mechanism of spread of viruses in populations. Horizontal transmission can occur when body fluids are exchanged during sexual activity, by exchange of saliva or when contaminated food or water is ingested. It can also occur when aerosols containing viruses are inhaled or by insect vectors such as when infected mosquitoes penetrate the skin of a host. Most types of viruses are restricted to just one or two of these mechanisms and they are referred to as "respiratory viruses" or "enteric viruses" and so forth. The rate or speed of transmission of viral infections depends on factors that include population density, the number of susceptible individuals, (i.e., those not immune), the quality of healthcare and the weather.
Epidemiology is used to break the chain of infection in populations during outbreaks of viral diseases. Control measures are used that are based on knowledge of how the virus is transmitted. It is important to find the source, or sources, of the outbreak and to identify the virus. Once the virus has been identified, the chain of transmission can sometimes be broken by vaccines. When vaccines are not available, sanitation and disinfection can be effective. Often, infected people are isolated from the rest of the community, and those that have been exposed to the virus are placed in quarantine. To control the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in cattle in Britain in 2001, thousands of cattle were slaughtered. Most viral infections of humans and other animals have incubation periods during which the infection causes no signs or symptoms. Incubation periods for viral diseases range from a few days to weeks, but are known for most infections. Somewhat overlapping, but mainly following the incubation period, there is a period of communicability—a time when an infected individual or animal is contagious and can infect another person or animal. This, too, is known for many viral infections, and knowledge of the length of both periods is important in the control of outbreaks. When outbreaks cause an unusually high proportion of cases in a population, community, or region, they are called epidemics. If outbreaks spread worldwide, they are called pandemics.
### Epidemics and pandemics
A pandemic is a worldwide epidemic. The 1918 flu pandemic, which lasted until 1919, was a category 5 influenza pandemic caused by an unusually severe and deadly influenza A virus. The victims were often healthy young adults, in contrast to most influenza outbreaks, which predominantly affect juvenile, elderly, or otherwise-weakened patients. Older estimates say it killed 40–50 million people, while more recent research suggests that it may have killed as many as 100 million people, or 5% of the world's population in 1918.
Although viral pandemics are rare events, HIV—which evolved from viruses found in monkeys and chimpanzees—has been pandemic since at least the 1980s. During the 20th century there were four pandemics caused by influenza virus and those that occurred in 1918, 1957 and 1968 were severe. Most researchers believe that HIV originated in sub-Saharan Africa during the 20th century; it is now a pandemic, with an estimated 37.9 million people now living with the disease worldwide. There were about 770,000 deaths from AIDS in 2018. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that AIDS has killed more than 25 million people since it was first recognised on 5 June 1981, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. In 2007 there were 2.7 million new HIV infections and 2 million HIV-related deaths.
Several highly lethal viral pathogens are members of the *Filoviridae*. Filoviruses are filament-like viruses that cause viral hemorrhagic fever, and include ebolaviruses and marburgviruses. Marburg virus, first discovered in 1967, attracted widespread press attention in April 2005 for an outbreak in Angola. Ebola virus disease has also caused intermittent outbreaks with high mortality rates since 1976 when it was first identified. The worst and most recent one is the 2013–2016 West Africa epidemic.
Except for smallpox, most pandemics are caused by newly evolved viruses. These "emergent" viruses are usually mutants of less harmful viruses that have circulated previously either in humans or other animals.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) are caused by new types of coronaviruses. Other coronaviruses are known to cause mild infections in humans, so the virulence and rapid spread of SARS infections—that by July 2003 had caused around 8,000 cases and 800 deaths—was unexpected and most countries were not prepared.
A related coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2), thought to have originated in bats, emerged in Wuhan, China in November 2019 and spread rapidly around the world. Infections with the virus caused the COVID-19 pandemic that started in 2020. Unprecedented restrictions in peacetime were placed on international travel, and curfews were imposed in several major cities worldwide in response to the pandemic.
### Cancer
Viruses are an established cause of cancer in humans and other species. Viral cancers occur only in a minority of infected persons (or animals). Cancer viruses come from a range of virus families, including both RNA and DNA viruses, and so there is no single type of "oncovirus" (an obsolete term originally used for acutely transforming retroviruses). The development of cancer is determined by a variety of factors such as host immunity and mutations in the host. Viruses accepted to cause human cancers include some genotypes of human papillomavirus, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, Epstein–Barr virus, Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus and human T-lymphotropic virus. The most recently discovered human cancer virus is a polyomavirus (Merkel cell polyomavirus) that causes most cases of a rare form of skin cancer called Merkel cell carcinoma.
Hepatitis viruses can develop into a chronic viral infection that leads to liver cancer. Infection by human T-lymphotropic virus can lead to tropical spastic paraparesis and adult T-cell leukaemia. Human papillomaviruses are an established cause of cancers of cervix, skin, anus, and penis. Within the *Herpesviridae*, Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus causes Kaposi's sarcoma and body-cavity lymphoma, and Epstein–Barr virus causes Burkitt's lymphoma, Hodgkin's lymphoma, B lymphoproliferative disorder, and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Merkel cell polyomavirus closely related to SV40 and mouse polyomaviruses that have been used as animal models for cancer viruses for over 50 years.
### Host defence mechanisms
The body's first line of defence against viruses is the innate immune system. This comprises cells and other mechanisms that defend the host from infection in a non-specific manner. This means that the cells of the innate system recognise, and respond to, pathogens in a generic way, but, unlike the adaptive immune system, it does not confer long-lasting or protective immunity to the host.
RNA interference is an important innate defence against viruses. Many viruses have a replication strategy that involves double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). When such a virus infects a cell, it releases its RNA molecule or molecules, which immediately bind to a protein complex called a dicer that cuts the RNA into smaller pieces. A biochemical pathway—the RISC complex—is activated, which ensures cell survival by degrading the viral mRNA. Rotaviruses have evolved to avoid this defence mechanism by not uncoating fully inside the cell, and releasing newly produced mRNA through pores in the particle's inner capsid. Their genomic dsRNA remains protected inside the core of the virion.
When the adaptive immune system of a vertebrate encounters a virus, it produces specific antibodies that bind to the virus and often render it non-infectious. This is called humoral immunity. Two types of antibodies are important. The first, called IgM, is highly effective at neutralising viruses but is produced by the cells of the immune system only for a few weeks. The second, called IgG, is produced indefinitely. The presence of IgM in the blood of the host is used to test for acute infection, whereas IgG indicates an infection sometime in the past. IgG antibody is measured when tests for immunity are carried out.
Antibodies can continue to be an effective defence mechanism even after viruses have managed to gain entry to the host cell. A protein that is in cells, called TRIM21, can attach to the antibodies on the surface of the virus particle. This primes the subsequent destruction of the virus by the enzymes of the cell's proteosome system.
A second defence of vertebrates against viruses is called cell-mediated immunity and involves immune cells known as T cells. The body's cells constantly display short fragments of their proteins on the cell's surface, and, if a T cell recognises a suspicious viral fragment there, the host cell is destroyed by 'killer T' cells and the virus-specific T-cells proliferate. Cells such as the macrophage are specialists at this antigen presentation. The production of interferon is an important host defence mechanism. This is a hormone produced by the body when viruses are present. Its role in immunity is complex; it eventually stops the viruses from reproducing by killing the infected cell and its close neighbours.
Not all virus infections produce a protective immune response in this way. HIV evades the immune system by constantly changing the amino acid sequence of the proteins on the surface of the virion. This is known as "escape mutation" as the viral epitopes escape recognition by the host immune response. These persistent viruses evade immune control by sequestration, blockade of antigen presentation, cytokine resistance, evasion of natural killer cell activities, escape from apoptosis, and antigenic shift. Other viruses, called 'neurotropic viruses', are disseminated by neural spread where the immune system may be unable to reach them due to immune privilege.
### Prevention and treatment
Because viruses use vital metabolic pathways within host cells to replicate, they are difficult to eliminate without using drugs that cause toxic effects to host cells in general. The most effective medical approaches to viral diseases are vaccinations to provide immunity to infection, and antiviral drugs that selectively interfere with viral replication.
#### Vaccines
Vaccination is a cheap and effective way of preventing infections by viruses. Vaccines were used to prevent viral infections long before the discovery of the actual viruses. Their use has resulted in a dramatic decline in morbidity (illness) and mortality (death) associated with viral infections such as polio, measles, mumps and rubella. Smallpox infections have been eradicated. Vaccines are available to prevent over thirteen viral infections of humans, and more are used to prevent viral infections of animals. Vaccines can consist of live-attenuated or killed viruses, viral proteins (antigens), or RNA. Live vaccines contain weakened forms of the virus, which do not cause the disease but, nonetheless, confer immunity. Such viruses are called attenuated. Live vaccines can be dangerous when given to people with a weak immunity (who are described as immunocompromised), because in these people, the weakened virus can cause the original disease. Biotechnology and genetic engineering techniques are used to produce subunit vaccines. These vaccines use only the capsid proteins of the virus. Hepatitis B vaccine is an example of this type of vaccine. Subunit vaccines are safe for immunocompromised patients because they cannot cause the disease. The yellow fever virus vaccine, a live-attenuated strain called 17D, is probably the safest and most effective vaccine ever generated.
#### Antiviral drugs
Antiviral drugs are often nucleoside analogues (fake DNA building-blocks), which viruses mistakenly incorporate into their genomes during replication. The life-cycle of the virus is then halted because the newly synthesised DNA is inactive. This is because these analogues lack the hydroxyl groups, which, along with phosphorus atoms, link together to form the strong "backbone" of the DNA molecule. This is called DNA chain termination. Examples of nucleoside analogues are aciclovir for Herpes simplex virus infections and lamivudine for HIV and hepatitis B virus infections. Aciclovir is one of the oldest and most frequently prescribed antiviral drugs. Other antiviral drugs in use target different stages of the viral life cycle. HIV is dependent on a proteolytic enzyme called the HIV-1 protease for it to become fully infectious. There is a large class of drugs called protease inhibitors that inactivate this enzyme. There are around thirteen classes of antiviral drugs each targeting different viruses or stages of viral replication.
Hepatitis C is caused by an RNA virus. In 80% of people infected, the disease is chronic, and without treatment, they are infected for the remainder of their lives. There are effective treatments that use direct-acting antivirals. The treatment of chronic carriers of the hepatitis B virus has also been developed by using similar strategies that include lamivudine and other anti-viral drugs.
## Infection in other species
Viruses infect all cellular life and, although viruses occur universally, each cellular species has its own specific range that often infects only that species. Some viruses, called satellites, can replicate only within cells that have already been infected by another virus.
### Animal viruses
Viruses are important pathogens of livestock. Diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease and bluetongue are caused by viruses. Companion animals such as cats, dogs, and horses, if not vaccinated, are susceptible to serious viral infections. Canine parvovirus is caused by a small DNA virus and infections are often fatal in pups. Like all invertebrates, the honey bee is susceptible to many viral infections. Most viruses co-exist harmlessly in their host and cause no signs or symptoms of disease.
### Plant viruses
There are many types of plant viruses, but often they cause only a loss of yield, and it is not economically viable to try to control them. Plant viruses are often spread from plant to plant by organisms, known as vectors. These are usually insects, but some fungi, nematode worms, single-celled organisms, and parasitic plants are vectors. When control of plant virus infections is considered economical, for perennial fruits, for example, efforts are concentrated on killing the vectors and removing alternate hosts such as weeds. Plant viruses cannot infect humans and other animals because they can reproduce only in living plant cells.
Originally from Peru, the potato has become a staple crop worldwide. The potato virus Y causes disease in potatoes and related species including tomatoes and peppers. In the 1980s, this virus acquired economical importance when it proved difficult to control in seed potato crops. Transmitted by aphids, this virus can reduce crop yields by up to 80 per cent, causing significant losses to potato yields.
Plants have elaborate and effective defence mechanisms against viruses. One of the most effective is the presence of so-called resistance (R) genes. Each R gene confers resistance to a particular virus by triggering localised areas of cell death around the infected cell, which can often be seen with the unaided eye as large spots. This stops the infection from spreading. RNA interference is also an effective defence in plants.> When they are infected, plants often produce natural disinfectants that kill viruses, such as salicylic acid, nitric oxide, and reactive oxygen molecules.
Plant virus particles or virus-like particles (VLPs) have applications in both biotechnology and nanotechnology. The capsids of most plant viruses are simple and robust structures and can be produced in large quantities either by the infection of plants or by expression in a variety of heterologous systems. Plant virus particles can be modified genetically and chemically to encapsulate foreign material and can be incorporated into supramolecular structures for use in biotechnology.
### Bacterial viruses
Bacteriophages are a common and diverse group of viruses and are the most abundant biological entity in aquatic environments—there are up to ten times more of these viruses in the oceans than there are bacteria, reaching levels of 250,000,000 bacteriophages per millilitre of seawater. These viruses infect specific bacteria by binding to surface receptor molecules and then entering the cell. Within a short amount of time, in some cases, just minutes, bacterial polymerase starts translating viral mRNA into protein. These proteins go on to become either new virions within the cell, helper proteins, which help assembly of new virions, or proteins involved in cell lysis. Viral enzymes aid in the breakdown of the cell membrane, and, in the case of the T4 phage, in just over twenty minutes after injection over three hundred phages could be released.
The major way bacteria defend themselves from bacteriophages is by producing enzymes that destroy foreign DNA. These enzymes, called restriction endonucleases, cut up the viral DNA that bacteriophages inject into bacterial cells. Bacteria also contain a system that uses CRISPR sequences to retain fragments of the genomes of viruses that the bacteria have come into contact with previously, which allows them to block the virus's replication through a form of RNA interference. This genetic system provides bacteria with acquired immunity to infection.
Some bacteriophages are called "temperate" because they cause latent infections and do not immediately destroy their host cells. Instead, their DNA is incorporated with the host cell's as a prophage. These latent infections become productive when the prophage DNA is activated by stimuli such as changes in the environment. The intestines of animals, including humans, contain temperate bacteriophages, which are activated by various stimuli including changes in diet and antibiotics. Although first observed in bacteriophages, many other viruses are known to form proviruses including HIV.
### Archaeal viruses
Some viruses replicate within archaea: these are DNA viruses with unusual and sometimes unique shapes. These viruses have been studied in most detail in the thermophilic archaea, particularly the orders Sulfolobales and Thermoproteales. Defences against these viruses involve RNA interference from repetitive DNA sequences within archaean genomes that are related to the genes of the viruses. Most archaea have CRISPR–Cas systems as an adaptive defence against viruses. These enable archaea to retain sections of viral DNA, which are then used to target and eliminate subsequent infections by the virus using a process similar to RNA interference.
## Role in aquatic ecosystems
Viruses are the most abundant biological entity in aquatic environments. There are about ten million of them in a teaspoon of seawater. Most of these viruses are bacteriophages infecting heterotrophic bacteria and cyanophages infecting cyanobacteria and they are essential to the regulation of saltwater and freshwater ecosystems. Bacteriophages are harmless to plants and animals, and are essential to the regulation of marine and freshwater ecosystems are important mortality agents of phytoplankton, the base of the foodchain in aquatic environments. They infect and destroy bacteria in aquatic microbial communities, and are one of the most important mechanisms of recycling carbon and nutrient cycling in marine environments. The organic molecules released from the dead bacterial cells stimulate fresh bacterial and algal growth, in a process known as the viral shunt. In particular, lysis of bacteria by viruses has been shown to enhance nitrogen cycling and stimulate phytoplankton growth. Viral activity may also affect the biological pump, the process whereby carbon is sequestered in the deep ocean.
Microorganisms constitute more than 90% of the biomass in the sea. It is estimated that viruses kill approximately 20% of this biomass each day and that there are 10 to 15 times as many viruses in the oceans as there are bacteria and archaea. Viruses are also major agents responsible for the destruction of phytoplankton including harmful algal blooms, The number of viruses in the oceans decreases further offshore and deeper into the water, where there are fewer host organisms.
In January 2018, scientists reported that 800 million viruses, mainly of marine origin, are deposited daily from the Earth's atmosphere onto every square meter of the planet's surface, as the result of a global atmospheric stream of viruses, circulating above the weather system but below the altitude of usual airline travel, distributing viruses around the planet.
Like any organism, marine mammals are susceptible to viral infections. In 1988 and 2002, thousands of harbour seals were killed in Europe by phocine distemper virus. Many other viruses, including caliciviruses, herpesviruses, adenoviruses and parvoviruses, circulate in marine mammal populations.
In December 2022, scientists reported the first observation of virovory via an experiment on pond water containing chlorovirus, which commonly infects green algae in freshwater environments. When all other microbial food sources were removed from the water, the ciliate Halteria was observed to have increased in number due to the active consumption of chlorovirus as a food source instead of its typical bacterivore diet.
## Role in evolution
Viruses are an important natural means of transferring genes between different species, which increases genetic diversity and drives evolution. It is thought that viruses played a central role in early evolution, before the diversification of the last universal common ancestor into bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes. Viruses are still one of the largest reservoirs of unexplored genetic diversity on Earth.
## Applications
### Life sciences and medicine
Viruses are important to the study of molecular and cell biology as they provide simple systems that can be used to manipulate and investigate the functions of cells. The study and use of viruses have provided valuable information about aspects of cell biology. For example, viruses have been useful in the study of genetics and helped our understanding of the basic mechanisms of molecular genetics, such as DNA replication, transcription, RNA processing, translation, protein transport, and immunology.
Geneticists often use viruses as vectors to introduce genes into cells that they are studying. This is useful for making the cell produce a foreign substance, or to study the effect of introducing a new gene into the genome. Similarly, virotherapy uses viruses as vectors to treat various diseases, as they can specifically target cells and DNA. It shows promising use in the treatment of cancer and in gene therapy. Eastern European scientists have used phage therapy as an alternative to antibiotics for some time, and interest in this approach is increasing, because of the high level of antibiotic resistance now found in some pathogenic bacteria. The expression of heterologous proteins by viruses is the basis of several manufacturing processes that are currently being used for the production of various proteins such as vaccine antigens and antibodies. Industrial processes have been recently developed using viral vectors and several pharmaceutical proteins are currently in pre-clinical and clinical trials.
#### Virotherapy
Virotherapy involves the use of genetically modified viruses to treat diseases. Viruses have been modified by scientists to reproduce in cancer cells and destroy them but not infect healthy cells. Talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC), for example, is a modified herpes simplex virus that has had a gene, which is required for viruses to replicate in healthy cells, deleted and replaced with a human gene (GM-CSF) that stimulates immunity. When this virus infects cancer cells, it destroys them and in doing so the presence the GM-CSF gene attracts dendritic cells from the surrounding tissues of the body. The dendritic cells process the dead cancer cells and present components of them to other cells of the immune system. Having completed successful clinical trials, the virus gained approval for the treatment of melanoma in late 2015. Viruses that have been reprogrammed to kill cancer cells are called oncolytic viruses.
### Materials science and nanotechnology
From the viewpoint of a materials scientist, viruses can be regarded as organic nanoparticles. Their surface carries specific tools that enable them to cross the barriers of their host cells. The size and shape of viruses and the number and nature of the functional groups on their surface are precisely defined. As such, viruses are commonly used in materials science as scaffolds for covalently linked surface modifications. A particular quality of viruses is that they can be tailored by directed evolution. The powerful techniques developed by life sciences are becoming the basis of engineering approaches towards nanomaterials, opening a wide range of applications far beyond biology and medicine. Because of their size, shape, and well-defined chemical structures, viruses have been used as templates for organising materials on the nanoscale. Examples include the work at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., using Cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV) particles to amplify signals in DNA microarray based sensors. In this application, the virus particles separate the fluorescent dyes used for signalling to prevent the formation of non-fluorescent dimers that act as quenchers. Another example is the use of CPMV as a nanoscale breadboard for molecular electronics.
### Synthetic viruses
Many viruses can be synthesised de novo ("from scratch"). The first synthetic virus was created in 2002. Although somewhat of a misconception, it is not the actual virus that is synthesised, but rather its DNA genome (in case of a DNA virus), or a cDNA copy of its genome (in case of RNA viruses). For many virus families the naked synthetic DNA or RNA (once enzymatically converted back from the synthetic cDNA) is infectious when introduced into a cell. That is, they contain all the necessary information to produce new viruses. This technology is now being used to investigate novel vaccine strategies. The ability to synthesise viruses has far-reaching consequences, since viruses can no longer be regarded as extinct, as long as the information of their genome sequence is known and permissive cells are available. As of June 2021, the full-length genome sequences of 11,464 different viruses, including smallpox, are publicly available in an online database maintained by the National Institutes of Health.
### Weapons
The ability of viruses to cause devastating epidemics in human societies has led to the concern that viruses could be weaponised for biological warfare. Further concern was raised by the successful recreation of the infamous 1918 influenza virus in a laboratory. The smallpox virus devastated numerous societies throughout history before its eradication. There are only two centres in the world authorised by the WHO to keep stocks of smallpox virus: the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology VECTOR in Russia and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States. It may be used as a weapon, as the vaccine for smallpox sometimes had severe side-effects, it is no longer used routinely in any country. Thus, much of the modern human population has almost no established resistance to smallpox and would be vulnerable to the virus.
## See also
- Cross-species transmission
- Glossary of virology
- Law of declining virulence – Disproved hypothesis of epidemiologist Theobald Smith
- Non-cellular life
- Gene transfer agent
- Retrozyme
- Smallest organisms
- Theory of virulence – Theory by biologist Paul W. Ewald
- Viral metagenomics
- Viroplasm
- Zoonosis
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# Mollusca - Wikipedia
| Mollusca | |
|---|---|
Diversity of molluscs. Clockwise from top left: Ruditapes philippinarum, Littorina littorea, Dentalium sp., Tonicella lineata, Nautilus pompilius, and Amphioctopus fangsiao
| |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Subkingdom: | Eumetazoa |
Clade:
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ParaHoxozoa |
Clade:
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Bilateria |
Clade:
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Nephrozoa |
Clade:
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Protostomia |
Clade:
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Spiralia |
| Superphylum: | Lophotrochozoa |
| Phylum: | Mollusca Linnaeus, 1758 |
| Subphyla, unplaced genera, and classes | |
| |
| Diversity | |
| 85,000 recognized living species. |
**Mollusca** is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as **molluscs** or **mollusks** (extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The number of additional fossil species is estimated between 60,000 and 100,000, and the proportion of undescribed species is very high. Many taxa remain poorly studied.
Molluscs are the largest marine phylum, comprising about 23% of all the named marine organisms. They are highly diverse, not just in size and anatomical structure, but also in behaviour and habitat, as numerous groups are freshwater and even terrestrial species. The phylum is typically divided into 7 or 8 taxonomic classes, of which two are entirely extinct. Cephalopod molluscs, such as squid, cuttlefish, and octopuses, are among the most neurologically advanced of all invertebrates—and either the giant squid or the colossal squid is the largest known extant invertebrate species. The gastropods (snails, slugs and abalone) are by far the most diverse class and account for 80% of the total classified molluscan species.
The four most universal features defining modern molluscs are a soft body composed almost entirely of muscle, a mantle with a significant cavity used for breathing and excretion, the presence of a radula (except for bivalves), and the structure of the nervous system. Other than these common elements, molluscs express great morphological diversity, so many textbooks base their descriptions on a "hypothetical ancestral mollusc" (see image below). This has a single, "limpet-like" shell on top, which is made of proteins and chitin reinforced with calcium carbonate, and is secreted by a mantle covering the whole upper surface. The underside of the animal consists of a single muscular "foot". Although molluscs are coelomates, the coelom tends to be small. The main body cavity is a hemocoel through which blood circulates; as such, their circulatory systems are mainly open. The "generalized" mollusc's feeding system consists of a rasping "tongue", the radula, and a complex digestive system in which exuded mucus and microscopic, muscle-powered "hairs" called cilia play various important roles. The generalized mollusc has two paired nerve cords, or three in bivalves. The brain, in species that have one, encircles the esophagus. Most molluscs have eyes, and all have sensors to detect chemicals, vibrations, and touch. The simplest type of molluscan reproductive system relies on external fertilization, but more complex variations occur. Nearly all produce eggs, from which may emerge trochophore larvae, more complex veliger larvae, or miniature adults. The coelomic cavity is reduced. They have an open circulatory system and kidney-like organs for excretion.
Good evidence exists for the appearance of gastropods, cephalopods, and bivalves in the Cambrian period, 541–485.4 million years ago. However, the evolutionary history both of molluscs' emergence from the ancestral Lophotrochozoa and of their diversification into the well-known living and fossil forms are still subjects of vigorous debate among scientists.
Molluscs have been and still are an important food source for humans. Toxins that can accumulate in certain molluscs under specific conditions create a risk of food poisoning, and many jurisdictions have regulations to reduce this risk. Molluscs have, for centuries, also been the source of important luxury goods, notably pearls, mother of pearl, Tyrian purple dye, and sea silk. Their shells have also been used as money in some preindustrial societies.
A handful of mollusc species are sometimes considered hazards or pests for human activities. The bite of the blue-ringed octopus is often fatal, and that of *Enteroctopus dofleini* causes inflammation that can last over a month. Stings from a few species of large tropical cone shells of the family Conidae can also kill, but their sophisticated, though easily produced, venoms have become important tools in neurological research. Schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia, bilharziosis, or snail fever) is transmitted to humans by water snail hosts, and affects about 200 million people. Snails and slugs can also be serious agricultural pests, and accidental or deliberate introduction of some snail species into new environments has seriously damaged some ecosystems.
The words mollusc and mollusk are both derived from the French *mollusque*, which originated from the post-classical Latin *mollusca*, from *mollis*, soft, first used by J. Jonston (Historiæ Naturalis, 1650) to describe a group comprising cephalopods. *Molluscus* is used in classical Latin as an adjective only with *nux* (*nut*) to describe a particular type of soft nut. The use of *mollusca* in biological taxonomy by Jonston and later Linnaeus may have been influenced by Aristotle's τὰ μαλάκια *ta malákia* (the soft ones; < μαλακός *malakós* "soft"), which he applied *inter alia *to cuttlefish. The scientific study of molluscs is accordingly called malacology.
The name **Molluscoida** was formerly used to denote a division of the animal kingdom containing the brachiopods, bryozoans, and tunicates, the members of the three groups having been supposed to somewhat resemble the molluscs. As now known, Brachipoda, Bryozoa and Mollusca are all part of the Lophotrochozoa but have very little relation to the Tunicata, so the name Molluscoida has been abandoned.
The most universal features of the body structure of molluscs are a mantle with a significant body cavity used for breathing and excretion, and the organization of the nervous system. Many have a calcareous shell.
Molluscs have developed such a varied range of body structures, finding synapomorphies (defining characteristics) to apply to all modern groups is difficult. The most general characteristic of molluscs is they are unsegmented and bilaterally symmetrical. The following are present in all modern molluscs:
- The dorsal part of the body wall is a mantle (or pallium) which secretes calcareous spicules, plates or shells. It overlaps the body with enough spare room to form a mantle cavity.
- The anus and genitals open into the mantle cavity.
- There are paired nerve cords.
Other characteristics that commonly appear in textbooks have significant exceptions:
Whether characteristic is found in these classes of Molluscs
| |||||||
| Supposed universal Molluscan characteristic | Aplacophora |
Polyplacophora |
Monoplacophora |
Gastropoda |
Cephalopoda |
Bivalvia |
Scaphopoda |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radula, a rasping "tongue" with chitinous teeth | Absent in 20% of Neomeniomorpha | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Internal, cannot extend beyond body |
| Broad, muscular foot | Reduced or absent | Yes | Yes | Yes | Modified into arms | Yes | Small, only at "front" end |
| Dorsal concentration of internal organs (visceral mass) | Not obvious | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Large digestive ceca | No ceca in some Aplacophora | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Large complex metanephridia ("kidneys") | None | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Small, simple |
| One or more valves/shells | Primitive forms, yes; modern forms, no | Yes | Yes | Snails, yes; slugs, mostly yes (internal vestigial) | Octopuses, some (vestigial); cuttlefish, nautilus, squid, yes | Yes | Yes |
| Odontophore | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Estimates of accepted described living species of molluscs vary from 50,000 to a maximum of 120,000 species. The total number of described species is difficult to estimate because of unresolved synonymy. In 1969, David Nicol estimated the probable total number of living mollusc species at 107,000 of which were about 12,000 fresh-water gastropods and 35,000 terrestrial. The Bivalvia would comprise about 14% of the total and the other five classes less than 2% of the living molluscs. In 2009, Chapman estimated the number of described living mollusc species at 85,000. Haszprunar in 2001 estimated about 93,000 named species, which include 23% of all named marine organisms. Molluscs are second only to arthropods in numbers of living animal species—far behind the arthropods' 1,113,000 but well ahead of chordates' 52,000. About 200,000 living species in total are estimated, and 70,000 fossil species, although the total number of mollusc species ever to have existed, whether or not preserved, must be many times greater than the number alive today.
Molluscs have more varied forms than any other animal phylum. They include snails, slugs and other gastropods; clams and other bivalves; squids and other cephalopods; and other lesser-known but similarly distinctive subgroups. The majority of species still live in the oceans, from the seashores to the abyssal zone, but some form a significant part of the freshwater fauna and the terrestrial ecosystems. Molluscs are extremely diverse in tropical and temperate regions, but can be found at all latitudes. About 80% of all known mollusc species are gastropods. Cephalopoda such as squid, cuttlefish, and octopuses are among the most neurologically advanced of all invertebrates. The giant squid, which until recently had not been observed alive in its adult form, is one of the largest invertebrates, surpassed in weight but not in length by the colossal squid.
Freshwater and terrestrial molluscs appear exceptionally vulnerable to extinction. Estimates of the numbers of non-marine molluscs vary widely, partly because many regions have not been thoroughly surveyed. There is also a shortage of specialists who can identify all the animals in any one area to species. However, in 2004 the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species included nearly 2,000 endangered non-marine molluscs. For comparison, the great majority of mollusc species are marine, but only 41 of these appeared on the 2004 Red List. About 42% of recorded extinctions since the year 1500 are of molluscs, consisting almost entirely of non-marine species.
Because of the great range of anatomical diversity among molluscs, many textbooks start the subject of molluscan anatomy by describing what is called an *archi-mollusc*, *hypothetical generalized mollusc*, or *hypothetical ancestral mollusc* (*HAM*) to illustrate the most common features found within the phylum. The depiction is visually rather similar to modern monoplacophorans.
The generalized mollusc is an unsegmented, bilaterally symmetrical animal and has a single, "limpet-like" shell on top. The shell is secreted by a mantle covering the upper surface. The underside consists of a single muscular "foot". The visceral mass, or visceropallium, is the soft, nonmuscular metabolic region of the mollusc. It contains the body organs.
The mantle cavity, a fold in the mantle, encloses a significant amount of space. It is lined with epidermis, and is exposed, according to habitat, to sea, fresh water or air. The cavity was at the rear in the earliest molluscs, but its position now varies from group to group. The anus, a pair of osphradia (chemical sensors) in the incoming "lane", the hindmost pair of gills and the exit openings of the nephridia (kidneys) known as "Organs of bojanus" and gonads (reproductive organs) are in the mantle cavity. The whole soft body of bivalves lies within an enlarged mantle cavity.
The mantle edge secretes a shell (secondarily absent in a number of taxonomic groups, such as the nudibranchs) that consists of mainly chitin and conchiolin (a protein hardened with calcium carbonate), except the outermost layer, which in almost all cases is all conchiolin (see periostracum). Molluscs never use phosphate to construct their hard parts, with the questionable exception of *Cobcrephora*.
While most mollusc shells are composed mainly of aragonite, those gastropods that lay eggs with a hard shell use calcite (sometimes with traces of aragonite) to construct the eggshells.
The shell consists of three layers: the outer layer (the periostracum) made of organic matter, a middle layer made of columnar calcite, and an inner layer consisting of laminated calcite, often nacreous.
In some forms the shell contains openings. In abalone there are holes in the shell used for respiration and the release of egg and sperm, in the nautilus a string of tissue called the siphuncle goes through all the chambers, and the eight plates that make up the shell of chitons are penetrated with living tissue with nerves and sensory structures. The earliest-derived living mollusca, the Polyplacophora (chitons) and shell-less vermiform Aplacophora, remains contentious despite many developmental and molecular studies of these organisms. Both studies investigated molluscan phylogeny through synthesis of paleontological and neontological data, and the other being large and small-subunit nuclear rRna sequences. Another article describing the chitons, with their shells, this time, is one by D K Jacobs and others, where shell evolution of molluscs and chitons are examined to visualize the evolution of the chiton, from the Polyplacophora, to the Aplacophora, and others.
The body of a mollusc has a ventral muscular foot, which is adapted to different purposes (locomotion, grasping the substratum, burrowing or feeding) in different classes. The foot carries a pair of statocysts, which act as balance sensors. In gastropods, it secretes mucus as a lubricant to aid movement. In forms having only a top shell, such as limpets, the foot acts as a sucker attaching the animal to a hard surface, and the vertical muscles clamp the shell down over it; in other molluscs, the vertical muscles pull the foot and other exposed soft parts into the shell. In bivalves, the foot is adapted for burrowing into the sediment; in cephalopods it is used for jet propulsion, and the tentacles and arms are derived from the foot.
Most molluscs' circulatory systems are mainly open, except for cephalopods, whose circulatory systems are closed. Although molluscs are coelomates, their coeloms are reduced to fairly small spaces enclosing the heart and gonads. The main body cavity is a hemocoel through which blood and coelomic fluid circulate and which encloses most of the other internal organs. These hemocoelic spaces act as an efficient hydrostatic skeleton. The blood of these molluscs contains the respiratory pigment hemocyanin as an oxygen-carrier. The heart consists of one or more pairs of atria (auricles), which receive oxygenated blood from the gills and pump it to the ventricle, which pumps it into the aorta (main artery), which is fairly short and opens into the hemocoel. The atria of the heart also function as part of the excretory system by filtering waste products out of the blood and dumping it into the coelom as urine. A pair of metanephridia ("little kidneys") to the rear of and connected to the coelom extracts any re-usable materials from the urine and dumps additional waste products into it, and then ejects it via tubes that discharge into the mantle cavity.
Exceptions to the above are the molluscs *Planorbidae* or ram's horn snails, which are air-breathing snails that use iron-based hemoglobin instead of the copper-based hemocyanin to carry oxygen through their blood.
Most molluscs have only one pair of gills, or even only a singular gill. Generally, the gills are rather like feathers in shape, although some species have gills with filaments on only one side. They divide the mantle cavity so water enters near the bottom and exits near the top. Their filaments have three kinds of cilia, one of which drives the water current through the mantle cavity, while the other two help to keep the gills clean. If the osphradia detect noxious chemicals or possibly sediment entering the mantle cavity, the gills' cilia may stop beating until the unwelcome intrusions have ceased. Each gill has an incoming blood vessel connected to the hemocoel and an outgoing one to the heart.
Molluscs use intracellular digestion. Most molluscs have muscular mouths with radulae, "tongues", bearing many rows of chitinous teeth, which are replaced from the rear as they wear out. The radula primarily functions to scrape bacteria and algae off rocks, and is associated with the odontophore, a cartilaginous supporting organ. The radula is unique to the molluscs and has no equivalent in any other animal.
Molluscs' mouths also contain glands that secrete slimy mucus, to which the food sticks. Beating cilia (tiny "hairs") drive the mucus towards the stomach, so the mucus forms a long string called a "food string".
At the tapered rear end of the stomach and projecting slightly into the hindgut is the prostyle, a backward-pointing cone of feces and mucus, which is rotated by further cilia so it acts as a bobbin, winding the mucus string onto itself. Before the mucus string reaches the prostyle, the acidity of the stomach makes the mucus less sticky and frees particles from it.
The particles are sorted by yet another group of cilia, which send the smaller particles, mainly minerals, to the prostyle so eventually they are excreted, while the larger ones, mainly food, are sent to the stomach's cecum (a pouch with no other exit) to be digested. The sorting process is by no means perfect.
Periodically, circular muscles at the hindgut's entrance pinch off and excrete a piece of the prostyle, preventing the prostyle from growing too large. The anus, in the part of the mantle cavity, is swept by the outgoing "lane" of the current created by the gills. Carnivorous molluscs usually have simpler digestive systems.
As the head has largely disappeared in bivalves, the mouth has been equipped with labial palps (two on each side of the mouth) to collect the detritus from its mucus.
The cephalic molluscs have two pairs of main nerve cords organized around a number of paired ganglia, the visceral cords serving the internal organs and the pedal ones serving the foot. Most pairs of corresponding ganglia on both sides of the body are linked by commissures (relatively large bundles of nerves). The ganglia above the gut are the cerebral, the pleural, and the visceral, which are located above the esophagus (gullet). The pedal ganglia, which control the foot, are below the esophagus and their commissure and connectives to the cerebral and pleural ganglia surround the esophagus in a circumesophageal nerve ring or *nerve collar*.
The acephalic molluscs (i.e., bivalves) also have this ring but it is less obvious and less important. The bivalves have only three pairs of ganglia—cerebral, pedal, and visceral—with the visceral as the largest and most important of the three functioning as the principal center of "thinking". Some such as the scallops have eyes around the edges of their shells which connect to a pair of looped nerves and which provide the ability to distinguish between light and shadow.
The simplest molluscan reproductive system relies on external fertilization, but with more complex variations. All produce eggs, from which may emerge trochophore larvae, more complex veliger larvae, or miniature adults. Two gonads sit next to the coelom, a small cavity that surrounds the heart, into which they shed ova or sperm. The nephridia extract the gametes from the coelom and emit them into the mantle cavity. Molluscs that use such a system remain of one sex all their lives and rely on external fertilization. Some molluscs use internal fertilization and/or are hermaphrodites, functioning as both sexes; both of these methods require more complex reproductive systems. *C. obtusus* is an endemic snail species of the Eastern Alps. There is strong evidence for self-fertilization in the easternmost snail populations of this species.
The most basic molluscan larva is a trochophore, which is planktonic and feeds on floating food particles by using the two bands of cilia around its "equator" to sweep food into the mouth, which uses more cilia to drive them into the stomach, which uses further cilia to expel undigested remains through the anus. New tissue grows in the bands of mesoderm in the interior, so the apical tuft and anus are pushed further apart as the animal grows. The trochophore stage is often succeeded by a veliger stage in which the prototroch, the "equatorial" band of cilia nearest the apical tuft, develops into the velum ("veil"), a pair of cilia-bearing lobes with which the larva swims. Eventually, the larva sinks to the seafloor and metamorphoses into the adult form. While metamorphosis is the usual state in molluscs, the cephalopods differ in exhibiting direct development: the hatchling is a 'miniaturized' form of the adult. The development of molluscs is of particular interest in the field of ocean acidification as environmental stress is recognized to affect the settlement, metamorphosis, and survival of larvae.
Most molluscs are herbivorous, grazing on algae or filter feeders. For those grazing, two feeding strategies are predominant. Some feed on microscopic, filamentous algae, often using their radula as a 'rake' to comb up filaments from the sea floor. Others feed on macroscopic 'plants' such as kelp, rasping the plant surface with its radula. To employ this strategy, the plant has to be large enough for the mollusc to 'sit' on, so smaller macroscopic plants are not as often eaten as their larger counterparts. Filter feeders are molluscs that feed by straining suspended matter and food particles from water, typically by passing the water over their gills. Most bivalves are filter feeders, which can be measured through clearance rates. Research has demonstrated that environmental stress can affect the feeding of bivalves by altering the energy budget of organisms.
Cephalopods are primarily predatory, and the radula takes a secondary role to the jaws and tentacles in food acquisition. The monoplacophoran *Neopilina* uses its radula in the usual fashion, but its diet includes protists such as the xenophyophore *Stannophyllum*. Sacoglossan sea-slugs suck the sap from algae, using their one-row radula to pierce the cell walls, whereas dorid nudibranchs and some Vetigastropoda feed on sponges and others feed on hydroids. (An extensive list of molluscs with unusual feeding habits is available in the appendix of GRAHAM, A. (1955). "Molluscan diets". *Journal of Molluscan Studies*. **31** (3–4): 144.
Opinions vary about the number of classes of molluscs; for example, the table below shows seven living classes, and two extinct ones. Although they are unlikely to form a clade, some older works combine the Caudofoveata and Solenogasters into one class, the Aplacophora. Two of the commonly recognized "classes" are known only from fossils.
| Class | Major organisms | Described living species | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gastropoda | all snails and slugs including abalone, limpets, conch, nudibranchs, sea hares, sea butterflies | 70,000 | marine, freshwater, land |
| Bivalvia | clams, oysters, scallops, geoducks, mussels, rudists† | 20,000 | marine, freshwater |
| Polyplacophora | chitons | 1,000 | rocky tidal zone and seabed |
| Cephalopoda | squid, octopuses, cuttlefish, nautiluses, vampire squids, Spirula, belemnites†, ammonites† |
900 | marine |
| Scaphopoda | tusk shells | 500 | marine 6–7,000 metres (20–22,966 ft) |
| Aplacophora | worm-like molluscs | 320 | seabed 200–3,000 metres (660–9,840 ft) |
| Monoplacophora | ancient lineage of molluscs with cap-like shells | 31 | seabed 1,800–7,000 metres (5,900–23,000 ft); one species 200 metres (660 ft) |
| Rostroconchia† | fossils; probable ancestors of bivalves | extinct | marine |
| Helcionelloida† | fossils; snail-like molluscs such as Latouchella |
extinct | marine |
| Cricoconarida† | extinct |
The phylogeny (evolutionary "family tree") of molluscs is a controversial subject. In addition to the debates about whether *Kimberella* and any of the "halwaxiids" were molluscs or closely related to molluscs, debates arise about the relationships between the classes of living molluscs. In fact, some groups traditionally classified as molluscs may have to be redefined as distinct but related.
Molluscs are generally regarded as members of the Lophotrochozoa, a group defined by having trochophore larvae and, in the case of living Lophophorata, a feeding structure called a lophophore. The other members of the Lophotrochozoa are the annelid worms and seven marine phyla. The diagram on the right summarizes a phylogeny presented in 2007 without the annelid worms.
Because the relationships between the members of the family tree are uncertain, it is difficult to identify the features inherited from the last common ancestor of all molluscs. For example, it is uncertain whether the ancestral mollusc was metameric (composed of repeating units)—if it was, that would suggest an origin from an annelid-like worm. Scientists disagree about this: Giribet and colleagues concluded, in 2006, the repetition of gills and of the foot's retractor muscles were later developments, while in 2007, Sigwart concluded the ancestral mollusc was metameric, and it had a foot used for creeping and a "shell" that was mineralized. In one particular branch of the family tree, the shell of conchiferans is thought to have evolved from the spicules (small spines) of aplacophorans; but this is difficult to reconcile with the embryological origins of spicules.
The molluscan shell appears to have originated from a mucus coating, which eventually stiffened into a cuticle. This would have been impermeable and thus forced the development of more sophisticated respiratory apparatus in the form of gills. Eventually, the cuticle would have become mineralized,using the same genetic machinery (engrailed) as most other bilaterian skeletons. The first mollusc shell almost certainly was reinforced with the mineral aragonite.
Classification into higher taxa for molluscan classes has been and remains problematic. Numerous different clades have been proposed but few have received strong support. Traditionally, Mollusca is split into two subphyla, Conchifera and Aculifera, based on the presence of a shell. The "Testaria" hypothesis is similar, but includes chitons with the rest of the conchiferans. Some studies completely reject the proposal, instead favoring a "Serialia" hypothesis which classifies chitons and monoplacophorans as closely related.
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Morphological analyses tend to recover a conchiferan clade that receives less support from molecular analyses, although these results also lead to unexpected paraphylies, for instance scattering the bivalves throughout all other mollusc groups.
However, an analysis in 2009 using both morphological and molecular phylogenetics comparisons concluded the molluscs are not monophyletic; in particular, Scaphopoda and Bivalvia are both separate, monophyletic lineages unrelated to the remaining molluscan classes; the traditional phylum Mollusca is polyphyletic, and it can only be made monophyletic if scaphopods and bivalves are excluded. A 2010 analysis recovered the traditional conchiferan and aculiferan groups, and showed molluscs were monophyletic, demonstrating that available data for solenogastres was contaminated. Current molecular data are insufficient to constrain the molluscan phylogeny, and since the methods used to determine the confidence in clades are prone to overestimation, it is risky to place too much emphasis even on the areas of which different studies agree. Rather than eliminating unlikely relationships, the latest studies add new permutations of internal molluscan relationships, even bringing the conchiferan hypothesis into question.
A 2025 analysis, using newly sequenced genomes, supports the Aculifera-Conchifera hypothesis. Scaphopoda was recovered sister to Bivalvia, and Cephalopoda as sister to the Bivalvia-Scaphopoda-Gastropoda clade.
Good evidence exists for the appearance of gastropods (e.g., *Aldanella*), cephalopods (e.g., *Plectronoceras,* *Nectocaris*?) and bivalves (*Pojetaia, Fordilla*) towards the middle of the Cambrian period, c. , though arguably each of these may belong only to the stem lineage of their respective classes. However, the evolutionary history both of the emergence of molluscs from the ancestral group Lophotrochozoa, and of their diversification into the well-known living and fossil forms, is still vigorously debated.
Debate occurs about whether some Ediacaran and Early Cambrian fossils really are molluscs. *Kimberella*, from about , has been described by some paleontologists as "mollusc-like", but others are unwilling to go further than "probable bilaterian", if that.
There is an even sharper debate about whether *Wiwaxia*, from about , was a mollusc, and much of this centers on whether its feeding apparatus was a type of radula or more similar to that of some polychaete worms. Nicholas Butterfield, who opposes the idea that *Wiwaxia* was a mollusc, has written that earlier microfossils from are fragments of a genuinely mollusc-like radula. This appears to contradict the concept that the ancestral molluscan radula was mineralized.
However, the helcionellids, which first appear over in Early Cambrian rocks from Siberia and China, are thought to be early molluscs with rather snail-like shells. Shelled molluscs therefore predate the earliest trilobites. Although most helcionellid fossils are only a few millimeters long, specimens a few centimeters long have also been found, most with more limpet-like shapes. The tiny specimens have been suggested to be juveniles and the larger ones adults.
Some analyses of helcionellids concluded these were the earliest gastropods. However, other scientists are not convinced these Early Cambrian fossils show clear signs of the torsion that identifies modern gastropods twists the internal organs so the anus lies above the head.
*Volborthella*, some fossils of which predate , was long thought to be a cephalopod, but discoveries of more detailed fossils showed its shell was not secreted, but built from grains of the mineral silicon dioxide (silica), and it was not divided into a series of compartments by septa as those of fossil shelled cephalopods and the living *Nautilus* are. *Volborthella*'s classification is uncertain. The Middle Cambrian fossil Nectocaris is often interpreted as a cephalopod with 2 arms and no shell, but the Late Cambrian fossil *Plectronoceras* is now thought to be the earliest undisputed cephalopod fossil, as its shell had septa and a siphuncle, a strand of tissue that *Nautilus* uses to remove water from compartments it has vacated as it grows, and which is also visible in fossil ammonite shells. However, *Plectronoceras* and other early cephalopods crept along the seafloor instead of swimming, as their shells contained a "ballast" of stony deposits on what is thought to be the underside, and had stripes and blotches on what is thought to be the upper surface. All cephalopods with external shells except the nautiloids became extinct by the end of the Cretaceous period . However, the shell-less Coleoidea (squid, octopus, cuttlefish) are abundant today.
The Early Cambrian fossils *Fordilla* and *Pojetaia* are regarded as bivalves. "Modern-looking" bivalves appeared in the Ordovician period, . One bivalve group, the rudists, became major reef-builders in the Cretaceous, but became extinct in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Even so, bivalves remain abundant and diverse.
The Hyolitha are a class of extinct animals with a shell and operculum that may be molluscs. Authors who suggest they deserve their own phylum do not comment on the position of this phylum in the tree of life.
For millennia, molluscs have been a source of food for humans, as well as important luxury goods, notably pearls, mother of pearl, Tyrian purple dye, sea silk, and chemical compounds. Their shells have also been used as a form of currency in some preindustrial societies. Some species of molluscs can bite or sting humans, and some have become agricultural pests.
Molluscs, especially bivalves such as clams and mussels, have been an important food source since at least the advent of anatomically modern humans, and this has often resulted in overfishing. Other commonly eaten molluscs include octopuses and squids, whelks, oysters, and scallops. In 2005, China accounted for 80% of the global mollusc catch, netting almost 11,000,000 tonnes (11,000,000 long tons; 12,000,000 short tons). Within Europe, France remained the industry leader. Some countries regulate importation and handling of molluscs and other seafood, mainly to minimize the poison risk from toxins that can sometimes accumulate in the animals.
Most molluscs with shells can produce pearls, but only the pearls of bivalves and some gastropods, whose shells are lined with nacre, are valuable. The best natural pearls are produced by marine pearl oysters, *Pinctada margaritifera* and *Pinctada mertensi*, which live in the tropical and subtropical waters of the Pacific Ocean. Natural pearls form when a small foreign object gets stuck between the mantle and shell.
The two methods of culturing pearls insert either "seeds" or beads into oysters. The "seed" method uses grains of ground shell from freshwater mussels, and overharvesting for this purpose has endangered several freshwater mussel species in the southeastern United States. The pearl industry is so important in some areas, significant sums of money are spent on monitoring the health of farmed molluscs.
Other luxury and high-status products were made from molluscs. Tyrian purple, made from the ink glands of murex shells, "fetched its weight in silver" in the fourth century BC, according to Theopompus. The discovery of large numbers of *Murex* shells on Crete suggests the Minoans may have pioneered the extraction of "imperial purple" during the Middle Minoan period in the 20th–18th centuries BC, centuries before the Tyrians. Sea silk is a fine, rare, and valuable fabric produced from the long silky threads (byssus) secreted by several bivalve molluscs, particularly *Pinna nobilis*, to attach themselves to the sea bed. Procopius, writing on the Persian wars *circa* 550 CE, "stated that the five hereditary satraps (governors) of Armenia who received their insignia from the Roman Emperor were given chlamys (or cloaks) made from *lana pinna*. Apparently, only the ruling classes were allowed to wear these chlamys."
Mollusc shells, including those of cowries, were used as a kind of money (shell money) in several preindustrial societies. However, these "currencies" generally differed in important ways from the standardized government-backed and -controlled money familiar to industrial societies. Some shell "currencies" were not used for commercial transactions, but mainly as social status displays at important occasions, such as weddings. When used for commercial transactions, they functioned as a means of exchange similar to money in ordinary business transactions, a tradable good whose value differed from place to place, often as a result of difficulties in transport, and which was vulnerable to incurable inflation if more efficient transport or "goldrush" behavior appeared.
Bivalve molluscs are used as bioindicators to monitor the health of aquatic environments in both fresh water and the marine environments. Their population status or structure, physiology, behaviour or the level of contamination with elements or compounds can indicate the state of contamination status of the ecosystem. They are particularly useful since they are sessile so that they are representative of the environment where they are sampled or placed. Potamopyrgus antipodarum is used by some water treatment plants to test for estrogen-mimicking pollutants from industrial agriculture.
Several species of mollusca have been used as bioindicators of environmental stresses that can cause DNA damage. These species include the American oyster *Crassostrea virginica*, zebra mussels (*Dreissena polymorpha*) and the blue mussel *Mytilus edulis*.
Some molluscs sting or bite, but deaths from mollusc venoms total less than 10% of those from jellyfish stings.
All octopuses are venomous, but only a few species pose a significant threat to humans. Blue-ringed octopuses in the genus *Hapalochlaena*, which live around Australia and New Guinea, bite humans only if severely provoked, but their venom kills 25% of human victims. Another tropical species, *Octopus apollyon*, causes severe inflammation that can last for over a month even if treated correctly, and the bite of *Octopus rubescens* can cause necrosis that lasts longer than one month if untreated, and headaches and weakness persisting for up to a week even if treated.
All species of cone snails are venomous and can sting painfully when handled, although many species are too small to pose much of a risk to humans, and only a few fatalities have been reliably reported. Their venom is a complex mixture of toxins, some fast-acting and others slower but deadlier. The effects of individual cone-shell toxins on victims' nervous systems are so precise as to be useful tools for research in neurology, and the small size of their molecules makes it easy to synthesize them.
Schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia, bilharziosis or snail fever), a disease caused by the fluke worm *Schistosoma*, is "second only to malaria as the most devastating parasitic disease in tropical countries. An estimated 200 million people in 74 countries are infected with the disease—100 million in Africa alone." The parasite has 13 known species, two of which infect humans. The parasite itself is not a mollusc, but all the species have freshwater snails as intermediate hosts.
Some species of molluscs, particularly certain snails and slugs, can be serious crop pests, and when introduced into new environments, can unbalance local ecosystems. One such pest, the giant African snail *Achatina fulica*, has been introduced to many parts of Asia, as well as to many islands in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. In the 1990s, this species reached the West Indies. Attempts to control it by introducing the predatory snail *Euglandina rosea* proved disastrous, as the predator ignored *Achatina fulica* and went on to extirpate several native snail species instead.
- "
*Mollusca*".*The Encyclopedia of Life*. - Researchers complete mollusk evolutionary tree, by Brown University, Phys.org, 26 October 2011
- Hardy's Internet Guide to Marine Gastropods by Eddie Hardy
- Rotterdam Natural History Museum Shell Image Gallery
- Mussel Watch Programme (archived 2015)
- Online biomonitoring of bivalve activity, 24/7: MolluSCAN
*eye*(archived 2016)
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# Turtle - Wikipedia
| Turtles Stem-group turtles are from the | |
|---|---|
| Common box turtle | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
Clade:
|
Pantestudines |
Clade:
|
Testudinata |
Clade:
|
Perichelydia |
| Order: | Testudines Batsch, 1788 |
| Subgroups | |
| Diversity | |
| 14 living families | |
| Blue: sea turtles, black: land turtles | |
| Synonyms | |
|
**Turtles** are reptiles of the order **Testudines**, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked turtles), which differ in the way the head retracts. There are 360 living and recently extinct species of turtles, including land-dwelling tortoises and freshwater terrapins. They are found on most continents, some islands and, in the case of sea turtles, much of the ocean. Like other amniotes (reptiles, birds, and mammals) they breathe air and do not lay eggs underwater, although many species live in or around water.
Turtle shells are made mostly of bone; the upper part is the domed carapace, while the underside is the flatter plastron or belly-plate. Its outer surface is covered in scales made of keratin, the material of hair, horns, and claws. The carapace bones develop from ribs that grow sideways and develop into broad flat plates that join up to cover the body. Turtles are ectotherms or "cold-blooded", meaning that their internal temperature varies with their direct environment. They are generally opportunistic omnivores and mainly feed on plants and animals with limited movements. Many turtles migrate short distances seasonally. Sea turtles are the only reptiles that migrate long distances to lay their eggs on a favored beach.
Turtles have appeared in myths and folktales around the world. Some terrestrial and freshwater species are widely kept as pets. Turtles have been hunted for their meat, for use in traditional medicine, and for their shells. Sea turtles are often killed accidentally as bycatch in fishing nets. Turtle habitats around the world are being destroyed. As a result of these pressures, many species are extinct or threatened with extinction.
## Naming and etymology
The word *turtle* is borrowed from the French word *tortue* or *tortre* 'turtle, tortoise'. It is a common name and may be used without knowledge of taxonomic distinctions. In North America, it may denote the order as a whole. In Britain, the name is used for sea turtles as opposed to freshwater terrapins and land-dwelling tortoises. In Australia, which lacks true tortoises (family Testudinidae), non-marine turtles were traditionally called tortoises, but more recently turtle has been used for the entire group.
The name of the order, *Testudines* ( ⓘ *teh-STEW-din-eez*), is based on the Latin word *testudo* 'tortoise'; and was coined by German naturalist August Batsch in 1788. The order has also been historically known as *Chelonii* (Latreille 1800) and *Chelonia* (Ross and Macartney 1802), which are based on the Ancient Greek word χελώνη (*chelone*) 'tortoise'. Testudines is the official order name due to the principle of priority. The term **chelonian** is used as a formal name for members of the group.
## Anatomy and physiology
### Size
The largest living species of turtle (and fourth-largest reptile) is the leatherback turtle, which can reach over 2.7 m (8 ft 10 in) in length and weigh over 500 kg (1,100 lb). The largest known turtle was *Archelon ischyros*, a Late Cretaceous sea turtle up to 4.5 m (15 ft) long, 5.25 m (17 ft) wide between the tips of the front flippers, and estimated to have weighed over 2,200 kg (4,900 lb). The smallest living turtle is *Chersobius signatus* of South Africa, measuring no more than 10 cm (3.9 in) in length and weighing 172 g (6.1 oz).
### Shell
The shell of a turtle is unique among vertebrates and serves to protect the animal and provide shelter from the elements. It is primarily made of 50–60 bones and consists of two parts: the domed, dorsal (back) carapace and the flatter, ventral (belly) plastron. They are connected by lateral (side) extensions of the plastron.
The carapace is fused with the vertebrae and ribs while the plastron is formed from bones of the shoulder girdle, sternum, and gastralia (abdominal ribs). During development, the ribs grow sideways into a carapacial ridge, unique to turtles, entering the dermis (inner skin) of the back to support the carapace. The development is signaled locally by proteins known as fibroblast growth factors that include FGF10. The shoulder girdle in turtles is made up of two bones, the scapula and the coracoid. Both the shoulder and pelvic girdles of turtles are located within the shell and hence are effectively within the rib cage. The trunk ribs grow over the shoulder girdle during development.
The shell is covered in epidermal (outer skin) scales known as scutes that are made of keratin, the same substance that makes up hair and fingernails. Typically, a turtle has 38 scutes on the carapace and 16 on the plastron, giving them 54 in total. Carapace scutes are divided into "marginals" around the margin and "vertebrals" over the vertebral column, though the scute that overlays the neck is called the "cervical". "Pleurals" are present between the marginals and vertebrals. Plastron scutes include gulars (throat), humerals, pectorals, abdominals, and anals. Side-necked turtles additionally have "intergular" scutes between the gulars. Turtle scutes are usually structured like mosaic tiles, but some species, like the hawksbill sea turtle, have overlapping scutes on the carapace.
The shapes of turtle shells vary with the adaptations of the individual species, and sometimes with sex. Land-dwelling turtles are more dome-shaped, which appears to make them more resistant to being crushed by large animals. Aquatic turtles have flatter, smoother shells that allow them to cut through the water. Sea turtles in particular have streamlined shells that reduce drag and increase stability in the open ocean. Some turtle species have pointy or spiked shells that provide extra protection from predators and camouflage against the leafy ground. The lumps of a tortoise shell can tilt its body when it gets flipped over, allowing it to flip back. In male tortoises, the tip of the plastron is thickened and used for butting and ramming during combat.
Shells vary in flexibility. Some species, such as box turtles, lack the lateral extensions and instead have the carapace bones fully fused or ankylosed together. Several species have hinges on their shells, usually on the plastron, which allow them to expand and contract. Softshell turtles have rubbery edges, due to the loss of bones. The leatherback turtle has hardly any bones in its shell, but has thick connective tissue and an outer layer of leathery skin.
The turtle's skull is unique among living amniotes (which includes reptiles, birds and mammals); it is solid and rigid with no openings for muscle attachment (temporal fenestrae). Muscles instead attach to recesses in the back of the skull. Turtle skulls vary in shape, from the long and narrow skulls of softshells to the broad and flattened skull of the mata mata. Some turtle species have developed large and thick heads, allowing for greater muscle mass and stronger bites.
Turtles that are carnivorous or durophagous (eating hard-shelled animals) have the most powerful bites. For example, the durophagous *Mesoclemmys nasuta* has a bite force of 432 lbf (1,920 N). Species that are insectivorous, piscivorous (fish-eating), or omnivorous have lower bite forces. Living turtles lack teeth but have beaks made of keratin sheaths along the edges of the jaws. These sheaths may have sharp edges for cutting meat, serrations for clipping plants, or broad plates for breaking mollusks. Sea turtles, and several extinct forms, have evolved a bony secondary palate which completely separates the oral and nasal cavities.
The necks of turtles are highly flexible, possibly to compensate for their rigid shells. Some species, like sea turtles, have short necks while others, such as snake-necked turtles, have long ones. Despite this, all turtle species have eight neck vertebrae, a consistency not found in other reptiles but similar to mammals. Some snake-necked turtles have both long necks and large heads, limiting their ability to lift them when not in water. Some turtles have folded structures in the larynx or glottis that vibrate to produce sound. Other species have elastin-rich vocal cords.
### Limbs and locomotion
Due to their heavy shells, turtles are slow-moving on land. A desert tortoise moves at only 0.22–0.48 km/h (0.14–0.30 mph). By contrast, sea turtles can swim at 30 km/h (19 mph). The limbs of turtles are adapted for various means of locomotion and habits and most have five toes. Tortoises are specialized for terrestrial environments and have column-like legs with elephant-like feet and short toes. The gopher tortoise has flattened front limbs for digging in the substrate. Freshwater turtles have more flexible legs and longer toes with webbing, giving them thrust in the water. Some of these species, such as snapping turtles and mud turtles, mainly walk along the water bottom, as they would on land. Others, such as terrapins, swim by paddling with all four limbs, switching between the opposing front and hind limbs, which keeps their direction stable.
Sea turtles and the pig-nosed turtle are the most specialized for swimming. Their front limbs have evolved into flippers while the shorter hind limbs are shaped more like rudders. The front limbs provide most of the thrust for swimming, while the hind limbs serve as stabilizers. Sea turtles such as the green sea turtle rotate the front limb flippers like a bird's wings to generate a propulsive force on both the upstroke and on the downstroke. This is in contrast to similar-sized freshwater turtles (measurements having been made on young animals in each case) such as the Caspian turtle, which uses the front limbs like the oars of a rowing boat, creating substantial negative thrust on the recovery stroke in each cycle. In addition, the streamlining of the marine turtles reduces drag. As a result, marine turtles produce a propulsive force twice as large, and swim six times as fast, as freshwater turtles. The swimming efficiency of young marine turtles is similar to that of fast-swimming fish of open water, like mackerel.
Compared to other reptiles, turtles tend to have reduced tails, but these vary in both length and thickness among species and between sexes. Snapping turtles and the big-headed turtle have longer tails; the latter uses it for balance while climbing. The cloaca is found underneath and at the base, and the tail itself houses the reproductive organs. Hence, males have longer tails to contain the penis. In sea turtles, the tail is longer and more prehensile in males, who use it to grasp mates. Several turtle species have spines on their tails.
### Senses
Turtles make use of vision to find food and mates, avoid predators, and orient themselves. The retina's light-sensitive cells include both rods for vision in low light, and cones with three different photopigments for bright light, where they have full-color vision. There is possibly a fourth type of cone that detects ultraviolet, as hatchling sea turtles respond experimentally to ultraviolet light, but it is unknown if they can distinguish this from longer wavelengths. A freshwater turtle, the red-eared slider, has an exceptional seven types of cone cell.
Sea turtles orient themselves on land by night, using visual features detected in dim light. They can use their eyes in clear surface water, muddy coasts, the darkness of the deep ocean, and also above water. Unlike in terrestrial turtles, the cornea (the curved surface that lets light into the eye) does not help to focus light on the retina, so focusing underwater is handled entirely by the lens, behind the cornea. The cone cells contain oil droplets placed to shift perception toward the red part of the spectrum, improving color discrimination. Visual acuity, studied in hatchlings, is highest in a horizontal band with retinal cells packed about twice as densely as elsewhere. This gives the best vision along the visual horizon. Sea turtles do not appear to use polarized light for orientation as many other animals do. The deep-diving leatherback turtle lacks specific adaptations to low light, such as large eyes, large lenses, or a reflective tapetum. It may rely on seeing the bioluminescence of prey when hunting in deep water.
Turtles have no ear openings; the eardrum is covered with scales and encircled by a bony otic capsule, which is absent in other reptiles. Their hearing thresholds are high in comparison to other reptiles, reaching up to 500 Hz in air, but underwater they are more attuned to lower frequencies. The loggerhead sea turtle has been shown experimentally to respond to low sounds, with maximal sensitivity between 100 and 400 Hz.
Turtles have olfactory (smell) and vomeronasal receptors along the nasal cavity, the latter of which are used to detect chemical signals. Experiments on green sea turtles showed they could learn to respond to a selection of different odorant chemicals such as triethylamine and cinnamaldehyde, which were detected by olfaction in the nose. Such signals could be used in navigation.
### Breathing
The rigid shell of turtles is not capable of expanding and making room for the lungs, as in other amniotes, so they have had to evolve special adaptations for respiration. The lungs of turtles are attached directly to the carapace above while below, connective tissue attaches them to the organs. They have multiple lateral (side) and medial (middle) chambers (the numbers of which vary between species) and one terminal (end) chamber.
The lungs are ventilated using specific groups of abdominal muscles attached to the organs that pull and push on them. Specifically, it is the turtle's large liver that compresses the lungs. Underneath the lungs, in the coelomic cavity, the liver is connected to the right lung by the root, and the stomach is directly attached to the left lung, and to the liver by a mesentery. When the liver is pulled down, inhalation begins. Supporting the lungs is a wall or septum, which is thought to prevent them from collapsing. During exhalation, the contraction of the transversus abdominis muscle propels the organs into the lungs and expels air. Conversely, during inhalation, the relaxing and flattening of the oblique abdominis muscle pulls the transversus back down, allowing air back into the lungs.
Although many turtles spend large amounts of their lives underwater, all turtles breathe air and must surface at regular intervals to refill their lungs. Depending on the species, immersion periods vary between a minute and an hour. Some species can respire through the cloaca, which contains large sacs that are lined with many finger-like projections that take up dissolved oxygen from the water.
### Circulation
Turtles share the linked circulatory and pulmonary (lung) systems of vertebrates, where the three-chambered heart pumps deoxygenated blood through the lungs and then pumps the returned oxygenated blood through the body's tissues. The cardiopulmonary system has both structural and physiological adaptations that distinguish it from other vertebrates. Turtles have a large lung volume and can move blood through non-pulmonary blood vessels, including some within the heart, to avoid the lungs while they are not breathing. They can hold their breath for much longer periods than other reptiles and they can tolerate the resulting low oxygen levels. They can moderate the increase in acidity during anaerobic (non-oxygen-based) respiration by chemical buffering and they can lie dormant for months, in aestivation or brumation.
The heart has two atria but only one ventricle. The ventricle is subdivided into three chambers. A muscular ridge enables a complex pattern of blood flow so that the blood can be directed either to the lungs via the pulmonary artery, or to the body via the aorta. The ability to separate the two outflows varies between species. The leatherback has a powerful muscular ridge enabling almost complete separation of the outflows, supporting its actively swimming lifestyle. The ridge is less well developed in freshwater turtles like the sliders (*Trachemys*).
Turtles are capable of enduring periods of anaerobic respiration longer than many other vertebrates. This process breaks down sugars incompletely to lactic acid, rather than all the way to carbon dioxide and water as in aerobic (oxygen-based) respiration. They make use of the shell as a source of additional buffering agents for combating increased acidity, and as a sink for lactic acid.
### Osmoregulation
In sea turtles, the bladder is one unit and in most freshwater turtles, it is double-lobed. Sea turtle bladders are connected to two small accessory bladders, located at the sides to the neck of the urinary bladder and above the pubis. Arid-living tortoises have bladders that serve as reserves of water, storing up to 20% of their body weight in fluids. The fluids are normally low in solutes, but higher during droughts when the reptile gains potassium salts from its plant diet. The bladder stores these salts until the tortoise finds fresh drinking water. To regulate the amount of salt in their bodies, sea turtles and the brackish-living diamondback terrapin secrete excess salt in a thick sticky substance from their tear glands. Because of this, sea turtles may appear to be "crying" when on land.
### Thermoregulation
Turtles, like other reptiles, have a limited ability to regulate their body temperature. This ability varies between species, and with body size. Small pond turtles regulate their temperature by crawling out of the water and basking in the sun, while small terrestrial turtles move between sunny and shady places to adjust their temperature. Large species, both terrestrial and marine, have sufficient mass to give them substantial thermal inertia, meaning that they heat up or cool down over many hours. The Aldabra giant tortoise weighs up to some 60 kilograms (130 lb) and is able to allow its temperature to rise to some 33 °C (91 °F) on a hot day, and to fall naturally to around 29 °C (84 °F) by night. Some giant tortoises seek out shade to avoid overheating on sunny days. On Grand Terre Island, food is scarce inland, shade is scarce near the coast, and the tortoises compete for space under the few trees on hot days. Large males may push smaller females out of the shade, and some then overheat and die.
Adult sea turtles, too, have large enough bodies that they can to some extent control their temperature. The largest turtle, the leatherback, can swim in the waters off Nova Scotia, which may be as cold as 8 °C (46 °F), while their body temperature has been measured at up to 12 °C (22 °F) warmer than the surrounding water. To help keep their temperature up, they have a system of countercurrent heat exchange in the blood vessels between their body core and the skin of their flippers. The vessels supplying the head are insulated by fat around the neck.
## Behavior
### Diet and feeding
Most turtle species are opportunistic omnivores; land-dwelling species are more herbivorous and aquatic ones more carnivorous. Generally lacking speed and agility, most turtles feed either on plant material or on animals with limited movements like mollusks, worms, and insect larvae. Some species, such as the African helmeted turtle and snapping turtles, eat fish, amphibians, reptiles (including other turtles), birds, and mammals. They may take them by ambush but also scavenge. The alligator snapping turtle has a worm-like appendage on its tongue that it uses to lure fish into its mouth. Tortoises are the most herbivorous group, consuming grasses, leaves, and fruits. Many turtle species, including tortoises, supplement their diet with eggshells, animal bones, hair, and droppings for extra nutrients.
Turtles generally eat their food in a straightforward way, though some species have special feeding techniques. The yellow-spotted river turtle and the painted turtle may filter feed by skimming the water surface with their mouth and throat open to collect particles of food. When the mouth closes, the throat constricts and water is pushed out through the nostrils and the gap in between the jaws. Some species employ a "gape-and-suck method" where the turtle opens its jaws and expands its throat widely, sucking the prey in.
The diet of an individual within a species may change with age, sex, and season, and may also differ between populations. In many species, juveniles are generally carnivorous but become more herbivorous as adults. With Barbour's map turtle, the larger female mainly eats mollusks while the male usually eats arthropods. Blanding's turtle may feed mainly on snails or crayfish depending on the population. The European pond turtle has been recorded as being mostly carnivorous much of the year but switching to water lilies during the summer. Some species have developed specialized diets such as the hawksbill, which eats sponges, the leatherback, which feeds on jellyfish, and the Mekong snail-eating turtle.
### Communication and intelligence
While popularly thought of as mute, turtles make various sounds to communicate. One study which recorded 53 species found that all of them vocalized. Tortoises may bellow when courting and mating. Various species of both freshwater and sea turtles emit short, low-frequency calls from the time they are in the egg to when they are adults. These vocalizations may serve to create group cohesion when migrating. The oblong turtle has a particularly large vocal range; producing sounds described as clacks, clicks, squawks, hoots, various kinds of chirps, wails, *hooos*, grunts, growls, blow bursts, howls, and drum rolls.
Play behavior has been documented in some turtle species. In the laboratory, Florida red-bellied cooters can learn novel tasks and have demonstrated a long-term memory of at least 7.5 months. Similarly, giant tortoises can learn and remember tasks, and master lessons much faster when trained in groups. Tortoises appear to be able to retain operant conditioning nine years after their initial training. Studies have shown that turtles can navigate the environment using landmarks and a map-like system resulting in accurate direct routes towards a goal. Navigation in turtles have been correlated to high cognition function in the medial cortex region of the brain.
### Defense
When sensing danger, a turtle may flee, freeze or withdraw into its shell. Freshwater turtles flee into the water, though the Sonora mud turtle may take refuge on land as the shallow temporary ponds they inhabit make them vulnerable. When startled, a softshell turtle may dive underwater and bury itself under the sea floor. If a predator persists, the turtle may bite or discharge from its cloaca. Several species produce foul-smelling chemicals from musk glands. Other tactics include threat displays and Bell's hinge-back tortoise can play dead. When attacked, big-headed turtle hatchlings squeal, possibly startling the predator.
### Migration
Turtles are the only reptiles that migrate long distances, more specifically the marine species that can travel up to thousands of kilometers. Some non-marine turtles, such as the species of *Geochelone* (terrestrial), *Chelydra* (freshwater), and *Malaclemys* (estuarine), migrate seasonally over much shorter distances, up to around 27 km (17 mi), to lay eggs. Such short migrations are comparable to those of some lizards, snakes, and crocodilians. Sea turtles nest in a specific area, such as a beach, leaving the eggs to hatch unattended. The young turtles leave that area, migrating long distances in the years or decades in which they grow to maturity, and then return seemingly to the same area every few years to mate and lay eggs, though the precision varies between species and populations. This "natal homing" has appeared remarkable to biologists, though there is now plentiful evidence for it, including from genetics.
How sea turtles navigate to their breeding beaches remains unknown. One possibility is imprinting as in salmon, where the young learn the chemical signature, effectively the scent, of their home waters before leaving, and remember that when the time comes for them to return as adults. Another possible cue is the orientation of the Earth's magnetic field at the natal beach. There is experimental evidence that turtles have an effective magnetic sense, and that they use this in navigation. Proof that homing occurs is derived from genetic analysis of populations of loggerheads, hawksbills, leatherbacks, and olive ridleys by nesting place. For each of these species, the populations in different places have their own mitochondrial DNA genetic signatures that persist over the years. This shows that the populations are distinct and that homing must be occurring reliably.
## Reproduction and life cycle
Turtles have a wide variety of mating behaviors but do not form pair-bonds or social groups. In terrestrial species, males are often larger than females and fighting between males establishes a dominance hierarchy for access to mates. For most semi-aquatic and bottom-walking aquatic species, combat occurs less often. Males of these species instead may use their size advantage to mate forcibly. In fully aquatic species, males are often smaller than females and rely on courtship displays to gain mating access to females. In green sea turtles, females generally outnumber males.
### Courtship and mounting
Courtship varies between species, and with habitat. It is often complex in aquatic species, both marine and freshwater, but simpler in the semi-aquatic mud turtles and snapping turtles. A male tortoise bobs his head, then subdues the female by biting and butting her before mounting. The male scorpion mud turtle approaches the female from the rear, and often resorts to aggressive methods such as biting the female's tail or hind limbs, followed by a mounting.
Female choice is important in some species, and female green sea turtles are not always receptive. As such, they have evolved behaviors to avoid the male's attempts at copulation, such as swimming away, confronting the male followed by biting or taking up a refusal position with her body vertical, her limbs widely outspread, and her plastron facing the male. If the water is too shallow for the refusal position, the females resort to beaching themselves, as the males do not follow them ashore.
All turtles fertilize internally; mounting and copulation can be difficult. In many species, males have a concave plastron that interlocks with the female's carapace. In species like the Russian tortoise, the male has a lighter shell and longer legs. The high, rounded shape of box turtles are particular obstacles for mounting. The male eastern box turtle leans backward and hooks onto the back of the female's plastron. Aquatic turtles mount in water, and female sea turtles support the mounting male while swimming and diving. During copulation, the male turtle aligns his tail with the female's so he can insert his penis into her cloaca. Some female turtles can store sperm from multiple males and their egg clutches can have multiple sires.
### Eggs and hatchlings
Turtles, including sea turtles, lay their eggs on land, although some lay eggs near water that rises and falls in level, submerging the eggs. While most species build nests and lay eggs where they forage, some travel miles. The common snapping turtle walks 5 km (3 mi) on land, while sea turtles travel even further; the leatherback swims some 12,000 km (7,500 mi) to its nesting beaches. Most turtles create a nest for their eggs. Females usually dig a flask-like chamber in the substrate. Other species lay their eggs in vegetation or crevices. Females choose nesting locations based on environmental factors such as temperature and humidity, which are important for developing embryos. Depending on the species, the number of eggs laid varies from one to over 100. Larger females can lay eggs that are greater in number or bigger in size. Compared to freshwater turtles, tortoises deposit fewer but larger eggs. Females can lay multiple clutches throughout a season, particularly in species that experience unpredictable monsoons.
Most mother turtles do no more in the way of parental care than covering their eggs and immediately leaving, though some species guard their nests for days or weeks. Eggs vary between rounded, oval, elongated, and between hard- and soft-shelled. Most species have their sex determined by temperature. In some species, higher temperatures produce females and lower ones produce males, while in others, milder temperatures produce males and both hot and cold extremes produce females. There is experimental evidence that the embryos of *Mauremys reevesii* can move around inside their eggs to select the best temperature for development, thus influencing their sexual destiny. In other species, sex is determined genetically. The length of incubation for turtle eggs varies from two to three months for temperate species, and four months to over a year for tropical species. Species that live in warm temperate climates can delay their development.
Hatching young turtles break out of the shell using an egg tooth, a sharp projection that exists temporarily on their upper beak. Hatchlings dig themselves out of the nest and find safety in vegetation or water. Some species stay in the nest for longer, be it for overwintering or to wait for the rain to loosen the soil for them to dig out. Young turtles are highly vulnerable to predators, both in the egg and as hatchlings. Mortality is high during this period but significantly decreases when they reach adulthood. Most species grow quickly during their early years and slow down when they mature.
### Lifespan
Turtles can live long lives. The oldest living turtle and land animal is said to be a Seychelles giant tortoise named Jonathan, who turned 187 in 2019. A Galápagos tortoise named Harriet was collected by Charles Darwin in 1835; it died in 2006, having lived for at least 176 years. Most wild turtles do not reach that age. Turtles keep growing new scutes under the previous scutes every year, allowing researchers to estimate how long they have lived. They also age slowly. The survival rate for adult turtles can reach 99% per year.
## Systematics and evolution
### Fossil history
Zoologists have sought to explain the evolutionary origin of the turtles, and in particular of their unique shells. In 1914, Jan Versluys proposed that bony plates in the dermis, called osteoderms, fused to the ribs beneath them, later called the "Polka Dot Ancestor" by Olivier Rieppel. The theory accounted for the evolution of fossil pareiasaurs from *Bradysaurus* to *Anthodon*, but not for how the ribs could have become attached to the bony dermal plates.
More recent discoveries have painted a different scenario for the evolution of the turtle's shell. The stem-turtles *Eunotosaurus* of the Middle Permian, *Pappochelys* of the Middle Triassic, and *Eorhynchochelys* of the Late Triassic lacked carapaces and plastrons but had shortened torsos, expanded ribs, and lengthened dorsal vertebrae. Also in the Late Triassic, *Odontochelys* had a partial shell consisting of a complete bony plastron and an incomplete carapace. The development of a shell reached completion with the Late Triassic *Proganochelys*, with its fully developed carapace and plastron. Adaptations that led to the evolution of the shell may have originally been for digging and a fossorial lifestyle.
The oldest known members of the Pleurodira lineage are the Platychelyidae, from the Late Jurassic. The oldest known unambiguous cryptodire is *Sinaspideretes,* a close relative of softshell turtles, from the Late Jurassic of China. Turtles became highly diverse during the Cretaceous, as climatic conditions in this period were favourable for their global dispersal. During the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic, members of the pleurodire families Bothremydidae and Podocnemididae became widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere due to their coastal habits. The oldest known soft-shelled turtles and sea turtles appeared during the Early Cretaceous. Tortoises originated in Asia during the Eocene. A late surviving group of stem-turtles, the Meiolaniidae, survived in Australasia into the Pleistocene and Holocene.
### External relationships
The turtles' exact ancestry has been disputed. It was believed they were the only surviving branch of the ancient evolutionary grade Anapsida, which includes groups such as procolophonids and pareiasaurs. All anapsid skulls lack a temporal opening while all other living amniotes have temporal openings. It was later suggested that the anapsid-like turtle skulls may be due to backward evolution rather than to anapsid descent. Fossil evidence has shown that early stem-turtles possessed small temporal openings.
Some early morphological phylogenetic studies have placed turtles closer to Lepidosauria (tuataras, lizards, and snakes) than to Archosauria (crocodilians and birds). By contrast, several molecular studies place turtles either within Archosauria, or, more commonly, as a sister group to extant archosaurs, though an analysis conducted by Tyler Lyson and colleagues (2012) recovered turtles as the sister group of lepidosaurs instead. Ylenia Chiari and colleagues (2012) analyzed 248 nuclear genes from 16 vertebrates and suggested that turtles share a more recent common ancestor with birds and crocodilians. The date of separation of turtles and birds and crocodilians was estimated to be during the Permian. Through genomic-scale phylogenetic study of ultra-conserved elements (UCEs) to clarify the placement of turtles within reptiles, Nicholas Crawford and colleagues (2012) similarly found that turtles are closer to birds and crocodilians.
Using the draft (unfinished) genome sequences of the green sea turtle and the Chinese softshell turtle, Zhuo Wang and colleagues (2013) concluded that turtles are likely a sister group of crocodilians and birds. The external phylogeny of the turtles is shown in the cladogram below.
### Internal relationships
Modern turtles and their extinct relatives with a complete shell are classified within the clade Testudinata. The most recent common ancestor of living turtles, corresponding to the split between Pleurodira (side-necked species) and Cryptodira (hidden necked species), is estimated to have occurred around during the Late Triassic. Robert Thompson and colleagues (2021) comment that living turtles have low diversity, relative to how long they existed. Diversity has been stable, according to their analysis, except for a single rapid increase around the Eocene-Oligocene boundary some 30 million years ago, and a large regional extinction at roughly the same time. They suggest that global climate change caused both events, as the cooling and drying caused the land to become arid and turtles to become extinct there, while new continental margins opened up by the climate change provided habitats for other species to evolve.
The cladogram, from Nicholas Crawford and colleagues 2015, shows the internal phylogeny of the Testudines down to the level of families. The analysis by Thompson and colleagues in 2021 supports the same structure down to the family level.
### Differences between the two suborders
Turtles are divided into two living suborders: Cryptodira and Pleurodira. The two groups differ in the way the neck is retracted for protection. Pleurodirans retract their neck to the side and in front of the shoulder girdles, whereas cryptodirans retract their neck backward into their shell. These motions are enabled by the morphology and arrangement of neck vertebrae. Sea turtles (which belong to Cryptodira) have mostly lost the ability to retract their heads.
The adductor muscles in the lower jaw create a pulley-like system in both subgroups. However, the bones that the muscles articulate with differ. In Pleurodira, the pulley is formed with the pterygoid bones of the palate, but in Cryptodira the pulley is formed with the otic capsule. Both systems help to vertically redirect the adductor muscles and maintain a powerful bite.
A further difference between the suborders is the attachment of the pelvis. In Cryptodira, the pelvis is free, linked to the shell only by ligaments. In Pleurodira, the pelvis is sutured, joined with bony connections, to the carapace and to the plastron, creating a pair of large columns of bone at the back end of the turtle, linking the two parts of the shell.
## Distribution and habitat
Turtles are widely distributed across the world's continents, oceans, and islands with terrestrial, fully aquatic, and semi-aquatic species. Sea turtles are mainly tropical and subtropical, but leatherbacks can be found in colder areas of the Atlantic and Pacific. Living Pleurodira all live in freshwater and are found only in the Southern Hemisphere. The Cryptodira include terrestrial, freshwater, and marine species, and these range more widely. The world regions richest in non-marine turtle species are the Amazon basin, the Gulf of Mexico drainages of the United States, and parts of South and Southeast Asia.
For turtles in colder climates, their distribution is limited by constraints on reproduction, which is reduced by long hibernations. North American species barely range above the southern Canadian border. Some turtles are found at high altitudes, for example, the species *Terrapene ornata* occurs up to 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in New Mexico. Conversely, the leatherback sea turtle can dive over 1,200 m (3,900 ft). Species of the genus *Gopherus* can tolerate both below freezing and over 40 °C (104 °F) in body temperature, though they are most active at 26–34 °C (79–93 °F).
## Conservation
Among vertebrate orders, turtles are second only to primates in the percentage of threatened species. 360 modern species have existed since 1500 AD. Of these, 51–56% are considered threatened and 60% considered threatened or extinct. Turtles face many threats, including habitat destruction, harvesting for consumption, the pet trade, light pollution, and climate change. Asian species have a particularly high extinction risk, primarily due to their long-term unsustainable exploitation for food and medicine, and about 83% of Asia's non-marine turtle species are considered threatened. As of 2021, turtle extinction is progressing much faster than during the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction. At this rate, all turtles could be extinct in a few centuries.
Turtle hatcheries can be set up when protection against flooding, erosion, predation, or heavy poaching is required. Chinese markets have sought to satisfy an increasing demand for turtle meat with farmed turtles. In 2007 it was estimated that over a thousand turtle farms operated in China. All the same, wild turtles continue to be caught and sent to market in large numbers, resulting in what conservationists have called "the Asian turtle crisis". In the words of the biologist George Amato, the hunting of turtles "vacuumed up entire species from areas in Southeast Asia", even as biologists still did not know how many species lived in the region. In 2000, all the Asian box turtles were placed on the CITES list of endangered species.
Harvesting wild turtles is legal in some American states, and there has been a growing demand for American turtles in China. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission estimated in 2008 that around 3,000 pounds of softshell turtles were exported weekly via Tampa International Airport. However, the great majority of turtles exported from the US between 2002 and 2005 were farmed.
Large numbers of sea turtles are accidentally killed in longlines, gillnets, and trawling nets as bycatch. A 2010 study suggested that over 8 million had been killed between 1990 and 2008; the Eastern Pacific and the Mediterranean were identified as among the areas worst affected. Since the 1980s, the United States has required all shrimp trawlers to fit their nets with turtle excluder devices that prevent turtles from being entangled in the net and drowning. More locally, other human activities are affecting marine turtles. In Australia, Queensland's shark culling program, which uses shark nets and drum lines, has killed over 5,000 turtles as bycatch between 1962 and 2015; including 719 loggerhead turtles and 33 hawksbill sea turtles, which are listed as critically endangered.
Native turtle populations can also be threatened by invasive ones. The central North American red-eared slider turtle has been listed among the "world's worst invasive species", pet turtle having been released globally. They appear to compete with native turtle species in eastern and western North America, Europe, and Japan.
## Human uses
### On space flights
Two tortoises were on the Soviet Union's September 1968 Zond 5 circumlunar flight, making them the first earthly living things to travel to the vicinity of the Moon. Turtles were also on the Zond 6 (1968) and the Zond 7 (1969) circumlunar flights.
### In culture
Turtles have featured in human cultures across the world since ancient times. They are generally viewed positively despite not being "cuddly" or flashy; their association with the ancient times and old age have contributed to their endearing image.
In Hindu mythology, the World Turtle, named Kurma or Kacchapa, supports four elephants on his back; they, in turn, carry the weight of the whole world on their backs. The turtle is one of the ten avatars or incarnations of the god Vishnu. The yoga pose Kurmasana is named for the avatar. World Turtles are found in Native American cultures including the Algonquian, Iroquois, and Lenape. They tell many versions of the creation story of Turtle Island. One version has Muskrat pile up earth on Turtle's back, creating the continent of North America. An Iroquois version has the pregnant Sky Woman fall through a hole in the sky between a tree's roots, where she is caught by birds who land her safely on Turtle's back; the Earth grows around her. The turtle here is altruistic, but the world is a heavy burden, and the turtle sometimes shakes itself to relieve the load, causing earthquakes.
A turtle was the symbol of the Ancient Mesopotamian god Enki from the 3rd millennium BCE onward. An ancient Greek origin myth told that only the tortoise refused the invitation of the gods Zeus and Hera to their wedding, as it preferred to stay at home. Zeus then ordered it to carry its house with it, ever after. Another of their gods, Hermes, invented a seven-stringed lyre made with the shell of a tortoise. In the Shang dynasty Chinese practice of plastromancy, dating back to 1200 BCE, oracles were obtained by inscribing questions on turtle plastrons using the oldest known form of Chinese characters, burning the plastron, and interpreting the resulting cracks. Later, the turtle was one of the four sacred animals in Confucianism, while in the Han period, steles were mounted on top of stone turtles, later linked with Bixi, the turtle-shelled son of the Dragon King. Marine turtles feature significantly in Australian Aboriginal art. The army of Ancient Rome used the *testudo* ("tortoise") formation where soldiers would form a shield wall for protection.
In Aesop's Fables, "The Tortoise and the Hare" tells how an unequal race may be won by the slower partner. Lewis Carroll's 1865 *Alice's Adventures in Wonderland* features a Mock Turtle, named for a soup meant to imitate the expensive soup made from real turtle meat. In 1896, the French playwright Léon Gandillot wrote a comedy in three acts named *La Tortue* that was "a Parisian sensation" in its run in France, and came to the Manhattan Theatre, Broadway, New York, in 1898 as *The Turtle*. A "cosmic turtle" and the island motif reappear in Gary Snyder's 1974 novel *Turtle Island*, and again in Terry Pratchett's *Discworld* series as Great A'Tuin, starting with the 1983 novel *The Colour of Magic*. It is supposedly of the species *Chelys galactica*, the galactic turtle, complete with four elephants on its back to support Discworld. A giant fire-breathing turtle called Gamera is the star of a series of Japanese monster movies in the *kaiju* genre and has had twelve films from 1965 to 2006. Turtles have been featured in comic books and animations such as the 1984 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
### As pets
Some turtles, particularly small terrestrial and freshwater species, are kept as pets. The demand for pet turtles increased in the 1950s, with the US being the main supplier, particularly of farm-bred red-eared sliders. The popularity for exotic pets has led to an increase in illegal wildlife trafficking. Around 21% of the value of live animal trade is in reptiles, and turtles are among the more popularly traded species. Poor husbandry of tortoises can cause chronic rhinitis (nasal swelling), overgrown beaks, hyperparathyroidism (which softens their skeleton), constipation, various reproductive problems, and injuries from dogs. In the early 20th century, people in the United States have organized and gambled on turtle races.
### As food and other uses
The flesh of captured wild turtles continues to be eaten in Asian cultures, while turtle soup was once a popular dish in English cuisine. Gopher tortoise stew has been popular with some groups in Florida. The supposed aphrodisiac or medicinal properties of turtle eggs created a large trade for them in Southeast Asia. Hard-shell turtle plastrons and soft-shell carapaces are widely used in traditional Chinese medicine; Taiwan imported nearly 200 metric tons of hard-shells from its neighbors yearly from 1999 to 2008. A popular medicinal preparation based on herbs and turtle shells is *guilinggao* jelly. The substance tortoiseshell, usually from the hawksbill turtle, has been used for centuries to make jewelry, tools, and ornaments around the Western Pacific. Hawksbills have accordingly been hunted for their shells. The trading of tortoiseshell was internationally banned in 1977 by CITES. Some cultures have used turtle shells to make music: Native American shamans made them into ceremonial rattles, while Aztecs, Mayas, and Mixtecs made * ayotl* drums.
## See also
### Citations
### Cited sources
- Franklin, Carl J. (2011).
*Turtle: A Extraordinary Natural History 245 Million Years in the Making*. Crestline. ISBN 978-0-7858-2775-7. - Orenstein, Ronald (2012).
*Turtles, Tortoises and Terrapins: a Natural History*. Firefly Books. ISBN 978-1-77085-119-1. OCLC 791162481. - Pryke, Louise (2021).
*Turtle*. Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1-78914-336-2. OCLC 1223025640.
## External links
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# Human - Wikipedia
| Human | |
|---|---|
| Male (left) and female (right) adult humans | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Haplorhini |
| Infraorder: | Simiiformes |
| Family: | Hominidae |
| Subfamily: | Homininae |
| Tribe: | Hominini |
| Genus: | Homo
|
| Species: | H. sapiens |
| Binomial name | |
Homo sapiens | |
Homo sapiens population density (2020)
|
**Humans** (* Homo sapiens*) or
**modern humans**are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus
*Homo*. They are great apes characterized by their hairlessness, bipedalism, and high intelligence. Humans have large brains, enabling more advanced cognitive skills that facilitate successful adaptation to varied environments, development of sophisticated tools, and formation of complex social structures and civilizations.
Humans are highly social, with individual humans tending to belong to a multi-layered network of distinct social groups — from families and peer groups to corporations and political states. As such, social interactions between humans have established a wide variety of values, social norms, languages, and traditions (collectively termed institutions), each of which bolsters human society. Humans are also highly curious: the desire to understand and influence phenomena has motivated humanity's development of science, technology, philosophy, mythology, religion, and other frameworks of knowledge; humans also study themselves through such domains as anthropology, social science, history, psychology, and medicine. As of 2025, there are estimated to be more than 8 billion living humans.
For most of their history, humans were nomadic hunter-gatherers. Humans began exhibiting behavioral modernity about 160,000–60,000 years ago. The Neolithic Revolution occurred independently in multiple locations, the earliest in Southwest Asia 13,000 years ago, and saw the emergence of agriculture and permanent human settlement; in turn, this led to the development of civilization and kickstarted a period of continuous (and ongoing) population growth and rapid technological change. Since then, a number of civilizations have risen and fallen, while a number of sociocultural and technological developments have resulted in significant changes to the human lifestyle.
Humans are omnivorous, capable of consuming a wide variety of plant and animal material, and have used fire and other forms of heat to prepare and cook food since the time of *Homo erectus*. Humans are generally diurnal, sleeping on average seven to nine hours per day. Humans have had a dramatic effect on the environment. They are apex predators, being rarely preyed upon by other species. Human population growth, industrialization, land development, overconsumption and combustion of fossil fuels have led to environmental destruction and pollution that significantly contributes to the ongoing mass extinction of other forms of life. Within the last century, humans have explored challenging environments such as Antarctica, the deep sea, and outer space, though human habitation in these environments is typically limited in duration and restricted to scientific, military, or industrial expeditions. Humans have visited the Moon and sent human-made spacecraft to other celestial bodies, becoming the first known species to do so.
Although the term "humans" technically equates with all members of the genus *Homo*, in common usage it generally refers to *Homo sapiens*, the only extant member. All other members of the genus *Homo*, which are now extinct, are known as archaic humans, and the term "modern human" is used to distinguish *Homo sapiens* from archaic humans. Anatomically modern humans emerged around 300,000 years ago in Africa, evolving from *Homo heidelbergensis* or a similar species. Migrating out of Africa, they gradually replaced and interbred with local populations of archaic humans. Multiple hypotheses for the extinction of archaic human species such as Neanderthals include competition, violence, interbreeding with *Homo sapiens*, or inability to adapt to climate change. Genes and the environment influence human biological variation in visible characteristics, physiology, disease susceptibility, mental abilities, body size, and life span. Though humans vary in many traits (such as genetic predispositions and physical features), humans are among the least genetically diverse primates. Any two humans are at least 99% genetically similar.
Humans are sexually dimorphic: generally, males have greater body strength and females have a higher body fat percentage. At puberty, humans develop secondary sex characteristics. Females are capable of pregnancy, usually between puberty, at around 12 years old, and menopause, around the age of 50. Childbirth is dangerous, with a high risk of complications and death. Often, both the mother and the father provide care for their children, who are helpless at birth.
## Etymology and definition
All modern humans are classified into the species *Homo sapiens*, coined by Carl Linnaeus in his 1735 work *Systema Naturae*. The generic name *Homo* is a learned 18th-century derivation from Latin *homō*, which refers to humans of either sex. The word *human* can refer to all members of the *Homo* genus. The name *Homo sapiens* means 'wise man' or 'knowledgeable man'. There is disagreement if certain extinct members of the genus, namely Neanderthals, should be included as a separate species of humans or as a subspecies of *H. sapiens*.
*Human* is a loanword of Middle English from Old French *humain*, ultimately from Latin *hūmānus*, the adjectival form of *homō* ('man' — in the sense of humanity). The native English term *man* can refer to the species generally (a synonym for *humanity*) as well as to human males. It may also refer to individuals of either sex.
Despite the fact that the word *animal* is colloquially used as an antonym for *human*, and contrary to a common biological misconception, humans are animals. The word *person* is often used interchangeably with *human*, but philosophical debate exists as to whether personhood applies to all humans or all sentient beings, and further if a human can lose personhood (such as by going into a persistent vegetative state).
## Evolution
Humans are apes (superfamily Hominoidea). The lineage of apes that eventually gave rise to humans first split from gibbons (family Hylobatidae), next orangutans (genus *Pongo*), then gorillas (genus *Gorilla*), and finally, chimpanzees and bonobos (genus *Pan*). The last split, between the human and chimpanzee–bonobo lineages, took place around 8–4 million years ago, in the late Miocene epoch. During this split, chromosome 2 was formed from the joining of two other chromosomes, leaving humans with only 23 pairs of chromosomes, compared to 24 for the other apes. Following their split with chimpanzees and bonobos, the hominins diversified into many species and at least two distinct genera. All but one of these lineages — representing the genus *Homo* and its sole extant species *Homo sapiens —* are now extinct.
The genus *Homo* evolved from *Australopithecus*. Though fossils from the transition are scarce, the earliest members of *Homo* share several key traits with *Australopithecus*. Due to the scant available evidence dating the time of divergence to the genus *Homo* does not have a consensus, Some studies using molecular clock techniques estimate the *Homo* genus appeared 4.30–2.56 million years ago, while others contest that some early *Homo* species are incorrectly included in the genus and therefor put this estimate at about 1.87 million years ago.
The earliest record of *Homo* is the 2.8 million-year-old specimen LD 350-1 from Ethiopia, and the earliest named species are *Homo habilis* and *Homo rudolfensis* which evolved by 2.3 million years ago. *H. erectus* (the African variant is sometimes called *H. ergaster*) evolved 2 million years ago and was the first archaic human species to leave Africa and disperse across Eurasia. *H. erectus* also was the first to evolve a characteristically human body plan. *Homo sapiens* emerged in Africa around 300,000 years ago from a species commonly designated as either *H. heidelbergensis* or *H. rhodesiensis*, the descendants of *H. erectus* that remained in Africa. *H. sapiens* migrated out of the continent, gradually replacing or interbreeding with local populations of archaic humans. Humans began exhibiting behavioral modernity about 160,000–70,000 years ago, and possibly earlier. This development was likely selected amidst natural climate change in Middle to Late Pleistocene Africa.
The "out of Africa" migration took place in at least two waves, the first around 130,000 to 100,000 years ago, the second (Southern Dispersal) around 70,000 to 50,000 years ago. *H. sapiens* proceeded to colonize all the continents and larger islands, arriving in Eurasia 125,000 years ago, Australia around 65,000 years ago, the Americas around 15,000 years ago, and remote islands such as Hawaii, Easter Island, Madagascar, and New Zealand in the years 300 to 1280 CE.
Human evolution was not a simple linear or branched progression but involved interbreeding between related species. Genomic research has shown that hybridization between substantially diverged lineages was common in human evolution. DNA evidence suggests that several genes of Neanderthal origin are present among all non sub-Saharan-African populations, and Neanderthals and other hominins, such as Denisovans, may have contributed up to 6% of their genome to present-day non sub-Saharan-African humans.
Human evolution is characterized by a number of morphological, developmental, physiological, and behavioral changes that have taken place since the split between the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees. The most significant of these adaptations are hairlessness, obligate bipedalism, increased brain size and decreased sexual dimorphism (neoteny). The relationship between all these changes is the subject of ongoing debate.
| Hominoidea (hominoids, apes) | |
## History
### Prehistory
Until about 12,000 years ago, all humans lived as hunter-gatherers. The Neolithic Revolution (the invention of agriculture) first took place in Southwest Asia and spread through large parts of the Old World over the following millennia. It also occurred independently in Mesoamerica (about 6,000 years ago), China, Papua New Guinea, and the Sahel and West Savanna regions of Africa.
Access to food surplus led to the formation of permanent human settlements, the domestication of animals and the use of metal tools for the first time in history. Agriculture and sedentary lifestyle led to the emergence of early civilizations.
### Ancient
An urban revolution took place in the 4th millennium BCE with the development of city-states, particularly Sumerian cities located in Mesopotamia. It was in these cities that the earliest known form of writing, cuneiform script, appeared around 3000 BCE. Other major civilizations to develop around this time were Ancient Egypt and the Indus Valley Civilisation. They eventually traded with each other and invented technology such as wheels, plows and sails. Emerging by 3000 BCE, the Caral–Supe civilization is the oldest complex civilization in the Americas. Astronomy and mathematics were also developed and the Great Pyramid of Giza was built. There is evidence of a severe drought lasting about a hundred years that may have caused the decline of these civilizations, with new ones appearing in the aftermath. Babylonians came to dominate Mesopotamia while others, such as the Poverty Point culture, Minoans and the Shang dynasty, rose to prominence in new areas. The Late Bronze Age collapse around 1200 BCE resulted in the disappearance of a number of civilizations and the beginning of the Greek Dark Ages. During this period iron started replacing bronze, leading to the Iron Age.
In the 5th century BCE, history started being recorded as a discipline, which provided a much clearer picture of life at the time. Between the 8th and 6th century BCE, Europe entered the classical antiquity age, a period when ancient Greece and ancient Rome flourished. Around this time other civilizations also came to prominence. The Maya civilization started to build cities and create complex calendars. In Africa, the Kingdom of Aksum overtook the declining Kingdom of Kush and facilitated trade between India and the Mediterranean. In West Asia, the Achaemenid Empire's system of centralized governance became the precursor to many later empires, while the Gupta Empire in India and the Han dynasty in China have been described as golden ages in their respective regions.
### Medieval
Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, Europe entered the Middle Ages. During this period, Christianity and the Church would provide centralized authority and education. In the Middle East, Islam became the prominent religion and expanded into North Africa. It led to an Islamic Golden Age, inspiring achievements in architecture, the revival of old advances in science and technology, and the formation of a distinct way of life. The Christian and Islamic worlds would eventually clash, with the Kingdom of England, the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire declaring a series of holy wars to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims.
In the Americas, between 200 and 900 CE Mesoamerica was in its Classic Period, while further north, complex Mississippian societies would arise starting around 800 CE. The Mongol Empire would conquer much of Eurasia in the 13th and 14th centuries. Over this same time period, the Mali Empire in Africa grew to be the largest empire on the continent, stretching from Senegambia to Ivory Coast. Oceania would see the rise of the Tuʻi Tonga Empire which expanded across many islands in the South Pacific. By the late 15th century, the Aztecs and Inca had become the dominant power in Mesoamerica and the Andes, respectively.
### Modern
The early modern period in Europe and the Near East (c. 1450–1800) began with the final defeat of the Byzantine Empire, and the rise of the Ottoman Empire. Meanwhile, Japan entered the Edo period, the Qing dynasty rose in China and the Mughal Empire ruled much of India. Europe underwent the Renaissance, starting in the 15th century, and the Age of Discovery began with the exploring and colonizing of new regions. This included the colonization of the Americas and the Columbian Exchange. This expansion led to the Atlantic slave trade and the genocide of the Americas' indigenous peoples. This period also marked the Scientific Revolution, with great advances in mathematics, mechanics, astronomy and physiology.
The late modern period (1800–present) saw the Technological and Industrial Revolution bring such discoveries as imaging technology, major innovations in transport and energy development. Influenced by Enlightenment ideals, the Americas and Europe experienced a period of political revolutions known as the Age of Revolution. The Napoleonic Wars raged through Europe in the early 1800s, Spain lost most of its colonies in the New World, while Europeans continued expansion into Africa – where European control went from 10% to almost 90% in less than 50 years – and Oceania. In the 19th century, the British Empire expanded to become the world's largest empire.
A tenuous balance of power among European nations collapsed in 1914 with the outbreak of the First World War, one of the deadliest conflicts in history. In the 1930s, a worldwide economic crisis led to the rise of authoritarian regimes and a Second World War, involving almost all of the world's countries. The war's destruction led to the collapse of most global empires, leading to widespread decolonization.
Following the conclusion of the Second World War in 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the remaining global superpowers. This led to a Cold War that saw a struggle for global influence, including a nuclear arms race and a space race, ending in the collapse of the Soviet Union. The current Information Age, spurred by the development of the Internet and artificial intelligence systems, sees the world becoming increasingly globalized and interconnected.
## Habitat and population
| World population | 8.2 billion |
|---|---|
| Population density | 2 (41/sq mi) by total area2 (142/sq mi) by land area |
| Largest cities | Tokyo, Delhi, Shanghai, São Paulo, Mexico City, Cairo, Mumbai, Beijing, Dhaka, Osaka |
Early human settlements were dependent on proximity to water and – depending on the lifestyle – other natural resources used for subsistence, such as populations of animal prey for hunting and arable land for growing crops and grazing livestock. Modern humans, however, have a great capacity for altering their habitats by means of technology, irrigation, urban planning, construction, deforestation and desertification. Human settlements continue to be vulnerable to natural disasters, especially those placed in hazardous locations and with low quality of construction. Grouping and deliberate habitat alteration is often done with the goals of providing protection, accumulating comforts or material wealth, expanding the available food, improving aesthetics, increasing knowledge or enhancing the exchange of resources.
Humans are one of the most adaptable species, despite having a low or narrow tolerance for many of the earth's extreme environments. Currently the species is present in all eight biogeographical realms, although their presence in the Antarctic realm is very limited to research stations and annually there is a population decline in the winter months of this realm. Humans established nation-states in the other seven realms, such as South Africa, India, Russia, Australia, Fiji, the United States, and Brazil (each located in a different biogeographical realm).
Within the last century, humans have also explored the deep sea and outer space. Human habitation within these hostile environments is restrictive and expensive, typically limited in duration, and restricted to scientific, military, or industrial expeditions. Humans have visited the Moon and made their presence known on other celestial bodies through human-made robotic spacecraft. Since 2000, there has been continuous human presence in space through habitation on the International Space Station.
By using advanced tools and clothing, humans have been able to extend their tolerance to a wide variety of temperatures, humidities, and altitudes. As a result, humans are a cosmopolitan species found in almost all regions of the world, including tropical rainforest, arid desert, extremely cold arctic regions, and heavily polluted cities; in comparison, most other species are confined to a few geographical areas by their limited adaptability. The human population is not, however, uniformly distributed on the Earth's surface, because the population density varies from one region to another, and large stretches of surface are almost completely uninhabited, like Antarctica and vast swathes of the ocean. Most humans (61%) live in Asia; the remainder live in the Americas (14%), Africa (14%), Europe (11%), and Oceania (0.5%).
Estimates of the population at the time agriculture emerged in around 10,000 BC have ranged between 1 million and 15 million. Around 50–60 million people lived in the combined eastern and western Roman Empire in the 4th century AD. Bubonic plagues, first recorded in the 6th century AD, reduced the population by 50%, with the Black Death killing 75–200 million people in Eurasia and North Africa alone. Human population is believed to have reached one billion in 1800. It has since then increased exponentially, reaching two billion in 1930 and three billion in 1960, four in 1975, five in 1987 and six billion in 1999. It passed seven billion in 2011 and passed eight billion in November 2022. It took over two million years of human prehistory and history for the human population to reach one billion and only 207 years more to grow to 7 billion. The combined biomass of the carbon of all the humans on Earth in 2018 was estimated at 60 million tons, about 10 times larger than that of all non-domesticated mammals.
In 2018, 4.2 billion humans (55%) lived in urban areas, up from 751 million in 1950. The most urbanized regions are Northern America (82%), Latin America (81%), Europe (74%) and Oceania (68%), with Africa and Asia having nearly 90% of the world's 3.4 billion rural population. Problems for humans living in cities include various forms of pollution and crime, especially in inner city and suburban slums.
## Biology
### Anatomy and physiology
Most aspects of human physiology are closely homologous to corresponding aspects of animal physiology. The dental formula of humans is: 2.1.2.3. Humans have proportionately shorter palates and much smaller teeth than other primates. They are the only primates to have short, relatively flush canine teeth. Humans have characteristically crowded teeth, with gaps from lost teeth usually closing up quickly in young individuals. Humans are gradually losing their third molars, with some individuals having them congenitally absent.
Humans share with chimpanzees a vestigial tail, appendix, flexible shoulder joints, grasping fingers and opposable thumbs. Humans also have a more barrel-shaped chest in contrast to the funnel shape of other apes, an adaptation for bipedal respiration. Apart from bipedalism and brain size, humans differ from chimpanzees mostly in smelling, hearing and digesting proteins. While humans have a density of hair follicles comparable to other apes, it is predominantly vellus hair, most of which is so short and wispy as to be practically invisible. Humans have about 2 million sweat glands spread over their entire bodies, many more than chimpanzees, whose sweat glands are scarce and are mainly located on the palm of the hand and on the soles of the feet.
It is estimated that the worldwide average height for an adult human male is about 171 cm (5 ft 7 in), while the worldwide average height for adult human females is about 159 cm (5 ft 3 in). Shrinkage of stature may begin in middle age in some individuals but tends to be typical in the extremely aged. Throughout history, human populations have universally become taller, probably as a consequence of better nutrition, healthcare, and living conditions. The average mass of an adult human is 59 kg (130 lb) for females and 77 kg (170 lb) for males. Like many other conditions, body weight and body type are influenced by both genetic susceptibility and environment and varies greatly among individuals.
Humans have a far faster and more accurate throw than other animals. Humans are also among the best long-distance runners in the animal kingdom, but slower over short distances. Humans' thinner body hair and more productive sweat glands help avoid heat exhaustion while running for long distances. Compared to other apes, the human heart produces greater stroke volume and cardiac output and the aorta is proportionately larger.
### Genetics
Like most animals, humans are a diploid and eukaryotic species. Each somatic cell has two sets of 23 chromosomes, each set received from one parent; gametes have only one set of chromosomes, which is a mixture of the two parental sets. Among the 23 pairs of chromosomes, there are 22 pairs of autosomes and one pair of sex chromosomes. Like other mammals, humans have an XY sex-determination system, so that females have the sex chromosomes XX and males have XY. Genes and environment influence human biological variation in visible characteristics, physiology, disease susceptibility and mental abilities. The exact influence of genes and environment on certain traits is not well understood.
While no humans – not even monozygotic twins – are genetically identical, two humans on average will have a genetic similarity of 99.5%-99.9%. This makes them more homogeneous than other great apes, including chimpanzees. This small variation in human DNA compared to many other species suggests a population bottleneck during the Late Pleistocene (around 100,000 years ago), in which the human population was reduced to a small number of breeding pairs. The forces of natural selection have continued to operate on human populations, with evidence that certain regions of the genome display directional selection in the past 15,000 years.
The human genome was first sequenced in 2001 and by 2020 hundreds of thousands of genomes had been sequenced. In 2012 the International HapMap Project had compared the genomes of 1,184 individuals from 11 populations and identified 1.6 million single nucleotide polymorphisms. African populations harbor the highest number of private genetic variants. While many of the common variants found in populations outside of Africa are also found on the African continent, there are still large numbers that are private to these regions, especially Oceania and the Americas. By 2010 estimates, humans have approximately 22,000 genes. By comparing mitochondrial DNA, which is inherited only from the mother, geneticists have concluded that the last female common ancestor whose genetic marker is found in all modern humans, the so-called mitochondrial Eve, must have lived around 90,000 to 200,000 years ago.
### Life cycle
Most human reproduction takes place by internal fertilization via sexual intercourse, but can also occur through assisted reproductive technology procedures. The average gestation period is 38 weeks, but a normal pregnancy can vary by up to 37 days. Embryonic development in the human covers the first eight weeks of development; at the beginning of the ninth week the embryo is termed a fetus. Humans are able to induce early labor or perform a caesarean section if the child needs to be born earlier for medical reasons. In developed countries, infants are typically 3–4 kg (7–9 lb) in weight and 47–53 cm (19–21 in) in height at birth. However, low birth weight is common in developing countries, and contributes to the high levels of infant mortality in these regions.
Compared with other species, human childbirth is dangerous, with a much higher risk of complications and death. The size of the fetus's head is more closely matched to the pelvis than in other primates. The reason for this is not completely understood, but it contributes to a painful labor that can last 24 hours or more. The chances of a successful labor increased significantly during the 20th century in wealthier countries with the advent of new medical technologies. In contrast, pregnancy and natural childbirth remain hazardous ordeals in developing regions of the world, with maternal death rates approximately 100 times greater than in developed countries.
Both the mother and the father provide care for human offspring, in contrast to other primates, where parental care is mostly done by the mother. Helpless at birth, humans continue to grow for some years, typically reaching sexual maturity at 15 to 17 years of age. The human life span has been split into various stages ranging from three to twelve. Common stages include infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. The lengths of these stages have varied across cultures and time periods but is typified by an unusually rapid growth spurt during adolescence. Human females undergo menopause and become infertile at around the age of 50. It has been proposed that menopause increases a woman's overall reproductive success by allowing her to invest more time and resources in her existing offspring, and in turn their children (the grandmother hypothesis), rather than by continuing to bear children into old age.
The life span of an individual depends on two major factors, genetics and lifestyle choices. For various reasons, including biological/genetic causes, women live on average about four years longer than men. As of 2018[update], the global average life expectancy at birth of a girl is estimated to be 74.9 years compared to 70.4 for a boy. There are significant geographical variations in human life expectancy, mostly correlated with economic development – for example, life expectancy at birth in Hong Kong is 87.6 years for girls and 81.8 for boys, while in the Central African Republic, it is 55.0 years for girls and 50.6 for boys. The developed world is generally aging, with the median age around 40 years. In the developing world, the median age is between 15 and 20 years. While one in five Europeans is 60 years of age or older, only one in twenty Africans is 60 years of age or older. In 2012, the United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centenarians (humans of age 100 or older) worldwide.
| Infant boy and girl | Boy and girl before puberty (children) | Adolescent male and female | Adult man and woman | Elderly man and woman |
|---|
### Diet
Humans are omnivorous, capable of consuming a wide variety of plant and animal material. Human groups have adopted a range of diets from purely vegan to primarily carnivorous. In some cases, dietary restrictions in humans can lead to deficiency diseases; however, stable human groups have adapted to many dietary patterns through both genetic specialization and cultural conventions to use nutritionally balanced food sources. The human diet is prominently reflected in human culture and has led to the development of food science.
Until the development of agriculture, *Homo sapiens* employed a hunter-gatherer method as their sole means of food collection. This involved combining stationary food sources (such as fruits, grains, tubers, and mushrooms, insect larvae and aquatic mollusks) with wild game, which must be hunted and captured in order to be consumed. It has been proposed that humans have used fire to prepare and cook food since the time of *Homo erectus*. Human domestication of wild plants began about 11,700 years ago, leading to the development of agriculture, a gradual process called the Neolithic Revolution. These dietary changes may also have altered human biology; the spread of dairy farming provided a new and rich source of food, leading to the evolution of the ability to digest lactose in some adults. The types of food consumed, and how they are prepared, have varied widely by time, location, and culture.
In general, humans can survive for up to eight weeks without food, depending on stored body fat. Survival without water is usually limited to three or four days, with a maximum of one week. In 2020, it was estimated 9 million humans die every year from causes directly or indirectly related to starvation. Childhood malnutrition is also common and contributes to the global burden of disease. However, global food distribution is not even, and obesity among some human populations has increased rapidly, leading to health complications and increased mortality in some developed and a few developing countries. Worldwide, over one billion people are obese, while in the United States 35% of people are obese, leading to this being described as an "obesity epidemic." Obesity is caused by consuming more calories than are expended, so excessive weight gain is usually caused by an energy-dense diet.
### Biological variation
There is biological variation in the human species – with traits such as blood type, genetic diseases, cranial features, facial features, organ systems, eye color, hair color and texture, height and build, and skin color varying across the globe. The typical height of an adult human is between 1.4 and 1.9 m (4 ft 7 in and 6 ft 3 in), although this varies significantly depending on sex, ethnic origin, and family bloodlines. Body size is partly determined by genes and is also significantly influenced by environmental factors such as diet, exercise, and sleep patterns.
There is evidence that populations have adapted genetically to various external factors. The genes that allow adult humans to digest lactose are present in high frequencies in populations that have long histories of cattle domestication and are more dependent on cow milk. Sickle cell anemia, which may provide increased resistance to malaria, is frequent in populations where malaria is endemic. Populations that have for a very long time inhabited specific climates tend to have developed specific phenotypes that are beneficial for those environments – short stature and stocky build in cold regions, tall and lanky in hot regions, and with high lung capacities or other adaptations at high altitudes. Some populations have evolved highly unique adaptations to very specific environmental conditions, such as those advantageous to ocean-dwelling lifestyles and freediving in the Bajau.
Human hair ranges in color from red to blond to brown to black, which is the most frequent. Hair color depends on the amount of melanin, with concentrations fading with increased age, leading to grey or even white hair. Skin color can range from darkest brown to lightest peach, or even nearly white or colorless in cases of albinism. It tends to vary clinally and generally correlates with the level of ultraviolet radiation in a particular geographic area, with darker skin mostly around the equator. Skin darkening may have evolved as protection against ultraviolet solar radiation. Light skin pigmentation protects against depletion of vitamin D, which requires sunlight to make. Human skin also has a capacity to darken (tan) in response to exposure to ultraviolet radiation.
There is relatively little variation between human geographical populations, and most of the variation that occurs is at the individual level. Much of human variation is continuous, often with no clear points of demarcation. Genetic data shows that no matter how population groups are defined, two people from the same population group are almost as different from each other as two people from any two different population groups. Dark-skinned populations that are found in Africa, Australia, and South Asia are not closely related to each other.
Genetic research has demonstrated that human populations native to the African continent are the most genetically diverse and genetic diversity decreases with migratory distance from Africa, possibly the result of bottlenecks during human migration. These non-African populations acquired new genetic inputs from local admixture with archaic populations and have much greater variation from Neanderthals and Denisovans than is found in Africa, though Neanderthal admixture into African populations may be underestimated. Furthermore, recent studies have found that populations in sub-Saharan Africa, and particularly West Africa, have ancestral genetic variation which predates modern humans and has been lost in most non-African populations. Some of this ancestry is thought to originate from admixture with an unknown archaic hominin that diverged before the split of Neanderthals and modern humans.
Humans are a gonochoric species, meaning they are divided into male and female sexes. The greatest degree of genetic variation exists between males and females. While the nucleotide genetic variation of individuals of the same sex across global populations is no greater than 0.1%–0.5%, the genetic difference between males and females is between 1% and 2%. Males on average are 15% heavier and 15 cm (6 in) taller than females. On average, men have about 40–50% more upper-body strength and 20–30% more lower-body strength than women at the same weight, due to higher amounts of muscle and larger muscle fibers. Women generally have a higher body fat percentage than men. Women have lighter skin than men of the same population; this has been explained by a higher need for vitamin D in females during pregnancy and lactation. As there are chromosomal differences between females and males, some X and Y chromosome-related conditions and disorders only affect either men or women. After allowing for body weight and volume, the male voice is usually an octave deeper than the female voice. Women have a longer life span in almost every population around the world. There are intersex conditions in the human population, however these are rare.
## Psychology
The human brain, the focal point of the central nervous system in humans, controls the peripheral nervous system. In addition to controlling "lower", involuntary, or primarily autonomic activities such as respiration and digestion, it is also the locus of "higher" order functioning such as thought, reasoning, and abstraction. These cognitive processes constitute the mind, and, along with their behavioral consequences, are studied in the field of psychology.
Humans have a larger and more developed prefrontal cortex than other primates, the region of the brain associated with higher cognition. This has led humans to proclaim themselves to be more intelligent than any other known species. Objectively defining intelligence is difficult, with other animals adapting senses and excelling in areas that humans are unable to.
There are some traits that, although not strictly unique, do set humans apart from other animals. Humans may be the only animals who have episodic memory and who can engage in "mental time travel". Even compared with other social animals, humans have an unusually high degree of flexibility in their facial expressions. Humans are the only animals known to cry emotional tears. Humans are one of the few animals able to self-recognize in mirror tests and there is also debate over to what extent humans are the only animals with a theory of mind.
### Sleep and dreaming
Humans are generally diurnal. The average sleep requirement is between seven and nine hours per day for an adult and nine to ten hours per day for a child; elderly people usually sleep for six to seven hours. Having less sleep than this is common among humans, even though sleep deprivation can have negative health effects. A sustained restriction of adult sleep to four hours per day has been shown to correlate with changes in physiology and mental state, including reduced memory, fatigue, aggression, and bodily discomfort.
During sleep humans dream, where they experience sensory images and sounds. Dreaming is stimulated by the pons and mostly occurs during the REM phase of sleep. The length of a dream can vary, from a few seconds up to 30 minutes. Humans have three to five dreams per night, and some may have up to seven. Dreamers are more likely to remember the dream if awakened during the REM phase. The events in dreams are generally outside the control of the dreamer, with the exception of lucid dreaming, where the dreamer is self-aware. Dreams can at times make a creative thought occur or give a sense of inspiration.
### Consciousness and thought
Human consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience or awareness of internal or external existence. Despite centuries of analyses, definitions, explanations and debates by philosophers and scientists, consciousness remains puzzling and controversial, being "at once the most familiar and most mysterious aspect of our lives". The only widely agreed notion about the topic is the intuition that it exists. Opinions differ about what exactly needs to be studied and explained as consciousness. Some philosophers divide consciousness into phenomenal consciousness, which is sensory experience itself, and access consciousness, which can be used for reasoning or directly controlling actions. It is sometimes synonymous with 'the mind', and at other times, an aspect of it. Historically it is associated with introspection, private thought, imagination and volition. It now often includes some kind of experience, cognition, feeling or perception. It may be 'awareness', or 'awareness of awareness', or self-awareness. There might be different levels or orders of consciousness, or different kinds of consciousness, or just one kind with different features.
The process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses is known as cognition. The human brain perceives the external world through the senses, and each individual human is influenced greatly by his or her experiences, leading to subjective views of existence and the passage of time. The nature of thought is central to psychology and related fields. Cognitive psychology studies cognition, the mental processes underlying behavior. Largely focusing on the development of the human mind through the life span, developmental psychology seeks to understand how people come to perceive, understand, and act within the world and how these processes change as they age. This may focus on intellectual, cognitive, neural, social, or moral development. Psychologists have developed intelligence tests and the concept of intelligence quotient in order to assess the relative intelligence of human beings and study its distribution among population.
### Motivation and emotion
Human motivation is not yet wholly understood. From a psychological perspective, Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a well-established theory that can be defined as the process of satisfying certain needs in ascending order of complexity. From a more general, philosophical perspective, human motivation can be defined as a commitment to, or withdrawal from, various goals requiring the application of human ability. Furthermore, incentive and preference are both factors, as are any perceived links between incentives and preferences. Volition may also be involved, in which case willpower is also a factor. Ideally, both motivation and volition ensure the selection, striving for, and realization of goals in an optimal manner, a function beginning in childhood and continuing throughout a lifetime in a process known as socialization.
Emotions are biological states associated with the nervous system brought on by neurophysiological changes variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. They are often intertwined with mood, temperament, personality, disposition, creativity, and motivation. Emotion has a significant influence on human behavior and their ability to learn. Acting on extreme or uncontrolled emotions can lead to social disorder and crime, with studies showing criminals may have a lower emotional intelligence than normal.
Emotional experiences perceived as pleasant, such as joy, interest or contentment, contrast with those perceived as unpleasant, like anxiety, sadness, anger, and despair. Happiness, or the state of being happy, is a human emotional condition. The definition of happiness is a common philosophical topic. Some define it as experiencing the feeling of positive emotional affects, while avoiding the negative ones. Others see it as an appraisal of life satisfaction or quality of life. Recent research suggests that being happy might involve experiencing some negative emotions when humans feel they are warranted.
### Sexuality and love
For humans, sexuality involves biological, erotic, physical, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied with historical contexts over time, it lacks a precise definition. The biological and physical aspects of sexuality largely concern the human reproductive functions, including the human sexual response cycle. Sexuality also affects and is affected by cultural, political, legal, philosophical, moral, ethical, and religious aspects of life. Sexual desire, or *libido*, is a basic mental state present at the beginning of sexual behavior. Studies show that men desire sex more than women and masturbate more often.
Humans can fall anywhere along a continuous scale of sexual orientation, although most humans are heterosexual. While homosexual behavior occurs in some other animals, only humans and domestic sheep have so far been found to exhibit exclusive preference for same-sex relationships. Most evidence supports nonsocial, biological causes of sexual orientation, as cultures that are very tolerant of homosexuality do not have significantly higher rates of it. Research in neuroscience and genetics suggests that other aspects of human sexuality are biologically influenced as well.
Love most commonly refers to a feeling of strong attraction or emotional attachment. It can be impersonal (the love of an object, ideal, or strong political or spiritual connection) or interpersonal (love between humans). When in love dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin and other chemicals stimulate the brain's pleasure center, leading to side effects such as increased heart rate, loss of appetite and sleep, and an intense feeling of excitement.
## Culture
| Most widely spoken languages | English, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, Standard Arabic, Bengali, French, Russian, Portuguese, Urdu |
|---|---|
| Most practiced religions | Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, folk religions, Sikhism, Judaism, unaffiliated |
Humanity's unprecedented set of intellectual skills were a key factor in the species' eventual technological advancement and concomitant domination of the biosphere. Disregarding extinct hominids, humans are the only animals known to teach generalizable information, innately deploy recursive embedding to generate and communicate complex concepts, engage in the "folk physics" required for competent tool design, or cook food in the wild. Teaching and learning preserves the cultural and ethnographic identity of human societies. Other traits and behaviors that are mostly unique to humans include starting fires, phoneme structuring and vocal learning.
### Language
While many species communicate, language is unique to humans, a defining feature of humanity, and a cultural universal. Unlike the limited systems of other animals, human language is open – an infinite number of meanings can be produced by combining a limited number of symbols. Human language also has the capacity of displacement, using words to represent things and happenings that are not presently or locally occurring but reside in the shared imagination of interlocutors.
Language differs from other forms of communication in that it is modality independent; the same meanings can be conveyed through different media, audibly in speech, visually by sign language or writing, and through tactile media such as braille. Language is central to the communication between humans, and to the sense of identity that unites nations, cultures and ethnic groups. There are approximately six thousand different languages currently in use, including sign languages, and many thousands more that are extinct.
### The arts
Human arts can take many forms including visual, literary, and performing. Visual art can range from paintings and sculptures to film, fashion design, and architecture. Literary arts can include prose, poetry, and dramas. The performing arts generally involve theatre, music, and dance. Humans often combine the different forms (for example, music videos). Other entities that have been described as having artistic qualities include food preparation, video games, and medicine. As well as providing entertainment and transferring knowledge, the arts are also used for political purposes.
Art is a defining characteristic of humans and there is evidence for a relationship between creativity and language. The earliest evidence of art was shell engravings made by *Homo erectus* 300,000 years before modern humans evolved. Art attributed to *H. sapiens* existed at least 75,000 years ago, with jewellery and drawings found in caves in South Africa. There are various hypotheses as to why humans have adapted to the arts. These include allowing them to better problem solve issues, providing a means to control or influence other humans, encouraging cooperation and contribution within a society or increasing the chance of attracting a potential mate. The use of imagination developed through art, combined with logic may have given early humans an evolutionary advantage.
Evidence of humans engaging in musical activities predates cave art and so far music has been practiced by virtually all known human cultures. There exists a wide variety of music genres and ethnic musics; with humans' musical abilities being related to other abilities, including complex social human behaviours. It has been shown that human brains respond to music by becoming synchronized with the rhythm and beat, a process called entrainment. Dance is also a form of human expression found in all cultures and may have evolved as a way to help early humans communicate. Listening to music and observing dance stimulates the orbitofrontal cortex and other pleasure sensing areas of the brain.
Unlike speaking, reading and writing does not come naturally to humans and must be taught. Still, literature has been present before the invention of words and language, with 30,000-year-old paintings on walls inside some caves portraying a series of dramatic scenes. One of the oldest surviving works of literature is the *Epic of Gilgamesh*, first engraved on ancient Babylonian tablets about 4,000 years ago. Beyond simply passing down knowledge, the use and sharing of imaginative fiction through stories might have helped develop humans' capabilities for communication and increased the likelihood of securing a mate. Storytelling may also be used as a way to provide the audience with moral lessons and encourage cooperation.
### Sport
The history of sports extends back to the Ancient world in 7000 BC. The physical activity that developed into sports had early links with warfare and entertainment.
Study of the history of sport can teach lessons about social changes and about the nature of sport itself, as sport seems involved in the development of basic human skills (compare play).[As one delves further back in history, dwindling evidence makes theories of the origins and purposes of sport more and more difficult to support.
*citation needed*]### Tools and technologies
Stone tools were used by proto-humans at least 2.5 million years ago. The use and manufacture of tools has been put forward as the ability that defines humans more than anything else and has historically been seen as an important evolutionary step. The technology became much more sophisticated about 1.8 million years ago, with the controlled use of fire beginning around 1 million years ago. The wheel and wheeled vehicles appeared simultaneously in several regions some time in the fourth millennium BC. The development of more complex tools and technologies allowed land to be cultivated and animals to be domesticated, thus proving essential in the development of agriculture – what is known as the Neolithic Revolution.
China developed paper, the printing press, gunpowder, the compass and other important inventions. The continued improvements in smelting allowed forging of copper, bronze, iron and eventually steel, which is used in railways, skyscrapers and many other products. This coincided with the Industrial Revolution, where the invention of automated machines brought major changes to humans' lifestyles. Modern technology is observed as progressing exponentially, with major innovations in the 20th century including: electricity, penicillin, semiconductors, internal combustion engines, the Internet, nitrogen fixing fertilizers, airplanes, computers, automobiles, contraceptive pills, nuclear fission, the green revolution, radio, scientific plant breeding, rockets, air conditioning, television and the assembly line.
### Religion and spirituality
Definitions of religion vary; according to one definition, a religion is a belief system concerning the supernatural, sacred or divine, and practices, values, institutions and rituals associated with such belief. Some religions also have a moral code. The evolution and the history of the first religions have become areas of active scientific investigation. Credible evidence of religious behaviour dates to the Middle Paleolithic era (45–200 thousand years ago). It may have evolved to play a role in helping enforce and encourage cooperation between humans.
Religion manifests in diverse forms. Religion can include a belief in life after death, the origin of life, the nature of the universe (religious cosmology) and its ultimate fate (eschatology), and moral or ethical teachings. Views on transcendence and immanence vary substantially; traditions variously espouse monism, deism, pantheism, and theism (including polytheism and monotheism).
Although measuring religiosity is difficult, a majority of humans profess some variety of religious or spiritual belief. In 2015 the plurality were Christian followed by Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists. As of 2015, about 16%, or slightly under 1.2 billion humans, were irreligious, including those with no religious beliefs or no identity with any religion.
### Science and philosophy
An aspect unique to humans is their ability to transmit knowledge from one generation to the next and to continually build on this information to develop tools, scientific laws and other advances to pass on further. This accumulated knowledge can be tested to answer questions or make predictions about how the universe functions and has been very successful in advancing human ascendancy.
Aristotle has been described as the first scientist, and preceded the rise of scientific thought through the Hellenistic period. Other early advances in science came from the Han dynasty in China and during the Islamic Golden Age. The scientific revolution, near the end of the Renaissance, led to the emergence of modern science.
A chain of events and influences led to the development of the scientific method, a process of observation and experimentation that is used to differentiate science from pseudoscience. An understanding of mathematics is unique to humans, although other species of animals have some numerical cognition. All of science can be divided into three major branches, the formal sciences (e.g., logic and mathematics), which are concerned with formal systems, the applied sciences (e.g., engineering, medicine), which are focused on practical applications, and the empirical sciences, which are based on empirical observation and are in turn divided into natural sciences (e.g., physics, chemistry, biology) and social sciences (e.g., psychology, economics, sociology).
Philosophy is a field of study where humans seek to understand fundamental truths about themselves and the world in which they live. Philosophical inquiry has been a major feature in the development of humans' intellectual history. It has been described as the "no man's land" between definitive scientific knowledge and dogmatic religious teachings. Major fields of philosophy include metaphysics, epistemology, logic, and axiology (which includes ethics and aesthetics).
## Society
Society is the system of organizations and institutions arising from interaction between humans. Humans are highly social and tend to live in large complex social groups. They can be divided into different groups according to their income, wealth, power, reputation and other factors. The structure of social stratification and the degree of social mobility differs, especially between modern and traditional societies. Human groups range from the size of families to nations. The first form of human social organization is thought to have resembled hunter-gatherer band societies.
### Gender
Human societies typically exhibit gender identities and gender roles that distinguish between masculine and feminine characteristics and prescribe the range of acceptable behaviours and attitudes for their members based on their sex. The most common categorisation is a gender binary of men and women. Some societies recognize a third gender, or less commonly a fourth or fifth. In some other societies, non-binary is used as an umbrella term for a range of gender identities that are not solely male or female.
Gender roles are often associated with a division of norms, practices, dress, behavior, rights, duties, privileges, status, and power, with men enjoying more rights and privileges than women in most societies, both today and in the past. As a social construct, gender roles are not fixed and vary historically within a society. Challenges to predominant gender norms have recurred in many societies. Little is known about gender roles in the earliest human societies. Early modern humans probably had a range of gender roles similar to that of modern cultures from at least the Upper Paleolithic, while the Neanderthals were less sexually dimorphic and there is evidence that the behavioural difference between males and females was minimal.
### Kinship
All human societies organize, recognize and classify types of social relationships based on relations between parents, children and other descendants (consanguinity), and relations through marriage (affinity). There is also a third type applied to godparents or adoptive children (fictive). These culturally defined relationships are referred to as kinship. In many societies, it is one of the most important social organizing principles and plays a role in transmitting status and inheritance. All societies have rules of incest taboo, according to which marriage between certain kinds of kin relations is prohibited, and some also have rules of preferential marriage with certain kin relations.
Pair bonding is a ubiquitous feature of human sexual relationships, whether it is manifested as serial monogamy, polygyny, or polyandry. Genetic evidence indicates that humans were predominantly polygynous for most of their existence as a species, but that this began to shift during the Neolithic, when monogamy started becoming widespread concomitantly with the transition from nomadic to sedentary societies. Anatomical evidence in the form of second-to-fourth digit ratios, a biomarker for prenatal androgen effects, likewise indicates modern humans were polygynous during the Pleistocene.
### Ethnicity
Human ethnic groups are a social category that identifies together as a group based on shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. These can be a common set of traditions, ancestry, language, history, society, culture, nation, religion, or social treatment within their residing area. Ethnicity is separate from the concept of race, which is based on physical characteristics, although both are socially constructed. Assigning ethnicity to a certain population is complicated, as even within common ethnic designations there can be a diverse range of subgroups, and the makeup of these ethnic groups can change over time at both the collective and individual level. Also, there is no generally accepted definition of what constitutes an ethnic group. Ethnic groupings can play a powerful role in the social identity and solidarity of ethnopolitical units. This has been closely tied to the rise of the nation state as the predominant form of political organization in the 19th and 20th centuries.
### Government and politics
As farming populations gathered in larger and denser communities, interactions between these different groups increased. This led to the development of governance within and between the communities. Humans have evolved the ability to change affiliation with various social groups relatively easily, including previously strong political alliances, if doing so is seen as providing personal advantages. This cognitive flexibility allows individual humans to change their political ideologies, with those with higher flexibility less likely to support authoritarian and nationalistic stances.
Governments create laws and policies that affect the citizens that they govern. There have been many forms of government throughout human history, each having various means of obtaining power and the ability to exert diverse controls on the population. Approximately 47% of humans live in some form of a democracy, 17% in a hybrid regime, and 37% in an authoritarian regime. Many countries belong to international organizations and alliances; the largest of these is the United Nations, with 193 member states.
### Trade and economics
Trade, the voluntary exchange of goods and services, is seen as a characteristic that differentiates humans from other animals and has been cited as a practice that gave *Homo sapiens* a major advantage over other hominids. Evidence suggests early *H. sapiens* made use of long-distance trade routes to exchange goods and ideas, leading to cultural explosions and providing additional food sources when hunting was sparse, while such trade networks did not exist for the now extinct Neanderthals. Early trade likely involved materials for creating tools like obsidian. The first truly international trade routes were around the spice trade through the Roman and medieval periods.
Early human economies were more likely to be based around gift giving instead of a bartering system. Early money consisted of commodities; the oldest being in the form of cattle and the most widely used being cowrie shells. Money has since evolved into governmental issued coins, paper and electronic money. Human study of economics is a social science that looks at how societies distribute scarce resources among different people. There are massive inequalities in the division of wealth among humans; the eight richest humans are worth the same monetary value as the poorest half of all the human population.
### Conflict
Humans commit violence on other humans at a rate comparable to other primates, but have an increased preference for killing adults, infanticide being more common among other primates. Phylogenetic analysis predicts that 2% of early *H. sapiens* would be murdered, rising to 12% during the medieval period, before dropping to below 2% in modern times. There is great variation in violence between human populations, with rates of homicide about 0.01% in societies that have legal systems and strong cultural attitudes against violence.
The willingness of humans to kill other members of their species en masse through organized conflict (i.e., war) has long been the subject of debate. One school of thought holds that war evolved as a means to eliminate competitors, and has always been an innate human characteristic. Another suggests that war is a relatively recent phenomenon and has appeared due to changing social conditions. While not settled, current evidence indicates warlike predispositions only became common about 10,000 years ago, and in many places much more recently than that. War has had a high cost on human life; it is estimated that during the 20th century, between 167 million and 188 million people died as a result of war. War casualty data is less reliable for pre-medieval times, especially global figures. But compared with any period over the past 600 years, the last ~80 years (post 1946), has seen a very significant drop in global military and civilian death rates due to armed conflict.
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# Kit (association football) - Wikipedia
In association football, **kit** (also referred to as a **strip** or **uniform**) is the standard equipment and attire worn by players. The sport's rules specify the minimum kit which a player must use, and also prohibit the use of anything that is dangerous to either the player or another participant. Individual competitions may stipulate further restrictions, such as regulating the size of logos displayed on shirts and stating that, in the event of a match between teams with identical or similar colours, one team (usually the away team) must change to different coloured attire, to avoid clashes.
Footballers generally wear identifying numbers on the backs of their shirts. Originally a team of players wore numbers from 1 to 11, corresponding roughly to their playing positions, but at the professional level this has generally been superseded by squad numbering, whereby each player in a squad is allocated a fixed number for the duration of a season. Professional clubs also usually display players' surnames or nicknames on their shirts, above (or, infrequently, below) their squad numbers.
Football kit has evolved significantly since the early days of the sport when players typically wore thick cotton shirts, knickerbockers and heavy rigid leather boots. In the twentieth century, boots became lighter and softer, shorts were worn at a shorter length, and advances in clothing manufacture and printing allowed shirts to be made in lighter synthetic fibres with increasingly colourful and complex designs. With the rise of advertising in the 20th century, sponsors' logos began to appear on shirts, and replica strips were made available for fans to purchase, generating significant amounts of revenue for clubs.
The rules set out the basic equipment which must be worn by all players in Law 4 (Players' Equipment). Five separate items are specified: shirt (also known as a jersey), shorts, socks (also known as stockings), footwear and shin pads. Goalkeepers are allowed to wear tracksuit bottoms instead of shorts.
While most players wear studded football boots ("soccer shoes" or "cleats" in North America), the Laws do not specify that these are required. Shirts must have sleeves (both short and long sleeves are accepted), and goalkeepers must wear shirts which are easily distinguishable from all other players and the match officials. Thermal undershorts may be worn, but must be the same colour as the shorts themselves. Shin pads must be covered entirely by the stockings, be made of rubber, plastic or a similar material, and "provide a reasonable degree of protection". The only other restriction on equipment defined is the requirement that a player must not use equipment or wear anything deemed dangerous to himself or another player.
It is normal for individual competitions to specify that all outfield players on a team must wear the same colours, though the Law states only "The two teams must wear colours that distinguish them from each other and also the referee and the assistant referees". In the event of a match between teams who would normally wear identical or similar colours the away team must change to a different colour. Because of this requirement a team's second-choice is often referred to as its "away kit" or "away colours", although it is not unknown, especially at international level, for teams to opt to wear their away colours even when not required to by a clash of colours, or to wear them when they are the home team. The England national team sometimes plays in red shirts even when their white standard kit does not clash with their opponent, as this was the strip worn when the team won the 1966 FIFA World Cup. In some cases both teams have been forced (or chose) to wear their second choice away kits; such as the match between Netherlands and Brazil in the 1974 FIFA World Cup where they wore white and dark blue rather than their first choice of orange and yellow, respectively; and the match between Netherlands and Spain in the 2014 FIFA World Cup where they wore dark blue and white rather than their home colors of orange and red, respectively. Many professional clubs also have a "third kit", ostensibly to be used if both their first-choice and away colours are deemed too similar to those of an opponent.
Most professional clubs have retained the same basic colour scheme for several decades, and the colours themselves form an integral part of a club's culture. Teams representing countries in international competition generally wear national colours in common with other sporting teams of the same nation. These are usually based on the colours of the country's national flag, although there are exceptions—the Italy national team, for example, wear blue as it was the colour of the House of Savoy, the Australian team like most Australian sporting teams wear the Australian National Colours of green and gold, neither of which appear on the flag, and the Dutch national team wear orange, the colour of the Dutch Royal House.
Shirts are normally made of a polyester mesh, which does not trap the sweat and body heat in the same way as a shirt made of a natural fibre. Most professional clubs have sponsors' logos on the front of their shirts, which can generate significant levels of income, and some also offer sponsors the chance to place their logos on the back of their shirts. Depending on local rules, there may be restrictions on how large these logos may be or on what logos may be displayed. Competitions such as the Premier League may also require players to wear patches on their sleeves depicting the logo of the competition. A player's number is usually printed on the back of the shirt, although international teams often also place numbers on the front, and professional teams generally print a player's surname above their number. The captain of each team is usually required to wear an elasticated armband around the left sleeve to identify them as the captain to the referee and supporters.
Most current players wear specialist football boots, which can be made either of leather or a synthetic material. Modern boots are cut slightly below the ankles, as opposed to the high-ankled boots used in former times, and have studs attached to the soles. Studs may be either moulded directly to the sole or be detachable, normally by means of a screw thread. Modern boots such as the Adidas Predator, originally designed by former Liverpool player Craig Johnston, feature increasingly intricate, scientifically aided designs and features such as air pockets in the soles and rubber "blades" on the sole rather than studs. The blades have been the subject of controversy as several top managers have blamed them for injuries both to opposition players and to the wearers themselves.
The rules specify that all players, regardless of gender, must wear the same kit, however in September 2008 the Dutch women's team FC de Rakt made international headlines by swapping its old strip for a new one featuring short skirts and tight-fitting shirts. This innovation, which had been requested by the team itself, was initially vetoed by the KNVB, Dutch football's governing body, but this decision was reversed when it was revealed that the FC de Rakt team were wearing hot pants (very short shorts) under their skirts, and were therefore technically in compliance.
All players are permitted to wear gloves, and goalkeepers usually wear specialist goalkeeping gloves. Prior to the 1970s gloves were rarely worn, but it is now extremely unusual to see a goalkeeper without gloves. In Portugal's match against England in the Euro 2004 tournament, Ricardo drew much comment for deciding to remove his gloves during the penalty shoot-out. Since the 1980s significant advancements have been made in the design of gloves, which now feature protectors to prevent the fingers bending backwards, segmentation to allow greater flexibility, and palms made of materials designed to protect the hand and to enhance a player's grip. Gloves are available in a variety of different cuts, including "flat palm", "roll finger" and "negative", with variations in the stitching and fit. Goalkeepers sometimes also wear caps to prevent glare from the sun or floodlights affecting their performance. Players with sight problems may wear glasses as long as there is no risk of them falling off or breaking and thereby becoming dangerous. Most players affected choose to wear contact lenses, although Dutch player Edgar Davids, unable to wear contact lenses due to glaucoma, was known for his distinctive wraparound goggles. Other items that may be dangerous to other players, such as jewellery, however, are not allowed. Players may also choose to wear headgear to protect themselves from head injury, or to prevent further such injuries, such as Petr Čech and Cristian Chivu's use of rugby helmets, as long as it presents no risk to the safety of the wearer or any other player.
Referees, assistant referees and fourth officials wear kits of a similar style to that worn by players; until the 1950s it was more common for a referee to wear a blazer than a jersey. Officials wear shirts of a different colour to those worn by the two teams and their goalkeepers. Black is the traditional colour worn by officials, and "the man in black" is widely used as an informal term for a referee, although increasingly other colours are being used in the modern era to minimise colour clashes. The 1994 World Cup was the first in which FIFA dispensed with black kits for officials. Referees also sometimes have sponsors' logos on their shirts, although these are normally confined to the sleeves.
The first written evidence of a clothing item specifically dedicated to football comes in 1526, from the Great Wardrobe of King Henry VIII of England, which included a reference to a pair of football boots. The earliest evidence of coloured shirts used to identify football teams comes from early English public school football games, for example an image of Winchester College football from before 1840 is entitled "The commoners have red and the college boys blue jerseys" and such colours are mentioned again in a *Bell's Life in London* article of 1858. House sporting colours are mentioned in Rugby football (rule XXI) as early as 1845: "No player may wear cap or jersey without leave from the head of his house". In 1848, it was noted at Rugby that "considerable improvement has taken place in the last few years, in the appearance of a match... in the use of peculiar dress consisting of velvet caps and jerseys".
Organised association football was first played in England in the 1860s, and many teams would probably play in whatever clothing they had available, with players of the same team distinguishing themselves by wearing coloured caps or sashes. The Sheffield club rules in 1857 required members to acquire one red and one dark blue cap, in order to form teams within the membership for matches, and a report of a match between Sheffield and Hallam & Stumperlow in 1860 refers to the Sheffield side wearing their "usual scarlet and white", and the Hallam players a "blue garment". One report of an 1860 match played to an indeterminate code, between Spalding Football Club and Spalding Victoria, refers to Spalding as the "pinks" and Victoria as the "blues".
Limiting colours simply to caps or sashes proved to be problematic though, and an 1867 handbook of the game suggested that teams should attempt "if it can be previously so arranged, to have one side with striped jerseys of one colour, say red, and the other with another, say blue. This prevents confusion and wild attempts to wrest the ball from your neighbour." The Charles Alcock football yearbooks from 1868 also included return forms which asked club secretaries to include details of club colours.
The first standard strips emerged with the founding of the FA, the Football Association's initial minutes recording some of the club colours, such as the Royal Engineers A.F.C.'s red and blue, and Lincoln's white jerseys with red, white, and blue caps. Many clubs opted for colours associated with the schools or other sporting organisations from which the clubs had emerged. Blackburn Rovers, for example, adopted shirts of a halved design based on those of the team for former pupils of Malvern College, one of the schools where the sport had developed. Their original colours of light blue and white were chosen to reflect an association with Cambridge University, where a number of the club's founders had been educated. Colours and designs often changed dramatically between matches, with Bolton Wanderers turning out in both pink shirts and white shirts with red spots within the same year. Rather than the modern shorts, players wore long knickerbockers or full-length trousers, often with a belt or even braces. Lord Kinnaird, an early star of the game, was noted for always being resplendent in long white trousers. There were no numbers printed on shirts to identify individual players, and the programme for an 1875 match between Queen's Park and Wanderers in Glasgow identifies the players by the colours of their caps or stockings. The first shin pads were worn in 1874 by the Nottingham Forest player Sam Weller Widdowson, who cut down a pair of cricket pads and wore them outside his stockings. Initially the concept was ridiculed but it soon caught on with other players. By the turn of the century pads had become smaller and were being worn inside the stockings.
As the game gradually moved away from being a pursuit for wealthy amateurs to one dominated by working-class professionals, kits changed accordingly. The clubs themselves, rather than individual players, were now responsible for purchasing kit and financial concerns, along with the need for the growing numbers of spectators to easily identify the players, led to the lurid colours of earlier years being abandoned in favour of simple combinations of primary colours. In 1890, the Football League, which had been formed two years earlier, ruled that no two member teams could register similar colours, so as to avoid clashes. This rule was later abandoned in favour of one stipulating that all teams must have a second set of shirts in a different colour available. Initially the home team was required to change colours in the event of a clash, but in 1921 the rule was amended to require the away team to change.
Specialised football boots began to emerge in the professional era, taking the place of everyday shoes or work boots. Players initially simply nailed strips of leather to their boots to enhance their grip, leading the Football Association to rule in 1863 that no nails could project from boots. By the 1880s these crude attachments had become studs. Boots of this era were made of heavy leather, had hard toecaps, and came high above a player's ankles.
As the game began to spread to Europe and beyond, clubs adopted kits similar to those worn in the United Kingdom, and in some cases chose colours directly inspired by British clubs. In 1903, Juventus of Italy adopted a black and white strip inspired by Notts County. Two years later, Argentina's Club Atlético Independiente adopted red shirts after watching Nottingham Forest play.
In 1904, the Football Association dropped its rule that players' knickerbockers must cover their knees and teams began wearing them much shorter. They became known as "knickers", and were referred to by this term until the 1960s when "shorts" became the preferred term. Initially, almost all teams wore knickers of a contrasting colour to their shirts. In 1909, in a bid to assist referees in identifying the goalkeeper amongst a ruck of players, the rules were amended to state that the goalkeeper must wear a shirt of a different colour to their team-mates. Initially it was specified that goalkeepers' shirts must be either scarlet or royal blue, but when green was added as a third option in 1912 it caught on to the extent that soon almost every goalkeeper was playing in green. In this period goalkeepers generally wore a heavy woollen garment more akin to a jumper than the shirts worn by outfield players.
Sporadic experiments with numbered shirts took place in the 1920s but the idea did not initially catch on. The first major match in which numbers were worn was the 1933 FA Cup Final between Everton and Manchester City. Rather than the numbers being added to the clubs' existing strips, two special sets, one white and one red, were made for the final and allocated to the two teams by the toss of a coin. The Everton players wore numbers 1–11, while the City players wore 12–22. It was not until around the time of the Second World War that numbering became standard, with teams wearing numbers 1–11. Although there were no regulations on which player should wear which number, specific numbers came to be associated with specific positions on the field of play, examples of which were the number 9 shirt for the team's main striker and the number 1 shirt for the goalkeeper. In contrast to the usual practice, Scottish club Celtic wore numbers on their shorts rather than their shirts until 1975 for international matches, and until 1994 for domestic matches. The 1930s also saw great advancements in boot manufacture, with new synthetic materials and softer leathers becoming available. By 1936 players in Europe were wearing boots which weighed only a third of the weight of the rigid boots of a decade earlier, although British clubs did not adopt the new-style boots, with players such as Billy Wright openly pronouncing their disdain for the new footwear and claiming that it was more suited to ballet than football.
In the period immediately after the war, many teams in Europe were forced to wear unusual kits due to clothing restrictions. England's Oldham Athletic, who had traditionally worn blue and white, spent two seasons playing in red and white shirts borrowed from a local rugby league club, and Scotland's Clyde wore khaki. In the 1950s kits worn by players in southern Europe and South America became much more lightweight, with V-necks replacing collars on shirts and synthetic fabrics replacing heavy natural fibres. The first boots to be cut below the ankle rather than high-topped were introduced by Adidas in 1954. Although they cost twice as much as existing styles, the boots were a huge success and cemented the German company's place in the football market. Around the same time Adidas also developed the first boots with screw-in studs which could be changed according to pitch conditions. Other areas were slower to adopt the new styles – British clubs again resisted change and stuck resolutely to kits little different from those worn before the war, and Eastern European teams continued to wear kits that were deemed old-fashioned elsewhere. The FC Dynamo Moscow team that toured Western Europe in 1945 drew almost as much comment for the players' long baggy shorts as for the quality of their football. With the advent of international competitions such as the European Cup, the southern European style spread to the rest of the continent and by the end of the decade the heavy shirts and boots of the pre-war years had fallen entirely out of use. The 1960s saw little innovation in kit design, with clubs generally opting for simple colour schemes which looked good under the newly adopted floodlights. Designs from the late 1960s and early 1970s are highly regarded by football fans.
In the 1970s, clubs began to create strongly individual strips, and in 1975, Leeds United, who had changed their traditional blue and gold colours to all white in the 1960s to mimic Real Madrid, became the first club to design shirts which could be sold to fans in the form of replicas. Driven by commercial concerns, other clubs soon followed suit, adding manufacturers' logos and a higher level of trim. In 1973, German team Eintracht Braunschweig signed a deal with local alcohol producer Jägermeister to display its logo on the front of their shirts. In 1976, Kettering Town wore the first sponsored shirts in English football; the Football Association, the sport's governing body in England, quickly banned sponsorship on kits, though they relaxed the ban a year later. Soon almost all major clubs had signed such deals, and the cost to companies who sponsor large teams has increased dramatically. In 2008 German club FC Bayern Munich received €25 million in sponsorship money from Deutsche Telekom. However Spanish clubs FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao refused to allow sponsors' logos to appear on their shirts as recently as 2005. Until 2011 Barcelona refused paying sponsors in favour of wearing the UNICEF logo on their shirts while donating €1.5 million to the charity per year. Players also began to sign sponsorship deals with individual companies. In 1974 Johan Cruijff refused to wear the Dutch national team's strip as its Adidas branding conflicted with his own individual contract with Puma, and was permitted to wear a version without the Adidas branding. Puma had also paid Pelé $120,000 to wear their boots and specifically requested that he bend down and tie his laces at the start of the 1970 FIFA World Cup final, ensuring a close-up of the boots for a worldwide television audience. In the 1970s, the U.S.-based North American Soccer League experimented with printing players' names on their shirts and allocating each player a squad number rather than simply numbering the 11 players starting a game from 1 to 11, but these ideas did not catch on at the time in other countries. On 22 August 1979, during a 1979–80 Coppa Italia game against AC Milan, Italian team Monza displayed the players' names above the numbers on the back, a novelty at the time dubbed "*all'Americana*" (American style); the Italian Football Federation did not approve of the change and fined the club. Shortly after, AC Milan themselves added names to players' shirts in 1980. The names were removed in 1981 and for many years they would not be adopted by any other team in Italy.
In the 1980s, manufacturers such as Hummel and Adidas began to design shirts with increasingly intricate designs, as new technology led to the introduction of such design elements as shadow prints and pinstripes. Hummel's distinctive halved strip designed for the Danish national team for the 1986 FIFA World Cup caused a stir in the media but FIFA worried about moiré artefacts in television pictures. Shorts became shorter than ever during the 1970s and 1980s, and often included the player's number on the front. In the 1991 FA Cup Final Tottenham Hotspur's players lined up in long baggy shorts. Although, the new look was derided, clubs in Britain and elsewhere had within a short time adopted the longer shorts. In the 1990s shirt designs became increasingly complex, with many teams sporting extremely gaudy colour schemes. Design decisions were increasingly driven by the need for the shirt to look good when worn by fans as a fashion item, but many designs from this era have since come to be regarded as amongst the worst of all time. In 1996, Manchester United notoriously introduced a grey strip which had been specifically designed to look good when worn with jeans, but abandoned it halfway through a match after manager Alex Ferguson claimed that the reason why his team was losing 3–0 was that the players could not see each other on the pitch. United switched to different colours for the second half and scored one goal without reply. The leading leagues also introduced squad numbers, whereby each player is allocated a specific number for the duration of a season. A brief fad arose for players celebrating goals by lifting or completely removing their shirts to reveal political, religious or personal slogans printed on undershirts. This led to a ruling from the International Football Association Board in 2002 that undershirts must not contain slogans or logos; since 2004 it has been a bookable offence for players to remove their shirts.
The market for replica shirts has grown enormously, with the revenue generated for leading clubs and the frequency with which they change designs coming under increased scrutiny, especially in the United Kingdom, where the market for replicas is worth in excess of £200m. Several clubs have been accused of price fixing, and in 2003 Manchester United were fined £1.65m by the Office of Fair Trading. The high prices charged for replicas have also led to many fans buying fake shirts which are imported from countries such as Thailand and Malaysia.
The chance for fans to purchase a shirt bearing the name and number of a star player can lead to significant revenue for a club. In the first six months after David Beckham's transfer to Real Madrid the club sold more than one million shirts bearing his name. A market has also developed for shirts worn by players during significant matches, which are sold as collector's items. The shirt worn by Pelé in the 1970 FIFA World Cup Final sold at auction for over £150,000 in 2002.
A number of advances in kit design have taken place since 2000, with varying degrees of success. In 2002 the Cameroon national team competed in the African Cup of Nations in Mali wearing shirts with no sleeves, but FIFA later ruled that such garments were not considered to be shirts and therefore were not permitted. Manufacturers Puma AG initially added "invisible" black sleeves to comply with the ruling, but later supplied the team with new one-piece singlet-style tops. FIFA ordered the team not to wear the tops but the ruling was disregarded, with the result that the Cameroon team was docked six points in its qualifying campaign for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, a decision later reversed after an appeal. More successful were the skin-tight shirts designed for the Italian national team by manufacturers Kappa, a style subsequently emulated by other national teams and club sides.
A brief fashion for men wearing snood scarf neckwarmers ended in 2011 when the IFAB banned them as potentially dangerous. A ban on women wearing the hijab was introduced by the IFAB in 2007, but lifted in 2012 after pressure from Prince Ali of Jordan. In keeping with French views, the French Football Federation said it would maintain its ban.
- Butler, David; Butler, Robert (2021). "The evolution of the football jersey – an institutional perspective".
*Journal of Institutional Economics*.**17**(5): 821–835. doi:10.1017/S1744137421000278. hdl:10468/11295.
- Latest Football Kits News Archived 20 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- Graphical history of English and Scottish football kits
- Goalkeeper Gloves – illustrated history
- Photographic history of football shirts from all over the world
- Football's equipment evolution at FIFA.com
|
# President of the United States - Wikipedia
| President of the United States | |
|---|---|
| Style | |
| Type | |
| Abbreviation | POTUS |
| Member of | |
| Residence | White House |
| Seat | Washington, D.C. |
| Appointer | Electoral College or via succession |
| Term length | Four years renewable once |
| Constituting instrument | Constitution of the United States (1789) |
| Formation | March 4, 1789 |
| First holder | George Washington |
| Succession | Line of succession |
| Salary | $400,000 per year |
| Website | whitehouse.gov |
The **president of the United States** (**POTUS**) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.
The power of the presidency has grown since the first president, George Washington, took office in 1789. While presidential power has ebbed and flowed over time, the presidency has played an increasing role in American political life since the beginning of the 20th century, carrying over into the 21st century with some expansions during the presidencies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and George W. Bush. In modern times, the president is one of the world's most powerful political figures and the leader of the world's only remaining superpower. As the leader of the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP, the president possesses significant domestic and international hard and soft power. For much of the 20th century, especially during the Cold War, the U.S. president was often called "the leader of the free world".
Article II of the Constitution establishes the executive branch of the federal government and vests executive power in the president. The power includes the execution and enforcement of federal law and the responsibility to appoint federal executive, diplomatic, regulatory, and judicial officers. Based on constitutional provisions empowering the president to appoint and receive ambassadors and conclude treaties with foreign powers, and on subsequent laws enacted by Congress, the modern presidency has primary responsibility for conducting U.S. foreign policy. The role includes responsibility for directing the world's most expensive military, which has the second-largest nuclear arsenal.
The president also plays a leading role in federal legislation and domestic policymaking. As part of the system of separation of powers, Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution gives the president the power to sign or veto federal legislation. Since modern presidents are typically viewed as leaders of their political parties, major policymaking is significantly shaped by the outcome of presidential elections, with presidents taking an active role in promoting their policy priorities to members of Congress who are often electorally dependent on the president. In recent decades, presidents have also made increasing use of executive orders, agency regulations, and judicial appointments to shape domestic policy.
The president is elected indirectly through the Electoral College to a four-year term, along with the vice president. Under the Twenty-second Amendment, ratified in 1951, no person who has been elected to two presidential terms may be elected to a third. In addition, nine vice presidents have become president by virtue of a president's intra-term death or resignation. In all, 45 individuals have served 47 presidencies spanning 60 four-year terms. Donald Trump is the 47th and current president since January 20, 2025.
## History and development
### Origins
In July 1776, the Thirteen Colonies, represented at the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, unanimously adopted the United States Declaration of Independence in which the colonies declared themselves to be independent sovereign states and no longer under British rule. The affirmation was made in the Declaration of Independence, which was written predominantly by Thomas Jefferson and adopted unanimously on July 4, 1776, by the Second Continental Congress. Recognizing the necessity of closely coordinating their efforts against the British, the Continental Congress simultaneously began the process of drafting a constitution that would bind the states together. There were long debates on a number of issues, including representation and voting, and the exact powers to be given the central government. Congress finished work on the Articles of Confederation to establish a perpetual union between the states in November 1777 and sent it to the states for ratification.
Under the Articles, which took effect on March 1, 1781, the Congress of the Confederation was a central political authority without any legislative power. It could make its own resolutions, determinations, and regulations, but not any laws, and could not impose any taxes or enforce local commercial regulations upon its citizens. This institutional design reflected how Americans believed the deposed British system of Crown and Parliament ought to have functioned with respect to the royal dominion: a superintending body for matters that concerned the entire empire. The states were out from under any monarchy and assigned some formerly royal prerogatives (e.g., making war, receiving ambassadors, etc.) to Congress; the remaining prerogatives were lodged within their own respective state governments. The members of Congress elected a president of the United States in Congress Assembled to preside over its deliberation as a neutral discussion moderator. Unrelated to and quite dissimilar from the later office of president of the United States, it was a largely ceremonial position with no executive powers other than presiding over a parliamentary body.
In 1783, the Treaty of Paris secured independence for each of the former colonies. With peace at hand, the states each turned toward their own internal affairs. By 1786, Americans found their continental borders besieged and weak and their respective economies in crises as neighboring states agitated trade rivalries with one another. They witnessed their hard currency pouring into foreign markets to pay for imports, their Mediterranean commerce preyed upon by North African pirates, and their foreign-financed Revolutionary War debts unpaid and accruing interest. Civil and political unrest loomed. Events such as the Newburgh Conspiracy and Shays' Rebellion demonstrated that the Articles of Confederation were not working, in particular that a stronger national government with an empowered executive was necessary.
Following the successful resolution of commercial and fishing disputes between Virginia and Maryland at the Mount Vernon Conference in 1785, Virginia called for a trade conference between all the states, set for September 1786 in Annapolis, Maryland, with an aim toward resolving further-reaching interstate commercial antagonisms. When the convention failed for lack of attendance due to suspicions among most of the other states, Alexander Hamilton of New York led the Annapolis delegates in a call for a convention to offer revisions to the Articles, to be held the next spring in Philadelphia. Prospects for the next convention appeared bleak until James Madison and Edmund Randolph succeeded in securing George Washington's attendance to Philadelphia as a delegate for Virginia.
When the Constitutional Convention convened in May 1787, the 12 state delegations in attendance (Rhode Island did not send delegates) brought with them an accumulated experience over a diverse set of institutional arrangements between legislative and executive branches from within their respective state governments. Most states maintained a weak executive without veto or appointment powers, elected annually by the legislature to a single term only, sharing power with an executive council, and countered by a strong legislature. New York offered the greatest exception, having a strong, unitary governor with veto and appointment power elected to a three-year term, and eligible for reelection to an indefinite number of terms thereafter. It was through the closed-door negotiations at Philadelphia that the presidency framed in the U.S. Constitution emerged.
As the nation's first president, George Washington established many norms that would come to define the office. His decision to retire after two terms helped address fears that the nation would devolve into monarchy and established a precedent that would not be broken until 1940 and would eventually be made permanent by the Twenty-Second Amendment. By the end of his presidency, political parties had developed, with John Adams defeating Thomas Jefferson in 1796, the first truly contested presidential election. After Jefferson defeated Adams in 1800, he and his fellow Virginians James Madison and James Monroe would each serve two terms, eventually dominating the nation's politics during the Era of Good Feelings until Adams' son John Quincy Adams won election in 1824 after the Democratic-Republican Party split.
The election of Andrew Jackson in 1828 was a significant milestone, as Jackson was not part of the Virginia and Massachusetts elite that had held the presidency for its first 40 years. Jacksonian democracy sought to strengthen the presidency at the expense of Congress, while broadening public participation as the nation rapidly expanded westward. However, his successor, Martin Van Buren, became unpopular after the Panic of 1837, and the death of William Henry Harrison and subsequent poor relations between John Tyler and Congress led to further weakening of the office. Including Van Buren, in the 24 years between 1837 and 1861, six presidential terms would be filled by eight different men, with none serving two terms. The Senate played an important role during this period, with the Great Triumvirate of Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun playing key roles in shaping national policy in the 1830s and 1840s until debates over slavery began pulling the nation apart in the 1850s.
Abraham Lincoln's leadership during the Civil War has led historians to regard him as one of the nation's greatest presidents. The circumstances of the war and Republican domination of Congress made the office very powerful, and Lincoln's re-election in 1864 was the first time a president had been re-elected since Jackson in 1832. After Lincoln's assassination, his successor Andrew Johnson lost all political support and was nearly removed from office, with Congress remaining powerful during the two-term presidency of Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant. After the end of Reconstruction, Grover Cleveland would eventually become the first Democratic president elected since before the war, running in three consecutive elections (1884, 1888, 1892) and winning twice. In 1900, William McKinley became the first incumbent to win re-election since Grant in 1872.
After McKinley's assassination by Leon Czolgosz in 1901, Theodore Roosevelt became a dominant figure in American politics. Historians believe Roosevelt permanently changed the political system by strengthening the presidency, with some key accomplishments including breaking up trusts, conservationism, labor reforms, making personal character as important as the issues, and hand-picking his successor, William Howard Taft. The following decade, Woodrow Wilson led the nation to victory during World War I, although Wilson's proposal for the League of Nations was rejected by the Senate. Warren Harding, while popular in office, would see his legacy tarnished by scandals, especially Teapot Dome, and Herbert Hoover quickly became very unpopular after failing to alleviate the Great Depression.
### Imperial presidency
The ascendancy of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 led further toward what historians now describe as the Imperial presidency. Backed by enormous Democratic majorities in Congress and public support for major change, Roosevelt's New Deal dramatically increased the size and scope of the federal government, including more executive agencies. The traditionally small presidential staff was greatly expanded, with the Executive Office of the President being created in 1939, none of whom require Senate confirmation. Roosevelt's unprecedented re-election to a third and fourth term, the victory of the United States in World War II, and the nation's growing economy all helped established the office as a position of global leadership. His successors, Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, each served two terms as the Cold War led the presidency to be viewed as the "leader of the free world", while John F. Kennedy was a youthful and popular leader who benefited from the rise of television in the 1960s.
After Lyndon B. Johnson lost popular support due to the Vietnam War and Richard Nixon's presidency collapsed in the Watergate scandal, Congress enacted a series of reforms intended to reassert itself. These included the War Powers Resolution, enacted over Nixon's veto in 1973, and the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 that sought to strengthen congressional fiscal powers. By 1976, Gerald Ford conceded that "the historic pendulum" had swung toward Congress, raising the possibility of a "disruptive" erosion of his ability to govern. Ford failed to win election to a full term and his successor, Jimmy Carter, failed to win re-election. Ronald Reagan, who had been an actor before beginning his political career, used his talent as a communicator to help reshape the American agenda away from New Deal policies toward more conservative ideology.
After the Cold War, the United States became the world's undisputed leading power. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama each served two terms as president. Meanwhile, the nation gradually became more politically polarized, leading to the ascendency of increasingly polarized Congressmembers, especially following the 1994 mid-term elections which saw Republicans control the House for the first time in 40 years, and the rise of routine filibusters in the Senate. Recent presidents have thus increasingly focused on executive orders, agency regulations, and judicial appointments to implement major policies, at the expense of legislation and congressional power. Presidential elections in the 21st century have reflected this continuing polarization, with no candidate except Obama in 2008 winning by more than five percent of the popular vote and two, George W. Bush (2000) and Donald Trump (2016), winning in the Electoral College while losing the popular vote. Bush (2004) and Trump (2024) were later re-elected, winning both in the Electoral College and the popular vote.
The nation's Founding Fathers expected the Congress, which was the first branch of government described in the Constitution, to be the dominant branch of government; they did not expect a strong executive department. However, presidential power has shifted over time, which has resulted in claims that the modern presidency has become too powerful, unchecked, unbalanced, and "monarchist" in nature. In 2008 professor Dana D. Nelson expressed belief that presidents over the previous thirty years worked towards "undivided presidential control of the executive branch and its agencies". She criticized proponents of the unitary executive theory for expanding "the many existing uncheckable executive powers—such as executive orders, decrees, memorandums, proclamations, national security directives and legislative signing statements—that already allow presidents to enact a good deal of foreign and domestic policy without aid, interference or consent from Congress". Bill Wilson, board member of Americans for Limited Government, opined that the expanded presidency was "the greatest threat ever to individual freedom and democratic rule".
## Legislative powers
Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution vests all lawmaking power in Congress's hands, and Article 1, Section 6, Clause 2 prevents the president (and all other executive branch officers) from simultaneously being a member of Congress. Nevertheless, the modern presidency exerts significant power over legislation, both due to constitutional provisions and historical developments over time.
### Signing and vetoing bills
The president's most significant legislative power derives from the Presentment Clause, which gives the president the power to veto any bill passed by Congress. While Congress can override a presidential veto, it requires a two-thirds vote of both houses, which is usually very difficult to achieve except for widely supported bipartisan legislation. The framers of the Constitution feared that Congress would seek to increase its power and enable a "tyranny of the majority", so giving the indirectly elected president a veto was viewed as an important check on the legislative power. While George Washington believed the veto should only be used in cases where a bill was unconstitutional, it is now routinely used in cases where presidents have policy disagreements with a bill. The veto – or threat of a veto – has thus evolved to make the modern presidency a central part of the American legislative process.
Specifically, under the Presentment Clause, once a bill has been presented by Congress, the president has three options:
- Sign the legislation within ten days, excluding Sundays, the bill becomes law.
- Veto the legislation within the above timeframe and return it to the house of Congress from which it originated, expressing any objections, the bill does not become law, unless both houses of Congress vote to override the veto by a two-thirds vote.
- Take no action on the legislation within the above timeframe—the bill becomes law, as if the president had signed it, unless Congress is adjourned at the time, in which case it does not become law, which is known as a pocket veto.
In 1996, Congress attempted to enhance the president's veto power with the Line Item Veto Act. The legislation empowered the president to sign any spending bill into law while simultaneously striking certain spending items within the bill, particularly any new spending, any amount of discretionary spending, or any new limited tax benefit. Congress could then repass that particular item. If the president then vetoed the new legislation, Congress could override the veto by its ordinary means, a two-thirds vote in both houses. In *Clinton v. City of New York*, 524 U.S. 417 (1998), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled such a legislative alteration of the veto power to be unconstitutional.
### Setting the agenda
For most of American history, candidates for president have sought election on the basis of a promised legislative agenda. Article II, Section 3, Clause 2 requires the president to recommend such measures to Congress which the president deems "necessary and expedient". This is done through the constitutionally-based State of the Union address, which usually outlines the president's legislative proposals for the coming year, and through other formal and informal communications with Congress.
The president can be involved in crafting legislation by suggesting, requesting, or even insisting that Congress enact laws that the president believes are needed. Additionally, the president can attempt to shape legislation during the legislative process by exerting influence on individual members of Congress. Presidents possess this power because the Constitution is silent about who can write legislation, but the power is limited because only members of Congress can introduce legislation.
The president or other officials of the executive branch may draft legislation and then ask senators or representatives to introduce these drafts into Congress. Additionally, the president may attempt to have Congress alter proposed legislation by threatening to veto that legislation unless requested changes are made.
### Promulgating regulations
Many laws enacted by Congress do not address every possible detail, and either explicitly or implicitly delegate powers of implementation to an appropriate federal agency. As the head of the executive branch, presidents control a vast array of agencies that can issue regulations with little oversight from Congress.
In the 20th century, critics charged that too many legislative and budgetary powers that should have belonged to Congress had slid into the hands of presidents. One critic charged that presidents could appoint a "virtual army of 'czars'—each wholly unaccountable to Congress yet tasked with spearheading major policy efforts for the White House". Presidents have been criticized for making signing statements when signing congressional legislation about how they understand a bill or plan to execute it. This practice has been criticized by the American Bar Association as unconstitutional. Conservative commentator George Will wrote of an "increasingly swollen executive branch" and "the eclipse of Congress".
### Convening and adjourning Congress
To allow the government to act quickly in case of a major domestic or international crisis arising when Congress is not in session, the president is empowered by Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution to call a special session of one or both houses of Congress. Since John Adams first did so in 1797, the president has called the full Congress to convene for a special session on 27 occasions. Harry S. Truman was the most recent to do so in July 1948, known as the Turnip Day Session. In addition, prior to ratification of the Twentieth Amendment in 1933, which brought forward the date on which Congress convenes from December to January, newly inaugurated presidents would routinely call the Senate to meet to confirm nominations or ratify treaties. In practice, the power has fallen into disuse in the modern era as Congress now formally remains in session year-round, convening pro forma sessions every three days even when ostensibly in recess. Correspondingly, the president is authorized to adjourn Congress if the House and Senate cannot agree on the time of adjournment; no president has ever had to exercise this power.
## Executive powers
Suffice it to say that the President is made the sole repository of the executive powers of the United States, and the powers entrusted to him as well as the duties imposed upon him are awesome indeed.
The president is head of the executive branch of the federal government and is constitutionally obligated to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed". The executive branch has over four million employees, including the military.
### Administrative powers
Presidents make political appointments. An incoming president may make up to 4,000 upon taking office, 1,200 of which must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Ambassadors, members of the Cabinet, and various officers, are among the positions filled by presidential appointment with Senate confirmation.
The power of a president to fire executive officials has long been a contentious political issue. Generally, a president may remove executive officials at will. However, Congress can curtail and constrain a president's authority to fire commissioners of independent regulatory agencies and certain inferior executive officers by statute.
To manage the growing federal bureaucracy, presidents have gradually surrounded themselves with many layers of staff, who were eventually organized into the Executive Office of the President of the United States. Within the Executive Office, the president's innermost layer of aides, and their assistants, are located in the White House Office.
The president also possesses the power to manage operations of the federal government by issuing various types of directives, such as presidential proclamation and executive orders. When the president is lawfully exercising one of the constitutionally conferred presidential responsibilities, the scope of this power is broad. Even so, these directives are subject to judicial review by U.S. federal courts, which can find them to be unconstitutional. Congress can overturn an executive order through legislation.
### Foreign affairs
Article II, Section 3, Clause 4 requires the president to "receive Ambassadors". This clause, known as the Reception Clause, has been interpreted to imply that the president possesses broad power over matters of foreign policy, and to provide support for the president's exclusive authority to grant recognition to a foreign government. The Constitution also empowers the president to appoint United States ambassadors, and to propose and chiefly negotiate agreements between the United States and other countries. Such agreements, upon receiving the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate (by a two-thirds majority vote), become binding with the force of federal law.
While foreign affairs has always been a significant element of presidential responsibilities, advances in technology since the Constitution's adoption have increased presidential power. Where formerly ambassadors were vested with significant power to independently negotiate on behalf of the United States, presidents now routinely meet directly with leaders of foreign countries.
### Commander-in-chief
One of the most important of executive powers is the president's role as commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The power to declare war is constitutionally vested in Congress, but the president has ultimate responsibility for the direction and disposition of the military. The exact degree of authority that the Constitution grants to the president as commander-in-chief has been the subject of much debate throughout history, with Congress at various times granting the president wide authority and at others attempting to restrict that authority. The framers of the Constitution took care to limit the president's powers regarding the military; Alexander Hamilton explained this in Federalist No. 69:
The President is to be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States. ... It would amount to nothing more than the supreme command and direction of the military and naval forces ... while that [the power] of the British king extends to the DECLARING of war and to the RAISING and REGULATING of fleets and armies, all [of] which ... would appertain to the legislature. [Emphasis in the original.]
In the modern era, pursuant to the War Powers Resolution, Congress must authorize any troop deployments longer than 60 days, although that process relies on triggering mechanisms that have never been employed, rendering it ineffectual. Additionally, Congress provides a check to presidential military power through its control over military spending and regulation. Presidents have historically initiated the process for going to war, but critics have charged that there have been several conflicts in which presidents did not get official declarations, including Theodore Roosevelt's military move into Panama in 1903, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the invasions of Grenada in 1983 and Panama in 1989.
The amount of military detail handled personally by the president in wartime has varied greatly. George Washington, the first U.S. president, firmly established military subordination under civilian authority. In 1794, Washington used his constitutional powers to assemble 12,000 militia to quell the Whiskey Rebellion, a conflict in Western Pennsylvania involving armed farmers and distillers who refused to pay an excise tax on spirits. According to historian Joseph Ellis, this was the "first and only time a sitting American president led troops in the field", though James Madison briefly took control of artillery units in defense of Washington, D.C., during the War of 1812. Abraham Lincoln was deeply involved in overall strategy and in day-to-day operations during the American Civil War, 1861–1865; historians have given Lincoln high praise for his strategic sense and his ability to select and encourage commanders such as Ulysses S. Grant.
The present-day operational command of the Armed Forces is delegated to the Department of Defense and is normally exercised through the secretary of defense. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Combatant Commands assist with the operation as outlined in the presidentially approved Unified Command Plan (UCP).
## Judicial powers
The president has the power to nominate federal judges, including members of the United States courts of appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States. However, these nominations require Senate confirmation before they may take office. Securing Senate approval can provide a major obstacle for presidents who wish to orient the federal judiciary toward a particular ideological stance. When nominating judges to U.S. district courts, presidents often respect the long-standing tradition of senatorial courtesy. Presidents may also grant pardons and reprieves. Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon a month after taking office. Presidents often grant pardons shortly before leaving office, like when Bill Clinton pardoned Patty Hearst on his last day in office; this is often controversial.
Two doctrines concerning executive power have developed that enable the president to exercise executive power with a degree of autonomy. The first is executive privilege, which allows the president to withhold from disclosure any communications made directly to the president in the performance of executive duties. George Washington first claimed the privilege when Congress requested to see Chief Justice John Jay's notes from an unpopular treaty negotiation with Great Britain. While not enshrined in the Constitution or any other law, Washington's action created the precedent for the privilege. When Nixon tried to use executive privilege as a reason for not turning over subpoenaed evidence to Congress during the Watergate scandal, the Supreme Court ruled in *United States v. Nixon*, that executive privilege did not apply in cases where a president was attempting to avoid criminal prosecution. When Bill Clinton attempted to use executive privilege regarding the Lewinsky scandal, the Supreme Court ruled in *Clinton v. Jones*, that the privilege also could not be used in civil suits. These cases established the legal precedent that executive privilege is valid, although the exact extent of the privilege has yet to be clearly defined. Additionally, federal courts have allowed this privilege to radiate outward and protect other executive branch employees but have weakened that protection for those executive branch communications that do not involve the president.
The state secrets privilege allows the president and the executive branch to withhold information or documents from discovery in legal proceedings if such release would harm national security. Precedent for the privilege arose early in the 19th century when Thomas Jefferson refused to release military documents in the treason trial of Aaron Burr and again in *Totten v. United States*, when the Supreme Court dismissed a case brought by a former Union spy. However, the privilege was not formally recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court until *United States v. Reynolds*, where it was held to be a common law evidentiary privilege. Before the September 11 attacks, use of the privilege had been rare, but increasing in frequency. Since 2001, the government has asserted the privilege in more cases and at earlier stages of the litigation, thus in some instances causing dismissal of the suits before reaching the merits of the claims, as in the Ninth Circuit's ruling in *Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc.* Critics of the privilege claim its use has become a tool for the government to cover up illegal or embarrassing government actions.
The degree to which the president personally has absolute immunity from court cases is contested and has been the subject of several Supreme Court decisions. *Nixon v. Fitzgerald* (1982) dismissed a civil lawsuit against by-then former president Richard Nixon based on his official actions. *Clinton v. Jones* (1997) decided that a president has no immunity against civil suits for actions taken before becoming president and ruled that a sexual harassment suit could proceed without delay, even against a sitting president. The 2019 Mueller report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election detailed evidence of possible obstruction of justice, but investigators declined to refer Donald Trump for prosecution based on a United States Department of Justice policy against indicting an incumbent president. The report noted that impeachment by Congress was available as a remedy. As of October 2019, a case was pending in the federal courts regarding access to personal tax returns in a criminal case brought against Donald Trump by the New York County District Attorney alleging violations of New York state law.
Memoranda from the Office of Legal Counsel issued in 1973 and 2000 internally prohibit the Department of Justice from prosecuting a president, which some legal scholars have criticized but others have endorsed.
In defense against federal criminal prosecution for his alleged 2020 election subversion, in January 2024, Trump argued to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals that a president enjoys absolute immunity for criminal acts conducted while in office. The next month, a three-judge panel of the court unanimously ruled against Trump. It was the first time an appeals court had addressed such a presidential immunity matter, since no other sitting or former president had ever been criminally indicted.
In *Trump v. United States*, on July 1, 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that presidents were entitled to absolute immunity from exercising core powers enumerated by the Constitution, presumption of immunity for other official acts, and no immunity for unofficial actions. The case was sent back to lower courts to determine which actions in the criminal complaint should be classified as official vs. unofficial. The ruling was the first time the courts granted a president criminal immunity.
## Leadership roles
As head of state, the president represents the United States government to its own people and represents the nation to the rest of the world. For example, during a state visit by a foreign head of state, the president typically hosts a State Arrival Ceremony held on the South Lawn, a custom begun by John F. Kennedy in 1961. This is followed by a state dinner given by the president which is held in the State Dining Room later in the evening.
As a national leader, the president also fulfills many less formal ceremonial duties. For example, William Howard Taft started the tradition of throwing out the ceremonial first pitch in 1910 at Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C., on the Washington Senators's Opening Day. Every president since Taft, except for Jimmy Carter, threw out at least one ceremonial first ball or pitch for Opening Day, the All-Star Game, or the World Series, usually with much fanfare. Every president since Theodore Roosevelt has served as honorary president of the Boy Scouts of America.
Other presidential traditions are associated with American holidays. Rutherford B. Hayes began in 1878 the first White House egg rolling for local children. Beginning in 1947, during the Harry S. Truman administration, every Thanksgiving the president is presented with a live domestic turkey during the annual National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation held at the White House. Since 1989, when the custom of "pardoning" the turkey was formalized by George H. W. Bush, the turkey has been taken to a farm where it will live out the rest of its natural life.
Presidential traditions also involve the president's role as head of government. Many outgoing presidents since James Buchanan traditionally give advice to their successor during the presidential transition. Ronald Reagan and his successors have also left a private message on the desk of the Oval Office on Inauguration Day for the incoming president.
The modern presidency holds the president as one of the nation's premier celebrities. Some argue that images of the presidency have a tendency to be manipulated by administration public relations officials as well as by presidents themselves. One critic described the presidency as "propagandized leadership" which has a "mesmerizing power surrounding the office". Administration public relations managers staged carefully crafted photo-ops of smiling presidents with smiling crowds for television cameras. One critic wrote the image of John F. Kennedy was described as carefully framed "in rich detail" which "drew on the power of myth" regarding the incident of PT 109 and wrote that Kennedy understood how to use images to further his presidential ambitions. As a result, some political commentators have opined that American voters have unrealistic expectations of presidents: voters expect a president to "drive the economy, vanquish enemies, lead the free world, comfort tornado victims, heal the national soul and protect borrowers from hidden credit-card fees".
The president is typically considered to be the *de facto* head and spokesperson of their political party. With the advent of binding primaries in most states, presidential nominees typically enjoy the support of a majority or plurality of their party's voters. Since the entire House of Representatives and at least one-third of the Senate is elected simultaneously with the president, candidates from a political party frequently have their electoral success intertwined with the performance of the party's presidential candidate. The coattail effect, or lack thereof, will also often impact a party's candidates at state and local levels of government as well. However, there are often tensions between a president and others in the party, with presidents who lose significant support from their party's caucus in Congress generally viewed to be weaker and less effective. Also, because the United States is not a parliamentary system, presidents' parties do not necessarily enjoy majorities in one or more houses of Congress, nor in the governorships or state legislatures of many states.
### Global leader
With the rise of the United States as a superpower in the 20th century, and the United States having the world's largest economy into the 21st century, the president is typically viewed as a global leader, and at times the world's most powerful political figure. The position of the United States as the leading member of NATO, and the country's strong relationships with other wealthy or democratic nations like those comprising the European Union, have led to the moniker that the president is the "leader of the free world".
## Selection process
### Eligibility
Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution sets three qualifications for holding the presidency. To serve as president, one must:
- be a natural-born citizen of the United States;
- be at least 35 years old;
- be a resident in the United States for at least 14 years.
A person who meets the above qualifications would, however, still be disqualified from holding the office of president under any of the following conditions:
- Under Article I, Section 3, Clause 7, having been impeached, convicted and disqualified from holding further public office, although there is some legal debate as to whether the disqualification clause also includes the presidential office: the only previous persons disqualified under this clause were three federal judges.
- Under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, no person who swore an oath to support the Constitution, and later rebelled against the United States, is eligible to hold any office. However, this disqualification can be lifted by a two-thirds vote of each house of Congress. There is, again, some debate as to whether the clause as written allows disqualification from the presidential position, or whether it would first require litigation outside of Congress, although there is precedent for use of this amendment outside of the original intended purpose of excluding Confederates from public office after the Civil War.
- Under the Twenty-second Amendment, no person can be elected president more than twice. The amendment also specifies that if any eligible person serves as president or acting president for more than two years of a term for which some other eligible person was elected president, the former can only be elected president once.
### Prior experience
There are no requirements for previous or concurrent offices held by the President or presidential candidates. However, every President except Donald Trump has been a governor, U.S. senator or Congressman, general or cabinet member.
The most common previous profession of presidents is lawyer, applying to 27 of the 45 men who have served as President. However, several future Presidents abandoned the study or practice of law prior to the Presidency. There has never been a property qualification for the Presidency or other federal offices, but, in the early years of the republic, there were property qualifications for voting or for some of the stepping-stone offices to the Presidency (particularly governorships). Prior to the Civil War, it was common for presidents to be men of significant property: Presidents from the North tended to own small farms, while several Southern presidents owned plantations and slaves. While several later presidents came from abject poverty, others, such as the Roosevelts, John Kennedy, and Donald Trump, were parties to extensive family fortunes.
33 of the 45 men who served as President, including every president since 1953 and all but one since 1901, have had a bachelor's degree. Of those, 16 presidents received a Bachelor's or advanced degree from colleges in the Ivy League.
### Campaigns and nomination
The modern presidential campaign begins before the primary elections, which the two major political parties use to clear the field of candidates before their national nominating conventions, where the most successful candidate is made the party's presidential nominee. Typically, the party's presidential candidate chooses a vice presidential nominee, and this choice is rubber-stamped by the convention.
Nominees participate in nationally televised debates, and while the debates are usually restricted to the Democratic and Republican nominees, third party candidates may be invited, such as Ross Perot in the 1992 debates. Nominees campaign across the country to explain their views, convince voters and solicit contributions. Much of the modern electoral process is concerned with winning swing states through frequent visits and mass media advertising drives.
### Election
The president is elected indirectly by the voters of each state and the District of Columbia through the Electoral College, a body of electors formed every four years for the sole purpose of electing the president and vice president to concurrent four-year terms. As prescribed by Article II, Section 1, Clause 2, each state is entitled to a number of electors equal to the size of its total delegation in both houses of Congress. Additionally, the Twenty-third Amendment provides that the District of Columbia is entitled to the number it would have if it were a state, but in no case more than that of the least populous state. Currently, all states and the District of Columbia select their electors based on a popular election. In all but two states, the party whose presidential–vice presidential ticket receives a plurality of popular votes in the state has its entire slate of elector nominees chosen as the state's electors. Maine and Nebraska deviate from this winner-take-all practice, awarding two electors to the statewide winner and one to the winner in each congressional district.
On the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, about six weeks after the election, the electors convene in their respective state capitals (and in Washington, D.C.) to vote for president and, on a separate ballot, for vice president. They typically vote for the candidates of the party that nominated them. While there is no constitutional mandate or federal law requiring them to do so, the District of Columbia and 32 states have laws requiring that their electors vote for the candidates to whom they are pledged. The constitutionality of these laws was upheld in *Chiafalo v. Washington* (2020). Following the vote, each state then sends a certified record of their electoral votes to Congress. The votes of the electors are opened and counted during a joint session of Congress, held in the first week of January. If a candidate has received an absolute majority of electoral votes for president (currently 270 of 538), that person is declared the winner. Otherwise, the House of Representatives must meet to elect a president using a contingent election procedure in which representatives, voting by state delegation, with each state casting a single vote, choose between the top *three* electoral vote-getters for president. To win the presidency, a candidate must receive the votes of an absolute majority of states (currently 26 of 50).
There have been two contingent presidential elections in the nation's history. A 73–73 electoral vote tie between Thomas Jefferson and fellow Democratic-Republican Aaron Burr in the election of 1800 necessitated the first. Conducted under the original procedure established by Article II, Section 1, Clause 3 of the Constitution, which stipulates that if two or three persons received a majority vote and an equal vote, the House of Representatives would choose one of them for president; the runner-up would become vice president. On February 17, 1801, Jefferson was elected president on the 36th ballot, and Burr elected vice president. Afterward, the system was overhauled through the Twelfth Amendment in time to be used in the 1804 election. A quarter-century later, the choice for president again devolved to the House when no candidate won an absolute majority of electoral votes (131 of 261) in the election of 1824. Under the Twelfth Amendment, the House was required to choose a president from among the top three electoral vote recipients: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and William H. Crawford. Held February 9, 1825, this second and most recent contingent election resulted in John Quincy Adams being elected president on the first ballot.
### Inauguration
Pursuant to the Twentieth Amendment, the four-year term of office for both the president and the vice president begins at noon on January 20, in the year following the preceding presidential election. The first presidential and vice presidential terms to begin on this date, known as Inauguration Day, were the second terms of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Vice President John Nance Garner in 1937. Previously, Inauguration Day was on March 4. As a result of the date change, the first term (1933–37) of both men had been shortened by 43 days.
Before executing the powers of the office, a president is required to recite the presidential Oath of Office, found in Article II, Section 1, Clause 8 of the Constitution. This is the only component in the inauguration ceremony mandated by the Constitution:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Presidents have traditionally placed one hand upon a Bible while taking the oath, and have added "So help me God" to the end of the oath. Although the oath may be administered by any person authorized by law to administer oaths, presidents are traditionally sworn in by the chief justice of the United States.
## Incumbency
### Term limit
When the first president, George Washington, announced in his Farewell Address that he was not running for a third term, he established a "two terms then out" precedent. Precedent became tradition after Thomas Jefferson publicly embraced the principle a decade later during his second term, as did his two immediate successors, James Madison and James Monroe. In spite of the strong two-term tradition, Ulysses S. Grant sought nomination at the 1880 Republican National Convention for a non-consecutive third term, but was unsuccessful.
In 1940, after leading the nation through the Great Depression and focused on supporting U.S. allied nations at war with the Axis powers, Franklin Roosevelt was elected to a third term, breaking the long-standing precedent. Four years later, with the U.S. engaged in World War II, he was re-elected again despite his declining physical health; he died 82 days into his fourth term on April 12, 1945.
In response to the unprecedented length of Roosevelt's presidency, the Twenty-second Amendment was adopted in 1951. The amendment bars anyone from being elected president more than twice, or once if that person served more than two years (24 months) of another president's four-year term. Harry S. Truman, the president at the time it was submitted to the states by the Congress, was exempted from its limitations. Without the exemption, he would not have been eligible to run for a second full term in 1952 (which he briefly sought), as he had served nearly all of Franklin Roosevelt's unexpired 1945–1949 term and had been elected to a full four-year term beginning in 1949.
### Vacancies and succession
Under Section 1 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment, ratified in 1967, the vice president becomes president upon the removal from office, death, or resignation of the president. Deaths have occurred a number of times, resignation has occurred only once, and removal from office has never occurred.
Before the ratification of the Twenty-fifth amendment (which clarified the matter of succession), Article II, Section 1, Clause 6, stated only that the vice president assumes the "powers and duties" of the presidency in the event of a president's removal, death, resignation, or inability. Under this clause, there was ambiguity about whether the vice president would actually become president in the event of a vacancy, or simply act as president, potentially resulting in a special election. Upon the death of President William Henry Harrison in 1841, Vice President John Tyler declared that he had succeeded to the office itself, refusing to accept any papers addressed to the "Acting President", and Congress ultimately accepted it.
In the event of a double vacancy, Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 also authorizes Congress to declare who shall become acting president in the "Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the president and vice president". The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 (codified as 3 U.S.C. § 19) provides that if both the president and vice president have left office or are both otherwise unavailable to serve during their terms of office, the presidential line of succession follows the order of: speaker of the House, then, if necessary, the president pro tempore of the Senate, and then if necessary, the eligible heads of federal executive departments who form the president's cabinet. The cabinet currently has 15 members, of which the secretary of state is first in line; the other Cabinet secretaries follow in the order in which their department (or the department of which their department is the successor) was created. Those individuals who are constitutionally ineligible to be elected to the presidency are also disqualified from assuming the powers and duties of the presidency through succession. No statutory successor has yet been called upon to act as president.
### Declarations of inability
Under the Twenty-fifth Amendment, the president may temporarily transfer the presidential powers and duties to the vice president, who then becomes acting president, by transmitting to the speaker of the House and the president *pro tempore* of the Senate a statement that he is unable to discharge his duties. The president resumes his or her powers upon transmitting a second declaration stating that he is again able. The mechanism has been used by Ronald Reagan (once), George W. Bush (twice), and Joe Biden (once), each in anticipation of surgery.
The Twenty-fifth Amendment also provides that the vice president, together with a majority of certain members of the Cabinet, may transfer the presidential powers and duties to the vice president by transmitting a written declaration, to the speaker of the House and the president *pro tempore* of the Senate, to the effect that the president is unable to discharge his or her powers and duties. If the president then declares that no such inability exist, he or she resumes the presidential powers unless the vice president and Cabinet make a second declaration of presidential inability, in which case Congress decides the question.
### Removal
Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution allows for the removal of high federal officials, including the president, from office for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors". Article I, Section 2, Clause 5 authorizes the House of Representatives to serve as a "grand jury" with the power to impeach said officials by a majority vote. Article I, Section 3, Clause 6 authorizes the Senate to serve as a court with the power to remove impeached officials from office, by a two-thirds vote to convict.
Three presidents have been impeached by the House of Representatives: Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998, and Donald Trump in 2019 and 2021; none have been convicted by the Senate. Additionally, the House Judiciary Committee conducted an impeachment inquiry against Richard Nixon in 1973–74 and reported three articles of impeachment to the House of Representatives for final action; however, he resigned from office before the House voted on them.
### Circumvention of authority
Controversial measures have sometimes been taken short of removal to deal with perceived recklessness on the part of the president, or with a long-term disability. In some cases, staff have intentionally failed to deliver messages to or from the president, typically to avoid executing or promoting the president to write certain orders. This has ranged from Richard Nixon's Chief of Staff not transmitting orders to the Cabinet due to the president's heavy drinking, to staff removing memos from Donald Trump's desk. Decades before the Twenty-fifth Amendment, in 1919, President Woodrow Wilson had a stroke that left him partly incapacitated. First lady Edith Wilson kept this condition a secret from the public for a while, and controversially became the sole gatekeeper for access to the president (aside from his doctor), assisting him with paperwork and deciding which information was "important" enough to share with him.
### Compensation
| Presidential pay history | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year established |
Salary | Salary in 2024 USD |
| 1789 | $25,000 | $659,822 |
| 1873 | $50,000 | $1,312,361 |
| 1909 | $75,000 | $2,624,722 |
| 1949 | $100,000 | $1,321,538 |
| 1969 | $200,000 | $1,714,882 |
| 2001 | $400,000 | $710,318 |
| Sources: |
Since 2001, the president's annual salary has been $400,000, along with a $50,000 expense allowance; a $100,000 nontaxable travel account; and a $19,000 entertainment[ clarification needed] account. The president's salary is set by Congress, and under Article II, Section 1, Clause 7 of the Constitution, any increase or reduction in presidential salary cannot take effect before the next presidential term of office.
### Residence
The Executive Residence of the White House in Washington, D.C., is the official residence of the president. The site was selected by George Washington, and the cornerstone was laid in 1792. Every president since John Adams (in 1800) has lived there. At various times in U.S. history, it has been known as the "President's Palace", the "President's House", and the "Executive Mansion". Theodore Roosevelt officially gave the White House its current name in 1901. The federal government pays for state dinners and other official functions, but the president pays for personal, family, and guest dry cleaning and food.
Camp David, officially titled Naval Support Facility Thurmont, a mountain-based military camp in Frederick County, Maryland, is the president's country residence. A place of solitude and tranquility, the site has been used extensively to host foreign dignitaries since the 1940s.
The President's Guest House, located next to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House Complex and Lafayette Park, serves as the president's official guest house and as a secondary residence for the president if needed. Four interconnected, 19th-century houses—Blair House, Lee House, and 700 and 704 Jackson Place—with a combined floor space exceeding 70,000 square feet (6,500 m2) constitute the property.
### Travel
The primary means of long-distance air travel for the president is one of two identical Boeing VC-25 aircraft, which are extensively modified Boeing 747 airliners and are referred to as Air Force One while the president is on board (although any U.S. Air Force aircraft the president is aboard is designated as "Air Force One" for the duration of the flight). In-country trips are typically handled with just one of the two planes, while overseas trips are handled with both, one primary and one backup. The president also has access to smaller Air Force aircraft, most notably the Boeing C-32, which are used when the president must travel to airports that cannot support a jumbo jet. Any civilian aircraft the president is aboard is designated Executive One for the flight.
For short-distance air travel, the president has access to a fleet of U.S. Marine Corps helicopters of varying models, designated Marine One when the president is aboard any particular one in the fleet. Flights are typically handled with as many as five helicopters all flying together and frequently swapping positions as to disguise which helicopter the president is actually aboard to any would-be threats.
For ground travel, the president uses the presidential state car, which is an armored limousine designed to look like a Cadillac sedan, but built on a truck chassis. The U.S. Secret Service operates and maintains the fleet of several limousines. The president also has access to two armored motorcoaches, which are primarily used for touring trips.
### Protection
The U.S. Secret Service is charged with protecting the president and the first family. As part of their protection, presidents, first ladies, their children and other immediate family members, and other prominent persons and locations are assigned Secret Service codenames. The use of such names was originally for security purposes and dates to a time when sensitive electronic communications were not routinely encrypted; today, the names simply serve for purposes of brevity, clarity, and tradition.
## Post-presidency
### Activities
Some former presidents have had significant careers after leaving office. Prominent examples include William Howard Taft's tenure as chief justice of the United States and Herbert Hoover's work on government reorganization after World War II. Grover Cleveland, whose bid for reelection failed in 1888, was elected president again four years later in 1892, and Donald Trump, whose bid for reelection failed in 2020, was elected president again four years later in 2024. Two former presidents served in Congress after leaving the White House: John Quincy Adams was elected to the House of Representatives, serving there for 17 years, and Andrew Johnson returned to the Senate in 1875, though he died soon after. Some ex-presidents were very active, especially in international affairs, most notably Theodore Roosevelt; Herbert Hoover; Richard Nixon; and Jimmy Carter.
Earlier presidents returned to their hometowns to lead charitable work there, or supervised farm work on their farms or plantations, many of which had been neglected during their presidencies. Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia during his post-presidency, and, following his death, was succeeded as rector by James Madison. Madison and James Monroe participated in the drafting of one version of the Virginia Constitution, while John Tyler served at the Confederate Constitution and in the Confederate Congress.
Presidents may use their predecessors as emissaries to deliver private messages to other nations or as official representatives of the United States to state funerals and other important foreign events. Richard Nixon made multiple foreign trips to countries including China and Russia and was lauded as an elder statesman. During his post-presidency, Jimmy Carter became a global human rights campaigner, international arbiter, and election monitor, as well as a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Bill Clinton also worked as an informal ambassador, most recently in the negotiations that led to the release of two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, from North Korea. During his presidency, George W. Bush called on former presidents George H. W. Bush and Clinton to assist with humanitarian efforts after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. President Obama followed suit by asking presidents Clinton and George W. Bush to lead efforts to aid Haiti after an earthquake devastated that country in 2010. Clinton's relationship with the two Bushes is not the first friendship between former presidents: Carter enjoyed a friendship and correspondence with Gerald Ford, while Jefferson and John Adams had an extended correspondence through letters in their post-presidencies.
Clinton has been active politically since his presidential term ended, working with his wife Hillary on her 2008 and 2016 presidential bids and President Obama on his 2012 reelection campaign. Obama has also been active politically since his presidential term ended, having worked with his former vice president Joe Biden on his 2020 election campaign and Biden's vice president Kamala Harris on her 2024 election campaign after President Biden withdrew his bid for re-election. After losing his bid for the presidency in 2020, Trump remained politically active and was an outspoken critic of his successor and the Democratic Party. He also contended with four criminal cases. Trump announced his fourth bid to the presidency in 2022, ultimately becoming the nominee of his party for the third time and won a second presidential term in 2024.
### Pension and other benefits
The Former Presidents Act (FPA), enacted in 1958, grants lifetime benefits to former presidents and their widows, including a monthly pension, medical care in military facilities, health insurance, and Secret Service protection; also provided is funding for a certain number of staff and for office expenses. The act has been amended several times to provide increases in presidential pensions and in the allowances for office staff. The FPA excludes any president who was removed from office by impeachment.
According to a 2008 report by the Congressional Research Service:
Chief executives leaving office prior to 1958 often entered retirement pursuing various occupations and received no federal assistance. When industrialist Andrew Carnegie announced a plan in 1912 to offer $25,000 annual pensions to former Presidents, many Members of Congress deemed it inappropriate that such a pension would be provided by a private corporation executive. That same year, legislation was first introduced to create presidential pensions, but it was not enacted. In 1955, such legislation was considered by Congress because of former President Harry S. Truman's financial limitations in hiring an office staff
The pension has increased numerous times with congressional approval. Retired presidents receive a pension based on the salary of the current administration's cabinet secretaries, which was $199,700 per year in 2012. Former presidents who served in Congress may also collect congressional pensions. The act also provides former presidents with travel funds and franking privileges.
Prior to 1997, all former presidents, their spouses, and their children until age 16 were protected by the Secret Service until the president's death. In 1997, Congress passed legislation limiting Secret Service protection to no more than 10 years from the date a president leaves office. On January 10, 2013, President Obama signed legislation reinstating lifetime Secret Service protection for him, George W. Bush, and all subsequent presidents. A first spouse who remarries is no longer eligible for Secret Service protection.
### Writing
Since the publication of Ulysses S. Grant's *Personal Memoirs* in 1885, most presidents, including every president who survived to the end of their term from Calvin Coolidge to Barack Obama, has written at least one autobiography. These autobiographies serve two purposes: to ensure the First Family's financial security (Clinton made over $30 million dollars from writing two books), but also to defend or rehabilitate presidential legacies.
### Presidential libraries and historic sites
The homes where U.S. presidents were born, lived or vacationed have frequently been preserved as house museums and listed as National Historic Sites or on U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Every president since Herbert Hoover has created a repository known as a presidential library for preserving and making available his papers, records, and other documents and materials. Completed libraries are deeded to and maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); the initial funding for building and equipping each library must come from private, non-federal sources. There are currently thirteen presidential libraries in the NARA system. There are also presidential libraries maintained by state governments and private foundations and Universities of Higher Education, including:
- The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, which is run by the State of Illinois;
- The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, which is run by Southern Methodist University;
- The George H. W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, which is run by Texas A&M University; and
- The Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum, which is run by the University of Texas at Austin.
Several former presidents have overseen the building and opening of their own presidential libraries. Some even made arrangements for their own burial at the site. Several presidential libraries contain the graves of the president they document:
- The Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri;
- The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home in Abilene, Kansas;
- The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California; and
- The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California.
These gravesites are open to the general public. In some cases (such as with Nixon), the presidential library is adjacent to one of the president's former homes, where in other cases, such as with Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter, the presidential library and the historic site are in different cities entirely.
## Political affiliation
Political parties have dominated American politics for most of the nation's history. Though the Founding Fathers generally spurned political parties as divisive and disruptive, and their rise had not been anticipated when the U.S. Constitution was drafted in 1787, organized political parties developed in the U.S. in the mid-1790s nonetheless. They evolved from political factions, which began to appear almost immediately after the Federal government came into existence. Those who supported the Washington administration were referred to as "pro-administration" and would eventually form the Federalist Party, while those in opposition largely joined the emerging Democratic-Republican Party.
Greatly concerned about the very real capacity of political parties to destroy the fragile unity holding the nation together, Washington remained unaffiliated with any political faction or party throughout his eight-year presidency. He was, and remains, the only U.S. president never to be affiliated with a political party. Since Washington, every U.S. president has been affiliated with a political party at the time of assuming office, and, since 1869, every president has been a member of either the Republican or Democratic Parties.
The number of presidents per political party by their affiliation at the time they were first sworn into office (alphabetical, by last name) are:
## Timeline of presidents
The following timeline depicts the progression of the presidents and their political affiliation at the time of assuming office.
## See also
## Notes
## Further reading
## External links
- White House homepage
- United States Presidents Collection. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University
|
# Ant - Wikipedia
| Ants Late | |
|---|---|
| Fire ants | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Infraorder: | Aculeata |
| Superfamily: | Formicoidea Latreille, 1809 |
| Family: | Formicidae Latreille, 1809 |
| Type species | |
Formica rufa | |
| Subfamilies | |
|
**Ants** are eusocial insects of the family **Formicidae** and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22,000 species have been classified. They are easily identified by their geniculate (elbowed) antennae and the distinctive node-like structure that forms their slender waists.
Ants form colonies that range in size from a few dozen individuals often living in small natural cavities to highly organised colonies that may occupy large territories with sizeable nest that consist of millions of individuals or into the hundreds of millions in super colonies. Typical colonies consist of various castes of sterile, wingless females, most of which are workers (ergates), as well as soldiers (dinergates) and other specialised groups. Nearly all ant colonies also have some fertile males called "drones" and one or more fertile females called "queens" (gynes). The colonies are described as superorganisms because the ants appear to operate as a unified entity, collectively working together to support the colony.
Ants have colonised almost every landmass on Earth. The only places lacking indigenous ants are Antarctica and a few remote or inhospitable islands. Ants thrive in moist tropical ecosystems and may exceed the combined biomass of wild birds and mammals. Their success in so many environments has been attributed to their social organisation and their ability to modify habitats, tap resources, and defend themselves. Their long co-evolution with other species has led to mimetic, commensal, parasitic, and mutualistic relationships.
Ant societies have division of labour, communication between individuals, and an ability to solve complex problems. These parallels with human societies have long been an inspiration and subject of study. Many human cultures make use of ants in cuisine, medication, and rites. Some species are valued in their role as biological pest control agents. Their ability to exploit resources may bring ants into conflict with humans, however, as they can damage crops and invade buildings. Some species, such as the red imported fire ant (*Solenopsis invicta*) of South America, are regarded as invasive species in other parts of the world, establishing themselves in areas where they have been introduced accidentally.
## Etymology
The word *ant* and the archaic word *emmet* are derived from * ante*,
*of Middle English, which come from*
*emete**of Old English; these are all related to Low Saxon*
*ǣmette**,*
*e(e)mt**and varieties (Old Saxon*
*empe**) and to German*
*emeta**(Old High German*
*Ameise**). All of these words come from West Germanic*
*āmeiza****, and the original meaning of the word was "the biter" (from Proto-Germanic
*ǣmaitjōn****, "off, away" +
*ai-****"cut").
*mait-*The family name *Formicidae* is derived from the Latin * formīca* ("ant") from which the words in other Romance languages, such as the Portuguese
*, Italian*
*formiga**, Spanish*
*formica**, Romanian*
*hormiga**, and French*
*furnică**are derived.*
*fourmi*The study of ants is called *myrmecology*, from Ancient Greek μύρμηξ *mýrmēx* ("ant"). It has been hypothesised that a Proto-Indo-European word *morwi- was the root for Sanskrit *vamrah*, Greek μύρμηξ *mýrmēx*, Latin * formīca*, Old Church Slavonic
*mraviji*, Old Irish
*moirb*, Old Norse
*maurr*, Dutch
*mier*, Swedish
*myra*, Danish
*myre*, Middle Dutch
*miere*, and Crimean Gothic
*miera*.
## Taxonomy and evolution
The family Formicidae belongs to the order Hymenoptera, which also includes sawflies, bees, and wasps. Ants evolved from a lineage within the stinging wasps, and a 2013 study suggests that they are a sister group of the Apoidea. However, since Apoidea is a superfamily, ants must be upgraded to the same rank. A more detailed basic taxonomy was proposed in 2020. Three species of the extinct mid-Cretaceous genera *Camelomecia* and *Camelosphecia* were placed outside of the Formicidae, in a separate clade within the general superfamily Formicoidea, which, together with Apoidea, forms the higher-ranking group Formicapoidina. Fernández et al. (2021) suggest that the common ancestors of ants and apoids within the Formicapoidina probably existed as early as in the end of the Jurassic period, before divergence in the Cretaceous.
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In 1966, E. O. Wilson and his colleagues identified the fossil remains of an ant (*Sphecomyrma*) that lived in the Cretaceous period. The specimen, trapped in amber dating back to around 92 million years ago, has features found in some wasps, but not found in modern ants. The oldest fossils of ants date to the mid-Cretaceous, around 113-100 million years ago, which belong to extinct stem-groups such as the Haidomyrmecinae, Sphecomyrminae and Zigrasimeciinae, with modern ant subfamilies appearing towards the end of the Cretaceous around 80–70 million years ago. Ants diversified extensively during the Angiosperm Terrestrial Revolution and assumed ecological dominance around 60 million years ago. Some groups, such as the Leptanillinae and Martialinae, are suggested to have diversified from early primitive ants that were likely to have been predators underneath the surface of the soil.
During the Cretaceous period, a few species of primitive ants ranged widely on the Laurasian supercontinent (the Northern Hemisphere). Their representation in the fossil record is poor, in comparison to the populations of other insects, representing only about 1% of fossil evidence of insects in the era. Ants became dominant after adaptive radiation at the beginning of the Paleogene period. By the Oligocene and Miocene, ants had come to represent 20–40% of all insects found in major fossil deposits. Of the species that lived in the Eocene epoch, around one in 10 genera survive to the present. Genera surviving today comprise 56% of the genera in Baltic amber fossils (early Oligocene), and 92% of the genera in Dominican amber fossils (apparently early Miocene).
Termites live in colonies and are sometimes called "white ants", but termites are only distantly related to ants. They are the sub-order Isoptera, and together with cockroaches, they form the order Blattodea. Blattodeans are related to mantids, crickets, and other winged insects that do not undergo complete metamorphosis. Like ants, termites are eusocial, with sterile workers, but they differ greatly in the genetics of reproduction. The similarity of their social structure to that of ants is attributed to convergent evolution. Velvet ants look like large ants, but are wingless female wasps.
## Distribution and diversity
| Region | Number of species |
|---|---|
| Neotropics | 2,162 |
| Nearctic | 580 |
| Europe | 180 |
| Africa | 2,500 |
| Asia | 2,080 |
| Melanesia | 275 |
| Australia | 985 |
| Polynesia | 42 |
Ants have a cosmopolitan distribution. They are found on all continents except Antarctica, and only a few large islands, such as Greenland, Iceland, parts of Polynesia and the Hawaiian Islands lack native ant species. Ants occupy a wide range of ecological niches and exploit many different food resources as direct or indirect herbivores, predators and scavengers. Most ant species are omnivorous generalists, but a few are specialist feeders. There is considerable variation in ant abundance across habitats, peaking in the moist tropics to nearly six times that found in less suitable habitats. Their ecological dominance has been examined primarily using estimates of their biomass: myrmecologist E. O. Wilson had estimated in 2009 that at any one time the total number of ants was between one and ten quadrillion (short scale) (i.e., between 1015 and 1016) and using this estimate he had suggested that the total biomass of all the ants in the world was approximately equal to the total biomass of the entire human race. More careful estimates made in 2022 which take into account regional variations puts the global ant contribution at 12 megatons of dry carbon, which is about 20% of the total human contribution, but greater than that of the wild birds and mammals combined. This study also puts a conservative estimate of the ants at about 20 × 1015 (20 quadrillion).
Ants range in size from 0.75 to 52 millimetres (0.030–2.0 in), the largest species being the fossil *Titanomyrma giganteum*, the queen of which was 6 cm (2+1⁄2 in) long with a wingspan of 15 cm (6 in). Ants vary in colour; most ants are yellow to red or brown to black, but a few species are green and some tropical species have a metallic lustre. More than 13,800 species are currently known (with upper estimates of the potential existence of about 22,000; see the article List of ant genera), with the greatest diversity in the tropics. Taxonomic studies continue to resolve the classification and systematics of ants. Online databases of ant species, including AntWeb and the Hymenoptera Name Server, help to keep track of the known and newly described species. The relative ease with which ants may be sampled and studied in ecosystems has made them useful as indicator species in biodiversity studies.
## Morphology
Ants are distinct in their morphology from other insects in having geniculate (elbowed) antennae, metapleural glands, and a strong constriction of their second abdominal segment into a node-like petiole. The body is divided into three distinct sections (formally known as *tagmata*): the head, mesosoma, and metasoma. The petiole forms a narrow waist between their mesosoma (thorax plus the first abdominal segment, which is fused to it) and gaster (abdomen less the abdominal segments in the petiole). The petiole may be formed by one or two nodes (the second alone, or the second and third abdominal segments). Tergosternal fusion, when the tergite and sternite of a segment fuse together, can occur partly or fully on the second, third and fourth abdominal segment and is used in identification. Fourth abdominal tergosternal fusion was formerly used as character that defined the poneromorph subfamilies, Ponerinae and relatives within their clade, but this is no longer considered a synapomorphic character.
Like other arthropods, ants have an exoskeleton, an external covering that provides a protective casing around the body and a point of attachment for muscles, in contrast to the internal skeletons of humans and other vertebrates. Insects do not have lungs; oxygen and other gases, such as carbon dioxide, pass through their exoskeleton via tiny valves called spiracles. Insects also lack closed blood vessels; instead, they have a long, thin, perforated tube along the top of the body (called the "dorsal aorta") that functions like a heart, and pumps haemolymph toward the head, thus driving the circulation of the internal fluids. The nervous system consists of a ventral nerve cord that runs the length of the body, with several ganglia and branches along the way reaching into the extremities of the appendages.
### Head
An ant's head contains many sensory organs. Like most insects, ants have compound eyes made from numerous tiny lenses attached together. Ant eyes are good for acute movement detection, but do not offer a high resolution image. They also have three small ocelli (simple eyes) on the top of the head that detect light levels and polarization. Compared to vertebrates, ants tend to have blurrier eyesight, particularly in smaller species, and a few subterranean taxa are completely blind. However, some ants, such as Australia's bulldog ant, have excellent vision and are capable of discriminating the distance and size of objects moving nearly a meter away. Based on experiments conducted to test their ability to differentiate between selected wavelengths of light, some ant species such as *Camponotus blandus, Solenopsis invicta,* and *Formica cunicularia* are thought to possess a degree of colour vision.
Two antennae ("feelers") are attached to the head; these organs detect chemicals, air currents, and vibrations; they also are used to transmit and receive signals through touch. The head has two strong jaws, the mandibles, used to carry food, manipulate objects, construct nests, and for defence. In some species, a small pocket (infrabuccal chamber) inside the mouth stores food, so it may be passed to other ants or their larvae.
### Mesosoma
Both the legs and wings of the ant are attached to the mesosoma ("thorax"). The legs terminate in a hooked claw which allows them to hook on and climb surfaces. Only reproductive ants (queens and males) have wings. Queens shed their wings after the nuptial flight, leaving visible stubs, a distinguishing feature of queens. In a few species, wingless queens (ergatoids) and males occur.
### Metasoma
The metasoma (the "abdomen") of the ant houses important internal organs, including those of the reproductive, respiratory (tracheae), and excretory systems. Workers of many species have their egg-laying structures modified into stings that are used for subduing prey and defending their nests.
### Polymorphism
In the colonies of a few ant species, there are physical castes—workers in distinct size-classes, called minor (micrergates), median, and major ergates (macrergates). Often, the larger ants have disproportionately larger heads, and correspondingly stronger mandibles. Although formally known as dinergates, such individuals are sometimes called "soldier" ants because their stronger mandibles make them more effective in fighting, although they still are workers and their "duties" typically do not vary greatly from the minor or median workers. In a few species, the median workers are absent, creating a sharp divide between the minors and majors. Weaver ants, for example, have a distinct bimodal size distribution. Some other species show continuous variation in the size of workers. The smallest and largest workers in *Carebara diversa* show nearly a 500-fold difference in their dry weights.
Workers cannot mate; however, because of the haplodiploid sex-determination system in ants, workers of a number of species can lay unfertilised eggs that become fully fertile, haploid males. The role of workers may change with their age and in some species, such as honeypot ants, young workers are fed until their gasters are distended, and act as living food storage vessels. These food storage workers are called *repletes*. For instance, these replete workers develop in the North American honeypot ant *Myrmecocystus mexicanus*. Usually the largest workers in the colony develop into repletes; and, if repletes are removed from the colony, other workers become repletes, demonstrating the flexibility of this particular polymorphism. This polymorphism in morphology and behaviour of workers initially was thought to be determined by environmental factors such as nutrition and hormones that led to different developmental paths; however, genetic differences between worker castes have been noted in *Acromyrmex* sp. These polymorphisms are caused by relatively small genetic changes; differences in a single gene of *Solenopsis invicta* can decide whether the colony will have single or multiple queens. The Australian jack jumper ant (*Myrmecia pilosula*) has only a single pair of chromosomes (with the males having just one chromosome as they are haploid), the lowest number known for any animal, making it an interesting subject for studies in the genetics and developmental biology of social insects.
### Genome size
Genome size is a fundamental characteristic of an organism. Ants have been found to have tiny genomes, with the evolution of genome size suggested to occur through loss and accumulation of non-coding regions, mainly transposable elements, and occasionally by whole genome duplication. This may be related to colonisation processes, but further studies are needed to verify this.
## Life cycle
The life of an ant starts from an egg; if the egg is fertilised, the progeny will be female diploid, if not, it will be male haploid. Ants develop by complete metamorphosis with the larva stages passing through a pupal stage before emerging as an adult. The larva is largely immobile and is fed and cared for by workers. Food is given to the larvae by trophallaxis, a process in which an ant regurgitates liquid food held in its crop. This is also how adults share food, stored in the "social stomach". Larvae, especially in the later stages, may also be provided solid food, such as trophic eggs, pieces of prey, and seeds brought by workers.
The larvae grow through a series of four or five moults and enter the pupal stage. The pupa has the appendages free and not fused to the body as in a butterfly pupa. The differentiation into queens and workers (which are both female), and different castes of workers, is influenced in some species by the nutrition the larvae obtain. Genetic influences and the control of gene expression by the developmental environment are complex and the determination of caste continues to be a subject of research. Winged male ants, called drones (termed "aner" in old literature), emerge from pupae along with the usually winged breeding females. Some species, such as army ants, have wingless queens. Larvae and pupae need to be kept at fairly constant temperatures to ensure proper development, and so often are moved around among the various brood chambers within the colony.
A new ergate spends the first few days of its adult life caring for the queen and young. She then graduates to digging and other nest work, and later to defending the nest and foraging. These changes are sometimes fairly sudden, and define what are called temporal castes. Such age-based task-specialization or polyethism has been suggested as having evolved due to the high casualties involved in foraging and defence, making it an acceptable risk only for ants who are older and likely to die sooner from natural causes. In the Brazilian ant *Forelius pusillus,* the nest entrance is closed from the outside to protect the colony from predatory ant species at sunset each day. About one to eight workers seal the nest entrance from the outside and they have no chance of returning to the nest and are in effect sacrificed. Whether these seemingly suicidal workers are older workers has not been determined.
Ant colonies can be long-lived. The queens can live for up to 30 years, and workers live from 1 to 3 years. Males, however, are more transitory, being quite short-lived and surviving for only a few weeks. Ant queens are estimated to live 100 times as long as solitary insects of a similar size.
Ants are active all year long in the tropics; however, in cooler regions, they survive the winter in a state of dormancy known as hibernation. The forms of inactivity are varied and some temperate species have larvae going into the inactive state (diapause), while in others, the adults alone pass the winter in a state of reduced activity.
### Reproduction
A wide range of reproductive strategies have been noted in ant species. Females of many species are known to be capable of reproducing asexually through thelytokous parthenogenesis. Secretions from the male accessory glands in some species can plug the female genital opening and prevent females from re-mating. Most ant species have a system in which only the queen and breeding females have the ability to mate. Contrary to popular belief, some ant nests have multiple queens, while others may exist without queens. Workers with the ability to reproduce are called "gamergates" and colonies that lack queens are then called gamergate colonies; colonies with queens are said to be queen-right.
Drones can also mate with existing queens by entering a foreign colony, such as in army ants. When the drone is initially attacked by the workers, it releases a mating pheromone. If recognized as a mate, it will be carried to the queen to mate. Males may also patrol the nest and fight others by grabbing them with their mandibles, piercing their exoskeleton and then marking them with a pheromone. The marked male is interpreted as an invader by worker ants and is killed.
Most ants are univoltine, producing a new generation each year. During the species-specific breeding period, winged females and winged males, known to entomologists as alates, leave the colony in what is called a nuptial flight. The nuptial flight usually takes place in the late spring or early summer when the weather is hot and humid. Heat makes flying easier and freshly fallen rain makes the ground softer for mated queens to dig nests. Males typically take flight before the females. Males then use visual cues to find a common mating ground, for example, a landmark such as a pine tree to which other males in the area converge. Males secrete a mating pheromone that females follow. Males will mount females in the air, but the actual mating process usually takes place on the ground. Females of some species mate with just one male but in others they may mate with as many as ten or more different males, storing the sperm in their spermathecae. The genus *Cardiocondyla* have species with both winged and wingless males, where the latter will only mate with females living in the same nest. Some species in the genus have lost winged males completely, and only produce wingless males. In *C. elegans,* workers may transport newly emerged queens to other conspecific nests where the wingless males from unrelated colonies can mate with them, a behavioural adaptation that may reduce the chances of inbreeding.
Mated females then seek a suitable place to begin a colony. There, they break off their wings using their tibial spurs and begin to lay and care for eggs. The females can selectively fertilise future eggs with the sperm stored to produce diploid workers or lay unfertilized haploid eggs to produce drones. The first workers to hatch, known as nanitics, are weaker and smaller than later workers but they begin to serve the colony immediately. They enlarge the nest, forage for food, and care for the other eggs. Species that have multiple queens may have a queen leaving the nest along with some workers to found a colony at a new site, a process akin to swarming in honeybees.
The typical ant species has a colony occupying a single nest, housing one or more queens, where the brood is raised. There are however more than 150 species of ants in 49 genera that are known to have colonies consisting of multiple spatially separated nests. These polydomous (as opposed to monodomous) colonies have food and workers moving between the nests. Membership to a colony is identified by the response of worker ants which identify whether another individual belongs to their own colony or not. A signature cocktail of body surface chemicals (also known as cuticular hydrocarbons or CHCs) forms the so-called colony odor which other members can recognize. Some ant species appear to be less discriminating and in the Argentine ant *Linepithema humile,* workers carried from a colony anywhere in the southern US and Mexico are acceptable within other colonies in the same region. Similarly workers from colonies that have established in Europe are accepted by any other colonies within Europe but not by the colonies in the Americas. The interpretation of these observations has been debated and some have been termed these large populations as supercolonies while others have termed the populations as unicolonial.
## Behaviour and ecology
### Communication
Ants communicate with each other using pheromones, sounds, and touch. Since most ants live on the ground, they use the soil surface to leave pheromone trails that may be followed by other ants. In species that forage in groups, a forager that finds food marks a trail on the way back to the colony; this trail is followed by other ants, these ants then reinforce the trail when they head back with food to the colony. When the food source is exhausted, no new trails are marked by returning ants and the scent slowly dissipates. This behaviour helps ants deal with changes in their environment. For instance, when an established path to a food source is blocked by an obstacle, the foragers leave the path to explore new routes. If an ant is successful, it leaves a new trail marking the shortest route on its return. Successful trails are followed by more ants, reinforcing better routes and gradually identifying the best path.
Ants use pheromones for more than just making trails. A crushed ant emits an alarm pheromone that sends nearby ants into an attack frenzy and attracts more ants from farther away. Several ant species even use "propaganda pheromones" to confuse enemy ants and make them fight among themselves. Pheromones are produced by a wide range of structures including Dufour's glands, poison glands and glands on the hindgut, pygidium, rectum, sternum, and hind tibia. Pheromones also are exchanged, mixed with food, and passed by trophallaxis, transferring information within the colony. This allows other ants to detect what task group (e.g., foraging or nest maintenance) other colony members belong to. In ant species with queen castes, when the dominant queen stops producing a specific pheromone, workers begin to raise new queens in the colony.
Some ants produce sounds by stridulation, using the gaster segments and their mandibles. Sounds may be used to communicate with colony members or with other species.
### Defence
Ants attack and defend themselves by biting and, in many species, by stinging often injecting or spraying chemicals. Bullet ants (*Paraponera*), located in Central and South America, are considered to have the most painful sting of any insect, although it is usually not fatal to humans. This sting is given the highest rating on the Schmidt sting pain index.
The sting of jack jumper ants can be lethal for humans, and an antivenom has been developed for it. Fire ants, *Solenopsis* spp., are unique in having a venom sac containing piperidine alkaloids. Their stings are painful and can be dangerous to hypersensitive people. Formicine ants secrete a poison from their glands, made mainly of formic acid.
Trap-jaw ants of the genus *Odontomachus* are equipped with mandibles called trap-jaws, which snap shut faster than any other predatory appendages within the animal kingdom. One study of *Odontomachus bauri* recorded peak speeds of between 126 and 230 km/h (78 and 143 mph), with the jaws closing within 130 microseconds on average. The ants were also observed to use their jaws as a catapult to eject intruders or fling themselves backward to escape a threat. Before striking, the ant opens its mandibles extremely widely and locks them in this position by an internal mechanism. Energy is stored in a thick band of muscle and explosively released when triggered by the stimulation of sensory organs resembling hairs on the inside of the mandibles. The mandibles also permit slow and fine movements for other tasks. Trap-jaws also are seen in other ponerines such as *Anochetus*, as well as some genera in the tribe Attini, such as *Daceton*, *Orectognathus*, and *Strumigenys*, which are viewed as examples of convergent evolution.
A Malaysian species of ant in the *Camponotus* *cylindricus* group has enlarged mandibular glands that extend into their gaster. If combat takes a turn for the worse, a worker may perform a final act of suicidal altruism by rupturing the membrane of its gaster, causing the content of its mandibular glands to burst from the anterior region of its head, spraying a poisonous, corrosive secretion containing acetophenones and other chemicals that immobilise small insect attackers. The worker subsequently dies.
In addition to defence against predators, ants need to protect their colonies from pathogens. Secretions from the metapleural gland, unique to the ants, produce a complex range of chemicals including several with antibiotic properties. Some worker ants maintain the hygiene of the colony and their activities include undertaking or *necrophoresis*, the disposal of dead nest-mates. Oleic acid has been identified as the compound released from dead ants that triggers necrophoric behaviour in *Atta mexicana* while workers of *Linepithema humile* react to the absence of characteristic chemicals (dolichodial and iridomyrmecin) present on the cuticle of their living nestmates to trigger similar behaviour. In *Megaponera analis,* injured ants are treated by nestmastes with secretions from their metapleural glands which protect them from infection. *Camponotus* ants do not have a metapleural gland and *Camponotus maculatus* as well as *C. floridanus* workers have been found to amputate the affected legs of nestmates when the femur is injured. A femur injury carries a greater risk of infection unlike a tibia injury.
Nests may be protected from physical threats such as flooding and overheating by elaborate nest architecture. Workers of *Cataulacus muticus*, an arboreal species that lives in plant hollows, respond to flooding by drinking water inside the nest, and excreting it outside. *Camponotus anderseni*, which nests in the cavities of wood in mangrove habitats, deals with submergence under water by switching to anaerobic respiration.
### Learning
Many animals can learn behaviours by imitation, but ants may be the only group apart from mammals where interactive teaching has been observed. A knowledgeable forager of *Temnothorax albipennis* can lead a naïve nest-mate to newly discovered food by the process of tandem running. The follower obtains knowledge through its leading tutor. The leader is acutely sensitive to the progress of the follower and slows down when the follower lags and speeds up when the follower gets too close.
Controlled experiments with colonies of *Cerapachys biroi* suggest that an individual may choose nest roles based on her previous experience. An entire generation of identical workers was divided into two groups whose outcome in food foraging was controlled. One group was continually rewarded with prey, while it was made certain that the other failed. As a result, members of the successful group intensified their foraging attempts while the unsuccessful group ventured out fewer and fewer times. A month later, the successful foragers continued in their role while the others had moved to specialise in brood care.
### Nest construction
Complex nests are built by many ant species, but other species are nomadic and do not build permanent structures. Ants may form subterranean nests or build them on trees. These nests may be found in the ground, under stones or logs, inside logs, hollow stems, or even acorns. The materials used for construction include soil and plant matter, and ants carefully select their nest sites; *Temnothorax albipennis* will avoid sites with dead ants, as these may indicate the presence of pests or disease. They are quick to abandon established nests at the first sign of threats.
The army ants of South America, such as the *Eciton burchellii* species, and the driver ants of Africa do not build permanent nests, but instead, alternate between nomadism and stages where the workers form a temporary nest (bivouac) from their own bodies, by holding each other together.
Weaver ant (*Oecophylla* spp.) workers build nests in trees by attaching leaves together, first pulling them together with bridges of workers and then inducing their larvae to produce silk as they are moved along the leaf edges. Similar forms of nest construction are seen in some species of *Polyrhachis*.
*Formica polyctena*, among other ant species, constructs nests that maintain a relatively constant interior temperature that aids in the development of larvae. The ants maintain the nest temperature by choosing the location, nest materials, controlling ventilation and maintaining the heat from solar radiation, worker activity and metabolism, and in some moist nests, microbial activity in the nest materials.
Some ant species, such as those that use natural cavities, can be opportunistic and make use of the controlled micro-climate provided inside human dwellings and other artificial structures to house their colonies and nest structures.
### Cultivation of food
Most ants are generalist predators, scavengers, and indirect herbivores, but a few have evolved specialised ways of obtaining nutrition. It is believed that many ant species that engage in indirect herbivory rely on specialized symbiosis with their gut microbes to upgrade the nutritional value of the food they collect and allow them to survive in nitrogen poor regions, such as rainforest canopies. Leafcutter ants (*Atta* and *Acromyrmex*) feed exclusively on a fungus that grows only within their colonies. They continually collect leaves which are taken to the colony, cut into tiny pieces and placed in fungal gardens. Ergates specialise in related tasks according to their sizes. The largest ants cut stalks, smaller workers chew the leaves and the smallest tend the fungus. Leafcutter ants are sensitive enough to recognise the reaction of the fungus to different plant material, apparently detecting chemical signals from the fungus. If a particular type of leaf is found to be toxic to the fungus, the colony will no longer collect it. The ants feed on structures produced by the fungi called *gongylidia*. Symbiotic bacteria on the exterior surface of the ants produce antibiotics that kill bacteria introduced into the nest that may harm the fungi.
### Navigation
Foraging ants travel distances of up to 200 metres (700 ft) from their nest and scent trails allow them to find their way back even in the dark. In hot and arid regions, day-foraging ants face death by desiccation, so the ability to find the shortest route back to the nest reduces that risk. Diurnal desert ants of the genus *Cataglyphis* such as the Sahara desert ant navigate by keeping track of direction as well as distance travelled. Distances travelled are measured using an internal pedometer that keeps count of the steps taken and also by evaluating the movement of objects in their visual field (optical flow). Directions are measured using the position of the sun.
They integrate this information to find the shortest route back to their nest.
Like all ants, they can also make use of visual landmarks when available as well as olfactory and tactile cues to navigate. Some species of ant are able to use the Earth's magnetic field for navigation. The compound eyes of ants have specialised cells that detect polarised light from the Sun, which is used to determine direction.
These polarization detectors are sensitive in the ultraviolet region of the light spectrum. In some army ant species, a group of foragers who become separated from the main column may sometimes turn back on themselves and form a circular ant mill. The workers may then run around continuously until they die of exhaustion.
### Locomotion
The female worker ants do not have wings and reproductive females lose their wings after their mating flights in order to begin their colonies. Therefore, unlike their wasp ancestors, most ants travel by walking. Some species are capable of leaping. For example, Jerdon's jumping ant (*Harpegnathos saltator*) is able to jump by synchronising the action of its mid and hind pairs of legs. There are several species of gliding ant including *Cephalotes atratus*; this may be a common trait among arboreal ants with small colonies. Ants with this ability are able to control their horizontal movement so as to catch tree trunks when they fall from atop the forest canopy.
Other species of ants can form chains to bridge gaps over water, underground, or through spaces in vegetation. Some species also form floating rafts that help them survive floods. These rafts may also have a role in allowing ants to colonise islands. *Polyrhachis sokolova*, a species of ant found in Australian mangrove swamps, can swim and live in underwater nests. Since they lack gills, they go to trapped pockets of air in the submerged nests to breathe.
### Cooperation and competition
Not all ants have the same kind of societies. The Australian bulldog ants are among the biggest and most basal of ants. Like virtually all ants, they are eusocial, but their social behaviour is poorly developed compared to other species. Each individual hunts alone, using her large eyes instead of chemical senses to find prey.
Some species attack and take over neighbouring ant colonies. Extreme specialists among these slave-raiding ants, such as the Amazon ants, are incapable of feeding themselves and need captured workers to survive. Captured workers of enslaved *Temnothorax* species have evolved a counter-strategy, destroying just the female pupae of the slave-making *Temnothorax americanus*, but sparing the males (who do not take part in slave-raiding as adults).
Ants identify kin and nestmates through their scent, which comes from hydrocarbon-laced secretions that coat their exoskeletons. If an ant is separated from its original colony, it will eventually lose the colony scent. Any ant that enters a colony without a matching scent will be attacked.
Parasitic ant species enter the colonies of host ants and establish themselves as social parasites; species such as *Strumigenys xenos* are entirely parasitic and do not have workers, but instead, rely on the food gathered by their *Strumigenys perplexa* hosts. This form of parasitism is seen across many ant genera, but the parasitic ant is usually a species that is closely related to its host. A variety of methods are employed to enter the nest of the host ant. A parasitic queen may enter the host nest before the first brood has hatched, establishing herself prior to development of a colony scent. Other species use pheromones to confuse the host ants or to trick them into carrying the parasitic queen into the nest. Some simply fight their way into the nest.
A conflict between the sexes of a species is seen in some species of ants with these reproducers apparently competing to produce offspring that are as closely related to them as possible. The most extreme form involves the production of clonal offspring. An extreme of sexual conflict is seen in *Wasmannia auropunctata*, where the queens produce diploid daughters by thelytokous parthenogenesis and males produce clones by a process whereby a diploid egg loses its maternal contribution to produce haploid males who are clones of the father.
### Relationships with other organisms
Ants form symbiotic associations with a range of species, including other ant species, other insects, plants, and fungi. They also are preyed on by many animals and even certain fungi. Some arthropod species spend part of their lives within ant nests, either preying on ants, their larvae, and eggs, consuming the food stores of the ants, or avoiding predators. These inquilines may bear a close resemblance to ants. The nature of this ant mimicry (myrmecomorphy) varies, with some cases involving Batesian mimicry, where the mimic reduces the risk of predation. Others show Wasmannian mimicry, a form of mimicry seen only in inquilines.
Aphids and other hemipteran insects secrete a sweet liquid called honeydew, when they feed on plant sap. The sugars in honeydew are a high-energy food source, which many ant species collect. In some cases, the aphids secrete the honeydew in response to ants tapping them with their antennae. The ants in turn keep predators away from the aphids and will move them from one feeding location to another. When migrating to a new area, many colonies will take the aphids with them, to ensure a continued supply of honeydew. Ants also tend mealybugs to harvest their honeydew. Mealybugs may become a serious pest of pineapples if ants are present to protect mealybugs from their natural enemies.
Myrmecophilous (ant-loving) caterpillars of the butterfly family Lycaenidae (e.g., blues, coppers, or hairstreaks) are herded by the ants, led to feeding areas in the daytime, and brought inside the ants' nest at night. The caterpillars have a gland which secretes honeydew when the ants massage them. The chemicals in the secretions of *Narathura japonica* alter the behavior of attendant *Pristomyrmex punctatus* workers, making them less aggressive and stationary. The relationship, formerly characterized as "mutualistic", is now considered as possibly a case of the ants being parasitically manipulated by the caterpillars. Some caterpillars produce vibrations and sounds that are perceived by the ants. A similar adaptation can be seen in Grizzled skipper butterflies that emit vibrations by expanding their wings in order to communicate with ants, which are natural predators of these butterflies. Other caterpillars have evolved from ant-loving to ant-eating: these myrmecophagous caterpillars secrete a pheromone that makes the ants act as if the caterpillar is one of their own larvae. The caterpillar is then taken into the ant nest where it feeds on the ant larvae. A number of specialized bacteria have been found as endosymbionts in ant guts. Some of the dominant bacteria belong to the order Hyphomicrobiales whose members are known for being nitrogen-fixing symbionts in legumes but the species found in ant lack the ability to fix nitrogen. Fungus-growing ants that make up the tribe Attini, including leafcutter ants, cultivate certain species of fungus in the genera *Leucoagaricus* or *Leucocoprinus* of the family Agaricaceae. In this ant-fungus mutualism, both species depend on each other for survival. The ant *Allomerus decemarticulatus* has evolved a three-way association with the host plant, *Hirtella physophora* (Chrysobalanaceae), and a sticky fungus which is used to trap their insect prey.
Lemon ants make devil's gardens by killing surrounding plants with their stings and leaving a pure patch of lemon ant trees, (*Duroia hirsuta*). This modification of the forest provides the ants with more nesting sites inside the stems of the *Duroia* trees. Although some ants obtain nectar from flowers, pollination by ants is somewhat rare, one example being of the pollination of the orchid *Leporella fimbriata* which induces male *Myrmecia urens* to pseudocopulate with the flowers, transferring pollen in the process. One theory that has been proposed for the rarity of pollination is that the secretions of the metapleural gland inactivate and reduce the viability of pollen. Some plants, mostly angiosperms but also some ferns, have special nectar exuding structures, extrafloral nectaries, that provide food for ants, which in turn protect the plant from more damaging herbivorous insects. Species such as the bullhorn acacia (*Acacia cornigera*) in Central America have hollow thorns that house colonies of stinging ants (*Pseudomyrmex ferruginea*) who defend the tree against insects, browsing mammals, and epiphytic vines. Isotopic labelling studies suggest that plants also obtain nitrogen from the ants. In return, the ants obtain food from protein- and lipid-rich Beltian bodies. In Fiji *Philidris nagasau* (Dolichoderinae) are known to selectively grow species of epiphytic *Squamellaria* (Rubiaceae) which produce large domatia inside which the ant colonies nest. The ants plant the seeds and the domatia of young seedling are immediately occupied and the ant faeces in them contribute to rapid growth. Similar dispersal associations are found with other dolichoderines in the region as well. Another example of this type of ectosymbiosis comes from the *Macaranga* tree, which has stems adapted to house colonies of *Crematogaster* ants.
Many plant species have seeds that are adapted for dispersal by ants. Seed dispersal by ants or myrmecochory is widespread, and new estimates suggest that nearly 9% of all plant species may have such ant associations. Often, seed-dispersing ants perform directed dispersal, depositing the seeds in locations that increase the likelihood of seed survival to reproduction. Some plants in arid, fire-prone systems are particularly dependent on ants for their survival and dispersal as the seeds are transported to safety below the ground. Many ant-dispersed seeds have special external structures, elaiosomes, that are sought after by ants as food. Ants can substantially alter rate of decomposition and nutrient cycling in their nest. By myrmecochory and modification of soil conditions they substantially alter vegetation and nutrient cycling in surrounding ecosystem.
A convergence, possibly a form of mimicry, is seen in the eggs of stick insects. They have an edible elaiosome-like structure and are taken into the ant nest where the young hatch.
Most ants are predatory and some prey on and obtain food from other social insects including other ants. Some species specialise in preying on termites (*Megaponera* and *Termitopone*) while a few Cerapachyinae prey on other ants. Some termites, including *Nasutitermes corniger*, form associations with certain ant species to keep away predatory ant species. The tropical wasp *Mischocyttarus drewseni* coats the pedicel of its nest with an ant-repellent chemical. It is suggested that many tropical wasps may build their nests in trees and cover them to protect themselves from ants. Other wasps, such as *A. multipicta*, defend against ants by blasting them off the nest with bursts of wing buzzing. Stingless bees (*Trigona* and *Melipona*) use chemical defences against ants.
Flies in the Old World genus *Bengalia* (Calliphoridae) prey on ants and are kleptoparasites, snatching prey or brood from the mandibles of adult ants. Wingless and legless females of the Malaysian phorid fly (*Vestigipoda myrmolarvoidea*) live in the nests of ants of the genus *Aenictus* and are cared for by the ants.
Fungi in the genera *Cordyceps* and *Ophiocordyceps* infect ants. Ants react to their infection by climbing up plants and sinking their mandibles into plant tissue. The fungus kills the ants, grows on their remains, and produces a fruiting body. It appears that the fungus alters the behaviour of the ant to help disperse its spores in a microhabitat that best suits the fungus. Strepsipteran parasites also manipulate their ant host to climb grass stems, to help the parasite find mates.
A nematode (*Myrmeconema neotropicum*) that infects canopy ants (*Cephalotes atratus*) causes the black-coloured gasters of workers to turn red. The parasite also alters the behaviour of the ant, causing them to carry their gasters high. The conspicuous red gasters are mistaken by birds for ripe fruits, such as *Hyeronima alchorneoides*, and eaten. The droppings of the bird are collected by other ants and fed to their young, leading to further spread of the nematode.
A study of *Temnothorax nylanderi* colonies in Germany found that workers parasitized by the tapeworm *Anomotaenia brevis* (ants are intermediate hosts, the definitive hosts are woodpeckers) lived much longer than unparasitized workers and had a reduced mortality rate, comparable to that of the queens of the same species, which live for as long as two decades.
South American poison dart frogs in the genus *Dendrobates* feed mainly on ants, and the toxins in the skin of some species come from the ants. Formicine ants in the genera *Brachymyrmex* and *Paratrechina* have been found to contain pumiliotoxin found in *Dendrobates pumilio*. The West African frog *Phrynomantis microps* is able to move within the nests of *Paltothyreus tarsatus* ants, producing peptides on its skin that prevent the ants from stinging them.
Army ants which is the toxin found in forage in a wide roving column, attacking any animals in that path that are unable to escape. In Central and South America, *Eciton burchellii* is the swarming ant most commonly attended by "ant-following" birds such as antbirds and woodcreepers. This behaviour was once considered mutualistic, but later studies found the birds to be parasitic. Direct kleptoparasitism (birds stealing food from the ants' grasp) is rare and has been noted in Inca doves which pick seeds at nest entrances as they are being transported by species of *Pogonomyrmex*. Birds that follow ants eat many prey insects and thus decrease the foraging success of ants. Birds indulge in a peculiar behaviour called anting that, as yet, is not fully understood. Here birds rest on ant nests, or pick and drop ants onto their wings and feathers; this may be a means to remove ectoparasites from the birds.
Anteaters, aardvarks, pangolins, echidnas and numbats have special adaptations for living on a diet of ants. These adaptations include long, sticky tongues to capture ants and strong claws to break into ant nests. Brown bears (*Ursus arctos*) have been found to feed on ants. About 12%, 16%, and 4% of their faecal volume in spring, summer and autumn, respectively, is composed of ants.
## Relationship with humans
Ants perform many ecological roles that are beneficial to humans, including the suppression of pest populations and aeration of the soil. The use of weaver ants in citrus cultivation in southern China is considered one of the oldest known applications of biological control. On the other hand, ants may become nuisances when they invade buildings or cause economic losses.
In some parts of the world (mainly Africa and South America), large ants, especially army ants, are used as surgical sutures. The wound is pressed together and ants are applied along it. The ant seizes the edges of the wound in its mandibles and locks in place. The body is then cut off and the head and mandibles remain in place to close the wound. The large heads of the dinergates (soldiers) of the leafcutting ant *Atta cephalotes* are also used by native surgeons in closing wounds.
Some ants have toxic venom and are of medical importance. The species include *Paraponera clavata* (tocandira) and *Dinoponera* spp. (false tocandiras) of South America and the *Myrmecia* ants of Australia.
In South Africa, ants are used to help harvest the seeds of rooibos (*Aspalathus linearis*), a plant used to make a herbal tea. The plant disperses its seeds widely, making manual collection difficult. Black ants collect and store these and other seeds in their nest, where humans can gather them *en masse*. Up to half a pound (200 g) of seeds may be collected from one ant-heap.
Although most ants survive attempts by humans to eradicate them, a few are highly endangered. These tend to be island species that have evolved specialized traits and risk being displaced by introduced ant species. Examples include the critically endangered Sri Lankan relict ant (*Aneuretus simoni*) and *Adetomyrma venatrix* of Madagascar.
### As food
Ants and their larvae are eaten in different parts of the world. The eggs of two species of ants are used in Mexican *escamoles*. They are considered a form of insect caviar and can sell for as much as US$50 per kg going up to US$200 per kg (as of 2006) because they are seasonal and hard to find. In the Colombian department of Santander, *hormigas culonas* (roughly interpreted as "large-bottomed ants") *Atta laevigata* are toasted alive and eaten. In areas of India, and throughout Burma and Thailand, a paste of the green weaver ant (*Oecophylla smaragdina*) is served as a condiment with curry. Weaver ant eggs and larvae, as well as the ants, may be used in a Thai salad, *yam* (Thai: ยำ), in a dish called *yam khai mot daeng* (Thai: ยำไข่มดแดง) or red ant egg salad, a dish that comes from the Issan or north-eastern region of Thailand. Saville-Kent, in the *Naturalist in Australia* wrote "Beauty, in the case of the green ant, is more than skin-deep. Their attractive, almost sweetmeat-like translucency possibly invited the first essays at their consumption by the human species". Mashed up in water, after the manner of lemon squash, "these ants form a pleasant acid drink which is held in high favor by the natives of North Queensland, and is even appreciated by many European palates". Ants or their pupae are used as starters for yogurt making in parts of Bulgaria and Turkey.
In his *First Summer in the Sierra*, John Muir notes that the Digger Indians of California ate the tickling, acid gasters of the large jet-black carpenter ants. The Mexican Indians eat the repletes, or living honey-pots, of the honey ant (*Myrmecocystus*).
### As pests
Some ant species are considered as pests, primarily those that occur in human habitations, where their presence is often problematic. For example, the presence of ants would be undesirable in sterile places such as hospitals or kitchens. Some species or genera commonly categorized as pests include the Argentine ant, immigrant pavement ant, yellow crazy ant, banded sugar ant, pharaoh ant, red wood ant, black carpenter ant, odorous house ant, red imported fire ant, and European fire ant. Some ants will raid stored food, some will seek water sources, others may damage indoor structures, some may damage agricultural crops directly or by aiding sucking pests. Some will sting or bite. The adaptive nature of ant colonies make it nearly impossible to eliminate entire colonies and most pest management practices aim to control local populations and tend to be temporary solutions. Ant populations are managed by a combination of approaches that make use of chemical, biological, and physical methods. Chemical methods include the use of insecticidal bait which is gathered by ants as food and brought back to the nest where the poison is inadvertently spread to other colony members through trophallaxis. Management is based on the species and techniques may vary according to the location and circumstance.
### In science and technology
Observed by humans since the dawn of history, the behaviour of ants has been documented and the subject of early writings and fables passed from one century to another. Those using scientific methods, myrmecologists, study ants in the laboratory and in their natural conditions. Their complex and variable social structures have made ants ideal model organisms. Ultraviolet vision was first discovered in ants by Sir John Lubbock in 1881. Studies on ants have tested hypotheses in ecology and sociobiology, and have been particularly important in examining the predictions of theories of kin selection and evolutionarily stable strategies. Ant colonies may be studied by rearing or temporarily maintaining them in *formicaria*, specially constructed glass framed enclosures. Individuals may be tracked for study by marking them with dots of colours.
The successful techniques used by ant colonies have been studied in computer science and robotics to produce distributed and fault-tolerant systems for solving problems, for example Ant colony optimization and Ant robotics. This area of biomimetics has led to studies of ant locomotion, search engines that make use of "foraging trails", fault-tolerant storage, and networking algorithms.
### As pets
From the late 1950s through the late 1970s, ant farms were popular educational children's toys in the United States. Some later commercial versions use transparent gel instead of soil, allowing greater visibility at the cost of stressing the ants with unnatural light.
### In culture
Anthropomorphised ants have often been used in fables, children's stories, and religious texts to represent industriousness and cooperative effort, such as in the Aesop fable The Ant and the Grasshopper. In the Quran, Sulayman is said to have heard and understood an ant warning other ants to return home to avoid being accidentally crushed by Sulayman and his marching army.[Quran 27:18], In parts of Africa, ants are considered to be the messengers of the deities. Some Native American mythology, such as the Hopi mythology, considers ants as the first animals. Ant bites are often said to have curative properties. The sting of some species of *Pseudomyrmex* is claimed to give fever relief. Ant bites are used in the initiation ceremonies of some Amazon Indian cultures as a test of endurance. In Greek mythology, the goddess Athena turned the maiden Myrmex into an ant when the latter claimed to have invented the plough, when in fact it was Athena's own invention.
Ant society has always fascinated humans and has been written about both humorously and seriously. Mark Twain wrote about ants in his 1880 book *A Tramp Abroad*. Some modern authors have used the example of the ants to comment on the relationship between society and the individual. Examples are Robert Frost in his poem "Departmental" and T. H. White in his fantasy novel *The Once and Future King*. The plot in French entomologist and writer Bernard Werber's *Les Fourmis* science-fiction trilogy is divided between the worlds of ants and humans; ants and their behaviour are described using contemporary scientific knowledge. H. G. Wells wrote about intelligent ants destroying human settlements in Brazil and threatening human civilization in his 1905 science-fiction short story, *The Empire of the Ants.* A similar German story involving army ants, *Leiningen Versus the Ants*, was written in 1937 and recreated in movie form as The Naked Jungle in 1954. In more recent times, animated cartoons and 3-D animated films featuring ants have been produced including *Antz*, *A Bug's Life*, *The Ant Bully*, *The Ant and the Aardvark*, *Ferdy the Ant* and *Atom Ant.* Renowned myrmecologist E. O. Wilson wrote a short story, "Trailhead" in 2010 for *The New Yorker* magazine, which describes the life and death of an ant-queen and the rise and fall of her colony, from an ants' point of view.
Ants also are quite popular inspiration for many science-fiction insectoids, such as the Formics of *Ender's Game*, the Bugs of *Starship Troopers*, the giant ants in the films *Them!* and *Empire of the Ants,* Marvel Comics' super hero Ant-Man, and ants mutated into super-intelligence in *Phase IV*. In computer strategy games, ant-based species often benefit from increased production rates due to their single-minded focus, such as the Klackons in the *Master of Orion* series of games or the ChCht in *Deadlock II*. These characters are often credited with a hive mind, a common misconception about ant colonies. In the early 1990s, the video game *SimAnt*, which simulated an ant colony, won the 1992 Codie award for "Best Simulation Program".
## See also
- Glossary of ant terms
- International Union for the Study of Social Insects
*Myrmecological News*(journal)- Task allocation and partitioning in social insects
### Cited texts
- Borror DJ, Triplehorn CA, Delong DM (1989).
*Introduction to the Study of Insects*(6th ed.). Saunders College Publishing. ISBN 978-0-03-025397-3. - Hölldobler B, Wilson EO (1990).
*The Ants*. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-04075-5.
## Further reading
## External links
- AntWiki – Bringing Ants to the World
- Wilson, Andrew (1878). .
*Encyclopædia Britannica*. Vol. II (9th ed.). pp. 94–100. - AntWeb from The California Academy of Sciences
- Ant Species Fact Sheets from the National Pest Management Association on Argentine, Carpenter, Pharaoh, Odorous, and other ant species
- Ant Genera of the World – distribution maps
- The super-nettles. A dermatologist's guide to ants-in-the-plants
|
# Red fox - Wikipedia
| Red fox Middle | |
|---|---|
| in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Canidae |
| Genus: | Vulpes
|
| Species: | V. vulpes |
| Binomial name | |
Vulpes vulpes | |
| Subspecies | |
| Distribution of the red fox native
introduced presence uncertain | |
| Synonyms | |
|
The **red fox** (* Vulpes vulpes*) is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia, plus parts of North Africa. It is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List. Its range has increased alongside human expansion, having been introduced to Australia, where it is considered harmful to native small and medium-sized rodents and marsupials. Due to its impact on native species, it is included on the list of the "world's 100 worst invasive species".
The red fox originated in Eurasia during the Middle Pleistocene at least 400,000 years ago and later colonised North America sometime prior to 130,000 years ago. Among the true foxes, the red fox represents a more progressive form in the direction of carnivory. Apart from its large size, the red fox is distinguished from other fox species by its ability to adapt quickly to new environments. Despite its name, the species often produces individuals with other colourings, including leucistic and melanistic individuals. Forty-five subspecies are currently recognised, which are divided into two categories: the large northern foxes and the small, basal southern grey desert foxes of Asia and North Africa.
Red foxes are usually found in pairs or small groups consisting of families, such as a mated pair and their young, or a male with several females having kinship ties. The young of the mated pair remain with their parents to assist in caring for new kits. The species primarily feeds on small rodents, though it may also target rabbits, squirrels, game birds, reptiles, invertebrates and young ungulates. Fruit and vegetable matter is also eaten sometimes. Although the red fox tends to kill smaller predators, including other fox species, it is vulnerable to attack from larger predators, such as wolves, coyotes, golden jackals, large predatory birds such as golden eagles and Eurasian eagle owls, and medium- and large-sized felids.
The species has a long history of association with humans, having been extensively hunted as a pest and furbearer for many centuries, as well as being represented in human folklore and mythology. Because of its widespread distribution and large population, the red fox is one of the most important fur-bearing animals harvested for the fur trade. Too small to pose a threat to humans, it has extensively benefited from the presence of human habitation, and has successfully colonised many suburban and urban areas. Domestication of the red fox is also underway in Russia, and has resulted in the domesticated silver fox.
## Terminology
Males are called tods or dogs, females are called vixens, and young are known as cubs or kits. Although the Arctic fox has a small native population in northern Scandinavia, and while the corsac fox's range extends into European Russia, the red fox is the only fox native to Western Europe, and so is simply called "the fox" in colloquial British English.
## Etymology
The word "fox" comes from Old English, which derived from Proto-Germanic **fuhsaz*. Compare with West Frisian *foks*, Dutch *vos*, and German * Fuchs*. This, in turn, derives from Proto-Indo-European *
*puḱ-*'thick-haired; tail'. Compare to the Hindi
*pū̃ch*'tail', Tocharian B
*päkā*'tail; chowrie', and Lithuanian
*'fur / fluff'. The bushy tail also forms the basis for the fox's Welsh name,*
*pūkas**, literally 'bushy', from*
*llwynog**'bush'. Likewise, Portuguese:*
*llwyn**raposa*from
*rabo*'tail', Lithuanian
*from*
*uodẽgis**uodegà*'tail', and Ojibwe
*waagosh*from
*waa*, which refers to the up and down "bounce" or flickering of an animal or its tail.
[
*citation needed*]The scientific term *vulpes* derives from the Latin word for fox, and gives the adjectives *vulpine* and *vulpecular*.
## Evolution
The red fox is considered to be a more specialised form of *Vulpes* than the Afghan, corsac and Bengal fox species, in regards to their overall size and adaptation to carnivory; the skull displays far fewer neotenous traits than in other foxes, and its facial area is more developed. It is, however, not as adapted for a purely carnivorous diet as the Tibetan fox.
The sister lineage to the red fox is the Rüppell's fox, but the two species are surprisingly closely related through mitochondrial DNA markers, with Rüppell's fox nested inside the lineages of red foxes. Such a nesting of one species within another is called paraphyly. Several hypotheses have been suggested to explain this, including (1) recent divergence of Rüppell's fox from a red fox lineage, (2) incomplete lineage sorting, or introgression of mtDNA between the two species. Based on fossil record evidence, the last scenario seems most likely, which is further supported by the clear ecological and morphological differences between the two species.[ citation needed]
### Origins
The species is Eurasian in origin, and may have evolved from either *Vulpes alopecoides* or the related Chinese *V. chikushanensis*, both of which lived during the Middle Villafranchian of the Pleistocene Epoch. The earliest fossil specimens of *V. vulpes* were uncovered in Baranya County, Hungary, dating from 3.4 to 1.8 million years ago. The ancestral red fox was likely more diminutive compared to today's extant foxes, as the earliest red fox fossils have shown a smaller build than living specimens. The earliest fossil remains of the modern species date back to the mid-Pleistocene, found in association with middens and refuse left by early human settlements. This has led to the theory that the red fox was hunted by primitive humans (as both a source of food and pelts); the possibility also exists of red foxes scavenging from middens or butchered animal carcasses.
### Colonisation of North America
Red foxes colonised the North American continent in two waves: before and during the Illinoian glaciation, and during the Wisconsinan glaciation. Gene mapping demonstrates that red foxes in North America have been isolated from their Old World counterparts for over 400,000 years, thus raising the possibility that speciation has occurred, and that the previous binomial name of *Vulpes fulva* may be valid. In the far north, red fox fossils have been found in Sangamonian Stage deposits near the Fairbanks District, Alaska, and Medicine Hat, Alberta. Fossils dating from the Wisconsinan are present in 25 sites across Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wyoming. Although they ranged far south during the Wisconsinan, the onset of warm conditions shrank their range toward the north, and they have only recently reclaimed their former North American ranges because of human-induced environmental changes. Genetic testing indicates that two distinct red fox refugia exist in North America, which have been separated since the Wisconsinan. The northern (or boreal) refugium occurs in Alaska and western Canada, and consists of the larger subspecies *V. v. alascensis*, *V. v. abietorum*, *V. v. regalis*, and *V. v. rubricosa*. The southern (or montane) refugium occurs in the subalpine parklands and alpine meadows of the west, from the Rocky Mountains to the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada ranges, consisting of the smaller subspecies *V. v. cascadensis*, *V. v. macroura*, *V. v. necator*, and *V. v. patwin*. The latter clade has been separated from all other red fox populations since at least the last glacial maximum, and may possess unique ecological or physiological adaptations.
Although European foxes (*V. v. crucigera*) were introduced to portions of the United States in the 1900s, recent genetic investigation indicates an absence of European fox mitochondrial haplotypes in any North American populations. Additionally, introduced eastern North American red foxes have colonised most of inland California, from Southern California to the San Joaquin Valley, Monterey and north-coastal San Francisco Bay Area (including urban San Francisco and adjacent cities). In spite of the red fox's adaptability to city life, they are still found in somewhat greater numbers in the northern portions of California (north of the Bay Area) than in the south, as the wilderness is more alpine and isolated. The eastern red foxes appear to have mixed with the Sacramento Valley red fox (*V. v. patwin*) only in a narrow hybrid zone. In addition, no evidence is seen of interbreeding of eastern American red foxes in California with the montane Sierra Nevada red fox (*V. v. necator*) or other populations in the Intermountain West (between the Rocky Mountains to the east and the Cascade and Sierra Nevada Mountains to the west).
### Subspecies
The 3rd edition of *Mammal Species of the World* listed 45 subspecies as valid. In 2010, a distinct 46th subspecies, the Sacramento Valley red fox (*V. v. patwin*), which inhabits the grasslands of the Sacramento Valley, was identified through mitochondrial haplotype studies. Castello (2018) recognized 30 subspecies of the Old World red fox and nine subspecies of the North American red fox as valid.
Substantial gene pool mixing between different subspecies is known; British red foxes have crossbred extensively with red foxes imported from Germany, France, Belgium, Sardinia and possibly Siberia and Scandinavia. However, genetic studies suggest very little differences between red foxes sampled across Europe. Lack of genetic diversity is consistent with the red fox being a highly agile species, with one red fox covering 320 km (200 mi) in under a year's time.
Red fox subspecies in Eurasia and North Africa are divided into two categories:
*Northern foxes*are large and brightly coloured.*Southern grey desert foxes*include the Asian subspecies*V. v. griffithi*,*V. v. pusilla*, and*V. v. flavescens*. These foxes display transitional features between the northern foxes and other, smaller fox species; their skulls possess more primitive, neotenous traits than the northern foxes and they are much smaller; the maximum sizes attained by southern grey desert foxes are invariably less than the average sizes of northern foxes. Their limbs are also longer and their ears larger.
Red foxes living in Middle Asia show physical traits intermediate to the northern foxes and southern grey desert foxes.
| Subspecies | Trinomial authority | Trinomial authority (year) | Description | Range | Synonyms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Scandinavian red foxV. v. vulpes (nominate subspecies)
|
Linnaeus | 1758 | A large subspecies measuring 70–90 cm in length and weighing 5–10 kg; the maximum length of the skull for males is 163.2 mm. The fur is bright red with a strongly developed whitish and yellow ripple on the lower back. | Scandinavia and the northern and middle (forest) districts of the European part of the former Soviet Union, southwards to the forest-steppe and eastwards approximately to the Urals and probably Central and Western Europe |
|
British Columbia red foxV. v. abietorum
|
Merriam | 1900 | Generally similar to V. v. alascensis, but with a lighter, longer and more slender skull
|
Southern Yukon, the North-West Territories, northern Alberta, the interior of British Columbia and in the adjoining coastal southeast Alaska (US). | sitkaensis (Brass, 1911)
|
Northern Alaskan foxV. v. alascensis
|
Merriam | 1900 | A large, long-tailed, small-eared form with golden-fulvous fur | The Andreafsky Wilderness, Alaska, U.S. | |
Eastern Transcaucasian foxV. v. alpherakyi
|
Satunin | 1906 | A small subspecies weighing 4 kg; its maximum skull length is 132–39 mm in males and 121–26 mm in females. The fur is rusty grey or rusty brown, with a brighter rusty stripe along the spine. The coat is short, coarse and sparse. | Geok Tepe, Aralsk, Kazakhstan | |
Anatolian foxV. v. anatolica
|
Thomas | 1920 | İzmir, the Aegean Region, Turkey | ||
Arabian red foxV. v. arabica
|
Thomas | 1920 | Dhofar and the Hajar Mountains, Oman | ||
Atlas foxV. v. atlantica
|
Wagner | 1841 | The Atlas Mountains, Mila Province, Algeria | algeriensis (Loche, 1858)
| |
Labrador foxV. v. bangsi
|
Merriam | 1900 | Similar to V. v. fulva, but with smaller ears and less pronounced black markings on the ears and legs.
|
L'Anse au Loup, the Strait of Belle Isle, Labrador, Canada | |
Barbary foxV. v. barbara
|
Shaw | 1800 | The Barbary Coast, northwestern Africa | acaab (Cabrera, 1916)
| |
Anadyr foxV. v. beringiana
|
Middendorff | 1875 | A large subspecies; it is the most brightly coloured of the Old World red foxes, the fur being saturated bright-reddish and almost lacking the bright ripple along the back and flanks. The coat is fluffy and soft. | The shores of the Bering Strait, northeastern Siberia | anadyrensis (J. A. Allen, 1903)
|
Cascade red foxV. v. cascadensis
|
Merriam | 1900 | A short-tailed, small-toothed subspecies with yellow rather than fulvous fur; it is the subspecies most likely to produce "cross" colour morphs. | The Cascade Mountains, Skamania County, Washington, U.S. | |
North Caucasian foxV. v. caucasica
|
Dinnik | 1914 | A large subspecies; its coat is variable in colour, ranging from reddish to red-grey and nearly grey. The fur is short and coarse. This subspecies could be a hybrid caused by mixing the populations of V. v. stepensis and V. v. karagan.
|
Near Vladikavkaz, the Caucasus, Russia | |
European foxV. v. crucigera
|
Bechstein | 1789 | A medium-sized subspecies; its yellowish-fulvous or reddish-brown pelt lacks the whitish shading on the upper back. The tail is not grey, as in most other red fox subspecies. It is primarily distinguished from V. v. vulpes by its slightly smaller size, distinctly smaller teeth and widely spaced premolars. Red foxes present in Great Britain (and therefore Australia) are usually ascribed to this subspecies, though many populations there display a great degree of tooth compaction not present in continental European red fox populations.
|
All of Europe except Scandinavia, the Iberian Peninsula and some islands of the Mediterranean Sea; introduced to Australia and North America | alba (Borkhausen, 1797)
|
Trans-Baikal foxV. v. daurica
|
Ognev | 1931 | A large subspecies; the colour along its spine is light, dull yellowish-reddish with a strongly developed white ripple and greyish longitudinal stripes on the anterior side of the limbs. The coat is coarse but fluffy. | Kharangoi, 45 km west of Troizkosavsk, Siberia | ussuriensis (Dybowski, 1922)
|
Newfoundland foxV. v. deletrix
|
Bangs | 1898 | A very pale-coloured form; its light, straw-yellow fur deepens to golden yellow or buff-fulvous in some places. The tail lacks the usual black basal spot. The hind feet and claws are very large. | St. George's Bay, Newfoundland, Canada | |
Ussuri foxV. v. dolichocrania
|
Ognev | 1926 | Sidemi, southern Ussuri, southeastern Siberia | ognevi (Yudin, 1986)
| |
V. v. dorsalis
|
J. E. Gray | 1838 | |||
Turkmenian foxV. v. flavescens
|
J. E. Gray | 1838 | A small subspecies with an infantile-looking skull and an overall grey-coloured coat; its body length is 49–57.5 cm and it weighs 2.2–3.2 kg. | Northern Iran | cinerascens (Birula, 1913)splendens (Thomas, 1902)
|
American red foxV. v. fulva
|
Desmarest | 1820 | This is a smaller subspecies than V. v. vulpes, with a smaller, sharper face, a shorter tail, a lighter pelt more profusely mixed with whitish and darker limbs.
|
Eastern Canada and the eastern U.S. | pennsylvanicus (Rhoads, 1894)
|
Afghan red foxV. v. griffithi
|
Blyth | 1854 | Slightly smaller than V. v. montana; it has a more extensively hoary and silvered pelt.
|
Kandahar, Afghanistan | flavescens (Hutton, 1845)
|
Kodiak foxV. v. harrimani
|
Merriam | 1900 | This large subspecies has an enormous tail and coarse, wolf-like fur on the tail and lower back. The hairs on the neck and shoulders are greatly elongated and form a ruff. | Kodiak Island, Alaska, U.S. | |
South Chinese foxV. v. hoole
|
R. Swinhoe | 1870 | Near Amoy, Fukien, southern China | aurantioluteus (Matschie, 1907)lineiventer (R. Swinhoe, 1871)
| |
Sardinian foxV. v. ichnusae
|
Miller | 1907 | A small subspecies with proportionately small ears. | Sarrabus, Sardinia, Italy; may have been introduced to the English Midlands | |
Cyprus foxV. v. indutus
|
Miller | 1907 | Cyprus | ||
Yakutsk foxV. v. jakutensis
|
Ognev | 1923 | This subspecies is large, but smaller than V. v. beringiana. The back, neck and shoulders are brownish-rusty, while the flanks are bright ocherous reddish-yellow.
|
The taiga south of Yakutsk, eastern Siberia | sibiricus (Dybowski, 1922)
|
Japanese foxV. v. japonica
|
Ognev | 1923 | Japan, except for Hokkaido | ||
Karaganka foxV. v. karagan
|
Erxleben | 1777 | A smaller subspecies than V. v. vulpes; its fur is short, coarse and of a light sandy-yellow or yellowish-grey colour.
|
The Kirghiz Steppes, Khirgizia, Russia | ferganensis (Ognev, 1926)
|
Kenai Peninsula foxV. v. kenaiensis
|
Merriam | 1900 | One of the largest North American subspecies; it has softer fur than V. v. harrimani.
|
The Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, U.S. | |
Transcaucasian montane foxV. v. kurdistanica
|
Satunin | 1906 | A form intermediate in size between V. v. alpheryaki and V. v. caucasica; its fur is pale yellow or light grey, sometimes brownish-reddish and is fluffier and denser than that of the other two Caucasian red fox subspecies.
|
Northeastern Turkey | alticola (Ognev, 1926)
|
Wasatch Mountains foxV. v. macroura
|
Baird | 1852 | This fox is similar to V. v. fulvus, but with a much longer tail, larger hind feet and more extensive blackening of the limbs.
|
Named for the Wasatch Mountains near the Great Salt Lake, Utah, found in the Rocky Mountains from Colorado and Utah, western Wyoming and Montana through Idaho north to southern Alberta | |
Hill foxV. v. montana
|
Pearson | 1836 | This subspecies is distinguished from V. v. vulpes by its smaller size, proportionately smaller skull and teeth and coarser fur. The hairs on the sole of the feet are copiously mixed with softer, woolly hairs.
|
The Himalayas and northern Indian subcontinent | alopex (Blanford, 1888)
|
Sierra Nevada red fox or High Sierra foxV. v. necator
|
Merriam | 1900 | Externally similar to V. v. fulvus; it has a short tail, but cranially it is more like V. v. macroura
|
The High Sierra, California | |
Nile foxV. v. niloticus
|
E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire | 1803 | A small subspecies; it measures 76.7–105.3 cm in body length, 30.2–40.1 cm in tail length and weighs 1.8–3.8 kg. It is ruddy to grey-brown above and darker on the back of the neck. The flanks are greyer and tinged with buff. It is larger than V. v. arabica and V. v. palaestina.
|
Egypt and Sudan | aegyptiacus (Sonnini, 1816)
|
Turkestan foxV. v. ochroxantha
|
Ognev | 1926 | Aksai, Semirechye, eastern Russian Turkestan, Kirgizia | ||
Palestinian foxV. v. palaestina
|
Thomas | 1920 | Ramleh, near Jaffa, Israel | ||
Korean foxV. v. peculiosa
|
Kishida | 1924 | Northeastern China, Southeastern Russia, and Korea | kiyomassai (Kishida and Mori, 1929)
| |
White-footed foxV. v. pusilla
|
Blyth | 1854 | Slightly smaller than V. v. griffithii; it closely resembles the Bengal fox (V. bengalensis) in size, but is distinguished by its longer tail and hind feet.
|
The Salt Range, Punjab, Pakistan | leucopus (Blyth, 1854)
|
Northern plains foxV. v. regalis
|
Merriam | 1900 | The largest North American red fox subspecies; it has very large and broad ears and a very long tail. It is a golden-yellow colour with pure black feet. | The Elk River, Sherburne County, Minnesota, US | |
Nova Scotia foxV. v. rubricosa
|
Bangs | 1898 | A large-sized subspecies with a large, broad tail and larger teeth and rostrum than V. v. fulvus; it is the deepest-coloured subspecies.
|
Digby County, Nova Scotia, Canada | bangsi (Merriam, 1900)
|
Ezo red foxV. v. schrencki
|
Kishida | 1924 | Sakhalin, Russia and Hokkaido, Japan | ||
Iberian foxV. v. silacea
|
Miller | 1907 | Though equal in size to V. v. vulpes, it has smaller teeth and more widely spaced premolars. The fur is dull buff without any yellowish or reddish tints. The hindquarters are frosted with white and the tail is clear grey in colour.
|
The Iberian Peninsula | |
Kurile Islands foxV. v. splendidissima
|
Kishida | 1924 | The northern and central Kurile Islands, Russia | ||
Steppe red foxV. v. stepensis
|
Brauner | 1914 | This subspecies is slightly smaller and more lightly coloured than V. v. crucigera, with shorter, coarser fur. Specimens from the Crimean Mountains have brighter, fluffier and denser fur.
|
The steppes near Kherson, Ukraine | krymeamontana (Brauner, 1914)
|
Tobolsk foxV. v. tobolica
|
Ognev | 1926 | This large subspecies has yellowish-rusty or dirty-reddish fur with a well-developed cross and often a black area on the belly. The coat is long and fluffy. | Obdorsk, Tobolsk, Russia | |
North Chinese foxV. v. tschiliensis
|
Matschie | 1907 | Slightly larger than V. v. hoole, but unlike other Chinese red foxes, it closely approaches V. v. vulpes in size.
|
Beijing and Hebei province, China | huli (Sowerby, 1923)
|
## Description
### Build
The red fox has an elongated body and relatively short limbs. The tail, which is longer than half the body length (70 percent of head and body length), is fluffy and reaches the ground when in a standing position. Their pupils are oval and vertically oriented. Nictitating membranes are present, but move only when the eyes are closed. The forepaws have five digits, while the hind feet have only four and lack dewclaws. They are very agile, being capable of jumping over 2 m (6 ft 7 in) high fences, and swim well. Vixens normally have four pairs of teats, though vixens with seven, nine, or ten teats are not uncommon. The testes of males are smaller than those of Arctic foxes.
Their skulls are fairly narrow and elongated, with small braincases. Their canine teeth are relatively long. Sexual dimorphism of the skull is more pronounced than in corsac foxes, with female red foxes tending to have smaller skulls than males, with wider nasal regions and hard palates, as well as having larger canines. Their skulls are distinguished from those of dogs by their narrower muzzles, less crowded premolars, more slender canine teeth, and concave rather than convex profiles.
### Dimensions
Red foxes are the largest species of the genus *Vulpes*. However, relative to dimensions, red foxes are much lighter than similarly sized dogs of the genus *Canis*. Their limb bones, for example, weigh 30 percent less per unit area of bone than expected for similarly sized dogs. They display significant individual, sexual, age and geographical variation in size. On average, adults measure 35–50 cm (14–20 in) high at the shoulder and 45–90 cm (18–35 in) in body length with tails measuring 30–55.5 cm (11.8–21.9 in). The ears measure 7.7–12.5 cm (3.0–4.9 in) and the hind feet 12–18.5 cm (4.7–7.3 in). Weights range from 2.2–14 kg (4.9–30.9 lb), with vixens typically weighing 15–20% less than males. Adult red foxes have skulls measuring 129–167 mm (5.1–6.6 in), while those of vixens measure 128–159 mm (5.0–6.3 in). The forefoot print measures 60 mm (2.4 in) in length and 45 mm (1.8 in) in width, while the hind foot print measures 55 mm (2.2 in) long and 38 mm (1.5 in) wide. They trot at a speed of 6–13 km/h (3.7–8.1 mph), and have a maximum running speed of 50 km/h (31 mph). They have a stride of 25–35 cm (9.8–13.8 in) when walking at a normal pace. North American red foxes are generally lightly built, with comparatively long bodies for their mass and have a high degree of sexual dimorphism. British red foxes are heavily built, but short, while continental European red foxes are closer to the general average among red fox populations. The largest red fox on record in Great Britain was a 1.4 m (4 ft 7 in) long male, that weighed 17.2 kg (38 lb), killed in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in early 2012.
### Fur
The winter fur is dense, soft, silky and relatively long. For the northern foxes, the fur is very long, dense and fluffy, but it is shorter, sparser and coarser in southern forms. Among northern foxes, the North American varieties generally have the silkiest guard hairs, while most Eurasian red foxes have coarser fur. The fur in "thermal windows" areas such as the head and the lower legs is kept dense and short all year round, while fur in other areas changes with the seasons. The foxes actively control the peripheral vasodilation and peripheral vasoconstriction in these areas to regulate heat loss. There are three main colour morphs; red, silver/black and cross (see *Mutations*). In the typical red morph, their coats are generally bright reddish-rusty with yellowish tints. A stripe of weak, diffuse patterns of many brown-reddish-chestnut hairs occurs along the spine. Two additional stripes pass down the shoulder blades, which, together with the spinal stripe, form a cross. The lower back is often a mottled silvery colour. The flanks are lighter coloured than the back, while the chin, lower lips, throat and front of the chest are white. The remaining lower surface of the body is dark, brown or reddish. During lactation, the belly fur of vixens may turn brick red. The upper parts of the limbs are rusty reddish, while the paws are black. The frontal part of the face and upper neck is bright brownish-rusty red, while the upper lips are white. The backs of the ears are black or brownish-reddish, while the inner surface is whitish. The top of the tail is brownish-reddish, but lighter in colour than the back and flanks. The underside of the tail is pale grey with a straw-coloured tint. A black spot, the location of the supracaudal gland, is usually present at the base of the tail. The tip of the tail is white.
#### Colour morphs
Atypical colouration in the red fox usually represents stages toward full melanism, and mostly occurs in cold regions.
| Colour morph | Image | Description |
|---|---|---|
Red
|
The typical colouration (see fur above) | |
Smokey
|
The rump and spine is brown or grey with light yellowish bands on the guard hairs. The cross on the shoulders is brown, rusty brown or reddish-brown. The limbs are brown. | |
Cross
|
The fur has a darker colouration than the colour morph listed directly above. The rump and lower back are dark brown or dark grey, with varying degrees of silver on the guard hairs. The cross on the shoulders is black or brown, sometimes with light silvery fur. The head and feet are brown. | |
Blackish-brown
|
The melanistic colour morph of the Eurasian red foxes. Has blackish-brown or black skin with a light brownish tint. The skin area usually has a variable admixture of silver. Reddish hairs are either completely absent or in small quantities. | |
Silver
|
The melanistic colour morph of the North American red foxes, but introduced to the Old World by the fur trade. Characterised by pure black colour with skin that usually has a variable admixture of silver (covering 25–100% of the skin area) | |
Platinum
|
Distinguished from the silver colour morph by its pale, almost silvery-white fur with a bluish cast | |
Amber
|
||
Samson
|
Distinguished by its woolly pelt, which lacks guard hairs |
### Senses
Red foxes have binocular vision, but their sight reacts mainly to movement. Their auditory perception is acute, being able to hear black grouse changing roosts at 600 paces, the flight of crows at 0.25–0.5 km (0.16–0.31 mi) and the squeaking of mice at about 100 m (330 ft). They are capable of locating sounds to within one degree at 700–3,000 Hz, though less accurately at higher frequencies. Their sense of smell is good, but weaker than that of specialised dogs.
### Scent glands
Red foxes have a pair of anal sacs lined by sebaceous glands, both of which open through a single duct. The size and volume of the anal sacs increases with age, ranging in size from 5–40mm in length, 1–3mm in diameter, and with a capacity of 1–5 mL. The anal sacs act as fermentation chambers in which aerobic and anaerobic bacteria convert sebum into odorous compounds, including aliphatic acids. The oval-shaped caudal gland is 25 mm (0.98 in) long and 13 mm (0.51 in) wide, and reportedly smells of violets. The presence of foot glands is equivocal. The interdigital cavities are deep, with a reddish tinge and smell strongly. Sebaceous glands are present on the angle of the jaw and mandible.
## Distribution and habitat
The red fox is a wide-ranging species. Its range covers nearly 70,000,000 km2 (27,000,000 sq mi) including as far north as the Arctic Circle. It occurs all across Europe, in Africa north of the Sahara Desert, throughout Asia apart from extreme Southeast Asia, and across North America apart from most of the southwestern United States and Mexico. It is absent in the Arctic islands,[ disputed – discuss] the most northern parts of central Siberia, and in extreme deserts.
It is not present in New Zealand and is classed as a "prohibited new organism" under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996, which does not allow import.
### Australia
In Australia, estimates in 2012 indicated that there were more than 7.2 million red foxes, with a range extending throughout most of the continental mainland. They became established in Australia through successive introductions in the 1830s and 1840s, by settlers in the British colonies of Van Diemen's Land (as early as 1833) and the Port Phillip District of New South Wales (as early as 1845), who wanted to foster the traditional English sport of fox hunting. A permanent red fox population did not establish itself on the island of Tasmania, and it is widely held that foxes were out-competed by the Tasmanian devil. On the mainland, however, the species was successful as an apex predator. The fox is generally less common in areas where the dingo is more prevalent, but it has, primarily through its burrowing behaviour, achieved niche differentiation with both the feral dog and the feral cat. Consequently, the fox has become one of the continent's most destructive invasive species.[ citation needed]
The red fox has been implicated in the extinction or decline of several native Australian species, particularly those of the family Potoroidae, including the desert rat-kangaroo. The spread of red foxes across the southern part of the continent has coincided with the spread of rabbits in Australia, and corresponds with declines in the distribution of several medium-sized ground-dwelling mammals, including brush-tailed bettongs, burrowing bettongs, rufous bettongs, bilbies, numbats, bridled nail-tail wallabies and quokkas. Most of those species are now limited to areas (such as islands) where red foxes are absent or rare. Local fox eradication programs exist, although elimination has proven difficult due to the fox's denning behaviour and nocturnal hunting, so the focus is on management, including the introduction of state bounties. According to the Tasmanian government, red foxes were accidentally introduced to the previously fox-free island of Tasmania in 1999 or 2000, posing a significant threat to native wildlife, including the eastern bettong, and an eradication program was initiated, conducted by the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries and Water.
The origin of the *ichnusae* subspecies in Sardinia, Italy is uncertain, as it is absent from Pleistocene deposits in their current homeland. It is possible it originated during the Neolithic following its introduction to the island by humans. It is likely then that Sardinian fox populations stem from repeated introductions of animals from different localities in the Mediterranean. This latter theory may explain the subspecies' phenotypic diversity.
## Behaviour
### Social and territorial behaviour
Red foxes either establish stable home ranges within particular areas or are itinerant with no fixed abode. They use their urine to mark their territories. A male fox raises one hind leg and his urine is sprayed forward in front of him, whereas a female fox squats down so that the urine is sprayed in the ground between the hind legs. Urine is also used to mark empty cache sites, used to store found food, as reminders not to waste time investigating them. Males generally have higher urine marking rates during late summer and autumn, but the rest of the year the rates between male and female are similar. The use of up to 12 different urination postures allows them to precisely control the position of the scent mark. Red foxes live in family groups sharing a joint territory. In favourable habitats and/or areas with low hunting pressure, subordinate foxes may be present in a range. Subordinate foxes may number one or two, sometimes up to eight in one territory. These subordinates could be formerly dominant animals, but are mostly young from the previous year, who act as helpers in rearing the breeding vixen's kits. Alternatively, their presence has been explained as being in response to temporary surpluses of food unrelated to assisting reproductive success. Non-breeding vixens will guard, play, groom, provision and retrieve kits, an example of kin selection. Red foxes may leave their families once they reach adulthood if the chances of winning a territory of their own are high. If not, they will stay with their parents, at the cost of postponing their own reproduction.
### Reproduction and development
Red foxes reproduce once a year in spring. Two months prior to oestrus (typically December), the reproductive organs of vixens change shape and size. By the time they enter their oestrus period, their uterine horns double in size, and their ovaries grow 1.5–2 times larger. Sperm formation in males begins in August–September, with the testicles attaining their greatest weight in December–February. The vixen's oestrus period lasts three weeks, during which the dog-foxes mate with the vixens for several days, often in burrows. bulbus glandis enlarges during copulation, forming a copulatory tie which may last for more than an hour. The gestation period lasts 49–58 days. Though foxes are largely monogamous, DNA evidence from one population indicated large levels of polygyny, incest and mixed paternity litters. Subordinate vixens may become pregnant, but usually fail to whelp, or have their kits killed postpartum by either the dominant female or other subordinates.
The average litter size consists of four to six kits, though litters of up to 13 kits have occurred. Large litters are typical in areas where fox mortality is high. Kits are born blind, deaf and toothless, with dark brown fluffy fur. At birth, they weigh 56–110 g (2.0–3.9 oz) and measure 14.5 cm (5.7 in) in body length and 7.5 cm (3.0 in) in tail length. At birth, they are short-legged, large-headed and have broad chests. Mothers remain with the kits for 2–3 weeks, as they are unable to thermoregulate. During this period, the fathers or barren vixens feed the mothers. Vixens are very protective of their kits, and have been known to even fight off terriers in their defence. If the mother dies before the kits are independent, the father takes over as their provider. The kits' eyes open after 13–15 days, during which time their ear canals open and their upper teeth erupt, with the lower teeth emerging 3–4 days later. Their eyes are initially blue, but change to amber at 4–5 weeks. Coat colour begins to change at three weeks of age, when the black eye streak appears. By one month, red and white patches are apparent on their faces. During this time, their ears erect and their muzzles elongate. Kits begin to leave their dens and experiment with solid food brought by their parents at the age of 3–4 weeks. The lactation period lasts 6–7 weeks. Their woolly coats begin to be coated by shiny guard hairs after 8 weeks. By the age of 3–4 months, the kits are long-legged, narrow-chested and sinewy. They reach adult proportions at the age of 6–7 months. Some vixens may reach sexual maturity at the age of 9–10 months, thus bearing their first litters at one year of age. In captivity, their longevity can be as long as 15 years, though in the wild they typically do not survive past 5 years of age.
### Denning behaviour
Outside the breeding season, most red foxes favour living in the open, in densely vegetated areas, though they may enter burrows to escape bad weather. Their burrows are often dug on hill or mountain slopes, ravines, bluffs, steep banks of water bodies, ditches, depressions, gutters, in rock clefts and neglected human environments. Red foxes prefer to dig their burrows on well drained soils. Dens built among tree roots can last for decades, while those dug on the steppes last only several years. They may permanently abandon their dens during mange outbreaks, possibly as a defence mechanism against the spread of disease. In the Eurasian desert regions, foxes may use the burrows of wolves, porcupines and other large mammals, as well as those dug by gerbil colonies. Compared to burrows constructed by Arctic foxes, badgers, marmots and corsac foxes, red fox dens are not overly complex. Red fox burrows are divided into a den and temporary burrows, which consist only of a small passage or cave for concealment. The main entrance of the burrow leads downwards (40–45°) and broadens into a den, from which numerous side tunnels branch. Burrow depth ranges from 0.5–2.5 m (1 ft 8 in – 8 ft 2 in), rarely extending to ground water. The main passage can reach 17 m (56 ft) in length, standing an average of 5–7 m (16–23 ft). In spring, red foxes clear their dens of excess soil through rapid movements, first with the forepaws then with kicking motions with their hind legs, throwing the discarded soil over 2 m (6 ft 7 in) from the burrow. When kits are born, the discarded debris is trampled, thus forming a spot where the kits can play and receive food. They may share their dens with woodchucks or badgers. Unlike badgers, which fastidiously clean their earths and defecate in latrines, red foxes habitually leave pieces of prey around their dens. The average sleep time of a captive red fox is 9.8 hours per day.
## Communication
### Body language
Red fox body language consists of movements of the ears, tail and postures, with their body markings emphasising certain gestures. Postures can be divided into aggressive/dominant and fearful/submissive categories. Some postures may blend the two together. Inquisitive foxes will rotate and flick their ears whilst sniffing. Playful individuals will perk their ears and rise on their hind legs. Male foxes courting females, or after successfully evicting intruders, will turn their ears outwardly, and raise their tails in a horizontal position, with the tips raised upward. When afraid, red foxes grin in submission, arching their backs, curving their bodies, crouching their legs and lashing their tails back and forth with their ears pointing backwards and pressed against their skulls. When merely expressing submission to a dominant animal, the posture is similar, but without arching the back or curving the body. Submissive foxes will approach dominant animals in a low posture, so that their muzzles reach up in greeting. When two evenly matched foxes confront each other over food, they approach each other sideways and push against each other's flanks, betraying a mixture of fear and aggression through lashing tails and arched backs without crouching and pulling their ears back without flattening them against their skulls. When launching an assertive attack, red foxes approach directly rather than sideways, with their tails aloft and their ears rotated sideways. During such fights, red foxes will stand on each other's upper bodies with their forelegs, using open mouthed threats. Such fights typically only occur among juveniles or adults of the same sex.
### Vocalisations
Red foxes have a wide vocal range, and produce different sounds spanning five octaves, which grade into each other. Recent analyses identify 12 different sounds produced by adults and 8 by kits. The majority of sounds can be divided into "contact" and "interaction" calls. The former vary according to the distance between individuals, while the latter vary according to the level of aggression.
- Contact calls: The most commonly heard contact call is a three to five syllable barking "
*wow wow wow*" sound, which is often made by two foxes approaching one another. This call is most frequently heard from December to February (when they can be confused with the territorial calls of tawny owls). The "*wow wow wow*" call varies according to individual; captive foxes have been recorded to answer pre-recorded calls of their pen-mates, but not those of strangers. Kits begin emitting the "*wow wow wow*" call at the age of 19 days, when craving attention. When red foxes draw close together, they emit trisyllabic greeting warbles similar to the clucking of chickens. Adults greet their kits with gruff huffing noises. - Interaction calls: When greeting one another, red foxes emit high pitched whines, particularly submissive animals. A submissive fox approached by a dominant animal will emit a ululating siren-like shriek. During aggressive encounters with conspecifics, they emit a throaty rattling sound, similar to a ratchet, called "gekkering". Gekkering occurs mostly during the courting season from rival males or vixens rejecting advances.
Another call that does not fit into the two categories is a long, drawn-out, monosyllabic "*waaaaah*" sound. As it is commonly heard during the breeding season, it is thought to be emitted by vixens summoning males. When danger is detected, foxes emit a monosyllabic bark. At close quarters, it is a muffled cough, while at long distances it is sharper. Kits make warbling whimpers when nursing, these calls being especially loud when they are dissatisfied.
## Behaviour and ecology
### Diet and hunting
The red fox is an omnivore with a highly varied diet. Research in the former Soviet Union revealed that the red fox consumes over 300 animal species and a few dozen plant species. It primarily feeds on small rodents like voles, mice, ground squirrels, hamsters, gerbils, woodchucks, pocket gophers and deer mice. Secondary prey species include birds with passeriformes, galliformes and waterfowl predominating, leporids, porcupines, raccoons, opossums, reptiles, insects, other invertebrates, flotsam and carrion. On very rare occasions, it attacks young or small ungulates. It typically targets mammals up to about 3.5 kg (7.7 lb) in weight and requires 500 g (18 oz) of food daily. It hunts its preferred prey when abundant, but when unavailable, it can still sustain off different prey and even seeds and fruit. In some areas, fruit can amount to 100% of its diet in autumn. Commonly consumed fruits include blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, cherry, persimmon, mulberry, apple, plum, grape and acorn. Other plant material includes grass, sedge and tuber.
The red fox is implicated in the predation of game and song birds, hares, rabbits, muskrats and young ungulates, particularly in preserves, reserves and hunting farms where ground-nesting birds are protected and raised, as well as in poultry farms.
Visual cues are the most important ones for the hunting behaviour of the red fox. It prefers to hunt in the early morning hours before sunrise and late evening. Although it typically forages alone, it occassionally aggregates in resource-rich environments. When hunting mouse-like prey, it first pinpoints the prey's location by sound, then leap, sailing high above the quarry, steering in mid-air with its tail before landing on target up to 5 m (16 ft) away. It only feeds on carrion in the late evening hours and at night. It seem to dislike the taste of moles, but nonetheless catches them alive and presents them to its kits as playthings. It is possessive of its food and defends its catches from even dominant animals. It occasionally commits acts of surplus killing; during one breeding season, four red foxes were recorded to have killed around 200 black-headed gulls each, with peaks during dark, windy hours when flying conditions were unfavourable. Losses to poultry and penned game birds can be substantial because of this.
A 2008–2010 study of 84 red foxes in the Czech Republic and Germany found that successful hunting in long vegetation or under snow appeared to involve an alignment of the red fox with the Earth's magnetic field.
### Enemies and competitors
The red fox typically dominates other fox species. Where the red fox and Arctic fox are sympatric, the Arctic fox feeds on lemmings and flotsam rather than voles, as favoured by red foxes. Both species kill each other's kits, given the opportunity. The southern range of the Arctic fox is limited by the presence of the red fox; both were introduced to almost every island from the Aleutian Islands to the Alexander Archipelago during the 1830s–1930s by fur companies. The red fox invariably displaced the Arctic fox, with one male red fox having been reported to have killed off all resident Arctic foxes on a small island in 1866.
The red fox is a competitor of the corsac fox, as they hunt the same prey all year. The red fox is stronger, better adapted to hunting in snow deeper than 10 cm (3.9 in) and is more effective in hunting and catching medium-sized to large rodents. The corsac fox seems to only outcompete the red fox in semi-desert and steppe areas. In Israel, the Blanford's fox escapes competition with the red fox by being restricted to rocky cliffs and actively avoiding the open plains inhabited by the red fox. The red fox dominate kit and swift foxes. Kit foxes usually avoid competition with their larger cousins by living in more arid environments, though red foxes have been increasing in ranges formerly occupied by kit foxes due to human-induced environmental changes. Red foxes will kill both species and compete with them for food and den sites. The gray fox dominates the red fox wherever their ranges meet. Historically, interactions between the two species were rare, as the gray fox favoured heavily wooded or semiarid habitats as opposed to the open and mesic ones preferred by the red fox. However, interactions have become more frequent due to deforestation, allowing the red fox to colonise gray fox-inhabited areas.
The wolf is known to kill and eat the red fox in disputes over carcasses. In North America where the red fox and coyote are sympatric, their home ranges do not overlap, and interactions between the two species vary in nature, ranging from active antagonism to indifference. The majority of aggressive encounters are initiated by coyotes, and there are few reports of red foxes acting aggressively toward coyotes except when attacked or when their kits were approached. Foxes and coyotes have sometimes been seen feeding together. In Israel, the red fox shares habitat with the golden jackal, and where their ranges meet, they compete due to near-identical diets. The red fox ignores golden jackal scents or tracks and avoids close physical proximity; in areas where the golden jackal is abundant, the red fox population decreases significantly, apparently because of competitive exclusion. However, multiple red foxes interacting peacefully with a golden jackal have been observed in southwestern Germany.
The red fox dominates the raccoon dog and sometimes kills its kits or bites adults to death. Cases are known of red foxes killing raccoon dogs after entering their dens. Both species compete for mouse-like prey. This competition reaches a peak during early spring when food is scarce. In Tatarstan, red fox predation accounted for 11.1% of deaths among 54 raccoon dogs and amounted to 14.3% of 186 raccoon dog deaths in northwestern Russia.
The red fox occasionally kills small mustelids like least weasel, stone marten, pine marten, stoat, Siberian weasel, European polecat and young sables. Eurasian badgers may live alongside red foxes in isolated sections of large burrows. It is possible that the two species tolerate each other out of mutualism; red foxes provide Eurasian badgers with food scraps, while Eurasian badgers maintain the shared burrow's cleanliness. However, cases are known of Eurasian badgers driving vixens from their dens and destroying their litters without eating them. Wolverines may kill red foxes, often while the latter is sleeping or near carrion. Red foxes, in turn, may kill young wolverines.
The red fox competes with the striped hyena on large carcasses; the latter's stronger jaws can easily tear open flesh that is too tough for the red fox. When harassing striped hyenas, it avoids attacks through greater speed. Sometimes, red foxes seem to deliberately torment striped hyenas even when there is no food at stake, though some red foxes mistime their attacks and are killed. Red fox remains are often found in striped hyena dens, and striped hyenas steal red foxes from traps.
The red fox may be preyed upon by the leopard, caracal and Eurasian lynx. The Eurasian lynx chases the red fox into deep snow, where its long legs and larger paws gives it an advantage over the red fox, especially when the depth of the snow exceeds one meter. In the Velikoluksky District in Russia, the red fox is absent or seen only occasionally where the Eurasian lynx established permanent territories. In North America, the red fox is predated by the cougar, Canada lynx and bobcat.
The red fox competes with common buzzard (*Buteo buteo*) and northern goshawk (*Accipiter gentilis*) and even steals their kills. The golden eagle (*Aquila chrysaetos*) regularly takes young red foxes and preys on adults if needed. Other large eagles such as the wedge-tailed eagle (*Aquila audax*), eastern imperial eagle (*Aquila heliaca*), white-tailed eagle (*Haliaeetus albicilla*) and steller's sea eagle (*Haliaeetus pelagicus*) have also been known to kill red foxes less frequently. Large owls such as the Eurasian eagle-owl (*Bubo bubo*) and snowy owl (*Bubo scandiacus*) prey on young foxes and adults on occasions.
### Diseases and parasites
Red foxes are the most important rabies vector in Europe. In London, arthritis is common in foxes, being particularly frequent in the spine. Foxes may be infected with leptospirosis and tularemia, though they are not overly susceptible to the latter. They may also fall ill from listeriosis and spirochetosis, as well as acting as vectors in spreading erysipelas, brucellosis and tick-borne encephalitis. A mysterious fatal disease near Lake Sartlan in the Novosibirsk Oblast was noted among local red foxes, but the cause was undetermined. The possibility was considered that it was caused by an acute form of encephalomyelitis, which was first observed in captive-bred silver foxes. Individual cases of foxes infected with *Yersinia pestis* are known.
Red foxes are not readily prone to infestation with fleas. Species like *Spilopsyllus cuniculi* are probably only caught from the fox's prey species, while others like *Archaeopsylla erinacei* are caught whilst traveling. Fleas that feed on red foxes include *Pulex irritans*, *Ctenocephalides canis* and *Paraceras melis*. Ticks such as *Ixodes ricinus* and *I. hexagonus* are not uncommon in red foxes, and are typically found on nursing vixens and kits still in their earths. The louse *Trichodectes vulpis* specifically targets red foxes, but is found infrequently. The mite *Sarcoptes scabiei* is the most important cause of mange in red foxes. It causes extensive hair loss, starting from the base of the tail and hindfeet, then the rump before moving on to the rest of the body. In the final stages of the condition, red foxes can lose most of their fur, 50% of their body weight and may gnaw at infected extremities. In the epizootic phase of the disease, it usually takes red foxes four months to die after infection. Other endoparasites include *Demodex folliculorum*, *Notoderes*, *Otodectes cynotis* (which is frequently found in the ear canal), *Linguatula serrata* (which infects the nasal passages) and ringworms.
Up to 60 helminth species are known to infect captive-bred foxes in fur farms, while 20 are known in the wild. Several coccidian species of the genera *Isospora* and *Eimeria* are also known to infect them. The most common nematode species found in red fox guts are *Toxocara canis* and *Uncinaria stenocephala*, *Capillaria aerophila* and *Crenosoma vulpis*; the latter two infect their lungs and trachea. *Capillaria plica* infects the red fox's bladder. *Trichinella spiralis* rarely affects them. The most common tapeworm species in red foxes are *Taenia spiralis* and *T. pisiformis*. Others include *Echinococcus granulosus* and *E. multilocularis*. Eleven trematode species infect red foxes, including *Metorchis conjunctus*. A red fox from was found to be a host of intestinal parasitic acanthocephalan worms, *Pachysentis canicola* in Bushehr Province, Iran, *Pachysentis procumbens* and *Pachysentis ehrenbergi* in both in Egypt.
## Relationships with humans
Red foxes feature prominently in the folklore and mythology of human cultures with which they are sympatric. In Greek mythology, the Teumessian fox, or Cadmean vixen, was a gigantic fox that was destined never to be caught. The fox was one of the children of Echidna.
In Celtic mythology, the red fox is a symbolic animal. In the Cotswolds, witches were thought to take the shape of foxes to steal butter from their neighbours. In later European folklore, the figure of Reynard the Fox symbolises trickery and deceit; he originally appeared under the name of "Reinardus" as a secondary character in the 1150 poem "Ysengrimus", reappeared in 1175 in Pierre Saint Cloud's *Le Roman de Renart* and made his debut in England in Geoffrey Chaucer's *The Nun's Priest's Tale*. Many of Reynard's adventures may stem from actual observations on fox behaviour; he is an enemy of the wolf and has a fondness for blackberries and grapes.
Chinese folk tales tell of fox-spirits called *huli jing* that may have up to nine tails, or *kumiho* as they are known in Korea. In Japanese mythology, the kitsune are fox-like spirits possessing magical abilities that increase with their age and wisdom. Foremost among these is the ability to disguise as human. While some folktales speak of kitsune employing this ability to trick others, other stories portray them as faithful guardians, friends, lovers and wives. In Arab folklore, the fox is considered a cowardly, weak, deceitful and cunning animal that feigns death by filling its abdomen with air to appear bloated, then lies on its side, awaiting the approach of unwitting prey. The animal's cunning was noted by the authors of the Bible who applied the word "fox" to false prophets in the Book of Ezekie 13:4 and the hypocrisy of Herod Antipas in Luke 13:32.
The cunning Fox is commonly found in native American mythology, where it is portrayed as an almost constant companion to Coyote. Fox, however, is a deceitful companion that often steals Coyote's food. In the Achomawi creation myth, Fox and Coyote are the co-creators of the world, that leave just before the arrival of humans. The Yurok tribe believed that Fox, in anger, captured the Sun, and tied him to a hill, causing him to burn a great hole in the ground. An Inuit story tells of how Fox, portrayed as a beautiful woman, tricks a hunter into marrying her, only to resume her true form and leave after he offends her. A Menominee story tells of how Fox is an untrustworthy friend to Wolf.
### Hunting
The earliest historical records of fox hunting come from the 4th century BC; Alexander the Great is known to have hunted foxes and a seal dated from 350 BC depicts a Persian horseman in the process of spearing a fox. Xenophon, who viewed hunting as part of a cultured man's education, advocated the killing of foxes as pests, as they distracted hounds from hares. The Romans were hunting foxes by AD 80. During the Dark Ages in Europe, foxes were considered secondary quarries, but gradually grew in importance. Cnut the Great re-classed foxes as Beasts of the Chase, a lower category of quarry than Beasts of Venery. Foxes were gradually hunted less as vermin and more as Beasts of the Chase, to the point that by the late 1200s, Edward I had a royal pack of foxhounds and a specialised fox huntsman. In this period, foxes were increasingly hunted above ground with hounds, rather than underground with terriers. Edward, Second Duke of York assisted the climb of foxes as more prestigious quarries in his *The Master of Game*. By the Renaissance, fox hunting became a traditional sport of the nobility. After the English Civil War caused a drop in deer populations, fox hunting grew in popularity. By the mid-1600s, Great Britain was divided into fox hunting territories, with the first fox hunting clubs being formed (the first was the Charlton Hunt Club in 1737). The popularity of fox hunting in Great Britain reached a peak during the 1700s. Although already native to North America, red foxes from England were imported for sporting purposes to Virginia and Maryland in 1730 by prosperous tobacco planters. These American fox hunters considered the red fox more sporting than the grey fox.
The grays furnished more fun, the reds more excitement. The grays did not run so far, but usually kept near home, going in a circuit of six or eight miles. 'An old red, generally so called irrespective of age, as a tribute to his prowess, might lead the dogs all day, and end by losing them as evening fell, after taking them a dead stretch for thirty miles. The capture of a gray was what men boasted of; a chase after 'an old red' was what they 'yarned' about.
Red foxes are still widely persecuted as pests, with human-caused deaths among the highest causes of mortality in the species. Annual red fox kills are: UK 21,500–25,000 (2000); Germany 600,000 (2000–2001); Austria 58,000 (2000–2001); Sweden 58,000 (1999–2000); Finland 56,000 (2000–2001); Denmark 50,000 (1976–1977); Switzerland 34,832 (2001); Norway 17,000 (2000–2001); Saskatchewan (Canada) 2,000 (2000–2001); Nova Scotia (Canada) 491 (2000–2001); Minnesota (US) 4,000–8,000 (average annual trapping harvest 2002–2009); New Mexico (US) 69 (1999–2000).
### Fur use
Red foxes are among the most important fur-bearing animals harvested by the fur trade. Their pelts are used for trimmings, scarfs, muffs, jackets and coats. They are principally used as trimming for both cloth coats and fur garments, including evening wraps. The pelts of silver foxes are popular as capes, while cross foxes are mostly used for scarves and rarely for trimming. The number of sold fox scarves exceeds the total number of scarves made from other fur-bearers. However, this amount is overshadowed by the total number of red fox pelts used for trimming purposes. The silver colour morphs are the most valued by furriers, followed by the cross colour morphs and the red colour morphs, respectively. In the early 1900s, over 1,000 American red fox skins were imported to Great Britain annually, while 500,000 were exported annually from Germany and Russia. The total worldwide trade of wild red foxes in 1985–86 was 1,543,995 pelts. Red foxes amounted to 45% of U.S. wild-caught pelts worth $50 million. Pelt prices are increasing, with 2012 North American wholesale auction prices averaging $39 and 2013 prices averaging $65.78.
North American red foxes, particularly those of northern Alaska, are the most valued for their fur, as they have guard hairs of a silky texture which, after dressing, allow the wearer unrestricted mobility. Red foxes living in southern Alaska's coastal areas and the Aleutian Islands are an exception, as they have extremely coarse pelts that rarely exceed one-third of the price of their northern Alaskan cousins. Most European peltries have coarse-textured fur compared to North American varieties. The only exceptions are the Nordic and Far Eastern Russian peltries, but they are still inferior to North American peltries in terms of silkiness.
### Livestock and pet predation
Red foxes may on occasion prey on lambs. Usually, lambs targeted by red foxes tend to be physically weakened specimens, but not always. Lambs belonging to small breeds, such as the Scottish Blackface, are more vulnerable than larger breeds, such as the Merino. Twins may be more vulnerable to red foxes than singlets, as ewes cannot effectively defend both simultaneously. Crossbreeding small, upland ewes with larger, lowland rams can cause difficult and prolonged labour for ewes due to the heaviness of the resulting offspring, thus making the lambs more at risk to red fox predation. Lambs born from gimmers (ewes breeding for the first time) are more often killed by red foxes than those of experienced mothers, who stick closer to their young.
Red foxes may prey on domestic rabbits and guinea pigs if they are kept in open runs or are allowed to range freely in gardens. This problem is usually averted by housing them in robust hutches and runs. Urban red foxes frequently encounter cats and may feed alongside them. In physical confrontations, the cats usually have the upper hand. Authenticated cases of red foxes killing cats usually involve kittens. Although most red foxes do not prey on cats, some may do so and may treat them more as competitors rather than food.
### Taming and domestication
In their unmodified wild state, red foxes are generally unsuitable as pets. Many supposedly abandoned kits are adopted by well-meaning people during the spring period, though it is unlikely that vixens would abandon their young. Actual orphans are rare and the ones that are adopted are likely kits that simply strayed from their den sites. Kits require almost constant supervision; when still suckling, they require milk at four-hour intervals day and night. Once weaned, they may become destructive to leather objects, furniture and electric cables. Though generally friendly toward people when young, captive red foxes become fearful of humans, save for their handlers, once they reach 10 weeks of age. They maintain their wild counterparts' strong instinct of concealment and may pose a threat to domestic birds, even when well-fed. Although suspicious of strangers, they can form bonds with cats and dogs, even ones bred for fox hunting. Tame red foxes were once used to draw ducks close to hunting blinds.
White to black individual red foxes have been selected and raised on fur farms as "silver foxes". In the second half of the 20th century, a lineage of domesticated silver foxes was developed by Russian geneticist Dmitry Belyayev who, over a 40-year period, bred several generations selecting only those individuals that showed the least fear of humans. Eventually, Belyayev's team selected only those that showed the most positive response to humans, thus resulting in a population of silver foxes whose behaviour and appearance was significantly changed. After about 10 generations of controlled breeding, these foxes no longer showed any fear of humans and often wagged their tails and licked their human caretakers to show affection. These behavioural changes were accompanied by physical alterations, which included piebald coats, floppy ears in kits and curled tails, similar to the traits that distinguish domestic dogs from grey wolves.
### Urban red foxes
#### Distribution
Red foxes have been extremely successful in colonising built-up environments, especially lower-density suburbs, although many have also been sighted in dense urban areas far from the countryside. Throughout the 20th century, they have established themselves in many Australian, European, Japanese and North American cities. The species first colonised British cities during the 1930s, entering Bristol and London during the 1940s, and later established themselves in Cambridge and Norwich. In Ireland, they are now common in suburban Dublin. In Australia, red foxes were recorded in Melbourne as early as the 1930s, while in Zurich, Switzerland, they only started appearing in the 1980s.
Urban red foxes are most common in residential suburbs consisting of privately owned, low-density housing. They are rare in areas where industry, commerce or council-rented houses predominate. In these latter areas, the distribution is of a lower average density because they rely less on human resources; the home range of these foxes average from 80–90 ha (0.80–0.90 km2; 200–220 acres), whereas those in more residential areas average from 25–40 ha (0.25–0.40 km2; 62–99 acres).
In 2006, it was estimated that there were 10,000 red foxes in London. City-dwelling red foxes may have the potential to consistently grow larger than their rural counterparts as a result of abundant scraps and a relative lack of predators. In cities, red foxes may scavenge food from litter bins and bin bags, although much of their diet is similar to rural red foxes.[ citation needed]
#### Behaviour
Urban red foxes are most active at dusk and dawn, doing most of their hunting and scavenging at these times. It is uncommon to spot them during the day, but they can be caught sunbathing on roofs of houses or sheds. Urban red foxes will often make their homes in hidden and undisturbed spots in urban areas as well as on the edges of a city, visiting at night for sustenance. They sleep at night in dens.
While urban red foxes will scavenge successfully in the city (and the red foxes tend to eat anything that humans eat) some urban residents will deliberately leave food out for the animals, finding them endearing. Doing this regularly can attract urban red foxes to one's home; they can become accustomed to human presence, warming up to their providers by allowing themselves to be approached and in some cases even played with, particularly young kits.
#### Urban red fox control
Urban red foxes can cause problems for local residents. They have been known to steal chickens, disrupt rubbish bins and damage gardens. Most complaints about urban red foxes made to local authorities occur during the breeding season in late January/early February or from late April to August when the new kits are developing.
In the U.K., hunting red foxes in urban areas is banned and shooting them in an urban environment is not suitable. One alternative to hunting urban red foxes has been to trap them, which appears to be a more viable method. However, killing red foxes has little effect on the population in an urban area; those that are killed are very soon replaced, either by new kits during the breeding season or by other red foxes moving into the territory of those that were killed. A more effective method of urban red fox control is to deter them from the specific areas they inhabit. Deterrents such as creosote, diesel oil, or ammonia can be used. Cleaning up and blocking access to den locations can also discourage an urban red fox's return.
#### Relationship between urban and rural red foxes
In January 2014 it was reported that "Fleet", a relatively tame urban red fox tracked as part of a wider study by the University of Brighton in partnership with the BBC TV series *Winterwatch*, had unexpectedly traveled 195 miles in 21 days from his neighbourhood in Hove at the western edge of East Sussex across rural countryside as far as the town of Rye, near the eastern edge of the county. He was still continuing his journey when the GPS collar stopped transmitting due to suspected water damage. Along with setting a record for the longest journey undertaken by a tracked red fox in the United Kingdom, his travels have highlighted the fluidity of movement between rural and urban red fox populations.
## Further reading
- Osborn, Dale. J. & Helmy, Ibrahim (1980). "The contemporary land mammals of Egypt (including Sinai)".
*Fieldiana*. New Series (5). Field Museum of Natural History. - Sillero-Zubiri, Claudio; Hoffman, Michael & MacDonald, David W. (2004).
*Canids: Foxes, Wolves, Jackals and Dogs – 2004 Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan*. IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group. ISBN 978-2-8317-0786-0. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. - Spagnesi, Mario & De Marina Marinis, Maria (2002). "Mammiferi d'Italia".
*Quaderni di Conservazione della Natura*. ISSN 1592-2901.
## External links
- "
*Vulpes vulpes*(Linnaeus, 1758)". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 18 March 2006. - Red Fox, National Geographic
- Natural History of the Red Fox, Wildlife Online
- Sacramento Valley red fox info1
- Red Fox, Fletcher Wildlife Garden
|
# Taxonomy (biology) - Wikipedia
In biology, **taxonomy** (from Ancient Greek * *τάξις* (taxis)* 'arrangement' and * *-νομία* (-nomia)* 'method') is the scientific study of naming, defining (circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon), and these groups are given a taxonomic rank; groups of a given rank can be aggregated to form a more inclusive group of higher rank, thus creating a taxonomic hierarchy. The principal ranks in modern use are domain, kingdom, phylum (*division* is sometimes used in botany in place of *phylum*), class, order, family, genus, and species. The Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus is regarded as the founder of the current system of taxonomy, having developed a ranked system known as Linnaean taxonomy for categorizing organisms.
With advances in the theory, data and analytical technology of biological systematics, the Linnaean system has transformed into a system of modern biological classification intended to reflect the evolutionary relationships among organisms, both living and extinct.
## Definition
The exact definition of taxonomy varies from source to source, but the core of the discipline remains: the conception, naming, and classification of groups of organisms. As points of reference, recent definitions of taxonomy are presented below:
- Theory and practice of grouping individuals into species, arranging species into larger groups, and giving those groups names, thus producing a classification.
- A field of science (and a major component of systematics) that encompasses description, identification, nomenclature, and classification
- The science of classification, in biology the arrangement of organisms into a classification
- "The science of classification as applied to living organisms, including the study of means of formation of species, etc."
- "The analysis of an organism's characteristics for the purpose of classification"
- "Systematics studies phylogeny to provide a pattern that can be translated into the classification and names of the more inclusive field of taxonomy" (listed as a desirable but unusual definition)
The varied definitions either place taxonomy as a sub-area of systematics (definition 2), invert that relationship (definition 6), or appear to consider the two terms synonymous. There is some disagreement as to whether biological nomenclature is considered a part of taxonomy (definitions 1 and 2), or a part of systematics outside taxonomy. For example, definition 6 is paired with the following definition of systematics that places nomenclature outside taxonomy:
*Systematics*: "The study of the identification, taxonomy, and nomenclature of organisms, including the classification of living things with regard to their natural relationships and the study of variation and the evolution of taxa".
In 1970, Michener *et al.* defined "systematic biology" and "taxonomy" in relation to one another as follows:
Systematic biology (hereafter called simply systematics) is the field that
- (a) provides scientific names for organisms,
- (b) describes them,
- (c) preserves collections of them,
- (d) provides classifications for the organisms, keys for their identification, and data on their distributions,
- (e) investigates their evolutionary histories, and
- (f) considers their environmental adaptations.
This is a field with a long history that in recent years has experienced a notable renaissance, principally with respect to theoretical content. Part of the theoretical material has to do with evolutionary areas (topics e and f above), the rest relates especially to the problem of classification. Taxonomy is that part of Systematics concerned with topics (a) to (d) above.
A whole set of terms including taxonomy, systematic biology, systematics, scientific classification, biological classification, and phylogenetics have at times had overlapping meanings – sometimes the same, sometimes slightly different, but always related and intersecting. The broadest meaning of "taxonomy" is used here. The term itself was introduced in 1813 by de Candolle, in his *Théorie élémentaire de la botanique*. John Lindley provided an early definition of systematics in 1830, although he wrote of "systematic botany" rather than using the term "systematics". Europeans tend to use the terms "systematics" and "biosystematics" for the study of biodiversity as a whole, whereas North Americans tend to use "taxonomy" more frequently. However, taxonomy, and in particular alpha taxonomy, is more specifically the identification, description, and naming (i.e., nomenclature) of organisms, while "classification" focuses on placing organisms within hierarchical groups that show their relationships to other organisms.
### Monograph and taxonomic revision
A **taxonomic revision** or **taxonomic review** is a novel analysis of the variation patterns in a particular taxon. This analysis may be executed on the basis of any combination of the various available kinds of characters, such as morphological, anatomical, palynological, biochemical and genetic. A monograph or complete revision is a revision that is comprehensive for a taxon for the information given at a particular time, and for the entire world. Other (partial) revisions may be restricted in the sense that they may only use some of the available character sets or have a limited spatial scope. A revision results in a conformation of or new insights in the relationships between the subtaxa within the taxon under study, which may lead to a change in the classification of these subtaxa, the identification of new subtaxa, or the merger of previous subtaxa.
### Taxonomic characters
Taxonomic characters are the taxonomic attributes that can be used to provide the evidence from which relationships (the phylogeny) between taxa are inferred. Kinds of taxonomic characters include:
- Morphological characters
- General external morphology
- Special structures (e.g., genitalia)
- Internal morphology (anatomy)
- Embryology
- Karyology and other cytological factors
- Physiological characters
- Metabolic factors
- Body secretions
- Genic sterility factors
- Molecular characters
- Immunological distance
- Electrophoretic differences
- Amino acid sequences of proteins
- DNA hybridization
- DNA and RNA sequences
- Restriction endonuclease analyses
- Other molecular differences
- Behavioral characters
- Courtship and other ethological isolating mechanisms
- Other behavior patterns
- Ecological characters
- Habit and habitats
- Food
- Seasonal variations
- Parasites and hosts
- Geographic characters
- General biogeographic distribution patterns
- Sympatric-allopatric relationship of populations
### Alpha and beta taxonomy
The term "**alpha taxonomy**" is primarily used to refer to the discipline of finding, describing, and naming taxa, particularly species. In earlier literature, the term had a different meaning, referring to morphological taxonomy, and the products of research through the end of the 19th century.
William Bertram Turrill introduced the term "alpha taxonomy" in a series of papers published in 1935 and 1937 in which he discussed the philosophy and possible future directions of the discipline of taxonomy.
... there is an increasing desire amongst taxonomists to consider their problems from wider viewpoints, to investigate the possibilities of closer co-operation with their cytological, ecological and genetics colleagues and to acknowledge that some revision or expansion, perhaps of a drastic nature, of their aims and methods, may be desirable ... Turrill (1935) has suggested that while accepting the older invaluable taxonomy, based on structure, and conveniently designated "alpha", it is possible to glimpse a far-distant taxonomy built upon as wide a basis of morphological and physiological facts as possible, and one in which "place is found for all observational and experimental data relating, even if indirectly, to the constitution, subdivision, origin, and behaviour of species and other taxonomic groups". Ideals can, it may be said, never be completely realized. They have, however, a great value of acting as permanent stimulants, and if we have some, even vague, ideal of an "omega" taxonomy we may progress a little way down the Greek alphabet. Some of us please ourselves by thinking we are now groping in a "beta" taxonomy.
Turrill thus explicitly excludes from alpha taxonomy various areas of study that he includes within taxonomy as a whole, such as ecology, physiology, genetics, and cytology. He further excludes phylogenetic reconstruction from alpha taxonomy.
Later authors have used the term in a different sense, to mean the delimitation of species (not subspecies or taxa of other ranks), using whatever investigative techniques are available, and including sophisticated computational or laboratory techniques. Thus, Ernst Mayr in 1968 defined "**beta taxonomy**" as the classification of ranks higher than species.
An understanding of the biological meaning of variation and of the evolutionary origin of groups of related species is even more important for the second stage of taxonomic activity, the sorting of species into groups of relatives ("taxa") and their arrangement in a hierarchy of higher categories. This activity is what the term classification denotes; it is also referred to as "beta taxonomy".
### Microtaxonomy and macrotaxonomy
How species should be defined in a particular group of organisms gives rise to practical and theoretical problems that are referred to as the species problem. The scientific work of deciding how to define species has been called microtaxonomy. By extension, macrotaxonomy is the study of groups at the higher taxonomic ranks subgenus and above, or simply in clades that include more than one taxon considered a species, expressed in terms of phylogenetic nomenclature.
## History
While some descriptions of taxonomic history attempt to date taxonomy to ancient civilizations, a truly scientific attempt to classify organisms did not occur until the 18th century, with the possible exception of Aristotle, whose works hint at a taxonomy. Earlier works were primarily descriptive and focused on plants that were useful in agriculture or medicine.
There are a number of stages in this scientific thinking. Early taxonomy was based on arbitrary criteria, the so-called "artificial systems", including Linnaeus's system of sexual classification for plants (Linnaeus's 1735 classification of animals was entitled "Systema Naturae" ("the System of Nature"), implying that he, at least, believed that it was more than an "artificial system").
Later came systems based on a more complete consideration of the characteristics of taxa, referred to as "natural systems", such as those of de Jussieu (1789), de Candolle (1813) and Bentham and Hooker (1862–1863). These classifications described empirical patterns and were pre-evolutionary in thinking.
The publication of Charles Darwin's *On the Origin of Species* (1859) led to a new explanation for classifications, based on evolutionary relationships. This was the concept of phyletic systems, from 1883 onwards. This approach was typified by those of Eichler (1883) and Engler (1886–1892).
The advent of cladistic methodology in the 1970s led to classifications based on the sole criterion of monophyly, supported by the presence of synapomorphies. Since then, the evidentiary basis has been expanded with data from molecular genetics that for the most part complements traditional morphology.[ page needed]
[
*page needed*][
*page needed*]### Pre-Linnaean
#### Early taxonomists
Naming and classifying human surroundings likely began with the onset of language. Distinguishing poisonous plants from edible plants is integral to the survival of human communities. Medicinal plant illustrations show up in Egyptian wall paintings from c. 1500 BC, indicating that the uses of different species were understood and that a basic taxonomy was in place.
#### Ancient times
Organisms were first classified by Aristotle (Greece, 384–322 BC) during his stay on the island of Lesbos. He classified beings by their parts, or in modern terms *attributes*, such as having live birth, having four legs, laying eggs, having blood, or being warm-bodied. He divided all living things into two groups: plants and animals.
Some of his groups of animals, such as *Anhaima* (animals without blood, translated as invertebrates) and *Enhaima* (animals with blood, roughly the vertebrates), as well as groups like the sharks and cetaceans, are commonly used.
His student Theophrastus (Greece, 370–285 BC) carried on this tradition, mentioning some 500 plants and their uses in his *Historia Plantarum*. Several plant genera can be traced back to Theophrastus, such as *Cornus*, *Crocus*, and *Narcissus*.
#### Medieval
Taxonomy in the Middle Ages was largely based on the Aristotelian system, with additions concerning the philosophical and existential order of creatures. This included concepts such as the great chain of being in the Western scholastic tradition, again deriving ultimately from Aristotle.
The Aristotelian system did not classify plants or fungi, due to the lack of microscopes at the time, as his ideas were based on arranging the complete world in a single continuum, as per the *scala naturae* (the Natural Ladder). This, as well, was taken into consideration in the great chain of being.
Advances were made by scholars such as Procopius, Timotheus of Gaza, Demetrios Pepagomenos, and Thomas Aquinas. Medieval thinkers used abstract philosophical and logical categorizations more suited to abstract philosophy than to pragmatic taxonomy.
#### Renaissance and early modern
During the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment, categorizing organisms became more prevalent, and taxonomic works became ambitious enough to replace the ancient texts. This is sometimes credited to the development of sophisticated optical lenses, which allowed the morphology of organisms to be studied in much greater detail.
One of the earliest authors to take advantage of this leap in technology was the Italian physician Andrea Cesalpino (1519–1603), who has been called "the first taxonomist". His magnum opus *De Plantis* came out in 1583, and described more than 1,500 plant species. Two large plant families that he first recognized are in use: the Asteraceae and Brassicaceae.
In the 17th century, John Ray (England, 1627–1705) wrote many important taxonomic works. Arguably his greatest accomplishment was *Methodus Plantarum Nova* (1682), in which he published details of over 18,000 plant species. At the time, his classifications were perhaps the most complex yet produced by any taxonomist, as he based his taxa on many combined characters.
The next major taxonomic works were produced by Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (France, 1656–1708). His work from 1700, *Institutiones Rei Herbariae*, included more than 9,000 species in 698 genera, which directly influenced Linnaeus, as it was the text he used as a young student.
### Linnaean era
The Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) ushered in a new era of taxonomy. With his major works *Systema Naturae* 1st Edition in 1735, *Species Plantarum* in 1753, and *Systema Naturae* 10th Edition, he revolutionized modern taxonomy. His works implemented a standardized binomial naming system for animal and plant species, which proved to be an elegant solution to a chaotic and disorganized taxonomic literature. He not only introduced the standard of class, order, genus, and species, but also made it possible to identify plants and animals from his book, by using the smaller parts of the flower (known as the Linnaean system).
Plant and animal taxonomists regard Linnaeus' work as the "starting point" for valid names (at 1753 and 1758 respectively). Names published before these dates are referred to as "pre-Linnaean", and not considered valid (with the exception of spiders published in *Svenska Spindlar*). Even taxonomic names published by Linnaeus himself before these dates are considered pre-Linnaean.
### The digital era of taxonomy
Modern taxonomy is heavily influenced by technology such as DNA sequencing, bioinformatics, databases, and imaging.
## Modern system of classification
A pattern of groups nested within groups was specified by Linnaeus' classifications of plants and animals, and these patterns began to be represented as dendrograms of the animal and plant kingdoms toward the end of the 18th century, well before Charles Darwin's *On the Origin of Species* was published. The pattern of the "Natural System" did not entail a generating process, such as evolution, but may have implied it, inspiring early transmutationist thinkers. Among early works exploring the idea of a transmutation of species were *Zoonomia* in 1796 by Erasmus Darwin (Charles Darwin's grandfather), and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's *Philosophie zoologique* of 1809. The idea was popularized in the Anglophone world by the speculative but widely read *Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation*, published anonymously by Robert Chambers in 1844.
With Darwin's theory, a general acceptance quickly appeared that a classification should reflect the Darwinian principle of common descent. Tree of life representations became popular in scientific works, with known fossil groups incorporated. One of the first modern groups tied to fossil ancestors was birds. Using the then newly discovered fossils of *Archaeopteryx* and *Hesperornis*, Thomas Henry Huxley pronounced that they had evolved from dinosaurs, a group formally named by Richard Owen in 1842. The resulting description, that of dinosaurs "giving rise to" or being "the ancestors of" birds, is the essential hallmark of evolutionary taxonomic thinking. As more and more fossil groups were found and recognized in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, palaeontologists worked to understand the history of animals through the ages by linking together known groups. With the modern evolutionary synthesis of the early 1940s, an essentially modern understanding of the evolution of the major groups was in place. As evolutionary taxonomy is based on Linnaean taxonomic ranks, the two terms are largely interchangeable in modern use.
The cladistic method has emerged since the 1960s. In 1958, Julian Huxley used the term *clade*. Later, in 1960, Cain and Harrison introduced the term *cladistic*. The salient feature is arranging taxa in a hierarchical evolutionary tree, with the desired objective of all named taxa being monophyletic. A taxon is called monophyletic if it includes all the descendants of an ancestral form. Groups that have descendant groups removed from them are termed paraphyletic, while groups representing more than one branch from the tree of life are called polyphyletic. Monophyletic groups are recognized and diagnosed on the basis of synapomorphies, shared derived character states.
Cladistic classifications are compatible with traditional Linnean taxonomy and the Codes of Zoological and Botanical nomenclature, to a certain extent. An alternative system of nomenclature, the *International Code of Phylogenetic Nomenclature* or *PhyloCode* has been proposed, which regulates the formal naming of clades. Linnaean ranks are optional and have no formal standing under the *PhyloCode*, which is intended to coexist with the current, rank-based codes. While popularity of phylogenetic nomenclature has grown steadily in the last few decades, it remains to be seen whether a majority of systematists will eventually adopt the *PhyloCode* or continue using the current systems of nomenclature that have been employed (and modified, but arguably not as much as some systematists wish) for over 250 years.
## Kingdoms and domains
Domains are a relatively new grouping. First proposed in 1977, Carl Woese's three-domain system was not generally accepted until later. One main characteristic of the three-domain method is the separation of Archaea and Bacteria, previously grouped into the single kingdom Bacteria (a kingdom also sometimes called Monera), with the Eukaryota for all organisms whose cells contain a nucleus. A small number of scientists include a sixth kingdom, Archaea, but do not accept the domain method.
Thomas Cavalier-Smith, who published extensively on the classification of protists, in 2002 proposed that the Neomura, the clade that groups together the Archaea and Eucarya, would have evolved from Bacteria, more precisely from Actinomycetota. His 2004 classification treated the archaeobacteria as part of a subkingdom of the kingdom Bacteria, i.e., he rejected the three-domain system entirely. Stefan Luketa in 2012 proposed a five "dominion" system, adding Prionobiota (acellular and without nucleic acid) and Virusobiota (acellular but *with* nucleic acid) to the traditional three domains.
| Linnaeus 1735 |
Haeckel 1866 |
Chatton 1925 |
Copeland 1938 |
Whittaker 1969 |
Woese et al. 1990 |
Cavalier-Smith 1998, 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 kingdoms | 3 kingdoms | 2 empires | 4 kingdoms | 5 kingdoms | 3 domains | 2 empires, 6/7 kingdoms |
(not treated)
|
Protista | Prokaryota | Monera | Monera | Bacteria | Bacteria |
| Archaea | Archaea (2015) | |||||
| Eukaryota | Protoctista | Protista | Eucarya | "Protozoa" | ||
| "Chromista" | ||||||
| Vegetabilia | Plantae | Plantae | Plantae | Plantae | ||
| Fungi | Fungi | |||||
| Animalia | Animalia | Animalia | Animalia | Animalia |
### Recent comprehensive classifications
Partial classifications exist for many individual groups of organisms and are revised and replaced as new information becomes available; however, comprehensive, published treatments of most or all life are rarer; recent examples are that of Adl et al., 2012 and 2019, which covers eukaryotes only with an emphasis on protists, and Ruggiero et al., 2015, covering both eukaryotes and prokaryotes to the rank of Order, although both exclude fossil representatives. A separate compilation (Ruggiero, 2014) covers extant taxa to the rank of Family. Other, database-driven treatments include the Encyclopedia of Life, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, the NCBI taxonomy database, the Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera, the Open Tree of Life, and the Catalogue of Life. The Paleobiology Database is a resource for fossils.
## Application
Biological taxonomy is a sub-discipline of biology, and is generally practiced by biologists known as "taxonomists", although enthusiastic naturalists are also frequently involved in the publication of new taxa. Because taxonomy aims to describe and organize life, the work conducted by taxonomists is essential for the study of biodiversity and the resulting field of conservation biology.
### Classifying organisms
Biological classification is a critical component of the taxonomic process. As a result, it informs the user as to what the relatives of the taxon are hypothesized to be. Biological classification uses taxonomic ranks, including among others (in order from most inclusive to least inclusive): domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species, and strain.
### Taxonomic descriptions
The "definition" of a taxon is encapsulated by its description or its diagnosis or by both combined. There are no set rules governing the definition of taxa, but the naming and publication of new taxa is governed by sets of rules. In zoology, the nomenclature for the more commonly used ranks (superfamily to subspecies), is regulated by the *International Code of Zoological Nomenclature* (*ICZN Code*). In the fields of phycology, mycology, and botany, the naming of taxa is governed by the *International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants* (*ICN*).
The initial description of a taxon involves five main requirements:
- The taxon must be given a name based on the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet (a binomial for new species, or uninomial for other ranks).
- The name must be unique (i.e. not a homonym).
- The description must be based on at least one name-bearing type specimen.
- It should include statements about appropriate attributes either to describe (define) the taxon or to differentiate it from other taxa (the diagnosis,
*ICZN Code*, Article 13.1.1,*ICN*, Article 38, which may or may not be based on morphology). Both codes deliberately separate defining the content of a taxon (its circumscription) from defining its name. - These first four requirements must be published in a work that is obtainable in numerous identical copies, as a permanent scientific record.
However, often much more information is included, like the geographic range of the taxon, ecological notes, chemistry, behavior, etc. How researchers arrive at their taxa varies: depending on the available data, and resources, methods vary from simple quantitative or qualitative comparisons of striking features, to elaborate computer analyses of large amounts of DNA sequence data.
### Author citation
An "authority" may be placed after a scientific name. The authority is the name of the scientist or scientists who first validly published the name. For example, in 1758, Linnaeus gave the Asian elephant the scientific name *Elephas maximus*, so the name is sometimes written as "*Elephas maximus* Linnaeus, 1758". The names of authors are often abbreviated: the abbreviation *L.*, for *Linnaeus,* is commonly used. In botany, there is, in fact, a regulated list of standard abbreviations (see list of botanists by author abbreviation). The system for assigning authorities differs slightly between botany and zoology. However, it is standard that if the genus of a species has been changed since the original description, the original authority's name is placed in parentheses.
## Phenetics
In phenetics, also known as taximetrics, or numerical taxonomy, organisms are classified based on overall similarity, regardless of their phylogeny or evolutionary relationships. It results in a measure of hypergeometric "distance" between taxa. Phenetic methods have become relatively rare in modern times, largely superseded by cladistic analyses, as phenetic methods do not distinguish shared ancestral (or plesiomorphic) traits from shared derived (or apomorphic) traits. However, certain phenetic methods, such as neighbor joining, have persisted, as rapid estimators of relationships when more advanced methods (such as Bayesian inference) are too computationally expensive.
## Databases
Modern taxonomy uses database technologies to search and catalogue classifications and their documentation. While there is no commonly used database, there are comprehensive databases such as the *Catalogue of Life*, which attempts to list every documented species. The catalogue listed 1.64 million species for all kingdoms as of April 2016[update], claiming coverage of more than three-quarters of the estimated species known to modern science.
## See also
- Automated species identification – Taxonomic AI processes
- Bacterial taxonomy – Rank based classification of bacteria
- Cluster analysis – Grouping a set of objects by similarity
- Consortium for the Barcode of Life – Organization for DNA barcoding as a global standard for species identification
- Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities – European research network
- Genetypes – Concept in genetic science
- Glossary of scientific naming
- Identification (biology) – Process of taking existing name to single organisms
*Incertae sedis*– Term to indicate an uncertain taxonomic position- Open Tree of Life – Online phylogenetic tree of life
- Parataxonomy
- Phenogram
- Set theory – Branch of mathematics that studies sets
- Taxonomy (general) – Development of classes and classifications
- Virus classification – Organisation of viruses into a taxonomic system
## Notes
## Bibliography
## External links
- What is taxonomy? at the
*Natural History Museum London* - Taxonomy at NCBI the
*National Center for Biotechnology Information* - Taxonomy at UniProt the
*Universal Protein Resource* - ITIS the
*Integrated Taxonomic Information System* - CETaF the
*Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities* - Wikispecies
*free species directory* - Biological classification. Archived 13 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine
|
# Beetle - Wikipedia
| Beetle Earliest | |
|---|---|
Clockwise from top left: female golden stag beetle (Lamprima aurata), rhinoceros beetle (Megasoma sp.), long nose weevil (Rhinotia hemistictus), cowboy beetle (Chondropyga dorsalis), and a species of Amblytelus
| |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
Clade:
|
Coleopterida |
| Order: | Coleoptera Linnaeus, 1758 |
| Suborders | |
**Beetles** are insects that form the order **Coleoptera** (Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 described species, is the largest of all orders, constituting almost 40% of described arthropods and 25% of all known animal species; new species are discovered frequently, with estimates suggesting that there are between 0.9 and 2.1 million total species. However, the number of beetle species is challenged by the number of species in dipterans (flies) and hymenopterans (wasps).
Found in almost every habitat except the sea and the polar regions, they interact with their ecosystems in several ways: beetles often feed on plants and fungi, break down animal and plant debris, and eat other invertebrates. Some species are serious agricultural pests, such as the Colorado potato beetle, while others such as Coccinellidae (ladybirds or ladybugs) eat aphids, scale insects, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects that damage crops. Some others also have unusual characteristics, such as fireflies, which use a light-emitting organ for mating and communication purposes.
Beetles typically have a particularly hard exoskeleton including the elytra, though some such as the rove beetles have very short elytra while blister beetles have softer elytra. The general anatomy of a beetle is quite uniform and typical of insects, although there are several examples of novelty, such as adaptations in water beetles which trap air bubbles under the elytra for use while diving. Beetles are holometabolans, which means that they undergo complete metamorphosis, with a series of conspicuous and relatively abrupt changes in body structure between hatching and becoming adult after a relatively immobile pupal stage. Some, such as stag beetles, have a marked sexual dimorphism, the males possessing enormously enlarged mandibles which they use to fight other males. Many beetles are aposematic, with bright colors and patterns warning of their toxicity, while others are harmless Batesian mimics of such insects. Many beetles, including those that live in sandy places, have effective camouflage.
Beetles are prominent in human culture, from the sacred scarabs of ancient Egypt to beetlewing art and use as pets or fighting insects for entertainment and gambling. Many beetle groups are brightly and attractively colored making them objects of collection and decorative displays. Over 300 species are used as food, mostly as larvae; species widely consumed include mealworms and rhinoceros beetle larvae. However, the major impact of beetles on human life is as agricultural, forestry, and horticultural pests. Serious pest species include the boll weevil of cotton, the Colorado potato beetle, the coconut hispine beetle, the mountain pine beetle, and many others. Most beetles, however, do not cause economic damage and some, such as numerous species of lady beetles, are beneficial by helping to control insect pests. The scientific study of beetles is known as coleopterology.
The name of the taxonomic order, Coleoptera, comes from the Greek *koleopteros* (κολεόπτερος), given to the group by Aristotle for their elytra, hardened shield-like forewings, from *koleos*, sheath, and *pteron*, wing. The English name beetle comes from the Old English word *bitela*, little biter, related to *bītan* (to bite), leading to Middle English *betylle*. Another Old English name for beetle is *ċeafor*, chafer, used in names such as cockchafer, from the Proto-Germanic **kebrô* ("beetle"; compare German *Käfer*, Dutch *kever*, Afrikaans *kewer*).
Beetles are by far the largest order of insects: the roughly 400,000 species make up about 40% of all arthropod species so far described, and about 25% of all animal species. A 2015 study provided four independent estimates of the total number of beetle species, giving a mean estimate of some 1.5 million with a "surprisingly narrow range" spanning all four estimates from a minimum of 0.9 to a maximum of 2.1 million beetle species. The four estimates made use of host-specificity relationships (1.5 to 1.9 million), ratios with other taxa (0.9 to 1.2 million), plant:beetle ratios (1.2 to 1.3), and extrapolations based on body size by year of description (1.7 to 2.1 million).
This immense diversity led the evolutionary biologist J. B. S. Haldane to quip, when some theologians asked him what could be inferred about the mind of the Christian God from the works of His Creation, "An inordinate fondness for beetles".
However, the ranking of beetles as most diverse has been challenged. Multiple studies posit that Diptera (flies) and/or Hymenoptera (sawflies, wasps, ants and bees) may have more species.
Beetles are found in nearly all habitats, including freshwater and coastal habitats, wherever vegetative foliage is found, from trees and their bark to flowers, leaves, and underground near roots - even inside plants in galls, in every plant tissue, including dead or decaying ones. Tropical forest canopies have a large and diverse fauna of beetles, including Carabidae, Chrysomelidae, and Scarabaeidae.
The heaviest beetle, indeed the heaviest insect stage, is the larva of the goliath beetle, *Goliathus goliatus*, which can attain a mass of at least 115 g (4.1 oz) and a length of 11.5 cm (4.5 in). Adult male goliath beetles are the heaviest beetle in its adult stage, weighing 70–100 g (2.5–3.5 oz) and measuring up to 11 cm (4.3 in). Adult elephant beetles, *Megasoma elephas* and *Megasoma actaeon* often reach 50 g (1.8 oz) and 10 cm (3.9 in).
The longest beetle is the Hercules beetle *Dynastes hercules*, with a maximum overall length of at least 16.7 cm (6.6 in) including the very long pronotal horn. The smallest recorded beetle and the smallest free-living insect (as of 2015[update]), is the featherwing beetle *Scydosella musawasensis* which may measure as little as 325 μm in length.
The oldest known beetle is *Coleopsis*, from the earliest Permian (Asselian) of Germany, around 295 million years ago. Early beetles from the Permian, which are collectively grouped into the "Protocoleoptera" are thought to have been xylophagous (wood eating) and wood boring. Fossils from this time have been found in Siberia and Europe, for instance in the red slate fossil beds of Niedermoschel near Mainz, Germany. Further fossils have been found in Obora, Czech Republic and Tshekarda in the Ural mountains, Russia. However, there are only a few fossils from North America before the middle Permian, although both Asia and North America had been united to Euramerica. The first discoveries from North America made in the Wellington Formation of Oklahoma were published in 2005 and 2008. The earliest members of modern beetle lineages appeared during the Late Permian. In the Permian–Triassic extinction event at the end of the Permian, most "protocoleopteran" lineages became extinct. Beetle diversity did not recover to pre-extinction levels until the Middle Triassic.
During the Jurassic ( ), there was a dramatic increase in the diversity of beetle families, including the development and growth of carnivorous and herbivorous species. The Chrysomeloidea diversified around the same time, feeding on a wide array of plant hosts from cycads and conifers to angiosperms. Close to the Upper Jurassic, the Cupedidae decreased, but the diversity of the early plant-eating species increased. Most recent plant-eating beetles feed on flowering plants or angiosperms, whose success contributed to a doubling of plant-eating species during the Middle Jurassic. However, the increase of the number of beetle families during the Cretaceous does not correlate with the increase of the number of angiosperm species. Around the same time, numerous primitive weevils (e.g. Curculionoidea) and click beetles (e.g. Elateroidea) appeared. The first jewel beetles (e.g. Buprestidae) are present, but they remained rare until the Cretaceous. The first scarab beetles were not coprophagous but presumably fed on rotting wood with the help of fungus; they are an early example of a mutualistic relationship.
There are more than 150 important fossil sites from the Jurassic, the majority in Eastern Europe and North Asia. Outstanding sites include Solnhofen in Upper Bavaria, Germany, Karatau in South Kazakhstan, the Yixian formation in Liaoning, North China, as well as the Jiulongshan formation and further fossil sites in Mongolia. In North America there are only a few sites with fossil records of insects from the Jurassic, namely the shell limestone deposits in the Hartford basin, the Deerfield basin and the Newark basin.
The Cretaceous saw the fragmenting of the southern landmass, with the opening of the southern Atlantic Ocean and the isolation of New Zealand, while South America, Antarctica, and Australia grew more distant. The diversity of Cupedidae and Archostemata decreased considerably. Predatory ground beetles (Carabidae) and rove beetles (Staphylinidae) began to distribute into different patterns; the Carabidae predominantly occurred in the warm regions, while the Staphylinidae and click beetles (Elateridae) preferred temperate climates. Likewise, predatory species of Cleroidea and Cucujoidea hunted their prey under the bark of trees together with the jewel beetles (Buprestidae). The diversity of jewel beetles increased rapidly, as they were the primary consumers of wood, while longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae) were rather rare: their diversity increased only towards the end of the Upper Cretaceous. The first coprophagous beetles are from the Upper Cretaceous and may have lived on the excrement of herbivorous dinosaurs. The first species where both larvae and adults are adapted to an aquatic lifestyle are found. Whirligig beetles (Gyrinidae) were moderately diverse, although other early beetles (e.g. Dytiscidae) were less, with the most widespread being the species of Coptoclavidae, which preyed on aquatic fly larvae. A 2020 review of the palaeoecological interpretations of fossil beetles from Cretaceous ambers has suggested that saproxylicity was the most common feeding strategy, with fungivorous species in particular appearing to dominate.
Many fossil sites worldwide contain beetles from the Cretaceous. Most are in Europe and Asia and belong to the temperate climate zone during the Cretaceous. Lower Cretaceous sites include the Crato fossil beds in the Araripe basin in the Ceará, North Brazil, as well as overlying Santana formation; the latter was near the equator at that time. In Spain, important sites are near Montsec and Las Hoyas. In Australia, the Koonwarra fossil beds of the Korumburra group, South Gippsland, Victoria, are noteworthy. Major sites from the Upper Cretaceous include Kzyl-Dzhar in South Kazakhstan and Arkagala in Russia.
Beetle fossils are abundant in the Cenozoic; by the Quaternary (up to 1.6 mya), fossil species are identical to living ones, while from the Late Miocene (5.7 mya) the fossils are still so close to modern forms that they are most likely the ancestors of living species. The large oscillations in climate during the Quaternary caused beetles to change their geographic distributions so much that current location gives little clue to the biogeographical history of a species. It is evident that geographic isolation of populations must often have been broken as insects moved under the influence of changing climate, causing mixing of gene pools, rapid evolution, and extinctions, especially in middle latitudes.
The very large number of beetle species poses special problems for classification. Some families contain tens of thousands of species, and need to be divided into subfamilies and tribes. Polyphaga is the largest suborder, containing more than 300,000 described species in more than 170 families, including rove beetles (Staphylinidae), scarab beetles (Scarabaeidae), blister beetles (Meloidae), stag beetles (Lucanidae) and true weevils (Curculionidae). These polyphagan beetle groups can be identified by the presence of cervical sclerites (hardened parts of the head used as points of attachment for muscles) absent in the other suborders.
Adephaga contains about 10 families of largely predatory beetles, includes ground beetles (Carabidae), water beetles (Dytiscidae) and whirligig beetles (Gyrinidae). In these insects, the testes are tubular and the first abdominal sternum (a plate of the exoskeleton) is divided by the hind coxae (the basal joints of the beetle's legs).
Archostemata contains four families of mainly wood-eating beetles, including reticulated beetles (Cupedidae) and the telephone-pole beetle.
The Archostemata have an exposed plate called the metatrochantin in front of the basal segment or coxa of the hind leg. Myxophaga contains about 65 described species in four families, mostly very small, including Hydroscaphidae and the genus *Sphaerius*. The myxophagan beetles are small and mostly alga-feeders. Their mouthparts are characteristic in lacking galeae and having a mobile tooth on their left mandible.
The consistency of beetle morphology, in particular their possession of elytra, has long suggested that Coleoptera is monophyletic, though there have been doubts about the arrangement of the suborders, namely the Adephaga, Archostemata, Myxophaga and Polyphaga within that clade. The twisted-wing parasites, Strepsiptera, are thought to be a sister group to the beetles, having split from them in the Early Permian.
Molecular phylogenetic analysis confirms that the Coleoptera are monophyletic. Duane McKenna et al. (2015) used eight nuclear genes for 367 species from 172 of 183 Coleopteran families. They split the Adephaga into 2 clades, Hydradephaga and Geadephaga, broke up the Cucujoidea into 3 clades, and placed the Lymexyloidea within the Tenebrionoidea. The Polyphaga appear to date from the Triassic. Most extant beetle families appear to have arisen in the Cretaceous. The cladogram is based on McKenna (2015). The number of species in each group (mainly superfamilies) is shown in parentheses, and boldface if over 10,000. English common names are given where possible. Dates of origin of major groups are shown in italics in millions of years ago (mya).
Coleoptera
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285 mya
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Beetles are generally characterized by a particularly hard exoskeleton and hard forewings (elytra) not usable for flying. Almost all beetles have mandibles that move in a horizontal plane. The mouthparts are rarely suctorial, though they are sometimes reduced; the maxillae always bear palps. The antennae usually have 11 or fewer segments, except in some groups like the Cerambycidae (longhorn beetles) and the Rhipiceridae (cicada parasite beetles). The coxae of the legs are usually located recessed within a coxal cavity. The genitalic structures are telescoped into the last abdominal segment in all extant beetles. Beetle larvae can often be confused with those of other holometabolan groups. The beetle's exoskeleton is made up of numerous plates, called sclerites, separated by thin sutures. This design provides armored defenses while maintaining flexibility. The general anatomy of a beetle is quite uniform, although specific organs and appendages vary greatly in appearance and function between the many families in the order. Like all insects, beetles' bodies are divided into three sections: the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. Because there are so many species, identification is quite difficult, and relies on attributes including the shape of the antennae, the tarsal formulae and shapes of these small segments on the legs, the mouthparts, and the ventral plates (sterna, pleura, coxae). In many species accurate identification can only be made by examination of the unique male genitalic structures.
The head, having mouthparts projecting forward or sometimes downturned, is usually heavily sclerotized and is sometimes very large. The eyes are compound and may display remarkable adaptability, as in the case of the aquatic whirligig beetles (Gyrinidae), where they are split to allow a view both above and below the waterline. A few Longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae) and weevils as well as some fireflies (Rhagophthalmidae) have divided eyes, while many have eyes that are notched, and a few have ocelli, small, simple eyes usually farther back on the head (on the vertex); these are more common in larvae than in adults. The anatomical organization of the compound eyes may be modified and depends on whether a species is primarily crepuscular, or diurnally or nocturnally active. Ocelli are found in the adult carpet beetle (as a single central ocellus in Dermestidae), some rove beetles (Omaliinae), and the Derodontidae.
Beetle antennae are primarily organs of sensory perception and can detect motion, odor and chemical substances, but may also be used to physically feel a beetle's environment. Beetle families may use antennae in different ways. For example, when moving quickly, tiger beetles may not be able to see very well and instead hold their antennae rigidly in front of them in order to avoid obstacles.
Certain Cerambycidae use antennae to balance, and blister beetles may use them for grasping. Some aquatic beetle species may use antennae for gathering air and passing it under the body whilst submerged. Equally, some families use antennae during mating, and a few species use them for defense. In the cerambycid *Onychocerus albitarsis*, the antennae have venom injecting structures used in defense, which is unique among arthropods. Antennae vary greatly in form, sometimes between the sexes, but are often similar within any given family. Antennae may be clubbed, threadlike, angled, shaped like a string of beads, comb-like (either on one side or both, bipectinate), or toothed. The physical variation of antennae is important for the identification of many beetle groups. The Curculionidae have elbowed or geniculate antennae. Feather like flabellate antennae are a restricted form found in the Rhipiceridae and a few other families. The Silphidae have a capitate antennae with a spherical head at the tip. The Scarabaeidae typically have lamellate antennae with the terminal segments extended into long flat structures stacked together. The Carabidae typically have thread-like antennae. The antennae arises between the eye and the mandibles and in the Tenebrionidae, the antennae rise in front of a notch that breaks the usually circular outline of the compound eye. They are segmented and usually consist of 11 parts, the first part is called the scape and the second part is the pedicel. The other segments are jointly called the flagellum.
Beetles have mouthparts like those of grasshoppers. The mandibles appear as large pincers on the front of some beetles. The mandibles are a pair of hard, often tooth-like structures that move horizontally to grasp, crush, or cut food or enemies (see defence, below). Two pairs of finger-like appendages, the maxillary and labial palpi, are found around the mouth in most beetles, serving to move food into the mouth. In many species, the mandibles are sexually dimorphic, with those of the males enlarged enormously compared with those of females of the same species.
The thorax is segmented into the two discernible parts, the pro- and pterothorax. The pterothorax is the fused meso- and metathorax, which are commonly separated in other insect species, although flexibly articulate from the prothorax. When viewed from below, the thorax is that part from which all three pairs of legs and both pairs of wings arise. The abdomen is everything posterior to the thorax. When viewed from above, most beetles appear to have three clear sections, but this is deceptive: on the beetle's upper surface, the middle section is a hard plate called the pronotum, which is only the front part of the thorax; the back part of the thorax is concealed by the beetle's wings. This further segmentation is usually best seen on the abdomen.[ citation needed]
The multisegmented legs end in two to five small segments called tarsi. Like many other insect orders, beetles have claws, usually one pair, on the end of the last tarsal segment of each leg. While most beetles use their legs for walking, legs have been variously adapted for other uses. Aquatic beetles including the Dytiscidae (diving beetles), Haliplidae, and many species of Hydrophilidae, the legs, often the last pair, are modified for swimming, typically with rows of long hairs. Male diving beetles have suctorial cups on their forelegs that they use to grasp females. Other beetles have fossorial legs widened and often spined for digging. Species with such adaptations are found among the scarabs, ground beetles, and clown beetles (Histeridae). The hind legs of some beetles, such as flea beetles (within Chrysomelidae) and flea weevils (within Curculionidae), have enlarged femurs that help them leap.
The forewings of beetles are not used for flight, but form elytra which cover the hind part of the body and protect the hindwings. The elytra are usually hard shell-like structures which must be raised to allow the hindwings to move for flight. However, in the soldier beetles (Cantharidae), the elytra are soft, earning this family the name of leatherwings. Other soft wing beetles include the net-winged beetle *Calopteron discrepans*, which has brittle wings that rupture easily in order to release chemicals for defense.
Beetles' flight wings are crossed with veins and are folded after landing, often along these veins, and stored below the elytra. A fold (*jugum*) of the membrane at the base of each wing is characteristic. Some beetles have lost the ability to fly. These include some ground beetles (Carabidae) and some true weevils (Curculionidae), as well as desert- and cave-dwelling species of other families. Many have the two elytra fused together, forming a solid shield over the abdomen. In a few families, both the ability to fly and the elytra have been lost, as in the glow-worms (Phengodidae), where the females resemble larvae throughout their lives. The presence of elytra and wings does not always indicate that the beetle will fly. For example, the tansy beetle walks between habitats despite being physically capable of flight.
The abdomen is the section behind the metathorax, made up of a series of rings, each with a hole for breathing and respiration, called a spiracle, composing three different segmented sclerites: the tergum, pleura, and the sternum. The tergum in almost all species is membranous, or usually soft and concealed by the wings and elytra when not in flight. The pleura are usually small or hidden in some species, with each pleuron having a single spiracle. The sternum is the most widely visible part of the abdomen, being a more or less sclerotized segment. The abdomen itself does not have any appendages, but some (for example, Mordellidae) have articulating sternal lobes.
The digestive system of beetles is primarily adapted for a herbivorous diet. Digestion takes place mostly in the anterior midgut, although in predatory groups like the Carabidae, most digestion occurs in the crop by means of midgut enzymes. In the Elateridae, the larvae are liquid feeders that extraorally digest their food by secreting enzymes. The alimentary canal basically consists of a short, narrow pharynx, a widened expansion, the crop, and a poorly developed gizzard. This is followed by the midgut, that varies in dimensions between species, with a large amount of cecum, and the hindgut, with varying lengths. There are typically four to six Malpighian tubules.
The nervous system in beetles contains all the types found in insects, varying between different species, from three thoracic and seven or eight abdominal ganglia which can be distinguished to that in which all the thoracic and abdominal ganglia are fused to form a composite structure.
Like most insects, beetles inhale air, for the oxygen it contains, and exhale carbon dioxide, via a tracheal system. Air enters the body through spiracles, and circulates within the haemocoel in a system of tracheae and tracheoles, through whose walls the gases can diffuse.
Diving beetles, such as the Dytiscidae, carry a bubble of air with them when they dive. Such a bubble may be contained under the elytra or against the body by specialized hydrophobic hairs. The bubble covers at least some of the spiracles, permitting air to enter the tracheae. The function of the bubble is not only to contain a store of air but to act as a physical gill. The air that it traps is in contact with oxygenated water, so as the animal's consumption depletes the oxygen in the bubble, more oxygen can diffuse in to replenish it. Carbon dioxide is more soluble in water than either oxygen or nitrogen, so it readily diffuses out faster than in. Nitrogen is the most plentiful gas in the bubble, and the least soluble, so it constitutes a relatively static component of the bubble and acts as a stable medium for respiratory gases to accumulate in and pass through. Occasional visits to the surface are sufficient for the beetle to re-establish the constitution of the bubble.
Like other insects, beetles have open circulatory systems, based on hemolymph rather than blood. As in other insects, a segmented tube-like heart is attached to the dorsal wall of the hemocoel. It has paired inlets or *ostia* at intervals down its length, and circulates the hemolymph from the main cavity of the haemocoel and out through the anterior cavity in the head.
Different glands are specialized for different pheromones to attract mates. Pheromones from species of Rutelinae are produced from epithelial cells lining the inner surface of the apical abdominal segments; amino acid-based pheromones of Melolonthinae are produced from eversible glands on the abdominal apex. Other species produce different types of pheromones. Dermestids produce esters, and species of Elateridae produce fatty acid-derived aldehydes and acetates. To attract a mate, fireflies (Lampyridae) use modified fat body cells with transparent surfaces backed with reflective uric acid crystals to produce light by bioluminescence. Light production is highly efficient, by oxidation of luciferin catalyzed by enzymes (luciferases) in the presence of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and oxygen, producing oxyluciferin, carbon dioxide, and light.
Tympanal organs or hearing organs consist of a membrane (tympanum) stretched across a frame backed by an air sac and associated sensory neurons, are found in two families. Several species of the genus *Cicindela* (Carabidae) have hearing organs on the dorsal surfaces of their first abdominal segments beneath the wings; two tribes in the Dynastinae (within the Scarabaeidae) have hearing organs just beneath their pronotal shields or neck membranes. Both families are sensitive to ultrasonic frequencies, with strong evidence indicating they function to detect the presence of bats by their ultrasonic echolocation.
Beetles are members of the superorder Holometabola, and accordingly most of them undergo complete metamorphosis. The typical form of metamorphosis in beetles passes through four main stages: the egg, the larva, the pupa, and the imago or adult. The larvae are commonly called grubs and the pupa sometimes is called the chrysalis. In some species, the pupa may be enclosed in a cocoon constructed by the larva towards the end of its final instar. Some beetles, such as typical members of the families Meloidae and Rhipiphoridae, go further, undergoing hypermetamorphosis in which the first instar takes the form of a triungulin.
Some beetles have intricate mating behaviour. Pheromone communication is often important in locating a mate. Different species use different pheromones. Scarab beetles such as the Rutelinae use pheromones derived from fatty acid synthesis and others use pheromones from organic compounds, while other scarabs such as the Melolonthinae use amino acids and terpenoids. Another way beetles find mates is seen in the fireflies (Lampyridae) which are bioluminescent, with abdominal light-producing organs. The males and females engage in a complex dialog before mating; each species has a unique combination of flight patterns, duration, composition, and intensity of the light produced.
Before mating, males and females may stridulate, or vibrate the objects they are on. In the Meloidae, the male climbs onto the dorsum of the female and strokes his antennae on her head, palps, and antennae. In *Eupompha*, the male draws his antennae along his longitudinal vertex. They may not mate at all if they do not perform the precopulatory ritual. This mating behavior may be different amongst dispersed populations of the same species. For example, the mating of a Russian population of tansy beetle (*Chrysolina graminis*) is preceded by an elaborate ritual involving the male tapping the female's eyes, pronotum and antennae with its antennae, which is not evident in the population of this species in the United Kingdom.
In another example, the intromittent organ of male thistle tortoise beetles is a long, tube-like structure called the flagellum which is thin and curved. When not in use, the flagellum is stored inside the abdomen of the male and can extend out to be longer than the male when needed. During mating, this organ bends to the complex shape of the female reproductive organ, which includes a coiled duct that the male must penetrate with the organ. Furthermore, these physical properties of the thistle tortioise beetle have been studied because the ability of a thin, flexible structure to harden without buckling or rupturing is mechanically challenging and may have important implications for the development of microscopic catheters in modern medicine.
Competition can play a part in the mating rituals of species such as burying beetles (*Nicrophorus*), the insects fighting to determine which can mate. Many male beetles are territorial and fiercely defend their territories from intruding males. In such species, the male often has horns on the head or thorax, making its body length greater than that of a female. Copulation is generally quick, but in some cases lasts for several hours. During copulation, sperm cells are transferred to the female to fertilize the egg.
Essentially all beetles lay eggs, though some myrmecophilous Aleocharinae and some Chrysomelinae which live in mountains or the subarctic are ovoviviparous, laying eggs which hatch almost immediately. Beetle eggs generally have smooth surfaces and are soft, though the Cupedidae have hard eggs. Eggs vary widely between species: the eggs tend to be small in species with many instars (larval stages), and in those that lay large numbers of eggs. A female may lay from several dozen to several thousand eggs during her lifetime, depending on the extent of parental care. This ranges from the simple laying of eggs under a leaf, to the parental care provided by scarab beetles, which house, feed and protect their young. The Attelabidae roll leaves and lay their eggs inside the roll for protection.
The larva is usually the principal feeding stage of the beetle life cycle. Larvae tend to feed voraciously once they emerge from their eggs. Some feed externally on plants, such as those of certain leaf beetles, while others feed within their food sources. Examples of internal feeders are most Buprestidae and longhorn beetles. The larvae of many beetle families are predatory like the adults (ground beetles, ladybirds, rove beetles). The larval period varies between species, but can be as long as several years. The larvae of skin beetles undergo a degree of reversed development when starved, and later grow back to the previously attained level of maturity. The cycle can be repeated many times (see Biological immortality). Larval morphology is highly varied amongst species, with well-developed and sclerotized heads, distinguishable thoracic and abdominal segments (usually the tenth, though sometimes the eighth or ninth).
Beetle larvae can be differentiated from other insect larvae by their hardened, often darkened heads, the presence of chewing mouthparts, and spiracles along the sides of their bodies. Like adult beetles, the larvae are varied in appearance, particularly between beetle families. Beetles with somewhat flattened, highly mobile larvae include the ground beetles and rove beetles; their larvae are described as campodeiform. Some beetle larvae resemble hardened worms with dark head capsules and minute legs. These are elateriform larvae, and are found in the click beetle (Elateridae) and darkling beetle (Tenebrionidae) families. Some elateriform larvae of click beetles are known as wireworms. Beetles in the Scarabaeoidea have short, thick larvae described as scarabaeiform, more commonly known as grubs.
All beetle larvae go through several instars, which are the developmental stages between each moult. In many species, the larvae simply increase in size with each successive instar as more food is consumed. In some cases, however, more dramatic changes occur. Among certain beetle families or genera, particularly those that exhibit parasitic lifestyles, the first instar (the planidium) is highly mobile to search out a host, while the following instars are more sedentary and remain on or within their host. This is known as hypermetamorphosis; it occurs in the Meloidae, Micromalthidae, and Ripiphoridae. The blister beetle *Epicauta vittata* (Meloidae), for example, has three distinct larval stages. Its first stage, the triungulin, has longer legs to go in search of the eggs of grasshoppers. After feeding for a week it moults to the second stage, called the caraboid stage, which resembles the larva of a carabid beetle. In another week it moults and assumes the appearance of a scarabaeid larva—the scarabaeidoid stage. Its penultimate larval stage is the pseudo-pupa or the coarcate larva, which will overwinter and pupate until the next spring.
The larval period can vary widely. A fungus feeding staphylinid *Phanerota fasciata* undergoes three moults in 3.2 days at room temperature while *Anisotoma* sp. (Leiodidae) completes its larval stage in the fruiting body of slime mold in 2 days and possibly represents the fastest growing beetles. Dermestid beetles, *Trogoderma inclusum* can remain in an extended larval state under unfavourable conditions, even reducing their size between moults. A larva is reported to have survived for 3.5 years in an enclosed container.
As with all holometabolans, beetle larvae pupate, and from these pupae emerge fully formed, sexually mature adult beetles, or imagos. Pupae never have mandibles (they are adecticous). In most pupae, the appendages are not attached to the body and are said to be exarate; in a few beetles (Staphylinidae, Ptiliidae etc.) the appendages are fused with the body (termed as obtect pupae).
Adults have extremely variable lifespans, from weeks to years, depending on the species. Some wood-boring beetles can have extremely long life-cycles. It is believed that when furniture or house timbers are infested by beetle larvae, the timber already contained the larvae when it was first sawn up. A birch bookcase 40 years old released adult *Eburia quadrigeminata* (Cerambycidae), while *Buprestis aurulenta* and other Buprestidae have been documented as emerging as much as 51 years after manufacture of wooden items.
The elytra allow beetles to both fly and move through confined spaces, doing so by folding the delicate wings under the elytra while not flying, and folding their wings out just before takeoff. The unfolding and folding of the wings is operated by muscles attached to the wing base; as long as the tension on the radial and cubital veins remains, the wings remain straight. Some beetle species (many Cetoniinae; some Scarabaeinae, Curculionidae and Buprestidae) fly with the elytra closed, with the metathoracic wings extended under the lateral elytra margins. The altitude reached by beetles in flight varies. One study investigating the flight altitude of the ladybird species *Coccinella septempunctata* and *Harmonia axyridis* using radar showed that, whilst the majority in flight over a single location were at 150–195 m above ground level, some reached altitudes of over 1100 m.
Many rove beetles have greatly reduced elytra, and while they are capable of flight, they most often move on the ground: their soft bodies and strong abdominal muscles make them flexible, easily able to wriggle into small cracks.
Aquatic beetles use several techniques for retaining air beneath the water's surface. Diving beetles (Dytiscidae) hold air between the abdomen and the elytra when diving. Hydrophilidae have hairs on their under surface that retain a layer of air against their bodies. Adult crawling water beetles use both their elytra and their hind coxae (the basal segment of the back legs) in air retention, while whirligig beetles simply carry an air bubble down with them whenever they dive.
Beetles have a variety of ways to communicate, including the use of pheromones. The mountain pine beetle emits a pheromone to attract other beetles to a tree. The mass of beetles are able to overcome the chemical defenses of the tree. After the tree's defenses have been exhausted, the beetles emit an anti-aggregation pheromone. This species can stridulate to communicate, but others may use sound to defend themselves when attacked.
Parental care is found in a few families of beetle, perhaps for protection against adverse conditions and predators. The rove beetle *Bledius spectabilis* lives in salt marshes, so the eggs and larvae are endangered by the rising tide. The maternal beetle patrols the eggs and larvae, burrowing to keep them from flooding and asphyxiating, and protects them from the predatory carabid beetle *Dicheirotrichus gustavii* and from the parasitoidal wasp *Barycnemis blediator*, which kills some 15% of the larvae.
Burying beetles are attentive parents, and participate in cooperative care and feeding of their offspring. Both parents work to bury small animal carcass to serve as a food resource for their young and build a brood chamber around it. The parents prepare the carcass and protect it from competitors and from early decomposition. After their eggs hatch, the parents keep the larvae clean of fungus and bacteria and help the larvae feed by regurgitating food for them.
Some dung beetles provide parental care, collecting herbivore dung and laying eggs within that food supply, an instance of mass provisioning. Some species do not leave after this stage, but remain to safeguard their offspring.
Most species of beetles do not display parental care behaviors after the eggs have been laid.
Subsociality, where females guard their offspring, is well-documented in two families of Chrysomelidae, Cassidinae and Chrysomelinae.
Eusociality involves cooperative brood care (including brood care of offspring from other individuals), overlapping generations within a colony of adults, and a division of labor into reproductive and non-reproductive groups. Few organisms outside Hymenoptera exhibit this behavior; the only beetle to do so is the weevil *Austroplatypus incompertus*. This Australian species lives in horizontal networks of tunnels, in the heartwood of *Eucalyptus* trees. It is one of more than 300 species of wood-boring Ambrosia beetles which distribute the spores of ambrosia fungi. The fungi grow in the beetles' tunnels, providing food for the beetles and their larvae; female offspring remain in the tunnels and maintain the fungal growth, probably never reproducing. Cooperative brood care is also found in the bess beetles (Passalidae) where the larvae feed on the semi-digested faeces of the adults.
Beetles are able to exploit a wide diversity of food sources available in their many habitats. Some are omnivores, eating both plants and animals. Other beetles are highly specialized in their diet. Many species of leaf beetles, longhorn beetles, and weevils are very host-specific, feeding on only a single species of plant. Ground beetles and rove beetles (Staphylinidae), among others, are primarily carnivorous and catch and consume many other arthropods and small prey, such as earthworms and snails. While most predatory beetles are generalists, a few species have more specific prey requirements or preferences. In some species, digestive ability relies upon a symbiotic relationship with fungi - some beetles have yeasts living their guts, including some yeasts previously undiscovered anywhere else.
Decaying organic matter is a primary diet for many species. This can range from dung, which is consumed by coprophagous species (such as certain scarab beetles in the Scarabaeidae), to dead animals, which are eaten by necrophagous species (such as the carrion beetles, Silphidae). Some beetles found in dung and carrion are in fact predatory. These include members of the Histeridae and Silphidae, preying on the larvae of coprophagous and necrophagous insects. Many beetles feed under bark, some feed on wood while others feed on fungi growing on wood or leaf-litter. Some beetles have special mycangia, structures for the transport of fungal spores.
Beetles, both adults and larvae, are the prey of many animal predators including mammals from bats to rodents, birds, lizards, amphibians, fishes, dragonflies, robberflies, reduviid bugs, ants, other beetles, and spiders. Beetles use a variety of anti-predator adaptations to defend themselves. These include camouflage and mimicry against predators that hunt by sight, toxicity, and defensive behaviour.
Camouflage is common and widespread among beetle families, especially those that feed on wood or vegetation, such as leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae, which are often green) and weevils. In some species, sculpturing or various colored scales or hairs cause beetles such as the avocado weevil *Heilipus apiatus* to resemble bird dung or other inedible objects. Many beetles that live in sandy environments blend in with the coloration of that substrate.
Some longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae) are effective Batesian mimics of wasps. Beetles may combine coloration with behavioural mimicry, acting like the wasps they already closely resemble. Many other beetles, including ladybirds, blister beetles, and lycid beetles secrete distasteful or toxic substances to make them unpalatable or poisonous, and are often aposematic, where bright or contrasting coloration warn off predators; many beetles and other insects mimic these chemically protected species.
Chemical defense is important in some species, usually being advertised by bright aposematic colors. Some Tenebrionidae use their posture for releasing noxious chemicals to warn off predators. Chemical defenses may serve purposes other than just protection from vertebrates, such as protection from a wide range of microbes. Some species sequester chemicals from the plants they feed on, incorporating them into their own defenses.
Other species have special glands to produce deterrent chemicals. The defensive glands of carabid ground beetles produce a variety of hydrocarbons, aldehydes, phenols, quinones, esters, and acids released from an opening at the end of the abdomen. African carabid beetles (for example, *Anthia*) employ the same chemicals as ants: formic acid. Bombardier beetles have well-developed pygidial glands that empty from the sides of the intersegment membranes between the seventh and eighth abdominal segments. The gland is made of two containing chambers, one for hydroquinones and hydrogen peroxide, the other holding hydrogen peroxide and catalase enzymes. These chemicals mix and result in an explosive ejection, reaching a temperature of around 100 °C (212 °F), with the breakdown of hydroquinone to hydrogen, oxygen, and quinone. The oxygen propels the noxious chemical spray as a jet that can be aimed accurately at predators.
Large ground-dwelling beetles such as Carabidae, the rhinoceros beetle and the longhorn beetles defend themselves using strong mandibles, or heavily sclerotised (armored) spines or horns to deter or fight off predators. Many species of weevil that feed out in the open on leaves of plants react to attack by employing a drop-off reflex. Some combine it with thanatosis, in which they close up their appendages and "play dead". The click beetles (Elateridae) can suddenly catapult themselves out of danger by releasing the energy stored by a click mechanism, which consists of a stout spine on the prosternum and a matching groove in the mesosternum. Some species startle an attacker by producing sounds through a process known as stridulation.
A few species of beetles are ectoparasitic on mammals. One such species, *Platypsyllus castoris*, parasitises beavers (*Castor* spp.). This beetle lives as a parasite both as a larva and as an adult, feeding on epidermal tissue and possibly on skin secretions and wound exudates. They are strikingly flattened dorsoventrally, no doubt as an adaptation for slipping between the beavers' hairs. They are wingless and eyeless, as are many other ectoparasites. Others are kleptoparasites of other invertebrates, such as the small hive beetle (*Aethina tumida*) that infests honey bee nests, while many species are parasitic inquilines or commensal in the nests of ants. A few groups of beetles are primary parasitoids of other insects, feeding off of, and eventually killing their hosts.
Beetle-pollinated flowers are usually large, greenish or off-white in color, and heavily scented. Scents may be spicy, fruity, or similar to decaying organic material. Beetles were most likely the first insects to pollinate flowers. Most beetle-pollinated flowers are flattened or dish-shaped, with pollen easily accessible, although they may include traps to keep the beetle longer. The plants' ovaries are usually well protected from the biting mouthparts of their pollinators. The beetle families that habitually pollinate flowers are the Buprestidae, Cantharidae, Cerambycidae, Cleridae, Dermestidae, Lycidae, Melyridae, Mordellidae, Nitidulidae and Scarabaeidae. Beetles may be particularly important in some parts of the world such as semiarid areas of southern Africa and southern California and the montane grasslands of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.
Mutualism is well known in a few beetles, such as the ambrosia beetle, which partners with fungi to digest the wood of dead trees. The beetles excavate tunnels in dead trees in which they cultivate fungal gardens, their sole source of nutrition. After landing on a suitable tree, an ambrosia beetle excavates a tunnel in which it releases spores of its fungal symbiont. The fungus penetrates the plant's xylem tissue, digests it, and concentrates the nutrients on and near the surface of the beetle gallery, so the weevils and the fungus both benefit. The beetles cannot eat the wood due to toxins, and uses its relationship with fungi to help overcome the defenses of its host tree in order to provide nutrition for their larvae. Chemically mediated by a bacterially produced polyunsaturated peroxide, this mutualistic relationship between the beetle and the fungus is coevolved.
About 90% of beetle species enter a period of adult diapause, a quiet phase with reduced metabolism to tide unfavourable environmental conditions. Adult diapause is the most common form of diapause in Coleoptera. To endure the period without food (often lasting many months) adults prepare by accumulating reserves of lipids, glycogen, proteins and other substances needed for resistance to future hazardous changes of environmental conditions. This diapause is induced by signals heralding the arrival of the unfavourable season; usually the cue is photoperiodic. Short (decreasing) day length serves as a signal of approaching winter and induces winter diapause (hibernation). A study of hibernation in the Arctic beetle *Pterostichus brevicornis* showed that the body fat levels of adults were highest in autumn with the alimentary canal filled with food, but empty by the end of January. This loss of body fat was a gradual process, occurring in combination with dehydration.
All insects are poikilothermic, so the ability of a few beetles to live in extreme environments depends on their resilience to unusually high or low temperatures. The bark beetle *Pityogenes chalcographus* can survive −39°C whilst overwintering beneath tree bark; the Alaskan beetle *Cucujus clavipes puniceus* is able to withstand −58°C; its larvae may survive −100°C. At these low temperatures, the formation of ice crystals in internal fluids is the biggest threat to survival to beetles, but this is prevented through the production of antifreeze proteins that stop water molecules from grouping together. The low temperatures experienced by *Cucujus clavipes* can be survived through their deliberate dehydration in conjunction with the antifreeze proteins. This concentrates the antifreezes several fold. The hemolymph of the mealworm beetle *Tenebrio molitor* contains several antifreeze proteins. The Alaskan beetle *Upis ceramboides* can survive −60 °C: its cryoprotectants are xylomannan, a molecule consisting of a sugar bound to a fatty acid, and the sugar-alcohol, threitol.
Conversely, desert dwelling beetles are adapted to tolerate high temperatures. For example, the Tenebrionid beetle *Onymacris rugatipennis* can withstand 50°C. Tiger beetles in hot, sandy areas are often whitish (for example, *Habroscelimorpha dorsalis*), to reflect more heat than a darker color would. These beetles also exhibits behavioural adaptions to tolerate the heat: they are able to stand erect on their tarsi to hold their bodies away from the hot ground, seek shade, and turn to face the sun so that only the front parts of their heads are directly exposed.
The fogstand beetle of the Namib Desert, *Stenocara gracilipes*, is able to collect water from fog, as its elytra have a textured surface combining hydrophilic (water-loving) bumps and waxy, hydrophobic troughs. The beetle faces the early morning breeze, holding up its abdomen; droplets condense on the elytra and run along ridges towards their mouthparts. Similar adaptations are found in several other Namib desert beetles such as *Onymacris unguicularis*.
Some terrestrial beetles that exploit shoreline and floodplain habitats have physiological adaptations for surviving floods. In the event of flooding, adult beetles may be mobile enough to move away from flooding, but larvae and pupa often cannot. Adults of *Cicindela togata* are unable to survive immersion in water, but larvae are able to survive a prolonged period, up to 6 days, of anoxia during floods. Anoxia tolerance in the larvae may have been sustained by switching to anaerobic metabolic pathways or by reducing metabolic rate. Anoxia tolerance in the adult carabid beetle *Pelophilia borealis* was tested in laboratory conditions and it was found that they could survive a continuous period of up to 127 days in an atmosphere of 99.9% nitrogen at 0 °C.
Many beetle species undertake annual mass movements which are termed as migrations. These include the pollen beetle *Meligethes aeneus* and many species of coccinellids. These mass movements may also be opportunistic, in search of food, rather than seasonal. A 2008 study of an unusually large outbreak of Mountain Pine Beetle (*Dendroctonus ponderosae*) in British Columbia found that beetles were capable of flying 30–110 km per day in densities of up to 18,600 beetles per hectare.
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| Scarabee in hieroglyphs | ||
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Several species of dung beetle, especially the sacred scarab, *Scarabaeus sacer*, were revered in Ancient Egypt. The hieroglyphic image of the beetle may have had existential, fictional, or ontologic significance. Images of the scarab in bone, ivory, stone, Egyptian faience, and precious metals are known from the Sixth Dynasty and up to the period of Roman rule. The scarab was of prime significance in the funerary cult of ancient Egypt. The scarab was linked to Khepri, the god of the rising sun, from the supposed resemblance of the rolling of the dung ball by the beetle to the rolling of the sun by the god. Some of ancient Egypt's neighbors adopted the scarab motif for seals of varying types. The best-known of these are the Judean LMLK seals, where eight of 21 designs contained scarab beetles, which were used exclusively to stamp impressions on storage jars during the reign of Hezekiah. Beetles are mentioned as a symbol of the sun, as in ancient Egypt, in Plutarch's 1st century *Moralia*. The Greek Magical Papyri of the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD describe scarabs as an ingredient in a spell.
Pliny the Elder discusses beetles in his *Natural History*, describing the stag beetle: "Some insects, for the preservation of their wings, are covered with an erust (elytra)—the beetle, for instance, the wing of which is peculiarly fine and frail. To these insects a sting has been denied by Nature; but in one large kind we find horns of a remarkable length, two-pronged at the extremities, and forming pincers, which the animal closes when it is its intention to bite." The stag beetle is recorded in a Greek myth by Nicander and recalled by Antoninus Liberalis in which Cerambus is turned into a beetle: "He can be seen on trunks and has hook-teeth, ever moving his jaws together. He is black, long and has hard wings like a great dung beetle". The story concludes with the comment that the beetles were used as toys by young boys, and that the head was removed and worn as a pendant.
About 75% of beetle species are phytophagous in both the larval and adult stages. Many feed on economically important plants and stored plant products, including trees, cereals, tobacco, and dried fruits. Some, such as the boll weevil, which feeds on cotton buds and flowers, can cause extremely serious damage to agriculture. The boll weevil crossed the Rio Grande near Brownsville, Texas, to enter the United States from Mexico around 1892, and had reached southeastern Alabama by 1915. By the mid-1920s, it had entered all cotton-growing regions in the US, traveling 40 to 160 miles (60–260 km) per year. It remains the most destructive cotton pest in North America. Mississippi State University has estimated, since the boll weevil entered the United States, it has cost cotton producers about $13 billion, and in recent times about $300 million per year.
The bark beetle, elm leaf beetle and the Asian longhorned beetle (*Anoplophora glabripennis*) are among the species that attack elm trees. Bark beetles (Scolytidae) carry Dutch elm disease as they move from infected breeding sites to healthy trees. The disease has devastated elm trees across Europe and North America.
Some species of beetle have evolved immunity to insecticides. For example, the Colorado potato beetle, *Leptinotarsa decemlineata*, is a destructive pest of potato plants. Its hosts include other members of the Solanaceae, such as nightshade, tomato, eggplant and capsicum, as well as the potato. Different populations have between them developed resistance to all major classes of insecticide. The Colorado potato beetle was evaluated as a tool of entomological warfare during World War II, the idea being to use the beetle and its larvae to damage the crops of enemy nations. Germany tested its Colorado potato beetle weaponisation program south of Frankfurt, releasing 54,000 beetles.
The death watch beetle, *Xestobium rufovillosum* (Ptinidae), is a serious pest of older wooden buildings in Europe. It attacks hardwoods such as oak and chestnut, always where some fungal decay has taken or is taking place. The actual introduction of the pest into buildings is thought to take place at the time of construction.
Other pests include the coconut hispine beetle, *Brontispa longissima*, which feeds on young leaves, seedlings and mature coconut trees, causing serious economic damage in the Philippines. The mountain pine beetle is a destructive pest of mature or weakened lodgepole pine, sometimes affecting large areas of Canada.
Beetles can be beneficial to human economics by controlling the populations of pests. The larvae and adults of some species of lady beetles (Coccinellidae) feed on aphids that are pests. Other lady beetles feed on scale insects, whitefly and mealybugs. If normal food sources are scarce, they may feed on small caterpillars, young plant bugs, or honeydew and nectar. Ground beetles (Carabidae) are common predators of many insect pests, including fly eggs, caterpillars, and wireworms. Ground beetles can help to control weeds by eating their seeds in the soil, reducing the need for herbicides to protect crops. The effectiveness of some species in reducing certain plant populations has resulted in the deliberate introduction of beetles in order to control weeds. For example, the genus *Calligrapha* is native to North America but has been used to control *Parthenium hysterophorus* in India and *Ambrosia artemisiifolia* in Russia.
Dung beetles (Scarabidae) have been successfully used to reduce the populations of pestilent flies, such as *Musca vetustissima* and *Haematobia exigua* which are serious pests of cattle in Australia. The beetles make the dung unavailable to breeding pests by quickly rolling and burying it in the soil, with the added effect of improving soil fertility, tilth, and nutrient cycling. The Australian Dung Beetle Project (1965–1985), introduced species of dung beetle to Australia from South Africa and Europe to reduce populations of *Musca vetustissima*, following successful trials of this technique in Hawaii. The American Institute of Biological Sciences reports that dung beetles, such as *Euoniticellus intermedius*, save the United States cattle industry an estimated US$380 million annually through burying above-ground livestock feces.
The Dermestidae are often used in taxidermy and in the preparation of scientific specimens, to clean soft tissue from bones. Larvae feed on and remove cartilage along with other soft tissue.
Beetles are the most widely eaten insects, with about 344 species used as food, usually at the larval stage. The mealworm (the larva of the darkling beetle) and the rhinoceros beetle are among the species commonly eaten. A wide range of species is also used in folk medicine to treat those suffering from a variety of disorders and illnesses, though this is done without clinical studies supporting the efficacy of such treatments.
Due to their habitat specificity, many species of beetles have been suggested as suitable as indicators, their presence, numbers, or absence providing a measure of habitat quality. Predatory beetles such as the tiger beetles (Cicindelidae) have found scientific use as an indicator taxon for measuring regional patterns of biodiversity. They are suitable for this as their taxonomy is stable; their life history is well described; they are large and simple to observe when visiting a site; they occur around the world in many habitats, with species specialised to particular habitats; and their occurrence by species accurately indicates other species, both vertebrate and invertebrate. According to the habitats, many other groups such as the rove beetles in human-modified habitats, dung beetles in savannas and saproxylic beetles in forests have been suggested as potential indicator species.
Many beetles have durable elytra that has been used as material in art, with beetlewing the best example. Sometimes, they are incorporated into ritual objects for their religious significance. Whole beetles, either as-is or encased in clear plastic, are made into objects ranging from cheap souvenirs such as key chains to expensive fine-art jewellery. In parts of Mexico, beetles of the genus *Zopherus* are made into living brooches by attaching costume jewelry and golden chains, which is made possible by the incredibly hard elytra and sedentary habits of the genus.
Fighting beetles are used for entertainment and gambling. This sport exploits the territorial behavior and mating competition of certain species of large beetles. In the Chiang Mai district of northern Thailand, male *Xylotrupes* rhinoceros beetles are caught in the wild and trained for fighting. Females are held inside a log to stimulate the fighting males with their pheromones. These fights may be competitive and involve gambling both money and property. In South Korea the Dytiscidae species *Cybister tripunctatus* is used in a roulette-like game.
Beetles are sometimes used as instruments: the Onabasulu of Papua New Guinea historically used the "*hugu*" weevil *Rhynchophorus ferrugineus* as a musical instrument by letting the human mouth serve as a variable resonance chamber for the wing vibrations of the live adult beetle.
Some species of beetle are kept as pets, for example diving beetles (Dytiscidae) may be kept in a domestic fresh water tank.
In Japan the practice of keeping horned rhinoceros beetles (Dynastinae) and stag beetles (Lucanidae) is particularly popular amongst young boys. Such is the popularity in Japan that vending machines dispensing live beetles were developed in 1999, each holding up to 100 stag beetles.
Beetle collecting became extremely popular in the Victorian era. The naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace collected (by his own count) a total of 83,200 beetles during the eight years described in his 1869 book *The Malay Archipelago*, including 2,000 species new to science.
Several coleopteran adaptations have attracted interest in biomimetics with possible commercial applications. The bombardier beetle's powerful repellent spray has inspired the development of a fine mist spray technology, claimed to have a low carbon impact compared to aerosol sprays. Moisture harvesting behavior by the Namib desert beetle (*Stenocara gracilipes*) has inspired a self-filling water bottle which utilises hydrophilic and hydrophobic materials to benefit people living in dry regions with no regular rainfall.
Living beetles have been used as cyborgs. A Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency funded project implanted electrodes into *Mecynorhina torquata* beetles, allowing them to be remotely controlled via a radio receiver held on its back, as proof-of-concept for surveillance work. Similar technology has been applied to enable a human operator to control the free-flight steering and walking gaits of *Mecynorhina torquata* as well as graded turning, backward walking and feedback control of *Zophobas morio*.
Research published in 2020 sought to create a robotic camera backpack for beetles. Miniature cameras weighing 248 mg were attached to live beetles of the Tenebrionid genera *Asbolus* and *Eleodes*. The cameras filmed over a 60° range for up to 6 hours.
Since beetles form such a large part of the world's biodiversity, their conservation is important, and equally, loss of habitat and biodiversity is essentially certain to impact on beetles. Many species of beetles have very specific habitats and long life cycles that make them vulnerable. Some species are highly threatened while others are already feared extinct. Island species tend to be more susceptible as in the case of *Helictopleurus undatus* of Madagascar which is thought to have gone extinct during the late 20th century. Conservationists have attempted to arouse a liking for beetles with flagship species like the stag beetle, *Lucanus cervus*, and tiger beetles (Cicindelidae). In Japan the Genji firefly, *Luciola cruciata*, is extremely popular, and in South Africa the Addo elephant dung beetle offers promise for broadening ecotourism beyond the big five tourist mammal species. Popular dislike of pest beetles, too, can be turned into public interest in insects, as can unusual ecological adaptations of species like the fairy shrimp hunting beetle, *Cicinis bruchi*.
- Beckmann, Poul (2001).
*Living Jewels: The Natural Design of Beetles*. Prestel. ISBN 978-3-7913-2528-6. - Cooter, J.; M. V. L. Barclay, eds. (2006).
*A Coleopterist's Handbook*. Amateur Entomological Society. ISBN 978-0-900054-70-9. *Beetle Larvae of the World*. Entomological Society of America. December 1994. ISBN 978-0-643-05506-3.- Grimaldi, David; Michael S. Engel (May 16, 2005).
*Evolution of the Insects*. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-82149-0. - Harde, K. W. (1984).
*A Field Guide in Color to Beetles*. Octopus Books. pp. 7–24. ISBN 978-0-7064-1937-5. - White, R. E. (1983).
*Beetles*. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-91089-4.
- Coleoptera from the Tree of Life Web Project
- (in German)
*Käfer der Welt* - Coleoptera Atlas Archived January 6, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
- Beetles – Coleoptera
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# Elizabeth II - Wikipedia
| Elizabeth II | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Head of the Commonwealth | |||||
| Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms | |||||
| Reign | 6 February 1952 – 8 September 2022 | ||||
| Coronation | 2 June 1953 | ||||
| Predecessor | George VI | ||||
| Successor | Charles III | ||||
| Born | Princess Elizabeth of York 21 April 1926 Mayfair, London, England | ||||
| Died | 8 September 2022 Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland | (aged 96)||||
| Burial | 19 September 2022 | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
IssueDetail | |||||
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| House | Windsor | ||||
| Father | George VI | ||||
| Mother | Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon | ||||
| Religion | Protestant | ||||
| Signature | |||||
**Elizabeth II** (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She had been queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime and was the monarch of 15 realms at her death. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days is the longest of any British monarch, the second-longest of any sovereign state, and the longest of any queen regnant in history.
Elizabeth was born in Mayfair, London, during the reign of her paternal grandfather, King George V. She was the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother). Her father acceded to the throne in 1936 upon the abdication of his brother Edward VIII, making the ten-year-old Princess Elizabeth the heir presumptive. She was educated privately at home and began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. In November 1947, she married Philip Mountbatten, a former prince of Greece and Denmark. Their marriage lasted 73 years until his death in 2021. They had four children: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward.
When her father died in February 1952, Elizabeth, then 25 years old, became queen of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon, as well as head of the Commonwealth. Elizabeth reigned as a constitutional monarch through major political changes such as the Troubles in Northern Ireland, devolution in the United Kingdom, the decolonisation of Africa, and the United Kingdom's accession to the European Communities as well as its subsequent withdrawal. The number of her realms varied over time as territories gained independence and some realms became republics. As queen, Elizabeth was served by more than 170 prime ministers across her realms. Her many historic visits and meetings included state visits to China in 1986, to Russia in 1994, and to the Republic of Ireland in 2011, and meetings with five popes and fourteen US presidents.
Significant events included Elizabeth's coronation in 1953 and the celebrations of her Silver, Golden, Diamond, and Platinum jubilees. Although there was occasional republican sentiment and media criticism of her family—particularly after the breakdowns of her children's marriages, her *annus horribilis* in 1992, and the death in 1997 of her former daughter-in-law Diana—support for the monarchy and her personal popularity in the United Kingdom remained consistently high. Elizabeth died aged 96 at Balmoral Castle, and was succeeded by her eldest son, Charles III.
## Early life
Elizabeth was born on 21 April 1926, the first child of Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI), and his wife, Elizabeth, Duchess of York (later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother). Her father was the second son of King George V and Queen Mary, and her mother was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. She was delivered at 02:40 (GMT) by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfather's London home, 17 Bruton Street in Mayfair. The Anglican Archbishop of York, Cosmo Gordon Lang, baptised her in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace on 29 May, and she was named Elizabeth after her mother; Alexandra after her paternal great-grandmother, who had died six months earlier; and Mary after her paternal grandmother. She was called "Lilibet" by her close family, based on what she called herself at first. She was cherished by her grandfather George V, whom she affectionately called "Grandpa England", and her regular visits during his serious illness in 1929 were credited in the popular press and by later biographers with raising his spirits and aiding his recovery.
Elizabeth's only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930. The two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature, and music. Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margaret's childhood years entitled *The Little Princesses* in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeth's love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, and her attitude of responsibility. Others echoed such observations: Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as "a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant." Her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as "a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved". Elizabeth's early life was spent primarily at the Yorks' residences at 145 Piccadilly (their town house in London) and Royal Lodge in Windsor.
## Heir presumptive
During her grandfather's reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the British throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, as Edward was still young and likely to marry and have children of his own, who would precede Elizabeth in the line of succession. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second in line to the throne, after her father. Later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeth's father became king, taking the regnal name George VI. Since Elizabeth had no brothers, she became heir presumptive. If her parents had subsequently had a son, he would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession, which was determined by the male-preference primogeniture in effect at the time.
Elizabeth received private tuition in constitutional history from Henry Marten, Vice-Provost of Eton College, and learned French from a succession of native-speaking governesses. A Girl Guides company, the 1st Buckingham Palace Company, was formed specifically so she could socialise with girls her age. Later, she was enrolled as a Sea Ranger.
In 1939, Elizabeth's parents toured Canada and the United States. As in 1927, when they had toured Australia and New Zealand, Elizabeth remained in Britain since her father thought she was too young to undertake public tours. She "looked tearful" as her parents departed. They corresponded regularly, and she and her parents made the first royal transatlantic telephone call on 18 May.
### Second World War
In September 1939, Britain entered the Second World War. Lord Hailsham suggested that Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret should be evacuated to Canada to avoid the frequent aerial bombings of London by the *Luftwaffe*. This was rejected by their mother, who declared, "The children won't go without me. I won't leave without the King. And the King will never leave." The princesses stayed at Balmoral Castle, Scotland, until Christmas 1939, when they moved to Sandringham House, Norfolk. From February to May 1940, they lived at Royal Lodge, Windsor, until moving to Windsor Castle, where they lived for most of the next five years. At Windsor, the princesses staged pantomimes at Christmas in aid of the Queen's Wool Fund, which bought yarn to knit into military garments. In 1940, the 14-year-old Elizabeth made her first radio broadcast during the BBC's *Children's Hour*, addressing other children who had been evacuated from the cities. She stated: "We are trying to do all we can to help our gallant sailors, soldiers, and airmen, and we are trying, too, to bear our own share of the danger and sadness of war. We know, every one of us, that in the end all will be well."
In 1943, Elizabeth undertook her first solo public appearance on a visit to the Grenadier Guards, of which she had been appointed colonel the previous year. As she approached her 18th birthday, Parliament changed the law so that she could act as one of five counsellors of state in the event of her father's incapacity or absence abroad, such as his visit to Italy in July 1944. In February 1945, she was appointed an honorary second subaltern in the Auxiliary Territorial Service with the service number 230873. She trained as a driver and mechanic and was given the rank of honorary junior commander (female equivalent of captain at the time) five months later.
At the end of the war in Europe, on Victory in Europe Day, Elizabeth and Margaret mingled incognito with the celebrating crowds in the streets of London. In 1985, Elizabeth recalled in a rare interview, "... we asked my parents if we could go out and see for ourselves. I remember we were terrified of being recognised ... I remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall, all of us just swept along on a tide of happiness and relief."
During the war, plans were drawn to quell Welsh nationalism by affiliating Elizabeth more closely with Wales. Proposals, such as appointing her Constable of Caernarfon Castle or a patron of Urdd Gobaith Cymru (the Welsh League of Youth), were abandoned for several reasons, including fear of associating Elizabeth with conscientious objectors in the Urdd at a time when Britain was at war. Welsh politicians suggested she be made Princess of Wales on her 18th birthday. Home Secretary Herbert Morrison supported the idea, but the King rejected it because he felt such a title belonged solely to the wife of a Prince of Wales and the Prince of Wales had always been the heir apparent. In 1946, she was inducted into the Gorsedd of Bards at the National Eisteddfod of Wales.
Elizabeth went on her first overseas tour in 1947, accompanying her parents through southern Africa. During the tour, in a broadcast to the British Commonwealth on her 21st birthday, she made the following pledge:
I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong. But I shall not have strength to carry out this resolution alone unless you join in it with me, as I now invite you to do: I know that your support will be unfailingly given. God help me to make good my vow, and God bless all of you who are willing to share in it.
### Marriage
Elizabeth met her future husband, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, in 1934 and again in 1937. They were second cousins once removed through King Christian IX of Denmark and third cousins through Queen Victoria. After meeting for the third time at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth in July 1939, Elizabeth—though only 13 years old—said she fell in love with Philip, who was 18, and they began to exchange letters. She was 21 when their engagement was officially announced on 9 July 1947.
The engagement attracted some controversy. Philip had no financial standing, was foreign-born (though a British subject who had served in the Royal Navy throughout the Second World War), and had sisters who had married German noblemen with Nazi links. Marion Crawford wrote, "Some of the King's advisors did not think him good enough for her. He was a prince without a home or kingdom. Some of the papers played long and loud tunes on the string of Philip's foreign origin." Later biographies reported that Elizabeth's mother had reservations about the union initially and teased Philip as "the Hun". In later life, however, she told the biographer Tim Heald that Philip was "an English gentleman".
Before the marriage, Philip renounced his Greek and Danish titles, officially converted from Greek Orthodoxy to Anglicanism, and adopted the style *Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten*, taking the surname of his mother's British family. Shortly before the wedding, he was created Duke of Edinburgh and granted the style *His Royal Highness*. Elizabeth and Philip were married on 20 November 1947 at Westminster Abbey. They received 2,500 wedding gifts from around the world. Elizabeth required ration coupons to buy the material for her gown (which was designed by Norman Hartnell) because Britain had not yet completely recovered from the devastation of the war. In post-war Britain, it was not acceptable for Philip's German relations, including his three surviving sisters, to be invited to the wedding. Neither was an invitation extended to the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII.
Elizabeth gave birth to her first child, Prince Charles, in November 1948. One month earlier, the King had issued letters patent allowing her children to use the style and title of a royal prince or princess, to which they otherwise would not have been entitled as their father was no longer a royal prince. A second child, Princess Anne, was born in August 1950.
Following their wedding, the couple leased Windlesham Moor, near Windsor Castle, until July 1949, when they took up residence at Clarence House in London. At various times between 1949 and 1951, Philip was stationed in the British Crown Colony of Malta as a serving Royal Navy officer. He and Elizabeth lived intermittently in Malta for several months at a time in the hamlet of Gwardamanġa, at Villa Guardamangia, the rented home of Philip's uncle Lord Mountbatten. Their two children remained in Britain.
## Reign
### Accession and coronation
As George VI's health declined during 1951, Elizabeth frequently stood in for him at public events. When she visited Canada and Harry S. Truman in Washington, DC, in October 1951, her private secretary Martin Charteris carried a draft accession declaration in case the King died while she was on tour. In early 1952, Elizabeth and Philip set out for a tour of Australia and New Zealand by way of the British colony of Kenya. On 6 February, they had just returned to their Kenyan home, Sagana Lodge, after a night spent at Treetops Hotel, when word arrived of the death of Elizabeth's father. Philip broke the news to the new queen. She chose to retain Elizabeth as her regnal name, and was therefore called Elizabeth II. The numeral offended some Scots, as she was the first Elizabeth to rule in Scotland. She was proclaimed queen throughout her realms, and the royal party hastily returned to the United Kingdom. Elizabeth and Philip moved into Buckingham Palace.
With Elizabeth's accession, it seemed possible that the royal house would take her husband's name, in line with the custom for married women of the time. Lord Mountbatten advocated for *House of Mountbatten*, and Philip suggested *House of Edinburgh*, after his ducal title. The British prime minister, Winston Churchill, and Elizabeth's grandmother Queen Mary favoured the retention of the House of Windsor. Elizabeth issued a declaration on 9 April 1952 that the royal house would continue to be *Windsor*. Philip complained, "I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children." In 1960, the surname *Mountbatten-Windsor* was adopted for Philip and Elizabeth's male-line descendants who do not carry royal titles.
Amid preparations for the coronation, Princess Margaret told her sister she wished to marry Peter Townsend, a divorcé 16 years Margaret's senior with two sons from his previous marriage. Elizabeth asked them to wait for a year; in the words of her private secretary, "the Queen was naturally sympathetic towards the Princess, but I think she thought—she hoped—given time, the affair would peter out." Senior politicians were against the match and the Church of England did not permit remarriage after divorce. If Margaret had contracted a civil marriage, she would have been expected to renounce her right of succession. Margaret decided to abandon her plans with Townsend. In 1960, she married Antony Armstrong-Jones, who was created Earl of Snowdon the following year. They divorced in 1978; Margaret did not remarry.
Despite Queen Mary's death on 24 March 1953, the coronation went ahead as planned on 2 June, as Mary had requested. The coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey was televised for the first time, with the exception of the anointing and communion. On Elizabeth's instruction, her coronation gown was embroidered with the floral emblems of Commonwealth countries.
### Early reign
From Elizabeth's birth onwards, the British Empire continued its transformation into the Commonwealth of Nations. By the time of her accession in 1952, her role as head of multiple independent states was already established. In 1953, Elizabeth and Philip embarked on a seven-month round-the-world tour, visiting 13 countries and covering more than 40,000 miles (64,000 km) by land, sea and air. She became the first reigning monarch of Australia and New Zealand to visit those nations. During the tour, crowds were immense; three-quarters of the population of Australia were estimated to have seen her. Throughout her reign, she made hundreds of state visits to other countries and tours of the Commonwealth; she was the most widely travelled head of state.
In 1956, the British and French prime ministers, Sir Anthony Eden and Guy Mollet, discussed the possibility of France joining the Commonwealth. The proposal was never accepted, and the following year France signed the Treaty of Rome, which established the European Economic Community, the precursor to the European Union. In November 1956, Britain and France invaded Egypt in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to capture the Suez Canal. Lord Mountbatten said that Elizabeth was opposed to the invasion, though Eden denied it. Eden resigned two months later.
The governing Conservative Party had no formal mechanism for choosing a leader, meaning that it fell to Elizabeth to decide whom to commission to form a government following Eden's resignation. Eden recommended she consult Lord Salisbury, the lord president of the council. Lord Salisbury and Lord Kilmuir, the lord chancellor, consulted the British Cabinet, Churchill, and the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, resulting in Elizabeth appointing their recommended candidate: Harold Macmillan.
The Suez crisis and the choice of Eden's successor led, in 1957, to the first major personal criticism of Elizabeth. In a magazine, which he owned and edited, Lord Altrincham accused her of being "out of touch". Altrincham was denounced by public figures and slapped by a member of the public appalled by his comments. Six years later, in 1963, Macmillan resigned and advised Elizabeth to appoint Alec Douglas-Home as the prime minister, advice she followed. Elizabeth again came under criticism for appointing the prime minister on the advice of a small number of ministers or a single minister. In 1965, the Conservatives adopted a formal mechanism for electing a leader, thus relieving the Queen of her involvement.
In 1957, Elizabeth made a state visit to the United States, where she addressed the United Nations General Assembly on behalf of the Commonwealth. On the same tour, she opened the 23rd Canadian Parliament, becoming the first monarch of Canada to open a parliamentary session. Two years later, solely in her capacity as Queen of Canada, she revisited the United States and toured Canada. In 1961, she toured Cyprus, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Iran. On a visit to Ghana the same year, she dismissed fears for her safety, even though her host, President Kwame Nkrumah, who had replaced her as head of state, was a target for assassins. Harold Macmillan wrote, "The Queen has been absolutely determined all through ... She is impatient of the attitude towards her to treat her as ... a film star ... She has indeed 'the heart and stomach of a man' ... She loves her duty and means to be a Queen." Before her tour through parts of Quebec in 1964, the press reported that extremists within the Quebec separatist movement were plotting Elizabeth's assassination. No assassination attempt was made, but a riot did break out while she was in Montreal; her "calmness and courage in the face of the violence" was noted.
Elizabeth gave birth to her third child, Prince Andrew, in February 1960; this was the first birth to a reigning British monarch since 1857. Her fourth child, Prince Edward, was born in March 1964.
### Political reforms and crises
The 1960s and 1970s saw an acceleration in the decolonisation of Africa and the Caribbean. More than 20 countries gained independence from Britain as part of a planned transition to self-government. In 1965, however, the Rhodesian prime minister, Ian Smith, in opposition to moves towards majority rule, unilaterally declared independence while expressing "loyalty and devotion" to Elizabeth. Although Elizabeth formally dismissed him, and the international community applied sanctions against Rhodesia, his regime survived for over a decade. As Britain's ties to its former empire weakened, the British government sought entry to the European Community, a goal it achieved in 1973.
In 1966, the Queen was criticised for waiting eight days before visiting the village of Aberfan, where a mining disaster killed 116 children and 28 adults. Martin Charteris said that the delay, made on his advice, was a mistake that she later regretted.
Elizabeth toured Yugoslavia in October 1972, becoming the first British monarch to visit a communist country. She was received at the airport by President Josip Broz Tito, and a crowd of thousands greeted her in Belgrade.
In February 1974, British prime minister Edward Heath advised Elizabeth to call a general election in the middle of her tour of the Austronesian Pacific Rim, requiring her to fly back to Britain. The election resulted in a hung parliament; Heath's Conservatives were not the largest party but could stay in office if they formed a coalition with the Liberals. When discussions on forming a coalition foundered, Heath resigned, and Elizabeth asked the Leader of the Opposition, Labour's Harold Wilson, to form a government.
A year later, at the height of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, the Australian prime minister, Gough Whitlam, was dismissed from his post by Governor-General Sir John Kerr, after the Opposition-controlled Senate rejected Whitlam's budget proposals. As Whitlam had a majority in the House of Representatives, Speaker Gordon Scholes appealed to Elizabeth to reverse Kerr's decision. She declined, saying she would not interfere in decisions reserved by the Constitution of Australia for the governor-general. The crisis fuelled Australian republicanism.
In 1977, Elizabeth marked the Silver Jubilee of her accession. Parties and events took place throughout the Commonwealth, many coinciding with her associated national and Commonwealth tours. The celebrations re-affirmed Elizabeth's popularity, despite virtually coincident negative press coverage of Princess Margaret's separation from her husband, Lord Snowdon. In 1978, Elizabeth endured a state visit to the United Kingdom by Romania's communist leader, Nicolae Ceaușescu, and his wife, Elena, though privately she thought they had "blood on their hands". The following year brought two blows: the unmasking of Anthony Blunt, former Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, as a communist spy and the assassination of Lord Mountbatten by the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
According to Paul Martin Sr., by the end of the 1970s, Elizabeth was worried the Crown "had little meaning for" Pierre Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister. Tony Benn said Elizabeth found Trudeau "rather disappointing". Trudeau's supposed republicanism seemed to be confirmed by his antics, such as sliding down banisters at Buckingham Palace and pirouetting behind Elizabeth's back in 1977, and the removal of various Canadian royal symbols during his term of office. In 1980, Canadian politicians sent to London to discuss the patriation of the Canadian constitution found Elizabeth "better informed ... than any of the British politicians or bureaucrats". She was particularly interested after the failure of Bill C-60, which would have affected her role as head of state.
### Perils and dissent
During the 1981 Trooping the Colour ceremony, six weeks before the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, six shots were fired at Elizabeth from close range as she rode down The Mall, London, on her horse, Burmese. Police later discovered the shots were blanks. The 17-year-old assailant, Marcus Sarjeant, was sentenced to five years in prison and released after three. Elizabeth's composure and skill in controlling her mount were widely praised. That October, Elizabeth was the subject of another attack while on a visit to Dunedin, New Zealand. Christopher John Lewis, who was 17 years old, fired a shot with a .22 rifle from the fifth floor of a building overlooking the parade but missed. Lewis was arrested, but instead of being charged with attempted murder or treason was sentenced to three years in jail for unlawful possession and discharge of a firearm. Two years into his sentence, he attempted to escape a psychiatric hospital with the intention of assassinating Charles, who was visiting the country with Diana and their son Prince William.
From April to September 1982, Elizabeth's son Andrew served with British forces in the Falklands War, for which she reportedly felt anxiety and pride. On 9 July, she awoke in her bedroom at Buckingham Palace to find an intruder, Michael Fagan, in the room with her. In a serious lapse of security, assistance only arrived after two calls to the Palace police switchboard. After hosting US president Ronald Reagan at Windsor Castle in 1982 and visiting his California ranch in 1983, Elizabeth was angered when his administration ordered the invasion of Grenada, one of her Caribbean realms, without informing her.
Intense media interest in the opinions and private lives of the royal family during the 1980s led to a series of sensational stories in the press, pioneered by *The Sun* tabloid. As Kelvin MacKenzie, editor of *The Sun*, told his staff: "Give me a Sunday for Monday splash on the Royals. Don't worry if it's not true—so long as there's not too much of a fuss about it afterwards." Newspaper editor Donald Trelford wrote in *The Observer* of 21 September 1986: "The royal soap opera has now reached such a pitch of public interest that the boundary between fact and fiction has been lost sight of ... it is not just that some papers don't check their facts or accept denials: they don't care if the stories are true or not." It was reported, most notably in *The Sunday Times* of 20 July 1986, that Elizabeth was worried that Margaret Thatcher's economic policies fostered social divisions and was alarmed by high unemployment, a series of riots, the violence of a miners' strike, and Thatcher's refusal to apply sanctions against the apartheid regime in South Africa. The sources of the rumours included royal aide Michael Shea and Commonwealth secretary-general Shridath Ramphal, but Shea claimed his remarks were taken out of context and embellished by speculation. Thatcher reputedly said Elizabeth would vote for the Social Democratic Party—Thatcher's political opponents. Thatcher's biographer John Campbell claimed "the report was a piece of journalistic mischief-making". Reports of acrimony between them were exaggerated, and Elizabeth gave two honours in her personal gift—membership in the Order of Merit and the Order of the Garter—to Thatcher after her replacement as prime minister by John Major. Brian Mulroney, Canadian prime minister between 1984 and 1993, said Elizabeth was a "behind the scenes force" in ending apartheid.
In 1986, Elizabeth paid a six-day state visit to the People's Republic of China, becoming the first British monarch to visit the country. The tour included the Forbidden City, the Great Wall of China, and the Terracotta Warriors. At a state banquet, Elizabeth joked about the first British emissary to China being lost at sea with Queen Elizabeth I's letter to the Wanli Emperor, and remarked, "fortunately postal services have improved since 1602". Elizabeth's visit also signified the acceptance of both countries that sovereignty over Hong Kong would be transferred from the United Kingdom to China in 1997.
By the end of the 1980s, Elizabeth had become the target of satire. The involvement of younger members of the royal family in the charity game show *It's a Royal Knockout* in 1987 was ridiculed. In Canada, Elizabeth publicly supported politically divisive constitutional amendments, prompting criticism from opponents of the proposed changes, including Pierre Trudeau. The same year, the elected Fijian government was deposed in a military coup. As monarch of Fiji, Elizabeth supported the attempts of Governor-General Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau to assert executive power and negotiate a settlement. Coup leader Sitiveni Rabuka deposed Ganilau and declared Fiji a republic.
### Turbulent years
In the wake of coalition victory in the Gulf War, Elizabeth became the first British monarch to address a joint meeting of the United States Congress in May 1991.
In November 1992, in a speech to mark the Ruby Jubilee of her accession, Elizabeth called 1992 her *annus horribilis* (a Latin phrase, meaning 'horrible year'). Republican feeling in Britain had risen because of press estimates of Elizabeth's private wealth—contradicted by the Palace—and reports of affairs and strained marriages among her extended family. In March, her second son, Prince Andrew, separated from his wife, Sarah; her daughter, Princess Anne, divorced Captain Mark Phillips in April; angry demonstrators in Dresden threw eggs at Elizabeth during a state visit to Germany in October; and a large fire broke out at Windsor Castle, one of her official residences, in November. The monarchy came under increased criticism and public scrutiny. In an unusually personal speech, Elizabeth said that any institution must expect criticism, but suggested it might be done with "a touch of humour, gentleness and understanding". Two days later, John Major announced plans to reform the royal finances, drawn up the previous year, including Elizabeth paying income tax from 1993 onwards, and a reduction in the civil list. In December, Prince Charles and his wife, Diana, formally separated. At the end of the year, Elizabeth sued *The Sun* newspaper for breach of copyright when it published the text of her annual Christmas message two days before it was broadcast. The newspaper was forced to pay her legal fees and donated £200,000 to charity. Elizabeth's solicitors had taken successful action against *The Sun* five years earlier for breach of copyright after it published a photograph of her daughter-in-law the Duchess of York and her granddaughter Princess Beatrice.
In January 1994, Elizabeth broke the scaphoid bone in her left wrist as the horse she was riding at Sandringham tripped and fell. In October 1994, she became the first reigning British monarch to set foot on Russian soil. In October 1995, she was tricked into a hoax call by Montreal radio host Pierre Brassard impersonating Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien. Elizabeth, who believed that she was speaking to Chrétien, said she supported Canadian unity and would try to influence Quebec's referendum on proposals to break away from Canada.
In the year that followed, public revelations on the state of Charles and Diana's marriage continued. In consultation with her husband and John Major, as well as the Archbishop of Canterbury (George Carey) and her private secretary (Robert Fellowes), Elizabeth wrote to Charles and Diana at the end of December 1995, suggesting that a divorce would be advisable.
In August 1997, a year after the divorce, Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris. Elizabeth was on holiday with her extended family at Balmoral. Diana's two sons, Princes William and Harry, wanted to attend church, so Elizabeth and Philip took them that morning. Afterwards, for five days, the royal couple shielded their grandsons from the intense press interest by keeping them at Balmoral where they could grieve in private, but the royal family's silence and seclusion, and the failure to fly a flag at half-mast over Buckingham Palace, caused public dismay. Pressured by the hostile reaction, Elizabeth agreed to return to London and address the nation in a live television broadcast on 5 September, the day before Diana's funeral. In the broadcast, she expressed admiration for Diana and her feelings "as a grandmother" for the two princes. As a result, much of the public hostility evaporated.
In October 1997, Elizabeth and Philip made a state visit to India, which included a controversial visit to the site of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre to pay her respects. Protesters chanted "Killer Queen, go back", and there were demands for her to apologise for the action of British troops 78 years earlier. At the memorial in the park, she and Philip laid a wreath and stood for a 30‑second moment of silence. As a result, much of the fury among the public softened, and the protests were called off. That November, the royal couple held a reception at Banqueting House to mark their golden wedding anniversary. Elizabeth made a speech and praised Philip for his role as consort, referring to him as "my strength and stay".
In 1999, as part of the process of devolution in the United Kingdom, Elizabeth formally opened newly established legislatures for Wales and Scotland: the National Assembly for Wales at Cardiff in May, and the Scottish Parliament at Edinburgh in July.
### Dawn of the new millennium
On the eve of the new millennium, Elizabeth and Philip boarded a vessel from Southwark, bound for the Millennium Dome. Before passing under Tower Bridge, she lit the National Millennium Beacon in the Pool of London using a laser torch. Shortly before midnight, she officially opened the Dome. During the singing of *Auld Lang Syne*, Elizabeth held hands with Philip and British prime minister Tony Blair. Following the 9/11 attacks in the United States, Elizabeth, breaking with tradition, ordered the American national anthem to be played during the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace to express her solidarity with the country.
In 2002, Elizabeth marked her Golden Jubilee, the 50th anniversary of her accession. Her sister died in February and her mother in March, and the media speculated on whether the Jubilee would be a success or a failure. Princess Margaret's death shook Elizabeth; her funeral was one of the rare occasions where Elizabeth openly cried. Elizabeth again undertook an extensive tour of her realms, beginning in Jamaica in February, where she called the farewell banquet "memorable" after a power cut plunged King's House, the official residence of the governor-general, into darkness. As in 1977, there were street parties and commemorative events, and monuments were named to honour the occasion. One million people attended each day of the three-day main Jubilee celebration in London, and the enthusiasm shown for Elizabeth by the public was greater than many journalists had anticipated.
In 2003, Elizabeth sued the *Daily Mirror* for breach of confidence and obtained an injunction which prevented the outlet from publishing information gathered by a reporter who posed as a footman at Buckingham Palace. The newspaper also paid £25,000 towards her legal costs. Though generally healthy throughout her life, in 2003 she had keyhole surgery on both knees. In October 2006, she missed the opening of the new Emirates Stadium because of a strained back muscle that had been troubling her since the summer.
In May 2007, citing unnamed sources, *The Daily Telegraph* reported that Elizabeth was "exasperated and frustrated" by the policies of Tony Blair, that she was concerned the British Armed Forces were overstretched in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that she had raised concerns over rural and countryside issues with Blair. She was, however, said to admire Blair's efforts to achieve peace in Northern Ireland. She became the first British monarch to celebrate a diamond wedding anniversary in November 2007. On 20 March 2008, at the Church of Ireland St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, Elizabeth attended the first Maundy service held outside England and Wales.
Elizabeth addressed the UN General Assembly for a second time in 2010, again in her capacity as Queen of all Commonwealth realms and Head of the Commonwealth. The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, introduced her as "an anchor for our age". During her visit to New York, which followed a tour of Canada, she officially opened a memorial garden for British victims of the 9/11 attacks. Elizabeth's 11-day visit to Australia in October 2011 was her 16th visit to the country since 1954. By invitation of the Irish president, Mary McAleese, she made the first state visit to the Republic of Ireland by a British monarch in May 2011.
### Diamond Jubilee and milestones
The 2012 Diamond Jubilee marked 60 years since Elizabeth's accession, and celebrations were held throughout her realms, the wider Commonwealth, and beyond. She and Philip undertook an extensive tour of the United Kingdom, while their children and grandchildren embarked on royal tours of other Commonwealth states on her behalf. On 4 June, Jubilee beacons were lit around the world. On 18 December, the Queen became the first British sovereign to attend a peacetime Cabinet meeting since George III in 1781.
Elizabeth, who opened the Montreal Summer Olympics in 1976, also opened the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in London, making her the first head of state to open two Olympic Games in two countries. For the London Olympics, she portrayed herself in a short film as part of the opening ceremony, alongside Daniel Craig as James Bond. On 4 April 2013, she received an honorary BAFTA award for her patronage of the film industry and was called "the most memorable Bond girl yet" at a special presentation at Windsor Castle.
In March 2013, the Queen stayed overnight at King Edward VII's Hospital as a precaution after developing symptoms of gastroenteritis. A week later, she signed the new Charter of the Commonwealth. That year, because of her age and the need for her to limit travelling, she chose not to attend the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting for the first time in 40 years. She was represented at the summit in Sri Lanka by Prince Charles. On 20 April 2018, the Commonwealth heads of government announced that Charles would succeed her as Head of the Commonwealth, which the Queen stated as her "sincere wish". She underwent cataract surgery in May 2018. In March 2019, she gave up driving on public roads, largely as a consequence of a car accident involving her husband two months earlier.
On 21 December 2007, Elizabeth surpassed her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, to become the longest-lived British monarch, and she became the longest-reigning British monarch and longest-reigning queen regnant and female head of state in the world on 9 September 2015. She became the oldest living monarch after the death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia on 23 January 2015. She later became the longest-reigning current monarch and the longest-serving current head of state following the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand on 13 October 2016, and the oldest current head of state on the resignation of Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe on 21 November 2017. On 6 February 2017, she became the first British monarch to commemorate a sapphire jubilee, and on 20 November that year, she was the first British monarch to celebrate a platinum wedding anniversary. Philip had retired from his official duties as the Queen's consort in August 2017.
### Pandemic and widowhood
On 19 March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United Kingdom, Elizabeth moved to Windsor Castle and sequestered there as a precaution. Public engagements were cancelled and Windsor Castle followed a strict sanitary protocol nicknamed "HMS Bubble".
On 5 April, in a televised broadcast watched by an estimated 24 million viewers in the United Kingdom, Elizabeth asked people to "take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again." On 8 May, the 75th anniversary of VE Day, in a television broadcast at 9 pm—the exact time at which her father had broadcast to the nation on the same day in 1945—she asked people to "never give up, never despair". In 2021, she received her first and second COVID-19 vaccinations in January and April respectively.
Prince Philip died on 9 April 2021, after 73 years of marriage, making Elizabeth the first British monarch to reign as a widow or widower since Queen Victoria. She was reportedly at her husband's bedside when he died, and remarked in private that his death had "left a huge void". Due to the COVID-19 restrictions in place in England at the time, Elizabeth sat alone at Philip's funeral service, which evoked sympathy from people around the world. It was later reported in the press that Elizabeth had rejected a government offer to relax the rules. In her Christmas broadcast that year, which was ultimately her last, she paid a personal tribute to her "beloved Philip", saying, "That mischievous, inquiring twinkle was as bright at the end as when I first set eyes on him."
Despite the pandemic, Elizabeth attended the 2021 State Opening of Parliament in May, the 47th G7 summit in June, and hosted US president Joe Biden at Windsor Castle. Biden was the 14th US president that the Queen had met. In October 2021, Elizabeth cancelled a planned trip to Northern Ireland and stayed overnight at King Edward VII's Hospital for "preliminary investigations". On Christmas Day 2021, while she was staying at Windsor Castle, 19-year-old Jaswant Singh Chail broke into the gardens using a rope ladder and carrying a crossbow with the aim of assassinating Elizabeth in revenge for the Amritsar massacre. Before he could enter any buildings, he was arrested and detained under the Mental Health Act. In February 2023, Chail pleaded guilty to attempting to injure or alarm the sovereign, and was sentenced in October to a 9-year custodial sentence plus an additional 5 years on extended licence. The sentencing judge also placed Chail under a hybrid order under section 45A of the Mental Health Act 1983, ordering that he remain at Broadmoor Hospital to be transferred into custody only after receiving psychiatric treatment.
### Platinum Jubilee and beyond
Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee celebrations began on 6 February 2022, marking 70 years since her accession. In her accession day message, she renewed her commitment to a lifetime of public service, which she had originally made in 1947.
Later that month, Elizabeth fell ill with COVID-19 along with several family members, but she only exhibited "mild cold-like symptoms" and recovered by the end of the month. She was present at the service of thanksgiving for her husband at Westminster Abbey on 29 March, but was unable to attend both the annual Commonwealth Day service that month and the Royal Maundy service in April, because of "episodic mobility problems". In May, she missed the State Opening of Parliament for the first time in 59 years. (She did not attend the state openings in 1959 and 1963 as she was pregnant with Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, respectively.) Later that month she made a surprise visit to Paddington Station and officially opened the Elizabeth line, named in her honour.
The Queen was largely confined to balcony appearances during the public jubilee celebrations, and she missed the National Service of Thanksgiving on 3 June. On 13 June, she became the second-longest reigning monarch in history (among those whose exact dates of reign are known), with 70 years and 127 days on the throne—surpassing King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand. On 6 September, she appointed her 15th British prime minister, Liz Truss, at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. This was the only occasion on which Elizabeth received a new prime minister at a location other than Buckingham Palace. No other British monarch appointed as many prime ministers. The Queen's last public message was issued on 7 September, in which she expressed her sympathy for those affected by the Saskatchewan stabbings.
Elizabeth did not plan to abdicate, though she took on fewer public engagements in her later years and Prince Charles performed more of her duties. She told Canadian governor-general Adrienne Clarkson in a meeting in 2002 that she would never abdicate, saying, "It is not our tradition. Although, I suppose if I became completely gaga, one would have to do something." In June 2022, Elizabeth met the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who "came away thinking there is someone who has no fear of death, has hope in the future, knows the rock on which she stands and that gives her strength."
## Death
On 8 September 2022, Buckingham Palace stated, "Following further evaluation this morning, the Queen's doctors are concerned for Her Majesty's health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision. The Queen remains comfortable and at Balmoral." Her immediate family rushed to Balmoral. She died peacefully at 15:10 BST at the age of 96. Her death was announced to the public at 18:30, setting in motion Operation London Bridge and, because she died in Scotland, Operation Unicorn. Elizabeth was the first monarch to die in Scotland since James V in 1542. Her death certificate recorded her cause of death as "old age". According to her former prime minister Boris Johnson and the biographer Gyles Brandreth, she was suffering from a form of bone marrow cancer, which Brandreth wrote was multiple myeloma.
On 12 September, Elizabeth's coffin was carried up the Royal Mile in a procession to St Giles' Cathedral, where the Crown of Scotland was placed on it. Her coffin lay at rest at the cathedral for 24 hours, guarded by the Royal Company of Archers, during which around 33,000 people filed past it. On 13 September, the coffin was flown to RAF Northolt in west London, before continuing its journey by road to Buckingham Palace. On 14 September, her coffin was taken in a military procession to Westminster Hall, where Elizabeth's body lay in state for four days. The coffin was guarded by members of both the Sovereign's Bodyguard and the Household Division. An estimated 250,000 members of the public filed past the coffin, as did politicians and other public figures. On 16 September, Elizabeth's children held a vigil around her coffin, and the next day her eight grandchildren did the same.
Elizabeth's state funeral was held at Westminster Abbey on 19 September, which marked the first time a monarch's funeral service was held at the Abbey since George II in 1760. More than a million people lined the streets of central London, and the day was declared a holiday in several Commonwealth countries. In Windsor, a final procession involving 1,000 military personnel took place, which 97,000 people witnessed. Elizabeth's fell pony and two royal corgis stood at the side of the procession. After a committal service at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, Elizabeth's body was interred with her husband Philip's in the King George VI Memorial Chapel later the same day, in a private ceremony attended by her closest family members.
## Legacy
Elizabeth rarely gave interviews, and little was known of her political opinions, which she did not express explicitly in public. It is against convention to ask or reveal the monarch's views. When *Times* journalist Paul Routledge asked her about the miners' strike of 1984–85 during a royal tour of the newspaper's offices, she replied that it was "all about one man" (a reference to Arthur Scargill), with which Routledge disagreed. Routledge was widely criticised in the media for asking the question and claimed that he was unaware of the protocols. After the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, Prime Minister David Cameron was overheard saying that Elizabeth was pleased with the outcome. She had arguably issued a public coded statement about the referendum by telling one woman outside Balmoral Kirk that she hoped people would think "very carefully" about the outcome. It emerged later that Cameron had specifically requested that she register her concern.
Elizabeth had a deep sense of religious and civic duty, and took her Coronation Oath seriously. Aside from her official religious role as supreme governor of the established Church of England, she worshipped with that church and with the national Church of Scotland. She demonstrated support for inter-faith relations and met with leaders of other churches and religions, including five popes: Pius XII, John XXIII, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis. A personal note about her faith often featured in her annual Christmas Message broadcast to the Commonwealth. In 2000, she said:
To many of us, our beliefs are of fundamental importance. For me the teachings of Christ and my own personal accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to lead my life. I, like so many of you, have drawn great comfort in difficult times from Christ's words and example.
Elizabeth was patron of more than 600 organisations and charities. The Charities Aid Foundation estimated that Elizabeth helped raise over £1.4 billion for her patronages during her reign. Her main leisure interests included equestrianism and dogs, especially her Pembroke Welsh Corgis. Her lifelong love of corgis began in 1933 with Dookie, the first of many royal corgis. Scenes of a relaxed, informal home life were occasionally witnessed; she and her family, from time to time, prepared a meal together and washed the dishes afterwards.
### Media depiction and public opinion
In the 1950s, as a young woman at the start of her reign, Elizabeth was depicted as a glamorous "fairytale Queen". After the trauma of the Second World War, it was a time of hope, a period of progress and achievement heralding a "new Elizabethan age". Lord Altrincham's accusation in 1957 that her speeches sounded like those of a "priggish schoolgirl" was an extremely rare criticism. In the late 1960s, attempts to portray a more modern image of the monarchy were made in the television documentary *Royal Family* and by televising Prince Charles's investiture as Prince of Wales. Elizabeth also instituted other new practices; her first royal walkabout, meeting ordinary members of the public, took place during a tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1970. Her wardrobe developed a recognisable, signature style driven more by function than fashion. In public, she took to wearing mostly solid-colour overcoats and decorative hats, allowing her to be seen easily in a crowd. By the end of her reign, nearly one third of Britons had seen or met Elizabeth in person.
At Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee in 1977, the crowds and celebrations were genuinely enthusiastic; but, in the 1980s, public criticism of the royal family increased, as the personal and working lives of Elizabeth's children came under media scrutiny. Her popularity sank to a low point in the 1990s. Under pressure from public opinion, she began to pay income tax for the first time, and Buckingham Palace was opened to the public. Although support for republicanism in Britain seemed higher than at any time in living memory, republican ideology was still a minority viewpoint, and Elizabeth herself had high approval ratings. Criticism was focused on the institution of the monarchy itself, and the conduct of Elizabeth's wider family, rather than her own behaviour and actions. Discontent with the monarchy reached its peak on the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, although Elizabeth's personal popularity—as well as general support for the monarchy—rebounded after her live television broadcast to the world five days after Diana's death.
In November 1999, a referendum in Australia on the future of the Australian monarchy favoured its retention in preference to an indirectly elected head of state. Many republicans credited Elizabeth's personal popularity with the survival of the monarchy in Australia. In 2010, Prime Minister Julia Gillard noted that there was a "deep affection" for Elizabeth in Australia and that another referendum on the monarchy should wait until after her reign. Gillard's successor, Malcolm Turnbull, who led the republican campaign in 1999, similarly believed that Australians would not vote to become a republic in her lifetime. "She's been an extraordinary head of state", Turnbull said in 2021, "and I think frankly, in Australia, there are more Elizabethans than there are monarchists." Similarly, referendums in both Tuvalu in 2008 and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 2009 saw voters reject proposals to become republics.
Polls in Britain in 2006 and 2007 revealed strong support for the monarchy, and in 2012, Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee year, her approval ratings hit 90 per cent. Her family came under scrutiny again in the last few years of her life due to her son Andrew's association with convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his lawsuit with Virginia Giuffre amidst accusations of sexual impropriety, and her grandson Harry and his wife Meghan's exit from the working royal family and subsequent move to the United States. Polling in Great Britain during the Platinum Jubilee, however, showed support for maintaining the monarchy and Elizabeth's personal popularity remained strong. As of 2021 she remained the third most admired woman in the world according to the annual Gallup poll, her 52 appearances on the list meaning she had been in the top ten more than any other woman in the poll's history.
Elizabeth was portrayed in a variety of media by many notable artists, including painters Pietro Annigoni, Peter Blake, Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy, Terence Cuneo, Lucian Freud, Rolf Harris, Damien Hirst, Juliet Pannett and Tai-Shan Schierenberg. Notable photographers of Elizabeth included Cecil Beaton, Yousuf Karsh, Anwar Hussein, Annie Leibovitz, Lord Lichfield, Terry O'Neill, John Swannell and Dorothy Wilding. The first official portrait photograph of Elizabeth was taken by Marcus Adams in 1926.
### Titles and styles
Elizabeth held many titles and honorary military positions throughout the Commonwealth, was sovereign of many orders in her own countries and received honours and awards from around the world. In each of her realms, she had a distinct title that follows a similar formula: *Queen of Saint Lucia and of Her other Realms and Territories* in Saint Lucia, *Queen of Australia and Her other Realms and Territories* in Australia, etc. She was also styled *Defender of the Faith*.
### Arms
From 21 April 1944 until her accession, Elizabeth's arms consisted of a lozenge bearing the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom differenced with a label of three points argent, the centre point bearing a Tudor rose and the first and third a cross of Saint George. Upon her accession, she inherited the various arms her father held as sovereign, with a subsequently modified representation of the crown. Elizabeth also possessed royal standards and personal flags for use in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, and elsewhere.
## Issue
| Name | Birth | Marriage | Children | Grandchildren | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Spouse | ||||
| Charles III | 14 November 1948 | 29 July 1981 Divorced 28 August 1996
|
Lady Diana Spencer | William, Prince of Wales | |
| Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex | |||||
| 9 April 2005 | Camilla Parker Bowles | None | |||
| Anne, Princess Royal | 15 August 1950 | 14 November 1973 Divorced 23 April 1992
|
Mark Phillips | Peter Phillips |
|
| Zara Tindall |
| ||||
| 12 December 1992 | Timothy Laurence | None | |||
| Prince Andrew, Duke of York | 19 February 1960 | 23 July 1986 Divorced 30 May 1996
|
Sarah Ferguson | Princess Beatrice, Mrs Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi |
|
| Princess Eugenie, Mrs Jack Brooksbank |
| ||||
| Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh | 10 March 1964 | 19 June 1999 | Sophie Rhys-Jones | Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor | None |
| James Mountbatten-Windsor, Earl of Wessex | None |
## Ancestry
| Ancestors of Elizabeth II |
|---|
## See also
- Finances of the British royal family
- Household of Elizabeth II
- List of things named after Elizabeth II
- List of jubilees of Elizabeth II
- List of special addresses made by Elizabeth II
- Royal eponyms in Canada
- List of covers of
*Time*magazine (1920s, 1940s, 1950s, 2010s)
## Notes
### Citations
### Bibliography
## External links
- Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Family website
- Queen Elizabeth II at the website of the Government of Canada
- Queen Elizabeth II at the website of the Royal Collection Trust
- Obituary at BBC News Online
- Portraits of Queen Elizabeth II at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- Queen Elizabeth II at IMDb
- Appearances on C-SPAN
|
# Nelson Mandela - Wikipedia
Nelson Mandela | |
|---|---|
| 1st President of South Africa | |
In office10 May 1994 – 14 June 1999 | |
| Deputy |
|
| Preceded by | Frederik Willem de Klerk (as State President) |
| Succeeded by | Thabo Mbeki |
| 11th President of the African National Congress | |
In office7 July 1991 – 20 December 1997 | |
| Deputy | |
| Preceded by | Oliver Tambo |
| Succeeded by | Thabo Mbeki |
| 2nd and 4th Deputy President of the African National Congress | |
In officeMay 1985 – 7 July 1991 | |
| President | Oliver Tambo |
| Preceded by | Oliver Tambo |
| Succeeded by | Walter Sisulu |
In officeDecember 1952 – 1958 | |
| President | Albert Luthuli |
| Preceded by | Walter Rubusana (1936) |
| Succeeded by | Oliver Tambo |
| 19th Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement | |
In office2 September 1998 – 14 June 1999 | |
| Preceded by | Andrés Pastrana Arango |
| Succeeded by | Thabo Mbeki |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Rolihlahla Mandela 18 July 1918 Mvezo, South Africa |
| Died | 5 December 2013 Johannesburg, South Africa | (aged 95)
| Resting place | Mandela Graveyard, Qunu, Eastern Cape |
| Political party | African National Congress |
| Other political affiliations | South African Communist Party (Tripartite Alliance) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 6, including Makgatho, Maki, Zenani, and Zindziswa |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation |
|
| Known for | Anti-apartheid activism |
| Awards | Full list |
| Signature | |
| Website | Foundation |
| Nicknames |
|
**Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela** (*man-DEL-ə*, Xhosa: [xolíɬaɬa mandɛ̂ːla]; born **Rolihlahla Mandela**; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by fostering racial reconciliation. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as the president of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997.
A Xhosa, Mandela was born into the Thembu royal family in Mvezo, South Africa. He studied law at the University of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand before working as a lawyer in Johannesburg. There he became involved in anti-colonial and African nationalist politics, joining the ANC in 1943 and co-founding its Youth League in 1944. After the National Party's white-only government established apartheid, a system of racial segregation that privileged whites, Mandela and the ANC committed themselves to its overthrow. He was appointed president of the ANC's Transvaal branch, rising to prominence for his involvement in the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People. He was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and was unsuccessfully prosecuted in the 1956 Treason Trial. Influenced by Marxism, he secretly joined the banned South African Communist Party (SACP). Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in association with the SACP he co-founded the militant uMkhonto we Sizwe in 1961 that led a sabotage campaign against the apartheid government. He was arrested and imprisoned in 1962, and, following the Rivonia Trial, was sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiring to overthrow the state.
Mandela served 27 years in prison, split between Robben Island, Pollsmoor Prison, and Victor Verster Prison. Amid growing domestic and international pressure and fears of racial civil war, President F. W. de Klerk released him in 1990. Mandela and de Klerk led efforts to negotiate an end to apartheid, which resulted in the 1994 multiracial general election in which Mandela led the ANC to victory and became president. Leading a broad coalition government which promulgated a new constitution, Mandela emphasised reconciliation between the country's racial groups and created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate past human rights abuses. Economically, his administration retained its predecessor's liberal framework despite his own socialist beliefs, also introducing measures to encourage land reform, combat poverty and expand healthcare services. Internationally, Mandela acted as mediator in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial and served as secretary-general of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1998 to 1999. He declined a second presidential term and was succeeded by his deputy, Thabo Mbeki. Mandela became an elder statesman and focused on combating poverty and HIV/AIDS through the charitable Nelson Mandela Foundation.
Mandela was a controversial figure for much of his life. Although critics on the right denounced him as a communist terrorist and those on the far left deemed him too eager to negotiate and reconcile with apartheid's supporters, he gained international acclaim for his activism. Globally regarded as an icon of democracy and social justice, he received more than 250 honours, including the Nobel Peace Prize. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is often referred to by his Thembu clan name, Madiba, and described as the "Father of the Nation".
## Early life
Mandela was born on 18 July 1918, in the village of Mvezo in Umtata, then part of South Africa's Cape Province. He was given the forename Rolihlahla, a Xhosa term colloquially meaning "troublemaker", and in later years became known by his clan name, Madiba. His patrilineal great-grandfather, Ngubengcuka, was ruler of the Thembu Kingdom in the Transkeian Territories of South Africa's modern Eastern Cape province. One of Ngubengcuka's sons, named Mandela, was Nelson's grandfather and the source of his surname. Because Mandela was the king's child by a wife of the Ixhiba clan, a so-called "Left-Hand House", the descendants of his cadet branch of the royal family were morganatic, ineligible to inherit the throne but recognised as hereditary royal councillors.
Nelson Mandela's father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa Mandela, was a local chief and councillor to the monarch; he was appointed to the position in 1915, after his predecessor was accused of corruption by a governing white magistrate. In 1926, Gadla was also sacked for corruption, but Nelson was told that his father had lost his job for standing up to the magistrate's unreasonable demands. A devotee of the god Qamata, Gadla was a polygamist with four wives, four sons and nine daughters, who lived in different villages. Nelson's mother was Gadla's third wife, Nosekeni Fanny, daughter of Nkedama of the Right Hand House and a member of the amaMpemvu clan of the Xhosa.
No one in my family had ever attended school ... On the first day of school my teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave each of us an English name. This was the custom among Africans in those days and was undoubtedly due to the British bias of our education. That day, Miss Mdingane told me that my new name was Nelson. Why this particular name, I have no idea.
Mandela later stated that his early life was dominated by traditional Xhosa custom and taboo. He grew up with two sisters in his mother's *kraal* in the village of Qunu, where he tended herds as a cattle-boy and spent much time outside with other boys. Both his parents were illiterate, but his mother, being a devout Christian, sent him to a local Methodist school when he was about seven. Baptised a Methodist, Mandela was given the English forename of "Nelson" by his teacher. When Mandela was about nine, his father came to stay at Qunu, where he died of an undiagnosed ailment that Mandela believed to be lung disease. Feeling "cut adrift", he later said that he inherited his father's "proud rebelliousness" and "stubborn sense of fairness".
Mandela's mother took him to the "Great Place" palace at Mqhekezweni, where he was entrusted to the guardianship of the Thembu regent, Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo. Although he did not see his mother again for many years, Mandela felt that Jongintaba and his wife Noengland treated him as their own child, raising him alongside their children. As Mandela attended church services every Sunday with his guardians, Christianity became a significant part of his life. He attended a Methodist mission school located next to the palace, where he studied English, Xhosa, history and geography. He developed a love of African history, listening to the tales told by elderly visitors to the palace, and was influenced by the anti-imperialist rhetoric of a visiting chief, Joyi. Nevertheless, at the time he considered the European colonizers not as oppressors but as benefactors who had brought education and other benefits to southern Africa. Aged 16, he, his cousin Justice and several other boys travelled to Tyhalarha to undergo the ulwaluko circumcision ritual that symbolically marked their transition from boys to men; afterwards he was given the name *Dalibunga*.
Intending to gain skills needed to become a privy councillor for the Thembu royal house, Mandela began his secondary education in 1933 at Clarkebury Methodist High School in Engcobo, a Western-style institution that was the largest school for black Africans in Thembuland. Made to socialise with other students on an equal basis, he claimed that he lost his "stuck up" attitude, becoming best friends with a girl for the first time; he began playing sports and developed his lifelong love of gardening. He completed his Junior Certificate in two years, and in 1937 he moved to Healdtown, the Methodist college in Fort Beaufort attended by most Thembu royalty, including Justice. The headmaster emphasised the superiority of European culture and government, but Mandela became increasingly interested in native African culture, making his first non-Xhosa friend, a speaker of Sotho, and coming under the influence of one of his favourite teachers, a Xhosa who broke taboo by marrying a Sotho. Mandela spent much of his spare time at Healdtown as a long-distance runner and boxer, and in his second year he became a prefect.
In 1939, with Jongintaba's backing, Mandela began work on a BA degree at the University of Fort Hare, an elite black institution of approximately 150 students in Alice, Eastern Cape. He studied English, anthropology, politics, "native administration", and Roman Dutch law in his first year, desiring to become an interpreter or clerk in the Native Affairs Department. Mandela stayed in the Wesley House dormitory, befriending his own kinsman, K. D. Matanzima, as well as Oliver Tambo, who became a close friend and comrade for decades to come. He took up ballroom dancing, performed in a drama society play about Abraham Lincoln, and gave Bible classes in the local community as part of the Student Christian Association. Although he had friends who held connections to the African National Congress (ANC) who wanted South Africa to be independent of the British Empire, Mandela avoided any involvement with the nascent movement, and became a vocal supporter of the British war effort when the Second World War broke out. At the end of his first year he became involved in a students' representative council (SRC) boycott against the quality of food, for which he was suspended from the university; he never returned to complete his degree.
Returning to Mqhekezweni in December 1940, Mandela found that Jongintaba had arranged marriages for him and Justice; dismayed, they fled to Johannesburg via Queenstown, arriving in April 1941. Mandela found work as a night watchman at Crown Mines, his "first sight of South African capitalism in action", but was fired when the *induna* (headman) discovered that he was a runaway. He stayed with a cousin in George Goch Township, who introduced Mandela to realtor and ANC activist Walter Sisulu. The latter secured Mandela a job as an articled clerk at the law firm of Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman, a company run by Lazar Sidelsky, a liberal Jew sympathetic to the ANC's cause. At the firm, Mandela befriended Gaur Radebe—a Hlubi member of the ANC and Communist Party—and Nat Bregman, a Jewish communist who became his first white friend. Mandela attended Communist Party gatherings, where he was impressed that Europeans, Africans, Indians, and Coloureds mixed as equals. He later stated that he did not join the party because its atheism conflicted with his Christian faith, and because he saw the South African struggle as being racially based rather than as class warfare. To continue his higher education, Mandela signed up to a University of South Africa correspondence course, working on his bachelor's degree at night.
Earning a small wage, Mandela rented a room in the house of the Xhoma family in the Alexandra township; despite being rife with poverty, crime and pollution, Alexandra always remained a special place for him. Although embarrassed by his poverty, he briefly dated a Swazi woman before unsuccessfully courting his landlord's daughter. To save money and be closer to downtown Johannesburg, Mandela moved into the compound of the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association, living among miners of various tribes; as the compound was visited by various chiefs, he once met the Queen Regent of Basutoland. In late 1941, Jongintaba visited Johannesburg—there forgiving Mandela for running away—before returning to Thembuland, where he died in the winter of 1942. After he passed his BA exams in early 1943, Mandela returned to Johannesburg to follow a political path as a lawyer rather than become a privy councillor in Thembuland.
## Early revolutionary activity
Mandela began studying law at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he was the only black African student and faced racism. There, he befriended liberal and communist European, Jewish and Indian students, among them Joe Slovo and Ruth First. Becoming increasingly politicised, Mandela marched in August 1943 in support of a successful bus boycott to reverse fare rises. Joining the ANC, he was increasingly influenced by Sisulu, spending time with other activists at Sisulu's Orlando house, including his old friend Oliver Tambo. In 1943, Mandela met Anton Lembede, an ANC member affiliated with the "Africanist" branch of African nationalism, which was virulently opposed to a racially united front against colonialism and imperialism or to an alliance with the communists. Despite his friendships with non-blacks and communists, Mandela embraced Lembede's views, believing that black Africans should be entirely independent in their struggle for political self-determination. Deciding on the need for a youth wing to mass-mobilise Africans in opposition to their subjugation, Mandela was among a delegation that approached ANC president Alfred Bitini Xuma on the subject at his home in Sophiatown; the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) was founded on Easter Sunday 1944 in the Bantu Men's Social Centre, with Lembede as president and Mandela as a member of its executive committee.
At Sisulu's house, Mandela met Evelyn Mase, a trainee nurse and ANC activist from Engcobo, Transkei. Entering a relationship and marrying in October 1944, they initially lived with her relatives until moving into a rented house in the township of Orlando in early 1946. Their first child, Madiba "Thembi" Thembekile, was born in February 1945; a daughter, Makaziwe, was born in 1947 but died of meningitis nine months later. Mandela enjoyed home life, welcoming his mother and his sister, Leabie, to stay with him. In early 1947, his three years of articles ended at Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman, and he decided to become a full-time student, subsisting on loans from the Bantu Welfare Trust.
In July 1947, Mandela rushed Lembede, who was ill, to hospital, where he died; he was succeeded as ANCYL president by the more moderate Peter Mda, who agreed to co-operate with communists and non-blacks, appointing Mandela ANCYL secretary. Mandela disagreed with Mda's approach, and in December 1947 supported an unsuccessful measure to expel communists from the ANCYL, considering their ideology un-African. In 1947, Mandela was elected to the executive committee of the ANC's Transvaal Province branch, serving under regional president C. S. Ramohanoe. When Ramohanoe acted against the wishes of the committee by co-operating with Indians and communists, Mandela was one of those who forced his resignation.
In the South African general election in 1948, in which only whites were permitted to vote, the Afrikaner-dominated Herenigde Nasionale Party under Daniel François Malan took power, soon uniting with the Afrikaner Party to form the National Party. Openly racialist, the party codified and expanded racial segregation with new apartheid legislation. Gaining increasing influence in the ANC, Mandela and his party cadre allies began advocating direct action against apartheid, such as boycotts and strikes, influenced by the tactics already employed by South Africa's Indian community. Xuma did not support these measures and was removed from the presidency in a vote of no confidence, replaced by James Moroka and a more militant executive committee containing Sisulu, Mda, Tambo and Godfrey Pitje. Mandela later related that he and his colleagues had "guided the ANC to a more radical and revolutionary path." Having devoted his time to politics, Mandela failed his final year at Witwatersrand three times; he was ultimately denied his degree in December 1949.
Mandela took Xuma's place on the ANC national executive in March 1950, and that same year was elected national president of the ANCYL. In March, the Defend Free Speech Convention was held in Johannesburg, bringing together African, Indian and communist activists to call a May Day general strike in protest against apartheid and white minority rule. Mandela opposed the strike because it was multi-racial and not ANC-led, but a majority of black workers took part, resulting in increased police repression and the introduction of the Suppression of Communism Act, 1950, affecting the actions of all protest groups. At the ANC national conference of December 1951, he continued arguing against a racially united front, but was outvoted.
Thereafter, Mandela rejected Lembede's Africanism and embraced the idea of a multi-racial front against apartheid. Influenced by friends like Moses Kotane and by the Soviet Union's support for wars of national liberation, his mistrust of communism broke down and he began reading literature by Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and Mao Zedong, eventually embracing the Marxist philosophy of dialectical materialism. Commenting on communism, he later stated that he "found [himself] strongly drawn to the idea of a classless society which, to [his] mind, was similar to traditional African culture where life was shared and communal." In April 1952, Mandela began work at the H.M. Basner law firm, which was owned by a communist, although his increasing commitment to work and activism meant he spent less time with his family.
In 1952, the ANC began preparation for a joint Defiance Campaign against apartheid with Indian and communist groups, founding a National Voluntary Board to recruit volunteers. The campaign was designed to follow the path of nonviolent resistance influenced by Mahatma Gandhi; some supported this for ethical reasons, but Mandela instead considered it pragmatic. At a Durban rally on 22 June, Mandela addressed an assembled crowd of 10,000 people, initiating the campaign protests for which he was arrested and briefly interned in Marshall Square prison. These events established Mandela as one of the best-known black political figures in South Africa. With further protests, the ANC's membership grew from 20,000 to 100,000 members; the government responded with mass arrests and introduced the Public Safety Act, 1953 to permit martial law. In May, authorities banned Transvaal ANC president J. B. Marks from making public appearances; unable to maintain his position, he recommended Mandela as his successor. Although Africanists opposed his candidacy, Mandela was elected to be regional president in October.
In July 1952, Mandela was arrested under the Suppression of Communism Act and stood trial as one of the 21 accused—among them Moroka, Sisulu and Yusuf Dadoo—in Johannesburg. Found guilty of "statutory communism", a term that the government used to describe most opposition to apartheid, their sentence of nine months' hard labour was suspended for two years. In December, Mandela was given a six-month ban from attending meetings or talking to more than one individual at a time, making his Transvaal ANC presidency impractical, and during this period the Defiance Campaign petered out. In September 1953, Andrew Kunene read out Mandela's "No Easy Walk to Freedom" speech at a Transvaal ANC meeting; the title was taken from a quote by Indian independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru, a seminal influence on Mandela's thought. The speech laid out a contingency plan for a scenario in which the ANC was banned. This Mandela Plan, or M-Plan, involved dividing the organisation into a cell structure with a more centralised leadership.
Mandela obtained work as an attorney for the firm Terblanche and Briggish, before moving to the liberal-run Helman and Michel, passing qualification exams to become a full-fledged attorney. In August 1953, Mandela and Tambo opened their own law firm, Mandela and Tambo, operating in downtown Johannesburg. The only African-run law firm in the country, it was popular with aggrieved black people, often dealing with cases of police brutality. Disliked by the authorities, the firm was forced to relocate to a remote location after their office permit was removed under the Group Areas Act; as a result, their clientele dwindled. As a lawyer of aristocratic heritage, Mandela was part of Johannesburg's elite black middle-class, and accorded much respect from the black community. Although a second daughter, Makaziwe Phumia, was born in May 1954, Mandela's relationship with Evelyn became strained, and she accused him of adultery. He may have had affairs with ANC member Lillian Ngoyi and secretary Ruth Mompati; various individuals close to Mandela in this period have stated that the latter bore him a child. Disgusted by her son's behaviour, Nosekeni returned to Transkei, while Evelyn embraced the Jehovah's Witnesses and rejected Mandela's preoccupation with politics.
We, the people of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know:
That South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of the people.
After taking part in the unsuccessful protest to prevent the forced relocation of all black people from the Sophiatown suburb of Johannesburg in February 1955, Mandela concluded that violent action would prove necessary to end apartheid and white minority rule. On his advice, Sisulu requested weaponry from the People's Republic of China, which was denied. Although the Chinese government supported the anti-apartheid struggle, they believed the movement insufficiently prepared for guerrilla warfare. With the involvement of the South African Indian Congress, the Coloured People's Congress, the South African Congress of Trade Unions and the Congress of Democrats, the ANC planned a Congress of the People, calling on all South Africans to send in proposals for a post-apartheid era. Based on the responses, a Freedom Charter was drafted by Rusty Bernstein, calling for the creation of a democratic, non-racialist state with the nationalisation of major industry. The charter was adopted at a June 1955 conference in Kliptown, which was forcibly closed down by police. The tenets of the Freedom Charter remained important for Mandela, and in 1956 he described it as "an inspiration to the people of South Africa".
Following the end of a second ban in September 1955, Mandela went on a working holiday to Transkei to discuss the implications of the Bantu Authorities Act, 1951 with local Xhosa chiefs, also visiting his mother and Noengland before proceeding to Cape Town. In March 1956, he received his third ban on public appearances, restricting him to Johannesburg for five years, but he often defied it. Mandela's marriage broke down and Evelyn left him, taking their children to live with her brother. Initiating divorce proceedings in May 1956, she claimed that Mandela had physically abused her; he denied the allegations and fought for custody of their children. She withdrew her petition of separation in November, but Mandela filed for divorce in January 1958; the divorce was finalised in March, with the children placed in Evelyn's care. During the divorce proceedings, he began courting a social worker, Winnie Madikizela, whom he married in Bizana in June 1958. She later became involved in ANC activities, spending several weeks in prison. Together they had two children: Zenani, born in February 1959, and Zindziswa (1960–2020).
In December 1956, Mandela was arrested alongside most of the ANC national executive and accused of "high treason" against the state. Held in Johannesburg Prison amid mass protests, they underwent a preparatory examination before being granted bail. The defence's refutation began in January 1957, overseen by defence lawyer Vernon Berrangé, and continued until the case was adjourned in September. In January 1958, Oswald Pirow was appointed to prosecute the case, and in February the judge ruled that there was "sufficient reason" for the defendants to go on trial in the Transvaal Supreme Court. The formal Treason Trial began in Pretoria in August 1958, with the defendants successfully applying to have the three judges—all linked to the governing National Party—replaced. In August, one charge was dropped, and in October the prosecution withdrew its indictment, submitting a reformulated version in November which argued that the ANC leadership committed high treason by advocating violent revolution, a charge the defendants denied.
In April 1959, Africanists dissatisfied with the ANC's united front approach founded the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC); Mandela disagreed with the PAC's racially exclusionary views, describing them as "immature" and "naïve". Both parties took part in an anti-pass campaign in early 1960, in which Africans burned the passes that they were legally obliged to carry. One of the PAC-organised demonstrations was fired upon by police, resulting in the deaths of 69 protesters in the Sharpeville massacre. The incident brought international condemnation of the government and resulted in rioting throughout South Africa, with Mandela publicly burning his pass in solidarity.
Responding to the unrest, the government implemented state of emergency measures, declaring martial law and banning the ANC and PAC; in March, they arrested Mandela and other activists, imprisoning them for five months without charge in the unsanitary conditions of the Pretoria Local prison. Imprisonment caused problems for Mandela and his co-defendants in the Treason Trial; their lawyers could not reach them, and so it was decided that the lawyers would withdraw in protest until the accused were freed from prison when the state of emergency was lifted in late August 1960. Over the following months, Mandela used his free time to organise an All-In African Conference near Pietermaritzburg, Natal, in March 1961, at which 1,400 anti-apartheid delegates met, agreeing on a stay-at-home strike to mark 31 May, the day South Africa became a republic. On 29 March 1961, six years after the Treason Trial began, the judges produced a verdict of not guilty, ruling that there was insufficient evidence to convict the accused of "high treason", since they had advocated neither communism nor violent revolution; the outcome embarrassed the government.
Disguised as a chauffeur, Mandela travelled around the country incognito, organising the ANC's new cell structure and the planned mass stay-at-home strike. Referred to as the "Black Pimpernel" in the press—a reference to Emma Orczy's 1905 novel *The Scarlet Pimpernel*—a warrant for his arrest was put out by the police. Mandela held secret meetings with reporters, and after the government failed to prevent the strike, he warned them that many anti-apartheid activists would soon resort to violence through groups like the PAC's Poqo. He believed that the ANC should form an armed group to channel some of this violence in a controlled direction, convincing both ANC leader Albert Luthuli—who was morally opposed to violence—and allied activist groups of its necessity.
Inspired by the actions of Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement in the Cuban Revolution, in 1961 Mandela, Sisulu and Slovo co-founded Umkhonto we Sizwe ("Spear of the Nation", abbreviated MK). Becoming chairman of the militant group, Mandela gained ideas from literature on guerrilla warfare by Marxist militants Mao and Che Guevara as well as from the military theorist Carl von Clausewitz. Although initially declared officially separate from the ANC so as not to taint the latter's reputation, MK was later widely recognised as the party's armed wing. Most early MK members were white communists who were able to conceal Mandela in their homes; after hiding in communist Wolfie Kodesh's flat in Berea, Mandela moved to the communist-owned Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, there joined by Raymond Mhlaba, Slovo and Bernstein, who put together the MK constitution. Although in later life Mandela denied, for political reasons, ever being a member of the Communist Party, historical research published in 2011 strongly suggested that he had joined in the late 1950s or early 1960s. This was confirmed by both the SACP and the ANC after Mandela's death. According to the SACP, he was not only a member of the party, but also served on its Central Committee.
We of Umkhonto have always sought to achieve liberation without bloodshed and civil clash. Even at this late hour, we hope that our first actions will awaken everyone to a realisation of the dangerous situation to which Nationalist policy is leading. We hope that we will bring the Government and its supporters to their senses before it is too late so that both government and its policies can be changed before matters reach the desperate stage of civil war.
Operating through a cell structure, MK planned to carry out acts of sabotage that would exert maximum pressure on the government with minimum casualties; they sought to bomb military installations, power plants, telephone lines, and transport links at night, when civilians were not present. Mandela stated that they chose sabotage because it was the least harmful action, did not involve killing, and offered the best hope for racial reconciliation afterwards; he nevertheless acknowledged that should this have failed then guerrilla warfare might have been necessary. Soon after ANC leader Luthuli was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, MK publicly announced its existence with 57 bombings on Dingane's Day (16 December) 1961, followed by further attacks on New Year's Eve.
The ANC decided to send Mandela as a delegate to the February 1962 meeting of the Pan-African Freedom Movement for East, Central and Southern Africa (PAFMECSA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Leaving South Africa in secret via Bechuanaland, on his way Mandela visited Tanganyika and met with its president, Julius Nyerere. Arriving in Ethiopia, Mandela met with Emperor Haile Selassie I, and gave his speech after Selassie's at the conference. After the symposium, he travelled to Cairo, Egypt, admiring the political reforms of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and then went to Tunis, Tunisia, where President Habib Bourguiba gave him £5,000 for weaponry. He proceeded to Morocco, Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Senegal, receiving funds from Liberian president William Tubman and Guinean president Ahmed Sékou Touré. He left Africa for London, England, where he met anti-apartheid activists, reporters and prominent politicians. Upon returning to Ethiopia, he began a six-month course in guerrilla warfare, but completed only two months before being recalled to South Africa by the ANC's leadership.
## Imprisonment
On 5 August 1962, police captured Mandela along with fellow activist Cecil Williams near Howick. Many MK members suspected that the authorities had been tipped off with regard to Mandela's whereabouts, although Mandela himself gave these ideas little credence. In later years, Donald Rickard, a former American diplomat, revealed that the Central Intelligence Agency, which feared Mandela's associations with communists, had informed the South African police of his location. Jailed in Johannesburg's Marshall Square prison, Mandela was charged with inciting workers' strikes and leaving the country without permission. Representing himself with Slovo as legal advisor, Mandela intended to use the trial to showcase "the ANC's moral opposition to racism" while supporters demonstrated outside the court. Moved to Pretoria, where Winnie could visit him, he began correspondence studies for a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of London International Programmes. His hearing began in October, but he disrupted proceedings by wearing a traditional *kaross*, refusing to call any witnesses, and turning his plea of mitigation into a political speech. Found guilty, he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment; as he left the courtroom, supporters sang "Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika".
I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to see realised. But if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
On 11 July 1963, police raided Liliesleaf Farm, arresting those that they found there and uncovering paperwork documenting MK's activities, some of which mentioned Mandela. The Rivonia Trial began at Pretoria Supreme Court in October, with Mandela and his comrades charged with four counts of sabotage and conspiracy to violently overthrow the government; their chief prosecutor was Percy Yutar. Judge Quartus de Wet soon threw out the prosecution's case for insufficient evidence, but Yutar reformulated the charges, presenting his new case from December 1963 until February 1964, calling 173 witnesses and bringing thousands of documents and photographs to the trial.
Although four of the accused denied involvement with MK, Mandela and the other five accused admitted sabotage but denied that they had ever agreed to initiate guerrilla war against the government. They used the trial to highlight their political cause; at the opening of the defence's proceedings, Mandela gave his three-hour "I Am Prepared to Die" speech. That speech—which was inspired by Castro's "History Will Absolve Me"—was widely reported in the press despite official censorship. The speech had been polished and edited by Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer, a South African Jewish novelist, and British journalist Anthony Sampson, both of whom cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society, following Mandela’s direction. The trial gained international attention; there were global calls for the release of the accused from the United Nations and World Peace Council, while the University of London Union voted Mandela to its presidency. On 12 June 1964, justice De Wet found Mandela and two of his co-accused guilty on all four charges; although the prosecution had called for the death sentence to be applied, the judge instead condemned them to life imprisonment.
In 1964, Mandela and his co-accused were transferred from Pretoria to the prison on Robben Island, remaining there for the next 18 years. Isolated from non-political prisoners in Section B, Mandela was imprisoned in a damp concrete cell measuring 8 feet (2.4 m) by 7 feet (2.1 m), with a straw mat on which to sleep. Verbally and physically harassed by several white prison wardens, the Rivonia Trial prisoners spent their days breaking rocks into gravel, until being reassigned in January 1965 to work in a lime quarry. Mandela was initially forbidden to wear sunglasses, and the glare from the lime permanently damaged his eyesight. At night, he worked on his LLB degree, which he was obtaining from the University of London through a correspondence course with Wolsey Hall, Oxford, but newspapers were forbidden, and he was locked in solitary confinement on several occasions for the possession of smuggled news clippings. He was initially classified as the lowest grade of prisoner, Class D, meaning that he was permitted one visit and one letter every six months, although all mail was heavily censored.
The political prisoners took part in work and hunger strikes—the latter considered largely ineffective by Mandela—to improve prison conditions, viewing this as a microcosm of the anti-apartheid struggle. ANC prisoners elected him to their four-man "High Organ" along with Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and Raymond Mhlaba, and he involved himself in a group, named Ulundi, that represented all political prisoners (including Eddie Daniels) on the island, through which he forged links with PAC and Yu Chi Chan Club members. Initiating the "University of Robben Island", whereby prisoners lectured on their own areas of expertise, he debated socio-political topics with his comrades.
Though attending Christian Sunday services, Mandela studied Islam. He also studied Afrikaans, hoping to build a mutual respect with the warders and convert them to his cause. Various official visitors met with Mandela, most significantly the liberal parliamentary representative Helen Suzman of the Progressive Party, who championed Mandela's cause outside of prison. In September 1970, he met British Labour Party politician Denis Healey. South African Minister of Justice Jimmy Kruger visited in December 1974, but he and Mandela did not get along with each other. His mother visited in 1968, dying shortly after, and his firstborn son Thembi died in a car accident the following year; Mandela was forbidden from attending either funeral. His wife was rarely able to see him, being regularly imprisoned for political activity, and his daughters first visited in December 1975. Winnie was released from prison in 1977 but was forcibly settled in Brandfort and remained unable to see him.
From 1967 onwards, prison conditions improved. Black prisoners were given trousers rather than shorts, games were permitted, and the standard of their food was raised. In 1969, an escape plan for Mandela was developed by Gordon Bruce, but it was abandoned after the conspiracy was infiltrated by an agent of the South African Bureau of State Security (BOSS), who hoped to see Mandela shot during the escape. In 1970, Commander Piet Badenhorst became commanding officer. Mandela, seeing an increase in the physical and mental abuse of prisoners, complained to visiting judges, who had Badenhorst reassigned. He was replaced by Commander Willie Willemse, who developed a co-operative relationship with Mandela and was keen to improve prison standards.
By 1975, Mandela had become a Class A prisoner, which allowed him greater numbers of visits and letters. He corresponded with anti-apartheid activists like Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Desmond Tutu, and wrote to Albert Luthuli's widow Nokukhanya Bhengu to offer his condolences when he died. Also in 1975, he began his autobiography, which was smuggled to London, but remained unpublished at the time; prison authorities discovered several pages, and his LLB study privileges were revoked for four years. Instead, he devoted his spare time to gardening and reading until the authorities permitted him to resume his LLB degree studies in 1980.
By the late 1960s, Mandela's fame had been eclipsed by Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM). Seeing the ANC as ineffectual, the BCM called for militant action, but, following the Soweto uprising of 1976, many BCM activists were imprisoned on Robben Island. Mandela tried to build a relationship with these young radicals, although he was critical of their racialism and contempt for white anti-apartheid activists. Renewed international interest in his plight came in July 1978, when he celebrated his 60th birthday. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in Lesotho, the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in India in 1979, and the Freedom of the City of Glasgow, Scotland in 1981. In March 1980, the slogan "Free Mandela!" was developed by journalist Percy Qoboza, sparking an international campaign that led the UN Security Council to call for his release. Despite increasing foreign pressure, the government refused, relying on its Cold War allies US president Ronald Reagan and British prime minister Margaret Thatcher; both considered Mandela's ANC a terrorist organisation sympathetic to communism and supported its suppression.
In April 1982, Mandela was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Tokai, Cape Town, along with senior ANC leaders Walter Sisulu, Andrew Mlangeni, Ahmed Kathrada and Raymond Mhlaba; they believed that they were being isolated to remove their influence on younger activists at Robben Island. Conditions at Pollsmoor were better than at Robben Island, although Mandela missed the camaraderie and scenery of the island. Getting on well with Pollsmoor's commanding officer, Brigadier Munro, Mandela was permitted to create a roof garden; he also read voraciously and corresponded widely, now being permitted 52 letters a year. He was appointed patron of the multi-racial United Democratic Front (UDF), founded to combat reforms implemented by South African president P. W. Botha. Botha's National Party government had permitted Coloured and Indian citizens to vote for their own parliaments, which had control over education, health and housing, but black Africans were excluded from the system. Like Mandela, the UDF saw this as an attempt to divide the anti-apartheid movement on racial lines.
The early 1980s witnessed an escalation of violence across the country, and many predicted civil war. This was accompanied by economic stagnation as various multinational banks—under pressure from an international lobby—had stopped investing in South Africa. Numerous banks and Thatcher asked Botha to release Mandela—then at the height of his international fame—to defuse the volatile situation. Although considering Mandela a dangerous "arch-Marxist", Botha offered him, in February 1985, a release from prison if he "unconditionally rejected violence as a political weapon". Mandela spurned the offer, releasing a statement through his daughter Zindzi stating, "What freedom am I being offered while the organisation of the people [ANC] remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts."
In 1985, Mandela underwent surgery on an enlarged prostate gland before being given new solitary quarters on the ground floor. He was met by an international delegation sent to negotiate a settlement, but Botha's government refused to co-operate, calling a state of emergency in June and initiating a police crackdown on unrest. The anti-apartheid resistance fought back, with the ANC committing 231 attacks in 1986 and 235 in 1987. The violence escalated as the government used the army and police to combat the resistance and provided covert support for vigilante groups and the Zulu nationalist movement Inkatha, which was involved in an increasingly violent struggle with the ANC. Mandela requested talks with Botha but was denied, instead secretly meeting with Minister of Justice Kobie Coetsee in 1987, and having a further 11 meetings over the next three years. Coetsee organised negotiations between Mandela and a team of four government figures starting in May 1988; the team agreed to the release of political prisoners and the legalisation of the ANC on the condition that they permanently renounce violence, break links with the Communist Party, and not insist on majority rule. Mandela rejected these conditions, insisting that the ANC would end its armed activities only when the government renounced violence.
Mandela's 70th birthday in July 1988 attracted international attention, including a tribute concert at London's Wembley Stadium that was televised and watched by an estimated 200 million viewers. Although presented globally as a heroic figure, he faced personal problems when ANC leaders informed him that Winnie had set herself up as head of a gang, the "Mandela United Football Club", which had been responsible for torturing and killing opponents—including children—in Soweto. Though some encouraged him to divorce her, he decided to remain loyal until she was found guilty by trial.
Recovering from tuberculosis exacerbated by the damp conditions in his cell, Mandela was moved to Victor Verster Prison, near Paarl, in December 1988. He was housed in the relative comfort of a warder's house with a personal cook, and he used the time to complete his LLB degree. While there, he was permitted many visitors and organised secret communications with exiled ANC leader Oliver Tambo.
In 1989, Botha suffered a stroke; although he retained the state presidency, he stepped down as leader of the National Party, to be replaced by F. W. de Klerk. In a surprise move, Botha invited Mandela to a meeting over tea in July 1989, an invitation Mandela considered genial. Botha was replaced as state president by de Klerk six weeks later; the new president believed that apartheid was unsustainable and released a number of ANC prisoners. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, de Klerk called his cabinet together to debate legalising the ANC and freeing Mandela. Although some were deeply opposed to his plans, de Klerk met with Mandela in December to discuss the situation, a meeting both men considered friendly, before legalising all formerly banned political parties in February 1990 and announcing Mandela's unconditional release. Shortly thereafter, for the first time in 20 years, photographs of Mandela were allowed to be published in South Africa.
Leaving Victor Verster Prison on 11 February, Mandela held Winnie's hand in front of amassed crowds and the press; the event was broadcast live across the world. Driven to Cape Town's City Hall through crowds, he gave a speech declaring his commitment to peace and reconciliation with the white minority, but he made it clear that the ANC's armed struggle was not over and would continue as "a purely defensive action against the violence of apartheid". He expressed hope that the government would agree to negotiations, so that "there may no longer be the need for the armed struggle", and insisted that his main focus was to bring peace to the black majority and give them the right to vote in national and local elections. Staying at Tutu's home, in the following days Mandela met with friends, activists, and press, giving a speech to an estimated 100,000 people at Johannesburg's FNB Stadium.
## End of apartheid and elections
Mandela proceeded on an African tour, meeting supporters and politicians in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Libya and Algeria, and continuing to Sweden, where he was reunited with Tambo, and London, where he appeared at the Nelson Mandela: An International Tribute for a Free South Africa concert at Wembley Stadium. Encouraging foreign countries to support sanctions against the apartheid government, he met President François Mitterrand in France, Pope John Paul II in the Vatican, and Thatcher in the United Kingdom. In the United States, he met President George H. W. Bush, addressed both Houses of Congress and visited eight cities, being particularly popular among the African American community. In Cuba, he became friends with President Castro, whom he had long admired. He met President R. Venkataraman in India, President Suharto in Indonesia, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in Malaysia, and Prime Minister Bob Hawke in Australia. He visited Japan, but not the Soviet Union, a longtime ANC supporter.
In May 1990, Mandela led a multiracial ANC delegation into preliminary negotiations with a government delegation of 11 Afrikaner men. Mandela impressed them with his discussions of Afrikaner history, and the negotiations led to the Groot Schuur Minute, in which the government lifted the state of emergency. In August, Mandela—recognising the ANC's severe military disadvantage—offered a ceasefire, the Pretoria Minute, for which he was widely criticised by MK activists. He spent much time trying to unify and build the ANC, appearing at a Johannesburg conference in December attended by 1,600 delegates, many of whom found him more moderate than expected. At the ANC's July 1991 national conference in Durban, Mandela admitted that the party had faults and wanted to build a task force for securing majority rule. At the conference, he was elected ANC President, replacing the ailing Tambo, and a 50-strong multiracial, mixed gendered national executive was elected.
Mandela was given an office in the newly purchased ANC headquarters at Shell House, Johannesburg, and moved into Winnie's large Soweto home. Their marriage was increasingly strained as he learned of her affair with Dali Mpofu, but he supported her during her trial for kidnapping and assault. He gained funding for her defence from the International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa and from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, but, in June 1991, she was found guilty and sentenced to six years in prison, reduced to two on appeal. On 13 April 1992, Mandela publicly announced his separation from Winnie. The ANC forced her to step down from the national executive for misappropriating ANC funds; Mandela moved into the mostly white Johannesburg suburb of Houghton. Mandela's prospects for a peaceful transition were further damaged by an increase in "black-on-black" violence, particularly between ANC and Inkatha supporters in KwaZulu-Natal, which resulted in thousands of deaths. Mandela met with Inkatha leader Buthelezi, but the ANC prevented further negotiations on the issue. Mandela argued that there was a "third force" within the state intelligence services fuelling the "slaughter of the people" and openly blamed de Klerk—whom he increasingly distrusted—for the Sebokeng massacre. In September 1991, a national peace conference was held in Johannesburg at which Mandela, Buthelezi and de Klerk signed a peace accord, though the violence continued.
The Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) began in December 1991 at the Johannesburg World Trade Centre, attended by 228 delegates from 19 political parties. Although Cyril Ramaphosa led the ANC's delegation, Mandela remained a key figure. After de Klerk used the closing speech to condemn the ANC's violence, Mandela took to the stage to denounce de Klerk as the "head of an illegitimate, discredited minority regime". Dominated by the National Party and ANC, little negotiation was achieved. CODESA 2 was held in May 1992, at which de Klerk insisted that post-apartheid South Africa must use a federal system with a rotating presidency to ensure the protection of ethnic minorities; Mandela opposed this, demanding a unitary system governed by majority rule. Following the Boipatong massacre of ANC activists by government-aided Inkatha militants, Mandela called off the negotiations, before attending a meeting of the Organisation of African Unity in Senegal, at which he called for a special session of the UN Security Council and proposed that a UN peacekeeping force be stationed in South Africa to prevent "state terrorism". Calling for domestic mass action, in August the ANC organised the largest-ever strike in South African history, and supporters marched on Pretoria.
Following the Bisho massacre, in which 28 ANC supporters and one soldier were shot dead by the Ciskei Defence Force during a protest march, Mandela realised that mass action was leading to further violence and resumed negotiations in September. He agreed to do so on the conditions that all political prisoners be released, that Zulu traditional weapons be banned, and that Zulu hostels would be fenced off; de Klerk reluctantly agreed. The negotiations agreed that a multiracial general election would be held, resulting in a five-year coalition government of national unity and a constitutional assembly that gave the National Party continuing influence. The ANC also conceded to safeguarding the jobs of white civil servants; such concessions brought fierce internal criticism. The duo agreed on an interim constitution based on a liberal democratic model, guaranteeing separation of powers, creating a constitutional court, and including a US-style bill of rights; it also divided the country into nine provinces, each with its own premier and civil service, a concession between de Klerk's desire for federalism and Mandela's for unitary government.
The democratic process was threatened by the Concerned South Africans Group (COSAG), an alliance of black ethnic-secessionist groups like Inkatha and far-right Afrikaner parties; in June 1993, one of the latter—the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB)—attacked the Kempton Park World Trade Centre. Following the murder of ANC activist Chris Hani, Mandela made a publicised speech to calm rioting, soon after appearing at a mass funeral in Soweto for Tambo, who had died of a stroke. In July 1993, both Mandela and de Klerk visited the United States, independently meeting President Bill Clinton, and each receiving the Liberty Medal. Soon after, Mandela and de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. Influenced by Thabo Mbeki, Mandela began meeting with big business figures, and he played down his support for nationalisation, fearing that he would scare away much-needed foreign investment. Although criticised by socialist ANC members, he had been encouraged to embrace private enterprise by members of the Chinese and Vietnamese Communist parties at the January 1992 World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
### General election: 1994
With the election set for 27 April 1994, the ANC began campaigning, opening 100 election offices and orchestrating People's Forums across the country at which Mandela could appear, as a popular figure with great status among black South Africans. The ANC campaigned on a Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) to build a million houses in five years, introduce universal free education and extend access to water and electricity. The party's slogan was "a better life for all", although it was not explained how this development would be funded. With the exception of the *Weekly Mail* and the *New Nation*, South Africa's press opposed Mandela's election, fearing continued ethnic strife, instead supporting the National or Democratic Party. Mandela devoted much time to fundraising for the ANC, touring North America, Europe and Asia to meet wealthy donors, including former supporters of the apartheid regime. He also urged a reduction in the voting age from 18 to 14; rejected by the ANC, this policy became the subject of ridicule.
Concerned that COSAG would undermine the election, particularly in the wake of the conflict in Bophuthatswana and the Shell House massacre—incidents of violence involving the AWB and Inkatha, respectively—Mandela met with Afrikaner politicians and generals, including P. W. Botha, Pik Botha and Constand Viljoen, persuading many to work within the democratic system. With de Klerk, he also convinced Inkatha's Buthelezi to enter the elections rather than launch a war of secession. As leaders of the two major parties, de Klerk and Mandela appeared on a televised debate; Mandela's offer to shake his hand surprised him, leading some commentators to deem it a victory for Mandela. The election went ahead with little violence, although an AWB cell killed 20 with car bombs. As widely expected, the ANC won a sweeping victory, taking 63% of the vote, just short of the two-thirds majority needed to unilaterally change the constitution. The ANC was also victorious in seven provinces, with Inkatha and the National Party each taking one. Mandela voted at the Ohlange High School in Durban, and though the ANC's victory assured his election as president, he publicly accepted that the election had been marred by instances of fraud and sabotage.
The newly elected National Assembly's first act was to formally elect Mandela as South Africa's first black chief executive. His inauguration took place in Pretoria on 10 May 1994, televised to a billion viewers globally. The event was attended by four thousand guests, including world leaders from a wide range of geographic and ideological backgrounds. Mandela headed a Government of National Unity dominated by the ANC—which had no experience of governing by itself—but containing representatives from the National Party and Inkatha. Under the Interim Constitution, Inkatha and the National Party were entitled to seats in the government by virtue of winning at least 20 seats. In keeping with earlier agreements, both de Klerk and Thabo Mbeki were given the position of Deputy President. Although Mbeki had not been his first choice for the job, Mandela grew to rely heavily on him throughout his presidency, allowing him to shape policy details. Moving into the presidential office at Tuynhuys in Cape Town, Mandela allowed de Klerk to retain the presidential residence in the Groote Schuur estate, instead settling into the nearby Westbrooke manor, which he renamed "Genadendal", meaning "Valley of Mercy" in Afrikaans. Retaining his Houghton home, he also had a house built in his home village of Qunu, which he visited regularly, meeting with locals, and judging tribal disputes.
Aged 76, he faced various ailments, and although exhibiting continued energy, he felt isolated and lonely. He often entertained celebrities, such as Michael Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg and the Spice Girls, and befriended ultra-rich businessmen, like Harry Oppenheimer of Anglo American. He also met with Queen Elizabeth II on her March 1995 state visit to South Africa, which earned him strong criticism from ANC anti-capitalists. Despite his opulent surroundings, Mandela lived simply, donating a third of his R 552,000 annual income to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, which he had founded in 1995. Although dismantling press censorship, speaking out in favour of freedom of the press and befriending many journalists, Mandela was critical of much of the country's media, noting that it was overwhelmingly owned and run by middle-class whites and believing that it focused too heavily on scaremongering about crime.
In December 1994, Mandela published *Long Walk to Freedom*, an autobiography based around a manuscript he had written in prison, augmented by interviews conducted with American journalist Richard Stengel. In late 1994, he attended the 49th conference of the ANC in Bloemfontein, at which a more militant national executive was elected, among them Winnie Mandela; although she expressed an interest in reconciling, Nelson initiated divorce proceedings in August 1995. By 1995, he had entered into a relationship with Graça Machel, a Mozambican political activist 27 years his junior who was the widow of former president Samora Machel. They had first met in July 1990 when she was still in mourning, but their friendship grew into a partnership, with Machel accompanying him on many of his foreign visits. She turned down Mandela's first marriage proposal, wanting to retain some independence and dividing her time between Mozambique and Johannesburg.
### National reconciliation
Gracious but steely, [Mandela] steered a country in turmoil toward a negotiated settlement: a country that days before its first democratic election remained violent, riven by divisive views and personalities. He endorsed national reconciliation, an idea he did not merely foster in the abstract, but performed with panache and conviction in reaching out to former adversaries. He initiated an era of hope that, while not long-lasting, was nevertheless decisive, and he garnered the highest international recognition and affection.
*The Cambridge Companion to Nelson Mandela*
Presiding over the transition from apartheid minority rule to a multicultural democracy, Mandela saw national reconciliation as the primary task of his presidency. Having seen other post-colonial African economies damaged by the departure of white elites, Mandela worked to reassure South Africa's white population that they were protected and represented in "the Rainbow Nation". Although his Government of National Unity would be dominated by the ANC, he attempted to create a broad coalition by appointing de Klerk as Deputy President and appointing other National Party officials as ministers for Agriculture, Environment, and Minerals and Energy, as well as naming Buthelezi as Minister for Home Affairs. The other cabinet positions were taken by ANC members, many of whom—like Joe Modise, Alfred Nzo, Joe Slovo, Mac Maharaj and Dullah Omar—had long been comrades of Mandela, although others, such as Tito Mboweni and Jeff Radebe, were far younger. Mandela's relationship with de Klerk was strained; Mandela thought that de Klerk was intentionally provocative, and de Klerk felt that he was being intentionally humiliated by the president. In January 1995, Mandela heavily chastised de Klerk for awarding amnesty to 3,500 police officers just before the election, and later criticised him for defending former Minister of Defence Magnus Malan when the latter was charged with murder.
Mandela personally met with senior figures of the apartheid regime, including lawyer Percy Yutar and Hendrik Verwoerd's widow, Betsie Schoombie, also laying a wreath by the statue of Afrikaner hero Daniel Theron. Emphasising personal forgiveness and reconciliation, he announced that "courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace." He encouraged black South Africans to get behind the previously hated national rugby team, the Springboks, as South Africa hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Mandela wore a Springbok shirt at the final against New Zealand, and after the Springboks won the match, Mandela presented the trophy to captain Francois Pienaar, an Afrikaner. This was widely seen as a major step in the reconciliation of white and black South Africans; as de Klerk later put it, "Mandela won the hearts of millions of white rugby fans." Mandela's efforts at reconciliation assuaged the fears of white people, but also drew criticism from more militant black people. Among the latter was his estranged wife, Winnie, who accused the ANC of being more interested in appeasing the white community than in helping the black majority.
Mandela oversaw the formation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate crimes committed under apartheid by both the government and the ANC, appointing Tutu as its chair. To prevent the creation of martyrs, the commission granted individual amnesties in exchange for testimony of crimes committed during the apartheid era. Dedicated in February 1996, it held two years of hearings detailing rapes, torture, bombings and assassinations before issuing its final report in October 1998. Both de Klerk and Mbeki appealed to have parts of the report suppressed, though only de Klerk's appeal was successful. Mandela praised the commission's work, stating that it "had helped us move away from the past to concentrate on the present and the future".
### Domestic programmes
Mandela's administration inherited a country with a huge disparity in wealth and services between white and black communities. Of a population of 40 million, around 23 million lacked electricity or adequate sanitation, and 12 million lacked clean water supplies, with 2 million children not in school and a third of the population illiterate. There was 33% unemployment, and just under half of the population lived below the poverty line. Government financial reserves were nearly depleted, with a fifth of the national budget being spent on debt repayment, meaning that the extent of the promised Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) was scaled back, with none of the proposed nationalisation or job creation. In 1996, the RDP was replaced with a new policy, Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR), which maintained South Africa's mixed economy but placed an emphasis on economic growth through a framework of market economics and the encouragement of foreign investment; many in the ANC derided it as a neo-liberal policy that did not address social inequality, no matter how Mandela defended it. In adopting this approach, Mandela's government adhered to the "Washington consensus" advocated by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Under Mandela's presidency, welfare spending increased by 13% in 1996/97, 13% in 1997/98, and 7% in 1998/99. The government introduced parity in grants for communities, including disability grants, child maintenance grants and old-age pensions, which had previously been set at different levels for South Africa's different racial groups. In 1994, free healthcare was introduced for children under six and pregnant women, a provision extended to all those using primary level public sector health care services in 1996. By the 1999 election, the ANC could boast that due to their policies, 3 million people were connected to telephone lines, 1.5 million children were brought into the education system, 500 clinics were upgraded or constructed, 2 million people were connected to the electricity grid, water access was extended to 3 million people, and 750,000 houses were constructed, housing nearly 3 million people.
The Land Reform Act 3 of 1996 safeguarded the rights of labour tenants living on farms where they grew crops or grazed livestock. This legislation ensured that such tenants could not be evicted without a court order or if they were over the age of 65. Recognising that arms manufacturing was a key industry for the South African economy, Mandela endorsed the trade in weapons but brought in tighter regulations surrounding Armscor to ensure that South African weaponry was not sold to authoritarian regimes. Under Mandela's administration, tourism was increasingly promoted, becoming a major sector of the South African economy.
Critics like Edwin Cameron accused Mandela's government of doing little to stem the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the country; by 1999, 10% of South Africa's population were HIV positive. Mandela later admitted that he had personally neglected the issue, in part due to public reticence in discussing issues surrounding sex in South Africa, and that he had instead left the issue for Mbeki to deal with. Mandela also received criticism for failing to sufficiently combat crime; South Africa had one of the world's highest crime rates, and the activities of international crime syndicates in the country grew significantly throughout the decade. Mandela's administration was also perceived as having failed to deal with the problem of corruption.
Further problems were caused by the exodus of thousands of skilled white South Africans from the country, who were escaping the increasing crime rates, higher taxes and the impact of positive discrimination toward black people in employment. This exodus resulted in a brain drain, and Mandela criticised those who left. At the same time, South Africa experienced an influx of millions of illegal migrants from poorer parts of Africa; although public opinion toward these illegal immigrants was generally unfavourable, characterising them as disease-spreading criminals who were a drain on resources, Mandela called on South Africans to embrace them as "brothers and sisters".
### Foreign affairs
Mandela expressed the view that "South Africa's future foreign relations [should] be based on our belief that human rights should be the core of international relations". Following the South African example, Mandela encouraged other nations to resolve conflicts through diplomacy and reconciliation. In September 1998, Mandela was appointed secretary-general of the Non-Aligned Movement, who held their annual conference in Durban. He used the event to criticise the "narrow, chauvinistic interests" of the Israeli government in stalling negotiations to end the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and urged India and Pakistan to negotiate to end the Kashmir conflict, for which he was criticised by both Israel and India. Inspired by the region's economic boom, Mandela sought greater economic relations with East Asia, in particular with Malaysia, although this was prevented by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. He extended diplomatic recognition to the People's Republic of China (PRC), who were growing as an economic force, and initially also to Taiwan, who were already longstanding investors in the South African economy. However, under pressure from the PRC, he cut recognition of Taiwan in November 1996, and he paid an official visit to Beijing in May 1999.
Mandela attracted controversy for his close relationship with Indonesian president Suharto, whose regime was responsible for mass human rights abuses, although on a July 1997 visit to Indonesia he privately urged Suharto to withdraw from the occupation of East Timor. He also faced similar criticism from the West for his government's trade links to Syria, Cuba and Libya and for his personal friendships with Castro and Gaddafi. Castro visited South Africa in 1998 to widespread popular acclaim, and Mandela met Gaddafi in Libya to award him the Order of Good Hope. When Western governments and media criticised these visits, Mandela lambasted such criticism as having racist undertones, and stated that "the enemies of countries in the West are not our enemies." Mandela hoped to resolve the long-running dispute between Libya and the United States and Britain over bringing to trial the two Libyans, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, who were indicted in November 1991 and accused of sabotaging Pan Am Flight 103. Mandela proposed that they be tried in a third country, which was agreed to by all parties; governed by Scots law, the trial was held at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands in April 1999, and found one of the two men guilty.
Mandela echoed Mbeki's calls for an "African Renaissance", and he was greatly concerned with issues on the continent. He took a soft diplomatic approach to removing Sani Abacha's military junta in Nigeria but later became a leading figure in calling for sanctions when Abacha's regime increased human rights violations. In 1996, he was appointed chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and initiated unsuccessful negotiations to end the First Congo War in Zaire. He also played a key role as a mediator in the ethnic conflict between Tutsi and Hutu political groups in the Burundian Civil War, helping to initiate a settlement which brought increased stability to the country but did not end the ethnic violence. In South Africa's first post-apartheid military operation, troops were ordered into Lesotho in September 1998 to protect the government of Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili after a disputed election had prompted opposition uprisings. The action was not authorised by Mandela himself, who was out of the country at the time, but by Buthelezi, who was serving as acting president during Mandela's absence, with the approval of Mandela and Mbeki.
### Withdrawing from politics
The new Constitution of South Africa was agreed upon by parliament in May 1996, enshrining a series of institutions to place checks on political and administrative authority within a constitutional democracy. De Klerk opposed the implementation of this constitution, and that month he and the National Party withdrew from the coalition government in protest, claiming that the ANC were not treating them as equals. The ANC took over the cabinet positions formerly held by the Nationals, with Mbeki becoming sole Deputy President. Inkatha remained part of the coalition, and when both Mandela and Mbeki were out of the country in September 1998, Buthelezi was appointed "Acting President", marking an improvement in his relationship with Mandela. Although Mandela had often governed decisively in his first two years as president, he had subsequently increasingly delegated duties to Mbeki, retaining only a close personal supervision of intelligence and security measures. During a 1997 visit to London, he said that "the ruler of South Africa, the *de facto* ruler, is Thabo Mbeki" and that he was "shifting everything to him".
Mandela stepped down as ANC President at the party's December 1997 conference. He hoped that Ramaphosa would succeed him, believing Mbeki to be too inflexible and intolerant of criticism, but the ANC elected Mbeki regardless. Mandela and the Executive supported Jacob Zuma, a Zulu who had been imprisoned on Robben Island, as Mbeki's replacement for Deputy President. Zuma's candidacy was challenged by Winnie, whose populist rhetoric had gained her a strong following within the party, although Zuma defeated her in a landslide victory vote at the election.
Mandela's relationship with Machel had intensified; in February 1998, he publicly stated that he was "in love with a remarkable lady", and under pressure from Tutu, who urged him to set an example for young people, he organised a wedding for his 80th birthday, in July that year. The following day, he held a grand party with many foreign dignitaries. Although the 1996 constitution allowed the president to serve two consecutive five-year terms, Mandela had never planned to stand for a second term in office. He gave his farewell speech to Parliament on 29 March 1999 when it adjourned prior to the 1999 general elections, after which he retired. Although opinion polls in South Africa showed wavering support for both the ANC and the government, Mandela himself remained highly popular, with 80% of South Africans polled in 1999 expressing satisfaction with his performance as president.
## Post-presidency and final years
Retiring in June 1999, Mandela aimed to lead a quiet family life, divided between Johannesburg and Qunu. Although he set about authoring a sequel to his first autobiography, to be titled *The Presidential Years*, it remained unfinished and was only published posthumously in 2017. Mandela found such seclusion difficult and reverted to a busy public life involving a daily programme of tasks, meetings with world leaders and celebrities, and—when in Johannesburg—working with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, founded in 1999 to focus on rural development, school construction, and combating HIV/AIDS. Although he had been heavily criticised for failing to do enough to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic during his presidency, he devoted much of his time to the issue following his retirement, describing it as "a war" that had killed more than "all previous wars"; affiliating himself with the Treatment Action Campaign, he urged Mbeki's government to ensure that HIV-positive South Africans had access to anti-retrovirals. Meanwhile, Mandela was successfully treated for prostate cancer in July 2001.
In 2002, Mandela inaugurated the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, and in 2003 the Mandela Rhodes Foundation was created at Rhodes House, University of Oxford, to provide postgraduate scholarships to African students. These projects were followed by the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and the 46664 campaign against HIV/AIDS. He gave the closing address at the XIII International AIDS Conference in Durban in 2000, and in 2004, spoke at the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, calling for greater measures to tackle tuberculosis as well as HIV/AIDS. Mandela publicised AIDS as the cause of his son Makgatho's death in January 2005, to defy the stigma about discussing the disease.
Publicly, Mandela became more vocal in criticising Western powers. He strongly opposed the 1999 NATO intervention in Kosovo and called it an attempt by the world's powerful nations to police the entire world. In 2003, he spoke out against the plans for the United States to launch a war in Iraq, describing it as "a tragedy" and lambasting US president George W. Bush and British prime minister Tony Blair (whom he referred to as an "American foreign minister") for undermining the UN, saying, "All that (Mr. Bush) wants is Iraqi oil". He attacked the United States more generally, asserting that "If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America", citing the atomic bombing of Japan; this attracted international controversy, although he later improved his relationship with Bush. Retaining an interest in the Lockerbie suspect, he visited Megrahi in Barlinnie prison and spoke out against the conditions of his treatment, referring to them as "psychological persecution".
In June 2004, aged 85 and amid failing health, Mandela announced that he was "retiring from retirement" and retreating from public life, remarking, "Don't call me, I will call you." Although continuing to meet with close friends and family, the foundation discouraged invitations for him to appear at public events and denied most interview requests.
He retained some involvement in international affairs. In 2005, he founded the Nelson Mandela Legacy Trust, travelling to the United States to speak before the Brookings Institution and the NAACP on the need for economic assistance to Africa. He spoke with US senator Hillary Clinton and President George W. Bush and first met the then-senator Barack Obama. Mandela also encouraged Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe to resign over growing human rights abuses in the country. When this proved ineffective, he spoke out publicly against Mugabe in 2007, asking him to step down "with residual respect and a modicum of dignity". That year, Mandela, Machel and Desmond Tutu convened a group of world leaders in Johannesburg to contribute their wisdom and independent leadership to some of the world's toughest problems. Mandela announced the formation of this new group, The Elders, in a speech delivered on his 89th birthday.
Mandela's 90th birthday was marked across the country on 18 July 2008; a tribute concert was held in Hyde Park, London. Throughout Mbeki's presidency, Mandela continued to support the ANC, usually overshadowing Mbeki at any public events that the two attended. Mandela was more at ease with Mbeki's successor, Zuma, although the Nelson Mandela Foundation was upset when his grandson, Mandla Mandela, flew him out to the Eastern Cape to attend a pro-Zuma rally in the midst of a storm in 2009.
In 2004, Mandela successfully campaigned for South Africa to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, declaring that there would be "few better gifts for us" in the year marking a decade since the fall of apartheid. Despite maintaining a low profile during the event due to ill health, Mandela made his final public appearance during the World Cup closing ceremony, where he received much applause. Between 2005 and 2013, Mandela, and later his family, were embroiled in a series of legal disputes regarding money held in family trusts for the benefit of his descendants. In mid-2013, as Mandela was hospitalised for a lung infection in Pretoria, his descendants were involved in an intra-family legal dispute relating to the burial place of Mandela's children, and ultimately Mandela himself.
In February 2011, Mandela was briefly hospitalised with a respiratory infection, attracting international attention, before being re-admitted for a lung infection and gallstone removal in December 2012. After a successful medical procedure in early March 2013, his lung infection recurred and he was briefly hospitalised in Pretoria. In June 2013, his lung infection worsened and he was readmitted to a Pretoria hospital in serious condition. The Archbishop of Cape Town Thabo Makgoba visited Mandela at the hospital and prayed with Machel, while Zuma cancelled a trip to Mozambique to visit him the following day. In September 2013, Mandela was discharged from hospital, although his condition remained unstable.
After suffering from a prolonged respiratory infection, Mandela died on 5 December 2013 at the age of 95, at around 20:50 local time at his home in Houghton, surrounded by his family. Zuma publicly announced his death on television, proclaiming ten days of national mourning, a memorial service held at Johannesburg's FNB Stadium on 10 December 2013, and 8 December as a national day of prayer and reflection. Mandela's body lay in state from 11 to 13 December at the Union Buildings in Pretoria and a state funeral was held on 15 December in Qunu. Approximately 90 representatives of foreign states travelled to South Africa to attend memorial events. It was later revealed that 300 million rand (about 20 million dollars) originally earmarked for humanitarian development projects had been redirected to finance the funeral. The media was awash with tributes and reminiscences, while images of tributes to Mandela proliferated across social media. His US$4.1 million estate was left to his widow, other family members, staff, and educational institutions.
## Political ideology
A friend once asked me how I could reconcile my creed of African nationalism with a belief in dialectical materialism. For me, there was no contradiction. I was first and foremost an African nationalist fighting for our emancipation from minority rule and the right to control our own destiny. But at the same time, South Africa and the African continent were part of the larger world. Our problems, while distinctive and special, were not unique, and a philosophy that placed those problems in an international and historical context of the greater world and the course of history was valuable. I was prepared to use whatever means necessary to speed up the erasure of human prejudice and the end of chauvinistic and violent nationalism.
Mandela identified as both an African nationalist, an ideological position he held since joining the ANC, and as a socialist. He was a practical politician, rather than an intellectual scholar or political theorist. According to biographer Tom Lodge, "for Mandela, politics has always been primarily about enacting stories, about making narratives, primarily about morally exemplary conduct, and only secondarily about ideological vision, more about means rather than ends."
The historian Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni described Mandela as a "liberal African nationalist–decolonial humanist", while political analyst Raymond Suttner cautioned against labelling Mandela a liberal and stated that Mandela displayed a "hybrid socio-political make-up". Mandela adopted some of his political ideas from other thinkers—among them Indian independence leaders like Gandhi and Nehru, African American civil rights activists, and African nationalists like Nkrumah—and applied them to the South African situation. At the same time, he rejected other aspects of their thought, such as the anti-white sentiment of many African nationalists. In doing so he synthesised both counter-cultural and hegemonic views, for instance by drawing upon ideas from the then-dominant Afrikaner nationalism in promoting his anti-apartheid vision.
His political development was strongly influenced by his legal training and practice, in particular his hope to achieve change not through violence but through "legal revolution". Over the course of his life, he began by advocating a path of non-violence, later embracing violence, and then adopting a non-violent approach to negotiation and reconciliation. When endorsing violence, he did so because he saw no alternative, and was always pragmatic about it, perceiving it as a means to get his opponent to the negotiating table. He sought to target symbols of white supremacy and racist oppression rather than white people as individuals and was anxious not to inaugurate a race war in South Africa. This willingness to use violence distinguishes Mandela from the ideology of Gandhism, with which some commentators have sought to associate him.
### Democracy
Although he presented himself in an autocratic manner in several speeches, Mandela was a devout believer in democracy and abided by majority decisions even when deeply disagreeing with them. He had exhibited a commitment to the values of democracy and human rights since at least the 1960s. He held a conviction that "inclusivity, accountability and freedom of speech" were the fundamentals of democracy, and was driven by a belief in natural and human rights. Suttner argued that there were "two modes of leadership" that Mandela adopted. On one side he adhered to ideas about collective leadership, although on the other believed that there were scenarios in which a leader had to be decisive and act without consultation to achieve a particular objective.
According to Lodge, Mandela's political thought reflected tensions between his support for liberal democracy and pre-colonial African forms of consensus decision making. He was an admirer of British-style parliamentary democracy, stating that, "I regard the British Parliament as the most democratic institution in the world, and the independence and impartiality of its judiciary never fail to arouse my admiration." In this he has been described as being committed to "the Euro-North American modernist project of emancipation", something which distinguishes him from other African nationalist and socialist leaders like Nyerere who were concerned about embracing styles of democratic governance that were Western, rather than African, in origin. Mandela nevertheless also expressed admiration for what he deemed to be indigenous forms of democracy, describing Xhosa traditional society's mode of governance as "democracy in its purest form".
### Socialism and Marxism
Mandela advocated the ultimate establishment of a classless society, with Sampson describing him as being "openly opposed to capitalism, private land-ownership and the power of big money". Mandela was influenced by Marxism, and during the revolution he advocated scientific socialism. He denied being a communist at the Treason Trial, and maintained this stance both when later talking to journalists, and in his autobiography, where he outlined that the cooperation with the SACP was pragmatic, asking rhetorically, "who is to say that we were not using them?" According to the sociologist Craig Soudien, "sympathetic as Mandela was to socialism, a communist he was not." Conversely, the biographer David Jones Smith stated that Mandela "embraced communism and communists" in the late 1950s and early 1960s, while the historian Stephen Ellis commented that Mandela had assimilated much of the Marxist–Leninist ideology by 1960.
Ellis also found evidence that Mandela had been an active member of the South African Communist Party (SACP) during the late 1950s and early 1960s, something that was confirmed after his death by both the ANC and the SACP, the latter of which claimed that he was not only a member of the party, but also served on its Central Committee. His membership had been hidden by the ANC, aware that knowledge of Mandela's former SACP involvement might have been detrimental to his attempts to attract support from Western countries. Mandela's view of these Western governments differed from those of Marxist–Leninists, for he did not believe that they were anti-democratic or reactionary and remained committed to democratic systems of governance.
The 1955 Freedom Charter, which Mandela had helped create, called for the nationalisation of banks, gold mines and land, to ensure equal distribution of wealth. Despite these beliefs, Mandela initiated a programme of privatisation during his presidency in line with trends in other countries of the time. It has been repeatedly suggested that Mandela would have preferred to develop a social democratic economy in South Africa but that this was not feasible as a result of the international political and economic situation during the early 1990s. This decision was in part influenced by the fall of the socialist states in the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc during the early 1990s.
## Personality and personal life
Mandela was widely considered a charismatic leader, described by biographer Mary Benson as "a born mass leader who could not help magnetising people". He was highly image conscious and throughout his life always sought out fine quality clothes, with many commentators believing that he carried himself in a regal manner. His aristocratic heritage was repeatedly emphasised by supporters, thus contributing to his "charismatic power". While living in Johannesburg in the 1950s, he cultivated the image of the "African gentleman", having "the pressed clothes, correct manners, and modulated public speech" associated with such a position. In doing so, Lodge argued that Mandela became "one of the first media politicians ... embodying a glamour and a style that projected *visually* a brave new African world of modernity and freedom". Mandela was known to change his clothes several times a day, and he became so associated with highly coloured Batik shirts after assuming the presidency that they came to be known as "Madiba shirts".
For political scientists Betty Glad and Robert Blanton, Mandela was an "exceptionally intelligent, shrewd, and loyal leader". His official biographer, Anthony Sampson, commented that he was a "master of imagery and performance", excelling at presenting himself well in press photographs and producing sound bites. His public speeches were presented in a formal, stiff manner, and often consisted of clichéd set phrases. He typically spoke slowly, and carefully chose his words. Although he was not considered a great orator, his speeches conveyed "his personal commitment, charm and humour".
Mandela was a private person who often concealed his emotions and confided in very few people. Privately, he lived an austere life, refusing to drink alcohol or smoke, and even as president made his own bed. Renowned for his mischievous sense of humour, he was known for being both stubborn and loyal, and at times exhibited a quick temper. He was typically friendly and welcoming, and appeared relaxed in conversation with everyone, including his opponents. A self-described Anglophile, he claimed to have lived by the "trappings of British style and manners". Constantly polite and courteous, he was attentive to all, irrespective of their age or status, and often talked to children or servants. He was known for his ability to find common ground with very different communities. In later life, he always looked for the best in people, even defending political opponents to his allies, who sometimes thought him too trusting of others. He was fond of Indian cuisine, and had a lifelong interest in archaeology and boxing.
The significance of Mandela can be considered in two related ways. First, he has provided through his personal presence as a benign and honest conviction politician, skilled at exerting power but not obsessed with it to the point of view of excluding principles, a man who struggled to display respect to all ... Second, in so doing he was able to be a hero and a symbol to an array of otherwise unlikely mates through his ability, like all brilliant nationalist politicians, to speak to very different audiences effectively at once.
He was raised in the Methodist denomination of Christianity; the Methodist Church of Southern Africa claimed that he retained his allegiance to them throughout his life. On analysing Mandela's writings, the theologian Dion Forster described him as a Christian humanist, adding that his thought relied to a greater extent on the Southern African concept of Ubuntu than on Christian theology. According to Sampson, Mandela never had "a strong religious faith", while Elleke Boehmer stated that Mandela's religious belief was "never robust".
Mandela was very self-conscious about being a man and regularly made references to manhood. He was heterosexual, and biographer Fatima Meer said that he was "easily tempted" by women. Another biographer, Martin Meredith, characterised him as being "by nature a romantic", highlighting that he had relationships with various women. Mandela was married three times, fathered six children, and had seventeen grandchildren and at least seventeen great-grandchildren. He could be stern and demanding of his children, although he was more affectionate with his grandchildren. His first marriage was to Evelyn Ntoko Mase in October 1944; they divorced in March 1958 under the multiple strains of his alleged adultery and constant absences, devotion to revolutionary agitation, and the fact that she was a Jehovah's Witness, a religion requiring political neutrality. Mandela's second wife was the social worker Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, whom he married in June 1958. They divorced in March 1996. Mandela married his third wife, Graça Machel, on his 80th birthday in July 1998.
## Reception and legacy
By the time of his death, within South Africa Mandela was widely considered both "the father of the nation" and "the founding father of democracy". Outside of South Africa, he was a "global icon", with the scholar of South African studies Rita Barnard describing him as "one of the most revered figures of our time". One biographer considered him "a modern democratic hero". Some have portrayed Mandela in messianic terms, in contrast to his own statement that "I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances." He is often cited alongside Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. as one of the 20th century's exemplary anti-racist and anti-colonial leaders. Boehmer described him as "a totem of the totemic values of our age: toleration and liberal democracy" and "a universal symbol of social justice".
Mandela's international fame emerged during his incarceration in the 1980s, when he became the world's most famous political prisoner, a symbol of the anti-apartheid cause, and an icon for millions who embraced the ideal of human equality. In 1986, Mandela's biographer characterised him as "the embodiment of the struggle for liberation" in South Africa. Meredith stated that in becoming "a potent symbol of resistance" to apartheid during the 1980s, he had gained "mythical status" internationally. Sampson commented that even during his life, this myth had become "so powerful that it blurs the realities", converting Mandela into "a secular saint". Within a decade of the end of his presidency, Mandela's era was widely thought of as "a golden age of hope and harmony", with much nostalgia being expressed for it. His name was often invoked by those criticising his successors like Mbeki and Zuma. Across the world, Mandela earned international acclaim for his activism in overcoming apartheid and fostering racial reconciliation, coming to be viewed as "a moral authority" with a great "concern for truth". Mandela's iconic status has been blamed for concealing the complexities of his life.
Mandela generated controversy throughout his career as an activist and politician, having detractors on both the right and the radical left. During the 1980s, Mandela was widely labelled a terrorist by prominent political figures in the Western world for his embrace of political violence. According to Thatcher, for instance, the ANC was "a typical terrorist organisation". The US government's State and Defense departments officially designated the ANC as a terrorist organisation, resulting in Mandela remaining on their terrorism watch-list until 2008. On the left, some voices in the ANC—among them Frank B. Wilderson III—accused him of selling out for agreeing to enter negotiations with the apartheid government and for not implementing the reforms of the Freedom Charter during his presidency. According to Barnard, "there is also a sense in which his chiefly bearing and mode of conduct, the very respect and authority he accrued in representing his nation in his own person, went against the spirit of democracy", and concerns were similarly expressed that he placed his own status and celebrity above the transformation of his country. His government would be criticised for its failure to deal with both the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the high levels of poverty in South Africa.
Over the course of his life, Mandela was given more than 250 awards, accolades, prizes, honorary degrees and citizenships in recognition of his political achievements. Among his awards were the Nobel Peace Prize, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Soviet Union's Lenin Peace Prize, and the Libyan Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights. In 1990, India awarded him the Bharat Ratna, and in 1992 Pakistan gave him their Nishan-e-Pakistan. The same year, he was awarded the Atatürk Peace Award by Turkey; he at first refused the award, citing human rights violations committed by Turkey at the time, but later accepted the award in 1999. He was appointed to the Order of Isabella the Catholic and the Order of Canada, and was the first living person to be made an honorary Canadian citizen. Queen Elizabeth II appointed him as a Bailiff Grand Cross of the Order of St. John and granted him membership in the Order of Merit.
In 2004, Johannesburg granted Mandela the Freedom of the City, and in 2008 a Mandela statue was unveiled at the spot where Mandela was released from prison. On the Day of Reconciliation 2013, a bronze statue of Mandela was unveiled at Pretoria's Union Buildings. In November 2009, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed Mandela's birthday, 18 July, as "Mandela Day", marking his contribution to the anti-apartheid struggle. It called on individuals to donate 67 minutes to doing something for others, commemorating the 67 years that Mandela had been a part of the movement. In 2015 the UN General Assembly named the amended Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners as "the Mandela Rules" to honour his legacy. Subsequently, the years 2019 to 2028 were also designated the United Nations Nelson Mandela Decade of Peace.
### Biographies and popular media
The first biography of Mandela was based on brief interviews with him that the author, Mary Benson, had conducted in the 1960s. Two authorised biographies were later produced by friends of Mandela. The first was Fatima Meer's *Higher Than Hope*, which was heavily influenced by Winnie and thus placed great emphasis on Mandela's family. The second was Anthony Sampson's *Mandela*, published in 1999. Other biographies included Martin Meredith's *Mandela*, first published in 1997, and Tom Lodge's *Mandela*, brought out in 2006.
Since the late 1980s, Mandela's image began to appear on a proliferation of items, among them "photographs, paintings, drawings, statues, public murals, buttons, t-shirts, refrigerator magnets, and more", items that have been characterised as "Mandela kitsch". In the 1980s he was the subject of several songs, such as The Specials' "Free Nelson Mandela", Hugh Masekela's "Bring Him Back Home (Nelson Mandela)", and Johnny Clegg's "Asimbonanga (Mandela)", which helped to bring awareness of his imprisonment to an international audience.
Mandela has also been depicted in films on multiple occasions. Some of these, such as the 2013 feature film *Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom*, the 2017 miniseries *Madiba* and the 1996 documentary *Mandela*, have focused on covering his adult life in entirety or until his inaugural as president. Others, such as the 2009 feature film *Invictus* and the 2010 documentary *The 16th Man*, have focused on specific events in his life. Lukhele has argued that in *Invictus* and other films, "the America film industry" has played a significant part in "the crafting of Mandela's global image".
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# Elvis Presley - Wikipedia
Elvis Presley | |
|---|---|
| Born | Elvis Aaron Presley January 8, 1935 |
| Died | August 16, 1977 | (aged 42)
| Resting place | Graceland, Memphis |
| Other names | King of Rock and Roll |
| Occupations |
|
| Works | |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Lisa Marie Presley |
| Relatives | Riley Keough (granddaughter) Brandon Presley (second cousin) Harold Ray Presley (first cousin once removed) |
| Awards | Full list |
Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instruments |
|
| Years active | 1953–1977 |
| Labels | |
| Formerly of | |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1958–1960 |
| Rank | Sergeant |
| Unit | Headquarters Company, 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 32d Armor, 3d Armored Division |
| Awards | Good Conduct Medal |
| Signature | |
**Elvis Aaron Presley** (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "**King of Rock and Roll**", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Presley's sexually provocative performance style, combined with a mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, brought both great success and initial controversy.
Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi; his family relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, when he was 13. He began his music career in 1954 at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African-American music to a wider audience. Presley, on guitar and accompanied by lead guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, was a pioneer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country music and rhythm and blues. In 1955, drummer D. J. Fontana joined to complete the lineup of Presley's classic quartet and RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, who managed him for the rest of his career. Presley's first RCA Victor single, "Heartbreak Hotel", was released in January 1956 and became a number-one hit in the US. Within a year, RCA Victor sold ten million Presley singles. With a series of successful television appearances and chart-topping records, Presley became the leading figure of the newly popular rock and roll; though his performing style and promotion of the then-marginalized sound of African Americans led to him being widely considered a threat to the moral well-being of white American youth.
In November 1956, Presley made his film debut in *Love Me Tender*. Drafted into military service in 1958, he relaunched his recording career two years later with some of his most commercially successful work. Presley held few concerts, and guided by Parker, devoted much of the 1960s to making Hollywood films and soundtrack albums, most of them critically derided. Some of Presley's most famous films included *Jailhouse Rock* (1957), *Blue Hawaii* (1961), and *Viva Las Vegas* (1964). In 1968, he returned to the stage in the acclaimed NBC television comeback special *Elvis*, which led to an extended Las Vegas concert residency and several highly profitable tours. In 1973, Presley gave the first concert by a solo artist to be broadcast around the world, *Aloha from Hawaii*. Years of substance abuse and unhealthy eating severely compromised his health, and Presley died in August 1977 at his Graceland estate at the age of 42.
Presley is one of the best-selling music artists in history, having sold an estimated 500 million records worldwide. He was commercially successful in many genres, including pop, country, rock and roll, rockabilly, rhythm and blues, adult contemporary, and gospel. He won three Grammy Awards, received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36, and has been posthumously inducted into multiple music halls of fame. He holds several records, including the most RIAA-certified gold and platinum albums, the most albums charted on the *Billboard* 200, the most number-one albums by a solo artist on the UK Albums Chart, and the most number-one singles by any act on the UK Singles Chart. In 2018, Presley was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
## Life and career
Elvis Aaron Presley was born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, to Gladys Love (née Smith) and Vernon Presley. Elvis' twin Jesse Garon was stillborn 35 minutes earlier. Presley became close to both parents, especially his mother. The family attended an Assembly of God church, where he found his initial musical inspiration. Vernon moved from one odd job to the next, and the family often relied on neighbors and government food assistance. In 1938, they lost their home after Vernon was found guilty of altering a check and was jailed for eight months.
In September 1941, Presley entered first grade at East Tupelo Consolidated, where his teachers regarded him as "average". His first public performance was a singing contest at the Mississippi–Alabama Fair and Dairy Show on October 3, 1945, when he was 10; he sang "Old Shep" and recalled placing fifth. A few months later, Presley received his first guitar for his birthday; he received guitar lessons from two uncles and a pastor at the family's church. Presley recalled, "I took the guitar, and I watched people, and I learned to play a little bit. But I would never sing in public. I was very shy about it."
In September 1946, Presley entered a new school, Milam, for sixth grade. The following year, he began singing and playing his guitar at school. He was often teased as a "trashy" kid who played hillbilly music. Presley was a devotee of Mississippi Slim's radio show. He was described as "crazy about music" by Slim's younger brother, one of Presley's classmates. Slim showed Presley chord techniques. When his protégé was 12, Slim scheduled him for two on-air performances. Presley was overcome by stage fright the first time but performed the following week.
In November 1948, the family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Enrolled at L. C. Humes High School, Presley received a C in music in eighth grade. When his music teacher said he had no aptitude for singing, he brought in his guitar and sang a recent hit, "Keep Them Cold Icy Fingers Off Me". He was usually too shy to perform openly and was occasionally bullied by classmates for being a "mama's boy". In 1950, Presley began practicing guitar under the tutelage of Lee Denson, a neighbor. They and three other boys, including two future rockabilly pioneers, brothers Dorsey and Johnny Burnette—formed a loose musical collective.
During his junior year, Presley began to stand out among his classmates, largely because of his appearance: he grew his sideburns and styled his hair. He would head down to Beale Street, the heart of Memphis' thriving blues scene, and admire the wild, flashy clothes at Lansky Brothers. By his senior year, he was wearing those clothes. He competed in Humes' Annual "Minstrel" Show in 1953, singing and playing "Till I Waltz Again with You", a recent hit for Teresa Brewer. Presley recalled that the performance did much for his reputation:
I wasn't popular in school ... I failed music—only thing I ever failed. And then they entered me in this talent show ... when I came onstage, I heard people kind of rumbling and whispering and so forth, 'cause nobody knew I even sang. It was amazing how popular I became in school after that.
Presley, who could not read music, played by ear and frequented record stores that provided jukeboxes and listening booths. He knew all of Hank Snow's songs, and he loved records by other country singers such as Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, Ted Daffan, Jimmie Rodgers, Jimmie Davis, and Bob Wills. The Southern gospel singer Jake Hess, one of his favorite performers, was a significant influence on his ballad-singing style. Presley was a regular audience member at the monthly, all-night singings downtown, where many of the white gospel groups that performed reflected the influence of African American spirituals. Presley listened to regional radio stations, such as WDIA, that played what were then called "race records": spirituals, blues, and the modern, backbeat-heavy rhythm and blues. Like some of his peers, he may have attended blues venues only on nights designated for exclusively white audiences. Many of his future recordings were inspired by local African-American musicians such as Arthur Crudup and Rufus Thomas. B.B. King recalled that he had known Presley before he was popular when they both used to frequent Beale Street. By the time he graduated high school in June 1953, Presley had singled out music as his future.
#### Sam Phillips and Sun records
In August 1953, Presley checked into Memphis Recording Service, the company run by Sam Phillips before he started Sun Records. He aimed to pay for studio time to record a two-sided acetate disc: "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin". He later claimed that he intended the record as a birthday gift for his mother, or that he was merely interested in what he "sounded like". Biographer Peter Guralnick argued that Presley chose Sun in the hope of being discovered. In January 1954, Presley cut a second acetate at Sun—"I'll Never Stand in Your Way" and "It Wouldn't Be the Same Without You"—but again nothing came of it. Not long after, he failed an audition for a local vocal quartet, the Songfellows, and another for the band of Eddie Bond.
Phillips, meanwhile, was always on the lookout for someone who could bring to a broader audience the sound of the black musicians on whom Sun focused. In June, he acquired a demo recording by Jimmy Sweeney of a ballad, "Without You", that he thought might suit Presley. The teenaged singer came by the studio but was unable to do it justice. Despite this, Phillips asked Presley to sing other numbers and was sufficiently affected by what he heard to invite two local musicians, guitarist Winfield "Scotty" Moore and upright bass player Bill Black, to work with Presley for a recording session. The session, held the evening of July 5, proved entirely unfruitful until late in the night. As they were about to abort and go home, Presley launched into a 1946 blues number, Arthur Crudup's "That's All Right". Moore recalled, "All of a sudden, Elvis just started singing this song, jumping around and acting the fool, and then Bill picked up his bass, and he started acting the fool, too, and I started playing with them." Phillips quickly began taping; this was the sound he had been looking for. Three days later, popular Memphis disc jockey Dewey Phillips played "That's All Right" on his *Red, Hot, and Blue* show. Listener interest was such that Phillips played the record repeatedly during the remaining two hours of his show. Interviewing Presley on-air, Phillips asked him what high school he attended to clarify his color for the many callers who had assumed that he was black. During the next few days, the trio recorded a bluegrass song, Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky", again in a distinctive style and employing a jury-rigged echo effect that Sam Phillips dubbed "slapback". A single was pressed with "That's All Right" on the A-side and "Blue Moon of Kentucky" on the reverse.
#### Early live performances and RCA Victor contract
The trio played publicly for the first time at the Bon Air club on July 17, 1954. Later that month, they appeared at the Overton Park Shell, with Slim Whitman headlining. Here Elvis pioneered "Rubber legs", his signature dance movement. A combination of his strong response to rhythm and nervousness led Presley to shake his legs as he performed: His wide-cut pants emphasized his movements, causing young women in the audience to start screaming. Moore recalled, "During the instrumental parts, he would back off from the mic and be playing and shaking, and the crowd would just go wild."
Soon after, Moore and Black left their old band to play with Presley regularly, and disc jockey/promoter Bob Neal became the trio's manager. From August through October, they played frequently at the Eagle's Nest club, a dance venue in Memphis. When Presley played, teenagers rushed from the pool to fill the club, then left again as the house western swing band resumed. Presley quickly grew more confident on stage. According to Moore, "His movement was a natural thing, but he was also very conscious of what got a reaction. He'd do something one time and then he would expand on it real quick." Amid these live performances, Presley returned to Sun studio for more recording sessions. Presley made what would be his only appearance on Nashville's *Grand Ole Opry* on October 2; *Opry* manager Jim Denny told Phillips that his singer was "not bad" but did not suit the program.
In November 1954, Presley performed on *Louisiana Hayride*—the *Opry*'s chief, and more adventurous, rival. The show was broadcast to 198 radio stations in 28 states. His nervous first set drew a muted reaction. A more composed and energetic second set inspired an enthusiastic response. Soon after the show, the *Hayride* engaged Presley for a year's worth of Saturday-night appearances. Trading in his old guitar for $8, he purchased a Martin instrument for $175 (equivalent to $2,000 in 2024) and his trio began playing in new locales, including Houston, Texas, and Texarkana, Arkansas. Presley made his first television appearance on the KSLA-TV broadcast of *Louisiana Hayride*. Soon after, he failed an audition for *Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts* on the CBS television network. By early 1955, Presley's regular *Hayride* appearances, constant touring, and well-received record releases had made him a regional star.
In January, Neal signed a formal management contract with Presley and brought him to the attention of Colonel Tom Parker, whom he considered the best promoter in the music business. Having successfully managed the top country star Eddy Arnold, Parker was working with the new number-one country singer, Hank Snow. Parker booked Presley on Snow's February tour.
By August, Sun had released 10 sides credited to "Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill"; the latest recordings included a drummer. Some of the songs, like "That's All Right", were in what one Memphis journalist described as the "R&B idiom of negro field jazz"; others, like "Blue Moon of Kentucky", were "more in the country field", "but there was a curious blending of the two different musics in both". This blend of styles made it difficult for Presley's music to find radio airplay. According to Neal, many country-music disc jockeys would not play it because Presley sounded too much like a black artist and none of the R&B stations would touch him because "he sounded too much like a hillbilly." The blend came to be known as "rockabilly". At the time, Presley was billed as "The King of Western Bop", "The Hillbilly Cat", and "The Memphis Flash".
Presley renewed Neal's management contract in August 1955, simultaneously appointing Parker as his special adviser. The group maintained an extensive touring schedule. Neal recalled, "It was almost frightening, the reaction that came to Elvis from the teenaged boys. So many of them, through some sort of jealousy, would practically hate him. There were occasions in some towns in Texas when we'd have to be sure to have a police guard because somebody'd always try to take a crack at him." The trio became a quartet when *Hayride* drummer Fontana joined as a full member. In mid-October, they played a few shows in support of Bill Haley, whose "Rock Around the Clock" track had been a number-one hit the previous year. Haley observed that Presley had a natural feel for rhythm, and advised him to sing fewer ballads.
At the Country Disc Jockey Convention in early November, Presley was voted the year's most promising male artist. After three major labels made offers of up to $25,000, Parker and Phillips struck a deal with RCA Victor on November 21 to acquire Presley's Sun contract for an unprecedented $40,000. Presley, aged 20, was legally still a minor, so his father signed the contract. Parker arranged with the owners of Hill & Range Publishing, Jean and Julian Aberbach, to create two entities, Elvis Presley Music and Gladys Music, to handle all the new material recorded by Presley. Songwriters were obliged to forgo one-third of their customary royalties in exchange for having Presley perform their compositions. By December, RCA had begun to heavily promote its new singer, and before month's end had reissued many of his Sun recordings.
#### First national TV appearances and debut album
On January 10, 1956, Presley made his first recordings for RCA Victor in Nashville. Extending his by-now customary backup of Moore, Black, Fontana, and *Hayride* pianist Floyd Cramer—who had been performing at live club dates with Presley—RCA Victor enlisted guitarist Chet Atkins and three background singers, including Gordon Stoker of the popular Jordanaires quartet. The session produced the moody "Heartbreak Hotel", released as a single on January 27. Parker brought Presley to national television, booking him on CBS's *Stage Show* for six appearances over two months. The program, produced in New York City, was hosted on alternate weeks by big band leaders and brothers Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. After his first appearance on January 28, Presley stayed in town to record at RCA Victor's New York studio. The sessions yielded eight songs, including a cover of Carl Perkins' rockabilly anthem "Blue Suede Shoes". In February, Presley's "I Forgot to Remember to Forget", a Sun recording released the previous August, reached the top of the *Billboard* country chart. Neal's contract was terminated and Parker became Presley's manager.
RCA Victor released Presley's self-titled debut album on March 23. Joined by five previously unreleased Sun recordings, its seven recently recorded tracks included two country songs, a bouncy pop tune, and what would centrally define the evolving sound of rock and roll: "Blue Suede Shoes"—"an improvement over Perkins' in almost every way", according to critic Robert Hilburn—and three R&B numbers that had been part of Presley's stage repertoire, covers of Little Richard, Ray Charles, and The Drifters. As described by Hilburn, these
were the most revealing of all. Unlike many white artists ... who watered down the gritty edges of the original R&B versions of songs in the '50s, Presley reshaped them. He not only injected the tunes with his own vocal character but also made guitar, not piano, the lead instrument in all three cases.
It became the first rock and roll album to top the *Billboard* chart, a position it held for ten weeks. While Presley was not an innovative guitarist like Moore or contemporary African American rockers Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry, cultural historian Gilbert B. Rodman argued that the album's cover image, "of Elvis having the time of his life on stage *with a guitar in his hands* played a crucial role in positioning the guitar ... as the instrument that best captured the style and spirit of this new music."
*Milton Berle Show* and "Hound Dog"
On April 3, Presley made the first of two appearances on NBC's *The Milton Berle Show*. His performance, on the deck of the USS *Hancock* in San Diego, California, prompted cheers and screams from an audience of sailors and their dates. A few days later, Presley and his band were flying to Nashville, Tennessee, for a recording session when an engine died and the plane almost went down over Arkansas. Twelve weeks after its original release, "Heartbreak Hotel" became Presley's first number-one pop hit. In late April, Presley began a two-week residency at the New Frontier Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. The shows were poorly received by the conservative, middle-aged hotel guests, "like a jug of corn liquor at a champagne party", a *Newsweek* critic wrote. Amid his Vegas tenure, Presley, who had acting ambitions, signed a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures. He began a tour of the Midwest in mid-May, covering 15 cities in as many days. He had attended several shows by Freddie Bell and the Bellboys in Vegas and was struck by their cover of "Hound Dog", a hit in 1953 for blues singer Big Mama Thornton by songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It became his new closing number.
After a show in La Crosse, Wisconsin, an urgent message on the letterhead of the local Catholic diocese's newspaper was sent to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. It warned that
Presley is a definite danger to the security of the United States. ... [His] actions and motions were such as to rouse the sexual passions of teenaged youth. ... After the show, more than 1,000 teenagers tried to gang into Presley's room at the auditorium. ... Indications of the harm Presley did just in La Crosse were the two high school girls ... whose abdomen and thigh had Presley's autograph.
Presley's second *Milton Berle Show* appearance came on June 5 at NBC's Hollywood studio, amid another hectic tour. Milton Berle persuaded Presley to leave his guitar backstage. During the performance, Presley abruptly halted an up-tempo rendition of "Hound Dog" and launched into a slow, grinding version accentuated with exaggerated body movements. His gyrations created a storm of controversy. Jack Gould of *The New York Times* wrote,
Mr. Presley has no discernible singing ability. ... His phrasing, if it can be called that, consists of the stereotyped variations that go with a beginner's aria in a bathtub. ... His one specialty is an accented movement of the body ... primarily identified with the repertoire of the blond bombshells of the burlesque runway.
Ben Gross of the *New York Daily News* opined that popular music "has reached its lowest depths in the 'grunt and groin' antics of one Elvis Presley. ... Elvis, who rotates his pelvis ... gave an exhibition that was suggestive and vulgar, tinged with the kind of animalism that should be confined to dives and bordellos". Ed Sullivan, whose variety show was the nation's most popular, declared Presley "unfit for family viewing". To Presley's displeasure, he soon found himself being referred to as "Elvis the Pelvis", which he called "childish".
*Steve Allen Show* and first Sullivan appearance
The Berle shows drew such high ratings that Presley was booked for a July 1 appearance on NBC's *The Steve Allen Show* in New York. Allen, who was no fan of rock and roll, introduced a "new Elvis" in a white bowtie and black tails. Presley sang "Hound Dog" for less than a minute to a basset hound wearing a top hat and bowtie. As described by television historian Jake Austen, "Allen thought Presley was talentless and absurd ... [he] set things up so that Presley would show his contrition". Allen later wrote that he found Presley's "strange, gangly, country-boy charisma, his hard-to-define cuteness, and his charming eccentricity intriguing" and worked him into the "comedy fabric" of his program. Just before the final rehearsal for the show, Presley told a reporter, "I don't want to do anything to make people dislike me. I think TV is important so I'm going to go along, but I won't be able to give the kind of show I do in a personal appearance." Presley would refer back to the Allen show as the most ridiculous performance of his career. Later that night, he appeared on *Hy Gardner Calling*, a popular local television show. Pressed on whether he had learned anything from the criticism of him, Presley responded, "No, I haven't ... I don't see how any type of music would have any bad influence on people when it's only music. ... how would rock 'n' roll music make anyone rebel against their parents?"
The next day, Presley recorded "Hound Dog", "Any Way You Want Me" and "Don't Be Cruel". The Jordanaires sang harmony, as they had on *The Steve Allen Show*; they would work with Presley through the 1960s. A few days later, Presley made an outdoor concert appearance in Memphis, at which he announced, "You know, those people in New York are not gonna change me none. I'm gonna show you what the real Elvis is like tonight." In August, a judge in Jacksonville, Florida, ordered Presley to tame his act. Throughout the following performance, he largely kept still, except for wiggling his little finger suggestively in mockery of the order. The single pairing "Don't Be Cruel" with "Hound Dog" ruled the top of the charts for eleven weeks—a mark that would not be surpassed for 36 years. Recording sessions for Presley's second album took place in Hollywood in early September. Leiber and Stoller, the writers of "Hound Dog", contributed "Love Me".
Allen's show with Presley had, for the first time, beaten *The Ed Sullivan Show* in the ratings. Sullivan booked Presley for three appearances for an unprecedented $50,000. The first, on September 9, 1956, was seen by approximately 60 million viewers—a record 82.6 percent of the television audience. Actor Charles Laughton hosted the show, filling in while Sullivan was recovering from a car accident. According to legend, Presley was shot only from the waist up. Watching clips of the Allen and Berle shows, Sullivan had opined that Presley "got some kind of device hanging down below the crotch of his pants—so when he moves his legs back and forth you can see the outline of his cock. ... I think it's a Coke bottle. ... We just can't have this on a Sunday night. This is a family show!" Sullivan publicly told *TV Guide*, "As for his gyrations, the whole thing can be controlled with camera shots." In fact, Presley was shown head-to-toe. Though the camerawork was relatively discreet during his debut, with leg-concealing closeups when he danced, the studio audience reacted with screams. Presley's performance of his forthcoming single, the ballad "Love Me Tender", prompted a record-shattering million advance orders. More than any other single event, it was this first appearance on *The Ed Sullivan Show* that made Presley a national celebrity.
Accompanying Presley's rise to fame, a cultural shift was taking place that he both helped inspire and came to symbolize. The historian Marty Jezer wrote that Presley began the "biggest pop craze" since Glenn Miller and Frank Sinatra and brought rock and roll to mainstream culture:
As Presley set the artistic pace, other artists followed. ... Presley, more than anyone else, gave the young a belief in themselves as a distinct and somehow unified generation—the first in America ever to feel the power of an integrated youth culture.
#### Crazed crowds and film debut
The audience response at Presley's live shows became increasingly fevered. Moore recalled, "He'd start out, 'You ain't nothin' but a Hound Dog,' and they'd just go to pieces. They'd always react the same way. There'd be a riot every time." At the two concerts he performed in September at the Mississippi–Alabama Fair and Dairy Show, fifty National Guardsmen were added to the police detail to prevent a ruckus. *Elvis*, Presley's second RCA Victor album, was released in October and quickly rose to number one. The album includes "Old Shep", which he sang at the talent show in 1945, and which now marked the first time he played piano on an RCA Victor session. According to Guralnick, "the halting chords and the somewhat stumbling rhythm" showed "the unmistakable emotion and the equally unmistakable valuing of emotion over technique." Assessing the musical and cultural impact of Presley's recordings from "That's All Right" through *Elvis*, rock critic Dave Marsh wrote that "these records, more than any others, contain the seeds of what rock & roll was, has been and most likely what it may foreseeably become."
Presley returned to *The Ed Sullivan Show*, hosted this time by its namesake, on October 28. After the performance, crowds in Nashville and St. Louis burned him in effigy. His first motion picture, *Love Me Tender*, was released on November 21. Though he was not top-billed, the film's original title—*The Reno Brothers*—was changed to capitalize on his latest number-one record: "Love Me Tender" had hit the top of the charts earlier that month. To further take advantage of Presley's popularity, four musical numbers were added to what was originally a straight acting role. The film was panned by critics but did very well at the box office. Presley received top billing on every subsequent film he made.
On December 4, Presley dropped into Sun Records, where Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis were recording, and had an impromptu jam session along with Johnny Cash. Though Phillips no longer had the right to release any Presley material, he made sure that the session was captured on tape. The results, none officially released for twenty-five years, became known as the "Million Dollar Quartet" recordings. The year ended with a front-page story in *The Wall Street Journal* reporting that Presley merchandise had brought in $22 million on top of his record sales, and *Billboard*'s declaration that he had placed more songs in the top 100 than any other artist since records were first charted. In his first full year at RCA Victor, then the record industry's largest company, Presley had accounted for over fifty percent of the label's singles sales.
#### Leiber and Stoller collaboration and draft notice
Presley made his third and final *Ed Sullivan Show* appearance on January 6, 1957—on this occasion indeed shot only down to the waist. Some commentators have claimed that Parker orchestrated an appearance of censorship to generate publicity. In any event, as critic Greil Marcus describes, Presley "did not tie himself down. Leaving behind the bland clothes he had worn on the first two shows, he stepped out in the outlandish costume of a pasha, if not a harem girl. From the make-up over his eyes, the hair falling in his face, the overwhelmingly sexual cast of his mouth, he was playing Rudolph Valentino in *The Sheik*, with all stops out." To close, displaying his range and defying Sullivan's wishes, Presley sang a gentle black spiritual, "Peace in the Valley". At the end of the show, Sullivan declared Presley "a real decent, fine boy". Two days later, the Memphis draft board announced that Presley would be classified 1-A and would probably be drafted sometime that year.
Each of the three Presley singles released in the first half of 1957 went to number one: "Too Much", "All Shook Up", and "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear". Already an international star, he was attracting fans even where his music was not officially released: *The New York Times* reported that pressings of his music on discarded X-ray plates were commanding high prices in Leningrad. Presley purchased his 18-room mansion, Graceland, on March 19, 1957. Before the purchase, Elvis recorded *Loving You*—the soundtrack to his second film, which was released in July. It was his third straight number-one album. The title track was written by Leiber and Stoller, who were then retained to write four of the six songs recorded at the sessions for *Jailhouse Rock*, Presley's next film. The songwriting team effectively produced the *Jailhouse* sessions and developed a close working relationship with Presley, who came to regard them as his "good-luck charm". "He was fast," said Leiber. "Any demo you gave him he knew by heart in ten minutes." The title track became another number-one hit, as was the *Jailhouse Rock* EP.
Presley undertook three brief tours during the year, continuing to generate a crazed audience response. A Detroit newspaper suggested that "the trouble with going to see Elvis Presley is that you're liable to get killed". Villanova students pelted the singer with eggs in Philadelphia, and in Vancouver the crowd rioted after the show ended, destroying the stage. Frank Sinatra, who had inspired the swooning and screaming of teenage girls in the 1940s, decried rock and roll as "brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious. ... It fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people. It smells phoney and false. It is sung, played and written, for the most part, by cretinous goons. ... This rancid-smelling aphrodisiac I deplore." Asked for a response, Presley said:
I admire the man. He has a right to say what he wants to say. He is a great success and a fine actor, but I think he shouldn't have said it. ... This is a trend, just the same as he faced when he started years ago.
Leiber and Stoller were again in the studio for the recording of *Elvis' Christmas Album*. Toward the end of the session, they wrote a song on the spot at Presley's request: "Santa Claus Is Back in Town", an innuendo-laden blues. The holiday release stretched Presley's string of number-one albums to four and became the best-selling Christmas album ever in the United States, with eventual sales of over 20 million worldwide. After the session, Moore and Black—drawing only modest weekly salaries, sharing in none of Presley's massive financial success—resigned, though they were brought back on a per diem basis a few weeks later.
On December 20, Presley received his draft notice, though he was granted a deferment to finish the forthcoming film *King Creole*. A couple of weeks into the new year, "Don't", another Leiber and Stoller tune, became Presley's tenth number-one seller. Recording sessions for the *King Creole* soundtrack were held in Hollywood in mid-January 1958. Leiber and Stoller provided three songs, but it would be the last time Presley and the duo worked closely together. As Stoller later recalled, Presley's manager and entourage sought to wall him off. A brief soundtrack session on February 11 marked the final occasion on which Black was to perform with Presley.
On March 24, 1958, Presley was drafted into the United States Army at Fort Chaffee in Arkansas. His arrival was a major media event. Hundreds of people descended on Presley as he stepped from the bus; photographers accompanied him into the installation. Presley announced that he was looking forward to his military service, saying that he did not want to be treated any differently from anyone else. Even if theSpecial Services would have given the opportunity to perform and remain in touch with the public, Parker and RCA were convinced that Presley to gain popular respect, should serve as a regular soldier. On his behalf, Presley wanted to go where he could do the best job.
Between March 28 and September 17, 1958, Presley completed basic and advanced training at Fort Hood, Texas, where he was temporarily assigned to Company A, 2d Medium Tank Battalion, 37th Armor. During the two weeks' leave between his basic and advanced training in early June, he recorded five songs in Nashville. In early August, Presley's mother was diagnosed with hepatitis, and her condition rapidly worsened. Presley was granted emergency leave to visit her and arrived in Memphis on August 12. Two days later, she died of heart failure at age 46. Presley was devastated and never the same; their relationship had remained extremely close—even into his adulthood, they would use baby talk with each other and Presley would address her with pet names.
On October 1, 1958, Presley was assigned to the 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 32d Armor, 3d Armored Division, at Ray Barracks, West Germany, where he served as an armor intelligence specialist. On November 27, he was promoted to private first class and on June 1, 1959, to specialist four. While on maneuvers, Presley was introduced to amphetamines and became "practically evangelical about their benefits", not only for energy but for "strength" and weight loss. Karate became a lifelong interest: he studied with Jürgen Seydel, and later included it in his live performances. Fellow soldiers have attested to Presley's wish to be seen as an able, ordinary soldier despite his fame, and to his generosity. He donated his Army pay to charity, purchased television sets for the base, and bought an extra set of fatigues for everyone in his outfit. Presley was promoted to sergeant on February 11, 1960.
While in Bad Nauheim, Presley, aged 24, met 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu. . In her autobiography, Priscilla said that Presley was concerned that his 24 months in the military would ruin his career as he had openly shared through the press. Media reports echoed Presley's concerns about his career, but Hal Wallis was in Germany in August '59 to prepare the movie GI Blues ; RCA Victor producer Steve Sholes and Freddy Bienstock of Hill and Range had carefully prepared: armed with a substantial amount of unreleased material, they kept up a regular stream of successful releases. Between his induction and discharge, Presley had ten top-40 hits, including "Wear My Ring Around Your Neck", the bestselling "Hard Headed Woman", and "One Night" in 1958, and "(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I" and the number-one "A Big Hunk o' Love" in 1959. RCA Victor also generated four albums compiling previously issued material during this period, most successfully *Elvis' Golden Records* (1958), which hit number three on the LP chart.
*Elvis Is Back*
Presley returned to the U.S. on March 2, 1960, and was honorably discharged three days later. The train that carried him from New Jersey to Tennessee was mobbed all the way, and Presley was called upon to appear at scheduled stops to please his fans. On the night of March 20, he entered RCA's Nashville studio to cut tracks for a new album along with a single, "Stuck on You", which was rushed into release and swiftly became a number-one hit. Another Nashville session two weeks later yielded a pair of bestselling singles, the ballads "It's Now or Never" and "Are You Lonesome Tonight?", along with the rest of *Elvis Is Back!* The album features several songs described by Greil Marcus as full of Chicago blues "menace, driven by Presley's own super-miked acoustic guitar, brilliant playing by Scotty Moore, and demonic sax work from Boots Randolph. Elvis' singing wasn't sexy, it was pornographic." The record "conjured up the vision of a performer who could be all things", according to music historian John Robertson: "a flirtatious teenage idol with a heart of gold; a tempestuous, dangerous lover; a gutbucket blues singer; a sophisticated nightclub entertainer; [a] raucous rocker". Released only days after recording was complete, it reached number two on the album chart.
Presley returned to television on May 12 as a guest on *The Frank Sinatra Timex Special*. Also known as *Welcome Home Elvis*, the show had been taped in late March, the only time all year Presley performed in front of an audience. Parker secured an unheard-of $125,000 for eight minutes of singing. The broadcast drew an enormous viewership.
*G.I. Blues*, the soundtrack to Presley's first film since his return, was a number-one album in October. His first LP of sacred material, *His Hand in Mine*, followed two months later; it reached number 13 on the U.S. pop chart and number 3 in the United Kingdom, remarkable figures for a gospel album. In February 1961, Presley performed two shows in Memphis, for a benefit for 24 local charities. During a luncheon preceding the event, RCA Victor presented him with a plaque certifying worldwide sales of over 75 million records. A twelve-hour Nashville session in mid-March yielded nearly all of Presley's next studio album, *Something for Everybody*. According to John Robertson, it exemplifies the Nashville sound, the restrained, cosmopolitan style that defined country music in the 1960s. Presaging much of what was to come from Presley over the next half-decade, the album is largely "a pleasant, unthreatening pastiche of the music that had once been Elvis' birthright". It was his sixth number-one LP. Another benefit concert, for a Pearl Harbor memorial, was staged on March 25 in Hawaii. It was Presley's last public performance for seven years.
#### Lost in Hollywood
Parker had by now pushed Presley into a heavy filmmaking schedule, focused on formulaic, modestly budgeted musical comedies. Presley initially insisted on pursuing higher roles, but when two films in a more dramatic vein—*Flaming Star* (1960) and *Wild in the Country* (1961)—were less commercially successful, he reverted to the formula. Among the twenty-seven films he made during the 1960s, there were a few further exceptions. His films were almost universally panned; critic Andrew Caine dismissed them as a "pantheon of bad taste". Nonetheless, they were virtually all profitable. Hal Wallis, who produced nine, declared, "A Presley picture is the only sure thing in Hollywood."
Of Presley's films in the 1960s, 15 were accompanied by soundtrack albums and another five by soundtrack EPs. The films' rapid production and release schedules—Presley frequently starred in three a year—affected his music. According to Jerry Leiber, the soundtrack formula was already evident before Presley left for the Army: "three ballads, one medium-tempo [number], one up-tempo, and one break blues boogie". As the decade wore on, the quality of the soundtrack songs grew "progressively worse". Julie Parrish, who appeared in *Paradise, Hawaiian Style* (1966), says that Presley disliked many of the songs. The Jordanaires' Gordon Stoker describes how he would retreat from the studio microphone: "The material was so bad that he felt like he couldn't sing it." Most of the film albums featured a song or two from respected writers such as the team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman. But by and large, according to biographer Jerry Hopkins, the numbers seemed to be "written on order by men who never really understood Elvis or rock and roll".
In the first half of the decade, three of Presley's soundtrack albums were ranked number one on the pop charts, and a few of his most popular songs came from his films, such as "Can't Help Falling in Love" (1961) and "Return to Sender" (1962). However, the commercial returns steadily diminished. From 1964 to 1968, Presley had only one top-ten hit: "Crying in the Chapel" (1965), a gospel number recorded in 1960. As for non-film albums, between the June 1962 release of *Pot Luck* and the November 1968 release of the soundtrack to the television special that signaled his comeback, only one LP of new material by Presley was issued: the gospel album *How Great Thou Art* (1967). It won him his first Grammy Award, for Best Sacred Performance. As Marsh described, Presley was "arguably the greatest white gospel singer of his time [and] really the last rock & roll artist to make gospel as vital a component of his musical personality as his secular songs".
Shortly before Christmas 1966, more than seven years since they first met, Presley proposed to Priscilla Beaulieu. They were married on May 1, 1967, in a brief ceremony in their suite at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. The flow of formulaic films and assembly-line soundtracks continued. It was not until October 1967, when the *Clambake* soundtrack LP registered record low sales for a new Presley album, that RCA Victor executives recognized a problem. "By then, of course, the damage had been done", as historians Connie Kirchberg and Marc Hendrickx put it. "Elvis was viewed as a joke by serious music lovers and a has-been to all but his most loyal fans."
*Elvis*: the '68 Comeback Special
Presley's only child, Lisa Marie, was born on February 1, 1968, during a period when he had grown deeply unhappy with his career. Of the eight Presley singles released between January 1967 and May 1968, only two charted in the top 40, none higher than number 28. His forthcoming soundtrack album, *Speedway*, would rank at number 82. Parker had already shifted his plans to television: he maneuvered a deal with NBC that committed the network to finance a theatrical feature and broadcast a Christmas special.
Recorded in late June in Burbank, California, the special, simply called *Elvis*, aired on December 3, 1968. Later known as the *'68 Comeback Special*, the show featured lavishly staged studio productions as well as songs performed with a band in front of a small audience—Presley's first live performances since 1961. The live segments saw Presley dressed in tight black leather, singing and playing guitar in an uninhibited style reminiscent of his early rock and roll days. Director and co-producer Steve Binder worked hard to produce a show that was far from the hour of Christmas songs Parker had originally planned. The show, NBC's highest-rated that season, captured 42 percent of the total viewing audience. Jon Landau of *Eye* magazine remarked:
There is something magical about watching a man who has lost himself find his way back home. He sang with the kind of power people no longer expect of rock 'n' roll singers. He moved his body with a lack of pretension and effort that must have made Jim Morrison green with envy.
Marsh calls the performance one of "emotional grandeur and historical resonance".
By January 1969, the single "If I Can Dream", written for the special, reached number 12. The soundtrack album rose into the top ten. According to friend Jerry Schilling, the special reminded Presley of what "he had not been able to do for years, being able to choose the people; being able to choose what songs and not being told what had to be on the soundtrack. ... He was out of prison, man." Binder said of Presley's reaction, "I played Elvis the 60-minute show, and he told me in the screening room, 'Steve, it's the greatest thing I've ever done in my life. I give you my word I will never sing a song I don't believe in.'"
*From Elvis in Memphis* and the International
Buoyed by the experience of the *Comeback Special*, Presley engaged in a prolific series of recording sessions at American Sound Studio, which led to the acclaimed *From Elvis in Memphis*. Released in June 1969, it was his first secular, non-soundtrack album from a dedicated period in the studio in eight years. As described by Marsh, it is "a masterpiece in which Presley immediately catches up with pop music trends that had seemed to pass him by during the movie years. He sings country songs, soul songs and rockers with real conviction, a stunning achievement." The album featured the hit single "In the Ghetto", issued in April, which reached number three on the pop chart—Presley's first non-gospel top ten hit since "Bossa Nova Baby" in 1963. Further hit singles were culled from the American Sound sessions: "Suspicious Minds", "Don't Cry Daddy", and "Kentucky Rain".
Presley was keen to resume regular live performing. Following the success of the *Comeback Special*, offers came in from around the world. The London Palladium offered Parker US$28,000 (equivalent to $240,000 in 2024) for a one-week engagement. He responded, "That's fine for me, now how much can you get for Elvis?" In May, the brand-new International Hotel in Las Vegas, boasting the largest showroom in the city, booked Presley for fifty-seven shows over four weeks, beginning July 31. Moore, Fontana, and the Jordanaires declined to participate, afraid of losing the lucrative session work they had in Nashville. Presley assembled new, top-notch accompaniment, led by guitarist James Burton and including two gospel groups, The Imperials and Sweet Inspirations. Costume designer Bill Belew, responsible for the intense leather styling of the *Comeback Special*, created a new stage look for Presley, inspired by his passion for karate. Nonetheless, Presley was nervous: his only previous Las Vegas engagement, in 1956, had been dismal. Parker oversaw a major promotional push, and International Hotel owner Kirk Kerkorian arranged to send his own plane to New York to fly in rock journalists for the debut performance.
Presley took to the stage without introduction. The audience of 2,200, including many celebrities, gave him a standing ovation before he sang a note and another after his performance. A third followed his encore, "Can't Help Falling in Love" (which would be his closing number for much of his remaining life). At a press conference after the show, when a journalist referred to him as "The King", Presley gestured toward Fats Domino, who was taking in the scene. "No," Presley said, "that's the real king of rock and roll." The next day, Parker's negotiations with the hotel resulted in a five-year contract for Presley to play each February and August, at an annual salary of $1 million. *Newsweek* commented, "There are several unbelievable things about Elvis, but the most incredible is his staying power in a world where meteoric careers fade like shooting stars." *Rolling Stone* called Presley "supernatural, his own resurrection". In November, Presley's final non-concert film, *Change of Habit*, opened. The double album *From Memphis to Vegas/From Vegas to Memphis* came out the same month; the first LP consisted of live performances from the International, the second of more cuts from the American Sound sessions. "Suspicious Minds" reached the top of the charts—Presley's first U.S. pop number-one in over seven years, and his last.
Cassandra Peterson, later television's Elvira, met Presley during this period in Las Vegas. She recalled of their encounter, "He was so anti-drug when I met him. I mentioned to him that I smoked marijuana, and he was just appalled." Presley also rarely drank—several of his family members had been alcoholics, a fate he intended to avoid.
#### Back on tour and meeting Nixon
Presley returned to the International early in 1970 for the first of the year's two-month-long engagements, performing two shows a night. Recordings from these shows were issued on the album *On Stage*. In late February, Presley performed six attendance-record–breaking shows at the Houston Astrodome. In April, the single "The Wonder of You" was issued—a number one hit in the UK, it topped the U.S. adult contemporary chart as well. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) filmed rehearsal and concert footage at the International during August for the documentary *Elvis: That's the Way It Is*. Presley was performing in a jumpsuit, which would become a trademark of his live act. During this engagement, he was threatened with murder unless US$50,000 (equivalent to $405,000 in 2024) was paid. Presley had been the target of many threats since the 1950s, often without his knowledge. The FBI took the threat seriously and security was increased for the next two shows. Presley went onstage with a Derringer in his right boot and a .45 caliber pistol in his waistband, but the concerts succeeded without any incidents.
*That's the Way It Is*, produced to accompany the documentary and featuring both studio and live recordings, marked a stylistic shift. As music historian John Robertson noted,
The authority of Presley's singing helped disguise the fact that the album stepped decisively away from the American-roots inspiration of the Memphis sessions towards a more middle-of-the-road sound. With country put on the back burner, and soul and R&B left in Memphis, what was left was very classy, very clean white pop—perfect for the Las Vegas crowd, but a definite retrograde step for Elvis.
After the end of his International engagement on September 7, Presley embarked on a week-long concert tour, largely of the South, his first since 1958. Another week-long tour, of the West Coast, followed in November.
On December 21, 1970, Presley engineered a meeting with U.S. President Richard Nixon at the White House, where he explained how he believed he could reach out to the hippies to help combat the drug culture he and the president abhorred. He asked Nixon for a Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs badge, to signify official sanction of his efforts. Nixon, who apparently found the encounter awkward, expressed a belief that Presley could send a positive message to young people and that it was, therefore, important that he "retain his credibility". Presley told Nixon that the Beatles, whose songs he regularly performed in concert during the era, exemplified what he saw as a trend of anti-Americanism. Presley and his friends previously had a four-hour get-together with the Beatles at his home in Bel Air, California, in August 1965. Paul McCartney later said that he "felt a bit betrayed. ... The great joke was that we were taking [illegal] drugs, and look what happened to him", a reference to Presley's early death linked to prescription drug abuse.
The U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce named Presley one of its annual Ten Most Outstanding Young Men of the Nation on January 16, 1971. Not long after, the City of Memphis named the stretch of Highway 51 South on which Graceland is located "Elvis Presley Boulevard". The same year, Presley became the first rock and roll singer to be awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (then known as the Bing Crosby Award). Three new, non-film Presley studio albums were released in 1971. Best received by critics was *Elvis Country*, a concept record that focused on genre standards. The biggest seller was *Elvis Sings The Wonderful World of Christmas*. According to Greil Marcus,
In the midst of ten painfully genteel Christmas songs, every one sung with appalling sincerity and humility, one could find Elvis tom-catting his way through six blazing minutes of "Merry Christmas Baby", a raunchy old Charles Brown blues. [...] If [Presley's] sin was his lifelessness, it was his sinfulness that brought him to life.
#### Marriage breakdown and *Aloha from Hawaii*
MGM filmed Presley in April 1972 for *Elvis on Tour*, which went on to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Documentary Film for that year's Golden Globe Awards. His gospel album *He Touched Me*, released that month, would earn him his second Grammy Award for Best Inspirational Performance. A fourteen-date tour commenced with an unprecedented four consecutive sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden. The evening concert on July 10 was issued in LP form a week later. *Elvis: As Recorded at Madison Square Garden* became one of Presley's biggest-selling albums. After the tour, the single "Burning Love" was released—Presley's last top ten hit on the U.S. pop chart. "The most exciting single Elvis has made since 'All Shook Up'", wrote rock critic Robert Christgau.
Presley and his wife had become increasingly distant, barely cohabiting. In 1971, an affair he had with Joyce Bova resulted—unbeknownst to him—in her pregnancy and an abortion. He often raised the possibility of Joyce moving into Graceland. The Presleys separated on February 23, 1972, after Priscilla disclosed her relationship with Mike Stone, a karate instructor Presley had recommended to her. Priscilla related that when she told him, Presley "forcefully made love to" her, declaring, "This is how a real man makes love to his woman". She later stated in an interview that she regretted her choice of words in describing the incident, and said it had been an overstatement. Five months later, Presley's new girlfriend, Linda Thompson, a songwriter and one-time Memphis beauty queen, moved in with him. Presley and his wife filed for divorce on August 18. According to Joe Moscheo of the Imperials, the failure of Presley's marriage "was a blow from which he never recovered". At a rare press conference that June, a reporter had asked Presley whether he was satisfied with his image. Presley replied, "Well, the image is one thing and the human being another ... it's very hard to live up to an image."
In January 1973, Presley performed two benefit concerts for the Kui Lee Cancer Fund in connection with a groundbreaking television special, *Aloha from Hawaii*, which would be the first concert by a solo artist to be aired globally. The first show served as a practice run and backup should technical problems affect the live broadcast two days later. On January 14, *Aloha from Hawaii* aired live via satellite to prime-time audiences in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as to U.S. servicemen based across Southeast Asia. In Japan, where it capped a nationwide Elvis Presley Week, it smashed viewing records. The next night, it was simulcast to twenty-eight European countries, and in April an extended version aired in the U.S., receiving a fifty-seven percent share of the TV audience. Over time, Parker's claim that it was seen by one billion or more people would be broadly accepted, but that figure appeared to have been sheer invention. Presley's stage costume became the most recognized example of the elaborate concert garb with which his latter-day persona became closely associated. As described by Bobbie Ann Mason, "At the end of the show, when he spreads out his American Eagle cape, with the full stretched wings of the eagle studded on the back, he becomes a god figure." The accompanying double album, released in February, went to number one and eventually sold over 5 million copies in the U.S. It was Presley's last U.S. number-one pop album during his lifetime.
At a midnight show that same month, four men rushed onto the stage in an apparent attack. Security personnel came to Presley's defense, and he ejected one invader from the stage himself. Following the show, Presley became obsessed with the idea that the men had been sent by Mike Stone to kill him. Though they were shown to have been only overexuberant fans, Presley raged, "There's too much pain in me ... Stone [must] die." His outbursts continued with such intensity that a physician was unable to calm him, despite administering large doses of medication. After another two full days of raging, Red West, his friend and bodyguard, felt compelled to get a price for a contract killing and was relieved when Presley decided, "Aw hell, let's just leave it for now. Maybe it's a bit heavy."
#### Medical crises and last studio sessions
Presley's divorce was finalized on October 9, 1973. He and Priscilla would remain close friends until his death, even holding hands while leaving the courtroom where they finalized their divorce. Priscilla recalled that they lived life together "like we were never divorced. Elvis and I still hugged each other, still had love. We would say, 'Mommy said this' and 'Daddy said that.' That helped Lisa to feel stable. There was never any arguing or bitterness." By this time, his health was in serious decline. Twice during the year he overdosed on barbiturates, spending three days in a coma in his hotel suite after the first incident. In late 1973, he was hospitalized from the effects of a pethidine addiction. According to his primary care physician, George C. Nichopoulos, Presley "felt that by getting drugs from a doctor, he wasn't the common everyday junkie getting something off the street". Since his comeback, he had staged more live shows with each passing year, and 1973 saw 168 concerts, his busiest schedule ever. Despite his failing health, he undertook another intensive touring schedule in 1974.
Presley's condition declined precipitously that September. Keyboardist Tony Brown remembered his arrival at a University of Maryland concert: "He fell out of the limousine, to his knees. People jumped to help, and he pushed them away like, 'Don't help me.' He walked on stage and held onto the mic for the first thirty minutes like it was a post. Everybody's looking at each other like, 'Is the tour gonna happen'?" Guitarist John Wilkinson recalled:
He was all gut. He was slurring. He was so fucked up. ... It was obvious he was drugged. It was obvious there was something terribly wrong with his body. It was so bad the words to the songs were barely intelligible. ... I remember crying. He could barely get through the introductions.
On July 13, 1976, Vernon Presley—who had become deeply involved in his son's financial affairs—had fired "Memphis Mafia" bodyguards Red West (Presley's friend since the 1950s), Sonny West, and David Hebler, citing the need to "cut back on expenses". Presley was in Palm Springs at the time, and some suggest the singer was too cowardly to face the three himself. Another associate of Presley's, John O'Grady, argued that the bodyguards were dropped because their rough treatment of fans had prompted too many lawsuits. Presley's stepbrother David Stanley has claimed that the bodyguards were fired because they were becoming more outspoken about Presley's drug dependency.
RCA began to grow anxious as his interest in the recording studio waned. After a session in December 1973 that produced eighteen songs, enough for almost two albums, Presley made no official studio recordings in 1974. Parker delivered RCA another concert record, *Elvis Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis*. Recorded on March 20, it included a version of "How Great Thou Art" that won Presley his third and final Grammy Award for Best Inspirational Performance. All three of his competitive Grammy wins – out of fourteen total nominations – were for gospel recordings. Presley returned to the recording studio in March 1975, but Parker's attempts to arrange another session toward the end of the year were unsuccessful. In 1976, RCA sent a mobile recording unit to Graceland that made possible two full-scale recording sessions, but the recording process had become a struggle for him.
#### Final months and death
After Presley's relationship with Linda Thompson ended, he began dating Ginger Alden in November 1976; he proposed marriage to Alden two months later.
Journalist Tony Scherman wrote that, by early 1977, "Presley had become a grotesque caricature of his sleek, energetic former self. Grossly overweight, his mind dulled by the pharmacopoeia he daily ingested, he was barely able to pull himself through his abbreviated concerts." According to Andy Greene of *Rolling Stone*, Presley's final performances were mostly "sad, sloppy affairs where a bloated, drugged Presley struggled to remember his lyrics and get through the night without collapsing ... Most everything from the final three years of his life is sad and hard to watch." In Alexandria, Louisiana, he was on stage for less than an hour and "was impossible to understand". On March 31, he canceled a performance in Baton Rouge, unable to get out of his hotel bed; four shows had to be canceled and rescheduled.
Despite the accelerating deterioration of his health, Presley fulfilled most of his touring commitments. According to Guralnick, fans "were becoming increasingly voluble about their disappointment, but it all seemed to go right past Presley, whose world was now confined almost entirely to his room and his spiritualism books". Presley's cousin, Billy Smith, recalled how he would sit in his room and chat for hours, sometimes recounting favorite Monty Python sketches and his past escapades, but more often gripped by paranoid obsessions.
"Way Down", Presley's last single issued during his lifetime, was released on June 6, 1977. That month, CBS taped two concerts for a television special, *Elvis in Concert*, to be broadcast in October. In the first, shot in Omaha on June 19, Presley's voice, Guralnick writes, "is almost unrecognizable, a small, childlike instrument in which he talks more than sings most of the songs, casts about uncertainly for the melody in others, and is virtually unable to articulate or project". Two days later, in Rapid City, South Dakota, "he looked healthier, seemed to have lost a little weight, and sounded better, too", though, by the conclusion of the performance, his face was "framed in a helmet of blue-black hair from which sweat sheets down over pale, swollen cheeks". Presley's final concert was held in Indianapolis at Market Square Arena, on June 26, 1977.
The book *Elvis: What Happened?*, co-written by the three bodyguards fired a year prior, was published on August 1. It was the first exposé to detail Presley's years of drug misuse. He was devastated by the book and tried unsuccessfully to halt its release by offering money to the publishers.[ citation needed] By this point, he suffered from multiple ailments: glaucoma, high blood pressure, liver damage, and an enlarged colon, each aggravated—and possibly caused—by drug abuse. His last appearance in public occurred during the early morning hours of August 8, 1977, when he rented the entire Libertyland amusement park in Memphis for himself and about ten others.
On August 16, 1977, Presley was scheduled on an evening flight out of Memphis to Portland, Maine, to begin another tour. That afternoon his fiancée Ginger Alden discovered him unresponsive on the bathroom floor of his Graceland mansion. Attempts to revive him failed, and he was pronounced dead at Baptist Memorial Hospital at 3:30 pm; he was 42.
President Jimmy Carter issued a statement that credited Presley with having "permanently changed the face of American popular culture". Thousands of people gathered outside Graceland to view the open casket. One of Presley's cousins, Billy Mann, accepted US$18,000 (equivalent to $93,000 in 2024) to secretly photograph the body; the picture appeared on the cover of the *National Enquirer*'s biggest-selling issue ever. Alden struck a $105,000 (equivalent to $545,000 in 2024) deal with the *Enquirer* for her story, but settled for less when she broke her exclusivity agreement. Presley left her nothing in his will.
Presley's funeral was held at Graceland on August 18. Outside the gates, a car crashed into a group of fans, killing two young women and critically injuring a third. About 80,000 people lined the processional route to Forest Hill Cemetery, where Presley was buried next to his mother. Within a few weeks, "Way Down" topped the country and UK singles chart. Following an attempt to steal Presley's body in late August, the remains of both Presley and his mother were exhumed and reburied in Graceland's Meditation Garden on October 2.
#### Cause of death
While an autopsy, undertaken the same day Presley died, was still in progress, Memphis medical examiner Jerry Francisco announced that the immediate cause of death was cardiac arrest and declared that "drugs played no role in Presley's death". In fact, "drug use was heavily implicated" in Presley's death, writes Guralnick. The pathologists conducting the autopsy thought it possible, for instance, that he had suffered "anaphylactic shock brought on by the codeine pills he had gotten from his dentist, to which he was known to have had a mild allergy". Lab reports filed two months later strongly suggested that polypharmacy was the primary cause of death; one reported "fourteen drugs in Elvis' system, ten in significant quantity". In 1979, forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht reviewed the reports and concluded that a combination of depressants had resulted in Presley's accidental death. Forensic historian and pathologist Michael Baden viewed the situation as complicated: "Elvis had an enlarged heart for a long time. That, together with his drug habit, caused his death. But he was difficult to diagnose; it was a judgment call."
The competence and ethics of two of the centrally involved medical professionals were seriously questioned. Francisco had offered a cause of death before the autopsy was complete; claimed the underlying ailment was cardiac arrhythmia, a condition that can be determined only in a living person; and denied drugs played any part in Presley's death before the toxicology results were known. Allegations of a cover-up were widespread. While a 1981 trial of Presley's main physician, George C. Nichopoulos, exonerated him of criminal liability, the facts were startling: "In the first eight months of 1977 alone, he had [prescribed] more than 10,000 doses of sedatives, amphetamines, and narcotics: all in Elvis' name." Nichopoulos' license was suspended for three months. It was permanently revoked in the 1990s after the Tennessee Medical Board brought new charges of over-prescription.
In 1994, the Presley autopsy report was reopened. Joseph Davis, who had conducted thousands of autopsies as Miami-Dade County, Florida coroner, declared at its completion, "There is nothing in any of the data that supports a death from drugs. In fact, everything points to a sudden, violent heart attack." More recent research has revealed that Francisco did not speak for the entire pathology team. Other staff "could say nothing with confidence until they got the results back from the laboratories, if then." One of the examiners, E. Eric Muirhead,
could not believe his ears. Francisco had not only presumed to speak for the hospital's team of pathologists, he had announced a conclusion that they had not reached. ... Early on, a meticulous dissection of the body ... confirmed [that] Elvis was chronically ill with diabetes, glaucoma, and constipation. As they proceeded, the doctors saw evidence that his body had been wracked over a span of years by a large and constant stream of drugs. They had also studied his hospital records, which included two admissions for drug detoxification and methadone treatments.
Between 1977 and 1981, six of Presley's posthumously released singles were top-ten country hits. Graceland was opened to the public in 1982. Attracting over half a million visitors annually, it became the second-most-visited home in the United States, after the White House. The residence was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2006.
Presley has been inducted into five music halls of fame: the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1986), the Country Music Hall of Fame (1998), the Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2001), the Rockabilly Hall of Fame (2007), and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame (2012). In 1984, he received the W. C. Handy Award from the Blues Foundation and the Academy of Country Music's first Golden Hat Award. In 1987, he received the American Music Awards' Award of Merit.
A Junkie XL remix of Presley's "A Little Less Conversation" (credited as "Elvis Vs JXL") was used in a Nike advertising campaign during the 2002 FIFA World Cup. It topped the charts in over twenty countries and was included in a compilation of Presley's number-one hits, *ELV1S*, which was also an international success. The album returned Presley to the top of the *Billboard* chart for the first time in almost three decades.
In 2003, a remix of "Rubberneckin'", a 1969 recording, topped the U.S. sales chart, as did a 50th-anniversary re-release of "That's All Right" the following year. The latter was an outright hit in Britain, debuting at number three on the pop chart; it also made the top ten in Canada. In 2005, another three reissued singles, "Jailhouse Rock", "One Night"/"I Got Stung", and "It's Now or Never", went to number one in the UK. They were part of a campaign that saw the re-release of all eighteen of Presley's previous chart-topping UK singles. The first, "All Shook Up", came with a collectors' box that made it ineligible to chart again; each of the other seventeen reissues hit the British top five.
In 2005, *Forbes* magazine named Presley the top-earning deceased celebrity for the fifth straight year, with a gross income of $45 million. He was placed second in 2006, returned to the top spot the next two years, and ranked fourth in 2009. The following year, he was ranked second, with his highest annual income ever—$60 million—spurred by the celebration of his 75th birthday and the launch of Cirque du Soleil's *Viva Elvis* show in Las Vegas. In November 2010, *Viva Elvis: The Album* was released, setting his voice to newly recorded instrumental tracks. As of mid-2011, there were an estimated 15,000 licensed Presley products, and he was again the second-highest-earning deceased celebrity. Six years later, he ranked fourth with earnings of $35 million, up $8 million from 2016 due in part to the opening of a new entertainment complex, Elvis Presley's Memphis, and hotel, The Guest House at Graceland.
In 2018, RCA/Legacy released *Elvis Presley – Where No One Stands Alone*, a new album focused on Presley's love of gospel music. Produced by Joel Weinshanker, Lisa Marie Presley and Andy Childs, the album introduced newly recorded instrumentation along with vocals from singers who had performed in the past with Elvis. It included a reimagined duet with Lisa Marie, on the album's title track.
In 2022, Baz Luhrmann's film *Elvis*, a biographical film about Presley's life, was released. Presley is portrayed by Austin Butler and Parker by Tom Hanks. As of August 2022, the film had grossed $261.8 million worldwide on a $85 million budget, becoming the second-highest-grossing music biopic of all-time behind *Bohemian Rhapsody* (2018), and the fifth-highest-grossing Australian-produced film. For his portrayal of Presley, Butler won the Golden Globe and was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor. In January 2023, Presley's 1962 Lockheed 1329 JetStar sold at an auction for $260,000.
## Artistry
### Influences
Presley's earliest musical influence came from gospel. His mother recalled that from the age of two, at the Assembly of God church in Tupelo attended by the family, "he would slide down off my lap, run into the aisle and scramble up to the platform. There he would stand looking at the choir and trying to sing with them." In Memphis, Presley frequently attended all-night gospel singings at the Ellis Auditorium, where groups such as the Statesmen Quartet led the music in a style that, Guralnick suggests, sowed the seeds of Presley's future stage act:
The Statesmen were an electric combination ... featuring some of the most thrillingly emotive singing and daringly unconventional showmanship in the entertainment world ... dressed in suits that might have come out of the window of Lansky's. ... Bass singer Jim Wetherington, known universally as the Big Chief, maintained a steady bottom, ceaselessly jiggling first his left leg, then his right, with the material of the pants leg ballooning out and shimmering. "He went about as far as you could go in gospel music," said Jake Hess. "The women would jump up, just like they do for the pop shows." Preachers frequently objected to the lewd movements ... but audiences reacted with screams and swoons.
As a teenager, Presley's musical interests were wide-ranging, and he was deeply informed about both white and African-American musical idioms. Though he never had any formal training, he had a remarkable memory, and his musical knowledge was already considerable by the time he made his first professional recordings aged 19 in 1954. When Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller met him two years later, they were astonished at his encyclopedic understanding of the blues, and, as Stoller put it, "He certainly knew a lot more than we did about country music and gospel music." At a press conference the following year, he proudly declared, "I know practically every religious song that's ever been written."
### Musicianship
Presley played guitar, bass, and piano; he received his first guitar when he was 11 years old. He could not read or write music and had no formal lessons, and played everything by ear. Presley often played an instrument on his recordings and produced his own music. Presley played rhythm acoustic guitar on most of his Sun recordings and his 1950s RCA Victor albums. Presley played piano on songs such as "Old Shep" and "First in Line" from his 1956 album *Elvis*. He is credited with playing piano on later albums such as *From Elvis in Memphis* and "Moody Blue", and on "Unchained Melody", which was one of the last songs that he recorded. Presley played lead guitar on one of his successful singles called "Are You Lonesome Tonight". At one point during the '68 Comeback Special, Elvis took over on lead electric guitar, the first time he had ever been seen with the instrument in public, playing it on songs such as "Baby What You Want Me to Do" and "One Night". The album *Elvis is Back!* features Presley playing a lot of acoustic guitar on songs such as "I Will Be Home Again" and "Like a Baby".
### Musical styles and genres
Presley was a central figure in the development of rockabilly, according to music historians. "Rockabilly crystallized into a recognizable style in 1954 with Elvis Presley's first release, on the Sun label," writes Craig Morrison. Paul Friedlander described rockabilly as "essentially ... an Elvis Presley construction", with the defining elements as "the raw, emotive, and slurred vocal style and emphasis on rhythmic feeling [of] the blues with the string band and strummed rhythm guitar [of] country". In "That's All Right", the Presley trio's first record, Scotty Moore's guitar solo, "a combination of Merle Travis–style country finger-picking, double-stop slides from acoustic boogie, and blues-based bent-note, single-string work, is a microcosm of this fusion". While Katherine Charlton calls Presley "rockabilly's originator", Carl Perkins, another pioneer of rock'n'roll, said that "[Sam] Phillips, Elvis, and I didn't create rockabilly". According to Michael Campbell, the first major rockabilly song was recorded by Bill Haley. In Moore's view, "It had been there for quite a while, really. Carl Perkins was doing basically the same sort of thing up around Jackson, and I know for a fact Jerry Lee Lewis had been playing that kind of music ever since he was ten years old."
At RCA Victor, Presley's rock and roll sound grew distinct from rockabilly with group chorus vocals, more heavily amplified electric guitars, and a tougher, more intense manner. While he was known for taking songs from various sources and giving them a rockabilly/rock and roll treatment, he also recorded songs in other genres from early in his career, from the pop standard "Blue Moon" at Sun Records to the country ballad "How's the World Treating You?" on his second RCA Victor LP to the blues of "Santa Claus Is Back in Town". In 1957, his first gospel record was released, the four-song EP *Peace in the Valley*. Certified as a million-seller, it became the top-selling gospel EP in recording history.
After his return from military service in 1960, Presley continued to perform rock and roll, but the characteristic style was substantially toned down. His first post-Army single, the number-one hit "Stuck on You", is typical of this shift. RCA Victor publicity referred to its "mild rock beat"; discographer Ernst Jorgensen calls it "upbeat pop". The number five "She's Not You" (1962) "integrates the Jordanaires so completely, it's practically doo-wop". The modern blues/R&B sound captured with success on *Elvis Is Back!* was essentially abandoned for six years until such 1966–67 recordings as "Down in the Alley" and "Hi-Heel Sneakers". Presley's output during most of the 1960s emphasized pop music, often in the form of ballads such as "Are You Lonesome Tonight?", a number-one in 1960. "It's Now or Never", which also topped the chart that year, was a classically influenced variation of pop based on the Neapolitan song "'O sole mio" and concluding with a "full-voiced operatic cadence". These were both dramatic numbers, but most of what Presley recorded for his many film soundtracks was in a much lighter vein.
While Presley performed several of his classic ballads for the *'68 Comeback Special*, the sound of the show was dominated by aggressive rock and roll. He recorded few new straight rock and roll songs thereafter; as he explained, they had become "hard to find". A significant exception was "Burning Love", his last major hit on the pop charts. Like his work of the 1950s, Presley's subsequent recordings reworked pop and country songs, but in markedly different permutations. His stylistic range now began to embrace a more contemporary rock sound as well as soul and funk. Much of *Elvis in Memphis*, as well as "Suspicious Minds", cut at the same sessions, reflected this new rock and soul fusion. In the mid-1970s, many of his singles found a home on country radio, the field where he first became a star.
### Vocal style and range
The developmental arc of Presley's singing voice, as described by critic Dave Marsh, goes from "high and thrilled in the early days, [to] lower and perplexed in the final months." Marsh credits Presley with the introduction of the "vocal stutter" on 1955's "Baby Let's Play House". When on "Don't Be Cruel", Presley "slides into a 'mmmmm' that marks the transition between the first two verses," he shows "how masterful his relaxed style really is." Marsh describes the vocal performance on "Can't Help Falling in Love" as one of "gentle insistence and delicacy of phrasing", with the line "'Shall I stay' pronounced as if the words are fragile as crystal".
Jorgensen calls the 1966 recording of "How Great Thou Art" "an extraordinary fulfillment of his vocal ambitions", as Presley "crafted for himself an ad-hoc arrangement in which he took every part of the four-part vocal, from [the] bass intro to the soaring heights of the song's operatic climax", becoming "a kind of one-man quartet". Guralnick finds "Stand by Me" from the same gospel sessions "a beautifully articulated, almost nakedly yearning performance", but, by contrast, feels that Presley reaches beyond his powers on "Where No One Stands Alone", resorting "to a kind of inelegant bellowing to push out a sound" that Jake Hess of the Statesmen Quartet had in his command. Hess himself thought that while others might have voices the equal of Presley's, "he had that certain something that everyone searches for all during their lifetime." Guralnick attempts to pinpoint that something: "The warmth of his voice, his controlled use of both vibrato technique and natural falsetto range, the subtlety and deeply felt conviction of his singing were all qualities recognizably belonging to his talent but just as recognizably not to be achieved without sustained dedication and effort."
Marsh praises his 1968 reading of "U.S. Male", "bearing down on the hard guy lyrics, not sending them up or overplaying them but tossing them around with that astonishingly tough yet gentle assurance that he brought to his Sun records." The performance on "In the Ghetto" is, according to Jorgensen, "devoid of any of his characteristic vocal tricks or mannerisms", instead relying on the exceptional "clarity and sensitivity of his voice". Guralnick describes the song's delivery as of "almost translucent eloquence ... so quietly confident in its simplicity". On "Suspicious Minds", Guralnick hears essentially the same "remarkable mixture of tenderness and poise", but supplemented with "an expressive quality somewhere between stoicism (at suspected infidelity) and anguish (over impending loss)".
Music critic Henry Pleasants observes that "Presley has been described variously as a baritone and a tenor. An extraordinary compass ... and a very wide range of vocal color have something to do with this divergence of opinion." He identifies Presley as a high baritone, calculating his range as two octaves and a third, "from the baritone low G to the tenor high B, with an upward extension in falsetto to at least a D-flat. Presley's best octave is in the middle, D-flat to D-flat, granting an extra full step up or down." In Pleasants' view, his voice was "variable and unpredictable" at the bottom, "often brilliant" at the top, with the capacity for "full-voiced high Gs and As that an opera baritone might envy". Scholar Lindsay Waters, who figures Presley's range as two-and-a-quarter octaves, emphasizes that "his voice had an emotional range from tender whispers to sighs down to shouts, grunts, grumbles, and sheer gruffness that could move the listener from calmness and surrender, to fear. His voice can not be measured in octaves, but in decibels; even that misses the problem of how to measure delicate whispers that are hardly audible at all." Presley was always "able to duplicate the open, hoarse, ecstatic, screaming, shouting, wailing, reckless sound of the black rhythm-and-blues and gospel singers", writes Pleasants, and also demonstrated a remarkable ability to assimilate many other vocal styles.
## Public image
### Relationship with the African-American community
When Dewey Phillips first aired "That's All Right" on Memphis' WHBQ, many listeners who contacted the station to ask for it again assumed that its singer was black. From the beginning of his national fame, Presley expressed respect for African-American performers and their music, and disregard for the segregation and racial prejudice then prevalent in the South. Interviewed in 1956, he recalled how in his childhood he would listen to blues musician Arthur Crudup—the originator of "That's All Right"—"bang his box the way I do now, and I said if I ever got to the place where I could feel all old Arthur felt, I'd be a music man like nobody ever saw." *The Memphis World*, an African-American newspaper, reported that Presley "cracked Memphis' segregation laws" by attending the local amusement park on what was designated as its "colored night". Such statements and actions led Presley to be generally hailed in the black community during his early stardom. In contrast, many white adults "did not like him, and condemned him as depraved. Anti-negro prejudice doubtless figured in adult antagonism. Regardless of whether parents were aware of the Negro sexual origins of the phrase 'rock 'n' roll', Presley impressed them as the visual and aural embodiment of sex."
Despite the largely positive view of Presley held by African Americans, a rumor spread in mid-1957 that he had announced, "The only thing Negroes can do for me is buy my records and shine my shoes." A journalist with the national African American weekly *Jet*, Louie Robinson, pursued the story. On the set of *Jailhouse Rock*, Presley granted Robinson an interview, though he was no longer dealing with the mainstream press. He denied making such a statement:
I never said anything like that, and people who know me know that I wouldn't have said it. ... A lot of people seem to think I started this business. But rock 'n' roll was here a long time before I came along. Nobody can sing that kind of music like colored people. Let's face it: I can't sing like Fats Domino can. I know that.
Robinson found no evidence that the remark had ever been made, and elicited testimony from many individuals indicating that Presley was anything but racist. Blues singer Ivory Joe Hunter, who had heard the rumor before he visited Graceland, reported of Presley, "He showed me every courtesy, and I think he's one of the greatest." Though the rumored remark was discredited, it was still being used against Presley decades later.
The persistence of such attitudes was fueled by resentment over the fact that Presley, whose musical and visual performance idiom owed much to African-American sources, achieved the cultural acknowledgement and commercial success largely denied his black peers. Into the twenty-first century, the notion that Presley had "stolen" black music still found adherents. Notable among African-American entertainers expressly rejecting this view was Jackie Wilson, who argued, "A lot of people have accused Elvis of stealing the black man's music, when in fact, almost every black solo entertainer copied his stage mannerisms from Elvis." Moreover, Presley acknowledged his debt to African-American musicians throughout his career. Addressing his '68 Comeback Special audience, he said, "Rock 'n' roll music is basically gospel or rhythm and blues, or it sprang from that. People have been adding to it, adding instruments to it, experimenting with it, but it all boils down to [that]." Nine years earlier, he had said, "Rock 'n' roll has been around for many years. It used to be called rhythm and blues."
### Sex symbol
Presley's physical attractiveness and sexual appeal were widely acknowledged. "He was once beautiful, astonishingly beautiful", according to critic Mark Feeney. Television director Steve Binder reported, "I'm straight as an arrow and I got to tell you, you stop, whether you're male or female, to look at him. He was that good looking. And if you never knew he was a superstar, it wouldn't make any difference; if he'd walked in the room, you'd know somebody special was in your presence." His performance style was equally responsible for Presley's eroticized image. Critic George Melly described him as "the master of the sexual simile, treating his guitar as both phallus and girl". In his Presley obituary, Lester Bangs credited him with bringing "overt blatant vulgar sexual frenzy to the popular arts in America". Ed Sullivan's declaration that he perceived a soda bottle in Presley's trousers was echoed by rumors involving a similarly positioned toilet roll tube or lead bar.
While Presley was marketed as an icon of heterosexuality, some critics have argued that his image was ambiguous. In 1959, *Sight and Sound*'s Peter John Dyer described his onscreen persona as "aggressively bisexual in appeal". Brett Farmer places the "orgasmic gyrations" of the title dance sequence in *Jailhouse Rock* within a lineage of cinematic musical numbers that offer a "spectacular eroticization, if not homoeroticization, of the male image". In the analysis of Yvonne Tasker, "Elvis was an ambivalent figure who articulated a peculiar feminised, objectifying version of white working-class masculinity as aggressive sexual display."
Reinforcing Presley's image as a sex symbol were the reports of his dalliances with Hollywood stars and starlets, from Natalie Wood in the 1950s to Connie Stevens and Ann-Margret in the 1960s to Candice Bergen and Cybill Shepherd in the 1970s. June Juanico of Memphis, one of Presley's early girlfriends, later blamed Parker for encouraging him to choose his dating partners with publicity in mind. Presley never grew comfortable with the Hollywood scene, and most of these relationships were insubstantial.
## Legacy
I know he invented rock and roll, in a manner of speaking, but ... that's not why he's worshiped as a god today. He's worshiped as a god today because in addition to inventing rock and roll he was the greatest ballad singer this side of Frank Sinatra—because the spiritual translucence and reined-in gut sexuality of his slow weeper and torchy pop blues still activate the hormones and slavish devotion of millions of female human beings worldwide.
Presley's rise to national attention in 1956 transformed the field of popular music and had a huge effect on the broader scope of popular culture. As the catalyst for the cultural revolution that was rock and roll, he was central not only to defining it as a musical genre but in making it a touchstone of youth culture and rebellious attitude. With its racially mixed origins—repeatedly affirmed by Presley—rock and roll's occupation of a central position in mainstream American culture facilitated a new acceptance and appreciation of black culture.
In this regard, Little Richard said of Presley, "He was an integrator. Elvis was a blessing. They wouldn't let black music through. He opened the door for black music." Al Green reaffirmed that by stating, "He broke the ice for all of us."
President Jimmy Carter remarked on Presley's legacy in 1977: "His music and his personality, fusing the styles of white country and black rhythm and blues, permanently changed the face of American popular culture." Presley also heralded the vastly expanded reach of celebrity in the era of mass communication: within a year of his first appearance on American network television, he was regarded as one of the most famous people in the world.
Presley's name, image, and voice are recognized around the world. He has inspired a legion of impersonators. In polls and surveys, he is recognized as one of the most important popular music artists and influential Americans. American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein said, "Elvis Presley is the greatest cultural force in the twentieth century. He introduced the beat to everything and he changed everything—music, language, clothes." John Lennon said that "Nothing really affected me until Elvis." Bob Dylan described the sensation of first hearing Presley as "like busting out of jail".
For much of his adult life, Presley, with his rise from poverty to riches and fame, had seemed to epitomize the American Dream. In his final years, and following the revelations about his circumstances after his death, he became a symbol of excess and gluttony. Increasing attention was paid to his appetite for the rich, heavy Southern cooking of his upbringing, foods such as chicken-fried steak and biscuits and gravy. In particular, his love of fried peanut butter, banana, and (sometimes) bacon sandwiches, now known as "Elvis sandwiches", came to symbolize this characteristic.
Since 1977, a false and discredited conspiracy theory has circulated claiming that Presley may have faked his own death. Numerous people have incorrectly claimed to have seen him alive after August 16, 1977. These "Elvis sightings" and the conspiracy theory in general have persisted both as an ironic, humorous meme and for some a genuinely-believed theory, though the latter demographic declined in numbers significantly after the early 1990s. An unusually large number of fans have domestic shrines devoted to Presley and journey to sites with which he is connected, however faintly. On the anniversary of his death, thousands of people gather outside Graceland for a candlelight ritual. "With Elvis, it is not just his music that has survived death", writes Ted Harrison. "He himself has been raised, like a medieval saint, to a figure of cultic status. It is as if he has been canonized by acclamation."
On the 25th anniversary of Presley's death, *The New York Times* asserted:
All the talentless impersonators and appalling black velvet paintings on display can make him seem little more than a perverse and distant memory. But before Elvis was camp, he was its opposite: a genuine cultural force. ... Elvis' breakthroughs are underappreciated because in this rock-and-roll age, his hard-rocking music and sultry style have triumphed so completely.
He was ranked third on *Rolling Stone'*s list of greatest artists. Bono wrote in appreciation:
In Elvis, you have the blueprint for rock & roll. The highness — the gospel highs. The mud — the Delta mud, the blues. Sexual liberation. Controversy. Changing the way people feel about the world. It's all there with Elvis.
Not only Presley's achievements but his failings as well, are seen by some cultural observers as adding to the power of his legacy, as in this description by Greil Marcus:
Elvis Presley is a supreme figure in American life, one whose presence, no matter how banal or predictable, brooks no real comparisons. ... The cultural range of his music has expanded to the point where it includes not only the hits of the day, but also patriotic recitals, pure country gospel, and really dirty blues. ... Elvis has emerged as a great
artist, a greatrocker, a greatpurveyor of schlock, a greatheart throb, a greatbore, a greatsymbol of potency, a greatham, a greatnice person, and, yes, a great American.
## Achievements
Presley is one of the best-selling music artists in history, with estimated sales of over 500 million records worldwide. Presley's rankings for top ten and number-one hits vary depending on how the double-sided "Hound Dog/Don't Be Cruel" and "Don't/I Beg of You" singles, which precede the inception of *Billboard*'s unified Hot 100 chart, are analyzed. According to Whitburn's analysis, Presley holds the record with 38, tying with Madonna; per *Billboard*'s current assessment, he ranks second with 36. Whitburn and *Billboard* concur that the Beatles hold the record for most number-one hits with 20, and that Mariah Carey is second with 19. Whitburn has Presley with 18: *Billboard* has him third with 17. According to *Billboard*, Presley has 79 cumulative weeks at number one: alone at 80, according to Whitburn and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with only Mariah Carey having more with 91 weeks. He holds the records for most number-one singles on the UK chart with 21 and singles reaching the top ten with 76.
As an album artist, Presley is credited by *Billboard* with the record for the most albums charting in the *Billboard* 200: 129, far ahead of second-place Frank Sinatra's 82. He also holds the record for most cumulative weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 for a male solo artists: 67 weeks In 2015 and 2016, two albums setting Presley's vocals against music by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, *If I Can Dream* and *The Wonder of You*, both reached number one in the UK. This gave him a new record for number-one UK albums by a solo artist with 13, and extended his record for longest span between number-one albums by anybody—Presley had first topped the British chart in 1956 with his self-titled debut.
As of 2023[update], the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) credits Presley with 146.5 million certified album sales in the US, third all time behind the Beatles and Garth Brooks. He holds the records for most gold albums (101, nearly double second-place Barbra Streisand's 51), and most platinum albums (57). His 25 multi-platinum albums is second behind the Beatles' 26. He has the 9th-most gold singles (54, tied with Justin Bieber), and the 16th-most platinum singles (27).
In 2012, the spider *Paradonea presleyi* was named in his honor. In 2018, President Donald Trump awarded Presley the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously. There is a street named after Presley in San Antonio, Texas.
## Discography
A vast number of recordings have been issued under Presley's name. The number of his original master recordings has been variously calculated as 665 and 711.
## Filmography
- Films starred
*Love Me Tender*(1956)*Loving You*(1957)*Jailhouse Rock*(1957)*King Creole*(1958)*G.I. Blues*(1960)*Flaming Star*(1960)*Wild in the Country*(1961)*Blue Hawaii*(1961)*Follow That Dream*(1962)*Kid Galahad*(1962)*Girls! Girls! Girls!*(1962)*It Happened at the World's Fair*(1963)*Fun in Acapulco*(1963)*Kissin' Cousins*(1964)*Viva Las Vegas*(1964)*Roustabout*(1964)*Girl Happy*(1965)*Tickle Me*(1965)*Harum Scarum*(1965)*Frankie and Johnny*(1966)*Paradise, Hawaiian Style*(1966)*Spinout*(1966)*Easy Come, Easy Go*(1967)*Double Trouble*(1967)*Clambake*(1967)*Stay Away, Joe*(1968)*Speedway*(1968)*Live a Little, Love a Little*(1968)*Charro!*(1969)*The Trouble with Girls*(1969)*Change of Habit*(1969)*Elvis: That's the Way It Is*(1970)*Elvis on Tour*(1972)
- TV concert specials
*Elvis*(1968)*Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite*(1973)*Elvis in Concert*(1977)
## See also
- Elvis Presley Enterprises
- List of artists by number of UK Albums Chart number ones
- List of artists by number of UK Singles Chart number ones
- List of bestselling music artists
- Personal relationships of Elvis Presley
- Elvis Evolution
## Explanatory notes
### Citations
### General sources
## Further reading
## External links
- Elvis Presley at Curlie
- Elvis Presley at IMDb
- Elvis Presley at the TCM Movie Database
- Elvis The Music official record label site
- Elvis Presley Interviews on officially sanctioned Elvis Australia site
- "The All American Boy: Enter Elvis and the Rock-a-billies" episode of 1968
*Pop Chronicles*radio series
|
# Arabic - Wikipedia
This article needs attention from an expert in linguistics. The specific problem is: There seems to be some confusion surrounding the chronology of Arabic's origination, including notably in the paragraph on Qaryat Al-Faw (also discussed on talk). There are major sourcing gaps from "Literary Arabic" onwards. (August 2022) |
| Arabic | |
|---|---|
اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ (al-ʿarabiyyah) | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈʕarabiː] ⓘ [al ʕaraˈbijːa] ⓘ |
| Native to | Arab world and surrounding regions |
| Ethnicity | Arabs, and other ethnic groups of the Arab world |
| Speakers | 411 million native speakers of all varieties (2020–2024) 70 million L2 users of all varieties (2020–2024) |
Early forms | |
Standard forms | |
| Dialects | |
| Arabic alphabet
Other official scripts | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |
International OrganizationsSpecial status in Constitution |
Recognised minority language in | List |
| Regulated by | List |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 |
|
| ISO 639-2 |
|
| ISO 639-3 | `ara` – inclusive codeIndividual codes: `arq` – Algerian Arabic`xaa` – Andalusi Arabic`abv` – Bahrani Arabic`avl` – Bedawi Arabic`shu` – Chadian Arabic`acy` – Cypriot Arabic`adf` – Dhofari Arabic`arz` – Egyptian Arabic`acm` – Gelet Iraqi Arabic`afb` – Gulf Arabic`ayh` – Hadhrami Arabic`mey` – Hassaniya Arabic`acw` – Hejazi Arabic`apc` – Levantine Arabic`ayl` – Libyan Arabic`ary` – Moroccan Arabic`ars` – Najdi Arabic`acx` – Omani Arabic`ayp` – Qeltu Iraqi Arabic`aao` – Saharan Arabic`aec` – Saʽidi Arabic`ayn` – Sanʽani Arabic`ssh` – Shihhi Arabic`sqr` – Siculo-Arabic`arb` – Standard Arabic`apd` – Sudanese Arabic`acq` – Taʽizzi-Adeni Arabic`abh` – Tajiki Arabic`aeb` – Tunisian Arabic`auz` – Uzbeki Arabic |
Glottolog | `arab1395` |
| Linguasphere | `12-AAC` |
Sole official language, Arabic-speaking majority
Co-official language, Arabic-speaking majority
Co-official language, Arabic-speaking minority
Not an official language, Arabic-speaking minority | |
**Arabic** (endonym: اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ, romanized: *al-ʿarabiyyah*, pronounced [al ʕaraˈbijːa] ⓘ, or عَرَبِيّ, *ʿarabīy*, pronounced [ˈʕarabiː] ⓘ or [ʕaraˈbij]) is a Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns language codes to 32 varieties of Arabic, including its standard form of Literary Arabic, known as Modern Standard Arabic, which is derived from Classical Arabic. This distinction exists primarily among Western linguists; Arabic speakers themselves generally do not distinguish between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, but rather refer to both as *al-ʿarabiyyatu l-fuṣḥā* (اَلعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ "the eloquent Arabic") or simply * al-fuṣḥā* (اَلْفُصْحَىٰ).
Arabic is the third most widespread official language after English and French, one of six official languages of the United Nations, and the liturgical language of Islam. Arabic is widely taught in schools and universities around the world and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, governments and the media. During the Middle Ages, Arabic was a major vehicle of culture and learning, especially in science, mathematics and philosophy. As a result, many European languages have borrowed words from it. Arabic influence, mainly in vocabulary, is seen in European languages (mainly Spanish and to a lesser extent Portuguese, Catalan, and Sicilian) owing to the proximity of Europe and the long-lasting Arabic cultural and linguistic presence, mainly in Southern Iberia, during the Al-Andalus era. Maltese is a Semitic language developed from a dialect of Arabic and written in the Latin alphabet. The Balkan languages, including Albanian, Greek, Serbo-Croatian, and Bulgarian, have also acquired many words of Arabic origin, mainly through direct contact with Ottoman Turkish.
Arabic has influenced languages across the globe throughout its history, especially languages where Islam is the predominant religion and in countries that were conquered by Muslims. The most markedly influenced languages are Persian, Turkish, Hindustani (Hindi and Urdu), Kashmiri, Kurdish, Bosnian, Kazakh, Bengali, Malay (Indonesian and Malaysian), Maldivian, Pashto, Punjabi, Albanian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Sicilian, Spanish, Greek, Bulgarian, Tagalog, Sindhi, Odia, Hebrew and African languages such as Hausa, Amharic, Tigrinya, Somali, Tamazight, and Swahili. Conversely, Arabic has borrowed some words (mostly nouns) from other languages, including its sister-language Aramaic, Persian, Greek, and Latin and to a lesser extent and more recently from Turkish, English, French, and Italian.
Arabic is spoken by as many as 380 million speakers, both native and non-native, in the Arab world, making it the fifth most spoken language in the world and the fourth most used language on the internet in terms of users. It also serves as the liturgical language of more than 2 billion Muslims. In 2011, *Bloomberg Businessweek* ranked Arabic the fourth most useful language for business, after English, Mandarin Chinese, and French. Arabic is written with the Arabic alphabet, an abjad script that is written from right to left.
Classical Arabic (and Modern Standard Arabic) is considered a conservative language among Semitic languages, it preserved the complete Proto-Semitic three grammatical cases and declension (ʾIʿrab), and it was used in the reconstruction of Proto-Semitic since it preserves as contrastive 28 out of the evident 29 consonantal phonemes.
## Classification
Arabic is usually classified as a Central Semitic language. Linguists still differ as to the best classification of Semitic language sub-groups. The Semitic languages changed between Proto-Semitic and the emergence of Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include:
- The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation (
*jalas-*) into a past tense. - The conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation (
*yajlis-*) into a present tense. - The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms (e.g., a present tense formed by doubling the middle root, a perfect formed by infixing a /t/ after the first root consonant, probably a jussive formed by a stress shift) in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms (e.g.,
*-u*for indicative,*-a*for subjunctive, no ending for jussive,*-an*or*-anna*for energetic). - The development of an internal passive.
There are several features which Classical Arabic, the modern Arabic varieties, as well as the Safaitic and Hismaic inscriptions share which are unattested in any other Central Semitic language variety, including the Dadanitic and Taymanitic languages of the northern Hejaz. These features are evidence of common descent from a hypothetical ancestor, Proto-Arabic. The following features of Proto-Arabic can be reconstructed with confidence:
- negative particles
*m** /mā/;*lʾn**/lā-ʾan/ to Classical Arabic lan - mafʿūl G-passive participle
- prepositions and adverbs
*f*,*ʿn*,*ʿnd*,*ḥt*,*ʿkdy* - a subjunctive in -
*a* *t*-demonstratives- leveling of the -
*at*allomorph of the feminine ending *ʾn*complementizer and subordinator- the use of
*f*- to introduce modal clauses - independent object pronoun in
*(ʾ)y* - vestiges of
*nunation*
On the other hand, several Arabic varieties are closer to other Semitic languages and maintain features not found in Classical Arabic, indicating that these varieties cannot have developed from Classical Arabic. Thus, Arabic vernaculars do not descend from Classical Arabic: Classical Arabic is a sister language rather than their direct ancestor.
## History
### Old Arabic
Arabia had a wide variety of Semitic languages in antiquity. The term "Arab" was initially used to describe those living in the Arabian Peninsula, as perceived by geographers from ancient Greece. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside the Ancient South Arabian family (e.g. Southern Thamudic) were spoken. It is believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages (non-Central Semitic languages) were spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hejaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages. In Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested.
In eastern Arabia, inscriptions in a script derived from ASA attest to a language known as Hasaitic. On the northwestern frontier of Arabia, various languages known to scholars as Thamudic B, Thamudic D, Safaitic, and Hismaic are attested. The last two share important isoglosses with later forms of Arabic, leading scholars to theorize that Safaitic and Hismaic are early forms of Arabic and that they should be considered Old Arabic.
Linguists generally believe that "Old Arabic", a collection of related dialects that constitute the precursor of Arabic, first emerged during the Iron Age. Previously, the earliest attestation of Old Arabic was thought to be a single 1st century CE inscription in Sabaic script at Qaryat al-Faw, in southern present-day Saudi Arabia. However, this inscription does not participate in several of the key innovations of the Arabic language group, such as the conversion of Semitic mimation to nunation in the singular. It is best reassessed as a separate language on the Central Semitic dialect continuum.
It was also thought that Old Arabic coexisted alongside—and then gradually displaced—epigraphic Ancient North Arabian (ANA), which was theorized to have been the regional tongue for many centuries. ANA, despite its name, was considered a very distinct language, and mutually unintelligible, from "Arabic". Scholars named its variant dialects after the towns where the inscriptions were discovered (Dadanitic, Taymanitic, Hismaic, Safaitic). However, most arguments for a single ANA language or language family were based on the shape of the definite article, a prefixed h-. It has been argued that the h- is an archaism and not a shared innovation, and thus unsuitable for language classification, rendering the hypothesis of an ANA language family untenable. Safaitic and Hismaic, previously considered ANA, should be considered Old Arabic due to the fact that they participate in the innovations common to all forms of Arabic.
The earliest attestation of continuous Arabic text in an ancestor of the modern Arabic script are three lines of poetry by a man named Garm(')allāhe found in En Avdat, Israel, and dated to around 125 CE. This is followed by the Namara inscription, an epitaph of the Lakhmid king Imru' al-Qays bar 'Amro, dating to 328 CE, found at Namaraa, Syria. From the 4th to the 6th centuries, the Nabataean script evolved into the Arabic script recognizable from the early Islamic era. There are inscriptions in an undotted, 17-letter Arabic script dating to the 6th century CE, found at four locations in Syria (Zabad, Jebel Usays, Harran, Umm el-Jimal). The oldest surviving papyrus in Arabic dates to 643 CE, and it uses dots to produce the modern 28-letter Arabic alphabet. The language of that papyrus and of the Qur'an is referred to by linguists as "Quranic Arabic", as distinct from its codification soon thereafter into "Classical Arabic".
### Classical Arabic
In late pre-Islamic times, a transdialectal and transcommunal variety of Arabic emerged in the Hejaz, which continued living its parallel life after literary Arabic had been institutionally standardized in the 2nd and 3rd century of the Hijra, most strongly in Judeo-Christian texts, keeping alive ancient features eliminated from the "learned" tradition (Classical Arabic). This variety and both its classicizing and "lay" iterations have been termed Middle Arabic in the past, but they are thought to continue an Old Higazi register. It is clear that the orthography of the Quran was not developed for the standardized form of Classical Arabic; rather, it shows the attempt on the part of writers to record an archaic form of Old Higazi.[ citation needed]
In the late 6th century AD, a relatively uniform intertribal "poetic koine" distinct from the spoken vernaculars developed based on the Bedouin dialects of Najd, probably in connection with the court of al-Ḥīra. During the first Islamic century, the majority of Arabic poets and Arabic-writing persons spoke Arabic as their mother tongue. Their texts, although mainly preserved in far later manuscripts, contain traces of non-standardized Classical Arabic elements in morphology and syntax.[ citation needed]
### Standardization
Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali (c. 603–689) is credited with standardizing Arabic grammar, or *an-naḥw* (النَّحو "the way"), and pioneering a system of diacritics to differentiate consonants (نقط الإعجام *nuqaṭu‿l-i'jām* "pointing for non-Arabs") and indicate vocalization (التشكيل *at-tashkīl*). Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi (718–786) compiled the first Arabic dictionary, *Kitāb al-'Ayn* (كتاب العين "The Book of the Letter ع"), and is credited with establishing the rules of Arabic prosody. Al-Jahiz (776–868) proposed to Al-Akhfash al-Akbar an overhaul of the grammar of Arabic, but it would not come to pass for two centuries. The standardization of Arabic reached completion around the end of the 8th century. The first comprehensive description of the *ʿarabiyya* "Arabic", Sībawayhi's *al*-*Kitāb*, is based first of all upon a corpus of poetic texts, in addition to Qur'an usage and Bedouin informants whom he considered to be reliable speakers of the *ʿarabiyya*.
### Spread
Arabic spread with the spread of Islam. Following the early Muslim conquests, Arabic gained vocabulary from Middle Persian and Turkish. In the early Abbasid period, many Classical Greek terms entered Arabic through translations carried out at Baghdad's House of Wisdom.
By the 8th century, knowledge of Classical Arabic had become an essential prerequisite for rising into the higher classes throughout the Islamic world, both for Muslims and non-Muslims. For example, Maimonides, the Andalusi Jewish philosopher, authored works in Judeo-Arabic—Arabic written in Hebrew script.
### Development
Ibn Jinni of Mosul, a pioneer in phonology, wrote prolifically in the 10th century on Arabic morphology and phonology in works such as *Kitāb Al-Munṣif, Kitāb Al-Muḥtasab, and* *Kitāb Al-Khaṣāʾiṣ * .
Ibn Mada' of Cordoba (1116–1196) realized the overhaul of Arabic grammar first proposed by Al-Jahiz 200 years prior.
The Maghrebi lexicographer Ibn Manzur compiled *Lisān al-ʿArab* (لسان العرب, "Tongue of Arabs"), a major reference dictionary of Arabic, in 1290.
### Neo-Arabic
Charles Ferguson's koine theory claims that the modern Arabic dialects collectively descend from a single military koine that sprang up during the Islamic conquests; this view has been challenged in recent times. Ahmad al-Jallad proposes that there were at least two considerably distinct types of Arabic on the eve of the conquests: Northern and Central (Al-Jallad 2009). The modern dialects emerged from a new contact situation produced following the conquests. Instead of the emergence of a single or multiple koines, the dialects contain several sedimentary layers of borrowed and areal features, which they absorbed at different points in their linguistic histories. According to Veersteegh and Bickerton, colloquial Arabic dialects arose from pidginized Arabic formed from contact between Arabs and conquered peoples. Pidginization and subsequent creolization among Arabs and arabized peoples could explain relative morphological and phonological simplicity of vernacular Arabic compared to Classical and MSA.
In around the 11th and 12th centuries in al-Andalus, the *zajal* and *muwashah* poetry forms developed in the dialectical Arabic of Cordoba and the Maghreb.
### Nahda
The *Nahda* was a cultural and especially literary renaissance of the 19th century in which writers sought "to fuse Arabic and European forms of expression." According to James L. Gelvin, "*Nahda* writers attempted to simplify the Arabic language and script so that it might be accessible to a wider audience."
In the wake of the industrial revolution and European hegemony and colonialism, pioneering Arabic presses, such as the Amiri Press established by Muhammad Ali (1819), dramatically changed the diffusion and consumption of Arabic literature and publications. Rifa'a al-Tahtawi proposed the establishment of Madrasat al-Alsun in 1836 and led a translation campaign that highlighted the need for a lexical injection in Arabic, to suit concepts of the industrial and post-industrial age (such as *sayyārah* سَيَّارَة 'automobile' or *bākhirah* باخِرة 'steamship').
In response, a number of Arabic academies modeled after the *Académie française* were established with the aim of developing standardized additions to the Arabic lexicon to suit these transformations, first in Damascus (1919), then in Cairo (1932), Baghdad (1948), Rabat (1960), Amman (1977), Khartum (1993), and Tunis (1993). They review language development, monitor new words and approve the inclusion of new words into their published standard dictionaries. They also publish old and historical Arabic manuscripts.[ citation needed]
In 1997, a bureau of Arabization standardization was added to the Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization of the Arab League. These academies and organizations have worked toward the Arabization of the sciences, creating terms in Arabic to describe new concepts, toward the standardization of these new terms throughout the Arabic-speaking world, and toward the development of Arabic as a world language. This gave rise to what Western scholars call Modern Standard Arabic. From the 1950s, Arabization became a postcolonial nationalist policy in countries such as Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Sudan.
*Arabic* usually refers to Standard Arabic, which Western linguists divide into Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic. It could also refer to any of a variety of regional vernacular Arabic dialects, which are not necessarily mutually intelligible.
Classical Arabic is the language found in the Quran, used from the period of Pre-Islamic Arabia to that of the Abbasid Caliphate. Classical Arabic is prescriptive, according to the syntactic and grammatical norms laid down by classical grammarians (such as Sibawayh) and the vocabulary defined in classical dictionaries (such as the *Lisān al-ʻArab*).[ citation needed]
Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) largely follows the grammatical standards of Classical Arabic and uses much of the same vocabulary. However, it has discarded some grammatical constructions and vocabulary that no longer have any counterpart in the spoken varieties and has adopted certain new constructions and vocabulary from the spoken varieties. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the industrial and post-industrial era, especially in modern times.
Due to its grounding in Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic is removed over a millennium from everyday speech, which is construed as a multitude of dialects of this language. These dialects and Modern Standard Arabic are described by some scholars as not mutually comprehensible. The former are usually acquired in families, while the latter is taught in formal education settings. However, there have been studies reporting some degree of comprehension of stories told in the standard variety among preschool-aged children.
The relation between Modern Standard Arabic and these dialects is sometimes compared to that of Classical Latin and Vulgar Latin vernaculars (which became Romance languages) in medieval and early modern Europe.
MSA is the variety used in most current, printed Arabic publications, spoken by some of the Arabic media across North Africa and the Middle East, and understood by most educated Arabic speakers. "Literary Arabic" and "Standard Arabic" (فُصْحَى * fuṣḥá*) are less strictly defined terms that may refer to Modern Standard Arabic or Classical Arabic.
[
*citation needed*]Some of the differences between Classical Arabic (CA) and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) are as follows:[ citation needed]
- Certain grammatical constructions of CA that have no counterpart in any modern vernacular dialect (e.g., the energetic mood) are almost never used in Modern Standard Arabic.
[*citation needed*] - Case distinctions are very rare in Arabic vernaculars. As a result, MSA is generally composed without case distinctions in mind, and the proper cases are added after the fact, when necessary. Because most case endings are noted using final short vowels, which are normally left unwritten in the Arabic script, it is unnecessary to determine the proper case of most words. The practical result of this is that MSA, like English and Standard Chinese, is written in a strongly determined word order and alternative orders that were used in CA for emphasis are rare. In addition, because of the lack of case marking in the spoken varieties, most speakers cannot consistently use the correct endings in extemporaneous speech. As a result, spoken MSA tends to drop or regularize the endings except when reading from a prepared text.
[*citation needed*] - The numeral system in CA is complex and heavily tied in with the case system. This system is never used in MSA, even in the most formal of circumstances; instead, a greatly simplified system is used, approximating the system of the conservative spoken varieties.
[*citation needed*]
MSA uses much Classical vocabulary (e.g., * dhahaba* 'to go') that is not present in the spoken varieties, but deletes Classical words that sound obsolete in MSA. In addition, MSA has borrowed or coined many terms for concepts that did not exist in Quranic times, and MSA continues to evolve. Some words have been borrowed from other languages—notice that transliteration mainly indicates spelling and not real pronunciation (e.g., فِلْم
*'film' or ديمقراطية*
*film**'democracy').*
*dīmuqrāṭiyyah*[
*citation needed*]The current preference is to avoid direct borrowings, preferring to either use loan translations (e.g., فرع * farʻ* 'branch', also used for the branch of a company or organization; جناح
*'wing', is also used for the wing of an airplane, building, air force, etc.), or to coin new words using forms within existing roots (استماتة*
*janāḥ**'apoptosis', using the root موت*
*istimātah**m/w/t*'death' put into the Xth form, or جامعة
*'university', based on جمع*
*jāmiʻah**'to gather, unite'; جمهورية*
*jamaʻa**'republic', based on جمهور*
*jumhūriyyah**'multitude'). An earlier tendency was to redefine an older word although this has fallen into disuse (e.g., هاتف*
*jumhūr**'telephone' < 'invisible caller (in Sufism)'; جريدة*
*hātif**'newspaper' < 'palm-leaf stalk').*
*jarīdah*[
*citation needed*]*Colloquial* or *dialectal* Arabic refers to the many national or regional varieties which constitute the everyday spoken language. Colloquial Arabic has many regional variants; geographically distant varieties usually differ enough to be mutually unintelligible, and some linguists consider them distinct languages. However, research indicates a high degree of mutual intelligibility between closely related Arabic variants for native speakers listening to words, sentences, and texts; and between more distantly related dialects in interactional situations.
The varieties are typically unwritten. They are often used in informal spoken media, such as soap operas and talk shows, as well as occasionally in certain forms of written media such as poetry and printed advertising.
Hassaniya Arabic, Maltese, and Cypriot Arabic are only varieties of modern Arabic to have acquired official recognition. Hassaniya is official in Mali and recognized as a minority language in Morocco, while the Senegalese government adopted the Latin script to write it. Maltese is official in (predominantly Catholic) Malta and written with the Latin script. Linguists agree that it is a variety of spoken Arabic, descended from Siculo-Arabic, though it has experienced extensive changes as a result of sustained and intensive contact with Italo-Romance varieties, and more recently also with English. Due to "a mix of social, cultural, historical, political, and indeed linguistic factors", many Maltese people today consider their language Semitic but not a type of Arabic. Cypriot Arabic is recognized as a minority language in Cyprus.
## Status and usage
### Diglossia
The sociolinguistic situation of Arabic in modern times provides a prime example of the linguistic phenomenon of diglossia, which is the normal use of two separate varieties of the same language, usually in different social situations. *Tawleed* is the process of giving a new shade of meaning to an old classical word. For example, *al-hatif* lexicographically means the one whose sound is heard but whose person remains unseen. Now the term *al-hatif* is used for a telephone. Therefore, the process of *tawleed* can express the needs of modern civilization in a manner that would appear to be originally Arabic.
In the case of Arabic, educated Arabs of any nationality can be assumed to speak both their school-taught Standard Arabic as well as their native dialects, which depending on the region may be mutually unintelligible. Some of these dialects can be considered to constitute separate languages which may have "sub-dialects" of their own. When educated Arabs of different dialects engage in conversation (for example, a Moroccan speaking with a Lebanese), many speakers code-switch back and forth between the dialectal and standard varieties of the language, sometimes even within the same sentence.
The issue of whether Arabic is one language or many languages is politically charged, in the same way it is for the varieties of Chinese, Hindi and Urdu, Serbian and Croatian, Scots and English, etc. In contrast to speakers of Hindi and Urdu who claim they cannot understand each other even when they can, speakers of the varieties of Arabic will claim they can all understand each other even when they cannot.
While there is a minimum level of comprehension between all Arabic dialects, this level can increase or decrease based on geographic proximity: for example, Levantine and Gulf speakers understand each other much better than they do speakers from the Maghreb. The issue of diglossia between spoken and written language is a complicating factor: A single written form, differing sharply from any of the spoken varieties learned natively, unites several sometimes divergent spoken forms. For political reasons, Arabs mostly assert that they all speak a single language, despite mutual incomprehensibility among differing spoken versions.
From a linguistic standpoint, it is often said that the various spoken varieties of Arabic differ among each other collectively about as much as the Romance languages. This is an apt comparison in a number of ways. The period of divergence from a single spoken form is similar—perhaps 1500 years for Arabic, 2000 years for the Romance languages. Also, while it is comprehensible to people from the Maghreb, a linguistically innovative variety such as Moroccan Arabic is essentially incomprehensible to Arabs from the Mashriq, much as French is incomprehensible to Spanish or Italian speakers but relatively easily learned by them. This suggests that the spoken varieties may linguistically be considered separate languages.[ citation needed]
With the sole example of Medieval linguist Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati – who, while a scholar of the Arabic language, was not ethnically Arab – Medieval scholars of the Arabic language made no efforts at studying comparative linguistics, considering all other languages inferior.
In modern times, the educated upper classes in the Arab world have taken a nearly opposite view. Yasir Suleiman wrote in 2011 that "studying and knowing English or French in most of the Middle East and North Africa have become a badge of sophistication and modernity and ... feigning, or asserting, weakness or lack of facility in Arabic is sometimes paraded as a sign of status, class, and perversely, even education through a mélange of code-switching practises."
### As a foreign language
Arabic has been taught worldwide in many elementary and secondary schools, especially Muslim schools. Universities around the world have classes that teach Arabic as part of their foreign languages, Middle Eastern studies, and religious studies courses. Arabic language schools exist to assist students to learn Arabic outside the academic world. There are many Arabic language schools in the Arab world and other Muslim countries. Because the Quran is written in Arabic and all Islamic terms are in Arabic, millions of Muslims (both Arab and non-Arab) study the language.
Software and books with tapes are an important part of Arabic learning, as many of Arabic learners may live in places where there are no academic or Arabic language school classes available. Radio series of Arabic language classes are also provided from some radio stations. A number of websites on the Internet provide online classes for all levels as a means of distance education; most teach Modern Standard Arabic, but some teach regional varieties from numerous countries.
## Vocabulary
### Lexicography
#### Pre-modern Arabic lexicography
The tradition of Arabic lexicography extended for about a millennium before the modern period. Early lexicographers (لُغَوِيُّون *lughawiyyūn*) sought to explain words in the Quran that were unfamiliar or had a particular contextual meaning, and to identify words of non-Arabic origin that appear in the Quran. They gathered *shawāhid* (شَوَاهِد 'instances of attested usage') from poetry and the speech of the Arabs—particularly the Bedouin ʾaʿrāb (أَعْراب) who were perceived to speak the "purest," most eloquent form of Arabic—initiating a process of *jamʿu‿l-luɣah* (جمع اللغة 'compiling the language') which took place over the 8th and early 9th centuries.
*Kitāb al-'Ayn* (c. 8th century), attributed to Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi, is considered the first lexicon to include all Arabic roots; it sought to exhaust all possible root permutations—later called *taqālīb* (تقاليب)*—*calling those that are actually used *mustaʿmal* (مستعمَل) and those that are not used *muhmal* (مُهمَل). *Lisān al-ʿArab* (1290) by Ibn Manzur gives 9,273 roots, while *Tāj al-ʿArūs* (1774) by Murtada az-Zabidi gives 11,978 roots.
This lexicographic tradition was traditionalist and corrective in nature—holding that linguistic correctness and eloquence derive from Qurʾānic usage, pre-Islamic poetry , and Bedouin speech—positioning itself against *laḥnu‿l-ʿāmmah* (لَحْن العامة), the solecism it viewed as defective.
#### Western lexicography of Arabic
In the second half of the 19th century, the British Arabist Edward William Lane, working with the Egyptian scholar Ibrāhīm Abd al-Ghaffār ad-Dasūqī , compiled the *Arabic–English Lexicon* by translating material from earlier Arabic lexica into English. The German Arabist Hans Wehr, with contributions from Hedwig Klein, compiled the *Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart* (1952), later translated into English as *A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic* (1961), based on established usage, especially in literature.
#### Modern Arabic lexicography
The Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo sought to publish a historical dictionary of Arabic in the vein of the *Oxford English Dictionary*, tracing the changes of meanings and uses of Arabic words over time. A first volume of *Al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr* was published in 1956 under the leadership of Taha Hussein. The project is not yet complete; its 15th volume, covering the letter *ṣād*, was published in 2022.
### Loanwords
The most important sources of borrowings into (pre-Islamic) Arabic are from the related (Semitic) languages Aramaic, which used to be the principal, international language of communication throughout the ancient Near and Middle East, and Ethiopic. Many cultural, religious and political terms have entered Arabic from Iranian languages, notably Middle Persian, Parthian, and (Classical) Persian, and Hellenistic Greek (*kīmiyāʼ* has as origin the Greek *khymia*, meaning in that language the melting of metals; see Roger Dachez, *Histoire de la Médecine de l'Antiquité au XXe siècle*, Tallandier, 2008, p. 251), *alembic* (distiller) from *ambix* (cup), *almanac* (climate) from *almenichiakon* (calendar).
For the origin of the last three borrowed words, see Alfred-Louis de Prémare, *Foundations of Islam*, Seuil, L'Univers Historique, 2002. Some Arabic borrowings from Semitic or Persian languages are, as presented in De Prémare's above-cited book: [ citation needed]
*madīnah*/medina (مدينة, city or city square), a word of Aramaic origin ܡܕ݂ܝܼܢ݇ܬܵܐ*məḏī(n)ttā*(in which it means "state/city").[*citation needed*]*jazīrah*(جزيرة), as in the well-known form الجزيرة "Al-Jazeera", means "island" and has its origin in the Syriac ܓܵܙܲܪܬܵܐ*gāzartā*.[*citation needed*]*lāzaward*(لازورد) is taken from Persian لاژورد*lājvard*, the name of a blue stone, lapis lazuli. This word was borrowed in several European languages to mean (light) blue – azure in English,*azur*in French and*azul*in Portuguese and Spanish.[*citation needed*]
A comprehensive overview of the influence of other languages on Arabic is found in Lucas & Manfredi (2020).
### Influence on other languages
The influence of Arabic has been most important in Islamic countries, because it is the language of the Islamic sacred book, the Quran. Arabic is also an important source of vocabulary for languages such as Amharic, Azerbaijani, Baluchi, Bengali, Berber, Bosnian, Chaldean, Chechen, Chittagonian, Croatian, Dagestani, Dhivehi, English, German, Gujarati, Hausa, Hindi, Kazakh, Kurdish, Kutchi, Kyrgyz, Malay (Malaysian and Indonesian), Pashto, Persian, Punjabi, Rohingya, Romance languages (French, Catalan, Italian, Portuguese, Sicilian, Spanish, etc.) Saraiki, Sindhi, Somali, Sylheti, Swahili, Tagalog, Tigrinya, Turkish, Turkmen, Urdu, Uyghur, Uzbek, Visayan and Wolof, as well as other languages in countries where these languages are spoken. Modern Hebrew has been also influenced by Arabic especially during the process of revival, as MSA was used as a source for modern Hebrew vocabulary and roots.
English has many Arabic loanwords, some directly, but most via other Mediterranean languages. Examples of such words include admiral, adobe, alchemy, alcohol, algebra, algorithm, alkaline, almanac, amber, arsenal, assassin, candy, carat, cipher, coffee, cotton, ghoul, hazard, jar, kismet, lemon, loofah, magazine, mattress, sherbet, sofa, sumac, tariff, and zenith. Other languages such as Maltese and Kinubi derive ultimately from Arabic, rather than merely borrowing vocabulary or grammatical rules.
Terms borrowed range from religious terminology (like Berber *taẓallit*, "prayer", from *salat* (صلاة * ṣalāh*)), academic terms (like Uyghur
*mentiq*, "logic"), and economic items (like English
*coffee*) to placeholders (like Spanish
*, "so-and-so"), everyday terms (like Hindustani*
*fulano**lekin*, "but", or Spanish
*taza*and French
*, meaning "cup"), and expressions (like Catalan*
*tasse**, "galore, in quantity"). Most Berber varieties (such as Kabyle), along with Swahili, borrow some numbers from Arabic. Most Islamic religious terms are direct borrowings from Arabic, such as صلاة (*
*a betzef**ṣalāh*), "prayer", and إمام (
*imām*), "prayer leader".
[
*citation needed*]In languages not directly in contact with the Arab world, Arabic loanwords are often transferred indirectly via other languages rather than being transferred directly from Arabic. For example, most Arabic loanwords in Hindustani and Turkish entered through Persian. Older Arabic loanwords in Hausa were borrowed from Kanuri. Most Arabic loanwords in Yoruba entered through Hausa.[ citation needed]
Arabic words made their way into several West African languages as Islam spread across the Sahara. Variants of Arabic words such as كتاب *kitāb* ("book") have spread to the languages of African groups who had no direct contact with Arab traders.
Since, throughout the Islamic world, Arabic occupied a position similar to that of Latin in Europe, many of the Arabic concepts in the fields of science, philosophy, commerce, etc. were coined from Arabic roots by non-native Arabic speakers, notably by Aramaic and Persian translators, and then found their way into other languages. This process of using Arabic roots, especially in Kurdish and Persian, to translate foreign concepts continued through to the 18th and 19th centuries, when swaths of Arab-inhabited lands were under Ottoman rule.[ citation needed]
## Spoken varieties
*Colloquial Arabic* is a collective term for the spoken dialects of Arabic used throughout the Arab world, which differ radically from the literary language. The main dialectal division is between the varieties within and outside of the Arabian peninsula, followed by that between sedentary varieties and the much more conservative Bedouin varieties. All the varieties outside of the Arabian peninsula, which include the large majority of speakers, have many features in common with each other that are not found in Classical Arabic. This has led researchers to postulate the existence of a prestige koine dialect in the one or two centuries immediately following the Arab conquest, whose features eventually spread to all newly conquered areas. These features are present to varying degrees inside the Arabian peninsula. Generally, the Arabian peninsula varieties have much more diversity than the non-peninsula varieties, but these have been understudied.[ citation needed]
Within the non-peninsula varieties, the largest difference is between the non-Egyptian North African dialects, especially Moroccan Arabic, and the others. Moroccan Arabic in particular is hardly comprehensible to Arabic speakers east of Libya (although the converse is not true, in part due to the popularity of Egyptian films and other media).[ citation needed]
One factor in the differentiation of the dialects is influence from the languages previously spoken in the areas, which have typically provided many new words and have sometimes also influenced pronunciation or word order. However, a more weighty factor for most dialects is, as among Romance languages, retention (or change of meaning) of different classical forms. Thus Iraqi *aku*, Levantine and Peninsular *fīh* and North African *kayən* all mean 'there is', and all come from Classical Arabic forms (*yakūn*, *fīhi*, *kā'in* respectively), but now sound very different.[ citation needed]
According to Charles A. Ferguson, the following are some of the characteristic features of the koiné that underlies all the modern dialects outside the Arabian peninsula. Although many other features are common to most or all of these varieties, Ferguson believes that these features in particular are unlikely to have evolved independently more than once or twice and together suggest the existence of the koine:
- Loss of the dual number except on nouns, with consistent plural agreement (cf. feminine singular agreement in plural inanimates).
- Change of
*a*to*i*in many affixes (e.g., non-past-tense prefixes*ti- yi- ni-*;*wi-*'and';*il-*'the'; feminine*-it*in the construct state). - Loss of third-weak verbs ending in
*w*(which merge with verbs ending in*y*). - Reformation of geminate verbs, e.g.,
'I untied' →*ḥalaltu*.*ḥalēt(u)* - Conversion of separate words
*lī*'to me',*laka*'to you', etc. into indirect-object clitic suffixes. - Certain changes in the cardinal number system, e.g.,
'five days' →*khamsat ayyām*, where certain words have a special plural with prefixed*kham(a)s tiyyām**t*. - Loss of the feminine elative (comparative).
- Adjective plurals of the form
'big' →*kibār*.*kubār* - Change of nisba suffix
>*-iyy*.*i* - Certain lexical items, e.g.,
'bring' <*jāb*'come with';*jāʼa bi-*'see';*shāf*'what' (or similar) <*ēsh*'which thing';*ayyu shayʼ*(relative pronoun).*illi* - Merger of /dˤ/ ⟨ض⟩ and /ðˤ/ ⟨ظ⟩ in most or all positions.
### Dialect groups
- Egyptian Arabic, spoken by 67 million people in Egypt. It is one of the most understood varieties of Arabic, due in large part to the widespread distribution of Egyptian films and television shows throughout the Arabic-speaking world.
- Levantine Arabic, spoken by about 44 million people in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, and Turkey.
- Lebanese Arabic is a variety of Levantine Arabic spoken primarily in Lebanon.
- Jordanian Arabic is a continuum of mutually intelligible varieties of Levantine Arabic spoken by the population of the Kingdom of Jordan.
- Palestinian Arabic is a name of several dialects of the subgroup of Levantine Arabic spoken by the Palestinians in Palestine, by Arab citizens of Israel and in most Palestinian populations around the world.
- Samaritan Arabic, spoken by only several hundred in the Nablus region.
- Cypriot Maronite Arabic, spoken in Cyprus by around 9,800 people (2013 UNSD).
- Maghrebi Arabic, also called "Darija", spoken by about 70 million people in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. It also forms the basis of Maltese via the extinct Sicilian Arabic dialect. Maghrebi Arabic is very hard to understand for Arabic speakers from the Mashriq or Mesopotamia, the most comprehensible being Libyan Arabic and the most difficult Moroccan Arabic. The others such as Algerian Arabic can be considered in between the two in terms of difficulty.
- Libyan Arabic, spoken in Libya and neighboring countries.
- Tunisian Arabic, spoken in Tunisia and north-eastern Algeria.
- Algerian Arabic, spoken in Algeria.
- Judeo-Algerian Arabic was spoken by Jews in Algeria until 1962, now it is spoken by a few elderly Algerian Jews in France and Israel.
- Moroccan Arabic, spoken in Morocco.
- Hassaniya Arabic (3 million speakers), spoken in Mauritania, Western Sahara, some parts of the Azawad in northern Mali, southern Morocco, and south-western Algeria.
- Andalusian Arabic, spoken in Spain until the 16th century.
- Siculo-Arabic (Sicilian Arabic), was spoken in Sicily and Malta between the end of the 9th century and the end of the 12th century and eventually evolved into the Maltese language.
- Maltese, spoken on the island of Malta, is the only fully separate standardized language to have originated from an Arabic dialect, the extinct Siculo-Arabic dialect, with independent literary norms. Maltese has evolved independently of Modern Standard Arabic and its varieties into a standardized language over the past 800 years in a gradual process of Latinisation. Maltese is therefore considered an exceptional descendant of Arabic that has no diglossic relationship with Standard Arabic or Classical Arabic. Maltese is different from Arabic and other Semitic languages since its morphology has been deeply influenced by Romance languages, Italian and Sicilian. It is the only Semitic language written in the Latin script. In terms of basic everyday language, speakers of Maltese are reported to be able to understand less than a third of what is said to them in Tunisian Arabic, which is related to Siculo-Arabic, whereas speakers of Tunisian are able to understand about 40% of what is said to them in Maltese. This asymmetric intelligibility is considerably lower than the mutual intelligibility found between Maghrebi Arabic dialects. Maltese has its own dialects, with urban varieties of Maltese being closer to Standard Maltese than rural varieties.
- Mesopotamian Arabic, spoken by about 41.2 million people in Iraq (where it is called "Aamiyah"), eastern Syria and southwestern Iran (Khuzestan) and in the southeastern of Turkey (in the eastern Mediterranean, Southeastern Anatolia Region).
- North Mesopotamian Arabic is a spoken north of the Hamrin Mountains in Iraq, in western Iran, northern Syria, and in southeastern Turkey (in the eastern Mediterranean Region, Southeastern Anatolia Region, and southern Eastern Anatolia Region).
- Judeo-Mesopotamian Arabic, also known as Iraqi Judeo Arabic and Yahudic, is a variety of Arabic spoken by Iraqi Jews of Mosul.
- Baghdad Arabic is the Arabic dialect spoken in Baghdad, and the surrounding cities and it is a subvariety of Mesopotamian Arabic.
- Baghdad Jewish Arabic is the dialect spoken by the Iraqi Jews of Baghdad.
- South Mesopotamian Arabic (Basrawi dialect) is the dialect spoken in southern Iraq, such as Basra, Dhi Qar, and Najaf.
- Khuzestani Arabic, spoken in the Iranian province of Khuzestan. This is a mix of Southern Mesopotamian Arabic and Gulf Arabic.
- Khorasani Arabic, spoken in the Iranian province of Khorasan.
- Kuwaiti Arabic is a Gulf Arabic dialect spoken in Kuwait.
- Sudanese Arabic, spoken by 17 million people in Sudan and some parts of southern Egypt. Sudanese Arabic is quite distinct from the dialect of its neighbor to the north; rather, the Sudanese have a dialect similar to the Hejazi dialect.
- Juba Arabic, spoken in South Sudan and southern far Sudan.
- Gulf Arabic, spoken by around four million people, predominantly in Kuwait, Bahrain, some parts of Oman, eastern Saudi Arabia coastal areas and some parts of UAE and Qatar. Also spoken in Iran's Bushehr and Hormozgan provinces. Although Gulf Arabic is spoken in Qatar, most Qatari citizens speak Najdi Arabic (Bedawi).
- Omani Arabic, distinct from the Gulf Arabic of Eastern Arabia and Bahrain, spoken in Central Oman. With its oil wealth and mobility it has spread to various areas of the former Sultanate of Muscat, especially Zanzibar and the Swahili Coast.
- Hadhrami Arabic, spoken by around 8 million people, predominantly in Hadhramaut, and in parts of the Arabian Peninsula, South and Southeast Asia, and East Africa by Hadhrami descendants.
- Indonesian Arabic, spoken in Arab ethnic enclaves in Indonesia, especially along the north coast of Java. It has about 60,000 speakers according to a rough estimate in 2010.
- Yemeni Arabic, spoken in Yemen, and southern Saudi Arabia by 15 million people. Similar to Gulf Arabic.
- Najdi Arabic, spoken by around 10 million people, mainly spoken in Najd, central and northern Saudi Arabia. Most Qatari citizens speak Najdi Arabic (Bedawi).
- Hejazi Arabic (6 million speakers), spoken in Hejaz, western Saudi Arabia.
- Saharan Arabic spoken in some parts of Algeria, Niger and Mali.
- Baharna Arabic (800,000 speakers), spoken by Bahrani Shias in Bahrain and Qatif, the dialect exhibits many big differences from Gulf Arabic. It is also spoken to a lesser extent in Oman.
- Judeo-Arabic dialects – these are the dialects spoken by the Jews that had lived or continue to live in the Arab World. As Jewish migration to Israel took hold, the language did not thrive and is now considered endangered. So-called Qəltu Arabic.
- Chadian Arabic, spoken in Chad, Sudan, some parts of South Sudan, Central African Republic, Niger, Nigeria, and Cameroon.
- Central Asian Arabic, spoken in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan by around 8,000 people. Tajiki Arabic is highly endangered.
- Shirvani Arabic, spoken in Azerbaijan and Dagestan until the 1930s, now extinct.
## Phonology
While many languages have numerous dialects that differ in phonology, contemporary spoken Arabic is more properly described as a continuum of varieties. Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), is the standard variety shared by educated speakers throughout Arabic-speaking regions. MSA is used in writing in formal print media and orally in newscasts, speeches and formal declarations of numerous types.
Modern Standard Arabic has 28 consonant phonemes and 6 vowel phonemes. The four "emphatic" (pharyngealized) consonants /sˤ, dˤ, tˤ, ðˤ/ contrast with their non-emphatic counterparts /s, d, t, ð/, other consonants including the interdentals /θ, ð/, and the pharyngeals /ħ, ʕ/ are considered rare cross-linguistically. Some of these phonemes have coalesced in the various modern dialects, while new phonemes have been introduced through borrowing or phonemic splits. A "phonemic quality of length" applies to consonants as well as vowels.
## Grammar
The grammar of Arabic has similarities with the grammar of other Semitic languages. Some of the typical differences between Standard Arabic (فُصْحَى) and vernacular varieties are a loss of morphological markings of grammatical case, changes in word order, a shift toward more analytic morphosyntax, loss of grammatical mood, and loss of the inflected passive voice.
### Literary Arabic
As in other Semitic languages, Arabic has a complex and unusual morphology, i.e. method of constructing words from a basic root. Arabic has a nonconcatenative "root-and-pattern" morphology: A root consists of a set of bare consonants (usually three), which are fitted into a discontinuous pattern to form words. For example, the word for 'I wrote' is constructed by combining the root ** k-t-b** 'write' with the pattern
**'I Xed' to form**
*-a-a-tu**'I wrote'.*
*katabtu*Other verbs meaning 'I Xed' will typically have the same pattern but with different consonants, e.g. * qaraʼtu* 'I read',
*'I ate',*
*akaltu**'I went', although other patterns are possible, e.g.*
*dhahabtu**'I drank',*
*sharibtu**'I said',*
*qultu**'I spoke', where the subpattern used to signal the past tense may change but the suffix*
*takallamtu**is always used.*
*-tu*From a single root ** k-t-b**, numerous words can be formed by applying different patterns:
- كَتَبْتُ
'I wrote'*katabtu* - كَتَّبْتُ
'I had (something) written'*kattabtu* - كَاتَبْتُ
'I corresponded (with someone)'*kātabtu* - أَكْتَبْتُ
'I dictated'*'aktabtu* - اِكْتَتَبْتُ
'I subscribed'*iktatabtu* - تَكَاتَبْنَا
'we corresponded with each other'*takātabnā* - أَكْتُبُ
'I write'*'aktubu* - أُكَتِّبُ
'I have (something) written'*'ukattibu* - أُكَاتِبُ
'I correspond (with someone)'*'ukātibu* - أُكْتِبُ
'I dictate'*'uktibu* - أَكْتَتِبُ
'I subscribe'*'aktatibu* - نَتَكَتِبُ
'we correspond each other'*natakātabu* - كُتِبَ
'it was written'*kutiba* - أُكْتِبَ
'it was dictated'*'uktiba* - مَكْتُوبٌ
'written'*maktūbun* - مُكْتَبٌ
'dictated'*muktabun* - كِتَابٌ
'book'*kitābun* - كُتُبٌ
'books'*kutubun* - كَاتِبٌ
'writer'*kātibun* - كُتَّابٌ
'writers'*kuttābun* - مَكْتَبٌ
'desk, office'*maktabun* - مَكْتَبَةٌ
'library, bookshop'*maktabatun* - etc.
#### Nouns and adjectives
Nouns in Literary Arabic have three grammatical cases (nominative, accusative, and genitive [also used when the noun is governed by a preposition]); three numbers (singular, dual and plural); two genders (masculine and feminine); and three "states" (indefinite, definite, and construct). The cases of singular nouns, other than those that end in long ā, are indicated by suffixed short vowels (/-u/ for nominative, /-a/ for accusative, /-i/ for genitive).
The feminine singular is often marked by ـَة /-at/, which is pronounced as /-ah/ before a pause. Plural is indicated either through endings (the sound plural) or internal modification (the broken plural). Definite nouns include all proper nouns, all nouns in "construct state" and all nouns which are prefixed by the definite article اَلْـ /al-/. Indefinite singular nouns, other than those that end in long ā, add a final /-n/ to the case-marking vowels, giving /-un/, /-an/ or /-in/, which is also referred to as nunation or tanwīn.
Adjectives in Literary Arabic are marked for case, number, gender and state, as for nouns. The plural of all non-human nouns is always combined with a singular feminine adjective, which takes the ـَة /-at/ suffix.
Pronouns in Literary Arabic are marked for person, number and gender. There are two varieties, independent pronouns and enclitics. Enclitic pronouns are attached to the end of a verb, noun or preposition and indicate verbal and prepositional objects or possession of nouns. The first-person singular pronoun has a different enclitic form used for verbs (ـنِي /-nī/) and for nouns or prepositions (ـِي /-ī/ after consonants, ـيَ /-ya/ after vowels).
Nouns, verbs, pronouns and adjectives agree with each other in all respects. Non-human plural nouns are grammatically considered to be feminine singular. A verb in a verb-initial sentence is marked as singular regardless of its semantic number when the subject of the verb is explicitly mentioned as a noun. Numerals between three and ten show "chiasmic" agreement, in that grammatically masculine numerals have feminine marking and vice versa.
#### Verbs
Verbs in Literary Arabic are marked for person (first, second, or third), gender, and number. They are conjugated in two major paradigms (past and non-past); two voices (active and passive); and six moods (indicative, imperative, subjunctive, jussive, shorter energetic and longer energetic); the fifth and sixth moods, the energetics, exist only in Classical Arabic but not in MSA. There are two participles, active and passive, and a verbal noun, but no infinitive.
The past and non-past paradigms are sometimes termed perfective and imperfective, indicating the fact that they actually represent a combination of tense and aspect. The moods other than the indicative occur only in the non-past, and the future tense is signaled by prefixing سَـ * sa-* or سَوْفَ
*onto the non-past. The past and non-past differ in the form of the stem (e.g., past كَتَبـ*
*sawfa**vs. non-past ـكْتُبـ*
*katab-**), and use completely different sets of affixes for indicating person, number and gender: In the past, the person, number and gender are fused into a single suffixal morpheme, while in the non-past, a combination of prefixes (primarily encoding person) and suffixes (primarily encoding gender and number) are used. The passive voice uses the same person/number/gender affixes but changes the vowels of the stem.*
*-ktub-*The following shows a paradigm of a regular Arabic verb, كَتَبَ * kataba* 'to write'. In Modern Standard, the energetic mood, in either long or short form, which has the same meaning, is almost never used.
#### Derivation
Like other Semitic languages, and unlike most other languages, Arabic makes much more use of nonconcatenative morphology, applying many templates applied to roots, to derive words than adding prefixes or suffixes to words.
For verbs, a given root can occur in many different derived verb stems, of which there are about fifteen, each with one or more characteristic meanings and each with its own templates for the past and non-past stems, active and passive participles, and verbal noun. These are referred to by Western scholars as "Form I", "Form II", and so on through "Form XV", although Forms XI to XV are rare.
These stems encode grammatical functions such as the causative, intensive and reflexive. Stems sharing the same root consonants represent separate verbs, albeit often semantically related, and each is the basis for its own conjugational paradigm. As a result, these derived stems are part of the system of derivational morphology, not part of the inflectional system.
Examples of the different verbs formed from the root كتب * k-t-b* 'write' (using حمر
*'red' for Form IX, which is limited to colors and physical defects):*
*ḥ-m-r*| Form | Past | Meaning | Non-past | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | kataba |
'he wrote' | yaktubu |
'he writes' |
| II | kattaba |
'he made (someone) write' | yukattibu |
"he makes (someone) write" |
| III | kātaba |
'he corresponded with, wrote to (someone)' | yukātibu |
'he corresponds with, writes to (someone)' |
| IV | ʾaktaba |
'he dictated' | yuktibu |
'he dictates' |
| V | takattaba |
nonexistent |
yatakattabu |
nonexistent
|
| VI | takātaba |
'he corresponded (with someone, esp. mutually)' | yatakātabu |
'he corresponds (with someone, esp. mutually)' |
| VII | inkataba |
'he subscribed' | yankatibu |
'he subscribes' |
| VIII | iktataba |
'he copied' | yaktatibu |
'he copies' |
| IX | iḥmarra |
'he turned red' | yaḥmarru |
'he turns red' |
| X | istaktaba |
'he asked (someone) to write' | yastaktibu |
'he asks (someone) to write' |
Form II is sometimes used to create transitive denominative verbs (verbs built from nouns); Form V is the equivalent used for intransitive denominatives.
The associated participles and verbal nouns of a verb are the primary means of forming new lexical nouns in Arabic. This is similar to the process by which, for example, the English gerund "meeting" (similar to a verbal noun) has turned into a noun referring to a particular type of social, often work-related event where people gather together to have a "discussion" (another lexicalized verbal noun). Another fairly common means of forming nouns is through one of a limited number of patterns that can be applied directly to roots, such as the "nouns of location" in *ma-* (e.g. * maktab* 'desk, office' <
*'write',*
*k-t-b**'kitchen' <*
*maṭbakh**'cook').*
*ṭ-b-kh*The only three genuine suffixes are as follows:
- The feminine suffix
*-ah*; variously derives terms for women from related terms for men, or more generally terms along the same lines as the corresponding masculine, e.g.'library' (also a writing-related place, but different from*maktabah*, as above).*maktab* - The nisbah suffix
*-iyy-*. This suffix is extremely productive, and forms adjectives meaning "related to X". It corresponds to English adjectives in*-ic, -al, -an, -y, -ist*, etc. - The feminine nisbah suffix
*-iyyah*. This is formed by adding the feminine suffix*-ah*onto nisba adjectives to form abstract nouns. For example, from the basic root'share' can be derived the Form VIII verb*š-r-k*'to cooperate, participate', and in turn its verbal noun*ishtaraka*'cooperation, participation' can be formed. This in turn can be made into a nisbah adjective*ištirāk*'socialist', from which an abstract noun*ištirākiyy*'socialism' can be derived. Other recent formations are*ishtirākiyyah*'republic' (lit. "public-ness", <*jumhūriyyah*'multitude, general public'), and the Gaddafi-specific variation*jumhūr*'people's republic' (lit. "masses-ness", <*jamāhīriyyah*'the masses', pl. of*jamāhīr*, as above).*jumhūr*
### Colloquial varieties
The spoken dialects have lost the case distinctions and make only limited use of the dual (it occurs only on nouns and its use is no longer required in all circumstances). They have lost the mood distinctions other than imperative, but many have since gained new moods through the use of prefixes (most often /bi-/ for indicative vs. unmarked subjunctive). They have also mostly lost the indefinite "nunation" and the internal passive.
The following is an example of a regular verb paradigm in Egyptian Arabic.
| Tense/Mood | Past | Present Subjunctive | Present Indicative | Future | Imperative | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | ||||||
| 1st | katáb-t
|
á-ktib
|
bá-ktib
|
ḥá-ktib
|
" | |
| 2nd | masculine | katáb-t
|
tí-ktib
|
bi-tí-ktib
|
ḥa-tí-ktib
|
í-ktib
|
| feminine | katáb-ti
|
ti-ktíb-i
|
bi-ti-ktíb-i
|
ḥa-ti-ktíb-i
|
i-ktíb-i
| |
| 3rd | masculine | kátab
|
yí-ktib
|
bi-yí-ktib
|
ḥa-yí-ktib
|
" |
| feminine | kátab-it
|
tí-ktib
|
bi-tí-ktib
|
ḥa-tí-ktib
| ||
| Plural | ||||||
| 1st | katáb-na
|
ní-ktib
|
bi-ní-ktib
|
ḥá-ní-ktib
|
" | |
| 2nd | katáb-tu
|
ti-ktíb-u
|
bi-ti-ktíb-u
|
ḥa-ti-ktíb-u
|
i-ktíb-u
| |
| 3rd | kátab-u
|
yi-ktíb-u
|
bi-yi-ktíb-u
|
ḥa-yi-ktíb-u
|
" |
## Writing system
The Arabic alphabet derives from the Aramaic through Nabatean, to which it bears a loose resemblance like that of Coptic or Cyrillic scripts to Greek script. Traditionally, there were several differences between the Western (North African) and Middle Eastern versions of the alphabet—in particular, the *faʼ* had a dot underneath and *qaf* a single dot above in the Maghreb, and the order of the letters was slightly different (at least when they were used as numerals).
However, the old Maghrebi variant has been abandoned except for calligraphic purposes in the Maghreb itself, and remains in use mainly in the Quranic schools (zaouias) of West Africa. Arabic, like all other Semitic languages (except for the Latin-written Maltese, and the languages with the Ge'ez script), is written from right to left. There are several styles of scripts such as thuluth, muhaqqaq, tawqi, rayhan, and notably naskh, which is used in print and by computers, and ruqʻah, which is commonly used for correspondence.
Originally Arabic was made up of only *rasm* without diacritical marks Later diacritical points (which in Arabic are referred to as *nuqaṯ*) were added (which allowed readers to distinguish between letters such as b, t, th, n and y). Finally signs known as *Tashkil* were used for short vowels known as *harakat* and other uses such as final postnasalized or long vowels.
| Arabic Alphabet | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia
Romanization |
Value in MSA
(IPA) |
Contextual forms | Isolated form | No. | ||
| Final | Medial | Initial | ||||
ā
|
/aː/ | ـا | ا | 1 | ||
b
|
/b/ | ـب | ـبـ | بـ | ب | 2 |
t
|
/t/ | ـت | ـتـ | تـ | ت | 3 |
ṯ or th
|
/θ/ | ـث | ـثـ | ثـ | ث | 4 |
j
|
/d͡ʒ/* | ـج | ـجـ | جـ | ج | 5 |
ḥ
|
/ħ/ | ـح | ـحـ | حـ | ح | 6 |
ḵ or kh
|
/x/ | ـخ | ـخـ | خـ | خ | 7 |
d
|
/d/ | ـد | د | 8 | ||
ḏ or dh
|
/ð/ | ـذ | ذ | 9 | ||
r
|
/r/ | ـر | ر | 10 | ||
z
|
/z/ | ـز | ز | 11 | ||
s
|
/s/ | ـس | ـسـ | سـ | س | 12 |
š or sh
|
/ʃ/ | ـش | ـشـ | شـ | ش | 13 |
ṣ
|
/sˤ/ | ـص | ـصـ | صـ | ص | 14 |
ḍ
|
/dˤ/ | ـض | ـضـ | ضـ | ض | 15 |
ṭ
|
/tˤ/ | ـط | ـطـ | طـ | ط | 16 |
ẓ
|
/ðˤ/ | ـظ | ـظـ | ظـ | ظ | 17 |
ʻ or ʕ
|
/ʕ/ | ـع | ـعـ | عـ | ع | 18 |
ḡ or gh
|
/ɣ/ | ـغ | ـغـ | غـ | غ | 19 |
f
|
/f/ | ـف | ـفـ | فـ | ف | 20 |
q
|
/q/ | ـق | ـقـ | قـ | ق | 21 |
k
|
/k/ | ـك | ـكـ | كـ | ك | 22 |
l
|
/l/ | ـل | ـلـ | لـ | ل | 23 |
m
|
/m/ | ـم | ـمـ | مـ | م | 24 |
n
|
/n/ | ـن | ـنـ | نـ | ن | 25 |
h
|
/h/ | ـه | ـهـ | هـ | ﻩ | 26 |
w and ū
|
/w/, /uː/ | ـو | و | 27 | ||
y and ī
|
/j/, /iː/ | ـي | ـيـ | يـ | ي | 28 |
ʾ or ʔ
|
/ʔ/ | ء | - |
Notes:
- Modern Standard Arabic (Literary Arabic) ⟨ج⟩ can be pronounced /d͡ʒ/ or /ʒ/ (or /g/ only in Egypt) depending on the speaker's regional dialect.
- The Hamza ⟨ء⟩ can be considered a letter and plays an important role in Arabic spelling but it is not considered part of the alphabet, it has different written forms depending on its position in the word, check Hamza.
### Calligraphy
After Khalil ibn Ahmad al Farahidi finally fixed the Arabic script around 786, many styles were developed, both for the writing down of the Quran and other books, and for inscriptions on monuments as decoration.
Arabic calligraphy has not fallen out of use as calligraphy has in the Western world, and is still considered by Arabs as a major art form; calligraphers are held in great esteem. Being cursive by nature, unlike the Latin script, Arabic script is used to write down a verse of the Quran, a hadith, or a proverb. The composition is often abstract, but sometimes the writing is shaped into an actual form such as that of an animal. One of the current masters of the genre is Hassan Massoudy.
In modern times the intrinsically calligraphic nature of the written Arabic form is haunted by the thought that a typographic approach to the language, necessary for digitized unification, will not always accurately maintain meanings conveyed through calligraphy.
### Romanization
There are a number of different standards for the romanization of Arabic, i.e. methods of accurately and efficiently representing Arabic with the Latin script. There are various conflicting motivations involved, which leads to multiple systems. Some are interested in transliteration, i.e. representing the *spelling* of Arabic, while others focus on transcription, i.e. representing the *pronunciation* of Arabic. (They differ in that, for example, the same letter ي is used to represent both a consonant, as in "**y**ou" or "**y**et", and a vowel, as in "m**e**" or "**ea**t".)
Some systems, e.g. for scholarly use, are intended to accurately and unambiguously represent the phonemes of Arabic, generally making the phonetics more explicit than the original word in the Arabic script. These systems are heavily reliant on diacritical marks such as "š" for the sound equivalently written *sh* in English. Other systems (e.g. the Bahá'í orthography) are intended to help readers who are neither Arabic speakers nor linguists with intuitive pronunciation of Arabic names and phrases.[ citation needed]
These less "scientific" systems tend to avoid diacritics and use digraphs (like *sh* and *kh*). These are usually simpler to read, but sacrifice the definiteness of the scientific systems, and may lead to ambiguities, e.g. whether to interpret *sh* as a single sound, as in *gash*, or a combination of two sounds, as in *gashouse*. The ALA-LC romanization solves this problem by separating the two sounds with a prime symbol ( ′ ); e.g., *as′hal* 'easier'.
During the last few decades and especially since the 1990s, Western-invented text communication technologies have become prevalent in the Arab world, such as personal computers, the World Wide Web, email, bulletin board systems, IRC, instant messaging and mobile phone text messaging. Most of these technologies originally had the ability to communicate using the Latin script only, and some of them still do not have the Arabic script as an optional feature. As a result, Arabic speaking users communicated in these technologies by transliterating the Arabic text using the Latin script.
To handle those Arabic letters that cannot be accurately represented using the Latin script, numerals and other characters were appropriated. For example, the numeral "3" may be used to represent the Arabic letter ⟨ع⟩. There is no universal name for this type of transliteration, but some have named it Arabic Chat Alphabet or IM Arabic. Other systems of transliteration exist, such as using dots or capitalization to represent the "emphatic" counterparts of certain consonants. For instance, using capitalization, the letter ⟨د⟩, may be represented by **d**. Its emphatic counterpart, ⟨ض⟩, may be written as **D**.
### Numerals
In most of present-day North Africa, the Western Arabic numerals (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) are used. However, in Egypt and Arabic-speaking countries to the east of it, the Eastern Arabic numerals (٠ – ١ – ٢ – ٣ – ٤ – ٥ – ٦ – ٧ – ٨ – ٩) are in use. When representing a number in Arabic, the lowest-valued position is placed on the right, so the order of positions is the same as in left-to-right scripts. Sequences of digits such as telephone numbers are read from left to right, but numbers are spoken in the traditional Arabic fashion, with units and tens reversed from the modern English usage. For example, 24 is said "four and twenty" just like in the German language (*vierundzwanzig*) and Classical Hebrew, and 1975 is said "a thousand and nine-hundred and five and seventy" or, more eloquently, "a thousand and nine-hundred five seventy".
### Arabic alphabet and nationalism
There have been many instances of national movements to convert Arabic script into Latin script or to Romanize the language. Currently, the only Arabic variety to use Latin script is Maltese.
#### Lebanon
The Beirut newspaper *La Syrie* pushed for the change from Arabic script to Latin letters in 1922. The major head of this movement was Louis Massignon, a French Orientalist, who brought his concern before the Arabic Language Academy in Damascus in 1928. Massignon's attempt at Romanization failed as the academy and population viewed the proposal as an attempt from the Western world to take over their country. Sa'id Afghani, a member of the academy, mentioned that the movement to Romanize the script was a Zionist plan to dominate Lebanon. Said Akl created a Latin-based alphabet for Lebanese and used it in a newspaper he founded, *Lebnaan*, as well as in some books he wrote.
#### Egypt
After the period of colonialism in Egypt, Egyptians were looking for a way to reclaim and re-emphasize Egyptian culture. As a result, some Egyptians pushed for an Egyptianization of the Arabic language in which the formal Arabic and the colloquial Arabic would be combined into one language and the Latin alphabet would be used. There was also the idea of finding a way to use Hieroglyphics instead of the Latin alphabet, but this was seen as too complicated to use.
A scholar, Salama Musa agreed with the idea of applying a Latin alphabet to Arabic, as he believed that would allow Egypt to have a closer relationship with the West. He also believed that Latin script was key to the success of Egypt as it would allow for more advances in science and technology. This change in alphabet, he believed, would solve the problems inherent with Arabic, such as a lack of written vowels and difficulties writing foreign words that made it difficult for non-native speakers to learn. Ahmad Lutfi As Sayid and Muhammad Azmi, two Egyptian intellectuals, agreed with Musa and supported the push for Romanization.
The idea that Romanization was necessary for modernization and growth in Egypt continued with Abd Al-Aziz Fahmi in 1944. He was the chairman for the Writing and Grammar Committee for the Arabic Language Academy of Cairo. This effort failed as the Egyptian people felt a strong cultural tie to the Arabic alphabet. In particular, the older Egyptian generations believed that the Arabic alphabet had strong connections to Arab values and history, due to the long history of the Arabic alphabet (Shrivtiel, 189) in Muslim societies.
## Sample text
| Modern Standard Arabic, Arabic script | ALA-LC transliteration | English |
|---|---|---|
يولد جميع الناس أحراراً متساوين في الكرامة والحقوق، وقد وهبوا عقلاً وضميراً وعليهم أن يعامل بعضهم بعضاً بروح الإخاء.
|
Yūlad jamīʻ al-nās aḥrār-an mutasāwīn fil-karāma-ti wal-huqūq-i, wa-qad wuhibū ʻaql-an wa-ḍamīr-an wa-ʻalayhim an yuʻāmil-u baʻduhum baʻd-an bi-rūh al-ikhāʼ-i.
|
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. |
## See also
- Arabic Ontology
- Arabic diglossia
- Arabic language influence on the Spanish language
- Arabic Language International Council
- Arabic literature
- Arabic–English Lexicon
- Arabist
*A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic*- Glossary of Islam
- International Association of Arabic Dialectology
- List of Arab newspapers
- List of Arabic-language television channels
- List of Arabic given names
- List of countries where Arabic is an official language
- Arabic-based creole languages
- Varieties of Arabic
- List of French words of Arabic origin
- Replacement of loanwords in Turkish
|
# Rodent - Wikipedia
| Rodent Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Mirorder: | Simplicidentata |
| Order: | Rodentia Bowdich, 1821 |
| Suborders | |
| Combined range of all rodent species (not including introduced populations) |
**Rodents** (from Latin *rodere*, 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order **Rodentia** (*roh-DEN-shə*), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are native to all major land masses except for Antarctica, and several oceanic islands, though they have subsequently been introduced to most of these land masses by human activity.
Rodents are extremely diverse in their ecology and lifestyles and can be found in almost every terrestrial habitat, including human-made environments. Species can be arboreal, fossorial (burrowing), saltatorial/ricochetal (leaping on their hind legs), or semiaquatic. However, all rodents share several morphological features, including having only a single upper and lower pair of ever-growing incisors. Well-known rodents include mice, rats, squirrels, prairie dogs, porcupines, beavers, guinea pigs, and hamsters. Once included with rodents, rabbits, hares, and pikas, which also have incisors that grow continuously (but have *two* pairs of upper incisors instead of one), are now considered to be in a separate order, the Lagomorpha. Nonetheless, Rodentia and Lagomorpha are sister groups, sharing a single common ancestor and forming the clade of Glires.
Most rodents are small animals with robust bodies, short limbs, and long tails. They use their sharp incisors to gnaw food, excavate burrows, and defend themselves. Most eat seeds or other plant material, but some have more varied diets. They tend to be social animals and many species live in societies with complex ways of communicating with each other. Mating among rodents can vary from monogamy, to polygyny, to promiscuity. Many have litters of underdeveloped, altricial young, while others are precocial (relatively well developed) at birth.
The rodent fossil record dates back to the Paleocene on the supercontinent of Laurasia. Rodents greatly diversified in the Eocene, as they spread across continents, sometimes even crossing oceans. Rodents reached both South America and Madagascar from Africa and, until the arrival of *Homo sapiens*, were the only terrestrial placental mammals to reach and colonize Australia.
Rodents have been used as food, for clothing, as pets, and as laboratory animals in research. Some species, in particular, the brown rat, the black rat, and the house mouse, are serious pests, eating and spoiling food stored by humans and spreading diseases. Accidentally introduced species of rodents are often considered to be invasive and have caused the extinction of numerous species, such as island birds, the dodo being an example, previously isolated from land-based predators.
The distinguishing feature of the rodents is their pairs of continuously growing, razor-sharp, open-rooted incisors. These incisors have thick layers of enamel on the front and little enamel on the back. Because they do not stop growing, the animal must continue to wear them down so that they do not reach and pierce the skull. As the incisors grind against each other, the softer dentine on the rear of the teeth wears away, leaving the sharp enamel edge shaped like the blade of a chisel. Most species have up to 22 teeth with no canines or anterior premolars. A gap, or diastema, occurs between the incisors and the cheek teeth in most species. This allows rodents to suck in their cheeks or lips to shield their mouth and throat from wood shavings and other inedible material, discarding this waste from the sides of their mouths.[ citation needed] Chinchillas and guinea pigs have a high-fiber diet; their molars have no roots and grow continuously like their incisors.
In many species, the molars are relatively large, intricately structured, and highly cusped or ridged. Rodent molars are well equipped to grind food into small particles. The jaw musculature is strong. The lower jaw is thrust forward while gnawing and is pulled backwards during chewing. Gnawing uses incisors and chewing uses molars, however, due to the cranial anatomy of rodents these feeding methods cannot be used at the same time and are considered to be mutually exclusive. Among rodents, the masseter muscle plays a key role in chewing, making up 60% – 80% of the total muscle mass among masticatory muscles and reflects rodents' herbivorous diet. Rodent groups differ in the arrangement of the jaw muscles and associated skull structures, both from other mammals and amongst themselves.
The Sciuromorpha, such as the eastern grey squirrel, have a large deep masseter, making them efficient at biting with the incisors. The Myomorpha, such as the brown rat, have enlarged temporalis and masseter muscles, making them able to chew powerfully with their molars. In rodents, masseter muscles insert behind the eyes and contribute to eye boggling that occurs during gnawing where the quick contraction and relaxation of the muscle causes the eyeballs to move up and down. The Hystricomorpha, such as the guinea pig, have larger superficial masseter muscles and smaller deep masseter muscles than rats or squirrels, possibly making them less efficient at biting with the incisors, but their enlarged internal pterygoid muscles may allow them to move the jaw further sideways when chewing. The cheek pouch is a specific morphological feature used for storing food and is evident in particular subgroups of rodents like kangaroo rats, hamsters, chipmunks and gophers which have two bags that may range from the mouth to the front of the shoulders. True mice and rats do not contain this structure but their cheeks are elastic due to a high degree of musculature and innervation in the region.
While the largest species, the capybara, can weigh as much as 66 kg (146 lb), most rodents weigh less than 100 g (3.5 oz). Rodents have wide-ranging morphologies, but typically have squat bodies and short limbs. The fore limbs usually have five digits, including an opposable thumb, while the hind limbs have three to five digits. The elbow gives the forearms great flexibility. The majority of species are plantigrade, walking on both the palms and soles of their feet, and have claw-like nails. The nails of burrowing species tend to be long and strong, while arboreal rodents have shorter, sharper nails. Rodent species use a wide variety of methods of locomotion including quadrupedal walking, running, burrowing, climbing, bipedal hopping (kangaroo rats and hopping mice), swimming and even gliding. Scaly-tailed squirrels and flying squirrels, although not closely related, can both glide from tree to tree using parachute-like membranes that stretch from the fore to the hind limbs. The agouti is fleet-footed and antelope-like, being digitigrade and having hoof-like nails. The majority of rodents have tails, which can be of many shapes and sizes. Some tails are prehensile, as in the Eurasian harvest mouse, and the fur on the tails can vary from bushy to completely bald. The tail is sometimes used for communication, as when beavers slap their tails on the water surface or house mice rattle their tails to indicate alarm. Some species have vestigial tails or no tails at all. In some species, the tail is capable of regeneration if a part is broken off.
Rodents generally have well-developed senses of smell, hearing, and vision. Nocturnal species often have enlarged eyes and some are sensitive to ultraviolet light. Many species have long, sensitive whiskers or vibrissae for touch or "whisking". Whisker action is mostly driven by the brain stem, which is itself provoked by the cortex. However Legg et al. 1989 find an alternate circuit between the cortex and whiskers through the cerebellar circuits, and Hemelt & Keller 2008 the superior colliculus. Some rodents have cheek pouches, which may be lined with fur. These can be turned inside out for cleaning. In many species, the tongue cannot reach past the incisors. Rodents have efficient digestive systems, absorbing nearly 80% of ingested energy. When eating cellulose, the food is softened in the stomach and passed to the cecum, where bacteria reduce it to its carbohydrate elements. The rodent then practices coprophagy, eating its own fecal pellets, so the nutrients can be absorbed by the gut. Rodents therefore often produce a hard and dry fecal pellet. Horn et al. 2013 makes the finding that rodents entirely lack the ability to vomit. In many species, the penis contains a bone, the baculum; the testes can be located either abdominally or at the groin.
Sexual dimorphism occurs in many rodent species. In some rodents, males are larger than females, while in others the reverse is true. Male-bias sexual dimorphism is typical for ground squirrels, kangaroo rats, solitary mole rats and pocket gophers; it likely developed due to sexual selection and greater male–male combat. Female-bias sexual dimorphism exists among chipmunks and jumping mice. It is not understood why this pattern occurs, but in the case of yellow-pine chipmunks, males may have selected larger females due to their greater reproductive success. In some species, such as voles, sexual dimorphism can vary from population to population. In bank voles, females are typically larger than males, but male-bias sexual dimorphism occurs in alpine populations, possibly because of the lack of predators and greater competition between males.
One of the most widespread groups of mammals, rodents can be found on every continent except Antarctica. They are the only terrestrial placental mammals to have colonized Australia and New Guinea without human intervention. Humans have also allowed the animals to spread to many remote oceanic islands (e.g., the Polynesian rat). Rodents have adapted to almost every terrestrial habitat, from cold tundra (where they can live under snow) to hot deserts.
Some species such as tree squirrels and New World porcupines are arboreal, while some, such as gophers, tuco-tucos, and mole rats, live almost completely underground, where they build complex burrow systems. Others dwell on the surface of the ground, but may have a burrow into which they can retreat. Beavers and muskrats are known for being semiaquatic, but the rodent best adapted for aquatic life is probably the earless water rat from New Guinea. Rodents have also thrived in human-created environments such as agricultural and urban areas.
Though some species are common pests for humans, rodents also play important ecological roles. Some rodents are considered keystone species and ecosystem engineers in their respective habitats. In the Great Plains of North America, the burrowing activities of prairie dogs play important roles in soil aeration and nutrient redistribution, raising the organic content of the soil and increasing the absorption of water. They maintain these grassland habitats, and some large herbivores such as bison and pronghorn prefer to graze near prairie dog colonies due to the increased nutritional quality of forage.
Extirpation of prairie dogs can also contribute to regional and local biodiversity loss, increased seed depredation, and the establishment and spread of invasive shrubs. Burrowing rodents may eat the fruiting bodies of fungi and spread spores through their feces, thereby allowing the fungi to disperse and form symbiotic relationships with the roots of plants (which usually cannot thrive without them). As such, these rodents may play a role in maintaining healthy forests.
In many temperate regions, beavers play an essential hydrological role. When building their dams and lodges, beavers alter the paths of streams and rivers and allow for the creation of extensive wetland habitats. One study found that engineering by beavers leads to a 33 percent increase in the number of herbaceous plant species in riparian areas. Another study found that beavers increase wild salmon populations. Meanwhile, some rodents are seen as pests, due to their wide range.
Most rodents are herbivorous, feeding exclusively on plant material such as seeds, stems, leaves, flowers, and roots. Some are omnivorous and a few are predators. The field vole is a typical herbivorous rodent and feeds on grasses, herbs, root tubers, moss, and other vegetation, and gnaws on bark during the winter. It occasionally eats invertebrates such as insect larvae. The plains pocket gopher eats plant material found underground during tunneling, and also collects grasses, roots, and tubers in its cheek pouches and caches them in underground larder chambers.
The Texas pocket gopher avoids emerging onto the surface to feed by seizing the roots of plants with its jaws and pulling them downwards into its burrow. It also practices coprophagy. The African pouched rat forages on the surface, gathering anything that might be edible into its capacious cheek pouches until its face bulges out sideways. It then returns to its burrow to sort through the material it has gathered and eats the nutritious items.
Agouti species are one of the few animal groups that can break open the large capsules of the Brazil nut fruit. Too many seeds are inside to be consumed in one meal, so the agouti carries some off and caches them. This helps dispersal of the seeds as any that the agouti fails to retrieve are distant from the parent tree when they germinate. Other nut-bearing trees tend to bear a glut of fruits in the autumn. These are too numerous to be eaten in one meal and squirrels gather and store the surplus in crevices and hollow trees. In desert regions, seeds are often available only for short periods. The kangaroo rat collects all it can find and stores them in larder chambers in its burrow.
A strategy for dealing with seasonal plenty is to eat as much as possible and store the surplus nutrients as fat. Marmots do this, and may be 50% heavier in the autumn than in the spring. They rely on their fat reserves during their long winter hibernation. Beavers feed on the leaves, buds, and inner bark of growing trees, as well as aquatic plants. They store food for winter use by felling small trees and leafy branches in the autumn and immersing them in their pond, sticking the ends into the mud to anchor them. Here, they can access their food supply underwater even when their pond is frozen over.
Although rodents have been regarded traditionally as herbivores, most small rodents opportunistically include insects, worms, fungi, fish, or meat in their diets and a few have become specialized to rely on a diet of animal matter. A functional-morphological study of the rodent tooth system supports the idea that primitive rodents were omnivores rather than herbivores. Studies of the literature show that numerous members of the Sciuromorpha and Myomorpha, and a few members of the Hystricomorpha, have either included animal matter in their diets or been prepared to eat such food when offered it in captivity. Examination of the stomach contents of the North American white-footed mouse, normally considered to be herbivorous, showed 34% animal matter.
More specialized carnivores include the shrewlike rats of the Philippines, which feed on insects and soft-bodied invertebrates, and the rakali or Australian water-rat, which devours aquatic insects, fish, crustaceans, mussels, snails, frogs, birds' eggs, and water birds. The grasshopper mouse from dry regions of North America feeds on insects, scorpions, and other small mice, and only a small part of its diet is plant material. It has a chunky body with short legs and tail, but is agile and can easily overpower prey as large as itself.
Rodents exhibit a wide range of types of social behavior ranging from the mammalian caste system of the naked mole-rat, the extensive "town" of the colonial prairie dog, through family groups to the independent, solitary life of the edible dormouse. Adult dormice may have overlapping feeding ranges, but they live in individual nests and feed separately, coming together briefly in the breeding season to mate. The pocket gopher is also a solitary animal outside the breeding season, each individual digging a complex tunnel system and maintaining a territory.
Larger rodents tend to live in family units where parents and their offspring live together until the young disperse. Beavers live in extended family units typically with a pair of adults, this year's kits, the previous year's offspring, and sometimes older young. Brown rats usually live in small colonies with up to six females sharing a burrow and one male defending a territory around the burrow. At high population densities, this system breaks down and males show a hierarchical system of dominance with overlapping ranges. Female offspring remain in the colony while male young disperse. The prairie vole is monogamous and forms a lifelong pair bond. Outside the breeding season, prairie voles live with others in small colonies. A male is not aggressive towards other males until he has mated, after which time he defends a territory, a female, and a nest against other males. The pair huddles together, grooms one another, and shares nesting and pup-raising responsibilities.
Among the most social of rodents are the ground squirrels, which typically form colonies based on female kinship, with males dispersing after weaning and becoming nomadic as adults. Cooperation in ground squirrels varies between species and typically includes making alarm calls, defending territories, sharing food, protecting nesting areas, and preventing infanticide. The black-tailed prairie dog forms large towns that may cover many hectares. The burrows do not interconnect, but are excavated and occupied by territorial family groups known as coteries. A coterie often consists of an adult male, three or four adult females, several nonbreeding yearlings, and the current year's offspring. Individuals within coteries are friendly with each other, but hostile towards outsiders.
Perhaps the most extreme examples of colonial behavior in rodents are the eusocial naked mole rat and Damaraland mole rat. The naked mole rat lives completely underground and can form colonies of up to 80 individuals. Only one female and up to three males in the colony reproduce, while the rest of the members are smaller and sterile, and function as workers. Some individuals are of intermediate size. They help with the rearing of the young and can take the place of a reproductive if one dies. The Damaraland mole rat is characterized by having a single reproductively active male and female in a colony where the remaining animals are not truly sterile, but become fertile only if they establish a colony of their own. The naked mole-rat has a particularly long life-span for a small rodent, about 30 years, and the basis for this longevity has been investigated. Naked mole-rats express DNA repair genes, including core genes in several DNA repair pathways, at a higher level than shorter-lived mice, and thus it was suggested that DNA repair acts as a longevity assurance system.
Rodents use scent marking in many social contexts including inter- and intra-species communication, the marking of trails and the establishment of territories. Their urine provides genetic information about individuals including the species, the sex and individual identity, and metabolic information on dominance, reproductive status and health. Compounds derived from the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are bound to several urinary proteins. The odor of a predator depresses scent-marking behavior.
Rodents are able to recognize close relatives by smell and this allows them to show nepotism (preferential behavior toward their kin) and also avoid inbreeding. This kin recognition is by olfactory cues from urine, feces and glandular secretions. The main assessment may involve the MHC, where the degree of relatedness of two individuals is correlated to the MHC genes they have in common. In non-kin communication, where more permanent odor markers are required, as at territorial borders, then non-volatile major urinary proteins (MUPs), which function as pheromone transporters, may also be used. MUPs may also signal individual identity, with each male house mouse (*Mus musculus*) excreting urine containing about a dozen genetically encoded MUPs.
House mice deposit urine, which contains pheromones, for territorial marking, individual and group recognition, and social organization. Territorial beavers and red squirrels investigate and become familiar with the scents of their neighbors and respond less aggressively to intrusions by them than to those made by non-territorial "floaters" or strangers. This is known as the "dear enemy effect".
Many rodent species, particularly those that are diurnal and social, have a wide range of alarm calls that are emitted when they perceive threats. There are both direct and indirect benefits of doing this. A potential predator may stop when it knows it has been detected, or an alarm call can allow conspecifics or related individuals to take evasive action. Several species, for example prairie dogs, have complex anti-predator alarm call systems. These species may have different calls for different predators (e.g. aerial predators or ground-based predators) and each call contains information about the nature of the precise threat. The urgency of the threat is also conveyed by the acoustic properties of the call.
Social rodents have a wider range of vocalizations than do solitary species. Fifteen different call-types have been recognized in adult Kataba mole rats and four in juveniles. Similarly, the common degu, another social, burrowing rodent, exhibits a wide array of communication methods and has an elaborate vocal repertoire comprising fifteen different categories of sound. Ultrasonic calls play a part in social communication between dormice and are used when the individuals are out of sight of each other.
House mice use both audible and ultrasonic calls in a variety of contexts. Audible vocalizations can often be heard during agonistic or aggressive encounters, whereas ultrasound is used in sexual communication and also by pups when they have fallen out of the nest.
Laboratory rats (which are brown rats, *Rattus norvegicus*) emit short, high frequency, ultrasonic vocalizations during purportedly pleasurable experiences such as rough-and-tumble play, when anticipating routine doses of morphine, during mating, and when tickled. The vocalization, described as a distinct "chirping", has been likened to laughter, and is interpreted as an expectation of something rewarding. In clinical studies, the chirping is associated with positive emotional feelings, and social bonding occurs with the tickler, resulting in the rats becoming conditioned to seek the tickling. However, as the rats age, the tendency to chirp declines. Like most rat vocalizations, the chirping is at frequencies too high for humans to hear without special equipment, so bat detectors have been used for this purpose.
Rodents, like all placental mammals except primates, have just two types of light receptive cones in their retina, a short wavelength "blue-UV" type and a middle wavelength "green" type. They are therefore classified as dichromats; however, they are visually sensitive into the ultraviolet (UV) spectrum and therefore can see light that humans cannot. The functions of this UV sensitivity are not always clear. In degus, for example, the belly reflects more UV light than the back. Therefore, when a degu stands up on its hind legs, which it does when alarmed, it exposes its belly to other degus and ultraviolet vision may serve a purpose in communicating the alarm. When it stands on all fours, its low UV-reflectance back could help make the degu less visible to predators. Ultraviolet light is abundant during the day but not at night. There is a large increase in the ratio of ultraviolet to visible light in the morning and evening twilight hours. Many rodents are active during twilight hours (crepuscular activity), and UV-sensitivity would be advantageous at these times. Ultraviolet reflectivity is of dubious value for nocturnal rodents.
The urine of many rodents (e.g. voles, degus, mice, rats) strongly reflects UV light and this may be used in communication by leaving visible as well as olfactory markings. However, the amount of UV that is reflected decreases with time, which in some circumstances can be disadvantageous; the common kestrel can distinguish between old and fresh rodent trails and has greater success hunting over more recently marked routes.
Vibrations can provide cues to conspecifics about specific behaviors being performed, predator warning and avoidance, herd or group maintenance, and courtship. The Middle East blind mole rat was the first mammal for which seismic communication was documented. These fossorial rodents bang their head against the walls of their tunnels. This behavior was initially interpreted as part of their tunnel building behavior, but it was eventually realized that they generate temporally patterned seismic signals for long-distance communication with neighboring mole rats.
Footdrumming is used widely as a predator warning or defensive action. It is used primarily by fossorial or semi-fossorial rodents. The banner-tailed kangaroo rat produces several complex footdrumming patterns in a number of different contexts, one of which is when it encounters a snake. The footdrumming may alert nearby offspring but most likely conveys that the rat is too alert for a successful attack, thus preventing the snake's predatory pursuit. Several studies have indicated intentional use of ground vibrations as a means of intra-specific communication during courtship among the Cape mole rat. Footdrumming has been reported to be involved in male-male competition; the dominant male indicates its resource holding potential by drumming, thus minimizing physical contact with potential rivals.
Some species of rodent are monogamous, with an adult male and female forming a lasting pair bond. Monogamy can come in two forms; obligate and facultative. In obligate monogamy, both parents care for the offspring and play an important part in their survival. This occurs in species such as California mice, oldfield mice, Malagasy giant rats and beavers. In these species, males usually mate only with their partners. In addition to increased care for young, obligate monogamy can also be beneficial to the adult male as it decreases the chances of never finding a mate or mating with an infertile female. In facultative monogamy, the males do not provide direct parental care and stay with one female because they cannot access others due to being spatially dispersed. Prairie voles appear to be an example of this form of monogamy, with males guarding and defending females within their vicinity.
In polygynous species, males will try to monopolize and mate with multiple females. As with monogamy, polygyny in rodents can come in two forms; defense and non-defense. Defense polygyny involves males controlling territories that contain resources that attract females. This occurs in ground squirrels like yellow-bellied marmots, California ground squirrels, Columbian ground squirrels and Richardson's ground squirrels. Males with territories are known as "resident" males and the females that live within the territories are known as "resident" females. In the case of marmots, resident males do not appear to ever lose their territories and always win encounters with invading males. Some species are also known to directly defend their resident females and the ensuing fights can lead to severe wounding. In species with non-defense polygyny, males are not territorial and wander widely in search of females to monopolize. These males establish dominance hierarchies, with the high-ranking males having access to the most females. This occurs in species like Belding's ground squirrels and some tree squirrel species.
Promiscuity, in which both males and females mate with multiple partners, also occurs in rodents. In species such as the white-footed mouse, females give birth to litters with multiple paternities. Promiscuity leads to increased sperm competition and males tend to have larger testicles. In the Cape ground squirrel, the male's testes can be 20 percent of its head-body length. Several rodent species have flexible mating systems that can vary between monogamy, polygyny and promiscuity.
Female rodents play an active role in choosing their mates. Factors that contribute to female preference may include the size, dominance and spatial ability of the male. In the eusocial naked mole rats, a single female monopolizes mating from at least three males. Reproductively active female naked mole-rats tend to associate with unfamiliar males (generally non-kin), whereas females that are reproductively inactive do not tend to discriminate. The preference of reproductively active females for unfamiliar males is thought to be an adaptation for inbreeding avoidance, since inbreeding ordinarily leads to the expression of recessive deleterious alleles.
In most rodent species, such as brown rats and house mice, ovulation occurs on a regular cycle while in others, such as voles, it is induced by mating. During copulation, males of some rodent species deposit a mating plug in the female's genital opening, both to prevent sperm leakage and to protect against other males inseminating the female. Females can remove the plug and may do so either immediately or after several hours.
Metabolism of thyroid hormones and iodine in the mediobasal hypothalamus changes in response to photoperiod. Thyroid hormones in turn induce reproductive changes. This is found by Watanabe et al. 2004 and 2007, Barrett et al. 2007, Freeman et al. 2007, and Herwig et al. 2009 in Siberian hamsters, Revel et al. 2006 and Yasuo et al. 2007 in Syrian hamsters, Yasuo et al. 2007 and Ross et al. 2011 in rats, and Ono et al. 2008 in mice.
Rodents may be born either altricial (blind, hairless and relatively underdeveloped) or precocial (mostly furred, eyes open and fairly developed) depending on the species. The altricial state is typical for squirrels and mice, while the precocial state usually occurs in species like guinea pigs and porcupines. Females with altricial young typically build elaborate nests before they give birth and maintain them until their offspring are weaned. The female gives birth sitting or lying down and the young emerge in the direction she is facing. The newborns first venture out of the nest a few days after they have opened their eyes and initially keep returning regularly. As they get older and more developed, they visit the nest less often and leave permanently when weaned.
In precocial species, the mothers invest little in nest building and some do not build nests at all. The female gives birth standing and the young emerge behind her. Mothers of these species maintain contact with their highly mobile young with maternal contact calls. Though relatively independent and weaned within days, precocial young may continue to nurse and be groomed by their mothers. Rodent litter sizes also vary and females with smaller litters spend more time in the nest than those with larger litters.
Mother rodents provide both direct parental care, such as nursing, grooming, retrieving and huddling, and indirect parenting, such as food caching, nest building and protection to their offspring. In many social species, young may be cared for by individuals other than their parents, a practice known as alloparenting or cooperative breeding. This is known to occur in black-tailed prairie dogs and Belding's ground squirrels, where mothers have communal nests and nurse unrelated young along with their own. There is some question as to whether these mothers can distinguish which young are theirs. In the Patagonian mara, young are also placed in communal warrens, but mothers do not permit youngsters other than their own to nurse.
Infanticide exists in numerous rodent species and may be practiced by adult conspecifics of either sex. Several reasons have been proposed for this behavior, including nutritional stress, resource competition, avoiding misdirecting parental care and, in the case of males, attempting to make the mother sexually receptive. The latter reason is well supported in primates and lions but less so in rodents. Infanticide appears to be widespread in black-tailed prairie dogs, including infanticide from invading males and immigrant females, as well as occasional cannibalism of an individual's own offspring. To protect against infanticide from other adults, female rodents may employ avoidance or direct aggression against potential perpetrators, multiple mating, territoriality or early termination of pregnancy. Feticide can also occur among rodents; in alpine marmots, dominant females tend to suppress the reproduction of subordinates by being antagonistic towards them while they are pregnant. The resulting stress causes the fetuses to abort.
Rodents have advanced cognitive abilities. They can quickly learn to avoid poisoned baits, which makes them difficult pests to deal with. Guinea pigs can learn and remember complex pathways to food. Squirrels and kangaroo rats are able to locate caches of food by spatial memory, rather than just by smell.
Because laboratory mice (house mice) and rats (brown rats) are widely used as scientific models to further our understanding of biology, a great deal has come to be known about their cognitive capacities. Brown rats exhibit cognitive bias, where information processing is biased by whether they are in a positive or negative affective state. For example, laboratory rats trained to respond to a specific tone by pressing a lever to receive a reward, and to press another lever in response to a different tone so as to avoid receiving an electric shock, are more likely to respond to an intermediate tone by choosing the reward lever if they have just been tickled (something they enjoy), indicating "a link between the directly measured positive affective state and decision making under uncertainty in an animal model."
Laboratory (brown) rats may have the capacity for metacognition—to consider their own learning and then make decisions based on what they know, or do not know, as indicated by choices they make apparently trading off difficulty of tasks and expected rewards, making them the first animals other than primates known to have this capacity, but these findings are disputed, since the rats may have been following simple operant conditioning principles, or a behavioral economic model. Brown rats use social learning in a wide range of situations, but perhaps especially so in acquiring food preferences.
Dentition is the key feature by which fossil rodents are recognized and the earliest record of such mammals comes from the Paleocene, shortly after the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs some 66 million years ago. These fossils are found in Laurasia, the supercontinent composed of modern-day North America, Europe, and Asia. The divergence of Glires, a clade consisting of rodents and lagomorphs (rabbits, hares and pikas), from other placental mammals occurred within a few million years after the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary; rodents and lagomorphs then radiated during the Cenozoic. Some molecular clock data suggest modern rodents (members of the order Rodentia) had appeared by the late Cretaceous, although other molecular divergence estimations are in agreement with the fossil record.
Rodents are thought to have evolved in Asia, where local multituberculate faunas were severely affected by the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event and never fully recovered, unlike their North American and European relatives. In the resulting ecological vacuum, rodents and other Glires were able to evolve and diversify, taking the niches left by extinct multituberculates. The correlation between the spread of rodents and the demise of multituberculates is a controversial topic, not fully resolved. American and European multituberculate assemblages do decline in diversity in correlation with the introduction of rodents in these areas, but the remaining Asian multituberculates co-existed with rodents with no observable replacement taking place, and ultimately both clades co-existed for at least 15 million years.
The history of the colonization of the world's continents by rodents is complex. The movements of the large superfamily Muroidea (including hamsters, gerbils, true mice and rats) may have involved up to seven colonizations of Africa, five of North America, four of Southeast Asia, two of South America and up to ten of Eurasia.
During the Eocene, rodents began to diversify. Beavers appeared in Eurasia in the late Eocene before spreading to North America in the late Miocene. Late in the Eocene, hystricognaths invaded Africa, most probably having originated in Asia at least 39.5 million years ago. From Africa, fossil evidence shows that some hystricognaths (caviomorphs) colonized South America, which was an isolated continent at the time, evidently making use of ocean currents to cross the Atlantic on floating debris. Caviomorphs had arrived in South America by 41 million years ago (implying a date at least as early as this for hystricognaths in Africa), and had reached the Greater Antilles by the early Oligocene, suggesting that they must have dispersed rapidly across South America.
Nesomyid rodents are thought to have rafted from Africa to Madagascar 20–24 million years ago. All 27 species of native Malagasy rodents appear to be descendants of a single colonization event.
By 20 million years ago, fossils recognizably belonging to the current families such as Muridae had emerged. By the Miocene, when Africa had collided with Asia, African rodents such as the porcupine began to spread into Eurasia. Some fossil species were very large in comparison to modern rodents and included the giant beaver, *Castoroides ohioensis*, which grew to a length of 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) and weight of 100 kg (220 lb). The largest known rodent was *Josephoartigasia monesi*, a pacarana with an estimated body length of 3 m (10 ft).
The first rodents arrived in Australia via Indonesia around 5 million years ago. Although marsupials are the most prominent mammals in Australia, many rodents, all belonging to the subfamily Murinae, are among the continent's mammal species. There are about fifty species of 'old endemics', the first wave of rodents to colonize the country in the Miocene and early Pliocene, and eight true rat (*Rattus*) species of 'new endemics', arriving in a subsequent wave in the late Pliocene or early Pleistocene. The earliest fossil rodents in Australia have a maximum age of 4.5 million years, and molecular data is consistent with the colonization of New Guinea from the west during the late Miocene or early Pliocene followed by rapid diversification. A further wave of adaptive radiation occurred after one or more colonizations of Australia some 2 to 3 million years later.
Rodents participated in the Great American Interchange that resulted from the joining of the Americas by formation of the Isthmus of Panama, around 3 million years ago in the Piacenzian age. In this exchange, a small number of species such as the New World porcupines (Erethizontidae) headed north. However, the main southward invasion of sigmodontines preceded formation of the land bridge by at least several million years, probably occurring via rafting. Sigmodontines diversified explosively once in South America, although some degree of diversification may have already occurred in Central America before the colonization.
The use of the order name "Rodentia" is attributed to the English traveler and naturalist Thomas Edward Bowdich (1821). The Modern Latin word *Rodentia* is derived from *rodens*, present participle of *rodere* – "to gnaw", "eat away". The hares, rabbits and pikas (order Lagomorpha) have continuously growing incisors, as do rodents, and were at one time included in the order. However, they have an additional pair of incisors in the upper jaw and the two orders have quite separate evolutionary histories. The phylogeny of the rodents places them in the clades Glires, Euarchontoglires and Boreoeutheria. The cladogram below shows the inner and outer relations of Rodentia based on a 2012 attempt by Wu et al. to align the molecular clock with paleontological data:
| Boreoeutheria | |
The living rodent families based on the study done by Fabre et al. 2012.
| Rodentia classification |
|---|
The order Rodentia may be divided into suborders, infraorders, superfamilies and families. There is a great deal of parallelism and convergence among rodents caused by the fact that they have tended to evolve to fill largely similar niches. This parallel evolution includes not only the structure of the teeth, but also the infraorbital region of the skull (below the eye socket) and makes classification difficult as similar traits may not be due to common ancestry. Brandt (1855) was the first to propose dividing Rodentia into three suborders, Sciuromorpha, Hystricomorpha and Myomorpha, based on the development of certain muscles in the jaw and this system was widely accepted. Schlosser (1884) performed a comprehensive review of rodent fossils, mainly using the cheek teeth, and found that they fitted into the classical system, but Tullborg (1899) proposed just two sub-orders, Sciurognathi and Hystricognathi. These were based on the degree of inflection of the lower jaw and were to be further subdivided into Sciuromorpha, Myomorpha, Hystricomorpha and Bathyergomorpha. Matthew (1910) created a phylogenetic tree of New World rodents but did not include the more problematic Old World species. Further attempts at classification continued without agreement, with some authors adopting the classical three suborder system and others Tullborg's two suborders.
These disagreements remain unresolved, nor have molecular studies fully resolved the situation though they have confirmed the monophyly of the group and that the clade has descended from a common Paleocene ancestor. Carleton and Musser (2005) in *Mammal Species of the World* have provisionally adopted a five suborder system: Sciuromorpha, Castorimorpha, Myomorpha, Anomaluromorpha, and Hystricomorpha. As of 2021 the American Society of Mammalogists recognizes 34 recent families containing more than 481 genera and 2277 species.
**Order Rodentia** (from Latin, *rodere*, to gnaw)
- Suborder Anomaluromorpha
- Family Anomaluridae: scaly-tailed squirrels
- Family Pedetidae: springhares
- Family Zenkerellidae: Cameroon scaly-tail
- Suborder Castorimorpha
- Superfamily Castoroidea
- Family Castoridae: beavers
- Superfamily Geomyoidea
- Family Geomyidae: pocket gophers (true gophers)
- Family Heteromyidae: kangaroo rats, kangaroo mice
- Superfamily Castoroidea
- Suborder Hystricomorpha
- Infraorder Ctenodactylomorphi
- Family Ctenodactylidae: gundis
- Family Diatomyidae: Laotian rock rat
- Infraorder Hystricognathi
- Parvorder Phiomorpha
- Family Bathyergidae: African mole rats
- Family Heterocephalidae: naked mole-rat
- Family Hystricidae: Old World porcupines
- Family Petromuridae: dassie rat
- Family Thryonomyidae: cane rats
- Parvorder Caviomorpha
- Superfamily Erethizontoidea
- Family Erethizontidae: New World porcupines
- Superfamily Chinchilloidea
- Family Chinchillidae: chinchillas, viscachas
- Family Dinomyidae: pacaranas
- Superfamily Cavioidea
- Family Caviidae: cavies, including guinea pigs and the capybara
- Family Dasyproctidae: agoutis
- Family Cuniculidae: pacas
- Superfamily Octodontoidea
- Family Abrocomidae: chinchilla rats
- Family Ctenomyidae: tuco-tucos
- Family Echimyidae: spiny rats, hutias, and nutria
- Family Octodontidae: octodonts
- Superfamily Erethizontoidea
- Infraorder Ctenodactylomorphi
- Suborder Myomorpha
- Superfamily Dipodoidea
- Family Dipodidae: jerboas
- Family Sminthidae: birch mice
- Family Zapodidae: jumping mice
- Superfamily Muroidea
- Family Calomyscidae: mouse-like hamsters
- Family Cricetidae: hamsters, New World rats and mice, muskrats, voles, lemmings
- Family Muridae: true mice and rats, gerbils, spiny mice, crested rat
- Family Nesomyidae: climbing mice, rock mice, white-tailed rat, Malagasy rats and mice
- Family Platacanthomyidae: spiny dormice
- Family Spalacidae: mole rats, bamboo rats, zokors
- Superfamily Dipodoidea
- Suborder Sciuromorpha
- Family Aplodontiidae: mountain beaver
- Family Gliridae (also Myoxidae, Muscardinidae): dormice
- Family Sciuridae: squirrels, including chipmunks, prairie dogs, marmots
While rodents are not the most seriously threatened order of mammals, there are 168 species in 126 genera that are said to warrant conservation attention in the face of limited appreciation by the public. Since 76 percent of rodent genera contain only one species, much phylogenetic diversity could be lost with a comparatively small number of extinctions. In the absence of more detailed knowledge of species at risk and accurate taxonomy, conservation must be based mainly on higher taxa (such as families rather than species) and geographical hot spots. Several species of rice rat have become extinct since the 19th century, probably through habitat loss and the introduction of alien species. In Colombia, the brown hairy dwarf porcupine was recorded from only two mountain localities in the 1920s, while the red crested soft-furred spiny rat is known only from its type locality on the Caribbean coast, so these species are considered vulnerable. The IUCN Species Survival Commission writes "We can safely conclude that many South American rodents are seriously threatened, mainly by environmental disturbance and intensive hunting".
The "three now cosmopolitan commensal rodent pest species" (the brown rat, the black rat and the house mouse) have been dispersed in association with humans, partly on sailing ships in the Age of Exploration, and with a fourth species in the Pacific, the Polynesian rat (*Rattus exulans*), have severely damaged island biotas around the world. For example, when the black rat reached Lord Howe Island in 1918, over 40 percent of the terrestrial bird species of the island, including the Lord Howe fantail, became extinct within ten years. Similar destruction has been seen on Midway Island (1943) and Big South Cape Island (1962). Conservation projects can with careful planning completely eradicate these pest rodents from islands using an anticoagulant rodenticide such as brodifacoum. This approach has been successful on the island of Lundy in the United Kingdom, where the eradication of an estimated 40,000 brown rats is giving populations of Manx shearwater and Atlantic puffin a chance to recover from near-extinction.
Rodents have also been susceptible to climate change, especially species living on low-lying islands. The Bramble Cay melomys, which lived in the northernmost point of land of Australia, was the first mammal species to be declared extinct as a consequence of human-caused climate change.
Humanity has long used animal skins for clothing, as the leather is durable and the fur provides extra insulation. The native people of North America made much use of beaver pelts, tanning and sewing them together to make robes. Europeans appreciated the quality of these and the North American fur trade developed and became of prime importance to early settlers. In Europe, the soft underfur known as "beaver wool" was found to be ideal for felting and was made into beaver hats and trimming for clothing. Later, the coypu took over as a cheaper source of fur for felting and was farmed extensively in America and Europe; however, fashions changed, new materials became available and this area of the animal fur industry declined. The chinchilla has a soft and silky coat and the demand for its fur was so high that it was nearly wiped out in the wild before farming took over as the main source of pelts. The quills and guardhairs of porcupines are used for traditional decorative clothing. For example, their guardhairs are used in the creation of the Native American "porky roach" headdress. The main quills may be dyed, and then applied in combination with thread to embellish leather accessories such as knife sheaths and leather bags. Lakota women would harvest the quills for quillwork by throwing a blanket over a porcupine and retrieving the quills it left stuck in the blanket.
At least 89 species of rodent, mostly Hystricomorpha such as guinea pigs, agoutis and capybaras, are eaten by humans; in 1985, there were at least 42 different societies in which people eat rats. Guinea pigs were first raised for food around 2500 B.C. and by 1500 B.C. had become the main source of meat for the Inca Empire. Dormice were raised by the Romans in special pots called "gliraria", or in large outdoor enclosures, where they were fattened on walnuts, chestnuts, and acorns. The dormice were also caught from the wild in autumn when they were fattest, and either roasted and dipped into honey or baked while stuffed with a mixture of pork, pine nuts, and other flavorings. Researchers found that in Amazonia, where large mammals were scarce, pacas and common agoutis accounted for around 40 percent of the annual game taken by the indigenous people, but in forested areas where larger mammals were abundant, these rodents constituted only about 3 percent of the take.
Guinea pigs are used in the cuisine of Cuzco, Peru, in dishes such as *cuy al horno*, baked guinea pig. The traditional Andean stove, known as a *qoncha* or a *fogón*, is made from mud and clay reinforced with straw and hair from animals such as guinea pigs. In Peru, there are at any time 20 million domestic guinea pigs, which annually produce 64 million edible carcasses. This animal is an excellent food source since the flesh is 19% protein. In the United States, mostly squirrels, but also muskrats, porcupines, and groundhogs are eaten by humans. The Navajo people ate prairie dog baked in mud, while the Paiute ate gophers, squirrels, and rats.
Rodents are used widely as model organisms in animal testing. Albino mutant rats were first used for research in 1828 and later became the first animal domesticated for purely scientific purposes. Nowadays, the house mouse is the most commonly used laboratory rodent, and in 1979 it was estimated that fifty million were used annually worldwide. They are favored because of their small size, fertility, short gestation period and ease of handling and because they are susceptible to many of the conditions and infections that afflict humans. They are used in research into genetics, developmental biology, cell biology, oncology and immunology. Guinea pigs were popular laboratory animals until the late 20th century; about 2.5 million guinea pigs were used annually in the United States for research in the 1960s, but that total decreased to about 375,000 by the mid-1990s. In 2007, they constituted about 2% of all laboratory animals. Guinea pigs played a major role in the establishment of germ theory in the late 19th century, through the experiments of Louis Pasteur, Émile Roux, and Robert Koch. They have been launched into orbital space flight several times—first by the USSR on the Sputnik 9 biosatellite of 9 March 1961, with a successful recovery. The naked mole rat is the only known mammal that is poikilothermic; it is used in studies on thermoregulation. It is also unusual in not producing the neurotransmitter substance P, a fact which researchers find useful in studies on pain.
Rodents have sensitive olfactory abilities, which have been used by humans to detect odors or chemicals of interest. The Gambian pouched rat is able to detect tuberculosis bacilli with a sensitivity of up to 86.6%, and specificity (detecting the absence of the bacilli) of over 93%; the same species has been trained to detect land mines. Rats have been studied for possible use in hazardous situations such as in disaster zones. They can be trained to respond to commands, which may be given remotely, and even persuaded to venture into brightly lit areas, which rats usually avoid.
Rodents including guinea pigs, mice, rats, hamsters, gerbils, chinchillas, degus and chipmunks make convenient pets able to live in small spaces, each species with its own qualities. Most are normally kept in cages of suitable sizes and have varied requirements for space and social interaction. If handled from a young age, they are usually docile and do not bite. Guinea pigs have a long lifespan and need a large cage. Rats also need plenty of space and can become very tame, can learn tricks and seem to enjoy human companionship. Mice are short-lived but take up very little space. Hamsters are solitary but tend to be nocturnal. They have interesting behaviors, but unless handled regularly they may be defensive. Gerbils are not usually aggressive, rarely bite and are sociable animals that enjoy the company of humans and their own kind.
Some rodent species are serious agricultural pests, eating large quantities of food stored by humans. For example, in 2003, the amount of rice lost to mice and rats in Asia was estimated to be enough to feed 200 million people. Most of the damage worldwide is caused by a relatively small number of species, chiefly rats and mice. In Indonesia and Tanzania, rodents reduce crop yields by around fifteen percent, while in some instances in South America losses have reached ninety percent. Across Africa, rodents including *Mastomys* and *Arvicanthis* damage cereals, groundnuts, vegetables and cacao. In Asia, rats, mice and species such as *Microtus brandti*, *Meriones unguiculatus* and *Eospalax baileyi* damage crops of rice, sorghum, tubers, vegetables and nuts. In Europe, as well as rats and mice, species of *Apodemus*, *Microtus* and in occasional outbreaks *Arvicola terrestris* cause damage to orchards, vegetables and pasture as well as cereals. In South America, a wider range of rodent species, such as *Holochilus*, *Akodon*, *Calomys*, *Oligoryzomys*, *Phyllotis*, *Sigmodon* and *Zygodontomys*, damage many crops including sugar cane, fruits, vegetables, and tubers.
Rodents are also significant vectors of disease. The black rat, with the fleas that it carries, plays a primary role in spreading the bacterium *Yersinia pestis* responsible for bubonic plague, and carries the organisms responsible for typhus, Weil's disease, toxoplasmosis and trichinosis. A number of rodents carry hantaviruses, including the Puumala, Dobrava and Saaremaa viruses, which can infect humans. Rodents also help to transmit diseases including babesiosis, cutaneous leishmaniasis, human granulocytic anaplasmosis, Lyme disease, Omsk hemorrhagic fever, Powassan virus, rickettsialpox, relapsing fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and West Nile virus.
Because rodents are a nuisance and endanger public health, human societies often attempt to control them. Traditionally, this involved poisoning and trapping, methods that were not always safe or effective. More recently, integrated pest management attempts to improve control with a combination of surveys to determine the size and distribution of the pest population, the establishment of tolerance limits (levels of pest activity at which to intervene), interventions, and evaluation of effectiveness based on repeated surveys. Interventions may include education, making and applying laws and regulations, modifying the habitat, changing farming practices, and biological control using pathogens or predators, as well as poisoning and trapping. The use of pathogens such as *Salmonella* has the drawback that they can infect man and domestic animals, and rodents often become resistant. The use of predators including ferrets, mongooses and monitor lizards has been found unsatisfactory. Domestic and feral cats are able to control rodents effectively, provided the rodent population is not too large. In the UK, two species in particular, the house mouse and the brown rat, are actively controlled to limit damage in growing crops, loss and contamination of stored crops and structural damage to facilities, as well as to comply with the law.
- McKenna, Malcolm C.; Bell, Susan K. (1997).
*Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level*. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-11013-6. - Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005).
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# Maya civilization - Wikipedia
| Religion | Maya religion |
|---|---|
| Geographical range | Maya Region, Mesoamerica |
| Period | Mesoamerican Preclassic Period to Colonial Period |
| Dates | c. 2000 BC–1697 AD |
| Type site | Uaxactun, Dzibilchaltun |
| Preceded by | Archaic Period |
| Cause of collapse | Spanish conquest of the Maya |
The **Maya civilization** (Mesoamerican civilization that existed from antiquity to the early modern period. It is known by its ancient temples and glyphs (script). The Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas. The civilization is also noted for its art, architecture, mathematics, calendar, and astronomical system.
The Maya civilization developed in the Maya Region, an area that today comprises southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. It includes the northern lowlands of the Yucatán Peninsula and the Guatemalan Highlands of the Sierra Madre, the Mexican state of Chiapas, southern Guatemala, El Salvador, and the southern lowlands of the Pacific littoral plain. Today, their descendants, known collectively as the Maya, number well over 6 million individuals, speak more than twenty-eight surviving Mayan languages, and reside in nearly the same area as their ancestors.
The Archaic period, before 2000 BC, saw the first developments in agriculture and the earliest villages. The Preclassic period (c. 2000 BC to 250 AD) saw the establishment of the first complex societies in the Maya region, and the cultivation of the staple crops of the Maya diet, including maize, beans, squashes, and chili peppers. The first Maya cities developed around 750 BC, and by 500 BC these cities possessed monumental architecture, including large temples with elaborate stucco façades. Hieroglyphic writing was being used in the Maya region by the 3rd century BC. In the Late Preclassic, a number of large cities developed in the Petén Basin, and the city of Kaminaljuyu rose to prominence in the Guatemalan Highlands. Beginning around 250 AD, the Classic period is largely defined as when the Maya were raising sculpted monuments with Long Count dates. This period saw the Maya civilization develop many city-states linked by a complex trade network. In the Maya Lowlands two great rivals, the cities of Tikal and Calakmul, became powerful. The Classic period also saw the intrusive intervention of the central Mexican city of Teotihuacan in Maya dynastic politics. In the 9th century, there was a widespread political collapse in the central Maya region, resulting in civil wars, the abandonment of cities, and a northward shift of population. The Postclassic period saw the rise of Chichen Itza in the north, and the expansion of the aggressive Kʼicheʼ kingdom in the Guatemalan Highlands. In the 16th century, the Spanish Empire colonised the Mesoamerican region, and a lengthy series of campaigns saw the fall of Nojpetén, the last Maya city, in 1697.
Rule during the Classic period centred on the concept of the "divine king", who was thought to act as a mediator between mortals and the supernatural realm. Kingship was usually (but not exclusively) patrilineal, and power normally passed to the eldest son. A prospective king was expected to be a successful war leader as well as a ruler. Closed patronage systems were the dominant force in Maya politics, although how patronage affected the political makeup of a kingdom varied from city-state to city-state. By the Late Classic period, the aristocracy had grown in size, reducing the previously exclusive power of the king. The Maya developed sophisticated art forms using both perishable and non-perishable materials, including wood, jade, obsidian, ceramics, sculpted stone monuments, stucco, and finely painted murals.
Maya cities tended to expand organically. The city centers comprised ceremonial and administrative complexes, surrounded by an irregularly shaped sprawl of residential districts. Different parts of a city were often linked by causeways. Architecturally, city buildings included palaces, pyramid-temples, ceremonial ballcourts, and structures specially aligned for astronomical observation. The Maya elite were literate, and developed a complex system of hieroglyphic writing. Theirs was the most advanced writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas. The Maya recorded their history and ritual knowledge in screenfold books, of which only three uncontested examples remain, the rest having been destroyed by the Spanish. In addition, a great many examples of Maya texts can be found on stelae and ceramics. The Maya developed a highly complex series of interlocking ritual calendars, and employed mathematics that included one of the earliest known instances of the explicit zero in human history. As a part of their religion, the Maya practised human sacrifice.
## Etymology
"Maya" is a modern term used to refer collectively to the various peoples that inhabited this area, as Maya peoples have not had a sense of a common ethnic identity or political unity for the vast majority of their history. Early Spanish and Mayan-language colonial sources in the Yucatán Peninsula used the term "Maya" to denote both the language spoken by the Yucatec Maya and the area surrounding the then-abandoned city of Mayapán. The term "Maya" was derived from the city of Mayapán. Some colonial Mayan-language sources also used "Maya" to refer to other Maya groups, sometimes pejoratively in reference to Maya groups more resistant to Spanish rule.
## Geography
The Maya civilization occupied a wide territory that included southeastern Mexico and northern Central America. This area included the entire Yucatán Peninsula and all of the territory now in the modern countries of Guatemala and Belize, as well as the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. Most of the peninsula is formed by a vast plain with few hills or mountains and a generally low coastline. The territory of the Maya covered a third of Mesoamerica, and the Maya were engaged in a dynamic relationship with neighbouring cultures that included the Olmecs, Mixtecs, Teotihuacan, and Aztecs. During the Early Classic period, the Maya cities of Tikal and Kaminaljuyu were key Maya foci in a network that extended into the highlands of central Mexico; there was a strong Maya presence at the Tetitla compound of Teotihuacan. The Maya city of Chichen Itza and the distant Toltec capital of Tula had an especially close relationship.
The Petén region consists of densely forested low-lying limestone plain; a chain of fourteen lakes runs across the central drainage basin of Petén. To the south the plain gradually rises towards the Guatemalan Highlands. The dense Maya forest covers northern Petén and Belize, most of Quintana Roo, southern Campeche, and a portion of the south of Yucatán state. Farther north, the vegetation turns to lower forest consisting of dense scrub.
The littoral zone of Soconusco lies to the south of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, and consists of a narrow coastal plain and the foothills of the Sierra Madre. The Maya highlands extend eastwards from Chiapas into Guatemala, reaching their highest in the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes. Their major pre-Columbian population centres were in the largest highland valleys, such as the Valley of Guatemala and the Quetzaltenango Valley. In the southern highlands, a belt of volcanic cones runs parallel to the Pacific coast. The highlands extend northwards into Verapaz, and gradually descend to the east.
## History
The history of Maya civilization is divided into three principal periods: the Preclassic, Classic, and Postclassic. These were preceded by the Archaic Period, during which the first settled villages and early developments in agriculture emerged. Modern scholars regard these periods as arbitrary divisions of Maya chronology, rather than indicative of cultural evolution or decline. Definitions of the start and end dates of period spans can vary by as much as a century, depending on the author.
| Period | Division | Dates | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archaic | 8000–2000 BC | ||
| Preclassic | Early Preclassic | 2000–1000 BC | |
| Middle Preclassic | Early Middle Preclassic | 1000–600 BC | |
| Late Middle Preclassic | 600–350 BC | ||
| Late Preclassic | Early Late Preclassic | 350–1 BC | |
| Late Late Preclassic | 1 BC – AD 159 | ||
| Terminal Preclassic | AD 159–250 | ||
| Classic | Early Classic | AD 250–550 | |
| Late Classic | AD 550–830 | ||
| Terminal Classic | AD 830–950 | ||
| Postclassic | Early Postclassic | AD 950–1200 | |
| Late Postclassic | AD 1200–1539 | ||
| Contact period | AD 1511–1697 |
The Maya developed their first civilization in the Preclassic period. Scholars continue to discuss when this era of Maya civilization began. Maya occupation at Cuello (modern Belize) has been carbon dated to around 2600 BC. Settlements were established around 1800 BC in the Soconusco region of the Pacific coast, and the Maya were already cultivating the staple crops of maize, beans, squash, and chili pepper. This period was characterised by sedentary communities and the introduction of pottery and fired clay figurines.
During the Middle Preclassic Period, small villages began to grow to form cities. Nakbe in the Petén department of Guatemala is the earliest well-documented city in the Maya lowlands, where large structures have been dated to around 750 BC. The northern lowlands of Yucatán were widely settled by the Middle Preclassic. By approximately 400 BC, early Maya rulers were raising stelae. A developed script was already being used in Petén by the 3rd century BC. In the Late Preclassic Period, the enormous city of El Mirador grew to cover approximately 16 square kilometres (6.2 sq mi). Although not as large, Tikal was already a significant city by around 350 BC.
In the highlands, Kaminaljuyu emerged as a principal centre in the Late Preclassic. Takalik Abaj and Chocolá were two of the most important cities on the Pacific coastal plain, and Komchen grew to become an important site in northern Yucatán. The Late Preclassic cultural florescence collapsed in the 1st century AD and many of the great Maya cities of the epoch were abandoned; the cause of this collapse is unknown.
The Classic period is largely defined as the period during which the lowland Maya raised dated monuments using the Long Count calendar. This period marked the peak of large-scale construction and urbanism, the recording of monumental inscriptions, and demonstrated significant intellectual and artistic development, particularly in the southern lowland regions. The Classic period Maya political landscape has been likened to that of Renaissance Italy or Classical Greece, with multiple city-states engaged in a complex network of alliances and enmities. The largest cities had 50,000 to 120,000 people and were linked to networks of subsidiary sites.
During the Early Classic, cities throughout the Maya region were influenced by the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the distant Valley of Mexico. In AD 378, Teotihuacan decisively intervened at Tikal and other nearby cities, deposed their rulers, and installed a new Teotihuacan-backed dynasty. This intervention was led by Siyaj Kʼakʼ ("Born of Fire"), who arrived at Tikal in early 378. The king of Tikal, Chak Tok Ichʼaak I, died on the same day, suggesting a violent takeover. A year later, Siyaj Kʼakʼ oversaw the installation of a new king, Yax Nuun Ahiin I. This led to a period of political dominance when Tikal became the most powerful city in the central lowlands.
Tikal's great rival was Calakmul, another powerful city in the Petén Basin. Tikal and Calakmul both developed extensive systems of allies and vassals; lesser cities that entered one of these networks gained prestige from their association with the top-tier city, and maintained peaceful relations with members of the network. Tikal and Calakmul engaged in the manoeuvering of their alliance networks against each other. At various points during the Classic period, one or other of these powers would gain a strategic victory over its great rival, resulting in respective periods of florescence and decline.
In 629, Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil, a son of the Tikal king Kʼinich Muwaan Jol II, was sent to found a new city at Dos Pilas, in the Petexbatún region, apparently as an outpost to extend Tikal's power beyond the reach of Calakmul. For the next two decades he fought loyally for his brother and overlord at Tikal. In 648, king Yuknoom Chʼeen II of Calakmul captured Balaj Chan Kʼawiil. Yuknoom Chʼeen II then reinstated Balaj Chan Kʼawiil upon the throne of Dos Pilas as his vassal. He thereafter served as a loyal ally of Calakmul.
In the southeast, Copán was the most important city. Its Classic-period dynasty was founded in 426 by Kʼinich Yax Kʼukʼ Moʼ. The new king had strong ties with central Petén and Teotihuacan. Copán reached the height of its cultural and artistic development during the rule of Uaxaclajuun Ubʼaah Kʼawiil, who ruled from 695 to 738. His reign ended catastrophically when he was captured by his vassal, king Kʼakʼ Tiliw Chan Yopaat of Quiriguá. The captured lord of Copán was taken back to Quiriguá and was decapitated in a public ritual. It is likely that this coup was backed by Calakmul, in order to weaken a powerful ally of Tikal. Palenque and Yaxchilan were the most powerful cities in the Usumacinta region. In the highlands, Kaminaljuyu in the Valley of Guatemala was already a sprawling city by 300. In the north of the Maya area, Coba was the most important capital.
#### Classic Maya collapse
During the 9th century AD, the central Maya region suffered major political collapse, marked by the abandonment of cities, the ending of dynasties, and a northward shift in activity. No universally accepted theory explains this collapse, but it likely had a combination of causes, including endemic internecine warfare, overpopulation resulting in severe environmental degradation, and drought. During this period, known as the Terminal Classic, the northern cities of Chichen Itza and Uxmal showed increased activity. Major cities in the northern Yucatán Peninsula were inhabited long after the cities of the southern lowlands ceased to raise monuments.
Classic Maya social organization was based on the ritual authority of the ruler, rather than central control of trade and food distribution. This model was poorly structured to respond to changes, because the ruler's actions were limited by tradition to such activities as construction, ritual, and warfare. This only served to exacerbate systemic problems. By the 9th and 10th centuries, this resulted in collapse of this system of rulership. In the northern Yucatán, individual rule was replaced by a ruling council formed from elite lineages. In the southern Yucatán and central Petén, kingdoms declined; in western Petén and some other areas, the changes were catastrophic and resulted in the rapid depopulation of cities. Within a couple of generations, large swathes of the central Maya area were all but abandoned. Both the capitals and their secondary centres were generally abandoned within a period of 50 to 100 years. One by one, cities stopped sculpting dated monuments; the last Long Count date was inscribed at Toniná in 909. Stelae were no longer raised, and squatters moved into abandoned royal palaces. Mesoamerican trade routes shifted and bypassed Petén.
Although much reduced, a significant Maya presence remained into the Postclassic period after the abandonment of the major Classic period cities; the population was particularly concentrated near permanent water sources. Unlike during previous cycles of contraction, abandoned lands were not quickly resettled in the Postclassic. Activity shifted to the northern lowlands and the Maya Highlands; this may have involved migration from the southern lowlands, because many Postclassic Maya groups had migration myths. Chichen Itza and its Puuc neighbours declined dramatically in the 11th century, and this may represent the final episode of Classic Period collapse. After the decline of Chichen Itza, the Maya region lacked a dominant power until the rise of the city of Mayapan in the 12th century. New cities arose near the Caribbean and Gulf coasts, and new trade networks were formed.
The Postclassic Period was marked by changes from the preceding Classic Period. The once-great city of Kaminaljuyu in the Valley of Guatemala was abandoned after continuous occupation of almost 2,000 years. Across the highlands and neighbouring Pacific coast, long-occupied cities in exposed locations were relocated, apparently due to a proliferation of warfare.[ citation needed] Cities came to occupy more-easily defended hilltop locations surrounded by deep ravines, with ditch-and-wall defences sometimes supplementing the natural terrain. One of the most important cities in the Guatemalan Highlands at this time was Qʼumarkaj, the capital of the aggressive Kʼicheʼ kingdom. The government of Maya states, from the Yucatán to the Guatemalan highlands, was often organised as joint rule by a council. However, in practice one member of the council could act as a supreme ruler, while the other members served him as advisors.
Mayapan was abandoned around 1448, after a period of political, social and environmental turbulence that in many ways echoed the Classic period collapse in the southern Maya region. The abandonment of the city was followed by a period of prolonged warfare, disease and natural disasters in the Yucatán Peninsula, which ended only shortly before Spanish contact in 1511. Even without a dominant regional capital, the early Spanish explorers reported wealthy coastal cities and thriving marketplaces. During the Late Postclassic, the Yucatán Peninsula was divided into a number of independent provinces that shared a common culture but varied in internal sociopolitical organization. On the eve of the Spanish conquest, the highlands of Guatemala were dominated by several powerful Maya states. The Kʼicheʼ had carved out a small empire covering a large part of the western Guatemalan Highlands and the neighbouring Pacific coastal plain. However, in the decades before the Spanish conquest of the Kaqchikel kingdom had been steadily eroding the kingdom of the Kʼicheʼ.
In 1511, a Spanish caravel was wrecked in the Caribbean, and about a dozen survivors made landfall on the coast of Yucatán. They were seized by a Maya lord, and most were sacrificed, although two escaped. From 1517 to 1519, three separate Spanish expeditions explored the Yucatán coast, and engaged in a number of battles with the Maya inhabitants. After the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan fell to the Spanish in 1521, Hernán Cortés despatched Pedro de Alvarado to Guatemala with 180 cavalry, 300 infantry, 4 cannons, and thousands of allied warriors from central Mexico; they arrived in Soconusco in 1523. The Kʼicheʼ capital, Qʼumarkaj, fell to Alvarado in 1524. Shortly afterwards, the Spanish were invited as allies into Iximche, the capital city of the Kaqchikel Maya. Good relations did not last, due to excessive Spanish demands for gold as tribute, and the city was abandoned a few months later. This was followed by the fall of Zaculeu, the Mam Maya capital, in 1525. Francisco de Montejo and his son, Francisco de Montejo the Younger, launched a long series of campaigns against the polities of the Yucatán Peninsula in 1527, and finally completed the conquest of the northern portion of the peninsula in 1546. This left only the Maya kingdoms of the Petén Basin independent. In 1697, Martín de Ursúa launched an assault on the Itza capital Nojpetén and the last independent Maya city fell to the Spanish.
### Persistence of Maya culture
The Spanish conquest stripped away most of the defining features of Maya civilization. However, many Maya villages remained remote from Spanish colonial authority, and for the most part continued to manage their own affairs. Maya communities and the nuclear family maintained their traditional day-to-day life. The basic Mesoamerican diet of maize and beans continued, although agricultural output was improved by the introduction of steel tools. Traditional crafts such as weaving, ceramics, and basketry continued to be practised. Community markets and trade in local products continued long after the conquest. At times, the colonial administration encouraged the traditional economy in order to extract tribute in the form of ceramics or cotton textiles, although these were usually made to European specifications. Maya beliefs and language proved resistant to change, despite vigorous efforts by Catholic missionaries. The 260-day *tzolkʼin* ritual calendar continues in use in modern Maya communities in the highlands of Guatemala and Chiapas, and millions of Mayan-language speakers inhabit the territory in which their ancestors developed their civilization.
### Investigation of Maya civilization
The agents of the Catholic Church wrote detailed accounts of the Maya, in support of their efforts at Christianization, and absorption of the Maya into the Spanish Empire. This was followed by various Spanish priests and colonial officials who left descriptions of ruins they visited in Yucatán and Central America. In 1839, American traveller and writer John Lloyd Stephens set out to visit a number of Maya sites with English architect and draftsman Frederick Catherwood. Their illustrated accounts of the ruins sparked strong popular interest, and brought the Maya to world attention. The later 19th century saw the recording and recovery of ethnohistoric accounts of the Maya, and the first steps in deciphering Maya hieroglyphs.
The final two decades of the 19th century saw the birth of modern scientific archaeology in the Maya region, with the meticulous work of Alfred Maudslay and Teoberto Maler. By the early 20th century, the Peabody Museum was sponsoring excavations at Copán and in the Yucatán Peninsula. In the first two decades of the 20th century, advances were made in deciphering the Maya calendar, and identifying deities, dates, and religious concepts. Since the 1930s, archaeological exploration increased dramatically, with large-scale excavations across the Maya region.
In the 1960s, Mayanist J. Eric S. Thompson promoted the ideas that Maya cities were essentially vacant ceremonial centres serving a dispersed population in the forest, and that the Maya civilization was governed by peaceful astronomer-priests. These ideas began to collapse with major advances in the decipherment of the script in the late 20th century, pioneered by Heinrich Berlin, Tatiana Proskouriakoff, and Yuri Knorozov. With breakthroughs in understanding of Maya script since the 1950s, the texts revealed the warlike activities of the Classic Maya kings, undermining the view of the Maya as peaceful.
## Politics
Unlike the Aztecs and the Inca, the Maya political system never integrated the entire Maya cultural area into a single state or empire. Rather, throughout its history, the Maya area contained a varying mix of political complexity that included both states and chiefdoms. These polities fluctuated greatly in their relationships with each other and were engaged in a complex web of rivalries, periods of dominance or submission, vassalage, and alliances. At times, different polities achieved regional dominance, such as Calakmul, Caracol, Mayapan, and Tikal. The first reliably evidenced polities formed in the Maya lowlands in the 9th century BC.
During the Late Preclassic, the Maya political system coalesced into a theopolitical form, where elite ideology justified the ruler's authority, and was reinforced by public display, ritual, and religion. The divine king was the centre of political power, exercising ultimate control over administrative, economic, judicial, and military functions. The divine authority invested within the ruler was such that the king was able to mobilize both the aristocracy and commoners in executing huge infrastructure projects, apparently with no police force or standing army. Some polities engaged in a strategy of increasing administration, and filling administrative posts with loyal supporters rather than blood relatives. Within a polity, mid-ranking population centres would have played a key role in managing resources and internal conflict.
The Maya political landscape was highly complex and Maya elites engaged in political intrigue to gain economic and social advantage over neighbours. In the Late Classic, some cities established a long period of dominance over other large cities, such as the dominance of Caracol over Naranjo for half a century. In other cases, loose alliance networks were formed around a dominant city. Border settlements, usually located about halfway between neighbouring capitals, often switched allegiance over the course of their history, and at times acted independently. Dominant capitals exacted tribute in the form of luxury items from subjugated population centres. Political power was reinforced by military power, and the capture and humiliation of enemy warriors played an important part in elite culture. An overriding sense of pride and honour among the warrior aristocracy could lead to extended feuds and vendettas, which caused political instability and the fragmentation of polities.
## Society
From the Early Preclassic, Maya society was sharply divided between the elite and commoners. As population increased over time, various sectors of society became increasingly specialised, and political organization increasingly complex. By the Late Classic, when populations had grown enormously and hundreds of cities were connected in a complex web of political hierarchies, the wealthy segment of society multiplied. A middle class may have developed that included artisans, low ranking priests and officials, merchants, and soldiers. Commoners included farmers, servants, labourers, and slaves. According to indigenous histories, land was held communally by noble houses or clans. Such clans held that the land was the property of the ancestors, and ties between the land and the ancestors were reinforced by the burial of the dead within residential compounds.
### King and court
Classic Maya rule was centred in a royal culture that was displayed in all areas of Classic Maya art. The king was the supreme ruler and held a semi-divine status that made him the mediator between the mortal realm and that of the gods. From very early times, kings were specifically identified with the young maize god, whose gift of maize was the basis of Mesoamerican civilization. Maya royal succession was patrilineal, and royal power only passed to queens when doing otherwise would result in the extinction of the dynasty. Typically, power was passed to the eldest son. A young prince was called a *chʼok* ("youth"), although this word later came to refer to nobility in general. The royal heir was called *bʼaah chʼok* ("head youth"). Various points in the prince's childhood were marked by ritual; the most important was a bloodletting ceremony at age five or six. Although being of the royal bloodline was of utmost importance, the heir also had to be a successful war leader, as demonstrated by taking of captives. The enthronement of a new king was a highly elaborate ceremony, involving a series of separate acts that included enthronement upon a jaguar-skin cushion, human sacrifice, and receiving the symbols of royal power, such as a headband bearing a jade representation of the so-called "jester god", an elaborate headdress adorned with quetzal feathers, and a sceptre representing the god Kʼawiil.
Maya political administration, based around the royal court, was not bureaucratic in nature. Government was hierarchical, and official posts were sponsored by higher-ranking members of the aristocracy; officials tended to be promoted to higher levels of office over their lives. Officials are referred to as being "owned" by their sponsor, and this relationship continued even after the death of the sponsor. The Maya royal court was a vibrant and dynamic political institution. There was no universal structure for the Maya royal court, instead each polity formed a royal court that was suited to its own individual context. A number of royal and noble titles have been identified by epigraphers translating Classic Maya inscriptions. *Ajaw* is usually translated as "lord" or "king". In the Early Classic, an *ajaw* was the ruler of a city. Later, with increasing social complexity, the *ajaw* was a member of the ruling class and a major city could have more than one, each ruling over different districts. Paramount rulers distinguished themselves from the extended nobility by prefixing the word *kʼuhul* to their *ajaw* title. A *kʼuhul ajaw* was "divine lord", originally confined to the kings of the most prestigious and ancient royal lines. *Kalomte* was a royal title, whose exact meaning is not yet deciphered, but it was held only by the most powerful kings of the strongest dynasties. It indicated an overlord, or high king, and was only in use during the Classic period. By the Late Classic, the absolute power of the *kʼuhul ajaw* had weakened, and the political system had diversified to include a wider aristocracy, that by this time may well have expanded disproportionately.
A *sajal* was ranked below the *ajaw*, and indicated a subservient lord. A *sajal* would be lord of a second- or third-tier site, answering to an *ajaw*, who may himself have been subservient to a *kalomte*. A *sajal* would often be a war captain or regional governor, and inscriptions often link the *sajal* title to warfare; they are often mentioned as the holders of war captives. *Sajal* meant "feared one". The titles of *ah tzʼihb* and *ah chʼul hun* are both related to scribes. The *ah tzʼihb* was a royal scribe, usually a member of the royal family; the *ah chʼul hun* was the Keeper of the Holy Books, a title that is closely associated with the *ajaw* title, indicating that an *ajaw* always held the *ah chʼul hun* title simultaneously. Other courtly titles, the functions of which are not well understood, were *yajaw kʼahk'* ("Lord of Fire"), *tiʼhuun* and *ti'sakhuun*. These last two may be variations on the same title, and Mark Zender has suggested that the holder of this title may have been the spokesman for the ruler. Courtly titles are overwhelmingly male-oriented, and in those relatively rare occasions where they are applied to a woman, they appear to be used as honorifics for female royalty. Titled elites were often associated with particular structures in the hieroglyphic inscriptions of Classic period cities, indicating that such office holders either owned that structure, or that the structure was an important focus for their activities. A *lakam*, or standard-bearer, was possibly the only non-elite post-holder in the royal court. The *lakam* was only found in larger sites, and they appear to have been responsible for the taxation of local districts.
Different factions may have existed in the royal court. The *kʼuhul ahaw* and his household would have formed the central power-base, but other important groups were the priesthood, the warrior aristocracy, and other aristocratic courtiers. Where ruling councils existed, as at Chichen Itza and Copán, these may have formed an additional faction. Rivalry between different factions would have led to dynamic political institutions as compromises and disagreements were played out. In such a setting, public performance was vital. Such performances included ritual dances, presentation of war captives, offerings of tribute, human sacrifice, and religious ritual.
### Commoners
Commoners are estimated to have comprised over 90% of the population, but relatively little is known about them. Their houses were generally constructed from perishable materials, and their remains have left little trace in the archaeological record. Some commoner dwellings were raised on low platforms, and these can be identified, but an unknown quantity of commoner houses were not. Such low-status dwellings can only be detected by extensive remote-sensing surveys of apparently empty terrain. The range of commoners was broad; it consisted of everyone not of noble birth, and therefore included everyone from the poorest farmers to wealthy craftsmen and commoners appointed to bureaucratic positions. Commoners engaged in essential production activities, including that of products destined for use by the elite, such as cotton and cacao, as well as subsistence crops for their own use, and utilitarian items such as ceramics and stone tools. Commoners took part in warfare, and could advance socially by proving themselves as outstanding warriors. Commoners paid taxes to the elite in the form of staple goods such as maize, flour and game. It is likely that hard-working commoners who displayed exceptional skills and initiative could become influential members of Maya society.
## Warfare
Warfare was prevalent in the Maya world. Military campaigns were launched for a variety of reasons, including the control of trade routes and tribute, raids to take captives, scaling up to the complete destruction of an enemy state. Little is known about Maya military organization, logistics, or training. Warfare is depicted in Maya art from the Classic period, and wars and victories are mentioned in hieroglyphic inscriptions. Unfortunately, the inscriptions do not provide information upon the causes of war, or the form it took. In the 8th–9th centuries, intensive warfare resulted in the collapse of the kingdoms of the Petexbatún region of western Petén. The rapid abandonment of Aguateca by its inhabitants has provided a rare opportunity to examine the remains of Maya weaponry *in situ*. Aguateca was stormed by unknown enemies around 810 AD, who overcame its formidable defences and burned the royal palace. The elite inhabitants of the city either fled or were captured, and never returned to collect their abandoned property. The inhabitants of the periphery abandoned the site soon after. This is an example of intensive warfare carried out by an enemy in order to eliminate a Maya state, rather than subjugate it. Research at Aguateca indicated that Classic period warriors were primarily members of the elite.
From as early as the Preclassic period, the ruler of a Maya polity was expected to be a distinguished war leader, and was depicted with trophy heads hanging from his belt. In the Classic period, such trophy heads no longer appeared on the king's belt, but Classic period kings are frequently depicted standing over humiliated war captives. Right up to the end of the Postclassic period, Maya kings led as war captains. Maya inscriptions from the Classic show that a defeated king could be captured, tortured, and sacrificed. The Spanish recorded that Maya leaders kept track of troop movements in painted books.
The outcome of a successful military campaign could vary in its impact on the defeated polity. In some cases, entire cities were sacked, and never resettled, as at Aguateca. In other instances, the victors would seize the defeated rulers, their families, and patron gods. The captured nobles and their families could be imprisoned, or sacrificed. At the least severe end of the scale, the defeated polity would be obliged to pay tribute to the victor.
### Warriors
During the Contact period, certain military positions were held by members of the aristocracy, and were passed on by patrilineal succession. It is likely that the specialised knowledge inherent in the particular military role was taught to the successor, including strategy, ritual, and war dances. Maya armies of the Contact period were highly disciplined, and warriors participated in regular training exercises and drills; every able-bodied adult male was available for military service. Maya states did not maintain standing armies; warriors were mustered by local officials who reported back to appointed warleaders. There were also units of full-time mercenaries who followed permanent leaders. Most warriors were not full-time, however, and were primarily farmers; the needs of their crops usually came before warfare. Maya warfare was not so much aimed at destruction of the enemy as the seizure of captives and plunder.
There is some evidence from the Classic period that women provided supporting roles in war, but they did not act as military officers with the exception of those rare ruling queens. By the Postclassic, the native chronicles suggest that women occasionally fought in battle.
### Weapons
The *atlatl* (spear-thrower) was introduced to the Maya region by Teotihuacan in the Early Classic. This was a 0.5-metre-long (1.6 ft) stick with a notched end to hold a dart or javelin. The stick was used to launch the missile with more force and accuracy than simply hurling it with the arm. Evidence in the form of stone blade points recovered from Aguateca indicate that darts and spears were the primary weapons of the Classic Maya warrior. Commoners used blowguns in war, which also served as their hunting weapon. The bow and arrow was used by the ancient Maya for both war and hunting. Although present in the Maya region during the Classic period, its use as a weapon of war was not favoured; it did not become a common weapon until the Postclassic. The Contact period Maya also used two-handed swords crafted from strong wood with the blade fashioned from inset obsidian, similar to the Aztec *macuahuitl*. Maya warriors wore body armour in the form of quilted cotton that had been soaked in salt water to toughen it; the resulting armour compared favourably to the steel armour worn by the Spanish when they conquered the region. Warriors bore wooden or animal hide shields decorated with feathers and animal skins.
## Trade
Trade was a key component of Maya society, and in the development of the Maya civilization. The cities that grew to become the most important usually controlled access to vital trade goods, or portage routes. Cities such as Kaminaljuyu and Qʼumarkaj in the Guatemalan Highlands, and Chalchuapa in El Salvador, variously controlled access to the sources of obsidian at different points in Maya history. The Maya were major producers of cotton, which was used to make the textiles to be traded throughout Mesoamerica. The most important cities in the northern Yucatán Peninsula controlled access to the sources of salt. In the Postclassic, the Maya engaged in a flourishing slave trade with wider Mesoamerica.
The Maya engaged in long-distance trade across the Maya region, and across greater Mesoamerica and beyond. As an illustration, an Early Classic Maya merchant quarter has been identified at the distant metropolis of Teotihuacan, in central Mexico. Within Mesoamerica beyond the Maya area, trade routes particularly focused on central Mexico and the Gulf coast. In the Early Classic, Chichen Itza was at the hub of an extensive trade network that imported gold discs from Colombia and Panama, and turquoise from Los Cerrillos, New Mexico. Long-distance trade of both luxury and utilitarian goods was probably controlled by the royal family. Prestige goods obtained by trade were used both for consumption by the city's ruler, and as luxury gifts to consolidate the loyalty of vassals and allies.
Trade routes not only supplied physical goods, they facilitated the movement of people and ideas throughout Mesoamerica. Shifts in trade routes occurred with the rise and fall of important cities in the Maya region, and have been identified in every major reorganization of the Maya civilization, such as the rise of Preclassic Maya civilization, the transition to the Classic, and the Terminal Classic collapse. Even the Spanish Conquest did not immediately terminate all Maya trading activity; for example, the Contact period Manche Chʼol traded the prestige crops of cacao, annatto and vanilla into colonial Verapaz.
### Merchants
Little is known of Maya merchants, although they are depicted on Maya ceramics in elaborate noble dress, so at least some were members of the elite. During the Contact period, Maya nobility took part in long-distance trading expeditions. The majority of traders were middle class, but were largely engaged in local and regional trade rather than the prestigious long-distance trading that was the preserve of the elite. The travelling of merchants into dangerous foreign territory was likened to a passage through the underworld; the patron deities of merchants were two underworld gods carrying backpacks. When merchants travelled, they painted themselves black, like their patron gods, and went heavily armed.
The Maya had no pack animals, so all trade goods were carried on the backs of porters when going overland; if the trade route followed a river or the coast, then goods were transported in canoes. A substantial Maya trading canoe made from a large hollowed-out tree trunk was encountered off Honduras on Christopher Columbus's fourth voyage. The canoe was 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) broad and was powered by 25 rowers. Trade goods carried included cacao, obsidian, ceramics, textiles, and copper bells and axes. Cacao was used as currency (although not exclusively), and its value was such that counterfeiting occurred by removing the flesh from the pod, and stuffing it with dirt or avocado rind.
### Marketplaces
Marketplaces are difficult to identify archaeologically. However, the Spanish reported a thriving market economy when they arrived in the region. At some Classic period cities, archaeologists have tentatively identified formal arcade-style masonry architecture and parallel alignments of scattered stones as the permanent foundations of market stalls. A 2007 study compared soils from a modern Guatemalan market to a proposed ancient market at Chunchucmil; unusually high levels of zinc and phosphorus at both sites indicated similar food production and vegetable sales activity. The calculated density of market stalls at Chunchucmil strongly suggests that a thriving market economy already existed in the Early Classic. Archaeologists have tentatively identified marketplaces at an increasing number of Maya cities by means of a combination of archaeology and soil analysis. When the Spanish arrived, Postclassic cities in the highlands had markets in permanent plazas, with officials on hand to settle disputes, enforce rules, and collect taxes.
## Art
Maya art is essentially the art of the royal court. It is almost exclusively concerned with the Maya elite and their world. Maya art was crafted from both perishable and non-perishable materials, and served to link the Maya to their ancestors. Although surviving Maya art represents only a small proportion of the art that the Maya created, it represents a wider variety of subjects than any other art tradition in the Americas. Maya art has many regional styles, and is unique in the ancient Americas in bearing narrative text. The finest surviving Maya art dates to the Late Classic period.
The Maya exhibited a preference for the colour green or blue-green, and used the same word for the colours blue and green. Correspondingly, they placed high value on apple-green jade, and other greenstones, associating them with the sun-god Kʼinich Ajau. They sculpted artefacts that included fine tesserae and beads, to carved heads weighing 4.42 kilograms (9.7 lb). The Maya nobility practised dental modification, and some lords wore encrusted jade in their teeth. Mosaic funerary masks could also be fashioned from jade, such as that of Kʼinich Janaabʼ Pakal, king of Palenque.
Maya stone sculpture emerged into the archaeological record as a fully developed tradition, suggesting that it may have evolved from a tradition of sculpting wood. Because of the biodegradability of wood, the corpus of Maya woodwork has almost entirely disappeared. The few wooden artefacts that have survived include three-dimensional sculptures, and hieroglyphic panels. Stone Maya stelae are widespread in city sites, often paired with low, circular stones referred to as altars in the literature. Stone sculpture also took other forms, such as the limestone relief panels at Palenque and Piedras Negras. At Yaxchilan, Dos Pilas, Copán, and other sites, stone stairways were decorated with sculpture. The hieroglyphic stairway at Copán comprises the longest surviving Maya hieroglyphic text, and consists of 2,200 individual glyphs.
The largest Maya sculptures consisted of architectural façades crafted from stucco. The rough form was laid out on a plain plaster base coating on the wall, and the three-dimensional form was built up using small stones. Finally, this was coated with stucco and moulded into the finished form; human body forms were first modelled in stucco, with their costumes added afterwards. The final stucco sculpture was then brightly painted. Giant stucco masks were used to adorn temple façades by the Late Preclassic, and such decoration continued into the Classic period.
The Maya had a long tradition of mural painting; rich polychrome murals have been excavated at San Bartolo, dating to between 300 and 200 BC. Walls were coated with plaster, and polychrome designs were painted onto the smooth finish. The majority of such murals have not survived, but Early Classic tombs painted in cream, red, and black have been excavated at Caracol, Río Azul, and Tikal. Among the best preserved murals are a full-size series of Late Classic paintings at Bonampak.
Flint, chert, and obsidian all served utilitarian purposes in Maya culture, but many pieces were finely crafted into forms that were never intended to be used as tools. Eccentric flints are among the finest lithic artefacts produced by the ancient Maya. They were technically very challenging to produce, requiring considerable skill on the part of the artisan. Large obsidian eccentrics can measure over 30 centimetres (12 in) in length. Their actual form varies considerably but they generally depict human, animal and geometric forms associated with Maya religion. Eccentric flints show a great variety of forms, such as crescents, crosses, snakes, and scorpions. The largest and most elaborate examples display multiple human heads, with minor heads sometimes branching off from larger one.
Maya textiles are very poorly represented in the archaeological record, although by comparison with other pre-Columbian cultures, such as the Aztecs and the Andean region, it is likely that they were high-value items. Scraps of textile have been recovered, but the best evidence for textile art is where they are represented in other media, such as painted murals or ceramics. Such secondary representations show the elite of the Maya court adorned with sumptuous cloths, generally these would have been cotton, but jaguar pelts and deer hides are also shown.
Ceramics are the most commonly surviving type of Maya art. The Maya had no knowledge of the potter's wheel, and Maya vessels were built up by coiling rolled strips of clay into the desired form. Maya pottery was not glazed, although it often had a fine finish produced by burnishing. Maya ceramics were painted with clay slips blended with minerals and coloured clays. Ancient Maya firing techniques have yet to be replicated. A quantity of extremely fine ceramic figurines have been excavated from Late Classic tombs on Jaina Island, in northern Yucatán. They stand from 10 to 25 centimetres (3.9 to 9.8 in) high and were hand modelled, with exquisite detail. The *Ik*-style polychrome ceramic corpus, including finely painted plates and cylindrical vessels, originated in Late Classic Motul de San José. It includes a set of features such as hieroglyphs painted in a pink or pale red colour and scenes with dancers wearing masks. One of the most distinctive features is the realistic representation of subjects as they appeared in life. The subject matter of the vessels includes courtly life from the Petén region in the 8th century AD, such as diplomatic meetings, feasting, bloodletting, scenes of warriors and the sacrifice of prisoners of war.
Bone, both human and animal, was also sculpted; human bones may have been trophies, or relics of ancestors. The Maya valued Spondylus shells, and worked them to remove the white exterior and spines, to reveal the fine orange interior. Around the 10th century AD, metallurgy arrived in Mesoamerica from South America, and the Maya began to make small objects in gold, silver and copper. The Maya generally hammered sheet metal into objects such as beads, bells, and discs. In the last centuries before the Spanish Conquest, the Maya began to use the lost-wax method to cast small metal pieces.
One poorly studied area of Maya folk art is graffiti. Additional graffiti, not part of the planned decoration, was incised into the stucco of interior walls, floors, and benches, in a wide variety of buildings, including temples, residences, and storerooms. Graffiti has been recorded at 51 Maya sites, particularly clustered in the Petén Basin and southern Campeche, and the Chenes region of northwestern Yucatán. At Tikal, where a great quantity of graffiti has been recorded, the subject matter includes drawings of temples, people, deities, animals, banners, litters, and thrones. Graffiti was often inscribed haphazardly, with drawings overlapping each other, and display a mix of crude, untrained art, and examples by artists familiar with Classic-period artistic conventions.
## Architecture
The Maya produced a vast array of structures, and have left an extensive architectural legacy. Maya architecture also incorporates various art forms and hieroglyphic texts. Masonry architecture built by the Maya evidences craft specialization in Maya society, centralised organization and the political means to mobilize a large workforce. It is estimated that a large elite residence at Copán required an estimated 10,686 man-days to build, which compares to 67-man-days for a commoner's hut. It is further estimated that 65% of the labour required to build the noble residence was used in the quarrying, transporting, and finishing of the stone used in construction, and 24% of the labour was required for the manufacture and application of limestone-based plaster. Altogether, it is estimated that two to three months were required for the construction of the residence for this single noble at Copán, using between 80 and 130 full-time labourers. A Classic-period city like Tikal was spread over 20 square kilometres (7.7 sq mi), with an urban core covering 6 square kilometres (2.3 sq mi). The labour required to build such a city was immense, running into many millions of man-days. The most massive structures ever erected by the Maya were built during the Preclassic period. Craft specialization would have required dedicated stonemasons and plasterers by the Late Preclassic, and would have required planners and architects.
### Urban design
Maya cities were not formally planned, and were subject to irregular expansion, with the haphazard addition of palaces, temples and other buildings. Most Maya cities tended to grow outwards from the core, and upwards as new structures were superimposed upon preceding architecture. Maya cities usually had a ceremonial and administrative centre surrounded by a vast irregular sprawl of residential complexes. The centres of all Maya cities featured sacred precincts, sometimes separated from nearby residential areas by walls. These precincts contained pyramid temples and other monumental architecture dedicated to elite activities, such as basal platforms that supported administrative or elite residential complexes. Sculpted monuments were raised to record the deeds of the ruling dynasty. City centres also featured plazas, sacred ballcourts and buildings used for marketplaces and schools. Frequently causeways linked the centre to outlying areas of the city. Some of these classes of architecture formed lesser groups in the outlying areas of the city, which served as sacred centres for non-royal lineages. The areas adjacent to these sacred compounds included residential complexes housing wealthy lineages. The largest and richest of these elite compounds sometimes possessed sculpture and art of craftsmanship equal to that of royal art.
The ceremonial centre of the Maya city was where the ruling elite lived, and where the administrative functions of the city were performed, together with religious ceremonies. It was also where the inhabitants of the city gathered for public activities. Elite residential complexes occupied the best land around the city centre, while commoners had their residences dispersed further away from the ceremonial centre. Residential units were built on top of stone platforms to raise them above the level of the rain season floodwaters.
### Building materials and methods
The Maya built their cities with Neolithic technology; they built their structures from both perishable materials and from stone. The exact type of stone used in masonry construction varied according to locally available resources, and this also affected the building style. Across a broad swathe of the Maya area, limestone was immediately available. The local limestone is relatively soft when freshly cut, but hardens with exposure. There was great variety in the quality of limestone, with good-quality stone available in the Usumacinta region; in the northern Yucatán, the limestone used in construction was of relatively poor quality. Volcanic tuff was used at Copán, and nearby Quiriguá employed sandstone. In Comalcalco, where suitable stone was not available locally, fired bricks were employed. Limestone was burned at high temperatures in order to manufacture cement, plaster, and stucco. Lime-based cement was used to seal stonework in place, and stone blocks were fashioned using rope-and-water abrasion, and with obsidian tools. The Maya did not employ a functional wheel, so all loads were transported on litters, barges, or rolled on logs. Heavy loads were lifted with rope, but probably without employing pulleys.
Wood was used for beams, and for lintels, even in masonry structures. Throughout Maya history, common huts and some temples continued to be built from wooden poles and thatch. Adobe was also applied; this consisted of mud strengthened with straw and was applied as a coating over the woven-stick walls of huts, even after the development of masonry structures. In the southern Maya area, adobe was employed in monumental architecture when no suitable stone was locally available.
### Principal construction types
The great cities of the Maya civilization were composed of pyramid temples, palaces, ballcourts, *sacbeob* (causeways), patios and plazas. Some cities also possessed extensive hydraulic systems or defensive walls. The exteriors of most buildings were painted, either in one or multiple colours, or with imagery. Many buildings were adorned with sculpture or painted stucco reliefs.
#### Palaces and acropoleis
These complexes were usually located in the site core, beside a principal plaza. Maya palaces consisted of a platform supporting a multiroom range structure. The term *acropolis*, in a Maya context, refers to a complex of structures built upon platforms of varying height. Palaces and acropoleis were essentially elite residential compounds. They generally extended horizontally as opposed to the towering Maya pyramids, and often had restricted access. Some structures in Maya acropoleis supported roof combs. Rooms often had stone benches for sleeping, and holes indicate where curtains once hung. Large palaces, such as at Palenque, could be fitted with a water supply, and sweat baths were often found within the complex, or nearby. During the Early Classic, rulers were sometimes buried underneath the acropolis complex. Some rooms in palaces were true throne rooms; in the royal palace of Palenque there were a number of throne rooms that were used for important events, including the inauguration of new kings.
Palaces are usually arranged around one or more courtyards, with their façades facing inwards; some examples are adorned with sculpture. Some palaces possess associated hieroglyphic descriptions that identify them as the royal residences of named rulers. There is abundant evidence that palaces were far more than simple elite residences, and that a range of courtly activities took place in them, including audiences, formal receptions, and important rituals.
#### Pyramids and temples
Temples were sometimes referred to in hieroglyphic texts as *kʼuh nah*, meaning "god's house". Temples were raised on platforms, most often upon a pyramid. The earliest temples were probably thatched huts built upon low platforms. By the Late Preclassic period, their walls were of stone, and the development of the corbel arch allowed stone roofs to replace thatch. By the Classic period, temple roofs were being topped with roof combs that extended the height of the temple and served as a foundation for monumental art. Temple shrines contained one to three rooms, and were dedicated to important deities. Such a deity might be one of the patron gods of the city, or a deified ancestor. In general, freestanding pyramids were shrines honouring powerful ancestors.
#### E-Groups and observatories
The Maya were keen observers of the sun, stars, and planets. E-Groups were a particular arrangement of temples that were relatively common in the Maya region; they take their names from Group E at Uaxactun. They consisted of three small structures facing a fourth structure, and were used to mark the solstices and equinoxes. The earliest examples date to the Preclassic period. The Lost World complex at Tikal started out as an E-Group built towards the end of the Middle Preclassic. Due to its nature, the basic layout of an E-Group was constant. A structure was built on the west side of a plaza; it was usually a radial pyramid with stairways facing the cardinal directions. It faced east across the plaza to three small temples on the far side. From the west pyramid, the sun was seen to rise over these temples on the solstices and equinoxes. E-Groups were raised across the central and southern Maya area for over a millennium; not all were properly aligned as observatories, and their function may have been symbolic.
As well as E-Groups, the Maya built other structures dedicated to observing the movements of celestial bodies. Many Maya buildings were aligned with astronomical bodies, including the planet Venus, and various constellations. The Caracol structure at Chichen Itza was a circular multi-level edifice, with a conical superstructure. It has slit windows that marked the movements of Venus. At Copán, a pair of stelae were raised to mark the position of the setting sun at the equinoxes.
#### Triadic pyramids
Triadic pyramids first appeared in the Preclassic. They consisted of a dominant structure flanked by two smaller inward-facing buildings, all mounted upon a single basal platform. The largest known triadic pyramid was built at El Mirador in the Petén Basin; it covers an area six times as large as that covered by Temple IV, the largest pyramid at Tikal. The three superstructures all have stairways leading up from the central plaza on top of the basal platform. No securely established forerunners of Triadic Groups are known, but they may have developed from the eastern range building of E-Group complexes. The triadic form was the predominant architectural form in the Petén region during the Late Preclassic. Examples of triadic pyramids are known from as many as 88 archaeological sites. At Nakbe, there are at least a dozen examples of triadic complexes and the four largest structures in the city are triadic in nature. At El Mirador there are probably as many as 36 triadic structures. Examples of the triadic form are even known from Dzibilchaltun in the far north of the Yucatán Peninsula, and Qʼumarkaj in the Highlands of Guatemala. The triadic pyramid remained a popular architectural form for centuries after the first examples were built; it continued in use into the Classic Period, with later examples being found at Uaxactun, Caracol, Seibal, Nakum, Tikal and Palenque. The Qʼumarkaj example is the only one that has been dated to the Postclassic Period. The triple-temple form of the triadic pyramid appears to be related to Maya mythology.
#### Ballcourts
The ballcourt is a distinctive pan-Mesoamerican form of architecture. Although the majority of Maya ballcourts date to the Classic period, the earliest examples appeared around 1000 BC in northwestern Yucatán, during the Middle Preclassic. By the time of Spanish contact, ballcourts were only in use in the Guatemalan Highlands, at cities such as Qʼumarkaj and Iximche. Throughout Maya history, ballcourts maintained a characteristic form consisting of an ɪ shape, with a central playing area terminating in two transverse end zones. The central playing area usually measures between 20 and 30 metres (66 and 98 ft) long, and is flanked by two lateral structures that stood up to 3 or 4 metres (9.8 or 13.1 ft) high. The lateral platforms often supported structures that may have held privileged spectators. The Great Ballcourt at Chichen Itza is the largest in Mesoamerica, measuring 83 metres (272 ft) long by 30 metres (98 ft) wide, with walls standing 8.2 metres (27 ft) high.
### Regional architectural styles
Although Maya cities shared many common features, there was considerable variation in architectural style. Such styles were influenced by locally available construction materials, climate, topography, and local preferences. In the Late Classic, these local differences developed into distinctive regional architectural styles.
The central Petén style of architecture is modelled after the great city of Tikal. The style is characterised by tall pyramids supporting a summit shrine adorned with a roof comb, and accessed by a single doorway. Additional features are the use of stela-altar pairings, and the decoration of architectural façades, lintels, and roof combs with relief sculptures of rulers and gods. One of the finest examples of Central Petén style architecture is Tikal Temple I. Examples of sites in the Central Petén style include Altun Ha, Calakmul, Holmul, Ixkun, Nakum, Naranjo, and Yaxhá.
#### Puuc
The exemplar of Puuc-style architecture is Uxmal. The style developed in the Puuc Hills of northwestern Yucatán; during the Terminal Classic it spread beyond this core region across the northern Yucatán Peninsula. Puuc sites replaced rubble cores with lime cement, resulting in stronger walls, and also strengthened their corbel arches; this allowed Puuc-style cities to build freestanding entrance archways. The upper façades of buildings were decorated with precut stones mosaic-fashion, erected as facing over the core, forming elaborate compositions of long-nosed deities such as the rain god Chaac and the Principal Bird Deity. The motifs also included geometric patterns, lattices and spools, possibly influenced by styles from highland Oaxaca, outside the Maya area. In contrast, the lower façades were left undecorated. Roof combs were relatively uncommon at Puuc sites.
#### Chenes
The Chenes style is very similar to the Puuc style, but predates the use of the mosaic façades of the Puuc region. It featured fully adorned façades on both the upper and lower sections of structures. Some doorways were surrounded by mosaic masks of monsters representing mountain or sky deities, identifying the doorways as entrances to the supernatural realm. Some buildings contained interior stairways that accessed different levels. The Chenes style is most commonly encountered in the southern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula, although individual buildings in the style can be found elsewhere in the peninsula. Examples of Chenes sites include Dzibilnocac, Hochob, Santa Rosa Xtampak, and Tabasqueño.
The Río Bec style forms a sub-region of the Chenes style, and also features elements of the Central Petén style, such as prominent roof combs. Its palaces are distinctive for their false-tower decorations, lacking interior rooms, with steep, almost vertical, stairways and false doors. These towers were adorned with deity masks, and were built to impress the viewer, rather than serve any practical function. Such false towers are only found in the Río Bec region. Río Bec sites include Chicanná, Hormiguero, and Xpuhil.
#### Usumacinta
The Usumacinta style developed in the hilly terrain of the Usumacinta drainage. Cities took advantage of the hillsides to support their major architecture, as at Palenque and Yaxchilan. Sites modified corbel vaulting to allow thinner walls and multiple access doors to temples. As in Petén, roof combs adorned principal structures. Palaces had multiple entrances that used post-and-lintel entrances rather than corbel vaulting. Many sites erected stelae, but Palenque instead developed finely sculpted panelling to decorate its buildings.
## Language
Before 2000 BC, the Maya spoke a single language, dubbed proto-Mayan by linguists. Linguistic analysis of reconstructed Proto-Mayan vocabulary suggests that the original Proto-Mayan homeland was in the western or northern Guatemalan Highlands, although the evidence is not conclusive. Proto-Mayan diverged during the Preclassic period to form the major Mayan language groups that make up the family, including Huastecan, Greater Kʼicheʼan, Greater Qʼanjobalan, Mamean, Tzʼeltalan-Chʼolan, and Yucatecan. These groups diverged further during the pre-Columbian era to form over 30 languages that have survived into modern times. The language of almost all Classic Maya texts over the entire Maya area has been identified as Chʼolan; Late Preclassic text from Kaminaljuyu, in the highlands, also appears to be in, or related to, Chʼolan. The use of Chʼolan as the language of Maya text does not necessarily indicate that it was the language commonly used by the local populace – it may have been equivalent to Medieval Latin as a ritual or prestige language. Classic Chʼolan may have been the prestige language of the Classic Maya elite, used in inter-polity communication such as diplomacy and trade. By the Postclassic period, Yucatec was also being written in Maya codices alongside Chʼolan.
## Writing and literacy
The Maya writing system is one of the outstanding achievements of the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas. It was the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system of more than a dozen systems that developed in Mesoamerica. The earliest inscriptions in an identifiably Maya script date back to 300–200 BC, in the Petén Basin. However, this is preceded by several other Mesoamerican writing systems, such as the Epi-Olmec and Zapotec scripts. Early Maya script had appeared on the Pacific coast of Guatemala by the late 1st century AD, or early 2nd century. Similarities between the Isthmian script and Early Maya script of the Pacific coast suggest that the two systems developed in tandem. By about AD 250, the Maya script had become a more formalised and consistent writing system.
The Catholic Church and colonial officials, notably Bishop Diego de Landa, destroyed Maya texts wherever they found them, and with them the knowledge of Maya writing, but by chance four uncontested pre-Columbian books dated to the Postclassic period have been preserved. These are known as the *Madrid Codex*, the *Dresden Codex*, the *Paris Codex* and the *Maya Codex of Mexico* (previously known as the *Grolier Codex*, which was of disputed authenticity until 2018). Archaeology conducted at Maya sites often reveals other fragments, rectangular lumps of plaster and paint chips which were codices; these tantalizing remains are, however, too severely damaged for any inscriptions to have survived, most of the organic material having decayed. In reference to the few extant Maya writings, Michael D. Coe stated:
[O]ur knowledge of ancient Maya thought must represent only a tiny fraction of the whole picture, for of the thousands of books in which the full extent of their learning and ritual was recorded, only four have survived to modern times (as though all that posterity knew of ourselves were to be based upon three prayer books and 'Pilgrim's Progress').
— Michael D. Coe,The Maya, London: Thames and Hudson, 6th ed., 1999, pp. 199–200.
Most surviving pre-Columbian Maya writing dates to the Classic period and is contained in stone inscriptions from Maya sites, such as stelae, or on ceramics vessels. Other media include the aforementioned codices, stucco façades, frescoes, wooden lintels, cave walls, and portable artefacts crafted from a variety of materials, including bone, shell, obsidian, and jade.
### Writing system
The Maya writing system (often called *hieroglyphs* from a superficial resemblance to Ancient Egyptian writing) is a logosyllabic writing system, combining a syllabary of phonetic signs representing syllables with logogram representing entire words. Among the writing systems of the Pre-Columbian New World, Maya script most closely represents the spoken language. At any one time, no more than around 500 glyphs were in use, some 200 of which (including variations) were phonetic.
The Maya script was in use up to the arrival of the Europeans, its use peaking during the Classic Period. In excess of 10,000 individual texts have been recovered, mostly inscribed on stone monuments, lintels, stelae and ceramics. The Maya also produced texts painted on a form of paper manufactured from processed tree-bark generally now known by its Nahuatl-language name *amatl* used to produce codices. The skill and knowledge of Maya writing persisted among segments of the population right up to the Spanish conquest. The knowledge was subsequently lost, as a result of the impact of the conquest on Maya society.
The decipherment and recovery of the knowledge of Maya writing has been a long and laborious process. Some elements were first deciphered in the late 19th and early 20th century, mostly the parts having to do with numbers, the Maya calendar, and astronomy. Major breakthroughs were made from the 1950s to 1970s, and accelerated rapidly thereafter. By the end of the 20th century, scholars were able to read the majority of Maya texts, and ongoing work continues to further illuminate the content.
### Logosyllabic script
The basic unit of Maya logosyllabic text is the glyph block, which transcribes a word or phrase. The block is composed of one or more individual glyphs attached to each other to form the glyph block, with individual glyph blocks generally being separated by a space. Glyph blocks are usually arranged in a grid pattern. For ease of reference, epigraphers refer to glyph blocks from left to right alphabetically, and top to bottom numerically. Thus, any glyph block in a piece of text can be identified. C4 would be third block counting from the left, and the fourth block counting downwards. If a monument or artefact has more than one inscription, column labels are not repeated, rather they continue in the alphabetic series; if there are more than 26 columns, the labelling continues as A', B', etc. Numeric row labels restart from 1 for each discrete unit of text.
Although Mayan text may be laid out in varying manners, generally it is arranged into double columns of glyph blocks. The reading order of text starts at the top left (block A1), continues to the second block in the double-column (B1), then drops down a row and starts again from the left half of the double column (A2), and thus continues in zig-zag fashion. Once the bottom is reached, the inscription continues from the top left of the next double column (C1). Where an inscription ends in a single (unpaired) column, this final column is usually read straight downwards.
Individual glyph blocks may be composed of a number of elements. These consist of the main sign, and any affixes. Main signs represent the major element of the block, and may be a noun, verb, adverb, adjective, or phonetic sign. Some main signs are abstract, some are pictures of the object they represent, and others are "head variants", personifications of the word they represent. Affixes are smaller rectangular elements, usually attached to a main sign, although a block may be composed entirely of affixes. Affixes may represent a wide variety of speech elements, including nouns, verbs, verbal suffixes, prepositions, and pronouns. Small sections of a main sign could be used to represent the whole main sign. Maya scribes were highly inventive in their usage and adaptation of glyph elements.
### Writing tools
Although the archaeological record does not provide examples of brushes or pens, analysis of ink strokes on the Postclassic codices suggests that it was applied with a brush with a tip fashioned from pliable hair. A Classic period sculpture from Copán, Honduras, depicts a scribe with an inkpot fashioned from a conch shell. Excavations at Aguateca uncovered a number of scribal artefacts from the residences of elite status scribes, including palettes and mortars and pestles.
### Scribes and literacy
Commoners were illiterate; scribes were drawn from the elite. It is not known if all members of the aristocracy could read and write, although at least some women could, since there are representations of female scribes in Maya art. Maya scribes were called *aj tzʼib*, meaning "one who writes or paints". There were probably scribal schools where members of the aristocracy were taught to write. Scribal activity is identifiable in the archaeological record; Jasaw Chan Kʼawiil I, king of Tikal, was interred with his paint pot. Some junior members of the Copán royal dynasty have also been found buried with their writing implements. A palace at Copán has been identified as that of a noble lineage of scribes; it is decorated with sculpture that includes figures holding ink pots.
Although not much is known about Maya scribes, some did sign their work, both on ceramics and on stone sculpture. Usually, only a single scribe signed a ceramic vessel, but multiple sculptors are known to have recorded their names on stone sculpture; eight sculptors signed one stela at Piedras Negras. However, most works remained unsigned by their artists.
## Mathematics
In common with the other Mesoamerican civilizations, the Maya used a base 20 (vigesimal) system. The bar-and-dot counting system that is the base of Maya numerals was in use in Mesoamerica by 1000 BC; the Maya adopted it by the Late Preclassic, and added the symbol for zero. This may have been the earliest known occurrence of the idea of an explicit zero worldwide, although it may have been later than the Babylonian system. The earliest explicit use of zero occurred on monuments dated to 357 AD. In its earliest uses, the zero served as a place holder, indicating an absence of a particular calendrical count. This later developed into a numeral that was used to perform calculation, and was used in hieroglyphic texts for more than a thousand years, until the writing system was extinguished by the Spanish.
The basic number system consists of a dot to represent one, and a bar to represent five. By the Postclassic period a shell symbol represented zero; during the Classic period other glyphs were used. The Maya numerals from 0 to 19 used repetitions of these symbols. The value of a numeral was determined by its position; as a numeral shifted upwards, its basic value multiplied by twenty. In this way, the lowest symbol would represent units, the next symbol up would represent multiples of twenty, and the symbol above that would represent multiples of 400, and so on. For example, the number 884 would be written with four dots on the lowest level, four dots on the next level up, and two dots on the next level after that, to give 4×1 + 4×20 + 2×400 = 884. Using this system, the Maya were able to record huge numbers. Simple addition could be performed by summing the dots and bars in two columns to give the result in a third column.
## Calendar
The Maya calendrical system, in common with other Mesoamerican calendars, had its origins in the Preclassic period. However, it was the Maya that developed the calendar to its maximum sophistication, recording lunar and solar cycles, eclipses and movements of planets with great accuracy. In some cases, the Maya calculations were more accurate than equivalent calculations in the Old World; for example, the Maya solar year was calculated to greater accuracy than the Julian year. The Maya calendar was intrinsically tied to Maya ritual, and it was central to Maya religious practices. The calendar combined a non-repeating Long Count with three interlocking cycles, each measuring a progressively larger period. These were the 260-day *tzolkʼin*, the 365-day *haabʼ*, and the 52-year Calendar Round, resulting from the combination of the *tzolkʼin* with the *haab'*. There were also additional calendric cycles, such as an 819-day cycle associated with the four quadrants of Maya cosmology, governed by four different aspects of the god Kʼawiil.
The basic unit in the Maya calendar was one day, or *kʼin*, and 20 *kʼin* grouped to form a *winal*. The next unit, instead of being multiplied by 20, as called for by the vigesimal system, was multiplied by 18 in order to provide a rough approximation of the solar year (hence producing 360 days). This 360-day year was called a *tun*. Each succeeding level of multiplication followed the vigesimal system.
| Period | Calculation | Span | Years (approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|
kʼin
|
1 day | 1 day | |
winal
|
1 x 20 | 20 days | |
tun
|
20 x 18 | 360 days | 1 year |
kʼatun
|
20 x 18 x 20 | 7,200 days | 20 years |
bakʼtun
|
20 x 18 x 20 x 20 | 144,000 days | 394 years |
piktun
|
20 x 18 x 20 x 20 x 20 | 2,880,000 days | 7,885 years |
kalabtun
|
20 x 18 x 20 x 20 x 20 x 20 | 57,600,000 days | 157,700 years |
kinchiltun
|
20 x 18 x 20 x 20 x 20 x 20 x 20 | 1,152,000,000 days | 3,154,004 years |
alawtun
|
20 x 18 x 20 x 20 x 20 x 20 x 20 x 20 | 23,040,000,000 days | 63,080,082 years |
The 260-day *tzolkʼin* provided the basic cycle of Maya ceremony, and the foundations of Maya prophecy. No astronomical basis for this count has been proved, and it may be that the 260-day count is based on the human gestation period. This is reinforced by the use of the *tzolkʼin* to record dates of birth, and provide corresponding prophecy. The 260-day cycle repeated a series of 20-day-names, with a number from 1 to 13 prefixed to indicated where in the cycle a particular day occurred.
The 365-day *haab* was produced by a cycle of eighteen named 20-day *winal*s, completed by the addition of a 5-day period called the *wayeb*. The *wayeb* was considered to be a dangerous time, when the barriers between the mortal and supernatural realms were broken, allowing malignant deities to cross over and interfere in human concerns. In a similar way to the *tzʼolkin*, the named *winal* would be prefixed by a number (from 0 to 19), in the case of the shorter *wayeb* period, the prefix numbers ran 0 to 4. Since each day in the *tzʼolkin* had a name and number (e.g. 8 Ajaw), this would interlock with the *haab*, producing an additional number and name, to give any day a more complete designation, for example 8 Ajaw 13 Keh. Such a day name could only recur once every 52 years, and this period is referred to by Mayanists as the Calendar Round. In most Mesoamerican cultures, the Calendar Round was the largest unit for measuring time.
As with any non-repeating calendar, the Maya measured time from a fixed start point. The Maya set the beginning of their calendar as the end of a previous cycle of *bakʼtun*s, equivalent to a day in 3114 BC. This was believed by the Maya to be the day of the creation of the world in its current form. The Maya used the Long Count Calendar to fix any given day of the Calendar Round within their current great *Piktun* cycle consisting of either 20 *bakʼtun*s. There was some variation in the calendar, specifically texts in Palenque demonstrate that the *piktun* cycle that ended in 3114 BC had only 13 *bakʼtun*s, but others used a cycle of 13 + 20 *bakʼtun* in the current *piktun*. Additionally, there may have been some regional variation in how these exceptional cycles were managed.
A full long count date consisted of an introductory glyph followed by five glyphs counting off the number of *bakʼtun*s, *katʼun*s, *tun*s, *winal*s, and *kʼin*s since the start of the current creation. This would be followed by the *tzʼolkin* portion of the Calendar Round date, and after a number of intervening glyphs, the Long Count date would end with the *Haab* portion of the Calendar Round date.
### Correlation of the Long Count calendar
Although the Calendar Round is still in use today, the Maya started using an abbreviated Short Count during the Late Classic period. The Short Count is a count of 13 kʼatuns. The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel contains the only colonial reference to classic long-count dates. The most generally accepted correlation is the Goodman-Martínez-Thompson, or GMT, correlation. This equates the Long Count date 11.16.0.0.0 13 Ajaw 8 Xul with the Gregorian date of 12 November 1539. Epigraphers Simon Martin and Nikolai Grube argue for a two-day shift from the standard GMT correlation. The Spinden Correlation would shift the Long Count dates back by 260 years; it also accords with the documentary evidence, and is better suited to the archaeology of the Yucatán Peninsula, but presents problems with the rest of the Maya region. The George Vaillant Correlation would shift all Maya dates 260 years later, and would greatly shorten the Postclassic period. Radiocarbon dating of dated wooden lintels at Tikal supports the GMT correlation.
## Astronomy
The famous astrologer John Dee used an Aztec obsidian mirror to see into the future. We may look down our noses at his ideas, but one may be sure that in outlook he was far closer to a Maya priest astronomer than is an astronomer of our century.
The Maya made meticulous observations of celestial bodies. This information was used for divination, so Maya astronomy was essentially for astrological purposes. Although Maya astronomy was mainly used by the priesthood to comprehend past cycles of time, and project them into the future to produce prophecy, it also had some practical applications, such as providing aid in crop planting and harvesting. The priesthood refined observations and recorded eclipses of the sun and moon, and movements of Venus and the stars; these were measured against dated events in the past, on the assumption that similar events would occur in the future when the same astronomical conditions prevailed. Illustrations in the codices show that priests made astronomical observations using the naked eye, assisted by crossed sticks as a sighting device. Analysis of the few remaining Postclassic codices has revealed that, at the time of European contact, the Maya had recorded eclipse tables, calendars, and astronomical knowledge that was more accurate at that time than comparable knowledge in Europe.
The Maya measured the 584-day Venus cycle with an error of just two hours. Five cycles of Venus equated to eight 365-day *haab* calendrical cycles, and this period was recorded in the codices. The Maya also followed the movements of Jupiter, Mars and Mercury. When Venus rose as the Morning Star, this was associated with the rebirth of the Maya Hero Twins. For the Maya, the heliacal rising of Venus was associated with destruction and upheaval. Venus was closely associated with warfare, and the hieroglyph meaning "war" incorporated the glyph-element symbolizing the planet. Sight-lines through the windows of the Caracol building at Chichen Itza align with the northernmost and southernmost extremes of Venus' path. Maya rulers launched military campaigns to coincide with the heliacal or cosmical rising of Venus, and would also sacrifice important captives to coincide with such conjunctions.
Solar and lunar eclipses were considered to be especially dangerous events that could bring catastrophe upon the world. In the *Dresden Codex*, a solar eclipse is represented by a serpent devouring the *kʼin* ("day") hieroglyph. Eclipses were interpreted as the sun or moon being bitten, and lunar tables were recorded in order that the Maya might be able to predict them, and perform the appropriate ceremonies to ward off disaster.
## Religion and mythology
In common with the rest of Mesoamerica, the Maya believed in a supernatural realm inhabited by an array of powerful deities who needed to be placated with ceremonial offerings and ritual practices. At the core of Maya religious practice was the worship of deceased ancestors, who would intercede for their living descendants in dealings with the supernatural realm. The earliest intermediaries between humans and the supernatural were shamans. Maya ritual included the use of hallucinogens for *chilan*, oracular priests. Visions for the *chilan* were likely facilitated by consumption of water lilies, which are hallucinogenic in high doses. As the Maya civilization developed, the ruling elite codified the Maya world view into religious cults that justified their right to rule. In the Late Preclassic, this process culminated in the institution of the divine king, the *kʼuhul ajaw,* endowed with ultimate political and religious power.
The Maya viewed the cosmos as highly structured. There were thirteen levels in the heavens and nine in the underworld, with the mortal world in between. Each level had four cardinal directions associated with a different colour; north was white, east was red, south was yellow, and west was black. Major deities had aspects associated with these directions and colours.
Maya households interred their dead underneath the floors, with offerings appropriate to the social status of the family. There the dead could act as protective ancestors. Maya lineages were patrilineal, so the worship of a prominent male ancestor would be emphasised, often with a household shrine. As Maya society developed, and the elite became more powerful, Maya royalty developed their household shrines into the great pyramids that held the tombs of their ancestors.
Belief in supernatural forces pervaded Maya life, from the simplest day-to-day activities such as cooking, to trade, politics, and elite activities. Maya deities governed all aspects of the world, both visible and invisible. The Maya priesthood was a closed group, drawing its members from the established elite; by the Early Classic they were recording increasingly complex ritual information in their hieroglyphic books, including astronomical observations, calendrical cycles, history and mythology. The priests performed public ceremonies that incorporated feasting, bloodletting, incense burning, music, ritual dance, and, on certain occasions, human sacrifice. During the Classic period, the Maya ruler was the high priest, and the direct conduit between mortals and the gods. It is highly likely that, among commoners, shamanism continued in parallel to state religion. By the Postclassic, religious emphasis had changed; there was an increase in worship of the images of deities, and more frequent recourse to human sacrifice.
Archaeologists painstakingly reconstruct these ritual practices and beliefs using several techniques. One important, though incomplete, resource is physical evidence, such as dedicatory caches and other ritual deposits, shrines, and burials with their associated funerary offerings. Maya art, architecture, and writing are another resource, and these can be combined with ethnographic sources, including records of Maya religious practices made by the Spanish during the conquest.
### Human sacrifice
Blood was viewed as a potent source of nourishment for the Maya deities, and the sacrifice of a living creature was a powerful blood offering. By extension, the sacrifice of a human life was the ultimate offering of blood to the gods, and the most important Maya rituals culminated in human sacrifice. Generally only high status prisoners of war were sacrificed, with lower status captives being used for labour.
Important rituals such as the dedication of major building projects or the enthronement of a new ruler required a human offering. The sacrifice of an enemy king was the most prized, and such a sacrifice involved decapitation of the captive ruler, perhaps in a ritual reenactment of the decapitation of the Maya maize god by the death gods. In AD 738, the vassal king Kʼakʼ Tiliw Chan Yopaat of Quiriguá captured his overlord, Uaxaclajuun Ubʼaah Kʼawiil of Copán and a few days later ritually decapitated him. Sacrifice by decapitation is depicted in Classic period Maya art, and sometimes took place after the victim was tortured, being variously beaten, scalped, burnt or disembowelled. Another myth associated with decapitation was that of the Hero Twins recounted in the *Popol Vuh*: playing a ballgame against the gods of the underworld, the heroes achieved victory, but one of each pair of twins was decapitated by their opponents.
During the Postclassic period, the most common form of human sacrifice was heart extraction, influenced by the rites of the Aztecs in the Valley of Mexico; this usually took place in the courtyard of a temple, or upon the summit of the pyramid. In one ritual, the corpse would be skinned by assistant priests, except for the hands and feet, and the officiating priest would then dress himself in the skin of the sacrificial victim and perform a ritual dance symbolizing the rebirth of life. Archaeological investigations indicate that heart sacrifice was practised as early as the Classic period.
### Deities
The Maya world was populated by a great variety of deities, supernatural entities and sacred forces. The Maya had such a broad interpretation of the sacred that identifying distinct deities with specific functions is inaccurate. The Maya interpretation of deities was closely tied to the calendar, astronomy, and their cosmology. The importance of a deity, its characteristics, and its associations varied according to the movement of celestial bodies. The priestly interpretation of astronomical records and books was therefore crucial, since the priest would understand which deity required ritual propitiation, when the correct ceremonies should be performed, and what would be an appropriate offering. Each deity had four manifestations, associated with the cardinal directions, each identified with a different colour. They also had a dual day-night/life-death aspect.
Itzamna was the creator god, but he also embodied the cosmos, and was simultaneously a sun god; Kʼinich Ahau, the day sun, was one of his aspects. Maya kings frequently identified themselves with Kʼinich Ahau. Itzamna also had a night sun aspect, the Night Jaguar, representing the sun in its journey through the underworld. The four Pawatuns supported the corners of the mortal realm; in the heavens, the Bacabs performed the same function. As well as their four main aspects, the Bakabs had dozens of other aspects that are not well understood. The four Chaacs were storm gods, controlling thunder, lightning, and the rains. The nine lords of the night each governed one of the underworld realms. Other important deities included the moon goddess, the maize god, and the Hero Twins.
The *Popol Vuh* was written in the Latin script in early colonial times, and was probably transcribed from a hieroglyphic book by an unknown Kʼicheʼ Maya nobleman. It is one of the most outstanding works of indigenous literature in the Americas. The *Popul Vuh* recounts the mythical creation of the world, the legend of the Hero Twins, and the history of the Postclassic Kʼicheʼ kingdom. Deities recorded in the *Popul Vuh* include Hun Hunahpu, believed by some to be the Kʼicheʼ maize god, and a triad of deities led by the Kʼicheʼ patron Tohil, and also including the moon goddess Awilix, and the mountain god Jacawitz.
In common with other Mesoamerican cultures, the Maya worshipped feathered serpent deities. Such worship was rare during the Classic period, but by the Postclassic the feathered serpent had spread to both the Yucatán Peninsula and the Guatemalan Highlands. In Yucatán, the feathered serpent deity was Kukulkan, among the Kʼicheʼ it was Qʼuqʼumatz. Kukulkan had his origins in the Classic period War Serpent, *Waxaklahun Ubah Kan*, and has also been identified as the Postclassic version of the Vision Serpent of Classic Maya art. Although the cult of Kukulkan had its origins in these earlier Maya traditions, the worship of Kukulkan was heavily influenced by the Quetzalcoatl cult of central Mexico. Likewise, Qʼuqʼumatz had a composite origin, combining the attributes of Mexican Quetzalcoatl with aspects of the Classic period Itzamna.
## Agriculture
The ancient Maya had diverse and sophisticated methods of food production. It was believed that shifting cultivation (swidden) agriculture provided most of their food, but it is now thought that permanent raised fields, terracing, intensive gardening, forest gardens, and managed fallows were also crucial to supporting the large populations of the Classic period in some areas. Indeed, evidence of these different agricultural systems persist today: raised fields connected by canals can be seen on aerial photographs. Contemporary rainforest species composition has significantly higher abundance of species of economic value to ancient Maya in areas that were densely populated in pre-Columbian times, and pollen records in lake sediments suggest that maize, manioc, sunflower seeds, cotton, and other crops have been cultivated in association with deforestation in Mesoamerica since at least 2500 BC.
The basic staples of the Maya diet were maize, beans, and squashes. These were supplemented with a wide variety of other plants either cultivated in gardens or gathered in the forest. At Joya de Cerén, a volcanic eruption preserved a record of foodstuffs stored in Maya homes, among them were chilies and tomatoes. Cotton seeds were in the process of being ground, perhaps to produce cooking oil. In addition to basic foodstuffs, the Maya also cultivated prestige crops such as cotton, cacao and vanilla. Cacao was especially prized by the elite, who consumed chocolate beverages. Cotton was spun, dyed, and woven into valuable textiles in order to be traded.
The Maya had few domestic animals; dogs were domesticated by 3000 BC, and the Muscovy duck by the Late Postclassic. Ocellated turkeys were unsuitable for domestication, but were rounded up in the wild and penned for fattening. All of these were used as food animals; dogs were additionally used for hunting. It is possible that deer were also penned and fattened.
## Maya sites
There are hundreds of Maya sites spread across five countries: Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. The six sites with particularly outstanding architecture or sculpture are Chichen Itza, Palenque, Uxmal, and Yaxchilan in Mexico, Tikal in Guatemala and Copán in Honduras. Other important, but difficult to reach, sites include Calakmul and El Mirador. The principal sites in the Puuc region, after Uxmal, are Kabah, Labna, and Sayil. In the east of the Yucatán Peninsula are Coba and the small site of Tulum. The Río Bec sites of the base of the peninsula include Becan, Chicanná, Kohunlich, and Xpuhil. The most noteworthy sites in Chiapas, other than Palenque and Yaxchilan, are Bonampak and Toniná. In the Guatemalan Highlands are Iximche, Kaminaljuyu, Mixco Viejo, and Qʼumarkaj (also known as Utatlán). In the northern Petén lowlands of Guatemala there are many sites, though apart from Tikal access is generally difficult. Some of the Petén sites are Dos Pilas, Seibal, and Uaxactún. Important sites in Belize include Altun Ha, Caracol, and Xunantunich.
## Genetics
Researchers in 2024 analyzed the genomes of ancient individuals from the Mayan city at Chichén Itzá dating to around AD 500–900 and compared it with data elaborated from blood samples taken from 68 present-day individuals from Tixcacaltuyub, Mexico. Results revealed they grouped together with modern Amerindian populations (especially the present day Maya) based on PCA and Admixture analysis. The 68 modern-day inhabitants were average modelled as 92% Indigenous American component, with 7% of European genetic contribution and 0.03% African ancestry.
## Museum collections
There are many museums across the world with Maya artefacts in their collections. The Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies lists over 250 museums in its Maya Museum database, and the European Association of Mayanists lists just under 50 museums in Europe alone.
## See also
- Entheogenics and the Maya
- Huastec civilization
- Index of Mexico-related articles
- Maya codices
- Maya peoples
- Maya music
*Songs of Dzitbalché*
## Bibliography
## Further reading
## External links
- Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. (FAMSI)
- Primary sources of Maya history – part one by Ronald A. Barnett
- Mesoweb by Joel Skidmore.
- Maya Map – A map of the Maya civilization.
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# Protein - Wikipedia
**Proteins** are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, responding to stimuli, providing structure to cells and organisms, and transporting molecules from one location to another. Proteins differ from one another primarily in their sequence of amino acids, which is dictated by the nucleotide sequence of their genes, and which usually results in protein folding into a specific 3D structure that determines its activity.
A linear chain of amino acid residues is called a polypeptide. A protein contains at least one long polypeptide. Short polypeptides, containing less than 20–30 residues, are rarely considered to be proteins and are commonly called peptides. The individual amino acid residues are bonded together by peptide bonds and adjacent amino acid residues. The sequence of amino acid residues in a protein is defined by the sequence of a gene, which is encoded in the genetic code. In general, the genetic code specifies 20 standard amino acids; but in certain organisms the genetic code can include selenocysteine and—in certain archaea—pyrrolysine. Shortly after or even during synthesis, the residues in a protein are often chemically modified by post-translational modification, which alters the physical and chemical properties, folding, stability, activity, and ultimately, the function of the proteins. Some proteins have non-peptide groups attached, which can be called prosthetic groups or cofactors. Proteins can work together to achieve a particular function, and they often associate to form stable protein complexes.
Once formed, proteins only exist for a certain period and are then degraded and recycled by the cell's machinery through the process of protein turnover. A protein's lifespan is measured in terms of its half-life and covers a wide range. They can exist for minutes or years with an average lifespan of 1–2 days in mammalian cells. Abnormal or misfolded proteins are degraded more rapidly either due to being targeted for destruction or due to being unstable.
Like other biological macromolecules such as polysaccharides and nucleic acids, proteins are essential parts of organisms and participate in virtually every process within cells. Many proteins are enzymes that catalyse biochemical reactions and are vital to metabolism. Some proteins have structural or mechanical functions, such as actin and myosin in muscle, and the cytoskeleton's scaffolding proteins that maintain cell shape. Other proteins are important in cell signaling, immune responses, cell adhesion, and the cell cycle. In animals, proteins are needed in the diet to provide the essential amino acids that cannot be synthesized. Digestion breaks the proteins down for metabolic use.
## History and etymology
### Discovery and early studies
Proteins have been studied and recognized since the 1700s by Antoine Fourcroy and others, who often collectively called them "albumins", or "albuminous materials" (*Eiweisskörper*, in German). Gluten, for example, was first separated from wheat in published research around 1747, and later determined to exist in many plants. In 1789, Antoine Fourcroy recognized three distinct varieties of animal proteins: albumin, fibrin, and gelatin. Vegetable (plant) proteins studied in the late 1700s and early 1800s included gluten, plant albumin, gliadin, and legumin.
Proteins were first described by the Dutch chemist Gerardus Johannes Mulder and named by the Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius in 1838. Mulder carried out elemental analysis of common proteins and found that nearly all proteins had the same empirical formula, C400H620N100O120P1S1. He came to the erroneous conclusion that they might be composed of a single type of (very large) molecule. The term "protein" to describe these molecules was proposed by Mulder's associate Berzelius; protein is derived from the Greek word πρώτειος (*proteios*), meaning "primary", "in the lead", or "standing in front", + *-in*. Mulder went on to identify the products of protein degradation such as the amino acid leucine for which he found a (nearly correct) molecular weight of 131 Da.
Early nutritional scientists such as the German Carl von Voit believed that protein was the most important nutrient for maintaining the structure of the body, because it was generally believed that "flesh makes flesh." Around 1862, Karl Heinrich Ritthausen isolated the amino acid glutamic acid. Thomas Burr Osborne compiled a detailed review of the vegetable proteins at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. Osborne, alongside Lafayette Mendel, established several nutritionally essential amino acids in feeding experiments with laboratory rats. Diets lacking an essential amino acid stunts the rats' growth, consistent with Liebig's law of the minimum. The final essential amino acid to be discovered, threonine, was identified by William Cumming Rose.
The difficulty in purifying proteins impeded work by early protein biochemists. Proteins could be obtained in large quantities from blood, egg whites, and keratin, but individual proteins were unavailable. In the 1950s, the Armour Hot Dog Company purified 1 kg of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A and made it freely available to scientists. This gesture helped ribonuclease A become a major target for biochemical study for the following decades.
### Polypeptides
The understanding of proteins as polypeptides, or chains of amino acids, came through the work of Franz Hofmeister and Hermann Emil Fischer in 1902. The central role of proteins as enzymes in living organisms that catalyzed reactions was not fully appreciated until 1926, when James B. Sumner showed that the enzyme urease was in fact a protein.
Linus Pauling is credited with the successful prediction of regular protein secondary structures based on hydrogen bonding, an idea first put forth by William Astbury in 1933. Later work by Walter Kauzmann on denaturation, based partly on previous studies by Kaj Linderstrøm-Lang, contributed an understanding of protein folding and structure mediated by hydrophobic interactions.
The first protein to have its amino acid chain sequenced was insulin, by Frederick Sanger, in 1949. Sanger correctly determined the amino acid sequence of insulin, thus conclusively demonstrating that proteins consisted of linear polymers of amino acids rather than branched chains, colloids, or cyclols. He won the Nobel Prize for this achievement in 1958. Christian Anfinsen's studies of the oxidative folding process of ribonuclease A, for which he won the nobel prize in 1972, solidified the thermodynamic hypothesis of protein folding, according to which the folded form of a protein represents its free energy minimum.
### Structure
With the development of X-ray crystallography, it became possible to determine protein structures as well as their sequences. The first protein structures to be solved were hemoglobin by Max Perutz and myoglobin by John Kendrew, in 1958. The use of computers and increasing computing power has supported the sequencing of complex proteins. In 1999, Roger Kornberg sequenced the highly complex structure of RNA polymerase using high intensity X-rays from synchrotrons.
Since then, cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) of large macromolecular assemblies has been developed. Cryo-EM uses protein samples that are frozen rather than crystals, and beams of electrons rather than X-rays. It causes less damage to the sample, allowing scientists to obtain more information and analyze larger structures. Computational protein structure prediction of small protein structural domains has helped researchers to approach atomic-level resolution of protein structures.
As of April 2024[update], the Protein Data Bank contains 181,018 X-ray, 19,809 EM and 12,697 NMR protein structures.
## Classification
Proteins are primarily classified by sequence and structure, although other classifications are commonly used. Especially for enzymes the EC number system provides a functional classification scheme. Similarly, gene ontology classifies both genes and proteins by their biological and biochemical function, and by their intracellular location.
Sequence similarity is used to classify proteins both in terms of evolutionary and functional similarity. This may use either whole proteins or protein domains, especially in multi-domain proteins. Protein domains allow protein classification by a combination of sequence, structure and function, and they can be combined in many ways. In an early study of 170,000 proteins, about two-thirds were assigned at least one domain, with larger proteins containing more domains (e.g. proteins larger than 600 amino acids having an average of more than 5 domains).
## Biochemistry
Most proteins consist of linear polymers built from series of up to 20 L-α-amino acids. All proteinogenic amino acids have a common structure where an α-carbon is bonded to an amino group, a carboxyl group, and a variable side chain. Only proline differs from this basic structure as its side chain is cyclical, bonding to the amino group, limiting protein chain flexibility. The side chains of the standard amino acids have a variety of chemical structures and properties, and it is the combined effect of all amino acids that determines its three-dimensional structure and chemical reactivity.
The amino acids in a polypeptide chain are linked by peptide bonds between amino and carboxyl group. An individual amino acid in a chain is called a *residue,* and the linked series of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms are known as the *main chain* or *protein backbone.* The peptide bond has two resonance forms that confer some double-bond character to the backbone. The alpha carbons are roughly coplanar with the nitrogen and the carbonyl (C=O) group. The other two dihedral angles in the peptide bond determine the local shape assumed by the protein backbone. One conseqence of the N-C(O) double bond character is that proteins are somewhat rigid. A polypeptide chain ends with a free amino group, known as the *N-terminus* or *amino terminus,* and a free carboxyl group, known as the *C-terminus* or *carboxy terminus*. By convention, peptide sequences are written N-terminus to C-terminus, correlating with the order in which proteins are synthesized by ribosomes.
The words *protein*, *polypeptide,* and *peptide* are a little ambiguous and can overlap in meaning. *Protein* is generally used to refer to the complete biological molecule in a stable conformation, whereas *peptide* is generally reserved for a short amino acid oligomers often lacking a stable 3D structure. But the boundary between the two is not well defined and usually lies near 20–30 residues.
Proteins can interact with many types of molecules and ions, including with other proteins, with lipids, with carbohydrates, and with DNA.
### Abundance in cells
A typical bacterial cell, e.g. *E. coli* and *Staphylococcus aureus*, is estimated to contain about 2 million proteins. Smaller bacteria, such as *Mycoplasma* or *spirochetes* contain fewer molecules, on the order of 50,000 to 1 million. By contrast, eukaryotic cells are larger and thus contain much more protein. For instance, yeast cells have been estimated to contain about 50 million proteins and human cells on the order of 1 to 3 billion. The concentration of individual protein copies ranges from a few molecules per cell up to 20 million. Not all genes coding proteins are expressed in most cells and their number depends on, for example, cell type and external stimuli. For instance, of the 20,000 or so proteins encoded by the human genome, only 6,000 are detected in lymphoblastoid cells. The most abundant protein in nature is thought to be RuBisCO, an enzyme that catalyzes the incorporation of carbon dioxide into organic matter in photosynthesis. Plants can consist of as much as 1% by weight of this enzyme.
## Synthesis
### Biosynthesis
Proteins are assembled from amino acids using information encoded in genes. Each protein has its own unique amino acid sequence that is specified by the nucleotide sequence of the gene encoding this protein. The genetic code is a set of three-nucleotide sets called codons and each three-nucleotide combination designates an amino acid, for example AUG (adenine–uracil–guanine) is the code for methionine. Because DNA contains four nucleotides, the total number of possible codons is 64; hence, there is some redundancy in the genetic code, with some amino acids specified by more than one codon. Genes encoded in DNA are first transcribed into pre-messenger RNA (mRNA) by proteins such as RNA polymerase. Most organisms then process the pre-mRNA (a *primary transcript*) using various forms of post-transcriptional modification to form the mature mRNA, which is then used as a template for protein synthesis by the ribosome. In prokaryotes the mRNA may either be used as soon as it is produced, or be bound by a ribosome after having moved away from the nucleoid. In contrast, eukaryotes make mRNA in the cell nucleus and then translocate it across the nuclear membrane into the cytoplasm, where protein synthesis then takes place. The rate of protein synthesis is higher in prokaryotes than eukaryotes and can reach up to 20 amino acids per second.
The process of synthesizing a protein from an mRNA template is known as translation. The mRNA is loaded onto the ribosome and is read three nucleotides at a time by matching each codon to its base pairing anticodon located on a transfer RNA molecule, which carries the amino acid corresponding to the codon it recognizes. The enzyme aminoacyl tRNA synthetase "charges" the tRNA molecules with the correct amino acids. The growing polypeptide is often termed the *nascent chain*. Proteins are always biosynthesized from N-terminus to C-terminus.
The size of a synthesized protein can be measured by the number of amino acids it contains and by its total molecular mass, which is normally reported in units of *daltons* (synonymous with atomic mass units), or the derivative unit kilodalton (kDa). The average size of a protein increases from Archaea to Bacteria to Eukaryote (283, 311, 438 residues and 31, 34, 49 kDa respectively) due to a bigger number of protein domains constituting proteins in higher organisms. For instance, yeast proteins are on average 466 amino acids long and 53 kDa in mass. The largest known proteins are the titins, a component of the muscle sarcomere, with a molecular mass of almost 3,000 kDa and a total length of almost 27,000 amino acids.
### Chemical synthesis
Short proteins can be synthesized chemically by a family of peptide synthesis methods. These rely on organic synthesis techniques such as chemical ligation to produce peptides in high yield. Chemical synthesis allows for the introduction of non-natural amino acids into polypeptide chains, such as attachment of fluorescent probes to amino acid side chains. These methods are useful in laboratory biochemistry and cell biology, though generally not for commercial applications. Chemical synthesis is inefficient for polypeptides longer than about 300 amino acids, and the synthesized proteins may not readily assume their native tertiary structure. Most chemical synthesis methods proceed from C-terminus to N-terminus, opposite the biological reaction.
## Structure
Most proteins fold into unique 3D structures. The shape into which a protein naturally folds is known as its native conformation. Although many proteins can fold unassisted, simply through the chemical properties of their amino acids, others require the aid of molecular chaperones to fold into their native states. Biochemists often refer to four distinct aspects of a protein's structure:
*Primary structure*: the amino acid sequence. A protein is a polyamide.*Secondary structure*: regularly repeating local structures stabilized by hydrogen bonds. The most common examples are the α-helix, β-sheet and turns. Because secondary structures are local, many regions of distinct secondary structure can be present in the same protein molecule.*Tertiary structure*: the overall shape of a single protein molecule; the spatial relationship of the secondary structures to one another. Tertiary structure is generally stabilized by nonlocal interactions, most commonly the formation of a hydrophobic core, but also through salt bridges, hydrogen bonds, disulfide bonds, and even post-translational modifications. The term "tertiary structure" is often used as synonymous with the term*fold*. The tertiary structure is what controls the basic function of the protein.*Quaternary structure*: the structure formed by several protein molecules (polypeptide chains), usually called*protein subunits*in this context, which function as a single protein complex.*Quinary structure*: the signatures of protein surface that organize the crowded cellular interior. Quinary structure is dependent on transient, yet essential, macromolecular interactions that occur inside living cells.
Proteins are not entirely rigid molecules. In addition to these levels of structure, proteins may shift between several related structures while they perform their functions. In the context of these functional rearrangements, these tertiary or quaternary structures are usually referred to as "conformations", and transitions between them are called *conformational changes.* Such changes are often induced by the binding of a substrate molecule to an enzyme's active site, or the physical region of the protein that participates in chemical catalysis. In solution, protein structures vary because of thermal vibration and collisions with other molecules.
Proteins can be informally divided into three main classes, which correlate with typical tertiary structures: globular proteins, fibrous proteins, and membrane proteins. Almost all globular proteins are soluble and many are enzymes. Fibrous proteins are often structural, such as collagen, the major component of connective tissue, or keratin, the protein component of hair and nails. Membrane proteins often serve as receptors or provide channels for polar or charged molecules to pass through the cell membrane.
A special case of intramolecular hydrogen bonds within proteins, poorly shielded from water attack and hence promoting their own dehydration, are called dehydrons.
### Protein domains
Many proteins are composed of several protein domains, i.e. segments of a protein that fold into distinct structural units. Domains usually have specific functions, such as enzymatic activities (e.g. kinase) or they serve as binding modules.
### Sequence motif
Short amino acid sequences within proteins often act as recognition sites for other proteins. For instance, SH3 domains typically bind to short PxxP motifs (i.e. 2 prolines [P], separated by two unspecified amino acids [x], although the surrounding amino acids may determine the exact binding specificity). Many such motifs has been collected in the Eukaryotic Linear Motif (ELM) database.
## Cellular functions
Proteins are the chief actors within the cell, said to be carrying out the duties specified by the information encoded in genes. With the exception of certain types of RNA, most other biological molecules are relatively inert elements upon which proteins act. Proteins make up half the dry weight of an *Escherichia coli* cell, whereas other macromolecules such as DNA and RNA make up only 3% and 20%, respectively. The set of proteins expressed in a particular cell or cell type is known as its proteome.
The chief characteristic of proteins that allows their diverse set of functions is their ability to bind other molecules specifically and tightly. The region of the protein responsible for binding another molecule is known as the binding site and is often a depression or "pocket" on the molecular surface. This binding ability is mediated by the tertiary structure of the protein, which defines the binding site pocket, and by the chemical properties of the surrounding amino acids' side chains. Protein binding can be extraordinarily tight and specific; for example, the ribonuclease inhibitor protein binds to human angiogenin with a sub-femtomolar dissociation constant (<10−15 M) but does not bind at all to its amphibian homolog onconase (> 1 M). Extremely minor chemical changes such as the addition of a single methyl group to a binding partner can sometimes suffice to nearly eliminate binding; for example, the aminoacyl tRNA synthetase specific to the amino acid valine discriminates against the very similar side chain of the amino acid isoleucine.
Proteins can bind to other proteins as well as to small-molecule substrates. When proteins bind specifically to other copies of the same molecule, they can oligomerize to form fibrils; this process occurs often in structural proteins that consist of globular monomers that self-associate to form rigid fibers. Protein–protein interactions regulate enzymatic activity, control progression through the cell cycle, and allow the assembly of large protein complexes that carry out many closely related reactions with a common biological function. Proteins can bind to, or be integrated into, cell membranes. The ability of binding partners to induce conformational changes in proteins allows the construction of enormously complex signaling networks. As interactions between proteins are reversible and depend heavily on the availability of different groups of partner proteins to form aggregates that are capable to carry out discrete sets of function, study of the interactions between specific proteins is a key to understand important aspects of cellular function, and ultimately the properties that distinguish particular cell types.
### Enzymes
The best-known role of proteins in the cell is as enzymes, which catalyse chemical reactions. Enzymes are usually highly specific and accelerate only one or a few chemical reactions. Enzymes carry out most of the reactions involved in metabolism, as well as manipulating DNA in processes such as DNA replication, DNA repair, and transcription. Some enzymes act on other proteins to add or remove chemical groups in a process known as posttranslational modification. About 4,000 reactions are known to be catalysed by enzymes. The rate acceleration conferred by enzymatic catalysis is often enormous—as much as 1017-fold increase in rate over the uncatalysed reaction in the case of orotate decarboxylase (78 million years without the enzyme, 18 milliseconds with the enzyme).
The molecules bound and acted upon by enzymes are called substrates. Although enzymes can consist of hundreds of amino acids, it is usually only a small fraction of the residues that come in contact with the substrate, and an even smaller fraction—three to four residues on average—that are directly involved in catalysis. The region of the enzyme that binds the substrate and contains the catalytic residues is known as the active site.
Dirigent proteins are members of a class of proteins that dictate the stereochemistry of a compound synthesized by other enzymes.
### Cell signaling and ligand binding
Many proteins are involved in the process of cell signaling and signal transduction. Some proteins, such as insulin, are extracellular proteins that transmit a signal from the cell in which they were synthesized to other cells in distant tissues. Others are membrane proteins that act as receptors whose main function is to bind a signaling molecule and induce a biochemical response in the cell. Many receptors have a binding site exposed on the cell surface and an effector domain within the cell, which may have enzymatic activity or may undergo a conformational change detected by other proteins within the cell.
Antibodies are protein components of an adaptive immune system whose main function is to bind antigens, or foreign substances in the body, and target them for destruction. Antibodies can be secreted into the extracellular environment or anchored in the membranes of specialized B cells known as plasma cells. Whereas enzymes are limited in their binding affinity for their substrates by the necessity of conducting their reaction, antibodies have no such constraints. An antibody's binding affinity to its target is extraordinarily high.
Many ligand transport proteins bind particular small biomolecules and transport them to other locations in the body of a multicellular organism. These proteins must have a high binding affinity when their ligand is present in high concentrations, and release the ligand when it is present at low concentrations in the target tissues. The canonical example of a ligand-binding protein is haemoglobin, which transports oxygen from the lungs to other organs and tissues in all vertebrates and has close homologs in every biological kingdom. Lectins are sugar-binding proteins which are highly specific for their sugar moieties. Lectins typically play a role in biological recognition phenomena involving cells and proteins. Receptors and hormones are highly specific binding proteins.
Transmembrane proteins can serve as ligand transport proteins that alter the permeability of the cell membrane to small molecules and ions. The membrane alone has a hydrophobic core through which polar or charged molecules cannot diffuse. Membrane proteins contain internal channels that allow such molecules to enter and exit the cell. Many ion channel proteins are specialized to select for only a particular ion; for example, potassium and sodium channels often discriminate for only one of the two ions.
### Structural proteins
Structural proteins confer stiffness and rigidity to otherwise-fluid biological components. Most structural proteins are fibrous proteins; for example, collagen and elastin are critical components of connective tissue such as cartilage, and keratin is found in hard or filamentous structures such as hair, nails, feathers, hooves, and some animal shells. Some globular proteins can play structural functions, for example, actin and tubulin are globular and soluble as monomers, but polymerize to form long, stiff fibers that make up the cytoskeleton, which allows the cell to maintain its shape and size.
Other proteins that serve structural functions are motor proteins such as myosin, kinesin, and dynein, which are capable of generating mechanical forces. These proteins are crucial for cellular motility of single celled organisms and the sperm of many multicellular organisms which reproduce sexually. They generate the forces exerted by contracting muscles and play essential roles in intracellular transport.
## Methods of study
Methods commonly used to study protein structure and function include immunohistochemistry, site-directed mutagenesis, X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry. The activities and structures of proteins may be examined *in vitro,* *in vivo, and in silico*. * In vitro* studies of purified proteins in controlled environments are useful for learning how a protein carries out its function: for example, enzyme kinetics studies explore the chemical mechanism of an enzyme's catalytic activity and its relative affinity for various possible substrate molecules. By contrast,
*experiments can provide information about the physiological role of a protein in the context of a cell or even a whole organism, and can often provide more information about protein behavior in different contexts.*
**in vivo***studies use computational methods to study proteins.*
**In silico**### Protein purification
Proteins may be purified from other cellular components using a variety of techniques such as ultracentrifugation, precipitation, electrophoresis, and chromatography; the advent of genetic engineering has made possible a number of methods to facilitate purification.
To perform *in vitro* analysis, a protein must be purified away from other cellular components. This process usually begins with cell lysis, in which a cell's membrane is disrupted and its internal contents released into a solution known as a crude lysate. The resulting mixture can be purified using ultracentrifugation, which fractionates the various cellular components into fractions containing soluble proteins; membrane lipids and proteins; cellular organelles, and nucleic acids. Precipitation by a method known as salting out can concentrate the proteins from this lysate. Various types of chromatography are then used to isolate the protein or proteins of interest based on properties such as molecular weight, net charge and binding affinity. The level of purification can be monitored using various types of gel electrophoresis if the desired protein's molecular weight and isoelectric point are known, by spectroscopy if the protein has distinguishable spectroscopic features, or by enzyme assays if the protein has enzymatic activity. Additionally, proteins can be isolated according to their charge using electrofocusing.
For natural proteins, a series of purification steps may be necessary to obtain protein sufficiently pure for laboratory applications. To simplify this process, genetic engineering is often used to add chemical features to proteins that make them easier to purify without affecting their structure or activity. Here, a "tag" consisting of a specific amino acid sequence, often a series of histidine residues (a "His-tag"), is attached to one terminus of the protein. As a result, when the lysate is passed over a chromatography column containing nickel, the histidine residues ligate the nickel and attach to the column while the untagged components of the lysate pass unimpeded. A number of tags have been developed to help researchers purify specific proteins from complex mixtures.
### Cellular localization
The study of proteins *in vivo* is often concerned with the synthesis and localization of the protein within the cell. Although many intracellular proteins are synthesized in the cytoplasm and membrane-bound or secreted proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum, the specifics of how proteins are targeted to specific organelles or cellular structures is often unclear. A useful technique for assessing cellular localization uses genetic engineering to express in a cell a fusion protein or chimera consisting of the natural protein of interest linked to a "reporter" such as green fluorescent protein (GFP). The fused protein's position within the cell can then be cleanly and efficiently visualized using microscopy.
Other methods for elucidating the cellular location of proteins requires the use of known compartmental markers for regions such as the ER, the Golgi, lysosomes or vacuoles, mitochondria, chloroplasts, plasma membrane, etc. With the use of fluorescently tagged versions of these markers or of antibodies to known markers, it becomes much simpler to identify the localization of a protein of interest. For example, indirect immunofluorescence will allow for fluorescence colocalization and demonstration of location. Fluorescent dyes are used to label cellular compartments for a similar purpose.
Other possibilities exist, as well. For example, immunohistochemistry usually uses an antibody to one or more proteins of interest that are conjugated to enzymes yielding either luminescent or chromogenic signals that can be compared between samples, allowing for localization information. Another applicable technique is cofractionation in sucrose (or other material) gradients using isopycnic centrifugation. While this technique does not prove colocalization of a compartment of known density and the protein of interest, it indicates an increased likelihood.
Finally, the gold-standard method of cellular localization is immunoelectron microscopy. This technique uses an antibody to the protein of interest, along with classical electron microscopy techniques. The sample is prepared for normal electron microscopic examination, and then treated with an antibody to the protein of interest that is conjugated to an extremely electro-dense material, usually gold. This allows for the localization of both ultrastructural details as well as the protein of interest.
Through another genetic engineering application known as site-directed mutagenesis, researchers can alter the protein sequence and hence its structure, cellular localization, and susceptibility to regulation. This technique even allows the incorporation of unnatural amino acids into proteins, using modified tRNAs, and may allow the rational design of new proteins with novel properties.
### Proteomics
The total complement of proteins present at a time in a cell or cell type is known as its proteome, and the study of such large-scale data sets defines the field of proteomics, named by analogy to the related field of genomics. Key experimental techniques in proteomics include 2D electrophoresis, which allows the separation of many proteins, mass spectrometry, which allows rapid high-throughput identification of proteins and sequencing of peptides (most often after in-gel digestion), protein microarrays, which allow the detection of the relative levels of the various proteins present in a cell, and two-hybrid screening, which allows the systematic exploration of protein–protein interactions. The total complement of biologically possible such interactions is known as the interactome. A systematic attempt to determine the structures of proteins representing every possible fold is known as structural genomics.
### Structure determination
Discovering the tertiary structure of a protein, or the quaternary structure of its complexes, can provide important clues about how the protein performs its function and how it can be affected, i.e. in drug design. As proteins are too small to be seen under a light microscope, other methods have to be employed to determine their structure. Common experimental methods include X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy, both of which can produce structural information at atomic resolution. However, NMR experiments are able to provide information from which a subset of distances between pairs of atoms can be estimated, and the final possible conformations for a protein are determined by solving a distance geometry problem. Dual polarisation interferometry is a quantitative analytical method for measuring the overall protein conformation and conformational changes due to interactions or other stimulus. Circular dichroism is another laboratory technique for determining internal β-sheet / α-helical composition of proteins. Cryoelectron microscopy is used to produce lower-resolution structural information about very large protein complexes, including assembled viruses; a variant known as electron crystallography can produce high-resolution information in some cases, especially for two-dimensional crystals of membrane proteins. Solved structures are usually deposited in the Protein Data Bank (PDB), a freely available resource from which structural data about thousands of proteins can be obtained in the form of Cartesian coordinates for each atom in the protein.
Many more gene sequences are known than protein structures. Further, the set of solved structures is biased toward proteins that can be easily subjected to the conditions required in X-ray crystallography, one of the major structure determination methods. In particular, globular proteins are comparatively easy to crystallize in preparation for X-ray crystallography. Membrane proteins and large protein complexes, by contrast, are difficult to crystallize and are underrepresented in the PDB. Structural genomics initiatives have attempted to remedy these deficiencies by systematically solving representative structures of major fold classes. Protein structure prediction methods attempt to provide a means of generating a plausible structure for proteins whose structures have not been experimentally determined.
### Structure prediction
Complementary to the field of structural genomics, *protein structure prediction* develops efficient mathematical models of proteins to computationally predict the molecular formations in theory, instead of detecting structures with laboratory observation. The most successful type of structure prediction, known as homology modeling, relies on the existence of a "template" structure with sequence similarity to the protein being modeled; structural genomics' goal is to provide sufficient representation in solved structures to model most of those that remain. Although producing accurate models remains a challenge when only distantly related template structures are available, it has been suggested that sequence alignment is the bottleneck in this process, as quite accurate models can be produced if a "perfect" sequence alignment is known. Many structure prediction methods have served to inform the emerging field of protein engineering, in which novel protein folds have already been designed. Many proteins (in eukaryotes ~33%) contain large unstructured but biologically functional segments and can be classified as intrinsically disordered proteins. Predicting and analysing protein disorder is an important part of protein structure characterisation.
### In silico simulation of dynamical processes
A more complex computational problem is the prediction of intermolecular interactions, such as in molecular docking, protein folding, protein–protein interaction and chemical reactivity. Mathematical models to simulate these dynamical processes involve molecular mechanics, in particular, molecular dynamics. In this regard, *in silico* simulations discovered the folding of small α-helical protein domains such as the villin headpiece, the HIV accessory protein and hybrid methods combining standard molecular dynamics with quantum mechanical mathematics have explored the electronic states of rhodopsins.
Beyond classical molecular dynamics, quantum dynamics methods allow the simulation of proteins in atomistic detail with an accurate description of quantum mechanical effects. Examples include the multi-layer multi-configuration time-dependent Hartree method and the hierarchical equations of motion approach, which have been applied to plant cryptochromes and bacteria light-harvesting complexes, respectively. Both quantum and classical mechanical simulations of biological-scale systems are extremely computationally demanding, so distributed computing initiatives such as the Folding@home project facilitate the molecular modeling by exploiting advances in GPU parallel processing and Monte Carlo techniques.
### Chemical analysis
The total nitrogen content of organic matter is mainly formed by the amino groups in proteins. The Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN) is a measure of nitrogen widely used in the analysis of (waste) water, soil, food, feed and organic matter in general. As the name suggests, the Kjeldahl method is applied. More sensitive methods are available.
## Digestion
In the absence of catalysts, proteins are slow to hydrolyze. The breakdown of proteins to small peptides and amino acids (proteolysis) is a step in digestion; these breakdown products are then absorbed in the small intestine. The hydrolysis of proteins relies on enzymes called proteases or peptidases. Proteases, which are themselves proteins, come in several types according to the particular peptide bonds that they cleave as well as their tendency to cleave peptide bonds at the terminus of a protein (exopeptidases) vs peptide bonds at the interior of the protein (endopeptidases). Pepsin is an endopeptidase in the stomach. Subsequent to the stomach, the pancreas secretes other proteases to complete the hydrolysis, these include trypsin and chymotrypsin.
Protein hydrolysis is employed commercially as a means of producing amino acids from bulk sources of protein, such as blood meal, feathers, keratin. Such materials are treated with hot hydrochloric acid, which effects the hydrolysis of the peptide bonds.
## Mechanical properties
The mechanical properties of proteins are highly diverse and are often central to their biological function, as in the case of proteins like keratin and collagen. For instance, the ability of muscle tissue to continually expand and contract is directly tied to the elastic properties of their underlying protein makeup. Beyond fibrous proteins, the conformational dynamics of enzymes and the structure of biological membranes, among other biological functions, are governed by the mechanical properties of the proteins. Outside of their biological context, the unique mechanical properties of many proteins, along with their relative sustainability when compared to synthetic polymers, have made them desirable targets for next-generation materials design.
Young's modulus, *E,* is calculated as the axial stress σ over the resulting strain ε. It is a measure of the relative stiffness of a material. In the context of proteins, this stiffness often directly correlates to biological function. For example, collagen, found in connective tissue, bones, and cartilage, and keratin, found in nails, claws, and hair, have observed stiffnesses that are several orders of magnitude higher than that of elastin, which is though to give elasticity to structures such as blood vessels, pulmonary tissue, and bladder tissue, among others. In comparison to this, globular proteins, such as Bovine Serum Albumin, which float relatively freely in the cytosol and often function as enzymes (and thus undergoing frequent conformational changes) have comparably much lower Young's moduli.
The Young's modulus of a single protein can be found through molecular dynamics simulation. Using either atomistic force-fields, such as CHARMM or GROMOS, or coarse-grained forcefields like Martini, a single protein molecule can be stretched by a uniaxial force while the resulting extension is recorded in order to calculate the strain. Experimentally, methods such as atomic force microscopy can be used to obtain similar data. The internal dynamics of proteins involve subtle elastic and plastic deformations induced by viscoelastic forces, which can be probed by nano-rheology techniques. These estimates yield typical spring constants around *k ≈* 100 pN/nm, equivalent to Yonung's moduli of *E ≈* 100 MPa, and typical friction coefficients of *γ* ≈ 0.1 pN·s/nm, corresponding to viscosity of *η* ≈ 0.01 pN·s/nm2 = 107cP (that is, 107 more viscous than water).
At the macroscopic level, the Young's modulus of cross-linked protein networks can be obtained through more traditional mechanical testing. Experimentally observed values for a few proteins can be seen below.
| Protein | Protein Class | Young's modulus |
|---|---|---|
| Keratin (Cross-Linked) | Fibrous | 1.5-10 GPa |
| Elastin (Cross-Linked) | Fibrous | 1 MPa |
| Fibrin (Cross-linked) | Fibrous | 1-10 MPa |
| Collagen (Cross-linked) | Fibrous | 5-7.5 GPa |
| Resilin (Cross-Linked) | Fibrous | 1-2 MPa |
| Bovine Serum Albumin (Cross-Linked) | Globular | 2.5-15 KPa |
| β-Barrel Outer Membrane Proteins | Membrane | 20-45 GPa |
## See also
## Further reading
- Textbooks
- History
- Tanford C, Reynolds JA (2001).
*Nature's Robots: A History of Proteins*. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 978-0-19-850466-5.
## External links
### Databases and projects
- NCBI Entrez Protein database
- NCBI Protein Structure database
- Human Protein Reference Database
- Human Proteinpedia
- Folding@Home (Stanford University) Archived 2012-09-08 at the Wayback Machine
- Protein Databank in Europe (see also PDBeQuips, short articles and tutorials on interesting PDB structures)
- Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics (see also Molecule of the Month Archived 2020-07-24 at the Wayback Machine, presenting short accounts on selected proteins from the PDB)
- Proteopedia – Life in 3D: rotatable, zoomable 3D model with wiki annotations for every known protein molecular structure.
- UniProt the Universal Protein Resource
### Tutorials and educational websites
- "An Introduction to Proteins" from HOPES (Huntington's Disease Outreach Project for Education at Stanford)
- Proteins: Biogenesis to Degradation – The Virtual Library of Biochemistry and Cell Biology
|
# HIV - Wikipedia
| Human immunodeficiency viruses | |
|---|---|
| Scanning electron micrograph of HIV-1 (in green) budding from cultured lymphocyte. Multiple round bumps on cell surface represent sites of assembly and budding of virions. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| (unranked): | Virus |
| Realm: | Riboviria
|
| Kingdom: | Pararnavirae
|
| Phylum: | Artverviricota
|
| Class: | Revtraviricetes
|
| Order: | Ortervirales
|
| Family: | Retroviridae
|
| Subfamily: | Orthoretrovirinae
|
| Genus: | Lentivirus
|
| Groups included | |
| Other lentiviruses | |
The **human immunodeficiency viruses** (**HIV**) are two species of *Lentivirus* (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive. Without treatment, the average survival time after infection with HIV is estimated to be 9 to 11 years, depending on the HIV subtype.
In most cases, HIV is a sexually transmitted infection and occurs by contact with or transfer of blood, pre-ejaculate, semen, and vaginal fluids. Non-sexual transmission can occur from an infected mother to her infant during pregnancy, during childbirth by exposure to her blood or vaginal fluid, and through breast milk. Within these bodily fluids, HIV is present as both free virus particles and virus within infected immune cells. Research has shown (for both same-sex and opposite-sex couples) that HIV is not contagious during sexual intercourse without a condom if the HIV-positive partner has a consistently undetectable viral load.
HIV infects vital cells in the human immune system, such as helper T cells (specifically CD4+ T cells), macrophages, and dendritic cells. HIV infection leads to low levels of CD4+ T cells through a number of mechanisms, including pyroptosis of abortively infected T cells, apoptosis of uninfected bystander cells, direct viral killing of infected cells, and killing of infected CD4+ T cells by CD8+ cytotoxic lymphocytes that recognize infected cells. When CD4+ T cell numbers decline below a critical level, cell-mediated immunity is lost, and the body becomes progressively more susceptible to opportunistic infections, leading to the development of AIDS.
## Virology
| Species | Virulence | Infectivity | Prevalence | Inferred origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
HIV-1 (Lentivirus humimdef1)
|
High | High | Global | Common chimpanzee |
HIV-2 (Lentivirus humimdef2)
|
Lower | Low | West Africa | Sooty mangabey |
### Classification
HIV is a member of the genus *Lentivirus*, part of the family *Retroviridae*. Lentiviruses have many morphologies and biological properties in common. Many species are infected by lentiviruses, which are characteristically responsible for long-duration illnesses with a long incubation period. Lentiviruses are transmitted as single-stranded, positive-sense, enveloped RNA viruses. Upon entry into the target cell, the viral RNA genome is converted (reverse transcribed) into double-stranded DNA by a virally encoded enzyme, reverse transcriptase, that is transported along with the viral genome in the virus particle. The resulting viral DNA is then imported into the cell nucleus and integrated into the cellular DNA by a virally encoded enzyme, integrase, and host co-factors. Once integrated, the virus may become latent, allowing the virus and its host cell to avoid detection by the immune system, for an indeterminate amount of time. The virus can remain dormant in the human body for up to ten years after primary infection; during this period the virus does not cause symptoms. Alternatively, the integrated viral DNA may be transcribed, producing new RNA genomes and viral proteins, using host cell resources, that are packaged and released from the cell as new virus particles that will begin the replication cycle anew.
Two types of HIV have been characterized: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is the virus that was initially discovered and termed both lymphadenopathy associated virus (LAV) and human T-lymphotropic virus 3 (HTLV-III). HIV-1 is more virulent and more infective than HIV-2, and is the cause of the majority of HIV infections globally. The lower infectivity of HIV-2, compared to HIV-1, implies that fewer of those exposed to HIV-2 will be infected per exposure. Due to its relatively poor capacity for transmission, HIV-2 is largely confined to West Africa.
Both HIV-1 and HIV-2 have gained an additional classification according to the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, with the change being approved in 2020, to belong to the species called "*Lentivirus humimdef1*" and "*Lentivirus humimdef2*" for HIV-1 and HIV-2 respectively.
### Structure and genome
HIV is similar in structure to other retroviruses. It is roughly spherical with a diameter of about 120 nm, around 100,000 times smaller in volume than a red blood cell. It is composed of two copies of positive-sense single-stranded RNA that codes for the virus' nine genes enclosed by a conical capsid composed of 2,000 copies of the viral protein p24. The single-stranded RNA is tightly bound to nucleocapsid proteins, p7, and enzymes needed for the development of the virion such as reverse transcriptase, proteases, ribonuclease and integrase. A matrix composed of the viral protein p17 surrounds the capsid ensuring the integrity of the virion particle.
This is, in turn, surrounded by the viral envelope, that is composed of the lipid bilayer taken from the membrane of a human host cell when the newly formed virus particle buds from the cell. The viral envelope contains proteins from the host cell and relatively few copies of the HIV envelope protein, which consists of a cap made of three molecules known as glycoprotein (gp) 120, and a stem consisting of three gp41 molecules that anchor the structure into the viral envelope. The envelope protein, encoded by the HIV *env* gene, allows the virus to attach to target cells and fuse the viral envelope with the target cell's membrane releasing the viral contents into the cell and initiating the infectious cycle.
As the sole viral protein on the surface of the virus, the envelope protein is a major target for HIV vaccine efforts. Over half of the mass of the trimeric envelope spike is N-linked glycans. The density is high as the glycans shield the underlying viral protein from neutralisation by antibodies. This is one of the most densely glycosylated molecules known and the density is sufficiently high to prevent the normal maturation process of glycans during biogenesis in the endoplasmic and Golgi apparatus. The majority of the glycans are therefore stalled as immature 'high-mannose' glycans not normally present on human glycoproteins that are secreted or present on a cell surface. The unusual processing and high density means that almost all broadly neutralising antibodies that have so far been identified (from a subset of patients that have been infected for many months to years) bind to, or are adapted to cope with, these envelope glycans.
The molecular structure of the viral spike has now been determined by X-ray crystallography and cryogenic electron microscopy. These advances in structural biology were made possible due to the development of stable recombinant forms of the viral spike by the introduction of an intersubunit disulphide bond and an isoleucine to proline mutation (radical replacement of an amino acid) in gp41. The so-called SOSIP trimers not only reproduce the antigenic properties of the native viral spike, but also display the same degree of immature glycans as presented on the native virus. Recombinant trimeric viral spikes are promising vaccine candidates as they display less non-neutralising epitopes than recombinant monomeric gp120, which act to suppress the immune response to target epitopes.
The RNA genome consists of at least seven structural landmarks (LTR, TAR, RRE, PE, SLIP, CRS, and INS), and nine genes (*gag*, *pol*, and *env*, *tat*, *rev*, *nef*, *vif*, *vpr*, *vpu*, and sometimes a tenth *tev*, which is a fusion of *tat*, *env* and *rev*), encoding 19 proteins. Three of these genes, *gag*, *pol*, and *env*, contain information needed to make the structural proteins for new virus particles. For example, *env* codes for a protein called gp160 that is cut in two by a cellular protease to form gp120 and gp41. The six remaining genes, *tat*, *rev*, *nef*, *vif*, *vpr*, and *vpu* (or *vpx* in the case of HIV-2), are regulatory genes for proteins that control the ability of HIV to infect cells, produce new copies of virus (replicate), or cause disease.
The two *tat* proteins (p16 and p14) are transcriptional transactivators for the LTR promoter acting by binding the TAR RNA element. The TAR may also be processed into microRNAs that regulate the apoptosis genes *ERCC1* and *IER3*. The *rev* protein (p19) is involved in shuttling RNAs from the nucleus and the cytoplasm by binding to the RRE RNA element. The *vif* protein (p23) prevents the action of APOBEC3G (a cellular protein that deaminates cytidine to uridine in the single-stranded viral DNA and/or interferes with reverse transcription). The *vpr* protein (p14) arrests cell division at G2/M. The *nef* protein (p27) down-regulates CD4 (the major viral receptor), as well as the MHC class I and class II molecules.
*Nef* also interacts with SH3 domains. The *vpu* protein (p16) influences the release of new virus particles from infected cells. The ends of each strand of HIV RNA contain an RNA sequence called a long terminal repeat (LTR). Regions in the LTR act as switches to control production of new viruses and can be triggered by proteins from either HIV or the host cell. The Psi element is involved in viral genome packaging and recognized by *gag* and *rev* proteins. The SLIP element (`TTTTTT`) is involved in the frameshift in the *gag*-*pol* reading frame required to make functional *pol*.
### Tropism
The term viral tropism refers to the cell types a virus infects. HIV can infect a variety of immune cells such as CD4+ T cells, macrophages, and microglial cells. HIV-1 entry to macrophages and CD4+ T cells is mediated through interaction of the virion envelope glycoproteins (gp120) with the CD4 molecule on the target cells' membrane and also with chemokine co-receptors.
Macrophage-tropic (M-tropic) strains of HIV-1, or non-syncytia-inducing strains (NSI; now called R5 viruses) use the *β*-chemokine receptor, CCR5, for entry and are thus able to replicate in both macrophages and CD4+ T cells. This CCR5 co-receptor is used by almost all primary HIV-1 isolates regardless of viral genetic subtype. Indeed, macrophages play a key role in several critical aspects of HIV infection. They appear to be the first cells infected by HIV and perhaps the source of HIV production when CD4+ cells become depleted in the patient. Macrophages and microglial cells are the cells infected by HIV in the central nervous system. In the tonsils and adenoids of HIV-infected patients, macrophages fuse into multinucleated giant cells that produce huge amounts of virus.
T-tropic strains of HIV-1, or syncytia-inducing strains (SI; now called X4 viruses) replicate in primary CD4+ T cells as well as in macrophages and use the *α*-chemokine receptor, CXCR4, for entry.
Dual-tropic HIV-1 strains are thought to be transitional strains of HIV-1 and thus are able to use both CCR5 and CXCR4 as co-receptors for viral entry.
The *α*-chemokine SDF-1, a ligand for CXCR4, suppresses replication of T-tropic HIV-1 isolates. It does this by down-regulating the expression of CXCR4 on the surface of HIV target cells. M-tropic HIV-1 isolates that use only the CCR5 receptor are termed R5; those that use only CXCR4 are termed X4, and those that use both, X4R5. However, the use of co-receptors alone does not explain viral tropism, as not all R5 viruses are able to use CCR5 on macrophages for a productive infection and HIV can also infect a subtype of myeloid dendritic cells, which probably constitute a reservoir that maintains infection when CD4+ T cell numbers have declined to extremely low levels.
Some people are resistant to certain strains of HIV. For example, people with the CCR5-Δ32 mutation are resistant to infection by the R5 virus, as the mutation leaves HIV unable to bind to this co-receptor, reducing its ability to infect target cells.
Sexual intercourse is the major mode of HIV transmission. Both X4 and R5 HIV are present in the seminal fluid, which enables the virus to be transmitted from a male to his sexual partner. The virions can then infect numerous cellular targets and disseminate into the whole organism. However, a selection process leads to a predominant transmission of the R5 virus through this pathway, hypothesized to be because some variants may more easily infect cells when entering the body, or because some variants replicate more efficiently after initial infection and become the dominant variant in blood. In patients infected with subtype B HIV-1, there is often a co-receptor switch in late-stage disease and T-tropic variants that can infect a variety of T cells through CXCR4. These variants then replicate more aggressively with heightened virulence that causes rapid T cell depletion, immune system collapse, and opportunistic infections that mark the advent of AIDS. HIV-positive patients acquire an enormously broad spectrum of opportunistic infections, which was particularly problematic prior to the onset of HAART therapies; however, the same infections are reported among HIV-infected patients examined post-mortem following the onset of antiretroviral therapies. Thus, during the course of infection, viral adaptation to the use of CXCR4 instead of CCR5 may be a key step in the progression to AIDS. A number of studies with subtype B-infected individuals have determined that between 40 and 50 percent of AIDS patients can harbour viruses of the SI and, it is presumed, the X4 phenotypes.
HIV-2 is much less pathogenic than HIV-1 and is restricted in its worldwide distribution to West Africa. The adoption of "accessory genes" by HIV-2 and its more promiscuous pattern of co-receptor usage (including CD4-independence) may assist the virus in its adaptation to avoid innate restriction factors present in host cells. Adaptation to use normal cellular machinery to enable transmission and productive infection has also aided the establishment of HIV-2 replication in humans. A survival strategy for any infectious agent is not to kill its host, but ultimately become a commensal organism. Having achieved a low pathogenicity, over time, variants that are more successful at transmission will be selected.
### Replication cycle
This section needs to be updated. (February 2025) |
#### Entry to the cell
The HIV virion enters macrophages and CD4+ T cells by the adsorption of glycoproteins on its surface to receptors on the target cell followed by fusion of the viral envelope with the target cell membrane and the release of the HIV capsid into the cell.
Entry to the cell begins through interaction of the trimeric envelope complex (gp160 spike) on the HIV viral envelope and both CD4 and a chemokine co-receptor (generally either CCR5 or CXCR4, but others are known to interact) on the target cell surface. Gp120 binds to integrin α4β7 activating LFA-1, the central integrin involved in the establishment of virological synapses, which facilitate efficient cell-to-cell spreading of HIV-1. The gp160 spike contains binding domains for both CD4 and chemokine receptors.
The first step in fusion involves the high-affinity attachment of the CD4 binding domains of gp120 to CD4. Once gp120 is bound with the CD4 protein, the envelope complex undergoes a structural change, exposing the chemokine receptor binding domains of gp120 and allowing them to interact with the target chemokine receptor. This allows for a more stable two-pronged attachment, which allows the N-terminal fusion peptide gp41 to penetrate the cell membrane. Repeat sequences in gp41, HR1, and HR2 then interact, causing the collapse of the extracellular portion of gp41 into a hairpin shape. This loop structure brings the virus and cell membranes close together, allowing fusion of the membranes and subsequent entry of the viral capsid.
After HIV has bound to the target cell, the HIV RNA and various enzymes, including reverse transcriptase, integrase, ribonuclease, and protease, are injected into the cell.[ failed verification] During the microtubule-based transport to the nucleus, the viral single-strand RNA genome is transcribed into double-strand DNA, which is then integrated into a host chromosome.
HIV can infect dendritic cells (DCs) by this CD4-CCR5 route, but another route using mannose-specific C-type lectin receptors such as DC-SIGN can also be used. DCs are one of the first cells encountered by the virus during sexual transmission. They are currently thought to play an important role by transmitting HIV to T cells when the virus is captured in the mucosa by DCs. The presence of FEZ-1, which occurs naturally in neurons, is believed to prevent the infection of cells by HIV.
HIV-1 entry, as well as entry of many other retroviruses, has long been believed to occur exclusively at the plasma membrane. More recently, however, productive infection by pH-independent, clathrin-mediated endocytosis of HIV-1 has also been reported and was recently suggested to constitute the only route of productive entry.
#### Replication and transcription
Shortly after the viral capsid enters the cell, an enzyme called reverse transcriptase liberates the positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome from the attached viral proteins and copies it into a complementary DNA (cDNA) molecule. The process of reverse transcription is extremely error-prone, and the resulting mutations may cause drug resistance or allow the virus to evade the body's immune system. The reverse transcriptase also has ribonuclease activity that degrades the viral RNA during the synthesis of cDNA, as well as DNA-dependent DNA polymerase activity that creates a sense DNA from the *antisense* cDNA. Together, the cDNA and its complement form a double-stranded viral DNA that is then transported into the cell nucleus. The integration of the viral DNA into the host cell's genome is carried out by another viral enzyme called integrase.
The integrated viral DNA may then lie dormant, in the latent stage of HIV infection. To actively produce the virus, certain cellular transcription factors need to be present, the most important of which is NF-*κ*B (nuclear factor kappa B), which is upregulated when T cells become activated. This means that those cells most likely to be targeted, entered and subsequently killed by HIV are those actively fighting infection.
During viral replication, the integrated DNA provirus is transcribed into RNA. The full-length genomic RNAs (gRNA) can be packaged into new viral particles in a pseudodiploid form. The selectivity in the packaging is explained by the structural properties of the dimeric conformer of the gRNA. The gRNA dimer is characterized by a tandem three-way junction within the gRNA monomer, in which the SD and AUG hairpins, responsible for splicing and translation respectively, are sequestered and the DIS (dimerization initiation signal) hairpin is exposed. The formation of the gRNA dimer is mediated by a 'kissing' interaction between the DIS hairpin loops of the gRNA monomers. At the same time, certain guanosine residues in the gRNA are made available for binding of the nucleocapsid (NC) protein leading to the subsequent virion assembly. The labile gRNA dimer has been also reported to achieve a more stable conformation following the NC binding, in which both the DIS and the U5:AUG regions of the gRNA participate in extensive base pairing.
RNA can also be processed to produce mature messenger RNAs (mRNAs). In most cases, this processing involves RNA splicing to produce mRNAs that are shorter than the full-length genome. Which part of the RNA is removed during RNA splicing determines which of the HIV protein-coding sequences is translated.
Mature HIV mRNAs are exported from the nucleus into the cytoplasm, where they are translated to produce HIV proteins, including Rev. As the newly produced Rev protein is produced it moves to the nucleus, where it binds to full-length, unspliced copies of virus RNAs and allows them to leave the nucleus. Some of these full-length RNAs function as mRNAs that are translated to produce the structural proteins Gag and Env. Gag proteins bind to copies of the virus RNA genome to package them into new virus particles. HIV-1 and HIV-2 appear to package their RNA differently. HIV-1 will bind to any appropriate RNA. HIV-2 will preferentially bind to the mRNA that was used to create the Gag protein itself.
#### Recombination
Two RNA genomes are encapsidated in each HIV-1 particle (see Structure and genome of HIV). Upon infection and replication catalyzed by reverse transcriptase, recombination between the two genomes can occur. Recombination occurs as the single-strand, positive-sense RNA genomes are reverse transcribed to form DNA. During reverse transcription, the nascent DNA can switch multiple times between the two copies of the viral RNA. This form of recombination is known as copy-choice. Recombination events may occur throughout the genome. Anywhere from two to 20 recombination events per genome may occur at each replication cycle, and these events can rapidly shuffle the genetic information that is transmitted from parental to progeny genomes.
Viral recombination produces genetic variation that likely contributes to the evolution of resistance to anti-retroviral therapy. Recombination may also contribute, in principle, to overcoming the immune defenses of the host. Yet, for the adaptive advantages of genetic variation to be realized, the two viral genomes packaged in individual infecting virus particles need to have arisen from separate progenitor parental viruses of differing genetic constitution. It is unknown how often such mixed packaging occurs under natural conditions.
Bonhoeffer *et al.* suggested that template switching by reverse transcriptase acts as a repair process to deal with breaks in the single-stranded RNA genome. In addition, Hu and Temin suggested that recombination is an adaptation for repair of damage in the RNA genomes. Strand switching (copy-choice recombination) by reverse transcriptase could generate an undamaged copy of genomic DNA from two damaged single-stranded RNA genome copies. This view of the adaptive benefit of recombination in HIV could explain why each HIV particle contains two complete genomes, rather than one. Furthermore, the view that recombination is a repair process implies that the benefit of repair can occur at each replication cycle, and that this benefit can be realized whether or not the two genomes differ genetically. On the view that recombination in HIV is a repair process, the generation of recombinational variation would be a consequence, but not the cause of, the evolution of template switching.
HIV-1 infection causes chronic inflammation and production of reactive oxygen species. Thus, the HIV genome may be vulnerable to oxidative damage, including breaks in the single-stranded RNA. For HIV, as well as for viruses in general, successful infection depends on overcoming host defense strategies that often include production of genome-damaging reactive oxygen species. Thus, Michod *et al.* suggested that recombination by viruses is an adaptation for repair of genome damage, and that recombinational variation is a byproduct that may provide a separate benefit.
#### Assembly and release
The final step of the viral cycle, assembly of new HIV-1 virions, begins at the plasma membrane of the host cell. The Env polyprotein (gp160) goes through the endoplasmic reticulum and is transported to the Golgi apparatus where it is cleaved by furin resulting in the two HIV envelope glycoproteins, gp41 and gp120. These are transported to the plasma membrane of the host cell where gp41 anchors gp120 to the membrane of the infected cell. The Gag (p55) and Gag-Pol (p160) polyproteins also associate with the inner surface of the plasma membrane along with the HIV genomic RNA as the forming virion begins to bud from the host cell. The budded virion is still immature as the gag polyproteins still need to be cleaved into the actual matrix, capsid and nucleocapsid proteins. This cleavage is mediated by the packaged viral protease and can be inhibited by antiretroviral drugs of the protease inhibitor class. The various structural components then assemble to produce a mature HIV virion. Only mature virions are then able to infect another cell.
The classical process of infection of a cell by a virion can be called "cell-free spread" to distinguish it from a more recently recognized process called "cell-to-cell spread". In cell-free spread (see figure), virus particles bud from an infected T cell, enter the blood or extracellular fluid and then infect another T cell following a chance encounter. HIV can also disseminate by direct transmission from one cell to another by a process of cell-to-cell spread, for which two pathways have been described. Firstly, an infected T cell can transmit virus directly to a target T cell via a virological synapse. Secondly, an antigen-presenting cell (APC), such as a macrophage or dendritic cell, can transmit HIV to T cells by a process that either involves productive infection (in the case of macrophages) or capture and transfer of virions *in trans* (in the case of dendritic cells). Whichever pathway is used, infection by cell-to-cell transfer is reported to be much more efficient than cell-free virus spread. A number of factors contribute to this increased efficiency, including polarised virus budding towards the site of cell-to-cell contact, close apposition of cells, which minimizes fluid-phase diffusion of virions, and clustering of HIV entry receptors on the target cell towards the contact zone. Cell-to-cell spread is thought to be particularly important in lymphoid tissues, where CD4+ T cells are densely packed and likely to interact frequently. Intravital imaging studies have supported the concept of the HIV virological synapse *in vivo*. The many dissemination mechanisms available to HIV contribute to the virus' ongoing replication in spite of anti-retroviral therapies.
### Genetic variability
HIV differs from many viruses in that it has very high genetic variability. This diversity is a result of its fast replication cycle, with the generation of about 1010 virions every day, coupled with a high mutation rate of approximately 3 x 10−5 per nucleotide base per cycle of replication and recombinogenic properties of reverse transcriptase.
This complex scenario leads to the generation of many variants of HIV in a single infected patient in the course of one day. This variability is compounded when a single cell is simultaneously infected by two or more different strains of HIV. When simultaneous infection occurs, the genome of progeny virions may be composed of RNA strands from two different strains. This hybrid virion then infects a new cell where it undergoes replication. As this happens, the reverse transcriptase, by jumping back and forth between the two different RNA templates, will generate a newly synthesized retroviral DNA sequence that is a recombinant between the two parental genomes. This recombination is most obvious when it occurs between subtypes.
The closely related simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) has evolved into many strains, classified by the natural host species. SIV strains of the African green monkey (SIVagm) and sooty mangabey (SIVsmm) are thought to have a long evolutionary history with their hosts. These hosts have adapted to the presence of the virus, which is present at high levels in the host's blood, but evokes only a mild immune response, does not cause the development of simian AIDS, and does not undergo the extensive mutation and recombination typical of HIV infection in humans.
In contrast, when these strains infect species that have not adapted to SIV ("heterologous" or similar hosts such as rhesus or cynomologus macaques), the animals develop AIDS and the virus generates genetic diversity similar to what is seen in human HIV infection. Chimpanzee SIV (SIVcpz), the closest genetic relative of HIV-1, is associated with increased mortality and AIDS-like symptoms in its natural host. SIVcpz appears to have been transmitted relatively recently to chimpanzee and human populations, so their hosts have not yet adapted to the virus. This virus has also lost a function of the *nef* gene that is present in most SIVs. For non-pathogenic SIV variants, *nef* suppresses T cell activation through the CD3 marker. *Nef*'s function in non-pathogenic forms of SIV is to downregulate expression of inflammatory cytokines, MHC-1, and signals that affect T cell trafficking. In HIV-1 and SIVcpz, *nef* does not inhibit T-cell activation and it has lost this function. Without this function, T cell depletion is more likely, leading to immunodeficiency.
Three groups of HIV-1 have been identified on the basis of differences in the envelope (*env*) region: M, N, and O. Group M is the most prevalent and is subdivided into eight subtypes (or clades), based on the whole genome, which are geographically distinct. The most prevalent are subtypes B (found mainly in North America and Europe), A and D (found mainly in Africa), and C (found mainly in Africa and Asia); these subtypes form branches in the phylogenetic tree representing the lineage of the M group of HIV-1. Co-infection with distinct subtypes gives rise to circulating recombinant forms (CRFs). In 2000, the last year in which an analysis of global subtype prevalence was made, 47.2% of infections worldwide were of subtype C, 26.7% were of subtype A/CRF02_AG, 12.3% were of subtype B, 5.3% were of subtype D, 3.2% were of CRF_AE, and the remaining 5.3% were composed of other subtypes and CRFs. Most HIV-1 research is focused on subtype B; few laboratories focus on the other subtypes. The existence of a fourth group, "P", has been hypothesised based on a virus isolated in 2009. The strain is apparently derived from gorilla SIV (SIVgor), first isolated from western lowland gorillas in 2006.
HIV-2's closest relative is SIVsm, a strain of SIV found in sooty mangabees. Since HIV-1 is derived from SIVcpz, and HIV-2 from SIVsm, the genetic sequence of HIV-2 is only partially homologous to HIV-1 and more closely resembles that of SIVsm.
## Diagnosis
Many HIV-positive people are unaware that they are infected with the virus. For example, in 2001 less than 1% of the sexually active urban population in Africa had been tested, and this proportion is even lower in rural populations. Furthermore, in 2001 only 0.5% of pregnant women attending urban health facilities were counselled, tested or received their test results. Again, this proportion is even lower in rural health facilities. Since donors may therefore be unaware of their infection, donor blood and blood products used in medicine and medical research are routinely screened for HIV.
HIV-1 testing is initially done using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect antibodies to HIV-1. Specimens with a non-reactive result from the initial ELISA are considered HIV-negative, unless new exposure to an infected partner or partner of unknown HIV status has occurred. Specimens with a reactive ELISA result are retested in duplicate. If the result of either duplicate test is reactive, the specimen is reported as repeatedly reactive and undergoes confirmatory testing with a more specific supplemental test (e.g., a polymerase chain reaction (PCR), western blot or, less commonly, an immunofluorescence assay (IFA)). Only specimens that are repeatedly reactive by ELISA and positive by IFA or PCR or reactive by western blot are considered HIV-positive and indicative of HIV infection. Specimens that are repeatedly ELISA-reactive occasionally provide an indeterminate western blot result, which may be either an incomplete antibody response to HIV in an infected person or nonspecific reactions in an uninfected person.
Although IFA can be used to confirm infection in these ambiguous cases, this assay is not widely used. In general, a second specimen should be collected more than a month later and retested for persons with indeterminate western blot results. Although much less commonly available, nucleic acid testing (e.g., viral RNA or proviral DNA amplification method) can also help diagnosis in certain situations. In addition, a few tested specimens might provide inconclusive results because of a low quantity specimen. In these situations, a second specimen is collected and tested for HIV infection.
Modern HIV testing is extremely accurate, when the window period is taken into consideration. A single screening test is correct more than 99% of the time. The chance of a false-positive result in a standard two-step testing protocol is estimated to be about 1 in 250,000 in a low risk population. Testing post-exposure is recommended immediately and then at six weeks, three months, and six months.
The latest recommendations of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that HIV testing must start with an immunoassay combination test for HIV-1 and HIV-2 antibodies and p24 antigen. A negative result rules out HIV exposure, while a positive one must be followed by an HIV-1/2 antibody differentiation immunoassay to detect which antibodies are present. This gives rise to four possible scenarios:
- 1. HIV-1 (+) & HIV-2 (−): HIV-1 antibodies detected
- 2. HIV-1 (−) & HIV-2 (+): HIV-2 antibodies detected
- 3. HIV-1 (+) & HIV-2 (+): both HIV-1 and HIV-2 antibodies detected
- 4. HIV-1 (−) or indeterminate & HIV-2 (−): Nucleic acid test must be carried out to detect the acute infection of HIV-1 or its absence.
## Research
HIV/AIDS research includes all medical research that attempts to prevent, treat, or cure HIV/AIDS, as well as fundamental research about the nature of HIV as an infectious agent and AIDS as the disease caused by HIV.
Many governments and research institutions participate in HIV/AIDS research. This research includes behavioral health interventions, such as research into sex education, and drug development, such as research into microbicides for sexually transmitted diseases, HIV vaccines, and anti-retroviral drugs. Other medical research areas include the topics of pre-exposure prophylaxis, post-exposure prophylaxis, circumcision, and accelerated aging effects.
## Treatment and transmission
The management of HIV/AIDS typically involves the use of multiple antiretroviral drugs. In many parts of the world, HIV has become a chronic condition, with progression to AIDS increasingly rare.
HIV latency and the resulting viral reservoir in CD4+ T cells, dendritic cells, and macrophages is the main barrier to eradication of the virus.
While HIV is highly virulent, transmission through sexual contact does not occur when an HIV-positive individual maintains a consistently undetectable viral load (<50 copies/ml) due to antiretroviral treatment. This concept was first proposed by the Swiss Federal Commission for AIDS/HIV in 2008 in what is known as the Swiss Statement. Although initially controversial, subsequent studies have confirmed that the risk of transmitting HIV through sex is effectively zero when the HIV-positive person has a consistently undetectable viral load, a concept now widely known as U=U, or "Undetectable = Untransmittable."
Studies that established the U=U principle include Opposites Attract, PARTNER 1, PARTNER 2 (which focused on male-male couples), and HPTN052 (which focused on heterosexual couples). These studies involved couples where one partner was HIV-positive and one was HIV-negative, and included regular HIV testing. Across these four studies, a total of 4,097 couples participated from four continents, reporting 151,880 acts of condomless sex with zero phylogenetically-linked HIV transmissions when the positive partner had an undetectable viral load. Following these findings, the U=U consensus statement advocating the use of the term 'zero risk' was endorsed by numerous individuals and organizations, including the CDC, the British HIV Association, and *The Lancet* medical journal.
Additionally, reactivation of herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2) in individuals with genital herpes is associated with an increase in CCR-5 enriched CD4+ T cells and inflammatory dendritic cells in the dermis of ulcerated genital skin, persisting even after ulcer healing. HIV's tropism for CCR-5 positive cells contributes to the two- to threefold increased risk of HIV acquisition in persons with genital herpes. Notably, daily antiviral medication, such as acyclovir, does not reduce the subclinical post-reactivation inflammation and therefore does not decrease the risk of HIV acquisition.
## History
### Origins
Both HIV-1 and HIV-2 are believed to have originated in non-human primates in West-central Africa, and are believed to have transferred to humans (a process known as zoonosis) in the early 20th century.
HIV-1 appears to have originated in southern Cameroon through the evolution of SIVcpz, a simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) that infects wild chimpanzees (HIV-1 descends from the SIVcpz endemic in the chimpanzee subspecies *Pan troglodytes troglodytes*). The closest relative of HIV-2 is SIVsmm, a virus of the sooty mangabey (*Cercocebus atys atys*), an Old World monkey living in littoral West Africa (from southern Senegal to western Côte d'Ivoire). New World monkeys such as the owl monkey are resistant to HIV-1 infection, possibly because of a genomic fusion of two viral resistance genes.
HIV-1 is thought to have jumped the species barrier on at least three separate occasions, giving rise to the three groups of the virus, M, N, and O.
There is evidence that humans who participate in bushmeat activities, either as hunters or as bushmeat vendors, commonly acquire SIV. However, SIV is a weak virus, and it is typically suppressed by the human immune system within weeks of infection. It is thought that several transmissions of the virus from individual to individual in quick succession are necessary to allow it enough time to mutate into HIV. Furthermore, due to its relatively low person-to-person transmission rate, it can only spread throughout the population in the presence of one or more high-risk transmission channels, which are thought to have been absent in Africa prior to the 20th century.
Specific proposed high-risk transmission channels, allowing the virus to adapt to humans and spread throughout the society, depend on the proposed timing of the animal-to-human crossing. Genetic studies of the virus suggest that the most recent common ancestor of the HIV-1 M group dates back to c. 1910. Proponents of this dating link the HIV epidemic with the emergence of colonialism and growth of large colonial African cities, leading to social changes, including different patterns of sexual contact (especially multiple, concurrent partnerships), the spread of prostitution, and the concomitant high frequency of genital ulcer diseases (such as syphilis) in nascent colonial cities. While transmission rates of HIV during vaginal intercourse are typically low, they are increased manyfold if one of the partners has a sexually transmitted infection resulting in genital ulcers. Early 1900s colonial cities were notable for their high prevalence of prostitution and genital ulcers to the degree that as of 1928 as many as 45% of female residents of eastern Leopoldville (currently Kinshasa) were thought to have been prostitutes and as of 1933 around 15% of all residents of the same city were infected by one of the forms of syphilis.
The earliest, well-documented case of HIV in a human dates back to 1959 in the Belgian Congo. The virus may have been present in the United States as early as the mid- to late 1960s, as a sixteen-year-old male named Robert Rayford presented with symptoms in 1966 and died in 1969.
An alternative and likely complementary hypothesis points to the widespread use of unsafe medical practices in Africa during years following World War II, such as unsterile reuse of single-use syringes during mass vaccination, antibiotic, and anti-malaria treatment campaigns. Research on the timing of most recent common ancestor for HIV-1 groups M and O, as well as on HIV-2 groups A and B, indicates that SIV has given rise to transmissible HIV lineages throughout the twentieth century. The dispersed timing of these transmissions to humans implies that no single external factor is needed to explain the cross-species transmission of HIV. This observation is consistent with both of the two prevailing views of the origin of the HIV epidemics, namely SIV transmission to humans during the slaughter or butchering of infected primates, and the colonial expansion of sub-Saharan African cities.
### Discovery
The first news story on "an exotic new disease" appeared May 18, 1981, in the gay newspaper *New York Native*.
AIDS was first clinically observed in 1981 in the United States. The initial cases were a cluster of injection drug users and gay men with no known cause of impaired immunity who showed symptoms of *Pneumocystis* pneumonia (PCP or PJP, the latter term recognizing that the causative agent is now called *Pneumocystis jirovecii*), a rare opportunistic infection that was known to occur in people with very compromised immune systems. Soon thereafter, researchers at the NYU School of Medicine studied gay men developing a previously rare skin cancer called Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). Many more cases of PJP and KS emerged, alerting U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and a CDC task force was formed to monitor the outbreak. The earliest retrospectively described case of AIDS is believed to have been in Norway beginning in 1966.
In the beginning, the CDC did not have an official name for the disease, often referring to it by way of the diseases that were associated with it, for example, lymphadenopathy, the disease after which the discoverers of HIV originally named the virus. They also used *Kaposi's Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections*, the name by which a task force had been set up in 1981. In the general press, the term *GRID*, which stood for gay-related immune deficiency, had been coined. The CDC, in search of a name and looking at the infected communities, coined "the 4H disease", as it seemed to single out homosexuals, heroin users, hemophiliacs, and Haitians. However, after determining that AIDS was not isolated to the gay community, it was realized that the term GRID was misleading and *AIDS* was introduced at a meeting in July 1982. By September 1982 the CDC started using the name AIDS.
In 1983, two separate research groups led by American Robert Gallo and French investigators Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier independently declared that a novel retrovirus may have been infecting AIDS patients, and published their findings in the same issue of the journal *Science*. Gallo claimed that a virus his group had isolated from a person with AIDS was strikingly similar in shape to other human T-lymphotropic viruses (HTLVs) his group had been the first to isolate. Gallo admitted in 1987 that the virus he claimed to have discovered in 1984 was in reality a virus sent to him from France the year before. Gallo's group called their newly isolated virus HTLV-III. Montagnier's group isolated a virus from a patient presenting with swelling of the lymph nodes of the neck and physical weakness, two classic symptoms of primary HIV infection. Contradicting the report from Gallo's group, Montagnier and his colleagues showed that core proteins of this virus were immunologically different from those of HTLV-I. Montagnier's group named their isolated virus lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV). As these two viruses turned out to be the same, in 1986 LAV and HTLV-III were renamed HIV.
Another group working contemporaneously with the Montagnier and Gallo groups was that of Jay A. Levy at the University of California, San Francisco. He independently discovered the AIDS virus in 1983 and named it the AIDS associated retrovirus (ARV). This virus was very different from the virus reported by the Montagnier and Gallo groups. The ARV strains indicated, for the first time, the heterogeneity of HIV isolates and several of these remain classic examples of the AIDS virus found in the United States.
## See also
- Antiviral drug
- Discovery and development of HIV-protease inhibitors
- HIV/AIDS denialism
- HIVToolbox
- World AIDS Day
|
# London - Wikipedia
London | |
|---|---|
| Coordinates: | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Country | England |
| Region | London |
| Ceremonial counties | |
| Settled by Romans | AD 47as Londinium | ,
| Administrative HQ | City Hall, Newham |
| Local government | 32 London boroughs and the City of London |
| Government | |
| • Type | Executive mayoralty and deliberative assembly |
| • Body | Greater London Authority |
| • Mayor | Sadiq Khan (L) |
| • London Assembly | 14 constituencies |
| • UK Parliament | 74 constituencies |
| Area | |
• Total | 607 sq mi (1,572 km2) |
| • Urban | 671 sq mi (1,738 km2) |
| • Metro | 3,236 sq mi (8,382 km2) |
| Population (2022) | |
• Total | 8,866,180 |
| • Rank | |
| • Density | 14,600/sq mi (5,640/km2) |
| • Urban (2011) | 9,787,428 |
| • Metro (2024) | 14,900,000 |
| Demonyms | Londoner |
| Ethnicity (2021) | |
| • Ethnic groups | List |
| Religion (2021) | |
| • Religion | List |
| Time zone | UTC+0 (GMT) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (BST) |
| Postcode areas | 22 areas |
| Dialling codes |
|
| GSS code |
|
| GeoTLD | .london |
| Website | london |
**London** is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of 8,866,180 in 2022. Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Thames in southeast England, at the head of a 50-mile (80 km) tidal estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for nearly 2,000 years. Its ancient core and financial centre, the City of London, was founded by the Romans as Londinium and has retained its medieval boundaries. The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has been the centuries-long host of the national government and parliament. London grew rapidly in the 19th century, becoming the world's largest city at the time. Since the 19th century the name "London" has referred to the metropolis around the City of London, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent and Hertfordshire, which since 1965 has largely comprised the administrative area of Greater London, governed by 33 local authorities and the Greater London Authority.
As one of the world's major global cities, London exerts a strong influence on world art, entertainment, fashion, commerce, finance, education, healthcare, media, science, technology, tourism, transport and communications. London is Europe’s most economically powerful city, and is one of the world's major financial centres. London hosts Europe's largest concentration of higher education institutions, comprising over 50 universities and colleges and enrolling more than 500,000 students as of 2023. It is home to several of the world's leading academic institutions: Imperial College London, internationally recognised for its excellence in natural and applied sciences, and University College London (UCL), a comprehensive research-intensive university, consistently rank among the top ten globally. Other notable institutions include King's College London (KCL), highly regarded in law, humanities, and health sciences; the London School of Economics (LSE), globally prominent in social sciences and economics; and specialised institutions such as the Royal College of Art (RCA), Royal Academy of Music (RAM), the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and London Business School (LBS). It is the most-visited city in Europe and has the world's busiest city airport system. The London Underground is the world's oldest rapid transit system.
London's diverse cultures encompass over 300 languages. The 2023 population of Greater London of just under 10 million made it Europe's third-most populous city, accounting for 13.4 per cent of the United Kingdom's population and over 16 per cent of England's population. The Greater London Built-up Area is the fourth-most populous in Europe, with about 9.8 million inhabitants as of 2011. The London metropolitan area is the third-most-populous in Europe, with about 14 million inhabitants as of 2016, making London a megacity.
Four World Heritage Sites are located in London: Kew Gardens; the Tower of London; the site featuring the Palace of Westminster, Church of St. Margaret, and Westminster Abbey; and the historic settlement in Greenwich where the Royal Observatory defines the prime meridian (0° longitude) and Greenwich Mean Time. Other landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge and Trafalgar Square. The city has the most museums, art galleries, libraries, and cultural venues in the UK, including the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Natural History Museum, Tate Modern, the British Library and numerous West End theatres. Important sporting events held in London include the FA Cup Final, the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and the London Marathon. It became the first city to host three Summer Olympic Games upon hosting the 2012 Summer Olympics.
## Etymology
*London* is an ancient name, attested in the first century AD, usually in the Latinised form *Londinium*. Modern scientific analyses of the name must account for the origins of the different forms found in early sources: Latin (usually *Londinium*), Old English (usually *Lunden*), and Welsh (usually *Llundein*), with reference to the known developments over time of sounds in those different languages. It is agreed that the name came into these languages from Common Brythonic; recent work tends to reconstruct the lost Celtic form of the name as **Londonjon* or something similar. This was then adapted into Latin as *Londinium* and borrowed into Old English.
Until 1889 the name "London" applied officially only to the City of London, but since then it has also referred to the County of London and to Greater London.
## History
### Prehistory
In 1993 remains of a Bronze Age bridge were found on the south River Thames foreshore, upstream from Vauxhall Bridge. Two of the timbers were radiocarbon dated to 1750–1285 BC. In 2010 foundations of a large timber structure, dated to 4800–4500 BC, were found on the Thames' south foreshore downstream from Vauxhall Bridge. Both structures are on the south bank of the Thames, where the now-underground River Effra flows into the Thames.
### Roman London
Despite the evidence of scattered Brythonic settlements in the area, the first major settlement was founded by the Romans around AD 47, about 4 years after their invasion of AD 43. This only lasted until about AD 61, when the Iceni tribe led by Queen Boudica stormed it and burnt it to the ground.
The next planned incarnation of Londinium prospered, superseding Colchester as the principal city of the Roman province of Britannia in 100. At its height in the 2nd century, Roman London had a population of about 60,000.
### Anglo-Saxon and Viking-period London
With the early-5th-century collapse of Roman rule, the walled city of Londinium was effectively abandoned, although Roman civilisation continued around St Martin-in-the-Fields until about 450. From about 500 an Anglo-Saxon settlement known as Lundenwic developed slightly west of the old Roman city. By about 680 the city had become a major port again, but there is little evidence of large-scale production. From the 820s repeated Viking assaults brought decline. Three are recorded; those in 851 and 886 succeeded, while the last, in 994, was rebuffed.
The Vikings applied Danelaw over much of eastern and northern England, its boundary running roughly from London to Chester as an area of political and geographical control imposed by the Viking incursions formally agreed by the Danish warlord named Guthrum and the West Saxon king Alfred the Great in 886. The *Anglo-Saxon Chronicle* records that Alfred "refounded" London in 886. Archaeological research shows this involved abandonment of Lundenwic and a revival of life and trade within the old Roman walls. London then grew slowly until a dramatic increase in about 950.
By the 11th century London was clearly the largest town in England. Westminster Abbey, rebuilt in Romanesque style by King Edward the Confessor, was one of the grandest churches in Europe. Winchester had been the capital of Anglo-Saxon England, but from this time London became the main forum for foreign traders and the base for defence in time of war. In the view of Frank Stenton: "It had the resources, and it was rapidly developing the dignity and the political self-consciousness appropriate to a national capital."
### Middle Ages
After winning the Battle of Hastings, William, Duke of Normandy was crowned King of England in the newly completed Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066. William built the Tower of London, the first of many such in England rebuilt in stone in the south-eastern corner of the city, to intimidate the inhabitants. In 1097 William II began building Westminster Hall, near the abbey. It became the basis of a new Palace of Westminster.
In the 12th century the institutions of central government, which had hitherto followed the royal English court around the country, grew in size and sophistication and became increasingly fixed, for most purposes at Westminster, although the royal treasury came to rest in the Tower of London. While the City of Westminster developed into a true governmental capital, its distinct neighbour, the City of London, remained England's largest city and principal commercial centre and flourished under its own unique administration, the Corporation of London. In 1100 its population was some 18,000; by 1300 it had grown to nearly 100,000. With the Black Death in the mid-14th century, London lost nearly a third of its population. London was the focus of the Peasants' Revolt in 1381.
London was a centre of England's Jewish population before their expulsion by Edward I in 1290. Violence against Jews occurred in 1190, when it was rumoured that the new king had ordered their massacre after they had presented themselves at his coronation. In 1264 during the Second Barons' War, Simon de Montfort's rebels killed 500 Jews while attempting to seize records of debts.
### Early modern
During the Tudor period the Reformation produced a gradual shift to Protestantism. Much property in London passed from church to private ownership, which accelerated trade and business in the city. In 1475 the Hanseatic League set up a main trading base (*kontor*) of England in London, called the *Stalhof* or *Steelyard*. It remained until 1853, when the Hanseatic cities of Lübeck, Bremen and Hamburg sold the property to South Eastern Railway. Woollen cloth was shipped undyed and undressed from 14th/15th century London to the nearby shores of the Low Countries.
Yet English maritime enterprise hardly reached beyond the seas of northwestern Europe. The commercial route to the Italian peninsula and the Mediterranean Sea was normally through Antwerp and over the Alps; any ships passing through the Strait of Gibraltar to or from England were likely to be Italian or Ragusan. The reopening of the Netherlands to English shipping in January 1565 spurred a burst of commercial activity. The Royal Exchange was founded. Mercantilism grew and monopoly traders such as the East India Company were founded as trade expanded to the New World. London became the main North Sea port, with migrants arriving from England and abroad. The population rose from about 50,000 in 1530 to about 225,000 in 1605.
In the 16th century the poet and playwright William Shakespeare and his contemporaries lived in London during English Renaissance theatre. Shakespeare's Globe Theatre was constructed in 1599 in Southwark. Stage performances came to a halt in London when Puritan authorities shut down the theatres in the 1640s. The ban on theatre was lifted during the Restoration in 1660, and London's oldest operating theatre, Drury Lane, opened in 1663 in what is now the West End theatre district.
By the end of the Tudor period in 1603, London was still compact. There was an assassination attempt on James I in Westminster, in the Gunpowder Plot of 5 November 1605. In 1637 the government of Charles I attempted to reform administration in the London area. This called for the Corporation of the city to extend its jurisdiction and administration over expanding areas around the city. Fearing an attempt by the Crown to diminish the Liberties of London, coupled with a lack of interest in administering these additional areas or concern by city guilds of having to share power, caused the Corporation's "The Great Refusal", a decision which largely continues to account for the unique governmental status of the City of London.
In the English Civil War the majority of Londoners supported the Parliamentary cause. After an initial advance by the Royalists in 1642, culminating in the battles of Brentford and Turnham Green, London was surrounded by a defensive perimeter wall known as the Lines of Communication. The lines were built by up to 20,000 people, and were completed in under two months. The fortifications failed their only test when the New Model Army entered London in 1647, and they were levelled by Parliament the same year. London was plagued by disease in the early-17th century, culminating in the Great Plague of 1665–1666, which killed up to 100,000 people, or a fifth of the population. The Great Fire of London broke out in 1666 in Pudding Lane in the city and quickly swept through the wooden buildings. Rebuilding took over 10 years and was supervised by the polymath Robert Hooke.
In 1710 Christopher Wren's masterpiece St Paul's Cathedral was completed, replacing its medieval predecessor, which burnt down in the Great Fire. The dome of St Paul's dominated the London skyline for centuries, inspiring the artworks and writing of William Blake, with his 1789 poem "Holy Thursday" referring to 'the high dome of Pauls'. During the Georgian era new districts such as Mayfair were formed in the west; new bridges over the Thames encouraged development in South London. In the east the Port of London expanded downstream. London's development as an international financial centre matured for much of the 18th century.
In 1762 George III acquired Buckingham House, which was enlarged over the next 75 years. During the 18th century London was said to be dogged by crime, and the Bow Street Runners were established in 1750 as a professional police force. Epidemics during the 1720s and 30s saw most children born in the city die before reaching their fifth birthday.
Coffeehouses became a popular place to debate ideas, as growing literacy and development of the printing press made news widely available, with Fleet Street becoming the centre of the British press. The invasion of Amsterdam by armies of Napoleon led many financiers to relocate to London and the first London international issue was arranged in 1817. Around the same time, the Royal Navy became the world's leading war fleet, acting as a major deterrent to potential economic adversaries. Following a fire in 1838, the Royal Exchange was redesigned by William Tite and rebuilt in 1844. The repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 was specifically aimed at weakening Dutch economic power. London then overtook Amsterdam as the leading international financial centre.
### Late modern and contemporary
With the onset of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, an unprecedented growth in urbanisation took place, and the number of High Streets (the primary street for retail in Britain) rapidly grew. London was the world's largest city from about 1831 to 1925, with a population density of 802 per acre (325 per hectare). In addition to the growing number of stores selling goods, such as Harding, Howell & Co.—one of the first department stores—located on Pall Mall, the streets had scores of street sellers. Rising traffic congestion led to the creation of the London Underground, the world's first urban rail network.
London's overcrowded conditions and the "Great Stink" of the River Thames led to cholera epidemics, claiming 14,000 lives in 1848, and 6,000 in 1866. A key development in public health and sanitation took place at the Great Exhibition of 1851 at Hyde Park when George Jennings installed the first public flush toilets. In response to the exacerbation of sanitary conditions brought on by heavy industrialisation and urbanisation, the modern sewage system was created in London by the Metropolitan Board of Works led by its chief engineer Joseph Bazalgette. The London sewer system included 82 miles (132 km) of main and 1,100 miles (1,800 km) of street sewers that diverted waste to the Thames Estuary, and by the 1890s it would also feature the revolutionary biological treatment of sewage to oxidise the waste. The Metropolitan Board of Works oversaw infrastructure expansion in the capital and some surrounding counties; it was abolished in 1889 when the London County Council was created out of county areas surrounding the capital.
From the early 20th century onwards, teashops were found on High Streets across London and the rest of Britain, with Lyons, who opened the first of their chain of teashops in Piccadilly in 1894, leading the way. Tearooms, such as the Criterion in Piccadilly, became a popular meeting place for women from the suffrage movement. The city was the target of many attacks during the suffragette bombing and arson campaign, between 1912 and 1914, in which historic landmarks such as Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral were bombed.
bombed by the Germans in the First World War, and during the Second World War, the Blitz and other bombings by the *Luftwaffe* of Nazi Germany killed over 30,000 Londoners, destroying large tracts of housing and other buildings across the city. The tomb of the Unknown Warrior, an unidentified member of the British armed forces killed during the First World War, was buried in Westminster Abbey on 11 November 1920. The Cenotaph, located in Whitehall, was unveiled on the same day, and is the focal point for the National Service of Remembrance held annually on Remembrance Sunday, the closest Sunday to 11 November.
The 1948 Summer Olympics were held at the original Wembley Stadium, while London was still recovering from the war. From the 1940s, London became home to many immigrants, primarily from Commonwealth countries such as Jamaica, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, making London one of the most multiracial cities in the world. In 1951 the Festival of Britain was held on the South Bank. The Great Smog of 1952 led to the Clean Air Act 1956, which ended the "pea soup fogs" for which London had been notorious, and had earned it the nickname the "Big Smoke".
Starting mainly in the mid-1960s, London became a centre for worldwide youth culture, exemplified by the Swinging London sub-culture associated with the King's Road, Chelsea and Carnaby Street. The role of trendsetter revived in the punk era. In 1965 London's political boundaries were expanded in response to the growth of the urban area, and a new Greater London Council was created. During the Troubles in Northern Ireland, London was hit from 1973 by bomb attacks by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. These attacks lasted for two decades, starting with the Old Bailey bombing. Racial inequality was highlighted by the 1981 Brixton riot.
Greater London's population declined in the decades after the Second World War, from an estimated peak of 8.6 million in 1939 to around 6.8 million in the 1980s. The principal ports for London moved downstream to Felixstowe and Tilbury, with the London Docklands area becoming a focus for regeneration, including the Canary Wharf development. This was born out of London's increasing role as an international financial centre in the 1980s. Located about 2 miles (3 km) east of central London, the Thames Barrier was completed in the 1980s to protect London against tidal surges from the North Sea.
The Greater London Council was abolished in 1986, leaving London with no central administration until 2000 and the creation of the Greater London Authority. To mark the 21st century the Millennium Dome, the London Eye and the Millennium Bridge were constructed. On 6 July 2005 London was awarded the 2012 Summer Olympics, as the first city to stage the Olympic Games three times. On 7 July 2005 three London Underground trains and a double-decker bus were bombed in a series of terrorist attacks.
In 2008 *Time* magazine named London alongside New York City and Hong Kong as Nylonkong, hailing them as the world's three most influential global cities. In January 2015 Greater London's population was estimated to be 8.63 million, its highest since 1939. During the Brexit referendum in 2016, the UK as a whole decided to leave the European Union, but most London constituencies voted for remaining. However, Britain's exit from the EU in January 2020 only marginally weakened London's position as an international financial centre.
## Administration
### Local government
The administration of London is formed of two tiers: a citywide, strategic tier and a local tier. Citywide administration is coordinated by the Greater London Authority (GLA), while local administration is carried out by 33 smaller authorities. The GLA consists of two elected components: the mayor of London, who has executive powers, and the London Assembly, which scrutinises the mayor's decisions and can accept or reject the mayor's budget proposals each year. The GLA has responsibility for the majority of London's transport system through its functional arm Transport for London (TfL), it is responsible for overseeing the city's police and fire services, and also for setting a strategic vision for London on a range of issues. The headquarters of the GLA is City Hall, Newham. The mayor since 2016 has been Sadiq Khan, the first Muslim mayor of a major Western capital. The mayor's statutory planning strategy is published as the London Plan, which was most recently revised in 2011.
The local authorities are the councils of the 32 London boroughs and the City of London Corporation. They are responsible for most local services, such as local planning, schools, libraries, leisure and recreation, social services, local roads and refuse collection. Certain functions, such as waste management, are provided through joint arrangements. In 2009–2010 the combined revenue expenditure by London councils and the GLA amounted to just over £22 billion (£14.7 billion for the boroughs and £7.4 billion for the GLA).
The London Fire Brigade is the statutory fire and rescue service for Greater London, run by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. It is the third largest fire service in the world. National Health Service ambulance services are provided by the London Ambulance Service (LAS) NHS Trust, the largest free-at-the-point-of-use emergency ambulance service in the world. The London Air Ambulance charity operates in conjunction with the LAS where required. His Majesty's Coastguard and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution operate on the River Thames, which is under the jurisdiction of the Port of London Authority from Teddington Lock to the sea.
### National government
London is the seat of the Government of the United Kingdom. Many government departments, as well as the prime minister's residence at 10 Downing Street, are based close to the Palace of Westminster, particularly along Whitehall. There are 75 members of Parliament (MPs) from London; As of June 2024, 59 are from the Labour Party, 9 are Conservatives, 6 are Liberal Democrats and one constituency is held by an independent. The ministerial post of Minister for London was created in 1994, however as of 2024, the post has been vacant.
### Policing and crime
Policing in Greater London, with the exception of the City of London, is provided by the Metropolitan Police ("The Met"), overseen by the mayor through the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC). The Met is also referred to as Scotland Yard after the location of its original headquarters in a road called Great Scotland Yard in Whitehall. The City of London has its own police force – the City of London Police. First worn by Met police officers in 1863, the custodian helmet has been called a "cultural icon" and a "symbol of British law enforcement". Introduced by the Met in 1929, the blue police telephone box (the basis for the TARDIS in the television series *Doctor Who*) was once a common sight throughout London and regional cities in the UK.
The British Transport Police are responsible for police services on National Rail, London Underground, Docklands Light Railway and Tramlink services. The Ministry of Defence Police is a special police force in London, which does not generally become involved with policing the general public. The UK's domestic counterintelligence service, MI5, is headquartered in Thames House on the north bank of the River Thames and the foreign intelligence service, MI6, is headquartered in the SIS Building on the south bank.
Crime rates vary widely across different areas of London. Crime figures are made available nationally at Local Authority and Ward level. In 2015 there were 118 homicides, a 25.5 per cent increase over 2014. Recorded crime has been rising in London, notably violent crime and murder by stabbing and other means have risen. There were 50 murders from the start of 2018 to mid April 2018. Funding cuts to police in London are likely to have contributed to this, though other factors are involved. However, homicide figures fell in 2022 with 109 recorded for the year, and the murder rate in London is much lower than other major cities around the world.
## Geography
### Scope
London, also known as Greater London, is one of nine regions of England and the top subdivision covering most of the city's metropolis. The City of London at its core once comprised the whole settlement, but as its urban area grew, the Corporation of London resisted attempts to amalgamate the city with its suburbs, causing "London" to be defined several ways.
Forty percent of Greater London is covered by the London post town, in which 'London' forms part of postal addresses. The London telephone area code (020) covers a larger area, similar in size to Greater London, although some outer districts are excluded and some just outside included. The Greater London boundary has been aligned to the M25 motorway in places.
Further urban expansion is now prevented by the Metropolitan Green Belt, although the built-up area extends beyond the boundary in places, producing a separately defined Greater London Urban Area. Beyond this is the vast London commuter belt. Greater London is split for some purposes into Inner London and Outer London, and by the River Thames into North and South, with an informal Central London area. The coordinates of the nominal centre of London, traditionally the original Eleanor Cross at Charing Cross near the junction of Trafalgar Square and Whitehall, are about .
### Status
Within London, both the City of London and the City of Westminster have city status. The City of London and the remainder of Greater London are both counties for the purposes of lieutenancies. The area of Greater London includes areas that are part of the historic counties of Middlesex, Kent, Surrey, Essex and Hertfordshire. More recently, Greater London has been defined as a region of England and in this context is known as *London*.
It is the capital of the United Kingdom and of England by convention rather than statute. The capital of England was moved to London from Winchester as the Palace of Westminster developed in the 12th and 13th centuries to become the permanent location of the royal court, and thus the political capital of the nation.
### Topography
Greater London encompasses a total area of 611 square miles (1,583 km2) an area which had a population of 7,172,036 in 2001 and a population density of 11,760 inhabitants per square mile (4,542/km2). The extended area known as the London Metropolitan Region or the London Metropolitan Agglomeration, comprises a total area of 3,236 square miles (8,382 km2) has a population of 13,709,000 and a population density of 3,900 inhabitants per square mile (1,510/km2).
Modern London stands on the Thames, its primary geographical feature, a navigable river which crosses the city from the south-west to the east. The Thames Valley is a flood plain surrounded by gently rolling hills including Parliament Hill, Addington Hills, and Primrose Hill. Historically London grew up at the lowest bridging point on the Thames. The Thames was once a much broader, shallower river with extensive marshlands; at high tide, its shores reached five times their present width.
Since the Victorian era the Thames has been extensively embanked, and many of its London tributaries now flow underground. The Thames is a tidal river, and London is vulnerable to flooding. The threat has increased over time because of a slow but continuous rise in high water level caused by climate change and by the slow 'tilting' of the British Isles as a result of post-glacial rebound.
### Climate
London has a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen: *Cfb*). Rainfall records have been kept in the city since at least 1697, when records began at Kew. At Kew, the most rainfall in one month is 7.4 inches (189 mm) in November 1755 and the least is 0 inches (0 mm) in both December 1788 and July 1800. Mile End also had 0 inches (0 mm) in April 1893. The wettest year on record is 1903, with a total fall of 38.1 inches (969 mm) and the driest is 1921, with a total fall of 12.1 inches (308 mm). The average annual precipitation amounts to about 600mm, which is half the annual rainfall of New York City. Despite relatively low annual precipitation, London receives 109.6 rainy days on the 1.0mm threshold annually. London is vulnerable to climate change, and there is concern among hydrological experts that households may run out of water before 2050.
Temperature extremes in London range from 40.2 °C (104.4 °F) at Heathrow on 19 July 2022 down to −17.4 °C (0.7 °F) at Northolt on 13 December 1981. Records for atmospheric pressure have been kept at London since 1692. The highest pressure ever reported is 1,049.8 millibars (31.00 inHg) on 20 January 2020.
Summers are generally warm, sometimes hot. London's average July high is 23.5 °C (74.3 °F). On average each year, London experiences 31 days above 25 °C (77.0 °F) and 4.2 days above 30.0 °C (86.0 °F). During the 2003 European heat wave, prolonged heat led to hundreds of heat-related deaths. A previous spell of 15 consecutive days above 32.2 °C (90.0 °F) in England in 1976 also caused many heat related deaths. A previous temperature of 37.8 °C (100.0 °F) in August 1911 at the Greenwich station was later disregarded as non-standard. Droughts can also, occasionally, be a problem, especially in summer, most recently in summer 2018, and with much drier than average conditions prevailing from May to December. However, the most consecutive days without rain was 73 days in the spring of 1893.
Winters are generally cool with little temperature variation. Heavy snow is rare but snow usually falls at least once each winter. Spring and autumn can be pleasant. As a large city, London has a considerable urban heat island effect, making the centre of London at times 5 °C (9 °F) warmer than the suburbs and outskirts.
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record high °C (°F) | 17.2 (63.0) |
21.2 (70.2) |
24.5 (76.1) |
29.4 (84.9) |
32.8 (91.0) |
35.6 (96.1) |
40.2 (104.4) |
38.1 (100.6) |
35.0 (95.0) |
29.5 (85.1) |
21.1 (70.0) |
17.4 (63.3) |
40.2 (104.4) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 8.4 (47.1) |
9.0 (48.2) |
11.7 (53.1) |
15.0 (59.0) |
18.4 (65.1) |
21.6 (70.9) |
23.9 (75.0) |
23.4 (74.1) |
20.2 (68.4) |
15.8 (60.4) |
11.5 (52.7) |
8.8 (47.8) |
15.7 (60.3) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 5.6 (42.1) |
5.8 (42.4) |
7.9 (46.2) |
10.5 (50.9) |
13.7 (56.7) |
16.8 (62.2) |
19.0 (66.2) |
18.7 (65.7) |
15.9 (60.6) |
12.3 (54.1) |
8.4 (47.1) |
5.9 (42.6) |
11.7 (53.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 2.7 (36.9) |
2.7 (36.9) |
4.1 (39.4) |
6.0 (42.8) |
9.1 (48.4) |
12.0 (53.6) |
14.2 (57.6) |
14.1 (57.4) |
11.6 (52.9) |
8.8 (47.8) |
5.3 (41.5) |
3.1 (37.6) |
7.8 (46.0) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −16.1 (3.0) |
−13.9 (7.0) |
−8.9 (16.0) |
−5.6 (21.9) |
−3.1 (26.4) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
3.9 (39.0) |
2.1 (35.8) |
1.4 (34.5) |
−5.5 (22.1) |
−7.1 (19.2) |
−17.4 (0.7) |
−17.4 (0.7) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 58.8 (2.31) |
45.0 (1.77) |
38.8 (1.53) |
42.3 (1.67) |
45.9 (1.81) |
47.3 (1.86) |
45.8 (1.80) |
52.8 (2.08) |
49.6 (1.95) |
65.1 (2.56) |
66.6 (2.62) |
57.1 (2.25) |
615.0 (24.21) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 11.5 | 9.5 | 8.5 | 8.8 | 8.0 | 8.3 | 7.9 | 8.4 | 7.9 | 10.8 | 11.2 | 10.8 | 111.7 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 80 | 77 | 70 | 65 | 67 | 65 | 65 | 69 | 73 | 78 | 81 | 81 | 73 |
| Average dew point °C (°F) | 3 (37) |
2 (36) |
2 (36) |
4 (39) |
7 (45) |
10 (50) |
12 (54) |
12 (54) |
10 (50) |
9 (48) |
6 (43) |
3 (37) |
7 (44) |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 61.1 | 78.8 | 124.5 | 176.7 | 207.5 | 208.4 | 217.8 | 202.1 | 157.1 | 115.2 | 70.7 | 55.0 | 1,674.8 |
| Percentage possible sunshine | 23 | 28 | 31 | 40 | 41 | 41 | 42 | 45 | 40 | 35 | 27 | 21 | 35 |
| Average ultraviolet index | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Source 1: Met Office Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: Weather Atlas (percent sunshine and UV Index) CEDA Archive TORRO Time and Date
See Climate of London for additional climate information. |
### Areas
Places within London's vast urban area are identified using area names, such as Mayfair, Southwark, Wembley and Whitechapel. These are either informal designations, reflect the names of villages that have been absorbed by sprawl, or are superseded administrative units such as parishes or former boroughs.
Such names have remained in use through tradition, each referring to a local area with its own distinctive character, but without official boundaries. Since 1965, Greater London has been divided into 32 London boroughs in addition to the ancient City of London. The City of London is the main financial district, and Canary Wharf has recently developed into a new financial and commercial hub in the Docklands to the east.
West London is located west of the City of London. The West End of London is a prestigious area of inner West London focussed on parts of Westminster close to the City of London. The West End includes London’s main shopping and entertainment areas, including West End theatre, and as such attracts many tourists. West London includes expensive residential areas where properties can sell for tens of millions of pounds. The average price for properties in Kensington and Chelsea is over £2 million.
East London is located to the east of the City of London, with the East End being the part of East London closest to the City of London. It has long been known for its high immigrant population and for being one of the poorest areas of the capital. East London included the main northern part of the Port of London and extensive industrial areas. In the late 20th century, deindustrialisation and the closure of the docks brought great hardship. Throughout the area many large brownfield areas now being redeveloped including London Riverside and the Lower Lea Valley, which was developed into the Olympic Park for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.
### Architecture
London's buildings are too diverse to be characterised by any particular architectural style, partly because of their varying ages. Many grand houses and public buildings, such as the National Gallery, are constructed from Portland stone. Some areas of the city, particularly those just west of the centre, are characterised by white stucco or whitewashed buildings. Few structures in central London pre-date the Great Fire of 1666, these being a few trace Roman remains, the Tower of London and a few scattered Tudor survivors in the city. Further out is, for example, the Tudor-period Hampton Court Palace.
Part of the varied architectural heritage are the 17th-century churches by Christopher Wren, neoclassical financial institutions such as the Royal Exchange and the Bank of England, to the early-20th-century Old Bailey courthouse and the 1960s Barbican Estate. The 1939 Battersea Power Station by the river in the south-west is a local landmark, while some railway termini are excellent examples of Victorian architecture, most notably St. Pancras and Paddington. The density of London varies, with high employment density in the central area and Canary Wharf, high residential densities in inner London, and lower densities in Outer London.
The Monument to the Great Fire of London in the City of London provides views of the surrounding area while commemorating the Great Fire of London, which originated nearby. Marble Arch and Wellington Arch, at the north and south ends of Park Lane, have royal connections, as do the Albert Memorial and Royal Albert Hall in Kensington. Nelson's Column (built to commemorate Admiral Horatio Nelson who is depicted in a 17 feet (5.2 m) statue at the top) is a nationally recognised monument in Trafalgar Square, one of the focal points of Central London. Older buildings are mainly brick, commonly the yellow London stock brick.
In the dense areas, most of the concentration is via medium- and high-rise buildings. London's skyscrapers, such as 30 St Mary Axe (designed by Foster and Partners and dubbed "The Gherkin"), Tower 42, the Broadgate Tower and One Canada Square, are mostly in the two financial districts, the City of London and Canary Wharf. High-rise development is restricted at certain sites if it would obstruct protected views of St Paul's Cathedral and other historic buildings. This protective policy, known as 'St Paul's Heights', has been in operation by the City of London since 1937. Nevertheless, there are a number of tall skyscrapers in Central London, including the 95-storey Shard London Bridge, the tallest building in the UK and Western Europe.
Other notable modern buildings include The Scalpel, 20 Fenchurch Street (dubbed 'The Walkie-Talkie'), the former City Hall in Southwark, the Art Deco BBC Broadcasting House plus the Postmodernist British Library in Somers Town/Kings Cross and No 1 Poultry by James Stirling. The BT Tower stands at 620 feet (189 m) and has a 360-degree coloured LED screen near the top. What was formerly the Millennium Dome, by the Thames to the east of Canary Wharf, is now an entertainment venue called the O2 Arena.
### Natural history
The London Natural History Society suggests that London is "one of the World's Greenest Cities" with more than 40% green space or open water. They indicate that 2000 species of flowering plant have been found growing there and that the tidal Thames supports 120 species of fish. They state that over 60 species of bird nest in central London and that their members have recorded 47 species of butterfly, 1,173 moths and more than 270 kinds of spider around London. London's wetland areas support nationally important populations of many water birds. London has 38 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), two national nature reserves and 76 local nature reserves.
Amphibians are common in the capital, including smooth newts living by the Tate Modern, and common frogs, common toads, palmate newts, and great crested newts. On the other hand, native reptiles such as slowworms, common lizards, barred grass snakes and adders, are mostly only seen in Outer London.
Among other inhabitants of London are 10,000 red foxes, so that there are now 16 foxes for every square mile (6 per square km) of London. Other mammals found in Greater London are hedgehog, brown rat, mice, rabbit, shrew, vole and grey squirrel. In wilder areas of Outer London, such as Epping Forest, a wide variety of mammals are found, including European hare, badger, field, bank and water vole, wood mouse, yellow-necked mouse, mole, shrew and weasel, in addition to red fox, grey squirrel and hedgehog. A dead otter was found at The Highway, in Wapping, about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the Tower Bridge, which would suggest that they have begun to move back after being absent a hundred years from the city. Ten of England's eighteen species of bats have been recorded in Epping Forest: soprano, Nathusius' and common pipistrelles, common noctule, serotine, barbastelle, Daubenton's, brown long-eared, Natterer's and Leisler's.
Herds of red and fallow deer roam freely within much of Richmond and Bushy Park. A cull takes place each November and February to ensure numbers can be sustained. Epping Forest is also known for its fallow deer, which can frequently be seen in herds to the north of the Forest. A rare population of melanistic, black fallow deer is also maintained at the Deer Sanctuary near Theydon Bois. Muntjac deer are also found in the forest. While Londoners are accustomed to wildlife such as birds and foxes sharing the city, more recently urban deer have started becoming a regular feature, and whole herds of fallow deer come into residential areas at night to take advantage of London's green spaces.
## Demography
| Country of birth | Population | Percent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 5,223,986 | 59.4 | |
| Non-United Kingdom | 3,575,739 | 40.6 | |
| India | 322,644 | 3.7 | |
| Romania | 175,991 | 2.0 | |
| Poland | 149,397 | 1.7 | |
| Bangladesh | 138,895 | 1.6 | |
| Pakistan | 129,774 | 1.5 | |
| Italy | 126,059 | 1.4 | |
| Nigeria | 117,145 | 1.3 | |
| Ireland | 96,566 | 1.1 | |
| Sri Lanka | 80,379 | 0.9 | |
| France | 77,715 | 0.9 | |
| Others | 2,161,174 | 24.6 | |
| Total | 8,799,725 | 100.0 |
London's continuous urban area extends beyond Greater London and numbered 9,787,426 people in 2011, while its wider metropolitan area had a population of 12–14 million, depending on the definition used. According to Eurostat, London is the second-most-populous metropolitan area in Europe. A net 726,000 immigrants arrived there in the period 1991–2001.
The region covers 610 square miles (1,579 km2), giving a population density of 13,410 inhabitants per square mile (5,177/km2) more than ten times that of any other British region. In population terms, London is the 19th largest city and the 18th largest metropolitan region.
In tenure, 23.1% socially rent within London, 46.8% either own their house outright or with a mortgage or loan and 30% privately rent at the 2021 census. Many Londoners work from home; 42.9% did so at the 2021 census, while 20.6% drove a car to work. The biggest decrease in method of transportation was seen within those who take the train and underground, declining from 22.6% in 2011 to 9.6% in 2021. In qualifications, 46.7% of London had census classified Level 4 qualifications or higher, which is predominately university degrees. 16.2% had no qualifications at all.
### Age structure and median age
London's median age is one of the youngest regions in the UK. It was recorded in 2018 that London's residents were 36.5 years old, which was younger than the UK median of 40.3.
Children younger than 14 constituted 20.6% of the population in Outer London in 2018, and 18% in Inner London. The 15–24 age group was 11.1% in Outer and 10.2% in Inner London, those aged 25–44 years 30.6% in Outer London and 39.7% in Inner London, those aged 45–64 years 24% and 20.7% in Outer and Inner London respectively. Those aged 65 and over are 13.6% in Outer London, but only 9.3% in Inner London.
### Country of birth
The 2021 census recorded that 3,575,739 people (40.6%) of London's population were foreign-born, making it among the cities with the largest immigrant population in terms of absolute numbers and a growth of roughly 3 million since 1971 when the foreign born population was 668,373. 13% of the total population were Asian born (32.1% of the total foreign born population), 7.1% are African born (17.5%), 15.5% are Other European born (38.2%), and 4.2% were born in the Americas and Caribbean (10.3%). The 5 largest single countries of origin were respectively India, Romania, Poland, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
About 56.8 per cent of children born in London in 2021 were born to a mother who was born abroad. This trend has been increasing in the past two decades when foreign born mothers made up 43.3% of births in 2001 in London, becoming the majority in the middle of the 2000s by 2006, comprising 52.5%.
A large degree of the foreign born population who were present at the 2021 census had arrived relatively recently. Of the total population, those that arrived between the years of 2011 and 2021 account for 16.6% of London. Those who arrived between 2001 and 2010 are 10.4%, between 1991 and 2001, 5.7%, and prior to 1990, 7.3%.
### Ethnic groups
According to the Office for National Statistics, based on the 2021 census, 53.8% of the 8,173,941 inhabitants of London were White, with 36.8% White British, 1.8% White Irish, 0.1% Gypsy or Irish Traveller, 0.4% Roma and 14.7% classified as Other White. Meanwhile, 22.2% of Londoners were of Asian or mixed-Asian descent, with 20.8% being of full Asian descent and 1.4% being of mixed-Asian heritage. Indians accounted for 7.5% of the population, followed by Bangladeshis and Pakistanis at 3.7% and 3.3% respectively. Chinese people accounted for 1.7%, and Arabs for 1.6%. A further 4.6% were classified as "Other Asian." 15.9% of London's population were of Black or mixed-Black descent. 13.5% were of full Black descent, with persons of mixed-Black heritage comprising 2.4%. Black Africans accounted for 7.9% of London's population; 3.9% identified as Black Caribbean, and 1.7% as "Other Black." 5.7% were of mixed race. This ethnic structure has changed considerably since the 1960s. Estimates for 1961 put the total non-White ethnic minority population at 179,109 comprising 2.3% of the population at the time, having risen since then to 1,346,119 and 20.2% in 1991 and 4,068,553 and 46.2% in 2021. Of those of a White British background, estimates for 1971 put the population at 6,500,000 and 87% of the total population, which fell to 3,239,281 and 36.8% in 2021.
As of 2021 the majority of London's school pupils come from ethnic minority backgrounds. 23.9% were White British, 14% Other White, 23.2% Asian, 17.9% Black, 11.3% Mixed, 6.3% Other and 2.3% unclassified. Altogether at the 2021 census, of London's 1,695,741 population aged 0 to 15, 42% were White in total, splitting it down into 30.9% who were White British, 0.5% Irish, 10.6% Other White, 23% Asian, 16.4% Black, 12% Mixed and 6.6% another ethnic group.
### Languages
In January 2005, a survey of London's ethnic and religious diversity claimed that more than 300 languages were spoken in London and more than 50 non-indigenous communities had populations of more than 10,000. At the 2021 census, 78.4% of Londoners spoke English as their first language. The 5 biggest languages outside English were Romanian, Spanish, Polish, Bengali and Portuguese.
### Religion
According to the 2021 Census, the largest religious groupings were Christians (40.66%), followed by those of no religion (20.7%), Muslims (15%), no response (8.5%), Hindus (5.15%), Jews (1.65%), Sikhs (1.64%), Buddhists (1.0%) and other (0.8%).
London has traditionally been Christian, and has a large number of churches, particularly in the City of London. The well-known St Paul's Cathedral in the City and Southwark Cathedral south of the river are Anglican administrative centres, while the Archbishop of Canterbury, principal bishop of the Church of England and worldwide Anglican Communion, has his main residence at Lambeth Palace in the London Borough of Lambeth.
Important national and royal ceremonies are shared between St Paul's and Westminster Abbey. The Abbey is not to be confused with nearby Westminster Cathedral, the largest Roman Catholic cathedral in England and Wales. Despite the prevalence of Anglican churches, observance is low within the denomination. Anglican Church attendance continues a long, steady decline, according to Church of England statistics.
Notable mosques include the East London Mosque in Tower Hamlets, which is allowed to give the Islamic call to prayer through loudspeakers, the London Central Mosque on the edge of Regent's Park and the Baitul Futuh of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. After the oil boom, increasing numbers of wealthy Middle-Eastern Arab Muslims based themselves around Mayfair, Kensington and Knightsbridge in West London. There are large Bengali Muslim communities in the eastern boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Newham.
Large Hindu communities are found in the north-western boroughs of Harrow and Brent, the latter hosting what was until 2006 Europe's largest Hindu temple, Neasden Temple. London is home to 44 Hindu temples, including the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London. There are Sikh communities in East and West London, particularly in Southall, home to one of the largest Sikh populations and the largest Sikh temple outside India.
The majority of British Jews live in London, with notable Jewish communities in Stamford Hill, Stanmore, Golders Green, Finchley, Hampstead, Hendon and Edgware, all in North London. Bevis Marks Synagogue in the City of London is affiliated to London's historic Sephardic Jewish community. It is the only synagogue in Europe to have held regular services continually for over 300 years. Stanmore and Canons Park Synagogue has the largest membership of any Orthodox synagogue in Europe. The London Jewish Forum was set up in 2006 in response to the growing significance of devolved London Government.
### Accents
Cockney is an accent heard across London, mainly spoken by working-class and lower-middle-class Londoners. It is mainly attributed to the East End and wider East London, having originated there in the 18th century, although it has been suggested that the Cockney style of speech is much older. Some features of Cockney include *Th*-fronting (pronouncing "th" as "f"), "th" inside a word is pronounced with a "v", *H*-dropping, and, like most English accents, a Cockney accent drops the "r" after a vowel. John Camden Hotten, in his *A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words* of 1859, makes reference to Cockney "use of a peculiar slang language" (Cockney rhyming slang) when describing the costermongers of the East End. Since the start of the 21st century the extreme form of the Cockney dialect is less common in parts of the East End itself, with modern strongholds including other parts of London and suburbs in the home counties. This is particularly pronounced in areas like Romford (in the London Borough of Havering) and Southend (in Essex), which have received significant inflows of older East End residents in recent decades.
Estuary English is an intermediate accent between Cockney and Received Pronunciation. It is widely spoken by people of all classes.
Multicultural London English (MLE) is a multiethnolect becoming increasingly common in multicultural areas amongst young, working-class people from diverse backgrounds. It is a fusion of an array of ethnic accents, in particular Afro-Caribbean and South Asian, with a significant Cockney influence.
Received Pronunciation (RP) is the accent traditionally regarded as the standard for British English. It has no specific geographical correlate, although it is also traditionally defined as the standard speech used in London and south-eastern England. It is mainly spoken by upper-class and upper-middle class Londoners. Standard Southern British English (SSBE) has been considered as an evolution of RP that is now common and widely spoken in London and the south-east of England by a wide variety of people, but is distinct from Estuary English and MLE.
## Economy
London's gross regional product in 2019 was £503 billion, around a quarter of UK GDP. London has five major business districts: the City, Westminster, Canary Wharf, Camden & Islington, and Lambeth & Southwark. One way to get an idea of their relative importance is to look at relative amounts of office space: Greater London had 27 million m2 of office space in 2001, and the City contains the most space, with 8 million m2 of office space. London has some of the highest real estate prices in the world.
### City of London
London's finance industry is based in the City of London and Canary Wharf, the two major business districts. London took over as a major financial centre shortly after 1795 when the Dutch Republic collapsed before the Napoleonic armies. This caused many bankers established in Amsterdam (e.g. Hope, Baring I'm), to move to London. Also, London's market-centred system (as opposed to the bank-centred one in Amsterdam) grew more dominant in the 18th century. The London financial elite was strengthened by a strong Jewish community from all over Europe capable of mastering the most sophisticated financial tools of the time. This economic strength of the city was attributed to its diversity.
By the mid-19th century London was the leading global financial centre, and at the end of the century over half the world's trade was financed in British currency. As of 2023[update], London ranks second in the world rankings on the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI), and it ranked second in A.T. Kearney's 2018 Global Cities Index.
London's largest industry is finance, and its financial exports make it a large contributor to the UK's balance of payments. Notwithstanding a post-Brexit exodus of stock listings from the London Stock Exchange, London is still one of Europe's most economically powerful cities, and it remains one of the major financial centres of the world. It is the world's biggest currency trading centre, accounting for some 37% of the $5.1 trillion average daily volume, according to the BIS. Over 85% (3.2 million) of the employed population of greater London works in the services industries. Because of its prominent global role, London's economy had been affected by the 2008 financial crisis. However, by 2010, the city had recovered, put in place new regulatory powers, proceeded to regain lost ground and re-established London's economic dominance. Along with professional services headquarters, the City of London is home to the Bank of England, London Stock Exchange, and Lloyd's of London insurance market. Founded in 1690, Barclays, whose branch in Enfield, north London installed the first cash machine (ATM) in 1967, is one of the oldest banks in continuous operation.
Over half the UK's top 100 listed companies (the FTSE 100) and over 100 of Europe's 500 largest companies have their headquarters in central London. Over 70% of the FTSE 100 are within London's metropolitan area, and 75% of Fortune 500 companies have offices in London. In a 1992 report commissioned by the London Stock Exchange, Sir Adrian Cadbury, chairman of his family's confectionery company Cadbury, produced the Cadbury Report, a code of best practice which served as a basis for reform of corporate governance around the world.
### Media and technology
Media companies are concentrated in London, and the media distribution industry is London's second most competitive sector. The BBC, the world's oldest national broadcaster, is a significant employer, while other broadcasters, including ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky, also have headquarters around the city. Many national newspapers, including *The Times*, founded in 1785, are edited in London; the term Fleet Street (where most national newspapers operated) remains a metonym for the British national press. The communications company WPP plc is the world's largest advertising agency.
A large number of technology companies are based in London, notably in East London Tech City, also known as Silicon Roundabout. In 2014 the city was among the first to receive a geoTLD. In February 2014 London was ranked as the European City of the Future in the 2014/15 list by *fDi Intelligence*. A museum in Bletchley Park, where Alan Turing was based during the Second World War, is in Bletchley, 40 miles (64 km) north of central London, as is The National Museum of Computing.
The gas and electricity distribution networks that manage and operate the towers, cables and pressure systems that deliver energy to consumers across the city are managed by National Grid plc, SGN and UK Power Networks.
### Tourism
London is one of the leading tourist destinations in the world. It is also the top city in the world by visitor cross-border spending, estimated at US$20.23 billion in 2015. Tourism is one of London's prime industries, employing 700,000 full-time workers in 2016, and contributes £36 billion a year to the economy. The city accounts for 54% of all inbound visitor spending in the UK.
In 2015 the top ten most-visited attractions in the UK were all in London (shown with visits per venue):
- British Museum: 6,820,686
- National Gallery: 5,908,254
- Natural History Museum (South Kensington): 5,284,023
- Southbank Centre: 5,102,883
- Tate Modern: 4,712,581
- Victoria and Albert Museum (South Kensington): 3,432,325
- Science Museum: 3,356,212
- Somerset House: 3,235,104
- Tower of London: 2,785,249
- National Portrait Gallery: 2,145,486
The number of hotel rooms in London in 2023 stood at 155,700 and is expected to grow to 183,600 rooms, the most of any city outside China. Luxury hotels in London include the Savoy (opened in 1889), Claridge's (opened in 1812 and rebuilt in 1898), the Ritz (opened in 1906) and the Dorchester (opened in 1931), while budget hotel chains include Premier Inn and Travelodge.
## Transport
Transport is one of the four main areas of policy administered by the Mayor of London, but the mayor's financial control does not extend to the longer-distance rail network that enters London. In 2007, the Mayor of London assumed responsibility for some local lines, which now form the London Overground network, adding to the existing responsibility for the London Underground, trams and buses. The public transport network is administered by Transport for London (TfL).
The lines that formed the London Underground, as well as trams and buses, became part of an integrated transport system in 1933 when the London Passenger Transport Board or *London Transport* was created. Transport for London is now the statutory corporation responsible for most aspects of the transport system in Greater London, and is run by a board and a commissioner appointed by the Mayor of London.
### Aviation
London is a major international air transport hub with the busiest city airspace in the world. Eight airports use the word *London* in their name, but most traffic passes through six of these. Additionally, various other airports also serve London, catering primarily to general aviation flights.
- Heathrow Airport, in Hillingdon, West London, was for many years the busiest airport in the world for international traffic, and is the major hub of the nation's flag carrier, British Airways. In March 2008 its fifth terminal was opened.
- Gatwick Airport, south of London in West Sussex, handles flights to more destinations than any other UK airport and is the main base of easyJet, the UK's largest airline by number of passengers.
- London Stansted Airport, north-east of London in Essex, has flights that serve the greatest number of European destinations of any UK airport and is the main base of Ryanair, the world's largest international airline by number of international passengers.
- Luton Airport, to the north of London in Bedfordshire, is used by several budget airlines (especially easyJet and Wizz Air) for short-haul flights.
- London City Airport, the most central airport and the one with the shortest runway, in Newham, East London, is focused on business travellers, with a mixture of full-service short-haul scheduled flights and considerable business jet traffic.
- London Southend Airport, east of London in Essex, is a smaller, regional airport that caters for short-haul flights on a limited, though growing, number of airlines. In 2017, international passengers made up over 95% of the total at Southend, the highest proportion of any London airport.
### Rail
#### Underground and DLR
Opened in 1863, the London Underground, commonly referred to as the Tube or just the Underground, is the oldest and third-longest metro system in the world. The system serves 272 stations, and was formed from several private companies, including the world's first underground electric line, the City and South London Railway, which opened in 1890.
Over 4 million journeys are made every day on the Underground network, over 1 billion each year. An investment programme is attempting to reduce congestion and improve reliability, including £6.5 billion (€7.7 billion) spent before the 2012 Summer Olympics. The Docklands Light Railway (DLR), which opened in 1987, is a second, more local metro system using smaller and lighter tram-type vehicles that serve the Docklands, Greenwich and Lewisham.
#### Suburban
There are 368 railway stations in the London Travelcard Zones on an extensive above-ground suburban railway network. South London, particularly, has a high concentration of railways as it has fewer Underground lines. Most rail lines terminate around the centre of London, running into eighteen terminal stations, with the exception of the Thameslink trains connecting Bedford in the north and Brighton in the south via Luton and Gatwick airports. London has Britain's busiest station by number of passengers—Waterloo, with over 184 million people using the interchange station complex (which includes Waterloo East station) each year. Clapham Junction is one of Europe's busiest rail interchanges.
With the need for more rail capacity, the Elizabeth Line (also known as Crossrail) opened in May 2022. It is a new railway line running east to west through London and into the Home Counties with a branch to Heathrow Airport. It was Europe's biggest construction project, with a £15 billion projected cost.
#### Inter-city and international
London is the centre of the National Rail network, with 70% of rail journeys starting or ending in London. King's Cross station and Euston station, both in London, are the starting points of the East Coast Main Line and the West Coast Main Line – the two main railway lines in Britain. Like suburban rail services, regional and inter-city trains depart from several termini around the city centre, directly linking London with most of Great Britain's major cities and towns. *The Flying Scotsman* is an express passenger train service that has operated between London and Edinburgh since 1862; the world famous steam locomotive named after this service, *Flying Scotsman*, was the first locomotive to reach the officially authenticated speed of 100 miles per hour (161 km/h) in 1934.
Some international railway services to Continental Europe were operated during the 20th century as boat trains. The opening of the Channel Tunnel in 1994 connected London directly to the continental rail network, allowing Eurostar services to begin. Since 2007, high-speed trains link St. Pancras International with Lille, Calais, Paris, Disneyland Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and other European tourist destinations via the High Speed 1 rail link and the Channel Tunnel. The first high-speed domestic trains started in June 2009, linking Kent to London. There are plans for a second high speed line linking London to the Midlands, North West England, and Yorkshire.
London's bus network runs 24 hours a day with about 9,300 vehicles, over 675 bus routes and about 19,000 bus stops. In 2019 the network had over 2 billion commuter trips per year. Since 2010 an average of £1.2 billion is taken in revenue each year. London has one of the largest wheelchair-accessible networks in the world and from the third quarter of 2007, became more accessible to hearing and visually impaired passengers as audio-visual announcements were introduced.
An emblem of London, the red double-decker bus first appeared in the city in 1947 with the AEC Regent III RT (predecessor to the AEC Routemaster). London's coach hub is Victoria Coach Station, opened in 1932. Nationalised in 1970 and then purchased by London Transport (now Transport for London), Victoria Coach Station has over 14 million passengers a year and provides services across the UK and continental Europe.
There is a modern tram network serving South London, known as Tramlink. It has 39 stops and four routes, and carried over 29 million people in 2017. Since June 2008, Transport for London has completely owned and operated Tramlink.
### Cable car
London's first and to date only cable car is the London Cable Car, which opened in June 2012. The cable car crosses the Thames and links Greenwich Peninsula with the Royal Docks in the east of the city. It is able to carry up to 2,500 passengers per hour in each direction at peak times.
### Cycling
In the Greater London Area, around 670,000 people use a bike every day, meaning around 7% of the total population of around 8.8 million use a bike on an average day. Cycling has become an increasingly popular way to get around London. The launch of a bicycle hire scheme in July 2010 was successful and generally well received.
### Port and river boats
The Port of London, once the largest in the world, is now only the second-largest in the United Kingdom, handling 45 million tonnes of cargo each year as of 2009. Most of this cargo passes through the Port of Tilbury, outside the boundary of Greater London.
London has river boat services on the Thames known as Thames Clippers, which offer both commuter and tourist boat services. At major piers including Canary Wharf, London Bridge City, Battersea Power Station and London Eye (Waterloo), services depart at least every 20 minutes during commuter times. The Woolwich Ferry, with 2.5 million passengers every year, is a frequent service linking the North and South Circular Roads.
### Roads
Although the majority of journeys in central London are made by public transport, car travel is common in the suburbs. The inner ring road (around the city centre), the North and South Circular roads (just within the suburbs), and the outer orbital motorway (the M25, just outside the built-up area in most places) encircle the city and are intersected by a number of busy radial routes—but very few motorways penetrate into inner London. The M25 is the second-longest ring-road motorway in Europe at 117 miles (188 km) long. The A1 and M1 connect London to Leeds, and Newcastle and Edinburgh.
The Austin Motor Company began making hackney carriages (London taxis) in 1929, and models include Austin FX3 from 1948, Austin FX4 from 1958, with more recent models TXII and TX4 manufactured by London Taxis International. The BBC states, "ubiquitous black cabs and red double-decker buses all have long and tangled stories that are deeply embedded in London's traditions". Although traditionally black, some are painted in other colours or bear advertising.
London is notorious for its traffic congestion; in 2009, the average speed of a car in the rush hour was recorded at 10.6 mph (17.1 km/h). In 2003, a congestion charge was introduced to reduce traffic volumes in the city centre. With a few exceptions, motorists are required to pay to drive within a defined zone encompassing much of central London. Motorists who are residents of the defined zone can buy a greatly reduced season pass. Over the course of several years, the average number of cars entering the centre of London on a weekday was reduced from 195,000 to 125,000.
Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTN) were widely introduced in London, but in 2023 the Department for Transport stopped funding them, even though the benefits outweighed the costs by approximately 100 times in the first 20 years and the difference is growing over time.
## Education
### Tertiary education
London is a major global centre of higher education teaching and research and has the largest concentration of higher education institutes in Europe. According to the QS World University Rankings 2015/16, London has the greatest concentration of top class universities in the world and its international student population of around 110,000 is larger than any other city in the world. A 2014 PricewaterhouseCoopers report termed London the global capital of higher education.
A number of world-leading education institutions are based in London. In the 2022 *QS World University Rankings*, Imperial College London is ranked No. 6 in the world, University College London (UCL) is ranked 8th, and King's College London (KCL) is ranked 37th. All are regularly ranked highly, with Imperial College being the UK's leading university in the Research Excellence Framework ranking 2021. The London School of Economics (LSE) has been described as the world's leading social science institution for both teaching and research. The London Business School is considered one of the world's leading business schools and in 2015 its MBA programme was ranked second-best in the world by the *Financial Times*. The city is also home to three of the world's top ten performing arts schools (as ranked by the 2020 QS World University Rankings): the Royal College of Music (ranking 2nd in the world), the Royal Academy of Music (ranking 4th) and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (ranking 6th).
With students in London and around 48,000 in University of London Worldwide, the federal University of London is the largest contact teaching university in the UK. It includes five multi-faculty universities – City, King's College London, Queen Mary, Royal Holloway and UCL – and a number of smaller and more specialised institutions including Birkbeck, the Courtauld Institute of Art, Goldsmiths, the London Business School, the London School of Economics, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the Royal Academy of Music, the Central School of Speech and Drama, the Royal Veterinary College and the School of Oriental and African Studies.
Universities in London outside the University of London system include Brunel University, Imperial College London, Kingston University, London Metropolitan University, University of East London, University of West London, University of Westminster, London South Bank University, Middlesex University and University of the Arts London (the largest university of art, design, fashion, communication and the performing arts in Europe). In addition, there are three international universities – Regent's University London, Richmond American University London and Schiller International University.
London is home to five major medical schools – Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry (part of Queen Mary), King's College London School of Medicine (the largest medical school in Europe), Imperial College School of Medicine, UCL Medical School and St George's, University of London – and has many affiliated teaching hospitals. It is also a major centre for biomedical research, and three of the UK's eight academic health science centres are based in the city – Imperial College Healthcare, King's Health Partners and UCL Partners (the largest such centre in Europe). Additionally, many biomedical and biotechnology spin out companies from these research institutions are based around the city, most prominently in White City. Founded by pioneering nurse Florence Nightingale at St Thomas' Hospital in 1860, the first nursing school is now part of King's College London. It was at King's in 1952 where a team led by Rosalind Franklin captured *Photo 51*, the critical evidence in identifying the structure of DNA. There are a number of business schools in London, including the London School of Business and Finance, Cass Business School (part of City University London), Hult International Business School, ESCP Europe, European Business School London, Imperial College Business School, the London Business School and the UCL School of Management.
London is also home to many specialist arts education institutions, including esteemed drama schools such as RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art), the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), Drama Studio London, Sylvia Young Theatre School, the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, as well as the London College of Contemporary Arts (LCCA), Central School of Ballet, London Contemporary Dance School, National Centre for Circus Arts, Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, the Royal College of Art and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. The BRIT School in the London borough of Croydon provides training for the performing arts and technologies.
### Primary and secondary education
The majority of primary and secondary schools and further-education colleges in London are controlled by the London boroughs or otherwise state-funded; leading examples include Ashbourne College, Bethnal Green Academy, Brampton Manor Academy, City and Islington College, City of Westminster College, David Game College, Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College, Leyton Sixth Form College, London Academy of Excellence, Tower Hamlets College, and Newham Collegiate Sixth Form Centre. There are also a number of private schools and colleges in London, some old and famous, such as City of London School, Harrow (alumni includes seven former British prime ministers), St Paul's School, Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, University College School, The John Lyon School, Highgate School and Westminster School.
Founded in 1675, the Royal Observatory in Greenwich was established to address the problem of calculating longitude for navigational purposes. This pioneering work in solving longitude featured in astronomer royal Nevil Maskelyne's *Nautical Almanac* which made the Greenwich meridian the universal reference point, and helped lead to the international adoption of Greenwich as the prime meridian (0° longitude) in 1884.
Important scientific learned societies based in London include the Royal Society—the UK's national academy of sciences and the oldest national scientific institution in the world—founded in 1660, and the Royal Institution, founded in 1799. Since 1825, the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures have presented scientific subjects to a general audience, and speakers have included the physicist and inventor Michael Faraday, the aerospace engineer Frank Whittle, the naturalist David Attenborough and the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins.
## Culture
### Leisure and entertainment
Leisure is a major part of the London economy. A 2003 report attributed a quarter of the entire UK leisure economy to London at 25.6 events per 1000 people. The city is one of the four fashion capitals of the world, and, according to official statistics, is the world's third-busiest film production centre, presents more live comedy than any other city, and has the biggest theatre audience of any city in the world.
Within the City of Westminster, the entertainment district of the West End has its focus around Leicester Square, where London and world film premieres are held, and Piccadilly Circus, with its giant electronic advertisements. London's theatre district is here, as are many cinemas, bars, clubs, and restaurants, including the city's Chinatown district (in Soho), and just to the east is Covent Garden, an area housing speciality shops. In 1881, the West End's Savoy Theatre, which was built to showcase the plays of Gilbert and Sullivan, was fitted with the incandescent light bulb developed by Sir Joseph Swan to become the first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity. The city is the home of Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose musicals have dominated West End theatre since the late 20th century. Agatha Christie's *The Mousetrap*, the world's longest-running play, has been performed in the West End since 1952. The Laurence Olivier Awards–named after Laurence Olivier–are given annually by the Society of London Theatre. The Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Royal Opera, and English National Opera are based in London and perform at the Royal Opera House, the London Coliseum, Sadler's Wells Theatre and the Royal Albert Hall, as well as touring the country. London was the centre of music hall, with the Hackney Empire, host to many music hall stars, among the best-surviving Edwardian era variety theatres.
Islington's 1 mile (1.6 km) long Upper Street, extending northwards from Angel, has more bars and restaurants than any other street in the UK. Europe's busiest shopping area is Oxford Street, a shopping street nearly 1 mile (1.6 km) long, making it the longest shopping street in the UK. It is home to vast numbers of retailers and department stores, including Selfridges flagship store. Knightsbridge, home to the equally renowned Harrods department store, lies to the south-west. One of the world's largest retail destinations, London frequently ranks at or near the top of retail sales of any city. Opened in 1760 with its flagship store on Regent Street since 1881, Hamleys is the oldest toy shop in the world. The Camden Town shoe retailer of Dr. Martens footwear was a favourite haunt of punk musicians. Madame Tussauds wax museum opened in Baker Street in 1835, an era viewed as being when London's tourism industry began.
London is home to the designers John Galliano, Stella McCartney, Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo, among others; its renowned art and fashion schools make it one of the four international centres of fashion. Mary Quant designed the miniskirt in her King's Road boutique in Swinging Sixties London. In 2017, London was ranked the top city for luxury store openings. London Fashion Week takes place twice a year, in February and September; exhibitions have included *Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims*, the first collection by Alexander McQueen. Londoners on the catwalk have included Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne.
London offers a great variety of cuisine as a result of its ethnically diverse population. Gastronomic centres include the Bangladeshi restaurants of Brick Lane and the Chinese restaurants of Chinatown. There are Chinese takeaways throughout London, as are Indian restaurants which provide Indian and Anglo-Indian cuisine. Around 1860, the first fish and chips shop in London was opened by Joseph Malin, a Jewish immigrant, in Bow. The full English breakfast dates from the Victorian era, and many cafes in London serve a full English throughout the day. London has five 3-Michelin star restaurants, including Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea. Many hotels in London provide a traditional afternoon tea service, such as the Oscar Wilde Lounge at the Hotel Café Royal in Piccadilly, and a themed tea service is also available, for example an *Alice in Wonderland* themed afternoon tea served at the Egerton House Hotel, and *Charlie and the Chocolate Factory* themed afternoon tea at One Aldwych in Covent Garden. The nation's most popular biscuit to dunk in tea, chocolate digestives have been manufactured by McVitie's at their Harlesden factory in north-west London since 1925.
There is a variety of annual events, beginning with the relatively new New Year's Day Parade, a fireworks display at the London Eye; the world's second largest street party, the Notting Hill Carnival, is held on the late August Bank Holiday each year. Traditional parades include November's Lord Mayor's Show, a centuries-old event celebrating the annual appointment of a new Lord Mayor of the City of London with a procession along the streets of the city, and June's Trooping the Colour, a formal military pageant performed by regiments of the Commonwealth and British armies to celebrate the King's Official Birthday. The Boishakhi Mela is a Bengali New Year festival celebrated by the British Bangladeshi community. It is the largest open-air Asian festival in Europe. After the Notting Hill Carnival, it is the second-largest street festival in the United Kingdom attracting over 80,000 visitors. First held in 1862, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show (run by the Royal Horticultural Society) takes place in May every year.
### LGBT scene
The first gay bar in London in the modern sense was The Cave of the Golden Calf, established as a nightclub in an underground location at 9 Heddon Street, just off Regent Street, in 1912 and "which developed a reputation for sexual freedom and tolerance of same-sex relations".
While London has been an LGBT tourism destination, after homosexuality was decriminalised in England in 1967 gay bar culture became more visible, and from the early 1970s Soho (and in particular Old Compton Street) became the centre of the London LGBT community. G-A-Y, previously based at the Astoria, and now Heaven, is a long-running nightclub.
Wider British cultural movements have influenced LGBT culture: for example, the emergence of glam rock in the UK in the early 1970s, via Marc Bolan and David Bowie, saw a generation of teenagers begin playing with the idea of androgyny, and the West End musical *The Rocky Horror Show*, which debuted in London in 1973, is also widely said to have been an influence on countercultural and sexual liberation movements. The Blitz Kids (which included Boy George) frequented the Tuesday club-night at Blitz in Covent Garden, helping launch the New Romantic subcultural movement in the late 1970s. Today, the annual London Pride Parade and the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival are held in the city.
London has been the setting for many works of literature. The pilgrims in Geoffrey Chaucer's late 14th-century *Canterbury Tales* set out for Canterbury from London. William Shakespeare spent a large part of his life living and working in London; his contemporary Ben Jonson was also based there, and some of his work, most notably his play *The Alchemist*, was set in the city. *A Journal of the Plague Year* (1722) by Daniel Defoe is a fictionalisation of the events of the 1665 Great Plague.
The literary centres of London have traditionally been hilly Hampstead and (since the early 20th century) Bloomsbury. Writers closely associated with the city are the diarist Samuel Pepys, noted for his eyewitness account of the Great Fire; Charles Dickens, whose representation of a foggy, snowy, grimy London of street sweepers and pickpockets has influenced people's vision of early Victorian London; and Virginia Woolf, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the 20th century. Later important depictions of London from the 19th and early-20th centuries are Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. Robert Louis Stevenson mixed in London literary circles, and in 1886 he wrote the *Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde*, a gothic novella set in Victorian London. In 1898 H. G. Wells' science fiction novel *The War of the Worlds* sees London (and southern England) invaded by Martians. Letitia Elizabeth Landon wrote *Calendar of the London Seasons* in 1834. Modern writers influenced by the city include Peter Ackroyd, author of *London: The Biography*, and Iain Sinclair, who writes in the genre of psychogeography. In the 1940s, George Orwell wrote essays in the *London Evening Standard*, including "A Nice Cup of Tea" (method for making tea) and "The Moon Under Water" (an ideal pub). The evacuation of children from London during the Second World War is depicted in C. S. Lewis' first Narnia book, *The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe* (1950). On Christmas Eve 1925, Winnie-the-Pooh debuted in London's *Evening News*, with the character based on a stuffed toy A. A. Milne bought for his son Christopher Robin in Harrods. In 1958 the author Michael Bond created Paddington Bear, a refugee found in Paddington station. A screen adaptation, *Paddington* (2014), features the calypso song "London is the Place for Me". Buckingham Palace features in Roald Dahl's 1982 novel *The BFG*.
London has played a significant role in the film industry. Major studios within or bordering London include Pinewood, Elstree, Ealing, Shepperton, Twickenham, and Leavesden, with the *James Bond* and *Harry Potter* series among many notable films produced here. Working Title Films has its headquarters in London. A post-production community is centred in Soho, and London houses six of the world's largest visual effects companies, such as Framestore. The Imaginarium, a digital performance-capture studio, was founded by Andy Serkis. London has been the setting for films including *Oliver Twist* (1948), *Scrooge* (1951), *Peter Pan* (1953), *One Hundred and One Dalmatians* (1961), *My Fair Lady* (1964), *Mary Poppins* (1964), *Blowup* (1966), *A Clockwork Orange* (1971), *The Long Good Friday* (1980), *The Great Mouse Detective* (1986), *Notting Hill* (1999), *Love Actually* (2003), *V for Vendetta* (2005), *Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street* (2008) and *The King's Speech* (2010). Notable actors and filmmakers from London include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Caine, Julie Andrews, Peter Sellers, David Lean, Julie Christie, Gary Oldman, Emma Thompson, Guy Ritchie, Christopher Nolan, Alan Rickman, Jude Law, Helena Bonham Carter, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Daniel Radcliffe, Keira Knightley, Riz Ahmed, Dev Patel, Daniel Kaluuya, Tom Holland and Daniel Day-Lewis. Post-war Ealing comedies featured Alec Guinness, from the 1950s Hammer Horrors starred Christopher Lee, films directed by Michael Powell included the London-set early slasher *Peeping Tom* (1960), the 1970s comedy troupe Monty Python had film editing suites in Covent Garden, while since the 1990s Richard Curtis's romantic comedies have featured Hugh Grant. The largest cinema chain in the country, Odeon Cinemas, was founded in London in 1928 by Oscar Deutsch. The BFI IMAX on the South Bank is the largest cinema screen in the UK. The British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) have been held in London since 1949, with the BAFTA Fellowship the Academy's highest accolade. Founded in 1957, the BFI London Film Festival takes place over two weeks every October.
London is a major centre for television production, with studios including Television Centre, ITV Studios, Sky Campus and Fountain Studios; the latter hosted the original talent shows, *Pop Idol*, *The X Factor* and *Britain's Got Talent* (the latter two created by the television personality Simon Cowell, who starred as a judge in all three shows), before each format was exported around the world. Formerly a franchise of ITV, Thames Television featured comedians such as Benny Hill and Rowan Atkinson (*Mr. Bean* was first screened by Thames), while Talkback produced *Da Ali G Show*, which featured Sacha Baron Cohen as Ali G. Many television shows have been set in London, including the popular television soap opera *EastEnders*.
London is home to many museums, galleries, and other institutions, many of which are free of admission charges and are major tourist attractions as well as playing a research role. The first of these to be established was the British Museum in Bloomsbury, in 1753. Originally containing antiquities, natural history specimens, and the national library, the museum now has 7 million artefacts from around the globe. In 1824 the National Gallery was founded to house the British national collection of Western paintings; this now occupies a prominent position in Trafalgar Square.
The British Library is the second largest library in the world, and the national library of the United Kingdom. There are many other research libraries, including the Wellcome Library and Dana Centre, as well as university libraries, including the British Library of Political and Economic Science at LSE, the Abdus Salam Library at Imperial, the Maughan Library at King's, and the Senate House Libraries at the University of London.
In the latter half of the 19th century the locale of South Kensington was developed as "Albertopolis", a cultural and scientific quarter. Three major national museums are there: the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum. The National Portrait Gallery was founded in 1856 to house depictions of figures from British history; its holdings now comprise the world's most extensive collection of portraits. The national gallery of British art is at Tate Britain, originally established as an annexe of the National Gallery in 1897. The Tate Gallery, as it was formerly known, also became a major centre for modern art. In 2000 this collection moved to Tate Modern, a new gallery housed in the former Bankside Power Station which is accessed by pedestrians north of the Thames via the Millennium Bridge.
### Music
London is one of the major classical and popular music capitals of the world and hosts major music corporations, such as Universal Music Group International and Warner Music Group, and countless bands, musicians and industry professionals. The city is also home to many orchestras and concert halls, such as the Barbican Arts Centre (principal base of the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Chorus), the Southbank Centre (London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra), Cadogan Hall (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) and the Royal Albert Hall (The Proms). The Proms, an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music first held in 1895, ends with the Last Night of the Proms. London's two main opera houses are the Royal Opera House and the London Coliseum (home to the English National Opera). The UK's largest pipe organ is at the Royal Albert Hall. Other significant instruments are in cathedrals and major churches—the church bells of St Clement Danes feature in the 1744 nursery rhyme "Oranges and Lemons". Several conservatoires are within the city: Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and Trinity Laban. The record label EMI was formed in the city in 1931, and an early employee for the company, Alan Blumlein, created stereo sound that year. The guitar amp engineer Jim Marshall founded Marshall Amplification in London in 1962.
London has numerous venues for rock and pop concerts, including the world's busiest indoor venue, the O2 Arena, and Wembley Arena, as well as many mid-sized venues, such as Brixton Academy, the Hammersmith Apollo and the Shepherd's Bush Empire. Several music festivals, including the Wireless Festival, Lovebox, and Hyde Park's British Summer Time, are held in London.
The city is home to the original Hard Rock Cafe and the Abbey Road Studios, where the Beatles recorded many of their hits. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, musicians and groups like Elton John, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Queen, Eric Clapton, the Who, the Kinks, Cliff Richard, Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, T. Rex, the Police, Elvis Costello, Dire Straits, Cat Stevens, Fleetwood Mac, the Cure, Madness, the Jam, Culture Club, Dusty Springfield, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart, Status Quo and Sade, derived their sound from the streets and rhythms of London.
London was instrumental in the development of punk music, with groups such as the Sex Pistols, the Clash, and the fashion designer Vivienne Westwood based in the city. Other artists to emerge from the London music scene include George Michael, Kate Bush, Seal, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bush, the Spice Girls, Jamiroquai, Blur, the Prodigy, Suede, Gorillaz, Mumford & Sons, Coldplay, Dido, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, Leona Lewis, Ellie Goulding, Dua Lipa and Florence and the Machine. Artists from London played a prominent role in the development of synth-pop, including Gary Numan, Depeche Mode, the Pet Shop Boys and Eurythmics; the latter's "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" was recorded in the attic of their north London home, heralding a trend for home recording methods. Recent London-based alternative artists include Wolf Alice, the Vaccines, The xx, Bloc Party, The Libertines and Sleep Token. Artists from London with a Caribbean influence include Hot Chocolate, Billy Ocean, Soul II Soul and Eddy Grant, with the latter fusing reggae, soul and samba with rock and pop. London is also a centre for urban music. In particular the genres UK garage, drum and bass, dubstep, and grime evolved in the city from the foreign genres of house, hip hop and reggae, alongside local drum and bass. Urban acts from London include Stormzy, M.I.A., Jay Sean, Rita Ora and Central Cee. Music station BBC Radio 1Xtra was set up to support the rise of local urban contemporary music both in London and in the rest of the United Kingdom. The British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards, the Brit Awards, are held in London.
## Recreation
### Parks and open spaces
A 2013 report by the City of London Corporation said that London is the "greenest city" in Europe with 35,000 acres (14,164 hectares) of public parks, woodlands and gardens. The largest parks in the central area of London are three of the eight Royal Parks, namely Hyde Park and its neighbour Kensington Gardens in the west, and Regent's Park to the north. Hyde Park in particular is popular for sports and sometimes hosts open-air concerts. Regent's Park contains London Zoo, the world's oldest scientific zoo, and is near Madame Tussauds wax museum. Primrose Hill is a popular spot from which to view the city skyline.
Close to Hyde Park are smaller Royal Parks, Green Park and St James's Park. A number of large parks lie outside the city centre, including Hampstead Heath and the remaining Royal Parks of Greenwich Park to the southeast, and Bushy Park and Richmond Park (the largest) to the southwest. Hampton Court Park is also a royal park, but, because it contains a palace, it is administered by the Historic Royal Palaces, unlike the eight Royal Parks. Crystal Palace Park in south-east London was laid out as a pleasure ground, and, reflecting the public enthusiasm for dinosaurs that first developed in Victorian England, it contains the first-ever life-sized models of dinosaurs.
Close to Richmond Park is Kew Gardens, which has the world's largest collection of living plants. In 2003, the gardens were put on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. There are also parks administered by London's borough Councils, including Victoria Park in the East End and Battersea Park in the centre. Some more informal, semi-natural open spaces also exist, including Hampstead Heath and Epping Forest, both controlled by the City of London Corporation. Hampstead Heath incorporates Kenwood House, a former stately home and a popular location in the summer months when classical musical concerts are held by the lake. Epping Forest is a popular venue for various outdoor activities, including mountain biking, walking, horse riding, golf, angling, and orienteering. Three of the UK's most-visited theme parks, Thorpe Park near Staines-upon-Thames, Chessington World of Adventures in Chessington and Legoland Windsor, are located within 20 miles (32 km) of London.
### Walking
Walking is a popular recreational activity in London. Areas that provide for walks include Wimbledon Common, Epping Forest, Hampton Court Park, Hampstead Heath, the eight Royal Parks, Regents Canal Walk, canals and disused railway tracks. Access to canals and rivers has improved recently, including the creation of the Thames Path, some 28 miles (45 km) of which is within Greater London, and the Wandle Trail along the River Wandle.
Other long-distance paths, linking green spaces, have also been created, including the Capital Ring, the Green Chain Walk, London Outer Orbital Path ("Loop"), Jubilee Walkway, Lea Valley Walk and the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk.
## Sport
London has hosted the Summer Olympics three times: in 1908, 1948, and 2012, making it the first city to host the modern Games three times. The city was also the host of the British Empire Games in 1934. In 2017, London hosted the World Championships in Athletics for the first time.
London's most popular sport is association football, and it has seven clubs in the Premier League in the 2024–25 season: Arsenal, Brentford, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United. Other professional men's teams in London are AFC Wimbledon, Barnet, Bromley, Charlton Athletic, Dagenham & Redbridge, Leyton Orient, Millwall, Queens Park Rangers and Sutton United. Four London-based teams are in the Women's Super League: Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and West Ham United.
Two Premiership Rugby union teams are based in Greater London: Harlequins and Saracens. Ealing Trailfinders and London Scottish play in the RFU Championship; other rugby union clubs in the city include Richmond, Rosslyn Park, Westcombe Park, and Blackheath. Twickenham Stadium in south-west London hosts home matches for the England national rugby union team. While rugby league is more popular in the north of England, the sport has one professional club in London – the London Broncos, while the Challenge Cup final often takes place in the city.
One of London's best-known annual sports competitions is the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, held at the All England Club in the south-western suburb of Wimbledon since 1877. Played in late June to early July, it is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and widely considered the most prestigious. Founded in London in 1881, Slazenger has provided tennis balls for Wimbledon since 1902, the oldest sponsorship in sport.
London has two Test cricket grounds which host the England cricket team, Lord's (home of Middlesex C.C.C.) and the Oval (home of Surrey C.C.C.). Lord's has hosted four finals of the Cricket World Cup and is known as the "Home of Cricket". In golf, the Wentworth Club is located in Virginia Water, Surrey on the south-west fringes of London, while the closest venue to London that is used as one of the courses for the Open Championship, the oldest major and tournament in golf, is Royal St George's in Sandwich, Kent. The rules of modern boxing, the Queensberry Rules, were formulated in London in 1867, and since then fights have taken place at York Hall (the spiritual home of British boxing), and larger arenas and stadiums across the city. Alexandra Palace in north London hosts the PDC World Darts Championship and the Masters snooker tournament. Other key annual events are the mass-participation London Marathon and the University Boat Race on the Thames contested between Oxford and Cambridge.
## Notable people
## See also
## Notes
### Bibliography
- Ackroyd, Peter (2001).
*London: The Biography*. London: Vintage. ISBN 978-0-09-942258-7. - Mills, David (2001).
*Dictionary of London Place Names*. Oxford Paperbacks. ISBN 978-0-19-280106-7. OCLC 45406491.
## External links
- VisitLondon.com – official tourism site
- Museum of London
- London in
*British History Online*, with links to numerous authoritative online sources - "London",
*In Our Time*, BBC Radio 4 discussion with Peter Ackroyd, Claire Tomalin and Iain Sinclair (28 September 2000) - Geographic data related to London at OpenStreetMap
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# Insect - Wikipedia
| Insect Temporal range:
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|---|---|
| Insects have a three-part body: head with large compound eyes and antennae, a thorax with three pairs of legs, and a segmented abdomen. Many groups also have two pairs of wings. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Clade:
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Allotriocarida |
| Subphylum: | Hexapoda |
| Class: | Insecta Linnaeus, 1758 |
| Subgroups | |
| Synonyms | |
|
**Insects** (from Latin * insectum*) are hexapod invertebrates of the class
**Insecta**. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and a pair of antennae. Insects are the most diverse group of animals, with more than a million described species; they represent more than half of all animal species.
The insect nervous system consists of a brain and a ventral nerve cord. Most insects reproduce by laying eggs. Insects breathe air through a system of paired openings along their sides, connected to small tubes that take air directly to the tissues. The blood therefore does not carry oxygen; it is only partly contained in vessels, and some circulates in an open hemocoel. Insect vision is mainly through their compound eyes, with additional small ocelli. Many insects can hear, using tympanal organs, which may be on the legs or other parts of the body. Their sense of smell is via receptors, usually on the antennae and the mouthparts.
Nearly all insects hatch from eggs. Insect growth is constrained by the inelastic exoskeleton, so development involves a series of molts. The immature stages often differ from the adults in structure, habit, and habitat. Groups that undergo four-stage metamorphosis often have a nearly immobile pupa. Insects that undergo three-stage metamorphosis lack a pupa, developing through a series of increasingly adult-like nymphal stages. The higher level relationship of the insects is unclear. Fossilized insects of enormous size have been found from the Paleozoic Era, including giant dragonfly-like insects with wingspans of 55 to 70 cm (22 to 28 in). The most diverse insect groups appear to have coevolved with flowering plants.
Adult insects typically move about by walking and flying; some can swim. Insects are the only invertebrates that can achieve sustained powered flight; insect flight evolved just once. Many insects are at least partly aquatic, and have larvae with gills; in some species, the adults too are aquatic. Some species, such as water striders, can walk on the surface of water. Insects are mostly solitary, but some, such as bees, ants and termites, are social and live in large, well-organized colonies. Others, such as earwigs, provide maternal care, guarding their eggs and young. Insects can communicate with each other in a variety of ways. Male moths can sense the pheromones of female moths over great distances. Other species communicate with sounds: crickets stridulate, or rub their wings together, to attract a mate and repel other males. Lampyrid beetles communicate with light.
Humans regard many insects as pests, especially those that damage crops, and attempt to control them using insecticides and other techniques. Others are parasitic, and may act as vectors of diseases. Insect pollinators are essential to the reproduction of many flowering plants and so to their ecosystems. Many insects are ecologically beneficial as predators of pest insects, while a few provide direct economic benefit. Two species in particular are economically important and were domesticated many centuries ago: silkworms for silk and honey bees for honey. Insects are consumed as food in 80% of the world's nations, by people in roughly 3,000 ethnic groups. Human activities are having serious effects on insect biodiversity.
## Etymology
The word *insect* comes from the Latin word *insectum* from *in* + *sĕco*, "cut up", as insects appear to be cut into three parts. The Latin word was introduced by Pliny the Elder who calqued the Ancient Greek word ἔντομον *éntomon* "insect" (as in entomology) from ἔντομος *éntomos* "cut in pieces"; this was Aristotle's term for this class of life in his biology, also in reference to their notched bodies. The English word *insect* first appears in 1601 in Philemon Holland's translation of Pliny.
## Insects and other bugs
### Distinguishing features
In common speech, insects and other terrestrial arthropods are often called **bugs**. Entomologists to some extent reserve the name "bugs" for a narrow category of "true bugs", insects of the order Hemiptera, such as cicadas and shield bugs. Other terrestrial arthropods, such as centipedes, millipedes, woodlice, spiders, mites and scorpions, are sometimes confused with insects, since they have a jointed exoskeleton. Adult insects are the only arthropods that ever have wings, with up to two pairs on the thorax. Whether winged or not, adult insects can be distinguished by their three-part body plan, with head, thorax, and abdomen; they have three pairs of legs on the thorax.
### Diversity
Estimates of the total number of insect species vary considerably, suggesting that there are perhaps some 5.5 million insect species in existence, of which about one million have been described and named. These constitute around half of all eukaryote species, including animals, plants, and fungi. The most diverse insect orders are the Hemiptera (true bugs), Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Diptera (true flies), Hymenoptera (wasps, ants, and bees), and Coleoptera (beetles), each with more than 100,000 described species.
### Distribution and habitats
Insects are distributed over every continent and almost every terrestrial habitat. There are many more species in the tropics, especially in rainforests, than in temperate zones. The world's regions have received widely differing amounts of attention from entomologists. The British Isles have been thoroughly surveyed, so that Gullan and Cranston 2014 state that the total of around 22,500 species is probably within 5% of the actual number there; they comment that Canada's list of 30,000 described species is surely over half of the actual total. They add that the 3,000 species of the American Arctic must be broadly accurate. In contrast, a large majority of the insect species of the tropics and the southern hemisphere are probably undescribed. Some 30–40,000 species inhabit freshwater; very few insects, perhaps a hundred species, are marine. Insects such as snow scorpionflies flourish in cold habitats including the Arctic and at high altitude. Insects such as desert locusts, ants, beetles, and termites are adapted to some of the hottest and driest environments on earth, such as the Sonoran Desert.
## Phylogeny and evolution
### External phylogeny
Insects form a clade, a natural group with a common ancestor, among the arthropods. A phylogenetic analysis by Kjer et al. (2016) places the insects among the Hexapoda, six-legged animals with segmented bodies; their closest relatives are the Diplura (bristletails).
### Internal phylogeny
The internal phylogeny is based on the works of Wipfler et al. 2019 for the Polyneoptera, Johnson et al. 2018 for the Paraneoptera, and Kjer et al. 2016 for the Holometabola. The numbers of described extant species (boldface for groups with over 100,000 species) are from Stork 2018.
Insecta
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### Taxonomy
#### Early
| Diagram of Linnaeus's key to his seven orders of insect, 1758 |
Aristotle was the first to describe the insects as a distinct group. He placed them as the second-lowest level of animals on his *scala naturae*, above the spontaneously generating sponges and worms, but below the hard-shelled marine snails. His classification remained in use for many centuries.
In 1758, in his *Systema Naturae*, Carl Linnaeus divided the animal kingdom into six classes including Insecta. He created seven orders of insect according to the structure of their wings. These were the wingless Aptera, the two-winged Diptera, and five four-winged orders: the Coleoptera with fully-hardened forewings; the Hemiptera with partly-hardened forewings; the Lepidoptera with scaly wings; the Neuroptera with membranous wings but no sting; and the Hymenoptera, with membranous wings and a sting.
Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck, in his 1809 *Philosophie Zoologique*, treated the insects as one of nine invertebrate phyla. In his 1817 *Le Règne Animal*, Georges Cuvier grouped all animals into four *embranchements* ("branches" with different body plans), one of which was the articulated animals, containing arthropods and annelids. This arrangement was followed by the embryologist Karl Ernst von Baer in 1828, the zoologist Louis Agassiz in 1857, and the comparative anatomist Richard Owen in 1860. In 1874, Ernst Haeckel divided the animal kingdom into two subkingdoms, one of which was Metazoa for the multicellular animals. It had five phyla, including the articulates.
#### Modern
Traditional morphology-based systematics have usually given the Hexapoda the rank of superclass, and identified four groups within it: insects (Ectognatha), Collembola, Protura, and Diplura, the latter three being grouped together as the Entognatha on the basis of internalized mouth parts.
The use of phylogenetic data has brought about numerous changes in relationships above the level of orders. Insects can be divided into two groups historically treated as subclasses: wingless insects or Apterygota, and winged insects or Pterygota. The Apterygota traditionally consisted of the primitively wingless orders Archaeognatha (jumping bristletails) and Zygentoma (silverfish). However, Apterygota is not monophyletic, as Archaeognatha are sister to all other insects, based on the arrangement of their mandibles, while the Pterygota, the winged insects, emerged from within the Dicondylia, alongside the Zygentoma.
The Pterygota (Palaeoptera and Neoptera) are winged and have hardened plates on the outside of their body segments; the Neoptera have muscles that allow their wings to fold flat over the abdomen. Neoptera can be divided into groups with incomplete metamorphosis (Polyneoptera and Paraneoptera) and those with complete metamorphosis (Holometabola). The molecular finding that the traditional louse orders Mallophaga and Anoplura are within Psocoptera has led to the new taxon Psocodea. Phasmatodea and Embiidina have been suggested to form the Eukinolabia. Mantodea, Blattodea, and Isoptera form a monophyletic group, Dictyoptera. Fleas are now thought to be closely related to boreid mecopterans.
### Evolutionary history
The oldest fossil that may be a primitive wingless insect is *Leverhulmia* from the Early Devonian Windyfield chert. The oldest known flying insects are from the mid-Carboniferous, around 328–324 million years ago. The group subsequently underwent a rapid explosive diversification. Claims that they originated substantially earlier, during the Silurian or Devonian (some 400 million years ago) based on molecular clock estimates, are unlikely to be correct, given the fossil record.
Four large-scale radiations of insects have occurred: beetles (from about 300 million years ago), flies (from about 250 million years ago), moths and wasps (both from about 150 million years ago).
The remarkably successful Hymenoptera (wasps, bees, and ants) appeared some 200 million years ago in the Triassic period, but achieved their wide diversity more recently in the Cenozoic era, which began 66 million years ago. Some highly successful insect groups evolved in conjunction with flowering plants, a powerful illustration of coevolution. Insects were among the earliest terrestrial herbivores and acted as major selection agents on plants. Plants evolved chemical defenses against this herbivory and the insects, in turn, evolved mechanisms to deal with plant toxins. Many insects make use of these toxins to protect themselves from their predators. Such insects often advertise their toxicity using warning colors.
## Morphology and physiology
### External
#### Three-part body
Insects have a segmented body supported by an exoskeleton, the hard outer covering made mostly of chitin. The body is organized into three interconnected units: the head, thorax and abdomen. The head supports a pair of sensory antennae, a pair of compound eyes, zero to three simple eyes (or ocelli) and three sets of variously modified appendages that form the mouthparts. The thorax carries the three pairs of legs and up to two pairs of wings. The abdomen contains most of the digestive, respiratory, excretory and reproductive structures.
#### Segmentation
The head is enclosed in a hard, heavily sclerotized, unsegmented head capsule, which contains most of the sensing organs, including the antennae, compound eyes, ocelli, and mouthparts. The thorax is composed of three sections named (from front to back) the prothorax, mesothorax and metathorax. The prothorax carries the first pair of legs. The mesothorax carries the second pair of legs and the front wings. The metathorax carries the third pair of legs and the hind wings. The abdomen is the largest part of the insect, typically with 11–12 segments, and is less strongly sclerotized than the head or thorax. Each segment of the abdomen has sclerotized upper and lower plates (the tergum and sternum), connected to adjacent sclerotized parts by membranes. Each segment carries a pair of spiracles.
#### Exoskeleton
The outer skeleton, the cuticle, is made up of two layers: the epicuticle, a thin and waxy water-resistant outer layer without chitin, and a lower layer, the thick chitinous procuticle. The procuticle has two layers: an outer exocuticle and an inner endocuticle. The tough and flexible endocuticle is built from numerous layers of fibrous chitin and proteins, criss-crossing each other in a sandwich pattern, while the exocuticle is rigid and sclerotized. As an adaptation to life on land, insects have an enzyme that uses atmospheric oxygen to harden their cuticle, unlike crustaceans which use heavy calcium compounds for the same purpose. This makes the insect exoskeleton a lightweight material.
### Internal systems
#### Nervous
The nervous system of an insect consists of a brain and a ventral nerve cord. The head capsule is made up of six fused segments, each with either a pair of ganglia, or a cluster of nerve cells outside of the brain. The first three pairs of ganglia are fused into the brain, while the three following pairs are fused into a structure of three pairs of ganglia under the insect's esophagus, called the subesophageal ganglion. The thoracic segments have one ganglion on each side, connected into a pair per segment. This arrangement is also seen in the first eight segments of the abdomen. Many insects have fewer ganglia than this. Insects are capable of learning.
#### Digestive
An insect uses its digestive system to extract nutrients and other substances from the food it consumes. There is extensive variation among different orders, life stages, and even castes in the digestive system of insects. The gut runs lengthwise through the body. It has three sections, with paired salivary glands and salivary reservoirs. By moving its mouthparts the insect mixes its food with saliva. Some insects, like flies, expel digestive enzymes onto their food to break it down, but most insects digest their food in the gut. The foregut is lined with cuticule as protection from tough food. It includes the mouth, pharynx, and crop which stores food. Digestion starts in the mouth with enzymes in the saliva. Strong muscles in the pharynx pump fluid into the mouth, lubricating the food, and enabling certain insects to feed on blood or from the xylem and phloem transport vessels of plants. Once food leaves the crop, it passes to the midgut, where the majority of digestion takes place. Microscopic projections, microvilli, increase the surface area of the wall to absorb nutrients. In the hindgut, undigested food particles are joined by uric acid to form fecal pellets; most of the water is absorbed, leaving a dry pellet to be eliminated. Insects may have one to hundreds of Malpighian tubules. These remove nitrogenous wastes from the hemolymph of the insect and regulate osmotic balance. Wastes and solutes are emptied directly into the alimentary canal, at the junction between the midgut and hindgut.
#### Reproductive
The reproductive system of female insects consist of a pair of ovaries, accessory glands, one or more spermathecae to store sperm, and ducts connecting these parts. The ovaries are made up of a variable number of egg tubes, ovarioles. Female insects make eggs, receive and store sperm, manipulate sperm from different males, and lay eggs. Accessory glands produce substances to maintain sperm and to protect the eggs. They can produce glue and protective substances for coating eggs, or tough coverings for a batch of eggs called oothecae.
For males, the reproductive system consists of one or two testes, suspended in the body cavity by tracheae. The testes contain sperm tubes or follicles in a membranous sac. These connect to a duct that leads to the outside. The terminal portion of the duct may be sclerotized to form the intromittent organ, the aedeagus.
#### Respiratory
Insect respiration is accomplished without lungs. Instead, insects have a system of internal tubes and sacs through which gases either diffuse or are actively pumped, delivering oxygen directly to tissues that need it via their tracheae and tracheoles. In most insects, air is taken in through paired spiracles, openings on the sides of the abdomen and thorax. The respiratory system limits the size of insects. As insects get larger, gas exchange via spiracles becomes less efficient, and thus the heaviest insect currently weighs less than 100 g. However, with increased atmospheric oxygen levels, as were present in the late Paleozoic, larger insects were possible, such as dragonflies with wingspans of more than two feet (60 cm). Gas exchange patterns in insects range from continuous and diffusive ventilation, to discontinuous.
#### Circulatory
Because oxygen is delivered directly to tissues via tracheoles, the circulatory system is not used to carry oxygen, and is therefore greatly reduced. The insect circulatory system is open; it has no veins or arteries, and instead consists of little more than a single, perforated dorsal tube that pulses peristaltically. This dorsal blood vessel is divided into two sections: the heart and aorta. The dorsal blood vessel circulates the hemolymph, arthropods' fluid analog of blood, from the rear of the body cavity forward. Hemolymph is composed of plasma in which hemocytes are suspended. Nutrients, hormones, wastes, and other substances are transported throughout the insect body in the hemolymph. Hemocytes include many types of cells that are important for immune responses, wound healing, and other functions. Hemolymph pressure may be increased by muscle contractions or by swallowing air into the digestive system to aid in molting.
#### Sensory
Many insects possess numerous specialized sensory organs able to detect stimuli including limb position (proprioception) by campaniform sensilla, light, water, chemicals (senses of taste and smell), sound, and heat. Some insects such as bees can perceive ultraviolet wavelengths, or detect polarized light, while the antennae of male moths can detect the pheromones of female moths over distances of over a kilometer. There is a trade-off between visual acuity and chemical or tactile acuity, such that most insects with well-developed eyes have reduced or simple antennae, and vice versa. Insects perceive sound by different mechanisms, such as thin vibrating membranes (tympana). Insects were the earliest organisms to produce and sense sounds. Hearing has evolved independently at least 19 times in different insect groups.
Most insects, except some cave crickets, are able to perceive light and dark. Many have acute vision capable of detecting small and rapid movements. The eyes may include simple eyes or ocelli as well as larger compound eyes. Many species can detect light in the infrared, ultraviolet and visible light wavelengths, with color vision. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that UV-green-blue trichromacy existed from at least the Devonian period, some 400 million years ago.
The individual lenses in compound eyes are immobile, but fruit flies have photoreceptor cells underneath each lens which move rapidly in and out of focus, in a series of movements called photoreceptor microsaccades. This gives them, and possibly many other insects, a much clearer image of the world than previously assumed.
An insect's sense of smell is via chemical receptors, usually on the antennae and the mouthparts. These detect both airborne volatile compounds and odorants on surfaces, including pheromones from other insects and compounds released by food plants. Insects use olfaction to locate mating partners, food, and places to lay eggs, and to avoid predators. It is thus an extremely important sense, enabling insects to discriminate between thousands of volatile compounds.
Some insects are capable of magnetoreception; ants and bees navigate using it both locally (near their nests) and when migrating. The Brazilian stingless bee detects magnetic fields using the hair-like sensilla on its antennae.
## Reproduction and development
### Life-cycles
The majority of insects hatch from eggs. The fertilization and development takes place inside the egg, enclosed by a shell (chorion) that consists of maternal tissue. In contrast to eggs of other arthropods, most insect eggs are drought resistant. This is because inside the chorion two additional membranes develop from embryonic tissue, the amnion and the serosa. This serosa secretes a cuticle rich in chitin that protects the embryo against desiccation. Some species of insects, like aphids and tsetse flies, are ovoviviparous: their eggs develop entirely inside the female, and then hatch immediately upon being laid. Some other species, such as in the cockroach genus *Diploptera*, are viviparous, gestating inside the mother and born alive. Some insects, like parasitoid wasps, are polyembryonic, meaning that a single fertilized egg divides into many separate embryos. Insects may be univoltine, bivoltine or multivoltine, having one, two or many broods in a year.
Other developmental and reproductive variations include haplodiploidy, polymorphism, paedomorphosis or peramorphosis, sexual dimorphism, parthenogenesis, and more rarely hermaphroditism. In haplodiploidy, which is a type of sex-determination system, the offspring's sex is determined by the number of sets of chromosomes an individual receives. This system is typical in bees and wasps.
Some insects are parthenogenetic, meaning that the female can reproduce and give birth without having the eggs fertilized by a male. Many aphids undergo a cyclical form of parthenogenesis in which they alternate between one or many generations of asexual and sexual reproduction. In summer, aphids are generally female and parthenogenetic; in the autumn, males may be produced for sexual reproduction. Other insects produced by parthenogenesis are bees, wasps and ants; in their haplodiploid system, diploid females spawn many females and a few haploid males.
### Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis in insects is the process of development that converts young to adults. There are two forms of metamorphosis: incomplete and complete.
#### Incomplete
Hemimetabolous insects, those with incomplete metamorphosis, change gradually after hatching from the egg by undergoing a series of molts through stages called instars, until the final, adult, stage is reached. An insect molts when it outgrows its exoskeleton, which does not stretch and would otherwise restrict the insect's growth. The molting process begins as the insect's epidermis secretes a new epicuticle inside the old one. After this new epicuticle is secreted, the epidermis releases a mixture of enzymes that digests the endocuticle and thus detaches the old cuticle. When this stage is complete, the insect makes its body swell by taking in a large quantity of water or air; this makes the old cuticle split along predefined weaknesses where it was thinnest.
#### Complete
Holometabolism, or complete metamorphosis, is where the insect changes in four stages, an egg or embryo, a larva, a pupa and the adult or imago. In these species, an egg hatches to produce a larva, which is generally worm-like in form. This can be eruciform (caterpillar-like), scarabaeiform (grub-like), campodeiform (elongated, flattened and active), elateriform (wireworm-like) or vermiform (maggot-like). The larva grows and eventually becomes a pupa, a stage marked by reduced movement. There are three types of pupae: obtect, exarate or coarctate. Obtect pupae are compact, with the legs and other appendages enclosed. Exarate pupae have their legs and other appendages free and extended. Coarctate pupae develop inside the larval skin. Insects undergo considerable change in form during the pupal stage, and emerge as adults. Butterflies are well-known for undergoing complete metamorphosis; most insects use this life cycle. Some insects have evolved this system to hypermetamorphosis. Complete metamorphosis is a trait of the most diverse insect group, the Endopterygota.
## Communication
Insects that produce sound can generally hear it. Most insects can hear only a narrow range of frequencies related to the frequency of the sounds they can produce. Mosquitoes can hear up to 2 kilohertz. Certain predatory and parasitic insects can detect the characteristic sounds made by their prey or hosts, respectively. Likewise, some nocturnal moths can perceive the ultrasonic emissions of bats, which helps them avoid predation.
### Light production
A few insects, such as Mycetophilidae (Diptera) and the beetle families Lampyridae, Phengodidae, Elateridae and Staphylinidae are bioluminescent. The most familiar group are the fireflies, beetles of the family Lampyridae. Some species are able to control this light generation to produce flashes. The function varies with some species using them to attract mates, while others use them to lure prey. Cave dwelling larvae of *Arachnocampa* (Mycetophilidae, fungus gnats) glow to lure small flying insects into sticky strands of silk. Some fireflies of the genus *Photuris* mimic the flashing of female *Photinus* species to attract males of that species, which are then captured and devoured. The colors of emitted light vary from dull blue (*Orfelia fultoni*, Mycetophilidae) to the familiar greens and the rare reds (*Phrixothrix tiemanni*, Phengodidae).
### Sound production
Insects make sounds mostly by mechanical action of appendages. In grasshoppers and crickets, this is achieved by stridulation. Cicadas make the loudest sounds among the insects by producing and amplifying sounds with special modifications to their body to form tymbals and associated musculature. The African cicada *Brevisana brevis* has been measured at 106.7 decibels at a distance of 50 cm (20 in). Some insects, such as the *Helicoverpa zea* moths, hawk moths and Hedylid butterflies, can hear ultrasound and take evasive action when they sense that they have been detected by bats. Some moths produce ultrasonic clicks that warn predatory bats of their unpalatability (acoustic aposematism), while some palatable moths have evolved to mimic these calls (acoustic Batesian mimicry). The claim that some moths can jam bat sonar has been revisited. Ultrasonic recording and high-speed infrared videography of bat-moth interactions suggest the palatable tiger moth really does defend against attacking big brown bats using ultrasonic clicks that jam bat sonar.
Very low sounds are produced in various species of Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Mantodea and Neuroptera. These low sounds are produced by the insect's movement, amplified by stridulatory structures on the insect's muscles and joints; these sounds can be used to warn or communicate with other insects. Most sound-making insects also have tympanal organs that can perceive airborne sounds. Some hemipterans, such as the water boatmen, communicate via underwater sounds.
Communication using surface-borne vibrational signals is more widespread among insects because of size constraints in producing air-borne sounds. Insects cannot effectively produce low-frequency sounds, and high-frequency sounds tend to disperse more in a dense environment (such as foliage), so insects living in such environments communicate primarily using substrate-borne vibrations.
Some species use vibrations for communicating, such as to attract mates as in the songs of the shield bug *Nezara viridula*. Vibrations can also be used to communicate between species; lycaenid caterpillars, which form a mutualistic association with ants communicate with ants in this way. The Madagascar hissing cockroach has the ability to press air through its spiracles to make a hissing noise as a sign of aggression; the death's-head hawkmoth makes a squeaking noise by forcing air out of their pharynx when agitated, which may also reduce aggressive worker honey bee behavior when the two are close.
### Chemical communication
Many insects have evolved chemical means for communication. These semiochemicals are often derived from plant metabolites including those meant to attract, repel and provide other kinds of information. Pheromones are used for attracting mates of the opposite sex, for aggregating conspecific individuals of both sexes, for deterring other individuals from approaching, to mark a trail, and to trigger aggression in nearby individuals. Allomones benefit their producer by the effect they have upon the receiver. Kairomones benefit their receiver instead of their producer. Synomones benefit the producer and the receiver. While some chemicals are targeted at individuals of the same species, others are used for communication across species. The use of scents is especially well-developed in social insects. Cuticular hydrocarbons are nonstructural materials produced and secreted to the cuticle surface to fight desiccation and pathogens. They are important, too, as pheromones, especially in social insects.
## Social behavior
Social insects, such as termites, ants and many bees and wasps, are eusocial. They live together in such large well-organized colonies of genetically similar individuals that they are sometimes considered superorganisms. In particular, reproduction is largely limited to a queen caste; other females are workers, prevented from reproducing by worker policing. Honey bees have evolved a system of abstract symbolic communication where a behavior is used to represent and convey specific information about the environment. In this communication system, called dance language, the angle at which a bee dances represents a direction relative to the sun, and the length of the dance represents the distance to be flown. Bumblebees too have some social communication behaviors. *Bombus terrestris*, for example, more rapidly learns about visiting unfamiliar, yet rewarding flowers, when they can see a conspecific foraging on the same species.
Only insects that live in nests or colonies possess fine-scale spatial orientation. Some can navigate unerringly to a single hole a few millimeters in diameter among thousands of similar holes, after a trip of several kilometers. In philopatry, insects that hibernate are able to recall a specific location up to a year after last viewing the area of interest. A few insects seasonally migrate large distances between different geographic regions, as in the continent-wide monarch butterfly migration.
### Care of young
Eusocial insects build nests, guard eggs, and provide food for offspring full-time. Most insects, however, lead short lives as adults, and rarely interact with one another except to mate or compete for mates. A small number provide parental care, where they at least guard their eggs, and sometimes guard their offspring until adulthood, possibly even feeding them. Many wasps and bees construct a nest or burrow, store provisions in it, and lay an egg upon those provisions, providing no further care.
## Locomotion
### Flight
Insects are the only group of invertebrates to have developed flight. The ancient groups of insects in the Palaeoptera, the dragonflies, damselflies and mayflies, operate their wings directly by paired muscles attached to points on each wing base that raise and lower them. This can only be done at a relatively slow rate. All other insects, the Neoptera, have indirect flight, in which the flight muscles cause rapid oscillation of the thorax: there can be more wingbeats than nerve impulses commanding the muscles. One pair of flight muscles is aligned vertically, contracting to pull the top of the thorax down, and the wings up. The other pair runs longitudinally, contracting to force the top of the thorax up and the wings down. Most insects gain aerodynamic lift by creating a spiralling vortex at the leading edge of the wings. Small insects like thrips with tiny feathery wings gain lift using the clap and fling mechanism; the wings are clapped together and pulled apart, flinging vortices into the air at the leading edges and at the wingtips.
The evolution of insect wings has been a subject of debate; it has been suggested they came from modified gills, flaps on the spiracles, or an appendage, the epicoxa, at the base of the legs. More recently, entomologists have favored evolution of wings from lobes of the notum, of the pleuron, or more likely both.
In the Carboniferous age, the dragonfly-like *Meganeura* had as much as a 50 cm (20 in) wide wingspan. The appearance of gigantic insects is consistent with high atmospheric oxygen at that time, as the respiratory system of insects constrains their size. The largest flying insects today are much smaller, with the largest wingspan belonging to the white witch moth (*Thysania agrippina*), at approximately 28 cm (11 in).
Unlike birds, small insects are swept along by the prevailing winds although many larger insects migrate. Aphids are transported long distances by low-level jet streams.
### Walking
Many adult insects use six legs for walking, with an alternating tripod gait. This allows for rapid walking with a stable stance; it has been studied extensively in cockroaches and ants. For the first step, the middle right leg and the front and rear left legs are in contact with the ground and move the insect forward, while the front and rear right leg and the middle left leg are lifted and moved forward to a new position. When they touch the ground to form a new stable triangle, the other legs can be lifted and brought forward in turn. The purest form of the tripedal gait is seen in insects moving at high speeds. However, this type of locomotion is not rigid and insects can adapt a variety of gaits. For example, when moving slowly, turning, avoiding obstacles, climbing or slippery surfaces, four (tetrapodal) or more feet (wave-gait) may be touching the ground. Cockroaches are among the fastest insect runners and, at full speed, adopt a bipedal run. More sedate locomotion is seen in the well-camouflaged stick insects (Phasmatodea). A small number of species such as Water striders can move on the surface of water; their claws are recessed in a special groove, preventing the claws from piercing the water's surface film. The ocean-skaters in the genus *Halobates* even live on the surface of open oceans, a habitat that has few insect species.
### Swimming
A large number of insects live either part or the whole of their lives underwater. In many of the more primitive orders of insect, the immature stages are aquatic. In some groups, such as water beetles, the adults too are aquatic.
Many of these species are adapted for under-water locomotion. Water beetles and water bugs have legs adapted into paddle-like structures. Dragonfly naiads use jet propulsion, forcibly expelling water out of their rectal chamber. Other insects such as the rove beetle *Stenus* emit pygidial gland surfactant secretions that reduce surface tension; this enables them to move on the surface of water by Marangoni propulsion.
## Ecology
Insects play many critical roles in ecosystems, including soil turning and aeration, dung burial, pest control, pollination and wildlife nutrition. For instance, termites modify the environment around their nests, encouraging grass growth; many beetles are scavengers; dung beetles recycle biological materials into forms useful to other organisms. Insects are responsible for much of the process by which topsoil is created.
### Defense
Insects are mostly small, soft bodied, and fragile compared to larger lifeforms. The immature stages are small, move slowly or are immobile, and so all stages are exposed to predation and parasitism. Insects accordingly employ multiple defensive strategies, including camouflage, mimicry, toxicity and active defense.
Many insects rely on camouflage to avoid being noticed by their predators or prey. It is common among leaf beetles and weevils that feed on wood or vegetation. Stick insects mimic the forms of sticks and leaves.
Many insects use mimicry to deceive predators into avoiding them. In Batesian mimicry, edible species, such as of hoverflies (the mimics), gain a survival advantage by resembling inedible species (the models). In Müllerian mimicry, inedible species, such as of wasps and bees, resemble each other so as to reduce the sampling rate by predators who need to learn that those insects are inedible. *Heliconius* butterflies, many of which are toxic, form Müllerian complexes, advertising their inedibility.
Chemical defense is common among Coleoptera and Lepidoptera, usually being advertised by bright warning colors (aposematism), as in the monarch butterfly. As larvae, they obtain their toxicity by sequestering chemicals from the plants they eat into their own tissues. Some manufacture their own toxins. Predators that eat poisonous butterflies and moths may vomit violently, learning not to eat insects with similar markings; this is the basis of Müllerian mimicry.
Some ground beetles of the family Carabidae actively defend themselves, spraying chemicals from their abdomen with great accuracy, to repel predators.
### Pollination
Pollination is the process by which pollen is transferred in the reproduction of plants, thereby enabling fertilisation and sexual reproduction. Most flowering plants require an animal to do the transportation. The majority of pollination is by insects. Because insects usually receive benefit for the pollination in the form of energy rich nectar it is a mutualism. The various flower traits, such as bright colors and pheromones that coevolved with their pollinators, have been called pollination syndromes, though around one third of flowers cannot be assigned to a single syndrome.
### Parasitism
Many insects are parasitic. The largest group, with over 100,000 species and perhaps over a million, consists of a single clade of parasitoid wasps among the Hymenoptera. These are parasites of other insects, eventually killing their hosts. Some are hyper-parasites, as their hosts are other parasitoid wasps. Several groups of insects can be considered as either micropredators or external parasites; for example, many hemipteran bugs have piercing and sucking mouthparts, adapted for feeding on plant sap, while species in groups such as fleas, lice, and mosquitoes are hematophagous, feeding on the blood of animals.
## Relationship to humans
### As pests
Many insects are considered pests by humans. These include parasites of people and livestock, such as lice and bed bugs; mosquitoes act as vectors of several diseases. Other pests include insects like termites that damage wooden structures; herbivorous insects such as locusts, aphids, and thrips that destroy agricultural crops, or like wheat weevils damage stored agricultural produce. Farmers have often attempted to control insects with chemical insecticides, but increasingly rely on biological pest control. This uses one organism to reduce the population density of a pest organism; it is a key element of integrated pest management. Biological control is favored because insecticides can cause harm to ecosystems far beyond the intended pest targets.
### In beneficial roles
Pollination of flowering plants by insects including bees, butterflies, flies, and beetles, is economically important. The value of insect pollination of crops and fruit trees was estimated in 2021 to be about $34 billion in the US alone.
Insects produce useful substances such as honey, wax, lacquer and silk. Honey bees have been cultured by humans for thousands of years for honey. Beekeeping in pottery vessels began about 9,000 years ago in North Africa. The silkworm has greatly affected human history, as silk-driven trade established relationships between China and the rest of the world.
Insects that feed on or parasitise other insects are beneficial to humans if they thereby reduce damage to agriculture and human structures. For example, aphids feed on crops, causing economic loss, but ladybugs feed on aphids, and can be used to control them. Insects account for the vast majority of insect consumption.
Fly larvae (maggots) were formerly used to treat wounds to prevent or stop gangrene, as they would only consume dead flesh. This treatment is finding modern usage in some hospitals. Insects have gained attention as potential sources of drugs and other medicinal substances. Adult insects, such as crickets and insect larvae of various kinds, are commonly used as fishing bait.
### Population declines
At least 66 insect species extinctions have been recorded since 1500, many of them on oceanic islands. Declines in insect abundance have been attributed to human activity in the form of artificial lighting, land use changes such as urbanization or farming, pesticide use, and invasive species. A 2019 research review suggested that a large proportion of insect species is threatened with extinction in the 21st century, though the details have been disputed. A larger 2020 meta-study, analyzing data from 166 long-term surveys, suggested that populations of terrestrial insects are indeed decreasing rapidly, by about 9% per decade.
### In research
Insects play important roles in biological research. For example, because of its small size, short generation time and high fecundity, the common fruit fly *Drosophila melanogaster* is a model organism for studies in the genetics of eukaryotes, including genetic linkage, interactions between genes, chromosomal genetics, development, behavior and evolution. Because genetic systems are well conserved among eukaryotes, understanding basic cellular processes like DNA replication or transcription in fruit flies can help to understand those processes in other eukaryotes, including humans. The genome of *D. melanogaster* was sequenced in 2000, reflecting the organism's important role in biological research. It was found that 70% of the fly genome is similar to the human genome, supporting the theory of evolution.
### As food
Insects are consumed as food in 80% of the world's nations, by people in roughly 3,000 ethnic groups. In Africa, locally abundant species of locusts and termites are a common traditional human food source. Some, especially deep-fried cicadas, are considered to be delicacies. Insects have a high protein content for their mass, and some authors suggest their potential as a major source of protein in human nutrition. In most first-world countries, however, entomophagy (the eating of insects), is taboo. They are also recommended by armed forces as a survival food for troops in adversity. Because of the abundance of insects and a worldwide concern of food shortages, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations considers that people throughout the world may have to eat insects as a food staple. Insects are noted for their nutrients, having a high content of protein, minerals and fats and are already regularly eaten by one-third of the world's population.
### In other products
Black soldier fly larvae can provide protein and fats for use in cosmetics. Insect cooking oil, insect butter and fatty alcohols can be made from such insects as the superworm (*Zophobas morio*). Insect species including the black soldier fly or the housefly in their maggot forms, and beetle larvae such as mealworms, can be processed and used as feed for farmed animals including chicken, fish and pigs. Many species of insects are sold and kept as pets.
### In religion and folklore
Scarab beetles held religious and cultural symbolism in ancient Egypt, Greece and some shamanistic Old World cultures. The ancient Chinese regarded cicadas as symbols of rebirth or immortality. In Mesopotamian literature, the epic poem of Gilgamesh has allusions to Odonata that signify the impossibility of immortality. Among the Aborigines of Australia of the Arrernte language groups, honey ants and witchetty grubs served as personal clan totems. In the case of the 'San' bush-men of the Kalahari, it is the praying mantis that holds much cultural significance including creation and zen-like patience in waiting.
## See also
## Notes
## Sources
- Gullan, P. J.; Cranston, P. S. (2005).
*The Insects: An Outline of Entomology*(3rd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4051-1113-3. - Gullan, P. J.; Cranston, P. S. (2014).
*The Insects: An Outline of Entomology*(5th ed.). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-118-84616-2. - Nation, James L. (2001).
*Insect Physiology and Biochemistry*(1st ed.). CRC Press. ISBN 978-0-8493-1181-9. - Resh, Vincent H.; Carde, Ring T. (2009).
*Encyclopedia of Insects*(2 ed.). Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-12-374144-8. - Schowalter, Timothy Duane (2006).
*Insect Ecology: An Ecosystem Epproach*(2nd (illustrated) ed.). Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-12-088772-9. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
## External links
- Insect species and observations on iNaturalist
- Overview of Orders of Insects
- "
*Insect*".*The Encyclopedia of Life*. - A Safrinet Manual for Entomology and Arachnology SPC
- Tree of Life Project – Insecta, Insecta Movies
- Fossil Insect Database: Holotypes at the International Palaeoentological Society
- UF Book of Insect Records
- InsectImages.org 24,000 high resolution insect photographs
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# Evolution - Wikipedia
**Evolution** is the change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, resulting in certain characteristics becoming more or less common within a population over successive generations. The process of evolution has given rise to biodiversity at every level of biological organisation.
The scientific theory of evolution by natural selection was conceived independently by two British naturalists, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, in the mid-19th century as an explanation for why organisms are adapted to their physical and biological environments. The theory was first set out in detail in Darwin's book *On the Origin of Species*. Evolution by natural selection is established by observable facts about living organisms: (1) more offspring are often produced than can possibly survive; (2) traits vary among individuals with respect to their morphology, physiology, and behaviour; (3) different traits confer different rates of survival and reproduction (differential fitness); and (4) traits can be passed from generation to generation (heritability of fitness). In successive generations, members of a population are therefore more likely to be replaced by the offspring of parents with favourable characteristics for that environment.
In the early 20th century, competing ideas of evolution were refuted and evolution was combined with Mendelian inheritance and population genetics to give rise to modern evolutionary theory. In this synthesis the basis for heredity is in DNA molecules that pass information from generation to generation. The processes that change DNA in a population include natural selection, genetic drift, mutation, and gene flow.
All life on Earth—including humanity—shares a last universal common ancestor (LUCA), which lived approximately 3.5–3.8 billion years ago. The fossil record includes a progression from early biogenic graphite to microbial mat fossils to fossilised multicellular organisms. Existing patterns of biodiversity have been shaped by repeated formations of new species (speciation), changes within species (anagenesis), and loss of species (extinction) throughout the evolutionary history of life on Earth. Morphological and biochemical traits tend to be more similar among species that share a more recent common ancestor, which historically was used to reconstruct phylogenetic trees, although direct comparison of genetic sequences is a more common method today.
Evolutionary biologists have continued to study various aspects of evolution by forming and testing hypotheses as well as constructing theories based on evidence from the field or laboratory and on data generated by the methods of mathematical and theoretical biology. Their discoveries have influenced not just the development of biology but also other fields including agriculture, medicine, and computer science.
## Heredity
Evolution in organisms occurs through changes in heritable characteristics—the inherited characteristics of an organism. In humans, for example, eye colour is an inherited characteristic and an individual might inherit the "brown-eye trait" from one of their parents. Inherited traits are controlled by genes and the complete set of genes within an organism's genome (genetic material) is called its *genotype*.
The complete set of observable traits that make up the structure and behaviour of an organism is called its *phenotype*. Some of these traits come from the interaction of its genotype with the environment while others are neutral. Some observable characteristics are not inherited. For example, suntanned skin comes from the interaction between a person's genotype and sunlight; thus, suntans are not passed on to people's children. The phenotype is the ability of the skin to tan when exposed to sunlight. However, some people tan more easily than others, due to differences in genotypic variation; a striking example are people with the inherited trait of albinism, who do not tan at all and are very sensitive to sunburn.
Heritable characteristics are passed from one generation to the next via DNA, a molecule that encodes genetic information. DNA is a long biopolymer composed of four types of bases. The sequence of bases along a particular DNA molecule specifies the genetic information, in a manner similar to a sequence of letters spelling out a sentence. Before a cell divides, the DNA is copied, so that each of the resulting two cells will inherit the DNA sequence. Portions of a DNA molecule that specify a single functional unit are called genes; different genes have different sequences of bases. Within cells, each long strand of DNA is called a chromosome. The specific location of a DNA sequence within a chromosome is known as a locus. If the DNA sequence at a locus varies between individuals, the different forms of this sequence are called alleles. DNA sequences can change through mutations, producing new alleles. If a mutation occurs within a gene, the new allele may affect the trait that the gene controls, altering the phenotype of the organism. However, while this simple correspondence between an allele and a trait works in some cases, most traits are influenced by multiple genes in a quantitative or epistatic manner.
## Sources of variation
Evolution can occur if there is genetic variation within a population. Variation comes from mutations in the genome, reshuffling of genes through sexual reproduction and migration between populations (gene flow). Despite the constant introduction of new variation through mutation and gene flow, most of the genome of a species is very similar among all individuals of that species. However, discoveries in the field of evolutionary developmental biology have demonstrated that even relatively small differences in genotype can lead to dramatic differences in phenotype both within and between species.
An individual organism's phenotype results from both its genotype and the influence of the environment it has lived in. The modern evolutionary synthesis defines evolution as the change over time in this genetic variation. The frequency of one particular allele will become more or less prevalent relative to other forms of that gene. Variation disappears when a new allele reaches the point of fixation—when it either disappears from the population or replaces the ancestral allele entirely.
### Mutation
Mutations are changes in the DNA sequence of a cell's genome and are the ultimate source of genetic variation in all organisms. When mutations occur, they may alter the product of a gene, or prevent the gene from functioning, or have no effect.
About half of the mutations in the coding regions of protein-coding genes are deleterious — the other half are neutral. A small percentage of the total mutations in this region confer a fitness benefit. Some of the mutations in other parts of the genome are deleterious but the vast majority are neutral. A few are beneficial.
Mutations can involve large sections of a chromosome becoming duplicated (usually by genetic recombination), which can introduce extra copies of a gene into a genome. Extra copies of genes are a major source of the raw material needed for new genes to evolve. This is important because most new genes evolve within gene families from pre-existing genes that share common ancestors. For example, the human eye uses four genes to make structures that sense light: three for colour vision and one for night vision; all four are descended from a single ancestral gene.
New genes can be generated from an ancestral gene when a duplicate copy mutates and acquires a new function. This process is easier once a gene has been duplicated because it increases the redundancy of the system; one gene in the pair can acquire a new function while the other copy continues to perform its original function. Other types of mutations can even generate entirely new genes from previously noncoding DNA, a phenomenon termed *de novo* gene birth.
The generation of new genes can also involve small parts of several genes being duplicated, with these fragments then recombining to form new combinations with new functions (exon shuffling). When new genes are assembled from shuffling pre-existing parts, domains act as modules with simple independent functions, which can be mixed together to produce new combinations with new and complex functions. For example, polyketide synthases are large enzymes that make antibiotics; they contain up to 100 independent domains that each catalyse one step in the overall process, like a step in an assembly line.
One example of mutation is wild boar piglets. They are camouflage coloured and show a characteristic pattern of dark and light longitudinal stripes. However, mutations in the *melanocortin 1 receptor* (*MC1R*) disrupt the pattern. The majority of pig breeds carry MC1R mutations disrupting wild-type colour and different mutations causing dominant black colouring.
### Sex and recombination
In asexual organisms, genes are inherited together, or *linked*, as they cannot mix with genes of other organisms during reproduction. In contrast, the offspring of sexual organisms contain random mixtures of their parents' chromosomes that are produced through independent assortment. In a related process called homologous recombination, sexual organisms exchange DNA between two matching chromosomes. Recombination and reassortment do not alter allele frequencies, but instead change which alleles are associated with each other, producing offspring with new combinations of alleles. Sex usually increases genetic variation and may increase the rate of evolution.
The two-fold cost of sex was first described by John Maynard Smith. The first cost is that in sexually dimorphic species only one of the two sexes can bear young. This cost does not apply to hermaphroditic species, like most plants and many invertebrates. The second cost is that any individual who reproduces sexually can only pass on 50% of its genes to any individual offspring, with even less passed on as each new generation passes. Yet sexual reproduction is the more common means of reproduction among eukaryotes and multicellular organisms. The Red Queen hypothesis has been used to explain the significance of sexual reproduction as a means to enable continual evolution and adaptation in response to coevolution with other species in an ever-changing environment. Another hypothesis is that sexual reproduction is primarily an adaptation for promoting accurate recombinational repair of damage in germline DNA, and that increased diversity is a byproduct of this process that may sometimes be adaptively beneficial.
### Gene flow
Gene flow is the exchange of genes between populations and between species. It can therefore be a source of variation that is new to a population or to a species. Gene flow can be caused by the movement of individuals between separate populations of organisms, as might be caused by the movement of mice between inland and coastal populations, or the movement of pollen between heavy-metal-tolerant and heavy-metal-sensitive populations of grasses.
Gene transfer between species includes the formation of hybrid organisms and horizontal gene transfer. Horizontal gene transfer is the transfer of genetic material from one organism to another organism that is not its offspring; this is most common among bacteria. In medicine, this contributes to the spread of antibiotic resistance, as when one bacteria acquires resistance genes it can rapidly transfer them to other species. Horizontal transfer of genes from bacteria to eukaryotes such as the yeast *Saccharomyces cerevisiae* and the adzuki bean weevil *Callosobruchus chinensis* has occurred. An example of larger-scale transfers are the eukaryotic bdelloid rotifers, which have received a range of genes from bacteria, fungi and plants. Viruses can also carry DNA between organisms, allowing transfer of genes even across biological domains.
Large-scale gene transfer has also occurred between the ancestors of eukaryotic cells and bacteria, during the acquisition of chloroplasts and mitochondria. It is possible that eukaryotes themselves originated from horizontal gene transfers between bacteria and archaea.
### Epigenetics
Some heritable changes cannot be explained by changes to the sequence of nucleotides in the DNA. These phenomena are classed as epigenetic inheritance systems. DNA methylation marking chromatin, self-sustaining metabolic loops, gene silencing by RNA interference and the three-dimensional conformation of proteins (such as prions) are areas where epigenetic inheritance systems have been discovered at the organismic level. Developmental biologists suggest that complex interactions in genetic networks and communication among cells can lead to heritable variations that may underlay some of the mechanics in developmental plasticity and canalisation. Heritability may also occur at even larger scales. For example, ecological inheritance through the process of niche construction is defined by the regular and repeated activities of organisms in their environment. This generates a legacy of effects that modify and feed back into the selection regime of subsequent generations. Other examples of heritability in evolution that are not under the direct control of genes include the inheritance of cultural traits and symbiogenesis.
## Evolutionary forces
From a neo-Darwinian perspective, evolution occurs when there are changes in the frequencies of alleles within a population of interbreeding organisms, for example, the allele for black colour in a population of moths becoming more common. Mechanisms that can lead to changes in allele frequencies include natural selection, genetic drift, and mutation bias.
### Natural selection
Evolution by natural selection is the process by which traits that enhance survival and reproduction become more common in successive generations of a population. It embodies three principles:
- Variation exists within populations of organisms with respect to morphology, physiology and behaviour (phenotypic variation).
- Different traits confer different rates of survival and reproduction (differential fitness).
- These traits can be passed from generation to generation (heritability of fitness).
More offspring are produced than can possibly survive, and these conditions produce competition between organisms for survival and reproduction. Consequently, organisms with traits that give them an advantage over their competitors are more likely to pass on their traits to the next generation than those with traits that do not confer an advantage. This teleonomy is the quality whereby the process of natural selection creates and preserves traits that are seemingly fitted for the functional roles they perform. Consequences of selection include nonrandom mating and genetic hitchhiking.
The central concept of natural selection is the evolutionary fitness of an organism. Fitness is measured by an organism's ability to survive and reproduce, which determines the size of its genetic contribution to the next generation. However, fitness is not the same as the total number of offspring: instead fitness is indicated by the proportion of subsequent generations that carry an organism's genes. For example, if an organism could survive well and reproduce rapidly, but its offspring were all too small and weak to survive, this organism would make little genetic contribution to future generations and would thus have low fitness.
If an allele increases fitness more than the other alleles of that gene, then with each generation this allele has a higher probability of becoming common within the population. These traits are said to be selected *for*. Examples of traits that can increase fitness are enhanced survival and increased fecundity. Conversely, the lower fitness caused by having a less beneficial or deleterious allele results in this allele likely becoming rarer—they are selected *against*.
Importantly, the fitness of an allele is not a fixed characteristic; if the environment changes, previously neutral or harmful traits may become beneficial and previously beneficial traits become harmful. However, even if the direction of selection does reverse in this way, traits that were lost in the past may not re-evolve in an identical form. However, a re-activation of dormant genes, as long as they have not been eliminated from the genome and were only suppressed perhaps for hundreds of generations, can lead to the re-occurrence of traits thought to be lost like hindlegs in dolphins, teeth in chickens, wings in wingless stick insects, tails and additional nipples in humans etc. "Throwbacks" such as these are known as atavisms.
Natural selection within a population for a trait that can vary across a range of values, such as height, can be categorised into three different types. The first is directional selection, which is a shift in the average value of a trait over time—for example, organisms slowly getting taller. Secondly, disruptive selection is selection for extreme trait values and often results in two different values becoming most common, with selection against the average value. This would be when either short or tall organisms had an advantage, but not those of medium height. Finally, in stabilising selection there is selection against extreme trait values on both ends, which causes a decrease in variance around the average value and less diversity. This would, for example, cause organisms to eventually have a similar height.
Natural selection most generally makes nature the measure against which individuals and individual traits, are more or less likely to survive. "Nature" in this sense refers to an ecosystem, that is, a system in which organisms interact with every other element, physical as well as biological, in their local environment. Eugene Odum, a founder of ecology, defined an ecosystem as: "Any unit that includes all of the organisms...in a given area interacting with the physical environment so that a flow of energy leads to clearly defined trophic structure, biotic diversity, and material cycles (i.e., exchange of materials between living and nonliving parts) within the system...." Each population within an ecosystem occupies a distinct niche, or position, with distinct relationships to other parts of the system. These relationships involve the life history of the organism, its position in the food chain and its geographic range. This broad understanding of nature enables scientists to delineate specific forces which, together, comprise natural selection.
Natural selection can act at different levels of organisation, such as genes, cells, individual organisms, groups of organisms and species. Selection can act at multiple levels simultaneously. An example of selection occurring below the level of the individual organism are genes called transposons, which can replicate and spread throughout a genome. Selection at a level above the individual, such as group selection, may allow the evolution of cooperation.
### Genetic drift
Genetic drift is the random fluctuation of allele frequencies within a population from one generation to the next. When selective forces are absent or relatively weak, allele frequencies are equally likely to *drift* upward or downward[ clarification needed] in each successive generation because the alleles are subject to sampling error. This drift halts when an allele eventually becomes fixed, either by disappearing from the population or by replacing the other alleles entirely. Genetic drift may therefore eliminate some alleles from a population due to chance alone. Even in the absence of selective forces, genetic drift can cause two separate populations that begin with the same genetic structure to drift apart into two divergent populations with different sets of alleles.
According to the neutral theory of molecular evolution most evolutionary changes are the result of the fixation of neutral mutations by genetic drift. In this model, most genetic changes in a population are thus the result of constant mutation pressure and genetic drift. This form of the neutral theory has been debated since it does not seem to fit some genetic variation seen in nature. A better-supported version of this model is the nearly neutral theory, according to which a mutation that would be effectively neutral in a small population is not necessarily neutral in a large population. Other theories propose that genetic drift is dwarfed by other stochastic forces in evolution, such as genetic hitchhiking, also known as genetic draft. Another concept is constructive neutral evolution (CNE), which explains that complex systems can emerge and spread into a population through neutral transitions due to the principles of excess capacity, presuppression, and ratcheting, and it has been applied in areas ranging from the origins of the spliceosome to the complex interdependence of microbial communities.
The time it takes a neutral allele to become fixed by genetic drift depends on population size; fixation is more rapid in smaller populations. The number of individuals in a population is not critical, but instead a measure known as the effective population size. The effective population is usually smaller than the total population since it takes into account factors such as the level of inbreeding and the stage of the lifecycle in which the population is the smallest. The effective population size may not be the same for every gene in the same population.
It is usually difficult to measure the relative importance of selection and neutral processes, including drift. The comparative importance of adaptive and non-adaptive forces in driving evolutionary change is an area of current research.
### Mutation bias
Mutation bias is usually conceived as a difference in expected rates for two different kinds of mutation, e.g., transition-transversion bias, GC-AT bias, deletion-insertion bias. This is related to the idea of developmental bias. J. B. S. Haldane and Ronald Fisher argued that, because mutation is a weak pressure easily overcome by selection, tendencies of mutation would be ineffectual except under conditions of neutral evolution or extraordinarily high mutation rates. This opposing-pressures argument was long used to dismiss the possibility of internal tendencies in evolution, until the molecular era prompted renewed interest in neutral evolution.
Noboru Sueoka and Ernst Freese proposed that systematic biases in mutation might be responsible for systematic differences in genomic GC composition between species. The identification of a GC-biased *E. coli* mutator strain in 1967, along with the proposal of the neutral theory, established the plausibility of mutational explanations for molecular patterns, which are now common in the molecular evolution literature.
For instance, mutation biases are frequently invoked in models of codon usage. Such models also include effects of selection, following the mutation-selection-drift model, which allows both for mutation biases and differential selection based on effects on translation. Hypotheses of mutation bias have played an important role in the development of thinking about the evolution of genome composition, including isochores. Different insertion vs. deletion biases in different taxa can lead to the evolution of different genome sizes. The hypothesis of Lynch regarding genome size relies on mutational biases toward increase or decrease in genome size.
However, mutational hypotheses for the evolution of composition suffered a reduction in scope when it was discovered that (1) GC-biased gene conversion makes an important contribution to composition in diploid organisms such as mammals and (2) bacterial genomes frequently have AT-biased mutation.
Contemporary thinking about the role of mutation biases reflects a different theory from that of Haldane and Fisher. More recent work showed that the original "pressures" theory assumes that evolution is based on standing variation: when evolution depends on events of mutation that introduce new alleles, mutational and developmental biases in the introduction of variation (arrival biases) can impose biases on evolution without requiring neutral evolution or high mutation rates. Several studies report that the mutations implicated in adaptation reflect common mutation biases though others dispute this interpretation.
#### Genetic hitchhiking
Recombination allows alleles on the same strand of DNA to become separated. However, the rate of recombination is low (approximately two events per chromosome per generation). As a result, genes close together on a chromosome may not always be shuffled away from each other and genes that are close together tend to be inherited together, a phenomenon known as linkage. This tendency is measured by finding how often two alleles occur together on a single chromosome compared to expectations, which is called their linkage disequilibrium. A set of alleles that is usually inherited in a group is called a haplotype. This can be important when one allele in a particular haplotype is strongly beneficial: natural selection can drive a selective sweep that will also cause the other alleles in the haplotype to become more common in the population; this effect is called genetic hitchhiking or genetic draft. Genetic draft caused by the fact that some neutral genes are genetically linked to others that are under selection can be partially captured by an appropriate effective population size.
#### Sexual selection
A special case of natural selection is sexual selection, which is selection for any trait that increases mating success by increasing the attractiveness of an organism to potential mates. Traits that evolved through sexual selection are particularly prominent among males of several animal species. Although sexually favoured, traits such as cumbersome antlers, mating calls, large body size and bright colours often attract predation, which compromises the survival of individual males. This survival disadvantage is balanced by higher reproductive success in males that show these hard-to-fake, sexually selected traits.
## Natural outcomes
Evolution influences every aspect of the form and behaviour of organisms. Most prominent are the specific behavioural and physical adaptations that are the outcome of natural selection. These adaptations increase fitness by aiding activities such as finding food, avoiding predators or attracting mates. Organisms can also respond to selection by cooperating with each other, usually by aiding their relatives or engaging in mutually beneficial symbiosis. In the longer term, evolution produces new species through splitting ancestral populations of organisms into new groups that cannot or will not interbreed. These outcomes of evolution are distinguished based on time scale as macroevolution versus microevolution. Macroevolution refers to evolution that occurs at or above the level of species, in particular speciation and extinction, whereas microevolution refers to smaller evolutionary changes within a species or population, in particular shifts in allele frequency and adaptation. Macroevolution is the outcome of long periods of microevolution. Thus, the distinction between micro- and macroevolution is not a fundamental one—the difference is simply the time involved. However, in macroevolution, the traits of the entire species may be important. For instance, a large amount of variation among individuals allows a species to rapidly adapt to new habitats, lessening the chance of it going extinct, while a wide geographic range increases the chance of speciation, by making it more likely that part of the population will become isolated. In this sense, microevolution and macroevolution might involve selection at different levels—with microevolution acting on genes and organisms, versus macroevolutionary processes such as species selection acting on entire species and affecting their rates of speciation and extinction.
A common misconception is that evolution has goals, long-term plans, or an innate tendency for "progress", as expressed in beliefs such as orthogenesis and evolutionism; realistically, however, evolution has no long-term goal and does not necessarily produce greater complexity. Although complex species have evolved, they occur as a side effect of the overall number of organisms increasing, and simple forms of life still remain more common in the biosphere. For example, the overwhelming majority of species are microscopic prokaryotes, which form about half the world's biomass despite their small size and constitute the vast majority of Earth's biodiversity. Simple organisms have therefore been the dominant form of life on Earth throughout its history and continue to be the main form of life up to the present day, with complex life only appearing more diverse because it is more noticeable. Indeed, the evolution of microorganisms is particularly important to evolutionary research since their rapid reproduction allows the study of experimental evolution and the observation of evolution and adaptation in real time.
### Adaptation
Adaptation is the process that makes organisms better suited to their habitat. Also, the term adaptation may refer to a trait that is important for an organism's survival. For example, the adaptation of horses' teeth to the grinding of grass. By using the term *adaptation* for the evolutionary process and *adaptive trait* for the product (the bodily part or function), the two senses of the word may be distinguished. Adaptations are produced by natural selection. The following definitions are due to Theodosius Dobzhansky:
*Adaptation*is the evolutionary process whereby an organism becomes better able to live in its habitat or habitats.*Adaptedness*is the state of being adapted: the degree to which an organism is able to live and reproduce in a given set of habitats.- An
*adaptive trait*is an aspect of the developmental pattern of the organism which enables or enhances the probability of that organism surviving and reproducing.
Adaptation may cause either the gain of a new feature, or the loss of an ancestral feature. An example that shows both types of change is bacterial adaptation to antibiotic selection, with genetic changes causing antibiotic resistance by both modifying the target of the drug, or increasing the activity of transporters that pump the drug out of the cell. Other striking examples are the bacteria *Escherichia coli* evolving the ability to use citric acid as a nutrient in a long-term laboratory experiment, *Flavobacterium* evolving a novel enzyme that allows these bacteria to grow on the by-products of nylon manufacturing, and the soil bacterium *Sphingobium* evolving an entirely new metabolic pathway that degrades the synthetic pesticide pentachlorophenol. An interesting but still controversial idea is that some adaptations might increase the ability of organisms to generate genetic diversity and adapt by natural selection (increasing organisms' evolvability).
Adaptation occurs through the gradual modification of existing structures. Consequently, structures with similar internal organisation may have different functions in related organisms. This is the result of a single ancestral structure being adapted to function in different ways. The bones within bat wings, for example, are very similar to those in mice feet and primate hands, due to the descent of all these structures from a common mammalian ancestor. However, since all living organisms are related to some extent, even organs that appear to have little or no structural similarity, such as arthropod, squid and vertebrate eyes, or the limbs and wings of arthropods and vertebrates, can depend on a common set of homologous genes that control their assembly and function; this is called deep homology.
During evolution, some structures may lose their original function and become vestigial structures. Such structures may have little or no function in a current species, yet have a clear function in ancestral species, or other closely related species. Examples include pseudogenes, the non-functional remains of eyes in blind cave-dwelling fish, wings in flightless birds, the presence of hip bones in whales and snakes, and sexual traits in organisms that reproduce via asexual reproduction. Examples of vestigial structures in humans include wisdom teeth, the coccyx, the vermiform appendix, and other behavioural vestiges such as goose bumps and primitive reflexes.
However, many traits that appear to be simple adaptations are in fact exaptations: structures originally adapted for one function, but which coincidentally became somewhat useful for some other function in the process. One example is the African lizard *Holaspis guentheri*, which developed an extremely flat head for hiding in crevices, as can be seen by looking at its near relatives. However, in this species, the head has become so flattened that it assists in gliding from tree to tree—an exaptation. Within cells, molecular machines such as the bacterial flagella and protein sorting machinery evolved by the recruitment of several pre-existing proteins that previously had different functions. Another example is the recruitment of enzymes from glycolysis and xenobiotic metabolism to serve as structural proteins called crystallins within the lenses of organisms' eyes.
An area of current investigation in evolutionary developmental biology is the developmental basis of adaptations and exaptations. This research addresses the origin and evolution of embryonic development and how modifications of development and developmental processes produce novel features. These studies have shown that evolution can alter development to produce new structures, such as embryonic bone structures that develop into the jaw in other animals instead forming part of the middle ear in mammals. It is also possible for structures that have been lost in evolution to reappear due to changes in developmental genes, such as a mutation in chickens causing embryos to grow teeth similar to those of crocodiles. It is now becoming clear that most alterations in the form of organisms are due to changes in a small set of conserved genes.
### Coevolution
Interactions between organisms can produce both conflict and cooperation. When the interaction is between pairs of species, such as a pathogen and a host, or a predator and its prey, these species can develop matched sets of adaptations. Here, the evolution of one species causes adaptations in a second species. These changes in the second species then, in turn, cause new adaptations in the first species. This cycle of selection and response is called coevolution. An example is the production of tetrodotoxin in the rough-skinned newt and the evolution of tetrodotoxin resistance in its predator, the common garter snake. In this predator-prey pair, an evolutionary arms race has produced high levels of toxin in the newt and correspondingly high levels of toxin resistance in the snake.
### Cooperation
Not all co-evolved interactions between species involve conflict. Many cases of mutually beneficial interactions have evolved. For instance, an extreme cooperation exists between plants and the mycorrhizal fungi that grow on their roots and aid the plant in absorbing nutrients from the soil. This is a reciprocal relationship as the plants provide the fungi with sugars from photosynthesis. Here, the fungi actually grow inside plant cells, allowing them to exchange nutrients with their hosts, while sending signals that suppress the plant immune system.
Coalitions between organisms of the same species have also evolved. An extreme case is the eusociality found in social insects, such as bees, termites and ants, where sterile insects feed and guard the small number of organisms in a colony that are able to reproduce. On an even smaller scale, the somatic cells that make up the body of an animal limit their reproduction so they can maintain a stable organism, which then supports a small number of the animal's germ cells to produce offspring. Here, somatic cells respond to specific signals that instruct them whether to grow, remain as they are, or die. If cells ignore these signals and multiply inappropriately, their uncontrolled growth causes cancer.
Such cooperation within species may have evolved through the process of kin selection, which is where one organism acts to help raise a relative's offspring. This activity is selected for because if the *helping* individual contains alleles which promote the helping activity, it is likely that its kin will *also* contain these alleles and thus those alleles will be passed on. Other processes that may promote cooperation include group selection, where cooperation provides benefits to a group of organisms.
### Speciation
Speciation is the process where a species diverges into two or more descendant species.
There are multiple ways to define the concept of "species". The choice of definition is dependent on the particularities of the species concerned. For example, some species concepts apply more readily toward sexually reproducing organisms while others lend themselves better toward asexual organisms. Despite the diversity of various species concepts, these various concepts can be placed into one of three broad philosophical approaches: interbreeding, ecological and phylogenetic. The Biological Species Concept (BSC) is a classic example of the interbreeding approach. Defined by evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr in 1942, the BSC states that "species are groups of actually or potentially interbreeding natural populations, which are reproductively isolated from other such groups." Despite its wide and long-term use, the BSC like other species concepts is not without controversy, for example, because genetic recombination among prokaryotes is not an intrinsic aspect of reproduction; this is called the species problem. Some researchers have attempted a unifying monistic definition of species, while others adopt a pluralistic approach and suggest that there may be different ways to logically interpret the definition of a species.
Barriers to reproduction between two diverging sexual populations are required for the populations to become new species. Gene flow may slow this process by spreading the new genetic variants also to the other populations. Depending on how far two species have diverged since their most recent common ancestor, it may still be possible for them to produce offspring, as with horses and donkeys mating to produce mules. Such hybrids are generally infertile. In this case, closely related species may regularly interbreed, but hybrids will be selected against and the species will remain distinct. However, viable hybrids are occasionally formed and these new species can either have properties intermediate between their parent species, or possess a totally new phenotype. The importance of hybridisation in producing new species of animals is unclear, although cases have been seen in many types of animals, with the grey tree frog being a particularly well-studied example.
Speciation has been observed multiple times under both controlled laboratory conditions and in nature. In sexually reproducing organisms, speciation results from reproductive isolation followed by genealogical divergence. There are four primary geographic modes of speciation. The most common in animals is allopatric speciation, which occurs in populations initially isolated geographically, such as by habitat fragmentation or migration. Selection under these conditions can produce very rapid changes in the appearance and behaviour of organisms. As selection and drift act independently on populations isolated from the rest of their species, separation may eventually produce organisms that cannot interbreed.
The second mode of speciation is peripatric speciation, which occurs when small populations of organisms become isolated in a new environment. This differs from allopatric speciation in that the isolated populations are numerically much smaller than the parental population. Here, the founder effect causes rapid speciation after an increase in inbreeding increases selection on homozygotes, leading to rapid genetic change.
The third mode is parapatric speciation. This is similar to peripatric speciation in that a small population enters a new habitat, but differs in that there is no physical separation between these two populations. Instead, speciation results from the evolution of mechanisms that reduce gene flow between the two populations. Generally this occurs when there has been a drastic change in the environment within the parental species' habitat. One example is the grass *Anthoxanthum odoratum*, which can undergo parapatric speciation in response to localised metal pollution from mines. Here, plants evolve that have resistance to high levels of metals in the soil. Selection against interbreeding with the metal-sensitive parental population produced a gradual change in the flowering time of the metal-resistant plants, which eventually produced complete reproductive isolation. Selection against hybrids between the two populations may cause reinforcement, which is the evolution of traits that promote mating within a species, as well as character displacement, which is when two species become more distinct in appearance.
Finally, in sympatric speciation species diverge without geographic isolation or changes in habitat. This form is rare since even a small amount of gene flow may remove genetic differences between parts of a population. Generally, sympatric speciation in animals requires the evolution of both genetic differences and nonrandom mating, to allow reproductive isolation to evolve.
One type of sympatric speciation involves crossbreeding of two related species to produce a new hybrid species. This is not common in animals as animal hybrids are usually sterile. This is because during meiosis the homologous chromosomes from each parent are from different species and cannot successfully pair. However, it is more common in plants because plants often double their number of chromosomes, to form polyploids. This allows the chromosomes from each parental species to form matching pairs during meiosis, since each parent's chromosomes are represented by a pair already. An example of such a speciation event is when the plant species *Arabidopsis thaliana* and *Arabidopsis arenosa* crossbred to give the new species *Arabidopsis suecica*. This happened about 20,000 years ago, and the speciation process has been repeated in the laboratory, which allows the study of the genetic mechanisms involved in this process. Indeed, chromosome doubling within a species may be a common cause of reproductive isolation, as half the doubled chromosomes will be unmatched when breeding with undoubled organisms.
Speciation events are important in the theory of punctuated equilibrium, which accounts for the pattern in the fossil record of short "bursts" of evolution interspersed with relatively long periods of stasis, where species remain relatively unchanged. In this theory, speciation and rapid evolution are linked, with natural selection and genetic drift acting most strongly on organisms undergoing speciation in novel habitats or small populations. As a result, the periods of stasis in the fossil record correspond to the parental population and the organisms undergoing speciation and rapid evolution are found in small populations or geographically restricted habitats and therefore rarely being preserved as fossils.
### Extinction
Extinction is the disappearance of an entire species. Extinction is not an unusual event, as species regularly appear through speciation and disappear through extinction. Nearly all animal and plant species that have lived on Earth are now extinct, and extinction appears to be the ultimate fate of all species. These extinctions have happened continuously throughout the history of life, although the rate of extinction spikes in occasional mass extinction events. The Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, during which the non-avian dinosaurs became extinct, is the most well-known, but the earlier Permian–Triassic extinction event was even more severe, with approximately 96% of all marine species driven to extinction. The Holocene extinction event is an ongoing mass extinction associated with humanity's expansion across the globe over the past few thousand years. Present-day extinction rates are 100–1000 times greater than the background rate and up to 30% of current species may be extinct by the mid 21st century. Human activities are now the primary cause of the ongoing extinction event; global warming may further accelerate it in the future. Despite the estimated extinction of more than 99% of all species that ever lived on Earth, about 1 trillion species are estimated to be on Earth currently with only one-thousandth of 1% described.
The role of extinction in evolution is not very well understood and may depend on which type of extinction is considered. The causes of the continuous "low-level" extinction events, which form the majority of extinctions, may be the result of competition between species for limited resources (the competitive exclusion principle). If one species can out-compete another, this could produce species selection, with the fitter species surviving and the other species being driven to extinction. The intermittent mass extinctions are also important, but instead of acting as a selective force, they drastically reduce diversity in a nonspecific manner and promote bursts of rapid evolution and speciation in survivors.
## Applications
Concepts and models used in evolutionary biology, such as natural selection, have many applications.
Artificial selection is the intentional selection of traits in a population of organisms. This has been used for thousands of years in the domestication of plants and animals. More recently, such selection has become a vital part of genetic engineering, with selectable markers such as antibiotic resistance genes being used to manipulate DNA. Proteins with valuable properties have evolved by repeated rounds of mutation and selection (for example modified enzymes and new antibodies) in a process called directed evolution.
Understanding the changes that have occurred during an organism's evolution can reveal the genes needed to construct parts of the body, genes which may be involved in human genetic disorders. For example, the Mexican tetra is an albino cavefish that lost its eyesight during evolution. Breeding together different populations of this blind fish produced some offspring with functional eyes, since different mutations had occurred in the isolated populations that had evolved in different caves. This helped identify genes required for vision and pigmentation.
Evolutionary theory has many applications in medicine. Many human diseases are not static phenomena, but capable of evolution. Viruses, bacteria, fungi and cancers evolve to be resistant to host immune defences, as well as to pharmaceutical drugs. These same problems occur in agriculture with pesticide and herbicide resistance. It is possible that we are facing the end of the effective life of most of available antibiotics and predicting the evolution and evolvability of our pathogens and devising strategies to slow or circumvent it is requiring deeper knowledge of the complex forces driving evolution at the molecular level.
In computer science, simulations of evolution using evolutionary algorithms and artificial life started in the 1960s and were extended with simulation of artificial selection. Artificial evolution became a widely recognised optimisation method as a result of the work of Ingo Rechenberg in the 1960s. He used evolution strategies to solve complex engineering problems. Genetic algorithms in particular became popular through the writing of John Henry Holland. Practical applications also include automatic evolution of computer programmes. Evolutionary algorithms are now used to solve multi-dimensional problems more efficiently than software produced by human designers and also to optimise the design of systems.
## Evolutionary history of life
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### Origin of life
The Earth is about 4.54 billion years old. The earliest undisputed evidence of life on Earth dates from at least 3.5 billion years ago, during the Eoarchean Era after a geological crust started to solidify following the earlier molten Hadean Eon. Microbial mat fossils have been found in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone in Western Australia. Other early physical evidence of a biogenic substance is graphite in 3.7 billion-year-old metasedimentary rocks discovered in Western Greenland as well as "remains of biotic life" found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia. Commenting on the Australian findings, Stephen Blair Hedges wrote: "If life arose relatively quickly on Earth, then it could be common in the universe." In July 2016, scientists reported identifying a set of 355 genes from the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) of all organisms living on Earth.
More than 99% of all species, amounting to over five billion species, that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct. Estimates on the number of Earth's current species range from 10 million to 14 million, of which about 1.9 million are estimated to have been named and 1.6 million documented in a central database to date, leaving at least 80% not yet described.
Highly energetic chemistry is thought to have produced a self-replicating molecule around 4 billion years ago, and half a billion years later the last common ancestor of all life existed. The current scientific consensus is that the complex biochemistry that makes up life came from simpler chemical reactions. The beginning of life may have included self-replicating molecules such as RNA and the assembly of simple cells.
### Common descent
All organisms on Earth are descended from a common ancestor or ancestral gene pool. Current species are a stage in the process of evolution, with their diversity the product of a long series of speciation and extinction events. The common descent of organisms was first deduced from four simple facts about organisms: First, they have geographic distributions that cannot be explained by local adaptation. Second, the diversity of life is not a set of completely unique organisms, but organisms that share morphological similarities. Third, vestigial traits with no clear purpose resemble functional ancestral traits. Fourth, organisms can be classified using these similarities into a hierarchy of nested groups, similar to a family tree.
Due to horizontal gene transfer, this "tree of life" may be more complicated than a simple branching tree, since some genes have spread independently between distantly related species. To solve this problem and others, some authors prefer to use the "Coral of life" as a metaphor or a mathematical model to illustrate the evolution of life. This view dates back to an idea briefly mentioned by Darwin but later abandoned.
Past species have also left records of their evolutionary history. Fossils, along with the comparative anatomy of present-day organisms, constitute the morphological, or anatomical, record. By comparing the anatomies of both modern and extinct species, palaeontologists can infer the lineages of those species. However, this approach is most successful for organisms that had hard body parts, such as shells, bones or teeth. Further, as prokaryotes such as bacteria and archaea share a limited set of common morphologies, their fossils do not provide information on their ancestry.
More recently, evidence for common descent has come from the study of biochemical similarities between organisms. For example, all living cells use the same basic set of nucleotides and amino acids. The development of molecular genetics has revealed the record of evolution left in organisms' genomes: dating when species diverged through the molecular clock produced by mutations. For example, these DNA sequence comparisons have revealed that humans and chimpanzees share 98% of their genomes and analysing the few areas where they differ helps shed light on when the common ancestor of these species existed.
### Evolution of life
Prokaryotes inhabited the Earth from approximately 3–4 billion years ago. No obvious changes in morphology or cellular organisation occurred in these organisms over the next few billion years. The eukaryotic cells emerged between 1.6 and 2.7 billion years ago. The next major change in cell structure came when bacteria were engulfed by eukaryotic cells, in a cooperative association called endosymbiosis. The engulfed bacteria and the host cell then underwent coevolution, with the bacteria evolving into either mitochondria or hydrogenosomes. Another engulfment of cyanobacterial-like organisms led to the formation of chloroplasts in algae and plants.
The history of life was that of the unicellular eukaryotes, prokaryotes and archaea until around 1.7 billion years ago, when multicellular organisms began to appear, with differentiated cells performing specialised functions. The evolution of multicellularity occurred in multiple independent events, in organisms as diverse as sponges, brown algae, cyanobacteria, slime moulds and myxobacteria. In January 2016, scientists reported that, about 800 million years ago, a minor genetic change in a single molecule called GK-PID may have allowed organisms to go from a single cell organism to one of many cells.
Approximately 538.8 million years ago, a remarkable amount of biological diversity appeared over a span of around 10 million years in what is called the Cambrian explosion. Here, the majority of types of modern animals appeared in the fossil record, as well as unique lineages that subsequently became extinct. Various triggers for the Cambrian explosion have been proposed, including the accumulation of oxygen in the atmosphere from photosynthesis.
About 500 million years ago, plants and fungi colonised the land and were soon followed by arthropods and other animals. Insects were particularly successful and even today make up the majority of animal species. Amphibians first appeared around 364 million years ago, followed by early amniotes and birds around 155 million years ago (both from "reptile"-like lineages), mammals around 129 million years ago, Homininae around 10 million years ago and modern humans around 250,000 years ago. However, despite the evolution of these large animals, smaller organisms similar to the types that evolved early in this process continue to be highly successful and dominate the Earth, with the majority of both biomass and species being prokaryotes.
## History of evolutionary thought
### Classical antiquity
The proposal that one type of organism could descend from another type goes back to some of the first pre-Socratic Greek philosophers, such as Anaximander and Empedocles. Such proposals survived into Roman times. The poet and philosopher Lucretius followed Empedocles in his masterwork *De rerum natura* (lit. 'On the Nature of Things').
### Middle Ages
In contrast to these materialistic views, Aristotelianism had considered all natural things as actualisations of fixed natural possibilities, known as forms. This became part of a medieval teleological understanding of nature in which all things have an intended role to play in a divine cosmic order. Variations of this idea became the standard understanding of the Middle Ages and were integrated into Christian learning, but Aristotle did not demand that real types of organisms always correspond one-for-one with exact metaphysical forms and specifically gave examples of how new types of living things could come to be.
A number of Arab Muslim scholars wrote about evolution, most notably Ibn Khaldun, who wrote the book *Muqaddimah* in 1377, in which he asserted that humans developed from "the world of the monkeys", in a process by which "species become more numerous".
### Pre-Darwinian
The "New Science" of the 17th century rejected the Aristotelian approach. It sought to explain natural phenomena in terms of physical laws that were the same for all visible things and that did not require the existence of any fixed natural categories or divine cosmic order. However, this new approach was slow to take root in the biological sciences: the last bastion of the concept of fixed natural types. John Ray applied one of the previously more general terms for fixed natural types, "species", to plant and animal types, but he strictly identified each type of living thing as a species and proposed that each species could be defined by the features that perpetuated themselves generation after generation. The biological classification introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1735 explicitly recognised the hierarchical nature of species relationships, but still viewed species as fixed according to a divine plan.
Other naturalists of this time speculated on the evolutionary change of species over time according to natural laws. In 1751, Pierre Louis Maupertuis wrote of natural modifications occurring during reproduction and accumulating over many generations to produce new species. Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, suggested that species could degenerate into different organisms, and Erasmus Darwin proposed that all warm-blooded animals could have descended from a single microorganism (or "filament"). The first full-fledged evolutionary scheme was Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's "transmutation" theory of 1809, which envisaged spontaneous generation continually producing simple forms of life that developed greater complexity in parallel lineages with an inherent progressive tendency, and postulated that on a local level, these lineages adapted to the environment by inheriting changes caused by their use or disuse in parents. (The latter process was later called Lamarckism.) These ideas were condemned by established naturalists as speculation lacking empirical support. In particular, Georges Cuvier insisted that species were unrelated and fixed, their similarities reflecting divine design for functional needs. In the meantime, Ray's ideas of benevolent design had been developed by William Paley into the *Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity* (1802), which proposed complex adaptations as evidence of divine design and which was admired by Charles Darwin.
### Darwinian revolution
The crucial break from the concept of constant typological classes or types in biology came with the theory of evolution through natural selection, which was formulated by Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace in terms of variable populations. Darwin used the expression *descent with modification* rather than *evolution*. Partly influenced by *An Essay on the Principle of Population* (1798) by Thomas Robert Malthus, Darwin noted that population growth would lead to a "struggle for existence" in which favourable variations prevailed as others perished. In each generation, many offspring fail to survive to an age of reproduction because of limited resources. This could explain the diversity of plants and animals from a common ancestry through the working of natural laws in the same way for all types of organism. Darwin developed his theory of "natural selection" from 1838 onwards and was writing up his "big book" on the subject when Alfred Russel Wallace sent him a version of virtually the same theory in 1858. Their separate papers were presented together at an 1858 meeting of the Linnean Society of London. At the end of 1859, Darwin's publication of his "abstract" as *On the Origin of Species* explained natural selection in detail and in a way that led to an increasingly wide acceptance of Darwin's concepts of evolution at the expense of alternative theories. Thomas Henry Huxley applied Darwin's ideas to humans, using palaeontology and comparative anatomy to provide strong evidence that humans and apes shared a common ancestry. Some were disturbed by this since it implied that humans did not have a special place in the universe.
Othniel C. Marsh, America's first palaeontologist, was the first to provide solid fossil evidence to support Darwin's theory of evolution by unearthing the ancestors of the modern horse. In 1877, Marsh delivered a very influential speech before the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, providing a demonstrative argument for evolution. For the first time, Marsh traced the evolution of vertebrates from fish all the way through humans. Sparing no detail, he listed a wealth of fossil examples of past life forms. The significance of this speech was immediately recognised by the scientific community, and it was printed in its entirety in several scientific journals.
In 1880, Marsh caught the attention of the scientific world with the publication of *Odontornithes: a Monograph on Extinct Birds of North America,* which included his discoveries of birds with teeth. These skeletons helped bridge the gap between dinosaurs and birds, and provided invaluable support for Darwin's theory of evolution. Darwin wrote to Marsh saying, "Your work on these old birds & on the many fossil animals of N. America has afforded the best support to the theory of evolution, which has appeared within the last 20 years" (since Darwin's publication of *Origin of Species).*
### Pangenesis and heredity
The mechanisms of reproductive heritability and the origin of new traits remained a mystery. Towards this end, Darwin developed his provisional theory of pangenesis. In 1865, Gregor Mendel reported that traits were inherited in a predictable manner through the independent assortment and segregation of elements (later known as genes). Mendel's laws of inheritance eventually supplanted most of Darwin's pangenesis theory. August Weismann made the important distinction between germ cells that give rise to gametes (such as sperm and egg cells) and the somatic cells of the body, demonstrating that heredity passes through the germ line only. Hugo de Vries connected Darwin's pangenesis theory to Weismann's germ/soma cell distinction and proposed that Darwin's pangenes were concentrated in the cell nucleus and when expressed they could move into the cytoplasm to change the cell's structure. De Vries was also one of the researchers who made Mendel's work well known, believing that Mendelian traits corresponded to the transfer of heritable variations along the germline. To explain how new variants originate, de Vries developed a mutation theory that led to a temporary rift between those who accepted Darwinian evolution and biometricians who allied with de Vries. In the 1930s, pioneers in the field of population genetics, such as Ronald Fisher, Sewall Wright and J. B. S. Haldane set the foundations of evolution onto a robust statistical philosophy. The false contradiction between Darwin's theory, genetic mutations, and Mendelian inheritance was thus reconciled.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the modern synthesis connected natural selection and population genetics, based on Mendelian inheritance, into a unified theory that included random genetic drift, mutation, and gene flow. This new version of evolutionary theory focused on changes in allele frequencies in population. It explained patterns observed across species in populations, through fossil transitions in palaeontology.
### Further syntheses
Since then, further syntheses have extended evolution's explanatory power in the light of numerous discoveries, to cover biological phenomena across the whole of the biological hierarchy from genes to populations.
The publication of the structure of DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick with contribution of Rosalind Franklin in 1953 demonstrated a physical mechanism for inheritance. Molecular biology improved understanding of the relationship between genotype and phenotype. Advances were also made in phylogenetic systematics, mapping the transition of traits into a comparative and testable framework through the publication and use of evolutionary trees. In 1973, evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky penned that "nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution", because it has brought to light the relations of what first seemed disjointed facts in natural history into a coherent explanatory body of knowledge that describes and predicts many observable facts about life on this planet.
One extension, known as evolutionary developmental biology and informally called "evo-devo", emphasises how changes between generations (evolution) act on patterns of change within individual organisms (development). Since the beginning of the 21st century, some biologists have argued for an extended evolutionary synthesis, which would account for the effects of non-genetic inheritance modes, such as epigenetics, parental effects, ecological inheritance and cultural inheritance, and evolvability.
## Social and cultural responses
In the 19th century, particularly after the publication of *On the Origin of Species* in 1859, the idea that life had evolved was an active source of academic debate centred on the philosophical, social and religious implications of evolution. Today, the modern evolutionary synthesis is accepted by a vast majority of scientists. However, evolution remains a contentious concept for some theists.
While various religions and denominations have reconciled their beliefs with evolution through concepts such as theistic evolution, there are creationists who believe that evolution is contradicted by the creation myths found in their religions and who raise various objections to evolution. As had been demonstrated by responses to the publication of *Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation* in 1844, the most controversial aspect of evolutionary biology is the implication of human evolution that humans share common ancestry with apes and that the mental and moral faculties of humanity have the same types of natural causes as other inherited traits in animals. In some countries, notably the United States, these tensions between science and religion have fuelled the current creation–evolution controversy, a religious conflict focusing on politics and public education. While other scientific fields such as cosmology and Earth science also conflict with literal interpretations of many religious texts, evolutionary biology experiences significantly more opposition from religious literalists.
The teaching of evolution in American secondary school biology classes was uncommon in most of the first half of the 20th century. The Scopes Trial decision of 1925 caused the subject to become very rare in American secondary biology textbooks for a generation, but it was gradually re-introduced later and became legally protected with the 1968 *Epperson v. Arkansas* decision. Since then, the competing religious belief of creationism was legally disallowed in secondary school curricula in various decisions in the 1970s and 1980s, but it returned in pseudoscientific form as intelligent design (ID), to be excluded once again in the 2005 *Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District* case. The debate over Darwin's ideas did not generate significant controversy in China.
## See also
- Devolution (biology) – Notion that species can revert to primitive forms
- Chronospecies
## Bibliography
## Further reading
## External links
- General information
- "Evolution" on
*In Our Time*at the BBC - "Evolution Resources from the National Academies". Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- "Understanding Evolution: your one-stop resource for information on evolution". Berkeley, California: University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- "Evolution of Evolution – 150 Years of Darwin's 'On the Origin of Species'. Arlington County, Virginia: National Science Foundation. Archived from the original on 19 May 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- "Human Evolution Timeline Interactive". Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History. 28 January 2010. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
- "History of Evolution in the United States". Salon. Retrieved 2021-08-24.
- on YouTube
- Experiments
- Lenski, Richard E. "Experimental Evolution". East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
- Chastain, Erick; Livnat, Adi; Papadimitriou, Christos; Vazirani, Umesh (22 July 2014). "Algorithms, games, and evolution".
*PNAS*.**111**(29): 10620–10623. Bibcode:2014PNAS..11110620C. doi:10.1073/pnas.1406556111. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 4115542. PMID 24979793.
- Online lectures
- "Evolution Matters Lecture Series".
*Harvard Online Learning*. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University. Archived from the original on 18 December 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2018. - Stearns, Stephen C. "EEB 122: Principles of Evolution, Ecology and Behavior".
*Open Yale Courses*. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
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# Canadians - Wikipedia
| Total population | |
|---|---|
Canada: 41,465,298 (Q4 2024)Ethnic or cultural origins:
| |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Map of the Canadian diaspora in the world
| |
| United States | 1,062,640 |
| Hong Kong | 300,000 |
| United Kingdom | 73,000 |
| France | 60,000 |
| Lebanon | 45,000 |
| United Arab Emirates | 40,000 |
| Italy | 30,000 |
| Pakistan | 30,000 |
| Australia | 27,289 |
| China | 19,990 |
| Germany | 15,750 |
| South Korea | 14,210 |
| Japan | 11,016 |
| Languages | |
| Religion | |
**Canadians** (French: *Canadiens*) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being *Canadian*.
Canada is a multilingual and multicultural society home to people of groups of many different ethnic, religious, and national origins, with the majority of the population made up of Old World immigrants and their descendants. Following the initial period of French and then the much larger British colonization, different waves (or peaks) of immigration and settlement of non-indigenous peoples took place over the course of nearly two centuries and continue today. Elements of Indigenous, French, British, and more recent immigrant customs, languages, and religions have combined to form the culture of Canada, and thus a Canadian identity and Canadian values. Canada has also been strongly influenced by its linguistic, geographic, and economic neighbour—the United States.
Canadian independence from the United Kingdom grew gradually over the course of many years following the formation of the Canadian Confederation in 1867. The First and Second World Wars, in particular, gave rise to a desire among Canadians to have their country recognized as a fully-fledged, sovereign state, with a distinct citizenship. Legislative independence was established with the passage of the Statute of Westminster, 1931, the Canadian Citizenship Act, 1946, took effect on January 1, 1947, and full sovereignty was achieved with the patriation of the constitution in 1982. Canada's nationality law closely mirrored that of the United Kingdom. Legislation since the mid-20th century represents Canadians' commitment to multilateralism and socioeconomic development. Nearly nine in ten (87%) Canadians were proud to identify as Canadian, with over half (61%) expressing they were very proud.
## Term
The word *Canadian* originally applied, in its French form, *Canadien*, to the colonists residing in the northern part of New France— in Quebec, and Ontario—during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. The French colonists in Maritime Canada (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island), were known as Acadians.
When Prince Edward (a son of King George III) addressed, in English and French, a group of rioters at a poll in Charlesbourg, Lower Canada (today Quebec), during the election of the Legislative Assembly in June 1792, he stated, "I urge you to unanimity and concord. Let me hear no more of the odious distinction of English and French. You are all His Britannic Majesty's beloved Canadian subjects." It was the first-known use of the term *Canadian* to mean both French and English settlers in the Canadas.
## Population
As of 2010, Canadians make up 0.5% of the world's total population, having relied upon immigration for population growth and social development. Approximately 41% of current Canadians are first- or second-generation immigrants, and 20% of Canadian residents in the 2000s were not born in the country. Statistics Canada projects that, by 2031, nearly one-half of Canadians above the age of 15 will be foreign-born or have one foreign-born parent. Indigenous peoples, according to the 2016 Canadian census, numbered at 1,673,780 or 4.9% of the country's 35,151,728 population.
### Immigration
While the first contact with Europeans and Indigenous peoples in Canada had occurred a century or more before, the first group of permanent settlers were the French, who founded the New France settlements, in present-day Quebec and Ontario; and Acadia, in present-day Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, during the early part of the 17th century.
Approximately 100 Irish-born families would settle the Saint Lawrence Valley by 1700, assimilating into the *Canadien* population and culture. During the 18th and 19th century; immigration westward (to the area known as Rupert's Land) was carried out by "Voyageurs"; French settlers working for the North West Company; and by British settlers (English and Scottish) representing the Hudson's Bay Company, coupled with independent entrepreneurial woodsman called coureur des bois. This arrival of newcomers led to the creation of the Métis, an ethnic group of mixed European and First Nations parentage.
In the wake of the British Conquest of New France in 1760 and the Expulsion of the Acadians, many families from the British colonies in New England moved over into Nova Scotia and other colonies in Canada, where the British made farmland available to British settlers on easy terms. More settlers arrived during and after the American Revolutionary War, when approximately 60,000 United Empire Loyalists fled to British North America, a large portion of whom settled in New Brunswick. After the War of 1812, British (including British army regulars), Scottish, and Irish immigration was encouraged throughout Rupert's Land, Upper Canada and Lower Canada.
Between 1815 and 1850, some 800,000 immigrants came to the colonies of British North America, mainly from the British Isles as part of the Great Migration of Canada. These new arrivals included some Gaelic-speaking Highland Scots displaced by the Highland Clearances to Nova Scotia. The Great Famine of Ireland of the 1840s significantly increased the pace of Irish immigration to Prince Edward Island and the Province of Canada, with over 35,000 distressed individuals landing in Toronto in 1847 and 1848. Descendants of Francophone and Anglophone northern Europeans who arrived in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries are often referred to as Old Stock Canadians.
Beginning in the late 1850s, the immigration of Chinese into the Colony of Vancouver Island and Colony of British Columbia peaked with the onset of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. The *Chinese Immigration Act of 1885* eventually placed a head tax on all Chinese immigrants, in hopes of discouraging Chinese immigration after completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Additionally, growing South Asian immigration into British Columbia during the early 1900s led to the continuous journey regulation act of 1908 which indirectly halted Indian immigration to Canada, as later evidenced by the infamous 1914 *Komagata Maru* incident.
| Rank | Country | Number | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | 127,795 | 31.5 |
| 2 | China | 30,970 | 7.6 |
| 3 | Philippines | 17,990 | 4.4 |
| 4 | Nigeria | 15,580 | 3.8 |
| 5 | France | 12,685 | 3.1 |
| 6 | United States | 11,930 | 2.9 |
| 7 | Brazil | 11,420 | 2.8 |
| 8 | Iran | 11,285 | 2.8 |
| 9 | Afghanistan | 8,550 | 2.1 |
| 10 | Pakistan | 8,410 | 2.1 |
Top 10 Total |
256,615 | 63.3 | |
Other |
148,715 | 36.7 | |
Total |
405,330 |
100
|
The population of Canada has consistently risen, doubling approximately every 40 years, since the establishment of the Canadian Confederation in 1867. In the mid-to-late 19th century, Canada had a policy of assisting immigrants from Europe, including an estimated 100,000 unwanted "Home Children" from Britain. Block settlement communities were established throughout Western Canada between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some were planned and others were spontaneously created by the settlers themselves. Canada received mainly European immigrants, predominantly Italians, Germans, Scandinavians, Dutch, Poles, and Ukrainians.
Legislative restrictions on immigration (such as the continuous journey regulation and *Chinese Immigration Act, 1923*) that had favoured British and other European immigrants were amended in the 1960s, opening the doors to immigrants from all parts of the world. While the 1950s had still seen high levels of immigration by Europeans, by the 1970s immigrants were increasingly Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Jamaican, and Haitian. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Canada received many American Vietnam War draft dissenters. Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, Canada's growing Pacific trade brought with it a large influx of South Asians, who tended to settle in British Columbia. Immigrants of all backgrounds tend to settle in the major urban centres. The Canadian public, as well as the major political parties, are tolerant of immigrants.
The majority of illegal immigrants come from the southern provinces of the People's Republic of China, with Asia as a whole, Eastern Europe, Caribbean, Africa, and the Middle East. Estimates of numbers of illegal immigrants range between 35,000 and 120,000.
### Citizenship and diaspora
Canadian citizenship is typically obtained by birth in Canada or by birth or adoption abroad when at least one biological parent or adoptive parent is a Canadian citizen who was born in Canada or naturalized in Canada (and did not receive citizenship by being born outside of Canada to a Canadian citizen). It can also be granted to a permanent resident who lives in Canada for three out of four years and meets specific requirements. Canada established its own nationality law in 1946, with the enactment of the *Canadian Citizenship Act* which took effect on January 1, 1947. The *Immigration and Refugee Protection Act* was passed by the Parliament of Canada in 2001 as Bill C-11, which replaced the *Immigration Act, 1976* as the primary federal legislation regulating immigration. Prior to the conferring of legal status on Canadian citizenship, Canada's naturalization laws consisted of a multitude of Acts beginning with the *Immigration Act* of 1910.
According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, there are three main classifications for immigrants: *family class* (persons closely related to Canadian residents), *economic class* (admitted on the basis of a point system that accounts for age, health and labour-market skills required for cost effectively inducting the immigrants into Canada's labour market) and *refugee class* (those seeking protection by applying to remain in the country by way of the Canadian immigration and refugee law). In 2008, there were 65,567 immigrants in the family class, 21,860 refugees, and 149,072 economic immigrants amongst the 247,243 total immigrants to the country. Canada resettles over one in 10 of the world's refugees and has one of the highest per-capita immigration rates in the world.
As of a 2010 report by the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, there were 2.8 million Canadian citizens abroad. This represents about 8% of the total Canadian population. Of those living abroad, the United States, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, China, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, and Australia have the largest Canadian diaspora. Canadians in the United States constitute the greatest single expatriate community at over 1 million in 2009, representing 35.8% of all Canadians abroad. Under current Canadian law, Canada does not restrict dual citizenship, but Passport Canada encourages its citizens to travel abroad on their Canadian passport so that they can access Canadian consular services.
### Ethnic ancestry
Canadian/ Canadien English Irish Scottish French German Chinese Indian Ukrainian | Métis Acadian Mennonite Inuit Cree Ojibway Dene Heiltsuk |
According to the 2021 Canadian census, over 450 "ethnic or cultural origins" were self-reported by Canadians. The major panethnic origin groups in Canada are: European (North American (Asian (North American Indigenous (African (Central and South American (Caribbean (Oceanian (
The country's ten largest self-reported specific ethnic or cultural origins in 2021 were Canadian (accounting for 15.6 percent of the population), followed by English (14.7 percent), Irish (12.1 percent), Scottish (12.1 percent), French (11.0 percent), German (8.1 percent),Indian (5.1 percent), Chinese (4.7 percent), Italian (4.3 percent), and Ukrainian (3.5 percent).
Of the 36.3 million people enumerated in 2021 approximately 24.5 million reported being "white", representing 67.4 percent of the population. The indigenous population representing 5 percent or 1.8 million individuals, grew by 9.4 percent compared to the non-Indigenous population, which grew by 5.3 percent from 2016 to 2021. One out of every four Canadians or 26.5 percent of the population belonged to a non-White and non-Indigenous visible minority, the largest of which in 2021 were South Asian (2.6 million people; 7.1 percent), Chinese (1.7 million; 4.7 percent) and Black (1.5 million; 4.3 percent).
Between 2011 and 2016, the visible minority population rose by 18.4 percent. In 1961, less than two percent of Canada's population (about 300,000 people) were members of visible minority groups. The 2021 Census indicated that 8.3 million people, or almost one-quarter (23.0 percent) of the population reported themselves as being or having been a landed immigrant or permanent resident in Canada—above the 1921 Census previous record of 22.3 percent. In 2021 India, China, and the Philippines were the top three countries of origin for immigrants moving to Canada.
## Culture
Canadian culture is primarily a Western culture, with influences by First Nations and other cultures. It is a product of its ethnicities, languages, religions, political, and legal system(s). Canada has been shaped by waves of migration that have combined to form a unique blend of art, cuisine, literature, humour, and music. Today, Canada has a diverse makeup of nationalities and constitutional protection for policies that promote multiculturalism rather than cultural assimilation. In Quebec, cultural identity is strong, and many French-speaking commentators speak of a Quebec culture distinct from English Canadian culture. However, as a whole, Canada is a cultural mosaic: a collection of several regional, indigenous, and ethnic subcultures.
Canadian government policies such as official bilingualism; publicly funded health care; higher and more progressive taxation; outlawing capital punishment; strong efforts to eliminate poverty; strict gun control; the legalizing of same-sex marriage, pregnancy terminations, euthanasia and cannabis are social indicators of Canada's political and cultural values. American media and entertainment are popular, if not dominant, in English Canada; conversely, many Canadian cultural products and entertainers are successful in the United States and worldwide. The Government of Canada has also influenced culture with programs, laws, and institutions. It has created Crown corporations to promote Canadian culture through media, and has also tried to protect Canadian culture by setting legal minimums on Canadian content.
Canadian culture has historically been influenced by European culture and traditions, especially British and French, and by its own indigenous cultures. Most of Canada's territory was inhabited and developed later than other European colonies in the Americas, with the result that themes and symbols of pioneers, trappers, and traders were important in the early development of the Canadian identity. First Nations played a critical part in the development of European colonies in Canada, particularly for their role in assisting exploration of the continent during the North American fur trade. The British conquest of New France in the mid-1700s brought a large Francophone population under British Imperial rule, creating a need for compromise and accommodation. The new British rulers left alone much of the religious, political, and social culture of the French-speaking *habitants*, guaranteeing through the *Quebec Act* of 1774 the right of the *Canadiens* to practise the Catholic faith and to use French civil law (now Quebec law).
The *Constitution Act, 1867* was designed to meet the growing calls of Canadians for autonomy from British rule, while avoiding the overly strong decentralization that contributed to the Civil War in the United States. The compromises made by the Fathers of Confederation set Canadians on a path to bilingualism, and this in turn contributed to an acceptance of diversity.
The Canadian Armed Forces and overall civilian participation in the First World War and Second World War helped to foster Canadian nationalism, however, in 1917 and 1944, conscription crisis' highlighted the considerable rift along ethnic lines between Anglophones and Francophones. As a result of the First and Second World Wars, the Government of Canada became more assertive and less deferential to British authority. With the gradual loosening of political ties to the United Kingdom and the modernization of Canadian immigration policies, 20th-century immigrants with African, Caribbean and Asian nationalities have added to the Canadian identity and its culture. The multiple-origins immigration pattern continues today, with the arrival of large numbers of immigrants from non-British or non-French backgrounds.
Multiculturalism in Canada was adopted as the official policy of the government during the premiership of Pierre Trudeau in the 1970s and 1980s. The Canadian government has often been described as the instigator of multicultural ideology, because of its public emphasis on the social importance of immigration. Multiculturalism is administered by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration and reflected in the law through the *Canadian Multiculturalism Act* and section 27 of the *Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms*.
### Values
Canadian values are the perceived commonly shared ethical and human values of Canadians. The majority of Canadians believe they share specific values, with a plurality identifying human rights, respect for the law and gender equality as collective principles. Canadians generally exhibit pride in equality before the law, fairness, social justice, freedom, and respect for others; while often making personal decisions based on self interests rather than a collective Canadian identity. Tolerance and sensitivity hold significant importance in Canada's multicultural society, as does politeness. Historian Ian MacKay associates Canadian values with egalitarianism, equalitarianism and peacefulness.
Political scientist Denis Stairs connects values with Canadian nationalism, noting Canadians feel they hold special, virtuous values. Canada promotes its domestically shared values through its foreign relations participating in multiple international organizations. Numerous scholars have tried to identify, measure and compare Canadian values with other countries, especially the United States. However, there are critics who say that such a task is practically impossible.### Identity
Canadian identity refers to the unique culture, characteristics and condition of being Canadian, as well as the many symbols and expressions that set Canada and Canadians apart from other peoples and cultures of the world. Changes in demographics, history, and social interactions have led to alterations in the Canadian identity over time. This identity is not fixed; as Canadian values evolve they impact Canadians' social integration, civic engagement, and connections with one another.
Despite efforts, Canadians have never been able to agree on a cohesive image of their country. The notions of Canadian identity have oscillated between oneness and plurality, emphasizing either a single Canada or multiple nations. Modern Canadian identity is characterized by both unity and plurality. This pluralist approach is to find common ground and evaluate identity through regional, ethnic (including immigrants), religious and political debate. Richard Gwyn has suggested that "tolerance" has replaced "loyalty" as the touchstone of Canadian identity. Canadian Prime Ministers and journalists have defined the country as a postnational state.Nearly nine in ten (87%) Canadians were proud to identify as Canadian, with over half (61%) expressing they were very proud. The highest pride levels were for Canadian history (70%), the armed forces (64%), the health care system (64%), and the Constitution (63%). However, pride in Canada’s political influence was lower at 46%. Outside Quebec, pride ranged from 91% in British Columbia to 94% in Prince Edward Island, while 70% of Quebec residents felt proud. Seniors and women showed the most pride, especially among first- and second-generation immigrants, who valued both Canadian identity and achievements.
### Religion
Religion in Canada encompasses a wide range of beliefs and customs that historically has been dominated by Christianity. The constitution of Canada refers to 'God', however Canada has no official church and the government is officially committed to religious pluralism. Freedom of religion in Canada is a constitutionally protected right, allowing individuals to assemble and worship without limitation or interference. Rates of religious adherence have steadily decreased since the 1960s. After having once been central and integral to Canadian culture and daily life, Canada has become a post-Christian state. Although the majority of Canadians consider religion to be unimportant in their daily lives, they still believe in God. The practice of religion is generally considered a private matter throughout society and the state.
Before the European colonization, a wide diversity of Native religions and belief systems of the Indigenous peoples in Canada were largely animistic or shamanistic. The French colonization beginning in the 16th century established a Catholic French population in New France. During the colonial period, the French settled along the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, specifically Latin Church Catholics, including a number of Jesuits dedicated to converting indigenous peoples. These attempts reached a climax in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with forced integration through state-funded boarding schools run by both Catholics and Protestants that attempted to assimilate Indigenous children.
British colonization brought waves of Anglicans and other Protestants to Upper Canada, now Ontario. The settlement of the West brought significant Eastern Orthodox immigrants from Eastern Europe and Mormon and Pentecostal immigrants from the United States. The Jewish, Islamic, Jains, Sikh, Hindu, and Buddhist communities—although small—are as old as the nation itself.### Symbols
Themes of nature, pioneers, trappers, and traders played an important part in the early development of Canadian symbolism. Modern symbols emphasize the country's geography, cold climate, lifestyles, and the Canadianization of traditional European and Indigenous symbols. The use of the maple leaf as a Canadian symbol dates to the early 18th century. The maple leaf is depicted on Canada's current and previous flags and on the Arms of Canada. Canada's official tartan, known as the "maple leaf tartan", reflects the colours of the maple leaf through the seasons—green in the spring, gold in the early autumn, red at the first frost, and brown after falling. The Arms of Canada are closely modelled after those of the United Kingdom, with French and distinctive Canadian elements replacing or added to those derived from the British version.
Other prominent symbols include the national motto, "*A mari usque ad mare*" ("From Sea to Sea"), the sports of ice hockey and lacrosse, the beaver, Canada goose, common loon, Canadian horse, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Rockies, and, more recently, the totem pole and Inuksuk. Canadian beer, maple syrup, tuques, canoes, nanaimo bars, butter tarts, and poutine are defined as uniquely Canadian. Canadian coins feature many of these symbols: the loon on the $1 coin, the Arms of Canada on the 50¢ piece, and the beaver on the nickel. An image of the monarch appears on $20 bank notes and the obverse of coins.
### Languages
A multitude of languages are used by Canadians, with English and French (the official languages) being the mother tongues of approximately 56% and 21% of Canadians, respectively. As of the 2016 Census, just over 7.3 million Canadians listed a non-official language as their mother tongue. Some of the most common non-official first languages include Chinese (1,227,680 first-language speakers), Punjabi (501,680), Spanish (458,850), Tagalog (431,385), Arabic (419,895), German (384,040), and Italian (375,645). Less than one percent of Canadians (just over 250,000 individuals) can speak an indigenous language. About half this number (129,865) reported using an indigenous language on a daily basis. Additionally, Canadians speak several sign languages; the number of speakers is unknown of the most spoken ones, American Sign Language (ASL) and Quebec Sign Language (LSQ), as it is of Maritime Sign Language and Plains Sign Talk. There are only 47 speakers of the Inuit sign language Inuktitut.
English and French are recognized by the Constitution of Canada as official languages. All federal government laws are thus enacted in both English and French, with government services available in both languages. Two of Canada's territories give official status to indigenous languages. In Nunavut, Inuktitut, and Inuinnaqtun are official languages, alongside the national languages of English and French, and Inuktitut is a common vehicular language in territorial government. In the Northwest Territories, the *Official Languages Act* declares that there are eleven different languages: Chipewyan, Cree, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey, and Tłįchǫ. Multicultural media are widely accessible across the country and offer specialty television channels, newspapers, and other publications in many minority languages.
In Canada, as elsewhere in the world of European colonies, the frontier of European exploration and settlement tended to be a linguistically diverse and fluid place, as cultures using different languages met and interacted. The need for a common means of communication between the indigenous inhabitants and new arrivals for the purposes of trade, and (in some cases) intermarriage, led to the development of mixed languages. Languages like Michif, Chinook Jargon, and Bungi creole tended to be highly localized and were often spoken by only a small number of individuals who were frequently capable of speaking another language. Plains Sign Talk—which functioned originally as a trade language used to communicate internationally and across linguistic borders—reached across Canada, the United States, and into Mexico.
## See also
- Canuck
- List of Canadians
- Persons of National Historic Significance
- List of prime ministers of Canada
## Notes
## Bibliography
## Further reading
## External links
- Canada Year Book 2010 – Statistics Canada
- Canada: A People's History – Teacher Resources – Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
- Persons of National Historic Significance in Canada
[– Parks Canada*permanent dead link*] - Multicultural Canada – Department of Canadian Heritage
- The Canadian Immigrant Experience – Library and Archives Canada
- The Dictionary of Canadian Biography – Library and Archives Canada
- Canadiana: The National Bibliography of Canada – Library and Archives Canada
|
# George III - Wikipedia
| George III | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reign | 25 October 1760 – 29 January 1820 | ||||
| Coronation | 22 September 1761 | ||||
| Predecessor | George II | ||||
| Successor | George IV | ||||
| Regent | George, Prince of Wales (1811–1820) | ||||
| Born | NS] Norfolk House, St James's Square, London, England | 4 June 1738 [||||
| Died | 29 January 1820 Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England | (aged 81)||||
| Burial | 16 February 1820 | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
IssueDetail |
| ||||
| |||||
| House | Hanover | ||||
| Father | Frederick, Prince of Wales | ||||
| Mother | Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha | ||||
| Religion | Anglicanism | ||||
| Signature |
**George III** (George William Frederick; 4 June 1738 – 29 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Great Britain and Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with George as its king. He was concurrently Duke and Prince-elector of Hanover in the Holy Roman Empire before becoming King of Hanover on 12 October 1814. He was a monarch of the House of Hanover, who, unlike his two predecessors, was born in Great Britain, spoke English as his first language, and never visited Hanover.
George was born during the reign of his paternal grandfather, King George II, as the first son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. Following his father's death in 1751, Prince George became heir apparent and Prince of Wales. He succeeded to the throne on George II's death in 1760. The following year, he married Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, with whom he had 15 children. George III's life and reign were marked by a series of military conflicts involving his kingdoms, much of the rest of Europe, and places farther afield in Africa, the Americas and Asia. Early in his reign, Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War, becoming the dominant European power in North America and India. However, Britain lost 13 of its North American colonies in the American War of Independence. Further wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic France from 1793 concluded in the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. In 1807, the transatlantic slave trade was banned from the British Empire.
In the later part of his life, George had recurrent and eventually permanent mental illness. The exact nature of the mental illness is not known definitively, but historians and medical experts have suggested that his symptoms and behaviour traits were consistent with either bipolar disorder or porphyria. In 1810, George suffered a final relapse, and his eldest son, the Prince of Wales, was named Prince Regent the following year. The King died aged 81, at which time the Regent succeeded him as George IV. George III reigned during much of the Georgian and Regency eras. At the time of his death, he was the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch, having reigned for 59 years and 96 days; he remains the longest-lived and longest-reigning male monarch in British history.
## Early life
George was born in Norfolk House in St James's Square, London, on 4 June 1738. He was a grandson of King George II and the eldest son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. As he was born two months prematurely, and thought unlikely to survive, he was baptised the same day by Thomas Secker, who was both Rector of St James's Church, Piccadilly, and Bishop of Oxford. One month later, he was publicly baptised at Norfolk House, again by Secker. His godparents were King Frederick I of Sweden (for whom Lord Baltimore stood proxy), his uncle Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha (for whom Lord Carnarvon stood proxy), and his great-aunt Sophia Dorothea, Queen in Prussia (for whom Lady Charlotte Edwin stood proxy).
George grew into a healthy, reserved and shy child. The family moved to Leicester Square, where George and his younger brother Edward (later Duke of York and Albany) were educated together by private tutors. Family letters show that he could read and write in both English and German, as well as comment on political events of the time, by the age of eight. He was the first British monarch to study science systematically.
Apart from chemistry and physics, his lessons included astronomy, mathematics, French, Latin, history, music, geography, commerce, agriculture and constitutional law, along with sporting and social accomplishments such as dancing, fencing and riding. His religious education was wholly Anglican. At the age of 10, George took part in a family production of Joseph Addison's play *Cato* and said in the new prologue: "What, tho' a boy! It may with truth be said, A boy in *England* born, in England bred." Historian Romney Sedgwick argued that these lines appear "to be the source of the only historical phrase with which he is associated".
King George II disliked Prince Frederick and took little interest in his grandchildren. However, in 1751, Frederick died unexpectedly from a lung injury at the age of 44, and his son George became heir apparent to the throne and inherited his father's title of Duke of Edinburgh. The King now took more interest in his grandson and created him Prince of Wales three weeks later.
In the spring of 1756, as George approached his eighteenth birthday, the King offered him a grand establishment at St James's Palace, but George refused the offer, guided by his mother and her confidant, Lord Bute, who later served as prime minister. George's mother, now the Dowager Princess of Wales, preferred to keep George at home where she could imbue him with her strict moral values.
## Accession and marriage
In 1759, George was smitten with Lady Sarah Lennox, sister of Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond, but Lord Bute advised against the match and George abandoned his thoughts of marriage. "I am born for the happiness or misery of a great nation," he wrote, "and consequently must often act contrary to my passions." Nevertheless, George and his mother resisted attempts by the King to marry George to Princess Sophie Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Sophie Caroline instead married Frederick, Margrave of Bayreuth.
The following year, at the age of 22, George succeeded to the throne when his grandfather George II died suddenly on 25 October 1760, at age 76. The search for a suitable wife intensified: after giving consideration to a number of Protestant German princesses, George's mother sent Colonel David Graeme with, on her son's behalf, an offer of marriage to Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Charlotte accepted. While a royal household and staff were assembled for Charlotte in London, Lord Harcourt, the royal Master of the Horse, escorted her from Strelitz to London. Charlotte arrived in the afternoon of 8 September 1761 and the marriage ceremony was conducted that same evening in the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace. George and Charlotte's coronation was held at Westminster Abbey a fortnight later on 22 September. George never took a mistress (in contrast with his grandfather and his sons), and the couple enjoyed a happy marriage until his mental illness struck.
The King and Queen had 15 children—nine sons and six daughters. In 1762, George purchased Buckingham House (on the site now occupied by Buckingham Palace) for use as a family retreat. His other residences were Kew Palace and Windsor Castle. St James's Palace was retained for official use. He did not travel extensively and spent his entire life in southern England. In the 1790s, the King and his family took holidays at Weymouth, Dorset, which he thus popularised as one of the first seaside resorts in England.
## Early reign
### Early regnal years
George, in his accession speech to Parliament, proclaimed: "Born and educated in this country, I glory in the name of Britain." He inserted this phrase into the speech, written by Lord Hardwicke, to demonstrate his desire to distance himself from his German forebears, who were perceived as caring more for Hanover than for Britain. During George III's lengthy reign, Britain was a constitutional monarchy, ruled by his ministerial government and prominent men in Parliament. Although his accession was at first welcomed by politicians of all parties, the first years of his reign were marked by political instability, largely as a result of disagreements over the Seven Years' War. George came to be perceived as favouring Tory ministers, which led to his denunciation by the Whigs as an autocrat.
On his accession, the Crown lands produced relatively little income; most revenue was generated through taxes and excise duties. George surrendered the Crown Estate to Parliamentary control in return for a civil list annuity for the support of his household and the expenses of civil government. Claims that he used the income to reward supporters with bribes and gifts are disputed by historians who say such claims "rest on nothing but falsehoods put out by disgruntled opposition". Debts amounting to over £3 million over the course of George's reign were paid by Parliament, and the civil list annuity was increased from time to time. He aided the Royal Academy of Arts with large grants from his private funds, and may have donated more than half of his personal income to charity. Of his art collection, the two most notable purchases are Johannes Vermeer's *Lady at the Virginals* and a set of Canalettos, but it is as a collector of books that he is best remembered. The King's Library was open and available to scholars and was the foundation of a new national library.
### Legislation and politics
In May 1762, the incumbent Whig government of Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, was replaced with one led by Lord Bute, a Scottish Tory. Bute's opponents worked against him by spreading the calumny that he was having an affair with the King's mother, and by exploiting anti-Scottish sentiment amongst the English. John Wilkes, a member of parliament, published *The North Briton*, which was both inflammatory and defamatory in its condemnation of Bute and the government. Wilkes was eventually arrested for seditious libel but he fled to France to escape punishment; he was expelled from the House of Commons and found guilty *in absentia* of blasphemy and libel. In 1763, after concluding the Peace of Paris which ended the war, Lord Bute resigned, allowing the Whigs under George Grenville to return to power. Britain received enormous concessions, including West Florida. Britain restored to France lucrative slave-sugar islands in the West Indies, including Guadeloupe and Martinique. The treaty also ended French control over nearly all of New France; Canada was ceded to Britain in its entirety, while Louisiana was divided in two, with the eastern half (from the Allegheny Mountains to the Mississippi River) ceded to Britain and the western half, plus the city of New Orleans, ceded to Spain.
Later that year, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 placed a limit upon the westward expansion of the American colonies and created an Indian reserve. The Proclamation aimed to divert colonial expansion to the north (to Nova Scotia) and to the south (Florida), and protect the British fur trade with the Indians. The Proclamation Line did not bother the majority of settled farmers, but it was unpopular with a vocal minority. This discontent ultimately contributed to conflict between the colonists and the British government. With the American colonists generally unburdened by British taxes, the government thought it appropriate for them to pay towards the defence of the colonies against native uprisings and the possibility of French incursions.
The central issue for the colonists was not the amount of taxes but whether Parliament could levy a tax without American approval, for there were no American seats in Parliament. The Americans protested that like all Englishmen they had rights to "no taxation without representation". In 1765, Grenville introduced the Stamp Act, which levied a stamp duty on every document in the British colonies in North America. Since newspapers were printed on stamped paper, those most affected by the introduction of the duty were the most effective at producing propaganda opposing the tax.
Meanwhile, George had become exasperated at Grenville's attempts to reduce the King's prerogatives, and tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade William Pitt the Elder to accept the office of prime minister. After a brief illness, which may have presaged his illnesses to come, George settled on Lord Rockingham to form a ministry, and dismissed Grenville.
Lord Rockingham, with the support of Pitt and the King, repealed Grenville's unpopular Stamp Act. Rockingham's government was weak, and he was replaced as prime minister in 1766 by Pitt, whom George created Earl of Chatham. The actions of Lord Chatham and George III in repealing the Act were so popular in America that statues of them both were erected in New York City. Lord Chatham fell ill in 1767, and Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, took over the government. Grafton did not formally become prime minister until 1768. That year, John Wilkes returned to England, stood as a candidate in the general election, and came top of the poll in the Middlesex constituency. Wilkes was again expelled from Parliament. He was re-elected and expelled twice more, before the House of Commons resolved that his candidature was invalid and declared the runner-up as the victor. Grafton's government disintegrated in 1770, allowing the Tories led by Lord North to return to power.
### Family issues and discontent in America
George was deeply devout and spent hours in prayer, but his piety was not shared by his brothers. George was appalled by what he saw as their loose morals. In 1770, his brother Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn, was exposed as an adulterer. The following year, Henry married a young widow, Anne Horton. The King considered her inappropriate as a royal bride: she was from a lower social class and German law barred any children of the couple from the Hanoverian succession.
George insisted on a new law that essentially forbade members of the royal family from legally marrying without the consent of the sovereign. The subsequent bill was unpopular in Parliament, including among George's own ministers, but passed as the Royal Marriages Act 1772. Shortly afterwards, another of George's brothers, Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, revealed he had been secretly married to Maria, Countess Waldegrave, the illegitimate daughter of Sir Edward Walpole. The news confirmed George's opinion that he had been right to introduce the law: Maria was related to his political opponents. Neither lady was ever received at court.
Lord North's government was chiefly concerned with discontent in America. To assuage American opinion most of the custom duties were withdrawn, except for the tea duty, which in George's words was "one tax to keep up the right [to levy taxes]". In 1773, the tea ships moored in Boston Harbor were boarded by colonists and the tea was thrown overboard, an event that became known as the Boston Tea Party. In Britain, opinion hardened against the colonists, with Chatham now agreeing with North that the destruction of the tea was "certainly criminal".
With the clear support of Parliament, Lord North introduced measures, which were called the Intolerable Acts by the colonists: the Port of Boston was shut down and the charter of Massachusetts was altered so that the upper house of the legislature was appointed by the Crown instead of elected by the lower house. Up to this point, in the words of Professor Peter Thomas, George's "hopes were centred on a political solution, and he always bowed to his cabinet's opinions even when sceptical of their success. The detailed evidence of the years from 1763 to 1775 tends to exonerate George III from any real responsibility for the American Revolution." Though both the Americans and older British historians characterised George as a tyrant, in these years he acted as a constitutional monarch supporting the initiatives of his ministers.
## American War of Independence
The American War of Independence was the culmination of the civil and political American Revolution. In the 1760s, a series of acts by Parliament was met with resistance in Britain's Thirteen Colonies in America. In particular they rejected new taxes levied by Parliament, a body in which they had no direct representation. The colonies had previously enjoyed a high level of autonomy in their internal affairs and viewed Parliament's acts as a denial of their rights as Englishmen. Armed conflict began between British regulars and colonial militiamen at the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775. The Second Continental Congress sent petitions to the Crown for intervention with Parliament, but the King and Parliament ignored them. George declared the American leaders to be traitors and a year of fighting ensued. Thomas Paine's book *Common Sense* referred to George III as "the Royal Brute of Great Britain".
The colonies declared their independence in July 1776, listing twenty-seven grievances against the British king and legislature while asking the support of the populace. Among George's other offences, the declaration charged, "He has abdicated Government here ... He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people." The gilded equestrian statue of the King in New York was pulled down. The British captured the city in 1776 but lost Boston, and the grand strategic plan of invading from Canada and cutting off New England failed with the surrender of British Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne following the battles of Saratoga.
Prime Minister Lord North was not an ideal war leader, but George III managed to give Parliament a sense of purpose to fight, and North was able to keep his cabinet together. North's cabinet ministers the Earl of Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty, and Lord George Germain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, proved to lack leadership skills suited for their positions.
George III is often accused of obstinately trying to keep Great Britain at war with the rebels, despite the opinions of his own ministers. In the words of British historian George Otto Trevelyan, the King was determined "never to acknowledge the independence of the Americans, and to punish their contumacy by the indefinite prolongation of a war which promised to be eternal." He wanted to "keep the rebels harassed, anxious, and poor, until the day when, by a natural and inevitable process, discontent and disappointment were converted into penitence and remorse". Later historians defend George by saying that, in the context of the times, no king would willingly surrender such a large territory, and his conduct was far less ruthless than contemporaneous monarchs in Europe. After Saratoga, both Parliament and the British people were in favour of the war; recruitment ran at high levels and political opponents, though vocal, remained a small minority.
With the setbacks in America, Lord North asked to transfer power to Lord Chatham, whom he thought more capable, but George refused to do so; he suggested instead that Chatham serve as a subordinate minister in North's administration, but Chatham refused; he died later in the same year. North was allied to the "King's Friends" in Parliament and believed that George III had the right to exercise powers. In early 1778, Louis XVI of France (Britain's chief rival) signed a treaty of alliance with the United States. The French fleet outran the British naval blockade of the Mediterranean and sailed to America. The conflict now affected America, Europe, and India. Charles III of Spain had misgivings because of his own colonies but decided to side with France in the war in limited fashion in 1779. One faction of the Dutch Republic aided the Americans, whereas another aided Britain, whose allies included Loyalists and German auxiliaries. Lord Gower and Lord Weymouth both resigned from the government. Lord North again requested that he also be allowed to resign, but he stayed in office at George III's insistence.
During the summer of 1779, a combined French-Spanish naval fleet threatened to invade England and transport 31,000 French troops across the English Channel. George III said that Britain was confronted by the "most serious crisis the nation ever knew". In August, 66 warships entered the English channel, but sickness, hunger, and adverse winds forced the French-Spanish armada to withdraw, ending the invasion threat.
In late 1779, George III advocated sending more British warships and troops across the Atlantic to the West Indies. He boldly said: "We must risk something, otherwise we will only vegetate in this war. I own I wish either with spirit to get through it, or with a crash be ruined." In January 1780, 7,000 British troops under General Sir John Vaughan were transported to the West Indies. Nonetheless, opposition to the costly war was increasing, and in June 1780 contributed to disturbances in London known as the Gordon riots.
As late as the siege of Charleston in 1780, Loyalists could still believe in their eventual victory, as British troops inflicted defeats on the Continental forces at the Battle of Camden and the Battle of Guilford Court House. In late 1781, the news of Lord Cornwallis's surrender at the siege of Yorktown reached London; North's parliamentary support ebbed away and he resigned the following year. George drafted an abdication notice, which was never delivered. He finally accepted the defeat in America and authorized peace negotiations. Britain formally recognized the independence of the United States in the Treaties of Paris signed in 1782 and 1783. In early 1783, George III privately conceded "America is lost!" He reflected that the Northern colonies had developed into Britain's "successful rivals" in commercial trade and fishing. Up to 70,000 Loyalists fled to Canada (where they became known as the United Empire Loyalists), the Caribbean, or England.
John Adams was appointed American minister to London in 1785, by which time George had become resigned to the new relationship between his country and the former colonies. He told Adams, "I was the last to consent to the separation; but the separation having been made and having become inevitable, I have always said, as I say now, that I would be the first to meet the friendship of the United States as an independent power."
## Mid reign
### Government
With the collapse of Lord North's ministry in 1782, the Whig Lord Rockingham became prime minister for the second time, but died within months. The King then appointed Lord Shelburne to replace him. Charles James Fox, however, refused to serve under Shelburne, and demanded the appointment of William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland. In 1783, the House of Commons forced Shelburne from office and his government was replaced by the Fox–North Coalition. Portland became prime minister, with Fox and Lord North, as foreign secretary and home secretary respectively.
The King disliked Fox intensely, for his politics as well as his character: he thought Fox unprincipled and a bad influence on the Prince of Wales. George III was distressed at having to appoint ministers not of his liking, but the Portland ministry quickly built up a majority in the House of Commons, and could not be displaced easily. He was further dismayed when the government introduced the India Bill, which proposed to reform the government of India by transferring political power from the East India Company to Parliamentary commissioners. Although George actually favoured greater control over the company, the proposed commissioners were all political allies of Fox. Immediately after the House of Commons passed it, George authorised Lord Temple to inform the House of Lords that he would regard any peer who voted for the bill as his enemy. The bill was rejected by the Lords; three days later, the Portland ministry was dismissed, and William Pitt the Younger was appointed prime minister, with Temple as his secretary of state. On 17 December 1783, Parliament voted in favour of a motion condemning the influence of the monarch in parliamentary voting as a "high crime" and Temple was forced to resign. Temple's departure destabilised the government, and three months later the government lost its majority and Parliament was dissolved; the subsequent election gave Pitt a firm mandate.
Pitt's appointment was a great victory for George. It proved that the King could appoint prime ministers on the basis of his own interpretation of the public mood without having to follow the choice of the current majority in the House of Commons. Throughout Pitt's ministry, George supported many of Pitt's political aims and created new peers at an unprecedented rate to increase the number of Pitt's supporters in the House of Lords. During and after Pitt's ministry, George was extremely popular in Britain. The British people admired him for his piety and for remaining faithful to his wife. He was fond of his children and was devastated at the death of two of his sons in infancy, in 1782 and 1783 respectively. Nevertheless, he set his children a strict regimen. They were expected to attend rigorous lessons from seven in the morning and to lead lives of religious observance and virtue. When his children strayed from George's principles of righteousness, as his sons did as young adults, he was dismayed and disappointed.
### Illness
By this time, George's health was deteriorating. He had a mental illness characterised by acute mania. Until the mid-20th century, the King's illness was generally considered to be psychological. In 1966, a study by Ida Macalpine and Richard Hunter suggested that the illness was physiological, caused by the liver disorder porphyria. Although meeting with some contemporary opposition, the view subsequently gained widespread scholarly acceptance. A study of samples of George's hair published in 2005 revealed high levels of arsenic, a cause of metabolic blood disorders and thus a possible trigger for porphyria. The source of the arsenic is not known, but it could have been a component of medicines or cosmetics. The theory was also established in the public mind through influential dramatisations, such as Alan Bennett's play *The Madness of George III*, and in Nicholas Hytner's subsequent film. From 2010, this view has been increasingly challenged, and Macalpine and Hunter's study criticised. Recent scholarship discounts the porphyria theory and contends that George's illness was psychiatric, most probably bipolar disorder.
George may have had a brief episode of disease in 1765, and a longer episode began in the summer of 1788. At the end of the parliamentary session, he went to Cheltenham Spa to recuperate and in August visited the Bishop of Worcester at Hartlebury Castle and Viscount Mount Edgcumbe at Cotehele, Cornwall, with the Queen, and their daughters the Princess Royal and Princesses Augusta and Elizabeth. It was the furthest he had ever been from London, but his condition worsened. In November of that year, he became seriously deranged, sometimes speaking for many hours without pause, causing him to foam at the mouth and his voice to become hoarse. George would frequently repeat himself and write sentences with over 400 words at a time, and his vocabulary became "more complex, creative and colourful", possible symptoms of bipolar disorder. His doctors were largely at a loss to explain his illness, and spurious stories about his condition spread, such as the claim that he had shaken hands with a tree in the mistaken belief that it was the King of Prussia. Treatment for mental illness was primitive by modern standards; George's doctors, who included Francis Willis, treated the King by forcibly restraining him until he was calm, or applying caustic poultices to draw out "evil humours".
In the reconvened Parliament, Fox and Pitt wrangled over the terms of a regency during the King's incapacity. While both agreed that it would be most reasonable for the Prince of Wales to act as regent, Fox suggested, to Pitt's consternation, that it was the Prince's absolute right to act on his ill father's behalf with full powers. Pitt, fearing he would be removed from office if the Prince of Wales were empowered, argued that it was for Parliament to nominate a regent, and wanted to restrict the regent's authority. In February 1789, the Regency Bill, authorising the Prince of Wales to act as regent, was introduced and passed in the House of Commons, but before the House of Lords could pass the bill, George recovered.
## Later reign
### War in Europe
After George's recovery, his popularity, and that of Pitt, continued to increase at the expense of Fox and the Prince of Wales. His humane and understanding treatment of two insane assailants, Margaret Nicholson in 1786 and John Frith in 1790, contributed to his popularity. James Hadfield's failed attempt to shoot George in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, on 15 May 1800 was not political in origin but motivated by the apocalyptic delusions of Hadfield and Bannister Truelock. George seemed unperturbed by the incident, so much so that he fell asleep in the interval.
The French Revolution of 1789, in which the French monarchy had been overthrown, worried many British landowners. France declared war on Great Britain in 1793; in response to the crisis, George allowed Pitt to increase taxes, raise armies, and suspend the right of *habeas corpus*. Pitt prosecuted British radicals for treason in 1794, and in October 1795, crowds attacked George's carriage on his way to opening Parliament, demanding an end to the war and lower bread prices. In response, Parliament passed the Treason and Seditious Meetings Acts a month later. The First Coalition to oppose revolutionary France, which included Austria, Prussia, and Spain, broke up in 1795 when Prussia and Spain made separate peace with France. The Second Coalition, which included Austria, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire, was defeated in 1800. Only Great Britain was left fighting Napoleon Bonaparte, the First Consul of the French Republic.
A brief lull in hostilities allowed Pitt to concentrate effort on Ireland, where there had been an uprising and attempted French landing in 1798. In 1800, the British and Irish Parliaments passed an Act of Union that took effect on 1 January 1801 and united Great Britain and Ireland into a single state, known as the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland". George used the opportunity to abandon the title "king of France", which English and British sovereigns had maintained since the reign of Edward III. It was suggested that George adopt the title "Emperor of the British Isles", but he refused. As part of his Irish policy, Pitt planned to remove certain legal disabilities that applied to Roman Catholics. George III claimed that to emancipate Catholics would be to violate his coronation oath, in which sovereigns promise to maintain Protestantism. Faced with opposition to his religious reform policies from both the King and the British public, Pitt threatened to resign. At about the same time, George had a relapse of his previous illness, which he blamed on worry over the Catholic question. On 14 March 1801, Pitt was formally replaced by the Speaker of the House of Commons, Henry Addington. Addington opposed emancipation, instituted annual accounts, abolished income tax and began a programme of disarmament. In October 1801, he made peace with the French, and in 1802 signed the Treaty of Amiens.
George did not consider the peace with France as real; in his view it was an "experiment". The war resumed in 1803, but public opinion distrusted Addington to lead the nation in war, and instead favoured Pitt. An invasion of England by Napoleon seemed imminent, and a massive volunteer movement arose to defend England against the French. George's review of 27,000 volunteers in Hyde Park, London, on 26 and 28 October 1803 and at the height of the invasion scare, attracted an estimated 500,000 spectators on each day. *The Times* said: "The enthusiasm of the multitude was beyond all expression." A courtier wrote on 13 November that "The King is really prepared to take the field in case of attack, his beds are ready and he can move at half an hour's warning." George wrote to his friend Bishop Hurd, "We are here in daily expectation that Bonaparte will attempt his threatened invasion ... Should his troops effect a landing, I shall certainly put myself at the head of mine, and my other armed subjects, to repel them." After Admiral Lord Nelson's famous naval victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, the possibility of invasion was extinguished.
In 1804, George's recurrent illness returned; after his recovery, Addington resigned and Pitt regained power. Pitt sought to appoint Fox to his ministry, but George refused. Lord Grenville perceived an injustice to Fox, and refused to join the new ministry. Pitt concentrated on forming a coalition with Austria, Russia, and Sweden. This Third Coalition, however, met the same fate as the First and Second Coalitions, collapsing in 1805. The setbacks in Europe took a toll on Pitt's health, and he died in 1806, reopening the question of who should serve in the ministry. Grenville became prime minister, and his "Ministry of All the Talents" included Fox. Grenville pushed through the Slave Trade Act 1807, which passed both houses of Parliament with large majorities. George was conciliatory towards Fox, after being forced to capitulate over his appointment. After Fox's death in September 1806, the King and ministry were in open conflict. To boost recruitment, the ministry proposed a measure in February 1807 whereby Roman Catholics would be allowed to serve in all ranks of the armed forces. George instructed them not only to drop the measure, but also to agree never to set up such a measure again. The ministers agreed to drop the measure then pending, but refused to bind themselves in the future. They were dismissed and replaced by the Duke of Portland, as the nominal prime minister, with actual power being held by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Spencer Perceval. Parliament was dissolved, and the subsequent election gave the ministry a strong majority in the House of Commons. George III made no further major political decisions during his reign; the replacement of Portland by Perceval in 1809 was of little real significance.
### Final years
In late 1810, at the height of his popularity, King George, already virtually blind with cataracts and in pain from rheumatism, suffered a relapse into his mental disorder and became dangerously ill. In his view, the malady had been triggered by stress over the death of his youngest and favourite daughter, Princess Amelia. The princess's nurse reported that "the scenes of distress and crying every day ... were melancholy beyond description." George accepted the need for the Regency Act 1811, and the Prince of Wales (later George IV) acted as regent for the remainder of the King's life. Despite signs of a recovery in May 1811, by the end of the year, George III had become permanently insane, and lived in seclusion at Windsor Castle until his death.
Prime Minister Spencer Perceval was assassinated in 1812 and was replaced by Lord Liverpool. Liverpool oversaw British victory in the Napoleonic Wars. The subsequent Congress of Vienna led to significant territorial gains for Hanover, which was elevated from an electorate to a kingdom. Meanwhile, George's health deteriorated. He developed dementia, and became completely blind and increasingly deaf. He was incapable of knowing or understanding that he was declared King of Hanover in 1814, or that his wife died in 1818. At Christmas 1819, he spoke nonsense for 58 hours, and for the last few weeks of his life was unable to walk.
He died of pneumonia at Windsor Castle at 8:38 pm on 29 January 1820, six days after the death of his fourth son Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn. His favourite son, Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, was with him. George III lay in state for two days, and his funeral and interment took place on 16 February in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
## Slavery
Over the course of George's reign, a coalition of abolitionists and Atlantic slave uprisings caused the British public to spurn slavery. According to the historian Andrew Roberts, "George never bought or sold a slave in his life. He never invested in any of the companies that did such a thing. He signed legislation to abolish slavery." George wrote a document in the 1750s "denouncing all of the arguments for slavery, and calling them an execration and ridiculous and 'absurd'", but the King and his son, the Duke of Clarence, supported the efforts of the London Society of West India Planters and Merchants to delay the abolition of the British slave trade for almost 20 years. William Pitt the Younger conversely wished to see slavery abolished but, because the cabinet was divided and the King was in the pro-slavery camp,[ better source needed] Pitt decided to refrain from making abolition official government policy. Instead, he worked toward abolition in an individual capacity.
On 7 November 1775, during the American War of Independence, John Murray, Lord Dunmore, issued a proclamation that offered freedom to the slaves of rebel masters if they enlisted to put down the colonial rebellion. Dunmore was the last Royal Governor of Virginia, appointed by King George III in July 1771. Dunmore's Proclamation inspired slaves to escape from captivity and fight for the British. On 30 June 1779, George III's Commanding General Henry Clinton broadened Dunmore's proclamation with his Philipsburg Proclamation. For all colonial slaves who fled their rebel masters, Clinton forbade their recapture and resale, giving them protection by the British military. Approximately 20,000 freed slaves joined the British, fighting for George III. In 1783, given British certificates of freedom, 3,000 former slaves, including their families, settled in Nova Scotia.
Between 1791 and 1800, almost 400,000 Africans were shipped to the Americas by 1,340 slaving voyages mounted from British ports. On 25 March 1807, George III signed into law *An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade*, under which the transatlantic slave trade was banned in the British Empire.
## Legacy
George was succeeded by two of his sons, George IV and William IV in turn, who both died without surviving legitimate children, leaving the throne to Victoria, the only legitimate child of his fourth son Prince Edward.
George III lived for 81 years and 239 days, and reigned for 59 years and 96 days: both his life and his reign were longer than those of any of his predecessors and subsequent kings; only queens Victoria and Elizabeth II lived and reigned longer.
George III was dubbed "Farmer George" by satirists, at first to mock his interest in mundane matters rather than politics, but later to portray him as a man of the people, contrasting his homely thrift with his son's grandiosity. Under George III, the British Agricultural Revolution reached its peak and great advances were made in fields such as science and industry. There was unprecedented growth in the rural population, which in turn provided much of the workforce for the concurrent Industrial Revolution. George's collection of mathematical and scientific instruments is now owned by King's College London but housed in the Science Museum, London, to which it has been on long-term loan since 1927. He had the King's Observatory built in Richmond-upon-Thames for his own observations of the 1769 transit of Venus. When William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781, he at first named it *Georgium Sidus* (George's Star) after the King, who later funded the construction and maintenance of Herschel's 1785 40-foot telescope, which at the time was the biggest ever built.
George III hoped that "the tongue of malice may not paint my intentions in those colours she admires, nor the sycophant extoll me beyond what I deserve" but, in the popular mind, George III has been both demonised and praised. While very popular at the start of his reign, by the mid-1770s George had lost the loyalty of revolutionary American colonists, though it has been estimated that as many as half of the colonists remained loyal. The grievances in the United States Declaration of Independence were presented as "repeated injuries and usurpations" that he had committed to establish an "absolute Tyranny" over the colonies. The declaration's wording has contributed to the American public's perception of George as a tyrant. Contemporary accounts of George III's life fall into two camps: one demonstrating "attitudes dominant in the latter part of the reign, when the King had become a revered symbol of national resistance to French ideas and French power", while the other "derived their views of the King from the bitter partisan strife of the first two decades of the reign, and they expressed in their works the views of the opposition".
Building on the latter of these two assessments, British historians of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, such as Trevelyan and Erskine May, promoted hostile interpretations of George III's life. However, in the mid-twentieth century the work of Lewis Namier, who thought George was "much maligned", started a re-evaluation of the man and his reign. Scholars of the later twentieth century, such as Butterfield and Pares, and Macalpine and Hunter, are inclined to treat George sympathetically, seeing him as a victim of circumstance and illness. Butterfield rejected the arguments of his Victorian predecessors with withering disdain: "Erskine May must be a good example of the way in which an historian may fall into error through an excess of brilliance. His capacity for synthesis, and his ability to dovetail the various parts of the evidence ... carried him into a more profound and complicated elaboration of error than some of his more pedestrian predecessors ... he inserted a doctrinal element into his history which, granted his original aberrations, was calculated to project the lines of his error, carrying his work still further from centrality or truth." In pursuing war with the American colonists, George III believed he was defending the right of an elected Parliament to levy taxes, rather than seeking to expand his own power or prerogatives. In the opinion of modern scholars, during the long reign of George III, the monarchy continued to lose its political power and grew as the embodiment of national morality.
### Titles and styles
- 4 June 1738 – 31 March 1751:
*His Royal Highness*Prince George - 31 March 1751 – 20 April 1751:
*His Royal Highness*The Duke of Edinburgh - 20 April 1751 – 25 October 1760:
*His Royal Highness*The Prince of Wales - 25 October 1760 – 29 January 1820:
*His Majesty*The King
In Great Britain, George III used the official style "George the Third, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, and so forth". In 1801, when Great Britain united with Ireland, he dropped the title of king of France, which had been used for every English monarch since Edward III's claim to the French throne in the medieval period. His style became "George the Third, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith."
In Germany, he was "Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg, Arch-Treasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire" (*Herzog von Braunschweig und Lüneburg, Erzschatzmeister und Kurfürst des Heiligen Römischen Reiches*) until the end of the empire in 1806. He then continued as duke until the Congress of Vienna declared him "King of Hanover" in 1814.
### Honours
- Great Britain: Royal Knight of the Garter,
*22 June 1749* - Ireland: Founder of the Most Illustrious Order of St. Patrick,
*5 February 1783*
### Arms
Before his succession, George was granted the royal arms differenced by a label of five points Azure, the centre point bearing a fleur-de-lis Or on 27 July 1749. Upon his father's death, and along with the dukedom of Edinburgh and the position of heir-apparent, he inherited his difference of a plain label of three points Argent. In an additional difference, the crown of Charlemagne was not usually depicted on the arms of the heir, only on the Sovereign's.
From his succession until 1800, George bore the royal arms: Quarterly, I Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or (for England) impaling Or a lion rampant within a tressure flory-counter-flory Gules (for Scotland); II Azure three fleurs-de-lys Or (for France); III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent (for Ireland); IV tierced per pale and per chevron (for Hanover), I Gules two lions passant guardant Or (for Brunswick), II Or a semy of hearts Gules a lion rampant Azure (for Lüneburg), III Gules a horse courant Argent (for Saxony), overall an escutcheon Gules charged with the crown of Charlemagne Or (for the dignity of Archtreasurer of the Holy Roman Empire).
Following the Acts of Union 1800, the royal arms were amended, dropping the French quartering. They became: Quarterly, I and IV England; II Scotland; III Ireland; overall an escutcheon of Hanover surmounted by an electoral bonnet. In 1816, after the Electorate of Hanover became a kingdom, the electoral bonnet was changed to a crown.
## Issue
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| George IV | 12 August 1762 | 26 June 1830 | Prince of Wales 1762–1820; married 1795, Princess Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel; had one daughter: Princess Charlotte |
| Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany | 16 August 1763 | 5 January 1827 | Married 1791, Princess Frederica of Prussia; no issue |
| William IV | 21 August 1765 | 20 June 1837 | Duke of Clarence and St Andrews; married 1818, Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen; no surviving legitimate issue, but had illegitimate children with Dorothea Jordan |
| Charlotte, Princess Royal | 29 September 1766 | 6 October 1828 | Married 1797, King Frederick of Württemberg; no surviving issue |
| Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn | 2 November 1767 | 23 January 1820 | Married 1818, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld; had one daughter: Queen Victoria |
| Princess Augusta Sophia | 8 November 1768 | 22 September 1840 | Never married, no issue |
| Princess Elizabeth | 22 May 1770 | 10 January 1840 | Married 1818, Frederick VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg; no issue |
| Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover | 5 June 1771 | 18 November 1851 | Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale 1799–1851; married 1815, Princess Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; had one son: George V of Hanover |
| Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex | 27 January 1773 | 21 April 1843 | (1) Married 1793, in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act 1772, Lady Augusta Murray; had issue; marriage annulled 1794 (2) Married 1831, Lady Cecilia Buggin (later Duchess of Inverness in her own right); no issue |
| Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge | 24 February 1774 | 8 July 1850 | Married 1818, Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel; had issue |
| Princess Mary | 25 April 1776 | 30 April 1857 | Married 1816, Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh; no issue |
| Princess Sophia | 3 November 1777 | 27 May 1848 | Never married, no issue |
| Prince Octavius | 23 February 1779 | 3 May 1783 | Died in childhood |
| Prince Alfred | 22 September 1780 | 20 August 1782 | Died in childhood |
| Princess Amelia | 7 August 1783 | 2 November 1810 | Never married, no issue |
## Ancestry
| Ancestors of George III |
|---|
## See also
## Notes
### Bibliography
- Ayling, Stanley Edward (1972).
*George the Third*. London: Collins. ISBN 0-00-211412-7. - Benjamin, Lewis Saul (1907).
*Farmer George*. Pitman and Sons. - Baer, Marc (22 December 2021). "George III (1738–1820)". Encyclopedia Virginia.
- Black, Jeremy (2006).
*George III: America's Last King*. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-11732-9. - Brooke, John (1972).
*King George III*. London: Constable. ISBN 0-09-456110-9. - Bullion, John L. (1994). "George III on Empire, 1783".
*The William and Mary Quarterly*.**51**(2). Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture: 305–310. doi:10.2307/2946866. JSTOR 2946866. - Butterfield, Herbert (1957).
*George III and the Historians*. London: Collins. - Cannon, John (2004). "George III (1738–1820)".
*Oxford Dictionary of National Biography*. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/10540.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.) - Cannon, John; Griffiths, Ralph (1988).
*The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy*. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-822786-8. - Carretta, Vincent (1990).
*George III and the Satirists from Hogarth to Byron*. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press. ISBN 0-8203-1146-4. - Chernow, Ron (2010).
*Washington: A Life*. Penguin Press. ISBN 978-1-59420-266-7. - Colley, Linda (2005).
*Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707–1837*. Yale University Press. ISBN 0300107595. - Fraser, Antonia (1975).
*The Lives of the Kings and Queen of England*. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-76911-1. - Hibbert, Christopher (1999).
*George III: A Personal History*. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-025737-3. - Medley, Dudley Julius (1902).
*A Student's Manual of English Constitutional History*. p. 501. - O'Shaughnessy, Andrew Jackson (2013).
*The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire*. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300191073. - Pares, Richard (1953).
*King George III and the Politicians*. Oxford University Press. - Reitan, E. A., ed. (1964).
*George III, Tyrant Or Constitutional Monarch?*. Boston: D. C. Heath and Company. - Roberts, Andrew (2023).
*George III: The Life and Reign of Britain's Most Misunderstood Monarch*. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-141-99146-7. OCLC 1334883294. - Röhl, John C. G.; Warren, Martin; Hunt, David (1998).
*Purple Secret: Genes, "Madness" and the Royal Houses of Europe*. London: Bantam Press. ISBN 0-593-04148-8. - Sedgwick, Romney, ed. (1903).
*Letters from George III to Lord Bute, 1756–1766*. Macmillan. - Simms, Brendan; Riotte, Torsten (2007).
*The Hanoverian Dimension in British History, 1714–1837*. Cambridge University Press. - Taylor, Alan (2016).
*American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750–1804*. New York City: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-393-35476-8. - Thomas, Peter D. G. (1985). "George III and the American Revolution".
*History*.**70**(228): 16–31. doi:10.1111/j.1468-229X.1985.tb02477.x. - Trevelyan, George (1912).
*George the Third and Charles Fox: The Concluding Part of the American Revolution*. New York: Longmans, Green. - Watson, J. Steven (1960).
*The Reign of George III, 1760–1815*. London: Oxford University Press. - Weir, Alison (1996).
*Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy*(Revised ed.). London: Random House. ISBN 0-7126-7448-9. - Wheeler, H. F. B.; Broadley, A. M. (1908).
*Napoleon and the Invasion of England. Volume I*. London: John Lane The Bodley Head. - Willcox, William B.; Arnstein, Walter L. (1988).
*The Age of Aristocracy 1688 to 1830*(Fifth ed.). D.C. Heath and Company. ISBN 0-669-13423-6.
## Further reading
- Black, Jeremy (1996). "Could the British Have Won the American War of Independence?".
*Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research*.**74**(299): 145–154. JSTOR 44225322.Online 90-minute video lecture given at Ohio State in 2006; requires Real Player. - Butterfield, Herbert (1965). "Some Reflections on the Early Years of George III's Reign".
*Journal of British Studies*.**4**(2): 78–101. doi:10.1086/385501. JSTOR 175147. S2CID 162958860. - Ditchfield, G. M. (31 October 2002).
*George III: An Essay in Monarchy*. Palgrave Macmillan UK. ISBN 978-0333919620. - Golding, Christopher T. (2017).
*At Water's Edge: Britain, Napoleon, and the World, 1793–1815*. Temple University Press. - Hadlow, Janice (2014).
*A Royal Experiment: The Private Life of King George III*. Henry Holt and Company. - Hecht, J. Jean (1966). "The Reign of George III in Recent Historiography". In Furber, Elizabeth Chapin (ed.).
*Changing views on British history: essays on historical writing since 1939*. Harvard University Press. pp. 206–234. - Macalpine, Ida; Hunter, Richard (1966). "The 'insanity' of King George III: a classic case of porphyria".
*Br. Med. J*.**1**(5479): 65–71. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.5479.65. PMC 1843211. PMID 5323262. - Macalpine, I.; Hunter, R.; Rimington, C. (1968). "Porphyria in the Royal Houses of Stuart, Hanover, and Prussia".
*British Medical Journal*.**1**(5583): 7–18. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.5583.7. PMC 1984936. PMID 4866084. - Namier, Lewis B. (1955). "King George III: A Study in Personality".
*Personalities and Power*. London: Hamish Hamilton. - O'Shaughnessy, Andrew Jackson (Spring 2004). "
*Early American Studies*.**2**(1): iii, 1–46. doi:10.1353/eam.2007.0037. S2CID 143613757. - Roberts, Andrew (2021).
*The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III*. Viking Press. ISBN 978-1984879264. - Robertson, Charles Grant (1911).
*England under the Hanoverians*. London: Methuen. - Robson, Eric (1952). "The American Revolution Reconsidered".
*History Today*.**2**(2): 126–132. - Smith, Robert A. (1984). "Reinterpreting the Reign of George III". In Schlatter, Richard (ed.).
*Recent Views on British History: Essays on Historical Writing since 1966*. Rutgers University Press. pp. 197–254.
## External links
- George III at the official website of the British monarchy
- George III at the official website of the Royal Collection Trust
- George III at BBC History
- Portraits of King George III at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- Georgian Papers Programme
- George III papers, including references to madhouses and insanity from the Historic Psychiatry Collection, Menninger Archives, Kansas Historical Society
- Newspaper clippings about George III in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
- "Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade – Estimates".
*slavevoyages.org*.
|
# Anfield - Wikipedia
| Full name | Anfield |
|---|---|
| Address | Anfield Road |
| Location | Anfield Liverpool, Merseyside, England L4 0TH |
| Public transit | Kirkdale |
| Owner | Liverpool |
| Operator | Liverpool |
| Executive suites | 64 |
| Capacity | 61,276 |
| Record attendance | 61,905 (Liverpool–Wolverhampton Wanderers, 2 February 1952) |
| Field size | 101 by 68 metres (110.5 yd × 74.4 yd) |
| Surface | GrassMaster |
| Construction | |
| Built | 1884 |
| Opened | 1884 |
| Renovated | 1895, 1903, 1906, 1928, 1957, 1963, 1973, 1982, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2014–2016, 2021–2024 |
| Tenants | |
| Everton (1884–1892) Liverpool (1892–present) |
**Anfield** is a football stadium in the area of Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the fifth largest stadium in England. It was originally the home of Everton from 1884 to 1891, before they moved to Goodison Park after a dispute with the club president.
The stadium has four stands: the Spion Kop, the Main Stand, the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand and the Anfield Road End. The record attendance of 61,905 was set at a match between Liverpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1952. The ground converted to an all-seater stadium in 1994 as a result of the Taylor Report, which reduced its capacity.
Two gates at the stadium are named after former Liverpool managers: Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley. Both managers have been honoured with statues outside the stadium: Shankly's unveiled in 1997 by the Kop Stand and Paisley's in 2020 by the Main Stand. The ground is 2 miles (3 km) from Liverpool Lime Street railway station.
It was proposed in 2002 for the club to relocate to a new stadium in the adjacent Stanley Park, but after the acquisition of Liverpool by Fenway Sports Group in 2010, it was made clear this would not happen, with the decision being taken to expand Anfield instead. Construction for an extension to the main stand began on 8 December 2014. This extension, one of the largest all-seater single stands in European football, opened to the public on 9 September 2016, increasing the stadium capacity to 54,074. The Anfield Road Stand redevelopment completed in 2024 increased the stadium capacity to over 61,000.
The stadium is named after the surrounding area, Anfield. The word originated in the combination of Old and Middle English words, which mean "a field on a slope". Anfield, and its deviations, has been associated with the area since at least 1642. It has been suggested that the name is linked to the influx of Irish people into the spreading city in the 1850s, and was associated with Annefield, outside New Ross, County Wexford, Ireland. Opened in 1884, Anfield was originally owned by John Orrell, a minor landowner who was a friend of Everton member John Houlding. Everton, who previously played at Priory Road, were in need of a new venue owing to the noise produced by the crowd on match days. Orrell lent the pitch to the club in exchange for a small rent. The first match at the ground was between Everton and Earlestown on 28 September 1884, which Everton won 5–0. During Everton's tenure at the stadium, stands were erected for some of the 8,000-plus spectators regularly attending matches, although the ground was capable of holding around 20,000 spectators and occasionally did. The ground was considered of international standard at the time, playing host to the British Home Championship match between England and Ireland in 1889. Anfield's first league match was played on 8 September 1888, between Everton and Accrington F.C. Everton quickly improved as a team, and became Anfield's first league champions in the 1890–91 season.
In 1892, negotiations to purchase the land at Anfield from Orrell escalated into a dispute between Houlding and the Everton committee over how the club was run. Events culminated in Everton's move to Goodison Park. Houlding was left with an empty stadium, and decided to form a new club to occupy it. The new team was called Liverpool F.C. and Athletic Grounds Ltd, and the club's first match at Anfield was a friendly played in front of 200 people on 1 September 1892, against Rotherham Town. Liverpool won 7–1.
Liverpool's first Football League match at Anfield was played on 9 September 1893, against Lincoln City. Liverpool won 4–0 in front of 5,000 spectators. A new stand capable of holding 3,000 spectators was constructed in 1895 on the site of the present Main Stand. Designed by architect Archibald Leitch, the stand had a distinctive red and white gable, and was similar to the main stand at Newcastle United's ground St James' Park. Another stand was constructed at the Anfield Road end in 1903, built from timber and corrugated iron. After Liverpool had won their second League championship in 1906, a new stand was built along the Walton Breck Road. Local journalist Ernest Edwards, who was the sports editor of newspapers the *Liverpool Daily Post* and *Echo*, named it the Spion Kop; it was named after a famous hill in South Africa where a local regiment had suffered heavy losses during the Boer War in 1900. More than 300 men had died, many of them from Liverpool, as the British army attempted to capture the strategic hilltop. Around the same period a stand was also built along Kemlyn Road.
On 14 February 1921, Scouse comedian Harry Weldon invited Dick, Kerr Ladies to Anfield to compete in a match between themselves and a side made up of the best players from the rest of Britain, for The Harry Weldon Cup in aid of unemployed ex-servicemen. Weldon’s side was made up of the best individual players from teams throughout the UK, with one player even travelling from the island of Unst in the Shetland Isles. 25,000 fans were in attendance that day as Dick, Kerr Ladies went on to emphatically win 9-1. The trophy is now on display at the National Football Museum in Manchester.
The ground remained much the same until 1928, when the Kop was redesigned and extended to hold 30,000 spectators, all standing. A roof was erected as well. Many stadia in England had stands named after the Spion Kop. Anfield's was the largest Kop in the country at the time—it was able to hold more supporters than some entire football grounds. In the same year the topmast of the SS *Great Eastern*, one of the first iron ships, was rescued from the ship breaking yard at nearby Rock Ferry, and was hauled up Everton Valley by a team of horses, to be erected alongside the new Kop. It still stands there, serving as a flag pole.
Floodlights were installed at a cost of £12,000 in 1957. On 30 October they were switched on for the first time for a match against Everton to commemorate the 75-year anniversary of the Liverpool County Football Association. In 1963 the old Kemlyn Road stand was replaced by a cantilevered stand, built at a cost of £350,000, accommodating 6,700 spectators. Two years later alterations were made at the Anfield Road end, turning it into a larger covered standing area with refreshments under the structure. The biggest redevelopment came in 1973, when the old Main Stand was partially demolished and extended backwards with new roof. Simultaneously the concrete pylon floodlights were demolished with new lights installed along the rooflines of the Kemlyn Road and Main Stands. The new stand was officially opened by the Duke of Kent on 10 March 1973. In the 1980s the paddock in front of the Main Stand was turned into seating, and in 1982 seats were introduced at the Anfield Road end. The Shankly Gates were erected in 1982, a tribute to former manager Bill Shankly; his widow Nessie unlocked them for the first time on 26 August 1982. Across the Shankly Gates are the words *You'll Never Walk Alone*, the title of the hit song by Gerry and the Pacemakers adopted by Liverpool fans as the club's anthem during Shankly's time as manager.
Coloured seats and a police room were added to the Kemlyn Road stand in 1987. After the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 when Police mismanagement led to overcrowding and the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans, the Taylor Report recommended that all grounds in the country should be converted into all-seater grounds by May 1994. A second tier was added to the Kemlyn Road stand in 1992, turning it into a double-decker layout. It included executive boxes and function suites as well as 11,000 seating spaces. Plans to expand the stand had been made earlier, with the club buying up houses on Kemlyn Road during the 1970s, and 1980s, but had to be put on hold until 1990 because two sisters, Joan and Nora Mason, refused to sell their house. When the club reached an agreement with the sisters in 1990, the expansion plans were put into action. The stand—renamed the Centenary Stand—was officially opened on 1 September 1992 by UEFA president Lennart Johansson. The Kop was rebuilt in 1994 after the recommendations of the Taylor Report and became all seated; it is still a single tier, and the capacity was significantly reduced to 12,390.
On 4 December 1997, a bronze statue of Bill Shankly was unveiled at the visitors' centre in front of the Kop. Standing at over 8 feet (2.4 m) tall, the statue depicts Shankly with a fan's scarf around his neck, in a familiar pose he adopted when receiving applause from fans. Inscribed on the statue are the words "Bill Shankly – He Made The People Happy". The Hillsborough memorial was situated alongside the Shankly Gates before it was moved next to 97 Avenue in front of the redeveloped main stand in 2016. The memorial is always decorated with flowers and tributes to the 97 people who died as a result of the disaster. At the centre of the memorial is an eternal flame, signifying that those who died will never be forgotten.
In 1998 a new two-tier Anfield Road end was opened. The stand has encountered a number of problems since its redevelopment; at the beginning of the 1999–2000 season, a series of support poles and stanchions had to be brought in to give extra stability to the top tier of the stand. During Ronnie Moran's testimonial match against Celtic, many fans complained of movement of the top tier. At the same time that the stanchions were inserted, the executive seating area was expanded by two rows in the main stand, lowering the seating capacity in the paddock.
On 30 January 2020, a bronze statue of Bob Paisley was unveiled outside the Main Stand in Paisley Square. The statue was commissioned and donated by the club's main sponsor, Standard Chartered, to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of the relationship with the club. The statue is 8 ft (2.4 m) tall and depicts an iconic image of the club's history, Paisley carrying future club captain Emlyn Hughes off the field during a match against Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield in April 1968.
Anfield has 60,725 seats split between four stands: the Anfield Road end, the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand, the Kop, and the Main Stand. The Anfield Road end and Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand are two-tiered, while the Kop is single-tiered and the Main Stand three-tiered. Entry to the stadium is gained by radio-frequency identification (RFID) smart cards rather than the traditional staffed turnstile. This system, used in all 80 turnstiles around Anfield, was introduced in 2005.
Plans to replace Anfield with a new 60,000-capacity stadium in adjacent Stanley Park were initiated in 2002. The plans were revisited under the ownership of Tom Hicks and George Gillett. Following the acquisition of Liverpool by Fenway Sports Group (then known as New England Sports Ventures (NESV)) in 2010, the owners abandoned the proposed new stadium in Stanley Park, preferring instead to redevelop and expand Anfield, thus echoing their decision to renovate Fenway Park.
The Kop is a large single-tiered stand. Originally a large terraced banking providing accommodation for more than 30,000 spectators, the current incarnation was constructed in 1994–95 and is single-tiered with no executive boxes. The Kop houses the club's museum, the Reducate centre and the official club shop. The Kop is the most-renowned stand at Anfield among home and away supporters, with the people who occupy the stand referred to as *kopites*. Such is the reputation of the stand that it was claimed that the crowd in the Kop could suck the ball into the goal. Traditionally, Liverpool's most vocal supporters congregate in this stand.
The oldest stand at Anfield is the Main Stand, taking 76 years to complete. The stand was completed in 2016, however, the lower section dates from 1906. The bottom tier of the stand houses the directors' box. The directors' VIP box is located at the rear of the lower tier of the stand. The old large roof was supported by two thin central uprights, with a large suspended television camera gantry which has moved to the front of the third tier. The players' tunnel and the technical area where the managers and substitutes sit during the match are in the middle of the stand at pitch level. Above the stairs leading down to the pitch hung a sign stating "THIS IS ANFIELD". Its purpose was to both intimidate the opposition and to bring the Liverpool players who touch it good luck. Liverpool players and coaching staff traditionally reached up and placed one or both hands on it as they passed underneath.
The sign was temporarily removed during the most recent reconstruction of the Main Stand; it was placed at the exit from the new Main Stand tunnel to the pitch in advance of Liverpool's 2016–17 home opener. Then-Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp had banned players from touching the restored sign until the team had won at least one major trophy. After winning the 2019 UEFA Champions League Final his players were allowed to do so again. Praising the impact the Anfield atmosphere has on the home team and the effect it has on the away team, opposition manager Pep Guardiola stated: "The motto 'This is Anfield' is no marketing spin. There's something about it that you will find in no other stadium in the world." Following the 2005 Champions League semi-final second leg at Anfield which Liverpool won 1–0, defeated Chelsea manager José Mourinho recognised the role Liverpool fans played on the match: "I felt the power of Anfield, it was magnificent."
The Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand is a two-tiered stand. Originally a single-tiered stand called the Kemlyn Road Stand, the second tier was added in 1992 to coincide with the club's centenary. It is located opposite the Main Stand and houses directors' boxes, which are between the two tiers. The stand also houses the ground's police station. On 3 May 2017, Liverpool announced the Centenary Stand would be renamed the Kenny Dalglish Stand in honour of the club's greatest servant, former player and manager Kenny Dalglish.
The Anfield Road stand, on the left side of the Main Stand, houses the away fans during matches. The Anfield Road End was rebuilt in 1965, and multi-coloured seats were added in 1982. Originally a single-tier stand, a further revamp, which was completed in 1998, gave the stand a second-tier providing additional seating.
There are 59 spaces available in the stadium to accommodate wheelchair users who have season tickets; a further 33 spaces are available for general sale and 8 are allocated to away supporters. These spaces are located in the Main Stand, Anfield Road Stand and The Kop. There are 38 spaces available for the visually impaired, which are situated in the old paddock area of the Main Stand, with space for one personal assistant each. A headset with full commentary is provided.
The stadium features tributes to two of the club's most successful managers. The Paisley Gateway is a tribute to Bob Paisley, who guided Liverpool to three European Cups and six League Championships in the 1970s, and 1980s. The gates were erected at the Kop; their design includes representations of the three European Cups Paisley won during his tenure, the crest of his birthplace in Hetton-le-Hole, and the crest of Liverpool. The Shankly Gates, in tribute of Bill Shankly, Paisley's predecessor between 1959 and 1974, are at the Anfield Road end. Their design includes a Scottish flag, a Scottish thistle, the Liverpool badge, and the words "You'll Never Walk Alone".
Plans to replace Anfield were originally started by Liverpool in May 2002. The proposed capacity was 55,000, but it was later changed to 61,000, with 1,000 seats given for segregation between home and away fans. Several attempts were made between 2003 and 2007 by the Liverpool City Council to instigate a groundshare of the proposed stadium with local rivals Everton, but this move was rejected, as neither club favoured it. On 30 July 2004 Liverpool was granted planning permission to build a new stadium 300 yards (270 m) away from Anfield at Stanley Park. On 8 September 2006, Liverpool City Council agreed to grant the club a 999-year lease of the land on the proposed site.
Following the takeover of Liverpool on 6 February 2007 by George Gillett and Tom Hicks, the proposed stadium was redesigned. In November 2007, the redesigned layout was approved by the council, and construction was due to start in early 2008. The new stadium, provisionally called Stanley Park Stadium, was to be built by HKS. It was scheduled to open in August 2011 with a capacity of 60,000. If the new stadium had been built, Anfield would have been demolished. The land would have become home to the centrepiece for the Anfield Plaza development, which would have included a hotel, restaurants and offices. However, the construction of Stanley Park was delayed following the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession, which directly affected the then American owners. The situation was worsened because the club was bought with borrowed money, not the owners' capital, and interest rates were higher than expected. Hicks and Gillett promised to begin work on the stadium within 60 days of acquisition of the club, but had trouble financing the estimated £500 million needed for the Stanley Park development. The deadline passed and the plan was eventually cancelled by the Fenway Sports Group, as their preference was to re-develop Anfield.
The acquisition of Liverpool by Fenway Sports Group in October 2010 put into question whether Liverpool would leave Anfield. In February 2011, the new club owner, John W. Henry, stated he had a preference for staying at Anfield and expanding the capacity. After attending a number of games at Anfield, Henry stated that "the Kop is unrivalled", adding "it would be hard to replicate that feeling anywhere else". On 15 October 2012, Liverpool City Council announced plans to regenerate the Anfield area after securing a £25m grant, with a housing association also set to invest.
On 23 August 2013, Anfield was listed as an Asset of Community Value by Liverpool City Council. On 11 September, current owner John W. Henry announced that they had the funds to afford the expansion, but they are waiting for the City Council to finalise the purchase of houses in the area before they commit to plans to expand the Main Stand and the Anfield Road end of the ground. In April 2014, Liverpool signed a legal agreement with Liverpool City Council and Your Housing Group to redevelop the surrounding Anfield area. This was seen as a significant step towards the renovation of the stadium. The redevelopment was worth around £260 million.
In April 2014, Liverpool revealed plans for an expansion of the Main Stand, which involved adding a new third tier, new matchday facilities and enhanced corporate facilities. The new stand would add 8,500 seats and take the capacity of the stadium to 54,742. Construction of the new Main Stand was made possible by the complete demolition of all the houses in Lothair Road as well as some of those on neighbouring Alroy Road and Anfield Road. Liverpool had started to purchase housing immediately surrounding Anfield in 2000. The houses were left empty, including at least 22 in the roads backing onto the main stand, and Liverpool were accused of deliberately allowing the area to become blighted, thus depressing the property prices.
Work began on 8 December 2014, with the club aiming for the new stand to be match-ready and operational for the start of the 2016–17 season. The work was undertaken by Carillion. The structure of new stand was uniquely constructed around the existing main stand to enable the existing stand to continue to be used at full operational capacity during the 2015–16 season. Demolition of the existing stand took place in summer 2016, allowing for the construction of the lower tiers of the new stand during the off-season. Consisting of 1.8 million bricks and blocks and over 5000 tonnes of steel, the stand was opened on schedule on 9 September 2016 for the first home game of the 2016–17 season, a 4–1 victory over Leicester City. Further internal construction work including new changing rooms and media facilities continued until April 2017.
In May 2016, outline planning permission was granted by Liverpool council for the construction of a new 1,800 sq m club superstore development, situated on Walton Breck Road on the corner of the Kop and the new Main Stand. Construction began in December 2016, with the store opening early in the 2017–18 season. The space between the new store and the stadium was developed into a "fan zone", with new catering outlets and pre-match entertainment.
The second phase of Anfield's redevelopment was to redevelop the Anfield Road stand. The club received initial outline planning permission in 2014 for the redevelopment, with seating to be increased by 4,825, giving Anfield a total capacity of 58,000. However, in August 2019, Liverpool allowed the planning permission associated with the original 2014 designs to lapse, confirming their intention to submit "ambitious new plans" for the Anfield Road End redevelopment which are believed to increase the capacity further to take the overall capacity of Anfield to comfortably above 60,000. The redevelopment focused on the upper tier of the stand, with the lower tier remaining unchanged. Construction work was completed behind the existing stand and then connected to the lower tier, which was expected to be in the 2022 off-season. Therefore, Anfield's capacity was not expected to be affected throughout the duration of the works.
The club spent the second half of 2019 finalising plans and consulting local residents, planning officials and other stakeholders with a view to submitting the new plans for approval in early 2020. However, in March 2020, Liverpool delayed submitting a planning application for the project, in light of financial uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In December 2020, Liverpool announced that they would be moving forward with the project by submitting final planning application for the redevelopment, with the delay pushing back the initial completion date for Phase Two redevelopment from summer 2022 to summer 2023 at the earliest. The plans were approved by the Liverpool City Council in June 2021. The expansion was expected to cost £60 million and allowed Anfield Road stand to seat 7,000 more people, giving the stadium a total capacity of 61,000.
Work by contractor Buckingham Group officially commenced on 30 September 2021, with the first sod being turned by manager Jürgen Klopp. The stand was expected to be completed during the 2023–24 season and would also see the relocation of the Family Park to a covered position. However, on 17 August 2023, Buckingham announced it would be filing for administration, jeopardising timely completion of the new £80 million stand. On 7 September 2023, the club took control of the project, appointing Rayner Rowen Construction to complete the stand using as many of the original subcontractors as possible. In October 2023, Liverpool announced that the upper part of the new developed stand would not be open to the public "until the end of 2023". On 23 November, the club anticipated half of the new upper tier would be available for a Premier League match against Manchester United on 17 December 2023. Much of the stand opened for Liverpool's home Premier League game against Burnley on 10 February 2024.
Anfield has hosted numerous international matches, and was one of the venues used during UEFA Euro 1996; the ground hosted three group games and a quarter-final. The first international match hosted at Anfield was between England and Ireland, in 1889. England won the match 6–1. Anfield was also the home venue for several of England's international football matches in the early 1900s, and for the Welsh national team in the later part of that century. Anfield has also played host to five FA Cup semi-finals, the last of which was in 1929. The most recent international to be hosted at Anfield was England's 2–1 victory over Uruguay on 1 March 2006. The close proximity of the stands to the pitch prevents the club from extending the pitch to suit UEFA's parameter requirements; since 2006, the stadium has been ineligible to host England games, Champions League and Europa League finals, and UEFA tournaments (UEFA Euro 2028).
England has played two testimonial matches against Liverpool at Anfield. The first was in 1983, when England faced Liverpool for Phil Thompson's testimonial. Then, in 1988, England visited again for Alan Hansen's testimonial. Liverpool's arch rival Manchester United played their first home game of the 1971–72 season at Anfield as they were banned from playing their first two home league matches at Old Trafford after an incident of hooliganism. United beat Arsenal 3–1.
In November 2019, Anfield hosted a Women's Super League fixture for the first time, with the 6th matchday of the 2019–20 season featuring the Merseyside Derby between Liverpool Women and local rivals Everton Women. On 25 September 2022, Anfield played host to second Merseyside Derby between two women's first teams in the Women's Super League. Played before a record attendance of 27,574 for a Liverpool game for their women’s first team, it was also the first women's Merseyside Derby to be televised. This attendance would go on to become the 7th highest attendance of the 2022–23 season. On 22 August 2023, it was announced that Anfield would host a third women's Merseyside Derby on 15 October 2023. On 14 March 2025, the women's team won at Anfield for the first time ever, beating Manchester United 3–1.
The stadium has hosted five rugby league matches: the 1989 Charity Shield between Widnes and Wigan; the 1991 World Club Challenge between Wigan, winners of the RFL Championship, and Penrith Panthers, winners of the Australian NSWRL Premiership, with an attendance of 20,152; a 1997 St. Helens Super League home game against Castleford Tigers, with an attendance of 12,329; and the 2016 Rugby League Four Nations Final, in front of 40,042 people.
Anfield was chosen as the venue for the 2019 Magic Weekend after two test matches were played there in 2016 and 2018. After previously choosing games that were local derbies or competitive games, in 2019 the fixtures were determined by the previous seasons league position. Robert Elstone, Super League Chief Executive, said “On behalf of the Super League clubs, we’re delighted to be taking the Dacia Magic Weekend to one of the most famous stadiums in the world.
Anfield has been the venue for many other events. During the mid-twenties, Anfield was the finishing line for the city marathon. Liverpool held an annual race which started from St George's plateau in the city centre and finished with a lap of Anfield. Boxing matches were regularly held at Anfield during the inter-war years, including a number of British boxing championships; on 12 June 1934 Nel Tarleton beat Freddie Miller for the World Featherweight title. Professional tennis was played at Anfield on boards on the pitch. US Open champion, Bill Tilden, and Wimbledon champion, Fred Perry, entertained the crowds in an exhibition match. In 1958, an exhibition basketball match featuring the Harlem Globetrotters was held at the ground.
Aside from sporting uses, Anfield has been a venue for musicians of different genres as well as evangelical preachers. One week in July 1984, the American evangelist Billy Graham preached at Anfield, attracting crowds of over 30,000 each night. Anfield was featured in Liverpool's 2008 European Capital of Culture celebrations: 36,000 people attended a concert on 1 June 2008, featuring The Zutons, Kaiser Chiefs and Paul McCartney. Live concerts made a return to Anfield in the summer of 2019, with Take That, Bon Jovi and Pink performing. Take That lead singer Gary Barlow, a Liverpool fan, brought out a guest vocalist, Gerry Marsden, and they sang the club's anthem “You'll Never Walk Alone”. Artists who played at the stadium in summer 2022 include Elton John, The Rolling Stones and The Eagles. Taylor Swift played three consecutive dates at the stadium, featuring Paramore as special guests, from 13 to 15 June 2024 as part of her Eras Tour.
The highest sporting attendance recorded at Anfield is 61,905, for Liverpool's match against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup fifth round, on 2 February 1952. Since the Anfield Road end was expanded, Liverpool have seen bigger league attendances, and their most recent was 60,420 against Ipswich Town on 25 January 2025. The highest non-sporting attendance at Anfield was recorded during a Taylor Swift concert in June 2024 with over 62,000 in attendance. The lowest attendance recorded at Anfield was 1,000 for a match against Loughborough on 7 December 1895. The highest average attendance of 53,112 was set for the 2016–17 season.
Liverpool did not lose a league match at Anfield during the 1893–94, 1970–71, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1987–88, 2008–09, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20 and 2021–22 seasons. Liverpool's longest unbeaten streak at home extended from January 1978 to January 1981, a period encompassing 85 games, in which Liverpool scored 212 goals and conceded 35. The club's longest unbeaten home run in the league is 68 games, which occurred from April 2017 to January 2021. Liverpool's worst losing streak at Anfield is six games in 2020–2021 with games played behind closed doors during the COVID-19 pandemic. The most consecutive league wins at Anfield is 24, this is the longest run in English top-flight history. It was accomplished across the 2018–19 and 2019–20 seasons.
The stadium is about 2 miles (3 km) from Lime Street Station, which lies on a branch of the West Coast Main Line from London Euston. Kirkdale Station, about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the stadium, is the nearest station to Anfield. Fans travelling by train for matches may book direct to Anfield or Goodison Park, changing to the Peoplesbus Soccerbus service at Sandhills Station on the Merseyrail Northern Line. The stadium has no parking facilities for supporters, and the streets around the ground allow parking only for residents with permits, although there are a small number of passes that can be allocated to over-65s. There are proposals under consideration for reinstating passenger traffic on the Bootle Branch, which would cut the distance from the nearest railway station to about 0.5 miles (1 km).
- Adams, Duncan (2007).
*A Fan's Guide to Football Grounds: England and Wales*. Hersham: Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-7110-3268-2. Archived from the original on 20 November 2008. - Graham, Matthew (1984).
*Liverpool*. Twickenham: Hamlyn Publishing. ISBN 0-600-50254-6. - Inglis, Simon (1983).
*The Football Grounds of England and Wales*. Beverley: Willow. ISBN 0-00-218024-3. - Kelly, Stephen F. (1988).
*You'll Never Walk Alone*. London: Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0-356-19594-5. - Liversedge, Stan (1991).
*Liverpool The Official Centenary History*. London: Hamlyn Publishing. ISBN 0-600-57308-7. - Moynihan, Leo (2008).
*The Liverpool Miscellany*. London: Vision Sports Publishing. ISBN 978-1-905326-46-4. - Smith, Tommy (2008).
*Anfield Iron*. London: Bantam Press. ISBN 978-0-593-05958-6.
Media related to Anfield Stadium at Wikimedia Commons
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# List of national parks of the United States - Wikipedia
The United States has 63 national parks, which are congressionally designated protected areas operated by the National Park Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior. National parks are designated for their natural beauty, unique geological features, diverse ecosystems, and recreational opportunities, typically "because of some outstanding scenic feature or natural phenomena." While legislatively all units of the National Park System are considered equal with the same mission, national parks are generally larger and more of a destination, and hunting and extractive activities are prohibited. National monuments, on the other hand, are also frequently protected for their historical or archaeological significance. Eight national parks (including six in Alaska) are paired with a national preserve, areas with different levels of protection that are administered together but considered separate units and whose areas are not included in the figures below. The 433 units of the National Park System can be broadly referred to as national parks, but most have other formal designations.
A bill creating the first national park, Yellowstone, was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872, followed by Mackinac National Park in 1875 (decommissioned in 1895), and then Rock Creek Park (later merged into National Capital Parks), Sequoia and Yosemite in 1890. The Organic Act of 1916 created the National Park Service "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." Many current national parks had been previously protected as national monuments by the president under the Antiquities Act or as other designations created by Congress before being redesignated by Congress; the newest national park is New River Gorge, previously a National River, and the most recent entirely new park is National Park of American Samoa. A few former national parks are no longer designated as such, or have been disbanded. Fourteen national parks are designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites (WHS), and 21 national parks are named UNESCO Biosphere Reserves (BR), with eight national parks in both programs.
Thirty states have national parks, as do the territories of American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The state with the most national parks is California with nine, followed by Alaska with eight, Utah with five, and Colorado with four. The largest national park is Wrangell–St. Elias in Alaska: at over 8 million acres (32,375 km2), it is larger than each of the nine smallest states. The next three largest parks are also in Alaska. The smallest park is Gateway Arch National Park, Missouri, at 192.83 acres (0.7804 km2). The total area protected by national parks is approximately 52.4 million acres (212,000 km2), for an average of 833 thousand acres (3,370 km2) but a median of only 220 thousand acres (890 km2).
The national parks set a visitation record in 2024, with more than 94 million visitors Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee has been the most-visited park since 1944, and had over 12 million visitors in 2024. In contrast, about 11,900 people visited the remote Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve in Alaska in 2024.
- Legend
- Green – UNESCO designated
- Blue – UNESCO designated
- Purple – parks designated in both UNESCO programs
| Name | Image | Location | Date established as park | Area (2023) | Recreation visitors (2024) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acadia | Maine |
February 26, 1919 | 2)
|
3,961,661 | Covering most of Mount Desert Island and other coastal islands, Acadia features the tallest mountain on the Atlantic coast of the United States, granite peaks, ocean shoreline, woodlands, and lakes. There are freshwater, estuary, forest, and intertidal habitats. | |
| American Samoa | American Samoa |
October 31, 1988 | 2)
|
22,567 | The southernmost national park is on three Samoan islands in the South Pacific. It protects coral reefs, rainforests, volcanic mountains, and white beaches. The area is also home to flying foxes, brown boobies, sea turtles, and 900 species of fish. | |
| Arches | Utah |
November 12, 1971 | 2)
|
1,466,528 | This site features more than 2,000 natural sandstone arches, with some of the most popular arches in the park being Delicate Arch, Landscape Arch and Double Arch. Millions of years of erosion have created these structures in a desert climate where the arid ground has life-sustaining biological soil crusts and potholes that serve as natural water-collecting basins. Other geologic formations include stone pinnacles, fins, and balancing rocks. | |
| Badlands | South Dakota |
November 10, 1978 | 2)
|
1,094,245 | The Badlands are a collection of buttes, pinnacles, spires, and mixed-grass prairies within the drainage basin of the White River, in southwestern South Dakota. They contain the largest known assemblage of late Eocene and Oligocene mammal fossils. Wildlife includes bison, bighorn sheep, black-footed ferrets, and prairie dogs. | |
| Big Bend † | Texas |
June 12, 1944 | 2)
|
561,458 | Named for the prominent bend in the Rio Grande along the U.S.–Mexico border, this park encompasses a large and remote part of the Chihuahuan Desert. Its main attraction is backcountry recreation in the arid Chisos Mountains and in canyons along the river. A wide variety of Cretaceous and Tertiary fossils as well as cultural artifacts of Native Americans also exist within its borders. (BR) | |
| Biscayne | Florida |
June 28, 1980 | 2)
|
512,213 | The central part of Biscayne Bay, this mostly underwater park at the north end of the Florida Keys has four interrelated marine ecosystems: mangrove forest, the Bay, the Keys, and coral reefs. Threatened animals include the West Indian manatee, American crocodile, various sea turtles, and the peregrine falcon. | |
| Black Canyon of the Gunnison | Colorado |
October 21, 1999 | 2)
|
335,862 | The park protects a quarter of the Gunnison River, which slices sheer canyon walls from dark Precambrian-era rock. The canyon features some of the steepest cliffs and oldest rock in North America, and is a popular site for river rafting and rock climbing. The deep, narrow canyon is composed of gneiss and schist, which appears black when in shadow. | |
| Bryce Canyon | Utah |
February 25, 1928 | 2)
|
2,498,075 | Bryce Canyon is a geological amphitheater on southern Utah's Paunsaugunt Plateau with hundreds of tall, multicolored sandstone hoodoos formed by erosion. The region was originally settled by Native Americans and later by Mormon pioneers. | |
| Canyonlands | Utah |
September 12, 1964 | 2)
|
818,492 | This landscape was eroded into a maze of canyons, buttes, and mesas by the combined efforts of the Colorado River, Green River, and their tributaries, which divide the park into three districts. The park contains thousands of rock pinnacles and arches, as well as artifacts from Ancient Pueblo peoples. | |
| Capitol Reef | Utah |
December 18, 1971 | 2)
|
1,422,490 | The park's Waterpocket Fold is a 100-mile (160 km) monocline that exhibits the earth's diverse geologic layers. Other natural features include monoliths, eroded buttes, and sandstone domes, including one shaped like the United States Capitol. | |
| Carlsbad Caverns * | New Mexico |
May 14, 1930 | 2)
|
460,474 | Carlsbad Caverns has 117 caves, the longest of which is over 120 miles (190 km) long. The Big Room is almost 4,000 feet (1,200 m) long, and the caves are home to over 400,000 Mexican free-tailed bats and sixteen other species. Above ground are the Chihuahuan Desert and Rattlesnake Springs. (WHS) | |
| Channel Islands † | California |
March 5, 1980 | 2)
|
262,581 | Five of the eight Channel Islands are protected, with half of the park's area underwater. The islands have a unique Mediterranean ecosystem originally settled by the Chumash people. They are home to over 2,000 species of land plants and animals, 145 endemic to them, including the island fox. Ferry services offer transportation to the islands from the mainland. (BR) | |
| Congaree † | South Carolina |
November 10, 2003 | 2)
|
242,049 | On the Congaree River, this park is the largest portion of old-growth floodplain forest left in North America. Some of the trees are the tallest in the eastern United States. An elevated walkway called the Boardwalk Loop guides visitors through the swamp. (BR) | |
| Crater Lake | Oregon |
May 22, 1902 | 2)
|
504,942 | Crater Lake lies in the caldera of an ancient volcano called Mount Mazama that collapsed 7,700 years ago. The lake is the deepest in the United States and is noted for its vivid blue color and water clarity. Wizard Island and the Phantom Ship are more recent volcanic formations within the caldera. As the lake has no inlets or outlets, it is replenished only by precipitation. | |
| Cuyahoga Valley | Ohio |
October 11, 2000 | 2)
|
2,912,454 | This park along the Cuyahoga River has waterfalls, hills, trails, and exhibits on early rural living. The Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail follows the Ohio and Erie Canal, where mules towed canal boats. The park has numerous historic homes, bridges, and structures, and also offers a scenic train ride. | |
| Death Valley † | California, Nevada |
October 31, 1994 | 2)
|
1,440,484 | Death Valley is the hottest, lowest, and driest place in the United States, with daytime temperatures that have exceeded 130 °F (54 °C). The park protects Badwater Basin and its vast salt flats at the lowest elevation in North America, −282 ft (−86 m), This geologic graben also protects numerous canyons, badlands, sand dunes, mountain ranges, historic mines, springs, and more than 1,000 species of plants that grow. (BR) | |
| Denali † | Alaska |
February 26, 1917 | 2)
|
466,227 | Centered on Denali, the tallest and most prominent mountain in North America, the park is serviced by a single road leading to Wonder Lake, most of which can only be accessed via scheduled tour buses. Denali and other peaks of the Alaska Range are covered with long glaciers and boreal forest. Wildlife includes grizzly bears, Dall sheep, moose, caribou, and wolves. (BR) | |
| Dry Tortugas † | Florida |
October 26, 1992 | 2)
|
84,873 | The islands of the Dry Tortugas, at the westernmost end of the Florida Keys, are the site of Fort Jefferson, a Civil War-era fort that is the largest masonry structure in the Americas. The park is home to undisturbed coral reefs and shipwrecks, and is only accessible by plane or boat. (BR) | |
| Everglades ‡ | Florida |
May 30, 1934 | 2)
|
741,983 | The Everglades are the largest tropical wilderness in the United States. This mangrove and tropical rainforest ecosystem and marine estuary is home to 36 protected species, including the Florida panther, American crocodile, and West Indian manatee. Some areas have been drained and developed; restoration projects aim to restore the ecology. (WHS) (BR) | |
| Gates of the Arctic | Alaska |
December 2, 1980 | 2)
|
11,907 | The country's northernmost park protects an expanse of pure wilderness in Alaska's Brooks Range and has no park facilities. The land is home to Alaska Natives who have relied on the land and caribou for 11,000 years. | |
| Gateway Arch | Missouri |
February 22, 2018 | 2)
|
2,563,052 | The Gateway Arch is a 630-foot (192 m) (both high and wide) catenary arch built in the 1960s to commemorate the Lewis and Clark Expedition, initiated by Thomas Jefferson, and the subsequent westward expansion of the country. The nearby Old Courthouse, across a greenway to the west of the arch, was the original site of the landmark Dred Scott case about slavery. An underground museum describes the arch's construction and the country's westward expansion.
| |
| Glacier ‡ | Montana |
May 11, 1910 | 2)
|
3,208,755 | The U.S. half of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, this park includes 26 rapidly receding glaciers and 130 named lakes surrounded by Rocky Mountain peaks. Historic hotels and the landmark Going-to-the-Sun Road accommodate visitors. The local mountains, formed by an overthrust, expose Paleozoic fossils including trilobites, mollusks, giant ferns and dinosaurs. The park is also home to Triple Divide Peak, which forms the boundary between the watersheds of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans. (WHS) (BR) | |
| Glacier Bay ‡ | Alaska |
December 2, 1980 | 2)
|
736,282 | Glacier Bay contains tidewater glaciers, mountains, fjords, and a temperate rainforest, and is home to large populations of grizzly bears, mountain goats, whales, seals, and eagles. When discovered in 1794 by George Vancouver, the entire bay was covered by ice, but the glaciers have since receded more than 65 miles (105 km). (WHS) (BR) | |
| Grand Canyon * | Arizona |
February 26, 1919 | 2)
|
4,919,163 | The Grand Canyon, carved by the mighty Colorado River, is 277 miles (446 km) long, up to 1 mile (1.6 km) deep, and up to 15 miles (24 km) wide. Millions of years of erosion have resulted in a massive three-tiered canyon, exposing the multicolored layers of the Colorado Plateau in mesas and canyon walls, visible from trails that descend into the canyon from the north and south rims. (WHS) | |
| Grand Teton † | Wyoming |
February 26, 1929 | 2)
|
3,628,222 | Grand Teton is the tallest mountain in the scenic Teton Range. The park's historic Jackson Hole and reflective piedmont lakes teem with endemic wildlife, with a backdrop of craggy mountains that rise abruptly from the sage-covered valley below. (BR) | |
| Great Basin | Nevada |
October 27, 1986 | 2)
|
152,068 | Based around Nevada's second tallest mountain, Wheeler Peak, Great Basin National Park protects 5,000-year-old bristlecone pines, a rock glacier, and the limestone Lehman Caves. Due to its remote location, the park is home to some of the country's darkest night skies. Wildlife includes the Townsend's big-eared bat, pronghorn, and Bonneville cutthroat trout. | |
| Great Sand Dunes | Colorado |
September 24, 2004 | 2)
|
437,661 | The tallest sand dunes in North America, up to 750 feet (230 m) tall, were formed by deposits of the ancient Rio Grande in the San Luis Valley. Abutting a variety of grasslands, shrublands, and wetlands, the park also features alpine lakes, six 13,000-foot mountains, and old-growth forests. | |
| Great Smoky Mountains ‡ | North Carolina, Tennessee |
June 15, 1934 | 2)
|
12,191,834 | The Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Appalachian Mountains, span a wide range of elevations, making them home to over 400 vertebrate species, 100 tree species, and 5,000 plant species. Hiking is the park's main attraction, with over 800 miles (1,300 km) of trails, including 70 miles (110 km) of the Appalachian Trail. Other activities include fishing, horseback riding, and touring nearly 80 historic structures. (WHS) (BR) | |
| Guadalupe Mountains | Texas |
September 30, 1972 | 2)
|
226,134 | This park contains Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas, as well as the scenic McKittrick Canyon filled with bigtooth maples, a corner of the arid Chihuahuan Desert, and a fossilized coral reef from the Permian era. | |
| Haleakalā † | Hawaii |
July 1, 1961 | 2)
|
732,477 | The Haleakalā volcano on Maui features a very large crater with numerous cinder cones, a grove of non-native trees, the Kipahulu section's scenic pools of freshwater fish, and the endemic Hawaiian goose. The park protects the greatest number of endangered species within a U.S. national park. (BR) | |
| Hawaiʻi Volcanoes ‡ | Hawaii |
August 1, 1916 | 2)
|
1,433,593 | This park on the Big Island protects the Kīlauea and Mauna Loa volcanoes, two of the world's most active geological features. Diverse ecosystems range from tropical forests at sea level to barren lava beds at more than 13,000 feet (4,000 m). (WHS) (BR) | |
| Hot Springs | Arkansas |
March 4, 1921 | 2)
|
2,461,812 | Hot Springs was originally established by Congress as a federal reserve on April 20, 1832, making it the oldest area managed by the National Park Service. Natural thermal springs flow out of the Ouachita Mountains, providing opportunities for relaxation in a historic setting. Bathhouse Row preserves examples of 19th-century architecture. Hot Springs is the first national park within a city and was the smallest national park until 2018. | |
| Indiana Dunes | Indiana |
February 15, 2019 | 2)
|
2,705,209 | Previously designated a national lakeshore, parts of this 20-mile (32 km) stretch of the southern shore of Lake Michigan have sandy beaches and tall dunes. The park includes grassy prairies, peat bogs, and marsh wetlands home to over 2,000 species. | |
| Isle Royale † | Michigan |
April 3, 1940 | 2)
|
28,806 | The largest island in Lake Superior is a place of isolation and wilderness. Along with its many shipwrecks, waterways, and hiking trails, the park also includes over 400 smaller islands within 4.5 miles (7.2 km) of its shores. There are only 20 mammal species on the island, though the relationship between its wolf and moose populations is especially unique. (BR) | |
| Joshua Tree † | California |
October 31, 1994 | 2)
|
2,991,874 | Covering large areas of the Colorado and Mojave Deserts and the Little San Bernardino Mountains, this desert landscape is populated by vast stands of Joshua trees. Large changes in elevation reveal various contrasting environments including bleached sand dunes, dry lakes, rugged mountains, and maze-like clusters of monzogranite monoliths. (BR) | |
| Katmai | Alaska |
December 2, 1980 | 2)
|
36,230 | This park on the Alaska Peninsula protects the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, an ash flow formed by the 1912 eruption of Novarupta, and the stratovolcano Mount Katmai. Over 2,000 grizzly bears come here each year to catch spawning salmon. Other wildlife includes caribou, wolves, moose, and wolverines. | |
| Kenai Fjords | Alaska |
December 2, 1980 | 2)
|
419,468 | Near Seward on the Kenai Peninsula, this park protects the Harding Icefield and at least 38 glaciers and fjords stemming from it. The only area accessible to the public by road is the rapidly shrinking Exit Glacier. Boat and kayak tours offer views of tidewater glaciers, whales, sea lions, and marine birds. | |
| Kings Canyon † | California |
March 4, 1940 | 2)
|
699,389 | Home to several giant sequoia groves and the General Grant Tree, the world's second largest measured tree, this park also features part of the Kings River, sculptor of the dramatic granite canyon that is its namesake, and the San Joaquin River, as well as Boyden Cave. Although Kings Canyon National Park was designated as such in 1940, it subsumed General Grant National Park, which had been established on October 1, 1890, as the United States' fourth national park. (BR) | |
| Kobuk Valley | Alaska |
December 2, 1980 | 2)
|
17,233 | Kobuk Valley protects 61 miles (98 km) of the Kobuk River and three regions of sand dunes. Created by glaciers, the Great Kobuk, Little Kobuk, and Hunt River Sand Dunes can reach 100 feet (30 m) high and 100 °F (38 °C), and they are the largest dunes in the Arctic. Twice a year, half a million caribou migrate through the dunes and across river bluffs that expose well-preserved ice age fossils. | |
| Lake Clark | Alaska |
December 2, 1980 | 2)
|
18,505 | The region around Lake Clark features four active volcanoes, including Mount Redoubt, as well as an abundance of rivers, glaciers, and waterfalls. Temperate rainforests, a tundra plateau, and three mountain ranges complete the landscape. | |
| Lassen Volcanic | California |
August 9, 1916 | 2)
|
357,651 | Lassen Peak, the largest lava dome volcano in the world, is joined by all three other types of volcanoes in this park: shield, cinder cone, and composite. Though Lassen itself last erupted in 1915, most of the rest of the park is continuously active. Numerous hydrothermal features, including fumaroles, boiling pools, and bubbling mud pots, are heated by molten rock from beneath the peak. | |
| Mammoth Cave ‡ | Kentucky |
July 1, 1941 | 2)
|
747,042 | With more than 400 miles (640 km) of passageways explored, Mammoth Cave is the world's longest known cave system. Subterranean wildlife includes eight bat species, Kentucky cave shrimp, Northern cavefish, and cave salamanders. Above ground, the park provides recreation on the Green River, 70 miles of hiking trails, and plenty of sinkholes and springs. (WHS) (BR) | |
| Mesa Verde * | Colorado |
June 29, 1906 | 2)
|
480,065 | This area constitutes over 4,000 archaeological sites of the Ancestral Puebloan people, who lived here and elsewhere in the Four Corners region for at least 700 years. Cliff dwellings built in the 12th and 13th centuries include Cliff Palace, which has 150 rooms and 23 kivas, and the Balcony House, with its many passages and tunnels. (WHS) | |
| Mount Rainier | Washington |
March 2, 1899 | 2)
|
1,620,006 | Mount Rainier, an active stratovolcano, is the most prominent peak in the Cascades and is covered by 26 named glaciers including Carbon Glacier and Emmons Glacier, the longest and largest in the contiguous United States respectively. The mountain is popular for climbing, and more than half of the park is covered by subalpine and alpine forests and meadows seasonally in bloom with wildflowers. Paradise on the south slope is among the snowiest places on Earth. The Longmire visitor center is the start of the Wonderland Trail, which encircles the mountain. | |
| New River Gorge | West Virginia |
December 27, 2020 | 2)
|
1,811,937 | The New River Gorge is the deepest river gorge east of the Mississippi River. The park primarily covers the lower gorge area around the New River Gorge Bridge, which features some of the country's best whitewater rafting. Smaller noncontiguous sections showcase the ghost town of Thurmond, the scenic Grandview vista, and Sandstone Falls. The other 65,165 acres (263.71 km2) of the redesignated national river is now a national preserve, spanning 53 miles (85 km) of the New River.
| |
| North Cascades | Washington |
October 2, 1968 | 2)
|
16,485 | The highly glaciated mountains of the North Cascades Range exhibit a spectacular and complex geologic history. Between the river valleys and high peaks there are eight diverse life zones with 75 mammal and 1,600 vascular plant species. Popular hiking and climbing areas of the Stephen Mather Wilderness include Cascade Pass, Mount Shuksan, Mount Triumph, and Eldorado Peak. Ross Lake and Lake Chelan National Recreation Areas adjoin the two segments of the park and are all administered together. | |
| Olympic ‡ | Washington |
June 29, 1938 | 2)
|
3,717,267 | This park on the Olympic Peninsula includes a wide range of ecosystems from Pacific shoreline to temperate rainforests to the glaciated alpine peaks of the Olympic Mountains, the tallest of which is Mount Olympus. The Hoh and Quinault Rainforests are the wettest areas in the contiguous United States, with the Hoh receiving an average of almost 12 ft (3.7 m) of rain every year. (WHS) (BR) | |
| Petrified Forest | Arizona |
December 9, 1962 | 2)
|
559,254 | This portion of the Chinle Formation has a large concentration of 225-million-year-old petrified wood. The surrounding Painted Desert features eroded cliffs of red-hued volcanic rock called bentonite. Dinosaur fossils and over 350 Native American sites are also protected in this park. | |
| Pinnacles | California |
January 10, 2013 | 2)
|
354,076 | Named for the eroded leftovers of a portion of an extinct volcano, the park's massive black and gold monoliths of andesite and rhyolite are a popular destination for rock climbers. Hikers have access to trails crossing the Coast Range wilderness. The park is one of the few locations where the endangered California condor can be seen in the wild. Pinnacles also supports a dense population of prairie falcons and more than 13 species of bat that populate its talus caves. | |
| Redwood * | California |
October 2, 1968 | 2)
|
622,883 | This park and the co-managed state parks protect almost half of all remaining coastal redwoods, the tallest trees on earth. There are three large river systems in this very seismically active area, and 37 miles (60 km) of protected coastline reveal tide pools and seastacks. The prairie, estuary, coast, river, and forest ecosystems contain a wide variety of animal and plant species. (WHS) | |
| Rocky Mountain † | Colorado |
January 26, 1915 | 2)
|
4,154,349 | Bisected north to south by the Continental Divide, this portion of the Rockies has ecosystems varying from over 150 riparian lakes to montane and subalpine forests to treeless alpine tundra. Wildlife including elk, moose, mule deer, bighorn sheep, black bears, and cougars inhabit its igneous mountains and glacial valleys. Longs Peak, a classic Colorado fourteener, and the scenic Bear Lake are popular destinations, as well as the historic Trail Ridge Road, which reaches an elevation of more than 12,000 feet (3,700 m). (BR) | |
| Saguaro | Arizona |
October 14, 1994 | 2)
|
946,369 | Split into the separate Rincon Mountain and Tucson Mountain districts, this park is evidence that the dry Sonoran Desert is still home to a great variety of life spanning six biotic communities. Beyond the namesake giant saguaro cacti, there are barrel cacti, chollas, and prickly pears, as well as lesser long-nosed bats, spotted owls, and javelinas. | |
| Sequoia † | California |
September 25, 1890 | 2)
|
1,309,573 | This park protects the Giant Forest, which boasts some of the world's largest trees, the General Sherman being the largest measured tree in the park. Other features include over 240 caves, a long segment of the Sierra Nevada including the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States, and Moro Rock, a large granite dome. (BR) | |
| Shenandoah | Virginia |
December 26, 1935 | 2)
|
1,720,211 | Shenandoah's Blue Ridge Mountains are covered by hardwood forests that teem with a wide variety of wildlife. The Skyline Drive and Appalachian Trail run the entire length of this narrow park, along with more than 500 miles (800 km) of hiking trails passing scenic overlooks and cataracts of the Shenandoah River. | |
| Theodore Roosevelt | North Dakota |
November 10, 1978 | 2)
|
732,951 | This region that enticed and influenced President Theodore Roosevelt consists of a park of three units in the northern badlands. Besides Roosevelt's historic cabin, there are numerous scenic drives and backcountry hiking opportunities. Wildlife includes American bison, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, and wild horses. | |
| Virgin Islands | U.S. Virgin Islands |
August 2, 1956 | 2)
|
423,029 | This island park on Saint John preserves pristine beaches surrounded by mangrove forests, seagrass beds, and coral reefs. It also has Taíno archaeological sites and the ruins of sugar plantations from Columbus's time. | |
| Voyageurs | Minnesota |
April 8, 1975 | 2)
|
199,030 | This park protecting four lakes near the Canada–US border is a site for canoeing, kayaking, and fishing. The park also preserves a history populated by Ojibwe Native Americans, French fur traders called voyageurs, and gold miners. Formed by glaciers, the region features tall bluffs, rock gardens, islands, bays, and several historic buildings. | |
| White Sands | New Mexico |
December 20, 2019 | 2)
|
702,236 | Located in the mountain-ringed Tularosa Basin, White Sands consists of the southern part of a 275-square-mile (710 km2) field of white sand dunes composed of gypsum crystals—the world's largest gypsum dunefield. The park is completely within the White Sands Missile Range and is subject to closure when tests are conducted.
| |
| Wind Cave | South Dakota |
January 9, 1903 | 2)
|
489,399 | Wind Cave is distinctive for its calcite fin formations called boxwork, a unique formation rarely found elsewhere, and needle-like growths called frostwork. It is one of the longest caves in the world and creates a wind as air pressure changes. Above ground is a mixed-grass prairie with animals such as bison, black-footed ferrets, and prairie dogs and ponderosa pine forests home to cougars and elk. The cave is culturally significant to the Lakota people as a creation site. | |
| Wrangell–St. Elias * | Alaska |
December 2, 1980 | 2)
|
81,670 | The largest national park in the system protects the convergence of the Alaska, Chugach, Wrangell, and Saint Elias Ranges, which include many of the continent's tallest mountains and volcanoes, including the 18,008-foot Mount Saint Elias. More than a quarter of the park is covered with glaciers, including the tidewater Hubbard Glacier, piedmont Malaspina Glacier, and valley Nabesna Glacier. (WHS) | |
| Yellowstone ‡ | Wyoming, Montana, Idaho |
March 1, 1872 | 2)
|
4,744,353 | Situated on the Yellowstone Caldera, the park has an expansive network of geothermal areas including boiling mud pots, vividly colored hot springs such as Grand Prismatic Spring, and regularly erupting geysers, the best-known being Old Faithful. The yellow-hued Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River contains several high waterfalls, and four mountain ranges traverse the park. More than 60 mammal species including timber wolves, grizzly bears, black bears, lynxes, bison, and elk make this park one of the best wildlife viewing spots in the country. (WHS) (BR) | |
| Yosemite * | California |
October 1, 1890 | 2)
|
4,121,807 | Yosemite features sheer granite cliffs, exceptionally tall waterfalls, and old-growth forests at a unique intersection of geology and hydrology. Half Dome and El Capitan rise from the park's centerpiece, the glacier-carved Yosemite Valley, and from its vertical walls drop Yosemite Falls, one of North America's tallest waterfalls at 2,425 feet (739 m) high. Three giant sequoia groves, along with a pristine wilderness in the heart of the Sierra Nevada, are home to a wide variety of rare plant and animal species. (WHS) | |
| Zion | Utah |
November 19, 1919 | 2)
|
4,946,592 | Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert, this park contains sandstone features such as mesas, rock towers, and canyons, including the Virgin River Narrows. The various sandstone formations and the forks of the Virgin River create a wilderness divided into four ecosystems: desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest. |
The following table includes the 30 states and two territories that have national parks. Exclusive parks refer to parks entirely within one state or territory. Shared parks refer to parks in multiple states.
Territories are set in *italics*.
| State | Total parks | Exclusive parks | Shared parks |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 9 | 8 | 1 |
| Alaska | 8 | 8 | — |
| Utah | 5 | 5 | — |
| Colorado | 4 | 4 | — |
| Arizona | 3 | 3 | — |
| Florida | 3 | 3 | — |
| Washington | 3 | 3 | — |
| Hawaii | 2 | 2 | — |
| New Mexico | 2 | 2 | — |
| South Dakota | 2 | 2 | — |
| Texas | 2 | 2 | — |
| Montana | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Nevada | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Wyoming | 2 | 1 | 1 |
American Samoa |
1 | 1 | — |
| Arkansas | 1 | 1 | — |
| Indiana | 1 | 1 | — |
| Kentucky | 1 | 1 | — |
| Maine | 1 | 1 | — |
| Michigan | 1 | 1 | — |
| Minnesota | 1 | 1 | — |
| Missouri | 1 | 1 | — |
| North Dakota | 1 | 1 | — |
| Ohio | 1 | 1 | — |
| Oregon | 1 | 1 | — |
| South Carolina | 1 | 1 | — |
U.S. Virgin Islands |
1 | 1 | — |
| Virginia | 1 | 1 | — |
| West Virginia | 1 | 1 | — |
| Idaho | 1 | — | 1 |
| North Carolina | 1 | — | 1 |
| Tennessee | 1 | — | 1 |
- National Park Service
- History of the National Park Service
- List of areas in the United States National Park System
- List of the United States National Park System official units
- List of national monuments of the United States
- List of National Wildlife Refuges of the United States
- List of U.S. National Forests
- Lists of state parks by U.S. state
- List of World Heritage Sites in the United States
- Official website of the National Park Service (NPS)
- Find a park (NPS)
- Visitor use statistics (NPS)
*The National Parks: America's Best Idea*by PBS- America's Natural Heritage - The Essential Guide to the National Parks by
*The Washington Post* - List of National Parks by State
|
# George IV - Wikipedia
| George IV | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| King of the United Kingdom and Hanover | |||||
| Reign | 29 January 1820 – 26 June 1830 | ||||
| Coronation | 19 July 1821 | ||||
| Predecessor | George III | ||||
| Successor | William IV | ||||
| Prince Regent of the United Kingdom | |||||
| Regency | 5 February 1811 – 29 January 1820 | ||||
| Monarch | George III | ||||
| Born | St James's Palace, London, England | 12 August 1762||||
| Died | 26 June 1830 Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England | (aged 67)||||
| Burial | 15 July 1830 | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | Princess Charlotte of Wales | ||||
| |||||
| House | Hanover | ||||
| Father | George III | ||||
| Mother | Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz | ||||
| Religion | Protestant | ||||
| Signature |
**George IV** (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III, having done so since 5 February 1811 during his father's final mental illness.
George IV was the eldest child of King George III and Queen Charlotte. He led an extravagant lifestyle that contributed to the fashions of the Regency era. He was a patron of new forms of leisure, style and taste. He commissioned John Nash to build the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and remodel Buckingham Palace, and commissioned Jeffry Wyatville to rebuild Windsor Castle. George's charm and culture earned him the title "the first gentleman of England", but his dissolute way of life and poor relationships with his parents and his wife, Caroline of Brunswick, earned him the contempt of the people and dimmed the prestige of the monarchy. He excluded Caroline from his coronation and asked the government to introduce the unpopular Pains and Penalties Bill in an unsuccessful attempt to divorce her.
George's rule was tarnished by scandal and financial extravagance. His ministers found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible, and he was strongly influenced by favourites. During most of George's regency and reign, Lord Liverpool controlled the government as prime minister of the United Kingdom. Liverpool's government presided over Britain's ultimate victory over Napoleon and negotiated a peace settlement with the French. After Liverpool's retirement, George was forced to accept Catholic emancipation despite opposing it. His only legitimate child, Princess Charlotte, predeceased him in 1817, as did his childless younger brother Prince Frederick in 1827, so he was succeeded by another younger brother, William IV.
George was born at St James's Palace, London, on 12 August 1762, the first child of King George III and Queen Charlotte. As the eldest son of a British sovereign, he automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay at birth; he was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester a few days later. On 18 September of the same year, he was baptised by Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury. His godparents were his maternal uncle Adolphus Frederick IV, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (for whom the Lord Chamberlain, William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, stood proxy); his paternal grand-uncle Prince William, Duke of Cumberland; and his grandmother Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales. George was a talented student and quickly learned to speak French, German and Italian, in addition to his native English.
At the age of 18, Prince George was given a separate establishment, and in dramatic contrast to his prosaic, scandal-free father, threw himself with zest into a life of dissipation and wild extravagance involving heavy drinking and numerous mistresses and escapades. He was a witty conversationalist, drunk or sober, and showed good, but grossly expensive, taste in decorating his palace. George turned 21 in 1783, and obtained a grant of £60,000 (equivalent to £9,124,000 today) from Parliament and an annual income of £50,000 (equivalent to £7,603,000 today) from his father. It was far too little for his wants—his stables alone cost £31,000 a year. He then established his residence in Carlton House, where he lived a profligate life. Animosity developed between the prince and his father, who desired more frugal behaviour on the part of the heir apparent. The King, a political conservative, was also alienated by the prince's adherence to Charles James Fox and other radically inclined politicians.
Soon after he reached the age of 21, the prince became infatuated with Maria Fitzherbert. She was a commoner (though granddaughter of a baronet), six years his elder, twice widowed, and a Roman Catholic. Nevertheless, the prince was determined to marry her. This was in spite of the Act of Settlement 1701, which barred the spouse of a Catholic from succeeding to the throne, and the Royal Marriages Act 1772, which prohibited his marriage without the King's consent.
The couple went through a marriage ceremony on 15 December 1785 at Fitzherbert's house in Park Street, Mayfair. Legally the union was void, as the King's consent was not granted (and never even requested). However, Fitzherbert believed that she was the prince's canonical and true wife, holding the law of the Church to be superior to the law of the State. For political reasons, the union was to remain secret and Fitzherbert promised not to reveal it. But, in spring 1786, covert allusions to the marriage appeared in the press, and several satirical prints depicted the clandestine marriage.
Prince George was plunged into debt by his exorbitant lifestyle. His father refused to assist him, forcing him to quit Carlton House and live at Fitzherbert's residence. In 1787, the prince's political allies proposed to relieve his debts with a parliamentary grant. George's relationship with Fitzherbert was suspected, and revelation of the illegal marriage would have scandalised the nation and doomed any parliamentary proposal to aid him. Acting on Prince George's authority, the Whig leader Charles James Fox declared that the story was a calumny. Fitzherbert was not pleased with the public denial of the marriage in such vehement terms and contemplated severing her ties to George. He appeased her by asking another Whig, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, to restate Fox's forceful declaration in more careful words. Parliament, meanwhile, granted the prince £161,000 (equivalent to £25,841,000 today) to pay his debts and £60,000 (equivalent to £9,630,000 today) for improvements to Carlton House.
In the summer of 1788, the King's mental health deteriorated, possibly as the result of the hereditary disease porphyria. He nonetheless discharged some of his duties and declared Parliament prorogued from 25 September to 20 November. During the prorogation, he became deranged, posing a threat to his own life, and when Parliament reconvened in November, the King could not deliver the customary speech from the throne during the State Opening of Parliament. Parliament found itself in an untenable position: according to long-established law it could not proceed to any business until the delivery of the King's Speech at a State Opening.
Although arguably barred from doing so, Parliament began debating a regency. In the House of Commons, Charles James Fox declared his opinion that Prince George was automatically entitled to exercise sovereignty during the King's incapacity. A contrasting opinion was held by the prime minister, William Pitt the Younger, who argued that, in the absence of a statute to the contrary, the right to choose a regent belonged to Parliament alone. He even stated that, without parliamentary authority "the Prince of Wales had no more right ... to assume the government, than any other individual subject of the country". Though disagreeing on the principle underlying a regency, Pitt agreed with Fox that the Prince of Wales would be the most convenient choice for a regent.
The Prince of Wales, though offended by Pitt's boldness, did not lend his full support to Fox's approach. Prince George's brother Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, declared that George would not attempt to exercise any power without previously obtaining the consent of Parliament. Following the passage of preliminary resolutions Pitt outlined a formal plan for the regency, suggesting that Prince George's powers be greatly limited. Among other things, George would not be able either to sell the King's property or to grant a peerage to anyone other than a child of the King. Prince George denounced Pitt's scheme by declaring it a "project for producing weakness, disorder, and insecurity in every branch of the administration of affairs". In the interests of the nation, both factions agreed to compromise.
A significant technical impediment to any Regency Bill involved the lack of a speech from the throne, which was necessary before Parliament could proceed to any debates or votes. The speech was normally delivered by the King but could also be delivered by royal representatives known as Lords Commissioners. However, no document could empower the Lords Commissioners to act unless the Great Seal of the Realm was affixed to it. The seal could not be legally affixed without the prior authorisation of the sovereign. Pitt and his fellow ministers ignored the last requirement and instructed the Lord Chancellor to affix the Great Seal without the King's consent, as the act of affixing the Great Seal in itself gave legal force to the bill. The legal fiction was denounced by Edmund Burke as "forgery, fraud"; a "glaring falsehood" and a "palpable absurdity". Prince Frederick described the plan as "unconstitutional and illegal". Nevertheless, others in Parliament felt that such a scheme was necessary to preserve an effective government. Consequently, on 3 February 1789, more than two months after it had convened, Parliament was formally opened by an "illegal" group of Lords Commissioners. The Regency Bill was introduced, but before it could be passed the King recovered. The King declared retroactively that the instrument authorising the Lords Commissioners to act was valid.
Prince George's debts continued to climb, and his father refused to aid him unless he married his cousin Princess Caroline of Brunswick. In 1795, the prince acquiesced, and they were married on 8 April 1795 at the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace. The marriage, however, was disastrous; each party was unsuited to the other. The two were formally separated after the birth of their only child, Princess Charlotte, in 1796, and remained separated thereafter. George remained attached to Maria Fitzherbert for the rest of his life, despite several periods of estrangement.
George's mistresses included Mary Robinson, an actress whom he paid to leave the stage; Grace Elliott, the divorced wife of a physician; and Frances Villiers, Countess of Jersey, who dominated his life for some years. In later life, his mistresses were the Marchioness of Hertford and the Marchioness Conyngham.
George was rumoured to have fathered several illegitimate children. James Ord (born 1786)—who moved to the United States and became a Jesuit priest—was reportedly his son by Fitzherbert. Late in life, George told a friend that he had a son who was a naval officer in the West Indies, whose identity has been tentatively established as Captain Henry A. F. Hervey (1786–1824), reportedly George's child by the songwriter Lady Anne Lindsay (later Barnard), a daughter of James Lindsay, 5th Earl of Balcarres. Other reported children include Major George Seymour Crole, the son of theatre manager's daughter Eliza Crole; William Hampshire, the son of publican's daughter Sarah Brown; and Charles "Beau" Candy, the son of a Frenchwoman with that surname. Anthony Camp, Director of Research at the Society of Genealogists, has dismissed the claims that George IV was the father of Ord, Hervey, Hampshire and Candy as fictitious.
The problem of George's debts, which amounted to the extraordinary sum of £630,000 in 1795 (equivalent to £82,215,000 today), was solved (at least temporarily) by Parliament. Being unwilling to make an outright grant to relieve these debts, it provided him an additional sum of £65,000 (equivalent to £8,482,000 today) per annum. In 1803, a further £60,000 (equivalent to £6,921,000 today) was added, and George's debts as at 1795 were finally cleared in 1806, although the debts he had incurred since 1795 remained.
In 1804, a dispute arose over the custody of Princess Charlotte, which led to her being placed in the care of the King. It also led to a Parliamentary Commission of Enquiry into Princess Caroline's conduct after her husband accused her of having an illegitimate son. The investigation cleared Caroline of the charge but still revealed her behaviour to have been extraordinarily indiscreet.
In late 1810, the King's mental health once again broke down, following the death of his youngest daughter, Princess Amelia. Parliament agreed to follow the precedent of 1788; without the King's consent, the Lord Chancellor affixed the Great Seal of the Realm to letters patent naming Lords Commissioners. The letters patent lacked the Royal Sign Manual, but were sealed by request of resolutions passed by both Houses of Parliament. The Lords Commissioners appointed by the letters patent, in the name of the King, then signified the granting of Royal Assent to a bill that became the Regency Act 1811. Parliament restricted some of the powers of the Prince Regent (as the Prince of Wales became known). The constraints expired one year after the passage of the Act. The Prince of Wales became Prince Regent on 5 February 1811.
The Regent let his ministers take full charge of government affairs, playing a far smaller role than his father. The principle that the prime minister was the person supported by a majority in the House of Commons, whether the King personally favoured him or not, became established. His governments, with little help from the Regent, presided over British policy. One of the most important political conflicts facing the country concerned Catholic emancipation, the movement to relieve Roman Catholics of various political disabilities. The Tories, led by Prime Minister Spencer Perceval, were opposed to Catholic emancipation, while the Whigs supported it. At the beginning of the Regency, Prince George was expected to support the Whig leader, Lord Grenville. He did not, however, immediately put Grenville and the Whigs into office. Influenced by his mother, he claimed that a sudden dismissal of the Tory government would exact too great a toll on the health of the King (a steadfast supporter of the Tories), thereby eliminating any chance of a recovery.
In 1812, when it appeared highly unlikely that the King would recover, the Prince Regent again failed to appoint a new Whig administration. Instead, he asked the Whigs to join the existing ministry under Perceval. The Whigs, however, refused to co-operate because of disagreements over Catholic emancipation. Grudgingly, Prince George allowed Perceval to continue as prime minister.
On 11 May 1812, Perceval was assassinated by John Bellingham. The Prince Regent was prepared to reappoint all the members of the Perceval ministry under a new leader. The House of Commons formally declared its desire for a "strong and efficient administration", so George then offered leadership of the government to Lord Wellesley and afterwards to Lord Moira. He doomed the attempts of both to failure, however, by forcing each to construct an all-party ministry at a time when neither party wished to share power with the other. Possibly using the failure of the two peers as a pretext, George immediately reappointed the Perceval administration, with Lord Liverpool as prime minister.
The Tories, unlike Whigs such as Lord Grey, sought to continue the vigorous prosecution of the war in Continental Europe against the powerful and aggressive Emperor of the French, Napoleon I. An anti-French alliance, which included Russia, Prussia, Austria, Britain and several smaller countries, defeated Napoleon in 1814. In the subsequent Congress of Vienna, it was decided that the Electorate of Hanover, a state that had shared a monarch with Britain since 1714, would be raised to the Kingdom of Hanover. Napoleon returned from exile in 1815, but was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo by the Duke of Wellington, brother of Lord Wellesley.
During this period George took an active interest in matters of style and taste, and his associates such as the dandy Beau Brummell and the architect John Nash created the Regency style, exemplified by the Regency terraces of Regent's Park and Regent Street. George took up the new idea of the seaside spa and had the Brighton Pavilion developed as a fantastical seaside palace, adapted by Nash in the "Indian Gothic" style inspired loosely by the Taj Mahal, with extravagant "Indian" and "Chinese" interiors.
When George III died in 1820, the Prince Regent, then aged 57, ascended the throne as George IV, with no real change in his powers. By the time of his accession, he was obese and possibly addicted to laudanum.
George IV's relationship with his wife Caroline had deteriorated by the time of his accession. They had lived separately since 1796, and both were having affairs. In 1814, Caroline left the United Kingdom for continental Europe, but she chose to return for her husband's coronation and to publicly assert her rights as queen consort. However, he refused to recognise Caroline as queen, and commanded British ambassadors to ensure that monarchs in foreign courts did the same. By royal command, Caroline's name was omitted from the Book of Common Prayer, the liturgy of the Church of England.
The King sought a divorce, but his advisors suggested that any divorce proceedings might involve the publication of details relating to George's own adulterous relationships. Therefore, he requested and ensured the introduction of the Pains and Penalties Bill, under which Parliament could have imposed legal penalties without a trial in a court of law. The bill would have annulled the marriage and stripped Caroline of the title of queen. The bill proved extremely unpopular with the public, and was withdrawn from Parliament. George decided, nonetheless, to exclude his wife from his coronation at Westminster Abbey, on 19 July 1821. Caroline fell ill that day and died on 7 August; during her final illness she often stated that she thought she had been poisoned.
George's coronation was a magnificent and expensive affair, costing about £243,000 (approximately £27,970,000 in 2025; for comparison, his father's coronation had only cost about £10,000). Despite the enormous cost, it was a popular event. In 1821, George became the first monarch to pay a state visit to Ireland since Richard II of England. The following year he visited Edinburgh for "one and twenty daft days". His visit to Scotland, organised by Sir Walter Scott, was the first by a reigning monarch since the mid-17th century.
George spent most of his later reign in seclusion at Windsor Castle, but he continued to intervene in politics. At first it was believed that he would support Catholic emancipation, as he had proposed a Catholic Emancipation Bill for Ireland in 1797, but his anti-Catholic views became clear in 1813 when he privately canvassed against the ultimately defeated Catholic Relief Bill of 1813. By 1824 he was denouncing Catholic emancipation in public. Having taken the coronation oath on his accession, George now argued that he had sworn to uphold the Protestant faith, and could not support any pro-Catholic measures. The influence of the Crown was so great, and the will of the Tories under Prime Minister Liverpool so strong, that Catholic emancipation seemed hopeless. In 1827, however, Liverpool retired, to be replaced by the pro-emancipation Tory George Canning. When Canning entered office, the King, hitherto content with privately instructing his ministers on the Catholic Question, thought it fit to make a public declaration to the effect that his sentiments on the question were those of his revered father, George III.
Canning's views on the Catholic Question were not well received by the most conservative Tories, including the Duke of Wellington. As a result, the ministry was forced to include Whigs. Canning died later in that year, leaving Lord Goderich to lead the tenuous Tory–Whig coalition. Goderich left office in 1828, to be succeeded by Wellington, who had by that time accepted that the denial of some measure of relief to Roman Catholics was politically untenable. George was never as friendly with Wellington as he had been with Canning and chose to annoy the Duke by pretending to have fought at Waterloo disguised as a German general. With great difficulty Wellington obtained the King's consent to the introduction of a Catholic Relief Bill on 29 January 1829. Under pressure from his fanatically anti-Catholic brother Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, the King withdrew his approval and in protest the Cabinet resigned *en masse* on 4 March. The next day the King, now under intense political pressure, reluctantly agreed to the Bill and the ministry remained in power. Royal assent was finally granted to the Catholic Relief Act on 13 April.
George's heavy drinking and indulgent lifestyle had taken their toll on his health by the late 1820s. While still Prince of Wales, he had become obese through his huge banquets and copious consumption of alcohol, making him the target of ridicule on the rare occasions that he appeared in public; by 1797, his weight had reached 17 stone 7 pounds (111 kg; 245 lb). By 1824, his corset was made for a waist of 50 inches (130 cm). He had gout, arteriosclerosis, peripheral edema ("dropsy"), and possibly porphyria. In his last years, he spent whole days in bed and had acute and serious spasms of breathlessness.
George's last years were marked by increasing physical and mental decay and withdrawal from public affairs. Privately, a senior aide to the King confided to his diary: "A more contemptible, cowardly, selfish, unfeeling dog does not exist ... There have been good and wise kings but not many of them ... and this I believe to be one of the worst." By December 1828, like his father, George was almost completely blind from cataracts, and had such severe gout in his right hand and arm that he could no longer sign documents. In mid-1829, David Wilkie reported the King "was wasting away frightfully day after day", and had become so obese that he looked "like a great sausage stuffed into the covering". George took laudanum to counteract severe bladder pains, which left him in a drugged and mentally impaired state for days on end. He underwent surgery to remove a cataract in September 1829, by which time he was regularly taking over 100 drops of laudanum before state occasions.
By the spring of 1830, George's imminent end was apparent. Now largely confined to his bedchambers, having completely lost sight in one eye and describing himself "as blind as a beetle", he was forced to approve legislation with a stamp of his signature in the presence of witnesses. His weight was recorded to be 20 stone (130 kg; 280 lb). Attacks of breathlessness due to dropsy forced him to sleep upright in a chair, and doctors frequently tapped his abdomen in order to drain excess fluid. Despite his obvious decline, George was admired for clinging doggedly to life. His will to live and still-prodigious appetite astonished observers; in April 1830, the Duke of Wellington wrote that the King had consumed for breakfast "a Pidgeon and Beef Steak Pye ... Three parts of a bottle of Mozelle, a Glass of Dry Champagne, two Glasses of Port [and] a Glass of Brandy", followed by a large dose of laudanum. Writing to Maria Fitzherbert in June, the King's physician, Sir Henry Halford, noted "His Majesty's constitution is a gigantic one, and his elasticity under the most severe pressure exceeds what I have ever witnessed in thirty-eight years' experience." Though George had been under Halford's care since the time of the Regency, the doctor's social ambitions and perceived lack of competence were strongly criticised, with *The Lancet* labelling Halford's bulletins on the King's health as "utterly and entirely destitute of information", subsequently characterising Halford's treatment of George, which involved administering both opium and laudanum as sedatives, as appearing to lack sense or direction.
George dictated his will in May and became very devout in his final months, confessing to an archdeacon that he repented of his dissolute life, but hoped mercy would be shown to him as he had always tried to do the best for his subjects. By June, he was unable to lie down, and received the Sacrament on 14 June in the presence of Lady Conyngham, Halford, and a clergyman. While Halford only informed the Cabinet on 24 June that "the King's cough continues with considerable expectoration", he privately told his wife that "things are coming to a conclusion ... I shall be released about Monday."
At about three in the morning of 26 June 1830 at Windsor Castle, George awoke and passed a bowel movement—"a large evacuation mix'd with blood". He then sent for Halford, allegedly calling to his servants "Sir Henry! Sir Henry! Fetch him; this is death!" Accounts of George's final moments and last words vary. According to Halford, following his arrival and that of Sir William Knighton, the King's "lips grew livid, and he dropped his head on the page's shoulder ... I was up the stairs in five minutes, and he died but eight minutes afterwards." Other accounts state the King placed his hands on his stomach and said "Surely, this must be death", or that he called out "Good God, what is this?", clasped his page's hand, and said "my boy, this is death". George died at 3:15 a.m. An autopsy conducted by his physicians revealed George had died from upper gastrointestinal bleeding resulting from the rupture of a blood vessel in his stomach. A large tumour "the size of an orange" was found attached to his bladder; his heart was enlarged, had heavily calcified valves and was surrounded by a large fat deposit. The King was buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 15 July.
George's only legitimate child, Charlotte, had died from post-partum complications in 1817, after delivering a stillborn son. George III's second son, Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, had died childless in 1827, so the throne passed to the third son of George III, William, Duke of Clarence, who reigned as William IV.
George was described as the "First Gentleman of England" on account of his style and manners. He was bright, clever, and knowledgeable, but his laziness and gluttony led him to squander much of his talent. *The Times* wrote that he would always prefer "a girl and a bottle to politics and a sermon".
The Regency period saw a shift in fashion that was largely determined by George. After political opponents put a tax on wig powder, he abandoned wearing a powdered wig in favour of natural hair. He wore darker colours than had been previously fashionable as they helped to disguise his size, favoured pantaloons and trousers over knee breeches because they were looser, and popularised a high collar with neck cloth because it hid his double chin. His visit to Scotland in 1822 led to the revival, if not the creation, of Scottish tartan dress as it is known today.
During the political crisis caused by Catholic emancipation, the Duke of Wellington said that George was "the worst man he ever fell in with his whole life, the most selfish, the most false, the most ill-natured, the most entirely without one redeeming quality". However, his eulogy delivered in the House of Lords called George "the most accomplished man of his age" and praised his knowledge and talent. Wellington's true feelings were probably somewhere between these two extremes; as he said later, George was "a magnificent patron of the arts ... the most extraordinary compound of talent, wit, buffoonery, obstinacy, and good feeling—in short a medley of the most opposite qualities, with a great preponderance of good—that I ever saw in any character in my life."
After George's death, *The Times* wrote: "There never was an individual less regretted by his fellow-creatures than this deceased king. What eye has wept for him? What heart has heaved one throb of unmercenary sorrow? ... If he ever had a friend—a devoted friend in any rank of life—we protest that the name of him or her never reached us".
There are many statues of George IV, a large number of which were erected during his reign. In the United Kingdom, they include a bronze statue of him on horseback by Sir Francis Chantrey in Trafalgar Square.
In Edinburgh, "George IV Bridge" is a main street linking the Old Town High Street to the north over the ravine of the Cowgate, designed by the architect Thomas Hamilton in 1829 and completed in 1835. King's Cross, now a major transport hub sitting on the border of Camden and Islington in north London, takes its name from a short-lived monument erected to George IV in the early 1830s. A square and a neighbouring park in St Luke's, Islington, are also named after George IV.
At birth, George was entitled to the dignities Prince of Great Britain and Ireland, Electoral Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Duke of Cornwall, and Duke of Rothesay. Under the Act of Parliament that instituted the regency, the prince's formal title as regent was "Regent of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland".
*26 December 1765*: Royal Knight of the Garter*21 November 1783*: Privy Counsellor*26 January 1789*: Fellow of the Royal Society*2 May 1810*: Doctor of Civil Law, University of Oxford*28 April 1818*: Founder of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George- Kingdom of Hanover:
*28 April 1815*: Founder of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order
- Russian Empire:
*25 November 1813*: Knight of St. Andrew*20 April 1814*: Knight of St. Alexander Nevsky
- Kingdom of Prussia:
*11 April 1814*: Knight of the Black Eagle - Kingdom of France:
*20 April 1814*: Knight of the Holy Spirit - Spain:
*5 July 1814*: Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III - Kingdom of Portugal:
*7 April 1815*: Sash of the Three Orders - Austrian Empire:
*8 June 1815*: Knight of the Golden Fleece*1819*: Grand Cross of St. Stephen
- Denmark:
*4 July 1815*: Knight of the Elephant - Two Sicilies:
- Netherlands:
*27 November 1818*: Grand Cross of the Military William Order - Kingdom of Bavaria:
*1826*: Knight of St. Hubert
*1782*: Colonel, British Army*1796–1820*: Colonel of the 10th Light Dragoons
George's coat of arms as the Prince of Wales was the royal arms (with an inescutcheon of Gules plain in the Hanoverian quarter), differenced by a label of three points Argent. The arms included the royal crest and supporters but with the single arched coronet of his rank, all charged on the shoulder with a similar label. His arms followed the change in the royal arms in 1801, when the Hanoverian quarter became an inescutcheon and the French quarter was dropped altogether. The 1816 alteration did not affect him as it only applied to the arms of the King.
As king, George's arms were those of his two kingdoms, the United Kingdom and Hanover, superimposed: Quarterly, I and IV Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or (for England); II Or a lion rampant within a double tressure flory-counter-flory Gules (for Scotland); III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent (for Ireland); overall an escutcheon tierced in pall reversed (for Hanover), I Gules two lions passant guardant Or (for Brunswick), II Or a semy of hearts Gules a lion rampant Azure (for Lüneburg), III Gules a horse courant Argent (for Westphalia), overall an inescutcheon Gules charged with the crown of Charlemagne Or, the whole escutcheon surmounted by a crown.
| Ancestors of George IV |
|---|
- David, Saul (2000).
*Prince of Pleasure: The Prince of Wales and the Making of the Regency*. Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-3703-2. - De-la-Noy, Michael (1998).
*George IV*. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-1821-7. - Derry, John W. (1963).
*The Regency Crisis and the Whigs*. Cambridge University Press. - Garrett, Natalee (2022). "Royalty, Celebrity, and the Press in Georgian Britain, 1770-1820" (PDF).
*Royal Studies Journal*.**9**(2): 99–115. doi:10.21039/rsj.351. - Hibbert, Christopher (1972).
*George IV, Prince of Wales, 1762–1811*. London: Longman. ISBN 0-582-12675-4. - Hibbert, Christopher (1973).
*George IV, Regent and King, 1811–1830*. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 0-7139-0487-9. - Hibbert, Christopher (2008) [2004]. "George IV (1762–1830)".
*Oxford Dictionary of National Biography*(online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/10541.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.) - Innes, Arthur Donald (1914).
*A History of England and the British Empire*. Vol. 3. The MacMillan Company. - Innes, Arthur Donald (1915).
*A History of England and the British Empire*. Vol. 4. The MacMillan Company. - Parissien, Steven (2001).
*George IV: The Grand Entertainment*. London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-5652-X. - Prebble, John (1988).
*The King's Jaunt: George IV in Scotland, 1822*. London: Collins. ISBN 9-780002-154048. - Smith, E. A. (1999).
*George IV*. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-07685-1.
- Machin, G. I. T. (1964).
*The Catholic Question in English Politics 1820 to 1830*. Oxford: Oxford University Press. - Priestley, J. B. (1969).
*The Prince of Pleasure and His Regency (1811–20)*. London: Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-434-60357-2. - Raymond, John (1962). "King George IV: A Reappraisal".
*History Today*.**12**(8–9): 538–547, 614–621. - Richardson, Joanna (1960).
*The Disastrous Marriage: A Study of George IV and Caroline of Brunswick*. London: Jonathan Cape. - Richardson, Joanna (1966).
*George IV: A Portrait*. London: Sidgwick & Jackson.
- George IV at the official website of the British monarchy
- George IV at the official website of the Royal Collection Trust
- George IV at
*BBC History* - Portraits of King George IV at the National Portrait Gallery, London
|
# Dinosaur - Wikipedia
| Dinosaurs Temporal range:
(possible Middle Triassic record) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Scientific classification | ||
| Domain: | Eukaryota | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia | |
| Phylum: | Chordata | |
Clade:
|
Sauropsida | |
Clade:
|
Archosauria | |
Clade:
|
Avemetatarsalia | |
Clade:
|
Ornithodira | |
Clade:
|
Dinosauromorpha | |
Clade:
|
Dinosauriformes | |
Clade:
|
Dracohors | |
Clade:
|
Dinosauria Owen, 1842 | |
| Major groups | ||
|
**Dinosaurs** are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade **Dinosauria**. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is a subject of active research. They became the dominant terrestrial vertebrates after the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event 201.3 mya and their dominance continued throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The fossil record shows that birds are feathered dinosaurs, having evolved from earlier theropods during the Late Jurassic epoch, and are the only dinosaur lineage known to have survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event approximately 66 mya. Dinosaurs can therefore be divided into **avian dinosaurs**—birds—and the extinct **non-avian dinosaurs**, which are all dinosaurs other than birds.
Dinosaurs are varied from taxonomic, morphological and ecological standpoints. Birds, at over 11,000 living species, are among the most diverse groups of vertebrates. Using fossil evidence, paleontologists have identified over 900 distinct genera and more than 1,000 different species of non-avian dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are represented on every continent by both extant species (birds) and fossil remains. Through most of the 20th century, before birds were recognized as dinosaurs, most of the scientific community believed dinosaurs to have been sluggish and cold-blooded. Most research conducted since the 1970s, however, has indicated that dinosaurs were active animals with elevated metabolisms and numerous adaptations for social interaction. Some were herbivorous, others carnivorous. Evidence suggests that all dinosaurs were egg-laying, and that nest-building was a trait shared by many dinosaurs, both avian and non-avian.
While dinosaurs were ancestrally bipedal, many extinct groups included quadrupedal species, and some were able to shift between these stances. Elaborate display structures such as horns or crests are common to all dinosaur groups, and some extinct groups developed skeletal modifications such as bony armor and spines. While the dinosaurs' modern-day surviving avian lineage (birds) are generally small due to the constraints of flight, many prehistoric dinosaurs (non-avian and avian) were large-bodied—the largest sauropod dinosaurs are estimated to have reached lengths of 39.7 meters (130 feet) and heights of 18 m (59 ft) and were the largest land animals of all time. The misconception that non-avian dinosaurs were uniformly gigantic is based in part on preservation bias, as large, sturdy bones are more likely to last until they are fossilized. Many dinosaurs were quite small, some measuring about 50 centimeters (20 inches) in length.
The first dinosaur fossils were recognized in the early 19th century, with the name "dinosaur" (meaning "terrible lizard") being coined by Sir Richard Owen in 1842 to refer to these "great fossil lizards". Since then, mounted fossil dinosaur skeletons have been major attractions at museums worldwide, and dinosaurs have become an enduring part of popular culture. The large sizes of some dinosaurs, as well as their seemingly monstrous and fantastic nature, have ensured their regular appearance in best-selling books and films, such as the *Jurassic Park* franchise. Persistent public enthusiasm for the animals has resulted in significant funding for dinosaur science, and new discoveries are regularly covered by the media.
## Definition
Under phylogenetic nomenclature, dinosaurs are usually defined as the group consisting of the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of *Triceratops* and modern birds (Neornithes), and all its descendants. It has also been suggested that Dinosauria be defined with respect to the MRCA of *Megalosaurus* and *Iguanodon*, because these were two of the three genera cited by Richard Owen when he recognized the Dinosauria. Both definitions cover the same known genera: Dinosauria = Ornithischia + Saurischia. This includes major groups such as ankylosaurians (armored herbivorous quadrupeds), stegosaurians (plated herbivorous quadrupeds), ceratopsians (bipedal or quadrupedal herbivores with neck frills), pachycephalosaurians (bipedal herbivores with thick skulls), ornithopods (bipedal or quadrupedal herbivores including "duck-bills"), theropods (mostly bipedal carnivores and birds), and sauropodomorphs (mostly large herbivorous quadrupeds with long necks and tails).
Birds are the sole surviving dinosaurs. In traditional taxonomy, birds were considered a separate class that had evolved from dinosaurs, a distinct superorder. However, most contemporary paleontologists reject the traditional style of classification based on anatomical similarity, in favor of phylogenetic taxonomy based on deduced ancestry, in which each group is defined as all descendants of a given founding genus. Birds belong to the dinosaur subgroup Maniraptora, which are coelurosaurs, which are theropods, which are saurischians.
Research by Matthew G. Baron, David B. Norman, and Paul M. Barrett in 2017 suggested a radical revision of dinosaurian systematics. Phylogenetic analysis by Baron *et al.* recovered the Ornithischia as being closer to the Theropoda than the Sauropodomorpha, as opposed to the traditional union of theropods with sauropodomorphs. This would cause sauropods and kin to fall outside traditional dinosaurs, so they re-defined Dinosauria as the last common ancestor of *Triceratops horridus*, *Passer domesticus* and *Diplodocus carnegii*, and all of its descendants, to ensure that sauropods and kin remain included as dinosaurs. They also resurrected the clade Ornithoscelida to refer to the group containing Ornithischia and Theropoda.
### General description
Using one of the above definitions, dinosaurs can be generally described as archosaurs with hind limbs held erect beneath the body. Other prehistoric animals, including pterosaurs, mosasaurs, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and *Dimetrodon*, while often popularly conceived of as dinosaurs, are not taxonomically classified as dinosaurs. Pterosaurs are distantly related to dinosaurs, being members of the clade Ornithodira. The other groups mentioned are, like dinosaurs and pterosaurs, members of Sauropsida (the reptile and bird clade), except *Dimetrodon* (which is a synapsid). None of them had the erect hind limb posture characteristic of true dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates of the Mesozoic Era, especially the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Other groups of animals were restricted in size and niches; mammals, for example, rarely exceeded the size of a domestic cat and were generally rodent-sized carnivores of small prey. Dinosaurs have always been recognized as an extremely varied group: over 900 non-avian dinosaur genera have been confidently identified (2018) with 1124 species (2016). Estimates put the total number of dinosaur genera preserved in the fossil record at 1850, nearly 75% still undiscovered, and the number that ever existed (in or out of the fossil record) at 3,400. A 2016 estimate put the number of dinosaur species living in the Mesozoic at 1,543–2,468, compared to the number of modern-day birds (avian dinosaurs) at 10,806 species.
Extinct dinosaurs, as well as modern birds, include genera that are herbivorous and others carnivorous, including seed-eaters, fish-eaters, insectivores, and omnivores. While dinosaurs were ancestrally bipedal (as are all modern birds), some evolved into quadrupeds, and others, such as *Anchisaurus* and *Iguanodon*, could walk as easily on two or four legs. Cranial modifications like horns and crests are common dinosaurian traits, and some extinct species had bony armor. Although the best-known genera are remarkable for their large size, many Mesozoic dinosaurs were human-sized or smaller, and modern birds are generally small in size. Dinosaurs today inhabit every continent, and fossils show that they had achieved global distribution by the Early Jurassic epoch at latest. Modern birds inhabit most available habitats, from terrestrial to marine, and there is evidence that some non-avian dinosaurs (such as *Microraptor*) could fly or at least glide, and others, such as spinosaurids, had semiaquatic habits.
### Distinguishing anatomical features
While recent discoveries have made it more difficult to present a universally agreed-upon list of their distinguishing features, nearly all dinosaurs discovered so far share certain modifications to the ancestral archosaurian skeleton, or are clearly descendants of older dinosaurs showing these modifications. Although some later groups of dinosaurs featured further modified versions of these traits, they are considered typical for Dinosauria; the earliest dinosaurs had them and passed them on to their descendants. Such modifications, originating in the most recent common ancestor of a certain taxonomic group, are called the synapomorphies of such a group.
A detailed assessment of archosaur interrelations by Sterling Nesbitt confirmed or found the following twelve unambiguous synapomorphies, some previously known:
- In the skull, a supratemporal fossa (excavation) is present in front of the supratemporal fenestra, the main opening in the rear skull roof
- Epipophyses, obliquely backward-pointing processes on the rear top corners of the anterior (front) neck vertebrae behind the atlas and axis, the first two neck vertebrae
- Apex of a deltopectoral crest (a projection on which the deltopectoral muscles attach) located at or more than 30% down the length of the humerus (upper arm bone)
- Radius, a lower arm bone, shorter than 80% of humerus length
- Fourth trochanter (projection where the caudofemoralis muscle attaches on the inner rear shaft) on the femur (thigh bone) is a sharp flange
- Fourth trochanter asymmetrical, with distal, lower, margin forming a steeper angle to the shaft
- On the astragalus and calcaneum, upper ankle bones, the proximal articular facet, the top connecting surface, for the fibula occupies less than 30% of the transverse width of the element
- Exoccipitals (bones at the back of the skull) do not meet along the midline on the floor of the endocranial cavity, the inner space of the braincase
- In the pelvis, the proximal articular surfaces of the ischium with the ilium and the pubis are separated by a large concave surface (on the upper side of the ischium a part of the open hip joint is located between the contacts with the pubic bone and the ilium)
- Cnemial crest on the tibia (protruding part of the top surface of the shinbone) arcs anterolaterally (curves to the front and the outer side)
- Distinct proximodistally oriented (vertical) ridge present on the posterior face of the distal end of the tibia (the rear surface of the lower end of the shinbone)
- Concave articular surface for the fibula of the calcaneum (the top surface of the calcaneum, where it touches the fibula, has a hollow profile)
Nesbitt found a number of further potential synapomorphies and discounted a number of synapomorphies previously suggested. Some of these are also present in silesaurids, which Nesbitt recovered as a sister group to Dinosauria, including a large anterior trochanter, metatarsals II and IV of subequal length, reduced contact between ischium and pubis, the presence of a cnemial crest on the tibia and of an ascending process on the astragalus, and many others.
A variety of other skeletal features are shared by dinosaurs. However, because they either are common to other groups of archosaurs or were not present in all early dinosaurs, these features are not considered to be synapomorphies. For example, as diapsids, dinosaurs ancestrally had two pairs of Infratemporal fenestrae (openings in the skull behind the eyes), and as members of the diapsid group Archosauria, had additional openings in the snout and lower jaw. Additionally, several characteristics once thought to be synapomorphies are now known to have appeared before dinosaurs, or were absent in the earliest dinosaurs and independently evolved by different dinosaur groups. These include an elongated scapula, or shoulder blade; a sacrum composed of three or more fused vertebrae (three are found in some other archosaurs, but only two are found in *Herrerasaurus*); and a perforate acetabulum, or hip socket, with a hole at the center of its inside surface (closed in *Saturnalia tupiniquim*, for example). Another difficulty of determining distinctly dinosaurian features is that early dinosaurs and other archosaurs from the Late Triassic epoch are often poorly known and were similar in many ways; these animals have sometimes been misidentified in the literature.
Dinosaurs stand with their hind limbs erect in a manner similar to most modern mammals, but distinct from most other reptiles, whose limbs sprawl out to either side. This posture is due to the development of a laterally facing recess in the pelvis (usually an open socket) and a corresponding inwardly facing distinct head on the femur. Their erect posture enabled early dinosaurs to breathe easily while moving, which likely permitted stamina and activity levels that surpassed those of "sprawling" reptiles. Erect limbs probably also helped support the evolution of large size by reducing bending stresses on limbs. Some non-dinosaurian archosaurs, including rauisuchians, also had erect limbs but achieved this by a "pillar-erect" configuration of the hip joint, where instead of having a projection from the femur insert on a socket on the hip, the upper pelvic bone was rotated to form an overhanging shelf.
## History of study
### Pre-scientific history
Dinosaur fossils have been known for millennia, although their true nature was not recognized. The Chinese considered them to be dragon bones and documented them as such. For example, *Huayang Guo Zhi* (華陽國志), a gazetteer compiled by Chang Qu (常璩) during the Western Jin Dynasty (265–316), reported the discovery of dragon bones at Wucheng in Sichuan Province. Villagers in central China have long unearthed fossilized "dragon bones" for use in traditional medicines. In Europe, dinosaur fossils were generally believed to be the remains of giants and other biblical creatures.
### Early dinosaur research
Scholarly descriptions of what would now be recognized as dinosaur bones first appeared in the late 17th century in England. Part of a bone, now known to have been the femur of a *Megalosaurus*, was recovered from a limestone quarry at Cornwell near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, in 1676. The fragment was sent to Robert Plot, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford and first curator of the Ashmolean Museum, who published a description in his *The Natural History of Oxford-shire* (1677). He correctly identified the bone as the lower extremity of the femur of a large animal, and recognized that it was too large to belong to any known species. He therefore concluded it to be the femur of a huge human, perhaps a Titan or another type of giant featured in legends. Edward Lhuyd, a friend of Sir Isaac Newton, published *Lithophylacii Britannici ichnographia* (1699), the first scientific treatment of what would now be recognized as a dinosaur. In it he described and named a sauropod tooth, "Rutellum impicatum", that had been found in Caswell, near Witney, Oxfordshire.
Between 1815 and 1824, the Rev William Buckland, the first Reader of Geology at the University of Oxford, collected more fossilized bones of *Megalosaurus* and became the first person to describe a non-avian dinosaur in a scientific journal. The second non-avian dinosaur genus to be identified, *Iguanodon*, was purportedly discovered in 1822 by Mary Ann Mantell, the wife of English geologist Gideon Mantell, though this is disputed and some historians say Gideon had acquired remains years earlier. Gideon Mantell recognized similarities between his fossils and the bones of modern iguanas and published his findings in 1825.
The study of these "great fossil lizards" soon became of great interest to European and American scientists, and in 1842 the English paleontologist Sir Richard Owen coined the term "dinosaur", using it to refer to the "distinct tribe or sub-order of Saurian Reptiles" that were then being recognized in England and around the world. The term is derived from Ancient Greek * *δεινός* (deinos)* 'terrible, potent or fearfully great' and * *σαῦρος* (sauros)* 'lizard or reptile'. Though the taxonomic name has often been interpreted as a reference to dinosaurs' teeth, claws, and other fearsome characteristics, Owen intended it also to evoke their size and majesty. Owen recognized that the remains that had been found so far, *Iguanodon*, *Megalosaurus* and *Hylaeosaurus*, shared distinctive features, and so decided to present them as a distinct taxonomic group. As clarified by British geologist and historian Hugh Torrens, Owen had given a presentation about fossil reptiles to the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1841, but reports of the time show that Owen did not mention the word "dinosaur", nor recognize dinosaurs as a distinct group of reptiles in his address. He introduced the Dinosauria only in the revised text version of his talk published in April 1842. With the backing of Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, Owen established the Natural History Museum, London, to display the national collection of dinosaur fossils and other biological and geological exhibits.
### Discoveries in North America
In 1858, William Parker Foulke discovered the first known American dinosaur, in marl pits in the small town of Haddonfield, New Jersey. (Although fossils had been found before, their nature had not been correctly discerned.) The creature was named *Hadrosaurus foulkii*. It was an extremely important find: *Hadrosaurus* was one of the first nearly complete dinosaur skeletons found (the first was in 1834, in Maidstone, England), and it was clearly a bipedal creature. This was a revolutionary discovery as, until that point, most scientists had believed dinosaurs walked on four feet, like other lizards. Foulke's discoveries sparked a wave of interests in dinosaurs in the United States, known as dinosaur mania.
Dinosaur mania was exemplified by the fierce rivalry between Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh, both of whom raced to be the first to find new dinosaurs in what came to be known as the Bone Wars. This fight between the two scientists lasted for over 30 years, ending in 1897 when Cope died after spending his entire fortune on the dinosaur hunt. Many valuable dinosaur specimens were damaged or destroyed due to the pair's rough methods: for example, their diggers often used dynamite to unearth bones. Modern paleontologists would find such methods crude and unacceptable, since blasting easily destroys fossil and stratigraphic evidence. Despite their unrefined methods, the contributions of Cope and Marsh to paleontology were vast: Marsh unearthed 86 new species of dinosaur and Cope discovered 56, a total of 142 new species. Cope's collection is now at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, while Marsh's is at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University.
World War II caused a pause in palaeontological research; after the war, research attention was also diverted increasingly to fossil mammals rather than dinosaurs, which were seen as sluggish and cold-blooded. At the end of the 1960s, however, the field of dinosaur research experienced a surge in activity that remains ongoing. Several seminal studies led to this activity. First, John Ostrom discovered the bird-like dromaeosaurid theropod *Deinonychus* and described it in 1969. Its anatomy indicated that it was an active predator that was likely warm-blooded, in marked contrast to the then-prevailing image of dinosaurs. Concurrently, Robert T. Bakker published a series of studies that likewise argued for active lifestyles in dinosaurs based on anatomical and ecological evidence (see § Physiology), which were subsequently summarized in his 1986 book *The Dinosaur Heresies*.
New revelations were supported by an increase in dinosaur discoveries. Major new dinosaur discoveries have been made by paleontologists working in previously unexplored regions, including India, South America, Madagascar, Antarctica, and most significantly China. Across theropods, sauropodomorphs, and ornithischians, the number of named genera began to increase exponentially in the 1990s. In 2008 over 30 new species of dinosaurs were named each year. At least sauropodomorphs experienced a further increase in the number of named species in the 2010s, with an average of 9.3 new species having been named each year between 2009 and 2020. As a consequence, more sauropodomorphs were named between 1990 and 2020 than in all previous years combined. These new localities also led to improvements in overall specimen quality, with new species being increasingly named not on scrappy fossils but on more complete skeletons, sometimes from multiple individuals. Better specimens also led to new species being invalidated less frequently. Asian localities have produced the most complete theropod specimens, while North American localities have produced the most complete sauropodomorph specimens.
Prior to the dinosaur renaissance, dinosaurs were mostly classified using the traditional rank-based system of Linnaean taxonomy. The renaissance was also accompanied by the increasingly widespread application of cladistics, a more objective method of classification based on ancestry and shared traits, which has proved tremendously useful in the study of dinosaur systematics and evolution. Cladistic analysis, among other techniques, helps to compensate for an often incomplete and fragmentary fossil record. Reference books summarizing the state of dinosaur research, such as David B. Weishampel and colleagues' *The Dinosauria*, made knowledge more accessible and spurred further interest in dinosaur research. The release of the first and second editions of *The Dinosauria* in 1990 and 2004, and of a review paper by Paul Sereno in 1998, were accompanied by increases in the number of published phylogenetic trees for dinosaurs.
### Soft tissue and molecular preservation
Dinosaur fossils are not limited to bones, but also include imprints or mineralized remains of skin coverings, organs, and other tissues. Of these, skin coverings based on keratin proteins are most easily preserved because of their cross-linked, hydrophobic molecular structure. Fossils of keratin-based skin coverings or bony skin coverings are known from most major groups of dinosaurs. Dinosaur fossils with scaly skin impressions have been found since the 19th century. Samuel Beckles discovered a sauropod forelimb with preserved skin in 1852 that was incorrectly attributed to a crocodile; it was correctly attributed by Marsh in 1888 and subject to further study by Reginald Hooley in 1917. Among ornithischians, in 1884 Jacob Wortman found skin impressions on the first known specimen of *Edmontosaurus annectens*, which were largely destroyed during the specimen's excavation. Owen and Hooley subsequently described skin impressions of *Hypsilophodon* and *Iguanodon* in 1885 and 1917. Since then, scale impressions have been most frequently found among hadrosaurids, where the impressions are known from nearly the entire body across multiple specimens.
Starting from the 1990s, major discoveries of exceptionally preserved fossils in deposits known as conservation Lagerstätten contributed to research on dinosaur soft tissues. Chiefly among these were the rocks that produced the Jehol (Early Cretaceous) and Yanliao (Mid-to-Late Jurassic) biotas of northeastern China, from which hundreds of dinosaur specimens bearing impressions of feather-like structures (both closely related to birds and otherwise, see § Origin of birds) have been described by Xing Xu and colleagues. In living reptiles and mammals, pigment-storing cellular structures known as melanosomes are partially responsible for producing colouration. Both chemical traces of melanin and characteristically shaped melanosomes have been reported from feathers and scales of Jehol and Yanliao dinosaurs, including both theropods and ornithischians. This has enabled multiple full-body reconstructions of dinosaur colouration, such as for *Sinosauropteryx* and *Psittacosaurus* by Jakob Vinther and colleagues, and similar techniques have also been extended to dinosaur fossils from other localities. (However, some researchers have also suggested that fossilized melanosomes represent bacterial remains.) Stomach contents in some Jehol and Yanliao dinosaurs closely related to birds have also provided indirect indications of diet and digestive system anatomy (e.g., crops). More concrete evidence of internal anatomy has been reported in *Scipionyx* from the Pietraroja Plattenkalk of Italy. It preserves portions of the intestines, colon, liver, muscles, and windpipe.
Concurrently, a line of work led by Mary Higby Schweitzer, Jack Horner, and colleagues reported various occurrences of preserved soft tissues and proteins within dinosaur bone fossils. Various mineralized structures that likely represented red blood cells and collagen fibres had been found by Schweitzer and others in tyrannosaurid bones as early as 1991. However, in 2005, Schweitzer and colleagues reported that a femur of *Tyrannosaurus* preserved soft, flexible tissue within, including blood vessels, bone matrix, and connective tissue (bone fibers) that had retained their microscopic structure. This discovery suggested that original soft tissues could be preserved over geological time, with multiple mechanisms having been proposed. Later, in 2009, Schweitzer and colleagues reported that a *Brachylophosaurus* femur preserved similar microstructures, and immunohistochemical techniques (based on antibody binding) demonstrated the presence of proteins such as collagen, elastin, and laminin. Both specimens yielded collagen protein sequences that were viable for molecular phylogenetic analyses, which grouped them with birds as would be expected. The extraction of fragmentary DNA has also been reported for both of these fossils, along with a specimen of *Hypacrosaurus*. In 2015, Sergio Bertazzo and colleagues reported the preservation of collagen fibres and red blood cells in eight Cretaceous dinosaur specimens that did not show any signs of exceptional preservation, indicating that soft tissue may be preserved more commonly than previously thought. Suggestions that these structures represent bacterial biofilms have been rejected, but cross-contamination remains a possibility that is difficult to detect.
## Evolutionary history
### Origins and early evolution
Dinosaurs diverged from their archosaur ancestors during the Middle to Late Triassic epochs, roughly 20 million years after the devastating Permian–Triassic extinction event wiped out an estimated 96% of all marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrate species approximately 252 million years ago. The oldest dinosaur fossils known from substantial remains date to the Carnian epoch of the Triassic period and have been found primarily in the Ischigualasto and Santa Maria Formations of Argentina and Brazil, and the Pebbly Arkose Formation of Zimbabwe.
The Ischigualasto Formation (radiometrically dated at 231–230 million years old) has produced the early saurischian *Eoraptor*, originally considered a member of the Herrerasauridae but now considered to be an early sauropodomorph, along with the herrerasaurids *Herrerasaurus* and *Sanjuansaurus*, and the sauropodomorphs *Chromogisaurus*, *Eodromaeus*, and *Panphagia*. *Eoraptor*'s likely resemblance to the common ancestor of all dinosaurs suggests that the first dinosaurs would have been small, bipedal predators. The Santa Maria Formation (radiometrically dated to be older, at 233.23 million years old) has produced the herrerasaurids *Gnathovorax* and *Staurikosaurus*, along with the sauropodomorphs *Bagualosaurus*, *Buriolestes*, *Guaibasaurus*, *Macrocollum*, *Nhandumirim*, *Pampadromaeus*, *Saturnalia*, and *Unaysaurus*. The Pebbly Arkose Formation, which is of uncertain age but was likely comparable to the other two, has produced the sauropodomorph *Mbiresaurus*, along with an unnamed herrerasaurid.
Less well-preserved remains of the sauropodomorphs *Jaklapallisaurus* and *Nambalia*, along with the early saurischian *Alwalkeria*, are known from the Upper Maleri and Lower Maleri Formations of India. The Carnian-aged Chañares Formation of Argentina preserves primitive, dinosaur-like ornithodirans such as *Lagosuchus* and *Lagerpeton* in Argentina, making it another important site for understanding dinosaur evolution. These ornithodirans support the model of early dinosaurs as small, bipedal predators. Dinosaurs may have appeared as early as the Anisian epoch of the Triassic, approximately 243 million years ago, which is the age of *Nyasasaurus* from the Manda Formation of Tanzania. However, its known fossils are too fragmentary to identify it as a dinosaur or only a close relative. The referral of the Manda Formation to the Anisian is also uncertain. Regardless, dinosaurs existed alongside non-dinosaurian ornithodirans for a period of time, with estimates ranging from 5–10 million years to 21 million years.
When dinosaurs appeared, they were not the dominant terrestrial animals. The terrestrial habitats were occupied by various types of archosauromorphs and therapsids, like cynodonts and rhynchosaurs. Their main competitors were the pseudosuchians, such as aetosaurs, ornithosuchids and rauisuchians, which were more successful than the dinosaurs. Most of these other animals became extinct in the Triassic, in one of two events. First, at about 215 million years ago, a variety of basal archosauromorphs, including the protorosaurs, became extinct. This was followed by the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event (about 201 million years ago), that saw the end of most of the other groups of early archosaurs, like aetosaurs, ornithosuchids, phytosaurs, and rauisuchians. Rhynchosaurs and dicynodonts survived (at least in some areas) at least as late as early –mid Norian and late Norian or earliest Rhaetian stages, respectively, and the exact date of their extinction is uncertain. These losses left behind a land fauna of crocodylomorphs, dinosaurs, mammals, pterosaurians, and turtles. The first few lines of early dinosaurs diversified through the Carnian and Norian stages of the Triassic, possibly by occupying the niches of the groups that became extinct. Also notably, there was a heightened rate of extinction during the Carnian pluvial event.
### Evolution and paleobiogeography
Dinosaur evolution after the Triassic followed changes in vegetation and the location of continents. In the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic, the continents were connected as the single landmass Pangaea, and there was a worldwide dinosaur fauna mostly composed of coelophysoid carnivores and early sauropodomorph herbivores. Gymnosperm plants (particularly conifers), a potential food source, radiated in the Late Triassic. Early sauropodomorphs did not have sophisticated mechanisms for processing food in the mouth, and so must have employed other means of breaking down food farther along the digestive tract. The general homogeneity of dinosaurian faunas continued into the Middle and Late Jurassic, where most localities had predators consisting of ceratosaurians, megalosauroids, and allosauroids, and herbivores consisting of stegosaurian ornithischians and large sauropods. Examples of this include the Morrison Formation of North America and Tendaguru Beds of Tanzania. Dinosaurs in China show some differences, with specialized metriacanthosaurid theropods and unusual, long-necked sauropods like *Mamenchisaurus*. Ankylosaurians and ornithopods were also becoming more common, but primitive sauropodomorphs had become extinct. Conifers and pteridophytes were the most common plants. Sauropods, like earlier sauropodomorphs, were not oral processors, but ornithischians were evolving various means of dealing with food in the mouth, including potential cheek-like organs to keep food in the mouth, and jaw motions to grind food. Another notable evolutionary event of the Jurassic was the appearance of true birds, descended from maniraptoran coelurosaurians.
By the Early Cretaceous and the ongoing breakup of Pangaea, dinosaurs were becoming strongly differentiated by landmass. The earliest part of this time saw the spread of ankylosaurians, iguanodontians, and brachiosaurids through Europe, North America, and northern Africa. These were later supplemented or replaced in Africa by large spinosaurid and carcharodontosaurid theropods, and rebbachisaurid and titanosaurian sauropods, also found in South America. In Asia, maniraptoran coelurosaurians like dromaeosaurids, troodontids, and oviraptorosaurians became the common theropods, and ankylosaurids and early ceratopsians like *Psittacosaurus* became important herbivores. Meanwhile, Australia was home to a fauna of basal ankylosaurians, hypsilophodonts, and iguanodontians. The stegosaurians appear to have gone extinct at some point in the late Early Cretaceous or early Late Cretaceous. A major change in the Early Cretaceous, which would be amplified in the Late Cretaceous, was the evolution of flowering plants. At the same time, several groups of dinosaurian herbivores evolved more sophisticated ways to orally process food. Ceratopsians developed a method of slicing with teeth stacked on each other in batteries, and iguanodontians refined a method of grinding with dental batteries, taken to its extreme in hadrosaurids. Some sauropods also evolved tooth batteries, best exemplified by the rebbachisaurid *Nigersaurus*.
There were three general dinosaur faunas in the Late Cretaceous. In the northern continents of North America and Asia, the major theropods were tyrannosaurids and various types of smaller maniraptoran theropods, with a predominantly ornithischian herbivore assemblage of hadrosaurids, ceratopsians, ankylosaurids, and pachycephalosaurians. In the southern continents that had made up the now-splitting supercontinent Gondwana, abelisaurids were the common theropods, and titanosaurian sauropods the common herbivores. Finally, in Europe, dromaeosaurids, rhabdodontid iguanodontians, nodosaurid ankylosaurians, and titanosaurian sauropods were prevalent. Flowering plants were greatly radiating, with the first grasses appearing by the end of the Cretaceous. Grinding hadrosaurids and shearing ceratopsians became very diverse across North America and Asia. Theropods were also radiating as herbivores or omnivores, with therizinosaurians and ornithomimosaurians becoming common.
The Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, which occurred approximately 66 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous, caused the extinction of all dinosaur groups except for the neornithine birds. Some other diapsid groups, including crocodilians, dyrosaurs, sebecosuchians, turtles, lizards, snakes, sphenodontians, and choristoderans, also survived the event.
The surviving lineages of neornithine birds, including the ancestors of modern ratites, ducks and chickens, and a variety of waterbirds, diversified rapidly at the beginning of the Paleogene period, entering ecological niches left vacant by the extinction of Mesozoic dinosaur groups such as the arboreal enantiornithines, aquatic hesperornithines, and even the larger terrestrial theropods (in the form of *Gastornis*, eogruiids, bathornithids, ratites, geranoidids, mihirungs, and "terror birds"). It is often stated that mammals out-competed the neornithines for dominance of most terrestrial niches but many of these groups co-existed with rich mammalian faunas for most of the Cenozoic Era. Terror birds and bathornithids occupied carnivorous guilds alongside predatory mammals, and ratites are still fairly successful as midsized herbivores; eogruiids similarly lasted from the Eocene to Pliocene, becoming extinct only very recently after over 20 million years of co-existence with many mammal groups.
## Classification
Dinosaurs belong to a group known as archosaurs, which also includes modern crocodilians. Within the archosaur group, dinosaurs are differentiated most noticeably by their gait. Dinosaur legs extend directly beneath the body, whereas the legs of lizards and crocodilians sprawl out to either side.
Collectively, dinosaurs as a clade are divided into two primary branches, Saurischia and Ornithischia. Saurischia includes those taxa sharing a more recent common ancestor with birds than with Ornithischia, while Ornithischia includes all taxa sharing a more recent common ancestor with *Triceratops* than with Saurischia. Anatomically, these two groups can be distinguished most noticeably by their pelvic structure. Early saurischians—"lizard-hipped", from the Greek * sauros* (σαῦρος) meaning "lizard" and
*(ἰσχίον) meaning "hip joint"—retained the hip structure of their ancestors, with a pubis bone directed cranially, or forward. This basic form was modified by rotating the pubis backward to varying degrees in several groups (*
*ischion**Herrerasaurus*, therizinosauroids, dromaeosaurids, and birds). Saurischia includes the theropods (exclusively bipedal and with a wide variety of diets) and sauropodomorphs (long-necked herbivores which include advanced, quadrupedal groups).
By contrast, ornithischians—"bird-hipped", from the Greek *ornitheios* (ὀρνίθειος) meaning "of a bird" and *ischion* (ἰσχίον) meaning "hip joint"—had a pelvis that superficially resembled a bird's pelvis: the pubic bone was oriented caudally (rear-pointing). Unlike birds, the ornithischian pubis also usually had an additional forward-pointing process. Ornithischia includes a variety of species that were primarily herbivores.
Despite the terms "bird hip" (Ornithischia) and "lizard hip" (Saurischia), birds are not part of Ornithischia. Birds instead belong to Saurischia, the "lizard-hipped" dinosaurs—birds evolved from earlier dinosaurs with "lizard hips".
### Taxonomy
The following is a simplified classification of dinosaur groups based on their evolutionary relationships, and those of the main dinosaur groups Theropoda, Sauropodomorpha and Ornithischia, compiled by Justin Tweet. Further details and other hypotheses of classification may be found on individual articles.
- Dinosauria
- †Ornithischia ("bird-hipped"; diverse bipedal and quadrupedal herbivores)
- †Heterodontosauridae (small herbivores/omnivores with prominent canine-like teeth)
- †Thyreophora (armored dinosaurs; bipeds and quadrupeds)
- †Stegosauria (spikes and plates as primary armor)
- †Ankylosauria (scutes as primary armor)
- †Parankylosauria (small, southern ankylosaurs with macuahuitl-like tails)
- †Nodosauridae (mostly spiky, club-less ankylosaurs)
- †Ankylosauridae (characterized by flat scutes)
- †Neornithischia ("new ornithischians")
- †Thescelosauridae ("wondrous lizards")
- †Marginocephalia (characterized by a cranial growth)
- †Pachycephalosauria (bipeds with domed or knobby growth on skulls)
- †Ceratopsia (bipeds and quadrupeds; many had neck frills and horns)
- †Chaoyangsauridae (small, frill-less basal ceratopsians)
- †Leptoceratopsidae (little to no frills, hornless, with robust jaws)
- †Protoceratopsidae (basal ceratopsians with small frills and stubby horns)
- †Ceratopsidae (large, elaborately ornamented ceratopsians)
- †Protoceratopsidae (basal ceratopsians with small frills and stubby horns)
- †Ornithopoda (various sizes; bipeds and quadrupeds; evolved a method of chewing using skull flexibility and numerous teeth)
- †Hypsilophodontidae (small European neornithischians)
- †Rhabdodontomorpha (with distinctive dentition)
- †Elasmaria (mostly southern ornithopods with mineralized plates along the ribs; may be thescelosaurids)
- †Dryosauridae (mid-sized, small headed)
- †Ankylopollexia (early members mid-sized, stocky)
- †Hadrosauromorpha (hadrosaurids and their closest relatives)
- †Hadrosauridae ("duck-billed dinosaurs"; often with crests)
- †Hadrosauromorpha (hadrosaurids and their closest relatives)
- †Ankylopollexia (early members mid-sized, stocky)
- †Thyreophora (armored dinosaurs; bipeds and quadrupeds)
- †Heterodontosauridae (small herbivores/omnivores with prominent canine-like teeth)
- Saurischia
- †Herrerasauridae (early bipedal carnivores)
- †Sauropodomorpha (herbivores with small heads, long necks, and long tails)
- †Unaysauridae (primitive, strictly bipedal "prosauropods")
- †Plateosauria (diverse; bipeds and quadrupeds)
- †Massopoda ("heavy feet")
- †Massospondylidae (long-necked, primitive sauropodomorphs)
- †Riojasauridae (large, primitive sauropodomorphs)
- †Sauropoda (very large and heavy; quadrupedal)
- †Lessemsauridae (gigantic yet lacking several weight-saving adaptations)
- †Eusauropoda ("true sauropods")
- †Turiasauria (often large, widespread sauropods)
- †Neosauropoda ("new sauropods"; columnar limbs)
- †Diplodocoidea (skulls and tails elongated; teeth typically narrow and pencil-like)
- †Rebbachisauridae (short-necked, low-browsing diplodocoids often with high backs)
- †Dicraeosauridae (small, short-necked diplodocoids with enlarged cervical and dorsal vertebrae)
- †Diplodocidae (extremely long-necked)
- †Rebbachisauridae (short-necked, low-browsing diplodocoids often with high backs)
- †Macronaria (boxy skulls; spoon- or pencil-shaped teeth)
- †Brachiosauridae (long-necked, long-armed macronarians)
- †Somphospondyli ("porous vertebrae")
- †Euhelopodidae (stocky, mostly Asian)
- †Diamantinasauria (horse-like skulls; restricted to the Southern Hemisphere; may be titanosaurs)
- †Titanosauria (diverse; stocky, with wide hips; most common in the Late Cretaceous of southern continents)
- †Diplodocoidea (skulls and tails elongated; teeth typically narrow and pencil-like)
- †Sauropoda (very large and heavy; quadrupedal)
- †Massopoda ("heavy feet")
- Theropoda (carnivorous)
- †Coelophysoidea (early theropods; includes
*Coelophysis*and close relatives) - †Ceratosauria (generally elaborately horned carnivores that existed from the Jurassic to Cretaceous periods, originally included Coelophysoidea)
- †Abelisauridae (large abelisauroids with short arms and oftentimes elaborate facial ornamentation)
- †Noasauridae (diverse, generally light theropods; may include several obscure taxa)
- Tetanurae (stiff-tailed dinosaurs)
- †Megalosauroidea (early group of large carnivores)
- †Piatnitzkysauridae (small basal megalosauroids endemic to the Americas)
- †Megalosauridae (large megalosauroids with powerful arms and hands)
- †Spinosauridae (crocodile-like, semiaquatic carnivores)
- †Carnosauria (large meat-eating dinosaurs; megalosauroids sometimes included)
- †Metriacanthosauridae (primitive Asian allosauroids)
- †Allosauridae (
*Allosaurus*and its very closest relatives) - †Carcharodontosauridae (robust allosauroids; includes some of the largest purely terrestrial carnivores)
- Coelurosauria (feathered theropods, with a range of body sizes and niches)
- †Megaraptora? (theropods with large hand claws; potentially tyrannosauroids or neovenatorids)
- †Tyrannosauroidea (mostly large, primitive coelurosaurs)
- †Proceratosauridae (tyrannosauroids with head crests)
- †Tyrannosauridae (
*Tyrannosaurus*and close relatives)
- †Ornithomimosauria (small-headed, mostly toothless, omnivorous or possible herbivores)
- †Ornithomimidae (very ostrich-like dinosaurs)
- Maniraptora (dinosaurs with pennaceous feathers)
- †Alvarezsauroidea (small hunters with reduced forelimbs)
- †Alvarezsauridae (insectivores with only one enlarged digit)
- †Therizinosauria (tall, long-necked theropods; omnivores and herbivores)
- †Therizinosauridae (sloth-like herbivores, often with enlarged claws)
- †Oviraptorosauria (omnivorous, beaked dinosaurs)
- †Caudipteridae (bird-like, basal oviraptorosaurs)
- †Caenagnathidae (toothless oviraptorosaurs known from North America and Asia)
- †Oviraptoridae (characterized by two bony projections at the back of the mouth; exclusive to Asia)
- Paraves (avialans and their closest relatives)
- †Scansoriopterygidae (small tree-climbing theropods with membranous wings)
- †Deinonychosauria (toe-clawed dinosaurs; may not form a natural group)
- †Archaeopterygidae (small, winged theropods or primitive birds)
- †Troodontidae (omnivores; enlarged brain cavities)
- †Dromaeosauridae ("raptors")
- †Unenlagiidae (piscivores; may be dromaeosaurids)
- Avialae (modern birds and extinct relatives)
- †Alvarezsauroidea (small hunters with reduced forelimbs)
- †Megalosauroidea (early group of large carnivores)
- †Coelophysoidea (early theropods; includes
- †Ornithischia ("bird-hipped"; diverse bipedal and quadrupedal herbivores)
## Paleobiology
Knowledge about dinosaurs is derived from a variety of fossil and non-fossil records, including fossilized bones, feces, trackways, gastroliths, feathers, impressions of skin, internal organs and other soft tissues. Many fields of study contribute to our understanding of dinosaurs, including physics (especially biomechanics), chemistry, biology, and the Earth sciences (of which paleontology is a sub-discipline). Two topics of particular interest and study have been dinosaur size and behavior.
### Size
Current evidence suggests that dinosaur average size varied through the Triassic, Early Jurassic, Late Jurassic and Cretaceous. Predatory theropod dinosaurs, which occupied most terrestrial carnivore niches during the Mesozoic, most often fall into the 100-to-1,000 kg (220-to-2,200 lb) category when sorted by estimated weight into categories based on order of magnitude, whereas recent predatory carnivoran mammals peak in the 10-to-100 kg (22-to-220 lb) category. The mode of Mesozoic dinosaur body masses is between 1 and 10 metric tons (1.1 and 11.0 short tons). This contrasts sharply with the average size of Cenozoic mammals, estimated by the National Museum of Natural History as about 2 to 5 kg (4.4 to 11.0 lb).
The sauropods were the largest and heaviest dinosaurs. For much of the dinosaur era, the smallest sauropods were larger than anything else in their habitat, and the largest was an order of magnitude more massive than anything else that has since walked the Earth. Giant prehistoric mammals such as *Paraceratherium* (the largest land mammal ever) were dwarfed by the giant sauropods, and only modern whales approach or surpass them in size. There are several proposed advantages for the large size of sauropods, including protection from predation, reduction of energy use, and longevity, but it may be that the most important advantage was dietary. Large animals are more efficient at digestion than small animals, because food spends more time in their digestive systems. This also permits them to subsist on food with lower nutritive value than smaller animals. Sauropod remains are mostly found in rock formations interpreted as dry or seasonally dry, and the ability to eat large quantities of low-nutrient browse would have been advantageous in such environments.
#### Largest and smallest
Scientists will probably never be certain of the largest and smallest dinosaurs to have ever existed. This is because only a tiny percentage of animals were ever fossilized and most of these remain buried in the earth. Few non-avian dinosaur specimens that are recovered are complete skeletons, and impressions of skin and other soft tissues are rare. Rebuilding a complete skeleton by comparing the size and morphology of bones to those of similar, better-known species is an inexact art, and reconstructing the muscles and other organs of the living animal is, at best, a process of educated guesswork.
The tallest and heaviest dinosaur known from good skeletons is *Giraffatitan brancai* (previously classified as a species of *Brachiosaurus*). Its remains were discovered in Tanzania between 1907 and 1912. Bones from several similar-sized individuals were incorporated into the skeleton now mounted and on display at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin; this mount is 12 meters (39 ft) tall and 21.8 to 22.5 meters (72 to 74 ft) long, and would have belonged to an animal that weighed between 30000 and 60000 kilograms (70000 and 130000 lb). The longest complete dinosaur is the 27 meters (89 ft) long *Diplodocus*, which was discovered in Wyoming in the United States and displayed in Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History in 1907. The longest dinosaur known from good fossil material is *Patagotitan*: the skeleton mount in the American Museum of Natural History in New York is 37 meters (121 ft) long. The Museo Municipal Carmen Funes in Plaza Huincul, Argentina, has an *Argentinosaurus* reconstructed skeleton mount that is 39.7 meters (130 ft) long.
There were larger dinosaurs, but knowledge of them is based entirely on a small number of fragmentary fossils. Most of the largest herbivorous specimens on record were discovered in the 1970s or later, and include the massive *Argentinosaurus*, which may have weighed 80000 to 100000 kilograms (88 to 110 short tons) and reached lengths of 30 to 40 meters (98 to 131 ft); some of the longest were the 33.5-meter (110 ft) long *Diplodocus hallorum* (formerly *Seismosaurus*), the 33-to-34-meter (108 to 112 ft) long *Supersaurus*, and 37-meter (121 ft) long *Patagotitan*; and the tallest, the 18-meter (59 ft) tall *Sauroposeidon*, which could have reached a sixth-floor window. There were a few dinosaurs that was considered either the heaviest and longest. The most famous one include *Amphicoelias fragillimus*, known only from a now lost partial vertebral neural arch described in 1878. Extrapolating from the illustration of this bone, the animal may have been 58 meters (190 ft) long and weighed 122400 kg (269800 lb). However, recent research have placed *Amphicoelias* from the long, gracile diplodocid to the shorter but much stockier rebbachisaurid. Now renamed as *Maraapunisaurus*, this sauropod now stands as much as 40 meters (130 ft) long and weigh as much as 120000 kg (260000 lb). Another contender of this title includes *Bruhathkayosaurus*, a controversial taxon that was recently confirmed to exist after archived photos were uncovered. *Bruhathkayosaurus* was a titanosaur and would have most likely weighed more than even *Marrapunisaurus*. Recent size estimates in 2023 have placed this sauropod reaching lengths of up to 44 m (144 ft) long and a colossal weight range of around 110000–170000 kg (240000–370000 lb), if these upper estimates up true, *Bruhathkayosaurus* would have rivaled the *blue whale* and *Perucetus colossus* as one of the largest animals to have ever existed.
The largest carnivorous dinosaur was *Spinosaurus*, reaching a length of 12.6 to 18 meters (41 to 59 ft) and weighing 7 to 20.9 metric tons (7.7 to 23.0 short tons). Other large carnivorous theropods included *Giganotosaurus*, *Carcharodontosaurus*, and *Tyrannosaurus*. *Therizinosaurus* and *Deinocheirus* were among the tallest of the theropods. The largest ornithischian dinosaur was probably the hadrosaurid *Shantungosaurus giganteus* which measured 16.6 meters (54 ft). The largest individuals may have weighed as much as 16 metric tons (18 short tons).
The smallest dinosaur known is the bee hummingbird, with a length of only 5 centimeters (2.0 in) and mass of around 1.8 g (0.063 oz). The smallest known non-avialan dinosaurs were about the size of pigeons and were those theropods most closely related to birds. For example, *Anchiornis huxleyi* is currently the smallest non-avialan dinosaur described from an adult specimen, with an estimated weight of 110 g (3.9 oz) and a total skeletal length of 34 centimeters (1.12 ft). The smallest herbivorous non-avialan dinosaurs included *Microceratus* and *Wannanosaurus*, at about 60 centimeters (2.0 ft) long each.
### Behavior
Many modern birds are highly social, often found living in flocks. There is general agreement that some behaviors that are common in birds, as well as in crocodilians (closest living relatives of birds), were also common among extinct dinosaur groups. Interpretations of behavior in fossil species are generally based on the pose of skeletons and their habitat, computer simulations of their biomechanics, and comparisons with modern animals in similar ecological niches.
The first potential evidence for herding or flocking as a widespread behavior common to many dinosaur groups in addition to birds was the 1878 discovery of 31 *Iguanodon*, ornithischians that were then thought to have perished together in Bernissart, Belgium, after they fell into a deep, flooded sinkhole and drowned. Other mass-death sites have been discovered subsequently. Those, along with multiple trackways, suggest that gregarious behavior was common in many early dinosaur species. Trackways of hundreds or even thousands of herbivores indicate that duck-billed (hadrosaurids) may have moved in great herds, like the American bison or the African springbok. Sauropod tracks document that these animals traveled in groups composed of several different species, at least in Oxfordshire, England, although there is no evidence for specific herd structures. Congregating into herds may have evolved for defense, for migratory purposes, or to provide protection for young. There is evidence that many types of slow-growing dinosaurs, including various theropods, sauropods, ankylosaurians, ornithopods, and ceratopsians, formed aggregations of immature individuals. One example is a site in Inner Mongolia that has yielded remains of over 20 *Sinornithomimus*, from one to seven years old. This assemblage is interpreted as a social group that was trapped in mud. The interpretation of dinosaurs as gregarious has also extended to depicting carnivorous theropods as pack hunters working together to bring down large prey. However, this lifestyle is uncommon among modern birds, crocodiles, and other reptiles, and the taphonomic evidence suggesting mammal-like pack hunting in such theropods as *Deinonychus* and *Allosaurus* can also be interpreted as the results of fatal disputes between feeding animals, as is seen in many modern diapsid predators.
The crests and frills of some dinosaurs, like the marginocephalians, theropods and lambeosaurines, may have been too fragile to be used for active defense, and so they were likely used for sexual or aggressive displays, though little is known about dinosaur mating and territorialism. Head wounds from bites suggest that theropods, at least, engaged in active aggressive confrontations.
From a behavioral standpoint, one of the most valuable dinosaur fossils was discovered in the Gobi Desert in 1971. It included a *Velociraptor* attacking a *Protoceratops*, providing evidence that dinosaurs did indeed attack each other. Additional evidence for attacking live prey is the partially healed tail of an *Edmontosaurus*, a hadrosaurid dinosaur; the tail is damaged in such a way that shows the animal was bitten by a tyrannosaur but survived. Cannibalism amongst some species of dinosaurs was confirmed by tooth marks found in Madagascar in 2003, involving the theropod *Majungasaurus*.
Comparisons between the scleral rings of dinosaurs and modern birds and reptiles have been used to infer daily activity patterns of dinosaurs. Although it has been suggested that most dinosaurs were active during the day, these comparisons have shown that small predatory dinosaurs such as dromaeosaurids, *Juravenator*, and *Megapnosaurus* were likely nocturnal. Large and medium-sized herbivorous and omnivorous dinosaurs such as ceratopsians, sauropodomorphs, hadrosaurids, ornithomimosaurs may have been cathemeral, active during short intervals throughout the day, although the small ornithischian *Agilisaurus* was inferred to be diurnal.
Based on fossil evidence from dinosaurs such as *Oryctodromeus*, some ornithischian species seem to have led a partially fossorial (burrowing) lifestyle. Many modern birds are arboreal (tree climbing), and this was also true of many Mesozoic birds, especially the enantiornithines. While some early bird-like species may have already been arboreal as well (including dromaeosaurids) such as *Microraptor*) most non-avialan dinosaurs seem to have relied on land-based locomotion. A good understanding of how dinosaurs moved on the ground is key to models of dinosaur behavior; the science of biomechanics, pioneered by Robert McNeill Alexander, has provided significant insight in this area. For example, studies of the forces exerted by muscles and gravity on dinosaurs' skeletal structure have investigated how fast dinosaurs could run, whether diplodocids could create sonic booms via whip-like tail snapping, and whether sauropods could float.
### Communication
Modern birds communicate by visual and auditory signals, and the wide diversity of visual display structures among fossil dinosaur groups, such as horns, frills, crests, sails, and feathers, suggests that visual communication has always been important in dinosaur biology. Reconstruction of the plumage color of *Anchiornis* suggest the importance of color in visual communication in non-avian dinosaurs. Vocalization in non-avian dinosaurs is less certain. In birds, the larynx plays no role in sound production. Instead, birds vocalize with a novel organ, the syrinx, farther down the trachea. The earliest remains of a syrinx were found in a specimen of the duck-like *Vegavis iaai* dated 69 –66 million years ago, and this organ is unlikely to have existed in non-avian dinosaurs.
A 2009 review indicated that non-avians used visual displays and possibly non-vocal sounds, such as hissing, jaw-grinding or -clapping, splashing, and wing-beating (possible in winged maniraptoran dinosaurs). Other researchers have countered that vocalizations also exist in turtles, the closest relatives of archosaurs, suggesting that the trait is ancestral to their lineage. In addition, vocal communication in dinosaurs is indicated by the development of advanced hearing in nearly all major groups. Hence the syrinx may have supplemented and then replaced the larynx as a vocal organ, without a "silent period" in bird evolution.
In 2023, a fossilized larynx was described, from a specimen of the ankylosaurid *Pinacosaurus*. The structure was composed of cricoid and arytenoid cartilages, similar to those of non-avian reptiles; but the mobile cricoid–arytenoid joint and long arytenoid cartilages would have allowed air-flow control similar to that of birds, and thus could have made bird-like vocalizations. In addition, the cartilages were ossified, implying that laryngeal ossification is a feature of some non-avian dinosaurs. A 2016 study concludes that some dinosaurs may have produced closed-mouth vocalizations, such as cooing, hooting, and booming. These occur in both reptiles and birds and involve inflating the esophagus or tracheal pouches. Such vocalizations evolved independently in extant archosaurs numerous times, following increases in body size. The crests of some hadrosaurids and the nasal chambers of ankylosaurids may have been resonators.
### Reproductive biology
All dinosaurs laid amniotic eggs. Dinosaur eggs were usually laid in a nest. Most species create somewhat elaborate nests which can be cups, domes, plates, beds scrapes, mounds, or burrows. Some species of modern bird have no nests; the cliff-nesting common guillemot lays its eggs on bare rock, and male emperor penguins keep eggs between their body and feet. Primitive birds and many non-avialan dinosaurs often lay eggs in communal nests, with males primarily incubating the eggs. While modern birds have only one functional oviduct and lay one egg at a time, more primitive birds and dinosaurs had two oviducts, like crocodiles. Some non-avialan dinosaurs, such as *Troodon*, exhibited iterative laying, where the adult might lay a pair of eggs every one or two days, and then ensured simultaneous hatching by delaying brooding until all eggs were laid.
When laying eggs, females grow a special type of bone between the hard outer bone and the marrow of their limbs. This medullary bone, which is rich in calcium, is used to make eggshells. A discovery of features in a *Tyrannosaurus* skeleton provided evidence of medullary bone in extinct dinosaurs and, for the first time, allowed paleontologists to establish the sex of a fossil dinosaur specimen. Further research has found medullary bone in the carnosaur *Allosaurus* and the ornithopod *Tenontosaurus*. Because the line of dinosaurs that includes *Allosaurus* and *Tyrannosaurus* diverged from the line that led to *Tenontosaurus* very early in the evolution of dinosaurs, this suggests that the production of medullary tissue is a general characteristic of all dinosaurs.
Another widespread trait among modern birds (but see below in regards to fossil groups and extant megapodes) is parental care for young after hatching. Jack Horner's 1978 discovery of a *Maiasaura* ("good mother lizard") nesting ground in Montana demonstrated that parental care continued long after birth among ornithopods. A specimen of the oviraptorid *Citipati osmolskae* was discovered in a chicken-like brooding position in 1993, which may indicate that they had begun using an insulating layer of feathers to keep the eggs warm. An embryo of the basal sauropodomorph *Massospondylus* was found without teeth, indicating that some parental care was required to feed the young dinosaurs. Trackways have also confirmed parental behavior among ornithopods from the Isle of Skye in northwestern Scotland.
However, there is ample evidence of precociality or superprecociality among many dinosaur species, particularly theropods. For instance, non-ornithuromorph birds have been abundantly demonstrated to have had slow growth rates, megapode-like egg burying behavior and the ability to fly soon after birth. Both *Tyrannosaurus* and *Troodon* had juveniles with clear superprecociality and likely occupying different ecological niches than the adults. Superprecociality has been inferred for sauropods.
Genital structures are unlikely to fossilize as they lack scales that may allow preservation via pigmentation or residual calcium phosphate salts. In 2021, the best preserved specimen of a dinosaur's cloacal vent exterior was described for *Psittacosaurus*, demonstrating lateral swellings similar to crocodylian musk glands used in social displays by both sexes and pigmented regions which could also reflect a signalling function. However, this specimen on its own does not offer enough information to determine whether this dinosaur had sexual signalling functions; it only supports the possibility. Cloacal visual signalling can occur in either males or females in living birds, making it unlikely to be useful to determine sex for extinct dinosaurs.
### Physiology
Because both modern crocodilians and birds have four-chambered hearts (albeit modified in crocodilians), it is likely that this is a trait shared by all archosaurs, including all dinosaurs. While all modern birds have high metabolisms and are endothermic ("warm-blooded"), a vigorous debate has been ongoing since the 1960s regarding how far back in the dinosaur lineage this trait extended. Various researchers have supported dinosaurs as being endothermic, ectothermic ("cold-blooded"), or somewhere in between. An emerging consensus among researchers is that, while different lineages of dinosaurs would have had different metabolisms, most of them had higher metabolic rates than other reptiles but lower than living birds and mammals, which is termed mesothermy by some. Evidence from crocodiles and their extinct relatives suggests that such elevated metabolisms could have developed in the earliest archosaurs, which were the common ancestors of dinosaurs and crocodiles.
After non-avian dinosaurs were discovered, paleontologists first posited that they were ectothermic. This was used to imply that the ancient dinosaurs were relatively slow, sluggish organisms, even though many modern reptiles are fast and light-footed despite relying on external sources of heat to regulate their body temperature. The idea of dinosaurs as ectothermic remained a prevalent view until Robert T. Bakker, an early proponent of dinosaur endothermy, published an influential paper on the topic in 1968. Bakker specifically used anatomical and ecological evidence to argue that sauropods, which had hitherto been depicted as sprawling aquatic animals with their tails dragging on the ground, were endotherms that lived vigorous, terrestrial lives. In 1972, Bakker expanded on his arguments based on energy requirements and predator-prey ratios. This was one of the seminal results that led to the dinosaur renaissance.
One of the greatest contributions to the modern understanding of dinosaur physiology has been paleohistology, the study of microscopic tissue structure in dinosaurs. From the 1960s forward, Armand de Ricqlès suggested that the presence of fibrolamellar bone—bony tissue with an irregular, fibrous texture and filled with blood vessels—was indicative of consistently fast growth and therefore endothermy. Fibrolamellar bone was common in both dinosaurs and pterosaurs, though not universally present. This has led to a significant body of work in reconstructing growth curves and modeling the evolution of growth rates across various dinosaur lineages, which has suggested overall that dinosaurs grew faster than living reptiles. Other lines of evidence suggesting endothermy include the presence of feathers and other types of body coverings in many lineages (see § Feathers); more consistent ratios of the isotope oxygen-18 in bony tissue compared to ectotherms, particularly as latitude and thus air temperature varied, which suggests stable internal temperatures (although these ratios can be altered during fossilization); and the discovery of polar dinosaurs, which lived in Australia, Antarctica, and Alaska when these places would have had cool, temperate climates.
In saurischian dinosaurs, higher metabolisms were supported by the evolution of the avian respiratory system, characterized by an extensive system of air sacs that extended the lungs and invaded many of the bones in the skeleton, making them hollow. Such respiratory systems, which may have appeared in the earliest saurischians, would have provided them with more oxygen compared to a mammal of similar size, while also having a larger resting tidal volume and requiring a lower breathing frequency, which would have allowed them to sustain higher activity levels. The rapid airflow would also have been an effective cooling mechanism, which in conjunction with a lower metabolic rate would have prevented large sauropods from overheating. These traits may have enabled sauropods to grow quickly to gigantic sizes. Sauropods may also have benefitted from their size—their small surface area to volume ratio meant that they would have been able to thermoregulate more easily, a phenomenon termed gigantothermy.
Like other reptiles, dinosaurs are primarily uricotelic, that is, their kidneys extract nitrogenous wastes from their bloodstream and excrete it as uric acid instead of urea or ammonia via the ureters into the intestine. This would have helped them to conserve water. In most living species, uric acid is excreted along with feces as a semisolid waste. However, at least some modern birds (such as hummingbirds) can be facultatively ammonotelic, excreting most of the nitrogenous wastes as ammonia. This material, as well as the output of the intestines, emerges from the cloaca. In addition, many species regurgitate pellets, and fossil pellets are known as early as the Jurassic from *Anchiornis*.
*Stegosaurus* was smaller than in any living land vertebrate. This contributed to the widespread public notion of dinosaurs as being sluggish and extraordinarily stupid. Harry Jerison, in 1973, showed that proportionally smaller brains are expected at larger body sizes, and that brain size in dinosaurs was not smaller than expected when compared to living reptiles. Later research showed that relative brain size progressively increased during the evolution of theropods, with the highest intelligence – comparable to that of modern birds – calculated for the troodontid *Troodon*.
## Origin of birds
The possibility that dinosaurs were the ancestors of birds was first suggested in 1868 by Thomas Henry Huxley. After the work of Gerhard Heilmann in the early 20th century, the theory of birds as dinosaur descendants was abandoned in favor of the idea of them being descendants of generalized thecodonts, with the key piece of evidence being the supposed lack of clavicles in dinosaurs. However, as later discoveries showed, clavicles (or a single fused wishbone, which derived from separate clavicles) were not actually absent; they had been found as early as 1924 in *Oviraptor*, but misidentified as an interclavicle. In the 1970s, John Ostrom revived the dinosaur–bird theory, which gained momentum in the coming decades with the advent of cladistic analysis, and a great increase in the discovery of small theropods and early birds. Of particular note have been the fossils of the Jehol Biota, where a variety of theropods and early birds have been found, often with feathers of some type. Birds share over a hundred distinct anatomical features with theropod dinosaurs, which are now generally accepted to have been their closest ancient relatives. They are most closely allied with maniraptoran coelurosaurs. A minority of scientists, most notably Alan Feduccia and Larry Martin, have proposed other evolutionary paths, including revised versions of Heilmann's basal archosaur proposal, or that maniraptoran theropods are the ancestors of birds but themselves are not dinosaurs, only convergent with dinosaurs.
### Feathers
Feathers are one of the most recognizable characteristics of modern birds, and a trait that was also shared by several non-avian dinosaurs. Based on the current distribution of fossil evidence, it appears that feathers were an ancestral dinosaurian trait, though one that may have been selectively lost in some species. Direct fossil evidence of feathers or feather-like structures has been discovered in a diverse array of species in many non-avian dinosaur groups, both among saurischians and ornithischians. Simple, branched, feather-like structures are known from heterodontosaurids, primitive neornithischians, and theropods, and primitive ceratopsians. Evidence for true, vaned feathers similar to the flight feathers of modern birds has been found only in the theropod subgroup Maniraptora, which includes oviraptorosaurs, troodontids, dromaeosaurids, and birds. Feather-like structures known as pycnofibres have also been found in pterosaurs.
However, researchers do not agree regarding whether these structures share a common origin between lineages (i.e., they are homologous), or if they were the result of widespread experimentation with skin coverings among ornithodirans. If the former is the case, filaments may have been common in the ornithodiran lineage and evolved before the appearance of dinosaurs themselves. Research into the genetics of American alligators has revealed that crocodylian scutes do possess feather-keratins during embryonic development, but these keratins are not expressed by the animals before hatching. The description of feathered dinosaurs has not been without controversy in general; perhaps the most vocal critics have been Alan Feduccia and Theagarten Lingham-Soliar, who have proposed that some purported feather-like fossils are the result of the decomposition of collagenous fiber that underlaid the dinosaurs' skin, and that maniraptoran dinosaurs with vaned feathers were not actually dinosaurs, but convergent with dinosaurs. However, their views have for the most part not been accepted by other researchers, to the point that the scientific nature of Feduccia's proposals has been questioned.
*Archaeopteryx* was the first fossil found that revealed a potential connection between dinosaurs and birds. It is considered a transitional fossil, in that it displays features of both groups. Brought to light just two years after Charles Darwin's seminal *On the Origin of Species* (1859), its discovery spurred the nascent debate between proponents of evolutionary biology and creationism. This early bird is so dinosaur-like that, without a clear impression of feathers in the surrounding rock, at least one specimen was mistaken for the small theropod *Compsognathus*. Since the 1990s, a number of additional feathered dinosaurs have been found, providing even stronger evidence of the close relationship between dinosaurs and modern birds. Many of these specimens were unearthed in the lagerstätten of the Jehol Biota. If feather-like structures were indeed widely present among non-avian dinosaurs, the lack of abundant fossil evidence for them may be due to the fact that delicate features like skin and feathers are seldom preserved by fossilization and thus often absent from the fossil record.
### Skeleton
Because feathers are often associated with birds, feathered dinosaurs are often touted as the missing link between birds and dinosaurs. However, the multiple skeletal features also shared by the two groups represent another important line of evidence for paleontologists. Areas of the skeleton with important similarities include the neck, pubis, wrist (semi-lunate carpal), arm and pectoral girdle, furcula (wishbone), and breast bone. Comparison of bird and dinosaur skeletons through cladistic analysis strengthens the case for the link.
### Soft anatomy
Large meat-eating dinosaurs had a complex system of air sacs similar to those found in modern birds, according to a 2005 investigation led by Patrick M. O'Connor. The lungs of theropod dinosaurs (carnivores that walked on two legs and had bird-like feet) likely pumped air into hollow sacs in their skeletons, as is the case in birds. "What was once formally considered unique to birds was present in some form in the ancestors of birds", O'Connor said. In 2008, scientists described *Aerosteon riocoloradensis*, the skeleton of which supplies the strongest evidence to date of a dinosaur with a bird-like breathing system. CT scanning of *Aerosteon'*s fossil bones revealed evidence for the existence of air sacs within the animal's body cavity.
### Behavioral evidence
Fossils of the troodonts *Mei* and *Sinornithoides* demonstrate that some dinosaurs slept with their heads tucked under their arms. This behavior, which may have helped to keep the head warm, is also characteristic of modern birds. Several deinonychosaur and oviraptorosaur specimens have also been found preserved on top of their nests, likely brooding in a bird-like manner. The ratio between egg volume and body mass of adults among these dinosaurs suggest that the eggs were primarily brooded by the male and that the young were highly precocial, similar to many modern ground-dwelling birds.
Some dinosaurs are known to have used gizzard stones like modern birds. These stones are swallowed by animals to aid digestion and break down food and hard fibers once they enter the stomach. When found in association with fossils, gizzard stones are called gastroliths.
## Extinction of major groups
All non-avian dinosaurs and most lineages of birds became extinct in a mass extinction event, called the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction event, at the end of the Cretaceous period. Above the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, which has been dated to 66.038 ± 0.025 million years ago, fossils of non-avian dinosaurs disappear abruptly; the absence of dinosaur fossils was historically used to assign rocks to the ensuing Cenozoic. The nature of the event that caused this mass extinction has been extensively studied since the 1970s, leading to the development of two mechanisms that are thought to have played major roles: an extraterrestrial impact event in the Yucatán Peninsula, along with flood basalt volcanism in India. However, the specific mechanisms of the extinction event and the extent of its effects on dinosaurs are still areas of ongoing research. Alongside dinosaurs, many other groups of animals became extinct: pterosaurs, marine reptiles such as mosasaurs and plesiosaurs, several groups of mammals, ammonites (nautilus-like mollusks), rudists (reef-building bivalves), and various groups of marine plankton. In all, approximately 47% of genera and 76% of species on Earth became extinct during the K-Pg extinction event. The relatively large size of most dinosaurs and the low diversity of small-bodied dinosaur species at the end of the Cretaceous may have contributed to their extinction; the extinction of the bird lineages that did not survive may also have been caused by a dependence on forest habitats or a lack of adaptations to eating seeds for survival.
### Pre-extinction diversity
Just before the K-Pg extinction event, the number of non-avian dinosaur species that existed globally has been estimated at between 628 and 1078. It remains uncertain whether the diversity of dinosaurs was in gradual decline before the K-Pg extinction event, or whether dinosaurs were actually thriving prior to the extinction. Rock formations from the Maastrichtian epoch, which directly preceded the extinction, have been found to have lower diversity than the preceding Campanian epoch, which led to the prevailing view of a long-term decline in diversity. However, these comparisons did not account either for varying preservation potential between rock units or for different extents of exploration and excavation. In 1984, Dale Russell carried out an analysis to account for these biases, and found no evidence of a decline; another analysis by David Fastovsky and colleagues in 2004 even showed that dinosaur diversity continually increased until the extinction, but this analysis has been rebutted. Since then, different approaches based on statistics and mathematical models have variously supported either a sudden extinction or a gradual decline. End-Cretaceous trends in diversity may have varied between dinosaur lineages: it has been suggested that sauropods were not in decline, while ornithischians and theropods were in decline.
### Impact event
The bolide impact hypothesis, first brought to wide attention in 1980 by Walter Alvarez, Luis Alvarez, and colleagues, attributes the K-Pg extinction event to a bolide (extraterrestrial projectile) impact. Alvarez and colleagues proposed that a sudden increase in iridium levels, recorded around the world in rock deposits at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, was direct evidence of the impact. Shocked quartz, indicative of a strong shockwave emanating from an impact, was also found worldwide. The actual impact site remained elusive until a crater measuring 180 km (110 mi) wide was discovered in the Yucatán Peninsula of southeastern Mexico, and was publicized in a 1991 paper by Alan Hildebrand and colleagues. Now, the bulk of the evidence suggests that a bolide 5 to 15 kilometers (3 to 9+1⁄2 miles) wide impacted the Yucatán Peninsula 66 million years ago, forming this crater and creating a "kill mechanism" that triggered the extinction event.
Within hours, the Chicxulub impact would have created immediate effects such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and a global firestorm that likely killed unsheltered animals and started wildfires. However, it would also have had longer-term consequences for the environment. Within days, sulfate aerosols released from rocks at the impact site would have contributed to acid rain and ocean acidification. Soot aerosols are thought to have spread around the world over the ensuing months and years; they would have cooled the surface of the Earth by reflecting thermal radiation, and greatly slowed photosynthesis by blocking out sunlight, thus creating an impact winter. (This role was ascribed to sulfate aerosols until experiments demonstrated otherwise.) The cessation of photosynthesis would have led to the collapse of food webs depending on leafy plants, which included all dinosaurs save for grain-eating birds.
### Deccan Traps
At the time of the K-Pg extinction, the Deccan Traps flood basalts of India were actively erupting. The eruptions can be separated into three phases around the K-Pg boundary, two prior to the boundary and one after. The second phase, which occurred very close to the boundary, would have extruded 70 to 80% of the volume of these eruptions in intermittent pulses that occurred around 100,000 years apart. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide would have been released by this volcanic activity, resulting in climate change through temperature perturbations of roughly 3 °C (5.4 °F) but possibly as high as 7 °C (13 °F). Like the Chicxulub impact, the eruptions may also have released sulfate aerosols, which would have caused acid rain and global cooling. However, due to large error margins in the dating of the eruptions, the role of the Deccan Traps in the K-Pg extinction remains unclear.
Before 2000, arguments that the Deccan Traps eruptions—as opposed to the Chicxulub impact—caused the extinction were usually linked to the view that the extinction was gradual. Prior to the discovery of the Chicxulub crater, the Deccan Traps were used to explain the global iridium layer; even after the crater's discovery, the impact was still thought to only have had a regional, not global, effect on the extinction event. In response, Luis Alvarez rejected volcanic activity as an explanation for the iridium layer and the extinction as a whole. Since then, however, most researchers have adopted a more moderate position, which identifies the Chicxulub impact as the primary progenitor of the extinction while also recognizing that the Deccan Traps may also have played a role. Walter Alvarez himself has acknowledged that the Deccan Traps and other ecological factors may have contributed to the extinctions in addition to the Chicxulub impact. Some estimates have placed the start of the second phase in the Deccan Traps eruptions within 50,000 years after the Chicxulub impact. Combined with mathematical modelling of the seismic waves that would have been generated by the impact, this has led to the suggestion that the Chicxulub impact may have triggered these eruptions by increasing the permeability of the mantle plume underlying the Deccan Traps.
Whether the Deccan Traps were a major cause of the extinction, on par with the Chicxulub impact, remains uncertain. Proponents consider the climatic impact of the sulfur dioxide released to have been on par with the Chicxulub impact, and also note the role of flood basalt volcanism in other mass extinctions like the Permian-Triassic extinction event. They consider the Chicxulub impact to have worsened the ongoing climate change caused by the eruptions. Meanwhile, detractors point out the sudden nature of the extinction and that other pulses in Deccan Traps activity of comparable magnitude did not appear to have caused extinctions. They also contend that the causes of different mass extinctions should be assessed separately. In 2020, Alfio Chiarenza and colleagues suggested that the Deccan Traps may even have had the opposite effect: they suggested that the long-term warming caused by its carbon dioxide emissions may have dampened the impact winter from the Chicxulub impact.
### Possible Paleocene survivors
Non-avian dinosaur remains have occasionally been found above the K-Pg boundary. In 2000, Spencer Lucas and colleagues reported the discovery of a single hadrosaur right femur in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico, and described it as evidence of Paleocene dinosaurs. The rock unit in which the bone was discovered has been dated to the early Paleocene epoch, approximately 64.8 million years ago. If the bone was not re-deposited by weathering action, it would provide evidence that some dinosaur populations survived at least half a million years into the Cenozoic. Other evidence includes the presence of dinosaur remains in the Hell Creek Formation up to 1.3 m (4.3 ft) above the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, representing 40,000 years of elapsed time. This has been used to support the view that the K-Pg extinction was gradual. However, these supposed Paleocene dinosaurs are considered by many other researchers to be reworked, that is, washed out of their original locations and then reburied in younger sediments. The age estimates have also been considered unreliable.
## Cultural depictions
By human standards, dinosaurs were creatures of fantastic appearance and often enormous size. As such, they have captured the popular imagination and become an enduring part of human culture. The entry of the word "dinosaur" into the common vernacular reflects the animals' cultural importance: in English, "dinosaur" is commonly used to describe anything that is impractically large, obsolete, or bound for extinction.
Public enthusiasm for dinosaurs first developed in Victorian England, where in 1854, three decades after the first scientific descriptions of dinosaur remains, a menagerie of lifelike dinosaur sculptures was unveiled in London's Crystal Palace Park. The Crystal Palace dinosaurs proved so popular that a strong market in smaller replicas soon developed. In subsequent decades, dinosaur exhibits opened at parks and museums around the world, ensuring that successive generations would be introduced to the animals in an immersive and exciting way. The enduring popularity of dinosaurs, in its turn, has resulted in significant public funding for dinosaur science, and has frequently spurred new discoveries. In the United States, for example, the competition between museums for public attention led directly to the Bone Wars of the 1880s and 1890s, during which a pair of feuding paleontologists made enormous scientific contributions.
The popular preoccupation with dinosaurs has ensured their appearance in literature, film, and other media. Beginning in 1852 with a passing mention in Charles Dickens' *Bleak House*, dinosaurs have been featured in large numbers of fictional works. Jules Verne's 1864 novel *Journey to the Center of the Earth*, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 book *The Lost World*, the 1914 animated film *Gertie the Dinosaur* (featuring the first animated dinosaur), the iconic 1933 film *King Kong*, the 1954 *Godzilla* and its many sequels, the best-selling 1990 novel *Jurassic Park* by Michael Crichton and its 1993 film adaptation are just a few notable examples of dinosaur appearances in fiction. Authors of general-interest non-fiction works about dinosaurs, including some prominent paleontologists, have often sought to use the animals as a way to educate readers about science in general. Dinosaurs are ubiquitous in advertising; numerous companies have referenced dinosaurs in printed or televised advertisements, either in order to sell their own products or in order to characterize their rivals as slow-moving, dim-witted, or obsolete.
## See also
- Dinosaur diet and feeding
- Evolutionary history of life
- Lists of dinosaur-bearing stratigraphic units
- List of dinosaur genera
- List of bird genera
- List of birds
- List of informally named dinosaurs
- List of films featuring dinosaurs
## Notes
## Bibliography
## Further reading
- University of Southampton (September 29, 2021). "Two New Species of Large Predatory Dinosaur With Crocodile-Like Skulls Discovered on Isle of Wight".
*SciTechDaily*. - Zhou, Zhonghe (October 2004). "The origin and early evolution of birds: discoveries, disputes, and perspectives from fossil evidence" (PDF).
*Naturwissenschaften*.**91**(10). Berlin: Springer Science+Business Media: 455–471. Bibcode:2004NW.....91..455Z. doi:10.1007/s00114-004-0570-4. ISSN 0028-1042. PMID 15365634. S2CID 3329625. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 21, 2011. Retrieved November 6, 2019. - Paul, Gregory S. (2002).
*Dinosaurs of the Air: The Evolution and Loss of Flight in Dinosaurs and Birds*. Baltimore; London: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-6763-7. LCCN 2001000242. OCLC 1088130487. - Stewart, Tabori & Chang (1997).
*The Humongous Book of Dinosaurs*. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang. ISBN 978-1-55670-596-0. LCCN 97000398. OCLC 1037269801. - Sternberg, Charles Mortram (1966) [Original edition published by E. Cloutier, printer to the King, 1946].
*Canadian Dinosaurs*. Geological Series. Vol. 54 (2nd ed.). Ottawa: National Museum of Canada. LCCN gs46000214. OCLC 1032865683.
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# The Beatles - Wikipedia
The Beatles | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Origin | Liverpool, England |
| Genres | |
| Discography | |
| Years active | 1960–1970 |
| Labels | |
| Spinoff of | The Quarrymen |
| Past members |
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| Website | thebeatles |
**The Beatles** were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the most influential band in Western popular music and were integral to the development of 1960s counterculture and the recognition of popular music as an art form. Rooted in skiffle, beat and 1950s rock 'n' roll, their sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways. The band also explored music styles ranging from folk and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock. As pioneers in recording, songwriting and artistic presentation, the Beatles revolutionised many aspects of the music industry and were often publicised as leaders of the era's youth and sociocultural movements.
Led by primary songwriters Lennon and McCartney, the Beatles evolved from Lennon's previous group, the Quarrymen, and built their reputation by playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg, Germany, starting in 1960, initially with Stuart Sutcliffe playing bass. The core trio of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, together since 1958, went through a succession of drummers, including Pete Best, before inviting Starr to join them in 1962. Manager Brian Epstein moulded them into a professional act, and producer George Martin developed their recordings, greatly expanding their domestic success after they signed with EMI and achieved their first hit, "Love Me Do", in late 1962. As their popularity grew into the intense fan frenzy dubbed "Beatlemania", the band acquired the nickname "the Fab Four". Epstein, Martin or other members of the band's entourage were sometimes informally referred to as a "fifth Beatle".
By early 1964, the Beatles were international stars and had achieved unprecedented levels of critical and commercial success. They became a leading force in Britain's cultural resurgence, ushering in the British Invasion of the United States pop market. They soon made their film debut with *A Hard Day's Night* (1964). A growing desire to refine their studio efforts, coupled with the challenging nature of their concert tours, led to the band's retirement from live performances in 1966. During this time, they produced albums of greater sophistication, including *Rubber Soul* (1965), *Revolver* (1966) and *Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band* (1967). They enjoyed further commercial success with *The Beatles* (also known as "the White Album", 1968) and *Abbey Road* (1969). The success of these records heralded the album era, increased public interest in psychedelic drugs and Eastern spirituality, and furthered advancements in electronic music, album art and music videos. In 1968, they founded Apple Corps, a multi-armed multimedia corporation that continues to oversee projects related to the band's legacy. After the group's break-up in 1970, all principal former members enjoyed success as solo artists. While some partial reunions occurred over the next decade, the four members never reunited. Lennon was murdered in 1980, and Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001. McCartney and Starr remain musically active.
The Beatles are the best-selling music act of all time, with estimated sales of 600 million units worldwide. They are the most successful act in the history of the US *Billboard* charts, with the most number-one hits on the US *Billboard* Hot 100 chart (20), and they hold the record for most number-one albums on the UK Albums Chart (15) and most singles sold in the UK (21.9 million). The band received many accolades, including eight Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards, an Academy Award (for Best Original Song Score for the 1970 documentary film *Let It Be*) and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility, 1988, and each principal member was individually inducted between 1994 and 2015. In 2004 and 2011, the group topped *Rolling Stone*'s lists of the greatest artists in history. *Time* magazine named them among the 20th century's 100 most important people.
## History
#### The Quarrymen and name changes
In November 1956, sixteen-year-old John Lennon formed a skiffle group with several friends from Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool. They were called *the Quarrymen*, a reference to their school song "Quarry men old before our birth". Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney met Lennon on 6 July 1957 and joined as a rhythm guitarist shortly after. In February 1958, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison, then aged fifteen, to watch the band. Harrison auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, but Lennon initially thought Harrison was too young. After a month's persistence, during a second meeting (arranged by McCartney), Harrison performed the lead guitar part of the instrumental song "Raunchy" on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus, and they enlisted him as lead guitarist.
By January 1959, Lennon's Quarry Bank friends had left the group and he began his studies at the Liverpool College of Art. The three guitarists, billing themselves as Johnny and the Moondogs, were playing rock and roll whenever they could find a drummer. They also performed as *the Rainbows*. Paul McCartney later told *New Musical Express* that they called themselves that "because we all had different coloured shirts and we couldn't afford any others!"
Lennon's art school friend Stuart Sutcliffe, who had just sold one of his paintings and was persuaded to purchase a bass guitar with the proceeds, joined in January 1960. He suggested changing the band's name to *Beatals*, as a tribute to Buddy Holly and the Crickets. They used this name until May, when they became *the Silver Beetles*, before undertaking a brief tour of Scotland as the backing group for pop singer and fellow Liverpudlian Johnny Gentle. By early July, they had refashioned themselves as *the Silver Beatles* and by the middle of August simply *the Beatles*.
#### Early residencies and UK popularity
Allan Williams, the Beatles' unofficial manager, arranged a residency for them in Hamburg. They auditioned and hired drummer Pete Best in mid-August 1960. The band, now a five-piece, departed Liverpool for Hamburg four days later, contracted to club owner Bruno Koschmider for what would be a 3½ -month residency. Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn writes: "They pulled into Hamburg at dusk on 17 August, the time when the red-light area comes to life ... flashing neon lights screamed out the various entertainment on offer, while scantily clad women sat unabashed in shop windows waiting for business opportunities."
Koschmider had converted a couple of strip clubs in the Red light Reeperbahn district of St. Pauli into music venues and initially placed the Beatles at the Indra Club. After closing Indra due to noise complaints, he moved them to the Kaiserkeller in October. When he learned they had been performing at the rival Top Ten Club in breach of their contract, he gave them one month's termination notice, and reported the underage Harrison, who had obtained permission to stay in Hamburg by lying to the German authorities about his age. The authorities arranged for Harrison's deportation in late November. One week later, Koschmider had McCartney and Best arrested for arson after they set fire to a condom in a concrete corridor; the authorities deported them. Lennon returned to Liverpool in early December, while Sutcliffe remained in Hamburg until late February with his German fiancée Astrid Kirchherr, who took the first semi-professional photos of the Beatles.
During the next two years, the Beatles were resident for periods in Hamburg, where they used Preludin both recreationally and to maintain their energy through all-night performances. In 1961, during their second Hamburg engagement, Kirchherr cut Sutcliffe's hair in the "exi" (existentialist) style, later adopted by the other Beatles. Later on, Sutcliffe decided to leave the band early that year and resume his art studies in Germany. McCartney took over bass. Producer Bert Kaempfert contracted what was now a four-piece group until June 1962, and he used them as Tony Sheridan's backing band on a series of recordings for Polydor Records. As part of the sessions, the Beatles were signed to Polydor for one year. Credited to "Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers", the single "My Bonnie", recorded in June 1961 and released four months later, reached number 32 on the *Musikmarkt* chart.
After the Beatles completed their second Hamburg residency, they enjoyed increasing popularity in Liverpool with the growing Merseybeat movement. However, they were growing tired of the monotony of numerous appearances at the same clubs night after night. In November 1961, during one of the group's frequent performances at the Cavern Club, they encountered Brian Epstein, a local record-store owner and music columnist. He later recalled: "I immediately liked what I heard. They were fresh, and they were honest, and they had what I thought was a sort of presence ... [a] star quality."
#### First EMI recordings
Epstein courted the band over the next couple of months, and they appointed him as their manager in January 1962. Throughout early and mid-1962, Epstein sought to free the Beatles from their contractual obligations to Bert Kaempfert Productions. He eventually negotiated a one-month early release in exchange for one last recording session in Hamburg. On their return to Germany in April, a distraught Kirchherr met them at the airport with news of Sutcliffe's death the previous day from a brain haemorrhage. Epstein began negotiations with record labels for a recording contract. To secure a UK record contract, Epstein negotiated an early end to the band's contract with Polydor, in exchange for more recordings backing Tony Sheridan. After a New Year's Day audition, Decca Records rejected the band, saying, "Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein". However, three months later, producer George Martin signed the Beatles to EMI's Parlophone label.
Martin's first recording session with the Beatles took place at EMI Recording Studios (later Abbey Road Studios) in London on 6 June 1962. He immediately complained to Epstein about Best's drumming and suggested they use a session drummer in his place. Already contemplating Best's dismissal, the Beatles replaced him in mid-August with Ringo Starr, who left Rory Storm and the Hurricanes to join them. A 4 September session at EMI yielded a recording of "Love Me Do" featuring Starr on drums, but a dissatisfied Martin hired drummer Andy White for the band's third session a week later, which produced recordings of "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me" and "P.S. I Love You".
Martin initially selected the Starr version of "Love Me Do" for the band's first single, though subsequent re-pressings featured the White version, with Starr on tambourine. Released in early October, "Love Me Do" peaked at number seventeen on the *Record Retailer* chart. Their television debut came later that month with a live performance on the regional news programme *People and Places*. After Martin suggested rerecording "Please Please Me" at a faster tempo, a studio session in late November yielded that recording, of which Martin accurately predicted, "You've just made your first No. 1".
In December 1962, the Beatles concluded their fifth and final Hamburg residency at the Star-Club. By 1963, they had agreed that all four band members would contribute vocals to their albums – including Starr, despite his restricted vocal range, to validate his standing in the group. Lennon and McCartney had established a songwriting partnership, and as the band's success grew, their dominant collaboration limited Harrison's opportunities as a lead vocalist. Epstein, to maximise the Beatles' commercial potential, encouraged them to adopt a professional approach to performing. Lennon recalled him saying, "Look, if you really want to get in these bigger places, you're going to have to change – stop eating on stage, stop swearing, stop smoking ...".
*Please Please Me* and *With the Beatles*
On 11 February 1963, the Beatles recorded ten songs during a single studio session for their debut LP, *Please Please Me*. It was supplemented by the four tracks already released on their first two singles. Martin considered recording the LP live at The Cavern Club, but after deciding that the building's acoustics were inadequate, he elected to simulate a "live" album with minimal production in "a single marathon session at Abbey Road". After the moderate success of "Love Me Do", the single "Please Please Me" was released in January 1963, two months ahead of the album. It reached number one on every UK chart except *Record Retailer*, where it peaked at number two.
Recalling how the Beatles "rushed to deliver a debut album, bashing out *Please Please Me* in a day", AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote: "Decades after its release, the album still sounds fresh, precisely because of its intense origins." Lennon said little thought went into composition at the time; he and McCartney were "just writing songs *à la* Everly Brothers, *à la* Buddy Holly, pop songs with no more thought of them than that – to create a sound. And the words were almost irrelevant."
Released in March 1963, *Please Please Me* was the first of eleven consecutive Beatles albums released in the United Kingdom to reach number one. The band's third single, "From Me to You", came out in April and began an almost unbroken string of seventeen British number-one singles, including all but one of the eighteen they released over the next six years. Issued in August, their fourth single, "She Loves You", achieved the fastest sales of any record in the UK up to that time, selling three-quarters of a million copies in under four weeks. It became their first single to sell a million copies and remained the biggest-selling record in the UK until 1978.
The success brought increased media exposure, to which the Beatles responded with an irreverent and comical attitude that defied the expectations of pop musicians at the time, inspiring even more interest. The band toured the UK three times in the first half of the year: a four-week tour that began in February, the Beatles' first nationwide, preceded three-week tours in March and May–June. As their popularity spread, a frenzied adulation of the group took hold. On 13 October, the Beatles starred on *Sunday Night at the London Palladium*, the UK's top variety show. Their performance was televised live and watched by 15 million viewers. One national paper's headlines in the following days coined the term "Beatlemania" to describe the riotous enthusiasm by screaming fans who greeted the band – and it stuck. Although not billed as tour leaders, the Beatles overshadowed American acts Tommy Roe and Chris Montez during the February engagements and assumed top billing "by audience demand", something no British act had previously accomplished while touring with artists from the US. A similar situation arose during their May–June tour with Roy Orbison.
In late October, the Beatles began a five-day tour of Sweden, their first time abroad since the final Hamburg engagement of December 1962. On their return to the UK on 31 October, several hundred screaming fans greeted them in heavy rain at Heathrow Airport. Around 50 to 100 journalists and photographers, as well as representatives from the BBC, also joined the airport reception, the first of more than 100 such events. The next day, the band began its fourth tour of Britain within nine months, this one scheduled for six weeks. In mid-November, as Beatlemania intensified, police resorted to using high-pressure water hoses to control the crowd before a concert in Plymouth. On 4 November, they played in front of The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret during the Royal Variety Performance at the Prince of Wales Theatre.
*Please Please Me* maintained the top position on the *Record Retailer* chart for 30 weeks, only to be displaced by its follow-up, *With the Beatles*, which EMI released on 22 November to record advance orders of 270,000 copies. The LP topped a half-million albums sold in one week. Recorded between July and October, *With the Beatles* made better use of studio production techniques than its predecessor. It held the top spot for 21 weeks with a chart life of 40 weeks. Erlewine described the LP as "a sequel of the highest order – one that betters the original".
In a reversal of then standard practice, EMI released the album ahead of the impending single "I Want to Hold Your Hand", with the song excluded to maximise the single's sales. The album caught the attention of music critic William Mann of *The Times*, who suggested that Lennon and McCartney were "the outstanding English composers of 1963". The newspaper published a series of articles in which Mann offered detailed analyses of the music, lending it respectability. *With the Beatles* became the second album in UK chart history to sell a million copies, a figure previously reached only by the 1958 *South Pacific* soundtrack. When writing the sleeve notes for the album, the band's press officer, Tony Barrow, used the superlative the "fabulous foursome", which the media widely adopted as "the Fab Four".
#### First visit to the United States and the British Invasion
EMI's American subsidiary, Capitol Records, hindered the Beatles' releases in the United States for more than a year by initially declining to issue their music, including their first three singles. Concurrent negotiations with the independent US label Vee-Jay led to the release of some, but not all, of the songs in 1963. Vee-Jay finished preparation for the album *Introducing... The Beatles*, comprising most of the songs of Parlophone's *Please Please Me*, but a management shake-up led to the album not being released. After it emerged that the label did not report royalties on their sales, the licence that Vee-Jay had signed with EMI was voided. A new licence was granted to the Swan label for the single "She Loves You". The record received some airplay in the Tidewater area of Virginia from Gene Loving of radio station WGH and was featured on the "Rate-a-Record" segment of *American Bandstand*, but it failed to catch on nationally.
Epstein brought a demo copy of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" to Capitol's Brown Meggs, who signed the band and arranged for a $40,000 US marketing campaign. American chart success began after disc jockey Carroll James of AM radio station WWDC, in Washington, DC, obtained a copy of the British single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in mid-December 1963 and began playing it on-air. Taped copies of the song soon circulated among other radio stations throughout the US. This caused an increase in demand, leading Capitol to bring forward the release of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by three weeks. Issued on 26 December, with the band's previously scheduled debut there just weeks away, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" sold a million copies, becoming a number-one hit in the US by mid-January. In its wake Vee-Jay released *Introducing... The Beatles* along with Capitol's debut album, *Meet the Beatles!*, while Swan reactivated production of "She Loves You". The Odeon label, an EMI subsidiary, pressed Beatles LPs to be shipped out and distributed abroad. After the Beatles' US trip, MGM Records released the single "My Bonnie" backed with "The Saints" in the US on 27 January 1964 as a Beatles single, and Atco followed in issuing the recordings the Beatles had made in Germany with Tony Sheridan in 1961 and 1962.
On 7 February 1964, the Beatles departed from Heathrow with an estimated 4,000 fans waving and screaming as the aircraft took off. Upon landing at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, an uproarious crowd estimated at 3,000 greeted them. They gave their first live US television performance two days later on *The Ed Sullivan Show*, watched by approximately 73 million viewers in over 23 million households, or 34 per cent of the American population. Biographer Jonathan Gould writes that, according to the Nielsen rating service, it was "the largest audience that had ever been recorded for an American television program". The next morning, the Beatles awoke to a largely negative critical consensus in the US, but a day later at their first US concert, Beatlemania erupted at the Washington Coliseum. Back in New York the following day, the Beatles met with another strong reception during two shows at Carnegie Hall. The band flew to Florida, where they appeared on *The Ed Sullivan Show* a second time, again before 70 million viewers, before returning to the UK on 22 February.
The Beatles' first visit to the US took place when the nation was still mourning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy the previous November. Commentators often suggest that for many, particularly the young, the Beatles' performances reignited the sense of excitement and possibility that momentarily faded in the wake of the assassination and helped pave the way for the revolutionary social changes to come later in the decade. Their hairstyle, unusually long for the era and mocked by many adults, became an emblem of rebellion to the burgeoning youth culture.
The group's popularity generated unprecedented interest in British music, and many other UK acts subsequently made their American debuts, successfully touring over the next three years in what was termed the British Invasion. The Beatles' success in the US opened the door for a successive string of British beat groups and pop acts such as the Dave Clark Five, the Animals, Herman's Hermits, Petula Clark, the Kinks and the Rolling Stones to achieve success in America. During the week of 4 April 1964, the Beatles held twelve positions on the *Billboard* Hot 100 singles chart, including the top five.
*A Hard Day's Night*
Capitol Records' lack of interest throughout 1963 did not go unnoticed, and a competitor, United Artists Records, encouraged its film division to offer the Beatles a three-motion-picture deal, primarily for the commercial potential of the soundtracks in the US. Directed by Richard Lester, *A Hard Day's Night* involved the band for six weeks in March–April 1964 as they played themselves in a musical comedy. The film premiered in London and New York in July and August, respectively, and was an international success, with some critics drawing a comparison with the Marx Brothers.
United Artists released a full soundtrack album for the North American market, combining Beatles songs and Martin's orchestral score; elsewhere, the group's third studio LP, *A Hard Day's Night*, contained songs from the film on side one and other new recordings on side two. According to Erlewine, the album saw them "truly coming into their own as a band. All of the disparate influences on their first two albums coalesced into a bright, joyous, original sound, filled with ringing guitars and irresistible melodies." That "ringing guitar" sound was primarily the product of Harrison's 12-string electric Rickenbacker, a prototype given to him by the manufacturer, which made its debut on the record.
Touring internationally in June and July, the Beatles staged 37 shows over 27 days in Denmark, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. In August and September, they returned to the US, with a 30-concert tour of 23 cities. Generating intense interest once again, the month-long tour attracted between 10,000 and 20,000 people to each 30-minute performance in cities from San Francisco to New York.
In August, journalist Al Aronowitz arranged for the Beatles to meet Bob Dylan. Visiting the band in their New York hotel suite, Dylan introduced them to cannabis. Gould points out the musical and cultural significance of this meeting, before which the musicians' respective fanbases were "perceived as inhabiting two separate subcultural worlds": Dylan's audience of "college kids with artistic or intellectual leanings, a dawning political and social idealism, and a mildly bohemian style" contrasted with their fans, "veritable 'teenyboppers' – kids in high school or grade school whose lives were totally wrapped up in the commercialised popular culture of television, radio, pop records, fan magazines and teen fashion. To many of Dylan's followers in the folk music scene, the Beatles were seen as idolaters, not idealists."
Within six months of the meeting, according to Gould, "Lennon would be making records on which he openly imitated Dylan's nasal drone, brittle strum, and introspective vocal persona"; and six months after that, Dylan began performing with a backing band and electric instrumentation, and "dressed in the height of Mod fashion". As a result, Gould continues, the traditional division between folk and rock enthusiasts "nearly evaporated", as the Beatles' fans began to mature in their outlook and Dylan's audience embraced the new, youth-driven pop culture.
During the 1964 US tour, the group were confronted with racial segregation in the country at the time. When informed that the venue for their 11 September concert, the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida, was segregated, the Beatles said they would refuse to perform unless the audience was integrated. Lennon stated: "We never play to segregated audiences and we aren't going to start now ... I'd sooner lose our appearance money." City officials relented and agreed to allow an integrated show. The group also cancelled their reservations at the whites-only Hotel George Washington in Jacksonville. For their subsequent US tours in 1965 and 1966, the Beatles included clauses in contracts stipulating that shows be integrated.
*Beatles for Sale*, *Help!* and *Rubber Soul*
According to Gould, the Beatles' fourth studio LP, *Beatles for Sale*, evidenced a growing conflict between the commercial pressures of their global success and their creative ambitions. They had intended the album, recorded between August and October 1964, to continue the format established by *A Hard Day's Night* which, unlike their first two LPs, contained only original songs. They had nearly exhausted their backlog of songs on the previous album, however, and given the challenges constant international touring posed to their songwriting efforts, Lennon admitted, "Material's becoming a hell of a problem". As a result, six covers from their extensive repertoire were chosen to complete the album. Released in early December, its eight original compositions stood out, demonstrating the growing maturity of the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership.
In early 1965, following a dinner with Lennon, Harrison and their wives, Harrison's dentist, John Riley, secretly added LSD to their coffee. Lennon described the experience: "It was just terrifying, but it was fantastic. I was pretty stunned for a month or two." He and Harrison subsequently became regular users of the drug, joined by Starr on at least one occasion. Harrison's use of psychedelic drugs encouraged his path to meditation and Hinduism. He commented: "For me, it was like a flash. The first time I had acid, it just opened up something in my head that was inside of me, and I realised a lot of things. I didn't learn them because I already knew them, but that happened to be the key that opened the door to reveal them. From the moment I had that, I wanted to have it all the time – these thoughts about the yogis and the Himalayas, and Ravi's music." McCartney was initially reluctant to try it, but eventually did so in late 1966. He became the first Beatle to discuss LSD publicly, declaring in a magazine interview that "it opened my eyes" and "made me a better, more honest, more tolerant member of society".
Controversy erupted in June 1965 when Queen Elizabeth II appointed all four Beatles Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) after Prime Minister Harold Wilson nominated them for the award. In protest – the honour was at that time primarily bestowed upon military veterans and civic leaders – some conservative MBE recipients returned their insignia.
In July, the Beatles' second film, *Help!*, was released, again directed by Lester. Described as "mainly a relentless spoof of Bond", it inspired a mixed response among both reviewers and the band. McCartney said: "*Help!* was great but it wasn't our film – we were sort of guest stars. It was fun, but basically, as an idea for a film, it was a bit wrong." The soundtrack was dominated by Lennon, who wrote and sang lead on most of its songs, including the two singles: "Help!" and "Ticket to Ride".
The *Help!* album, the group's fifth studio LP, mirrored *A Hard Day's Night* by featuring soundtrack songs on side one and additional songs from the same sessions on side two. The LP contained all original material save for two covers, "Act Naturally" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy"; they were the last covers the band would include on an album until *Let It Be*'s brief rendition of the traditional Liverpool folk song "Maggie Mae". The band expanded their use of vocal overdubs on *Help!* and incorporated classical instruments into some arrangements, including a string quartet on the pop ballad "Yesterday". Composed and sung by McCartney – none of the other Beatles perform on the recording – "Yesterday" has inspired the most cover versions of any song ever written. With *Help!*, the Beatles became the first rock group to be nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
The group's third US tour opened with a performance before a world-record crowd of 55,600 at New York's Shea Stadium on 15 August – "perhaps the most famous of all Beatles' concerts", in Lewisohn's description. A further nine successful concerts followed in other American cities. At a show in Atlanta, the Beatles gave one of the first live performances ever to make use of a foldback system of on-stage monitor speakers. Towards the end of the tour, they met with Elvis Presley, a foundational musical influence on the band, who invited them to his home in Beverly Hills. Presley later said the band was an example of a trend of anti-Americanism and drug abuse.
September 1965 saw the launch of an American Saturday-morning cartoon series, *The Beatles*, that echoed *A Hard Day's Night*'s slapstick antics over its two-year original run. The series was the first weekly television series to feature animated versions of real, living people.
In mid-October, the Beatles entered the recording studio; for the first time when making an album, they had an extended period without other major commitments. Until this time, according to George Martin, "we had been making albums rather like a collection of singles. Now we were really beginning to think about albums as a bit of art on their own." Released in December, *Rubber Soul* was hailed by critics as a major step forward in the maturity and complexity of the band's music. Their thematic reach was beginning to expand as they embraced deeper aspects of romance and philosophy, a development that NEMS executive Peter Brown attributed to the band members' "now habitual use of marijuana". Lennon referred to *Rubber Soul* as "the pot album" and Starr said: "Grass was really influential in a lot of our changes, especially with the writers. And because they were writing different material, we were playing differently." After *Help!*'s foray into classical music with flutes and strings, Harrison's introduction of a sitar on "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" marked a further progression outside the traditional boundaries of popular music. As the lyrics grew more artful, fans began to study them for deeper meaning.
While some of *Rubber Soul*'s songs were the product of Lennon and McCartney's collaborative songwriting, the album also included distinct compositions from each, though they continued to share official credit. "In My Life", of which each later claimed lead authorship, is considered a highlight of the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue. Harrison called *Rubber Soul* his "favourite album", and Starr referred to it as "the departure record". McCartney has said, "We'd had our cute period, and now it was time to expand." However, recording engineer Norman Smith later stated that the studio sessions revealed signs of growing conflict within the group – "the clash between John and Paul was becoming obvious", he wrote, and "as far as Paul was concerned, George could do no right".
*Revolver* and final tour
Capitol Records, from December 1963 when it began issuing Beatles recordings for the US market, exercised complete control over format, compiling distinct US albums from the band's recordings and issuing songs of their choosing as singles. In June 1966, the Capitol LP *Yesterday and Today* caused an uproar with its cover, which portrayed the grinning Beatles dressed in butcher's overalls, accompanied by raw meat and mutilated plastic baby dolls. According to Beatles biographer Bill Harry, it has been incorrectly suggested that this was meant as a satirical response to the way Capitol had "butchered" the US versions of the band's albums. Thousands of copies of the LP had a new cover pasted over the original; an unpeeled "first-state" copy fetched $10,500 at a December 2005 auction. In England, meanwhile, Harrison met sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, who agreed to train him on the instrument.
During a tour of the Philippines the month after the *Yesterday and Today* furore, the Beatles unintentionally snubbed the nation's first lady, Imelda Marcos, who had expected them to attend a breakfast reception at the Presidential Palace. When presented with the invitation, Epstein politely declined on the band members' behalf, as it had never been his policy to accept such official invitations. They soon found that the Marcos regime was unaccustomed to taking no for an answer. The resulting riots endangered the group and they escaped the country with difficulty. Immediately afterwards, the band members visited India for the first time.
We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first – rock 'n' roll or Christianity.
Almost as soon as they returned home, the Beatles faced a fierce backlash from US religious and social conservatives (as well as the Ku Klux Klan) over a comment Lennon had made in a March interview with British reporter Maureen Cleave. "Christianity will go", Lennon had said. "It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right ... Jesus was alright but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me." His comments went virtually unnoticed in England, but when US teenage fan magazine *Datebook* printed them five months later, it sparked a controversy with Christians in America's conservative Bible Belt region. The Vatican issued a protest, and bans on Beatles records were imposed by Spanish and Dutch stations and South Africa's national broadcasting service. Epstein accused *Datebook* of having taken Lennon's words out of context. At a press conference, Lennon pointed out, "If I'd said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it." He claimed that he was referring to how other people viewed their success, but at the prompting of reporters, he concluded: "If you want me to apologise, if that will make you happy, then okay, I'm sorry."
Released in August 1966, a week before the Beatles' final tour, *Revolver* marked another artistic step forward for the group. The album featured sophisticated songwriting, studio experimentation and a greatly expanded repertoire of musical styles, ranging from innovative classical string arrangements to psychedelia. Abandoning the customary group photograph, its Aubrey Beardsley-inspired cover – designed by Klaus Voormann, a friend of the band since their Hamburg days – was a monochrome collage and line drawing caricature of the group. The album was preceded by the single "Paperback Writer", backed by "Rain". Short promotional films were made for both songs; described by cultural historian Saul Austerlitz as "among the first true music videos", they aired on *The Ed Sullivan Show* and *Top of the Pops* in June.
Among the experimental songs on *Revolver* was "Tomorrow Never Knows", the lyrics for which Lennon drew from Timothy Leary's *The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead*. Its creation involved eight tape decks distributed about the EMI building, each staffed by an engineer or band member, who randomly varied the movement of a tape loop while Martin created a composite recording by sampling the incoming data. McCartney's "Eleanor Rigby" made prominent use of a string octet; Gould describes it as "a true hybrid, conforming to no recognisable style or genre of song". Harrison's emergence as a songwriter was reflected in three of his compositions appearing on the record. Among these, "Taxman", which opened the album, marked the first example of the Beatles making a political statement through their music.
As preparations were made for a tour of the US, the Beatles knew that their music would hardly be heard. Having originally used Vox AC30 amplifiers, they later acquired more powerful 100-watt amplifiers, specially designed for them by Vox, as they moved into larger venues in 1964; however, these were still inadequate. Struggling to compete with the volume of sound generated by screaming fans, the band had grown increasingly bored with the routine of performing live. Recognising that their shows were no longer about the music, they decided to make the August tour their last.
The band performed none of their new songs on the tour. In Chris Ingham's description, they were very much "studio creations ... and there was no way a four-piece rock 'n' roll group could do them justice, particularly through the desensitising wall of the fans' screams. 'Live Beatles' and 'Studio Beatles' had become entirely different beasts." The band's concert at San Francisco's Candlestick Park on 29 August was their last commercial concert. It marked the end of four years dominated by almost non-stop touring that included over 1,400 concert appearances internationally.
*Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band*
Freed from the burden of touring, the Beatles embraced an increasingly experimental approach as they recorded *Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band*, beginning in late November 1966. According to engineer Geoff Emerick, the album's recording took over 700 hours. He recalled the band's insistence "that everything on *Sgt. Pepper* had to be different. We had microphones right down in the bells of brass instruments and headphones turned into microphones attached to violins. We used giant primitive oscillators to vary the speed of instruments and vocals and we had tapes chopped to pieces and stuck together upside down and the wrong way around." Parts of "A Day in the Life" featured a 40-piece orchestra. The sessions initially yielded the non-album double A-side single "Strawberry Fields Forever"/"Penny Lane" in February 1967; the *Sgt. Pepper* LP followed with a rush-release in May. The musical complexity of the records, created using relatively primitive four-track recording technology, astounded contemporary artists. Among music critics, acclaim for the album was virtually universal. Gould writes:
The overwhelming consensus is that the Beatles had created a popular masterpiece: a rich, sustained, and overflowing work of collaborative genius whose bold ambition and startling originality dramatically enlarged the possibilities and raised the expectations of what the experience of listening to popular music on record could be. On the basis of this perception,
Sgt. Pepperbecame the catalyst for an explosion of mass enthusiasm for album-formatted rock that would revolutionise both the aesthetics and the economics of the record business in ways that far outstripped the earlier pop explosions triggered by the Elvis phenomenon of 1956 and the Beatlemania phenomenon of 1963.
In the wake of *Sgt. Pepper*, the underground and mainstream press widely publicised the Beatles as leaders of youth culture, as well as "lifestyle revolutionaries". The album was the first major pop/rock LP to include its complete lyrics, which appeared on the back cover. Those lyrics were the subject of critical analysis; for instance, in late 1967 the album was the subject of a scholarly inquiry by American literary critic and professor of English Richard Poirier, who observed that his students were "listening to the group's music with a degree of engagement that he, as a teacher of literature, could only envy". The elaborate cover also attracted considerable interest and study. A collage designed by pop artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth, it depicted the group as the fictional band referred to in the album's title track standing in front of a crowd of famous people. The heavy moustaches worn by the group reflected the growing influence of the hippie movement, while cultural historian Jonathan Harris describes their "brightly coloured parodies of military uniforms" as a knowingly "anti-authoritarian and anti-establishment" display.
*Sgt. Pepper* topped the UK charts for 23 consecutive weeks, with a further four weeks at number one in the period through to February 1968. With 2.5 million copies sold within three months of its release, *Sgt. Pepper*'s initial commercial success exceeded that of all previous Beatles albums. It was the first rock album to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. It sustained its immense popularity into the 21st century while breaking numerous sales records.
*Magical Mystery Tour* and *Yellow Submarine*
Two Beatles film projects were conceived within weeks of completing *Sgt. Pepper*: *Magical Mystery Tour*, a one-hour television film, and *Yellow Submarine*, an animated feature-length film produced by United Artists. The group began recording music for the former in late April 1967, but the project then lay dormant as they focused on recording songs for the latter. On 25 June, the Beatles performed their forthcoming single "All You Need Is Love" to an estimated 350 million viewers on *Our World*, the first live global television link. Released a week later, during the Summer of Love, the song was adopted as a flower power anthem. The Beatles' use of psychedelic drugs was at its height during that summer. In July and August, the group pursued interests related to similar utopian-based ideology, including a week-long investigation into the possibility of starting an island-based commune off the coast of Greece.
On 24 August, the group were introduced to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in London. The next day, they travelled to Bangor for his Transcendental Meditation retreat. On 27 August, their manager's assistant, Peter Brown, phoned to inform them that Epstein had died. The coroner ruled the death an accidental carbitol overdose, although it was widely rumoured to be a suicide. His death left the group disoriented and fearful about the future. Lennon recalled: "We collapsed. I knew that we were in trouble then. I didn't really have any misconceptions about our ability to do anything other than play music, and I was scared. I thought, 'We've fuckin' had it now.'" Harrison's then-wife Pattie Boyd remembered that "Paul and George were in complete shock. I don't think it could have been worse if they had heard that their own fathers had dropped dead." During a band meeting in September, McCartney recommended that the band proceed with *Magical Mystery Tour*.
The *Magical Mystery Tour* soundtrack was released in the UK as a six-track double extended play (EP) in early December 1967. It was the first example of a double EP in the UK. The record carried on the psychedelic vein of *Sgt. Pepper*, though in line with the band's wishes, the packaging reinforced the idea that the release was a film soundtrack rather than a follow-up to *Sgt. Pepper*. In the US, the soundtrack appeared as an identically titled LP that also included five tracks from the band's recent singles. In its first three weeks, the album set a record for the highest initial sales of any Capitol LP and is the only Capitol compilation later to be adopted in the band's official canon of studio albums.
*Magical Mystery Tour* first aired on Boxing Day to an audience of approximately 15 million. Largely directed by McCartney, the film was the band's first critical failure in the UK. It was dismissed as "blatant rubbish" by the *Daily Express*, the *Daily Mail* called it "a colossal conceit" and *The Guardian* labelled the film "a kind of fantasy morality play about the grossness and warmth and stupidity of the audience". Gould describes it as "a great deal of raw footage showing a group of people getting on, getting off, and riding on a bus". Although the viewership figures were respectable, its slating in the press led US television networks to lose interest in broadcasting the film.
The group were less involved with *Yellow Submarine*, which featured the band appearing as themselves for only a short live-action segment. Premiering in July 1968, the film featured cartoon versions of the band members and a soundtrack with eleven of their songs, including four unreleased studio recordings that made their debut in the film. Critics praised the film for its music, humour and innovative visual style. A soundtrack LP was issued seven months later; it contained those four new songs, the title track (already issued on *Revolver*), "All You Need Is Love" (already issued as a single and on the US *Magical Mystery Tour* LP) and seven instrumental pieces composed by Martin.
In February 1968, the Beatles travelled to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram in Rishikesh, India, to take part in a three-month meditation "Guide Course". Their time in India marked one of the band's most prolific periods, yielding numerous songs, including a majority of those on their next album. However, Starr left after only ten days, unable to stomach the food, and McCartney eventually grew bored and departed a month later. For Lennon and Harrison, creativity turned to question when an electronics technician known as Magic Alex suggested that the Maharishi was attempting to manipulate them. When he alleged that the Maharishi had made sexual advances to women attendees, a persuaded Lennon left abruptly just two months into the course, bringing an unconvinced Harrison and the remainder of the group's entourage with him. In anger, Lennon wrote a scathing song titled "Maharishi", renamed "Sexy Sadie" to avoid potential legal issues. McCartney said, "We made a mistake. We thought there was more to him than there was."
In May, Lennon and McCartney travelled to New York for the public unveiling of the Beatles' new business venture, Apple Corps. It was initially formed several months earlier as part of a plan to create a tax-effective business structure, but the band then desired to extend the corporation to other pursuits, including record distribution, peace activism and education. McCartney described Apple as "rather like a Western communism". The enterprise drained the group financially with a series of unsuccessful projects handled largely by members of the Beatles' entourage, who were given their jobs regardless of talent and experience. Among its numerous subsidiaries were Apple Electronics, established to foster technological innovations with Magic Alex at the head, and Apple Retailing, which opened the short-lived Apple Boutique in London. Harrison later said, "Basically, it was chaos ... John and Paul got carried away with the idea and blew millions, and Ringo and I just had to go along with it."
From late May to mid-October 1968, the group recorded what became *The Beatles*, a double LP commonly known as "the White Album" for its virtually featureless cover. During this time, relations between the members grew openly divisive. Starr quit for two weeks, leaving his bandmates to record "Back in the U.S.S.R." and "Dear Prudence" as a trio, with McCartney filling in on drums. Lennon had lost interest in collaborating with McCartney, whose contribution "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" he scorned as "granny music shit". Tensions were further aggravated by Lennon's romantic preoccupation with avant-garde artist Yoko Ono, whom he insisted on bringing to the sessions despite the group's well-established understanding that girlfriends were not allowed in the studio. McCartney has recalled that the album "wasn't a pleasant one to make". He and Lennon identified the sessions as the start of the band's break-up.
With the record, the band executed a wider range of musical styles and broke with their recent tradition of incorporating several musical styles in one song by keeping each piece of music consistently faithful to a select genre. During the sessions, the group upgraded to an eight-track tape console, which made it easier for them to layer tracks piecemeal, while the members often recorded independently of each other, affording the album a reputation as a collection of solo recordings rather than a unified group effort. Describing the double album, Lennon later said: "Every track is an individual track; there isn't any Beatle music on it. [It's] John and the band, Paul and the band, George and the band." The sessions also produced the Beatles' longest song yet, "Hey Jude", released in August as a non-album single with "Revolution".
Issued in November, the White Album was the band's first Apple Records album release, although EMI continued to own their recordings. The record attracted more than 2 million advance orders, selling nearly 4 million copies in the US in little over a month, and its tracks dominated the playlists of American radio stations. Its lyrical content was the focus of much analysis by the counterculture. Despite its popularity, reviewers were largely confused by the album's content and it failed to inspire the level of critical writing that *Sgt. Pepper* had.
*Abbey Road*, *Let It Be* and separation
Although *Let It Be* was the Beatles' final album release, it was largely recorded before *Abbey Road*. The project's impetus came from an idea Martin attributes to McCartney, who suggested they "record an album of new material and rehearse it, then perform it before a live audience for the very first time – on record and on film". Originally intended for a one-hour television programme to be called *Beatles at Work*, in the event much of the album's content came from studio work beginning in January 1969, many hours of which were captured on film by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg. Martin said that the project was "not at all a happy recording experience. It was a time when relations between the Beatles were at their lowest ebb." Lennon described the largely impromptu sessions as "hell ... the most miserable ... on Earth", and Harrison, "the low of all-time". Irritated by McCartney and Lennon, Harrison walked out for five days. Upon returning, he threatened to leave the band unless they "abandon[ed] all talk of live performance" and instead focused on finishing a new album, initially titled *Get Back*, using songs recorded for the TV special. He also demanded they cease work at Twickenham Film Studios, where the sessions had begun, and relocate to the newly finished Apple Studio. His bandmates agreed and it was decided to salvage the footage shot for the TV production for use in a feature film.
To alleviate tensions within the band and improve the quality of their live sound, Harrison invited keyboardist Billy Preston to participate in the last nine days of sessions. Preston received label billing on the "Get Back" single – the only musician ever to receive that acknowledgment on an official Beatles release. After the rehearsals, the band could not agree on a location to film a concert, rejecting several ideas, including a boat at sea, a lunatic asylum, the Libyan desert and the Colosseum. Ultimately, what would be their final live performance was filmed on the rooftop of the Apple Corps building at 3 Savile Row, London, on 30 January 1969. Five weeks later, engineer Glyn Johns, whom Lewisohn describes as *Get Back*'s "uncredited producer", began work assembling an album, given "free rein" as the band "all but washed their hands of the entire project".
New strains developed between the band members regarding the appointment of a financial adviser, the need for which had become evident without Epstein to manage business affairs. Lennon, Harrison and Starr favoured Allen Klein, who had managed the Rolling Stones and Sam Cooke; McCartney wanted Lee and John Eastman – father and brother, respectively, of Linda Eastman, whom McCartney married on 12 March. Agreement could not be reached, so both Klein and the Eastmans were temporarily appointed: Klein as the Beatles' business manager and the Eastmans as their lawyers. Further conflict ensued, however, and financial opportunities were lost. On 8 May, Klein was named sole manager of the band, the Eastmans having previously been dismissed as the Beatles' lawyers. McCartney refused to sign the management contract with Klein, but he was out-voted by the other Beatles.
Martin stated that he was surprised when McCartney asked him to produce another album, as the *Get Back* sessions had been "a miserable experience" and he had "thought it was the end of the road for all of us". The primary recording sessions for *Abbey Road* began on 2 July. Lennon, who rejected Martin's proposed format of a "continuously moving piece of music", wanted his and McCartney's songs to occupy separate sides of the album. The eventual format, with individually composed songs on the first side and the second consisting largely of a medley, was McCartney's suggested compromise. Emerick noted that the replacement of the studio's valve-based mixing console with a transistorised one yielded a less punchy sound, leaving the group frustrated at the thinner tone and lack of impact and contributing to its "kinder, gentler" feel relative to their previous albums.
On 4 July, the first solo single by a Beatle was released: Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance", credited to the Plastic Ono Band. The completion and mixing of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" on 20 August was the last occasion on which all four Beatles were together in the same studio. On 8 September, while Starr was in hospital, the other band members met to discuss recording a new album. They considered a different approach to songwriting by ending the Lennon–McCartney pretence and having four compositions apiece from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, with two from Starr and a lead single around Christmas. On 20 September, Lennon announced his departure to the rest of the group but agreed to withhold a public announcement to avoid undermining sales of the forthcoming album.
Released on 26 September, *Abbey Road* sold four million copies within three months and topped the UK charts for a total of seventeen weeks. Its second track, the ballad "Something", was issued as a single – the only Harrison composition that appeared as a Beatles A-side. *Abbey Road* received mixed reviews, although the medley met with general acclaim. Unterberger considers it "a fitting swan song for the group", containing "some of the greatest harmonies to be heard on any rock record". Musicologist and author Ian MacDonald calls the album "erratic and often hollow", despite the "semblance of unity and coherence" offered by the medley. Martin singled it out as his favourite Beatles album; Lennon said it was "competent" but had "no life in it".
For the still unfinished *Get Back* album, one last song, Harrison's "I Me Mine", was recorded on 3 January 1970. Lennon, in Denmark at the time, did not participate. In March, rejecting the work Johns had done on the project, now retitled *Let It Be*, Klein gave the session tapes to American producer Phil Spector, who had recently produced Lennon's solo single "Instant Karma!" In addition to remixing the material, Spector edited, spliced and overdubbed several of the recordings that had been intended as "live". McCartney was unhappy with the producer's approach and particularly dissatisfied with the lavish orchestration on "The Long and Winding Road", which involved a fourteen-voice choir and 36-piece instrumental ensemble. McCartney's demands that the alterations to the song be reverted were ignored, and he publicly announced his departure from the band on 10 April, a week before the release of his first self-titled solo album.
On 8 May 1970, *Let It Be* was released. Its accompanying single, "The Long and Winding Road", was expected to be the Beatles' last; it was released in the US, but not in the UK. The *Let It Be* documentary film followed later that month and would win the 1970 Academy Award for Best Original Song Score. *Sunday Telegraph* critic Penelope Gilliatt called it "a very bad film and a touching one ... about the breaking apart of this reassuring, geometrically perfect, once apparently ageless family of siblings". Several reviewers stated that some of the performances in the film sounded better than their analogous album tracks. Describing *Let It Be* as the "only Beatles album to occasion negative, even hostile reviews", Unterberger calls it "on the whole underrated"; he singles out "some good moments of straight hard rock in 'I've Got a Feeling' and 'Dig a Pony'" and praises "Let It Be", "Get Back" and "the folky 'Two of Us', with John and Paul harmonising together".
McCartney filed suit for the dissolution of the Beatles' contractual partnership on 31 December 1970. Legal disputes continued long after their break-up and the dissolution was not formalised until 29 December 1974, when Lennon signed the paperwork terminating the partnership while on vacation with his family at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
### After the breakup
#### 1970s
Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr all released solo albums in 1970. Their solo records sometimes involved one or more of the other members; Starr's *Ringo* (1973) was the only album to include compositions and performances by all four ex-Beatles, albeit on separate songs. With Starr's participation, Harrison staged the Concert for Bangladesh in New York City in August 1971. Other than an unreleased jam session in 1974, later bootlegged as *A Toot and a Snore in '74*, Lennon and McCartney never recorded together again.
Two double-LP sets of the Beatles' greatest hits, compiled by Klein, *1962–1966* and *1967–1970*, were released in 1973, at first under the Apple Records imprint. Commonly known as the "Red Album" and "Blue Album", respectively, each has earned a Multi-Platinum certification in the US and a Platinum certification in the UK. Between 1976 and 1982, EMI/Capitol released a wave of compilation albums without input from the ex-Beatles, starting with the double-disc compilation *Rock 'n' Roll Music*. The only one to feature previously unreleased material was *The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl* (1977); the first officially issued concert recordings by the group, it contained selections from two shows they played during their 1964 and 1965 US tours.
The music and enduring fame of the Beatles were commercially exploited in various other ways, again often outside their creative control. In April 1974, the musical *John, Paul, George, Ringo ... and Bert*, written by Willy Russell and featuring singer Barbara Dickson, opened in London. It included, with permission from Northern Songs, eleven Lennon–McCartney compositions and one by Harrison, "Here Comes the Sun". Displeased with the production's use of his song, Harrison withdrew his permission to use it. Later that year, the off-Broadway musical *Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road* opened. *All This and World War II* (1976) was an unorthodox nonfiction film that combined newsreel footage with covers of Beatles songs by performers ranging from Elton John and Keith Moon to the London Symphony Orchestra. The Broadway musical *Beatlemania*, an unauthorised nostalgia revue, opened in early 1977 and proved popular, spinning off five separate touring productions. In 1979, the band sued the producers, settling for several million dollars in damages. *Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band* (1978), a musical film starring the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton, was a commercial failure and an "artistic fiasco", according to Ingham.
Accompanying the wave of Beatles nostalgia and persistent reunion rumours in the US during the 1970s, several entrepreneurs made public offers to the Beatles for a reunion concert. Promoter Bill Sargent first offered the Beatles $10 million for a reunion concert in 1974. He raised his offer to $30 million in January 1976 and then to $50 million the following month. On 24 April 1976, during a broadcast of *Saturday Night Live*, producer Lorne Michaels jokingly offered the Beatles $3,000 to reunite on the show. Lennon and McCartney were watching the live broadcast at Lennon's apartment at the Dakota in New York, which was within driving distance of the NBC studio where the show was being broadcast. The former bandmates briefly entertained the idea of going to the studio and surprising Michaels by accepting his offer, but decided not to.
#### 1980s
In December 1980, Lennon was shot and killed outside his New York City apartment by Mark David Chapman, an American Beatles fan. Harrison rewrote the lyrics of his song "All Those Years Ago" in Lennon's honour. With Starr on drums and McCartney and his wife, Linda, contributing backing vocals, the song was released as a single in May 1981. McCartney's own tribute, "Here Today", appeared on his *Tug of War* album in April 1982. In 1984, Starr co-starred in McCartney's film *Give My Regards to Broad Street*, and played with McCartney on several of the songs on the soundtrack. In 1987, Harrison's *Cloud Nine* album included "When We Was Fab", a song about the Beatlemania era.
When the Beatles' studio albums were released on CD by EMI and Apple Corps in 1987, their catalogue was standardised throughout the world, establishing a canon of the twelve original studio LPs as issued in the UK plus the US LP version of *Magical Mystery Tour*. All the remaining material from the singles and EPs that had not appeared on these thirteen studio albums was gathered on the two-volume compilation *Past Masters* (1988). Except for the *Red* and *Blue* albums, EMI deleted all its other Beatles compilations – including the *Hollywood Bowl* record – from its catalogue.
In 1988, the Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, their first year of eligibility. Harrison and Starr attended the ceremony with Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and his two sons, Julian and Sean. McCartney declined to attend, citing unresolved "business differences" that would make him "feel like a complete hypocrite waving and smiling with them at a fake reunion". The following year, EMI/Capitol settled a decade-long lawsuit filed by the band over royalties, clearing the way to commercially package previously unreleased material.
#### 1990s
*Live at the BBC*, the first official release of unissued Beatles performances in 17 years, appeared in 1994. That same year McCartney, Harrison and Starr collaborated on the *Anthology* project. *Anthology* was the culmination of work begun in 1970, when Apple Corps director Neil Aspinall, their former road manager and personal assistant, had started to gather material for a documentary with the working title *The Long and Winding Road*.
During 1995–96, the project yielded a television miniseries, an eight-volume video set and three two-CD/three-LP box sets featuring artwork by Klaus Voormann. Documenting their history in the band's own words, the *Anthology* project included the release of several unissued Beatles recordings. Alongside producer Jeff Lynne, McCartney, Harrison and Starr also added new instrumental and vocal parts to songs recorded as demos by Lennon in the late 1970s, resulting in the release of two "new" Beatles singles, "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love". A third Lennon demo, "Now and Then", was also attempted, but abandoned due to the low quality of the recording. The *Anthology* releases were commercially successful and the television series was viewed by an estimated 400 million people. A book, *The Beatles Anthology*, followed in October 2000. In 1999, to coincide with the re-release of the 1968 film *Yellow Submarine*, an expanded soundtrack album, *Yellow Submarine Songtrack*, was issued.
#### 2000s
The Beatles' *1*, a compilation album of the band's British and American number-one hits, was released on 13 November 2000. It became the fastest-selling album of all time, with 3.6 million sold in its first week and 13 million within a month. It topped albums charts in at least 28 countries. The compilation had sold 31 million copies globally by April 2009.
Harrison died from metastatic lung cancer in November 2001. McCartney and Starr were among the musicians who performed at the Concert for George, organised by Eric Clapton and Harrison's widow, Olivia. The tribute event took place at the Royal Albert Hall on the first anniversary of Harrison's death.
In 2003, *Let It Be... Naked*, a reconceived version of the *Let It Be* album, with McCartney supervising production, was released. One of the main differences from the Spector-produced version was the omission of the original string arrangements. It was a top-ten hit in both Britain and America. The US album configurations from 1964 to 1965 were released as box sets in 2004 and 2006; *The Capitol Albums, Volume 1* and *Volume 2* included both stereo and mono versions based on the mixes that were prepared for vinyl at the time of the music's original American release.
As a soundtrack for Cirque du Soleil's Las Vegas Beatles stage revue, *Love*, George Martin and his son Giles remixed and blended 130 of the band's recordings to create what Martin called "a way of re-living the whole Beatles musical lifespan in a very condensed period". The show premiered in June 2006 and the *Love* album was released that November. In April 2009, Starr performed three songs with McCartney at a benefit concert held at New York's Radio City Music Hall and organised by McCartney.
On 9 September 2009, the Beatles' entire back catalogue was reissued following an extensive digital remastering process that lasted four years. Stereo editions of all twelve original UK studio albums, along with *Magical Mystery Tour* and the *Past Masters* compilation, were released on compact disc both individually and as a box set. A second collection, *The Beatles in Mono*, included remastered versions of every Beatles album released in true mono along with the original 1965 stereo mixes of *Help!* and *Rubber Soul* (both of which Martin had remixed for the 1987 editions). *The Beatles: Rock Band*, a music video game in the *Rock Band* series, was issued on the same day. In December 2009, the band's catalogue was officially released in FLAC and MP3 format in a limited edition of 30,000 USB flash drives.
#### 2010s
Owing to a long-running royalty disagreement, the Beatles were among the last major artists to sign deals with online music services. Residual disagreement emanating from Apple Corps' dispute with Apple, Inc., iTunes' owners, over the use of the name "Apple" was also partly responsible for the delay, although in 2008, McCartney stated that the main obstacle to making the Beatles' catalogue available online was that EMI "want[s] something we're not prepared to give them". In 2010, the official canon of thirteen Beatles studio albums, *Past Masters* and the "Red" and "Blue" greatest-hits albums were made available on iTunes.
In 2012, EMI's recorded music operations were sold to Universal Music Group. In order for Universal Music to acquire EMI, the European Union, for antitrust reasons, forced EMI to spin off assets including Parlophone. Universal was allowed to keep the Beatles' recorded music catalogue, managed by Capitol Records under its Capitol Music Group division. The entire original Beatles album catalogue was also reissued on vinyl in 2012; available either individually or as a box set.
In 2013, a second volume of BBC recordings, *On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2*, was released. That December saw the release of another 59 Beatles recordings on iTunes. The set, titled *The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963*, had the opportunity to gain a 70-year copyright extension conditional on the songs being published at least once before the end of 2013. Apple Records released the recordings on 17 December to prevent them from going into the public domain and had them taken down from iTunes later that same day. Fan reactions to the release were mixed, with one blogger saying "the hardcore Beatles collectors who are trying to obtain everything will already have these."
On 26 January 2014, McCartney and Starr performed together at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The following day, *The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles* television special was taped in the Los Angeles Convention Center's West Hall. It aired on 9 February, the exact date of – and at the same time and on the same network as – the original broadcast of the Beatles' first US television appearance on *The Ed Sullivan Show*, 50 years earlier. The special included performances of Beatles songs by current artists as well as by McCartney and Starr, archival footage and interviews with the two surviving ex-Beatles carried out by David Letterman at the Ed Sullivan Theater. In December 2015, the Beatles released their catalogue for streaming on various streaming music services including Spotify and Apple Music.
In September 2016, the documentary film *The Beatles: Eight Days a Week* was released. Directed by Ron Howard, it chronicled the Beatles' career during their touring years from 1961 to 1966, from their performances in Liverpool's the Cavern Club in 1961 to their final concert in San Francisco in 1966. The film was released theatrically on 15 September in the UK and the US, and started streaming on Hulu on 17 September. It received several awards and nominations, including for Best Documentary at the 70th British Academy Film Awards and the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards. An expanded, remixed and remastered version of *The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl* was released on 9 September, to coincide with the release of the film.
On 18 May 2017, Sirius XM Radio launched a 24/7 radio channel, The Beatles Channel. A week later, *Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band* was reissued with new stereo mixes and unreleased material for the album's 50th anniversary. Similar box sets were released for *The Beatles* in November 2018, and *Abbey Road* in September 2019. In October 2019, *Abbey Road* returned to number one on the UK Albums Chart. The Beatles broke their own record for the album with the longest gap between topping the charts as *Abbey Road* hit the top spot 50 years after its original release.
#### 2020s
In November 2021, *The Beatles: Get Back*, a documentary directed by Peter Jackson using footage captured for the *Let It Be* film, was released on Disney+ as a three-part miniseries. A book by the same title was released on 12 October. A super deluxe version of the *Let It Be* album was released on 15 October. In January 2022, the album *Get Back (Rooftop Performance)*, consisting of newly mixed audio of the Beatles' rooftop performance, was released on streaming services.
In 2022, McCartney and Starr collaborated on a new recording of "Let It Be" with Dolly Parton, Peter Frampton and Mick Fleetwood, which was released on Parton's album *Rockstar* in November 2023. In October, a special edition of *Revolver* was released, featuring unreleased demos, studio outtakes, the original mono mix and a new stereo remix using AI de-mixing technology developed by Peter Jackson's WingNut Films, which had previously been used to restore audio for the documentary *Get Back*. New music videos were produced for "Here, There and Everywhere" and "I'm Only Sleeping", the latter of which won the Grammy Award for Best Music Video at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards.
In June 2023, McCartney announced plans to release "the final Beatles record" later in the year, using Jackson's de-mixing technology to extract Lennon's voice from an old demo of a song that he had written as a solo artist. In October 2023, the song was revealed to be "Now and Then", with a physical and digital release date of 2 November 2023. The official music video for "Now and Then" was released the following day, garnering upwards of 8 million views in its first 12 hours, as the song arrived on Spotify's rankings as one of the most-streamed current songs. "Now and Then" debuted simultaneously across music, alternative, news/talk and sports stations. The song's premiere achieved the record for the most radio stations to simulcast a music track. The song became their first UK number-one single since 1969. It won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, and was also nominated for Record of the Year. The nominations were also historically significant for making "Now and Then" the first artificial intelligence-assisted track to be nominated for a Grammy award, and first to win.
On 8 May 2024, the 1970 film *Let It Be* was released on Disney+, following a digital restoration by Jackson's Park Road Post; it was the first time it was publicly screened since its original theatrical release.
## Artistry
### Development
In *Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever*, Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz describe the Beatles' musical evolution:
In their initial incarnation as cheerful, wisecracking moptops, the Fab Four revolutionised the sound, style, and attitude of popular music and opened rock and roll's doors to a tidal wave of British rock acts. Their initial impact would have been enough to establish the Beatles as one of their era's most influential cultural forces, but they didn't stop there. Although their initial style was a highly original, irresistibly catchy synthesis of early American rock and roll and R&B, the Beatles spent the rest of the 1960s expanding rock's stylistic frontiers, consistently staking out new musical territory on each release. The band's increasingly sophisticated experimentation encompassed a variety of genres, including folk-rock, country, psychedelia, and baroque pop, without sacrificing the effortless mass appeal of their early work.
In *The Beatles as Musicians*, Walter Everett describes Lennon and McCartney's contrasting motivations and approaches to composition: "McCartney may be said to have constantly developed – as a means to entertain – a focused musical talent with an ear for counterpoint and other aspects of craft in the demonstration of a universally agreed-upon common language that he did much to enrich. Conversely, Lennon's mature music is best appreciated as the daring product of a largely unconscious, searching but undisciplined artistic sensibility."
Ian MacDonald describes McCartney as "a natural melodist – a creator of tunes capable of existing apart from their harmony". His melody lines are characterised as primarily "vertical", employing wide, consonant intervals which express his "extrovert energy and optimism". Conversely, Lennon's "sedentary, ironic personality" is reflected in a "horizontal" approach featuring minimal, dissonant intervals and repetitive melodies which rely on their harmonic accompaniment for interest: "Basically a realist, he instinctively kept his melodies close to the rhythms and cadences of speech, colouring his lyrics with bluesy tone and harmony rather than creating tunes that made striking shapes of their own." MacDonald praises Harrison's lead guitar work for the role his "characterful lines and textural colourings" play in supporting Lennon and McCartney's parts and describes Starr as "the father of modern pop/rock drumming".
### Influences
The Beatles' earliest influences include Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Gene Vincent. During the Beatles' co-residency with Little Richard at the Star-Club in Hamburg, from April to May 1962, he advised them on the proper technique for performing his songs. Of Presley, Lennon said, "Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there hadn't been Elvis, there would not have been the Beatles." Chuck Berry was particularly influential in terms of songwriting and lyrics. Lennon noted, "He was well advanced of his time lyric-wise. We all owe a lot to him." Other early influences include Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Roy Orbison, the Everly Brothers and Jerry Lee Lewis.
The Beatles continued to absorb influences long after their initial success, often finding new musical and lyrical avenues by listening to their contemporaries, including Bob Dylan, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Who, Frank Zappa, the Lovin' Spoonful, the Byrds and the Beach Boys, whose 1966 album *Pet Sounds* amazed and inspired McCartney. Referring to the Beach Boys' creative leader, Martin later stated: "No one made a greater impact on the Beatles than Brian [Wilson]." Ravi Shankar, with whom Harrison studied for six weeks in India in late 1966, had a significant effect on his musical development during the band's later years.
### Genres
Originating as a skiffle group, the Beatles quickly embraced 1950s rock and roll and helped pioneer the Merseybeat genre, and their repertoire ultimately expanded to include a broad variety of pop music. Reflecting the range of styles they explored, Lennon said of *Beatles for Sale*, "You could call our new one a Beatles country-and-western LP", while Gould credits *Rubber Soul* as "the instrument by which legions of folk-music enthusiasts were coaxed into the camp of pop".
Although the 1965 song "Yesterday" was not the first pop record to employ orchestral strings, it marked the group's first recorded use of classical music elements. Gould observes, "The more traditional sound of strings allowed for a fresh appreciation of their talent as composers by listeners who were otherwise allergic to the din of drums and electric guitars." They continued to experiment with string arrangements to various effect; *Sgt. Pepper*'s "She's Leaving Home", for instance, is "cast in the mold of a sentimental Victorian ballad", Gould writes, "its words and music filled with the clichés of musical melodrama".
The band's stylistic range expanded in another direction with their 1966 B-side "Rain", described by Martin Strong as "the first overtly psychedelic Beatles record". Other psychedelic numbers followed, such as "Tomorrow Never Knows" (recorded before "Rain"), "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "I Am the Walrus". The influence of Indian classical music was evident in Harrison's "The Inner Light", "Love You To" and "Within You Without You" – Gould describes the latter two as attempts "to replicate the raga form in miniature".
Innovation was the most striking feature of their creative evolution, according to music historian and pianist Michael Campbell:
'A Day in the Life' encapsulates the art and achievement of the Beatles as well as any single track can. It highlights key features of their music: the sound imagination, the persistence of tuneful melody and the close coordination between words and music. It represents a new category of song – more sophisticated than pop ... and uniquely innovative. There literally had never before been a song – classical or vernacular – that had blended so many disparate elements so imaginatively.
Philosophy professor Bruce Ellis Benson agrees: "The Beatles ... give us a wonderful example of how such far-ranging influences as Celtic music, rhythm and blues, and country and western could be put together in a new way." Author Dominic Pedler describes the way they crossed musical styles:
Far from moving sequentially from one genre to another (as is sometimes conveniently suggested) the group maintained
in paralleltheir mastery of the traditional, catchy chart hit while simultaneously forging rock and dabbling with a wide range of peripheral influences from country to vaudeville. One of these threads was their take on folk music, which would form such essential groundwork for their later collisions with Indian music and philosophy.
As the personal relationships between the band members grew increasingly strained, their individual tastes became more apparent. The minimalistic cover artwork for the White Album contrasted with the complexity and diversity of its music, which encompassed Lennon's "Revolution 9" (whose musique concrète approach was influenced by Yoko Ono), Starr's country song "Don't Pass Me By", Harrison's rock ballad "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and the "proto-metal roar" of McCartney's "Helter Skelter".
### Contribution of George Martin
George Martin's close involvement in his role as producer made him one of the leading candidates for the informal title of the "fifth Beatle". He applied his classical musical training in various ways and functioned as "an informal music teacher" to the progressing songwriters, according to Gould. Martin suggested to a sceptical McCartney that the arrangement of "Yesterday" should feature a string quartet accompaniment, thereby introducing the Beatles to a "hitherto unsuspected world of classical instrumental colour", in MacDonald's description. Their creative development was also facilitated by Martin's willingness to experiment in response to their suggestions, such as adding "something baroque" to a particular recording. In addition to scoring orchestral arrangements for recordings, Martin often performed on them, playing instruments including piano, organ and brass.
Collaborating with Lennon and McCartney required Martin to adapt to their different approaches to songwriting and recording. MacDonald comments, "while [he] worked more naturally with the conventionally articulate McCartney, the challenge of catering to Lennon's intuitive approach generally spurred him to his more original arrangements". Martin said of the two composers' distinct songwriting styles and his stabilising influence:
Compared with Paul's songs, all of which seemed to keep in some sort of touch with reality, John's had a psychedelic, almost mystical quality ... John's imagery is one of the best things about his work – 'tangerine trees', 'marmalade skies', 'cellophane flowers' ... I always saw him as an aural Salvador Dalí, rather than some drug-ridden record artist. On the other hand, I would be stupid to pretend that drugs didn't figure quite heavily in the Beatles' lives at that time ... they knew that I, in my schoolmasterly role, didn't approve ... Not only was I not into it myself, I couldn't see the need for it; and there's no doubt that, if I too had been on dope,
Pepperwould never have been the album it was. Perhaps it was the combination of dope and no dope that worked, who knows?
Harrison echoed Martin's description of his stabilising role:
I think we just grew through those years together, him as the straight man and us as the loonies; but he was always there for us to interpret our madness – we used to be slightly avant-garde on certain days of the week, and he would be there as the anchor person, to communicate that through the engineers and on to the tape.
### In the studio
Making innovative use of technology while expanding the possibilities of recorded music, the Beatles urged experimentation by Martin and his recording engineers. Seeking ways to put chance occurrences to creative use, accidental guitar feedback, a resonating glass bottle, a tape loaded the wrong way round so that it played backwards – any of these might be incorporated into their music. Their desire to create new sounds on every new recording, combined with Martin's arranging abilities and the studio expertise of EMI staff engineers Norman Smith, Ken Townsend and Geoff Emerick, all contributed significantly to their records from *Rubber Soul* and, especially, *Revolver* onwards.
Along with innovative studio techniques such as sound effects, unconventional microphone placements, tape loops, double tracking and vari-speed recording, the Beatles augmented their songs with instruments that were unconventional in rock music at the time. These included string and brass ensembles as well as Indian instruments such as the sitar in "Norwegian Wood" and the swarmandal in "Strawberry Fields Forever". They also used novel electronic instruments such as the Mellotron, with which McCartney supplied the flute voices on the "Strawberry Fields Forever" intro, and the clavioline, an electronic keyboard that created the unusual oboe-like sound on "Baby, You're a Rich Man".
## Legacy
Former *Rolling Stone* magazine associate editor Robert Greenfield compared the Beatles to Picasso, as "artists who broke through the constraints of their time period to come up with something that was unique and original ... [I]n the form of popular music, no one will ever be more revolutionary, more creative and more distinctive ..." The British poet Philip Larkin described their work as "an enchanting and intoxicating hybrid of Negro rock-and-roll with their own adolescent romanticism" and "the first advance in popular music since the War".
In 1964, the Beatles' arrival in the U.S. is credited with initiating the album era; the music historian Joel Whitburn says that LP sales soon "exploded and eventually outpaced the sales and releases of singles" in the music industry. They not only sparked the British Invasion of the US, they became a globally influential phenomenon as well. From the 1920s, the US had dominated popular entertainment culture throughout much of the world, via Hollywood films, jazz, the music of Broadway and Tin Pan Alley, and later, the rock and roll that first emerged in Memphis, Tennessee. The Beatles are regarded as British cultural icons, with young adults from abroad naming the band among a group of people whom they most associated with UK culture.
Their musical innovations and commercial success inspired musicians worldwide. Many artists have acknowledged the Beatles' influence and enjoyed chart success with covers of their songs. On radio, their arrival marked the beginning of a new era; in 1968 the programme director of New York's WABC radio station forbade his DJs from playing any "pre-Beatles" music, marking the defining line of what would be considered oldies on American radio. They helped to redefine the album as something more than just a few hits padded out with "filler", and they were primary innovators of the modern music video. The Shea Stadium show with which they opened their 1965 North American tour attracted an estimated 55,600 people, then the largest audience in concert history; Spitz describes the event as a "major breakthrough ... a giant step toward reshaping the concert business". Emulation of their clothing and especially their hairstyles, which became a mark of rebellion, had a global impact on fashion.
According to Gould, the Beatles changed the way people listened to popular music and experienced its role in their lives. From what began as the Beatlemania fad, the group's popularity grew into what was seen as an embodiment of sociocultural movements of the decade. As icons of the 1960s counterculture, Gould continues, they became a catalyst for bohemianism and activism in various social and political arenas, fuelling movements such as women's liberation, gay liberation and environmentalism. According to Peter Lavezzoli, after the "more popular than Jesus" controversy in 1966, the Beatles felt considerable pressure to say the right things and "began a concerted effort to spread a message of wisdom and higher consciousness".
Other commentators such as Mikal Gilmore and Todd Leopold have traced the inception of their sociocultural impact earlier, interpreting even the Beatlemania period, particularly on their first visit to the US, as a key moment in the development of generational awareness. Referring to their appearance on *the Ed Sullivan Show* Leopold states: "In many ways, the Sullivan appearance marked the beginning of a cultural revolution ... The Beatles were like aliens dropped into the United States of 1964." According to Gilmore:
Elvis Presley had shown us how rebellion could be fashioned into eye-opening style; the Beatles were showing us how style could have the impact of cultural revelation – or at least how a pop vision might be forged into an unimpeachable consensus.
Established in 2009, Global Beatles Day is an annual holiday on 25 June each year that honours and celebrates the ideals of the Beatles. The date was chosen to commemorate the date the group participated in the BBC programme *Our World* in 1967, performing "All You Need Is Love" broadcast to an international audience.
## Awards and achievements
In 1965, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). The Beatles won the 1971 Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for the film *Let It Be* (1970). The recipients of seven Grammy Awards and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards, the Beatles have six Diamond albums, as well as 20 Multi-Platinum albums, 16 Platinum albums and six Gold albums in the US. In the UK, the Beatles have four Multi-Platinum albums, four Platinum albums, eight Gold albums and one Silver album. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
The best-selling music act in history, the Beatles have sold more than 600 million units as of 2012[update]. From 1991 to 2009 the Beatles sold 57 million albums in United States, according to Nielsen Soundscan. They have had more number-one albums on the UK charts, fifteen, and sold more singles in the UK, 21.9 million, than any other act. In 2004, *Rolling Stone* ranked the Beatles as the most significant and influential rock music artists of the last 50 years. They ranked number one on *Billboard* magazine's list of the all-time most successful Hot 100 artists, released in 2008 to celebrate the US singles chart's 50th anniversary. As of 2017[update], they hold the record for most number-one hits on the *Billboard* Hot 100, with twenty. The Recording Industry Association of America certifies that the Beatles have sold 183 million units in the US, more than any other artist. They were collectively included in *Time* magazine's compilation of the 20th century's 100 most influential people. In 2014, they received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2004 and 2011, *Rolling Stone* named them the greatest artist of all time.
On 16 January each year, beginning in 2001, people celebrate World Beatles Day under UNESCO. In 2007, the Beatles became the first band to feature on a series of UK postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail. Earlier in 1999, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp dedicated to the Beatles and *Yellow Submarine*.
## Band members
**Principal members**
- John Lennon – vocals, guitars, keyboards, harmonica, bass (1960–1969; died 1980)
- Paul McCartney – vocals, bass, guitars, keyboards, drums (1960–1970)
- George Harrison – guitars, vocals, sitar, keyboards, bass (1960–1970; died 2001)
- Ringo Starr – drums, percussion, vocals (1962–1970)
**Early members**
- Stuart Sutcliffe – bass, vocals (1960–1961; died 1962)
- Pete Best – drums, vocals (1960–1962)
**Temporary members**
- Tommy Moore (died 1981) and Norman Chapman (died 1995) preceded Best as temporary drummers in the Silver Beetles/Beatles before Best joined in August 1960.
- Chas Newby (died 2023) performed bass with the Beatles for a short span of live shows in December 1960, filling in for Sutcliffe when he was unable to perform with the band.
- Jimmy Nicol temporarily replaced Starr during June 1964 for five dates of the Beatles' 1964 world tour.
- Billy Preston (died 2006) played keyboards with the Beatles during 1969.
### Timeline
## Discography
The Beatles' core catalogue consists of thirteen studio albums and one compilation album which collects all the UK non-album singles and EP tracks:
*Please Please Me*(1963)*With the Beatles*(1963)*A Hard Day's Night*(1964)*Beatles for Sale*(1964)*Help!*(1965)*Rubber Soul*(1965)*Revolver*(1966)*Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band*(1967)*Magical Mystery Tour*(1967)*The Beatles*("The White Album") (1968)*Yellow Submarine*(1969)*Abbey Road*(1969)*Let It Be*(1970)*Past Masters*(1988, compilation)
## Song catalogue
Until 1969, the Beatles' catalogue was published almost exclusively by Northern Songs, formed in February 1963 by music publisher Dick James specifically for Lennon and McCartney, though it later acquired songs by other artists. The company was organised with James and his partner, Emmanuel Silver, owning a controlling interest, variously described as 51% or 50% plus one share. McCartney had 20%. Reports again vary concerning Lennon's portion – 19 or 20% – and Brian Epstein's – 9 or 10% – which he received in lieu of a 25% band management fee. In 1965, the company went public. 5 million shares were created, of which the original principals retained 3.75 million. James and Silver each received 937,500 shares (18.75% of 5 million); Lennon and McCartney each received 750,000 shares (15%); and Epstein's management company, NEMS Enterprises, received 375,000 shares (7.5%). Of the 1.25 million shares put up for sale, Harrison and Starr each acquired 40,000. At the time of the stock offering, Lennon and McCartney renewed their three-year publishing contracts, binding them to Northern Songs until 1973.
Harrison created Harrisongs to represent his Beatles compositions, but signed a three-year contract with Northern Songs that gave it the copyright to his work until March 1968, which included "Taxman" and "Within You Without You". The songs on which Starr received co-writing credit before 1968, such as "What Goes On" and "Flying", were also Northern Songs copyrights. Harrison did not renew his contract with Northern Songs when it ended, signing instead with Apple Publishing while retaining the copyright to his work from that point on. Harrison thus owned the rights to his later Beatles songs such as "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Something". That year, as well, Starr created Startling Music, which holds the rights to his Beatles compositions, "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden".
In March 1969, James arranged to sell his and his partner's shares of Northern Songs to the British broadcasting company Associated Television (ATV), founded by impresario Lew Grade, without first informing the Beatles. The band then made a bid to gain a controlling interest by attempting to work out a deal with a consortium of London brokerage firms that had accumulated a 14% holding. The deal collapsed over the objections of Lennon, who declared, "I'm sick of being fucked about by men in suits sitting on their fat arses in the City". By the end of May, ATV had acquired a majority stake in Northern Songs, controlling nearly the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue, as well as any future material until 1973. In frustration, Lennon and McCartney sold their shares to ATV in late October 1969.
In 1981, financial losses by ATV's parent company, Associated Communications Corporation (ACC), led it to attempt to sell its music division. According to authors Brian Southall and Rupert Perry, Grade contacted McCartney, offering ATV Music and Northern Songs for $30 million. According to an account McCartney gave in 1995, he met with Grade and explained he was interested solely in the Northern Songs catalogue if Grade were ever willing to "separate off" that portion of ATV Music. Soon afterwards, Grade offered to sell him Northern Songs for £20 million, giving the ex-Beatle "a week or so" to decide. By McCartney's account, he and Ono countered with a £5 million bid that was rejected. According to reports at the time, Grade refused to separate Northern Songs and turned down an offer of £21–25 million from McCartney and Ono for Northern Songs. In 1982, ACC was acquired in a takeover by Australian business magnate Robert Holmes à Court for £60 million.
In 1985, Michael Jackson purchased ATV for a reported $47.5 million. The acquisition gave him control over the publishing rights to more than 200 Beatles songs, as well as 40,000 other copyrights. In 1995, in a deal that earned him a reported $110 million, Jackson merged his music publishing business with Sony, creating a new company, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, in which he held a 50% stake. The merger made the new company, then valued at over half a billion dollars, the third-largest music publisher in the world. In 2016, Sony acquired Jackson's share of Sony/ATV from the Jackson estate for $750 million.
Despite the lack of publishing rights to most of their songs, Lennon's estate and McCartney continue to receive their respective shares of the writers' royalties, which together are 331⁄3% of total commercial proceeds in the US and which vary elsewhere around the world between 50 and 55%. Two of Lennon and McCartney's earliest songs – "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" – were published by an EMI subsidiary, Ardmore & Beechwood, before they signed with James. McCartney acquired their publishing rights from Ardmore in 1978, and they are the only two Beatles songs owned by McCartney's company MPL Communications. On 18 January 2017, McCartney filed a suit in the United States district court against Sony/ATV Music Publishing seeking to reclaim ownership of his share of the Lennon–McCartney song catalogue beginning in 2018. Under US copyright law, for works published before 1978 the author can reclaim copyrights assigned to a publisher after 56 years. McCartney and Sony agreed to a confidential settlement in June 2017.
## Selected filmography
**Fictionalised**
*A Hard Day's Night*(1964)*Help!*(1965)*Magical Mystery Tour*(1967)*Yellow Submarine*(1968) (brief cameo)
**Documentaries and filmed performances**
*The Beatles at Shea Stadium*(1966)*Let It Be*(1970)*The Compleat Beatles*(1982)*It Was Twenty Years Ago Today*(1987) (about*Sgt. Pepper*)*The Beatles Anthology*(1995)*The Beatles: 1+*(2015) (collection of digitally restored music videos)*The Beatles: Eight Days a Week*(2016) (about Beatlemania and touring years)*The Beatles: Get Back*(2021)*Now and Then: The Last Beatles Song*(2023) (short film about the creation of "Now and Then")*Beatles '64*(2024) (about the cultural impact of the Beatles' first U.S. visit in 1964)
## Concert tours
**Headlining**
- 1963 UK tours (winter–autumn)
- Autumn 1963 Sweden tour
- Winter 1964 North American tour
- Spring 1964 UK tour
- 1964 world tour
- 1964 North American tour
- 1965 European tour
- 1965 US tour
- 1965 UK tour
- 1966 tour of Germany, Japan and the Philippines
- 1966 US tour
**Co-headlining**
- Winter 1963 Helen Shapiro Tour
- Spring 1963 Tommy Roe/Chris Montez UK tour
- Roy Orbison/The Beatles Tour
## See also
- Outline of the Beatles
- The Beatles timeline
- Grammy Award records – most Grammys won by a group
- List of songs recorded by the Beatles
## Notes
### Citations
### Sources
## Further reading
## External links
- The Beatles on the Internet Archive
- The Beatles – FBI file
*The Hugo Keesing Collection on the Beatles*, University of Maryland, hdl:1903.1/4593
|
# National Football League - Wikipedia
Upcoming season or competition:2025 NFL season | |
| Formerly | American Professional Football Conference (1920) American Professional Football Association (1920–1921) |
|---|---|
| Sport | American football |
| Founded | September 17, 1920 Canton, Ohio, U.S. |
| First season | 1920 |
| Commissioner | Roger Goodell |
| No. of teams | 32 |
| Country | United States |
| Headquarters | 345 Park Avenue (New York City) |
| Most recent champion(s) | Philadelphia Eagles (5th title) |
| Most titles | Green Bay Packers (13 titles) |
| Broadcaster(s) | United States:CBS Fox NBC ESPN/ABC/ESPN2 NFL Network TUDN Telemundo Deportes ESPN Deportes International:See list |
| Streaming partner(s) | United States:Paramount+/Vix Tubi Peacock ESPN+/Hulu/Disney+ Amazon Prime Video/Twitch Netflix International:DAZN |
| Official website | www |
The **National Football League** (**NFL**) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and the highest professional level of American football in the world. Each NFL season begins annually with a three-week preseason in August, followed by the 18-week regular season, which runs from early September to early January, with each team playing 17 games and having one bye week. Following the conclusion of the regular season, seven teams from each conference, including the four division winners and three wild card teams, advance to the playoffs, a single-elimination tournament, which culminates in the Super Bowl, played in early February between the winners of the AFC and NFC championship games. The NFL is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan.
The NFL was formed in 1920 as the **American Professional Football Association** (**APFA**) before renaming itself the National Football League for the 1922 season. After initially determining champions through end-of-season standings, a playoff system was implemented in 1933 that culminated with the NFL Championship Game until 1966. Following an agreement to merge the NFL with the rival American Football League (AFL), the Super Bowl was first held in 1967 to determine a champion between the best teams from the two leagues and has remained as the final game of each NFL season since the merger was completed in 1970. The NFL is the wealthiest professional sports league in the world by revenue, and the sports league with the most valuable teams. The NFL also has the highest average attendance (67,591) of any professional sports league in the world and is the most popular sports league in the United States. The Super Bowl is also among the most-watched sporting events in the world, with the individual games accounting for many of the most watched television programs in American history and all occupying the top five of Nielsen's all-time most-watched U.S. television broadcasts by 2015.
The Green Bay Packers hold the most combined NFL championships with thirteen, winning nine titles before the Super Bowl era and four Super Bowls afterwards. Since the creation of the Super Bowl, the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers are tied for the most Super Bowl victories at six each. The reigning league champions are the Philadelphia Eagles.
## History
### Founding and history
On August 20, 1920, a meeting was held by representatives of the Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Indians, and Dayton Triangles at the Jordan and Hupmobile auto showroom in Canton, Ohio. This meeting resulted in the formation of the American Professional Football Conference (APFC), a group who, according to the *Canton Evening Repository*, intended to "raise the standard of professional football in every way possible, to eliminate bidding for players between rival clubs and to secure cooperation in the formation of schedules".
A second meeting was held on September 17, 1920, with representatives from teams within four states: Akron, Canton, Cleveland, and Dayton from Ohio; the Hammond Pros and Muncie Flyers from Indiana; the Rochester Jeffersons from New York; and the Rock Island Independents, Decatur Staleys, and Racine (Chicago) Cardinals from Illinois. The league was renamed to the **American Professional Football Association** (**APFA**). The league elected Jim Thorpe as its first president, and consisted of 14 teams (the Buffalo All-Americans, Chicago Tigers, Columbus Panhandles and Detroit Heralds joined the league during the year). The Massillon Tigers from Massillon, Ohio was also at the September 17 meeting, but did not field a team in 1920. Only two of these teams, the Decatur Staleys (now the Chicago Bears) and the Chicago Cardinals (now the Arizona Cardinals), remain in the NFL.
Although the league did not maintain official standings for its 1920 inaugural season and teams played schedules that included non-league opponents, the APFA awarded the Akron Pros the championship by virtue of their 8–0–3 record. The first event occurred on September 26, 1920, when the Rock Island Independents defeated the non-league St. Paul Ideals 48–0 at Douglas Park. On October 3, 1920, the first full week of league play occurred. The following season resulted in the Chicago Staleys controversially winning the title over the Buffalo All-Americans. On June 24, 1922, the APFA changed its name to the National Football League (NFL).
In 1932, the season ended with the Chicago Bears (6–1–6) and the Portsmouth Spartans (6–1–4) tied for first in the league standings. At the time, teams were ranked on a single table and the team with the highest winning percentage (not including ties, which were not counted towards the standings) at the end of the season was declared the champion; the only tiebreaker was that in the event of a tie if two teams played twice in a season, the result of the second game determined the title (the source of the 1921 controversy). This method had been used since the league's creation in 1920, but no situation had been encountered where two teams were tied for first. The league quickly determined that a playoff game between Chicago and Portsmouth was needed to decide the league's champion. The teams were originally scheduled to play the playoff game, officially a regular-season game that would count towards the regular season standings, at Wrigley Field in Chicago, but a combination of heavy snow and extreme cold forced the game to be moved indoors to Chicago Stadium, which did not have a regulation-size football field. Playing with altered rules to accommodate the smaller playing field, the Bears won the game 9–0 and thus won the championship. Fan interest in the *de facto* championship game led the NFL, beginning in 1933, to split into two divisions with a championship game to be played between the division champions. The 1934 season also marked the first of twelve seasons in which African Americans were absent from the league. The *de facto* ban was rescinded in 1946, following public pressure and coinciding with the removal of a similar ban in Major League Baseball.
The NFL was always the largest professional football league in the United States; it nevertheless faced numerous rival professional leagues through the 1930s and 1940s. Rival leagues included at least three separate American Football Leagues and the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), on top of various regional leagues of varying caliber. Three NFL teams trace their histories to these rival leagues; the Los Angeles Rams who came from a 1936 iteration of the American Football League, and the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers, both from the AAFC. By the 1950s, the NFL had an effective monopoly on professional football in the United States; its only competition in North America was the professional Canadian football circuit, which formally became the Canadian Football League (CFL) in 1958. With Canadian football being a different football code than the American game, the CFL established a niche market in Canada and still survives as an independent league.
A new professional league, the fourth American Football League (AFL), began to play in 1960. The upstart AFL began to challenge the established NFL in popularity, gaining lucrative television contracts and engaging in a bidding war with the NFL for free agents and draft picks. The two leagues announced a merger on June 8, 1966, to take full effect in 1970. In the meantime, the leagues would hold a common draft and championship game. The game, the Super Bowl, was held four times before the merger, with the NFL winning Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II, and the AFL winning Super Bowl III and Super Bowl IV. After the league merged, it was reorganized into two conferences: the National Football Conference (NFC), consisting of most of the pre-merger NFL teams, and the American Football Conference (AFC), consisting of all of the AFL teams as well as three pre-merger NFL teams.
Today, the NFL is the most popular sports league in North America – with much of the league's growth and popularity attributable to former commissioner Pete Rozelle, who led the league from 1960 to 1989. Overall annual attendance increased from 3 million at the beginning of his tenure to 17 million by the end of his tenure, and 400 million global viewers watched 1989's Super Bowl XXIII. The NFL established NFL Properties in 1963. The league's licensing wing, NFL Properties, earns the league billions of dollars annually; Rozelle's tenure also marked the creation of NFL Charities and a national partnership with United Way. Paul Tagliabue was elected as commissioner to succeed Rozelle; his 17-year tenure, which ended in 2006, was marked by large increases in television contracts and the addition of four expansion teams, as well as the introduction of league initiatives to increase the number of minorities in league and team management roles. The league's current commissioner, Roger Goodell, has focused on reducing the number of illegal hits and making the sport safer, mainly through fining or suspending players who break rules. These actions are among many the NFL is taking to reduce concussions and improve player safety. Prior to 2021, the NFL had utilized race-based adjustments of dementia claims in the $1 billion settlement of concussion claims, which had been criticized by critics before the NFL decided to end what was called "race-norming". On May 21, 2024, the NFL announced the NFL Source initiative, aimed at increasing the number of minority- and women-owned businesses that work with the league throughout the year. NFL Source will be mandatory for teams that host major events, such as the Super Bowl and the NFL draft, and their organizing committees, but will be optional for other contracts at the team level. The NFL will partner with the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc to help local businesses across the country obtain the certifications necessary to do business with the league in furtherance of its efforts to increase partnerships with certified and underrepresented businesses that are 51% owned and operated or led by a veteran, woman, minority, person with disabilities or LGBTQ+. In 2015, a class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers, alleging that the NFL, its member teams, its broadcast partners, and DirecTV engaged in a conspiracy to violate antitrust law, by granting DirecTV exclusive rights to sell the Sunday Ticket product, thereby restricting competition and forcing viewers to pay super competitive prices to view out-of-market games. On June 27, 2024, a jury in Los Angeles found that the NFL had violated antitrust law in setting the price of the Sunday ticket package and ordered a penalty totaling more than $4.7 billion. With triple damages allowed under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could ultimately be liable for $14.39 billion. The league said it would ask the judge to set the verdict aside then appeal the verdict if needed.
### Season and playoff development
From 1920 to 1934, the NFL did not have a set number of games for teams to play, instead setting a minimum. The league mandated a twelve-game regular season for each team beginning in 1935, later shortening this to eleven games in 1937 and ten games in 1943, mainly due to World War II. After the war ended, the number of games returned to eleven games in 1946, and later back to twelve in 1947. The NFL went to a 14-game schedule in 1961, which it retained until switching to a 16-game schedule in 1978. In March 2021, the NFL officially adopted a 17-game schedule after gaining the agreement of the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA).
Having an odd number of games in the schedule will give half the teams nine games as the home team, while half the teams have only eight home games. To minimize the perceived benefit on competition of having more home games, the extra home game will be rotated between the two conferences each year. This is because playoff berths are allocated at the conference level, so all teams within the conference will have played the same number of home games.
The NFL operated in a two-conference system from 1933 to 1966, where the champions of each conference would meet in the NFL Championship Game. If two teams tied for the conference lead, they would meet in a one-game playoff to determine the conference champion. In 1967, the NFL expanded from 15 teams to 16 teams. Instead of just evening out the conferences by adding the expansion New Orleans Saints to the seven-member Western Conference, the NFL realigned the conferences and split each into two four-team divisions. The four division champions would meet in the NFL playoffs, a two-round playoff. The NFL also operated the Playoff Bowl (officially the Bert Bell Benefit Bowl) from 1960 to 1969. Effectively, a third-place game, pitting the two conference runners-up against each other, the league considers Playoff Bowls to have been exhibitions rather than playoff games. The league discontinued the Playoff Bowl in 1970 due to its perception as a game for losers.
Following the addition of the former AFL teams into the NFL in 1970, the NFL split into two conferences with three divisions each. The expanded league, now with twenty-six teams, would also feature an expanded eight-team playoff, the participants being the three division champions from each conference as well as one 'wild card' team (the team with the best win percentage that did not win its division) from each conference. In 1978, the league added a second wild card team from each conference, bringing the total number of playoff teams to ten, and a further two wild card teams were added in 1990 to bring the total to twelve. When the NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002, the league realigned, changing the division structure from three divisions in each conference to four divisions in each conference. As each division champion gets a playoff bid, the number of wild card teams from each conference dropped from three to two. The playoffs expanded again in 2020, adding two more wild card teams to bring the total to 14 playoff teams.
## Teams
The NFL consists of 32 teams divided into two conferences of 16 teams each. Each conference is divided into four divisions of four teams each. During the regular season, each team is allowed a maximum of 55 players on its roster; only 48 of these may be active (eligible to play) on game days. Each team can also have a sixteen-player practice squad separate from its main roster.
Each NFL club is granted a franchise, the league's authorization for the team to operate in its home city. This franchise covers "Home Territory" (the 75 miles surrounding the city limits, or, if the team is within 100 miles of another league city, half the distance between the two cities) and "Home Marketing Area" (Home Territory plus the rest of the state the club operates in, as well as the area the team operates its training camp in for the duration of the camp). Each NFL member has the exclusive right to host professional football games inside its Home Territory and the exclusive right to advertise, promote, and host events in its Home Marketing Area. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule, mostly relating to teams with close proximity to each other: teams that operate in the same city (e.g. New York City and Los Angeles) or the same state (e.g. California, Florida, and Texas) share the rights to the city's Home Territory and the state's Home Marketing Area, respectively.
According to *Forbes*, the Dallas Cowboys, at approximately US$8 billion, are the most valuable NFL franchise and the most valuable sports team in the world. Of the 32 NFL teams, 26 rank among the top 50 most valuable sports teams in the world; and 16 of the NFL's owners are listed on the *Forbes* 400, the most of any sports league or organization.
According to an August 2024 Forbes analysis, the average NFL franchise is worth $5.7 billion, with all teams worth at least $4 billion.
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
*
|
Franchise has relocated at some point in its existence |
†
|
Club was a founding member of the NFL |
## Organizational structure
At the corporate level, the National Football League considers itself a trade association made up of and financed by its 32 member teams. Up until 2015, the league was an unincorporated nonprofit 501(c)(6) association. Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code provides an exemption from federal income taxation for "Business leagues, chambers of commerce, real-estate boards, boards of trade, or professional football leagues (whether or not administering a pension fund for football players), not organized for profit and no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual." In contrast, each individual team, with the exception of the non-profit Green Bay Packers, is subject to tax because they make a profit.
In 2015, the NFL gave up its tax-exempt status following public criticism; in a letter to the club owners, Commissioner Roger Goodell labeled it a "distraction", saying "the effects of the tax-exempt status of the league office have been mischaracterized repeatedly in recent years… Every dollar of income generated through television rights fees, licensing agreements, sponsorships, ticket sales, and other means is earned by the 32 clubs and is taxable there. This will remain the case even when the league office and Management Council file returns as taxable entities, and the change in filing status will make no material difference to our business." As a result, the league office might owe around US$10 million in income taxes, but it is no longer required to disclose the salaries of its executive officers.
The league has three defined officers: the commissioner, secretary, and treasurer. Each conference has one defined officer, the president, which is essentially an honorary position with few powers and mostly ceremonial duties, including awarding the conference championship trophy.
The commissioner is elected by the affirmative vote of two-thirds or eighteen (whichever is greater) of the members of the league, while the president of each conference is elected by an affirmative vote of three-fourths or 10 of the conference members. The commissioner appoints the secretary and treasurer and has broad authority in disputes between clubs, players, coaches, and employees. He is the "principal executive officer" of the NFL and also has authority in hiring league employees, negotiating television contracts, disciplining individuals that own part or all of an NFL team, clubs, or employed individuals of an NFL club if they have violated league by-laws or committed "conduct detrimental to the welfare of the League or professional football". The commissioner can, in the event of misconduct by a party associated with the league, suspend individuals, hand down a fine of up to US$500,000, cancel contracts with the league, and award or strip teams of draft picks.
In extreme cases, the commissioner can offer recommendations to the NFL's executive committee, up to and including the "cancellation or forfeiture" of a club's franchise or any other action, he deems necessary. The commissioner can also issue sanctions up to and including a lifetime ban from the league if an individual connected to the NFL has bet on games or failed to notify the league of conspiracies or plans to bet on or fix games. The current Commissioner of the National Football League is Roger Goodell, who was elected in 2006 after Paul Tagliabue, the previous commissioner, retired.
### Finances
NFL revenue is from three primary sources: NFL Ventures (merchandising), NFL Enterprises (NFL Network and NFL Sunday Ticket, which the league controls), and the television contract. The league distributes such revenue equally among teams, regardless of performance. As of February 2019[update], each team receives $255 million annually from the league's television contract, up 150% from $99.9 million in 2010.
Most NFL teams' financial statements are secret. *The Kansas City Star* obtained the Kansas City Chiefs' tax returns for 2008–2010. According to the *Star*, the team's revenue rose from $231 million in 2008 to $302 million in 2010. In 2010, two thirds of revenue came from the league: $99.8 million from NFL Ventures ($55.3 million) and NFL Enterprises ($44.6 million), and the $99.9 million share of the television contract. The remaining one third was from tickets ($42.4 million), corporate sponsorships ($6.6 million), food sales ($5 million), parking passes ($4.7 million), in-stadium advertising ($3.7 million), radio contract ($2.7 million), and miscellaneous sources.
The largest Chiefs expense in 2010 was $148 million for players, coaches, and other employees. Of the $38 million in operating income, Clark, Lamar Jr., two other children, and widow of former team owner Lamar Hunt divided $17.6 million, and reinvested the remaining $20 million into the team.
According to economist Richard D. Wolff, the NFL's revenue model is in contravention of the typical corporate structure. By redistributing profits to all teams the NFL is ensuring that one team will not dominate the league through excessive earnings. Roger Noll described the revenue sharing as the league's "most important structural weakness", however, as there is no disincentive against a team playing badly and the largest cost item, player salaries, is capped.
## Season format
The NFL season format consists of a three-week preseason, an 18-week regular season (each team plays 17 games), and a 14-team single-elimination playoff culminating in the Super Bowl, the league's championship game.
### Preseason
The NFL preseason begins with the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, played at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio. Each NFL team is required to schedule three preseason games. NFC teams must play at least two of these at home in odd numbered years and AFC teams must play at least two at home in even numbered years. However, the teams involved in the Hall of Fame game, as well as any team that played in an American Bowl game, play four preseason games. Preseason games are exhibition matches and do not count towards regular-season totals. Because the preseason does not count towards standings, teams generally do not focus on winning games; instead, they are used by coaches to evaluate their teams and by players to show their performance, both to their current team and to other teams if they get cut. The quality of preseason games has been criticized by some fans, who dislike having to pay full price for exhibition games, as well as by some players and coaches, who dislike the risk of injury the games have, while others have felt the preseason is a necessary part of the NFL season.
### Regular season
| POS | AFC East | AFC North | AFC South | AFC West |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Bills | Ravens | Texans | Chiefs |
| 2nd | Dolphins | Steelers | Colts | Chargers |
| 3rd | Jets | Bengals | Jaguars | Broncos |
| 4th | Patriots | Browns | Titans | Raiders |
| POS | NFC East | NFC North | NFC South | NFC West |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Eagles | Lions | Buccaneers | Rams |
| 2nd | Commanders | Vikings | Falcons | Seahawks |
| 3rd | Cowboys | Packers | Panthers | Cardinals |
| 4th | Giants | Bears | Saints | 49ers |
Currently, the 14 opponents each team faces over the 17-game regular season schedule are set using a predetermined formula: The league runs an 18-week, 272-game regular season. Since 2021, the season has begun the week after Labor Day (the first Monday in September) and concluded the week after New Year. The opening game of the season is normally a home game on a Thursday for the league's defending champion.
Most NFL games are played on Sundays, with a Monday night game typically held at least once a week and Thursday night games occurring on most weeks as well. NFL games are not normally played on Fridays or Saturdays until late in the regular season, as federal law prohibits professional football leagues from competing with college or high school football. Because high school and college teams typically play games on Friday and Saturday, respectively, the NFL cannot hold games on those days until the Friday before the third Saturday in December. While Saturday games late in the season are common, the league rarely holds Friday games, the most recent one being on Christmas Day in 2020. NFL games are rarely scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday, and those days have only been used three times since 1948: in 2010, when a Sunday game was rescheduled to Tuesday due to a blizzard; in 2012, when the Kickoff game was moved from Thursday to Wednesday to avoid conflict with the Democratic National Convention; and in 2020, when a game was postponed from Sunday to Tuesday due to players testing positive for COVID-19.
NFL regular season match-ups are determined according to a scheduling formula. Within a division, all four teams play 14 out of their 17 games against common opponents or each other– two games (home and away) are played against the other three teams in the division, while one game is held against all the members of a division from the NFC and a division from the AFC as determined by a rotating cycle (three years for the conference the team is in, and four years in the conference they are not in). Two of the other games are intraconference games, determined by the standings of the previous year – for example, if a team finishes first in its division, it will play two other first-place teams in its conference, while a team that finishes last would play two other last-place teams in the conference. The final game is an inter-conference based on a rotating cycle (four years) and determined by previous season's standings. In total, each team plays 17 games and has one bye week, where it does not play a game.
Although a team's home and away opponents are known by the end of the previous year's regular season, the exact dates and times for NFL games are not determined until much later because the league has to account for, among other things, the Major League Baseball postseason and local events that could pose a scheduling conflict with NFL games. During the 2010 season, over 500,000 potential schedules were created by computers, 5,000 of which were considered "playable schedules" and were reviewed by the NFL's scheduling team. After arriving at what they felt was the best schedule out of the group, nearly 50 more potential schedules were developed to try to ensure that the chosen schedule would be the best possible one.
### Postseason
Following the conclusion of the regular season, the NFL Playoffs, a 14-team single-elimination tournament, is then held. Seven teams are selected from each conference: the winners of each of the four divisions as well as three wild card teams (the three remaining teams with the best overall record, with tiebreakers in the event of two or more teams having the same record). These teams are seeded according to overall record and tiebreakers, with the division champions always ranking higher than the wild card teams. The top team (seeded one) from each conference are awarded a bye week, while the remaining six teams (seeded 2–7) from each conference compete in the first round of the playoffs, the Wild Card round, with the 2-seed competing against the 7-seed, the 3-seed competing against the 6-seed and the 4-seed competing against the 5-seed. The winners of the Wild Card round advance to the Divisional Round, which matches the lower seeded team against the 1-seed and the two remaining teams against each other. The winners of those games then compete in the Conference Championships, with the higher remaining seed hosting the lower remaining seed. The AFC and NFC champions then compete in the Super Bowl to determine the league champion.
The only other postseason event hosted by the NFL is the Pro Bowl, the league's all-star game. Since 2009, the Pro Bowl has been held the week before the Super Bowl; in previous years, the game was held the week following the Super Bowl, but in an effort to boost ratings, the game was moved to the week before. Because of this, players from the teams participating in the Super Bowl are exempt from participating in the game. The Pro Bowl is not considered as competitive as a regular-season game because the biggest concern of teams is to avoid injuries to the players.
## Trophies and awards
### Team trophies
The National Football League has used three different trophies to honor its champion over its existence. The first trophy, the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Cup, was donated to the NFL (then APFA) in 1920 by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Corporation. The trophy, the appearance of which is only known by its description as a "silver loving cup", was intended to be a traveling trophy and not to become permanent until a team had won at least three titles. The league awarded it to the Akron Pros, champions of the inaugural 1920 season; however, the trophy was discontinued and its current whereabouts are unknown.
A second trophy, the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy, was issued by the NFL from 1934 to 1967. The trophy's namesake, Ed Thorp, was a referee in the league and a friend to many early league owners; upon his death in 1934, the league created the trophy to honor him. In addition to the main trophy, which would be in the possession of the current league champion, the league issued a smaller replica trophy to each champion, who would maintain permanent control over it. The current location of the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy, long thought to be lost, is believed to be possessed by the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame.
The current trophy of the NFL is the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The Super Bowl trophy was officially renamed in 1970 after Vince Lombardi, who as head coach led the Green Bay Packers to victories in the first two Super Bowls. Unlike the previous trophies, a new Vince Lombardi Trophy is issued to each year's champion, who maintains permanent control of it. Lombardi Trophies are made by Tiffany & Co. out of sterling silver and are worth anywhere from US$25,000 to US$300,000. Additionally, each player on the winning team as well as coaches and personnel are awarded Super Bowl rings to commemorate their victory. The winning team chooses the company that makes the rings; each ring design varies, with the NFL mandating certain ring specifications (which have a degree of room for deviation), in addition to requiring the Super Bowl logo be on at least one side of the ring. The losing team are also awarded rings, which must be no more than half as valuable as the winners' rings, but those are almost never worn.
The conference champions receive trophies for their achievement. The champions of the NFC receive the George Halas Trophy, named after Chicago Bears founder George Halas, who is also considered one of the co-founders of the NFL. The AFC champions receive the Lamar Hunt Trophy, named after Lamar Hunt, the founder of the Kansas City Chiefs and the principal founder of the American Football League. Players on the winning team also receive a conference championship ring.
### Player and coach awards
The NFL recognizes a number of awards for its players and coaches at its annual NFL Honors presentation. The most prestigious award is the AP Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. Other major awards include the AP Offensive Player of the Year, AP Defensive Player of the Year, AP Comeback Player of the Year, and the AP Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year awards. Another prestigious award is the Walter Payton Man of the Year award, which recognizes a player's off-field work in addition to his on-field performance. The NFL Coach of the Year award is the highest coaching award. The NFL also gives out weekly awards such as the FedEx Air & Ground NFL Players of the Week and the Pepsi MAX NFL Rookie of the Week awards.
## Media coverage
In the United States, the National Football League is televised on eight networks across seven media partners: ESPN/ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Prime Video, Netflix, and NFL Network. The league offers its media rights in packages of games to prospective media partners. The packages can vary depending on conference, broadcast time slot, or both. CBS televises afternoon games from the AFC package, and Fox carries afternoon games from the NFC package. These afternoon games are not carried on all affiliates, as multiple games are being played at once; each network affiliate is assigned one game per time slot, according to a complicated set of rules. Since 2011, the league has reserved the right to give Sunday games that, under the contract, would normally air on one network to the other network (known as "flexible scheduling"). The only way to legally watch a regionally televised game not being carried on the local network affiliates is to purchase NFL Sunday Ticket, the league's out-of-market sports package, which is available through YouTube TV starting with the 2023 season. The league also provides NFL RedZone, an omnibus telecast that cuts to the most relevant plays in each game, live as they happen.
In addition to the regional games, the league also has packages of telecasts, mostly in prime time, that are carried nationwide. NBC broadcasts the primetime *Sunday Night Football* package, which includes the Thursday NFL Kickoff game that starts the regular season and a primetime Thanksgiving Day game. ESPN is the main broadcaster of the *Monday Night Football* package with ABC airing select games either exclusively or as a simulcast with ESPN. Amazon, through their Prime Video streaming service, is the exclusive carrier of the *Thursday Night Football* package. NFL Network, a U.S. pay cable channel owned by the league itself, broadcasts select games under the *NFL Network Exclusive Game Series* banner. Games under this banner usually consist of NFL International Series games and select Saturday games. In 2023, the NFL occupied the top three rates for a 30-second advertisement: $882,079 for *Sunday Night Football*, $562,524 for *Monday Night Football*, and $440,523 for *Thursday Night Football*.
The league, in recent years, has expanded their televised broadcasts to over-the-top streaming services. Since 2022, Amazon holds the exclusive rights to broadcast the *Thursday Night Football* package. Prior to then, Amazon streamed games from the same package as part of a tri-cast model that saw games aired on broadcast television (initially through CBS and NBC, then later with Fox), cable television (through NFL Network), and digital streaming (through Prime Video). Amazon has also streamed games for free on Twitch since 2018. CBS streams its AFC package games on Paramount+ as a simulcast with its CBS broadcasts. NBC streams *Sunday Night Football* and select exclusive games on Peacock. ESPN streams its games on ESPN+ in simulcast with the broadcasts on ESPN or ABC. ESPN also holds exclusive rights to stream one Sunday morning international game on ESPN+. Beginning in 2024, Netflix holds the global streaming rights for at least one Christmas Day game every season as part of a three-year deal.
The Super Bowl television rights are rotated on a four-year basis between CBS, Fox, NBC, and ESPN/ABC. The NFL's most recent contract negotiation for the media rights deal was announced on March 18, 2021, to take effect beginning in the 2023 season. The deal renewed previous rights agreements made by the NFL and each of its network partners to air their respective game packages, while awarding Amazon the *Thursday Night Football* package. ESPN/ABC is set to return to the Super Bowl broadcast rotation and will broadcast the Super Bowl on U.S. television in 2027, 21 years after airing its last Super Bowl, Super Bowl XL. Digital and streaming distribution was expanded to allow CBS, NBC, and ESPN/ABC to stream games on their respective over-the-top streaming services. For each of the packages the respective network partners currently hold, ESPN/ABC is paying US$2.7 billion a year; CBS, Fox, and NBC are each paying more than US$2 billion a year; and Amazon is paying US$1 billion a year. The current deal runs through the 2033 season.
The league also has deals with Spanish-language broadcasters NBC Universo, Fox Deportes, and ESPN Deportes, which air Spanish language dubs of their respective English-language sister networks' games. The league's contracts do not cover preseason games, which individual teams are free to sell to local stations directly; a minority of preseason games are distributed among the league's national television partners.
Through the 2014 season, the NFL had a blackout policy in which games were 'blacked out' on local television in the home team's area if the home stadium was not sold out. Clubs could elect to set this requirement at only 85%, but they would have to give more ticket revenue to the visiting team; teams could also request a specific exemption from the NFL for the game. The vast majority of NFL games were not blacked out; only 6% of games were blacked out during the 2011 season, and only two games were blacked out in 2013 and none in 2014. The NFL announced in March 2015 that it would suspend its blackout policy for at least the 2015 season. According to Nielsen, the NFL regular season since 2012 was watched by at least 200 million individuals, accounting for 80% of all television households in the United States and 69% of all potential viewers in the United States. NFL regular season games accounted for 31 out of the top 32 most-watched programs in the fall season and an NFL game ranked as the most-watched television show in all 17 weeks of the regular season. At the local level, NFL games were the highest-ranked shows in NFL markets 92% of the time. Super Bowls account for the 22 most-watched programs (based on total audience) in US history, including a record 167 million people that watched Super Bowl XLVIII, the conclusion to the 2013 season.
In addition to radio networks run by each NFL team, select NFL games are broadcast nationally by Westwood One (known as Dial Global for the 2012 season). These games are broadcast on over 500 networks, giving all NFL markets access to each primetime game. The NFL's deal with Westwood One was extended in 2012 and continued through 2017. Other NFL games are nationally distributed by Compass Media Networks and Sports USA Radio Network under contracts with individual teams.
Some broadcasting innovations have either been introduced or popularized during NFL telecasts. Among them, the Skycam camera system was used for the first time in a live telecast, at a 1984 preseason NFL game in San Diego between the Chargers and 49ers, and televised by CBS. Commentator John Madden famously used a telestrator during games between the early 1980s to the mid-2000s, boosting the device's popularity.
The NFL has licensing agreements with X, Reddit and Meta Platforms to serve as authorized social media outlets for the league and its teams. The New England Patriots' attempt to launch a Bluesky account was met with a cease and desist order from the NFL headquarters.
## Draft
Each April (excluding 2014 when it took place in May), the NFL holds a draft of college players. The draft consists of seven rounds, with each of the 32 clubs getting one pick in each round. The draft order for non-playoff teams is determined by regular-season record; among playoff teams, teams are first ranked by the furthest round of the playoffs they reached, and then are ranked by regular-season record. For example, any team that reached the divisional round will be given a higher pick than any team that reached the conference championships, but will be given a lower pick than any team that did not make the divisional round. The Super Bowl champion always drafts last, and the losing team from the Super Bowl always drafts next-to-last. All potential draftees must be at least three years removed from high school to be eligible for the draft. Underclassmen that have met that criterion to be eligible for the draft must write an application to the NFL by January 15 renouncing their remaining college eligibility. Clubs can trade away picks for future draft picks, but cannot trade the rights to players they have selected in previous drafts.
Aside from the seven picks each club gets, compensatory draft picks are given to teams that have lost more compensatory free agents than they have gained. These are spread out from rounds 3 to 7, and a total of 32 are given. Clubs are required to make their selection within a certain period, the exact time depending on which round the pick is made in. If they fail to do so on time, the clubs behind them can begin to select their players in order, but they do not lose the pick outright. This happened in the 2003 draft, when the Minnesota Vikings failed to make their selection on time. The Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers were able to make their picks before the Vikings were able to use theirs. Selected players are only allowed to negotiate contracts with the team that picked them, but if they choose not to sign they become eligible for the next year's draft. Under the current collective bargaining contract, all contracts to drafted players must be four-year deals with a club option for a fifth. Contracts themselves are limited to a certain amount of money, depending on the exact draft pick the player was selected with. Players who were draft eligible but not picked in the draft are free to sign with any club.
The NFL operates several other drafts in addition to the NFL draft. The league holds a supplemental draft annually. Clubs submit emails to the league stating the player they wish to select and the round they will do so, and the team with the highest bid wins the rights to that player. The exact order is determined by a lottery held before the draft, and a successful bid for a player will result in the team forfeiting the rights to its pick in the equivalent round of the next NFL draft. Players are only eligible for the supplemental draft after being granted a petition for special eligibility. The league holds expansion drafts, the most recent happening in 2002 when the Houston Texans began to play as an expansion team. Other drafts held by the league include an allocation draft in 1950 to allocate players from several teams that played in the dissolved All-America Football Conference and a supplemental draft in 1984 to give NFL teams the rights to players who had been eligible for the main draft but had not been drafted because they had signed contracts with the United States Football League or Canadian Football League.
Like the other major sports leagues in the United States, the NFL maintains protocol for a disaster draft. In the event of a 'near disaster' (less than 15 players killed or disabled) that caused the club to lose a quarterback, they could draft one from a team with at least three quarterbacks. In the event of a 'disaster' (15 or more players killed or disabled) that results in a club's season being canceled, a restocking draft would be held. Neither of these protocols has ever had to be implemented.
## Free agency
Free agents in the National Football League are divided into restricted free agents, who have three accrued seasons and whose current contract has expired, and unrestricted free agents, who have four or more accrued seasons and whose contract has expired. An accrued season is defined as "six or more regular-season games on a club's active/inactive, reserved/injured or reserve/physically unable to perform lists". Restricted free agents are allowed to negotiate with other clubs besides their former club, but the former club has the right to match any offer. If they choose not to, they are compensated with draft picks. Unrestricted free agents are free to sign with any club, and no compensation is owed if they sign with a different club.
Clubs are given one franchise tag to offer to any unrestricted free agent. The franchise tag is a one-year deal that pays the player 120% of his previous contract or no less than the average of the five highest-paid players at his position, whichever is greater. There are two types of franchise tags: exclusive tags, which do not allow the player to negotiate with other clubs, and non-exclusive tags, which allow the player to negotiate with other clubs but gives his former club the right to match any offer and two first-round draft picks if they decline to match it.
Clubs also have the option to use a transition tag, which is similar to the non-exclusive franchise tag but offers no compensation if the former club refuses to match the offer. Due to that stipulation, the transition tag is rarely used, even with the removal of the "poison pill" strategy (offering a contract with stipulations that the former club would be unable to match) that essentially ended the usage of the tag league-wide. Each club is subject to a salary cap, which is set at US$188.2 million for the 2019 season, US$11 million more than that of 2018.
Members of clubs' practice squads, despite being paid by and working for their respective clubs, are also simultaneously a kind of free agent and are able to sign to any other club's active roster (provided their new club is not their previous club's next opponent within a set number of days) without compensation to their previous club; practice squad players cannot be signed to other clubs' practice squads, however, unless released by their original club first.
## See also
- American football in the United States
- List of NFL champions (1920–1969)
- List of Super Bowl champions (1966–present)
- National Football League (1902)
- National Football League All-Decade Teams
- National Football League Cheerleading
- National Football League controversies
- National Football League franchise moves and mergers
- National Football League records
- National Football League 75th Anniversary All-Time Team
- National Football League 100th Anniversary All-Time Team
- NFL Europe
- NFL Films
- Timeline of the National Football League
- List of current NFL franchise owners
- List of Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
- List of NFL players with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)
- International Player Pathway Program (IPPP)
### Explanatory notes
### Citations
### Bibliography
## External links
- Official website
- Pro Football Reference – historical stats of teams, players and coaches in the NFL
- Jared Dubin (April 28, 2015), "NFL ends tax exempt status after 73 years: 3 things to know", CBS Sports
|
# Alcoholism - Wikipedia
| Alcoholism | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Alcohol addiction, alcohol dependence syndrome, alcohol use disorder (AUD) |
| A French temperance organisation poster depicting the effects of alcoholism in a family, c. 1915: "Ah! When will we be rid of alcohol?" | |
| Specialty | Psychiatry, clinical psychology, toxicology, addiction medicine |
| Symptoms | Drinking large amounts of alcohol over a long period, difficulty cutting down, acquiring and drinking alcohol taking up a lot of time, usage resulting in problems, withdrawal occurring when stopping |
| Complications | Mental illness, delirium, Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome, irregular heartbeat, cirrhosis of the liver, cancer, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, suicide |
| Duration | Long term |
| Causes | Environmental and genetic factors |
| Risk factors | Stress, anxiety, easy access |
| Diagnostic method | Questionnaires, blood tests |
| Treatment | Alcohol cessation typically with benzodiazepines, counselling, acamprosate, disulfiram, naltrexone Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and other Twelve Step Programs, AA/Twelve Step Facilitation (AA/TSF) |
| Frequency | 380 million / 5.1% adults (2016) |
| Deaths | 3.3 million / 5.9% |
**Alcoholism** is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated there were 283 million people with alcohol use disorders worldwide as of 2016[update]. The term *alcoholism* was first coined in 1852, but *alcoholism* and *alcoholic* are considered stigmatizing and likely to discourage seeking treatment, so diagnostic terms such as * alcohol use disorder* and
*alcohol dependence*are often used instead in a clinical context.
Alcohol is addictive, and heavy long-term alcohol use results in many negative health and social consequences. It can damage all the organ systems, but especially affects the brain, heart, liver, pancreas, and immune system. Heavy alcohol usage can result in trouble sleeping, and severe cognitive issues like dementia, brain damage, or Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome. Physical effects include irregular heartbeat, an impaired immune response, liver cirrhosis, increased cancer risk, and severe withdrawal symptoms if stopped suddenly.
These health effects can reduce life expectancy by 10 years. Drinking during pregnancy may harm the child's health, and drunk driving increases the risk of traffic accidents. Alcoholism is also associated with increases in violent and non-violent crime. While alcoholism directly resulted in 139,000 deaths worldwide in 2013, in 2012 3.3 million deaths may be attributable globally to alcohol.
The development of alcoholism is attributed to both environment and genetics equally. The use of alcohol to self-medicate stress or anxiety can turn into alcoholism. Someone with a parent or sibling with an alcohol use disorder is three to four times more likely to develop an alcohol use disorder themselves, but only a minority of them do. Environmental factors include social, cultural and behavioral influences. High stress levels and anxiety, as well as alcohol's inexpensive cost and easy accessibility, increase the risk. People may continue to drink partly to prevent or improve symptoms of withdrawal. After a person stops drinking alcohol, they may experience a low level of withdrawal lasting for months. Medically, alcoholism is considered both a physical and mental illness. Questionnaires are usually used to detect possible alcoholism. Further information is then collected to confirm the diagnosis.
Treatment of alcoholism may take several forms. Due to medical problems that can occur during withdrawal, alcohol cessation should be controlled carefully. One common method involves the use of benzodiazepine medications, such as diazepam. These can be taken while admitted to a health care institution or individually. The medications acamprosate or disulfiram may also be used to help prevent further drinking. Mental illness or other addictions may complicate treatment. Various individual or group therapy or support groups are used to attempt to keep a person from returning to alcoholism. Among them is the abstinence based mutual aid fellowship Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). A 2020 scientific review found that clinical interventions encouraging increased participation in AA (AA/twelve step facilitation (AA/TSF))—resulted in higher abstinence rates over other clinical interventions, and most studies in the review found that AA/TSF led to lower health costs.
Many terms, some slurs and some informal, have been used to refer to people affected by alcoholism such as *tippler*, *sot*, *drunk*, *drunkard*, *piss ant*, *dipsomaniac* and *souse*.
## Signs and symptoms
The risk of alcohol dependence begins at low levels of drinking and increases directly with both the volume of alcohol consumed and a pattern of drinking larger amounts on an occasion, to the point of intoxication, which is sometimes called *binge drinking*. Binge drinking is the most common pattern of alcoholism. It has different definitions and one of this defines it as a pattern of drinking when a male has five or more drinks on an occasion or a female has at least four drinks on an occasion.
### Long-term misuse
Alcoholism is characterized by an increased tolerance to alcohol – which means that an individual can consume more alcohol – and physical dependence on alcohol, which makes it hard for an individual to control their consumption. The physical dependency caused by alcohol can lead to an affected individual having a very strong urge to drink alcohol. These characteristics play a role in decreasing the ability to stop drinking of an individual with an alcohol use disorder. Alcoholism can have adverse effects on mental health, contributing to psychiatric disorders and increasing the risk of suicide. A depressed mood is a common symptom of heavy alcohol drinkers.
### Warning signs
Warning signs of alcoholism include the consumption of increasing amounts of alcohol and frequent intoxication, preoccupation with drinking to the exclusion of other activities, promises to quit drinking and failure to keep those promises, the inability to remember what was said or done while drinking (colloquially known as "blackouts"), personality changes associated with drinking, denial or the making of excuses for drinking, the refusal to admit excessive drinking, dysfunction or other problems at work or school, the loss of interest in personal appearance or hygiene, marital and economic problems, and the complaint of poor health, with loss of appetite, respiratory infections, or increased anxiety.
#### Physical
##### Short-term effects
Drinking enough to cause a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.03–0.12% typically causes an overall improvement in mood and possible euphoria (intense feelings of well-being and happiness), increased self-confidence and sociability, decreased anxiety, a flushed, red appearance in the face and impaired judgment and fine muscle coordination. A BAC of 0.09% to 0.25% causes lethargy, sedation, balance problems and blurred vision. A BAC of 0.18% to 0.30% causes profound confusion, impaired speech (e.g. slurred speech), staggering, dizziness and vomiting. A BAC from 0.25% to 0.40% causes stupor, unconsciousness, anterograde amnesia, vomiting (death may occur due to inhalation of vomit while unconscious) and respiratory depression (potentially life-threatening). A BAC from 0.35% to 0.80% causes a coma (unconsciousness), life-threatening respiratory depression and possibly fatal alcohol poisoning. With all alcoholic beverages, drinking while driving, operating an aircraft or heavy machinery increases the risk of an accident; many countries have penalties for drunk driving.
##### Long-term effects
Having more than one drink a day for women or two drinks for men increases the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, and stroke. Risk is greater with binge drinking, which may also result in violence or accidents. About 3.3 million deaths (5.9% of all deaths) are believed to be due to alcohol each year. Alcoholism reduces a person's life expectancy by around ten years and alcohol use is the third leading cause of early death in the United States. Long-term alcohol misuse can cause a number of physical symptoms, including cirrhosis of the liver, pancreatitis, epilepsy, polyneuropathy, alcoholic dementia, heart disease, nutritional deficiencies, peptic ulcers and sexual dysfunction, and can eventually be fatal. Other physical effects include an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, malabsorption, alcoholic liver disease, and several cancers such as breast cancer and head and neck cancer. Damage to the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system can occur from sustained alcohol consumption. A wide range of immunologic defects can result and there may be a generalized skeletal fragility, in addition to a recognized tendency to accidental injury, resulting in a propensity for bone fractures.
Women develop long-term complications of alcohol dependence more rapidly than do men; women also have a higher mortality rate from alcoholism than men. Examples of long-term complications include brain, heart, and liver damage and an increased risk of breast cancer. Additionally, heavy drinking over time has been found to have a negative effect on reproductive functioning in women. This results in reproductive dysfunction such as anovulation, decreased ovarian mass, problems or irregularity of the menstrual cycle, and early menopause. Alcoholic ketoacidosis can occur in individuals who chronically misuse alcohol and have a recent history of binge drinking. The amount of alcohol that can be biologically processed and its effects differ between sexes. Equal dosages of alcohol consumed by men and women generally result in women having higher blood alcohol concentrations (BACs), since women generally have a lower weight and higher percentage of body fat and therefore a lower volume of distribution for alcohol than men.
#### Psychiatric
Long-term misuse of alcohol can cause a wide range of mental health problems. Severe cognitive problems are common; approximately 10% of all dementia cases are related to alcohol consumption, making it the second leading cause of dementia. Excessive alcohol use causes damage to brain function, and psychological health can be increasingly affected over time. Social skills are significantly impaired in people with alcoholism due to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol on the brain, especially the prefrontal cortex area of the brain. The social skills that are impaired by alcohol use disorder include impairments in perceiving facial emotions, prosody, perception problems, and theory of mind deficits; the ability to understand humor is also impaired in people who misuse alcohol. Psychiatric disorders are common in people with alcohol use disorders, with as many as 25% also having severe psychiatric disturbances. The most prevalent psychiatric symptoms are anxiety and depression disorders. Psychiatric symptoms usually initially worsen during alcohol withdrawal, but typically improve or disappear with continued abstinence. Psychosis, confusion, and organic brain syndrome may be caused by alcohol misuse, which can lead to a misdiagnosis such as schizophrenia. Panic disorder can develop or worsen as a direct result of long-term alcohol misuse.
The co-occurrence of major depressive disorder and alcoholism is well documented. Among those with comorbid occurrences, a distinction is commonly made between depressive episodes that remit with alcohol abstinence ("substance-induced"), and depressive episodes that are primary and do not remit with abstinence ("independent" episodes). Additional use of other drugs may increase the risk of depression. Psychiatric disorders differ depending on gender. Women who have alcohol-use disorders often have a co-occurring psychiatric diagnosis such as major depression, anxiety, panic disorder, bulimia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or borderline personality disorder. Men with alcohol-use disorders more often have a co-occurring diagnosis of narcissistic or antisocial personality disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, impulse disorders or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Women with alcohol use disorder are more likely to experience physical or sexual assault, abuse, and domestic violence than women in the general population, which can lead to higher instances of psychiatric disorders and greater dependence on alcohol.
#### Social effects
Serious social problems arise from alcohol use disorder; these dilemmas are caused by the pathological changes in the brain and the intoxicating effects of alcohol. Alcohol misuse is associated with an increased risk of committing criminal offences, including child abuse, domestic violence, rape, burglary and assault. Alcoholism is associated with loss of employment, which can lead to financial problems. Drinking at inappropriate times and behavior caused by reduced judgment can lead to legal consequences, such as criminal charges for drunk driving or public disorder, or civil penalties for tortious behavior. An alcoholic's behavior and mental impairment while drunk can profoundly affect those surrounding him and lead to isolation from family and friends. This isolation can lead to marital conflict and divorce, or contribute to domestic violence. Alcoholism can also lead to child neglect, with subsequent lasting damage to the emotional development of children of people with alcohol use disorders. For this reason, children of people with alcohol use disorders can develop a number of emotional problems. For example, they can become afraid of their parents, because of their unstable mood behaviors. They may develop shame over their inadequacy to liberate their parents from alcoholism and, as a result of this, may develop self-image problems, which can lead to depression.
### Alcohol withdrawal
As with similar substances with a sedative-hypnotic mechanism, such as barbiturates and benzodiazepines, withdrawal from alcohol dependence can be fatal if it is not properly managed. Alcohol's primary effect is the increase in stimulation of the GABAA receptor, promoting central nervous system depression. With repeated heavy consumption of alcohol, these receptors are desensitized and reduced in number, resulting in tolerance and physical dependence. When alcohol consumption is stopped too abruptly, the person's nervous system experiences uncontrolled synapse firing. This can result in symptoms that include anxiety, Upset stomach or nausea, life-threatening seizures, delirium tremens, hallucinations, shakes and possible heart failure. Other neurotransmitter systems are also involved, especially dopamine, NMDA and glutamate.
Severe acute withdrawal symptoms such as delirium tremens and seizures rarely occur after 1-week post cessation of alcohol. The acute withdrawal phase can be defined as lasting between one and three weeks. In the period of 3–6 weeks following cessation, anxiety, depression, fatigue, and sleep disturbance are common. Similar post-acute withdrawal symptoms have also been observed in animal models of alcohol dependence and withdrawal.
A kindling effect also occurs in people with alcohol use disorders whereby each subsequent withdrawal syndrome is more severe than the previous withdrawal episode; this is due to neuroadaptations which occur as a result of periods of abstinence followed by re-exposure to alcohol. Individuals who have had multiple withdrawal episodes are more likely to develop seizures and experience more severe anxiety during withdrawal from alcohol than alcohol-dependent individuals without a history of past alcohol withdrawal episodes. The kindling effect leads to persistent functional changes in brain neural circuits as well as to gene expression. Kindling also results in the intensification of psychological symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. There are decision tools and questionnaires that help guide physicians in evaluating alcohol withdrawal. For example, the CIWA-Ar objectifies alcohol withdrawal symptoms in order to guide therapy decisions which allows for an efficient interview while at the same time retaining clinical usefulness, validity, and reliability, ensuring proper care for withdrawal patients, who can be in danger of death.
## Causes
A complex combination of genetic and environmental factors influences the risk of the development of alcoholism. Genes that influence the metabolism of alcohol also influence the risk of alcoholism, as can a family history of alcoholism. There is compelling evidence that alcohol use at an early age may influence the expression of genes which increase the risk of alcohol dependence. These genetic and epigenetic results are regarded as consistent with large longitudinal population studies finding that the younger the age of drinking onset, the greater the prevalence of lifetime alcohol dependence.
Severe childhood trauma is also associated with a general increase in the risk of drug dependency. Lack of peer and family support is associated with an increased risk of alcoholism developing. Genetics and adolescence are associated with an increased sensitivity to the neurotoxic effects of chronic alcohol misuse. Cortical degeneration due to the neurotoxic effects increases impulsive behaviour, which may contribute to the development, persistence and severity of alcohol use disorders. There is evidence that with abstinence, there is a reversal of at least some of the alcohol induced central nervous system damage. The use of cannabis was associated with later problems with alcohol use. Alcohol use was associated with an increased probability of later use of tobacco and illegal drugs such as cannabis.
### Availability
Alcohol is the most available, widely consumed, and widely misused recreational drug. Beer alone is the world's most widely consumed alcoholic beverage; it is the third-most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is thought by some to be the oldest fermented beverage.
### Gender difference
Based on combined data in the US from SAMHSA's 2004–2005 National Surveys on Drug Use & Health, the rate of past-year alcohol dependence or misuse among persons aged 12 or older varied by level of alcohol use: 44.7% of past month heavy drinkers, 18.5% binge drinkers, 3.8% past month non-binge drinkers, and 1.3% of those who did not drink alcohol in the past month met the criteria for alcohol dependence or misuse in the past year. Males had higher rates than females for all measures of drinking in the past month: any alcohol use (57.5% vs. 45%), binge drinking (30.8% vs. 15.1%), and heavy alcohol use (10.5% vs. 3.3%), and males were twice as likely as females to have met the criteria for alcohol dependence or misuse in the past year (10.5% vs. 5.1%). However, because females generally weigh less than males, have more fat and less water in their bodies, and metabolize less alcohol in their esophagus and stomach, they are likely to develop higher blood alcohol levels per drink. Women may also be more vulnerable to liver disease.
### Genetic variation
There are genetic variations that affect the risk for alcoholism. Some of these variations are more common in individuals with ancestry from certain areas; for example, Africa, East Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The variants with strongest effect are in genes that encode the main enzymes of alcohol metabolism, *ADH1B* and *ALDH2*. These genetic factors influence the rate at which alcohol and its initial metabolic product, acetaldehyde, are metabolized. They are found at different frequencies in people from different parts of the world. The alcohol dehydrogenase allele *ADH1B*2* causes a more rapid metabolism of alcohol to acetaldehyde, and reduces risk for alcoholism; it is most common in individuals from East Asia and the Middle East. The alcohol dehydrogenase allele *ADH1B*3* also causes a more rapid metabolism of alcohol. The allele ADH1B*3 is only found in some individuals of African descent and certain Native American tribes. African Americans and Native Americans with this allele have a reduced risk of developing alcoholism. Native Americans, however, have a significantly higher rate of alcoholism than average; risk factors such as cultural environmental effects (e.g. trauma) have been proposed to explain the higher rates. The aldehyde dehydrogenase allele *ALDH2*2* greatly reduces the rate at which acetaldehyde, the initial product of alcohol metabolism, is removed by conversion to acetate; it greatly reduces the risk for alcoholism.
A genome-wide association study (GWAS) of more than 100,000 human individuals identified variants of the gene *KLB*, which encodes the transmembrane protein β-Klotho, as highly associated with alcohol consumption. The protein β-Klotho is an essential element in cell surface receptors for hormones involved in modulation of appetites for simple sugars and alcohol. Several large GWAS have found differences in the genetics of alcohol consumption and alcohol dependence, although the two are to some degree related.
### DNA damage
Alcohol-induced DNA damage, when not properly repaired, may have a key role in the neurotoxicity induced by alcohol. Metabolic conversion of ethanol to acetaldehyde can occur in the brain and the neurotoxic effects of ethanol appear to be associated with acetaldehyde induced DNA damages including DNA adducts and crosslinks. In addition to acetaldehyde, alcohol metabolism produces potentially genotoxic reactive oxygen species, which have been demonstrated to cause oxidative DNA damage.
## Diagnosis
### Definition
Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word alcoholism, it is not a recognized diagnosis, and the use of the term alcoholism is discouraged due to its heavily stigmatized connotations. It is classified as alcohol use disorder in the DSM-5 or alcohol dependence in the ICD-11. In 1979, the World Health Organization discouraged the use of *alcoholism* due to its inexact meaning, preferring *alcohol dependence syndrome*.
Misuse, problem use, abuse, and heavy use of alcohol refer to improper use of alcohol, which may cause physical, social, or moral harm to the drinker. *The Dietary Guidelines for Americans*, issued by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 2005, defines "moderate use" as no more than two alcoholic beverages a day for men and no more than one alcoholic beverage a day for women. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) defines binge drinking as the amount of alcohol leading to a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.08, which, for most adults, would be reached by consuming five drinks for men or four for women over a two-hour period. According to the NIAAA, men may be at risk for alcohol-related problems if their alcohol consumption exceeds 14 standard drinks per week or 4 drinks per day, and women may be at risk if they have more than 7 standard drinks per week or 3 drinks per day. It defines a standard drink as one 12-ounce bottle of beer, one 5-ounce glass of wine, or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits. Despite this risk, a 2014 report in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that only 10% of either "heavy drinkers" or "binge drinkers" defined according to the above criteria also met the criteria for alcohol dependence, while only 1.3% of non-binge drinkers met the criteria. An inference drawn from this study is that evidence-based policy strategies and clinical preventive services may effectively reduce binge drinking without requiring addiction treatment in most cases.
#### Alcoholism
The term *alcoholism* is commonly used amongst laypeople, but the word is poorly defined. Despite the imprecision inherent in the term, there have been attempts to define how the word *alcoholism* should be interpreted when encountered. In 1992, it was defined by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) and ASAM as "a primary, chronic disease characterized by impaired control over drinking, preoccupation with the drug alcohol, use of alcohol despite adverse consequences, and distortions in thinking." MeSH has had an entry for *alcoholism* since 1999, and references the 1992 definition.
The WHO calls *alcoholism* "a term of long-standing use and variable meaning", and use of the term was disfavored by a 1979 WHO expert committee.
In professional and research contexts, the term *alcoholism* is not currently favored, but rather *alcohol abuse*, *alcohol dependence*, or *alcohol use disorder* are used. Talbot (1989) observes that alcoholism in the classical disease model follows a progressive course: if people continue to drink, their condition will worsen. This will lead to harmful consequences in their lives, physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially. Johnson (1980) proposed that the emotional progression of the addicted people's response to alcohol has four phases. The first two are considered "normal" drinking and the last two are viewed as "typical" alcoholic drinking. Johnson's four phases consist of:
- Learning the mood swing. People are introduced to alcohol (in some cultures this can happen at a relatively young age), and they enjoy the happy feeling it produces. At this stage, there is no emotional cost.
- Seeking the mood swing. People will drink to regain that happy feeling in phase 1; the drinking will increase as more alcohol is required to achieve the same effect. Again at this stage, there are no significant consequences.
- At the third stage there are physical and social consequences such as hangovers, family problems, and work problems. People will continue to drink excessively, disregarding the problems.
- The fourth stage can be detrimental with a risk for premature death. People in this phase now drink to feel normal and block out the feelings of overwhelming guilt, remorse, anxiety, and shame they experience when sober.
#### DSM and ICD
In the United States, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is the most common diagnostic guide for substance use disorders, whereas most countries use the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) for diagnostic (and other) purposes. The two manuals use similar but not identical nomenclature to classify alcohol problems.
| Manual | Nomenclature | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| DSM-IV | Alcohol abuse, or Alcohol dependence |
|
| DSM-5 | Alcohol use disorder | "A problematic pattern of alcohol use leading to clinically significant impairment or distress, as manifested by [two or more symptoms out of a total of 12], occurring within a 12-month period ...." |
| ICD-10 | Alcohol harmful use, or Alcohol dependence syndrome | Definitions are similar to that of the DSM-IV. The World Health Organization uses the term "alcohol dependence syndrome" rather than alcoholism. The concept of "harmful use" (as opposed to "abuse") was introduced in 1992's ICD-10 to minimize underreporting of damage in the absence of dependence. The term "alcoholism" was removed from ICD between ICD-8/ICDA-8 and ICD-9. |
| ICD-11 | Episode of harmful use of alcohol, Harmful pattern of use of alcohol, or Alcohol dependence |
|
### Social barriers
Attitudes and social stereotypes can create barriers to the detection and treatment of alcohol use disorder. This is more of a barrier for women than men.[ why?] Fear of stigmatization may lead women to deny that they have a medical condition, to hide their drinking, and to drink alone. This pattern, in turn, leads family, physicians, and others to be less likely to suspect that a woman they know has alcohol use disorder. In contrast, reduced fear of stigma may lead men to admit that they are having a medical condition, to display their drinking publicly, and to drink in groups. This pattern, in turn, leads family, physicians, and others to be more likely to suspect that a man they know is someone with an alcohol use disorder.
### Screening
Screening is recommended among those over the age of 18. Several tools may be used to detect a loss of control of alcohol use. These tools are mostly self-reports in questionnaire form. Another common theme is a score or tally that sums up the general severity of alcohol use.
The CAGE questionnaire, named for its four questions, is one such example that may be used to screen patients quickly in a doctor's office.
Two "yes" responses indicate that the respondent should be investigated further.
The questionnaire asks the following questions:
- Have you ever felt you needed to cut down on your drinking?
- Have people annoyed you by criticizing your drinking?
- Have you ever felt guilty about drinking?
- Have you ever felt you needed a drink first thing in the morning (eye-opener) to steady your nerves or to get rid of a hangover?
- The CAGE questionnaire has demonstrated a high effectiveness in detecting alcohol-related problems; however, it has limitations in people with less severe alcohol-related problems, white women and college students.
Other tests are sometimes used for the detection of alcohol dependence, such as the Alcohol Dependence Data Questionnaire, which is a more sensitive diagnostic test than the CAGE questionnaire. It helps distinguish a diagnosis of alcohol dependence from one of heavy alcohol use. The Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (MAST) is a screening tool for alcoholism widely used by courts to determine the appropriate sentencing for people convicted of alcohol-related offenses, driving under the influence being the most common. The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), a screening questionnaire developed by the World Health Organization, is unique in that it has been validated in six countries and is used internationally. Like the CAGE questionnaire, it uses a simple set of questions – a high score earning a deeper investigation. The Paddington Alcohol Test (PAT) was designed to screen for alcohol-related problems amongst those attending Accident and Emergency departments. It concords well with the AUDIT questionnaire but is administered in a fifth of the time.
### Urine and blood tests
There are biological markers for the use of alcohol, one common test being that of blood alcohol content (BAC). Monitoring levels of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) is sometimes used to assess continued alcohol intake. But levels of GGT are elevated in only half of men with alcohol use disorder, and it is less commonly elevated in women and younger people. GGT levels remain persistently elevated for many weeks with continued drinking, with a half life of 2–3 weeks, making the GGT level a useful assessment of continued and chronic alcohol use. However, elevated levels of GGT may also be seen in non-alcohol related liver diseases, diabetes, obesity or overweight, heart failure, hyperthyroidism and some medications. Phosphatidylethanol is a biomarker that is present in the red blood cells for several weeks after drinking, with its levels grossly corresponding to amount of alcohol consumed, and a detection limit as long as 5 weeks, making it a useful test to assess continued alcohol use.
Ethyl glucuronide may be measured to assess recent alcohol intake, with levels being detected in urine up to 48 hours after alcohol intake. However, it is a poor measure of the amount of alcohol consumed. Measurement of ethanol levels in the blood, urine and breath are also used to assess recent alcohol intake, often in the emergency setting.
Other laboratory markers of chronic alcohol misuse include:
- Macrocytosis (enlarged MCV)
- Moderate elevation of AST and ALT and an AST: ALT ratio of 2:1
- High carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT)
With regard to alcoholism, BAC is useful to judge alcohol tolerance, which in turn is a sign of alcoholism. Electrolyte and acid-base abnormalities including hypokalemia, hypomagnesemia, hyponatremia, hyperuricemia, metabolic acidosis, and respiratory alkalosis are common in people with alcohol use disorders.
However, none of these blood tests for biological markers are as sensitive as screening questionnaires.
## Prevention
The World Health Organization, the European Union and other regional bodies, national governments and parliaments have formed alcohol policies in order to reduce the harm of alcoholism.
Increasing the age at which alcohol can be purchased, and banning or restricting alcohol beverage advertising are common methods to reduce alcohol use among adolescents and young adults in particular, see Alcoholism in adolescence. Another common method of alcoholism prevention is taxation of alcohol products – increasing price of alcohol by 10% is linked with reduction of consumption of up to 10%.
Credible, evidence-based educational campaigns in the mass media about the consequences of alcohol misuse have been recommended. Guidelines for parents to prevent alcohol misuse amongst adolescents, and for helping young people with mental health problems have also been suggested.
Because alcohol is often used for self-medication of conditions like anxiety temporarily, prevention of alcoholism may be attempted by reducing the severity or prevalence of stress and anxiety in individuals.
## Management
Treatments are varied because there are multiple perspectives of alcoholism. Those who approach alcoholism as a medical condition or disease recommend differing treatments from, for instance, those who approach the condition as one of social choice. Most treatments focus on helping people discontinue their alcohol intake, followed up with life training and/or social support to help them resist a return to alcohol use. Since alcoholism involves multiple factors which encourage a person to continue drinking, they must all be addressed to successfully prevent a relapse. An example of this kind of treatment is detoxification followed by a combination of supportive therapy, attendance at self-help groups, and ongoing development of coping mechanisms. Much of the treatment community for alcoholism supports an abstinence-based zero tolerance approach popularized by the 12 step program of Alcoholics Anonymous; however, some prefer a harm-reduction approach.
### Cessation of alcohol intake
Medical treatment for alcohol detoxification usually involves administration of a benzodiazepine, in order to ameliorate alcohol withdrawal syndrome's adverse impact. The addition of phenobarbital improves outcomes if benzodiazepine administration lacks the usual efficacy, and phenobarbital alone might be an effective treatment. Propofol also might enhance treatment for individuals showing limited therapeutic response to a benzodiazepine. Individuals who are only at risk of mild to moderate withdrawal symptoms can be treated as outpatients. Individuals at risk of a severe withdrawal syndrome as well as those who have significant or acute comorbid conditions can be treated as inpatients. Direct treatment can be followed by a treatment program for alcohol dependence or alcohol use disorder to attempt to reduce the risk of relapse. Experiences following alcohol withdrawal, such as depressed mood and anxiety, can take weeks or months to abate while other symptoms persist longer due to persisting neuroadaptations.
### Psychological
Various forms of group therapy or psychotherapy are sometimes used to encourage and support abstinence from alcohol, or to reduce alcohol consumption to levels that are not associated with adverse outcomes. Mutual-aid group-counseling is an approach used to facilitate relapse prevention. Alcoholics Anonymous was one of the earliest organizations formed to provide mutual peer support and non-professional counseling, however the effectiveness of Alcoholics Anonymous is disputed. A 2020 Cochrane review concluded that Twelve-Step Facilitation (TSF) probably achieves outcomes such as fewer drinks per drinking day, however evidence for such a conclusion comes from low to moderate certainty evidence "so should be regarded with caution". Others include LifeRing Secular Recovery, SMART Recovery, Women for Sobriety, and Secular Organizations for Sobriety.
Manualized Twelve Step Facilitation (TSF) interventions (i.e. therapy which encourages active, long-term Alcoholics Anonymous participation) for Alcohol Use Disorder lead to higher abstinence rates, compared to other clinical interventions and to wait-list control groups.
### Moderate drinking
Moderate drinking amongst people with alcohol dependence—often termed 'controlled drinking'—has been subject to significant controversy. Indeed, much of the skepticism toward the viability of moderate drinking goals stems from historical ideas about 'alcoholism', now replaced with 'alcohol use disorder' or alcohol dependence in most scientific contexts. A 2021 meta-analysis and systematic review of controlled drinking covering 22 studies concluded controlled drinking was a 'non-inferior' outcome to abstinence for many drinkers.
Rationing and moderation programs such as Moderation Management and DrinkWise do not mandate complete abstinence. While most people with alcohol use disorders are unable to limit their drinking in this way, some return to moderate drinking. A 2002 US study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) showed that 17.7% of individuals diagnosed as alcohol dependent more than one year prior returned to low-risk drinking. This group, however, showed fewer initial symptoms of dependency.
A follow-up study, using the same subjects that were judged to be in remission in 2001–2002, examined the rates of return to problem drinking in 2004–2005. The study found abstinence from alcohol was the most stable form of remission for recovering alcoholics. There was also a 1973 study showing chronic alcoholics drinking moderately again, but a 1982 follow-up showed that 95% of subjects were not able to maintain drinking in moderation over the long term. Another study was a long-term (60 year) follow-up of two groups of alcoholic men which concluded that "return to controlled drinking rarely persisted for much more than a decade without relapse or evolution into abstinence." Internet based measures appear to be useful at least in the short term.
### Medications
In the United States there are four approved medications for alcoholism: acamprosate, two methods of using naltrexone and disulfiram.
- Acamprosate may stabilise the brain chemistry that is altered due to alcohol dependence via antagonising the actions of glutamate, a neurotransmitter which is hyperactive in the post-withdrawal phase. By reducing excessive NMDA activity which occurs at the onset of alcohol withdrawal, acamprosate can reduce or prevent alcohol withdrawal related neurotoxicity. Acamprosate reduces the risk of relapse amongst alcohol-dependent persons. Acamprosate is not recommended in those with advanced, decompensated liver cirrhosis due to the risk of liver toxicity.
- Naltrexone is a competitive antagonist for opioid receptors, effectively blocking the effects of endorphins and opioids. Naltrexone may be given as a daily oral tablet or as a monthly intramuscular injection. Naltrexone is used to decrease cravings for alcohol and encourage abstinence. Alcohol causes the body to release endorphins, which in turn release dopamine and activate the reward pathways; hence in the body Naltrexone reduces the pleasurable effects from consuming alcohol. Evidence supports a reduced risk of relapse among alcohol-dependent persons and a decrease in excessive drinking. Naltrexone should not be used in those with advanced liver disease due to the risk of liver toxicity. Nalmefene also appears effective and works in a similar manner.
- Disulfiram prevents the elimination of acetaldehyde by inhibiting the enzyme acetaldehyde dehydrogenase. Acetaldehyde is a chemical the body produces when breaking down ethanol. Acetaldehyde itself is the cause of many hangover symptoms from alcohol use. The overall effect is acute discomfort when alcohol is ingested characterized by flushing, nausea, a rapid heart rate and low blood pressure. Disulfiram should not be used in those with advanced liver disease due to the risk of life-threatening liver toxicity.
Several other drugs are also used and many are under investigation.
- Benzodiazepines are a first line medication in the management of acute alcohol withdrawal, however their use outside of the acute withdrawal period is not recommended. Benzodiazepines with a shorter half life, such as lorazepam or oxazepam are preferred in the treatment of alcohol withdrawal as their shorter half lives and less active metabolites have a lower risk of confusion in those with liver disease. If used long-term, they can cause a worse outcome in alcoholism. Alcoholics on chronic benzodiazepines have a lower rate of achieving abstinence from alcohol than those not taking benzodiazepines. Initiating prescriptions of benzodiazepines or sedative-hypnotics in individuals in recovery has a high rate of relapse with one author reporting more than a quarter of people relapsed after being prescribed sedative-hypnotics. Those who are long-term users of benzodiazepines should not be withdrawn rapidly, as severe anxiety and panic may develop, which are known risk factors for alcohol use disorder relapse. Taper regimes of 6–12 months have been found to be the most successful, with reduced intensity of withdrawal.
- Calcium carbimide works in the same way as disulfiram; it has an advantage in that the occasional adverse effects of disulfiram, hepatotoxicity and drowsiness, do not occur with calcium carbimide.
- Ondansetron and topiramate are supported by tentative evidence in people with certain genetic patterns. Evidence for ondansetron is stronger in people who have recently started to abuse alcohol. Topiramate is a derivative of the naturally occurring sugar monosaccharide D-fructose. Review articles characterize topiramate as showing "encouraging", "promising", "efficacious", and "insufficient" results in the treatment of alcohol use disorders.
Evidence does not support the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), antipsychotics, or gabapentin.
## Research
Topiramate, a derivative of the naturally occurring sugar monosaccharide D-fructose, has been found effective in helping alcoholics quit or cut back on the amount they drink. Evidence suggests that topiramate antagonizes excitatory glutamate receptors, inhibits dopamine release, and enhances inhibitory gamma-aminobutyric acid function. A 2008 review of the effectiveness of topiramate concluded that the results of published trials are promising, however as of 2008, data was insufficient to support using topiramate in conjunction with brief weekly compliance counseling as a first-line agent for alcohol dependence. A 2010 review found that topiramate may be superior to existing alcohol pharmacotherapeutic options. Topiramate effectively reduces craving and alcohol withdrawal severity as well as improving quality-of-life-ratings.
Baclofen, a GABAB receptor agonist, is under study for the treatment of alcoholism. According to a 2017 Cochrane Systematic Review, there is insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness or safety for the use of baclofen for withdrawal symptoms in alcoholism. Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy is under study for the treatment of patients with alcohol use disorder.
### Dual addictions and dependencies
Alcoholics may also require treatment for other psychotropic drug addictions and drug dependencies. The most common dual dependence syndrome with alcohol dependence is benzodiazepine dependence, with studies showing 10–20% of alcohol-dependent individuals had problems of dependence and/or misuse problems of benzodiazepine drugs such as diazepam or clonazepam. These drugs are, like alcohol, depressants. Benzodiazepines may be used legally, if they are prescribed by doctors for anxiety problems or other mood disorders, or they may be purchased as illegal drugs. Benzodiazepine use increases cravings for alcohol and the volume of alcohol consumed by problem drinkers.
Benzodiazepine dependency requires careful reduction in dosage to avoid benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome and other health consequences. Dependence on other sedative-hypnotics such as zolpidem and zopiclone as well as opiates and illegal drugs is common in alcoholics. Alcohol itself is a sedative-hypnotic and is cross-tolerant with other sedative-hypnotics such as barbiturates, benzodiazepines and nonbenzodiazepines. Dependence upon and withdrawal from sedative-hypnotics can be medically severe and, as with alcohol withdrawal, there is a risk of psychosis or seizures if not properly managed.
## Epidemiology
The World Health Organization estimates that as of 2016[update] there are about 380 million people with alcoholism worldwide (5.1% of the population over 15 years of age), with it being most common among males and young adults. Geographically, it is least common in Africa (1.1% of the population) and has the highest rates in Eastern Europe (11%).
As of 2015[update] in the United States, about 17 million (7%) of adults and 0.7 million (2.8%) of those age 12 to 17 years of age are affected. About 12% of American adults have had an alcohol dependence problem at some time in their life.
In the United States and Western Europe, 10–20% of men and 5–10% of women at some point in their lives will meet criteria for alcoholism. In England, the number of "dependent drinkers" was calculated as over 600,000 in 2019. Estonia had the highest death rate from alcohol in Europe in 2015 at 8.8 per 100,000 population. In the United States, 30% of people admitted to hospital have a problem related to alcohol.
Within the medical and scientific communities, there is a broad consensus regarding alcoholism as a disease state. For example, the American Medical Association considers alcohol a drug and states that "drug addiction is a chronic, relapsing brain disease characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use despite often devastating consequences. It results from a complex interplay of biological vulnerability, environmental exposure, and developmental factors (e.g., stage of brain maturity)." Alcoholism has a higher prevalence among men, though, in recent decades, the proportion of female alcoholics has increased. Current evidence indicates that in both men and women, alcoholism is 50–60% genetically determined, leaving 40–50% for environmental influences. Most alcoholics develop alcoholism during adolescence or young adulthood.
## Prognosis
Alcoholism often reduces a person's life expectancy by around ten years. The most common cause of death in alcoholics is from cardiovascular complications. There is a high rate of suicide in chronic alcoholics, which increases the longer a person drinks. Approximately 3–15% of alcoholics die by suicide, and research has found that over 50% of all suicides are associated with alcohol or drug dependence. This is believed to be due to alcohol causing physiological distortion of brain chemistry, as well as social isolation. Suicide is also common in adolescent alcohol abusers. Research in 2000 found that 25% of suicides in adolescents were related to alcohol abuse.
Among those with alcohol dependence after one year, some met the criteria for low-risk drinking, even though only 26% of the group received any treatment, with the breakdown as follows: 25% were found to be still dependent, 27% were in partial remission (some symptoms persist), 12% asymptomatic drinkers (consumption increases chances of relapse) and 36% were fully recovered – made up of 18% low-risk drinkers plus 18% abstainers. In contrast, however, the results of a long-term (60-year) follow-up of two groups of alcoholic men indicated that "return to controlled drinking rarely persisted for much more than a decade without relapse or evolution into abstinence....return-to-controlled drinking, as reported in short-term studies, is often a mirage."
## History
Historically the name *dipsomania* was coined by German physician C. W. Hufeland in 1819 before it was superseded by *alcoholism*. That term now has a more specific meaning. The term *alcoholism* was first used by Swedish physician Magnus Huss in an 1852 publication to describe the systemic adverse effects of alcohol.
Alcohol has a long history of use and misuse throughout recorded history. Biblical, Egyptian and Babylonian sources record the history of abuse and dependence on alcohol. In some ancient cultures alcohol was worshiped and in others, its misuse was condemned. Excessive alcohol misuse and drunkenness were recognized as causing social problems even thousands of years ago. However, the defining of habitual drunkenness as it was then known as and its adverse consequences were not well established medically until the 18th century. In 1647 a Greek monk named Agapios was the first to document that chronic alcohol misuse was associated with toxicity to the nervous system and body which resulted in a range of medical disorders such as seizures, paralysis, and internal bleeding. In the 1910s and 1920s, the effects of alcohol misuse and chronic drunkenness boosted membership of the temperance movement and led to the prohibition of alcohol in many countries in North America and the Nordic countries, nationwide bans on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages that generally remained in place until the late 1920s or early 1930s; these policies resulted in the decline of death rates from cirrhosis and alcoholism. In 2005, alcohol dependence and misuse was estimated to cost the US economy approximately 220 billion dollars per year, more than cancer and obesity.
## Evolution
### Overview
Alcoholism is an incredibly complex and difficult problem to understand and solve in our society. The evolutionary perspective is often overlooked but is a key perspective in understanding this disease. The evolution of alcoholism is thought to originate at the consumption of fermented fruits. Those that are able to find and successfully consume ripe fruit had an advantage because of the additional source of nutrients. This led to an association of ethanol (found in fermenting fruits) with energy. Ethanol is produced inside of ripening fruits which contain significant amounts of nutrients and high caloric value. Natural selection favoring primates attracted to alcohol, even if the benefits were not direct, is one hypothesis for why some people are more susceptible to alcoholism than others. This is an example of Darwinian medicine, and is part of the explanation for why some people may be more susceptible, the whole story about who is more susceptible to alcoholism also includes, genetics, environment, family background, and other stressors, all of which are important and tend to be studied more than the evolutionary aspect. Alcoholism is a disease of nutritional excess, similar to obesity. Early human consumption of ethanol was a byproduct as well as a source of nutrients, but in an industrial society where there is an excess amount of alcohol, this consumption can become a problem.
### Fermented Fruit Consumption
Early humans regularly ingested ethanol which was made from yeast-based fermentation of naturally occurring fruit sugars. The sugars found in fruit are an incentive for dispersers to consume and then eventually disperse seeds; the fruit pulp also serves as the base for ethanol production. The development of ethanol in fruits occurs during the ripening process which leaves fruits more available for consumption by dispersers. Unripe fruits contain seeds that have not matured, and if those seeds were to be eaten and dispersed it would be maladaptive. Unripe fruits are also less available to microbes to consume. The ripening of fruit can be seen as a race between dispersers and microbes.Ethanol inhibits the growth of microbes but it also typically makes fruit inedible to vertebrates as well. So, when an organism is able to consume alcohol, those fruits are available to them and not others. There is also an additional advantage to ethanol consumption which is the high caloric value of ethanol. The caloric value of ethanol is 7.1 kcal/g which is nearly twice that of carbohydrates which is 4.1 kcal/g.
### Ancestral Ethanol Consumption
Humans originate from a primarily frugivorous (fruit eater) lineage of primates. A large part of primate evolution occurred in warm equatorial climates where fruit fermentation occurred quickly and regularly. The ancestors of human and nonhuman primates were routinely exposed to low levels of ethanol through their fruit eating. This led to corresponding adaptation and preference for ethanol that has been preserved in modern humans.
### Hormetic Effect
The Hormetic effect or Hormesis is another aspect of the ancestral relationship humans have with alcohol. The Homertic effect is the idea that low concentrations to stressors, in this case ethanol, can be beneficial, but higher concentrations are stressful and cause harm. The evolutionary explanation for hormesis is based on the assumption that natural selection maximises relative fitness. This is an explanation for why organisms developed the metabolic machinery to consume ethanol in order to maximise its benefits. The Homertic effect in relation to alcohol consumption has not been studied thoroughly in humans but has in the fruit fly genus, *Drosophila.* The longevity of *Drosophila* is enhanced at very low concentrations of ethanol but is decreased at higher concentrations. Additionally, the ability to produce an abundant amount of offspring increases in the low concentration presence of ethanol. Other organisms whose diet consists of fermenting fruit share these same characteristics and this may also include humans, seeing as we do have the ability and metabolic equipment to have hormetic advantages from ethanol at low concentrations.
### Humans Frugivory
Humans have a far reaching frugivorous dietary heritage. Frugivorous adaptations among primates is thought to have started at least 40 million years ago, though likely earlier. Our closest relatives, the chimpanzees, have a predominantly frugivorous diet which supports the idea of our common ancestor’s frugivorous dietary heritage. Additionally, gibbons and orangutans are almost exclusively frugivory, while gorillas which are partially frugivory. Because of this shared evolutionary history, nonhuman primates have been used as models to understand alcoholism. Researchers have used macaques to test whether natural selection supports genes for traits that lead to excessive alcohol consumption because these same traits may enhance fitness in other contexts. Because of our close lineages, this may be true as well for humans.
### Modern Alcoholism
In our prehistoric ancestry, there were advantages to our consumption of ethanol in fermenting fruits. But as the world changed and our living conditions turned to resemble our current modern industrial society, our access to ethanol changed as well. Similar to sugars and fats, ethanol was only found in very low concentrations and because of its tie to fruit sugars, our consumption of it was necessary. So, just like we crave sugar and fat because prehistorically they are only minimally obtainable and necessary for bodily functions, ethanol can also be craved and be over consumed. In our society sugar, fats and ethanol are readily available and in combination with our craving for it, both obesity and alcoholism can be considered diseases of nutritional excess.
## Society and culture
The various health problems associated with long-term alcohol consumption are generally perceived as detrimental to society; for example, money due to lost labor-hours, medical costs due to injuries due to drunkenness and organ damage from long-term use, and secondary treatment costs, such as the costs of rehabilitation facilities and detoxification centers. Alcohol use is a major contributing factor for head injuries, motor vehicle injuries (27%), interpersonal violence (18%), suicides (18%), and epilepsy (13%). Beyond the financial costs that alcohol consumption imposes, there are also significant social costs to both the alcoholic and their family and friends. For instance, alcohol consumption by a pregnant woman can lead to an incurable and damaging condition known as fetal alcohol syndrome, which often results in cognitive deficits, mental health problems, an inability to live independently and an increased risk of criminal behaviour, all of which can cause emotional stress for parents and caregivers.
Estimates of the economic costs of alcohol misuse, collected by the World Health Organization, vary from 1–6% of a country's GDP. One Australian estimate pegged alcohol's social costs at 24% of all drug misuse costs; a similar Canadian study concluded alcohol's share was 41%. One study quantified the cost to the UK of *all* forms of alcohol misuse in 2001 as £18.5–20 billion. All economic costs in the United States in 2006 have been estimated at $223.5 billion.
**hitting rock bottom** refers to an experience of stress that can be attributed to alcohol misuse. There is no single definition for this idea, and people may identify their own lowest points in terms of lost jobs, lost relationships, health problems, legal problems, or other consequences of alcohol misuse. The concept is promoted by 12-step recovery groups and researchers using the transtheoretical model of motivation for behavior change. The first use of this slang phrase in the formal medical literature appeared in a 1965 review in the *British Medical Journal*, which said that some men refused treatment until they "hit rock bottom", but that treatment was generally more successful for "the alcohol addict who has friends and family to support him" than for impoverished and homeless addicts.
Stereotypes of alcoholics are often found in fiction and popular culture. The "town drunk" is a stock character in Western popular culture. Stereotypes of drunkenness may be based on racism or xenophobia, as in the fictional depiction of the Irish as heavy drinkers. Studies by social psychologists Stivers and Greeley attempt to document the perceived prevalence of high alcohol consumption amongst the Irish in America. Alcohol consumption is relatively similar between many European cultures, the United States, and Australia. In Asian countries that have a high gross domestic product, there is heightened drinking compared to other Asian countries, but it is nowhere near as high as it is in other countries like the United States. It is also inversely seen, with countries that have very low gross domestic product showing high alcohol consumption. In a study done on Korean immigrants in Canada, they reported alcohol was typically an integral part of their meal but is the only time solo drinking should occur. They also generally believe alcohol is necessary at any social event, as it helps conversations start.
Peyote, a psychoactive agent, has even shown promise in treating alcoholism. Alcohol had actually replaced peyote as Native Americans' psychoactive agent of choice in rituals when peyote was outlawed.
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# Myocardial infarction - Wikipedia
A **myocardial infarction** (**MI**), commonly known as a **heart attack**, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is retrosternal chest pain or discomfort that classically radiates to the left shoulder, arm, or jaw. The pain may occasionally feel like heartburn. This is the dangerous type of acute coronary syndrome.
Other symptoms may include shortness of breath, nausea, feeling faint, a cold sweat, feeling tired, and decreased level of consciousness. About 30% of people have atypical symptoms. Women more often present without chest pain and instead have neck pain, arm pain or feel tired. Among those over 75 years old, about 5% have had an MI with little or no history of symptoms. An MI may cause heart failure, an irregular heartbeat, cardiogenic shock or cardiac arrest.
Most MIs occur due to coronary artery disease. Risk factors include high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, lack of exercise, obesity, high blood cholesterol, poor diet, and excessive alcohol intake. The complete blockage of a coronary artery caused by a rupture of an atherosclerotic plaque is usually the underlying mechanism of an MI. MIs are less commonly caused by coronary artery spasms, which may be due to cocaine, significant emotional stress (often known as Takotsubo syndrome or *broken heart syndrome*) and extreme cold, among others. Many tests are helpful with diagnosis, including electrocardiograms (ECGs), blood tests and coronary angiography. An ECG, which is a recording of the heart's electrical activity, may confirm an **ST elevation MI** (STEMI), if ST elevation is present. Commonly used blood tests include troponin and less often creatine kinase MB.
Treatment of an MI is time-critical. Aspirin is an appropriate immediate treatment for a suspected MI. Nitroglycerin or opioids may be used to help with chest pain; however, they do not improve overall outcomes. Supplemental oxygen is recommended in those with low oxygen levels or shortness of breath. In a STEMI, treatments attempt to restore blood flow to the heart and include percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), where the arteries are pushed open and may be stented, or thrombolysis, where the blockage is removed using medications. People who have a **non-ST elevation myocardial infarction** (NSTEMI) are often managed with the blood thinner heparin, with the additional use of PCI in those at high risk. In people with blockages of multiple coronary arteries and diabetes, coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) may be recommended rather than angioplasty. After an MI, lifestyle modifications, along with long-term treatment with aspirin, beta blockers and statins, are typically recommended.
Worldwide, about 15.9 million myocardial infarctions occurred in 2015. More than 3 million people had an ST elevation MI, and more than 4 million had an NSTEMI. STEMIs occur about twice as often in men as women. About one million people have an MI each year in the United States. In the developed world, the risk of death in those who have had a STEMI is about 10%. Rates of MI for a given age have decreased globally between 1990 and 2010. In 2011, an MI was one of the top five most expensive conditions during inpatient hospitalizations in the US, with a cost of about $11.5 billion for 612,000 hospital stays.
## Terminology
Myocardial infarction (MI) refers to tissue death (infarction) of the heart muscle (myocardium) caused by ischemia, the lack of oxygen delivery to myocardial tissue. It is a type of acute coronary syndrome, which describes a sudden or short-term change in symptoms related to blood flow to the heart. Unlike the other type of acute coronary syndrome, unstable angina, a myocardial infarction occurs when there is cell death, which can be estimated by measuring by a blood test for biomarkers (the cardiac protein troponin). When there is evidence of an MI, it may be classified as an ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) or Non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) based on the results of an ECG.
The phrase "heart attack" is often used non-specifically to refer to myocardial infarction. An MI is different from—but can cause—cardiac arrest, where the heart is not contracting at all or so poorly that all vital organs cease to function, thus leading to death. It is also distinct from heart failure, in which the pumping action of the heart is impaired. However, an MI may lead to heart failure.
## Signs and symptoms
Chest pain that may or may not radiate to other parts of the body is the most typical and significant symptom of myocardial infarction. It might be accompanied by other symptoms such as sweating.
### Pain
Chest pain is one of the most common symptoms of acute myocardial infarction and is often described as a sensation of tightness, pressure, or squeezing. Pain radiates most often to the left arm, but may also radiate to the lower jaw, neck, right arm, back, and upper abdomen. The pain most suggestive of an acute MI, with the highest likelihood ratio, is pain radiating to the right arm and shoulder. Similarly, chest pain similar to a previous heart attack is also suggestive. The pain associated with MI is usually diffuse, does not change with position, and lasts for more than 20 minutes. It might be described as pressure, tightness, knifelike, tearing, burning sensation (all these are also manifested during other diseases). It could be felt as an unexplained anxiety, and pain might be absent altogether. Levine's sign, in which a person localizes the chest pain by clenching one or both fists over their sternum, has classically been thought to be predictive of cardiac chest pain, although a prospective observational study showed it had a poor positive predictive value.
Typically, chest pain because of ischemia, be it unstable angina or myocardial infarction, lessens with the use of nitroglycerin, but nitroglycerin may also relieve chest pain arising from non-cardiac causes.
### Other
Chest pain may be accompanied by sweating, nausea or vomiting, and fainting, and these symptoms may also occur without any pain at all. Dizziness or lightheadedness is common and occurs due to reduction in oxygen and blood to the brain. In females, the most common symptoms of myocardial infarction include shortness of breath, weakness, and fatigue. Females are more likely to have unusual or unexplained tiredness and nausea or vomiting as symptoms. Females having heart attacks are more likely to have palpitations, back pain, labored breath, vomiting, and left arm pain than males, although the studies showing these differences had high variability. Females are less likely to report chest pain during a heart attack and more likely to report nausea, jaw pain, neck pain, cough, and fatigue, although these findings are inconsistent across studies. Females with heart attacks also had more indigestion, dizziness, loss of appetite, and loss of consciousness. Shortness of breath is a common, and sometimes the only symptom, occurring when damage to the heart limits the output of the left ventricle, with breathlessness arising either from low oxygen in the blood or pulmonary edema.
Other less common symptoms include weakness, light-headedness, palpitations, and abnormalities in heart rate or blood pressure. These symptoms are likely induced by a massive surge of catecholamines from the sympathetic nervous system, which occurs in response to pain and, where present, low blood pressure. Loss of consciousness can occur in myocardial infarctions due to inadequate blood flow to the brain and cardiogenic shock, and sudden death, frequently due to the development of ventricular fibrillation. When the brain was without oxygen for too long due to a myocardial infarction, coma and persistent vegetative state can occur. Cardiac arrest, and atypical symptoms such as palpitations, occur more frequently in females, the elderly, those with diabetes, in people who have just had surgery, and in critically ill patients.
### Absence
"Silent" myocardial infarctions can happen without any symptoms at all. These cases can be discovered later on electrocardiograms, using blood enzyme tests, or at autopsy after a person has died. Such silent myocardial infarctions represent between 22 and 64% of all infarctions, and are more common in the elderly, in those with diabetes mellitus and after heart transplantation. In people with diabetes, differences in pain threshold, autonomic neuropathy, and psychological factors have been cited as possible explanations for the lack of symptoms. In heart transplantation, the donor heart is not fully innervated by the nervous system of the recipient.
## Risk factors
The most prominent risk factors for myocardial infarction are older age, actively smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, and total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein levels. Many risk factors of myocardial infarction are shared with coronary artery disease, the primary cause of myocardial infarction, with other risk factors including male sex, low levels of physical activity, a past family history, obesity, and alcohol use. Risk factors for myocardial disease are often included in risk factor stratification scores, such as the Framingham Risk Score. At any given age, men are more at risk than women for the development of cardiovascular disease. High levels of blood cholesterol is a known risk factor, particularly high low-density lipoprotein, low high-density lipoprotein, and high triglycerides.
Many risk factors for myocardial infarction are potentially modifiable, with the most important being tobacco smoking (including secondhand smoke). Smoking appears to be the cause of about 36% and obesity the cause of 20% of coronary artery disease. Lack of physical activity has been linked to 7–12% of cases. Less common causes include stress-related causes such as job stress, which accounts for about 3% of cases, and chronic high stress levels.
### Diet
There is varying evidence about the importance of saturated fat in the development of myocardial infarctions. Eating polyunsaturated fat instead of saturated fats has been shown in studies to be associated with a decreased risk of myocardial infarction, while other studies find little evidence that reducing dietary saturated fat or increasing polyunsaturated fat intake affects heart attack risk. Dietary cholesterol does not appear to have a significant effect on blood cholesterol and thus recommendations about its consumption may not be needed. Trans fats do appear to increase risk. Acute and prolonged intake of high quantities of alcoholic drinks (3–4 or more daily) increases the risk of a heart attack.
### Genetics
Family history of ischemic heart disease or MI, particularly if one has a male first-degree relative (father, brother) who had a myocardial infarction before age 55 years, or a female first-degree relative (mother, sister) less than age 65 increases a person's risk of MI.
Genome-wide association studies have found 27 genetic variants that are associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction. The strongest association of MI has been found with chromosome 9 on the short arm *p* at locus 21, which contains genes CDKN2A and 2B, although the single nucleotide polymorphisms that are implicated are within a non-coding region. The majority of these variants are in regions that have not been previously implicated in coronary artery disease. The following genes have an association with MI: PCSK9, SORT1, MIA3, WDR12, MRAS, PHACTR1, LPA, TCF21, MTHFDSL, ZC3HC1, CDKN2A, 2B, ABO, PDGF0, APOA5, MNF1ASM283, COL4A1, HHIPC1, SMAD3, ADAMTS7, RAS1, SMG6, SNF8, LDLR, SLC5A3, MRPS6, KCNE2.
### Other
The risk of having a myocardial infarction increases with older age, low physical activity, and low socioeconomic status. Heart attacks appear to occur more commonly in the morning hours, especially between 6AM and noon. Evidence suggests that heart attacks are at least three times more likely to occur in the morning than in the late evening. Shift work is also associated with a higher risk of MI. One analysis has found an increase in heart attacks immediately following the start of daylight saving time.
Women who use combined oral contraceptive pills have a modestly increased risk of myocardial infarction, especially in the presence of other risk factors. The use of non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), even for as short as a week, increases risk.
Endometriosis in women under the age of 40 is an identified risk factor.
Air pollution is also an important modifiable risk. Short-term exposure to air pollution such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide (but not ozone) has been associated with MI and other acute cardiovascular events. For sudden cardiac deaths, every increment of 30 units in Pollutant Standards Index correlated with an 8% increased risk of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest on the day of exposure. Extremes of temperature are also associated.
A number of acute and chronic infections including *Chlamydophila pneumoniae*, influenza, *Helicobacter pylori*, and *Porphyromonas gingivalis* among others have been linked to atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction. Myocardial infarction can also occur as a late consequence of Kawasaki disease.
Calcium deposits in the coronary arteries can be detected with CT scans. Calcium seen in coronary arteries can provide predictive information beyond that of classical risk factors. High blood levels of the amino acid homocysteine is associated with premature atherosclerosis; whether elevated homocysteine in the normal range is causal is controversial.
In people without evident coronary artery disease, possible causes for the myocardial infarction are coronary spasm or coronary artery dissection.
## Mechanism
### Atherosclerosis
The most common cause of a myocardial infarction is the rupture of an atherosclerotic plaque on an artery supplying heart muscle. Plaques can become unstable, rupture, and additionally promote the formation of a blood clot that blocks the artery; this can occur in minutes. Blockage of an artery can lead to tissue death in tissue being supplied by that artery. Atherosclerotic plaques are often present for decades before they result in symptoms.
The gradual buildup of cholesterol and fibrous tissue in plaques in the wall of the coronary arteries or other arteries, typically over decades, is termed atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is characterized by progressive inflammation of the walls of the arteries. Inflammatory cells, particularly macrophages, move into affected arterial walls. Over time, they become laden with cholesterol products, particularly LDL, and become foam cells. A cholesterol core forms as foam cells die. In response to growth factors secreted by macrophages, smooth muscle and other cells move into the plaque and act to stabilize it. A stable plaque may have a thick fibrous cap with calcification. If there is ongoing inflammation, the cap may be thin or ulcerate. Exposed to the pressure associated with blood flow, plaques, especially those with a thin lining, may rupture and trigger the formation of a blood clot (thrombus). The cholesterol crystals have been associated with plaque rupture through mechanical injury and inflammation.
Atherosclerotic disease is not the only cause of myocardial infarction, but it may exacerbate or contribute to other causes. A myocardial infarction may result from a heart with a limited blood supply subject to increased oxygen demands, such as in fever, a fast heart rate, hyperthyroidism, too few red blood cells in the bloodstream, or low blood pressure. Damage or failure of procedures such as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass grafts (CABG) may cause a myocardial infarction. Spasm of coronary arteries, such as Prinzmetal's angina may cause blockage.
### Tissue death
If impaired blood flow to the heart lasts long enough, it triggers a process called the ischemic cascade; the heart cells in the territory of the blocked coronary artery die (infarction), chiefly through necrosis, and do not grow back. A collagen scar forms in their place. When an artery is blocked, cells lack oxygen, needed to produce ATP in mitochondria. ATP is required for the maintenance of electrolyte balance, particularly through the Na/K ATPase. This leads to an ischemic cascade of intracellular changes, necrosis and apoptosis of affected cells.
Cells in the area with the worst blood supply, just below the inner surface of the heart (endocardium), are most susceptible to damage. Ischemia first affects this region, the *subendocardial* region, and tissue begins to die within 15–30 minutes of loss of blood supply. The dead tissue is surrounded by a zone of potentially reversible ischemia that progresses to become a full-thickness *transmural* infarct. The initial "wave" of infarction can take place over 3–4 hours. These changes are seen on gross pathology and cannot be predicted by the presence or absence of Q waves on an ECG. The position, size and extent of an infarct depends on the affected artery, totality of the blockage, duration of the blockage, the presence of collateral blood vessels, oxygen demand, and success of interventional procedures.
Tissue death and myocardial scarring alter the normal conduction pathways of the heart and weaken affected areas. The size and location put a person at risk of abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias) or heart block, aneurysm of the heart ventricles, inflammation of the heart wall following infarction, and rupture of the heart wall that can have catastrophic consequences.
Injury to the myocardium also occurs during re-perfusion. This might manifest as ventricular arrhythmia. The re-perfusion injury is a consequence of the calcium and sodium uptake from the cardiac cells and the release of oxygen radicals during reperfusion. No-reflow phenomenon—when blood is still unable to be distributed to the affected myocardium despite clearing the occlusion—also contributes to myocardial injury. Topical endothelial swelling is one of many factors contributing to this phenomenon.
## Diagnosis
### Criteria
A myocardial infarction, according to established consensus, is defined by elevated cardiac biomarkers with a rising or falling trend and at least one of the following:
- Symptoms relating to ischemia
- Changes on an electrocardiogram (ECG), such as ST segment changes, new left bundle branch block, or pathologic Q waves
- Changes in the motion of the heart wall on imaging
- Demonstration of a thrombus on angiogram or at autopsy.
A myocardial infarction is usually clinically classified as an ST-elevation MI (STEMI) or a non-ST elevation MI (NSTEMI). These are based on ST elevation, a portion of a heartbeat graphically recorded on an ECG. STEMIs make up about 25–40% of myocardial infarctions. A more explicit classification system, based on international consensus in 2012, also exists. This classifies myocardial infarctions into five types:
- Spontaneous MI related to plaque erosion and/or rupture fissuring, or dissection
- MI related to ischemia, such as from increased oxygen demand or decreased supply, e.g., coronary artery spasm, coronary embolism, anemia, arrhythmias, high blood pressure, or low blood pressure
- Sudden unexpected cardiac death, including cardiac arrest, where symptoms may suggest MI, an ECG may be taken with suggestive changes, or a blood clot is found in a coronary artery by angiography and/or at autopsy, but where blood samples could not be obtained, or at a time before the appearance of cardiac biomarkers in the blood
- Associated with coronary angioplasty or stents
- Associated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)
- Associated with stent thrombosis as documented by angiography or at autopsy
- Associated with CABG
- Associated with spontaneous coronary artery dissection in young, fit women
### Cardiac biomarkers
There are many different biomarkers used to determine the presence of cardiac muscle damage. Troponins, measured through a blood test, are considered to be the best, and are preferred because they have greater sensitivity and specificity for measuring injury to the heart muscle than other tests. A rise in troponin occurs within 2–3 hours of injury to the heart muscle, and peaks within 1–2 days. The level of the troponin, as well as a change over time, are useful in measuring and diagnosing or excluding myocardial infarctions, and the diagnostic accuracy of troponin testing is improving over time. One high-sensitivity cardiac troponin can rule out a heart attack as long as the ECG is normal.
Other tests, such as CK-MB or myoglobin, are discouraged. CK-MB is not as specific as troponins for acute myocardial injury, and may be elevated with past cardiac surgery, inflammation or electrical cardioversion; it rises within 4–8 hours and returns to normal within 2–3 days. Copeptin may be useful to rule out MI rapidly when used along with troponin.
### Electrocardiogram
Electrocardiograms (ECGs) are a series of leads placed on a person's chest that measure electrical activity associated with contraction of the heart muscle. The taking of an ECG is an important part of the workup of an AMI, and ECGs are often not just taken once but may be repeated over minutes to hours, or in response to changes in signs or symptoms.
ECG readouts produce a waveform with different labeled features. In addition to a rise in biomarkers, a rise in the ST segment, changes in the shape or flipping of T waves, new Q waves, or a new left bundle branch block can be used to diagnose an AMI. In addition, ST elevation can be used to diagnose an ST segment myocardial infarction (STEMI). A rise must be new in V2 and V3 ≥2 mm (0,2 mV) for males or ≥1.5 mm (0.15 mV) for females or ≥1 mm (0.1 mV) in two other adjacent chest or limb leads. ST elevation is associated with infarction, and may be preceded by changes indicating ischemia, such as ST depression or inversion of the T waves. Abnormalities can help differentiate the location of an infarct, based on the leads that are affected by changes. Early STEMIs may be preceded by peaked T waves. Other ECG abnormalities relating to complications of acute myocardial infarctions may also be evident, such as atrial or ventricular fibrillation.
### Imaging
Noninvasive imaging plays an important role in the diagnosis and characterisation of myocardial infarction. Tests such as chest X-rays can be used to explore and exclude alternate causes of a person's symptoms. Echocardiography may assist in modifying clinical suspicion of ongoing myocardial infarction in patients that can't be ruled out or ruled in following initial ECG and Troponin testing. Myocardial perfusion imaging has no role in the acute diagnostic algorithm; however, it can confirm a clinical suspicion of Chronic Coronary Syndrome when the patient's history, physical examination (including cardiac examination) ECG, and cardiac biomarkers suggest coronary artery disease.
Echocardiography, an ultrasound scan of the heart, is able to visualize the heart, its size, shape, and any abnormal motion of the heart walls as they beat that may indicate a myocardial infarction. The flow of blood can be imaged, and contrast dyes may be given to improve image. Other scans using radioactive contrast include SPECT CT-scans using thallium, sestamibi (MIBI scans) or tetrofosmin; or a PET scan using Fludeoxyglucose or rubidium-82. These nuclear medicine scans can visualize the perfusion of heart muscle. SPECT may also be used to determine viability of tissue, and whether areas of ischemia are inducible.
Medical societies and professional guidelines recommend that the physician confirm a person is at high risk for Chronic Coronary Syndrome before conducting diagnostic non-invasive imaging tests to make a diagnosis, as such tests are unlikely to change management and result in increased costs. Patients who have a normal ECG and who are able to exercise, for example, most likely do not merit routine imaging.
### Differential diagnosis
There are many causes of chest pain, which can originate from the heart, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, aorta, and other muscles, bones and nerves surrounding the chest. In addition to myocardial infarction, other causes include angina, insufficient blood supply (ischemia) to the heart muscles without evidence of cell death, gastroesophageal reflux disease; pulmonary embolism, tumors of the lungs, pneumonia, rib fracture, costochondritis, heart failure and other musculoskeletal injuries. Rarer severe differential diagnoses include aortic dissection, esophageal rupture, tension pneumothorax, and pericardial effusion causing cardiac tamponade. The chest pain in an MI may mimic heartburn. Causes of sudden-onset breathlessness generally involve the lungs or heart – including pulmonary edema, pneumonia, allergic reactions and asthma, and pulmonary embolus, acute respiratory distress syndrome and metabolic acidosis. There are many different causes of fatigue, and myocardial infarction is not a common cause.
## Prevention
There is a large crossover between the lifestyle and activity recommendations to prevent a myocardial infarction, and those that may be adopted as secondary prevention after an initial myocardial infarction, because of shared risk factors and an aim to reduce atherosclerosis affecting heart vessels. The influenza vaccine also appear to protect against myocardial infarction with a benefit of 15 to 45%.
### Primary prevention
#### Lifestyle
Physical activity can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, and people at risk are advised to engage in 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity aerobic exercise a week. Keeping a healthy weight, drinking alcohol within the recommended limits, and quitting smoking reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Substituting unsaturated fats such as olive oil and rapeseed oil instead of saturated fats may reduce the risk of myocardial infarction, although there is not universal agreement. Dietary modifications are recommended by some national authorities, with recommendations including increasing the intake of wholegrain starch, reducing sugar intake (particularly of refined sugar), consuming five portions of fruit and vegetables daily, consuming two or more portions of fish per week, and consuming 4–5 portions of unsalted nuts, seeds, or legumes per week. The dietary pattern with the greatest support is the Mediterranean diet. Vitamins and mineral supplements are of no proven benefit, and neither are plant stanols or sterols.
Public health measures may also act at a population level to reduce the risk of myocardial infarction, for example by reducing unhealthy diets (excessive salt, saturated fat, and trans-fat) including food labeling and marketing requirements as well as requirements for catering and restaurants and stimulating physical activity. This may be part of regional cardiovascular disease prevention programs or through the health impact assessment of regional and local plans and policies.
Most guidelines recommend combining different preventive strategies. A 2015 Cochrane Review found some evidence that such an approach might help with blood pressure, body mass index and waist circumference. However, there was insufficient evidence to show an effect on mortality or actual cardio-vascular events.
#### Medication
Statins, drugs that act to lower blood cholesterol, decrease the incidence and mortality rates of myocardial infarctions. They are often recommended in those at an elevated risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Aspirin has been studied extensively in people considered at increased risk of myocardial infarction. Based on numerous studies in different groups (e.g. people with or without diabetes), there does not appear to be a benefit strong enough to outweigh the risk of excessive bleeding. Nevertheless, many clinical practice guidelines continue to recommend aspirin for primary prevention, and some researchers feel that those with very high cardiovascular risk but low risk of bleeding should continue to receive aspirin.
### Secondary prevention
There is a large crossover between the lifestyle and activity recommendations to prevent a myocardial infarction, and those that may be adopted as secondary prevention after an initial myocardial infarct. Recommendations include stopping smoking, a gradual return to exercise, eating a healthy diet, low in saturated fat and low in cholesterol, drinking alcohol within recommended limits, exercising, and trying to achieve a healthy weight. Exercise is both safe and effective even if people have had stents or heart failure, and is recommended to start gradually after 1–2 weeks. Counselling should be provided relating to medications used, and for warning signs of depression. Previous studies suggested a benefit from omega-3 fatty acid supplementation but this has not been confirmed.
#### Medications
Following a heart attack, nitrates, when taken for two days, and ACE-inhibitors decrease the risk of death. Other medications include:
Aspirin is continued indefinitely, as well as another antiplatelet agent such as clopidogrel or ticagrelor ("dual antiplatelet therapy" or DAPT) for up to twelve months. If someone has another medical condition that requires anticoagulation (e.g. with warfarin) this may need to be adjusted based on risk of further cardiac events as well as bleeding risk. In those who have had a stent, more than 12 months of clopidogrel plus aspirin does not affect the risk of death.
Beta blocker therapy such as metoprolol or carvedilol is recommended to be started within 24 hours, provided there is no acute heart failure or heart block. The dose should be increased to the highest tolerated. Contrary to most guidelines, the use of beta blockers does not appear to affect the risk of death, possibly because other treatments for MI have improved. When beta blocker medication is given within the first 24–72 hours of a STEMI no lives are saved. However, 1 in 200 people were prevented from a repeat heart attack, and another 1 in 200 from having an abnormal heart rhythm. Additionally, for 1 in 91 the medication causes a temporary decrease in the heart's ability to pump blood.
ACE inhibitor therapy should be started within 24 hours and continued indefinitely at the highest tolerated dose. This is provided there is no evidence of worsening kidney failure, high potassium, low blood pressure, or known narrowing of the renal arteries. Those who cannot tolerate ACE inhibitors may be treated with an angiotensin II receptor antagonist.
Statin therapy has been shown to reduce mortality and subsequent cardiac events and should be commenced to lower LDL cholesterol. Other medications, such as ezetimibe, may also be added with this goal in mind.
Aldosterone antagonists (spironolactone or eplerenone) may be used if there is evidence of left ventricular dysfunction after an MI, ideally after beginning treatment with an ACE inhibitor.
#### Other
A defibrillator, an electric device connected to the heart and surgically inserted under the skin, may be recommended. This is particularly if there are any ongoing signs of heart failure, with a low left ventricular ejection fraction and a New York Heart Association grade II or III after 40 days of the infarction. Defibrillators detect potentially fatal arrhythmia and deliver an electrical shock to the person to depolarize a critical mass of the heart muscle.
## First aid
Taking aspirin helps to reduce the risk of mortality in people with myocardial infarction.
## Management
A myocardial infarction requires immediate medical attention. Treatment aims to preserve as much heart muscle as possible, and to prevent further complications. Treatment depends on whether the myocardial infarction is a STEMI or NSTEMI. Treatment in general aims to unblock blood vessels, reduce blood clot enlargement, reduce ischemia, and modify risk factors with the aim of preventing future MIs. In addition, the main treatment for myocardial infarctions with ECG evidence of ST elevation (STEMI) include thrombolysis or percutaneous coronary intervention, although PCI is also ideally conducted within 1–3 days for NSTEMI. In addition to clinical judgement, risk stratification may be used to guide treatment, such as with the TIMI and GRACE scoring systems.
### Pain
The pain associated with myocardial infarction is often treated with nitroglycerin, a vasodilator, or opioid medications such as morphine. Nitroglycerin (given under the tongue or injected into a vein) may improve blood supply to the heart. It is an important part of therapy for its pain relief effects, though there is no proven benefit to mortality. Morphine or other opioid medications may also be used, and are effective for the pain associated with STEMI. There is poor evidence that morphine shows any benefit to overall outcomes, and there is some evidence of potential harm.
### Antithrombotics
Aspirin, an antiplatelet drug, is given as a loading dose to reduce the clot size and reduce further clotting in the affected artery. It is known to decrease mortality associated with acute myocardial infarction by at least 50%. P2Y12 inhibitors such as clopidogrel, prasugrel and ticagrelor are given concurrently, also as a loading dose, with the dose depending on whether further surgical management or fibrinolysis is planned. Prasugrel and ticagrelor are recommended in European and American guidelines, as they are active more quickly and consistently than clopidogrel. P2Y12 inhibitors are recommended in both NSTEMI and STEMI, including in PCI, with evidence also to suggest improved mortality. Heparins, particularly in the unfractionated form, act at several points in the clotting cascade, help to prevent the enlargement of a clot, and are also given in myocardial infarction, owing to evidence suggesting improved mortality rates. In very high-risk scenarios, inhibitors of the platelet glycoprotein αIIbβ3a receptor such as eptifibatide or tirofiban may be used.
There is varying evidence on the mortality benefits in NSTEMI. A 2014 review of P2Y12 inhibitors such as clopidogrel found they do not change the risk of death when given to people with a suspected NSTEMI prior to PCI, nor do heparins change the risk of death. They do decrease the risk of having a further myocardial infarction.
### Angiogram
Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is the treatment of choice for STEMI if it can be performed in a timely manner, ideally within 90–120 minutes of contact with a medical provider. Some recommend it is also done in NSTEMI within 1–3 days, particularly when considered high-risk. A 2017 review, however, did not find a difference between early versus later PCI in NSTEMI.
PCI involves small probes, inserted through peripheral blood vessels such as the femoral artery or radial artery into the blood vessels of the heart. The probes are then used to identify and clear blockages using small balloons, which are dragged through the blocked segment, dragging away the clot, or the insertion of stents. Coronary artery bypass grafting is only considered when the affected area of heart muscle is large, and PCI is unsuitable, for example with difficult cardiac anatomy. After PCI, people are generally placed on aspirin indefinitely and on dual antiplatelet therapy (generally aspirin and clopidogrel) for at least a year.
### Fibrinolysis
If PCI cannot be performed within 90 to 120 minutes in STEMI then fibrinolysis, preferably within 30 minutes of arrival to hospital, is recommended. If a person has had symptoms for 12 to 24 hours evidence for effectiveness of thrombolysis is less and if they have had symptoms for more than 24 hours it is not recommended. Thrombolysis involves the administration of medication that activates the enzymes that normally dissolve blood clots. These medications include tissue plasminogen activator, reteplase, streptokinase, and tenecteplase. Thrombolysis is not recommended in a number of situations, particularly when associated with a high risk of bleeding or the potential for problematic bleeding, such as active bleeding, past strokes or bleeds into the brain, or severe hypertension. Situations in which thrombolysis may be considered, but with caution, include recent surgery, use of anticoagulants, pregnancy, and proclivity to bleeding. Major risks of thrombolysis are major bleeding and intracranial bleeding. Pre-hospital thrombolysis reduces time to thrombolytic treatment, based on studies conducted in higher income countries; however, it is unclear whether this has an impact on mortality rates.
### Other
In the past, high flow oxygen was recommended for everyone with a possible myocardial infarction. More recently, no evidence was found for routine use in those with normal oxygen levels and there is potential harm from the intervention. Therefore, oxygen is currently only recommended if oxygen levels are found to be low or if someone is in respiratory distress.
If despite thrombolysis there is significant cardiogenic shock, continued severe chest pain, or less than a 50% improvement in ST elevation on the ECG recording after 90 minutes, then rescue PCI is indicated emergently.
Those who have had cardiac arrest may benefit from targeted temperature management with evaluation for implementation of hypothermia protocols. Furthermore, those with cardiac arrest, and ST elevation at any time, should usually have angiography. Aldosterone antagonists appear to be useful in people who have had an STEMI and do not have heart failure.
### Rehabilitation and exercise
Cardiac rehabilitation benefits many who have experienced myocardial infarction, even if there has been substantial heart damage and resultant left ventricular failure. It should start soon after discharge from the hospital. The program may include lifestyle advice, exercise, social support, as well as recommendations about driving, flying, sports participation, stress management, and sexual intercourse. Returning to sexual activity after myocardial infarction is a major concern for most patients, and is an important area to be discussed in the provision of holistic care.
In the short-term, exercise-based cardiovascular rehabilitation programs may reduce the risk of a myocardial infarction, reduces a large number of hospitalizations from all causes, reduces hospital costs, improves health-related quality of life, and has a small effect on all-cause mortality. Longer-term studies indicate that exercise-based cardiovascular rehabilitation programs may reduce cardiovascular mortality and myocardial infarction.
## Prognosis
The prognosis after myocardial infarction varies greatly depending on the extent and location of the affected heart muscle, and the development and management of complications. Prognosis is worse with older age and social isolation. Anterior infarcts, persistent ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation, development of heart blocks, and left ventricular impairment are all associated with poorer prognosis. Without treatment, about a quarter of those affected by MI die within minutes and about forty percent within the first month. Morbidity and mortality from myocardial infarction has, however, improved over the years due to earlier and better treatment: in those who have a STEMI in the United States, between 5 and 6 percent die before leaving the hospital and 7 to 18 percent die within a year.
It is unusual for babies to experience a myocardial infarction, but when they do, about half die. In the short-term, neonatal survivors seem to have a normal quality of life.
### Complications
Complications may occur immediately following the myocardial infarction or may take time to develop. Disturbances of heart rhythms, including atrial fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation and heart block can arise as a result of ischemia, cardiac scarring, and infarct location. Stroke is also a risk, either as a result of clots transmitted from the heart during PCI, as a result of bleeding following anticoagulation, or as a result of disturbances in the heart's ability to pump effectively as a result of the infarction. Regurgitation of blood through the mitral valve is possible, particularly if the infarction causes dysfunction of the papillary muscle. Cardiogenic shock as a result of the heart being unable to adequately pump blood may develop, dependent on infarct size, and is most likely to occur within the days following an acute myocardial infarction. Cardiogenic shock is the largest cause of in-hospital mortality. Rupture of the ventricular dividing wall or left ventricular wall may occur within the initial weeks. Dressler's syndrome, a reaction following larger infarcts and a cause of pericarditis is also possible.
Heart failure may develop as a long-term consequence, with an impaired ability of heart muscle to pump, scarring, and an increase in the size of the existing muscle. Aneurysm of the left ventricle myocardium develops in about 10% of MI and is itself a risk factor for heart failure, ventricular arrhythmia, and the development of clots.
Risk factors for complications and death include age, hemodynamic parameters (such as heart failure, cardiac arrest on admission, systolic blood pressure, or Killip class of two or greater), ST-segment deviation, diabetes, serum creatinine, peripheral vascular disease, and elevation of cardiac markers.
## Epidemiology
Myocardial infarction is a common presentation of coronary artery disease. The World Health Organization estimated in 2004, that 12.2% of worldwide deaths were from ischemic heart disease; with it being the leading cause of death in high- or middle-income countries and second only to lower respiratory infections in lower-income countries. Worldwide, more than 3 million people have STEMIs and 4 million have NSTEMIs a year. STEMIs occur about twice as often in men as women.
Rates of death from ischemic heart disease (IHD) have slowed or declined in most high-income countries, although cardiovascular disease still accounted for one in three of all deaths in the US in 2008. For example, rates of death from cardiovascular disease have decreased almost a third between 2001 and 2011 in the United States.
In contrast, IHD is becoming a more common cause of death in the developing world. For example, in India, IHD had become the leading cause of death by 2004, accounting for 1.46 million deaths (14% of total deaths) and deaths due to IHD were expected to double during 1985–2015. Globally, disability adjusted life years (DALYs) lost to ischemic heart disease are predicted to account for 5.5% of total DALYs in 2030, making it the second-most-important cause of disability (after unipolar depressive disorder), as well as the leading cause of death by this date.
## Social determinants of health
Social determinants such as neighborhood disadvantage, immigration status, lack of social support, social isolation, and access to health services play an important role in myocardial infarction risk and survival. Studies have shown that low socioeconomic status is associated with an increased risk of poorer survival. There are well-documented disparities in myocardial infarction survival by socioeconomic status, race, education, and census-tract-level poverty.
Race: In the U.S. African Americans have a greater burden of myocardial infarction and other cardiovascular events. On a population level, there is a higher overall prevalence of risk factors that are unrecognized and therefore not treated, which places these individuals at a greater likelihood of experiencing adverse outcomes and therefore potentially higher morbidity and mortality. Similarly, South Asians (including South Asians that have migrated to other countries around the world) experience higher rates of acute myocardial infarctions at younger ages, which can be largely explained by a higher prevalence of risk factors at younger ages.
Socioeconomic status: Among individuals who live in the low-socioeconomic (SES) areas, which is close to 25% of the US population, myocardial infarctions (MIs) occurred twice as often compared with people who lived in higher SES areas.
Immigration status: In 2018 many lawfully present immigrants who were eligible for coverage remained uninsured because immigrant families faced a range of enrollment barriers, including fear, confusion about eligibility policies, difficulty navigating the enrollment process, and language and literacy challenges. Uninsured undocumented immigrants are ineligible for coverage options due to their immigration status.
Health care access: Lack of health insurance and financial concerns about accessing care were associated with delays in seeking emergency care for acute myocardial infarction which can have significant, adverse consequences on patient outcomes.
Education: Researchers found that compared to people with graduate degrees, those with lower educational attainment appeared to have a higher risk of heart attack, dying from a cardiovascular event, and overall death.
## Society and culture
Depictions of heart attacks in popular media often include collapsing or loss of consciousness which are not common symptoms; these depictions contribute to widespread misunderstanding about the symptoms of myocardial infarctions, which in turn contributes to people not getting care when they should.
### Legal implications
At common law, in general, a myocardial infarction is a disease but may sometimes be an injury. This can create coverage issues in the administration of no-fault insurance schemes such as workers' compensation. In general, a heart attack is not covered; however, it may be a work-related injury if it results, for example, from unusual emotional stress or unusual exertion. In addition, in some jurisdictions, heart attacks had by persons in particular occupations such as police officers may be classified as line-of-duty injuries by statute or policy. In some countries or states, a person having had an MI may be prevented from participating in activity that puts other people's lives at risk, for example driving a car or flying an airplane.
### Sources
## Further reading
## External links
- American Heart Association's Heart Attack web site — Information and resources for preventing, recognizing, and treating a heart attack.
- TIMI Score for UA/NSTEMI Archived 2016-11-05 at the Wayback Machine and STEMI Archived 2009-03-19 at the Wayback Machine
- HEART Score for Major Cardiac Events Archived 2016-10-28 at the Wayback Machine
- "Heart Attack".
*MedlinePlus*. U.S. National Library of Medicine.
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# List of Roman emperors - Wikipedia
The Roman emperors were the rulers of the Roman Empire from the granting of the name and title *Augustus* to Octavian by the Roman Senate in 27 BC onward. Augustus maintained a facade of Republican rule, rejecting monarchical titles but calling himself *princeps senatus* (first man of the Senate) and *princeps civitatis* (first citizen of the state). The title of Augustus was conferred on his successors to the imperial position, and emperors gradually grew more monarchical and authoritarian.
The style of government instituted by Augustus is called the Principate and continued until the late third or early fourth century. The modern word "emperor" derives from the title *imperator*, that was granted by an army to a successful general; during the initial phase of the empire, the title was generally used only by the *princeps*. For example, Augustus's official name was *Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus*. The territory under command of the emperor had developed under the period of the Roman Republic as it invaded and occupied much of Europe and portions of North Africa and the Middle East. Under the republic, the Senate and People of Rome authorized provincial governors, who answered only to them, to rule regions of the empire. The chief magistrates of the republic were two consuls elected each year; consuls continued to be elected in the imperial period, but their authority was subservient to that of the emperor, who also controlled and determined their election. Often, the emperors themselves, or close family, were selected as consul.
After the Crisis of the Third Century, Diocletian increased the authority of the emperor and adopted the title *dominus noster* (our lord). The rise of powerful barbarian tribes along the borders of the empire, the challenge they posed to the defense of far-flung borders as well as an unstable imperial succession led Diocletian to divide the administration of the Empire geographically with a co-*augustus* in 286. In 330, Constantine the Great, the emperor who accepted Christianity, established a second capital in Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople. Historians consider the Dominate period of the empire to have begun with either Diocletian or Constantine, depending on the author. For most of the period from 286 to 480, there was more than one recognized senior emperor, with the division usually based on geographic regions. This division became permanent after the death of Theodosius I in 395, which historians have traditionally dated as the division between the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire. However, formally the Empire remained a single polity, with separate co-emperors in the separate courts.
The fall of the Western Roman Empire is dated either from the *de facto* date of 476, when Romulus Augustulus was deposed by the Germanic Herulians led by Odoacer, or the *de jure* date of 480, on the death of Julius Nepos, when Eastern emperor Zeno ended recognition of a separate Western court. Historians typically refer to the empire in the centuries that followed as the "Byzantine Empire", governed by the Byzantine emperors. Given that "Byzantine" is a later historiographical designation and the inhabitants and emperors of the empire continually maintained Roman identity, this designation is not used universally and continues to be a subject of specialist debate. Under Justinian I, in the sixth century, a large portion of the western empire was retaken, including Italy, Africa, and part of Spain. Over the course of the centuries thereafter, most of the imperial territories were lost, which eventually restricted the empire to Anatolia and the Balkans. The line of emperors continued until the death of Constantine XI Palaiologos at the fall of Constantinople in 1453, when the remaining territories were conquered by the Ottoman Turks led by Sultan Mehmed II. In the aftermath of the conquest, Mehmed II proclaimed himself *kayser-i Rûm* ("*Caesar* of the Romans"), thus claiming to be the new emperor, a claim maintained by succeeding sultans. Competing claims of succession to the Roman Empire have also been forwarded by various other states and empires, and by numerous later pretenders.
While the imperial government of the Roman Empire was rarely called into question during its five centuries in the west and fifteen centuries in the east, individual emperors often faced unending challenges in the form of usurpation and perpetual civil wars. From the rise of Augustus, the first Roman emperor, in 27 BC to the sack of Rome in AD 455, there were over a hundred usurpations or attempted usurpations (an average of one usurpation or attempt about every four years). From the murder of Commodus in 192 until the fifth century, there was scarcely a single decade without succession conflicts and civil war. Very few emperors died of natural causes, with regicide in practical terms having become the expected end of a Roman emperor by late antiquity. The distinction between a usurper and a legitimate emperor is a blurry one, given that a large number of emperors that were commonly considered legitimate began their rule as usurpers, revolting against the previous legitimate emperor.
True legitimizing structures and theories were weak, or wholly absent in the Roman Empire, and there were no true objective legal criteria for being acclaimed emperor beyond acceptance by the Roman army. Dynastic succession was not legally formalized, but also not uncommon, with powerful rulers sometimes succeeding in passing power on to their children or other relatives. While dynastic ties could bring someone to the throne, they were not a guarantee that their rule would not be challenged. With the exception of Titus (r. 79–81; son of Vespasian), no son of an emperor who ruled after the death of his father died a natural death until Constantine I in 337. Control of Rome itself and approval of the Roman Senate held some importance as legitimising factors, but were mostly symbolic. Emperors who began their careers as usurpers had often been deemed public enemies by the senate before they managed to take the city. Emperors did not need to be acclaimed or crowned in Rome itself, as demonstrated in the Year of the Four Emperors (69), when claimants were crowned by armies in the Roman provinces, and the senate's role in legitimising emperors had almost faded into insignificance by the Crisis of the Third Century (235–285). By the end of the third century, Rome's importance was mainly ideological, with several emperors and usurpers even beginning to place their court in other cities in the empire, closer to the imperial frontier.
Common methods used by emperors to assert claims of legitimacy, such as proclamation by the army, blood connections (sometimes fictitious) to past emperors, wearing imperial regalia, distributing one's own coins or statues and claims to pre-eminent virtue through propaganda, were pursued just as well by many usurpers as they were by legitimate emperors. There were no constitutional or legal distinctions that differentiated legitimate emperors and usurpers. In ancient Roman texts, the differences between emperors and "tyrants" (the term typically used for usurpers) is often a moral one (with the tyrants ascribed wicked behaviour) rather than a legal one. Typically, the actual distinction was whether the claimant had been victorious or not. In the *Historia Augusta*, an ancient Roman collection of imperial biographies, the usurper Pescennius Niger (193–194) is expressly noted to only be a tyrant because he was defeated by Septimius Severus (r. 193–211). This is also followed in modern historiography, where, in the absence of constitutional criteria separating them, the main factor that distinguishes usurpers from legitimate Roman emperors is their degree of success. What makes a figure who began as a usurper into a legitimate emperor is typically either that they managed to gain the recognition from a more senior, legitimate emperor, or that they managed to defeat a more senior, legitimate emperor and seize power from them by force.
Given that a concept of constitutional legitimacy was irrelevant in the Roman Empire, and emperors were only 'legitimate' in so far as they were able to be accepted in the wider empire, this list of emperors operates on a collection of inclusion criteria:
- Imperial claimants whose power across the empire became, or from the beginning was, absolute and who ruled undisputed are treated as legitimate emperors. From 286 onward, when imperial power was usually divided among two colleagues in the east and west, control over the respective half is sufficient even if a claimant was not recognized in the other half, such as was the case for several of the last few emperors in the west.
- Imperial claimants who were proclaimed emperors by another, legitimate, senior emperor, or who were recognized by a legitimate senior emperor, are treated as legitimate emperors. Many emperors ruled alongside one or various joint-emperors. However, and specially from the 4th century onwards, most of these were children who never ruled in their own right. Scholars of the later Empire always omit these rulers, but the same is not always applied during the early Empire. For the purposes of consistency, later senior emperors' tenures as junior co-emperors are not counted as part of their reign. The list also gives all co-emperors their own entry only up to the 4th century.
- Imperial claimants who achieved the recognition of the Roman Senate, especially in times of uncertainty and civil war, are, due to the senate's nominal role as an elective body, treated as legitimate emperors. In later times, especially when emperors ruled from other cities, this criterion defaults to the possession and control of Rome itself. In the later eastern empire, possession of the capital of Constantinople was an essential element of imperial legitimacy.
In the case of non-dynastic emperors after or in the middle of the rule of a dynasty, it is customary among historians to group them together with the rulers of said dynasty, an approach that is followed in this list. Dynastic breaks with non-dynastic rulers are indicated with thickened horizontal lines.
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
AugustusCaesar Augustus
|
16 January 27 BC – 19 August AD 14 (40 years, 7 months and 3 days) |
Grandnephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar. Gradually acquired further power through grants from, and constitutional settlements with, the Roman Senate. Continuously head of state since 19 August 43 BC, unopposed after the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. | 23 September 63 BC – 19 August 14 (aged 75) Born as Gaius Octavius. Died probably of natural causes, allegedly poisoned with figs by Livia. | |
TiberiusTiberius Caesar Augustus
|
17 September 14 – 16 March 37 (22 years, 5 months and 27 days) |
Stepson, former son-in-law and adopted son of Augustus | 16 November 42 BC – 16 March 37 (aged 77) Died probably of natural causes, allegedly murdered at the instigation of Caligula | |
CaligulaGaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus
|
18 March 37 – 24 January 41 (3 years, 10 months and 6 days) |
Grandnephew and adopted heir of Tiberius, great-grandson of Augustus | 31 August 12 – 24 January 41 (aged 28) Murdered in a conspiracy involving the Praetorian Guard and senators | |
ClaudiusTiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus
|
24 January 41 – 13 October 54 (13 years, 8 months and 19 days) |
Uncle of Caligula, nephew of Tiberius, grandnephew of Augustus, proclaimed emperor by the Praetorian Guard and accepted by the Senate | 1 August 10 BC – 13 October 54 (aged 63) Began the Roman conquest of Britain. Probably poisoned by his wife Agrippina, in favor of her son Nero | |
NeroNero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus
|
13 October 54 – 9 June 68 (13 years, 7 months and 27 days) |
Grandnephew, stepson, son-in-law and adopted son of Claudius, great-great-grandson of Augustus | 15 December 37 – 9 June 68 (aged 30) Committed suicide after being deserted by the Praetorian Guard and sentenced to death by the Senate |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
GalbaServius Galba Caesar Augustus
|
8 June 68 – 15 January 69 (7 months and 7 days) |
Governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, revolted against Nero and seized power after his suicide, with support of the Senate and Praetorian Guard | 24 December 3 BC – 15 January 69 (aged 70) Murdered by soldiers of the Praetorian Guard in a coup led by Otho | |
OthoMarcus Otho Caesar Augustus
|
15 January – 16 April 69 (3 months and 1 day) |
Seized power through a coup against Galba | 28 April 32 – 16 April 69 (aged 36) Committed suicide after losing the Battle of Bedriacum to Vitellius | |
VitelliusAulus Vitellius Germanicus Augustus
|
19 April – 20 December 69 (8 months and 1 day) |
Governor of Germania Inferior, proclaimed emperor by the Rhine legions on 2 January in opposition to Galba and Otho, later recognized by the Senate | 24 September 15 – 20 December 69 (aged 54) Murdered by Vespasian's troops |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
VespasianCaesar Vespasianus Augustus
|
1 July 69 – 23 June 79 (9 years, 11 months and 22 days) |
Proclaimed by the eastern legions in opposition to Vitellius, later recognized by the Senate | 17 November 9 – 23 June 79 (aged 69) Began construction of the Colosseum. Died of dysentery | |
TitusTitus Caesar Vespasianus Augustus
|
24 June 79 – 13 September 81 (2 years, 2 months and 20 days) |
Son of Vespasian | 30 December 39 – 13 September 81 (aged 41) Died of natural causes | |
DomitianCaesar Domitianus Augustus
|
14 September 81 – 18 September 96 (15 years and 4 days) |
Brother of Titus and son of Vespasian | 24 October 51 – 18 September 96 (aged 44) Assassinated in a conspiracy of court officials, possibly involving Nerva |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
NervaNerva Caesar Augustus
|
18 September 96 – 27 January 98 (1 year, 4 months and 9 days) |
Proclaimed emperor by the Senate after the murder of Domitian | 8 November 30 – 27/28 January 98 (aged 67) First of the "Five Good Emperors". Died of natural causes | |
TrajanCaesar Nerva Traianus Augustus
|
28 January 98 – 9 August (?) 117 (19 years, 6 months and 11 days) |
Adopted son of Nerva | 18 September 53 – 9 August (?) 117 (aged 63) First non-Italian emperor. His reign marked the geographical peak of the empire. Died of natural causes | |
HadrianCaesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus
|
11 August 117 – 10 July 138 (20 years, 10 months and 29 days) |
Cousin of Trajan, allegedly adopted on his deathbed | 24 January 76 – 10 July 138 (aged 62) Ended Roman expansionism. Destroyed Judea after a massive revolt. Died of natural causes | |
Antoninus PiusTitus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius
|
10 July 138 – 7 March 161 (22 years, 7 months and 25 days) |
Adopted son of Hadrian | 19 September 86 – 7 March 161 (aged 74) Died of natural causes | |
Marcus AureliusMarcus Aurelius Antoninus
|
7 March 161 – 17 March 180 (19 years and 10 days) |
Son-in-law and adopted son of Antoninus Pius. Until 169 reigned jointly with his adoptive brother, Lucius Verus, the first time multiple emperors shared power. Since 177 reigned jointly with his son Commodus | 26 April 121 – 17 March 180 (aged 58) Last of the "Five Good Emperors"; also one of the most representative Stoic philosophers. Died of natural causes | |
Lucius VerusLucius Aurelius Verus
|
7 March 161 – January/February 169 (7 years and 11 months) |
Adopted son of Antoninus Pius, named joint emperor by his adoptive brother Marcus Aurelius | 15 December 130 – early 169 (aged 38) Died of natural causes | |
CommodusMarcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus / Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus
|
17 March 180 – 31 December 192 (12 years, 9 months and 14 days) |
Son of Marcus Aurelius. Proclaimed co-emperor in 177, at age 16, becoming the first emperor to be elevated during predecessor's lifetime | 31 August 161 – 31 December 192 (aged 31) Strangled to death in a conspiracy involving his praetorian prefect, Laetus, and mistress, Marcia |
**Note:**The other claimants during the Year of the Five Emperors were Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus, generally regarded as usurpers.
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
PertinaxPublius Helvius Pertinax
|
1 January – 28 March 193 (2 months and 27 days) |
City prefect of Rome at Commodus's death, set up as emperor by the praetorian prefect, Laetus, with consent of the Senate | 1 August 126 – 28 March 193 (aged 66) Murdered by mutinous soldiers of the Praetorian Guard | |
Didius JulianusMarcus Didius Severus Julianus
|
28 March – 1 June 193 (2 months and 4 days) |
Won auction held by the Praetorian Guard for the position of emperor | 30 January 133 – 1/2 June 193 (aged 60) Killed on order of the Senate, at the behest of Septimius Severus |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Septimius SeverusLucius Septimius Severus Pertinax
|
9 April 193 – 4 February 211 (17 years, 9 months and 26 days) |
Governor of Upper Pannonia, acclaimed emperor by the Pannonian legions following the murder of Pertinax | 11 April 145 – 4 February 211 (aged 65) First non-European emperor. Died of natural causes | |
CaracallaMarcus Aurelius Antoninus
|
4 February 211 – 8 April 217 (6 years, 2 months and 4 days) |
Son of Septimius Severus, proclaimed co-emperor on 28 January 198, at age 10. Succeeded jointly with his brother, Geta, in 211 | 4 April 188 – 8 April 217 (aged 29) First child emperor. Granted Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the empire. Murdered by a soldier at the instigation of Macrinus | |
GetaPublius Septimius Geta
|
4 February 211 – 26 December 211 (10 months and 22 days) |
Son of Septimius Severus, proclaimed co-emperor in October 209, succeeded jointly with his older brother, Caracalla | 7 March 189 – 26 December 211 (aged 22) Murdered on order of his brother, Caracalla | |
MacrinusMarcus Opellius Severus Macrinus
|
11 April 217 – 8 June 218 (1 year, 1 month and 28 days) |
Praetorian prefect of Caracalla, accepted as emperor by the army and Senate after having arranged his predecessor's death in fear of his own life | c. 165 – June 218 (aged approx. 53) First non-senator to become emperor, and first emperor not to visit Rome after acceding. Executed during a revolt of the troops in favor of Elagabalus. | |
Diadumenian (§) Marcus Opellius Antoninus Diadumenianus
|
Late May – June 218 (less than a month) |
Son of Macrinus, named co-emperor by his father after the eruption of a rebellion in favor of Elagabalus | 14 September 208 – June 218 (aged 9) Caught in flight and executed in favor of Elagabalus | |
ElagabalusMarcus Aurelius Antoninus
|
16 May 218 – 13 March 222 (3 years, 9 months and 25 days) |
Cousin and alleged illegitimate son of Caracalla, acclaimed as emperor by rebellious legions in opposition to Macrinus at the instigation of his grandmother, Julia Maesa | 203/204 – 13 March 222 (aged 18) Murdered by the Praetorian Guard alongside his mother, probably at the instigation of Julia Maesa | |
Severus AlexanderMarcus Aurelius Severus Alexander
|
14 March 222 – March 235 (13 years) |
Cousin and adopted heir of Elagabalus | 1 October 208 – early March 235 (aged 26) Lynched by mutinous troops, alongside his mother |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Maximinus I "Thrax"Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus
|
c. March 235 – c. June 238 (3 years and 3 months) |
Proclaimed emperor by Germanic legions after the murder of Severus Alexander, recognized at Rome on 23 March 235 | c. 172–180 – c. June 238 (aged approx. 58–66) First commoner to become emperor. Murdered by his men during the siege of Aquileia | |
Gordian IMarcus Antonius Gordianus Sempronianus Romanus
|
c. April – c. May 238 (22 days) |
Proclaimed emperor alongside his son, Gordian II, while serving as governor of Africa, in a revolt against Maximinus, and recognized by the Senate | c. 158 (?) – c. May 238 (aged approx. 80) Oldest emperor at the time of his elevation. Committed suicide upon hearing of the death of his son | |
Gordian IIMarcus Antonius Gordianus Sempronianus Romanus
|
c. April – c. May 238 (22 days) |
Proclaimed emperor alongside his father Gordian I, during revolt in Africa against Maximinus | c. 192 – c. May 238 (aged approx. 46) The shortest-reigning emperor. Killed outside Carthage in battle against an army loyal to Maximinus I | |
PupienusMarcus Clodius Pupienus Maximus
|
c. May – c. August 238 (99 days) |
Proclaimed emperor jointly with Balbinus by the Senate after death of Gordian I and II, in opposition to Maximinus | c. 164 – c. August 238 (aged approx. 74) Tortured and murdered by the Praetorian Guard | |
BalbinusDecimus Caelius Calvinus Balbinus
|
c. May – c. August 238 (99 days) |
Proclaimed emperor jointly with Pupienus by the Senate after death of Gordian I and II, in opposition to Maximinus | c. 178 – c. August 238 (aged approx. 60) Tortured and murdered by the Praetorian Guard | |
Gordian IIIMarcus Antonius Gordianus
|
c. August 238 – c. February 244 (c. 5 years and 6 months) |
Grandson of Gordian I, appointed as heir by Pupienus and Balbinus, upon whose deaths he succeeded as emperor | 20 January 225 – c. February 244 (aged 19) Died during campaign against Persia, possibly in a murder plot instigated by Philip I | |
Philip I "the Arab"Marcus Julius Philippus
|
c. February 244 – September/October 249 (c. 5 years and 7/8 months) |
Praetorian prefect under Gordian III, seized power after his death | c. 204 – September/October 249 (aged approx. 45) Killed at the Battle of Verona, against Decius | |
Philip II "the Younger" (§)Marcus Julius Severus Philippus
|
July/August 247 – September/October 249 (c. 2 years and 2 months) |
Son of Philip I, appointed co-emperor | c. 237 – September/October 249 (aged approx. 12) Murdered by the Praetorian Guard | |
DeciusGaius Messius Quintus Traianus Decius
|
September/October 249 – June 251 (c. 1 year and 8/9 months) |
Proclaimed emperor by the troops in Moesia, then defeated and killed Philip I in battle | c. 190/200 – June 251 (aged approx. 50/60) Killed at the Battle of Abrittus, against the Goths | |
Herennius Etruscus (§)Quintus Herennius Etruscus Messius Decius
|
May/June – June 251 (less than a month) |
Son of Decius, appointed co-emperor | Unknown – June 251 Killed at the Battle of Abrittus alongside his father | |
Trebonianus GallusGaius Vibius Trebonianus Gallus
|
June 251 – c. August 253 (c. 2 years and 2 months) |
Senator and general, proclaimed emperor after the deaths of Decius and Herennius Etruscus | c. 206 – c. August 253 (aged 47) Murdered by his own troops in favor of Aemilian | |
Hostilian (§)Gaius Valens Hostilianus Messius Quintus
|
c. June – c. July 251 (c. 1 month) |
Younger son of Decius, named caesar by his father and proclaimed co-emperor by Trebonianus Gallus
|
Unknown – c. July 251 Died of plague or murdered by Trebonianus Gallus | |
Volusianus (§)Gaius Vibius Afinius Gallus Veldumnianus Volusianus
|
c. August 251 – c. August 253 (2 years) |
Son of Gallus, appointed co-emperor | c. 230 – c. August 253 (aged approx. 23) Murdered by the soldiers, alongside his father | |
AemilianusMarcus Aemilius Aemilianus
|
c. July – c. September 253 (2 months?) |
Commander in Moesia, proclaimed emperor by his soldiers after defeating barbarians, in opposition to Gallus | c. 207 – c. September 253 (aged approx. 46) Murdered by his own troops in favor of Valerian | |
Silbannacus (#)Mar. Silbannacus
|
c. September/October 253 (?) (very briefly?) |
Obscure figure known only from coinage, may have briefly ruled in Rome between Aemilianus and Valerian | Nothing known | |
ValerianPublius Licinius Valerianus
|
c. September 253 – c. June 260 (c. 6 years and 9 months) |
Army commander in Raetia and Noricum, proclaimed emperor by the legions in opposition to Aemilian | c. 200 – after 262 (?) Captured at Edessa by the Persian king Shapur I, died in captivity possibly forced to swallow molten gold | |
GallienusPublius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus
|
c. September 253 – c. September 268 (15 years) |
Son of Valerian, appointed joint emperor. Sole emperor after Valerian's capture in 260 | 218 – c. September 268 (aged 50) Faced multiple revolts & barbarian invasions. Murdered in a conspiracy of army officers, involving Claudius II and Aurelian | |
Saloninus (§)Publius Licinius Cornelius Saloninus Valerianus
|
Autumn 260 (c. 1 month) |
Son of Gallienus, proclaimed caesar by his father and proclaimed emperor by the praetorian prefect Silvanus while besieged by Postumus
|
Unknown – Late 260 Murdered by troops loyal to Postumus | |
Claudius II "Gothicus"Marcus Aurelius Claudius
|
c. September 268 – c. August 270 (c. 1 year and 11 months) |
Army commander in Illyria, proclaimed emperor after Gallienus's death | 10 May 214 – August/September (?) 270 (aged approx. 55) Died of plague | |
QuintillusMarcus Aurelius Claudius Quintillus
|
c. August – c. September 270 (c. 27 days) |
Brother of Claudius II, proclaimed emperor after his death | Unknown – 270 Committed suicide or killed at the behest of Aurelian | |
AurelianLucius Domitius Aurelianus
|
c. August 270 – c. November 275 (c. 5 years and 3 months) |
Commander of the Roman cavalry, proclaimed emperor by Danube legions after Claudius II's death, in opposition to Quintillus | 9 September 214 – Sept./Dec. 275 (aged 61) Reunified the Roman Empire. Murdered by the Praetorian Guard | |
TacitusMarcus Claudius Tacitus
|
c. December 275 – c. June 276 (c. 7 months) |
Alleged princeps senatus, proclaimed emperor by the Senate or, more likely, by his soldiers in Campania after Aurelian's death
|
c. 200 (?) – c. June 276 (aged approx. 76) Died of illness or possibly murdered | |
FlorianusMarcus Annius Florianus
|
c. June – September 276 (88 days) |
Maternal half-brother of Tacitus, proclaimed himself emperor after the death of Tacitus | Unknown – September/October 276 Murdered by his own troops in favor of Probus | |
ProbusMarcus Aurelius Probus
|
c. June 276 – c. September 282 (c. 6 years and 3 months) |
General; proclaimed emperor by the eastern legions, in opposition to Florianus | 19 August 232 – c. September 282 (aged 50) Murdered by his own troops in favor of Carus | |
CarusMarcus Aurelius Carus
|
c. September 282 – c. July/August 283 (c. 10 months) |
Praetorian prefect under Probus, seized power before or after Probus's murder | c. 224 (?) – c. July/August 283 (aged approx. 60) Died in Persia, either of illness, assassination, or by being hit by lightning | |
CarinusMarcus Aurelius Carinus
|
Spring 283 – August/September 285 (2 years) |
Son of Carus, appointed joint emperor shortly before his death. Succeeded jointly with Numerian | c. 250 – August/September 285 (aged approx. 35) Probably died in battle against Diocletian, likely betrayed by his own soldiers | |
NumerianMarcus Aurelius Numerianus
|
c. July/August 283 – November 284 (1 year and 3/4 months) |
Son of Carus, succeeded jointly with Carinus | c. 253 – November 284 (aged approx. 31) Died while marching to Europe, probably of disease, possibly assassinated |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Diocletian "Jovius"Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus
|
20 November 284 – 1 May 305 (20 years, 5 months and 11 days) Whole; then East
|
Commander of the imperial bodyguard, acclaimed by the army after death of Numerian, and proceeded to defeat Numerian's brother, Carinus, in battle | 22 December c. 243 – 3 December c. 311 (aged approx. 68) Began the last great persecution of Christianity. First emperor to voluntarily abdicate. Died in unclear circumstances, possibly suicide | |
Maximian "Herculius"Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus
|
1 April 286 – 1 May 305 (19 years and 1 month; West)November 306 – 11 November 308 (2 years; Italy)
|
Elevated by Diocletian, ruled the western provinces | c. 250 – c. July 310 (aged approx. 60) Abdicated with Diocletian, later trying to regain power with, and then from, Maxentius, before being probably killed on orders of Constantine I | |
GaleriusGaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus
|
1 May 305 – May 311 (6 years; East)
|
Elevated to caesar in 293 by Diocletian, succeeded as eastern augustus upon Diocletian's abdication
|
c. 258 – May 311 (aged approx. 53) Died of natural causes | |
Constantius I "Chlorus"Marcus Flavius Valerius Constantius
|
1 May 305 – 25 July 306 (1 year, 2 months and 24 days; West)
|
Maximian's relation by marriage, elevated to caesar in 293 by Diocletian, succeeded as western augustus upon Maximian's abdication
|
31 March c. 250 – 25 July 306 (aged approx. 56) Died of natural causes | |
Severus IIFlavius Valerius Severus
|
August 306 – March/April 307 (c. 8 months; West)
|
Elevated to caesar in 305 by Maximian, promoted to western augustus by Galerius upon Constantius I's death
|
Unknown – September 307 Surrendered to Maximian and Maxentius, later murdered or forced to commit suicide | |
MaxentiusMarcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius
|
28 October 306 – 28 October 312 (6 years; Italy)
|
Son of Maximian and son-in-law of Galerius, seized power in Italy with support of the Praetorian Guard and his father after being passed over in the succession. Not recognized by the other emperors | c. 283 – 28 October 312 (aged approx. 29) Died at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, against Constantine I | |
LiciniusValerius Licinianus Licinius
|
11 November 308 – 19 September 324 (15 years, 10 months and 8 days) West; then East
|
Elevated by Galerius to replace Severus, in opposition to Maxentius. Defeated Maximinus Daza in a civil war to become sole emperor of the East in 313 | c. 265 – early 325 (aged approx. 60) Defeated, deposed and put to death by Constantine I | |
Maximinus II "Daza"Galerius Valerius Maximinus
|
310 – c. July 313 (3 years; East)
|
Nephew of Galerius, elevated to caesar by Galerius in 305, and acclaimed as augustus by his troops in 310
|
20 November c. 270 – c. July 313 (aged approx. 42) Defeated in civil war against Licinius, died shortly afterwards | |
Valerius ValensAurelius Valerius Valens
|
October 316 – c. January 317 (c. 2–3 months; East*)
|
Frontier commander in Dacia, elevated by Licinius in opposition to Constantine I | Unknown – 317 Executed in the lead-up to a peace settlement between Licinius and Constantine | |
MartinianMar. Martinianus
|
July – 19 September 324 (2 months; East*)
|
A senior bureaucrat, elevated by Licinius in opposition to Constantine I | Unknown – Spring 325 Deposed by Constantine and banished to Cappadocia, later executed |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Constantine I"the Great" Flavius Valerius Constantinus
|
25 July 306 – 22 May 337 (30 years, 9 months and 27 days) West; then whole
|
Son of Constantius I, acclaimed by his father's troops as augustus. Accepted as caesar by Galerius, promoted to augustus in 307 by Maximian, refused demotion to caesar in 309
|
27 February 272/273 – 22 May 337 (aged 64/65) First Christian emperor and founder of Constantinople. Sole ruler of the Empire after defeating Maxentius in 312 and Licinius in 324. Died of natural causes | |
Constantine IIFlavius Claudius Constantinus
|
9 September 337 – April 340 (2 years and 7 months; West)
|
Son of Constantine I | c. February 316 – April 340 (aged 24) Ruled the praetorian prefecture of Gaul. Killed in an ambush during a war against his brother, Constans I | |
Constans IFlavius Julius Constans
|
9 September 337 – January 350 (12 years and 4 months; Middle then West)
|
Son of Constantine I | 322/323 – January/February 350 (aged 27) Ruled Italy, Illyricum and Africa initially, then the western empire after Constantine II's death. Overthrown and killed by Magnentius | |
Constantius IIFlavius Julius Constantius
|
9 September 337 – 3 November 361 (24 years, 1 month and 25 days) East; then whole
|
Son of Constantine I | 7 August 317 – 3 November 361 (aged 44) Ruled the east initially, then the whole empire after the death of Magnentius. Died of a fever shortly after planning to fight a war against Julian | |
Magnentius (#)Magnus Magnentius
|
18 January 350 – 10 August 353 (3 years, 6 months and 23 days; West)
|
Proclaimed emperor by the troops, in opposition to Constans I | c. 303 – 10 August 353 (aged approx. 50) Committed suicide after losing the Battle of Mons Seleucus | |
Vetranio
|
1 March – 25 December 350 (9 months and 24 days; West)
|
General of Constans in Illyricum, acclaimed by the Illyrian legions at the expense of Magnentius, briefly recognized by Constantius II | Unknown – c. 356 Abdicated in Constantius II's favor, retired, and died 6 years later | |
Nepotianus (#)Julius Nepotianus
|
3 June – 30 June 350 (27 days; West)
|
Son of Eutropia, a daughter of Constantius I. Proclaimed emperor in Rome in opposition to Magnentius | Unknown – 30 June 350 Captured and executed by supporters of Magnentius | |
Julian "the Apostate"Flavius Claudius Julianus
|
3 November 361 – 26 June 363 (1 year, 7 months and 23 days) |
Cousin and heir of Constantius II, acclaimed by the Gallic army around February 360; entered Constantinople on 11 December 361 | 331 – 26 June 363 (aged 32) Last non-Christian emperor. Mortally wounded during a campaign against Persia | |
JovianJovianus
|
27 June 363 – 17 February 364 (7 months and 21 days) |
Commander of imperial household guard; acclaimed by the army after Julian's death | 330/331 – 17 February 364 (aged 33) Died before reaching the capital, possibly due to inhaling toxic fumes or indigestion. Last emperor to rule the whole Empire during their entire reign |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Valentinian I "the Great"Valentinianus
|
25/26 February 364 – 17 November 375 (11 years, 8 months and 23 days) Whole; then West
|
General; proclaimed emperor by the army after Jovian's death | 321 – 17 November 375 (aged 54) Last emperor to cross the Rhine into Germania. Died of a stroke while yelling at envoys | |
Valens
|
28 March 364 – 9 August 378 (14 years, 4 months and 12 days; East)
|
Brother of Valentinian I, made eastern emperor by his brother (Valentinian retaining the west) | c. 328 – 9 August 378 (aged nearly 50) Killed at the Battle of Adrianople | |
Procopius (#)
|
28 September 365 – 27 May 366 (7 months and 29 days; East)
|
Maternal cousin of Julian; revolted against Valens and captured Constantinople, where the people proclaimed him emperor | 326 – 27/28 May 366 (aged 40) Deposed, captured and executed by Valens | |
GratianGratianus
|
17 November 375 – 25 August 383 (7 years, 9 months and 8 days; West)
|
Son of Valentinian I; proclaimed western co-emperor on 24 August 367, at age 8. Emperor in his own right after Valentinian's death | 18 April 359 – 25 August 383 (aged 24) Killed by Andragathius, an officer of Magnus Maximus | |
Magnus Maximus
|
25 August 383 – 28 August 388 (5 years and 3 days; West)with Victor (383/387–388)
|
General, related to Theodosius I; proclaimed emperor by the troops in Britain. Briefly recognized by Theodosius I and Valentinian II | Unknown – 28 August 388 Defeated by Theodosius I at the Battle of Save, executed after surrendering | |
Valentinian IIValentinianus
|
28 August 388 – 15 May 392 (3 years, 8 months and 17 days; West)
|
Son of Valentinian I, proclaimed co-emperor on 22 November 375, at age 4. Sole western ruler after the defeat of Magnus Maximus in 388 | 371 – 15 May 392 (aged 20/21) Dominated by regents and co-emperors his entire reign. Probably suicide, possibly killed by Arbogast | |
Eugenius (#)
|
22 August 392 – 6 September 394 (2 years and 15 days; West)
|
Teacher of Latin grammar and rhetoric, secretary of Valentinian II. Proclaimed emperor by Arbogast | Unknown – 6 September 394 Defeated by Theodosius I at the Battle of the Frigidus and executed |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Theodosius I"the Great" |
19 January 379 – 17 January 395 (15 years, 11 months and 29 days) East; then whole
|
Retired general; proclaimed eastern emperor by Gratian after the death of Valens | 11 January 346/347 – 17 January 395 (aged 48/49) Last emperor to briefly rule over the two halves of the Empire after the Battle of the Frigidus. Died of natural causes | |
Arcadius
|
17 January 395 – 1 May 408 (13 years, 3 months and 14 days; East)
|
Son of Theodosius I; co-emperor since 16 January 383. Emperor in the east | 377 – 1 May 408 (aged 31) Died of natural causes | |
Honorius
|
17 January 395 – 15 August 423 (28 years, 6 months and 29 days; West)
|
Son of Theodosius I; co-emperor since 23 January 393. Emperor in the west | 9 September 384 – 15 August 423 (aged 38) Reigned under several successive regencies, most notably Stilicho. His reign saw the first sack of Rome in eight centuries. Died of edema | |
Constantine IIIFlavius Claudius Constantinus
|
407 – 411 (4 years; West)with Constans (409–411)
|
Common soldier, proclaimed emperor by the troops in Britain. Recognized by Honorius in 409. Emperor in the west | Unknown – 411 (before 18 September) Surrendered to Constantius, a general of Honorius, and abdicated. Sent to Italy but murdered on the way | |
Theodosius II"the Calligrapher" |
1 May 408 – 28 July 450 (42 years, 2 months and 27 days; East)
|
Son of Arcadius; co-emperor since 10 January 402. Emperor in the east | 10 April 401 – 28 July 450 (aged 49) His reign saw the promulgation of the Theodosian Code and the construction of the Theodosian Walls. Died of a fall from his horse | |
Priscus Attalus (#)
|
Late 409 – summer 410 (less than a year; Italy)
|
A leading member of the Senate, proclaimed emperor by Alaric after the Sack of Rome. Emperor in the west | Unknown lifespan Deposed by Alaric after reconciling with Honorius. Tried to claim the throne again 414–415 but was defeated and forced into exile; fate unknown | |
Constantius III
|
8 February – 2 September 421 (6 months and 25 days; West)
|
Prominent general under Honorius and husband of Galla Placidia, a daughter of Theodosius I. Made co-emperor by Honorius. Emperor in the west | Unknown – 2 September 421De facto ruler since 411; helped Honorius defeat numerous usurpers & foreign enemies. Died of illness
| |
Joannes (#)
|
20 November 423 – c. May 425 (1 year and a half; West)
|
Senior civil servant, seized power in Rome and the west after Theodosius II delayed in nominating a successor of Honorius | Unknown – c. May 425 Captured by the forces of Theodosius II, brought to Constantinople and executed | |
Valentinian IIIPlacidus Valentinianus
|
23 October 425 – 16 March 455 (29 years, 4 months and 21 days; West)
|
Son of Constantius III, grandson of Theodosius I and great-grandson of Valentinian I, installed as emperor of the west by Theodosius II | 2 July 419 – 16 March 455 (aged 35) Faced the invasion of the Huns. Murdered by Optelas and Thraustelas, retainers of Aetius | |
MarcianMarcianus
|
25 August 450 – 27 January 457 (6 years, 5 months and 2 days; East)
|
Soldier and official, proclaimed emperor after marrying Pulcheria, a daughter of Arcadius. Emperor in the east | 391/392 – 27 January 457 (aged 65) Died after a prolonged period of illness |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Petronius Maximus
|
17 March – 31 May 455 (2 months and 14 days) |
General and civil official, murdered Valentinian III and married his widow, Licinia Eudoxia | c. 397 – 31 May 455 Killed by a mob while fleeing during the Vandalic sack of Rome | |
AvitusEparchius Avitus
|
9 July 455 – 17 October 456 (1 year, 3 months and 8 days) |
General; proclaimed emperor by the Visigoths and Gallo-Romans after the death of Petronius Maximus | Late 4th century – 456/457 Defeated and deposed by the magister militum Ricimer, became a bishop. Died shortly after of either natural causes, strangulation, or being starved to death
| |
MajorianJulius Valerius Majorianus
|
28 December 457 – 2 August 461 (3 years, 7 months and 5 days) |
General; proclaimed by the army, backed by Ricimer | Unknown – 7 August 461 Reconquered Gaul, Hispania and Dalmatia. Deposed and executed by Ricimer | |
Libius Severus( Severus III)
|
19 November 461 – 14 November 465 (3 years, 11 months and 26 days) |
Proclaimed emperor by Ricimer | Unknown – 14 November 465 Died of natural causes | |
AnthemiusProcopius Anthemius
|
12 April 467 – 11 July 472 (5 years, 2 months and 29 days) |
General; great-grandson of Procopius, a cousin of Julian, and husband of Marcia Euphemia, a daughter of Marcian. Proclaimed western emperor by Leo I | Unknown – 11 July 472 The last effective emperor of the West. Murdered by Gundobad after a civil war with Ricimer | |
OlybriusAnicius Olybrius
|
c. April – 2 November 472 (c. 7 months) |
Husband of Placidia, a daughter of Valentinian III. Proclaimed emperor by Ricimer | Unknown – 2 November 472 Died of dropsy | |
Glycerius
|
3/5 March 473 – 24 June 474 (1 year, 3 months and 19/21 days) |
General; proclaimed emperor by Gundobad | Unknown lifespan Deposed by Julius Nepos and made a bishop, subsequent fate unknown | |
Julius Nepos
|
24 June 474 – 28 August 475 (1 year, 2 months and 4 days) August 475 – 9 May 480 (4 years and 8 months, in Dalmatia) |
General; married to a relative of Verina, the wife of the eastern emperor Leo I. Installed as western emperor by Leo | Unknown – 9 May 480 Fled to Dalmatia in the face of an attack by his magister militum Orestes. Continued to claim to be emperor in exile. Murdered by his retainers
| |
Romulus "Augustulus"Romulus Augustus
|
31 October 475 – 4 September 476 (10 months and 4 days) |
Proclaimed emperor by his father, the magister militum Orestes
|
Roughly 465 – after 507/511? The last western emperor. Deposed by the Germanic general Odoacer and retired. Possibly alive as late as 507 or 511; fate unknown |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Leo I "the Thracian"
|
7 February 457 – 18 January 474 (16 years, 11 months and 11 days) |
Low-ranking army officer; chosen by the magister militum Aspar to succeed Marcian
|
400/401 – 18 January 474 (aged 73) First emperor to be crowned by the Patriarch of Constantinople. Died of dysentery | |
Leo II "the Younger"
|
18 January – November 474 (10 months) |
Grandson of Leo I and son of Zeno; co-emperor since 17 November 473 | 467 – November 474 (aged 7) Youngest emperor at the time of his death. Died of illness | |
Zeno
|
29 January 474 – 9 January 475 (11 months and 11 days) |
Husband of Ariadne, a daughter of Leo I, and father of Leo II. Crowned senior co-emperor with the approval of the Senate | 425 – 9 April 491 (aged 65) Fled to Isauria in the face of a Revolt led by his mother-in-law Verina & Basiliscus. | |
Basiliscus
|
9 January 475 – August 476 (1 year and 7 months) with Marcus (475–476)
|
Brother of Verina, the wife of Leo I. Proclaimed emperor by his sister in opposition to Zeno and seized Constantinople | Unknown – 476/477 Deposed by Zeno upon his return to Constantinople; imprisoned in a dried-up reservoir and starved to death | |
Zeno ( second reign)
|
August 476 – 9 April 491 (14 years and 8 months) |
Retook the throne with the help of general Illus | 425 – 9 April 491 (aged 65) Saw the end of the Western Roman Empire. Died of dysentery or epilepsy | |
Anastasius I "Dicorus"
|
11 April 491 – 9 July 518 (27 years, 2 months and 28 days) |
Government official; chosen by Ariadne, whom he married, to succeed Zeno | 430/431 – 9 July 518 (aged 88) Oldest emperor at the time of his death. Died of natural causes |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Justin I "the Thracian"Justinus
|
9/10 July 518 – 1 August 527 (9 years and 23 days) |
Soldier; proclaimed emperor by the troops after the death of Anastasius I | 450 – 1 August 527 (aged 77) Died of natural causes | |
Justinian I "the Great"Petrus Sabbatius Justinianus
|
1 April 527 – 14 November 565 (38 years, 7 months and 13 days) |
Nephew and adoptive son of Justin I | 482 – 14 November 565 (aged 83) Temporarily reconquered half of the Western Roman Empire, including Rome. Died of natural causes | |
Justin IIJustinus
|
14 November 565 – 5 October 578 (12 years, 10 months and 21 days) |
Son of Vigilantia, sister of Justinian I | Unknown – 5 October 578 Lost most of Italy to the Lombards by 570. Suffered an attack of dementia in 574, whereafter the government was run by regents. Died of natural causes | |
Tiberius II ConstantineTiberius Constantinus
|
26 September 578 – 14 August 582 (3 years, 10 months and 19 days) |
Adoptive son of Justin II | Mid-6th century – 14 August 582 Died after a sudden illness, supposedly after accidentally eating bad food | |
MauriceMauricius Tiberius
|
13 August 582 – 27 November 602 (20 years, 3 months and 14 days) with Theodosius (590–602)
|
Husband of Constantina, a daughter of Tiberius II | 539 – 27 November 602 (aged 63) Captured and executed by troops loyal to Phocas | |
PhocasFocas
|
23 November 602 – 5 October 610 (7 years, 10 months and 12 days) |
Centurion in the army; proclaimed emperor by the troops against Maurice | 547 – 5 October 610 (aged 63) Deposed and then beheaded on the orders of Heraclius |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
HeracliusἩράκλειος |
5 October 610 – 11 February 641 (30 years, 4 months and 6 days) |
Son of Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Carthage. Led a revolt against Phocas | 574/575 – 11 February 641 (aged 66) Ended the Persian Wars, but suffered the loss of the Levant to the Muslims. Died of natural causes | |
Heraclius Constantine( Constantine III)Heraclius ConstantinusἩράκλειος Κωνσταντῖνος |
11 February – 25 May 641 (3 months and 14 days) |
Son of Heraclius; co-emperor since 22 January 613 | 3 May 612 – 25 May 641 (aged 29) Died of tuberculosis | |
HeraclonasHeraclius, Ἡράκλειος
|
25 May – 5 November (?) 641 (5 months and 11 days) with his brother Tiberius-David (641)
|
Son of Heraclius; co-emperor since 4 July 638. Co-ruler with Constantine and then sole emperor under the regency of his mother Martina | 626 – unknown Deposed, mutilated and exiled, subsequent fate unknown | |
Constans II "the Bearded"Constantinus, Κωνσταντῖνος
|
September 641 – 15 July 668 (26 years and 10 months) |
Son of Heraclius Constantine; proclaimed co-emperor by Heraclonas at age 11 | 7 November 630 – 15 July 668 (aged 37) Lost Egypt in 641. Murdered in Sicily while bathing by supporters of Mezezius | |
Constantine IV "the Younger"Constantinus, Κωνσταντῖνος
|
September 668 – 10 July (?) 685 (16 years and 10 months) with his brothersHeraclius and Tiberius (659–681)
|
Son of Constans II; co-emperor since 13 April 654 | Roughly 650 – 10 July (?) 685 (aged about 35) Defeated the First Arab Siege of Constantinople. Died of dysentery | |
Justinian II "Rhinotmetus"Justinianus, Ἰουστινιανός
|
July 685 – 695 (10 years) |
Son of Constantine IV, chosen as successor over Constans' sons | 668/669 – 4 November 711 (aged 42) Deposed and mutilated (hence his nickname, "Slit-nosed") by Leontius in 695; returned to the throne in 705 |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
LeontiusΛέων(τιος) |
695 – 698 (3 years) |
General; deposed Justinian II | Unknown – 15 February (?) 706 Lost Africa & Carthage to the Muslims. Deposed by Tiberius III in 698 and later executed by Justinian II in 706 | |
Tiberius IIIΤιβέριος |
698 – 21 August (?) 705 (7 years) |
General; proclaimed emperor by the troops against Leontius | Unknown – 15 February (?) 706 Deposed and later executed by Justinian II alongside Leontius | |
Justinian II "Rhinotmetus"Justinianus, Ἰουστινιανός( second reign)
|
21 August (?) 705 – 4 November 711 (6 years, 2 months and 14 days) with Tiberius (706–711)
|
Retook the throne with the aid of the Khazars | 668/669 – 4 November 711 (aged 42) Killed by supporters of Philippicus after fleeing Constantinople | |
PhilippicusFilepicus, Φιλιππικός
|
4 November 711 – 3 June 713 (1 year, 6 months and 30 days) |
General; proclaimed emperor by the troops against Justinian II | Unknown – 20 January 714/715 Deposed and blinded in favor of Anastasius II, later died of natural causes | |
Anastasius IIArtemius AnastasiusἈρτέμιος Ἀναστάσιος |
4 June 713 – fall 715 (less than 2 years) |
Senior court official, proclaimed emperor after the deposition of Philippicus | Unknown – 1 June 719 Abdicated to Theodosius III after a six-month civil war, becoming a monk. Beheaded by Leo III after an attempt to retake the throne | |
Theodosius IIIΘεοδόσιος |
Fall 715 – 25 March 717 (less than 2 years) |
Tax-collector, possibly son of Tiberius III; proclaimed emperor by the troops against Anastasius II | Unknown lifespan Deposed by Leo III, whereafter he became a monk. His subsequent fate is unknown. |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Leo III "the Isaurian"Λέων |
25 March 717 – 18 June 741 (24 years, 2 months and 24 days) |
General; deposed Theodosius III | c. 685 – 18 June 741 (aged approx. 56) Ended Muslim expansion in Anatolia. Died of dropsy | |
Constantine V "Copronymus"Κωνσταντῖνος |
18 June 741 – 14 September 775 (34 years, 2 months and 27 days) |
Son of Leo III; co-emperor since 31 March 720 | 718 – 14 September 775 (aged 57) Last emperor to rule over Rome. Vilified by later historians for his religious policies, hence his nickname "Dung-Named". Died of a fever | |
Artabasdos (#)Ἀρτάβασδος |
June 741 – 2 November 743 (2 years and 5 months) with Nikephoros (741–743)
|
Husband of Anna, a daughter of Leo III. Revolted against Constantine V and briefly ruled at Constantinople | Unknown lifespan Deposed and blinded by Constantine V, relegated to a monastery where he died of natural causes | |
Leo IV "the Khazar"Λέων |
14 September 775 – 8 September 780 (4 years, 11 months and 25 days) |
Son of Constantine V; co-emperor since 6 June 751 | 25 January 750 – 8 September 780 (aged 30) Died of a fever | |
Constantine VI "the Blind"Κωνσταντῖνος |
8 September 780 – 19 August 797 (16 years, 11 months and 11 days) |
Son of Leo IV; co-emperor since 14 April 776 | 14 January 771 – before 805 (aged less than 34) Last emperor to be recognized in the West. Deposed, blinded and exiled by Irene | |
IreneΕἰρήνη |
19 August 797 – 31 October 802 (5 years, 2 months and 12 days) |
Widow of Leo IV and former regent of Constantine VI. Became co-ruler in 792. Dethroned and blinded her son Constantine in 797, becoming the first female ruler of the empire | c. 752 – 9 August 803 (aged approx. 51) Deposed by Nikephoros I and exiled to Lesbos, where she died of natural causes |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Non-contemporary |
Nikephoros I"the Logothete" Νικηφόρος |
31 October 802 – 26 July 811 (8 years, 8 months and 26 days) |
Court official; proclaimed emperor in opposition to Irene | c. 760 – 26 July 811 (aged approx. 51) Killed at the Battle of Pliska |
StaurakiosΣταυράκιος |
28 July – 2 October 811 (2 months and 4 days) |
Son of Nikephoros I; co-emperor since 25 December 803. Proclaimed emperor after the death of his father | 790s – 11 January 812 (in his late teens) Wounded at Pliska; abdicated in favor of Michael I and became a monk | |
Non-contemporary |
Michael I RangabeΜιχαὴλ |
2 October 811 – 11 July 813 (1 year, 9 months and 9 days) with Theophylact and Staurakios (II)
|
Husband of Prokopia, a daughter of Nikephoros I | c. 770 – 11 January 844 (aged approx. 74) Abdicated in 813 in favor of Leo V after suffering a defeat at the Battle of Versinikia and retired as a monk |
Non-contemporary |
Leo V "the Armenian"Λέων |
11 July 813 – 25 December 820 (7 years, 5 months and 14 days) with Constantine Symbatios
|
General; proclaimed emperor after the Battle of Versinikia | c. 775 – 25 December 820 (aged approx. 45) Murdered while in church by supporters of Michael II |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Non-contemporary |
Michael II "the Amorian"Μιχαὴλ |
25 December 820 – 2 October 829 (8 years, 9 months and 7 days) |
General sentenced to execution by Leo V; proclaimed emperor by Leo V's assassins and crowned by Patriarch Theodotus I on the same day | c. 770 – 2 October 829 (aged approx. 59) Saw the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Sicily. Died of kidney failure |
Non-contemporary |
TheophilosΘεόφιλος |
2 October 829 – 20 January 842 (12 years, 3 months and 18 days) with Constantine (c. 834–835)
|
Son of Michael II; co-emperor since 12 May 821 | 812/813 – 20 January 842 (aged 30) Died of dysentery |
Non-contemporary |
Michael III "the Drunkard"Μιχαὴλ |
20 January 842 – 24 September 867 (25 years, 8 months and 4 days) with Thekla (842–856)
|
Son of Theophilos; co-emperor since 16 May 840. Ruled under his mother's regency until 15 March 856 | 19 January 840 – 24 September 867 (aged 27) The youngest emperor. Murdered by Basil I and his supporters |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Basil I "the Macedonian"Βασίλειος |
24 September 867 – 29 August 886 (18 years, 11 months and 5 days) with Constantine (868–879)
|
General; proclaimed co-emperor by Michael III on 26 May 866 and became senior emperor after Michael's murder | 811, 830 or 836 – 29 August 886 (aged approx. 50, 56 or 75) Captured Bari in 876 & Taranto in 880. Died after a hunting accident | |
Leo VI "the Wise"Λέων |
29 August 886 – 11 May 912 (25 years, 8 months and 12 days) |
Son of Basil I or illegitimate son of Michael III; crowned co-emperor on 6 January 870 | 19 September 866 – 11 May 912 (aged 45) Conquered Southern Italy but lost the remnants of Sicily in 902. Died of an intestinal disease | |
AlexanderΑλέξανδρος |
11 May 912 – 6 June 913 (1 year and 26 days) |
Son of Basil I; co-emperor since September or October 879 | 23 November 870 – 6 June 913 (aged 42) Died of illness, possibly testicular cancer | |
Constantine VIIPorphyrogenitus Κωνσταντῖνος |
6 June 913 – 9 November 959 (46 years, 5 months and 3 days) |
Son of Leo VI; co-emperor since 15 May 908. Successively dominated by regents and co-emperors until 27 January 945, when he deposed Romanos I's sons | 17/18 May 905 – 9 November 959 (aged 54) Saw the beginning of renewed expansion in the East against the Arabs. Remembered for his numerous writings. Died of natural causes | |
Romanos I LekapenosῬωμανὸς |
17 December 920 – 20 December 944 (24 years and 3 days) with Christopher (921–931), Romanos (c. 924)Stephen and Constantine Lekapenos (924–945)
|
Overthrew Constantine VII's regency, married him to his daughter Helena and was made senior co-emperor. Made several sons co-emperors to curb Constantine VII's authority | c. 870 – 15 June 948 (aged approx. 78) Deposed by his sons Stephen and Constantine. Died of natural causes in exile as a monk | |
Romanos IIῬωμανὸς |
9 November 959 – 15 March 963 (3 years, 4 months and 6 days) |
Son of Constantine VII and grandson of Romanos I; co-emperor since 6 April 945 | 938 – 15 March 963 (aged 24/25) Reconquered Crete in 961. Died of exhaustion on a hunting trip | |
Non-contemporary |
Nikephoros II PhokasΝικηφόρος |
16 August 963 – 11 December 969 (6 years, 3 months and 25 days) |
General; proclaimed emperor on 2 July 963 against the unpopular Joseph Bringas (regent for the young sons of Romanos II), entered Constantinople on 16 August 963. Married Theophano, the widow of Romanos II | c. 912 – 11 December 969 (aged approx. 57) Reconquered Cilicia & Antioch. Murdered in a conspiracy involving his former supporters (including John I Tzimiskes) and Theophano |
Non-contemporary |
John I TzimiskesἸωάννης |
11 December 969 – 10 January 976 (6 years and 30 days) |
Nephew of Nikephoros II, took his place as senior co-emperor | c. 925 – 10 January 976 (aged approx. 50) Reconquered Eastern Thrace from the First Bulgarian Empire. Possibly poisoned by Basil Lekapenos |
Basil II "the Bulgar-Slayer"Βασίλειος |
10 January 976 – 15 December 1025 (49 years, 11 months and 5 days) |
Son of Romanos II; co-emperor since 22 April 960, briefly reigned as senior emperor in March–August 963. Succeeded as senior emperor upon the death of John I | 958 – 15 December 1025 (aged 67) The longest-reigning emperor; best known for his reconquest of Bulgaria. Died of natural causes | |
Constantine VIIIΚωνσταντῖνος |
15 December 1025 – 12 November 1028 (2 years, 10 months and 28 days) |
Son of Romanos II and brother of Basil II; co-emperor since 30 March 962 | 960 – 12 November 1028 (aged 68) De jure longest-reigning emperor. Died of natural causes
| |
Non-contemporary |
Romanos III ArgyrosῬωμανὸς |
12 November 1028 – 11 April 1034 (5 years, 4 months and 30 days) |
Husband of Zoë, a daughter of Constantine VIII | c. 968 – 11 April 1034 (aged approx. 66) Temporarily reconquered Edessa in 1031. Possibly drowned on Zoë's orders |
Non-contemporary |
Michael IV "the Paphlagonian"Μιχαὴλ |
12 April 1034 – 10 December 1041 (7 years, 7 months and 28 days) |
Lover of Zoë, made emperor after their marriage following Romanos III's death | c. 1010 – 10 December 1041 (aged approx. 31) Died of epilepsy |
Non-contemporary |
Michael V "Kalaphates"Μιχαὴλ |
13 December 1041 – 21 April 1042 (4 months and 8 days) |
Nephew and designated heir of Michael IV, proclaimed emperor by Zoë three days after Michael IV's death | c. 1015 – unknown Deposed in a popular uprising after attempting to sideline Zoë, blinded and forced to become a monk |
Zoë PorphyrogenitaΖωή |
21 April – 11 June 1042 (1 month and 21 days) |
Daughter of Constantine VIII and widow of Romanos III and Michael IV. Ruled in her own right from Michael V's deposition until her marriage to Constantine IX. | c. 978 – 1050 (aged approx. 72) Died of natural causes | |
Theodora PorphyrogenitaΘεοδώρα |
21 April – 11 June 1042 (1 month and 21 days) |
Daughter of Constantine VIII and sister of Zoë, proclaimed co-empress during the revolt that deposed Michael V | c. 980 – 31 August 1056 (aged approx. 76) Sidelined after Zoë's marriage to Constantine IX, returned to the throne in 1055 | |
Constantine IX MonomachosΚωνσταντῖνος Μονομάχος |
11 June 1042 – 11 January 1055 (12 years and 7 months) |
Husband of Zoë, crowned the day after their marriage | c. 1006 – 11 January 1055 (aged approx. 49) Died of natural causes | |
Theodora PorphyrogenitaΘεοδώρα ( second reign)
|
11 January 1055 – 31 August 1056 (1 year, 7 months and 20 days) |
Claimed the throne again after Constantine IX's death as the last living member of the Macedonian dynasty | c. 980 – 31 August 1056 (aged approx. 76) Died of natural causes | |
Non-contemporary |
Michael VI Bringas "Stratiotikos"Μιχαήλ |
22 August 1056 – 30 August 1057 (1 year and 8 days) |
Proclaimed emperor by Theodora on her deathbed | 980s/990s – c. 1057 (in his sixties) Deposed in a revolt, retired to a monastery and died soon afterwards |
Non-contemporary |
Isaac I KomnenosἸσαάκιος Κομνηνός |
1 September 1057 – 22 November 1059 (2 years, 2 months and 21 days) |
General, proclaimed emperor on 8 June 1057 in opposition to Michael VI | c. 1007 – 31 May/1 June 1060 (aged approx. 53) Abdicated to Constantine X due to illness and hostile courtiers, became a monk |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Constantine X DoukasΚωνσταντῖνος Δούκας |
23 November 1059 – 23 May 1067 (7 years and 6 months) |
Designated as emperor by Isaac I Komnenos during his abdication | c. 1006 – 23 May 1067 (aged approx. 61) Lost nearly all Italian territories to the Normans. Died of natural causes | |
Eudokia MakrembolitissaΕὐδοκία Μακρεμβολίτισσα (§) |
23 May – 31 December 1067 (7 months and 8 days) |
Widow of Constantine X; either regent on behalf of their sons or co-ruler alongside them until her marriage to Romanos IV. Briefly resumed her regency in September 1071 | c. 1030 – after 1078 Became a nun in November 1071 and later died of natural causes | |
Non-contemporary |
Romanos IV DiogenesῬωμανὸς Διογένης |
1 January 1068 – 26 August 1071 (3 years, 7 months and 25 days) with Leo and Nikephoros Diogenes (c. 1070–71)
|
Husband of Eudokia. Regent and senior co-emperor together with Constantine X's and Eudokia's children | c. 1032 – 4 August 1072 (aged approx. 40) Captured at Manzikert by the Seljuk Turks. After his release blinded on 29 June 1072 by John Doukas, later dying of his wounds |
Michael VII Doukas "Parapinakes"Μιχαὴλ Δούκας |
1 October 1071 – 24/31 March 1078 (6 years, 5 months and 23/30 days) with Konstantios (1060–1078), Andronikos (1068–1070s) and Constantine Doukas (1074–78; 1st time)
|
Son of Constantine X; made co-emperor in 1060 with Eudokia and Romanos IV. Proclaimed sole emperor after Romanos' defeat at the Battle of Manzikert | c. 1050 – c. 1090 (aged approx. 40) Lost nearly all of Anatolia to the Turks. Forced to become a monk after a popular uprising. Died of natural causes several years later | |
Nikephoros III BotaneiatesΝικηφόρος Βοτανειάτης |
3 April 1078 – 1 April 1081 (2 years, 11 months and 29 days) |
General; revolted against Michael VII on 2 July or 2 October 1077 and entered Constantinople on 27 March or 3 April. Married Maria of Alania, the former wife of Michael VII | 1001/1002 – c. 1081 (aged approx. 80) Abdicated after Alexios I captured Constantinople, became a monk and died of natural causes, probably later in the same year |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Alexios I KomnenosἈλέξιος Κομνηνός |
1 April 1081 – 15 August 1118 (37 years, 4 months and 14 days) with Constantine Doukas(1081–1087; 2nd time)
|
Nephew of Isaac I, also husband of Irene Doukaina, a grand-niece of Constantine X. General; revolted against Nikephoros III on 14 February 1081. Seized Constantinople on 1 April; crowned on 4 April | c. 1057 – 15 August 1118 (aged approx. 61) Started the Crusades & the reconquest of Anatolia. Died of natural causes | |
John II Komnenos"the Good" Ἰωάννης Κομνηνός |
15 August 1118 – 8 April 1143 (24 years, 7 months and 24 days) with Alexios the Younger(1119–1142) |
Son of Alexios I, co-emperor since about September 1092 | 13 September 1087 – 8 April 1143 (aged 55) Reconquered most of Anatolia by the time of his death. Died of injuries sustained in a hunting accident, possibly assassinated (perhaps involving Raymond of Poitiers or supporters of Manuel I) | |
Manuel I Komnenos"the Great" Μανουὴλ Κομνηνός |
8 April 1143 – 24 September 1180 (37 years, 5 months and 16 days) |
Youngest son and allegedly designated heir of John II on his deathbed, crowned in November 1143 after a few months of having to establish his rights | 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180 (aged 61) Last emperor to attempt reconquests in the west. Died of natural causes | |
Uncertain |
Alexios II KomnenosἈλέξιος Κομνηνός |
24 September 1180 – c. September 1183 (3 years) |
Son of Manuel I; co-emperor since 1171 | 14 September 1169 – c. September 1183 (aged 14) Strangled on the orders of Andronikos I, body thrown in the sea |
Non-contemporary |
Andronikos I KomnenosἈνδρόνικος Κομνηνός |
c. September 1183 – 12 September 1185 (2 years) with John Komnenos(1183–1185) |
Son of Isaac Komnenos, a son of Alexios I. Overthrew the regency of Alexios II in April 1182, crowned co-emperor in 1183 and shortly thereafter had Alexios II murdered | c. 1118/1120 – 12 September 1185 (aged 64–67) Overthrown by Isaac II, tortured and mutilated in the imperial palace, then slowly dismembered alive by a mob in the Hippodrome |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Non-contemporary |
Isaac II AngelosἸσαάκιος Κομνηνός Ἄγγελος |
12 September 1185 – 8 April 1195 (9 years, 6 months and 27 days) |
Great-grandson of Alexios I. Resisted an order of arrest issued by Andronikos I, after which he was proclaimed emperor by the people of Constantinople. Captured and killed Andronikos I | c. 1156 – January 1204 (aged 47) Suffered the loss of Bulgaria. Overthrown and blinded by Alexios III in 1195, reinstalled in 1203 |
Non-contemporary |
Alexios III AngelosἈλέξιος Κομνηνός |
8 April 1195 – 17/18 July 1203 (8 years, 3 months and 10 days) |
Elder brother of Isaac II, overthrew and blinded his brother | c. 1153 – 1211/1212 (aged approx. 58) Fled after brief resistance against the Fourth Crusade. Died a natural death after being captured and forced to become a monk by Theodore I |
Non-contemporary |
Alexios IV AngelosἈλέξιος Ἄγγελος |
19 July 1203 – 27 January 1204 (6 months and 8 days) |
Son of Isaac II, overthrew Alexios III with the help of the crusaders as part of the Fourth Crusade, then named co-emperor alongside his blinded father | c. 1182/1183 – c. 8 February 1204 (aged approx. 21) Deposed and imprisoned by Alexios V, then strangled in prison |
Non-contemporary |
Isaac II AngelosἸσαάκιος Κομνηνός Ἄγγελος ( second reign)
|
19 July 1203 – 27 January (?) 1204 (6 months and 8 days) |
Freed from imprisonment during the Fourth Crusade by courtiers and reinstated as ruler after Alexios III abandoned the defense of Constantinople | c. 1156 – January 1204 (aged 47) Became senile or demented and died of natural causes around the time of Alexios V's coup |
Non-contemporary |
Alexios V Doukas "Mourtzouphlos"Ἀλέξιος Δούκας |
27/28 January – 12 April 1204 (2 months and 16 days) |
Seized power through a palace coup, son-in-law of Alexios III. | c. 1139 – c. late November 1204 (aged approx. 65) Fled during the sack of Constantinople. Blinded by Alexios III, later captured by crusader Thierry de Loos and thrown from the Column of Theodosius |
**Note:**Roman rule in Constantinople was interrupted with the capture and sack of the city by the crusaders in 1204, which led to the establishment of the Frankokratia. Though the crusaders created a new line of Latin emperors in the city, modern historians recognize the line of emperors of the Laskaris dynasty, reigning in Nicaea, as the legitimate Roman emperors during the struggle for Constantinople because the Nicene Empire eventually retook the city. For other lines of claimant emperors, see List of Trapezuntine emperors and List of Thessalonian emperors.
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Non-contemporary |
Theodore I LaskarisΘεόδωρος Κομνηνὸς Λάσκαρις |
c. May 1205 – November 1221 (16 years and 6 months) with Nicholas Laskaris (c. 1208–1210)
|
Husband of Anna Komnene Angelina, a daughter of Alexios III. Organized resistance against the Latin Empire in Nicaea and proclaimed emperor in 1205 after the Battle of Adrianople; crowned by Patriarch Michael IV on 6 April 1208. | c. 1174 – November 1221 (aged approx. 47) Died of natural causes |
Non-contemporary |
John III VatatzesἸωάννης Δούκας Βατάτζης |
c. December 1221 – 3 November 1254 (32 years and 11 months) |
Husband of Irene Laskarina, a daughter of Theodore I | c. 1192 – 3 November 1254 (aged approx. 62) Started Nicaean expansionism. Died of natural causes |
Theodore II LaskarisΘεόδωρος Δούκας Λάσκαρις |
3 November 1254 – 16 August 1258 (3 years, 9 months and 13 days) |
Son of John III and grandson of Theodore I, co-emperor since about 1235 | November 1221 – 16 August 1258 (aged 36) Died of epilepsy | |
Non-contemporary |
John IV LaskarisἸωάννης Δούκας Λάσκαρις |
16 August 1258 – 25 December 1261 (3 years, 4 months and 9 days) |
Son and co-emperor of Theodore II | 25 December 1250 – c. 1305 (aged approx. 55) Blinded, deposed and imprisoned by Michael VIII Palaiologos in 1261, died in captivity several decades later |
| Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Michael VIII PalaiologosΜιχαὴλ Δούκας Ἄγγελος Κομνηνὸς Παλαιολόγος |
1 January 1259 – 11 December 1282 (23 years, 11 months and 10 days) |
Great-grandson of Alexios III; became regent for John IV in 1258 and crowned co-emperor in 1259. Regained Constantinople on 25 July 1261, entered the city on 15 August. Became sole ruler after deposing John IV on 25 December | 1224/1225 – 11 December 1282 (aged 57/58) Died of dysentery | |
Andronikos II PalaiologosἈνδρόνικος Δούκας Ἄγγελος Κομνηνὸς Παλαιολόγος |
11 December 1282 – 24 May 1328 (45 years, 5 months and 13 days) with Irene (1303–1317, in Thessalonica)
|
Son of Michael VIII; named co-emperor shortly after 1261, crowned on 8 November 1272 | 25 March 1259 – 13 February 1332 (aged 72) Deposed by his grandson Andronikos III in 1328 and became a monk, dying of natural causes four years later | |
Non-contemporary |
Michael IX Palaiologos (§)Μιχαὴλ Δούκας Ἄγγελος Κομνηνὸς Παλαιολόγος |
21 May 1294 – 12 October 1320 (26 years, 4 months and 21 days) |
Son and co-ruler of Andronikos II, named co-emperor in 1281, crowned on 21 May 1294 | 17 April 1277/1278 – 12 October 1320 (aged 42/43) Allegedly died of grief due to the accidental murder of his second son, probably died of natural causes |
Andronikos III PalaiologosἈνδρόνικος Δούκας Ἄγγελος Κομνηνός Παλαιολόγος |
24 May 1328 – 15 June 1341 (13 years and 22 days) |
Son of Michael IX, named co-emperor between 1308 and 1313. Fought with his grandfather Andronikos II for power from April 1321 onwards. Crowned emperor on 2 February 1325, became sole emperor after deposing Andronikos II | 25 March 1297 – 15 June 1341 (aged 44) Last Emperor to effectively control Greece. Died of sudden illness, possibly malaria | |
John V PalaiologosΊωάννης Κομνηνός Παλαιολόγος |
15 June 1341 – 16 February 1391 (49 years, 8 months and 1 day) Details with Anna (1351–1365, in Thessalonica)
|
Son of Andronikos III, not formally crowned until 19 November 1341. Dominated by regents until 1354, faced numerous usurpations and civil wars throughout his long reign | 18 June 1332 – 16 February 1391 (aged 58) Reigned almost 50 years, but only held effective power for 33. Lost almost all territories outside Constantinople. Died of natural causes | |
John VI KantakouzenosἸωάννης Ἄγγελος Κομνηνὸς Παλαιολόγος Καντακουζηνός |
8 February 1347 – 10 December 1354 (7 years, 10 months and 2 days) with Matthew Kantakouzenos (1353–1357)
|
Related to the Palaiologoi through his mother. Proclaimed by the army on 26 October 1341, became regent and senior co-emperor after a lengthy civil war with John V's mother, Anna of Savoy. Entered Constantinople on 8 February, crowned on 21 May 1347 | c. 1295 – 15 June 1383 (aged approx. 88) Deposed by John V in another civil war and retired, becoming a monk. Died of natural causes several decades later | |
Non-contemporary |
Andronikos IV PalaiologosἈνδρόνικος Κομνηνός Παλαιολόγος |
12 August 1376 – 1 July 1379 (2 years, 10 months and 19 days) May 1381 – June 1385 (4 years, in Selymbria) |
Son of John V and grandson of John VI; named co-emperor and heir in 1352, but imprisoned and partially blinded after a failed rebellion in May 1373. Rebelled again and successfully deposed his father in 1376; not formally crowned until 18 October 1377 | 11 April 1348 – 25/28 June 1385 (aged 37) Deposed by John V in 1379; fled to Galata in exile but was restored as co-emperor and heir in May 1381, ruling over Selymbria and the coast of Marmara. Rebelled again in June 1385 but died shortly thereafter |
Non-contemporary |
John VII PalaiologosΊωάννης Παλαιολόγος |
June 1385 – April 1390 (4 years and 10 months, in Selymbria) 14 April – 17 September 1390 (5 months and 3 days) late 1403 – 22 September 1408 (5 years, in Thessalonica) with Andronikos V Palaiologos (1403–1407)
|
Son of Andronikos IV, co-emperor since 1377; usurped the throne from John V in 1390. Deposed shortly thereafter but granted Thessalonica by Manuel II in 1403, from where he once more ruled as emperor until his death | 1370 – 22 September 1408 (aged 38) Ruled Constantinople as regent in 1399–1403 during Manuel II's absence. Died of natural causes |
Manuel II PalaiologosΜανουὴλ Παλαιολόγος |
Autumn 1382 – April 1387 (5 years, in Thessalonica) 16 February 1391 – 21 July 1425 (34 years, 4 months and 5 days) |
Son of John V and grandson of John VI; co-emperor since 25 September 1373 | 27 June 1350 – 21 July 1425 (aged 74) Suffered a stroke in 1422, whereafter the government was run by his son, John VIII. Died of natural causes | |
John VIII PalaiologosΊωάννης Παλαιολόγος |
21 July 1425 – 31 October 1448 (23 years, 4 months and 10 days) |
Son of Manuel II; co-emperor by 1407 and full emperor since 19 January 1421 | 18 December 1392 – 31 October 1448 (aged 55) Died of natural causes | |
Constantine XI PalaiologosΚωνσταντῖνος Δραγάσης Παλαιολόγος |
6 January 1449 – 29 May 1453 (4 years, 4 months and 23 days) |
Son of Manuel II and favored successor of his brother John VIII. Crowned emperor in Mystras on 6 January 1449, entered Constantinople on 12 March. | 8 February 1405 – 29 May 1453 (aged 48) The last Roman emperor. Died in battle at the fall of Constantinople. |
| Subject | Description |
|---|---|
| Roman usurpers (list) | Roman usurpers were individuals or groups of individuals who obtained or tried to obtain power by force and without legitimate legal authority. Usurpation was endemic during the Roman imperial era, especially from the crisis of the third century onwards, when political instability became the rule.
A number of individuals proclaimed themselves emperor (or were proclaimed or appointed as emperor), but are not considered as legitimate emperors because they did not oust the ruling emperor, or did not establish control of the whole empire, or were not accepted by the senate or other imperial colleagues. |
| Byzantine usurpers (list) | |
| Holy Roman Emperors (list) | The Holy Roman Emperor was the ruler and head of state of the Holy Roman Empire.
Charlemagne was crowned |
| Latin Emperors (list) | The Latin Emperor was the ruler of the Latin Empire, the historiographical convention for the Crusader realm, established in Constantinople after the Fourth Crusade (1204) and lasting until the city was recovered by the Byzantine Greeks in 1261. Its name derives from its Catholic and Western European ("Latin") nature. The empire, whose official name was Imperium Romaniae (Latin: "Empire of Romania"), claimed the direct heritage of the Eastern Roman Empire, which had most of its lands taken and partitioned by the crusaders. This claim however was disputed by the Byzantine Greek successor states, the Empire of Nicaea, the Empire of Trebizond and the Despotate of Epirus. Out of these three, the Nicaeans succeeded in displacing the Latin emperors in 1261 and restored the Byzantine Empire.
|
| Trapezuntine emperors (list) | The Trapezuntine emperors were the rulers of the Empire of Trebizond, one of the successor states of the Byzantine Empire founded after the Fourth Crusade in 1204, until its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1461. The rulers of Trebizond called themselves Megas Komnenos and – like their counterparts in the other two Byzantine successor states, the Empire of Nicaea and the Despotate of Epirus – initially claimed supremacy as "Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans". However, after Michael VIII Palaiologos of Nicaea recaptured Constantinople in 1261, the Komnenian use of the style "Emperor" became a sore point. In September 1282, at Constantinople, John II of Trebizond relinquished his claim and accepted the title despot. His successors used a variant of the imperial title, "Emperor and Autocrat of all the East, the Iberians, and the Transmarine Provinces" until the Empire's end in 1461.
|
| Emperors of Thessalonica (list) | The emperors of Thessalonica were the rulers of the Empire of Thessalonica, a historiographic term to refer to the short-lived state centred on the city of Thessalonica between 1224 and 1246 (sensu stricto until 1242) and ruled by the Komnenodoukas of Epirus.
|
| Despots of Epirus (list) | The despot of Epirus was the ruler of the Despotate of Epirus, one of the successor states of the Byzantine Empire in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade. The name "Despotate of Epirus" is a modern historiographical name and was not used at the time.
Some rulers used the version "despot of Romania" (Romania essentially referring to the territories of the Roman Empire, i.e. Byzantium) or "despot of the Romans" (claiming rulership over the Romans, i.e. the Byzantines/Greeks). |
| Ottoman sultans (list) | Based on the concept of right of conquest, the sultans of the Ottoman Empire claimed to be the legitimate Roman Emperors, in succession to the Byzantine emperors who had previously ruled from Constantinople. This claim was recognized by the Islamic world, but was never recognized by the Western Europeans. See Ottoman claim to Roman succession |
- List of Roman empresses – for a list of the consorts of the Roman emperors
- Burial places of Roman emperors – for a list of the burial places of the Roman emperors
- List of Roman consuls – for a list of the consuls who held power during the Roman Republic and who continued to be appointed in imperial times
- List of Roman dictators – for a list of dictators during the Roman Republic
- List of Roman dynasties – for a list of the many dynasties that ruled the Roman Empire
- Family tree of Roman emperors – for a concise family tree of emperors and their immediate family (27 BC–518 AD)
- Family tree of Byzantine emperors – for a concise family tree of emperors and their immediate family (337–1453)
- List of Roman emperors".
*Encyclopædia Britannica*
" - List of Roman emperors".
*Livius.org*
" - List of Rulers of the Roman Empire".
*Metropolitan Museum of Art* "
- Foster, Russell (2015).
*Mapping European Empire: Tabulae imperii Europaei*. Oxford: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-3157-4475-9. - Giesey, Ralph E. (1960).
*The Royal Funeral Ceremony in Renaissance France*. Geneva: Librairie Droz. - Harris, Jonathan (2013). "Despots, Emperors, and Balkan Identity in Exile".
*The Sixteenth Century Journal*.**44**(3): 643–661. doi:10.1086/SCJ24244808. JSTOR 24244808. - Potter, David (1995).
*A History of France, 1460–1560: The Emergence of a Nation State*. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-3121-2480-9. - Setton, Kenneth M. (1978).
*The Papacy and the Levant (1204–1571), Volume II: The Fifteenth Century*. Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society. ISBN 0-87169-127-2.
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# Bivalvia - Wikipedia
| Bivalvia Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
"Acephala", from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur (1904)
| |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Bivalvia Linnaeus, 1758 |
| Subclasses | |
**Bivalvia** (**bivalves**, in previous centuries referred to as the **Lamellibranchiata** and **Pelecypoda**, is a class of aquatic molluscs (marine and freshwater) that have laterally compressed soft bodies enclosed by a calcified exoskeleton consisting of a hinged pair of half-shells known as valves. As a group, bivalves have no head and lack some typical molluscan organs such as the radula and the odontophore. Their gills have evolved into ctenidia, specialised organs for feeding and breathing.
Common bivalves include clams, oysters, cockles, mussels, scallops, and numerous other families that live in saltwater, as well as a number of families that live in freshwater. Majority of the class are benthic filter feeders that bury themselves in sediment, where they are relatively safe from predation. Others lie on the sea floor or attach themselves to rocks or other hard surfaces. Some bivalves, such as scallops and file shells, can swim. Shipworms bore into wood, clay, or stone and live inside these substances.
The shell of a bivalve is composed of calcium carbonate, and consists of two, usually similar, parts called valves. These valves are for feeding and for disposal of waste. These are joined together along one edge (the hinge line) by a flexible ligament that, usually in conjunction with interlocking "teeth" on each of the valves, forms the hinge. This arrangement allows the shell to be opened and closed without the two halves detaching. The shell is typically bilaterally symmetrical, with the hinge lying in the sagittal plane. Adult shell sizes of bivalves vary from fractions of a millimetre to over a metre in length, but the majority of species do not exceed 10 cm (4 in).
Bivalves have long been a part of the diet of coastal and riparian human populations. Oysters were cultured in ponds by the Romans, and mariculture has more recently become an important source of bivalves for food. Modern knowledge of molluscan reproductive cycles has led to the development of hatcheries and new culture techniques. A better understanding of the potential hazards of eating raw or undercooked shellfish has led to improved storage and processing. Pearl oysters (the common name of two very different families in salt water and fresh water) are the most common source of natural pearls. The shells of bivalves are used in craftwork, and the manufacture of jewellery and buttons. Bivalves have also been used in the biocontrol of pollution.
Bivalves appear in the fossil record first in the early Cambrian more than 500 million years ago. The total number of known living species is about 9,200. These species are placed within 1,260 genera and 106 families. Marine bivalves (including brackish water and estuarine species) represent about 8,000 species, combined in four subclasses and 99 families with 1,100 genera. The largest recent marine families are the Veneridae, with more than 680 species and the Tellinidae and Lucinidae, each with over 500 species. The freshwater bivalves include seven families, the largest of which are the Unionidae, with about 700 species.
The taxonomic term Bivalvia was first used by Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his *Systema Naturae* in 1758 to refer to animals having shells composed of two valves. More recently, the class was known as Pelecypoda, meaning "axe-foot" (based on the shape of the foot of the animal when extended).
The name "bivalve" is derived from the Latin *bis*, meaning 'two', and *valvae*, meaning 'leaves of a door'. ("Leaf" is an older word for the main, movable part of a door. We normally consider this the door itself.) Paired shells have evolved independently several times among animals that are not bivalves; other animals with paired valves include certain gastropods (small sea snails in the family Juliidae), members of the phylum Brachiopoda and the minute crustaceans known as ostracods and conchostracans.
Bivalves have bilaterally symmetrical and laterally flattened bodies, with a blade-shaped foot, vestigial head and no radula. At the dorsal or back region of the shell is the hinge point or line, which contain the umbo and beak and the lower, curved margin is the ventral or underside region. The anterior or front of the shell is where the byssus (when present) and foot are located, and the posterior of the shell is where the siphons are located. With the hinge uppermost and with the anterior edge of the animal towards the viewer's left, the valve facing the viewer is the left valve and the opposing valve the right. Many bivalves such as clams, which appear upright, are evolutionarily lying on their side.
The shell is composed of two calcareous valves held together by a ligament. The valves are made of either calcite, as is the case in oysters, or both calcite and aragonite. Sometimes, the aragonite forms an inner, nacreous layer, as is the case in the order Pteriida. In other taxa, alternate layers of calcite and aragonite are laid down. The ligament and byssus, if calcified, are composed of aragonite. The outermost layer of the shell is the periostracum, a thin layer composed of horny conchiolin. The periostracum is secreted by the outer mantle and is easily abraded. The outer surface of the valves is often sculpted, with clams often having concentric striations, scallops having radial ribs and oysters a latticework of irregular markings.
In all molluscs, the mantle forms a thin membrane that covers the animal's body and extends out from it in flaps or lobes. In bivalves, the mantle lobes secrete the valves, and the mantle crest secretes the whole hinge mechanism consisting of ligament, byssus threads (where present), and teeth. The posterior mantle edge may have two elongated extensions known as siphons, through one of which water is inhaled, and the other expelled. The siphons retract into a cavity, known as the pallial sinus.
The shell grows larger when more material is secreted by the mantle edge, and the valves themselves thicken as more material is secreted from the general mantle surface. Calcareous matter comes from both its diet and the surrounding seawater. Concentric rings on the exterior of a valve are commonly used to age bivalves. For some groups, a more precise method for determining the age of a shell is by cutting a cross section through it and examining the incremental growth bands.
The shipworms, in the family Teredinidae have greatly elongated bodies, but their shell valves are much reduced and restricted to the anterior end of the body, where they function as scraping organs that permit the animal to dig tunnels through wood.
The main muscular system in bivalves is the posterior and anterior adductor muscles. These muscles connect the two valves and contract to close the shell. The valves are also joined dorsally by the hinge ligament, which is an extension of the periostracum. The ligament is responsible for opening the shell, and works against the adductor muscles when the animal opens and closes. Retractor muscles connect the mantle to the edge of the shell, along a line known as the pallial line. These muscles pull the mantle though the valves.
In sedentary or recumbent bivalves that lie on one valve, such as the oysters and scallops, the anterior adductor muscle has been lost and the posterior muscle is positioned centrally. In species that can swim by flapping their valves, a single, central adductor muscle occurs. These muscles are composed of two types of muscle fibres, striated muscle bundles for fast actions and smooth muscle bundles for maintaining a steady pull. Paired pedal protractor and retractor muscles operate the animal's foot.
The sedentary habits of the bivalves have meant that in general the nervous system is less complex than in most other molluscs. The animals have no brain; the nervous system consists of a nerve network and a series of paired ganglia. In all but the most primitive bivalves, two cerebropleural ganglia are on either side of the oesophagus. The cerebral ganglia control the sensory organs, while the pleural ganglia supply nerves to the mantle cavity. The pedal ganglia, which control the foot, are at its base, and the visceral ganglia, which can be quite large in swimming bivalves, are under the posterior adductor muscle. These ganglia are both connected to the cerebropleural ganglia by nerve fibres. Bivalves with long siphons may also have siphonal ganglia to control them.
The sensory organs of bivalves are largely located on the posterior mantle margins. The organs are usually mechanoreceptors or chemoreceptors, in some cases located on short tentacles. The osphradium is a patch of sensory cells located below the posterior adductor muscle that may serve to taste the water or measure its turbidity. Statocysts within the organism help the bivalve to sense and correct its orientation. In the order Anomalodesmata, the inhalant siphon is surrounded by vibration-sensitive tentacles for detecting prey. Many bivalves have no eyes, but a few members of the Arcoidea, Limopsoidea, Mytiloidea, Anomioidea, Ostreoidea, and Limoidea have simple eyes on the margin of the mantle. These consist of a pit of photosensory cells and a lens. Scallops have more complex eyes with a lens, a two-layered retina, and a concave mirror. All bivalves have light-sensitive cells that can detect a shadow falling over the animal.
Bivalves have an open circulatory system that bathes the organs in blood (hemolymph). The heart has three chambers: two auricles receiving blood from the gills, and a single ventricle. The ventricle is muscular and pumps hemolymph into the aorta, and then to the rest of the body. Some bivalves have a single aorta, but most also have a second, usually smaller, aorta serving the hind parts of the animal. The hemolymph usually lacks any respiratory pigment. In the carnivorous genus *Poromya*, the hemolymph has red amoebocytes containing a haemoglobin pigment.
The paired gills are located posteriorly and consist of hollow tube-like filaments with thin walls for gas exchange. The respiratory demands of bivalves are low, due to their relative inactivity. Some freshwater species, when exposed to the air, can gape the shell slightly and gas exchange can take place. Oysters, including the Pacific oyster (*Magallana gigas*), are recognized as having varying metabolic responses to environmental stress, with changes in respiration rate being frequently observed.
Most bivalves are filter feeders, using their gills to capture particulate food such as phytoplankton from the water. Protobranchs feed in a different way, scraping detritus from the seabed, and this may be the original mode of feeding used by all bivalves before the gills became adapted for filter feeding. These primitive bivalves hold on to the bottom with a pair of tentacles at the edge of the mouth, each of which has a single palp, or flap. The tentacles are covered in mucus, which traps the food, and cilia, which transport the particles back to the palps. These then sort the particles, rejecting those that are unsuitable or too large to digest, and conveying others to the mouth.
In more advanced bivalves, water is drawn into the shell from the posterior ventral surface of the animal, passes upwards through the gills, and doubles back to be expelled just above the intake. There may be two elongated, retractable siphons reaching up to the seabed, one each for the inhalant and exhalant streams of water. The gills of filter-feeding bivalves are known as ctenidia and have become highly modified to increase their ability to capture food. For example, the cilia on the gills, which originally served to remove unwanted sediment, have become adapted to capture food particles, and transport them in a steady stream of mucus to the mouth. The filaments of the gills are also much longer than those in more primitive bivalves, and are folded over to create a groove through which food can be transported. The structure of the gills varies considerably, and can serve as a useful means for classifying bivalves into groups.
A few bivalves, such as the granular poromya (*Poromya granulata*), are carnivorous, eating much larger prey than the tiny microalgae consumed by other bivalves. Muscles draw water in through the inhalant siphon which is modified into a cowl-shaped organ, sucking in prey. The siphon can be retracted quickly and inverted, bringing the prey within reach of the mouth. The gut is modified so that large food particles can be digested.
The unusual genus, *Entovalva*, is endosymbiotic, being found only in the oesophagus of sea cucumbers. It has mantle folds that completely surround its small valves. When the sea cucumber sucks in sediment, the bivalve allows the water to pass over its gills and extracts fine organic particles. To prevent itself from being swept away, it attaches itself with byssal threads to the host's throat. The sea cucumber is unharmed.
The digestive tract of typical bivalves consists of an oesophagus, stomach, and intestine. Protobranch stomachs have a mere sac attached to them while filter-feeding bivalves have elongated rod of solidified mucus referred to as the "crystalline style" projected into the stomach from an associated sac. Cilia in the sac cause the style to rotate, winding in a stream of food-containing mucus from the mouth, and churning the stomach contents. This constant motion propels food particles into a sorting region at the rear of the stomach, which distributes smaller particles into the digestive glands, and heavier particles into the intestine. Waste material is consolidated in the rectum and voided as pellets into the exhalent water stream through an anal pore. Feeding and digestion are synchronized with diurnal and tidal cycles.
Carnivorous bivalves generally have reduced crystalline styles and the stomach has thick, muscular walls, extensive cuticular linings and diminished sorting areas and gastric chamber sections.
The excretory organs of bivalves are a pair of nephridia. Each of these consists of a long, looped, glandular tube, which opens into the pericardium, and a bladder to store urine. They also have pericardial glands either line the auricles of the heart or attach to the pericardium, and serve as extra filtration organs. Metabolic waste is voided from the bladders through a nephridiopore near the front of the upper part of the mantle cavity and excreted.
The sexes are usually separate in bivalves but some hermaphroditism is known. The gonads either open into the nephridia or through a separate pore into a chamber over the gills. The ripe gonads of males and females release sperm and eggs into the water column. Spawning may take place continually or be triggered by environmental factors such as day length, water temperature, or the presence of sperm in the water. Some species are "dribble spawners", releasing gametes during protracted period that can extend for weeks. Others are mass spawners and release their gametes in batches or all at once.
Fertilization is usually external. Typically, a short stage lasts a few hours or days before the eggs hatch into trochophore larvae. These later develop into veliger larvae which settle on the seabed and undergo metamorphosis into adults. In some species, such as those in the genus *Lasaea*, females draw water containing sperm in through their inhalant siphons and fertilization takes place inside the female. These species then brood the young inside their mantle cavity, eventually releasing them into the water column as veliger larvae or as crawl-away juveniles.
Most of the bivalve larvae that hatch from eggs in the water column feed on diatoms or other phytoplankton. In temperate regions, about 25% of species are lecithotrophic, depending on nutrients stored in the yolk of the egg where the main energy source is lipids. The longer the period is before the larva first feeds, the larger the egg and yolk need to be. The reproductive cost of producing these energy-rich eggs is high and they are usually smaller in number. For example, the Baltic tellin (*Macoma balthica*) produces few, high-energy eggs. The larvae hatching out of these rely on the energy reserves and do not feed. After about four days, they become D-stage larvae, when they first develop hinged, D-shaped valves. These larvae have a relatively small dispersal potential before settling out. The common mussel (*Mytilus edulis*) produces 10 times as many eggs that hatch into larvae and soon need to feed to survive and grow. They can disperse more widely as they remain planktonic for a much longer time.
Freshwater bivalves have different lifecycle. Sperm is drawn into a female's gills with the inhalant water and internal fertilization takes place. The eggs hatch into glochidia larvae that develop within the female's shell. Later they are released and attach themselves parasitically to the gills or fins of a fish host. After several weeks they drop off their host, undergo metamorphosis and develop into adults on the substrate.
Some of the species in the freshwater mussel family, Unionidae, commonly known as pocketbook mussels, have evolved an unusual reproductive strategy. The female's mantle protrudes from the shell and develops into an imitation small fish, complete with fish-like markings and false eyes. This decoy moves in the current and attracts the attention of real fish. Some fish see the decoy as prey, while others see a conspecific. They approach for a closer look and the mussel releases huge numbers of larvae from its gills, dousing the inquisitive fish with its tiny, parasitic young. These glochidia larvae are drawn into the fish's gills, where they attach and trigger a tissue response that forms a small cyst around each larva. The larvae then feed by breaking down and digesting the tissue of the fish within the cysts. After a few weeks they release themselves from the cysts and fall to the stream bed as juvenile molluscs.
Brachiopods are shelled marine organisms that superficially resemble bivalves in that they are of similar size and have a hinged shell in two parts. However, brachiopods evolved from a very different ancestral line, and the resemblance to bivalves only arose because they occupy similar ecological niches. The differences between the two groups are due to their separate ancestral origins. Different initial structures have been adapted to solve the same problems, a case of convergent evolution. In modern times, brachiopods are not as common as bivalves.
Both groups have a shell consisting of two valves, but the organization of the shell is quite different in the two groups. In brachiopods, the two valves are positioned on the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the body, while in bivalves, the valves are on the left and right sides of the body, and are, in most cases, mirror images of one other. Brachiopods have a lophophore, a coiled, rigid cartilaginous internal apparatus adapted for filter feeding, a feature shared with two other major groups of marine invertebrates, the bryozoans and the phoronids. Some brachiopod shells are made of calcium phosphate but most are calcium carbonate in the form of the biomineral calcite, whereas bivalve shells are always composed entirely of calcium carbonate, often in the form of the biomineral aragonite.
The Cambrian explosion took place around 540 to 520 million years ago (Mya). In this geologically brief period, most major animal phyla diverged including some of the first creatures with mineralized skeletons. Brachiopods and bivalves made their appearance at this time, and left their fossilized remains behind in the rocks.
Possible early bivalves include *Pojetaia* and *Fordilla*; these probably lie in the stem rather than crown group. *Watsonella* and *Anabarella* are perceived to be (earlier) close relatives of these taxa. Only five genera of supposed Cambrian "bivalves" exist, the others being *Tuarangia*, *Camya* and *Arhouriella* and potentially *Buluniella*.
Bivalve fossils can be formed when the sediment in which the shells are buried hardens into rock. Often, the impression made by the valves remains as the fossil rather than the valves. During the Early Ordovician, a great increase in the diversity of bivalve species occurred, and the dysodont, heterodont, and taxodont dentitions evolved. By the Early Silurian, the gills were becoming adapted for filter feeding, and during the Devonian and Carboniferous periods, siphons first appeared, which, with the newly developed muscular foot, allowed the animals to bury themselves deep in the sediment.
By the middle of the Paleozoic, around 400 Mya, the brachiopods were among the most abundant filter feeders in the ocean, and over 12,000 fossil species are recognized. By the Permian–Triassic extinction event 250 Mya, bivalves were undergoing a huge radiation of diversity. The bivalves were hard hit by this event, but re-established themselves and thrived during the Triassic period that followed. In contrast, the brachiopods lost 95% of their species diversity. The ability of some bivalves to burrow and thus avoid predators may have been a major factor in their success. Other new adaptations within various families allowed species to occupy previously unused evolutionary niches. These included increasing relative buoyancy in soft sediments by developing spines on the shell, gaining the ability to swim, and in a few cases, adopting predatory habits.
For a long time, bivalves were thought to be better adapted to aquatic life than brachiopods were, outcompeting and relegating them to minor niches in later ages. These two taxa appeared in textbooks as an example of replacement by competition. Evidence given for this included the fact that bivalves needed less food to subsist because of their energetically efficient ligament-muscle system for opening and closing valves. All this has been broadly disproven, though; rather, the prominence of modern bivalves over brachiopods seems due to chance disparities in their response to extinction events.
The adult maximum size of living species of bivalve ranges from 0.52 mm (0.02 in) in *Condylonucula maya*, a nut clam, to a length of 1,532 millimetres (60.3 in) in *Kuphus polythalamia*, an elongated, burrowing shipworm. However, the species generally regarded as the largest living bivalve is the giant clam *Tridacna gigas*, which can grow to a length of 1,200 mm (47 in) and a weight of more than 200 kg (441 lb). The largest known extinct bivalve is a species of *Platyceramus* whose fossils measure up to 3,000 mm (118 in) in length.
In his 2010 treatise, *Compendium of Bivalves*, Markus Huber gives the total number of living bivalve species as about 9,200 combined in 106 families. Huber states that the number of 20,000 living species, often encountered in literature, could not be verified and presents the following table to illustrate the known diversity:
| Subclass | Superfamilies | Families | Genera | Species |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heterodonta | 64 (incl. 1 freshwater)
|
800 (16 freshwater)
|
5600 (270 freshwater)
| |
| Arcticoidea | 2 | |||
| Cardioidea | 2 | |||
| Chamoidea | 1 | |||
| Clavagelloidea | 1 | |||
| Crassatelloidea | 5 | |||
| Cuspidarioidea | 2 | |||
| Cyamioidea | 3 | |||
| Cyrenoidea | 1 | |||
| Cyrenoidoidea | 1 | |||
| Dreissenoidea | 1 | |||
| Galeommatoidea | ca. 4 | |||
| Gastrochaenoidea | 1 | |||
| Glossoidea | 2 | |||
| Hemidonacoidea | 1 | |||
| Hiatelloidea | 1 | |||
| Limoidea | 1 | |||
| Lucinoidea | 2 | |||
| Mactroidea | 4 | |||
| Myoidea | 3 | |||
| Pandoroidea | 7 | |||
| Pholadoidea | 2 | |||
| Pholadomyoidea | 2 | |||
| Solenoidea | 2 | |||
| Sphaerioidea | (1 freshwater) | |||
| Tellinoidea | 5 | |||
| Thyasiroidea | 1 | |||
| Ungulinoidea | 1 | |||
| Veneroidea | 4 | |||
| Verticordioidea | 2 | |||
| Palaeoheterodonta | 7 (incl. 6 freshwater)
|
171 (170 freshwater)
|
908 (900 freshwater)
| |
| Trigonioidea | 1 | |||
| Unionoidea | (6 freshwater) | |||
| Protobranchia | 10
|
49
|
700
| |
| Manzanelloidea | 1 | |||
| Nuculanoidea | 6 | |||
| Nuculoidea | 1 | |||
| Sareptoidea | 1 | |||
| Solemyoidea | 1 | |||
| Pteriomorphia | 25
|
240 (2 freshwater)
|
2000 (11 freshwater)
| |
| Anomioidea | 2 | |||
| Arcoidea | 7 | |||
| Dimyoidea | 1 | |||
| Limoidea | 1 | |||
| Mytiloidea | 1 | |||
| Ostreoidea | 2 | |||
| Pectinoidea | 4 | |||
| Pinnoidea | 1 | |||
| Plicatuloidea | 1 | |||
| Pterioidea | 5 |
The bivalves are a highly successful class of invertebrates found in aquatic habitats throughout the world. Most are infaunal and live buried in sediment on the seabed, or in the sediment in freshwater habitats. A large number of bivalve species are found in the intertidal and sublittoral zones of the oceans. A sandy sea beach may superficially appear to be devoid of life, but often a very large number of bivalves and other invertebrates are living beneath the surface of the sand. On a large beach in South Wales, careful sampling produced an estimate of 1.44 million cockles (*Cerastoderma edule*) per acre of beach.
Bivalves inhabit the tropics, as well as temperate and boreal waters. A number of species can survive and even flourish in extreme conditions. They are abundant in the Arctic, about 140 species being known from that zone. The Antarctic scallop, *Adamussium colbecki*, lives under the sea ice at the other end of the globe, where the subzero temperatures mean that growth rates are very slow. The giant mussel, *Bathymodiolus thermophilus*, and the giant white clam, *Calyptogena magnifica*, both live clustered around hydrothermal vents at abyssal depths in the Pacific Ocean. They have chemosymbiotic bacteria in their gills that oxidise hydrogen sulphide, and the molluscs absorb nutrients synthesized by these bacteria. Some species are found in the hadal zone, like Vesicomya sergeevi, which occurs at depths of 7600–9530 meters. The saddle oyster, *Enigmonia aenigmatica*, is a marine species that could be considered amphibious. It lives above the high tide mark in the tropical Indo-Pacific on the underside of mangrove leaves, on mangrove branches, and on sea walls in the splash zone.
Some freshwater bivalves have very restricted ranges. For example, the Ouachita creekshell mussel, *Villosa arkansasensis*, is known only from the streams of the Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas and Oklahoma, and like several other freshwater mussel species from the southeastern US, it is in danger of extinction. In contrast, a few species of freshwater bivalves, including the golden mussel (*Limnoperna fortunei*), are dramatically increasing their ranges. The golden mussel has spread from Southeast Asia to Argentina, where it has become an invasive species. Another well-travelled freshwater bivalve, the zebra mussel (*Dreissena polymorpha*) originated in southeastern Russia, and has been accidentally introduced to inland waterways in North America and Europe, where the species damages water installations and disrupts local ecosystems.
Most bivalves adopt a sedentary or even sessile lifestyle, often spending their whole lives in the area in which they first settled as juveniles. The majority of bivalves are infaunal, living under the seabed, buried in soft substrates such as sand, silt, mud, gravel, or coral fragments. Many of these live in the intertidal zone where the sediment remains damp even when the tide is out. When buried in the sediment, burrowing bivalves are protected from the pounding of waves, desiccation, and overheating during low tide, and variations in salinity caused by rainwater. They are also out of the reach of many predators. Their general strategy is to extend their siphons to the surface for feeding and respiration during high tide, but to descend to greater depths or keep their shell tightly shut when the tide goes out. They use their muscular foot to dig into the substrate. To do this, the animal relaxes its adductor muscles and opens its shell wide to anchor itself in position while it extends its foot downwards into the substrate. Then it dilates the tip of its foot, retracts the adductor muscles to close the shell, shortens its foot and draws itself downwards. This series of actions is repeated to dig deeper.
Other bivalves, such as mussels, attach themselves to hard surfaces using tough byssus threads made of collagen and elastin proteins. Some species, including the true oysters, the jewel boxes, the jingle shells, the thorny oysters and the kitten's paws, cement themselves to stones, rock or larger dead shells. In oysters, the lower valve may be almost flat while the upper valve develops layer upon layer of thin horny material reinforced with calcium carbonate. Oysters sometimes occur in dense beds in the neritic zone and, like most bivalves, are filter feeders.
Bivalves filter large amounts of water to feed and breathe but they are not permanently open. They regularly shut their valves to enter a resting state, even when they are permanently submerged. In oysters, for example, their behaviour follows very strict circatidal and circadian rhythms according to the relative positions of the moon and sun. During neap tides, they exhibit much longer closing periods than during spring tides.
Although many non-sessile bivalves use their muscular foot to move around, or to dig, members of the freshwater family Sphaeriidae are exceptional in that these small clams climb about quite nimbly on weeds using their long and flexible foot. The European fingernail clam (*Sphaerium corneum*), for example, climbs around on water weeds at the edges of lakes and ponds; this enables the clam to find the best position for filter feeding.
The thick shell and rounded shape of bivalves make them awkward for potential predators to tackle. Nevertheless, a number of different creatures include them in their diet. Many species of demersal fish feed on them including the common carp (*Cyprinus carpio*), which is being used in the upper Mississippi River to try to control the invasive zebra mussel (*Dreissena polymorpha*). Birds such as the Eurasian oystercatcher (*Haematopus ostralegus*) have specially adapted beaks which can pry open their shells. The herring gull (*Larus argentatus*) sometimes drops heavy shells onto rocks in order to crack them open. Sea otters feed on a variety of bivalve species and have been observed to use stones balanced on their chests as anvils on which to crack open the shells. The Pacific walrus (*Odobenus rosmarus divergens*) is one of the main predators feeding on bivalves in Arctic waters. Shellfish have formed part of the human diet since prehistoric times, a fact evidenced by the remains of mollusc shells found in ancient middens. Examinations of these deposits in Peru has provided a means of dating long past El Niño events because of the disruption these caused to bivalve shell growth. Further changes in shell development due to environmental stress has also been suggested to cause increased mortality in oysters due to reduced shell strength.
Invertebrate predators include crustaceans, starfish and octopuses. Crustaceans crack the shells with their pincers and starfish use their water vascular system to force the valves apart and then insert part of their stomach between the valves to digest the bivalve's body. It has been found experimentally that both crabs and starfish preferred molluscs that are attached by byssus threads to ones that are cemented to the substrate. This was probably because they could manipulate the shells and open them more easily when they could tackle them from different angles. Octopuses either pull bivalves apart by force, or they bore a hole into the shell and insert a digestive fluid before sucking out the liquified contents. Certain carnivorous gastropod snails such as whelks (Buccinidae) and murex snails (Muricidae) feed on bivalves by boring into their shells. A dog whelk (*Nucella*) drills a hole with its radula assisted by a shell-dissolving secretion. The dog whelk then inserts its extendible proboscis and sucks out the body contents of the victim, which is typically a blue mussel.
Razor shells can dig themselves into the sand with great speed to escape predation. When a Pacific razor clam (*Siliqua patula*) is laid on the surface of the beach, it can bury itself completely in seven seconds and the Atlantic jackknife clam, *Ensis directus*, can do the same within fifteen seconds. Scallops and file clams can swim by opening and closing their valves rapidly; water is ejected on either side of the hinge area and they move with the flapping valves in front. Scallops have simple eyes around the margin of the mantle and can clap their valves shut to move sharply, hinge first, to escape from danger. Cockles can use their foot to move across the seabed or leap away from threats. The foot is first extended before being contracted suddenly when it acts like a spring, projecting the animal forwards.
In many bivalves that have siphons, they can be retracted back into the safety of the shell. If the siphons inadvertently get attacked by a predator, in some cases, they snap off. The animal can regenerate them later, a process that starts when the cells close to the damaged site become activated and remodel the tissue back to its pre-existing form and size. In some other cases, it does not snap off. If the siphon is exposed, it is the key for a predatory fish to obtain the entire body. This tactic has been observed against bivalves with an infaunal lifestyle.
File shells such as *Limaria fragilis* can produce a noxious secretion when stressed. It has numerous tentacles which fringe its mantle and protrude some distance from the shell when it is feeding. If attacked, it sheds tentacles in a process known as autotomy. The toxin released by this is distasteful and the detached tentacles continue to writhe which may also serve to distract potential predators.
Oysters, mussels, clams, scallops and other bivalve species are grown with food materials that occur naturally in their culture environment in the sea and lagoons. One-third of the world's farmed food fish harvested in 2010 was achieved without the use of feed, through the production of bivalves and filter-feeding carps. European flat oysters (*Ostrea edulis*) were first farmed by the Romans in shallow ponds and similar techniques are still in use. Seed oysters are either raised in a hatchery or harvested from the wild. Hatchery production provides some control of the broodstock but remains problematic because disease-resistant strains of this oyster have not yet been developed. Wild spats are harvested either by broadcasting empty mussel shells on the seabed or by the use of long, small-mesh nets filled with mussel shells supported on steel frames. The oyster larvae preferentially settle out on the mussel shells. Juvenile oysters are then grown on in nursery trays and are transferred to open waters when they reach 5 to 6 millimetres (0.20 to 0.24 in) in length.
Many juveniles are further reared off the seabed in suspended rafts, on floating trays or cemented to ropes. Here they are largely free from bottom-dwelling predators such as starfish and crabs but more labour is required to tend them. They can be harvested by hand when they reach a suitable size. Other juveniles are laid directly on the seabed at the rate of 50 to 100 kilograms (110 to 220 lb) per hectare. They grow on for about two years before being harvested by dredging. Survival rates are low at about 5%.
The Pacific oyster (*Crassostrea gigas*) is cultivated by similar methods but in larger volumes and in many more regions of the world. This oyster originated in Japan where it has been cultivated for many centuries. It is an estuarine species and prefers salinities of 20 to 25 parts per thousand. Breeding programmes have produced improved stock that is available from hatcheries. A single female oyster can produce 50–80 million eggs in a batch so the selection of broodstock is of great importance. The larvae are grown on in tanks of static or moving water. They are fed high quality microalgae and diatoms and grow fast. At metamorphosis the juveniles may be allowed to settle on PVC sheets or pipes, or crushed shell. In some cases, they continue their development in "upwelling culture" in large tanks of moving water rather than being allowed to settle on the bottom. They then may be transferred to transitional, nursery beds before being moved to their final rearing quarters. Culture there takes place on the bottom, in plastic trays, in mesh bags, on rafts or on long lines, either in shallow water or in the intertidal zone. The oysters are ready for harvesting in 18 to 30 months depending on the size required.
Similar techniques are used in different parts of the world to cultivate other species including the Sydney rock oyster (*Saccostrea commercialis*), the northern quahog (*Mercenaria mercenaria*), the blue mussel (*Mytilus edulis*), the Mediterranean mussel (*Mytilus galloprovincialis*), the New Zealand green-lipped mussel (*Perna canaliculus*), the grooved carpet shell (*Ruditapes decussatus*), the Japanese carpet shell (*Venerupis philippinarum*), the pullet carpet shell (*Venerupis pullastra*) and the Yesso scallop (*Patinopecten yessoensis*).
Production of bivalve molluscs by mariculture in 2010 was 12,913,199 tons, up from 8,320,724 tons in 2000. Culture of clams, cockles and ark shells more than doubled over this time period from 2,354,730 to 4,885,179 tons. Culture of mussels over the same period grew from 1,307,243 to 1,812,371 tons, of oysters from 3,610,867 to 4,488,544 tons and of scallops from 1,047,884 to 1,727,105 tons.
Bivalves have been an important source of food for humans at least since Roman times and empty shells found in middens at archaeological sites are evidence of earlier consumption. Oysters, scallops, clams, ark clams, mussels and cockles are the most commonly consumed kinds of bivalve, and are eaten cooked or raw. In 1950, the year in which the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) started making such information available, world trade in bivalve molluscs was 1,007,419 tons. By 2010, world trade in bivalves had risen to 14,616,172 tons, up from 10,293,607 tons a decade earlier. The figures included 5,554,348 (3,152,826) tons of clams, cockles and ark shells, 1,901,314 (1,568,417) tons of mussels, 4,592,529 (3,858,911) tons of oysters and 2,567,981 (1,713,453) tons of scallops. China increased its consumption 400-fold during the period 1970 to 1997.
It has been known for more than a century that consumption of raw or insufficiently cooked shellfish can be associated with infectious diseases. These are caused either by bacteria naturally present in the sea such as *Vibrio spp.* or by viruses and bacteria from sewage effluent that sometimes contaminates coastal waters. As filter feeders, bivalves pass large quantities of water through their gills, filtering out the organic particles, including the microbial pathogens. These are retained in the animals' tissues and become concentrated in their liver-like digestive glands. Another possible source of contamination occurs when bivalves contain marine biotoxins as a result of ingesting numerous dinoflagellates. These microalgae are not associated with sewage but occur unpredictably as algal blooms. Large areas of a sea or lake may change colour as a result of the proliferation of millions of single-cell algae, and this condition is known as a red tide.
In 1816 in France, a physician, J. P. A. Pasquier, described an outbreak of typhoid linked to the consumption of raw oysters. The first report of this kind in the United States was in Connecticut in 1894. As sewage treatment programmes became more prevalent in the late 19th century, more outbreaks took place. This may have been because sewage was released through outlets into the sea providing more food for bivalves in estuaries and coastal habitats. A causal link between the bivalves and the illness was not easy to demonstrate because the illness might come on days or even weeks after the ingestion of the contaminated shellfish. One viral pathogen is the *Norwalk* virus. This is resistant to treatment with chlorine-containing chemicals and may be present in the marine environment even when coliform bacteria have been killed by the treatment of sewage.
Since the 1970s, outbreaks of oyster-vectored diseases have occurs throughout the world. The mortality rate of one disease causing bacteria *Vibrio vulnificus*, was high at 50%. In 1978, an oyster-associated gastrointestinal infection affecting more than 2,000 people occurred in Australia. The causative agent was found to be the *Norwalk* virus and the epidemic caused major economic difficulties to the oyster farming industry in the country. In 1988, an outbreak of hepatitis A associated with the consumption of inadequately cooked clams (*Anadara subcrenata*) took place in the Shanghai area of China. An estimated 290,000 people were infected and there were 47 deaths. In the United States and the European Union, since the early 1990s regulations have been in place that are designed to prevent shellfish from contaminated waters entering restaurants.
Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) is primarily caused by the consumption of bivalves that have accumulated toxins by feeding on toxic dinoflagellates, single-celled protists found naturally in the sea and inland waters. Saxitoxin is the most virulent of these. In mild cases, PSP causes tingling, numbness, sickness and diarrhoea. In more severe cases, the muscles of the chest wall may be affected leading to paralysis and even death. In 1937, researchers in California established the connection between blooms of these phytoplankton and PSP. The biotoxin remains potent even when the shellfish are well-cooked. In the United States, there is a regulatory limit of 80 μg/g of saxitoxin equivalent in shellfish meat.
Amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP) was first reported in eastern Canada in 1987. It is caused by the substance domoic acid found in certain diatoms of the genus *Pseudo-nitzschia*. Bivalves can become toxic when they filter these microalgae out of the water. Domoic acid is a low-molecular weight amino acid that is able to destroy brain cells causing memory loss, gastroenteritis, long-term neurological problems or death. In an outbreak in the western United States in 1993, finfish were also implicated as vectors, and seabirds and mammals suffered neurological symptoms. In the United States and Canada, a regulatory limit of 20 μg/g of domoic acid in shellfish meat is set.
Ecosystem services provided by marine bivalves in relation to nutrient extraction from the coastal environment have gained increased attention to mitigate adverse effects of excess nutrient loading from human activities, such as agriculture and sewage discharge. These activities damage coastal ecosystems and require action from local, regional, and national environmental management. Marine bivalves filter particles like phytoplankton, thereby transforming particulate organic matter into bivalve tissue or larger faecal pellets that are transferred to the benthos. Nutrient extraction from the coastal environment takes place through two different pathways: (i) harvest/removal of the bivalves – thereby returning nutrients back to land; or (ii) through increased denitrification in proximity to dense bivalve aggregations, leading to loss of nitrogen to the atmosphere. Active use of marine bivalves for nutrient extraction may include a number of secondary effects on the ecosystem, such as filtration of particulate material. This leads to partial transformation of particulate-bound nutrients into dissolved nutrients via bivalve excretion or enhanced mineralization of faecal material.
When they live in polluted waters, bivalve molluscs have a tendency to accumulate substances such as heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants in their tissues. This is because they ingest the chemicals as they feed but their enzyme systems are not capable of metabolising them and as a result, the levels build up. This may be a health hazard for the molluscs themselves, and is one for humans who eat them. It also has certain advantages in that bivalves can be used in monitoring the presence and quantity of pollutants in their environment.
There are limitations to the use of bivalves as bioindicators. The level of pollutants found in the tissues varies with species, age, size, time of year and other factors. The quantities of pollutants in the water may vary and the molluscs may reflect past rather than present values. In a study near Vladivostok it was found that the level of pollutants in the bivalve tissues did not always reflect the high levels in the surrounding sediment in such places as harbours. The reason for this was thought to be that the bivalves in these locations did not need to filter so much water as elsewhere because of the water's high nutritional content.
A study of nine different bivalves with widespread distributions in tropical marine waters concluded that the mussel, *Trichomya hirsuta*, most nearly reflected in its tissues the level of heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, Co, Ni, and Ag) in its environment. In this species there was a linear relationship between the sedimentary levels and the tissue concentration of all the metals except zinc. In the Persian Gulf, the Atlantic pearl-oyster (*Pinctada radiata*) is considered to be a useful bioindicator of heavy metals.
Crushed shells, available as a by-product of the seafood canning industry, can be used to remove pollutants from water. It has been found that, as long as the water is maintained at an alkaline pH, crushed shells will remove cadmium, lead and other heavy metals from contaminated waters by swapping the calcium in their constituent aragonite for the heavy metal, and retaining these pollutants in a solid form. The rock oyster (*Saccostrea cucullata*) has been shown to reduce the levels of copper and cadmium in contaminated waters in the Persian Gulf. The live animals acted as biofilters, selectively removing these metals, and the dead shells also had the ability to reduce their concentration.
Conchology is the scientific study of mollusc shells, but the term conchologist is also sometimes used to describe a collector of shells. Many people pick up shells on the beach or purchase them and display them in their homes. There are many private and public collections of mollusc shells, but the largest one in the world is at the Smithsonian Institution, which houses in excess of 20 million specimens.
Shells are used decoratively in many ways. They can be pressed into concrete or plaster to make decorative paths, steps or walls and can be used to embellish picture frames, mirrors or other craft items. They can be stacked up and glued together to make ornaments. They can be pierced and threaded onto necklaces or made into other forms of jewellery. Shells have had various uses in the past as body decorations, utensils, scrapers and cutting implements. Carefully cut and shaped shell tools dating back 32,000 years have been found in a cave in Indonesia. In this region, shell technology may have been developed in preference to the use of stone or bone implements, perhaps because of the scarcity of suitable rock materials.
The indigenous peoples of the Americas living near the east coast used pieces of shell as wampum. The channeled whelk (*Busycotypus canaliculatus*) and the quahog (*Mercenaria mercenaria*) were used to make white and purple traditional patterns. The shells were cut, rolled, polished and drilled before being strung together and woven into belts. These were used for personal, social and ceremonial purposes and also, at a later date, for currency. The Winnebago Tribe from Wisconsin had numerous uses for freshwater mussels including using them as spoons, cups, ladles and utensils. They notched them to provide knives, graters and saws. They carved them into fish hooks and lures. They incorporated powdered shell into clay to temper their pottery vessels. They used them as scrapers for removing flesh from hides and for separating the scalps of their victims. They used shells as scoops for gouging out fired logs when building canoes and they drilled holes in them and fitted wooden handles for tilling the ground.
Buttons have traditionally been made from a variety of freshwater and marine shells. At first they were used decoratively rather than as fasteners and the earliest known example dates back five thousand years and was found at Mohenjo-daro in the Indus Valley.
Sea silk is a fine fabric woven from the byssus threads of bivalves, particularly the pen shell (*Pinna nobilis*). It used to be produced in the Mediterranean region where these shells are endemic. It was an expensive fabric and overfishing has much reduced populations of the pen shell.
Crushed shells are added as a calcareous supplement to the diet of laying poultry. Oyster shell and cockle shell are often used for this purpose and are obtained as a by-product from other industries.
Mother-of-pearl or nacre is the naturally occurring lustrous layer that lines some mollusc shells. It is used to make pearl buttons and in artisan craftwork to make organic jewellery. It has traditionally been inlaid into furniture and boxes, particularly in China. It has been used to decorate musical instruments, watches, pistols, fans and other products. The import and export of goods made with nacre are controlled in many countries under the International Convention of Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
A pearl is created in the mantle of a mollusc when an irritant particle is surrounded by layers of nacre. Although most bivalves can create pearls, oysters in the family Pteriidae and freshwater mussels in the families Unionidae and Margaritiferidae are the main source of commercially available pearls because the calcareous concretions produced by most other species have no lustre. Finding pearls inside oysters is a very chancy business as hundreds of shells may need to be pried open before a single pearl can be found. Most pearls are now obtained from cultured shells where an irritant substance has been purposefully introduced to induce the formation of a pearl. A "mabe" (irregular) pearl can be grown by the insertion of an implant, usually made of plastic, under a flap of the mantle and next to the mother-of-pearl interior of the shell. A more difficult procedure is the grafting of a piece of oyster mantle into the gonad of an adult specimen together with the insertion of a shell bead nucleus. This produces a superior, spherical pearl. The animal can be opened to extract the pearl after about two years and reseeded so that it produces another pearl. Pearl oyster farming and pearl culture is an important industry in Japan and many other countries bordering the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
The scallop is the symbol of St James and is called *Coquille Saint-Jacques* in French. It is an emblem carried by pilgrims on their way to the shrine of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. The shell became associated with the pilgrimage and came to be used as a symbol showing hostelries along the route and later as a sign of hospitality, food and lodging elsewhere.
Roman myth has it that Venus, the goddess of love, was born in the sea and emerged accompanied by fish and dolphins, with Botticelli depicting her as arriving in a scallop shell. The Romans revered her and erected shrines in her honour in their gardens, praying to her to provide water and verdant growth. From this, the scallop and other bivalve shells came to be used as a symbol for fertility. Its depiction is used in architecture, furniture and fabric design and it is the logo of Royal Dutch Shell, the global oil and gas company.
For the past two centuries no consensus has existed on bivalve phylogeny from the many classifications developed. In earlier taxonomic systems, experts used a single characteristic feature for their classifications, choosing among shell morphology, hinge type or gill type. Conflicting naming schemes proliferated due to these taxonomies based on single organ systems. One of the most widely accepted systems was that put forward by Norman D. Newell in Part N of the *Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology*, which employed a classification system based on general shell shape, microstructures and hinge configuration. Because features such as hinge morphology, dentition, mineralogy, shell morphology and shell composition change slowly over time, these characteristics can be used to define major taxonomic groups.
Since the year 2000, taxonomic studies using cladistical analyses of multiple organ systems, shell morphology (including fossil species) and modern molecular phylogenetics have resulted in the drawing up of what experts believe is a more accurate phylogeny of the Bivalvia. Based upon these studies, a new proposed classification system for the Bivalvia was published in 2010 by Bieler, Carter & Coan. In 2012, this new system was adopted by the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) for the classification of the Bivalvia. Some experts still maintain that Anomalodesmacea should be considered a separate subclass, whereas the new system treats it as the order Anomalodesmata, within the subclass Heterodonta. Molecular phylogenetic work continues, further clarifying which Bivalvia are most closely related and thus refining the classification.
R.C. Moore, in Moore, Lalicker, and Fischer, 1952, *Invertebrate Fossils*, gives a practical and useful classification of pelecypods (Bivalvia) even if somewhat antiquated, based on shell structure, gill type, and hinge teeth configuration. Subclasses and orders given are:
- Subclass:Prionodesmacea
- Order
- Paleoconcha
- Taxodonta: Many teeth (e.g. order Nuculida)
- Schizodonta: Big bifurcating teeth (e.g.
*Trigonia*spp.) - Isodonta: Equal teeth (e.g.
*Spondylus*spp.) - Dysodonta: Absent teeth and ligaments joins the valves.
- Subclass:Teleodesmacea
- Order
- Heterodonta: Different teeth (e.g. family Cardiidae). [ Lower Ordovician – Recent]
- Pachydonta: Large, different, deformed teeth (e.g. rudist spp.). [ Late Jurassic – Upper Cretaceous]
- Desmodonta: Hinge-teeth absent or irregular with ligaments (e.g. family Anatinidae).
Prionodesmacea have a prismatic and nacreous shell structure, separated mantle lobes, poorly developed siphons, and hinge teeth that are lacking or unspecialized. Gills range from protobranch to eulamellibranch. Teleodesmacea on the other hand have a porcelanous and partly nacreous shell structure; Mantle lobes that are generally connected, well developed siphons, and specialized hinge teeth. In most, gills are eulamellibranch.
In his 1935 work *Handbuch der systematischen Weichtierkunde* (Handbook of Systematic Malacology), Johannes Thiele introduced a mollusc taxonomy based upon the 1909 work by Cossmann and Peyrot. Thiele's system divided the bivalves into three orders. *Taxodonta* consisted of forms that had taxodont dentition, with a series of small parallel teeth perpendicular to the hinge line. *Anisomyaria* consisted of forms that had either a single adductor muscle or one adductor muscle much smaller than the other. *Eulamellibranchiata* consisted of forms with ctenidial gills. The Eulamellibranchiata was further divided into four suborders: *Schizodonta*, *Heterodonta*, *Adapedonta* and *Anomalodesmata*.
The systematic layout presented here follows Newell's 1965 classification based on hinge tooth morphology (all taxa marked † are extinct) :
| Subclass | Order |
|---|---|
| Palaeotaxodonta | Nuculoida (nut shells) |
| Cryptodonta | † Praecardioida |
| Pteriomorphia | Arcoida (ark shells)
Limoida (file shells) |
| Palaeoheterodonta | Trigonioida (Neotrigonia is the only extant genus)
|
| Heterodonta | † Cycloconchidae
Myoida (soft-shell clams, geoducks, shipworms) Veneroida (hard-shell clams, cockles, razor shells) |
| Anomalodesmata | Pholadomyoida |
The monophyly of the subclass Anomalodesmata is disputed. The standard view now is that it resides within the subclass Heterodonta.
An alternative systematic scheme exists using gill morphology. This distinguishes between Protobranchia, Filibranchia and Eulamellibranchia. The first corresponds to Newell's Palaeotaxodonta and Cryptodonta, the second to his Pteriomorphia, with the last corresponding to all other groups. In addition, Franc separated the Septibranchia from his eulamellibranchs because of the morphological differences between them. The septibranchs belong to the superfamily Poromyoidea and are carnivorous, having a muscular septum instead of filamentous gills.
In May 2010, a new taxonomy of the Bivalvia was published in the journal *Malacologia*. In compiling this, the authors used a variety of phylogenetic information including molecular analysis, anatomical analysis, shell morphology and shell microstructure as well as bio-geographic, paleobiogeographic and stratigraphic information. In this classification 324 families are recognized as valid, 214 of which are known exclusively from fossils and 110 of which occur in the recent past, with or without a fossil record. This classification has since been adopted by WoRMS.
Proposed classification of **Class Bivalvia** (under the redaction of Rüdiger Bieler, Joseph G. Carter and Eugene V. Coan) (all taxa marked † are extinct) :
|
|
|
|
- Schneider, Jay A. (2001). "Bivalve systematics during the 20th century".
*Journal of Paleontology*.**75**(6): 1119–1127. Bibcode:2001JPal...75.1119S. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2001)075<1119:BSDTC>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0022-3360. - Poutiers, J.-M.; Bernard, F. R. (1995). "Carnivorous bivalve molluscs (Anomalodesmata) from the tropical western Pacific Ocean, with a proposed classification and a catalogue of recent species". In Bouchet, P. (ed.).
*Résultats des Campagnes Musorstom*. Mémoires Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. Vol. 167. pp. 107–188. - Vaught, K. C. (1989).
*A Classification of the Living Mollusca*. American Malacologists. ISBN 978-0-915826-22-3.
|
# Washington, D.C. - Wikipedia
Washington, D.C. | |
|---|---|
| District of Columbia | |
| Nickname(s): D.C., The District | |
Motto(s): Justitia Omnibus(English: Justice for All) | |
| Anthem: "Washington" | |
| Coordinates: | |
| Country | United States |
| Residence Act | July 16, 1790 |
| Organized | February 27, 1801 |
| Consolidated | February 21, 1871 |
| Home Rule Act | December 24, 1973 |
| Named after | |
| Government | |
| • Type | Mayor–council |
| • Mayor | Muriel Bowser (D) |
| • D.C. Council | |
| • U.S. House | Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), Delegate (At-large) |
| Area | |
68.35 sq mi (177.0 km2) | |
| • Land | 61.126 sq mi (158.32 km2) |
| • Water | 7.224 sq mi (18.71 km2) |
| Highest elevation | 409 ft (125 m) |
| Lowest elevation | 0 ft (0 m) |
| Population | |
| 689,545 | |
• Estimate (2024) | 702,250 |
| • Rank | 67th in North America 23rd in the United States |
| • Density | 11,280.71/sq mi (4,355.39/km2) |
| • Urban | 5,174,759 (US: 8th) |
| • Urban density | 3,997.5/sq mi (1,543.4/km2) |
| • Metro | 6,304,975 (US: 7th) |
| Demonym | Washingtonian |
| GDP | |
| • Federal capital city and district | $176.502 billion (2023) |
| • Metro | $714.685 billion (2023) |
| Time zone | UTC−05:00 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−04:00 (EDT) |
| ZIP Codes | 20001–20098, 20201–20599, 56901–56999 |
| Area code(s) | 202 and 771 |
| ISO 3166 code | US-DC |
| Airports | |
| Railroads | |
| Website | dc |
**Washington, D.C.**, formally the **District of Columbia** and commonly known as **Washington** or **D.C.**, is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with Maryland to its north and east. It was named after George Washington, the first president of the United States. The district is named for Columbia, the female personification of the nation.
The U.S. Constitution in 1789 called for the creation of a federal district under exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress. As such, Washington, D.C., is not part of any state, and is not one itself. The Residence Act, adopted on July 16, 1790, approved the creation of the capital district along the Potomac River. The city was founded in 1791, and the 6th Congress held the first session in the unfinished Capitol Building in 1800 after the capital moved from Philadelphia. In 1801, the District of Columbia, formerly part of Maryland and Virginia and including the existing settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria, was officially recognized as the federal district; initially, the city was a separate settlement within the larger district. In 1846, Congress reduced the size of the district when it returned the land originally ceded by Virginia, including the city of Alexandria. In 1871, it created a single municipality for the district. There have been several unsuccessful efforts to make the district into a state since the 1880s; a statehood bill passed the House of Representatives in 2021 but was not adopted by the U.S. Senate. To become law, it would have to be passed by the Senate and signed by the president; it would have renamed the city *Washington, Douglass Commonwealth* and shrunk the Federal District to about the size of the National Mall.
Designed in 1791 by Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the city is divided into quadrants, which are centered on the Capitol Building and include 131 neighborhoods. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 689,545. Commuters from the city's Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the city's daytime population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington metropolitan area, which includes parts of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, is the country's seventh-largest metropolitan area, with a 2023 population of 6.3 million residents. A locally elected mayor and 13-member council have governed the district since 1973, though Congress retains the power to overturn local laws. Washington, D.C., residents do not have voting representation in Congress, but elect a single non-voting congressional delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. The city's voters choose three presidential electors in accordance with the Twenty-third Amendment, passed in 1961.
Washington, D.C., anchors the southern end of the Northeast megalopolis. As the seat of the U.S. federal government, the city is an important world political capital. The city hosts buildings that house federal government headquarters, including the White House, U.S. Capitol, Supreme Court Building, and multiple federal departments and agencies. The city is home to many national monuments and museums, located most prominently on or around the National Mall, including the Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and Washington Monument. It hosts 177 foreign embassies and the global headquarters of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States, and other international organizations. Home to many of the nation's largest industry associations, non-profit organizations, and think tanks, the city is known as a lobbying hub, which is centered on and around K Street. It is also among the country's top tourist destinations; in 2022, it drew an estimated 20.7 million domestic and 1.2 million international visitors, seventh-most among U.S. cities.
## History
The Algonquian-speaking Piscataway people inhabited present-day Washington, D.C. and lands around the Potomac River when Europeans first arrived and colonized the region in the early 17th century. The Nacotchtank, also called the Nacostines by Catholic missionaries, maintained settlements around the Anacostia River in present-day Washington, D.C. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes ultimately displaced the Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland.
### Founding
During the American Revolution and Revolutionary War, Nine cities served as capitals to the Continental Congress and under the Articles of Confederation. Following independence, New York City served briefly as the first capital following adoption of the Constitution before the capital returned to Philadelphia, where it remained from 1790 to 1800.
On October 6, 1783, after the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783 forced the capital to move briefly from Philadelphia to present-day Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, Congress resolved to consider a new location for it. The following day, Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts moved "that buildings for the use of Congress be erected on the banks of the Delaware near Trenton, or of the Potomac, near Georgetown, provided a suitable district can be procured on one of the rivers as aforesaid, for a federal town".
In Federalist No. 43, published January 23, 1788, James Madison argued that the new federal government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance and safety. The Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783 emphasized the need for the national government to not rely on any state for its own security.
Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution permits the establishment of a "District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States". The constitution, however, does not specify a location for the capital. In the Compromise of 1790, Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson agreed that the federal government would pay each state's remaining Revolutionary War debts in exchange for establishing the new national capital in the Southern United States.
On July 9, 1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved creating a national capital on the Potomac River. Under the Residence Act, the exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, who signed the bill into law on July 16, 1790. Formed from land donated by Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles (16 km) on each side and totaling 100 square miles (259 km2).
Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory, the port of Georgetown, founded in 1751, and the port city of Alexandria, Virginia, founded in 1749. In 1791 and 1792, a team led by Andrew Ellicott, including Ellicott's brothers Joseph and Benjamin and African American astronomer Benjamin Banneker, whose parents had been enslaved, surveyed the borders of the federal district and placed boundary stones at every mile point; many of these stones are still standing. Both Maryland and Virginia were slave states, and slavery existed in the District from its founding. The building of Washington likely relied in significant part on slave labor, and slave receipts have been found for the White House, Capitol Building, and establishment of Georgetown University. The city became an important slave market and a center of the nation's internal slave trade.
After its survey, the new federal city was constructed on the north bank of the Potomac River, east of Georgetown and centered on Capitol Hill. On September 9, 1791, three commissioners overseeing the capital's construction named the city in honor of President Washington. The same day, the federal district was named Columbia, a feminine form of Columbus, which was a poetic name for the United States commonly used at the time. Congress held its first session there on November 17, 1800.
Congress passed the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801, which officially organized the district and placed the entire territory under the exclusive control of the federal government. The area within the district was organized into two counties, the County of Washington to the east and north of the Potomac River and the County of Alexandria to the west and south. After the Act's passage, citizens in the district were no longer considered residents of Maryland or Virginia, and their representation in Congress ended.
### Burning during War of 1812
On August 24, 1814, during the War of 1812, British forces invaded and occupied the city after defeating an American force in the war's Battle of Bladensburg. In retaliation for acts of destruction by American troops in the Canadas, British troops set fire to government buildings in the city, gutting the U.S. Capitol, the Treasury Building, and White House in what became known as the burning of Washington. The damage of the city's burning could have been more extensive, but a storm forced the British to evacuate the city after just 24 hours. Most government buildings were repaired quickly, but the Capitol, which was then still under construction, was not completed in its current form until 1868.
### Retrocession and the Civil War
In the 1830s, the district's southern territory of Alexandria declined economically, due in part to its neglect by Congress. Alexandria was a major market in the domestic slave trade and pro-slavery residents feared that abolitionists in Congress would end slavery in the district. Alexandria's citizens petitioned Virginia to retake the land it had donated to form the district, a process known as retrocession.
The Virginia General Assembly voted in February 1846, to accept the return of Alexandria. On July 9, 1846, Congress went further, agreeing to return all territory that Virginia had ceded to the district during its formation. This left the district's area consisting only of the portion originally donated by Maryland. Confirming the fears of pro-slavery Alexandrians, the Compromise of 1850 outlawed the slave trade in the district, although not slavery itself.
The outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 led to the expansion of the federal government and notable growth in the city's population, including a large influx of freed slaves. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act in 1862, which ended slavery in the district, freeing about 3,100 slaves in the district nine months before the Emancipation Proclamation. In 1868, Congress granted the district's African American male residents the right to vote in municipal elections.
### Growth and redevelopment
By 1870, the district's population had grown 75% in a decade to nearly 132,000 people, yet the city still lacked paved roads and basic sanitation. Some members of Congress suggested moving the capital farther west, but President Ulysses S. Grant refused to consider the proposal.
In the Organic Act of 1871, Congress repealed the individual charters of the cities of Washington and Georgetown, abolished Washington County, and created a new territorial government for the whole District of Columbia. These steps made "the city of Washington...legally indistinguishable from the District of Columbia."
In 1873, President Grant appointed Alexander Robey Shepherd as Governor of the District of Columbia. Shepherd authorized large projects that modernized the city but bankrupted its government. In 1874, Congress replaced the territorial government with an appointed three-member board of commissioners.
In 1888, the city's first motorized streetcars began service. Their introduction generated growth in areas of the district beyond the City of Washington's original boundaries, leading to an expansion of the district over the next few decades. Georgetown's street grid and other administrative details were formally merged with those of the City of Washington in 1895. However, the city had poor housing and strained public works, leading it to become the first city in the nation to undergo urban renewal projects as part of the City Beautiful movement in the early 20th century.
The City Beautiful movement built heavily upon the already-implemented L'Enfant Plan, with the new McMillan Plan leading urban development in the city throughout the movement. Much of the old Victorian Mall was replaced with modern Neoclassical and Beaux-Arts architecture; these designs are still prevalent in the city's governmental buildings today.
Increased federal spending under the New Deal in the 1930s led to the construction of new government buildings, memorials, and museums in the district, though the chairman of the House Subcommittee on District Appropriations, Ross A. Collins of Mississippi, justified cuts to funds for welfare and education for local residents by saying that "my constituents wouldn't stand for spending money on niggers."
World War II led to an expansion of federal employees in the city; by 1950, the district's population reached its peak of 802,178 residents.
### Civil rights and home rule era
The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1961, granting the district three votes in the Electoral College for the election of president and vice president, but still not affording the city's residents representation in Congress.
After the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, riots broke out in the city, primarily in the U Street, 14th Street, 7th Street, and H Street corridors, which were predominantly black residential and commercial areas. The riots raged for three days until more than 13,600 federal troops and Washington, D.C., Army National Guardsmen stopped the violence. Many stores and other buildings were burned, and rebuilding from the riots was not completed until the late 1990s.
In 1973, Congress enacted the District of Columbia Home Rule Act providing for an elected mayor and 13-member council for the district. In 1975, Walter Washington became the district's first elected and first black mayor.
### Statehood movement
Since the 1980s, the D.C. statehood movement has grown in prominence. In 2016, a referendum on D.C. statehood resulted in an 85% support among Washington, D.C., voters for it to become the nation's 51st state. In March 2017, the city's congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced a bill for statehood. Reintroduced in 2019 and 2021 as the Washington, D.C., Admission Act, the U.S. House of Representatives passed it in April 2021. After not progressing in the Senate, the statehood bill was introduced again in January 2023. The bill would have made D.C. into a state with one representative and two senators, with the name Washington, Douglass Commonwealth (thus keeping the same abbreviation Washington, D.C.). The legalities, reasons, and impact of statehood have been heavily debated in the 2020s.
## Geography
Washington, D.C., is located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. East Coast. The city has a total area of 68.34 square miles (177 km2), of which 61.05 square miles (158.1 km2) is land and 7.29 square miles (18.9 km2) (10.67%) is water. The district is bordered by Montgomery County, Maryland, to the northwest; Prince George's County, Maryland, to the east; Arlington County, Virginia, to the west; and Alexandria, Virginia, to the south.
The south bank of the Potomac River forms the district's border with Virginia and has two major tributaries, the Anacostia River and Rock Creek. Tiber Creek, a natural watercourse that once passed through the National Mall, was fully enclosed underground during the 1870s. The creek also formed a portion of the now-filled Washington City Canal, which allowed passage through the city to the Anacostia River from 1815 until the 1850s. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal starts in Georgetown and was used during the 19th century to bypass the Little Falls of the Potomac River, located at the northwest edge of the city at the Atlantic Seaboard fall line.
The highest natural elevation in the district is 409 feet (125 m) above sea level at Fort Reno Park in upper northwest Washington, D.C. The lowest point is sea level at the Potomac River. The geographic center of Washington is near the intersection of 4th and L streets NW.
### Parks
There are many parks, gardens, squares, and circles throughout Washington. The city has 683 parks and greenspaces, comprising 7,464 acres (30.21 km2), about 20% of its land area. Consequently, 99% of residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park. According to the nonprofit Trust for Public Land, in 2023 Washington ranked first among the 100 largest U.S. cities for its public parks, based on indicators such as accessibility, the share of land reserved for parks, and the amount invested in green spaces.
The National Park Service manages most of the 9,122 acres (36.92 km2) of city land owned by the U.S. government. Rock Creek Park, located in Northwest D.C., is the largest park in the city, with 1,754 acres (7.10 km2) of urban forest extending 9.3 miles (15.0 km) through a stream valley that bisects the city. Established in 1890, it is the country's fourth-oldest national park and is home to a variety of plant and animal species, including raccoon, deer, owls, and coyotes. Other National Park Service properties include the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, the National Mall and Memorial Parks, Fort Dupont Park, Meridian Hill Park, Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, and Anacostia Park. The District of Columbia Department of Parks and Recreation maintains the city's 900 acres (3.6 km2) of athletic fields and playgrounds, 40 swimming pools, and 68 recreation centers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture operates the 446-acre (1.80 km2) United States National Arboretum, a dense arboretum in Northeast D.C. filled with gardens and trails. Its most notable landmark is the National Capitol Columns monument.[ non-primary source needed]
There are several river islands in Washington, D.C., including Theodore Roosevelt Island in the Potomac River, which hosts the Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial and a number of trails. Columbia Island, also in the Potomac, is home to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove, the Navy – Merchant Marine Memorial, and a marina. Kingman Island, in the Anacostia River, is home to Langston Golf Course and a public park with trails.[ non-primary source needed]
West Potomac Park includes the parkland that extends south of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, from the Lincoln Memorial to the grounds of the Washington Monument .[ non-primary source needed] Located on the northern side of the White House, Lafayette Square is a historic public square. It has been the site of many protests, marches, and speeches. The houses bordering Lafayette Square have served as the home to many notable figures.
[Other parks, gardens, and squares include Dumbarton Oaks, Meridian Hill Park, the Yards, Lincoln Park, Franklin Square, McPherson Square, and Farragut Square. There are a large number of traffic circles and circle parks in Washington, D.C., including Dupont Circle, Logan Circle, and Thomas Circle.
*non-primary source needed*]### Climate
Washington's climate is temperate humid subtropical (Köppen: *Cfa*).[ unreliable source?] Winters are cool to cold with some snow of varying intensity, while summers are hot and humid. The district is in plant hardiness zone 8a near downtown, and zone 7b elsewhere in the city.
Summers are hot and humid with a July daily average of 79.8 °F (26.6 °C) and average daily relative humidity around 66%, which can cause moderate personal discomfort. Heat indices regularly approach 100 °F (38 °C) at the height of summer. The combination of heat and humidity in the summer brings very frequent thunderstorms, some of which occasionally produce tornadoes in the area.
Blizzards affect Washington once every four to six years on average. The most violent storms, known as nor'easters, often impact large regions of the East Coast. From January 27 to 28, 1922, the city officially received 28 inches (71 cm) of snowfall, the largest snowstorm since official measurements began in 1885. According to notes kept at the time, the city received between 30 and 36 inches (76 and 91 cm) from a snowstorm in January 1772.[ unreliable source?]
Hurricanes or their remnants occasionally impact the area in late summer and early fall. However, they usually are weak by the time they reach Washington, partly due to the city's inland location.[ unreliable source?] Flooding of the Potomac River, however, caused by a combination of high tide, storm surge, and runoff, has been known to cause extensive property damage in the Georgetown neighborhood of the city. Precipitation occurs throughout the year.
The highest recorded temperature was 106 °F (41 °C) on August 6, 1918, and on July 20, 1930. The lowest recorded temperature was −15 °F (−26 °C) on February 11, 1899, right before the Great Blizzard of 1899. During a typical year, the city averages about 37 days at or above 90 °F (32 °C) and 64 nights at or below the freezing mark (32 °F or 0 °C). On average, the first day with a minimum at or below freezing is November 18 and the last day is March 27.
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record high °F (°C) | 79 (26) |
84 (29) |
93 (34) |
95 (35) |
99 (37) |
104 (40) |
106 (41) |
106 (41) |
104 (40) |
98 (37) |
86 (30) |
79 (26) |
106 (41) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 66.7 (19.3) |
68.1 (20.1) |
77.3 (25.2) |
86.4 (30.2) |
91.0 (32.8) |
95.7 (35.4) |
98.1 (36.7) |
96.5 (35.8) |
91.9 (33.3) |
84.5 (29.2) |
74.8 (23.8) |
67.1 (19.5) |
99.1 (37.3) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 44.8 (7.1) |
48.3 (9.1) |
56.5 (13.6) |
68.0 (20.0) |
76.5 (24.7) |
85.1 (29.5) |
89.6 (32.0) |
87.8 (31.0) |
80.7 (27.1) |
69.4 (20.8) |
58.2 (14.6) |
48.8 (9.3) |
67.8 (19.9) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 37.5 (3.1) |
40.0 (4.4) |
47.6 (8.7) |
58.2 (14.6) |
67.2 (19.6) |
76.3 (24.6) |
81.0 (27.2) |
79.4 (26.3) |
72.4 (22.4) |
60.8 (16.0) |
49.9 (9.9) |
41.7 (5.4) |
59.3 (15.2) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 30.1 (−1.1) |
31.8 (−0.1) |
38.6 (3.7) |
48.4 (9.1) |
58.0 (14.4) |
67.5 (19.7) |
72.4 (22.4) |
71.0 (21.7) |
64.1 (17.8) |
52.2 (11.2) |
41.6 (5.3) |
34.5 (1.4) |
50.9 (10.5) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | 14.3 (−9.8) |
16.9 (−8.4) |
23.4 (−4.8) |
34.9 (1.6) |
45.5 (7.5) |
55.7 (13.2) |
63.8 (17.7) |
62.1 (16.7) |
51.3 (10.7) |
38.7 (3.7) |
28.8 (−1.8) |
21.3 (−5.9) |
12.3 (−10.9) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −14 (−26) |
−15 (−26) |
4 (−16) |
15 (−9) |
33 (1) |
43 (6) |
52 (11) |
49 (9) |
36 (2) |
26 (−3) |
11 (−12) |
−13 (−25) |
−15 (−26) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 2.86 (73) |
2.62 (67) |
3.50 (89) |
3.21 (82) |
3.94 (100) |
4.20 (107) |
4.33 (110) |
3.25 (83) |
3.93 (100) |
3.66 (93) |
2.91 (74) |
3.41 (87) |
41.82 (1,062) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 4.9 (12) |
5.0 (13) |
2.0 (5.1) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.1 (0.25) |
1.7 (4.3) |
13.7 (35) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 9.7 | 9.3 | 11.0 | 10.8 | 11.6 | 10.6 | 10.5 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 10.1 | 117.7 |
| Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) | 2.8 | 2.7 | 1.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 8.0 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 62.1 | 60.5 | 58.6 | 58.0 | 64.5 | 65.8 | 66.9 | 69.3 | 69.7 | 67.4 | 64.7 | 64.1 | 64.3 |
| Average dew point °F (°C) | 21.7 (−5.7) |
23.5 (−4.7) |
31.3 (−0.4) |
39.7 (4.3) |
52.3 (11.3) |
61.5 (16.4) |
66.0 (18.9) |
65.8 (18.8) |
59.5 (15.3) |
47.5 (8.6) |
37.0 (2.8) |
27.1 (−2.7) |
44.4 (6.9) |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 144.6 | 151.8 | 204.0 | 228.2 | 260.5 | 283.2 | 280.5 | 263.1 | 225.0 | 203.6 | 150.2 | 133.0 | 2,527.7 |
| Percentage possible sunshine | 48 | 50 | 55 | 57 | 59 | 64 | 62 | 62 | 60 | 59 | 50 | 45 | 57 |
| Average ultraviolet index | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| Source 1: NOAA (relative humidity, dew point and sun 1961−1990) | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: Weather Atlas (UV) |
## Cityscape
Washington, D.C., was a planned city, and many of the city's street grids were developed in that initial plan. In 1791, President George Washington commissioned Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a French-born military engineer and artist, to design the new capital. He enlisted the help of Isaac Roberdeau, Étienne Sulpice Hallet and Scottish surveyor Alexander Ralston to help lay out the city plan. The L'Enfant Plan featured broad streets and avenues radiating out from rectangles, providing room for open space and landscaping.
L'Enfant was also provided a roll of maps by Thomas Jefferson depicting Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Strasbourg, Paris, Orleans, Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Turin, and Milan. L'Enfant's design also envisioned a garden-lined grand avenue about 1 mile (1.6 km) long and 400 feet (120 m) wide in an area that is now the National Mall inspired by the grounds at Versailles and Tuileries Gardens. In March 1792, President Washington dismissed L'Enfant due to conflicts with the three commissioners appointed to supervise the capital's construction. Andrew Ellicott, who worked with L'Enfant in surveying the city, was then tasked with completing its design. Though Ellicott revised the original L'Enfant plans, including changing some street patterns, L'Enfant is still credited with the city's overall design.
By the early 20th century, however, L'Enfant's vision of a grand national capital was marred by slums and randomly placed buildings in the city, including a railroad station on National Mall. Congress formed a special committee charged with beautifying Washington's ceremonial core. What became known as the McMillan Plan was finalized in 1901 and included landscaping the Capitol grounds and National Mall, clearing slums, and establishing a new citywide park system. The plan is thought to have largely preserved L'Enfant's intended design for the city.
By law, the city's skyline is low and sprawling. The federal Height of Buildings Act of 1910 limits building height based on the width of the adjacent street, with maxima of 90 feet (27 m) on residential streets and 130 feet (40 m) on commercial ones. Despite popular belief, no law has ever limited buildings to the height of the United States Capitol or the 555-foot (169 m) Washington Monument, which remains the district's tallest structure. City leaders have cited the height restriction as a primary reason that the district has limited affordable housing and its metro area has suburban sprawl and traffic problems.
Washington, D.C., is divided into four quadrants of unequal area: Northwest (NW), Northeast (NE), Southeast (SE), and Southwest (SW). The axes bounding the quadrants radiate from the U.S. Capitol. All road names include the quadrant abbreviation to indicate their location. House numbers generally correspond with the number of blocks away from the Capitol. Most streets are set out in a grid pattern with east–west streets named with letters (e.g., C Street SW), north–south streets with numbers (e.g., 4th Street NW), and diagonal avenues, many of which are named after states.
The City of Washington was bordered on the north by Boundary Street (renamed Florida Avenue in 1890), Rock Creek to the west, and the Anacostia River to the east. Washington, D.C.'s street grid was extended, where possible, throughout the district starting in 1888. Georgetown's streets were renamed in 1895. Some streets are particularly noteworthy, including Pennsylvania Avenue, which connects the White House to the Capitol; and K Street, which houses the offices of many lobbying groups. Constitution Avenue and Independence Avenue, located on the north and south sides of National Mall, respectively, are home to many of Washington's iconic museums, including many Smithsonian Institution buildings and the National Archives Building. Washington hosts 177 foreign embassies; these maintain nearly 300 buildings and more than 1,600 residential properties, many of which are on a section of Massachusetts Avenue informally known as Embassy Row.
### Architecture
The architecture of Washington, D.C., varies greatly and is generally popular among tourists and locals. In 2007, six of the top ten buildings in the American Institute of Architects' ranking of America's Favorite Architecture were in the city: the White House, Washington National Cathedral, the Jefferson Memorial, the United States Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The neoclassical, Georgian, Gothic, and Modern styles are reflected among these six structures and many other prominent edifices in the city.[ citation needed]
Many government buildings, monuments, and museums along the National Mall and surrounding areas are heavily inspired by classical Roman and Greek architecture. The designs of the White House, the U.S. Capitol, Supreme Court Building, Washington Monument, National Gallery of Art, Lincoln Memorial, and Jefferson Memorial are all heavily drawn from these classical architectural movements and feature large pediments, domes, columns in classical order, and heavy stone walls. Notable exceptions to the city's classical-style architecture include buildings constructed in the French Second Empire style, including the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, and the modernist Watergate complex. The Thomas Jefferson Building, the main Library of Congress building, and the historic Willard Hotel are built in Beaux-Arts style, popular throughout the world in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Meridian Hill Park contains a cascading waterfall with Italian Renaissance-style architecture.
Modern, Postmodern, contemporary, and other non-classical architectural styles are also seen in the city. The National Museum of African American History and Culture deeply contrasts the stone-based neoclassical buildings on the National Mall with a design that combines modern engineering with heavy inspiration from African art. The interior of the Washington Metro stations and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden are designed with strong influence from the 20th-century Brutalism movement. The Smithsonian Institution Building is built of Seneca red sandstone in the Norman Revival style. The Old Post Office building, located on Pennsylvania Avenue and completed in 1899, was the first building in the city to have a steel frame structure and the first to use electrical wiring in its design.
Notable contemporary residential buildings, restaurants, shops, and office buildings in the city include the Wharf on the Southwest Waterfront, Navy Yard along the Anacostia River, and CityCenterDC in Downtown. The Wharf has seen the construction of several high-rise office and residential buildings overlooking the Potomac River. Additionally, restaurants, bars, and shops have been opened at street level. Many of these buildings have a modern glass exterior and heavy curvature. CityCenterDC is home to Palmer Alley, a pedestrian-only walkway, and houses several apartment buildings, restaurants, and luxury-brand storefronts with streamlined glass and metal facades.
Outside Downtown D.C., architectural styles are more varied. Historic buildings are designed primarily in the Queen Anne, Châteauesque, Richardsonian Romanesque, Georgian Revival, Beaux-Arts, and a variety of Victorian styles.[ citation needed] Rowhouses are prominent in areas developed after the Civil War and typically follow Federal and late Victorian designs. Georgetown's Old Stone House, built in 1765, is the oldest-standing building in the city. Founded in 1789, Georgetown University features a mix of Romanesque and Gothic Revival architecture. The Ronald Reagan Building is the largest building in the district with a total area of about 3.1 million square feet (288,000 m
2). Washington Union Station is designed in a combination of architectural styles. Its Great Hall has elaborate gold leaf designs along the ceilings and the hall includes several decorative classical-style statues.
## Demographics
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1800 | 8,144 | — | |
| 1810 | 15,471 | 90.0% | |
| 1820 | 23,336 | 50.8% | |
| 1830 | 30,261 | 29.7% | |
| 1840 | 33,745 | 11.5% | |
| 1850 | 51,687 | 53.2% | |
| 1860 | 75,080 | 45.3% | |
| 1870 | 131,700 | 75.4% | |
| 1880 | 177,624 | 34.9% | |
| 1890 | 230,392 | 29.7% | |
| 1900 | 278,718 | 21.0% | |
| 1910 | 331,069 | 18.8% | |
| 1920 | 437,571 | 32.2% | |
| 1930 | 486,869 | 11.3% | |
| 1940 | 663,091 | 36.2% | |
| 1950 | 802,178 | 21.0% | |
| 1960 | 763,956 | −4.8% | |
| 1970 | 756,510 | −1.0% | |
| 1980 | 638,333 | −15.6% | |
| 1990 | 606,900 | −4.9% | |
| 2000 | 572,059 | −5.7% | |
| 2010 | 601,723 | 5.2% | |
| 2020 | 689,545 | 14.6% | |
| 2024 (est.) | 702,250 | 1.8% | |
| Source: Note: 2010–2020 |
| Demographic profile | 2020 | 2010 | 1990 | 1970 | 1940 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White | 39.6% | 38.5% | 29.6% | 27.7% | 71.5% |
| —Non-Hispanic whites | 38.0% | 34.8% | 27.4% | 26.5% | 71.4% |
| Black or African American | 41.4% | 50.7% | 65.8% | 71.1% | 28.2% |
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) | 11.3% | 9.1% | 5.4% | 2.1% | 0.1% |
| Asian | 4.8% | 3.5% | 1.8% | 0.6% | 0.2% |
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the district's population was 705,749 as of July 2019, up more than 100,000 people since the 2010 United States Census. When measured decade-over-decade, this shows growth since 2000, following a half-century of population decline. Washington was the 24th-most populous place in the United States as of 2010[update]. According to data from 2010, commuters from the suburbs boost the district's daytime population past one million. If the district were a state, it would rank 49th in population, ahead of Vermont and Wyoming.
The Washington metropolitan area, which includes the district and surrounding suburbs, is the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the U.S., with an estimated six million residents as of 2016. When the Washington area is included with Baltimore and its suburbs, it forms the vast Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area. With a population exceeding 9.8 million residents in 2020, it is the third-largest combined statistical area in the country.
According to Department of Housing and Development's Annual Homeless Assessment Report in 2022, there were an estimated 4,410 homeless people in Washington, D.C.
The city passed a law in 2013 that requires shelter to be provided to everyone in need when the temperature drops below freezing. Since D.C. does not have enough shelter units available, every winter it books hotel rooms in the suburbs with an average cost of around $100 for a night. According to the D.C. Department of Human Services, during the winter of 2012 the city spent $2,544,454 on putting homeless families in hotels, and budgeted $3.2 million on hotel beds in 2013.[ needs update]
According to 2020 Census Bureau data, the population of Washington, D.C., was 41.4% Black or African American, 39.6% White (37.9% non-Hispanic White), 4.9% Asian, 0.5% American Indian or Alaska Native, 0.1% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and 5.4% Some Other Race. Individuals from two or more races made up 8.1% of the population. Hispanics of any race made up 11.3% of the district's population.
Washington, D.C. has had a relatively large African American population since the city's foundation. African American residents composed about 30% of the district's total population between 1800 and 1940. The black population reached a peak of 70% by 1970 and has since declined as African Americans moved to the surrounding suburbs. Partly as a result of gentrification, there was a 31.4% increase in the non-Hispanic white population and an 11.5% decrease in the black population between 2000 and 2010. According to a study by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, the city has experienced more gentrification than any other U.S. city, with 40% of neighborhoods gentrified.
As of 2010, about 17% of Washington, D.C. residents were age 18 or younger, which is lower than the U.S. average of 24%. However, at 34 years old, the district had the lowest median age compared to the 50 states as of 2010. As of 2010[update], there were an estimated 81,734 immigrants living in Washington, D.C. Major sources of immigration include El Salvador, Ethiopia, Mexico, Guatemala, and China, with a concentration of Salvadorans in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood.
As of 2010, there were 4,822 same-sex couples in the city, about 2% of total households, according to Williams Institute. Legislation authorizing same-sex marriage passed in 2009, and the district began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in March 2010.
As of 2007, about one-third of Washington, D.C., residents were functionally illiterate, greater than the national rate of about one-fifth. The city's relatively high illiteracy rate is attributed partly to immigrants who are not proficient in English. As of 2011[update], 85% of D.C. residents age 5 and older spoke English at home as a primary language. Half of residents had at least a four-year college degree in 2006. In 2017, the median household income in D.C. was $77,649; also in 2017, D.C. residents had a personal income per capita of $50,832 (higher than any of the 50 states). However, 19% of residents were below the poverty level in 2005, higher than any state except Mississippi. In 2019, the poverty rate stood at 14.7%.
As of 2010[update], more than 90% of Washington, D.C., residents had health insurance coverage, the second-highest rate in the nation. This is due in part to city programs that help provide insurance to low-income individuals who do not qualify for other types of coverage.[ better source needed] A 2009 report found that at least three percent of Washington, D.C., residents have HIV or AIDS, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) characterizes as a "generalized and severe" epidemic.
As of 2020, according to the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, 56% of the city's residents were adherents of a religious body. The largest tradition represented was Evangelical Protestantism (15% of total population), followed by Catholicism (12%), Black Protestantism (10%), Mainline Protestantism (10%), Judaism (3%), Orthodox Christianity (2%), Buddhism (1%), and Islam (1%), with several other groups numbering less than 1%. Mainline Protestants were the largest group in 2010, Catholics in 2000, and Black Protestants in 1990. The city is populated with many religious buildings, including Washington National Cathedral, Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, which comprises the largest Catholic church building in the United States, and the Islamic Center of Washington, which was the largest mosque in the Western Hemisphere when it opened in 1957. St. John's Episcopal Church, located off Lafayette Square, has held services for every U.S. president since James Madison. The Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, built in 1908, is a synagogue located in the Chinatown section of the city. The Washington D.C. Temple is a Latter-day Saint temple located just outside the city in Kensington, Maryland. Viewable from the Capital Beltway, the temple is the tallest temple of the church in existence, and is the third-largest by square footage.
## Economy
As of 2011,[update] the Washington metropolitan area, including the District of Columbia as well as parts of Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia, was the nation's eighth-largest metropolitan economy. Its growing and diversified economy has an increasing percentage of professional and business service jobs in addition to more traditional jobs rooted in tourism, entertainment, and government.[ obsolete source]
Between 2009 and 2016, gross domestic product per capita in Washington, D.C., consistently ranked at the very top among U.S. states. In 2016, at $160,472, its GDP per capita was almost three times greater than that of Massachusetts, which was ranked second in the nation (see List of U.S. states and territories by GDP).
As of 2022[update], the metropolitan statistical area's unemployment rate was 3.1%, ranking 171 out of the 389 metropolitan areas as defined by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The District of Columbia itself had an unemployment rate of 4.6% during the same time period. In 2019, Washington, D.C., had the highest median household income in the U.S. at $92,266.
According to the District's comprehensive annual financial reports, the top employers by number of employees in 2022 included Georgetown University, Children's National Medical Center, Washington Hospital Center, George Washington University, American University, Georgetown University Hospital, Booz Allen & Hamilton, Insperity PEO Services, Universal Protection Service, Howard University, Medstar Medical Group, George Washington University Hospital, Catholic University of America, and Sibley Memorial Hospital.
### Federal government
As of July 2022, 25% of people employed in Washington, D.C., were employed by the federal government. Many of the region's residents are employed by companies and organizations that do work for the federal government, seek to influence federal policy, or are otherwise related to its work, including law firms, defense contractors, civilian contractors, nonprofit organizations, lobbying firms, trade unions, industry trade groups, and professional associations, many of which have their headquarters in or near the city for proximity to the federal government.[ citation needed]
### Research and non-profit organizations
Washington, D.C., is a leading center for national and international research organizations, especially think tanks engaged in public policy. As of 2020, 8% of the country's think tanks are based in the city, including many of the largest and most widely cited, including the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Peterson Institute for International Economics, The Heritage Foundation, and Urban Institute.
Washington, D.C. is home to many non-profit organizations that engage with issues of domestic and global importance by conducting advanced research, running programs, or public advocacy. Among these organizations are the UN Foundation, Human Rights Campaign, Amnesty International, and the National Endowment for Democracy. Major medical research institutions include the MedStar Washington Hospital Center and the Children's National Medical Center.
The city is the country's primary location for international development firms, many of which contract with the D.C.-based United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. federal government's aid agency. The American Red Cross, a humanitarian agency focused on emergency relief, is also based in the city.
### Private sector
According to statistics compiled in 2011, four of the largest 500 companies in the country were based in Washington, D.C. In the 2023 Global Financial Centres Index, Washington was ranked as having the 8th most competitive financial center in the world, and fourth most competitive in the United States (after New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles). Among the largest companies based in Washington, D.C., are Fannie Mae, Amtrak, Danaher Corporation, FTI Consulting, and Hogan Lovells.[ better source needed]
### Tourism
Tourism is the city's second-largest industry, after the federal government. In 2012, some 18.9 million visitors contributed an estimated $4.8 billion to the local economy. In 2019, the city saw 24.6 million tourists, including 1.8 million from foreign countries, who collectively spent $8.15 billion during their stay. Tourism helps many of the region's other industries, such as lodging, food and beverage, entertainment, shopping, and transportation.
The city and the larger Washington metropolitan area have an array of attractions for tourists, including monuments, memorials, museums, sports events, and trails. Within the city, the National Mall serves as the center of the tourism industry. It is there that many of the city's museums and monuments are located. Adjacent to the mall sits the Tidal Basin, where several major national memorials and monuments are located, including the popular Jefferson Memorial. Washington Union Station is a popular tourist spot with its multitude of restaurants and shops.[ citation needed]
## Culture
| Slogan | Federal City |
|---|---|
| Living insignia | |
| Bird | Wood Thrush |
| Crustacean | Hay's Spring amphipod |
| Fish | American shad |
| Flower | American Beauty rose |
| Mammal | Little brown bat |
| Tree | Scarlet Oak |
| Inanimate insignia | |
| Beverage | Rickey |
| Dance | Hand dancing |
| Dinosaur | Capitalsaurus |
| Food | Cherry |
| Rock | Potomac bluestone |
| Route marker | |
| State quarter | |
Released in 2009 |
### Arts
Washington, D.C., is a national center for the arts, home to several concert halls and theaters. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is home to National Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera, and the Washington Ballet. The Kennedy Center Honors are awarded each year to those in the performing arts who have contributed greatly to the cultural life of the United States. This ceremony is often attended by the sitting U.S. president and other dignitaries and celebrities. The Kennedy Center also awards the annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
The historic Ford's Theatre, the site of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, continues to function as a theatre and as a museum.
The Marine Barracks near Capitol Hill houses the United States Marine Band; founded in 1798, it is the country's oldest professional musical organization. American march composer and Washington-native John Philip Sousa led the Marine Band from 1880 until 1892. Founded in 1925, the United States Navy Band has its headquarters at the Washington Navy Yard and performs at official events and public concerts around the city.
Founded in 1950, Arena Stage achieved national attention and spurred growth in the city's independent theater movement, which now includes the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and Studio Theatre. Arena Stage reopened after a renovation and expansion in the city's emerging Southwest waterfront area in 2010. The GALA Hispanic Theatre, now housed in the historic Tivoli Theatre in Columbia Heights, was founded in 1976 and is a National Center for the Latino Performing Arts.
Other performing arts spaces in the city include the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Federal Triangle, the Atlas Performing Arts Center on H Street, the Carter Barron Amphitheater in Rock Creek Park, Constitution Hall in Downtown, the Keegan Theatre in Dupont Circle, the Lisner Auditorium in Foggy Bottom, the Sylvan Theater on the National Mall, and the Warner Theatre in Penn Quarter.[ citation needed] National Theatre in Downtown, which opened in 1835, is the second-longest continuously operating theater in the nation after Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, which opened in 1808.
U Street Corridor in Northwest is home to Howard Theatre and Lincoln Theatre, which hosted music legends such as Washington, D.C. natives Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and Miles Davis. Just east of U Street is Shaw, which also served as a major cultural center during the jazz age. Intersecting with U Street is Fourteenth Street, which was an extension of the U Street cultural corridor during the 1920s through the 1960s. The collection of Fourteenth Street, U Street, and Shaw was the location of the Black Renaissance in D.C., which was part of the larger Harlem Renaissance. The area starting at Fourteenth Street downtown going north through U Street and east to Shaw boasts a high concentration of bars, restaurants, and theaters, and is among the city's most notable cultural and artistic areas.[ citation needed]
The Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), a group of more than 65 film critics, holds an annual awards ceremony.
### Music
Columbia Records, a major music record label in the US, was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1889.
The city grew into being one of America's most important music cities in the early jazz age. Duke Ellington, among the most prominent jazz composers and musicians of his time, was born and raised in Washington, and began his music career in the city. The center of the city's jazz scene during those years was U street and Shaw. Among the city's major jazz locations were the Lincoln Theatre and the Howard Theatre.
Washington has its own native music genre called go-go; a post-funk, percussion-driven flavor of rhythm and blues that was popularized in the late 1970s by D.C. band leader Chuck Brown.
The district is an important center for indie culture and music in the United States. The DC-based label Dischord Records, formed by Ian MacKaye, frontman of Fugazi, was one of the most crucial independent labels in the genesis of 1980s punk and eventually indie rock in the 1990s. Modern alternative and indie music venues like The Black Cat and the 9:30 Club bring popular acts to the U Street area. The hardcore punk scene in the city, known as D.C. hardcore, is an important genre of D.C.'s contemporary music scene. Starting in the 1970s and flourishing in the Adams Morgan neighborhood, it is considered to be one of the most influential punk music movements in the country.
### Cuisine
Washington, D.C., is rich in fine and casual dining; some consider it among the country's best cities for dining. The city has a diverse range of restaurants, including a wide variety of international cuisines. The city's Chinatown, for example, has more than a dozen Chinese-style restaurants. The city also has many Middle Eastern, European, African, Asian, and Latin American cuisine options.[ citation needed] D.C. is known as one of the best cities in the world for Ethiopian cuisine, due largely to Ethiopian immigrants who arrived in the 20th century. A part of the Shaw neighborhood in central D.C. is known as "Little Ethiopia" and has a high concentration of Ethiopian restaurants and shops. The diversity of cuisine is also reflected in the city's many food trucks, which are particularly heavily concentrated along the National Mall, which has few other dining options.
[
*citation needed*]Among the most notable Washington, D.C.-born foods is the half-smoke, a half-beef, half-pork sausage placed in a hotdog-style bun and topped with onion, chili, and cheese. The city is also the birthplace of mumbo sauce, a condiment similar to barbecue sauce but sweeter in flavor, often used on meat and french fries. Washington, D.C. is known for popularizing the jumbo slice pizza, a large New York-style pizza with roots in the Adams Morgan neighborhood.
Among the city's signature restaurants is Ben's Chili Bowl, located on U Street since its founding in 1958. The restaurant rose to prominence as a peaceful escape during the violent 1968 race riots in the city. Famous for its chili dogs and half-smokes, it has been visited by numerous presidents and celebrities over the years. The Georgetown Cupcake bakery became famous through its appearance on the reality T.V. show DC Cupcakes. Another culinary hotspot is Union Market in Northeast D.C., a former farmer's market and wholesale that now houses a large, gourmet food hall.
As of 2024, 25 restaurants have received stars in the D.C. Michelin Guide. This represents the most starred restaurants *per capita* for any U.S. city, and the third-most in the world. Several celebrity chefs have opened restaurants in the city, including José Andrés, Kwame Onwuachi, Gordon Ramsay, and previously Michel Richard.
### Museums
Washington, D.C. is home to several of the country's and world's most visited museums. In 2022, the National Museum of Natural History and the National Gallery of Art were the two most visited museums in the country. Overall, Washington had eight of the 28 most visited museums in the U.S. in 2022. The same year, the National Museum of Natural History was the fifth-most-visited museum in the world and the National Gallery of Art was the eleventh.
#### Smithsonian museums
The Smithsonian Institution, an educational foundation chartered by Congress in 1846 and the world's largest research and museum complex, is responsible for maintaining most of the city's official museums and galleries. The U.S. government partially funds the Smithsonian, and its collections are open to the public free of charge. The Smithsonian's locations had a combined total of 30 million visits in 2013. The most visited museum is the National Museum of Natural History on National Mall. Other Smithsonian Institution museums and galleries on the Mall include the National Air and Space Museum; the National Museum of African Art; the National Museum of American History; the National Museum of the American Indian; the Sackler and Freer galleries, which focus on Asian art and culture; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; the Arts and Industries Building; the S. Dillon Ripley Center; and the Smithsonian Institution Building, which serves as the institution's headquarters.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery are housed in the Old Patent Office Building near Washington's Chinatown. Renwick Gallery is part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and is located in a separate building near the White House. Other Smithsonian museums and galleries include Anacostia Community Museum in Southeast Washington, the National Postal Museum near Washington Union Station, and the National Zoo in Woodley Park.
#### Other museums
The National Gallery of Art is on the National Mall near the Capitol and features American and European artworks. The U.S. government owns the gallery and its collections. However, they are not a part of the Smithsonian Institution. The National Building Museum, which occupies the former Pension Building near Judiciary Square, was chartered by Congress and hosts exhibits on architecture, urban planning, and design. The Botanic Garden is a botanical garden and museum operated by the U.S. Congress that is open to the public.
There are several private art museums in Washington, D.C., that house major collections and exhibits open to the public, such as the National Museum of Women in the Arts and The Phillips Collection in Dupont Circle, the first museum of modern art in the United States. Other private museums in Washington include the O Street Museum, the International Spy Museum, the National Geographic Society Museum, and the Museum of the Bible. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum near the National Mall maintains exhibits, documentation, and artifacts related to the Holocaust.
### Landmarks
#### National Mall and Tidal Basin
The National Mall is a park near Downtown Washington that stretches nearly two miles from the Lincoln Memorial to the United States Capitol. The mall often hosts political protests, concerts, festivals, and presidential inaugurations. The Capitol grounds host the *National Memorial Day Concert*, held each Memorial Day, and *A Capitol Fourth*, a concert held each Independence Day. Both concerts are broadcast across the country on PBS. In the evening on the Fourth of July, the park hosts a large fireworks show.
The Washington Monument and the Jefferson Pier are near the center of the mall, south of the White House. Directly northwest of the Washington Monument is Constitution Gardens, which includes a garden, park, pond, and a memorial to the signers of the United States Declaration of Independence. Just north of Constitution Gardens is the Lockkeeper's House, which is the second-oldest building on the mall after the White House. The house is operated by the National Park Service (NPS) and is open to the public. Also on the mall is the National World War II Memorial at the east end of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool; the Korean War Veterans Memorial; and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
South of the mall is the Tidal Basin, a human-made reservoir surrounded by pedestrian paths lined by Japanese cherry trees. Every spring, millions of cherry blossoms bloom, attracting visitors from across the world as part of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival. The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, George Mason Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and the District of Columbia War Memorial are around the Tidal Basin.
#### Other landmarks
Numerous historic landmarks are located outside the National Mall. Among these are the Old Post Office, the Treasury Building, Old Patent Office Building, the Washington National Cathedral, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the National World War I Memorial, the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, Lincoln's Cottage, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial, and the United States Navy Memorial. The Octagon House, which was the building that President James Madison and his administration moved into following the burning of the White House during the War of 1812, is now a historic museum and popular tourist destination.
The National Archives is headquartered in a building just north of the National Mall and houses thousands of documents important to American history, including the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Located in three buildings on Capitol Hill, the Library of Congress is the largest library complex in the world with a collection of more than 147 million books, manuscripts, and other materials. The United States Supreme Court is located immediately north of the Library of Congress. The United States Supreme Court Building was completed in 1935; before then, the court held sessions in the Old Senate Chamber of the Capitol.
Chinatown, located just north of the National Mall, houses Capital One Arena, which serves as the home arena to the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League and the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association, and serves as the city's primary indoor entertainment arena. Chinatown includes several Chinese restaurants and shops. The Friendship Archway is one of the largest Chinese ceremonial archways outside of China and bears the Chinese characters for "Chinatown" below its roof.
The Southwest Waterfront along the Potomac River has been redeveloped in recent years and now serves as a popular cultural center. The Wharf, as it is called, contains the city's historic Maine Avenue Fish Market. This is the oldest fish market currently in operation in the entire United States. The Wharf also has many hotels, residential buildings, restaurants, shops, parks, piers, docks and marinas, and live music venues.
## Sports
Washington, D.C. has four major professional men's sports teams and two major professional women's teams. The Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball are the most popular sports team in the District, as of 2019. They play at Nationals Park, which opened in 2008. The Washington Commanders (previously Redskins) of the National Football League play at Northwest Stadium in nearby Landover, Maryland. The Washington Wizards (previously Bullets) of the National Basketball Association and the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League play at Capital One Arena. The Washington Mystics of the Women's National Basketball Association play at CareFirst Arena. D.C. United of Major League Soccer and the Washington Spirit of the National Women's Soccer League play at Audi Field.[ citation needed]
The city's teams have won a combined 14 professional league championships over their respective histories. The Washington Commanders have won two NFL Championships and three Super Bowls; D.C. United has won four; and the Washington Wizards, Washington Capitals, Washington Mystics, Washington Nationals, and Washington Spirit have each won a single championship.[ additional citation(s) needed]
Other professional and semi-professional teams in Washington, D.C. include DC Defenders of the XFL, Old Glory DC of Major League Rugby, the Washington Kastles of World TeamTennis, and the D.C. Divas of the Independent Women's Football League. The William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Rock Creek Park hosts the Washington Open, a joint men's ATP Tour 500- and women's WTA Tour 500-level tennis tournament, every summer in late July and early August. Washington, D.C. has two major annual marathon races, the Marine Corps Marathon, held every autumn, and the Rock 'n' Roll USA Marathon, held each spring.[ citation needed] The Marine Corps Marathon began in 1976 and is sometimes called "The People's Marathon" because it is the largest marathon that does not offer prize money to participants.
[
*independent source needed*]The district's four NCAA Division I teams are the American Eagles of American University, George Washington Revolutionaries of George Washington University, the Georgetown Hoyas of Georgetown University, and the Howard Bison and Lady Bison of Howard University. The Georgetown men's basketball team is the most notable and also plays at Capital One Arena.[ citation needed] Washington, D.C. area's regional sports television network is Monumental Sports Network.
## City government
### Politics
Article One, Section Eight of the United States Constitution grants the United States Congress exclusive jurisdiction over the city. The district did not have an elected local government until passage of the 1973 Home Rule Act, which devolved certain Congressional powers to an elected mayor and a 13-member Council of the District of Columbia. However, Congress retains the right to review and overturn laws created by the council and intervene in local affairs. Washington, D.C., is overwhelmingly Democratic, having voted for Democratic presidential candidates consistently since it was granted electoral votes in the 1964 presidential election.
Each of the city's eight wards elects a single member of the council and residents elect four at-large members to represent the district as a whole. The council chair is also elected at-large. There are 37 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs) elected by small neighborhood districts. ANCs can issue recommendations on all issues that affect residents; government agencies take their advice under careful consideration. The attorney general of the District of Columbia is elected to a four-year term.
Washington, D.C., observes all federal holidays and also celebrates Emancipation Day on April 16, which commemorates the end of slavery in the district. The flag of Washington, D.C., was adopted in 1938 and is a variation on George Washington's family coat of arms.
Washington, D.C., has been a member state of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) since 2015.
The idiom "Inside the Beltway" is a reference used to describe discussions of national political issues inside of Washington, D.C., by way of geographically demarcating the region inside the Capital's Beltway, the city's highway loop constructed in 1964. The phrase is used as a title for a number of political columns and news items by publications, including *The Washington Times*.
### Budgetary issues
The mayor and council set local taxes and a budget, which Congress must approve. The Government Accountability Office and other analysts have estimated that the city's high percentage of tax-exempt property and the Congressional prohibition of commuter taxes create a structural deficit in the district's local budget of anywhere between $470 million and over $1 billion per year. Congress typically provides additional grants for federal programs such as Medicaid and the operation of the local justice system; however, analysts claim that the payments do not fully resolve the imbalance.
The city's local government, particularly during the mayoralty of Marion Barry, has been criticized for mismanagement and waste. During Barry's term as mayor, *Washington Monthly* magazine labeled the city "the worst city government in America" in 1989. In 1995, at the start of Barry's fourth term, Congress created the District of Columbia Financial Control Board to oversee all municipal spending. Mayor Anthony Williams won election in 1998 and oversaw a period of urban renewal and budget surpluses.[ citation needed]
The district regained control over its finances in 2001 and the oversight board's operations were suspended.
The district has a federally funded "Emergency Planning and Security Fund" to cover security related to visits by foreign leaders and diplomats, presidential inaugurations, protests, and terrorism concerns. During the Trump administration, the fund has run with a deficit. Trump's January 2017 inauguration cost the city $27 million; of that, $7 million was never repaid to the fund. Trump's 2019 Independence Day event, "A Salute to America", cost six times more than Independence Day events in past years.
### International relations
As the national capital, Washington, D.C. hosts about 185 foreign missions, including embassies, ambassador's residences, and international cultural centers. Many are concentrated along a stretch of Massachusetts Avenue known informally as Embassy Row. Washington, D.C., hosts a number of internationally themed festivals and events, often in collaboration with foreign missions or delegations.[ citation needed] The city government maintains an Office of International Affairs to liaise with the diplomatic community and foreign delegations. D.C. has 15 official sister city agreements or protocols of friendship.
## Federal voting rights
Congress controlled the Federal District from its establishment, and did not make a provision for federal representation of the people living there. That changed in 1961, when the 23rd amendment was ratified by the states, and Washington, D.C. was granted three electoral college votes in each presidential election. In 1978 another amendment was passed but not ratified by the states to grant D.C. congressional representation. In 2021, a bill to make D.C. a state passed the House of Representatives but not Senate. Congress has the power to add a state, but an amendment must be ratified by the states.
Washington, D.C. is not a state and therefore has no federal voting representation in Congress. The city's residents elect a non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives (D.C. at-large), who may sit on committees, participate in debate, and introduce legislation, but cannot vote on the House floor. The district has no official representation in the United States Senate. Neither chamber seats the district's elected "shadow" representative or senators. Unlike residents of U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico or Guam, which also have non-voting delegates, D.C. residents are subject to all federal taxes. In the financial year 2012, D.C. residents and businesses paid $20.7 billion in federal taxes, more than the taxes collected from 19 states and the highest federal taxes per capita.
A 2005 poll found that 78% of Americans did not know residents of Washington, D.C., have less representation in Congress than residents of the 50 states. Efforts to raise awareness about the issue have included campaigns by grassroots organizations and featuring the city's unofficial motto, "End Taxation Without Representation", on D.C. vehicle license plates. There is evidence of nationwide approval for D.C. voting rights; various polls indicate that 61 to 82% of Americans believe D.C. should have voting representation in Congress.
Opponents to federal voting rights for Washington, D.C., propose that the Founding Fathers never intended for district residents to have a vote in Congress since the Constitution makes clear that representation must come from the states. Those opposed to making the District of Columbia a state say such a move would destroy the notion of a separate national capital and that statehood would unfairly grant Senate representation to a single city.
The District was granted presidential voting rights by the 23rd Amendment in 1961. The 23rd Amendment was ratified which granted the people of the Washington, D.C., the right to vote for the president. This was done by giving them electoral college votes they would get if they were a state, but it must be no more than the least a state has; this works out to three electoral college votes. The amendment reads, ".. A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous State". The 23rd Amendment could complicate statehood, because it would apply even if the federal district was shrunk, and undoing the amendment requires another amendment. Congress must operate from a district it controls, but it can be no larger than ten miles on a side; the 2021 statehood bill got around this by proposing the federal district be shrunk to an area roughly the size of the national mall.
In 1978, the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment was passed, which would have granted D.C. Congressional representation, but it expired in 1986 without being ratified into law. In 2021, a bill was introduced to congress for retroceding the district to Maryland. The idea was that by returning the area to Maryland, the residents would have normal State representation.
## Education
District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), the sole public school district in the city, operates the city's 123 public schools. The number of students in DCPS steadily decreased for 39 years until 2009. In the 2010–11 school year, 46,191 students were enrolled in the public school system. DCPS has one of the highest-cost, yet lowest-performing school systems in the country, in terms of both infrastructure and student achievement. Mayor Adrian Fenty's administration made sweeping changes to the system by closing schools, replacing teachers, firing principals, and using private education firms to aid curriculum development.
The District of Columbia Public Charter School Board monitors the 52 public charter schools in the city. Due to the perceived problems with the traditional public school system, enrollment in public charter schools had by 2007 steadily increased. As of 2010, D.C., charter schools had a total enrollment of about 32,000, a 9% increase from the prior year. The district is also home to 92 private schools, which enrolled approximately 18,000 students in 2008.
### Higher education
The University of the District of Columbia (UDC) is a public land-grant university providing undergraduate and graduate education. Federally chartered universities include American University (AU), Gallaudet University, George Washington University (GWU), Georgetown University (GU), and Howard University (HU). Other private universities include the Catholic University of America (CUA), the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and Trinity Washington University. The Corcoran College of Art and Design, the oldest art school in the capital, was absorbed into the George Washington University in 2014, now serving as its college of arts.
The city's medical research institutions include Washington Hospital Center and Children's National Medical Center. The city is home to three medical schools and associated teaching hospitals: George Washington, Georgetown, and Howard universities.
### Libraries
Washington, D.C., has dozens of public and private libraries and library systems, including the District of Columbia Public Library system.[ citation needed] Folger Shakespeare Library, a research library and museum located on Capitol Hill, houses the world's largest collection of material related to William Shakespeare.
[
*non-primary source needed*]The Library of Congress is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the *de facto* national library of the United States. It is a complex of three buildings: Thomas Jefferson Building, John Adams Building and James Madison Memorial Building, all located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. The Jefferson Building houses the library's reading room, a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, Thomas Jefferson's original library, and several museum exhibits.[ citation needed]
The District of Columbia Public Library operates 26 neighborhood locations including the landmark Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library.
## Media
Washington, D.C., is a prominent center for national and international media. *The Washington Post*, founded in 1877, is the city's most-read local daily newspaper[ citation needed] and one of the preeminent newspapers in the United States. It had the sixth-highest readership of all news dailies in the country in 2011. The
*Post*previously also published the Spanish-language newspaper
*El Tiempo Latino*, which it sold to El Planeta Media in 2016. The city is served by two local NPR affiliates, WAMU and WETA.
*The Washington Times* is a general interest daily newspaper and popular among conservatives. The alternative weekly *Washington City Paper*, with a circulation of 47,000, is also based in the city and has a substantial readership in the Washington area. *The Atlantic* magazine, which has covered politics, international affairs, and cultural issues since 1857, was previously headquartered at the Watergate complex but is now headquartered in a building at the Wharf in Washington. The headquarters of Voice of America, the U.S. government's international news service, is near the Capitol in Southwest Washington, D.C.
Several community and specialty papers focus on neighborhood and cultural issues, including the weekly *Washington Blade* and *Metro Weekly*, which focus on LGBT issues; the *Washington Informer* and *The Washington Afro American*, which highlight topics of interest to the black community; and neighborhood newspapers published by The Current Newspapers. *Congressional Quarterly*, *The Hill*, *Politico*, and *Roll Call* newspapers focus exclusively on issues related to Congress and the federal government. Other publications based in Washington include the *National Geographic* magazine and political publications such as *The Washington Examiner*, *The New Republic*, and *Washington Monthly*.
The Washington metropolitan area is the ninth-largest television media market in the nation, with two million homes, representing approximately 2% of the country's television market. Several media companies and cable television channels have their headquarters in the area, including *USA Today*, the largest newspaper in the country as measured by circulation.
## Infrastructure
### Transportation
#### Streets and highways
There are 1,500 miles (2,400 km) of streets, parkways, and avenues in the district. Due to the freeway revolts of the 1960s, much of the proposed interstate highway system through the middle of Washington was never built. Interstate 95 (I-95), the nation's major east coast highway, therefore bends around the district to form the eastern portion of the Capital Beltway. A portion of the proposed highway funding was directed to the region's public transportation infrastructure instead. The interstate highways that continue into Washington, including I-66 and I-395, both terminate shortly after entering the city.
According to a 2010 study, Washington-area commuters spent 70 hours a year in traffic delays, which tied with Chicago for having the nation's worst road congestion. However, 37% of Washington-area commuters take public transportation to work, the second-highest rate in the country. An additional 12% of D.C. commuters walked to work, 6% carpooled, and 3% traveled by bicycle in 2010.
#### Cycling
In May 2022, the city celebrated the expansion of its bike lane network to 104 miles (167 km), a 60 percent increase from 2015. Of those miles, 24 miles (39 km) were protected bike lanes. It also boasted 62 miles (100 km) of bike trails. As of March 2023[update], the city has 108 miles (174 km) of bike lanes, with 30 miles (48 km) of them protected bike lanes.
D.C. is part of the regional Capital Bikeshare program. Started in 2010, it is one of the largest bicycle sharing systems in the country. As of February 2024[update], the program had 6,372 bicycles and 395 stations. A preceding SmartBike DC pilot program had begun in 2008.
#### Walkability
A 2021 study by Walk Score ranked Washington, D.C. the fifth-most walkable city in the country. According to the study, the most walkable neighborhoods are U Street, Dupont Circle, and Mount Vernon Square. In 2013, the Washington Metropolitan Area had the eighth lowest percentage of workers who commuted by private automobile (75.7 percent), with 8 percent of area workers traveling via rail transit.
#### River crossings
Bridges that cross the Potomac and Anacostia rivers include Arlington Memorial Bridge, 14th Street Bridges, Francis Scott Key Bridge, Theodore Roosevelt Bridge, Woodrow Wilson Bridge, and Frederick Douglass Bridge.
#### Rail
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) operates Washington Metro, the city's rapid transit rail system, which serves Washington, D.C. and its Maryland and Northern Virginia suburbs. Metro opened on March 27, 1976, and consists of six lines, 98 stations, and 129 miles (208 km) of track. Metro is the second-busiest rapid transit system in the country and fifth-busiest in North America. It operates mostly as a deep-level subway in more densely populated areas, while most of the suburban tracks are at surface level or elevated. Metro is known for its iconic brutalist-style vaulted ceilings in the interior stations.[ citation needed] The longest single-tier escalator in the Western Hemisphere, spanning 230 feet (70 m), is located at Metro's Wheaton station in Maryland.
Washington Union Station, the city's main train station, serves approximately 70,000 passengers daily and is Amtrak's second-busiest station with 4.6 million passengers annually and the southern terminus for the Northeast Corridor. Amtrak's *Northeast Regional* provides service northbound transportation to Baltimore Penn Station, New York Penn Station in Manhattan, 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, South Station in Boston, and other stops.[ citation needed] Maryland's MARC and Virginia's VRE commuter trains and the Metrorail Red Line also provide service into Union Station. As of 2023, Union Station is the ninth-busiest rail station in the nation and tenth-busiest in North America.
[
*citation needed*]Washington, D.C.'s streetcars, which were a prominent form of 19th and early transportation, were dismantled in the 1960s. In 2016, however, the city brought back a streetcar line, DC Streetcar, which is a single line system in Northeast Washington, D.C., along H Street and Benning Road, known as the H Street/Benning Road Line.
#### Bus
Two main public bus systems operate in Washington, D.C. Metrobus, operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), is the primary public bus system in Washington, D.C. Serving more than 400,000 riders each weekday, it is one of the nation's largest bus systems by annual ridership. The city also operates its own DC Circulator bus system, which connects commercial and touristic areas within central Washington. The DC Circulator costs only $1 to ride and is composed of six distinct routes that cover central D.C. and suburban Rosslyn, Virginia. The DC Circulator is run via a public-private partnership between the District of Columbia Department of Transportation, WMATA, and DC Surface Transit, Inc. (DCST). The bus system services each stop approximately every 10 minutes.
There are also numerous commuter buses that residents of the wider Washington region take to commute into the city for work or other events, such as the Loudoun County Transit Commuter Bus and the Maryland Transit Administration Commuter Bus. The city also has several bus lines used by tourists and others visiting the city, including Big Bus Tours, Old Town Trolley Tours, and DC Trails. Many tourists also arrive via charter buses.[ citation needed] Following renovations in 2011, Union Station became Washington's primary intercity bus transit center.
#### Air
Three major airports serve the district, though none are within the city's borders. Two of these major airports are located in suburban Northern Virginia and one in suburban Maryland. The closest is Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which is located in Arlington County, Virginia, just across the Potomac River about 5 miles (8 km) from downtown Washington, D.C. This airport provides primarily domestic flights and has the lowest number of passengers of the three airports in the region. The busiest by number of total passengers is Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI), located in Anne Arundel County, Maryland about 30 miles (48 km) northeast of the city. The busiest by international flights and the largest by land size and amount of facilities is Washington Dulles International Airport, located in Dulles, Virginia, about 24 miles (39 km) west of the city. Dulles has the most international passenger traffic of any airport in the Mid-Atlantic outside the New York metropolitan area, including approximately 90% of the international passenger traffic in the Washington-Baltimore region. Each of these three airports also serves as a hub for a major American airline: Reagan National Airport is a hub for American Airlines, Dulles is a major hub for United Airlines and Star Alliance partners, and BWI is an operating base for Southwest Airlines. In 2018, the Washington, D.C. area was the 18th-busiest airport system in the world by passenger traffic, accumulating over 74 million passengers between its three main commercial airports; by 2022 it had climbed to 13th-busiest for passenger traffic, even though passenger numbers decreased to less than 69 million.[ citation needed]
The President of the United States does not use any of these airports for travel. Instead, the U.S. president typically travels by Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House to Joint Base Andrews in suburban Maryland. From there, he takes Air Force One to his destination.
### Utilities
The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority, also known as WASA or D.C. Water, is an independent authority of the Washington, D.C., government that provides drinking water and wastewater collection in the city. WASA purchases water from the historic Washington Aqueduct, which is operated by the Army Corps of Engineers. The water, sourced from the Potomac River, is treated and stored in the city's Dalecarlia, Georgetown, and McMillan reservoirs. The aqueduct provides drinking water for a total of 1.1 million people in the district and Virginia, including Arlington, Falls Church, and a portion of Fairfax County.
Pepco is the city's electric utility and services 793,000 customers in the district and suburban Maryland. An 1889 law prohibits overhead wires within much of the historic City of Washington. As a result, all power lines and telecommunication cables are located underground in downtown Washington, and traffic signals are placed at the edge of the street. The D.C. Public Service Commission approved a seven-year, $500 million plan in 2017 to bury more lines underground; construction started in 2019.
Washington Gas is the city's natural gas utility and serves more than a million customers in the district and its suburbs.[ non-primary source needed]
## Crime and police
Washington has historically endured high crime, particularly violent offences. The city was once described as the "murder capital" of the United States during the early 1990s. The number of murders peaked in 1991 at 479, but then began to decline, reaching a historic low of 88 in 2012, the lowest total since 1961. In 2016, the district's Metropolitan Police Department tallied 135 homicides, a 53% increase from 2012 but a 17% decrease from 2015. By 2019, citywide reports of both property and violent crimes declined from their most recent highs in the mid-1990s.[ better source needed]
[However, both 2021 and 2022 saw over 200 homicides each, reflecting an upward trends from prior decades. In 2023, D.C. recorded 274 homicides, a 20-year high and the fifth-highest murder rate among the nation's largest cities.
*unreliable source?*]Many D.C. residents began to press the city government for refusing to prosecute nearly 70% of arrested offenders in 2022. After months of criticism, the rate of unprosecuted cases dropped to 56% by October 2023—albeit still higher than nine of the past 10 years and almost twice what it was in 2013. In February 2024, the Council of the District of Columbia passed a major bill meant to reduce crime in the city by introducing harsher penalties for arrested offenders. Rising crime and gang activities contributed to some local businesses leaving the city.
According to a 2018 report, 67,000 residents, or about 10% of the population, are ex-convicts. An estimated 2,000–2,500 offenders return to the city from prison every year.
On June 26, 2008, the Supreme Court of the United States held in *District of Columbia v. Heller* that the city's 1976 handgun ban violated the right to keep and bear arms as protected under the Second Amendment. However, a number of gun control measures remain in place, including those requiring firearm registration and banning assault weapons.
In addition to the Metropolitan Police Department, several federal law enforcement agencies have jurisdiction in the city, including the U.S. Park Police, founded in 1791. Because the D.C. National Guard serves a federal district, the president of the United States—and not city officials—has power to deploy it. The president also has the power to take over the police force in emergency situations.
## See also
- Index of Washington, D.C.–related articles
- List of people from Washington, D.C.
- Outline of Washington, D.C.
- USS
*District of Columbia*
## Explanatory notes
## External links
- Official website
- Geographic data related to Washington, D.C. at OpenStreetMap
- U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: District of Columbia (civil)
- Guide to Washington, D.C. from the Library of Congress
| External videos | |
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| 1960s Washington DC, 4K from 35 mm Kinolibrary |
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# List of United States cities by population - Wikipedia
This is a list of the most populous municipal corporations of the United States. As defined by the United States Census Bureau, an incorporated place includes cities, towns, villages, boroughs, and municipalities. A few exceptional census-designated places (CDPs) are also included in the Census Bureau's listing of incorporated places. Consolidated city-counties represent a distinct type of government that includes the entire population of a county, or county equivalent. Some consolidated city-counties, however, include multiple incorporated places. This list presents only the portion of such consolidated city-counties that are not a part of another incorporated place.
This list refers only to the population of individual municipalities within their defined limits; the populations of other municipalities considered suburbs of a central city are listed separately, and unincorporated areas within urban agglomerations are not included. Therefore, a different ranking is evident when considering U.S. urban areas or metropolitan areas.
This table lists the 346 incorporated places in the United States, excluding the U.S. territories, with a population of at least 100,000 as of July 1, 2024, as estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau. Five states have no cities with populations exceeding 100,000: Delaware, Maine, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The table displays:
- The city rank by population as of July 1, 2024, as estimated by the United States Census Bureau
- The city name
- The name of the state in which the city lies
- The city population as of July 1, 2024, as estimated by the United States Census Bureau
- The city population as of April 1, 2020, as enumerated by the 2020 United States census
- The city percent population change from April 1, 2020, to July 1, 2024
- The city land area as of January 1, 2020
- The city population density as of April 1, 2020 (residents per unit of land area)
- The city latitude and longitude coordinates
State capital
| |
State's largest city
| |
State capital and largest city | |
Federal capital |
| City | ST | 2024 estimate |
2020 census |
Change | 2020 land area | 2020 density | Location | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
mi2
|
km2
|
/ mi2
|
/ km2
| ||||||
New York
|
NY | 8,478,072 | 8,804,190 | −3.70% | 300.5 | 778.3 | 29,298 | 11,312 | |
Los Angeles
|
CA | 3,878,704 | 3,898,747 | −0.51% | 469.5 | 1,216.0 | 8,304 | 3,206 | |
Chicago
|
IL | 2,721,308 | 2,746,388 | −0.91% | 227.7 | 589.7 | 12,061 | 4,657 | |
Houston
|
TX | 2,390,125 | 2,304,580 | +3.71% | 640.4 | 1,658.6 | 3,599 | 1,390 | |
Phoenix |
AZ | 1,673,164 | 1,608,139 | +4.04% | 518.0 | 1,341.6 | 3,105 | 1,199 | |
Philadelphia
|
PA | 1,573,916 | 1,603,797 | −1.86% | 134.4 | 348.1 | 11,933 | 4,607 | |
| San Antonio | TX | 1,526,656 | 1,434,625 | +6.41% | 498.8 | 1,291.9 | 2,876 | 1,110 | |
| San Diego | CA | 1,404,452 | 1,386,932 | +1.26% | 325.9 | 844.1 | 4,256 | 1,643 | |
| Dallas | TX | 1,326,087 | 1,304,379 | +1.66% | 339.6 | 879.6 | 3,841 | 1,483 | |
Jacksonville
|
FL | 1,009,833 | 949,611 | +6.34% | 747.3 | 1,935.5 | 1,271 | 491 | |
| Fort Worth | TX | 1,008,106 | 918,915 | +9.71% | 347.3 | 899.5 | 2,646 | 1,022 | |
| San Jose | CA | 997,368 | 1,013,240 | −1.57% | 178.3 | 461.8 | 5,683 | 2,194 | |
Austin
|
TX | 993,588 | 961,855 | +3.30% | 319.9 | 828.5 | 3,007 | 1,161 | |
Charlotte
|
NC | 943,476 | 874,579 | +7.88% | 308.3 | 798.5 | 2,837 | 1,095 | |
Columbus |
OH | 933,263 | 905,748 | +3.04% | 220.0 | 569.8 | 4,117 | 1,590 | |
Indianapolis |
IN | 891,484 | 887,642 | +0.43% | 361.6 | 936.5 | 2,455 | 948 | |
| San Francisco | CA | 827,526 | 873,965 | −5.31% | 46.9 | 121.5 | 18,635 | 7,195 | |
Seattle
|
WA | 780,995 | 737,015 | +5.97% | 83.8 | 217.0 | 8,795 | 3,396 | |
Denver |
CO | 729,019 | 715,522 | +1.89% | 153.1 | 396.5 | 4,674 | 1,805 | |
Oklahoma City |
OK | 712,919 | 681,054 | +4.68% | 606.2 | 1,570.1 | 1,123 | 434 | |
Nashville |
TN | 704,963 | 689,447 | +2.25% | 475.8 | 1,232.3 | 1,449 | 559 | |
Washington |
DC | 702,250 | 689,545 | +1.84% | 61.1 | 158.2 | 11,286 | 4,358 | |
| El Paso | TX | 681,723 | 678,815 | +0.43% | 258.4 | 669.3 | 2,627 | 1,014 | |
Las Vegas
|
NV | 678,922 | 641,903 | +5.77% | 141.8 | 367.3 | 4,527 | 1,748 | |
Boston |
MA | 673,458 | 675,647 | −0.32% | 48.3 | 125.1 | 13,989 | 5,401 | |
Detroit
|
MI | 645,705 | 639,111 | +1.03% | 138.7 | 359.2 | 4,608 | 1,779 | |
Louisville
|
KY | 640,796 | 633,045 | +1.22% | 324.9 | 841.5 | 1,948 | 752 | |
Portland
|
OR | 635,749 | 652,503 | −2.57% | 133.5 | 345.8 | 4,888 | 1,887 | |
| Memphis | TN | 610,919 | 633,104 | −3.50% | 297.0 | 769.2 | 2,132 | 823 | |
Baltimore
|
MD | 568,271 | 585,708 | −2.98% | 80.9 | 209.5 | 7,240 | 2,800 | |
Milwaukee
|
WI | 563,531 | 577,222 | −2.37% | 96.2 | 249.2 | 6,000 | 2,300 | |
Albuquerque
|
NM | 560,326 | 564,559 | −0.75% | 187.3 | 485.1 | 3,014 | 1,164 | |
| Tucson | AZ | 554,013 | 542,629 | +2.10% | 241.0 | 624.2 | 2,252 | 870 | |
| Fresno | CA | 550,105 | 542,107 | +1.48% | 115.2 | 298.4 | 4,706 | 1,817 | |
Sacramento
|
CA | 535,798 | 524,943 | +2.07% | 98.6 | 255.4 | 5,324 | 2,056 | |
Atlanta |
GA | 520,070 | 498,715 | +4.28% | 135.3 | 350.4 | 3,686 | 1,423 | |
| Mesa | AZ | 517,151 | 504,258 | +2.56% | 138.7 | 359.2 | 3,636 | 1,404 | |
Kansas City
|
MO | 516,032 | 508,090 | +1.56% | 314.7 | 815.1 | 1,615 | 624 | |
Raleigh
|
NC | 499,825 | 467,665 | +6.88% | 147.1 | 381.0 | 3,179 | 1,227 | |
| Colorado Springs | CO | 493,554 | 478,961 | +3.05% | 195.4 | 506.1 | 2,451 | 946 | |
Omaha
|
NE | 489,265 | 486,051 | +0.66% | 141.6 | 366.7 | 3,433 | 1,325 | |
| Miami | FL | 487,014 | 442,241 | +10.12% | 36.0 | 93.2 | 12,284 | 4,743 | |
Virginia Beach
|
VA | 454,808 | 459,470 | −1.01% | 244.7 | 633.8 | 1,878 | 725 | |
| Long Beach | CA | 450,901 | 466,742 | −3.39% | 50.7 | 131.3 | 9,206 | 3,554 | |
| Oakland | CA | 443,554 | 440,646 | +0.66% | 55.9 | 144.8 | 7,883 | 3,044 | |
Minneapolis
|
MN | 428,579 | 429,954 | −0.32% | 54.0 | 139.9 | 7,962 | 3,074 | |
| Bakersfield | CA | 417,468 | 403,455 | +3.47% | 149.8 | 388.0 | 2,693 | 1,040 | |
| Tulsa | OK | 415,154 | 413,066 | +0.51% | 197.5 | 511.5 | 2,091 | 807 | |
| Tampa | FL | 414,547 | 384,959 | +7.69% | 114.0 | 295.3 | 3,377 | 1,304 | |
| Arlington | TX | 403,672 | 394,266 | +2.39% | 95.9 | 248.4 | 4,111 | 1,587 | |
| Aurora | CO | 403,130 | 386,261 | +4.37% | 160.1 | 414.7 | 2,413 | 932 | |
Wichita
|
KS | 400,991 | 397,532 | +0.87% | 162.0 | 419.6 | 2,454 | 947 | |
| Cleveland | OH | 365,379 | 372,624 | −1.94% | 77.7 | 201.2 | 4,796 | 1,852 | |
New Orleans
|
LA | 362,701 | 383,997 | −5.55% | 169.5 | 439.0 | 2,265 | 875 | |
| Henderson | NV | 350,039 | 317,610 | +10.21% | 106.2 | 275.1 | 2,991 | 1,155 | |
Honolulu |
HI | 344,967 | 350,964 | −1.71% | 60.5 | 156.7 | 5,801 | 2,240 | |
| Anaheim | CA | 344,561 | 346,824 | −0.65% | 50.3 | 130.3 | 6,895 | 2,662 | |
| Orlando | FL | 334,854 | 307,573 | +8.87% | 110.6 | 286.5 | 2,781 | 1,074 | |
| Lexington | KY | 329,437 | 322,570 | +2.13% | 283.6 | 734.5 | 1,137 | 439 | |
| Stockton | CA | 324,975 | 320,804 | +1.30% | 62.2 | 161.1 | 5,158 | 1,992 | |
| Riverside | CA | 323,757 | 314,998 | +2.78% | 81.2 | 210.3 | 3,879 | 1,498 | |
| Irvine | CA | 318,683 | 307,670 | +3.58% | 65.6 | 169.9 | 4,690 | 1,810 | |
| Corpus Christi | TX | 317,317 | 317,863 | −0.17% | 162.2 | 420.1 | 1,960 | 760 | |
Newark
|
NJ | 317,303 | 311,549 | +1.85% | 24.1 | 62.4 | 12,927 | 4,991 | |
| Santa Ana | CA | 316,184 | 310,227 | +1.92% | 27.3 | 70.7 | 11,364 | 4,388 | |
| Cincinnati | OH | 314,915 | 309,317 | +1.81% | 77.8 | 201.5 | 3,976 | 1,535 | |
| Pittsburgh | PA | 307,668 | 302,971 | +1.55% | 55.4 | 143.5 | 5,469 | 2,112 | |
Saint Paul
|
MN | 307,465 | 311,527 | −1.30% | 52.0 | 134.7 | 5,991 | 2,313 | |
| Greensboro | NC | 307,381 | 299,035 | +2.79% | 129.6 | 335.7 | 2,307 | 891 | |
| Jersey City | NJ | 302,824 | 292,449 | +3.55% | 14.7 | 38.1 | 19,894 | 7,681 | |
| Durham | NC | 301,870 | 283,506 | +6.48% | 112.8 | 292.2 | 2,513 | 970 | |
Lincoln
|
NE | 300,619 | 291,082 | +3.28% | 97.7 | 253.0 | 2,979 | 1,150 | |
| North Las Vegas | NV | 294,034 | 262,527 | +12.00% | 101.3 | 262.4 | 2,592 | 1,001 | |
| Plano | TX | 293,286 | 285,494 | +2.73% | 71.7 | 185.7 | 3,982 | 1,537 | |
Anchorage
|
AK | 289,600 | 291,247 | −0.57% | 1,706.8 | 4,420.6 | 171 | 66 | |
| Gilbert | AZ | 288,790 | 267,918 | +7.79% | 68.6 | 177.7 | 3,906 | 1,508 | |
Madison
|
WI | 285,300 | 269,840 | +5.73% | 79.6 | 206.2 | 3,390 | 1,310 | |
| Reno | NV | 281,714 | 264,165 | +6.64% | 108.8 | 281.8 | 2,428 | 937 | |
| Chandler | AZ | 281,231 | 275,987 | +1.90% | 65.3 | 169.1 | 4,226 | 1,632 | |
| St. Louis | MO | 279,695 | 301,578 | −7.26% | 61.7 | 159.8 | 4,888 | 1,887 | |
| Chula Vista | CA | 278,546 | 275,487 | +1.11% | 49.6 | 128.5 | 5,554 | 2,144 | |
| Buffalo | NY | 276,617 | 278,349 | −0.62% | 40.4 | 104.6 | 6,890 | 2,660 | |
| Fort Wayne | IN | 273,203 | 263,886 | +3.53% | 110.7 | 286.7 | 2,384 | 920 | |
| Lubbock | TX | 272,086 | 257,141 | +5.81% | 134.6 | 348.6 | 1,910 | 740 | |
| St. Petersburg | FL | 267,102 | 258,308 | +3.40% | 61.8 | 160.1 | 4,180 | 1,610 | |
| Toledo | OH | 265,638 | 270,871 | −1.93% | 80.5 | 208.5 | 3,365 | 1,299 | |
| Laredo | TX | 261,260 | 255,205 | +2.37% | 106.5 | 275.8 | 2,396 | 925 | |
| Port St. Lucie | FL | 258,575 | 204,851 | +26.23% | 119.2 | 308.7 | 1,719 | 664 | |
| Glendale | AZ | 258,143 | 248,325 | +3.95% | 61.6 | 159.5 | 4,031 | 1,556 | |
| Irving | TX | 258,060 | 256,684 | +0.54% | 67.0 | 173.5 | 3,831 | 1,479 | |
| Winston-Salem | NC | 255,769 | 249,545 | +2.49% | 132.7 | 343.7 | 1,881 | 726 | |
| Chesapeake | VA | 254,997 | 249,422 | +2.24% | 338.5 | 876.7 | 737 | 285 | |
| Garland | TX | 250,431 | 246,018 | +1.79% | 57.1 | 147.9 | 4,309 | 1,664 | |
| Scottsdale | AZ | 246,170 | 241,361 | +1.99% | 184.0 | 476.6 | 1,312 | 507 | |
Boise |
ID | 237,963 | 235,684 | +0.97% | 84.0 | 217.6 | 2,806 | 1,083 | |
| Hialeah | FL | 235,388 | 223,109 | +5.50% | 21.6 | 55.9 | 10,329 | 3,988 | |
| Frisco | TX | 235,208 | 200,509 | +17.31% | 68.6 | 177.7 | 2,923 | 1,129 | |
Richmond
|
VA | 233,655 | 226,610 | +3.11% | 59.9 | 155.1 | 3,783 | 1,461 | |
| Cape Coral | FL | 233,025 | 194,016 | +20.11% | 106.0 | 274.5 | 1,830 | 710 | |
| Norfolk | VA | 231,105 | 238,005 | −2.90% | 53.3 | 138.0 | 4,465 | 1,724 | |
| Spokane | WA | 230,609 | 228,989 | +0.71% | 68.8 | 178.2 | 3,328 | 1,285 | |
Huntsville
|
AL | 230,402 | 215,006 | +7.16% | 218.1 | 564.9 | 986 | 381 | |
| Santa Clarita | CA | 229,159 | 228,673 | +0.21% | 70.8 | 183.4 | 3,230 | 1,250 | |
| Tacoma | WA | 228,202 | 219,346 | +4.04% | 49.7 | 128.7 | 4,413 | 1,704 | |
| Fremont | CA | 228,192 | 230,504 | −1.00% | 78.3 | 202.8 | 2,944 | 1,137 | |
| McKinney | TX | 227,526 | 195,308 | +16.50% | 67.0 | 173.5 | 2,915 | 1,125 | |
| San Bernardino | CA | 224,775 | 222,101 | +1.20% | 62.1 | 160.8 | 3,577 | 1,381 | |
Baton Rouge
|
LA | 220,907 | 227,470 | −2.89% | 86.3 | 223.5 | 2,636 | 1,018 | |
| Modesto | CA | 220,592 | 218,464 | +0.97% | 43.0 | 111.4 | 5,081 | 1,962 | |
| Fontana | CA | 218,455 | 208,393 | +4.83% | 43.1 | 111.6 | 4,835 | 1,867 | |
Salt Lake City |
UT | 217,783 | 199,723 | +9.04% | 110.3 | 285.7 | 1,811 | 699 | |
| Moreno Valley | CA | 213,919 | 208,634 | +2.53% | 51.3 | 132.9 | 4,067 | 1,570 | |
Des Moines |
IA | 213,096 | 214,133 | −0.48% | 88.2 | 228.4 | 2,428 | 937 | |
| Worcester | MA | 211,286 | 206,518 | +2.31% | 37.4 | 96.9 | 5,522 | 2,132 | |
| Yonkers | NY | 211,040 | 211,569 | −0.25% | 18.0 | 46.6 | 11,754 | 4,538 | |
| Fayetteville | NC | 209,496 | 208,501 | +0.48% | 148.3 | 384.1 | 1,406 | 543 | |
Sioux Falls
|
SD | 209,289 | 192,517 | +8.71% | 79.1 | 204.9 | 2,434 | 940 | |
| Grand Prairie | TX | 207,331 | 196,100 | +5.73% | 72.6 | 188.0 | 2,701 | 1,043 | |
| Rochester | NY | 207,282 | 211,328 | −1.91% | 35.8 | 92.7 | 5,903 | 2,279 | |
Tallahassee
|
FL | 205,089 | 196,169 | +4.55% | 100.9 | 261.3 | 1,944 | 751 | |
Little Rock |
AR | 204,774 | 202,591 | +1.08% | 120.0 | 310.8 | 1,688 | 652 | |
| Amarillo | TX | 203,729 | 200,393 | +1.66% | 102.3 | 265.0 | 1,959 | 756 | |
| Overland Park | KS | 202,893 | 197,238 | +2.87% | 75.2 | 194.8 | 2,623 | 1,013 | |
| Columbus | GA | 201,830 | 206,922 | −2.46% | 216.5 | 560.7 | 956 | 369 | |
| Augusta | GA | 201,737 | 202,081 | −0.17% | 302.3 | 783.0 | 668 | 258 | |
| Mobile | AL | 201,367 | 187,041 | +7.66% | 139.5 | 361.3 | 1,341 | 518 | |
| Oxnard | CA | 200,616 | 202,063 | −0.72% | 26.5 | 68.6 | 7,625 | 2,944 | |
| Grand Rapids | MI | 200,117 | 198,917 | +0.60% | 44.8 | 116.0 | 4,440 | 1,710 | |
| Peoria | AZ | 199,924 | 190,985 | +4.68% | 176.1 | 456.1 | 1,085 | 419 | |
| Vancouver | WA | 198,992 | 190,915 | +4.23% | 48.7 | 126.1 | 3,920 | 1,510 | |
| Knoxville | TN | 198,722 | 190,740 | +4.18% | 98.7 | 255.6 | 1,933 | 746 | |
| Birmingham | AL | 196,357 | 200,733 | −2.18% | 147.0 | 380.7 | 1,366 | 527 | |
Montgomery
|
AL | 195,818 | 200,603 | −2.39% | 159.9 | 414.1 | 1,255 | 485 | |
Providence |
RI | 194,706 | 190,934 | +1.98% | 18.4 | 47.7 | 10,377 | 4,007 | |
| Huntington Beach | CA | 193,151 | 198,711 | −2.80% | 27.0 | 69.9 | 7,360 | 2,840 | |
| Brownsville | TX | 191,967 | 186,738 | +2.80% | 131.5 | 340.6 | 1,420 | 550 | |
| Chattanooga | TN | 191,496 | 181,099 | +5.74% | 142.4 | 368.8 | 1,272 | 491 | |
| Fort Lauderdale | FL | 190,641 | 182,760 | +4.31% | 34.6 | 89.6 | 5,282 | 2,039 | |
| Tempe | AZ | 190,114 | 180,587 | +5.28% | 39.9 | 103.3 | 4,526 | 1,747 | |
| Akron | OH | 189,664 | 190,469 | −0.42% | 61.9 | 160.3 | 3,077 | 1,188 | |
| Glendale | CA | 187,823 | 196,543 | −4.44% | 30.5 | 79.0 | 6,444 | 2,488 | |
| Clarksville | TN | 185,690 | 166,722 | +11.38% | 99.4 | 257.4 | 1,677 | 647 | |
| Ontario | CA | 185,285 | 175,265 | +5.72% | 50.0 | 129.5 | 3,505 | 1,353 | |
| Newport News | VA | 183,056 | 186,247 | −1.71% | 69.0 | 178.7 | 2,699 | 1,042 | |
| Elk Grove | CA | 182,797 | 176,124 | +3.79% | 42.0 | 108.8 | 4,193 | 1,619 | |
| Cary | NC | 182,659 | 174,721 | +4.54% | 59.2 | 153.3 | 2,951 | 1,139 | |
| Aurora | IL | 180,710 | 180,542 | +0.09% | 45.0 | 116.5 | 4,012 | 1,549 | |
Salem
|
OR | 180,406 | 175,535 | +2.77% | 48.8 | 126.4 | 3,597 | 1,389 | |
| Pembroke Pines | FL | 179,326 | 171,178 | +4.76% | 32.7 | 84.7 | 5,235 | 2,021 | |
| Eugene | OR | 178,786 | 176,654 | +1.21% | 44.2 | 114.5 | 3,997 | 1,543 | |
| Santa Rosa | CA | 177,524 | 178,127 | −0.34% | 42.5 | 110.1 | 4,191 | 1,618 | |
| Rancho Cucamonga | CA | 176,675 | 174,453 | +1.27% | 40.1 | 103.9 | 4,350 | 1,680 | |
| Shreveport | LA | 176,578 | 187,593 | −5.87% | 107.8 | 279.2 | 1,740 | 670 | |
| Garden Grove | CA | 172,361 | 171,949 | +0.24% | 18.0 | 46.6 | 9,553 | 3,688 | |
| Oceanside | CA | 170,941 | 174,068 | −1.80% | 41.3 | 107.0 | 4,215 | 1,627 | |
| Fort Collins | CO | 170,924 | 169,810 | +0.66% | 57.2 | 148.1 | 2,969 | 1,146 | |
| Springfield | MO | 170,596 | 169,176 | +0.84% | 82.4 | 213.4 | 2,053 | 793 | |
| Murfreesboro | TN | 168,387 | 152,769 | +10.22% | 62.9 | 162.9 | 2,429 | 938 | |
| Surprise | AZ | 167,564 | 143,148 | +17.06% | 110.3 | 285.7 | 1,298 | 501 | |
| Lancaster | CA | 167,426 | 173,516 | −3.51% | 94.3 | 244.2 | 1,840 | 710 | |
| Denton | TX | 165,998 | 139,869 | +18.68% | 96.4 | 249.7 | 1,451 | 560 | |
| Roseville | CA | 163,304 | 147,773 | +10.51% | 44.1 | 114.2 | 3,351 | 1,294 | |
| Palmdale | CA | 162,536 | 169,450 | −4.08% | 106.1 | 274.8 | 1,597 | 617 | |
| Corona | CA | 161,540 | 157,136 | +2.80% | 39.9 | 103.3 | 3,938 | 1,520 | |
| Salinas | CA | 160,783 | 163,542 | −1.69% | 23.5 | 60.9 | 6,959 | 2,687 | |
| Killeen | TX | 160,616 | 153,095 | +4.91% | 54.8 | 141.9 | 2,794 | 1,079 | |
| Paterson | NJ | 160,463 | 159,732 | +0.46% | 8.4 | 21.8 | 19,016 | 7,342 | |
| Alexandria | VA | 159,102 | 159,467 | −0.23% | 14.9 | 38.6 | 10,702 | 4,132 | |
| Hollywood | FL | 159,073 | 153,067 | +3.92% | 27.3 | 70.7 | 5,607 | 2,165 | |
| Hayward | CA | 158,440 | 162,954 | −2.77% | 45.8 | 118.6 | 3,558 | 1,374 | |
Charleston
|
SC | 157,665 | 150,227 | +4.95% | 114.8 | 297.3 | 1,309 | 505 | |
| Macon | GA | 157,056 | 157,346 | −0.18% | 249.4 | 645.9 | 631 | 244 | |
| Lakewood | CO | 156,868 | 155,984 | +0.57% | 43.5 | 112.7 | 3,586 | 1,385 | |
| Sunnyvale | CA | 156,792 | 155,805 | +0.63% | 22.1 | 57.2 | 7,050 | 2,720 | |
| Kansas City | KS | 156,752 | 156,607 | +0.09% | 124.7 | 323.0 | 1,256 | 485 | |
| Springfield | MA | 154,888 | 155,929 | −0.67% | 31.9 | 82.6 | 4,888 | 1,887 | |
| Bellevue | WA | 154,377 | 151,854 | +1.66% | 33.5 | 86.8 | 4,533 | 1,750 | |
| Naperville | IL | 153,124 | 149,540 | +2.40% | 39.1 | 101.3 | 3,825 | 1,477 | |
| Joliet | IL | 151,837 | 150,362 | +0.98% | 64.5 | 167.1 | 2,331 | 900 | |
Bridgeport
|
CT | 151,599 | 148,654 | +1.98% | 16.1 | 41.7 | 9,233 | 3,565 | |
| Mesquite | TX | 150,140 | 150,108 | +0.02% | 48.5 | 125.6 | 3,095 | 1,195 | |
| Pasadena | TX | 149,617 | 151,950 | −1.54% | 43.7 | 113.2 | 3,477 | 1,342 | |
| Olathe | KS | 149,035 | 141,290 | +5.48% | 61.9 | 160.3 | 2,283 | 881 | |
| Escondido | CA | 148,847 | 151,038 | −1.45% | 37.3 | 96.6 | 4,049 | 1,563 | |
| Savannah | GA | 148,808 | 147,780 | +0.70% | 106.8 | 276.6 | 1,384 | 534 | |
| McAllen | TX | 148,782 | 142,210 | +4.62% | 62.3 | 161.4 | 2,283 | 881 | |
| Gainesville | FL | 148,720 | 141,085 | +5.41% | 63.2 | 163.7 | 2,232 | 862 | |
| Pomona | CA | 147,966 | 151,713 | −2.47% | 23.0 | 59.6 | 6,596 | 2,547 | |
| Rockford | IL | 147,486 | 148,655 | −0.79% | 64.5 | 167.1 | 2,305 | 890 | |
| Thornton | CO | 146,689 | 141,867 | +3.40% | 35.9 | 93.0 | 3,952 | 1,526 | |
| Waco | TX | 146,608 | 138,486 | +5.86% | 88.7 | 229.7 | 1,561 | 603 | |
| Visalia | CA | 146,271 | 141,384 | +3.46% | 37.9 | 98.2 | 3,730 | 1,440 | |
| Syracuse | NY | 146,097 | 148,620 | −1.70% | 25.1 | 65.0 | 5,921 | 2,286 | |
Columbia
|
SC | 144,788 | 136,632 | +5.97% | 136.8 | 354.3 | 999 | 386 | |
| Midland | TX | 143,687 | 132,524 | +8.42% | 75.5 | 195.5 | 1,755 | 678 | |
| Miramar | FL | 143,242 | 134,721 | +6.32% | 28.9 | 74.9 | 4,662 | 1,800 | |
| Palm Bay | FL | 142,023 | 119,760 | +18.59% | 86.4 | 223.8 | 1,386 | 535 | |
| Lakewood | NJ | 141,985 | 135,158 | +5.05% | 24.7 | 64.0 | 5,472 | 2,113 | |
Jackson |
MS | 141,449 | 153,701 | −7.97% | 111.7 | 289.3 | 1,376 | 531 | |
| Coral Springs | FL | 140,808 | 134,394 | +4.77% | 22.9 | 59.3 | 5,869 | 2,266 | |
| Victorville | CA | 140,721 | 134,810 | +4.38% | 73.7 | 190.9 | 1,829 | 706 | |
| Elizabeth | NJ | 140,413 | 137,298 | +2.27% | 12.3 | 31.9 | 11,162 | 4,310 | |
| Fullerton | CA | 140,054 | 143,617 | −2.48% | 22.4 | 58.0 | 6,411 | 2,475 | |
| Meridian | ID | 139,740 | 117,635 | +18.79% | 35.1 | 90.9 | 3,351 | 1,294 | |
| Torrance | CA | 139,576 | 147,067 | −5.09% | 20.5 | 53.1 | 7,174 | 2,770 | |
| Stamford | CT | 139,134 | 135,470 | +2.70% | 37.6 | 97.4 | 3,603 | 1,391 | |
| West Valley City | UT | 138,144 | 140,230 | −1.49% | 35.8 | 92.7 | 3,917 | 1,512 | |
| Orange | CA | 137,941 | 139,911 | −1.41% | 25.7 | 66.6 | 5,444 | 2,102 | |
| Cedar Rapids | IA | 137,904 | 137,710 | +0.14% | 72.1 | 186.7 | 1,910 | 740 | |
| Warren | MI | 137,686 | 139,387 | −1.22% | 34.4 | 89.1 | 4,052 | 1,564 | |
| Hampton | VA | 137,596 | 137,148 | +0.33% | 51.5 | 133.4 | 2,663 | 1,028 | |
| New Haven | CT | 137,562 | 134,023 | +2.64% | 18.7 | 48.4 | 7,167 | 2,767 | |
| Pasadena | CA | 137,195 | 138,699 | −1.08% | 23.0 | 59.6 | 6,030 | 2,330 | |
| Kent | WA | 136,588 | 136,588 | 33.8 | 87.5 | 4,041 | 1,560 | ||
| Dayton | OH | 136,346 | 137,644 | −0.94% | 55.8 | 144.5 | 2,467 | 953 | |
Fargo
|
ND | 136,285 | 125,990 | +8.17% | 49.8 | 129.0 | 2,530 | 980 | |
| Lewisville | TX | 135,983 | 111,822 | +21.61% | 37.0 | 95.8 | 3,022 | 1,167 | |
| Carrollton | TX | 135,456 | 133,434 | +1.52% | 36.7 | 95.1 | 3,636 | 1,404 | |
| Round Rock | TX | 135,359 | 119,468 | +13.30% | 37.6 | 97.4 | 3,177 | 1,227 | |
| Sterling Heights | MI | 134,342 | 134,346 | 36.4 | 94.3 | 3,691 | 1,425 | ||
| Santa Clara | CA | 133,132 | 127,647 | +4.30% | 18.3 | 47.4 | 6,975 | 2,693 | |
| Norman | OK | 131,010 | 128,026 | +2.33% | 178.8 | 463.1 | 716 | 276 | |
| Columbia | MO | 130,900 | 126,254 | +3.68% | 66.5 | 172.2 | 1,899 | 733 | |
| Abilene | TX | 130,501 | 125,182 | +4.25% | 106.7 | 276.4 | 1,173 | 453 | |
| Pearland | TX | 129,620 | 125,828 | +3.01% | 48.7 | 126.1 | 2,584 | 998 | |
| Athens | GA | 128,691 | 127,315 | +1.08% | 116.3 | 301.2 | 1,095 | 423 | |
| College Station | TX | 128,023 | 120,511 | +6.23% | 51.2 | 132.6 | 2,354 | 909 | |
| Clovis | CA | 127,993 | 120,124 | +6.55% | 25.4 | 65.8 | 4,729 | 1,826 | |
| West Palm Beach | FL | 127,744 | 117,415 | +8.80% | 53.8 | 139.3 | 2,182 | 842 | |
| Allentown | PA | 127,138 | 125,845 | +1.03% | 17.6 | 45.6 | 7,150 | 2,760 | |
| North Charleston | SC | 126,005 | 114,852 | +9.71% | 77.6 | 201.0 | 1,480 | 570 | |
| Simi Valley | CA | 125,778 | 126,356 | −0.46% | 41.5 | 107.5 | 3,045 | 1,176 | |
Topeka
|
KS | 125,467 | 126,587 | −0.88% | 61.4 | 159.0 | 2,062 | 796 | |
| Wilmington | NC | 125,284 | 115,451 | +8.52% | 51.4 | 133.1 | 2,246 | 867 | |
| Lakeland | FL | 124,990 | 112,641 | +10.96% | 66.2 | 171.5 | 1,702 | 657 | |
| Thousand Oaks | CA | 124,229 | 126,966 | −2.16% | 55.3 | 143.2 | 2,296 | 886 | |
| Concord | CA | 124,016 | 125,410 | −1.11% | 30.6 | 79.3 | 4,098 | 1,582 | |
| Rochester | MN | 123,624 | 121,395 | +1.84% | 55.5 | 143.7 | 2,187 | 844 | |
| Vallejo | CA | 123,475 | 126,090 | −2.07% | 30.4 | 78.7 | 4,148 | 1,602 | |
| Ann Arbor | MI | 122,925 | 123,851 | −0.75% | 28.2 | 73.0 | 4,392 | 1,696 | |
| Broken Arrow | OK | 122,756 | 113,540 | +8.12% | 63.0 | 163.2 | 1,802 | 696 | |
| Fairfield | CA | 122,646 | 119,881 | +2.31% | 41.6 | 107.7 | 2,882 | 1,113 | |
| Lafayette | LA | 122,280 | 121,374 | +0.75% | 55.8 | 144.5 | 2,175 | 840 | |
Hartford
|
CT | 122,129 | 121,054 | +0.89% | 17.4 | 45.1 | 6,957 | 2,686 | |
| Arvada | CO | 121,873 | 124,402 | −2.03% | 38.9 | 100.8 | 3,198 | 1,235 | |
| Berkeley | CA | 121,749 | 124,321 | −2.07% | 10.4 | 26.9 | 11,954 | 4,615 | |
| Independence | MO | 121,629 | 123,011 | −1.12% | 78.0 | 202.0 | 1,577 | 609 | |
Billings
|
MT | 121,483 | 117,116 | +3.73% | 44.8 | 116.0 | 2,614 | 1,009 | |
| Cambridge | MA | 121,186 | 118,403 | +2.35% | 6.4 | 16.6 | 18,500 | 7,100 | |
| Lowell | MA | 120,418 | 115,554 | +4.21% | 13.6 | 35.2 | 8,497 | 3,281 | |
| Odessa | TX | 119,748 | 114,428 | +4.65% | 51.1 | 132.3 | 2,239 | 864 | |
| High Point | NC | 118,601 | 114,059 | +3.98% | 56.4 | 146.1 | 2,022 | 781 | |
| League City | TX | 118,456 | 114,392 | +3.55% | 51.3 | 132.9 | 2,230 | 860 | |
| Antioch | CA | 118,453 | 115,291 | +2.74% | 29.2 | 75.6 | 3,948 | 1,524 | |
| Richardson | TX | 118,221 | 119,469 | −1.04% | 28.6 | 74.1 | 4,177 | 1,613 | |
| Goodyear | AZ | 118,186 | 95,294 | +24.02% | 191.3 | 495.5 | 498 | 192 | |
| Pompano Beach | FL | 118,104 | 112,046 | +5.41% | 24.0 | 62.2 | 4,669 | 1,803 | |
| Nampa | ID | 117,350 | 100,200 | +17.12% | 33.5 | 86.8 | 2,991 | 1,155 | |
| Menifee | CA | 117,041 | 102,527 | +14.16% | 46.5 | 120.4 | 2,205 | 851 | |
| Las Cruces | NM | 116,998 | 111,385 | +5.04% | 76.9 | 199.2 | 1,448 | 559 | |
| Clearwater | FL | 116,811 | 117,292 | −0.41% | 26.1 | 67.6 | 4,494 | 1,735 | |
| West Jordan | UT | 116,688 | 116,961 | −0.23% | 32.3 | 83.7 | 3,621 | 1,398 | |
| New Braunfels | TX | 116,477 | 90,403 | +28.84% | 45.2 | 117.1 | 2,000 | 770 | |
Manchester
|
NH | 116,386 | 115,644 | +0.64% | 33.1 | 85.7 | 3,494 | 1,349 | |
| Miami Gardens | FL | 116,173 | 111,640 | +4.06% | 18.2 | 47.1 | 6,134 | 2,368 | |
| Waterbury | CT | 115,908 | 114,403 | +1.32% | 28.5 | 73.8 | 4,014 | 1,550 | |
| Provo | UT | 115,479 | 115,162 | +0.28% | 41.7 | 108.0 | 2,762 | 1,066 | |
| Evansville | IN | 115,395 | 117,298 | −1.62% | 47.4 | 122.8 | 2,475 | 956 | |
| Richmond | CA | 115,353 | 116,448 | −0.94% | 30.1 | 78.0 | 3,869 | 1,494 | |
| Westminster | CO | 115,302 | 116,317 | −0.87% | 31.6 | 81.8 | 3,681 | 1,421 | |
| Elgin | IL | 114,701 | 114,797 | −0.08% | 38.0 | 98.4 | 3,021 | 1,166 | |
| Conroe | TX | 114,581 | 89,956 | +27.37% | 72.0 | 186.5 | 1,249 | 482 | |
| Greeley | CO | 114,363 | 108,795 | +5.12% | 48.9 | 126.7 | 2,225 | 859 | |
Lansing
|
MI | 114,336 | 112,644 | +1.50% | 39.1 | 101.3 | 2,881 | 1,112 | |
| Buckeye | AZ | 114,334 | 91,502 | +24.95% | 393.0 | 1,017.9 | 233 | 90 | |
| Tuscaloosa | AL | 114,288 | 99,600 | +14.75% | 61.9 | 160.3 | 1,609 | 621 | |
| Allen | TX | 113,746 | 104,627 | +8.72% | 26.4 | 68.4 | 3,963 | 1,530 | |
| Carlsbad | CA | 113,575 | 114,746 | −1.02% | 37.8 | 97.9 | 3,036 | 1,172 | |
| Everett | WA | 113,011 | 110,629 | +2.15% | 33.2 | 86.0 | 3,332 | 1,286 | |
Springfield
|
IL | 112,949 | 114,394 | −1.26% | 61.1 | 158.2 | 1,872 | 723 | |
| Beaumont | TX | 112,893 | 115,282 | −2.07% | 82.5 | 213.7 | 1,397 | 539 | |
| Murrieta | CA | 112,539 | 110,949 | +1.43% | 33.6 | 87.0 | 3,302 | 1,275 | |
| Rio Rancho | NM | 112,524 | 104,046 | +8.15% | 103.4 | 267.8 | 1,006 | 388 | |
| Temecula | CA | 112,431 | 110,003 | +2.21% | 37.3 | 96.6 | 2,949 | 1,139 | |
| Concord | NC | 112,395 | 105,240 | +6.80% | 63.5 | 164.5 | 1,657 | 640 | |
| Tyler | TX | 112,219 | 105,995 | +5.87% | 57.5 | 148.9 | 1,843 | 712 | |
| Davie | FL | 112,052 | 105,691 | +6.02% | 34.9 | 90.4 | 3,028 | 1,169 | |
| South Fulton | GA | 112,003 | 107,436 | +4.25% | 85.2 | 220.7 | 1,261 | 487 | |
| Peoria | IL | 111,696 | 113,150 | −1.29% | 48.0 | 124.3 | 2,357 | 910 | |
| Sparks | NV | 111,520 | 108,445 | +2.84% | 36.4 | 94.3 | 2,979 | 1,150 | |
| Gresham | OR | 111,507 | 114,247 | −2.40% | 23.5 | 60.9 | 4,862 | 1,877 | |
| Santa Maria | CA | 111,346 | 109,707 | +1.49% | 22.8 | 59.1 | 4,812 | 1,858 | |
| Pueblo | CO | 111,166 | 111,876 | −0.63% | 55.4 | 143.5 | 2,019 | 780 | |
| Hillsboro | OR | 110,337 | 106,447 | +3.65% | 25.7 | 66.6 | 4,142 | 1,599 | |
| Edison | NJ | 110,002 | 107,588 | +2.24% | 30.1 | 78.0 | 3,574 | 1,380 | |
| Sugar Land | TX | 109,851 | 111,026 | −1.06% | 40.5 | 104.9 | 2,741 | 1,058 | |
| Ventura | CA | 109,831 | 110,763 | −0.84% | 21.9 | 56.7 | 5,058 | 1,953 | |
| Downey | CA | 109,368 | 114,355 | −4.36% | 12.4 | 32.1 | 9,222 | 3,561 | |
| Costa Mesa | CA | 109,131 | 111,918 | −2.49% | 15.8 | 40.9 | 7,083 | 2,735 | |
| Centennial | CO | 108,853 | 108,418 | +0.40% | 29.7 | 76.9 | 3,650 | 1,410 | |
| Edinburg | TX | 108,733 | 100,243 | +8.47% | 44.7 | 115.8 | 2,243 | 866 | |
| Spokane Valley | WA | 108,267 | 102,976 | +5.14% | 37.7 | 97.6 | 2,731 | 1,054 | |
| Jurupa Valley | CA | 108,154 | 105,053 | +2.95% | 42.9 | 111.1 | 2,449 | 946 | |
| Bend | OR | 106,926 | 99,178 | +7.81% | 33.6 | 87.0 | 2,952 | 1,140 | |
| West Covina | CA | 106,920 | 109,501 | −2.36% | 16.0 | 41.4 | 6,844 | 2,642 | |
| Boulder | CO | 106,803 | 108,250 | −1.34% | 26.3 | 68.1 | 4,116 | 1,589 | |
| Palm Coast | FL | 106,729 | 89,258 | +19.57% | 95.4 | 247.1 | 936 | 361 | |
| Lee's Summit | MO | 106,419 | 101,108 | +5.25% | 63.9 | 165.5 | 1,582 | 611 | |
| Dearborn | MI | 106,377 | 109,976 | −3.27% | 24.2 | 62.7 | 4,544 | 1,754 | |
| Green Bay | WI | 106,311 | 107,395 | −1.01% | 45.5 | 117.8 | 2,360 | 910 | |
| St. George | UT | 106,288 | 95,342 | +11.48% | 78.5 | 203.3 | 1,215 | 469 | |
| Woodbridge | NJ | 106,101 | 103,639 | +2.38% | 23.3 | 60.3 | 4,448 | 1,717 | |
| Brockton | MA | 105,788 | 105,643 | +0.14% | 21.3 | 55.2 | 4,960 | 1,920 | |
| Renton | WA | 105,543 | 106,785 | −1.16% | 23.5 | 60.9 | 4,544 | 1,754 | |
| Sandy Springs | GA | 105,505 | 108,080 | −2.38% | 37.7 | 97.6 | 2,867 | 1,107 | |
| Rialto | CA | 104,918 | 104,026 | +0.86% | 24.1 | 62.4 | 4,316 | 1,666 | |
| El Monte | CA | 104,639 | 109,450 | −4.40% | 9.6 | 24.9 | 11,401 | 4,402 | |
| Vacaville | CA | 103,994 | 102,386 | +1.57% | 29.9 | 77.4 | 3,424 | 1,322 | |
| Fishers | IN | 103,986 | 98,977 | +5.06% | 35.6 | 92.2 | 2,780 | 1,070 | |
| South Bend | IN | 103,713 | 103,453 | +0.25% | 42.0 | 108.8 | 2,463 | 951 | |
| Carmel | IN | 103,606 | 99,757 | +3.86% | 49.1 | 127.2 | 2,032 | 785 | |
| Yuma | AZ | 103,559 | 95,548 | +8.38% | 120.7 | 312.6 | 792 | 306 | |
| Burbank | CA | 103,533 | 107,337 | −3.54% | 17.3 | 44.8 | 6,204 | 2,395 | |
| Lynn | MA | 103,489 | 101,253 | +2.21% | 10.7 | 27.7 | 9,463 | 3,654 | |
| Quincy | MA | 103,434 | 101,636 | +1.77% | 16.6 | 43.0 | 6,123 | 2,364 | |
| El Cajon | CA | 103,291 | 106,215 | −2.75% | 14.5 | 37.6 | 7,325 | 2,828 | |
| Fayetteville | AR | 103,134 | 93,949 | +9.78% | 54.1 | 140.1 | 1,737 | 671 | |
| Suffolk | VA | 103,105 | 94,324 | +9.31% | 399.2 | 1,033.9 | 236 | 91 | |
| San Mateo | CA | 103,006 | 105,661 | −2.51% | 12.1 | 31.3 | 8,732 | 3,371 | |
| Chico | CA | 102,911 | 101,475 | +1.42% | 34.1 | 88.3 | 2,976 | 1,149 | |
| Inglewood | CA | 102,774 | 107,762 | −4.63% | 9.1 | 23.6 | 11,842 | 4,572 | |
| Wichita Falls | TX | 102,372 | 102,316 | +0.05% | 72.0 | 186.5 | 1,421 | 549 | |
| Boca Raton | FL | 102,238 | 97,422 | +4.94% | 29.2 | 75.6 | 3,336 | 1,288 | |
| Hesperia | CA | 101,836 | 99,818 | +2.02% | 72.7 | 188.3 | 1,373 | 530 | |
| Daly City | CA | 101,418 | 104,901 | −3.32% | 7.6 | 19.7 | 13,803 | 5,329 | |
| Clinton | MI | 101,359 | 100,513 | +0.84% | 28.0 | 72.5 | 3,590 | 1,390 | |
| Georgetown | TX | 101,344 | 67,176 | +50.86% | 57.3 | 148.4 | 1,172 | 453 | |
| New Bedford | MA | 101,318 | 101,079 | +0.24% | 20.0 | 51.8 | 5,054 | 1,951 | |
Albany
|
NY | 101,317 | 99,224 | +2.11% | 21.4 | 55.4 | 4,637 | 1,790 | |
| Davenport | IA | 100,938 | 101,724 | −0.77% | 63.8 | 165.2 | 1,594 | 615 | |
| Plantation | FL | 100,694 | 91,750 | +9.75% | 21.8 | 56.5 | 4,209 | 1,625 | |
| Deltona | FL | 100,513 | 93,692 | +7.28% | 37.3 | 96.6 | 2,512 | 970 | |
| Federal Way | WA | 100,252 | 101,030 | −0.77% | 22.3 | 57.8 | 4,530 | 1,750 | |
| San Angelo | TX | 100,159 | 99,893 | +0.27% | 59.7 | 154.6 | 1,673 | 646 | |
| Tracy | CA | 100,136 | 93,000 | +7.67% | 25.9 | 67.1 | 3,591 | 1,386 | |
| Sunrise | FL | 100,128 | 97,335 | +2.87% | 16.2 | 42.0 | 6,008 | 2,320 |
### Distribution
The total 2020 enumerated population of all cities over 100,000 is 96,598,047, representing 29.14% of the United States population (excluding territories) and covering a total land area of 29,588 square miles (76,630 km2). The mean city population is 301,765, and the mean density is 4,151 inhabitants per square mile (1,603/km2).
| Population | Number of municipal governments |
|---|---|
| 1,000,000+ | 11 |
| 900,000–999,999 | 4 |
| 800,000–899,999 | 2 |
| 700,000–799,999 | 5 |
| 600,000–699,999 | 7 |
| 500,000–599,999 | 9 |
| 400,000–499,999 | 14 |
| 300,000–399,999 | 20 |
| 200,000–299,999 | 56 |
| 100,000–199,999 | 218 |
Total |
346 |
| State | Number of listed cities |
|---|---|
| California | 76 |
| Texas | 44 |
| Florida | 27 |
| Arizona | 13 |
| Colorado | 12 |
| North Carolina, Washington | 10 |
| Massachusetts | 9 |
| Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Virginia | 8 |
| New Jersey | 7 |
| Indiana, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee | 6 |
| Alabama, Connecticut, Kansas, Nevada, Utah | 5 |
| Louisiana, Oklahoma | 4 |
| Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Wisconsin | 3 |
| Arkansas, Kentucky, Nebraska | 2 |
| Alaska, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota | 1 |
| Delaware, Maine, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming | 0 |
## Puerto Rico
The following table lists the five municipalities (*municipios*) of Puerto Rico with a population greater than 100,000 on July 1, 2024, as estimated by the United States Census Bureau. If Puerto Rican cities were included among the broader U.S. list, San Juan would rank as the 58th largest city in the country.[ citation needed]
The table below contains the following information:
- The municipality rank by population as of July 1, 2024, as estimated by the United States Census Bureau
- The municipality
- The municipality population as of July 1, 2024, as estimated by the United States Census Bureau
- The municipality population as of April 1, 2020, as enumerated by the 2020 United States census
- The municipality percent population change from April 1, 2020, to July 1, 2024
- The municipality land area as of January 1, 2020
- The municipality population density as of April 1, 2020 (residents per land area)
- The municipality latitude and longitude coordinates
| Municipio | 2024 estimate | 2020 census | Change | 2020 land area | 2020 density | Location | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
San Juan |
332,454 | 342,259 | −2.86% | 39.8 sq mi | 103.1 km2
|
8,599/sq mi | 3,320/km2
|
|
| Bayamón | 181,152 | 185,187 | −2.18% | 27.0 sq mi | 69.9 km2
|
6,859/sq mi | 2,648/km2
|
|
| Carolina | 150,679 | 154,815 | −2.67% | 20.7 sq mi | 53.6 km2
|
7,479/sq mi | 2,888/km2
|
|
| Ponce | 129,659 | 137,491 | −5.70% | 28.4 sq mi | 73.6 km2
|
4,841/sq mi | 1,869/km2
|
|
| Caguas | 124,628 | 127,244 | −2.06% | 10.9 sq mi | 28.2 km2
|
11,674/sq mi | 4,507/km2
|
## Other U.S. territories
The other U.S. territories — American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands — have no cities with at least 100,000 people.
## Census-designated places
The following table lists U.S. census-designated places (CDPs) with populations of at least 100,000 according to the 2020 census. A CDP is a concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages. CDPs are populated areas that lack separate municipal government, but which otherwise physically resemble incorporated places. Unlike the incorporated cities in the main list, the US Census Bureau does not release annual population estimates for CDPs.
The table below contains the following information:
- The census-designated place
- The state
- The census-designated place population as of April 1, 2020, as enumerated by the 2020 United States census
- The census-designated place population as of April 1, 2010, as enumerated by the 2010 United States census
- The census-designated place percent population change from April 1, 2010, to April 1, 2020
- The census-designated place land area as of January 1, 2020
- The census-designated place population density as of April 1, 2020 (residents per land area)
- The census-designated place latitude and longitude coordinates
| Census- designated place |
ST | 2020 census | 2010 census | Change | 2020 land area | 2020 density | Location | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
mi2
|
km2
|
/ mi2
|
/ km2
| ||||||
| Arlington | VA | 238,643 | 207,627 | +14.94% | 26.0 | 67.340 | 9,179 | 3,544 | |
| Enterprise | NV | 221,831 | 108,481 | +104.49% | 66.0 | 170.939 | 3,361 | 1,298 | |
| Spring Valley | NV | 215,597 | 178,395 | +20.85% | 35.5 | 91.945 | 6,073 | 2,345 | |
| Sunrise Manor | NV | 205,618 | 189,372 | +8.58% | 33.7 | 87.283 | 6,101 | 2,356 | |
| Paradise | NV | 191,238 | 223,167 | −14.31% | 42.4 | 109.815 | 4,510 | 1,740 | |
| Metairie | LA | 143,507 | 138,481 | +3.63% | 23.3 | 60.347 | 6,159 | 2,378 | |
| East Los Angeles | CA | 118,786 | 126,496 | −6.10% | 7.5 | 19.425 | 15,838 | 6,115 | |
| Brandon | FL | 114,626 | 103,483 | +10.77% | 33.1 | 85.729 | 3,463 | 1,337 | |
| The Woodlands | TX | 114,436 | 93,847 | +21.94% | 43.3 | 112.146 | 2,643 | 1,020 | |
| Lehigh Acres | FL | 114,287 | 86,784 | +31.69% | 92.7 | 240.092 | 1,233 | 476 | |
| Spring Hill | FL | 113,568 | 98,621 | +15.16% | 59.9 | 155.140 | 1,896 | 732 | |
| Riverview | FL | 107,396 | 71,050 | +51.16% | 46.2 | 119.657 | 2,325 | 898 | |
| Columbia | MD | 104,681 | 99,615 | +5.09% | 31.9 | 82.621 | 3,282 | 1,267 | |
| Highlands Ranch | CO | 103,444 | 96,713 | +6.96% | 24.3 | 62.937 | 4,257 | 1,644 |
The following table lists U.S. cities that, in past censuses, have had populations of at least 100,000 but have since decreased beneath this threshold or have been consolidated with or annexed into a neighboring city.
| City | ST | 2024 estimate |
Peak population |
% decline from peak |
Peak year |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allegheny | PA | NA | 129,896 | NA | 1907 | |
| Brooklyn | NY | NA | 806,343 | NA | 1898 | |
| Camden | NJ | 71,749 | 124,555 | −42.40% | 1950 | |
| Canton | OH | 69,211 | 116,912 | −40.80% | 1950 | |
| Citrus Heights | CA | 86,909 | 107,439 | −19.11% | 1990 | |
| Duluth | MN | 87,986 | 107,312 | −18.01% | 1960 | |
| Erie | PA | 92,940 | 138,440 | −32.87% | 1960 | |
| Fall River | MA | 94,689 | 120,485 | −21.41% | 1920 | |
| Flint | MI | 79,735 | 196,940 | −59.51% | 1960 | |
| Gary | IN | 67,555 | 178,320 | −62.12% | 1960 | |
| Hammond | IN | 76,030 | 111,698 | −31.93% | 1960 | |
| Livonia | MI | 93,113 | 110,109 | −15.44% | 1970 | |
| Niagara Falls | NY | 47,512 | 102,394 | −53.60% | 1960 | |
| Norwalk | CA | 98,230 | 105,549 | −6.93% | 2010 | |
| Parma | OH | 79,350 | 100,216 | −20.82% | 1970 | |
| Portsmouth | VA | 96,482 | 114,773 | −15.94% | 1960 | |
| Reading | PA | 96,000 | 111,171 | −13.65% | 1930 | |
| Roanoke | VA | 97,912 | 100,220 | −2.30% | 1980 | |
| Scranton | PA | 75,905 | 143,333 | −47.04% | 1930 | |
| Somerville | MA | 82,149 | 103,908 | −20.94% | 1930 | |
| St. Joseph | MO | 71,098 | 102,979 | −30.96% | 1900 | |
| Trenton | NJ | 91,193 | 128,009 | −28.76% | 1950 | |
| Utica | NY | 63,660 | 101,740 | −37.43% | 1930 | |
| Wilmington | DE | 73,176 | 112,504 | −34.96% | 1940 | |
| Youngstown | OH | 59,123 | 170,002 | −65.22% | 1930 |
## Locations of 50 most populous cities
## See also
- Demographics of the United States
- Largest cities in the United States by population by decade
- List of largest cities – (world)
- List of largest cities of U.S. states and territories by population
- List of largest cities of U.S. states and territories by historical population
- List of United States cities by area
- List of United States cities by elevation
- List of United States cities by population density
- Lists of populated places in the United States
- United States Census Bureau
- Office of Management and Budget
## Notes
## External links
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# Anatomical terms of location - Wikipedia
Standard **anatomical terms of location** are used to describe unambiguously the anatomy of humans and other animals. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position provides a definition of what is at the front ("anterior"), behind ("posterior") and so on. As part of defining and describing terms, the body is described through the use of anatomical planes and axes.
The meaning of terms that are used can change depending on whether a vertebrate is a biped or a quadruped, due to the difference in the neuraxis, or if an invertebrate is a non-bilaterian. A non-bilaterian has no anterior or posterior surface for example but can still have a descriptor used such as proximal or distal in relation to a body part that is nearest to, or furthest from its middle.
International organisations have determined vocabularies that are often used as standards for subdisciplines of anatomy. For example, *Terminologia Anatomica*, *Terminologia Neuroanatomica*, and *Terminologia Embryologica* for humans and *Nomina Anatomica Veterinaria* for animals. These allow parties that use anatomical terms, such as anatomists, veterinarians, and medical doctors, to have a standard set of terms to communicate clearly the position of a structure.
Standard anatomical terms of location have been developed, usually based on Latin and Greek words, to enable all biological and medical scientists, veterinarians, medical doctors and anatomists to precisely delineate and communicate information about animal bodies and their organs, even though the meaning of some of the terms often is context-sensitive. Much of this information has been standardised in internationally agreed vocabularies for humans (*Terminologia Anatomica*, *Terminologia Neuroanatomica*, and *Terminologia Embryologica*), with *Nomina Anatomica Veterinaria* and *Nomina Embryologica Veterinaria* used for animal anatomy.
Different terms are used for those vertebrates that are bipedal and those that are quadripedal. The reasoning is that the neuraxis, and therefore the standard anatomical position is different between the two groups. Unique terms are also used to describe invertebrates, because of their wider variety of shapes and symmetries.
Because animals can change orientation with respect to their environment, and because appendages like limbs and tentacles can change position with respect to the main body, terms to describe position need to refer to an animal when it is in its standard anatomical position, even when its appendages are in another position. This helps to avoid confusion in terminology when referring to the same animal in different postures. In humans, this refers to the body in a standing position with arms at the side and palms facing forward. In quadrupeds this is an animal standing upright with all four feet on the ground and the head facing forward. For a fish this is belly down with neutral appendages.
Anatomical terms describe structures with relation to four main anatomical planes. Anatomical planes are useful in a number of fields including medical imaging, embryology, and the study of movement.
The four main planes are:
- The
**median plane**, also called the**midsagittal plane**, divides the body into left and right parts starting from the sagittal suture. The median plane passes through the head, spinal cord, navel and, in many animals, the tail. - The
**sagittal planes**, also called the**parasagittal planes**or**paramedian planes**, are planes that are parallel to the median plane. - The
**dorsal plane**divides the body into dorsal (towards the backbone) and ventral (towards the belly) parts. In human anatomy**coronal plane**is preferred, or sometimes the**frontal plane**, and the description may reference splitting the body into front and back parts, but this phrasing is not as clear for animals with a horizontal spine like quadrupeds or fish. - The
**transverse plane**, also called the**axial plane**or**horizontal plane**, is perpendicular to the other two planes. In an animal with a vertical craniocaudal axis, like a human, this plane is parallel to the ground; in an animal with a horizontal craniocaudal axis, like a quadruped, the coronal plane divides the animal into anterior and posterior sections.
Sagittal planes and transverse planes are used as anatomical lines to delineate bodily regions. There are several transverse planes with clinical relevance in the division of the torso into sections. They include the transpyloric plane, the subcostal plane, and the transumbilical plane.
The three axes of a vertebrate, are formed in embryonic development before and during the gastrulation stage. Distinct ends of the embryo are chosen, and the axis is named according to those directions. The three main axes of a bilaterally symmetrical animal that intersect at right angles, are the left-right, the craniocaudal, and the anteroposterior axes.
- The left-right axis, also known as the horizontal or frontal axis
- The craniocaudal axis, also known as the rostrocaudal, longitudinal or cephalocaudal
- The anteroposterior axis, also known as the dorsoventral, or sagittal axis
An organism that is round, or asymmetrical may have different axes.
In the standard human anatomical position, **superior** (from Latin * super* 'above') or **cranial**, describes something that is nearer to the head, and **inferior** (from Latin * inferus* 'below') or **caudal** describes what is below, and nearer to the feet. Examples are the superior mediastinum, and inferior mediastinum. Neuroanatomy examples are the superior colliculus, and the inferior colliculus. In veterinary anatomy, the terms superior and inferior are not used except to describe the eye, eyelids, lips and inner ear, using instead **dorsal** and **ventral**.
**Anterior** (from Latin * ante* 'before') describes what is in front, and **posterior** (from Latin * post* 'after') describes what is to the back of something. For example, for many fish the gill openings are posterior to the eyes and anterior to the tail.
These two terms, used in veterinary anatomy, are also used in human anatomy mostly in neuroanatomy, and embryology, to describe something at the back (dorsal, posterior) or front (ventral, anterior) of an organ, or organism.
The **dorsal** (from Latin * dorsum* 'back') surface, (also **dorsum**) of an organism or organ, refers to the back, or upper side, such as in the human, the dorsum of the tongue, the dorsum of the hand, and the dorsum of the foot. If talking about the skull, the dorsal side is the top.
**ventral** (from Latin * venter* 'belly') surface refers to the front, or lower side, of an organism, or organ such as the undersurface of the tongue.
In a fish, the dorsal fin is on the upper surface and its ventral fins (pelvic fins) are on the belly or undersurface.
The terms are used in other contexts, for example in dorsal and ventral gun turrets on a bomber aircraft.
These terms describe how close something is to the median plane. **Lateral** (from Latin * lateralis* 'to the side') describes something to the sides of an animal, as in "left lateral" and "right lateral". **Medial** (from Latin * medius* 'middle') describes structures close to the median plane, or closer to the median plane than another structure. For example, in a human, the arms are lateral to the torso. The genitals are medial to the legs. **Temporal** has a similar meaning to lateral but is restricted to the head.
The terms "left" and "right", or sinistral and dextral, refer to the halves of a bilaterally symmetrical body divided by the median plane.
Terms derived from lateral include:
**Contralateral**(from Latin*contra*'against'): on the side opposite to another structure. For example, the right arm and leg are controlled by the left, contralateral, side of the brain.**Ipsilateral**(from Latin*ipse*'same'): on the same side as another structure. For example, the left arm is ipsilateral to the left leg.**Bilateral**(from Latin*bis*'twice'): on both sides of the body. For example, bilateral orchiectomy means removal of testes on both sides of the body.**Unilateral**(from Latin*unus*'one') one-sided or single-sided: on one side of the body. For example, unilateral deafness is hearing impairment in one ear.
**Varus** (from Latin 'bow-legged') and **valgus** (from Latin 'knock-kneed' ) are terms used to describe angulation or bowing of a bone or joint within the coronal plane, where the distal portion deviates towards (varus) or away from (valgus) the midline.
The terms **proximal** (from Latin * proximus* 'nearest') and **distal** (from Latin * distare* 'to stand away from') are used to describe parts of a feature that are close to or distant from the main mass of the body, respectively. Thus the upper arm in humans is proximal and the hand is distal. The main mass is taken as the center, the chest, or the heart.
"Proximal and distal" are frequently used when describing appendages, such as fins, tentacles, and limbs. Although the direction indicated by "proximal" and "distal" is always respectively towards or away from the point of attachment, a given structure can be either proximal or distal in relation to another point of reference. Thus the elbow is distal to a wound on the upper arm, but proximal to a wound on the lower arm.
This terminology is also employed in molecular biology and therefore by extension is also used in chemistry, specifically referring to the atomic loci of molecules from the overall moiety of a given compound.
Specific terms exist to describe how close or far something is to the head or tail of an animal. To describe how close to the head of an animal something is, three distinct terms are used:
**Rostral**(from Latin*rostrum*'beak, nose') describes something situated toward the oral or nasal region, or in the case of the brain, toward the tip of the frontal lobe.**Cranial**(from Greek*κρανίον*'skull') or**cephalic**(from Greek*κεφαλή*'head') describes how close something is to the head of an organism.**Caudal**(from Latin*cauda*'tail') describes how close something is to the trailing end of an organism.
These terms are generally preferred in veterinary medicine and not used as often in human medicine. For example, in horses, the eyes are caudal to the nose and rostral to the back of the head.
In humans, "cranial" and "cephalic" are used to refer to the skull, with "cranial" being used more commonly. The term "rostral" is rarely used in human gross anatomy and refers more to the front of the face than the superior aspect of the organism. But it is used in embryology, and neuroanatomy. Similarly, the term "caudal" is used more in embryology and neuroanatomy, and only occasionally in human gross anatomy. The "rostrocaudal axis" refers to the curved line of the neuraxis from the forehead (rostral) towards the tail end (caudal).
Central and peripheral refer to the distance towards and away from the centre of something. That might be an organ, a region in the body, or an anatomical structure. For example, the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous systems.
**Central** (from Latin * centralis*) describes something at, or close to the centre. For example, the great vessels run centrally through the body; many smaller vessels branch from these.
**Peripheral** (from Latin * peripheria*, originally from Ancient Greek) describes something that is situated nearer to the body's surface, such as a peripheral nerve.
These terms refer to the distance of a structure from the surface.
**Deep** (from Old English) describes something further away from the surface of the organism. For example, the external oblique muscle of the abdomen is deep to the skin. "Deep" is one of the few anatomical terms of location derived from Old English rather than Latin – the anglicised Latin term would have been "profound" (from Latin * profundus* 'due to depth').
**Superficial** (from Latin * superficies* 'surface') describes something near the outer surface of the organism. For example, in skin, the epidermis is superficial to the subcutis.
Many anatomical terms can be combined, either to indicate a position in two axes simultaneously or to indicate the direction of a movement relative to the body. For example, **anterolateral** indicates a position that is both anterior and lateral to the body axis (such as the bulk of the pectoralis major muscle), or to a named organ such as the anterolateral tibial tubercle. The term can also describe the direction and location of something that enters or courses through the body such as the anterolateral system in the spinal cord, and the anterolateral central arteries. Another term **anteromedial** is used for example in the anteromedial central arteries.
In the more internal brain and spinal cord of the central nervous system the terms dorsal and ventral and their combinations are often used in place of anterior and posterior. In these organs numerous references need to be used, and in the brain for example the prefrontal cortex has the divisions of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. And the dorsomedial region has subcompartments that make use of other terms such as the anterior cingulate cortex, and infralimbic cortex. Structures such as the anterior cingulate cortex may be divided anatomically based on cognitive (dorsal), and emotional (ventral) components.
**Proximodistal** is the axis of an appendage such as an arm or a leg, taken from its tip at the distal part to where it joins the body at the proximal part.
In radiology, various X-ray views uses terminology based on where the X-ray beam enters and leaves the body, including the front to back view (**anteroposterior**), the back to front view (**posteroanterior**), and the side view (**lateral**). Combined terms were once generally hyphenated, but typically the hyphen is omitted.
Several terms are commonly seen and used as prefixes:
**Sub-**(from Latin*sub*'preposition beneath, close to, nearly etc') is used to indicate something that is beneath, or something that is subordinate to or lesser than. For example, subcutaneous means beneath the skin.**Hypo-**(from Ancient Greek*ὑπό*'under') is used to indicate something that is beneath. For example, the hypoglossal nerve supplies the muscles beneath the tongue.**Infra-**(from Latin*infra*'under') is used to indicate something that is within or below. For example, the infraorbital nerve runs within the orbit.**Inter-**(from Latin*inter*'between') is used to indicate something that is between. For example, the intercostal muscles run between the ribs.**Super-**(from Latin*or*Supra-*super, supra*'above, on top of') is used to indicate something that is above something else. For example, the supraorbital ridges are above the eyes.**Ab-**(from Latin*ab*'away'), and**ad-**(from Latin*ad*'towards') are used to indicate that something is towards (ad-) or away from (ab-) something else. For example abduction and adduction refer to muscular movement away from, and towards the midline of the body, respectively.
Other terms are used as suffixes, added to the end of words:
**-al**(from Latin*al*'pertaining to, of the') For example femoral neck.**-ad**(from Latin*ad*'towards'), equivalent to '-ally', is a suffix createing the adverb form to indicate that something moves towards (-ad) something else. For example, "distad" means "in the distal direction," as in "arterial blood flows distad/distally." Further examples may include cephalad (towards the cephalic end), orad, craniad, and proximad. The terms "proximally" and "distally" are in more common use in human and veterinary anatomic textbooks, while "proximad" and "distad," are used commonly in insect anatomy.
The location of anatomical structures can also be described in relation to different anatomical landmarks used in anatomy, surface anatomy, surgery, and radiology.
Structures may be described as being at the level of a specific vertebra, depending on the section of the vertebral column the structure is at. The position is often abbreviated. For example, structures at the level of the fourth cervical vertebra may be abbreviated as "C4", at the level of the fourth thoracic vertebra "T4", and at the level of the third lumbar vertebra "L3". Because the sacrum and coccyx are fused, they are not often used to provide the location.
References may also take origin from surface anatomy, made to landmarks that are on the skin or visible underneath. For example, structures may be described relative to the anterior superior iliac spine, the medial malleolus or the medial epicondyle.
Anatomical lines are theoretical lines, using either horizontal transverse planes, or vertical sagittal planes, used to describe anatomical location. For examples, the mid-clavicular line is used as part of the cardiac examination to feel the apex beat of the heart, and the axillary lines are reference lines for the underarm region. Other types of lines in anatomy include the curved nuchal lines on the occipital bone, and the gluteal lines on the ilium.
Special terms are used to describe the mouth and teeth. Fields such as osteology, paleontology and dentistry apply special terms of location to describe the mouth and teeth. This is because although teeth may be aligned with their main axes within the jaw, some different relationships require special terminology as well; for example, teeth also can be rotated, and in such contexts terms like "anterior" or "lateral" become ambiguous. For example, the terms "distal" and "proximal" (or "mesial") are used for surfaces of individual teeth relative to the midpoint of the dental arch, and "medial" and "lateral" are used in the standard sense relative to the median plane. Terms used to describe structures include "buccal" (from Latin * bucca* 'cheek') and "palatal" (from Latin * palatum* 'palate') referring to structures close to the cheek and hard palate respectively.
Several anatomical terms are particular to the hands and feet. Additional terms may be used to avoid confusion when describing the surfaces of the hand and what is the "anterior" or "posterior" surface. The term "anterior", while anatomically correct, can be confusing when describing the palm of the hand; Similarly is "posterior", used to describe the back of the hand and arm. This confusion can arise because the forearm can pronate and supinate and flip the location of the hand. For improved clarity, the directional term **palmar** (from Latin * palma* 'palm of the hand') is commonly used to describe the front of the hand, and **dorsal** is the back of the hand. The palmar fascia is *palmar* to the tendons of muscles which flex the fingers, and the dorsal venous arch is so named because it is on the dorsal side of the foot.
In humans, **volar** can also be used synonymously with *palmar* to refer to the palm of the hand, and can also be used to refer to the sole of the foot. But *palmar* is used exclusively for the palm of the hand, and **plantar** is used exclusively for the sole of the foot.
Similarly, in the limbs for clarity, the sides are named after the bones. In the forearm, structures closer to the radius are **radial**, structures closer to the ulna are **ulnar**, and structures relating to both bones are referred to as **radioulnar**, such as the distal radioulnar joint. Similarly, in the lower leg, structures near the tibia (shinbone) are **tibial** and structures near the fibula are **fibular** (or **peroneal**).
**Anteversion** and **retroversion** are complementary terms describing an anatomical structure that is rotated forwards (towards the front of the body) or backwards (towards the back of the body), relative to some other position. They are particularly used to describe the curvature of the uterus.
**Anteversion**(from Latin*anteversus*) describes an anatomical structure being tilted further*forward*than normal, whether pathologically or incidentally. For example, a woman's uterus typically is anteverted, tilted slightly*forward*. A misaligned pelvis may be anteverted, that is to say tilted*forward*to some relevant degree.**Retroversion**(from Latin*retroversus*) describes an anatomical structure tilted*back*away from something. An example is a retroverted uterus.
Several other terms are also used to describe location. These terms are not used to form the fixed axes. Terms include:
**Axial**(from Latin*axis*'axle'): around the central axis of the organism or the extremity. Two related terms, "abaxial" and "adaxial", refer to locations away from and toward the central axis of an organism, respectively**Luminal**(from Latin*lumen*'light, opening'): on the—hollow—inside of an organ's lumen (body cavity or tubular structure);**adluminal**is towards,**abluminal**is away from the lumen. Opposite to**outermost**(the adventitia, serosa, or the cavity's wall).**Terminal**(from Latin*terminus*'boundary or end') at the extremity of a usually projecting structure; forming the end of a structure such as an axon terminal.**Visceral**(from Latin*viscera*'internal organs'): associated with the innermost layer of an organ within the body. For example, the visceral pleura covering the lungs, contrasted with the parietal pleura lining the thoracic cavity.**Parietal**(from Latin*paries*'wall'): pertaining to the wall of a body cavity as the parietal pleura lining the thoracic cavity, contrasted with visceral pleura.**Aboral**(away from**oral**) is used to denote a location in an organism that is further from the mouth.
Different terms are used because of different body plans in animals, whether animals stand on two or four legs, and whether an animal is symmetrical or asymmetrical. For example, as humans are bilaterally symmetrical, anatomical descriptions usually use the same terms as those for other vertebrates. However, the standard human anatomical position means that their anterior/posterior and ventral/dorsal directions are the same, so the inferior/superior directions are used due to longstanding tradition instead of cranial/caudal, which apply regardless of position, as in other species. The term "rostral" used to refer to the beak or nose in some animals is used less frequently in humans, with the exception of parts of the brain; while humans do not have a visible tail (the coccygeal vertebrae are present and commonly called the "tailbone") the term "caudal" that refers to the tail-end is also sometimes used in humans and animals without tails to refer to the hind part of the body. Flounder and other flatfish which lie on the seabed on their left or right side are asymmetric, with both eyes on the 'up' side, making anatomical nomenclature a challenge.[ citation needed]
Invertebrates have a large variety of body shapes that can present a problem when trying to apply standard directional terms. Depending on the organism, some terms are taken by analogy from vertebrate anatomy, and appropriate novel terms are applied as needed. Some such borrowed terms are widely applicable in most invertebrates; for example proximal, meaning "near" refers to the part of an appendage nearest to where it joins the body, and distal, meaning "standing away from" is used for the part furthest from the point of attachment. In all cases, the usage of terms is dependent on the body plan of the organism.
In non-bilaterian organisms with a changeable shape, such as amoeboid organisms, most directional terms are meaningless, since the shape of the organism is not constant and no distinct axes are fixed. Similarly, in radially symmetrical organisms, there is nothing to distinguish one line through the centre of the organism from any other. An indefinite number of triads of mutually perpendicular axes could be defined, but any such choice of axes would be useless, as nothing would distinguish a chosen triad from any others. In such organisms, only terms such as *superficial* and *deep*, or sometimes *proximal* and *distal*, are usefully descriptive.
In organisms that maintain a constant shape and have one dimension longer than the other, at least two directional terms can be used. The *long* or *longitudinal axis* is defined by points at the opposite ends of the organism. Similarly, a perpendicular *transverse axis* can be defined by points on opposite sides of the organism. There is typically no basis for the definition of a third axis. Usually such organisms are planktonic (free-swimming) protists, and are nearly always viewed on microscope slides, where they appear essentially two-dimensional. In some cases a third axis can be defined, particularly where a non-terminal cytostome or other unique structure is present.
Some elongated protists have distinctive ends of the body. In such organisms, the end with a mouth (or equivalent structure, such as the cytostome in *Paramecium* or *Stentor*), or the end that usually points in the direction of the organism's locomotion (such as the end with the flagellum in *Euglena*), is normally designated as the **anterior** end. The opposite end then becomes the **posterior end**. Properly, this terminology would apply only to an organism that is always planktonic (not normally attached to a surface), although the term can also be applied to one that is sessile (normally attached to a surface).
Organisms that are attached to a substrate, such as sponges and animal-like protists also have distinctive ends. The part of the organism attached to the substrate is usually referred to as the **basal end** (from Latin * basis* 'support/foundation'), whereas the end furthest from the attachment is referred to as the **apical end** (from Latin * apex* 'peak/tip').
Radially symmetrical organisms include those in the group Radiata – primarily Cnidarians (jellyfish, sea anemones and corals, and the comb jellies). Adult echinoderms, such as starfish, sea urchins, sea cucumbers and others are also included, since they have a pentamerous symmetry having five discrete symmetric parts arranged around a central axis. Echinoderm larvae are not included, since they are bilaterally symmetrical.
Cnidarians have an incomplete digestive system, meaning that one end of the organism has a mouth, the **oral end** (from Latin * ōrālis* 'of the mouth'), and the opposite **aboral end** (from Latin * ab-* 'away from') has no opening from the gut (coelenteron). They are radially symmetric around the **oral-aboral axis**. Having only the single distinctive axis, "lateral", "dorsal", and "ventral" have no meaning, and all can be replaced by the generic term **peripheral** (from Ancient Greek * περιφέρεια* 'circumference'). **Medial** can be used, but in the case of radiates indicates the central point, rather than a central axis as in vertebrates. Thus, there are multiple possible **radial axes** and **medio-peripheral** (half-) **axes**.
Comb jellies have a biradial symmetry about only two planes, a tentacular plane, and a pharyngeal plane.
Special terms are used for spiders. Two such terms are useful in describing views of the legs and pedipalps of spiders, and other arachnids. **Prolateral** refers to the surface of a leg that is closest to the anterior end of an arachnid's body. **Retrolateral** refers to the surface of a leg that is closest to the posterior end of an arachnid's body. Most spiders have eight eyes in four pairs. All the eyes are on the carapace of the prosoma, and their sizes, shapes and locations are characteristic of various spider families and other taxa. Usually, the eyes are arranged in two roughly parallel, horizontal and symmetrical rows of eyes. Eyes are labelled according to their position as anterior and posterior lateral eyes (ALE) and (PLE); and anterior and posterior median eyes (AME) and (PME).
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# Solar eclipse - Wikipedia
A **solar eclipse** occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season in its new moon phase, when the Moon's orbital plane is closest to the plane of Earth's orbit. In a total eclipse, the disk of the Sun is fully obscured by the Moon. In partial and annular eclipses, only part of the Sun is obscured. Unlike a lunar eclipse, which may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of Earth, a solar eclipse can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world. As such, although total solar eclipses occur somewhere on Earth every 18 months on average, they recur at any given place only once every 360 to 410 years.
If the Moon were in a perfectly circular orbit and in the same orbital plane as Earth, there would be total solar eclipses once a month, at every new moon. Instead, because the Moon's orbit is tilted at about 5 degrees to Earth's orbit, its shadow usually misses Earth. Solar (and lunar) eclipses therefore happen only during eclipse seasons, resulting in at least two, and up to five, solar eclipses each year, no more than two of which can be total. Total eclipses are rarer because they require a more precise alignment between the centers of the Sun and Moon, and because the Moon's apparent size in the sky is sometimes too small to fully cover the Sun.
An eclipse is a natural phenomenon. In some ancient and modern cultures, solar eclipses were attributed to supernatural causes or regarded as bad omens. Astronomers' predictions of eclipses began in China as early as the 4th century BC; eclipses hundreds of years into the future may now be predicted with high accuracy.
Looking directly at the Sun can lead to permanent eye damage, so special eye protection or indirect viewing techniques are used when viewing a solar eclipse. Only the total phase of a total solar eclipse is safe to view without protection. Enthusiasts known as eclipse chasers or umbraphiles travel to remote locations to see solar eclipses.
## Types
The Sun's distance from Earth is about 400 times the Moon's distance, and the Sun's diameter is about 400 times the Moon's diameter. Because these ratios are approximately the same, the Sun and the Moon as seen from Earth appear to be approximately the same size: about 0.5 degree of arc in angular measure.
The Moon's orbit around Earth is slightly elliptical, as is Earth's orbit around the Sun. The apparent sizes of the Sun and Moon therefore vary. The magnitude of an eclipse is the ratio of the apparent size of the Moon to the apparent size of the Sun during an eclipse. An eclipse that occurs when the Moon is near its closest distance to Earth (*i.e.,* near its perigee) can be a total eclipse because the Moon will appear to be large enough to completely cover the Sun's bright disk or photosphere; a total eclipse has a magnitude greater than or equal to 1.000. Conversely, an eclipse that occurs when the Moon is near its farthest distance from Earth (*i.e.,* near its apogee) can be only an annular eclipse because the Moon will appear to be slightly smaller than the Sun; the magnitude of an annular eclipse is less than 1.
Because Earth's orbit around the Sun is also elliptical, Earth's distance from the Sun similarly varies throughout the year. This affects the apparent size of the Sun in the same way, but not as much as does the Moon's varying distance from Earth. When Earth approaches its farthest distance from the Sun in early July, a total eclipse is somewhat more likely, whereas conditions favour an annular eclipse when Earth approaches its closest distance to the Sun in early January.
There are three main types of solar eclipses:
### Total eclipse
A total eclipse occurs on average every 18 months when the dark silhouette of the Moon completely obscures the bright light of the Sun, allowing the much fainter solar corona to be visible. During an eclipse, totality occurs only along a narrow track on the surface of Earth. This narrow track is called the path of totality.
### Annular eclipse
An annular eclipse, like a total eclipse, occurs when the Sun and Moon are exactly in line with Earth. During an annular eclipse, however, the apparent size of the Moon is not large enough to completely block out the Sun. Totality thus does not occur; the Sun instead appears as a very bright ring, or annulus, surrounding the dark disk of the Moon. Annular eclipses occur once every one or two years, not annually. The term derives from the Latin root word *anulus*, meaning "ring", rather than *annus*, for "year".
### Partial eclipse
A partial eclipse occurs about twice a year, when the Sun and Moon are not exactly in line with Earth and the Moon only partially obscures the Sun. This phenomenon can usually be seen from a large part of Earth outside of the track of an annular or total eclipse. However, some eclipses can be seen only as a partial eclipse, because the umbra passes above Earth's polar regions and never intersects Earth's surface. Partial eclipses are virtually unnoticeable in terms of the Sun's brightness, as it takes well over 90% coverage to notice any darkening at all. Even at 99%, it would be no darker than civil twilight.
## Terminology
### Hybrid eclipse
A hybrid eclipse (also called annular/total eclipse) shifts between a total and annular eclipse. At certain points on the surface of Earth, it appears as a total eclipse, whereas at other points it appears as annular. Hybrid eclipses are comparatively rare.
A hybrid eclipse occurs when the magnitude of an eclipse changes during the event from less to greater than one, so the eclipse appears to be total at locations nearer the midpoint, and annular at other locations nearer the beginning and end, since the sides of Earth are slightly further away from the Moon. These eclipses are extremely narrow in their path width and relatively short in their duration at any point compared with fully total eclipses; the 2023 April 20 hybrid eclipse's totality is over a minute in duration at various points along the path of totality. Like a focal point, the width and duration of totality and annularity are near zero at the points where the changes between the two occur.
### Central eclipse
*Central eclipse* is often used as a generic term for a total, annular, or hybrid eclipse. This is, however, not completely correct: the definition of a central eclipse is an eclipse during which the central line of the umbra touches Earth's surface. It is possible, though extremely rare, that part of the umbra intersects with Earth (thus creating an annular or total eclipse), but not its central line. This is then called a non-central total or annular eclipse. Gamma is a measure of how centrally the shadow strikes. The last (umbral yet) non-central solar eclipse was on April 29, 2014. This was an annular eclipse. The next non-central total solar eclipse will be on April 9, 2043.
### Eclipse phases
The visual phases observed during a total eclipse are called:
- First contact—when the Moon's limb (edge) is exactly tangential to the Sun's limb.
- Second contact—starting with Baily's Beads (caused by light shining through valleys on the Moon's surface) and the diamond ring effect. Almost the entire disk is covered.
- Totality—the Moon obscures the entire disk of the Sun and only the solar corona is visible.
- Third contact—when the first bright light becomes visible and the Moon's shadow is moving away from the observer. Again a diamond ring may be observed.
- Fourth contact—when the trailing edge of the Moon ceases to overlap with the solar disk and the eclipse ends.
## Predictions
### Geometry
The diagrams to the right show the alignment of the Sun, Moon, and Earth during a solar eclipse. The dark gray region between the Moon and Earth is the umbra, where the Sun is completely obscured by the Moon. The small area where the umbra touches Earth's surface is where a total eclipse can be seen. The larger light gray area is the penumbra, in which a partial eclipse can be seen. An observer in the antumbra, the area of shadow beyond the umbra, will see an annular eclipse.
The Moon's orbit around Earth is inclined at an angle of just over 5 degrees to the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun (the ecliptic). Because of this, at the time of a new moon, the Moon will usually pass to the north or south of the Sun. A solar eclipse can occur only when a new moon occurs close to one of the points (known as nodes) where the Moon's orbit crosses the ecliptic.
As noted above, the Moon's orbit is also elliptical. The Moon's distance from Earth varies by up to about 5.9% from its average value. Therefore, the Moon's apparent size varies with its distance from Earth, and it is this effect that leads to the difference between total and annular eclipses. The distance of Earth from the Sun also varies during the year, but this is a smaller effect (by up to about 0.85% from its average value). On average, the Moon appears to be slightly (2.1%) smaller than the Sun as seen from Earth, so the majority (about 60%) of central eclipses are annular. It is only when the Moon is closer to Earth than average (near its perigee) that a total eclipse occurs.
The Moon orbits Earth in approximately 27.3 days, relative to a fixed frame of reference. This is known as the sidereal month. However, during one sidereal month, Earth has revolved part way around the Sun, making the average time between one new moon and the next longer than the sidereal month: it is approximately 29.5 days. This is known as the synodic month and corresponds to what is commonly called the lunar month.
The Moon crosses from south to north of the ecliptic at its ascending node, and vice versa at its descending node. However, the nodes of the Moon's orbit are gradually moving in a retrograde motion, due to the action of the Sun's gravity on the Moon's motion, and they make a complete circuit every 18.6 years. This regression means that the time between each passage of the Moon through the ascending node is slightly shorter than the sidereal month. This period is called the nodical or draconic month.
Finally, the Moon's perigee is moving forwards or precessing in its orbit and makes a complete circuit in 8.85 years. The time between one perigee and the next is slightly longer than the sidereal month and known as the anomalistic month.
The Moon's orbit intersects with the ecliptic at the two nodes that are 180 degrees apart. Therefore, the new moon occurs close to the nodes at two periods of the year approximately six months (173.3 days) apart, known as eclipse seasons, and there will always be at least one solar eclipse during these periods. Sometimes the new moon occurs close enough to a node during two consecutive months to eclipse the Sun on both occasions in two partial eclipses. This means that, in any given year, there will always be at least two solar eclipses, and there can be as many as five.
Eclipses can occur only when the Sun is within about 15 to 18 degrees of a node, (10 to 12 degrees for central eclipses). This is referred to as an eclipse limit, and is given in ranges because the apparent sizes and speeds of the Sun and Moon vary throughout the year. In the time it takes for the Moon to return to a node (draconic month), the apparent position of the Sun has moved about 29 degrees, relative to the nodes. Since the eclipse limit creates a window of opportunity of up to 36 degrees (24 degrees for central eclipses), it is possible for partial eclipses (or rarely a partial and a central eclipse) to occur in consecutive months.
### Path
During a central eclipse, the Moon's umbra (or antumbra, in the case of an annular eclipse) moves rapidly from west to east across Earth. Earth is also rotating from west to east, at about 28 km/min at the Equator, but as the Moon is moving in the same direction as Earth's rotation at about 61 km/min, the umbra almost always appears to move in a roughly west–east direction across a map of Earth at the speed of the Moon's orbital velocity minus Earth's rotational velocity.
The width of the track of a central eclipse varies according to the relative apparent diameters of the Sun and Moon. In the most favourable circumstances, when a total eclipse occurs very close to perigee, the track can be up to 267 km (166 mi) wide and the duration of totality may be over 7 minutes. Outside of the central track, a partial eclipse is seen over a much larger area of Earth. Typically, the umbra is 100–160 km wide, while the penumbral diameter is in excess of 6400 km.
Besselian elements are used to predict whether an eclipse will be partial, annular, or total (or annular/total), and what the eclipse circumstances will be at any given location.
Calculations with Besselian elements can determine the exact shape of the umbra's shadow on Earth's surface. But at what *longitudes* on Earth's surface the shadow will fall, is a function of Earth's rotation, and on how much that rotation has slowed down over time. A number called ΔT is used in eclipse prediction to take this slowing into account. As Earth slows, ΔT increases. ΔT for dates in the future can only be roughly estimated because Earth's rotation is slowing irregularly. This means that, although it is possible to predict that there will be a total eclipse on a certain date in the far future, it is not possible to predict in the far future exactly at what longitudes that eclipse will be total. Historical records of eclipses allow estimates of past values of ΔT and so of Earth's rotation.
### Duration
The following factors determine the duration of a total solar eclipse (in order of decreasing importance):
- The Moon being almost exactly at perigee (making its angular diameter as large as possible).
- Earth being very near aphelion (furthest away from the Sun in its elliptical orbit, making its angular diameter nearly as small as possible).
- The midpoint of the eclipse being very close to Earth's equator, where the rotational velocity is greatest and is closest to the speed of the lunar shadow moving over Earth's surface.
- The vector of the eclipse path at the midpoint of the eclipse aligning with the vector of Earth's rotation (i.e. not diagonal but due east).
- The midpoint of the eclipse being near the subsolar point (the part of Earth closest to the Sun).
The longest eclipse that has been calculated thus far is the eclipse of July 16, 2186 (with a maximum duration of 7 minutes 29 seconds over northern Guyana).
## Occurrence and cycles
A total solar eclipse is a rare event, recurring somewhere on Earth every 18 months on average, yet is estimated to recur at any given location only every 360–410 years on average. The total eclipse lasts for only a maximum of a few minutes at any location because the Moon's umbra moves eastward at over 1700 km/h (1100 mph; 470 m/s; 1500 ft/s). Totality currently can never last more than 7 min 32 s. This value changes over the millennia and is currently decreasing. By the 8th millennium, the longest theoretically possible total eclipse will be less than 7 min 2 s. The last time an eclipse longer than 7 minutes occurred was June 30, 1973 (7 min 3 sec). Observers aboard a Concorde supersonic aircraft were able to stretch totality for this eclipse to about 74 minutes by flying along the path of the Moon's umbra. The next total eclipse exceeding seven minutes in duration will not occur until June 25, 2150. The longest total solar eclipse during the 11000 year period from 3000 BC to at least 8000 AD will occur on July 16, 2186, when totality will last 7 min 29 s. For comparison, the longest total eclipse of the 20th century at 7 min 8 s occurred on June 20, 1955, and there will be no total solar eclipses over 7 min in duration in the 21st century.
It is possible to predict other eclipses using eclipse cycles. The saros is probably the best known and one of the most accurate. A saros lasts 6585.3 days (a little over 18 years), which means that, after this period, a practically identical eclipse will occur. The most notable difference will be a westward shift of about 120° in longitude (due to the 0.3 days) and a little in latitude (north-south for odd-numbered cycles, the reverse for even-numbered ones). A saros series always starts with a partial eclipse near one of Earth's polar regions, then shifts over the globe through a series of annular or total eclipses, and ends with a partial eclipse at the opposite polar region. A saros series lasts 1226 to 1550 years and 69 to 87 eclipses, with about 40 to 60 of them being central.
### Frequency per year
Between two and five solar eclipses occur every year, with at least one per eclipse season. Since the Gregorian calendar was instituted in 1582, years that have had five solar eclipses were 1693, 1758, 1805, 1823, 1870, and 1935. The next occurrence will be 2206. On average, there are about 240 solar eclipses each century.
| January 5 | February 3 | June 30 | July 30 | December 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Partial (south) |
Partial (north) |
Partial (north) |
Partial (south) |
Annular (south) |
Saros 111 |
Saros 149 |
Saros 116 |
Saros 154 |
Saros 121 |
### Final totality
Total solar eclipses are seen on Earth because of a fortuitous combination of circumstances. Even on Earth, the diversity of eclipses familiar to people today is a temporary (on a geological time scale) phenomenon. Hundreds of millions of years in the past, the Moon was closer to Earth and therefore apparently larger, so every solar eclipse was total or partial, and there were no annular eclipses. Due to tidal acceleration, the orbit of the Moon around Earth becomes approximately 3.8 cm more distant each year. Millions of years in the future, the Moon will be too far away to fully occlude the Sun, and no total eclipses will occur. In the same timeframe, the Sun may become brighter, making it appear larger in size. Estimates of the time when the Moon will be unable to occlude the entire Sun when viewed from Earth range between 650 million and 1.4 billion years in the future.
## Viewing
Looking directly at the photosphere of the Sun (the bright disk of the Sun itself), even for just a few seconds, can cause permanent damage to the retina of the eye, because of the intense visible and invisible radiation that the photosphere emits. This damage can result in impairment of vision, up to and including blindness. The retina has no sensitivity to pain, and the effects of retinal damage may not appear for hours, so there is no warning that injury is occurring.
Under normal conditions, the Sun is so bright that it is difficult to stare at it directly. However, during an eclipse, with so much of the Sun covered, it is easier and more tempting to stare at it. Looking at the Sun during an eclipse is as dangerous as looking at it outside an eclipse, except during the brief period of totality, when the Sun's disk is completely covered (totality occurs only during a total eclipse and only very briefly; it does not occur during a partial or annular eclipse). Viewing the Sun's disk through any kind of optical aid (binoculars, a telescope, or even an optical camera viewfinder) is extremely hazardous and can cause irreversible eye damage within a fraction of a second.
### Partial and annular eclipses
Viewing the Sun during partial and annular eclipses (and during total eclipses outside the brief period of totality) requires special eye protection, or indirect viewing methods if eye damage is to be avoided. The Sun's disk can be viewed using appropriate filtration to block the harmful part of the Sun's radiation. Sunglasses do not make viewing the Sun safe. Only properly designed and certified solar filters should be used for direct viewing of the Sun's disk. Especially, self-made filters using common objects such as a floppy disk removed from its case, a Compact Disc, a black colour slide film, smoked glass, etc. must be avoided.
The safest way to view the Sun's disk is by indirect projection. This can be done by projecting an image of the disk onto a white piece of paper or card using a pair of binoculars (with one of the lenses covered), a telescope, or another piece of cardboard with a small hole in it (about 1 mm diameter), often called a pinhole camera. The projected image of the Sun can then be safely viewed; this technique can be used to observe sunspots, as well as eclipses. Care must be taken, however, to ensure that no one looks through the projector (telescope, pinhole, etc.) directly. A kitchen colander with small holes can also be used to project multiple images of the partially eclipsed Sun onto the ground or a viewing screen. Viewing the Sun's disk on a video display screen (provided by a video camera or digital camera) is safe, although the camera itself may be damaged by direct exposure to the Sun. The optical viewfinders provided with some video and digital cameras are not safe. Securely mounting #14 welder's glass in front of the lens and viewfinder protects the equipment and makes viewing possible. Professional workmanship is essential because of the dire consequences any gaps or detaching mountings will have. In the partial eclipse path, one will not be able to see the corona or nearly complete darkening of the sky. However, depending on how much of the Sun's disk is obscured, some darkening may be noticeable. If three-quarters or more of the Sun is obscured, then an effect can be observed by which the daylight appears to be dim, as if the sky were overcast, yet objects still cast sharp shadows.
### Totality
It is safe to observe the total phase of a solar eclipse directly only when the Sun's photosphere is completely covered by the Moon, and not before or after totality. During this period, the Sun is too dim to be seen through filters. The Sun's faint corona will be visible, and the chromosphere, solar prominences, coronal streamers and possibly even a solar flare may be seen. At the end of totality, the same effects will occur in reverse order, and on the opposite side of the Moon.
### Eclipse chasing
A dedicated group of eclipse chasers have pursued the observation of solar eclipses when they occur around Earth. A person who chases eclipses is known as an umbraphile, meaning shadow lover. Umbraphiles travel for eclipses and use various tools to help view the sun including solar viewing glasses, also known as eclipse glasses, as well as telescopes.
### Photography
The first known photograph of a solar eclipse was taken on July 28, 1851, by Julius Berkowski, using the daguerreotype process.
Photographing an eclipse is possible with fairly common camera equipment. In order for the disk of the Sun/Moon to be easily visible, a fairly high magnification long focus lens is needed (at least 200 mm for a 35 mm camera), and for the disk to fill most of the frame, a longer lens is needed (over 500 mm). As with viewing the Sun directly, looking at it through the optical viewfinder of a camera can produce damage to the retina, so care is recommended. Solar filters are required for digital photography even if an optical viewfinder is not used. Using a camera's live view feature or an electronic viewfinder is safe for the human eye, but the Sun's rays could potentially irreparably damage digital image sensors unless the lens is covered by a properly designed solar filter.
## Historical eclipses
Historical eclipses are a very valuable resource for historians, in that they allow a few historical events to be dated precisely, from which other dates and ancient calendars may be deduced. The oldest recorded solar eclipse was recorded on a clay tablet found at Ugarit, in modern Syria, with two plausible dates usually cited: 3 May 1375 BC or 5 March 1223 BC, the latter being favored by most recent authors on the topic. A solar eclipse of June 15, 763 BC mentioned in an Assyrian text is important for the chronology of the ancient Near East. There have been other claims to date earlier eclipses. The legendary Chinese king Zhong Kang supposedly beheaded two astronomers, Hsi and Ho, who failed to predict an eclipse 4000 years ago. Perhaps the earliest still-unproven claim is that of archaeologist Bruce Masse, who putatively links an eclipse that occurred on May 10, 2807, BC with a possible meteor impact in the Indian Ocean on the basis of several ancient flood myths that mention a total solar eclipse.
Eclipses have been interpreted as omens, or portents. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus wrote that Thales of Miletus predicted an eclipse that occurred during a battle between the Medes and the Lydians. Both sides put down their weapons and declared peace as a result of the eclipse. The exact eclipse involved remains uncertain, although the issue has been studied by hundreds of ancient and modern authorities. One likely candidate took place on May 28, 585 BC, probably near the Halys river in Asia Minor. An eclipse recorded by Herodotus before Xerxes departed for his expedition against Greece, which is traditionally dated to 480 BC, was matched by John Russell Hind to an annular eclipse of the Sun at Sardis on February 17, 478 BC. Alternatively, a partial eclipse was visible from Persia on October 2, 480 BC. Herodotus also reports a solar eclipse at Sparta during the Second Persian invasion of Greece. The date of the eclipse (August 1, 477 BC) does not match exactly the conventional dates for the invasion accepted by historians.
In ancient China, where solar eclipses were known as an "eating of the Sun" (*rìshí* 日食), the earliest records of eclipses date to around 720 BC. The 4th century BC astronomer Shi Shen described the prediction of eclipses by using the relative positions of the Moon and Sun.
Attempts have been made to establish the exact date of Good Friday by assuming that the darkness described at Jesus's crucifixion was a solar eclipse. This research has not yielded conclusive results, and Good Friday is recorded as being at Passover, which is held at the time of a full moon. Further, the darkness lasted from the sixth hour to the ninth, or three hours, which is much, much longer than the eight-minute upper limit for any solar eclipse's totality. Contemporary chronicles wrote about an eclipse at the beginning of May 664 that coincided with the beginning of the plague of 664 in the British isles. In the Western hemisphere, there are few reliable records of eclipses before AD 800, until the advent of Arab and monastic observations in the early medieval period.
A solar eclipse took place on January 27, 632 over Arabia during Muhammad's lifetime. Muhammad denied the eclipse had anything to do with his son dying earlier that day, saying "The sun and the moon do not eclipse because of the death of someone from the people but they are two signs amongst the signs of God." The Cairo astronomer Ibn Yunus wrote that the calculation of eclipses was one of the many things that connect astronomy with the Islamic law, because it allowed knowing when a special prayer can be made. The first recorded observation of the corona was made in Constantinople in AD 968.
The first known telescopic observation of a total solar eclipse was made in France in 1706. Nine years later, English astronomer Edmund Halley accurately predicted and observed the solar eclipse of May 3, 1715. By the mid-19th century, scientific understanding of the Sun was improving through observations of the Sun's corona during solar eclipses. The corona was identified as part of the Sun's atmosphere in 1842, and the first photograph (or daguerreotype) of a total eclipse was taken of the solar eclipse of July 28, 1851. Spectroscope observations were made of the solar eclipse of August 18, 1868, which helped to determine the chemical composition of the Sun.
John Fiske summed up myths about the solar eclipse like this in his 1872 book *Myth and Myth-Makers*,
the myth of Hercules and Cacus, the fundamental idea is the victory of the solar god over the robber who steals the light. Now whether the robber carries off the light in the evening when Indra has gone to sleep, or boldly rears his black form against the sky during the daytime, causing darkness to spread over the earth, would make little difference to the framers of the myth. To a chicken a solar eclipse is the same thing as nightfall, and he goes to roost accordingly. Why, then, should the primitive thinker have made a distinction between the darkening of the sky caused by black clouds and that caused by the rotation of the earth? He had no more conception of the scientific explanation of these phenomena than the chicken has of the scientific explanation of an eclipse. For him it was enough to know that the solar radiance was stolen, in the one case as in the other, and to suspect that the same demon was to blame for both robberies.
A total solar eclipse provides a rare opportunity to observe the corona (the outer layer of the Sun's atmosphere). Normally this is not visible because the photosphere is much brighter than the corona. According to the point reached in the solar cycle, the corona may appear small and symmetric, or large and fuzzy. It is very hard to predict this in advance.
Phenomena associated with eclipses include shadow bands (also known as *flying shadows*), which are similar to shadows on the bottom of a swimming pool. They occur only just prior to and after totality, when a narrow solar crescent acts as an anisotropic light source. As the light filters through leaves of trees during a partial eclipse, the overlapping leaves create natural pinholes, displaying mini eclipses on the ground.
### 1919 observations
The observation of a total solar eclipse of May 29, 1919, helped to confirm Einstein's theory of general relativity. By comparing the apparent distance between stars in the constellation Taurus, with and without the Sun between them, Arthur Eddington stated that the theoretical predictions about gravitational lenses were confirmed. The observation with the Sun between the stars was possible only during totality since the stars are then visible. Though Eddington's observations were near the experimental limits of accuracy at the time, work in the later half of the 20th century confirmed his results.
### Gravity anomalies
There is a long history of observations of gravity-related phenomena during solar eclipses, especially during the period of totality. Maurice Allais reported observing unusual and unexplained movements during solar eclipses in both 1954 and 1959. The reality of this phenomenon, named the Allais effect, has remained controversial. Similarly, in 1970, Saxl and Allen observed the sudden change in motion of a torsion pendulum; this phenomenon is called the Saxl effect.
Observation during the 1997 solar eclipse by Wang *et al.* suggested a possible gravitational shielding effect, which generated debate. In 2002, Wang and a collaborator published detailed data analysis, which suggested that the phenomenon still remains unexplained.
### Eclipses and transits
In principle, the simultaneous occurrence of a solar eclipse and a transit of a planet is possible. But these events are extremely rare because of their short durations. The next anticipated simultaneous occurrence of a solar eclipse and a transit of Mercury will be on July 5, 6757, and a solar eclipse and a transit of Venus is expected on April 5, 15232.
More common, but still infrequent, is a conjunction of a planet (especially, but not only, Mercury or Venus) at the time of a total solar eclipse, in which event the planet will be visible very near the eclipsed Sun, when without the eclipse it would have been lost in the Sun's glare. At one time, some scientists hypothesized that there may be a planet (often given the name Vulcan) even closer to the Sun than Mercury; the only way to confirm its existence would have been to observe it in transit or during a total solar eclipse. No such planet was ever found, and general relativity has since explained the observations that led astronomers to suggest that Vulcan might exist.
### Artificial satellites
Artificial satellites can also pass in front of the Sun as seen from Earth, but none is large enough to cause an eclipse. At the altitude of the International Space Station, for example, an object would need to be about 3.35 km (2.08 mi) across to blot the Sun out entirely. These transits are difficult to watch because the zone of visibility is very small. The satellite passes over the face of the Sun in about a second, typically. As with a transit of a planet, it will not get dark.
Observations of eclipses from spacecraft or artificial satellites orbiting above Earth's atmosphere are not subject to weather conditions. The crew of Gemini 12 observed a total solar eclipse from space in 1966. The partial phase of the 1999 total eclipse was visible from Mir.
### Impact
The solar eclipse of March 20, 2015, was the first occurrence of an eclipse estimated to potentially have a significant impact on the power system, with the electricity sector taking measures to mitigate any impact. The continental Europe and Great Britain synchronous areas were estimated to have about 90 gigawatts of solar power and it was estimated that production would temporarily decrease by up to 34 GW compared to a clear sky day.
Eclipses may cause the temperature to decrease by 3 °C (5 °F), with wind power potentially decreasing as winds are reduced by 0.7 meters (2.3 ft) per second.
In addition to the drop in light level and air temperature, animals change their behavior during totality. For example, birds and squirrels return to their nests and crickets chirp.
## Recent and forthcoming solar eclipses
Eclipses occur only in the eclipse season, when the Sun is close to either the ascending or descending node of the Moon. Each eclipse is separated by one, five or six lunations (synodic months), and the midpoint of each season is separated by 173.3 days, which is the mean time for the Sun to travel from one node to the next. The period is a little less than half a calendar year because the lunar nodes slowly regress. Because 223 synodic months is roughly equal to 239 anomalistic months and 242 draconic months, eclipses with similar geometry recur 223 synodic months (about 6,585.3 days) apart. This period (18 years 11.3 days) is a saros. Because 223 synodic months is not identical to 239 anomalistic months or 242 draconic months, saros cycles do not endlessly repeat. Each cycle begins with the Moon's shadow crossing Earth near the north or south pole, and subsequent events progress toward the other pole until the Moon's shadow misses Earth and the series ends. Saros cycles are numbered; currently, cycles 117 to 156 are active.[ citation needed]
| Solar eclipse series sets from 2018 to 2021 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 117 Partial in Melbourne, Australia |
July 13, 2018 Partial |
−1.35423 | 122 Partial in Nakhodka, Russia |
January 6, 2019 Partial |
1.14174 | |
| 127 Totality in La Serena, Chile |
July 2, 2019 Total |
−0.64656 | 132 Annularity in Jaffna, Sri Lanka |
December 26, 2019 Annular |
0.41351 | |
| 137 Annularity in Beigang, Yunlin, Taiwan |
June 21, 2020 Annular |
0.12090 | 142 Totality in Gorbea, Chile |
December 14, 2020 Total |
−0.29394 | |
| 147 Partial in Halifax, Canada |
June 10, 2021 Annular |
0.91516 | 152 From HMS Protector off South Georgia |
December 4, 2021 Total |
−0.95261 |
| Solar eclipse series sets from 2022 to 2025 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 119 Partial in CTIO, Chile |
April 30, 2022 Partial |
−1.19008 | 124 Partial from Saratov, Russia |
October 25, 2022 Partial |
1.07014 | |
| 129 Partial in Magetan, Indonesia |
April 20, 2023 Hybrid |
−0.39515 | 134 Annularity in Hobbs, NM, USA |
October 14, 2023 Annular |
0.37534 | |
| 139 Totality in Dallas, TX, USA |
April 8, 2024 Total |
0.34314 | 144 Annularity in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina |
October 2, 2024 Annular |
−0.35087 | |
| 149 | March 29, 2025 Partial |
1.04053 | 154 | September 21, 2025 Partial |
−1.06509 |
| Solar eclipse series sets from 2026 to 2029 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 121 | February 17, 2026 Annular |
−0.97427 | 126 | August 12, 2026 Total |
0.89774 | |
| 131 | February 6, 2027 Annular |
−0.29515 | 136 | August 2, 2027 Total |
0.14209 | |
| 141 | January 26, 2028 Annular |
0.39014 | 146 | July 22, 2028 Total |
−0.60557 | |
| 151 | January 14, 2029 Partial |
1.05532 | 156 | July 11, 2029 Partial |
−1.41908 |
## See also
- Lists of solar eclipses
- List of films featuring eclipses
- Apollo–Soyuz: First joint U.S.–Soviet space flight. Mission included an arranged eclipse of the Sun by the Apollo module to allow instruments on the Soyuz to take photographs of the solar corona.
- Eclipse chasing: Travel to eclipse locations for study and enjoyment
- Occultation: Generic term for occlusion of an object by another object that passes between it and the observer, thus revealing (for example) the presence of an exoplanet orbiting a distant star by eclipsing it as seen from Earth
- Eclipses in history and culture: treatment of solar and lunar eclipses by historical and contemporary society and religion
- Solar eclipses in fiction
- Solar eclipses on the Moon: Eclipse of the Sun by planet Earth, as seen from the Moon
- Lunar eclipse: Solar eclipse of the Moon, as seen from Earth; the shadow cast on the Moon by that eclipse
- Transit of Venus: Passage of the planet Venus between the Sun and Earth, as seen from Earth. Technically a partial eclipse.
- Transit of Deimos from Mars: Passage of the Martian moon Deimos between the Sun and Mars, as seen from Mars
- Transit of Phobos from Mars: Passage of the Martian moon Phobos between the Sun and Mars, as seen from Mars
## Footnotes
## Bibliography
- Mucke, Hermann; Meeus, Jean (1992).
*Canon of Solar Eclipses −2003 to +2526*(2 ed.). Vienna: Astronomisches Büro. - Harrington, Philip S. (1997).
*Eclipse! The What, Where, When, Why and How Guide to Watching Solar and Lunar Eclipses*. New York: John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 0-471-12795-7. - Steel, Duncan (1999).
*Eclipse: The celestial phenomenon which has changed the course of history*. London: Headline. ISBN 0-7472-7385-5. - Mobberley, Martin (2007).
*Total Solar Eclipses and How to Observe Them*. Astronomers' Observing Guides. New York: Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-69827-4. - Espenak, Fred (2015).
*Thousand Year Canon of Solar Eclipses 1501 to 2500*. Portal AZ: Astropixels Publishing. ISBN 978-1-941983-02-7. - Espenak, Fred (2016).
*21st Century Canon of Solar Eclipses*. Portal AZ: Astropixels Publishing. ISBN 978-1-941983-12-6. - Fotheringham, John Knight (1921).
*Historical eclipses: being the Halley lecture delivered 17 May 1921*. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
## External links
- NASA Eclipse Web Site, with information on future eclipses and eye safety information
- NASA Eclipse Web Site (older version)
- Eclipsewise, Fred Espenak's new eclipse site
- Andrew Lowe's Eclipse Page, with maps and circumstances for 5000 years of solar eclipses
- A Guide to Eclipse Activities for Educators, Explaining eclipses in educational settings
- Detailed eclipse explanations and predictions, Hermit Eclipse
- Eclipse Photography, Prof. Miroslav Druckmüller
- Animated maps of August 21, 2017 solar eclipses, Larry Koehn
- Five Millennium (−1999 to +3000) Canon of Solar Eclipses Database, Xavier M. Jubier
- Animated explanation of the mechanics of a solar eclipse Archived 2013-05-25 at the Wayback Machine, University of South Wales
- Eclipse Image Gallery Archived 2016-10-15 at the Wayback Machine, The World at Night
- Ring of Fire Eclipse: 2012, Photos
*Collier's New Encyclopedia*. 1921.
. - on YouTube
- Solar eclipse photographs taken from the Lick Observatory from the Lick Observatory Records Digital Archive, UC Santa Cruz Library’s Digital Collections Archived 2020-06-05 at the Wayback Machine
- on YouTube
- Total Solar Eclipse Shadow on Earth March 09 2016 CIMSSSatelite
- List of all solar eclipses
- National Geographic Solar Eclipse 101 video Archived 2018-08-04 at the Wayback Machine
- Wikiversity has a solar eclipse lab that students can do on any sunny day.
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# U.S. state - Wikipedia
| State | |
|---|---|
| Category | Federated state |
| Location | United States |
| Number | 50 |
| Populations | |
| Areas | |
| Government | |
| Subdivisions |
In the United States, a **state** is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sovereignty with the federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, Americans are citizens both of the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders (such as paroled convicts and children of divorced spouses who share child custody).
State governments in the U.S. are allocated power by the people (of each respective state) through their individual state constitutions. All are grounded in republican principles (this being required by the federal constitution), and each provides for a government, consisting of three branches, each with separate and independent powers: executive, legislative, and judicial. States are divided into counties or county-equivalents, which may be assigned some local governmental authority but are not sovereign. County or county-equivalent structure varies widely by state, and states also create other local governments.
States, unlike U.S. territories, possess many powers and rights under the United States Constitution. States and their citizens are represented in the United States Congress, a bicameral legislature consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each state is also entitled to select a number of electors (equal to the total number of representatives and senators from that state) to vote in the Electoral College, the body that directly elects the president of the United States. Additionally, each state has the opportunity to ratify constitutional amendments, and, with the consent of Congress, two or more states may enter into interstate compacts with one another. The police power of each state is also recognized.
Historically, the tasks of local law enforcement, public education, public health, intrastate commerce regulation, and local transportation and infrastructure, in addition to local, state, and federal elections, have generally been considered primarily state responsibilities, although all of these now have significant federal funding and regulation as well. Over time, the Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization and incorporation, with the federal government playing a much larger role than it once did. There is a continuing debate over states' rights, which concerns the extent and nature of the states' powers and sovereignty in relation to the federal government and the rights of individuals.
The Constitution grants to Congress the authority to admit new states into the Union. Since the establishment of the United States in 1776 by the Thirteen Colonies, the number of states has expanded from the original 13 to 50. Each new state has been admitted on an equal footing with the existing states. While the Constitution does not explicitly discuss secession from the Union, the United States Supreme Court, in *Texas v. White* (1869), held that the Constitution did not permit states to unilaterally do so.
## List
The 50 U.S. states, in alphabetical order, along with each state's flag:
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
## Background
The 13 original states came into existence in July 1776 during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), as the successors of the Thirteen Colonies, upon agreeing to the Lee Resolution and signing the United States Declaration of Independence. Prior to these events each state had been a British colony; each then joined the first Union of states between 1777 and 1781, upon ratifying the Articles of Confederation, the first U.S. constitution. Also during this period, the newly independent states developed their own individual state constitutions, among the earliest written constitutions in the world. Although different in detail, these state constitutions shared features that would be important in the American constitutional order: they were republican in form, and separated power among three branches, most had bicameral legislatures, and contained statements, or a bill, of rights. Later, from 1787 to 1790, each of the states also ratified a new federal frame of government in the Constitution of the United States. In relation to the states, the U.S. Constitution elaborated concepts of federalism.
## Governments
Under U.S. constitutional law, the 50 individual states and the United States as a whole are each sovereign jurisdictions. The states are *not* administrative divisions of the country; the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution reserves to the states or to the people all powers of government not delegated to the federal government.
Consequently, each of the 50 states reserves the right to organize its individual government in any way (within the broad parameters set by the U.S. Constitution and the Republican Guarantee enforced by Congress) deemed appropriate by its people, and to exercise all powers of government not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution. A state, unlike the federal government, has un-enumerated police power, that is, the right to generally make all necessary laws for the welfare of its people. As a result, while the governments of the various states share many similar features, they often vary greatly with regard to form and substance. No two state governments are identical.
### Constitutions
The government of each state is structured in accordance with its individual constitution, all of which are written constitutions. Many of these documents are more detailed and more elaborated than their federal counterpart. For example, before its revision in 2022, the Constitution of Alabama, contained 310,296 words, which is more than 40 times as many as the U.S. Constitution. In practice, each state has adopted a three-branch frame of government: executive, legislative, and judicial (even though doing so has never been required).
Early in American history, four state governments differentiated themselves from the others in their first constitutions by choosing to self-identify as Commonwealths rather than as states: Virginia, in 1776; Pennsylvania, in 1777; Massachusetts, in 1780; and Kentucky, in 1792. Consequently, while these four are states like the other states, each is formally a commonwealth because the term is contained in its constitution. The term, *commonwealth*, which refers to *a state in which the supreme power is vested in the people*, was first used in Virginia during the Interregnum, the 1649–60 period between the reigns of Charles I and Charles II during which parliament's Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector established a republican government known as the Commonwealth of England. Virginia became a royal colony again in 1660, and the word was dropped from the full title; it went unused until reintroduced in 1776.
#### Executive
In each state, the chief executive is called the governor, who serves as both head of state and head of government. All governors are chosen by statewide direct election. The governor may approve or veto bills passed by the state legislature, as well as recommend and work for the passage of bills, usually supported by their political party. In 44 states, governors have line item veto power. Most states have a plural executive, meaning that the governor is not the only government official in the state responsible for its executive branch. In these states, executive power is distributed amongst other officials, elected by the people independently of the governor—such as the lieutenant governor, attorney general, comptroller, secretary of state, and others.
Elections of officials in the United States are generally for a fixed term of office. The constitutions of 19 states allow for citizens to remove and replace an elected public official before the end of their term of office through a recall election. Each state follows its own procedures for recall elections, and sets its own restrictions on how often, and how soon after a general election, they may be held. In all states, the legislatures can remove state executive branch officials, including governors, who have committed serious abuses of their power from office. The process of doing so includes impeachment (the bringing of specific charges), and a trial, wherein legislators act as a jury.
#### Legislative
The primary responsibilities of state legislatures are to enact state laws and appropriate money for the administration of public policy. In all states, if the governor vetoes a bill (or a portion of one), it can still become law if the legislature overrides the veto (repasses the bill), which in most states requires a two-thirds vote in each chamber. In 49 of the 50 states the legislature consists of two chambers: a lower house (variously called the House of Representatives, State Assembly, General Assembly or House of Delegates) and a smaller upper house, in all states called the Senate. The exception is the unicameral Nebraska Legislature, meaning it has only a single chamber. Most states have a part-time legislature (traditionally called a citizen legislature). Ten state legislatures are considered full-time; these bodies are more similar to the U.S. Congress than are the others.
Members of each state's legislature are chosen by direct election. In *Baker v. Carr* (1962) and *Reynolds v. Sims* (1964), the U.S. Supreme Court held that all states are required to elect their legislatures in such a way as to afford each citizen the same degree of representation (the one person, one vote standard). In practice, most states elect legislators from single-member districts, each of which has approximately the same population. Some states, such as Maryland and Vermont, divide the state into single- and multi-member districts. In this case, multi-member districts must have proportionately larger populations, e.g., a district electing two representatives must have approximately twice the population of a district electing just one. The voting systems used across the nation are: first-past-the-post in single-member districts, and multiple non-transferable vote in multi-member districts.
In 2013, there were a total of 7,383 legislators in the 50 state legislative bodies. They earned from $0 annually (New Mexico) to $90,526 (California). There were various per diem and mileage compensation.
#### Judicial
States can also organize their judicial systems differently from the federal judiciary, as long as they protect the federal constitutional right of their citizens to procedural due process. Most have a trial-level court, generally called a district court, superior court or circuit court, a first-level appellate court, generally called a court of appeal (or appeals), and a supreme court. Oklahoma and Texas have separate highest courts for criminal appeals. Uniquely, in New York State, the trial court is called the Supreme Court; appeals go up first to the Supreme Court's Appellate Division, and from there to its highest court, the New York Court of Appeals.
State court systems exercise broad, plenary, and general jurisdiction, in contrast to the federal courts, which are courts of limited jurisdiction. The overwhelming majority of criminal and civil cases in the United States are heard in state courts. Each year, roughly 30 million new cases are filed in state courts and the total number of judges across all state courts is about 30,000—for comparison, 1 million new cases are filed each year in federal courts, which have about 1,700 judges.
Most states base their legal system on English common law (with substantial statutory changes and incorporation of certain civil law innovations), with the notable exception of Louisiana, a former French colony, which draws large parts of its legal system from French civil law.
Only a few states choose to have the judges on the state's courts serve for life terms. In most states, the judges, including the justices of the highest court in the state, are either elected or appointed for terms of a limited number of years and are usually eligible for re-election or reappointment.
### Unitarism
All states are unitary states, not federations or aggregates of local governments. Local governments within them are created by and exist by virtue of state law, and local governments within each state are subject to the central authority of that particular state. State governments commonly delegate some authority to local units and channel policy decisions down to them for implementation. In a few states, local units of government are permitted a degree of home rule over various matters. The prevailing legal theory of state preeminence over local governments, referred to as Dillon's Rule, holds that,
A municipal corporation possesses and can exercise the following powers and no others: First, those granted in express words; second, those necessarily implied or necessarily incident to the powers expressly granted; third, those absolutely essential to the declared objects and purposes of the corporation—not simply convenient but indispensable; fourth, any fair doubt as to the existence of power is resolved by the courts against the corporation—against the existence of the powers.
Each state defines for itself what powers it will allow local governments. Generally, four categories of power may be given to local jurisdictions:
- Structural – power to choose the form of government, charter and enact charter revisions,
- Functional – power to exercise local self-government in a broad or limited manner,
- Fiscal – authority to determine revenue sources, set tax rates, borrow funds and other related financial activities,
- Personnel – authority to set employment rules, remuneration rates, employment conditions and collective bargaining.
## Relationships
### Interstate
Each state admitted to the Union by Congress since 1789 has entered it on an equal footing with the original states in all respects. With the growth of states' rights advocacy during the antebellum period, the Supreme Court asserted, in *Lessee of Pollard v. Hagan* (1845), that the Constitution mandated admission of new states on the basis of equality. With the consent of Congress, states may enter into interstate compacts, agreements between two or more states. Compacts are frequently used to manage a shared resource, such as transportation infrastructure or water rights.
Under Article IV of the Constitution, which outlines the relationship between the states, each state is required to give full faith and credit to the acts of each other's legislatures and courts, which is generally held to include the recognition of most contracts and criminal judgments, and before 1865, slavery status. Pursuant to the Extradition Clause, a state must extradite people located there who have fled charges of "treason, felony, or other crimes" in another state if the other state so demands.
The full faith and credit expectation does have exceptions, some legal arrangements, such as professional licensure and marriages, may be state-specific, and until recently states have not been found by the courts to be required to honor such arrangements from other states. Such legal acts are nevertheless often recognized state-to-state according to the common practice of comity. States are prohibited from discriminating against citizens of other states with respect to their basic rights, under the Privileges and Immunities Clause.
### With the federal government
Under Article IV, each state is guaranteed a form of government that is grounded in republican principles, such as the consent of the governed. This guarantee has long been at the forefront of the debate about the rights of citizens vis-à-vis the government. States are also guaranteed protection from invasion, and, upon the application of the state legislature (or executive, if the legislature cannot be convened), from domestic violence. This provision was discussed during the 1967 Detroit riot but was not invoked.
The Supremacy Clause (Article VI, Clause 2) establishes that the Constitution, federal laws made pursuant to it, and treaties made under its authority, constitute the supreme law of the land. It provides that state courts are bound by the supreme law; in case of conflict between federal and state law, the federal law must be applied. Even state constitutions are subordinate to federal law.
States' rights are understood mainly with reference to the Tenth Amendment. The Constitution delegates some powers to the national government, and it forbids some powers to the states. The Tenth Amendment reserves all other powers to the states, or to the people. Powers of the U.S. Congress are enumerated in Article I, Section 8, for example, the power to declare war. Making treaties is one power forbidden to the states, being listed among other such powers in Article I, Section 10.
Among the Article I enumerated powers of Congress is the power to regulate commerce. Since the early 20th century, the Supreme Court's interpretation of this "Commerce Clause" has, over time, greatly expanded the scope of federal power, at the expense of powers formerly considered purely states' matters. The *Cambridge Economic History of the United States* says, "On the whole, especially after the mid-1880s, the Court construed the Commerce Clause in favor of increased federal power." In 1941, the Supreme Court in *U.S. v. Darby* upheld the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, holding that Congress had the power under the Commerce Clause to regulate employment conditions. Then, one year later, in *Wickard v. Filburn*, the Court expanded federal power to regulate the economy by holding that federal authority under the commerce clause extends to activities which may appear to be local in nature but in reality effect the entire national economy and are therefore of national concern. For example, Congress can regulate railway traffic across state lines, but it may also regulate rail traffic solely within a state, based on the reality that intrastate traffic still affects interstate commerce. Through such decisions, argues law professor David F. Forte, "the Court turned the commerce power into the equivalent of a general regulatory power and undid the Framers' original structure of limited and delegated powers." Subsequently, Congress invoked the Commerce Clause to expand federal criminal legislation, as well as for social reforms such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Only within the past couple of decades, through decisions in cases such as those in *U.S. v. Lopez* (1995) and *U.S. v. Morrison* (2000), has the Court tried to limit the Commerce Clause power of Congress.
Another enumerated congressional power is its taxing and spending power. An example of this is the system of federal aid for highways, which include the Interstate Highway System. The system is mandated and largely funded by the federal government and serves the interests of the states. By threatening to withhold federal highway funds, Congress has been able to pressure state legislatures to pass various laws. An example is the nationwide legal drinking age of 21, enacted by each state, brought about by the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. Although some objected that this infringes on states' rights, the Supreme Court upheld the practice as a permissible use of the Constitution's Spending Clause in *South Dakota v. Dole* 483 U.S. 203 (1987).
As prescribed by Article I of the Constitution, which establishes the U.S. Congress, each state is represented in the Senate (irrespective of population size) by two senators, and each is guaranteed at least one representative in the House. Both senators and representatives are chosen in direct popular elections in the various states. (Prior to 1913, senators were elected by state legislatures.) There are presently 100 senators, who are elected at-large to staggered terms of six years, with one-third of them being chosen every two years. Representatives are elected at large or from single-member districts to terms of two years (not staggered). The size of the House—presently 435 voting members—is set by federal statute. Seats in the House are distributed among the states in proportion to the most recent constitutionally mandated decennial census. The borders of these districts are established by the states individually through a process called redistricting, and within each state all districts are required to have approximately equal populations.
Citizens in each state plus those in the District of Columbia indirectly elect the president and vice president. When casting ballots in presidential elections they are voting for presidential electors, who then, using procedures provided in the 12th amendment, elect the president and vice president. There were 538 electors for the most recent presidential election in 2024; the allocation of electoral votes was based on the 2010 census. Each state is entitled to a number of electors equal to the total number of representatives and senators from that state; the District of Columbia is entitled to three electors.
While the Constitution does set parameters for the election of federal officials, state law, not federal, regulates most aspects of elections in the U.S., including primaries, the eligibility of voters (beyond the basic constitutional definition), the running of each state's electoral college, as well as the running of state and local elections. All elections—federal, state, and local—are administered by the individual states, and some voting rules and procedures may differ among them.
Article V of the Constitution accords states a key role in the process of amending the U.S. Constitution. Amendments may be proposed either by Congress with a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate, or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the state legislatures. To become part of the Constitution, an amendment must be ratified by either—as determined by Congress—the legislatures of three-quarters of the states or state ratifying conventions in three-quarters of the states. The vote in each state (to either ratify or reject a proposed amendment) carries equal weight, regardless of a state's population or length of time in the Union.
### With other countries
U.S. states are not sovereign in the Westphalian sense in international law which says that each State has sovereignty over its territory and domestic affairs, to the exclusion of all external powers, on the principle of non-interference in another State's domestic affairs, and that each State (no matter how large or small) is equal in international law. Additionally, the 50 U.S. states do not possess international legal sovereignty, meaning that they are not recognized by other sovereign States such as, for example, France, Germany or the United Kingdom. The federal government is responsible for international relations, but state and local government leaders do occasionally travel to other countries and form economic and cultural relationships.
## Admission into the Union
Article IV also grants to Congress the authority to admit new states into the Union. Since the establishment of the United States in 1776, the number of states has expanded from the original 13 to 50. Each new state has been admitted on an equal footing with the existing states. Article IV also forbids the creation of new states from parts of existing states without the consent of both the affected states and Congress. This caveat was designed to give Eastern states that still had Western land claims (including Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia) to have a veto over whether their western counties could become states, and has served this same function since, whenever a proposal to partition an existing state or states in order that a region within might either join another state or to create a new state has come before Congress.
Most of the states admitted to the Union after the original 13 were formed from an organized territory established and governed by Congress in accord with its plenary power under Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2. The outline for this process was established by the Northwest Ordinance (1787), which predates the ratification of the Constitution. In some cases, an entire territory has become a state; in others some part of a territory has.
When the people of a territory make their desire for statehood known to the federal government, Congress may pass an enabling act authorizing the people of that territory to organize a constitutional convention to write a state constitution as a step toward admission to the Union. Each act details the mechanism by which the territory will be admitted as a state following ratification of their constitution and election of state officers. Although the use of an enabling act is a traditional historic practice, a number of territories have drafted constitutions for submission to Congress absent an enabling act and were subsequently admitted. Upon acceptance of that constitution and meeting any additional congressional stipulations, Congress has always admitted that territory as a state.
In addition to the original 13, six subsequent states were never an organized territory of the federal government, or part of one, before being admitted to the Union. Three were set off from an already existing state, two entered the Union after having been sovereign states, and one was established from unorganized territory:
- California, 1850, from land ceded to the United States by Mexico in 1848 under the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
- Kentucky, 1792, from Virginia (District of Kentucky: Fayette, Jefferson, and Lincoln counties)
- Maine, 1820, from Massachusetts (District of Maine)
- Texas, 1845, previously the Republic of Texas
- Vermont, 1791, previously the Vermont Republic (also known as the New Hampshire Grants and claimed by New York)
- West Virginia, 1863, from Virginia (Trans-Allegheny region counties) during the Civil War
Congress is under no obligation to admit states, even in those areas whose population expresses a desire for statehood. Such has been the case numerous times during the nation's history. In one instance, Mormon pioneers in Salt Lake City sought to establish the state of Deseret in 1849. It existed for slightly over two years and was never approved by the United States Congress. In another, leaders of the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole) in Indian Territory proposed to establish the state of Sequoyah in 1905, as a means to retain control of their lands. The proposed constitution ultimately failed in the U.S. Congress. Instead, the Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory were both incorporated into the new state of Oklahoma in 1907. The first instance occurred while the nation still operated under the Articles of Confederation. The State of Franklin existed for several years, not long after the end of the American Revolution, but was never recognized by the Confederation Congress, which ultimately recognized North Carolina's claim of sovereignty over the area. The territory comprising Franklin later became part of the Southwest Territory, and ultimately of the state of Tennessee.
Additionally, the entry of several states into the Union was delayed due to distinctive complicating factors. Among them, Michigan Territory, which petitioned Congress for statehood in 1835, was not admitted to the Union until 1837, due to a boundary dispute with the adjoining state of Ohio. The Republic of Texas requested annexation to the United States in 1837, but fears about potential conflict with Mexico delayed the admission of Texas for nine years. Statehood for Kansas Territory was held up for several years (1854–61) due to a series of internal violent conflicts involving anti-slavery and pro-slavery factions. West Virginia's bid for statehood was also delayed over slavery and was settled when it agreed to adopt a gradual abolition plan.
## Proposed additions
### Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. The future political status of Guam has been a matter of significant discussion, with public opinion polls indicating a strong preference of becoming a U.S. state.
### Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico, an unincorporated U.S. territory, refers to itself as the "Commonwealth of Puerto Rico" in the English version of its constitution, and as "Estado Libre Asociado" (literally, Associated Free State) in the Spanish version. As with all U.S. territories, its residents do not have full representation in the United States Congress. Puerto Rico has limited representation in the U.S. House of Representatives in the form of a Resident Commissioner, a delegate with limited voting rights in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, but no voting rights otherwise.
A non-binding referendum on statehood, independence, or a new option for an associated territory (different from the current status) was held on November 6, 2012. Sixty one percent (61%) of voters chose the statehood option, while one third of the ballots were submitted blank.
On December 11, 2012, the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico enacted a concurrent resolution requesting the President and the Congress of the United States to respond to the referendum of the people of Puerto Rico, held on November 6, 2012, to end its current form of territorial status and to begin the process to admit Puerto Rico as a state.
Another status referendum was held on June 11, 2017, wherein 97% percent of voters chose statehood. Turnout was low, as only 23% of voters went to the polls, with advocates of both continued territorial status and independence urging voters to boycott it.
On June 27, 2018, the H.R. 6246 Act was introduced on the U.S. House with the purpose of responding to, and comply with, the democratic will of the United States citizens residing in Puerto Rico as expressed in the plebiscites held on November 6, 2012, and June 11, 2017, by setting forth the terms for the admission of the territory of Puerto Rico as a state of the Union. The act has 37 original cosponsors between Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
On November 3, 2020, Puerto Rico held another referendum. In the non-binding referendum, Puerto Ricans voted in favor of becoming a state. They also voted for a pro-statehood governor, Pedro Pierluisi.
The intention of the Founding Fathers was that the United States capital should be at a neutral site, not giving favor to any existing state; as a result, the District of Columbia was created in 1800 to serve as the seat of government. As it is not a state, the district does not have representation in the Senate and has a non-voting delegate in the House; neither does it have a sovereign elected government. Additionally, before ratification of the 23rd Amendment in 1961, district citizens did not get the right to vote in presidential elections.
The strong majority of residents of the District support statehood of some form for that jurisdiction – either statehood for the whole district or for the inhabited part, with the remainder remaining under federal jurisdiction. In November 2016, Washington, D.C. residents voted in a statehood referendum in which 86% of voters supported statehood for Washington, D.C. For statehood to be achieved, it must be approved by Congress.
## Secession from the Union
The Constitution speaks of "union" several times, but does not explicitly discuss the issue of whether a state can secede from the Union. Its predecessor, the Articles of Confederation, stated that the union of the United States "shall be perpetual." The question of whether or not individual states held the unilateral right to secession was a passionately debated feature of the nations' political discourse from early in its history and remained a difficult and divisive topic until the American Civil War. In 1860 and 1861, 11 southern states each declared secession from the United States and joined to form the Confederate States of America (CSA). Following the defeat of Confederate forces by Union armies in 1865, those states were brought back into the Union during the ensuing Reconstruction era. The federal government never recognized the sovereignty of the CSA, nor the validity of the ordinances of secession adopted by the seceding states.
Following the war, the United States Supreme Court, in *Texas v. White* (1869), held that states did not have the right to secede and that any act of secession was legally void. Drawing on the "perpetual" union language of the Articles of Confederation, and its succeeding Preamble to the Constitution, which states that the Constitution intends to "form a more perfect union", and speaks of the people of the United States a single body politic who are the authors of the more perfect union ("We the people"), the Supreme Court found that states did not have a right to secede. The court's reference in the same decision to the possibility of such changes occurring "through revolution, or through consent of the States", essentially means that this decision holds that no state has a right to unilaterally decide to leave the Union.
## Name origins
The 50 states have taken their names from a wide variety of languages. Twenty-four state names originate from Native American languages. Of these, eight are from Algonquian languages, seven are from Siouan languages, three are from Iroquoian languages, one is from Uto-Aztecan languages and five others are from other indigenous languages. Hawaii's name is derived from the Polynesian Hawaiian language.
Of the remaining names, 22 are from European languages. Seven are from Latin (mainly Latinized forms of English names) and the rest are from English, Spanish and French. Eleven states are named after individual people, including seven named for royalty and one named after a President of the United States. The origins of six state names are unknown or disputed. Several of the states that derive their names from names used for Native peoples retain the final letter "s" in the indigenous name.
## Geography
### Borders
The borders of the 13 original states were largely determined by colonial charters. Their western boundaries were subsequently modified as the states ceded their western land claims to the Federal government during the 1780s and 1790s. Many state borders beyond those of the original 13 were set by Congress as it created territories, divided them, and over time, created states within them. Territorial and new state lines often followed various geographic features (such as rivers or mountain range peaks), and were influenced by settlement or transportation patterns. At various times, national borders with territories formerly controlled by other countries (British North America, New France, New Spain including Spanish Florida, and Russian America) became institutionalized as the borders of U.S. states. In the West, relatively arbitrary straight lines following latitude and longitude often prevail due to the sparseness of settlement west of the Mississippi River.
Once established, most state borders have, with few exceptions, been generally stable. Only two states, Missouri (Platte Purchase) and Nevada grew appreciably after statehood. Several of the original states ceded land, over a several-year period, to the Federal government, which in turn became the Northwest Territory, Southwest Territory, and Mississippi Territory. In 1791, Maryland and Virginia ceded land to create the District of Columbia (Virginia's portion was returned in 1847). In 1850, Texas ceded a large swath of land to the federal government. Additionally, Massachusetts and Virginia (on two occasions), have lost land, in each instance to form a new state.
There have been numerous other minor adjustments to state boundaries over the years due to improved surveys, resolution of ambiguous or disputed boundary definitions, or minor mutually agreed boundary adjustments for administrative convenience or other purposes. Occasionally, either Congress or the U.S. Supreme Court has had to settle state border disputes. One notable example is the case *New Jersey v. New York*, in which New Jersey won roughly 90% of Ellis Island from New York in 1998.
Once a territory is admitted by Congress as a state of the Union, the state must consent to any changes pertaining to the jurisdiction of that state and Congress. The only potential violation of this occurred when the legislature of Virginia declared the secession of Virginia from the United States at the start of the American Civil War and a newly formed alternative Virginia legislature, recognized by the federal government, consented to have West Virginia secede from Virginia.
### Regional grouping
States may be grouped in regions; there are many variations and possible groupings. Many are defined in law or regulations by the federal government. For example, the United States Census Bureau defines four statistical regions, with nine divisions. The Census Bureau region definition (Northeast, Midwest, South, and West) is "widely used ... for data collection and analysis," and is the most commonly used classification system. Other multi-state regions are unofficial, and defined by geography or cultural affinity rather than by state lines.
## See also
- Insular area
- ISO 3166-2:US
- Lists of U.S. state topics
- Local government in the United States
- List of online encyclopedias of U.S. states, encyclopedias typically maintained by state historical societies, universities, or humanities councils
## Further reading
- Stein, Mark (2008).
*How the States Got Their Shapes*. New York: Smithsonian Books/Collins. ISBN 978-0-06-143138-8.
## External links
- Information about All States from
*UCB Libraries GovPubs* - State Resource Guides, from the Library of Congress
- Tables with areas, populations, densities and more (in order of population)
- Tables with areas, populations, densities and more (alphabetical)
- "State, Local, and Tribal Governments" on USA.gov
- StateMaster – statistical database for U.S. states
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# Voting Rights Act of 1965 - Wikipedia
| Long title | An Act to enforce the fifteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States, and for other purposes. |
|---|---|
| Acronyms (colloquial) | VRA |
| Nicknames | Voting Rights Act |
| Enacted by | the 89th United States Congress |
| Effective | August 7, 1965 |
| Citations | |
| Public law | Pub. L. 89–110 |
| Statutes at Large | 79 Stat. 437 |
| Codification | |
| Titles amended | Title 52—Voting and Elections |
| U.S.C. sections created | |
| Legislative history | |
| |
| Major amendments | |
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| United States Supreme Court cases | |
List |
The **Voting Rights Act of 1965** is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movement on August 6, 1965, and Congress later amended the Act five times to expand its protections. Designed to enforce the voting rights protected by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the Act sought to secure the right to vote for racial minorities throughout the country, especially in the South. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Act is considered to be the most effective piece of federal civil rights legislation ever enacted in the country. The National Archives and Records Administration stated: "The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was the most significant statutory change in the relationship between the federal and state governments in the area of voting since the Reconstruction period following the Civil War".
The act contains numerous provisions that regulate elections. The act's "general provisions" provide nationwide protections for voting rights. Section 2 is a general provision that prohibits state and local government from imposing any voting rule that "results in the denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen to vote on account of race or color" or membership in a language minority group. Other general provisions specifically outlaw literacy tests and similar devices that were historically used to disenfranchise racial minorities. The act also contains "special provisions" that apply to only certain jurisdictions. A core special provision is the Section 5 preclearance requirement, which prohibited certain jurisdictions from implementing any change affecting voting without first receiving confirmation from the U.S. attorney general or the U.S. District Court for D.C. that the change does not discriminate against protected minorities. Another special provision requires jurisdictions containing significant language minority populations to provide bilingual ballots and other election materials.
Section 5 and most other special provisions applied to jurisdictions encompassed by the "coverage formula" prescribed in Section 4(b). The coverage formula was originally designed to encompass jurisdictions that engaged in egregious voting discrimination in 1965, and Congress updated the formula in 1970 and 1975. In *Shelby County v. Holder* (2013), the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the coverage formula as unconstitutional, reasoning that it was obsolete. The court did not strike down Section 5, but without a coverage formula, Section 5 is unenforceable. The jurisdictions which had previously been covered by the coverage formula massively increased the rate of voter registration purges after the Shelby decision.
In 2021, the *Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee* Supreme Court ruling reinterpreted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, substantially weakening it. The ruling interpreted the "totality of circumstances" language of Section 2 to mean that it does not generally prohibit voting rules that have disparate impact on the groups that it sought to protect, including a rule blocked under Section 5 before the Court inactivated that section in *Shelby County v. Holder*. In particular, the ruling held that fears of election fraud could justify such rules without evidence that any such fraud had occurred in the past or that the new rule would make elections safer.
Research shows that the Act had successfully and massively increased voter turnout and voter registrations, in particular among black people. The Act has also been linked to concrete outcomes, such as greater public goods provision (such as public education) for areas with higher black population shares, more members of Congress who vote for civil rights-related legislation, and greater Black representation in local offices.
As initially ratified, the United States Constitution granted each state complete discretion to determine voter qualifications for its residents. After the Civil War, the three Reconstruction Amendments were ratified and limited this discretion. The Thirteenth Amendment (1865) prohibits slavery "except as a punishment for crime"; the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) grants citizenship to anyone "born or naturalized in the United States" and guarantees every person due process and equal protection rights; and the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) provides that "[t]he right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." These Amendments also empower Congress to enforce their provisions through "appropriate legislation".
To enforce the Reconstruction Amendments, Congress passed the Enforcement Acts in the 1870s. The acts criminalized the obstruction of a citizen's voting rights and provided for federal supervision of the electoral process, including voter registration. However, in 1875 the Supreme Court struck down parts of the legislation as unconstitutional in *United States v. Cruikshank* and *United States v. Reese*. After the Reconstruction Era ended in 1877, enforcement of these laws became erratic, and in 1894, Congress repealed most of their provisions.
Southern states generally sought to disenfranchise racial minorities during and after Reconstruction. From 1868 to 1888, electoral fraud and violence throughout the South suppressed the African-American vote. From 1888 to 1908, Southern states legalized disenfranchisement by enacting Jim Crow laws; they amended their constitutions and passed legislation to impose various voting restrictions, including literacy tests, poll taxes, property-ownership requirements, moral character tests, requirements that voter registration applicants interpret particular documents, and grandfather clauses that allowed otherwise-ineligible persons to vote if their grandfathers voted (which excluded many African Americans whose grandfathers had been slaves or otherwise ineligible). During this period, the Supreme Court generally upheld efforts to discriminate against racial minorities. In *Giles v. Harris* (1903), the court held that regardless of the Fifteenth Amendment, the judiciary did not have the remedial power to force states to register racial minorities to vote.
Prior to the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 there were several efforts to stop the disenfranchisement of black voters by Southern states,. Besides the above-mentioned literacy tests and poll taxes other bureaucratic restrictions were used to deny them the right to vote. African Americans also "risked harassment, intimidation, economic reprisals, and physical violence when they tried to register or vote. As a result, very few African Americans were registered voters, and they had very little, if any, political power, either locally or nationally." In the 1950s the Civil Rights Movement increased pressure on the federal government to protect the voting rights of racial minorities. In 1957, Congress passed the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction: the Civil Rights Act of 1957. This legislation authorized the attorney general to sue for injunctive relief on behalf of persons whose Fifteenth Amendment rights were denied, created the Civil Rights Division within the Department of Justice to enforce civil rights through litigation, and created the Commission on Civil Rights to investigate voting rights deprivations. Further protections were enacted in the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which allowed federal courts to appoint referees to conduct voter registration in jurisdictions that engaged in voting discrimination against racial minorities.
Although these acts helped empower courts to remedy violations of federal voting rights, strict legal standards made it difficult for the Department of Justice to successfully pursue litigation. For example, to win a discrimination lawsuit against a state that maintained a literacy test, the department needed to prove that the rejected voter-registration applications of racial minorities were comparable to the accepted applications of whites. This involved comparing thousands of applications in each of the state's counties in a process that could last months. The department's efforts were further hampered by resistance from local election officials, who would claim to have misplaced the voter registration records of racial minorities, remove registered racial minorities from the electoral rolls, and resign so that voter registration ceased. Moreover, the department often needed to appeal lawsuits several times before the judiciary provided relief because many federal district court judges opposed racial minority suffrage. Thus, between 1957 and 1964, the African-American voter registration rate in the South increased only marginally even though the department litigated 71 voting rights lawsuits. Efforts to stop the disfranchisement by the Southern states had achieved only modest success overall and in some areas had proved almost entirely ineffectual, because the "Department of Justice's efforts to eliminate discriminatory election practices by litigation on a case-by-case basis had been unsuccessful in opening up the registration process; as soon as one discriminatory practice or procedure was proven to be unconstitutional and enjoined, a new one would be substituted in its place and litigation would have to commence anew."
Congress responded to rampant discrimination against racial minorities in public accommodations and government services by passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The act included some voting rights protections; it required registrars to equally administer literacy tests in writing to each voter and to accept applications that contained minor errors, and it created a rebuttable presumption that persons with a sixth-grade education were sufficiently literate to vote. However, despite lobbying from civil rights leaders, the Act did not prohibit most forms of voting discrimination. President Lyndon B. Johnson recognized this, and shortly after the 1964 elections in which Democrats gained overwhelming majorities in both chambers of Congress, he privately instructed Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach to draft "the goddamndest, toughest voting rights act that you can". However, Johnson did not publicly push for the legislation at the time; his advisers warned him of political costs for vigorously pursuing a voting rights bill so soon after Congress had passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Johnson was concerned that championing voting rights would endanger his Great Society reforms by angering Southern Democrats in Congress.
Following the 1964 elections, civil rights organizations such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) pushed for federal action to protect the voting rights of racial minorities. Their efforts culminated in protests in Alabama, particularly in the city of Selma, where County Sheriff Jim Clark's police force violently resisted African-American voter registration efforts. Speaking about the voting rights push in Selma, James Forman of SNCC said: "Our strategy, as usual, was to force the U.S. government to intervene in case there were arrests—and if they did not intervene, that inaction would once again prove the government was not on our side and thus intensify the development of a mass consciousness among blacks. Our slogan for this drive was 'One Man, One Vote.'"
In January 1965, Martin Luther King Jr., James Bevel, and other civil rights leaders organized several peaceful demonstrations in Selma, which were violently attacked by police and white counter-protesters. Throughout January and February, these protests received national media coverage and drew attention to the issue of voting rights. King and other demonstrators were arrested during a march on February 1 for violating an anti-parade ordinance; this inspired similar marches in the following days, causing hundreds more to be arrested. On February 4, civil rights leader Malcolm X gave a militant speech in Selma in which he said that many African Americans did not support King's nonviolent approach; he later privately said that he wanted to frighten whites into supporting King. The next day, King was released and a letter he wrote addressing voting rights, "Letter From A Selma Jail", appeared in *The New York Times*.
With increasing national attention focused on Selma and voting rights, President Johnson reversed his decision to delay voting rights legislation. On February 6, he announced he would send a proposal to Congress. Johnson did not reveal the proposal's content or disclose when it would come before Congress.
On February 18 in Marion, Alabama, state troopers violently broke up a nighttime voting-rights march during which officer James Bonard Fowler shot and killed young African-American protester Jimmie Lee Jackson, who was unarmed and protecting his mother. Spurred by this event, and at the initiation of Bevel, on March 7 SCLC and SNCC began the first of the Selma to Montgomery marches, in which Selma residents intended to march to Alabama's capital, Montgomery, to highlight voting rights issues and present Governor George Wallace with their grievances. On the first march, demonstrators were stopped by state and county police on horseback at the Edmund Pettus Bridge near Selma. The police shot tear gas into the crowd and trampled protesters. Televised footage of the scene, which became known as "Bloody Sunday", generated outrage across the country. A second march was held on March 9, which became known as "Turnaround Tuesday". That evening, three white Unitarian ministers who participated in the march were attacked on the street and beaten with clubs by four Ku Klux Klan members. The worst injured was Reverend James Reeb from Boston, who died on Thursday, March 11.
In the wake of the events in Selma, President Johnson, addressing a televised joint session of Congress on March 15, called on legislators to enact expansive voting rights legislation. In his speech, he used the words "we shall overcome", adopting the rallying cry of the civil rights movement. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was introduced in Congress two days later while civil rights leaders, now under the protection of federal troops, led a march of 25,000 people from Selma to Montgomery.
Efforts to eliminate discriminatory election practices by litigation on a case-by-case basis by the United States Department of Justice had been unsuccessful and existing federal anti-discrimination laws were not sufficient to overcome the resistance by state officials to enforcement of the 15th Amendment. Against this backdrop Congress came to the conclusion that a new comprehensive federal bill was necessary to break the grip of state disfranchisement. The United States Supreme Court explained this in *South Carolina v. Katzenbach* (1966) with the following words:
In recent years, Congress has repeatedly tried to cope with the problem by facilitating case-by-case litigation against voting discrimination. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 authorized the Attorney General to seek injunctions against public and private interference with the right to vote on racial grounds. Perfecting amendments in the Civil Rights Act of 1960 permitted the joinder of States as parties defendant, gave the Attorney General access to local voting records, and authorized courts to register voters in areas of systematic discrimination. Title I of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 expedited the hearing of voting cases before three-judge courts and outlawed some of the tactics used to disqualify Negroes from voting in federal elections. Despite the earnest efforts of the Justice Department and of many federal judges, these new laws have done little to cure the problem of voting discrimination. [...] The previous legislation has proved ineffective for a number of reasons. Voting suits are unusually onerous to prepare, sometimes requiring as many as 6,000 man-hours spent combing through registration records in preparation for trial. Litigation has been exceedingly slow, in part because of the ample opportunities for delay afforded voting officials and others involved in the proceedings. Even when favorable decisions have finally been obtained, some of the States affected have merely switched to discriminatory devices not covered by the federal decrees, or have enacted difficult new tests designed to prolong the existing disparity between white and Negro registration. Alternatively, certain local officials have defied and evaded court orders or have simply closed their registration offices to freeze the voting rolls. The provision of the 1960 law authorizing registration by federal officers has had little impact on local maladministration, because of its procedural complexities.
In *South Carolina v. Katzenbach* (1966) the Supreme Court also held that Congress had the power to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965 under its Enforcement Powers stemming from the Fifteenth Amendment:
Congress exercised its authority under the Fifteenth Amendment in an inventive manner when it enacted the Voting Rights Act of 1965. First: the measure prescribes remedies for voting discrimination which go into effect without any need for prior adjudication. This was clearly a legitimate response to the problem, for which there is ample precedent under other constitutional provisions.
See Katzenbach v. McClung,379 U. S. 294, 379 U. S. 302–304;United States v. Darby, 312 U. S. 100,312 U. S. 120–121. Congress had found that case-by-case litigation was inadequate to combat widespread and persistent discrimination in voting, because of the inordinate amount of time and energy required to overcome the obstructionist tactics invariably encountered in these lawsuits. After enduring nearly a century of systematic resistance to the Fifteenth Amendment, Congress might well decide to shift the advantage of time and inertia from the perpetrators of the evil to its victims. [...] Second: the Act intentionally confines these remedies to a small number of States and political subdivisions which, in most instances, were familiar to Congress by name. This, too, was a permissible method of dealing with the problem. Congress had learned that substantial voting discrimination presently occurs in certain sections of the country, and it knew no way of accurately forecasting whether the evil might spread elsewhere in the future. In acceptable legislative fashion, Congress chose to limit its attention to the geographic areas where immediate action seemed necessary.See McGowan v. Maryland,366 U. S. 420, 366 U. S. 427;Salsburg v. Maryland,346 U. S. 545, 346 U. S. 550–554. The doctrine of the equality of States, invoked by South Carolina, does not bar this approach, for that doctrine applies only to the terms upon which States are admitted to the Union, and not to the remedies for local evils which have subsequently appeared.See Coyle v. Smith,221 U. S. 559, and cases cited therein.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was introduced in Congress on March 17, 1965, as S. 1564, and it was jointly sponsored by Senate majority leader Mike Mansfield (D-MT) and Senate minority leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL), both of whom had worked with Attorney General Katzenbach to draft the bill's language. Although Democrats held two-thirds of the seats in both chambers of Congress after the 1964 Senate elections, Johnson worried that Southern Democrats would filibuster the legislation because they had opposed other civil rights efforts. He enlisted Dirksen to help gain Republican support. Dirksen did not originally intend to support voting rights legislation so soon after supporting the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but he expressed willingness to accept "revolutionary" legislation after learning about the police violence against marchers in Selma on Bloody Sunday. Given Dirksen's key role in helping Katzenbach draft the legislation, it became known informally as the "Dirksenbach" bill. After Mansfield and Dirksen introduced the bill, 64 additional senators agreed to co-sponsor it, with a total 46 Democratic and 20 Republican co-sponsors.
The bill contained several special provisions that targeted certain state and local governments: a "coverage formula" that determined which jurisdictions were subject to the Act's other special provisions ("covered jurisdictions"); a "preclearance" requirement that prohibited covered jurisdictions from implementing changes to their voting procedures without first receiving approval from the U.S. attorney general or the U.S. District Court for D.C. that the changes were not discriminatory; and the suspension of "tests or devices", such as literacy tests, in covered jurisdictions. The bill also authorized the assignment of federal examiners to register voters, and of federal observers to monitor elections, to covered jurisdictions that were found to have engaged in egregious discrimination. The bill set these special provisions to expire after five years.
The scope of the coverage formula was a matter of contentious congressional debate. The coverage formula reached a jurisdiction if (1) the jurisdiction maintained a "test or device" on November 1, 1964, and (2) less than 50 percent of the jurisdiction's voting-age residents either were registered to vote on November 1, 1964, or cast a ballot in the November 1964 presidential election. This formula reached few jurisdictions outside the Deep South. To appease legislators who felt that the bill unfairly targeted Southern jurisdictions, the bill included a general prohibition on racial discrimination in voting that applied nationwide. The bill also included provisions allowing a covered jurisdiction to "bail out" of coverage by proving in federal court that it had not used a "test or device" for a discriminatory purpose or with a discriminatory effect during the 5 years preceding its bailout request. Additionally, the bill included a "bail in" provision under which federal courts could subject discriminatory non-covered jurisdictions to remedies contained in the special provisions.
The bill was first considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee, whose chair, Senator James Eastland (D-MS), opposed the legislation with several other Southern senators on the committee. To prevent the bill from dying in committee, Mansfield proposed a motion to require the Judiciary Committee to report the bill out of committee by April 9, which the Senate overwhelmingly passed by a vote of 67 to 13. During the committee's consideration of the bill, Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) led an effort to amend the bill to prohibit poll taxes. Although the Twenty-fourth Amendment—which banned the use of poll taxes in federal elections— was ratified a year earlier, Johnson's administration and the bill's sponsors did not include a provision in the voting rights bill banning poll taxes in *state* elections because they feared courts would strike down the legislation as unconstitutional. Additionally, by excluding poll taxes from the definition of "tests or devices", the coverage formula did not reach Texas or Arkansas, mitigating opposition from those two states' influential congressional delegations. Nonetheless, with the support of liberal committee members, Kennedy's amendment to prohibit poll taxes passed by a 9–4 vote. In response, Dirksen offered an amendment that exempted from the coverage formula any state that had at least 60 percent of its eligible residents registered to vote or that had a voter turnout that surpassed the national average in the preceding presidential election. This amendment, which effectively exempted all states from coverage except Mississippi, passed during a committee meeting in which three liberal members were absent. Dirksen offered to drop the amendment if the poll tax ban were removed. Ultimately, the bill was reported out of committee on April 9 by a 12–4 vote without a recommendation.
On April 22, the full Senate started debating the bill. Dirksen spoke first on the bill's behalf, saying that "legislation is needed if the unequivocal mandate of the Fifteenth Amendment ... is to be enforced and made effective, and if the Declaration of Independence is to be made truly meaningful." Senator Strom Thurmond (R-SC) retorted that the bill would lead to "despotism and tyranny", and Senator Sam Ervin (D-NC) argued that the bill was unconstitutional because it deprived states of their right under Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution to establish voter qualifications and because the bill's special provisions targeted only certain jurisdictions. On May 6, Ervin offered an amendment to abolish the coverage formula's automatic trigger and instead allow federal judges to appoint federal examiners to administer voter registration. This amendment overwhelmingly failed, with 42 Democrats and 22 Republicans voting against it. After lengthy debate, Ted Kennedy's amendment to prohibit poll taxes also failed 49–45 on May 11. However, the Senate agreed to include a provision authorizing the attorney general to sue any jurisdiction, covered or non-covered, to challenge its use of poll taxes. An amendment offered by Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY) to enfranchise English-illiterate citizens who had attained at least a sixth-grade education in a non-English-speaking school also passed by 48–19. Southern legislators offered a series of amendments to weaken the bill, all of which failed.
On May 25, the Senate voted for cloture by a 70–30 vote, thus overcoming the threat of filibuster and limiting further debate on the bill. On May 26, the Senate passed the bill by a 77–19 vote (Democrats 47–16, Republicans 30–2); only senators representing Southern states voted against it.
Emanuel Celler (D-NY), Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, introduced the Voting Rights Act in the House of Representatives on March 19, 1965, as H.R. 6400. The House Judiciary Committee was the first committee to consider the bill. The committee's ranking Republican, William McCulloch (R-OH), generally supported expanding voting rights, but he opposed both the poll tax ban and the coverage formula, and he led opposition to the bill in committee. The committee eventually approved the bill on May 12, but it did not file its committee report until June 1. The bill included two amendments from subcommittee: a penalty for private persons who interfered with the right to vote and a prohibition of all poll taxes. The poll tax prohibition gained Speaker of the House John McCormack's support. The bill was next considered by the Rules Committee, whose chair, Howard W. Smith (D-VA), opposed the bill and delayed its consideration until June 24, when Celler initiated proceedings to have the bill discharged from committee. Under pressure from the bill's proponents, Smith allowed the bill to be released a week later, and the full House started debating the bill on July 6.
To defeat the Voting Rights Act, McCulloch introduced an alternative bill, H.R. 7896. It would have allowed the attorney general to appoint federal registrars after receiving 25 serious complaints of discrimination against a jurisdiction, and it would have imposed a nationwide ban on literacy tests for persons who could prove they attained a sixth-grade education. McCulloch's bill was co-sponsored by House minority leader Gerald Ford (R-MI) and supported by Southern Democrats as an alternative to the Voting Rights Act. The Johnson administration viewed H.R. 7896 as a serious threat to passing the Voting Rights Act. However, support for H.R. 7896 dissipated after William M. Tuck (D-VA) publicly said he preferred H.R. 7896 because the Voting Rights Act would legitimately ensure that African Americans could vote. His statement alienated most supporters of H.R. 7896, and the bill failed on the House floor by a 171–248 vote on July 9. Later that night, the House passed the Voting Rights Act by a 333–85 vote (Democrats 221–61, Republicans 112–24).
The chambers appointed a conference committee to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. A major contention concerned the poll tax provisions; the Senate version allowed the attorney general to sue states that used poll taxes to discriminate, while the House version outright banned all poll taxes. Initially, the committee members were stalemated. To help broker a compromise, Attorney General Katzenbach drafted legislative language explicitly asserting that poll taxes were unconstitutional and instructed the Department of Justice to sue the states that maintained poll taxes. To assuage concerns of liberal committee members that this provision was not strong enough, Katzenbach enlisted the help of Martin Luther King Jr., who gave his support to the compromise. King's endorsement ended the stalemate, and on July 29, the conference committee reported its version out of committee. The House approved this conference report version of the bill on August 3 by a 328–74 vote (Democrats 217–54, Republicans 111–20), and the Senate passed it on August 4 by a 79–18 vote (Democrats 49–17, Republicans 30–1). On August 6, President Johnson signed the Act into law with King, Rosa Parks, John Lewis, and other civil rights leaders in attendance at the signing ceremony.
Congress enacted major amendments to the Act in 1970, 1975, 1982, 1992, and 2006. Each amendment coincided with an impending expiration of some or all of the Act's special provisions. Originally set to expire by 1970, Congress repeatedly reauthorized the special provisions in recognition of continuing voting discrimination. Congress extended the coverage formula and special provisions tied to it, such as the Section 5 preclearance requirement, for five years in 1970, seven years in 1975, and 25 years in both 1982 and 2006. In 1970 and 1975, Congress also expanded the reach of the coverage formula by supplementing it with new 1968 and 1972 trigger dates. Coverage was further enlarged in 1975 when Congress expanded the meaning of "tests or devices" to encompass any jurisdiction that provided English-only election information, such as ballots, if the jurisdiction had a single language minority group that constituted more than five percent of the jurisdiction's voting-age citizens. These expansions brought numerous jurisdictions into coverage, including many not in the South. To ease the burdens of the reauthorized special provisions, Congress liberalized the bailout procedure in 1982 by allowing jurisdictions to escape coverage by complying with the Act and affirmatively acting to expand minority political participation.
In addition to reauthorizing the original special provisions and expanding coverage, Congress amended and added several other provisions to the Act. For instance, Congress expanded the original ban on "tests or devices" to apply nationwide in 1970, and in 1975, Congress made the ban permanent. Separately, in 1975 Congress expanded the Act's scope to protect language minorities from voting discrimination. Congress defined "language minority" to mean "persons who are American Indian, Asian American, Alaskan Natives or of Spanish heritage." Congress amended various provisions, such as the preclearance requirement and Section 2's general prohibition of discriminatory voting laws, to prohibit discrimination against language minorities. Congress also enacted a bilingual election requirement in Section 203, which requires election officials in certain jurisdictions with large numbers of English-illiterate language minorities to provide ballots and voting information in the language of the language minority group. Originally set to expire after 10 years, Congress reauthorized Section 203 in 1982 for seven years, expanded and reauthorized it in 1992 for 15 years, and reauthorized it in 2006 for 25 years. The bilingual election requirements have remained controversial, with proponents arguing that bilingual assistance is necessary to enable recently naturalized citizens to vote and opponents arguing that the bilingual election requirements constitute costly unfunded mandates.
Several of the amendments responded to judicial rulings with which Congress disagreed. In 1982, Congress amended the Act to overturn the Supreme Court case *Mobile v. Bolden* (1980), which held that the general prohibition of voting discrimination prescribed in Section 2 prohibited only *purposeful* discrimination. Congress responded by expanding Section 2 to explicitly ban any voting practice that had a discriminatory *effect*, regardless of whether the practice was enacted or operated for a discriminatory purpose. The creation of this "results test" shifted the majority of vote dilution litigation brought under the Act from preclearance lawsuits to Section 2 lawsuits. In 2006, Congress amended the Act to overturn two Supreme Court cases: *Reno v. Bossier Parish School Board* (2000), which interpreted the Section 5 preclearance requirement to prohibit only voting changes that were enacted or maintained for a "retrogressive" discriminatory purpose instead of any discriminatory purpose, and *Georgia v. Ashcroft* (2003), which established a broader test for determining whether a redistricting plan had an impermissible effect under Section 5 than assessing only whether a minority group could elect its preferred candidates. Since the Supreme Court struck down the coverage formula as unconstitutional in *Shelby County v. Holder* (2013), several bills have been introduced in Congress to create a new coverage formula and amend various other provisions; none of these bills have passed.
The act contains two types of provisions: "general provisions", which apply nationwide, and "special provisions", which apply to only certain states and local governments. "The Voting Rights Act was aimed at the subtle, as well as the obvious, state regulations which have the effect of denying citizens their right to vote because of their race. Moreover, compatible with the decisions of this Court, the Act gives a broad interpretation to the right to vote, recognizing that voting includes "all action necessary to make a vote effective." 79 Stat. 445, 42 U.S.C. § 19731(c)(1) (1969 ed., Supp. I). See *Reynolds v. Sims*, 377 U. S. 533, 377 U. S. 555 (1964)." Most provisions are designed to protect the voting rights of racial and language minorities. The term "language minority" means "persons who are American Indian, Asian American, Alaskan Natives or of Spanish heritage." The act's provisions have been colored by numerous judicial interpretations and congressional amendments.
Section 2 prohibits any jurisdiction from implementing a "voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure ... in a manner which results in a denial or abridgement of the right ... to vote on account of race," color, or language minority status. Section 2 of the law contains two separate protections against voter discrimination for laws which, in contrast to Section 5 of the law, are already implemented. The first protection is a prohibition of intentional discrimination based on race or color in voting. The second protection is a prohibition of election practices that result in the denial or abridgment of the right to vote based on race or color. If the violation of the second protection is intentional, then this violation is also a violation of the Fifteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court has allowed private plaintiffs to sue to enforce these prohibitions. In *Mobile v. Bolden* (1980), the Supreme Court held that as originally enacted in 1965, Section 2 simply restated the Fifteenth Amendment and thus prohibited only those voting laws that were *intentionally* enacted or maintained for a discriminatory purpose. In 1982, Congress amended Section 2 to create a "results" test, which prohibits any voting law that has a discriminatory effect irrespective of whether the law was intentionally enacted or maintained for a discriminatory purpose. The 1982 amendments stipulated that the results test does not guarantee protected minorities a right to proportional representation. In *Thornburg v. Gingles* (1986) the United States Supreme Court explained with respect to the 1982 amendment for section 2 that the "essence of a Section 2 claim is that a certain electoral law, practice, or structure interacts with social and historical conditions to cause an inequality in the opportunities enjoyed by black and white voters to elect their preferred representatives." The United States Department of Justice declared that section 2 is not only a permanent and nationwide-applying prohibition against discrimination in voting to any voting standard, practice, or procedure that results in the denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen to vote on account of race, color, or membership in a language minority group, but also a prohibition for state and local officials to adopt or maintain voting laws or procedures that purposefully discriminate on the basis of race, color, or membership in a language minority group.
The United States Supreme Court expressed its views regarding Section 2 and its amendment from 1982 in *Chisom v. Roemer* (1991). Under the amended statute, proof of intent is no longer required to prove a § 2 violation. Now plaintiffs can prevail under § 2 by demonstrating that a challenged election practice has resulted in the denial or abridgement of the right to vote based on color or race. Congress not only incorporated the results test in the paragraph that formerly constituted the entire § 2, but also designated that paragraph as subsection (a) and added a new subsection (b) to make clear that an application of the results test requires an inquiry into "the totality of the circumstances." Section 2(a) adopts a results test, thus providing that proof of discriminatory intent is no longer necessary to establish any violation of the section. Section 2(b) provides guidance about how the results test is to be applied. There is a statutory framework to determine whether a jurisdiction's election law violates the general prohibition from Section 2 in its amended form:
Section 2 prohibits voting practices that “result[] in a denial or abridgment of the right to vote on account of race or color [or language-minority status],” and it states that, such a result “is established” if a jurisdiction’s “political processes are not equally open” to members of such a group “in that [they] have less opportunity to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice.” 52 U.S.C. 10301. [...] Subsection (b) states in relevant part: A violation of subsection (a) is established if, based on the totality of circumstances, it is shown that the political processes leading to nomination or election in the State or political subdivision are not equally open to participation by members of a class of citizens protected by subsection (a) in that its members have less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice.
The Office of the Arizona Attorney general stated with respect to the framework to determine whether a jurisdiction's election law violates the general prohibition from Section 2 in its amended form and the reason for the adoption of Section 2 in its amended form:
To establish a violation of amended Section 2, the plaintiff must prove,“based on the totality of circumstances,” that the State’s “political processes” are “not equally open to participation by members” of a protected class, “in that its members have less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice.” § 10301(b). That is the “result” that amended Section 2 prohibits: “less
opportunitythan other members of the electorate,” viewing the State’s “political processes” as a whole. The new language was crafted as a compromise designed to eliminate the need for direct evidence of discriminatory intent, which is often difficult to obtain, but without embracing an unqualified “disparate impact” test that would invalidate many legitimate voting procedures. S. REP. NO. 97–417, at 28–29, 31–32, 99 (1982)
In *Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee* (2021) the United States Supreme Court introduced the means to review Section 2 challenges. The slip opinion stated in its Syllabus section in this regard that "The Court declines in these cases to announce a test to govern all VRA [Section 2] challenges to rules that specify the time, place, or manner for casting ballots. It is sufficient for present purposes to identify certain guideposts that lead to the Court's decision in these cases." The Court laid out these guideposts used to evaluate the state regulations in context of Section 2, which included: the size of the burden created by the rule, the degree which the rule deviates from past practices, the size of the racial imbalance, and the overall level of opportunity afforded voters in considering all election rules.
When determining whether a jurisdiction's election law violates the general prohibition from Section 2 of the VRA, courts have relied on factors enumerated in the Senate Judiciary Committee report associated with the 1982 amendments ("Senate Factors"), including:
- The history of official discrimination in the jurisdiction that affects the right to vote;
- The degree to which voting in the jurisdiction is racially polarized;
- The extent of the jurisdiction's use of majority vote requirements, unusually large electoral districts, prohibitions on bullet voting, and other devices that tend to enhance the opportunity for voting discrimination;
- Whether minority candidates are denied access to the jurisdiction's candidate slating processes, if any;
- The extent to which the jurisdiction's minorities are discriminated against in socioeconomic areas, such as education, employment, and health;
- Whether overt or subtle racial appeals in campaigns exist;
- The extent to which minority candidates have won elections;
- The degree that elected officials are unresponsive to the concerns of the minority group; and
- Whether the policy justification for the challenged law is tenuous.
The report indicates not all or a majority of these factors need to exist for an electoral device to result in discrimination, and it also indicates that this list is not exhaustive, allowing courts to consider additional evidence at their discretion.
No right is more precious in a free country than that of having a voice in the election of those who make the laws under which, as good citizens, we must live. Other rights, even the most basic, are illusory if the right to vote is undermined. Our Constitution leaves no room for classification of people in a way that unnecessarily abridges this right.
Section 2 prohibits two types of discrimination: "vote denial", in which a person is denied the opportunity to cast a ballot or to have their vote properly counted, and "vote dilution", in which the strength or effectiveness of a person's vote is diminished. Most Section 2 litigation has concerned vote dilution, especially claims that a jurisdiction's redistricting plan or use of at-large/multimember elections prevents minority voters from casting sufficient votes to elect their preferred candidates. An at-large election can dilute the votes cast by minority voters by allowing a cohesive majority group to win every legislative seat in the jurisdiction. Redistricting plans can be gerrymandered to dilute votes cast by minorities by "packing" high numbers of minority voters into a small number of districts or "cracking" minority groups by placing small numbers of minority voters into a large number of districts.
In *Thornburg v. Gingles* (1986), the Supreme Court used the term "vote dilution through submergence" to describe claims that a jurisdiction's use of an at-large/multimember election system or gerrymandered redistricting plan diluted minority votes, and it established a legal framework for assessing such claims under Section 2. Under the *Gingles* test, plaintiffs must show the existence of three preconditions:
- The racial or language minority group "is sufficiently numerous and compact to form a majority in a single-member district";
- The minority group is "politically cohesive" (meaning its members tend to vote similarly); and
- The "majority votes sufficiently as a bloc to enable it ... usually to defeat the minority's preferred candidate."
The first precondition is known as the "compactness" requirement and concerns whether a majority-minority district can be created. The second and third preconditions are collectively known as the "racially polarized voting" or "racial bloc voting" requirement, and they concern whether the voting patterns of the different racial groups are different from each other. If a plaintiff proves these preconditions exist, then the plaintiff must additionally show, using the remaining Senate Factors and other evidence, that under the "totality of the circumstances", the jurisdiction's redistricting plan or use of at-large or multimember elections diminishes the ability of the minority group to elect candidates of its choice.
Subsequent litigation further defined the contours of these "vote dilution through submergence" claims. In *Bartlett v. Strickland* (2009), the Supreme Court held that the first *Gingles* precondition can be satisfied *only* if a district can be drawn in which the minority group comprises a majority of voting-age citizens. This means that plaintiffs cannot succeed on a submergence claim in jurisdictions where the size of the minority group, despite not being large enough to comprise a majority in a district, is large enough for its members to elect their preferred candidates with the help of "crossover" votes from some members of the majority group. In contrast, the Supreme Court has not addressed whether different protected minority groups can be aggregated to satisfy the *Gingles* preconditions as a coalition, and lower courts have split on the issue.
The Supreme Court provided additional guidance on the "totality of the circumstances" test in *Johnson v. De Grandy* (1994). The court emphasized that the existence of the three *Gingles* preconditions may be insufficient to prove liability for vote dilution through submergence if other factors weigh against such a determination, especially in lawsuits challenging redistricting plans. In particular, the court held that even where the three *Gingles* preconditions are satisfied, a jurisdiction is unlikely to be liable for vote dilution if its redistricting plan contains a number of majority-minority districts that is proportional to the minority group's population size. The decision thus clarified that Section 2 does not require jurisdictions to maximize the number of majority-minority districts. The opinion also distinguished the proportionality of majority-minority districts, which allows minorities to have a proportional *opportunity* to elect their candidates of choice, from the proportionality of election *results*, which Section 2 explicitly does not guarantee to minorities.
An issue regarding the third *Gingles* precondition remains unresolved. In *Gingles*, the Supreme Court split as to whether plaintiffs must prove that the majority racial group votes as a bloc specifically because its members are motivated to vote based on racial considerations and not other considerations that may overlap with race, such as party affiliation. A plurality of justices said that requiring such proof would violate Congress's intent to make Section 2 a "results" test, but Justice White maintained that the proof was necessary to show that an electoral scheme results in *racial* discrimination. Since *Gingles*, lower courts have split on the issue.
The right to vote freely for the candidate of one's choice is of the essence of a democratic society, and any restrictions on that right strike at the heart of representative government. And the right of suffrage can be denied by a debasement or dilution of the weight of a citizen's vote just as effectively as by wholly prohibiting the free exercise of the franchise. [...] Undoubtedly, the right of suffrage is a fundamental matter in a free and democratic society. Especially since the right to exercise the franchise in a free and unimpaired manner is preservative of other basic civil and political rights, any alleged infringement of the right of citizens to vote must be carefully and meticulously scrutinized.
Although most Section 2 litigation has involved claims of vote dilution through submergence, courts also have addressed other types of vote dilution under this provision. In *Holder v. Hall* (1994), the Supreme Court held that claims that minority votes are diluted by the small size of a governing body, such as a one-person county commission, may not be brought under Section 2. A plurality of the court reasoned that no uniform, non-dilutive "benchmark" size for a governing body exists, making relief under Section 2 impossible. Another type of vote dilution may result from a jurisdiction's requirement that a candidate be elected by a majority vote. A majority-vote requirement may cause a minority group's candidate of choice, who would have won the election with a simple plurality of votes, to lose after a majority of voters unite behind another candidate in a runoff election. The Supreme Court has not addressed whether such claims may be brought under Section 2, and lower courts have reached different conclusions on the issue.
In addition to claims of vote dilution, courts have considered vote denial claims brought under Section 2. The Supreme Court, in *Richardson v. Ramirez* (1974), held that felony disenfranchisement laws cannot violate Section 2 because, among other reasons, Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment permits such laws. A federal district court in Mississippi held that a "dual registration" system that requires a person to register to vote separately for state elections and local elections may violate Section 2 if the system has a racially disparate impact in light of the Senate Factors. Starting in 2013, lower federal courts began to consider various challenges to voter ID laws brought under Section 2.
The act contains several specific prohibitions on conduct that may interfere with a person's ability to cast an effective vote. One of these prohibitions is prescribed in Section 201, which prohibits any jurisdiction from requiring a person to comply with any "test or device" to register to vote or cast a ballot. The term "test or device" is defined as literacy tests, educational or knowledge requirements, proof of good moral character, and requirements that a person be vouched for when voting. Before the Act's enactment, these devices were the primary tools used by jurisdictions to prevent racial minorities from voting. Originally, the Act suspended tests or devices temporarily in jurisdictions covered by the Section 4(b) coverage formula, but Congress subsequently expanded the prohibition to the entire country and made it permanent. Relatedly, Section 202 prohibits jurisdictions from imposing any "durational residency requirement" that requires persons to have lived in the jurisdiction for more than 30 days before being eligible to vote in a presidential election.
Several further protections for voters are contained in Section 11. Section 11(a) prohibits any person acting under color of law from refusing or failing to allow a qualified person to vote or to count a qualified voter's ballot. Similarly, Section 11(b) prohibits any person from intimidating, harassing, or coercing another person for voting or attempting to vote. Two provisions in Section 11 address voter fraud: Section 11(c) prohibits people from knowingly submitting a false voter registration application to vote in a federal election, and Section 11(e) prohibits voting twice in a federal election.
Finally, under Section 208, a jurisdiction may not prevent anyone who is English-illiterate or has a disability from being accompanied into the ballot box by an assistant of the person's choice. The only exceptions are that the assistant may not be an agent of the person's employer or union.
Section 3(c) contains a "bail-in" or "pocket trigger" process by which jurisdictions that fall outside the coverage formula of Section 4(b) may become subject to preclearance. Under this provision, if a jurisdiction has racially discriminated against voters in violation of the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments, a court may order the jurisdiction to have future changes to its election laws preapproved by the federal government. Because courts have interpreted the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to prohibit only intentional discrimination, a court may bail in a jurisdiction only if the plaintiff proves that the jurisdiction enacted or operated a voting practice to purposely discriminate.
Section 3(c) contains its own preclearance language and differs from Section 5 preclearance in several ways. Unlike Section 5 preclearance, which applies to a covered jurisdiction until such time as the jurisdiction may bail out of coverage under Section 4(a), bailed-in jurisdictions remain subject to preclearance for as long as the court orders. Moreover, the court may require the jurisdiction to preclear only particular types of voting changes. For example, the bail-in of New Mexico in 1984 applied for 10 years and required preclearance of only redistricting plans. This differs from Section 5 preclearance, which requires a covered jurisdiction to preclear all of its voting changes.
During the Act's early history, Section 3(c) was little used; no jurisdictions were bailed in until 1975. Between 1975 and 2013, 18 jurisdictions were bailed in, including 16 local governments and the states of Arkansas and New Mexico. Although the Supreme Court held the Section 4(b) coverage formula unconstitutional in *Shelby County v. Holder* (2013), it did not hold Section 3(c) unconstitutional. Therefore, jurisdictions may continue to be bailed-in and subjected to Section 3(c) preclearance. In the months following *Shelby County*, courts began to consider requests by the attorney general and other plaintiffs to bail in the states of Texas and North Carolina, and in January 2014 a federal court bailed in Evergreen, Alabama.
A more narrow bail-in process pertaining to federal observer certification is prescribed in Section 3(a). Under this provision, a federal court may certify a non-covered jurisdiction to receive federal observers if the court determines that the jurisdiction violated the voting rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments. Jurisdictions certified to receive federal observers under Section 3(a) are not subject to preclearance.
Section 4(b) contains a "coverage formula" that determines which states and local governments may be subjected to the Act's other special provisions (except for the Section 203(c) bilingual election requirements, which fall under a different formula). Congress intended for the coverage formula to encompass the most pervasively discriminatory jurisdictions. A jurisdiction is covered by the formula if:
- As of November 1, 1964, 1968, or 1972, the jurisdiction used a "test or device" to restrict the opportunity to register and vote; and
- Less than half of the jurisdiction's eligible citizens were registered to vote on November 1, 1964, 1968, or 1972; or less than half of eligible citizens voted in the presidential election of November 1964, 1968, or 1972.
As originally enacted, the coverage formula contained only November 1964 triggering dates; subsequent revisions to the law supplemented it with the additional triggering dates of November 1968 and November 1972, which brought more jurisdictions into coverage. For purposes of the coverage formula, the term "test or device" includes the same four devices prohibited nationally by Section 201—literacy tests, educational or knowledge requirements, proof of good moral character, and requirements that a person be vouched for when voting—and one further device defined in Section 4(f)(3): in jurisdictions where more than five percent of the citizen voting age population are members of a single language minority group, any practice or requirement by which registration or election materials are provided only in English. The types of jurisdictions that the coverage formula applies to include states and "political subdivisions" of states. Section 14(c)(2) defines "political subdivision" to mean any county, parish, or "other subdivision of a State which conducts registration for voting."
As Congress added new triggering dates to the coverage formula, new jurisdictions were brought into coverage. The 1965 coverage formula included the whole of Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia; and some subdivisions (mostly counties) in Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, and North Carolina. The 1968 coverage resulted in the partial coverage of Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Wyoming. Connecticut, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, and Wyoming filed successful "bailout" lawsuits, as also provided by section 4. The 1972 coverage covered the whole of Alaska, Arizona, and Texas, and parts of California, Florida, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, and South Dakota.
Throughout its history, the coverage formula remained controversial because it singled out certain jurisdictions for scrutiny, most of which were in the Deep South. In *Shelby County v. Holder* (2013), the Supreme Court declared the coverage formula unconstitutional because the criteria used were outdated and thus violated principles of equal state sovereignty and federalism. The other special provisions that are dependent on the coverage formula, such as the Section 5 preclearance requirement, remain valid law. However, without a valid coverage formula, these provisions are unenforceable.
Section 5 requires that covered jurisdictions receive federal approval, known as "preclearance", before implementing changes to their election laws. A covered jurisdiction has the burden of proving that the change does not have the purpose or effect of discriminating on the basis of race or language minority status; if the jurisdiction fails to meet this burden, the federal government will deny preclearance and the jurisdiction's change will not go into effect. The Supreme Court broadly interpreted Section 5's scope in *Allen v. State Board of Election* (1969), holding that any change in a jurisdiction's voting practices, even if minor, must be submitted for preclearance. The court also held that if a jurisdiction fails to have its voting change precleared, private plaintiffs may sue the jurisdiction in the plaintiff's local district court before a three-judge panel. In these Section 5 "enforcement actions", a court considers whether the jurisdiction made a covered voting change, and if so, whether the change had been precleared. If the jurisdiction improperly failed to obtain preclearance, the court will order the jurisdiction to obtain preclearance before implementing the change. However, the court may not consider the merits of whether the change should be approved.
Jurisdictions may seek preclearance through either an "administrative preclearance" process or a "judicial preclearance" process. If a jurisdiction seeks administrative preclearance, the attorney general will consider whether the proposed change has a discriminatory purpose or effect. After the jurisdiction submits the proposed change, the attorney general has 60 days to interpose an objection to it. The 60-day period may be extended an additional 60 days if the jurisdiction later submits additional information. If the attorney general interposes an objection, then the change is not precleared and may not be implemented. The attorney general's decision is not subject to judicial review, but if the attorney general interposes an objection, the jurisdiction may independently seek judicial preclearance, and the court may disregard the attorney general's objection at its discretion. If a jurisdiction seeks judicial preclearance, it must file a declaratory judgment action against the attorney general in the U.S. District Court for D.C. A three-judge panel will consider whether the voting change has a discriminatory purpose or effect, and the losing party may appeal directly to the Supreme Court. Private parties may intervene in judicial preclearance lawsuits.
In several cases, the Supreme Court has addressed the meaning of "discriminatory effect" and "discriminatory purpose" for Section 5 purposes. In *Beer v. United States* (1976), the court held that for a voting change to have a prohibited discriminatory effect, it must result in "retrogression" (backsliding). Under this standard, a voting change that causes discrimination, but does not result in *more* discrimination than before the change was made, cannot be denied preclearance for having a discriminatory effect. For example, replacing a poll tax with an equally expensive voter registration fee is not a "retrogressive" change because it causes equal discrimination, not more. Relying on the Senate report for the Act, the court reasoned that the retrogression standard was the correct interpretation of the term "discriminatory effect" because Section 5's purpose is " 'to insure that [the gains thus far achieved in minority political participation] shall not be destroyed through new [discriminatory] procedures' ". The retrogression standard applies irrespective of whether the voting change allegedly causes vote denial or vote dilution.
In 2003, the Supreme Court held in *Georgia v. Ashcroft* that courts should not determine that a new redistricting plan has a retrogressive effect solely because the plan decreases the number of minority-majority districts. The court emphasized that judges should analyze various other factors under the "totality of the circumstances", such as whether the redistricting plan increases the number of "influence districts" in which a minority group is large enough to influence (but not decide) election outcomes. In 2006, Congress overturned this decision by amending Section 5 to explicitly state that "diminishing the ability [of a protected minority] to elect their preferred candidates of choice denies or abridges the right to vote within the meaning of" Section 5. Uncertainty remains as to what this language precisely means and how courts may interpret it.
Before 2000, the "discriminatory purpose" prong of Section 5 was understood to mean *any* discriminatory purpose, which is the same standard used to determine whether discrimination is unconstitutional. In *Reno v. Bossier Parish* (*Bossier Parish II*) (2000), the Supreme Court extended the retrogression standard, holding that for a voting change to have a "discriminatory purpose" under Section 5, the change must have been implemented for a *retrogressive* purpose. Therefore, a voting change intended to discriminate against a protected minority was permissible under Section 5 so long as the change was not intended to increase existing discrimination. This change significantly reduced the number of instances in which preclearance was denied based on discriminatory purpose. In 2006, Congress overturned *Bossier Parish II* by amending Section 5 to explicitly define "purpose" to mean "any discriminatory purpose."
Until the 2006 amendments to the Act, Section 6 allowed the appointment of "federal examiners" to oversee certain jurisdictions' voter registration functions. Federal examiners could be assigned to a covered jurisdiction if the attorney general certified that
- The Department of Justice received 20 or more meritorious complaints that the covered jurisdiction denied its residents the right to vote based on race or language minority status; or
- The assignment of federal examiners was otherwise necessary to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments.
Federal examiners had the authority to register voters, examine voter registration applications, and maintain voter rolls. The goal of the federal examiner provision was to prevent jurisdictions from denying protected minorities the right to vote by engaging in discriminatory behavior in the voter registration process, such as refusing to register qualified applicants, purging qualified voters from the voter rolls, and limiting the hours during which persons could register. Federal examiners were used extensively in the years following the Act's enactment, but their importance waned over time; 1983 was the last year that a federal examiner registered a person to vote. In 2006, Congress repealed the provision.
Under the Act's original framework, in any jurisdiction certified for federal examiners, the attorney general could additionally require the appointment of "federal observers". By 2006, the federal examiner provision was used solely as a means to appoint federal observers. When Congress repealed the federal examiner provision in 2006, Congress amended Section 8 to allow for the assignment of federal observers to jurisdictions that satisfied the same certification criteria that had been used to appoint federal examiners.
Federal observers are tasked with observing poll worker and voter conduct at polling places during an election and observing election officials tabulate the ballots. The goal of the federal observer provision is to facilitate minority voter participation by deterring and documenting instances of discriminatory conduct in the election process, such as election officials denying qualified minority persons the right to cast a ballot, intimidation or harassment of voters on election day, or improper vote counting. Discriminatory conduct that federal observers document may also serve as evidence in subsequent enforcement lawsuits. Between 1965 and the Supreme Court's 2013 decision in *Shelby County v. Holder* to strike down the coverage formula, the attorney general certified 153 local governments across 11 states. Because of time and resource constraints, federal observers are not assigned to every certified jurisdiction for every election. Separate provisions allow for a certified jurisdiction to "bail out" of its certification.
Under Section 4(a), a covered jurisdiction may seek exemption from coverage through a process called "bailout." To achieve an exemption, a covered jurisdiction must obtain a declaratory judgment from a three-judge panel of the District Court for D.C. that the jurisdiction is eligible to bail out. As originally enacted, a covered jurisdiction was eligible to bail out if it had not used a test or device with a discriminatory purpose or effect during the 5 years preceding its bailout request. Therefore, a jurisdiction that requested to bail out in 1967 would have needed to prove that it had not misused a test or device since at least 1962. Until 1970, this effectively required a covered jurisdiction to prove that it had not misused a test or device since before the Act was enacted five years earlier in 1965, making it impossible for many covered jurisdictions to bail out. However, Section 4(a) also prohibited covered jurisdictions from using tests or devices in any manner, discriminatory or otherwise; hence, under the original act, a covered jurisdiction would become eligible for bailout in 1970 by simply complying with this requirement. But in the course of amending the Act in 1970 and 1975 to extend the special provisions, Congress also extended the period of time that a covered jurisdiction must not have misused a test or device to 10 years and then to 17 years, respectively. These extensions continued the effect of requiring jurisdictions to prove that they had not misused a test or device since before the Act's enactment in 1965.
In 1982, Congress amended Section 4(a) to make bailout easier to achieve in two ways. First, Congress provided that if a state is covered, local governments in that state may bail out even if the state is ineligible to bail out. Second, Congress liberalized the eligibility criteria by replacing the 17-year requirement with a new standard, allowing a covered jurisdiction to bail out by proving that in the 10 years preceding its bailout request:
- The jurisdiction did not use a test or device with a discriminatory purpose or effect;
- No court determined that the jurisdiction denied or abridged the right to vote based on racial or language minority status;
- The jurisdiction complied with the preclearance requirement;
- The federal government did not assign federal examiners to the jurisdiction;
- The jurisdiction abolished discriminatory election practices; and
- The jurisdiction took affirmative steps to eliminate voter intimidation and expand voting opportunities for protected minorities.
Additionally, Congress required jurisdictions seeking bailout to produce evidence of minority registration and voting rates, including how these rates have changed over time and in comparison to the registration and voting rates of the majority. If the court determines that the covered jurisdiction is eligible for bailout, it will enter a declaratory judgment in the jurisdiction's favor. The court will retain jurisdiction for the following 10 years and may order the jurisdiction back into coverage if the jurisdiction subsequently engages in voting discrimination.
The 1982 amendment to the bailout eligibility standard went into effect on August 5, 1984. Between that date and 2013, 196 jurisdictions bailed out of coverage through 38 bailout actions; in each instance, the attorney general consented to the bailout request. Between that date and 2009, all jurisdictions that bailed out were located in Virginia. In 2009, a municipal utility jurisdiction in Texas bailed out after the Supreme Court's opinion in *Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder* (2009), which held that local governments that do not register voters have the ability to bail out. After this ruling, jurisdictions succeeded in at least 20 bailout actions before the Supreme Court held in *Shelby County v. Holder* (2013) that the coverage formula was unconstitutional.
Separate provisions allow a covered jurisdiction that has been certified to receive federal observers to bail out of its certification alone. Under Section 13, the attorney general may terminate the certification of a jurisdiction if 1) more than 50 percent of the jurisdiction's minority voting age population is registered to vote, and 2) there is no longer reasonable cause to believe that residents may experience voting discrimination. Alternatively, the District Court for D.C. may order the certification terminated.
Two provisions require certain jurisdictions to provide election materials to voters in multiple languages: Section 4(f)(4) and Section 203(c). A jurisdiction covered by either provision must provide all materials related to an election—such as voter registration materials, ballots, notices, and instructions—in the language of any applicable language minority group residing in the jurisdiction. Language minority groups protected by these provisions include Asian Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Native Alaskans. Congress enacted the provisions to break down language barriers and combat pervasive language discrimination against the protected groups.
Section 4(f)(4) applies to any jurisdiction encompassed by the Section 4(b) coverage formula where more than five percent of the citizen voting age population are members of a single language minority group. Section 203(c) contains a formula that is separate from the Section 4(b) coverage formula, and therefore jurisdictions covered solely by 203(c) are not subject to the Act's other special provisions, such as preclearance. The Section 203(c) formula encompasses jurisdictions where the following conditions exist:
- A single language minority is present that has an English-illiteracy rate higher than the national average; and
- Either:
- The number of "limited-English proficient" members of the language minority group is at least 10,000 voting-age citizens or large enough to comprise at least five percent of the jurisdiction's voting-age citizen population; or
- The jurisdiction is a political subdivision that contains an Indian reservation, and more than five percent of the jurisdiction's American Indian or Alaska Native voting-age citizens are members of a single language minority and are limited-English proficient.
Section 203(b) defines "limited-English proficient" as being "unable to speak or understand English adequately enough to participate in the electoral process". Determinations as to which jurisdictions satisfy the Section 203(c) criteria occur once a decade following completion of the decennial census; at these times, new jurisdictions may come into coverage while others may have their coverage terminated. Additionally, under Section 203(d), a jurisdiction may "bail out" of Section 203(c) coverage by proving in federal court that no language minority group within the jurisdiction has an English illiteracy rate that is higher than the national illiteracy rate. After the 2010 census, 150 jurisdictions across 25 states were covered under Section 203(c), including statewide coverage of California, Texas, and Florida.
"The Voting Rights Act had an immediate impact. By the end of 1965, a quarter of a million new Black voters had been registered, one-third by federal examiners. By the end of 1966, only four out of 13 southern states had fewer than 50 percent of African Americans registered to vote." After its enactment in 1965, the law immediately decreased racial discrimination in voting. The suspension of literacy tests and the assignments of federal examiners and observers allowed for high numbers of racial minorities to register to vote. Nearly 250,000 African Americans registered in 1965, one-third of whom were registered by federal examiners. In covered jurisdictions, less than one-third (29.3 percent) of the African American population was registered in 1965; by 1967, this number increased to more than half (52.1 percent), and a majority of African American residents became registered to vote in 9 of the 13 Southern states. Similar increases were seen in the number of African Americans elected to office: between 1965 and 1985, African Americans elected as state legislators in the 11 former Confederate states increased from 3 to 176. Nationwide, the number of African American elected officials increased from 1,469 in 1970 to 4,912 in 1980. By 2011, the number was approximately 10,500. Similarly, registration rates for language minority groups increased after Congress enacted the bilingual election requirements in 1975 and amended them in 1992. In 1973, the percent of Hispanics registered to vote was 34.9 percent; by 2006, that amount nearly doubled. The number of Asian Americans registered to vote in 1996 increased 58 percent by 2006.
After the Act's initial success in combating tactics designed to deny minorities access to the polls, the Act became predominately used as a tool to challenge racial vote dilution. Starting in the 1970s, the attorney general commonly raised Section 5 objections to voting changes that decreased the effectiveness of racial minorities' votes, including discriminatory annexations, redistricting plans, and election methods such as at-large election systems, runoff election requirements, and prohibitions on bullet voting. In total, 81 percent (2,541) of preclearance objections made between 1965 and 2006 were based on vote dilution. Claims brought under Section 2 have also predominately concerned vote dilution. Between the 1982 creation of the Section 2 results test and 2006, at least 331 Section 2 lawsuits resulted in published judicial opinions. In the 1980s, 60 percent of Section 2 lawsuits challenged at-large election systems; in the 1990s, 37.2 percent challenged at-large election systems and 38.5 percent challenged redistricting plans. Overall, plaintiffs succeeded in 37.2 percent of the 331 lawsuits, and they were more likely to succeed in lawsuits brought against covered jurisdictions.
By enfranchising racial minorities, the Act facilitated a political realignment of the Democratic and Republican parties. Between 1890 and 1965, Black disenfranchisement enabled the Democratic Party to dominate Southern politics. After Johnson signed the Act into law, newly enfranchised Black voters began to push the Democratic Party to the left throughout the South; this in turn pushed Southern white conservatives to switch their support from the Democratic to Republican party. This trend caused the two parties to ideologically polarize, with the Democratic Party becoming more Liberal and the Republican Party becoming more Conservative. The trends also created competition between the two parties, which Republicans capitalized on by implementing the Southern strategy. Over the subsequent decades, the creation of majority-minority districts to remedy racial vote dilution claims also contributed to these developments. By packing liberal-leaning racial minorities into small numbers of majority-minority districts, large numbers of surrounding districts became more solidly white, conservative, and Republican. While this increased the elected representation of racial minorities as intended, it also decreased white Democratic representation and increased the representation of Republicans overall. By the mid-1990s, these trends culminated in a political realignment: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party became more ideologically polarized and defined as liberal and conservative parties, respectively; and both parties came to compete for electoral success in the South, with the Republican Party controlling most of Southern politics.
Research shows that the Act successfully and massively increased voter turnout and voter registration, in particular among African Americans. The act has also been linked to concrete outcomes, such as greater public goods provision (such as public education) for areas with higher black population shares and more members of Congress who vote for civil rights-related legislation. A 2016 study in the *American Journal of Political Science* found "that members of Congress who represented jurisdictions subject to the preclearance requirement were substantially more supportive of civil rights-related legislation than legislators who did not represent covered jurisdictions." A 2013 *Quarterly Journal of Economics* study found that the Act boosted voter turnout and increases in public goods transfers from state governments to localities with higher black population. A 2018 study in *The Journal of Politics* found that Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act "increased black voter registration by 14–19 percentage points, white registration by 10–13 percentage points, and overall voter turnout by 10–19 percentage points. Additional results for Democratic vote share suggest that some of this overall increase in turnout may have come from reactionary whites." A 2019 study in the *American Economic Journal* found that preclearance substantially increased turnout among minorities, even as far as to 2012 (the year prior to the Supreme Court ruling ending preclearance). The study estimates that preclearance led to an increase in minority turnout of 17 percentage points. A 2020 study found that the jurisdictions which had previously been covered by preclearance massively increased the rate of voter registration purges after the 2013 United States Supreme Court *Shelby County v. Holder* decision in which the "coverage formula" in Section 4(b) of the VRA that determined which jurisdictions had to presubmit changes in their election policies for federal approval was struck down. Another 2020 study found that VRA coverage halved the incidence and the onset of political violence.
Early in the history of enforcement of the Act, the Supreme Court of the United States was rather quick to address both the constitutionality of the Act in its entirety as well as the constitutionality of several provisions relating to voter qualifications and prerequisites to voting. During the following year, in 1966, two legal cases were adjudicated by the Court regarding the Act. On the seventh day of March, in the landmark case of *South Carolina v. Katzenbach* (1966), the Supreme Court held that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a constitutional method to enforce the Fifteenth Amendment. A few months later, on the thirteenth day of June, the Supreme Court held that section 4(e) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was constitutional in the case of *Katzenbach v. Morgan* (1966). This section prohibits jurisdictions from administering literacy tests to citizens who attain a sixth-grade education in an American school in which the predominant language was Spanish, such as schools in Puerto Rico. Although the Court had earlier held that literacy tests did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment, in the case of *Lassiter v. Northampton County Board of Elections* (1959), the Katzenbach-Morgan case allowed Congress to enforce Fourteenth Amendment rights—such as the right to vote—by prohibiting conduct that it deemed to interfere with such rights, even if that conduct may not be independently unconstitutional. After Congress created a nationwide ban on all literacy tests and similar devices in 1970, in the case of *Oregon v. Mitchell* (1970), the Supreme Court upheld the ban as being constitutional. In that case, the Court also addressed the constitutionality of various other provisions relating to voter qualifications and prerequisites to voting; the Court upheld Section 202 of the 1965 law, which prohibits every state and local government from requiring people to live in their borders for longer than 30 days before allowing them to vote in a presidential election. Additionally, the Court upheld the provision lowering the minimum voting age to 18 years in federal elections, but it held that Congress exceeded its power by lowering the voting age to 18 in state elections; this precipitated the ratification of the Twenty-sixth Amendment the following year, which lowered the voting age in all elections from 21 years to 18 years in age. The Court was deeply divided in the Oregon-Mitchell case and a majority of the justices did not agree on one rationale for the holding.
The question of constitutionality regarding section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which contains a general prohibition on discriminatory voting laws, has not been definitively explained by the Supreme Court. As amended in 1982, section 2 prohibits any voting practice that has a discriminatory effect, irrespective of whether the practice was enacted or is administered for the purpose of discriminating. This "results test" contrasts with the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, both of which directly prohibit only purposeful discrimination. Given this disparity, whether the Supreme Court would uphold the constitutionality of section 2 as appropriate legislation that was passed to enforce the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, and under what rationale, remains unclear.
In *Mississippi Republican Executive Opinion v. Brooks* (1984), the Supreme Court summarily affirmed, without a written opinion, a lower court's decision that 1982 amendment to section 2 is constitutional. Justice Rehnquist, joined by Chief Justice Burger, dissented from the opinion. They reasoned that the case presented complex constitutional issues that warranted a full hearing. When making later decisions, the Supreme Court is more likely to disregard a previous judgment if it lacks a written opinion, but for lower courts the Supreme Court's unwritten summary affirmances are as binding as are Supreme Court judgments with written opinions. Partially due to *Brooks*, the constitutionality of the section 2 results test has since been unanimously upheld by lower courts.
The case of *Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee* (2021) evaluated the applicability of section 2 of the 1965 law in the wake of the decision in the case of *Shelby County v. Holder* (2013). The Democratic National Committee asserted a set of Arizona election laws and policies were discriminatory towards Hispanics and Native Americans under section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. While lower courts upheld the election laws, an *en banc* Ninth Circuit reversed the decision and found these laws to be in violation of section 2 of the 1965 law. The Arizona law was upheld by the Supreme Court after it introduced the means to review section 2 challenges.
The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the Section 5 preclearance requirement in three cases. The first case was *South Carolina v. Katzenbach* (1966), which was decided about five months after the Act's enactment. The court held that Section 5 constituted a valid use of Congress's power to enforce the Fifteenth Amendment, reasoning that "exceptional circumstances" of pervasive racial discrimination, combined with the inadequacy of case-by-case litigation in ending that discrimination, justified the preclearance requirement. The court also upheld the constitutionality of the 1965 coverage formula, saying that it was "rational in both practice and theory" and that the bailout provision provided adequate relief for jurisdictions that may not deserve coverage.
The Supreme Court again upheld the preclearance requirement in *City of Rome v. United States* (1980). The court held that because Congress had explicit constitutional power to enforce the Reconstruction Amendments "by appropriate legislation", the Act did not violate principles of federalism. The court also explicitly upheld the "discriminatory effect" prong of Section 5, stating that even though the Fifteenth Amendment directly prohibited only intentional discrimination, Congress could constitutionally prohibit unintentional discrimination to mitigate the risk that jurisdictions may engage in intentional discrimination. Finally, the court upheld the 1975 extension of Section 5 because of the record of discrimination that continued to persist in the covered jurisdictions. The court further suggested that the temporary nature of the special provisions was relevant to Section 5's constitutionality.
The final case in which the Supreme Court upheld Section 5 was *Lopez v. Monterey County* (*Lopez II*, 1999)π. In *Lopez II*, the court reiterated its reasoning in *Katzenbach* and *Rome*, and it upheld as constitutional the requirement that covered local governments obtain preclearance before implementing voting changes that their parent state required them to implement, even if the parent state was not itself a covered jurisdiction.
The 2006 extension of Section 5 was challenged before the Supreme Court in *Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder* (2009). The lawsuit was brought by a municipal water district in Texas that elected members to a water board. The District wished to move a voting location from a private home to a public school, but that change was subject to preclearance because Texas was a covered jurisdiction. The District did not register voters, and thus it did not appear to qualify as a "political subdivision" eligible to bail out of coverage. Although the court indicated in dicta (a non-binding part of the court's opinion) that Section 5 presented difficult constitutional questions, it did not declare Section 5 unconstitutional; instead, it interpreted the law to allow any covered local government, including one that does not register voters, to obtain an exemption from preclearance if it meets the bailout requirements.
In a 5–4 decision in *Shelby County v. Holder* (2013), the Supreme Court struck down Section 4(b) as unconstitutional. The court reasoned that the coverage formula violates the constitutional principles of "equal sovereignty of the states" and federalism because its disparate treatment of the states is "based on 40 year-old facts having no logical relationship to the present day", rendering the formula outdated. The court did not strike down Section 5, but without Section 4(b), no jurisdiction may be subject to Section 5 preclearance unless Congress enacts a new coverage formula. After the decision, several states that were fully or partially covered—including Texas, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina—implemented laws that were previously denied preclearance. This prompted new legal challenges to these laws under other provisions unaffected by the court's decision, such as Section 2. Research has shown that the coverage formula and the requirement of preclearance substantially increased turnout among racial minorities, even as far as the year before *Shelby County*. Some jurisdictions that had previously been covered by the coverage formula increased the rate of voter registration purges after *Shelby County*. On July 1, 2021, the Act's preclearance requirements were further weakened at the state and local level following the *Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee* in a 6-3 Supreme Court ruling which held that Section 2 preclearance provisions could not apply to out-of-precinct voting or ballot collecting.
While Section 2 and Section 5 prohibit jurisdictions from drawing electoral districts that dilute the votes of protected minorities, the Supreme Court has held that in some instances, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prevents jurisdictions from drawing district lines to favor protected minorities. The court first recognized the justiciability of affirmative "racial gerrymandering" claims in *Shaw v. Reno* (1993). In *Miller v. Johnson* (1995), the court explained that a redistricting plan is constitutionally suspect if the jurisdiction used race as the "predominant factor" in determining how to draw district lines. For race to "predominate", the jurisdiction must prioritize racial considerations over traditional redistricting principles, which include "compactness, contiguity, [and] respect for political subdivisions or communities defined by actual shared interests." If a court concludes that racial considerations predominated, then the redistricting plan is considered "racially gerrymandered" and must be subjected to strict scrutiny, meaning that the redistricting plan will be upheld as constitutional only if it is narrowly tailored to advance a compelling state interest. In *Bush v. Vera* (1996), a plurality of the Supreme Court assumed that complying with Section 2 or Section 5 constituted compelling interests, and lower courts have allowed only these two interests to justify racial gerrymandering.
The standing requirements of the VRA were questioned in the 2023 case *Arkansas State Conference NAACP v. Arkansas Board of Apportionment*, launched by the NAACP to challenge the redistricting maps on the basis they diluted black votes. While many previous challenges to redistricting under the VRA had been brought by groups like the NAACP or voters within the state, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals held, 2-1, in November 2023, that a strict reading of the VRA did not permit private rights of action, and only the United States Attorney General has standing to bring challenges. Such a ruling, if upheld, has a significant potential to upend many existing and current redistricting challenges under Section 2 of the VRA, according to legal scholars.
- National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA)
- Help America Vote Act (HAVA)
- Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA)
- Civil Rights Act of 1964
- For the People Act (2019 and 2021)
- John Lewis Voting Rights Act (2019 and 2021)
- State Voting Rights Act
- California Voting Rights Act
- Voting Rights Act of Virginia
- John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York
- Ansolabehere, Stephen; Persily, Nathaniel; Stewart, Charles III (2010). "Race, Region, and Vote Choice in the 2008 Election: Implications for the Future of the Voting Rights Act".
*Harvard Law Review*.**123**(6): 1385–1436. - Berman, Ari (2015).
*Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America*. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-3741-5827-9. - Bullock, Charles S. III, Ronald Keith Gaddie, and Justin J. Wert, eds. (2016).
*The Rise and Fall of the Voting Rights Act*by (University of Oklahoma Press; 240 pages) focus on period between the 2006 revision of the 1965 act and the invalidation of one of its key provisions in Shelby County v. Holder (2013). - Davidson, Chandler (1984).
*Minority Vote Dilution*. Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press. ISBN 978-0-88258-156-9. - Davidson, Chandler (1994).
*Quiet Revolution in the South: The Impact of the Voting Rights Act, 1965–1990*. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-02108-9. - Finley, Keith M. (2008).
*Delaying the Dream: Southern Senators and the Fight Against Civil Rights, 1938–1965*. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-3345-3. - Garrow, David J. (1978).
*Protest at Selma: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Voting Rights Act of 1965*. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-02498-2. - Lawson, Steven F. (1976).
*Black Ballots: Voting Rights in the South, 1944–1969*. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-7391-0087-5. - Smooth, Wendy (September 2006). "Intersectionality in electoral politics: a mess worth making".
*Politics & Gender*.**2**(3): 400–414. doi:10.1017/S1743923X06261087. S2CID 145812097.
- Garrett, R. Sam (April 25, 2023). The Voting Rights Act: Historical Development and Policy Background (Report). Congressional Research Service. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
- Voting Rights Act of 1965 as amended (PDF/details) in the GPO Statute Compilations collection
- Voting Rights Act of 1965 as enacted (details) in the US Statutes at Large
- Text of original Act and 1970, 1975, and 1982 amendments (PDF). Archived from the original on March 7, 2019.
- Voting Rights Enforcement and Reauthorization: An Examination of the Act's Section 5 Preclearance Provision, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
- Voting Rights Act: Past, Present, and Future Archived October 9, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Justice Talking
- The Voting Rights Act of 1965: Background and Overview (PDF), Congressional Research Service
*"The Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March: Shaking the Conscience of the Nation"*, a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places lesson plan- Voting Rights Act: Evidence of Continued Need: Hearing before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Ninth Congress, Second Session, March 8, 2006, Vol. 1 Vol. 2 Vol. 3 Vol. 4
- The Great Society Congress
- 111 Congressional Record (Bound) - Volume 111, Part 2 (May 25, 1965 to June 8, 1965),
*Congressional Record*Senate May 26 vote roll call p. 11752 - 111 Congressional Record (Bound) - Volume 111, Part 12 (July 7, 1965 to July 16, 1965),
*Congressional Record*House July 9 vote roll call pp. 16285–16286 - 111 Congressional Record (Bound) - Volume 111, Part 14 (July 28, 1965 to August 9, 1965),
*Congressional Record*House August 3 conference report vote roll call p. 19201 - 111 Congressional Record (Bound) - Volume 111, Part 14 (July 28, 1965 to August 9, 1965),
*Congressional Record*Senate August 4 conference report vote roll call p. 19378
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# California gold rush - Wikipedia
| Date | January 24, 1848 | –1855
|---|---|
| Location | Sierra Nevada and Northern California goldfields |
| Coordinates | |
| Participants | 300,000 prospectors |
| Outcome | California becomes a US state California genocide occurs |
The **California gold rush** (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. The sudden influx of gold into the money supply reinvigorated the American economy; the sudden population increase allowed California to grow rapidly into statehood in the Compromise of 1850. The gold rush had severe effects on Native Californians and accelerated the Native American population's decline from disease, starvation, and the California genocide.
The effects of the gold rush were substantial. Whole indigenous societies were attacked and pushed off their lands by the gold-seekers, nicknamed "forty-niners" (referring to 1849, the peak year for gold rush immigration). Outside of California, the first to arrive were from Oregon, the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), and Latin America in late 1848. Of the approximately 300,000 people who came to California during the gold rush, about half arrived by sea and half came overland on the California Trail and the California Road; forty-niners often faced substantial hardships on the trip. While most of the newly arrived were Americans, the gold rush attracted thousands from Latin America, Europe, Australia, and China. Agriculture and ranching expanded throughout the state to meet the needs of the settlers. San Francisco grew from a small settlement of about 200 residents in 1846 to a boomtown of about 36,000 by 1852. Roads, churches, schools and other towns were built throughout California. In 1849, a state constitution was written. The new constitution was adopted by referendum vote; the future state's interim first governor and legislature were chosen. In September 1850, California achieved statehood.
At the beginning of the gold rush, there was no law regarding property rights in the goldfields and a system of "staking claims" was developed. Prospectors retrieved the gold from streams and riverbeds using simple techniques, such as panning. Although mining caused environmental harm, more sophisticated methods of gold recovery were developed and later adopted around the world. New methods of transportation developed as steamships came into regular service. By 1869, railroads were built from California to the eastern United States. At its peak, technological advances reached a point where significant financing was required, increasing the proportion of gold companies to individual miners. Gold worth tens of billions of today's US dollars was recovered, which led to great wealth for a few, though many who participated in the California gold rush earned little more than they had started with.
## History
### Earlier discoveries
Gold was discovered in California as early as March 9, 1842, at Rancho San Francisco, in the mountains north of present-day Los Angeles. Californian native Francisco Lopez was searching for stray horses and stopped on the bank of a small creek (in today's Placerita Canyon), about 3 miles (4.8 km) east of present-day Newhall, and about 35 miles (56 km) northwest of Los Angeles. While the horses grazed, Lopez dug up some wild onions and found a small gold nugget in the roots among the bulbs. He looked further and found more gold. Lopez took the gold to authorities who confirmed its worth. Lopez and others began to search for other streambeds with gold deposits in the area. They found several in the northeastern section of the forest, within present-day Ventura County. In November, some of the gold was sent to the U.S. Mint, although otherwise attracted little notice. In 1843, Lopez found gold in San Feliciano Canyon near his first discovery. Mexican miners from Sonora worked the placer deposits until 1846. Minor finds of gold in California were also made by Mission Indians prior to 1848. The friars instructed them to keep its location secret to avoid a gold rush.
In January 1847, nine months into the Mexican–American War, the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed, leading to the resolution of the military conflict in Alta California (Upper California). On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall found shiny metal in the tailrace of a lumber mill he was building for Sacramento pioneer John Sutter—known as Sutter's Mill, near Coloma on the American River. Marshall brought what he found to Sutter, and the two privately tested the metal. After the tests showed that it was gold, Sutter expressed dismay, wanting to keep the news quiet because he feared what would happen to his plans for an agricultural empire if there were a gold rush in the region. The Mexican–American War ended on May 30 with the ratification of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which formally transferred California to the United States.
Having sworn all concerned at the mill to secrecy, in February 1848, Sutter sent Charles Bennett to Monterey to meet with Colonel Mason, the chief U.S. official in California, to secure the mineral rights of the land where the mill stood. Bennett was not to tell anyone of the discovery of gold, but when he stopped at Benicia, he heard talk about the discovery of coal near Mount Diablo, and he blurted out the discovery of gold. He continued to San Francisco, where again, he could not keep the secret. At Monterey, Mason declined to make any judgement of title to lands and mineral rights, and Bennett for the third time revealed the gold discovery.
By March 1848, rumors of the discovery were confirmed by San Francisco newspaper publisher and merchant Samuel Brannan. Brannan hurriedly set up a store to sell gold prospecting supplies, and he walked through the streets of San Francisco, holding aloft a vial of gold, shouting "Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River!"
On August 19, 1848, the *New York Herald* was the first major newspaper on the East Coast to report the discovery of gold. On December 5, 1848, US President James K. Polk confirmed the discovery of gold in an address to Congress. As a result, individuals seeking to benefit from the gold rush—later called the "forty-niners"—began moving to the Gold Country of California or "Mother Lode" from other countries and from other parts of the United States. As Sutter had feared, his business plans were ruined after his workers left in search of gold, and squatters took over his land and stole his crops and cattle.
San Francisco had been a tiny settlement before the rush began. When residents learned about the discovery, it at first became a ghost town of abandoned ships and businesses, but then boomed as merchants and new people arrived. The population of San Francisco increased quickly from about 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 full-time residents by 1850. Miners lived in tents, wood shanties, or deck cabins removed from abandoned ships. There were no churches or religious services in the rapidly growing city, which prompted missionaries like William Taylor to meet the need, where he held services in the street, using a barrel head as his pulpit. Crowds would gather to listen to his sermons, and before long he received enough generous donations from successful gold miners and built San Francisco's first church.
### Transportation and supplies
In what has been referred to as the "first world-class gold rush," there was no easy way to travel to California; forty-niners faced hardship and often death on the way. At first, most Argonauts, as they were also known, traveled by sea. From the East Coast, a sailing voyage around the tip of South America would take four to five months, and cover approximately 18,000 nautical miles (21,000 mi; 33,000 km). An alternative was to sail to the Atlantic side of the Isthmus of Panama, take canoes and mules for a week through the jungle, and then on the Pacific side, wait for a ship sailing for San Francisco. There was also a route across Mexico starting at Veracruz. The companies providing such transportation generated vast amounts of wealth among their owners, including the U.S. Mail Steamship Company, the federally subsidized Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and the Accessory Transit Company. Many gold-seekers took the overland route across the continental United States, particularly along the California Trail. Each of these routes had its own deadly hazards, from shipwreck to typhoid fever and cholera. In the early years of the rush, much of the population growth in the San Francisco area was due to steamship travel from New York City through overland portages in Nicaragua and Panama and then back up by steamship to San Francisco.
While traveling, many steamships from the eastern seaboard required the passengers to bring kits, which were typically full of personal belongings such as clothes, guidebooks, tools, etc. In addition to personal belongings, Argonauts were required to bring barrels full of beef, biscuits, butter, pork, rice, and salt. While on the steamships, travelers could talk to each other, smoke, fish, and engage in other activities depending on the ship they traveled. Still, the dominant activity held throughout the steamships was gambling, which was ironic, since segregation between wealth gaps was prominent throughout the ships. Everything was segregated between the rich and the poor. There were different levels of travel one could pay for to get to California. The cheaper steamships tended to have longer routes. In contrast, the more expensive ones would get passengers to California quicker. There were clear social and economic distinctions between those who traveled together, being that those who spent more money would receive accommodations that others were not allowed. They would do this with the clear intent to distinguish their higher class power over those that could not afford those accommodations.
Supply ships arrived in San Francisco with goods to supply the needs of the growing population. When hundreds of ships were abandoned after their crews deserted to go into the goldfields, many ships were converted to warehouses, stores, taverns, hotels, and one into a jail. As the city expanded and new places were needed on which to build, many ships were destroyed and used as landfills.
### Other developments
Within a few years, there was an important but lesser-known surge of prospectors into far Northern California, specifically into present-day Siskiyou, Shasta and Trinity Counties. Discovery of gold nuggets at the site of present-day Yreka in 1851 brought thousands of gold-seekers up the Siskiyou Trail and throughout California's northern counties.
Settlements of the gold rush era, such as Portuguese Flat on the Sacramento River, sprang into existence and then faded. The gold rush town of Weaverville on the Trinity River today retains the oldest continuously used Taoist temple in California, a legacy of Chinese miners who came. While there are not many Gold Rush era ghost towns still in existence, the remains of the once-bustling town of Shasta have been preserved in a California State Historic Park in Northern California.
By 1850, most of the easily accessible gold had been collected, and attention turned to extracting gold from more difficult locations. Faced with gold increasingly difficult to retrieve, Americans began to drive out foreigners to get at the most accessible gold that remained. The new California State Legislature passed a foreign miners tax of twenty dollars per month ($760 per month as of 2025), and American prospectors began organized attacks on foreign miners, particularly Latin Americans and Chinese.
In addition, the huge numbers of newcomers were driving Native Americans out of their traditional hunting, fishing, and food-gathering areas. To protect their homes and livelihood, some Native Americans responded by attacking the miners. This provoked counter-attacks on native villages. The Native Americans, out-gunned, were often slaughtered. Those who escaped massacres were many times unable to survive without access to their food-gathering areas, and they starved to death. Novelist and poet Joaquin Miller vividly captured one such attack in his semi-autobiographical work, *Life Amongst the Modocs.*
## Forty-niners
The first people to rush to the goldfields, beginning in the spring of 1848, were the residents of California themselves—primarily agriculturally oriented Americans and Europeans living in Northern California, along with Native Californians and some *Californios* (Spanish-speaking Californians; at the time, commonly referred to in English as simply 'Californians'). These first miners tended to be families in which everyone helped in the effort. Women and children of all ethnicities were often found panning next to the men. Some enterprising families set up boarding houses to accommodate the influx of men; in such cases, the women often brought in steady income while their husbands searched for gold.
Word of the gold rush spread slowly at first. The earliest gold-seekers were people who lived near California or people who heard the news from ships on the fastest sailing routes from California. The first large group of Americans to arrive were several thousand Oregonians who came down the Siskiyou Trail. Next came people from the Sandwich Islands, and several thousand Latin Americans, including people from Mexico, from Peru and from as far away as Chile, both by ship and overland. By the end of 1848, some 6,000 Argonauts had come to California.
Only a small number (probably fewer than 500) traveled overland from the United States that year. Some of these "forty-eighters", as the earliest gold-seekers were sometimes called, were able to collect large amounts of easily accessible gold—in some cases, thousands of dollars' worth each day. Even ordinary prospectors averaged daily gold finds worth 10 to 15 times the daily wage of a laborer on the East Coast. A person could work for six months in the goldfields and find the equivalent of six years' wages back home. Some hoped to get rich quick and return home, and others wished to start businesses in California.
By the beginning of 1849, word of the gold rush had spread around the world, and an overwhelming number of gold-seekers and merchants began to arrive from virtually every continent. The largest group of forty-niners in 1849 were Americans from the East Coast, arriving by the tens of thousands overland across the continent and along various sailing routes (the term "forty-niner" was derived from the year 1849). Many from the East Coast negotiated a crossing of the Appalachian Mountains, taking to riverboats in Pennsylvania, poling the keelboats to Missouri River wagon train assembly ports, and then traveling in a wagon train along the California Trail. Many others came by way of the Isthmus of Panama and the steamships of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. Australians and New Zealanders picked up the news from ships carrying Hawaiian newspapers, and thousands, infected with "gold fever", boarded ships for California.
Forty-niners came from Latin America, particularly from the Mexican mining districts near Sonora and Chile. Gold-seekers and merchants from Asia, primarily from China, began arriving in 1849, at first in modest numbers to *Gum San* ("Gold Mountain"), the name given to California in Chinese. The first immigrants from Europe, reeling from the effects of the Revolutions of 1848 and with a longer distance to travel, began arriving in late 1849, mostly from France, with some Germans, Italians, and Britons.
It is estimated that approximately 90,000 people arrived in California in 1849—about half by land and half by sea. Of these, perhaps 50,000 to 60,000 were Americans, and the rest were from other countries. By 1855, it is estimated at least 300,000 gold-seekers, merchants, and other immigrants had arrived in California from around the world. The largest group continued to be Americans, but there were tens of thousands each of Mexicans, Chinese, Britons, Australians, French, and Latin Americans, together with many smaller groups of miners, such as African Americans, Filipinos, Basques and people from the Ottoman Empire.
People from small villages in the hills near Genoa, Italy were among the first to settle permanently in the Sierra Nevada foothills; they brought with them traditional agricultural skills, developed to survive cold winters. A modest number of miners were of African ancestry (probably fewer than 4,000) had come from the Southern States, the Caribbean and Brazil.
A number of immigrants were from China. Several hundred Chinese arrived in California in 1849 and 1850, and in 1852 more than 20,000 landed in San Francisco. Their distinctive dress and appearance was highly recognizable in the goldfields. Chinese miners suffered enormously, enduring violent racism from white miners who aimed their frustrations at foreigners. Further animosity toward the Chinese led to legislation such as the Chinese Exclusion Act and Foreign Miners Tax.
There were also women in the gold rush. However, their numbers were small. Of the 40,000 people who arrived by ship to the San Francisco Bay in 1849, only 700 were women (including those who were poor, wealthy, entrepreneurs, prostitutes, single, and married). They were of various ethnicities including Anglo-American, African-American, Hispanic, Native, European, Chinese, and Jewish. The reasons they came varied: some came with their husbands, refusing to be left behind to fend for themselves, some came because their husbands sent for them, and others came (singles and widows) for the adventure and economic opportunities. On the trail many people died from accidents, cholera, fever, and myriad other causes, and many women became widows before even setting eyes on California. While in California, women became widows quite frequently due to mining accidents, disease, or mining disputes of their husbands. Life in the goldfields offered opportunities for women to break from their traditional work.
Because of many thousands of people flooding into California at Sacramento and San Francisco and surrounding areas, the Methodist church deemed it necessary to send missionaries there to preach the gospel, as churches in that part of the state were not to be found. The first missionary to arrive was William Taylor who arrived in San Francisco in September 1849. For many months he preached in the streets to hundreds of people without salary, and ultimately after saving often generous donations from successful miners, he built and established the first Methodist church in California, and California's first professional hospital.
## Legal rights
When the Gold Rush began, the California goldfields were peculiarly lawless places. When gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill, California was still technically part of Mexico, under American military occupation as the result of the Mexican–American War. With the signing of the treaty ending the war on February 2, 1848, California became a possession of the United States, but it was not a formal "territory" and did not become a state until September 9, 1850. California existed in the unusual condition of a region under military control. There was no civil legislature, executive or judicial body for the entire region. Local residents operated under a confusing and changing mixture of Mexican rules, American principles, and personal dictates. Lax enforcement of federal laws, such as the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, encouraged the arrival of free blacks and escaped slaves.
While the treaty ending the Mexican–American War obliged the United States to honor Mexican land grants, almost all the goldfields were outside those grants. Instead, the goldfields were primarily on "public land", meaning land formally owned by the United States government. However, there were no legal rules yet in place, and no practical enforcement mechanisms.
The benefit to the forty-niners was that the gold was simply "free for the taking" at first. In the goldfields at the beginning, there was no private property, no licensing fees, and no taxes. The miners informally adapted Mexican mining law that had existed in California. For example, the rules attempted to balance the rights of early arrivers at a site with later arrivers; a "claim" could be "staked" by a prospector, but that claim was valid only as long as it was being actively worked.
Miners worked at a claim only long enough to determine its potential. If a claim was deemed as low-value—as most were—miners would abandon the site in search of a better one. In the case where a claim was abandoned or not worked upon, other miners would "claim-jump" the land. "Claim-jumping" meant that a miner began work on a previously claimed site. Disputes were often handled personally and violently, and were sometimes addressed by groups of prospectors acting as arbitrators. This often led to heightened ethnic tensions. In some areas the influx of many prospectors could lead to a reduction of the existing claim size by simple pressure.
## Development of gold-recovery techniques
Approximately four hundred million years ago, California lay at the bottom of a large sea; underwater volcanoes deposited lava and minerals (including gold) onto the sea floor. By tectonic forces these minerals and rocks came to the surface of the Sierra Nevada, and eroded. Water carried the exposed gold downstream and deposited it in quiet gravel beds along the sides of old rivers and streams. The forty-niners first focused their efforts on these deposits of gold.
Because the gold in the California gravel beds was so richly concentrated, early forty-niners were able to retrieve loose gold flakes and nuggets with their hands, or simply "pan" for gold in rivers and streams. Panning cannot take place on a large scale, and industrious miners and groups of miners graduated to placer mining, using "cradles" and "rockers" or "long-toms" to process larger volumes of gravel. Miners would also engage in "coyoteing", a method that involved digging a shaft 6 to 13 meters (20 to 43 ft) deep into placer deposits along a stream. Tunnels were then dug in all directions to reach the richest veins of pay dirt.
In the most complex placer mining, groups of prospectors would divert the water from an entire river into a sluice alongside the river and then dig for gold in the newly exposed river bottom. Modern estimates are that as much as 12 million ounces (370 t) of gold were removed in the first five years of the Gold Rush.
In the next stage, by 1853, hydraulic mining was used on ancient gold-bearing gravel beds on hillsides and bluffs in the goldfields. In a modern style of hydraulic mining first developed in California, and later used around the world, a high-pressure hose directed a powerful stream or jet of water at gold-bearing gravel beds. The loosened gravel and gold would then pass over sluices, with the gold settling to the bottom where it was collected. By the mid-1880s, it is estimated that 11 million troy ounces (340 t) of gold (worth approximately US$15 billion at December 2010 prices) had been recovered by hydraulic mining.
A byproduct of these extraction methods was that large amounts of gravel, silt, heavy metals, and other pollutants went into streams and rivers. Court rulings (1882 Gold Run and 1884 "Sawyer Act") and 1893 federal legislation limited hydraulic mining in California. As of 1999[update] many areas still bear the scars of hydraulic mining, since the resulting exposed earth and downstream gravel deposits do not support plant life.
After the gold rush had concluded, gold recovery operations continued. The final stage to recover loose gold was to prospect for gold that had slowly washed down into the flat river bottoms and sandbars of California's Central Valley and other gold-bearing areas of California (such as Scott Valley in Siskiyou County). By the late 1890s, dredging technology (also invented in California) had become economical, and it is estimated that more than 20 million troy ounces (620 t) were recovered by dredging.
Both during the gold rush and in the decades that followed, gold-seekers also engaged in "hard-rock" mining, extracting the gold directly from the rock that contained it (typically quartz), usually by digging and blasting to follow and remove veins of the gold-bearing quartz. Once the gold-bearing rocks were brought to the surface, the rocks were crushed and the gold separated, either using separation in water, using its density difference from quartz sand, or by washing the sand over copper plates coated with mercury (with which gold forms an amalgam). Loss of mercury in the amalgamation process was a source of environmental contamination. Eventually, hard-rock mining became the single largest source of gold produced in the Gold Country. The total production of gold in California from then until now is estimated at 118 million troy ounces (3,700 t).
### Image gallery
## Profits
Recent scholarship confirms that merchants made far more money than miners during the gold rush. The wealthiest man in California during the early years of the rush was Samuel Brannan, a tireless self-promoter, shopkeeper and newspaper publisher. Brannan opened the first supply stores in Sacramento, Coloma, and other spots in the goldfields. Just as the rush began, he purchased all the prospecting supplies available in San Francisco and resold them at a substantial profit.
Some gold-seekers made a significant amount of money. On average, half the gold-seekers made a modest profit, after taking all expenses into account; economic historians have suggested that white miners were more successful than black, Indian, or Chinese miners. However, taxes such as the California foreign miners tax passed in 1851, targeted mainly Latino miners and kept them from making as much money as whites, who did not have any taxes imposed on them. In California most late arrivals made little or wound up losing money. Similarly, many unlucky merchants set up in settlements that disappeared, or which succumbed to one of the calamitous fires that swept the towns that sprang up. By contrast, a businessman who went on to great success was Levi Strauss, who first began selling denim overalls in San Francisco in 1853.
Other businessmen reaped great rewards in retail, shipping, entertainment, lodging, or transportation. Boardinghouses, food preparation, sewing, and laundry were highly profitable businesses often run by women (married, single, or widowed) who realized men would pay well for a service done by a woman. Brothels also brought in large profits, especially when combined with saloons and gaming houses.
By 1855, the economic climate had changed dramatically. Gold could be retrieved profitably from the goldfields only by medium to large groups of workers, either in partnerships or as employees. By the mid-1850s, it was the owners of these gold-mining companies who made the money. Also, the population and economy of California had become large and diverse enough that money could be made in a wide variety of conventional businesses.
### Path of the gold
Once extracted, the gold itself took many paths. First, much of the gold was used locally to purchase food, supplies and lodging for the miners. It also went towards entertainment, which consisted of anything from a traveling theater to alcohol, gambling, and prostitutes. These transactions often took place using the recently recovered gold, carefully weighed out. These merchants and vendors, in turn, used the gold to purchase supplies from ship captains or packers bringing goods to California.
The gold then left California aboard ships or mules to go to the makers of the goods from around the world. A second path was the Argonauts themselves who, having personally acquired a sufficient amount, sent the gold home, or returned home taking with them their hard-earned "diggings". For example, one estimate is that some US$80 million worth of California gold (equivalent to US$2.7 billion today) was sent to France by French prospectors and merchants.
A majority of the gold went back to New York City brokerage houses.
As the gold rush progressed, local banks and gold dealers issued "banknotes" or "drafts"—locally accepted paper currency—in exchange for gold, and private mints created private gold coins. With the building of the San Francisco Mint in 1854, gold bullion was turned into official United States gold coins for circulation. The gold was also later sent by California banks to U.S. national banks in exchange for national paper currency to be used in the booming California economy.
## Effects
The arrival of hundreds of thousands of new people in California within a few years, compared to a population of some 15,000 Europeans and *Californios* beforehand, had many dramatic effects.
A 2017 study attributes the record-long economic expansion of the United States in the recession-free period of 1841–1856 primarily to "a boom in transportation-goods investment following the discovery of gold in California."
### Government and commerce
The gold rush propelled California from a sleepy, little-known backwater to a center of the global imagination and the destination of hundreds of thousands of people. The new immigrants often showed remarkable inventiveness and civic mindedness. For example, in the midst of the gold rush, towns and cities were chartered, a state constitutional convention was convened, a state constitution written, elections held, and representatives sent to Washington, D.C., to negotiate the admission of California as a state.
Large-scale agriculture (California's second "Gold Rush") began during this time. Roads, schools, churches, and civic organizations quickly came into existence. The vast majority of the immigrants were Americans. Pressure grew for better communications and political connections to the rest of the United States, leading to statehood for California on September 9, 1850, in the Compromise of 1850 as the 31st state of the United States.
Between 1847 and 1870, the population of San Francisco increased from 500 to 150,000. The Gold Rush wealth and population increase led to significantly improved transportation between California and the East Coast. The Panama Railway, spanning the Isthmus of Panama, was finished in 1855. Steamships, including those owned by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, began regular service from San Francisco to Panama, where passengers, goods and mail would take the train across the Isthmus and board steamships headed to the East Coast. One ill-fated journey, that of the S.S. *Central America*, ended in disaster as the ship sank in a hurricane off the coast of the Carolinas in 1857, with approximately three tons of California gold aboard.
### Native Americans
The human and environmental costs of the Gold Rush were substantial. Native Americans, dependent on traditional hunting, gathering and agriculture, became the victims of starvation and disease, as gravel, silt and toxic chemicals from prospecting operations killed fish and destroyed habitats. The surge in the mining population also resulted in the disappearance of game and food gathering locales as gold camps and other settlements were built amidst them. Later farming spread to supply the settlers' camps, taking more land away from the Native Americans.
In some areas, systematic attacks against tribespeople in or near mining districts occurred. Various conflicts were fought between natives and settlers. Miners often saw Native Americans as impediments to their mining activities. Ed Allen, interpretive lead for Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, reported that there were times when miners would kill up to 50 or more Natives in one day. Retribution attacks on solitary miners could result in larger scale attacks against Native populations, at times tribes or villages not involved in the original act. During the 1852 Bridge Gulch Massacre, a group of settlers attacked a band of Wintu Indians in response to the killing of a citizen named J. R. Anderson. After his killing, the sheriff led a group of men to track down the Indians, whom the men then attacked, killing more than 150 Wintu people. Only three children survived the massacre that was against a different band of Wintu than the one that had killed Anderson.
Historian Benjamin Madley recorded the numbers of killings of California Indians between 1846 and 1873 and estimated that during this period at least 9,400 to 16,000 California Indians were killed by non-Indians, mostly occurring in more than 370 massacres (defined as the "intentional killing of five or more disarmed combatants or largely unarmed noncombatants, including women, children, and prisoners, whether in the context of a battle or otherwise"). According to demographer Russell Thornton, between 1849 and 1890, the Indigenous population of California fell below 20,000 – primarily because of the killings. According to the government of California, some 4,500 Native Americans suffered violent deaths between 1849 and 1870. Furthermore, California stood in opposition of ratifying the eighteen treaties signed between tribal leaders and federal agents in 1851. The state government, in support of miner activities, funded and supported death squads, appropriating over 1 million dollars towards the funding and operation of the paramilitary organizations. Peter Burnett, California's first governor declared that California was a battleground between the races and that there were only two options towards California Indians, extermination or removal. "That a war of extermination will continue to be waged between the two races until the Indian race becomes extinct, must be expected. While we cannot anticipate the result with but painful regret, the inevitable destiny of the race is beyond the power and wisdom of man to avert." For Burnett, like many of his contemporaries, the genocide was part of God's plan, and it was necessary for Burnett's constituency to move forward in California. The Act for the Government and Protection of Indians, passed on April 22, 1850, by the California Legislature, allowed settlers to capture and use Native people as bonded workers, prohibited Native peoples' testimony against settlers, and allowed the adoption of Native children by settlers, often for labor purposes.
After the initial boom had ended, explicitly anti-foreign and racist attacks, laws and confiscatory taxes sought to drive out foreigners—in addition to Native Americans—from the mines, especially the Chinese and Latin American immigrants mostly from Sonora, Mexico, and Chile. The toll on the American immigrants was severe as well: one in twelve forty-niners perished, as the death and crime rates during the Gold Rush were extraordinarily high, and the resulting vigilantism also took its toll.
### World-wide economic stimulation
| Year | Grains | Flour |
| 1848 | 3000 | n/a |
| 1849 | 87,000 | 69,000 |
| 1850 | 277,000 | 221,000 |
| 1854 | 63,000 | 50,000 |
The gold rush stimulated economies around the world as well. Farmers in Chile, Australia, and Hawaii found a huge new market for their food; British manufactured goods were in high demand; clothing and even prefabricated houses arrived from China. The return of large amounts of California gold to pay for these goods raised prices and stimulated investment and the creation of jobs around the world. Australian prospector Edward Hargraves, noting similarities between the geography of California and his home country, returned to Australia to discover gold and spark the Australian gold rushes. Preceding the gold rush, the United States was on a bi-metallic standard, but the sudden increase in physical gold supply increased the relative value of physical silver and drove silver money from circulation. The increase in gold supply also created a monetary supply shock.
Within a few years after the end of the gold rush, in 1863, the groundbreaking ceremony for the western leg of the First transcontinental railroad was held in Sacramento. The line's completion, some six years later, financed in part with Gold Rush money, united California with the central and eastern United States. Travel that had taken weeks or even months could now be accomplished in days.
### Gender practices
As the California gold rush brought a disproportionate population of men and set an environment of experimental lawlessness separate from the bounds of standard society, conventional American gender roles came into question. In the large absence of women, these migrant young men were made to reorganize their social and sexual practices, leading to cross-gender practices that most often took place as cross-dressing. Dance events were a notable social space for cross-dressing, where a piece of cloth (such as a handkerchief or sackcloth patch) would denote a 'woman.' Beyond social events, these subverted gender expectations continued into domestic duties as well. Though cross-dressing occurred most frequently with men as women, the reverse also applied.
These miners and merchants of various genders and gendered appearances, encouraged by the social fluidity and population limitations of the Wild West, shaped the beginnings of San Francisco's prominent queer history.
### Longer-term
| External videos | |
|---|---|
Presentation by H. W. Brands on The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream, September 19, 2002, C-SPAN |
California's name became indelibly connected with the gold rush, and fast success in a new world became known as the "California Dream". California was perceived as a place of new beginnings, where great wealth could reward hard work and good luck. Historian H. W. Brands noted that in the years after the Gold Rush, the California Dream spread across the nation:
The old American Dream ... was the dream of the Puritans, of Benjamin Franklin's "Poor Richard"... of men and women content to accumulate their modest fortunes a little at a time, year by year by year. The new dream was the dream of instant wealth, won in a twinkling by audacity and good luck. [This] golden dream ... became a prominent part of the American psyche only after Sutter's Mill.
Overnight California gained the international reputation as the "golden state". Generations of immigrants have been attracted by the California Dream. California farmers, oil drillers, movie makers, airplane builders, computer and microchip makers, and "dot-com" entrepreneurs have each had their boom times in the decades after the Gold Rush.
In addition, the standard route shield of state highways in California is in the shape of a miner's spade to honor the California gold rush. Today, the aptly named State Route 49 travels through the Sierra Nevada foothills, connecting many Gold Rush-era towns such as Placerville, Auburn, Grass Valley, Nevada City, Coloma, Jackson, and Sonora. This state highway also passes very near Columbia State Historic Park, a protected area encompassing the historic business district of the town of Columbia; the park has preserved many gold rush-era buildings, which are presently occupied by tourist-oriented businesses.
## Cultural references
The literary history of the gold rush is reflected in the works of Mark Twain (*The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County*), Bret Harte (*A Millionaire of Rough-and-Ready*), Joaquin Miller (*Life Amongst the Modocs*), and many others.
The San Francisco 49ers, a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area and competing in the National Football League, are named after miners.
## See also
- Barbary Coast
- California Mining and Mineral Museum
- Pike's Peak gold rush
- Doré bar
- Gold in California
- List of people associated with the California Gold Rush
**Footnotes**
**Citations**
### Works cited
## Further reading
### Maps
- Ord, Edward Otho Cresap, Topographical sketch of the gold & quicksilver district of California, 1848. from loc.gov accessed October 4, 2018.
- Lawson's Map from Actual Survey of the Gold, Silver & Quicksilver Regions of Upper California Exhibiting the Mines, Diggings, Roads, Paths, Houses, Mills, Missions &c. &c by J.T. Lawson, Esq. Cala. ... New York, 1849. from raremaps.com accessed October 4, 2018. Lawson's map of the Gold Regions is the first map to accurately depict California's Gold Regions. Issued in January 1849, at the beginning of the California gold rush, Lawson's map was produced specifically for prospectors and miners.
- A Correct Map of the Bay of San Francisco and the Gold Region from actual Survey June 20th. 1849 for J.J. Jarves. Embracing all the New Towns, Ranchos, Roads, Dry and Wet Diggings, with their several distances from each other, James Munroe & Co. of Boston, 1849 from raremaps.com accessed October 4, 2018. One of the earliest maps of the gold region made from personal observation, Jarves' map states on it that it was the result of a survey of the diggings made for him on June 20, 1849.
- George Derby, Sketch of General Riley's Route Through the Mining Districts July and Aug., J. McH. Hollingsworth, New York, 1849 from raremaps.com accessed October 4, 2018.
- The Sacramento Valley from The American River to Butte Creek, Surveyed & Drawn by Order of Gen.l Riley ... by Lt. George H. Derby,... September & October 1849, Washington, 1849 from raremaps.com accessed October 4, 2018. Map by Lt. George H. Derby, from Tyson's Information in Relation to the Geology and Topography of California.
- Jackson, William A., Map of the mining district of California, Lambert & Lane's Lith., 1850. from loc.gov accessed October 4, 2018.
- Map of the Gold Region of California taken from a recent survey By Robert H. Ellis 1850 (with early manuscript annotations), George F. Nesbitt, Lith., New York, 1850 from raremaps.com accessed October 4, 2018. A later 1850 map showing the growing settlement in the goldfields and in that vicinity of the state.
- Map of North America during the California gold rush at omniatlas.com
## External links
- California gold rush chronology at The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco
- University of California, Berkeley, Bancroft Library Archived November 8, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- Lewis B. Rush diary, diary of a gold rush miner, MSS SC 161 at L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University
- Gold Rush Collection. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
|
# United States Declaration of Independence - Wikipedia
| United States Declaration of Independence | |
|---|---|
| Created | June–July 1776 |
| Ratified | July 4, 1776 |
| Location | Engrossed copy: National Archives Building Rough draft: Library of Congress |
| Author(s) | Thomas Jefferson, Committee of Five |
| Signatories | 56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress |
| Purpose | To announce and explain separation from Great Britain |
The **Declaration of Independence**, formally **The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America** in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continental Congress, who convened at Pennsylvania State House, later renamed Independence Hall, in the colonial capital of Philadelphia. These delegates became known as the nation's Founding Fathers. The Declaration explains why the Thirteen Colonies regarded themselves as independent sovereign states no longer subject to British colonial rule, and has become one of the most circulated, reprinted, and influential documents in history.
On June 11, 1776, the Second Continental Congress appointed the Committee of Five, including John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman, who were charged with authoring the Declaration. Adams, a leading proponent of independence, persuaded the Committee to charge Jefferson with writing the document's original draft, which the Second Continental Congress then edited. Jefferson largely wrote the Declaration in isolation between June 11 and June 28, 1776. The Declaration was a formal explanation of why the Continental Congress voted to declare American independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. It was adopted by the Congress during the American Revolutionary War, which commenced in April 1775 with the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Two days prior to the Declaration's adoption, the Second Continental Congress passed the Lee Resolution, which established the consensus of the Congress that the British had no governing authority over the Thirteen Colonies. The Declaration justified the independence of the colonies, citing 27 colonial grievances against King George III and asserting certain natural and legal rights, including a right of revolution.
The Declaration was unanimously ratified on July 4 by the Second Continental Congress, whose delegates represented each of the Thirteen Colonies. In ratifying and signing it, the delegates knew they were committing an act of high treason against The Crown, which was punishable by torture and death. Congress then issued the Declaration of Independence in several forms. Two days following its ratification, on July 8, it was published by *The Pennsylvania Evening Post*. The first public readings of the Declaration occurred simultaneously on July 8, 1776, at noon, at three previously designated three locations: in Trenton, New Jersey; Easton, Pennsylvania; and Philadelphia.
The Declaration was published in several forms. The printed Dunlap broadside was widely distributed following its signing. It is now preserved at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The signed copy of the Declaration is now on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and is generally considered the official document; this copy, engrossed by Timothy Matlack, was ordered by Congress on July 19, and signed primarily on August 2, 1776.
The Declaration has proven an influential and globally impactful statement on human rights. The Declaration was viewed by Abraham Lincoln as the moral standard to which the United States should strive, and he considered it a statement of principles through which the Constitution should be interpreted. In 1863, Lincoln made the Declaration the centerpiece of his Gettysburg Address, widely considered among the most famous speeches in American history. The Declaration's second sentence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness", is considered one of the most significant and famed lines in world history. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph Ellis has written that the Declaration contains "the most potent and consequential words in American history."
## Background
Believe me, dear Sir: there is not in the British empire a man who more cordially loves a union with Great Britain than I do. But, by the God that made me, I will cease to exist before I yield to a connection on such terms as the British Parliament propose; and in this, I think I speak the sentiments of America.
By the time the Declaration of Independence was adopted in July 1776, the Thirteen Colonies and Kingdom of Great Britain had been at war for over a year. Relations had been deteriorating between the colonies and the mother country since 1763. In 1767, Parliament enacted a series of measures designed to increase revenue from the colonies, including the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Acts, which it believed were a legitimate means of having the colonies pay their fair share of the costs of remaining a part of the British Empire.
In the Thirteen Colonies, however, perspectives varied on the British Empire. The colonies were not directly represented in Parliament, and colonists argued that Parliament had no right to levy taxes upon them. This tax dispute was part of a larger divergence between British and American interpretations of the British Constitution and the extent of Parliament's authority in the colonies. The orthodox British view, dating from the Glorious Revolution of 1688, was that Parliament was the supreme authority throughout the empire, and anything that Parliament did was constitutional. In the colonies, however, the idea had developed that the British Constitution recognized certain fundamental rights that no government could violate, including Parliament. After the Townshend Acts, some essayists questioned whether Parliament had any legitimate jurisdiction in the colonies. As a result of this ideological shift in the colonies, many colonialists participated in tax protests against the Royal authority such as the Pine Tree Riot in 1772 and the Boston Tea Party in 1773.
Anticipating the arrangement of the British Commonwealth, by 1774 American writers such as Samuel Adams, James Wilson, and Thomas Jefferson argued that Parliament was the legislature of Great Britain only, and that the colonies, which had their own legislatures, were connected to the rest of the empire only through their allegiance to the Crown.
### Continental Congress convenes
In 1774, Parliament passed the Coercive Acts, known as the Intolerable Acts in the colonies. This was intended to punish the colonists for the Gaspee Affair of 1772 and the Boston Tea Party of 1773. Many colonists considered the Coercive Acts to be in violation of the British Constitution and a threat to the liberties of all of British America. In September 1774, the First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia to coordinate a formal response. Congress organized a boycott of British goods and petitioned the king for repeal of the acts. These measures were unsuccessful, however, since King George and the Prime Minister, Lord North, were determined to enforce parliamentary supremacy over the Thirteen Colonies. In November 1774, King George, in a letter to North, wrote, "blows must decide whether they are to be subject to this country or independent".
Most colonists still hoped for reconciliation with Great Britain, even after fighting began in the American Revolutionary War at Lexington and Concord in April 1775. The Second Continental Congress convened at Pennsylvania State House, later renamed Independence Hall, in Philadelphia in May 1775. Some delegates supported eventual independence for the colonies, but none had yet declared it publicly, which was an act of treason punishable by death under the laws of the British monarchy at the time.
Many colonists believed that Parliament no longer had sovereignty over them, but they were still loyal to King George, thinking he would intercede on their behalf. They were disabused of that notion in late 1775, when the king rejected Congress's second petition, issued a Proclamation of Rebellion, and announced before Parliament on October 26 that he was considering "friendly offers of foreign assistance" to suppress the rebellion. A pro-American minority in Parliament warned that the government was driving the colonists toward independence.
### Growing support for independence
Despite this growing popular support for independence, the Second Continental Congress initially lacked the clear authority to declare it. Delegates had been elected to Congress by 13 different governments, which included extralegal conventions, ad hoc committees, and elected assemblies, and they were bound by the instructions given to them. Regardless of their personal opinions, delegates could not vote to declare independence unless their instructions permitted such an action. Several colonies, in fact, expressly prohibited their delegates from taking any steps toward separation from Great Britain, while other delegations had instructions that were ambiguous on the issue; consequently, advocates of independence sought to have the Congressional instructions revised. For Congress to declare independence, a majority of delegations would need authorization to vote for it, and at least one colonial government would need to specifically instruct its delegation to propose a declaration of independence in Congress.
Between April and July 1776, a "complex political war" was waged to bring this about.
In January 1776, Thomas Paine's pamphlet *Common Sense*, which described the uphill battle against the British for independence as a challenging but achievable and necessary objective, was published in Philadelphia. *Common Sense* made a persuasive, impassioned case for independence, which had not been given serious consideration in the colonies. Paine linked independence with Protestant beliefs, as a means to present a distinctly American political identity, and he initiated open debate on a topic few had dared to discuss.
As *Common Sense* was circulated throughout the Thirteen Colonies, public support for independence from Great Britain steadily increased. After reading it, Washington ordered that it be read by his Continental Army troops, who were demoralized following recent military defeats. A week later, Washington led the crossing of the Delaware in one of the Revolutionary War's most complex and daring military campaigns, resulting in a much-needed military victory in the Battle of Trenton against a Hessian military garrison at Trenton. *Common Sense* was sold and distributed widely and read aloud at taverns and meeting places. In proportion to the population of the colonies at that time (2.5 million), it had the largest sale and circulation of any book published in American history.[ citation needed] As of 2006, it remains the all-time best-selling American title and is still in print today.
[
*citation needed*]In December 1776, Paine followed up with *The American Crisis,* in which he wrote the famed phrase:
These are the times that try men's souls; the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it
now,deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.— Thomas Paine,The American Crisis
While some colonists still hoped for reconciliation, public support for independence strengthened considerably in early 1776. In February 1776, colonists learned of Parliament's passage of the Prohibitory Act, which established a blockade of American ports and declared American ships to be enemy vessels. John Adams, a strong supporter of independence, believed that Parliament had effectively declared American independence before Congress had been able to. Adams labeled the Prohibitory Act the "Act of Independency", calling it "a compleat Dismemberment of the British Empire". Support for declaring independence grew even more when it was confirmed that King George had hired German mercenaries to use against his American subjects.
### Revising instructions
In the campaign to revise Congressional instructions, many Americans formally expressed their support for separation from Great Britain in what were effectively state and local declarations of independence. Historian Pauline Maier identifies more than ninety such declarations that were issued throughout the Thirteen Colonies from April to July 1776. These "declarations" took a variety of forms. Some were formal written instructions for Congressional delegations, such as the Halifax Resolves of April 12, with which North Carolina became the first colony to explicitly authorize its delegates to vote for independence. Others were legislative acts that officially ended British rule in individual colonies, such as the Rhode Island legislature renouncing its allegiance to Great Britain on May 4—the first colony to do so. Many declarations were resolutions adopted at town or county meetings that offered support for independence. A few came in the form of jury instructions, such as the statement issued on April 23, 1776, by Chief Justice William Henry Drayton of South Carolina: "the law of the land authorizes me to declare ... that *George* the Third, King of *Great Britain* ... has no authority over us, and we owe no obedience to him." Most of these declarations are now obscure, having been overshadowed by the resolution for independence, approved by Congress on July 2, and the declaration of independence, approved and printed on July 4 and signed in August. The modern scholarly consensus is that the best-known and earliest of the local declarations is most likely inauthentic, the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, allegedly adopted in May 1775 (a full year before other local declarations).
Some colonies held back from endorsing independence. Resistance was centered in the middle colonies of New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Advocates of independence saw Pennsylvania as the key; if that colony could be converted to the pro-independence cause, it was believed that the others would follow. On May 1, however, opponents of independence retained control of the Pennsylvania Assembly in a special election that had focused on the question of independence. In response, Congress passed a resolution on May 10 which had been promoted by John Adams and Richard Henry Lee, calling on colonies without a "government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs" to adopt new governments. The resolution passed unanimously, and was even supported by Pennsylvania's John Dickinson, the leader of the anti-independence faction in Congress, who believed that it did not apply to his colony.
### May 15 preamble
This Day the Congress has passed the most important Resolution, that ever was taken in America.
As was the custom, Congress appointed a committee to draft a preamble to explain the purpose of the resolution. John Adams wrote the preamble, which stated that because King George had rejected reconciliation and was hiring foreign mercenaries to use against the colonies, "it is necessary that the exercise of every kind of authority under the said crown should be totally suppressed". Adams' preamble was meant to encourage the overthrow of the governments of Pennsylvania and Maryland, which were still under proprietary governance. Congress passed the preamble on May 15 after several days of debate, but four of the middle colonies voted against it, and the Maryland delegation walked out in protest. Adams regarded his May 15 preamble effectively as an American declaration of independence, although a formal declaration would still have to be made.
### Lee Resolution
On the same day that Congress passed Adams' preamble, the Virginia Convention set the stage for a formal Congressional declaration of independence. On May 15, the Convention instructed Virginia's congressional delegation "to propose to that respectable body to declare the United Colonies free and independent States, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependence upon, the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain". In accordance with those instructions, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia presented a three-part resolution to Congress on June 7. The motion was seconded by John Adams, calling on Congress to declare independence, form foreign alliances, and prepare a plan of colonial confederation. The part of the resolution relating to declaring independence read: "Resolved, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."
Lee's resolution met with resistance in the ensuing debate. Opponents of the resolution conceded that reconciliation was unlikely with Great Britain, while arguing that declaring independence was premature, and that securing foreign aid should take priority. Advocates of the resolution countered that foreign governments would not intervene in an internal British struggle, and so a formal declaration of independence was needed before foreign aid was possible. All Congress needed to do, they insisted, was to "declare a fact which already exists". Delegates from Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, and New York were still not yet authorized to vote for independence, however, and some of them threatened to leave Congress if the resolution were adopted. Congress, therefore, voted on June 10 to postpone further discussion of Lee's resolution for three weeks. Until then, Congress decided that a committee should prepare a document announcing and explaining independence in case Lee's resolution was approved when it was brought up again in July.
### Final push
Support for a Congressional declaration of independence was consolidated in the final weeks of June 1776. On June 14, the Connecticut Assembly instructed its delegates to propose independence and, the following day, the legislatures of New Hampshire and Delaware authorized their delegates to declare independence. In Pennsylvania, political struggles ended with the dissolution of the colonial assembly, and a new Conference of Committees under Thomas McKean authorized Pennsylvania's delegates to declare independence on June 18. The Provincial Congress of New Jersey had been governing the province since January 1776; they resolved on June 15 that Royal Governor William Franklin was "an enemy to the liberties of this country" and had him arrested. On June 21, they chose new delegates to Congress and empowered them to join in a declaration of independence.
As of the end of June, only two of the thirteen colonies had yet to authorize independence, Maryland and New York. Maryland's delegates previously walked out when the Continental Congress adopted Adams' May 15 preamble, and had sent to the Annapolis Convention for instructions. On May 20, the Annapolis Convention rejected Adams' preamble, instructing its delegates to remain against independence. But Samuel Chase went to Maryland and, thanks to local resolutions in favor of independence, was able to get the Annapolis Convention to change its mind on June 28. Only the New York delegates were unable to get revised instructions. When Congress had been considering the resolution of independence on June 8, the New York Provincial Congress told the delegates to wait. But on June 30, the Provincial Congress evacuated New York as British forces approached, and would not convene again until July 10. This meant that New York's delegates would not be authorized to declare independence until after Congress had made its decision.
## Draft and adoption
Political maneuvering was setting the stage for an official declaration of independence even while a document was being written to explain the decision. On June 11, 1776, Congress appointed the Committee of Five to draft a declaration, including John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Robert R. Livingston of New York, and Roger Sherman of Connecticut.
The committee took no minutes, so there is some uncertainty about how the drafting process proceeded; contradictory accounts were written many years later by Jefferson and Adams, too many years to be regarded as entirely reliable, although their accounts are frequently cited. What is certain is that the committee discussed the general outline which the document should follow and decided that Jefferson would write the first draft. The committee in general, and Jefferson in particular, thought that Adams should write the document, but Adams persuaded them to choose Jefferson and promised to consult with him personally.
Jefferson largely wrote the Declaration of Independence in isolation between June 11, 1776, and June 28, 1776, from the second floor of a three-story home he was renting at 700 Market Street in Philadelphia, now called the Declaration House and within walking distance of Independence Hall. Considering Congress's busy schedule, Jefferson probably had limited time for writing over these 17 days, and he likely wrote his first draft quickly.
Examination of the text of the early Declaration drafts reflects the influence that John Locke and Thomas Paine, author of *Common Sense* had on Jefferson. He then consulted the other members of the Committee of Five who offered minor changes, and then produced another copy incorporating these alterations. The committee presented this copy to the Congress on June 28, 1776. The title of the document was "A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled." Filippo Mazzei, an Italian physician, was a close friend and confidant of Thomas Jefferson. In 1774 he published a pamphlet containing the phrase, which Jefferson incorporated essentially intact into the Declaration of Independence: "All men are by nature equally free and independent".
Congress ordered that the draft "lie on the table" and then methodically edited Jefferson's primary document for the next two days, shortening it by a fourth, removing unnecessary wording, and improving sentence structure. They removed Jefferson's assertion that King George III had forced slavery onto the colonies, in order to moderate the document and appease those in South Carolina and Georgia, both states which had significant involvement in the slave trade.
Jefferson later wrote in his autobiography that Northern states were also supportive towards the clauses removal, "for though their people had very few slaves themselves, yet they had been pretty considerable carriers of them to others." Jefferson wrote that Congress had "mangled" his draft version, but the Declaration that was finally produced was "the majestic document that inspired both contemporaries and posterity", in the words of his biographer John Ferling.
Congress tabled the draft of the declaration on Monday, July 1 and resolved itself into a committee of the whole, with Benjamin Harrison of Virginia presiding, and they resumed debate on Lee's resolution of independence. John Dickinson made one last effort to delay the decision, arguing that Congress should not declare independence without first securing a foreign alliance and finalizing the Articles of Confederation. John Adams gave a speech in reply to Dickinson, restating the case for an immediate declaration.
A vote was taken after a long day of speeches, each colony casting a single vote, as always. The delegation for each colony numbered from two to seven members, and each delegation voted among themselves to determine the colony's vote. Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted against declaring independence. The New York delegation abstained, lacking permission to vote for independence. Delaware cast no vote because the delegation was split between Thomas McKean, who voted yes, and George Read, who voted no. The remaining nine delegations voted in favor of independence, which meant that the resolution had been approved by the committee of the whole. The next step was for the resolution to be voted upon by Congress itself. Edward Rutledge of South Carolina was opposed to Lee's resolution but desirous of unanimity, and he moved that the vote be postponed until the following day.
On July 2, South Carolina reversed its position and voted for independence. In the Pennsylvania delegation, Dickinson and Robert Morris abstained, allowing the delegation to vote three-to-two in favor of independence. The tie in the Delaware delegation was broken by the timely arrival of Caesar Rodney, who voted for independence. The New York delegation abstained once again since they were still not authorized to vote for independence, although they were allowed to do so a week later by the New York Provincial Congress. The resolution of independence was adopted with twelve affirmative votes and one abstention, and the colonies formally severed political ties with Great Britain. John Adams wrote to his wife on the following day and predicted that July 2 would become a great American holiday. He thought that the vote for independence would be commemorated; he did not foresee that Americans would instead celebrate Independence Day on the date when the announcement of that act was finalized.
I am apt to believe that [Independence Day] will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.
Congress next turned its attention to the committee's draft of the declaration. They made significant changes in wording during several days of debate including the removal of nearly a fourth of the text. The final wording of the Declaration of Independence was approved on July 4, 1776 and sent to the printer for publication.
There is a distinct change in wording from this original broadside printing of the Declaration and the final official engrossed copy. The word "unanimous" was inserted as a result of a Congressional resolution passed on July 19, 1776: "Resolved, That the Declaration passed on the 4th, be fairly engrossed on parchment, with the title and stile of 'The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America,' and that the same, when engrossed, be signed by every member of Congress." Historian George Athan Billias says: "Independence amounted to a new status of interdependence: the United States was now a sovereign nation entitled to the privileges and responsibilities that came with that status. America thus became a member of the international community, which meant becoming a maker of treaties and alliances, a military ally in diplomacy, and a partner in foreign trade on a more equal basis."
## Annotated text of the engrossed declaration
The declaration is not divided into formal sections; but it is often discussed as consisting of five parts: *introduction*, *preamble*, *indictment* of King George III, *denunciation* of the British people, and *conclusion*.
IntroductionAsserts as a matter of natural law the ability of a people to assume political independence; acknowledges that the grounds for such independence must be reasonable, and therefore explicable, and ought to be explained. |
In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." |
PreambleOutlines a general philosophy of government that justifies revolution when government harms natural rights. |
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." |
IndictmentA bill of grievances documenting the king's "repeated injuries and usurpations" of the Americans' rights and liberties. |
"Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. "He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. "He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. "He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. "He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. "He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness of his invasions on the rights of the people. "He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. "He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. "He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. "He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. "He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. "He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. "He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power. "He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: "For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: "For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: "For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: "For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: "For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury: "For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences: "For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: "For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: "For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. "He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. "He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. "He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. "He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. "He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. "In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people." |
Failed warningsDescribes the colonists' attempts to inform and warn the British people of the king's injustice, and the British people's failure to act. Even so, it affirms the colonists' ties to the British as "brethren." |
"Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity." |
DenunciationThis section essentially finishes the case for independence. The conditions that justified revolution have been shown. |
"We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends." |
ConclusionThe signers assert that there exist conditions under which people must change their government, that the British have produced such conditions and, by necessity, the colonies must throw off political ties with the British Crown and become independent states. The conclusion contains, at its core, the Lee Resolution that had been passed on July 2. |
"We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor." |
SignaturesThe first and most famous signature on the engrossed copy was that of John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress. Two future presidents (Thomas Jefferson and John Adams) and a father and great-grandfather of two other presidents (Benjamin Harrison V) were among the signatories. Edward Rutledge (age 26) was the youngest signer, and Benjamin Franklin (age 70) was the oldest signer. The fifty-six signers of the Declaration represented the new states as follows (from north to south): |
|
The version of the signed document that people saw at the time was also signed by Mary Katherine Goddard. She was the postmaster of Baltimore and was tasked by the Continental Congress with printing the signed Declaration. Her normal signature, in her capacity as the owner of the Maryland Journal, was "M.K. Goddard," but she signed the Declaration of Independence with her full name.
## Influences and legal status
Historians have often sought to identify the sources that most influenced the words and political philosophy of the Declaration of Independence. By Jefferson's own admission, the Declaration contained no original ideas, but was instead a statement of sentiments widely shared by supporters of the American Revolution. As he explained in 1825:
Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion.
Jefferson's most immediate sources were two documents written in June 1776: his own draft of the preamble of the Constitution of Virginia, and George Mason's draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights. Ideas and phrases from both of these documents appear in the Declaration of Independence. Mason's opening was:
Section 1. That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.
Mason was, in turn, directly influenced by the 1689 English Declaration of Rights, which formally ended the reign of King James II. During the American Revolution, Jefferson and other Americans looked to the English Declaration of Rights as a model of how to end the reign of an unjust king. The Scottish Declaration of Arbroath (1320) and the Dutch Act of Abjuration (1581) have also been offered as models for Jefferson's Declaration, but these models are now accepted by few scholars. Maier found no evidence that the Dutch Act of Abjuration served as a model for the Declaration, and considers the argument "unpersuasive". Armitage discounts the influence of the Scottish and Dutch acts, and writes that neither was called "declarations of independence" until fairly recently. Stephen E. Lucas argued in favor of the influence of the Dutch act.
Jefferson wrote that a number of authors exerted a general influence on the words of the Declaration. English political theorist John Locke is usually cited as one of the primary influences, a man whom Jefferson called one of "the three greatest men that have ever lived".
In 1922, historian Carl L. Becker wrote, "Most Americans had absorbed Locke's works as a kind of political gospel; and the Declaration, in its form, in its phraseology, follows closely certain sentences in Locke's second treatise on government." The extent of Locke's influence on the American Revolution has been questioned by some subsequent scholars, however. Historian Ray Forrest Harvey argued in 1937 for the dominant influence of Swiss jurist Jean Jacques Burlamaqui, declaring that Jefferson and Locke were at "two opposite poles" in their political philosophy, as evidenced by Jefferson's use in the Declaration of Independence of the phrase "pursuit of happiness" instead of "property". Other scholars emphasized the influence of republicanism rather than Locke's classical liberalism.
Historian Garry Wills argued that Jefferson was influenced by the Scottish Enlightenment, particularly Francis Hutcheson, rather than Locke, an interpretation that has been strongly criticized.
Legal historian John Phillip Reid has written that the emphasis on the political philosophy of the Declaration has been misplaced. The Declaration is not a philosophical tract about natural rights, argues Reid, but is instead a legal document—an indictment against King George for violating the constitutional rights of the colonists. As such, it follows the process of the 1550 *Magdeburg Confession*, which legitimized resistance against Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in a multi-step legal formula now known as the doctrine of the lesser magistrate.
Historian David Armitage has argued that the Declaration was strongly influenced by de Vattel's *The Law of Nations*, the dominant international law treatise of the period, and a book that Benjamin Franklin said was "continually in the hands of the members of our Congress". Armitage writes, "Vattel made independence fundamental to his definition of statehood"; therefore, the primary purpose of the Declaration was "to express the international legal sovereignty of the United States". If the United States were to have any hope of being recognized by the European powers, the American revolutionaries first had to make it clear that they were no longer dependent on Great Britain. The Declaration of Independence does not have the force of law domestically, but nevertheless it may help to provide historical and legal clarity about the Constitution and other laws.
## Signing
The Declaration became official when Congress recorded its vote adopting the document on July 4; it was transposed on paper and signed by John Hancock, President of the Congress, on that day. Signatures of the other delegates were not needed to further authenticate it. The signatures of fifty-six delegates are affixed to the Declaration, though the exact date when each person signed became debatable. Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams all wrote that the Declaration was signed by Congress on July 4. But in 1796, signer Thomas McKean disputed that, because some signers were not then present, including several who were not even elected to Congress until after that date. Historians have generally accepted McKean's version of events. History particularly shows most delegates signed on August 2, 1776, and those who were not then present added their names later.
In an 1811 letter to Adams, Benjamin Rush recounted the signing on August 2 in stark fashion, describing it as a scene of "pensive and awful silence". Rush said the delegates were called up, one after another, and then filed forward somberly to subscribe what each thought was their ensuing death warrant. He related that the "gloom of the morning" was briefly interrupted when the rotund Benjamin Harrison of Virginia said to a diminutive Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, at the signing table, "I shall have a great advantage over you, Mr. Gerry, when we are all hung for what we are now doing. From the size and weight of my body I shall die in a few minutes and be with the Angels, but from the lightness of your body you will dance in the air an hour or two before you are dead." According to Rush, Harrison's remark "procured a transient smile, but it was soon succeeded by the Solemnity with which the whole business was conducted."
The signatories include then future presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, though the most legendary signature is John Hancock's. His large, flamboyant signature became iconic, and the term *John Hancock* emerged in the United States as a metaphor of "signature". A commonly circulated but apocryphal account claims that, after Hancock signed, the delegate from Massachusetts commented, "The British ministry can read that name without spectacles." Another report indicates that Hancock proudly declared, "There! I guess King George will be able to read that!"
A legend emerged years later about the signing of the Declaration, after the document had become an important national symbol. John Hancock is supposed to have said that Congress, having signed the Declaration, must now "all hang together", and Benjamin Franklin replied: "Yes, we must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately." That quotation first appeared in print in an 1837 London humor magazine.
The Syng inkstand used at the signing was also used at the signing of the United States Constitution in 1787.
## Publication and reaction
After the Second Continental Congress unanimously approved the final wording of the Declaration on July 4, a handwritten copy was sent a few blocks away to the printing shop of John Dunlap. Throughout the night, Dunlap printed about 200 broadsides for distribution. The source copy used for this printing has been lost and may have been a copy in Thomas Jefferson's hand. The first formal public readings of the document took place simultaneously on July 8, at noon in three locations: Philadelphia, where it was read by John Nixon in the yard of present-day Independence Hall, Trenton, New Jersey, and Easton, Pennsylvania. The first newspaper to publish the Declaration was *The Pennsylvania Evening Post*, which published it on July 6. A German translation of the Declaration was published in Philadelphia by July 9. It was subsequently widely read and published throughout the Thirteen Colonies.
President of Congress John Hancock sent a broadside to General George Washington, instructing him to have it proclaimed "at the Head of the Army in the way you shall think it most proper". Washington had the Declaration read to his troops in New York City on July 9, with thousands of British troops on ships in the harbor. Washington and Congress hoped that the Declaration would inspire the soldiers, and encourage others to join the army. After hearing the Declaration, crowds in many cities tore down and destroyed signs or statues representing royal authority. An equestrian statue of King George in New York City was pulled down and the lead used to make musket balls.
One of the first readings of the Declaration by the British is believed to have taken place at the Rose and Crown Tavern on Staten Island, New York in the presence of General Howe. British officials in North America sent copies of the Declaration to Great Britain. It was published in British newspapers beginning in mid-August, it had reached Florence and Warsaw by mid-September, and a German translation appeared in Switzerland by October. The first copy of the Declaration sent to France got lost, and the second copy arrived only in November 1776. News of the Declaration managed to reach Russia on August 13 via a dispatch from the Russian *chargé d'affaires* in London, Nikita Panin. It reached Portuguese America by Brazilian medical student "Vendek" José Joaquim Maia e Barbalho, who had met with Thomas Jefferson in Nîmes.
The Spanish-American authorities banned the circulation of the Declaration, but it was widely transmitted and translated: by Venezuelan Manuel García de Sena, by Colombian Miguel de Pombo, by Ecuadorian Vicente Rocafuerte, and by New Englanders Richard Cleveland and William Shaler, who distributed the Declaration and the United States Constitution among Creoles in Chile and Indians in Mexico in 1821. The North Ministry did not give an official answer to the Declaration, but instead secretly commissioned pamphleteer John Lind to publish a response entitled *Answer to the Declaration of the American Congress*. British Tories denounced the signers of the Declaration for not applying the same principles of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" to African Americans. Thomas Hutchinson, the former royal governor of Massachusetts, also published a rebuttal. These pamphlets challenged various aspects of the Declaration. Hutchinson argued that the American Revolution was the work of a few conspirators who wanted independence from the outset, and who had finally achieved it by inducing otherwise loyal colonists to rebel. Lind's pamphlet had an anonymous attack on the concept of natural rights written by Jeremy Bentham, an argument that he repeated during the French Revolution. Both pamphlets questioned how the American slaveholders in Congress could proclaim that "all men are created equal" without freeing their own slaves.
William Whipple, a signer of the Declaration of Independence who had fought in the war, freed his slave Prince Whipple because of his revolutionary ideals. In the postwar decades, other slaveholders also freed their slaves; from 1790 to 1810, the percentage of free blacks in the Upper South increased to 8.3 percent from less than one percent of the black population. Northern states began abolishing slavery shortly after the war for Independence began, and all had abolished slavery by 1804.
Later in late November 1776, a group of 547 Loyalists, largely from New York, signed a Declaration of Dependence in New York City at Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan pledging their loyalty to the Crown.
## History of the documents
The official copy of the Declaration of Independence was the one printed on July 4, 1776, under Jefferson's supervision. It was sent to the states and to the Army and was widely reprinted in newspapers. The slightly different "engrossed copy" (shown at the top of this article) was made later for members to sign. The engrossed version is the one widely distributed in the 21st century. Note that the opening lines differ between the two versions.
The copy of the Declaration that was signed by Congress is known as the engrossed or parchment copy. It was probably engrossed (that is, carefully handwritten) by clerk Timothy Matlack. A facsimile made in 1823 has become the basis of most modern reproductions rather than the original because of poor conservation of the engrossed copy through the 19th century. In 1921, custody of the engrossed copy of the Declaration was transferred from the State Department to the Library of Congress, along with the United States Constitution.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the documents were moved for safekeeping to the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox in Kentucky, where they were kept until 1944. In 1952, the engrossed Declaration was transferred to the National Archives and is now on permanent display at the National Archives in the "Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom".
The document signed by Congress and enshrined in the National Archives is usually regarded as *the* Declaration of Independence, but historian Julian P. Boyd argued that the Declaration, like Magna Carta, is not a single document. Boyd considered the printed broadsides ordered by Congress to be official texts, as well. The Declaration was first published as a broadside that was printed the night of July 4 by John Dunlap of Philadelphia. Dunlap printed about 200 broadsides, of which 26 are known to survive. The 26th copy was discovered in The National Archives in England in 2009.
In 1777, Congress commissioned Mary Katherine Goddard to print a new broadside that listed the signers of the Declaration, unlike the Dunlap broadside. Nine copies of the Goddard broadside are known to still exist. A variety of broadsides printed by the states are also extant, including seven copies of the Solomon Southwick broadside, one of which was acquired by Washington University in St. Louis in 2015.
Several early handwritten copies and drafts of the Declaration have also been preserved. Jefferson kept a four-page draft that late in life he called the "original Rough draught". Historians now understand that Jefferson's Rough draft was one in a series of drafts used by the Committee of Five before being submitted to Congress for deliberation. According to Boyd, the first, "original" handwritten draft of the Declaration of Independence that predated Jefferson's Rough draft, was lost or destroyed during the drafting process. It is not known how many drafts Jefferson wrote prior to this one, and how much of the text was contributed by other committee members.
In 1947, Boyd discovered a fragment of an earlier draft in Jefferson's handwriting that predates Jefferson's Rough draft. In 2018, the Thomas Paine National Historical Association published findings on an additional early handwritten draft of the Declaration, referred to as the "Sherman Copy", that John Adams copied from the lost original draft for Committee of Five members Roger Sherman and Benjamin Franklin's initial review. An inscription on the document noting "A beginning perhaps...", the early state of the text, and the manner in which this document was hastily taken, appears to chronologically place this draft earlier than both the fair Adams copy held in the Massachusetts Historical Society collection and the Jefferson "rough draft". After the text was finalized by Congress as a whole, Jefferson and Adams sent copies of the rough draft to friends, with variations noted from the original drafts.
During the writing process, Jefferson showed the rough draft to Adams and Franklin, and perhaps to other members of the drafting committee, who made a few more changes. Franklin, for example, may have been responsible for changing Jefferson's original phrase "We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable" to "We hold these truths to be self-evident". Jefferson incorporated these changes into a copy that was submitted to Congress in the name of the committee. The copy that was submitted to Congress on June 28 has been lost and was perhaps destroyed in the printing process, or destroyed during the debates in accordance with Congress's secrecy rule.
On April 21, 2017, it was announced that a second engrossed copy had been discovered in the archives at West Sussex County Council in Chichester, England. Named by its finders the "Sussex Declaration", it differs from the National Archives copy (which the finders refer to as the "Matlack Declaration") in that the signatures on it are not grouped by States. How it came to be in England is not yet known, but the finders believe that the randomness of the signatures points to an origin with signatory James Wilson, who had argued strongly that the Declaration was made not by the States but by the whole people.
Years of exposure to damaging lighting resulted in the original Declaration of Independence document having much of its ink fade by 1876.
At the request of President Donald Trump, a copy of the Declaration of Independence was hung in the Oval Office in March 2025.
## Legacy
The Declaration was given little attention in the years immediately following the American Revolution, having served its original purpose in announcing the independence of the United States. Early celebrations of Independence Day largely ignored the Declaration, as did early histories of the Revolution. The *act* of declaring independence was considered important, whereas the *text* announcing that act attracted little attention. The Declaration was rarely mentioned during the debates about the United States Constitution, and its language was not incorporated into that document. George Mason's draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights was more influential, and its language was echoed in state constitutions and state bills of rights more often than Jefferson's words. "In none of these documents", wrote Pauline Maier, "is there any evidence whatsoever that the Declaration of Independence lived in men's minds as a classic statement of American political principles."
### Global influence
Many leaders of the French Revolution admired the Declaration of Independence but were also interested in the new American state constitutions. The inspiration and content of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789) emerged largely from the ideals of the American Revolution. Lafayette prepared its key drafts, working closely in Paris with his friend Thomas Jefferson. It also borrowed language from George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights. The declaration also influenced the Russian Empire, and it had a particular impact on the Decembrist revolt and other Russian thinkers.
According to historian David Armitage, the Declaration of Independence did prove to be internationally influential, but not as a statement of human rights. Armitage argues that the Declaration was the first in a new genre of declarations of independence which announced the creation of new states. Other French leaders were directly influenced by the text of the Declaration of Independence itself. The *Manifesto of the Province of Flanders* (1790) was the first foreign derivation of the Declaration; others include the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence (1811), the Liberian Declaration of Independence (1847), the declarations of secession by the Confederate States of America (1860–61), and the Vietnamese Proclamation of Independence (1945). These declarations echoed the United States Declaration of Independence in announcing the independence of a new state, without necessarily endorsing the political philosophy of the original.
Other countries have used the Declaration as inspiration or have directly copied sections from it. These include the Haitian declaration of January 1, 1804, during the Haitian Revolution, the United Provinces of New Granada in 1811, the Argentine Declaration of Independence in 1816, the Chilean Declaration of Independence in 1818, Costa Rica in 1821, El Salvador in 1821, Guatemala in 1821, Honduras in 1821, Mexico in 1821, Nicaragua in 1821, Peru in 1821, Bolivian War of Independence in 1825, Uruguay in 1825, Ecuador in 1830, Colombia in 1831, Paraguay in 1842, Dominican Republic in 1844, Texas Declaration of Independence in March 1836, California Republic in November 1836, Hungarian Declaration of Independence in 1849, Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand in 1835, and the Czechoslovak declaration of independence from 1918 drafted in Washington, D.C., with Gutzon Borglum among the drafters. The Rhodesian declaration of independence is based on the American one, as well, ratified in November 1965, although it omits the phrases "all men are created equal" and "the consent of the governed". The South Carolina declaration of secession from December 1860 also mentions the U.S. Declaration of Independence, though it omits references to "all men are created equal" and "consent of the governed".
### Revival of interest
Interest in the Declaration was revived in the 1790s with the emergence of the United States's first political parties. Throughout the 1780s, few Americans knew or cared who wrote the Declaration. But in the next decade, Jeffersonian Republicans sought political advantage over their rival Federalists by promoting both the importance of the Declaration and Jefferson as its author. Federalists responded by casting doubt on Jefferson's authorship or originality, and by emphasizing that independence was declared by the whole Congress, with Jefferson as just one member of the drafting committee. Federalists insisted that Congress's act of declaring independence, in which Federalist John Adams had played a major role, was more important than the document announcing it. But this view faded away, like the Federalist Party itself, and, before long, the act of declaring independence became synonymous with the document.
A less partisan appreciation for the Declaration emerged in the years following the War of 1812, thanks to a growing American nationalism and a renewed interest in the history of the Revolution. In 1817, Congress commissioned John Trumbull's famous painting of the signers, which was exhibited to large crowds before being installed in the Capitol. The earliest commemorative printings of the Declaration also appeared at this time, offering many Americans their first view of the signed document. Collective biographies of the signers were first published in the 1820s, giving birth to what Garry Wills called the "cult of the signers". In the years that followed, many stories about the writing and signing of the document were published for the first time.
When interest in the Declaration was revived, the sections that were most important in 1776 were no longer relevant: the announcement of the independence of the United States and the grievances against King George. But the second paragraph was applicable long after the war had ended, with its talk of self-evident truths and unalienable rights. The identity of natural law since the 18th century has seen increasing ascendancy towards political and moral norms versus the law of nature, God, or human nature as seen in the past. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights lacked sweeping statements about rights and equality, and advocates of groups with grievances turned to the Declaration for support. Starting in the 1820s, variations of the Declaration were issued to proclaim the rights of workers, farmers, women, and others. In 1848, for example, the Seneca Falls Convention of women's rights advocates declared that "all men and women are created equal".
*Declaration of Independence* (1817–1826)
John Trumbull's painting *Declaration of Independence* has played a significant role in popular conceptions of the Declaration of Independence. The painting is 12-by-18-foot (3.7 by 5.5 m) in size and was commissioned by the United States Congress in 1817; it has hung in the United States Capitol Rotunda since 1826. It is sometimes described as the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but it actually shows the Committee of Five presenting their draft of the Declaration to the Second Continental Congress on June 28, 1776, and not the signing of the document, which took place later.
Trumbull painted the figures from life whenever possible, but some had died and images could not be located; hence, the painting does not include all the signers of the Declaration. One figure had participated in the drafting but did not sign the final document; another refused to sign. In fact, the membership of the Second Continental Congress changed as time passed, and the figures in the painting were never in the same room at the same time. It is, however, an accurate depiction of the room in Independence Hall, the centerpiece of the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Trumbull's painting has been depicted multiple times on U.S. currency and postage stamps. Its first use was on the reverse side of the $100 National Bank Note issued in 1863. A few years later, the steel engraving used in printing the bank notes was used to produce a 24-cent stamp, issued as part of the 1869 Pictorial Issue. An engraving of the signing scene has been featured on the reverse side of the United States two-dollar bill since 1976.
### Slavery and the Declaration
The apparent contradiction between the claim that "all men are created equal" and the existence of slavery in the United States attracted comment when the Declaration was first published. Many of the founders understood the incompatibility of the statement of natural equality with the institution of slavery, but continued to enjoy the "Rights of Man". Jefferson had included a paragraph in his initial rough Draft of the Declaration of Independence vigorously condemning the evil of the slave trade, and condemning King George III for forcing it onto the colonies, but this was deleted from the final version.
he has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it's most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. this piratical warfare, the opprobrium of
infidelpowers, is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain. determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought & sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce: and that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he had deprived them, & murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them; thus paying off former crimes committed against thelibertiesof one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against thelivesof another.
Jefferson himself was a prominent Virginia slaveowner, owning six hundred enslaved Africans on his Monticello plantation. Referring to this contradiction, English abolitionist Thomas Day wrote in a 1776 letter, "If there be an object truly ridiculous in nature, it is an American patriot, signing resolutions of independency with the one hand, and with the other brandishing a whip over his affrighted slaves." The African-American writer Lemuel Haynes expressed similar viewpoints in his essay "Liberty Further Extended", where he wrote that "Liberty is Equally as pre[c]ious to a Black man, as it is to a white one".
In the 19th century, the Declaration took on a special significance for the abolitionist movement. Historian Bertram Wyatt-Brown wrote that "abolitionists tended to interpret the Declaration of Independence as a theological as well as a political document". Abolitionist leaders Benjamin Lundy and William Lloyd Garrison adopted the "twin rocks" of "the Bible and the Declaration of Independence" as the basis for their philosophies. He wrote, "As long as there remains a single copy of the Declaration of Independence, or of the Bible, in our land, we will not despair." For radical abolitionists such as Garrison, the most important part of the Declaration was its assertion of the right of revolution. Garrison called for the destruction of the government under the Constitution, and the creation of a new state dedicated to the principles of the Declaration.
On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered a speech asking the question, "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?".
The controversial question of whether to allow additional slave states into the United States coincided with the growing stature of the Declaration. The first major public debate about slavery and the Declaration took place during the Missouri controversy of 1819 to 1821. Anti-slavery Congressmen argued that the language of the Declaration indicated that the Founding Fathers of the United States had been opposed to slavery in principle, and so new slave states should not be added to the country. Pro-slavery Congressmen led by Senator Nathaniel Macon of North Carolina argued that the Declaration was not a part of the Constitution and therefore had no relevance to the question.
With the abolitionist movement gaining momentum, defenders of slavery such as John Randolph and John C. Calhoun found it necessary to argue that the Declaration's assertion that "all men are created equal" was false, or at least that it did not apply to black people. During the debate over the Kansas–Nebraska Act in 1853, for example, Senator John Pettit of Indiana argued that the statement "all men are created equal" was not a "self-evident truth" but a "self-evident lie". Opponents of the Kansas–Nebraska Act, including Salmon P. Chase and Benjamin Wade, defended the Declaration and what they saw as its antislavery principles.
In preparing for his raid on Harper's Ferry, said by Frederick Douglass to be the beginning of the end of slavery in the United States, abolitionist John Brown had many copies printed of a Provisional Constitution. When the seceding states created the Confederate States of America 16 months later, they operated for over a year under a Provisional Constitution. It outlines the three branches of government in the quasi-country he hoped to set up in the Appalachian Mountains. It was widely reproduced in the press, and in full in the Select Senate Committee report on John Brown's insurrection (the Mason Report).
Brown did not have it printed, and his Declaration of Liberty, dated July 4, 1859, was found among his papers at the Kennedy Farm. It was written out on sheets of paper attached to fabric, to allow it to be rolled, and it was rolled when found. The hand is that of Owen Brown, who often served as his father's amanuensis.
Imitating the vocabulary, punctuation, and capitalization of the 73-year-old U.S. Declaration, the 2000-word document begins:
July 4th 1859
A Declaration of Liberty
By the Representatives of the slave Popolation [sic] of the United States of America
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for an Oppressed People to Rise, and assert their Natural Rights, as Human Beings, as Native & mutual Citizens of a free Republic, and break that odious Yoke of oppression, which is so unjustly laid upon them by their fellow Countrymen, and to assume among the powers of Earth the same equal privileges to which the Laws of Nature, & natures God entitle them; A moderate respect for the opinions of Mankind, requires that they should declare the causes which incite them to this just & worthy action.
We hold these truths to be Self Evident; That All Men are Created Equal; That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these are Life, Liberty; & the persuit of happiness. That Nature hath freely given to all Men, a full Supply of Air. Water, & Land; for their sustinance, & mutual happiness, That No Man has any right to deprive his fellow Man, of these Inherent rights, except in punishment of Crime. That to secure these rights governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That when any form of Government, becomes destructive to these ends, It is the right of the People, to alter, Amend, or Remoddel it, Laying its foundation on Such Principles, & organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect the safety, & happiness of the Human Race.
The document was apparently intended to be read aloud, but so far as is known Brown never did so, even though he read the Provisional Constitution aloud the day the raid on Harpers Ferry began. Very much aware of the history of the American Revolution, he would have read the Declaration aloud after the revolt had started. The document was not published until 1894, and by someone who did not realize its importance and buried it in an appendix of documents. It is missing from most but not all studies of John Brown.
### Lincoln and the Declaration
The Declaration's relationship to slavery was taken up in 1854 by Abraham Lincoln, a little-known former Congressman who idolized the Founding Fathers. Lincoln thought that the Declaration of Independence expressed the highest principles of the American Revolution, and that the Founding Fathers had tolerated slavery with the expectation that it would ultimately wither away. For the United States to legitimize the expansion of slavery in the Kansas–Nebraska Act, thought Lincoln, was to repudiate the principles of the Revolution. In his October 1854 Peoria speech, Lincoln said:
Nearly eighty years ago we began by declaring that all men are created equal; but now from that beginning we have run down to the other declaration, that for some men to enslave others is a "sacred right of self-government". ... Our republican robe is soiled and trailed in the dust. ... Let us repurify it. Let us re-adopt the Declaration of Independence, and with it, the practices, and policy, which harmonize with it. ... If we do this, we shall not only have saved the Union: but we shall have saved it, as to make, and keep it, forever worthy of the saving.
The meaning of the Declaration was a recurring topic in the famed debates between Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in 1858. Douglas argued that the phrase "all men are created equal", which appears in the Declaration. referred to white men only. The purpose of the Declaration, he said, had simply been to justify the independence of the United States, and not to proclaim the equality of any "inferior or degraded race". Lincoln, however, thought that the language of the Declaration was deliberately universal, setting a high moral standard to which the American republic should aspire. "I had thought the Declaration contemplated the progressive improvement in the condition of all men everywhere", he said. During the seventh and last joint debate with Stephen Douglas at Alton, Illinois, on October 15, 1858, Lincoln said about the declaration:
I think the authors of that notable instrument intended to include all men, but they did not mean to declare all men equal in all respects. They did not mean to say all men were equal in color, size, intellect, moral development, or social capacity. They defined with tolerable distinctness in what they did consider all men created equal—equal in "certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." This they said, and this they meant. They did not mean to assert the obvious untruth that all were then actually enjoying that equality, or yet that they were about to confer it immediately upon them. In fact, they had no power to confer such a boon. They meant simply to declare the right, so that the enforcement of it might follow as fast as circumstances should permit. They meant to set up a standard maxim for free society which should be familiar to all, constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and even, though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence, and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people, of all colors, everywhere.
According to Pauline Maier, Douglas's interpretation was more historically accurate, but Lincoln's view ultimately prevailed. "In Lincoln's hands," wrote Maier, "the Declaration of Independence became first and foremost a living document" with "a set of goals to be realized over time".
[T]here is no reason in the world why the negro is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I hold that he is as much entitled to these as the white man.
Like Daniel Webster, James Wilson, and Joseph Story before him, Lincoln argued that the Declaration of Independence was a founding document of the United States, and that this had important implications for interpreting the Constitution, which had been ratified more than a decade after the Declaration. The Constitution did not use the word "equality", yet Lincoln believed that the concept that "all men are created equal" remained a part of the nation's founding principles. He famously expressed this belief, referencing the year 1776, in the opening sentence of his 1863 Gettysburg Address: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
Lincoln's view of the Declaration became influential, seeing it as a moral guide to interpreting the Constitution. "For most people now," wrote Garry Wills in 1992, "the Declaration means what Lincoln told us it means, as a way of correcting the Constitution itself without overthrowing it." Admirers of Lincoln such as Harry V. Jaffa praised this development. Critics of Lincoln, notably Willmoore Kendall and Mel Bradford, argued that Lincoln dangerously expanded the scope of the national government and violated states' rights by reading the Declaration into the Constitution.
In July 1848, the Seneca Falls Convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York, the first women's rights convention. It was organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Mary Ann McClintock, and Jane Hunt. They patterned their "Declaration of Sentiments" on the Declaration of Independence, in which they demanded social and political equality for women. Their motto was that "All men *and women* are created equal", and they demanded the right to vote.
Excerpt from "Declaration of Sentiments":
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal
— The Declaration of Rights and Sentiments 1848
### Civil Rights Movement and the Declaration
In 1963, at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in Washington, D.C., Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. This speech was meant to inspire the nation, to take up the causes of the Civil Rights Movement. King uses quotations from the Declaration of Independence to encourage equal treatment of all persons regardless of race.
Excerpt from King's speech:
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
— Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963
In 1966, Black Panther Party founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale quoted the Declaration's preamble in its entirety in the party's Ten-Point Program—for the tenth point, "We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, peace and people's community control of modern technology". The Black Panthers were dedicated to community organizing for self-defense and mutual benefit among working-class Black people, and the Ten-Point Program was intended to serve as a concise statement of what the Panthers organization hoped to achieve for Black people, including full employment, decent housing, freedom from compulsory military service, and an end to police brutality.
In 1978, at the Gay Pride Celebration in San Francisco, activist and later politician Harvey Milk delivered a speech. Milk alluded to the Declaration of Independence, emphasizing that the inalienable rights established by the Declaration apply to all persons and cannot be hindered because of one's sexual orientation.
Excerpt from Milk's speech:
All men are created equal and they are endowed with certain inalienable rights... that's what America is. No matter how hard you try, you cannot erase those words from the Declaration of Independence.
— Harvey Milk, 1978
### 20th century and later
The Declaration was one of the first texts to be made into an ebook (1971).
The Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence was dedicated in 1984 in Constitution Gardens on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where the signatures of all the original signers are carved in stone with their names, places of residence, and occupations.
The new One World Trade Center building in New York City (2014) is 1776 feet high to symbolize the year that the Declaration of Independence was signed.
### Popular culture
The adoption of the Declaration of Independence was dramatized in the 1938 Academy Award-winning short film *Declaration of Independence*, the 1969 Tony Award-winning musical *1776*, the 1972 film version, and the 2008 television miniseries *John Adams*. In 1970, The 5th Dimension recorded the opening of the Declaration on their album *Portrait* in the song "Declaration". It was first performed on the *Ed Sullivan Show* on December 7, 1969, and it was taken as a song of protest by some opposed to the Vietnam War.
The original handwritten and signed Declaration of Independence is a plot device in the 2004 American film *National Treasure*.
*Fallout 3* involves a quest where the playable character acquires the Declaration of Independence from the National Archives. The player is tasked with bringing the document back to a history lover who wants to reclaim pieces of America following a nuclear war.
After the 2009 death of radio broadcaster Paul Harvey, Focus Today aired a clip of Harvey speaking about the lives of all the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
## See also
### Bibliography
## External links
- "Declare the Causes: The Declaration of Independence" lesson plan for grades 9–12 from National Endowment for the Humanities
- Declaration of Independence at the National Archives
- Declaration of Independence at the Library of Congress
- Mobile-friendly Declaration of Independence
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# Plant - Wikipedia
| Plants Temporal range:
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|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
Clade:
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Diaphoretickes |
Clade:
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CAM |
Clade:
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Archaeplastida |
| Kingdom: | Plantae H. F. Copel., 1956 |
| Superdivisions | |
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| |
| Synonyms | |
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**Plants** are the eukaryotes that form the kingdom **Plantae**; they are predominantly photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria to produce sugars from carbon dioxide and water, using the green pigment chlorophyll. Exceptions are parasitic plants that have lost the genes for chlorophyll and photosynthesis, and obtain their energy from other plants or fungi. Most plants are multicellular, except for some green algae.
Historically, as in Aristotle's biology, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi. Definitions have narrowed since then; current definitions exclude fungi and some of the algae. By the definition used in this article, plants form the clade Viridiplantae (green plants), which consists of the green algae and the embryophytes or land plants (hornworts, liverworts, mosses, lycophytes, ferns, conifers and other gymnosperms, and flowering plants). A definition based on genomes includes the Viridiplantae, along with the red algae and the glaucophytes, in the clade Archaeplastida.
There are about 380,000 known species of plants, of which the majority, some 260,000, produce seeds. They range in size from single cells to the tallest trees. Green plants provide a substantial proportion of the world's molecular oxygen; the sugars they create supply the energy for most of Earth's ecosystems, and other organisms, including animals, either eat plants directly or rely on organisms which do so.
Grain, fruit, and vegetables are basic human foods and have been domesticated for millennia. People use plants for many purposes, such as building materials, ornaments, writing materials, and, in great variety, for medicines. The scientific study of plants is known as botany, a branch of biology.
## Definition
### Taxonomic history
All living things were traditionally placed into one of two groups, plants and animals. This classification dates from Aristotle (384–322 BC), who distinguished different levels of beings in his biology, based on whether living things had a "sensitive soul" or like plants only a "vegetative soul". Theophrastus, Aristotle's student, continued his work in plant taxonomy and classification. Much later, Linnaeus (1707–1778) created the basis of the modern system of scientific classification, but retained the animal and plant kingdoms, naming the plant kingdom the Vegetabilia.
### Alternative concepts
When the name Plantae or plant is applied to a specific group of organisms or taxa, it usually refers to one of four concepts. From least to most inclusive, these four groupings are:
| Name(s) | Scope | Organisation | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Land plants, also known as Embryophyta | Plantae sensu strictissimo
|
Multicellular | Plants in the strictest sense include liverworts, hornworts, mosses, and vascular plants, as well as fossil plants similar to these surviving groups (e.g., Metaphyta Whittaker, 1969, Plantae Margulis, 1971).
|
| Green plants, also known as Viridiplantae, Viridiphyta, Chlorobionta or Chloroplastida | Plantae sensu stricto
|
Some unicellular, some multicellular | Plants in a strict sense include the green algae, and land plants that emerged within them, including stoneworts. The relationships between plant groups are still being worked out, and the names given to them vary considerably. The clade Viridiplantae encompasses a group of organisms that have cellulose in their cell walls, possess chlorophylls a and b and have plastids bound by only two membranes that are capable of photosynthesis and of storing starch. This clade is the main subject of this article (e.g., Plantae Copeland, 1956).
|
| Archaeplastida, also known as Plastida or Primoplantae | Plantae sensu lato
|
Some unicellular, some multicellular | Plants in a broad sense comprise the green plants listed above plus the red algae (Rhodophyta) and the glaucophyte algae (Glaucophyta) that store Floridean starch outside the plastids, in the cytoplasm. This clade includes all of the organisms that eons ago acquired their primary chloroplasts directly by engulfing cyanobacteria (e.g., Plantae Cavalier-Smith, 1981).
|
| Old definitions of plant (obsolete) | Plantae sensu amplo
|
Some unicellular, some multicellular | Plants in the widest sense included the unrelated groups of algae, fungi and bacteria on older, obsolete classifications (e.g. Plantae or Vegetabilia Linnaeus 1751, Plantae Haeckel 1866, Metaphyta Haeckel, 1894, Plantae Whittaker, 1969).
|
## Evolution
### Diversity
There are about 382,000 accepted species of plants, of which the great majority, some 283,000, produce seeds. The table below shows some species count estimates of different green plant (Viridiplantae) divisions. About 85–90% of all plants are flowering plants. Several projects are currently attempting to collect records on all plant species in online databases, e.g. the World Flora Online.
Plants range in scale from single-celled organisms such as desmids (from micrometres (μm) across) and picozoa (less than across), to the largest trees (megaflora) such as the conifer *Sequoia sempervirens* (up to 120 metres (380 ft) tall) and the angiosperm *Eucalyptus regnans* (up to 100 m (325 ft) tall).
| Informal group | Division name | Common name | No. of living species |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green algae | Chlorophyta | Green algae (chlorophytes) | 3800–4300 |
| Charophyta | Green algae (e.g. desmids & stoneworts) | 2800–6000 | |
| Bryophytes | Marchantiophyta | Liverworts | 6000–8000 |
| Anthocerotophyta | Hornworts | 100–200 | |
| Bryophyta | Mosses | 12000 | |
| Pteridophytes | Lycopodiophyta | Clubmosses | 1200 |
| Polypodiophyta | Ferns, whisk ferns & horsetails | 11000 | |
| Spermatophytes (seed plants) |
Cycadophyta | Cycads | 160 |
| Ginkgophyta | Ginkgo | 1 | |
| Pinophyta | Conifers | 630 | |
| Gnetophyta | Gnetophytes | 70 | |
| Angiospermae | Flowering plants | 258650 |
The naming of plants is governed by the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants and the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants.
### Evolutionary history
The ancestors of land plants evolved in water. An algal scum formed on the land Ordovician, around , that the first land plants appeared, with a level of organisation like that of bryophytes. However, fossils of organisms with a flattened thallus in Precambrian rocks suggest that multicellular freshwater eukaryotes existed over 1000 mya.
, but it was not until thePrimitive land plants began to diversify in the late Silurian, around . Bryophytes, club mosses, and ferns then appear in the fossil record. Early plant anatomy is preserved in cellular detail in an early Devonian fossil assemblage from the Rhynie chert. These early plants were preserved by being petrified in chert formed in silica-rich volcanic hot springs.
By the end of the Devonian, most of the basic features of plants today were present, including roots, leaves and secondary wood in trees such as *Archaeopteris*. The Carboniferous period saw the development of forests in swampy environments dominated by clubmosses and horsetails, including some as large as trees, and the appearance of early gymnosperms, the first seed plants. The Permo-Triassic extinction event radically changed the structures of communities. This may have set the scene for the evolution of flowering plants in the Triassic (~ ), with an adaptive radiation in the Cretaceous so rapid that Darwin called it an "abominable mystery". Conifers diversified from the Late Triassic onwards, and became a dominant part of floras in the Jurassic.
### Phylogeny
In 2019, a phylogeny based on genomes and transcriptomes from 1,153 plant species was proposed. The placing of algal groups is supported by phylogenies based on genomes from the Mesostigmatophyceae and Chlorokybophyceae that have since been sequenced. Both the "chlorophyte algae" and the "streptophyte algae" are treated as paraphyletic (vertical bars beside phylogenetic tree diagram) in this analysis, as the land plants arose from within those groups. The classification of Bryophyta is supported both by Puttick *et al.* 2018, and by phylogenies involving the hornwort genomes that have also since been sequenced.
## Physiology
### Plant cells
Plant cells have distinctive features that other eukaryotic cells (such as those of animals) lack. These include the large water-filled central vacuole, chloroplasts, and the strong flexible cell wall, which is outside the cell membrane. Chloroplasts are derived from what was once a symbiosis of a non-photosynthetic cell and photosynthetic cyanobacteria. The cell wall, made mostly of cellulose, allows plant cells to swell up with water without bursting. The vacuole allows the cell to change in size while the amount of cytoplasm stays the same.
### Plant structure
Most plants are multicellular. Plant cells differentiate into multiple cell types, forming tissues such as the vascular tissue with specialized xylem and phloem of leaf veins and stems, and organs with different physiological functions such as roots to absorb water and minerals, stems for support and to transport water and synthesized molecules, leaves for photosynthesis, and flowers for reproduction.
### Photosynthesis
Plants photosynthesize, manufacturing food molecules (sugars) using energy obtained from light. Plant cells contain chlorophylls inside their chloroplasts, which are green pigments that are used to capture light energy. The end-to-end chemical equation for photosynthesis is:
This causes plants to release oxygen into the atmosphere. Green plants provide a substantial proportion of the world's molecular oxygen, alongside the contributions from photosynthetic algae and cyanobacteria.
Plants that have secondarily adopted a parasitic lifestyle may lose the genes involved in photosynthesis and the production of chlorophyll.
### Growth and repair
Growth is determined by the interaction of a plant's genome with its physical and biotic environment. Factors of the physical or abiotic environment include temperature, water, light, carbon dioxide, and nutrients in the soil. Biotic factors that affect plant growth include crowding, grazing, beneficial symbiotic bacteria and fungi, and attacks by insects or plant diseases.
Frost and dehydration can damage or kill plants. Some plants have antifreeze proteins, heat-shock proteins and sugars in their cytoplasm that enable them to tolerate these stresses. Plants are continuously exposed to a range of physical and biotic stresses which cause DNA damage, but they can tolerate and repair much of this damage.
### Reproduction
Plants reproduce to generate offspring, whether sexually, involving gametes, or asexually, involving ordinary growth. Many plants use both mechanisms.
#### Sexual
When reproducing sexually, plants have complex lifecycles involving alternation of generations. One generation, the sporophyte, which is diploid (with 2 sets of chromosomes), gives rise to the next generation, the gametophyte, which is haploid (with one set of chromosomes). Some plants also reproduce asexually via spores. In some non-flowering plants such as mosses, the sexual gametophyte forms most of the visible plant. In seed plants (gymnosperms and flowering plants), the sporophyte forms most of the visible plant, and the gametophyte is very small. Flowering plants reproduce sexually using flowers, which contain male and female parts: these may be within the same (hermaphrodite) flower, on different flowers on the same plant, or on different plants. The stamens create pollen, which produces male gametes that enter the ovule to fertilize the egg cell of the female gametophyte. Fertilization takes place within the carpels or ovaries, which develop into fruits that contain seeds. Fruits may be dispersed whole, or they may split open and the seeds dispersed individually.
#### Asexual
Plants reproduce asexually by growing any of a wide variety of structures capable of growing into new plants. At the simplest, plants such as mosses or liverworts may be broken into pieces, each of which may regrow into whole plants. The propagation of flowering plants by cuttings is a similar process. Structures such as runners enable plants to grow to cover an area, forming a clone. Many plants grow food storage structures such as tubers or bulbs which may each develop into a new plant.
Some non-flowering plants, such as many liverworts, mosses and some clubmosses, along with a few flowering plants, grow small clumps of cells called gemmae which can detach and grow.
### Disease resistance
Plants use pattern-recognition receptors to recognize pathogens such as bacteria that cause plant diseases. This recognition triggers a protective response. The first such plant receptors were identified in rice and in *Arabidopsis thaliana*.
### Genomics
Plants have some of the largest genomes of all organisms. The largest plant genome (in terms of gene number) is that of wheat (*Triticum aestivum*), predicted to encode ≈94,000 genes and thus almost 5 times as many as the human genome. The first plant genome sequenced was that of *Arabidopsis thaliana* which encodes about 25,500 genes. In terms of sheer DNA sequence, the smallest published genome is that of the carnivorous bladderwort (*Utricularia gibba)* at 82 Mb (although it still encodes 28,500 genes) while the largest, from the Norway spruce (*Picea abies*), extends over 19.6 Gb (encoding about 28,300 genes).
## Ecology
### Distribution
Plants are distributed almost worldwide. While they inhabit many biomes which can be divided into a multitude of ecoregions, only the hardy plants of the Antarctic flora, consisting of algae, mosses, liverworts, lichens, and just two flowering plants, have adapted to the prevailing conditions on that southern continent.
Plants are often the dominant physical and structural component of the habitats where they occur. Many of the Earth's biomes are named for the type of vegetation because plants are the dominant organisms in those biomes, such as grassland, savanna, and tropical rainforest.
### Primary producers
The photosynthesis conducted by land plants and algae is the ultimate source of energy and organic material in nearly all ecosystems. Photosynthesis, at first by cyanobacteria and later by photosynthetic eukaryotes, radically changed the composition of the early Earth's anoxic atmosphere, which as a result is now 21% oxygen. Animals and most other organisms are aerobic, relying on oxygen; those that do not are confined to relatively rare anaerobic environments. Plants are the primary producers in most terrestrial ecosystems and form the basis of the food web in those ecosystems. Plants form about 80% of the world biomass at about 450 gigatonnes (4.4×1011 long tons; 5.0×1011 short tons) of carbon.
### Ecological relationships
Numerous animals have coevolved with plants; flowering plants have evolved pollination syndromes, suites of flower traits that favour their reproduction. Many, including insect and bird partners, are pollinators, visiting flowers and accidentally transferring pollen in exchange for food in the form of pollen or nectar.
Many animals disperse seeds that are adapted for such dispersal. Various mechanisms of dispersal have evolved. Some fruits offer nutritious outer layers attractive to animals, while the seeds are adapted to survive the passage through the animal's gut; others have hooks that enable them to attach to a mammal's fur. Myrmecophytes are plants that have coevolved with ants. The plant provides a home, and sometimes food, for the ants. In exchange, the ants defend the plant from herbivores and sometimes competing plants. Ant wastes serve as organic fertilizer.
The majority of plant species have fungi associated with their root systems in a mutualistic symbiosis known as mycorrhiza. The fungi help the plants gain water and mineral nutrients from the soil, while the plant gives the fungi carbohydrates manufactured in photosynthesis.
Some plants serve as homes for endophytic fungi that protect the plant from herbivores by producing toxins. The fungal endophyte *Neotyphodium coenophialum* in tall fescue grass has pest status in the American cattle industry.
Many legumes have *Rhizobium* nitrogen-fixing bacteria in nodules of their roots, which fix nitrogen from the air for the plant to use; in return, the plants supply sugars to the bacteria. Nitrogen fixed in this way can become available to other plants, and is important in agriculture; for example, farmers may grow a crop rotation of a legume such as beans, followed by a cereal such as wheat, to provide cash crops with a reduced input of nitrogen fertilizer.
Some 1% of plants are parasitic. They range from the semi-parasitic mistletoe that merely takes some nutrients from its host, but still has photosynthetic leaves, to the fully-parasitic broomrape and toothwort that acquire all their nutrients through connections to the roots of other plants, and so have no chlorophyll. Full parasites can be extremely harmful to their plant hosts.
Plants that grow on other plants, usually trees, without parasitizing them, are called epiphytes. These may support diverse arboreal ecosystems. Some may indirectly harm their host plant, such as by intercepting light. Hemiepiphytes like the strangler fig begin as epiphytes, but eventually set their own roots and overpower and kill their host. Many orchids, bromeliads, ferns, and mosses grow as epiphytes. Among the epiphytes, the bromeliads accumulate water in their leaf axils; these water-filled cavities can support complex aquatic food webs.
Some 630 species of plants are carnivorous, such as the Venus flytrap (*Dionaea muscipula*) and sundew (*Drosera* species). They trap small animals and digest them to obtain mineral nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphorus.
### Competition
Competition for shared resources reduces a plant's growth. Shared resources include sunlight, water and nutrients. Light is a critical resource because it is necessary for photosynthesis. Plants use their leaves to shade other plants from sunlight and grow quickly to maximize their own expose. Water too is essential for photosynthesis; roots compete to maximize water uptake from soil. Some plants have deep roots that are able to locate water stored deep underground, and others have shallower roots that are capable of extending longer distances to collect recent rainwater. Minerals are important for plant growth and development. Common nutrients competed for amongst plants include nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
## Importance to humans
### Food
Human cultivation of plants is the core of agriculture, which in turn has played a key role in the history of world civilizations. Humans depend on flowering plants for food, either directly or as feed in animal husbandry. More broadly, agriculture includes agronomy for arable crops, horticulture for vegetables and fruit, and forestry, including both flowering plants and conifers, for timber. About 7,000 species of plant have been used for food, though most of today's food is derived from only 30 species. The major staples include cereals such as rice and wheat, starchy roots and tubers such as cassava and potato, and legumes such as peas and beans. Vegetable oils such as olive oil and palm oil provide lipids, while fruit and vegetables contribute vitamins and minerals to the diet. Coffee, tea, and chocolate are major crops whose caffeine-containing products serve as mild stimulants. The study of plant uses by people is called economic botany or ethnobotany.
### Medicines
Medicinal plants are a primary source of organic compounds, both for their medicinal and physiological effects, and for the industrial synthesis of a vast array of organic chemicals. Many hundreds of medicines, as well as narcotics, are derived from plants, both traditional medicines used in herbalism and chemical substances purified from plants or first identified in them, sometimes by ethnobotanical search, and then synthesised for use in modern medicine. Modern medicines derived from plants include aspirin, taxol, morphine, quinine, reserpine, colchicine, digitalis and vincristine. Plants used in herbalism include ginkgo, echinacea, feverfew, and Saint John's wort. The pharmacopoeia of Dioscorides, *De materia medica*, describing some 600 medicinal plants, was written between 50 and 70 CE and remained in use in Europe and the Middle East until around 1600 CE; it was the precursor of all modern pharmacopoeias.
### Nonfood products
Plants grown as industrial crops are the source of a wide range of products used in manufacturing. Nonfood products include essential oils, natural dyes, pigments, waxes, resins, tannins, alkaloids, amber and cork. Products derived from plants include soaps, shampoos, perfumes, cosmetics, paint, varnish, turpentine, rubber, latex, lubricants, linoleum, plastics, inks, and gums. Renewable fuels from plants include firewood, peat and other biofuels. The fossil fuels coal, petroleum and natural gas are derived from the remains of aquatic organisms including phytoplankton in geological time. Many of the coal fields date to the Carboniferous period of Earth's history. Terrestrial plants also form type III kerogen, a source of natural gas.
Structural resources and fibres from plants are used to construct dwellings and to manufacture clothing. Wood is used for buildings, boats, and furniture, and for smaller items such as musical instruments and sports equipment. Wood is pulped to make paper and cardboard. Cloth is often made from cotton, flax, ramie or synthetic fibres such as rayon, derived from plant cellulose. Thread used to sew cloth likewise comes in large part from cotton.
### Ornamental plants
Thousands of plant species are cultivated for their beauty and to provide shade, modify temperatures, reduce wind, abate noise, provide privacy, and reduce soil erosion. Plants are the basis of a multibillion-dollar per year tourism industry, which includes travel to historic gardens, national parks, rainforests, forests with colourful autumn leaves, and festivals such as Japan's and America's cherry blossom festivals.
Plants may be grown indoors as houseplants, or in specialized buildings such as greenhouses. Plants such as Venus flytrap, sensitive plant and resurrection plant are sold as novelties. Art forms specializing in the arrangement of cut or living plant include bonsai, ikebana, and the arrangement of cut or dried flowers. Ornamental plants have sometimes changed the course of history, as in tulipomania.
### In science
The traditional study of plants is the science of botany. Basic biological research has often used plants as its model organisms. In genetics, the breeding of pea plants allowed Gregor Mendel to derive the basic laws governing inheritance, and examination of chromosomes in maize allowed Barbara McClintock to demonstrate their connection to inherited traits. The plant *Arabidopsis thaliana* is used in laboratories as a model organism to understand how genes control the growth and development of plant structures. Tree rings provide a method of dating in archeology, and a record of past climates. The study of plant fossils, or Paleobotany, provides information about the evolutions of plants, paleogeographical reconstructions, and past climate change. Plant fossils can also help determine the age of rocks.
Plants including trees appear in mythology, religion, and literature. In multiple Indo-European, Siberian, and Native American religions, the world tree motif is depicted as a colossal tree growing on the earth, supporting the heavens, and with its roots reaching into the underworld. It may also appear as a cosmic tree or an eagle and serpent tree. Forms of the world tree include the archetypal tree of life, which is in turn connected to the Eurasian concept of the sacred tree. Another widespread ancient motif, found for example in Iran, has a tree of life flanked by a pair of confronted animals.
Flowers are often used as memorials, gifts and to mark special occasions such as births, deaths, weddings and holidays. Flower arrangements may be used to send hidden messages. Plants and especially flowers form the subjects of many paintings.
### Negative effects
Weeds are commercially or aesthetically undesirable plants growing in managed environments such as in agriculture and gardens. People have spread many plants beyond their native ranges; some of these plants have become invasive, damaging existing ecosystems by displacing native species, and sometimes becoming serious weeds of cultivation.
Some plants that produce windblown pollen, including grasses, invoke allergic reactions in people who suffer from hay fever. Many plants produce toxins to protect themselves from herbivores. Major classes of plant toxins include alkaloids, terpenoids, and phenolics. These can be harmful to humans and livestock by ingestion or, as with poison ivy, by contact. Some plants have negative effects on other plants, preventing seedling growth or the growth of nearby plants by releasing allopathic chemicals.
## See also
- Aquatic plant
- Carbon dioxide removal
- Ecological succession
- Foodscaping
- Natural environment
- Perennial
- Phytoremediation
- Plant identification
- Plant perception (physiology)
- Terrarium
- World Environment Day
## Further reading
**General:**
- Evans, L.T. (1998).
*Feeding the Ten Billion – Plants and Population Growth*. Cambridge University Press.ISBN 0-521-64685-5. - Kenrick, Paul; Crane, Peter R. (1997).
*The Origin and Early Diversification of Land Plants: A Cladistic Study*. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 1-56098-730-8. - Raven, Peter H.; Evert, Ray F.; Eichhorn, Susan E. (2005).
*Biology of Plants*(7th ed.). New York: W.H. Freeman and Company. ISBN 0-7167-1007-2. - Taylor, Thomas N.; Taylor, Edith L. (1993).
*The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants*. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-651589-4.
**Species estimates and counts:**
- International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Species Survival Commission (2004). IUCN Red List The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
- Prance, G. T. (2001). "Discovering the Plant World".
*Taxon*.**50**(2, Golden Jubilee Part 4): 345–359. Bibcode:2001Taxon..50..345P. doi:10.2307/1223885. JSTOR 1223885.
## External links
- Index Nominum Algarum
- Interactive Cronquist classification. Archived 10 February 2006.
- Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. Archived 11 June 2010.
- Tree of Life. Archived 9 March 2022 at the Wayback Machine.
- Botanical and vegetation databases
- African Plants Initiative database
- Australia
- Chilean plants at
*Chilebosque* - e-Floras (Flora of China, Flora of North America and others). Archived 19 February 2022 at the Wayback Machine.
- Flora Europaea
- Flora of Central Europe (in German)
- Flora of North America. Archived 19 February 2022 at the Wayback Machine.
- List of Japanese Wild Plants Online. Archived 16 March 2022 at the Wayback Machine.
- Meet the Plants-National Tropical Botanical Garden. Archived 16 June 2007.
- Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center – Native Plant Information Network at University of Texas, Austin
- United States Department of Agriculture not limited to continental US species.
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# Bob Dylan - Wikipedia
Bob Dylan | |
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| Born | Robert Allen Zimmerman May 24, 1941 |
| Other names | |
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| Years active | 1957–present |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 6, including Jesse and Jakob |
| Awards | |
Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instruments |
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| Discography | |
| Labels | |
| Formerly of | Traveling Wilburys |
| Website | bobdylan |
| Signature | |
**Bob Dylan** (legally **Robert Dylan**; born **Robert Allen Zimmerman**, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year career. With an estimated more than 125 million records sold worldwide, he is one of the best-selling musicians of all time. Dylan added increasingly sophisticated lyrical techniques to the folk music of the early 1960s, infusing it "with the intellectualism of classic literature and poetry". His lyrics incorporated political, social, and philosophical influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning counterculture.
Dylan was born in St. Louis County, Minnesota. He moved to New York City in 1961 to pursue a career in music. Following his 1962 debut album, *Bob Dylan*, featuring traditional folk and blues material, he released his breakthrough album *The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan* (1963), which included "Girl from the North Country" and "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall", adapting older folk songs. His songs "Blowin' in the Wind" (1963) and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" (1964) became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements. In 1965 and 1966, Dylan created controversy among folk purists when he used electrically amplified rock instrumentation for his albums *Bringing It All Back Home*, *Highway 61 Revisited* (both 1965), and *Blonde on Blonde* (1966). His six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone" (1965) expanded commercial and creative boundaries in popular music.
In July 1966, a motorcycle crash led Dylan to cease touring for seven years. During this period, he recorded a large body of songs with members of the Band which produced the album *The Basement Tapes* (1975). Dylan explored country music and rural themes on the albums *John Wesley Harding* (1967), *Nashville Skyline* (1969) and *New Morning* (1970). He gained critical attention for *Blood on the Tracks* (1975), and *Time Out of Mind* (1997), the latter of which earned him the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Dylan still releases music and has toured continuously since the late 1980s on what has become known as the Never Ending Tour. Since 1994, Dylan has published ten books of paintings and drawings, and his work has been exhibited in major art galleries. His life has been profiled in several documentaries and the biopic *A Complete Unknown* (2024).
Dylan's numerous accolades include an Academy Award, ten Grammy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. He was honored with the Kennedy Center Honors in 1997, National Medal of Arts in 2009, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. Dylan has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize special citation in 2008, and the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".
## Early life and education
Bob Dylan was born *Robert Allen Zimmerman* (his Hebrew name is *Shabtai Zisl ben Avraham*) in St. Mary's Hospital on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota. Dylan's paternal grandparents, Anna Kirghiz and Zigman Zimmerman, emigrated from Odessa in the Russian Empire (now Ukraine) to the United States, following the 1905 pogroms against Jews. His maternal grandparents, Florence and Ben Stone, were Lithuanian Jews who had arrived in the US in 1902. Dylan wrote that his paternal grandmother's family was originally from the Kağızman District of Kars Province, northeastern Turkey.
Dylan's father Abram Zimmerman and his mother Beatrice "Beatty" Stone were part of a small, close-knit Jewish community. They lived in Duluth until Dylan was six, when his father contracted polio and the family returned to his mother's hometown of Hibbing, where they lived for the rest of Dylan's childhood, and his father and paternal uncles ran a furniture and appliance store.
In the early 1950s, Dylan listened to the *Grand Ole Opry* radio show and heard the songs of Hank Williams. He later wrote: "The sound of his voice went through me like an electric rod." Dylan was also impressed by the delivery of Johnnie Ray: "He was the first singer whose voice and style, I guess, I totally fell in love with.... I loved his style, wanted to dress like him too." As a teenager, Dylan heard rock and roll on radio stations broadcasting from Shreveport and Little Rock.
Dylan formed several bands while attending Hibbing High School. In the Golden Chords, he performed covers of songs by Little Richard and Elvis Presley. Their performance of Danny & the Juniors' "Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay" at their high school talent show was so loud that the principal cut the microphone. On January 31, 1959, 17-year-old Dylan saw Buddy Holly perform at the Duluth Armory, four days before Holly's fatal plane crash. Dylan was electrified and in his Nobel Prize lecture he explained: "Buddy wrote songs – songs that had beautiful melodies and imaginative verses. And he sang great – sang in more than a few voices. He was the archetype. Everything I wasn't and wanted to be."
In 1959, Dylan's high school yearbook carried the caption "Robert Zimmerman: to join 'Little Richard'". That year, as Elston Gunnn, he performed twice with Bobby Vee, playing piano and clapping. In September 1959, Dylan enrolled at the University of Minnesota. Living at the Jewish-centric fraternity Sigma Alpha Mu house, Dylan began to perform at the Ten O'Clock Scholar, a coffeehouse near campus, and became involved in the Dinkytown folk music circuit. His focus on rock and roll gave way to American folk music, as he explained in a 1985 interview:
The thing about rock'n'roll is that for me anyway it wasn't enough.... There were great catch-phrases and driving pulse rhythms ... but the songs weren't serious or didn't reflect life in a realistic way. I knew that when I got into folk music, it was more of a serious type of thing. The songs are filled with more despair, more sadness, more triumph, more faith in the supernatural, much deeper feelings.
During this period, he began to introduce himself as "Bob Dylan". In his memoir, he wrote that he considered adopting the surname *Dillon* before unexpectedly seeing poems by Dylan Thomas, and deciding upon the given name spelling. In a 2004 interview, he said, "You're born, you know, the wrong names, wrong parents. I mean, that happens. You call yourself what you want to call yourself. This is the land of the free."
## Career
Dylan dropped out of college in May 1960 at the end of his first year. In January 1961, he traveled to New York City to perform and visit his musical idol Woody Guthrie at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in New Jersey. Guthrie had been a revelation to Dylan and influenced his early performances. He wrote of Guthrie's impact: "The songs themselves had the infinite sweep of humanity in them... [He] was the true voice of the American spirit. I said to myself I was going to be Guthrie's greatest disciple". In addition to Guthrie, Dylan wrote in *Chronicles* that major influences on his early song writing included Robert Johnson's blues and what he called the "architectural forms" of Hank Williams's country songs.
From February 1961, Dylan played at clubs around Greenwich Village, befriending and picking up material from folk singers, including Dave Van Ronk, Fred Neil, Odetta, the New Lost City Ramblers and Irish musicians the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. In September, *The New York Times* critic Robert Shelton boosted Dylan's career with a very enthusiastic review of his performance at Gerde's Folk City: "Bob Dylan: A Distinctive Folk-Song Stylist". That month, Dylan played harmonica on folk singer Carolyn Hester's third album, bringing him to the attention of the album's producer John Hammond, who signed Dylan to Columbia Records. Dylan's debut album, *Bob Dylan*, released March 19, 1962, consisted of traditional folk, blues and gospel material with just two original compositions, "Talkin' New York" and "Song to Woody". The album sold 5,000 copies in its first year, just breaking even.
On August 9, 1962, Dylan legally changed his name to Robert Dylan in the St. Louis County Court, Hibbing. His father, Abraham Zimmerman, was the witness. The same month, Dylan signed a management contract with Albert Grossman. Grossman remained Dylan's manager until 1970, and was known for his sometimes confrontational personality and protective loyalty. Dylan said, "He was kind of like a Colonel Tom Parker figure ... you could smell him coming." Tension between Grossman and John Hammond led to the latter suggesting Dylan work with the jazz producer Tom Wilson, who produced several tracks for the second album without formal credit. Wilson produced the next three albums Dylan recorded.
Dylan made his first trip to the United Kingdom from December 1962 to January 1963. He had been invited by television director Philip Saville to appear in *Madhouse on Castle Street*, which Saville was directing for BBC Television. At the end of the play, Dylan performed "Blowin' in the Wind", one of its first public performances. While in London, Dylan performed at several folk clubs, including the Troubadour, Les Cousins, and Bunjies. He also learned material from UK performers, including Martin Carthy.
With the release of Dylan's second album, *The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan*, in May 1963, he began to make his name as a singer-songwriter. Many songs on the album were labeled protest songs, inspired partly by Guthrie and influenced by Pete Seeger's passion for topical songs. "Oxford Town" was an account of James Meredith's ordeal as the first Black student at the University of Mississippi. The first song on the album, "Blowin' in the Wind", partly derived its melody from the traditional slave song "No More Auction Block", while its lyrics questioned the status quo. The song was widely recorded by other artists and became a hit for Peter, Paul, and Mary. "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" was based on the folk ballad "Lord Randall". With its apocalyptic premonitions, the song gained resonance when the Cuban Missile Crisis developed a few weeks after Dylan began performing it. Both songs marked a new direction in songwriting, blending a stream-of-consciousness, imagist lyrical attack with traditional folk form.
Dylan's topical songs led to his being viewed as more than just a songwriter. Janet Maslin wrote of *Freewheelin'*:
These were the songs that established [Dylan] as the voice of his generation —someone who implicitly understood how concerned young Americans felt about nuclear disarmament and the growing civil rights movement: his mixture of moral authority and nonconformity was perhaps the most timely of his attributes.
*Freewheelin'* also included love songs and surreal talking blues. Humor was an important part of Dylan's persona, and the range of material on the album impressed listeners, including the Beatles. George Harrison said of the album: "We just played it, just wore it out. The content of the song lyrics and just the attitude — it was incredibly original and wonderful".
The rough edge of Dylan's singing unsettled some, but attracted others. Author Joyce Carol Oates wrote: "When we first heard this raw, very young, and seemingly untrained voice, frankly nasal, as if sandpaper could sing, the effect was dramatic and electrifying". Many early Dylan songs reached the public through more palatable versions by other performers, such as Joan Baez, who became Dylan's advocate and lover. Baez was influential in bringing Dylan to prominence by recording several of his early songs and inviting him on stage during her concerts. Others who had hits with Dylan's songs in the early 1960s included the Byrds, Sonny & Cher, the Hollies, the Association, Manfred Mann, and the Turtles.
"Mixed-Up Confusion", recorded during the *Freewheelin'* sessions with a backing band, was released as Dylan's first single in December 1962, but then swiftly withdrawn. In contrast to the mostly solo acoustic performances on the album, the single showed a willingness to experiment with a rockabilly sound. Cameron Crowe described it as "a fascinating look at a folk artist with his mind wandering towards Elvis Presley and Sun Records".
*Another Side*
In May 1963, Dylan's political profile rose when he walked out of *The Ed Sullivan Show*. During rehearsals, Dylan had been told by CBS television's head of program practices that "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues" was potentially libelous to the John Birch Society. Rather than comply with censorship, Dylan refused to appear.
Dylan and Baez were prominent in the civil rights movement, singing together at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. Dylan performed "Only a Pawn in Their Game" and "When the Ship Comes In".
Dylan's third album, *The Times They Are a-Changin'*, reflected a more politicized Dylan. The songs often took as their subject matter contemporary stories, with "Only a Pawn in Their Game" addressing the murder of civil rights worker Medgar Evers, and the Brechtian "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" the death of Black hotel barmaid Hattie Carroll at the hands of young White socialite William Zantzinger. "Ballad of Hollis Brown" and "North Country Blues" addressed despair engendered by the breakdown of farming and mining communities.
The final track on the album expressed Dylan's angry response to a hostile profile published in *Newsweek*. As biographer Clinton Heylin puts it, the profile wrote about "the way the Bar Mitzvah boy from Hibbing, Minnesota, had reinvented himself as the prince of protest", emphasising his birth name, his attendance at the University of Minnesota, and his close relationship with his parents from whom he claimed to be estranged. The day after the article appeared, Dylan returned to the studio to record "Restless Farewell" which ends with his vow to "make my stand/ And remain as I am/ And bid farewell and not give a damn".
By the end of 1963, Dylan felt manipulated and constrained by the folk and protest movements. Accepting the "Tom Paine Award" from the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee three weeks after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, an intoxicated Dylan questioned the role of the committee, characterized the members as old and balding, and claimed to see something of himself and of every man in Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.
Johnny Cash supported Dylan in his refusal to conform when he wrote a letter to *Broadside* magazine in March 1964, expressing admiration for Dylan's writing and ending with the injunction: "Shut up! And let him sing!" When Cash died in 2003, Dylan remembered: "Johnny wrote the magazine saying to shut up and let me sing, that I knew what I was doing. This was before I had ever met him, and the letter meant the world to me." Cash and Dylan met for the first time at the Newport Folk Festival in July 1964 and became friends.
*Another Side of Bob Dylan*, recorded in a single evening on June 9, 1964, had a lighter mood. The humorous Dylan reemerged on "I Shall Be Free No. 10" and "Motorpsycho Nightmare". "Spanish Harlem Incident" and "To Ramona" are passionate love songs, while "Black Crow Blues" and "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)" suggest the rock and roll soon to dominate Dylan's music. "It Ain't Me Babe", on the surface a song about spurned love, has been described as a rejection of the role of political spokesman thrust upon him. His new direction was signaled by two lengthy songs: the impressionistic "Chimes of Freedom", which sets social commentary against a metaphorical landscape in a style characterized by Allen Ginsberg as "chains of flashing images," and "My Back Pages", which attacks the simplistic seriousness of his own earlier topical songs and seems to predict the backlash he was about to encounter from his former champions.
In late 1964 and early 1965, Dylan moved from folk songwriter to folk-rock pop-music star. His jeans and work shirts were replaced by a Carnaby Street wardrobe, sunglasses day and night, and pointed "Beatle boots". A London reporter noted "Hair that would set the teeth of a comb on edge. A loud shirt that would dim the neon lights of Leicester Square. He looks like an undernourished cockatoo." Dylan began to spar with interviewers. While on Les Crane's television show, asked about a movie he planned, he told Crane it would be a "cowboy horror movie". Asked if he played the cowboy, Dylan replied, "No, I play my mother."
Dylan's late March 1965 album, *Bringing It All Back Home*, was another leap, featuring his first recordings with electric instruments, under producer Tom Wilson's guidance. The first single, "Subterranean Homesick Blues", owed much to Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business", its free-association lyrics described as harking back to the energy of beat poetry and as a forerunner of rap and hip-hop. The song was provided with an early music video, which opened D. A. Pennebaker's cinéma vérité presentation of Dylan's 1965 British tour, *Dont Look Back*. Instead of miming, Dylan illustrated the lyrics by throwing cue cards containing key words on the ground. Pennebaker said the sequence was Dylan's idea, and it has been imitated in music videos and advertisements.
The second side of *Bringing It All Back Home* contained four long songs on which Dylan accompanied himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica. "Mr. Tambourine Man" became one of his best-known songs when The Byrds recorded an electric version, which reached number one in the US and UK. "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" and "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" were two of Dylan's most important compositions.
In 1965, headlining the Newport Folk Festival, Dylan performed his first electric set since high school with a pickup group featuring Mike Bloomfield on guitar and Al Kooper on organ. Dylan had appeared at Newport in 1963 and 1964, but in 1965 he was met with cheering and booing and left the stage after three songs. One version has it that the boos were from folk fans whom Dylan had alienated by appearing, unexpectedly, with an electric guitar. Murray Lerner, who filmed the performance, said: "I absolutely think that they were booing Dylan going electric." An alternative account claims audience members were upset by poor sound and a short set.
Dylan's performance provoked a hostile response from the folk music establishment. In the September issue of *Sing Out!*, Ewan MacColl wrote: "Our traditional songs and ballads are the creations of extraordinarily talented artists working inside disciplines formulated over time.... 'But what of Bobby Dylan?' scream the outraged teenagers.... Only a completely non-critical audience, nourished on the watery pap of pop music, could have fallen for such tenth-rate drivel". On July 29, four days after Newport, Dylan was back in the studio in New York, recording "Positively 4th Street". The lyrics contained images of vengeance and paranoia, and have been interpreted as Dylan's put-down of former friends from the folk community he had known in clubs along West 4th Street.
** Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde **
In July 1965, Dylan's six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone" peaked at number two in the US chart. In 2004 and in 2011, *Rolling Stone* listed it as number one on "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Bruce Springsteen recalled first hearing the song: "that snare shot sounded like somebody'd kicked open the door to your mind." The song opened Dylan's next album, *Highway 61 Revisited*, named after the road that led from Dylan's Minnesota to the musical hotbed of New Orleans. The songs were in the same vein as the hit single, flavored by Mike Bloomfield's blues guitar and Al Kooper's organ riffs. "Desolation Row", backed by acoustic guitar and understated bass, offers the sole exception, with Dylan alluding to figures in Western culture in a song described by Andy Gill as "an 11-minute epic of entropy, which takes the form of a Fellini-esque parade of grotesques and oddities featuring a huge cast of celebrated characters". Poet Philip Larkin, who also reviewed jazz for *The Daily Telegraph*, wrote "I'm afraid I poached Bob Dylan's *Highway 61 Revisited* (CBS) out of curiosity and found myself well rewarded."
In support of the album, Dylan was booked for two US concerts with Al Kooper and Harvey Brooks from his studio crew and Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm, former members of Ronnie Hawkins's backing band the Hawks. On August 28 at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, the group was heckled by an audience still annoyed by Dylan's electric sound, though their reception on September 3 at the Hollywood Bowl was more favorable.
From September 24, 1965, in Austin, Texas, Dylan toured the US and Canada for six months, backed by the five musicians from the Hawks who became known as the Band. While Dylan and the Hawks met increasingly receptive audiences, their studio efforts floundered. Producer Bob Johnston persuaded Dylan to record in Nashville in February 1966, and surrounded him with top-notch session men. At Dylan's insistence, Robertson and Kooper came from New York City to play on the sessions. The Nashville sessions produced the double album *Blonde on Blonde* (1966), featuring what Dylan called "that thin wild mercury sound". Kooper described it as "taking two cultures and smashing them together with a huge explosion": the musical worlds of Nashville and of the "quintessential New York hipster" Bob Dylan.
On November 22, 1965, Dylan quietly married 25-year-old former model Sara Lownds. Some of Dylan's friends, including Ramblin' Jack Elliott, say that, immediately after the event, Dylan denied he was married. Writer Nora Ephron made the news public in the *New York Post* in February 1966 with the headline "Hush! Bob Dylan is wed".
Dylan toured Australia and Europe in April and May 1966. Each show was split in two. Dylan performed solo during the first half, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica. In the second, backed by the Hawks, he played electrically amplified music. This contrast provoked many fans, who jeered and slow clapped. The tour culminated in a raucous confrontation between Dylan and his audience at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in England on May 17, 1966. A recording of this concert was released in 1998: *The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966*. At the climax of the evening, a member of the audience, angered by Dylan's electric backing, shouted: "Judas!" to which Dylan responded, "I don't believe you ... You're a liar!" Dylan turned to his band and said, "Play it fucking loud!"
During his 1966 tour, Dylan was described as exhausted and acting "as if on a death trip". D. A. Pennebaker, the filmmaker accompanying the tour, described Dylan as "taking a lot of amphetamine and who-knows-what-else". In a 1969 interview with Jann Wenner, Dylan said, "I was on the road for almost five years. It wore me down. I was on drugs, a lot of things ... just to keep going, you know?"
On July 29, 1966, Dylan crashed his motorcycle, a Triumph Tiger 100, near his home in Woodstock, New York. Dylan said he broke several vertebrae in his neck. The circumstances of the accident are unclear since no ambulance was called to the scene and Dylan was not hospitalized. Dylan's biographers have written that the crash offered him the chance to escape the pressures around him. Dylan concurred: "I had been in a motorcycle accident and I'd been hurt, but I recovered. Truth was that I wanted to get out of the rat race." He made very few public appearances, and did not tour again for almost eight years.
Once Dylan was well enough to resume creative work, he began to edit D. A. Pennebaker's film of his 1966 tour. A rough cut was shown to ABC Television, but they rejected it as incomprehensible to mainstream audiences. The film, titled *Eat the Document* on bootleg copies, has since been screened at a few film festivals. Secluded from public gaze, Dylan recorded over 100 songs during 1967 at his Woodstock home and in the basement of the Hawks' nearby house, "Big Pink". These songs were initially offered as demos for other artists to record and were hits for Julie Driscoll, the Byrds, and Manfred Mann. The public heard these recordings when *Great White Wonder*, the first "bootleg recording", appeared in West Coast shops in July 1969, containing Dylan material recorded in Minneapolis in 1961 and seven Basement Tapes songs. This record gave birth to a minor industry in the illicit release of recordings by Dylan and other major rock artists. Columbia released a Basement selection in 1975 as *The Basement Tapes*.
In late 1967, Dylan returned to studio recording in Nashville, accompanied by Charlie McCoy on bass, Kenny Buttrey on drums and Pete Drake on steel guitar. The result was *John Wesley Harding*, a record of short songs thematically drawing on the American West and the Bible. The sparse structure and instrumentation, with lyrics that took the Judeo-Christian tradition seriously, was a departure from Dylan's previous work. It included "All Along the Watchtower", famously covered by Jimi Hendrix. Woody Guthrie died in October 1967, and Dylan made his first live appearance in twenty months at a memorial concert held at Carnegie Hall on January 20, 1968, where he was backed by the Band.
*Nashville Skyline* (1969), featured Nashville musicians, a mellow-voiced Dylan, a duet with Johnny Cash and the single "Lay Lady Lay". *Variety* wrote, "Dylan is definitely doing something that can be called singing. Somehow he has managed to add an octave to his range." During one recording session, Dylan and Cash recorded a series of duets, but only their version of "Girl from the North Country" appeared on the album. The album influenced the nascent genre of country rock.
In 1969, Dylan was asked to write songs for *Scratch*, Archibald MacLeish's musical adaptation of "The Devil and Daniel Webster". MacLeish initially praised Dylan's contributions, writing to him "Those songs of yours have been haunting me—and exciting me," but creative differences led to Dylan leaving the project. Some of the songs were later recorded by Dylan in a revised form. In May 1969, Dylan appeared on the first episode of *The Johnny Cash Show* where he sang a duet with Cash on "Girl from the North Country" and played solos of "Living the Blues" and "I Threw It All Away". Dylan traveled to England to top the bill at the Isle of Wight Festival on August 31, 1969, after rejecting overtures to appear at the Woodstock Festival closer to home.
In the early 1970s, critics charged that Dylan's output was varied and unpredictable. Greil Marcus asked "What is this shit?" upon first hearing *Self Portrait*, released in June 1970. It was a double LP including few original songs and was poorly received. In October 1970, Dylan released *New Morning*, considered a return to form. The title track was from Dylan's ill-fated collaboration with MacLeish, and "Day of the Locusts" was his account of receiving an honorary degree from Princeton University on June 9, 1970. In November 1968, Dylan co-wrote "I'd Have You Anytime" with George Harrison; Harrison recorded that song and Dylan's "If Not for You" for his album *All Things Must Pass*. Olivia Newton-John covered "If Not For You" on her debut album and "The Man in Me" was prominently featured in the film *The Big Lebowski* (1998).
*Tarantula*, a freeform book of prose-poetry, had been written by Dylan during a creative burst in 1964–65. Dylan shelved his book for several years, apparently uncertain of its status, until he suddenly informed Macmillan at the end of 1970 that the time had come to publish it. The book attracted negative reviews but later critics have suggested its affinities with *Finnegans Wake* and *A Season in Hell*.
Between March 16 and 19, 1971, Dylan recorded with Leon Russell at Blue Rock, a small studio in Greenwich Village. These sessions resulted in "Watching the River Flow" and a new recording of "When I Paint My Masterpiece". On November 4, 1971, Dylan recorded "George Jackson", which he released a week later. For many, the single was a surprising return to protest material, mourning the killing of Black Panther George Jackson in San Quentin State Prison. Dylan's surprise appearance at Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh on August 1, 1971, attracted media coverage as his live appearances had become rare.
In 1972, Dylan joined Sam Peckinpah's film *Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid*, providing the soundtrack and playing "Alias", a member of Billy's gang. Despite the film's failure at the box office, "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" became one of Dylan's most covered songs. That same year, Dylan protested the move to deport John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who had been convicted for marijuana possession, by sending a letter to the US Immigration Service which read in part: "Hurray for John & Yoko. Let them stay and live here and breathe. The country's got plenty of room and space. Let John and Yoko stay!"
Dylan began 1973 by signing with a new label, David Geffen's Asylum Records, when his contract with Columbia Records expired. His next album, *Planet Waves*, was recorded in the fall of 1973, using the Band as his backing group as they rehearsed for a major tour. The album included two versions of "Forever Young", which became one of his most popular songs. As one critic described it, the song projected "something hymnal and heartfelt that spoke of the father in Dylan", and Dylan said "I wrote it thinking about one of my boys and not wanting to be too sentimental". Columbia Records simultaneously released *Dylan*, a collection of studio outtakes, widely interpreted as a churlish response to Dylan's signing with a rival record label.
In January 1974, Dylan, backed by the Band, embarked on a North American tour of 40 concerts—his first tour for seven years. A live double album, *Before the Flood*, was released on Asylum Records. Soon, according to Clive Davis, Columbia Records sent word they "will spare nothing to bring Dylan back into the fold". Dylan had second thoughts about Asylum, unhappy that Geffen had sold only 600,000 copies of *Planet Waves* despite millions of unfulfilled ticket requests for the 1974 tour; he returned to Columbia Records, which reissued his two Asylum albums.
After the tour, Dylan and his wife became estranged. He filled three small notebooks with songs about relationships and ruptures, and recorded the album *Blood on the Tracks* in September 1974. Dylan delayed the album's release and re-recorded half the songs at Sound 80 Studios in Minneapolis with production assistance from his brother, David Zimmerman. Released in early 1975, *Blood on the Tracks* received mixed reviews. In *NME*, Nick Kent described the "accompaniments" as "often so trashy they sound like mere practice takes". In *Rolling Stone*, Jon Landau wrote that "the record has been made with typical shoddiness". Over the years critics came to see it as one of Dylan's masterpieces. In *Salon*, journalist Bill Wyman wrote:
Blood on the Tracksis his only flawless album and his best produced; the songs, each of them, are constructed in disciplined fashion. It is his kindest album and most dismayed, and seems in hindsight to have achieved a sublime balance between the logorrhea-plagued excesses of his mid-1960s output and the self-consciously simple compositions of his post-accident years.
In the middle of 1975, Dylan championed boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, imprisoned for triple murder, with his ballad "Hurricane" making the case for Carter's innocence. Despite its length—over eight minutes—the song was released as a single, peaking at 33 on the US Billboard chart, and performed at every 1975 date of Dylan's next tour, the Rolling Thunder Revue. Running through late 1975 and again through early 1976, the tour featured about one hundred performers and supporters from the Greenwich Village folk scene, among them Ramblin' Jack Elliott, T-Bone Burnett, Joni Mitchell, David Mansfield, Roger McGuinn, Mick Ronson, Ronee Blakely, Joan Baez and Scarlet Rivera, whom Dylan discovered walking down the street, her violin case on her back. The tour encompassed the January 1976 release of the album *Desire*. Many of *Desire'*s songs featuring a travelogue-like narrative style, influenced by Dylan's new collaborator, playwright Jacques Levy. The 1976 half of the tour was documented by a TV concert special, *Hard Rain*, and the LP *Hard Rain*.
The 1975 tour with the Revue provided the backdrop to Dylan's film *Renaldo and Clara*, a sprawling narrative mixed with concert footage and reminiscences. Actor and playwright Sam Shepard accompanied the Revue and was to serve as screenwriter, but much of the film was improvised. Released in 1978, it received negative, sometimes scathing, reviews. Later in the year, a two-hour edit, dominated by the concert performances, was more widely released. In November 1976, Dylan appeared at the Band's farewell concert with Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Van Morrison, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. Martin Scorsese's 1978 film of the concert, *The Last Waltz*, included most of Dylan's set.
In 1978, Dylan embarked on a year-long world tour, performing 114 shows in Japan, the Far East, Europe and North America, to a total audience of two million. Dylan assembled an eight-piece band and three backing singers. Concerts in Tokyo in February and March were released as the live double album *Bob Dylan at Budokan*. Reviews were mixed. Robert Christgau awarded the album a C+ rating, while Janet Maslin defended it: "These latest live versions of his old songs have the effect of liberating Bob Dylan from the originals". When Dylan brought the tour to the US in September 1978, the press described the look and sound as a "Las Vegas Tour". The 1978 tour grossed more than $20 million, and Dylan told the *Los Angeles Times* that he had debts because "I had a couple of bad years. I put a lot of money into the movie, built a big house ... and it costs a lot to get divorced in California." In April and May 1978, Dylan took the same band and vocalists into Rundown Studios in Santa Monica, California, to record an album of new material, *Street-Legal*. It was described by Michael Gray as "after *Blood On The Tracks*, arguably Dylan's best record of the 1970s: a crucial album documenting a crucial period in Dylan's own life". However, it had poor sound and mixing (attributed to Dylan's studio practices), muddying the instrumental detail until a remastered CD release in 1999 restored some of the songs' strengths.
In the late 1970s, Dylan converted to Evangelical Christianity, undertaking a three-month discipleship course run by the Association of Vineyard Churches. He released three albums of contemporary gospel music. *Slow Train Coming* (1979) featured Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler and was produced by veteran R&B producer Jerry Wexler. Wexler said that Dylan had tried to evangelize him during the recording. He replied: "Bob, you're dealing with a 62-year-old Jewish atheist. Let's just make an album." Dylan won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for the song "Gotta Serve Somebody". When touring in late 1979 and early 1980, Dylan would not play his older, secular works, and he delivered declarations of his faith from the stage, such as:
Years ago they ... said I was a prophet. I used to say, "No I'm not a prophet", they say "Yes you are, you're a prophet." I said, "No it's not me." They used to say "You sure are a prophet." They used to convince me I was a prophet. Now I come out and say Jesus Christ is the answer. They say, "Bob Dylan's no prophet." They just can't handle it.
Dylan's Christianity was unpopular with some fans and musicians. John Lennon, shortly before being murdered, recorded "Serve Yourself" in response to "Gotta Serve Somebody". In 1981, Stephen Holden wrote in *The New York Times* that "neither age (he's now 40) nor his much-publicized conversion to born-again Christianity has altered his essentially iconoclastic temperament".
In late 1980, Dylan briefly played concerts billed as "A Musical Retrospective", restoring popular 1960s songs to the repertoire. His second Christian album, *Saved* (1980), received mixed reviews, described by Michael Gray as "the nearest thing to a follow-up album Dylan has ever made, *Slow Train Coming II* and inferior". His third Christian album was *Shot of Love* (1981). The album featured his first secular compositions in more than two years, mixed with Christian songs. The lyrics of "Every Grain of Sand" recall William Blake's "Auguries of Innocence". Elvis Costello wrote that "*Shot of Love* may not be your favorite Bob Dylan record, but it might contain his best song: 'Every Grain of Sand'."
Reception of Dylan's 1980s recordings varied. Gray criticized Dylan's 1980s albums for carelessness in the studio and for failing to release his best songs. *Infidels* (1983) employed Knopfler again as lead guitarist and also as producer; the sessions resulted in several songs that Dylan left off the album. Best regarded of these were "Blind Willie McTell", which was both a tribute to the eponymous blues musician and an evocation of African American history, "Foot of Pride" and "Lord Protect My Child". These three songs were later released on *The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991*.
Between July 1984 and March 1985, Dylan recorded *Empire Burlesque*. Arthur Baker, who had remixed hits for Bruce Springsteen and Cyndi Lauper, was asked to engineer and mix the album. Baker said he felt he was hired to make Dylan's album sound "a little bit more contemporary". In 1985 Dylan sang on USA for Africa's famine relief single "We Are the World". He also joined Artists United Against Apartheid, providing vocals for their single "Sun City". On July 13, 1985, he appeared at the Live Aid concert at JFK Stadium, Philadelphia. Backed by Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, he performed a ragged version of "Ballad of Hollis Brown", a tale of rural poverty, and then said to the worldwide audience: "I hope that some of the money ... maybe they can just take a little bit of it, maybe ... one or two million, maybe ... and use it to pay the mortgages on some of the farms and, the farmers here, owe to the banks". His remarks were widely criticized as inappropriate, but inspired Willie Nelson to organize a concert, Farm Aid, to benefit debt-ridden American farmers.
In October 1985, Dylan released *Biograph*, a box set featuring 53 tracks, 18 of them previously unreleased. Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote: "Historically, *Biograph* is significant not for what it did for Dylan's career, but for establishing the box set, complete with hits and rarities, as a viable part of rock history." *Biograph* also contained liner notes by Cameron Crowe in which Dylan discussed the origins of some of his songs.
In April 1986, Dylan made a foray into rap when he added vocals to the opening verse of "Street Rock" on Kurtis Blow's album *Kingdom Blow*. Dylan's next studio album, *Knocked Out Loaded* (1986), contained three covers (by Junior Parker, Kris Kristofferson and the gospel hymn "Precious Memories"), plus three collaborations (with Tom Petty, Sam Shepard and Carole Bayer Sager), and two solo compositions by Dylan. A reviewer wrote:
the record follows too many detours to be consistently compelling, and some of those detours wind down roads that are indisputably dead ends. By 1986, such uneven records weren't entirely unexpected by Dylan, but that didn't make them any less frustrating.
It was the first Dylan album since his 1962 debut to fail to make the Top 50. Some critics have called the song Dylan co-wrote with Shepard, "Brownsville Girl", a masterpiece.
In 1986 and 1987, Dylan toured with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, sharing vocals with Petty on several songs each night. Dylan also toured with the Grateful Dead in 1987, resulting in the live album *Dylan & The Dead*, which received negative reviews; Erlewine said it was "quite possibly the worst album by either Bob Dylan or the Grateful Dead". Dylan initiated what came to be called the Never Ending Tour on June 7, 1988, performing with a back-up band featuring guitarist G. E. Smith. Dylan would continue to tour with a small, changing band for the next 30 years. In 1987, Dylan starred in Richard Marquand's movie *Hearts of Fire*, in which he played Billy Parker, a washed-up rock star turned chicken farmer whose teenage lover (Fiona) leaves him for a jaded English synth-pop sensation (Rupert Everett). Dylan also contributed two original songs to the soundtrack—"Night After Night", and "Had a Dream About You, Baby", as well as a cover of John Hiatt's "The Usual". The film was a critical and commercial flop.
Dylan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in January 1988. Bruce Springsteen, in his introduction, declared, "Bob freed your mind the way Elvis freed your body. He showed us that just because music was innately physical did not mean that it was anti-intellectual". *Down in the Groove* (1988) sold even more poorly than *Knocked Out Loaded*. Gray wrote: "The very title undercuts any idea that inspired work may lie within. Here was a further devaluing of the notion of a new Bob Dylan album as something significant." The critical and commercial disappointment of that album was swiftly followed by the success of the Traveling Wilburys, a supergroup Dylan co-founded with George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. In late 1988, their *Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1* reached number three on the US albums chart, featuring songs described as Dylan's most accessible in years. Despite Orbison's death in December 1988, the remaining four recorded a second album in May 1990, *Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3*.
Dylan finished the decade on a critical high note with *Oh Mercy*, produced by Daniel Lanois. Gray praised the album as "Attentively written, vocally distinctive, musically warm, and uncompromisingly professional, this cohesive whole is the nearest thing to a great Bob Dylan album in the 1980s." "Most of the Time", a lost-love composition, was prominently featured in the film *High Fidelity* (2000), while "What Was It You Wanted" has been interpreted both as a catechism and a wry comment on the expectations of critics and fans. The religious imagery of "Ring Them Bells" struck some critics as a re-affirmation of faith.
Dylan's 1990s began with *Under the Red Sky* (1990), an about-face from the serious *Oh Mercy*. It contained several apparently simple songs, including "Under the Red Sky" and "Wiggle Wiggle". The album was dedicated to "Gabby Goo Goo", a nickname for the daughter of Dylan and Carolyn Dennis, Desiree Gabrielle Dennis-Dylan, who was four. Musicians on the album included George Harrison, Slash, David Crosby, Bruce Hornsby, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Elton John. The record received negative reviews and sold poorly. In 1990 and 1991 Dylan was described by his biographers as drinking heavily, impairing his performances on stage. In an interview with *Rolling Stone*, Dylan dismissed allegations that drinking was interfering with his music: "That's completely inaccurate. I can drink or not drink. I don't know why people would associate drinking with *anything* I do, really".
Defilement and remorse were themes Dylan addressed when he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award from Jack Nicholson in February 1991. The event coincided with the start of the Gulf War and Dylan played "Masters of War"; *Rolling Stone* called his performance "almost unintelligible". He made a short speech: "My daddy once said to me, he said, 'Son, it is possible for you to become so defiled in this world that your own mother and father will abandon you. If that happens, God will believe in your ability to mend your own ways'". This was a paraphrase of 19th-century Orthodox Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch's commentary on Psalm 27. On October 16, 1992, the thirtieth anniversary of Dylan's debut album was celebrated with a concert at Madison Square Garden, christened "Bobfest" by Neil Young and featuring John Mellencamp, Stevie Wonder, Lou Reed, Eddie Vedder, Dylan and others. It was recorded as the live album *The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration*.
Over the next few years Dylan returned to his roots with two albums covering traditional folk and blues songs: *Good as I Been to You* (1992) and *World Gone Wrong* (1993), backed solely by his acoustic guitar. Many critics and fans noted the quiet beauty of the song "Lone Pilgrim", written by a 19th-century teacher. In August 1994, he played at Woodstock '94; *Rolling Stone* called his performance "triumphant". In November, Dylan recorded two live shows for *MTV Unplugged*. He said his wish to perform traditional songs was overruled by Sony executives who insisted on hits. The resulting album, *MTV Unplugged*, included "John Brown", an unreleased 1962 song about how enthusiasm for war ends in mutilation and disillusionment.
With a collection of songs reportedly written while snowed in on his Minnesota ranch, Dylan booked recording time with Daniel Lanois at Miami's Criteria Studios in January 1997. The subsequent recording sessions were, by some accounts, fraught with musical tension. Before the album's release Dylan was hospitalized with life-threatening pericarditis, brought on by histoplasmosis. His scheduled European tour was canceled, but Dylan made a speedy recovery and left the hospital saying, "I really thought I'd be seeing Elvis soon". He was back on the road by mid-year, and performed before Pope John Paul II at the World Eucharistic Conference in Bologna, Italy. The Pope treated the audience of 200,000 to a homily based on Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind".
In September, Dylan released the new Lanois-produced album, *Time Out of Mind*. With its bitter assessments of love and morbid ruminations, Dylan's first collection of original songs in seven years was highly acclaimed. Alex Ross called it "a thrilling return to form". "Cold Irons Bound" won Dylan another Grammy For Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, and the album won him his first Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The album's first single, "Not Dark Yet", has been called one of Dylan's best songs and "Make You Feel My Love" was covered by Billy Joel, Garth Brooks, Adele and others. Elvis Costello said "I think it might be the best record he's made."
*Modern Times*
In 2001, Dylan won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Things Have Changed", written for the film *Wonder Boys*. *"Love and Theft"* was released on September 11, 2001. Recorded with his touring band, Dylan produced the album under the alias Jack Frost. Critics noted that Dylan was widening his musical palette to include rockabilly, Western swing, jazz and lounge music. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Controversy ensued when *The Wall Street Journal* pointed out similarities between the album's lyrics and Junichi Saga's book *Confessions of a Yakuza*. Saga was not familiar with Dylan's work, but said he was flattered. Upon hearing the album, Saga said of Dylan: "His lines flow from one image to the next and don't always make sense. But they have a great atmosphere."
In 2003, Dylan revisited the evangelical songs from his Christian period and participated in the project *Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan*. That year, Dylan released *Masked & Anonymous*, which he co-wrote with director Larry Charles under the alias Sergei Petrov. Dylan starred as Jack Fate, alongside a cast that included Jeff Bridges, Penélope Cruz and John Goodman. The film polarized critics. In *The New York Times*, A. O. Scott called it as an "incoherent mess"; a few treated it as a serious work of art.
In 2004, Dylan published the first part of his memoir, *Chronicles: Volume One*. Confounding expectations, Dylan devoted three chapters to his first year in New York City in 1961–1962, virtually ignoring the mid-1960s when his fame was at its height, while devoting chapters to the albums *New Morning* (1970) and *Oh Mercy* (1989). The book reached number two on *The New York Times'* Hardcover Non-Fiction bestseller list in December 2004 and was nominated for a National Book Award.
Critics noted that *Chronicles* contained many examples of pastiche and borrowing; sources included *Time* magazine and the novels of Jack London.
Biographer Clinton Heylin queried the veracity of Dylan's autobiography, noting "Not a single checkable story held water; not one anecdote couldn't be shot full of holes by any half-decent researcher."
Martin Scorsese's Dylan documentary *No Direction Home* was broadcast on September 26–27, 2005, on BBC Two in the UK and as part of *American Masters* on PBS in the US. It covers the period from Dylan's arrival in New York in 1961 to his motorcycle crash in 1966, featuring interviews with Suze Rotolo, Liam Clancy, Joan Baez, Allen Ginsberg, Pete Seeger, Mavis Staples and Dylan himself. The film earned a Peabody Award and a Columbia-duPont Award. The accompanying soundtrack featured unreleased songs from Dylan's early years.
Dylan's career as a radio presenter began on May 3, 2006, with his weekly program, *Theme Time Radio Hour*, on XM Satellite Radio. He played songs with a common theme, such as "Weather", "Weddings", "Dance" and "Dreams". Dylan's records ranged from Muddy Waters to Prince, L.L. Cool J to the Streets. Dylan's show was praised for the breadth of his musical selections and for his jokes, stories and eclectic references. In April 2009, Dylan broadcast the 100th show in his radio series; the theme was "Goodbye" and he signed off with Woody Guthrie's "So Long, It's Been Good to Know Yuh".
Dylan released *Modern Times* in August 2006. Despite some coarsening of Dylan's voice (a critic for *The Guardian* characterized his singing on the album as "a catarrhal death rattle") most reviewers praised the album, and many described it as the final installment of a successful trilogy, encompassing *Time Out of Mind* and *"Love and Theft"*. *Modern Times* entered the US charts at number one, making it Dylan's first album to reach that position since 1976's *Desire*. *The New York Times* published an article exploring similarities between some of Dylan's lyrics in *Modern Times* and the work of the Civil War poet Henry Timrod. *Modern Times* won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album and Dylan won Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance for "Someday Baby". *Modern Times* was named Album of the Year by *Rolling Stone* and *Uncut*. On the same day that *Modern Times* was released, the iTunes Music Store released *Bob Dylan: The Collection*, a digital box set containing all of his albums (773 tracks), along with 42 rare and unreleased tracks.
On October 1, 2007, Columbia Records released the triple CD retrospective *Dylan*, anthologizing his entire career under the *Dylan 07* logo. The sophistication of the *Dylan 07* marketing campaign was a reminder that Dylan's commercial profile had risen considerably since the 1990s. This became evident in 2004, when Dylan appeared in a TV advertisement for Victoria's Secret. In October 2007, he participated in a multi-media campaign for the 2008 Cadillac Escalade. In 2009 he gave the highest profile endorsement of his career to date, appearing with rapper will.i.am in a Pepsi ad that debuted during Super Bowl XLIII. The ad opened with Dylan singing the first verse of "Forever Young" followed by will.i.am doing a hip hop version of the song's final verse.
*The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 – Tell Tale Signs* was released in October 2008, as both a two-CD set and a three-CD version with a 150-page hardcover book. The set contains live performances and outtakes from selected studio albums from *Oh Mercy* to *Modern Times*, as well as soundtrack contributions and collaborations with David Bromberg and Ralph Stanley. The pricing of the album—the two-CD set went on sale for $18.99 and the three-CD version for $129.99—led to complaints about "rip-off packaging". The release was widely acclaimed by critics. The abundance of alternative takes and unreleased material suggested to one reviewer that this volume of old outtakes "feels like a new Bob Dylan record, not only for the astonishing freshness of the material, but also for the incredible sound quality and organic feeling of everything here".
Dylan released *Together Through Life* on April 28, 2009. In a conversation with music journalist Bill Flanagan, Dylan explained it originated when French director Olivier Dahan asked him to supply a song for his movie *My Own Love Song*. He initially intended to record a single track, "Life Is Hard", but "the record sort of took its own direction". Nine of the album's ten songs are credited as co-written by Dylan and Robert Hunter. The album received largely favorable reviews, although several critics described it as a minor addition to Dylan's canon. In its first week of release, the album reached number one on the *Billboard* 200 chart in the US, making Dylan, at 67 years of age, the oldest artist to ever debut at number one on that chart.
Dylan's *Christmas in the Heart* was released in October 2009, comprising such Christmas standards as "Little Drummer Boy", "Winter Wonderland" and "Here Comes Santa Claus". Edna Gundersen wrote that Dylan was "revisiting yuletide styles popularized by Nat King Cole, Mel Tormé, and the Ray Conniff Singers". Dylan's royalties from the album were donated to the charities Feeding America in the US, Crisis in the UK, and the World Food Programme. The album received generally favorable reviews. In an interview published in *The Big Issue*, Flanagan asked Dylan why he had performed the songs in a straightforward style, and he replied: "There wasn't any other way to play it. These songs are part of my life, just like folk songs. You have to play them straight too."
*Tempest* and continued recordings
Volume 9 of Dylan's Bootleg Series, *The Witmark Demos*, was issued in October 18, 2010. It comprised 47 demo recordings of songs taped between 1962 and 1964 for Dylan's earliest music publishers: Leeds Music in 1962, and Witmark Music from 1962 to 1964. One reviewer described the set as "a hearty glimpse of young Bob Dylan changing the music business, and the world, one note at a time." On the critical aggregator Metacritic, the album has a score of 86, indicating "universal acclaim". In the same week, Sony Legacy released *Bob Dylan: The Original Mono Recordings*, a box set that presented Dylan's eight earliest albums, from *Bob Dylan* (1962) to *John Wesley Harding* (1967), in their original mono mix in the CD format for the first time. The set was accompanied by a booklet featuring an essay by Greil Marcus.
On April 12, 2011, Legacy Recordings released *Bob Dylan in Concert – Brandeis University 1963*, taped at Brandeis University on May 10, 1963, two weeks before the release of *The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan*. The tape was discovered in the archive of music writer Ralph J. Gleason, and the recording carries liner notes by Michael Gray, who says it captures Dylan
from way back when Kennedy was President and the Beatles hadn't yet reached America. It reveals him not at any Big Moment but giving a performance like his folk club sets of the period ... This is the last live performance we have of Bob Dylan before he becomes a star.
On Dylan's 70th birthday, three universities organized symposia on his work: the University of Mainz, the University of Vienna, and the University of Bristol invited literary critics and cultural historians to give papers on aspects of Dylan's work. Other events, including tribute bands, discussions and simple singalongs, took place around the world, as reported in *The Guardian*: "From Moscow to Madrid, Norway to Northampton and Malaysia to his home state of Minnesota, self-confessed 'Bobcats' will gather today to celebrate the 70th birthday of a giant of popular music."
Dylan's 35th studio album, *Tempest*, was released on September 11, 2012. The album features a tribute to John Lennon, "Roll On John", and the title track is a 14-minute song about the sinking of the *Titanic*. In *Rolling Stone*, Will Hermes gave *Tempest* five out of five stars, writing: "Lyrically, Dylan is at the top of his game, joking around, dropping wordplay and allegories that evade pat readings and quoting other folks' words like a freestyle rapper on fire".
Volume 10 of Dylan's Bootleg Series, *Another Self Portrait (1969–1971)*, was released in August 2013. The album contained 35 previously unreleased tracks, including alternative takes and demos from Dylan's 1969–1971 recording sessions during the making of the *Self Portrait* and *New Morning* albums. The box set also included a live recording of Dylan's performance with the Band at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1969. Thom Jurek wrote, "For fans, this is more than a curiosity, it's an indispensable addition to the catalog." Columbia Records released a boxed set containing all 35 Dylan studio albums, six albums of live recordings and a collection of non-album material (*Sidetracks*) as *Bob Dylan: Complete Album Collection: Vol. One*, in November 2013. To publicize the box set, a video of "Like a Rolling Stone" was released on Dylan's website. The interactive video, created by director Vania Heymann, allowed viewers to switch between 16 simulated TV channels, all featuring characters who are lip-synching the lyrics.
Dylan appeared in a commercial for the Chrysler 200 car which aired during the 2014 Super Bowl. In it, he says that "Detroit made cars and cars made America... So let Germany brew your beer, let Switzerland make your watch, let Asia assemble your phone. *We* will build your car." Dylan's ad was criticized for its protectionist implications, and people wondered whether he had "sold out". *The Lyrics: Since 1962* was published by Simon & Schuster in the fall of 2014. The book was edited by literary critic Christopher Ricks, Julie Nemrow and Lisa Nemrow and offered variant versions of Dylan's songs, sourced from out-takes and live performances. A limited edition of 50 books, signed by Dylan, was priced at $5,000. "It's the biggest, most expensive book we've ever published, as far as I know", said Jonathan Karp, Simon & Schuster's president and publisher. A comprehensive edition of the Basement Tapes, songs recorded by Dylan and the Band in 1967, was released as *The Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete* in November 2014. The album included 138 tracks in a six-CD box; the 1975 album *The Basement Tapes* contained just 24 tracks from the material which Dylan and the Band had recorded at their homes in Woodstock, New York in 1967. Subsequently, over 100 recordings and alternate takes had circulated on bootleg records. The sleeve notes are by author Sid Griffin. *The Basement Tapes Complete* won the Grammy Award for Best Historical Album. The box set earned a score of 99 on Metacritic.
In February 2015, Dylan released *Shadows in the Night*, featuring ten songs written between 1923 and 1963, which have been described as part of the Great American Songbook. All of the songs had been recorded by Frank Sinatra, but both critics and Dylan himself cautioned against seeing the record as a collection of "Sinatra covers". Dylan explained: "I don't see myself as covering these songs in any way. They've been covered enough. Buried, as a matter a fact. What me and my band are basically doing is uncovering them. Lifting them out of the grave and bringing them into the light of day". Critics praised the restrained instrumental backings and the quality of Dylan's singing. The album debuted at number one in the UK Albums Chart in its first week of release. *The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966*, consisting of previously unreleased material from the three albums Dylan recorded between January 1965 and March 1966 (*Bringing It All Back Home*, *Highway 61 Revisited* and *Blonde on Blonde*) was released in November 2015. The set was released in three formats: a 2-CD "Best Of" version, a 6-CD "Deluxe edition", and an 18-CD "Collector's Edition". On Dylan's website the "Collector's Edition" was described as containing "every single note recorded by Bob Dylan in the studio in 1965/1966". *The Best of the Cutting Edge* entered the *Billboard* Top Rock Albums chart at number one on November 18, based on its first-week sales.
Dylan released *Fallen Angels*, described as "a direct continuation of the work of 'uncovering' the Great Songbook that he began on *Shadows In the Night*", in May. The album contained twelve songs by classic songwriters such as Harold Arlen, Sammy Cahn and Johnny Mercer, eleven of which had been recorded by Sinatra. Jim Farber wrote in *Entertainment Weekly*: "Tellingly, [Dylan] delivers these songs of love lost and cherished not with a burning passion but with the wistfulness of experience. They're memory songs now, intoned with a present sense of commitment. Released just four days ahead of his 75th birthday, they couldn't be more age-appropriate". *The 1966 Live Recordings*, including every known recording of Dylan's 1966 concert tour, was released in November 2016. The recordings commence with the concert in White Plains New York on February 5, 1966, and end with the Royal Albert Hall concert in London on May 27. *The New York Times* reported most of the concerts had "never been heard in any form", and described the set as "a monumental addition to the corpus".
In March 2017, Dylan released a triple album of 30 more recordings of classic American songs, *Triplicate*. Dylan's 38th studio album was recorded in Hollywood's Capitol Studios and features his touring band. Dylan posted a long interview on his website to promote the album, and was asked if this material was an exercise in nostalgia.
Nostalgic? No I wouldn't say that. It's not taking a trip down memory lane or longing and yearning for the good old days or fond memories of what's no more. A song like 'Sentimental Journey' is not a way back when song, it doesn't emulate the past, it's attainable and down to earth, it's in the here and now.
Critics praised the thoroughness of Dylan's exploration of the Great American Songbook, though, in the opinion of *Uncut*, "For all its easy charms, *Triplicate* labours its point to the brink of overkill. After five albums' worth of croon toons, this feels like a fat full stop on a fascinating chapter."
The next volume of Dylan's Bootleg Series revisited his "Born Again" Christian period of 1979 to 1981, described by *Rolling Stone* as "an intense, wildly controversial time that produced three albums and some of the most confrontational concerts of his long career". Reviewing the box set *The Bootleg Series Vol. 13: Trouble No More 1979–1981*, comprising 8 CDs and 1 DVD, Jon Pareles wrote in *The New York Times*:
Decades later, what comes through these recordings above all is Mr. Dylan's unmistakable fervor, his sense of mission. The studio albums are subdued, even tentative, compared with what the songs became on the road. Mr. Dylan's voice is clear, cutting and ever improvisational; working the crowds, he was emphatic, committed, sometimes teasingly combative. And the band tears into the music.
*Trouble No More* includes a DVD of a film directed by Jennifer Lebeau consisting of live footage of Dylan's gospel performances interspersed with sermons delivered by actor Michael Shannon.
In April 2018, Dylan made a contribution to the compilation EP *Universal Love*, a collection of reimagined wedding songs for the LGBT community. The album was funded by MGM Resorts International and the songs are intended to function as "wedding anthems for same-sex couples". Dylan recorded the 1929 song "She's Funny That Way", changing the gender pronoun to "He's Funny That Way". The song was previously recorded by Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra. That same month, *The New York Times* reported that Dylan was launching Heaven's Door, a range of three whiskeys. The *Times* described the venture as "Mr. Dylan's entry into the booming celebrity-branded spirits market, the latest career twist for an artist who has spent five decades confounding expectations". Dylan has been involved in both the creation and the marketing of the range; on September 21, 2020, Dylan resurrected *Theme Time Radio Hour* with a two-hour special with the theme of "Whiskey". On November 2, 2018, Dylan released *More Blood, More Tracks* as Volume 14 in the Bootleg Series. The set comprises all Dylan's recordings for *Blood On the Tracks* and was issued as a single CD and also as a six-CD Deluxe Edition.
In 2019, Netflix released *Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese*, billed as "Part documentary, part concert film, part fever dream". The film received largely positive reviews but also aroused controversy because it mixed documentary footage filmed during the Rolling Thunder Revue in the fall of 1975 with fictitious characters and stories. Coinciding with the film release, the box set *The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings*, was released by Columbia Records. The set comprises five full Dylan performances from the tour and recently discovered tapes from Dylan's tour rehearsals. The box set received an aggregate score of 89 on Metacritic, indicating "universal acclaim". The next installment of Dylan's Bootleg Series, *Bob Dylan (featuring Johnny Cash) – Travelin' Thru, 1967 – 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 15*, was released on November 1. The set comprises outtakes from Dylan's albums *John Wesley Harding* and *Nashville Skyline*, and songs that Dylan recorded with Johnny Cash in Nashville in 1969 and with Earl Scruggs in 1970.
** Rough and Rowdy Ways **
On March 26, 2020, Dylan released "Murder Most Foul", a seventeen-minute song revolving around the Kennedy assassination, on his YouTube channel. *Billboard* reported on April 8 that "Murder Most Foul" had topped the Billboard Rock Digital Song Sales Chart, the first time that Dylan had scored a number one song on a pop chart under his own name. Three weeks later, on April 17, 2020, Dylan released another new song, "I Contain Multitudes". The title is from Walt Whitman's poem "Song of Myself". On May 7, Dylan released a third single, "False Prophet", accompanied by the news that the three songs would all appear on a forthcoming double album.
*Rough and Rowdy Ways*, Dylan's 39th studio album and his first album of original material since 2012, was released on June 19 to favorable reviews. Alexis Petridis wrote: "For all its bleakness, *Rough and Rowdy Ways* might well be Bob Dylan's most consistently brilliant set of songs in years: the die-hards can spend months unravelling the knottier lyrics, but you don't need a PhD in Dylanology to appreciate its singular quality and power." Rob Sheffield wrote: "While the world keeps trying to celebrate him as an institution, pin him down, cast him in the Nobel Prize canon, embalm his past, this drifter always keeps on making his next escape. On *Rough and Rowdy Ways*, Dylan is exploring terrain nobody else has reached before—yet he just keeps pushing on into the future". The album earned a score of 95 on Metacritic, indicating "universal acclaim". In its first week of release *Rough and Rowdy Ways* reached number one on the UK album chart, making Dylan "the oldest artist to score a No. 1 of new, original material".
In December 2020, it was announced that Dylan had sold his entire song catalog to Universal Music Publishing Group, including both the income he receives as a songwriter and his control of their copyright. Universal, a division of the French media conglomerate Vivendi, will collect all future income from the songs. *The New York Times* stated Universal had purchased the copyright to over 600 songs and the price was "estimated at more than $300 million", although other reports suggested the figure was closer to $400 million.
In February 2021, Columbia Records released *1970*, a three-CD set of recordings from the *Self Portrait* and *New Morning* sessions, including the entirety of the session Dylan recorded with George Harrison on May 1, 1970. Dylan's 80th birthday was commemorated by a virtual conference, Dylan@80, organized by the University of Tulsa Institute for Bob Dylan Studies. The program featured seventeen sessions over three days delivered by over fifty international scholars, journalists and musicians. Several new biographies and studies of Dylan were published.
In July 2021, livestream platform Veeps presented a 50-minute performance by Dylan, *Shadow Kingdom: The Early Songs of Bob Dylan*. Filmed in black and white with a film noir look, Dylan performed 13 songs in a club setting with an audience. The performance was favorably reviewed, and one critic suggested the backing band resembled the style of the musical *Girl from the North Country*. The soundtrack to the film was released on 2 LP and CD formats in June 2023. In September, Dylan released *Springtime in New York: The Bootleg Series Vol. 16 (1980–1985)*, issued in 2 LP, 2 CD and 5 CD formats. It comprised rehearsals, live recordings, out-takes and alternative takes from *Shot of Love*, *Infidels* and *Empire Burlesque*. In *The Daily Telegraph*, Neil McCormick wrote: "These bootleg sessions remind us that Dylan's worst period is still more interesting than most artists' purple patches". *Springtime in New York* received an aggregate score of 85 on Metacritic.
On July 7, 2022, Christie's, London, auctioned a 2021 recording of Dylan singing "Blowin' in the Wind". The record was in an innovative "one of one" recording medium, branded as Ionic Original, which producer T Bone Burnett claimed "surpasses the sonic excellence and depth for which analogue sound is renowned, while at the same time boasting the durability of a digital recording." The recording fetched GBP £1,482,000—equivalent to $1,769,508. In November, Dylan published *The Philosophy of Modern Song*, a collection of 66 essays on songs by other artists. *The New Yorker* described it as "a rich, riffy, funny, and completely engaging book of essays". Other reviewers praised the book's eclectic outlook, while some questioned its variations in style and dearth of female songwriters.
In January 2023, Dylan released *The Bootleg Series Vol. 17: Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996–1997)* in multiple formats. The 5-CD version comprised a re-mix of the 1997 album "to sound more like how the songs came across when the musicians originally played them in the room" without the effects and processing which producer Daniel Lanois applied later; 25 previously unreleased out-takes from the studio sessions; and a disc of live performances of each song on the album performed by Dylan and his band in concert. On November 17, 2023, Dylan released *The Complete Budokan 1978*, containing the full recordings of the February 28 and March 1 Tokyo concerts from his 1978 Tour.
Dylan contributed a cover version of Cole Porter's song "Don't Fence Me In" to the soundtrack of the biographical film *Reagan*, which was released on August 30, 2024. On September 20, 2024, Dylan released *The 1974 Live Recordings*, a 27-disc CD boxset of recordings from the 1974 Bob Dylan & The Band tour, featuring 417 previously unreleased live tracks.
## Never Ending Tour
The Never Ending Tour commenced on June 7, 1988. Dylan has played roughly 100 dates a year since, a heavier schedule than most performers who started in the 1960s. By April 2019, Dylan and his band had played more than 3,000 shows, anchored by long-time bassist Tony Garnier.
To the dismay of some of his audience, Dylan's performances are unpredictable as he often alters his arrangements and changes his vocal approach. These variable performances have divided critics. Richard Williams and Andy Gill argued that Dylan has found a successful way to present his rich legacy of material. Others have criticized his live performances for changing "the greatest lyrics ever written so that they are effectively unrecognisable", and giving so little to the audience that "it is difficult to understand what he is doing on stage at all".
In September 2021, Dylan's touring company announced a series of tours which were billed as the "Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour, 2021–2024". The Rough and Rowdy Ways World Tour replaced Dylan's varied set lists with a more stable repertory, performing nine of the ten songs on his 2020 album. Nevertheless, the tour has been referred to by the media as an extension of his ongoing Never Ending Tour.
In February 2025, Dylan announced that he would undertake a U.S. leg of his Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour, commencing in Tulsa, Oklahoma on March 25, and ending in Williamsport, Pennsylvania on April 22. It was also announced that Dylan would take part in the Outlaw Music Festival 2025 Tour, appearing alongside Willie Nelson and other artists, beginning on May 13 in Phoenix, Arizona, and finishing on September 19 in East Troy, Wisconsin. Alex Ross has summarised Dylan's touring career: "his shows cause his songs to mutate, so that no definitive or ideal version exists. Dylan's legacy will be the sum of thousands of performances, over many decades ... Every night, whether he's in good or bad form, he says, in effect, 'Think again.'"
## Personal life
### Romantic relationships
#### Echo Helstrom
Echo Helstrom was Dylan's high school girlfriend. The couple listened together to rhythm-and-blues on the radio, and her family exposed him to singers such as Jimmie Rodgers on 78 RPM records, and a range of folk music magazines, sheet music, and manuscripts. Helstrom is believed by some to be the inspiration for Dylan's song "Girl from the North Country", though this is disputed.
#### Suze Rotolo
Dylan's first serious relationship was with artist Suze Rotolo, a daughter of Communist Party USA radicals. According to Dylan, "She was the most erotic thing I'd ever seen ... The air was suddenly filled with banana leaves. We started talking and my head started to spin". Rotolo was photographed arm-in-arm with Dylan on the cover of his album *The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan*. Critics have connected Rotolo to some of Dylan's early love songs, including "Don't Think Twice It's All Right". The relationship ended in 1964. In 2008, Rotolo published a memoir about her life in Greenwich Village and relationship with Dylan in the 1960s, *A Freewheelin' Time*.
#### Joan Baez
When Joan Baez met Dylan in April 1961, she had already released her first album and was acclaimed as the "Queen of Folk". On hearing Dylan perform his song "With God on Our Side", Baez later said, "I never thought anything so powerful could come out of that little toad". In July 1963, Baez invited Dylan to join her on stage at the Newport Folk Festival, setting the scene for similar duets over the next two years. By the time of Dylan's 1965 tour of the UK, their romantic relationship had begun to fizzle out, as captured in D. A. Pennebaker's documentary film *Dont Look Back*. Baez later toured with Dylan as a performer on his Rolling Thunder Revue in 1975–76. Baez also starred as "The Woman In White" in the film *Renaldo and Clara* (1978), directed by Dylan. Dylan and Baez toured together again in 1984 with Carlos Santana.
Baez recalled her relationship with Dylan in Martin Scorsese's documentary film *No Direction Home* (2005). Baez wrote about Dylan in two autobiographies—admiringly in *Daybreak* (1968), and less admiringly in *And A Voice to Sing With* (1987). Her song "Diamonds & Rust" has been described as "an acute portrait" of Dylan.
#### Sara Lownds
Dylan married Sara Lownds, who had worked as a model and secretary at Drew Associates, on November 22, 1965. They had four children: Jesse Byron (born January 6, 1966), Anna Lea (born July 11, 1967), Samuel Isaac Abram (born July 30, 1968), and Jakob Luke (born December 9, 1969). Dylan also adopted Sara's daughter from a prior marriage, Maria Lownds (later Dylan, born October 21, 1961). Sara Dylan played the role of Clara in Dylan's film *Renaldo and Clara* (1978). Bob and Sara Dylan were divorced on June 29, 1977.
#### Carolyn Dennis
Dylan and his backing singer Carolyn Dennis (often professionally known as Carol Dennis) have a daughter, Desiree Gabrielle Dennis-Dylan, born on January 31, 1986. The couple were married on June 4, 1986, and divorced in October 1992. Their marriage and child remained a closely guarded secret until the publication of Howard Sounes's biography *Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan*, in 2001.
### Home
When not touring, Dylan is believed to live primarily in Point Dume, on the coast of Malibu, California, though he owns property around the world.
### Religious beliefs
Growing up in Hibbing, Minnesota, Dylan and his family were part of the area's small, close-knit Jewish community, and Dylan had his *bar mitzvah* in May 1954. Around the time of his 30th birthday, in 1971, Dylan visited Israel, and also met Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the New York-based Jewish Defense League.
In the late 1970s, Dylan converted to Christianity. In November 1978, guided by his friend Mary Alice Artes, Dylan made contact with the Vineyard School of Discipleship. Vineyard Pastor Kenn Gulliksen recalled: "Larry Myers and Paul Emond went over to Bob's house and ministered to him. He responded by saying yes, he did in fact want Christ in his life. And he prayed that day and received the Lord". From January to March 1979, Dylan attended Vineyard's Bible study classes in Reseda, California.
By 1984, Dylan was distancing himself from the "born again" label. He told Kurt Loder of *Rolling Stone*: "I've never said I'm 'born again'. That's just a media term. I don't think I've been an agnostic. I've always thought there's a superior power, that this is not the real world and that there's a world to come." In 1997, he told David Gates of *Newsweek*:
Here's the thing with me and the religious thing. This is the flat-out truth: I find the religiosity and philosophy in the music. I don't find it anywhere else. Songs like "Let Me Rest on a Peaceful Mountain" or "I Saw the Light"—that's my religion. I don't adhere to rabbis, preachers, evangelists, all of that. I've learned more from the songs than I've learned from any of this kind of entity. The songs are my lexicon. I believe the songs.
Dylan has supported the Chabad Lubavitch movement, and has privately participated in Jewish religious events, including his sons' *bar mitzvahs* and services at Hadar Hatorah, a Chabad Lubavitch yeshiva. In 1989 and 1991, he appeared on the Chabad telethon.
Dylan has continued to perform songs from his gospel albums in concert, occasionally covering traditional religious songs. He has made passing references to his religious faith, such as in a 2004 interview with *60 Minutes*, when he told Ed Bradley, "the only person you have to think twice about lying to is either yourself or to God". He explained his constant touring schedule as part of a bargain he made a long time ago with the "chief commander—in this earth and in the world we can't see".
Speaking to Jeff Slate of *The Wall Street Journal* in December 2022, Dylan reaffirmed his religious outlook: "I read the scriptures a lot, meditate and pray, light candles in church. I believe in damnation and salvation as well as predestination. The Five Books of Moses, Pauline Epistles, Invocation of the Saints, all of it."
## Accolades and honors
Dylan has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1997, US President Bill Clinton presented Dylan with a Kennedy Center Honor in the East Room of the White House, saying: "He probably had more impact on people of my generation than any other creative artist. His voice and lyrics haven't always been easy on the ear, but throughout his career Bob Dylan has never aimed to please. He's disturbed the peace and discomforted the powerful". In May 2000, Dylan received the Polar Music Prize from Sweden's King Carl XVI. In June 2007, Dylan received the Prince of Asturias Award in the Arts category; the jury called him "a living myth in the history of popular music and a light for a generation that dreamed of changing the world." In 2008, the Pulitzer Prize jury awarded him a special citation for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power".
Dylan received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in May 2012. President Barack Obama, presenting Dylan with the award, said "There is not a bigger giant in the history of American music." Obama praised Dylan's voice for its "unique gravelly power that redefined not just what music sounded like but the message it carried and how it made people feel". In November 2013, Dylan was awarded France's highest honor, the Légion d'Honneur, despite the misgiving of the grand chancellor of the Légion, who had declared him unworthy. In February 2015, Dylan accepted the MusiCares Person of the Year award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, in recognition of his philanthropic and artistic contributions.
### Nobel Prize in Literature
In 1996, Gordon Ball of the Virginia Military Institute nominated Dylan for the Nobel Prize in Literature, initiating a campaign that lasted for 20 years. On October 13, 2016, the Nobel committee announced that it would be awarding Dylan the prize "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition". *The New York Times* reported: "Mr. Dylan, 75, is the first musician to win the award, and his selection on Thursday is perhaps the most radical choice in a history stretching back to 1901." Dylan remained silent for days after receiving the award, and then told journalist Edna Gundersen that it was "amazing, incredible. Whoever dreams about something like that?" Dylan's Nobel Lecture was posted on the Nobel Prize website on June 5, 2017. Horace Engdahl, a member of the Nobel Committee, described Dylan's place in literary history:
a singer worthy of a place beside the Greek bards, beside Ovid, beside the Romantic visionaries, beside the kings and queens of the blues, beside the forgotten masters of brilliant standards.
## Legacy
Dylan has been described as one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, musically and culturally. He was included in the *Time* 100: The Most Important People of the Century, where he was called "master poet, caustic social critic and intrepid, guiding spirit of the counterculture generation". Paul Simon suggested that Dylan's early compositions virtually took over the folk genre: "[Dylan's] early songs were very rich ... with strong melodies. 'Blowin' in the Wind' has a really strong melody. He so enlarged himself through the folk background that he incorporated it for a while. He defined the genre for a while."
For many critics, Dylan's greatest achievement was the cultural synthesis exemplified by his mid-1960s trilogy of albums—*Bringing It All Back Home*, *Highway 61 Revisited* and *Blonde on Blonde*. In Mike Marqusee's words:
Between late 1964 and the middle of 1966, Dylan created a body of work that remains unique. Drawing on folk, blues, country, R&B, rock'n'roll, gospel, British beat, symbolist, modernist and Beat poetry, surrealism and Dada, advertising jargon and social commentary, Fellini and
Madmagazine, he forged a coherent and original artistic voice and vision. The beauty of these albums retains the power to shock and console.
Michael Gray initiated serious critical scrutiny when he published *Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan* in 1972, situating Dylan's work in the context of the English literary tradition, Donne, Browning and T. S. Eliot. Also in 1972, Craig McGregor published *Bob Dylan: A Retrospective*, an anthology containing critical essays about Dylan by Robert Shelton, Nat Hentoff, Ellen Willis and other contemporary cultural critics. In 1998, Stanford University sponsored the first international academic conference on Bob Dylan held in the United States. In 2004, Richard F. Thomas, Classics professor at Harvard University, created a freshman seminar titled "Dylan", which aimed "to put the artist in context of not just popular culture of the last half-century, but the tradition of classical poets like Virgil and Homer." Thomas went on to publish *Why Bob Dylan Matters*, exploring Dylan's connections with Greco-Roman literature.
Literary critic Christopher Ricks published *Dylan's Visions of Sin*, an appreciation of Dylan's work. Following Dylan's Nobel win, Ricks reflected: "I'd not have written a book about Dylan, to stand alongside my books on Milton and Keats, Tennyson and T.S. Eliot, if I didn't think Dylan a genius of and with language." The critical consensus that Dylan's songwriting was his outstanding creative achievement was articulated by *Encyclopædia Britannica*: "Hailed as the Shakespeare of his generation, Dylan ... set the standard for lyric writing." Former British poet laureate Andrew Motion said Dylan's lyrics should be studied in schools. His lyrics have entered the vernacular; Edna Gundersen notes that
Lines that branded Dylan a poet and counterculture valedictorian in the '60s are imprinted on the culture: "When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose"; "a hard rain's a-gonna fall"; "to live outside the law you must be honest." Some lyrics — "you don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows" and "the times they are a-changin' " — appear in
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations.
*Rolling Stone* ranked Dylan first on its 2015 list of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time, fifteenth on its 2023 list of the Greatest Singers of All Time, and placed "Like A Rolling Stone" first on their list of greatest songs in 2004 and 2011. He was listed second on the magazine's list of the hundred greatest artists. The *Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll* writes that "His lyrics—the first in rock to be seriously regarded as literature—became so well known that politicians from Jimmy Carter to Václav Havel have cited them as an influence."
Dylan's voice also received critical attention. Robert Shelton described his early vocal style as "a rusty voice suggesting Guthrie's old performances, etched in gravel like Dave Van Ronk's". His voice continued to develop as he began to work with rock'n'roll backing bands; Michael Gray described the sound of Dylan's vocal work on "Like a Rolling Stone" as "at once young and jeeringly cynical". As Dylan's voice aged during the 1980s, for some critics, it became more expressive. Christophe Lebold writes in the journal *Oral Tradition*:
Dylan's more recent broken voice enables him to present a world view at the sonic surface of the songs—this voice carries us across the landscape of a broken, fallen world. The anatomy of a broken world in "Everything is Broken" (on the album
Oh Mercy) is but an example of how the thematic concern with all things broken is grounded in a concrete sonic reality.
Among musicians who have acknowledged his influence are John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Jerry Garcia, Pete Townshend, Syd Barrett, Tim Buckley, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Patti Smith, Joe Strummer, Bono, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Ole Paus and Chuck D.
Dylan significantly contributed to the initial success of both the Byrds and the Band: the Byrds achieved chart success with their version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" and the subsequent album, while the Band were Dylan's backing band on his 1966 tour, recorded *The Basement Tapes* with him in 1967 and featured three previously unreleased Dylan songs on their debut album. Johnny Cash, introducing "Wanted Man", said "I don't have to tell you who Bob Dylan is—the greatest writer of our time."
Some critics have dissented from the view of Dylan as a visionary figure in popular music. In his book *Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom*, Nik Cohn objected: "I can't take the vision of Dylan as seer, as teenage messiah, as everything else he's been worshipped as. The way I see him, he's a minor talent with a major gift for self-hype". Australian critic Jack Marx credited Dylan with changing the persona of the rock star: "What cannot be disputed is that Dylan invented the arrogant, faux-cerebral posturing that has been the dominant style in rock since, with everyone from Mick Jagger to Eminem educating themselves from the Dylan handbook".
Fellow musicians have also expressed critical views. Joni Mitchell described Dylan as a "plagiarist" and his voice as "fake" in a 2010 interview in the *Los Angeles Times*. Mitchell's comments led to discussions on Dylan's use of other people's material, both supporting and criticizing him. Talking to Mikal Gilmore in *Rolling Stone* in 2012, Dylan responded to the allegation of plagiarism, including his use of Henry Timrod's verse in his album *Modern Times*, by saying that it was "part of the tradition".
Dylan's music has inspired artists in other fields. Dave Gibbons recalls how he and Alan Moore were inspired by the lines of "Desolation Row" beginning "At midnight, all the agents/ And the superhuman crew...":
It was a glimpse, a mere fragment of something; something ominous, paranoid and threatening. But something that showed that comics, like poetry or rock and roll or Bob Dylan himself, might feasibly become part of the greater cultural continuum. The lines must have also lodged in Alan's consciousness for, nearly twenty years later, Dylan's words eventually provided the title of the first issue of our comic book series
Watchmen.
In 2007, Todd Haynes released *I'm Not There*, "inspired by the music and many lives of Bob Dylan". The movie used six actors, Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger and Ben Whishaw, to explore different facets of Dylan's life. Dylan's previously unreleased 1967 song from which the film takes its name was included on the original soundtrack along with covers of Dylan songs by such diverse artists as Sonic Youth, Calexico and Yo La Tengo. Irish playwright Conor McPherson wrote and directed the musical *Girl from the North Country*, which used Dylan's songs to tell the stories of characters during the Depression years, set in Dylan's birthplace, Duluth, Minnesota. The play premiered in London in 2017.
If Dylan's work in the 1960s was seen as bringing intellectual ambition to popular music, critics in the 21st century described him as a figure who had greatly expanded the folk culture from which he initially emerged. In his review of *I'm Not There*, J. Hoberman wrote:
Elvis might never have been born, but someone else would surely have brought the world rock 'n' roll. No such logic accounts for Bob Dylan. No iron law of history demanded that a would-be Elvis from Hibbing, Minnesota, would swerve through the Greenwich Village folk revival to become the world's first and greatest rock 'n' roll beatnik bard and then—having achieved fame and adoration beyond reckoning—vanish into a folk tradition of his own making.
Dylan's rise to stardom, from his arrival in New York in 1961 to his controversial performance at Newport in 1965, was portrayed by the feature film *A Complete Unknown*, which opened in the U.S. on December 25, 2024. The film garnered generally favorable reviews, with praise for actor Timothée Chalamet as Dylan.
## Archives and recognition
The sale of Dylan's archive of about 6,000 notebooks, drafts of lyrics, recordings, and correspondence to the George Kaiser Family Foundation and the University of Tulsa was announced in March 2016. The sale price was "an estimated $15 million to $20 million". To house the archive, the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma opened on May 10, 2022.
In 2005, 7th Avenue East in Hibbing, Minnesota, where Dylan lived from ages 6 to 18, received the honorary name Bob Dylan Drive. In 2006, the 1.8 miles (2.9 km) Bob Dylan Way cultural path was inaugurated in Duluth, Minnesota; it links "cultural and historically significant areas of downtown for the tourists".
In 2015, a 160-foot-wide Dylan mural by Brazilian street artist Eduardo Kobra was unveiled in downtown Minneapolis.
In December 2013, the Fender Stratocaster which Dylan had played at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival fetched $965,000, the second highest price paid for a guitar. In June 2014, Dylan's hand-written lyrics of "Like a Rolling Stone" fetched $2 million at auction, a record for a popular music manuscript.
## Visual arts
### Painting
Dylan's visual art was first seen by the public via a painting he contributed for the cover of the Band's *Music from Big Pink* album in 1968. The cover of Dylan's own 1970 album *Self Portrait* features the painting of a human face by Dylan. More of Dylan's artwork was revealed with the 1973 publication of his book *Writings and Drawings*. The cover of Dylan's 1974 album *Planet Waves* again featured one of his paintings. In 1994 Random House published *Drawn Blank*, a book of Dylan's drawings. In 2007, the first public exhibition of Dylan's paintings, *The Drawn Blank Series*, opened at the Kunstsammlungen in Chemnitz, Germany; it showcased more than 200 watercolors and gouaches made from the original drawings. The exhibition coincided with the publication of *Bob Dylan: The Drawn Blank Series*, which includes 170 reproductions from the series. From September 2010 until April 2011, the National Gallery of Denmark exhibited 40 large-scale acrylic paintings by Dylan, *The Brazil Series*.
In July 2011, a leading contemporary art gallery, Gagosian Gallery, announced their representation of Dylan's paintings. An exhibition of Dylan's art, *The Asia Series*, opened at the Gagosian Madison Avenue Gallery on September 20, displaying Dylan's paintings of scenes in China and the Far East. *The New York Times* reported that "some fans and Dylanologists have raised questions about whether some of these paintings are based on the singer's own experiences and observations, or on photographs that are widely available and were not taken by Mr. Dylan". *The Times* pointed to close resemblances between Dylan's paintings and historic photos of Japan and China, and photos taken by Dmitri Kessel and Henri Cartier-Bresson. Art critic Blake Gopnik has defended Dylan's artistic practice, arguing: "Ever since the birth of photography, painters have used it as the basis for their works: Edgar Degas and Édouard Vuillard and other favorite artists—even Edvard Munch—all took or used photos as sources for their art, sometimes barely altering them". The Magnum photo agency confirmed that Dylan had licensed the reproduction rights of these photographs.
Dylan's second show at the Gagosian Gallery, *Revisionist Art*, opened in November 2012. The show consisted of thirty paintings, transforming and satirizing popular magazines, including *Playboy* and *Babytalk*. In February 2013, Dylan exhibited the *New Orleans Series* of paintings at the Palazzo Reale in Milan. In August 2013, Britain's National Portrait Gallery, London hosted Dylan's first major UK exhibition, *Face Value*, featuring twelve pastel portraits.
In November 2016, the Halcyon Gallery featured a collection of artworks by Dylan. The exhibition, *The Beaten Path*, depicted American landscapes and urban scenes, inspired by Dylan's travels across the US. The show was reviewed by *Vanity Fair* and *Asia Times Online*. In October 2018, the Halcyon Gallery mounted an exhibition of Dylan's drawings, *Mondo Scripto*. The works consisted of Dylan hand-written lyrics of his songs, with each song illustrated by a drawing.
*Retrospectrum*, the largest retrospective of Dylan's visual art to date, consisting of over 250 works in various media, debuted at the Modern Art Museum in Shanghai in 2019. Building on the exhibition in China, a version of *Retrospectrum*, which includes a new series of paintings, "Deep Focus", drawn from film imagery, opened at the Frost Art Museum in Miami on November 30, 2021, while from December 16, 2022, to April 30, 2023, the MAXXI Museum in Rome hosted the retrospective which was the first European monographic exhibition dedicated to Dylan’s visual art.
Also in 2022, *Drawn Blank in Provence*, his first painting exhibition in France, opened at *Château Lacoste*, a contemporary art center in Provence that combines a vineyard, a luxury hotel, several restaurants, and an open-air sculpture park, offering an experience where art, architecture, gastronomy, and nature come together. The exhibition took place alongside his first permanent sculpture installation in
the country, titled *Rail Car*.
Since 1994, Dylan has published ten books of paintings and drawings. In November 2022, Dylan apologized for using an autopen to sign books and artwork which were subsequently sold as "hand-signed" since 2019.
### Sculpture
Bob Dylan has also been active as a sculptor, specialising in work with iron. For thirty years, he crafted metal sculptures for family and friends before showcasing his work publicly in November 2013 with *Mood Swings*, an exhibition of seven wrought iron gates at London’s Halcyon Gallery. In a statement released by the gallery, Dylan said :
I've been around iron all my life ever since I was a kid. I was born and raised in iron ore country, where you could breathe it and smell it every day. Gates appeal to me because of the negative space they allow. They can be closed but at the same time they allow the seasons and breezes to enter and flow. They can shut you out or shut you in. And in some ways there is no difference.
Dylan collects metal objects, including farm tools, antique firearms, gears, chains, and axes, and welds them together to create sculptural pieces. One of his most prominent installations in the United States is *Portal*, a monumental iron archway permanently displayed at the entrance of the MGM National Harbor resort in Maryland. Created in 2016, this sculpture was welded by Dylan and comprises repurposed metal objects including tools and machine parts, reflecting a fascination with Americana and industrial materials.
In 2022, his first permanent sculpture installation in France, titled *Rail Car*, was inaugurated at Château Lacoste in Provence. This immersive work, made up of a wrought-iron freight car set on rails, evokes both industrial history and Dylan’s personal history. It is displayed alongside works by leading contemporary artists and architects such as Ai Weiwei, Louise Bourgeois, Tracy Emin and Tadao Ando and was accompanied for a while by an exhibition of 24 paintings by Dylan, *Drawn blank in Provence* (his first painting exhibition in France), shedding light on previously unseen aspects of his artistic practice.
## Written works
Dylan has published *Tarantula*, a work of prose poetry; *Chronicles: Volume One*, the first part of his memoirs; several books of the lyrics of his songs, and ten books of his art. Dylan's third full length book, *The Philosophy of Modern Song*, which contains 66 essays on songs by other artists, was published on November 1, 2022. Dylan has also been the subject of numerous biographies and critical studies.
## Discography
*Bob Dylan*(1962)*The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan*(1963)*The Times They Are a-Changin'*(1964)*Another Side of Bob Dylan*(1964)*Bringing It All Back Home*(1965)*Highway 61 Revisited*(1965)*Blonde on Blonde*(1966)*John Wesley Harding*(1967)*Nashville Skyline*(1969)*Self Portrait*(1970)*New Morning*(1970)*Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid*(1973)*Dylan*(1973)*Planet Waves*(1974)*Blood on the Tracks*(1975)*The Basement Tapes*(1975)*Desire*(1976)*Street-Legal*(1978)*Slow Train Coming*(1979)*Saved*(1980)*Shot of Love*(1981)*Infidels*(1983)*Empire Burlesque*(1985)*Knocked Out Loaded*(1986)*Down in the Groove*(1988)*Oh Mercy*(1989)*Under the Red Sky*(1990)*Good as I Been to You*(1992)*World Gone Wrong*(1993)*Time Out of Mind*(1997)*"Love and Theft"*(2001)*Modern Times*(2006)*Together Through Life*(2009)*Christmas in the Heart*(2009)*Tempest*(2012)*Shadows in the Night*(2015)*Fallen Angels*(2016)*Triplicate*(2017)*Rough and Rowdy Ways*(2020)*Shadow Kingdom*(2023)
## Notes
### Citations
### Sources
- Barker, Derek, ed. (2019).
*Bob Dylan Anthology, Volume 3*. Red Planet Publishing. ISBN 978-1-912733-94-1. - Bauldie, John, ed. (1992).
*Wanted Man: In Search of Bob Dylan*. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-015361-3. - Beatles, The (2000).
*The Beatles Anthology*. Cassell & Co. ISBN 978-0-304-35605-8. - Bell, Ian (2012).
*Once Upon a Time: The Lives of Bob Dylan*. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78057-573-5. - Bell, Ian (2013).
*Time Out of Mind: The Lives of Bob Dylan*. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 9781780575773. - Cohn, Nik (1970).
*Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom*. Paladin. ISBN 978-0-586-08014-6. - Cott, Jonathan, ed. (2006).
*Dylan on Dylan: The Essential Interviews*. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-340-92312-2. - Dylan, Bob (2004).
*Chronicles: Volume One*. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-2815-2. - Fishkoff, Sue (2003).
*The Rebbe's Army: Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch*. Schocken Books. ISBN 978-0-8052-1138-2. - Flanagan, Bill (1990).
*Written In My Soul*. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-7119-2224-2. - Fong-Torres, Ben, ed. (1973).
*The Rolling Stone Interviews*. Vol. 2. Warner Paperback Library. - Gill, Andy (1999).
*Classic Bob Dylan: My Back Pages*. Carlton. ISBN 978-1-85868-599-1. - Gill, Andy; Odegard, Kevin (2004).
*A Simple Twist Of Fate: Bob Dylan and the Making of Blood on the Tracks*. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81413-6. - Gilliland, John (1969). "Ballad in Plain D: An introduction to the Bob Dylan era" (audio).
*Pop Chronicles*. University of North Texas Libraries. - Gray, Michael (1972).
*Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan*. Hart-Davis, MacGibbon. ISBN 0-246-10603-4. - Gray, Michael (2000).
*Song & Dance Man III: The Art of Bob Dylan*. Continuum International. ISBN 978-0-8264-5150-7. - Gray, Michael (2006).
*The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia*. Continuum International. ISBN 978-0-8264-6933-5. - Hajdu, David (2001).
*Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina, and Richard Farina*. Farrar Straus Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-28199-1. - Harvey, Todd (2001).
*The Formative Dylan: Transmission & Stylistic Influences, 1961–1963*. The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-4115-4. - Hedin, Benjamin, ed. (2004).
*Studio A: The Bob Dylan Reader*. W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 978-0-393-32742-7. - Helm, Levon (2000).
*This Wheel's on Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of the Band*. Stephen Davis. a capella. ISBN 978-1-55652-405-9. - Heylin, Clinton (1990).
*Saved!: The Gospel Speeches of Bob Dylan*. Hanuman Books. ISBN 978-0-937815-38-0. - Heylin, Clinton (1996).
*Bob Dylan: A Life In Stolen Moments*. Book Sales. ISBN 978-0-7119-5669-8. - Heylin, Clinton (2000).
*Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades: Take Two*. Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-88506-0. - Heylin, Clinton (2009).
*Revolution In The Air: The Songs of Bob Dylan, Volume One: 1957–73*. Constable. ISBN 978-1-84901-051-1. - Heylin, Clinton (2010).
*Still On The Road: The Songs of Bob Dylan, Volume Two: 1974–2008*. Constable. ISBN 978-1-84901-011-5. - Heylin, Clinton (2011).
*Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades: 20th Anniversary Edition*. Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-27240-2. - Heylin, Clinton (2021).
*The Double Life of Bob Dylan: Volume I: 1941–1966 A Restless, Hungry Feeling*. Bodley Head. ISBN 978-1847925886. - Heylin, Clinton (2023).
*The Double Life of Bob Dylan: Volume 2: 1966–2021 Far Away From Myself*. Bodley Head. ISBN 978-1529923797. - Hoskyns, Barney (1993).
*Across The Great Divide: The Band and America*. Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-84144-8. - Larkin, Philip (1985).
*All What Jazz: A Record Diary*. Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-13476-9. - Latham, Sean, ed. (2021).
*The World of Bob Dylan*. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-49951-4. - Lee, C. P. (2000).
*Like a Bullet of Light: The Films of Bob Dylan*. Helter Skelter. ISBN 978-1-900924-06-1. - Marcus, Greil (2001).
*The Old, Weird America: The World of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes*. Picador. ISBN 978-0-312-42043-7. - Marcus, Greil (2005).
*Like a Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads*. Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-22385-5. - Marqusee, Mike (2005).
*Wicked Messenger: Bob Dylan and the 1960s*. Seven Stories Press. ISBN 978-1-58322-686-5. - Marshall, Scott (2002).
*Restless Pilgrim: The Spiritual Journey of Bob Dylan*. Relevant Books. ISBN 978-0-9714576-2-1. - McGregor, Craig, ed. (1972).
*Bob Dylan: A Retrospective*. Morrow Paperback Editions. ISBN 978-0-6880-6025-1. - Miller, Jim, ed. (1981),
*The Rolling Stone History of Rock & Roll*, Picador, ISBN 978-0-330-26568-3 - Muir, Andrew (2001).
*Razor's Edge: Bob Dylan & the Never Ending Tour*. Helter Skelter. ISBN 978-1-900924-13-9. - Polizzotti, Mark (2006).
*Highway 61 Revisited*. Continuum. ISBN 978-0-8264-1775-6. - Ricks, Christopher (2003).
*Dylan's Visions of Sin*. Penguin/Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-80133-6. - Robertson, Robbie (2016).
*Testimony*. William Heinemann. ISBN 978-1-78515-106-4. - Scaduto, Anthony (2001) [1972].
*Bob Dylan*. Helter Skelter. ISBN 978-1-900924-23-8. - Schumacher, Michael, ed. (2017).
*First Thought: Conversations with Allen Ginsberg*. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-9917-9. - Shelton, Robert (1986).
*No Direction Home*. New English Library. ISBN 978-0-450-04843-2. - Shelton, Robert (2011).
*No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan, Revised and updated edition*. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-1-84938-911-2. - Shepard, Sam (2004).
*Rolling Thunder Logbook*(reissue ed.). Da Capo. ISBN 978-0-306-81371-9. - Sounes, Howard (2001).
*Down The Highway: The Life Of Bob Dylan*. Grove Press. ISBN 978-0-8021-1686-4. - Williams, Richard (1992).
*Dylan: A Man Called Alias*. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-0-7475-1084-0. - Williamson, Nigel (2004).
*The Rough Guide to Bob Dylan*. Rough Guides. ISBN 978-1-84353-139-5.
## External links
- Official website
- Expecting Rain – Dylan news and events, updated daily
- BobLinks – Comprehensive log of concerts and set lists
- Bjorner's Still on the Road Archived September 9, 2012, at the Wayback Machine – Information on recording sessions and performances
- Bob Dylan at IMDb
- Bob Dylan on Nobelprize.org
|
# Lion - Wikipedia
| Lion Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| Male in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania | |
| Female in Okonjima, Namibia | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Suborder: | Feliformia |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Subfamily: | Pantherinae |
| Genus: | Panthera
|
| Species: | P. leo |
| Binomial name | |
Panthera leo | |
| Subspecies | |
| Historical lion distribution |
The **lion** (* Panthera leo*) is a large cat of the genus
*Panthera*, native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the tip of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult male lions are larger than females and have a prominent mane. It is a social species, forming groups called prides. A lion's pride consists of a few adult males, related females, and cubs. Groups of female lions usually hunt together, preying mostly on medium-sized and large ungulates. The lion is an apex and keystone predator.
The lion inhabits grasslands, savannahs, and shrublands. It is usually more diurnal than other wild cats, but when persecuted, it adapts to being active at night and at twilight. During the Neolithic period, the lion ranged throughout Africa and Eurasia, from Southeast Europe to India, but it has been reduced to fragmented populations in sub-Saharan Africa and one population in western India. It has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1996 because populations in African countries have declined by about 43% since the early 1990s. Lion populations are untenable outside designated protected areas. Although the cause of the decline is not fully understood, habitat loss and conflicts with humans are the greatest causes for concern.
One of the most widely recognised animal symbols in human culture, the lion has been extensively depicted in sculptures and paintings, on national flags, and in literature and films. Lions have been kept in menageries since the time of the Roman Empire and have been a key species sought for exhibition in zoological gardens across the world since the late 18th century. Cultural depictions of lions have occurred worldwide, particularly as a symbol of power and royalty.
## Etymology
The English word *lion* is derived via Anglo-Norman *liun* from Latin *leōnem* (nominative: *leō*), which in turn was a borrowing from Ancient Greek λέων *léōn*. The Hebrew word לָבִיא *lavi* may also be related. The generic name *Panthera* is traceable to the classical Latin word 'panthēra' and the ancient Greek word πάνθηρ 'panther'.
## Taxonomy
*Felis leo* was the scientific name used by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, who described the lion in his work *Systema Naturae*. The genus name *Panthera* was coined by Lorenz Oken in 1816. Between the mid-18th and mid-20th centuries, 26 lion specimens were described and proposed as subspecies, of which 11 were recognised as valid in 2005. They were distinguished mostly by the size and colour of their manes and skins.
### Subspecies
In the 19th and 20th centuries, several lion type specimens were described and proposed as subspecies, with about a dozen recognised as valid taxa until 2017. Between 2008 and 2016, IUCN Red List assessors used only two subspecific names: *P. l. leo* for African lion populations, and *P. l. persica* for the Asiatic lion population. In 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the Cat Specialist Group revised lion taxonomy, and recognises two subspecies based on results of several phylogeographic studies on lion evolution, namely:
*P. l. leo*(Linnaeus, 1758) − the nominate lion subspecies includes the Asiatic lion, the regionally extinct Barbary lion, and lion populations in West and northern parts of Central Africa. Synonyms include*P. l. persica*(Meyer, 1826),*P. l. senegalensis*(Meyer, 1826),*P. l. kamptzi*(Matschie, 1900), and*P. l. azandica*(Allen, 1924). It has been called 'northern lion' and 'northern subspecies'.*P. l. melanochaita*(Smith, 1842) − includes the extinct Cape lion and lion populations in East and Southern African regions. Synonyms include*P. l. somaliensis*(Noack 1891),*P. l. massaica*(Neumann, 1900),*P. l. sabakiensis*(Lönnberg, 1910),*P. l. bleyenberghi*(Lönnberg, 1914),*P. l. roosevelti*(Heller, 1914),*P. l. nyanzae*(Heller, 1914),*P. l. hollisteri*(Allen, 1924),*P. l. krugeri*(Roberts, 1929),*P. l. vernayi*(Roberts, 1948), and*P. l. webbiensis*(Zukowsky, 1964). It has been referred to as 'southern subspecies' and 'southern lion'.
However, there seems to be some degree of overlap between both groups in northern Central Africa. DNA analysis from a more recent study indicates that Central African lions are derived from both northern and southern lions, as they cluster with *P. leo leo* in mtDNA-based phylogenies whereas their genomic DNA indicates a closer relationship with P. *leo melanochaita*.
Lion samples from some parts of the Ethiopian Highlands cluster genetically with those from Cameroon and Chad, while lions from other areas of Ethiopia cluster with samples from East Africa. Researchers, therefore, assume Ethiopia is a contact zone between the two subspecies. Genome-wide data of a wild-born historical lion sample from Sudan showed that it clustered with *P. l. leo* in mtDNA-based phylogenies, but with a high affinity to *P. l. melanochaita*; this suggested that the taxonomic position of lions in Central Africa may require revision.
### Fossil records
Other lion subspecies or sister species to the modern lion existed in prehistoric times:
*P. l. sinhaleyus*was a fossil carnassial excavated in Sri Lanka, which was attributed to a lion. It is thought to have become extinct around 39,000 years ago.*P. fossilis*was larger than the modern lion and lived in the Middle Pleistocene. Bone fragments were excavated in caves in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Czech Republic.*P. spelaea*, or the**cave lion**, lived in Eurasia and Beringia during the Late Pleistocene. It became extinct due to climate warming or human expansion latest by 11,900 years ago. Bone fragments excavated in European, North Asian, Canadian and Alaskan caves indicate that it ranged from Europe across Siberia into western Alaska. It likely derived from*P. fossilis*, and was genetically isolated and highly distinct from the modern lion in Africa and Eurasia. It is depicted in Paleolithic cave paintings, ivory carvings, and clay busts.*P. atrox*, or the**American lion**, ranged in the Americas from Canada to possibly Patagonia during the Late Pleistocene. It diverged from the cave lion around 165,000 years ago. A fossil from Edmonton dates to 11,355 ± 55 years ago.
### Evolution
The *Panthera* lineage is estimated to have genetically diverged from the common ancestor of the Felidae around to . Results of analyses differ in the phylogenetic relationship of the lion; it was thought to form a sister group with the jaguar that diverged , but also with the leopard that diverged to . Hybridisation between lion and snow leopard ancestors possibly continued until about 2.1 million years ago. The lion-leopard clade was distributed in the Asian and African Palearctic since at least the early Pliocene. The earliest fossils recognisable as lions were found at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and are estimated to be up to 2 million years old.
Estimates for the divergence time of the modern and cave lion lineages range from 529,000 to 392,000 years ago based on mutation rate per generation time of the modern lion. There is no evidence for gene flow between the two lineages, indicating that they did not share the same geographic area. The Eurasian and American cave lions became extinct at the end of the last glacial period without mitochondrial descendants on other continents. The modern lion was probably widely distributed in Africa during the Middle Pleistocene and started to diverge in sub-Saharan Africa during the Late Pleistocene. Lion populations in East and Southern Africa became separated from populations in West and North Africa when the equatorial rainforest expanded 183,500 to 81,800 years ago. They shared a common ancestor probably between 98,000 and 52,000 years ago. Due to the expansion of the Sahara between 83,100 and 26,600 years ago, lion populations in West and North Africa became separated. As the rainforest decreased and thus gave rise to more open habitats, lions moved from West to Central Africa. Lions from North Africa dispersed to southern Europe and Asia between 38,800 and 8,300 years ago.
Extinction of lions in southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East interrupted gene flow between lion populations in Asia and Africa. Genetic evidence revealed numerous mutations in lion samples from East and Southern Africa, which indicates that this group has a longer evolutionary history than genetically less diverse lion samples from Asia and West and Central Africa. A whole genome-wide sequence of lion samples showed that samples from West Africa shared alleles with samples from Southern Africa, and samples from Central Africa shared alleles with samples from Asia. This phenomenon indicates that Central Africa was a melting pot of lion populations after they had become isolated, possibly migrating through corridors in the Nile Basin during the early Holocene.
### Hybrids
In zoos, lions have been bred with tigers to create hybrids for the curiosity of visitors or for scientific purpose. The liger is bigger than a lion and a tiger, whereas most tigons are relatively small compared to their parents because of reciprocal gene effects. The leopon is a hybrid between a lion and leopard.
## Description
The lion is a muscular, broad-chested cat with a short, rounded head, a reduced neck, and round ears; males have broader heads. The fur varies in colour from light buff to silvery grey, yellowish red, and dark brown. The colours of the underparts are generally lighter. A new-born lion has dark spots, which fade as the cub reaches adulthood, although faint spots may still be seen on the legs and underparts. The tail of all lions ends in a dark, hairy tuft that, in some lions, conceals an approximately 5 mm (0.20 in)-long, hard "spine" or "spur" composed of dermal papillae. The functions of the spur are unknown. The tuft is absent at birth, develops at around 5+1⁄2 months of age and is readily identifiable at the age of seven months.
Its skull is very similar to that of the tiger, although the frontal region is usually more depressed and flattened and has a slightly shorter postorbital region and broader nasal openings than those of the tiger. Due to the amount of skull variation in the two species, usually only the structure of the lower jaw can be used as a reliable indicator of species.
The skeletal muscles of the lion make up 58.8% of its body weight and represent the highest percentage of muscles among mammals. The lion has a high concentration of fast twitch muscle fibres, giving them quick bursts of speed but less stamina.
### Size
Among felids, the lion is second only to the tiger in size. The size and weight of adult lions vary across its range and habitats. Accounts of a few individuals that were larger than average exist from Africa and India.
| Average | Female lions | Male lions |
|---|---|---|
| Head-and-body length | 160–184 cm (63–72 in) | 184–208 cm (72–82 in) |
| Tail length | 72–89.5 cm (28.3–35.2 in) | 82.5–93.5 cm (32.5–36.8 in) |
| Weight | 118.37–143.52 kg (261.0–316.4 lb) in Southern Africa, 119.5 kg (263 lb) in East Africa, 110–120 kg (240–260 lb) in India |
186.55–225 kg (411.3–496.0 lb) in Southern Africa, 174.9 kg (386 lb) in East Africa, 160–190 kg (350–420 lb) in India |
### Mane
The male lion's mane is the most recognisable feature of the species. It may have evolved around 320,000–190,000 years ago. It grows downwards and backwards, covering most of the head, neck, shoulders, and chest. The mane is typically brownish and tinged with yellow, rust, and black hairs. Mutations in the genes microphthalmia-associated transcription factor and tyrosinase are possibly responsible for the colour of manes. It starts growing when lions enter adolescence, when testosterone levels increase, and reach their full size at around four years old. Cool ambient temperatures in European and North American zoos may result in a heavier mane. On average, Asiatic lions have sparser manes than African lions.[ page needed]
This feature likely evolved to signal the fitness of males to females. Males with darker manes appear to have greater reproductive success and are more likely to remain in a pride for longer. They have longer and thicker hair and higher testosterone levels, but they are also more vulnerable to heat stress. The core body temperature does apparently not increase regardless of sex, season, feeding time, length and colour of mane, but only surface temperature is affected. Unlike in other felid species, female lions consistently interact with multiple males at once. Another hypothesis suggests that the mane also serves to protect the neck in fights, but this is disputed. During fights, including those involving maneless females and adolescents, the neck is not targeted as much as the face, back, and hindquarters. Injured lions also begin to lose their manes.
Almost all male lions in Pendjari National Park are either maneless or have very short manes. Maneless lions have also been reported in Senegal, in Sudan's Dinder National Park and in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya. Castrated lions often have little to no mane because the removal of the gonads inhibits testosterone production. Rarely, both wild and captive lionesses have manes. Increased testosterone may be the cause of maned lionesses reported in northern Botswana.
### Colour variation
The white lion is a rare morph with a genetic condition called leucism, which is caused by a double recessive allele. It is not albino; it has normal pigmentation in the eyes and skin. White lions have occasionally been encountered in and around Kruger National Park and the adjacent Timbavati Private Game Reserve in eastern South Africa. They were removed from the wild in the 1970s, thus decreasing the white lion gene pool. Nevertheless, 17 births have been recorded in five prides between 2007 and 2015. White lions are selected for breeding in captivity. They have reportedly been bred in camps in South Africa for use as trophies to be killed during canned hunts.
## Distribution and habitat
African lions live in scattered populations across sub-Saharan Africa. The lion prefers grassy plains and savannahs, scrub bordering rivers, and open woodlands with bushes. It rarely enters closed forests. On Mount Elgon, the lion has been recorded up to an elevation of 3,600 m (11,800 ft) and close to the snow line on Mount Kenya. Savannahs with an annual rainfall of 300 to 1,500 mm (12 to 59 in) make up the majority of lion habitat in Africa, estimated at 3,390,821 km2 (1,309,203 sq mi) at most, but remnant populations are also present in tropical moist forests in West Africa and montane forests in East Africa. The Asiatic lion now survives only in and around Gir National Park in Gujarat, western India. Its habitat is a mixture of dry savannah forest and very dry, deciduous scrub forest.
### Historical range
In Africa, the range of the lion originally spanned most of the central African rainforest zone and the Sahara desert. In the 1960s, it became extinct in North Africa, except in the southern part of Sudan.
During the mid-Holocene, around 8,000-6,000 years ago, the range of lions expanded into Southeastern and Eastern Europe, partially re-occupying the range of the now extinct cave lion. In Hungary, the modern lion was present from about 4,500 to 3,200 years Before Present. In Ukraine, the modern lion was present from about 6,400 to 2,000 years Before Present. In Greece, it was common, as reported by Herodotus in 480 BC; it was considered rare by 300 BC and extirpated by AD 100.
In Asia the lion once ranged in regions where climatic conditions supported an abundance of prey. It was present in the Caucasus until the 10th century. It lived in the Levant until the Middle Ages and in Southwest Asia until the late 19th century. By the late 19th century, it had been extirpated in most of Turkey. The last live lion in Iran was sighted in 1942, about 65 km (40 mi) northwest of Dezful, although the corpse of a lioness was found on the banks of the Karun river in Khuzestan province in 1944. It once ranged from Sind and Punjab in Pakistan to Bengal and the Narmada River in central India.
## Behaviour and ecology
Lions spend much of their time resting; they are inactive for about twenty hours per day. Although lions can be active at any time, their activity generally peaks after dusk with a period of socialising, grooming, and defecating. Intermittent bursts of activity continue until dawn, when hunting most often takes place. They spend an average of two hours a day walking and fifty minutes eating.
### Group organisation
The lion is the most social of all wild felid species, living in groups of related individuals with their offspring. Such a group is called a "pride". Groups of male lions are called "coalitions". Females form the stable social unit in a pride and do not tolerate outside females. The majority of females remain in their birth prides while all males and some females disperse. The average pride consists of around 15 lions, including several adult females and up to four males and their cubs of both sexes. Large prides of up to 30 individuals have been observed. The sole exception to this pattern is the Tsavo lion pride that always had only one adult male. Prides act as fission–fusion societies, and members split into subgroups that keep in contact with roars.
Nomadic lions range widely and move around sporadically, either in pairs or alone. Pairs are more frequent among related males. A lion may switch lifestyles; nomads can become residents and vice versa. Interactions between prides and nomads tend to be hostile, although pride females in estrus allow nomadic males to approach them. Males spend years in a nomadic phase before gaining residence in a pride. A study undertaken in the Serengeti National Park revealed that nomadic coalitions gain residency at between 3.5 and 7.3 years of age. In Kruger National Park, dispersing male lions move more than 25 km (16 mi) away from their natal pride in search of their own territory. Female lions stay closer to their natal pride. Therefore, female lions in an area are more closely related to each other than male lions in the same area.
The evolution of sociability in lions was likely driven both by high population density and the clumped resources of savannah habitats. The larger the pride, the more high-quality territory they can defend; "hotspots" are near river confluences, where they have optimal access to water, prey and vegetation cover. A study on three lion prides in a Zimbabwean wildlife reserve revealed that the dominant pride of 12 lions had the shortest average distance to water and the smallest home range of 130.35 km2 (50.33 sq mi); the smallest pride of four lions had the longest average distance to water and the largest home range of 174.6 km2 (67.4 sq mi).
The area occupied by a pride is called a "pride area" whereas that occupied by a nomad is a "range". Males associated with a pride patrol the fringes. Both males and females defend the pride against intruders, but the male lion is better-suited for this purpose due to its stockier, more powerful build. Some individuals consistently lead the defence against intruders, while others lag behind. Lions tend to assume specific roles in the pride; slower-moving individuals may provide other valuable services to the group. Alternatively, there may be rewards associated with being a leader that fends off intruders; the rank of lionesses in the pride is reflected in these responses. The male or males associated with the pride must defend their relationship with the pride from outside males who may attempt to usurp them.
Asiatic lion prides differ in group composition. Male Asiatic lions are solitary or associate with up to three males, forming a loose pride while females associate with up to 12 other females, forming a stronger pride together with their cubs. Female and male lions associate only when mating. Coalitions of males hold territory for a longer time than single lions. Males in coalitions of three or four individuals exhibit a pronounced hierarchy, in which one male dominates the others and mates more frequently.
### Hunting and diet
The lion is a generalist hypercarnivore and is considered to be both an apex and keystone predator due to its wide prey spectrum. Its prey consists mainly of medium-sized to large ungulates, particularly blue wildebeest, plains zebra, African buffalo, gemsbok and giraffe. It also frequently takes common warthog despite it being much smaller. In India, chital and sambar deer are the most common wild prey, while livestock contributes significantly to lion kills outside protected areas. It usually avoids adult elephants, rhinoceros and hippopotamus and small prey like dik-dik, hyraxes, hares and monkeys, and seldom consumes other predators; unusual prey include small reptiles and porcupines.
Young lions first display stalking behaviour at around three months of age, although they do not participate in hunting until they are almost a year old and begin to hunt effectively when nearing the age of two. Single lions are capable of bringing down zebra and wildebeest, while larger prey like buffalo and giraffe are riskier. In Chobe National Park, large prides have been observed hunting African bush elephants up to around 15 years old in exceptional cases, with the victims being calves, juveniles, and even subadults. In typical group hunts, each lioness has a favoured position in the group, either stalking prey on the "wing", then attacking, or moving a smaller distance in the centre of the group and capturing prey fleeing from other lionesses. Males attached to prides do not usually participate in group hunting. Some evidence suggests, however, that males are just as successful as females; they are typically solo hunters who ambush prey in small bushland. They may join in the hunting of large, slower-moving prey like buffalo; and even hunt them on their own. Moderately-sized hunting groups generally have higher success rates than lone females and larger groups.
Lions are not particularly known for their stamina. For instance, a lioness's heart comprises only 0.57% of her body weight and a male's is about 0.45% of his body weight, whereas a hyena's heart comprises almost 1% of its body weight. Thus, lions run quickly only in short bursts at about 48–59 km/h (30–37 mph) and need to be close to their prey before starting the attack. They take advantage of factors that reduce visibility; many kills take place near some form of cover or at night. One study in 2018 recorded a lion running at a top speed of 74.1 km/h (46.0 mph). The lion accelerates at the start of the chase by a rate of 9.5 m/s (34 km/h; 21 mph) per second, whereas zebras, wildebeest and Thomson's gazelle accelerate by a rate of 5 m/s (18 km/h; 11 mph) per second, 5.6 m/s (20 km/h; 13 mph) per second, and 4.5 m/s (16 km/h; 10 mph) per second respectively; acceleration appears to be more important than steady displacement speed in lion hunts. The lion's attack is short and powerful; it attempts to catch prey with a fast rush and final leap, usually pulls it down by the rump, and kills with a clamping bite to the throat or muzzle. It can hold the prey's throat for up to 13 minutes, until the prey stops moving. It has a bite force from 1593.8 to 1768 Newtons at the canine tip and up 4167.6 Newtons at the carnassial notch.
Lions typically consume prey at the location of the hunt but sometimes drag large prey into cover. They tend to squabble over kills, particularly the males. Cubs suffer most when food is scarce but otherwise all pride members eat their fill, including old and crippled lions, which can live on leftovers. Large kills are shared more widely among pride members. An adult lioness requires an average of about 5 kg (11 lb) of meat per day while males require about 7 kg (15 lb). Lions gorge themselves and eat up to 30 kg (66 lb) in one session. If it is unable to consume all of the kill, it rests for a few hours before continuing to eat. On hot days, the pride retreats to shade with one or two males standing guard. Lions defend their kills from scavengers such as vultures and hyenas.
Lions scavenge on carrion when the opportunity arises, scavenging animals dead from natural causes such as disease or those that were killed by other predators. Scavenging lions keep a constant lookout for circling vultures, which indicate the death or distress of an animal. Most carrion on which both hyenas and lions feed upon are killed by hyenas rather than lions. Carrion is thought to provide a large part of lion diet.
### Predatory competition
Lions and spotted hyenas occupy a similar ecological niche and compete for prey and carrion; a review of data across several studies indicates a dietary overlap of 58.6%. Lions typically ignore hyenas unless they are on a kill or are being harassed, while the latter tend to visibly react to the presence of lions with or without the presence of food. In the Ngorongoro crater, lions subsist largely on kills stolen from hyenas, causing them to increase their kill rate. In Botswana's Chobe National Park, the situation is reversed as hyenas there frequently challenge lions and steal their kills, obtaining food from 63% of all lion kills. When confronted on a kill, hyenas may either leave or wait patiently at a distance of 30–100 m (98–328 ft) until the lions have finished. Hyenas may feed alongside lions and force them off a kill. The two species attack one another even when there is no food involved for no apparent reason. Lions can account for up to 71% of hyena deaths in Etosha National Park. Hyenas have adapted by frequently mobbing lions that enter their home ranges. When the lion population in Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve declined, the spotted hyena population increased rapidly.
Lions tend to dominate cheetahs and leopards, steal their kills and kill their cubs and even adults when given the chance. Cheetahs often lose their kills to lions or other predators. A study in the Serengeti ecosystem revealed that lions killed at least 17 of 125 cheetah cubs born between 1987 and 1990. Cheetahs avoid their competitors by hunting at different times and habitats. Leopards, by contrast, do not appear to be motivated by an avoidance of lions, as they use heavy vegetation regardless of whether lions are present in an area and both cats are active around the same time of day. In addition, there is no evidence that lions affect leopard abundance. Leopards take refuge in trees, though lionesses occasionally attempt to climb up and retrieve their kills.
Lions similarly dominate African wild dogs, taking their kills and dispatching pups or adult dogs. Population densities of wild dogs are low in areas where lions are more abundant. However, there are a few reported cases of old and wounded lions falling prey to wild dogs.
### Reproduction and life cycle
Most lionesses reproduce by the time they are four years of age. Lions do not mate at a specific time of year and the females are polyestrous. Like those of other cats, the male lion's penis has spines that point backward. During withdrawal of the penis, the spines rake the walls of the female's vagina, which may cause ovulation. A lioness may mate with more than one male when she is in heat. Lions of both sexes may be involved in group homosexual and courtship activities. Males will also head-rub and roll around with each other before mounting each other. Generation length of the lion is about seven years. The average gestation period is around 110 days; the female gives birth to a litter of between one and four cubs in a secluded den, which may be a thicket, a reed-bed, a cave, or some other sheltered area, usually away from the pride. She will often hunt alone while the cubs are still helpless, staying relatively close to the den. Lion cubs are born blind, their eyes opening around seven days after birth. They weigh 1.2–2.1 kg (2.6–4.6 lb) at birth and are almost helpless, beginning to crawl a day or two after birth and walking around three weeks of age. To avoid a buildup of scent attracting the attention of predators, the lioness moves her cubs to a new den site several times a month, carrying them one-by-one by the nape of the neck.
Usually, the mother does not integrate herself and her cubs back into the pride until the cubs are six to eight weeks old. Sometimes the introduction to pride life occurs earlier, particularly if other lionesses have given birth at about the same time. When first introduced to the rest of the pride, lion cubs lack confidence when confronted with adults other than their mother. They soon begin to immerse themselves in the pride life, however, playing among themselves or attempting to initiate play with the adults. Lionesses with cubs of their own are more likely to be tolerant of another lioness's cubs than lionesses without cubs. Male tolerance of the cubs varies—one male could patiently let the cubs play with his tail or his mane, while another may snarl and bat the cubs away.
Pride lionesses often synchronise their reproductive cycles and communal rearing and suckling of the young, which suckle indiscriminately from any or all of the nursing females in the pride. The synchronisation of births is advantageous because the cubs grow to being roughly the same size and have an equal chance of survival, and sucklings are not dominated by older cubs. Weaning occurs after six or seven months. Male lions reach maturity at about three years of age and at four to five years are capable of challenging and displacing adult males associated with another pride. They begin to age and weaken at between 10 and 15 years of age at the latest.
When one or more new males oust the previous males associated with a pride, the victors often kill any existing young cubs, perhaps because females do not become fertile and receptive until their cubs mature or die. Females often fiercely defend their cubs from a usurping male but are rarely successful unless a group of three or four mothers within a pride join forces against the male. Cubs also die from starvation and abandonment, and predation by leopards, hyenas and wild dogs. Male cubs are excluded from their maternal pride when they reach maturity at around two or three years of age, while some females may leave when they reach the age of two. When a new male lion takes over a pride, adolescents both male and female may be evicted.
### Health and mortality
Lions may live 12–17 years in the wild. Although adult lions have no natural predators, evidence suggests most die violently from attacks by humans or other lions. Lions often inflict serious injuries on members of other prides they encounter in territorial disputes or members of the home pride when fighting at a kill. Crippled lions and cubs may fall victim to hyenas and leopards or be trampled by buffalo or elephants. Careless lions may be maimed when hunting prey. Nile crocodiles may also kill and eat lions, evidenced by the occasional lion claw found in crocodile stomachs.
Ticks commonly infest the ears, neck and groin regions of the lions. Adult forms of several tapeworm species of the genus *Taenia* have been isolated from lion intestines, having been ingested as larvae in antelope meat. Lions in the Ngorongoro Crater were afflicted by an outbreak of stable fly (*Stomoxys calcitrans*) in 1962, resulting in lions becoming emaciated and covered in bloody, bare patches. Lions sought unsuccessfully to evade the biting flies by climbing trees or crawling into hyena burrows; many died or migrated and the local population dropped from 70 to 15 individuals. A more recent outbreak in 2001 killed six lions.
Captive lions have been infected with canine distemper virus (CDV) since at least the mid-1970s. CDV is spread by domestic dogs and other carnivores; a 1994 outbreak in Serengeti National Park resulted in many lions developing neurological symptoms such as seizures. During the outbreak, several lions died from pneumonia and encephalitis. Feline immunodeficiency virus and lentivirus also affect captive lions.
### Communication
When resting, lion socialisation occurs through a number of behaviours; the animal's expressive movements are highly developed. The most common peaceful, tactile gestures are head rubbing and social licking, which have been compared with the role of allogrooming among primates. Head rubbing, nuzzling the forehead, face and neck against another lion appears to be a form of greeting and is seen often after an animal has been apart from others or after a fight or confrontation. Males tend to rub other males, while cubs and females rub females. Social licking often occurs in tandem with head rubbing; it is generally mutual and the recipient appears to express pleasure. The head and neck are the most common parts of the body licked; this behaviour may have arisen out of utility because lions cannot lick these areas themselves.
Lions have an array of facial expressions and body postures that serve as visual gestures. A common facial expression is the "grimace face" or flehmen response, which a lion makes when sniffing chemical signals and involves an open mouth with bared teeth, raised muzzle, wrinkled nose, closed eyes and relaxed ears. Lions also use chemical and visual marking; males spray urine and scrape plots of ground and objects within the territory.
The lion's repertoire of vocalisations is large; variations in intensity and pitch appear to be central to communication. Most lion vocalisations are variations of roaring, growling and snarling. Other sounds produced include puffing, humming, and a soft sound similar to purring, while cubs communicate by meowing and bleating. Roaring is used to advertise the animal's presence. Lions most often roar at night, a sound that can be heard from a distance of 8 kilometres (5 mi). They tend to roar in a very characteristic manner starting with a few deep, long roars that subside into grunts.
## Conservation
The lion is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. The Indian population is listed on CITES Appendix I and the African population on CITES Appendix II.
### In Africa
Several large and well-managed protected areas in Africa host large lion populations. Where an infrastructure for wildlife tourism has been developed, cash revenue for park management and local communities is a strong incentive for lion conservation. Most lions now live in East and Southern Africa; their numbers are rapidly decreasing, and fell by an estimated 30–50% in the late half of the 20th century. Primary causes of the decline include disease and human interference. In 1975, it was estimated that since the 1950s, lion numbers had decreased by half to 200,000 or fewer. Estimates of the African lion population range between 16,500 and 47,000 living in the wild in 2002–2004.
In the Republic of the Congo, Odzala-Kokoua National Park was considered a lion stronghold in the 1990s. By 2014, no lions were recorded in the protected area so the population is considered locally extinct. The West African lion population is isolated from the one in Central Africa, with little or no exchange of breeding individuals. In 2015, it was estimated that this population consists of about 400 animals, including fewer than 250 mature individuals. They persist in three protected areas in the region, mostly in one population in the W A P protected area complex, shared by Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger. This population is listed as Critically Endangered. Field surveys in the WAP ecosystem revealed that lion occupancy is lowest in the W National Park, and higher in areas with permanent staff and thus better protection.
A population occurs in Cameroon's Waza National Park, where between approximately 14 and 21 animals persisted as of 2009. In addition, 50 to 150 lions are estimated to be present in Burkina Faso's Arly-Singou ecosystem. In 2015, an adult male lion and a female lion were sighted in Ghana's Mole National Park. These were the first sightings of lions in the country in 39 years. In the same year, a population of up to 200 lions that was previously thought to have been extirpated was filmed in the Alatash National Park, Ethiopia, close to the Sudanese border.
In 2005, Lion Conservation Strategies were developed for West and Central Africa, and East and Southern Africa. The strategies seek to maintain suitable habitat, ensure a sufficient wild prey base for lions, reduce factors that lead to further fragmentation of populations, and make lion–human coexistence sustainable. Lion depredation on livestock is significantly reduced in areas where herders keep livestock in improved enclosures. Such measures contribute to mitigating human–lion conflict.
### In Asia
The last refuge of the Asiatic lion population is the 1,412 km2 (545 sq mi) Gir National Park and surrounding areas in the region of Saurashtra or Kathiawar Peninsula in Gujarat State, India. The population has risen from approximately 180 lions in 1974 to about 400 in 2010. It is geographically isolated, which can lead to inbreeding and reduced genetic diversity. Since 2008, the Asiatic lion has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. By 2015, the population had grown to 523 individuals inhabiting an area of 7,000 km2 (2,700 sq mi) in Saurashtra. In 2017, about 650 individuals were recorded during the Asiatic Lion Census.
The presence of numerous human settlements close to Gir National Park resulted in conflict between lions, local people and their livestock. Some consider the presence of lions a benefit, as they keep populations of crop damaging herbivores in check.
### Captive breeding
Lions imported to Europe before the middle of the 19th century were possibly foremost Barbary lions from North Africa, or Cape lions from Southern Africa. Another 11 animals thought to be Barbary lions kept in Addis Ababa Zoo are descendants of animals owned by Emperor Haile Selassie. WildLink International in collaboration with Oxford University launched an ambitious International Barbary Lion Project with the aim of identifying and breeding Barbary lions in captivity for eventual reintroduction into a national park in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. However, a genetic analysis showed that the captive lions at Addis Ababa Zoo were not Barbary lions, but rather closely related to wild lions in Chad and Cameroon.
In 1982, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums started a Species Survival Plan for the Asiatic lion to increase its chances of survival. In 1987, it was found that most lions in North American zoos were hybrids between African and Asiatic lions. Breeding programs need to note origins of the participating animals to avoid cross-breeding different subspecies and thus reducing their conservation value. Captive breeding of lions was halted to eliminate individuals of unknown origin and pedigree. Wild-born lions were imported to American zoos from Africa between 1989 and 1995. Breeding was continued in 1998 in the frame of an African lion Species Survival Plan.
About 77% of the captive lions registered in the International Species Information System in 2006 were of unknown origin; these animals might have carried genes that are extinct in the wild and may therefore be important to the maintenance of the overall genetic variability of the lion.
## Interactions with humans
### In zoos and circuses
Lions are part of a group of exotic animals that have been central to zoo exhibits since the late 18th century. Although many modern zoos are more selective about their exhibits, there are more than 1,000 African and 100 Asiatic lions in zoos and wildlife parks around the world. They are considered an ambassador species and are kept for tourism, education and conservation purposes. Lions can live over twenty years in captivity; for example, three sibling lions at the Honolulu Zoo lived to the age of 22 in 2007.
The first European "zoos" spread among noble and royal families in the 13th century, and until the 17th century were called seraglios. At that time, they came to be called menageries, an extension of the cabinet of curiosities. They spread from France and Italy during the Renaissance to the rest of Europe. In England, although the seraglio tradition was less developed, lions were kept at the Tower of London in a seraglio established by King John in the 13th century; this was probably stocked with animals from an earlier menagerie started in 1125 by Henry I at his hunting lodge in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, where according to William of Malmesbury lions had been stocked.
Lions were kept in cramped and squalid conditions at London Zoo until a larger lion house with roomier cages was built in the 1870s. Further changes took place in the early 20th century when Carl Hagenbeck designed enclosures with concrete "rocks", more open space and a moat instead of bars, more closely resembling a natural habitat. Hagenbeck designed lion enclosures for both Melbourne Zoo and Sydney's Taronga Zoo; although his designs were popular, the use of bars and caged enclosures prevailed in many zoos until the 1960s. In the late 20th century, larger, more natural enclosures and the use of wire mesh or laminated glass instead of lowered dens allowed visitors to come closer than ever to the animals; some attractions such as the Cat Forest/Lion Overlook of Oklahoma City Zoological Park placed the den on ground level, higher than visitors.
Lion taming has been part of both established circuses and individual acts such as Siegfried & Roy. The practice began in the early 19th century by Frenchman Henri Martin and American Isaac Van Amburgh, who both toured widely and whose techniques were copied by a number of followers. Martin composed a pantomime titled *Les Lions de Mysore* ("the lions of Mysore"), an idea Amburgh quickly borrowed. These acts eclipsed equestrianism acts as the central display of circus shows and entered public consciousness in the early 20th century with cinema. In demonstrating the superiority of human over animal, lion taming served a purpose similar to animal fights of previous centuries. The ultimate proof of a tamer's dominance and control over a lion is demonstrated by the placing of the tamer's head in the lion's mouth. The now-iconic lion tamer's chair was possibly first used by American Clyde Beatty (1903–1965).
### Hunting and games
Lion hunting has occurred since ancient times and was often a royal tradition, intended to demonstrate the power of the king over nature. Such hunts took place in a reserved area in front of an audience. The monarch was accompanied by his men and controls were put in place to increase their safety and ease of killing. The earliest surviving record of lion hunting is an ancient Egyptian inscription dated circa 1380 BC that mentions Pharaoh Amenhotep III killing 102 lions in ten years "with his own arrows". The Assyrian emperor Ashurbanipal had one of his lion hunts depicted on a sequence of Assyrian palace reliefs c. 640 BC, known as the Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal. Lions were also hunted during the Mughal Empire, where Emperor Jahangir is said to have excelled at it. In Ancient Rome, lions were kept by emperors for hunts, gladiator fights and executions.
The Maasai people have traditionally viewed the killing of lions as a rite of passage. Historically, lions were hunted by individuals, however, due to reduced lion populations, elders discourage solo lion hunts. During the European colonisation of Africa in the 19th century, the hunting of lions was encouraged because they were considered pests and lion skins were sold for £1 each. The widely reproduced imagery of the heroic hunter chasing lions would dominate a large part of the century. Trophy hunting of lions in recent years has been met with controversy, notably with the killing of Cecil the lion in mid-2015.
### Man-eating
Lions do not usually hunt humans but some (usually males) seem to seek them out. One well-publicised case is the Tsavo maneaters; in 1898, 28 officially recorded workers building the Uganda Railway were taken by lions over nine months during the construction of a bridge in Kenya. The hunter who killed the lions wrote a book detailing the animals' predatory behaviour; they were larger than normal and lacked manes, and one seemed to suffer from tooth decay. The infirmity theory, including tooth decay, is not favoured by all researchers; an analysis of teeth and jaws of man-eating lions in museum collections suggests that while tooth decay may explain some incidents, prey depletion in human-dominated areas is a more likely cause of lion predation on humans. Sick or injured animals may be more prone to man-eating but the behaviour is not unusual, nor necessarily aberrant.
Lions' proclivity for man-eating has been systematically examined. American and Tanzanian scientists report that man-eating behaviour in rural areas of Tanzania increased greatly from 1990 to 2005. At least 563 villagers were attacked and many eaten over this period. The incidents occurred near Selous Game Reserve in Rufiji River and in Lindi Region near the Mozambican border. While the expansion of villages into bush country is one concern, the authors argue conservation policy must mitigate the danger because in this case, conservation contributes directly to human deaths. Cases in Lindi in which lions seize humans from the centres of substantial villages have been documented. Another study of 1,000 people attacked by lions in southern Tanzania between 1988 and 2009 found that the weeks following the full moon, when there was less moonlight, were a strong indicator of increased night-time attacks on people.
According to Robert R. Frump, Mozambican refugees regularly crossing Kruger National Park, South Africa, at night are attacked and eaten by lions. Frump said thousands may have been killed in the decades after apartheid sealed the park and forced refugees to cross the park at night.
### Cultural significance
The lion is one of the most widely recognised animal symbols in human culture. It has been extensively depicted in sculptures and paintings, on national flags, and in contemporary films and literature. It is considered to be the 'King of Beasts' and has symbolised power, royalty and protection. Several leaders have had "lion" in their name including Sundiata Keita of the Mali Empire, who was called "Lion of Mali", and Richard the Lionheart of England. The male's mane makes it a particularly recognisable feature and thus has been represented more than the female. Nevertheless, the lioness has also had importance as a guardian.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the lion has been a common character in stories, proverbs and dances, but rarely featured in visual arts. In the Swahili language, the lion is known as *simba* which also means "aggressive", "king" and "strong". In parts of West and East Africa, the lion is associated with healing and provides the connection between seers and the supernatural. In other East African traditions, the lion represents laziness. In much of African folklore, the lion is portrayed as having low intelligence and is easily tricked. In Nubia, the lion-god Apedemak was associated with the flooding of the Nile. In Ancient Egypt, lions were linked both with the sun and the waters of the Nile. Several gods were conceived as being part lion, including the war deities Sekhmet and Maahes, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture..
The lion was a prominent symbol in ancient Mesopotamia from Sumer up to Assyrian and Babylonian times, where it was strongly associated with kingship. The big cat was a symbol and steed of fertility goddess Inanna. Lions decorate the Processional Way leading to the Ishtar Gate in Babylon which was built by Nebuchadnezzar II in the 6th century BCE. The Lion of Babylon symbolised the power of the king and protection of the land against enemies, but was also invoked for good luck. The constellation Leo the lion was first recognised by the Sumerians around 4,000 years ago and is the fifth sign of the zodiac. In ancient Israel, a lion represented the tribe of Judah. Lions are frequently mentioned in the Bible, notably in the Book of Daniel, in which the eponymous hero is forced to sleep in the lions' den.
Indo-Persian chroniclers regarded the lion as keeper of order in the realm of animals. The Sanskrit word *mrigendra* signifies a lion as king of animals. In India, the Lion Capital of Ashoka, erected by Emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century CE, depicts four lions standing back to back. In Hindu mythology, the half-lion Narasimha, an avatar of the deity Vishnu, battles and slays the evil ruler Hiranyakashipu. In Buddhist art, lions are associated with both *arhats* and bodhisattvas and may be ridden by the Manjushri. Though they were never native to the country, lions have played important roles in Chinese culture. Statues of the beast have guarded the entrances to the imperial palace and many religious shrines. The lion dance has been performed for over a thousand years.
In ancient Greece, the lion is featured in several of Aesop's fables, notably The Lion and the Mouse. In Greek mythology, the Nemean lion is slain by the hero Heracles who wears its skin. Lancelot and Gawain were also heroes slaying lions in medieval Europe. Lions continue to appear in modern literature such as the Cowardly Lion in L. Frank Baum's 1900 *The Wonderful Wizard of Oz*, and in C. S. Lewis's *The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe*. For cinema, the lion was portrayed as the ruler of animals in the 1994 Disney animated feature film *The Lion King*.
## See also
## Notes
### Citations
### Books
## External links
- Media related to Lion at Wikimedia Commons
- IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. "Lion
*Panthera leo*". - "Lion Conservation Fund".
- "Rare desert lion killed in Angola after supplying unprecedented data".
*The Portugal News*. 2014. Archived from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2018. *Collier's New Encyclopedia*. 1921. .
|
# YouTube - Wikipedia
| Type of business | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
Type of site | Online video platform, social media platform |
| Founded | February 14, 2005 |
| Headquarters | 901 Cherry Avenue San Bruno, California, United States |
| Area served | Worldwide (except blocked countries) |
| Owner | Alphabet Inc. |
| Founder(s) | |
| Key people | |
| Industry | |
| Products | |
| Revenue | US$31.5 billion (2023) |
| Parent | Google LLC (2006–present) |
| URL | youtube |
| IPv6 support | Yes |
| Advertising | Google AdSense |
| Registration | Optional |
| Users | 2.7 billion MAU (January 2024) |
| Launched | April 23, 2005 |
| Current status | Active |
Content license | Uploader holds copyright (standard license); Creative Commons can be selected. |
| Written in | Python (core/API), C (through CPython), C++, Java (through Guice platform), Go, JavaScript (UI) |
**YouTube** is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in San Bruno, California, it is the second-most-visited website in the world, after Google Search. In January 2024, YouTube had more than 2.7 billion monthly active users, who collectively watched more than one billion hours of videos every day. As of May 2019[update], videos were being uploaded to the platform at a rate of more than 500 hours of content per minute, and as of mid-2024[update], there were approximately 14.8 billion videos in total.
On November 13, 2006, YouTube was purchased by Google for $1.65 billion (equivalent to $2.39 billion in 2024). Google expanded YouTube's business model of generating revenue from advertisements alone, to offering paid content such as movies and exclusive content produced by and for YouTube. It also offers YouTube Premium, a paid subscription option for watching content without ads. YouTube incorporated Google's AdSense program, generating more revenue for both YouTube and approved content creators. In 2023, YouTube's advertising revenue totaled $31.7 billion, a 2% increase from the $31.1 billion reported in 2022. From Q4 2023 to Q3 2024, YouTube's combined revenue from advertising and subscriptions exceeded $50 billion.
Since its purchase by Google, YouTube has expanded beyond the core website into mobile apps, network television, and the ability to link with other platforms. Video categories on YouTube include music videos, video clips, news, short and feature films, songs, documentaries, movie trailers, teasers, TV spots, live streams, vlogs, and more. Most content is generated by individuals, including collaborations between "YouTubers" and corporate sponsors. Established media, news, and entertainment corporations have also created and expanded their visibility to YouTube channels to reach greater audiences.
YouTube has had unprecedented social impact, influencing popular culture, internet trends, and creating multimillionaire celebrities. Despite its growth and success, the platform has been criticized for its facilitation of the spread of misinformation and copyrighted content, routinely violating its users' privacy, excessive censorship, endangering the safety of children and their well-being, and for its inconsistent implementation of platform guidelines.
## History
YouTube was founded by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. The trio were early employees of PayPal, which left them enriched after the company was bought by eBay. Hurley had studied design at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Chen and Karim studied computer science together at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
According to a story that has often been repeated in the media, Hurley and Chen developed the idea for YouTube during the early months of 2005, after they had experienced difficulty sharing videos that had been shot at a dinner party at Chen's apartment in San Francisco. Karim did not attend the party and denied that it had occurred, but Chen remarked that the idea that YouTube was founded after a dinner party "was probably very strengthened by marketing ideas around creating a story that was very digestible".
Karim said the inspiration for YouTube came from the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy when Janet Jackson's breast was briefly exposed by Justin Timberlake during the halftime show. Karim could not easily find video clips of the incident and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami online, which led to the idea of a video-sharing site. Hurley and Chen said that the original idea for YouTube was a video version of an online dating service and had been influenced by the website Hot or Not. They created posts on Craigslist asking attractive women to upload videos of themselves to YouTube in exchange for a $100 reward. Difficulty in finding enough dating videos led to a change of plans, with the site's founders deciding to accept uploads of any video.
YouTube began as a venture capital–funded technology startup. Between November 2005 and April 2006, the company raised money from various investors, with Sequoia Capital and Artis Capital Management being the largest two. YouTube's early headquarters were situated above a pizzeria and a Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, California. In February 2005, the company activated `www.youtube.com`
. The first video was uploaded on April 23, 2005. Titled "Me at the zoo", it shows co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo and can still be viewed on the site. The same day, the company launched a public beta and by November, a Nike ad featuring Ronaldinho became the first video to reach one million total views. The site exit out of beta in December 2005, by which time the site was receiving 8 million views a day. Clips at the time were limited to 100 megabytes, as little as 30 seconds of footage.
YouTube was not the first video-sharing site on the Internet; Vimeo was founded in November 2004, though that site remained a side project of its developers from CollegeHumor. On December 17th, 2005 - the same week YouTube exited beta - NBCUniversal *Saturday Night Live* ran a sketch "Lazy Sunday" by The Lonely Island. Besides helping to bolster ratings and long-term viewership for *Saturday Night Live*, "Lazy Sunday"'s status as an early viral video helped establish YouTube as an important website. Unofficial uploads of the skit to YouTube drew in more than five million collective views by February 2006 before they were removed when NBCUniversal requested it two months later based on copyright concerns. Despite eventually being taken down, these duplicate uploads of the skit helped popularize YouTube's reach and led to the upload of more third-party content. The site grew rapidly; in July 2006, the company announced that more than 65,000 new videos were being uploaded every day and that the site was receiving 100 million video views per day.
The choice of the name `youtube.com`
led to problems for a similarly named website, `utube.com`
. That site's owner, Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment, filed a lawsuit against YouTube in November 2006, after being regularly overloaded by people looking for YouTube. Universal Tube subsequently changed its website to `www.utubeonline.com`
.
On October 9, 2006, Google announced that they had acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion in Google stock. The deal was finalized on November 13, 2006. Google's acquisition launched newfound interest in video-sharing sites; IAC, which now owned Vimeo, focused on supporting the content creators to distinguish itself from YouTube. It is at this time YouTube issued the slogan "Broadcast Yourself".
The company experienced rapid growth. *The Daily Telegraph* wrote that in 2007, YouTube consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet in 2000. By 2010, the company had reached a market share of around 43% and more than 14 billion views of videos, according to comScore. That year, the company simplified its interface to increase the time users would spend on the site. In 2011, more than three billion videos were being watched each day with 48 hours of new videos uploaded every minute. However, most of these views came from a relatively small number of videos; according to a software engineer at that time, 30% of videos accounted for 99% of views on the site. That year, the company again changed its interface and at the same time, introduced a new logo with a darker shade of red. A subsequent interface change, designed to unify the experience across desktop, TV, and mobile, was rolled out in 2013. By that point, more than 100 hours were being uploaded every minute, increasing to 300 hours by November 2014.
During that time, the company also went through some organizational changes. In October 2006, YouTube moved to a new office in San Bruno, California. Hurley announced that he would be stepping down as chief executive officer of YouTube to take an advisory role and that Salar Kamangar would take over as head of the company in October 2010. In December 2009, YouTube partnered with Vevo. In April 2010, Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" became the most-viewed video, becoming the first video to reach 200 million views on May 9, 2010.
YouTube faced a major lawsuit by Viacom International in 2011 that nearly resulted in the discontinuation of the website. The lawsuit was filed due to alleged copyright infringement of Viacom's material by YouTube. However, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that YouTube was not liable, and thus YouTube won the case in 2012.
Susan Wojcicki was appointed CEO of YouTube in February 2014. In January 2016, YouTube expanded its headquarters in San Bruno by purchasing an office park for $215 million. The complex has 51,468 square metres (554,000 square feet) of space and can house up to 2,800 employees. YouTube officially launched the "polymer" redesign of its user interfaces based on Material Design language as its default, as well as a redesigned logo that is built around the service's play button emblem in August 2017.
Through this period, YouTube tried several new ways to generate revenue beyond advertisements. In 2013, YouTube launched a pilot program for content providers to offer premium, subscription-based channels. This effort was discontinued in January 2018 and relaunched in June, with US$4.99 channel subscriptions. These channel subscriptions complemented the existing Super Chat ability, launched in 2017, which allows viewers to donate between $1 and $500 to have their comment highlighted. In 2014, YouTube announced a subscription service known as "Music Key", which bundled ad-free streaming of music content on YouTube with the existing Google Play Music service. The service continued to evolve in 2015 when YouTube announced YouTube Red, a new premium service that would offer ad-free access to all content on the platform (succeeding the Music Key service released the previous year), premium original series, and films produced by YouTube personalities, as well as background playback of content on mobile devices. YouTube also released YouTube Music, a third app oriented towards streaming and discovering the music content hosted on the YouTube platform.
The company also attempted to create products appealing to specific viewers. YouTube released a mobile app known as YouTube Kids in 2015, which was designed to provide an experience optimized for children. It features a simplified user interface, curated selections of channels featuring age-appropriate content, and parental control features. Also in 2015, YouTube launched YouTube Gaming—a video gaming-oriented vertical and app for videos and live streaming, intended to compete with the Amazon.com-owned Twitch. The company was attacked in April 2018, when a shooting occurred at YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno, California, which wounded four and resulted in the death of the shooter.
By February 2017, one billion hours of YouTube videos were being watched every day, and 400 hours worth of videos were uploaded every minute. Two years later, the uploads had risen to more than 500 hours per minute. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when most of the world was under stay-at-home orders, usage of services like YouTube significantly increased. Forbes estimated that YouTube accounted for 16% of all internet traffic, as of 2024[update], up from 11% in 2018 i.e. pre-pandemic. In response to EU officials requesting that such services reduce bandwidth as to make sure medical entities had sufficient bandwidth to share information, YouTube and Netflix said they would reduce streaming quality for at least thirty days as to cut bandwidth use of their services by 25% to comply with the EU's request. YouTube later announced that they would continue with this move worldwide: "We continue to work closely with governments and network operators around the globe to do our part to minimize stress on the system during this unprecedented situation."
After a 2018 complaint alleging violations of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the company was fined $170 million by the FTC for collecting personal information from minors under the age of 13. YouTube was also ordered to create systems to increase children's privacy. Following criticisms of its implementation of those systems, YouTube started treating all videos designated as "made for kids" as liable under COPPA on January 6, 2020. Joining the YouTube Kids app, the company created a supervised mode, designed more for tweens, in 2021. Additionally, to compete with TikTok and Instagram Reels, YouTube released YouTube Shorts, a short-form video platform. During that period, YouTube entered disputes with other tech companies. For over a year, in 2018-19, no YouTube app was available for Amazon Fire products. In 2020, Roku removed the YouTube TV app from its streaming store after the two companies were unable to reach an agreement.
After testing earlier in 2021, YouTube removed public display of dislike counts on videos in November 2021, claiming the reason for the removal was, based on its internal research, that users often used the dislike feature as a form of cyberbullying and brigading. While some users praised the move as a way to discourage trolls, others felt that hiding dislikes would make it harder for viewers to recognize clickbait or unhelpful videos and that other features already existed for creators to limit bullying. YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim referred to the update as "a stupid idea", and that the real reason behind the change was "not a good one, and not one that will be publicly disclosed." He felt that users' ability on a social platform to identify harmful content was essential, saying, "The process works, and there's a name for it: the wisdom of the crowds. The process breaks when the platform interferes with it. Then, the platform invariably declines." Shortly after the announcement, software developer Dmitry Selivanov created Return YouTube Dislike, an open-source, third-party browser extension for Chrome and Firefox that allows users to see a video's number of dislikes. In a letter published on January 25, 2022, by then YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, acknowledged that removing public dislike counts was a controversial decision, but reiterated that she stands by this decision, claiming that "it reduced dislike attacks."
In 2022, YouTube launched an experiment where the company would show users who watched longer videos on TVs a long chain of short unskippable adverts, intending to consolidate all ads into the beginning of a video. Following public outrage over the unprecedented amount of unskippable ads, YouTube "ended" the experiment on September 19 of that year. In October, YouTube announced that they would be rolling out customizable user handles in addition to channel names, which would also become channel URLs.
On February 16, 2023, Wojcicki announced that she would step down as CEO, with Neal Mohan named as her successor. Wojcicki took on an advisory role for Google and parent company Alphabet. Wojcicki died a year and a half later from non-small-cell lung cancer, on August 9, 2024.
In late October 2023, YouTube began cracking down on the use of ad blockers on the platform. Users of ad blockers may be given a pop-up warning saying "Video player will be blocked after 3 videos". Users of ad blockers are shown a message asking them to allow ads or inviting them to subscribe to the ad-free YouTube Premium subscription plan. YouTube says that the use of ad blockers violates its terms of service. In April 2024, YouTube announced it would be "strengthening our enforcement on third-party apps that violate YouTube's Terms of Service, specifically ad-blocking apps". Starting in June 2024, Google Chrome announced that it would be replacing Manifest V2 in favor of Manifest V3, effectively killing support for most ad-blockers. Around the same time, YouTube started using server-side ad injection, which allows the platform to inject the ads directly into the video, instead of having the ad as a separate file which can be blocked.
In September 2023, YouTube announced an in-app gaming platform called Playables. It was made accessible to all users in May 2024, expanding from an initial offering limited to premium subscribers. In December 2024, YouTube began testing a new multiplayer feature for that service, supporting multiplayer functionality across desktop and mobile devices. As of December 2024[update] the Playables catalog has over 130 games in various genres including trivia, action and sports.
In December 2024, YouTube introduced new guidelines prohibiting videos with clickbait titles to enhance content quality and combat misinformation. The platform aims to penalize creators using misleading or sensationalized titles, with potential actions including video removal or channel suspension. According to YouTube, this guideline will gradually roll out in India first, but will expand to more countries in the coming months.
On February 14, 2025, YouTube celebrated 20 years since its founding.
In April 2025, YouTube announced an expansion of its efforts to identify and manage AI-generated content that mimics the likeness of creators, artists, and influential figures. This includes detecting AI-generated faces and voices that could be used to deceive viewers. The company is also backing the NO FAKES Act, legislation aimed at addressing the misuse of AI replicas that simulate individuals' images or voices to create harmful content.
## Senior leadership
YouTube has been led by a CEO since its founding in 2005, beginning with Chad Hurley, who led the company until 2010. After Google's acquisition of YouTube, the CEO role was retained. Salar Kamangar took over Hurley's position and kept the job until 2014. He was replaced by Susan Wojcicki, who later resigned in 2023. The current CEO is Neal Mohan, who was appointed on February 16, 2023.
## Features
YouTube offers different features based on user verification, such as standard or basic features like uploading videos, creating playlists, and using YouTube Music, with limits based on daily activity (verification via phone number or channel history increases feature availability and daily usage limits); intermediate or additional features like longer videos (over 15 minutes), live streaming, custom thumbnails, and creating podcasts; advanced features like content ID appeals, embedding live streams, applying for monetization, clickable links, adding chapters, and pinning comments on videos or posts.
## Videos
In January 2012, it was estimated that visitors to YouTube spent an average of 15 minutes a day on the site, in contrast to the four or five hours a day spent by a typical US citizen watching television. In 2017, viewers on average watched YouTube on mobile devices for more than an hour every day.
In December 2012, two billion views were removed from the view counts of Universal and Sony music videos on YouTube, prompting a claim by *The Daily Dot* that the views had been deleted due to a violation of the site's terms of service, which ban the use of automated processes to inflate view counts. That was disputed by *Billboard*, which said that the two billion views had been moved to Vevo, since the videos were no longer active on YouTube. On August 5, 2015, YouTube patched the formerly notorious behavior which caused a video's view count to freeze at "301" (later "301+") until the actual count was verified to prevent view count fraud. YouTube view counts once again updated in real time. Since September 2019, subscriber counts are abbreviated. Only three leading digits of channels' subscriber counts are indicated publicly, compromising the function of third-party real-time indicators such as that of Social Blade. Exact counts remain available to channel operators inside YouTube Studio.
On November 11, 2021, after testing out this change in March of the same year, YouTube announced it would start hiding dislike counts on videos, making them invisible to viewers. The company stated the decision was in response to experiments which confirmed that smaller YouTube creators were more likely to be targeted in dislike brigading and harassment. Creators will still be able to see the number of likes and dislikes in the YouTube Studio dashboard tool, according to YouTube.
YouTube has an estimated 14.8 billion videos with about 4% of those never having a view. Just over 85% have fewer than 1,000 views.
### Copyright issues
YouTube has faced numerous challenges and criticisms in its attempts to deal with copyright, including the site's first viral video, Lazy Sunday, which had to be taken down, due to copyright concerns. At the time of uploading a video, YouTube users are shown a message asking them not to violate copyright laws. Despite this advice, many unauthorized clips of copyrighted material remain on YouTube. YouTube does not view videos before they are posted online, and it is left to copyright holders to issue a DMCA takedown notice pursuant to the terms of the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act. Any successful complaint about copyright infringement results in a YouTube copyright strike. Three successful complaints for copyright infringement against a user account will result in the account and all of its uploaded videos being deleted. From 2007 to 2009 organizations including Viacom, Mediaset, and the English Premier League have filed lawsuits against YouTube, claiming that it has done too little to prevent the uploading of copyrighted material.
In August 2008, a US court ruled in *Lenz v. Universal Music Corp.* that copyright holders cannot order the removal of an online file without first determining whether the posting reflected fair use of the material. YouTube's owner Google announced in November 2015 that they would help cover the legal cost in select cases where they believe fair use defenses apply.
In the 2011 case of *Smith v. Summit Entertainment LLC*, professional singer Matt Smith sued Summit Entertainment for the wrongful use of copyright takedown notices on YouTube. He asserted seven causes of action, and four were ruled in Smith's favor. In April 2012, a court in Hamburg ruled that YouTube could be held responsible for copyrighted material posted by its users. On November 1, 2016, the dispute with GEMA was resolved, with Google content ID being used to allow advertisements to be added to videos with content protected by GEMA.
In April 2013, it was reported that Universal Music Group and YouTube have a contractual agreement that prevents content blocked on YouTube by a request from UMG from being restored, even if the uploader of the video files a DMCA counter-notice. As part of YouTube Music, Universal and YouTube signed an agreement in 2017, which was followed by separate agreements other major labels, which gave the company the right to advertising revenue when its music was played on YouTube. By 2019, creators were having videos taken down or demonetized when Content ID identified even short segments of copyrighted music within a much longer video, with different levels of enforcement depending on the record label. Experts noted that some of these clips said qualified for fair use.
#### Content ID
In June 2007, YouTube began trials of a system for automatic detection of uploaded videos that infringe copyright. Google CEO Eric Schmidt regarded this system as necessary for resolving lawsuits such as the one from Viacom, which alleged that YouTube profited from content that it did not have the right to distribute. The system, which was initially called "Video Identification" and later became known as Content ID, creates an ID File for copyrighted audio and video material, and stores it in a database. When a video is uploaded, it is checked against the database, and flags the video as a copyright violation if a match is found. When this occurs, the content owner has the choice of blocking the video to make it unviewable, tracking the viewing statistics of the video, or adding advertisements to the video.
An independent test in 2009 uploaded multiple versions of the same song to YouTube and concluded that while the system was "surprisingly resilient" in finding copyright violations in the audio tracks of videos, it was not infallible. The use of Content ID to remove material automatically has led to controversy in some cases, as the videos have not been checked by a human for fair use. If a YouTube user disagrees with a decision by Content ID, it is possible to fill in a form disputing the decision.
Before 2016, videos were not monetized until the dispute was resolved. Since April 2016, videos continue to be monetized while the dispute is in progress, and the money goes to whoever won the dispute. Should the uploader want to monetize the video again, they may remove the disputed audio in the "Video Manager". YouTube has cited the effectiveness of Content ID as one of the reasons why the site's rules were modified in December 2010 to allow some users to upload videos of unlimited length.
### Russia
In 2021, two accounts linked to RT DE, the German channel of the Russian state-owned RT network, were removed for breaching YouTube's policies relating to COVID-19. Russia threatened to ban YouTube after the platform deleted two German RT channels in September 2021. Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, YouTube removed all channels funded by the Russian state. YouTube expanded the removal of Russian content from its site to include channels described as 'pro-Russian'. In June 2022, the *War Gonzo* channel run by Russian military blogger and journalist Semyon Pegov was deleted.
In July 2023, YouTube removed the channel of British journalist Graham Phillips, active in covering the war in Donbas from 2014. In August 2023, a Moscow court fined Google 3 million rubles, around $35,000, for not deleting what it said was "fake news about the war in Ukraine".
In October 2024, a Russian court fined Google 2 undecillion rubles (equivalent to US$20 decillion) for restricting Russian state media channels on YouTube. The fine imposed by Russia is far greater than the world's total GDP, estimated at US$110 trillion by the International Monetary Fund. State news agency TASS reported that Google is allowed to return to the Russian market only if it complies with the court's decision. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov labeled the court decision as "symbolic" and warned Google that it "should not be restricting the actions of our broadcasters on its platform."
### April Fools gags
YouTube featured an April Fools prank on the site on April 1 of every year from 2008 to 2016. In 2008, all links to videos on the main page were redirected to Rick Astley's music video "Never Gonna Give You Up", a prank known as "rickrolling". The next year, when clicking on a video on the main page, the whole page turned upside down, which YouTube claimed was a "new layout". In 2010, YouTube temporarily released a "TEXTp" mode which rendered video imagery into ASCII art letters "in order to reduce bandwidth costs by $1 per second."
The next year, the site celebrated its "100th anniversary" with a range of sepia-toned silent, early 1900s-style films, including a parody of Keyboard Cat. In 2012, clicking on the image of a DVD next to the site logo led to a video about a purported option to order every YouTube video for home delivery on DVD. In 2013, YouTube teamed up with satirical newspaper company *The Onion* to claim in an uploaded video that the video-sharing website was launched as a contest which had finally come to an end, and would shut down for ten years before being re-launched in 2023, featuring only the winning video. The video starred several YouTube celebrities, including Antoine Dodson. A video of two presenters announcing the nominated videos streamed live for 12 hours.
In 2014, YouTube announced that it was responsible for the creation of all viral video trends, and revealed previews of upcoming trends, such as "Clocking", "Kissing Dad", and "Glub Glub Water Dance". The next year, YouTube added a music button to the video bar that played samples from "Sandstorm" by Darude. In 2016, YouTube introduced an option to watch every video on the platform in 360-degree mode with Snoop Dogg.
## Services
### YouTube Premium
YouTube Premium (formerly Music Key and YouTube Red) is YouTube's premium subscription service. It offers advertising-free streaming, access to original programming, and background and offline video playback on mobile devices. YouTube Premium was originally announced on November 12, 2014, as "Music Key", a subscription music streaming service, and was intended to integrate with and replace the existing Google Play Music "All Access" service. On October 28, 2015, the service was relaunched as YouTube Red, offering ad-free streaming of all videos and access to exclusive original content. As of November 2016[update], the service has 1.5 million subscribers, with a further million on a free-trial basis. As of June 2017[update], the first season of YouTube Originals had received 250 million views in total.
### YouTube Kids
YouTube Kids is an American children's video app developed by YouTube, a subsidiary of Google. The app was developed in response to parental and government scrutiny on the content available to children. The app provides a version of the service-oriented towards children, with curated selections of content, parental control features, and filtering of videos deemed inappropriate viewing for children aged under 13, 8 or 5 depending on the age grouping chosen. First released on February 15, 2015, as an Android and iOS mobile app, the app has since been released for LG, Samsung, and Sony smart TVs, as well as for Android TV. On May 27, 2020, it became available on Apple TV. As of September 2019, the app is available in 69 countries, including Hong Kong and Macau, and one province. YouTube launched a web-based version of YouTube Kids on August 30, 2019.
### YouTube Music
On September 28, 2016, YouTube named Lyor Cohen, the co-founder of 300 Entertainment and former Warner Music Group executive, the Global Head of Music.
In early 2018, Cohen began hinting at the possible launch of YouTube's new subscription music streaming service, a platform that would compete with other services such as Spotify and Apple Music. On May 22, 2018, the music streaming platform named "YouTube Music" was launched for people who mostly listen to music on YouTube.
YouTube Movies & TV is a video on demand (VOD) service that offers movies and television shows for purchase or rental, depending on availability, along with a selection of movies (encompassing between 100 and 500 titles overall) that are free to stream, with interspersed ad breaks. YouTube began offering free-to-view movie titles to its users in November 2018; selections of new movies are added and others removed, unannounced each month.
In March 2021, Google announced plans to gradually deprecate the Google Play Movies & TV app, and eventually migrate all users to the YouTube app's Movies & TV store to view, rent and purchase movies and TV shows (first affecting Roku, Samsung, LG, and Vizio smart TV users on July 15). Google Play Movies & TV formally shut down on January 17, 2024, with the web version of that platform migrated to YouTube as an expansion of the Movies & TV store to desktop users. (Other functions of Google Play Movies & TV were integrated into the Google TV service.)
#### YouTube Primetime Channels
On November 1, 2022, YouTube launched Primetime Channels, a channel store platform offering third-party subscription streaming add-ons sold a la carte through the YouTube website and app, competing with similar subscription add-on stores operated by Apple, Prime Video and Roku. The add-ons can be purchased through the YouTube Movies & TV hub or through the official YouTube channels of the available services; subscribers of YouTube TV add-ons that are sold through Primetime Channels can also access their content via the YouTube app and website. A total of 34 streaming services (including Paramount+, Showtime, Starz, MGM+, AMC+ and ViX+) were initially available for purchase.
NFL Sunday Ticket, as part of a broader residential distribution deal with Google signed in December 2022 that also made it available to YouTube TV subscribers, was added to Primetime Channels as a standalone add-on on August 16, 2023. The ad-free tier of Max was added to Primetime Channels on December 12, 2023, coinciding with YouTube TV converting its separate HBO (for base plan subscribers) and HBO Max (for all subscribers) linear/VOD add-ons into a single combined Max offering.
### YouTube TV
On February 28, 2017, in a press announcement held at YouTube Space Los Angeles, YouTube announced YouTube TV, an over-the-top MVPD-style subscription service that would be available for United States customers at a price of US$65 per month. Initially launching in five major markets (New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco) on April 5, 2017, the service offers live streams of programming from the five major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, The CW, Fox and NBC, along with selected MyNetworkTV affiliates and independent stations in certain markets), as well as approximately 60 cable channels owned by companies such as The Walt Disney Company, Paramount Global, Fox Corporation, NBCUniversal, Allen Media Group and Warner Bros. Discovery (including among others Bravo, USA Network, Syfy, Disney Channel, CNN, Cartoon Network, E!, Fox Sports 1, Freeform, FX and ESPN).
Subscribers can also receive premium cable channels (including HBO (via a combined Max add-on that includes in-app and log-in access to the service), Cinemax, Showtime, Starz and MGM+) and other subscription services (such as NFL Sunday Ticket, MLB.tv, NBA League Pass, Curiosity Stream and Fox Nation) as optional add-ons for an extra fee, and can access YouTube Premium original content. In September 2022, YouTube TV began allowing customers to purchase most of its premium add-ons (excluding certain services such as NBA League Pass and AMC+) without an existing subscription to its base package.
### YouTube Go
In September 2016, YouTube Go was announced, as an Android app created for making YouTube easier to access on mobile devices in emerging markets. It was distinct from the company's main Android app and allowed videos to be downloaded and shared with other users. It also allowed users to preview videos, share downloaded videos through Bluetooth, and offered more options for mobile data control and video resolution.
In February 2017, YouTube Go was launched in India, and expanded in November 2017 to 14 other countries, including Nigeria, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Kenya, and South Africa. On February 1, 2018, it was rolled out in 130 countries worldwide, including Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, and Iraq. Before it shut down, the app was available to around 60% of the world's population. In May 2022, Google announced that they would be shutting down YouTube Go in August 2022.
### YouTube Shorts
In September 2020, YouTube announced that it would be launching a beta version of a new platform of 15-second videos, similar to TikTok, called YouTube Shorts. The platform was first tested in India but as of March 2021 has expanded to other countries including the United States with videos now able to be up to 1 minute long. The platform is not a standalone app, but is integrated into the main YouTube app. Like TikTok, it gives users access to built-in creative tools, including the possibility of adding licensed music to their videos. The platform had its global beta launch in July 2021.
### YouTube Stories
In 2018, YouTube started testing a new feature initially called "YouTube Reels". The feature was nearly identical to Instagram Stories and Snapchat Stories. YouTube later renamed the feature "YouTube Stories". It was only available to creators who had more than 10,000 subscribers and could only be posted/seen in the YouTube mobile app. On May 25, 2023, YouTube announced that they would be shutting down this feature on June 26, 2023.
### YouTube VR
In November 2016, YouTube released YouTube VR, a dedicated version with an interface for VR devices, for Google's Daydream mobile VR platform on Android. In November 2018, YouTube VR was released on the Oculus Store for the Oculus Go headset. YouTube VR was updated since for compatibility with successive Quest devices, and was ported to Pico 4.
YouTube VR allows for access to all YouTube-hosted videos, but particularly supports headset access for 360° and 180°-degree video (both in 2D and stereoscopic 3D). Starting with the Oculus Quest, the app was updated for compatibility with mixed-reality passthrough modes on VR headsets. In April 2024, YouTube VR was updated to support 8K SDR video on Meta Quest 3.
### Playables
In 2010, YouTube added *Snake* as a hidden game inside of their video player. In May 2024, YouTube introduced Playables, a set of around 75 free-to-play games that can be played on the platform.
## Criticism and controversies
YouTube, a video sharing platform, has faced various criticisms over the years, particularly regarding content moderation, offensive content, and monetization. YouTube has faced criticism over aspects of its operations, its recommendation algorithms perpetuating videos that promote conspiracy theories and falsehoods, hosting videos ostensibly targeting children but containing violent or sexually suggestive content involving popular characters, videos of minors attracting pedophilic activities in their comment sections, and fluctuating policies on the types of content that is eligible to be monetized with advertising.
YouTube has also been blocked by several countries. As of 2018, public access to YouTube was blocked by countries including China, North Korea, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan.### Privacy concerns
Since its founding in 2005, the American video-sharing website YouTube has been faced with a growing number of privacy issues, including allegations that it allows users to upload unauthorized copyrighted material and allows personal information from young children to be collected without their parents' consent.
In September 2024, the Federal Trade Commission released a report summarizing 9 company responses (including from YouTube) to orders made by the agency pursuant to Section 6(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 to provide information about user and non-user data collection (including of children and teenagers) and data use by the companies that found that the companies' user and non-user data practices put individuals vulnerable to identity theft, stalking, unlawful discrimination, emotional distress and mental health issues, social stigma, and reputational harm.### Censorship and bans
YouTube has been censored, filtered, or banned for a variety of reasons, including:
- Limiting public access and exposure to content that may ignite social or political unrest.
- Preventing criticism of a ruler (e.g. in North Korea), government (e.g. in China) or its actions (e.g. in Morocco), government officials (e.g. in Turkey and Libya), or religion (e.g. in Pakistan).
- Morality-based laws, e.g. in Iran.
Access to specific videos is sometimes prevented due to copyright and intellectual property protection laws (e.g. in Germany), violations of hate speech, and preventing access to videos judged inappropriate for youth, which is also done by YouTube with the YouTube Kids app and with "restricted mode". Businesses, schools, government agencies, and other private institutions often block social media sites, including YouTube, due to its bandwidth limitations and the site's potential for distraction.
As of 2018[update], public access to YouTube is blocked in many countries, including China, North Korea, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan. In some countries, YouTube is blocked for more limited periods of time such as during periods of unrest, the run-up to an election, or in response to upcoming political anniversaries. In cases where the entire site is banned due to one particular video, YouTube will often agree to remove or limit access to that video in order to restore service.
Reports emerged that since October 2019, comments posted with Chinese characters insulting the Chinese Communist Party (共匪 "communist bandit" or 五毛 "50 Cent Party", referring to state-sponsored commentators) were being automatically deleted within 15 seconds.
Specific incidents where YouTube has been blocked include:
- Thailand blocked access in April 2007 over a video said to be insulting the Thai king.
- Morocco blocked access in May 2007, possibly as a result of videos critical of Morocco's occupation of Western Sahara. YouTube became accessible again on May 30, 2007, after
*Maroc Telecom*unofficially announced that the denied access to the website was a mere "technical glitch". - Turkey blocked access between 2008 and 2010 after controversy over videos deemed insulting to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. In November 2010, a video of the Turkish politician Deniz Baykal caused the site to be blocked again briefly, and the site was threatened with a new shutdown if it did not remove the video. During the two and a half-year block of YouTube, the video-sharing website remained the eighth-most-accessed site in Turkey. In 2014, Turkey blocked the access for the second time, after "a high-level intelligence leak".
- Pakistan blocked access on February 23, 2008, because of "offensive material" towards the Islamic faith, including display of the Danish cartoons of Muhammad. This led to a near global blackout of the YouTube site for around two hours, as the Pakistani block was inadvertently transferred to other countries. On February 26, 2008, the ban was lifted after the website had removed the objectionable content from its servers at the request of the government. Many Pakistanis circumvented the three-day block by using virtual private network software. In May 2010, following the Everybody Draw Mohammed Day, Pakistan again blocked access to YouTube, citing "growing sacrilegious content". The ban was lifted on May 27, 2010, after the website removed the objectionable content from its servers at the request of the government. However, individual videos deemed offensive to Muslims posted on YouTube will continue to be blocked. Pakistan again placed a ban on YouTube in September 2012, after the site refused to remove the film
*Innocence of Muslims*. The ban was lifted in January 2016 after YouTube launched a Pakistan-specific version. - Libya blocked access on January 24, 2010, because of videos that featured demonstrations in the city of Benghazi by families of detainees who were killed in Abu Salim prison in 1996, and videos of family members of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi at parties. The blocking was criticized by Human Rights Watch. In November 2011, after the Libyan Civil War, YouTube was once again allowed in Libya.
- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sudan blocked access in September 2012 following controversy over a 14-minute trailer for the film
*Innocence of Muslims*which had been posted on the site. A court in the southern Russian Republic of Chechnya ruled that*Innocence of Muslims*should be banned. In Libya and Egypt, it was blamed for violent protests. YouTube stated: "This video—which is widely available on the Web—is clearly within our guidelines and so will stay on YouTube. However, given the very difficult situation in Libya and Egypt we have temporarily restricted access in both countries." - Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, YouTube announced on March 1 the immediate removal of RT (and other Russian government-funded outlets) from its platform in Europe. The removal was soon expanded globally. From late 2024, users across Russia started experiencing sharp declines in YouTube loading speeds.
- Following controversial commentary on the show India's Got Latent, concerns were raised in the zero hour of parliament regarding the regulation of content on YouTube (which has an enormous user base in India), particularly content that may have an adverse influence, especially on children.
## Social impact
Private individuals and large production corporations have used YouTube to grow their audiences. Indie creators have built grassroots followings numbering in the thousands at very little cost or effort, while mass retail and radio promotion proved problematic. Concurrently, old media celebrities moved into the website at the invitation of a YouTube management that witnessed early content creators accruing substantial followings and perceived audience sizes potentially larger than that attainable by television. While YouTube's revenue-sharing "Partner Program" made it possible to earn a substantial living as a video producer—its top five hundred partners each earning more than $100,000 annually and its ten highest-earning channels grossing from $2.5 million to $12 million—in 2012 CMU business editor characterized YouTube as "a free-to-use ... promotional platform for the music labels." In 2013 *Forbes*' Katheryn Thayer asserted that digital-era artists' work must not only be of high quality, but must elicit reactions on the YouTube platform and social media. Videos of the 2.5% of artists categorized as "mega", "mainstream" and "mid-sized" received 90.3% of the relevant views on YouTube and Vevo in that year. By early 2013, *Billboard* had announced that it was factoring YouTube streaming data into calculation of the *Billboard* Hot 100 and related genre charts.
Observing that face-to-face communication of the type that online videos convey has been "fine-tuned by millions of years of evolution", TED curator Chris Anderson referred to several YouTube contributors and asserted that "what Gutenberg did for writing, online video can now do for face-to-face communication." Anderson asserted that it is not far-fetched to say that online video will dramatically accelerate scientific advance, and that video contributors may be about to launch "the biggest learning cycle in human history." In education, for example, the Khan Academy grew from YouTube video tutoring sessions for founder Salman Khan's cousin into what *Forbes'* Michael Noer called "the largest school in the world", with technology poised to disrupt how people learn. YouTube was awarded a 2008 George Foster Peabody Award, the website being described as a Speakers' Corner that "both embodies and promotes democracy." *The Washington Post* reported that a disproportionate share of YouTube's most-subscribed channels feature minorities, contrasting with mainstream television in which the stars are largely white. A Pew Research Center study reported the development of "visual journalism", in which citizen eyewitnesses and established news organizations share in content creation. The study also concluded that YouTube was becoming an important platform by which people acquire news.
YouTube has enabled people to more directly engage with government, such as in the CNN/YouTube presidential debates (2007) in which ordinary people submitted questions to U.S. presidential candidates via YouTube video, with a techPresident co-founder saying that Internet video was changing the political landscape. Describing the Arab Spring (2010–2012), sociologist Philip N. Howard quoted an activist's succinct description that organizing the political unrest involved using "Facebook to schedule the protests, Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world." In 2012, more than a third of the U.S. Senate introduced a resolution condemning Joseph Kony 16 days after the "Kony 2012" video was posted to YouTube, with resolution co-sponsor Senator Lindsey Graham remarking that the video "will do more to lead to (Kony's) demise than all other action combined."
Conversely, YouTube has also allowed government to more easily engage with citizens, the White House's official YouTube channel being the seventh top news organization producer on YouTube in 2012 and in 2013 a healthcare exchange commissioned Obama impersonator Iman Crosson's YouTube music video spoof to encourage young Americans to enroll in the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)-compliant health insurance. In February 2014, U.S. President Obama held a meeting at the White House with leading YouTube content creators not only to promote awareness of Obamacare but more generally to develop ways for government to better connect with the "YouTube Generation". Whereas YouTube's inherent ability to allow presidents to directly connect with average citizens was noted, the YouTube content creators' new media savvy was perceived necessary to better cope with the website's distracting content and fickle audience.
Some YouTube videos have themselves had a direct effect on world events, such as *Innocence of Muslims* (2012) which spurred protests and related anti-American violence internationally. TED curator Chris Anderson described a phenomenon by which geographically distributed individuals in a certain field share their independently developed skills in YouTube videos, thus challenging others to improve their own skills, and spurring invention and evolution in that field. Journalist Virginia Heffernan stated in *The New York Times* that such videos have "surprising implications" for the dissemination of culture and even the future of classical music.
A 2017 article in *The New York Times Magazine* posited that YouTube had become "the new talk radio" for the far right. Almost a year before YouTube's January 2019 announcement that it would begin a "gradual change" of "reducing recommendations of borderline content and content that could misinform users in harmful ways", Zeynep Tufekci had written in *The New York Times* that, "(g)iven its billion or so users, YouTube may be one of the most powerful radicalizing instruments of the 21st century". Under YouTube's changes to its recommendation engine, the most-recommended channel evolved from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones (2016) to Fox News (2019). According to a 2020 study, viewership of far-right videos on YouTube peaked in 2017 and "a growing body of journalistic evidence" suggested that YouTube was radicalizing young men through its recommendation engine, but that such evidence was "fraught with a bias towards sensationalism". It also found more "mainstream-adjacent Conservative creators" gaining over alt-right and extremist videos by 2020. A 2022 study found that "despite widespread concerns that YouTube's algorithms send people down 'rabbit holes' with recommendations to extremist videos, little systematic evidence exists to support this conjecture", and that such exposure was "heavily concentrated among a small group of people with high prior levels of gender and racial resentment." A 2024 study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue found that YouTube frequently recommended Christian videos and right-leaning and culturally conservative "culture war" videos by Fox News and male lifestyle influencers to accounts that did not show an interest in such topics.
*The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers* and the YouTube Symphony Orchestra selected their membership based on individual video performances. Further, the cyber-collaboration charity video "We Are the World 25 for Haiti (YouTube edition)" was formed by mixing performances of 57 globally distributed singers into a single musical work, with *The Tokyo Times* noting the "We Pray for You" YouTube cyber-collaboration video as an example of a trend to use crowdsourcing for charitable purposes.
The anti-bullying It Gets Better Project expanded from a single YouTube video directed to discouraged or suicidal LGBT teens, that within two months drew video responses from hundreds including U.S. President Barack Obama, Vice President Biden, White House staff, and several cabinet secretaries. Similarly, in response to fifteen-year-old Amanda Todd's video "My story: Struggling, bullying, suicide, self-harm", legislative action was undertaken almost immediately after her suicide to study the prevalence of bullying and form a national anti-bullying strategy. In May 2018, after London Metropolitan Police claimed that drill music videos glamorizing violence gave rise to gang violence, YouTube deleted 30 videos.
## Finances
Prior to 2020, Google did not provide detailed figures for YouTube's running costs, and YouTube's revenues in 2007 were noted as "not material" in a regulatory filing. In June 2008, a *Forbes* magazine article projected the 2008 revenue at $200 million, noting progress in advertising sales. In 2012, YouTube's revenue from its ads program was estimated at $3.7 billion. In 2013, it nearly doubled and estimated to hit $5.6 billion according to e-Marketer, while others estimated $4.7 billion. The vast majority of videos on YouTube are free to view and supported by advertising. In May 2013, YouTube introduced a trial scheme of 53 subscription channels with prices ranging from $0.99 to $6.99 a month. The move was seen as an attempt to compete with other providers of online subscription services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu.
Google first published exact revenue numbers for YouTube in February 2020 as part of Alphabet's 2019 financial report. According to Google, YouTube had made US$15.1 billion in ad revenue in 2019, in contrast to US$8.1 billion in 2017 and US$11.1 billion in 2018. YouTube's revenues made up nearly 10% of the total Alphabet revenue in 2019. These revenues accounted for approximately 20 million subscribers combined between YouTube Premium and YouTube Music subscriptions, and 2 million subscribers to YouTube TV.
YouTube had $29.2 billion ads revenue in 2022, up by $398 million from the prior year. In Q2 2024, ad revenue rose to $8.66 billion, up 13% on Q1.
### Partnership with corporations
YouTube entered into a marketing and advertising partnership with NBC in June 2006. In March 2007, it struck a deal with the BBC for three channels with BBC content, one for news and two for entertainment. In November 2008, YouTube reached an agreement with MGM, Lions Gate Entertainment, and CBS, allowing the companies to post full-length films and television episodes on the site, accompanied by advertisements in a section for U.S. viewers called "Shows". The move was intended to create competition with websites such as Hulu, which features material from NBC, Fox, and Disney. In November 2009, YouTube launched a version of "Shows" available to UK viewers, offering around 4,000 full-length shows from more than 60 partners. In January 2010, YouTube introduced a film rentals service, available in many countries, and TV shows can be bought in several countries. The service offers over 6,000 films.
#### 2017 advertiser boycott
In March 2017, the government of the United Kingdom pulled its advertising campaigns from YouTube, after reports that its ads had appeared on videos containing extremist content. The government demanded assurances that its advertising would "be delivered safely and appropriately". *The Guardian* newspaper, as well as other major British and U.S. brands, similarly suspended their advertising on YouTube in response to their advertising appearing near offensive content. Google stated that it had "begun an extensive review of our advertising policies and have made a public commitment to put in place changes that give brands more control over where their ads appear". In early April 2017, the YouTube channel h3h3Productions presented evidence claiming that a *Wall Street Journal* article had fabricated screenshots showing major brand advertising on an offensive video containing Johnny Rebel music overlaid on a Chief Keef music video, citing that the video itself had not earned any ad revenue for the uploader. The video was retracted after it was found that the ads had been triggered by the use of copyrighted content in the video.
On April 6, 2017, YouTube announced that to "ensure revenue only flows to creators who are playing by the rules", it would change its practices to require that a channel undergo a policy compliance review, and have at least 10,000-lifetime views, before they may join the YouTube Partner Program.
### YouTuber earnings
In May 2007, YouTube launched its Partner Program (YPP), a system based on AdSense which allows the uploader of the video to share the revenue produced by advertising on the site. YouTube typically takes 45 percent of the advertising revenue from videos in the Partner Program, with 55 percent going to the uploader.
There are over two million members of the YouTube Partner Program. According to TubeMogul, in 2013 a pre-roll advertisement on YouTube (one that is shown before the video starts) cost advertisers on average $7.60 per 1000 views. Usually, no more than half of the eligible videos have a pre-roll advertisement, due to a lack of interested advertisers.
YouTube's policies restrict certain forms of content from being included in videos being monetized with advertising, including videos containing violence, strong language, sexual content, "controversial or sensitive subjects and events, including subjects related to war, political conflicts, natural disasters and tragedies, even if graphic imagery is not shown" (unless the content is "usually newsworthy or comedic and the creator's intent is to inform or entertain"), and videos whose user comments contain "inappropriate" content. In 2013, YouTube introduced an option for channels with at least a thousand subscribers to require a paid subscription for viewers to watch videos. In April 2017, YouTube set an eligibility requirement of 10,000 lifetime views for a paid subscription. On January 16, 2018, the eligibility requirement for monetization was changed to 4,000 hours of watch-time within the past 12 months and 1,000 subscribers. The move was seen as an attempt to ensure that videos being monetized did not lead to controversy, but was criticized for penalizing smaller YouTube channels.
YouTube Play Buttons, a part of the YouTube Creator Rewards, are a recognition by YouTube of its most popular channels. The trophies made of nickel plated copper-nickel alloy, golden plated brass, silver plated metal, ruby, and red tinted crystal glass are given to channels with at least one hundred thousand, a million, ten million, fifty million subscribers, and one hundred million subscribers, respectively.
YouTube's policies on "advertiser-friendly content" restrict what may be incorporated into videos being monetized; this includes strong violence, language, sexual content, and "controversial or sensitive subjects and events, including subjects related to war, political conflicts, natural disasters and tragedies, even if graphic imagery is not shown", unless the content is "usually newsworthy or comedic and the creator's intent is to inform or entertain". In September 2016, after introducing an enhanced notification system to inform users of these violations, YouTube's policies were criticized by prominent users, including Philip DeFranco and Vlogbrothers. DeFranco argued that not being able to earn advertising revenue on such videos was "censorship by a different name". A YouTube spokesperson stated that while the policy itself was not new, the service had "improved the notification and appeal process to ensure better communication to our creators". *Boing Boing* reported in 2019 that LGBT keywords resulted in demonetization.
In the United States as of November 2020, and June 2021 worldwide, YouTube reserves the right to monetize any video on the platform, even if their uploader is not a member of the YouTube Partner Program. This will occur on channels whose content is deemed "advertiser-friendly", and all revenue will go directly to Google without any share given to the uploader.
### Revenue to copyright holders
The majority of YouTube's advertising revenue goes to the publishers and video producers who hold the rights to their videos; the company retains 45% of the ad revenue. In 2010, it was reported that nearly a third of the videos with advertisements were uploaded without permission of the copyright holders. YouTube gives an option for copyright holders to locate and remove their videos or to have them continue running for revenue. In May 2013, Nintendo began enforcing its copyright ownership and claiming the advertising revenue from video creators who posted screenshots of its games. In February 2015, Nintendo agreed to share the revenue with the video creators through the Nintendo Creators Program. On March 20, 2019, Nintendo announced on Twitter that the company will end the Creators program. Operations for the program ceased on March 20, 2019.
## See also
- Lists
- Lawsuits
- Criticism of Google#Algorithms
- iFilm
- Google Video
- Metacafe
- Revver
- vMix
- blip.tv
- VideoSift
- Invidious, a free and open-source alternative frontend to YouTube
- Alternative media
- BookTube
- BreadTube
- CNN/YouTube presidential debates
- YouTube copyright issues
- Reply girl
- YouTube Awards
- YouTube Creator Awards
- YouTube Instant
- YouTube Live
- Multi-channel network
- YouTube Music Awards
- YouTube Rewind
- YouTube Theater
- YouTube Poop
|
# Leopard - Wikipedia
| Leopard Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| Male African leopard in Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Suborder: | Feliformia |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Subfamily: | Pantherinae |
| Genus: | Panthera
|
| Species: | P. pardus |
| Binomial name | |
Panthera pardus | |
| Subspecies | |
|
See text | |
| Present and historical distribution of the leopard |
The **leopard** (* Panthera pardus*) is one of the five extant cat species in the genus
*Panthera*. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of 92–183 cm (36–72 in) with a 66–102 cm (26–40 in) long tail and a shoulder height of 60–70 cm (24–28 in). Males typically weigh 30.9–72 kg (68–159 lb), and females 20.5–43 kg (45–95 lb).
The leopard was first described in 1758, and several subspecies were proposed in the 19th and 20th centuries. Today, eight subspecies are recognised in its wide range in Africa and Asia. It initially evolved in Africa during the Early Pleistocene, before migrating into Eurasia around the Early–Middle Pleistocene transition. Leopards were formerly present across Europe, but became extinct in the region at around the end of the Late Pleistocene-early Holocene.
The leopard is adapted to a variety of habitats ranging from rainforest to steppe, including arid and montane areas. It is an opportunistic predator, hunting mostly ungulates and primates. It relies on its spotted pattern for camouflage as it stalks and ambushes its prey, which it sometimes drags up a tree. It is a solitary animal outside the mating season and when raising cubs. Females usually give birth to a litter of 2–4 cubs once in 15–24 months. Both male and female leopards typically reach sexual maturity at the age 2–2.5 years.
Listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, leopard populations are currently threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, and are declining in large parts of the global range. Leopards have had cultural roles in Ancient Greece, West Africa and modern Western culture. Leopard skins are popular in fashion.
## Etymology
The English name "leopard" comes from Old French *leupart* or Middle French *liepart*, that derives from Latin *leopardus* and ancient Greek λέοπάρδος (*leopardos*). *Leopardos* could be a compound of λέων (*leōn*), meaning 'lion', and πάρδος (*pardos*), meaning 'spotted'. The word λέοπάρδος originally referred to a cheetah (*Acinonyx jubatus*).
"Panther" is another common name, derived from Latin *panther* and ancient Greek πάνθηρ (*pánthēr*); The generic name *Panthera* originates in Latin *panthera*, a hunting net for catching wild beasts to be used by the Romans in combats. *Pardus* is the masculine singular form.
## Taxonomy
*Felis pardus* was the scientific name proposed by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.
The generic name *Panthera* was first used by Lorenz Oken in 1816, who included all the known spotted cats into this group.
Oken's classification was not widely accepted, and *Felis* or *Leopardus* was used as the generic name until the early 20th century.
The leopard was designated as the type species of *Panthera* by Joel Asaph Allen in 1902.
In 1917, Reginald Innes Pocock also subordinated the tiger (*P. tigris*), lion (*P. leo*), and jaguar (*P. onca*) to *Panthera*.
### Living subspecies
Following Linnaeus' first description, 27 leopard subspecies were proposed by naturalists between 1794 and 1956. Since 1996, only eight subspecies have been considered valid on the basis of mitochondrial analysis. Later analysis revealed a ninth valid subspecies, the Arabian leopard.
In 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the Cat Specialist Group recognized the following eight subspecies as valid taxa:
| Subspecies | Distribution | Image |
|---|---|---|
African leopard (P. p. pardus) (Linnaeus, 1758)
|
It is the most widespread leopard subspecies and is native to most of Sub-Saharan Africa, but likely locally extinct in Mauritania, Togo, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya and most likely also in Gambia and Lesotho. | |
Indian leopard (P. p. fusca) (Meyer, 1794)
|
It occurs in the Indian subcontinent, Myanmar and southern Tibet. It is listed as Near Threatened. | |
Javan leopard (P. p. melas) (Cuvier, 1809)
|
It is native to Java in Indonesia and has been assessed as Endangered in 2021. | |
Arabian leopard (P. p. nimr) (Hemprich and Ehrenberg, 1830)
|
It is the smallest leopard subspecies and considered endemic to the Arabian Peninsula. As of 2023, the population was estimated to comprise 100–120 individuals in Oman and Yemen; it was therefore assessed as Critically Endangered in 2023. It is locally extinct in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. | |
P. p. tulliana (Valenciennes, 1856)
|
It occurs from eastern Turkey and the Caucasus to the Iranian Plateau and the Hindu Kush into the western Himalayas. It is listed as Endangered. It is locally extinct in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
The Balochistan leopard population in the south of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan is separated from the northern population by the Dasht-e Kavir and Dasht-e Lut deserts. |
|
Amur leopard (P. p. orientalis) (Schlegel, 1857)
|
It is native to the Russian Far East and northern China, but is locally extinct in the Korean peninsula. | |
Indochinese leopard (P. p. delacouri) Pocock, 1930
|
It occurs in mainland Southeast Asia and southern China, and is listed as Critically Endangered. It is locally extinct in Hong Kong, Singapore, Laos and Vietnam. | |
Sri Lankan leopard (P. p. kotiya) Deraniyagala, 1956
|
It is native to Sri Lanka and listed as Vulnerable. |
Results of an analysis of molecular variance and pairwise fixation index of 182 African leopard museum specimens showed that some African leopards exhibit higher genetic differences than Asian leopard subspecies.
### Evolution
Results of phylogenetic studies based on nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA analysis showed that the last common ancestor of the *Panthera* and *Neofelis* genera is thought to have lived about . *Neofelis* diverged about from the *Panthera* lineage. The tiger diverged about , followed by the snow leopard about and the leopard about . The leopard is a sister taxon to a clade within *Panthera*, consisting of the lion and the jaguar.
Results of a phylogenetic analysis of chemical secretions amongst cats indicated that the leopard is closely related to the lion.
The geographic origin of the *Panthera* is most likely northern Central Asia. The leopard-lion clade was distributed in the Asian and African Palearctic since at least the early Pliocene. The leopard-lion clade diverged 3.1–1.95 million years ago. Additionally, a 2016 study revealed that the mitochondrial genomes of the leopard, lion and snow leopard are more similar to each other than their nuclear genomes, indicating that their ancestors hybridized with the snow leopard at some point in their evolution.
The oldest unambiguous fossils of the leopard are from Eastern Africa, dating to around 2 million years ago.
Leopard-like fossil bones and teeth possibly dating to the Pliocene were excavated in Perrier in France, northeast of London, and in Valdarno, Italy. Until 1940, similar fossils dating back to the Pleistocene were excavated mostly in loess and caves at 40 sites in Europe, including Furninha Cave near Lisbon, Genista Caves in Gibraltar, and Santander Province in northern Spain to several sites across France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, in the north up to Derby in England, in the east to Přerov in the Czech Republic and the Baranya in southern Hungary.
Leopards arrived in Eurasia during the late Early to Middle Pleistocene around 1.2 to 0.6 million years ago.
Four European Pleistocene leopard subspecies were proposed. *P. p. begoueni* from the beginning of the Early Pleistocene was replaced about by *P. p. sickenbergi*, which in turn was replaced by *P. p. antiqua* around 0.3 million years ago. *P. p. spelaea* is the most recent subspecies that appeared at the beginning of the Late Pleistocene and survived until about 11,000 years ago and possibly into the early Holocene in the Iberian Peninsula.
Leopards depicted in cave paintings in Chauvet Cave provide indirect evidence of leopard presence in Europe. Leopard fossils dating to the Late Pleistocene were found in Biśnik Cave in south-central Poland. Fossil remains were also excavated in the Iberian and Italian Peninsula, and in the Balkans. Leopard fossils dating to the Pleistocene were also excavated in the Japanese archipelago. Leopard fossils were also found in Taiwan.
### Hybrids
In 1953, a male leopard and a female lion were crossbred in Hanshin Park in Nishinomiya, Japan. Their offspring known as a leopon was born in 1959 and 1961, all cubs were spotted and bigger than a juvenile leopard. Attempts to mate a leopon with a tigress proved unsuccessful.
## Characteristics
The leopard's fur is generally soft and thick, notably softer on the belly than on the back. Its skin colour varies between individuals from pale yellowish to dark golden with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its underbelly is white and its ringed tail is shorter than its body. Its pupils are round. Leopards living in arid regions are pale cream, yellowish to ochraceous and rufous in colour; those living in forests and mountains are much darker and deep golden. Spots fade toward the white underbelly and the insides and lower parts of the legs. Rosettes are circular in East African leopard populations, and tend to be squarish in Southern African and larger in Asian leopard populations. The fur tends to be grayish in colder climates, and dark golden in rainforest habitats. Rosette patterns are unique in each individual. This pattern is thought to be an adaptation to dense vegetation with patchy shadows, where it serves as camouflage.
Its white-tipped tail is about 60–100 cm (23.6–39.4 in) long, white underneath and with spots that form incomplete bands toward the end of the tail. The guard hairs protecting the basal hairs are short, 3–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) in face and head, and increase in length toward the flanks and the belly to about 25–30 mm (1.0–1.2 in). Juveniles have woolly fur that appear to be dark-coloured due to the densely arranged spots. Its fur tends to grow longer in colder climates. The leopard's rosettes differ from those of the jaguar, which are darker and with smaller spots inside. The leopard has a diploid chromosome number of 38.
Melanistic leopards are also known as black panthers. Melanism in leopards is caused by a recessive allele and is inherited as a recessive trait. In India, nine pale and white leopards were reported between 1905 and 1967. Leopards exhibiting erythrism were recorded between 1990 and 2015 in South Africa's Madikwe Game Reserve and in Mpumalanga. The cause of this morph known as a "strawberry leopard" or "pink panther" is not well understood.
### Size
The leopard is a slender and muscular cat, with relatively short limbs and a broad head. It is sexually dimorphic with males larger and heavier than females. Males stand 60–70 cm (24–28 in) at the shoulder, while females are 57–64 cm (22–25 in) tall. The head-and-body length ranges between 92 and 183 cm (36 and 72 in) with a 66 to 102 cm (26 to 40 in) long tail. Sizes vary geographically. Males typically weigh 30.9–72 kg (68–159 lb), and females 20.5–43 kg (45–95 lb). Occasionally, large males can grow up to 91 kg (201 lb). Leopards from the Cape Province in South Africa are generally smaller, reaching only 20–45 kg (44–99 lb) in males. The heaviest wild leopard in Southern Africa weighed around 96 kg (212 lb), and it measured 262 cm (103 in). In 2016, an Indian leopard killed in Himachal Pradesh measured 261 cm (103 in) with an estimated weight of 78.5 kg (173 lb); it was perhaps the largest known wild leopard in India.
The largest recorded skull of a leopard was found in India in 1920 and measured 28 cm (11 in) in basal length, 20 cm (7.9 in) in breadth, and weighed 1 kg (2.2 lb). The skull of an African leopard measured 286 mm (11.3 in) in basal length, and 181 mm (7.1 in) in breadth, and weighed 790 g (28 oz).
## Distribution and habitat
The leopard has the largest distribution of all wild cats, occurring widely in Africa and Asia, although populations are fragmented and declining. It inhabits foremost savanna and rainforest, and areas where grasslands, woodlands and riparian forests remain largely undisturbed. It also persists in urban environments, if it is not persecuted, has sufficient prey and patches of vegetation for shelter during the day.
The leopard's range in West Africa is estimated to have drastically declined by 95%, and in the Sahara desert by 97%. In sub-Saharan Africa, it is still numerous and surviving in marginal habitats where other large cats have disappeared. In southeastern Egypt, an individual found killed in 2017 was the first sighting of the leopard in this area in 65 years.
In West Asia, the leopard inhabits the areas of southern and southeastern Anatolia.
Leopard populations in the Arabian Peninsula are small and fragmented.
In the Indian subcontinent, the leopard is still relatively abundant, with greater numbers than those of other *Panthera* species. Some leopard populations in India live quite close to human settlements and even in semi-developed areas. Although adaptable to human disturbances, leopards require healthy prey populations and appropriate vegetative cover for hunting for prolonged survival and thus rarely linger in heavily developed areas. Due to the leopard's stealth, people often remain unaware that it lives in nearby areas. As of 2020, the leopard population within forested habitats in India's tiger range landscapes was estimated at 12,172 to 13,535 individuals. Surveyed landscapes included elevations below 2,600 m (8,500 ft) in the Shivalik Hills and Gangetic plains, Central India and Eastern Ghats, Western Ghats, the Brahmaputra River basin and hills in Northeast India.
In Nepal's Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, a melanistic leopard was photographed at an elevation of 4,300 m (14,100 ft) by a camera trap in May 2012.
In Sri Lanka, leopards were recorded in Yala National Park and in unprotected forest patches, tea estates, grasslands, home gardens, pine and eucalyptus plantations.
In Myanmar, leopards were recorded for the first time by camera traps in the hill forests of Myanmar's Karen State. The Northern Tenasserim Forest Complex in southern Myanmar is considered a leopard stronghold. In Thailand, leopards are present in the Western Forest Complex, Kaeng Krachan-Kui Buri, Khlong Saeng-Khao Sok protected area complexes and in Hala Bala Wildlife Sanctuary bordering Malaysia. In Peninsular Malaysia, leopards are present in Belum-Temengor, Taman Negara and Endau-Rompin National Parks. In Laos, leopards were recorded in Nam Et-Phou Louey National Biodiversity Conservation Area and Nam Kan National Protected Area. In Cambodia, leopards inhabit deciduous dipterocarp forest in Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary and Mondulkiri Protected Forest. In southern China, leopards were recorded only in the Qinling Mountains during surveys in 11 nature reserves between 2002 and 2009.
In Java, leopards inhabit dense tropical rainforests and dry deciduous forests at elevations from sea level to 2,540 m (8,330 ft). Outside protected areas, leopards were recorded in mixed agricultural land, secondary forest and production forest between 2008 and 2014.
In the Russian Far East, it inhabits temperate coniferous forests where winter temperatures reach a low of −25 °C (−13 °F).
## Behaviour and ecology
The leopard is a solitary and territorial animal. It is typically shy and alert when crossing roadways and encountering oncoming vehicles, but may be emboldened to attack people or other animals when threatened. Adults associate only in the mating season. Females continue to interact with their offspring even after weaning and have been observed sharing kills with their offspring when they can not obtain any prey. They produce a number of vocalizations, including growls, snarls and purrs. Cubs call their mother with meows and an *urr-urr* sound. The most notable vocalization is the 'sawing' roar, which consists of deep, repeated strokes. This likely functions in establishing territories and attracting mates.
The whitish spots on the back of its ears are thought to play a role in communication. It has been hypothesized that the white tips of their tails may function as a 'follow-me' signal in intraspecific communication. However, no significant association were found between a conspicuous colour of tail patches and behavioural variables in carnivores.
Leopards are mainly active from dusk till dawn and will rest for most of the day and some hours at night in thickets, among rocks or over tree branches. Leopards have been observed walking 1–25 km (0.62–15.53 mi) across their range at night; wandering up to 75 km (47 mi) if disturbed. In some regions, they are nocturnal. In western African forests, they have been observed to be largely diurnal and hunting during twilight, when their prey animals are active; activity patterns vary between seasons.
Leopards can climb trees quite skillfully, often resting on tree branches and descending headfirst. They can run at over 58 km/h (36 mph; 16 m/s), leap over 6 m (20 ft) horizontally, and jump up to 3 m (9.8 ft) vertically.
### Social spacing
In Kruger National Park, most leopards tend to keep 1 km (0.62 mi) apart. Males occasionally interact with their partners and cubs, and exceptionally this can extend beyond to two generations. Aggressive encounters are rare, typically limited to defending territories from intruders. In a South African reserve, a male was wounded in a male–male territorial battle over a carcass.
Males occupy home ranges that often overlap with a few smaller female home ranges, probably as a strategy to enhance access to females. In the Ivory Coast, the home range of a female was completely enclosed within a male's. Females live with their cubs in home ranges that overlap extensively, probably due to the association between mothers and their offspring. There may be a few other fluctuating home ranges belonging to young individuals. It is not clear if male home ranges overlap as much as those of females do. Individuals try to drive away intruders of the same sex.
A study of leopards in the Namibian farmlands showed that the size of home ranges was not significantly affected by sex, rainfall patterns or season; the higher the prey availability in an area, the greater the leopard population density and the smaller the size of home ranges, but they tend to expand if there is human interference.
Sizes of home ranges vary geographically and depending on habitat and availability of prey. In the Serengeti, males have home ranges of 33–38 km2 (13–15 sq mi) and females of 14–16 km2 (5.4–6.2 sq mi); but males in northeastern Namibia of 451 km2 (174 sq mi) and females of 188 km2 (73 sq mi). They are even larger in arid and montane areas. In Nepal's Bardia National Park, male home ranges of 48 km2 (19 sq mi) and female ones of 5–7 km2 (1.9–2.7 sq mi) are smaller than those generally observed in Africa.
### Hunting and diet
The leopard is a carnivore that prefers medium-sized prey with a body mass ranging from 10–40 kg (22–88 lb). Prey species in this weight range tend to occur in dense habitat and to form small herds. Species that prefer open areas and have well-developed anti-predator strategies are less preferred. More than 100 prey species have been recorded. The most preferred species are ungulates, such as impala, bushbuck, common duiker and chital. Primates preyed upon include white-eyelid mangabeys, guenons and gray langurs. Leopards also kill smaller carnivores like black-backed jackal, bat-eared fox, genet and cheetah. In urban environments, domestic dogs provide an important food source. The largest prey killed by a leopard was reportedly a male eland weighing 900 kg (2,000 lb). A study in Wolong National Nature Reserve in southern China demonstrated variation in the leopard's diet over time; over the course of seven years, the vegetative cover receded, and leopards opportunistically shifted from primarily consuming tufted deer to pursuing bamboo rats and other smaller prey.
The leopard depends mainly on its acute senses of hearing and vision for hunting. It primarily hunts at night in most areas. In western African forests and Tsavo National Park, they have also been observed hunting by day. They usually hunt on the ground. In the Serengeti, they have been seen to ambush prey by descending on it from trees. It stalks its prey and tries to approach as closely as possible, typically within 5 m (16 ft) of the target, and, finally, pounces on it and kills it by suffocation. It kills small prey with a bite to the back of the neck, but holds larger animals by the throat and strangles them. It caches kills up to 2 km (1.2 mi) apart. It is able to take large prey due to its powerful jaw muscles, and is therefore strong enough to drag carcasses heavier than itself up into trees; an individual was seen to haul a young giraffe weighing nearly 125 kg (276 lb) up 5.7 m (18 ft 8 in) into a tree. It eats small prey immediately, but drags larger carcasses over several hundred metres and caches it safely in trees, bushes or even caves; this behaviour allows the leopard to store its prey away from rivals, and offers it an advantage over them. The way it stores the kill depends on local topography and individual preferences, varying from trees in Kruger National Park to bushes in the plain terrain of the Kalahari.
Average daily consumption rates of 3.5 kg (7 lb 11 oz) were estimated for males and of 2.8 kg (6 lb 3 oz) for females. In the southern Kalahari Desert, leopards meet their water requirements by the bodily fluids of prey and succulent plants; they drink water every two to three days and feed infrequently on moisture-rich plants such as gemsbok cucumbers, watermelon and Kalahari sour grass.
### Enemies and competitors
Across its range, the leopard coexists with a number of other large predators. In Africa, it is part of a large predator guild with lions, cheetahs, spotted and brown hyenas, and African wild dogs. The leopard is dominant only over the cheetah while the others have the advantage of size, pack numbers or both. Lions pose a great mortal threat and can be responsible for 22% of leopard deaths in Sabi Sand Game Reserve. Spotted hyenas are less threatening but are more likely to steal kills, being the culprits of up to 50% of stolen leopard kills in the same area. To counter this, leopards store their kills in the trees and out of reach. Lions have a high success rate in fetching leopard kills from trees. Leopards do not seem to actively avoid their competitors but rather difference in prey and habitat preferences appear to limit their spatial overlap. In particular, leopards use heavy vegetation regardless of whether lions are present in an area and both cats are active at the same time of day.
In Asia, the leopard's main competitors are tigers and dholes. Both the larger tiger and pack-living dhole dominate leopards during encounters. Interactions between the three predators involve chasing, stealing kills and direct killing. Tigers appear to inhabit the deep parts of the forest while leopards and dholes are pushed closer to the fringes. The three predators coexist by hunting different sized prey. In Nagarhole National Park, the average size for a leopard kill was 37.6 kg (83 lb) compared to 91.5 kg (202 lb) for tigers and 43.4 kg (96 lb) for dholes. At Kui Buri National Park, following a reduction in prey numbers, tigers continued to feed on favoured prey while leopards and dholes had to increase their consumption of small prey. Leopards can live successfully in tiger habitat when there is abundant food and vegetation cover. Otherwise, they appear to be less common where tigers are numerous. The recovery of the tiger population in Rajaji National Park during the 2000s led to a reduction in leopard population densities.
### Reproduction and life cycle
In some areas, leopards mate all year round. In Manchuria and Siberia, they mate during January and February. On average, females begin to breed between the ages of 2½ and three, and males between the ages of two and three. The female's estrous cycle lasts about 46 days, and she is usually in heat for 6–7 days. Gestation lasts for 90 to 105 days. Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2–4 cubs. The mortality rate of cubs is estimated at 41–50% during the first year. Predators are the biggest cause for leopard cub mortality during their first year. Male leopards are known to cause infanticide, in order to bring the female back into heat. Intervals between births average 15 to 24 months, but can be shorter, depending on the survival of the cubs.
Females give birth in a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree or thicket. Newborn cubs weigh 280–1,000 g (9.9–35.3 oz), and are born with closed eyes, which open four to nine days after birth. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in colour with less defined spots. They begin to eat meat at around nine weeks. Around three months of age, the young begin to follow the mother on hunts. At one year of age, cubs can probably fend for themselves, but will remain with the mother for 18–24 months. After separating from their mother, sibling cubs may travel together for months. Both male and female leopards typically reach sexual maturity at 2–2⅓ years.
The generation length of the leopard is 9.3 years. The average life span of a leopard is 12–17 years. The oldest leopard was a captive female that died at the age of 24 years, 2 months and 13 days.
## Conservation
The leopard is listed on CITES Appendix I, and hunting is banned in Botswana and Afghanistan; in 11 sub-Saharan countries, trade is restricted to skins and body parts of 2,560 individuals. In 2007, a leopard reintroduction programme was initiated in the Russian Caucasus, where captive bred individuals are reared and trained in 0.5–0.9 ha (1.2–2.2 acres) large enclosures in Sochi National Park; six individuals released into Caucasus Nature Reserve and Alaniya National Park in 2018 survived as of February 2022.
### Threats
The leopard is primarily threatened by habitat fragmentation and conversion of forest to agriculturally used land, which lead to a declining natural prey base, human–wildlife conflict with livestock herders and high leopard mortality rates. It is also threatened by trophy hunting and poaching. Contemporary records suggest that the leopard occurs in only 25% of its historical range.
Between 2002 and 2012, at least four leopards were estimated to have been poached per week in India for the illegal wildlife trade of its skins and bones. In spring 2013, 37 leopard skins were found during a 7-week long market survey in major Moroccan cities. In 2014, 43 leopard skins were detected during two surveys in Morocco. Vendors admitted to have imported skins from sub-Saharan Africa.
Surveys in the Central African Republic's Chinko area revealed that the leopard population decreased from 97 individuals in 2012 to 50 individuals in 2017. In this period, transhumant pastoralists from the border area with Sudan moved in the area with their livestock. Rangers confiscated large amounts of poison in the camps of livestock herders who were accompanied by armed merchants. They engaged in poaching large herbivores, sale of bushmeat and trading leopard skins in Am Dafok.
In Java, the leopard is threatened by illegal hunting and trade. Between 2011 and 2019, body parts of 51 Javan leopards were seized including six live individuals, 12 skins, 13 skulls, 20 canines and 22 claws.
## Human relations
### Cultural significance
Leopards have been featured in art, mythology and folklore of many countries. In Greek mythology, it was a symbol of the god Dionysus, who was depicted wearing leopard skin and using leopards as means of transportation. In one myth, the god was captured by pirates but two leopards rescued him. Numerous Roman mosaics from North African sites depict fauna now found only in tropical Africa. During the Benin Empire, the leopard was commonly represented on engravings and sculptures and was used to symbolise the power of the king or *oba*, since the leopard was considered the king of the forest. The Ashanti people also used the leopard as a symbol of leadership, and only the king was permitted to have a ceremonial leopard stool. Some African cultures considered the leopard to be a smarter, better hunter than the lion and harder to kill.
In Rudyard Kipling's "How the Leopard Got His Spots", one of his *Just So Stories*, a leopard with no spots in the Highveld lives with his hunting partner, the Ethiopian. When they set off to the forest, the Ethiopian changed his brown skin, and the leopard painted spots on his skin. A leopard played an important role in the 1938 Hollywood film *Bringing Up Baby*. African chiefs, European queens, Hollywood actors and burlesque dancers wore coats made of leopard skins.
The leopard is a frequently used motif in heraldry, most commonly as *passant*. The heraldic leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldic lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. Naturalistic leopard-like depictions appear on the coat of arms of Benin, Malawi, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon, the last of which uses a black panther.
### Attacks on people
The Leopard of Rudraprayag killed more than 125 people; the Panar Leopard was thought to have killed over 400 people. Both were shot by British hunter Jim Corbett. The *spotted devil of Gummalapur* killed about 42 people in Karnataka, India.
### In captivity
The ancient Romans kept leopards in captivity to be slaughtered in hunts as well as execute criminals. In Benin, leopards were kept and paraded as mascots, totems and sacrifices to deities. Several leopards were kept in a menagerie originally established by King John of England at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235, three of these animals were given to Henry III by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. In modern times, leopards have been trained and tamed in circuses.
## See also
### Further reading
- Allsen, Thomas T. (2007). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries". In Mair, V. H. (ed.).
*Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World*. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4. - DeRuiter, D. J.; Berger, L. R. (2000). "Leopards as taphonomic agents in dolomitic Caves – Implications for bone accumulations in the hominid-bearing deposits of South Africa".
*Journal of Archaeological Science*.**27**(8): 665–684. Bibcode:2000JArSc..27..665D. doi:10.1006/jasc.1999.0470. - Sanei, A. (2007).
*Analysis of leopard (*Panthera pardus*) status in Iran*(in Persian). Tehran: Sepehr Publication Center. ISBN 978-964-6123-74-8. - Sanei, A.; Zakaria, M.; Yusof, E.; Roslan, M. (2011). "Estimation of leopard population size in a secondary forest within Malaysia's capital agglomeration using unsupervised classification of pugmarks" (PDF).
*Tropical Ecology*.**52**(1): 209–217. Archived from the original on 2011-10-02. - Zakaria, M.; Sanei, A. (2011). "Conservation and management prospects of the Persian and Malayan leopards".
*Asia Life Sciences*. Supplement 7: 1–5.
## External links
- IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group:
*Panthera pardus*in Africa and*Panthera pardus*in Asia *Encyclopædia Britannica*(11th ed.). 1911. .
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# World Heritage Site - Wikipedia
| Formation | 1978 |
|---|---|
| Founded at | Galápagos Islands |
| Type | UNESCO Landmarks and areas legal protection and sites listing agency |
| Purpose | UNESCO landmarks and areas protection |
Region served | Worldwide |
Main organ | UNESCO |
**World Heritage Sites** are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity".
To be selected, a World Heritage Site is nominated by its host country and determined by the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee to be a unique landmark which is geographically and historically identifiable, having a special cultural or physical significance, and to be under a sufficient system of legal protection. World Heritage Sites might be ancient ruins or historical structures, buildings, cities, deserts, forests, islands, lakes, monuments, mountains or wilderness areas, and others.
A World Heritage Site may signify a remarkable accomplishment of humankind and serve as evidence of humanity's intellectual history on the planet, or it might be a place of great natural beauty. As of July 2024, a total of 1,223 World Heritage Sites (952 cultural, 231 natural and 40 mixed cultural and natural properties) exist across 168 countries. With 60 selected areas, Italy is the country with the most sites, followed by China with 59, and Germany with 54.
The sites are intended for practical conservation for posterity, which otherwise would be subject to risk from human or animal trespassing, unmonitored, uncontrolled or unrestricted access, or threat from local administrative negligence. Sites are demarcated by UNESCO as protected zones. The World Heritage Sites list is maintained by the international World Heritage Program administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 "states parties" that are elected by the United Nations General Assembly, and advised by reviews of international panels of experts in natural or cultural history, and education.
The Program catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture and heritage of humankind. The programme began with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, which was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO on 16 November 1972. Since then, 196 states have ratified the convention, making it one of the most widely recognised international agreements and the world's most popular cultural programme.
In 1954, the government of Egypt decided to build the new Aswan High Dam, whose resulting future reservoir would eventually inundate a large stretch of the Nile valley containing cultural treasures of ancient Egypt and ancient Nubia. In 1959, the governments of Egypt and Sudan requested the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to assist them to protect and rescue the endangered monuments and sites.
In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia. This resulted in the excavation and recording of hundreds of sites, the recovery of thousands of objects, as well as the salvage and relocation to higher ground of several important temples. The most famous of these are the temple complexes of Abu Simbel and Philae. The campaign ended in 1980 and was considered a success. To thank countries which especially contributed to the campaign's success, Egypt donated four temples; the Temple of Dendur was moved to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Temple of Debod to the Parque del Oeste in Madrid, the Temple of Taffeh to the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, and the Temple of Ellesyia to Museo Egizio in Turin.
The project cost US$80 million (equivalent to $305.3 million in 2024), about $40 million of which was collected from 50 countries. The project's success led to other safeguarding campaigns, such as saving Venice and its lagoon in Italy, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan, and the Borobodur Temple Compounds in Indonesia. Together with the International Council on Monuments and Sites, UNESCO then initiated a draft convention to protect cultural heritage.
The convention (the signed document of international agreement) guiding the work of the World Heritage Committee was developed over a seven-year period (1965–1972).
The United States initiated the idea of safeguarding places of high cultural or natural importance. A White House conference in 1965 called for a "World Heritage Trust" to preserve "the world's superb natural and scenic areas and historic sites for the present and the future of the entire world citizenry". The International Union for Conservation of Nature developed similar proposals in 1968, which were presented in 1972 at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm. Under the World Heritage Committee, signatory countries are required to produce and submit periodic data reporting providing the committee with an overview of each participating nation's implementation of the World Heritage Convention and a "snapshot" of current conditions at World Heritage properties.[ citation needed]
Based on the draft convention that UNESCO had initiated, a single text was eventually agreed upon by all parties, and the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO on 16 November 1972. The convention came into force on 17 December 1975. As of November 2024, it has been ratified by 196 states: 192 UN member states, two UN observer states (the Holy See and the State of Palestine), and two states in free association with New Zealand (the Cook Islands and Niue). Only one UN member state, Liechtenstein, has not ratified the convention.
By assigning places as World Heritage Sites, UNESCO wants to help preserve them for future generations. Its motivation is that "heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today" and that both cultural and natural heritage are "irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration". UNESCO's mission with respect to World Heritage consists of eight sub targets. These include encouraging the commitment of countries and local population to World Heritage conservation in various ways, providing emergency assistance for sites in danger, offering technical assistance and professional training, and supporting States Parties' public awareness-building activities.
Being listed as a World Heritage Site can positively affect the site, its environment, and interactions between them. A listed site gains international recognition and legal protection, and can obtain funds from, among others, the World Heritage Fund to facilitate its conservation under certain conditions. UNESCO reckons the restorations of the following four sites among its success stories: Angkor in Cambodia, the Old City of Dubrovnik in Croatia, the Wieliczka Salt Mine near Kraków in Poland, and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania. Additionally, the local population around a site may benefit from significantly increased tourism revenue. When there are significant interactions between people and the natural environment, these can be recognised as "cultural landscapes".
A country must first identify its significant cultural and natural sites in a document known as the Tentative List. Next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File, which is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and the World Conservation Union. A country may not nominate sites that have not been first included on its Tentative List. The two international bodies make recommendations to the World Heritage Committee for new designations. The Committee meets once a year to determine which nominated properties to add to the World Heritage List; sometimes it defers its decision or requests more information from the country that nominated the site. There are ten selection criteria – a site must meet at least one to be included on the list.
Until 2004, there were six sets of criteria for cultural heritage and four for natural heritage. In 2005, UNESCO modified these and now has one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of "outstanding universal value" and must meet at least one of the ten criteria.
- "To represent a masterpiece of human creative genius"
- "To exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design"
- "To bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living, or which has disappeared"
- "To be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history"
- "To be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change"
- "To be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance"
- "To contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance"
- "To be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features"
- "To be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals"
- "To contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation"
A country may request to extend or reduce the boundaries, modify the official name, or change the selection criteria of one of its already listed sites. Any proposal for a significant boundary change or to modify the site's selection criteria must be submitted as if it were a new nomination, including first placing it on the Tentative List and then onto the Nomination File.
A request for a minor boundary change, one that does not have a significant impact on the extent of the property or affect its "outstanding universal value", is also evaluated by the advisory bodies before being sent to the committee. Such proposals can be rejected by either the advisory bodies or the Committee if they judge it to be a significant change instead of a minor one. Proposals to change a site's official name are sent directly to the committee.
A site may be added to the List of World Heritage in Danger if conditions threaten the characteristics for which the landmark or area was inscribed on the World Heritage List. Such problems may involve armed conflict and war, natural disasters, pollution, poaching, or uncontrolled urbanisation or human development. This danger list is intended to increase international awareness of the threats and to encourage counteractive measures. Threats to a site can be either proven imminent threats or potential dangers that could have adverse effects on a site.
The state of conservation for each site on the danger list is reviewed yearly; after this, the Committee may request additional measures, delete the property from the danger list if the threats have ceased, or consider deletion from the World Heritage List entirely if the site's integrity no longer exists or has fallen out of local protection. Only three sites have ever been delisted: the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in Oman, the Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany, and the Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City in the United Kingdom.[ citation needed]
The Arabian Oryx Sanctuary was directly delisted in 2007, instead of first being put on the danger list, after the Omani government decided to reduce the protected area's size by 90%. The Dresden Elbe Valley was first placed on the danger list in 2006 when the World Heritage Committee decided that plans to construct the Waldschlösschen Bridge would significantly alter the valley's landscape. In response, the Dresden City Council attempted to stop the bridge's construction. However, after several court decisions allowed the building of the bridge to proceed, the valley was removed from the World Heritage List in 2009. Liverpool's World Heritage status was revoked in July 2021, following developments (Liverpool Waters and Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium) on the northern docks of the World Heritage site leading to the "irreversible loss of (historical) attributes" on the site.
The first global assessment to quantitatively measure threats to Natural World Heritage Sites found that 63% of sites have been damaged by increasing human pressures including encroaching roads, agriculture infrastructure and settlements over the last two decades. These activities endanger Natural World Heritage Sites and could compromise their unique values. Of the Natural World Heritage Sites that contain forest, 91% experienced some loss since 2000. Many of them are more threatened than previously thought and require immediate conservation action.
The destruction of cultural assets and identity-establishing sites is one of the primary goals of modern asymmetrical warfare. Terrorists, rebels, and mercenary armies deliberately smash archaeological sites, sacred and secular monuments and loot libraries, archives and museums. The UN, United Nations peacekeeping and UNESCO in cooperation with Blue Shield International are active in preventing such acts. "No strike lists" are also created to protect cultural assets from air strikes.
The founding president of Blue Shield International Karl von Habsburg summed it up with the words: "Without the local community and without the local participants, that would be completely impossible".
The UNESCO-administered project has attracted criticism. This was caused by perceived under-representation of heritage sites outside Europe, disputed decisions on site selection and adverse impact of mass tourism on sites unable to manage rapid growth in visitor numbers. A large lobbying industry has grown around the awards, because World Heritage listing can significantly increase tourism returns. Site listing bids are often lengthy and costly, putting poorer countries at a disadvantage. Eritrea's efforts to promote Asmara are one example.
In 2016, the Australian government was reported to have successfully lobbied for the World Heritage Site Great Barrier Reef conservation efforts to be removed from a UNESCO report titled "World Heritage and Tourism in a Changing Climate". The Australian government's actions, involving considerable expense for lobbying and visits for diplomats, were in response to their concern about the negative impact that an "at risk" label could have on tourism revenue at a previously designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In 2021, international scientists recommended UNESCO to put the Great Barrier Reef on the endangered list, as global climate change had caused a further negative state of the corals and water quality. Again, the Australian government campaigned against this, and in July 2021, the World Heritage Committee, made up of diplomatic representatives of 21 countries, ignored UNESCO's assessment, based on studies of scientists, "that the reef was clearly in danger from climate change and so should be placed on the list." According to environmental protection groups, this "decision was a victory for cynical lobbying and [...] Australia, as custodians of the world's biggest coral reef, was now on probation."
Several listed locations, such as Casco Viejo in Panama and Hội An in Vietnam, have struggled to strike a balance between the economic benefits of catering to greatly increased visitor numbers after the recognition and preserving the original culture and local communities.
Another criticism is that there is a homogeneity to these sites, which contain similar styles, visitor centres, etc., meaning that a lot of the individuality of these sites has been removed to become more attractive to tourists.
Anthropologist Jasper Chalcraft said that World Heritage recognition often ignores contemporary local usage of certain sites. This leads to conflicts on the local level which can result in the site being damaged. Rock art under world heritage protection at the Tadrart Acacus in Libya have occasionally been intentionally destroyed. Chalcraft links this destruction to Libyan national authorities prioritizing World Heritage status over local sensibilities by limiting access to the sites without consulting with the local population.
UNESCO has also been criticized for alleged geographic bias, racism, and colourism in world heritage inscription. A major chunk of all world heritage inscriptions are located in regions whose populations generally have lighter skin, including Europe, East Asia, and North America.
The World Heritage Committee has divided the world into five geographic regions: Africa, Arab states, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and North America, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Russia and the Caucasus states are classified as European, while Mexico and the Caribbean are classified as belonging to the Latin America and the Caribbean region. The UNESCO geographic regions also give greater emphasis on administrative, rather than geographic associations. Hence, Gough Island, located in the South Atlantic, is part of the Europe and North America region because the British government nominated the site.
The table below includes a breakdown of the sites according to these regions and their classification as of July 2024[update]:
| Region | Cultural | Natural | Mixed | Total | Percentage | States parties with inscribed properties |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Africa | 61 | 42 | 5 | 108 | 8.8% | 36 |
| Arab states | 87 | 6 | 3 | 96 | 7.8% | 18 |
| Asia and the Pacific | 211 | 73 | 12 | 296 | 24.2% | 36 |
| Europe and North America | 490 | 71 | 12 | 573 | 46.9% | 50 |
| Latin America and the Caribbean | 103 | 39 | 8 | 150 | 12.3% | 28 |
| Total | 952 | 231 | 40 | 1,223 | 100% | 168 |
This overview lists the 23 countries with 15 or more World Heritage Sites:
- GoUNESCO – initiative to promote awareness and provide tools for laypersons to engage with heritage
- Index of conservation articles
- Lists of World Heritage Sites
- Former UNESCO World Heritage Sites
- Memory of the World Programme
- UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists
- Ramsar Convention – international agreement on wetlands recognition
- UNESCO World Heritage portal – Official website (in English and French)
- The World Heritage List – Official searchable list of all Inscribed Properties
- KML file of the World Heritage List – Official KML version of the list for Google Earth and NASA Worldwind
- UNESCO Information System on the State of Conservation of World Heritage properties – Searchable online tool with over 3,400 reports on World Heritage Sites
- Official overview of the World Heritage Forest Program
- Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage – Official 1972 Convention Text in seven languages
- The 1972 Convention at Law-Ref.org – Fully indexed and crosslinked with other documents
- Protected Planet – View all Natural World Heritage Sites in the World Database on Protected Areas
- World Heritage Site – Smithsonian Ocean Portal
- UNESCO chair in ICT to develop and promote sustainable tourism in World Heritage Sites
- UNESCO World Heritage Sites showcased in Google Arts & Culture
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# Goalkeeper (association football) - Wikipedia
The **goalkeeper** (sometimes written as **goal-keeper**, abbreviated as **GK**, **keeper**, **keeps**, or **goalie**) is a position in association football. It is the most specialised position in the sport. The goalkeeper's main role is to stop the opposing team from scoring a 'goal' (i.e. putting the ball over the goal line). This is accomplished by having the goalkeeper move into the trajectory of the ball to either catch it or direct it further from the vicinity of the goal line. Within the penalty area, goalkeepers are allowed to use their hands, giving them (outside throw-ins) the sole rights on the field to handle the ball. The goalkeeper is indicated by wearing a different coloured kit from their teammates and opposition.
The back-pass rule is a rule that disallows handling passes back to keepers from teammates in most cases. Goalkeepers usually perform goal kicks and also give commands to their defense during corner kicks, direct and indirect free kicks, and marking. Goalkeepers play an important role in directing onfield strategy as they have an unrestricted view of the entire pitch, giving them a unique perspective on play development.
The goalkeeper is the only mandatory position of a team. If they are injured or sent off, another player must take their place. To replace a goalkeeper who is sent off, a team usually (but is not required to) brings on a substitute keeper in place of an outfield player to ensure they still play an outfield player down. If a team does not have a substitute goalkeeper, or they have already used all of their permitted substitutions for the match, an outfield player has to play as goalkeeper.
Because the position requires different skills from the outfielders, goalkeepers train separately from their teammates and often work with a goalkeeping coach to develop their play. While outfielders typically must be in good cardiovascular shape to play up to 90 minutes in a match, a goalkeeper must be able to move quickly and have fast feet for little bursts. During a match, goalkeepers may get a lot of action, usually in brief intervals, until their teammates can clear the ball out of the zone. During practice, goalkeepers focus heavily on footwork and being able to get up quickly after a save is made. A goalkeeper must be able to get set, meaning feet shoulder width apart and on their toes, before the next shot comes their way, so they can react and make the save.
As with all players, goalkeepers may wear any squad number, but the number 1 is almost always reserved for a team's first-choice goalkeeper.
The goalkeeper is notably the only position that is not included in formations. This is because the goalkeeper is the only non-outfielder position and the only compulsory position in football.
Though not essential, goalkeepers are typically tall players due to the height of the goal and the number of crosses, corners, and high shots in football.
Association football, like many sports, has experienced many changes in tactics resulting in the generation and elimination of different positions. Goalkeeper is the only position that is certain to have existed since the codification of the sport. Even in the early days of organised football, when systems were limited or non-existent and the main idea was for all players to attack and defend, teams had a designated member to play as the goalkeeper.
The earliest account of football teams with player positions comes from Richard Mulcaster in 1581 and does not specify goalkeepers. The earliest specific reference to keeping goals comes from Cornish Hurling in 1602. According to Carew: "They pitch two bushes in the ground, some eight or ten foot asunder; and directly against them, ten or twelve score off, other twayne in like distance, which they term their Goals. One of these is appointed by lots, to one side, and the other to his adverse party. There is assigned for their guard, a couple of their best stopping Hurlers." Other references to scoring goals begin in English literature in the early 17th century; for example, in John Day's play *The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green* (performed c. 1600; published 1659): "I'll play a gole at camp-ball" (an extremely violent variety of football, popular in East Anglia). Similarly, in a 1613 poem, Michael Drayton refers to "when the Ball to throw, And drive it to the Gole, in squadrons forth they goe". It seems inevitable that wherever a game has evolved goals, some form of goalkeeping must also be developed. David Wedderburn refers to what has been translated from Latin as to "keep goal" in 1633, though this does not necessarily imply a fixed goalkeeper position.
The word "goal-keeper" is used in the novel *Tom Brown's School Days* (published in 1857, but set in the 1830s). The author is here referring to an early form of rugby football:
You will see in the first place, that the sixth-form boy, who has the charge of goals, has spread his force (the goal-keepers) to occupy the whole space behind the goal-posts, at distances of about five yards apart; a safe and well-kept goal is the foundation of all good play.
The word "goal-keeper" appeared in the Sheffield Rules of 1867, but the term did not refer to a designated player, but rather to "that player on the defending side who for the time being is nearest to his own goal". The goalkeeper, thus defined, did not enjoy any special handling privileges.
The FA's first Laws of the Game of 1863 did not make any special provision for a goalkeeper, with any player being allowed to catch or knock on the ball. Handling the ball was completely forbidden (for all players) in 1870. The next year, 1871, the laws were amended to introduce the goalkeeper and specify that the keeper was allowed to handle the ball "for the protection of his goal". The restrictions on the ability of the goalkeeper to handle the ball were changed several times in subsequent revisions of the laws:
- 1871: the keeper may handle the ball only "for the protection of his goal".
- 1873: the keeper may not "carry" the ball.
- 1883: the keeper may not carry the ball for more than two steps.
- 1887: the keeper may not handle the ball in the opposition's half.
- 1901: the keeper may handle the ball for any purpose (not only in defense of the goal).
- 1905: the keeper may not advance beyond his goalline when defending against a penalty kick.
- 1912: the keeper may handle the ball only in the penalty area.
- 1931: the keeper may take up to four steps (rather than two) while carrying the ball.
- 1992: the keeper may not handle the ball after it has been deliberately kicked to him/her by a team-mate.
- 1997: the keeper may not handle the ball for more than six seconds.
Initially, goalkeepers typically played between the goalposts and had limited mobility, except when trying to save opposition shots. Throughout the years, the role of the goalkeeper has evolved, due to the changes in systems of play, to become more active. The goalkeeper is the only player in association football allowed to use their hands to control the ball (other than when restarting play with a throw-in).
During the 1935–36 English football season, young Sunderland AFC goalkeeper of the team, Jimmy Thorpe, died as a result of a kick in the head and chest after he had picked up the ball following a backpass in a game against Chelsea at Roker Park. He continued to take part until the match finished, but collapsed at home afterward and died in hospital four days later from diabetes mellitus and heart failure "accelerated by the rough usage of the opposing team". The tragic end to Thorpe's career led to a change in the rules, where players were no longer allowed to raise their foot to a goalkeeper when he had control of the ball in his arms.
Due to several time-wasting techniques that were used by goalkeepers, such as bouncing the ball on the ground or throwing it in the air and then catching it again, in the 1960s, the Laws of the Game were revised further, and the goalkeeper was given a maximum of four steps to travel while holding, bouncing or throwing the ball in the air and catching it again, without having to release it into play. The FIFA Board later also devised an anti-parrying rule, saying that such deliberate parrying to evade the Law was to be regarded also as holding the ball.
In 1992, the International Football Association Board made changes in the laws of the game that affected goalkeepers – notably the back-pass rule, which prohibits goalkeepers from handling the ball when receiving a deliberate pass from a teammate that is made with their feet. This rule change was made to discourage time-wasting and overly defensive play after the 1990 FIFA World Cup which was described as exceedingly dull, rife with back-passing and goalkeepers holding the ball. Also, goalkeepers would frequently drop the ball and dribble it around, only to pick it up again once opponents came closer to put them under pressure, a typical time-wasting technique. Therefore, another rule was introduced at the same time as the back-pass rule. This rule prohibits goalkeepers from handling the ball again once the ball is released for play; an offense results in an indirect free kick to the opposition. Furthermore, any player negating the spirit of the new rule would be likely to be cautioned for unsporting behaviour and punished by an indirect free-kick.
On 1 July 1997, FIFA decided to extend the back-pass rule by applying it also to throw-ins from defenders to their goalkeeper.To prevent further time-wasting, FIFA also established that if a goalkeeper holds the ball for more than six seconds the referee must adjudge this as time-wasting and award an indirect free-kick to the opposing team. In practice, this rule is rarely enforced: a 2019 study of 45 Bundesliga matches found the goalkeepers violating it in 38.4% of instances of ball handling, none of which were penalised. An example of this rule being enforced in a high-profile match was at the London 2012 Summer Olympics Women's Football semi-final game between the United States and Canada. With Canada in front 3–2 late in the game, their goalkeeper Erin McLeod grabbed the ball from a corner kick and then held onto it for 10 seconds despite being warned by the referee not to waste time. The indirect free kick resulted in a penalty being called for a handball offence, which was scored to make it 3–3 and take the game to extra time, where the United States won the game 4–3.
The position of goalkeeper is the only position in the game that is technically distinct from the others in the course of normal play. The Laws of the Game distinguish the goalkeeper from the other players in several ways, most significantly exempting them from the prohibition on handling the ball, though only within their penalty area. Once a goalkeeper has control of the ball in their hands, opponents are not permitted to challenge them. Goalkeepers have a specialized role as the sole defender against a penalty kick. Goalkeepers are required to wear distinct colors from other players and are permitted to wear caps and tracksuit bottoms.
The Laws mandate that one player on the team must be designated as the goalkeeper at all times, meaning that if a goalkeeper is sent off or injured and unable to continue, another player must assume the goalkeeper position. The Laws allow for teams to change the player designated as a goalkeeper at stoppages in play, but in practice, this is rarely exercised.
The Laws place no restrictions on a goalkeeper leaving their penalty area and acting as an ordinary player, though generally, goalkeepers stay close to their goals throughout matches.
Goalkeepers routinely perform extension dives. To execute this, they push off the ground with the foot nearest to the ball, launching themselves into a horizontal position. At this point, the ball may be caught or parried away from the goal. In the latter case, a good goalkeeper will attempt to ensure that the rebound cannot be taken by a player of the opposing team, although this is not always possible.
Because goalkeepers can spend the majority of a match without much action they need very good concentration in the event of the opposition going on the attack at any one time. Goalkeepers also need good 'anticipation' meaning they can 'read' where the ball is going to go and react by moving before the ball is kicked or headed and quickly decide whether to catch, punch or palm the ball.
The tactical responsibilities of goalkeepers include:
- To
**keep goal**by physically blocking attempted shots with any part of their body. The keeper is permitted to*play*the ball anywhere on the field, but may not*handle*the ball using hands or outstretched arms outside of their penalty area. - To
**organise the team's defenders during defensive set pieces**such as free kicks and corners. In the case of free kicks, this includes picking the numbers and the organisation of a defensive player "wall". The wall serves to provide a physical barrier to the incoming ball, but some goalkeepers position their walls in certain positions to tempt kick-takers to certain types of shots. Occasionally, goalkeepers may opt to dispense with the wall. Some goalkeepers are also entrusted with the responsibility of picking markers while defending at set pieces. - To
**pick out crosses and attempt long passes**either by collecting them in flight or punching them clear if heavily challenged by opposing strikers.
Although goalkeepers have special privileges, including the ability to handle the ball in the penalty area, they are otherwise subject to the same rules as any other player.
Goalkeepers are not required to stay in the penalty area; they may get involved in play anywhere on the pitch, and it is common for them to act as an additional defender (or 'sweeper') during certain passages of the game. Goalkeepers with a long throwing range or accurate long-distance kicks may be able to quickly create attacking positions for a team and generate goal-scoring chances from defensive situations, a tactic known as the long ball.
Gyula Grosics from the Hungarian "Golden Team" of the 1950s was thought to be the first goalkeeper to play as the 'sweeper-keeper'. Tommy Lawrence has also been credited with revolutionising the role of the goalkeeper by effectively acting as an 11th outfield player. The rushing playing style used by Liverpool legend Bruce Grobbelaar seen during the 1980s–90s makes him one of the original sweeper-keepers of the modern era. René Higuita was another who became known for his unorthodox, skillful but sometimes reckless techniques. Manuel Neuer has been described as a sweeper-keeper due to his speed and unique style of play which occasionally includes him acting as a sweeper for his team by rushing off his line to anticipate opposing forwards who have beaten the offside trap. With his excellent ball control and distribution, which enables him to start plays from the back, he has said he could play in the German third division as a centre-back if he wanted to. Hugo Lloris of LAFC and France and former goalkeeper Fabien Barthez have also been described as sweeper-keepers, while Claudio Bravo and Ederson Moraes have even been described as *playmakers* in the media.
Other players who have been labelled "sweeper-keepers" in the media include Marc-André ter Stegen of FC Barcelona and Germany, Spaniard Víctor Valdés, and the late Lev Yashin, the latter of whom is often cited by pundits as one of the goalkeepers who pioneered the role of the sweeper-keeper. Sweeper-keepers have been popularised by managers who usually employ tactics inspired by total football, such as Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola, for example, and are chosen not only for their shot-stopping and goalkeeping abilities, but also due to their skill with the ball at their feet, their ability to pick out passes and contribute to the build-up play of their team, and their speed when rushing out of the penalty area to anticipate opponents, which enables their team to maintain a high defensive line. It is not without risk, as a goalkeeper being so far from the penalty area can lead to spectacular long-range lob goals if they or their team lose possession, as well as risking being red-carded if they run out to challenge an opponent but foul them or handball a shot by mistake.
Some goalkeepers have scored goals. Other than by accident when a long kicked clearance reaches the other end of the field and evades the opposing goalkeeper with the aid of strong winds and/or unexpected bounces, this most commonly occurs when a goalkeeper has rushed up to the opposite end of the pitch to give his team a numerical advantage in attack, leaving his own goal undefended. As such, it is normally only done late in a game at set-pieces where the consequences of scoring far outweigh those of conceding a further goal, such as for a team trailing in a knock-out tournament.
Some goalkeepers, such as René Higuita, Jorge Campos, Rogério Ceni, Hans-Jörg Butt and José Luis Chilavert, are also expert set-piece takers. These players may take their team's attacking free kicks or penalties. Rogério Ceni, São Paulo's goalkeeper from 1992 to 2015, has scored 132 goals in his career, more than many outfield players.
Goalkeepers must wear a kit that distinguishes them clearly from other players and match officials, as this is all that the FIFA Laws of the Game require. Some goalkeepers have received recognition for their match attire, like Lev Yashin of the Soviet Union, who was nicknamed the "Black Spider" for his distinctive all-black outfit; Klaus Lindenberger of Austria, who designed his variation of a clown's costume; Jorge Campos of Mexico, who was popular for his colourful attire; Raul Plassmann of Cruzeiro Esporte Clube and his all-yellow outfit; and Gábor Király for wearing a pair of grey tracksuit bottoms instead of shorts.
Although it was initially more common for goalkeepers to wear long-sleeved jerseys, recently several goalkeepers, such as Gianluigi Buffon, have also been known to wear short sleeves.
Most goalkeepers also wear gloves to improve their grip on the ball, and to protect themselves from injury. Some gloves now include rigid plastic spines down each finger to help prevent injuries such as jammed, fractured, and sprained fingers. Though gloves are not mandatory attire, it is uncommon for goalkeepers to opt against them due to the advantages they offer.[ citation needed] At UEFA Euro 2004, Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo famously took off his gloves during the quarter-final penalty shoot-out against England, knowing he was the next taker for his side. He then went on to save Darius Vassell's penalty using his bare hands before scoring his kick to win it for Portugal.
[
*failed verification*]Though rare, goalkeepers are permitted to wear visored headgear (such as a baseball cap) to minimize glare from bright sunlight, or a knit cap to insulate from cold weather, at any time if they elect to do so. After recovering from a near-fatal skull fracture that he had sustained in 2006, Petr Čech wore a rugby-style scrum cap during his matches for the rest of his playing career.
Goalkeepers have a very physically demanding job. They are the only players allowed to use their hands, except for throw-ins. Because of this, goalkeepers are often injured during breakaways, corner kicks, and free kicks since they put their bodies on the line. Several famous goalkeepers have been injured in ways their counterparts could not possibly sustain. For example, Petr Čech received a head injury after colliding with another player during a 2006 game; a couple of months later he debuted wearing a rugby-style headpiece, a practice that he would continue to follow for the rest of his career. However, some goalkeepers manage to avoid injury and continue to play, many not retiring until their late 30s or early 40s. Notably, Peter Shilton played for 31 years between 1966 and 1997 before retiring at the age of 47.
In general, goalkeepers can sustain any injury to which their outfield counterparts are vulnerable. Common lower and upper extremity injuries include cartilage tears, anterior cruciate ligament tears, and knee sprains. On the other hand, goalkeepers rarely fall victim to fatigue-related injuries, such as leg cramps, pulled hamstrings, and dehydration. Shoulder injuries can be caused by heavy contact with the ground and can cause significant long-term injuries as loss of the range of motion can cause a complete inability to do their job. Vedran Janjetovic suffered such a contact injury playing in an A-League match on 25 January 2019 after diving to make a save. After playing nine games on painkilling injections he underwent experimental surgery that required a two-and-a-half-year recovery and caused him to miss two entire seasons.
Goalkeepers are crucial in penalty shoot-outs. The record for most penalties saved in a shoot-out is held solely by Ugandan, Denis Onyango. He saved five penalty shootout kicks to help his club, Mamelodi Sundowns edge Cape Town City 3–2 on penalties at the MTN 8 tournament in South Africa in October 2021.
The second spot is shared by Helmut Duckadam of Steaua București in the 1986 European Cup Final against Barcelona, and Ciarán Kelly for Sligo Rovers against Shamrock Rovers in the 2010 FAI Cup Final, both of whom saved all four penalties faced.
Ray Clemence holds the record for the most clean sheets in the history of football, with 460 in more than 1000 official matches.
Stefano Tacconi is the only goalkeeper to have won all official club competitions for which he was eligible. Goalkeeper Ned Doig, who spent most of his career with Sunderland, set a 19th-century world record by not conceding any goals in 87 of his 290 top-division appearances (30%).
Rogério Ceni has scored the most goals for a goalkeeper, having recorded 131 goals through free kicks and penalties across his 23-year career. Tony Read and José Luis Chilavert are the only goalkeepers to score a hat-trick (three goals in a game), with all three goals coming from penalty kicks.
Gianluigi Buffon is the only goalkeeper to have won the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year Award. Oliver Kahn holds the record for most UEFA Best Club Goalkeeper and Best European Goalkeeper Awards, with four. Iker Casillas holds the record for most appearances by a goalkeeper in the FIFPro World11 and in the UEFA Team of the Year, as well as most IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper Awards, alongside Buffon and Manuel Neuer, winning the award for five consecutive years between 2008 and 2012. Casillas held the record for the most clean sheets in UEFA Champions League history until being overtaken by Neuer on April 17, 2024. He also held the most number of appearances in the competition until Cristiano Ronaldo overtook him on September 30, 2021.
At the international level, Dino Zoff has remained unbeaten for the longest period, whilst Walter Zenga holds the record for the longest unbeaten run in a FIFA World Cup tournament at 517 minutes. Gianluigi Buffon, Fabien Barthez and Iker Casillas hold the record for the fewest goals conceded by a winning goalkeeper in a World Cup tournament at two each.[ citation needed] Buffon is the only World Cup–winning goalkeeper not to have conceded a goal in open play throughout the entire tournament, one goal having resulted from an own goal after a free kick, the other from a penalty.
[Fabien Barthez and Peter Shilton hold the record for most clean sheets in World Cup matches, with ten each. Mohamed Al-Deayea holds the record for most international caps by a male goalkeeper, with 178 official appearances for Saudi Arabia. Hope Solo of the United States holds the record for most international caps by a female goalkeeper, with 202 appearances.
*citation needed*]Pascal Zuberbühler holds the record for the fewest goals conceded by a goalkeeper in a World Cup tournament and also went a record five successive matches at an international tournament without conceding a goal. He did not concede a goal in 463 minutes of World Cup play against France, Korea, and Togo—making Switzerland the only team in the history of the tournament not to concede a goal in normal time.[ citation needed] Tim Howard holds the record for most saves made in a single FIFA World Cup match, with sixteen against Belgium in the round of 16 of the 2014 tournament. Oliver Kahn is the only goalkeeper to have won the Adidas Golden Ball for the best player of the tournament in a World Cup doing so in 2002. Lev Yashin is the only goalkeeper to have won the Ballon d'Or, given to the best player of the year. In 2021, Gianluigi Donnarumma became the first goalkeeper to win the player of the tournament award at UEFA Euro 2020. Gianluca Pagliuca of Italy became the first goalkeeper to be sent off in a World Cup finals match, dismissed for handling outside his area against Norway in 1994. His team went on to win 1–0 and reached the final before losing to Brazil in a penalty shoot-out (the first time a World Cup final was decided by penalties), in which Pagliuca became the first goalkeeper ever to stop a penalty in a World Cup Final shoot-out.
Iker Casillas holds both the record for the fewest goals conceded in a UEFA European Championship (only one in 2012), and the record for the longest unbeaten run at a European Championship, beating the previous record held by Dino Zoff. He also holds the record for most international clean sheets (102) by a male goalkeeper, beating the previous record held by Edwin van der Sar (72), and became the first goalkeeper in history, male or female, to keep 100 clean sheets at international level in 2015; he also shares with Hope Solo the overall men's and women's record for most international clean sheets. Buffon holds the record for most minutes without conceding a goal in European Championship qualifying matches at 644.
On 26 February 1983, Pat Jennings became the first player to make 1,000 senior appearances in English football. In the 1986 World Cup, held in Mexico, he was turning 41, making him the World Cup's oldest-ever participant at the time. In 1976, PFA awarded him the Players' Player of the Year award making him the first goalkeeper to ever receive this accolade.
Before the 21st century, goalkeepers generally commanded far lower transfer fees than outfield players; as of 1992 the highest transfer fee paid by a British club for an outfield player was £2.9 million but the record for a goalkeeper was less than half that figure at £1.3 million.
As of August 2023[update], the most expensive goalkeeper of all time is Kepa Arrizabalaga, following his 2018 €80 million (£71 million) transfer to Chelsea from Athletic Bilbao.
| Rank | Player | From | To | Fee (£) | Fee (€) | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kepa Arrizabalaga | Athletic Bilbao | Chelsea | £71m | €80m | 2018 |
| 2 | Alisson | Roma | Liverpool | £66.8m | €72.5m | 2018 |
| 3 | André Onana | Internazionale | Manchester United | £43.8m | €52.5m | 2023 |
| 4 | Gianluigi Buffon | Parma | Juventus | £33m | €51.646m | 2001 |
| 5 | Ederson | Benfica | Manchester City | £35m | €40m | 2017 |
| 6 | Thibaut Courtois | Chelsea | Real Madrid | £35m | €35m | 2018 |
| 7 | Jasper Cillessen | Barcelona | Valencia | £31.4m | €35m | 2019 |
| 8 | Jordan Pickford | Sunderland | Everton | £25m | 2017 | |
| 9 | Francesco Toldo | Fiorentina | Internazionale | €28.405m | 2001 | |
| 10 | Aaron Ramsdale | Sheffield United | Arsenal | £24m | €28m | 2021 |
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# Carl Linnaeus - Wikipedia
Carl Linnaeus | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Died | 10 January 1778 | (aged 70)
| Resting place | Uppsala Cathedral |
| Alma mater | |
| Known for | |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 7 |
| Awards | ForMemRS (1753); Golden Knight of the Order of the Polar Star |
Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Institutions | Uppsala University |
| Thesis | Dissertatio medica inauguralis in qua exhibetur hypothesis nova de febrium intermittentium causa (1735) |
| Notable students | |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | L. |
| Author abbrev. (zoology) | Linnaeus |
| Signature | |
**Carl Linnaeus** (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as **Carl von Linné**, was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organisms. He is known as the "father of modern taxonomy". Many of his writings were in Latin; his name is rendered in Latin as **Carolus Linnæus** and, after his 1761 ennoblement, as **Carolus a Linné**.
Linnaeus was the son of a curate and was born in Råshult, in the countryside of Småland, southern Sweden. He received most of his higher education at Uppsala University and began giving lectures in botany there in 1730. He lived abroad between 1735 and 1738, where he studied and also published the first edition of his * Systema Naturae* in the Netherlands. He then returned to Sweden where he became professor of medicine and botany at Uppsala. In the 1740s, he was sent on several journeys through Sweden to find and classify plants and animals. In the 1750s and 1760s, he continued to collect and classify animals, plants, and minerals, while publishing several volumes. By the time of his death in 1778, he was one of the most acclaimed scientists in Europe.
Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau sent him the message: "Tell him I know no greater man on Earth." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote: "With the exception of William Shakespeare and Baruch Spinoza, I know no one among the no longer living who has influenced me more strongly." Swedish author August Strindberg wrote: "Linnaeus was in reality a poet who happened to become a naturalist." Linnaeus has been called * Princeps botanicorum* (Prince of Botanists) and "The Pliny of the North". He is also considered one of the founders of modern ecology.
In botany, the abbreviation **L.** is used to indicate Linnaeus as the authority for a species' name. In zoology, the abbreviation **Linnaeus** is generally used; the abbreviations L., **Linnæus**, and **Linné** are also used. In older publications, the abbreviation "**Linn.**" is found. Linnaeus's remains constitute the type specimen for the species *Homo sapiens* following the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, since the sole specimen that he is known to have examined was himself.
## Early life
### Childhood
Linnaeus was born in the village of Råshult in Småland, Sweden, on 23 May 1707. He was the first child of Nicolaus (Nils) Ingemarsson (who later adopted the family name Linnaeus) and Christina Brodersonia. His siblings were Anna Maria Linnæa, Sofia Juliana Linnæa, Samuel Linnæus (who would eventually succeed their father as rector of Stenbrohult and write a manual on beekeeping), and Emerentia Linnæa. His father taught him Latin as a small child.
One of a long line of peasants and priests, Nils was an amateur botanist, a Lutheran minister, and the curate of the small village of Stenbrohult in Småland. Christina was the daughter of the rector of Stenbrohult, Samuel Brodersonius.
A year after Linnaeus's birth, his grandfather Samuel Brodersonius died, and his father Nils became the rector of Stenbrohult. The family moved into the rectory from the curate's house.
Even in his early years, Linnaeus seemed to have a liking for plants, flowers in particular. Whenever he was upset, he was given a flower, which immediately calmed him. Nils spent much time in his garden and often showed flowers to Linnaeus and told him their names. Soon Linnaeus was given his own patch of earth where he could grow plants.
Carl's father was the first in his ancestry to adopt a permanent surname. Before that, ancestors had used the patronymic naming system of Scandinavian countries: his father was named Ingemarsson after his father Ingemar Bengtsson. When Nils was admitted to the Lund University, he had to take on a family name. He adopted the Latinate name Linnæus after a giant linden tree (or lime tree), * lind* in Swedish, that grew on the family homestead. This name was spelled with the æ ligature. When Carl was born, he was named Carl Linnæus, with his father's family name. The son also always spelled it with the æ ligature, both in handwritten documents and in publications. Carl's patronymic would have been Nilsson, as in Carl Nilsson Linnæus.
### Early education
Linnaeus's father began teaching him basic Latin, religion, and geography at an early age. When Linnaeus was seven, Nils decided to hire a tutor for him. The parents picked Johan Telander, a son of a local yeoman. Linnaeus did not like him, writing in his autobiography that Telander "was better calculated to extinguish a child's talents than develop them".
Two years after his tutoring had begun, he was sent to the Lower Grammar School at Växjö in 1717. Linnaeus rarely studied, often going to the countryside to look for plants. At some point, his father went to visit him and, after hearing critical assessments by his preceptors, he decided to put the youth as an apprentice to some honest cobbler. He reached the last year of the Lower School when he was fifteen, which was taught by the headmaster, Daniel Lannerus, who was interested in botany. Lannerus noticed Linnaeus's interest in botany and gave him the run of his garden.
He also introduced him to Johan Rothman, the state doctor of Småland and a teacher at Katedralskolan (a gymnasium) in Växjö. Also a botanist, Rothman broadened Linnaeus's interest in botany and helped him develop an interest in medicine. By the age of 17, Linnaeus had become well acquainted with the existing botanical literature. He remarks in his journal that he "read day and night, knowing like the back of my hand, Arvidh Månsson's *Rydaholm Book of Herbs*, Tillandz's *Flora Åboensis*, Palmberg's *Serta Florea Suecana*, Bromelii's *Chloros Gothica* and Rudbeckii's *Hortus Upsaliensis*".
Linnaeus entered the Växjö Katedralskola in 1724, where he studied mainly Greek, Hebrew, theology, and mathematics, a curriculum designed for boys preparing for the priesthood. In the last year at the gymnasium, Linnaeus's father visited to ask the professors how his son's studies were progressing; to his dismay, most said that the boy would never become a scholar. Rothman believed otherwise, suggesting Linnaeus could have a future in medicine. The doctor offered to have Linnaeus live with his family in Växjö and to teach him physiology and botany. Nils accepted this offer.
## University studies
### Lund
Rothman showed Linnaeus that botany was a serious subject. He taught Linnaeus to classify plants according to Tournefort's system. Linnaeus was also taught about the sexual reproduction of plants, according to Sébastien Vaillant. In 1727, Linnaeus, age 21, enrolled in Lund University in Skåne. He was registered as *Carolus Linnæus*, the Latin form of his full name, which he also used later for his Latin publications.
Professor Kilian Stobæus, natural scientist, physician and historian, offered Linnaeus tutoring and lodging, as well as the use of his library, which included many books about botany. He also gave the student free admission to his lectures. In his spare time, Linnaeus explored the flora of Skåne, together with students sharing the same interests.
### Uppsala
In August 1728, Linnaeus decided to attend Uppsala University on the advice of Rothman, who believed it would be a better choice if Linnaeus wanted to study both medicine and botany. Rothman based this recommendation on the two professors who taught at the medical faculty at Uppsala: Olof Rudbeck the Younger and Lars Roberg. Although Rudbeck and Roberg had undoubtedly been good professors, by then they were older and not so interested in teaching. Rudbeck no longer gave public lectures, and had others stand in for him. The botany, zoology, pharmacology and anatomy lectures were not in their best state. In Uppsala, Linnaeus met a new benefactor, Olof Celsius, who was a professor of theology and an amateur botanist. He received Linnaeus into his home and allowed him use of his library, which was one of the richest botanical libraries in Sweden.
In 1729, Linnaeus wrote a thesis, * Praeludia Sponsaliorum Plantarum* on plant sexual reproduction. This attracted the attention of Rudbeck; in May 1730, he selected Linnaeus to give lectures at the University although the young man was only a second-year student. His lectures were popular, and Linnaeus often addressed an audience of 300 people. In June, Linnaeus moved from Celsius's house to Rudbeck's to become the tutor of the three youngest of his 24 children. His friendship with Celsius did not wane and they continued their botanical expeditions. Over that winter, Linnaeus began to doubt Tournefort's system of classification and decided to create one of his own. His plan was to divide the plants by the number of stamens and pistils. He began writing several books, which would later result in, for example,
*and*
*Genera Plantarum**. He also produced a book on the plants grown in the Uppsala Botanical Garden,*
*Critica Botanica**.*
*Adonis Uplandicus*Rudbeck's former assistant, Nils Rosén, returned to the University in March 1731 with a degree in medicine. Rosén started giving anatomy lectures and tried to take over Linnaeus's botany lectures, but Rudbeck prevented that. Until December, Rosén tutored Linnaeus privately in medicine. In December, Linnaeus had a "disagreement" with Rudbeck's wife and had to move out of his mentor's house; his relationship with Rudbeck did not appear to suffer. That Christmas, Linnaeus returned home to Stenbrohult to visit his parents for the first time in about three years. His mother had disapproved of his failing to become a priest, but she was pleased to learn he was teaching at the University.
## Expedition to Lapland
During a visit with his parents, Linnaeus told them about his plan to travel to Lapland; Rudbeck had made the journey in 1695, but the detailed results of his exploration were lost in a fire seven years afterwards. Linnaeus's hope was to find new plants, animals and possibly valuable minerals. He was also curious about the customs of the native Sami people, reindeer-herding nomads who wandered Scandinavia's vast tundras. In April 1732, Linnaeus was awarded a grant from the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala for his journey.
Linnaeus began his expedition from Uppsala on 12 May 1732, just before he turned 25. He travelled on foot and horse, bringing with him his journal, botanical and ornithological manuscripts and sheets of paper for pressing plants. Near Gävle he found great quantities of *Campanula serpyllifolia*, later known as *Linnaea borealis*, the twinflower that would become his favourite. He sometimes dismounted on the way to examine a flower or rock and was particularly interested in mosses and lichens, the latter a main part of the diet of the reindeer, a common and economically important animal in Lapland.
Linnaeus travelled clockwise around the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, making major inland incursions from Umeå, Luleå and Tornio. He returned from his six-month-long, over 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) expedition in October, having gathered and observed many plants, birds and rocks. Although Lapland was a region with limited biodiversity, Linnaeus described about 100 previously unidentified plants. These became the basis of his book * Flora Lapponica*. However, on the expedition to Lapland, Linnaeus used Latin names to describe organisms because he had not yet developed the binomial system.
In * Flora Lapponica* Linnaeus's ideas about nomenclature and classification were first used in a practical way, making this the first proto-modern Flora. The account covered 534 species, used the Linnaean classification system and included, for the described species, geographical distribution and taxonomic notes. It was Augustin Pyramus de Candolle who attributed Linnaeus with
*as the first example in the botanical genre of Flora writing. Botanical historian E. L. Greene described*
*Flora Lapponica**as "the most classic and delightful" of Linnaeus's works.*
*Flora Lapponica*It was during this expedition that Linnaeus had a flash of insight regarding the classification of mammals. Upon observing the lower jawbone of a horse at the side of a road he was travelling, Linnaeus remarked: "If I only knew how many teeth and of what kind every animal had, how many teats and where they were placed, I should perhaps be able to work out a perfectly natural system for the arrangement of all quadrupeds."
In 1734, Linnaeus led a small group of students to Dalarna. Funded by the Governor of Dalarna, the expedition was to catalogue known natural resources and discover new ones, but also to gather intelligence on Norwegian mining activities at Røros.
### Doctorate
His relations with Nils Rosén having worsened, Linnaeus accepted an invitation from Claes Sohlberg, son of a mining inspector, to spend the Christmas holiday in Falun, where Linnaeus was permitted to visit the mines.
In April 1735, at the suggestion of Sohlberg's father, Linnaeus and Sohlberg set out for the Dutch Republic, where Linnaeus intended to study medicine at the University of Harderwijk while tutoring Sohlberg in exchange for an annual salary. At the time, it was common for Swedes to pursue doctoral degrees in the Netherlands, then a highly revered place to study natural history.
On the way, the pair stopped in Hamburg, where they met the mayor, who proudly showed them a supposed wonder of nature in his possession: the taxidermied remains of a seven-headed hydra. Linnaeus quickly discovered the specimen was a fake, cobbled together from the jaws and paws of weasels and the skins of snakes. The provenance of the hydra suggested to Linnaeus that it had been manufactured by monks to represent the Beast of Revelation. Even at the risk of incurring the mayor's wrath, Linnaeus made his observations public, dashing the mayor's dreams of selling the hydra for an enormous sum. Linnaeus and Sohlberg were forced to flee from Hamburg.
Linnaeus began working towards his degree as soon as he reached Harderwijk, a university known for awarding degrees in as little as a week. He submitted a dissertation, written back in Sweden, entitled *Dissertatio medica inauguralis in qua exhibetur hypothesis nova de febrium intermittentium causa*, in which he laid out his hypothesis that malaria arose only in areas with clay-rich soils. Although he failed to identify the true source of disease transmission, (i.e., the *Anopheles* mosquito), he did correctly predict that *Artemisia annua* (wormwood) would become a source of antimalarial medications.
Within two weeks he had completed his oral and practical examinations and was awarded a doctoral degree.
That summer Linnaeus reunited with Peter Artedi, a friend from Uppsala with whom he had once made a pact that should either of the two predecease the other, the survivor would finish the decedent's work. Ten weeks later, Artedi drowned in the canals of Amsterdam, leaving behind an unfinished manuscript on the classification of fish.
### Publishing of *Systema Naturae*
*Systema Naturae*
One of the first scientists Linnaeus met in the Netherlands was Johan Frederik Gronovius, to whom Linnaeus showed one of the several manuscripts he had brought with him from Sweden. The manuscript described a new system for classifying plants. When Gronovius saw it, he was very impressed, and offered to help pay for the printing. With an additional monetary contribution by the Scottish doctor Isaac Lawson, the manuscript was published as * Systema Naturae* (1735).
Linnaeus became acquainted with one of the most respected physicians and botanists in the Netherlands, Herman Boerhaave, who tried to convince Linnaeus to make a career there. Boerhaave offered him a journey to South Africa and America, but Linnaeus declined, stating he would not stand the heat. Instead, Boerhaave convinced Linnaeus that he should visit the botanist Johannes Burman. After his visit, Burman, impressed with his guest's knowledge, decided Linnaeus should stay with him during the winter. During his stay, Linnaeus helped Burman with his * Thesaurus Zeylanicus*. Burman also helped Linnaeus with the books on which he was working:
*and*
*Fundamenta Botanica**.*
*Bibliotheca Botanica*In August 1735, during Linnaeus's stay with Burman, he met George Clifford III, a director of the Dutch East India Company and the owner of a rich botanical garden at the estate of Hartekamp in Heemstede. Clifford was very impressed with Linnaeus's ability to classify plants, and invited him to become his physician and superintendent of his garden. Linnaeus had already agreed to stay with Burman over the winter, and could thus not accept immediately. However, Clifford offered to compensate Burman by offering him a copy of Sir Hans Sloane's *Natural History of Jamaica*, a rare book, if he let Linnaeus stay with him, and Burman accepted. On 24 September 1735, Linnaeus moved to Hartekamp to become personal physician to Clifford, and curator of Clifford's herbarium. He was paid 1,000 florins a year, with free board and lodging. Though the agreement was only for a winter of that year, Linnaeus practically stayed there until 1738. It was here that he wrote a book *Hortus Cliffortianus*, in the preface of which he described his experience as "the happiest time of my life". (A portion of Hartekamp was declared as public garden in April 1956 by the Heemstede local authority, and was named "Linnaeushof". It eventually became, as it is claimed, the biggest playground in Europe.)
In July 1736, Linnaeus travelled to England, at Clifford's expense. He went to London to visit Sir Hans Sloane, a collector of natural history, and to see his cabinet, as well as to visit the Chelsea Physic Garden and its keeper, Philip Miller. He taught Miller about his new system of subdividing plants, as described in * Systema Naturae*. At first, Miller was reluctant to use the new binomial nomenclature, preferring instead the classifications of Joseph Pitton de Tournefort and John Ray. Nevertheless, Linnaeus applauded Miller's
*Gardeners Dictionary*. The conservative Miller actually retained in his dictionary a number of pre-Linnaean binomial signifiers discarded by Linnaeus but which have been retained by modern botanists. He only fully changed to the Linnaean system in the edition of
*The Gardeners Dictionary*of 1768. Miller ultimately was impressed, and from then on started to arrange the garden according to Linnaeus's system.
Linnaeus also travelled to Oxford University to visit the botanist Johann Jacob Dillenius. He failed to make Dillenius publicly fully accept his new classification system, though the two men remained in correspondence for many years afterwards. Linnaeus dedicated his *Critica Botanica* to him, as "*opus botanicum quo absolutius mundus non-vidit*". Linnaeus would later name a genus of tropical tree Dillenia in his honour. He then returned to Hartekamp, bringing with him many specimens of rare plants. The next year, 1737, he published * Genera Plantarum*, in which he described 935 genera of plants, and shortly thereafter he supplemented it with
*, with another sixty (*
*Corollarium Generum Plantarum**sexaginta*) genera.
His work at Hartekamp led to another book, * Hortus Cliffortianus*, a catalogue of the botanical holdings in the herbarium and botanical garden of Hartekamp. He wrote it in nine months (completed in July 1737), but it was not published until 1738. It contains the first use of the name
*Nepenthes*, which Linnaeus used to describe a genus of pitcher plants.
Linnaeus stayed with Clifford at Hartekamp until 18 October 1737 (new style), when he left the house to return to Sweden. Illness and the kindness of Dutch friends obliged him to stay some months longer in Holland. In May 1738, he set out for Sweden again. On the way home, he stayed in Paris for about a month, visiting botanists such as Antoine de Jussieu. After his return, Linnaeus never again left Sweden.
## Return to Sweden
When Linnaeus returned to Sweden on 28 June 1738, he went to Falun, where he entered into an engagement to Sara Elisabeth Moræa. Three months later, he moved to Stockholm to find employment as a physician, and thus to make it possible to support a family. Once again, Linnaeus found a patron; he became acquainted with Count Carl Gustav Tessin, who helped him get work as a physician at the Admiralty. During this time in Stockholm, Linnaeus helped found the Royal Swedish Academy of Science; he became the first Praeses of the academy by drawing of lots.
Because his finances had improved and were now sufficient to support a family, he received permission to marry his fiancée, Sara Elisabeth Moræa. Their wedding was held 26 June 1739. Seventeen months later, Sara gave birth to their first son, Carl. Two years later, a daughter, Elisabeth Christina, was born, and the subsequent year Sara gave birth to Sara Magdalena, who died when 15 days old. Sara and Linnaeus would later have four other children: Lovisa, Sara Christina, Johannes and Sophia.
In May 1741, Linnaeus was appointed Professor of Medicine at Uppsala University, first with responsibility for medicine-related matters. Soon, he changed place with the other Professor of Medicine, Nils Rosén, and thus was responsible for the Botanical Garden (which he would thoroughly reconstruct and expand), botany and natural history, instead. In October that same year, his wife and nine-month-old son followed him to live in Uppsala.
Ten days after he was appointed professor, he undertook an expedition to the island provinces of Öland and Gotland with six students from the university to look for plants useful in medicine. They stayed on Öland until 21 June, then sailed to Visby in Gotland. Linnaeus and the students stayed on Gotland for about a month, and then returned to Uppsala. During this expedition, they found 100 previously unrecorded plants. The observations from the expedition were later published in * Öländska och Gothländska Resa*, written in Swedish. Like
*, it contained both zoological and botanical observations, as well as observations concerning the culture in Öland and Gotland.*
*Flora Lapponica*During the summer of 1745, Linnaeus published two more books: * Flora Suecica* and
*.*
*Fauna Suecica**was a strictly botanical book, while*
*Flora Suecica**was zoological. Anders Celsius had created the temperature scale named after him in 1742. Celsius's scale was originally inverted compared to the way it is used today, with water boiling at 0 °C and freezing at 100 °C. Linnaeus was the one who inverted the scale to its present usage, in 1745.*
*Fauna Suecica*In the summer of 1746, Linnaeus was once again commissioned by the Government to carry out an expedition, this time to the Swedish province of Västergötland. He set out from Uppsala on 12 June and returned on 11 August. On the expedition his primary companion was Erik Gustaf Lidbeck, a student who had accompanied him on his previous journey. Linnaeus described his findings from the expedition in the book * Wästgöta-Resa*, published the next year. After he returned from the journey, the Government decided Linnaeus should take on another expedition to the southernmost province Scania. This journey was postponed, as Linnaeus felt too busy.
In 1747, Linnaeus was given the title archiater, or chief physician, by the Swedish king Adolf Frederick—a mark of great respect. The same year he was elected member of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin.
### Scania
In the spring of 1749, Linnaeus could finally journey to Scania, again commissioned by the government. With him he brought his student Olof Söderberg. On the way to Scania, he made his last visit to his brothers and sisters in Stenbrohult since his father had died the previous year. The expedition was similar to the previous journeys in most aspects, but this time he was also ordered to find the best place to grow walnut and Swedish whitebeam trees; these trees were used by the military to make rifles. While there, they also visited the Ramlösa mineral spa, where he remarked on the quality of its ferruginous water. The journey was successful, and Linnaeus's observations were published the next year in * Skånska Resa*.
### Rector of Uppsala University
In 1750, Linnaeus became rector of Uppsala University, starting a period where natural sciences were esteemed. Perhaps the most important contribution he made during his time at Uppsala was to teach; many of his students travelled to various places in the world to collect botanical samples. Linnaeus called the best of these students his "apostles". His lectures were normally very popular and were often held in the Botanical Garden. He tried to teach the students to think for themselves and not trust anybody, not even him. Even more popular than the lectures were the botanical excursions made every Saturday during summer, where Linnaeus and his students explored the flora and fauna in the vicinity of Uppsala.
*Philosophia Botanica*
Linnaeus published *Philosophia Botanica* in 1751. The book contained a complete survey of the taxonomy system he had been using in his earlier works. It also contained information of how to keep a journal on travels and how to maintain a botanical garden.
*Nutrix Noverca*
During Linnaeus's time it was normal for upper class women to have wet nurses for their babies. Linnaeus joined an ongoing campaign to end this practice in Sweden and promote breast-feeding by mothers. In 1752 Linnaeus published a thesis along with Frederick Lindberg, a physician student, based on their experiences. In the tradition of the period, this dissertation was essentially an idea of the presiding reviewer (*prases*) expounded upon by the student. Linnaeus's dissertation was translated into French by J. E. Gilibert in 1770 as *La Nourrice marâtre, ou Dissertation sur les suites funestes du nourrisage mercénaire*. Linnaeus suggested that children might absorb the personality of their wet nurse through the milk. He admired the child care practices of the Lapps and pointed out how healthy their babies were compared to those of Europeans who employed wet nurses. He compared the behaviour of wild animals and pointed out how none of them denied their newborns their breastmilk. It is thought that his activism played a role in his choice of the term *Mammalia* for the class of organisms.
*Species Plantarum*
Linnaeus published *Species Plantarum*, the work which is now internationally accepted as the starting point of modern botanical nomenclature, in 1753. The first volume was issued on 24 May, the second volume followed on 16 August of the same year. The book contained 1,200 pages and was published in two volumes; it described over 7,300 species. The same year the king dubbed him knight of the Order of the Polar Star, the first civilian in Sweden to become a knight in this order. He was then seldom seen not wearing the order's insignia.
### Ennoblement
Linnaeus felt Uppsala was too noisy and unhealthy, so he bought two farms in 1758: Hammarby and Sävja. The next year, he bought a neighbouring farm, Edeby. He spent the summers with his family at Hammarby; initially it only had a small one-storey house, but in 1762 a new, larger main building was added. In Hammarby, Linnaeus made a garden where he could grow plants that could not be grown in the Botanical Garden in Uppsala. He began constructing a museum on a hill behind Hammarby in 1766, where he moved his library and collection of plants. A fire that destroyed about one third of Uppsala and had threatened his residence there necessitated the move.
Since the initial release of * Systema Naturae* in 1735, the book had been expanded and reprinted several times; the tenth edition was released in 1758. This edition established itself as the starting point for zoological nomenclature, the equivalent of
*.*
*Species Plantarum*The Swedish King Adolf Frederick granted Linnaeus nobility in 1757, but he was not ennobled until 1761. With his ennoblement, he took the name Carl von Linné (Latinised as Carolus a Linné), 'Linné' being a shortened and gallicised version of 'Linnæus', and the German nobiliary particle 'von' signifying his ennoblement. The noble family's coat of arms prominently features a twinflower, one of Linnaeus's favourite plants; it was given the scientific name *Linnaea borealis* in his honour by Gronovius. The shield in the coat of arms is divided into thirds: red, black and green for the three kingdoms of nature (animal, mineral and vegetable) in Linnaean classification; in the centre is an egg "to denote Nature, which is continued and perpetuated *in ovo*". At the bottom is a phrase in Latin, borrowed from the Aeneid, which reads "*Famam extendere factis*": we extend our fame by our deeds. Linnaeus inscribed this personal motto in books that were given to him by friends.
After his ennoblement, Linnaeus continued teaching and writing. In total, he presided at 186 PhD ceremonies, with many of the dissertations written by himself. His reputation had spread over the world, and he corresponded with many different people. For example, Catherine II of Russia sent him seeds from her country. He also corresponded with Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, "the Linnaeus of the Austrian Empire", who was a doctor and a botanist in Idrija, Duchy of Carniola (nowadays Slovenia). Scopoli communicated all of his research, findings, and descriptions (for example of the olm and the dormouse, two little animals hitherto unknown to Linnaeus). Linnaeus greatly respected Scopoli and showed great interest in his work. He named a solanaceous genus, *Scopolia*, the source of scopolamine, after him, but because of the great distance between them, they never met.
## Final years
Linnaeus was relieved of his duties in the Royal Swedish Academy of Science in 1763, but continued his work there as usual for more than ten years after. In 1769 he was elected to the American Philosophical Society for his work. He stepped down as rector at Uppsala University in December 1772, mostly due to his declining health.
Linnaeus's last years were troubled by illness. He had had a disease called the Uppsala fever in 1764, but survived due to the care of Rosén. He developed sciatica in 1773, and the next year, he had a stroke which partially paralysed him. He had a second stroke in 1776, losing the use of his right side and leaving him bereft of his memory; while still able to admire his own writings, he could not recognise himself as their author.
In December 1777, he had another stroke which greatly weakened him, and eventually led to his death on 10 January 1778 in Hammarby. Despite his desire to be buried in Hammarby, he was buried in Uppsala Cathedral on 22 January.
His library and collections were left to his widow Sara and their children. Joseph Banks, an eminent botanist, wished to purchase the collection, but his son Carl refused the offer and instead moved the collection to Uppsala. In 1783 Carl died and Sara inherited the collection, having outlived both her husband and son. She tried to sell it to Banks, but he was no longer interested; instead an acquaintance of his agreed to buy the collection. The acquaintance was a 24-year-old medical student, James Edward Smith, who bought the whole collection: 14,000 plants, 3,198 insects, 1,564 shells, about 3,000 letters and 1,600 books. Smith founded the Linnean Society of London five years later.
The von Linné name ended with his son Carl, who never married. His other son, Johannes, had died aged 3. There are over two hundred descendants of Linnaeus through two of his daughters.
## Apostles
During Linnaeus's time as Professor and Rector of Uppsala University, he taught many devoted students, 17 of whom he called "apostles". They were the most promising, most committed students, and all of them made botanical expeditions to various places in the world, often with his help. The amount of this help varied; sometimes he used his influence as Rector to grant his apostles a scholarship or a place on an expedition. To most of the apostles he gave instructions of what to look for on their journeys. Abroad, the apostles collected and organised new plants, animals and minerals according to Linnaeus's system. Most of them also gave some of their collection to Linnaeus when their journey was finished. Thanks to these students, the Linnaean system of taxonomy spread through the world without Linnaeus ever having to travel outside Sweden after his return from Holland. The British botanist William T. Stearn notes, without Linnaeus's new system, it would not have been possible for the apostles to collect and organise so many new specimens. Many of the apostles died during their expeditions.
### Early expeditions
Christopher Tärnström, the first apostle and a 43-year-old pastor with a wife and children, made his journey in 1746. He boarded a Swedish East India Company ship headed for China. Tärnström never reached his destination, dying of a tropical fever on Côn Sơn Island the same year. Tärnström's widow blamed Linnaeus for making her children fatherless, causing Linnaeus to prefer sending out younger, unmarried students after Tärnström. Six other apostles later died on their expeditions, including Pehr Forsskål and Pehr Löfling.
Two years after Tärnström's expedition, Finnish-born Pehr Kalm set out as the second apostle to North America. There he spent two-and-a-half years studying the flora and fauna of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Canada. Linnaeus was overjoyed when Kalm returned, bringing back with him many pressed flowers and seeds. At least 90 of the 700 North American species described in *Species Plantarum* had been brought back by Kalm.
### Cook expeditions and Japan
Daniel Solander was living in Linnaeus's house during his time as a student in Uppsala. Linnaeus was very fond of him, promising Solander his eldest daughter's hand in marriage. On Linnaeus's recommendation, Solander travelled to England in 1760, where he met the English botanist Joseph Banks. With Banks, Solander joined James Cook on his expedition to Oceania on the *Endeavour* in 1768–71. Solander was not the only apostle to journey with James Cook; Anders Sparrman followed on the *Resolution* in 1772–75 bound for, among other places, Oceania and South America. Sparrman made many other expeditions, one of them to South Africa.
Perhaps the most famous and successful apostle was Carl Peter Thunberg, who embarked on a nine-year expedition in 1770. He stayed in South Africa for three years, then travelled to Japan. All foreigners in Japan were forced to stay on the island of Dejima outside Nagasaki, so it was thus hard for Thunberg to study the flora. He did, however, manage to persuade some of the translators to bring him different plants, and he also found plants in the gardens of Dejima. He returned to Sweden in 1779, one year after Linnaeus's death.
## Major publications
*Systema Naturae*
The first edition of * Systema Naturae* was printed in the Netherlands in 1735. It was a twelve-page work. By the time it reached its 10th edition in 1758, it classified 4,400 species of animals and 7,700 species of plants. People from all over the world sent their specimens to Linnaeus to be included. By the time he started work on the 12th edition, Linnaeus needed a new invention—the index card—to track classifications.
In *Systema Naturae*, the unwieldy names mostly used at the time, such as "* Physalis annua ramosissima, ramis angulosis glabris, foliis dentato-serratis*", were supplemented with concise and now familiar "binomials", composed of the generic name, followed by a specific epithet—in the case given,
*Physalis angulata*. These binomials could serve as a label to refer to the species. Higher taxa were constructed and arranged in a simple and orderly manner. Although the system, now known as binomial nomenclature, was partially developed by the Bauhin brothers (see Gaspard Bauhin and Johann Bauhin) almost 200 years earlier, Linnaeus was the first to use it consistently throughout the work, including in monospecific genera, and may be said to have popularised it within the scientific community.
After the decline in Linnaeus's health in the early 1770s, publication of editions of *Systema Naturae* went in two different directions. Another Swedish scientist, Johan Andreas Murray, issued the *Regnum Vegetabile* section separately in 1774 as the *Systema Vegetabilium*, rather confusingly labelled the 13th edition. Meanwhile, a 13th edition of the entire *Systema* appeared in parts between 1788 and 1793 under the editorship of Johann Friedrich Gmelin. It was through the *Systema Vegetabilium* that Linnaeus's work became widely known in England, following its translation from the Latin by the Lichfield Botanical Society as *A System of Vegetables* (1783–1785).
*Orbis eruditi judicium de Caroli Linnaei MD scriptis*
('Opinion of the learned world on the writings of Carl Linnaeus, Doctor') Published in 1740, this small octavo-sized pamphlet was presented to the State Library of New South Wales by the Linnean Society of NSW in 2018. This is considered among the rarest of all the writings of Linnaeus, and crucial to his career, securing him his appointment to a professorship of medicine at Uppsala University. From this position he laid the groundwork for his radical new theory of classifying and naming organisms for which he was considered the founder of modern taxonomy.
*Species Plantarum*
*Species Plantarum*
* Species Plantarum* (or, more fully,
*) was first published in 1753, as a two-volume work. Its prime importance is perhaps that it is the primary starting point of plant nomenclature as it exists today.*
*Species Plantarum, exhibentes plantas rite cognitas, ad genera relatas, cum differentiis specificis, nominibus trivialibus, synonymis selectis, locis natalibus, secundum systema sexuale digestas**Genera Plantarum*
*Genera Plantarum*
* Genera plantarum: eorumque characteres naturales secundum numerum, figuram, situm, et proportionem omnium fructificationis partium* was first published in 1737, delineating plant genera. Around 10 editions were published, not all of them by Linnaeus himself; the most important is the 1754 fifth edition. In it Linnaeus divided the plant Kingdom into 24 classes. One, Cryptogamia, included all the plants with concealed reproductive parts (algae, fungi, mosses and liverworts and ferns).
*Philosophia Botanica*
*Philosophia Botanica*
* Philosophia Botanica* (1751) was a summary of Linnaeus's thinking on plant classification and nomenclature, and an elaboration of the work he had previously published in
*(1736) and*
*Fundamenta Botanica**(1737). Other publications forming part of his plan to reform the foundations of botany include his*
*Critica Botanica**and*
*Classes Plantarum**: all were printed in Holland (as were*
*Bibliotheca Botanica**(1737) and*
*Genera Plantarum**(1735)), the*
*Systema Naturae**Philosophia*being simultaneously released in Stockholm.
## Collections
At the end of his lifetime the Linnean collection in Uppsala was considered one of the finest collections of natural history objects in Sweden. Next to his own collection he had also built up a museum for the university of Uppsala, which was supplied by material donated by Carl Gyllenborg (in 1744–1745), crown-prince Adolf Fredrik (in 1745), Erik Petreus (in 1746), Claes Grill (in 1746), Magnus Lagerström (in 1748 and 1750) and Jonas Alströmer (in 1749). The relation between the museum and the private collection was not formalised and the steady flow of material from Linnean pupils were incorporated to the private collection rather than to the museum. Linnaeus felt his work was reflecting the harmony of nature and he said in 1754 "the earth is then nothing else but a museum of the all-wise creator's masterpieces, divided into three chambers". He had turned his own estate into a microcosm of that 'world museum'.
In April 1766 parts of the town were destroyed by a fire and the Linnean private collection was subsequently moved to a barn outside the town, and shortly afterwards to a single-room stone building close to his country house at Hammarby near Uppsala. This resulted in a physical separation between the two collections; the museum collection remained in the botanical garden of the university. Some material which needed special care (alcohol specimens) or ample storage space was moved from the private collection to the museum.
In Hammarby the Linnean private collections suffered seriously from damp and the depredations by mice and insects. Carl von Linné's son (Carl Linnaeus) inherited the collections in 1778 and retained them until his own death in 1783. Shortly after Carl von Linné's death his son confirmed that mice had caused "horrible damage" to the plants and that also moths and mould had caused considerable damage. He tried to rescue them from the neglect they had suffered during his father's later years, and also added further specimens. This last activity however reduced rather than augmented the scientific value of the original material.
In 1784 the young medical student James Edward Smith purchased the entire specimen collection, library, manuscripts, and correspondence of Carl Linnaeus from his widow and daughter and transferred the collections to London. Not all material in Linné's private collection was transported to England. Thirty-three fish specimens preserved in alcohol were not sent and were later lost.
In London Smith tended to neglect the zoological parts of the collection; he added some specimens and also gave some specimens away. Over the following centuries the Linnean collection in London suffered enormously at the hands of scientists who studied the collection, and in the process disturbed the original arrangement and labels, added specimens that did not belong to the original series and withdrew precious original type material.
Much material which had been intensively studied by Linné in his scientific career belonged to the collection of Queen Lovisa Ulrika (1720–1782) (in the Linnean publications referred to as "Museum Ludovicae Ulricae" or "M. L. U."). This collection was donated by her grandson King Gustav IV Adolf (1778–1837) to the museum in Uppsala in 1804. Another important collection in this respect was that of her husband King Adolf Fredrik (1710–1771) (in the Linnean sources known as "Museum Adolphi Friderici" or "Mus. Ad. Fr."), the wet parts (alcohol collection) of which were later donated to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and is today housed in the Swedish Museum of Natural History at Stockholm. The dry material was transferred to Uppsala.
## System of taxonomy
The establishment of universally accepted conventions for the naming of organisms was Linnaeus's main contribution to taxonomy—his work marks the starting point of consistent use of binomial nomenclature. During the 18th century expansion of natural history knowledge, Linnaeus also developed what became known as the *Linnaean taxonomy*; the system of scientific classification now widely used in the biological sciences. A previous zoologist Rumphius (1627–1702) had more or less approximated the Linnaean system and his material contributed to the later development of the binomial scientific classification by Linnaeus.
The Linnaean system classified nature within a nested hierarchy, starting with three kingdoms. Kingdoms were divided into classes and they, in turn, into orders, and thence into genera (*singular:* genus), which were divided into species (*singular:* species). Below the rank of species he sometimes recognised taxa of a lower (unnamed) rank; these have since acquired standardised names such as *variety* in botany and *subspecies* in zoology. Modern taxonomy includes a rank of family between order and genus and a rank of phylum between kingdom and class that were not present in Linnaeus's original system.
Linnaeus's groupings were based upon shared physical characteristics, and not based upon differences. Of his higher groupings, only those for animals are still in use, and the groupings themselves have been significantly changed since their conception, as have the principles behind them. Nevertheless, Linnaeus is credited with establishing the idea of a hierarchical structure of classification which is based upon observable characteristics and intended to reflect natural relationships. While the underlying details concerning what are considered to be scientifically valid "observable characteristics" have changed with expanding knowledge (for example, DNA sequencing, unavailable in Linnaeus's time, has proven to be a tool of considerable utility for classifying living organisms and establishing their evolutionary relationships), the fundamental principle remains sound.
### Human taxonomy
Linnaeus's system of taxonomy was especially noted as the first to include humans (*Homo*) taxonomically grouped with apes (*Simia*), under the header of *Anthropomorpha*.
German biologist Ernst Haeckel speaking in 1907 noted this as the "most important sign of Linnaeus's genius".
primates beginning with the first edition of * Systema Naturae*. During his time at Hartekamp, he had the opportunity to examine several monkeys and noted similarities between them and man. He pointed out both species basically have the same anatomy; except for speech, he found no other differences. Thus he placed man and monkeys under the same category,
*Anthropomorpha*, meaning "manlike". This classification received criticism from other biologists such as Johan Gottschalk Wallerius, Jacob Theodor Klein and Johann Georg Gmelin on the ground that it is illogical to describe man as human-like. In a letter to Gmelin from 1747, Linnaeus replied:
It does not please [you] that I've placed Man among the Anthropomorpha, perhaps because of the term 'with human form', but man learns to know himself. Let's not quibble over words. It will be the same to me whatever name we apply. But I seek from you and from the whole world a generic difference between man and simian that [follows] from the principles of Natural History. I absolutely know of none. If only someone might tell me a single one! If I would have called man a simian or vice versa, I would have brought together all the theologians against me. Perhaps I ought to have by virtue of the law of the discipline.
The theological concerns were twofold: first, putting man at the same level as monkeys or apes would lower the spiritually higher position that man was assumed to have in the great chain of being, and second, because the Bible says man was created in the image of God (theomorphism), if monkeys/apes and humans were not distinctly and separately designed, that would mean monkeys and apes were created in the image of God as well. This was something many could not accept. The conflict between world views that was caused by asserting man was a type of animal would simmer for a century until the much greater, and still ongoing, creation–evolution controversy began in earnest with the publication of *On the Origin of Species* by Charles Darwin in 1859.
After such criticism, Linnaeus felt he needed to explain himself more clearly. The 10th edition of * Systema Naturae* introduced new terms, including
*Mammalia*and
*Primates*, the latter of which would replace
*Anthropomorpha*as well as giving humans the full binomial
*Homo sapiens*. The new classification received less criticism, but many natural historians still believed he had demoted humans from their former place of ruling over nature and not being a part of it. Linnaeus believed that man biologically belongs to the animal kingdom and had to be included in it. In his book
*, he said, "One should not vent one's wrath on animals, Theology decree that man has a soul and that the animals are mere 'automata mechanica', but I believe they would be better advised that animals have a soul and that the difference is of nobility."*
*Dieta Naturalis*
Linnaeus added a second species to the genus *Homo* in * Systema Naturae* based on a figure and description by Jacobus Bontius from a 1658 publication:
*Homo troglodytes*("caveman") and published a third in 1771:
*Homo lar*. Swedish historian Gunnar Broberg states that the new human species Linnaeus described were actually simians or native people clad in skins to frighten colonial settlers, whose appearance had been exaggerated in accounts to Linnaeus. For
*Homo troglodytes*Linnaeus asked the Swedish East India Company to search for one, but they did not find any signs of its existence.
*Homo lar*has since been reclassified as
*Hylobates lar*, the lar gibbon.
In the first edition of * Systema Naturae*, Linnaeus subdivided the human species into four varieties: "Europæus albesc[ens]" (whitish European), "Americanus rubesc[ens]" (reddish American), "Asiaticus fuscus" (tawny Asian) and "Africanus nigr[iculus]" (blackish African).
In the tenth edition of Systema Naturae he further detailed phenotypical characteristics for each variety, based on the concept of the four temperaments from classical antiquity,
[and changed the description of Asians' skin tone to "luridus" (yellow). While Linnaeus believed that these varieties resulted from environmental differences between the four known continents, the Linnean Society acknowledges that his categorization's focus on skin color and later inclusion of cultural and behavioral traits cemented colonial stereotypes and provided the foundations for scientific racism. wastebasket taxon "monstrosus" for "wild and monstrous humans, unknown groups, and more or less abnormal people".
*dubious – discuss*]In 1959, W. T. Stearn designated Linnaeus to be the lectotype of *H. sapiens*.
## Influences and economic beliefs
Linnaeus's applied science was inspired not only by the instrumental utilitarianism general to the early Enlightenment, but also by his adherence to the older economic doctrine of Cameralism. Additionally, Linnaeus was a state interventionist. He supported tariffs, levies, export bounties, quotas, embargoes, navigation acts, subsidised investment capital, ceilings on wages, cash grants, state-licensed producer monopolies, and cartels.
## Commemoration
Anniversaries of Linnaeus's birth, especially in centennial years, have been marked by major celebrations. Linnaeus has appeared on numerous Swedish postage stamps and banknotes. There are numerous statues of Linnaeus in countries around the world. The Linnean Society of London has awarded the Linnean Medal for excellence in botany or zoology since 1888. Following approval by the Riksdag of Sweden, Växjö University and Kalmar College merged on 1 January 2010 to become Linnaeus University. Other things named after Linnaeus include the twinflower genus *Linnaea*, *Linnaeosicyos* (a monotypic genus in the family Cucurbitaceae), the crater Linné on the Earth's moon, a street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the cobalt sulfide mineral Linnaeite.
## Commentary
Linnaeus wrote a description of himself in his autobiography *Egenhändiga anteckningar af Carl Linnæus om sig sjelf: med anmärkningar och tillägg*, which was published by his student Adam Afzelius in 1823:
Linnaeus was not big, not small, thin, brown-eyed, light, hasty, walked quickly, did everything promptly, could not stand lateness; was quickly moved, sensitive, worked continuously; could not spare himself. He enjoyed good food, drank good drinks; but was never inebriated by them. He cared little for appearance, believed that the man should embellish the clothes and not vice versa. He was certainly not argumentative, so he never answered those who wrote against him, and said: If I am wrong, I will not win and if I am right, I will be shown to be right as long as Nature exists.
Andrew Dickson White wrote in *A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom* (1896):
Linnaeus ... was the most eminent naturalist of his time, a wide observer, a close thinker; but the atmosphere in which he lived and moved and had his being was saturated with biblical theology, and this permeated all his thinking. ... Toward the end of his life he timidly advanced the hypothesis that all the species of one genus constituted at the creation one species; and from the last edition of his
Systema Naturæhe quietly left out the strongly orthodox statement of the fixity of each species, which he had insisted upon in his earlier works. ... warnings came speedily both from the Catholic and Protestant sides.
The mathematical PageRank algorithm, applied to 24 multilingual Wikipedia editions in 2014, published in *PLOS ONE* in 2015, placed Carl Linnaeus at the top historical figure, above Jesus, Aristotle, Napoleon, and Adolf Hitler (in that order).
In the 21st century, Linnæus's taxonomy of human "races" has been criticized. Some claim that Linnæus was one of the forebears of the modern pseudoscientific notion of scientific racism, while others hold the view that while his classification was stereotyped, it did not imply that certain human "races" were superior to others.
## Standard author abbreviation
## Selected publications by Linnaeus
## See also
### Notes
### Citations
### Sources
## Further reading
## External links
**Biographies**
- Biography at the Department of Systematic Botany, University of Uppsala
- Biography at The Linnean Society of London
- Biography from the University of California Museum of Paleontology
- A four-minute biographical video from the London Natural History Museum on YouTube
- Biography from Taxonomic Literature, 2nd Edition. 1976–2009.
**Resources**
- Works by Carl von Linné at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Carl Linnaeus at the Internet Archive
- The Linnean Society of London
- The Linnaeus Apostles
- The Linnean Collections
- The Linnean Correspondence
- Linnaeus's Disciples and Apostles
- The Linnaean Dissertations
- Linnean Herbarium
- The Linnaeus Tercentenary
- Works by Carl von Linné at the Biodiversity Heritage Library
- Digital edition: "Critica Botanica" by the University and State Library Düsseldorf
- Digital edition: "Classes plantarum seu systemata plantarum" by the University and State Library Düsseldorf
*Oratio de telluris habitabilis incremento*Archived 29 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine (1744) – full digital facsimile from Linda Hall Library- The 15 March 2007 issue of
*Nature*featured a picture of Linnaeus on the cover with the heading "Linnaeus's Legacy" and devoted a substantial portion to items related to Linnaeus and Linnaean taxonomy.
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# Defender (association football) - Wikipedia
In the sport of association football, a **defender** is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring.
Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers, and wing-backs. The centre-back and full-back positions are most common in modern formations. The sweeper and wing-back roles are more specialised, often limited to certain formations dependent on the manager's style of play and tactics.
The centre-back (also known as a central defender or centre-half, as the modern role of the centre-back arose from the centre-half position) defends in the area directly in front of the goal and tries to prevent opposing players, particularly centre-forwards, from scoring. Centre-backs accomplish this by blocking shots, tackling, intercepting passes, contesting headers and marking forwards to discourage the opposing team from passing to them. Centre-backs are often tall and positioned for their ability to win duels in the air. In the modern game, most teams employ two or three centre-backs in front of the goalkeeper. The 4–2–3–1, 4–3–3, and 4–4–2 formations all use two centre-backs.
In possession of the ball, centre-backs are generally expected to make long and pinpoint passes to their teammates, or to kick unaimed long balls down the field. For example, a clearance is a long unaimed kick intended to move the ball as far as possible from the defender's goal. Due to the many skills centre-backs are required to possess in the modern game, many successful contemporary central-defensive partnerships have involved pairing a more physical defender with a defender who is quicker, more comfortable in possession and capable of playing the ball out from the back; examples of such pairings have included Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique for Barcelona and Spain, David Luiz, Gary Cahill, John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho with Chelsea, Sergio Ramos, Raphaël Varane or Pepe with Real Madrid, Diego Godín and José María Giménez with Atlético Madrid and Uruguay, Virgil van Dijk with Liverpool, Nemanja Vidić and Rio Ferdinand with Manchester United, or Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, Andrea Barzagli and Medhi Benatia with Juventus.
Under normal circumstances, centre-backs are unlikely to score goals. However, when their team takes a corner kick or other set pieces, centre-backs may move forward to the opponents' penalty area; if the ball is passed in the air towards a crowd of players near the goal, then the heading ability of a centre-back is useful when trying to score. In this case, other defenders or midfielders will temporarily move into the centre-back positions.
There are two main defensive strategies used by defensive lines: the zonal defence, where each centre-back covers a specific area of the pitch; and man-to-man marking, where each centre-back has the job of tracking a particular opposition player. In the now obsolete man–to–man marking systems such as *catenaccio*, as well as the *zona mista* strategy that later arose from it, there were often at least two types of centre-backs who played alongside one another: at least one man–to–man marking centre-back, known as the *stopper*, and a free defender, which was usually known as the *sweeper*, or *libero*, whose tasks included sweeping up balls for teammates and also initiating attacks.
The sweeper (or *libero*) is a more versatile centre-back who "sweeps up" the ball if an opponent manages to breach the defensive line. This position is rather more fluid than that of other defenders who man-mark their designated opponents. Because of this, it is sometimes referred to as *libero*, which is Italian for "free".
Austrian manager Karl Rappan is thought to be a pioneer of this role, when he incorporated it into his *catenaccio* or *verrou* (also "doorbolt/chain" in French) system with Swiss club Servette during the 1930s, deciding to move one player from midfield to a position behind the defensive line, as a "last man" who would protect the back-line and start attacks again. As coach of Switzerland in the 1930s and 1940s, Rappan played a defensive sweeper called the *verrouilleur*, positioned just ahead of the goalkeeper.
During his time with Soviet club Krylya Sovetov Kuybyshev in the 1940s, Aleksandr Abramov also used a position similar to a sweeper in his defensive tactic known as the *Volzhskaya Zashchepka*, or the "Volga clip". Unlike the *verrou*, his system was not as flexible and was a development of the WM rather than the 2–3–5, but it also featured one of the half-backs dropping deep; this allowed the defensive centre-half to sweep in behind the full-backs.
In Italy, the *libero* position was popularised by Nereo Rocco's and Helenio Herrera's use of *catenaccio*. The current Italian term for this position, *libero*, which is thought to have been coined by Gianni Brera, originated from the original Italian description for this role *libero da impegni di marcatura* (*i.e.*, "free from man-marking tasks"); it was also known as the "battitore libero" ("free hitter", in Italian, i.e. a player who was given the freedom to intervene after their teammates, if a player had got past the defence, to clear the ball away). In Italian football, the *libero* was usually assigned the number six shirt.
One of the first predecessors of the *libero* role in Italy was used in the so–called "*vianema*" system, a predecessor to *catenaccio*, which was used by Salernitana during the 1940s. The system originated from an idea that one of the club's players – Antonio Valese – posed to his manager Giuseppe Viani. Viani altered the English WM system – known as the *sistema* in Italy – by having his centre-half-back retreat into the defensive line to act as an additional defender and mark an opposing centre-forward, instead leaving his full-back (which, at the time, was similar to the modern centre-back role) free to function as what was essentially a sweeper, creating a 1–3–3–3 formation; he occasionally also used a defender in the centre-forward role, and wearing the number nine shirt, to track back and mark the opposing forwards, thus freeing up the full-backs from their marking duties. Andrea Schianchi of *La Gazzetta dello Sport* notes that this modification was designed to help smaller teams in Italy, as the man–to–man system often put players directly against one another, favouring the larger and wealthier teams with stronger individual players.
In Italy, the *libero* is also retroactively thought to have evolved from the centre-half-back role in the English WM system, or sistema, which was known as the *centromediano metodista* role in Italian football jargon, due to its association with the *metodo* system; in the *metodo* system, however, the "metodista" was given both defensive and creative duties, functioning as both a ball–winner and deep-lying playmaker. Juventus manager Felice Borel used Carlo Parola in the centre-half role, as a player who would drop back into the defence to mark opposing forwards, but also start attacks after winning back possession, in a similar manner to the sweeper, which led to the development of this specialised position. Indeed, Herrera's *catenaccio* strategy with his *Grande Inter* side saw him withdraw a player from his team's midfield and instead deploy them further-back in defence as a sweeper.
Prior to Viani, Ottavio Barbieri is also thought by some pundits to have introduced the sweeper role to Italian football during his time as Genoa's manager. Like Viani, he was influenced by Rappan's *verrou*, and made several alterations to the English WM system or "sistema", which led to his system being described as *mezzosistema*. His system used a man-marking back-line, with three man-marking defenders and a full-back who was described as a *terzino volante* (or *vagante*, as noted at the time by former footballer and *Gazzetta dello Sport* journalist Renzo De Vecchi); the latter position was essentially a *libero*, which was later also used by Viani in his *vianema* system, and Rocco in his *catenaccio* system.
Though sweepers may be expected to build counter-attacking moves, and as such require better ball control and passing ability than typical centre-backs, their talents are often confined to the defensive realm. For example, the *catenaccio* system of play, used in Italian football in the 1960s, often employed a predominantly defensive sweeper who mainly "roamed" around the back line; according to Schianchi, Ivano Blason is considered to be the first true *libero* in Italy, who – under manager Alfredo Foni with Inter and subsequently Nereo Rocco with Padova – would serve as the last man in his team, positioned deep behind the defensive line, and clearing balls away from the penalty area. Armando Picchi was subsequently also a leading exponent of the more traditional variant of this role in Helenio Herrera's *Grande Inter* side of the 1960s.
The more modern *libero* possesses the defensive qualities of the typical *libero* while being able to expose the opposition during counterattacks by carrying or playing the ball out from the back. Some sweepers move forward into midfield, and distribute the ball up-field, while others intercept passes and get the ball off the opposition without needing to hurl themselves into tackles. If the sweeper does move up the field to distribute the ball, they will need to make a speedy recovery and run back into their position. In modern football, its usage has been fairly restricted, with few clubs in the biggest leagues using the position.
The modern example of this position is most commonly believed to have been pioneered by Franz Beckenbauer, and subsequently Gaetano Scirea, Morten Olsen and Elías Figueroa, although they were not the first players to play this position. Aside from the aforementioned Blason and Picchi, earlier proponents also included Alexandru Apolzan, Velibor Vasović, and Ján Popluhár. Giorgio Mastropasqua was known for revolutionising the role of the *libero* in Italy during the 1970s; under his Ternana manager Corrado Viciani, he served as one of the first modern exponents of the position in the country, due to his unique technical characteristics, namely a player who was not only tasked with defending and protecting the back-line, but also advancing out of the defence into midfield and starting attacking plays with their passing after winning back the ball. Other defenders who have been described as sweepers include Bobby Moore, Daniel Passarella, Franco Baresi, Ronald Koeman, Fernando Hierro, Matthias Sammer, and Aldair, due to their ball skills, vision, and long passing ability. Though it is rarely used in modern football, it remains a highly respected and demanding position.
Recent and successful uses of the sweeper include by Otto Rehhagel, Greece's manager, during UEFA Euro 2004. Rehhagel utilised Traianos Dellas as Greece's sweeper to great success, as Greece became European champions. For Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan, Brazilian international Lúcio adopted the sweeper role too, but was also not afraid to travel long distances with the ball, often ending up in the opposition's final third.
Although this position has become largely obsolete in modern football formations, due to the use of zonal marking and the offside trap, certain players such as Daniele De Rossi, Leonardo Bonucci, Javi Martínez and David Luiz have played a similar role as a ball-playing central defender in a 3–5–2 or 3–4–3 formation; in addition to their defensive skills, their technique and ball-playing ability allowed them to advance into midfield after winning back possession, and function as a secondary playmaker for their teams.
Some goalkeepers, who are comfortable leaving their goalmouth to intercept and clear through balls, and who generally participate more in play, such as René Higuita, Manuel Neuer, Edwin van der Sar, Fabien Barthez, Hugo Lloris, Marc-André ter Stegen, Bernd Leno, Alisson Becker and Ederson, among others, have been referred to as sweeper-keepers.
The full-backs (the left-back and the right-back) locate the holding wide positions and traditionally stay in defence at all times, until a set-piece. There is one full-back on each side of the field except in defences with fewer than four players, where there may be no full-backs and instead only centre-backs.
2–3–5 formation, the two full-backs were essentially the same as modern centre-backs in that they were the last line of defence and usually covered opposing forwards in the middle of the field.
The later 3–2–5 style involved a third dedicated defender, causing the left and right full-backs to occupy wider positions. Later, the adoption of 4–2–4 with another central defender led the wide defenders to play even further over to counteract the opposing wingers and provide support to their own down the flanks, and the position became increasingly specialised for dynamic players who could fulfil that role as opposed to the central defenders who remained fairly static and commonly relied on strength, height and positioning.
In the modern game, full-backs have taken on a more attacking role than was the case traditionally, often overlapping with wingers down the flank, or more recently, playing "inverted", cutting into the middle of the pitch with the ball and shooting or passing to the strikers. Wingerless formations, such as the diamond 4–4–2 formation, demand the full-back to cover considerable ground up and down the flank. Some of the responsibilities of modern full-backs include:
- Provide a physical obstruction to opposition attacking players by shepherding them towards an area where they exert less influence. They may manoeuvre in a fashion that causes the opponent to cut in towards the centre-back or defensive midfielder with their weaker foot, where they are likely to be dispossessed. Otherwise, jockeying and smart positioning may simply pin back a winger in an area where they are less likely to exert influence.
- Making off-the-ball runs into spaces down the channels and supplying crosses into the opposing penalty box.
- Throw-ins are often assigned to full-backs.
- Marking wingers and other attacking players. Full-backs generally do not commit to challenges in their opponents' half. However, they aim to quickly dispossess attacking players who have already breached the defensive line with a sliding tackle from the side. Markers must, however, avoid keeping too tight on opponents or risk disrupting the defensive organisation.
- Maintaining tactical discipline by ensuring other teammates do not overrun the defensive line and inadvertently play an opponent onside.
- Providing a passing option down the flank; for instance, by creating opportunities for sequences like one-two passing moves.
- In wingerless formations, full-backs need to cover the roles of both wingers and full-backs, although defensive work may be shared with one of the central midfielders.
- Additionally, attacking full-backs help to pin both opposition full-backs and wingers deeper in their own half with aggressive attacking intent. Their presence in attack also forces the opposition to withdraw players from central midfield, which the team can seize to its advantage.
Due to the physical and technical demands of their playing position, successful full-backs need a wide range of attributes, which make them suited for adaptation to other roles on the pitch. Many of the game's utility players, who can play in multiple positions on the pitch, are natural full-backs. Two rather prominent examples are former A.C. Milan left-back Paolo Maldini and the former PSG full-back Sergio Ramos, who have played on the flanks as full-backs and in central defence throughout their career. In the modern game, full-backs often chip in a fair share of assists with their runs down the flank when the team is on a counter-attack like Leighton Baines and Trent Alexander-Arnold. The more common attributes of full-backs, however, include:
- Pace and stamina to handle the demands of covering large distances up and down the flank and outrunning opponents.
- A healthy work rate and team responsibility.
- Marking and tackling abilities and a sense of anticipation.
- Good off-the-ball ability to create attacking opportunities for their team by running into empty channels.
- Dribbling ability. Many of the game's eminent attacking full-backs are excellent dribblers in their own right and occasionally deputise as attacking wingers.
- Player intelligence. As is common for defenders, full-backs need to decide during the flow of play whether to stick close to a winger or maintain a suitable distance. Full-backs that stay too close to attacking players are vulnerable to being pulled out of position and leaving a gap in the defence. A quick passing movement like a pair of one-two passes will leave the channel behind the defending full-back open. This vulnerability is a reason why wingers considered to be dangerous are double-marked by both the full-back and the winger. This allows the full-back to focus on holding their defensive line.
Full-backs rarely score goals, as they often have to stay back to cover for the centre-backs during corner kicks and free kicks, when the centre backs usually go forward to attempt to score from headers. That said, full-backs can sometimes score during counterattacks by running in from the wings, often involving one-two passing moves with midfield players.
The wing-back is a variation on the full-back, but with a heavier emphasis on attack. Wing-backs are typically some of the fastest players on a team, when employed. Wing-backs are typically used in a formation with three centre-backs and are sometimes classified as midfielders instead of defenders. They can, however, be used in formations with only two centre-backs, such as in Jürgen Klopp's 4–3–3 system that he used at Liverpool, in which the wing-backs play high up the field to compensate for a lack of width in attack. In the evolution of the modern game, wing-backs are the combination of wingers and full-backs. As such, this position is one of the most physically demanding in modern football. Successful use of wing-backs is one of the main prerequisites for the 3–5–2 and 5–3–2 formations to function effectively.
Wing-backs are often more adventurous than full-backs and are expected to provide width, especially in teams without wingers. A wing-back needs to be of exceptional stamina, be able to provide crosses upfield and defend effectively against opponents' attacks down the flanks. A defensive midfielder may be fielded to cover the advances of wing-backs. It can also be occupied by wingers and side midfielders in a three centre-back formation, as seen by Italian manager Antonio Conte.
Examples of players who could and did play as wing-backs were AC Milan teammates Cafu and Serginho, Barcelona player Dani Alves, Roberto Carlos of Real Madrid's Galácticos era, former River Plate's defender Juan Pablo Sorín, World Cup winning German Andreas Brehme, Parma's legend Antonio Benarrivo, Angelo Di Livio of Juventus and Italy and former Corinthians, Arsenal and Barcelona star Sylvinho.
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# Old Trafford - Wikipedia
"The Theatre of Dreams" | |
| Address | Sir Matt Busby Way |
|---|---|
| Location | Old Trafford Greater Manchester, England M16 0RA |
| Public transit | Wharfside Old Trafford |
| Owner | Manchester United |
| Operator | Manchester United |
| Capacity | 74,197 |
| Record attendance | 76,962 (Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Grimsby Town, 25 March 1939) |
| Field size | 105 by 68 metres (114.8 yd × 74.4 yd) |
| Surface | Desso GrassMaster |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1909 |
| Opened | 19 February 1910 |
| Renovated | 1941, 1946–1949, 1951, 1957, 1973, 1995–1996, 2000, 2006 |
| Construction cost | £90,000 (1909) |
| Architect | Archibald Leitch (1909) |
| Tenants | |
| Manchester United (1910–present) |
**Old Trafford** (football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wembley Stadium) in the United Kingdom, and the twelfth-largest in Europe. It is about 0.5 miles (800 m) from Old Trafford Cricket Ground and the adjacent tram stop.
Nicknamed "The Theatre of Dreams" by Bobby Charlton, Old Trafford has been United's home ground since 1910, although from 1941 to 1949 the club shared Maine Road with local rivals Manchester City as a result of Second World War bomb damage. Old Trafford underwent several expansions in the 1990s and 2000s, including the addition of extra tiers to the North, West and East Stands, almost returning the stadium to its original capacity of 80,000. Should further expansion occur, it is likely to involve the addition of a second tier to the South Stand, which would raise the capacity to around 88,000, although alternative suggestions have been made for a new stadium in recent years. The stadium's record attendance was recorded in 1939, when 76,962 spectators watched the FA Cup semi-final between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Grimsby Town.
Old Trafford has hosted an FA Cup Final, two final replays and was regularly used as a neutral venue for the competition's semi-finals. It has also hosted England fixtures, and matches at the 1966 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 1996, the 2012 Summer Olympics and UEFA Women's Euro 2022. The stadium also hosted the 2003 Champions League Final. Outside football, the stadium is used occasionally for rugby league. It has been the venue for the Rugby Football League's annual Super League Grand Final, and previously Premiership Final, since 1987. In addition, it has been a host venue for five editions of the Rugby League World Cup - 1995, 2000, 2013, and 2021 (men's and women's).
## History
### Construction and early years
Before 1902, Manchester United were known as Newton Heath, during which time they first played their football matches at North Road and then Bank Street in Clayton. However, both grounds were blighted by wretched conditions, the pitches ranging from gravel to marsh, while Bank Street suffered from clouds of fumes from its neighbouring factories. Therefore, following the club's rescue from near-bankruptcy and renaming, the new chairman John Henry Davies decided in 1909 that the Bank Street ground was not fit for a team that had recently won the First Division and FA Cup, so he donated funds for the construction of a new stadium. Not one to spend money frivolously, Davies scouted around Manchester for an appropriate site, before settling on a patch of land adjacent to the Bridgewater Canal, just off the north end of the Warwick Road in Old Trafford.
Designed by Scottish architect Archibald Leitch, who designed several other stadia, the ground was originally designed with a capacity of 100,000 spectators and featured seating in the south stand under cover, while the remaining three stands were left as terraces and uncovered. Including the purchase of the land, the construction of the stadium was originally to have cost £60,000 all told. However, as costs began to rise, to reach the intended capacity would have cost an extra £30,000 over the original estimate and, at the suggestion of club secretary J. J. Bentley, the capacity was reduced to approximately 80,000. Nevertheless, at a time when transfer fees were still around the £1,000 mark, the cost of construction only served to reinforce the club's "Moneybags United" epithet, with which they had been tarred since Davies had taken over as chairman.
In May 1908, Archibald Leitch wrote to the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) – who had a rail depot adjacent to the proposed site for the football ground – in an attempt to persuade them to subsidise construction of the grandstand alongside the railway line. The subsidy would have come to the sum of £10,000, to be paid back at the rate of £2,000 *per annum* for five years or half of the gate receipts for the grandstand each year until the loan was repaid. However, despite guarantees for the loan coming from the club itself and two local breweries, both chaired by club chairman John Henry Davies, the Cheshire Lines Committee turned the proposal down. The CLC had planned to build a new station adjacent to the new stadium, with the promise of an anticipated £2,750 *per annum* in fares offsetting the £9,800 cost of building the station. The station – Trafford Park – was eventually built, but further down the line than originally planned. The CLC later constructed a modest station with one timber-built platform immediately adjacent to the stadium and this opened on 21 August 1935. It was initially named United Football Ground, but was renamed Old Trafford Football Ground in early 1936. It was served on match days only by a shuttle service of steam trains from Manchester Central railway station. It is currently known as Manchester United Football Ground.
Construction was carried out by Messrs Brameld and Smith of Manchester and development was completed in late 1909. The stadium hosted its inaugural game on 19 February 1910, with United playing host to Liverpool. However, the home side were unable to provide their fans with a win to mark the occasion, as Liverpool won 4–3. A journalist at the game reported the stadium as "the most handsomest [sic], the most spacious and the most remarkable arena I have ever seen. As a football ground it is unrivalled in the world, it is an honour to Manchester and the home of a team who can do wonders when they are so disposed".
Before the construction of Wembley Stadium in 1923, the FA Cup Final was hosted by a number of different grounds around England, including Old Trafford. The first of these was the 1911 FA Cup Final replay between Bradford City and Newcastle United, after the original tie at Crystal Palace finished as a no-score draw after extra time. Bradford won 1–0, the goal scored by Jimmy Speirs, in a match watched by 58,000 people. The ground's second FA Cup Final was the 1915 final between Sheffield United and Chelsea. Sheffield United won the match 3–0 in front of nearly 50,000 spectators, most of whom were in the military, leading to the final being nicknamed "the Khaki Cup Final". On 27 December 1920, Old Trafford played host to its largest pre-Second World War attendance for a United league match, as 70,504 spectators watched the Red Devils lose 3–1 to Aston Villa. The ground hosted its first international football match later that decade, when England lost 1–0 to Scotland in front of 49,429 spectators on 17 April 1926. Unusually, the record attendance at Old Trafford is not for a Manchester United home game. Instead, on 25 March 1939, 76,962 people watched an FA Cup semi-final between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Grimsby Town.
### Wartime bombing
In 1936, as part of a £35,000 refurbishment, an 80-yard-long roof was added to the United Road stand (now the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand) for the first time, while roofs were added to the south corners in 1938. Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, Old Trafford was requisitioned by the military to be used as a depot. Football continued to be played at the stadium, but a German bombing raid on Trafford Park on 22 December 1940 damaged the stadium to the extent that a Christmas Day fixture against Stockport County had to be switched to Stockport's ground. Football resumed at Old Trafford on 8 March 1941, but another German raid on 11 March 1941 destroyed much of the stadium, notably the main stand (now the South Stand), forcing the club's operations to move to Cornbrook Cold Storage, owned by United chairman James W. Gibson. After pressure from Gibson, the War Damage Commission granted Manchester United £4,800 to remove the debris and £17,478 to rebuild the stands. During the reconstruction of the stadium, Manchester United played their "home" games at Maine Road, the home of their cross-town rivals, Manchester City, at a cost of £5,000 a year plus a percentage of the gate receipts. The club was now £15,000 in debt, not helped by the rental of Maine Road, and the Labour MP for Stoke, Ellis Smith, petitioned the Government to increase the club's compensation package, but it was in vain. Though Old Trafford was reopened, albeit without cover, in 1949, it meant that a league game had not been played at the stadium for nearly 10 years. United's first game back at Old Trafford was played on 24 August 1949, as 41,748 spectators witnessed a 3–0 victory over Bolton Wanderers.
### Completion of the master plan
A roof was restored to the Main Stand by 1951 and, soon after, the three remaining stands were covered, the operation culminating with the addition of a roof to the Stretford End (now the West Stand) in 1959. The club also invested £40,000 in the installation of proper floodlighting, so that they would be able to use the stadium for the European games that were played in the late evening of weekdays, instead of having to play at Maine Road. In order to avoid obtrusive shadows being cast on the pitch, two sections of the Main Stand roof were cut away. The first match to be played under floodlights at Old Trafford was a First Division match between Manchester United and Bolton Wanderers on 25 March 1957.
However, although the spectators would now be able to see the players at night, they still suffered from the problem of obstructed views caused by the pillars that supported the roofs. With the 1966 FIFA World Cup fast approaching, at which the stadium would host three group matches, this prompted the United directors to completely redesign the United Road (north) stand. The old roof pillars were replaced in 1965 with modern-style cantilevering on top of the roof, allowing every spectator a completely unobstructed view, while it was also expanded to hold 20,000 spectators (10,000 seated and 10,000 standing in front) at a cost of £350,000. The architects of the new stand, Mather and Nutter (now Atherden Fuller), rearranged the organisation of the stand to have terracing at the front, a larger seated area towards the back, and the first private boxes at a British football ground. The east stand – the only remaining uncovered stand – was developed in the same style in 1973. With the first two stands converted to cantilevers, the club's owners devised a long-term plan to do the same to the other two stands and convert the stadium into a bowl-like arena. Such an undertaking would serve to increase the atmosphere within the ground by containing the crowd's noise and focusing it onto the pitch, where the players would feel the full effects of a capacity crowd. Meanwhile, the stadium hosted its third FA Cup Final, hosting 62,078 spectators for the replay of the 1970 final between Chelsea and Leeds United; Chelsea won the match 2–1. The ground also hosted the second leg of the 1968 Intercontinental Cup, which saw Estudiantes de La Plata win the cup after a 1–1 draw. The 1970s saw the dramatic rise of football hooliganism in Britain, and a knife-throwing incident in 1971 forced the club to erect the country's first perimeter fence, restricting fans from the Old Trafford pitch.
### Conversion to all-seater
With every subsequent improvement made to the ground since the Second World War, the capacity steadily declined. By the 1980s, the capacity had dropped from the original 80,000 to approximately 60,000. The capacity dropped still further in 1990, when the Taylor Report recommended, and the government demanded that all First and Second Division stadia be converted to all-seaters. This meant that £3–5 million plans to replace the Stretford End with a brand new stand with an all-standing terrace at the front and a cantilever roof to link with the rest of the ground had to be drastically altered. This forced redevelopment, including the removal of the terraces at the front of the other three stands, not only increased the cost to around £10 million, but also reduced the capacity of Old Trafford to an all-time low of around 44,000. In addition, the club was told in 1992 that they would only receive £1.4 million of a possible £2 million from the Football Trust to be put towards work related to the Taylor Report.
The club's resurgence in success and increase in popularity in the early 1990s ensured that further development would have to occur. In 1995, the 30-year-old North Stand was demolished and work quickly began on a new stand, to be ready in time for Old Trafford to host three group games, a quarter-final and a semi-final at Euro 96. The club purchased the Trafford Park trading estate, a 20-acre (81,000 m2) site on the other site of United Road, for £9.2 million in March 1995. Construction began in June 1995 and was completed by May 1996, with the first two of the three phases of the stand opening during the season. Designed by Atherden Fuller, with Hilstone Laurie as project and construction managers and Campbell Reith Hill as structural engineers, the new three-tiered stand cost a total of £18.65 million to build and had a capacity of about 25,500, raising the capacity of the entire ground to more than 55,000. The cantilever roof would also be the largest in Europe, measuring 58.5 m (192 ft) from the back wall to the front edge. Further success over the next few years guaranteed yet more development. First, a second tier was added to the East Stand. Opened in January 2000, the stadium's capacity was temporarily increased to about 61,000 until the opening of the West Stand's second tier, which added yet another 7,000 seats, bringing the capacity to 68,217. It was now not only the biggest club stadium in England but the biggest in all of the United Kingdom. Old Trafford hosted its first major European final three years later, playing host to the 2003 UEFA Champions League Final between Milan and Juventus.
| UEFA Champions League finals | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Winners | Score | Runners-up | Attendance | ||
| 2002–03 | AC Milan | 0-0 | Juventus | 62,315 |
From 2001 to 2007, following the demolition of the old Wembley Stadium, the England national football team was forced to play its games elsewhere. During that time, the team toured the country, playing their matches at various grounds from Villa Park in Birmingham to St James' Park in Newcastle. In that period, Old Trafford hosted 14 of England's 34 home matches, more than any other stadium. The latest international to be held at Old Trafford was England's 1–0 loss to Spain on 7 February 2007. The match was played in front of a crowd of 58,207.
### 2006 expansion
Old Trafford's most recent expansion, which took place between July 2005 and May 2006, saw an increase of around 8,000 seats with the addition of second tiers to both the north-west and north-east quadrants of the ground. Part of the new seating was used for the first time on 26 March 2006, when an attendance of 69,070 became a new Premier League record. The record continued to be pushed upwards before reaching its current peak on 31 March 2007, when 76,098 spectators saw United beat Blackburn Rovers 4–1, meaning that just 114 seats (0.15% of the total capacity of 76,212) were left unoccupied. In 2009, a reorganisation of the seating in the stadium resulted in a reduction of the capacity by 255 to 75,957, meaning that the club's home attendance record would stand at least until the next expansion.
Old Trafford celebrated its 100th anniversary on 19 February 2010. In recognition of the occasion, Manchester United's official website ran a feature in which a memorable moment from the stadium's history was highlighted on each of the 100 days leading up to the anniversary. From these 100 moments, the top 10 were chosen by a panel including club statistician Cliff Butler, journalist David Meek, and former players Paddy Crerand and Wilf McGuinness. At Old Trafford itself, an art competition was run for pupils from three local schools to create their own depictions of the stadium in the past, present and future. Winning paintings were put on permanent display on the concourse of the Old Trafford family stand, and the winners were presented with awards by artist Harold Riley on 22 February. An exhibition about the stadium at the club museum was opened by former goalkeeper Jack Crompton and chief executive David Gill on 19 February. The exhibition highlighted the history of the stadium and features memorabilia from its past, including a programme from the inaugural match and a 1:220 scale model hand-built by model artist Peter Oldfield-Edwards. Finally, at Manchester United's home match against Fulham on 14 March, fans at the game received a replica copy of the programme from the first Old Trafford match, and half-time saw relatives of the players who took part in the first game – as well as those of the club chairman John Henry Davies and stadium architect Archibald Leitch – taking part in the burial of a time capsule of Manchester United memorabilia near the centre tunnel. Only relatives of winger Billy Meredith, wing-half Dick Duckworth and club secretary Ernest Mangnall could not be found.
Old Trafford was used as a venue for several matches in the football competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics. The stadium hosted five group games, a quarter-final and semi-final in the men's tournament, and one group game and a famous semi-final in the women's tournament, the first women's international matches to be played there. Since 2006, Old Trafford has also been used as the venue for Soccer Aid, a biennial charity match initially organised by singer Robbie Williams and actor Jonathan Wilkes; however, in 2008, the match was played at Wembley Stadium.
On 27 March 2021, Old Trafford hosted its first game of the Manchester United women's team, with West Ham United as the opposition in the Women's Super League. Exactly one year on, Manchester United's women's team face Everton at Old Trafford in front of a crowd for the first time (the 2021 game was behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic). A crowd of 20,241 attended the match, marking the highest home attendance of the women's team, and saw Manchester United come out with a 3–1 victory.
On 6 July 2022, Old Trafford hosted the opening match of UEFA Women's Euro 2022 between England and Austria, in front of a record attendance for the Women's European Championships of 68,871 – the second highest women's football attendance in the United Kingdom.
Old Trafford was included in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland's shortlist of stadiums to host UEFA Euro 2028 however was not included on the final list of 10.
## Structure and facilities
The Old Trafford pitch is surrounded by four covered all-seater stands, officially known as the Sir Alex Ferguson (North), East, Sir Bobby Charlton (South) and West Stands. Each stand has at least two tiers, with the exception of the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand, which only has one tier due to construction restrictions. The bottom tier of each stand is split into Lower and Upper sections, the Lower sections having been converted from terracing in the early 1990s.
### Sir Alex Ferguson Stand
The Sir Alex Ferguson Stand, formerly known as the United Road stand and the North Stand, runs over the top of United Road. The stand is three tiers tall, and can hold about 26,000 spectators, the most of the four stands. It can also accommodate a few fans in executive boxes and hospitality suites. It opened in its current state in 1996, having previously been a single-tiered stand. As the ground's largest stand, it houses many of the ground's more popular facilities, including the Red Café (a Manchester United theme restaurant/bar) and the Manchester United museum and trophy room. Originally opened in 1986 as the first of its kind in the world, the Manchester United museum was in the south-east corner of the ground until it moved to the redeveloped North Stand in 1998. The museum was opened by Pelé on 11 April 1998, since when numbers of visitors have jumped from 192,000 in 1998 to more than 300,000 visitors in 2009.
The North Stand was renamed as the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand on 5 November 2011, in honour of Alex Ferguson's 25 years as manager of the club. A 9-foot (2.7 m) statue of Ferguson, sculpted by Philip Jackson, was erected outside the stand on 23 November 2012 in recognition of his status as Manchester United's longest-serving manager.
### Sir Bobby Charlton Stand
Opposite the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand is the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand, formerly Old Trafford's main stand and previously known as the South Stand. Although only a single-tiered stand, the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand contains most of the ground's executive suites, and also plays host to any VIPs who may come to watch the match. Members of the media are seated in the middle of the Upper South Stand to give them the best view of the match. The television gantry is also in the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand, so the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand is the one that gets shown on television least often. Television studios are located at either end of the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand, with the club's in-house television station, MUTV, in the East studio and other television stations, such as the BBC and Sky, in the West studio.
The dugout is in the centre of the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand, raised above pitch level to give the manager and his coaches an elevated view of the game. Each team's dugout flanks the old players' tunnel, which was used until 1993. The old tunnel is the only remaining part of the original 1910 stadium, having survived the bombing that destroyed much of the stadium during the Second World War. On 6 February 2008, the tunnel was renamed the Munich Tunnel, as a memorial for the 50th anniversary of the 1958 Munich air disaster. The current tunnel is in the South-West corner of the ground, and doubles as an entrance for the emergency services. If large vehicles require access, then the seating above the tunnel can be raised by up to 25 feet (7.6 m). The tunnel leads up to the players' dressing room, via the television interview area, and the players' lounge. Both the home and away dressing rooms were re-furbished for the 2018–19 season, and the corridor leading to the two was widened and separated to keep the opposing teams apart.
On 3 April 2016, the South Stand was renamed the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand before kick-off of the Premier League home match against Everton, in honour of former Manchester United player Sir Bobby Charlton, who made his Manchester United debut 60 years earlier.
### West Stand
Perhaps the best-known stand at Old Trafford is the West Stand, also known as the Stretford End. Traditionally, the stand is where the hard-core United fans are located, and also the ones who make the most noise. Originally designed to hold 20,000 fans, the Stretford End was the last stand to be covered and also the last remaining all-terraced stand at the ground before the forced upgrade to seating in the early 1990s. The reconstruction of the Stretford End, which took place during the 1992–93 season, was carried out by Alfred McAlpine. When the second tier was added to the Stretford End in 2000, many fans from the old "K Stand" moved there, and decided to hang banners and flags from the barrier at the front of the tier. So ingrained in Manchester United culture is the Stretford End, that Denis Law was given the nickname "King of the Stretford End", and there is now a statue of Law on the concourse of the stand's upper tier.
### East Stand
The East Stand at Old Trafford was the second to be converted to a cantilever roof, following the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand. It is also commonly referred to as the Scoreboard End, as it was the location of the scoreboard. The East Stand can currently hold nearly 12,000 fans, and is the location of both the disabled fans section and the away section; an experiment involving the relocation of away fans to the third tier of the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand was conducted during the 2011–12 season, but the results of the experiments could not be ascertained in time to make the move permanent for the 2012–13 season. The disabled section provides for up to 170 fans, with free seats for carers. Old Trafford was formerly divided into sections, with each section sequentially assigned a letter of the alphabet. Although every section had a letter, it is the K Stand that is the most commonly referred to today. The K Stand fans were renowned for their vocal support for the club, and a large array of chants and songs, though many of them have relocated to the second tier of the Stretford End.
The East Stand has a tinted glass façade, behind which the club's administrative centre is located. These offices are the home to the staff of Inside United, the official Manchester United magazine, the club's official website, and its other administrative departments. Images and advertisements are often emblazoned on the front of the East Stand, most often advertising products and services provided by the club's sponsors, though a tribute to the Busby Babes was displayed in February 2008 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster. Above the megastore is a statue of Sir Matt Busby, who was Manchester United's longest-serving manager until he was surpassed by Sir Alex Ferguson in 2010. There is also a plaque dedicated to the victims of the Munich air disaster on the south end of the East Stand, while the Munich Clock is at the junction of the East and South Stands. On 29 May 2008, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Manchester United's first European Cup title, a statue of the club's "holy trinity" of George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton, entitled "The United Trinity", was unveiled across Sir Matt Busby Way from the East Stand, directly opposite the statue of Busby.
The Manchester United club shop has had six different locations since it was first opened. Originally, the shop was a small hut near to the railway line that runs alongside the ground. The shop was then moved along the length of the South Stand, stopping first opposite where away fans enter the ground, and then residing in the building that would later become the club's merchandising office. A surge in the club's popularity in the early 1990s led to another move, this time to the forecourt of the West Stand. With this move came a great expansion and the conversion from a small shop to a "megastore". Alex Ferguson opened the new megastore on 3 December 1994. The most recent moves came in the late 1990s, as the West Stand required room to expand to a second tier, and that meant the demolition of the megastore. The store was moved to a temporary site opposite the East Stand, before taking up a 17,000 square feet (1,600 m2) permanent residence in the ground floor of the expanded East Stand in 2000. The floor space of the megastore was owned by United's kit sponsors, Nike, who operated the store until the expiry of their sponsorship deal at the end of July 2015, when ownership reverted to the club.
### Pitch and surroundings
The pitch at the ground measures approximately 105 metres (115 yd) long by 68 metres (74 yd) wide, with a few metres of run-off space on each side. The centre of the pitch is about nine inches higher than the edges, allowing surface water to run off more easily. As at many modern grounds, 10 inches (25 cm) under the pitch is an underground heating system, composed of 23 miles (37 km) of plastic pipes. Former club manager Alex Ferguson often requested that the pitch be relaid, most notably half-way through the 1998–99 season, when the team won the Treble, at a cost of about £250,000 each time. The grass at Old Trafford is watered regularly, though less on wet days, and mowed three times a week between April and November, and once a week from November to March.
In the mid-1980s, when Manchester United Football Club owned the Manchester Giants, Manchester's basketball franchise, there were plans to build a 9,000-seater indoor arena on the site of what is now Car Park E1. However, the chairman at the time, Martin Edwards, did not have the funds to take on such a project, and the basketball franchise was eventually sold. In August 2009, the car park became home to the Hublot clock tower, a 10-metre-tall (32 ft 10 in) tower in the shape of the Hublot logo, which houses four 2-metre-diameter (6 ft 7 in) clock faces, the largest ever made by the company.
The east side of the stadium is also the site of Hotel Football, a football-themed hotel and fan clubhouse conceived by former Manchester United captain Gary Neville. The building is located on the east side of Sir Matt Busby Way and on the opposite side of the Bridgewater Canal from the stadium, and can accommodate up to 1,500 supporters. It opened in the summer of 2015. The venture is conducted separately from the club and was funded in part by proceeds from Neville's testimonial match.
## Future
In 2009, it was reported that United continued to harbour plans to increase the capacity of the stadium further, with the next stage pointing to a redevelopment of the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand, which, unlike the rest of the stadium, remains single tier. A replication of the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand development and North-East and North-West Quadrants would see the stadium's capacity rise to an estimated 95,000, which would give it a greater capacity than Wembley Stadium (90,000). Any such development is likely to cost around £100 million, due to the proximity of the railway line that runs adjacent to the stadium, and the corresponding need to build over it and thus purchase up to 50 houses on the other side of the railway. Nevertheless, the Manchester United group property manager confirmed that expansion plans are in the pipeline – linked to profits made from the club's property holdings around Manchester – saying "There is a strategic plan for the stadium ... It is not our intention to stand still".
In March 2016 (ten years after the previous redevelopment), talk of the redevelopment of the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand re-emerged. In order to meet accessibility standards at the stadium, an £11 million investment was made into upgrading its facilities, creating 118 new wheelchair positions and 158 new amenity seats in various areas around the stadium, as well as a new purpose-built concourse at the back of the Stretford End. Increasing capacity for disabled supporters is estimated to reduce overall capacity by around 3,000. To mitigate the reduction in capacity, various expansion plans have been considered, such as adding a second tier to the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand, bringing it to a similar height to the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand opposite but without a third level and increasing capacity to around 80,000. Replication of the corner stands on the other side of the stadium would further increase its capacity to 88,000 and increase the number of executive facilities. Housing on Railway Road and the railway line itself have previously impeded improvements to the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand, but the demolition of housing and engineering advances mean that the additional tier could now be built at reduced cost.
In 2018, it was reported that plans are currently on hold due to logistical issues. The extent of the work required means that any redevelopment is likely to be a multi-season project, due to the need to locate heavy machinery in areas of the stadium currently inaccessible or occupied by fans during match days and the fact that the stand currently holds the changing rooms, press boxes and TV studios. Club managing director Richard Arnold has said that "it isn't certain that there's a way of doing it which doesn't render us homeless." This would mean that Manchester United would have to leave Old Trafford for the duration of the works – and while Tottenham Hotspur were able to use the neutral Wembley Stadium for two seasons while their own new stadium was built, the only stadia of comparable size anywhere near Old Trafford are local rivals Manchester City's City of Manchester Stadium, or possibly Anfield, home of historic rivals Liverpool, neither of which are considered viable.
In 2021 United co-chairman Joel Glazer said at a Fans Forum meeting that "early-stage planning work" for the redevelopment of Old Trafford and the club's Carrington training ground was underway. This followed "increasing criticism" over the lack of development of the ground since 2006. The club is considering tearing down the current stadium and building an entirely new one on the same site, but this is believed to be the "least likely choice". In 2024, it was reported that 25 percent Manchester United shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants to demolish Old Trafford and build a "Wembley of the North" on the same site, potentially being funded by the government's Levelling Up programme. On 11 March 2025, Manchester United confirmed their plans to replace Old Trafford with a new 100,000 seat stadium designed by Foster and Partners as part of a large scale redevelopment of the area.
## Other uses
### Rugby league
Old Trafford has played host to both codes of rugby football, although league is played there with greater regularity than union. Old Trafford has hosted every Rugby League Premiership Final since the 1986–87 season, in addition to the competition's successor, the Super League Grand Final from 1998.
The first league match to be held at Old Trafford came in November 1958, with Salford playing against Leeds under floodlights in front of 8,000 spectators.
The first rugby league Test match played at Old Trafford came in 1986, when Australia beat Great Britain 38–16 in front of 50,583 spectators in the first test of the 1986 Kangaroo tour. The 1989 World Club Challenge was played at Old Trafford on 4 October 1989, with 30,768 spectators watching Widnes beat the Canberra Raiders 30–18. Old Trafford also hosted the second Great Britain vs Australia Ashes tests on both the 1990 and 1994 Kangaroo Tours. The stadium also hosted the semi-final between England and Wales at the 1995 Rugby League World Cup; England won 25–10 in front of 30,042 fans. The final rugby league international played at Old Trafford in the 1990s saw Great Britain record their only win over Australia at the ground in 1997 in the second test of the Super League Test series in front of 40,324 fans.
When the Rugby League World Cup was hosted by Great Britain, Ireland and France in 2000, Old Trafford was chosen as the venue for the final; the match was contested by Australia and New Zealand, and resulted in a 40–12 win for Australia, watched by 44,329 spectators. Old Trafford was also chosen to host the 2013 Rugby League World Cup final. The game, played on 30 November, was won by Australia 34–2 over defending champions New Zealand, and attracted a crowd of 74,468, a world record for a rugby league international. During the game, Australia winger Brett Morris suffered a heavy crash into the advertising boards at the Stretford End, emphasising questions raised pre-match over the safety of Old Trafford as a rugby league venue, in particular the short in-goal areas and the slope around the perimeter. In January 2019, Old Trafford was selected to host the 2021 Rugby League World Cup finals, with the men's and women's matches being played as a double header.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was the first year in which Old Trafford did not host the Super League Grand Final due to concerns about having to possibly reschedule the match, which Manchester United were unable to accommodate.
### Rugby union
The first rugby union match to be played at Old Trafford was held during the 1924–25 New Zealand rugby union tour of Britain, Ireland and France, when a Lancashire representative side hosted the New Zealand national team, with Manchester United receiving 20 per cent of the gate receipts.
Old Trafford hosted its first rugby union international in 1997, when New Zealand defeated England 25–8. A second match was played at Old Trafford on 6 June 2009, when England beat Argentina 37–15. The stadium was one of 12 confirmed venues set to host matches of the 2015 Rugby World Cup; however, in April 2013 United pulled out of the contract over concerns about pitch quality and not wanting to compromise their relationship with the 13-man code.
### Other sports
Before the Old Trafford football stadium was built, the site was used for games of shinty, the traditional game of the Scottish Highlands. During the First World War, the stadium was used by American soldiers for games of baseball. In July 1927, Old Trafford hosted a tennis exhibition match between French Olympic champion and Grand Slam winner Suzanne Lenglen and British Ceylonese player Evelyn Dewhurst. Lenglan defeated Dewhurst 6–0, 6–2 in front of over 15,000 spectators. On 17 September 1981, the North Section of cricket's Lambert & Butler Floodlit Competition was played there; in the semi-finals, Nottinghamshire defeated Derbyshire and Lancashire beat Yorkshire, before Lancashire beat Nottinghamshire by 8 runs in the final to reach the national final, played between the other regional winners at Stamford Bridge the next day. In October 1993, a WBC–WBO Super-Middleweight unification fight was held at the ground, with around 42,000 people paying to watch WBO champion Chris Eubank fight WBC champion Nigel Benn.
### Concerts and other functions
Aside from sporting uses, several concerts have been played at Old Trafford, with such big names as Bon Jovi, Genesis, Bruce Springsteen, Status Quo, Rod Stewart and Simply Red playing. An edition of *Songs of Praise* was recorded there in September 1994. Old Trafford is also regularly used for private functions, particularly weddings, Christmas parties and business conferences. The first wedding at the ground was held in the Premier Suite in February 1996.
## Records
The highest attendance recorded at Old Trafford was 76,962 for an FA Cup semi-final between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Grimsby Town on 25 March 1939. However, this was before the ground was converted to an all-seater stadium, allowing many more people to fit into the stadium. Old Trafford's record attendance as an all-seater stadium currently stands at 76,098, set at a Premier League game between Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers on 31 March 2007. Old Trafford's record attendance for a non-competitive game is 74,731, set on 5 August 2011 for a pre-season testimonial between Manchester United and New York Cosmos. The lowest recorded attendance at a competitive game at Old Trafford in the post-War era was 11,968, as United beat Fulham 3–0 on 29 April 1950. However, on 7 May 1921, the ground hosted a Second Division match between Stockport County and Leicester City for which the official attendance was just 13. This figure is slightly misleading as the ground also contained many of the 10,000 spectators who had stayed behind after watching the match between Manchester United and Derby County earlier that day.
The highest average attendance at Old Trafford over a league season was 75,826, set in the 2006–07 season. The greatest total attendance at Old Trafford came two seasons later, as 2,197,429 people watched Manchester United win the Premier League for the third year in a row, the League Cup, and reach the final of the UEFA Champions League and the semi-finals of the FA Cup. The lowest average attendance at Old Trafford came in the 1930–31 season, when an average of 11,685 spectators watched each game.
## Transport
Adjacent to the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand of the stadium is Manchester United Football Ground railway station. The station is between the Deansgate and Trafford Park stations on the Southern Route of Northern Rail's Liverpool to Manchester line. It originally served the stadium on matchdays only, but the service was stopped at the request of the club for safety reasons. The stadium is serviced by the Altricham, Eccles, South Manchester and Trafford Park lines of the Manchester Metrolink network, with the nearest stops being Wharfside, Old Trafford (which it shares with the Old Trafford Cricket Ground) and Exchange Quay at nearby Salford Quays. All three stops are less than 10 minutes' walk from the football ground.
Buses 255 and 256, which are run by Stagecoach Manchester and 263, which is run by Arriva North West run from Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester to Chester Road, stopping near Sir Matt Busby Way, while Stagecoach's 250 service stop outside Old Trafford on Wharfside Way and X50 service stops across from Old Trafford on Water's Reach. There are also additional match buses on the 255 service, which run between Old Trafford and Manchester city centre. Other services that serve Old Trafford are Arriva's 79 service (Stretford – Swinton), which stops on Chester Road and 245 (Altrincham – Exchange Quay), which stops on Trafford Wharf Road, plus First Greater Manchester service 53 (Cheetham – Pendleton) and Stagecoach's 84 service (Withington Hospital – Manchester), which stop at nearby Trafford Bar tram stop. The ground also has several car parks, all within walking distance of the stadium; these are free to park in on non-matchdays.
**Bibliography**
- Barnes, Justyn; Bostock, Adam; Butler, Cliff; Ferguson, Jim; Meek, David; Mitten, Andy; Pilger, Sam; Taylor, Frank OBE; Tyrrell, Tom (2001).
*The Official Manchester United Illustrated Encyclopaedia*. London: Manchester United Books. ISBN 0-233-99964-7. - Brandon, Derek (1978).
*A–Z of Manchester Football: 100 Years of Rivalry*. London: Boondoggle. - Butt, R. V. J. (1995).
*The Directory of Railway Stations*. Patrick Stephens. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. - Inglis, Simon (1996) [1985].
*Football Grounds of Britain*(3rd ed.). London: CollinsWillow. ISBN 0-00-218426-5. - James, Gary (2008).
*Manchester – A Football History*. Halifax: James Ward. ISBN 978-0-9558127-0-5. - McCartney, Iain (1996).
*Old Trafford – Theatre of Dreams*. Harefield: Yore Publications. ISBN 1-874427-96-8. - Mitten, Andy (2007).
*The Man Utd Miscellany*. London: Vision Sports Publishing. ISBN 978-1-905326-27-3. - Murphy, Alex (2006).
*The Official Illustrated History of Manchester United*. London: Orion Books. ISBN 0-7528-7603-1. - Rollin, Glenda; Rollin, Jack (2008).
*Sky Sports Football Yearbook 2008–2009*. Sky Sports Football Yearbooks. London: Headline Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-7553-1820-9. - White, John (2007).
*The United Miscellany*. London: Carlton Books. ISBN 978-1-84442-745-1. - White, John D. T. (2008).
*The Official Manchester United Almanac*(1st ed.). London: Orion Books. ISBN 978-0-7528-9192-7.
**Notes**
## External links
- Old Trafford at ManUtd.com
- Old Trafford Stadium Hotel
|
# Singapore - Wikipedia
Republic of Singapore | |
|---|---|
Motto: Majulah Singapura (Malay)"Onward Singapore" | |
Anthem: Majulah Singapura (Malay)"Onward Singapore" | |
| Capital | Singapore (city-state) |
| Largest planning area by population | Tampines |
| Official languages | |
| National language | Malay |
| Ethnic groups (2023) | |
| Religion (2020) | |
| Demonym(s) | Singaporean |
| Government | Unitary parliamentary republic |
| Tharman Shanmugaratnam | |
| Lawrence Wong | |
| Legislature | Parliament |
| Independence | |
| 3 June 1959 | |
| 16 September 1963 | |
| 9 August 1965 | |
| Area | |
• Total | 735.7 km2 (284.1 sq mi) (176th) |
| Population | |
• 2024 estimate | 6,040,000 (113th) |
• Density | 7,804/km2 (20,212.3/sq mi) (3rd) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2025 estimate |
• Total | $952.6 billion (34th) |
• Per capita | $156,755 (1st) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2025 estimate |
• Total | $564.7 billion (27th) |
• Per capita | $93,956 (4th) |
| Gini (2023) | 43.3 medium inequality |
| HDI (2023) | 0.946 very high (13th) |
| Currency | Singapore dollar (S$) (SGD) |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (SGT) |
| Date format | dd-mm-yyyy (AD) |
| Calling code | +65 |
| ISO 3166 code | SG |
| Internet TLD | .sg |
**Singapore**, officially the **Republic of Singapore**, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree of latitude (137 kilometres or 85 miles) north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bordering the Strait of Malacca to the west, the Singapore Strait to the south along with the Riau Islands in Indonesia, the South China Sea to the east, and the Straits of Johor along with the State of Johor in Malaysia to the north.
In its early history, Singapore was a maritime emporium known as *Temasek*; subsequently, it was part of a major constituent part of several successive thalassocratic empires. Its contemporary era began in 1819, when Stamford Raffles established Singapore as an entrepôt trading post of the British Empire. In 1867, Singapore came under the direct control of Britain as part of the Straits Settlements. During World War II, Singapore was occupied by Japan in 1942 and returned to British control as a Crown colony following Japan's surrender in 1945. Singapore gained self-governance in 1959 and, in 1963, became part of the new federation of Malaysia, alongside Malaya, North Borneo, and Sarawak. Ideological differences led to Singapore's expulsion from the federation two years later; Singapore became an independent sovereign country in 1965. After early years of turbulence and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation rapidly developed to become one of the Four Asian Tigers.
As a highly developed country, it has one of the highest PPP-adjusted GDP per capita in the world. It is also identified as a tax haven. Singapore is the only country in Asia with a AAA sovereign credit rating from all major rating agencies. It is a major aviation, financial, and maritime shipping hub and has consistently been ranked as one of the most expensive cities to live in for expatriates and foreign workers. Singapore ranks highly in key social indicators: education, healthcare, quality of life, personal safety, infrastructure, and housing, with a home-ownership rate of 88 percent. Singaporeans enjoy one of the longest life expectancies, fastest Internet connection speeds, lowest infant mortality rates, and lowest levels of corruption in the world. It has the third highest population density of any country, although there are numerous green and recreational spaces as a result of urban planning. With a multicultural population and in recognition of the cultural identities of the major ethnic groups within the nation, Singapore has four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil. English is the common language, with exclusive use in numerous public services. Multi-racialism is enshrined in the constitution and continues to shape national policies.
Singapore is a parliamentary republic and its legal system is based on common law. While it is constitutionally a multi-party democracy where free elections are regularly held, it functions as a *de facto* one-party state, with the People's Action Party (PAP) maintaining continuous political dominance since 1959. The PAP's longstanding control has resulted in limited political pluralism and a highly centralised governance structure over national institutions. One of the five founding members of ASEAN, Singapore is also the headquarters of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Secretariat, the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council Secretariat, and is the host city of many international conferences and events. Singapore is also a member of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the East Asia Summit, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the Commonwealth of Nations.
## Name and etymology
The English name of "Singapore" is an anglicisation of the native Malay name for the country, *Singapura* (Malay pronunciation: [siŋapura] ⓘ), which was in turn derived from the Sanskrit word for 'lion city' (Sanskrit: सिंहपुर; romanised: *Siṃhapura*; Brahmi: 𑀲𑀺𑀁𑀳𑀧𑀼𑀭; literally "lion city"; *siṃha* means 'lion', *pura* means 'city' or 'fortress'). Pulau Ujong was one of the earliest references to Singapore Island, which corresponds to a Chinese account from the third century referred to a place as *Pú Luó Zhōng* (Chinese: 蒲 羅 中), a transcription of the Malay name for 'island at the end of a peninsula'. Early references to the name Temasek (or Tumasik) are found in the Nagarakretagama, a Javanese eulogy written in 1365, and a Vietnamese source from the same time period. The name possibly means *Sea Town*, being derived from the Malay *tasek*, meaning 'sea' or 'lake'. The Chinese traveller Wang Dayuan visited a place around 1330 named *Danmaxi* (Chinese: 淡馬錫; pinyin: *Dànmǎxí*; Wade–Giles: *Tan Ma Hsi*) or *Tam ma siak*, depending on pronunciation; this may be a transcription of Temasek, alternatively, it may be a combination of the Malay *Tanah* meaning 'land' and Chinese *xi* meaning 'tin', which was traded on the island.
Variations of the name *Siṃhapura* were used for a number of cities throughout the region prior to the establishment of the Kingdom of Singapura. In Hindu–Buddhist culture, lions were associated with power and protection, which may explain the attraction of such a name. The name *Singapura* supplanted Temasek sometime before the 15th century, after the establishment of the Kingdom of Singapura on the island by a fleeing Sumatran *Raja* (prince) from Palembang. However, the precise time and reason for the name change is unknown. The semi-historical Malay Annals state that Temasek was christened *Singapura* by Sang Nila Utama, a 13th-century Sumatran *Raja* from Palembang. The Annals state that Sang Nila Utama encountered a strange beast on the island that he took to be a lion. Seeing this as an omen, he established the town of *Singapura* where he encountered the beast. The second hypothesis, drawn from Portuguese sources, postulates that this mythical story is based on the real life Parameswara of Palembang. Parameswara declared independence from Majapahit and mounted a Lion Throne. After then being driven into exile by the Javanese, he usurped control over Temasek. He may have rechristened the area as *Singapura*, recalling the throne he had been driven from.
Under Japanese occupation, Singapore was renamed *Syonan-to* (Japanese: 昭 南, Hepburn: *Shōnan*), meaning 'light of the south'. Singapore is sometimes referred to by the nickname the "Garden City", in reference to its parks and tree-lined streets. Another informal name, the "Little Red Dot", was adopted after an article in the *Asian Wall Street Journal* of 4 August 1998 said that Indonesian President B. J. Habibie referred to Singapore as a red dot on a map.
## History
### Ancient Singapore
In 1299, according to the *Malay Annals*, the Kingdom of Singapura was founded on the island by Sang Nila Utama. Although the historicity of the accounts as given in the *Malay Annals* is the subject of academic debates, it is nevertheless known from various documents that Singapore in the 14th century, then known as Temasek, was a trading port under the influence of both the Majapahit Empire and the Siamese kingdoms, and was a part of the Indosphere. These Indianised kingdoms were characterised by surprising resilience, political integrity and administrative stability. Historical sources also indicate that around the end of the 14th century, its ruler Parameswara was attacked by either the Majapahit or the Siamese, forcing him to move to Malacca where he founded the Sultanate of Malacca. Archaeological evidence suggests that the main settlement on Fort Canning Hill was abandoned around this time, although a small trading settlement continued in Singapore for some time afterwards. In 1613, Portuguese raiders burned down the settlement, and the island faded into obscurity for the next two centuries. By then, Singapore was nominally part of the Johor Sultanate. The wider maritime region and much trade was under Dutch control for the following period after the 1641 Dutch conquest of Malacca.
### British colonisation
The British governor Stamford Raffles arrived in Singapore on 28 January 1819 and soon recognised the island as a natural choice for the new port. The island was then nominally ruled by Tengku Abdul Rahman, the Sultan of Johor, who was controlled by the Dutch and the Bugis. However, the Sultanate was weakened by factional division: Abdul Rahman, the Temenggong of Johor to Tengku Abdul Rahman, as well as his officials, were loyal to the Sultan's elder brother Tengku Long, who was living in exile in Penyengat Island, Riau Islands. With the Temenggong's help, Raffles managed to smuggle Tengku Long back into Singapore. Raffles offered to recognise Tengku Long as the rightful Sultan of Johor, under the title of Sultan Hussein, as well as provide him with a yearly payment of $5000 and another $3000 to the Temenggong; in return, Sultan Hussein would grant the British the right to establish a trading post on Singapore. The Treaty of Singapore was signed on 6 February 1819.
In 1824, a further treaty with the Sultan led to the entire island becoming a part of the British Empire. In 1826, Singapore became part of the Straits Settlements, then under the jurisdiction of British India. Singapore became the regional capital in 1836. Prior to Raffles' arrival, there were only about a thousand people living on the island, mostly indigenous Malays along with a handful of Chinese. By 1860 the population had swelled to over 80,000, more than half being Chinese. Many of these early immigrants came to work on the pepper and gambier plantations. In 1867, the Straits Settlements were separated from British India, coming under the direct control of Britain. Later, in the 1890s, when the rubber industry became established in Malaya and Singapore, the island became a global centre for rubber sorting and export.
Singapore was not greatly affected by the First World War (1914–18), as the conflict did not spread to Southeast Asia. The only significant event during the war was the 1915 Singapore Mutiny by Muslim sepoys from British India, who were garrisoned in Singapore. After hearing rumours that they were to be sent to fight the Ottoman Empire, a Muslim state, the soldiers rebelled, killing their officers and several British civilians before the mutiny was suppressed by non-Muslim troops arriving from Johore and Burma.
After World War I, the British built the large Singapore Naval Base as part of the defensive Singapore strategy. Originally announced in 1921, the construction of the base proceeded at a slow pace until the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931. Costing $60 million and not fully completed in 1938, it was nonetheless the largest dry dock in the world, the third-largest floating dock, and had enough fuel tanks to support the entire British navy for six months. The base was defended by heavy 15-inch (380 mm) naval guns stationed at Fort Siloso, Fort Canning and Labrador, as well as a Royal Air Force airfield at Tengah Air Base. Winston Churchill touted it as the "Gibraltar of the East", and military discussions often referred to the base as simply "East of Suez". However, the British Home Fleet was stationed in Europe, and the British could not afford to build a second fleet to protect their interests in Asia. The plan was for the Home Fleet to sail quickly to Singapore in the event of an emergency. As a consequence, after World War II broke out in 1939, the fleet was fully occupied with defending Britain, leaving Singapore vulnerable to Japanese invasion.
### Japanese occupation
During the Pacific War, the Japanese invasion of Malaya culminated in the Battle of Singapore. When the British force of 60,000 troops surrendered on 15 February 1942, British prime minister Winston Churchill called the defeat "the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history". British and Empire losses during the fighting for Singapore were heavy, with a total of nearly 85,000 personnel captured. About 5,000 were killed or wounded, of which Australians made up the majority. Japanese casualties during the fighting in Singapore amounted to 1,714 killed and 3,378 wounded. The occupation was to become a major turning point in the histories of several nations, including those of Japan, Britain, and Singapore. Japanese newspapers triumphantly declared the victory as deciding the general situation of the war. Between 5,000 and 25,000 ethnic Chinese people were killed in the subsequent Sook Ching massacre. British forces had planned to liberate Singapore in 1945/1946; however, the war ended before these operations could be carried out.
### Post-war period
After the Japanese surrender to the Allies on 15 August 1945, Singapore fell into a brief state of violence and disorder; looting and revenge-killing were widespread. British, Australian, and Indian troops led by Lord Louis Mountbatten returned to Singapore to receive the formal surrender of Japanese forces in the region from General Seishirō Itagaki on behalf of General Hisaichi Terauchi on 12 September 1945. Meanwhile, Tomoyuki Yamashita was tried by a US military commission for war crimes, but not for crimes committed by his troops in Malaya or Singapore. He was convicted and hanged in the Philippines on 23 February 1946.
Much of the infrastructure in Singapore had been destroyed during the war, including those needed to supply utilities. A shortage of food led to malnutrition, disease, and rampant crime and violence. A series of strikes in 1947 caused massive stoppages in public transport and other services. However, by late 1947 the economy began to recover, facilitated by a growing international demand for tin and rubber. The failure of Britain to successfully defend its colony against the Japanese changed its image in the eyes of Singaporeans. British Military Administration ended on 1 April 1946, and Singapore became a separate Crown Colony. In July 1947, separate Executive and Legislative Councils were established and the election of six members of the Legislative Council was scheduled for the following year.
During the 1950s, Chinese communists, with strong ties to the trade unions and Chinese schools, waged a guerrilla war against the government, leading to the Malayan Emergency. The 1954 National Service riots, Hock Lee bus riots, and Chinese middle schools riots in Singapore were all linked to these events. David Marshall, pro-independence leader of the Labour Front, won Singapore's first general election in 1955. He led a delegation to London, and Britain rejected his demand for complete self-rule. He resigned and was replaced by Lim Yew Hock in 1956, and after further negotiations Britain agreed to grant Singapore full internal self-government for all matters except defence and foreign affairs on 3 June 1959. Days before, in the 30 May 1959 election, the People's Action Party (PAP) won a landslide victory. Governor Sir William Allmond Codrington Goode served as the first Yang di-Pertuan Negara (Head of State).
### Within Malaysia
PAP leaders believed that Singapore's future lay with Malaya, due to strong ties between the two. It was thought that reuniting with Malaya would benefit the economy by creating a common market, alleviating ongoing unemployment woes in Singapore. However, a sizeable left-wing faction of the PAP was strongly opposed to the merger, fearing a loss of influence, and hence formed the Barisan Sosialis, after being kicked out from the PAP. The ruling party of Malaya, United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), was staunchly anti-communist, and it was suspected UMNO would support the non-communist factions of PAP. UMNO, initially sceptical of the idea of a merger due to distrust of the PAP government and concern that the large ethnic Chinese population in Singapore would alter the racial balance in Malaya on which their political power base depended, became supportive of the idea of the merger due to joint fear of a communist takeover.
On 27 May 1961, Malaya's prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, made a surprise proposal for a new Federation called Malaysia, which would unite the current and former British possessions in the region: the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, Brunei, North Borneo, and Sarawak. UMNO leaders believed that the additional Malay population in the Bornean territories would balance Singapore's Chinese population. The British government, for its part, believed that the merger would prevent Singapore from becoming a haven for communism. To obtain a mandate for a merger, the PAP held a referendum on the merger. This referendum included a choice of different terms for a merger with Malaysia and had no option for avoiding merger altogether. On 16 September 1963, Singapore joined with Malaya, the North Borneo, and Sarawak to form the new Federation of Malaysia under the terms of the Malaysia Agreement. Under this Agreement, Singapore had a relatively high level of autonomy compared to the other states of Malaysia.
Indonesia opposed the formation of Malaysia due to its own claims over Borneo and launched *Konfrontasi* ("Confrontation" in Indonesian) in response to the formation of Malaysia. On 10 March 1965, a bomb planted by Indonesian saboteurs on a mezzanine floor of MacDonald House exploded, killing three people and injuring 33 others. It was the deadliest of at least 42 bomb incidents which occurred during the confrontation. Two members of the Indonesian Marine Corps, Osman bin Haji Mohamed Ali and Harun bin Said, were eventually convicted and executed for the crime. The explosion caused US$250,000 (equivalent to US$2,494,456 in 2024) in damages to MacDonald House.
Even after the merger, the Singaporean government and the Malaysian central government disagreed on many political and economic issues. Despite an agreement to establish a common market, Singapore continued to face restrictions when trading with the rest of Malaysia. In retaliation, Singapore did not extend to Sabah and Sarawak the full extent of the loans agreed to for economic development of the two eastern states. Talks soon broke down, and abusive speeches and writing became rife on both sides. This led to communal strife in Singapore, culminating in the 1964 race riots. On 7 August 1965, Malaysian prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, seeing no alternative to avoid further bloodshed (and with the help of secret negotiations by PAP leaders, as revealed in 2015) advised the Parliament of Malaysia that it should vote to expel Singapore from Malaysia. On 9 August 1965, the Malaysian Parliament voted 126 to 0 to move a bill to amend the constitution, expelling Singapore from Malaysia, which left Singapore as a newly independent country.
### Republic of Singapore
After being expelled from Malaysia, Singapore became independent as the Republic of Singapore on 9 August 1965, with Lee Kuan Yew and Yusof bin Ishak as the first prime minister and president respectively. In 1967, the country co-founded the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Race riots broke out once more in 1969. Lee Kuan Yew's emphasis on rapid economic growth, support for business entrepreneurship, and limitations on internal democracy shaped Singapore's policies for the next half-century. Economic growth continued throughout the 1980s, with the unemployment rate falling to 3% and real GDP growth averaging at about 8% up until 1999. During the 1980s, Singapore began to shift towards high-tech industries, such as the wafer fabrication sector, in order to remain competitive as neighbouring countries began manufacturing with cheaper labour. Singapore Changi Airport was opened in 1981 and Singapore Airlines was formed. The Port of Singapore became one of the world's busiest ports and the service and tourism industries also grew immensely during this period.
The People's Action Party (PAP) has remained in power since independence. Some activists and opposition politicians see the government's strict regulation of political and media activities as an infringement on political rights. In response, Singapore has seen several significant political changes, such as the introduction of the non-constituency members of parliament in 1984 to allow up to three losing candidates from opposition parties to be appointed as MPs. Group representation constituencies (GRCs) were introduced in 1988 to create multi-seat electoral divisions, intended to ensure minority representation in parliament. Nominated members of parliament were introduced in 1990 to allow non-elected non-partisan MPs. The constitution was amended in 1991 to provide for an elected president who has veto power in the use of past reserves and appointments to certain public offices.
In 1990, Goh Chok Tong succeeded Lee and became Singapore's second prime minister. During Goh's tenure, the country went through the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2003 SARS outbreak. In 2004, Lee Hsien Loong, the eldest son of Lee Kuan Yew, became the country's third prime minister. Lee Hsien Loong's tenure included the 2008 financial crisis, the resolution of a dispute over land ownership at Tanjong Pagar railway station between Singapore and Malaysia, the introduction of the two integrated resorts (IRs), located at the Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The PAP suffered its worst ever electoral results in 2011, winning just 60% of votes, amidst debate over issues including the influx of foreign workers and the high cost of living. On 23 March 2015, Lee Kuan Yew died, and a one-week period of public mourning was observed nationwide. Subsequently, the PAP regained its dominance in Parliament through the September general election, receiving 69.9% of the popular vote, although this remained lower than the 2001 tally of 75.3% and the 1968 tally of 86.7%. The 2020 election held in July saw the PAP drop to 61% of the vote, while the Workers' Party took 10 of the 93 seats, the highest number ever won by another party. On 15 May 2024, Lawrence Wong became Singapore's fourth Prime Minister; he is the first prime minister born after independence. His first electoral test in the 2025 election saw the PAP winning 65.5% of the vote and 87 out of 97 seats in Parliament.
## Government and politics
Singapore is a parliamentary republic based on the Westminster system. The Constitution of Singapore is the supreme law of the country, establishing the structure and responsibility of governance. The President is the head of state. The governance of Singapore is separated into three branches:
- Executive: The executive consists of the Cabinet, led by the prime minister, and the Attorney-General's chambers, led by the attorney-general. The Cabinet is collectively responsible for all government policies and the day-to-day administration of the affairs of state. It is typically composed of members of the Singapore Parliament. The prime minister is appointed by the president, and the ministers in the Cabinet and the attorney-general are appointed by the president, acting on the advice and consent of the prime minister. The prime minister is the effective head of the executive branch of government.
- Legislature: The Singapore Parliament is unicameral and, together with the president, comprises the legislature. Members of parliament (MP) consist of elected, non-constituency, and nominated members. The majority of MPs are elected into parliament at a general election. The Singapore Parliament is collectively responsible for enacting the laws governing the state. The president holds limited discretionary powers of oversight over the government. The president's veto powers are further subject to parliamentary overruling.
- Judiciary: The judiciary's function is to independently administer justice and is headed by the chief justice of the Republic of Singapore. The judges and judicial commissioners are appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister. The Supreme Court and State Courts adjudicates in civil disputes between persons, convicts or acquits accused persons in criminal prosecutions, and interprets laws to decide on its constitutionality. Any law or provision of a law found to be unconstitutional can be struck down by the Supreme Court.
The president is directly elected by popular vote for a renewable six-year term. Requirements for this position, which were enacted by the PAP government, are extremely stringent, such that only a handful of people qualify for the candidacy. These qualifications include that a candidate needs to be a person at least 45 years of age who is no longer a member of a political party, to either have held public office for at least 3 years in a number of specific public service leadership roles, or to have 3 years experience as chief executive of a fully profitable private sector company with at least S$500 million in shareholders' equity, be a resident in Singapore for at least 10 years, not have a criminal record, and more. Candidates must also "satisfy" the Presidential Elections Committee (PEC) that he or she is a person of integrity, good character and reputation.
From 2017, the Constitution requires that presidential elections be "reserved" for a racial community if no one from that ethnic group has been elected to the presidency in the five most recent terms. Only members of that community may qualify as candidates in a reserved presidential election. In the 2017 presidential election, this combination of stringent requirements and a reserved election that required the candidate to be of the 13% Malay ethnic group led to the PEC approving a single candidate for the presidency; Halimah Yacob, considered part of the Malay community, won in an uncontested election. She also became Singapore's first female president.
Members of Parliament (MPs) are elected at least every five years (or sooner with a snap election). The 14th and current Parliament has 103 members; 93 were directly elected from the 31 constituencies, nine are nonpartisan nominated members appointed by the president, and three are non-constituency members from opposition parties who were not elected in the last general election but appointed to the legislature to increase opposition party representation. In group representation constituencies (GRCs), political parties assemble teams of candidates to contest elections. At least one MP in a GRC must be of an ethnic minority background. All elections are held using first-past-the-post voting. MPs host weekly political surgeries, called "Meet-the-People Sessions", where they help constituents resolve personal issues which can be related to housing, financial assistance, and immigration.
The People's Action Party occupies a dominant position in Singaporean politics, having won large parliamentary majorities in every election since self-governance was granted in 1959. The PAP, self-described as pragmatic, have a syncretic ideology combining free-market principles, civil nationalism, and welfarism. Despite promulgating restrictions on civil liberties, Singapore under the PAP has seen consistent economic growth and political stability. The most represented and popular opposition party is the centre-left Workers' Party, which holds 8 seats in Parliament.
The long-standing hegemony of the People's Action Party has led to Singapore being described by academics as an illiberal democracy, or a soft-authoritarian state in which the PAP faces little to no feasible political competition to its rule of the country. The multi-party democratic process of Singapore has been described as "minimal" in comparison to the state's focus on economic development and social order. According to Gordon P. Means, professor emeritus of political science at McMaster University, Singapore reinvented the "benevolent" yet "highly authoritarian" colonial system of governance inherited from Britain rather than forging a full democracy. A conservative ideology of "Asian values" evolved to replace British rule, based on "communal loyalty, distrust of government, and avoidance of individual or collective responsibility for wider public interests", with less regard for human rights in the nascent Western sense. The fact that "neither the public nor elites had experience with democracy" helped create Singapore's political culture, as dominated by status-focused hierarchies committed to economic development. The legacy of Asian values and the limited political culture within Singapore has led to the country being described as "classic illustration of soft authoritarianism", and "profoundly illiberal".
The judicial system is based on English common law, continuing the legal tradition established during British rule and with substantial local differences. Criminal law is based on the Indian Penal Code originally intended for British India, and was at the time as a crown colony also adopted by the British colonial authorities in Singapore and remains the basis of the criminal code in the country with a few exceptions, amendments and repeals since it came into force. Trial by jury was abolished in 1970. Singapore is known for its strict laws and conservative stances on crime; both corporal punishment (by caning) and capital punishment (by hanging) are retained and commonly used as legal penalties.
The right to freedom of speech and association is guaranteed by Article 14(1) of the Constitution of Singapore, although there are provisions in the subsequent subsection that regulate them. The government has restricted freedom of speech and freedom of the press as well as some civil and political rights. In 2023, Singapore was ranked 129th out of 180 nations by Reporters Without Borders on the global Press Freedom Index. Freedom House ranks Singapore as "partly free" in its *Freedom in the World* report, and the Economist Intelligence Unit ranks Singapore as a "flawed democracy", the second freest rank of four, in its "Democracy Index". All public gatherings of five or more people require police permits, and protests may legally be held only at the Speakers' Corner.
In the Corruption Perceptions Index, which ranks countries by "perceived levels of public sector corruption", Singapore has consistently ranked as one of the least corrupt countries in the world, in spite of being illiberal. Singapore's unique combination of a strong, soft authoritarian government with an emphasis on meritocracy is known as the "Singapore model", and is regarded as a key factor behind Singapore's political stability, economic growth, and harmonious social order. In 2021, the World Justice Project's Rule of Law Index ranked Singapore as 17th overall among the world's 193 countries for adherence to the rule of law. Singapore ranked high on the factors of order and security (#3), absence of corruption (#3), regulatory enforcement (#4), civil justice (#8), and criminal justice (#7), and ranked significantly lower on factors of open government (#34), constraints on government powers (#32), and fundamental rights (#38).
### Foreign relations
Singapore's stated foreign policy priority is maintaining security in Southeast Asia and surrounding territories. An underlying principle is political and economic stability in the region. It has diplomatic relations with more than 180 sovereign states.
As one of the five founding members of ASEAN, Singapore is a strong supporter of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and the ASEAN Investment Area (AIA); it is also the host of the APEC Secretariat. Singapore is also a founding member of The Forum of Small States (FOSS), a voluntary and informal grouping at the UN.
Singapore maintains membership in other regional organisations, such as Asia–Europe Meeting, the Forum for East Asia-Latin American Cooperation, the Indian Ocean Rim Association, and the East Asia Summit. It is also a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, the United Nations and the Commonwealth. While Singapore is not a formal member of the G20, it has been invited to participate in G20 processes in most years since 2010. Singapore is also the location of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) Secretariat.
In general, bilateral relations with other ASEAN members are strong; however, disagreements have arisen, and relations with neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia have sometimes been strained. Malaysia and Singapore have clashed over the delivery of fresh water to Singapore, and access by the Singapore Armed Forces to Malaysian airspace. Border issues exist with Malaysia and Indonesia, and both have banned the sale of marine sand to Singapore over disputes about Singapore's land reclamation. Some previous disputes, such as the Pedra Branca dispute, have been resolved by the International Court of Justice. Piracy in the Strait of Malacca has been a cause of concern for all three countries. Close economic ties exist with Brunei, and the two share a pegged currency value, through a Currency Interchangeability Agreement between the two countries which makes both Brunei dollar and Singapore dollar banknotes and coins legal tender in either country.
The first diplomatic contact with China was made in the 1970s, with full diplomatic relations established in the 1990s. China has been Singapore's largest trading partner since 2013, after surpassing Malaysia. Singapore and the United States share a long-standing close relationship, in particular in defence, the economy, health, and education. Singapore has also increased co-operation with ASEAN members and China to strengthen regional security and fight terrorism, and participated in ASEAN's first joint maritime exercise with China in 2018. It has also given support to the US-led coalition to fight terrorism, with bilateral co-operation in counter-terrorism and counter-proliferation initiatives, and joint military exercises.
As Singapore has diplomatic relations with both the United States and North Korea, and was one of the few countries that have relationships with both countries, in June 2018, it hosted a historic summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the first-ever meeting between the sitting leaders of the two nations. It also hosted the Ma–Xi meeting in 2015, the first meeting between the political leaders of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1950.
### Military
The Singaporean military, arguably the most technologically advanced in Southeast Asia, consists of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Digital and Intelligence Service. It is seen as the guarantor of the country's independence, translating into Singapore culture, involving all citizens in the country's defence. The government spent 2.7% of the country's GDP on the military in 2024, the highest in the region.
After its independence, Singapore had only two infantry regiments commanded by British officers. Considered too small to provide effective security for the new country, the development of its military forces became a priority. In addition, in October 1971, Britain pulled its military out of Singapore, leaving behind only a small British, Australian and New Zealand force as a token military presence. A great deal of initial support came from Israel, a country unrecognised by Singapore's neighbouring Muslim-majority nations of Malaysia and Indonesia. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) commanders were tasked by the Singapore Government to create the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) from scratch, and Israeli instructors were brought in to train Singaporean soldiers. Military courses were conducted according to the IDF's format, and Singapore adopted a system of conscription and reserve service based on the Israeli model. Singapore still maintains strong security ties with Israel and is one of the biggest buyers of Israeli arms and weapons systems, with one recent example being the MATADOR anti-tank weapon.
The SAF is being developed to respond to a wide range of issues in both conventional and unconventional warfare. The Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) is responsible for procuring resources for the military. The geographic restrictions of Singapore mean that the SAF must plan to fully repulse an attack, as they cannot fall back and re-group. The small size of the population has also affected the way the SAF has been designed, with a small active force and a large number of reserves.
Singapore has conscription for all able-bodied males at age 18, except those with a criminal record or who can prove that their loss would bring hardship to their families. Males who have yet to complete pre-university education, are awarded the Public Service Commission (PSC) scholarship, or are pursuing a local medical degree can opt to defer their draft. Though not required to perform military service, the number of women in the SAF has been increasing: since 1989 they have been allowed to fill military vocations formerly reserved for men. Before induction into a specific branch of the armed forces, recruits undergo at least nine weeks of basic military training.
Because of the scarcity of open land on the main island, training involving activities such as live firing and amphibious warfare are often carried out on smaller islands, typically barred to civilian access. However, large-scale drills, considered too dangerous to be performed in the country, have been performed in other countries such as Brunei, Indonesia, Thailand and the United States. In general, military exercises are held with foreign forces once or twice per week. Due to airspace and land constraints, the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) maintains a number of overseas bases in Australia, the United States, and France. The RSAF's 130 Squadron is based in RAAF Base Pearce, Western Australia, and its 126 Squadron is based in the Oakey Army Aviation Centre, Queensland. The RSAF has one squadron—the 150 Squadron—based in Cazaux Air Base in southern France. The RSAF's overseas detachments in the United States are: Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, Marana in Arizona, Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, and Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.
The SAF has sent forces to assist in operations outside the country, in areas such as Iraq, and Afghanistan, in both military and civilian roles. In the region, they have helped to stabilise East Timor and have provided aid to Aceh in Indonesia following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Since 2009, the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) has deployed ships to the Gulf of Aden to aid in countering piracy efforts as part of Task Force 151. The SAF also helped in relief efforts during Hurricane Katrina, and Typhoon Haiyan. Singapore is part of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA), a military alliance with Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. According to the 2024 Global Peace Index, Singapore is the 5th most peaceful country in the world.
### Human rights
Capital punishment is a legal and enforced penalty in Singapore. The country is one of four in the developed world to retain the death penalty, along with the United States, Japan and Taiwan. Particularly, its use against drug trafficking has been a source of contention with non-governmental organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The government has responded that it has "no doubts" that it is the right policy and that there is "clear evidence" of serious deterrence, and that the law should be looked at upon in the wider context of "saving lives", particularly citizens. In 2004, Amnesty International claimed that some legal provisions of the Singapore system for the death penalty conflict with "the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty". The government has disputed Amnesty's claims, stating that their "position on abolition of the death penalty is by no means uncontested internationally" and that the report contains "grave errors of facts and misrepresentations".
From 1938 to 2023, sexual relations between men were technically illegal under Section 377A of the Penal Code, first introduced during British colonial rule. During the last few decades, this law was mostly unenforced and pressure to repeal it increased as homosexuality became more accepted by Singaporean society. Meanwhile, sexual relations between women had always been legal. In 2022, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that Singapore would repeal 377A, effectively decriminalising homosexual behaviour. Nevertheless, he added that the repeal will not affect the recognition of "traditional familial and societal norms," including how marriage is defined, leaving the legal status of same-sex marriage unchanged for the time, although the possibility of civil unions was not officially ruled out. Lee described this as a compromise between the conservative (and often religious) and progressive elements of Singaporean society to prevent further political fracturing. The law was officially repealed on 3 January 2023.
Pink Dot SG, an event held in support of the LGBT community, has drawn thousands of people annually since 2009 with increasing attendance. According to a survey conducted by the Institute of Policy Studies in 2019, Singaporean society has become more liberal on LGBT rights. In the survey, more than 20% of people said that sexual relations between adults of the same sex were not wrong at all or not wrong most of the time, up from 10% in 2013. The survey found that 27% felt the same way about same-sex marriage (an increase from 15% in 2013) and 30% did so about same-sex couples adopting a child (an increase from 24% in 2013). In 2021, six Singaporeans protested for improved trans protections in the educational system outside the Ministry of Education headquarters at Buona Vista.
Pimps often traffic women from neighbouring countries such as China, Malaysia and Vietnam at their brothels as well as rented apartments and hostels for higher profit margins when they get a cut from customers. In response, amendments were made to the Women's Charter by the government in 2019 to legislate more serious punishments for traffickers, including imprisonment of up to seven years and a fine of S$100,000.
## Economy
Singapore has a highly developed market economy, based historically on extended entrepôt trade. Along with Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan, Singapore is one of the Four Asian Tigers, and has surpassed its peers in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. Between 1965 and 1995, growth rates averaged around 6 per cent per annum, transforming the living standards of the population.
The Singaporean economy is regarded as free, innovative, dynamic and business-friendly. For several years, Singapore has been one of the few countries with a AAA credit rating from the big three, and the only Asian country to achieve this rating. Singapore attracts a large amount of foreign investment as a result of its location, skilled workforce, low tax rates, advanced infrastructure and zero-tolerance against corruption. It was the world's 4th most competitive economy in 2023, according to the International Institute for Management Development's World Competitiveness Ranking of 64 countries, with the highest GDP (PPP) per capita. Roughly 44 percent of the Singaporean workforce is made up of non-Singaporeans. Despite market freedom, Singapore's government operations have a significant stake in the economy, contributing 22% of the GDP. The city is a popular location for conferences and events.
The currency of Singapore is the Singapore dollar (SGD or S$), issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). It has been interchangeable with the Brunei dollar at par value since 1967. MAS manages its monetary policy by allowing the Singapore dollar exchange rate to rise or fall within an undisclosed trading band. This is different from most central banks, which use interest rates to manage policy. Singapore has the world's eleventh largest foreign reserves, and one of the highest net international investment position per capita.
Singapore has been identified as a tax haven for the wealthy due to its low tax rates on personal income and tax exemptions on foreign-based income and capital gains. Individuals such as Australian millionaire retailer Brett Blundy and multi-billionaire Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin are two examples of wealthy individuals who have settled in Singapore. In 2009, Singapore was removed from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) "liste grise" of tax havens, and ranked fourth on the Tax Justice Network's 2015 Financial Secrecy Index of the world's off-shore financial service providers, banking one-eighth of the world's offshore capital, while "providing numerous tax avoidance and evasion opportunities". In August 2016, *The Straits Times* reported that Indonesia had decided to create tax havens on two islands near Singapore to bring Indonesian capital back into the tax base. In October 2016, the Monetary Authority of Singapore admonished and fined UBS and DBS and withdrew Falcon Private Bank's banking licence for their alleged role in the Malaysian Sovereign Fund scandal.
In 2016, Singapore was rated the world's most expensive city for the third consecutive year by the Economist Intelligence Unit, and this remained true in 2018. The government provides numerous assistance programmes to the homeless and needy through the Ministry of Social and Family Development, so acute poverty is rare. Some of the programmes include providing financial assistance to needy households, providing free medical care at government hospitals, and paying for children's tuition. Other benefits include compensation for gym fees to encourage citizens to exercise, up to S$166,000 as a baby bonus for each citizen, heavily subsidised healthcare, financial aid for the disabled, the provision of reduced-cost laptops for poor students, rebates for costs such as public transport and utility bills, and more. In the 2025 report, Singapore was ranked 13th in the world in the Human Development Index (HDI) with a value of 0.946, making it one of four regions in Asia to be ranked within the top 20, with the other three being Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, and South Korea.
## Geography
Singapore consists of 63 islands, including the main island, Pulau Ujong. There are two man-made connections to Johor, Malaysia: the Johor–Singapore Causeway in the north and the Tuas Second Link in the west. Jurong Island, Pulau Tekong, Pulau Ubin and Sentosa are the largest of Singapore's smaller islands. The highest natural point is Bukit Timah Hill at 163.63 m (537 ft). Under British rule, Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands were part of Singapore, and both were transferred to Australia in 1957. Pedra Branca is the nation's easternmost point.
Land reclamation projects have increased Singapore's land area from 580 km2 (220 sq mi) in the 1960s to 710 km2 (270 sq mi) by 2015, an increase of some 22% (130 km2). The country is projected to reclaim another 56 km2 (20 sq mi). Some projects involve merging smaller islands through land reclamation to form larger, more functional and habitable islands, as has been done with Jurong Island. The type of sand used in reclamation is found in rivers and beaches, rather than deserts, and is in great demand worldwide. In 2010 Singapore imported almost 15 million tons of sand for its projects, the demand being such that Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam have all restricted or barred the export of sand to Singapore in recent years. As a result, in 2016 Singapore switched to using polders for reclamation, in which an area is enclosed and then pumped dry.
### Nature
Singapore's urbanisation means that it has lost 95% of its historical forests, and now over half of the naturally occurring fauna and flora in Singapore is present in nature reserves, such as the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, which comprise only 0.25% of Singapore's land area. In 1967, to combat this decline in natural space, the government introduced the vision of making Singapore a "garden city", aiming to improve quality of life. Since then, nearly 10% of Singapore's land has been set aside for parks and nature reserves. The government has created plans to preserve the country's remaining wildlife. Singapore's well known gardens include the Singapore Botanic Gardens, a 165-year-old tropical garden and Singapore's first UNESCO World Heritage Site.
### Climate
Singapore has a tropical rainforest climate (Köppen: *Af*) with no distinctive seasons, uniform temperature and pressure, high humidity, and abundant rainfall. Temperatures usually range from 23 to 32 °C (73 to 90 °F). While temperature does not vary greatly throughout the year, there is a wetter monsoon season from November to February.
From July to October, there is often haze caused by bush fires in neighbouring Indonesia, usually from the island of Sumatra. Singapore follows the GMT+8 time zone, one hour ahead of the typical zone for its geographical location. This causes the sun to rise and set particularly late during February, where the sun rises at 7:15 am and sets around 7:20 pm. During July, the sun sets at around 7:15 pm. The earliest the sun rises and sets is in late October and early November when the sun rises at 6:46 am and sets at 6:50 pm.
Singapore recognises that climate change and rising sea levels in the decades ahead will have major implications for its low-lying coastline. It estimates that the nation will need to spend $100 billion over the course of the next century to address the issue. In its 2020 budget, the government set aside an initial $5 billion towards a Coastline and Flood Protection Fund. Singapore is the first country in Southeast Asia to levy a carbon tax on its largest carbon-emitting corporations producing more than 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year, at $5 per ton.
To reduce the country's dependence on fossil fuels, it has ramped up deployment of solar panels on rooftops and vertical surfaces of buildings, and other initiatives like building one of the world's largest floating solar farms at Tengeh Reservoir in Tuas.
| Climate data for Singapore (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1929–1941 and 1948–present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 35.2 (95.4) |
35.2 (95.4) |
36.0 (96.8) |
35.8 (96.4) |
35.4 (95.7) |
35.0 (95.0) |
34.0 (93.2) |
34.2 (93.6) |
34.4 (93.9) |
34.6 (94.3) |
34.6 (94.3) |
35.6 (96.1) |
36.0 (96.8) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 30.6 (87.1) |
31.5 (88.7) |
32.2 (90.0) |
32.4 (90.3) |
32.3 (90.1) |
31.9 (89.4) |
31.4 (88.5) |
31.4 (88.5) |
31.6 (88.9) |
31.8 (89.2) |
31.2 (88.2) |
30.5 (86.9) |
31.6 (88.9) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 26.8 (80.2) |
27.3 (81.1) |
27.8 (82.0) |
28.2 (82.8) |
28.6 (83.5) |
28.5 (83.3) |
28.2 (82.8) |
28.1 (82.6) |
28.0 (82.4) |
27.9 (82.2) |
27.2 (81.0) |
26.8 (80.2) |
27.8 (82.0) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 24.3 (75.7) |
24.6 (76.3) |
24.9 (76.8) |
25.3 (77.5) |
25.7 (78.3) |
25.7 (78.3) |
25.4 (77.7) |
25.3 (77.5) |
25.2 (77.4) |
25.0 (77.0) |
24.6 (76.3) |
24.3 (75.7) |
25.0 (77.0) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 19.4 (66.9) |
19.7 (67.5) |
20.2 (68.4) |
20.7 (69.3) |
21.2 (70.2) |
20.8 (69.4) |
19.7 (67.5) |
20.2 (68.4) |
20.7 (69.3) |
20.6 (69.1) |
21.1 (70.0) |
20.6 (69.1) |
19.4 (66.9) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 221.6 (8.72) |
105.1 (4.14) |
151.7 (5.97) |
164.3 (6.47) |
164.3 (6.47) |
135.3 (5.33) |
146.6 (5.77) |
146.9 (5.78) |
124.9 (4.92) |
168.3 (6.63) |
252.3 (9.93) |
331.9 (13.07) |
2,113.2 (83.20) |
| Average rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm) | 13 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 15 | 19 | 19 | 171 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 83.5 | 81.2 | 81.7 | 82.6 | 82.3 | 80.9 | 80.9 | 80.7 | 80.7 | 81.5 | 84.9 | 85.5 | 82.2 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 180.4 | 198.6 | 196.6 | 182.4 | 184.8 | 175.4 | 188.5 | 184.6 | 161.4 | 155.0 | 133.2 | 133.1 | 2,074 |
| Source 1: National Environment Agency | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: NOAA (sun only, 1991–2020) |
### Water supply
Singapore considers water a national security issue and the government has sought to emphasise conservation. Water access is universal and of high quality, though the country is projected to face significant water-stress by 2040. To circumvent this, the Public Utilities Board has implemented the "four national taps" strategy – water imported from neighbouring Malaysia, urban rainwater catchments, reclaimed water (NEWater) and seawater desalination. Singapore's approach does not rely only on physical infrastructure; it also emphasises proper legislation and enforcement, water pricing, public education as well as research and development. Singapore has declared that it will be water self-sufficient by the time its 1961 long-term water supply agreement with Malaysia expires in 2061. However, according to official forecasts, water demand in Singapore is expected to double from 1.4 to 2.8 billion litres (1.4 to 2.8 million cubic metres; 370 to 740 million US gallons) per day between 2010 and 2060. The increase is expected to come primarily from non-domestic water use, which accounted for 55% of water demand in 2010 and is expected to account for 70% of demand in 2060. By that time, water demand is expected to be met by reclaimed water at the tune of 50% and by desalination accounting for 30%, compared to only 20% supplied by internal catchments.
Singapore is expanding its recycling system and intends to spend S$10 billion (US$7.4 billion) in water treatment infrastructure upgrades. The Ulu Pandan wastewater treatment was specially built to test advanced used-water treatment processes before full deployment and won the *Water/Wastewater Project of the Year Award* at the 2018 Global Water Awards in Paris, France. Operation started in 2017 and was jointly developed by PUB and the Black & Veatch + AECOM Joint Venture.
### Virtual Singapore
Virtual Singapore is a 3D digital replica of Singapore, which is used by the Government of Singapore, Singapore Land Authority, and many more companies to plan for industrial changes. It is also used for disaster management.
## Transport
### Land
Singapore's public transport network is shaped up with trains (consisting of the MRT and LRT systems), buses and taxis. There are currently six MRT lines (North–South MRT line, East–West MRT line, North East MRT line, Circle MRT line, Downtown MRT line and Thomson–East Coast MRT line), three LRT lines serving the neighbourhoods of Bukit Panjang and Choa Chu Kang (Bukit Panjang LRT line), Sengkang (Sengkang LRT line) and Punggol (Punggol LRT line), covering around 241 km (150 mi) in total, and more than 300 bus routes in operation. Taxis are a popular form of transport as the fares are relatively affordable when compared to many other developed countries, whilst cars in Singapore are the most expensive to own worldwide.
Singapore has a road system covering 3,356 kilometres (2,085 mi), which includes 161 kilometres (100 mi) of expressways. The Singapore Area Licensing Scheme, implemented in 1975, became the world's first congestion pricing scheme, and included other complementary measures such as stringent car ownership quotas and improvements in mass transit. Upgraded in 1998 and renamed Electronic Road Pricing (ERP), the system introduced electronic toll collection, electronic detection, and video surveillance technology. A satellite-based system was due to replace the physical gantries by 2020, but has been delayed until 2026 due to global shortages in the supply of semiconductors. As Singapore is a small island with a high population density, the number of private cars on the road is restricted with a pre-set car population quota, to curb pollution and congestion. Car buyers must pay for Additional Registration Fees (ARF) duties of either 100%, 140%, 180% or 220% of the vehicle's Open Market Value (OMV), and bid for a Singaporean Certificate of Entitlement (COE) (that varies twice a month in supply based on the number of car registrations and de-registrations), which allows the car to be driven on the road for maximum period of 10 years. Car prices are generally significantly higher in Singapore than in other English-speaking countries. As with most Commonwealth countries, vehicles on the road and people walking on the streets keep to the left (left-hand traffic).
The Johor–Singapore Causeway (connecting Singapore with Johor Bahru, Malaysia) is the busiest international land border crossing in the world, whereby approximately 350,000 travellers cross the border checkpoints of both Woodlands Checkpoint and Sultan Iskandar Building daily (with an annual total of 128 million travellers). The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is responsible for all land transport-related infrastructure and operations in Singapore.
### Air
Singapore is a major international transport hub in Asia, serving some of the busiest sea and air trade routes. Changi Airport is an aviation centre for Southeast Asia and a stopover on Qantas' Kangaroo Route between Sydney and London. There are two civilian airports in Singapore, Changi Airport and Seletar Airport. The Changi Airport hosts a network of over 100 airlines connecting Singapore to some 300 cities in about 70 countries and territories worldwide. It has been rated one of the best international airports by international travel magazines, including being rated as the world's best airport for the first time in 2006 by Skytrax. It also had three of the ten busiest international air routes in the world in 2023: the busiest between Kuala Lumpur–Singapore, seventh busiest between Jakarta–Singapore, and ninth busiest between Bangkok Suvarnahbumi–Singapore.
Singapore Airlines, which is the flag carrier of Singapore, has been regarded as a 5-star airline by Skytrax and been in the world top 10 list of airlines for multiple consecutive years. It held the title of the World's Best Airline by Skytrax in 2023. It won this title 12 times. Its hub, Changi Airport had also been rated as the world's best airport from 2013 to 2020 before being superseded by Hamad International Airport in Doha. It reclaimed this title in 2023 before being superseded once more in 2024.
### Sea
The Port of Singapore, managed by port operators PSA International and Jurong Port, was the world's second-busiest port in 2019 in terms of shipping tonnage handled, at 2.85 billion gross tons (GT), and in terms of containerised traffic, at 37.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). It is also the world's second-busiest, behind Shanghai, in terms of cargo tonnage with 626 million tons handled. In addition, the port is the world's busiest for transshipment traffic and the world's biggest ship refuelling centre.
## Industry sectors
Singapore is the world's 3rd-largest foreign exchange centre, 6th-largest financial centre, 2nd-largest casino gambling market, 3rd-largest oil-refining and trading centre, largest oil-rig producer and hub for ship repair services, and largest logistics hub. The economy is diversified, with its top contributors being financial services, manufacturing, and oil-refining. Its main exports are refined petroleum, integrated circuits, and computers, which constituted 27% of the country's GDP in 2010. Other significant sectors include electronics, chemicals, mechanical engineering, and biomedical sciences. Singapore was ranked 4th in the Global Innovation Index in 2024 and 7th in 2022. In 2019, there were more than 60 semiconductor companies in Singapore, which together constituted 11% of the global market share. The semiconductor industry alone contributes around 7% of Singapore's GDP.
Singapore's largest companies are in the telecommunications, banking, transportation, and manufacturing sectors, many of which started as state-run statutory corporations and have since been publicly listed on the Singapore Exchange. Such companies include Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel), Singapore Technologies Engineering, Keppel Corporation, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC), Development Bank of Singapore (DBS), and United Overseas Bank (UOB). In 2011, after the 2008 financial crisis, OCBC, DBS and UOB were ranked by *Bloomberg Businessweek* as the world's 1st, 5th, and 6th strongest banks in the world, respectively. It is home to the headquarters of 3 *Fortune* Global 500 companies, the highest in the region.
The nation's best known global companies include Singapore Airlines, Changi Airport, and the Port of Singapore, all of which are among the most-awarded in their respective fields. Singapore Airlines was ranked as Asia's most-admired company, and the world's 19th most-admired company in 2015 by *Fortune*'s annual "50 most admired companies in the world" industry surveys. Other awards it has received include the US-based *Travel + Leisure*'s Best International Airline award, which it has won for 20 consecutive years. Changi Airport connects over 100 airlines to more than 300 cities. The strategic international air hub has more than 480 World's Best Airport awards as of 2015[update], and is known as the most-awarded airport in the world. Over ten free-trade agreements have been signed with other countries and regions. Singapore is the second-largest foreign investor in India. It is the 14th largest exporter and the 15th largest importer in the world.
### Tourism
Tourism is a major industry and contributor to the Singaporean economy, attracting 13.6 million international tourists in 2023, more than double Singapore's total population. Tourism contributed directly to about 3% of Singapore's GDP, on average, in the 10 years before 2023, excluding the Covid-19 pandemic years. Altogether, the sector generated approximately 8.6% of Singapore's employment in 2016.
In 2015, Lonely Planet and *The New York Times* listed Singapore as their top and 6th-best world destinations to visit, respectively. Well-known landmarks include the Merlion, the Esplanade, Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay, Jewel Changi Airport, CHIJMES, National Gallery Singapore, the Singapore Flyer, the Orchard Road shopping belt, the resort island of Sentosa, and the Singapore Botanic Gardens, Singapore's first UNESCO World Heritage Site, all located in southern and eastern Singapore.
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is the statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry which is tasked with the promotion of the country's tourism industry. In August 2017 the STB and the Economic Development Board (EDB) unveiled a unified brand, Singapore – Passion Made Possible, to market Singapore internationally for tourism and business purposes. The Orchard Road district, which contains multi-storey shopping centres and hotels, can be considered the centre of shopping and tourism in Singapore. Other popular tourist attractions include the Singapore Zoo, River Wonders, Bird Paradise and Night Safari (located in Northern Singapore). The Singapore Zoo has embraced the open zoo concept whereby animals are kept in enclosures, separated from visitors by hidden dry or wet moats, instead of caging the animals, and the River Wonders has 300 species of animals, including numerous endangered species. Singapore promotes itself as a medical tourism hub, with about 200,000 foreigners seeking medical care there each year. Singapore medical services aim to serve at least one million foreign patients annually and generate US$3 billion in revenue.
## Demographics
As of mid-2023, the estimated population of Singapore was 5,917,600, of whom 3,610,700 (61.6%) were citizens and the remaining 2,306,900 (38.4%) were either permanent residents (522,300) or international students, foreign workers, or dependants (1,644,500). The overall population increased 5% from the prior year, driven largely by foreign workers. This proportion is largely unchanged from the 2010 census.
The 2020 census reported that about 74.3% of residents were of Chinese descent, 13.5% of Malay descent, 9.0% of Indian descent, and 3.2% of other descent (such as Eurasian); this proportion was virtually identical to the 2010 census, with slight increases among Chinese and Malay (0.2% and 0.1% respectively) and minor decreases in Indian and others (0.2% and 0.1%). Prior to 2010, each person could register as a member of only one race, by default that of his or her father; therefore, mixed-race persons were solely grouped under their father's race in government censuses. From 2010 onward, people may register using a multi-racial classification, in which they may choose one primary race and one secondary race, but no more than two.
Like other developed countries in Asia, Singapore experienced a rapid decline in its total fertility rate (TFR) beginning in the 1980s. Since 2010, its TFR has largely plateaued at 1.1 children per woman, which is among the lowest in the world and well below the 2.1 needed to replace the population. Consequently, the median age of Singaporean residents is among the highest in the world, at 42.8 in 2022 compared to 39.6 ten years earlier. Starting in 2001, the government introduced a series of programmes to increase fertility, including paid maternity leave, childcare subsidies, tax relief and rebates, one-time cash gifts, and grants for companies that implement flexible work arrangements; nevertheless, live births have continued to decline, hitting a record low in 2022. Singapore's immigration policy is designed to alleviate the decline and maintain its working-age population.
91% of resident households (i.e. households headed by a Singapore citizen or permanent resident) own the homes they live in, and the average household size is 3.43 persons (which include dependants who are neither citizens nor permanent residents). However, due to scarcity of land, 78.7% of resident households live in subsidised, high-rise, public housing apartments developed by the Housing and Development Board (HDB). Also, 75.9% of resident households live in properties that are equal to, or larger than, a four-room (i.e. three bedrooms plus one living room) HDB flat or in private housing. Live-in foreign domestic workers are quite common in Singapore, with about 224,500 foreign domestic workers there, as of December 2013.
| Rank | Name | Region | Pop. | Rank | Name | Region | Pop. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tampines | East | 284,560 | 11 | Ang Mo Kio | North-East | 159,340 | ||
| 2 | Bedok | East | 276,840 | 12 | Bukit Merah | Central | 148,270 | ||
| 3 | Jurong West | West | 257,470 | 13 | Pasir Ris | East | 145,150 | ||
| 4 | Sengkang | North-East | 265,060 | 14 | Toa Payoh | Central | 139,310 | ||
| 5 | Woodlands | North | 255,180 | 15 | Bukit Panjang | West | 138,050 | ||
| 6 | Hougang | North-East | 229,520 | 16 | Serangoon | North-East | 117,630 | ||
| 7 | Yishun | North | 228,910 | 17 | Geylang | Central | 116,610 | ||
| 8 | Choa Chu Kang | West | 190,180 | 18 | Queenstown | Central | 101,930 | ||
| 9 | Punggol | North-East | 199,400 | 19 | Sembawang | North | 110,090 | ||
| 10 | Bukit Batok | West | 167,750 | 20 | Kallang | Central | 100,560 |
### Religion
Most major religious denominations are present in Singapore, with the Inter-Religious Organisation, Singapore (IRO) recognising 10 major religions in the city state. A 2014 analysis by the Pew Research Center found Singapore to be the world's most religiously diverse nation, with no single religion claiming a majority.
Buddhism is the most widely practised religion, with 31% of residents declaring themselves adherents in the 2020 census. Christianity was the second largest religion at 18.9%, followed by Islam (15.6%), Taoism and Chinese Traditional Beliefs (8.8%) and Hinduism (5.0%). One-fifth of the population had no religious affiliation. The proportion of Christians, Muslims, and the nonreligious slightly increased between 2010 and 2020, while the proportion of Buddhists and Taoists slightly decreased; Hinduism and other faiths remained largely stable in their share of the population.[ citation needed]
Singapore hosts monasteries and Dharma centres from all three major traditions of Buddhism: Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. Most Buddhists in Singapore are Chinese and adhere to the Mahayana tradition, owing to decades of missionary activity from China. However, Thailand's Theravada Buddhism has seen growing popularity among the populace (not only the Chinese) during the past decade. Soka Gakkai International, a Japanese Buddhist organisation, is practised by many people in Singapore, and mostly by those of Chinese descent. Tibetan Buddhism has also made slow inroads into the country in recent years.
### Languages
Singapore has four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil.
English is the lingua franca and the main language used in business, government, law and education. The Constitution of Singapore and all government legislation is written in English, and interpreters are required if a language other than English is used in the Singaporean courts. Statutory corporations conduct their businesses in English, while any official documents written in a non-English official language such as Malay, Mandarin, or Tamil are typically translated into English to be accepted for use.
Malay was designated as a national language by the Singaporean government after independence from Britain in the 1960s to avoid friction with Singapore's Malay-speaking neighbours of Malaysia and Indonesia. It has a symbolic, rather than functional purpose. It is used in the national anthem *Majulah Singapura*, in citations of Singaporean orders and decorations and in military commands. Singaporean Malay is officially written in the Latin-based Rumi script, though some Singaporean Malays also learn the Arabic-based Jawi script. Jawi is considered an ethnic script for use on Singaporean identity cards.
Singaporeans are mostly bilingual, typically with English as their common language and their mother-tongue as a second language taught in schools, in order to preserve each individual's ethnic identity and values. According to the 2020 census, English was the language most spoken at home, used by 48.3% of the population; Mandarin was next, spoken at home by 29.9%. Nearly half a million speak other ancestral Southern varieties of Chinese, mainly Hokkien, Teochew, and Cantonese, as their home language, although the use of these is declining in favour of Mandarin or just English. Singapore Chinese characters are written using simplified Chinese characters.
Singaporean English is largely based on British English, owing to the country's status as a former crown colony. However, forms of English spoken in Singapore range from Standard Singapore English to a colloquial form known as Singlish, which is discouraged by the government as it claims it to be a substandard English creole that handicaps Singaporeans, presenting an obstacle to learning standard English and rendering the speaker incomprehensible to everyone except to another Singlish speaker. Standard Singapore English is fully understandable to all Standard English speakers, while most English-speaking people do not understand Singlish. Nevertheless, Singaporeans have a strong sense of identity and connection to Singlish, whereby the existence of Singlish is recognised as a distinctive cultural marker for many Singaporeans. As such, in recent times, the government has tolerated the diglossia of both Singlish and Standard English (only for those who are fluent in both), whilst continuously reinforcing the importance of Standard English amongst those who speak only Singlish (which is not mutually intelligible with the Standard English of other English-speaking countries).
## Education
Education for primary, secondary, and tertiary levels is mostly supported by the state. All institutions, public and private, must be registered with the Ministry of Education (MOE). English is the language of instruction in all public schools, and all subjects are taught and examined in English except for the "mother tongue" language paper. While the term "mother tongue" in general refers to the first language internationally, in Singapore's education system, it is used to refer to the second language, as English is the first language. Students who have been abroad for a while, or who struggle with their "Mother Tongue" language, are allowed to take a simpler syllabus or drop the subject.
Education takes place in three stages: primary, secondary, and pre-university education, with the primary education being compulsory. Students begin with six years of primary school, which is made up of a four-year foundation course and a two-year orientation stage. The curriculum is focused on the development of English, the mother tongue, mathematics, and science. Secondary school lasts from four to five years, and is divided between Express, Normal (Academic), and Normal (Technical) streams in each school, depending on a student's ability level. The basic coursework breakdown is the same as in the primary level, although classes are much more specialised. Pre-university education takes place at either the 21 Junior Colleges or the Millennia Institute, over a period of two and three years respectively. As alternatives to pre-university education, however, courses are offered in other post-secondary education institutions, including the 5 polytechnics and 3 ITE colleges. Singapore has six public universities, of which the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University are among the top 20 universities in the world.
National examinations are standardised across all schools, with a test taken after each stage. After the first six years of education, students take the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), which determines their placement at secondary school. At the end of the secondary stage, O-Level or N-Level exams are taken; at the end of the following pre-university stage, the GCE A-Level exams are taken. Some schools have a degree of freedom in their curriculum and are known as autonomous schools, for secondary education level and above.
Singapore is also an education hub, with more than 80,000 international students in 2006. 5,000 Malaysian students cross the Johor–Singapore Causeway daily to attend schools in Singapore. In 2009, 20% of all students in Singaporean universities were international students—the maximum cap allowed, a majority from ASEAN, China and India.
Singapore students have excelled in many of the world education benchmarks in maths, science and reading. In 2015, both its primary and secondary students rank first in OECD's global school performance rankings across 76 countries—described as the most comprehensive map of education standards. In 2016, Singapore students topped both the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). In the 2016 EF English Proficiency Index taken in 72 countries, Singapore placed 6th and has been the only Asian country in the top ten.
## Healthcare
Singapore has a generally efficient healthcare system, although health expenditure per capita is relatively low compared with other developed countries. The World Health Organisation ranks Singapore's healthcare system as 6th overall in the world in its World Health Report. Singapore has had the lowest infant mortality rates in the world for the past two decades. In 2019, Singaporeans had the longest life expectancy of any country at 84.8 years. Women can expect to live an average of 87.6 years with 75.8 years in good health. The averages are lower for men. Singapore is ranked 1st on the Global Food Security Index.
As of December 2011 and January 2013, 8,800 foreigners and 5,400 Singaporeans were respectively diagnosed with HIV, but there are fewer than 10 annual deaths from HIV per 100,000 people. Adult obesity is below 10%. There is a high level of immunisation. In 2013, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Singapore as having the best quality of life in Asia and sixth overall in the world.
The government's healthcare system is based upon the "3M" framework. This has three components: Medifund, which provides a safety net for those not able to otherwise afford healthcare; Medisave, a compulsory national medical savings account system covering about 85% of the population; and Medishield, a government-funded health insurance programme. Public hospitals in Singapore have considerable autonomy in their management decisions, and notionally compete for patients, but remain in government ownership. A subsidy scheme exists for those on low income. In 2008, 32% of healthcare was funded by the government. Healthcare accounts for approximately 3.5% of Singapore's GDP.
## Culture
Despite its small size, Singapore has a diversity of languages, religions, and cultures. Former prime ministers of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong, have stated that Singapore does not fit the traditional description of a nation, calling it a society-in-transition, pointing out the fact that Singaporeans do not all speak the same language, share the same religion, or have the same customs. Singaporeans who speak English as their native language would likely lean toward Western culture (along with either Christian culture or secularism), while those who speak Chinese as their native language mostly lean toward Chinese culture, which has linkages with Chinese folk religion, Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. Malay-speaking Singaporeans mostly lean toward Malay culture, which itself is closely linked to Islamic culture. Tamil-speaking Singaporeans mostly lean toward Tamil culture, which itself is mostly linked to Hindu culture. Racial and religious harmony is regarded as a crucial part of Singapore's success, and played a part in building a Singaporean identity.
When Singapore became independent from the United Kingdom in 1963, most Singaporean citizens were transient migrant labourers who had no intention of staying permanently. There was also a sizeable minority of middle-class, locally born people—known as Peranakans or Baba-Nyonya-descendants of 15th- and 16th-century Chinese immigrants. With the exception of the Peranakans who pledged their loyalties to Singapore, most of the labourers' loyalties lay with their respective homelands of Malaya, China and India. After independence, the government began a deliberate process of crafting a uniquely Singaporean identity and culture. Singapore has a reputation as a nanny state. The government also places a heavy emphasis on meritocracy, where one is judged based on one's ability.
The national flower of Singapore is the hybrid orchid, Vanda 'Miss Joaquim', named in memory of a Singapore-born Armenian woman, who crossbred the flower in her garden at Tanjong Pagar in 1893. Singapore is known as the *Lion City* and many national symbols such as the coat of arms and the lion head symbol make use of a lion. Major religious festivals are public holidays. UNESCO recognizes Singapore as a "Design City."
### Arts
During the 1990s the National Arts Council was created to spearhead the development of performing arts, along with visual and literary art forms. The National Gallery Singapore is the nation's flagship museum with some 8,000 works from Singaporean and other Southeast Asian artists. The Singapore Art Museum focuses on contemporary art from a Southeast Asian perspective. The Red Dot Design Museum celebrates exceptional art and design of objects for everyday life, hosting more than 1,000 items from 50 countries. The lotus-shaped ArtScience Museum hosts touring exhibitions that combine art with the sciences. Other major museums include the Asian Civilisations Museum, the Peranakan Museum, and The Arts House. The Esplanade is Singapore's largest performing arts centre. In 2016 alone, it was the site of 5,900 free art and culture events.
Literature of Singapore, or "SingLit", consists of a collection of literary works by Singaporeans written chiefly in the country's four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil. Singapore is increasingly regarded as having four sub-literatures instead of one. Many significant works have been translated and showcased in publications such as the literary journal *Singa*, published in the 1980s and 1990s with editors including Edwin Thumboo and Koh Buck Song, as well as in multilingual anthologies such as *Rhythms: A Singaporean Millennial Anthology Of Poetry* (2000), in which the poems were all translated three times each. A number of Singaporean writers such as Tan Swie Hian and Kuo Pao Kun have contributed work in more than one language.
Singapore has a diverse music culture that ranges from pop and rock, to folk and classical. Western classical music plays a significant role in the cultural life in Singapore, with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) instituted in 1979. Other notable western orchestras in Singapore include Singapore National Youth Orchestra and the community-based Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra. Many orchestras and ensembles are also found in secondary schools and junior colleges. Various communities have their own distinct ethnic musical traditions: Chinese, Malays, Indians, and Eurasians. With their traditional forms of music and various modern musical styles, the fusion of different forms account for the musical diversity in the country. The nation's lively urban musical scene has made it a centre for international performances and festivals in the region. Some of Singapore's best known pop singers include Stefanie Sun, JJ Lin, Liang Wern Fook, Taufik Batisah and Dick Lee, who is famous for composing National Day theme songs, including *Home*.
### Cuisine
Singapore's diversity of cuisine is touted as a reason to visit the country, due to its combination of convenience, variety, quality, and price. Local food items generally relate to a particular ethnicity – Chinese, Malay and Indian; but the diversity of cuisine has increased further by the hybridisation of different styles (e.g., the Peranakan cuisine, a mix of Chinese and Malay cuisine). In hawker centres, cultural diffusion is exemplified by traditionally Malay hawker stalls also selling Tamil food. Hainanese chicken rice, based on the Hainanese dish Wenchang chicken, is considered Singapore's national dish.
The city-state has a burgeoning food scene ranging from hawker centres (open-air), food courts (air-conditioned), coffee shops (open-air with up to a dozen hawker stalls), cafes, fast food, simple kitchens, casual, celebrity and high-end restaurants. Cloud kitchens and food delivery are also on the rise, with 70% of residents ordering from delivery apps at least once a month. Many international celebrity chef restaurants are located within the integrated resorts. Religious dietary strictures exist (Muslims do not eat pork and Hindus do not eat beef), and there is also a significant group of vegetarians. The Singapore Food Festival which celebrates Singapore's cuisine is held annually in July.
Prior to the 1980s, street food was sold mainly by immigrants from China, India, and Malaysia to other immigrants seeking a familiar taste. In Singapore, street food has long been associated with hawker centres with communal seating areas. Typically, these centres have a few dozen to hundreds of food stalls, with each specialising in one or more related dishes. While street food can be found in many countries, the variety and reach of centralised hawker centres that serve heritage street food in Singapore is unique. In 2018, there were 114 hawker centres spread across the city centre and heartland housing estates. They are maintained by the National Environment Agency, which also grades each food stall for hygiene. The largest hawker centre is located on the second floor of Chinatown Complex, and contains over 200 stalls. The complex is also home to the cheapest Michelin-starred meal in the world – a plate of soya-sauce chicken rice or noodles for S$2 (US$1.50). Two street food stalls in the city are the first in the world to be awarded a Michelin star, obtaining a single star each.
### Sport and recreation
The development of private sports and recreation clubs began in the 19th century colonial Singapore, with clubs founded during this time including the Cricket Club, the Singapore Recreation Club, the Singapore Swimming Club, and the Hollandse Club. Weightlifter Tan Howe Liang was Singapore's first Olympic medalist, winning a silver at the 1960 Rome Games. Singapore hosted the inaugural 2010 Summer Youth Olympics, in which 3,600 athletes from 204 nations competed in 26 sports.
Indoor and water sports are some of the most popular sports in Singapore. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Joseph Schooling won Singapore's first Olympic gold medal, claiming the 100-metre butterfly in a new Olympic record time of 50.39 seconds. Singapore sailors have had success on the international stage, with their Optimist team being considered among the best in the world. Despite its size, the country has dominated swim meets in the Southeast Asia Games. Its men's water polo team won the SEA Games gold medal for the 27th time in 2017, continuing Singapore sport's longest winning streak. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Max Maeder won Singapore's first Olympic medal in sailing, achieving bronze at the Men's Formula Kite on National Day. At 17, he was also Singapore's youngest Olympic medalist.
Singapore's women's table tennis team were silver medalists at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. They became world champions in 2010 when they beat China at the World Team Table Tennis Championships in Russia, breaking China's 19-year winning streak. In 2021, Singapore's Loh Kean Yew achieved a "World Champion" status when he won a badminton gold at the 2021 BWF World Championships men's singles, which is one of the most prestigious badminton tournaments alongside the Summer Olympics badminton tournaments.
Singapore's football league, the Singapore Premier League, was launched in 1996 as the S.League and comprises eight clubs, including one foreign team. The Singapore Slingers is one of the inaugural teams in the ASEAN Basketball League, which was founded in October 2009. Kranji Racecourse is run by the Singapore Turf Club and hosts several meetings per week, including international races—notably the Singapore Airlines International Cup.
Singapore began hosting a round of the Formula One World Championship, the Singapore Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in 2008. It was the inaugural F1 night race, and the first F1 street race in Asia. It is considered a signature event on the F1 calendar. ONE Championship was founded in Singapore, a major Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) promotion in Asia.
### Media
Companies linked to the government control much of the domestic media in Singapore. MediaCorp operates most free-to-air television channels and free-to-air radio stations in Singapore. There are a total of six free-to-air TV channels offered by MediaCorp. StarHub TV and Singtel TV also offer IPTV with channels from all around the world. SPH Media Trust, a body with close links to the government, controls most of the newspaper industry in Singapore.
Singapore's media industry has sometimes been criticised for being overly regulated and lacking in freedom by human rights groups such as Freedom House. Self-censorship among journalists is said to be common. In 2023, Singapore was ranked 129 on the Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders, up from 139 the previous year. The Media Development Authority regulates Singaporean media, claiming to balance the demand for choice and protection against offensive and harmful material. Private ownership of TV satellite dishes is banned.
Internet in Singapore is provided by state-owned Singtel, partially state-owned Starhub and M1 Limited as well as some other business internet service providers (ISPs) that offer residential service plans of speeds up to 2 Gbit/s as of spring 2015. Equinix (332 participants) and the Singapore Internet Exchange (70 participants) are Internet exchange points where Internet service providers and Content delivery networks exchange Internet traffic between their networks (autonomous systems) in various locations in Singapore. In the mid-1980s to 1990s, Singaporeans could also use the locally based videotext service Singapore Teleview to communicate with one another. The phrase *Intelligent Island* arose in the 1990s in reference to the island nation's early adaptive relationship with the internet.
In 2016, there were an estimated 4.7 million internet users in Singapore, representing 82.5% of the population. The Singapore government does not engage in widespread censoring of the internet, but it maintains a list of one hundred websites—mostly pornographic—that it blocks from home internet access as a "symbolic statement of the Singaporean community's stand on harmful and undesirable content on the Internet". Singapore has the world's highest smartphone penetration rates, in surveys by Deloitte and the Google Consumer Barometer—at 89% and 85% of the population respectively in 2014. The overall mobile phone penetration rate is at 148 mobile phone subscribers per 100 people.
## See also
## Notes
### Citations
**Attribution**
## Works cited
- Bose, Romen (2010).
*The End of the War: Singapore's Liberation and the Aftermath of the Second World War*. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish. ISBN 978-981-261-066-9. - Legg, Frank (1965).
*The Gordon Bennett Story: From Gallipoli to Singapore*. Sydney, New South Wales: Angus & Robertson. OCLC 3193299. - Miksic, John N. (2013).
*Singapore & the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300-1800*. Singapore: NUS Press. ISBN 978-9971-69-558-3. - Smith, Colin (2006).
*Singapore Burning: Heroism and Surrender in World War II*. Penguin military history. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-101036-6. - Toland, John (1970).
*The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945*. New York, NY: Random House. LCCN 77-117669. OL 25646706M. - Wigmore, Lionel (1957).
*The Japanese Thrust*. Canberra: Australian War Memorial.
## Further reading
## External links
- Wikimedia Atlas of Singapore
- Official website Singapore Government Portal
- Geographic data related to Singapore at OpenStreetMap
- Singapore Department of Statistics
- "Key Facts & Figures".
*Ministry of Transport, Singapore*. Retrieved 11 January 2003. - Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Singapore
- WikiSatellite view of Singapore at WikiMapia
- "About Us" from Singapore's National Library Board; numerous well-researched and well-documented essays on key events and important figures, as well as topics regarding culture, architecture, nature, etc.
- Singapore profile from the BBC News
|
# Flowering plant - Wikipedia
| Flowering plant Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade:
|
Tracheophytes |
Clade:
|
Spermatophytes |
Clade:
|
Angiosperms |
| Groups (APG IV) | |
| |
| Synonyms | |
**Flowering plants** are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade **Angiospermae** (**angiosperm** is derived from the Greek words ἀγγεῖον (*angeion*; 'container, vessel') and σπέρμα (*sperma*; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed within a fruit. The group was formerly called **Magnoliophyta**.
Angiosperms are by far the most diverse group of land plants with 64 orders, 416 families, approximately 13,000 known genera and 300,000 known species. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of broad-leaved trees, shrubs and vines, and most aquatic plants. Angiosperms are distinguished from the other major seed plant clade, the gymnosperms, by having flowers, xylem consisting of vessel elements instead of tracheids, endosperm within their seeds, and fruits that completely envelop the seeds. The ancestors of flowering plants diverged from the common ancestor of all living gymnosperms before the end of the Carboniferous, over 300 million years ago. In the Cretaceous, angiosperms diversified explosively, becoming the dominant group of plants across the planet.
Agriculture is almost entirely dependent on angiosperms, and a small number of flowering plant families supply nearly all plant-based food and livestock feed. Rice, maize and wheat provide half of the world's staple calorie intake, and all three plants are cereals from the Poaceae family (colloquially known as grasses). Other families provide important industrial plant products such as wood, paper and cotton, and supply numerous ingredients for drinks, sugar production, traditional medicine and modern pharmaceuticals. Flowering plants are also commonly grown for decorative purposes, with certain flowers playing significant cultural roles in many societies.
Out of the "Big Five" extinction events in Earth's history, only the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event occurred while angiosperms dominated plant life on the planet. Today, the Holocene extinction affects all kingdoms of complex life on Earth, and conservation measures are necessary to protect plants in their habitats in the wild (*in situ*), or failing that, *ex situ* in seed banks or artificial habitats like botanic gardens. Otherwise, around 40% of plant species may become extinct due to human actions such as habitat destruction, introduction of invasive species, unsustainable logging, land clearing and overharvesting of medicinal or ornamental plants. Further, climate change is starting to impact plants and is likely to cause many species to become extinct by 2100.
Angiosperms are terrestrial vascular plants; like the gymnosperms, they have roots, stems, leaves, and seeds. They differ from other seed plants in several ways.
| Feature | Description | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Flowers | The reproductive organs of flowering plants, not found in any other seed plants. | |
| Reduced gametophytes, three cells in male, seven cells with eight nuclei in female (except for basal angiosperms) | The gametophytes are smaller than those of gymnosperms. The smaller size of the pollen reduces the time between pollination and fertilization, which in gymnosperms is up to a year. | |
| Endosperm | Endosperm forms after fertilization but before the zygote divides. It provides food for the developing embryo, the cotyledons, and sometimes the seedling. | |
| Closed carpel enclosing the ovules. | Once the ovules are fertilised, the carpels, often with surrounding tissues, develop into fruits. Gymnosperms have unenclosed seeds. | |
| Xylem made of vessel elements | Open vessel elements are stacked end to end to form continuous tubes, whereas gymnosperm xylem is made of tapered tracheids connected by small pits. |
The largest angiosperms are *Eucalyptus* gum trees of Australia, and *Shorea faguetiana*, dipterocarp rainforest trees of Southeast Asia, both of which can reach almost 100 metres (330 ft) in height. The smallest are *Wolffia* duckweeds which float on freshwater, each plant less than 2 millimetres (0.08 in) across.
Considering their method of obtaining energy, some 99% of flowering plants are photosynthetic autotrophs, deriving their energy from sunlight and using it to create molecules such as sugars. The remainder are parasitic, whether on fungi like the orchids for part or all of their life-cycle, or on other plants, either wholly like the broomrapes, *Orobanche*, or partially like the witchweeds, *Striga*.
In terms of their environment, flowering plants are cosmopolitan, occupying a wide range of habitats on land, in fresh water and in the sea. On land, they are the dominant plant group in every habitat except for frigid moss-lichen tundra and coniferous forest. The seagrasses in the Alismatales grow in marine environments, spreading with rhizomes that grow through the mud in sheltered coastal waters.
Some specialised angiosperms are able to flourish in extremely acid or alkaline habitats. The sundews, many of which live in nutrient-poor acid bogs, are carnivorous plants, able to derive nutrients such as nitrate from the bodies of trapped insects. Other flowers such as *Gentiana verna*, the spring gentian, are adapted to the alkaline conditions found on calcium-rich chalk and limestone, which give rise to often dry topographies such as limestone pavement.
As for their growth habit, the flowering plants range from small, soft herbaceous plants, often living as annuals or biennials that set seed and die after one growing season, to large perennial woody trees that may live for many centuries and grow to many metres in height. Some species grow tall without being self-supporting like trees by climbing on other plants in the manner of vines or lianas.
The number of species of flowering plants is estimated to be in the range of 250,000 to 400,000. This compares to around 12,000 species of moss and 11,000 species of pteridophytes. The APG system seeks to determine the number of families, mostly by molecular phylogenetics. In the 2009 APG III there were 415 families. The 2016 APG IV added five new orders (Boraginales, Dilleniales, Icacinales, Metteniusales and Vahliales), along with some new families, for a total of 64 angiosperm orders and 416 families.
The diversity of flowering plants is not evenly distributed. Nearly all species belong to the eudicot (75%), monocot (23%), and magnoliid (2%) clades. The remaining five clades contain a little over 250 species in total; i.e. less than 0.1% of flowering plant diversity, divided among nine families. The 25 most species-rich of 443 families, containing over 166,000 species between them in their APG circumscriptions, are:
| Group | Family | English name | No. of spp. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eudicot | Asteraceae or Compositae | daisy | 22,750 |
| 2 | Monocot | Orchidaceae | orchid | 21,950 |
| 3 | Eudicot | Fabaceae or Leguminosae | pea, legume | 19,400 |
| 4 | Eudicot | Rubiaceae | madder | 13,150 |
| 5 | Monocot | Poaceae or Gramineae | grass | 10,035 |
| 6 | Eudicot | Lamiaceae or Labiatae | mint | 7,175 |
| 7 | Eudicot | Euphorbiaceae | spurge | 5,735 |
| 8 | Eudicot | Melastomataceae | melastome | 5,005 |
| 9 | Eudicot | Myrtaceae | myrtle | 4,625 |
| 10 | Eudicot | Apocynaceae | dogbane | 4,555 |
| 11 | Monocot | Cyperaceae | sedge | 4,350 |
| 12 | Eudicot | Malvaceae | mallow | 4,225 |
| 13 | Monocot | Araceae | arum | 4,025 |
| 14 | Eudicot | Ericaceae | heath | 3,995 |
| 15 | Eudicot | Gesneriaceae | gesneriad | 3,870 |
| 16 | Eudicot | Apiaceae or Umbelliferae | parsley | 3,780 |
| 17 | Eudicot | Brassicaceae or Cruciferae | cabbage | 3,710 |
| 18 | Magnoliid dicot | Piperaceae | pepper | 3,600 |
| 19 | Monocot | Bromeliaceae | bromeliad | 3,540 |
| 20 | Eudicot | Acanthaceae | acanthus | 3,500 |
| 21 | Eudicot | Rosaceae | rose | 2,830 |
| 22 | Eudicot | Boraginaceae | borage | 2,740 |
| 23 | Eudicot | Urticaceae | nettle | 2,625 |
| 24 | Eudicot | Ranunculaceae | buttercup | 2,525 |
| 25 | Magnoliid dicot | Lauraceae | laurel | 2,500 |
The botanical term "angiosperm", from Greek words *angeíon* (ἀγγεῖον 'bottle, vessel') and *spérma* (σπέρμα 'seed'), was coined in the form "Angiospermae" by Paul Hermann in 1690, including only flowering plants whose seeds were enclosed in capsules. The term angiosperm fundamentally changed in meaning in 1827 with Robert Brown, when angiosperm came to mean a seed plant with enclosed ovules. In 1851, with Wilhelm Hofmeister's work on embryo-sacs, Angiosperm came to have its modern meaning of all the flowering plants including Dicotyledons and Monocotyledons. The APG system treats the flowering plants as an unranked clade without a formal Latin name (angiosperms). A formal classification was published alongside the 2009 revision in which the flowering plants rank as the subclass Magnoliidae. From 1998, the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) has reclassified the angiosperms, with updates in the APG II system in 2003, the APG III system in 2009, and the APG IV system in 2016.
In 2019, a molecular phylogeny of plants placed the flowering plants in their evolutionary context:
The main groups of living angiosperms are:
|
| Detailed cladogram of the 2016 Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) IV classification. |
|---|
In 2024, Alexandre R. Zuntini and colleagues constructed a tree of some 6,000 flowering plant genera, representing some 60% of the existing genera, on the basis of analysis of 353 nuclear genes in each specimen. Much of the existing phylogeny is confirmed; the rosid phylogeny is revised.
Fossilised spores suggest that land plants (embryophytes) have existed for at least 475 million years. However, angiosperms appear suddenly and in great diversity in the fossil record in the Early Cretaceous (~130 mya). Claimed records of flowering plants prior to this are not widely accepted, as all supposed pre-Cretaceous “flowers” can be explained through being misidentifications of other seed plants. Furthermore, almost all of these controversial fossils are described in papers co-authored by the researcher Xin Wang, such as the particularly debated *Nanjinganthus*. Molecular evidence suggests that the ancestors of angiosperms diverged from the gymnosperms during the late Devonian, about 365 million years ago. The origin time of the crown group of flowering plants remains contentious. By the Late Cretaceous, angiosperms appear to have dominated environments formerly occupied by ferns and gymnosperms. Large canopy-forming trees replaced conifers as the dominant trees close to the end of the Cretaceous, 66 million years ago. The radiation of herbaceous angiosperms occurred much later.
The characteristic feature of angiosperms is the flower. Its function is to ensure fertilization of the ovule and development of fruit containing seeds. It may arise terminally on a shoot or from the axil of a leaf. The flower-bearing part of the plant is usually sharply distinguished from the leaf-bearing part, and forms a branch-system called an inflorescence.
Flowers produce two kinds of reproductive cells. Microspores, which divide to become pollen grains, are the male cells; they are borne in the stamens. The female cells, megaspores, divide to become the egg cell. They are contained in the ovule and enclosed in the carpel; one or more carpels form the pistil.
The flower may consist only of these parts, as in wind-pollinated plants like the willow, where each flower comprises only a few stamens or two carpels. In insect- or bird-pollinated plants, other structures protect the sporophylls and attract pollinators. The individual members of these surrounding structures are known as sepals and petals (or tepals in flowers such as *Magnolia* where sepals and petals are not distinguishable from each other). The outer series (calyx of sepals) is usually green and leaf-like, and functions to protect the rest of the flower, especially the bud. The inner series (corolla of petals) is, in general, white or brightly colored, is more delicate in structure, and attracts pollinators by colour, scent, and nectar.
Most flowers are hermaphroditic, producing both pollen and ovules in the same flower, but some use other devices to reduce self-fertilization. Heteromorphic flowers have carpels and stamens of differing lengths, so animal pollinators cannot easily transfer pollen between them. Homomorphic flowers may use a biochemical self-incompatibility to discriminate between self and non-self pollen grains. Dioecious plants such as holly have male and female flowers on separate plants. Monoecious plants have separate male and female flowers on the same plant; these are often wind-pollinated, as in maize, but include some insect-pollinated plants such as *Cucurbita* squashes.
Double fertilization requires two sperm cells to fertilise cells in the ovule. A pollen grain sticks to the stigma at the top of the pistil, germinates, and grows a long pollen tube. A haploid generative cell travels down the tube behind the tube nucleus. The generative cell divides by mitosis to produce two haploid (*n*) sperm cells. The pollen tube grows from the stigma, down the style and into the ovary. When it reaches the micropyle of the ovule, it digests its way into one of the synergids, releasing its contents including the sperm cells. The synergid that the cells were released into degenerates; one sperm makes its way to fertilise the egg cell, producing a diploid (2*n*) zygote. The second sperm cell fuses with both central cell nuclei, producing a triploid (3*n*) cell. The zygote develops into an embryo; the triploid cell develops into the endosperm, the embryo's food supply. The ovary develops into a fruit and each ovule into a seed.
As the embryo and endosperm develop, the wall of the embryo sac enlarges and combines with the nucellus and integument to form the *seed coat*. The ovary wall develops to form the fruit or pericarp, whose form is closely associated with type of seed dispersal system.
Other parts of the flower often contribute to forming the fruit. For example, in the apple, the hypanthium forms the edible flesh, surrounding the ovaries which form the tough cases around the seeds.
Apomixis, setting seed without fertilization, is found naturally in about 2.2% of angiosperm genera. Some angiosperms, including many citrus varieties, are able to produce fruits through a type of apomixis called nucellar embryony.
Charles Darwin in his 1878 book The Effects of Cross and Self-Fertilization in the Vegetable Kingdom in the initial paragraph of chapter XII noted "The first and most important of the conclusions which may be drawn from the observations given in this volume, is that generally cross-fertilisation is beneficial and self-fertilisation often injurious, at least with the plants on which I experimented." Flowers emerged in plant evolution as an adaptation for the promotion of cross-fertilisation (outcrossing), a process that allows the masking of deleterious mutations in the genome of progeny. The masking effect is known as genetic complementation. Meiosis in flowering plants provides a direct mechanism for repairing DNA through genetic recombination in reproductive tissues. Sexual reproduction appears to be required for maintaining long-term genomic integrity and only infrequent combinations of extrinsic and intrinsic factors permit shifts to asexuality. Thus the two fundamental aspects of sexual reproduction in flowering plants, cross-fertilization (outcrossing) and meiosis appear to be maintained respectively by the advantages of genetic complementation and recombinational repair.
Agriculture is almost entirely dependent on angiosperms, which provide virtually all plant-based food and fodder for livestock. Much of this food derives from a small number of flowering plant families. For instance, half of the world's calorie intake is supplied by just three plants – wheat, rice and maize.
| Family | English | Example foods from that family |
|---|---|---|
| Poaceae | Grasses, cereals | Most feedstocks, inc. rice, maize, wheat, barley, rye, oats, pearl millet, sugar cane, sorghum |
| Fabaceae | Legumes, pea family | Peas, beans, lentils; for animal feed, clover, alfalfa |
| Solanaceae | Nightshade family | Potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, aubergines |
| Cucurbitaceae | Gourd family | Squashes, cucumbers, pumpkins, melons |
| Brassicaceae | Cabbage family | Cabbage and its varieties, e.g. Brussels sprout, broccoli; mustard; oilseed rape |
| Apiaceae | Parsley family | Parsnip, carrot, parsley, coriander, fennel, cumin, caraway |
| Rutaceae | Rue family | Oranges, lemons, grapefruits |
| Rosaceae | Rose family | Apples, pears, cherries, apricots, plums, peaches |
Flowering plants provide a diverse range of materials in the form of wood, paper, fibers such as cotton, flax, and hemp, medicines such as digoxin and opioids, and decorative and landscaping plants. Coffee and hot chocolate are beverages from flowering plants (in the Rubiaceae and Malvaceae respectively).
Both real and fictitious plants play a wide variety of roles in literature and film. Flowers are the subjects of many poems by poets such as William Blake, Robert Frost, and Rabindranath Tagore. Bird-and-flower painting (*Huaniaohua*) is a kind of Chinese painting that celebrates the beauty of flowering plants. Flowers have been used in literature to convey meaning by authors including William Shakespeare.
Flowers are used in a variety of art forms which arrange cut or living plants, such as bonsai, ikebana, and flower arranging. Ornamental plants have sometimes changed the course of history, as in tulipomania. Many countries and regions have floral emblems; a survey of 70 of these found that the most popular flowering plant family for such emblems is Orchidaceae at 15.7% (11 emblems), followed by Fabaceae at 10% (7 emblems), and Asparagaceae, Asteraceae, and Rosaceae all at 5.7% (4 emblems each).
Human impact on the environment has driven a range of species extinct and is threatening even more today. Multiple organizations such as IUCN and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew suggest that around 40% of plant species are threatened with extinction. The majority are threatened by habitat loss, but activities such as logging of wild timber trees and collection of medicinal plants, or the introduction of non-native invasive species, also play a role.
Relatively few plant diversity assessments currently consider climate change, yet it is starting to impact plants as well. About 3% of flowering plants are very likely to be driven extinct within a century at 2 °C (3.6 °F) of global warming, and 10% at 3.2 °C (5.8 °F). In worst-case scenarios, half of all tree species may be driven extinct by climate change over that timeframe.
Conservation in this context is the attempt to prevent extinction, whether *in situ* by protecting plants and their habitats in the wild, or *ex situ* in seed banks or as living plants. Some 3000 botanic gardens around the world maintain living plants, including over 40% of the species known to be threatened, as an "insurance policy against extinction in the wild." The United Nations' Global Strategy for Plant Conservation asserts that "without plants, there is no life". It aims to "halt the continuing loss of plant diversity" throughout the world.
|
# Bobcat - Wikipedia
| Bobcat | |
|---|---|
| Bobcat in Columbus Zoo | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Suborder: | Feliformia |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Subfamily: | Felinae |
| Genus: | Lynx
|
| Species: | L. rufus |
| Binomial name | |
Lynx rufus | |
| Range in 2016 | |
| Synonyms | |
The **bobcat** (* Lynx rufus*), also known as the
**wildcat**,
**bay lynx**, or
**red lynx**, is one of the four extant species within the medium-sized wild cat genus
*Lynx*. Native to North America, it ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2002, due to its wide distribution and large population. Although it has been hunted extensively both for sport and fur, populations have proven stable, though declining in some areas.
It has distinctive black bars on its forelegs and a black-tipped, stubby (or "bobbed") tail, from which it derives its name. It reaches a total length (including the tail) of up to 125 cm (50 in). It is an adaptable predator inhabiting wooded areas, semidesert, urban edge, forest edge, and swampland environments. It remains in some of its original range, but populations are vulnerable to extirpation by coyotes and domestic animals.
Though the bobcat prefers rabbits and hares, it hunts insects, chickens, geese and other birds, small rodents, and deer. Prey selection depends on location and habitat, season, and abundance. Like most cats, the bobcat is territorial and largely solitary, although with some overlap in home ranges. It uses several methods to mark its territorial boundaries, including claw marks and deposits of urine or feces. The bobcat breeds from winter into spring and has a gestation period of about two months.
Two subspecies are recognized: one east of the Great Plains, and the other west of the Great Plains. It is featured in some stories of the indigenous peoples of North and Central America, and in the folklore of European-descended inhabitants of the Americas.
## Taxonomy and evolution
*Felis rufa* was the scientific name proposed by Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1777. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the following zoological specimens were described:
*Lynx floridanus*proposed by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1817 was a greyish lynx with yellowish brown spots from Florida.*Lynx fasciatus*also proposed by Rafinesque in 1817 was a reddish brown lynx with a thick fur from the northwest coast.*Lynx baileyi*proposed by Clinton Hart Merriam in 1890 was a female lynx that was shot in the San Francisco Mountains.*Lynx texensis*proposed by Joel Asaph Allen in 1895 to replace the earlier name*Lynx rufus var. maculatus*.*Lynx gigas*proposed by Outram Bangs in 1897 was a skin of an adult male lynx shot near Bear River, Nova Scotia.*Lynx rufus eremicus*and*Lynx rufus californicus*proposed by Edgar Alexander Mearns in 1898 were skins and skulls of two adult lynxes killed in San Diego County, California.*Lynx rufus peninsularis*proposed by Oldfield Thomas in 1898 was a skull and a pale rufous skin of a male lynx from Baja California Peninsula.*Lynx fasciatus pallescens*proposed by Merriam in 1899, was a skin of a gray lynx that was killed near Trout Lake, Washington.*Lynx ruffus escuinapae*proposed by Allen in 1903 was a skull and a pale rufous skin of an adult female from Escuinapa Municipality in Mexico.*Lynx rufus superiorensis*by Randolph Lee Peterson and Stuart C. Downing in 1952 was a skeleton and skin of a male lynx killed near Port Arthur, Ontario.*Lynx rufus oaxacensis*proposed by George Goodwin in 1963 was based on three skulls and six skins of lynxes killed in the Mexican Tehuantepec District.
The validity of these subspecies was challenged in 1981 because of the minor differences between specimens from the various geographic regions in North America.
Since the revision of cat taxonomy in 2017, only two subspecies are recognized as valid taxa:
*L. r. rufus*– east of the Great Plains*L. r. fasciatus*– west of the Great Plains
### Phylogeny
The genus *Lynx* shares a clade with the genera *Puma*, *Prionailurus* and *Felis* dated to ; *Lynx* diverged approximately .
The bobcat is thought to have evolved from the Eurasian lynx (*L. lynx*), which crossed into North America by way of the Bering Land Bridge during the Pleistocene, with progenitors arriving as early as 2.6 million years ago. It first appeared during the Irvingtonian stage around . The first bobcat wave moved into the southern portion of North America, which was soon cut off from the north by glaciers; the population evolved into the modern bobcat around 20,000 years ago. A second population arrived from Asia and settled in the north, developing into the modern Canada lynx (*L. canadensis*). Hybridization between the bobcat and the Canada lynx may sometimes occur.
The populations east and west of the Great Plains were probably separated during Pleistocene interglacial periods due to the aridification of the region.
## Description
The bobcat resembles other species of the midsize genus *Lynx*, but is on average the smallest of the four. Its coat is variable, though generally tan to grayish-brown, with black streaks on the body and dark bars on the forelegs and tail. Its spotted patterning acts as camouflage. The ears are black-tipped and pointed, with short, black tufts. Generally, an off-white color is seen on the lips, chin, and underparts. Bobcats in the desert regions of the southwest have the lightest-colored coats, while those in the northern, forested regions are darkest. Kittens are born well-furred and already have their spots. A few melanistic bobcats have been sighted and captured in Florida, USA and New Brunswick, Canada. They appear black, but may still exhibit a spot pattern.
The face appears wide due to ruffs of extended hair beneath the ears. Bobcat eyes are yellow with round, black pupils. The nose of the bobcat is pinkish-red, and it has a base color of gray or yellowish- or brownish-red on its face, sides, and back. The pupils widen during nocturnal activity to maximize light reception. The bobcat has sharp hearing and vision, and a good sense of smell. It is an excellent climber and swims when it needs to, but normally avoids water.
The adult bobcat is 47.5–125 cm (18.7–49.2 in) long from the head to the base of its distinctive stubby tail, averaging 82.7 cm (32.6 in); the tail is 9 to 20 cm (3.5 to 7.9 in) long. Its "bobbed" appearance gives the species its name. An adult stands about 30 to 60 cm (12 to 24 in) at the shoulders.
Adult males can range in weight from 6.4–18.3 kg (14–40 lb), with an average of 9.6 kg (21 lb); females at 4–15.3 kg (8.8–33.7 lb), with an average of 6.8 kg (15 lb). The largest bobcat accurately measured on record weighed 22.2 kg (49 lb), although unverified reports have them reaching 27 kg (60 lb). Furthermore, a June 20, 2012, report of a New Hampshire roadkill specimen listed the animal's weight at 27 kg (60 lb). The largest-bodied bobcats were recorded in eastern Canada and northern New England, and the smallest in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Consistent with Bergmann's rule, the bobcat is larger in its northern range and in open habitats. A morphological size comparison study in the eastern United States found a divergence in the location of the largest male and female specimens, suggesting differing selection constraints for the sexes. Skeletal muscles make up 58.5 % of the bobcat's body weight. At birth, it weighs 270–340 g (9+1⁄2–12 oz) and is about 25 cm (10 in) in length. At the age of one year, it weighs about 4.5 kg (10 lb).
### Tracks
Bobcat tracks show four toes without claw marks, due to their retractile claws. The tracks range in size from 25–75 mm (1–3 in); the average is about 45 mm (1+3⁄4 in). When walking or trotting, the tracks are spaced roughly 20 to 45 cm (8 to 18 in) apart. The bobcat can make great strides when running, often from 1.2–2.4 m (4–8 ft).
Like all cats, the bobcat 'directly registers', meaning its hind prints usually fall exactly on top of its fore prints. Bobcat tracks can be generally distinguished from feral or house cat tracks by their larger size: about 15 cm2 (2 sq in) versus 10 cm2 (1+1⁄2 sq in).
## Distribution and habitat
The bobcat is an adaptable species. It prefers woodlands—deciduous, coniferous, or mixed—but does not depend exclusively on the deep forest. It ranges from the humid swamps of Florida to desert lands of Texas or rugged mountain areas. It makes its home near agricultural areas, if rocky ledges, swamps, or forested tracts are present; its spotted coat serves as camouflage. The population of the bobcat depends primarily on the population of its prey; other principal factors in the selection of habitat type include protection from severe weather, availability of resting and den sites, dense cover for hunting and escape, and freedom from disturbance.
The bobcat's range does not seem to be limited by human populations, but by availability of suitable habitat; only large, intensively cultivated tracts are unsuitable for the species. The animal may appear in back yards in "urban edge" environments, where human development intersects with natural habitats. If chased by a dog, it usually climbs up a tree.
The historical range of the bobcat was from southern Canada, throughout the United States, and as far south as the Mexican state of Oaxaca, and it still persists across much of this area. In the 20th century, it was thought to have lost territory in the US Midwest and parts of the Northeast, including southern Minnesota, eastern South Dakota, and much of Missouri, mostly due to habitat changes from modern agricultural practices. While thought to no longer exist in western New York and Pennsylvania, multiple confirmed sightings of bobcats (including dead specimens) have been recently reported in New York's Southern Tier and in central New York, and a bobcat was captured in 2018 on a tourist boat in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In addition, bobcat sightings have been confirmed in northern Indiana, and one was killed near Albion, Michigan, in 2008. In early March 2010, a bobcat was sighted (and later captured by animal control authorities) in a parking garage in downtown Houston. By 2010, bobcats appear to have recolonized many states, occurring in every state in the contiguous 48 except Delaware.
The bobcat population in Canada is limited due to both snow depth and the presence of the Canada lynx. The bobcat does not tolerate deep snow, and waits out heavy storms in sheltered areas; it lacks the large, padded feet of the Canada lynx and cannot support its weight on snow as efficiently. The bobcat is not entirely at a disadvantage where its range meets that of the larger felid: displacement of the Canada lynx by the aggressive bobcat has been observed where they interact in Nova Scotia, while the clearing of coniferous forests for agriculture has led to a northward retreat of the Canada lynx's range to the advantage of the bobcat. In northern and central Mexico, the cat is found in dry scrubland and forests of pine and oak; its range ends at the tropical southern portion of the country.
## Behavior and ecology
The bobcat is crepuscular, and is active mostly during twilight. It keeps on the move from three hours before sunset until about midnight, and then again from before dawn until three hours after sunrise. Each night, it moves from 3 to 11 km (2 to 7 mi) along its habitual route. This behavior may vary seasonally, as bobcats become more diurnal during fall and winter in response to the activity of their prey, which are more active during the day in colder weather.
### Social structure and home range
Bobcat activities are confined to well-defined territories, which vary in size depending on the sex and the distribution of prey. The home range is marked with feces, urine scent, and by clawing prominent trees in the area. In its territory, the bobcat has numerous places of shelter, usually a main den, and several auxiliary shelters on the outer extent of its range, such as hollow logs, brush piles, thickets, or under rock ledges. Its den smells strongly of the bobcat.
The sizes of bobcats' home ranges vary significantly from 0.596–326 km2 (0.23–126 sq mi).
One study in Kansas found resident males to have ranges of roughly 21 km2 (8 sq mi), and females less than half that area. Transient bobcats were found to have home ranges of 57 km2 (22 sq mi) and less well-defined home ranges. Kittens had the smallest range at about 8 km2 (3 sq mi). Dispersal from the natal range is most pronounced with males.
Reports on seasonal variation in range size have been equivocal. One study found a large variation in male range sizes, from 41 km2 (16 sq mi) in summer up to 104 km2 (40 sq mi) in winter. Another found that female bobcats, especially those which were reproductively active, expanded their home range in winter, but that males merely shifted their range without expanding it, which was consistent with numerous earlier studies. Other research in various American states has shown little or no seasonal variation.
Like most felines, the bobcat is largely solitary, but ranges often overlap. Unusual for cats, males are more tolerant of overlap, while females rarely wander into others' ranges. Given their smaller range sizes, two or more females may reside within a male's home range. When multiple territories overlap, a dominance hierarchy is often established, resulting in the exclusion of some transients from favored areas.
In line with widely differing estimates of home range size, population density figures diverge from one to 38 bobcats per 26 km2 (10 sq mi) in one survey. The average is estimated at one bobcat per 13 km2 (5 sq mi). A link has been observed between population density and sex ratio. An unhunted population in California had a sex ratio of 2.1 males per female. When the density decreased, the sex ratio skewed to 0.86 males per female. Another study observed a similar ratio, and suggested the males may be better able to cope with the increased competition, and this helped limit reproduction until various factors lowered the density.
### Hunting and diet
The bobcat is able to survive for long periods without food, but eats heavily when prey is abundant. During lean periods, it often preys on larger animals, which it can kill and return to feed on later. The bobcat hunts by stalking its prey and then ambushing with a short chase or pounce. Its preference is for mammals weighing about 0.7–6 kg (1+1⁄2–12+1⁄2 lb). Its main prey varies by region: in the eastern United States, it is the eastern cottontail and New England cottontail, and in the north, it is the snowshoe hare.
When these prey species exist together, as in New England, they are the primary food sources of the bobcat. In the far south, the rabbits and hares are sometimes replaced by cotton rats as the primary food source. Birds up to the size of an adult trumpeter swan are also taken in ambushes while nesting, along with their fledglings and eggs. The bobcat is an opportunistic predator that, unlike the more specialized Canada lynx, readily varies its prey selection. Diet diversification positively correlates to a decline in numbers of the bobcat's principal prey; the abundance of its main prey species is the main determinant of overall diet.
The bobcat hunts animals of different sizes, and adjusts its hunting techniques accordingly. It hunts in areas abundant in prey and waits lying or crouching for victims to wander close. It then pounces and grabs the prey with its sharp, retractable claws. For slightly larger animals, such as geese, ducks, rabbits and hares, it stalks from cover and waits until prey comes within 6 to 11 m (20 to 35 ft) before rushing in to attack. Less commonly, it feeds on larger animals, such as young ungulates, and other carnivores, such as primarily female fishers, gray foxes, American minks, American martens, skunks, raccoons, small dogs and domestic cats. It also hunts rodents such as squirrels, moles, muskrats, mice, but also birds, small sharks, and insects. Bobcats occasional hunt livestock and poultry. While larger species, such as cattle and horses, are not known to be attacked, bobcats do present a threat to smaller ruminants such as pigs, sheep and goats. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, bobcats killed 11,100 sheep in 2004, comprising 4.9% of all sheep predator deaths. However, some amount of bobcat predation may be misidentified, as bobcats have been known to scavenge on the remains of livestock kills by other animals.
It has been known to kill deer or pronghorn, and sometimes to hunt elk in western North America, especially in winter when smaller prey is scarce, or when deer populations become more abundant. One study in the Everglades showed a large majority of kills (33 of 39) were fawns. In Yellowstone a large number of kills (15 of 20) were elk calves, but prey up to eight times the bobcat's weight could be successfully taken. It stalks the deer, often when the deer is lying down, then rushes in and grabs it by the neck before biting the throat, base of the skull, or chest. On the rare occasions a bobcat kills a deer, it eats its fill and then buries the carcass under snow or leaves, often returning to it several times to feed.
The bobcat prey base overlaps with that of other midsized predators of a similar ecological niche. Research in Maine has shown little evidence of competitive relationships between the bobcat and coyote or red fox; separation distances and territory overlap appeared random among simultaneously monitored animals. However, other studies have found bobcat populations may decrease in areas with high coyote populations, with the more social inclination of the canid giving them a possible competitive advantage. With the Canada lynx, however, the interspecific relationship affects distribution patterns; competitive exclusion by the bobcat is likely to have prevented any further southward expansion of the range of its felid relative.
### Reproduction and life cycle
The average lifespan of the bobcat is seven years but rarely exceeds 10 years. The oldest wild bobcat on record was 16 years old, and the oldest captive bobcat lived to be 32.
Bobcats generally begin breeding by their second summer, though females may start as early as their first year. Sperm production begins each year by September or October, and the male is fertile into the summer. A dominant male travels with a female and mates with her several times, generally from winter until early spring; this varies by location, but most mating takes place during February and March. The pair may undertake a number of different behaviors, including bumping, chasing, and ambushing.
Other males may be in attendance, but remain uninvolved. Once the male recognizes the female is receptive, he grasps her in the typical felid neck grip and mates with her. The female may later go on to mate with other males, and males generally mate with several females. During courtship, the bobcat's vocalizations include screaming and hissing. Research in Texas revealed that establishing a home range is necessary for breeding; studied animals without a home range had no identified offspring. The female has an estrous cycle of 44 days, with the estrus lasting five to ten days. Bobcats remain reproductively active throughout their lives.
The female raises the young alone. One to six, but usually two to four, kittens are born in April or May, after roughly 60 to 70 days of gestation. Sometimes, a second litter is born as late as September. The female generally gives birth in an enclosed space, usually a small cave or hollow log. The young open their eyes by the ninth or tenth day. They start exploring their surroundings at four weeks and are weaned at about two months. Within three to five months, they begin to travel with their mother. They hunt by themselves by fall of their first year, and usually disperse shortly thereafter. In Michigan, however, they have been observed staying with their mother as late as the next spring.
### Predators
The adult bobcat has relatively few predators. Rarely, however, it may be killed in interspecific conflict by several larger predators or fall prey to them. Cougars and gray wolves can kill adult bobcats, a behavior repeatedly observed in Yellowstone National Park. Coyotes have killed adult bobcats and kittens. At least one confirmed observation of a bobcat and an American black bear *(Ursus americanus)* fighting over a carcass is confirmed. Like other *Lynx* species, bobcats probably avoid encounters with bears, in part because they are likely to lose kills to them or may rarely be attacked by them. Bobcat remains have occasionally been found in the resting sites of male fishers. American alligators (*Alligator mississippensis*) have been filmed opportunistically preying on adult bobcats in the southeast United States. Golden eagles (*Aquila chrysaetos*) have been reportedly observed preying on bobcats.
Kittens may be taken by several predators, including great horned owls, eagles, foxes, and bears, and other adult male bobcats. When prey populations are not abundant, fewer kittens are likely to reach adulthood.
Diseases, accidents, hunters, automobiles, and starvation are the other leading causes of death. Juveniles show high mortality shortly after leaving their mothers, while still perfecting their hunting techniques. One study of 15 bobcats showed yearly survival rates for both sexes averaged 0.62, in line with other research suggesting rates of 0.56 to 0.67. Cannibalism has been reported; kittens may be taken when prey levels are low, but this is very rare and does not much influence the population.
The bobcat may have external parasites, mostly ticks and fleas, and often carries the parasites of its prey, especially those of rabbits and squirrels. Internal parasites (endoparasites) are especially common in bobcats. One study found an average infection rate of 52% from *Toxoplasma gondii*, but with great regional variation. One mite in particular, *Lynxacarus morlani*, has to date been found only on the bobcat. Parasites' and diseases' role in the mortality of the bobcat is still unclear, but they may account for greater mortality than starvation, accidents, and predation.
## Conservation
It is listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which means it is not considered threatened with extinction, but that international trade must be closely monitored. The animal is regulated in all three of its range countries, and is found in a number of protected areas of the United States, its principal territory. Estimates from the US Fish and Wildlife Service placed bobcat numbers between 700,000 and 1,500,000 in the US in 1988, with increased range and population density suggesting even greater numbers in subsequent years; for these reasons, the U.S. has petitioned CITES to remove the cat from Appendix II. Populations in Canada and Mexico remain stable and healthy. It is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List, noting it is relatively widespread and abundant, but information from southern Mexico is poor.
The species is considered endangered in Ohio, Indiana, and New Jersey. It was removed from the threatened list of Illinois in 1999 and of Iowa in 2003. In Pennsylvania, limited hunting and trapping are once again allowed, after having been banned from 1970 to 1999. The bobcat also suffered population decline in New Jersey at the turn of the 19th century, mainly because of commercial and agricultural developments causing habitat fragmentation; by 1972, the bobcat was given full legal protection, and was listed as endangered in the state in 1991. The Mexican bobcat *L. r. escuinipae* was for a time considered endangered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, but was delisted in 2005. Between 2003 and 2011, a reduction in bobcat sightings in the Everglades by 87.5% has been attributed to predation by the invasive Burmese python.
The bobcat has long been valued both for fur and sport; it has been hunted and trapped by humans, but has maintained a high population, even in the southern United States, where it is extensively hunted. In the 1970s and 1980s, an unprecedented rise in price for bobcat fur caused further interest in hunting, but by the early 1990s, prices had dropped significantly. Regulated hunting still continues, with half of mortality of some populations being attributed to this cause. As a result, the rate of bobcat deaths is skewed in winter, when hunting season is generally open.
Urbanization can result in the fragmentation of contiguous natural landscapes into patchy habitat within an urban area. Animals that live in these fragmented areas often have reduced movement between the habitat patches, which can lead to reduced gene flow and pathogen transmission between patches. Animals such as the bobcat are particularly sensitive to fragmentation because of their large home ranges. A study in coastal Southern California has shown bobcat populations are affected by urbanization, creation of roads, and other developments. The populations may not be declining as much as predicted, but instead the connectivity of different populations is affected. This leads to a decrease in natural genetic diversity among bobcat populations. For bobcats, preserving open space in sufficient quantities and quality is necessary for population viability. Educating local residents about the animals is critical, as well, for conservation in urban areas.
In bobcats using urban habitats in California, the use of rodenticides has been linked to both secondary poisoning by consuming poisoned rats and mice, and to increased rates of severe mite infestation (known as notoedric mange), as an animal with a poison-weakened immune system is less capable of fighting off mange. Liver autopsies in California bobcats that have succumbed to notoedric mange have revealed chronic rodenticide exposure. Alternative rodent control measures such as vegetation control and use of traps have been suggested to alleviate this issue.
## Importance in human culture
Stories featuring the bobcat, in many variations, are found in some Indigenous cultures of North America, with parallels in South America. A story from the Nez Perce, for instance, depicts the bobcat and coyote as opposed, antithetical beings. However, another version represents them with equality and identicality. Claude Lévi-Strauss argues that the former concept, that of twins representing opposites, is an inherent theme in New World mythologies, but that they are not equally balanced figures, representing an open-ended dualism rather than the symmetric duality of Old World cultures. The latter notion then, Lévi-Strauss suggests, is the result of regular contact between Europeans and native cultures. Additionally, the version found in the Nez Perce story is of much greater complexity, while the version of equality seems to have lost the tale's original meaning.
In a Shawnee tale, the bobcat is outwitted by a rabbit, which gives rise to its spots. After trapping the rabbit in a tree, the bobcat is persuaded to build a fire, only to have the embers scattered on its fur, leaving it singed with dark brown spots. The Mohave people believed dreaming habitually of beings or objects would afford them their characteristics as supernatural powers. Dreaming of two deities, cougar and lynx, they thought, would grant them the superior hunting skills of other tribes. European-descended inhabitants of the Americas also admired the cat, both for its ferocity and its grace, and in the United States, it "rests prominently in the anthology of ... national folklore".
Grave artifacts from dirt domes excavated in the 1980s along the Illinois River revealed a complete skeleton of a young bobcat along with a collar made of bone pendants and shell beads that had been buried by the Hopewell culture. The type and place of burial indicate a tamed and cherished pet or possible spiritual significance. The Hopewell normally buried their dogs, so the bones were initially identified as remains of a puppy, but dogs were usually buried close to the village and not in the mounds themselves. This is the only wild cat decorated burial on the archaeological record.
An inhabitant of Appalachia, *Lynx rufus* is immortalized (along with university founder Rufus Putnam) at Ohio University through its popular college mascot, Rufus the Bobcat.
## See also
## Further reading
## External links
- "Bobcat". IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group.
- "Bobcats". National Geographic. Archived from the original on June 12, 2007.
- Skahill, P. (2019). "What are the secrets of Connecticut's Bobcats?". Connecticut Public Radio / WNPR.
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# Billboard (magazine) - Wikipedia
| Editor | Hannah Karp |
|---|---|
| Former editors | Lee Zhito, Tony Gervino, Bill Werde, Tamara Conniff |
| Categories | Entertainment |
| Frequency | Weekly |
| Publisher | Penske Media Corporation |
| Total circulation | 17,000 magazines per week 15.2 million unique visitors per month |
| Founder |
|
| Founded | November 1, 1894Billboard Advertising) | (as
| Company | Eldridge Industries |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | New York City |
| Language | Arabic, English, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese |
| Website | |
| ISSN | 0006-2510 |
| OCLC | 732913734 |
* Billboard* (stylized in lowercase since 2013) is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events and styles related to the music industry. Its music charts include the Hot 100, the 200, and the Global 200, tracking the most popular albums and songs in various music genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm and operates several television shows.
*Billboard* was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson acquired Hennegan's interest in 1900 for $500. In the early years of the 20th century, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs and burlesque shows, and also created a mail service for travelling entertainers. *Billboard* began focusing more on the music industry as the jukebox, phonograph and radio became commonplace. Many topics that it covered became the subjects of new magazines, including *Amusement Business* in 1961 to cover outdoor entertainment, so that *Billboard* could focus on music. After Donaldson died in 1925, *Billboard* was inherited by his and Hennegan's children, who retained ownership until selling it to private investors in 1985. The magazine has since been owned by various parties.
The first issue of *Billboard* was published in Cincinnati, Ohio, by William Donaldson and James Hennegan on November 1, 1894. Initially it covered the advertising and bill-posting industry and was known as * Billboard Advertising*. At the time, billboards, posters, and paper advertisements placed in public spaces were the primary means of advertising. Donaldson handled editorial and advertising, while Hennegan, who owned Hennegan Printing Co., managed magazine production. The first issues were just eight pages long. The paper had columns such as The Bill Room Gossip and The Indefatigable and Tireless Industry of the Bill Poster. A department for agricultural fairs was established in 1896. The
*Billboard Advertising*publication was renamed
*in 1897.*
**The Billboard**After a brief departure over editorial differences, Donaldson purchased Hennegan's interest in the business in 1900 for $500 (equal to $15,100 today) to save it from bankruptcy. On May 5, Donaldson changed the publication from a monthly to a weekly paper with a greater emphasis on breaking news. He improved editorial quality and opened new offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, London, and Paris, and also refocused the magazine on outdoor entertainment such as fairs, carnivals, circuses, vaudeville, and burlesque shows. A section devoted to circuses was introduced in 1900, followed by more prominent coverage of outdoor events in 1901. *Billboard* also covered topics including regulation, professionalism, economics and new shows. It had a "stage gossip" column covering the private lives of entertainers, a "tent show" section covering traveling shows and a subsection called "Freaks to Order". Donaldson also published news articles opposing censorship, supporting productions exhibiting good taste and decrying yellow journalism."
As railroads became more developed, *Billboard* enabled a mail-forwarding system for traveling entertainers. The location of an entertainer was tracked in the paper's Routes Ahead column, and then *Billboard* would receive mail on the star's behalf and publish a notice in its Letter-Box column that it had mail for him or her. This service was first introduced in 1904 and became one of *Billboard*'s largest sources of profit and celebrity connections. By 1914, 42,000 people were using the service. It was also used as the official address of traveling entertainers for draft letters during World War I. In the 1960s, when the service was discontinued, *Billboard* was still processing 1,500 letters per week.
In 1920, Donaldson controversially hired black journalist James Albert Jackson to write a weekly column devoted to black performers. According to *The Business of Culture: Strategic Perspectives on Entertainment and Media*, the column identified discrimination against black performers and helped validate their careers. Jackson was the first black critic at a national magazine with a predominantly white audience. According to his grandson, Donaldson also established a policy against identifying performers by their race. Donaldson died in 1925.
*Billboard*'s editorial content changed focus as technology in recording and playback developed, covering "marvels of modern technology" such as the phonograph and wireless radios. The magazine began covering coin-operated entertainment machines in 1899 and created a dedicated section called Amusement Machines in March 1932. *Billboard* began covering the motion-picture industry in 1907 but, facing strong competition from *Variety*, centered its focus on music. It created a radio-broadcasting station in the 1920s.
The jukebox industry continued to grow through the Great Depression and was advertised heavily in *Billboard*, which led to even more editorial focus on music. The proliferation of the phonograph and radio also contributed to its growing music emphasis. *Billboard* published the first music hit parade on January 4, 1936 and introduced a Record Buying Guide in January 1939. In 1940, it introduced Chart Line, which tracked the best-selling records, and was followed by a chart for jukebox records in 1944 called Music Box Machine. By the 1940s, *Billboard* was more of a music-industry specialist publication. The number of charts that it published grew after World War II, as new music interests and genres became popular. It had eight charts by 1987, covering different genres and formats, and 28 charts by 1994.
By 1943, *Billboard* had about 100 employees. The magazine's offices moved to Brighton, Ohio in 1946, then to New York City in 1948. A five-column tabloid format was adopted in November 1950 and coated paper was first used in *Billboard*'s print issues in January 1963, allowing for photojournalism.
*Billboard Publications Inc.* acquired a monthly trade magazine for candy and cigarette machine vendors called *Vend*, and in the 1950s it acquired an advertising trade publication called *Tide*. By 1969, Billboard Publications Inc. owned 11 trade and consumer publications, Watson-Guptill Publications, a set of self-study cassette tapes and four television franchises. It also acquired *Photo Weekly* that year.
Over time, subjects that *Billboard* covered outside of the music world formed the basis of separate publications: *Funspot* magazine was created in 1957 to cover amusement parks and *Amusement Business* was created in 1961 to cover outdoor entertainment. In January 1961, *Billboard* was renamed * Billboard Music Week* to emphasize its newly exclusive interest in music. Two years later, it was renamed to simply
*Billboard*. According to
*The New Business Journalism*, by 1984, Billboard Publications was a "prosperous" conglomerate of trade magazines, and
*Billboard*had become the "undisputed leader" in music-industry news. In the early 1990s,
*Billboard*introduced
*Billboard Airplay Monitors*, a publication for disc jockeys and music programmers. By the end of the 1990s,
*Billboard*dubbed itself the "bible" of the recording industry.
*Billboard* struggled after its founder William Donaldson died in 1925, and within three years, was once again heading towards bankruptcy. Donaldson's son-in-law Roger Littleford took command in 1928 and "nursed the publication back to health." His sons Bill and Roger became co-publishers in 1946 and inherited the magazine in the late 1970s after Littleford's death. They sold it to private investors in 1985 for an estimated $40 million. The investors cut costs and acquired a trade publication for the Broadway theatre industry called *Backstage*.
In 1987, *Billboard* was sold again to Affiliated Publications for $100 million. Billboard Publications Inc. became a subsidiary of Affiliated Publications called BPI Communications. As BPI Communications, it acquired *The Hollywood Reporter*, *Adweek*, *Marketing Week* and *Mediaweek*, and also purchased Broadcast Data Systems, a high-tech firm for tracking music airtime. Private investors from Boston Ventures and BPI executives repurchased a two-thirds interest in Billboard Publications for $100 million, and more acquisitions followed. In 1993, it created a division known as Billboard Music Group for music-related publications.
In 1994, Billboard Publications was sold to Dutch media conglomerate Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeverijen (VNU) for $220 million. VNU acquired the Clio Awards in advertising and the National Research Group in 1997, as well as *Editor & Publisher* in 1999. In July 2000, it paid $650 million to the publisher Miller Freeman. BPI was combined with other entities in VNU in 2000 to form Bill Communications Inc. By the time CEO Gerald Hobbs retired in 2003, VNU had grown substantially larger, but had a great deal of debt from the acquisitions. An attempted $7 billion acquisition of IMS Health in 2005 prompted protests from shareholders that halted the deal; it eventually agreed to an $11 billion takeover bid from investors in 2006.
VNU changed its name to Nielsen in 2007, the namesake of a company that it had acquired for $2.5 billion in 1999. New CEO Robert Krakoff divested some of the previously owned publications, restructured the organization and planned some acquisitions before dying suddenly in 2007. He was subsequently replaced by Greg Farrar.
Nielsen owned *Billboard* until 2009, when it was one of eight publications sold to e5 Global Media Holdings. e5 was formed by investment firms Pluribus Capital Management and Guggenheim Partners for the purpose of the acquisition. The following year, the new parent company was renamed Prometheus Global Media. Three years later, Guggenheim Partners acquired Pluribus' share of Prometheus and became the sole owner of *Billboard*.
In December 2015, Guggenheim Digital Media spun out several media brands, including *Billboard*, to its own executive Todd Boehly. The assets operate under the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group, a unit of the holding company Eldridge Industries.
Timothy White was appointed editor-in-chief in 1991, a position that he held until his unexpected death in 2002. White wrote a weekly column promoting music with "artistic merit" while criticizing music with violent or misogynistic themes, and also reworked the publication's music charts. Rather than relying on data from music retailers, new charts used data from store checkout scanners obtained by Nielsen SoundScan. White also wrote in-depth profiles on musicians, but was replaced by Keith Girard, who was subsequently fired in May 2004. Girard and a female employee filed a $29 million lawsuit alleging that *Billboard* fired them unfairly with an intent to damage their reputations and that they experienced sexual harassment, a hostile work environment and a financially motivated lack of editorial integrity. Email evidence suggested that human resources were given special instructions to watch minority employees. The case was settled out of court in 2006 for an undisclosed sum.
In the 2000s, economic decline in the music industry dramatically reduced readership and advertising from *Billboard*'s traditional audience. Circulation declined from 40,000 in the 1990s to less than 17,000 by 2014. The publication's staff and ownership were also undergoing frequent changes.
In 2004, Tamara Conniff became the first female and youngest-ever executive editor at *Billboard* and led its first major redesign since the 1960s, designed by Daniel Stark and Stark Design. During Conniff's tenure, *Billboard*'s newsstand sales jumped 10%, ad pages climbed 22% and conference registrations rose 76%. In 2005, *Billboard* expanded its editorial outside the music industry into other areas of digital and mobile entertainment. In 2006, after leading *Billboard*'s radio publication, former ABC News and CNN journalist Scott McKenzie was named editorial director across all *Billboard* properties. Conniff launched the *Billboard* Women in Music event in 2007.
Bill Werde was named editorial director in 2008, and was followed by Janice Min in January 2014, also responsible for editorial content at *The Hollywood Reporter*. The magazine became more of a general-interest music-news source rather than solely an industry trade, covering more celebrity and fashion news. Min hired Tony Gervino as editor although he did not have a background in the music industry. Gervino was appointed editor-in-chief in April 2014. An NPR item covered a leaked version of *Billboard*'s annual survey, which it said had more gossip and focused on less professional topics than had prior surveys. For example, the magazine polled readers on a lawsuit that singer Kesha filed against her producer, alleging sexual abuse.
Gervino was fired in May 2016. A note from Min to the editorial staff indicated that senior vice president of digital content Mike Bruno would head the editorial department. On June 15, 2016, BillboardPH, the first *Billboard* chart company in Southeast Asia, mainly in the Philippines, was announced. On September 12, 2016, *Billboard* expanded into China by launching *Billboard China* in partnership with Vision Music Ltd.
On September 23, 2020, it was announced that Penske Media Corporation would assume operations of the MRC Media & Info publications under a joint venture with MRC known as PMRC. The joint venture includes the management of *Billboard*.
On January 13, 2024, *Billboard* shared the intent to expand further in Asia by announcing the launch of *Billboard Korea*.
*Billboard* publishes a news website and weekly trade magazine that covers music, video and home entertainment. Most of the articles are written by staff writers, while some are written by industry experts. It covers news, gossip, opinion, and music reviews, but its "most enduring and influential creation" is the *Billboard* charts. The charts track music sales, radio airtime and other data about the most popular songs and albums. The *Billboard* Hot 100 chart of the top-selling songs was introduced in 1958. Since then, the *Billboard* 200, which tracks the top-selling albums, has become more popular as an indicator of commercial success. *Billboard* has also published books in collaboration with Watson-Guptill and a radio and television series called American Top 40, based on Billboard charts. A daily *Billboard Bulletin* was introduced in February 1997 and *Billboard* hosts about 20 industry events each year.
*Billboard* is considered one of the most reputable sources of music industry news. The website includes the Billboard Charts, news separated by music genre, videos and a separate website. It also compiles lists, hosts a fashion website called Pret-a-Reporter and publishes eight different newsletters. The print magazine's regular sections include:
- Hot 100: A chart of the top 100 most popular songs of the week
- Topline: News from the week
- The Beat: Hitmaker interviews, gossip and trends in the music industry
- Style: Fashion and accessories
- Features: In-depth interviews, profiles and photography
- Reviews: Reviews of new albums and songs
- Backstage pass: information about events and concerts
- Charts and CODA: More information about current and historical Billboard Charts
*Billboard* is known for publishing several annual listicles on its website, in recognition of the most influential executives, artists and companies in the music industry, such as the following:
- 21 Under 21
- 40 Under 40
- Women in Music
*Billboard*Dance 100*Billboard*Power 100- Dance Power Players
- Digital Power Players
- Hip-Hop Power Players
- Indie Power Players
- Latin Power Players
- Top 50 Money Makers
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# Malaysia - Wikipedia
Malaysia | |
|---|---|
Motto: Bersekutu Bertambah Mutu"Unity Is Strength" | |
Anthem: "Negaraku""My Country" | |
| Capital and largest city | Kuala Lumpur |
| Administrative center | Putrajaya |
| National languages (official) | Malay |
| Recognised languages | English |
| Ethnic groups (2023) | |
| Religion (2020) | |
| Demonym(s) | Malaysian |
| Government | Federal parliamentary constitutional elective monarchy |
| Ibrahim Iskandar | |
| Anwar Ibrahim | |
| Legislature | Parliament |
| Dewan Negara | |
| Dewan Rakyat | |
| Independence | |
| 31 August 1957 | |
| 22 July 1963 | |
| 31 August 1963 | |
| 16 September 1963 | |
| Area | |
• Total | 330,803 km2 (127,724 sq mi) (67th) |
• Water (%) | 0.3 |
| Population | |
• 2024 estimate | 34,564,810 (43rd) |
• 2020 census | 32,447,385 |
• Density | 101/km2 (261.6/sq mi) (116th) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2025 estimate |
• Total | $1.430 trillion (31st) |
• Per capita | $43,095 (50th) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2024 estimate |
• Total | $445.519 billion (36th) |
• Per capita | $13,315 (67th) |
| Gini (2021) | 40.7 medium inequality |
| HDI (2023) | 0.819 very high (67th) |
| Currency | Malaysian ringgit (RM) (MYR) |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (MST) |
| Date format | dd-mm-yyyy |
| Calling code | +60 |
| ISO 3166 code | MY |
| Internet TLD | .my |
**Malaysia** is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federal constitutional monarchy consisting of 13 states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia on the Indochinese Peninsula and East Malaysia on the island of Borneo. Peninsular Malaysia shares land and maritime borders with Thailand, as well as maritime borders with Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia; East Malaysia shares land borders with Brunei and Indonesia, and a maritime border with the Philippines and Vietnam. Kuala Lumpur is the country's national capital, largest city, and the seat of the legislative branch of the federal government, while Putrajaya is the federal administrative capital, representing the seat of both the executive branch (the Cabinet, federal ministries, and federal agencies) and the judicial branch of the federal government. With a population of over 34 million, it is the world's 42nd-most populous country.
The country has its origins in the Malay kingdoms, which, from the 18th century on, became subject to the British Empire, along with the British Straits Settlements protectorate. During World War II, British Malaya, along with other nearby British and American colonies, was occupied by the Empire of Japan. Following three years of occupation, Peninsular Malaysia was briefly unified as the Malayan Union in 1946 until 1948 when it was restructured as the Federation of Malaya. The country achieved independence on 31 August 1957. On 16 September 1963, independent Malaya united with the then British crown colonies of North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore to become Malaysia. In August 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation and became a separate, independent country.
Malaysia is tropical and is one of 17 megadiverse countries; it is home to numerous endemic species. The country is multiethnic and multicultural, which has a significant effect on its politics. About half the population is ethnically Malay, with minorities of Chinese, Indians, and indigenous peoples. The official language is Malaysian Malay, a standard form of the Malay language. English remains an active second language. While recognising Islam as the official religion, the constitution grants freedom of religion to non-Muslims. The government is modelled on the Westminster parliamentary system, and the legal system is based on common law. The head of state is an elected monarch, chosen from among the nine state sultans every five years. The head of government is the prime minister.
The country's economy has traditionally been driven by its natural resources but is expanding into commerce, tourism, and medical tourism. The country has a newly industrialised market economy, which is relatively open and state-oriented. The country is a founding member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the East Asia Summit (EAS), and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and a member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the Commonwealth, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
## Etymology
The name *Malaysia* is a combination of the word *Malays* and the Latin-Greek suffix *-ia*/-ία which can be translated as 'land of the Malays'. Similar-sounding variants have also appeared in accounts older than the 11th century, as toponyms for areas in Sumatra or referring to a larger region around the Strait of Malacca. The Sanskrit text *Vayu Purana*, thought to have been in existence since the first millennium CE, mentioned a land named 'Malayadvipa' which was identified by certain scholars as the modern Malay Peninsula. Other notable accounts are by Ptolemy's 2nd-century *Geographia* that used the name *Malayu Kulon* for the west coast of Golden Chersonese, and the 7th-century Yijing's account of *Malayu*.
At some point, the Melayu Kingdom took its name from the *Sungai Melayu*. *Melayu* then became associated with Srivijaya, and remained associated with various parts of Sumatra, especially Palembang, where the founder of the Malacca Sultanate is thought to have come from. It is only thought to have developed into an ethnonym as Malacca became a regional power in the 15th century. Islamisation established an ethnoreligious identity in Malacca, with the term *Melayu* beginning to appear as interchangeable with *Melakans*. It may have specifically referred to local Malay speakers who were loyal to the Malaccan Sultan. The initial Portuguese use of *Malayos* reflected this, referring only to the ruling people of Malacca. The prominence of traders from Malacca led *Melayu* to be associated with Muslim traders, and from there became associated with the wider cultural and linguistic group. Malacca and later Johor claimed they were the centre of Malay culture, a position supported by the British which led to the term *Malay* becoming more usually linked to the Malay peninsula rather than Sumatra.
Before the onset of European colonisation, the Malay Peninsula was known natively as *Tanah Melayu* ('Malay Land'). Under a racial classification created by a German scholar Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, the natives of maritime Southeast Asia were grouped into a single category, the Malay race. Following the expedition of French navigator Jules Dumont d'Urville to Oceania in 1826, he later proposed the terms of *Malaysia*, *Micronesia* and *Melanesia* to the *Société de Géographie* in 1831, distinguishing these Pacific cultures and island groups from the existing term *Polynesia*. Dumont d'Urville described Malaysia as "an area commonly known as the East Indies". In 1850, the English ethnologist George Samuel Windsor Earl, writing in the *Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia*, proposed naming the islands of Southeast Asia as "Melayunesia" or "Indunesia", favouring the former. The name Malaysia gained some use to label what is now the Malay Archipelago. In modern terminology, *Malay* remains the name of an ethnoreligious group of Austronesian people predominantly inhabiting the Malay Peninsula and portions of the adjacent islands of Southeast Asia, including the east coast of Sumatra, the coast of Borneo, and smaller islands that lie between these areas.
The state that gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1957 took the name *the Federation of Malaya*, chosen in preference to other potential names such as *Malaysia* and *Langkasuka*, after the historic kingdom located at the upper section of the Malay Peninsula in the first millennium CE. Nonetheless, the name *Malaysia* was adopted in 1963 when the existing states of the Federation of Malaya, plus Singapore, North Borneo and Sarawak formed a new federation. One theory posits the name was chosen so that *si* represented the inclusion of Singapore, North Borneo, and Sarawak to Malaya in 1963. Politicians in the Philippines contemplated renaming their state Malaysia before the modern country took the name.
## History
Evidence of modern human habitation in Malaysia dates back 40,000 years. In the Malay Peninsula, the first inhabitants are thought to be Negritos. Areas of Malaysia participated in the Maritime Jade Road between 2000 BC to 1000 AD. Traders and settlers from India and China arrived as early as the first century AD, establishing trading ports and coastal towns in the second and third centuries. Their presence resulted in strong Indian and Chinese influences on the local cultures, and the people of the Malay Peninsula adopted the religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. Sanskrit inscriptions appear as early as the fourth or fifth century. The Kingdom of Langkasuka arose around the second century in the northern area of the Malay Peninsula, lasting until about the 15th century. Between the 7th and 13th centuries, much of the southern Malay Peninsula was part of the maritime Srivijayan empire. By the 13th and the 14th century, the Majapahit empire had successfully wrested control over most of the peninsula and the Malay Archipelago from Srivijaya. In the early 15th century, Parameswara, a runaway king of the former Kingdom of Singapura linked to the old Srivijayan court, founded the Malacca Sultanate. The spread of Islam increased following Parameswara's conversion to that religion. Malacca was an important commercial centre during this time, attracting trade from around the region.
In 1511, Malacca was conquered by Portugal, after which it was taken by the Dutch in 1641. In 1786, the British Empire established a presence in Malaya, when the Sultan of Kedah leased Penang Island to the British East India Company. The British obtained the town of Singapore in 1819, and in 1824 took control of Malacca following the Anglo-Dutch Treaty. By 1826, the British directly controlled Penang, Malacca, Singapore, and the island of Labuan, which they established as the crown colony of the Straits Settlements. By the 20th century, the states of Pahang, Selangor, Perak, and Negeri Sembilan, known together as the Federated Malay States, had British residents appointed to advise the Malay rulers, to whom the rulers were bound to defer by treaty. The remaining five states on the peninsula, known as the Unfederated Malay States, while not directly under British rule, also accepted British advisers around the turn of the 20th century. Development on the peninsula and Borneo were generally separate until the 19th century. Under British rule the immigration of Chinese and Indians to serve as labourers was encouraged. The area that is now Sabah came under British control as North Borneo when both the Sultan of Brunei and the Sultan of Sulu transferred their respective territorial rights of ownership, between 1877 and 1878. In 1842, Sarawak was ceded by the Sultan of Brunei to James Brooke, whose successors ruled as the White Rajahs over an independent kingdom until 1946, when it became a crown colony.
In the Second World War, the Japanese Army invaded and occupied Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore for over three years. During this time, ethnic tensions were raised and nationalism grew. Popular support for independence increased after Malaya was reconquered by Allied forces. Post-war British plans to unite the administration of Malaya under a single crown colony called the Malayan Union met with strong opposition from the Malays, who opposed the weakening of the Malay rulers and the granting of citizenship to the ethnic Chinese. The Malayan Union, established in 1946, and consisting of all the British possessions in the Malay Peninsula except for Singapore, was quickly dissolved and replaced on 1 February 1948 by the Federation of Malaya, which restored the autonomy of the rulers of the Malay states under British protection.
During this time, the mostly ethnically Chinese rebels under the leadership of the Malayan Communist Party launched guerrilla operations designed to force the British out of Malaya. The Malayan Emergency (1948–1960) involved a long anti-insurgency campaign by Commonwealth troops in Malaya. On 31 August 1957, Malaya became an independent member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Subsequently, a comprehensive plan was devised to unite Malaya with the crown colonies of North Borneo (known as Sabah upon joining), Sarawak, and Singapore. The envisioned federation was originally intended to take place on 31 August 1963, to coincide with the commemoration of Malayan independence. However, due to the necessity of conducting a survey on the level of support for the federation in Sabah and Sarawak by the United Nations, as requested by opponents of the federation such as Indonesia's Sukarno and the Sarawak United Peoples' Party, the date of the federation was postponed until 16 September 1963.
The federation brought heightened tensions including a conflict with Indonesia as well as continual conflicts against the Communists in Borneo and the Malay Peninsula, which escalated to the Sarawak Communist Insurgency and Second Malayan Emergency together with several other issues such as the cross-border attacks into Sabah by Moro pirates from the southern islands of the Philippines, Singapore being expelled from the Federation in 1965, and racial strife. This strife culminated in the 13 May race riots in 1969. After the riots, the controversial New Economic Policy was launched by Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak, trying to increase the share of the economy held by the *bumiputera*. Under Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad there was a period of rapid economic growth and urbanization beginning in the 1980s. The economy shifted from being agriculturally based to one based on manufacturing and industry. Numerous mega-projects were completed, such as the Petronas Towers, the North–South Expressway, the Multimedia Super Corridor, and the new federal administrative capital of Putrajaya.
In the late 1990s, the Asian financial crisis impacted the country, nearly causing their currency, stock, and property markets to crash; however, they later recovered. The 1MDB scandal was a major global corruption scandal that implicated then-Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2015. The scandal contributed to the first change in the ruling political party since independence in the 2018 general election. In the 2020s, the country was gripped by a political crisis that coincided with health and economic crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This was then followed by an earlier general election in November 2022, which resulted in the first hung parliament in the nation's history. On 24 November 2022, Anwar Ibrahim was sworn in as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia, leading a grand coalition government.
## Government and politics
Malaysia is a federal constitutional elective monarchy and the only federal country in Southeast Asia. The system of government is closely modelled on the Westminster parliamentary system, a legacy of British rule. The head of state is the King, whose official title is the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. The King is elected to a five-year term by and from among the nine hereditary rulers of the Malay states. The other four states, which have titular Governors, do not participate in the selection. By informal agreement the position is rotated among the nine, and has been held by Ibrahim Iskandar of Johor since 31 January 2024. The King's role has been largely ceremonial since changes to the constitution in 1994, picking ministers and members of the upper house.
Legislative power is divided between federal and state legislatures. The bicameral federal parliament consists of the lower house, the House of Representatives and the upper house, the Senate. The 222-member House of Representatives is elected for a maximum term of five years from single-member constituencies. All 70 senators sit for three-year terms; 26 are elected by the 13 state assemblies, and the remaining 44 are appointed by the King upon the Prime Minister's recommendation. The parliament follows a multi-party system and the government is elected through a first-past-the-post system. Parliamentary elections are held at least once every five years. Before 2018, only registered voters aged 21 and above could vote for the members of the House of Representatives and, in most of the states, for the state legislative chamber. Voting is not mandatory. In July 2019, a bill to lower the voting age to 18 years old was officially passed.
Executive power is vested in the Cabinet, led by the Prime Minister. The prime minister must be a member of the House of Representatives, who in the opinion of His Majesty the King, commands the support of a majority of members. The Cabinet is chosen from members of both houses of Parliament. The Prime Minister is both the head of cabinet and the head of government. As a result of the 2018 general election Malaysia was governed by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) political alliance, although Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad resigned amid a political crisis in 2020. In March 2020, the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition formed under Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, before Muhyiddin lost majority support and was replaced by deputy Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, a veteran politician from the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), in August 2021. As a result of the 2022 Malaysian general election, a hung parliament was elected. Anwar Ibrahim of the PH coalition was appointed as the new Prime Minister to lead the coalition government of PH, Barisan Nasional, Gabungan Parti Sarawak, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah and several other political parties and independents. Meanwhile, PN, the only political coalition not in the coalition government became the Opposition.
Malaysia's legal system is based on common law. Although the judiciary is theoretically independent, its independence has been called into question and the appointment of judges lacks accountability and transparency. The highest court in the judicial system is the Federal Court, followed by the Court of Appeal and two high courts, one for Peninsular Malaysia and one for East Malaysia. Malaysia also has a special court to hear cases brought by or against royalty.
Race is a significant force in politics. Affirmative actions such as the New Economic Policy and the National Development Policy which superseded it, were implemented to advance the standing of the *bumiputera*, consisting of Malays and the indigenous tribes who are considered the original inhabitants of Malaysia, over non-*bumiputera* such as Malaysian Chinese and Malaysian Indians. These policies provide preferential treatment to *bumiputera* in employment, education, scholarships, business, and access to cheaper housing and assisted savings. However, it has generated greater interethnic resentment. There is ongoing debate over whether the laws and society of Malaysia should reflect Islamism or secularism. Islamic criminal laws passed by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party with the support of UMNO state assemblymen in the state legislative assembly of Kelantan have been unenforced by the federal government on the basis that criminal laws are the responsibility of the federal government.
After UMNO lost power at the 2018 Malaysian general election, Malaysia's ranking increased by 9 places in the 2019 Democracy Index to 43rd compared to the previous year and is classified as a 'flawed democracy'. Malaysia's ranking in the 2020 Press Freedom Index increased by 22 places to 101st compared to the previous year, making it one of two countries in Southeast Asia without a 'Difficult situation' or 'Very Serious situation' with regards to press freedom. However, it fell 18 places the following year due to the policies of the PN government.
Malaysia is marked at 48th and 62nd place according to the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index, indicating above-average levels of corruption. Freedom House noted Malaysia as "partly free" in its 2018 survey. A lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice alleged that at least $3.5 billion involving former prime minister Najib Razak had been stolen from Malaysia's 1MDB state-owned fund, known as the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal.
### Administrative divisions
Malaysia is a federation of 13 states and three federal territories. Out of these, eleven states and two federal territories are in Peninsular Malaysia, whereas the other two states and one federal territory comprise East Malaysia.
The country has three tiers of government – federal, state and local. Governance of the states is divided between the federal and the state governments, with different powers reserved for each, and the federal government has direct administration of the federal territories. Each state has a unicameral State Legislative Assembly whose members are elected from single-member constituencies. State governments are led by Chief Ministers, who are state assembly members from the majority party in the assembly. In each of the states with a hereditary ruler, the Chief Minister is normally required to be a Malay, appointed by the ruler upon the recommendation of the Prime Minister. Until 2018, state elections were held concurrently with the general election by convention, except for those in Sarawak. Following the 2020–2022 political crisis, only Pahang, Perak and Perlis opted to conduct their state elections simultaneously with the general elections.
Positioned below the federal and state governments, local governments represent the lowest tier of governance in Malaysia. As of 2024[update], Malaysia is divided between 19 cities, 40 municipalities, 91 district-level councils, and four statutory agencies. While the federal constitution assigns local authorities to the exclusive jurisdiction of state governments, in practice, the federal Ministry of Housing and Local Government oversees the regulation of local laws and policies. Mayors (or presidents for municipal and district councils) and councillors are appointed by the respective state governments, or in the case of the federal territories, by the federal government.
Federal laws assign land matters, including the delineation of districts, to the purview of state governments. Except Perlis and the federal territories, each state is divided into districts, which are further subdivided into mukims. In Sabah and Sarawak, districts are grouped into divisions. In contrast to local governments that manage municipal administration and infrastructure development, districts are solely utilised for land taxation.
The 13 states are based on historical Malay kingdoms, and 9 of the 11 Peninsular states, known as the Malay states, retain their royal families. The King is elected by and from the nine rulers to serve a five-year term. This King appoints governors serving a four-year term for the states without monarchies, after consultations with the chief minister of that state. Each state has its written constitution. Sabah and Sarawak have considerably more autonomy than the other states, most notably having separate immigration policies and controls, and unique residency status. Federal intervention in state affairs, lack of development, and disputes over oil royalties have occasionally led to statements about secession from leaders in several states such as Penang, Johor, Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak, although these have not been followed up and no serious independence movements exist.
- States
A list of thirteen states and each state capital (in parentheses):
- Federal territories
- Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur
- Federal Territory of Labuan (Victoria)
- Federal Territory of Putrajaya
### Foreign relations and military
A founding member of ASEAN and OIC, the country participates in many international organisations such as the United Nations (U.N.), APEC, the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, and NAM. It has chaired ASEAN, OIC, and NAM in the past. A former British colony, it is also a member of the Commonwealth. Kuala Lumpur was the site of the first EAS in 2005.
Malaysia's foreign policy is officially based on the principle of neutrality and maintaining peaceful relations with all countries, regardless of their political system. The government attaches a high priority to the security and stability of Southeast Asia, and seeks to further develop relations with other countries in the region. Historically the government has tried to portray Malaysia as a progressive Islamic nation while strengthening relations with other Islamic states. A strong tenet of Malaysia's policy is national sovereignty and right of a country to control its domestic affairs. Malaysia signed the U.N. treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
The Spratly Islands are disputed by many states in the area, and a large portion of the South China Sea is claimed by China. Unlike its neighbours of Vietnam and the Philippines, Malaysia historically avoided conflicts with China. However, after the encroachment of Chinese ships in Malaysian territorial waters, and breach of airspace by their military aircraft, Malaysia has become active in condemning China. Brunei and Malaysia in 2009 announced an end to claims of each other's land, and committed to resolve issues related to their maritime borders. The Philippines has a dormant claim to the eastern part of Sabah. Singapore's land reclamation has caused tensions, and minor maritime and land border disputes exist with Indonesia.
The Malaysian Armed Forces has three branches: the Malaysian Army, Royal Malaysian Navy and the Royal Malaysian Air Force. There is no conscription, and the required age for voluntary military service is 18. The military uses 1.5% of the country's GDP, and employs 1.23% of Malaysia's manpower. Malaysian peacekeeping forces of MALBATT have contributed to many U.N. peacekeeping missions, such as in Congo, Iran–Iraq, Namibia, Cambodia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Somalia, Kosovo, East Timor, and Lebanon.
The Five Power Defence Arrangements is a regional security initiative that has been in place for almost 40 years. It involves joint military exercises held among Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Joint exercises and war games have also been held with Brunei, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, and the United States. Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam have agreed to host joint security force exercises to secure their maritime border and tackle issues such as illegal immigration, piracy, and smuggling. Previously there were fears that extremist militant activities in the Muslim areas of the southern Philippines and southern Thailand would spill over into Malaysia. Because of this, Malaysia began to increase its border security.
### Human rights
Homosexuality is illegal in Malaysia, and authorities have imposed punishments such as caning and imprisonment. Human trafficking and sex trafficking in Malaysia are significant problems. There have also been cases of vigilante executions and beatings against LGBT individuals in Malaysia. The illegality of homosexuality in Malaysia has also been the forefront of Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy trials, which Anwar has called politically motivated, a characterization supported by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, along with Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch.
The death penalty is in use for serious crimes such as murder, terrorism, and drug trafficking, some of which were once mandatory. However in July 2023, following the passing of the Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023, mandatory death penalty was abolished for all crimes in Malaysia, thereby allowing judges to impose the capital punishment at their own discretion and on a case-by-case basis. The new law also abolished all natural life imprisonment, replacing it with 30 to 40 years prison terms instead.
## Geography
Malaysia is the 66th largest country by total land area, with a total area of 330,803 km2 (127,724 sq mi). It has land borders with Thailand in West Malaysia, and Indonesia and Brunei in East Malaysia. It is linked to Singapore by a narrow causeway and a bridge. The country also has maritime boundaries with Vietnam and the Philippines. The land borders are defined in large part by geological features such as the Perlis River, the Golok River and the Pagalayan Canal, whilst some of the maritime boundaries are the subject of ongoing contention. Brunei forms what is almost an enclave in Malaysia, with the state of Sarawak dividing it into two parts. Malaysia is the only country with territory on both the Asian mainland and the Malay archipelago. The Strait of Malacca, lying between Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia, is one of the most important thoroughfares in global commerce, carrying 40 percent of the world's trade.
The two parts of Malaysia, separated from each other by the South China Sea, share a largely similar landscape in that both Peninsular and East Malaysia feature coastal plains rising to hills and mountains. Peninsular Malaysia, containing 40 per cent of Malaysia's land area, extends 740 km (460 mi) from north to south, and its maximum width is 322 km (200 mi). It is divided between its east and west coasts by the Titiwangsa Mountains, rising to a peak elevation of 2,183 metres (7,162 ft) at Mount Korbu, part of a series of mountain ranges running down the centre of the peninsula. These mountains are heavily forested, and mainly composed of granite and other igneous rocks. Much of it has been eroded, creating a karst landscape. The range is the origin of some of Peninsular Malaysia's river systems. The coastal plains surrounding the peninsula reach a maximum width of 50 kilometres (31 mi), and the peninsula's coastline is nearly 1,931 km (1,200 mi) long, although harbours are only available on the western side.
East Malaysia, on the island of Borneo, has a coastline of 2,607 km (1,620 mi). It is divided between coastal regions, hills and valleys, and a mountainous interior. The Crocker Range extends northwards from Sarawak, dividing the state of Sabah. It is the location of the 4,095 m (13,435 ft) high Mount Kinabalu, the tallest mountain in Malaysia. Mount Kinabalu is located in the Kinabalu National Park, which is protected as one of the four UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Malaysia. The highest mountain ranges form the border between Malaysia and Indonesia. Sarawak contains the Mulu Caves, the largest cave system in the world, in the Gunung Mulu National Park which is also a World Heritage Site. The largest river in Malaysia is the Rajang.
Around these two halves of Malaysia are numerous islands, the largest of which is Banggi. The local climate is equatorial and characterised by the annual southwest (April to October) and northeast (October to February) monsoons. The temperature is moderated by the presence of the surrounding oceans. Humidity is usually high, and the average annual rainfall is 250 cm (98 in). The climates of the Peninsula and the East differ, as the climate on the peninsula is directly affected by wind from the mainland, as opposed to the more maritime weather of the East. Local climates can be divided into three regions, highland, lowland, and coastal. Climate change will cause sea level rise and increased rainfall, increasing flood risks and leading to droughts.
### Biodiversity and conservation
Malaysia signed the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity on 12 June 1993, and became a party to the convention on 24 June 1994. It has subsequently produced a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, which was received by the convention on 16 April 1998. The country is megadiverse with a high number of species and high levels of endemism. It is estimated to contain 20 per cent of the world's animal species. High levels of endemism are found on the diverse forests of Borneo's mountains, as species are isolated from each other by lowland forest.
There are about 210 mammal species in the country. Over 620 species of birds have been recorded in Peninsular Malaysia, with many endemic to the mountains there. A high number of endemic bird species are also found in Malaysian Borneo. 250 reptile species have been recorded in the country, with about 150 species of snakes and 80 species of lizards. There are about 150 species of frogs, and thousands of insect species. The Exclusive economic zone of Malaysia is 334,671 km2 (129,217 sq mi) and 1.5 times larger than its land area. It is mainly in the South China Sea. Some of its waters are in the Coral Triangle, a biodiversity hotspot. The waters around Sipadan island are the most biodiverse in the world. Bordering East Malaysia, the Sulu Sea is a biodiversity hotspot, with around 600 coral species and 1200 fish species. The unique biodiversity of Malaysian Caves always attracts lovers of ecotourism from all over the world.
Nearly 4,000 species of fungi, including lichen-forming species have been recorded from Malaysia. Of the two fungal groups with the largest number of species in Malaysia, the Ascomycota and their asexual states have been surveyed in some habitats (decaying wood, marine, and freshwater ecosystems, as parasites of some plants, and as agents of biodegradation), but have not been or have been only poorly surveyed in other habitats (as endobionts, in soils, on dung, as human and animal pathogens); the Basidiomycota are only partly surveyed: bracket fungi, and mushrooms and toadstools have been studied, but Malaysian rust and smut fungi remain very poorly known. Without a doubt, many more fungal species in Malaysia are yet to be recorded, and it is likely that many of those, when found, will be new to science.
About two thirds of Malaysia was covered in forest as of 2007, with some forests believed to be 130 million years old. The forests are dominated by dipterocarps. Lowland forest covers areas below 760 m (2,490 ft), and formerly East Malaysia was covered in such rainforest, which is supported by its hot wet climate. There are around 14,500 species of flowering plants and trees. Besides rainforests, there are over 1,425 km2 (550 sq mi) of mangroves in Malaysia, and a large amount of peat forest. At higher altitudes, oaks, chestnuts, and rhododendrons replace dipterocarps. There are an estimated 8,500 species of vascular plants in Peninsular Malaysia, with another 15,000 in the East. The forests of East Malaysia are estimated to be the habitat of around 2,000 tree species, and are one of the most biodiverse areas in the world, with 240 different species of trees every hectare. These forests host many members of the Rafflesia genus, the largest flowers in the world, with a maximum diameter of 1 m (3 ft 3 in).
Logging, along with cultivation practices, has devastated tree cover, causing severe environmental degradation in the country. Over 80 per cent of Sarawak's rainforest has been logged. Floods in East Malaysia have been worsened by the loss of trees, and over 60 per cent of the peninsula's forests have been cleared. With current rates of deforestation, mainly for the palm oil industry, the forests are predicted to be extinct by 2020. Deforestation is a major problem for animals, fungi and plants, having caused species such as *Begonia eiromischa* to go extinct. Most remaining forest is found inside reserves and national parks. Habitat destruction has proved a threat for marine life. Illegal fishing is another major threat, with fishing methods such as dynamite fishing and poisoning depleting marine ecosystems. Leatherback turtle numbers have dropped 98 per cent since the 1950s. Hunting has also been an issue for some animals, with overconsumption and the use of animal parts for profit endangering many animals, from marine life to tigers. Marine life is also detrimentally affected by uncontrolled tourism.
The Malaysian government aims to balance economic growth with environmental protection, but has been accused of favouring big business over the environment. Some state governments are now trying to counter the environmental impact and pollution created by deforestation; and the federal government is trying to cut logging by 10 per cent each year. A total of 28 national parks have been established, 23 in East Malaysia and five in the peninsula. Tourism has been limited in biodiverse areas such as Sipadan island. Wildlife trafficking is a large issue, and the Malaysian government has held talks with the governments of Brunei and Indonesia to standardise anti-trafficking laws.
## Economy
Malaysia is a relatively open state-oriented and newly industrialised market economy. It has the world's 36th-largest economy by nominal GDP and the 31st-largest by PPP. In 2017, the large service sector contributed to 53.6% of total GDP, the industrial sector 37.6%, and the small agricultural sector roughly 8.8%. Malaysia has a low official unemployment rate of 3.4% as of 2024. Its foreign exchange reserves are the world's 24th-largest. It has a labour force of about 15 million, which is the world's 34th-largest. Malaysia's large automotive industry ranks as the world's 22nd-largest by production.
Malaysia is the world's 23rd-largest exporter and 25th-largest importer. However, economic inequalities exist between different ethnic groups. The Chinese make up about one-quarter of the population, but account for 70 per cent of the country's market capitalisation. Chinese businesses in Malaysia are part of the larger bamboo network, a network of overseas Chinese businesses in the Southeast Asian market sharing common family and cultural ties.
International trade, facilitated by the shipping route in adjacent Strait of Malacca, and manufacturing are the key sectors. Malaysia is an exporter of natural and agricultural resources, and petroleum is a major export. Malaysia has once been the largest producer of tin, rubber and palm oil in the world. Manufacturing has a large influence in the country's economy, although Malaysia's economic structure has been moving away from it. Malaysia remains one of the world's largest producers of palm oil.
Tourism is the third-largest contributor to Malaysia's GDP, after the manufacturing and commodities sectors. In 2019, the sector contributed about 15.9 percent to the total GDP. According to the World Tourism Organization, Malaysia was the fourteenth-most visited country in the world, and the fourth-most visited country in Asia in 2019, with over 26.1 million visits. Malaysia was ranked 38th in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019. Its international tourism receipts in 2019 amounted to $19.8 billion.
The country has developed into a centre of Islamic banking and has the highest number of female workers in that industry. Knowledge-based services are also expanding. In 2020, Malaysia exported high-tech products worth $92.1 billion, the second-highest in ASEAN, after Singapore. Malaysia was ranked 33rd in the Global Innovation Index in 2024, and 32nd in the Global Competitiveness Report in 2022.
### Infrastructure
Railway transport in Malaysia is state-run, and spans some 2,783 kilometres (1,729 mi). As of 2016[update], Malaysia has the world's 26th-largest road network, with some 238,823 kilometres (148,398 mi) of roads. Malaysia's inland waterways are the world's 22nd-longest, and total 7,200 km (4,474 mi). Among Malaysia's 114 airports, among which the busiest is Kuala Lumpur International Airport located south of Kuala Lumpur in Sepang District, which is also the twelfth-busiest airport in Asia. Among the 7 federal ports, the major one is Port Klang, which is the thirteenth-busiest container port. Malaysia's flag carrier is Malaysia Airlines, providing international and domestic air services.
Malaysia's telecommunications network is second only to Singapore's in Southeast Asia, with 4.7 million fixed-line subscribers and more than 30 million cellular subscribers. There are 200 industrial parks along with specialised parks such as Technology Park Malaysia and Kulim Hi-Tech Park. Fresh water is available to over 95% of the population, with ground water accounting for 90% of the freshwater resources. Although rural areas have been the focus of great development, they still lag behind areas such as the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The telecommunication network, although strong in urban areas, is less available to the rural population.
Malaysia's energy infrastructure sector is largely dominated by Tenaga Nasional, the largest electric utility company in Southeast Asia. Customers in Peninsular Malaysia are connected to electricity through the National Grid. The other two electric utility companies in the country are Sarawak Energy and Sabah Electricity. In 2013, Malaysia's total power generation capacity was over 29,728 megawatts. Total electricity generation was 140,985.01 GWh and total electricity consumption was 116,087.51 GWh. Energy production in Malaysia is largely based on oil and natural gas, owing to Malaysia's oil and natural gas reserves, which are the fourth largest in the Asia-Pacific region.
## Demographics
According to the Malaysian Department of Statistics, the country's population was 32,447,385 in 2020, making it the 42nd most populated country. According to a 2012 estimate, the population is increasing by 1.54 percent per year. Malaysia has an average population density of 96 people per km2, ranking it 116th in the world for population density. People within the 15–64 age group constitute 69.5 percent of the total population; the 0–14 age group corresponds to 24.5 percent; while senior citizens aged 65 years or older make up 6.0 percent. In 1960, when the first official census was recorded in Malaysia, the population was 8.11 million. 91.8 percent of the population are Malaysian citizens.
Malaysian citizens are divided along local ethnic lines, with 69.7 percent considered *bumiputera*. The largest group of bumiputera are Malays, who are defined in the constitution as Muslims who practise Malay customs and culture. They play a dominant role politically. Bumiputera status is also accorded to the non-Malay indigenous groups of Sabah and Sarawak: which includes Dayaks (Iban, Bidayuh, Orang Ulu), Kadazan-Dusun, Melanau, Bajau and others. Non-Malay bumiputeras make up more than half of Sarawak's population and over two-thirds of Sabah's population. There are also indigenous or aboriginal groups in much smaller numbers on the peninsular, where they are collectively known as the Orang Asli. Laws over who gets bumiputera status vary between states.
There are also two other non-Bumiputera local ethnic groups. 22.8 percent of the population are Malaysian Chinese, while 6.8 percent are Malaysian Indian. The local Chinese have historically been more dominant in the business community. Local Indians are mostly of Tamil descent. Malaysian citizenship is not automatically granted to those born in Malaysia, but is granted to a child born of two Malaysian parents outside Malaysia. Dual citizenship is not permitted. Citizenship in the states of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo are distinct from citizenship in Peninsular Malaysia for immigration purposes. Every citizen is issued a biometric smart chip identity card known as *MyKad* at the age of 12 and must carry the card at all times.
The population is concentrated on Peninsular Malaysia, where 20 million out of approximately 28 million Malaysians live. 70 per cent of the population is urban. Due to the rise in labour-intensive industries, the country is estimated to have over 3 million migrant workers; about 10 per cent of the population. Sabah-based NGOs estimate that out of the 3 million that make up the population of Sabah, 2 million are illegal immigrants. Malaysia hosts a population of refugees and asylum seekers numbering approximately 171,500. Of this population, approximately 79,000 are from Burma, 72,400 from the Philippines, and 17,700 from Indonesia. Malaysian officials are reported to have turned deportees directly over to human smugglers in 2007, and Malaysia employs RELA, a volunteer militia with a history of controversies, to enforce its immigration law.
| Rank | Name | State | Pop. | Rank | Name | State | Pop. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kuala Lumpur | Federal Territory |
1,982,112 | 11 | Ipoh | Perak | 759,952 | ||
| 2 | Kajang | Selangor | 1,047,356 | 12 | Seremban | Negeri Sembilan | 681,541 | ||
| 3 | Seberang Perai | Penang | 946,092 | 13 | Iskandar Puteri | Johor | 575,977 | ||
| 4 | Subang Jaya | Selangor | 902,086 | 14 | Kuantan | Pahang | 548,014 | ||
| 5 | Klang | Selangor | 902,025 | 15 | Sungai Petani | Kedah | 545,053 | ||
| 6 | Johor Bahru | Johor | 858,118 | 16 | Ampang Jaya | Selangor | 531,904 | ||
| 7 | Shah Alam | Selangor | 812,327 | 17 | Kota Kinabalu | Sabah | 500,425 | ||
| 8 | George Town | Penang | 794,313 | 18 | Malacca City | Malacca | 453,904 | ||
| 9 | Petaling Jaya | Selangor | 771,687 | 19 | Sandakan | Sabah | 439,050 | ||
| 10 | Selayang | Selangor | 764,327 | 20 | Alor Setar | Kedah | 423,868 |
### Religion
The constitution grants freedom of religion, while establishing Islam as the "religion of the Federation". According to the Population and Housing Census 2020 figures, ethnicity and religious beliefs correlate highly. Approximately 63.5% of the population practise Islam, 18.7% practise Buddhism, 9.1% Christianity, 6.1% Hinduism and 1.3% practise Confucianism, Taoism and other traditional Chinese religions. 2.7% declared no religion or practised other religions or did not provide any information. The states of Sarawak, Penang and the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur have non-Muslim majorities.
Sunni Islam of the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence is the dominant branch of Islam in Malaysia, while 18% are nondenominational Muslims. The Malaysian constitution strictly defines what makes a "Malay", defining Malays as those who are Muslim, speak Malay regularly, practise Malay customs, and lived in or have ancestors from Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore. Statistics from the 2010 Census indicate that 83.6% of the Chinese population identify as Buddhist, with significant numbers of adherents following Taoism (3.4%) and Christianity (11.1%), along with small Muslim populations in areas like Penang. The majority of the Indian population follows Hinduism (86.2%), with a significant minority identifying as Christians (6.0%) or Muslims (4.1%). Christianity is the predominant religion of the non-Malay *bumiputera* community (46.5%), while 40.4% identify as Muslims.
Muslims are obliged to follow the decisions of Syariah Courts (i.e. Shariah courts) in matters concerning their religion. The Islamic judges are expected to follow the Shafi'i legal school of Islam, which is the main *madhhab* ("school of thought") of Malaysia. The jurisdiction of Syariah courts is limited to Muslims in matters such as marriage, inheritance, divorce, apostasy, religious conversion, custody and limited Islamic criminal law. No other criminal or civil offences are under the jurisdiction of the Syariah courts, which have a similar hierarchy to the civil courts. The civil courts do not hear matters related to Islamic practices.
### Languages
The official and national language of Malaysia is Malaysian Malay, a standardised form of the Malay language. The previous official terminology was *Bahasa Malaysia* (lit. 'Malaysian language') but now government policy uses *"Bahasa Melayu"* (Malay language) to refer to the official language and both terms remain in use. The National Language Act 1967 specifies the Latin (Rumi) script as the official script of the national language, but does not prohibit the use of the traditional Jawi script.
English remains an active second language, with its use allowed for some official purposes under the National Language Act of 1967. In Sarawak, English is an official state language alongside Malay. Historically, English was the de facto administrative language; Malay became predominant after the 1969 race riots (13 May incident). Malaysian English, also known as Malaysian Standard English, is a form of English derived from British English. Malaysian English is widely used in business, along with Manglish, which is a colloquial form of English with heavy Malay, Chinese, and Tamil influences. The government discourages the use of non-standard Malay but has no power to issue compounds or fines to those who use what is perceived as improper Malay on their advertisements.
Malaysia is also home to 111 living indigenous languages. Many other languages are used in Malaysia, which contains speakers of 137 living languages. Peninsular Malaysia contains speakers of 41 of these languages. The native tribes of East Malaysia have their own languages which are related to, but easily distinguishable from, Malay. Iban is the main tribal language in Sarawak while Dusunic and Kadazan languages are spoken by the natives in Sabah. Chinese Malaysians predominantly speak Chinese dialects from the southern part of China. The more common Chinese varieties in the country are Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, and so on. The Tamil language is used predominantly by the majority of Malaysian Indians. A small number of Malaysians have European ancestry and speak creole languages, such as the Portuguese-based Malaccan Creoles, and the Spanish-based Chavacano language.
### Health
Malaysia operates an efficient and widespread two-tier healthcare system, consisting of a universal healthcare system and a co-existing private healthcare system; provided by highly subsidized healthcare through its extensive network of public hospitals and clinics. The Ministry of Health is the main provider of healthcare services to the country's population. Malaysia's healthcare system is considered to be among the most developed in Asia, which contributes to its thriving medical tourism industry.
Malaysia spent 3.83% of its GDP on healthcare in 2019. In 2020, the overall life expectancy in Malaysia at birth was 76 years (74 years for males and 78 years for females), and it had an infant mortality rate of 7 deaths per 1000 births. Malaysia had a total fertility rate of 2.0 in 2020, which is just below the replacement level of 2.1. In 2020, the country's crude birth rate was 16 per 1000 people, and the crude death rate was 5 per 1000 people.
In 2021, the principal cause of death among Malaysian adults was coronary artery disease, representing 17% of the medically certified deaths in 2020—being followed by pneumonia; which accounted for 11% of the deaths. Transport accidents are considered a major health hazard, as Malaysia, relative to its population, has one of the highest traffic fatality rates in the world. Smoking is also considered a major health issue across the country.
### Education
The education system of Malaysia features a non-compulsory kindergarten education followed by six years of compulsory primary education and five years of optional secondary education. Schools in the primary education system are divided into two categories: national primary schools, which teach in Malay (i.e.:Sekolah Kebangsaan Sungai Binjai, SK Bukit Tiu), and vernacular schools, which teach in Chinese or Tamil (i.e.:SJK(C) Pin Hwa 2, SJK(T) Bandar Mentakab). Secondary education (i.e.:SMK Sura, Kajang High School) is conducted for five years. In the final year of secondary education, students sit for the Malaysian Certificate of Education examination. Since the introduction of the matriculation programme in 1999, students who completed the 12-month programme in matriculation colleges can enroll in local universities. However, in the matriculation system, only 10 percent of places are open to non-*bumiputera*[ jargon] students.
## Culture
Malaysia has a multi-ethnic, multicultural, and multilingual society. Substantial influence exists from Chinese and Indian culture, dating back to when foreign trade began. Other cultural influences include the Persian, Arabic, and British cultures. Due to the structure of the government, coupled with the social contract theory, there has been minimal cultural assimilation of ethnic minorities. Some cultural disputes exist between Malaysia and neighbouring countries, notably Indonesia.
In 1971, the government created a "National Cultural Policy", defining Malaysian culture. It stated that Malaysian culture must be based on the culture of the indigenous peoples of Malaysia, that it may incorporate suitable elements from other cultures, and that Islam must play a part in it. It also promoted the Malay language above others. This government intervention into culture has caused resentment among non-Malays who feel their cultural freedom was lessened. Both Chinese and Indian associations have submitted memorandums to the government, accusing it of formulating an undemocratic culture policy.
### Fine arts
Traditional Malaysian art was mainly centred on the areas of carving, weaving, and silversmithing. Traditional art ranges from handwoven baskets from rural areas to the silverwork of the Malay courts. Common artworks included ornamental kris, beetle nut sets, and woven batik and songket fabrics. Indigenous East Malaysians are known for their wooden masks. Each ethnic group have distinct performing arts, with little overlap between them. However, Malay art does show some North Indian influence due to the historical influence of India.
Traditional Malay music and performing arts appear to have originated in the Kelantan-Pattani region with influences from India, China, Thailand, and Indonesia. The music is based around percussion instruments, the most important of which is the gendang (drum). There are at least 14 types of traditional drums. Drums and other traditional percussion instruments and are often made from natural materials. Music is traditionally used for storytelling, celebrating life-cycle events, and occasions such as a harvest. It was once used as a form of long-distance communication. In East Malaysia, gong-based musical ensembles such as agung and kulintang are commonly used in ceremonies such as funerals and weddings. These ensembles are also common in neighbouring regions such as in Mindanao in the Philippines, Kalimantan in Indonesia and Brunei.
Malaysia has a strong oral tradition that has existed since before the arrival of writing and continues today. Each of the Malay Sultanates created their own literary tradition, influenced by pre-existing oral stories and by the stories that came with Islam. The first Malay literature was in the Arabic script. The earliest known Malay writing is on the Terengganu stone, made in 1303. Chinese and Indian literature became common as the number of speakers increased in Malaysia, and locally produced works based on languages from those areas began to be produced in the 19th century. English has also become a common literary language. In 1971, the government took the step of defining the literature of different languages. Literature written in Malay was called "the national literature of Malaysia", literature in other *bumiputera* languages was called "regional literature", while literature in other languages was called "sectional literature". Malay poetry is highly developed, and uses many forms. The *Hikayat* form is popular, and the *pantun* has spread from Malay to other languages.
### Cuisine
Malaysia's cuisine reflects the multi-ethnic makeup of its population. Many cultures from within the country and from surrounding regions have greatly influenced the cuisine. Much of the influence comes from the Malay, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Javanese, and Sumatran cultures, largely due to the country being part of the ancient spice route. The cuisine is very similar to that of Singapore and Brunei, and also bears resemblance to Filipino cuisine. The different states have varied dishes, and often the food in Malaysia is different from the original dishes.
Sometimes food not found in its original culture is assimilated into another; for example, Chinese restaurants in Malaysia often serve Malay dishes. Food from one culture is sometimes also cooked using styles taken from another culture, For example, *sambal belacan* (shrimp paste) are commonly used as ingredients by Chinese restaurants to create the stir fried water spinach (*kangkung belacan*). This means that although much of Malaysian food can be traced back to a certain culture, they have their own identity. Rice is a staple food and an important constituent of the country's culture. Chili is commonly found in local cuisine, although this does not necessarily make them spicy.
### Media
Malaysia's main newspapers are owned by the government and political parties in the ruling coalition, although some major opposition parties also have their own, which are openly sold alongside regular newspapers. A divide exists between the media in the two halves of the country. Peninsular-based media gives a low priority to news from the East and often treats the eastern states as colonies of the peninsula. As a result of this, the East Malaysia region of Sarawak launched TV Sarawak as internet streaming beginning in 2014, and as TV station on 10 October 2020 to overcome the low priority and coverage of Peninsular-based media and to solidify the representation of East Malaysia. The media have been blamed for increasing tension between Indonesia and Malaysia, and giving Malaysians a bad image of Indonesians. The country has Malay, English, Chinese, and Tamil daily newspapers. Kadazandusun and Bajau news are available only via TV broadcast Berita RTM. Written Kadazan news was once included in publications such as The Borneo Post, the Borneo Mail, the Daily Express, and the New Sabah Times, but publication has ceased with the newspaper or as a section.
Freedom of the press is limited, with numerous restrictions on publishing rights and information dissemination. The government has previously tried to crack down on opposition papers before elections. In 2007, a government agency issued a directive to all private television and radio stations to refrain from broadcasting speeches made by opposition leaders, a move condemned by politicians from the opposition Democratic Action Party. Sabah, where all tabloids but one are independent of government control, has the freest press in Malaysia. Laws such as the Printing Presses and Publications Act have also been cited as curtailing freedom of expression.
### Holidays and festivals
Malaysians observe several holidays and festivities throughout the year. Some are federally gazetted public holidays and some are observed by individual states. Other festivals are observed by particular ethnic or religious groups, and the main holiday of each major group has been declared a public holiday. The most observed national holiday is *Hari Merdeka* (Independence Day) on 31 August, commemorating the independence of the Federation of Malaya in 1957. Malaysia Day on 16 September commemorates federation in 1963. Other notable national holidays are Labour Day (1 May) and the King's birthday (first week of June).
Muslim holidays are prominent as Islam is the state religion; *Hari Raya Puasa* (also called *Hari Raya Aidilfitri*, Malay for Eid al-Fitr), *Hari Raya Haji* (also called *Hari Raya Aidiladha*, Malay for Eid al-Adha), *Maulidur Rasul* (birthday of the Prophet), and others being observed. Malaysian Chinese celebrate festivals such as Chinese New Year and others relating to traditional Chinese beliefs. Wesak Day is observed and celebrated by Buddhists. Hindus in Malaysia celebrate *Deepavali*, the festival of lights, while *Thaipusam* is a religious rite which sees pilgrims from all over the country converge at the Batu Caves. Malaysia's Christian community celebrates most of the holidays observed by Christians elsewhere, most notably Christmas and Easter. In addition to this, the Dayak community in Sarawak celebrate a harvest festival known as *Gawai*, and the Kadazandusun community celebrate *Kaamatan*. Despite most festivals being identified with a particular ethnic or religious group, celebrations are universal. In a custom known as "open house" Malaysians participate in the celebrations of others, often visiting the houses of those who identify with the festival.
### Sports
Popular sports in Malaysia include association football, badminton, field hockey, bowls, tennis, squash, martial arts, horse riding, sailing, and skate boarding. Football is the most popular sport in Malaysia. Badminton matches also attract thousands of spectators, and since 1948 Malaysia has been one of four countries to hold the Thomas Cup, the world team championship trophy of men's badminton. The Malaysian Lawn Bowls Federation was registered in 1997. Squash was brought to the country by members of the British army, with the first competition being held in 1939. The Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia was created on 25 June 1972. The men's national field hockey team ranked 10th in the world as of June 2022[update]. The 3rd Hockey World Cup was hosted at Merdeka Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, as well as the 10th cup. The country also has its own Formula One track – the Sepang International Circuit, with the first Malaysian Grand Prix held in 1999. Traditional sports include Silat Melayu, the most common style of martial arts practised by ethnic Malays.
The Federation of Malaya Olympic Council was formed in 1953, and received recognition by the IOC in 1954. It first participated in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. The council was renamed the Olympic Council of Malaysia in 1964, and has participated in all but one Olympic games since its inception. The largest number of athletes ever sent to the Olympics was 57 to the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. Besides the Olympic Games, Malaysia also participates in the Paralympic Games. Malaysia has competed at the Commonwealth Games since 1950 as Malaya, and 1966 as Malaysia, and the games were hosted in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.
## See also
## Notes
## External links
- Clifford, Hugh Charles (1911).
*Encyclopædia Britannica*. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). pp. 471–475.
. - Clifford, Hugh Charles (1911).
*Encyclopædia Britannica*. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). pp. 475–478.
. - Clifford, Hugh Charles; Graham, Walter Armstrong (1911).
*Encyclopædia Britannica*. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). pp. 478–484.
. - Graham, Walter Armstrong (1911).
*Encyclopædia Britannica*. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). p. 484.
. - Malaysia from
*UCB Libraries GovPubs* - Malaysia profile from the BBC News
- Wikimedia Atlas of Malaysia
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# Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution - Wikipedia
The **Thirteenth Amendment** (**Amendment XIII**) to the United States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. The amendment was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, by the House of Representatives on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the required 27 of the then 36 states on December 6, 1865, and proclaimed on December 18. It was the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments adopted following the American Civil War.
President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, effective on January 1, 1863, declared that the enslaved in Confederate-controlled areas (and thus almost all slaves) were free. When they escaped to Union lines or federal forces (including now-former slaves) advanced south, emancipation occurred without any compensation to the former owners. Texas was the last Confederate slave state, where enforcement of the proclamation was declared on June 19, 1865. In the slave-owning areas controlled by Union forces on January 1, 1863, state action was used to abolish slavery. The exceptions were Kentucky and Delaware, and to a limited extent New Jersey, where chattel slavery and indentured servitude were finally ended by the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865.
In contrast to the other Reconstruction Amendments, the Thirteenth Amendment has rarely been cited in case law, but it has been used to strike down peonage and some race-based discrimination as "badges and incidents of slavery". The Thirteenth Amendment has also been invoked to empower Congress to make laws against modern forms of slavery, such as sex trafficking.
From its inception in 1776, the United States was divided into states that allowed slavery and states that prohibited it. Slavery was implicitly recognized in the original Constitution in provisions such as the Three-fifths Compromise (Article I, Section 2, Clause 3), which provided that three-fifths of each state's enslaved population ("other persons") was to be added to its free population for the purposes of apportioning seats in the United States House of Representatives, its number of Electoral votes, and direct taxes among the states. The Fugitive Slave Clause (Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3) provided that slaves held under the laws of one state who escaped to another state did not become free, but remained slaves.
Though three million Confederate slaves were eventually freed as a result of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, their postwar status was uncertain. To ensure that abolition was beyond legal challenge, an amendment to the Constitution to that effect was drafted. On April 8, 1864, the Senate passed an amendment to abolish slavery. After one unsuccessful vote and extensive legislative maneuvering by the Lincoln administration, the House followed suit on January 31, 1865. The measure was swiftly ratified by nearly all Northern states, along with a sufficient number of border states up to the assassination of President Lincoln. However, the approval came via his successor, President Andrew Johnson, who encouraged the "reconstructed" Southern states of Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia to agree, which brought the count to 27 states, leading to its adoption before the end of 1865.
Though the Amendment abolished slavery throughout the United States, some black Americans, particularly in the South, were subjected to other forms of involuntary labor, such as under the Black Codes. They were also victims of white supremacist violence, selective enforcement of statutes, and other disabilities. Many such abuses were given cover by the Amendment's penal labor exception.
## Text
Section 1.Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2.Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
## Slavery in the United States
Slavery existed and was legal in the United States of America upon its founding in 1776. It was established by European colonization in all of the original thirteen American colonies of British America. Prior to the Thirteenth Amendment, the United States Constitution did not expressly use the words *slave* or *slavery* but included several provisions about unfree persons. The Three-Fifths Compromise, Article I, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution, allocated Congressional representation based "on the whole Number of free Persons" and "three-fifths of all other Persons". This clause was a compromise between Southern politicians who wished for enslaved African-Americans to be counted as 'persons' for congressional representation and Northern politicians rejecting these out of concern of too much power for the South, because representation in the new Congress would be based on population in contrast to the one-vote-for-one-state principle in the earlier Continental Congress. Under the Fugitive Slave Clause, Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3, "No person held to Service or Labour in one State" would be freed by escaping to another. Article I, Section 9, Clause 1 allowed Congress to pass legislation outlawing the "Importation of Persons", which would not be passed until 1808. However, for purposes of the Fifth Amendment—which states that "No person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law"—slaves were understood as property. Although abolitionists used the Fifth Amendment to argue against slavery, it became part of the legal basis in *Dred Scott v. Sandford* (1857) for treating slaves as property.
Stimulated by the philosophy of the Declaration of Independence, between 1777 and 1804 every Northern state provided for the immediate or gradual abolition of slavery. (Slavery was never legal in Vermont; it was prohibited in the 1777 constitution creating Vermont, to become the fourteenth state.) Most of the slaves who were emancipated by such legislation were household servants. No Southern state did so, and the enslaved population of the South continued to grow, peaking at almost four million in 1861. An abolitionist movement, headed by such figures as William Lloyd Garrison, Theodore Dwight Weld, and Angelina Grimké, grew in strength in the North, calling for the immediate end of slavery nationwide and exacerbating tensions between North and South. The American Colonization Society, an alliance between abolitionists who felt the "races" should be kept separated and slaveholders who feared the presence of freed blacks would encourage slave rebellions, called for the emigration of both free blacks and slaves to Africa, where they would establish independent colonies. Its views were endorsed by politicians such as Henry Clay, who feared that the American abolitionist movement would provoke a civil war. Proposals to eliminate slavery by constitutional amendment were introduced by Representative Arthur Livermore in 1818 and by John Quincy Adams in 1839, but failed to gain significant traction.
As the country continued to expand, the issue of slavery in its new territories became the dominant national issue. The senatorial votes of new states could break the deadlock in the Senate over slavery. The Southern position was that slaves were property and therefore could be moved to the territories like all other forms of property. The 1820 Missouri Compromise provided for the admission of Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, preserving the Senate's equality between the regions. In 1846, the Wilmot Proviso was introduced to a war appropriations bill to ban slavery in all territories acquired in the Mexican–American War; the Proviso repeatedly passed the House, but not the Senate. The Compromise of 1850 temporarily defused the issue by admitting California as a free state, instituting a stronger Fugitive Slave Act, banning the slave trade in Washington, D.C., and allowing New Mexico and Utah self-determination on the slavery issue.
Despite the compromise, tensions between North and South continued to rise over the subsequent decade, inflamed by, among other things, the publication of the 1852 anti-slavery novel *Uncle Tom's Cabin*; fighting between pro-slavery and abolitionist forces in Kansas, beginning in 1854; the 1857 *Dred Scott* decision, which struck down the Missouri Compromise and provisions of the Compromise of 1850; abolitionist John Brown's 1859 attempt to start a slave revolt at Harpers Ferry; and the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln, who opposed allowing slavery to expand into the Western territories, to the presidency. The Southern states seceded from the Union in the months following Lincoln's election, forming the Confederate States of America, and beginning the American Civil War.
## Proposal and ratification
### Crafting the amendment
Acting under presidential war powers, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, with effect on January 1, 1863, which proclaimed the freedom of slaves in the ten states that were still in rebellion. In his State of the Union message to Congress on December 1, 1862, Lincoln also presented a plan for "gradual emancipation and deportation" of slaves. This plan envisioned three amendments to the Constitution. The first would have required the states to abolish slavery by January 1, 1900. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation then proceeded immediately freeing slaves in January 1863 but did not affect the status of slaves in the border states that had remained loyal to the Union. By December 1863, Lincoln again used his war powers and issued a "Proclamation for Amnesty and Reconstruction", which offered Southern states a chance to peacefully rejoin the Union if they immediately abolished slavery and collected loyalty oaths from 10% of their voting population. Southern states did not readily accept the deal, and the status of slavery remained uncertain.
In the final years of the Civil War, Union lawmakers debated various proposals for Reconstruction. Some of these called for a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery nationally and permanently. On December 14, 1863, a bill proposing such an amendment was introduced by Representative James Mitchell Ashley of Ohio. Representative James F. Wilson of Iowa soon followed with a similar proposal. On January 11, 1864, Senator John B. Henderson of Missouri submitted a joint resolution for a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. The Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, became involved in merging different proposals for an amendment.
Radical Republicans led by Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner and Pennsylvania Representative Thaddeus Stevens sought a more expansive version of the amendment. On February 8, 1864, Sumner submitted a constitutional amendment stating:
All persons are equal before the law, so that no person can hold another as a slave; and the Congress shall have power to make all laws necessary and proper to carry this declaration into effect everywhere in the United States.
Sumner tried to have his amendment sent to his committee, rather than the Judiciary Committee, controlled by Trumbull, but the Senate refused. On February 10, the Senate Judiciary Committee presented the Senate with an amendment proposal based on drafts of Ashley, Wilson and Henderson.
The committee's version used text from the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which stipulates, "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." Though using Henderson's proposed amendment as the basis for its new draft, the Judiciary Committee removed language that would have allowed a constitutional amendment to be adopted with only a majority vote in each House of Congress and ratification by two-thirds of the states (instead of two-thirds and three-fourths, respectively).
### Passage by Congress
The Senate passed the amendment on April 8, 1864, by a vote of 38 to 6; two Democrats, Oregon Senators Benjamin F Harding and James Nesmith voted for the amendment. However, just over two months later on June 15, the House failed to do so, with 93 in favor and 65 against, thirteen votes short of the two-thirds vote needed for passage; the vote split largely along party lines, with Republicans supporting and Democrats opposing. In the 1864 presidential race, former Free Soil Party candidate John C. Frémont threatened a third-party run opposing Lincoln, this time on a platform endorsing an anti-slavery amendment. The Republican Party platform had, as yet, failed to include a similar plank, though Lincoln endorsed the amendment in a letter accepting his nomination. Frémont withdrew from the race on September 22, 1864, and endorsed Lincoln.
With no Southern states represented, few members of Congress pushed moral and religious arguments in favor of slavery. Democrats who opposed the amendment generally made arguments based on federalism and states' rights. Some argued that the proposed change so violated the spirit of the Constitution it would not be a valid "amendment" but would instead constitute "revolution". Representative Chilton A. White, among other opponents, warned that the amendment would lead to full citizenship for blacks.
Republicans portrayed slavery as uncivilized and argued for abolition as a necessary step in national progress. Amendment supporters also argued that the slave system had negative effects on white people. These included the lower wages resulting from competition with forced labor, as well as repression of abolitionist whites in the South. Advocates said ending slavery would restore the First Amendment and other constitutional rights violated by censorship and intimidation in slave states.
White, Northern Republicans and some Democrats became excited about an abolition amendment, holding meetings and issuing resolutions. Many blacks though, particularly in the South, focused more on land ownership and education as the key to liberation. As slavery began to seem politically untenable, an array of Northern Democrats successively announced their support for the amendment, including Representative James Brooks, Senator Reverdy Johnson, and the powerful New York political machine known as Tammany Hall.
President Lincoln had had concerns that the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 might be reversed or found invalid by the judiciary after the war. He saw constitutional amendment as a more permanent solution. He had remained outwardly neutral on the amendment because he considered it politically too dangerous. Nonetheless, Lincoln's 1864 election platform resolved to abolish slavery by constitutional amendment. After winning reelection in the election of 1864, Lincoln made the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment his top legislative priority. He began with his efforts in Congress during its "lame duck" session, in which many members of Congress had already seen their successors elected; most would be concerned about unemployment and lack of income, and none needed to fear the electoral consequences of cooperation. Popular support for the amendment mounted and Lincoln urged Congress on in his December 6, 1864 State of the Union Address: "there is only a question of *time* as to when the proposed amendment will go to the States for their action. And as it is to so go, at all events, may we not agree that the sooner the better?"
Lincoln instructed Secretary of State William H. Seward, Representative John B. Alley and others to procure votes by any means necessary, and they promised government posts and campaign contributions to outgoing Democrats willing to switch sides. Seward had a large fund for direct bribes. Ashley, who reintroduced the measure into the House, also lobbied several Democrats to vote in favor of the measure. Representative Thaddeus Stevens later commented that "the greatest measure of the nineteenth century was passed by corruption aided and abetted by the purest man in America"; however, Lincoln's precise role in making deals for votes remains unknown.
Republicans in Congress claimed a mandate for abolition, having gained in the elections for Senate and House. The 1864 Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Representative George H. Pendleton, led opposition to the measure. Republicans toned down their language of radical equality in order to broaden the amendment's coalition of supporters. In order to reassure critics worried that the amendment would tear apart the social fabric, some Republicans explicitly promised the amendment would leave broader American society's patriarchal traditions intact.
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Republican aye Republican nay Democratic aye Democratic nay Unconditional Union aye Unconditional Union nay Emancipation-Union aye Independent Republican aye Abstain Vacant |
In mid-January 1865, Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax estimated the amendment to be five votes short of passage. Ashley postponed the vote. At this point, Lincoln intensified his push for the amendment, making direct emotional appeals to particular members of Congress. On January 31, 1865, the House called another vote on the amendment, with neither side being certain of the outcome. With a total of 183 House members (one seat was vacant after Reuben Fenton was elected governor), 122 would have to vote "aye" to secure passage of the resolution; however, eight Democrats abstained, reducing the number to 117. Every Republican (84), Independent Republican (2), and Unconditional Unionist (16) supported the measure, as well as fourteen Democrats, almost all of them lame ducks, and three Unionists. The amendment finally passed by a vote of 119 to 56, narrowly reaching the required two-thirds majority. The House exploded into celebration, with some members openly weeping. Black onlookers, who had only been allowed to attend Congressional sessions since the previous year, cheered from the galleries.
While the Constitution does not provide the President any formal role in the amendment process, the joint resolution was sent to Lincoln for his signature. Under the usual signatures of the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate, President Lincoln wrote the word "Approved" and added his signature to the joint resolution on February 1, 1865. On February 7, Congress passed a resolution affirming that the Presidential signature was unnecessary. The Thirteenth Amendment was the first of two ratified amendments to be signed by a President, the second being the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, the certification of which was signed by Richard Nixon on the 5th of July 1971 and with three 18-year-olds signing on as his witnesses, although James Buchanan had signed the Corwin Amendment that the 36th Congress had adopted and sent to the states in March 1861.
### Ratification by the states
On February 1, 1865, when the proposed amendment was submitted to the states for ratification, there were 36 states in the U.S., including those that had been in rebellion; at least 27 states had to ratify the amendment for it to come into force. By the end of February, 18 states had ratified the amendment. Among them were the ex-Confederate states of Virginia and Louisiana, where ratifications were submitted by Reconstruction governments. These, along with subsequent ratifications from Arkansas and Tennessee raised the issues of how many seceded states had legally valid legislatures; and if there were fewer legislatures than states, if Article V required ratification by three-fourths of the states or three-fourths of the legally valid state legislatures. President Lincoln in his last speech, on April 11, 1865, called the question about whether the Southern states were in or out of the Union a "pernicious abstraction". He declared they were not "in their proper practical relation with the Union"; whence everyone's object should be to restore that relation. Lincoln was assassinated three days later.
With Congress out of session, the new president, Andrew Johnson, began a period known as "Presidential Reconstruction", in which he personally oversaw the creation of new state governments throughout the South. He oversaw the convening of state political conventions populated by delegates whom he deemed to be loyal. Three leading issues came before the conventions: secession itself, the abolition of slavery, and the Confederate war debt. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina held conventions in 1865, while Texas' convention did not organize until March 1866. Johnson hoped to prevent deliberation over whether to re-admit the Southern states by accomplishing full ratification before Congress reconvened in December. He believed he could silence those who wished to deny the Southern states their place in the Union by pointing to how essential their assent had been to the successful ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment.
Direct negotiations between state governments and the Johnson administration ensued. As the summer wore on, administration officials began giving assurances of the measure's limited scope with their demands for ratification. Johnson himself suggested directly to the governors of Mississippi and North Carolina that they could proactively control the allocation of rights to freedmen. Though Johnson obviously expected the freed people to enjoy at least some civil rights, including, as he specified, the right to testify in court, he wanted state lawmakers to know that the power to confer such rights would remain with the states. When South Carolina provisional governor Benjamin Franklin Perry objected to the scope of the amendment's enforcement clause, Secretary of State Seward responded by telegraph that in fact the second clause "is really restraining in its effect, instead of enlarging the powers of Congress". Politicians throughout the South were concerned that Congress might cite the amendment's enforcement powers as a way to authorize black suffrage.
When South Carolina ratified the Amendment in November 1865, it issued its own interpretive declaration that "any attempt by Congress toward legislating upon the political status of former slaves, or their civil relations, would be contrary to the Constitution of the United States." Alabama and Louisiana also declared that their ratification did not imply federal power to legislate on the status of former slaves. During the first week of December, North Carolina and Georgia gave the amendment the final votes needed for it to become part of the Constitution.
The first 27 states to ratify the Amendment were:
- Illinois: February 1, 1865
- Rhode Island: February 2, 1865
- Michigan: February 3, 1865
- Maryland: February 3, 1865
- New York: February 3, 1865
- Pennsylvania: February 3, 1865
- West Virginia: February 3, 1865
- Missouri: February 6, 1865
- Maine: February 7, 1865
- Kansas: February 7, 1865
- Massachusetts: February 7, 1865
- Virginia: February 9, 1865
- Ohio: February 10, 1865
- Indiana: February 13, 1865
- Nevada: February 16, 1865
- Louisiana: February 17, 1865
- Minnesota: February 23, 1865
- Wisconsin: February 24, 1865
- Vermont: March 9, 1865
- Tennessee: April 7, 1865
- Arkansas: April 14, 1865
- Connecticut: May 4, 1865
- New Hampshire: July 1, 1865
- South Carolina: November 13, 1865
- Alabama: December 2, 1865
- North Carolina: December 4, 1865
- Georgia: December 6, 1865
Having been ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states (27 of the 36 states, including those that had been in rebellion), Secretary of State Seward, on December 18, 1865, certified that the Thirteenth Amendment had become valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the Constitution. Included on the enrolled list of ratifying states were the three ex-Confederate states that had given their assent, but with strings attached. Seward accepted their affirmative votes and brushed aside their interpretive declarations without comment, challenge or acknowledgment.
The Thirteenth Amendment was subsequently ratified by the other states, as follows:
- Oregon: December 8, 1865
- California: December 19, 1865
- Florida: December 28, 1865 (reaffirmed June 9, 1868)
- Iowa: January 15, 1866
- New Jersey: January 23, 1866 (after rejection March 16, 1865)
- Texas: February 18, 1870
- Delaware: February 12, 1901 (after rejection February 8, 1865)
- Kentucky: March 18, 1976 (after rejection February 24, 1865)
- Mississippi: March 16, 1995 (after rejection December 5, 1865; not certified until February 7, 2013)
With the ratification by Mississippi in 1995, and certification thereof in 2013, the amendment was finally ratified by all states having existed at the time of its adoption in 1865.
## Effects
### Freeing slaves
The immediate impact of the amendment was to make the entire pre-war system of chattel slavery in the U.S. illegal. The impact of the abolition of slavery was felt quickly. When the Thirteenth Amendment became operational, the scope of Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation was widened to include the entire nation. Although the majority of Kentucky's slaves had been emancipated, 65,000–100,000 people remained to be legally freed when the amendment went into effect on December 18. In Delaware, where a large number of slaves had escaped during the war, nine hundred people became legally free. With slavery abolished, the Fugitive Slave Clause remained in place but became largely moot.
### Native American territory
Despite being rendered unconstitutional, slavery continued in areas under the jurisdiction of Native American tribes beyond ratification. The federal government negotiated new treaties with the "Five Civilized Tribes" in 1866, in which they agreed to end slavery.
### Electoral changes
The Three-Fifths Compromise in the original Constitution counted, for purposes of allocating taxes and seats in the House of Representatives, all "free persons", three-fifths of "other persons" (i.e., slaves) and excluded untaxed Native Americans. The freeing of all slaves made the three-fifths clause moot. Compared to the pre-war system, it also had the effect of increasing the political power of former slave-holding states by increasing their share of seats in the House of Representatives, and consequently their share in the Electoral College (where the number of a state's electoral votes, under Article II of the United States Constitution, is tied to the size of its congressional delegation).
Even as the Thirteenth Amendment was working its way through the ratification process, Republicans in Congress grew increasingly concerned about the potential for there to be a large increase in the congressional representation of the Democratic-dominated Southern states. Because the full population of freed slaves would be counted rather than three-fifths, the Southern states would dramatically increase their power in the population-based House of Representatives. Republicans hoped to offset this advantage by attracting and protecting votes of the newly enfranchised black population. They would eventually attempt to address this issue in section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment.
### Political and economic change in the South
Southern culture remained deeply racist, and those blacks who remained faced a dangerous situation. J. J. Gries reported to the Joint Committee on Reconstruction: "There is a kind of innate feeling, a lingering hope among many in the South that slavery will be regalvanized in some shape or other. They tried by their laws to make a worse slavery than there was before, for the freedman has not the protection which the master from interest gave him before." W. E. B. Du Bois wrote in 1935:
Slavery was not abolished even after the Thirteenth Amendment. There were four million freedmen and most of them on the same plantation, doing the same work they did before emancipation, except as their work had been interrupted and changed by the upheaval of war. Moreover, they were getting about the same wages and apparently were going to be subject to slave codes modified only in name. There were among them thousands of fugitives in the camps of the soldiers or on the streets of the cities, homeless, sick, and impoverished. They had been freed practically with no land nor money, and, save in exceptional cases, without legal status, and without protection.
Official emancipation did not substantially alter the economic situation of most blacks who remained in the south.
As the amendment still permitted labor as punishment for convicted criminals, Southern states responded with what historian Douglas A. Blackmon called "an array of interlocking laws essentially intended to criminalize black life". These laws, passed or updated after emancipation, were known as Black Codes. Mississippi was the first state to pass such codes, with an 1865 law titled "An Act to confer Civil Rights on Freedmen". The Mississippi law required black workers to contract with white farmers by January 1 of each year or face punishment for vagrancy. Blacks could be sentenced to forced labor for crimes including petty theft, using obscene language, or selling cotton after sunset. States passed new, strict vagrancy laws that were selectively enforced against blacks without white protectors. The labor of these convicts was then sold to farms, factories, lumber camps, quarries, and mines.
After its ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in November 1865, the South Carolina legislature immediately began to legislate Black Codes. The Black Codes created a separate set of laws, punishments, and acceptable behaviors for anyone with more than one black great-grandparent. Under these Codes, Blacks could only work as farmers or servants and had few Constitutional rights. Restrictions on black land ownership threatened to make economic subservience permanent.
Some states mandated indefinitely long periods of child "apprenticeship". Some laws did not target blacks specifically, but instead affected farm workers, most of whom were black. At the same time, many states passed laws to actively prevent blacks from acquiring property.
## Congressional and executive enforcement
As its first enforcement legislation, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, guaranteeing black Americans citizenship and equal protection of the law, though not the right to vote. The amendment was also used as authorizing several Freedmen's Bureau bills. President Andrew Johnson vetoed these bills, but Congress overrode his vetoes to pass the Civil Rights Act and the Second Freedmen's Bureau Bill.
Proponents of the Act, including Trumbull and Wilson, argued that Section 2 of the Thirteenth Amendment authorized the federal government to legislate civil rights for the States. Others disagreed, maintaining that inequality conditions were distinct from slavery. Seeking more substantial justification, and fearing that future opponents would again seek to overturn the legislation, Congress and the states added additional protections to the Constitution: the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) defining citizenship and mandating equal protection under the law, and the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) banning racial voting restrictions.
The Freedmen's Bureau enforced the amendment locally, providing a degree of support for people subject to the Black Codes. Reciprocally, the Thirteenth Amendment established the Bureau's legal basis to operate in Kentucky. The Civil Rights Act circumvented racism in local jurisdictions by allowing blacks access to the federal courts. The Enforcement Acts of 1870–1871 and the Civil Rights Act of 1875, in combating the violence and intimidation of white supremacy, were also part of the effort to end slave conditions for Southern blacks. However, the effect of these laws waned as political will diminished and the federal government lost authority in the South, particularly after the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction in exchange for a Republican presidency.
### Peonage law
Southern business owners sought to reproduce the profitable arrangement of slavery with a system called peonage, in which disproportionately black workers were entrapped by loans and compelled to work indefinitely due to the resulting debt. Peonage continued well through Reconstruction and ensnared a large proportion of black workers in the South. These workers remained destitute and persecuted, forced to work dangerous jobs and further confined legally by the racist Jim Crow laws that governed the South. Peonage differed from chattel slavery because it was not strictly hereditary and did not allow the sale of people in exactly the same fashion. However, a person's debt—and by extension a person—could still be sold, and the system resembled antebellum slavery in many ways.
Slavery in New Mexico also continued *de facto* in the form of peonage, which became a Spanish colonial tradition to work around the prohibition of hereditary slavery by the New Laws of 1542. Though this practice was rendered unconstitutional by the Thirteenth Amendment, enforcement was lax. The Peonage Act of 1867 specifically mentioned New Mexico and increased enforcement by banning nationwide "the holding of any person to service or labor under the system known as peonage", specifically banning "the voluntary or involuntary service or labor of any persons as peons, in liquidation of any debt or obligation, or otherwise."
In 1939, the United States Department of Justice created the Civil Rights Section, which focused primarily on First Amendment and labor rights. The increasing scrutiny of totalitarianism in the lead-up to World War II brought increased attention to issues of slavery and involuntary servitude, abroad and at home. The U.S. sought to counter foreign propaganda and increase its credibility on the race issue by combatting the Southern peonage system. Under the leadership of Attorney General Francis Biddle, the Civil Rights Section invoked the constitutional amendments and legislation of the Reconstruction Era as the basis for its actions.
In 1947, the DOJ successfully prosecuted Elizabeth Ingalls for keeping domestic servant Dora L. Jones in conditions of slavery. The court found that Jones "was a person wholly subject to the will of defendant; that she was one who had no freedom of action and whose person and services were wholly under the control of defendant and who was in a state of enforced compulsory service to the defendant." The Thirteenth Amendment enjoyed a swell of attention during this period, but from *Brown v. Board of Education* (1954) until *Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co.* (1968) it was again eclipsed by the Fourteenth Amendment.
## Penal labor exemption
The Thirteenth Amendment exempts penal labor from its prohibition of forced labor. This allows prisoners who have been convicted of crimes (not those merely awaiting trial) to be required to perform labor or else face punishment while in custody.
Few records of the committee's deliberations during the drafting of the Thirteenth Amendment survive, and the debate that followed both in Congress and in the state legislatures featured almost no discussion of this provision. It was apparently considered noncontroversial at the time, or at least legislators gave it little thought. The drafters based the amendment's phrasing on the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which features an identical exception. Thomas Jefferson authored an early version of that ordinance's anti-slavery clause, including the exception of punishment for a crime, and also sought to prohibit slavery in general after 1800. Jefferson was an admirer of the works of Italian criminologist Cesare Beccaria. Beccaria's *On Crimes and Punishments* suggested that the death penalty should be abolished and replaced with a lifetime of enslavement for the worst criminals; Jefferson likely included the clause due to his agreement with Beccaria. Beccaria, while attempting to reduce "legal barbarism" of the 1700s, considered forced labor one of the few harsh punishments acceptable; for example, he advocated slave labor as a just punishment for robbery, so that the thief's labor could be used to pay recompense to their victims and to society. Penal "hard labor" has ancient origins, and was adopted early in American history (as in Europe) often as a substitute for capital or corporal punishment.
Various commentators have accused states of abusing this provision to re-establish systems similar to slavery, or of otherwise exploiting such labor in a manner unfair to local labor. The Black Codes in the South criminalized "vagrancy", which was largely enforced against freed slaves. Later, convict lease programs in the South allowed local plantations to rent inexpensive prisoner labor. While many of these programs have been phased out (leasing of convicts was forbidden by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1941), prison labor continues in the U.S. under a variety of justifications. Prison labor programs vary widely; some are uncompensated prison maintenance tasks, some are for local government maintenance tasks, some are for local businesses, and others are closer to internships. Modern rationales for prison labor programs often include reduction of recidivism and re-acclimation to society; the idea is that such labor programs will make it easier for the prisoner upon release to find gainful employment rather than relapse to criminality. However, this topic is not well-studied, and much of the work offered is so menial as to be unlikely to improve employment prospects. As of 2017, most prison labor programs do compensate prisoners, but generally with very low wages. What wages they do earn are often heavily garnished, with as much as 80% of a prisoner's paycheck withheld in the harshest cases.
In 2018, artist and entertainer Kanye West advocated for repealing the Thirteenth Amendment's exception for penal labor in a meeting with President Donald Trump, calling the exception a "trap door". In late 2020, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Representative William Lacy Clay (D-MO) introduced a resolution to create a new amendment to close this loophole.
## Judicial interpretation
In contrast to the other "Reconstruction Amendments", the Thirteenth Amendment was rarely cited in later case law. As historian Amy Dru Stanley summarizes, "beyond a handful of landmark rulings striking down debt peonage, flagrant involuntary servitude, and some instances of race-based violence and discrimination, the Thirteenth Amendment has never been a potent source of rights claims."
### Black slaves and their descendants
Supreme Court justices Noah Haynes Swayne and Salmon P. Chase provided the first applications of the Thirteenth Amendment while riding circuit. In *United States v. Rhodes* (1866), Swayne moved a Kentucky robbery case to federal court because of a state law prohibiting black witnesses from testifying against white defendants. While Swayne viewed the judicial discrimination as unconstitutionally reinforcing the stigma of being a former slave, the Supreme Court reached the opposite conclusion in the 7–2 decision of *Blyew v. United States* (1872). *In re Turner* (1867), Chase voided a Maryland law allowing state courts to apprentice black children with fewer rights than those of white children.
In *United States v. Cruikshank* (1876), the Court ignored Thirteenth Amendment dicta from a circuit court decision to exonerate perpetrators of the Colfax massacre and invalidate the Enforcement Act of 1870. The Thirteenth Amendment is not solely a ban on chattel slavery; it also covers a much broader array of labor arrangements and social deprivations. As the U.S. Supreme Court explicated in the *Slaughter-House Cases* (1873) with respect to the Reconstruction Amendments:
Undoubtedly while negro slavery alone was in the mind of the Congress which proposed the thirteenth article, it forbids any other kind of slavery, now or hereafter. If Mexican peonage or the Chinese coolie labor system shall develop slavery of the Mexican or Chinese race within our territory, this amendment may safely be trusted to make it void. And so if other rights are assailed by the States which properly and necessarily fall within the protection of these articles, that protection will apply, though the party interested may not be of African descent. But what we do say, and what we wish to be understood is, that in any fair and just construction of any section or phrase of these amendments, it is necessary to look to the purpose which we have said was the pervading spirit of them all, the evil which they were designed to remedy, and the process of continued addition to the Constitution, until that purpose was supposed to be accomplished, as far as constitutional law can accomplish it.
In the *Civil Rights Cases* (1883), the Supreme Court reviewed five consolidated cases dealing with the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which outlawed racial discrimination at "inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and other places of public amusement". The Court ruled that the Thirteenth Amendment did not ban most forms of racial discrimination by non-government actors. In the majority decision, Bradley wrote (again in non-binding dicta) that the Thirteenth Amendment empowered Congress to attack "badges and incidents of slavery". However, he distinguished between "fundamental rights" of citizenship, protected by the Thirteenth Amendment, and the "social rights of men and races in the community". The majority opinion held that "it would be running the slavery argument into the ground to make it apply to every act of discrimination which a person may see fit to make as to guests he will entertain, or as to the people he will take into his coach or cab or car; or admit to his concert or theatre, or deal with in other matters of intercourse or business." In his solitary dissent, John Marshall Harlan (a Kentucky lawyer who changed his mind about civil rights law after witnessing organized racist violence) argued that "such discrimination practiced by corporations and individuals in the exercise of their public or quasi-public functions is a badge of servitude, the imposition of which congress may prevent under its power."
The Court in the *Civil Rights Cases* also held that appropriate legislation under the amendment could go beyond nullifying state laws establishing or upholding slavery, because the amendment "has a reflex character also, establishing and decreeing universal civil and political freedom throughout the United States" and thus Congress was empowered "to pass all laws necessary and proper for abolishing all badges and incidents of slavery in the United States." The Court stated about the amendment's scope:
This amendment, as well as the Fourteenth, is undoubtedly self-executing, without any ancillary legislation, so far as its terms are applicable to any existing state of circumstances. By its own unaided force and effect, it abolished slavery and established universal freedom. Still, legislation may be necessary and proper to meet all the various cases and circumstances to be affected by it, and to prescribe proper modes of redress for its violation in letter or spirit. And such legislation may be primary and direct in its character, for the amendment is not a mere prohibition of State laws establishing or upholding slavery, but an absolute declaration that slavery or involuntary servitude shall not exist in any part of the United States.
Attorneys in *Plessy v. Ferguson* (1896) argued that racial segregation involved "observances of a servile character coincident with the incidents of slavery", in violation of the Thirteenth Amendment. In their brief to the Supreme Court, Plessy's lawyers wrote that "distinction of race and caste" was inherently unconstitutional. The Supreme Court rejected this reasoning and upheld state laws enforcing segregation under the "separate but equal" doctrine. In the (7–1) majority decision, the Court found that "a statute which implies merely a legal distinction between the white and colored races—a distinction which is founded on the color of the two races and which must always exist so long as white men are distinguished from the other race by color—has no tendency to destroy the legal equality of the two races, or reestablish a state of involuntary servitude." Harlan dissented, writing: "The thin disguise of 'equal' accommodations for passengers in railroad coaches will not mislead anyone, nor, atone for the wrong this day done."
In *Robertson v. Baldwin*, 165 U.S. 275 (1897) the Court laid out the scope and exceptions of the Thirteenth Amendment:
The prohibition of slavery in the Thirteenth Amendment is well known to have been adopted with reference to a state of affairs which had existed in certain states of the Union since the foundation of the government, while the addition of the words "involuntary servitude" were said, in the
Slaughter-House Cases, 16 Wall. 36, to have been intended to cover the system of Mexican peonage and the Chinese coolie trade, the practical operation of which might have been a revival of the institution of slavery under a different and less offensive name. It is clear, however, that the amendment was not intended to introduce any novel doctrine with respect to certain descriptions of service which have always been treated as exceptional, such as military and naval enlistments, or to disturb the right of parents and guardians to the custody of their minor children or wards. The amendment, however, makes no distinction between a public and a private service. To say that persons engaged in a public service are not within the amendment is to admit that there are exceptions to its general language, and the further question is at once presented, where shall the line be drawn? We know of no better answer to make than to say that services which have from time immemorial been treated as exceptional shall not be regarded as within its purview.
In *Hodges v. United States* (1906), the Court struck down a federal statute providing for the punishment of two or more people who "conspire to injure, oppress, threaten or intimidate any citizen in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States". A group of white men in Arkansas conspired to violently prevent eight black workers from performing their jobs at a lumber mill; the group was convicted by a federal grand jury. The Supreme Court ruled that the federal statute, which outlawed conspiracies to deprive citizens of their liberty, was not authorized by the Thirteenth Amendment. It held that "no mere personal assault or trespass or appropriation operates to reduce the individual to a condition of slavery." Harlan dissented, maintaining his opinion that the Thirteenth Amendment should protect freedom beyond "physical restraint". *Corrigan v. Buckley* (1922) reaffirmed the interpretation from *Hodges*, finding that the amendment does not apply to restrictive covenants.
Enforcement of federal civil rights law in the South created numerous peonage cases, which slowly traveled up through the judiciary. The Supreme Court ruled in *Clyatt v. United States* (1905) that peonage was involuntary servitude. It held that although employers sometimes described their workers' entry into contract as voluntary, the servitude of peonage was always (by definition) involuntary.
In *Bailey v. Alabama* the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed its holding that the Thirteenth Amendment is not solely a ban on chattel slavery, it also covers a much broader array of labor arrangements and social deprivations. In addition to the aforesaid the Court also ruled on Congress enforcement power under the Thirteenth Amendment. The Court said:
The plain intention [of the amendment] was to abolish slavery of whatever name and form and all its badges and incidents; to render impossible any state of bondage; to make labor free, by prohibiting that control by which the personal service of one man is disposed of or coerced for another's benefit, which is the essence of involuntary servitude. While the Amendment was self-executing, so far as its terms were applicable to any existing condition, Congress was authorized to secure its complete enforcement by appropriate legislation.
*Jones* and beyond
Legal histories cite *Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co.* (1968) as a turning point of Thirteen Amendment jurisprudence. The Supreme Court confirmed in *Jones* that Congress may act "rationally" to prevent private actors from imposing "badges and incidents of servitude". The Joneses were a black couple in St. Louis County, Missouri, who sued a real estate company for refusing to sell them a house. The Court held:
Congress has the power under the Thirteenth Amendment rationally to determine what are the badges and the incidents of slavery, and the authority to translate that determination into effective legislation. ... this Court recognized long ago that, whatever else they may have encompassed, the badges and incidents of slavery—its "burdens and disabilities"—included restraints upon "those fundamental rights which are the essence of civil freedom, namely, the same right ... to inherit, purchase, lease, sell and convey property, as is enjoyed by white citizens." Civil Rights Cases, 109 U. S. 3, 109 U. S. 22.
Just as the Black Codes, enacted after the Civil War to restrict the free exercise of those rights, were substitutes for the slave system, so the exclusion of Negroes from white communities became a substitute for the Black Codes. And when racial discrimination herds men into ghettos and makes their ability to buy property turn on the color of their skin, then it too is a relic of slavery.
Negro citizens, North and South, who saw in the Thirteenth Amendment a promise of freedom—freedom to "go and come at pleasure" and to "buy and sell when they please"—would be left with "a mere paper guarantee" if Congress were powerless to assure that a dollar in the hands of a Negro will purchase the same thing as a dollar in the hands of a white man. At the very least, the freedom that Congress is empowered to secure under the Thirteenth Amendment includes the freedom to buy whatever a white man can buy, the right to live wherever a white man can live. If Congress cannot say that being a free man means at least this much, then the Thirteenth Amendment made a promise the Nation cannot keep.
The Court in *Jones* reopened the issue of linking racism in contemporary society to the history of slavery in the United States.
The *Jones* precedent has been used to justify Congressional action to protect migrant workers and target sex trafficking. The direct enforcement power found in the Thirteenth Amendment contrasts with that of the Fourteenth, which allows only responses to institutional discrimination of state actors. The Supreme Court in *Jones* stated with respect to the reach of the Thirteenth Amendment: "The Thirteenth Amendment "is not a mere prohibition of State laws establishing or upholding slavery, but an absolute declaration that slavery or involuntary servitude shall not exist in any part of the United States." *Civil Rights Cases*, 109 U. S. 3, 109 U. S. 20. It has never been doubted, therefore, "that the power vested in Congress to enforce the article by appropriate legislation," *ibid.*, includes the power to enact laws "direct and primary, operating upon the acts of individuals, whether sanctioned by State legislation or not." *Id.* at 109 U. S. 23."
### Other cases of involuntary servitude
The Supreme Court has taken an especially narrow view of involuntary servitude claims made by people not descended from black (African) slaves. In *Robertson v. Baldwin* (1897), a group of merchant seamen challenged federal statutes which criminalized a seaman's failure to complete their contractual term of service. The Court ruled that seamen's contracts had been considered unique from time immemorial, and that "the amendment was not intended to introduce any novel doctrine with respect to certain descriptions of service which have always been treated as exceptional." In this case, as in numerous "badges and incidents" cases, Justice Harlan authored a dissent favoring broader Thirteenth Amendment protections.
In *Selective Draft Law Cases*, the Supreme Court ruled that the military draft was not "involuntary servitude". In *United States v. Kozminski*, the Supreme Court ruled that the Thirteenth Amendment did not prohibit compulsion of servitude through psychological coercion. *Kozminski* defined involuntary servitude for purposes of criminal prosecution as "a condition of servitude in which the victim is forced to work for the defendant by the use or threat of physical restraint or physical injury or by the use or threat of coercion through law or the legal process. This definition encompasses cases in which the defendant holds the victim in servitude by placing him or her in fear of such physical restraint or injury or legal coercion."
The U.S. Courts of Appeals, in *Immediato v. Rye Neck School District*, *Herndon v. Chapel Hill*, and *Steirer v. Bethlehem School District*, have ruled that the use of community service as a high school graduation requirement did not violate the Thirteenth Amendment.
## Prior proposed Thirteenth Amendments
During the six decades following the 1804 ratification of the Twelfth Amendment two proposals to amend the Constitution were adopted by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. Neither has been ratified by the number of states necessary to become part of the Constitution. Each is referred to as *Article Thirteen*, as was the successful Thirteenth Amendment, in the joint resolution passed by Congress.
- The Titles of Nobility Amendment (pending before the states since May 1, 1810) would, if ratified, strip citizenship from any United States citizen who accepts a title of nobility or honor from a foreign country without the consent of Congress.
- The Corwin Amendment (pending before the states since March 2, 1861) would, if ratified, shield "domestic institutions" of the states (in 1861 this was a common euphemism for slavery) from the constitutional amendment process and from abolition or interference by Congress.
## See also
- Crittenden Compromise
- End of slavery in the United States
- History of unfree labor in the United States
- History of slavery in the United States by state
- List of amendments to the United States Constitution
- Marriage of enslaved people (United States)
- National Freedom Day
- Slave Trade Acts
- Slavery Abolition Act 1833 in the United Kingdom
- United States labor law
*13th*, a 2016 documentary on the Thirteenth Amendment
### Citations
## Notes
### Bibliography
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*Maryland Law Review*.**71**(1). University of Maryland School of Law: 163–188.Pdf. - Blackmon, Douglas A. (March 25, 2008).
*Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II*. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 9780385506250.Preview. - Colbert, Douglas L. (Winter 1995). "Liberating the Thirteenth Amendment".
*Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review*.**30**(1). Harvard Law School: 1–55. - Cramer, Clayton E. (1997).
*Black Demographic Data, 1790–1860: A Sourcebook*. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313302435. - Donald, David Herbert (1996).
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*The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery*. W. W. Norton. ISBN 9780393066180.Preview. - Forehand, Beverly (1996).
*Striking Resemblance: Kentucky, Tennessee, Black Codes and Readjustment, 1865–1866*(Masters thesis). Western Kentucky University. - Goluboff, Risa L. (April 2001). "The Thirteenth Amendment and the Lost Origins of Civil Rights".
*Duke Law Journal*.**50**(6). Duke University School of Law: 1609–1685. doi:10.2307/1373044. JSTOR 1373044.Pdf. - Goldstone, Lawrence (2011).
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*Festivals of Freedom: Memory and Meaning in African American Emancipation Celebrations, 1808–1915*.Preview. - Maltz, Earl M. (2009).
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*City of Boerne v. Flores*".*Washington University Law Review*.**88**(1). Washington University School of Law: 77–147.Pdf.
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*Response to Tsesis:*McAward, Jennifer Mason (2011). "Congressional authority to interpret the Thirteenth Amendment: a response to Professor Tsesis".*Maryland Law Review*.**71**(1). University of Maryland School of Law: 60–82. SSRN 2271791.Pdf.
- McConnell, Joyce E. (Spring 1992). "Beyond metaphor: battered women, involuntary servitude and the Thirteenth Amendment".
*Yale Journal of Law and Feminism*.**4**(2). Yale Law School: 207–253.Pdf. - McPherson, James M. (1988).
*Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era*. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195038637.Preview. - Novak, Daniel A. (1978).
*The Wheel of Servitude: Black Forced Labor after Slavery*. Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0813113717. - Richards, Leonard L. (2015).
*Who Freed the Slaves?: The Fight over the Thirteenth Amendment*.Excerpt. Emphasis on the role of Congressman James Ashley. - Samito, Christian G.,
*Lincoln and the Thirteenth Amendment*(Southern Illinois University Press, 2015) xii, 171 pp. - Stanley, Amy Dru (June 2010). "Instead of waiting for the Thirteenth Amendment: the war power, slave marriage, and inviolate human rights".
*The American Historical Review*.**115**(3). Oxford Journals for the American Historical Association: 732–765. doi:10.1086/ahr.115.3.732. JSTOR 10.1086/ahr.115.3.732.Pdf. - tenBroek, Jacobus (June 1951). "Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States: Consummation to Abolition and Key to the Fourteenth Amendment".
*California Law Review*.**39**(2). California Law Review, Inc.: 171–203. doi:10.2307/3478033. JSTOR 3478033. - Thorpe, Francis Newton (1901). "The Constitutional History of the United States, vol. 3: 1861–1895". Chicago.
- Trelease, Allen W. (1971).
*White Terror: The Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy and Southern Reconstruction*. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 9780807119532. - Tsesis, Alexander (2004).
*The Thirteenth Amendment and American freedom: a legal history*. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 0814782760. - Vicino, Thomas J.; Hanlon, Bernadette (2014).
*Global Migration The Basics*. Routledge. ISBN 9781134696871. - Vorenberg, Michael (2001).
*Final Freedom: The Civil War, the Abolition of Slavery, and the Thirteenth Amendment*. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139428002.Preview. - Barrington Wolff, Tobias (May 2002). "The Thirteenth Amendment and Slavery in the Global Economy".
*Columbia Law Review*.**102**(4). Columbia Law School: 973–1050. doi:10.2307/1123649. JSTOR 1123649. S2CID 155279033. - Wood, Gordon S (2010).
*Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815*. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195039146.Book
*Maryland Law Review*, special issue: Symposium—the Maryland Constitutional Law Schmooze
- Garber, Mark A. (2011). "Foreword: Plus or minus one: the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments".
*Maryland Law Review*.**71**(1). University of Maryland School of Law: 12–20.Pdf. - Carter, William M. Jr. (2011). "The Thirteenth Amendment, interest convergence, and the badges and incidents of slavery".
*Maryland Law Review*.**71**(1). University of Maryland School of Law: 21–39. SSRN 1932762.Pdf. - Tsesis, Alexander (2011). "Congressional authority to interpret the Thirteenth Amendment".
*Maryland Law Review*.**71**(1). University of Maryland School of Law: 40–59. SSRN 1753224.Pdf. - McAward, Jennifer Mason (2011). "Congressional authority to interpret the Thirteenth Amendment: a response to Professor Tsesis".
*Maryland Law Review*.**71**(1). University of Maryland School of Law: 60–82. SSRN 2271791.Pdf. - McClain, Linda C. (2011). "Involuntary servitude, public accommodations laws, and the legacy of Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States".
*Maryland Law Review*.**71**(1). University of Maryland School of Law: 83–162. SSRN 2188939.Pdf. - Benedict, Michael Les (2011). "Constitutional politics, constitutional law, and the Thirteenth Amendment".
*Maryland Law Review*.**71**(1). University of Maryland School of Law: 163–188.Pdf. - Pope, James Gray (2011). "What's different about the Thirteenth Amendment, and why does it matter?".
*Maryland Law Review*.**71**(1). University of Maryland School of Law: 189–202. SSRN 1894965.Pdf. - Novkov, Julie (2011). "The Thirteenth Amendment and the meaning of familial bonds".
*Maryland Law Review*.**71**(1). University of Maryland School of Law: 203–228.Pdf. - Kersch, Ken I. (2011). "Beyond originalism: conservative declarationism and constitutional redemption".
*Maryland Law Review*.**71**(1). University of Maryland School of Law: 229–282.Pdf. - Zietlow, Rebecca E. I. (2011). "Conclusion: the political Thirteenth Amendment".
*Maryland Law Review*.**71**(1). University of Maryland School of Law: 283–294. SSRN 2000929.Pdf.
*Columbia Law Review*, special issue: Symposium: The Thirteenth Amendment: Meaning, Enforcement, and Contemporary Implications
*Introduction*
- Tsesis, Alexander (November 2012). "Into the light of day: relevance of the Thirteenth Amendment to contemporary law".
*Columbia Law Review*.**112**(7). Columbia Law School: 1447–1458. JSTOR 41708155. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015.Pdf.
- Tsesis, Alexander (November 2012). "Into the light of day: relevance of the Thirteenth Amendment to contemporary law".
*Panel I: Thirteenth Admendment in Context*
- Balkin, Jack M.; Levinson, Sanford (November 2012). "The dangerous Thirteenth Amendment".
*Columbia Law Review*.**112**(7). Columbia Law School: 1459–1499. JSTOR 41708156. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015.Pdf. - Graber, Mark A. (November 2012). "Subtraction by addition?: The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments".
*Columbia Law Review*.**112**(7). Columbia Law School: 1501–1549. JSTOR 41708157. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015.Pdf. - Rutherglen, George (November 2012). "The Thirteenth Amendment, the power of Congress, and the shifting sources of civil rights law".
*Columbia Law Review*.**112**(7). Columbia Law School: 1551–1584. JSTOR 41708158. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015.Pdf.
- Balkin, Jack M.; Levinson, Sanford (November 2012). "The dangerous Thirteenth Amendment".
*Panel II: Reconstruction Revisited*
- Foner, Eric (November 2012). "The Supreme Court and the history of reconstruction—and vice-versa".
*Columbia Law Review*.**112**(7). Columbia Law School: 1585–1606. JSTOR 41708159. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015.Pdf. - Soifer, Aviam (November 2012). "Federal protection, paternalism, and the virtually forgotten prohibition of voluntary peonage".
*Columbia Law Review*.**112**(7). Columbia Law School: 1607–1639. JSTOR 41708160. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015.Pdf. - Tsesis, Alexander (November 2012). "Gender discrimination and the Thirteenth Amendment".
*Columbia Law Review*.**112**(7). Columbia Law School: 1641–1695. JSTOR 41708161. Archived from the original on November 28, 2014.Pdf. - Zietlow, Rebecca E. (November 2012). "James Ashley's Thirteenth Amendment".
*Columbia Law Review*.**112**(7). Columbia Law School: 1697–1731. JSTOR 41708162. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015.Pdf.
- Foner, Eric (November 2012). "The Supreme Court and the history of reconstruction—and vice-versa".
*Panel III: The Limits of Authority*
- Greene, Jamal (November 2012). "Thirteenth Amendment optimism".
*Columbia Law Review*.**112**(7). Columbia Law School: 1733–1768. JSTOR 41708163. Archived from the original on January 7, 2015.Pdf. - McAward, Jennifer Mason (November 2012). "
*McCulloch*and the Thirteenth Amendment".*Columbia Law Review*.**112**(7). Columbia Law School: 1769–1809. JSTOR 41708164. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015.Pdf) - Miller, Darrell A.H. (November 2012). "The Thirteenth Amendment and the regulation of custom".
*Columbia Law Review*.**112**(7). Columbia Law School: 1811–1854. JSTOR 41708165. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015.Pdf)
- Greene, Jamal (November 2012). "Thirteenth Amendment optimism".
*Panel IV: Contemporary Implications*
- Carter, William M. Jr. (November 2012). "The Thirteenth Amendment and pro-equality speech".
*Columbia Law Review*.**112**(7). Columbia Law School: 1855–1881. JSTOR 41708166. SSRN 2166859.Pdf. - Delgado, Richard (November 2012). "Four reservations on civil rights reasoning by analogy: the case of Latinos and other Nonblack groups".
*Columbia Law Review*.**112**(7). Columbia Law School: 1883–1915. JSTOR 41708167. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013.Pdf. - Koppelman, Andrew (November 2012). "Originalism, abortion, and the Thirteenth Amendment".
*Columbia Law Review*.**112**(7). Columbia Law School: 1917–1945. JSTOR 41708168. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013.Pdf)
- Carter, William M. Jr. (November 2012). "The Thirteenth Amendment and pro-equality speech".
## Further reading
- Ripley, C. Peter et al., eds. (1993).
*Witness for Freedom: African American Voices on Race, Slavery, and Emancipation*; Archived August 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
## External links
- Thirteenth Amendment and related resources at the Library of Congress
- CRS Annotated Constitution: Thirteenth Amendment
- Original Document Proposing Abolition of Slavery
- Model State Anti-trafficking Criminal Statute—U.S. Dept of Justice
- "Abolishing Slavery: The Thirteenth Amendment Signed by Abraham Lincoln"; website of Seth Kaller, a dealer who has sold six Lincoln-signed copies of the Thirteenth Amendment.
- Seward certificate announcing the Amendment's passage and affirming the existence of 36 States
- When Was The Thirteenth Amendment Ratified? Archived March 12, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
|
# Mariah Carey - Wikipedia
Mariah Carey | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Works | |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | Full list |
Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Labels | |
| Website | mariahcarey |
| Signature | |
**Mariah Carey** ( ⓘ *mə-RY-ə*; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Dubbed the "Songbird Supreme" by *Guinness World Records*, Carey is known for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style, signature use of the whistle register, and diva persona. An influential figure in music, she was ranked as the fifth-greatest singer of all time by *Rolling Stone* in 2023.
Carey rose to fame in 1990 with her eponymous debut album and became the only artist to have their first five singles reach number one on the US *Billboard* Hot 100 chart, from "Vision of Love" to "Emotions". She achieved international success with the best-selling albums *Music Box* (1993) and *Daydream* (1995), before adopting a new image with hip hop-inflected sounds, following a remix to "Fantasy" with Ol' Dirty Bastard, and more extensively on *Butterfly* (1997). With eleven consecutive years of US number-one singles, *Billboard* named Carey the Artist of the Decade. Following the failure of her film *Glitter* (2001) and a relative career decline, she made a comeback with one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century, *The Emancipation of Mimi* (2005).
Carey's life and career have received widespread media coverage. She has been dubbed the "Queen of Christmas" due to the enduring popularity of her holiday music, particularly *Merry Christmas* (1994), one of the best-selling holiday albums, and its single "All I Want for Christmas Is You", which is one of the best selling singles in history. Outside of music, she co-founded Camp Mariah with the Fresh Air Fund in 1994; starred in films such as *Precious* (2009), *The Butler* (2013), and *The Lego Batman Movie* (2017); and served as a judge on *American Idol* (2013). Her 2020 memoir, *The Meaning of Mariah Carey*, reached number one on *The New York Times* Best Seller list.
Carey is one of the best-selling music artists, with over 220 million records sold worldwide. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Her accolades include 5 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Global Impact Award, 10 American Music Awards, 19 World Music Awards and 14 *Billboard* Music Awards. She holds the record for the most *Billboard* Hot 100 number-one singles by a solo artist (19), a female songwriter (18), and a female producer (15), spending a record 97 weeks atop the chart. "One Sweet Day" and "We Belong Together" were ranked by *Billboard* as the most successful songs of the 1990s and 2000s, respectively. Carey is the highest-certified female artist in the US, with 75 million certified album-equivalent units, and the best-selling Western artist in Japan.
## Early life
Carey was born on March 27, 1969, in Huntington, New York. Her name is derived from the song "They Call the Wind Maria", originally from the 1951 Broadway musical *Paint Your Wagon.* She is the youngest of three children born to Patricia (née Hickey), a former opera singer and vocal coach of Irish descent, and Alfred Roy Carey, an aeronautical engineer of both African-American and Afro-Venezuelan lineage. The last name "Carey" was adopted by her Venezuelan grandfather, Roberto Núñez, after he emigrated to New York. Patricia's family disowned her for marrying a black man. Racial tensions prevented the Carey family from integrating into their community. While they lived in Huntington, their neighbors poisoned the family dog and set fire to their car. After her parents' divorce, Carey had little contact with her father and spent much of her time at home alone and began singing at age three, often imitating her mother's take on Verdi's opera *Rigoletto* in Italian. Her older sister Alison moved in with their father while Mariah and her elder brother Morgan lived with their mother.
During her years in elementary school, Carey excelled in the arts, such as music and literature. She began writing poetry and lyrics while attending Harborfields High School in Greenlawn, New York, where she graduated in 1987. Carey began vocal training under her mother's guidance. Though she was a classically trained opera singer, Patricia Carey never pressured her daughter to pursue a career in classical opera, with Mariah Carey stating that "I respect opera like crazy, but it didn't influence me." In high school, Mariah Carey was often absent because of her work as a demo singer. Working in the Long Island music scene gave her opportunities to work with musicians such as Gavin Christopher and Ben Margulies, with whom she co-wrote material for her demo tape. After moving to New York City, she worked part-time jobs to pay the rent and completed 500 hours of beauty school. Carey moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan with four female students as roommates. She landed a gig singing backup for freestyle singer Brenda K. Starr.
## Career
*Emotions* and *MTV Unplugged*
In December 1988, Carey accompanied Starr to a music executive's party and handed her demo tape to the head of Columbia Records, Tommy Mottola. After listening to the tape during the ride home, he immediately requested the driver turn around. She had already left the event, and Mottola spent two weeks looking for her. Another record label expressed interest and a bidding war ensued. He signed Carey to Columbia and enlisted producers Ric Wake, Narada Michael Walden, and Rhett Lawrence for her first album.
Columbia marketed Carey as the main female artist on their roster. It spent upwards of $1 million promoting Carey's debut studio album, *Mariah Carey*. On June 5, 1990, Carey made her first public appearance at the 1990 NBA Finals, singing "America the Beautiful". The highlight was the whistle note toward the song's conclusion, sparking CBS Sports anchor Pat O'Brien to declare, "The palace now has a queen." The album topped the US *Billboard* 200 for eleven consecutive weeks, after Carey's exposure at the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards, where she won the award for Best New Artist, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her single "Vision of Love". The album's singles "Vision of Love", "Love Takes Time", "Someday", and "I Don't Wanna Cry" all topped the US *Billboard* Hot 100. *Mariah Carey* was the best-selling album in the United States in 1991, and achieved worldwide sales of 15 million copies.
Carey co-wrote, co-produced, and recorded her second studio effort, *Emotions*, during 1991. She described it as a homage to Motown soul music and employed the help of Walter Afanasieff, who only had a small role on her debut, as well as Robert Clivillés and David Cole, from the dance group C+C Music Factory. Carey's relationship with Margulies deteriorated over a songwriting royalties dispute. After he filed a lawsuit against Columbia's parent company, Sony Music Entertainment, the songwriting duo parted ways. *Emotions* was released on September 17 that year. Its title track served as the album's lead single and became Carey's fifth chart topper on the *Billboard* Hot 100, making her the first artist whose first five singles reached the chart's summit. Though critics praised the album's content and described it as a more mature effort, the album was criticized as calculated and lacking originality. While the album managed sales of eight million copies globally, *Emotions* failed to reach the commercial and critical heights of its predecessor.
Carey did not embark on a world tour to promote the album. Although she attributed this to stage fright and the vocally challenging nature of her material, speculation grew that Carey was a "studio worm" and incapable of producing the perfect pitch and five-octave vocal range for which she was known. In hopes of ending any speculation of her being a manufactured artist, Carey booked an appearance on *MTV Unplugged*. Days prior to the show's taping, Carey and Afanasieff chose to add a cover of the Jackson 5's 1970 song "I'll Be There" to the set-list. On March 16, 1992, she played and recorded an intimate seven-song show at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York. The acclaimed revue was aired more than three times as often as the average episode, and critics heralding it as a "vocal Tour de force". Carey's live version of "I'll Be There" became her sixth number-one single on the *Billboard* Hot 100 chart. Sony capitalized on this success and released an extended play (EP) of her performance. It earned a triple-Platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and earned Gold and Platinum certifications in several European markets.
*Music Box*, *Merry Christmas* and *Daydream*
Following years of dating, Carey and Mottola got married on June 5, 1993. After *Emotions* failed to achieve the commercial heights of her debut album, Carey's subsequent release was to be marketed as adult contemporary and pop-friendly. *Music Box* was produced by Carey and Afanasieff, and it began a songwriting partnership that would extend until 1997's *Butterfly*. The album was released on August 31, 1993, to mixed reviews from music critics. Carey's songwriting was derided as clichéd and her vocal performances were described as less emotive and lazier in their delivery. In his review of the album, AllMusic's Ron Wynn concluded: "sometimes excessive spirit is preferable to an absence of passion". In promotion of the album, Carey embarked on her debut tour, a six-date concert series, the Music Box Tour. *Music Box*'s first and second singles, "Dreamlover" and "Hero", became Carey's seventh and eighth chart-toppers in the United States, while her cover of Badfinger's "Without You" became her first number-one single in Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. *Music Box* remains Carey's best-seller and one of the best-selling albums, with worldwide sales of over 28 million copies.
In mid-1994, Carey and Luther Vandross recorded and released a cover of Lionel Richie and Diana Ross's "Endless Love". *Merry Christmas*, released on November 1, 1994, became the best-selling Christmas album, with global sales of over 15 million copies. The lead single, "All I Want for Christmas Is You", became a holiday standard and continues to surge in popularity each holiday season. By October 2017, it had become the 11th best-selling single in history with over 16 million copies sold worldwide.
Carey's fifth studio album, *Daydream*, found her consolidating creative control over her career, leading to tensions with Columbia. Songs from her prior two albums had been primarily shaped by Mottola's conceptualization of what Carey should sound like, as innocent and wholesome tracks dominated by her vocal performance. *Daydream* featured a departure from her allegiance to pop and gravitated heavily towards R&B and hip hop. Critically, the album was described as Carey's best to date. *The New York Times* named it one of 1995's best albums and wrote it "brings R&B candy-making to a new peak of textural refinement ... Carey's songwriting has taken a leap forward and become more relaxed, sexier and less reliant on thudding clichés." Its lead single, "Fantasy", became the first single by a female artist to debut at number one on the *Billboard* Hot 100, and the second song overall after Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone". "One Sweet Day", a collaboration with R&B group Boyz II Men, served as the second single from *Daydream* and remained atop the *Billboard* Hot 100 for a record-breaking 16 consecutive weeks, becoming the longest-running number-one song in the history of the charts at the time. It also opened at the top spot, becoming Carey's second track to do so. The album's third single, "Always Be My Baby", became Carey's eleventh chart-topper, tying her with Madonna and Whitney Houston for the most number-one singles among female artists at the time.
*Daydream* became Carey's biggest-selling album in the United States, and her second album to be certified Diamond by the RIAA, after *Music Box*. The album continued Carey's dominance in Asian music markets and sold in excess of 2.2 million copies in Japan alone and over 20 million copies globally. *Daydream* and its singles were nominated in six categories at the 38th Grammy Awards. Though considered a favorite to win the top awards of the evening, Carey was shut out, prompting her to comment "What can you do? I will never be disappointed again." In early 1996, she embarked on her first international string of concerts, the Daydream World Tour. Its seven dates spanned three in Japan and four throughout Europe. *Forbes* named Carey the top-earning female musician of 1996, collecting an estimated $32 million.
During the recording of *Daydream*, Carey also worked on the alternative rock album *Someone's Ugly Daughter* by the band Chick, contributing writing, production, vocals and art direction. As Columbia Records refused to release the album with her lead vocals, Carey's friend Clarissa Dane was brought in to become the face of Chick, and her vocals were layered on top of Carey's, masking her voice. Her contributions were secret until the release of her 2020 memoir *The Meaning of Mariah Carey*.
*Butterfly* and *Rainbow*
Carey's subsequent musical releases followed the trend that began with *Daydream*. Her music began relying less on pop and adult contemporary-tinged balladry and instead incorporating heavy elements of hip hop and R&B. On *Butterfly*, she collaborated with a bevy of producers other than Afanasieff, such as Sean Combs, Q-Tip and Missy Elliott. *Butterfly* was released on September 10, 1997, and introduced a more subdued style of singing, with critics noting Carey's incorporation of breathy vocals. Some viewed her lack of propensity to use her upper range as a sign of maturity, while others questioned whether it forebode waning vocal prowess. The music video for the album's lead single, "Honey", her first since separating from Mottola, introduced a more overtly sexual image. *Butterfly* became Carey's best-reviewed album, with attention placed on the album's exploration of more mature lyrical themes. In their review of the album, *Rolling Stone* wrote it was "not as if Carey has totally dispensed with her old saccharine, Houston-style balladry ... but the predominant mood of *Butterfly* is one of coolly erotic reverie." AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine described Carey's vocals as "sultrier and more controlled than ever," and felt the album "illustrates that Carey continues to improve and refine her music, which makes her a rarity among her '90s peers.'" "Honey" and "My All", the album's fifth single, both topped the Hot 100, making Carey a female artist with the most number-one singles in the chart's history. Though a commercial success, *Butterfly* failed to reach the commercial heights of her previous albums, *Music Box* and *Daydream*.
After concluding her Butterfly World Tour, Carey participated in the VH1 Divas benefit concert on April 14, 1998, where she sang alongside Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, Shania Twain, Gloria Estefan, and Carole King. Carey began conceptualizing a film project *All That Glitters*, later re-titled to simply *Glitter* (2001), and wrote songs for other projects, such as *Men in Black* (1997) and *How the Grinch Stole Christmas* (2000). After *Glitter* fell into developmental hell, Carey postponed the project and began writing material for a new album. Sony Music executives insisted she prepare a greatest hits collection in time for the holiday season. The album, titled *#1's* (1998), featured a cover of Brenda K. Starr's "I Still Believe" and a duet with Whitney Houston, "When You Believe", which was included on the soundtrack for *The Prince of Egypt* (1998). *#1's* became a phenomenon in Japan, selling over one million copies in its opening week, making Carey the only international artist to accomplish this feat. It sold over 3.25 million copies in Japan in its first three months and holds the record as the best-selling album by a non-Asian artist.
With only one album left to fulfill her contract with Sony, and with a desire to separate herself professionally from the record label her ex-husband still headed, Carey completed the album in three months in mid-1999. Titled *Rainbow*, the album found Carey exploring with producers whom she had not worked with before. *Rainbow* became Carey's first album to not feature a collaboration with her longtime writing partner, Walter Afanasieff. She instead chose to work with David Foster and Diane Warren. "Heartbreaker" and "Thank God I Found You" both topped the *Billboard* Hot 100, while her rendition of Phil Collins' "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" with Irish boy band Westlife became her second number-one song on the UK charts. *Rainbow* was released on November 2, 1999, to the highest first-week sales of her career at the time, and debuted at number two on the *Billboard* 200.
Carey's tense relationship with Columbia grew increasingly fractious; she began posting messages on her website, sharing inside information with fans on the dispute, as well as instructing them to request "Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme)" on radio stations. Ultimately, the song was only given a very limited and low-promotion release. Critical reception of *Rainbow* was generally positive, with the general consensus finding: "what began on *Butterfly* as a departure ends up on *Rainbow* a progression – perhaps the first compelling proof of Carey's true colors as an artist." Though a commercial success, *Rainbow* became Carey's lowest selling album at that point in her career.
*Glitter* and *Charmbracelet*
Carey received *Billboard*'s Artist of the Decade Award and the World Music Award for Best-Selling Pop Female Artist of the Millennium, and parted from Columbia Records. She signed an unprecedented $80 million five-album recording contract with Virgin Records (EMI Records) in April 2001. *Glitter* was a musical departure, recreating a 1980s post-disco era to accompany the film, set in 1983. Carey was given full conceptual and creative control over the project. She said that Columbia had regarded her as a commodity, with her separation from Mottola exacerbating her relations with label executives. Carey's three-year relationship with Latin singer Luis Miguel ended.
In July 2001, Carey suffered a physical and emotional breakdown. She began posting disturbing messages on her website and behaved erratically in live promotional outings. On July 19, Carey made a surprise appearance on the MTV program *Total Request Live* (TRL). As the show's host Carson Daly began taping following a commercial break, she came out pushing an ice cream cart while wearing a large men's shirt and began a striptease that revealed a tight ensemble. She credited exhaustion for the appearance going awry. Days later, Carey posted irregular voice notes on her website. On July 26, she was hospitalized due to exhaustion and a "physical and emotional breakdown". Carey was admitted to a hospital in Connecticut and remained under doctor's care for two weeks, followed by an extended absence from the public. Virgin Records and 20th Century Fox delayed the release of *Glitter* and its soundtrack. Critics panned *Glitter* and its soundtrack; both were unsuccessful commercially. The soundtrack became Carey's lowest-selling album to that point. The *St. Louis Post-Dispatch* condemned it as "an absolute mess that'll go down as an annoying blemish on [her] career". She attributed the poor performance to her state of mind, its postponement and the soundtrack having been released on September 11.
Carey's record deal with Virgin Records was bought out for $28 million. Carey described her time at Virgin "a complete and total stress-fest." She signed a contract with Island Records, valued at more than $24 million, and launched the record label MonarC. Carey's father, Alfred Roy, with whom she had had little contact since childhood, died of cancer that year. Her song "Sunflowers for Alfred Roy" from *Charmbracelet* is dedicated to his memory. In 2002, she was cast in the independent film *WiseGirls* alongside Mira Sorvino and Melora Walters, who co-starred as waitresses at a mobster-operated restaurant. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and received negative reviews, though Carey's performance was praised. Roger Friedman of Fox News described her as "a Thelma Ritter for the new millennium", and wrote, "Her line delivery is sharp and she manages to get the right laughs."
In December 2002, Carey released her ninth studio album, *Charmbracelet*, which she said marked "a new lease on life" for her. Sales of *Charmbracelet* were moderate and the quality of Carey's vocals came under criticism. Joan Anderson from *The Boston Globe* declared the album "the worst of her career, and revealed a voice [that is] no longer capable of either gravity-defying gymnastics or soft coos", while AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote, "Mariah's voice is shot, sounding in tatters throughout the record. She can no longer coo or softly croon nor can she perform her trademark gravity-defying vocal runs." To support the album, Carey embarked on the Charmbracelet World Tour, spanning North America and East Asia over three months. While smaller venues were booked throughout the tour's stateside leg, Carey performed in stadiums in Asia and Europe. In the United Kingdom, it was her first tour to feature shows outside London. The tour garnered generally positive reviews, with many praising the production and Carey's vocals.
*The Emancipation of Mimi*
Carey's tenth studio album, *The Emancipation of Mimi* in 2005, was produced with the Neptunes, Kanye West and Carey's longtime collaborator, Jermaine Dupri. She described the album as "very much like a party record." *The Emancipation of Mimi* topped the charts in the United States, becoming her fifth number-one album and first since *Butterfly* (1997), and was warmly accepted by critics. Caroline Sullivan of *The Guardian* defined it as "cool, focused and urban [... some of] the first Mariah Carey tunes in years which I wouldn't have to be paid to listen to again," while *USA Today*'s Elysa Gardner wrote, "The [songs] truly reflect the renewed confidence of a songbird who has taken her shots and kept on flying." The album's second single, "We Belong Together", became a "career re-defining" song for Carey, after a relatively unsuccessful period and a point when many critics had considered her career over.
Music critics heralded the song as her "return to form," as well as the "return of The Voice," while many felt it would revive "faith" in Carey's potential as a balladeer. "We Belong Together" broke several records in the United States and became Carey's sixteenth chart topper on the *Billboard* Hot 100. After staying at number one for fourteen non-consecutive weeks, the song became the second-longest-running number one song in US chart history, behind Carey's "One Sweet Day". *Billboard* listed it as the "song of the decade" and the ninth most popular song of all time. The song broke several airplay records, and according to Nielsen BDS, and gathered both the largest one-day and one-week audiences in history.
During the week of September 25, 2005, Carey set another record, becoming the first woman to occupy the first two spots atop the Hot 100, as "We Belong Together" remained at number one, and her next single, "Shake It Off", moved into the number two spot (Ashanti had topped the chart in 2002 while being a featured singer on the number two single). On the US *Billboard* Hot 100 Year-end Chart of 2005, "We Belong Together" was declared the number one song, a first for Carey. *Billboard* listed "We Belong Together" ninth on The *Billboard* Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs and was declared the most popular song of the 2000s decade by *Billboard*. The album was re-released as *The Ultra Platinum Edition*, from which "Don't Forget About Us" became her seventeenth number-one in the United States.
*The Emancipation of Mimi* earned ten Grammy Award nominations: eight in 2006 for the original release, the most received by Carey in a single year, and two in 2007 for the *Ultra Platinum Edition*. Carey won Best Contemporary R&B Album for *The Emancipation of Mimi* and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song for "We Belong Together". *The Emancipation of Mimi* was 2005's best-selling album in the United States, with nearly five million units sold. It was the first album by a solo female artist to become the year's best-selling album within the country since Alanis Morissette's *Jagged Little Pill* in 1996. At the end of 2005, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) reported that *The Emancipation of Mimi* had sold more than 7.7 million copies globally, and was the second-best-selling album of the year after Coldplay's *X&Y*. It has since sold 12 million copies worldwide. In support of the album, Carey embarked on her first headlining tour in three years, named The Adventures of Mimi after a "Carey-centric fan's" music diary. The tour spanned 40 dates, with 32 in the United States and Canada, two in Africa, and six in Japan. It received warm reception from music critics and concert goers, many of which lauded Carey's vocals.
*E=MC²*, *Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel*, and *Precious*
In early 2007, Carey began to work on her eleventh studio album, *E=MC²*. Although the album was well received by some critics, others criticized it for being very similar to the formula used on *The Emancipation of Mimi*. Two weeks before the album's release, "Touch My Body", the record's lead single, reached the top position on the *Billboard* Hot 100, becoming Carey's eighteenth number one and making her the solo artist with the most number one singles in United States history, pushing her past Elvis Presley into second place according to the magazine's revised methodology. Additionally, it gave Carey her 79th week atop the Hot 100, tying her with Presley as the artist with the most weeks at number one in the *Billboard* chart history."
*E=MC²* debuted at number one on the *Billboard* 200 with 463,000 copies sold, the biggest opening week sales of her career. In 2008, Carey also played one of the lead roles in *Tennessee*. Since the album's release, Carey had planned to embark on an extensive tour in support of *E=MC²*. However, the tour was suddenly cancelled in early December 2008. Carey later stated that she had been pregnant during that time period and suffered a miscarriage, prompting the tour's cancellation. On January 20, 2009, Carey performed "Hero" at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball after Barack Obama was sworn as the first African-American president of the United States. On July 7, 2009, Carey—alongside Trey Lorenz—performed her version of "I'll Be There" at the memorial service for Michael Jackson.
In 2009, she appeared as a social worker in *Precious*, the movie adaptation of the 1996 novel *Push* by Sapphire. The film garnered mostly positive reviews from critics, also for Carey's performance. *Variety* described her acting as "pitch-perfect". In January 2010, Carey won the Breakthrough Actress Performance Award for her role in *Precious* at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
On September 25, 2009, Carey's twelfth studio album, *Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel*, was released. Reception for the album was mostly mixed; Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called it "her most interesting album in a decade," while Jon Caramanica from *The New York Times* criticized Carey's vocal performances, complaining she overused softer vocal registers at the expense of her more powerful lower and upper registers. Commercially, the album debuted at number three on the *Billboard* 200 with first week sales of 168,000 copies. "Obsessed" served as the lead single and peaked at number seven in the US, becoming Carey's 27th top-ten entry within the nation and tying her with Elton John and Janet Jackson for having the fifth most top-tens. Its follow-up single, a cover of Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is", broke airplay records in Brazil. The song spent 27 weeks atop the Brasil Hot 100, making it the longest running number-one song in the chart's history.
On December 31, 2009, Carey embarked on her seventh concert tour, Angels Advocate Tour, which visited the United States and Canada and ended on September 26, 2010. A planned remix album of *Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel*, titled *Angels Advocate*, was slated for a March 30, 2010, release but was eventually cancelled after Island Def Jam decided to instead distribute "Up Out My Face" with Nicki Minaj and "Angels Cry" with Ne-Yo as stand-alone releases.
*Merry Christmas II You* and *Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse*
Following the cancellation of *Angels Advocate*, it was announced that Carey would return to the studio to start work on her thirteenth studio album. It was later revealed that it would be her second Christmas album, and follow-up to *Merry Christmas*. The release date for the album, titled *Merry Christmas II You*, was November 2, 2010; the track list included new songs as well as a remix of "All I Want for Christmas Is You". *Merry Christmas II You* debuted at number four on the *Billboard* 200 and number one on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, making it only the second Christmas album to top this chart. In February 2011, she recorded a duet with Tony Bennett for his *Duets II* album, titled "When Do The Bells Ring For Me?", and re-recorded "All I Want for Christmas Is You" with Justin Bieber as a duet for his Christmas album, *Under the Mistletoe*. In November that year, Carey was included in the remix to the mixtape single "Warning" by Uncle Murda; the remix also features 50 Cent and Young Jeezy. Later that month, Carey released a duet with John Legend titled "When Christmas Comes", originally part of *Merry Christmas II You*.
On March 1, 2012, Carey performed at New York City's Gotham Hall; her first time performing since her pregnancy. She also performed a three-song set at a special fundraiser for US President Barack Obama held in New York's Plaza Hotel. A new song titled "Bring It On Home", which Carey wrote for the event to show her support for Obama's re-election campaign, was also performed. In August 2012, she released a stand-alone single, "Triumphant (Get 'Em)", featuring rappers Rick Ross and Meek Mill. Carey joined the judging panel of the twelfth season of *American Idol*. In 2013, Carey appeared in Lee Daniels' film *The Butler* and had a guest role voicing as a redneck character on the adult animated series *American Dad!*.
In February 2013, Carey recorded and released a song called "Almost Home", for the soundtrack of The Walt Disney Studios film *Oz the Great and Powerful*. For her 14th album, she worked with producers including DJ Clue?, Randy Jackson, R. Kelly, David Morales and The-Dream. The lead single, "Beautiful", featuring singer Miguel, was released on May 6, 2013, and peaked at number 15 on the Hot 100. Carey taped a performance of "Beautiful" along with a medley of her greatest hits on May 15, 2013. This taping aired on the *American Idol* season finale the following day. After multiple delays, The album, titled *Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse*, was released on May 27, 2014.
In October 2014, Carey announced an annual residency show All I Want for Christmas Is You: A Night of Joy and Festivity. Originally performed at the Beacon Theatre in New York City, the residency began on December 15, 2014, and ended in 2019.
On January 30, 2015, it was announced that Carey had left Universal Music Group's Def Jam Recordings to reunite with L.A. Reid and Sony Music via Epic Records. Carey also announced her new #1 to Infinity residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas the same month. To coincide with the residency, Carey released *#1 to Infinity*, a greatest hits compilation album containing all of her eighteen *Billboard* Hot 100 number one singles at the time, along with a new recording, "Infinity", which was released as a single on April 27. In 2015 Carey had her directorial debut for the Hallmark Channel Christmas movie *A Christmas Melody*, in which she also performed as one of the main characters. In December 2015, Carey announced The Sweet Sweet Fantasy Tour which spanned a total of 27-dates beginning in March 2016, marking Carey's first major tour of mainland Europe in 13 years. Four stops included shows in South Africa. The tour grossed $30.3 million.
On March 15, 2016, Carey announced that she was filming *Mariah's World*, a docu-series for the E! network documenting her Sweet Sweet Fantasy tour and her wedding planning process. Carey told *The New York Times*, "I thought it would be a good opportunity to kind of, like, show my personality and who I am, even though I feel like my real fans have an idea of who I am... A lot of people have misperceptions about this and that." The series premiered on December 4, 2016. Carey guest starred on the musical drama *Empire* and sang the song "Infamous" featuring Jussie Smollett. On December 5, 2016, Carey participated in the *VH1 Divas Holiday: Unsilent Night* benefit concert, alongside Vanessa Williams, Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle, and Teyana Taylor. On December 31, 2016, Carey's performance on *Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve* in Times Square received worldwide attention after technical difficulties caused her in-ear monitors to malfunction, resulting in what *The New York Times* referred to as a "performance train wreck". She said her inability to hear the music without in-ear auditory feedback caused the mishap. Carey's representatives and Dick Clark Productions placed blame on each other.
On February 3, 2017, Carey released the single "I Don't" featuring YG. Later that month, she voiced the Mayor of Gotham City in the animated film *The Lego Batman Movie*. In July 2017, Carey made a cameo in the comedy film *Girls Trip* and embarked on a tour with Lionel Richie, titled, All the Hits Tour. She was also featured in the official remix for French Montana's single "Unforgettable", alongside Swae Lee. In October 2017, Carey released a new soundtrack single, "The Star", for the movie of the same name. She also voiced a hen named Rebecca in the film. The song was nominated for the Best Original Song at the 75th Golden Globe Awards. Carey additionally developed an animated Christmas film, *Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You*, for which she recorded an original song called "Lil' Snowman". The film was released direct-to-video on November 14, 2017. On December 31, 2017, Carey returned to perform on *Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve* after the technical difficulties that hindered her previous performance, in what *The New York Times* described as a "made-for-television act of pop culture redemption".
*Caution* and *Merry Christmas* reissue
In July 2018, Carey embarked on a new Las Vegas residency, The Butterfly Returns, which received critical acclaim. Its first 12 shows in 2018 grossed $3.6 million, with dates later extending into 2019 and 2020. Following the residency, Carey embarked on her Mariah Carey: Live in Concert tour in Asia and returned to Europe with her All I Want for Christmas Is You concert series. In September 2018, Carey announced plans to release her fifteenth studio album later in the year. The project was announced alongside the release of a new song titled "GTFO", which she performed on September 21, 2018, when she headlined the 2018 iHeartRadio Music Festival. The album's lead single, "With You", was released in October and it became Carey's highest-charting non-holiday song on the US Adult Contemporary chart since "We Belong Together" in 2005. The album, titled *Caution*, was released on November 16, 2018, and received universal acclaim from critics. By December 2018, the album had been featured on numerous year-end lists by music critics and publications.
In February 2019, Carey commenced the Caution World Tour in support of the album. Later in 2019, Carey engaged in a series of business and television ventures. On September 18, 2019, Carey released "In the Mix", the theme song for the ABC sitcom *Mixed-ish*. On November 1, 2019, Carey re-released her holiday album *Merry Christmas* for its 25th anniversary. The album package included the original album and another disc which include live performances from Carey's 1994 concert at St. John the Divine Church, several tracks from *Merry Christmas II You*, as well as other stand-alone singles such as "Lil Snowman" and "The Star". On December 5, 2019, it was announced that a mini-documentary titled *Mariah Carey Is Christmas!*, charting the creation and subsequent cultural legacy of "All I Want for Christmas Is You" was to be produced and broadcast on Amazon Music; it premiered later that month. Peaking at number one on the *Billboard* Hot 100 for the first time the same year, the song ended up giving Carey her nineteenth chart-topper in the US.
*The Rarities* and *The Meaning of Mariah Carey*
In January 2020, it was announced that Carey would be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Carey celebrated the 30th anniversary of her debut album through 2020, in a promotional campaign billed "#MC30". The first release consisted of the live EP *The Live Debut – 1990* which was released on July 17, 2020. Her memoir, *The Meaning of Mariah Carey* which was co-written with Michaela Angela Davis, was published in September of the same year. The memoir reached number one on *The New York Times* Best Seller list after its first week of release. On October 2, 2020, Carey released a compilation album titled *The Rarities*, which includes rare and unreleased songs that Carey recorded at various stages of her career. At the end of October, Carey was featured on Busta Rhymes' single "Where I Belong". Carey's 2020 Christmas special, *Mariah Carey's Magical Christmas Special*, premiered on December 4, 2020, on Apple TV+ along with a soundtrack. A new version of Carey's 2010 song "Oh Santa!", featuring Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson, was released as a single the same day. "All I Want for Christmas Is You" topped the UK chart for the first time that month, becoming her third number one in the nation, with an unprecedented 69 weeks in its top 40 before reaching the summit.
In July 2021, Carey was featured on the track "Somewhat Loved" from Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis' debut studio album *Jam & Lewis: Volume One*. On November 5, 2021, Carey released "Fall in Love at Christmas", featuring Khalid and Kirk Franklin, for her second Christmas special, *Mariah's Christmas: The Magic Continues*. In March 2022, Carey was featured alongside DJ Khaled on the remix of Latto's single "Big Energy", which interpolates Carey's 1995 single "Fantasy". On September 16, 2022, an expanded version of *Butterfly* was released for the 25th anniversary of the album. In November, Carey released a children's picture book titled *The Christmas Princess*, co-written with Michaela Angela Davis and illustrated by Fuuji Takashi. In December 2022, Carey performed two pairs of shows at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto and Madison Square Garden in New York City. Carey also served as a co-producer of *Some Like It Hot* on Broadway theatre, a musical based on the 1959 comedy film *Some Like It Hot*. It earned her a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Musical.
In February 2023, the 2009 track "It's a Wrap" experienced a revival on TikTok, prompting Carey to release an EP for the song, which included a new sped-up version. On September 8, 2023, she released a deluxe version of *Music Box* in celebration of the album's thirtieth anniversary. Carey embarked on her 16-date concert tour, Merry Christmas One and All!, which ran from November 15 to December 17, 2023, in the United States. The tour grossed approximately $30 million and sold more than 200,000 tickets.
On February 16, 2024, she featured on the remix of Ariana Grande's single "Yes, And?". On April 12, Carey began a new residency at the Dolby Live in Las Vegas titled The Celebration of Mimi. On May 21, Carey appeared on the remix to Muni Long's "Made for Me". In June, Carey released an expanded edition of *Rainbow* to coincide with its twenty-fifth anniversary. On November 6, 2024, she embarked on Mariah Carey's Christmas Time tour to celebrate the 30th anniversary of *Merry Christmas*, concluding after 18 shows on December 17. A thirtieth anniversary edition of *Merry Christmas* was also released. On May 30, 2025, Carey also released a twentieth anniversary edition of *The Emancipation of Mimi*.
On June 6, 2025, Carey released "Type Dangerous", the lead single for her upcoming sixteenth studio album, which will be her first release through Gamma as part of a multi-album deal. Carey described the deal as "part of something that honors legacy while pushing boundaries" and "owning my narrative and creating freely on my own terms". She performed the song for the first time at the 2025 BET Awards, the same night she would be honoured with the BET Ultimate Icon Award. On June 9, 2025, Carey teased the music video for her single "Type Dangerous" on her social media, announcing its release date as June 13, 2025. The video premiered on June 14, 2025, at noon PST.
Carey is set to feature on Barbra Streisand's album *The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two* alongside Streisand and Ariana Grande on a track titled "One Heart, One Voice", set for release on June 27, 2025.
## Artistry
### Influences
Carey has said that from childhood she has been influenced by Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan as well as R&B and soul musicians including Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, and George Michael. Her music contains strong influences of gospel music, and she credits the Clark Sisters, Shirley Caesar, and Edwin Hawkins as the most influential in her early years. When Carey incorporated hip hop into her sound, speculation arose that she was making an attempt to take advantage of the genre's popularity, but she told *Newsweek*, "People just don't understand. I grew up with this music." She has expressed appreciation for rappers such as the Sugarhill Gang, Eric B. & Rakim, the Wu-Tang Clan, The Notorious B.I.G. and Mobb Deep, with whom she collaborated on the single "The Roof (Back in Time)" (1998). Carey was heavily influenced by Minnie Riperton, and began experimenting with the whistle register due to her original practice of the range.
During Carey's career, her vocal and musical style, along with her level of success, has been compared to Whitney Houston, whom she has also cited as an influence. Carey and her peers, according to Garry Mulholland, are "the princesses of wails... virtuoso vocalists who blend chart-oriented pop with mature MOR torch song." Author and writer Lucy O'Brien attributed the comeback of Barbra Streisand's "old-fashioned showgirl" to Carey and Celine Dion, and described them and Houston as "groomed, airbrushed and overblown to perfection". Carey's musical transition and use of more revealing clothing during the late 1990s were, in part, initiated to distance herself from this image, and she subsequently said that most of her early work was "schmaltzy MOR". Some have noted that unlike Houston and Dion, Carey writes and produces her own music.
### Musical style
Carey gained public perception as a balladeer with her first few releases. Jim Faber of the *New York Daily News* stated that "For Carey, vocalizing is all about the performance, not the emotions that inspired it. Singing, to her, represents a physical challenge, not an emotional unburdening." While reviewing *Music Box*, Stephen Holden from *Rolling Stone* commented that Carey sang with "sustained passion," while Arion Berger of *Entertainment Weekly* wrote that during some vocal moments, Carey becomes "too overwhelmed to put her passion into words". In 2001, *The Village Voice* wrote that "Carey's Strawberry Shortcake soul still provides the template with which teen-pop cuties draw curlicues around those centerless [Diane] Warren ballads." Following her divorce with Tommy Mottola, Carey broke free of adult contemporary arrangements in favor of what Alex Macpherson of *The Guardian* described as "a lovingly crafted, hip-hop-inflected quiet storm". Carey often records her layered background vocals, which have been described as "a swooning bank of a hundred Mariahs". The singer has said that "it's because I started out as a backup singer and doing sessions as a background vocalist learning from some of the greatest background vocalists, and also people like Luther Vandross. Growing up, I admired his texture in and of itself but also his use of background vocals".
Carey's output makes use of electronic instruments such as drum machines, keyboards and synthesizers. Many of her songs contain piano-driven melodies, as she was given piano lessons at age six. Carey said that she cannot read sheet music and prefers to collaborate with a pianist when composing her material, but feels that it is easier to experiment with faster and less-conventional melodies and chord progressions using this technique. Carey incorporates several ranges of production and instrumentation into her music, though she has maintained that her voice has always been her most important asset: "My voice is my instrument; it always has been."
Carey began commissioning remixes of her material early in her career and helped to spearhead the practice of recording entirely new vocals for remixes. Disc jockey David Morales has collaborated with Carey on several occasions, starting with "Dreamlover" (1993), which popularized the tradition of remixing R&B songs into house records, and which *Slant Magazine* named one of the greatest dance songs. From "Fantasy" (1995) onward, Carey enlisted both hip hop and house producers to re-structure her album compositions. *Entertainment Weekly* included two remixes of "Fantasy" on a list of Carey's greatest recordings compiled in 2005: a National Dance Music Award-winning remix produced by Morales, and a Sean Combs production featuring rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard. The latter has been credited with popularizing the pop and hip hop collaboration trend that has continued into the 21st century. Combs said that Carey "knows the importance of mixes, so you feel like you're with an artist who appreciates your work—an artist who wants to come up with something with you."
### Songwriting
Love is the subject of the majority of Carey's lyrics, although she has written about themes such as loss, sex, race, abuse and spirituality. Andrew Chan of the University of Texas Press identifies "the purging of private emotions" as the main theme of Carey's ballads, though he believes several others aim to have an "all-purpose feeling" with mass appeal. Carey has said that much of her work is partly autobiographical, but *Time* magazine's Christopher John Farley wrote: "If only Mariah Carey's music had the drama of her life. Her songs are often sugary and artificial—NutraSweet soul. But her life has passion and conflict," applying it to the first stages of her career. He commented that as her albums progressed, so too her songwriting and music blossomed into more mature and meaningful material.
Carey's songwriting is noted for its "eccentric verbosity". Jeffrey Ingold of *Vice* argues that her lyrics are "among the most verbose in pop music, filling her catalogue with words like "unyielding" ("Breakdown"), "emblazoned" ("My All") and "rhapsodise" ("Melt Away")". Since the beginning of her career, Carey has repeatedly described herself as a songwriter and
producer and emphasized the importance of being acknowledged for these roles. Despite that, she has also admitted having to constantly remind people of her songwriting work, noting that "A lot of people see that whole other image. They see this diva; they see hair, makeup, body, and clothes… They don’t think songwriter." Upon her induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the institution named her "the all-time most successful female songwriter in chart history".
### Voice and timbre
Carey possesses a five-octave vocal range. Regarding her type of voice, several critics have described her as a lyric coloratura soprano or just a soprano. Jon Pareles of *The New York Times* described Carey's lower register as a "rich, husky alto" that extends to "dog-whistle high notes". She once described herself as an alto singer. Sasha Frere-Jones of *The New Yorker* adds her timbre on "Vision of Love" possesses various colors, stating, "Carey's sound changes with nearly every line, mutating from a steely tone to a vibrating growl and then to a humid, breathy coo." Chan believes that Carey moved through several "vocal personas" throughout her discography, like the "stentorian, full-throated belting of her first few albums; the fluid mix of chest and
head voice deployed to masterful effect in the mid-1990s; and the delicate, foggy tones and manic cadences that
predominated after the turn of the millennium". In an analysis of Carey's voice for ClassicFM, singer Catherine Bott claims that Carey's chest voice could go up "higher in pitch" compared to classical singers."
Her sense of pitch is admired and Jon Pareles adds "she can linger over sensual turns, growl with playful confidence, syncopate like a scat singer... with startlingly exact pitch." Carey claims that she has had nodules on her vocal cords since childhood, enabling her to sing in a higher register than others. However, tiredness and sleep deprivation can affect them due to the nodules, and Carey explained that she went through a lot of practice as a child to maintain a balance during singing. Carey is noted for her vocal improvisation skills.
Towards the late 1990s, she began incorporating breathy vocals into her material. Tim Levell from BBC News described her vocals as "sultry close-to-the-mic breathiness," while *USA Today*'s Elysa Gardner wrote "it's impossible to deny the impact her vocal style, a florid blend of breathy riffing and resonant belting, has had on today's young pop and R&B stars." In an interview, Ron Givens of *Entertainment Weekly* described it this way, "first, a rippling, soulful ooh comes rolling effortlessly from her throat: alto. Then, after a quick breath, she goes for the stratosphere, with a sound that nearly changes the barometric pressure in the room. In one brief swoop, she seems to squeal and roar at the same time."
Alex Macpherson of *The Guardian* noted that Carey's voice on *Butterfly* is "an instrument of texture rather than volume, with pillows of lavishly layered vocals and nuanced phrasing magnifying the emotional intensity of the songs." Randy Jackson said that "It's in the tone, that buttery tone that she has with her voice that is unbelievably amazing and unbelievably identifiable."
### Stage performances and videos
Despite being called a "show stopper" and "the 1990s pop phenomenon", Carey suffered from stage fright in her early years in the music industry. One of her earliest performances was at *MTV Unplugged*, which received positive reception as Carey silenced critics saying her vocals were studio-made. Chan identifies the Milli Vanilli lip syncing controversy as a potential contributor to the initial accusations. Carey's "The Star-Spangled Banner" rendition at the Super Bowl XXXVI was called "stunning" by *Billboard*. She also performed "America the Beautiful" at the 1990 NBA Finals in which *Rolling Stone* writer, Brittany Spanos, stated the players were struck "with awe by the incredible talent of a burgeoning young star". The singer received the only standing ovation of the night at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards, after performing the medley of "We Belong Together and "Fly Like a Bird". Although Carey's performance at *Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2017* was marred by technical issues, she returned to the stage a year later and, according to *Time*, "effectively redeemed herself".
Carey is known for being very static during her live performances. Some reviewers credited her stage fright and lack of confidence as the reasoning, while others pointed out that her performances focus on her vocals and the quality of her songs. Her onstage hand gesticulations have usually been mimicked, as the singer has a tendency for "using her hands to point, flutter and sweep through the air as she deftly crests each run". When reviewing Carey's 2014 concert, Michael Lallo wrote that "If you're Mariah, you ... stroke your hair a lot. When a high note is on the horizon, you brace yourself by touching your ear and adopting a pained expression, provoking the crowd into losing its collective mind."
Carey had been open about the fact that she had not been happy with some of her early music videos, and has subsequently been noted for self-directing and co-producing her subsequent videography. The music video for "Fantasy" was the first that Carey directed entirely on her own, and "Honey" pushed Carey further towards hip hop and R&B than before. Its music video gained further attention, as Carey, for the first time in her career, was provocatively dressed, giving viewers a "taste of the freer Mariah." In 2007, author Saul Austerlitz wrote Carey had been "marketed as a whitebread pop princess" in her earlier music videos, adding the plots, directorial styles, clothes, and auras from later videos like "Heartbreaker" were very different and she was displayed as an "R&B diva". *Billboard* ranked Carey 73rd on its list of "The 100 Greatest Music Video Artists of All Time" in 2020, stating that "over three decades, [Carey] has gone from breezy girl next door, flaunting a denim collection as wide as her vocal range, to secret agent, runaway bride and even her own stalker in a collection of music videos that play like mini-dramas". The music video for "The Roof" was ranked 18th on *Slant Magazine*'s "100 Greatest Music Videos. The music videos for "Honey" and "Heartbreaker" remain among the most expensive ever made, costing over $2 million. In 2021, Carey was honoured at the African American Film Critics Association with a Special Achievement Innovator Award for her "visual storytelling in her music videos and specials".
## Cultural status
Throughout her career, Carey has been called a pop icon, a gay icon, and a fashion icon. *Guinness World Records* and music critics have dubbed Carey the "Songbird Supreme". She has been labeled a "diva" for her stardom and persona. Her diva persona has received heavy attention, gaining admiration from her fans. Author Lily E. Hirsch argues that while Carey has displayed diva behavior during several incidents in her career, the media's association of the term with her is influenced by gender. Carey's style has often been described as "eccentric" and "over the top". Throughout her career, she has also been used in several social media memes, gaining the "Queen of Shade" title from *Elle*. Carey's reactions in various interviews have often gone viral, becoming the originator for various memes including "I don't know her".
Carey's public image has undergone significant transformations, often receiving heavy media attention. Early in her career, Carey had a polished image, influenced by Mottola and his control over her career. After their separation, Carey took on a more provocative image in her career and has since been called a sex symbol. Her career has received heavy media attention, particularly during the rollout of her 2001 film, *Glitter* which became "tabloid legend". Academic Shara Rambarran believes that Carey has matched the media's intense scrutiny and attention on her personal life through "her diva attitude, performance, identity, and music".
Carey's enduring popularity as a musician has received extensive recognition and often praised for its longevity. She has been credited for her role in breaking down racial barriers in popular culture and facilitating public discourse surrounding multiracialism in the music industry. Carey has also been credited for popularizing the use of melisma amongst her peers and the generation after her, and has often been considered one of the greatest vocalists in pop music. Carey has influenced numerous artists and her music has also been recorded, performed or sampled by a variety of acts. In a 2010 article for *The New York Times*, David Browne wrote that in the early 1990s, "melisma overtook pop in a way it hadn't before. Mariah Carey's debut hit from 1990, 'Vision of Love', [set] the bar insanely high for notes stretched louder, longer and knottier than most pop fans had ever heard". He added that because of this, various artists have since "built their careers around melisma" including Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson and Beyoncé.
"All I Want for Christmas Is You", as well as its parent album *Merry Christmas*, have become such a ubiquitous part of wider popular culture that Carey's name became synonymous with the season, and she has since been dubbed the "Queen of Christmas". Multiple media sources have referred to Carey as a holiday icon. The singer has often incorporated holiday-themed outfits during her Christmas shows and music videos.
## Achievements
Carey has won six Grammy Awards (including a Grammy Global Impact Award), nineteen World Music Awards, ten American Music Awards, and fourteen *Billboard* Music Awards. Carey is one of the best-selling recording artists in history, with more than 220 million records sold. She is also an inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. Carey was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2015, a *Billboard* Icon Award in 2019, and a BET Ultimate Icon Award. In 2023, she became one of the first 13 recipients of the BRIT Billion Award, for surpassing the milestone one billion streams in the United Kingdom.
## Other activities
### Business ventures
Declining offers to appear in commercials in the United States during her early career, Carey was not involved in brand marketing initiatives until 2006, when she participated in endorsements for Intel Centrino personal computers and launched a jewelry and accessories line for teenagers, Glamorized, in American Claire's and Icing stores. During this period, as part of a partnership with Pepsi and Motorola, Carey recorded and promoted a series of exclusive ringtones, including "Time of Your Life". She signed a licensing deal with the cosmetics company Elizabeth Arden, and in 2007, she released her own fragrance, "M". The Elizabeth Arden deal has netted her $150 million. For the fragrance, Carey won a Basenotes Fragrance Award for Best Celebrity Women's Fragrance as well as being nominated in three other categories. She has released a series of fragrances with Elizabeth Arden, including Luscious Pink (2008) and Forever (2009). On November 29, 2010, she debuted a collection on HSN, which included jewelry, shoes and fragrances. In November 2011, Carey was announced as "brand ambassador" for Jenny Craig, Inc. which included "participation in a new company initiative... public service announcements and community and education programs." In 2018, Carey featured in an advertisement for Hostelworld with the tagline "Even Divas are Believers".
On August 25, 2019, Carey signed a $12 million contract with the Walkers crisps brand as part of their Christmas campaign and starred in a commercial for the company. In December 2020, Carey launched a partnership with Virtual Dining Concepts and restaurateur, Robert Earl, for a biscuit line titled *Mariah's Cookies*. In 2021, Carey announced the launch of a new line of alcohol called *Black Irish*, an homage to her Black, Venezuelan, and Irish heritage. That same year, Carey also partnered with McDonald's, promoting an entirely new limited time menu. In 2022, Carey recorded nine video lessons for MasterClass titled "Mariah Carey Teaches the Voice as an Instrument", for which she re-recorded "The Roof (Back in Time)" alongside Brandy.
### Philanthropy and activism
Carey is a philanthropist who has been involved with several charitable organizations. She became associated with the Fresh Air Fund in the early 1990s, and co-founded a camp located in Fishkill, New York, that enables inner-city youth to embrace the arts and introduces them to career opportunities. The camp was called Camp Mariah "for her generous support and dedication to Fresh Air children," and she received a Congressional Horizon Award for her youth-related charity work. Carey has continued her direct involvement with Camp Mariah, and by 2019 the executive director of The Fresh Air Fund reported that "...the kids who have gone to Camp Mariah have higher graduation rates out of high school and college. In 1999, Carey was presented with a Congressional Award for contributing "to expanding opportunities for all Americans through their own personal contributions, and [setting] exceptional examples for young people through their own successes in life. In 2019, she was honored by *Variety*'s Power of Women for her work with The Fresh Air Fund's Camp Mariah.
Carey also donated royalties from her songs "Hero" and "One Sweet Day" to charities. She has worked with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and in November 2006 she was awarded the Foundation's Wish Idol for her "extraordinary generosity and her many wish granting achievements." Carey has volunteered for the Police Athletic League of New York City and contributed to the obstetrics department of New York Presbyterian Hospital Cornell Medical Center. A percentage of the sales of *MTV Unplugged* was donated to various other charities. In 2008, Carey was named Hunger Ambassador of the World Hunger Relief Movement. In February 2010, the song, "100%", which was originally written and recorded for the film, *Precious*, was used as one of the theme songs for the 2010 Winter Olympics, with all money proceeds going to Team USA. In 2017, Carey was awarded with PETA's Angel for Animals Award for promoting animal adoption through her animated movie *All I Want for Christmas Is You*.
One of Carey's most high-profile benefit concert appearances was on VH1's 1998 *Divas Live* special, during which she performed alongside other female singers in support of the Save the Music Foundation. The concert was a ratings success, and Carey participated in the *Divas 2000* special and a 2016 holiday edition. She appeared at the *America: A Tribute to Heroes* nationally televised fundraiser in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and performed before peacekeeping troops in Kosovo. Carey hosted the CBS television special *At Home for the Holidays*, which documented real-life stories of adopted children and foster families. In 2005, Carey performed for Live 8 in London and at the Hurricane Katrina relief telethon "Shelter from the Storm". In August 2008, Carey and other singers recorded the charity single, "Just Stand Up!" produced by Babyface and L.A. Reid, to support Stand Up to Cancer. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Carey participated in the iHeart Living Room Concert for America and *Rise Up New York!* telethons to raise money for those affected by COVID-19.
In 2008, Carey performed in a New Year's Eve concert for the family of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. She later said she felt "horrible and embarrassed" to have taken part in the concert. To make amends, in March 2011, Carey's representative Cindi Berger stated that royalties for the song "Save the Day", written for her fourteenth studio album, would be donated to charities that create awareness for human rights. Berger also said that Carey "has and continues to donate her time, money and countless hours of personal service to many organizations both here and abroad." "Save the Day" remained unreleased until 2020. In 2013, human rights activists criticized Carey for performing in a concert for Angola's "father-daughter kleptocracy" and accused her of accepting "dictator cash".
## Personal life
Carey stated in 2006: "I do believe that I have been born again in a lot of ways. I think what I've changed are my priorities and my relationships with God. I feel the difference when I don't have my private moments to pray... I'm a fighter, but I learned that I'm not in charge. Whatever God wants to happen is what's going to happen. I feel like I've had endless second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth chances. It's by the grace of God I'm still here."
Carey began dating Tommy Mottola while recording *Mariah Carey*, and they were married at the Episcopal Saint Thomas Church in New York City on June 5, 1993, in a half-million dollar ceremony. The newlyweds moved into a custom-built mansion, located on a 51-acre (21 ha) estate in Bedford, New York, referred to by Carey as "Sing Sing" (alluding to her feeling imprisoned there). After the release of *Daydream* and the success that followed, Carey began focusing on her personal life, which was a constant struggle at the time. Their relationship began to deteriorate due to their growing creative differences in terms of her music, as well as Mottola's controlling nature. They separated in December 1996, and announced it publicly on May 30, 1997. The couple divorced on March 4, 1998. Shortly afterwards they sold their home to Nelson Peltz for $20.5 million; it burned down in 1999.
Carey was in a relationship with baseball player Derek Jeter from 1997 to 1998, and with singer Luis Miguel from 1998 to 2001. She began dating actor and comedian Nick Cannon while conceiving the music video for her song "Bye Bye", which they filmed together on an island off the coast of Antigua in April 2008. They were married on April 30, 2008, in the Bahamas. That same year, Carey suffered a miscarriage. At 35 weeks into her next pregnancy, she gave birth to their fraternal twins, Moroccan and Monroe, on April 30, 2011, via caesarean section. In August 2014, Cannon confirmed he and Carey had separated. He filed for divorce on December 12, 2014, which was finalized in 2016.
In 2015, Carey began dating Australian billionaire James Packer and, on January 21, 2016, she announced they were engaged. By October, however, they had called off the engagement. In October 2016, she began dating American choreographer Bryan Tanaka. On December 26, 2023, Tanaka confirmed that he and Carey had parted ways after seven years of dating. In April 2018, Carey opened up about taking therapy sessions and medication for her struggle with bipolar II disorder. She was diagnosed in 2001 and initially kept the diagnosis private.
## Discography
*Mariah Carey*(1990)*Emotions*(1991)*Music Box*(1993)*Merry Christmas*(1994)*Daydream*(1995)*Butterfly*(1997)*Rainbow*(1999)*Glitter*(2001)*Charmbracelet*(2002)*The Emancipation of Mimi*(2005)*E=MC²*(2008)*Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel*(2009)*Merry Christmas II You*(2010)*Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse*(2014)*Caution*(2018)
## Filmography
*The Bachelor*(1999)*Glitter*(2001)*WiseGirls*(2002)*Death of a Dynasty*(2003)*State Property 2*(2005)*Tennessee*(2008)*You Don't Mess with the Zohan*(2008)*Precious*(2009)*The Butler*(2013)*A Christmas Melody*(2015)*Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping*(2016)*The Keys of Christmas*(2016)*The Lego Batman Movie*(2017)*Girls Trip*(2017)*The Star*(2017)*All I Want for Christmas Is You*(2017)*Mariah Carey's Magical Christmas Special*(2020)*Mariah's Christmas: The Magic Continues*(2021)
## Tours and residencies
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## Written works
*All I Want for Christmas Is You*. Random House Children's Books. November 10, 2015. ISBN 978-0-399-55139-0. Archived from the original on July 24, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2020.*The Meaning of Mariah Carey*. Henry Holt and Company. September 29, 2020. ISBN 978-1-250-16468-1. Archived from the original on July 24, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2020.*The Christmas Princess (The Adventures of Little Mariah)*. Henry Holt Books for Young Readers. November 1, 2022. ISBN 978-1-250-83711-0. Archived from the original on May 14, 2022. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
## See also
- List of best-selling singles
- List of best-selling albums
- List of best-selling music artists in the United States
- List of
*Billboard*Hot 100 chart achievements and milestones - List of artists who reached number one on the
*Billboard*Hot 100 - List of artists who reached number one on the US dance chart
- Artists with the most number-ones on the US dance chart
*Forbes*list of highest-earning musicians- List of music artists by net worth
- List of largest music deals
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# Frog - Wikipedia
| Frogs | |
|---|---|
| Various kinds of frog | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
Clade:
|
Salientia |
| Order: | Anura Duméril, 1806 (as Anoures) |
| Subgroups | |
|
See text | |
| Native distribution of frogs (in green) |
A **frog** is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order **Anura** (coming from the Ancient Greek ἀνούρα, literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough skin texture due to wart-like parotoid glands tend to be called toads, but the distinction between frogs and toads is informal and purely cosmetic, not from taxonomy or evolutionary history.
Frogs are widely distributed, ranging from the tropics to subarctic regions, but the greatest concentration of species diversity is in tropical rainforest and associated wetlands. They account for around 88% of extant amphibian species, and are one of the five most diverse vertebrate orders. The oldest fossil "proto-frog" *Triadobatrachus* is known from the Early Triassic of Madagascar (250 million years ago), but molecular clock dating suggests their divergence from other amphibians may extend further back to the Permian, 265 million years ago.
Adult frogs have a stout body, protruding eyes, anteriorly-attached tongue, limbs folded underneath, and no tail (the "tail" of tailed frogs is an extension of the male cloaca). Frogs have glandular skin, with secretions ranging from distasteful to toxic. Their skin varies in colour from well-camouflaged dappled brown, grey and green, to vivid patterns of bright red or yellow and black to show toxicity and ward off predators. Adult frogs live in both fresh water and on dry land; some species are adapted for living underground or in trees. As their skin is semi-permeable, making them susceptible to dehydration, they either live in moist niches or have special adaptations to deal with drier habitats. Frogs produce a wide range of vocalisations, particularly in their breeding season, and exhibit many different kinds of complex behaviors to attract mates, to fend off predators and to generally survive.
Being oviparous anamniotes, frogs typically spawn their eggs in bodies of water. The eggs then hatch into fully aquatic larvae called tadpoles, which have tails and internal gills. A few species lay eggs on land or bypass the tadpole stage altogether. Tadpoles have highly specialised rasping mouth parts suitable for herbivorous, omnivorous or planktivorous diets. The life cycle is completed when they metamorphose into semiaquatic adults capable of terrestrial locomotion and hybrid respiration using both lungs aided by buccal pumping and gas exchange across the skin, and the larval tail regresses into an internal urostyle. Adult frogs generally have a carnivorous diet consisting of small invertebrates, especially insects, but omnivorous species exist and a few feed on plant matter. Frogs generally seize and ingest food by protruding their adhesive tongue and then swallow the item whole, often using their eyeballs and extraocular muscles to help pushing down the throat, and their digestive system is extremely efficient at converting what they eat into body mass. Being low-level consumers, both tadpoles and adult frogs are an important food source for other predators and a vital part of the food web dynamics of many of the world's ecosystems.
Frogs (especially their muscular hindlimbs) are eaten by humans as food in many cuisines, and also have many cultural roles in literature, symbolism and religion. They are environmental bellwethers, with declines in frog populations considered early warning signs of environmental degradation. Global frog populations and diversities have declined significantly since the 1950s. More than one third of species are considered to be threatened with extinction, and over 120 are believed to have become extinct since the 1980s. Frog malformations are on the rise as an emerging fungal disease, chytridiomycosis, has spread around the world. Conservation biologists are working to solve these problems.
## Etymology and taxonomy
The use of the common names *frog* and *toad* has no taxonomic justification. From a classification perspective, all members of the order Anura are frogs, but only members of the family Bufonidae are considered "true toads". The use of the term *frog* in common names usually refers to species that are aquatic or semi-aquatic and have smooth, moist skins; the term *toad* generally refers to species that are terrestrial with dry, warty skins. There are numerous exceptions to this rule. The European fire-bellied toad (*Bombina bombina*) has a slightly warty skin and prefers a watery habitat whereas the Panamanian golden frog (*Atelopus zeteki*) is in the toad family Bufonidae and has a smooth skin.
### Etymology
The origin of the order name *Anura*—and its original spelling *Anoures*—is the Ancient Greek alpha privative prefix ἀν- (*an-* from ἀ- before a vowel) 'without', and οὐρά (*ourá*) 'animal tail'. meaning "tailless". It refers to the tailless character of these amphibians.
The origins of the word *frog* are uncertain and debated. The word is first attested in Old English as *frogga*, but the usual Old English word for the frog was *frosc* (with variants such as *frox* and *forsc*), and it is agreed that the word *frog* is somehow related to this. Old English *frosc* remained in dialectal use in English as *frosh* and *frosk* into the nineteenth century, and is paralleled widely in other Germanic languages, with examples in the modern languages including German *Frosch*, Norwegian *frosk*, Icelandic *froskur*, and Dutch *(kik)vors*. These words allow reconstruction of a Common Germanic ancestor **froskaz*. The third edition of the *Oxford English Dictionary* finds that the etymology of **froskaz* is uncertain, but agrees with arguments that it could plausibly derive from a Proto-Indo-European base along the lines of **preu*, meaning 'jump'.
How Old English *frosc* gave rise to *frogga* is, however, uncertain, as the development does not involve a regular sound-change. Instead, it seems that there was a trend in Old English to coin nicknames for animals ending in -*g*, with examples—themselves all of uncertain etymology—including *dog*, *hog*, *pig, stag*, and *(ear)wig*. *Frog* appears to have been adapted from *frosc* as part of this trend.
Meanwhile, the word *toad*, first attested as Old English *tādige*, is unique to English and is likewise of uncertain etymology. It is the basis for the word *tadpole*, first attested as Middle English *taddepol*, apparently meaning 'toad-head'.
### Taxonomy
About 88% of amphibian species are classified in the order Anura. These include over 7,700 species in 59 families, of which the Hylidae (1062 spp.), Strabomantidae (807 spp.), Microhylidae (758 spp.), and Bufonidae (657 spp.) are the richest in species.
The Anura include all modern frogs and any fossil species that fit within the anuran definition. The characteristics of anuran adults include: 9 or fewer presacral vertebrae, the presence of a urostyle formed of fused vertebrae, no tail, a long and forward-sloping ilium, shorter fore limbs than hind limbs, radius and ulna fused, tibia and fibula fused, elongated ankle bones, absence of a prefrontal bone, presence of a hyoid plate, a lower jaw without teeth (with the exception of *Gastrotheca guentheri*) consisting of three pairs of bones (angulosplenial, dentary, and mentomeckelian, with the last pair being absent in Pipoidea), an unsupported tongue, lymph spaces underneath the skin, and a muscle, the protractor lentis, attached to the lens of the eye. The anuran larva or tadpole has a single central respiratory spiracle and mouthparts consisting of keratinous beaks and denticles.
Frogs and toads are broadly classified into three suborders: Archaeobatrachia, which includes four families of primitive frogs; Mesobatrachia, which includes five families of more evolutionary intermediate frogs; and Neobatrachia, by far the largest group, which contains the remaining families of modern frogs, including most common species throughout the world. The suborder Neobatrachia is further divided into the two superfamilies Hyloidea and Ranoidea. This classification is based on such morphological features as the number of vertebrae, the structure of the pectoral girdle, and the morphology of tadpoles. While this classification is largely accepted, relationships among families of frogs are still debated.
Some species of anurans hybridise readily. For instance, the edible frog (*Pelophylax esculentus*) is a hybrid between the pool frog (*P. lessonae*) and the marsh frog (*P. ridibundus*). The fire-bellied toads *Bombina bombina* and *B. variegata* are similar in forming hybrids. These are less fertile than their parents, giving rise to a hybrid zone where the hybrids are prevalent.
## Evolution
The origins and evolutionary relationships between the three main groups of amphibians are hotly debated. A molecular phylogeny based on rDNA analysis dating from 2005 suggests that salamanders and caecilians are more closely related to each other than they are to frogs and the divergence of the three groups took place in the Paleozoic or early Mesozoic before the break-up of the supercontinent Pangaea and soon after their divergence from the lobe-finned fishes. This would help account for the relative scarcity of amphibian fossils from the period before the groups split. Another molecular phylogenetic analysis conducted about the same time concluded that lissamphibians first appeared about 330 million years ago and that the temnospondyl-origin hypothesis is more credible than other theories. The neobatrachians seemed to have originated in Africa/India, the salamanders in East Asia and the caecilians in tropical Pangaea. Other researchers, while agreeing with the main thrust of this study, questioned the choice of calibration points used to synchronise the data. They proposed that the date of lissamphibian diversification should be placed in the Permian, rather less than 300 million years ago, a date in better agreement with the palaeontological data. A further study in 2011 using both extinct and living taxa sampled for morphological, as well as molecular data, came to the conclusion that Lissamphibia is monophyletic and that it should be nested within Lepospondyli rather than within Temnospondyli. The study postulated that Lissamphibia originated no earlier than the late Carboniferous, some 290 to 305 million years ago. The split between Anura and Caudata was estimated as taking place 292 million years ago, rather later than most molecular studies suggest, with the caecilians splitting off 239 million years ago.
In 2008, *Gerobatrachus hottoni*, a temnospondyl with many frog- and salamander-like characteristics, was discovered in Texas. It dated back 290 million years and was hailed as a missing link, a stem batrachian close to the common ancestor of frogs and salamanders, consistent with the widely accepted hypothesis that frogs and salamanders are more closely related to each other (forming a clade called Batrachia) than they are to caecilians. However, others have suggested that *Gerobatrachus hottoni* was only a dissorophoid temnospondyl unrelated to extant amphibians.
Salientia (Latin *salire* (*salio*), "to jump") is the name of the total group that includes modern frogs in the order Anura as well as their close fossil relatives, the "proto-frogs" or "stem-frogs". The common features possessed by these proto-frogs include 14 presacral vertebrae (modern frogs have eight or 9), a long and forward-sloping ilium in the pelvis, the presence of a frontoparietal bone, and a lower jaw without teeth. The earliest known amphibians that were more closely related to frogs than to salamanders are *Triadobatrachus massinoti*, from the early Triassic period of Madagascar (about 250 million years ago), and *Czatkobatrachus polonicus*, from the Early Triassic of Poland (about the same age as *Triadobatrachus*). The skull of *Triadobatrachus* is frog-like, being broad with large eye sockets, but the fossil has features diverging from modern frogs. These include a longer body with more vertebrae. The tail has separate vertebrae unlike the fused urostyle or coccyx in modern frogs. The tibia and fibula bones are also separate, making it probable that *Triadobatrachus* was not an efficient leaper. A 2019 study has noted the presence of Salientia from the Chinle Formation, and suggested that anurans might have first appeared during the Late Triassic.
On the basis of fossil evidence, the earliest known "true frogs" that fall into the anuran lineage proper all lived in the early Jurassic period. One such early frog species, *Prosalirus bitis*, was discovered in 1995 in the Kayenta Formation of Arizona and dates back to the Early Jurassic epoch (199.6 to 175 million years ago), making *Prosalirus* somewhat more recent than *Triadobatrachus*. Like the latter, *Prosalirus* did not have greatly enlarged legs, but had the typical three-pronged pelvic structure of modern frogs. Unlike *Triadobatrachus*, *Prosalirus* had already lost nearly all of its tail and was well adapted for jumping. Another Early Jurassic frog is *Vieraella herbsti*, which is known only from dorsal and ventral impressions of a single animal and was estimated to be 33 mm (1+1⁄4 in) from snout to vent. *Notobatrachus degiustoi* from the middle Jurassic is slightly younger, about 155–170 million years old. The main evolutionary changes in this species involved the shortening of the body and the loss of the tail. Tadpoles of *N. degiustoi* constitute the oldest tadpoles found as of 2024, dating back to 168–161 million years ago. These tadpoles also showed adaptations for filter-feeding, implying residence in temporary pools by filter-feeding larvae was already commonplace. The evolution of modern Anura likely was complete by the Jurassic period. Since then, evolutionary changes in chromosome numbers have taken place about 20 times faster in mammals than in frogs, which means speciation is occurring more rapidly in mammals.
According to genetic studies, the families Hyloidea, Microhylidae, and the clade Natatanura (comprising about 88% of living frogs) diversified simultaneously some 66 million years ago, soon after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event associated with the Chicxulub impactor. All origins of arboreality (e.g. in Hyloidea and Natatanura) follow from that time and the resurgence of forest that occurred afterwards.
Frog fossils have been found on all of the Earth's continents. In 2020, it was announced that 40 million year old helmeted frog fossils had been discovered by a team of vertebrate palaeontologists in Seymour Island on the Antarctic Peninsula, indicating that this region was once home to frogs related to those now living in South American *Nothofagus* forest.
### Phylogeny
A cladogram showing the relationships of the different families of frogs in the clade Anura can be seen in the table below. This diagram, in the form of a tree, shows how each frog family is related to other families, with each node representing a point of common ancestry. It is based on Frost *et al.* (2006), Heinicke *et al.* (2009) and Pyron and Wiens (2011).
Anura
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## Morphology and physiology
Frogs have no tail, except as larvae. Most frogs have long hind legs, elongated ankle bones, webbed toes, no claws, large eyes, and either smooth or warty skin. They have short vertebral columns, with no more than 10 free vertebrae and fused tailbones (urostyle or coccyx). Frogs range in size from a snout–vent length of 7.7 mm (0.30 in) (the *Paedophryne amauensis* of Papua New Guinea) to about 35 cm (14 in) (the goliath frog (*Conraua goliath*) of central Africa, which is about 3.3 kg (7.3 lb)). Some extinct prehistoric species were even larger.
### Feet and legs
A frog's foot and leg structure is related to its habitat. Across species, these structures vary based on whether the species lives primarily on the ground, in water, in trees, or in burrows. Adult anurans have four fingers on the hands and five toes on the feet, but the smallest species often have hands and feet where some of the digits are vestigial. Frogs must be able to move quickly through their environment to catch prey and escape predators, and numerous adaptations help them to do so. Most frogs are either proficient jumpers or descend from ancestors that were, with much of the musculoskeletal morphology modified for this purpose. The tibia, fibula, and tarsals have been fused into a single strong bone, as have the radius and ulna in the fore limbs (which must absorb the impact on landing). The metatarsals have become elongated to add to the leg length, allowing frogs to push against the ground for a longer period on take-off. The ilium has elongated and formed a mobile joint with the sacrum which, in specialist jumpers such as ranids and hylids, functions as an additional limb joint to further power the leaps. The tail vertebrae have fused into a urostyle which is retracted inside the pelvis. This enables frogs to transfer force from the legs to the body during a leap.
The muscular system has been similarly modified. The hind limbs of ancestral frogs presumably contained pairs of muscles which would act in opposition (one muscle to flex the knee, a different muscle to extend it), as is seen in most other limbed animals. However, in modern frogs, almost all muscles have been modified to contribute to the action of jumping, with only a few small muscles remaining to bring the limb back to the starting position and maintain posture. The muscles have also been greatly enlarged, with the main leg muscles accounting for over 17% of the total mass of frogs.
Many frogs have webbed feet and the degree of webbing is directly proportional to the amount of time the species spends in the water. The completely aquatic African dwarf frog (*Hymenochirus* sp.) has fully webbed toes, whereas those of White's tree frog (*Litoria caerulea*), an arboreal species, are only a quarter or half webbed. Exceptions include flying frogs in the Hylidae and Rhacophoridae, which also have fully webbed toes used in gliding.
Arboreal frogs have pads located on the ends of their toes to help grip vertical surfaces. These are not suction pads, the surface consisting instead of columnar cells with flat tops with small gaps between them lubricated by mucous glands. When the frog applies pressure, the cells adhere to irregularities on the surface and the grip is maintained through surface tension. This allows the frog to climb on smooth surfaces, but the system does not function efficiently when the pads are excessively wet.
In many arboreal frogs, a small "intercalary structure" on each toe increases the surface area touching the substrate. Furthermore, many arboreal frogs have hip joints that allow both hopping and walking. Some frogs that live high in trees even possess an elaborate degree of webbing between their toes. This allows the frogs to "parachute" or make a controlled glide from one position in the canopy to another.
Ground-dwelling frogs generally lack the adaptations of aquatic and arboreal frogs. Most have smaller toe pads, if any, and little webbing. Some burrowing frogs such as Couch's spadefoot (*Scaphiopus couchii*) have a flap-like toe extension on the hind feet, a keratinised tubercle often referred to as a spade, that helps them to burrow.
Sometimes during the tadpole stage, one of the developing rear legs is eaten by a predator such as a dragonfly nymph. In some cases, the full leg still grows, but in others it does not, although the frog may still live out its normal lifespan with only three limbs. Occasionally, a parasitic flatworm (*Ribeiroia ondatrae*) digs into the rear of a tadpole, causing a rearrangement of the limb bud cells and the frog develops one or more extra legs.
### Skin
A frog's skin is protective, has a respiratory function, can absorb water, and helps control body temperature. It has many glands, particularly on the head and back, which often exude distasteful and toxic substances (granular glands). The secretion is often sticky and helps keep the skin moist, protects against the entry of moulds and bacteria, and makes the animal slippery and more able to escape from predators. The skin is shed every few weeks. It usually splits down the middle of the back and across the belly, and the frog pulls its arms and legs free. The sloughed skin is then worked towards the head where it is quickly eaten.
Being cold-blooded, frogs have to adopt suitable behaviour patterns to regulate their temperature. To warm up, they can move into the sun or onto a warm surface; if they overheat, they can move into the shade or adopt a stance that exposes the minimum area of skin to the air. This posture is also used to prevent water loss and involves the frog squatting close to the substrate with its hands and feet tucked under its chin and body. The colour of a frog's skin is used for thermoregulation. In cool damp conditions, the colour will be darker than on a hot dry day. The grey foam-nest tree frog (*Chiromantis xerampelina*) is even able to turn white to minimise the chance of overheating.
Many frogs are able to absorb water and oxygen directly through the skin, especially around the pelvic area, but the permeability of a frog's skin can also result in water loss. Glands located all over the body exude mucus which helps keep the skin moist and reduces evaporation. Some glands on the hands and chest of males are specialised to produce sticky secretions to aid in amplexus. Similar glands in tree frogs produce a glue-like substance on the adhesive discs of the feet. Some arboreal frogs reduce water loss by having a waterproof layer of skin, and several South American species coat their skin with a waxy secretion. Other frogs have adopted behaviours to conserve water, including becoming nocturnal and resting in a water-conserving position. Some frogs may also rest in large groups with each frog pressed against its neighbours. This reduces the amount of skin exposed to the air or a dry surface, and thus reduces water loss. Woodhouse's toad (*Bufo woodhousii*), if given access to water after confinement in a dry location, sits in the shallows to rehydrate. The male hairy frog (*Trichobatrachus robustus*) has dermal papillae projecting from its lower back and thighs, giving it a bristly appearance. These contain blood vessels and are thought to increase the area of the skin available for respiration.
Some species have bony plates embedded in the skin, a trait that appears to have evolved independently several times. In certain other species, the skin at the top of the head is compacted and the connective tissue of the dermis is co-ossified with the bones of the skull (exostosis).
Camouflage is a common defensive mechanism in frogs. Features such as warts and skin folds are usually on ground-dwelling frogs, for whom smooth skin would not provide such effective camouflage. Certain frogs change colour between night and day, as light and moisture stimulate the pigment cells and cause them to expand or contract. Some are even able to control their skin texture. The Pacific tree frog (*Pseudacris regilla*) has green and brown morphs, plain or spotted, and changes colour depending on the time of year and general background colour. The Wood frog (*Lithobates sylvaticus*) uses disruptive coloration including black eye markings similar to voids between leaves, bands of the dorsal skin (dorsolateral dermal plica) similar to a leaf midrib as well as stains, spots and leg stripes similar to fallen leaf features.
### Respiration and circulation
Like other amphibians, oxygen can pass through their highly permeable skins. This unique feature allows them to remain in places without access to the air, respiring through their skins. Ribs are generally absent, so the lungs are filled by buccal pumping and a frog deprived of its lungs can maintain its body functions without them. The fully aquatic Bornean flat-headed frog (*Barbourula kalimantanensis*) is the first frog known to lack lungs entirely.
Frogs have three-chambered hearts, a feature they share with lizards. Oxygenated blood from the lungs and de-oxygenated blood from the respiring tissues enter the heart through separate atria. When these chambers contract, the two blood streams pass into a common ventricle before being pumped via a spiral valve to the appropriate vessel, the aorta for oxygenated blood and pulmonary artery for deoxygenated blood.
Some species of frog have adaptations that allow them to survive in oxygen deficient water. The Titicaca water frog (*Telmatobius culeus*) is one such species and has wrinkly skin that increases its surface area to enhance gas exchange. It normally makes no use of its rudimentary lungs but will sometimes raise and lower its body rhythmically while on the lake bed to increase the flow of water around it.
### Digestion and excretion
Frogs have maxillary teeth along their upper jaw which are used to hold food before it is swallowed. These teeth are very weak, and cannot be used to chew or catch and harm agile prey. Instead, the frog uses its sticky, cleft tongue to catch insects and other small moving prey. The tongue normally lies coiled in the mouth, free at the back and attached to the mandible at the front. It can be shot out and retracted at great speed. In amphibians there are salivary glands on the tongue, which in frogs produce what is called a two-phase viscoelastic fluid. When exposed to pressure, like when the tongue is wrapping around a prey, it becomes runny and covers the prey's body. As the pressure drops, it returns to a thick and elastic state, which gives the tongue an extra grip. Some frogs have no tongue and just stuff food into their mouths with their hands. The African bullfrog (*Pyxicephalus*), which preys on relatively large animals such as mice and other frogs, has cone shaped bony projections called odontoid processes at the front of the lower jaw which function like teeth. The eyes assist in the swallowing of food as they can be retracted through holes in the skull and help push food down the throat.
The food then moves through the oesophagus into the stomach where digestive enzymes are added and it is churned up. It then proceeds to the small intestine (duodenum and ileum) where most digestion occurs. Pancreatic juice from the pancreas, and bile, produced by the liver and stored in the gallbladder, are secreted into the small intestine, where the fluids digest the food and the nutrients are absorbed. The food residue passes into the large intestine where excess water is removed and the wastes are passed out through the cloaca.
Although adapted to terrestrial life, frogs resemble freshwater fish in their inability to conserve body water effectively. When they are on land, much water is lost by evaporation from the skin. The excretory system is similar to that of mammals and there are two kidneys that remove nitrogenous products from the blood. Frogs produce large quantities of dilute urine in order to flush out toxic products from the kidney tubules. The nitrogen is excreted as ammonia by tadpoles and aquatic frogs but mainly as urea, a less toxic product, by most terrestrial adults. A few species of tree frog with little access to water excrete the even less toxic uric acid. The urine passes along paired ureters to the urinary bladder from which it is vented periodically into the cloaca. All bodily wastes exit the body through the cloaca which terminates in a cloacal vent.
### Reproductive system
In the male frog, the two testes are attached to the kidneys and semen passes into the kidneys through fine tubes called efferent ducts. It then travels on through the ureters, which are consequently known as urinogenital ducts. There is no penis, and sperm is ejected from the cloaca directly onto the eggs as the female lays them. The ovaries of the female frog are beside the kidneys and the eggs pass down a pair of oviducts and through the cloaca to the exterior.
When frogs mate, the male climbs on the back of the female and wraps his fore limbs round her body, either behind the front legs or just in front of the hind legs. This position is called amplexus and may be held for several days. The male frog has certain hormone-dependent secondary sexual characteristics. These include the development of special pads on his thumbs in the breeding season, to give him a firm hold. The grip of the male frog during amplexus stimulates the female to release eggs, usually wrapped in jelly, as spawn. In many species the male is smaller and slimmer than the female. Males have vocal cords and make a range of croaks, particularly in the breeding season, and in some species they also have vocal sacs to amplify the sound.
### Nervous system
Frogs have a highly developed nervous system that consists of a brain, spinal cord and nerves. Many parts of frog brains correspond with those of humans. It consists of two olfactory lobes, two cerebral hemispheres, a pineal body, two optic lobes, a cerebellum and a medulla oblongata. Muscular coordination and posture are controlled by the cerebellum, and the medulla oblongata regulates respiration, digestion and other automatic functions. The relative size of the cerebrum in frogs is much smaller than it is in humans. Frogs have ten pairs of cranial nerves which pass information from the outside directly to the brain, and ten pairs of spinal nerves which pass information from the extremities to the brain through the spinal cord. By contrast, all amniotes (mammals, birds and reptiles) have twelve pairs of cranial nerves.
### Sight
The eyes of most frogs are located on either side of the head near the top and project outwards as hemispherical bulges. They provide binocular vision over a field of 100° to the front and a total visual field of almost 360°. They may be the only part of an otherwise submerged frog to protrude from the water. Each eye has closable upper and lower lids and a nictitating membrane which provides further protection, especially when the frog is swimming. Members of the aquatic family Pipidae have the eyes located at the top of the head, a position better suited for detecting prey in the water above. The irises come in a range of colours and the pupils in a range of shapes. The common toad (*Bufo bufo*) has golden irises and horizontal slit-like pupils, the red-eyed tree frog (*Agalychnis callidryas*) has vertical slit pupils, the poison dart frog has dark irises, the fire-bellied toad (*Bombina spp.*) has triangular pupils and the tomato frog (*Dyscophus spp.*) has circular ones. The irises of the southern toad (*Anaxyrus terrestris*) are patterned so as to blend in with the surrounding camouflaged skin.
The distant vision of a frog is better than its near vision. Calling frogs will quickly become silent when they see an intruder or even a moving shadow but the closer an object is, the less well it is seen. When a frog shoots out its tongue to catch an insect it is reacting to a small moving object that it cannot see well and must line it up precisely beforehand because it shuts its eyes as the tongue is extended. Although it was formerly debated, more recent research has shown that frogs can see in colour, even in very low light.
### Hearing
Frogs can hear both in the air and below water. They do not have external ears; the eardrums (tympanic membranes) are directly exposed or may be covered by a layer of skin and are visible as a circular area just behind the eye. The size and distance apart of the eardrums is related to the frequency and wavelength at which the frog calls. In some species such as the bullfrog, the size of the tympanum indicates the sex of the frog; males have tympani that are larger than their eyes while in females, the eyes and tympani are much the same size. A noise causes the tympanum to vibrate and the sound is transmitted to the middle and inner ear. The middle ear contains semicircular canals which help control balance and orientation. In the inner ear, the auditory hair cells are arranged in two areas of the cochlea, the basilar papilla and the amphibian papilla. The former detects high frequencies and the latter low frequencies. Because the cochlea is short, frogs use electrical tuning to extend their range of audible frequencies and help discriminate different sounds. This arrangement enables detection of the territorial and breeding calls of their conspecifics. In some species that inhabit arid regions, the sound of thunder or heavy rain may arouse them from a dormant state. A frog may be startled by an unexpected noise but it will not usually take any action until it has located the source of the sound by sight.
### Call
The call or croak of a frog is unique to its species. Frogs create this sound by passing air through the larynx in the throat. In most calling frogs, the sound is amplified by one or more vocal sacs, membranes of skin under the throat or on the corner of the mouth, that distend during the amplification of the call. Some frog calls are so loud that they can be heard up to a mile (1.6 km) away. Additionally, some species have been found to use man-made structures such as drain pipes for artificial amplification of their call. The coastal tailed frog (*Ascaphus truei*) lives in mountain streams in North America and does not vocalise.
The main function of calling is for male frogs to attract mates. Males may call individually or there may be a chorus of sound where numerous males have converged on breeding sites. In many frog species, such as the common tree frog (*Polypedates leucomystax*), females reply to males' calls, which acts to reinforce reproductive activity in a breeding colony. Female frogs prefer males that produce sounds of greater intensity and lower frequency, attributes that stand out in a crowd. The rationale for this is thought to be that by demonstrating his prowess, the male shows his fitness to produce superior offspring.
A different call is emitted by a male frog or unreceptive female when mounted by another male. This is a distinct chirruping sound and is accompanied by a vibration of the body. Tree frogs and some non-aquatic species have a rain call that they make on the basis of humidity cues prior to a shower. Many species also have a territorial call that is used to drive away other males. All of these calls are emitted with the mouth of the frog closed. A distress call, emitted by some frogs when they are in danger, is produced with the mouth open resulting in a higher-pitched call. It is typically used when the frog has been grabbed by a predator and may serve to distract or disorient the attacker so that it releases the frog.
Many species of frog have deep calls. The croak of the American bullfrog (*Rana catesbiana*) is sometimes written as "jug o' rum". The Pacific tree frog (*Pseudacris regilla*) produces the onomatopoeic "ribbit" often heard in films. Other renderings of frog calls into speech include "brekekekex koax koax", the call of the marsh frog (*Pelophylax ridibundus*) in *The Frogs*, an Ancient Greek comic drama by Aristophanes. The calls of the Concave-eared torrent frog (*Amolops tormotus*) are unusual in many aspects. The males are notable for their varieties of calls where upward and downward frequency modulations take place. When they communicate, they produce calls that fall in the ultrasound frequency range. The last aspect that makes this species of frog's calls unusual is that nonlinear acoustic phenomena are important components in their acoustic signals.
### Torpor
During extreme conditions, some frogs enter a state of torpor and remain inactive for months. In colder regions, many species of frog hibernate in winter. Those that live on land such as the American toad (*Bufo americanus*) dig a burrow and make a hibernaculum in which to lie dormant. Others, less proficient at digging, find a crevice or bury themselves in dead leaves. Aquatic species such as the American bullfrog (*Rana catesbeiana*) normally sink to the bottom of the pond where they lie, semi-immersed in mud but still able to access the oxygen dissolved in the water. Their metabolism slows down and they live on their energy reserves. Some frogs such as the wood frog, moor frog, or spring peeper can even survive being frozen. Ice crystals form under the skin and in the body cavity but the essential organs are protected from freezing by a high concentration of glucose. An apparently lifeless, frozen frog can resume respiration and its heartbeat can restart when conditions warm up.
At the other extreme, the striped burrowing frog (*Cyclorana alboguttata*) regularly aestivates during the hot, dry season in Australia, surviving in a dormant state without access to food and water for nine or ten months of the year. It burrows underground and curls up inside a protective cocoon formed by its shed skin. Researchers at the University of Queensland have found that during aestivation, the metabolism of the frog is altered and the operational efficiency of the mitochondria is increased. This means that the limited amount of energy available to the comatose frog is used in a more efficient manner. This survival mechanism is only useful to animals that remain completely unconscious for an extended period of time and whose energy requirements are low because they are cold-blooded and have no need to generate heat. Other research showed that, to provide these energy requirements, muscles atrophy, but hind limb muscles are preferentially unaffected. Frogs have been found to have upper critical temperatures of around 41 degrees Celsius.
## Locomotion
Different species of frog use a number of methods of moving around including jumping, running, walking, swimming, burrowing, climbing and gliding.
### Jumping
Frogs are generally recognised as exceptional jumpers and, relative to their size, the best jumpers of all vertebrates. The striped rocket frog, *Litoria nasuta*, can leap over two metres (6+1⁄2 feet), a distance that is more than fifty times its body length of 55 mm (2+1⁄4 in). There are tremendous differences between species in jumping capability. Within a species, jump distance increases with increasing size, but relative jumping distance (body-lengths jumped) decreases. The Indian skipper frog (*Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis*) has the ability to leap out of the water from a position floating on the surface. The tiny northern cricket frog (*Acris crepitans*) can "skitter" across the surface of a pond with a series of short rapid jumps.
Slow-motion photography shows that the muscles have passive flexibility. They are first stretched while the frog is still in the crouched position, then they are contracted before being stretched again to launch the frog into the air. The fore legs are folded against the chest and the hind legs remain in the extended, streamlined position for the duration of the jump. In some extremely capable jumpers, such as the Cuban tree frog (*Osteopilus septentrionalis*) and the northern leopard frog (*Lithobates pipiens*), the peak power exerted during a jump can exceed that which the muscle is theoretically capable of producing. When the muscles contract, the energy is first transferred into the stretched tendon which is wrapped around the ankle bone. Then the muscles stretch again at the same time as the tendon releases its energy like a catapult to produce a powerful acceleration beyond the limits of muscle-powered acceleration. A similar mechanism has been documented in locusts and grasshoppers.
Early hatching of froglets can have negative effects on frog jumping performance and overall locomotion. The hindlimbs are unable to completely form, which results in them being shorter and much weaker relative to a normal hatching froglet. Early hatching froglets may tend to depend on other forms of locomotion more often, such as swimming and walking.
### Walking and running
Frogs in the families Bufonidae, Rhinophrynidae, and Microhylidae have short back legs and tend to walk rather than jump. When they try to move rapidly, they speed up the rate of movement of their limbs or resort to an ungainly hopping gait. The Great Plains narrow-mouthed toad (*Gastrophryne olivacea*) has been described as having a gait that is "a combination of running and short hops that are usually only an inch or two in length". In an experiment, Fowler's toad (*Anaxyrus* *fowleri*) was placed on a treadmill which was turned at varying speeds. By measuring the toad's uptake of oxygen it was found that hopping was an inefficient use of resources during sustained locomotion but was a useful strategy during short bursts of high-intensity activity.
The red-legged running frog (*Kassina maculata*) has short, slim hind limbs unsuited to jumping. It can move fast by using a running gait in which the two hind legs are used alternately. Slow-motion photography shows, unlike a horse that can trot or gallop, the frog's gait remained similar at slow, medium, and fast speeds. This species can also climb trees and shrubs, and does so at night to catch insects. The Indian skipper frog (*Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis*) has broad feet and can run across the surface of the water for several metres (yards).
### Swimming
Frogs that live in or visit water have adaptations that improve their swimming abilities. The hind limbs are heavily muscled and strong. The webbing between the toes of the hind feet increases the area of the foot and helps propel the frog powerfully through the water. Members of the family Pipidae are wholly aquatic and show the most marked specialisation. They have inflexible vertebral columns, flattened, streamlined bodies, lateral line systems, and powerful hind limbs with large webbed feet. Tadpoles mostly have large tail fins which provide thrust when the tail is moved from side to side.
### Burrowing
Some frogs have become adapted for burrowing and a life underground. They tend to have rounded bodies, short limbs, small heads with bulging eyes, and hind feet adapted for excavation. An extreme example of this is the purple frog (*Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis*) from southern India which feeds on termites and spends almost its whole life underground. It emerges briefly during the monsoon to mate and breed in temporary pools. It has a tiny head with a pointed snout and a plump, rounded body. Because of this fossorial existence, it was first described in 2003, being new to the scientific community at that time, although previously known to local people.
The spadefoot toads of North America are also adapted to underground life. The Plains spadefoot toad (*Spea bombifrons*) is typical and has a flap of keratinised bone attached to one of the metatarsals of the hind feet which it uses to dig itself backwards into the ground. As it digs, the toad wriggles its hips from side to side to sink into the loose soil. It has a shallow burrow in the summer from which it emerges at night to forage. In winter, it digs much deeper and has been recorded at a depth of 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in). The tunnel is filled with soil and the toad hibernates in a small chamber at the end. During this time, urea accumulates in its tissues and water is drawn in from the surrounding damp soil by osmosis to supply the toad's needs. Spadefoot toads are explosive breeders, all emerging from their burrows at the same time and converging on temporary pools, attracted to one of these by the calling of the first male to find a suitable breeding location.
The burrowing frogs of Australia have a different lifestyle. The western spotted frog (*Heleioporus albopunctatus*) digs a burrow beside a river or in the bed of an ephemeral stream and regularly emerges to forage. Mating takes place and eggs are laid in a foam nest inside the burrow. The eggs partially develop there but do not hatch until they are submerged following heavy rainfall. The tadpoles then swim out into the open water and rapidly complete their development. Madagascan burrowing frogs are less fossorial and mostly bury themselves in leaf litter. One of these, the green burrowing frog (*Scaphiophryne marmorata*), has a flattened head with a short snout and well-developed metatarsal tubercles on its hind feet to help with excavation. It also has greatly enlarged terminal discs on its fore feet that help it to clamber around in bushes. It breeds in temporary pools that form after rains.
### Climbing
Tree frogs live high in the canopy, where they scramble around on the branches, twigs, and leaves, sometimes never coming down to earth. The "true" tree frogs belong to the family Hylidae, but members of other frog families have independently adopted an arboreal habit, a case of convergent evolution. These include the glass frogs (Centrolenidae), the bush frogs (Hyperoliidae), some of the narrow-mouthed frogs (Microhylidae), and the shrub frogs (Rhacophoridae). Most tree frogs are under 10 cm (4 in) in length, with long legs and long toes with adhesive pads on the tips. The surface of the toe pads is formed from a closely packed layer of flat-topped, hexagonal epidermal cells separated by grooves into which glands secrete mucus. These toe pads, moistened by the mucus, provide the grip on any wet or dry surface, including glass. The forces involved include boundary friction of the toe pad epidermis on the surface and also surface tension and viscosity. Tree frogs are very acrobatic and can catch insects while hanging by one toe from a twig or clutching onto the blade of a windswept reed. Some members of the subfamily Phyllomedusinae have opposable toes on their feet. The reticulated leaf frog (*Phyllomedusa ayeaye*) has a single opposed digit on each fore foot and two opposed digits on its hind feet. This allows it to grasp the stems of bushes as it clambers around in its riverside habitat.
### Gliding
During the evolutionary history of frogs, several different groups have independently taken to the air. Some frogs in the tropical rainforest are specially adapted for gliding from tree to tree or parachuting to the forest floor. Typical of them is Wallace's flying frog (*Rhacophorus nigropalmatus*) from Malaysia and Borneo. It has large feet with the fingertips expanded into flat adhesive discs and the digits fully webbed. Flaps of skin occur on the lateral margins of the limbs and across the tail region. With the digits splayed, the limbs outstretched, and these flaps spread, it can glide considerable distances, but is unable to undertake powered flight. It can alter its direction of travel and navigate distances of up to 15 m (50 ft) between trees.
## Life history
### Reproduction
Two main types of reproduction occur in frogs, prolonged breeding and explosive breeding. In the former, adopted by the majority of species, adult frogs at certain times of year assemble at a pond, lake or stream to breed. Many frogs return to the bodies of water in which they developed as larvae. This often results in annual migrations involving thousands of individuals. In explosive breeders, mature adult frogs arrive at breeding sites in response to certain trigger factors such as rainfall occurring in an arid area. In these frogs, mating and spawning take place promptly and the speed of larval growth is rapid in order to make use of the ephemeral pools before they dry up.
Among prolonged breeders, males usually arrive at the breeding site first and remain there for some time whereas females tend to arrive later and depart soon after they have spawned. This means that males outnumber females at the water's edge and defend territories from which they expel other males. They advertise their presence by calling, often alternating their croaks with neighbouring frogs. Larger, stronger males tend to have deeper calls and maintain higher quality territories. Females select their mates at least partly on the basis of the depth of their voice. In some species there are satellite males who have no territory and do not call. They may intercept females that are approaching a calling male or take over a vacated territory. Calling is an energy-sapping activity. Sometimes the two roles are reversed and a calling male gives up its territory and becomes a satellite.
In explosive breeders, the first male that finds a suitable breeding location, such as a temporary pool, calls loudly and other frogs of both sexes converge on the pool. Explosive breeders tend to call in unison creating a chorus that can be heard from far away. The spadefoot toads (*Scaphiopus spp.*) of North America fall into this category. Mate selection and courtship is not as important as speed in reproduction. In some years, suitable conditions may not occur and the frogs may go for two or more years without breeding. Some female New Mexico spadefoot toads (*Spea multiplicata*) only spawn half of the available eggs at a time, perhaps retaining some in case a better reproductive opportunity arises later.
At the breeding site, the male mounts the female and grips her tightly round the body. Typically, amplexus takes place in the water, the female releases her eggs and the male covers them with sperm; fertilisation is external. In many species such as the Great Plains toad (*Bufo cognatus*), the male restrains the eggs with his back feet, holding them in place for about three minutes. Members of the West African genus *Nimbaphrynoides* are unique among frogs in that they are viviparous; *Limnonectes larvaepartus*, *Eleutherodactylus jasperi* and members of the Tanzanian genus *Nectophrynoides* are the only frogs known to be ovoviviparous. In these species, fertilisation is internal and females give birth to fully developed juvenile frogs, except *L. larvaepartus*, which give birth to tadpoles.
### Life cycle
Frogs may lay their eggs as clumps, surface films, strings, or individually. Around half of species deposit eggs in water, others lay eggs in vegetation, on the ground or in excavations. The tiny yellow-striped pygmy eleuth (*Eleutherodactylus limbatus*) lays eggs singly, burying them in moist soil. The smoky jungle frog (*Leptodactylus pentadactylus*) makes a nest of foam in a hollow. The eggs hatch when the nest is flooded, or the tadpoles may complete their development in the foam if flooding does not occur. The red-eyed treefrog (*Agalychnis callidryas*) deposits its eggs on a leaf above a pool and when they hatch, the larvae fall into the water below.
In certain species, such as the wood frog (*Rana sylvatica*), symbiotic unicellular green algae are present in the gelatinous material. It is thought that these may benefit the developing larvae by providing them with extra oxygen through photosynthesis. The interior of globular egg clusters of the wood frog has also been found to be up to 6 °C (11 °F) warmer than the surrounding water and this speeds up the development of the larvae. The larvae developing in the eggs can detect vibrations caused by nearby predatory wasps or snakes, and will hatch early to avoid being eaten. In general, the length of the egg stage depends on the species and the environmental conditions. Aquatic eggs normally hatch within one week when the capsule splits as a result of enzymes released by the developing larvae.
**Direct development**, where eggs hatch into juveniles like small adults, is also known in many frogs, for example, *Ischnocnema henselii,* *Eleutherodactylus coqui*, and *Raorchestes ochlandrae* and *Raorchestes chalazodes.*
#### Tadpoles
The larvae that emerge from the eggs are known as tadpoles (or occasionally polliwogs). Tadpoles lack eyelids and limbs, and have cartilaginous skeletons, gills for respiration (external gills at first, internal gills later), and tails they use for swimming. As a general rule, free-living larvae are fully aquatic, but at least one species (*Nannophrys ceylonensis*) has semiterrestrial tadpoles which live among wet rocks.
From early in its development, a gill pouch covers the tadpole's gills and front legs. The lungs soon start to develop and are used as an accessory breathing organ. Some species go through metamorphosis while still inside the egg and hatch directly into small frogs. Tadpoles lack true teeth, but the jaws in most species have two elongated, parallel rows of small, keratinized structures called keradonts in their upper jaws. Their lower jaws usually have three rows of keradonts surrounded by a horny beak, but the number of rows can vary and the exact arrangements of mouth parts provide a means for species identification. In the Pipidae, with the exception of *Hymenochirus*, the tadpoles have paired anterior barbels, which make them resemble small catfish. Their tails are stiffened by a notochord, but does not contain any bony or cartilaginous elements except for a few vertebrae at the base which forms the urostyle during metamorphosis. This has been suggested as an adaptation to their lifestyles; because the transformation into frogs happens very fast, the tail is made of soft tissue only, as bone and cartilage take a much longer time to be broken down and absorbed. The tail fin and tip is fragile and will easily tear, which is seen as an adaptation to escape from predators which try to grasp them by the tail.
Tadpoles are typically herbivorous, feeding mostly on algae, including diatoms filtered from the water through the gills. Some species are carnivorous at the tadpole stage, eating insects, smaller tadpoles, and fish. The Cuban tree frog (*Osteopilus septentrionalis*) is one of a number of species in which the tadpoles can be cannibalistic. Tadpoles that develop legs early may be eaten by the others, so late developers may have better long-term survival prospects.
Tadpoles are highly vulnerable to being eaten by fish, newts, predatory diving beetles, and birds, particularly water birds, such as storks and herons and domestic ducks. Some tadpoles, including those of the cane toad (*Rhinella marina*), are poisonous. The tadpole stage may be as short as a week in explosive breeders or it may last through one or more winters followed by metamorphosis in the spring.
#### Metamorphosis
At the end of the tadpole stage, a frog undergoes metamorphosis in which its body makes a sudden transition into the adult form. This metamorphosis typically lasts only 24 hours, and is initiated by production of the hormone thyroxine. This causes different tissues to develop in different ways. The principal changes that take place include the development of the lungs and the disappearance of the gills and gill pouch, making the front legs visible. The lower jaw transforms into the big mandible of the carnivorous adult, and the long, spiral gut of the herbivorous tadpole is replaced by the typical short gut of a predator. Homeostatic feedback control of food intake is largely absent, making tadpoles eat constantly when food is present. But shortly before and during metamorphosis the sensation of hunger is suppressed, and they stop eating while their gut and internal organs are reorganised and prepared for a different diet. Also the gut microbiota changes, from being similar to that of fish to resembling that of amniotes. Exceptions are carnivorous tadpoles like Lepidobatrachus laevis, which has a gut already adapted to a diet similar to that of adults. These continue to eat during metamorphosis. The nervous system becomes adapted for hearing and stereoscopic vision, and for new methods of locomotion and feeding. The eyes are repositioned higher up on the head and the eyelids and associated glands are formed. The eardrum, middle ear, and inner ear are developed. The skin becomes thicker and tougher, the lateral line system is lost, and skin glands are developed. The final stage is the disappearance of the tail, but this takes place rather later, the tissue being used to produce a spurt of growth in the limbs. Frogs are at their most vulnerable to predators when they are undergoing metamorphosis. At this time, the tail is being lost and locomotion by means of limbs is only just becoming established.
#### Adults
Adult frogs may live in or near water, but few are fully aquatic. Almost all frog species are carnivorous as adults, preying on invertebrates, including insects, crabs, spiders, mites, worms, snails, and slugs. A few of the larger ones may eat other frogs, small mammals and reptiles, and fish. A few species also eat plant matter; the tree frog *Xenohyla truncata* is partly herbivorous, its diet including a large proportion of fruit, floral structures and nectar. *Leptodactylus mystaceus* has been found to eat plants, and folivory occurs in *Euphlyctis hexadactylus*, with plants constituting 79.5% of its diet by volume. Many frogs use their sticky tongues to catch prey, while others simply grab them with their mouths. Adult frogs are themselves attacked by many predators. The northern leopard frog (*Rana pipiens*) is eaten by herons, hawks, fish, large salamanders, snakes, raccoons, skunks, mink, bullfrogs, and other animals.
Frogs are primary predators and an important part of the food web. Being cold-blooded, they make efficient use of the food they eat with little energy being used for metabolic processes, while the rest is transformed into biomass. They are themselves eaten by secondary predators and are the primary terrestrial consumers of invertebrates, most of which feed on plants. By reducing herbivory, they play a part in increasing the growth of plants and are thus part of a delicately balanced ecosystem.
Little is known about the longevity of frogs and toads in the wild, but some can live for many years. Skeletochronology is a method of examining bones to determine age. Using this method, the ages of mountain yellow-legged frogs (*Rana muscosa*) were studied, the phalanges of the toes showing seasonal lines where growth slows in winter. The oldest frogs had ten bands, so their age was believed to be 14 years, including the four-year tadpole stage. Captive frogs and toads have been recorded as living for up to 40 years, an age achieved by a European common toad (*Bufo bufo*). The cane toad (*Rhinella marina*) has been known to survive 24 years in captivity, and the American bullfrog (*Rana catesbeiana*) 14 years. Frogs from temperate climates hibernate during the winter, and four species are known to be able to withstand freezing during this time, including the wood frog (*Rana sylvatica*).
### Parental care
Although care of offspring is poorly understood in frogs, up to an estimated 20% of amphibian species may care for their young in some way. The evolution of parental care in frogs is driven primarily by the size of the water body in which they breed. Those that breed in smaller water bodies tend to have greater and more complex parental care behaviour. Because predation of eggs and larvae is high in large water bodies, some frog species started to lay their eggs on land. Once this happened, the desiccating terrestrial environment demands that one or both parents keep them moist to ensure their survival. The subsequent need to transport hatched tadpoles to a water body required an even more intense form of parental care.
In small pools, predators are mostly absent and competition between tadpoles becomes the variable that constrains their survival. Certain frog species avoid this competition by making use of smaller phytotelmata (water-filled leaf axils or small woody cavities) as sites for depositing a few tadpoles. While these smaller rearing sites are free from competition, they also lack sufficient nutrients to support a tadpole without parental assistance. Frog species that changed from the use of larger to smaller phytotelmata have evolved a strategy of providing their offspring with nutritive but unfertilised eggs. The female strawberry poison-dart frog (*Oophaga pumilio*) lays her eggs on the forest floor. The male frog guards them from predation and carries water in his cloaca to keep them moist. When they hatch, the female moves the tadpoles on her back to a water-holding bromeliad or other similar water body, depositing just one in each location. She visits them regularly and feeds them by laying one or two unfertilised eggs in the phytotelma, continuing to do this until the young are large enough to undergo metamorphosis. The granular poison frog (*Oophaga granulifera*) looks after its tadpoles in a similar way.
Many other diverse forms of parental care are seen in frogs. The tiny male *Colostethus subpunctatus* stands guard over his egg cluster, laid under a stone or log. When the eggs hatch, he transports the tadpoles on his back to a temporary pool, where he partially immerses himself in the water and one or more tadpoles drop off. He then moves on to another pool. The male common midwife toad (*Alytes obstetricans*) carries the eggs around with him attached to his hind legs. He keeps them damp in dry weather by immersing himself in a pond, and prevents them from getting too wet in soggy vegetation by raising his hindquarters. After three to six weeks, he travels to a pond and the eggs hatch into tadpoles. The tungara frog (*Physalaemus pustulosus*) builds a floating nest from foam to protect its eggs from predation. The foam is made from proteins and lectins, and seems to have antimicrobial properties. Several pairs of frogs may form a colonial nest on a previously built raft. The eggs are laid in the centre, followed by alternate layers of foam and eggs, finishing with a foam capping.
Some frogs protect their offspring inside their own bodies. Both male and female pouched frogs (*Assa darlingtoni*) guard their eggs, which are laid on the ground. When the eggs hatch, the male lubricates his body with the jelly surrounding them and immerses himself in the egg mass. The tadpoles wriggle into skin pouches on his side, where they develop until they metamorphose into juvenile frogs. The female gastric-brooding frog (*Rheobatrachus* sp.) from Australia, now probably extinct, swallows her fertilised eggs, which then develop inside her stomach. She ceases to feed and stops secreting stomach acid. The tadpoles rely on the yolks of the eggs for nourishment. After six or seven weeks, they are ready for metamorphosis. The mother regurgitates the tiny frogs, which hop away from her mouth. The female Darwin's frog (*Rhinoderma darwinii*) from Chile lays up to 40 eggs on the ground, where they are guarded by the male. When the tadpoles are about to hatch, they are engulfed by the male, which carries them around inside his much-enlarged vocal sac. Here they are immersed in a frothy, viscous liquid that contains some nourishment to supplement what they obtain from the yolks of the eggs. They remain in the sac for seven to ten weeks before undergoing metamorphosis, after which they move into the male's mouth and emerge.
## Defence
At first sight, frogs seem rather defenceless because of their small size, slow movement, thin skin, and lack of defensive structures, such as spines, claws or teeth. Many use camouflage to avoid detection, the skin often being spotted or streaked in neutral colours that allow a stationary frog to merge into its surroundings. Some can make prodigious leaps, often into water, that help them to evade potential attackers, while many have other defensive adaptations and strategies.
The skin of many frogs contains mild toxic substances called bufotoxins to make them unpalatable to potential predators. Most toads and some frogs have large poison glands, the parotoid glands, located on the sides of their heads behind the eyes and other glands elsewhere on their bodies. These glands secrete mucus and a range of toxins that make frogs slippery to hold and distasteful or poisonous. If the noxious effect is immediate, the predator may cease its action and the frog may escape. If the effect develops more slowly, the predator may learn to avoid that species in future. Poisonous frogs tend to advertise their toxicity with bright colours, an adaptive strategy known as aposematism. The poison dart frogs in the family Dendrobatidae do this. They are typically red, orange, or yellow, often with contrasting black markings on their bodies. *Allobates zaparo* is not poisonous, but mimics the appearance of two different toxic species with which it shares a common range in an effort to deceive predators. Other species, such as the European fire-bellied toad (*Bombina bombina*), have their warning colour underneath. They "flash" this when attacked, adopting a pose that exposes the vivid colouring on their bellies.
Some frogs, such as the poison dart frogs, are especially toxic. The native peoples of South America extract poison from these frogs to apply to their weapons for hunting, although few species are toxic enough to be used for this purpose. At least two non-poisonous frog species in tropical America (*Eleutherodactylus gaigei* and *Lithodytes lineatus*) mimic the colouration of dart poison frogs for self-protection. Some frogs obtain poisons from the ants and other arthropods they eat. Others, such as the Australian corroboree frogs (*Pseudophryne corroboree* and *Pseudophryne pengilleyi*), can synthesize the alkaloids themselves. The chemicals involved may be irritants, hallucinogens, convulsants, nerve poisons or vasoconstrictors. Many predators of frogs have become adapted to tolerate high levels of these poisons, but other creatures, including humans who handle the frogs, may be severely affected.
Some frogs use bluff or deception. The European common toad (*Bufo bufo*) adopts a characteristic stance when attacked, inflating its body and standing with its hindquarters raised and its head lowered. The bullfrog (*Rana catesbeiana*) crouches down with eyes closed and head tipped forward when threatened. This places the parotoid glands in the most effective position, the other glands on its back begin to ooze noxious secretions and the most vulnerable parts of its body are protected. Another tactic used by some frogs is to "scream", the sudden loud noise tending to startle the predator. The grey tree frog (*Hyla versicolor*) makes an explosive sound that sometimes repels the shrew *Blarina brevicauda*. Although toads are avoided by many predators, the common garter snake (*Thamnophis sirtalis*) regularly feeds on them. The strategy employed by juvenile American toads (*Bufo americanus*) on being approached by a snake is to crouch down and remain immobile. This is usually successful, with the snake passing by and the toad remaining undetected. If it is encountered by the snake's head, however, the toad hops away before crouching defensively.
## Distribution
Frogs live on every continent except Antarctica, but they are not present on certain islands, especially those far away from continental land masses. Many species are isolated in restricted ranges by changes of climate or inhospitable territory, such as stretches of sea, mountain ridges, deserts, forest clearance, road construction, or other human-made barriers. Usually, a greater diversity of frogs occurs in tropical areas than in temperate regions, such as Europe. Some frogs inhabit arid areas, such as deserts, and rely on specific adaptations to survive. Members of the Australian genus *Cyclorana* bury themselves underground where they create a water-impervious cocoon in which to aestivate during dry periods. Once it rains, they emerge, find a temporary pool, and breed. Egg and tadpole development is very fast compared with those of most other frogs, so breeding can be completed before the pond dries up. Some frog species are adapted to a cold environment. The wood frog (*Rana sylvatica*), whose habitat extends into the Arctic Circle, buries itself in the ground during winter. Although much of its body freezes during this time, it maintains a high concentration of glucose in its vital organs, which protects them from damage.
## Conservation
In 2006, of 4,035 species of amphibians that depend on water during some lifecycle stage, 1,356 (33.6%) were considered to be threatened. This is likely to be an underestimate because it excludes 1,427 species for which evidence was insufficient to assess their status. Frog populations have declined dramatically since the 1950s. More than one-third of frog species are considered to be threatened with extinction, and more than 120 species are believed to have become extinct since the 1980s. Among these species are the gastric-brooding frogs of Australia and the golden toad of Costa Rica. The latter is of particular concern to scientists because it inhabited the pristine Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and its population crashed in 1987, along with about 20 other frog species in the area. This could not be linked directly to human activities, such as deforestation, and was outside the range of normal fluctuations in population size. Elsewhere, habitat loss is a significant cause of frog population decline, as are pollutants, climate change, increased UVB radiation, and the introduction of non-native predators and competitors. A Canadian study conducted in 2006 suggested heavy traffic in their environment was a larger threat to frog populations than was habitat loss. Emerging infectious diseases, including chytridiomycosis and ranavirus, are also devastating populations.
Many environmental scientists believe amphibians, including frogs, are good biological indicators of broader ecosystem health because of their intermediate positions in food chains, their permeable skins, and typically biphasic lives (aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults). It appears that species with both aquatic eggs and larvae are most affected by the decline, while those with direct development are the most resistant.
Frog mutations and genetic defects have increased since the 1990s. These often include missing legs or extra legs. Various causes have been identified or hypothesized, including an increase in ultraviolet radiation affecting the spawn on the surface of ponds, chemical contamination from pesticides and fertilizers, and parasites such as the trematode *Ribeiroia ondatrae*. Probably all these are involved in a complex way as stressors, environmental factors contributing to rates of disease, and vulnerability to attack by parasites. Malformations impair mobility and the individuals may not survive to adulthood. An increase in the number of frogs eaten by birds may actually increase the likelihood of parasitism of other frogs, because the trematode's complex lifecycle includes the ramshorn snail and several intermediate hosts such as birds.
In a few cases, captive breeding programs have been established and have largely been successful. The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums named 2008 as the "Year of the Frog" in order to draw attention to the conservation issues faced by them.
The cane toad (*Rhinella marina*) is a very adaptable species native to South and Central America. In the 1930s, it was introduced into Puerto Rico, and later various other islands in the Pacific and Caribbean region, as a biological pest control agent. In 1935, 3000 toads were liberated in the sugar cane fields of Queensland, Australia, in an attempt to control cane beetles such as *Dermolepida albohirtum*, the larvae of which damage and kill the canes. Initial results in many of these countries were positive, but it later became apparent that the toads upset the ecological balance in their new environments. They bred freely, competed with native frog species, ate bees and other harmless native invertebrates, had few predators in their adopted habitats, and poisoned pets, carnivorous birds, and mammals. In many of these countries, they are now regarded both as pests and invasive species, and scientists are looking for a biological method to control them.
## Human uses
### Culinary
Frog legs are eaten by humans in many parts of the world. Indonesia is the world's largest exporter of frog meat, exporting more than 5,000 tonnes of frog meat each year, mostly to France, Belgium and Luxembourg. Originally, they were supplied from local wild populations, but overexploitation led to a diminution in the supply. This resulted in the development of frog farming and a global trade in frogs. The main importing countries are France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the United States, while the chief exporting nations are Indonesia and China. The annual global trade in the American bullfrog (*Rana catesbeiana*), mostly farmed in China, varies between 1200 and 2400 tonnes.
The mountain chicken frog, so-called as it tastes of chicken, is now endangered, in part due to human consumption, and was a major food choice of the Dominicans. Raccoon, opossum, partridges, prairie chicken, and frogs were among the fare Mark Twain recorded as part of American cuisine.
### Scientific research
In November 1970, NASA sent two bullfrogs into space for six days during the Orbiting Frog Otolith mission to test weightlessness.
Frogs are used for dissections in high school and university anatomy classes, often first being injected with coloured substances to enhance contrasts among the biological systems. This practice is declining due to animal welfare concerns, and "digital frogs" are now available for virtual dissection.
Frogs have served as experimental animals throughout the history of science. Eighteenth-century biologist Luigi Galvani discovered the link between electricity and the nervous system by studying frogs. He created one of the first tools for measuring electric current out of a frog leg. In 1852, H. F. Stannius used a frog's heart in a procedure called a Stannius ligature to demonstrate the ventricle and atria beat independently of each other and at different rates. The African clawed frog or platanna (*Xenopus laevis*) was first widely used in laboratories in pregnancy tests in the first half of the 20th century. A sample of urine from a pregnant woman injected into a female frog induces it to lay eggs, a discovery made by English zoologist Lancelot Hogben. This is because a hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin, is present in substantial quantities in the urine of women during pregnancy. In 1952, Robert Briggs and Thomas J. King cloned a frog by somatic cell nuclear transfer. This same technique was later used to create Dolly the sheep, and their experiment was the first time a successful nuclear transplantation had been accomplished in higher animals.
Frogs are used in cloning research and other branches of embryology. Although alternative pregnancy tests have been developed, biologists continue to use *Xenopus* as a model organism in developmental biology because their embryos are large and easy to manipulate, they are readily obtainable, and can easily be kept in the laboratory. *Xenopus laevis* is increasingly being displaced by its smaller relative, *Xenopus tropicalis*, which reaches its reproductive age in five months rather than the one to two years for *X. laevis*, thus facilitating faster studies across generations.
Genomes of *Xenopus laevis*, *X. tropicalis*, *Rana catesbeiana*, *Rhinella marina*, and *Nanorana parkeri* have been sequenced and deposited in the NCBI Genome database.
### Pharmaceutical
Because frog toxins are extraordinarily diverse, they have raised the interest of biochemists as a "natural pharmacy". The alkaloid epibatidine, a painkiller 200 times more potent than morphine, is made by some species of poison dart frogs. Other chemicals isolated from the skins of frogs may offer resistance to HIV infection. Dart poisons are under active investigation for their potential as therapeutic drugs.
It has long been suspected that pre-Columbian Mesoamericans used a toxic secretion produced by the cane toad as a hallucinogen, but more likely they used substances secreted by the Colorado River toad (*Bufo alvarius*). These contain bufotenin (5-MeO-DMT), a psychoactive compound that has been used in modern times as a recreational drug. Typically, the skin secretions are dried and then smoked. Illicit drug use by licking the skin of a toad has been reported in the media, but this may be an urban myth.
Exudations from the skin of the golden poison frog (*Phyllobates terribilis*) are traditionally used by native Colombians to poison the darts they use for hunting. The tip of the projectile is rubbed over the back of the frog and the dart is launched from a blowgun. The combination of the two alkaloid toxins batrachotoxin and homobatrachotoxin is so powerful, one frog contains enough poison to kill an estimated 22,000 mice. Two other species, the Kokoe poison dart frog (*Phyllobates aurotaenia*) and the black-legged dart frog (*Phyllobates bicolor*) are also used for this purpose. These are less toxic and less abundant than the golden poison frog. They are impaled on pointed sticks and may be heated over a fire to maximise the quantity of poison that can be transferred to the dart.
### Cultural significance
Frogs have been featured in mythology, fairy tales and popular culture. In traditional Chinese myths, the world rests on a giant frog, who would try to swallow the moon, causing the lunar eclipse. Frogs have been featured in religion, folklore, and popular culture. The ancient Egyptians depicted the god Heqet, protector of newborns, with the head of a frog. For the Mayans, frogs represented water, crops, fertility and birth and were associated with the god Chaac. In the Bible, Moses unleashes a plague of frogs on the Egyptians. Medieval Europeans associated frogs and toads with evil and witchcraft. The Brothers Grimm fairy tale *The Frog Prince* features a princess taking in a frog and it turning into a handsome prince. In modern culture, frogs may take a comedic or hapless role, such as Mr. Toad of the 1908 novel *The Wind in the Willows*, Michigan J. Frog of Warner Bros. Cartoons, the Muppet Kermit the Frog and in the game *Frogger*.
## Further reading
- Beltz, Ellin (2005).
*Frogs: Inside their Remarkable World*. Firefly Books. ISBN 978-1-55297-869-6. - Cogger, H. G.; Zweifel, R. G.; Kirschner, D. (2004).
*Encyclopedia of Reptiles & Amphibians*(2nd ed.). Fog City Press. ISBN 978-1-877019-69-2. - Estes, R., and O. A. Reig. (1973). "The early fossil record of frogs: a review of the evidence." pp. 11–63 In J. L. Vial (Ed.),
*Evolutionary Biology of the Anurans: Contemporary Research on Major Problems*. University of Missouri Press, Columbia. - Gissi, Carmela; San Mauro, Diego; Pesole, Graziano; Zardoya, Rafael (February 2006). "Mitochondrial phylogeny of Anura (Amphibia): A case study of congruent phylogenetic reconstruction using amino acid and nucleotide characters".
*Gene*.**366**(2): 228–237. doi:10.1016/j.gene.2005.07.034. PMID 16307849. - Holman, J. A. (2004).
*Fossil Frogs and Toads of North America*. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34280-5. - San Mauro, Diego; Vences, Miguel; Alcobendas, Marina; Zardoya, Rafael; Meyer, Axel (May 2005). "Initial diversification of living amphibians predated the breakup of Pangaea".
*American Naturalist*.**165**(5): 590–599. Bibcode:2005ANat..165..590S. doi:10.1086/429523. PMID 15795855. S2CID 17021360. - Tyler, M. J. (1994).
*Australian Frogs A Natural History*. Reed Books. ISBN 978-0-7301-0468-1.
## External links
- AmphibiaWeb
- Gallery of Frogs – Photography and images of various frog species
- The Whole Frog Project – Virtual frog dissection and anatomy
- "Disappearance of toads, frogs has some scientists worried"
*San Francisco Chronicle*, April 20, 1992 - Amphibian photo gallery by scientific name – Features many unusual frogs
*Scientific American*: Researchers Pinpoint Source of Poison Frogs' Deadly Defenses
### Media
- Time-lapse video showing the egg's development until hatching
- Frog vocalisations from around the world – From the British Library Sound Archive
- Frog calls – From Manitoba, Canada
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# Forward (association football) - Wikipedia
In the sport of association football, a **forward** (**attacker** or **striker**) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on being able to create space for attack. Their advanced position and limited defensive responsibilities mean forwards normally score more goals on behalf of their team than other players.
Attacking positions generally favour direct players who take on the defense of the opponent in order to create scoring chances, where they benefit from a lack of predictability in attacking play. Modern team formations normally include one to three forwards. For example, the common 4–2–3–1 includes one forward. Less conventional formations may include more than three forwards, or sometimes none.
The traditional shirt for centre-forwards is **number 9**. The traditional role is to score the majority of goals on behalf of the team.
If they are tall and physical players, with good heading ability, the player may also be used to get onto the end of crosses, win long balls, or receive passes and retain possession of the ball with their back to goal as teammates advance, in order to provide depth for their team or help teammates score by providing a pass ('through ball' into the box), the latter variation usually requiring quicker pace and good movement, in addition to finishing ability. Most modern centre-forwards operate in front of the second strikers or central attacking midfielders, and do the majority of the ball handling outside the box. The present role of a centre-forward is sometimes interchangeable with that of an attacking midfielder or second striker, however, especially in the 4–3–1–2 or 4–1–2–1–2 formations. The term centre-forward is taken from the earlier football playing formations, such as the 2–3–5, in which there were five *forward* players: two outside forwards, two inside forwards, and one centre-forward. The term "**target forward**" is often used interchangeably with that of a centre-forward, but usually describes a particular type of striker, who is usually a tall and physically strong player, who is adept at heading the ball; their main role is to win high balls in the air, hold up the ball, and create chances for other members of the team, in addition to possibly scoring many goals themselves. However, the two terms are not necessarily synonymous, with the target forward having developed into a more specialised role, while the centre-forward description is more broad, encompassing many types of forwards.
When numbers were introduced in the 1933 English FA Cup final, one of the two centre-forwards that day wore the number 9 – Everton's Dixie Dean, a strong, powerful forward who had set the record for the most goals scored in a season in English football during the 1927–28 season. The number would then become synonymous with the centre-forward position (only worn that day because one team was numbered 1–11 whilst the other was numbered 12–22).
The role of a striker is rather different from that of a traditional centre-forward, although the terms centre-forward and striker are used interchangeably at times, as both play further up the field than other players, while tall, heavy and technical players, like Zlatan Ibrahimović, and Edin Džeko, have qualities which are suited to both positions. Like the centre-forward, the traditional role of a striker is to score goals; strikers are therefore known for their ability to peel off defenders and to run into space via the blind side of the defender and to receive the ball in a good goalscoring position, as typified by Ronaldo and Thierry Henry. They are typically fast players with good ball control and dribbling abilities. Shorter statured, more agile strikers like Michael Owen, Romário, Dries Mertens, Sergio Agüero, and Paulo Dybala have an advantage over taller defenders due to their short bursts of speed.
Good strikers should be able to shoot confidently with either foot, possess great power and accuracy, and have the ability to link-up with teammates and pass the ball under pressure in breakaway situations. While many strikers wear the number 9 shirt, such as Alan Shearer, an out and out striker, the position, to a lesser degree, is also associated with the number 10, which is frequently worn by more creative deep-lying forwards such as Pelé, and occasionally with numbers 7 and 11, which are often associated with wingers.
Deep-lying forwards or second strikers have a long history in the game, but the terminology to describe their playing activity has varied over the years. Originally such players were termed inside forwards, creative or deep-lying centre-forwards ("sub forwards"). More recently, the role has occasionally been colloquially referred to as the centre-forward role, however, two more variations of this old type of player have developed: the second, or shadow, or support, or auxiliary striker and, in what is in fact a distinct position unto its own, the number 10; the former role is exemplified by players such as Dennis Bergkamp (who would play just behind the striker Thierry Henry at Arsenal), Alessandro Del Piero at Juventus, Youri Djorkaeff at Inter Milan, or Teddy Sheringham at Tottenham Hotspur. Other creative offensive players who play further back, such as Lionel Messi, Diego Maradona, Ronaldinho, Kaká, Rivaldo, Michael Laudrup, and Zinedine Zidane are often instead described as the "number 10", and usually operate as an attacking midfielder or advanced playmaker.
The second striker position is a loosely defined and most often misunderstood description of a player positioned in a free role, somewhere between the out-and-out striker, whether the player is a "target man" or more of a "poacher", and the number 10 or attacking midfielder, while possibly showing some of the characteristics of both. In fact, a term coined by French advanced playmaker Michel Platini, the "nine-and-a-half", which he used to describe the playing role of his successor in the number 10 role at Juventus, Italian playmaker Roberto Baggio, has been an attempt to become a standard in defining the position. Conceivably, a number 10 can alternate as a second-striker provided that the player is also a prolific goalscorer; otherwise, a mobile forward with good technical ability (dribbling skills and ball control), acceleration, vision, passing, and link-up play, who can receive the ball and retain possession, in addition to being capable of scoring goals and creating opportunities for a less versatile centre-forward, is more suited to playing in the second striker role. This player should also be able to position themselves well in order to receive passes and subsequently either create or finish off a goalscoring opportunity. They should also be capable of finishing well with either foot as well as their head (which is less common, seeing as many second strikers are diminutive creative players), as this will lead to a good scoring percentage on attempts on goal and give their team an advantage offensively. Although they are often deployed in a free role, and given "licence to roam", and either run forward, or drop further back in order to pick up the ball in deeper areas, giving them more time and space in possession, second or support strikers do not tend to get as involved in the orchestration of attacks as the number 10, nor do they bring as many other players into play, since they do not share the burden of responsibility, functioning predominantly in a supporting role as assist providers. In Italy, this role is known as a "rifinitore", "mezzapunta", or "seconda punta", whereas in Brazil, it is known as "segundo atacante" or "ponta-de-lança".
The position of **inside forward** was popularly used in the late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries. The inside forwards would support the centre-forward, running and making space in the opposition defence, and, as the passing game developed, supporting him with passes. The role is broadly analogous to the *"hole"* or *second striker* position in the modern game, although here, there were two such players, known as **inside right** and **inside left**.
In early 2–3–5 formations the inside-forwards would flank the centre-forward on both sides. With the rise of the WM formation, the inside forwards were brought back to become attacking midfielders, supplying balls to the centre-forward and the two attacking outside forwards – known as the *outside right* and *outside left*. In Italian football jargon, the inside forward was initially occasionally known as a *mezzala* (literally "half-winger", not to be confused with wing-half); however, the use of this particular term to describe inside forwards is now obsolete, as the *mezzala* label was later reapplied to describe the role of offensive-minded central midfielders in Italian football, while the inside forward role was instead labelled as "interno" ("internal", in Italian) in Italian football in subsequent years.
In today's game, inside forwards have been pushed up front to become either out-and-out attackers or false-9s, or out wide to wingers (in a 4–3–3 formation), or they have even been switched to a deeper position in which they are required to drop back to link-up with the midfield, while also supporting another striker playing alongside them up front (in a 4–4–2 formation). Many teams still employ one of their strikers in this latter more withdrawn role as a support forward for the main striker, in a role broadly similar to the inside forward.
An **outside forward** plays as the advanced forward on the right or left wing – as an **outside right** or **outside left**, typically as part of a 2–3–5 formation or one of its variants. As football tactics have largely developed, and wingers have dropped back to become midfielders, the terminology has changed and "outside forward" has become a historical term. Many commentators and football analysts still refer to the wing positions as "outside right" and "outside left". Such players in the modern era have been labelled "wing forwards", particularly when the two wingers play high up the pitch in a 4–3–3 or similar formation, where the front 3 attacking players have 3 central midfielders behind them. A wing forward who is known for cutting inside and shooting can have the term "inverted winger" used interchangeably.
The responsibilities of an outside forward include but are not limited to:
- Scoring: their first option should be to shoot, while their second option should be to find another way to create a goal opportunity for the team.
- Passing: when they run into a shooting angle that is unlikely to become a goal, they must find a way to pass the ball to the middle of the penalty box area allowing the centre-forwards to finish the job.
- Crossing: a main job of outside players, or players in the wide areas, especially forwards is their ability to cross the ball to the middle of the field in front of the goal for the central players to score from
Due to these responsibilities some of the most important attributes include:
- Good dribbling and circumventing defenders
- Speed as a necessity to produce effective counter-attacks
- Technical ability to strike a ball
- Quickness in deception to pass a defender
- Striking technique to get on the end of crosses from wide players of the opposing side
A **winger** is an offensive player located in a wide position near the touchlines. They can be classified as forwards, considering their origin as the old "outside-forward" position, and continue to be termed as such in most parts of the world, especially in Latin and Dutch football cultures. However, in the British game (in which the 4–4–2 formation and its variants are most commonly used) they are usually counted as part of the midfield.
It is a winger's duty to beat opposing full-backs, deliver cut-backs or crosses from wide positions and, to a lesser extent, to beat defenders and score from close range. They are usually some of the quickest players in the team and usually have good dribbling skills as well. In Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese usage, the defensive duties of the winger have been usually confined to pressing the opposition fullbacks when they have the ball. Otherwise, a winger will drop closer to the midfield to make themself available, should their team win back the ball.
In British and other northern European styles of football, the wide-midfielder is expected to track back all the way to their own corner flag should their full-back require help, and also to track back their marker, as well as tucking into the midfield when the more central players are trying to pressure the opposition for the ball. This is a large responsibility for attack-orientated players, and particularly those like Joaquín (winger/wide midfielder), or Ryan Giggs (winger/striker), and John Barnes (winger/central midfielder), who lack the physical attributes of a wing-back or of a more orthodox midfield player. As these players grow older and lose their natural pace, they are frequently redeployed as "number 10s" between the midfield and the forward line, where their well-honed ball control, technical skills, ability to create chances, and improved reading of the game in the final third can serve to improve their teams' attacking options in tight spaces. An example is Inter Milan's use of veteran Luís Figo behind one or two other attackers, either as a second striker or in a playmaking role as an attacking midfielder.
In recent years there has been a trend of playing inverted wingers – wide players stationed on the 'wrong' side of the pitch, in order to enable them to cut inside and shoot on their stronger foot and sometimes provide in-swinging crosses. This tactic was used by Frank Rijkaard, who, whilst at Barcelona, moved Lionel Messi from the left flank onto the right wing, initially against the player's wishes. This allowed him to cut into the centre and shoot or cross with his left foot. Another example of a successful inverted winger partnership was Bayern Munich's pairing of the left-footed Arjen Robben alongside the right-footed Franck Ribéry, on the right and left flanks respectively.
A description that has been used in the media to label a variation upon the inverted winger position is that of an "attacking", "false", or "goalscoring winger", as exemplified by Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale's roles on the left and right flank during their time at Real Madrid in particular. This label has been used to describe an offensive-minded inverted winger, who will seemingly operate out wide on paper, but who instead will be given the freedom to make unmarked runs into more advanced central areas inside the penalty area, in order to get on the end of passes and crosses and score goals, effectively functioning as a striker. This role is somewhat comparable to what is known as the *raumdeuter* role in German football jargon (literally "space interpreter"), as exemplified by Thomas Müller, namely an attacking-minded wide player, who will move into central areas in order to find spaces from which he can receive passes and score or assist goals.
The "false winger" or "seven-and-a-half" is instead a label which has been used to describe a type of player who normally plays centrally, but who instead is deployed out wide on paper; during the course of a match, however, they will move inside and operate in the centre of the pitch, in order to drag defenders out of position, congest the midfield and give their team a numerical advantage in this area, so that they can dominate possession in the middle of the pitch and create chances for the forwards; this position also leaves space for full-backs to make overlapping attacking runs up the flank. Samir Nasri, who has been deployed in this role, once described it as that of a "non-axial playmaker".
On occasion, the role of an offensive winger can also be occupied by a different type of player. For example, certain managers have been known to use a "wide target man" on the wing, namely a large and physical player who usually plays as a centre-forward, and who will attempt to win aerial challenges and hold up the ball on the flank, or drag full-backs out of position. Jostein Flo epitomizes this role so much so that a tactic was named after him – Flo Pass. Egil Olsen, while managing the Norway national football team, positioned Flo, usually a centre-forward, on the right flank to exploit the opposition full-backs' lack of aerial abilities. Another example is Mario Mandžukić, a natural centre-forward, who was used on the left flank under manager Massimiliano Allegri at Juventus during the 2016–17 season, as well as the following season. Unlike wide target men of earlier eras, Mandžukić was also tasked with pressing opposing players. Romelu Lukaku has also been used in this role on occasion.
A *false 9*, similar to a more advanced attacking midfielder/playmaker role, is an unconventional lone striker or centre-forward, who drops deep into midfield. The purpose of this is that it creates a problem for opposing centre-backs who can either follow the false 9, leaving space behind them for onrushing midfielders, forwards or wingers to exploit, or leaving the false 9 to have time and space to dribble or pick out a pass. The term comes from the traditional number for centre-forwards (nine), and the fact that normally a centre-forward traditionally stayed near the line of defenders until they got an opportunity to move past them toward goal. Key attributes for a false 9 are similar to those of a deep-lying striker: dribbling ability to take advantage of space between the lines, good short passing ability to link up with the midfield and vision to play through teammates making runs from deep to goal.
The first false 9 in a World Cup was Juan Peregrino Anselmo in the Uruguay national team, although he could not play the match against Argentina in the 1930 World Cup due to injury. Matthias Sindelar was the false 9 of the *Wunderteam*, the Austria national team, in 1934. In South America, in 1941, River Plate's La Máquina team started using the left winger Adolfo Pedernera as a man of reference. When Pedernera transferred to Atlanta, a young Alfredo Di Stéfano took his place. A false 9 was also utilised by Hungary at the beginning of the 1950s, with striker Nándor Hidegkuti acting in the role as a deep-lying centre forward. In 1953, English football was astounded by the Hungarian team which beat England 6–3 at Wembley Stadium. The Revie Plan was a variation on the tactics used by the Hungarians, involving Don Revie playing as a deep-lying centre-forward. Revie started attacks by coming into the centre of the field to receive the ball, drawing the opposing centre-half out of position. The role can also be compared to the false role in which Hidegkuti operated. The system was first implemented by the Manchester City reserve team, who using the system went unbeaten for the last 26 games of the 1953–54 season. Before the start of the 1954–55 season, Manchester City manager Les McDowall called his team into pre-season training two weeks early to try the new tactic. Manchester City lost their first game using the system 5–0, but as the players became more used to the system it started to become more successful. Using the system Manchester City reached the 1955 FA Cup Final, but lost to Newcastle United 3–1. The following year City again reached the final where they played Birmingham City, this time winning 3–1.
Throughout his career, Johan Cruyff was often deployed in a free role as a centre-forward with Ajax, Barcelona, and the Netherlands in the 1970s in Rinus Michels's fluid 1–3–3–3 formation, which was a key and trademark feature of the manager's *total football* system; although Cruyff was a prolific goalscorer in this position, he also frequently dropped deep to confuse his markers and orchestrate attacks, or moved out onto the wing in order to create space for other teammates' runs, which has led certain pundits to compare this role retroactively as a precursor to the modern false 9 role.
Michael Laudrup was occasionally used as a lone centre-forward in Johan Cruyff's Barcelona *Dream Team*, a role which was similar to that of the modern false 9 role.
Roma under manager Luciano Spalletti used Francesco Totti, nominally an attacking midfielder or *trequartista*, up-front in an innovative "4–6–0" formation in the mid-2000s; this was met with a run of 11 consecutive victories.
At Euro 2012, Spain manager Vicente del Bosque, although sometimes deploying Fernando Torres as a traditional striker, often used Cesc Fàbregas as a false 9 in several matches, including the final. By the end of 2012, the false 9 had gone "mainstream" with many clubs employing a version of the system. Barcelona's Lionel Messi has been an epitome of the false 9 position to much success in recent years, first under coach Pep Guardiola and later under his successor Tito Vilanova. Brazilian forward Roberto Firmino was later also successfully used in the false 9 position under manager Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool.
One approach to stop false 9s has been to create congestion in the midfield by bringing several players back into a more defensive role in an attempt to deny them space needed to create plays, notably in José Mourinho's "parking the bus" strategy.
In Italian football jargon, this role is historically known as the *centravanti di manovra* (which literally translates to "manoeuvring centre-forward"), due to the player's tendency to move freely and participate the build-up of attacking plays.
The term "**target forward**" or "**target man**" is often used to describe a particular type of striker or centre-forward whose main role is to win high balls in the air, hold up the ball, and create chances for other members of the team in addition to scoring goals themselves. These players are usually tall and physically strong, adept at heading the ball, and capable of playing with their back to goal in the final third of the pitch. Some of the most high-profile examples of this type of players in modern football include Olivier Giroud and Fernando Llorente, both World Cup winners, with the former having played the entire tournament as a starting line-up forward tasked primarily with pressing, counter-pressing, winning high or loose balls, and providing key passes to quicker and more agile teammates, namely Antoine Griezmann or Kylian Mbappé. Another example of a striker who played in this position is Didier Drogba. However, not any tall or physically strong player feels comfortable in the role of a "target man", despite having all the necessary features. Such forwards as Zlatan Ibrahimović, Romelu Lukaku, and Erling Haaland have all rejected the term when applied to specifically them, with Ibrahimović preferring to be described as an attacking all-rounder, while Lukaku and Haaland have said to favour poaching goals rather than physical play.
As stated above, the target forward is a player who does not run or look to make runs as compared to other forwards. Typically they are strong, tall, and physical players. Usually, the build-up play of a target forward will often consist of one of the following options: firstly, the goalkeeper will either launch a long kick or distribute the ball to a central defender or full-back. From there, the defender will play a long ball to the striker, either in the air or ground. The target forward usually has perfected their ability to provide first touches of the ball on all areas of the body. They will control the ball and provide holdup, which allows their teammates to transition forward. From here, they may create more opportunities such as passing the ball backwards and creating space by moving around defenders, making combination plays with a "false 9", midfielders, or wingers, or turning and facing the goal and attempting to score by dribbling or shooting. Because of their strength and physicality, target forwards may be defended against by man-to-man marking. Sometimes the central defender of the opposing team will be of similar strength and height, which makes the matchup more evenly based. Due to this man-to-man marking, target forwards are often fouled and receive many calls from the referee.
Strike teams consist of two or more strikers who work together. The history of football has been filled with many effective combinations. Three-man teams often operate in "triangles", giving a wealth of attacking options. Four-man packages expand options even more. Strikers must also be flexible, and be able to switch roles at a moment's notice, between the first (*advanced penetrator position*), second (*deep-lying manoeuvre*) and third (*support and expansion, e.g. wings*) attacker roles.
Another example was the Total Football played by the Dutch team in the 70s, where the ability of their players, and in particular Johan Cruyff, to swap positions allowed a flexible attacking approach which opposition teams found difficult to effectively mark.
In a two-player front line, it is common for two forwards who complement one another to be paired together; for example, former Italy manager Cesare Maldini often used a large, physical, and prolific player as a traditional centre-forward – such as Christian Vieri – alongside a smaller, faster, creative and more technical player as a second striker – such as Roberto Baggio or Alessandro Del Piero.
Another similar example of an effective partnership at international level was that of Alex Morgan and Abby Wambach with the United States national team, who scored a combined 55 goals in 2012, matching a 21-year-old record set in 1991 by Michelle Akers (39 goals) and Carin Jennings (16 goals) as the most goals scored by any duo in U.S. WNT history.
One of the most prolific forward combinations in the history of the game was the front three of Barcelona, Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez and Neymar, dubbed *MSN*. On average they scored a goal every 45 minutes – two goals per game from the three forwards. The trio scored a record-breaking 131 goals in one season for Barcelona during 2015–16. In 2017, Kylian Mbappé, Neymar, and Edinson Cavani scored a record-breaking number of goals for Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League group stage. The next year, the Liverpool attacking quartet of Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané and Philippe Coutinho, dubbed the "Fab Four" (in reference to the Beatles), contributed to a record-breaking 47 goals for a single Champions League season.
*MSN* is known to be one of the most successful striker combinations in the history of football. However, *BBC* was often compared as the same elite level of forwards. The combination consisted of Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, and Cristiano Ronaldo. During the height of their success with Spanish team Real Madrid, they were frequently compared to *MSN.* The two striker combinations played on long time rivals teams Real Madrid and Barcelona, both of which are considered some of the best football clubs of all time. Of the prolific trio, Karim Benzema typically played the center forward position, while Ronaldo and Bale played as inverted or outside forwards, so they were able to cut into the center with their dominant side. Between the two trios Lionel Messi has won the most Ballon d'Or trophies, while Cristiano Ronaldo has won the second most of these trophies, at 5. BBC rivaled MSN throughout the 2010s in the La Liga, as well as the UEFA Champions League.
Although the striker is mainly an offensive position in many cases, they still play critical roles for defense that are often overlooked. Strikers can be involved in tactics such as high-pressing, cutting out passing lanes, defending set pieces, and tracking back (mostly for wingers). For high-pressure, this tactic is employed when the opposing team without the ball will defend the team all the way to their back line of defenders so that they have little area to pass or perform play buildup. Strikers will usually be at the forefront of this high-pressing movement and will attempt to direct ball movement. As part of this high-pressing technique, they can also cut out passing lanes. This means that they will position their bodies in-between an outside defender and central defender or midfielders and center defenders so that the opposing player is not able to pass the ball or make a play. By performing this method, they can effectively force the opposing team to one area of the pitch and create better opportunities for the opposing team to turn the ball over. They are heavily used in the "delay, coverage, balance, and concentration principles of football" through a variety of methods. According to the delay principle of defense in football is the idea that players should disturb the ball holder and block passing lanes, which is done in high-pressing and closing down. Closing down is the ability of a player to very quickly start defending the opposing player with the ball. This usually falls under the concentration principle of football, so strikers must be able to start defending the opposing team very high up in the opposing half. Although many believe strikers are not very involved in defensive strategies, they greatly help with "gathering defense to protect vital zones from progression of offensive actions, direct play to less vital zones, and allow for a regain of ball possession."
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# Fungus - Wikipedia
A **fungus** (pl.: fungi ⓘ, ⓘ, ⓘ, or ⓘ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one of the traditional eukaryotic kingdoms, along with Animalia, Plantae, and either Protista or Protozoa and Chromista.
| Fungi | |
|---|---|
| Clockwise from top left: | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
Clade:
|
Obazoa |
Clade:
|
Opisthokonta |
Clade:
|
Holomycota |
| Kingdom: | Fungi R.T.Moore (1980) |
| Subkingdoms/phyla | |
A characteristic that places fungi in a different kingdom from plants, bacteria, and some protists is chitin in their cell walls. Fungi, like animals, are heterotrophs; they acquire their food by absorbing dissolved molecules, typically by secreting digestive enzymes into their environment. Fungi do not photosynthesize. Growth is their means of mobility, except for spores (a few of which are flagellated), which may travel through the air or water. Fungi are the principal decomposers in ecological systems. These and other differences place fungi in a single group of related organisms, named the *Eumycota* (*true fungi* or *Eumycetes*), that share a common ancestor (i.e. they form a *monophyletic group*), an interpretation that is also strongly supported by molecular phylogenetics. This fungal group is distinct from the structurally similar myxomycetes (slime molds) and oomycetes (water molds). The discipline of biology devoted to the study of fungi is known as mycology (from the Greek μύκης * mykes*, mushroom). In the past, mycology was regarded as a branch of botany, although it is now known that fungi are genetically more closely related to animals than to plants.
Abundant worldwide, most fungi are inconspicuous because of the small size of their structures, and their cryptic lifestyles in soil or on dead matter. Fungi include symbionts of plants, animals, or other fungi and also parasites. They may become noticeable when fruiting, either as mushrooms or as molds. Fungi perform an essential role in the decomposition of organic matter and have fundamental roles in nutrient cycling and exchange in the environment. They have long been used as a direct source of human food, in the form of mushrooms and truffles; as a leavening agent for bread; and in the fermentation of various food products, such as wine, beer, and soy sauce. Since the 1940s, fungi have been used for the production of antibiotics, and, more recently, various enzymes produced by fungi are used industrially and in detergents. Fungi are also used as biological pesticides to control weeds, plant diseases, and insect pests. Many species produce bioactive compounds called mycotoxins, such as alkaloids and polyketides, that are toxic to animals, including humans. The fruiting structures of a few species contain psychotropic compounds and are consumed recreationally or in traditional spiritual ceremonies. Fungi can break down manufactured materials and buildings, and become significant pathogens of humans and other animals. Losses of crops due to fungal diseases (e.g., rice blast disease) or food spoilage can have a large impact on human food supplies and local economies.
The fungus kingdom encompasses an enormous diversity of taxa with varied ecologies, life cycle strategies, and morphologies ranging from unicellular aquatic chytrids to large mushrooms. However, little is known of the true biodiversity of the fungus kingdom, which has been estimated at 2.2 million to 3.8 million species. Of these, only about 148,000 have been described, with over 8,000 species known to be detrimental to plants and at least 300 that can be pathogenic to humans. Ever since the pioneering 18th and 19th century taxonomical works of Carl Linnaeus, Christiaan Hendrik Persoon, and Elias Magnus Fries, fungi have been classified according to their morphology (e.g., characteristics such as spore color or microscopic features) or physiology. Advances in molecular genetics have opened the way for DNA analysis to be incorporated into taxonomy, which has sometimes challenged the historical groupings based on morphology and other traits. Phylogenetic studies published in the first decade of the 21st century have helped reshape the classification within the fungi kingdom, which is divided into one subkingdom, seven phyla, and ten subphyla.
## Etymology
The English word *fungus* is directly adopted from the Latin *fungus* (mushroom), used in the writings of Horace and Pliny. This in turn is derived from the Greek word *sphongos* (σφόγγος 'sponge'), which refers to the macroscopic structures and morphology of mushrooms and molds; the root is also used in other languages, such as the German *Schwamm* ('sponge') and *Schimmel* ('mold').
The word *mycology* is derived from the Greek *mykes* (μύκης 'mushroom') and *logos* (λόγος 'discourse'). It denotes the scientific study of fungi. The Latin adjectival form of "mycology" (*mycologicæ*) appeared as early as 1796 in a book on the subject by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon. The word appeared in English as early as 1824 in a book by Robert Kaye Greville. In 1836 the English naturalist Miles Joseph Berkeley's publication *The English Flora of Sir James Edward Smith, Vol. 5.* also refers to mycology as the study of fungi.
A group of all the fungi present in a particular region is known as *mycobiota* (plural noun, no singular). The term *mycota* is often used for this purpose, but many authors use it as a synonym of Fungi. The word *funga* has been proposed as a less ambiguous term morphologically similar to fauna and flora. The Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in August 2021 asked that the phrase *fauna and flora* be replaced by *fauna, flora, and funga*.
## Characteristics
Before the introduction of molecular methods for phylogenetic analysis, taxonomists considered fungi to be members of the plant kingdom because of similarities in lifestyle: both fungi and plants are mainly immobile, and have similarities in general morphology and growth habitat. Although inaccurate, the common misconception that fungi are plants persists among the general public due to their historical classification, as well as several similarities. Like plants, fungi often grow in soil and, in the case of mushrooms, form conspicuous fruit bodies, which sometimes resemble plants such as mosses. The fungi are now considered a separate kingdom, distinct from both plants and animals, from which they appear to have diverged around one billion years ago (around the start of the Neoproterozoic Era). Some morphological, biochemical, and genetic features are shared with other organisms, while others are unique to the fungi, clearly separating them from the other kingdoms:
Shared features:
- With other eukaryotes: Fungal cells contain membrane-bound nuclei with chromosomes that contain DNA with noncoding regions called introns and coding regions called exons. Fungi have membrane-bound cytoplasmic organelles such as mitochondria, sterol-containing membranes, and ribosomes of the 80S type. They have a characteristic range of soluble carbohydrates and storage compounds, including sugar alcohols (e.g., mannitol), disaccharides, (e.g., trehalose), and polysaccharides (e.g., glycogen, which is also found in animals).
- With animals: Fungi lack chloroplasts and are heterotrophic organisms and so require preformed organic compounds as energy sources.
- With plants: Fungi have a cell wall and vacuoles. They reproduce by both sexual and asexual means, and like basal plant groups (such as ferns and mosses) produce spores. Similar to mosses and algae, fungi typically have haploid nuclei.
- With euglenoids and bacteria: Higher fungi, euglenoids, and some bacteria produce the amino acid L-lysine in specific biosynthesis steps, called the α-aminoadipate pathway.
- In common with some plant and animal species, more than one hundred fungal species display bioluminescence.
Unique features:
- The cells of most fungi grow as tubular, elongated, and thread-like (filamentous) structures called hyphae, which may contain multiple nuclei and extend by growing at their tips. Each tip contains a set of aggregated vesicles—cellular structures consisting of proteins, lipids, and other organic molecules—called the Spitzenkörper. Both fungi and oomycetes grow as filamentous hyphal cells. In contrast, similar-looking organisms, such as filamentous green algae, grow by repeated cell division within a chain of cells.
- Some species grow as unicellular yeasts that do not form hyphae and reproduce by budding or fission. Dimorphic fungi can switch between a yeast phase and a hyphal phase in response to environmental conditions.
- The fungal cell wall is made of a chitin-glucan complex; while glucans are also found in plants and chitin in the exoskeleton of arthropods, fungi are the only organisms that combine these two structural molecules in their cell wall. Unlike those of plants and oomycetes, fungal cell walls do not contain cellulose.
Most fungi lack an efficient system for the long-distance transport of water and nutrients, such as the xylem and phloem in many plants. To overcome this limitation, some fungi, such as *Armillaria*, form rhizomorphs, which resemble and perform functions similar to the roots of plants. As eukaryotes, fungi possess a biosynthetic pathway for producing terpenes that uses mevalonic acid and pyrophosphate as chemical building blocks. Plants and some other organisms have an additional terpene biosynthesis pathway in their chloroplasts, a structure that fungi and animals do not have. Fungi produce several secondary metabolites that are similar or identical in structure to those made by plants. Many of the plant and fungal enzymes that make these compounds differ from each other in sequence and other characteristics, which indicates separate origins and convergent evolution of these enzymes in the fungi and plants.
## Diversity
Fungi have a worldwide distribution, and grow in a wide range of habitats, including extreme environments such as deserts or areas with high salt concentrations or ionizing radiation, as well as in deep sea sediments. Some can survive the intense UV and cosmic radiation encountered during space travel. Most grow in terrestrial environments, though several species live partly or solely in aquatic habitats, such as the chytrid fungi *Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis* and *B. salamandrivorans*, parasites that have been responsible for a worldwide decline in amphibian populations. These organisms spend part of their life cycle as a motile zoospore, enabling them to propel themselves through water and enter their amphibian host. Other examples of aquatic fungi include those living in hydrothermal areas of the ocean.
As of 2020,[update] around 148,000 species of fungi have been described by taxonomists, but the global biodiversity of the fungus kingdom is not fully understood. A 2017 estimate suggests there may be between 2.2 and 3.8 million species. The number of new fungi species discovered yearly has increased from 1,000 to 1,500 per year about 10 years ago, to about 2,000 with a peak of more than 2,500 species in 2016. In the year 2019, 1,882 new species of fungi were described, and it was estimated that more than 90% of fungi remain unknown. The following year, 2,905 new species were described—the highest annual record of new fungus names. In mycology, species have historically been distinguished by a variety of methods and concepts. Classification based on morphological characteristics, such as the size and shape of spores or fruiting structures, has traditionally dominated fungal taxonomy. Species may also be distinguished by their biochemical and physiological characteristics, such as their ability to metabolize certain biochemicals, or their reaction to chemical tests. The biological species concept discriminates species based on their ability to mate. The application of molecular tools, such as DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis, to study diversity has greatly enhanced the resolution and added robustness to estimates of genetic diversity within various taxonomic groups.
## Mycology
Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the systematic study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy, and their use to humans as a source of medicine, food, and psychotropic substances consumed for religious purposes, as well as their dangers, such as poisoning or infection. The field of phytopathology, the study of plant diseases, is closely related because many plant pathogens are fungi.
The use of fungi by humans dates back to prehistory; Ötzi the Iceman, a well-preserved mummy of a 5,300-year-old Neolithic man found frozen in the Austrian Alps, carried two species of polypore mushrooms that may have been used as tinder (*Fomes fomentarius*), or for medicinal purposes (*Piptoporus betulinus*). Ancient peoples have used fungi as food sources—often unknowingly—for millennia, in the preparation of leavened bread and fermented juices. Some of the oldest written records contain references to the destruction of crops that were probably caused by pathogenic fungi.
### History
Mycology became a systematic science after the development of the microscope in the 17th century. Although fungal spores were first observed by Giambattista della Porta in 1588, the seminal work in the development of mycology is considered to be the publication of Pier Antonio Micheli's 1729 work *Nova plantarum genera*. Micheli not only observed spores but also showed that, under the proper conditions, they could be induced into growing into the same species of fungi from which they originated. Extending the use of the binomial system of nomenclature introduced by Carl Linnaeus in his *Species plantarum* (1753), the Dutch Christiaan Hendrik Persoon (1761–1836) established the first classification of mushrooms with such skill as to be considered a founder of modern mycology. Later, Elias Magnus Fries (1794–1878) further elaborated the classification of fungi, using spore color and microscopic characteristics, methods still used by taxonomists today. Other notable early contributors to mycology in the 17th–19th and early 20th centuries include Miles Joseph Berkeley, August Carl Joseph Corda, Anton de Bary, the brothers Louis René and Charles Tulasne, Arthur H. R. Buller, Curtis G. Lloyd, and Pier Andrea Saccardo. In the 20th and 21st centuries, advances in biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, biotechnology, DNA sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis have provided new insights into fungal relationships and biodiversity, and have challenged traditional morphology-based groupings in fungal taxonomy.
## Morphology
### Microscopic structures
Most fungi grow as hyphae, which are cylindrical, thread-like structures 2–10 μm in diameter and up to several centimeters in length. Hyphae grow at their tips (apices); new hyphae are typically formed by emergence of new tips along existing hyphae by a process called *branching*, or occasionally growing hyphal tips fork, giving rise to two parallel-growing hyphae. Hyphae also sometimes fuse when they come into contact, a process called hyphal fusion (or anastomosis). These growth processes lead to the development of a mycelium, an interconnected network of hyphae. Hyphae can be either septate or coenocytic. Septate hyphae are divided into compartments separated by cross walls (internal cell walls, called septa, that are formed at right angles to the cell wall giving the hypha its shape), with each compartment containing one or more nuclei; coenocytic hyphae are not compartmentalized. Septa have pores that allow cytoplasm, organelles, and sometimes nuclei to pass through; an example is the dolipore septum in fungi of the phylum Basidiomycota. Coenocytic hyphae are in essence multinucleate supercells.
Many species have developed specialized hyphal structures for nutrient uptake from living hosts; examples include haustoria in plant-parasitic species of most fungal phyla, and arbuscules of several mycorrhizal fungi, which penetrate into the host cells to consume nutrients.
Although fungi are opisthokonts—a grouping of evolutionarily related organisms broadly characterized by a single posterior flagellum—all phyla except for the chytrids and blastocladiomycetes have lost their posterior flagella. Fungi are unusual among the eukaryotes in having a cell wall that, in addition to glucans (e.g., β-1,3-glucan) and other typical components, also contains the biopolymer chitin.
### Macroscopic structures
Fungal mycelia can become visible to the naked eye, for example, on various surfaces and substrates, such as damp walls and spoiled food, where they are commonly called molds. Mycelia grown on solid agar media in laboratory petri dishes are usually referred to as colonies. These colonies can exhibit growth shapes and colors (due to spores or pigmentation) that can be used as diagnostic features in the identification of species or groups. Some individual fungal colonies can reach extraordinary dimensions and ages as in the case of a clonal colony of *Armillaria solidipes*, which extends over an area of more than 900 ha (3.5 square miles), with an estimated age of nearly 9,000 years.
The apothecium—a specialized structure important in sexual reproduction in the ascomycetes—is a cup-shaped fruit body that is often macroscopic and holds the hymenium, a layer of tissue containing the spore-bearing cells. The fruit bodies of the basidiomycetes (basidiocarps) and some ascomycetes can sometimes grow very large, and many are well known as mushrooms.
## Growth and physiology
The growth of fungi as hyphae on or in solid substrates or as single cells in aquatic environments is adapted for the efficient extraction of nutrients, because these growth forms have high surface area to volume ratios. Hyphae are specifically adapted for growth on solid surfaces, and to invade substrates and tissues. They can exert large penetrative mechanical forces; for example, many plant pathogens, including *Magnaporthe grisea*, form a structure called an appressorium that evolved to puncture plant tissues. The pressure generated by the appressorium, directed against the plant epidermis, can exceed 8 megapascals (1,200 psi). The filamentous fungus *Paecilomyces lilacinus* uses a similar structure to penetrate the eggs of nematodes.
The mechanical pressure exerted by the appressorium is generated from physiological processes that increase intracellular turgor by producing osmolytes such as glycerol. Adaptations such as these are complemented by hydrolytic enzymes secreted into the environment to digest large organic molecules—such as polysaccharides, proteins, and lipids—into smaller molecules that may then be absorbed as nutrients. The vast majority of filamentous fungi grow in a polar fashion (extending in one direction) by elongation at the tip (apex) of the hypha. Other forms of fungal growth include intercalary extension (longitudinal expansion of hyphal compartments that are below the apex) as in the case of some endophytic fungi, or growth by volume expansion during the development of mushroom stipes and other large organs. Growth of fungi as multicellular structures consisting of somatic and reproductive cells—a feature independently evolved in animals and plants—has several functions, including the development of fruit bodies for dissemination of sexual spores (see above) and biofilms for substrate colonization and intercellular communication.
Fungi are traditionally considered heterotrophs, organisms that rely solely on carbon fixed by other organisms for metabolism. Fungi have evolved a high degree of metabolic versatility that allows them to use a diverse range of organic substrates for growth, including simple compounds such as nitrate, ammonia, acetate, or ethanol. In some species the pigment melanin may play a role in extracting energy from ionizing radiation, such as gamma radiation. This form of "radiotrophic" growth has been described for only a few species, the effects on growth rates are small, and the underlying biophysical and biochemical processes are not well known. This process might bear similarity to CO2 fixation via visible light, but instead uses ionizing radiation as a source of energy.
## Reproduction
Fungal reproduction is complex, reflecting the differences in lifestyles and genetic makeup within this diverse kingdom of organisms. It is estimated that a third of all fungi reproduce using more than one method of propagation; for example, reproduction may occur in two well-differentiated stages within the life cycle of a species, the teleomorph (sexual reproduction) and the anamorph (asexual reproduction). Environmental conditions trigger genetically determined developmental states that lead to the creation of specialized structures for sexual or asexual reproduction. These structures aid reproduction by efficiently dispersing spores or spore-containing propagules.
### Asexual reproduction
Asexual reproduction occurs via vegetative spores (conidia) or through mycelial fragmentation. Mycelial fragmentation occurs when a fungal mycelium separates into pieces, and each component grows into a separate mycelium. Mycelial fragmentation and vegetative spores maintain clonal populations adapted to a specific niche, and allow more rapid dispersal than sexual reproduction. The "Fungi imperfecti" (fungi lacking the perfect or sexual stage) or Deuteromycota comprise all the species that lack an observable sexual cycle. Deuteromycota (alternatively known as Deuteromycetes, conidial fungi, or mitosporic fungi) is not an accepted taxonomic clade and is now taken to mean simply fungi that lack a known sexual stage.
### Sexual reproduction
Sexual reproduction with meiosis has been directly observed in all fungal phyla except Glomeromycota (genetic analysis suggests meiosis in Glomeromycota as well). It differs in many aspects from sexual reproduction in animals or plants. Differences also exist between fungal groups and can be used to discriminate species by morphological differences in sexual structures and reproductive strategies. Mating experiments between fungal isolates may identify species on the basis of biological species concepts. The major fungal groupings have initially been delineated based on the morphology of their sexual structures and spores; for example, the spore-containing structures, asci and basidia, can be used in the identification of ascomycetes and basidiomycetes, respectively. Fungi employ two mating systems: heterothallic species allow mating only between individuals of the opposite mating type, whereas homothallic species can mate, and sexually reproduce, with any other individual or itself.
Most fungi have both a haploid and a diploid stage in their life cycles. In sexually reproducing fungi, compatible individuals may combine by fusing their hyphae together into an interconnected network; this process, anastomosis, is required for the initiation of the sexual cycle. Many ascomycetes and basidiomycetes go through a dikaryotic stage, in which the nuclei inherited from the two parents do not combine immediately after cell fusion, but remain separate in the hyphal cells (see heterokaryosis).
In ascomycetes, dikaryotic hyphae of the hymenium (the spore-bearing tissue layer) form a characteristic *hook* (crozier) at the hyphal septum. During cell division, the formation of the hook ensures proper distribution of the newly divided nuclei into the apical and basal hyphal compartments. An ascus (plural *asci*) is then formed, in which karyogamy (nuclear fusion) occurs. Asci are embedded in an ascocarp, or fruiting body. Karyogamy in the asci is followed immediately by meiosis and the production of ascospores. After dispersal, the ascospores may germinate and form a new haploid mycelium.
Sexual reproduction in basidiomycetes is similar to that of the ascomycetes. Compatible haploid hyphae fuse to produce a dikaryotic mycelium. However, the dikaryotic phase is more extensive in the basidiomycetes, often also present in the vegetatively growing mycelium. A specialized anatomical structure, called a clamp connection, is formed at each hyphal septum. As with the structurally similar hook in the ascomycetes, the clamp connection in the basidiomycetes is required for controlled transfer of nuclei during cell division, to maintain the dikaryotic stage with two genetically different nuclei in each hyphal compartment. A basidiocarp is formed in which club-like structures known as basidia generate haploid basidiospores after karyogamy and meiosis. The most commonly known basidiocarps are mushrooms, but they may also take other forms (see Morphology section).
In fungi formerly classified as Zygomycota, haploid hyphae of two individuals fuse, forming a gametangium, a specialized cell structure that becomes a fertile gamete-producing cell. The gametangium develops into a zygospore, a thick-walled spore formed by the union of gametes. When the zygospore germinates, it undergoes meiosis, generating new haploid hyphae, which may then form asexual sporangiospores. These sporangiospores allow the fungus to rapidly disperse and germinate into new genetically identical haploid fungal mycelia.
### Spore dispersal
The spores of most of the researched species of fungi are transported by wind. Such species often produce dry or hydrophobic spores that do not absorb water and are readily scattered by raindrops, for example. In other species, both asexual and sexual spores or sporangiospores are often actively dispersed by forcible ejection from their reproductive structures. This ejection ensures exit of the spores from the reproductive structures as well as traveling through the air over long distances.
Specialized mechanical and physiological mechanisms, as well as spore surface structures (such as hydrophobins), enable efficient spore ejection. For example, the structure of the spore-bearing cells in some ascomycete species is such that the buildup of substances affecting cell volume and fluid balance enables the explosive discharge of spores into the air. The forcible discharge of single spores termed *ballistospores* involves formation of a small drop of water (Buller's drop), which upon contact with the spore leads to its projectile release with an initial acceleration of more than 10,000 g; the net result is that the spore is ejected 0.01–0.02 cm, sufficient distance for it to fall through the gills or pores into the air below. Other fungi, like the puffballs, rely on alternative mechanisms for spore release, such as external mechanical forces. The hydnoid fungi (tooth fungi) produce spores on pendant, tooth-like or spine-like projections. The bird's nest fungi use the force of falling water drops to liberate the spores from cup-shaped fruiting bodies. Another strategy is seen in the stinkhorns, a group of fungi with lively colors and putrid odor that attract insects to disperse their spores.
### Homothallism
In homothallic sexual reproduction, two haploid nuclei derived from the same individual fuse to form a zygote that can then undergo meiosis. Homothallic fungi include species with an *Aspergillus*-like asexual stage (anamorphs) occurring in numerous different genera, several species of the ascomycete genus *Cochliobolus*, and the ascomycete *Pneumocystis jirovecii*. The earliest mode of sexual reproduction among eukaryotes was likely homothallism, that is, self-fertile unisexual reproduction.
### Other sexual processes
Besides regular sexual reproduction with meiosis, certain fungi, such as those in the genera *Penicillium* and *Aspergillus*, may exchange genetic material via parasexual processes, initiated by anastomosis between hyphae and plasmogamy of fungal cells. The frequency and relative importance of parasexual events is unclear and may be lower than other sexual processes. It is known to play a role in intraspecific hybridization and is likely required for hybridization between species, which has been associated with major events in fungal evolution.
## Evolution
In contrast to plants and animals, the early fossil record of the fungi is meager. Factors that likely contribute to the under-representation of fungal species among fossils include the nature of fungal fruiting bodies, which are soft, fleshy, and easily degradable tissues, and the microscopic dimensions of most fungal structures, which therefore are not readily evident. Fungal fossils are difficult to distinguish from those of other microbes, and are most easily identified when they resemble extant fungi. Often recovered from a permineralized plant or animal host, these samples are typically studied by making thin-section preparations that can be examined with light microscopy or transmission electron microscopy. Researchers study compression fossils by dissolving the surrounding matrix with acid and then using light or scanning electron microscopy to examine surface details.
The earliest fossils possessing features typical of fungi date to the Paleoproterozoic era, some (Ma); these multicellular benthic organisms had filamentous structures capable of anastomosis. Other studies (2009) estimate the arrival of fungal organisms at about 760–1060 Ma on the basis of comparisons of the rate of evolution in closely related groups. The oldest fossilizied mycelium to be identified from its molecular composition is between 715 and 810 million years old. For much of the Paleozoic Era (542–251 Ma), the fungi appear to have been aquatic and consisted of organisms similar to the extant chytrids in having flagellum-bearing spores. The evolutionary adaptation from an aquatic to a terrestrial lifestyle necessitated a diversification of ecological strategies for obtaining nutrients, including parasitism, saprobism, and the development of mutualistic relationships such as mycorrhiza and lichenization. Studies suggest that the ancestral ecological state of the Ascomycota was saprobism, and that independent lichenization events have occurred multiple times.
In May 2019, scientists reported the discovery of a fossilized fungus, named *Ourasphaira giraldae*, in the Canadian Arctic, that may have grown on land a billion years ago, well before plants were living on land. Pyritized fungus-like microfossils preserved in the basal Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation (~635 Ma) have been reported in South China. Earlier, it had been presumed that the fungi colonized the land during the Cambrian (542–488.3 Ma), also long before land plants. Fossilized hyphae and spores recovered from the Ordovician of Wisconsin (460 Ma) resemble modern-day Glomerales, and existed at a time when the land flora likely consisted of only non-vascular bryophyte-like plants. *Prototaxites*, which was probably a fungus or lichen, would have been the tallest organism of the late Silurian and early Devonian. Fungal fossils do not become common and uncontroversial until the early Devonian (416–359.2 Ma), when they occur abundantly in the Rhynie chert, mostly as Zygomycota and Chytridiomycota. At about this same time, approximately 400 Ma, the Ascomycota and Basidiomycota diverged, and all modern classes of fungi were present by the Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian, 318.1–299 Ma).
Lichens formed a component of the early terrestrial ecosystems, and the estimated age of the oldest terrestrial lichen fossil is 415 Ma; this date roughly corresponds to the age of the oldest known sporocarp fossil, a *Paleopyrenomycites* species found in the Rhynie Chert. The oldest fossil with microscopic features resembling modern-day basidiomycetes is *Palaeoancistrus*, found permineralized with a fern from the Pennsylvanian. Rare in the fossil record are the Homobasidiomycetes (a taxon roughly equivalent to the mushroom-producing species of the Agaricomycetes). Two amber-preserved specimens provide evidence that the earliest known mushroom-forming fungi (the extinct species *Archaeomarasmius leggetti*) appeared during the late Cretaceous, 90 Ma.
Some time after the Permian–Triassic extinction event (251.4 Ma), a fungal spike (originally thought to be an extraordinary abundance of fungal spores in sediments) formed, suggesting that fungi were the dominant life form at this time, representing nearly 100% of the available fossil record for this period. However, the relative proportion of fungal spores relative to spores formed by algal species is difficult to assess, the spike did not appear worldwide, and in many places it did not fall on the Permian–Triassic boundary.
Sixty-five million years ago, immediately after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event that famously killed off most dinosaurs, there was a dramatic increase in evidence of fungi; apparently the death of most plant and animal species led to a huge fungal bloom like "a massive compost heap".
## Taxonomy
Although commonly included in botany curricula and textbooks, fungi are more closely related to animals than to plants and are placed with the animals in the monophyletic group of opisthokonts. Analyses using molecular phylogenetics support a monophyletic origin of fungi. The taxonomy of fungi is in a state of constant flux, especially due to research based on DNA comparisons. These current phylogenetic analyses often overturn classifications based on older and sometimes less discriminative methods based on morphological features and biological species concepts obtained from experimental matings.
There is no unique generally accepted system at the higher taxonomic levels and there are frequent name changes at every level, from species upwards. Efforts among researchers are now underway to establish and encourage usage of a unified and more consistent nomenclature. Until relatively recent (2012) changes to the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants, fungal species could also have multiple scientific names depending on their life cycle and mode (sexual or asexual) of reproduction. Web sites such as Index Fungorum and MycoBank are officially recognized nomenclatural repositories and list current names of fungal species (with cross-references to older synonyms).
The 2007 classification of Kingdom Fungi is the result of a large-scale collaborative research effort involving dozens of mycologists and other scientists working on fungal taxonomy. It recognizes seven phyla, two of which—the Ascomycota and the Basidiomycota—are contained within a branch representing subkingdom Dikarya, the most species rich and familiar group, including all the mushrooms, most food-spoilage molds, most plant pathogenic fungi, and the beer, wine, and bread yeasts. The accompanying cladogram depicts the major fungal taxa and their relationship to opisthokont and unikont organisms, based on the work of Philippe Silar, "The Mycota: A Comprehensive Treatise on Fungi as Experimental Systems for Basic and Applied Research" and Tedersoo et al. 2018. The lengths of the branches are not proportional to evolutionary distances.
### Taxonomic groups
The major phyla (sometimes called divisions) of fungi have been classified mainly on the basis of characteristics of their sexual reproductive structures. As of 2019[update], nine major lineages have been identified: Opisthosporidia, Chytridiomycota, Neocallimastigomycota, Blastocladiomycota, Zoopagomycotina, Mucoromycota, Glomeromycota, Ascomycota, and Basidiomycota.
Phylogenetic analysis has demonstrated that the Microsporidia, unicellular parasites of animals and protists, are fairly recent and highly derived endobiotic fungi (living within the tissue of another species). Previously considered to be "primitive" protozoa, they are now thought to be either a basal branch of the Fungi, or a sister group–each other's closest evolutionary relative.
The Chytridiomycota are commonly known as chytrids. These fungi are distributed worldwide. Chytrids and their close relatives Neocallimastigomycota and Blastocladiomycota (below) are the only fungi with active motility, producing zoospores that are capable of active movement through aqueous phases with a single flagellum, leading early taxonomists to classify them as protists. Molecular phylogenies, inferred from rRNA sequences in ribosomes, suggest that the Chytrids are a basal group divergent from the other fungal phyla, consisting of four major clades with suggestive evidence for paraphyly or possibly polyphyly.
The Blastocladiomycota were previously considered a taxonomic clade within the Chytridiomycota. Molecular data and ultrastructural characteristics, however, place the Blastocladiomycota as a sister clade to the Zygomycota, Glomeromycota, and Dikarya (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota). The blastocladiomycetes are saprotrophs, feeding on decomposing organic matter, and they are parasites of all eukaryotic groups. Unlike their close relatives, the chytrids, most of which exhibit zygotic meiosis, the blastocladiomycetes undergo sporic meiosis.
The Neocallimastigomycota were earlier placed in the phylum Chytridiomycota. Members of this small phylum are anaerobic organisms, living in the digestive system of larger herbivorous mammals and in other terrestrial and aquatic environments enriched in cellulose (e.g., domestic waste landfill sites). They lack mitochondria but contain hydrogenosomes of mitochondrial origin. As in the related chrytrids, neocallimastigomycetes form zoospores that are posteriorly uniflagellate or polyflagellate.
Members of the Glomeromycota form arbuscular mycorrhizae, a form of mutualist symbiosis wherein fungal hyphae invade plant root cells and both species benefit from the resulting increased supply of nutrients. All known Glomeromycota species reproduce asexually. The symbiotic association between the Glomeromycota and plants is ancient, with evidence dating to 400 million years ago. Formerly part of the Zygomycota (commonly known as 'sugar' and 'pin' molds), the Glomeromycota were elevated to phylum status in 2001 and now replace the older phylum Zygomycota. Fungi that were placed in the Zygomycota are now being reassigned to the Glomeromycota, or the subphyla incertae sedis Mucoromycotina, Kickxellomycotina, the Zoopagomycotina and the Entomophthoromycotina. Some well-known examples of fungi formerly in the Zygomycota include black bread mold (*Rhizopus stolonifer*), and *Pilobolus* species, capable of ejecting spores several meters through the air. Medically relevant genera include *Mucor*, *Rhizomucor*, and *Rhizopus*.
The Ascomycota, commonly known as sac fungi or ascomycetes, constitute the largest taxonomic group within the Eumycota. These fungi form meiotic spores called ascospores, which are enclosed in a special sac-like structure called an ascus. This phylum includes morels, a few mushrooms and truffles, unicellular yeasts (e.g., of the genera *Saccharomyces*, *Kluyveromyces*, *Pichia*, and *Candida*), and many filamentous fungi living as saprotrophs, parasites, and mutualistic symbionts (e.g. lichens). Prominent and important genera of filamentous ascomycetes include *Aspergillus*, *Penicillium*, *Fusarium*, and *Claviceps*. Many ascomycete species have only been observed undergoing asexual reproduction (called anamorphic species), but analysis of molecular data has often been able to identify their closest teleomorphs in the Ascomycota. Because the products of meiosis are retained within the sac-like ascus, ascomycetes have been used for elucidating principles of genetics and heredity (e.g., *Neurospora crassa*).
Members of the Basidiomycota, commonly known as the club fungi or basidiomycetes, produce meiospores called basidiospores on club-like stalks called basidia. Most common mushrooms belong to this group, as well as rust and smut fungi, which are major pathogens of grains. Other important basidiomycetes include the maize pathogen *Ustilago maydis*, human commensal species of the genus *Malassezia*, and the opportunistic human pathogen, *Cryptococcus neoformans*.
### Fungus-like organisms
Because of similarities in morphology and lifestyle, the slime molds (mycetozoans, plasmodiophorids, acrasids, *Fonticula*, and labyrinthulids, now in Amoebozoa, Rhizaria, Excavata, Cristidiscoidea, and Stramenopiles, respectively), water molds (oomycetes) and hyphochytrids (both Stramenopiles) were formerly classified in the kingdom Fungi, in groups like Mastigomycotina, Gymnomycota and Phycomycetes. The slime molds were studied also as protozoans, leading to an ambiregnal, duplicated taxonomy.
Unlike true fungi, the cell walls of oomycetes contain cellulose and lack chitin. Hyphochytrids have both chitin and cellulose. Slime molds lack a cell wall during the assimilative phase (except labyrinthulids, which have a wall of scales), and take in nutrients by ingestion (phagocytosis, except labyrinthulids) rather than absorption (osmotrophy, as fungi, labyrinthulids, oomycetes and hyphochytrids). Neither water molds nor slime molds are closely related to the true fungi, and, therefore, taxonomists no longer group them in the kingdom Fungi. Nonetheless, studies of the oomycetes and myxomycetes are still often included in mycology textbooks and primary research literature.
The Eccrinales and Amoebidiales are opisthokont protists, previously thought to be zygomycete fungi. Other groups now in Opisthokonta (e.g., *Corallochytrium*, Ichthyosporea) were also at given time classified as fungi. The genus *Blastocystis*, now in Stramenopiles, was originally classified as a yeast. *Ellobiopsis*, now in Alveolata, was considered a chytrid. The bacteria were also included in fungi in some classifications, as the group Schizomycetes.
The Rozellida clade, including the "ex-chytrid" *Rozella*, is a genetically disparate group known mostly from environmental DNA sequences that is a sister group to fungi. Members of the group that have been isolated lack the chitinous cell wall that is characteristic of fungi. Alternatively, Rozella can be classified as a basal fungal group.
The nucleariids may be the next sister group to the eumycete clade, and as such could be included in an expanded fungal kingdom. Many Actinomycetales (Actinomycetota), a group with many filamentous bacteria, were also long believed to be fungi.
## Ecology
Although often inconspicuous, fungi occur in every environment on Earth and play very important roles in most ecosystems. Along with bacteria, fungi are the major decomposers in most terrestrial (and some aquatic) ecosystems, and therefore play a critical role in biogeochemical cycles and in many food webs. As decomposers, they play an essential role in nutrient cycling, especially as saprotrophs and symbionts, degrading organic matter to inorganic molecules, which can then re-enter anabolic metabolic pathways in plants or other organisms.
### Symbiosis
Many fungi have important symbiotic relationships with organisms from most if not all kingdoms. These interactions can be mutualistic or antagonistic in nature, or in the case of commensal fungi are of no apparent benefit or detriment to the host.
#### With plants
Mycorrhizal symbiosis between plants and fungi is one of the most well-known plant–fungus associations and is of significant importance for plant growth and persistence in many ecosystems; over 90% of all plant species engage in mycorrhizal relationships with fungi and are dependent upon this relationship for survival.
The mycorrhizal symbiosis is ancient, dating back to at least 400 million years. It often increases the plant's uptake of inorganic compounds, such as nitrate and phosphate from soils having low concentrations of these key plant nutrients. The fungal partners may also mediate plant-to-plant transfer of carbohydrates and other nutrients. Such mycorrhizal communities are called "common mycorrhizal networks". A special case of mycorrhiza is myco-heterotrophy, whereby the plant parasitizes the fungus, obtaining all of its nutrients from its fungal symbiont. Some fungal species inhabit the tissues inside roots, stems, and leaves, in which case they are called endophytes. Similar to mycorrhiza, endophytic colonization by fungi may benefit both symbionts; for example, endophytes of grasses impart to their host increased resistance to herbivores and other environmental stresses and receive food and shelter from the plant in return.
#### With algae and cyanobacteria
Lichens are a symbiotic relationship between fungi and photosynthetic algae or cyanobacteria. The photosynthetic partner in the relationship is referred to in lichen terminology as a "photobiont". The fungal part of the relationship is composed mostly of various species of ascomycetes and a few basidiomycetes. Lichens occur in every ecosystem on all continents, play a key role in soil formation and the initiation of biological succession, and are prominent in some extreme environments, including polar, alpine, and semiarid desert regions. They are able to grow on inhospitable surfaces, including bare soil, rocks, tree bark, wood, shells, barnacles and leaves. As in mycorrhizas, the photobiont provides sugars and other carbohydrates via photosynthesis to the fungus, while the fungus provides minerals and water to the photobiont. The functions of both symbiotic organisms are so closely intertwined that they function almost as a single organism; in most cases the resulting organism differs greatly from the individual components. Lichenization is a common mode of nutrition for fungi; around 27% of known fungi—more than 19,400 species—are lichenized. Characteristics common to most lichens include obtaining organic carbon by photosynthesis, slow growth, small size, long life, long-lasting (seasonal) vegetative reproductive structures, mineral nutrition obtained largely from airborne sources, and greater tolerance of desiccation than most other photosynthetic organisms in the same habitat.
#### With insects
Many insects also engage in mutualistic relationships with fungi. Several groups of ants cultivate fungi in the order Chaetothyriales for several purposes: as a food source, as a structural component of their nests, and as a part of an ant/plant symbiosis in the domatia (tiny chambers in plants that house arthropods). Ambrosia beetles cultivate various species of fungi in the bark of trees that they infest. Likewise, females of several wood wasp species (genus *Sirex*) inject their eggs together with spores of the wood-rotting fungus *Amylostereum areolatum* into the sapwood of pine trees; the growth of the fungus provides ideal nutritional conditions for the development of the wasp larvae. At least one species of stingless bee has a relationship with a fungus in the genus *Monascus*, where the larvae consume and depend on fungus transferred from old to new nests. Termites on the African savannah are also known to cultivate fungi, and yeasts of the genera *Candida* and *Lachancea* inhabit the gut of a wide range of insects, including neuropterans, beetles, and cockroaches; it is not known whether these fungi benefit their hosts. Fungi growing in dead wood are essential for xylophagous insects (e.g. woodboring beetles). They deliver nutrients needed by xylophages to nutritionally scarce dead wood. Thanks to this nutritional enrichment the larvae of the woodboring insect is able to grow and develop to adulthood. The larvae of many families of fungicolous flies, particularly those within the superfamily Sciaroidea such as the Mycetophilidae and some Keroplatidae feed on fungal fruiting bodies and sterile mycorrhizae.
#### As parasites
Many fungi are parasites on plants, animals (including humans), and other fungi. Serious pathogens of many cultivated plants causing extensive damage and losses to agriculture and forestry include the rice blast fungus *Magnaporthe oryzae*, tree pathogens such as *Ophiostoma ulmi* and *Ophiostoma novo-ulmi* causing Dutch elm disease, *Cryphonectria parasitica* responsible for chestnut blight, and *Phymatotrichopsis omnivora* causing Texas Root Rot, and plant pathogens in the genera *Fusarium*, *Ustilago*, *Alternaria*, and *Cochliobolus*. Some carnivorous fungi, like *Paecilomyces lilacinus*, are predators of nematodes, which they capture using an array of specialized structures such as constricting rings or adhesive nets. Many fungi that are plant pathogens, such as *Magnaporthe oryzae*, can switch from being biotrophic (parasitic on living plants) to being necrotrophic (feeding on the dead tissues of plants they have killed). This same principle is applied to fungi-feeding parasites, including *Asterotremella albida*, which feeds on the fruit bodies of other fungi both while they are living and after they are dead.
Some fungi alter the behavior of their animal hosts in ways that spread their spores more effectively (also called "active host transmission"). Examples include *Ophiocordyceps unilateralis* and possibly the extinct *Allocordyceps*.
#### As pathogens
Some fungi can cause serious diseases in humans, several of which may be fatal if untreated. These include aspergillosis, candidiasis, coccidioidomycosis, cryptococcosis, histoplasmosis, mycetomas, and paracoccidioidomycosis. Furthermore, a person with immunodeficiency is more susceptible to disease by genera such as *Aspergillus*, *Candida*, *Cryptoccocus*, *Histoplasma*, and *Pneumocystis*. Other fungi can attack eyes, nails, hair, and especially skin, the so-called dermatophytic and keratinophilic fungi, and cause local infections such as ringworm and athlete's foot. Fungal spores are also a cause of allergies, and fungi from different taxonomic groups can evoke allergic reactions.
#### As targets of mycoparasites
Organisms that parasitize fungi are known as mycoparasitic organisms. About 300 species of fungi and fungus-like organisms, belonging to 13 classes and 113 genera, are used as biocontrol agents against plant fungal diseases. Fungi can also act as mycoparasites or antagonists of other fungi, such as *Hypomyces chrysospermus*, which grows on bolete mushrooms.
Fungi can also become the target of infection by mycoviruses.
### Communication
There appears to be electrical communication between fungi in word-like components according to spiking characteristics.
### Possible impact on climate
According to a study published in the academic journal Current Biology, fungi can soak from the atmosphere around 36% of global fossil fuel greenhouse gas emissions.
## Mycotoxins
Many fungi produce biologically active compounds, several of which are toxic to animals or plants and are therefore called mycotoxins. Of particular relevance to humans are mycotoxins produced by molds causing food spoilage, and poisonous mushrooms (see above). Particularly infamous are the lethal amatoxins in some *Amanita* mushrooms, and ergot alkaloids, which have a long history of causing serious epidemics of ergotism (St Anthony's Fire) in people consuming rye or related cereals contaminated with sclerotia of the ergot fungus, *Claviceps purpurea*. Other notable mycotoxins include the aflatoxins, which are insidious liver toxins and highly carcinogenic metabolites produced by certain *Aspergillus* species often growing in or on grains and nuts consumed by humans, ochratoxins, patulin, and trichothecenes (e.g., T-2 mycotoxin) and fumonisins, which have significant impact on human food supplies or animal livestock.
Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites (or natural products), and research has established the existence of biochemical pathways solely for the purpose of producing mycotoxins and other natural products in fungi. Mycotoxins may provide fitness benefits in terms of physiological adaptation, competition with other microbes and fungi, and protection from consumption (fungivory). Many fungal secondary metabolites (or derivatives) are used medically, as described under Human use below.
## Pathogenic mechanisms
*Ustilago maydis* is a pathogenic plant fungus that causes smut disease in maize and teosinte. Plants have evolved efficient defense systems against pathogenic microbes such as *U. maydis*. A rapid defense reaction after pathogen attack is the oxidative burst where the plant produces reactive oxygen species at the site of the attempted invasion. *U. maydis* can respond to the oxidative burst with an oxidative stress response, regulated by the gene *YAP1*. The response protects *U. maydis* from the host defense, and is necessary for the pathogen's virulence. Furthermore, *U. maydis* has a well-established recombinational DNA repair system which acts during mitosis and meiosis. The system may assist the pathogen in surviving DNA damage arising from the host plant's oxidative defensive response to infection.
*Cryptococcus neoformans* is an encapsulated yeast that can live in both plants and animals. *C. neoformans* usually infects the lungs, where it is phagocytosed by alveolar macrophages. Some *C. neoformans* can survive inside macrophages, which appears to be the basis for latency, disseminated disease, and resistance to antifungal agents. One mechanism by which *C. neoformans* survives the hostile macrophage environment is by up-regulating the expression of genes involved in the oxidative stress response. Another mechanism involves meiosis. The majority of *C. neoformans* are mating "type a". Filaments of mating "type a" ordinarily have haploid nuclei, but they can become diploid (perhaps by endoduplication or by stimulated nuclear fusion) to form blastospores. The diploid nuclei of blastospores can undergo meiosis, including recombination, to form haploid basidiospores that can be dispersed. This process is referred to as monokaryotic fruiting. This process requires a gene called *DMC1*, which is a conserved homologue of genes *recA* in bacteria and *RAD51* in eukaryotes, that mediates homologous chromosome pairing during meiosis and repair of DNA double-strand breaks. Thus, *C. neoformans* can undergo a meiosis, monokaryotic fruiting, that promotes recombinational repair in the oxidative, DNA damaging environment of the host macrophage, and the repair capability may contribute to its virulence.
## Human use
The human use of fungi for food preparation or preservation and other purposes is extensive and has a long history. Mushroom farming and mushroom gathering are large industries in many countries. The study of the historical uses and sociological impact of fungi is known as ethnomycology. Because of the capacity of this group to produce an enormous range of natural products with antimicrobial or other biological activities, many species have long been used or are being developed for industrial production of antibiotics, vitamins, and anti-cancer and cholesterol-lowering drugs. Methods have been developed for genetic engineering of fungi, enabling metabolic engineering of fungal species. For example, genetic modification of yeast species—which are easy to grow at fast rates in large fermentation vessels—has opened up ways of pharmaceutical production that are potentially more efficient than production by the original source organisms. Fungi-based industries are sometimes considered to be a major part of a growing bioeconomy, with applications under research and development including use for textiles, meat substitution and general fungal biotechnology.
### Therapeutic uses
#### Modern chemotherapeutics
Many species produce metabolites that are major sources of pharmacologically active drugs.
##### Antibiotics
Particularly important are the antibiotics, including the penicillins, a structurally related group of β-lactam antibiotics that are synthesized from small peptides. Although naturally occurring penicillins such as penicillin G (produced by *Penicillium chrysogenum*) have a relatively narrow spectrum of biological activity, a wide range of other penicillins can be produced by chemical modification of the natural penicillins. Modern penicillins are semisynthetic compounds, obtained initially from fermentation cultures, but then structurally altered for specific desirable properties. Other antibiotics produced by fungi include: ciclosporin, commonly used as an immunosuppressant during transplant surgery; and fusidic acid, used to help control infection from methicillin-resistant *Staphylococcus aureus* bacteria. Widespread use of antibiotics for the treatment of bacterial diseases, such as tuberculosis, syphilis, leprosy, and others began in the early 20th century and continues to date. In nature, antibiotics of fungal or bacterial origin appear to play a dual role: at high concentrations they act as chemical defense against competition with other microorganisms in species-rich environments, such as the rhizosphere, and at low concentrations as quorum-sensing molecules for intra- or interspecies signaling.
##### Other
Other drugs produced by fungi include griseofulvin isolated from *Penicillium griseofulvum*, used to treat fungal infections, and statins (HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors), used to inhibit cholesterol synthesis. Examples of statins found in fungi include mevastatin from *Penicillium citrinum* and lovastatin from *Aspergillus terreus* and the oyster mushroom. Psilocybin from fungi is investigated for therapeutic use and appears to cause global increases in brain network integration. Fungi produce compounds that inhibit viruses and cancer cells. Specific metabolites, such as polysaccharide-K, ergotamine, and β-lactam antibiotics, are routinely used in clinical medicine. The shiitake mushroom is a source of lentinan, a clinical drug approved for use in cancer treatments in several countries, including Japan. In Europe and Japan, polysaccharide-K (brand name Krestin), a chemical derived from *Trametes versicolor*, is an approved adjuvant for cancer therapy.
### Traditional medicine
Certain mushrooms are used as supposed therapeutics in folk medicine practices, such as traditional Chinese medicine. Mushrooms with a history of such use include *Agaricus subrufescens*, *Ganoderma lucidum*, and *Ophiocordyceps sinensis*.
### Cultured foods
Baker's yeast or *Saccharomyces cerevisiae*, a unicellular fungus, is used to make bread and other wheat-based products, such as pizza dough and dumplings. Yeast species of the genus *Saccharomyces* are also used to produce alcoholic beverages through fermentation. Shoyu koji mold (*Aspergillus oryzae*) is an essential ingredient in brewing shoyu (soy sauce) and sake, and the preparation of miso, while *Rhizopus* species are used for making tempeh. Several of these fungi are domesticated species that were bred or selected according to their capacity to ferment food without producing harmful mycotoxins (see below), which are produced by very closely related *Aspergilli*. Quorn, a meat alternative, is made from *Fusarium venenatum*.
### In food
Edible mushrooms include commercially raised and wild-harvested fungi. *Agaricus bisporus*, sold as button mushrooms when small or Portobello mushrooms when larger, is the most widely cultivated species in the West, used in salads, soups, and many other dishes. Many Asian fungi are commercially grown and have increased in popularity in the West. They are often available fresh in grocery stores and markets, including straw mushrooms (*Volvariella volvacea*), oyster mushrooms (*Pleurotus ostreatus*), shiitakes (*Lentinula edodes*), and enokitake (*Flammulina* spp.).
Many other mushroom species are harvested from the wild for personal consumption or commercial sale. Milk mushrooms, morels, chanterelles, truffles, black trumpets, and *porcini* mushrooms (*Boletus edulis*) (also known as king boletes) demand a high price on the market. They are often used in gourmet dishes.
Certain types of cheeses require inoculation of milk curds with fungal species that impart a unique flavor and texture to the cheese. Examples include the blue color in cheeses such as Stilton or Roquefort, which are made by inoculation with *Penicillium roqueforti*. Molds used in cheese production are non-toxic and are thus safe for human consumption; however, mycotoxins (e.g., aflatoxins, roquefortine C, patulin, or others) may accumulate because of growth of other fungi during cheese ripening or storage.
### Poisonous fungi
Many mushroom species are poisonous to humans and cause a range of reactions including slight digestive problems, allergic reactions, hallucinations, severe organ failure, and death. Genera with mushrooms containing deadly toxins include *Conocybe*, *Galerina*, *Lepiota* and the most infamous, *Amanita*. The latter genus includes the destroying angel *(A. virosa)* and the death cap *(A. phalloides)*, the most common cause of deadly mushroom poisoning. The false morel (*Gyromitra esculenta*) is occasionally considered a delicacy when cooked, yet can be highly toxic when eaten raw. *Tricholoma equestre* was considered edible until it was implicated in serious poisonings causing rhabdomyolysis. Fly agaric mushrooms (*Amanita muscaria*) also cause occasional non-fatal poisonings, mostly as a result of ingestion for its hallucinogenic properties. Historically, fly agaric was used by different peoples in Europe and Asia and its present usage for religious or shamanic purposes is reported from some ethnic groups such as the Koryak people of northeastern Siberia.
As it is difficult to accurately identify a safe mushroom without proper training and knowledge, it is often advised to assume that a wild mushroom is poisonous and not to consume it.
### Pest control
In agriculture, fungi may be useful if they actively compete for nutrients and space with pathogenic microorganisms such as bacteria or other fungi via the competitive exclusion principle, or if they are parasites of these pathogens. For example, certain species eliminate or suppress the growth of harmful plant pathogens, such as insects, mites, weeds, nematodes, and other fungi that cause diseases of important crop plants. This has generated strong interest in practical applications that use these fungi in the biological control of these agricultural pests. Entomopathogenic fungi can be used as biopesticides, as they actively kill insects. Examples that have been used as biological insecticides are *Beauveria bassiana*, *Metarhizium* spp., *Hirsutella* spp., *Paecilomyces* (*Isaria*) spp., and *Lecanicillium lecanii*. Endophytic fungi of grasses of the genus *Epichloë*, such as *E. coenophiala*, produce alkaloids that are toxic to a range of invertebrate and vertebrate herbivores. These alkaloids protect grass plants from herbivory, but several endophyte alkaloids can poison grazing animals, such as cattle and sheep. Infecting cultivars of pasture or forage grasses with *Epichloë* endophytes is one approach being used in grass breeding programs; the fungal strains are selected for producing only alkaloids that increase resistance to herbivores such as insects, while being non-toxic to livestock.
### Bioremediation
Certain fungi, in particular white-rot fungi, can degrade insecticides, herbicides, pentachlorophenol, creosote, coal tars, and heavy fuels and turn them into carbon dioxide, water, and basic elements. Fungi have been shown to biomineralize uranium oxides, suggesting they may have application in the bioremediation of radioactively polluted sites.
### Model organisms
Several pivotal discoveries in biology were made by researchers using fungi as model organisms, that is, fungi that grow and sexually reproduce rapidly in the laboratory. For example, the one gene-one enzyme hypothesis was formulated by scientists using the bread mold *Neurospora crassa* to test their biochemical theories. Other important model fungi are *Aspergillus nidulans* and the yeasts *Saccharomyces cerevisiae* and *Schizosaccharomyces pombe*, each of which with a long history of use to investigate issues in eukaryotic cell biology and genetics, such as cell cycle regulation, chromatin structure, and gene regulation. Other fungal models have emerged that address specific biological questions relevant to medicine, plant pathology, and industrial uses; examples include *Candida albicans*, a dimorphic, opportunistic human pathogen, *Magnaporthe grisea*, a plant pathogen, and *Pichia pastoris*, a yeast widely used for eukaryotic protein production.
### Others
Fungi are used extensively to produce industrial chemicals like citric, gluconic, lactic, and malic acids, and industrial enzymes, such as lipases used in biological detergents, cellulases used in making cellulosic ethanol and stonewashed jeans, and amylases, invertases, proteases, and xylanases.
## See also
### Footnotes
### Citations
### Cited literature
## Further reading
- Kolbert, Elizabeth, "Spored to Death" (review of Emily Monosson,
*Blight: Fungi and the Coming Pandemic*, Norton, 253 pp.; and Alison Pouliot,*Meetings with Remarkable Mushrooms: Forays with Fungi Across Hemispheres*, University of Chicago Press, 278 pp.),*The New York Review of Books*, vol. LXX, no.14 (21 September 2023), pp. 41–42. "Fungi sicken us and fungi sustain us. In either case, we ignore them at our peril." (p. 42.)
## External links
- M. C. Cooke (1875), Fungi: Their Nature and Uses, (2009)
- ---- (1872), Rust, Smut, Mildew, & Mould: An Introduction to the Study of Microscopic Fungi, (2020)
- Tree of Life web project: Fungi Archived 25 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine
- Encyclopedia of Life: Fungus
- FUNGI in BoDD – Botanical Dermatology Database
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# Emu - Wikipedia
| Emu | |
|---|---|
| At Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, Australian Capital Territory | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Infraclass: | Palaeognathae |
| Order: | Casuariiformes |
| Family: | Casuariidae |
| Genus: | Dromaius
|
| Species: | D. novaehollandiae |
| Binomial name | |
Dromaius novaehollandiae | |
| Subspecies | |
| |
| Distribution in red | |
| Synonyms | |
|
List |
The **emu** (* Dromaius novaehollandiae*) is a species of flightless bird endemic to Australia, where it is the tallest native bird. It is the only extant member of the genus
*Dromaius*and the third-tallest living bird after its African ratite relatives, the common ostrich and Somali ostrich. The emu's native ranges cover most of the Australian mainland. The Tasmanian, Kangaroo Island and King Island subspecies became extinct after the European settlement of Australia in 1788.
The emu has soft, brown feathers, a long neck, and long legs. It can grow up to 1.9 m (6 ft 3 in) in height. It is a robust bipedal runner that can travel great distances, and when necessary can sprint at 48 km/h (30 mph). It is omnivorous and forages on a variety of plants and insects, and can go for weeks without eating. It drinks infrequently, but takes in copious amounts of fresh water when the opportunity arises.
Breeding takes place in May and June, and fighting among females for a mate is common. Females can mate several times and lay several clutches of eggs in one season. The male does the incubation; during this process he hardly eats or drinks and loses a significant amount of weight. The eggs hatch after around eight weeks, and the young are nurtured by their fathers. They reach full size after around six months, but can remain as a family unit until the next breeding season.
The emu is sufficiently common to be rated as a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Despite this, some local populations are listed as endangered, with all the insular subspecies going extinct by the 1800s. Threats to their survival include egg predation by other animals (especially invasive species), roadkills and habitat fragmentation.
The emu is an important cultural icon of Australia, appearing on the coat of arms and various coinages. The bird features prominently in Indigenous Australian mythologies.
## Etymology
The etymology of the common name "emu" is uncertain, but is thought to have come from an Arabic word for large bird that was later used by Portuguese explorers to describe the related cassowary in Australia and New Guinea. Another theory is that it comes from the word "ema", which is used in Portuguese to denote a large bird akin to an ostrich or crane. In Victoria, some terms for the emu were *Barrimal* in the Dja Dja Wurrung language, *myoure* in Gunai, and *courn* in Jardwadjali. The birds were known as *murawung* or *birabayin* to the local Eora and Darug inhabitants of the Sydney basin.
## Taxonomy
### History
Emus were first reported as having been seen by Europeans when explorers visited the western coast of Australia in 1696. This was during an expedition led by Dutch captain Willem de Vlamingh who was searching for survivors of a ship that had gone missing two years earlier. The birds were known on the eastern coast before 1788, when the first Europeans settled there. The birds were first mentioned under the name of the "New Holland cassowary" in Arthur Phillip's *Voyage to Botany Bay*, published in 1789 with the following description:
This is a species differing in many particulars from that generally known, and is a much larger bird, standing higher on its legs and having the neck longer than in the common one. Total length seven feet two inches. The bill is not greatly different from that of the common Cassowary; but the horny appendage, or helmet on top of the head, in this species is totally wanting: the whole of the head and neck is also covered with feathers, except the throat and fore part of the neck about half way, which are not so well feathered as the rest; whereas in the common Cassowary the head and neck are bare and carunculated as in the turkey. The plumage in general consists of a mixture of brown and grey, and the feathers are somewhat curled or bent at the ends in the natural state: the wings are so very short as to be totally useless for flight, and indeed, are scarcely to be distinguished from the rest of the plumage, were it not for their standing out a little. The long spines which are seen in the wings of the common sort, are in this not observable,—nor is there any appearance of a tail. The legs are stout, formed much as in the Galeated Cassowary, with the addition of their being jagged or sawed the whole of their length at the back part.
The species was named by ornithologist John Latham in 1790 based on a specimen from the Sydney area of Australia, a country which was known as New Holland at the time. He collaborated on Phillip's book and provided the first descriptions of, and names for, many Australian bird species; *Dromaius* comes from a Greek word meaning "racer" and *novaehollandiae* is the Latin term for New Holland, so the name can be rendered as "fast-footed New Hollander". In his original 1816 description of the emu, the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot used two generic names, first *Dromiceius* and later *Dromaius*. It has been a point of contention ever since as to which name should be used; the latter is more correctly formed, but the convention in taxonomy is that the first name given to an organism stands, unless it is clearly a typographical error. Most modern publications, including those of the Australian government, use *Dromaius*, with *Dromiceius* mentioned as an alternative spelling.
### Systematics
The emu was long classified, with its closest relatives the cassowaries, in the family Casuariidae, part of the ratite order Struthioniformes. An alternate classification was proposed in 2014 by Mitchell et al., based on analysis of mitochondrial DNA. This splits off the Casuariidae into their own order, the Casuariiformes, and includes only the cassowaries in the family Casuariidae, placing the emus in their own family, Dromaiidae. The cladogram shown below is from their study.
Two different *Dromaius* species were present in Australia at the time of European settlement, and one additional species is known from fossil remains. The insular dwarf emus, *D. n. baudinianus* and *D. n. minor*, originally present on Kangaroo Island and King Island respectively, both became extinct shortly after the arrival of Europeans. *D. n. diemenensis*, another insular dwarf emu from Tasmania, became extinct around 1865. The mainland subspecies, *D. n. novaehollandiae*, remains common. The population of these birds varies from decade to decade, largely being dependent on rainfall; in 2009, it was estimated that there were between 630,000 and 725,000 birds. Emus were introduced to Maria Island off Tasmania, and Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia, during the 20th century. The Maria Island population died out in the mid-1990s. The Kangaroo Island birds have successfully established a breeding population.
In 1912, the Australian ornithologist Gregory M. Mathews recognised three living subspecies of emu, *D. n. novaehollandiae* (Latham, 1790), *D. n. woodwardi* Mathews, 1912 and *D. n. rothschildi* Mathews, 1912. The Handbook of the Birds of the World, however, argues that the last two of these subspecies are invalid; natural variations in plumage colour and the nomadic nature of the species make it likely that there is a single race in mainland Australia. Examination of the DNA of the King Island emu shows this bird to be closely related to the mainland emu and hence best treated as a subspecies.
## Description
The emu is the second tallest bird in the world, only being exceeded in height by the ostrich; the largest individuals can reach up to 150 to 190 cm (59 to 75 in) in height. Measured from the bill to the tail, emus range in length from 139 to 164 cm (55 to 65 in), with males averaging 148.5 cm (58.5 in) and females averaging 156.8 cm (61.7 in). Emus are the fourth or fifth heaviest living bird after the two species of ostrich and two larger species of cassowary, weighing slightly more on average than an emperor penguin. Adult emus weigh between 18 and 60 kg (40 and 132 lb), with an average of 31.5 and 37 kg (69 and 82 lb) in males and females, respectively. Females are usually slightly larger than males and are substantially wider across the rump.
Although flightless, emus have vestigial wings, the wing chord measuring around 20 cm (8 in), and each wing having a small claw at the tip. Emus flap their wings when running, perhaps as a means of stabilising themselves when moving fast. They have long necks and legs, and can run at speeds of 48 km/h (30 mph) due to their highly specialised pelvic limb musculature. Their feet have only three toes and a similarly reduced number of bones and associated foot muscles; emus are unique among birds in that their gastrocnemius muscles in the back of the lower legs have four bellies instead of the usual three. The pelvic limb muscles of emus contribute a similar proportion of the total body mass as do the flight muscles of flying birds. When walking, the emu takes strides of about 100 cm (3.3 ft), but at full gallop, a stride can be as long as 275 cm (9 ft). Its legs are devoid of feathers and underneath its feet are thick, cushioned pads. Like the cassowary, the emu has sharp claws on its toes which are its major defensive attribute, and are used in combat to inflict wounds on opponents by kicking. The toe and claw total 15 cm (6 in) in length. The bill is quite small, measuring 5.6 to 6.7 cm (2.2 to 2.6 in), and is soft, being adapted for grazing. Emus have good eyesight and hearing, which allows them to detect threats at some distance.
The neck of the emu is pale blue and shows through its sparse feathers. They have grey-brown plumage of shaggy appearance; the shafts and the tips of the feathers are black. Solar radiation is absorbed by the tips, and the inner plumage insulates the skin. This prevents the birds from overheating, allowing them to be active during the heat of the day. A unique feature of the emu feather is the double rachis emerging from a single shaft. Both of the rachis have the same length, and the texture is variable; the area near the skin is rather furry, but the more distant ends resemble grass. The sexes are similar in appearance, although the male's penis can become visible when he urinates and defecates. The plumage varies in colour due to environmental factors, giving the bird a natural camouflage. Feathers of emus in more arid areas with red soils have a rufous tint while birds residing in damp conditions are generally darker in hue. The juvenile plumage develops at about three months and is blackish finely barred with brown, with the head and neck being especially dark. The facial feathers gradually thin to expose the bluish skin. The adult plumage has developed by about fifteen months.
The eyes of an emu are protected by nictitating membranes. These are translucent, secondary eyelids that move horizontally from the inside edge of the eye to the outside edge. They function as visors to protect the eyes from the dust that is prevalent in windy arid regions. Emus have a tracheal pouch, which becomes more prominent during the mating season. At more than 30 cm (12 in) in length, it is quite spacious; it has a thin wall, and an opening 8 centimetres (3 in) long.
## Distribution and habitat
Once common on the east coast of Australia, emus are now uncommon there; by contrast, the development of agriculture and the provision of water for stock in the interior of the continent have increased the range of the emu in arid regions. Emus live in various habitats across Australia both inland and near the coast. They are most common in areas of savannah woodland and sclerophyll forest, and least common in heavily populated districts and arid areas with annual precipitation of less than 600 millimetres (24 in). Emus predominantly travel in pairs, and while they can form large flocks, this is an atypical social behaviour that arises from the common need to move towards a new food source. Emus have been shown to travel long distances to reach abundant feeding areas. In Western Australia, emu movements follow a distinct seasonal pattern – north in summer and south in winter. On the east coast their wanderings seem to be more random and do not appear to follow a set pattern.
## Behaviour and ecology
Emus are diurnal birds and spend their day foraging, preening their plumage with their beak, dust bathing and resting. They are generally gregarious birds apart from the breeding season, and while some forage, others remain vigilant to their mutual benefit. They are able to swim when necessary, although they rarely do so unless the area is flooded or they need to cross a river.
Emus begin to settle down at sunset and sleep during the night. They do not sleep continuously but rouse themselves several times during the night. When falling asleep, emus first squat on their tarsi and enter a drowsy state during which they are alert enough to react to stimuli and quickly return to a fully awakened state if disturbed. As they fall into deeper sleep, their neck droops closer to the body and the eyelids begin to close. If there are no disturbances, they fall into a deeper sleep after about twenty minutes. During this phase, the body is gradually lowered until it is touching the ground with the legs folded underneath. The beak is turned down so that the whole neck becomes S-shaped and folded onto itself. The feathers direct any rain downwards onto the ground. It has been suggested that the sleeping position is a type of camouflage, mimicking a small mound. Emus typically awake from deep sleep once every ninety minutes or so and stand upright to feed briefly or defecate. This period of wakefulness lasts for ten to twenty minutes, after which they return to slumber. Overall, an emu sleeps for around seven hours in each twenty-four-hour period. Young emus usually sleep with their neck flat and stretched forward along the ground surface.
The vocalisations of emus mostly consist of various booming and grunting sounds. The booming is created by the inflatable throat pouch; the pitch can be regulated by the bird and depends on the size of the aperture. Most of the booming is done by females; it is part of the courtship ritual, is used to announce the holding of territory and is issued as a threat to rivals. A high-intensity boom is audible 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) away, while a low, more resonant call, produced during the breeding season, may at first attract mates and peaks while the male is incubating the eggs. Most of the grunting is done by males. It is used principally during the breeding season in territorial defence, as a threat to other males, during courtship and while the female is laying. Both sexes sometimes boom or grunt during threat displays or on encountering strange objects.
On very hot days, emus pant to maintain their body temperature. Their lungs work as evaporative coolers and, unlike some other species, the resulting low levels of carbon dioxide in the blood do not appear to cause alkalosis. For normal breathing in cooler weather, they have large, multifolded nasal passages. Cool air warms as it passes through into the lungs, extracting heat from the nasal region. On exhalation, the emu's cold nasal turbinates condense moisture back out of the air and absorb it for reuse. As with other ratites, the emu has great homeothermic ability, and can maintain this status from −5 to 45 °C (23 to 113 °F). The thermoneutral zone of emus lies between 10 and 30 °C (50 and 86 °F).
As with other ratites, emus have a relatively low basal metabolic rate compared to other types of birds. At −5 °C (23 °F), the metabolic rate of an emu sitting down is about 60% of that when standing, partly because the lack of feathers under the stomach leads to a higher rate of heat loss when standing from the exposed underbelly.
### Diet
Emus forage in a diurnal pattern and eat a variety of native and introduced plant species. The diet depends on seasonal availability with such plants as *Acacia*, *Casuarina* and grasses being favoured. They also eat insects and other arthropods, including grasshoppers and crickets, beetles, cockroaches, ladybirds, bogong and cotton-boll moth larvae, ants, spiders and millipedes. This provides a large part of their protein requirements. In Western Australia, food preferences have been observed in travelling emus; they eat seeds from *Acacia aneura* until the rains arrive, after which they move on to fresh grass shoots and caterpillars; in winter they feed on the leaves and pods of *Cassia* and in spring, they consume grasshoppers and the fruit of *Santalum acuminatum*, a sort of quandong. They are also known to feed on wheat, and any fruit or other crops that they can access, easily climbing over high fences if necessary. Emus serve as an important agent for the dispersal of large viable seeds, which contributes to floral biodiversity. One undesirable effect of this occurred in Queensland in the early twentieth century when emus fed on the fruit of prickly pears in the outback. They defecated the seeds in various places as they moved around, and this led to a series of campaigns to hunt emus and prevent the seeds of the invasive cactus being spread. The cacti were eventually controlled by an introduced moth (*Cactoblastis cactorum*) whose larvae fed on the plant, one of the earliest examples of biological control. The δ13C of the emu's diet is reflected in the δ13C of the calcite of its egg shell.
Small stones are swallowed to assist in the grinding up and digestion of the plant material. Individual stones may weigh 45 g (1.6 oz) and the birds may have as much as 745 g (1.642 lb) in their gizzards at one time. They also eat charcoal, although the reason for this is unclear. Captive emus have been known to eat shards of glass, marbles, car keys, jewellery and nuts and bolts.
Emus drink infrequently but ingest large amounts when the opportunity arises. They typically drink once a day, first inspecting the water body and surrounding area in groups before kneeling down at the edge to drink. They prefer being on firm ground while drinking, rather than on rocks or mud, but if they sense danger, they often stand rather than kneel. If not disturbed, they may drink continuously for ten minutes. Due to the scarcity of water sources, emus are sometimes forced to go without water for several days. In the wild, they often share water holes with other animals such as kangaroos; they are wary and tend to wait for the other animals to leave before drinking.
### Breeding
Emus form breeding pairs during the summer months of December and January and may remain together for about five months. During this time, they stay in an area a few kilometres in diameter and it is believed they find and defend territory within this area. Both males and females put on weight during the breeding season, with the female becoming slightly heavier at between 45 and 58 kg (99 and 128 lb). Mating usually takes place between April and June; the exact timing is determined by the climate as the birds nest during the coolest part of the year. During the breeding season, males experience hormonal changes, including an increase in luteinising hormone and testosterone levels, and their testicles double in size.
Males construct a rough nest in a semi-sheltered hollow on the ground, using bark, grass, sticks and leaves to line it. The nest is almost always a flat surface rather than a segment of a sphere, although in cold conditions the nest is taller, up to 7 cm (2.8 in) tall, and more spherical to provide some extra heat retention. When other material is lacking, the bird sometimes uses a spinifex tussock a metre or so across, despite the prickly nature of the foliage. The nest can be placed on open ground or near a shrub or rock. The nest is usually placed in an area where the emu has a clear view of its surroundings and can detect approaching predators. The nest can contain eggs from multiple emus the number is usually between 15 and 25 eggs.
Female emus court the males; the female's plumage darkens slightly and the small patches of bare, featherless skin just below the eyes and near the beak turn turquoise-blue. The colour of the male's plumage remains unchanged, although the bare patches of skin also turn light blue. When courting, females stride around, pulling their neck back while puffing out their feathers and emitting low, monosyllabic calls that have been compared to drum beats. This calling can occur when males are out of sight or more than 50 metres (160 ft) away. Once the male's attention has been gained, the female circles her prospective mate at a distance of 10 to 40 metres (30 to 130 ft). As she does this, she looks at him by turning her neck, while at the same time keeping her rump facing towards him. If the male shows interest in the parading female, he will move closer; the female continues the courtship by shuffling further away but continuing to circle him.
If a male is interested, he will stretch his neck and erect his feathers, then bend over and peck at the ground. He will circle around and sidle up to the female, swaying his body and neck from side to side, and rubbing his breast against his partner's rump. Often the female will reject his advances with aggression, but if amenable, she signals acceptance by squatting down and raising her rump.
Females are more aggressive than males during the courtship period, often fighting for access to mates, with fights among females accounting for more than half the aggressive interactions during this period. If females court a male that already has a partner, the incumbent female will try to repel the competitor, usually by chasing and kicking. These interactions can be prolonged, lasting up to five hours, especially when the male being fought over is single and neither female has the advantage of incumbency. In these cases, the females typically intensify their calls and displays.
The sperm from a mating is stored by the female and can suffice to fertilise about six eggs. The pair mate every day or two, and every second or third day the female lays one of a clutch of five to fifteen very large, thick-shelled, green eggs. The shell is around 1 mm (0.04 in) thick, but rather thinner in northern regions according to indigenous Australians. The shell is substantially composed of calcite, and its δ13C is a function of the emu's diet. The eggs are on average 13 cm × 9 cm (5.1 in × 3.5 in) and weigh between 450 and 650 g (1.0 and 1.4 lb). The maternal investment in the egg is considerable, and the proportion of yolk to albumen, at about 50%, is greater than would be predicted for a precocial egg of this size. This probably relates to the long incubation period which means the developing chick must consume greater resources before hatching. The first verified occurrence of genetically identical avian twins was demonstrated in the emu. The egg surface is granulated and pale green. During the incubation period, the egg turns dark green, although if the egg never hatches, it will turn white from the bleaching effect of the sun.
The male becomes broody after his mate starts laying, and may begin to incubate the eggs before the clutch is complete. From this time on, he does not eat, drink, or defecate, and stands only to turn the eggs, which he does about ten times a day. He develops a brood patch, a bare area of wrinkled skin which is in intimate contact with the eggs. Over the course of the eight-week incubation period, he will lose a third of his weight and will survive on stored body fat and on any morning dew that he can reach from the nest. As with many other Australian birds, such as the superb fairywren, infidelity is the norm for emus, despite the initial pair bond: once the male starts brooding, the female usually wanders off, and may mate with other males and lay in multiple nests; thus, as many as half the chicks in a brood may not be fathered by the incubating male, or even by either parent, as emus also exhibit brood parasitism.
Some females stay and defend the nest until the chicks start hatching, but most leave the nesting area completely to nest again; in a good season, a female emu may nest three times. If the parents stay together during the incubation period, they will take turns standing guard over the eggs while the other drinks and feeds within earshot. If it perceives a threat during this period, it will lie down on top of the nest and try to blend in with the similar-looking surrounds, and suddenly stand up to confront and scare the other party if it comes close.
Incubation takes 56 days, and the male stops incubating the eggs shortly before they hatch. The temperature of the nest rises slightly during the eight-week period. Although the eggs are laid sequentially, they tend to hatch within two days of one another, as the eggs that were laid later experienced higher temperatures and developed more rapidly. During the process, the precocial emu chicks need to develop a capacity for thermoregulation. During incubation, the embryos are kept at a constant temperature but the chicks will need to be able to cope with varying external temperatures by the time they hatch.
Newly hatched chicks are active and can leave the nest within a few days of hatching. They stand about 12 cm (5 in) tall at first, weigh 0.5 kg (17.6 oz), and have distinctive brown and cream stripes for camouflage, which fade after three months or so. The male guards the growing chicks for up to seven months, teaching them how to find food. Chicks grow very quickly and are fully grown in five to six months; they may remain with their family group for another six months or so before they split up to breed in their second season. During their early life, the young emus are defended by their father, who adopts a belligerent stance towards other emus, including the mother. He does this by ruffling his feathers, emitting sharp grunts, and kicking his legs to drive off other animals. He can also bend his knees to crouch over smaller chicks to protect them. At night, he envelops his young with his feathers. As the young emus cannot travel far, the parents must choose an area with plentiful food in which to breed. In the wild, emus can live for upwards of 10 years but in captivity, they can live up to 20 years.
### Predation
There are few native natural predators of adult emus still extant. Early in its species history it may have faced numerous terrestrial predators now extinct, including the giant lizard *Megalania*, the thylacine, and possibly other carnivorous marsupials, which may explain their seemingly well-developed ability to defend themselves from terrestrial predators. The main predator of emus today is the dingo, which was originally introduced by Aboriginals thousands of years ago from a stock of semi-domesticated wolves. Dingoes try to kill the emu by attacking the head. The emu typically tries to repel the dingo by jumping into the air and kicking or stamping the dingo on its way down. The emu jumps as the dingo barely has the capacity to jump high enough to threaten its neck, so a correctly timed leap to coincide with the dingo's lunge can keep its head and neck out of danger. Despite the potential prey-predator relationship, the presence of predaceous dingoes does not appear to heavily influence emu numbers, with other natural conditions just as likely to cause mortality. Wedge-tailed eagles are the only avian predator capable of attacking fully-grown emus, though are perhaps most likely to take small or young specimens. The eagles attack emus by swooping downwards rapidly and at high speed and aiming for the head and neck. In this case, the emu's jumping technique as employed against the dingo is not useful. The birds try to target the emu in the open ground so that it cannot hide behind obstacles. Under such circumstances, the emu runs in a chaotic manner and changes directions frequently to try to evade its attacker. While full-grown adults are rarely preyed upon, dingos, raptors, monitor lizards, introduced red foxes, feral and domestic dogs, and feral pigs occasionally feed on emu eggs or kill small chicks. Adult males fiercely defend their chicks from predators, especially dingos and foxes.
### Parasites
Emus can suffer from both external and internal parasites, but under farmed conditions are more parasite-free than ostriches or rheas. External parasites include the louse *Dahlemhornia asymmetrica* and various other lice, ticks, mites and flies. Chicks sometimes suffer from intestinal tract infections caused by coccidian protozoa, and the nematode *Trichostrongylus tenuis* infects the emu as well as a wide range of other birds, causing haemorrhagic diarrhoea. Other nematodes are found in the trachea and bronchi; *Syngamus trachea* causing haemorrhagic tracheitis and *Cyathostoma variegatum* causing serious respiratory problems in juveniles.
## Relationship with humans
Emus were used as a source of food by indigenous Australians and early European settlers. Emus are inquisitive birds and have been known to approach humans if they see unexpected movement of a limb or piece of clothing. In the wild, they may follow and observe people. Aboriginal Australians used a variety of techniques to catch the birds, including spearing them while they drank at waterholes, catching them in nets, and attracting them by imitating their calls or by arousing their curiosity with a ball of feathers and rags dangled from a tree. The pitchuri thornapple (*Duboisia hopwoodii*), or some similar poisonous plant, could be used to contaminate a waterhole, after which the disoriented emus were easy to catch. Another stratagem was for the hunter to use a skin as a disguise, and the birds could be lured into a camouflaged pit trap using rags or imitation calls. Aboriginal Australians only killed emus out of necessity, and frowned on anyone who hunted them for any other reason. Every part of the carcass had some use; the fat was harvested for its valuable, multiple-use oil, the bones were shaped into knives and tools, the feathers were used for body adornment and the tendons substituted for string.
The early European settlers killed emus to provide food and used their fat for fuelling lamps. They also tried to prevent them from interfering with farming or invading settlements in search of water during drought. An extreme example of this was the Emu War in Western Australia in 1932. Emus flocked to the Chandler and Walgoolan area during a dry spell, damaging rabbit fencing and devastating crops. An attempt to drive them off was mounted, with the army called in to dispatch them with machine guns; the emus largely avoided the hunters. Emus are large, powerful birds, and their legs are among the strongest of any animal and powerful enough to tear down metal fencing. The birds are very defensive of their young, and there have been two documented cases of humans being attacked by emus.
### Economic value
In the areas in which it was endemic, the emu was an important source of meat to Aboriginal Australians. They used the fat as bush medicine and rubbed it into their skin. It served as a valuable lubricant, was used to oil wooden tools and utensils such as the coolamon, and was mixed with ochre to make the traditional paint for ceremonial body adornment. Their eggs were also foraged for food.
An example of how the emu was cooked comes from the Arrernte of Central Australia who called it *Kere ankerre*:
Emus are around all the time, in green times and dry times. You pluck the feathers out first, then pull out the crop from the stomach, and put in the feathers you've pulled out, and then singe it on the fire. You wrap the milk guts that you've pulled out into something [such as] gum leaves and cook them. When you've got the fat off, you cut the meat up and cook it on fire made from river red gum wood.
The birds were a food and fuel source for early European settlers, and are now farmed, in Australia and elsewhere, for their meat, oil and leather. Commercial emu farming started in Western Australia around 1970. The commercial industry in the country is based on stock bred in captivity, and all states except Tasmania have licensing requirements to protect wild emus. Outside Australia, emus are farmed on a large scale in North America, with about 1 million birds in the US, Peru, and China, and to a lesser extent in some other countries. Emus breed well in captivity, and are kept in large open pens to avoid the leg and digestive problems that arise from inactivity. They are typically fed on grain supplemented by grazing, and are slaughtered at 15 to 18 months.
The Salem district administration in India advised farmers in 2012 not to invest in the emu business which was being heavily promoted at the time; further investigation was needed to assess the profitability of farming the birds in India. In the United States, it was reported in 2013 that many ranchers had left the emu business; it was estimated that the number of growers had dropped from over five thousand in 1998 to one or two thousand in 2013. The remaining growers increasingly rely on sales of oil for their profit, although, leather, eggs, and meat are also sold.
Emus are farmed primarily for their meat, leather, feathers and oil, and 95% of the carcass can be used. Emu meat is a low-fat product (less than 1.5% fat), and is comparable to other lean meats. Most of the usable portions (the best cuts come from the thigh and the larger muscles of the drum or lower leg) are, like other poultry, dark meat; emu meat is considered for cooking purposes by the US Food and Drug Administration to be a red meat because its red colour and pH value approximate that of beef, but for inspection purposes it is considered to be poultry. Emu fat is rendered to produce oil for cosmetics, dietary supplements, and therapeutic products. The oil is obtained from the subcutaneous and retroperitoneal fat; the macerated adipose tissue is heated and the liquefied fat is filtered to get a clear oil. This consists mainly of fatty acids of which oleic acid (42%), linoleic and palmitic acids (21% each) are the most prominent components. It also contains various anti-oxidants, notably carotenoids and flavones.
There is some evidence that the oil has anti-inflammatory properties; however, there have not yet been extensive tests, and the USDA regards pure emu oil as an unapproved drug and highlighted it in a 2009 article entitled "How to Spot Health Fraud". Nevertheless, the oil has been linked to the easing of gastrointestinal inflammation, and tests on rats have shown that it has a significant effect in treating arthritis and joint pain, more so than olive or fish oils. It has been scientifically shown to improve the rate of wound healing, but the mechanism responsible for this effect is not understood. A 2008 study has claimed that emu oil has a better anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory potential than ostrich oil, and linked this to emu oil's higher proportion of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids. While there are no scientific studies showing that emu oil is effective in humans, it is marketed and promoted as a dietary supplement with a wide variety of claimed health benefits. Commercially marketed emu oil supplements are poorly standardised.
Emu leather has a distinctive patterned surface, due to a raised area around the feather follicles in the skin; the leather is used in such items as wallets, handbags, shoes and clothes, often in combination with other leathers. The feathers and eggs are used in decorative arts and crafts. In particular, emptied emu eggs have been engraved with portraits, similar to cameos, and scenes of Australian native animals. Mounted Emu eggs and emu-egg containers in the form of hundreds of goblets, inkstands and vases were produced in the second half of the nineteenth century, all richly embellished with images of Australian flora, fauna and indigenous people by travelling silversmiths, founders of a 'new Australian grammar of ornament'. They continued longstanding traditions that can be traced back to the European mounted ostrich eggs of the thirteenth century and Christian symbolism and notions of virginity, fertility, faith and strength. For a society of proud settlers who sought to bring culture and civilisation to their new world, the traditional ostrich-egg goblet, freed from its roots in a society dominated by court culture, was creatively made novel in the Australian colonies as forms and functions were invented to make the objects attractive to a new, broader audience. Significant designers Adolphus Blau, Julius Hogarth, Ernest Leviny, Julius Schomburgk, Johann Heinrich Steiner, Christian Quist, Joachim Matthias Wendt, William Edwards and others had the technical training on which to build flourishing businesses in a country rich in raw materials and a clientele hungry for old-world paraphernalia.
In addition to their use in farming, emus are sometimes kept as pets, though they require adequate space and food in order to live healthily. Emus were formerly subject to regulation in the United Kingdom under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act; however, a review of the act in 2007 led to changes that allow emus (alongside a number of other animals that were also regulated under the act) to be kept without a license, as they were no longer considered to be dangerous.
### Cultural references
The emu has a prominent place in Australian Aboriginal mythology, including a creation myth of the Yuwaalaraay and other groups in New South Wales who say that the sun was made by throwing an emu's egg into the sky; the bird features in numerous aetiological stories told across a number of Aboriginal groups. One story from Western Australia holds that a man once annoyed a small bird, who responded by throwing a boomerang, severing the arms of the man and transforming him into a flightless emu. The Kurdaitcha man of Central Australia is said to wear sandals made of emu feathers to mask his footprints. Many Aboriginal language groups throughout Australia have a tradition that the dark dust lanes in the Milky Way represent a giant emu in the sky. Several of the Sydney rock engravings depict emus, and the birds are mimicked in Indigenous dances. Hunting emus, known as *kari* in the Kaurna language, features in the major Dreaming story of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide region about the ancestor hero Tjilbruke.
The emu is popularly but Unofficially considered as a faunal emblem – the national bird of Australia. It appears as a shield bearer on the Coat of arms of Australia with the red kangaroo, and as a part of the Arms also appears on the Australian 50-cent coin. It has featured on numerous Australian postage stamps, including a pre-federation New South Wales 100th Anniversary issue from 1888, which featured a 2 pence blue emu stamp, a 36-cent stamp released in 1986, and a $1.35 stamp released in 1994. The hats of the Australian Light Horse are decorated with emu feather plumes.
Trademarks of early Australian companies using the emu included Webbenderfer Bros frame mouldings (1891), Mac Robertson Chocolate and Cocoa (1893), Dyason and Son Emu Brand Cordial Sauce (1894), James Allard Pottery Wares (1906), and rope manufacturers G. Kinnear and Sons Pty. Ltd. still use it on some of their products.
There are around six hundred gazetted places in Australia with "emu" in their title, including mountains, lakes, hills, plains, creeks and waterholes. During the 19th and 20th centuries, many Australian companies and household products were named after the bird. In Western Australia, Emu beer has been produced since the early 20th century and the Swan Brewery continues to produce a range of beers branded as "Emu". The quarterly peer-reviewed journal of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union, also known as Birds Australia, is entitled *Emu: Austral Ornithology*.
The comedian Rod Hull featured a wayward emu puppet in his act for many years and the bird returned to the small screen in the hands of his son Toby after the puppeteer's death in 1999. In 2019, American insurance company Liberty Mutual launched an advertising campaign that features LiMu Emu, a CGI-rendered emu.
Another popular Emu on social media is Emmanuel, a resident of Knuckle Bump Farms in south Florida. Taylor Blake, the farm's owner, since 2013 has recorded video shorts explaining aspects of the farm and is often interrupted as Emmanuel the Emu photobombs her videos earning constant rebukes; the term "Emmanuel don't do it!" has become popular on social media.
## Status and conservation
In John Gould's *Handbook to the Birds of Australia*, first published in 1865, he lamented the loss of the emu from Tasmania, where it had become rare and has since become extinct; he noted that emus were no longer common in the vicinity of Sydney and proposed that the species be given protected status. In the 1930s, emu killings in Western Australia peaked at 57,000, and culls were also mounted in Queensland during this period due to rampant crop damage. In the 1960s, bounties were still being paid in Western Australia for killing emus, but since then, wild emus have been granted formal protection under the *Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999*. Their occurrence range is between 4,240,000 and 6,730,000 km2 (1,640,000–2,600,000 sq mi), and a 1992 census suggested that their total population was between 630,000 and 725,000. Their population trend is thought to be stable and the International Union for Conservation of Nature assesses their conservation status as being of least concern. The isolated emu population of the New South Wales North Coast Bioregion and Port Stephens is listed as endangered by the New South Wales Government.
Although the population of emus on mainland Australia is thought to be higher now than it was before European settlement, some local populations are at risk of extinction. The threats faced by emus include the clearance and fragmentation of areas of suitable habitat, deliberate slaughter, collisions with vehicles and predation of the eggs and young.
## See also
- Birds of Australia
- Emu War
- Fauna of Australia
- Rhea (bird), South American ratites
## Citations
## General and cited sources
- Eastman, Maxine (1969).
*The Life of the Emu*. Angus and Robertson. ISBN 978-0-207-95120-6.
## External links
*Encyclopædia Britannica*(11th ed.). 1911. .
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# Lady Gaga - Wikipedia
Lady Gaga | |
|---|---|
| Born | Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta March 28, 1986 |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2000–present |
| Organization | Born This Way Foundation |
| Works | |
| Partner(s) | Michael Polansky (2020–present; engaged) |
| Mother | Cynthia Germanotta |
| Awards | Full list |
Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instruments |
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| Labels | |
| Website | ladygaga |
| Signature | |
**Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta** (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as **Lady Gaga**, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influential figure in popular music.
After signing with Interscope Records in 2007, Gaga achieved global recognition with her debut album, *The Fame* (2008), and its reissue *The Fame Monster* (2009). The project scored a string of successful singles, including "Just Dance", "Poker Face", "Bad Romance", "Telephone", and "Alejandro". Her second full-length album, *Born This Way* (2011), explored electronic rock and techno-pop and sold more than one million copies first-week. Its title track became the fastest-selling song on the iTunes Store, with over one million downloads in less than a week. Following her electronic dance music-influenced third album, *Artpop* (2013), she pursued jazz on the album *Cheek to Cheek* (2014) with Tony Bennett, and delved into soft rock on the album *Joanne* (2016).
Gaga also ventured into acting, gaining praise for her leading roles in the miniseries *American Horror Story: Hotel* (2015–2016) and the films *A Star Is Born* (2018) and *House of Gucci* (2021). Her contributions to the *A Star Is Born* soundtrack, which spawned the chart-topping single "Shallow", made her the first woman to win an Academy, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Grammy Award in one year. Gaga returned to dance-pop with her album *Chromatica* (2020), which yielded the number-one single "Rain on Me". She reunited with Bennett for their second and final collaborative album, *Love for Sale* (2021), and revisited her early pop sound on the album *Mayhem* (2025), which contains the chart-topping single "Die with a Smile".
Having sold an estimated 124 million records, Gaga is one of the world's best selling music artists and the only female artist with four singles that have each sold at least 10 million copies globally. Ranked among the greatest artists of all time by publications such as *Billboard* and *Rolling Stone*, she has amassed six number-one studio albums and six number-one singles on the US *Billboard* 200 and Hot 100 charts, respectively. According to *Forbes*, she was the world's highest-paid female musician and the most powerful celebrity in 2011, while *Time* named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2010 and 2019. Her other achievements include 14 Grammy Awards, a Sports Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, 18 MTV Video Music Awards, and a recognition from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Gaga's philanthropy and activism focus on mental health awareness and LGBTQ rights. She has her own non-profit organization, the Born This Way Foundation, which supports the wellness of young people. Her business ventures include vegan cosmetics brand Haus Labs, launched in 2019.
## Life and career
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta was born to an upper-middle-class Catholic family on March 28, 1986, at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, New York City. Both of her parents have Italian ancestry. Her parents are Cynthia Louise (née Bissett), a philanthropist and business executive, and Internet entrepreneur Joseph Germanotta, and she has a younger sister named Natali. Brought up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Gaga said in an interview that her parents came from lower-class families and worked hard for everything. From age 11, she attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart, a private all-girls Roman Catholic school. Gaga has described her high-school self as "very dedicated, very studious, very disciplined" but also "a bit insecure". She considered herself a misfit and was mocked for "being either too provocative or too eccentric".
Gaga began playing the piano at age four when her mother insisted she become "a cultured young woman". She took piano lessons and practiced through her childhood. The lessons taught her to create music by ear, which Gaga preferred over reading sheet music. Her parents encouraged her to pursue music and enrolled her in Creative Arts Camp. As a teenager, she played at open mic nights. Gaga played the lead roles of Adelaide in the play *Guys and Dolls* and Philia in the play *A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum* at Regis High School. She also studied method acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute for ten years. Her screen debut was a background appearance in the 2000 music video for AC/DC's song "Stiff Upper Lip". Gaga auditioned unsuccessfully for New York shows, though did appear in a small background role as a high-school student in a 2001 episode of *The Sopranos* titled "The Telltale Moozadell". Fan interest in that episode increased when a clip of Gaga's scene circulated online in 2010. She later said of her inclination towards music:
I don't know exactly where my affinity for music comes from, but it is the thing that comes easiest to me. When I was like three years old, I may have been even younger, my mom always tells this really embarrassing story of me propping myself up and playing the keys like this because I was too young and short to get all the way up there. Just go like this on the low end of the piano ... I was really, really good at piano, so my first instincts were to work so hard at practicing piano, and I might not have been a natural dancer, but I am a natural musician. That is the thing that I believe I am the greatest at.
In 2003, Gaga gained early admission to Collaborative Arts Project 21, a music school at New York University (NYU)'s Tisch School of the Arts, and lived in an NYU dorm. She studied music there and improved her songwriting skills by writing essays on art, religion, social issues, and politics, including a thesis on pop artists Spencer Tunick and Damien Hirst. In 2005, Gaga withdrew from school during the second semester of her second year to focus on her music career. That year, she also played an unsuspecting diner customer for MTV's *Boiling Points*, a prank reality television show.
In a 2014 interview, Gaga discussed being raped at age 19 by her producer, and later undergoing mental and physical therapy for this. She has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and attributes it to the incident, stating that the trauma had changed her as a person, and would never leave her. She has credited support from doctors, family, and friends with helping her. Gaga later gave additional details about the rape, including that "the person who raped me dropped me off pregnant on a corner at my parents' house because I was vomiting and sick. Because I'd been being abused. I was locked away in a studio for months."
In 2005, Gaga recorded two songs with rapper Melle Mel for an audio book accompanying Cricket Casey's children's novel *The Portal in the Park*. She also formed a band called the SGBand with some friends from NYU. They played gigs around New York and became a fixture of the downtown Lower East Side club scene. After the 2006 Songwriters Hall of Fame New Songwriters Showcase at the Cutting Room in June, talent scout Wendy Starland recommended her to music producer Rob Fusari. Fusari collaborated with Gaga, who traveled daily to New Jersey, helping to develop her songs and compose new material. The producer said they began dating in May 2006, and claimed to have been the first person to call her "Lady Gaga", which was derived from Queen's song "Radio Ga Ga". According to his account, the name was coined when on one occasion he attempted to call her "Radio Ga Ga" via text message, but the spell checker autocorrected "Radio" to "Lady". Their relationship lasted until January 2007.
Fusari and Gaga established a company called Team Lovechild, LLC to promote her career. They recorded and produced electropop tracks, sending them to music industry executives. Joshua Sarubin, the head of Artists and repertoire (A&R) at Def Jam Recordings, responded positively and, after approval from Sarubin's boss Antonio "L.A." Reid, Gaga was signed to Def Jam in September 2006. She was dropped from the label three months later and returned to her family home for Christmas. Gaga began performing at neo-burlesque shows, and said these represented freedom to her. During this time, she met performance artist Lady Starlight, who helped mold her onstage persona. The pair began performing at downtown club venues like the Mercury Lounge, the Bitter End, and the Rockwood Music Hall. Their live performance art piece, known as "Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue" and billed as "The Ultimate Pop Burlesque Rockshow", was a tribute to 1970s variety acts. They performed at the 2007 Lollapalooza music festival.
Having initially focused on avant-garde electronic dance music, Gaga began to incorporate pop melodies and the glam rock style of David Bowie and Queen into her songs. While Gaga and Starlight were performing, Fusari continued to develop the songs he had created with her, sending them to the producer and record executive Vincent Herbert. In November 2007, Herbert signed Gaga to his label Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records, established that month. Gaga later credited Herbert as the man who discovered her. Having served as an apprentice songwriter during an internship at Famous Music Publishing, Gaga struck a music publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing. As a result, she was hired to write songs for Britney Spears, New Kids on the Block, Fergie, and the Pussycat Dolls. At Interscope, musician Akon was impressed with her singing abilities when she sang a reference vocal for one of his tracks in studio. Akon convinced Jimmy Iovine, chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M Records (a brother company for Def Jam), to form a joint deal by having Gaga also sign with his own label KonLive Distribution, making her his "franchise player".
In late 2007, Gaga met with songwriter and producer RedOne. She collaborated with him in the recording studio for a week on her debut album, signing with Cherrytree Records, an Interscope imprint established by producer and songwriter Martin Kierszenbaum; she also wrote four songs with Kierszenbaum. Despite securing a record deal, she said that some radio stations found her music too "racy", "dance-oriented", and "underground" for the mainstream market, to which she replied: "My name is Lady Gaga, I've been on the music scene for years, and I'm telling you, this is what's next."
*The Fame* and *The Fame Monster*
By 2008, Gaga had relocated to Los Angeles to work extensively with her record label to complete her debut album, *The Fame*, and to set up her own creative team called the Haus of Gaga, modeled on Andy Warhol's The Factory. *The Fame* was released on August 19, 2008, and reached number one in Austria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and the UK, as well as the top five in Australia and the US. Its first two singles, "Just Dance" and "Poker Face", reached number one in the United States, Australia, Canada and the UK. The latter was also the world's bestselling single of 2009, with 9.8 million copies sold that year, and spent a record 83 weeks on *Billboard* magazine's Digital Songs chart. Three other singles, "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)", "LoveGame" and "Paparazzi", were released from the album; the lattermost reached number one in Germany. Remixed versions of the singles from *The Fame*, except "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)", were included on *Hitmixes* in August 2009. At the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, *The Fame* and "Poker Face" won Best Dance/Electronica Album and Best Dance Recording, respectively.
Following her opening act on the Pussycat Dolls' 2009 Doll Domination Tour in Europe and Oceania, Gaga headlined her worldwide The Fame Ball Tour, which ran from March to September 2009. While traveling the globe, she wrote eight songs for *The Fame Monster*, a reissue of *The Fame*. Those new songs were also released as a standalone EP on November 18, 2009. Its first single, "Bad Romance", was released one month earlier and went number one in Canada and the UK, and number two in the US, Australia and New Zealand. "Telephone", with Beyoncé, followed as the second single from the EP and became Gaga's fourth UK number one. Its third single was "Alejandro", which reached number one in Finland and attracted controversy when its music video was deemed blasphemous by the Catholic League. Both tracks reached the top five in the US. The video for "Bad Romance" became the most watched on YouTube in April 2010, and that October, Gaga became the first person with more than one billion combined views.
At the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, she won eight awards from 13 nominations, including Video of the Year for "Bad Romance". She was the most nominated artist for a single year, and the first woman to receive two nominations for Video of the Year at the same ceremony. *The Fame Monster* won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album, and "Bad Romance" won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Short Form Music Video at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards. *Rolling Stone* featured "Bad Romance" and its music video on their respective lists of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" and "100 Greatest Music Videos of All Time" in 2021.
In 2009, Gaga spent a record 150 weeks on the UK Singles Chart and became the most downloaded female act in a year in the US, with 11.1 million downloads sold, earning an entry in the *Guinness Book of World Records*. Worldwide, *The Fame* and *The Fame Monster* together have sold more than 15 million copies, and the latter was 2010's second bestselling album. Its success allowed Gaga to start her second worldwide concert tour, The Monster Ball Tour, and release *The Remix*, her final record with Cherrytree Records and among the bestselling remix albums of all time. The Monster Ball Tour ran from November 2009 to May 2011 and grossed $227.4 million, making it the highest-grossing concert tour for a debut headlining artist. Concerts performed at Madison Square Garden in New York City were filmed for an HBO television special, *Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden*. Gaga also performed songs from her albums at the 2009 *Royal Variety Performance*, the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, and the 2010 Brit Awards. Before Michael Jackson's death, Gaga was set to take part in his canceled This Is It concert series at the O2 Arena in the UK.
During this era, Gaga ventured into business, collaborating with consumer electronics company Monster Cable Products to create in-ear, jewel-encrusted headphones called Heartbeats by Lady Gaga. She also partnered with Polaroid in January 2010 as their creative director and announced a suite of photo-capture products called Grey Label. Her collaboration with her past record producer and ex-boyfriend Rob Fusari led to a lawsuit against her production team, Mermaid Music LLC. At this time, Gaga was tested borderline positive for lupus but claimed not to be affected by the symptoms and hoped to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
*Born This Way*, *Artpop*, and *Cheek to Cheek*
In February 2011, Gaga released "Born This Way", the lead single from her studio album of the same name. The song sold more than one million copies within five days, earning the *Guinness World Record* for the fastest selling single on iTunes. It debuted atop the *Billboard* Hot 100, becoming the 1,000th number-one single in the history of the charts. Its second single "Judas" followed two months later, and "The Edge of Glory" served as its third single. Both reached the top 10 in the US and the UK. Her music video for "The Edge of Glory", unlike her previous work, portrays her dancing on a fire escape and walking on a lonely street, without intricate choreography and back-up dancers.
*Born This Way* was released on May 23, 2011, and debuted atop the *Billboard* 200 with first-week sales of 1.1 million copies. It sold eight million copies worldwide and received three Grammy nominations, including Gaga's third consecutive nomination for Album of the Year. *Rolling Stone* listed the record among "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2020. *Born This Way*'s following singles were "You and I" and "Marry the Night", which reached numbers 6 and 29 in the US, respectively. Its track, "Bloody Mary", became a resurgent success and was released as a single in 2022. While filming the "You and I" music video, Gaga met and started dating actor Taylor Kinney in July 2011, who played her love interest. She also embarked on the Born This Way Ball tour in April 2012, which was scheduled to conclude the following March, but ended one month earlier when Gaga canceled the remaining dates due to a labral tear of her right hip that required surgery. While refunds for the cancellations were estimated to be worth $25 million, the tour grossed $183.9 million globally.
In 2011, Gaga also worked with Tony Bennett on a jazz version of "The Lady Is a Tramp", with Elton John on "Hello Hello" for the animated feature film *Gnomeo & Juliet*, and with The Lonely Island and Justin Timberlake on "3-Way (The Golden Rule)". She also performed a concert at the Sydney Town Hall in Australia that year to promote *Born This Way* and to celebrate former US President Bill Clinton's 65th birthday. In November, she was featured in a Thanksgiving television special titled *A Very Gaga Thanksgiving*, which attracted 5.7 million American viewers and spawned the release of her fourth EP, *A Very Gaga Holiday*. In 2012, Gaga guest-starred as an animated version of herself in an episode of *The Simpsons* called "Lisa Goes Gaga", and released her first fragrance, Lady Gaga Fame, followed by a second one, Eau de Gaga, in 2014.
Gaga began work on her third studio album, *Artpop*, in early 2012, during the Born This Way Ball tour. She crafted the album to mirror "a night at the club". In August 2013, Gaga released the album's lead single "Applause", which reached number one in Hungary, number four in the US, and number five in the UK. A lyric video for *Artpop* track "Aura" followed in October to accompany Robert Rodriguez's *Machete Kills*, where she plays an assassin named La Chameleon. The film received generally mixed reviews and earned less than half of its $33 million budget. The second *Artpop* single, "Do What U Want", featured singer R. Kelly and was released later that month, topping the charts in Hungary and reaching number 13 in the US. *Artpop* was released on November 6, 2013, to mixed reviews. Helen Brown of *The Daily Telegraph* criticized Gaga for making another album about her fame and doubted the record's originality, but found it "great for dancing". The album debuted atop the *Billboard* 200 chart, and sold more than 2.5 million copies worldwide as of July 2014. "G.U.Y." was released as the third single in March 2014 and peaked at number 76 in the US.
Gaga hosted an episode of *Saturday Night Live* in November 2013. After holding her second Thanksgiving Day television special on ABC, *Lady Gaga and the Muppets Holiday Spectacular*, she performed a special rendition of "Do What U Want" with Christina Aguilera on the fifth season of the American reality talent show *The Voice*. In March 2014, Gaga had a seven-day concert residency commemorating the last performance at New York's Roseland Ballroom before its closure. Two months later, she embarked on the ArtRave: The Artpop Ball tour, building on concepts from her ArtRave promotional event. Earning $83 million, the tour included cities canceled from the Born This Way Ball tour itinerary. In the meantime, Gaga split from longtime manager Troy Carter over "creative differences", and by June 2014, she and new manager Bobby Campbell joined Artist Nation, the artist management division of Live Nation Entertainment. She briefly appeared in Rodriguez's *Sin City: A Dame to Kill For*, and was confirmed as Versace's spring-summer 2014 ambassador with a campaign called "Lady Gaga For Versace".
In September 2014, Gaga released a collaborative jazz album with Tony Bennett titled *Cheek to Cheek*. The inspiration behind the album came from her friendship with Bennett, and fascination with jazz music since her childhood. He stated that Gaga is "the most talented artist I have ever met". Before the album was released, it produced the singles "Anything Goes" and "I Can't Give You Anything but Love". *Cheek to Cheek* received generally favorable reviews; *The Guardian*'s Caroline Sullivan praised Gaga's vocals and Howard Reich of the *Chicago Tribune* wrote that "*Cheek to Cheek* serves up the real thing, start to finish". The record was Gaga's third consecutive number-one album on the *Billboard* 200, and won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. The duo recorded the concert special *Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga: Cheek to Cheek Live!*, and embarked on the Cheek to Cheek Tour from December 2014 to August 2015.
*American Horror Story*, *Joanne*, and Super Bowl performances
In February 2015, Gaga became engaged to Taylor Kinney. After the lukewarm response to *Artpop*, Gaga began to reinvent her image and style. According to *Billboard*, this shift started with the release of *Cheek to Cheek* and the attention she received for her performance at the 87th Academy Awards, where she sang a medley of songs from *The Sound of Music* in a tribute to Julie Andrews. Considered one of her best performances by *Billboard*, it triggered more than 214,000 interactions per minute globally on Facebook. She and Diane Warren co-wrote the song "Til It Happens to You" for the documentary *The Hunting Ground*, which earned them the Satellite Award for Best Original Song and an Academy Award nomination in the same category. *Billboard* named Gaga their 2015 Woman of the Year.
Gaga had spent much of her early life wanting to be an actress, and achieved her goal when she starred in *American Horror Story: Hotel*. Running from October 2015 to January 2016, *Hotel* is the fifth season of the television anthology horror series, *American Horror Story*, in which Gaga played a hotel owner named Elizabeth. At the 73rd Golden Globe Awards, Gaga received the Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film award for her work on the season. She appeared in Nick Knight's 2015 fashion film for Tom Ford's 2016 spring campaign and was guest editor for *V* fashion magazine's 99th issue in January 2016, which featured 16 different covers. She received Editor of the Year award at the Fashion Los Angeles Awards.
In February 2016, Gaga sang the US national anthem at Super Bowl 50, partnered with Intel and Nile Rodgers for a tribute performance to the late David Bowie at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, and sang "Til It Happens to You" at the 88th Academy Awards, where she was introduced by Joe Biden and was accompanied on-stage by 50 people who had suffered from sexual assault. Her engagement to Taylor Kinney ended in July; she later said her career had interfered with their relationship.
Gaga played a witch named Scathach in *American Horror Story: Roanoke*, the series' sixth season, which ran from September to November 2016. Her role in the fifth season of the show ultimately influenced her future music, prompting her to feature "the art of darkness". In September 2016, she released her fifth album's lead single, "Perfect Illusion", which topped the charts in France and reached number 15 in the US. The album, titled *Joanne*, was named after Gaga's late aunt, who was an inspiration for the music. It was released on October 21, 2016, and became Gaga's fourth number one album on the *Billboard* 200, making her the first woman to reach the US chart's summit four times in the 2010s. The album's second single, "Million Reasons", followed the next month and reached number four in the US. She later released a piano version of the album's title track in 2018, which won a Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance. To promote the album, Gaga embarked on the three-date Dive Bar Tour.
Gaga performed as the headlining act during the Super Bowl LI halftime show on February 5, 2017. Her performance featured a group of hundreds of lighted drones forming various shapes in the sky above Houston's NRG Stadium—the first time robotic aircraft appeared in a Super Bowl program. It attracted 117.5 million viewers in the United States, exceeding the game's 111.3 million viewers and making it the third most-watched Super Bowl halftime show at the time. The performance led to a surge of 410,000 song downloads in the United States for Gaga and earned her an Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Special Class Program category. CBS Sports included her performance as the second best in the history of Super Bowl halftime shows. In April, Gaga headlined the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. She also released a standalone single, "The Cure", which reached the top 10 in Australia. Four months later, Gaga began the Joanne World Tour, which she announced after the Super Bowl LI halftime show. Gaga's creation of *Joanne* and preparation for her halftime show performance were featured in the documentary *Gaga: Five Foot Two*, which premiered on Netflix that September. Throughout the film, she was seen suffering from chronic pain, which was later revealed to be the effect of a long-term condition called fibromyalgia. In February 2018, it prompted Gaga to cancel the last ten shows of the Joanne World Tour, which ultimately grossed $95 million from 842,000 tickets sold.
*A Star Is Born* and Las Vegas residency
In March 2018, Gaga released a cover of Elton John's "Your Song" for his tribute album *Revamp*. Later that year, she starred as struggling singer Ally in Bradley Cooper's musical romantic drama *A Star Is Born*, a remake of the 1937 film of the same name. The film follows Ally's relationship with singer Jackson Maine (played by Cooper), which becomes strained after her career begins to overshadow his. It received acclaim from critics, with a consensus that the movie had "appealing leads, deft direction, and an affecting love story". Cooper approached Gaga after seeing her perform at a cancer research fundraiser. An admirer of Cooper's work, Gaga agreed to the project due to its portrayal of addiction and depression. *A Star Is Born* premiered at the 2018 Venice Film Festival, and was released worldwide that October. Gaga's performance was acclaimed by film critics, with Peter Bradshaw of *The Guardian* labeling the film "outrageously watchable" and stating that "Gaga's ability to be part ordinary person, part extraterrestrial celebrity empress functions at the highest level". Stephanie Zacharek of *Time* magazine similarly highlighted her "knockout performance" and found her to be "charismatic" without her usual makeup, wigs and costumes. For the role, Gaga won the National Board of Review and Critics' Choice awards for Best Actress, in addition to receiving nominations for the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and BAFTA Award for Best Actress.
Gaga and Cooper co-wrote and produced most of the songs on the soundtrack for *A Star Is Born*, which she insisted they perform live in the film. Its lead single, "Shallow", performed by the two, was released on September 27, 2018, and topped the charts in various countries including Australia, the UK and the US. The soundtrack contains 34 tracks, including 17 original songs, and received generally positive reviews; Mark Kennedy of *The Washington Post* called it a "five-star marvel" and Ben Beaumont-Thomas of *The Guardian* termed it an "instant classics full of Gaga's emotional might". Commercially, the soundtrack debuted at number one in the US, extending Gaga's record for the most *Billboard* 200 number ones in the 2010s among women. It additionally topped the charts in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland and the UK. As of June 2019, the soundtrack had sold over six million copies worldwide. The album won Gaga four Grammy Awards—Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Song Written for Visual Media for "Shallow", as well as the latter category for "I'll Never Love Again"—and a BAFTA Award for Best Film Music. "Shallow" also won her the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Critics' Choice Award, and Satellite Award for Best Original Song. Gaga gave live performances of the song at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards and the 91st Academy Awards.
In October, Gaga announced her engagement to talent agent Christian Carino whom she had met in early 2017. They ended the engagement in February 2019. Gaga signed a concert residency, named Lady Gaga Enigma + Jazz & Piano, to perform at the MGM Park Theater in Las Vegas. The residency consisted of two types of shows: Enigma, which focused on theatricality and included Gaga's biggest hits, and Jazz & Piano, which involved tracks from the Great American Songbook and stripped-down versions of Gaga's songs. The Enigma show opened in December 2018 and the Jazz & Piano in January 2019. Gaga launched her vegan makeup line, Haus Laboratories, in September 2019 exclusively on Amazon. Consisting of 40 products, including liquid eyeliners, lip glosses and face mask sticker, it reached number one on Amazon's list of bestselling lipsticks.
*Chromatica*, *Love for Sale*, and *House of Gucci*
Gaga's sixth studio album, *Chromatica*, was released on May 29, 2020, to positive reviews. It debuted atop the US charts, becoming her sixth consecutive number-one album in the country, and reached the top spot in more than a dozen other territories including Australia, Canada, France, Italy and the UK. *Chromatica*'s lead single, "Stupid Love", was released on February 28, 2020, and charted at number five in the US and the UK. The second single, "Rain on Me" with Ariana Grande, followed on May 22. It won the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, and debuted at number one in the US, making Gaga the third person to top the country's chart in the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s. At the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards, Gaga won five awards, including the inaugural Tricon Award representing achievement in three (or more) fields of entertainment. In September 2020, she appeared in the video campaign for Valentino's Voce Viva fragrance, singing a stripped-down version of *Chromatica* track "Sine from Above", along with a group of models.
Having endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 United States presidential election, Gaga sang the US national anthem during his inauguration as the country's 46th President on January 20, 2021. In February 2021, her dog walker Ryan Fischer was hospitalized after getting shot in Hollywood. Two of her French Bulldogs, Koji and Gustav, were taken while a third dog named Miss Asia escaped and was subsequently recovered by police. Gaga later offered a $500,000 reward for the return of her pets. Two days later, on February 26, a woman brought the dogs to a police station in Los Angeles. Both were unharmed. Los Angeles Police initially said the woman who dropped off the dogs did not appear to be involved with the shooting, but on April 29, she was one of five people charged in connection with the shooting and theft. In December 2022, James Howard Jackson, the man who shot Fischer, was sentenced to 21 years in prison.
In April 2021, Gaga teamed up with Champagne brand Dom Pérignon, and appeared in an ad shot by Nick Knight. On September 3, she released her third remix album, *Dawn of Chromatica*. This was followed by her second collaborative album with Tony Bennett, titled *Love for Sale*, on September 30. The record received generally favorable reviews, and debuted at number eight in the US. The album's promotional rollout included the television special *One Last Time: An Evening with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga*, released in November 2021, on CBS, which featured select performances from the duo's August 3 and 5 performances at Radio City Music Hall. Another taped performance by the duo recorded for *MTV Unplugged* was released that December. At the 64th Annual Grammy Awards, *Love for Sale* won Gaga and Bennett the award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.
After an appearance in the television special *Friends: The Reunion*, in which Gaga sang "Smelly Cat" with Lisa Kudrow, she portrayed Patrizia Reggiani, who was convicted of hiring a hitman to murder her ex-husband and former head of the Gucci fashion house Maurizio Gucci (played by Adam Driver), in Ridley Scott's biographical crime film titled *House of Gucci*. For the part, Gaga learned to speak with an Italian accent. She also stayed in character for 18 months, speaking with an accent for nine months during that period. Her method acting took a toll on her mental wellbeing, and towards the end of filming she had to be accompanied on-set by a psychiatric nurse. The film was released on November 24, 2021, to mixed reviews, though critics praised Gaga's performance as "note-perfect". She earned the New York Film Critics Circle Award, and nominations for the BAFTA Award, Critics' Choice Award, Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress.
Gaga co-wrote the song "Hold My Hand" for the 2022 film *Top Gun: Maverick*, and also composed the score alongside Hans Zimmer and Harold Faltermeyer. She performed "Hold My Hand" live at the 95th Academy Awards, where it was nominated for Best Original Song. The track also earned Gaga her third win for Best Original Song at the Satellite Awards. In July 2022, she embarked on The Chromatica Ball stadium tour, which concluded that September. It grossed $112.4 million from 834,000 tickets sold throughout twenty dates and produced an HBO concert special titled *Gaga Chromatica Ball*. By the end of the year, she became the highest grossing female artist touring in 2022. Gaga was appointed as co-chair of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities by President Joe Biden in April 2023, and collaborated with the Rolling Stones on the song "Sweet Sounds of Heaven", also featuring Stevie Wonder, from their album *Hackney Diamonds* that year.
*Joker: Folie à Deux* and *Mayhem*
Gaga was the featured artist for season two of the online video game *Fortnite* spin-off, *Fortnite Festival*, which ran from February to April 2024. She became engaged to venture capitalist Michael Polansky that April, four years after they began dating. In July, she performed a rendition of Zizi Jeanmaire's "Mon truc en plumes" at the 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Paris. Gaga released the single "Die with a Smile", a duet with Bruno Mars, on August 16, 2024. In addition to topping the *Billboard* Global 200 for 18 weeks, it made Gaga the first act to achieve multiple U.S. number-one songs in the 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s. At the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, the song earned the award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, making her the first artist to win the category three times.
Gaga starred as Harleen "Lee" Quinzel alongside Joaquin Phoenix in Todd Phillips's musical psychological thriller *Joker: Folie à Deux*, the sequel to his 2019 film *Joker*. It premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival and was released theatrically in October 2024. While the film was a critical and commercial failure, Gaga's performance was better received, with critics finding her to be underused. Songs recorded by her and Phoenix for the film were included on an accompanying soundtrack album. Gaga additionally produced a companion album to the film, titled *Harlequin*, which was released on September 27, 2024. She and Polansky co-wrote four of its tracks.
Gaga's album titled *Mayhem*—conceived as a pop record per Polansky's recommendation—was released on March 7, 2025, to critical acclaim and debuted at number one in the US. The couple served as executive producers for the album, and wrote seven tracks together. This included the lead single "Disease", which was released on October 25, 2024, and peaked at number seven in the UK. Its second single, "Abracadabra", followed on February 3, 2025, reaching the top five in Germany and the UK, as well as on the Global 200 chart. The track list also included "Die with a Smile" as a later addition. Gaga sang "Hold My Hand" at the Super Bowl LIX pregame as a tribute to the victims of the 2025 New Orleans truck attack, which won her the award for Outstanding Music Direction at the 46th Sports Emmy Awards. In March 2025, she hosted *Saturday Night Live* for a second time. At the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards, she was honored with the Innovator Award.
Gaga performed a series of promotional concerts in support of *Mayhem* between April and May 2025, before embarking on The Mayhem Ball concert tour the following July. The former included a free concert in Rio de Janeiro, as part of the "Todo Mundo no Rio" initiative, which became the most-attended concert by a female artist with an estimated audience of over 2.5 million. Gaga is set to appear in part two of the upcoming second season of the Netflix series *Wednesday*, portraying a teacher at the fictional Nevermore Academy named Rosaline Rotwood.
## Artistry
### Influences
Gaga grew up listening to artists such as Michael Jackson, the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Queen, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Whitney Houston, Elton John, Prince, En Vogue, TLC, Christina Aguilera, Janet Jackson, and Blondie, who have all influenced her music. Gaga's musical inspiration varies from dance-pop singers such as Madonna and Michael Jackson to glam rock artists such as David Bowie and Freddie Mercury, as well as the theatrics of the pop artist Andy Warhol and her own performance roots in musical theater. She has been compared to Madonna, who has said that she sees herself reflected in Gaga. Gaga has expressed her desire to revolutionize pop music the way Madonna did. Gaga has also cited heavy metal bands as an influence, specifically Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Marilyn Manson. She has credited Beyoncé as a key inspiration to pursue a musical career.
Gaga was inspired by her mother to be interested in fashion, which would later become a major influence and integrated with her music. Stylistically, Gaga has been compared to Leigh Bowery, Isabella Blow, and Cher; she once commented that as a child, she absorbed Cher's fashion sense and made it her own. Gaga became friends with British fashion designer Alexander McQueen shortly before his suicide in 2010, and became known for wearing his designs, particularly his towering armadillo shoes. She has called fashion designer Donatella Versace her muse; Versace referred to Gaga as "the fresh Donatella". Gaga has also been influenced by Princess Diana, whom she has admired since childhood.
Gaga has called the Indian alternative medicine advocate Deepak Chopra a "true inspiration", and has also quoted Indian leader Osho's book *Creativity* on Twitter. Gaga said she was influenced by Osho's work in valuing rebellion through creativity and equality.
### Musical style and themes
Critics have analyzed and scrutinized Gaga's musical and performance style, as she has experimented with new ideas and images throughout her career. She has called the continual reinvention "liberating", and has been drawn to it since childhood. Gaga has said that synesthesia, characterized by her seeing colors while making music, has played a key role in her creative process, explaining: "As I'm writing, it assembles in my brain, then through the recording it becomes a full piece of colour. Every song is a different shade." Gaga combines a variety of music genres, particularly incorporating elements of rock into her pop and dance music. She has also branched out into jazz and other non-pop musical genres. Gaga's voice has been classified as a contralto, with a vocal range spanning from B♭2 to B5. She has changed her vocal style regularly, and deemed *Born This Way* "much more vocally up to par with what I've always been capable of". In summing up her voice, *Entertainment Weekly* wrote: "There's an immense emotional intelligence behind the way she uses her voice. Almost never does she overwhelm a song with her vocal ability, recognizing instead that artistry is to be found in nuance rather than lung power."
According to Evan Sawdey of *PopMatters*, Gaga managed "to get you moving and grooving at an almost effortless pace" with *The Fame*. Gaga has said that she believes "all good music can be played on a piano and still sound like a hit". Simon Reynolds wrote in 2010: "Everything about Gaga came from electroclash, except the music, which wasn't particularly 1980s, just ruthlessly catchy naughties pop glazed with Auto-Tune and undergirded with R&B-ish beats."
Gaga's songs have covered a wide variety of concepts; *The Fame* discusses the lust for stardom, while *The Fame Monster* expresses fame's dark side through monster metaphors. *The Fame* is an electropop and dance-pop album that has influences of 1980s pop and 1990s Europop, whereas *The Fame Monster* displays Gaga's taste for pastiche, drawing on "Seventies arena glam, perky ABBA disco, and sugary throwbacks like Stacey Q". *Born This Way* has lyrics in English, French, German, and Spanish and features themes common to Gaga's controversial songwriting such as sex, love, religion, money, drugs, identity, liberation, sexuality, freedom, and individualism. The album explores new genres, such as electronic rock and techno.
The themes in *Artpop* revolve around Gaga's personal views of fame, love, sex, feminism, self-empowerment, overcoming addiction, and reactions to media scrutiny. *Billboard* described *Artpop* as "coherently channeling R&B, techno, disco and rock music". With *Cheek to Cheek*, Gaga pursued the jazz genre. *Joanne*, exploring the genres of country, funk, pop, dance, rock, electronic music and folk, was influenced by her personal life. The *A Star Is Born* soundtrack contains elements of blues rock, country and bubblegum pop. *Billboard* commented that its lyrics are about wanting change, its struggle, love, romance, and bonding, describing the music as "timeless, emotional, gritty and earnest. They sound like songs written by artists who, quite frankly, are supremely messed up but hit to the core of the listener."
On *Chromatica*, Gaga returned to her dance-pop roots, and discussed her struggles with mental health. *Love for Sale* and *Harlequin* expand on her venture into jazz music. The former consists of a tribute to Cole Porter, while the latter was inspired by her role in *Joker: Folie à Deux*. With *Mayhem*, Gaga aimed to revisit "the pop music my earliest fans loved." Described by *Billboard* as a "chaotic blur of genres", it incorporates synth-pop, with industrial dance influences, and elements of electro, disco, industrial pop, rock and pop rock. Lyrically, it explores themes of love, chaos, fame, identity, and desire, using metaphors of transformation, duality, and excess.
### Videos and stage
Featuring constant costume changes and provocative visuals, Gaga's music videos are often described as short films. The video for "Telephone" earned Gaga the *Guinness World Record* for Most Product Placement in a Video. According to author Curtis Fogel, she explores bondage and sadomasochism and highlights prevalent feminist themes. The main themes of her music videos are sex, violence, and power. She has called herself "a little bit of a feminist" and asserted that she is "sexually empowering women". *Billboard* ranked her sixth on its list of "The 100 Greatest Music Video Artists of All Time" in 2020, stating that "the name 'Lady Gaga' will forever be synonymous with culture-shifting music videos".
Regarded as "one of the greatest living musical performers" by *Rolling Stone*, Gaga has called herself a perfectionist when it comes to her elaborate shows. Her performances have been described as "highly entertaining and innovative"; the blood-spurting performance of "Paparazzi" at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards was described as "eye-popping" by MTV News and ranked among the best MTV VMA performances of all time by various publications. She continued the blood-soaked theme during The Monster Ball Tour, causing protests in England from family groups and fans in the aftermath of the Cumbria shootings, in which a taxi driver had killed 12 people, then himself. At the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, Gaga appeared in drag as her male alter ego, Jo Calderone, and delivered a lovesick monologue before performing her song "You and I". She stated that she created the character to explore "what I was looking for in men, and also what I was maybe lacking in myself". When asked about the persona in 2025, she said that Calderone was "no longer with us". As Gaga's choreographer and creative director, Laurieann Gibson provided material for her shows and videos for four years before she was replaced by her assistant Richard Jackson in 2014.
In an October 2018 article for *Billboard*, Rebecca Schiller traced back Gaga's videography from "Just Dance" to the release of *A Star Is Born*. Schiller noted that following the *Artpop* era, Gaga's stripped-down approach to music was reflected in the clips for the singles from *Joanne*, taking the example of the music video of lead single "Perfect Illusion" where she eschewed "the elaborate outfits for shorts and a tee-shirt as she performed the song at a desert party". It continued with her performances in the film as well as her stage persona. Reviewing The Chromatica Ball in 2022, Chris Willman of *Variety* wrote that Gaga "could have further played the authenticity card for all it's worth" after the release of *Joanne* and *A Star Is Born*, but instead "has determined to keep herself weird — or just weird enough to provide necessarily ballast to her more earnest inclinations".
## Public image
Public reception of Gaga's music, fashion sense, and persona is polarized. She is noted for her outlandish fashion sense, which has served as an important aspect of her character. During her early career, members of the media compared her fashion choices to those of Christina Aguilera. When she met briefly with then-president Barack Obama at a Human Rights Campaign fundraiser, he found the interaction "intimidating" as she was dressed in 16-inch (40 cm) heels, making her the tallest woman in the room. When interviewed by Barbara Walters for her annual ABC News special *10 Most Fascinating People* in 2009, she dismissed the claim that she is intersex as an urban legend. Responding to a question on this issue, she expressed her fondness for androgyny.
In 2011, 121 women gathered at the Grammy Awards dressed in costumes similar to those worn by Gaga, earning the 2011 *Guinness World Record* for Largest Gathering of Lady Gaga Impersonators. The Global Language Monitor named "Lady Gaga" as the Top Fashion Buzzword with her trademark "no pants" a close third. *Entertainment Weekly* put her outfits on its end of the decade "best-of" list, saying that she "brought performance art into the mainstream". *People* ranked her number one on their "Best Dressed Stars of 2021" list, writing that Gaga "strutted the streets in high-fashion designs, from a sculptural seersucker number to a black lace corseted gown—accessorizing each with elegant updos, sky-high heels and retro shades—like it was no sweat."
*Time* placed Gaga on their All-*Time* 100 Fashion Icons list, stating: "Lady Gaga is just as notorious for her outrageous style as she is for her pop hits", mentioning outfits "made from plastic bubbles, Kermit the Frog dolls, and raw meat". Gaga wore a dress made of raw beef to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, which was supplemented by boots, a purse, and a hat also made out of raw beef. Partly awarded in recognition of the dress, *Vogue* named her one of the Best Dressed people of 2010 and *Time* named the dress the Fashion Statement of the year. It attracted the attention of worldwide media; the animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) found it offensive. The meat dress was displayed at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in 2012, and entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in September 2015.
Gaga's fans call her "Mother Monster", and she often refers to them as "Little Monsters", a phrase she had tattooed on herself in dedication. In his article "Lady Gaga Pioneered Online Fandom Culture As We Know It" for *Vice*, Jake Hall wrote that Gaga inspired several subsequent fan-brandings, such as those of Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Justin Bieber. In July 2012, Gaga also co-founded the social networking service LittleMonsters.com, devoted to her fans. Scott Hardy, CEO of Polaroid, praised Gaga for inspiring fans and for her close interactions with them on social media.
### Censorship
In 2011, lyrics of Gaga's song "Born This Way", which reference homosexuality and LGBTQ subjects, were censored by Malaysian broadcaster AMP Radio Networks as a precaution against government restrictions against songs which might violate "good taste or decency or [are] offensive to public feeling". The same year, the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China, reportedly enforcing a directive designed to tackle "poor taste and vulgar content", banned the publication of six of Gaga's songs from the album *Born This Way* on all Chinese music websites.
In 2014, her album *Artpop* was released in China with conditions being placed on the album artwork, covering her almost naked body as well as changing the title of the song "Sexxx Dreams" to "X Dreams". In 2016, her meeting with the Dalai Lama resulted in the Chinese government adding her to a list of hostile foreign forces, and Chinese websites and media organizations were ordered to stop distributing her songs. The Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party also issued an order for state-controlled media to condemn the meeting. In 2019, coverage of Gaga in the 91st Academy Awards was removed on some Chinese streaming platforms such as Mango TV and in 2021 her appearance was cut from *Friends: The Reunion*; both incidents received backlash from Chinese fans.
## Activism
### Philanthropy
After declining an invitation to appear on the single "We Are the World 25 for Haiti", because of rehearsals for her tour, to benefit victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Gaga donated the proceeds of her January 2010 Radio City Music Hall concert to the country's reconstruction relief fund. All profits from her online store that day were also donated, and Gaga announced that $500,000 was collected for the fund. Hours after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, Gaga tweeted a link to Japan Prayer Bracelets. All revenue from a bracelet she designed in conjunction with the company was donated to relief efforts; these raised $1.5 million. In June 2011, Gaga performed at MTV Japan's charity show in Makuhari Messe, which benefited the Japanese Red Cross.
In 2012, Gaga joined the campaign group Artists Against Fracking. That October, Yoko Ono gave Gaga and four other activists the LennonOno Grant for Peace in Reykjavík, Iceland. The following month, Gaga pledged to donate $1 million to the American Red Cross to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Gaga has also contributed to the fight against HIV and AIDS, focusing on educating young women about the risks of the disease. In collaboration with Cyndi Lauper, Gaga joined forces with MAC Cosmetics to launch a line of lipstick under their supplementary cosmetic line, Viva Glam. Sales have raised more than $202 million to fight HIV and AIDS.
In April 2016, Gaga joined Vice President Joe Biden at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to support his It's On Us campaign as he traveled to colleges on behalf of the organization, which has seen 250,000 students from more than 530 colleges sign a pledge of solidarity and activism. Two months later, Gaga attended the 84th Annual US Conference of Mayors in Indianapolis where together with the Dalai Lama she talked about the power of kindness and how to make the world a more compassionate place.
In April 2020, Gaga curated the televised benefit concert, *One World: Together at Home*, a collaboration with Global Citizen to benefit the World Health Organization's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. The special raised $127 million, which according to *Forbes* "puts it on par with the other legendary fundraiser, Live Aid, as the highest grossing charity concert in history." In recognition of her activism for the Black Lives Matter movement during the 2020 George Floyd protests, Gaga received the Yolanda Denise King High Ground Award from the King Center's Beloved Community Awards in January 2021. In her acceptance speech, she denounced racism and white supremacy and addressed her social responsibility as a high-profile artist and white woman.
### Born This Way Foundation
In 2012, Gaga launched the Born This Way Foundation (BTWF), a non-profit organization that focuses on youth empowerment. It has been named after her 2011 single and album. Media proprietor Oprah Winfrey, writer Deepak Chopra, and US Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius spoke at the foundation's inauguration at Harvard University. The foundation's original funding included $1.2 million from Gaga, $500,000 from the MacArthur Foundation, and $850,000 from Barneys New York. In July 2012, the BTWF partnered with Office Depot for a series of limited edition back-to-school products, with 25% of its sales going towards the foundation, for a guaranteed donation of $1 million. The foundation's initiatives have included the "Born Brave Bus" that followed Gaga on tour as a youth drop-in center as an initiative against bullying.
In October 2015, at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, Gaga joined 200 high school students, policy makers, and academic officials, including Peter Salovey, to discuss ways to recognize and channel emotions for positive outcomes. In 2016, the foundation partnered with Intel, Vox Media, and *Recode* to fight online harassment. The sales revenue of the 99th issue of the *V* magazine, which featured Gaga and Kinney, was donated to the foundation. Gaga and Elton John released the clothing and accessories line Love Bravery at Macy's in May 2016. 25% of each purchase benefited the BTWF and the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Gaga partnered with Starbucks for a week in June 2017 with the "Cups of Kindness" campaign, where the company donated 25 cents from some of the beverages sold to the foundation. She also appeared in a video by Staples Inc. to raise funds for the foundation and DonorsChoose.org.
On the 2018 World Kindness Day, Gaga partnered with the foundation to bring food and relief to a Red Cross shelter for people who have been forced to evacuate homes due to the California wildfires. The foundation also partnered with Starbucks and SoulCycle to thank California firefighters for their relief work during the crisis. Gaga had to previously evacuate her own home during the Woolsey Fire which spread through parts of Malibu. In March 2019, she penned a letter to supporters of the BTWF, announcing the launch of a new pilot program for a teen mental health first aid project with the National Council for Behavioral Health. Gaga revealed her personal struggles with mental health in her letter and how she was able to get support which saved her life: "I know what it means to have someone support me and understand what I'm going through, and every young person in the world should have someone to turn to when they're hurting. It saved my life, and it will save theirs."
In September 2020, Gaga released an anthology book, *Channel Kindness: Stories of Kindness and Community*, featuring fifty-one stories about kindness, bravery, and resilience from young people all over the world collected by the BTWF, and introduced by herself. She promoted it with a 21 days of kindness challenge on her social media, using the "BeKind21" hashtag. In 2021, Gaga collaborated with the Champagne house Dom Pérignon to benefit the BTWF by releasing a limited edition of Rosé Vintage 2005 bottles along with a sculpture designed by her. The 110 exclusive pieces were sold at private sales, and the profit of $570,000 was donated to the foundation. On the 2021 World Kindness Day, Gaga released a 30-minute special, titled *The Power of Kindness*, as part of the foundation's Channel Kindness program, in which together with a mental health expert and a group of eleven young people, she explored the connection between kindness and mental health.
### LGBTQ advocacy
A bisexual woman, Gaga has been actively supporting LGBTQ rights worldwide. She has attributed much of her early success as a mainstream artist to her gay fans and is considered a gay icon. Early in her career, Gaga had difficulty getting radio airplay, and stated: "The turning point for me was the gay community." She thanked FlyLife, a Manhattan-based LGBTQ marketing company which worked with her label Interscope at the time, in the liner notes of *The Fame*. One of her first televised performances was in May 2008 at the NewNowNext Awards, an awards show aired by the LGBTQ television network Logo.
Gaga spoke at the 2009 National Equality March in Washington, D.C., to support the LGBTQ rights movement. She attended the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards accompanied by four gay and lesbian former members of the United States Armed Forces who had been unable to serve openly under the US military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which banned open homosexuality in the military. Gaga urged her fans via YouTube to contact their senators in an effort to overturn the policy. In September 2010, she spoke at a Servicemembers Legal Defense Network's rally in Portland, Maine. Following this event, *The Advocate* named her a "fierce advocate" for gays and lesbians.
Gaga appeared at Europride, an international event dedicated to LGBTQ pride, in Rome in June 2011. She criticized the poor state of gay rights in many European countries and described gay people as "revolutionaries of love". Later that year, she was referenced by teenager Jamey Rodemeyer in the hours prior to his death, with Rodemeyer having tweeted "@ladygaga bye mother monster, thank you for all you have done, paws up forever". Rodemeyer's suicide prompted Gaga to meet with then-President Barack Obama in order to address anti-gay bullying in American schools. She later endorsed him during the 2012 US presidential election. In 2011, Gaga was also ordained as a minister by the Universal Life Church Monastery allowing her to officiate the wedding of two female friends.
In June 2016, during a vigil held in Los Angeles for victims of the attack at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Gaga read aloud the names of the 49 people killed in the attack, and gave a speech. She also appeared in Human Rights Campaign's tribute video to the victims of the attack. Following Joan Jett, Gaga was the second of nearly 200 musicians and music industry executives to sign *Billboard*'s Open Letter on Gun Violence, demanding that Congress enact universal background checks on all gun buyers. She subsequently supported the 2018 March for Our Lives gun-control rally in Washington, D.C. Gaga opposed the presidency of Donald Trump and his military transgender ban. She supported former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for president in 2016. In 2018, a leaked memo from Trump's office revealed that his administration wanted to change the legal definition of sex to exclude transgender Americans. Gaga was one of the many celebrities to condemn him and spread the #WontBeErased campaign to her Twitter followers.
In January 2019, during one of her Enigma shows, she criticized Vice President Mike Pence for his wife Karen Pence working at an evangelical Christian school where LGBTQ people are turned away, calling him "the worst representation of what it means to be a Christian". Gaga also stated: "I am a Christian woman, and what I do know about Christianity is that we bear no prejudice, and everybody is welcome". Gaga made a congratulatory speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots and the LGBTQ community's accomplishments at WorldPride NYC 2019 outside the Stonewall Inn, birthplace of the modern gay rights movement. Following Trump's win in the 2024 US presidential election, in which Gaga endorsed Kamala Harris, she voiced her support for the transgender community after his rollback of their protections.
## Legacy
Gaga was named the "Queen of Pop" in a 2011 ranking by *Rolling Stone* based on record sales and social media metrics. In 2012, she ranked fourth in VH1's Greatest Women in Music, and became a feature of the temporary exhibition *The Elevated. From the Pharaoh to Lady Gaga*, which marked the 150th anniversary of the National Museum in Warsaw.
Gaga has often been praised for using controversy to bring attention to various issues. According to Frankie Graddon of *The Independent*, Gaga—who wore a meat dress to highlight her distaste for the US military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy—influenced protest dressing on red carpet. *Billboard* named her "the Greatest Pop Star of 2009", asserting that "to say that her one-year rise from rookie to MVP was meteoric doesn't quite cut it, as she wasn't just successful, but game-changing—thanks to her voracious appetite for reinvention." Because of *The Fame*'s success—it was listed as one of the 100 Greatest Debut Albums of All-Time by *Rolling Stone* in 2013—Gaga has been credited as one of the musicians that popularized synth-pop in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
According to Kelefa Sanneh of *The New Yorker*, "Lady Gaga blazed a trail for truculent pop stars by treating her own celebrity as an evolving art project." Including *Born This Way* as one of the 50 best female albums of all time, *Rolling Stone*'s Rob Sheffield considers it "hard to remember a world where we didn't have Gaga, although we're pretty sure it was a lot more boring". In 2015, *Time* noted that Gaga had "practically invented the current era of pop music as spectacle". A decade later, Daniel D'Addario of *Variety* further observed the influence of Gaga's sense of spectacle on the next generation of artists, calling her "a pop star's pop star". He surmised that Sabrina Carpenter's use of self-parodying and ultra-glam camp in her performances, Billie Eilish's incorporation of grandeur into her shows, and Chappell Roan's "drag-inflected let's-put-on-a-show spirit" and "eagerness to use costumes and makeup to help tell her stories" all came from each watching the video for "Bad Romance" in their childhoods.
A 2017 journal published by *Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts* studying structural patterns in melodies of earworm songs compiled lists of catchiest tracks from 3,000 participants, in which Gaga's "Bad Romance", "Alejandro", and "Poker Face" ranked number one, eight, and nine, respectively. In 2018, NPR wrote she was the second most influential female artist of the 21st century, calling her "one of the first big artists of the 'Internet age'". *Billboard* also placed Gaga fifth on its "Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century" list, and sixth on the "Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century" list. She and her work have influenced various artists including Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj, Ellie Goulding, Halsey, Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé, Nick Jonas, Sam Smith, Noah Cyrus, Katherine Langford, MGMT, Allie X, Greyson Chance, Cardi B, Rina Sawayama, Blackpink, Madison Beer, Ren of NU'EST, Slayyyter, Bebe Rexha, Bree Runway, Celeste, Kim Petras, JoJo Siwa, Pabllo Vittar, Ava Max, Doja Cat, Chaeyoung of Twice, Kanye West, Rachel Zegler, SZA, Raye, Grace Gaustad, Laufey, and Chappell Roan.
Various higher education institutions have offered courses focusing on Gaga. Due to her influence on 21st century culture and her rise to global fame, sociologist Mathieu Deflem of the University of South Carolina launched a course titled "Lady Gaga and the Sociology of the Fame" in early 2011 with the objective of unraveling "some of the sociologically relevant dimensions of the fame of Lady Gaga". Focusing on her influence on gender and sexual identity, the University of Virginia College of Arts and Sciences introduced a writing course titled "GaGa for Gaga: Sex, Gender, and Identity" during its Fall 2010 semester, which explored "how identity is challenged by gender and sexuality and how Lady Gaga confronts this challenge". Courses exploring different aspects of Gaga's phenomenon, including her music and fame, have also been offered by Arizona State University, Tufts University, St. Catherine University, and the University of Richmond.
A new genus of ferns, *Gaga*, and its species, *G. germanotta* and *G. monstraparva*, have been named in her honor. The name *monstraparva* alluded to Gaga's fans, known as Little Monsters, since their symbol is the outstretched "monster claw" hand, which resembles a tightly rolled young fern leaf prior to unfurling. Gaga also has an extinct mammal, *Gagadon minimonstrum*, a parasitic wasp, *Aleiodes gaga*, and a treehopper, *Kaikaia gaga*, named for her.
In Taichung, Taiwan, July 3 is designated as "Lady Gaga Day" marking the first day Gaga visited the country in 2011. In May 2021, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of *Born This Way* and its cultural impact, West Hollywood mayor, Lindsey P. Horvath, presented Gaga with a key to the city and declared May 23 as "Born This Way Day". A street painting with the Daniel Quasar's version of the pride flag featuring the album's title was also unveiled on Robertson Boulevard as a tribute to the album, and how it has inspired the LGBTQ community over the years.
## Achievements
Gaga has won fourteen Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Sports Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, a BAFTA Award, eighteen MTV Video Music Awards (including the inaugural Tricon Award), three Brit Awards, and eighteen *Guinness World Records*. She has been honored with the inaugural Songwriters Hall of Fame Contemporary Icon Award as a songwriter-artist who has attained an iconic status in pop culture. She also received the National Arts Awards' Young Artist Award, honoring individuals who have shown accomplishments and leadership early in their career, and the Grammy Museum Jane Ortner Artist Award, which recognizes artists who have demonstrated passion and dedication to education through the arts. The Council of Fashion Designers of America recognized her with the Fashion Icon award. In 2019, Gaga became the first woman to win an Academy, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Grammy Award in one year for her contributions to the *A Star Is Born* soundtrack. In 2023, *Rolling Stone* included her among the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.
With estimated sales of 124 million records, Gaga is one of the world's bestselling music artists, and has produced some of the bestselling singles of all time. She is the only female artist to have four singles ("Just Dance", "Poker Face", "Bad Romance" and "Shallow") each sell at least 10 million copies globally. As of 2022, she has grossed more than $689.5 million in revenue from concert tours and residencies with attendance of 6.3 million, being the fifth woman to pass the half-billion total as reported to *Billboard* Boxscore, receiving the *Pollstar* Award for Pop Touring Artist of the Decade (2010s). She is also among the top digital singles artists in the US, with 87.5 million equivalent units certified according to Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), was the first woman to receive the Digital Diamond Award certification from RIAA, one of the few artists with at least three Diamond certified songs ("Bad Romance", "Poker Face" and "Just Dance"), and the first artist to have two songs pass seven million downloads ("Poker Face" and "Just Dance").
Named *Billboard*'s Artist of the Year in 2010, Gaga subsequently appeared on its "Greatest of All Time Artists" chart. She became the longest-reigning act of *Billboard*'s Dance/Electronic Albums chart with 211 weeks at number one, while *The Fame* spent a record 142 weeks atop the chart. As of 2020, six of her singles appeared on the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's annual Top 10 Global Singles chart ("Just Dance", "Poker Face", "Bad Romance", "Telephone", "Born This Way" and "Shallow"), setting the record for the most entries by any female artist.
According to *Guinness World Records*, Gaga was the most followed person on Twitter from 2011 to 2013, the most famous celebrity in 2013, and the most powerful popstar in 2014. She was included on *Forbes*' Celebrity 100 from 2010 to 2015 and 2018 to 2020, topping the list in 2011. Gaga also appeared on their list of the World's Most Powerful Women from 2010 to 2014, and topped their list of the Most Powerful Musicians in 2013. She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by *Time* magazine in 2010 and 2019, and ranked second in its most influential people of the past ten years readers' poll in 2013.
As of October 2020, *Forbes* estimated Gaga's net worth at $150 million. The magazine named her the world's highest-paid female musician in 2011 with $90 million, and the fourth top-earning female musician of the 2010s with $500 million. In 2012, she placed fourth on *Billboard*'s list of the top moneymakers of 2011 with earnings of $25 million, which included sales from *Born This Way* and her Monster Ball Tour.
## Discography
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## Tours and residencies
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## Filmography
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## See also
- Artists with the most number-ones on the U.S. Dance Club Songs chart
*Forbes*list of highest-earning musicians- Honorific nicknames in popular music
- List of actors with Academy Award nominations
- List of LGBTQ people from New York City
- List of
*Billboard*Social 50 number-one artists - List of most-followed Twitter accounts
- List of organisms named after famous people (born 1950–present)
## Notes
### Citations
### Literary sources
## External links
- Lady Gaga at IMDb
- Lady Gaga at Rotten Tomatoes
- Appearances on C-SPAN
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# Raccoon - Wikipedia
| Raccoon Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
Eastern raccoon (P. l. lotor), Central Park in New York City
| |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Procyonidae |
| Genus: | Procyon
|
| Species: | P. lotor |
| Binomial name | |
Procyon lotor | |
| Native range in red, introduced range in blue | |
| Synonyms | |
|
The **raccoon** (US: ⓘ, * Procyon lotor*), sometimes called the
**North American**,
**northern**or
**common raccoon**(also spelled
**racoon**) to distinguish it from other species of raccoon, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of 40 to 70 cm (16 to 28 in), and a body weight of 5 to 26 kg (11 to 57 lb). Its grayish coat mostly consists of dense underfur, which insulates it against cold weather. The animal's most distinctive features include its extremely dexterous front paws, its facial mask, and its ringed tail, which are common themes in the mythologies of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas surrounding the species. The raccoon is noted for its intelligence, and studies show that it can remember the solution to tasks for at least three years. It is usually nocturnal and omnivorous, eating about 40% invertebrates, 33% plants, and 27% vertebrates.
The original habitats of the raccoon are deciduous and mixed forests. Still, due to their adaptability, they have extended their range to mountainous areas, coastal marshes, and urban areas, where some homeowners consider them to be pests. As a result of escapes and deliberate introductions in the mid-20th century, raccoons are now also distributed across central Europe, the Caucasus, and Japan.
In Europe, the raccoon has been included on the list of Invasive Alien Species of Union Concern since 2016. This implies that this species cannot be imported, bred, transported, commercialized, or intentionally released into the environment in the whole of the European Union.
Though previously thought to be generally solitary, there is now evidence that raccoons engage in sex-specific social behavior. Related females often share a common area, while unrelated males live together in groups of up to four raccoons to maintain their positions against foreign males during the mating season and against other potential invaders. Home range sizes vary anywhere from 3 ha (7.4 acres) for females in cities, to 5,000 ha (50 km2; 19 sq mi) for males in prairies. After a gestation about 65 days, two to five young known as "kits" are born in spring. The kits are subsequently raised by their mother until dispersal in late fall. Although captive raccoons have been known to live over 20 years, their life expectancy in the wild is only 1.8 to 3.1 years. In many areas, hunting and vehicular injury are the two most common causes of death.
## Etymology
Names for the species include the **common raccoon**, **North American raccoon**, and **northern raccoon**. In various North American native languages, the reference to the animal's manual dexterity, or use of its hands, is the source for the names. The word *raccoon* was adopted into English from the native Powhatan term meaning 'animal that scratches with its hands',[ better source needed] as used in the Colony of Virginia. It was recorded on John Smith's list of Powhatan words as
*aroughcun*, and on that of William Strachey as
*arathkone*. It has also been identified as a reflex of a Proto-Algonquian root *
*ahrah-koon-em*, meaning '[the] one who rubs, scrubs and scratches with its hands'.
[The word is sometimes spelled as
*better source needed*]*.*
**racoon**In Spanish, the raccoon is called *mapache*, derived from the Nahuatl *mapachtli* of the Aztecs, meaning '[the] one who takes everything in its hands'.
Its Latin name, *Procyon lotor*, literally means 'before-dog washer'. The genus *Procyon* was named by Gottlieb Conrad Christian Storr. The animal's observed habit of "washing" or "dousing" (see below) is the source of its name in other languages. For example, the French "raton laveur" means "washing rat".
The colloquial abbreviation *coon* is used in words like *coonskin* for fur clothing and in phrases like *old coon* as a self-designation of trappers. In the 1830s, the United States Whig Party used the raccoon as an emblem, causing them to be pejoratively known as "coons" by their political opponents, who saw them as too sympathetic to African-Americans. Soon after that the term became an ethnic slur, especially in use between 1880 and 1920 (see *coon song*), and the term is still considered offensive. Dogs bred to hunt raccoons are called *coonhound* and *coon dog*. Due to having a habit of eating human garbage in urban environments, raccoons are also colloquially known as *trash pandas*.
## Taxonomy
In the first decades after its discovery by the members of the expedition of Christopher Columbus, who were the first Europeans to leave a written record about the species, taxonomists thought the raccoon was related to many different species, including dogs, cats, badgers and particularly bears. Carl Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy, placed the raccoon in the genus *Ursus*, first as *Ursus cauda elongata* ('long-tailed bear') in the second edition of his *Systema Naturae* (1740), then as *Ursus Lotor* ('washer bear') in the tenth edition (1758–59). In 1780, Gottlieb Conrad Christian Storr placed the raccoon in its own genus *Procyon*, which can be translated as either 'before the dog' or 'doglike'. It is also possible that Storr had its nocturnal lifestyle in mind and chose the star Procyon as eponym for the species.
### Evolution
Based on fossil evidence from Russia and Bulgaria, the first known members of the family Procyonidae lived in Europe in the late Oligocene about 25 million years ago. Similar tooth and skull structures suggest procyonids and weasels share a common ancestor, but molecular analysis indicates a closer relationship between raccoons and bears. After the then-existing species crossed the Bering Strait at least six million years later in the early Miocene, the center of its distribution was probably in Central America. Coatis (*Nasua* and *Nasuella*) and raccoons (*Procyon*) have been considered to share common descent from a species in the genus *Paranasua* present between 5.2 and 6.0 million years ago. This assumption, based on morphological comparisons of fossils, conflicts with a 2006 genetic analysis which indicates raccoons are more closely related to ringtails. Unlike other procyonids, such as the crab-eating raccoon (*Procyon cancrivorus*), the ancestors of the common raccoon left tropical and subtropical areas and migrated farther north about 2.5 million years ago, in a migration that has been confirmed by the discovery of fossils in the Great Plains dating back to the middle of the Pliocene. Its most recent ancestor was likely *Procyon rexroadensis*, a large Blancan raccoon from the Rexroad Formation characterized by its narrow back teeth and large lower jaw.
### Subspecies
As of 2005, *Mammal Species of the World* recognizes 22 subspecies of raccoons. Four of these subspecies living only on small Central American and Caribbean islands were often regarded as distinct species after their discovery. These are the Bahamian raccoon and Guadeloupe raccoon, which are very similar to each other; the Tres Marias raccoon, which is larger than average and has an angular skull; and the extinct Barbados raccoon. Studies of their morphological and genetic traits in 1999, 2003, and 2005 led all these island raccoons to be listed as subspecies of the common raccoon in *Mammal Species of the World's* third edition. A fifth island raccoon population, the Cozumel raccoon, which weighs only 3 to 4 kg (6.6 to 8.8 lb) and has notably small teeth, is still regarded as a separate species.
The four smallest raccoon subspecies, with a typical weight of 1.8 to 2.7 kg (4.0 to 6.0 lb), live along the southern coast of Florida and on the adjacent islands; an example is the Ten Thousand Islands raccoon (*Procyon lotor marinus*). Most of the other 15 subspecies differ only slightly from each other in coat color, size and other physical characteristics. The two most widespread subspecies are the eastern raccoon (*Procyon lotor lotor*) and the Upper Mississippi Valley raccoon (*Procyon lotor hirtus*). Both share a comparatively dark coat with long hairs, but the Upper Mississippi Valley raccoon is larger than the eastern raccoon. The eastern raccoon occurs in all U.S. states and Canadian provinces to the north of South Carolina and Tennessee. The adjacent range of the Upper Mississippi Valley raccoon covers all U.S. states and Canadian provinces to the north of Louisiana, Texas, and New Mexico.
The taxonomic identity of feral raccoons inhabiting Central Europe, Causasia, and Japan is unknown, as the founding populations consisted of uncategorized specimens from zoos and fur farms.
| Subspecies | Image | Trinomial authority | Description | Range | Synonyms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Eastern raccoonP. l. lotorNominate subspecies |
Linnaeus, 1758 | A small and dark subspecies with long, soft fur. | Nova Scotia, southern New Brunswick, southern Quebec, and southern Ontario south through the eastern United States to North Carolina, and from the Atlantic coast west to Lake Michigan, Indiana, southern Illinois, western Kentucky, and probably eastern Tennessee. | annulatus (G. Fischer, 1814)
| |
Key Vaca raccoonP. l. auspicatus
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Nelson, 1930 | A very small and pale-furred subspecies. | Key Vaca and doubtless closely adjoining keys of the Key Vaca Group, a central section of the main chain off the southern coast of Florida. | ||
Florida raccoonP. l. elucus
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Bangs, 1898 | Generally a medium-sized and dark-colored subspecies with a prominent rusty rufous nuchal patch. | Peninsular Florida, except the southwestern part inhabited by P. l. marinus, north to extreme southern Georgia; grading into P. l. varius in northwest Florida.
|
||
Snake River Valley raccoonP. l. excelsus
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Nelson and Goldman, 1930 | A very large and pale subspecies. | Snake River drainage in southeastern Washington, eastern Oregon, and southern Idaho, the Humboldt River Valley, Nev., and river valleys of northeastern California. | ||
Texas raccoonP. l. fuscipes
|
Mearns, 1914 | A large, dark grayish subspecies. | Texas, except extreme northern and western parts, southern Arkansas, Louisiana, except the delta region of Mississippi, and south into northeastern Mexico, including Coahuila and Nuevo León, to southern Tamaulipas. | ||
† Barbados raccoonP. l. gloveralleni
|
Nelson and Goldman, 1930 | A small, dark-furred subspecies with a lightly built skull. | Known only from the Island of Barbados. | solutus (Nelson and Goldman, 1931)
| |
Baja California raccoonP. l. grinnelli
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Nelson and Goldman, 1930 | A large, pale-furred subspecies with a high and broad skull. | Southern Baja California from the Cape region north at least to San Ignacio. | ||
Mexican raccoonP. l. hernandezii
|
Wagler, 1831 | A large and dark grayish subspecies with a flattish skull and heavy dentition. | Mexican mainland (primarily central, western, and southern Mexico), extending southward through Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and northern Panama. | crassidens (Hollister, 1914)
| |
Upper Mississippi Valley raccoonP. l. hirtus
|
Nelson and Goldman, 1930 | A large and dark-furred subspecies, whose pelage is usually suffused with ochraceous buff. | Upper Mississippi and Missouri River drainage areas from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains east to Lake Michigan, and from southern Manitoba and probably southwestern Ontario and southeastern Alberta south to southern Oklahoma and Arkansas. | ||
Torch Key raccoonP. l. incautus
|
Nelson, 1930 | A small subspecies with very pale fur (the palest of the Florida raccoons). | Big Pine Key Group, near the southwestern end of the chain of Florida Keys. | ||
Matecumbe Key raccoonP. l. inesperatus
|
Nelson, 1930 | Similar to P. l. elucus, but smaller and grayer and with a flatter skull.
|
Key Largo Group, embracing fringing keys along the southeast coast of Florida, from Virginia Key south to Lower Matecumbe Key. | ||
Tres Marias raccoonP. l. insularis
|
Merriam, 1898 | A large, massive-skulled subspecies with short and coarse fur. | Tres Marías Islands, off west coast of Nayarit, Mexico. | vicinus (Nelson and Goldman, 1931)
| |
Saint Simon Island raccoonP. l. litoreus
|
Nelson and Goldman, 1930 | Similar to P. l. elucus, being of medium size and having dark fur.
|
Coastal strip and islands of Georgia. | ||
Ten Thousand Islands raccoonP. l. marinus
|
Nelson, 1930 | A very small subspecies with heavy dentition. | Keys of the Ten Thousand Islands Group, and the adjoining mainland of southwestern Florida from Cape Sable north through the Everglades to Lake Okeechobee. | maritimus (Dozier, 1948)
| |
Bahamian raccoonP. l. maynardi
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Bangs, 1898 | A small and slightly dark subspecies with a lightly built skull and dentition. | Known only from New Providence Island, Bahamas. | flavidus (de Beaux, 1910)
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Mississippi Delta raccoonP. l. megalodous
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Lowery, 1943 | A medium-sized subspecies, with a massive skull and pale yellow fur suffused above with black. | Coast region of southern Louisiana from St. Bernard Parish west to Cameron Parish. | ||
Guadeloupe raccoon
|
Miller, 1911 | A small subspecies with a delicate skull, a dark gray coat, and a slight ochre tint on the neck and shoulders. | Guadeloupe in the Lesser Antilles (both islands: Grande-Terre and Basse-Terre). | ||
Pacific Northwest raccoonP. l. pacificus
|
Merriam, 1899 | A dark-furred subspecies with a relatively broad, flat skull. | Southwestern British Columbia, except Vancouver Island, northern, central, and western Washington, western Oregon, and extreme northwestern California. | proteus (Brass, 1911)
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Colorado Desert raccoonP. l. pallidus
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Merriam, 1900 | One of the palest subspecies, around the same size as P. l. mexicanus.
|
Colorado and Gila River Valleys and adjoining territory from the delta north to northeastern Utah, and east to western Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. | ochraceus (Mearns, 1914)
| |
California raccoonP. l. psora
|
Gray, 1842 | A large and moderately dark subspecies with a broad, rather flat skull. | California, except the extreme northwest coastal strip, the northeastern corner, and southeastern desert region, ranging south through northwestern Baja California to San Quentin; extreme west central Nevada. | californicus (Means, 1914)
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Isthmian raccoonP. l. pumilus
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Miller, 1911 | Similar to P. l. crassidens in color, but has a shorter, broader, and flatter skull.
|
Panama and the Canal Zone from Porto Bello west to Boqueron, Chiriqui, though the limits of its range are unknown. | ||
† Short-faced raccoonP. l. simus
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Gidley, 1906 | A Pleistocene subspecies similar to P. l. excelsus, but with a deeper lower jaw and a more robust dentition.
|
California. | ||
Vancouver Island raccoonP. l. vancouverensis
|
Nelson and Goldman, 1930 | A dark-furred subspecies, similar to P. l. pacificus but smaller.
|
Known only from Vancouver Island. |
## Description
### Physical characteristics
Head to hindquarters, raccoons measure between 40 and 70 cm (16 and 28 in), not including the bushy tail which can measure between 20 and 40 cm (7.9 and 15.7 in), but is usually not much longer than 25 cm (9.8 in). The shoulder height is between 23 and 30 cm (9.1 and 11.8 in). The body weight of an adult raccoon varies considerably with habitat, making the raccoon one of the most variably sized mammals. It can range from 2 to 26 kg (4.4 to 57.3 lb), but is usually between 5 and 12 kg (11 and 26 lb). The smallest specimens live in southern Florida, while those near the northern limits of the raccoon's range tend to be the largest . Males are usually 15 to 20% heavier than females. At the beginning of winter, a raccoon can weigh twice as much as in spring because of fat storage. The largest recorded wild raccoon weighed 28.4 kg (63 lb) and measured 140 cm (55 in) in total length, by far the largest size recorded for a procyonid.
The most characteristic physical feature of the raccoon is the area of black fur around the eyes, which contrasts sharply with the surrounding white face coloring. This is reminiscent of a "bandit's mask" and has thus enhanced the animal's reputation for mischief. The slightly rounded ears are also bordered by white fur. Raccoons are assumed to recognize the facial expression and posture of other members of their species more quickly because of the conspicuous facial coloration and the alternating light and dark rings on the tail. The dark mask may also reduce glare and thus enhance night vision. On other parts of the body, the long and stiff guard hairs, which shed moisture, are usually colored in shades of gray and, to a lesser extent, brown. Raccoons with a very dark coat are more common in the German population because individuals with such coloring were among those initially released to the wild. The dense underfur, which accounts for almost 90% of the coat, insulates against cold weather and is composed of 2 to 3 cm (0.79 to 1.18 in) long hairs.
The raccoon, whose method of locomotion is usually considered to be plantigrade, can stand on its hind legs to examine objects with its front paws. As raccoons have short legs compared to their compact torso, they are usually not able to run quickly or jump great distances. Their top speed over short distances is 16 to 24 km/h (9.9 to 14.9 mph). Raccoons can swim with an average speed of about 5 km/h (3.1 mph) and can stay in the water for several hours. For climbing down a tree headfirst—an unusual ability for a mammal of its size—a raccoon rotates its hind feet so they are pointing backwards. Raccoons have a dual cooling system to regulate their temperature; that is, they can both sweat and pant for heat dissipation.
Raccoon skulls have a short and wide facial region and a voluminous braincase. The facial length of the skull is less than the cranial, and their nasal bones are short and quite broad. The auditory bullae is inflated in form, and the sagittal crest is weakly developed. The dentition—40 teeth with the dental formula:3.1.4.2—is adapted to their omnivorous diet: the carnassials are not as sharp and pointed as those of a full-time carnivore, but the molars are not as wide as those of a herbivore. The penis bone of males is about 10 cm (3.9 in) long and strongly bent at the front end, and its shape can be used to distinguish juvenile males from mature males. Seven of the thirteen identified vocal calls are used in communication between the mother and her kits, one of these being the birdlike twittering of newborns.
### Senses
The most important sense for the raccoon is its sense of touch. The "hyper sensitive" front paws are protected by a thin horny layer that becomes pliable when wet. The five digits of the paws have no webbing between them, which is unusual for a carnivoran. Almost two-thirds of the area responsible for sensory perception in the raccoon's cerebral cortex is specialized for the interpretation of tactile impulses, more than in any other studied animal. They are able to identify objects before touching them with vibrissae located above their sharp, nonretractable claws. The raccoon's paws lack an opposable thumb; thus, it does not have the agility of the hands of primates. There is no observed negative effect on tactile perception when a raccoon stands in water below 10 °C (50 °F) for hours.
Raccoons are thought to be color blind or at least poorly able to distinguish color, though their eyes are well-adapted for sensing green light. Although their accommodation of 11 dioptre is comparable to that of humans and they see well in twilight because of the tapetum lucidum behind the retina, visual perception is of subordinate importance to raccoons because of their poor long-distance vision. In addition to being useful for orientation in the dark, their sense of smell is important for intraspecific communication. Glandular secretions (usually from their anal glands), urine and feces are used for marking. With their broad auditory range, they can perceive tones up to 50–85 kHz as well as quiet noises, like those produced by earthworms underground.
### Intelligence
Zoologist Clinton Hart Merriam described raccoons as "clever beasts", and that "in certain directions their cunning surpasses that of the fox". The animal's intelligence gave rise to the epithet "sly coon". Only a few studies have been undertaken to determine the mental abilities of raccoons, most of them based on the animal's sense of touch. In a study by the ethologist H. B. Davis in 1908, raccoons were able to open 11 of 13 complex locks in fewer than 10 tries and had no problems repeating the action when the locks were rearranged or turned upside down. Davis concluded that they understood the abstract principles of the locking mechanisms and their learning speed was equivalent to that of rhesus macaques.
Studies in 1963, 1973, 1975, and 1992 concentrated on raccoon memory showed that they can remember the solutions to tasks for at least three years. In a study by B. Pohl in 1992, raccoons were able to instantly differentiate between identical and different symbols three years after the short initial learning phase. Stanislas Dehaene reports in his book *The Number Sense* that raccoons can distinguish boxes containing two or four grapes from those containing three. In research by Suzana Herculano-Houzel and other neuroscientists, raccoons are comparable to primates in density of neurons in the cerebral cortex, which they have proposed to be a neuroanatomical indicator of intelligence.
## Behavior
### Social behavior
Studies in the 1990s by the ethologists Stanley D. Gehrt and Ulf Hohmann suggest that raccoons engage in sex-specific social behaviors and are not typically solitary, as was previously thought. Related females often live in a so-called "fission-fusion society"; that is, they share a common area and occasionally meet at feeding or resting grounds. Unrelated males often form loose male social groups to maintain their position against foreign males during the mating season—or against other potential invaders. Such a group does not usually consist of more than four individuals. Since some males show aggressive behavior towards unrelated kits, mothers will isolate themselves from other raccoons until their kits are big enough to defend themselves.
Concerning these three different modes of life prevalent among raccoons, Hohmann called their social structure a "three-class society". Samuel I. Zeveloff, professor of zoology at Weber State University and author of the book *Raccoons: A Natural History*, is more cautious in his interpretation and concludes at least the females are solitary most of the time and, according to Erik K. Fritzell's study in North Dakota in 1978, males in areas with low population densities are solitary as well.
The shape and size of a raccoon's home range vary depending on age, sex, and habitat, with adults claiming areas more than twice as large as juveniles. While the size of home ranges in the habitat of North Dakota's prairies lie between 7 and 50 km2 (3 and 20 sq mi) for males and between 2 and 16 km2 (1 and 6 sq mi) for females, the average size in a marsh at Lake Erie was 0.5 km2 (0.19 sq mi). Irrespective of whether the home ranges of adjacent groups overlap, they are most likely not actively defended outside the mating season if food supplies are sufficient. Odor marks on prominent spots are assumed to establish home ranges and identify individuals. Urine and feces left at shared raccoon latrines may provide additional information about feeding grounds, since raccoons were observed to meet there later for collective eating, sleeping, and playing.
Concerning the general behavior patterns of raccoons, Gehrt points out that "typically you'll find 10 to 15 percent that will do the opposite" of what is expected.
### Diet
Though usually nocturnal, the raccoon is sometimes active in daylight to take advantage of available food sources. Its diet consists of about 40% invertebrates, 33% plant material and 27% vertebrates. Since its diet consists of such a variety of different foods, Zeveloff argues the raccoon "may well be one of the world's most omnivorous animals". While its diet in spring and early summer consists mostly of insects, worms, and other animals already available early in the year, it prefers fruits and nuts, such as acorns and walnuts, which emerge in late summer and autumn, and represent a rich calorie source for building up fat needed for winter.
Contrary to popular belief, raccoons only occasionally eat active or large prey, such as birds and mammals. They prefer prey that is easier to catch, specifically crayfish, insects, fish, amphibians and bird eggs. Raccoons are virulent predators of eggs and hatchlings in both birds and reptile nests, to such a degree that, for threatened prey species, raccoons may need to be removed from the area or nests may need to be relocated to mitigate the effect of their predations (i.e. in the case of some globally threatened turtles). When food is plentiful, raccoons can develop strong individual preferences for specific foods. In the northern parts of their range, raccoons go into a winter rest, reducing their activity drastically as long as a permanent snow cover makes searching for food difficult.
### Dousing
One aspect of raccoon behavior is so well known that it gives the animal part of its scientific name, *Procyon lotor*; *lotor* is Latin for 'washer'. In the wild, raccoons often dabble for underwater food near the shoreline. They then often pick up the food item with their front paws to examine it and rub the item, sometimes to remove unwanted parts. This gives the appearance of the raccoon "washing" the food. The tactile sensitivity of raccoons' paws is increased if this rubbing action is performed underwater, since the water softens the hard layer covering the paws. However, the behavior observed in captive raccoons in which they carry their food to water to "wash" or douse it before eating has not been observed in the wild. Naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, believed that raccoons do not have adequate saliva production to moisten food thereby necessitating dousing, but this hypothesis is now considered to be incorrect. Captive raccoons douse their food more frequently when a watering hole with a layout similar to a stream is not farther away than 3 m (10 ft). The widely accepted theory is that dousing in captive raccoons is a fixed action pattern from the dabbling behavior performed when foraging at shores for aquatic foods. This is supported by the observation that aquatic foods are doused more frequently. Cleaning dirty food does not seem to be a reason for "washing".
### Reproduction
Raccoons usually mate in a period triggered by increasing daylight between late January and mid-March. However, there are large regional differences which are not completely explicable by solar conditions. For example, while raccoons in southern states typically mate later than average, the mating season in Manitoba also peaks later than usual in March and extends until June. During the mating season, males restlessly roam their home ranges in search of females in an attempt to court them during the three- to four-day period when conception is possible. These encounters will often occur at central meeting places. Copulation, including foreplay, can last over an hour and is repeated over several nights. The weaker members of a male social group also are assumed to get the opportunity to mate, since the stronger ones cannot mate with all available females. In a study in southern Texas during the mating seasons from 1990 to 1992, about one-third of all females mated with more than one male. If a female does not become pregnant or if she loses her kits early, she will sometimes become fertile again 80 to 140 days later.
After usually 63 to 65 days of gestation (although anywhere from 54 to 70 days is possible), a litter of typically two to five young is born. The average litter size varies widely with habitat, ranging from 2.5 in Alabama to 4.8 in North Dakota. Larger litters are more common in areas with a high mortality rate, due, for example, to hunting or severe winters. While male yearlings usually reach their sexual maturity only after the main mating season, female yearlings can compensate for high mortality rates and may be responsible for about 50% of all young born in a year. Males have no part in raising young. The kits (also called "cubs") are blind and deaf at birth, but their mask is already visible against their light fur. The birth weight of the roughly 10 cm (4 in)-long kits is between 60 and 75 g (2.1 and 2.6 oz). Their ear canals open after around 18 to 23 days, a few days before their eyes open for the first time. Once the kits weigh about 1 kg (2 lb), they begin to explore outside the den, consuming solid food for the first time after six to nine weeks. After this point, their mother suckles them with decreasing frequency; they are usually weaned by 16 weeks. In the fall, after their mother has shown them dens and feeding grounds, the juvenile group splits up. While many females will stay close to the home range of their mother, males can sometimes move more than 20 km (12 mi) away. This is considered an instinctive behavior, preventing inbreeding. However, mother and offspring may share a den during the first winter in cold areas.
### Life expectancy
Captive raccoons have been known to live for more than 20 years. However, the species' life expectancy in the wild is only 1.8 to 3.1 years, depending on the local conditions such as traffic volume, hunting, and weather severity. It is not unusual for only half of the young born in one year to survive a full year. After this point, the annual mortality rate drops to between 10% and 30%. Young raccoons are vulnerable to losing their mother and to starvation, particularly in long and cold winters. The most frequent natural cause of death in the North American raccoon population is distemper, which can reach epidemic proportions and kill most of a local raccoon population. In areas with heavy vehicular traffic and extensive hunting, these factors can account for up to 90% of all deaths of adult raccoons. The most important natural predators of the raccoon are bobcats, coyotes, and great horned owls, the latter mainly preying on young raccoons but capable of killing adults in some cases. In Florida, they have been reported to fall victim to larger carnivores like American black bear and cougars and these species may also be a threat on occasion in other areas. Where still present, gray wolves may still occasionally take raccoons as a supplemental prey item. Also in the southeast, they are among the favored prey for adult American alligators. On occasion, both bald and golden eagles will prey on raccoons. In the tropics, raccoons are known to fall prey to smaller eagles such as ornate hawk-eagles and black hawk-eagles, although it is not clear whether adults or merely juvenile raccoons are taken by these. In rare cases of overlap, they may fall victim from carnivores ranging from species averaging smaller than themselves such as fishers to those as large and formidable as jaguars in Mexico. In their introduced range in the former Soviet Union, their main predators are wolves, lynxes and Eurasian eagle-owls. However, predation is not a significant cause of death, especially because larger predators have been exterminated in many areas inhabited by raccoons.
## Range
### Habitat
Although they have thrived in sparsely wooded areas in the last decades, raccoons depend on vertical structures to climb when they feel threatened. Therefore, they avoid open terrain and areas with high concentrations of beech trees, as beech bark is too smooth to climb. Tree hollows in old oaks or other trees and rock crevices are preferred by raccoons as sleeping, winter, and litter dens. If such dens are unavailable or accessing them is inconvenient, raccoons use burrows dug by other mammals, dense undergrowth, or tree crotches. In a study in the Solling range of hills in Germany, more than 60% of all sleeping places were used only once, but those used at least ten times accounted for about 70% of all uses. Since amphibians, crustaceans, and other animals around the shore of lakes and rivers are an important part of the raccoon's diet, lowland deciduous or mixed forests abundant with water and marshes sustain the highest population densities. While population densities range from 0.5 to 3.2 animals per square kilometer (1.3 to 8.3 animals per square mile) in prairies and do not usually exceed 6 animals per square kilometer (15.5 animals per square mile) in upland hardwood forests, more than 20 raccoons per square kilometer (51.8 animals per square mile) can live in lowland forests and marshes.
### Distribution in North America
Raccoons are common throughout North America from Canada to Panama, where the subspecies *Procyon lotor pumilus* coexists with the crab-eating raccoon (*Procyon cancrivorus*). The population on Hispaniola was exterminated as early as 1513 by Spanish colonists who hunted them for their meat. Raccoons were also exterminated in Cuba and Jamaica, where the last sightings were reported in 1687. The Barbados raccoon became extinct relatively recently, in 1964. When they were still considered separate species, the Bahamas raccoon, Guadeloupe raccoon, and Tres Marias raccoon were classified as endangered by the IUCN in 1996.
There is archeological evidence that in pre-Columbian times raccoons were numerous only along rivers and in the woodlands of the Southeastern United States. As raccoons were not mentioned in earlier reports of pioneers exploring the central and north-central parts of the United States, their initial spread may have begun a few decades before the 20th century. Since the 1950s, raccoons have expanded their range from Vancouver Island—formerly the northernmost limit of their range—far into the northern portions of the four south-central Canadian provinces. New habitats which have recently been occupied by raccoons (aside from urban areas) include mountain ranges, such as the Western Rocky Mountains, prairies, and coastal marshes. After a population explosion starting in the 1940s, the estimated number of raccoons in North America in the late 1980s was 15 to 20 times higher than in the 1930s, when raccoons were comparatively rare. Urbanization, the expansion of agriculture, deliberate introductions, and the extermination of natural predators of the raccoon have probably caused this increase in abundance and distribution.
### Distribution outside North America
As a result of escapes and deliberate introductions in the mid-20th century, the raccoon is now distributed in several European and Asian countries. Sightings have occurred in all the countries bordering Germany, which hosts the largest population outside of North America. Another stable population exists in northern France, where several pet raccoons were released by members of the U.S. Air Force near the Laon-Couvron Air Base in 1966. Furthermore, raccoons have been known to be in the area around Madrid since the early 1970s. In 2013, the city authorized "the capture and death of any specimen". It is also present in Italy, with one self-sustaining population in Lombardy.
About 1,240 animals were released in nine regions of the former Soviet Union between 1936 and 1958 to establish a population to be hunted for their fur. Two of these introductions were successful – one in the south of Belarus between 1954 and 1958, and another in Azerbaijan between 1941 and 1957. With a seasonal harvest of between 1,000~1,500;animals, in 1974 the estimated size of the population distributed in the Caucasus region was around 20,000 animals, and the density was four animals per square kilometer (10 animals per square mile).
#### Distribution in Japan
In Japan, up to 1,500 raccoons were imported as pets each year after the success of the anime series *Rascal the Raccoon* (1977). In 2004, the descendants of discarded or escaped animals lived in 42 of 47 prefectures. The range of raccoons in the wild in Japan grew from 17 prefectures in 2000 to all 47 prefectures in 2008. It is estimated that raccoons cause thirty million yen (~$275,000) of agricultural damage on Hokkaido alone.
#### Distribution in Germany
In Germany – where the raccoon is called the *Waschbär* (literally, 'wash-bear' or 'washing bear') due to its habit of "dousing" food in water – two pairs of pet raccoons were released into the German countryside at the Edersee reservoir in the north of Hesse in April 1934 by a forester upon request of their owner, a poultry farmer. He released them two weeks before receiving permission from the Prussian hunting office to "enrich the fauna". Several prior attempts to introduce raccoons in Germany had been unsuccessful. A second population was established in eastern Germany in 1945 when 25 raccoons escaped from a fur farm at Wolfshagen (today a district of Altlandsberg), east of Berlin, after an air strike. The two populations are parasitologically distinguishable: 70% of the raccoons of the Hessian population are infected with the roundworm *Baylisascaris procyonis*, but none of the Brandenburgian population is known to have the parasite. In the Hessian region, there were an estimated 285 raccoons in 1956, which increased to over 20,000 in 1970; in 2008, there were between 200,000 and 400,000 raccoons in the whole of Germany. By 2012 it was estimated that Germany now had more than a million raccoons.
The raccoon was once a protected species in Germany, but has been declared a game animal in 14 of the 16 German states since 1954. Hunters and environmentalists argue the raccoon spreads uncontrollably, threatens protected bird species, and supersedes indigenous competitors. This view is opposed by the zoologist Frank-Uwe Michler, who finds no evidence that a high population density of raccoons leads to negative effects on the biodiversity of an area. Hohmann holds that extensive hunting cannot be justified by the absence of natural predators, because predation is not a significant cause of death in the North American raccoon population.
The raccoon is extensively hunted in Germany as it is seen as an invasive species and pest. In the 1990s, only about 400 raccoons were hunted yearly. This increased dramatically over the next quarter-century: during the 2015–2016 hunting season, 128,100 raccoons were hunted, 60 percent of them in the state of Hesse.
#### Distribution in the former Soviet Union
Experiments in acclimatising raccoons into the Soviet Union began in 1936, and were repeated a further 25 times until 1962. Overall, 1,222 individuals were released, 64 of which came from zoos and fur farms (38 of them having been imports from Western Europe). The remainder originated from a population previously established in Transcaucasia. The range of Soviet raccoons was never single or continuous, as they were often introduced to different locations far from each other. All introductions into the Russian Far East failed; melanistic raccoons were released on Petrov Island near Vladivostok and some areas of southern Primorsky Krai, but died. In Central Asia, raccoons were released in Kyrgyzstan's Jalal-Abad Province, though they were later recorded as "practically absent" there in January 1963. A large and stable raccoon population (yielding 1,000~1,500 catches a year) was established in Azerbaijan after an introduction to the area in 1937. Raccoons survived an introduction near Terek, along the Sulak River into the Dagestani lowlands. Attempts to settle raccoons on the Kuban River's left tributary and Kabardino-Balkaria were unsuccessful. A successful acclimatization occurred in Belarus, where three introductions (consisting of 52, 37, and 38 individuals in 1954 and 1958) took place. By January 1963, 700 individuals were recorded in the country.
### Urban raccoons
Due to its adaptability, the raccoon has been able to use urban areas as a habitat. The first sightings were recorded in a suburb of Cincinnati in the 1920s. Since the 1950s, raccoons have been present in metropolitan areas like Washington, DC, Chicago, Toronto, and New York City. Since the 1960s, Kassel has hosted Europe's first and densest population in a large urban area, with about 50 to 150 animals per square kilometer (130 to 390 animals per square mile), a figure comparable to those of urban habitats in North America. Home range sizes of urban raccoons are only 3 to 40 hectares (7.5 to 100 acres) for females and 8 to 80 hectares (20 to 200 acres) for males. In small towns and suburbs, many raccoons sleep in a nearby forest after foraging in the settlement area. Fruit and insects in gardens and leftovers in municipal waste are easily available food sources. Furthermore, a large number of additional sleeping areas exist in these areas, such as hollows in old garden trees, cottages, garages, abandoned houses, and attics. The percentage of urban raccoons sleeping in abandoned or occupied houses varies from 15% in Washington, DC (1991) to 43% in Kassel (2003).
## Health
Raccoons can carry rabies, a lethal disease caused by the neurotropic rabies virus carried in the saliva and transmitted by bites. Its spread began in Florida and Georgia in the 1950s and was facilitated by the introduction of infected individuals to Virginia and North Dakota in the late 1970s. Of the 6,940 documented rabies cases reported in the United States in 2006, 2,615 (37.7%) were in raccoons. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, as well as local authorities in several U.S. states and Canadian provinces, has developed oral vaccination programs to fight the spread of the disease in endangered populations. Only one human fatality has been reported after transmission of the rabies virus strain commonly known as "raccoon rabies". Among the main symptoms for rabies in raccoons are a generally sickly appearance, impaired mobility, abnormal vocalization, and aggressiveness. There may be no visible signs at all, however, and most individuals do not show the aggressive behavior seen in infected canids; rabid raccoons will often retire to their dens instead. Organizations like the U.S. Forest Service encourage people to stay away from animals with unusual behavior or appearance, and to notify the proper authorities, such as an animal control officer from the local health department. Since healthy animals, especially nursing mothers, will occasionally forage during the day, daylight activity is not a reliable indicator of illness in raccoons.
Unlike rabies and at least a dozen other pathogens carried by raccoons, distemper, an epizootic virus, does not affect humans. This disease is the most frequent natural cause of death in the North American raccoon population and affects individuals of all age groups. For example, 94 of 145 raccoons died during an outbreak in Clifton, Ohio in 1968. It may occur along with a following inflammation of the brain (encephalitis), causing the animal to display rabies-like symptoms. In Germany, the first eight cases of distemper were reported in 2007.
Some of the most important bacterial diseases which affect raccoons are leptospirosis, listeriosis, tetanus, and tularemia. Although internal parasites weaken their immune systems, well-fed individuals can carry a great many roundworms in their digestive tracts without showing symptoms. The larvae of the roundworm *Baylisascaris procyonis*, which can be contained in the feces and seldom causes a severe illness in humans, can be ingested when cleaning raccoon latrines without wearing breathing protection.
While not endemic, the worm *Trichinella* does infect raccoons, and undercooked raccoon meat has caused trichinosis in humans.
Trematode *Metorchis conjunctus* can also infect raccoons.
## Relationship with humans
### Conflicts
Raccoons have become notorious in urban areas for consuming food waste. They possess impressive problem-solving abilities and can break into all but the most secure food waste bins, which has earned them the derisive nickname *trash panda.* The presence of raccoons near humans may be undesirable, as raccoon droppings (like most wild animals) contain parasites and other disease vectors. Raccoon roundworm is of particular concern to public health. It can be contracted in humans by accidental ingestion or inhalation of the eggs, which are present in the feces of infected raccoons. While usually harmless to the host, it causes progressive neurological damage in humans and is eventually fatal if untreated. It is found in about 60% of adult raccoons. The general presence of raccoons in an area is not typically of concern, but nests or droppings found within or near structures should be destroyed. Roundworm eggs are very robust, and bleach alone is insufficient; burning or treatment with hot solutions of sodium hydroxide is required. The keeping of raccoons as pets is illegal in some jurisdictions due to these risks.
The increasing number of raccoons in urban areas has resulted in diverse reactions in humans, ranging from outrage at their presence to deliberate feeding. Some wildlife experts and most public authorities caution against feeding wild animals because they might become increasingly obtrusive and dependent on humans as a food source. Other experts challenge such arguments and advise on feeding raccoons and other wildlife in their books. Raccoons without a fear of humans are a concern to those who attribute this trait to rabies, but scientists point out this behavior is much more likely to be a behavioral adjustment to living in habitats with regular contact to humans for many generations. Raccoons usually do not prey on domestic cats and dogs, but isolated cases of killings have been reported. Attacks on pets may also target their owners.
While overturned waste containers and raided fruit trees are just a nuisance to homeowners, it can cost several thousand dollars to repair damage caused by the use of attic space as dens. Relocating or killing raccoons without a permit is forbidden in many urban areas on grounds of animal welfare. These methods usually only solve problems with particularly wild or aggressive individuals, since adequate dens are either known to several raccoons or will quickly be rediscovered. Loud noises, flashing lights, and unpleasant odors have proven particularly effective in driving away a mother and her kits before they would normally leave the nesting place (when the kits are about eight weeks old). Typically, though, only precautionary measures to restrict access to food waste and den sites are effective in the long term.
Among all fruits and crops cultivated in agricultural areas, sweet corn in its milk stage is particularly popular among raccoons. In a two-year study by Purdue University researchers, published in 2004, raccoons were responsible for 87% of the damage to corn plants. Like other predators, raccoons searching for food can break into poultry houses to feed on chickens, ducks, their eggs, or food.
In the mythology of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the raccoon is the subject of folk tales. Stories such as "How raccoons catch so many crayfish" from the Tuscarora centered on its skills at foraging. In other tales, the raccoon played the role of the trickster, which outsmarts other animals, like coyotes and wolves. Among others, the Dakota believe the raccoon has natural spirit powers, since its mask resembles the facial paintings, two-fingered swashes of black and white, used during rituals to connect to spirit beings. The Aztecs linked supernatural abilities especially to females, whose commitment to their young was associated with the role of wise women in their society.
The raccoon also appears in Native American art across a wide geographic range. Petroglyphs with engraved raccoon tracks were found in Lewis Canyon, Texas; at the Crow Hollow petroglyph site in Grayson County, Kentucky; and in river drainages near Tularosa, the San Francisco River of New Mexico and Arizona. The meaning and significance of the *Raccoon Priests Gorget*, which features a stylized carving of a raccoon and was found at the Spiro Mounds, Oklahoma, remains unknown.
### Hunting and fur trade
The fur of raccoons is used for clothing, especially for coats and coonskin caps. At present, it is the material used for the inaccurately named "sealskin" cap worn by the Royal Fusiliers of Great Britain. Sporrans made of raccoon pelt and hide have sometimes been used as part of traditional Scottish highland men's apparel since the 18th century, especially in North America. Such sporrans may or may not be of the "full-mask" type. Historically, Native American tribes not only used the fur for winter clothing, but also used the tails for ornament. The famous Sioux leader Spotted Tail took his name from a raccoon skin hat with the tail attached he acquired from a fur trader. Since the late 18th century, various types of scent hounds, called coonhounds, which can tree animals have been bred in the United States. In the 19th century, when coonskins occasionally even served as means of payment, several thousand raccoons were killed each year in the United States. This number rose quickly when automobile coats became popular after the turn of the 20th century. In the 1920s, wearing a raccoon coat was regarded as a status symbol among college students. Attempts to breed raccoons in fur farms in the 1920s and 1930s in North America and Europe turned out not to be profitable, and farming was abandoned after prices for long-haired pelts dropped in the 1940s. Although raccoons had become rare in the 1930s, at least 388,000 were killed during the hunting season of 1934–1935.
After persistent population increases began in the 1940s, the seasonal coon hunting harvest reached about one million animals in 1946–1947 and two million in 1962–1963. The broadcast of three television episodes about the frontiersman Davy Crockett and the film *Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier* in 1954 and 1955 led to a high demand for coonskin caps in the United States, although it is unlikely either Crockett or the actor who played him, Fess Parker, actually wore a cap made from raccoon fur. The seasonal hunt reached an all-time high with 5.2 million animals in 1976–1977 and ranged between 3.2 and 4.7 million for most of the 1980s. In 1982, the average pelt price was $20. As of 1987, the raccoon was identified as the most important wild furbearer in North America in terms of revenue. In the first half of the 1990s, the seasonal hunt dropped to 0.9 from 1.9 million due to decreasing pelt prices.
### Food
While primarily hunted for their fur, raccoons were also a source of food for Native Americans and early American settlers. According to Ernest Thompson Seton, young specimens killed without a fight are palatable, whereas old raccoons caught after a lengthy battle are inedible. Raccoon meat was extensively eaten during the early years of California, where it was sold in the San Francisco market for $1–3 apiece. American slaves occasionally ate raccoon at Christmas, but it was not necessarily a dish of the poor or rural. The first edition of *The Joy of Cooking*, released in 1931, contained a recipe for preparing raccoon, and US President Calvin Coolidge's pet raccoon Rebecca was originally sent to be served at the White House Thanksgiving Dinner.
Although the idea of eating raccoons may seem repulsive to most mainstream consumers, who see them as endearing, cute, or vermin, several thousand raccoons are still eaten each year in the United States, primarily in the Southern United States. Some people tout the taste of the meat.
### Other uses
In addition to the fur and meat, the raccoon baculum (penis bone) have had numerous traditional uses in the Southern United States and beyond. Indigenous people used the bones as a pipe cleaning tool. The bones were used by moonshine distillers to guide the flow of whiskey from the drip tube to the bottle. With their tips filed down, the bones were used as toothpicks under the moniker "coon rods". In hoodoo, the folk magic of the American South, the baculum is sometimes worn as an amulet for love or luck. The bones also have decorative uses (e.g. on the trademark hat of stock car racer Richard Petty or as earrings by actresses Sarah Jessica Parker and Vanessa Williams).
### Pet raccoons
Raccoons are sometimes kept as pets, which is discouraged by many experts because the raccoon is not a domesticated species. Raccoons may act unpredictably and aggressively, and it is extremely difficult to teach them to obey commands. In places where keeping raccoons as pets is not forbidden, such as in Wisconsin and other U.S. states, an exotic pet permit may be required. One notable pet raccoon was Rebecca, kept by US president Calvin Coolidge.
Their propensity for unruly behavior exceeds that of captive skunks, and they are even less trustworthy when allowed to roam freely. Because of their intelligence and nimble forelimbs, even inexperienced raccoons are easily capable of unscrewing jars, uncorking bottles and opening door latches, with more experienced specimens having been recorded to open door knobs. Sexually mature raccoons often show aggressive natural behaviors such as biting during the mating season. Neutering them at around five or six months of age decreases the chances of aggressive behavior developing. Raccoons can become obese and suffer from other disorders due to poor diet and lack of exercise. When fed with cat food over a long time period, raccoons can develop gout. With respect to the research results regarding their social behavior, it is now required by law in Austria and Germany to keep at least two individuals to prevent loneliness. Raccoons are usually kept in a pen (indoor or outdoor), also a legal requirement in Austria and Germany, rather than in the apartment where their natural curiosity may result in damage to property.
When orphaned, it is possible for kits to be rehabilitated and reintroduced to the wild. However, it is uncertain whether they readapt well to life in the wild. Feeding unweaned kits with cow's milk rather than a kitten replacement milk or a similar product can be dangerous to their health.
### Local and indigenous names
| Linguistic group or area | Local / Indigenous name |
|---|---|
| Canadian French | Raton laveur |
| Choco | Touaru
|
| Cocopah | NYmaṣ |
| Cree | ᐱᓯᐢᑫᐢ (pisiskês)ᐅᒋᑯᒼᓯᐢ (ocikomsis)
|
| Cree (Swampy and Woods) | kimociškw- |
| Creek | Wot•ko |
| Lakota | , wičhítegleǧawičhá |
| Lenape | Nahënëm |
| Louisiana French | Chaoui |
| Mayan | Culu |
| Mi'kmaq | amaljugwej |
| Miskito | Suksuk |
| Nahuatl | Mapachitli |
| Navajo | Tábąąh mą'ii
|
| Nez Perce | K'ayk'áyoc
|
| Oglala Lakota | Wee'-cha
|
| Ojibwe | Esiban
|
| Omaha–Ponca | miká
|
| Pawnee | Icat
|
| Spanish | MapacheMapachínTejónGato manglatero
|
| Wintu | Qari•lit
|
| Yankton Dakota | Way-atch-a
|
## See also
- Cozumel raccoon, an endangered species in the Yucatán Peninsula
- Crab-eating raccoon, of Central and South America, eats crustaceans amongst other things
- Raccoon dog, native to East Asia
- Mexican raccoon, native to Mexico and much of Central America
## Explanatory notes
## Citations
## General and cited sources
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Raccoon".
*Encyclopædia Britannica*(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the - Bartussek, Ingo (2004).
*Die Waschbären kommen*(in German). Niedenstein, Germany: Cognitio. ISBN 978-3-932583-10-0. - Goldman, Edward A.; Jackson, Hartley H.T. (1950).
*Raccoons of North and Middle America*. North American Fauna. Vol. 60. Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service – via Internet Archive. - Heptner, V.G.; Sludskii, A.A. (2002).
*Mammals of the Soviet Union. Vol. II, part 1b, Carnivores (Mustelidae & Procyonidae)*. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Libraries and National Science Foundation. ISBN 978-90-04-08876-4 – via Internet Archive. - Hohmann, Ulf; Bartussek, Ingo; Böer, Bernhard (2001).
*Der Waschbär*(in German). Reutlingen, Germany: Oertel+Spörer. ISBN 978-3-88627-301-0. - Holmgren, Virginia C. (1990).
*Raccoons in Folklore, History and Today's Backyards*. Santa Barbara, California: Capra Press. ISBN 978-0-88496-312-7. - Lagoni-Hansen, Anke (1981).
*Der Waschbär*(in German). Mainz, Germany: Verlag Dieter Hoffmann. ISBN 978-3-87341-037-4. - MacClintock, Dorcas (1981).
*A Natural History of Raccoons*. Caldwell, New Jersey: Blackburn Press. ISBN 978-1-930665-67-5. - Seton, Ernest Thompson (1909).
*Life-histories of northern animals: an account of the mammals of Manitoba*. New York City: Scribner – via Internet Archive. - Zeveloff, Samuel I. (2002).
*Raccoons: A Natural History*. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books. ISBN 978-1-58834-033-7 – via Internet Archive.
## External links
- Raccoon Tracks – general information about raccoons
- Raccoons – Living with Wildlife – information about dealing with urban raccoons from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
- "Raccoon Nation".
*Nature*. PBS. 2012. *The Biology and Management of the Raccoon*, c. 1970, Archives of Ontario YouTube Channel
|
# Precipitation - Wikipedia
In meteorology, **precipitation** is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwealth usage), snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor (reaching 100% relative humidity), so that the water condenses and "precipitates" or falls. Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation; their water vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate, so fog and mist do not fall. (Such a non-precipitating combination is a colloid.) Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated with water vapor: cooling the air or adding water vapor to the air. Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Short, intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called showers.
Moisture that is lifted or otherwise forced to rise over a layer of sub-freezing air at the surface may be condensed by the low temperature into clouds and rain. This process is typically active when freezing rain occurs. A stationary front is often present near the area of freezing rain and serves as the focus for forcing moist air to rise. Provided there is necessary and sufficient atmospheric moisture content, the moisture within the rising air will condense into clouds, namely nimbostratus and cumulonimbus if significant precipitation is involved. Eventually, the cloud droplets will grow large enough to form raindrops and descend toward the Earth where they will freeze on contact with exposed objects. Where relatively warm water bodies are present, for example due to water evaporation from lakes, lake-effect snowfall becomes a concern downwind of the warm lakes within the cold cyclonic flow around the backside of extratropical cyclones. Lake-effect snowfall can be locally heavy. Thundersnow is possible within a cyclone's comma head and within lake effect precipitation bands. In mountainous areas, heavy precipitation is possible where upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation. On the leeward side of mountains, desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by compressional heating. Most precipitation occurs within the tropics and is caused by convection.
Precipitation is a major component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 cubic kilometres (121,000 cu mi) of water falls as precipitation each year: 398,000 cubic kilometres (95,000 cu mi) over oceans and 107,000 cubic kilometres (26,000 cu mi) over land. Given the Earth's surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres (39 in), but over land it is only 715 millimetres (28.1 in). Climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes. Global warming is already causing changes to weather, increasing precipitation in some geographies, and reducing it in others, resulting in additional extreme weather.
Precipitation may occur on other celestial bodies. Saturn's largest satellite, Titan, hosts methane precipitation as a slow-falling drizzle, which has been observed as rain puddles at its equator and polar regions.
Mechanisms of producing precipitation include convective, stratiform, and orographic rainfall. Convective processes involve strong vertical motions that can cause the overturning of the atmosphere in that location within an hour and cause heavy precipitation, while stratiform processes involve weaker upward motions and less intense precipitation. Precipitation can be divided into three categories, based on whether it falls as liquid water, liquid water that freezes on contact with the surface, or ice. Mixtures of different types of precipitation, including types in different categories, can fall simultaneously. Liquid forms of precipitation include rain and drizzle. Rain or drizzle that freezes on contact within a subfreezing air mass is called "freezing rain" or "freezing drizzle". Frozen forms of precipitation include snow, ice needles, ice pellets, hail, and graupel.
- Liquid precipitation
- Rainfall (including drizzle and rain) is usually measured using a rain gauge and expressed in units of millimeters (mm) of height or depth. Equivalently, it can be expressed as a physical quantity with dimension of volume of water per collection area, in units of liters per square meter (L/m
2); as 1L = 1dm3= 1mm·m2, the units of area (m2) cancel out, resulting in simply "mm". This also corresponds to an area density expressed in kg/m2, if assuming that 1 liter of water has a mass of 1 kg (water density), which is acceptable for most practical purposes. The corresponding English unit used is usually inches. In Australia before metrication, rainfall was also measured in "points", each of which was defined as one-hundredth of an inch.
- Solid precipitation
- A snow gauge is usually used to measure the amount of solid precipitation. Snowfall is usually measured in centimeters by letting snow fall into a container and then measure the height. The snow can then optionally be melted to obtain a water equivalent measurement in millimeters like for liquid precipitation. The relationship between snow height and water equivalent depends on the water content of the snow; the water equivalent can thus only provide a rough estimate of snow depth. Other forms of solid precipitation, such as snow pellets and hail or even rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwealth usage), can also be melted and measured as their respective water equivalents, usually expressed in millimeters as for liquid precipitation.
The dew point is the temperature to which a parcel of air must be cooled in order to become saturated, and (unless super-saturation occurs) condenses to water. Water vapor normally begins to condense on condensation nuclei such as dust, ice, and salt in order to form clouds. The cloud condensation nuclei concentration will determine the cloud microphysics. An elevated portion of a frontal zone forces broad areas of lift, which form cloud decks such as altostratus or cirrostratus. Stratus is a stable cloud deck which tends to form when a cool, stable air mass is trapped underneath a warm air mass. It can also form due to the lifting of advection fog during breezy conditions.
There are four main mechanisms for cooling the air to its dew point: adiabatic cooling, conductive cooling, radiational cooling, and evaporative cooling. Adiabatic cooling occurs when air rises and expands. The air can rise due to convection, large-scale atmospheric motions, or a physical barrier such as a mountain (orographic lift). Conductive cooling occurs when the air comes into contact with a colder surface, usually by being blown from one surface to another, for example from a liquid water surface to colder land. Radiational cooling occurs due to the emission of infrared radiation, either by the air or by the surface underneath. Evaporative cooling occurs when moisture is added to the air through evaporation, which forces the air temperature to cool to its wet-bulb temperature, or until it reaches saturation.
The main ways water vapor is added to the air are: wind convergence into areas of upward motion, precipitation or virga falling from above, daytime heating evaporating water from the surface of oceans, water bodies or wet land, transpiration from plants, cool or dry air moving over warmer water, and lifting air over mountains.
Coalescence occurs when water droplets fuse to create larger water droplets, or when water droplets freeze onto an ice crystal, which is known as the Bergeron process. The fall rate of very small droplets is negligible, hence clouds do not fall out of the sky; precipitation will only occur when these coalesce into larger drops. droplets with different size will have different terminal velocity that cause droplets collision and producing larger droplets, Turbulence will enhance the collision process. As these larger water droplets descend, coalescence continues, so that drops become heavy enough to overcome air resistance and fall as rain.
Raindrops have sizes ranging from 5.1 to 20 millimetres (0.20 to 0.79 in) mean diameter, above which they tend to break up. Smaller drops are called cloud droplets, and their shape is spherical. As a raindrop increases in size, its shape becomes more oblate, with its largest cross-section facing the oncoming airflow. Contrary to the cartoon pictures of raindrops, their shape does not resemble a teardrop. Intensity and duration of rainfall are usually inversely related, i.e., high intensity storms are likely to be of short duration and low intensity storms can have a long duration. Rain drops associated with melting hail tend to be larger than other rain drops. The METAR code for rain is RA, while the coding for rain showers is SHRA.
Ice pellets ("sleet" in US usage) are a form of precipitation consisting of small, translucent balls of ice. Ice pellets are usually (but not always) smaller than hailstones. They often bounce when they hit the ground, and generally do not freeze into a solid mass unless mixed with freezing rain. The METAR code for ice pellets is **PL**.
Ice pellets form when a layer of above-freezing air exists with sub-freezing air both above and below. This causes the partial or complete melting of any snowflakes falling through the warm layer. As they fall back into the sub-freezing layer closer to the surface, they re-freeze into ice pellets. However, if the sub-freezing layer beneath the warm layer is too small, the precipitation will not have time to re-freeze, and freezing rain will be the result at the surface. A temperature profile showing a warm layer above the ground is most likely to be found in advance of a warm front during the cold season.
Like other precipitation, hail forms in storm clouds when supercooled water droplets freeze on contact with condensation nuclei, such as dust or dirt. The storm's updraft blows the hailstones to the upper part of the cloud. The updraft dissipates and the hailstones fall down, back into the updraft, and are lifted again. Hail has a diameter of 5 millimetres (0.20 in) or more. Within METAR code, GR is used to indicate larger hail, of a diameter of at least 6.4 millimetres (0.25 in). GR is derived from the French word grêle. Smaller-sized hail, as well as snow pellets, use the coding of GS, which is short for the French word grésil. Stones just larger than golf ball-sized are one of the most frequently reported hail sizes. Hailstones can grow to 15 centimetres (6 in) and weigh more than 500 grams (1 lb). In large hailstones, latent heat released by further freezing may melt the outer shell of the hailstone. The hailstone then may undergo 'wet growth', where the liquid outer shell collects other smaller hailstones. The hailstone gains an ice layer and grows increasingly larger with each ascent. Once a hailstone becomes too heavy to be supported by the storm's updraft, it falls from the cloud.
Snow crystals form when tiny supercooled cloud droplets (about 10 μm in diameter) freeze. Once a droplet has frozen, it grows in the supersaturated environment. Because water droplets are more numerous than the ice crystals the crystals are able to grow to hundreds of micrometers in size at the expense of the water droplets. This process is known as the Wegener–Bergeron–Findeisen process. The corresponding depletion of water vapor causes the droplets to evaporate, meaning that the ice crystals grow at the droplets' expense. These large crystals are an efficient source of precipitation, since they fall through the atmosphere due to their mass, and may collide and stick together in clusters, or aggregates. These aggregates are snowflakes, and are usually the type of ice particle that falls to the ground. Guinness World Records list the world's largest snowflakes as those of January 1887 at Fort Keogh, Montana; allegedly one measured 38 cm (15 in) wide.
Although the ice is clear, scattering of light by the crystal facets and hollows/imperfections mean that the crystals often appear white in color due to diffuse reflection of the whole spectrum of light by the small ice particles. The shape of the snowflake is determined broadly by the temperature and humidity at which it is formed. Rarely, at a temperature of around −2 °C (28 °F), snowflakes can form in threefold symmetry—triangular snowflakes. The most common snow particles are visibly irregular, although near-perfect snowflakes may be more common in pictures because they are more visually appealing. No two snowflakes are alike, as they grow at different rates and in different patterns depending on the changing temperature and humidity within the atmosphere through which they fall on their way to the ground. The METAR code for snow is SN, while snow showers are coded SHSN.
Diamond dust, also known as ice needles or ice crystals, forms at temperatures approaching −40 °C (−40 °F) due to air with slightly higher moisture from aloft mixing with colder, surface-based air. They are made of simple ice crystals, hexagonal in shape. The METAR identifier for diamond dust within international hourly weather reports is IC.
Occult deposition occurs when mist or air that is highly saturated with water vapour interacts with the leaves of trees or shrubs it passes over.
Stratiform or dynamic precipitation occurs as a consequence of slow ascent of air in synoptic systems (on the order of cm/s), such as over surface cold fronts, and over and ahead of warm fronts. Similar ascent is seen around tropical cyclones outside of the eyewall, and in comma-head precipitation patterns around mid-latitude cyclones. A wide variety of weather can be found along an occluded front, with thunderstorms possible, but usually their passage is associated with a drying of the air mass. Occluded fronts usually form around mature low-pressure areas. Precipitation may occur on celestial bodies other than Earth. When it gets cold, Mars has precipitation that most likely takes the form of ice needles, rather than rain or snow.
Convective rain, or showery precipitation, occurs from convective clouds, e.g. cumulonimbus or cumulus congestus. It falls as showers with rapidly changing intensity. Convective precipitation falls over a certain area for a relatively short time, as convective clouds have limited horizontal extent. Most precipitation in the tropics appears to be convective; however, it has been suggested that stratiform precipitation also occurs. Graupel and hail indicate convection. In mid-latitudes, convective precipitation is intermittent and often associated with baroclinic boundaries such as cold fronts, squall lines, and warm fronts.
Orographic precipitation occurs on the windward (upwind) side of mountains and is caused by the rising air motion of a large-scale flow of moist air across the mountain ridge, resulting in adiabatic cooling and condensation. In mountainous parts of the world subjected to relatively consistent winds (for example, the trade winds), a more moist climate usually prevails on the windward side of a mountain than on the leeward or downwind side. Moisture is removed by orographic lift, leaving drier air (see katabatic wind) on the descending and generally warming, leeward side where a rain shadow is observed.
In Hawaii, Mount Waiʻaleʻale, on the island of Kauai, is notable for its extreme rainfall, as it has the second-highest average annual rainfall on Earth, with 12,000 millimetres (460 in). Storm systems affect the state with heavy rains between October and March. Local climates vary considerably on each island due to their topography, divisible into windward (*Koʻolau*) and leeward (*Kona*) regions based upon location relative to the higher mountains. Windward sides face the east to northeast trade winds and receive much more rainfall; leeward sides are drier and sunnier, with less rain and less cloud cover.
In South America, the Andes mountain range blocks Pacific moisture that arrives in that continent, resulting in a desertlike climate just downwind across western Argentina. The Sierra Nevada range creates the same effect in North America forming the Great Basin and Mojave Deserts.
Extratropical cyclones can bring cold and dangerous conditions with heavy rain and snow with winds exceeding 119 km/h (74 mph), (sometimes referred to as windstorms in Europe). The band of precipitation that is associated with their warm front is often extensive, forced by weak upward vertical motion of air over the frontal boundary which condenses as it cools and produces precipitation within an elongated band, which is wide and stratiform, meaning falling out of nimbostratus clouds.
Southwest of extratropical cyclones, curved cyclonic flow bringing cold air across the relatively warm water bodies can lead to narrow lake-effect snow bands. Those bands bring strong localized snowfall which can be understood as follows: Large water bodies such as lakes efficiently store heat that results in significant temperature differences (larger than 13 °C or 23 °F) between the water surface and the air above. Because of this temperature difference, warmth and moisture are transported upward, condensing into vertically oriented clouds (see satellite picture) which produce snow showers. The temperature decrease with height and cloud depth are directly affected by both the water temperature and the large-scale environment. The stronger the temperature decrease with height, the deeper the clouds get, and the greater the precipitation rate becomes.
In mountainous areas, heavy snowfall accumulates when air is forced to ascend the mountains and squeeze out precipitation along their windward slopes, which in cold conditions, falls in the form of snow. Because of the ruggedness of terrain, forecasting the location of heavy snowfall remains a significant challenge.
The wet, or rainy, season is the time of year, covering one or more months, when most of the average annual rainfall in a region falls. The term *green season* is also sometimes used as a euphemism by tourist authorities. Areas with wet seasons are dispersed across portions of the tropics and subtropics. Savanna climates and areas with monsoon regimes have wet summers and dry winters. Tropical rainforests technically do not have dry or wet seasons, since their rainfall is equally distributed through the year. Some areas with pronounced rainy seasons will see a break in rainfall mid-season when the Intertropical Convergence Zone or monsoon trough move poleward of their location during the middle of the warm season. When the wet season occurs during the warm season, or summer, rain falls mainly during the late afternoon and early evening hours. The wet season is a time when air quality improves, freshwater quality improves, and vegetation grows significantly. Soil nutrients diminish and erosion increases. Animals have adaptation and survival strategies for the wetter regime. The previous dry season leads to food shortages into the wet season, as the crops have yet to mature. Developing countries have noted that their populations show seasonal weight fluctuations due to food shortages seen before the first harvest, which occurs late in the wet season.
Tropical cyclones, a source of very heavy rainfall, consist of large air masses several hundred miles across with low pressure at the centre and with winds blowing inward towards the centre in either a clockwise direction (southern hemisphere) or counterclockwise (northern hemisphere). Although cyclones can take an enormous toll in lives and personal property, they may be important factors in the precipitation regimes of places they impact, as they may bring much-needed precipitation to otherwise dry regions. Areas in their path can receive a year's worth of rainfall from a tropical cyclone passage.
On the large scale, the highest precipitation amounts outside topography fall in the tropics, closely tied to the Intertropical Convergence Zone, itself the ascending branch of the Hadley cell. Mountainous locales near the equator in Colombia are amongst the wettest places on Earth. North and south of this are regions of descending air that form subtropical ridges where precipitation is low; the land surface underneath these ridges is usually arid, and these regions make up most of the Earth's deserts. An exception to this rule is in Hawaii, where upslope flow due to the trade winds lead to one of the wettest locations on Earth.
The standard way of measuring rainfall or snowfall is the standard rain gauge, which can be found in 10 cm (3.9 in) plastic and 20 cm (7.9 in) metal varieties. The inner cylinder is filled by 2.5 cm (0.98 in) of rain, with overflow flowing into the outer cylinder. Plastic gauges have markings on the inner cylinder down to 1⁄4 mm (0.0098 in) resolution, while metal gauges require use of a stick designed with the appropriate 1⁄4 mm (0.0098 in) markings. After the inner cylinder is filled, the amount inside is discarded, then filled with the remaining rainfall in the outer cylinder until all the fluid in the outer cylinder is gone, adding to the overall total until the outer cylinder is empty. These gauges are used in the winter by removing the funnel and inner cylinder and allowing snow and freezing rain to collect inside the outer cylinder. Some add anti-freeze to their gauge so they do not have to melt the snow or ice that falls into the gauge. Once the snowfall/ice is finished accumulating, or as 30 cm (12 in) is approached, one can either bring it inside to melt, or use lukewarm water to fill the inner cylinder with in order to melt the frozen precipitation in the outer cylinder, keeping track of the warm fluid added, which is subsequently subtracted from the overall total once all the ice/snow is melted.
When a precipitation measurement is made, various networks exist across the United States and elsewhere where rainfall measurements can be submitted through the Internet, such as CoCoRAHS or GLOBE. If a network is not available in the area where one lives, the nearest local weather office will likely be interested in the measurement.
A concept used in precipitation measurement is the hydrometeor. Any particulates of liquid or solid water in the atmosphere are known as hydrometeors. Formations due to condensation, such as clouds, haze, fog, and mist, are composed of hydrometeors. All precipitation types are made up of hydrometeors by definition, including virga, which is precipitation which evaporates before reaching the ground. Particles blown from the Earth's surface by wind, such as blowing snow and blowing sea spray, are also hydrometeors, as are hail and snow.
Although surface precipitation gauges are considered the standard for measuring precipitation, there are many areas in which their use is not feasible. This includes the vast expanses of ocean and remote land areas. In other cases, social, technical or administrative issues prevent the dissemination of gauge observations. As a result, the modern global record of precipitation largely depends on satellite observations.
Satellite sensors now in practical use for precipitation fall into two categories. Thermal infrared (IR) sensors record a channel around 11 micron wavelength and primarily give information about cloud tops. Due to the typical structure of the atmosphere, cloud-top temperatures are approximately inversely related to cloud-top heights, meaning colder clouds almost always occur at higher altitudes. Further, cloud tops with a lot of small-scale variation are likely to be more vigorous than smooth-topped clouds. Various mathematical schemes, or algorithms, use these and other properties to estimate precipitation from the IR data.
Additional sensor channels and products have been demonstrated to provide additional useful information including visible channels, additional IR channels, water vapor channels and atmospheric sounding retrievals. However, most precipitation data sets in current use do not employ these data sources.
The likelihood or probability of an event with a specified intensity and duration is called the return period or frequency. The intensity of a storm can be predicted for any return period and storm duration, from charts based on historical data for the location. The term *1 in 10 year storm* describes a rainfall event which is rare and is only likely to occur once every 10 years, so it has a 10 percent likelihood any given year. The rainfall will be greater and the flooding will be worse than the worst storm expected in any single year. The term *1 in 100 year storm* describes a rainfall event which is extremely rare and which will occur with a likelihood of only once in a century, so has a 1 percent likelihood in any given year. The rainfall will be extreme and flooding to be worse than a 1 in 10 year event. As with all probability events, it is possible though unlikely to have two "1 in 100 Year Storms" in a single year.
A significant portion of the annual precipitation in any particular place (no weather station in Africa or South America were considered) falls on only a few days, typically about 50% during the 12 days with the most precipitation.
Rain forests are characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1,750 and 2,000 mm (69 and 79 in). A tropical savanna is a grassland biome located in semi-arid to semi-humid climate regions of subtropical and tropical latitudes, with rainfall between 750 and 1,270 mm (30 and 50 in) a year. They are widespread on Africa, and are also found in India, the northern parts of South America, Malaysia, and Australia. The humid subtropical climate zone is where winter rainfall (and sometimes snowfall) is associated with large storms that the westerlies steer from west to east. Most summer rainfall occurs during thunderstorms and from occasional tropical cyclones. Humid subtropical climates lie on the east side continents, roughly between latitudes 20° and 40° degrees from the equator.
An oceanic (or maritime) climate is typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of all the world's continents, bordering cool oceans, as well as southeastern Australia, and is accompanied by plentiful precipitation year-round. The Mediterranean climate regime resembles the climate of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, parts of western North America, parts of western and southern Australia, in southwestern South Africa and in parts of central Chile. The climate is characterized by hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters. A steppe is a dry grassland. Subarctic climates are cold with continuous permafrost and little precipitation.
Precipitation, especially rain, has a dramatic effect on agriculture. All plants need at least some water to survive, therefore rain (being the most effective means of watering) is important to agriculture. While a regular rain pattern is usually vital to healthy plants, too much or too little rainfall can be harmful, even devastating to crops. Drought can kill crops and increase erosion, while overly wet weather can cause harmful fungus growth. Plants need varying amounts of rainfall to survive. For example, cacti require only small amounts of water.
In areas with wet and dry seasons, soil nutrients diminish and erosion increases during the wet season. Animals have adaptation and survival strategies for the wetter regime. The previous dry season leads to food shortages into the wet season, as the crops have yet to mature. Developing countries have noted that their populations show seasonal weight fluctuations due to food shortages seen before the first harvest, which occurs late in the wet season.
Increasing temperatures tend to increase evaporation which leads to more precipitation. Precipitation has generally increased over land north of 30°N from 1900 to 2005 but has declined over the tropics since the 1970s. Globally there has been no statistically significant overall trend in precipitation over the past century, although trends have varied widely by region and over time. In 2018, a study assessing changes in precipitation across spatial scales using a high-resolution global precipitation dataset of over 33+ years, concluded that "While there are regional trends, there is no evidence of increase in precipitation at the global scale in response to the observed global warming."
Each region of the world is going to have changes in precipitation due to their unique conditions. Eastern portions of North and South America, northern Europe, and northern and central Asia have become wetter. The Sahel, the Mediterranean, southern Africa and parts of southern Asia have become drier. There has been an increase in the number of heavy precipitation events over many areas during the past century, as well as an increase since the 1970s in the prevalence of droughts—especially in the tropics and subtropics. Changes in precipitation and evaporation over the oceans are suggested by the decreased salinity of mid- and high-latitude waters (implying more precipitation), along with increased salinity in lower latitudes (implying less precipitation, more evaporation, or both). Over the contiguous United States, total annual precipitation increased at an average rate of 6.1% per century since 1900, with the greatest increases within the East North Central climate region (11.6% per century) and the South (11.1%). Hawaii was the only region to show a decrease (−9.25%).
The urban heat island warms cities 0.6 to 5.6 °C (1.1 to 10.1 °F) above surrounding suburbs and rural areas. This extra heat leads to greater upward motion, which can induce additional shower and thunderstorm activity. Rainfall rates downwind of cities are increased between 48% and 116%. Partly as a result of this warming, monthly rainfall is about 28% greater between 32 and 64 kilometres (20 and 40 mi) downwind of cities, compared with upwind. Some cities induce a total precipitation increase of 51%.
The Quantitative Precipitation Forecast (abbreviated QPF) is the expected amount of liquid precipitation accumulated over a specified time over a specified area. A QPF will be specified when a measurable precipitation type reaching a minimum threshold is forecast for any hour during a QPF valid period. Precipitation forecasts tend to be bound by synoptic hours such as 0000, 0600, 1200, and 1800 GMT. The terrain is considered in QPFs using topography or based upon climatological precipitation patterns from observations with fine detail. Starting in the mid to late 1990s, QPFs were used within hydrologic forecast models to simulate impact to rivers throughout the United States. Forecast models show significant sensitivity to humidity levels within the planetary boundary layer, or in the lowest levels of the atmosphere, which decreases with height. QPF can be generated on a quantitative, forecasting amounts, or a qualitative, forecasting the probability of a specific amount, basis. Radar imagery forecasting techniques show higher skill than model forecasts within six to seven hours of the time of the radar image. The forecasts can be verified through the use of rain gauge measurements, weather radar estimates, or a combination of both. Various skill scores can be determined to measure the value of the rainfall forecast.
- List of meteorology topics
- Basic precipitation
- Bioprecipitation, the concept of rain-making bacteria.
- Mango showers, pre-monsoon showers in the Indian states of Karnataka and Kerala that help in the ripening of mangoes.
- Sunshower, an unusual meteorological phenomenon in which rain falls while the sun is shining.
- Wintry showers, an informal meteorological term for various mixtures of rain, freezing rain, ice pellets, and snow.
- Current global map of predicted precipitation for the next three hours
- Global Precipitation Climatology Centre GPCC
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# Martin Luther King Jr. - Wikipedia
Martin Luther King Jr. | |
|---|---|
| 1st President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference | |
In officeJanuary 10, 1957 – April 4, 1968 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Ralph Abernathy |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Michael King Jr. January 15, 1929 Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | April 4, 1968 Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. | (aged 39)
| Manner of death | Assassination by gunshot |
| Resting place | Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park |
| Spouse | |
| Children | |
| Parents | |
| Relatives | |
| Education | |
| Occupation |
|
| Monuments | Full list |
| Movement | |
| Awards | |
| Signature | |
| Nickname | MLK |
**Martin Luther King Jr.** (born **Michael King Jr.**; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was one of the most prominent leaders of the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. He advanced civil rights for people of color in the United States through the use of nonviolent resistance and nonviolent civil disobedience against Jim Crow laws and other forms of legalized discrimination.
A Black church leader, King participated in and led marches for the right to vote, desegregation, labor rights, and other civil rights. He oversaw the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and later became the first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). As president of the SCLC, he led the unsuccessful Albany Movement in Albany, Georgia, and helped organize some of the nonviolent 1963 protests in Birmingham, Alabama. King was one of the leaders of the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and helped organize two of the three Selma to Montgomery marches during the 1965 Selma voting rights movement. The civil rights movement achieved pivotal legislative gains in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. There were several dramatic standoffs with segregationist authorities, who often responded violently.
King was jailed several times. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director J. Edgar Hoover considered King a radical and made him an object of the FBI's COINTELPRO from 1963 forward. FBI agents investigated him for possible communist ties, spied on his personal life, and secretly recorded him. In 1964, the FBI mailed King a threatening anonymous letter, which he interpreted as an attempt to make him commit suicide. On October 14, 1964, King won the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. In his final years, he expanded his focus to include opposition towards poverty and the Vietnam War.
In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the Poor People's Campaign, when he was assassinated on April 4 in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray, a fugitive from the Missouri State Penitentiary, was convicted of the assassination, though the King family believes he was a scapegoat. After a 1999 wrongful death lawsuit ruling named unspecified "government agencies" among the co-conspirators, a Department of Justice investigation found no evidence of a conspiracy. The assassination remains the subject of conspiracy theories. King's death was followed by national mourning, as well as anger leading to riots in many U.S. cities. King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2003. Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a holiday in cities and states throughout the United States beginning in 1971; the federal holiday was first observed in 1986. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 2011.
## Early life and education
### Birth
Michael King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta; he was the second of three children born to Michael King Sr. and Alberta King (née Williams). Alberta's father, Adam Daniel Williams, was a minister in rural Georgia, moved to Atlanta in 1893, and became pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in the following year. Williams married Jennie Celeste Parks. Michael Sr. was born to sharecroppers James Albert and Delia King of Stockbridge, Georgia; he was of Irish and likely Mende (Sierra Leone) descent. As an adolescent, Michael Sr. left his parents' farm and walked to Atlanta, where he attained a high school education, and enrolled in Morehouse College to study for entry to the ministry. Michael Sr. and Alberta began dating in 1920, and married on November 25, 1926. Until Jennie's death in 1941, their home was on the second floor of Alberta's parents' Victorian house, where King was born. Michael Jr. had an older sister, Christine King Farris, and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel "A. D." King.
Shortly after marrying Alberta, Michael King Sr. became assistant pastor of the Ebenezer church. Senior pastor Williams died in the spring of 1931 and that fall Michael Sr. took the role. With support from his wife, he raised attendance from six hundred to several thousand. In 1934, the church sent King Sr. on a multinational trip; one of the stops being Berlin for the Fifth Congress of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA). He also visited sites in Germany that are associated with the Reformation leader Martin Luther. In reaction to the rise of Nazism, the Congress of the BWA adopted, in August 1934, a resolution saying, "This Congress deplores and condemns as a violation of the law of God the Heavenly Father, all racial animosity, and every form of oppression or unfair discrimination toward the Jews, toward colored people, or toward subject races in any part of the world." After returning home in August 1934, Michael Sr. changed his name to Martin Luther King Sr. and his five-year-old son's name to Martin Luther King Jr.
### Early childhood
At his childhood home, Martin King Jr. and his two siblings read aloud the Bible as instructed by their father. After dinners, Martin Jr.'s grandmother Jennie, whom he affectionately referred to as "Mama", told lively stories from the Bible. Martin Jr.'s father regularly used whippings to discipline his children, sometimes having them whip each other. Martin Sr. later remarked, "[Martin Jr.] was the most peculiar child whenever you whipped him. He'd stand there, and the tears would run down, and he'd never cry." Once, when Martin Jr. witnessed his brother A.D. emotionally upset his sister Christine, he took a telephone and knocked A.D. unconscious with it. When Martin Jr. and his brother were playing at their home, A.D. slid from a banister and hit Jennie, causing her to fall unresponsive. Martin Jr., believing her dead, blamed himself and attempted suicide by jumping from a second-story window, but rose from the ground after hearing that she was alive.
Martin King Jr. became friends with a white boy whose father owned a business across the street from his home. In September 1935, when the boys were about six years old, they started school. King had to attend a school for black children, Yonge Street Elementary School, while his playmate went to a separate school for white children only. Soon afterwards, the parents of the white boy stopped allowing King to play with their son, stating to him, "we are white, and you are colored". When King relayed this to his parents, they talked with him about the history of slavery and racism in America, which King would later say made him "determined to hate every white person". His parents instructed him that it was his Christian duty to love everyone.
Martin King Jr. witnessed his father stand up against segregation and discrimination. Once, when stopped by a police officer who referred to Martin Sr. as "boy", Martin Sr. responded sharply that Martin Jr. was a boy but he was a man. When Martin Jr's father took him into a shoe store in downtown Atlanta, the clerk told them they needed to sit in the back. Martin Sr. refused, asserting "We'll either buy shoes sitting here or we won't buy any shoes at all", before leaving the store with Martin Jr. He told Martin Jr. afterward, "I don't care how long I have to live with this system, I will never accept it." In 1936, Martin Sr. led hundreds of African Americans in a civil rights march to the city hall in Atlanta to protest voting rights discrimination. Martin Jr. later remarked that Martin Sr. was "a real father" to him.
Martin King Jr. memorized hymns and Bible verses by the time he was five years old. Beginning at six years old, he attended church events with his mother and sang hymns while she played piano. His favorite hymn was "I Want to Be More and More Like Jesus". King later became a member of the junior choir in his church. He enjoyed opera, and played the piano. King garnered a large vocabulary from reading dictionaries. He got into physical altercations with boys in his neighborhood, but oftentimes used his knowledge of words to stop or avoid fights. King showed a lack of interest in grammar and spelling, a trait that persisted throughout his life. In 1939, King sang as a member of his church choir dressed as a slave for the all-white audience at the Atlanta premiere of the film *Gone with the Wind*. In September 1940, at the age of 11, King was enrolled at the Atlanta University Laboratory School for the seventh grade. While there, King took violin and piano lessons and showed keen interest in history and English classes.
On May 18, 1941, when King had sneaked away from studying at home to watch a parade, he was informed that something had happened to his maternal grandmother. After returning home, he learned she had a heart attack and died while being transported to a hospital. He took her death very hard and believed that his deception in going to see the parade may have been responsible for God taking her. King again jumped out of a second-story window at his home but again survived. His father instructed him that Martin Jr. should not blame himself and that she had been called home to God as part of God's plan. Martin Jr. struggled with this. Shortly thereafter, Martin Sr. decided to move the family to a two-story brick home on a hill overlooking downtown Atlanta.
### Adolescence
As an adolescent, he initially felt resentment against whites due to the "racial humiliation" that he, his family, and his neighbors often had to endure. In 1942, when King was 13, he became the youngest assistant manager of a newspaper delivery station for the *Atlanta Journal*. In the same year, King skipped the ninth grade and enrolled in Booker T. Washington High School, where he maintained a B-plus average. The high school was the only one in the city for African-American students.
Martin Jr. was brought up in a Baptist home; as he entered adolescence he began to question the literalist teachings preached at his father's church. At the age of 13, he denied the bodily resurrection of Jesus during Sunday school. Martin Jr. said that he found himself unable to identify with the emotional displays from congregants who were frequent at his church; he doubted if he would ever attain personal satisfaction from religion. He later said of this point in his life, "doubts began to spring forth unrelentingly."
In high school, Martin King Jr. became known for his public-speaking ability, with a voice that had grown into an orotund baritone. He joined the school's debate team. King continued to be most drawn to history and English, and chose English and sociology as his main subjects. King maintained an abundant vocabulary. However, he relied on his sister Christine to help him with spelling, while King assisted her with math. King also developed an interest in fashion, commonly wearing polished patent leather shoes and tweed suits, which gained him the nickname "Tweed" or "Tweedie" among his friends. He liked flirting with girls and dancing. His brother A.D. later remarked, "He kept flitting from chick to chick, and I decided I couldn't keep up with him. Especially since he was crazy about dances, and just about the best jitterbug in town."
On April 13, 1944, in his junior year, King gave his first public speech during an oratorical contest. In his speech he stated, "black America still wears chains. The finest negro is at the mercy of the meanest white man." King was selected as the winner of the contest. On the ride home to Atlanta by bus, he and his teacher were ordered by the driver to stand so that white passengers could sit. The driver of the bus called King a "black son-of-a-bitch". King initially refused but complied after his teacher told him that he would be breaking the law if he did not. As all the seats were occupied, he and his teacher were forced to stand the rest of the way to Atlanta. Later King wrote of the incident: "That night will never leave my memory. It was the angriest I have ever been in my life."
### Morehouse College
During King's junior year in high school, Morehouse College—an all-male historically black college that King's father and maternal grandfather had attended—began accepting high school juniors who passed the entrance examination. As World War II was underway, many black college students had been enlisted, so the university aimed to increase their enrollment by allowing juniors to apply. In 1944, aged 15, King passed the examination and was enrolled at the university that autumn.[ citation needed]
In the summer before King started at Morehouse, he boarded a train with his friend—Emmett "Weasel" Proctor—and a group of other Morehouse College students to work in Simsbury, Connecticut, at the tobacco farm of Cullman Brothers Tobacco. This was King's first trip into the integrated north. In a June 1944 letter to his father, King wrote about the differences that struck him: "On our way here we saw some things I had never anticipated to see. After we passed Washington there was no discrimination at all. The white people here are very nice. We go to any place we want to and sit anywhere we want to." The farm had partnered with Morehouse College to allot their wages towards the university's tuition, housing, and fees. On weekdays King and the other students worked in the fields, picking tobacco from 7:00 am to at least 5:00 pm, enduring temperatures above 100 °F, to earn roughly USD$4 per day. On Friday evenings, the students visited downtown Simsbury to get milkshakes and watch movies, and on Saturdays they would travel to Hartford, Connecticut, to see theatre performances, shop, and eat in restaurants. On Sundays, they attended church services in Hartford at a church filled with white congregants. King wrote to his parents about the lack of segregation, relaying how he was amazed they could go to "one of the finest restaurants in Hartford" and that "Negroes and whites go to the same church".
He played freshman football there. The summer before his last year at Morehouse, in 1947, the 18-year-old King chose to enter the ministry. He would later credit the college's president, Baptist minister Benjamin Mays, with being his "spiritual mentor". King had concluded that the church offered the most assuring way to answer "an inner urge to serve humanity", and he made peace with the Baptist Church, as he believed he would be a "rational" minister with sermons that were "a respectful force for ideas, even social protest." King graduated from Morehouse with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology in 1948, aged nineteen.
## Religious education
King enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Upland, Pennsylvania, and took several courses at the University of Pennsylvania. At Crozer, King was elected president of the student body. At Penn, King took courses with William Fontaine, Penn's first African-American professor, and Elizabeth F. Flower, a professor of philosophy. King's father supported his decision to continue his education and made arrangements for King to work with J. Pius Barbour, a family friend and Crozer alumnus who pastored at Calvary Baptist Church in nearby Chester, Pennsylvania. King became known as one of the "Sons of Calvary", an honor he shared with William Augustus Jones Jr. and Samuel D. Proctor, who both went on to become well-known preachers.
King reproved another student for keeping beer in his room once, saying they shared responsibility as African Americans to bear "the burdens of the Negro race". For a time, he was interested in Walter Rauschenbusch's "social gospel". In his third year at Crozer, King became romantically involved with the white daughter of an immigrant German woman who worked in the cafeteria. King planned to marry her, but friends, as well as King's father, advised against it, saying that an interracial marriage would provoke animosity from both blacks and whites, potentially damaging his chances of ever pastoring a church in the South. King tearfully told a friend that he could not endure his mother's pain over the marriage and broke the relationship off six months later. One friend was quoted as saying, "He never recovered." Other friends, including Harry Belafonte, said Betty had been "the love of King's life." King graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity in 1951. He applied to the University of Edinburgh for a doctorate in the School of Divinity but ultimately chose Boston instead.
In 1951, King began doctoral studies in systematic theology at Boston University, and worked as an assistant minister at Boston's historic Twelfth Baptist Church with William Hunter Hester. Hester was an old friend of King's father and was an important influence on King. In Boston, King befriended a small cadre of local ministers his age, and sometimes guest pastored at their churches, including Michael E. Haynes, associate pastor at Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury. The young men often held bull sessions in their apartments, discussing theology, sermon style, and social issues.[ citation needed]
At the age of 25 in 1954, King was called as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. King received his PhD on June 5, 1955, with a dissertation (initially supervised by Edgar S. Brightman and, upon the latter's death, by Lotan Harold DeWolf) titled *A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman*.
An academic inquiry in October 1991 concluded that portions of his doctoral dissertation had been plagiarized and he had acted improperly. However, "[d]espite its finding, the committee said that 'no thought should be given to the revocation of Dr. King's doctoral degree,' an action that the panel said would serve no purpose." The committee found that the dissertation still "makes an intelligent contribution to scholarship." A letter is now attached to the copy of King's dissertation in the university library, noting that numerous passages were included without the appropriate quotations and citations of sources. Significant debate exists on how to interpret King's plagiarism.
## Marriage and family
While studying at Boston University, he asked a friend from Atlanta named Mary Powell, a student at the New England Conservatory of Music, if she knew any nice Southern girls. Powell spoke to fellow student Coretta Scott; Scott was not interested in dating preachers but eventually agreed to allow King to telephone her based on Powell's description and vouching. On their first call, King told Scott, "I am like Napoleon at Waterloo before your charms," to which she replied, "You haven't even met me." King married Scott on June 18, 1953, on the lawn of her parents' house, in Heiberger, Alabama. They had four children: Yolanda King (1955–2007), Martin Luther King III (b. 1957), Dexter Scott King (1961–2024), and Bernice King (b. 1963). King limited Coretta's role in the civil rights movement, expecting her to be a housewife and mother.
## Activism and organizational leadership
On Sunday, June 11, 1950, King, classmate at Crozer Seminary and housemate Walter McCall, and their dates Doris Wilson and Pearl Smith attended church services in Merchantville. Afterwards they decided to stop at tavern Mary's Cafe in Maple Shade for beers. The foursome were left waiting without anyone approaching them for service, not unexpectedly.
A friend's father and King and McCall's landlord Jesthroe Hunt had warned the pair of seminarians that Black people were not welcome at Mary's. King replied to the effect of maybe they needed to go, so they could start to go anywhere they wanted. The young seminarians had opted for Mary's Cafe with full knowledge of its reputation. After waiting without service, McCall approached the bar.
McCall asked bartender and Mary's Cafe owner Ernest Nichols for packaged goods (beer for takeaway). Nichols refused the request and cited it being Sunday explaining he couldn't sell packaged goods on Sundays or any day after 10:00 pm by law. McCall then requested four glasses of beer to which Nichols answered "no beer, Mr! Today is Sunday”. Nichols would later claim they sought him to violate New Jersey's blue law (a legal restriction which is common in South Jersey and Pennsylvania as a remnant of the heavy influence of their Quakers roots). Finally, McCall requested ginger ales as non-alcoholic beverages would not be subject to the blue law. Nichols refused the group even ginger ales and reportedly stated "the best thing would be for you to leave".
King and company met refusal with refusal and remained in their seats as was their right per New Jersey's 1945 anti-discrimination law which guaranteed non-discrimination by race in public accommodations. Nichols then stomped out the tavern and returned with a gun standing outside the bar firing into the air reportedly shouting "I'd kill for less". Fearing for their lives, the four activists run from the tavern. Following the incident, the group went to the Maple Shade Police Department where officers refused to file their complaint about the confrontation and threats. King and McCall contacted Ulysses Simpson Wiggins then President of the Camden County Branch NAACP, who helped them successfully file a police report. The New York Times confirms "The complaint was against Ernest Nichols, a white tavern owner in Maple Shade, N.J., and said that he had refused to serve the black students and their dates in June 1950, and had threatened them by firing a gun in the air. The complaint was signed by the two students. One of the signatures, in a loopy, slanted cursive, reads 'M. L. King Jr.'"
Nichols was charged with disorderly conduct and violation of the anti-discrimination law. He was found guilty and fined $50 for his actions, however the racial discrimination count was dismissed. In a statement submitted "in the spirit of assisting the Prosecutor" Nichol's attorney claimed that:
Mr. Nichols claims that this act was not intended as a threat to his colored patrons. The colored patrons, on the other hand, while they admit that the gun was not pointed at them or any of them, seemed to think that it was a threat. Mr. Nichols on the other hand states that he has been held up before and he wanted to alert his watchdog who was somewhere outside on the tavern grounds.
— Statement on Behalf of Ernest Nichols, State of New Jersey vs. Ernest Nichols, by W. Thomas McGann
King would later cited this incident saying it was “a formative step” in his “commitment to a more just society.” Albeit a small act of protest and activism against racial injustice the Mary's Cafe sit-in demonstrated the power of non-violent civil disobedience. Nichols's reaction in retrieving a weapon and discharging it in the air whether to scare the group or merely to summon his guard dog to young people's refusal to leave unserved likely showed King the potency of such tactics. The Mary's Cafe sit-in is believed to be the first deployment of the non-violence and civil disobedience tactics which would distinguish Dr. King's activism and legacy.
Of additional note, the Mary's Cafe sit-in occurred six months prior to Dr. Mordecai Johnson's 1950 Lecture on Mahatma Gandi at the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia on November 19, 1950 where King would be formally exposed to these tactics. At that lecture and in discussions with Dr. Johnson lasting late into the night at the Fellowship House (who sponsored the lecture), Dr. King would be inspired and galvanized by of how Mahatma Gandhi integrated Henry David Thoreau's theory of Nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience tactics.
Patrick Duff, a South Jersey resident and amateur historian, discovered the police report detailing the events at Mary's Cafe and clarifying time and location details around Dr. Mordecai Johnson's 1950 Lecture on Mahatma Gandi. Duff became interested in King's South Jersey civil rights legacy after learning King and McCall resided at 753 Walnut Street while attending Crozer Seminary. Seeking to recognition of the property as a Camden connection to Dr. King, Duff had been searching the archive held by The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute in 2015 leading to these discoveries.
The Dexter Avenue Baptist Church was influential in the Montgomery African-American community. As the church's pastor, King became known for his oratorical preaching in Montgomery and the surrounding region.
In March 1955, Claudette Colvin—a fifteen-year-old black schoolgirl in Montgomery—refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in violation of Jim Crow laws, local laws in the Southern United States that enforced racial segregation. Nine months later on December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus. The two incidents led to the Montgomery bus boycott, which was urged and planned by Edgar Nixon and led by King. The other ministers asked him to take a leadership role because his relative newness to community leadership made it easier for him to speak out. King was hesitant but decided to do so if no one else wanted it.
The boycott lasted for 385 days, and the situation became so tense that King's house was bombed. King was arrested for traveling 30 mph in a 25 mph zone and jailed, which overnight drew the attention of national media, and greatly increased King's public stature. The controversy ended when the United States District Court issued a ruling in *Browder v. Gayle* that prohibited racial segregation on Montgomery public buses.
King's role in the bus boycott transformed him into a national figure and the best-known spokesman of the civil rights movement.
### Southern Christian Leadership Conference
In 1957, King, Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttlesworth, Joseph Lowery, and other civil rights activists founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The group was created to harness the moral authority and organizing power of black churches to conduct nonviolent protests in the service of civil rights reform. The group was inspired by the crusades of evangelist Billy Graham, who befriended King, as well as the national organizing of the group In Friendship, founded by King allies Stanley Levison and Ella Baker. King led the SCLC until his death. The SCLC's 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom was the first time King addressed a national audience.
Harry Wachtel joined King's legal advisor Clarence B. Jones in defending four ministers of the SCLC in the libel case *Abernathy et al. v. Sullivan*; the case was litigated about the newspaper advertisement "Heed Their Rising Voices". Wachtel founded a tax-exempt fund to cover the suit's expenses and assist the nonviolent civil rights movement through a more effective means of fundraising. King served as honorary president of this organization, named the "Gandhi Society for Human Rights". In 1962, King and the Gandhi Society produced a document that called on President Kennedy to issue an executive order to deliver a blow for civil rights as a kind of Second Emancipation Proclamation. Kennedy did not execute the order. The FBI, under written directive from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, began tapping King's telephone line in the fall of 1963. Kennedy was concerned that public allegations of communists in the SCLC would derail the administration's civil rights initiatives. He warned King to discontinue these associations and later felt compelled to issue the written directive that authorized the FBI to wiretap King and other SCLC leaders. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover feared the civil rights movement and investigated the allegations of communist infiltration. When no evidence emerged to support this, the FBI used the incidental details caught on tape over the next five years, as part of its COINTELPRO program, in attempts to force King out of his leadership position.
King believed that organized, nonviolent protest against the system of southern segregation known as Jim Crow laws would lead to extensive media coverage of the struggle for black equality. Journalistic accounts and televised footage of the daily indignities suffered by southern blacks, and of segregationist violence and harassment of civil rights supporters, produced a wave of sympathetic public opinion that convinced the majority of Americans that the civil rights movement was the most important issue in American politics in the early 1960s.
King organized and led marches for blacks' right to vote, desegregation, labor rights, and other basic civil rights. Most of these rights were successfully enacted into law with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
The SCLC used tactics of nonviolent protest with great success by strategically choosing the methods and places in which protests were carried out. There were often dramatic stand-offs with segregationist authorities, who sometimes turned violent.
On September 20, 1958, King was signing copies of his book *Stride Toward Freedom* in Blumstein's department store in Harlem when Izola Curry—a mentally ill black woman who thought that King was conspiring against her with communists—stabbed him in the chest with a letter opener, which nearly impinged on the aorta. King received first aid by police officers Al Howard and Philip Romano. King underwent emergency surgery by Aubre de Lambert Maynard, Emil Naclerio and John W. V. Cordice; he remained hospitalized for several weeks. Curry was later found mentally incompetent to stand trial.
In December 1959, after being based in Montgomery for five years, King announced his return to Atlanta at the request of the SCLC. In Atlanta, King served until his death as co-pastor with his father at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Georgia governor Ernest Vandiver expressed open hostility towards King's return. He claimed that "wherever M. L. King Jr., has been there has followed in his wake a wave of crimes", and vowed to keep King under surveillance. On May 4, 1960, King drove writer Lillian Smith to Emory University when police stopped them. King was cited for "driving without a license" because he had not yet been issued a Georgia license. King's Alabama license was still valid, and Georgia law did not mandate any time limit for issuing a local license. King paid a fine but was unaware that his lawyer agreed to a plea deal that included probation.
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Student Movement had been acting to desegregate businesses and public spaces, organizing the Atlanta sit-ins from March 1960 onwards. In August the movement asked King to participate in a mass October sit-in, timed to highlight how 1960's Presidential election campaigns had ignored civil rights. The coordinated day of action took place on October 19. King participated in a sit-in at the restaurant inside Rich's, Atlanta's largest department store, and was among the many arrested that day. The authorities released everyone over the next few days, except for King. Invoking his probationary plea deal, judge J. Oscar Mitchell sentenced King on October 25 to four months of hard labor. Before dawn the next day, King was transported to Georgia State Prison.
The arrest and harsh sentence drew nationwide attention. Many feared for King's safety, as he started a prison sentence with people convicted of violent crimes, many of them White and hostile to his activism. Both Presidential candidates were asked to weigh in, at a time when both parties were courting the support of Southern Whites and their political leadership including Governor Vandiver. Nixon, with whom King had a closer relationship before, declined to make a statement despite a personal visit from Jackie Robinson requesting his intervention. Nixon's opponent John F. Kennedy called the governor (a Democrat) directly, enlisted his brother Robert to exert more pressure on state authorities, and, at the personal request of Sargent Shriver, called King's wife to offer his help. The pressure from Kennedy and others proved effective, and King was released two days later. King's father decided to openly endorse Kennedy's candidacy for the November 8 election which he narrowly won.
After the October 19 sit-ins and following unrest, a 30-day truce was declared in Atlanta for desegregation negotiations. However, the negotiations failed and sit-ins and boycotts resumed for several months. On March 7, 1961, a group of Black elders including King notified student leaders that a deal had been reached: the city's lunch counters would desegregate in fall 1961, in conjunction with the court-mandated desegregation of schools. Many students were disappointed at the compromise. In a large meeting on March 10 at Warren Memorial Methodist Church, the audience was hostile and frustrated. King then gave an impassioned speech calling participants to resist the "cancerous disease of disunity", helping to calm tensions.
The Albany Movement was a desegregation coalition formed in Albany, Georgia, in November 1961. In December, King and the SCLC became involved. The movement mobilized thousands of citizens for a nonviolent attack on every aspect of segregation in the city and attracted nationwide attention. When King first visited on December 15, 1961, he "had planned to stay a day or so and return home after giving counsel." The following day he was swept up in a mass arrest of peaceful demonstrators, and he declined bail until the city made concessions. According to King, "that agreement was dishonored and violated by the city" after he left.
King returned in July 1962 and was given the option of forty-five days in jail or a $178 fine (equivalent to $1,900 in 2024); he chose jail. Three days into his sentence, Police Chief Laurie Pritchett discreetly arranged for King's fine to be paid and ordered his release. "We had witnessed persons being kicked off lunch counter stools ... ejected from churches ... and thrown into jail ... But for the first time, we witnessed being kicked out of jail." It was later acknowledged by the King Center that Billy Graham was the one who bailed King out.
After nearly a year of intense activism with few tangible results, the movement began to deteriorate. King requested a halt to all demonstrations and a "Day of Penance" to promote nonviolence and maintain the moral high ground. Divisions within the black community and the canny, low-key response by local government defeated efforts. Though the Albany effort proved a key lesson in tactics for King and the national civil rights movement, the national media was highly critical of King's role in the defeat, and the SCLC's lack of results contributed to a growing gulf between the organization and the more radical SNCC. After Albany, King sought to choose engagements for the SCLC in which he could control the circumstances, rather than entering into pre-existing situations.
In April 1963, the SCLC began a campaign against racial segregation and economic injustice in Birmingham, Alabama. The campaign used nonviolent but intentionally confrontational tactics, developed in part by Wyatt Tee Walker. Black people in Birmingham, organizing with the SCLC, occupied public spaces with marches and sit-ins, openly violating laws that they considered unjust.
King's intent was to provoke mass arrests and "create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation." The campaign's early volunteers did not succeed in shutting down the city, or in drawing media attention to the police's actions. Over the concerns of an uncertain King, SCLC strategist James Bevel changed the course of the campaign by recruiting children and young adults to join the demonstrations. *Newsweek* called this strategy a Children's Crusade.
The Birmingham Police Department, led by Eugene "Bull" Connor, used high-pressure water jets and police dogs against protesters, including children. Footage of the police response was broadcast on national television news, shocking many white Americans and consolidating black Americans behind the movement. Not all of the demonstrators were peaceful, despite the avowed intentions of the SCLC. In some cases, bystanders attacked the police, who responded with force. King and the SCLC were criticized for putting children in harm's way. But the campaign was a success: Connor lost his job, the "Jim Crow" signs came down, and public places became more open to blacks. King's reputation improved immensely.
King was arrested and jailed early in the campaign—his 13th arrest out of 29. From his cell, he composed the now-famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail" that responds to calls to pursue legal channels for social change. The letter has been described as "one of the most important historical documents penned by a modern political prisoner". King argues that the crisis of racism is too urgent, and the current system too entrenched: "We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." He points out that the Boston Tea Party, a celebrated act of rebellion in the American colonies, was illegal civil disobedience, and that, conversely, "everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was 'legal'." Walter Reuther, president of the United Auto Workers, arranged for $160,000 to bail out King and his fellow protestors.
"I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season."
King, representing the SCLC, was among the leaders of the "Big Six" civil rights organizations who were instrumental in the organization of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which took place on August 28, 1963. The other leaders and organizations comprising the Big Six were Roy Wilkins from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Whitney Young, National Urban League; A. Philip Randolph, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; John Lewis, SNCC; and James L. Farmer Jr., Congress of Racial Equality.
Bayard Rustin's open homosexuality, support of socialism, and former ties to the Communist Party USA caused many white and African-American leaders to demand King distance himself from Rustin, which King agreed to do. However, he did collaborate in the 1963 March on Washington, for which Rustin was the primary organizer. For King, this role was another which courted controversy, since he was one of the key figures who acceded to the wishes of President Kennedy in changing the focus of the march. Kennedy initially opposed the march outright, because he was concerned it would negatively impact the drive for passage of civil rights legislation. However, the organizers were firm that the march would proceed. With the march going forward, the Kennedys decided it was important to ensure its success. President Kennedy was concerned the turnout would be less than 100,000 and enlisted the aid of additional church leaders and Walter Reuther, president of the United Automobile Workers, to help mobilize demonstrators.
The march originally was planned to dramatize the desperate condition of blacks in the southern U.S. and place organizers' concerns and grievances squarely before the seat of power in the nation's capital. Organizers intended to denounce the federal government for its failure to safeguard the civil rights and physical safety of civil rights workers and blacks. The group acquiesced to presidential pressure, and the event ultimately took on a far less strident tone. As a result, some civil rights activists felt it presented an inaccurate, sanitized pageant of racial harmony; Malcolm X called it the "Farce on Washington", and the Nation of Islam forbade its members from attending.
The march made specific demands: an end to racial segregation in public schools; meaningful civil rights legislation, including a law prohibiting racial discrimination in employment; protection of civil rights workers from police brutality; a $2 minimum wage for all workers (equivalent to $21 in 2024); and self-government for Washington, D.C., then governed by congressional committee. Despite tensions, the march was a resounding success. More than a quarter of a million people of diverse ethnicities attended, sprawling from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial onto the National Mall. At the time, it was the largest gathering of protesters in Washington, D.C.'s history.
King delivered a 17-minute speech, later known as "I Have a Dream". In the speech's most famous passage – in which he departed from his prepared text, possibly at the prompting of Mahalia Jackson, who shouted behind him, "Tell them about the dream!" – King said:
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
"I Have a Dream" came to be regarded as one of the finest speeches in the history of American oratory. The March, and especially King's speech, helped put civil rights at the top of the agenda of reformers and facilitated passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In March 1964, King and the SCLC joined forces with Robert Hayling's then-controversial movement in St. Augustine, Florida. Hayling's group had been affiliated with the NAACP but was forced out of the organization for advocating armed self-defense alongside nonviolent tactics. However, the pacifist SCLC accepted them. King and the SCLC worked to bring white Northern activists to St. Augustine, including a delegation of rabbis and the 72-year-old mother of the governor of Massachusetts, all of whom were arrested. During June, the movement marched nightly through the city, "often facing counter demonstrations by the Klan, and provoking violence that garnered national media attention." Hundreds of the marchers were arrested and jailed. During this movement, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed.
On May 7, 1964, King spoke at Saint Francis College's "The Negro and the Quest for Identity", in Biddeford, Maine. This was a symposium that brought together many civil rights leaders. King spoke about how "We must get rid of the idea of superior and inferior races," through nonviolent tactics.
On February 6, 1964, King delivered the inaugural speech of a lecture series initiated at the New School called "The American Race Crisis". In his remarks, King referred to a conversation he had recently had with Jawaharlal Nehru in which he compared the sad condition of many African Americans to that of India's untouchables. In his March 18, 1964, interview with Robert Penn Warren, King compared his activism to his father's, citing his training in non-violence as a key difference. He also discusses the next phase of the civil rights movement and integration.
Starting in November 1964, King supported a labor strike by several hundred workers at the Scripto factory in Atlanta, just a few blocks from Ebenezer Baptist. Many of the strikers were congregants of his church, and the strike was supported by other civil rights leaders. King helped elevate the labor dispute from a local to nationally known event and led the SCLC to organize a nationwide boycott of Scripto products. However, as the strike stretched into December, King, who was wanting to focus more on a civil rights campaign in Selma, Alabama, began to negotiate in secret with Scripto's president Carl Singer and eventually brokered a deal where the SCLC would call off their boycott in exchange for the company giving the striking employees their Christmas bonuses. King's involvement in the strike ended on December 24 and a contract between the company and union was signed on January 9.
In December 1964, King and the SCLC joined forces with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Selma, Alabama, where the SNCC had been working on voter registration for several months. A local judge issued an injunction that barred any gathering of three or more people affiliated with the SNCC, SCLC, DCVL, or any of 41 named civil rights leaders. This injunction temporarily halted civil rights activity until King defied it by speaking at Brown Chapel on January 2, 1965. During the 1965 march to Montgomery, Alabama, violence by state police and others against the peaceful marchers resulted in much publicity, which made racism in Alabama visible nationwide.
Acting on James Bevel's call for a march from Selma to Montgomery, Bevel and other SCLC members, in partial collaboration with SNCC, attempted to organize a march to the state's capital. The first attempt to march on March 7, 1965, at which King was not present, was aborted because of mob and police violence against the demonstrators. This day has become known as Bloody Sunday and was a major turning point in the effort to gain public support for the civil rights movement. It was the clearest demonstration up to that time of the dramatic potential of King and Bevel's nonviolence strategy.
On March 5, King met with officials in the Johnson Administration to request an injunction against any prosecution of the demonstrators. He did not attend the march due to church duties, but he later wrote, "If I had any idea that the state troopers would use the kind of brutality they did, I would have felt compelled to give up my church duties altogether to lead the line." Footage of police brutality against the protesters was broadcast extensively and aroused national public outrage.
King next attempted to organize a march for March 9. The SCLC petitioned for an injunction in federal court against Alabama; this was denied and the judge issued an order blocking the march until after a hearing. Nonetheless, King led marchers on March 9 to the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, then held a short prayer session before turning the marchers around and asking them to disperse so as not to violate the court order. The unexpected ending of this second march aroused the surprise and anger of many within the local movement. The march finally went ahead fully on March 25, 1965. At the conclusion of the march on the steps of the state capitol, King delivered a speech that became known as "How Long, Not Long". King stated that equal rights for African Americans could not be far away, "because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice" and "you shall reap what you sow".
In 1966, after several successes in the south, King, Bevel, and others in the civil rights organizations took the movement to the North. King and Ralph Abernathy, both from the middle class, moved into a building at 1550 S. Hamlin Avenue, in the slums of North Lawndale on Chicago's West Side, as an educational experience and to demonstrate their support and empathy for the poor.
The SCLC formed a coalition with Coordinating Council of Community Organizations (CCCO), an organization founded by Albert Raby, and the combined organizations' efforts were fostered under the aegis of the Chicago Freedom Movement. During that spring, several white couple/black couple tests of real estate offices uncovered racial steering, discriminatory processing of housing requests by couples who were exact matches in income and background. Several larger marches were planned and executed: in Bogan, Belmont Cragin, Jefferson Park, Evergreen Park, Gage Park, Marquette Park, and others.
King later stated and Abernathy wrote that the movement received a worse reception in Chicago than in the South. Marches, especially the one through Marquette Park on August 5, 1966, were met by thrown bottles and screaming throngs. Rioting seemed very possible. King's beliefs militated against his staging a violent event, and he negotiated an agreement with Mayor Richard J. Daley to cancel a march in order to avoid the violence that he feared would result. King was hit by a brick during one march, but continued to lead marches in the face of personal danger.
When King and his allies returned to the South, they left Jesse Jackson, a seminary student who had previously joined the movement in the South, in charge of their organization. Jackson continued their struggle for civil rights by organizing the Operation Breadbasket movement that targeted chain stores that did not deal fairly with blacks.
A 1967 CIA document declassified in 2017 downplayed King's role in the "black militant situation" in Chicago, with a source stating that King "sought at least constructive, positive projects."
### Opposition to the Vietnam War
The black revolution is much more than a struggle for the rights of Negroes. It is forcing America to face all its interrelated flaws—racism, poverty, militarism, and materialism. It is exposing evils that are rooted deeply in the whole structure of our society. It reveals systemic rather than superficial flaws and suggests that radical reconstruction of society itself is the real issue to be faced
We must recognize that we can't solve our problem now until there is a radical redistribution of economic and political power... this means a revolution of values and other things. We must see now that the evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism are all tied together… you can't really get rid of one without getting rid of the others… the whole structure of American life must be changed. America is a hypocritical nation and [we] must put [our] own house in order.
King was long opposed to American involvement in the Vietnam War, but at first avoided the topic in public speeches to avoid the interference with civil rights goals that criticism of President Johnson's policies might have created. At the urging of SCLC's former Director of Direct Action and now the head of the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, James Bevel, and inspired by the outspokenness of Muhammad Ali, King eventually agreed to publicly oppose the war as opposition was growing among the American public.
During an April 4, 1967, appearance at the New York City Riverside Church, King delivered a speech titled "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence". He spoke strongly against the U.S.'s role in the war, arguing that the U.S. was in Vietnam "to occupy it as an American colony" and calling the U.S. government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today". He connected the war with economic injustice, arguing that the country needed serious moral change:
A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: "This is not just."
King opposed the Vietnam War because it took money and resources that could have been spent on social welfare at home. He summed up this aspect by saying, "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." He stated that North Vietnam "did not begin to send in any large number of supplies or men until American forces had arrived in the tens of thousands", and accused the U.S. of having killed a million Vietnamese, "mostly children". King also criticized American opposition to North Vietnam's land reforms.
King's opposition cost him significant support among white allies including President Johnson, Billy Graham, union leaders, and powerful publishers. "The press is being stacked against me", King said, complaining of what he described as a double standard that applauded his nonviolence at home, but deplored it when applied "toward little brown Vietnamese children". *Life* magazine called the speech "demagogic slander that sounded like a script for Radio Hanoi", and *The Washington Post* declared that King had "diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people."
The "Beyond Vietnam" speech reflected King's evolving political advocacy in his later years, which paralleled the teachings of the progressive Highlander Research and Education Center, with which he was affiliated. King began to speak of the need for fundamental changes in the American political and economic situation, and more frequently expressed his opposition to the war and his desire to see a redistribution of resources to correct injustice. He guarded his language in public to avoid being linked to communism, but in private he sometimes spoke of his support for democratic socialism.
King stated in "Beyond Vietnam" that "true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar ... it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring." King quoted a U.S. official who said that from Vietnam to Latin America, the country was "on the wrong side of a world revolution." King condemned America's "alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America", and said that the U.S. should support "the shirtless and barefoot people" in the Third World rather than suppressing their attempts at revolution.
King's stance on Vietnam encouraged Allard K. Lowenstein, William Sloane Coffin and Norman Thomas, with the support of anti-war Democrats, to attempt to persuade King to run against President Johnson in the 1968 presidential election. King contemplated but ultimately decided against the proposal as he felt uneasy with politics and considered himself better suited to activism.
On April 15, 1967, King spoke at an anti-war march from Manhattan's Central Park to the United Nations. The march was organized by the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam under chairman James Bevel. At the U.N. King brought up issues of civil rights and the draft:
I have not urged a mechanical fusion of the civil rights and peace movements. There are people who have come to see the moral imperative of equality, but who cannot yet see the moral imperative of world brotherhood. I would like to see the fervor of the civil-rights movement imbued into the peace movement to instill it with greater strength. And I believe everyone has a duty to be in both the civil-rights and peace movements. But for those who presently choose but one, I would hope they will finally come to see the moral roots common to both.
Seeing an opportunity to unite civil rights and anti-war activists, Bevel convinced King to become even more active in the anti-war effort. Despite his growing public opposition to the Vietnam War, King was not fond of the hippie culture which developed from the anti-war movement. In his 1967 Massey Lecture, King stated:
The importance of the hippies is not in their unconventional behavior, but in the fact that hundreds of thousands of young people, in turning to a flight from reality, are expressing a profoundly discrediting view on the society they emerge from.
On January 13, 1968, King called for a large march on Washington against "one of history's most cruel and senseless wars":
We need to make clear in this political year, to congressmen on both sides of the aisle and to the president of the United States, that we will no longer tolerate, we will no longer vote for men who continue to see the killings of Vietnamese and Americans as the best way of advancing the goals of freedom and self-determination in Southeast Asia.
Thích Nhất Hạnh was an influential Vietnamese Buddhist who wrote a letter to Martin Luther King Jr. in 1965 entitled: "In Search of the Enemy of Man". It was during his 1966 stay in the US that Nhất Hạnh met with King and urged him to publicly denounce the Vietnam War. In 1967, King gave a famous speech at the Riverside Church in New York City, his first to publicly question U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Later that year, King nominated Nhất Hạnh for the Nobel Peace Prize. In his nomination, King said, "I do not personally know of anyone more worthy of [this prize] than this gentle monk from Vietnam. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity".
In 1968, King and the SCLC organized the "Poor People's Campaign" to address issues of economic justice. King traveled the country to assemble "a multiracial army of the poor" that would march on Washington to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience at the Capitol until Congress created an "economic bill of rights".
The campaign was preceded by King's final book, *Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?* which laid out his view of how to address social issues and poverty. King quoted from Henry George's book *Progress and Poverty*, particularly in support of a guaranteed basic income. The campaign culminated in a march on Washington, D.C., demanding economic aid to the poorest communities of the U.S.
King and the SCLC called on the government to invest in rebuilding America's cities. He felt that Congress had shown "hostility to the poor" by spending "military funds with alacrity and generosity". He contrasted this with the situation faced by poor Americans, claiming that Congress had merely provided "poverty funds with miserliness". His vision was for change that was more revolutionary than mere reform: he cited systematic flaws of "racism, poverty, militarism and materialism", and argued that "reconstruction of society itself is the real issue to be faced."
The Poor People's Campaign was controversial even within the civil rights movement. Rustin resigned from the march, stating that the goals of the campaign were too broad, that its demands were unrealizable, and that he thought that these campaigns would accelerate repression on the poor and the black.
### Global policy
King was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a world constitution. As a result, in 1968 a World Constituent Assembly convened to draft and adopt the Constitution for the Federation of Earth.
## Assassination and aftermath
On March 29, 1968, King went to Memphis, Tennessee, in support of the black sanitation workers, who were represented by American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1733. The workers had been on strike since March 12 for higher wages and better treatment. In one incident, black street repairmen received pay for two hours when they were sent home because of bad weather, but white employees were paid for the full day.
On April 3, King addressed a rally and delivered his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" address at Mason Temple. King's flight to Memphis had been delayed by a bomb threat against his plane. In reference to the bomb threat, King said:
And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
King was booked in Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. Ralph Abernathy, who was present at the assassination, testified to the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations that King and his entourage stayed at Room 306 so often that it was known as the "King-Abernathy suite". According to Jesse Jackson, who was present, King's last words were spoken to musician Ben Branch, who was scheduled to perform that night at an event King was attending: "Ben, make sure you play 'Take My Hand, Precious Lord' in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty."
King was fatally shot by James Earl Ray at 6:01 p.m., Thursday, April 4, 1968, as he stood on the motel's second-floor balcony. The bullet entered through his right cheek, smashing his jaw, then traveled down his spinal cord before lodging in his shoulder. Abernathy heard the shot from inside the motel room and ran to the balcony to find King on the floor.
After emergency surgery, King died at St. Joseph's Hospital at 7:05 p.m. According to biographer Taylor Branch, King's autopsy revealed that though only 39 years old, he "had the heart of a 60 year old", which Branch attributed to stress. King was initially interred in South View Cemetery in South Atlanta, but in 1977, his remains were transferred to a tomb on the site of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park.
### Aftermath
The assassination led to race riots in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Baltimore, Louisville, Kansas City, and dozens of other cities. Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was on his way to Indianapolis for a campaign rally when he was informed of King's death. He gave a short, improvised speech to the gathering of supporters informing them of the tragedy and urging them to continue King's ideal of nonviolence. The following day, he delivered a prepared response in Cleveland. James Farmer Jr. and other civil rights leaders also called for non-violent action, while the more militant Stokely Carmichael called for a more forceful response. The city of Memphis quickly settled the strike on terms favorable to the sanitation workers.
The plan to set up a shantytown in Washington, D.C., was carried out soon after the April 4 assassination. Criticism of King's plan was subdued in the wake of his death, and the SCLC received an unprecedented wave of donations to carry it out. The campaign officially began in Memphis, on May 2, at the hotel where King was murdered. Thousands of demonstrators arrived on the National Mall and stayed for six weeks, establishing a camp they called "Resurrection City".
President Johnson tried to quell the riots by making telephone calls to civil rights leaders, mayors and governors and told politicians that they should warn the police against the unwarranted use of force. "I'm not getting through," Johnson told his aides. "They're all holing up like generals in a dugout getting ready to watch a war." Johnson declared April 7 a national day of mourning for King. Vice President Hubert Humphrey attended King's funeral on behalf of the President, as there were fears that Johnson's presence might incite protests and perhaps violence. At his widow's request, King's last sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church, given on February 4, 1968, was played at the funeral,
I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love somebody. I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. And I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major. Say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind.
His good friend Mahalia Jackson sang his favorite hymn, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord", at the funeral. The assassination helped to spur the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Two months after King's death, James Earl Ray—on the loose from a previous prison escape—was captured at London Heathrow Airport while trying to reach white-ruled Rhodesia on a false Canadian passport. He was using the alias Ramon George Sneyd. Ray was quickly extradited to Tennessee and charged with King's murder. He confessed on March 10, 1969, though he recanted this confession three days later. On the advice of his attorney Percy Foreman, Ray pleaded guilty to avoid the possibility of the death penalty. He was sentenced to a 99-year prison term. Ray later claimed a man he met in Montreal, Quebec, with the alias "Raoul" was involved and that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy. He spent the remainder of his life attempting, unsuccessfully, to withdraw his guilty plea and secure the trial he never had. Ray died in 1998 at age 70.
### Allegations of conspiracy
Ray's lawyers maintained he was a scapegoat similar to the way that John F. Kennedy's assassin Lee Harvey Oswald is seen by conspiracy theorists. Supporters of this assertion said that Ray's confession was given under pressure and that he had been threatened with the death penalty. They admitted that Ray was a thief and burglar, but claimed that he had no record of committing violent crimes with a weapon. However, prison records in different U.S. cities have shown that he was incarcerated on numerous occasions for armed robbery. In a 2008 interview with CNN, Jerry Ray, the younger brother of James Earl Ray, claimed that James was smart and was sometimes able to get away with armed robbery. "I never been with nobody as bold as he is," Jerry said. "He just walked in and put that gun on somebody, it was just like it's an everyday thing."
Those suspecting a conspiracy point to the two successive ballistics tests which proved that a rifle similar to Ray's Remington Gamemaster had been the murder weapon. Those tests did not implicate Ray's specific rifle. Witnesses near King said that the shot came from another location, from behind thick shrubbery near the boarding house—which had been cut away in the days following the assassination—and not from the boarding house window. However, Ray's fingerprints were found on various objects in the bathroom where it was determined the gunfire came from. An examination of the rifle containing Ray's fingerprints determined that at least one shot was fired from the firearm at the time of the assassination.
In 1997, King's son Dexter Scott King met with Ray, and publicly supported Ray's efforts to obtain a new trial. Two years later, King's widow Coretta Scott King and the couple's children, represented by William F. Pepper, won a wrongful death claim against Loyd Jowers and "other unknown co-conspirators". Jowers claimed to have received $100,000 to arrange King's assassination. The jury found Jowers to be complicit in a conspiracy and that government agencies were party to the assassination.
In 2000, the U.S. Department of Justice completed the investigation into Jowers' claims but did not find evidence of conspiracy. The investigation report recommended no further investigation unless new reliable facts are presented. A sister of Jowers admitted that he had fabricated the story so he could make $300,000 from selling the story, and she corroborated his story to get money to pay her income tax.
In 2002, *The New York Times* reported that a church minister, Ronald Denton Wilson, claimed his father, Henry Clay Wilson, assassinated King. He stated, "It wasn't a racist thing; he thought Martin Luther King was connected with communism, and he wanted to get him out of the way." Wilson provided no evidence to back up his claims.
King researchers David Garrow and Gerald Posner disagreed with Pepper's claims that the government killed King. In 2003, Pepper published a book about the investigation and trial, as well as his representation of James Earl Ray in his bid for a trial. James Bevel also disputed the argument that Ray acted alone, stating, "There is no way a ten-cent white boy could develop a plan to kill a million-dollar black man." In 2004, Jesse Jackson stated:
The fact is there were saboteurs to disrupt the march. And within our own organization, we found a very key person who was on the government payroll. So infiltration within, saboteurs from without and the press attacks. ... I will never believe that James Earl Ray had the motive, the money and the mobility to have done it himself. Our government was very involved in setting the stage for and I think the escape route for James Earl Ray.
On January 23, 2025 President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order declassifying the records concerning the assassination.
## Legacy
### South Africa
King's legacy includes influences on the Black Consciousness Movement and civil rights movement in South Africa. King's work was cited by, and served as, an inspiration for South African leader Albert Luthuli, who fought for racial justice in his country during apartheid and was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
### United Kingdom
John Hume, the former leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, cited King's legacy as quintessential to the Northern Ireland civil rights movement and the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, calling him "one of my great heroes of the century".
The Martin Luther King Fund and Foundation in the UK was set up as a charity on December 30, 1969, after King's assassination and following a visit to the UK in 1969 by his widow, Coretta King. The Foundation's first chairman, Canon John Collins, stated that the Foundation was to be an active UK national campaign for racial equality, its work also to include community projects in areas of social need, and education. International Personnel (IP), an employment agency, was formed in 1970 out of the foundation's base in Balham, to find employment for professionally qualified black people. In its first year, the agency placed ten percent of its applicants in jobs equal to their ability. The Balham Training Scheme operated an evening school with lecturers in Typing, Shorthand, English and Math. The foundation was removed from the Charity Commission list on November 18, 1996, as it had ceased to exist. The Northumbria and Newcastle Universities Martin Luther King Peace Committee still exists to honor King's legacy, as represented by his final visit to the UK to receive an honorary degree from Newcastle University in 1967. Northumbria and Newcastle remain centers for the study of Martin Luther King and the US civil rights movement. Inspired by King's vision, the committee undertakes a range of activities across the UK to "build cultures of peace".
In 2017, Newcastle University unveiled a bronze statue of King to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his honorary doctorate ceremony. The Students Union also voted to rename their bar "Luther's".
### United States
King has become a national icon in the history of American liberalism and American progressivism. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the U.S. Just days after King's assassination, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Title VIII of the Act, commonly known as the Fair Housing Act, prohibited discrimination in housing and housing-related transactions on the basis of race, religion, or national origin (later expanded to include sex, familial status, and disability). This legislation was seen as a tribute to King's struggle in his final years to combat residential discrimination. The day following King's assassination, teacher Jane Elliott conducted her first "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" exercise with her class of elementary school students to help them understand King's death as it related to racism.
King's wife Coretta Scott King was active in matters of social justice and civil rights until her death in 2006. The same year that King was assassinated, she established the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia, dedicated to preserving his legacy and the work of championing nonviolent conflict resolution and tolerance worldwide. Their son, Dexter King, who died in 2024, served as the center's chairman until 2010. In 2010, Martin Luther King III became president. In 2012, King's youngest child, Bernice King, became the CEO. Daughter Yolanda King, who died in 2007, was a motivational speaker, author and founder of Higher Ground Productions, an organization specializing in diversity training.
Within the King family, members disagree about his views about LGBTQ people. King's widow Coretta publicly said that she believed her husband would have supported gay rights. However, his youngest child, Bernice King, has said that he would have been opposed to gay marriage.
#### Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Beginning in 1971, cities and states established annual holidays to honor King. On November 2, 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating a federal holiday to honor King. Observed for the first time on January 20, 1986, it is called Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Following President George H. W. Bush's 1992 proclamation, the holiday is observed on the third Monday of January each year, near the time of King's birthday. On January 17, 2000, for the first time, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was officially observed in all fifty U.S. states. Arizona (1992), New Hampshire (1999) and Utah (2000) were the last states to recognize the holiday. Utah previously celebrated the holiday under the name Human Rights Day.
## Veneration
Martin Luther King of Georgia | |
|---|---|
| Pastor and Martyr | |
| Honored in | Holy Christian Orthodox Church Episcopal Church (United States) Evangelical Lutheran Church in America |
| Canonized | September 9, 2016, The Christian Cathedral by Timothy Paul Baymon |
| Feast | April 4 January 15 (Episcopalian and Lutheran) |
King was canonized by Archbishop Timothy Paul of the Holy Christian Orthodox Church on September 9, 2016. His feast day was set as April 4, the date of his assassination. King is also honored with a Lesser Feast on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church on April 4 or January 15, the anniversary of his birth. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America commemorates King liturgically on January 15.
### Christianity
As a Christian minister, King's main influence was Jesus Christ and the Christian gospels, which he would almost always quote in his speeches.[ citation needed] King's faith was strongly based in the Golden Rule, loving God above all, and loving your enemies. His nonviolent thought was also based in the injunction to
*turn the other cheek*in the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus' teaching of putting the sword back into its place (Matthew 26:52). In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, King urged action consistent with what he describes as Jesus' "extremist" love, and also quoted numerous other Christian pacifist authors. In another sermon, he stated:
Before I was a civil rights leader, I was a preacher of the Gospel. This was my first calling and it still remains my greatest commitment. You know, actually all that I do in civil rights I do because I consider it a part of my ministry. I have no other ambitions in life but to achieve excellence in the Christian ministry. I don't plan to run for any political office. I don't plan to do anything but remain a preacher. And what I'm doing in this struggle, along with many others, grows out of my feeling that the preacher must be concerned about the whole man.
King's private writings show that he rejected biblical literalism; he described the Bible as "mythological", doubted that Jesus was born of a virgin and did not believe that the story of Jonah and the whale was true.
Among the thinkers who influenced King's theological outlook were L. Harold DeWolf, Edgar Brightman, Peter Bertocci, Walter George Muelder, Walter Rauschenbusch, and Reinhold Niebuhr.
*The Measure of a Man*
In 1959, King published a short book called *The Measure of a Man*, which contained his sermons "What is Man?" and "The Dimensions of a Complete Life". The sermons argued for man's need for God's love and criticized the racial injustices of Western civilization.
### Nonviolence
World peace through nonviolent means is neither absurd nor unattainable. All other methods have failed. Thus we must begin anew. Nonviolence is a good starting point. Those of us who believe in this method can be voices of reason, sanity, and understanding amid the voices of violence, hatred, and emotion. We can very well set a mood of peace out of which a system of peace can be built.
African-American civil rights activist Bayard Rustin was King's first regular advisor on nonviolence. King was also advised by the white activists Harris Wofford and Glenn Smiley. Rustin and Smiley came from the Christian pacifist tradition, and Wofford and Rustin both studied Mahatma Gandhi's teachings. Rustin had applied nonviolence with the Journey of Reconciliation campaign in the 1940s, and Wofford had been promoting Gandhism to Southern blacks since the early 1950s.
King initially knew little about Gandhi and rarely used the term "nonviolence" during his early activism. King initially believed in and practiced self-defense, even obtaining guns to defend against possible attackers. The pacifists showed him the alternative of nonviolent resistance, arguing that this would be a better means to accomplish his goals. King then vowed to no longer personally use arms.
In a chapter of *Stride Toward Freedom*, King outlined his understanding of nonviolence, which seeks to win an opponent to friendship, rather than to humiliate or defeat him. The chapter draws from an address by Wofford, with Rustin and Stanley Levison also providing guidance and ghostwriting.
King was inspired by Gandhi and his success with nonviolent activism, and as a theology student, King described Gandhi as being one of the "individuals who greatly reveal the working of the Spirit of God". King had "for a long time ... wanted to take a trip to India." With assistance from Harris Wofford, the American Friends Service Committee, and other supporters, he was able to fund the journey in April 1959. The trip deepened his understanding of nonviolent resistance and his commitment to America's struggle for civil rights. In a radio address made during his final evening in India, King reflected, "Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity."
When receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, King hailed the "successful precedent" of using nonviolence "in a magnificent way by Mohandas K. Gandhi to challenge the might of the British Empire ... He struggled only with the weapons of truth, soul force, non-injury and courage."
Another influence for King's nonviolent method was Henry David Thoreau's essay *On Civil Disobedience* and its theme of refusing to cooperate with an evil system. He also was greatly influenced by the works of Protestant theologians Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich, and said that Walter Rauschenbusch's *Christianity and the Social Crisis* left an "indelible imprint" on his thinking by giving him a theological grounding for his social concerns. King was moved by Rauschenbusch's vision of Christians spreading social unrest in "perpetual but friendly conflict" with the state, simultaneously critiquing it and calling it to act as an instrument of justice. However, he was apparently unaware of the American tradition of Christian pacifism exemplified by Adin Ballou and William Lloyd Garrison. King frequently referred to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount as central for his work. Before 1960, King also sometimes used the concept of "agape" (brotherly Christian love).
Even after renouncing personal use of guns, King had a complex relationship with self-defense in the movement. He publicly discouraged it as a widespread practice but acknowledged that it was sometimes necessary. Throughout his career King was frequently protected by other civil rights activists who carried arms, such as Colonel Stone Johnson, Robert Hayling, and the Deacons for Defense and Justice.
### Criticism within the movement
King was criticized by other black leaders in the civil rights movement. This included more militant thinkers such as Nation of Islam member Malcolm X. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee founder Ella Baker regarded King as a charismatic media figure who lost touch with the grassroots of the movement as he became close to elite figures like Nelson Rockefeller. Stokely Carmichael, a protege of Baker's, became a black separatist and disagreed with King's plea for racial integration because he considered it an insult to a uniquely African-American culture. He also took issue that King's non-violence approach depended on appealing to America's conscience, feeling America had none to appeal to.
### Activism and involvement with Native Americans
King was an avid supporter of Native American rights and Native Americans were active supporters of King's civil rights movement. The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) was patterned after the NAACP's Legal Defense and Education Fund. The National Indian Youth Council (NIYC) was especially supportive in King's campaigns especially the Poor People's Campaign in 1968. In King's book *Why We Can't Wait* he writes:
Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race. Even before there were large numbers of Negroes on our shores, the scar of racial hatred had already disfigured colonial society. From the sixteenth century forward, blood flowed in battles over racial supremacy. We are perhaps the only nation which tried as a matter of national policy to wipe out its indigenous population. Moreover, we elevated that tragic experience into a noble crusade. Indeed, even today we have not permitted ourselves to reject or to feel remorse for this shameful episode. Our literature, our films, our drama, our folklore all exalt it.
In the late 1950's, the remaining Creek in Alabama were trying to completely desegregate schools. Light-complexioned Native children were allowed to ride buses to previously all-white schools, while dark-skinned Native children from the same band were barred from the same buses. Tribal leaders, hearing of King's desegregation campaign in Birmingham, contacted him for assistance. Through his intervention the problem was quickly resolved.
In September 1959, after giving a speech at the University of Arizona on the ideals of using nonviolent methods in creating social change, King stated his belief that one must not use force in this struggle "but match the violence of his opponents with his suffering." King then went to Southside Presbyterian, a predominantly Native American church, and was fascinated by their photos; he wanted to go to an Indian Reservation to meet the people so Casper Glenn took King to the Papago Indian Reservation. He met with all the tribal leaders, visited another Presbyterian church near the reservation, and preached there, attracting a Native American crowd. He later returned to Old Pueblo in March 1962 where he preached again to a Native American congregation. King would continue to attract the attention of Native Americans throughout the civil rights movement. During the 1963 March on Washington there was a sizable Native American contingent, including many from South Dakota and from the Navajo nation.
King was a major inspiration, along with the civil rights movement, of the Native American rights movement of the 1960s and many of its leaders. John Echohawk, a member of the Pawnee tribe who was the executive director and a founder of the Native American Rights Fund, stated:
Inspired by Dr. King, who was advancing the civil rights agenda of equality under the laws of this country, we thought that we could also use the laws to advance our Indianship, to live as tribes in our territories governed by our own laws under the principles of tribal sovereignty that had been with us ever since 1831. We believed that we could fight for a policy of self-determination that was consistent with U.S. law and that we could govern our own affairs, define our own ways and continue to survive in this society.
### Politics
As the leader of the SCLC, King maintained a policy of not publicly endorsing a U.S. political party or candidate: "I feel someone must remain in the position of non-alignment, so that he can look objectively at both parties and be the conscience of both—not the servant or master of either." In a 1958 interview, he expressed his view that neither party was perfect, saying, "I don't think the Republican party is a party full of the almighty God nor is the Democratic party. They both have weaknesses ... And I'm not inextricably bound to either party." King did praise Democratic Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois as being the "greatest of all senators" because of his fierce advocacy for civil rights causes.
King critiqued both parties' performance on promoting racial equality:
Actually, the Negro has been betrayed by both the Republican and the Democratic party. The Democrats have betrayed him by capitulating to the whims and caprices of the Southern Dixiecrats. The Republicans have betrayed him by capitulating to the blatant hypocrisy of reactionary right-wing northern Republicans. And this coalition of southern Dixiecrats and right-wing reactionary northern Republicans defeats every bill and every move towards liberal legislation in the area of civil rights.
Although King never publicly supported a political party or candidate for president, in a letter to a civil rights supporter in October 1956 he said that he had not decided whether he would vote for Democrat Adlai Stevenson II or Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower at the 1956 presidential election, but that "In the past, I always voted the Democratic ticket." In his autobiography, King says that in 1960 he privately voted for Democratic candidate John F. Kennedy: "I felt that Kennedy would make the best president. I never came out with an endorsement. My father did, but I never made one." King adds that he likely would have made an exception to his non-endorsement policy for a second Kennedy term, saying "Had President Kennedy lived, I would probably have endorsed him in 1964."
In 1964, King urged his supporters "and all people of goodwill" to vote against Republican Senator Barry Goldwater for president, saying that his election "would be a tragedy, and certainly suicidal almost, for the nation and the world." King believed Robert F. Kennedy would make for a good president, but also believed that he wouldn't beat Johnson in the 1968 Democratic Party presidential primaries. He also expressed support for the possible presidential candidacies of Republicans Nelson Rockefeller, George Romney and Charles Percy.
King rejected both *laissez-faire* capitalism and communism; King had read Marx while at Morehouse but rejected communism because of its "materialistic interpretation of history" that denied religion, its "ethical relativism", and its "political totalitarianism". He stated that one focused too much on the individual while the other focused too much on the collective.
In a 1952 letter to Coretta Scott, he said: "I imagine you already know that I am much more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic ..." In one speech, he stated that "something is wrong with capitalism" and said, "There must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism." King further said that "capitalism has outlived its usefulness" and "failed to meet the needs of the masses".
King was critical of American culture saying "when machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered" and that America must undergo a "radical revolution of values". King considered that in America "the problem is that we all to often have socialism for the rich and rugged free enterprise capitalism for the poor".
### Compensation
King stated that black Americans, as well as other disadvantaged Americans, should be compensated for historical wrongs. In an interview conducted for *Playboy* in 1965, he said that granting black Americans only equality could not realistically close the economic gap between them and whites. King said that he did not seek a full restitution of wages lost to slavery, which he believed impossible, but proposed a government compensatory program of $50 billion over ten years to all disadvantaged groups.
He posited that "the money spent would be more than amply justified by the benefits that would accrue to the nation through a spectacular decline in school dropouts, family breakups, crime rates, illegitimacy, swollen relief rolls, rioting and other social evils." He presented this idea as an application of the common law regarding settlement of unpaid labor but clarified that he felt that the money should not be spent exclusively on blacks. He stated, "It should benefit the disadvantaged of *all* races."
### Television
Actress Nichelle Nichols planned to leave the science-fiction television series *Star Trek* in 1967 after its first season. She changed her mind after talking to King, who was a fan of the show. King explained that her character signified a future of greater racial cooperation. King told Nichols, "You are our image of where we're going, you're 300 years from now, and that means that's where we are and it takes place now. Keep doing what you're doing, you are our inspiration." As Nichols recounted:
Star Trekwas one of the only shows that [King] and his wife Coretta would allow their little children to watch. And I thanked him and I told him I was leaving the show. All the smile came off his face. And he said, 'Don't you understand for the first time we're seen as we should be seen. You don't have a black role. You have an equal role.'
The series' creator, Gene Roddenberry, was deeply moved upon learning of King's support.
## State surveillance and coercion
### FBI surveillance and wiretapping
FBI director J. Edgar Hoover personally ordered surveillance of King, with the intent to undermine his power as a civil rights leader. The Church Committee, a 1975 investigation by the U.S. Congress, found that "From December 1963 until his death in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was the target of an intensive campaign by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to 'neutralize' him as an effective civil rights leader."
In the fall of 1963, the FBI received authorization from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to proceed with wiretapping of King's phone lines, purportedly due to his association with Stanley Levison. The Bureau informed President John F. Kennedy. He and his brother unsuccessfully tried to persuade King to dissociate himself from Levison, a New York lawyer who had been involved with Communist Party USA. Although Robert Kennedy only gave written approval for limited wiretapping of King's telephone lines "on a trial basis, for a month or so", Hoover extended the clearance so his men were "unshackled" to look for evidence in any areas of King's life they deemed worthy.
The Bureau placed wiretaps on the home and office phone lines of both Levison and King, and bugged King's rooms in hotels as he traveled across the country. In 1967, Hoover listed the SCLC as a black nationalist hate group, with the instructions: "No opportunity should be missed to exploit through counterintelligence techniques the organizational and personal conflicts of the leaderships of the groups ... to insure [*sic*] the targeted group is disrupted, ridiculed, or discredited."
### Police surveillance
King was also the subject of extensive surveillance by local police agencies throughout the United States. At the March on Washington, where King declared, "We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality", undercover police from both the Birmingham Police Department and the Philadelphia Police Department were on hand to monitor the day's proceedings. Additional documented instances of local police that monitored King include the New York Police Department and the Chicago Police Department.
The Memphis Police Department also spied on King in the spring of 1968, as the civil rights leader was taking part in a campaign to support striking sanitation workers in the Tennessee city. A fire station was located across from the Lorraine Motel, next to the boarding house in which James Earl Ray was staying. Police officers were stationed in the fire station to keep King under surveillance. Agents were watching King at the time he was shot. Immediately following the shooting, officers rushed to the motel. Marrell McCollough, an undercover police officer, was the first person to administer first aid to King. The antagonism between King and the FBI, the lack of an all points bulletin to find the killer, and the police presence nearby led to speculation that the FBI was involved in the assassination.
In a secret operation code-named "Minaret", the National Security Agency monitored the communications of leading Americans, including King, who were critical of the U.S. war in Vietnam. A review by the NSA itself concluded that Minaret was "disreputable if not outright illegal".
### Allegations of communism
For years, Hoover had been suspicious of potential influence of communists in social movements such as labor unions and civil rights. Hoover directed the FBI to track King in 1957, and the SCLC when it was established.
Due to the relationship between King and Stanley Levison, the FBI feared Levison was working as an "agent of influence" over King, in spite of its own reports in 1963 that Levison had left the Party and was no longer associated in business dealings with them. Another King lieutenant, Jack O'Dell, was also linked to the Communist Party by sworn testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).
Despite the extensive surveillance, by 1976 the FBI had acknowledged that it had not obtained any evidence that King himself or the SCLC were actually involved with any communist organizations.
For his part, King adamantly denied having any connections to communism. In a 1965 *Playboy* interview, he stated that "there are as many Communists in this freedom movement as there are Eskimos in Florida." He argued that Hoover was "following the path of appeasement of political powers in the South" and that his concern for communist infiltration of the civil rights movement was meant to "aid and abet the salacious claims of southern racists and the extreme right-wing elements." Hoover replied by saying that King was "the most notorious liar in the country". After his "I Have A Dream" speech, the FBI described King as "the most dangerous and effective Negro leader in the country". It alleged that he was "knowingly, willingly and regularly cooperating with and taking guidance from communists."
The attempts to prove that King was a communist were related to the feeling of many segregationists that blacks in the South were content with the status quo but had been stirred up by "communists" and "outside agitators". King said that "the Negro revolution is a genuine revolution, born from the same womb that produces all massive social upheavals—the womb of intolerable conditions and unendurable situations."
### CIA surveillance
CIA files declassified in 2017 revealed that the agency was investigating possible links between King and Communism after a *Washington Post* article dated November 4, 1964, claimed he was invited to the Soviet Union and that Ralph Abernathy, as spokesman for King, refused to comment on the source of the invitation. Mail belonging to King and other civil rights activists was intercepted by the CIA program HTLINGUAL.
### Allegations of adultery
The FBI attempted to discredit King through revelations regarding his private life. FBI surveillance of King, some of it since made public, attempted to demonstrate that he had numerous extramarital affairs. The FBI distributed reports regarding such affairs to the executive branch, friendly reporters, potential coalition partners and funding sources of the SCLC, and King's family. The bureau also sent anonymous letters to King threatening to reveal information about his affairs. The FBI–King letter sent to King just before he received the Nobel Peace Prize read, in part:
The American public, the church organizations that have been helping—Protestants, Catholics and Jews will know you for what you are—an evil beast. So will others who have backed you. You are done. King, there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is. You have just 34 days in which to do (this exact number has been selected for a specific reason, it has definite practical significant [
sic]). You are done. There is but one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy fraudulent self is bared to the nation.
The letter was accompanied by a tape recording—excerpted from FBI wiretaps—of several of King's extramarital liaisons. King interpreted this package as an attempt to drive him to suicide, although William Sullivan, head of the Domestic Intelligence Division at the time, argued that it may have only been intended to "convince Dr. King to resign from the SCLC." Upon the release of the full letter in 2014, Yale history professor Beverly Gage noted in a *New York Times* article that the claim that the FBI "simply meant to push King out, not induce suicide" was a possibility, pointing out that "Another uncovered portion of the note praises "older leaders" like the NAACP executive director Roy Wilkins, urging King to step aside and let other men lead the civil rights movement." King refused to succumb to the FBI's threats.
In 1977, district court judge John Lewis Smith Jr. ordered the recorded audiotapes and written transcripts resulting from the FBI's electronic surveillance of King between 1963 and 1968 to be sealed from public access in the National Archives until 2027. In May 2019, an FBI file emerged on which a handwritten note alleged that King "looked on, laughed and offered advice" as one of his friends raped a woman. Historians of the period who have examined this notional evidence have dismissed it as highly unreliable. David Garrow, author of an earlier biography of King, wrote that "the suggestion ... that he either actively tolerated or personally employed violence against any woman, even while drunk, poses so fundamental a challenge to his historical stature as to require the most complete and extensive historical review possible". Garrow's reliance on a handwritten note appended to a typed report is considered poor scholarship by several other authorities. The professor of American studies at the University of Nottingham, Peter Ling, pointed out that Garrow was excessively credulous, if not naive, in accepting the accuracy of FBI reports during a period when the FBI was undertaking a massive operation to attempt to discredit King. Experts in 20th-century American history, including professors Jeanne Theoharis, Barbara Ransby of the University of Illinois Chicago, Nathan Connolly of Johns Hopkins University and Professor Emeritus of History Glenda Gilmore of Yale University have expressed reservations about Garrow's scholarship. Theoharis commented "Most scholars I know would penalize graduate students for doing this." It is not the first time the care and rigor of Garrow's work has been called into serious question. Clayborne Carson, Martin Luther King biographer and overseer of the Dr. King records at Stanford University states that he came to the opposite conclusion of Garrow:
None of this is new. Garrow is talking about a recently added summary of a transcript of a 1964 recording from the Willard Hotel that others, including Mrs. King, have said they did not hear Martin's voice on it. The added summary was four layers removed from the actual recording. This supposedly new information comes from an anonymous source in a single paragraph in an FBI report. You have to ask how could anyone conclude King looked at a rape from an audio recording in a room where he was not present.
The tapes that could confirm or refute the allegation are scheduled to be declassified in 2027.
In his 1989 autobiography *And the Walls Came Tumbling Down*, Ralph Abernathy stated that King had a "weakness for women", although they "all understood and believed in the biblical prohibition against sex outside of marriage. It was just that he had a particularly difficult time with that temptation." In a later interview, Abernathy said that he only wrote the term "womanizing", that he did not specifically say King had extramarital sex and that the infidelities King had were emotional rather than sexual. Abernathy criticized the media for sensationalizing the statements he wrote about King's affairs, such as the allegation that he admitted in his book that King had a sexual affair the night before he was assassinated.
In his 1986 book *Bearing the Cross*, David Garrow wrote about a number of extramarital affairs, including one woman King saw almost daily. According to Garrow, "that relationship ... increasingly became the emotional centerpiece of King's life, but it did not eliminate the incidental couplings ... of King's travels." He alleged that King explained his extramarital affairs as "a form of anxiety reduction". Garrow asserted that King's supposed promiscuity caused him "painful and at times overwhelming guilt". King's wife Coretta appeared to have accepted his affairs with equanimity, saying once that "all that other business just doesn't have a place in the very high-level relationship we enjoyed." Shortly after *Bearing the Cross* was released, civil rights author Howell Raines gave the book a positive review but opined that Garrow's allegations about King's sex life were "sensational" and stated that Garrow was "amassing facts rather than analyzing them".
## Awards and recognition
King was awarded at least fifty honorary degrees from colleges and universities. On October 14, 1964, King became the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to him for leading nonviolent resistance to racial prejudice in the U.S. In 1965, he was awarded the American Liberties Medallion by the American Jewish Committee for his "exceptional advancement of the principles of human liberty." In his acceptance remarks, King said, "Freedom is one thing. You have it all or you are not free."
In 1957, he was awarded the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP. Two years later, he won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for *Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story*. In 1966, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America awarded King the Margaret Sanger Award for "his courageous resistance to bigotry and his lifelong dedication to the advancement of social justice and human dignity." Also in 1966, King was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In November 1967, he made a 24-hour trip to the UK to receive an honorary Doctorate in Civil Law from Newcastle University, becoming the first African American the institution had recognized in this way. In an impromptu acceptance speech, he said:
There are three urgent and indeed great problems that we face not only in the United States of America but all over the world today. That is the problem of racism, the problem of poverty and the problem of war.
In addition to his nominations for three Grammy Awards, King posthumously won for Best Spoken Word Recording in 1971 for "Why I Oppose The War In Vietnam".
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to King. The citation read:
Martin Luther King Jr. was the conscience of his generation. He gazed upon the great wall of segregation and saw that the power of love could bring it down. From the pain and exhaustion of his fight to fulfill the promises of our founding fathers for our humblest citizens, he wrung his eloquent statement of his dream for America. He made our nation stronger because he made it better. His dream sustains us yet.
King and his wife were also awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004.
King was second in Gallup's List of Most Widely Admired People of the 20th Century. In 1963, he was named *Time* Person of the Year, and, in 2000, he was voted sixth in an online "Person of the Century" poll by the same magazine. King placed third in *The Greatest American* conducted by the Discovery Channel and AOL.
### Five-dollar bill
On April 20, 2016, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew announced that the $5, $10, and $20 bills would all undergo redesign prior to 2020. Lew said that while Lincoln would remain on the front of the $5 bill, the reverse would be redesigned to depict various historical events that had occurred at the Lincoln Memorial. Among the planned designs are images from King's "I Have a Dream" speech.
### Memorials
Many memorial sites, buildings and sculptures have been created to honor Martin Luther King Jr, including the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, D.C., the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library in San Jose, California, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in West Potomac Park next to the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
### Honorary doctorates
King has received several honorary doctorates.
- 1957: Doctor of Humane Letters, Morehouse College; Doctor of Laws, Howard University; Doctor of Divinity, Chicago Theological Seminary
- 1958: Doctor of Laws, Morgan State College; Doctor of Humanities, Central State College
- 1959: Doctor of Divinity, Boston University
- 1961: Doctor of Laws, Lincoln University; Doctor of Laws, University of Bridgeport
- 1962: Doctor of Civil Laws, Bard College
- 1963: Doctor of Letters, Keuka College
- 1964: Doctor of Divinity, Wesleyan College; Doctor of Laws, Jewish Theological Seminary; Doctor of Laws, Yale University; Doctor of Divinity, Springfield College
- 1965: Doctor of Laws, Hofstra University; Doctor of Humane Letters, Oberlin College; Doctor of Social Science, Amsterdam Free University; Doctor of Divinity, St. Peter's College
- 1967: Doctor of Civil Law, University of Newcastle upon Tyne; Doctor of Laws, Grinnell College
## Works
*Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story*(1958) ISBN 978-0-06-250490-6*The Measure of a Man*(1959) ISBN 978-0-8006-0877-4*Strength to Love*(1963) ISBN 978-0-8006-9740-2*Why We Can't Wait*(1964) ISBN 978-0-8070-0112-7*Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?*(1967) ISBN 978-0-8070-0571-2*The Trumpet of Conscience*(1968) ISBN 978-0-8070-0170-7*A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.*(1986) ISBN 978-0-06-250931-4*The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.*(1998), ed. Clayborne Carson ISBN 978-0-446-67650-2*"All Labor Has Dignity"*(2011) ed. Michael Honey ISBN 978-0-8070-8600-1*"Thou, Dear God": Prayers That Open Hearts and Spirits*. Collection of King's prayers. (2011), ed. Lewis Baldwin ISBN 978-0-8070-8603-2*MLK: A Celebration in Word and Image*(2011). Photographed by Bob Adelman, introduced by Charles Johnson ISBN 978-0-8070-0316-9
## Discography
### Albums
| Title | Year | Peak |
|---|---|---|
| US | ||
The Great March to Freedom
|
1963 | 141 |
The March on Washington
|
102 | |
Freedom March on Washington
|
119 | |
I Have a Dream
|
1968 | 69 |
The American Dream
|
173 | |
In Search of Freedom
|
150 | |
In the Struggle for Freedom and Human Dignity
|
154 |
### Singles
| Title | Year | Peak | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| US | |||
| "I Have a Dream"
(Gordy 7023 – b/w We Shall Overcome, Liz Lands) |
1968 | 88 | I Have a Dream (1968)
|
## See also
- African American founding fathers of the United States
- Civil rights movement, 1954 to 1968
- Civil rights movement in popular culture
- Equality before the law
- List of civil rights leaders
- List of peace activists
- List of streets named after Martin Luther King Jr.
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day
- Memorials to Martin Luther King Jr.
- Sermons and speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.
- Violence begets violence
### Notes
### Citations
### Sources
## Further reading
## External links
- The King Center Archived January 30, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- Martin Luther King Jr. Collection at Morehouse College Archived August 24, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute Archived October 11, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Stanford University
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Collected Papers Archived January 30, 2023, at the Wayback Machine held by the Swarthmore College Peace Collection Archived September 4, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
- Works by or about Martin Luther King Jr. at the Internet Archive
- Martin Luther King Jr. on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1964
*The quest for peace and justice* - Martin Luther King Jr.'s Nobel Peace Prize Archived March 29, 2023, at the Wayback Machine, Civil Rights Digital Library
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Buffalo Archived June 18, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, digital collection of King's visit and speech in Buffalo, New York on November 9, 1967, from the University at Buffalo Libraries
- BBC
*Face to Face*interview Archived February 24, 2020, at the Wayback Machine with Martin Luther King and John Freeman, broadcast October 29, 1961. - FBI file on Martin Luther King Jr.: Part 1 Archived January 16, 2023, at the Wayback Machine and Part 2 Archived January 30, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
|
# Charlie Chaplin - Wikipedia
Charlie Chaplin | |
|---|---|
| Born | Charles Spencer Chaplin 16 April 1889 London, England |
| Died | 25 December 1977 | (aged 88)
| Burial place | Cimetière de Corsier-sur-Vevey, Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1899–1975 |
| Works | Full list |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 11, including Charles, Sydney, Geraldine, Michael, Josephine, Victoria, Eugene and Christopher |
| Parent(s) | Charles Chaplin Sr. Hannah Hill |
| Relatives | Chaplin family |
| Website | charliechaplin |
| Signature | |
**Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin** (16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered one of the film industry's most important figures. His career spanned more than 75 years, from his childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death in 1977, and encompassed both accolade and controversy.
Chaplin's childhood in London was one of poverty and hardship. His father was absent and his mother struggled financially – he was sent to a workhouse twice before the age of nine. When he was 14, his mother was committed to a mental asylum. Chaplin began performing at an early age, touring music halls and later working as a stage actor and comedian. At 19, he was signed to the Fred Karno company, which took him to the United States. He was scouted for the film industry and began appearing in 1914 for Keystone Studios. He soon introduced and adopted the Tramp as his screen persona. He directed his own films and continued to hone his craft as he moved to Essanay Studios, where the Tramp persona was developed emotionally in *The Tramp* (1915). He then attracted a large fanbase and demanded more money as he moved to Mutual and First National corporations. By 1918, he was one of the world's best-paid and best-known figures.
In 1919, Chaplin co-founded the distribution company United Artists, which gave him complete control over his films. His first feature-length film was *The Kid* (1921), followed by *A Woman of Paris* (1923), *The Gold Rush* (1925), and *The Circus* (1928). He initially refused to move to sound films in the 1930s, instead producing *City Lights* (1931) and *Modern Times* (1936) without dialogue. His first sound film was *The Great Dictator* (1940), which satirised Adolf Hitler. The 1940s were marked with controversy for Chaplin, and his popularity declined rapidly. He was accused of communist sympathies, and some members of the press and public were scandalised by his involvement in a paternity suit and marriages to much younger women. An FBI investigation was opened, and Chaplin was forced to leave the U.S. in 1952 and settle in Switzerland. He abandoned the Tramp in his later films, which include *Monsieur Verdoux* (1947), *Limelight* (1952), *A King in New York* (1957), and *A Countess from Hong Kong* (1967).
Chaplin wrote, directed, produced, edited, starred in, and composed the music for most of his films. He was a perfectionist, and his financial independence enabled him to spend years on the development and production of a picture. His films are characterised by slapstick combined with pathos, typified in the Tramp's struggles against adversity. Many contain social and political themes, as well as autobiographical elements. He received an Honorary Academy Award for "the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century" in 1972, as part of a renewed appreciation for his work. He continues to be held in high regard, with *The Gold Rush*, *City Lights*, *Modern Times*, and *The Great Dictator* often ranked on lists of the greatest films.
## Biography
#### Background and childhood hardship
Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. was born on 16 April 1889 to Hannah Chaplin (née Hill) and Charles Chaplin Sr. His paternal grandmother came from the Smith family, who belonged to Romani people. There is no official record of his birth, although Chaplin believed he was born at East Street, Walworth, in South London. His parents had married four years previously, at which time Charles Sr. became the legal guardian of Hannah's first son, Sydney John Hill. At the time of his birth, Chaplin's parents were both music hall entertainers. Hannah, the daughter of a shoemaker, had a brief and unsuccessful career under the stage name Lily Harley, while Charles Sr., a butcher's son, was a popular singer. Although they never divorced, Chaplin's parents were estranged by around 1891. The following year, Hannah gave birth to a third son, George Wheeler Dryden, fathered by the music hall entertainer Leo Dryden. The child was taken by Dryden at six months old, and did not re-enter Chaplin's life for thirty years.
"I was hardly aware of a crisis because we lived in a continual crisis; and, being a boy, I dismissed our troubles with gracious forgetfulness."
Chaplin's childhood was fraught with poverty and hardship, making his eventual trajectory "the most dramatic of all the rags to riches stories ever told" according to his authorised biographer David Robinson. Chaplin's early years were spent with his mother and brother Sydney in the London district of Kennington. Hannah had no means of income, other than occasional nursing and dressmaking, and Chaplin Sr. provided no financial support. As the situation deteriorated, Chaplin was sent to Lambeth Workhouse when he was seven years old. The council housed him at the Central London District School for paupers, which Chaplin remembered as "a forlorn existence". He was briefly reunited with his mother 18 months later, but Hannah was forced to readmit her family to the workhouse in July 1898. The boys were promptly sent to Norwood Schools, another institution for destitute children.
In September 1898, Hannah was committed to Cane Hill mental asylum; she had developed psychosis seemingly brought on by an infection of syphilis and malnutrition. For the two months she was there, Chaplin and his brother Sydney were sent to live with their father, whom the young boys scarcely knew. Charles Sr. was by then severely alcoholic, and life there was bad enough to provoke a visit from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Chaplin's father died two years later, at 38 years old, from cirrhosis of the liver.
Hannah entered a period of remission but, in May 1903, became ill again. Chaplin, then 14, had the task of taking his mother to the infirmary, from where she was sent back to Cane Hill. He lived alone for several days, searching for food and occasionally sleeping rough, until Sydney – who had joined the Navy two years earlier – returned. Hannah was released from the asylum eight months later, but in March 1905, her illness returned, this time permanently. "There was nothing we could do but accept poor mother's fate", Chaplin later wrote, and she remained in care until her death in 1928.
#### Young performer
Between his time in the poor schools and his mother succumbing to mental illness, Chaplin began to perform on stage. He later recalled making his first amateur appearance at the age of five years, when he took over from Hannah one night in Aldershot. This was an isolated occurrence, but by the time he was nine Chaplin had, with his mother's encouragement, grown interested in performing. He later wrote: "[she] imbued me with the feeling that I had some sort of talent". Through his father's connections, Chaplin became a member of the Eight Lancashire Lads clog-dancing troupe, with whom he toured English music halls throughout 1899 and 1900. Chaplin worked hard, and the act was popular with audiences, but he was not satisfied with dancing and wished to form a comedy act.
In the years Chaplin was touring with the Eight Lancashire Lads, his mother ensured that he still attended school but, by the age of 13, he had abandoned education. He supported himself with a range of jobs, while nursing his ambition to become an actor. At 14, shortly after his mother's relapse, he registered with a theatrical agency in London's West End. The manager sensed potential in Chaplin, who was promptly given his first role as a newsboy in Harry Arthur Saintsbury's *Jim, a Romance of Cockayne*. It opened in July 1903, but the show was unsuccessful and closed after two weeks. Chaplin's comic performance, however, was singled out for praise in many of the reviews.
Saintsbury secured a role for Chaplin in Charles Frohman's production of *Sherlock Holmes*, where he played Billy the pageboy in three nationwide tours. His performance was so well received that he was called to London to play the role alongside William Gillette, the original Holmes. "It was like tidings from heaven", Chaplin recalled. At 16 years old, Chaplin starred in the play's West End production at the Duke of York's Theatre from October to December 1905. He completed one final tour of *Sherlock Holmes* in early 1906, before leaving the play after more than two-and-a-half years.
#### Stage comedy and vaudeville
Chaplin soon found work with a new company and went on tour with his brother, who was also pursuing an acting career, in a comedy sketch called *Repairs*. In May 1906, Chaplin joined the juvenile act Casey's Circus, where he developed popular burlesque pieces and was soon the star of the show. By the time the act finished touring in July 1907, the 18-year-old had become an accomplished comedic performer. He struggled to find more work, however, and a brief attempt at a solo act was a failure.
Meanwhile, Sydney Chaplin had joined Fred Karno's prestigious comedy company in 1906 and, by 1908, he was one of their key performers. In February, he managed to secure a two-week trial for his younger brother. Karno was initially wary, and considered Chaplin a "pale, puny, sullen-looking youngster" who "looked much too shy to do any good in the theatre". However, the teenager made an impact on his first night at the London Coliseum and he was quickly signed to a contract. Chaplin began by playing a series of minor parts, eventually progressing to starring roles in 1909. In April 1910, he was given the lead in a new sketch, *Jimmy the Fearless*. It was a big success, and Chaplin received considerable press attention.
Karno selected his new star to join the section of the company that toured North America's vaudeville circuit, a section which also included Stan Laurel. The young comedian headed the show and impressed reviewers, being described as "one of the best pantomime artists ever seen here". His most successful role was a drunk called the "Inebriate Swell", which drew him significant recognition. The role was in the play titled *Mumming Birds*, known as *A Night in an English Music Hall* when Chaplin performed it on tour, which was the longest-running sketch the music halls produced, and included throwing pies at the players among other innovations. The tour lasted 21 months, and the troupe returned to England in June 1912. Chaplin recalled that he "had a disquieting feeling of sinking back into a depressing commonplaceness" and was, therefore, delighted when a new tour began in October.
#### Keystone
Six months into the second American tour, Chaplin was invited to join the New York Motion Picture Company. A representative who had seen his performances thought he could replace Fred Mace, a star of their Keystone Studios who intended to leave. Chaplin thought the Keystone comedies "a crude mélange of rough and rumble", but liked the idea of working in films and rationalised: "Besides, it would mean a new life." He met with the company and signed a $150-per-week contract in September 1913. Chaplin arrived in Los Angeles in early December, and began working for the Keystone studio on 5 January 1914.
Chaplin's boss was Mack Sennett, who initially expressed concern that the 24-year-old looked too young. He was not used in a picture until late January, during which time Chaplin attempted to learn the processes of filmmaking. The one-reeler *Making a Living* marked his film acting debut and was released on 2 February 1914. Chaplin strongly disliked the picture, but one review picked him out as "a comedian of the first water". For his second appearance in front of the camera, Chaplin selected the costume with which he became identified. He described the process in his autobiography:
I wanted everything to be a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large ... I added a small moustache, which, I reasoned, would add age without hiding my expression. I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the makeup made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked on stage he was fully born.
The film was *Mabel's Strange Predicament*, but "the Tramp" character, as it became known, debuted to audiences in *Kid Auto Races at Venice* – shot later than *Mabel's Strange Predicament* but released two days earlier on 7 February 1914. Chaplin adopted the character as his screen persona and attempted to make suggestions for the films he appeared in. These ideas were dismissed by his directors. During the filming of his 11th picture, *Mabel at the Wheel*, he clashed with director Mabel Normand and was almost released from his contract. Sennett kept him on, however, when he received orders from exhibitors for more Chaplin films. Sennett also allowed Chaplin to direct his next film himself after Chaplin promised to pay $1,500 ($48,000 in 2024 dollars) if the film was unsuccessful.
*Caught in the Rain*, issued on 4 May 1914, was Chaplin's directorial debut and was highly successful. Thereafter he directed almost every short film in which he appeared for Keystone, at the rate of approximately one per week, a period which he later remembered as the most exciting time of his career. Chaplin's films introduced a slower form of comedy than the typical Keystone farce, and he developed a large fan base. In November 1914, he had a supporting role in the first feature length comedy film, *Tillie's Punctured Romance*, directed by Sennett and starring Marie Dressler, which was a commercial success and increased his popularity. When Chaplin's contract came up for renewal at the end of the year, he asked for $1,000 a week, an amount Sennett refused, as he thought it was too large.
#### Essanay
The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company of Chicago sent Chaplin an offer of $1,250 a week, with a signing bonus of $10,000. He joined the studio in late December 1914, where he began forming a stock company of regular players, actors he worked with again and again, including Ben Turpin, Leo White, Bud Jamison, Paddy McGuire, Fred Goodwins and Billy Armstrong. Chaplin soon recruited a leading lady, Edna Purviance, whom he met in a café and hired on account of her beauty. She went on to appear in 35 films with him over eight years; the pair also formed a romantic relationship that lasted until 1917.
Chaplin asserted a high level of control over his pictures and started to put more time and care into each film. There was a month-long interval between the release of his second production, *A Night Out*, and his third, *The Champion*. The final seven of Chaplin's 14 Essanay films were all produced at this slower pace. Chaplin also began to alter his screen persona, which had attracted some criticism at Keystone for its "mean, crude, and brutish" nature. The character became more gentle and romantic; *The Tramp* (April 1915) was considered a particular turning point in his development. The use of pathos was developed further with *The Bank*, in which Chaplin created a sad ending. Robinson notes that this was an innovation in comedy films, and marked the time when serious critics began to appreciate Chaplin's work. At Essanay, writes film scholar Simon Louvish, Chaplin "found the themes and the settings that would define the Tramp's world".
During 1915, Chaplin became a cultural phenomenon. Shops were stocked with Chaplin merchandise, he was featured in cartoons and comic strips, and several songs were written about him. In July, a journalist for *Motion Picture* wrote that "Chaplinitis" had spread across America. As his fame grew worldwide, he became the film industry's first international star. In September 1915, Chaplin topped a poll held by *Pictures and the Picturegoer* of the greatest British film actors, receiving 142,920 votes from readers. The classic music hall sketch, *A Night in an English Music Hall*, would be the basis for his 12th Essanay film, *A Night in the Show*, released in November 1915. When the Essanay contract ended in December 1915, Chaplin, fully aware of his popularity, requested a $150,000 signing bonus from his next studio. He received several offers, including Universal, Fox and Vitagraph, the best of which came from the Mutual Film Corporation at $10,000 a week.
#### Mutual
A contract was negotiated with Mutual that amounted to $670,000 a year, which Robinson says made Chaplin – at 26 years old – one of the highest-paid people in the world. The high salary shocked the public and was widely reported in the press. John R. Freuler, the studio president, explained: "We can afford to pay Mr. Chaplin this large sum annually because the public wants Chaplin and will pay for him."
Mutual gave Chaplin his own Los Angeles studio to work in, which opened in March 1916. He added two key members to his stock company, Albert Austin and Eric Campbell, and produced a series of elaborate two-reelers: *The Floorwalker*, *The Fireman*, *The Vagabond*, *One A.M.* and *The Count*. For *The Pawnshop*, he recruited the actor Henry Bergman, who was to work with Chaplin for 30 years. *Behind the Screen* and *The Rink* completed Chaplin's releases for 1916. The Mutual contract stipulated that he release a two-reel film every four weeks, which he had managed to achieve. With the new year, however, Chaplin began to demand more time. He made only four more films for Mutual over the first ten months of 1917: *Easy Street*, *The Cure*, *The Immigrant* and *The Adventurer*. With their careful construction, these films are considered by Chaplin scholars to be among his finest work. Later in life, Chaplin referred to his Mutual years as the happiest period of his career. However, Chaplin also felt that those films became increasingly formulaic over the period of the contract, and he was increasingly dissatisfied with the working conditions encouraging that.
Chaplin was attacked in the British media for not fighting in the First World War. He defended himself, claiming that he would fight for Britain if called and had registered for the American draft, but he was not summoned by either country. Despite this criticism, Chaplin was a favourite with the troops, and his popularity continued to grow worldwide. *Harper's Weekly* reported that the name of Charlie Chaplin was "a part of the common language of almost every country", and that the Tramp image was "universally familiar". In 1917, professional Chaplin imitators were so widespread that he took legal action, and it was reported that nine out of ten men who attended costume parties, did so dressed as the Tramp. The same year, a study by the Boston Society for Psychical Research concluded that Chaplin was "an American obsession". The actress Minnie Maddern Fiske wrote that "a constantly increasing body of cultured, artistic people are beginning to regard the young English buffoon, Charles Chaplin, as an extraordinary artist, as well as a comic genius".
In January 1918, Chaplin was visited by leading British singer and comedian Harry Lauder, and the two acted in a short film together.
Mutual was patient with Chaplin's decreased rate of output, and the contract ended amicably. With his aforementioned concern about the declining quality of his films because of contract scheduling stipulations, Chaplin's primary concern in finding a new distributor was independence; Sydney Chaplin, then his business manager, told the press: "Charlie [must] be allowed all the time he needs and all the money for producing [films] the way he wants ... It is quality, not quantity, we are after." In June 1917, Chaplin signed to complete eight films for First National Exhibitors' Circuit in return for $1 million. He chose to build his own studio, situated on five acres of land off Sunset Boulevard, with production facilities of the highest order. Charlie Chaplin Studios was completed in January 1918, and Chaplin was given freedom over the making of his pictures.
*A Dog's Life*, released April 1918, was the first film under the new contract. In it, Chaplin demonstrated his increasing concern with story construction and his treatment of the Tramp as "a sort of Pierrot". The film was described by Louis Delluc as "cinema's first total work of art". Chaplin then embarked on the Third Liberty Bond campaign, touring the United States for one month to raise money for the Allies of the First World War. He also produced a short propaganda film at his own expense, donated to the government for fund-raising, called *The Bond*. Chaplin's next release was war-based, placing the Tramp in the trenches for *Shoulder Arms*. Associates warned him against making a comedy about the war but, as he later recalled: "Dangerous or not, the idea excited me." He spent four months filming the picture, which was released in October 1918 with great success.
*The Kid*
After the release of *Shoulder Arms*, Chaplin requested more money from First National, which was refused. Frustrated with their lack of concern for quality, and worried about rumours of a possible merger between the company and Famous Players–Lasky, Chaplin joined forces with Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and D. W. Griffith to form a new distribution company, United Artists, in January 1919. The arrangement was revolutionary in the film industry, as it enabled the four partners – all creative artists – to personally fund their pictures and have complete control. Chaplin was eager to start with the new company and offered to buy out his contract with First National. They refused and insisted that he complete the final six films owed.
Before the creation of United Artists, Chaplin married for the first time. The 16-year-old actress Mildred Harris had revealed that she was pregnant with his child, and in September 1918, he married her quietly in Los Angeles to avoid controversy. Soon after, the pregnancy was found to be false. Chaplin was unhappy with the union and, feeling that marriage stunted his creativity, struggled over the production of his film *Sunnyside*. Harris was by then legitimately pregnant, and on 7 July 1919, gave birth to a son. Norman Spencer Chaplin was born malformed and died three days later. The marriage ended in April 1920, with Chaplin explaining in his autobiography that they were "irreconcilably mismated".
Losing the child, plus his own childhood experiences, are thought to have influenced Chaplin's next film, which turned the Tramp into the caretaker of a young boy. For this new venture, Chaplin also wished to do more than comedy and, according to Louvish, "make his mark on a changed world". Filming on *The Kid* began in August 1919, with four-year-old Jackie Coogan his co-star. *The Kid* was in production for nine months until May 1920 and, at 68 minutes, it was Chaplin's longest picture to date. Dealing with issues of poverty and parent–child separation, *The Kid* was one of the earliest films to combine comedy and drama. It was released in January 1921 with instant success, and, by 1924, had been screened in over 50 countries.
Chaplin spent five months on his next film, the two-reeler *The Idle Class*. Work on the picture was for a time delayed by more turmoil in his personal life. First National had on 12 April announced Chaplin's engagement to the actress May Collins, whom he had hired to be his secretary at the studio. By early June, however, Chaplin "suddenly decided he could scarcely stand to be in the same room" as Collins, but instead of breaking off the engagement directly, he "stopped coming in to work, sending word that he was suffering from a bad case of influenza, which May knew to be a lie."
Ultimately work on the film resumed, and following its September 1921 release, Chaplin chose to return to England for the first time in almost a decade. He wrote a book about his journey, titled *My Wonderful Visit*. He then worked to fulfil his First National contract, releasing *Pay Day* in February 1922. *The Pilgrim*, his final short film, was delayed by distribution disagreements with the studio and released a year later.
*A Woman of Paris* and *The Gold Rush*
Having fulfilled his First National contract, Chaplin was free to make his first picture as an independent producer. In November 1922, he began filming *A Woman of Paris*, a romantic drama about ill-fated lovers. Chaplin intended it to be a star-making vehicle for Edna Purviance, and did not appear in the picture himself other than in a brief, uncredited cameo. He wished the film to have a realistic feel and directed his cast to give restrained performances. In real life, he explained, "men and women try to hide their emotions rather than seek to express them". *A Woman of Paris* premiered in September 1923 and was acclaimed for its innovative, subtle approach. The public, however, seemed to have little interest in a Chaplin film without Chaplin, and it was a box office disappointment. The filmmaker was hurt by this failure – he had long wanted to produce a dramatic film and was proud of the result – and soon withdrew *A Woman of Paris* from circulation.
Chaplin returned to comedy for his next project. Setting his standards high, he told himself "This next film must be an epic! The Greatest!" Inspired by a photograph of the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush, and later the story of the Donner Party of 1846–1847, he made what Geoffrey Macnab calls "an epic comedy out of grim subject matter". In *The Gold Rush*, the Tramp is a lonely prospector fighting adversity and looking for love. With Georgia Hale as his leading lady, Chaplin began filming the picture in February 1924. Its elaborate production, costing almost $1 million, included location shooting in the Truckee mountains in Nevada with 600 extras, extravagant sets, and special effects. The last scene was shot in May 1925 after 15 months of filming.
Chaplin felt *The Gold Rush* was the best film he had made. It opened in August 1925 and became one of the highest-grossing films of the silent era, with a U.S. box-office of $5 million. The comedy contains some of Chaplin's most famous sequences, such as the Tramp eating his shoe and the "Dance of the Rolls". Macnab has called it "the quintessential Chaplin film". Chaplin stated at its release: "This is the picture that I want to be remembered by".
#### Lita Grey and *The Circus*
While making *The Gold Rush*, Chaplin married for the second time. Mirroring the circumstances of his first union, Lita Grey was a teenage actress, originally set to star in the film, whose surprise announcement of pregnancy forced Chaplin into marriage. She was 16 and he was 35, meaning Chaplin could have been charged with statutory rape under California law. He therefore arranged a discreet marriage in Mexico on 25 November 1924. They originally met during her childhood and she had previously appeared in his works *The Kid* and *The Idle Class*. Their first son, Charles Spencer Chaplin III, was born on 5 May 1925, followed by Sydney Earl Chaplin on 30 March 1926. On 6 July 1925, Chaplin became the first movie star to be featured on a *Time* cover.
It was an unhappy marriage, and Chaplin spent long hours at the studio to avoid seeing his wife. In November 1926, Grey took the children and left the family home. A bitter divorce followed, in which Grey's application – accusing Chaplin of infidelity, abuse and of harbouring "perverted sexual desires" – was leaked to the press. Chaplin was reported to be in a state of nervous breakdown, as the story became headline news and groups formed across America calling for his films to be banned. Eager to end the case without further scandal, Chaplin's lawyers agreed to a cash settlement of $600,000 – the largest awarded by American courts at that time. His fan base was strong enough to survive the incident, and it was soon forgotten, but Chaplin was deeply affected by it. Less than five months after the divorce, Grey's former butler Don Solovich was murdered in Utah, and articles speculated about connections between Chaplin and the murder.
Before the divorce suit was filed, Chaplin had begun work on a new film, *The Circus*. He built a story around the idea of walking a tightrope while besieged by monkeys, and turned the Tramp into the accidental star of a circus. Filming was suspended for ten months while he dealt with the divorce scandal, and it was generally a trouble-ridden production. Finally completed in October 1927, *The Circus* was released in January 1928 to a positive reception. At the 1st Academy Awards, Chaplin was given a special trophy "For versatility and genius in acting, writing, directing and producing *The Circus*". Despite its success, he permanently associated the film with the stress of its production; Chaplin omitted *The Circus* from his autobiography, and struggled to work on it when he recorded the score in his later years.
*City Lights*
I was determined to continue making silent films ... I was a pantomimist and in that medium I was unique and, without false modesty, a master.
By the time *The Circus* was released, Hollywood had witnessed the introduction of sound films. Chaplin was cynical about this new medium and the technical shortcomings it presented, believing that "talkies" lacked the artistry of silent films. He was also hesitant to change the formula that had brought him such success, and feared that giving the Tramp a voice would limit his international appeal. He, therefore, rejected the new Hollywood craze and began work on a new silent film. Chaplin was nonetheless anxious about this decision and remained so throughout the film's production.
When filming began at the end of 1928, Chaplin had been working on the story for almost a year. *City Lights* followed the Tramp's love for a blind flower girl (played by Virginia Cherrill) and his efforts to raise money for her sight-saving operation. It was a challenging production that lasted 21 months, with Chaplin later confessing that he "had worked himself into a neurotic state of wanting perfection". One advantage Chaplin found in sound technology was the opportunity to record a musical score for the film, which he composed himself.
Chaplin finished editing *City Lights* in December 1930, by which time silent films were an anachronism. A preview before an unsuspecting public audience was not a success, but a showing for the press produced positive reviews. One journalist wrote: "Nobody in the world but Charlie Chaplin could have done it. He is the only person that has that peculiar something called 'audience appeal' in sufficient quality to defy the popular penchant for movies that talk." Given its general release in January 1931, *City Lights* proved to be a popular and financial success, eventually grossing over $3 million. The British Film Institute called it Chaplin's finest accomplishment, and the critic James Agee hails the closing scene as "the greatest piece of acting and the highest moment in movies". *City Lights* became Chaplin's personal favourite of his films and remained so throughout his life.
*Modern Times*
*City Lights* had been a success, but Chaplin was unsure if he could make another picture without dialogue. He remained convinced that sound would not work in his films, but was also "obsessed by a depressing fear of being old-fashioned". In this state of uncertainty, early in 1931, the comedian decided to take a holiday and ended up travelling for 16 months. He spent months travelling Western Europe, including extended stays in France and Switzerland, and spontaneously decided to visit Japan. The day after he arrived in Japan, Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi was assassinated by ultra-nationalists in the May 15 Incident. The group's original plan had been to provoke a war with the United States by assassinating Chaplin at a welcome reception organised by the prime minister, but the plan had been foiled due to delayed public announcement of the event's date.
In his autobiography, Chaplin recalled that on his return to Los Angeles, "I was confused and without plan, restless and conscious of an extreme loneliness". He briefly considered retiring and moving to China. Chaplin's loneliness was relieved when he met 21-year-old actress Paulette Goddard in July 1932, and the pair began a relationship. He was not ready to commit to a film, however, and focused on writing a serial about his travels (published in *Woman's Home Companion*). The trip had been a stimulating experience for Chaplin, including meetings with several prominent thinkers, and he became increasingly interested in world affairs. The state of labour in America troubled him, and he feared that capitalism and machinery in the workplace would increase unemployment levels. It was these concerns that stimulated Chaplin to develop his new film.
*Modern Times* was announced by Chaplin as "a satire on certain phases of our industrial life". Featuring the Tramp and Goddard as they endure the Great Depression, it took ten and a half months to film. Chaplin intended to use spoken dialogue but changed his mind during rehearsals. Like its predecessor, *Modern Times* employed sound effects but almost no speaking. Chaplin's performance of a gibberish song did, however, give the Tramp a voice for the only time on film. After recording the music, Chaplin released *Modern Times* in February 1936. It was his first feature in 15 years to adopt political references and social realism, a factor that attracted considerable press coverage despite Chaplin's attempts to downplay the issue. The film earned less at the box-office than his previous features and received mixed reviews, as some viewers disliked the politicising. Today, *Modern Times* is seen by the British Film Institute as one of Chaplin's "great features", while David Robinson says it shows the filmmaker at "his unrivalled peak as a creator of visual comedy".
Following the release of *Modern Times*, Chaplin left with Goddard for a trip to the Far East. Chaplin, Goddard and a Japanese servant named Yonnemori arrived in Saigon in April 1936, and visited multiple locations in French Indochina. They then visited Phnom Penh to view Angkor Wat, and Da Lat, followed by Huế, arriving in Đà Nẵng where he visited the Marble Mountains and the Henri Parmentier Museum. In Hanoi (the capital city of French Indochina) they visited the popular tourist destination Hạ Long Bay, and the couple then left from Hải Phòng to Hong Kong on board of a ship the *Canton*. The couple had refused to comment on the nature of their relationship, and it was not known whether they were married or not. Sometime later, Chaplin revealed that they married in Canton during this trip. By 1938, the couple had drifted apart, as both focused heavily on their work, although Goddard was again his leading lady in his next feature film, *The Great Dictator*. She eventually divorced Chaplin in Mexico in 1942, citing incompatibility and separation for more than a year.
*The Great Dictator*
The 1940s saw Chaplin face a series of controversies, both in his work and in his personal life, which changed his fortunes and severely affected his popularity in the United States. The first of these was his growing boldness in expressing his political beliefs. Deeply disturbed by the surge of militaristic nationalism in 1930s world politics, Chaplin found that he could not keep these issues out of his work. Parallels between himself and Adolf Hitler had been widely noted: the pair were born four days apart, both had risen from poverty to world prominence, and Hitler wore the same moustache style as Chaplin. It was this physical resemblance that supplied the plot for Chaplin's next film, *The Great Dictator*, which directly satirised Hitler and attacked fascism.
Chaplin spent two years developing the script and began filming in September 1939, six days after Britain declared war on Germany. He had submitted to using spoken dialogue, partly out of acceptance that he had no other choice, but also because he recognised it as a better method for delivering a political message. Making a comedy about Hitler was seen as highly controversial, but Chaplin's financial independence allowed him to take the risk. "I was determined to go ahead", he later wrote, "for Hitler must be laughed at." Chaplin replaced the Tramp (while wearing similar attire) with "A Jewish Barber", a reference to the Nazi Party's belief that he was Jewish. In a dual performance, he also played the dictator "Adenoid Hynkel", a parody of Hitler.
*The Great Dictator* spent a year in production and was released in October 1940. The film generated a vast amount of publicity, with a critic for *The New York Times* calling it "the most eagerly awaited picture of the year", and it was one of the biggest money-makers of the era. The ending was unpopular, however, and generated controversy. Chaplin concluded the film with a five-minute speech in which he abandoned his barber character, looked directly into the camera, and pleaded against war and fascism. Charles J. Maland has identified this overt preaching as triggering a decline in Chaplin's popularity, and writes: "Henceforth, no movie fan would ever be able to separate the dimension of politics from [his] star image". Nevertheless, both Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt liked the film, which they saw at private screenings before its release. Roosevelt subsequently invited Chaplin to read the film's final speech over the radio during his January 1941 inauguration, with the speech becoming a "hit" of the celebration. Chaplin was often invited to other patriotic functions to read the speech to audiences during the years of the war. *The Great Dictator* received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor.
In the mid-1940s, Chaplin was involved in a series of trials that occupied most of his time and significantly affected his public image. The troubles stemmed from his affair with an aspiring actress named Joan Barry, with whom he was involved intermittently between June 1941 and the autumn of 1942. Barry, who displayed obsessive behaviour and was twice arrested after they separated, reappeared the following year and announced that she was pregnant with Chaplin's child. As Chaplin denied the claim, Barry filed a paternity suit against him.
The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), J. Edgar Hoover, who had long been suspicious of Chaplin's political leanings, used the opportunity to generate negative publicity about him. As part of a smear campaign to damage Chaplin's image, the FBI named him in four indictments related to the Barry case. Most serious of these was an alleged violation of the Mann Act, which prohibits the transportation of women across state boundaries for sexual purposes. Historian Otto Friedrich called this an "absurd prosecution" of an "ancient statute", yet if Chaplin was found guilty, he faced 23 years in prison. Three charges lacked sufficient evidence to proceed to court, but the Mann Act trial began on 21 March 1944. Chaplin was acquitted two weeks later, on 4 April. The case was frequently headline news, with *Newsweek* calling it the "biggest public relations scandal since the Fatty Arbuckle murder trial in 1921".
Barry's child, Carol Ann, was born in October 1943, and the paternity suit went to court in December 1944. After two arduous trials, in which the prosecuting lawyer accused him of "moral turpitude", Chaplin was declared to be the father. Evidence from blood tests that indicated otherwise were not admissible, and the judge ordered Chaplin to pay child support until Carol Ann turned 21. Media coverage of the suit was influenced by the FBI, which fed information to gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, and Chaplin was portrayed in an overwhelmingly critical light.
The controversy surrounding Chaplin increased when – two weeks after the paternity suit was filed – it was announced that he had married his newest protégée, 18-year-old Oona O'Neill, the daughter of American playwright Eugene O'Neill. Chaplin, then 54, had been introduced to her by a film agent seven months earlier. In his autobiography, Chaplin described meeting O'Neill as "the happiest event of my life", and claimed to have found "perfect love". Chaplin's son, Charles III, reported that Oona "worshipped" his father. The couple remained married until Chaplin's death, and had eight children over 18 years: Geraldine Leigh (b. July 1944), Michael John (b. March 1946), Josephine Hannah (b. March 1949), Victoria Agnes (b. May 1951), Eugene Anthony (b. August 1953), Jane Cecil (b. May 1957), Annette Emily (b. December 1959), and Christopher James (b. July 1962).
*Monsieur Verdoux* and communist accusations
Chaplin claimed that the Barry trials had "crippled [his] creativeness", and it was some time before he began working again. In April 1946, he finally began filming a project that had been in development since 1942. *Monsieur Verdoux* was a black comedy, the story of a French bank clerk, Verdoux (Chaplin), who loses his job and begins marrying and murdering wealthy widows to support his family. Chaplin's inspiration for the project came from Orson Welles, who wanted him to star in a film about the French serial killer Henri Désiré Landru. Chaplin decided that the concept would "make a wonderful comedy", and paid Welles $5,000 for the idea.
Chaplin again vocalised his political views in *Monsieur Verdoux*, criticising capitalism and arguing that the world encourages mass killing through wars and weapons of mass destruction. Because of this, the film met with controversy when it was released in April 1947; Chaplin was booed at the premiere, and there were calls for a boycott. *Monsieur Verdoux* was the first Chaplin release that failed both critically and commercially in the United States. It was more successful abroad, and Chaplin's screenplay was nominated at the Academy Awards. He was proud of the film, writing in his autobiography, "*Monsieur Verdoux* is the cleverest and most brilliant film I have yet made."
The negative reaction to *Monsieur Verdoux* was largely the result of changes in Chaplin's public image. Along with the damage of the Joan Barry scandal, he was publicly accused of being a communist. His political activity had heightened during World War II, when he campaigned for the opening of a Second Front to help the Soviet Union and supported various Soviet–American friendship groups. He was also friendly with several suspected communists, and attended functions given by Soviet diplomats in Los Angeles. In the political climate of 1940s America, such activities meant Chaplin was considered, as Larcher writes, "dangerously progressive and amoral". The FBI wanted him out of the country, and launched an official investigation in early 1947.
| External videos | |
|---|---|
Q&A interview with Scott Eyman on Charlie Chaplin vs. America, May 10, 2024, C-SPAN |
Chaplin denied being a communist, instead calling himself a "peacemonger", but felt the government's effort to suppress the ideology was an unacceptable infringement of civil liberties. Unwilling to be quiet about the issue, he openly protested against the trials of Communist Party members and the activities of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Chaplin received a subpoena to appear before HUAC but was not called to testify. As his activities were widely reported in the press, and Cold War fears grew, questions were raised over his failure to take American citizenship. Calls were made for him to be deported; in one extreme and widely published example, Representative John E. Rankin, who helped establish HUAC, told Congress in June 1947: "[Chaplin's] very life in Hollywood is detrimental to the moral fabric of America. [If he is deported] ... his loathsome pictures can be kept from before the eyes of the American youth. He should be deported and gotten rid of at once."
In 2003, declassified British archives belonging to the British Foreign Office revealed that author and social critic George Orwell secretly accused Chaplin of being a secret communist and a friend of the USSR in the 1949 Orwell's list document. Chaplin's name was one of 35 that Orwell gave to the Information Research Department (IRD), a secret British Cold War propaganda department which worked closely with the CIA. Chaplin was not the only actor in America whom Orwell accused of being a secret communist.
*Limelight* and banning from the United States
Although Chaplin remained politically active in the years following the failure of *Monsieur Verdoux*, his next film, about a forgotten music hall comedian and a young ballerina in Edwardian London, was devoid of political themes. *Limelight* was heavily autobiographical, alluding not only to Chaplin's childhood and the lives of his parents, but also to his loss of popularity in the United States. The cast included various members of his family, including his five oldest children and his half-brother, Wheeler Dryden.
Filming began in November 1951, by which time Chaplin had spent three years working on the story. He aimed for a more serious tone than any of his previous films, regularly using the word "melancholy" when explaining his plans to his co-star Claire Bloom. *Limelight* featured a cameo appearance from Buster Keaton, whom Chaplin cast as his stage partner in a pantomime scene. This marked the only time the comedians worked together in a feature film.
Chaplin decided to hold the world premiere of *Limelight* in London, since it was the setting of the film. As he left Los Angeles, he expressed a premonition that he would not be returning. At New York, he boarded the RMS *Queen Elizabeth* with his family on 18 September 1952. The next day, United States Attorney General James P. McGranery revoked Chaplin's re-entry permit and stated that he would have to submit to an interview concerning his political views and moral behaviour to re-enter the US. Although McGranery told the press that he had "a pretty good case against Chaplin", Maland has concluded, on the basis of the FBI files that were released in the 1980s, that the US government had no real evidence to prevent Chaplin's re-entry. It is likely that he would have gained entry if he had applied for it. However, when Chaplin received a cablegram informing him of the news, he privately decided to cut his ties with the United States:
Whether I re-entered that unhappy country or not was of little consequence to me. I would like to have told them that the sooner I was rid of that hate-beleaguered atmosphere the better, that I was fed up of America's insults and moral pomposity ...
Because all of his property remained in America, Chaplin refrained from saying anything negative about the incident to the press. The scandal attracted vast attention, but Chaplin and his film were warmly received in Europe. In America, the hostility towards him continued, and, although it received some positive reviews, *Limelight* was subjected to a wide-scale boycott. Reflecting on this, Maland writes that Chaplin's fall, from an "unprecedented" level of popularity, "may be the most dramatic in the history of stardom in America".
#### Move to Switzerland and *A King in New York*
I have been the object of lies and propaganda by powerful reactionary groups who, by their influence and by the aid of America's yellow press, have created an unhealthy atmosphere in which liberal-minded individuals can be singled out and persecuted. Under these conditions I find it virtually impossible to continue my motion-picture work, and I have therefore given up my residence in the United States.
— Charlie Chaplin's press release regarding his decision not to seek re‑entry to the US
Chaplin did not attempt to return to the United States after his re-entry permit was revoked, and instead sent his wife to settle his affairs. The couple decided to settle in Switzerland and, in January 1953, the family moved into their permanent home: Manoir de Ban, a 14-hectare (35-acre) estate overlooking Lake Geneva in Corsier-sur-Vevey. Chaplin put his Beverly Hills house and studio up for sale in March, and surrendered his re-entry permit in April. The next year, his wife renounced her US citizenship and became a British citizen. Chaplin severed the last of his professional ties with the United States in 1955, when he sold the remainder of his stock in United Artists, which had been in financial difficulty since the early 1940s.
Chaplin remained a controversial figure throughout the 1950s, especially after he was awarded the International Peace Prize by the communist-led World Peace Council, and after his meetings with Zhou Enlai and Nikita Khrushchev. He began developing his first European film, *A King in New York*, in 1954. Casting himself as an exiled king who seeks asylum in the United States, Chaplin included several of his recent experiences in the screenplay. His son, Michael, was cast as a boy whose parents are targeted by the FBI, while Chaplin's character faces accusations of communism. The political satire parodied HUAC and attacked elements of 1950s culture – including consumerism, plastic surgery, and wide-screen cinema. In a review, the playwright John Osborne called it Chaplin's "most bitter" and "most openly personal" film. In a 1957 interview, when asked to clarify his political views, Chaplin stated "As for politics, I am an anarchist. I hate government and rules – and fetters ... People must be free."
Chaplin founded a new production company, Attica, and used Shepperton Studios for the shooting. Filming in England proved a difficult experience, as he was used to his own Hollywood studio and familiar crew, and no longer had limitless production time. According to Robinson, this had an effect on the quality of the film. *A King in New York* was released in September 1957, and received mixed reviews. Chaplin banned American journalists from its Paris première and decided not to release the film in the United States. This severely limited its revenue, although it achieved moderate commercial success in Europe. *A King in New York* was not shown in America until 1973.
#### Final works and renewed appreciation
In the last two decades of his career, Chaplin concentrated on re-editing and scoring his old films for re-release, along with securing their ownership and distribution rights. In an interview he gave in 1959, the year of his 70th birthday, Chaplin stated that there was still "room for the Little Man in the atomic age". The first of these re-releases was *The Chaplin Revue* (1959), which included new versions of *A Dog's Life*, *Shoulder Arms*, and *The Pilgrim*.
In America, the political atmosphere began to change and attention was once again directed to Chaplin's films instead of his views. In July 1962, the *New York Times* published an editorial stating, "We do not believe the Republic would be in danger if yesterday's unforgotten little tramp were allowed to amble down the gangplank of a steamer or plane in an American port". The same month, Chaplin was invested with the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the universities of Oxford and Durham. In November 1963, the Plaza Theater in New York started a year-long series of Chaplin's films, including *Monsieur Verdoux* and *Limelight*, which gained excellent reviews from American critics. September 1964 saw the release of Chaplin's memoir, *My Autobiography*, which he had been working on since 1957. The 500-page book became a worldwide best-seller. It focused on his early years and personal life, and was criticised for lacking information on his film career.
Shortly after the publication of his memoir, Chaplin began work on *A Countess from Hong Kong* (1967), a romantic comedy based on a script he had written for Paulette Goddard in the 1930s. Set on an ocean liner, it starred Marlon Brando as an American ambassador and Sophia Loren as a stowaway found in his cabin. The film differed from Chaplin's earlier productions in several aspects. It was his first to use Technicolor and the widescreen format, while he concentrated on directing and appeared on-screen only in a cameo role as a seasick steward. He also signed a deal with Universal Pictures and appointed his assistant, Jerome Epstein, as the producer. Chaplin was paid $600,000 director's fee as well as a percentage of the gross receipts. *A Countess from Hong Kong* premiered in January 1967, to unfavourable reviews, and was a box-office failure. Chaplin was deeply hurt by the negative reaction to the film, which turned out to be his last.
Chaplin had a series of minor strokes in the late 1960s, which marked the beginning of a slow decline in his health. Despite the setbacks, he was soon writing a new film script, *The Freak*, a story of a winged girl found in South America, which he intended as a starring vehicle for his daughter, Victoria. His fragile health prevented the project from being realised. In the early 1970s, Chaplin concentrated on re-releasing his old films, including *The Kid* and *The Circus*. In 1971, he was made a Commander of the National Order of the Legion of Honour at the Cannes Film Festival. The following year, he was honoured with a special award by the Venice Film Festival.
In 1972, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences offered Chaplin an Honorary Award, which Robinson sees as a sign that America "wanted to make amends". Chaplin was initially hesitant about accepting but decided to return to the US for the first time in 20 years. The visit attracted a large amount of press coverage and, at the Academy Awards gala, he was given a 12-minute standing ovation, the longest in the academy's history. Visibly emotional, Chaplin accepted his award for "the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century".
Although Chaplin still had plans for future film projects, by the mid-1970s he was very frail. He experienced several further strokes, which made it difficult for him to communicate, and he had to use a wheelchair. His final projects were compiling a pictorial autobiography, *My Life in Pictures* (1974) and scoring *A Woman of Paris* for re-release in 1976. He also appeared in a documentary about his life, *The Gentleman Tramp* (1975), directed by Richard Patterson. In the 1975 New Year Honours, Chaplin was awarded a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II, though he was too weak to kneel and received the honour in his wheelchair.
#### Death
By October 1977, Chaplin's health had declined to the point that he needed constant care. In the early morning of Christmas Day 1977, Chaplin died at home after having a stroke in his sleep. He was 88 years old. The funeral, on 27 December, was a small and private Anglican ceremony, according to his wishes. Chaplin was interred in the Corsier-sur-Vevey cemetery. Among the film industry's tributes, director René Clair wrote, "He was a monument of the cinema, of all countries and all times ... the most beautiful gift the cinema made to us." Actor Bob Hope declared, "We were lucky to have lived in his time." Chaplin left more than $100 million to his widow.
On 1 March 1978, Chaplin's coffin was dug up and stolen from its grave by Roman Wardas and Gantcho Ganev. The body was held for ransom in an attempt to extort money from his widow, Oona Chaplin. The pair were caught in a large police operation in May, and Chaplin's coffin was found buried in a field in the nearby village of Noville. It was re-interred in the Corsier cemetery in a reinforced concrete vault.
## Filmmaking
### Influences
Chaplin believed his first influence to be his mother, who entertained him as a child by sitting at the window and mimicking passers-by: "it was through watching her that I learned not only how to express emotions with my hands and face, but also how to observe and study people." Chaplin's early years in music hall allowed him to see stage comedians at work; he also attended the Christmas pantomimes at Drury Lane, where he studied the art of clowning through performers like Dan Leno. Chaplin's years with the Fred Karno company had a formative effect on him as an actor and filmmaker. Simon Louvish writes that the company was his "training ground", and it was here that Chaplin learned to vary the pace of his comedy. The concept of mixing pathos with slapstick was learnt from Karno, who also used elements of absurdity that became familiar in Chaplin's gags. From the film industry, Chaplin drew upon the work of the French comedian Max Linder, whose films he greatly admired. In developing the Tramp costume and persona, he was likely inspired by the American vaudeville scene, where tramp characters were common.
### Method
Chaplin never spoke more than cursorily about his filmmaking methods, claiming such a thing would be tantamount to a magician spoiling his own illusion. Little was known about his working process throughout his lifetime, but research from film historians – particularly the findings of Kevin Brownlow and David Gill that were presented in the three-part documentary *Unknown Chaplin* (1983) – has since revealed his unique working method.
Until he began making spoken dialogue films with *The Great Dictator* (1940), Chaplin never shot from a completed script. Many of his early films began with only a vague premise, for example "Charlie enters a health spa" or "Charlie works in a pawn shop". He then had sets constructed and worked with his stock company to improvise gags and "business" using them, almost always working the ideas out on film. As ideas were accepted and discarded, a narrative structure would emerge, frequently requiring Chaplin to reshoot an already-completed scene that might have otherwise contradicted the story. From *A Woman of Paris* (1923) onward Chaplin began the filming process with a prepared plot, but Robinson writes that every film up to *Modern Times* (1936) "went through many metamorphoses and permutations before the story took its final form".
Producing films in this manner meant Chaplin took longer to complete his pictures than almost any other filmmaker at the time. If he was out of ideas, he often took a break from the shoot, which could last for days, while keeping the studio ready for when inspiration returned. Delaying the process further was Chaplin's rigorous perfectionism. According to his friend Ivor Montagu, "nothing but perfection would be right" for the filmmaker. Because he personally funded his films, Chaplin was at liberty to strive for this goal and shoot as many takes as he wished. The number was often excessive, for instance 53 takes for every finished take in *The Kid* (1921). For *The Immigrant* (1917), a 20-minute short, Chaplin shot 40,000 feet of film – enough for a feature-length.
No other filmmaker ever so completely dominated every aspect of the work, did every job. If he could have done so, Chaplin would have played every role and (as his son Sydney humorously but perceptively observed) sewn every costume.
Describing his working method as "sheer perseverance to the point of madness", Chaplin would be completely consumed by the production of a picture. Robinson writes that even in Chaplin's later years, his work continued "to take precedence over everything and everyone else". The combination of story improvisation and relentless perfectionism – which resulted in days of effort and thousands of feet of film being wasted, all at enormous expense – often proved taxing for Chaplin who, in frustration, would lash out at his actors and crew.
Chaplin exercised complete control over his pictures, to the extent that he would act out the other roles for his cast, expecting them to imitate him exactly. He personally edited all of his films, trawling through the large amounts of footage to create the exact picture he wanted. As a result of his complete independence, he was identified by the film historian Andrew Sarris as one of the first auteur filmmakers. Chaplin did receive help from his long-time cinematographer Roland Totheroh, brother Sydney Chaplin, and various assistant directors such as Harry Crocker and Charles Reisner.
### Style and themes
While Chaplin's comedic style is broadly defined as slapstick, it is considered restrained and intelligent, with the film historian Philip Kemp describing his work as a mix of "deft, balletic physical comedy and thoughtful, situation-based gags". Chaplin diverged from conventional slapstick by slowing the pace and exhausting each scene of its comic potential, with more focus on developing the viewer's relationship to the characters. Unlike conventional slapstick comedies, Robinson states that the comic moments in Chaplin's films centre on the Tramp's attitude to the things happening to him: the humour does not come from the Tramp bumping into a tree, but from his lifting his hat to the tree in apology. Dan Kamin writes that Chaplin's "quirky mannerisms" and "serious demeanour in the midst of slapstick action" are other key aspects of his comedy, while the surreal transformation of objects and the employment of in-camera trickery are also common features. His signature style consisted of gestural idiosyncrasies like askew derby hat, drooping shoulders, deflated chest and dangling arms and tilted back pelvis to enrich the comic persona of his 'tramp' character. His shabby but neat clothing and incessant grooming behaviour along with his geometrical walk and movement gave his onscreen characters a puppet-like quality.
Chaplin's silent films typically follow the Tramp's efforts to survive in a hostile world. The character lives in poverty and is frequently treated badly, but remains kind and upbeat; defying his social position, he strives to be seen as a gentleman. As Chaplin said in 1925, "The whole point of the Little Fellow is that no matter how down on his ass he is, no matter how well the jackals succeed in tearing him apart, he's still a man of dignity." The Tramp defies authority figures and "gives as good as he gets", leading Robinson and Louvish to see him as a representative for the underprivileged – an "everyman turned heroic saviour". Hansmeyer notes that several of Chaplin's films end with "the homeless and lonely Tramp [walking] optimistically ... into the sunset ... to continue his journey."
It is paradoxical that tragedy stimulates the spirit of ridicule ... ridicule, I suppose, is an attitude of defiance; we must laugh in the face of our helplessness against the forces of nature – or go insane.
— Charlie Chaplin, explaining why his comedies often make fun of tragic circumstances
The infusion of pathos is a well-known aspect of Chaplin's work, and Larcher notes his reputation for "[inducing] laughter and tears". Sentimentality in his films comes from a variety of sources, with Louvish pinpointing "personal failure, society's strictures, economic disaster, and the elements". Chaplin sometimes drew on tragic events when creating his films, as in the case of *The Gold Rush* (1925), which was inspired by the fate of the Donner Party. Constance B. Kuriyama has identified serious underlying themes in the early comedies, such as greed (*The Gold Rush*) and loss (*The Kid*). Chaplin also touched on controversial issues: immigration (*The Immigrant*, 1917); illegitimacy (*The Kid*, 1921); and drug use (*Easy Street*, 1917). He often explored these topics ironically, making comedy out of suffering.
Social commentary was a feature of Chaplin's films from early in his career, as he portrayed the underdog in a sympathetic light and highlighted the difficulties of the poor. Later, as he developed a keen interest in economics and felt obliged to publicise his views, Chaplin began incorporating overtly political messages into his films. *Modern Times* (1936) depicted factory workers in dismal conditions, *The Great Dictator* (1940) parodied Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini and ended in a speech against nationalism, *Monsieur Verdoux* (1947) criticised war and capitalism, and *A King in New York* (1957) attacked McCarthyism.
Several of Chaplin's films incorporate autobiographical elements, and the psychologist Sigmund Freud believed that Chaplin "always plays only himself as he was in his dismal youth". *The Kid* is thought to reflect Chaplin's childhood trauma of being sent into an orphanage, the main characters in *Limelight* (1952) contain elements from the lives of his parents, and *A King in New York* references Chaplin's experiences of being shunned by the United States. Many of his sets, especially in street scenes, bear a strong similarity to Kennington, where he grew up. Stephen M. Weissman has argued that Chaplin's problematic relationship with his mentally ill mother was often reflected in his female characters and the Tramp's desire to save them.
Regarding the structure of Chaplin's films, the scholar Gerald Mast sees them as consisting of sketches tied together by the same theme and setting, rather than having a tightly unified storyline. Visually, his films are simple and economic, with scenes portrayed as if set on a stage. His approach to filming was described by the art director Eugène Lourié: "Chaplin did not think in 'artistic' images when he was shooting. He believed that action is the main thing. The camera is there to photograph the actors". In his autobiography, Chaplin wrote, "Simplicity is best ... pompous effects slow up action, are boring and unpleasant ... The camera should not intrude." This approach has prompted criticism, since the 1940s, for being "old fashioned", while the film scholar Donald McCaffrey sees it as an indication that Chaplin never completely understood film as a medium. Kamin, however, comments that Chaplin's comedic talent would not be enough to remain funny on screen if he did not have an "ability to conceive and direct scenes specifically for the film medium".
### Composing
Chaplin developed a passion for music as a child and taught himself to play the piano, violin, and cello. He considered the musical accompaniment of a film to be important, and from *A Woman of Paris* onwards he took an increasing interest in this area. With the advent of sound technology, Chaplin began using a synchronised orchestral soundtrack – composed by himself – for *City Lights* (1931). He thereafter composed the scores for all of his films, and from the late 1950s to his death, he scored all of his silent features and some of his short films.
As Chaplin was not a trained musician, he could not read sheet music and needed the help of professional composers, such as David Raksin, Raymond Rasch and Eric James, when creating his scores. Musical directors were employed to oversee the recording process, such as Alfred Newman for *City Lights*. Although some critics have claimed that credit for his film music should be given to the composers who worked with him, Raksin – who worked with Chaplin on *Modern Times* – stressed Chaplin's creative position and active participation in the composing process. This process, which could take months, would start with Chaplin describing to the composer(s) exactly what he wanted and singing or playing tunes he had improvised on the piano. These tunes were then developed further in a close collaboration among the composer(s) and Chaplin. According to film historian Jeffrey Vance, "although he relied upon associates to arrange varied and complex instrumentation, the musical imperative is his, and not a note in a Chaplin musical score was placed there without his assent."
Chaplin's compositions produced three popular songs. "Smile", composed originally for *Modern Times* (1936) and later set to lyrics by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons, was a hit for Nat King Cole in 1954. For *Limelight*, Chaplin composed "Terry's Theme", which was popularised by Jimmy Young as "Eternally" (1952). Finally, "This Is My Song", performed by Petula Clark for *A Countess from Hong Kong* (1967), reached number one on the UK and other European charts. Chaplin also received his only competitive Oscar for his composition work, as the *Limelight* theme won an Academy Award for Best Original Score in 1973 following the film's re-release.
## Filmography
**Directed features:**
*The Kid*(1921)*A Woman of Paris*(1923)*The Gold Rush*(1925)*The Circus*(1928)*City Lights*(1931)*Modern Times*(1936)*The Great Dictator*(1940)*Monsieur Verdoux*(1947)*Limelight*(1952)*A King in New York*(1957)*A Countess from Hong Kong*(1967)
## Awards and nominations
Chaplin received many awards and honours, especially later in life. In the 1975 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE). He was also awarded honorary Doctor of Letters degrees by the University of Oxford and the University of Durham in 1962. In 1965, he and Ingmar Bergman were joint winners of the Erasmus Prize and, in 1971, he was appointed a Commander of the National Order of the Legion of Honour by the French government. From the film industry, Chaplin received a special Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1972, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Lincoln Center Film Society the same year. The latter has since been presented annually to filmmakers as The Chaplin Award. Chaplin was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1972, having been previously excluded because of his political beliefs.
Chaplin received three Academy Awards: an Honorary Award for "versatility and genius in acting, writing, directing, and producing *The Circus*" in 1929, a second Honorary Award for "the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century" in 1972, and a Best Score award in 1973 for *Limelight* (shared with Ray Rasch and Larry Russell). He was further nominated in the Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Picture (as producer) categories for *The Great Dictator*, and received another Best Original Screenplay nomination for *Monsieur Verdoux*. In 1976, Chaplin was made a Fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Six of Chaplin's films have been selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress: *The Immigrant* (1917), *The Kid* (1921), *The Gold Rush* (1925), *City Lights* (1931), *Modern Times* (1936), and *The Great Dictator* (1940).
| Year | Association | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1928 | Academy Award | Honorary Academy Award | The Circus |
Won | |
| 1940 | Outstanding Production | The Great Dictator |
Nominated | ||
| Best Actor | Nominated | ||||
| Best Original Screenplay | Nominated | ||||
| 1947 | Monsieur Verdoux |
Nominated | |||
| 1971 | Academy Honorary Award | Received | |||
| 1972 | Best Original Score | Limelight |
Won | ||
| 1940 | National Board of Review | Best Actor | The Great Dictator |
Won | |
| 1940 | New York Film Critics Circle Award | Best Actor | Won | ||
| 1952 | Best Director | Limelight |
Nominated | ||
| Best Actor | Nominated | ||||
| 1976 | BAFTA Awards | BAFTA Fellowship | Received | ||
| 1974 | Directors Guild of America Award | Life Achievement Award | Received | ||
| 1972 | Film Society of Lincoln Center | Gala Tribute | Received | ||
| 1972 | Venice International Film Festival | Career Golden Lion | Received | ||
| 1972 | Walk of Fame | Motion Picture - Star | Received |
## Legacy
### Recognition
In 1998, the film critic Andrew Sarris called Chaplin "arguably the single most important artist produced by the cinema, certainly its most extraordinary performer and probably still its most universal icon". He is described by the British Film Institute as "a towering figure in world culture", and was included in *Time* magazine's list of the "100 Most Important People of the 20th Century" for the "laughter [he brought] to millions" and because he "more or less invented global recognizability and helped turn an industry into an art". In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Chaplin as the 10th greatest male star of Classic Hollywood Cinema.
The image of the Tramp has become a part of cultural history; according to Simon Louvish, the character is recognisable to people who have never seen a Chaplin film, and in places where his films are never shown. The critic Leonard Maltin has written of the "unique" and "indelible" nature of the Tramp, and argued that no other comedian matched his "worldwide impact". Praising the character, Richard Schickel suggests that Chaplin's films with the Tramp contain the most "eloquent, richly comedic expressions of the human spirit" in movie history. Memorabilia connected to the character still fetches large sums in auctions: in 2006 a bowler hat and a bamboo cane that were part of the Tramp's costume were bought for $140,000 in a Los Angeles auction.
As a filmmaker, Chaplin is considered a pioneer and one of the most influential figures of the early twentieth century. He is often credited as one of the medium's first artists. Film historian Mark Cousins has written that Chaplin "changed not only the imagery of cinema, but also its sociology and grammar" and claims that Chaplin was as important to the development of comedy as a genre as D.W. Griffith was to drama. He was the first to popularise feature-length comedy and to slow down the pace of action, adding pathos and subtlety to it. Although his work is mostly classified as slapstick, Chaplin's drama *A Woman of Paris* (1923) was a major influence on Ernst Lubitsch's film *The Marriage Circle* (1924) and thus played a part in the development of "sophisticated comedy". According to David Robinson, Chaplin's innovations were "rapidly assimilated to become part of the common practice of film craft". Filmmakers who cited Chaplin as an influence include Federico Fellini (who called Chaplin "a sort of Adam, from whom we are all descended"), Jacques Tati ("Without him I would never have made a film"), René Clair ("He inspired practically every filmmaker"), François Truffaut ("My religion is cinema. I believe in Charlie Chaplin…"), Michael Powell, Billy Wilder, Vittorio De Sica, and Richard Attenborough. Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky praised Chaplin as "the only person to have gone down into cinematic history without any shadow of a doubt. The films he left behind can never grow old." Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray said about Chaplin "If there is any name which can be said to symbolise cinema – it is Charlie Chaplin… I am sure Chaplin's name will survive even if the cinema ceases to exist as a medium of artistic expression. Chaplin is truly immortal." French auteur Jean Renoir's favourite filmmaker was Chaplin.
Chaplin also strongly influenced the work of later comedians. Marcel Marceau said he was inspired to become a mime artist after watching Chaplin, while the actor Raj Kapoor based his screen persona on the Tramp. Mark Cousins has also detected Chaplin's comedic style in the French character Monsieur Hulot and the Italian character Totò. In other fields, Chaplin helped inspire the cartoon characters Felix the Cat and Mickey Mouse, and was an influence on the Dada art movement. As one of the founding members of United Artists, Chaplin also had a role in the development of the film industry. Gerald Mast has written that although UA never became a major company like MGM or Paramount Pictures, the idea that directors could produce their own films was "years ahead of its time".
In 1992, the *Sight & Sound* Critics' Top Ten Poll ranked Chaplin at No. 5 in its list of "Top 10 Directors" of all time. In the 21st century, several of Chaplin's films are still regarded as classics and among the greatest ever made. The 2012 *Sight & Sound* poll, which compiles "top ten" ballots from film critics and directors to determine each group's most acclaimed films,
saw *City Lights* rank among the critics' top 50, *Modern Times* inside the top 100, and *The Great Dictator* and *The Gold Rush* placed in the top 250. The top 100 films as voted on by directors included *Modern Times* at number 22, *City Lights* at number 30, and *The Gold Rush* at number 91. Every one of Chaplin's features received a vote. Chaplin was ranked at No. 35 on *Empire* magazine's "Top 40 Greatest Directors of All-Time" list in 2005. In 2007, the American Film Institute named *City Lights* the 11th greatest American film of all time, while *The Gold Rush* and *Modern Times* again ranked in the top 100. Books about Chaplin continue to be published regularly, and he is a popular subject for media scholars and film archivists. Many of Chaplin's films have had a DVD and Blu-ray release.
Montreux, Switzerland and scanned versions of its contents, including 83,630 images, 118 scripts, 976 manuscripts, 7,756 letters, and thousands of other documents, are available for research purposes at the Chaplin Research Centre at the Cineteca di Bologna. The photographic archive, which includes approximately 10,000 photographs from Chaplin's life and career, is kept at the Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland. The British Film Institute has also established the Charles Chaplin Research Foundation, and the first international Charles Chaplin Conference was held in London in July 2005. Elements for many of Chaplin's films are held by the Academy Film Archive as part of the Roy Export Chaplin Collection.
### Commemoration and tributes
Chaplin's final home, Manoir de Ban in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland, has been converted into a museum named "Chaplin's World". It opened on 17 April 2016 after fifteen years of development, and is described by Reuters as "an interactive museum showcasing the life and works of Charlie Chaplin". On the 128th anniversary of his birth, a record-setting 662 people dressed as the Tramp in an event organised by the museum. Previously, the Museum of the Moving Image in London held a permanent display on Chaplin, and hosted a dedicated exhibition to his life and career in 1988. The London Film Museum hosted an exhibition called *Charlie Chaplin – The Great Londoner*, from 2010 until 2013.
In London, a statue of Chaplin as the Tramp, sculpted by John Doubleday and unveiled in 1981, is located in Leicester Square. The city also includes a road named after him in central London, "Charlie Chaplin Walk", which is the location of the BFI IMAX. There are nine blue plaques memorialising Chaplin in London, Hampshire, and Yorkshire. In Canning Town, East London, the Gandhi Chaplin Memorial Garden, opened by Chaplin's granddaughter Oona Chaplin in 2015, commemorates the meeting between Chaplin and Mahatma Gandhi at a local house in 1931. The Swiss town of Vevey named a park in his honour in 1980 and erected a statue there in 1982. In 2011, two large murals depicting Chaplin on two 14-storey buildings were also unveiled in Vevey. Chaplin has also been honoured by the Irish town of Waterville, where he spent several summers with his family in the 1960s. A statue was erected in 1998; since 2011, the town has been host to the annual Charlie Chaplin Comedy Film Festival, which was founded to celebrate Chaplin's legacy and to showcase new comic talent.
In other tributes, a minor planet, 3623 Chaplin (discovered by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Karachkina in 1981) is named after him. Throughout the 1980s, the Tramp image was used by IBM to advertise their personal computers. Chaplin's 100th birthday anniversary in 1989 was marked with several events around the world, and on 15 April 2011, a day before his 122nd birthday, Google celebrated him with a special Google Doodle video on its global and other country-wide homepages.
### Characterisations
Chaplin is the subject of a biographical film, *Chaplin* (1992) directed by Richard Attenborough and starring Robert Downey Jr. in the title role, with Geraldine Chaplin playing Hannah Chaplin. He is also a character in the historical drama film *The Cat's Meow* (2001), played by Eddie Izzard, and in the made-for-television movie *The Scarlett O'Hara War* (1980), played by Clive Revill. A television series about Chaplin's childhood, *Young Charlie Chaplin*, ran on PBS in 1989, and was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program. The French film *The Price of Fame* (2014) is a fictionalised account of the robbery of Chaplin's grave. *Tommy Steele in Search of Charlie Chaplin* investigated Chaplin's roots in south-east London.
Chaplin's life has also been the subject of several stage productions. Two musicals, *Little Tramp* and *Chaplin*, were produced in the early 1990s. In 2006, Thomas Meehan and Christopher Curtis created another musical, *Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin*, which was first performed at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego in 2010. It was adapted for Broadway two years later, re-titled *Chaplin – A Musical*. Chaplin was portrayed by Robert McClure in both productions. In 2013, two plays about Chaplin premiered in Finland: *Chaplin* at the Svenska Teatern, and *Kulkuri* (*The Tramp*) at the Tampere Workers' Theatre.
Chaplin has also been characterised in literary fiction. He is the protagonist of Robert Coover's short story "Charlie in the House of Rue" (1980; reprinted in Coover's 1987 collection *A Night at the Movies*), and of Glen David Gold's *Sunnyside* (2009), a historical novel set in the First World War period. A day in Chaplin's life in 1909 is dramatised in the chapter titled "Modern Times" in Alan Moore's *Jerusalem* (2016), a novel set in the author's home town of Northampton, England. In Gorman Bechard's debut novel *The Second Greatest Story Ever Told*, Chaplin is named as the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Matthew Finlan portrays Chaplin in episode 1 of season 14 "Murdoch and the Tramp" (4 January 2021) of the Canadian television period detective series Murdoch Mysteries.
### Legal precedent
A lawsuit brought by Chaplin, *Chaplin v. Amador*, 93 Cal. App. 358 (1928), set an important legal precedent – that a performer's persona and style, in this case Chaplin's "particular kind or type of mustache, old and threadbare hat, clothes and shoes, a decrepit derby, ill-fitting vest, tight-fitting coat, and trousers and shoes much too large for him, and with this attire, a flexible cane usually carried, swung and bent as he performs his part", is entitled to legal protection from those unfairly mimicking those traits in order to deceive the public. The case was an important milestone in U.S. courts' ultimate recognition of a common-law right of publicity.
## Written works
- Chaplin, Charlie (1922).
*My Wonderful Visit*. London: Hurst & Blackett. OCLC 253039607. - —; Haven, Lisa Stein (2014).
*A Comedian Sees the World*. Columbia: University of Missouri Press. OCLC 894511668. - —; Robinson, David (2014).
*Charlie Chaplin: Footlights with The World of Limelight*. Bologna: Edizioni Cineteca di Bologna. OCLC 876089834. - — (1964).
*My Autobiography*. New York: Simon & Schuster. OCLC 1145727022. - — (1974).
*My Life In Pictures*. New York: Grosset & Dunlap. OCLC 1064991796. - —; Hayes, Kevin J. (2005).
*Charlie Chaplin: Interviews*. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. OCLC 54844183.
## Notes
### Citations
### Works cited
## Further reading
- Duncan, Paul, ed. (2021).
*The Charlie Chaplin Archives*(new ed.). Köln: Taschen. ISBN 978-3836580724. - Karzan Kardozi.
*100 Years of Cinema, 100 Directors, Vol 2: Charlie Chaplin*. (Sulaymaniyah: Xazalnus Publication, 2019) - Lynn, Kenneth S.
*Charlie Chaplin and His Times*. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997) - Menand, Louis, "The War on Chaplin" (review of Scott Eyman,
*Charlie Chaplin vs. America*, Simon & Schuster, 2023),*The New Yorker*, 20 November 2023, pp. 60–64. - Robinson, David.
*Chaplin: His Life and Art*. (London: Penguin Books, 2014)
## External links
- Official website by Association Chaplin
- Chaplin's World Museum at the Manoir de Ban, Switzerland
- Works
- Works by or about Charlie Chaplin at the Internet Archive
- Works by Charlie Chaplin at Project Gutenberg
- Works by Charlie Chaplin at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Papers
- The Charlie Chaplin professional and personal Archive at Cineteca di Bologna, Italy
- Chaplin's file at the Federal Bureau of Investigation website
- Newspaper clippings about Charlie Chaplin in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
- Data
- Charlie Chaplin at the
*American Film Institute Catalog* - Charlie Chaplin at IMDb
- Charlie Chaplin at the TCM Movie Database
- Charlie Chaplin at Virtual History: Film history of the 20th century
|
# Wayback Machine - Wikipedia
Type of site | Archive |
|---|---|
| Founded |
|
| Area served | Worldwide (except China, North Korea and Bahrain) |
| Owner | Internet Archive |
| URL | |
| Commercial | No |
| Registration | Optional |
| Current status | Active |
| Written in | HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Java, Python |
The **Wayback Machine** is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in time" to see how websites looked in the past. Founders Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat developed the Wayback Machine to provide "universal access to all knowledge" by preserving archived copies of defunct web pages.
The Wayback Machine's earliest archives go back at least to 1995, and by the end of 2009, more than 38.2 billion webpages had been saved. As of November 2024, the Wayback Machine has archived more than 916 billion web pages and well over 100 petabytes of data.
The Internet Archive has been archiving cached web pages since at least 1995. One of the earliest known pages was archived on May 8, 1995.
Internet Archive founders Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat launched the Wayback Machine in San Francisco, California, in October 2001, primarily to address the problem of web content vanishing whenever it gets changed or when a website is shut down. The service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the archive calls a "three-dimensional index". Kahle and Gilliat created the machine hoping to archive the entire Internet and provide "universal access to all knowledge". The name "Wayback Machine" is a reference to a fictional time-traveling device in the animated cartoon *The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends* from the 1960s. In a segment of the cartoon entitled "Peabody's Improbable History", the characters Mister Peabody and Sherman use the "Wayback Machine" to travel back in time to witness and participate in famous historical events.
From 1996 to 2001, the information was kept on digital tape, with Kahle occasionally allowing researchers and scientists to tap into the "clunky" database. When the archive reached its fifth anniversary in 2001, it was unveiled and opened to the public in a ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley. By the time the Wayback Machine launched, it already contained over 10 billion archived pages. The data is stored on the Internet Archive's large cluster of Linux nodes. It revisits and archives new versions of websites on occasion (see technical details below). Sites can also be captured manually by entering a website's URL into the search box, provided that the website allows the Wayback Machine to "crawl" it and save the data.
On October 30, 2020, the Wayback Machine began fact-checking content. As of January 2022, domains of ad servers are disabled from capturing.
In May 2021, for Internet Archive's 25th anniversary, the Wayback Machine introduced the "Wayforward Machine", which allows users to "travel to the Internet in 2046, where knowledge is under siege".
The Wayback Machine's software has been developed to "crawl" the Web and download all publicly accessible information and data files on webpages, the Gopher hierarchy, the Netnews (Usenet) bulletin board system, and software. The information collected by these 'crawlers' does not include all the content available on the Internet since much of the data is restricted by the publisher or stored in databases that are not accessible. To overcome inconsistencies in partially cached websites, Archive-It.org was developed in 2005 by the Internet Archive as a means of allowing institutions and content creators to voluntarily harvest and preserve collections of digital content and create digital archives.
Crawls are contributed from various sources, some imported from third parties and others generated internally by the Archive. For example, content comes from crawls contributed by the Sloan Foundation and Alexa, crawls run by the Internet Archive on behalf of NARA and the Internet Memory Foundation, webpages archived by Archive Team, and mirrors of Common Crawl. The "Worldwide Web Crawls" have been running since 2010 and capture the global Web. In September 2020, the Internet Archive announced a partnership with Cloudflare – an American content delivery network service provider – to automatically index websites served via its "Always Online" services.
Documents and resources are stored with time stamp URLs such as `20250611134643`
. Pages' individual resources, such as images, style sheets and scripts, as well as outgoing hyperlinks, are linked to with the time stamp of the currently viewed page, so they are redirected automatically to their individual captures that are the closest in time.
The frequency of snapshot captures varies per website. Websites in the "Worldwide Web Crawls" are included in a "crawl list", with the site archived once per crawl. A crawl can take months or even years to complete, depending on size. For example, "Wide Crawl Number 13" started on January 9, 2015, and was completed on July 11, 2016. However, there may be multiple crawls ongoing at any one time, and a site might be included in more than one crawl list, so how often a site is crawled varies widely.
A "Save Page Now" archiving feature was made available in October 2013, accessible on the lower right of the Wayback Machine's main page. Once a target URL is entered and saved, the web page will become part of the Wayback Machine. Through the Internet address web.archive.org, users can upload to the Wayback Machine a large variety of contents, including PDF and data compression file formats. The Wayback Machine creates a permanent local URL of the upload content, that is accessible in the web, even if not listed while searching in the https://archive.org official website.[ jargon]
Starting in October 2019, users were limited to 15 archival requests and retrievals per minute.
As technology has developed over the years, the storage capacity of the Wayback Machine has grown. In 2003, after only two years of public access, the Wayback Machine was growing at a rate of 12 terabytes per month. The data is stored on PetaBox rack systems custom designed by Internet Archive staff. The first 100 TB rack became fully operational in June 2004, although it soon became clear that they would need much more storage than that.
The Internet Archive migrated its customized storage architecture to Sun Open Storage in 2009, and hosts a new data centre in a Sun Modular Datacenter on Sun Microsystems' California campus. As of 2009[update], the Wayback Machine contained approximately three petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of 100 terabytes each month.
A new, improved version of the Wayback Machine, with an updated interface and a fresher index of archived content, was made available for public testing in 2011, where captures appear in a calendar layout with circles whose width visualizes the number of crawls each day, but no marking of duplicates with asterisks or an advanced search page. A top toolbar was added to facilitate navigating between captures. A bar chart visualizes the frequency of captures per month over the years. Features like "Changes", "Summary", and a graphical site map were added subsequently.
In March that year, it was said on the Wayback Machine forum that "the Beta of the new Wayback Machine has a more complete and up-to-date index of all crawled materials into 2010, and will continue to be updated regularly. The index driving the classic Wayback Machine only has a little bit of material past 2008, and no further index updates are planned, as it will be phased out this year." Also in 2011, the Internet Archive installed their sixth pair of PetaBox racks which increased the Wayback Machine's storage capacity by 700 terabytes.
In January 2013, the company announced a milestone of 240 billion URLs.
In October 2013, the company introduced the "Save a Page" feature, which allows any Internet user to archive the contents of a URL, and quickly generates a permanent link unlike the preceding *liveweb* feature.
In December 2014, the Wayback Machine contained 435 billion web pages—almost nine petabytes of data, and was growing at about 20 terabytes a week.
In July 2016, the Wayback Machine reportedly contained around 15 petabytes of data. In October 2016, it was announced that the way web pages are counted would be changed, resulting in the decrease of the archived pages counts shown. Embedded objects such as pictures, videos, style sheets, JavaScripts are no longer counted as a "web page", whereas HTML, PDF, and plain text documents remain counted.
In September 2018, the Wayback Machine contained over 25 petabytes of data. As of December 2020, the Wayback Machine contained over 70 petabytes of data.
| Wayback Machine by year | Pages archived |
|---|---|
| 2004 | |
| 2005 | |
| 2008 | |
| 2012 | |
| 2013 | |
| 2014 | |
| 2015 | |
| 2016 | |
| 2017 | |
| 2018 | |
| 2019 | |
| 2020 | |
| 2021 | |
| 2022 | |
| 2024 |
The Wayback Machine service offers three public APIs, SavePageNow, Availability, and CDX. SavePageNow can be used to archive web pages. Availability API for checking the archive availability status for a web page, checking whether an archive for the web page exists or not. CDX API is for complex querying, filtering, and analysis of captured data.
Historically, the Wayback Machine has respected the robots exclusion standard (robots.txt) in determining if a website would be crawled – or if already crawled, if its archives would be publicly viewable. Website owners had the option to opt out of Wayback Machine through the use of robots.txt. It applied robots.txt rules retroactively; if a site blocked the Internet Archive, any previously archived pages from the domain were immediately rendered unavailable as well. In addition, the Internet Archive stated that "Sometimes, a website owner will contact us directly and ask us to stop crawling or archiving a site. We comply with these requests." In addition, the website says: "The Internet Archive is not interested in preserving or offering access to Web sites or other internet documents of persons who do not want their materials in the collection."
On April 17, 2017, reports surfaced of sites that had gone defunct and became parked domains that were using robots.txt to exclude themselves from search engines, resulting in them being inadvertently excluded from the Wayback Machine. Following this, the Internet Archive changed the policy to require an explicit exclusion request to remove sites from the Wayback Machine.
Wayback's retroactive exclusion policy is based in part upon *Recommendations for Managing Removal Requests and Preserving Archival Integrity*, known as *The Oakland Archive Policy*, published by the School of Information Management and Systems at University of California, Berkeley in 2002, which gives a website owner the right to block access to the site's archives. Wayback has complied with this policy to help avoid expensive litigation.
The Wayback retroactive exclusion policy began to relax in 2017, when it stopped honoring robots on U.S. government and military web sites for both crawling and displaying web pages. As of April 2017, Wayback is ignoring robots.txt more broadly, not just for U.S. government websites.
From its public launch in 2001, the Wayback Machine has been studied by scholars both for the ways it stores and collects data as well as for the actual pages contained in its archive. As of 2013, scholars had written about 350 articles on the Wayback Machine, mostly from the information technology, library science, and social science fields. Social science scholars have used the Wayback Machine to analyze how the development of websites from the mid-1990s to the present has affected the company's growth.
When the Wayback Machine archives a page, it usually includes most of the hyperlinks, keeping those links active when they just as easily could have been broken by the Internet's instability. Researchers in India studied the effectiveness of the Wayback Machine's ability to save hyperlinks in online scholarly publications and found that it saved slightly more than half of them.
"Journalists use the Wayback Machine to view dead websites, dated news reports, and changes to website contents. Its content has been used to hold politicians accountable and expose battlefield lies." In 2014, an archived social media page of Igor Girkin, a separatist rebel leader in Ukraine, showed him boasting about his troops having shot down a suspected Ukrainian military airplane before it became known that the plane actually was a civilian Malaysian Airlines jet (Malaysia Airlines Flight 17), after which he deleted the post and blamed Ukraine's military for downing the plane. In 2017, the March for Science originated from a discussion on Reddit that indicated someone had visited Archive.org and discovered that all references to climate change had been deleted from the White House website. In response, a user commented, "There needs to be a Scientists' March on Washington".
The site is used heavily for verification, providing access to references and content creation by Wikipedia editors. When new URLs are added to Wikipedia, the Internet Archive has been archiving them.
In September 2020, a partnership was announced with Cloudflare to automatically archive websites served via its "Always Online" service, which will also allow it to direct users to its copy of the site if it cannot reach the original host.
In 2014, there was a six-month lag time between when a website was crawled and when it became available for viewing in the Wayback Machine. As of 2024, the lag time is 3 to 10 hours. The Wayback Machine offers only limited search facilities. Its "Site Search" feature allows users to find a site based on words describing the site, rather than words found on the web pages themselves.
The Wayback Machine does not include every web page ever made due to the limitations of its web crawler. The Wayback Machine cannot completely archive web pages that contain interactive features such as Flash platforms and forms written in JavaScript and progressive web applications, because those functions require interaction with the host website. This means that, since approximately July 9, 2013, the Wayback Machine has been unable to display YouTube comments when saving videos' watch pages, as, according to the Archive Team, comments are no longer "loaded within the page itself." The Wayback Machine's web crawler has difficulty extracting anything not coded in HTML or one of its variants, which can often result in broken hyperlinks and missing images. Due to this, the web crawler cannot archive "orphan pages" that are not linked to by other pages. The Wayback Machine's crawler only follows a predetermined number of hyperlinks based on a preset depth limit, so it cannot archive every hyperlink on every page.
In a 2009 case, *Netbula, LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc.*, defendant Chordiant filed a motion to compel Netbula to disable the robots.txt file on its website that was causing the Wayback Machine to retroactively remove access to previous versions of pages it had archived from Netbula's site, pages that Chordiant believed would support its case.
Netbula objected to the motion on the ground that defendants were asking to alter Netbula's website and that they should have subpoenaed Internet Archive for the pages directly. An employee of Internet Archive filed a sworn statement supporting Chordiant's motion, however, stating that it could not produce the web pages by any other means "without considerable burden, expense and disruption to its operations."
Magistrate Judge Howard Lloyd in the Northern District of California, San Jose Division, rejected Netbula's arguments and ordered them to disable the robots.txt blockage temporarily in order to allow Chordiant to retrieve the archived pages that they sought.
In an October 2004 case, *Telewizja Polska USA, Inc. v. Echostar Satellite*, No. 02 C 3293, 65 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 673 (N.D. Ill. October 15, 2004), a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as a source of admissible evidence, perhaps for the first time. Telewizja Polska is the provider of TVP Polonia and EchoStar operates the Dish Network. Prior to the trial proceedings, EchoStar indicated that it intended to offer Wayback Machine snapshots as proof of the past content of Telewizja Polska's website. Telewizja Polska brought a motion *in limine* to suppress the snapshots on the grounds of hearsay and unauthenticated source, but Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys rejected Telewizja Polska's assertion of hearsay and denied TVP's motion *in limine* to exclude the evidence at trial. At the trial, however, District Court Judge Ronald Guzman, the trial judge, overruled Magistrate Keys' findings, and held that neither the affidavit of the Internet Archive employee nor the underlying pages (i.e., the Telewizja Polska website) were admissible as evidence. Judge Guzman reasoned that the employee's affidavit contained both hearsay and inconclusive supporting statements, and the purported web page, printouts were not self-authenticating.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office and the European Patent Office will accept date stamps from the Internet Archive as evidence of when a given Web page was accessible to the public. These dates are used to determine if a Web page is available as prior art for instance in examining a patent application.
There are technical limitations to archiving a website, and as a consequence, opposing parties in litigation can misuse the results provided by website archives. This problem can be exacerbated by the practice of submitting screenshots of web pages in complaints, answers, or expert witness reports when the underlying links are not exposed and therefore, can contain errors. For example, archives such as the Wayback Machine do not fill out forms and therefore, do not include the contents of non-RESTful e-commerce databases in their archives.
In Europe, the Wayback Machine could be interpreted as violating copyright laws. Only the content creator can decide where their content is published or duplicated so the Archive would have to delete pages from its system upon request of the creator. The exclusion policies for the Wayback Machine may be found in the FAQ section of the site.
Some cases have been brought against the Internet Archive specifically for its Wayback Machine archiving efforts.
In late 2002, the Internet Archive removed various sites that were critical of Scientology from the Wayback Machine. An error message stated that this was in response to a "request by the site owner". Later, it was clarified that lawyers from the Church of Scientology had demanded the removal and that the site owners did not want their material removed.
In 2003, Harding Earley Follmer & Frailey defended a client from a trademark dispute using the Archive's Wayback Machine. The attorneys were able to demonstrate that the claims made by the plaintiff were invalid, based on the content of their website from several years prior. The plaintiff, Healthcare Advocates, then amended their complaint to include the Internet Archive, accusing the organization of copyright infringement as well as violations of the DMCA and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Healthcare Advocates claimed that, since they had installed a robots.txt file on their website, even if after the initial lawsuit was filed, the Archive should have removed all previous copies of the plaintiff website from the Wayback Machine, however, some material continued to be publicly visible on Wayback. The lawsuit was settled out of court after Wayback fixed the problem.
Activist Suzanne Shell filed suit in December 2005, demanding Internet Archive pay her US$100,000 for archiving her website profane-justice.org between 1999 and 2004. Internet Archive filed a declaratory judgment action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on January 20, 2006, seeking a judicial determination that Internet Archive did not violate Shell's copyright. Shell responded and brought a countersuit against Internet Archive for archiving her site, which she alleges is in violation of her terms of service. On February 13, 2007, a judge for the United States District Court for the District of Colorado dismissed all counterclaims except breach of contract. The Internet Archive did not move to dismiss the copyright infringement claims that Shell asserted arose out of its copying activities, which would also go forward.
On April 25, 2007, Internet Archive and Suzanne Shell jointly announced the settlement of their lawsuit. The Internet Archive said it "...has no interest in including materials in the Wayback Machine of persons who do not wish to have their Web content archived. We recognize that Ms. Shell has a valid and enforceable copyright in her Web site and we regret that the inclusion of her Web site in the Wayback Machine resulted in this litigation." Shell said, "I respect the historical value of Internet Archive's goal. I never intended to interfere with that goal nor cause it any harm."
Between 2013 and 2016, a pornographic actor named Daniel Davydiuk tried to remove archived images of himself from the Wayback Machine's archive, first by sending multiple DMCA requests to the archive, and then by appealing to the Federal Court of Canada. The images were removed from the website in 2017.
In 2018, archives of stalkerware application FlexiSpy's website were removed from the Wayback Machine. The company claimed to have contacted the Internet Archive, presumably to remove the archives of its website.
Archive.org is blocked in China. The Internet Archive was blocked in its entirety in Russia in 2015–16, ostensibly for hosting a Jihad outreach video. Since 2016, the website has been back, available in its entirety, although in 2016 Russian commercial lobbyists were suing the Internet Archive to ban it on copyright grounds.
In March 2015, it was published that security researchers became aware of the threat posed by the service's unintentional hosting of malicious binaries from archived sites.
Alison Macrina, director of the Library Freedom Project, notes that "while librarians deeply value individual privacy, we also strongly oppose censorship".
There is at least one case in which an article was removed from the archive shortly after it had been removed from its original website. A *Daily Beast* reporter had written an article that outed several gay Olympian athletes in 2016 after the reporter had made a fake profile posing as a gay man on a dating app. *The Daily Beast* removed the article after it was met with widespread furor; not long after, the Internet Archive soon did as well, but emphatically stated that they did so for no other reason than to protect the safety of the outed athletes.
Other threats include natural disasters, destruction (both remote and physical), manipulation of the archive's contents, problematic copyright laws, and surveillance of the site's users.
Alexander Rose, executive director of the Long Now Foundation, suspects that in the long term of multiple generations "next to nothing" will survive in a useful way, stating, "If we have continuity in our technological civilization, I suspect a lot of the bare data will remain findable and searchable. But I suspect almost nothing of the format in which it was delivered will be recognizable" because sites "with deep back-ends of content-management systems like Drupal and Ruby and Django" are harder to archive.
In 2016, in an article reflecting on the preservation of human knowledge, *The Atlantic* has commented that the Internet Archive, which describes itself to be built for the long-term, "is working furiously to capture data before it disappears without any long-term infrastructure to speak of."
In September 2024, the Internet Archive suffered a data breach that exposed 31 million records containing personal information, including email addresses and hashed passwords. On October 9, 2024, the site went down due to a distributed denial-of-service attack. On October 14, the site returned online, but it remained in read-only mode until November 4, during which time "Save Page Now" was disabled, replaced with a "Temporarily Unavailable" banner.
- Official website
*Internet history is fragile. This archive is making sure it doesn't disappear*.*PBS Newshour*. Archived from the original on January 6, 2022. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
|
# Dublin - Wikipedia
Dublin
| |
|---|---|
| Nickname: The Fair City | |
Motto(s): Obedientia Civium Urbis Felicitas"The obedience of the citizens produces a happy city" Alternatively translated as "An obedient citizenry produces a happy city" | |
| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Leinster |
| Region | Eastern and Midland |
| County | Dublin |
| Founded | Unknown |
| Government | |
| • Local authority | Dublin City Council |
| • Headquarters | Dublin City Hall |
| • Lord Mayor | Emma Blain (Fine Gael) |
| • Dáil constituencies | |
| • EP constituency | Dublin |
| Area | |
117.8 km2 (45.5 sq mi) | |
| • Urban | 345 km2 (133 sq mi) |
| Population (2022) | |
| 592,713 | |
| • Density | 5,032/km2 (13,030/sq mi) |
| • Urban (2024) | 1,534,900 |
| • Urban density | 4,449/km2 (11,520/sq mi) |
| • Ethnicity (2022 census) | |
| Demonyms | Dubliner, Dub |
| GDP (Nominal, 2023) | |
| • Urban | €248.323 billion |
| • Per capita | €165,405 |
| Time zone | UTC+00:00 (GMT) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+01:00 (IST) |
| Eircode | D01 to D18, D20, D22, D24 & D6W |
| Area code | 01 (+3531) |
| ISO 3166 code | IE-D |
| Website | Official website |
**Dublin** is the capital and largest city of Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, part of the Wicklow Mountains range. Dublin is the largest city by population on the island of Ireland; at the 2022 census, the city council area had a population of 592,713, while the city including suburbs had a population of 1,263,219, County Dublin had a population of 1,501,500. Various definitions of a metropolitan Greater Dublin Area exist.
A settlement was established in the area by the Gaels during or before the 7th century, followed by the Vikings. As the Kingdom of Dublin grew, it became Ireland's principal settlement by the 12th century Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest in the British Empire and sixth largest in Western Europe after the Acts of Union in 1800. Following independence in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, renamed Ireland in 1937. As of 2018[update], the city was listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) as a global city, with a ranking of "Alpha minus", which placed it among the top thirty cities in the world.
The name *Dublin* comes from the Middle Irish *Du(i)blind* (literally "Blackpool"), from *dubh* [d̪ˠuβˠ] "black, dark" and *linn* [l̠ʲin̠ʲ(dʲ)] "pool". This evolved into the Early Modern Irish form *Du(i)bhlinn*, which was pronounced "Duílinn" [ˈd̪ˠiːlʲin̠ʲ] in the local dialect. The name refers to a dark tidal pool on the site of the castle gardens at the rear of Dublin Castle, where the River Poddle entered the Liffey.
The Middle Irish pronunciation is preserved in the names for the city in other languages such as Old English *Difelin*, Old Norse *Dyflin*, modern Icelandic *Dyflinn* and modern Manx *Divlyn* as well as Welsh *Dulyn* and Breton *Dulenn*. Other localities in Ireland also bear the name *Duibhlinn*, variously anglicised as Devlin, Divlin and Difflin. Variations on the name are also found in traditionally Gaelic-speaking areas of Scotland, such as *An Linne Dhubh* ("the black pool"), which is part of Loch Linnhe.
It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as *Duibhlinn*, from which *Dyflin* took its name. Beginning in the 9th and 10th centuries, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. The Viking settlement of about 841, *Dyflin*, and a Gaelic settlement, Áth Cliath ("ford of hurdles") further up the river, at the present-day Father Mathew Bridge (also known as Dublin Bridge), at the bottom of Church Street.
*Baile Átha Cliath*, meaning "town of the hurdled ford", is the common name for the city in Modern Irish, which is often contracted to *Bleá Cliath* or *Blea Cliath* when spoken. *Áth Cliath* is a place name referring to a fording point of the River Liffey near Father Mathew Bridge. * Baile Átha Cliath* was an early Christian monastery, believed to have been in the area of Aungier Street, currently occupied by Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church.
The area of Dublin Bay has been inhabited by humans since prehistoric times; fish traps discovered from excavations during the construction of the Convention Centre Dublin indicate human habitation as far back as 6,000 years ago. Further traps were discovered closer to the old settlement of the city of Dublin on the south quays near St. James's Gate which also indicate mesolithic human activity.
Ptolemy's map of Ireland, of about 140 AD, provides possibly the earliest reference to a settlement near Dublin. Ptolemy, the Greco-Roman astronomer and cartographer, called it *Eblana polis* (Ancient Greek: Ἔβλανα πόλις).
Dublin celebrated its 'official' millennium in 1988, meaning the Irish government recognised 988 as the year in which the city was settled and that this first settlement would later become the city of Dublin.
It is now thought the Viking settlement of about 841 was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as *Duibhlinn*, from which *Dyflin* took its name. Evidence indicating that Anglo-Saxons occupied Dublin before the Vikings arrived in 841 has been found in an archaeological dig in Temple Bar.
Beginning in the 9th and 10th centuries, there were two settlements which later became modern Dublin. The subsequent Scandinavian settlement centred on the River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey in an area now known as Wood Quay. The Dubhlinn was a pool on the lowest stretch of the Poddle, where ships used to moor. This pool was finally fully infilled during the early 18th century, as the city grew. The Dubhlinn lay where the Castle Garden is now located, opposite the Chester Beatty Library within Dublin Castle. *Táin Bó Cuailgne* ("The Cattle Raid of Cooley") refers to *Dublind rissa ratter Áth Cliath*, meaning "Dublin, which is called Ath Cliath".
In 841, the Vikings established a fortified base in Dublin. The town grew into a substantial commercial center under Olaf Guthfrithson in the mid-to-late 10th century and, despite a number of attacks by the native Irish, it remained largely under Viking control until the Norman invasion of Ireland was launched from Wales in 1169. The hinterland of Dublin in the Norse period was named in Old Norse: *Dyflinnar skíði*, lit. 'Dublinshire'. It was upon the death of Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn in early 1166 that Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair, King of Connacht, proceeded to Dublin and was inaugurated *King of Ireland* without opposition.
According to some historians, part of the city's early economic growth is attributed to a trade in slaves. Slavery in Ireland and Dublin reached its pinnacle in the 9th and 10th centuries. Prisoners from slave raids and kidnappings, which captured men, women and children, brought revenue to the Gaelic Irish Sea raiders, as well as to the Vikings who had initiated the practice. The victims came from Wales, England, Normandy and beyond.
The King of Leinster, Diarmait Mac Murchada, after his exile by Ruaidhrí, enlisted the help of Strongbow, the Earl of Pembroke, to conquer Dublin. Following Mac Murchada's death, Strongbow declared himself King of Leinster after gaining control of the city. In response to Strongbow's successful invasion, Henry II of England affirmed his ultimate sovereignty by mounting a larger invasion in 1171 and pronounced himself Lord of Ireland. Around this time, the *county of the City of Dublin* was established along with certain liberties adjacent to the city proper. This continued down to 1840 when the barony of Dublin City was separated from the barony of Dublin. Since 2001, both baronies have been redesignated as the *City of Dublin*.
Dublin Castle, which became the centre of Anglo-Norman power in Ireland, was founded in 1204 as a major defensive work on the orders of King John of England. Following the appointment of the first Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1229, the city expanded and had a population of 8,000 by the end of the 13th century. Dublin prospered as a trade centre, despite an attempt by King Robert the Bruce of Scotland to capture the city in 1317. It remained a relatively small walled medieval town during the 14th century and was under constant threat from the surrounding native clans. In 1348, the Black Death, a lethal plague which had ravaged Europe, took hold in Dublin and killed thousands over the following decade.
Dublin was the heart of the area known as the Pale, a narrow strip of English settlement along the eastern coast, under the control of the English Crown. The Tudor conquest of Ireland in the 16th century spelt a new era for Dublin, with the city enjoying a renewed prominence as the centre of administrative rule in Ireland where English control and settlement had become much more extensive. Determined to make Dublin a Protestant city, Queen Elizabeth I established Trinity College in 1592 as a solely Protestant university and ordered that the Catholic St. Patrick's and Christ Church cathedrals be converted to the Protestant church. The earliest map of the city of Dublin is John Speed's Map of Dublin (1610).
The city had a population of 21,000 in 1640 before a plague from 1649 to 1651 wiped out almost half of the inhabitants. However, the city prospered again soon after as a result of the wool and linen trade with England and reached a population of over 50,000 in 1700. By 1698 the manufacture of wool employed 12,000 people.
As the city continued to prosper during the 18th century, Georgian Dublin became, for a short period, the second-largest city of the British Empire and the fifth largest city in Europe, with the population exceeding 130,000. While some medieval streets and layouts (including the areas around Temple Bar, Aungier Street, Capel Street and Thomas Street) were less affected by the wave of Georgian reconstruction, much of Dublin's architecture and layout dates from this period.
Dublin grew even more dramatically during the 18th century, with the construction of many new districts and buildings, such as Merrion Square, Parliament House and the Royal Exchange. The Wide Streets Commission was established in 1757 at the request of Dublin Corporation to govern architectural standards on the layout of streets, bridges and buildings. In 1759, the Guinness brewery was founded, and would eventually grow to become the largest brewery in the world and the largest employer in Dublin. During the 1700s, linen was not subject to the same trade restrictions with England as wool, and became the most important Irish export. Over 1.5 million yards of linen was exported from Ireland in 1710, rising to almost 19 million yards by 1779.
Dublin suffered a period of political and economic decline during the 19th century following the Acts of Union 1800, under which the seat of government was transferred to the Westminster Parliament in London. The city played no major role in the Industrial Revolution, but remained the centre of administration and a transport hub for most of the island. Ireland had no significant sources of coal, the fuel of the time, and Dublin was not a centre of ship manufacturing, the other main driver of industrial development in Britain and Ireland. Belfast developed faster than Dublin during this period on a mixture of international trade, factory-based linen cloth production and shipbuilding. By 1814, the population of Dublin was 175,319 as counted under the Population Act, making the population of Dublin higher than any town in England except London.
The Easter Rising of 1916, the Irish War of Independence, and the subsequent Irish Civil War resulted in a significant amount of physical destruction in central Dublin. The Government of the Irish Free State rebuilt the city centre and located the new parliament, the Oireachtas, in Leinster House. Since the beginning of Norman rule in the 12th century, the city has functioned as the capital in varying geopolitical entities: Lordship of Ireland (1171–1541), Kingdom of Ireland (1541–1800), as part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922), and the Irish Republic (1919–1922). Following the partition of Ireland in 1922, it became the capital of the Irish Free State (1922–1937) and now is the capital of Ireland. One of the memorials to commemorate that time is the Garden of Remembrance.
Dublin was also a victim of the Northern Irish Troubles, although during this 30-year conflict, violence mainly occurred within Northern Ireland. A Loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Volunteer Force, bombed the city during this time – notably in an atrocity known as the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in which 34 people died, mainly in central Dublin.
Large parts of Georgian Dublin were demolished or substantially redeveloped in the mid-20th century during a boom in office building. After this boom, the recessions of the 1970s and 1980s slowed down the pace of building. Cumulatively, this led to a large decline in the number of people living in the centre of the city, and by 1985 the city had approximately 150 acres of derelict land which had been earmarked for development and 10 million square feet (900 thousand square metres) of office space.
Since 1997, the landscape of Dublin has changed. The city was at the forefront of Ireland's economic expansion during the Celtic Tiger period, with private sector and state development of housing, transport and business. Following an economic decline during the Great Recession, Dublin has rebounded and as of 2017[update] has close to full employment, but has a significant problem with housing supply in both the city and surrounds.
Dublin City Council is a unicameral assembly of 63 members elected every five years from local electoral areas. It is presided over by the Lord Mayor, who is elected for a yearly term and resides in Dublin's Mansion House. Council meetings occur at Dublin City Hall, while most of its administrative activities are based in the Civic Offices on Wood Quay. The party or coalition of parties with the majority of seats assigns committee members, introduces policies, and proposes the Lord Mayor. The Council passes an annual budget for spending on areas such as housing, traffic management, refuse, drainage, and planning. The Dublin City Manager is responsible for implementing City Council decisions but also has considerable executive power. Neighbouring local authorities in the traditional County Dublin are South Dublin County Council, Fingal County Council and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, and parts of the wider city lie in the functional areas of all three.
As the capital city, Dublin is the seat of the national parliament of Ireland, the Oireachtas. It is composed of the President of Ireland, Dáil Éireann as the house of representatives, and Seanad Éireann as the upper house. The President resides in Áras an Uachtaráin in Phoenix Park, while both houses of the Oireachtas meet in Leinster House, a former ducal residence on Kildare Street. It has been the home of the Irish parliament since the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922. The old Irish Houses of Parliament of the Kingdom of Ireland, which dissolved in 1801, are located in College Green.
Government Buildings house the Department of the Taoiseach, the Council Chamber, the Department of Finance and the Office of the Attorney General. It consists of a main building (completed 1911) with two wings (completed 1921). It was designed by Thomas Manley Dean and Sir Aston Webb as the Royal College of Science. The First Dáil originally met in the Mansion House in 1919. The Irish Free State government took over the two wings of the building to serve as a temporary home for some ministries, while the central building became the College of Technology until 1989. Although both it and Leinster House were intended to be temporary locations, they became the permanent homes of parliament from then on.
For elections to Dáil Éireann, there are five constituencies that are wholly or predominantly in the Dublin City area: Dublin Central (4 seats), Dublin Bay North (5 seats), Dublin North-West (3 seats), Dublin South-Central (4 seats) and Dublin Bay South (4 seats). Twenty TDs are elected in total. The constituency of Dublin West (4 seats) is partially in Dublin City, but predominantly in Fingal.
At the 2024 general election, the Dublin city area elected 5 Sinn Féin, 4 Fianna Fáil, 4 Social Democrats, 3 Fine Gael, 2 Labour and 2 Independents.
Dublin is situated at the mouth of the River Liffey and its urban area encompasses approximately 345 square kilometres (133 sq mi) in east-central Ireland. It is bordered by the Dublin Mountains, a low mountain range and sub range of the Wicklow Mountains, to the south and surrounded by flat farmland to the north and west.
The River Liffey divides the city in two, between the Northside and the Southside. The Liffey bends at Leixlip from a northeasterly route to a predominantly eastward direction, and this point also marks the transition to urban development from more agricultural land usage. The city itself was founded where the River Poddle met the Liffey, and the early Viking settlement was also facilitated by the small Steine or Steyne River, the larger Camac and the Bradogue, in particular.
Two secondary rivers further divide the city: the River Tolka, running southeast into Dublin Bay, and the River Dodder running northeast to near the mouth of the Liffey, and these and the Liffey have multiple tributaries. A number of lesser rivers and streams also flow to the sea within the suburban parts of the city.
Two canals – the Grand Canal on the southside and the Royal Canal on the northside – ring the inner city on their way from the west, both connecting with the River Shannon.
Similar to much of the rest of northwestern Europe, Dublin experiences a maritime climate (*Cfb*) with mild-warm summers, cool winters, and a lack of temperature extremes. At Merrion Square, the coldest month is February, with an average minimum temperature of 4.1 °C (39.4 °F), and the warmest month is July, with an average maximum temperature of 20.1 °C (68.2 °F). Due to the urban heat island effect, Dublin city has the warmest summertime nights in Ireland. The average minimum temperature at Merrion Square in July is 13.5 °C (56.3 °F), and the lowest July temperature ever recorded at the station was 7.8 °C (46.0 °F) on 3 July 1974.
The highest temperature officially recorded in Dublin is 33.1 °C (91.6 °F) on 18 July 2022, at the Phoenix Park. A non-official record of 33.5 °C (92.3 °F) was also recorded at Phoenix Park in July 1876.
Dublin's sheltered location on the east coast makes it the driest place in Ireland, receiving only about half the rainfall of the west coast. Ringsend in the south of the city records the lowest rainfall in the country, with an average annual precipitation of 683 mm (27 in), with the average annual precipitation in the city centre being 726 mm (29 in). At Merrion Square, the wettest year and driest year on record occurred within 5 years of each other, with 1953 receiving just 463.1 mm (18.23 in) of rainfall, while 1958 recorded 1,022.5 mm (40.26 in). The main precipitation in winter is rain; however snow showers do occur between November and March. Hail is more common than snow. Strong Atlantic winds are most common in autumn. These winds can affect Dublin, but due to its easterly location, it is least affected compared to other parts of the country. However, in winter, easterly winds render the city colder and more prone to snow showers.
The city experiences long summer days and short winter days. Based on satellite observations, Met Éireann estimates that Dublin's coastal areas typically receive over 1,600 hours of sunshine per year, with the climate getting progressively duller inland. Dublin airport, located north of city and about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the coast, records an average of 1,485 hours of sunshine per year. The station at Dublin airport has been maintaining climate records since November 1941. The sunniest year on record was 1,740 hours in 1959, and the dullest year was 1987 with 1,240 hours of sunshine. The lowest amount of monthly sunshine on record was 16.4 hours in January 1996, while the highest was 305.9 hours in July 1955.
In the 20th century, smog and air-pollution were an issue in the city, precipitating a ban on bituminous fuels across Dublin. The ban was implemented in 1990 to address black smoke concentrations, that had been linked to cardiovascular and respiratory deaths in residents. Since the ban, non-trauma death rates, respiratory death rates and cardiovascular death rates have declined – by an estimated 350 deaths annually.
| Climate data for Dublin Airport (DUB), 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1881–present | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 18.5 (65.3) |
18.1 (64.6) |
23.6 (74.5) |
22.7 (72.9) |
26.8 (80.2) |
32.3 (90.1) |
33.0 (91.4) |
30.6 (87.1) |
27.6 (81.7) |
24.2 (75.6) |
19.4 (66.9) |
18.1 (64.6) |
33.0 (91.4) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 8.0 (46.4) |
8.5 (47.3) |
10.1 (50.2) |
12.3 (54.1) |
14.8 (58.6) |
17.7 (63.9) |
19.5 (67.1) |
19.1 (66.4) |
16.9 (62.4) |
13.6 (56.5) |
10.3 (50.5) |
8.3 (46.9) |
13.3 (55.9) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 5.2 (41.4) |
5.3 (41.5) |
6.6 (43.9) |
8.2 (46.8) |
10.7 (51.3) |
13.3 (55.9) |
15.4 (59.7) |
15.1 (59.2) |
13.2 (55.8) |
10.4 (50.7) |
7.3 (45.1) |
5.5 (41.9) |
9.7 (49.5) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 2.3 (36.1) |
2.2 (36.0) |
3.0 (37.4) |
4.0 (39.2) |
6.6 (43.9) |
9.0 (48.2) |
11.3 (52.3) |
11.2 (52.2) |
9.5 (49.1) |
7.1 (44.8) |
4.3 (39.7) |
2.6 (36.7) |
6.1 (43.0) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −15.6 (3.9) |
−13.4 (7.9) |
−9.8 (14.4) |
−7.2 (19.0) |
−5.6 (21.9) |
−0.7 (30.7) |
1.8 (35.2) |
0.6 (33.1) |
−1.7 (28.9) |
−5.6 (21.9) |
−9.3 (15.3) |
−15.7 (3.7) |
−15.7 (3.7) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 61.8 (2.43) |
52.4 (2.06) |
51.4 (2.02) |
55.0 (2.17) |
57.0 (2.24) |
64.0 (2.52) |
61.0 (2.40) |
73.4 (2.89) |
63.3 (2.49) |
78.4 (3.09) |
82.7 (3.26) |
72.1 (2.84) |
772.5 (30.41) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 12.5 | 11.0 | 10.7 | 11.1 | 10.5 | 9.8 | 11.6 | 11.8 | 10.7 | 11.6 | 12.5 | 13.3 | 137.1 |
| Average snowy days | 3.2 | 3.2 | 2.4 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 2.3 | 12.5 |
| Average relative humidity (%) (at 15:00 UTC) | 81.6 | 76.9 | 71.6 | 68.7 | 67.8 | 67.7 | 69.0 | 69.8 | 71.9 | 75.8 | 81.6 | 83.9 | 73.9 |
| Average dew point °C (°F) | 3.2 (37.8) |
3.0 (37.4) |
3.6 (38.5) |
4.8 (40.6) |
7.1 (44.8) |
9.7 (49.5) |
11.6 (52.9) |
11.6 (52.9) |
10.2 (50.4) |
7.8 (46.0) |
5.5 (41.9) |
3.8 (38.8) |
6.8 (44.3) |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 60.2 | 81.8 | 121.0 | 165.9 | 197.3 | 180.1 | 158.3 | 155.4 | 129.4 | 105.9 | 73.5 | 56.6 | 1,485.4 |
| Mean daily daylight hours | 8.2 | 9.9 | 11.9 | 14.0 | 15.9 | 16.9 | 16.4 | 14.7 | 12.7 | 10.5 | 8.6 | 7.6 | 12.3 |
| Average ultraviolet index | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Source 1: Met Éireann | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: NOAA(dew point) WeatherAtlas (Daylight hours and UV Index) |
The historic city centre of Dublin is encircled by the Royal Canal and Grand Canal, bounded to the west by Heuston railway station and Phoenix Park, and to the east by the IFSC and the Docklands. O'Connell Street is the main thoroughfare of the inner city and many Dublin Bus routes, as well as the Green line of the Luas, have a stop at O'Connell Street. The main shopping streets of the inner city include Henry Street on the Northside, and Grafton Street on the Southside.
In some tourism and real-estate marketing contexts, inner Dublin is sometimes divided into a number of quarters. These include the Medieval Quarter (in the area of Dublin Castle, Christ Church and St Patrick's Cathedral and the old city walls), the Georgian Quarter (including the area around St Stephen's Green, Trinity College, and Merrion Square), the Docklands Quarter (around the Dublin Docklands and Silicon Docks), the Cultural Quarter (around Temple Bar), and Creative Quarter (between South William Street and George's Street).
Dublin has dozens of suburbs; northside suburbs include Blanchardstown, Finglas, Ballymun, Clontarf, Raheny, Malahide and Howth, while southside suburbs include Tallaght, Sandyford, Templeogue, Drimnagh, Rathmines, Dún Laoghaire and Dalkey.
Starting in the late 2010s, there was a significant amount of high density residential developments in the suburbs of Dublin, with mid to high-rise apartments being built in Sandyford, Ashtown, and Tallaght.
A north–south division once, to some extent, traditionally existed, with the River Liffey as the divider. The southside was, in recent times, generally seen as being more affluent and genteel than the northside. There have also been some social divisions evident between the coastal suburbs in the east of the city, and the newer developments further to the west.[ citation needed]
Dublin has many landmarks and monuments dating back hundreds of years. One of the oldest is Dublin Castle, which was first founded as a major defensive work on the orders of England's King John in 1204, shortly after the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169, when it was commanded that a castle be built with strong walls and good ditches for the defence of the city, the administration of justice, and the protection of the King's treasure. Largely complete by 1230, the castle was of typical Norman courtyard design, with a central square without a keep, bounded on all sides by tall defensive walls and protected at each corner by a circular tower. Sited to the south-east of Norman Dublin, the castle formed one corner of the outer perimeter of the city, using the River Poddle as a natural means of defence.
One of Dublin's most prominent landmarks is the Spire of Dublin, officially entitled the "Monument of Light". It is a 121.2-metre (398 ft) conical spire made of stainless steel, completed in 2003 and located on O'Connell Street, where it meets Henry Street and North Earl Street. It replaced Nelson's Pillar and is intended to mark Dublin's place in the 21st century. The spire was designed by Ian Ritchie Architects, who sought an "Elegant and dynamic simplicity bridging art and technology". The base of the monument is lit and the top is illuminated to provide a beacon in the night sky across the city.
The Old Library of Trinity College Dublin, holding the Book of Kells, is one of the city's most visited sites. The Book of Kells is an illustrated manuscript created by Irish monks circa 800 AD. The Ha'penny Bridge, an iron footbridge over the River Liffey, is one of the most photographed sights in Dublin and is considered to be one of Dublin's most iconic landmarks.
Other landmarks and monuments include Christ Church Cathedral and St Patrick's Cathedral, the Mansion House, the Molly Malone statue, the complex of buildings around Leinster House, including part of the National Museum of Ireland and the National Library of Ireland, The Custom House and Áras an Uachtaráin. Other sights include the Anna Livia monument. The Poolbeg Towers are also landmark features of Dublin, and visible from various spots around the city.
There are 302 parks and 66 green spaces within the Dublin City Council area as of 2018,[ citation needed] with the council managing over 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) of parks. Public parks include the Phoenix Park, Herbert Park, St Stephen's Green, Saint Anne's Park and Bull Island. The Phoenix Park is about 3 km (2 miles) west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its 16-kilometre (10 mi) perimeter wall encloses 707 hectares (1,750 acres), making it one of the largest walled city parks in Europe. It includes large areas of grassland and tree-lined avenues, and since the 17th century has been home to a herd of wild fallow deer. The residence of the President of Ireland (Áras an Uachtaráin), which was built in 1751, is located in the park. The park is also home to Dublin Zoo, Ashtown Castle, and the official residence of the United States Ambassador. Music concerts are also sometimes held in the park.
St Stephen's Green is adjacent to one of Dublin's main shopping streets, Grafton Street, and to a shopping centre named after it, while on its surrounding streets are the offices of a number of public bodies.
Saint Anne's Park is a public park and recreational facility, shared between Raheny and Clontarf, both suburbs on the Northside. The park, the second largest municipal park in Dublin, is part of a former 2-square-kilometre (0.8 sq mi; 500-acre) estate assembled by members of the Guinness family, beginning with Benjamin Lee Guinness in 1835. The largest municipal park is adjacent (North) Bull Island, also shared between Clontarf and Raheny, featuring a 5 km beach, Dollymount Strand.
From 1842, the boundaries of the city were comprehended by the baronies of Dublin City and the barony of Dublin. Over time, the city has absorbed area previously administered as part of County Dublin (now the three counties of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin), with a change in 1985 also returning areas to the county.
| Year | Changes |
|---|---|
| 1900 | Transfer of former urban districts of Clontarf, Drumcondra, Clonliffe and Glasnevin, and New Kilmainham from County Dublin |
| 1930 | Transfer of former urban districts of Pembroke and Rathmines and Rathgar from County Dublin |
| 1931 | Transfer of Drumcondra, Glasnevin, Donnybrook and Terenure from County Dublin |
| 1941 | Transfer of Crumlin from County Dublin |
| 1942 | Transfer of former urban district of Howth from County Dublin |
| 1953 | Transfer of Finglas, Coolock and Ballyfermot from County Dublin. |
| 1985 | Transfer of Santry and Phoenix Park from County Dublin;
transfer of Howth, Sutton and parts of Kilbarrack including Bayside to County Dublin |
| 1994 | Alterations to western boundaries in the vicinities of Ballyfermot and Cabra on establishment of new counties |
The Dublin region is the economic centre of Ireland, and was at the forefront of the country's economic expansion during the Celtic Tiger period. In 2009, Dublin was listed as the fourth richest city in the world by purchasing power and 10th richest by personal income. According to *Mercer's 2011 Worldwide Cost of Living Survey*, Dublin was the 13th most expensive city in the European Union (down from 10th in 2010) and the 58th most expensive place to live in the world (down from 42nd in 2010). As of 2017[update], approximately 874,400 people were employed in the Greater Dublin Area. Around 60% of people who are employed in Ireland's financial, ICT, and professional sectors are located in this area.
A number of Dublin's traditional industries, such as food processing, textile manufacturing, brewing, and distilling have gradually declined, although Guinness has been brewed at the St. James's Gate Brewery since 1759. Economic improvements in the 1990s attracted a number of global pharmaceutical, information and communications technology companies to the city and Greater Dublin Area. Companies such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, PayPal, Yahoo!, Facebook, X, Accenture, TikTok and Pfizer now have European headquarters or operational bases in the city with several located in enterprise clusters like the Digital Hub and Silicon Docks. The presence of these companies has driven economic expansion in the city and led to Dublin sometimes being referred to as the "Tech Capital of Europe".
Financial services have also become important to the city since the establishment of Dublin's International Financial Services Centre in 1987. More than 500 operations are approved to trade under the IFSC programme. The centre is host to half of the world's top 50 banks and to half of the top 20 insurance companies. Many international firms have established major headquarters in the city, such as Citibank. The Irish Stock Exchange (ISEQ), Internet Neutral Exchange (INEX) and Irish Enterprise Exchange (IEX) are also located in Dublin. Dublin has been positioned as one of the main cities vying to host Financial Services companies hoping to retain access to the Eurozone after Brexit. The Celtic Tiger also led to a temporary boom in construction, with large redevelopment projects in the Dublin Docklands and Spencer Dock. Completed projects include the Convention Centre, the 3Arena, and the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre.
In the second quarter of 2018, Dublin touched its lowest unemployment rate in a decade, when it fell down to 5.7% as reported by the Dublin Economic Monitor. In November 2022, Dublin was ranked as one of the worst cities in the world for travel, health and cost of living. On 24 September 2022, thousands took to the streets in protest against the cost of living crisis.
As of 2024, the Gross Domestic Product of Dublin is €253.6 billion, meaning it has one of the biggest city economies in the European Union.
The road network in Ireland is primarily focused on Dublin. The M50 motorway, a semi-ring road which runs around the south, west and north of the city, connects important national primary routes to the rest of the country. In 2008, the West-Link toll bridge was replaced by the eFlow barrier-free tolling system, with a three-tiered charge system based on electronic tags and car pre-registration.
The first phase of a proposed eastern bypass for the city is the Dublin Port Tunnel, which officially opened in 2006 to mainly cater for heavy vehicles. The tunnel connects Dublin Port and the M1 motorway close to Dublin Airport. The city is also surrounded by an inner and outer orbital route. The inner orbital route runs approximately around the heart of the Georgian city and the outer orbital route runs primarily along the natural circle formed by Dublin's two canals, the Grand Canal and the Royal Canal, as well as the North and South Circular Roads.
The 2016 TomTom Traffic Index ranked Dublin the 15th most congested city in the world and the 7th most congested in Europe.
Dublin is served by a network of nearly 200 bus routes which cover the city and suburbs. The majority of these are provided by Dublin Bus, with a modest number having been transferred to Go Ahead Ireland since 2018. A number of smaller companies also operate. Fares are generally calculated on a stage system based on distance travelled. There are several different levels of fares, which apply on most services. A "Real Time Passenger Information" system was introduced at Dublin Bus bus stops in 2012 in which signs relay display the projected time of the next buses' arrival based on its GPS position. The National Transport Authority is responsible for integration of bus and rail services in Dublin and has been involved in introducing a pre-paid smart card, called a TFI Leap Card, which can be used on all of Dublin's public transport services.
The BusConnects programme includes a number of proposed improvements to Dublin's bus network, including new spine and orbital routes. The spine routes are intended to increase the frequency of buses along major corridors, and the orbital routes aim to "provide connections between suburbs and town centres, without having to travel into the City Centre". In 2022, Dublin Bus began the process of electrifying its fleet with new battery-powered buses, with plans for 85% of Dublin buses to be zero-emission by 2032.
The 2011 census indicated that 5.9% of commuters in Dublin cycled. A 2013 report by Dublin City Council on traffic flows crossing the canals in and out of the city found that just under 10% of all traffic was made up of cyclists, representing an increase of 14.1% over 2012 and an 87.2% increase over 2006 levels. The increase was attributed to measures such as the Dublinbikes bike rental scheme, the provision of cycle lanes, public awareness campaigns to promote cycling and the introduction of the 30 km/h city centre speed limit.
Dublin City Council began installing cycle lanes and tracks throughout the city in the 1990s, and as of 2012[update] the city had over 200 kilometres (120 miles) of specific on- and off-road tracks for cyclists. In 2011, the city was ranked 9th of major world cities on the *Copenhagenize Index of Bicycle-Friendly Cities*. The same index showed a fall to 15th in 2015, and Dublin was outside the top 20 in 2017.
Dublinbikes is a self-service bicycle rental scheme which has been in operation in Dublin since 2009. Sponsored by JCDecaux and Just Eat, the scheme consists of hundreds of unisex bicycles stationed at 44 terminals throughout the city centre. Users must make a subscription for either an annual Long Term Hire Card or purchase a three-day ticket. As of 2018[update], Dublinbikes had over 66,000 long-term subscribers making over 2 million journeys per year.
Heuston and Connolly stations are the two main railway termini in Dublin. Operated by Iarnród Éireann, the Dublin Suburban Rail network consists of five railway lines serving the Greater Dublin Area and commuter towns such as Drogheda and Dundalk in County Louth, Gorey in County Wexford, and extending as far as Portlaoise in County Laois, and once a day to Newry. One of the five lines is the electrified Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) line, which runs primarily along the coast of Dublin, comprising 31 stations, from Malahide and Howth southwards as far as Bray and Greystones in County Wicklow. Commuter rail operates on the other four lines using Irish Rail diesel multiple units. In 2013, passengers for DART and Dublin Suburban lines were 16 million and 11.7 million, respectively (around 75% of all Irish Rail passengers).
Dublin once had an extensive system of trams but this was largely phased out by 1949. A new light rail system, often described as a tram system, the Luas, was launched in 2004, and is run by Transdev Ireland (under contract from Transport Infrastructure Ireland), carrying over 34 million passengers annually. The network consists of two interconnecting lines; the Red Line links the Docklands and city centre with the south-western suburbs of Tallaght and Saggart, while the Green Line connects northern inner city suburbs and the main city centre with suburbs to the south of the city including Sandyford and Brides Glen, mostly along the former route of the Harcourt Street railway line. Together these lines comprise a total 67 stops and 44.5 kilometres (27.7 mi) of track. Construction of a 6 km extension to the Green Line, bringing it into the north of the city, commenced in June 2013 and was opened for passenger travel on 9 December 2017.
A metro service is proposed under the name of Metrolink, and planned to run from Dublin's northside to Charlemont via Dublin Airport and St. Stephen's Green.
Dublin Connolly is connected by bus to Dublin Port and ferries run by Irish Ferries and Stena Line to Holyhead for connecting trains on the North Wales Coast Line to Chester, Crewe and London Euston. Dublin Connolly to Dublin Port can be reached via Amiens Street, Dublin into Store Street or by Luas via Busáras where Dublin Bus operates route 53 to the Irish Ferries Terminal.
Dublin Airport (owned and operated by DAA) is located north of Dublin city, near Swords in the administrative county of Fingal. The headquarters of Ireland's flag carrier Aer Lingus and regional airline CityJet are located there, and those of low-cost carrier Ryanair nearby. The airport offers a short and medium-haul network, domestic services to regional airports in Ireland, and long-haul services to the United States, Canada, and the Middle East. Dublin Airport is the 11th busiest in the European Union, and by far the busiest airport on the island of Ireland.
In 2015 and 2016, transatlantic traffic grew, with 158 summer flights a week to North America, making it the sixth largest European hub for that route over the year. Transatlantic traffic was also the fastest-growing segment of the market for the airport in 2016, in which a 16% increase from 2015 brought the yearly number of passengers travelling between Dublin and North America to 2.9 million.
From 2010 to 2016, Dublin Airport saw an increase of nearly 9.5 million passengers in its annual traffic, as the number of commercial aircraft movements has similarly followed a growth trend from 163,703 in 2013 to 191,233 in 2015.
In 2019, Dublin Airport was the 12th busiest airport in Europe, with almost 33 million passengers passing through the airport.
Dublin is also served by Weston Airport and other small facilities, by a range of helicopter operators, and the military and some State services use Casement Aerodrome nearby.
Dublin is the largest centre of education in Ireland, and is home to four universities and a number of other higher education institutions. It was the European Capital of Science in 2012.
The University of Dublin is the oldest university in Ireland, dating from the 16th century, and is located in the city centre. Its sole constituent college, Trinity College (TCD), was established by Royal Charter in 1592 under Elizabeth I. It was closed to Roman Catholics until 1793, and the Catholic hierarchy then banned Roman Catholics from attending until 1970. It is situated in the city centre, on College Green, and has over 18,000 students.
The National University of Ireland (NUI) has its seat in Dublin, which is also the location of the associated *constituent university* of University College Dublin (UCD), which has over 30,000 students. Founded in 1854, it is now the largest university in Ireland. UCD's main campus is at Belfield, about 5 km (3 mi) from the city centre, in the southeastern suburbs.
As of 2019, Dublin's principal, and Ireland's largest, institution for technological education and research, Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), with origins in 1887, has merged with two major suburban third level institutions, Institute of Technology, Tallaght and Institute of Technology, Blanchardstown, to form Technological University Dublin, Ireland's second largest university by student population. The new university offers a wide range of courses in areas include engineering, architecture, the sciences, health, journalism, digital media, hospitality, business, art and design, music and the humanities programmes, and has three long-term campuses, at Grangegorman, Tallaght and Blanchardstown.
Dublin City University (DCU), formerly the National Institute for Higher Education (NIHE) Dublin, offers courses in business, engineering, science, communication courses, languages and primary education. It has around 16,000 students, and its main campus is located about 7 km (4 mi) from the city centre, in the northern suburbs. Aside from the main Glasnevin Campus, the Drumcondra campuses includes the former St. Patrick's College of Education, Drumcondra now also hosting students from the nearby Mater Dei Institute of Education and students from the Church of Ireland College of Education at the DCU Campus at All Hallows College.
The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) conducts a medical school which is both a university (since 2019) and a recognised college of the NUI, and is situated at St. Stephen's Green in the city centre; there are also large medical schools within UCD and Trinity College. The National College of Art and Design (NCAD) provides education and research in art, design and media. The National College of Ireland (NCI) is also based in Dublin, as well as the Economic and Social Research Institute, a social science research institute, on Sir John Rogerson's Quay, and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
The Institute of International and European Affairs is also in Dublin. Dublin Business School (DBS) is Ireland's largest private third level institution with over 9,000 students located on Aungier Street, and Griffith College Dublin has its main facility in Portobello. There are also smaller specialised colleges, including The Gaiety School of Acting. The Irish public administration and management training centre has its base in Dublin, the Institute of Public Administration provides a range of undergraduate and post graduate awards via the National University of Ireland and in some instances, Queen's University Belfast.
Dublin is also home to the Royal Irish Academy, membership of which is considered Ireland's highest academic honour.[ independent source needed]
The suburban town of Dún Laoghaire is home to the Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT), which supports training and research in art, design, business, psychology and media technology. Dublin joined the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities in 2019.
| Nationality | Population |
|---|---|
| Poland | 33,751 |
| UK | 19,196 |
| Romania | 16,808 |
| Lithuania | 9,869 |
| Brazil | 8,903 |
| Italy | 6,834 |
| India | 6,546 |
| Spain | 6,341 |
| Latvia | 5,771 |
| Mainland China | 5,748 |
| France | 5,576 |
| United States | 4,042 |
| Nigeria | 2,563 |
| Pakistan | 2,515 |
| Philippines | 2,204 |
The City of Dublin is the area administered by Dublin City Council. The traditional County Dublin includes the city and the administrative counties of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin. The Greater Dublin Area includes County Dublin and the adjoining counties, County Kildare, County Meath and County Wicklow.
In the 2022 census, the population of the City of Dublin was 592,713, while the population of Dublin city and suburbs was 1,263,219. County Dublin had a population of 1,458,154, and the population of the Greater Dublin Area was 2,082,605.
Of the population of Dublin city and its suburbs, 62.9% (794,925) were born in Dublin, 26.6% (336,021) were born outside of Ireland, while the remaining 10.5% (132,273) were born in a county other than Dublin.
After World War II, Italians were by far the largest immigrant group in both Dublin and Ireland and became synonymous with the catering and restaurant landscape. Since the late 1990s, Dublin has experienced a significant level of net immigration, with the greatest numbers coming from the European Union, especially the United Kingdom, Poland and Lithuania. There is also immigration from outside Europe, including from Pakistan, Brazil, the Philippines, China, India and Nigeria. Dublin is home to a greater proportion of newer arrivals than any other part of the country. Sixty percent of Ireland's Asian population lives in Dublin.
The capital attracts the largest proportion of non-Catholic migrants from other countries. Increased secularisation in Ireland has prompted a drop in regular Catholic church attendance in Dublin from over 90 percent in the mid-1970s down to 14 percent according to a 2011 survey and less than 2% in some areas As of the 2016 census, 68.2% of Dublin's population identified as Catholic, 12.7% as other stated religions, with 19.1% having no religion or no religion stated.
According to the 2022 census, the population of County Dublin self-identified as 80.4% white (68.0% white Irish, 12.0% other white and 0.4% Irish traveller), 5.8% Asian, 3.0% mixed backgrounds, 2.2% Black and 8.5% not stated. In the same census, the ethnic makeup of Dublin city was 76.81% white (including 64.23% white Irish and 12.19% other white people), 12.98% not stated, 5.11% Asian, 3.50% other and 1.58% black.
As of December 2024, there were 1,467 families living in emergency accommodation in the Dublin region. This is a decrease of 57 on the November 2024 number, and an increase of 67 when compared with December 2023 when there were 1,400 families in emergency accommodation.
Dublin has a significant literary history, and produced many literary figures, including Nobel laureates William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw and Samuel Beckett. Other influential writers and playwrights include Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift and the creator of Dracula, Bram Stoker. It is also the location of key and notable works of James Joyce, including *Ulysses*, which is set in Dublin and includes much topical detail. *Dubliners* is a collection of short stories by Joyce about incidents and typical characters of the city during the early 20th century. Other renowned writers include J. M. Synge, Seán O'Casey, Brendan Behan, Maeve Binchy, John Banville and Roddy Doyle. Ireland's biggest libraries and literary museums are found in Dublin, including the National Print Museum of Ireland and National Library of Ireland. In July 2010, Dublin was named as a UNESCO City of Literature, joining Edinburgh, Melbourne and Iowa City with the permanent title.
Handel's oratorio Messiah was first performed at Neal's Music Hall, in Fishamble Street, on 13 April 1742.
There are several theatres within the city centre, and various well-known actors have emerged from the Dublin theatrical scene, including Noel Purcell, Michael Gambon, Brendan Gleeson, Stephen Rea, Colin Farrell, Colm Meaney and Gabriel Byrne. The best known theatres include the Gaiety, Abbey, Olympia, Gate, and Grand Canal. The Gaiety specialises in musical and operatic productions, and also opens its doors after the evening theatre production to host a variety of live music, dancing, and films. The Abbey was founded in 1904 by a group that included Yeats with the aim of promoting indigenous literary talent. It went on to provide a breakthrough for some of the city's most famous writers, such as Synge, Yeats himself and George Bernard Shaw. The Gate was founded in 1928 to promote European and American Avant Garde works. The Grand Canal Theatre is a newer 2,111 capacity theatre which opened in 2010 in the Grand Canal Dock area.
Apart from being the focus of the country's literature and theatre, Dublin is also the focal point for much of Irish art and the Irish artistic scene. The Book of Kells, a world-famous manuscript produced by Celtic monks in AD 800 and an example of Insular art, is on display in Trinity College. The Chester Beatty Library houses a collection of manuscripts, miniature paintings, prints, drawings, rare books and decorative arts assembled by American mining millionaire (and honorary Irish citizen) Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (1875–1968). The collections date from 2700 BCE onwards and are drawn from Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.
In addition public art galleries are found across the city and are free to visit, including the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery, the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, the Douglas Hyde Gallery, the Project Arts Centre and the exhibition space of the Royal Hibernian Academy. Private galleries in Dublin include Green on Red Gallery, Kerlin Gallery, Kevin Kavanagh Gallery and Mother's Tankstation.
Three branches of the National Museum of Ireland are located in Dublin: Archaeology in Kildare Street, Decorative Arts and History in Collins Barracks and Natural History in Merrion Street. Dublin is home to the National College of Art and Design, which dates from 1746, and Dublin Institute of Design, founded in 1991. Dublinia is a living history attraction showcasing the Viking and Medieval history of the city.
Dublin has long had an 'underground' arts scene, with Temple Bar hosting artists in the 1980s, and spaces such as the Project Arts Centre acting as a hub for collectives and new exhibitions. *The Guardian* noted that Dublin's independent and underground arts flourished during the economic recession of c. 2010. Dublin also has many dramatic, musical and operatic companies, including Festival Productions, Lyric Opera Productions, the Pioneers' Musical & Dramatic Society, Rathmines and Rathgar Musical Society, the Glasnevin Musical Society, Third Day Chorale, Second Age Theatre Company, Irish National Opera.
Dublin was shortlisted to be World Design Capital 2014. Taoiseach Enda Kenny was quoted to say that Dublin "would be an ideal candidate to host the World Design Capital in 2014".
In October 2021, Dublin was shortlisted for the European Commission's 2022 European Capital of Smart Tourism award along with Bordeaux, Copenhagen, Florence, Ljubljana, Palma de Mallorca and Valencia.
Dublin has a vibrant nightlife and is reputedly one of Europe's most youthful cities; in 2009 it was estimated that 50% of its citizens were younger than 25. There are many pubs across the city centre, with the area around St. Stephen's Green and Grafton Street, especially Harcourt Street, Camden Street, Wexford Street and Leeson Street, the location of many nightclubs and pubs.
The best known area for nightlife is Temple Bar, south of the River Liffey. The area has become popular among tourists, including stag and hen parties from the UK. It was developed as Dublin's cultural quarter and does retain this spirit as a centre for small arts productions, photographic and artists' studios, and in the form of street performers and small music venues; however, it has been criticised as overpriced, false and dirty by Lonely Planet. The areas around Leeson Street, Harcourt Street, South William Street and Camden/George's Street are popular nightlife spots for locals.
Live music is played on streets and at venues throughout Dublin, and the city has produced several musicians and groups of international success, including the Dubliners, Thin Lizzy, the Boomtown Rats, U2, the Script, Sinéad O'Connor, Boyzone, Kodaline, Fontaines D.C. and Westlife. Dublin has several mid-range venues that host live music throughout the week, including Whelans and Vicar Street. The 3Arena venue in the Dublin Docklands plays host to visiting global performers.
Dublin city centre is a popular shopping destination for both locals and tourists. The city has numerous shopping districts, particularly around Grafton Street and Henry Street. The city centre is also the location of large department stores, including Arnotts, Brown Thomas and (prior to its 2015 closure) Clerys.
While the city has seen the loss of some traditional market sites, Moore Street remains one of the city's oldest trading districts. There has also been some growth in local farmers' markets and other markets. In 2007, Dublin Food Co-op relocated to a warehouse in The Liberties area, where it is home to market and community events. Suburban Dublin has several modern retail centres, including Dundrum Town Centre, Blanchardstown Centre, the Square in Tallaght, Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in Clondalkin, Omni Shopping Centre in Santry, Nutgrove Shopping Centre in Rathfarnham, Northside Shopping Centre in Coolock and Swords Pavilions in Swords.
Dublin is the centre of both media and communications in Ireland, with many newspapers, radio stations, television stations and telephone companies based there. RTÉ is Ireland's national state broadcaster, and is based in Donnybrook. Fair City is RTÉ's soap opera, located in the fictional Dublin suburb of *Carraigstown*.
Virgin Media Television, eir Sport, MTV Ireland and Sky News are also based in the city. The headquarters of An Post and telecommunications companies such as Eir, as well as mobile operators Vodafone and 3 are all located there. Dublin is also the headquarters of national newspapers such as *The Irish Times* and *Irish Independent*, as well as local newspapers such as *The Evening Herald*.
As well as being home to RTÉ Radio, Dublin also hosts the national radio networks Today FM and Newstalk, and local stations. Commercial radio stations based in the city include 4fm (94.9 MHz), Dublin's 98FM (98.1 MHz), Radio Nova 100FM (100.3 MHz), Q102 (102.2 MHz), SPIN 1038 (103.8 MHz), FM104 (104.4 MHz), Sunshine 106.8 (106.8 MHz). There are also numerous community and special interest stations, including Dublin City FM (103.2 MHz), Dublin South FM (93.9 MHz), Liffey Sound FM (96.4 MHz), Near FM (90.3 MHz), and Raidió Na Life (106.4 MHz).
Croke Park is the largest sport stadium in Ireland. The headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association, it has a capacity of 82,300. It is the third-largest stadium in Europe after Nou Camp in Barcelona and Wembley Stadium in London. It hosts the premier Gaelic football and hurling games, international rules football and irregularly other sporting and non-sporting events including concerts. Muhammad Ali fought there in 1972 and it played host to the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2003 Special Olympics. It also has conference and banqueting facilities. There is a GAA Museum there and tours of the stadium are offered, including a rooftop walk of the stadium. During the redevelopment of Lansdowne Road, Croke Park played host to the Irish Rugby Union Team and Republic of Ireland national football team as well as hosting the Heineken Cup rugby 2008–09 semi-final between Munster and Leinster, which set a world record attendance for a club rugby match. The Dublin GAA team plays most of their home league hurling games at Parnell Park.
IRFU Stadium Lansdowne Road was laid out in 1874. This was the venue for home games of both the Irish Rugby Union Team and the Republic of Ireland national football team. A joint venture between the Irish Rugby Football Union, the FAI and the Government, saw it redeveloped into a new state-of-the-art 50,000 seat Aviva Stadium, which opened in May 2010. Lansdowne Road/Aviva Stadium hosted the Heineken Cup final in 1999, 2003, 2013, and 2023. Rugby union team Leinster Rugby play their competitive home games in the RDS Arena and the Aviva Stadium, while Donnybrook Stadium hosts their friendlies and A games, Ireland A and Women, Leinster Schools and Youths and the home club games of All Ireland League clubs Old Wesley and Bective Rangers. County Dublin is home for 13 of the senior rugby union clubs in Ireland including 5 of the 10 sides in the top division 1A.
Dublin is home to five League of Ireland association football clubs: Bohemian, Shamrock Rovers, Shelbourne, St Patrick's Athletic and University College Dublin. The first Irish side to reach the group stages of a European competition (2011–12 UEFA Europa League group stage) are Shamrock Rovers, who play at Tallaght Stadium in South Dublin. Bohemian F.C play at Dalymount Park, the oldest football stadium in the country, and home ground for the Ireland football team from 1904 to the 1970s. St Patrick's Athletic play at Richmond Park; University College Dublin at the UCD Bowl in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown; and Shelbourne at Tolka Park. Tolka Park, Dalymount Park, UCD Bowl and Tallaght Stadium, along with the Carlisle Grounds in Bray, hosted all Group 3 games in the intermediary round of the 2011 UEFA Regions' Cup. The Aviva Stadium hosted the 2011 UEFA Europa League final and the 2024 UEFA Europa League final.
Dublin has two ODI cricket grounds in Castle Avenue (Clontarf Cricket Club) and Malahide Cricket Club Ground. College Park has Test status and played host to Ireland's first Test cricket match, a women's match against Pakistan in 2000. The men's Irish cricket team also played their first Test match against Pakistan at Malahide Cricket Club Ground during 2018. Leinster Lightning play their home inter-provincial matches in Dublin at College Park.
The Dublin Marathon has been run since 1980 at the end of October. The Women's Mini Marathon has been run since 1983 on the first Monday in June, which is also a bank holiday in Ireland. It is said to be the largest all female event of its kind in the world. The Great Ireland Run takes place in Dublin's Phoenix Park in mid-April.
Two Dublin baseball clubs compete in the Irish Baseball League. The Dublin Spartans and the Dublin Bay Hurricanes are both based at The O'Malley Fields at Corkagh Park. The Portmarnock Red Rox, from outside the city, competes in the Baseball Ireland B League.
The Dublin area hosts greyhound racing at Shelbourne Park and horse racing at Leopardstown. The Dublin Horse Show takes place at the RDS, which hosted the Show Jumping World Championships in 1982. The national boxing arena is located in The National Stadium on the South Circular Road. The National Basketball Arena is located in Tallaght, is the home of the Irish basketball team, the venue for the basketball league finals, and has also hosted boxing and wrestling events. The National Aquatic Centre in Blanchardstown is Ireland's largest indoor water leisure facility. There are also Gaelic Handball, hockey and athletics stadia, most notably Morton Stadium in Santry, which held the athletics events of the 2003 Special Olympics.
As of the 2024 Michelin Guide, seven Dublin restaurants shared ten Michelin stars – including Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud, Liath and Chapter One with two. Irish-born Kevin Thornton was awarded two Michelin stars in 2001 – though his restaurant, Thornton's, closed in 2016. The Dublin Institute of Technology commenced a bachelor's degree in culinary skills in 1999.
Historically, Irish coffee houses and cafes were associated with those working in media. Since the beginning of the 21st century, with the growth of apartment living in the city, Dublin's cafés attracted younger patrons looking for an informal gathering place and an ad hoc office. Cafés became more popular in the city, and Irish-owned coffee chains like Java Republic, Insomnia, and O'Brien's Sandwich Bars now compete internationally. In 2008, Irish barista Stephen Morrissey won the title of World Barista Champion.
Immigrant groups, such as Chinese, Japanese and Italian émigrés, have also opened restaurants around Dublin. A number of South-East Asians immigrated from places such as Hong Kong, Malaysia and Mainland China to Dublin during the 1960s and opened restaurants featuring their cuisines. Modern Irish adaptions of Chinese cuisine include the Spice bag, a takeaway dish consisting of mainly chicken, chips and vegetables. In 2020, it was voted 'Ireland's Favourite Takeaway Dish' in the Just Eat National Takeaway Awards.
Dublin was traditionally a city of two languages, English and Irish, a situation found also in the area around it, the Pale. The Irish of County Dublin represented the easternmost extension of a broad central dialect area which stretched between Leinster and Connacht, but had its own local characteristics. It may also have been influenced by the east Ulster dialect of County Meath and County Louth to the north.
In the words of a 16th-century English administrator, William Gerard (1518–1581): "All Englishe, and the most part with delight, even in Dublin, speak Irishe". The Old English historian Richard Stanihurst (1547–1618) wrote as follows: "When their posteritie became not altogither so warie in keeping, as their ancestors were valiant in conquering, the Irish language was free dennized in the English Pale: this canker tooke such deep root, as the bodie that before was whole and sound, was by little and little festered, and in manner wholly putrified".
English authorities of the Cromwellian period accepted the fact that Irish was widely spoken in the city and its surrounds. In 1655 several local dignitaries were ordered to oversee a lecture in Irish to be given in Dublin. In March 1656 a converted Catholic priest, Séamas Corcy, was appointed to preach in Irish at Bride's parish every Sunday, and was also ordered to preach at Drogheda and Athy. In 1657 the English colonists in Dublin presented a petition to the Municipal Council complaining that in Dublin itself "there is Irish commonly and usually spoken".
In early 18th century Dublin, Irish was the language of a group of poets and scribes led by Seán and Tadhg Ó Neachtain. Scribal activity in Irish persisted in Dublin right through the 18th century. There were still native Irish speakers in County Dublin at the time of the 1851 census.
Though the number of Irish speakers declined throughout Ireland in the 19th century, the end of the century saw a Gaelic revival, centred in Dublin and accompanied by renewed literary activity. This was the harbinger of a steady renewal of urban Irish, though with new characteristics of its own.
The native language of most Dubliners today is English, and several local dialects are subsumed under the label Dublin English. Dublin also has many thousands of habitual Irish speakers, with the 2016 census showing that daily speakers (outside the education system) numbered 14,903. They form part of an urban Irish-speaking cohort which is generally better-educated than monoglot English speakers.
The Dublin Irish-speaking cohort is supported by a number of Irish-medium schools. There are 12,950 students in the Dublin region attending 34 gaelscoileanna (Irish-language primary schools) and 10 gaelcholáistí (Irish-language secondary schools).
Two Irish language radio stations, Raidió Na Life and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, have studios in the city, and the online station Raidió Rí-Rá broadcasts from studios in the city. A number of Irish language agencies are also located in the capital. *Conradh na Gaeilge* offers language classes and is used as a meeting place for different groups.[ citation needed] The closest Gaeltacht to Dublin is the County Meath Gaeltacht of Ráth Cairn and Baile Ghib which is 55 km (34 mi) away.
Dublin city council has an International Relations Unit, established in 2007. It works on hosting of international delegations, staff exchanges, international promotion of the city, twinning and partnerships, work with multi-city organisations such as Eurocities, economic partnerships and advice to other Council units.
Dublin is twinned with five places:
| City | Nation | Since |
|---|---|---|
San Jose
|
United States | 1986 |
Liverpool
|
United Kingdom | 1997 |
Barcelona
|
Spain | 1998 |
Beijing
|
China | 2011 |
Ramallah
|
Palestine | 2023 |
The city also has "friendship" or "co-operation agreements" with a number of other cities: Moscow (since 2009) and St Petersburg (since 2010) in Russia and Guadalajara in Mexico (since 2013), and has previously proposed an agreement with Rio de Janeiro also. Previous agreements have included those with Mexico City (2014−2018), Tbilisi in Georgia (2014−2017) and Wuhan in China (2016−2019).
**Sources**
- John Flynn and Jerry Kelleher,
*Dublin Journeys in America*(High Table Publishing, 2003), ISBN 0-9544694-1-0 - Pat Liddy,
*Dublin A Celebration: From the 1st to the 21st century*(Dublin City Council, 2000), ISBN 0-946841-50-0 - Maurice Craig,
*The Architecture of Ireland from the Earliest Times to 1880*(Batsford, Paperback edition 1989), ISBN 0-7134-2587-3 - Frank McDonald,
*Saving the City: How to Halt the Destruction of Dublin*(Tomar Publishing, 1989), ISBN 1-871793-03-3 - Edward McParland,
*Public Architecture in Ireland 1680–1760*(Yale University Press, 2001), ISBN 0-300-09064-1
- Dublin City Council – Official website of the local authority for Dublin
- Dublin Tourist Board – Official tourism site
- Dublin UNESCO City of Literature official site
- Dublin Historic Maps, Boundaries & an OSM Miscellany
|
# Thierry Henry - Wikipedia
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Thierry Daniel Henry | ||
| Date of birth | 17 August 1977 | ||
| Place of birth | Les Ulis, France | ||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1983–1989 | CO Les Ulis | ||
| 1989–1990 | US Palaiseau | ||
| 1990–1992 | Viry-Châtillon | ||
| 1990–1992 | INF Clairefontaine | ||
| 1992–1994 | Monaco | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years |
Team |
Apps |
(Gls) |
| 1994–1995 | Monaco B | 19 | (6) |
| 1994–1999 | Monaco | 105 | (20) |
| 1999 | Juventus | 16 | (3) |
| 1999–2007 | Arsenal | 254 | (174) |
| 2007–2010 | Barcelona | 80 | (35) |
| 2010–2014 | New York Red Bulls | 122 | (51) |
| 2012 | → Arsenal (loan) | 4 | (1) |
| Total |
600 |
(290) | |
| International career | |||
| 1997 | France U20 | 5 | (3) |
| 1997–2010 | France | 123 | (51) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2018–2019 | Monaco | ||
| 2019–2021 | Montreal Impact | ||
| 2023–2024 | France U21 | ||
| 2024 | France Olympic | ||
Medal record | |||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals |
**Thierry Daniel Henry** (French pronunciation: [tjɛʁi danjɛl ɑ̃ʁi]; born 17 August 1977) is a French professional football coach, pundit, sports broadcaster and former player. He is considered one of the greatest players of all time and the greatest player in Premier League history. He is also generally viewed as Arsenal's greatest ever player. Henry was runner-up for both the Ballon d'Or in 2003 and the FIFA World Player of the Year in 2003 and 2004. He was named the FWA Footballer of the Year a record three times, the PFA Players' Player of the Year a joint-record two times, and was named in the PFA Team of the Year six consecutive times. He was also included in the FIFA FIFPro World XI once and the UEFA Team of the Year five times. In 2004, Henry was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.
Henry made his professional debut with Monaco in 1994 before signing for defending Serie A champions Juventus. However, limited playing time, coupled with disagreements with the club's hierarchy, led to him signing for Premier League club Arsenal for £11 million in 1999. Under long-time mentor and coach Arsène Wenger, Henry became a prolific striker and Arsenal's all-time leading scorer with 228 goals in all competitions. He won the Premier League Golden Boot a record four times, won three FA Cups and two Premier League titles with the club, including one during an unbeaten *Invincible* season. Henry spent his final two seasons with Arsenal as club captain, leading them to the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final. Henry transferred to Barcelona in 2007 and in the 2008–09 season, he was a key part of the club's historic treble when they won La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the UEFA Champions League. In 2010, he joined Major League Soccer (MLS) club New York Red Bulls and returned to Arsenal on loan from January to February 2012, before retiring in 2014.
Henry had success with France, winning the 1998 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2000, and 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup. He was named French Player of the Year a record five times, named to the UEFA Euro 2000 Team of the Tournament, awarded both the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup Golden Ball and Golden Shoe, and named to the 2006 FIFA World Cup All-Star Team. In October 2007, he became his country's record goalscorer, a record he held until December 2022. After amassing 123 appearances and 51 goals, Henry retired from international football after the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
After retiring, Henry transitioned into coaching. He began coaching Arsenal's youth teams in February 2015, in tandem with his work as a pundit for Sky Sports. In 2016, he was appointed as an assistant coach at Belgium, before assuming the role as the head coach at Monaco in 2018. He was relieved of his duties at Monaco in January 2019 and returned to MLS less than a year later to manage Montréal Impact. He led Montréal to the playoffs in the 2020 season before departing in 2021, returning to his role as an assistant coach for Belgium for a year and a half. From August 2023 to August 2024, Henry would serve as manager of the France national under-21 team and the France Olympic team at the 2024 Summer Games, leading the team to a silver medal, losing to Spain in the final.
## Early years
Henry is of Antillean heritage: his father, Antoine, is from Guadeloupe (La Désirade island), and his mother, Maryse, is from Martinique. He was born and raised in Les Ulis, a suburb of Paris, the area is sometimes seen as a being known as a tough neighbourhood, however, there are good footballing facilities there. As a seven-year-old, Henry showed great potential, prompting Claude Chezelle to recruit him to the local club CO Les Ulis. His father pressured him to attend training, although the youngster was not particularly drawn to football. He joined US Palaiseau in 1989, but after a year his father fell out with the club, so Henry moved to ES Viry-Châtillon and played there for two years. US Palaiseau coach Jean-Marie Panza, Henry's future mentor, followed him there.
## Club career
In 1990, Monaco sent scout Arnold Catalano to watch Henry, then at the age of 13, in a match. Henry scored all six goals as his side won 6–0. Catalano asked him to join Monaco without even attending a trial first. Catalano requested that Henry complete a course at the elite INF Clairefontaine academy, and despite the director's reluctance to admit Henry due to his poor school results, he was allowed to complete the course and joined Arsène Wenger's Monaco as a youth player. Subsequently, Henry signed professional forms with Monaco, and made his professional debut on 31 August 1994, in a 2–0 loss against Nice. Although Wenger suspected that Henry should be deployed as a striker, he put Henry on the left wing because he believed that his pace, natural ball control and skill would be more effective against full backs than centre-backs.
After a tentative start to his Monaco career, Henry was named the French Young Footballer of the Year in 1996, and in the 1996–97 season, his solid performances helped the club win the Ligue 1 title. During the 1997–98 season, he was instrumental in leading his club to the UEFA Champions League semi-final, setting a French record, that was broken since, by scoring seven goals in the competition. By his third season, he had received his first cap for the national team, and was part of the winning team in the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He continued to impress at his tenure with Monaco, and in his five seasons with the club, the young winger scored 20 league goals in 105 appearances.
Henry left Monaco in January 1999, one year before his intimate and closest teammate David Trezeguet, and moved to Italian club Juventus for £10.5 million. He played on the wing, as well as at wing back and wide midfield, but he was ineffective as a goal scorer, struggling against the defensive discipline exhibited by teams in Serie A, registering just three goals in 16 appearances. In 2019, on Jamie Carragher's podcast *The Greatest Game*, Henry attributed disagreements with Juve director Luciano Moggi as his rationale behind departing the club.
Unsettled in Italy, Henry transferred from Juventus on 3 August 1999 to Arsenal for an estimated fee of £11 million, reuniting with his former manager Arsène Wenger. It was at Arsenal that Henry made his name as a world-class footballer, and although his transfer was not without controversy, Wenger was convinced he was worth the transfer fee. Brought in as a replacement for fellow French forward Nicolas Anelka, Henry was immediately moulded into a striker by Wenger, a move that would pay rich dividends in years to come. However, doubts were raised about his ability to adapt to the quick and physical English game when he failed to score in his first eight games. After several difficult months in England, Henry even conceded that he had to "be re-taught everything about the art of striking." These doubts were dispelled when he ended his first season at Arsenal with an impressive goal tally of 26. Arsenal finished second in the Premier League behind Manchester United, and lost in the UEFA Cup Final against Galatasaray.
Coming off the back of a victorious UEFA Euro 2000 campaign with the national team, Henry was ready to make an impact in the 2000–01 season. Despite recording fewer goals and assists than his first season, Henry's second season with Arsenal proved to be a breakthrough, as he became the club's top goalscorer. His goal tally included a spectacular strike against Manchester United where he flicked the ball up (with his back turned to goal), before he swivelled and volleyed in from 20 yards out. The strike also featured a memorable goal celebration where he recreated the Budweiser "Whassup?" advertisement. Armed with one of the league's best attacks, Arsenal finished runner-up to perennial rivals Manchester United in the Premier League. The team also reached the final of the FA Cup, losing 2–1 to Liverpool. Henry remained frustrated, however, by the fact that he had yet to help the club win honours, and frequently expressed his desire to establish Arsenal as a powerhouse.
Success finally arrived during the 2001–02 season. Arsenal finished seven points above Liverpool to win the Premier League title, and defeated Chelsea 2–0 in the FA Cup Final. Henry became the league's top goalscorer and netted 32 goals in all competitions as he led Arsenal to a double and his first silverware with the club. There was much expectation that Henry would replicate his club form for France during the 2002 FIFA World Cup, but the defending champions suffered a shock exit at the group stage.
2002–03 proved to be another productive season for Henry, as he scored 32 goals in all competitions while contributing 23 assists—remarkable returns for a striker. In doing so, he led Arsenal to another FA Cup triumph (where he was man-of-the-match in the Final), although Arsenal failed to retain their Premier League title. Throughout the season, he competed with Manchester United's Ruud van Nistelrooy for the league scoring title, but the Dutchman edged Henry to the Golden Boot by a single goal. Nonetheless, Henry was named both the PFA Players' Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year. His rising status as one of the world's best footballers was affirmed when he emerged runner-up for the 2003 FIFA World Player of the Year award. With 24 goals and 20 assists in the league, Henry set a new record for most assists in a single Premier League season, and also became the first player in history to record at least 20 goals and 20 assists in a single season in one of Europe's top–five leagues—this feat has since been matched by Lionel Messi in 2020.
Entering the 2003–04 season, Arsenal were determined to reclaim the Premier League crown. Henry was again instrumental in Arsenal's exceptionally successful campaign; together with the likes of Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira, Freddie Ljungberg and Robert Pires, Henry ensured that the Gunners became the first team in more than a century to go through the entire domestic league season unbeaten, claiming the league title in the process. Apart from being named for the second year running as the PFA Players' Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year, Henry emerged once again as the runner-up for 2004 FIFA World Player of the Year award. With 39 goals scored in all competitions, the Frenchman led the league in goals scored and won the European Golden Boot. However, as was the case in 2002, Henry was unable to lead the national side to honours during UEFA Euro 2004.
This dip in success was compounded when Arsenal failed again to secure back-to-back league titles when they lost out to Chelsea in the 2004–05 season, although Arsenal did win the FA Cup (the Final of which Henry missed through injury). Henry maintained his reputation as one of Europe's most feared strikers as he led the league in scoring, and with 31 goals in all competitions, he was the co-recipient (with Diego Forlán) of the European Golden Boot, becoming the first player to officially win the award twice in a row (Ally McCoist had won two Golden Boots in a row, but both were deemed unofficial). The unexpected departure of Arsenal's captain Patrick Vieira in the 2005 close season led to Henry being awarded club captaincy, a role which many felt was not naturally suited for him; the captaincy is more commonly given to defenders or midfielders, who are better-placed on the pitch to read the game. Along with being chief goalscorer, he was responsible for leading a very young team which had yet to gel fully.
The 2005–06 season proved to be one of remarkable personal achievements for Henry. On 17 October 2005, Henry became the club's top goalscorer of all time; two goals against Sparta Prague in the Champions League meant he broke Ian Wright's record of 185 goals. On 1 February 2006, he scored a goal against West Ham United, bringing his league goal tally up to 151, breaking Arsenal legend Cliff Bastin's league goals record. Henry scored his 100th league goal at Highbury, a feat unparalleled in the history of the club, and a unique achievement in the Premier League. On the final day of the Premier League season, Henry scored a hat-trick against Wigan Athletic in the last match played at Highbury. He completed the season as the league's top goalscorer, was voted the FWA Footballer of the Year for the third time in his career, and was selected in the FIFA World XI.
Nevertheless, Arsenal failed to win the Premier League title again, but hopes of a trophy were revived when Arsenal reached the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final. The Gunners eventually lost 2–1 to Barcelona, with Henry assisting the team's only goal from a free kick, and Arsenal's inability to win the league title for two consecutive seasons combined with the relative inexperience of the Arsenal squad caused much speculation that Henry would leave for another club. However, he declared his love for the club and accepted a four-year contract, and said he would stay at Arsenal for life. Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein later claimed the club had turned down two bids of £50 million from Spanish clubs for Henry before the signing of the new contract. Had the transfer materialised, it would have surpassed the then-world record £47 million paid for Zinedine Zidane.
Henry's 2006–07 season was marred by injuries. Although he scored 10 goals in 17 domestic appearances for Arsenal, Henry's season was cut short in February. Having missed games due to hamstring, foot, and back problems, he was deemed fit enough to come on as a late substitute against PSV in a Champions League match, but began limping shortly after coming on. Scans the next day revealed that he would need at least three months to heal from new groin and stomach injuries, missing the rest of the 2006–07 season. Wenger attributed Henry's injuries to a protracted 2005–06 campaign, and reiterated that Henry was keen on staying with the Gunners to rebuild for the 2007–08 season.
On 25 June 2007, in an unexpected turn of events, Henry was transferred to Barcelona for €24 million. He signed a four-year deal for a reported €6.8 (£4.6) million per season. It was revealed that the contract included a release clause of €125 (£84.9) million. Henry cited the departure of Dein and continued uncertainty over Wenger's future as reasons for leaving, and maintained that "I always said that if I ever left Arsenal it would be to play for Barcelona." Despite their captain's departure, Arsenal got off to an impressive start for the 2007–08 campaign, and Henry said that his presence in the team might have been more of a hindrance than a help. He stated, "Because of my seniority, the fact that I was captain and my habit of screaming for the ball, they would sometimes give it to me even when I was not in the best position. So in that sense it was good for the team that I moved on." Henry left Arsenal as the club's leading all-time league goalscorer with 174 goals and leading all-time goalscorer in European competitions with 42 goals; in July 2008, Arsenal fans voted him as Arsenal's greatest player ever in Arsenal.com's Gunners' Greatest 50 Players poll.
At Barcelona, Henry was given the number 14 jersey, the same as he had worn at Arsenal. He scored his first goal for his new club on 19 September 2007 in a 3–0 Champions League group stage win over Lyon, and he recorded his first hat-trick for Barça in a Primera División match against Levante ten days later. But with Henry mostly deployed on the wing throughout the season, he was unable to reproduce the goal-scoring form he achieved with Arsenal. He expressed dissatisfaction with the move to Barcelona in the initial year, amidst widespread speculation of a return to the Premier League. In an interview with Garth Crooks on BBC's *Football Focus*, Henry described missing life "back home" and even "the English press." However, Henry concluded his debut season as the club's top scorer with 19 goals in addition to nine league assists, second behind Lionel Messi's ten.
Henry went on to surpass this tally in a more integrated 2008–09 campaign, with 26 goals and 10 assists from the left wing. He won the first trophy of his Barcelona career on 13 May 2009 when Barcelona defeated Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey final. Barcelona won the Primera División and UEFA Champions League soon after, completing a treble for the Frenchman, who had combined with Messi and Samuel Eto'o to score 100 goals between them that season. The trio was also the most prolific trio in Spanish league history, scoring 72 goals and surpassing the 66 goals of Real Madrid's Ferenc Puskás, Alfredo Di Stéfano and Luis del Sol of the 1960–61 season (this was later surpassed by Real Madrid trio Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuaín who scored 89 goals in 2011–12). Later in 2009, Henry helped Barcelona win an unprecedented sextuple, consisting of the aforementioned treble, the Supercopa de España, the UEFA Super Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup.
The following season, the emergence of Pedro meant that Henry only started 15 league games. Before the La Liga season ended, and with a year still left on his contract, club president Joan Laporta stated on 5 May 2010 that Henry "may go away in the summer transfer window if that's what he wants." After Henry returned from the 2010 World Cup, Barcelona confirmed that they had agreed to the sale of Henry to an unnamed club, with the player still to agree terms with the new club.
In July 2010, Henry signed a multi-year contract with Major League Soccer (MLS) club New York Red Bulls for the 2010 season as its second designated player. He made his full MLS debut on 31 July in a 2–2 draw against Houston Dynamo, assisting both goals to Juan Pablo Ángel. His first MLS goal came on 28 August in a 2–0 victory against San Jose Earthquakes. The Red Bulls eventually topped the MLS Eastern Conference by one point over Columbus Crew before losing 3–2 on aggregate against San Jose Earthquakes in the quarter-finals of the 2010 MLS Cup Playoffs. The next season, the Red Bulls were 10th overall in the league, and bowed out in the Conference semi-finals of the 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs. By 2011, Henry had a non-contractual sponsorship agreement with Dietrich Mateschitz's Red Bull GmbH, and was claimed by the company as a member of the Red Bull "family".
After training with Arsenal during the MLS off-season, Henry re-signed for the club on a two-month loan deal on 6 January 2012. This was to provide cover for Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh, who were unavailable due to their participation in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. Henry was given the number 12 jersey – his old Arsenal number 14 jersey, the same number he wore at Barcelona and New York, was unavailable, with Theo Walcott inheriting it following Henry's departure from the club in 2007. Henry made his second Arsenal debut as a substitute against Leeds United in the FA Cup third round and scored the only goal. In his last league game on loan, he scored the winning goal in stoppage time in a 2–1 win against Sunderland. His final goals for the club meant he finished his Arsenal career with a record 228 goals; 175 of them came in the Premier League.
#### Return to New York Red Bulls
On 17 February 2012, Henry returned to Red Bulls to prepare for the 2012 season. His base salary of $5 million ($5.6 million guaranteed) made him the highest-paid player in MLS—surpassing David Beckham, who had taken a salary cut for his last year with the Los Angeles Galaxy. In 2013, Henry's base salary dropped to $3.75 million setting him behind Robbie Keane's $4 million base salary. With bonuses, however, Henry remained the highest-paid player with $4.35 million compared to Keane's $4.33 million.
On 31 March 2012, Henry scored his first MLS hat-trick in a 5–2 Red Bulls win over the Montreal Impact. He was named MLS Player of the Month that same month. On 27 October 2013, Henry scored once and provided two assists in the last game of the season against the Chicago Fire at Red Bull Arena to help his team win 5–2 and become champions of the regular season. It was the club's first major trophy in their 17-year history.
On 12 July 2014, Henry provided a goal and three assists in a 4–1 Red Bulls win over the Columbus Crew. With that effort he became the all-time assist leader for the New York Red Bulls with 37, surpassing Amado Guevara and Tab Ramos.
On 1 December 2014, it was announced that Henry had left the Red Bulls after four and a half years at the club. On 16 December, he announced his retirement as a player and stated that he would begin working for Sky Sports as a pundit. After working at Sky for over three years, Henry quit his position in July 2018 to focus on his career as a coach.
## International career
Henry enjoyed a successful career with the France national team, winning the first of his 123 caps in June 1997, when his good form for Monaco was rewarded with a call-up to the Under-20 French national team, where he played in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship alongside future teammates William Gallas and David Trezeguet. Within four months, France head coach Aimé Jacquet called Henry up to the senior team. The 20-year-old made his senior international debut on 11 October 1997 in a 2–1 win against South Africa. Jacquet was so impressed with Henry that he took him to the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Although Henry was a largely unknown quantity at international level, he ended the tournament as France's top scorer with three goals. He was scheduled to appear as a substitute in the final, where France beat Brazil 3–0, but Marcel Desailly's sending off forced a defensive change instead. In 1998, he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour, France's highest decoration.
Henry was a member of France's UEFA Euro 2000 squad, again scoring three goals in the tournament, including the equaliser against Portugal in the semi-final, and finishing as the country's top scorer. France later won the game in extra time following a converted penalty kick by Zinedine Zidane. France went on to defeat Italy in extra-time in the final, earning Henry his second major international medal. During the tournament, Henry was voted man of the match in three games, including the final against Italy.
The 2002 FIFA World Cup featured a stunning early exit for both Henry and France as the defending champions were eliminated in the group stage after failing to score a goal in all three games. France lost against Senegal in their first group match and Henry was red carded for a dangerous sliding challenge in their next match against Uruguay. In that game, France played to a 0–0 draw, but Henry was forced to miss the final group match due to suspension; France lost 2–0 to Denmark.
Henry returned to form for his country at the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup. Despite playing without team stalwarts Zidane and Patrick Vieira, France won, in large part owing to Henry's outstanding play, for which he was named Man of the Match by FIFA's Technical Study Group in three of France's five matches. In the final, he scored the golden goal in extra time to lift the title for the host country after a 1–0 victory over Cameroon. Henry was awarded both the Adidas Golden Ball as the outstanding player of the competition and the Adidas Golden Shoe as the tournament's top goalscorer with four goals.
In UEFA Euro 2004, Henry played in all of France's matches and scored two goals. France beat England in the group stage but lost to the eventual winners Greece 1–0 in the quarter-finals. During the 2006 FIFA World Cup Henry remained as one of the automatic starters in the squad. He played as a lone striker, but despite an indifferent start to the tournament, became one of the top players of the World Cup. He scored three goals, including the winning goal from Zidane's free kick against defending champions Brazil in the quarter-final. However, France subsequently lost to Italy on penalties (5–3) in the final. Henry did not take part in the penalty shoot-out, having been substituted in extra time after his legs had cramped. Henry was one of ten nominees for the Golden Ball award for Player of the Tournament, an award which was ultimately presented to his teammate, Zidane and was named a starting striker on the 2006 FIFPro World XI team.
On 13 October 2007, Henry scored his 41st goal against the Faroe Islands, joining Michel Platini as the country's top goalscorer of all time. Four days later at the Stade de la Beaujoire, he scored a late double against Lithuania, thereby setting a new record as France's top goalscorer. On 3 June 2008, Henry made his 100th appearance for the national team in a match against Colombia, becoming the sixth French player ever to reach that milestone.
Henry missed the opening game of France's short-lived UEFA Euro 2008 campaign, where they were eliminated in the group stages after being drawn in the same group as Italy, the Netherlands and Romania. He scored France's only goal in the competition in a 4–1 loss to the Netherlands.
The French team struggled during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and finished second in their group behind Serbia. During the play-offs against the Republic of Ireland, Henry was involved in a controversy in the second leg of the game at the Stade de France on 18 November 2009. With the aggregate score tied at 1–1 and the game in extra time, he used his hand twice to control the ball before delivering a cross to William Gallas who scored the winner. This sparked a barrage of criticism against the Frenchman, while national team coach Raymond Domenech and Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger defended him. The Football Association of Ireland lodged a formal complaint with FIFA, seeking a replay of the game, which FIFA declined. Henry said that he contemplated retiring from international football after the reactions to the incident, but maintained that he was not a "cheat"; hours after FIFA had ruled out a replay, he stated that "the fairest solution would be to replay the game". FIFA President Sepp Blatter described the incident as "blatant unfair play" and announced an inquiry into how such incidents could be avoided in future, and added that the incident would be investigated by the Disciplinary Committee. Blatter also said Henry told him that his family had been threatened in the aftermath of the incident. In January 2010, FIFA announced that there was no legal basis to sanction Henry.
Henry did not feature in the starting line-up for France at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. France drew in their first game against Uruguay, and lost 2–0 in their second against Mexico. The team was thrown into disarray when Nicolas Anelka was expelled from the team, and captain Patrice Evra led a team protest by refusing to train. In the final group game against host-nation South Africa in which Henry came on as a second-half substitute, France lost 2–1 and were eliminated from the tournament. He then announced his retirement from international football, having won 123 caps and scored 51 goals for *Les Bleus*, thus finishing his international career as France's all-time top scorer, and second most capped player after Lilian Thuram.
## Style of play
Although Henry played up front as a striker during his youth, he spent his time at Monaco and Juventus playing on the wing. When Henry joined Arsenal in 1999, Wenger immediately changed this, switching Henry to his childhood position, often pairing him with Dutch veteran Dennis Bergkamp. During the 2004–05 season, Wenger switched Arsenal's formation to 4–5–1. This change forced Henry to adapt again to fit into the Arsenal team, and he played many games as a lone striker. Still, Henry remained Arsenal's main offensive threat, on many occasions conjuring spectacular goals. Wenger said of his fellow Frenchman: "Thierry Henry could take the ball in the middle of the park and score a goal that no one else in the world could score".
One of the reasons cited for Henry's impressive play up front is his ability to calmly score from one-on-ones. According to his father Antoine, Henry learned precision shooting from watching his idol Marco van Basten. He was also influenced by Romário, Ronaldo and Liberian star George Weah, a new breed of strikers in the 1990s who would also operate outside the penalty area before running with the ball towards goal. At his physical peak from the late 1990s to the mid 2000s, Henry's ability to dribble past opponents with exceptional pace, skill and composure, meant that he could get in behind defenders regularly enough to score. In 2004, former Arsenal striker Alan Smith commented on Henry: "I have to say I haven't seen a player like him. He's an athlete with great technical ability and a tremendous desire to be the best."
When up front, Henry is occasionally known to move out wide to the left wing position, something which enables him to contribute heavily in assists: between 2002–03 and 2004–05, the striker managed almost 50 assists in total and this was attributed to his unselfish play and creativity. Ranking Henry the greatest player in Premier League history, in February 2020 *FourFourTwo* magazine stated, "No one assisted more in a season. No one has terrorised defenders with such a combination of bewitching grace and phenomenal power."
Coming in from the left, Henry's trademark finish saw him place the ball inside the far right corner of the goal. Henry would also drift offside to fool the defence then run back onside before the ball is played and beat the offside trap, although he never provided Arsenal a distinct aerial threat. Given his versatility in being able to operate as both a winger and a striker, the Frenchman is not a prototypical "out-and-out striker", but he has emerged consistently as one of Europe's most prolific strikers. In set pieces, Henry was the first-choice penalty and free kick taker for Arsenal, scoring regularly from those situations. Henry was also a notable exponent of a no-look pass where he would feint to pass the ball with his right foot, but would make contact with the ball using his standing foot (his left).
## Managerial career
### Arsenal youth
Henry began coaching Arsenal's youth teams in February 2015, in tandem with his work for Sky Sports. His influence on the team was praised by players such as Alex Iwobi, who dedicated a goal against Bayern Munich in the 2015–16 UEFA Youth League to his advice. Having earned a UEFA A Licence, he was offered the job of under-18 coach by Academy head Andries Jonker, but the decision was overruled by Wenger, who wanted a full-time coach for the team.
In August 2016, Henry became second assistant coach of the Belgium national team, working alongside head coach Roberto Martínez and fellow assistant Graeme Jones. In an interview with NBC Sports, Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku praised Henry for his work with him, stating, "Henry is the best thing that has happened to me because since I came to England aged 18 I have had the best mentors. Thierry for me is the best. Every day whether it is positive and negative I take it in my stride because I know what is expected from the top level." At the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Belgium reached the semi-final, but lost to Henry's home nation France 1–0. Henry picked up a Bronze medal after Belgium defeated England 2–0 in the third-place play-off to secure their best ever World Cup finish.
Henry was reportedly offered the position of head coach by Bordeaux in August 2018. However, he declined the offer after disagreements with the club's owners. Days after turning down the Bordeaux job, and following Jones's departure from the Belgium national team, Henry, who had been the forwards coach, was promoted to Belgium assistant coach. However, his tenure in the role was short-lived, after he accepted the role as head coach at former club Monaco in October.
### Monaco
On 11 October 2018, Monaco dismissed Leonardo Jardim as club manager. Jardim's position had become untenable after struggling heavily in domestic competition, with the club 18th at the time of his departure, and disputes over the club's transfer policy. Monaco's search for a new coach coincided with the regulatory mid-season international break, allowing the club sufficient time to search for a replacement, however, they quickly decided on Henry, and he was appointed a mere two days later. He signed a three-year deal, and was unveiled as Monaco manager on 18 October. At his first press conference, he told reporters: "This club will always have a big place in my heart, so to be able to come here and start again, it is a dream come true. There is a lot of work to do, as you can imagine – but I am more than happy to be here".
Henry's arrival at Monaco was greeted with mixed reactions by some media outlets, due to his relative inexperience as a top-level coach and the task of overturning Monaco's misfortunes. Despite inheriting a squad of sub-standard quality, Henry expressed a desire of replicating the football he played under Pep Guardiola at Barcelona, as well as instilling the "professionalism" taught to him by Arsène Wenger. Henry also adopted a hands-on approach to training sessions, being regularly involved in devising schemes and instructing drills. His first match was a 2–1 away defeat against Strasbourg on 20 October. He was unable to secure a win for over a month, enduring a period which included two high-profile defeats against Club Brugge and Paris Saint-Germain, prior to defeating Caen on 1–0 on 25 November. He secured two wins in December, defeating Amiens in the league and Lorient in the Coupe de la Ligue, however, this was on the backdrop of three additional Ligue 1 defeats to close 2018 in the relegation zone.
In January 2019, Henry entered the winter transfer window, where he signed left-back Fodé Ballo-Touré, and former Arsenal teammate Cesc Fàbregas from Chelsea. He also sanctioned the loan signing of French defensive midfielder William Vainqueur on 12 January, and experienced defender Naldo. However, these signings would not turn around the club's fate, and on 24 January, Henry was dismissed at Monaco. The club were 19th at the time of his departure, and Henry left with a record of 4 wins, 5 draws, and 11 defeats, from 20 games in charge.
### Montreal Impact
On 14 November 2019, Henry became manager of Major League Soccer side Montreal Impact, signing a two-year deal until the end of the 2021 season with an option to extend it by a year until the 2022 season. In his first press conference, Henry stated he had to "confront" the relative disappointment of his short stint as manager of Monaco, before undertaking a new job.
After leading Montreal to their first playoff berth in four seasons, on 25 February 2021, prior to the 2021 season, Henry stepped down as head coach of the renamed CF Montréal to be closer to his children in London. He had not been able to see them in the 2020 season due to travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, and with restrictions continuing into the 2021 season, he decided to end the separation.
In May 2021, Henry rejoined the coaching staff of Belgium prior to UEFA Euro 2020. He was also in the team's coaching staff for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. In February 2023, upon the appointment of Domenico Tedesco as Belgium's new head coach, Royal Belgian Football Association CEO Peter Bossaert announced that Henry would not be returning to the national team's coaching staff.
Henry was considered as being one of potential replacements for Corinne Diacre who got fired as France women's national team head coach, but he rejected the approach.
### France U21 and Olympic
On 21 August 2023, Henry was named as the new manager of the France national under-21 team, meaning that he would also coach the France Olympic team at the 2024 Summer Games. He coached the Olympic team to a silver medal, losing the final to Spain, before announcing his resignation as coach on 19 August 2024.
## Media and broadcasting career
After leaving Montreal, Henry resumed his punditry career. He joined CBS Sports in their UEFA Champions League coverage as studio analyst on 27 September 2021, as well as being hired by Amazon Prime Video for their Premier League and Ligue 1 programs as consultant.
## Reception
Remember the kid in the playground who was better than everyone else with a football at his feet? That's what Thierry Henry was like in his pomp. The Frenchman had exquisite technique, searing pace, and like the typical schoolboy superstar, he did pretty much everything for his team.
Henry has received many plaudits and awards in his football career. He was runner-up for the 2003 and 2004 FIFA World Player of the Year awards; in those two seasons, he also won back-to-back PFA Players' Player of the Year titles. Henry is the only player ever to have won the FWA Footballer of the Year three times (2003, 2004, 2006), and the French Player of the Year on a record four occasions. Henry was voted into the Premier League Overseas Team of the Decade in the 10 Seasons Awards poll in 2003, and in 2004 he was named by football legend Pelé on the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.
In terms of goal-scoring awards, Henry was the European Golden Boot winner in 2004 and 2005 (sharing it with Villarreal's Diego Forlán in 2005). Henry was also the top goalscorer in the Premier League for a record four seasons (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006). In 2006, he became the first player to score more than 20 goals in the league for five consecutive seasons (2002 to 2006). With 175, Henry is currently seventh in the list of all-time Premier League goalscorers, behind Alan Shearer, Wayne Rooney, Harry Kane, Andy Cole, Sergio Agüero, and Frank Lampard. He held the record for most goals in the competition for one club, until it was broken by Rooney in 2016, and held the record for most goals by a foreign player in the competition until surpassed by Agüero in 2020. France's all-time record goalscorer was, in his prime in the mid 2000s, regarded by many coaches, footballers and journalists as one of the best players in the world. In November 2007, he was ranked 33rd on the Association of Football Statisticians' compendium for "Greatest Ever Footballers".
Arsenal fans honoured their former player in 2008, declaring Henry the greatest Arsenal player. In two other 2008 surveys, Henry emerged as the favourite Premier League player of all time among 32,000 people surveyed in the Barclays 2008 Global Fan Report. Arsenal fan and The Who lead singer Roger Daltrey mentions Henry in the tribute song "Highbury Highs", which he performed at Arsenal's last game at Highbury on 7 May 2006. On 10 December 2011, Arsenal unveiled a bronze statue of Henry at the Emirates Stadium as part of its 125th anniversary celebrations. In 2017, *FourFourTwo* magazine ranked him first in their list of the 30 best strikers in Premier League history. Daniel Girard of *The Toronto Star* described Henry as "one of the best players of his generation" in 2010. Henry's former Arsenal manager, Wenger, described him as "one of the greatest players [he had] ever seen" in 2014. In 2019, *The Independent* ranked Henry in first place in their list of the "100 greatest Premier League players".
## Personal life
Henry married English model Nicole Merry, real name Claire, on 5 July 2003. The ceremony was held at Highclere Castle, and on 27 May 2005 the couple celebrated the birth of their first child, a daughter.
When Henry was still at Arsenal, he purchased a home in Hampstead, North London. Shortly after his transfer to Barcelona, it was announced that Henry and his wife would divorce; the decree nisi was granted in September 2007, "on the basis of his behavior". Their separation concluded in December 2008, when Henry paid Merry a divorce settlement close to her requested sum of £10 million.
Henry has been with his second wife, Andrea Rajačić, since 2011. They have three children together.
In January 2024, Henry said he had been depressed throughout his career, and that his father had been a demanding presence when he was young.
### Interest in basketball
As a fan of the National Basketball Association (NBA), Henry is often seen with his friend Tony Parker at games when not playing football. Henry stated in an interview that he admires basketball, as it is similar to football in pace and excitement. Having made regular trips to the NBA Finals in the past, he went to watch Parker and the San Antonio Spurs in the 2007 NBA Finals; and in the 2001 NBA Finals, he went to Philadelphia to help with French television coverage of the Finals as well as to watch Allen Iverson, whom he named as one of his favourite players.
### Appearance on screen
Henry makes a short cameo appearance in the 2015 film *Entourage*. Henry's part sees him walking a dog and having exchange with Ari Gold (character played by Jeremy Piven), who is an over-the-top Hollywood agent. He makes a number of cameo appearances playing himself in the Apple TV+ football comedy series *Ted Lasso*.
Henry makes a number of appearances in the Amazon Original sports docuseries *All or Nothing: Arsenal*, which documented the club by spending time with the coaching staff and players behind the scenes both on and off the field throughout their 2021–22 season.
### Social causes
Henry is a member of the UNICEF-FIFA squad, where together with other professional footballers he appeared in a series of TV spots seen by hundreds of millions of fans around the world during the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups. In these spots, the players promote football as a game that must be played on behalf of children.
Having been subjected to racism in the past, Henry is an active spokesperson against racism in football. The most prominent incident of racism against Henry was during a training session with the Spanish national team in 2004, when a Spanish TV crew caught coach Luis Aragonés referring to Henry as "black shit" to José Antonio Reyes, Henry's teammate at Arsenal. The incident caused an uproar in the British media, and there were calls for Aragonés to be sacked. Henry and Nike started the Stand Up Speak Up campaign against racism in football as a result of the incident. Subsequently, in 2007, *Time* featured him as one of the "Heroes & Pioneers" on the *Time* 100 list of the most influential people in the world.
Along with 45 other football players, Henry took part in FIFA's "Live for Love United" in 2002. The single was released in tandem with the 2002 FIFA World Cup and its proceeds went towards AIDS research. Henry also supports the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Cystic Fibrosis Trust.
Henry has also played in charity football games for various causes. In June 2018, he reunited with his France 1998 World Cup winning teammates to play a charity game against an All-Star team which included Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, with proceeds going to the Mecenet Cardiac Charity and the Children of the World fund. In a 3–2 win for France, Henry played a trademark no-look one-two pass with Zinedine Zidane before scoring with a 20-yard curling strike.
In 2006, Henry was valued as the ninth-most commercially marketable footballer in the world, and throughout his career he has signed many endorsements and appeared in commercials.
#### Sportswear
At the beginning of his career, Henry signed with sportswear giant Nike. In the buildup to the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, Henry featured in Nike's "Secret Tournament" advertisement, directed by Terry Gilliam, along with 24 superstar football players. In a 2004 advertisement, Henry pits his wits against others footballers in locations such as his bedroom and living room, which was partly inspired by Henry himself, who revealed that he always has a football nearby, even at home. In tandem with the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Henry also featured in Nike's *Joga Bonito* campaign, Portuguese for "beautiful game".
Henry's deal with Nike ended after the 2006 FIFA World Cup, when he signed a deal with Reebok to appear in their "I Am What I Am" campaign. As part of Reebok Entertainment's "Framed" series, Henry was the star of a half-hour episode that detailed the making of a commercial about himself directed by Spanish actress Paz Vega. In 2011, Henry switched to Puma boots.
#### Others
Henry featured in the Renault Clio advertisements in which he popularised the term *va-va-voom*, meaning "life" or "passion". His romantic interest in the commercial was his then-girlfriend, later his wife (now divorced), Claire Merry. *"Va-va-voom"* was subsequently added to the *Concise Oxford English Dictionary*.
In February 2007, Henry was named as one of the three global ambassadors of Gillette's "Champions Program", which purported to feature three of the "best-known, most widely respected and successful athletes competing today" and also showcased Roger Federer and Tiger Woods in a series of television commercials. In reaction to the handball controversy following the France vs Ireland 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier, Gillette faced a boycott and accusations of doctoring French versions of their Champions poster, but subsequently released a statement backing Henry.
Henry was part of Pepsi's "Dare For More" campaign in 2005, alongside the likes of David Beckham and Ronaldinho. He starred in a 2014 advert for Beats headphones with other global football stars including Neymar and Luis Suárez, with the theme of "The Game Before the Game" and the players pre-game ritual of listening to music.
Henry featured on the front cover of the editions of EA Sports' *FIFA* video game series from *FIFA 2001* to *FIFA 2005*. He was included as an icon to the Ultimate Team in *FIFA 18*. He was also a cover star for the Konami *Pro Evolution Soccer* video game series, and was featured on the covers of *Pro Evolution Soccer 4* to *Pro Evolution Soccer 6*.
### Other interests
In August 2022, Serie B club Como announced Henry has joined them as an investor and minority stakeholder.
## Career statistics
### Club
| Club | Season | League | National cup | League cup | Continental | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Monaco B | 1994–95 | CFA | 19 | 6 | — | — | — | — | 19 | 6 | ||||
| Monaco | 1994–95 | Division 1 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 8 | 3 | |
| 1995–96 | Division 1 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 22 | 3 | ||
| 1996–97 | Division 1 | 36 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 1 | — | 48 | 10 | ||
| 1997–98 | Division 1 | 30 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 7 | — | 44 | 11 | ||
| 1998–99 | Division 1 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | 19 | 1 | ||
| Total | 105 | 20 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 24 | 8 | — | 141 | 28 | |||
| Juventus | 1998–99 | Serie A | 16 | 3 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 3 | |
| 1999–2000 | Serie A | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | |||
| Total | 16 | 3 | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 3 | |||
| Arsenal | 1999–2000 | Premier League | 31 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 8 | — | 48 | 26 | |
| 2000–01 | Premier League | 35 | 17 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 4 | — | 53 | 22 | ||
| 2001–02 | Premier League | 33 | 24 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 7 | — | 49 | 32 | ||
| 2002–03 | Premier League | 37 | 24 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 56 | 32 | |
| 2003–04 | Premier League | 37 | 30 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 51 | 39 | |
| 2004–05 | Premier League | 32 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 42 | 30 | |
| 2005–06 | Premier League | 32 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 45 | 33 | |
| 2006–07 | Premier League | 17 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | — | 27 | 12 | ||
| Total | 254 | 174 | 24 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 85 | 42 | 4 | 1 | 370 | 226 | ||
| Barcelona | 2007–08 | La Liga | 30 | 12 | 7 | 4 | — | 10 | 3 | — | 47 | 19 | ||
| 2008–09 | La Liga | 29 | 19 | 1 | 1 | — | 12 | 6 | — | 42 | 26 | |||
| 2009–10 | La Liga | 21 | 4 | 1 | 0 | — | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 32 | 4 | ||
| Total | 80 | 35 | 9 | 5 | — | 28 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 121 | 49 | |||
| New York Red Bulls | 2010 | Major League Soccer | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 1 | 0 | 12 | 2 | ||
| 2011 | Major League Soccer | 26 | 14 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 3 | 1 | 29 | 15 | |||
| 2012 | Major League Soccer | 25 | 15 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | 27 | 15 | |||
| 2013 | Major League Soccer | 30 | 10 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | 32 | 10 | |||
| 2014 | Major League Soccer | 30 | 10 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 35 | 10 | ||
| Total | 122 | 51 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 135 | 52 | |||
| Arsenal (loan) | 2011–12 | Premier League | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 7 | 2 | |
| Career total | 600 | 290 | 41 | 13 | 10 | 2 | 139 | 59 | 23 | 2 | 813 | 366 |
### International
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| France | 1997 | 1 | 0 |
| 1998 | 10 | 3 | |
| 1999 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2000 | 14[A] |
5 | |
| 2001 | 7 | 3 | |
| 2002 | 10 | 3 | |
| 2003 | 14 | 11 | |
| 2004 | 13 | 3 | |
| 2005 | 6 | 3 | |
| 2006 | 16 | 8 | |
| 2007 | 6 | 5 | |
| 2008 | 11 | 4 | |
| 2009 | 9 | 3 | |
| 2010 | 6 | 0 | |
| Total | 123 | 51 |
**Note**
### Managerial
*As of 9 August 2024*
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | Ref. | |||
| Monaco | 13 October 2018 | 24 January 2019 | 20 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 15 | 36 | −21 | 20.00 | |
| Montreal Impact | 14 November 2019 | 25 February 2021 | 29 | 9 | 4 | 16 | 38 | 50 | −12 | 31.03 | |
| France U21 | 21 August 2023 | 19 August 2024 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 7 | +12 | 66.67 | |
| France Olympic | 18 March 2024 | 9 August 2024 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 31 | 12 | +19 | 72.73 | |
| Total | 66 | 25 | 11 | 30 | 103 | 105 | −2 | 37.88 |
## Honours
### Player
**Monaco**
**Arsenal**
- Premier League: 2001–02, 2003–04
- FA Cup: 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004-05
- FA Community Shield: 2002, 2004
- UEFA Champions League runner-up: 2005–06
- UEFA Cup runner-up: 1999–2000
**Barcelona**
- La Liga: 2008–09, 2009–10
- Copa del Rey: 2008–09
- Supercopa de España: 2009
- UEFA Champions League: 2008–09
- UEFA Super Cup: 2009
- FIFA Club World Cup: 2009
**New York Red Bulls**
**France U20**
- Toulon Tournament: 1997
**France**
- FIFA World Cup: 1998; runner-up: 2006
- UEFA European Championship: 2000
- FIFA Confederations Cup: 2003
**Individual**
- Ballon d'Or runner-up: 2003; third-place: 2006
- FIFA World Player of the Year silver award: 2003, 2004
- European Golden Shoe: 2003–04, 2004–05
- Onze d'Or: 2003, 2006
- UEFA Euro 2000 final: Man of the Match
- FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 2006
- FIFA Confederations Cup Golden Ball: 2003
- FIFA Confederations Cup Golden Shoe: 2003
- UNFP Division 1 Young Player of the Year: 1996–97
- PFA Players' Player of the Year: 2002–03, 2003–04
- PFA Fans' Player of the Year: 2002–03, 2003–04
- PFA Team of the Year: 2000–01 Premier League, 2001–02 Premier League, 2002–03 Premier League, 2003–04 Premier League, 2004–05 Premier League, 2005–06 Premier League
- FWA Footballer of the Year: 2002–03, 2003–04, 2005–06
- Premier League Player of the Season: 2003–04, 2005–06
- Premier League Golden Boot: 2001–02, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06
- Most assists in the Premier League: 2002–03
- Golden Boot Landmark Award 10: 2004–05
- Golden Boot Landmark Award 20: 2004–05
- Premier League Player of the Month: April 2000, September 2002, January 2004, April 2004
- Arsenal Player of the Season: 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005
- BBC Goal of the Season: 2002–03
- UEFA Team of the Year: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006
- MLS Best XI: 2011, 2012, 2014
- MLS Player of the Month: March 2012
- Best MLS Player ESPY Award: 2013
- MLS All-Star: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
- French Player of the Year: 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
- IFFHS World's Top Goal Scorer of the Year: 2003
- FIFA FIFPro World XI: 2006
- UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 2000
- FIFA 100: 2004
- Time 100 Heroes & Pioneers no.16: 2007
- English Football Hall of Fame: 2008
- Premier League 10 Seasons Awards (1992–93 – 2001–02):
- Overseas Team of the Decade
- Premier League 20 Seasons Awards:
- Fantasy Team (Panel choice)
- Fantasy Team (Public choice)
- UEFA Ultimate Team of the Year (published 2015)
- UEFA Euro All-time XI (published 2016)
- Ballon d'Or Dream Team (Bronze): 2020
- Premier League Hall of Fame: 2021
**Orders**
### Manager
**France Olympic**
- Summer Olympics silver medal: 2024
## Records
*As of November 2023*
### Arsenal
- All-time top scorer: 228 goals
- Most league goals: 175 goals
- Most European goals: 42
- Most Champions League goals: 35
- Most Premier League goals in a season: 30 (2003–04) (shared with Robin van Persie)
- Most Premier League hat-tricks: 8
- Most European appearances: 86
- Most Champions League appearances: 78
- Most Arsenal Player of the Season Awards: 4
### Continental
- Most European Golden Shoe wins while playing in England: 2 (2003–04, 2004–05)
- One of five players to win back-to-back European Golden Shoes (shared with Ally McCoist, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski)
### England
- Most FWA Footballer of the Year wins: 3 (2002–03, 2003–04, 2005–06)
- Most consecutive FWA Footballer of the Year wins: 2 (2002–03, 2003–04) (shared with Cristiano Ronaldo)
- Most consecutive PFA Players' Player of the Year wins: 2 (2002–03, 2003–04) (shared with Cristiano Ronaldo and Kevin De Bruyne)
- Most PFA Players' Player of the Year wins: 2 (2002–03, 2003–04) (shared with Gareth Bale, Alan Shearer, Mark Hughes, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah)
### France
- Only French player to win the European Golden Shoe
- Most French Player of the Year wins: 5 (2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006)
- Most consecutive French Player of the Year wins: 4 (2003–2006)
- Most appearances at World Cup final tournaments for France: 4 (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010) (shared with Hugo Lloris)
### Premier League
- Most assists in a season: 20 (2002–03) (shared with Kevin De Bruyne)
- Most goals with right foot in a 38-game season: 24 (2005–06) (shared with Alan Shearer)
- Most Player of the Season awards: 2 (2003–04, 2005–06) (shared with Cristiano Ronaldo, Nemanja Vidić and Kevin De Bruyne)
- Most goals in London derbies: 43
- Most Golden Boot wins: 4
- Most goals on a Friday: 10
- Most consecutive 20+ goal seasons: 5 (2001–02 to 2004–05) (shared with Sergio Agüero)
- Most goals scored under one manager: 175 goals under Arsène Wenger
- Most goals at a single ground: 114 goals at Highbury
- Most direct free kick goals by a foreign player: 12 (shared with Gianfranco Zola and Cristiano Ronaldo)
- Most Golden Boots won in consecutive years: 3 (shared with Alan Shearer)
- Only player to both score and assist 20+ goals in a season (2002–03)
## See also
- List of footballers with 100 or more UEFA Champions League appearances
- List of top international men's football goalscorers by country
- List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps
- List of men's footballers with 50 or more international goals
## Notes and references
## External links
- Profile at the Arsenal F.C. website
- Profile at the FC Barcelona website
- Thierry Henry at the French Football Federation (in French)
- Thierry Henry – French league stats at Ligue 1 – also available in French (archived)
- Thierry Henry at Major League Soccer
- Thierry Henry – FIFA competition record (archived)
- Thierry Henry – UEFA competition record (archive)
- Thierry Henry at Soccerbase
- Thierry Henry at Premier League
- Thierry Henry coach profile at National-Football-Teams.com
- Thierry Henry coach profile at Soccerway
- Thierry Henry at JockBio.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 10 May 2012)
- Thierry Henry at IMDb
|
# Amazon (company) - Wikipedia
| Amazon | |
| Formerly | Cadabra, Inc. (1994–1995) |
| Company type | Public |
| ISIN | |
| Industry | |
| Founded | July 5, 1994Bellevue, Washington, U.S. | , in
| Founder | Jeff Bezos |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | |
| Products | |
| Services | |
| Revenue | US$637.9 billion (2024) |
| US$68.59 billion (2024) | |
| US$59.25 billion (2024) | |
| Total assets | US$624.9 billion (2024) |
| Total equity | US$285.9 billion (2024) |
| Owner | Jeff Bezos (8.92%) |
Number of employees | 1,556,000 (2024) |
| Subsidiaries | List |
| Website | amazon.com |
Footnotes / references |
**Amazon.com, Inc.**, doing business as **Amazon** ( ⓘ, *AM-ə-zon*; UK also , *AM-ə-zən*), is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevue, Washington, the company originally started as an online marketplace for books but gradually expanded its offerings to include a wide range of product categories, referred to as "The Everything Store". Today, Amazon is considered one of the Big Five American technology companies, the other four being Alphabet, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft.
The company has multiple subsidiaries, including Amazon Web Services, providing cloud computing; Zoox, a self-driving car division; Kuiper Systems, a satellite Internet provider; and Amazon Lab126, a computer hardware R&D provider. Other subsidiaries include Ring, Twitch, IMDb, and Whole Foods Market. Its acquisition of Whole Foods in August 2017 for US$13.4 billion substantially increased its market share and presence as a physical retailer. Amazon also distributes a variety of downloadable and streaming content through its Amazon Prime Video, MGM+, Amazon Music, Twitch, Audible and Wondery units. It publishes books through its publishing arm, Amazon Publishing, produces and distributes film and television content through Amazon MGM Studios, including the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio it acquired in March 2022, and owns Brilliance Audio and Audible, which produce and distribute audiobooks, respectively. Amazon also produces consumer electronics—most notably, Kindle e-readers, Echo devices, Fire tablets, and Fire TVs.
Amazon has a reputation as a disruptor of industries through technological innovation and aggressive reinvestment of profits into capital expenditures. As of 2023[update], it is the world's largest online retailer and marketplace, smart speaker provider, cloud computing service through AWS, live-streaming service through Twitch, and Internet company as measured by revenue and market share. In 2021, it surpassed Walmart as the world's largest retailer outside of China, driven in large part by its paid subscription plan, Amazon Prime, which has 200 million subscribers worldwide. It is the second-largest private employer in the United States and the second-largest company in the world and in the U.S. by revenue as of 2024 (after Walmart). As of October 2024, Amazon is the 12th-most visited website in the world and 84% of its traffic comes from the United States. Amazon is also the global leader in research and development spending, with R&D expenditure of US$73 billion in 2022. Amazon has been criticized for its business practices, including surveillance partnerships, poor worker conditions, anti-union efforts, environmental harm, anti-competitive behavior, censorship controversies, and exploitative treatment of small businesses and suppliers.
## History
Amazon was founded on July 5, 1994, by Jeff Bezos after he relocated from New York City to Bellevue, Washington, near Seattle, to operate an online bookstore. Bezos chose the Seattle area for its abundance of technical talent from Microsoft and the University of Washington, as well as its smaller population for sales tax purposes and the proximity to a major book distribution warehouse in Roseburg, Oregon. Bezos also considered several other options, including Portland, Oregon, and Boulder, Colorado. The company, originally named Cadabra, was founded in the converted garage of Bezos's house for symbolic reasons and was renamed to Amazon in November 1994. The Amazon website launched for public sales on July 16, 1995, and initially sourced its books directly from wholesalers and publishers.
Amazon went public in May 1997. It began selling music and videos in 1998, and began international operations by acquiring online sellers of books in the United Kingdom and Germany. In the subsequent year, it initiated the sale of a diverse range of products, including music, video games, consumer electronics, home improvement items, software, games, and toys.
In 2002, it launched Amazon Web Services (AWS), which initially focused on providing APIs for web developers to build web applications on top of Amazon's ecommerce platform. In 2004, AWS was expanded to provide website popularity statistics and web crawler data from the Alexa Web Information Service. AWS later shifted toward providing enterprise services with Simple Storage Service (S3) in 2006, and Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) in 2008, allowing companies to rent data storage and computing power from Amazon. In 2006, Amazon also launched the* Fulfillment by Amazon *program, which allowed individuals and small companies (called "third-party sellers") to sell products through Amazon's warehouses and fulfillment infrastructure.
Amazon purchased the Whole Foods Market supermarket chain in 2017. It is the leading e-retailer in the United States with approximately US$178 billion net sales in 2017. It has over 300 million active customer accounts globally.
Amazon saw large growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, hiring more than 100,000 staff in the United States and Canada. Some Amazon workers in the US, France, and Italy protested the company's decision to "run normal shifts" due to COVID-19's ease of spread in warehouses. In Spain, the company faced legal complaints over its policies, while a group of US Senators wrote an open letter to Bezos expressing concerns about workplace safety.
On February 2, 2021, Bezos announced that he would step down as CEO to become executive chair of Amazon's board. The transition officially took place on July 5, 2021, with former CEO of AWS Andy Jassy replacing him as CEO. In January 2023, Amazon cut over 18,000 jobs, primarily in consumer retail and its human resources division in an attempt to cut costs.
On November 8, 2023, a plan was adopted for Jeff Bezos to sell approximately 50 million shares of the company over the next year (the deadline for the entire sales plan is January 31, 2025). The first step was the sale of 12 million shares for about $2 billion.
On February 26, 2024, Amazon became a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
On December 19, 2024, Amazon workers, led by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters labor union, went on strike against Amazon in at least four US states, with workers in other facilities in the United States being welcomed to join the strike as well.
On April 2, 2025, it was reported by various media outlets that Amazon had made a bid to buy the social media platform TikTok in order to save the platform from facing a US ban set to take effect on Saturday, April 5, 2025. The cost of the bid has yet to be announced.
## Products and services
### Amazon.com
Screenshot | |
Type of site | E-commerce |
|---|---|
| Available in |
|
| Owner | Amazon |
| URL | amazon |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Optional |
| Launched | 1995 |
| Current status | Active |
| Written in | C++ and Java |
Amazon.com is an e-commerce platform that sells many product lines, including media (books, movies, music, and software), apparel, baby products, consumer electronics, beauty products, gourmet food, groceries, health and personal care products, industrial & scientific supplies, kitchen items, jewelry, watches, lawn and garden items, musical instruments, sporting goods, tools, automotive items, toys and games, and farm supplies and consulting services. Amazon websites are country-specific (for example, amazon.com for the US and amazon.co.uk for UK) though some offer international shipping.
Visits to *amazon.com* grew from 615 million annual visitors in 2008, to more than 2 billion per month in 2022.[ citation needed] The e-commerce platform is the 12th most visited website in the world.
In February 2024, Amazon announced its first chatbot was first “Rufus” in the US and in July, it was widely available to all customers in the US.
“Rufus” is now available in the US, India and the UK which helps the shoppers get product recommendations, get shopping list advice, compare products and see what other customers have responded to their specific questions.
Results generated by Amazon's search engine are partly determined by promotional fees. The company's localized storefronts, which differ in selection and prices, are differentiated by top-level domain and country code:
| Country | share |
|---|---|
| United States | 69.3% |
| Germany | 6.5% |
| United Kingdom | 5.8% |
| Japan | 4.8% |
| Other | 13.6% |
| Region | Country | Domain name | Since | Languages | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Africa | Egypt | amazon.eg | September 2021 | Arabic, English | Formerly known as Souq.com Egypt |
| South Africa | amazon.co.za | May 2024 | English | ||
| Americas | Brazil | amazon.com.br | December 2012 | Portuguese | |
| Canada | amazon.ca | June 2002 | English, French | ||
| Mexico | amazon.com.mx | August 2013 | Spanish | ||
| United States | amazon.com | July 1995 | English, Spanish, Arabic, German, Hebrew, Korean, Portuguese, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional) | International customers without a localized Amazon website may purchase eBooks from the Kindle Store on Amazon US. | |
| Asia | China | amazon.cn | September 2004 | Chinese (Simplified) | Formerly known as Joyo.com CHN |
| India | amazon.in | June 2013 | English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi | ||
| Japan | amazon.co.jp | November 2000 | Japanese, English, Chinese (Simplified) | ||
| Saudi Arabia | amazon.sa | June 2020 | Arabic, English | Formerly known as Souq.com KSA | |
| Singapore | amazon.sg | July 2017 | English | ||
| Turkey | amazon.com.tr | September 2018 | Turkish | ||
| United Arab Emirates | amazon.ae | May 2019 | Arabic, English | Formerly known as Souq.com UAE | |
| Europe | Belgium | amazon.com.be | October 2022 | Dutch, French, English | |
| France | amazon.fr | August 2000 | French, English | ||
| Germany | amazon.de | October 1998 | German, English, Czech, Dutch, Polish, Turkish | Also serves Austria, Denmark and Switzerland | |
| Ireland | amazon.ie | March 2025 | English | ||
| Italy | amazon.it | November 2010 | Italian, English | ||
| Netherlands | amazon.nl | November 2014 | Dutch, English | Initially only books & e-books, full shop opened March 2020 | |
| Poland | amazon.pl | March 2021 | Polish | ||
| Spain | amazon.es | September 2011 | Spanish, Portuguese, English | Also serves Portugal | |
| Sweden | amazon.se | October 2020 | Swedish, English | ||
| United Kingdom | amazon.co.uk | October 1998 | English | ||
| Oceania | Australia | amazon.com.au | November 2017 | English | Also serves New Zealand |
#### Merchant partnerships
In 2000, US toy retailer Toys "R" Us entered into a 10-year agreement with Amazon, valued at $50 million per year plus a cut of sales, under which Toys "R" Us would be the exclusive supplier of toys and baby products on the service, and the chain's website would redirect to Amazon's Toys & Games category. In 2004, Toys "R" Us sued Amazon, claiming that because of a perceived lack of variety in Toys "R" Us stock, Amazon had knowingly allowed third-party sellers to offer items on the service in categories that Toys "R" Us had been granted exclusivity. In 2006, a court ruled in favor of Toys "R" Us, giving it the right to unwind its agreement with Amazon and establish its independent e-commerce website. The company was later awarded $51 million in damages.
In 2001, Amazon entered into a similar agreement with Borders, under which Amazon would comanage Borders.com as a co-branded service. Borders pulled out of the arrangement in 2007, with plans to also launch its own online store.
On October 18, 2011, Amazon.com announced a partnership with DC Comics for the exclusive digital rights to many popular comics, including *Superman*, *Batman*, *Green Lantern*, *Sandman*, and *Watchmen*. The partnership has caused well-known bookstores like Barnes & Noble to remove these titles from their shelves.
In November 2013, Amazon announced a partnership with the United States Postal Service to begin delivering orders on Sundays. The service, included in Amazon's standard shipping rates, initiated in metropolitan areas of Greater Los Angeles and New York because of the high-volume and inability to deliver in a timely way, with plans to expand into Dallas, Houston, New Orleans and Phoenix by 2014.
In June 2017, Nike agreed to sell products through Amazon in exchange for better policing of counterfeit goods. This proved unsuccessful and Nike withdrew from the partnership in November 2019. Companies including IKEA and Birkenstock also stopped selling through Amazon around the same time, citing similar frustrations over business practices and counterfeit goods.
In September 2017, Amazon ventured with one of its sellers JV Appario Retail owned by Patni Group which has recorded a total income of US$104.44 million (₹759 crore) in financial year 2017–2018.
As of October 11, 2017[update], Amazon Fresh sold a range of Booths branded products for home delivery in selected areas.
In November 2018, Amazon reached an agreement with Apple Inc. to sell selected products through the service, via the company and selected Apple Authorized Resellers. As a result of this partnership, only Apple Authorized Resellers may sell Apple products on Amazon effective January 4, 2019.
On November 7, 2024, Amazon is reportedly discussing a second multi-billion dollar investment in AI startup Anthropic, following its initial $4 billion investment.
#### Private-label products
Amazon sells many products under its own brand names, including phone chargers, batteries, and diaper wipes. The AmazonBasics brand was introduced in 2009, and now features hundreds of product lines, including smartphone cases, computer mice, batteries, dumbbells, and dog crates. Amazon owned 34 private-label brands as of 2019. These brands account for 0.15% of Amazon's global sales, whereas the average for other large retailers is 18%. Other Amazon retail brands include Presto!, Mama Bear, and Amazon Essentials.
#### Third-party sellers
Amazon derives many of its sales (around 40% in 2008) from third-party sellers who sell products on Amazon. Some other large e-commerce sellers use Amazon to sell their products in addition to selling them through their websites. The sales are processed through Amazon.com and end up at individual sellers for processing and order fulfillment and Amazon leases space for these retailers. Small sellers of used and new goods go to Amazon Marketplace to offer goods at a fixed price.
Publishers can sign up as affiliates and receive a commission for referring customers to Amazon by placing links to Amazon on their websites if the referral results in a sale. Worldwide, Amazon has "over 900,000 members" in its affiliate programs. In the middle of 2014, the Amazon Affiliate Program is used by 1.2% of all websites and it is the second most popular advertising network after Google Ads. It is frequently used by websites and non-profits to provide a way for supporters to earn them a commission.
Associates can access the Amazon catalog directly on their websites by using the Amazon Web Services (AWS) XML service. A new affiliate product, aStore, allows Associates to embed a subset of Amazon products within another website, or linked to another website. In June 2010, Amazon Seller Product Suggestions was launched to provide more transparency to sellers by recommending specific products to third-party sellers to sell on Amazon. Products suggested are based on customers' browsing history.
#### Product reviews
Amazon allows users to submit reviews to the web page of each product. Reviewers must rate the product on a rating scale from one to five stars. Amazon provides a badging option for reviewers which indicates the real name of the reviewer (based on confirmation of a credit card account) or which indicates that the reviewer is one of the top reviewers by popularity. As of December 16, 2020, Amazon removed the ability of sellers and customers to comment on product reviews and purged their websites of all posted product review comments. In an email to sellers, Amazon gave its rationale for removing this feature: "...*the comments feature on customer reviews was rarely used*." The remaining review response options are to indicate whether the reader finds the review helpful or to report that it violates Amazon policies (abuse). If a review is given enough "helpful" hits, it appears on the front page of the product. In 2010, Amazon was reported as being the largest single source of Internet consumer reviews.
When publishers asked Bezos why Amazon would publish negative reviews, he defended the practice by claiming that Amazon.com was "taking a different approach...we want to make every book available—the good, the bad and the ugly...to let truth loose".
There have been cases of positive reviews being written and posted by public relations companies on behalf of their clients and instances of writers using pseudonyms to leave negative reviews of their rivals' works.
#### Amazon sales rank
The Amazon sales rank (ASR) indicates the popularity of a product sold on any Amazon locale. It is a relative indicator of popularity that is updated hourly. Effectively, it is a "best sellers list" for the millions of products stocked by Amazon. While the ASR has no direct effect on the sales of a product, it is used by Amazon to determine which products to include in its bestsellers lists. Products that appear in these lists enjoy additional exposure on the Amazon website and this may lead to an increase in sales. In particular, products that experience large jumps (up or down) in their sales ranks may be included within Amazon's lists of "movers and shakers"; such a listing provides additional exposure that might lead to an increase in sales. For competitive reasons, Amazon does not release actual sales figures to the public. However, Amazon has now begun to release point of sale data via the BookScan service to verified authors. While the ASR has been the source of much speculation by publishers, manufacturers, and marketers, Amazon itself does not release the details of its sales rank calculation algorithm. Some companies have analyzed Amazon sales data to generate sales estimates based on the ASR, though Amazon states:
Please keep in mind that our sales rank figures are simply meant to be a guide of general interest for the customer and not definitive sales information for publishers—we assume you have this information regularly from your distribution sources
— Amazon.com Help
### Physical stores
In November 2015, Amazon opened a physical Amazon Books store in University Village in Seattle. The store was 5,500 square feet and prices for all products matched those on its website. Amazon opened its tenth physical bookstore in 2017; media speculation at the time suggested that Amazon planned to eventually roll out 300 to 400 bookstores around the country. All of its locations were closed in 2022 along with other retail locations under the "Amazon 4-Star" brand.
In July 2016, the company announced that it was opening a 1,100,000 ft (335,280.0 m) square foot facility in Palmer Township in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. As of 2024, Amazon is Lehigh Valley region's third-largest employer.
In August 2019, Amazon applied to have a liquor store in San Francisco, as a means to ship beer and alcohol within the city.
In 2020, Amazon Fresh opened several physical stores in the US and the United Kingdom.
### Hardware and services
Amazon has a number of products and services available, including its digital assistant Alexa, Amazon Music, and Prime Video for music and videos respectively, the Amazon Appstore for Android apps, the Kindle line of electronic paper e-readers, Fire and Fire HD color LCD tablets. Audible provides audiobooks for purchase and listening.
In September 2021, Amazon announced the launch of Astro, its first household robot, powered by its Alexa smart home technology. This can be remote-controlled when not at home, to check on pets, people, or home security. It will send owners a notification if it detects something unusual.
In January 2023, Amazon announced the launch of RXPass, a prescription drug delivery service. It allows U.S. Amazon Prime members to pay a $5 monthly fee for access to 60 medications. The service was launched immediately after the announcement except in states with specific prescription delivery requirements. Beneficiaries of government healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid will not be able to sign up for RXPass.
### Subsidiaries
Amazon owns over 100 subsidiaries, including Amazon Web Services, Audible, Diapers.com, Goodreads, IMDb, Kiva Systems (now Amazon Robotics), One Medical, Shopbop, Teachstreet, Twitch, Zappos, and Zoox.
Bezos separately owns *The Washington Post* (through Nash Holdings, LLC), Blue Origin, Bezos Expeditions, Altos Labs, and other companies.
#### Amazon Live
Type of site | Online video platform |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | 98109, WA Seattle, Washington, United States |
| Owner | Amazon Inc. |
| Industry |
|
| Parent | Amazon Inc. |
| Launched | 2019 |
**Amazon Live** is an American video e-commerce live-streaming service created by Amazon Inc. to compete with live-streaming services. The service allows users to stream live videos promoting or sponsoring products. Users (mainly celebrities or Internet influencers) have the option to livestream on Amazon and add tags to additionally add context to the products they're selling or promoting. Other users can join in and type in messages to send to a global chat on the livestream.
In 2019 Amazon launched an integrated platform into the Amazon website and application. In 2023 roughly a billion total viewers watch Amazon Live across the United States and India. The platform has also been integrated into Amazon Freevee and Amazon Prime Video.
#### Amazon Web Services
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, on a metered pay-as-you-go basis. These cloud computing web services provide distributed computing processing capacity and software tools via AWS server farms. As of 2021 Q4, AWS has 33% market share for cloud infrastructure while the next two competitors Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud have 21%, and 10% respectively, according to Synergy Group.
#### Audible
Audible is a seller and producer of spoken audio entertainment, information, and educational programming on the Internet. Audible sells digital audiobooks, radio and television programs, and audio versions of magazines and newspapers. Through its production arm, Audible Studios, Audible has also become the world's largest producer of downloadable audiobooks. On January 31, 2008, Amazon announced it would buy Audible for about $300 million. The deal closed in March 2008 and Audible became a subsidiary of Amazon.
#### Goodreads
Goodreads is a "social cataloging" website founded in December 2006 and launched in January 2007 by Otis Chandler, a software engineer, and entrepreneur, and Elizabeth Khuri. The website allows individuals to freely search Goodreads' extensive user-populated database of books, annotations, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and reading lists. They can also create their groups of book suggestions and discussions. In December 2007, the site had over 650,000 members, and over a million books had been added. Amazon bought the company in March 2013.
#### Ring
Ring is a home automation company founded by Jamie Siminoff in 2013. It is primarily known for its Wi-Fi powered smart doorbells, but manufactures other devices such as security cameras. Amazon bought Ring for US$1 billion in 2018.
#### Twitch
Twitch is a live streaming platform for video, primarily oriented towards video gaming content. Twitch was acquired by Amazon in August 2014 for $970 million. The site's rapid growth had been boosted primarily by the prominence of major esports competitions on the service, leading GameSpot senior esports editor Rod Breslau to have described the service as "the ESPN of esports". As of 2015[update], the service had over 1.5 million broadcasters and 100 million monthly viewers.
#### Whole Foods Market
Whole Foods Market is an American supermarket chain exclusively featuring foods without artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, sweeteners, and hydrogenated fats. Amazon acquired Whole Foods for $13.7 billion in August 2017.
Since acquiring Whole Foods, the company has launched its own chain of Fresh supermarkets and taken steps to integrate its online and physical grocery operations.
#### Other
Other Amazon subsidiaries include:
**A9.com**, a company focused on researching and building innovative technology; it has been a subsidiary since 2003.- Amazon Academy, formerly JEE Ready, is an online learning platform for engineering students to prepare for competitive exams like the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), launched by Amazon India on 13 January 2021
**Amazon Maritime**, Inc. holds a Federal Maritime Commission license to operate as a non-vessel-owning common carrier (NVOCC), which enables the company to manage its shipments from China into the United States.**Amazon Pharmacy**is an online delivery service dedicated to prescription drugs, launched in November 2020. The service provides discounts up to 80% for generic drugs and up to 40% for branded drugs for Prime subscribe users. The products can be purchased on the company's website or at over 50,000 bricks-and-mortar pharmacies in the United States.**Annapurna Labs**, an Israel-based microelectronics company reputedly for US$350–370M acquired by Amazon Web Services in January 2015 .**Beijing Century Joyo Courier Services**, which applied for a freight forwarding license with the US Maritime Commission. Amazon is also building out its logistics in trucking and air freight to potentially compete with UPS and FedEx.**Brilliance Audio**, an audiobook publisher founded in 1984 by Michael Snodgrass in Grand Haven, Michigan. The company produced its first eight audio titles in 1985. The company was purchased by Amazon in 2007 for an undisclosed amount. At the time of the acquisition, Brilliance was producing 12–15 new titles a month. It operates as an independent company within Amazon. In 1984, Brilliance Audio invented a technique for recording twice as much on the same cassette. The technique involved recording on each of the two channels of each stereo track. It has been credited with revolutionizing the burgeoning audiobook market in the mid-1980s since it made unabridged books affordable.**ComiXology**, a cloud-based digital comics platform with over 200 million comic downloads as of September 2013[update]. It offers a selection of more than 40,000 comic books and graphic novels across Android, iOS, Fire OS and Windows 8 devices and over a web browser. Amazon bought the company in April 2014.**CreateSpace**, which offers self-publishing services for independent content creators, publishers, film studios, and music labels, became a subsidiary in 2009.**Eero**, an electronics company specializing in mesh-networking Wifi devices founded as a startup in 2014 by Nick Weaver, Amos Schallich, and Nate Hardison to simplify and innovate the smart home. Eero was acquired by Amazon in 2019 for US$97 million. Eero has continued to operate under its banner and advertises its commitment to privacy despite early concerns from the company's acquisition.**Health Navigator**is a startup developing APIs for online health services acquired in October 2019. The startup will form part of Amazon Care, which is the company's employee healthcare service. This follows the 2018 purchase of PillPack for under $1 billion, which has also been included into Amazon Care.**Junglee**, a former online shopping service provided by Amazon that enabled customers to search for products from online and offline retailers in India. Junglee started as a virtual database that was used to extract information from the Internet and deliver it to enterprise applications. As it progressed, Junglee started to use its database technology to create a single window marketplace on the Internet by making every item from every supplier available for purchase. Web shoppers could locate, compare and transact millions of products from across the Internet shopping mall through one window. Amazon acquired Junglee in 1998, and the website Junglee.com was launched in India in February 2012 as a comparison-shopping website. It curated and enabled searching for a diverse variety of products such as clothing, electronics, toys, jewelry, and video games, among others, across thousands of online and offline sellers. Millions of products are browsable, the client selects a price, and then they are directed to a seller. In November 2017, Amazon closed down Junglee.com and the former domain currently redirects to Amazon India.**Kuiper Systems**, a subsidiary of Amazon, set up to deploy a broadband satellite internet constellation with an announced 3,236 Low Earth orbit satellites to provide satellite based Internet connectivity.**Lab126**, developers of integrated consumer electronics such as the Kindle, became a subsidiary in 2004.**Shelfari**, a former social cataloging website for books. Shelfari users built virtual bookshelves of the titles which they owned or had read and they could rate, review, tag and discuss their books. Users could also create groups that other members could join, create discussions and talk about books, or other topics. Recommendations could be sent to friends on the site for what books to read. Amazon bought the company in August 2008. Shelfari continued to function as an independent book social network within the Amazon until January 2016, when Amazon announced that it would be merging Shelfari with Goodreads and closing down Shelfari.**Souq**, the former largest e-commerce platform in the Arab world. The company launched in 2005 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and served multiple areas across the Middle East. On March 28, 2017, Amazon acquired Souq.com for $580 million. The company was re-branded as Amazon and its infrastructure was used to expand Amazon's online platform in the Middle East.
Amazon also has investments in renewable energy, including plans to fund four small nuclear reactors at the Xe-100 reactor site in Eastern Washington, and plans to expand its position into the Canadian market through an investment in a new plant in Alberta.
## Operations
### Logistics
Amazon uses many different transportation services to deliver packages. Amazon-branded services include:
- Amazon Air, a cargo airline for bulk transport, with last-mile delivery handled either by Amazon Flex, Amazon Logistics, or the U.S. Postal Service.
- Amazon Flex, a smartphone app that enables individuals to act as independent contractors, delivering packages to customers from personal vehicles without uniforms. Deliveries include one or two hours Prime Now, same or next day Amazon Fresh groceries, and standard Amazon.com orders, in addition to orders from local stores that contract with Amazon.
- Amazon Logistics, in which Amazon contracts with small businesses (which it calls "Delivery Service Partners") to perform deliveries to customers. Each business has a fleet of approximately 20–40 Amazon-branded vans, and employees of the contractors wear Amazon uniforms. As of December 2020, it operates in the United States, Canada, Italy, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
- Amazon Prime Air is an experimental drone delivery service that delivers packages via drones to Amazon Prime subscribers in select cities.
Amazon directly employs people to work at its warehouses, bulk distribution centers, staffed "Amazon Hub Locker+" locations, and delivery stations where drivers pick up packages. As of December 2020, it is not hiring delivery drivers as employees.
Rakuten Intelligence estimated that in 2020 in the United States, the proportion of last-mile deliveries was 56% by Amazon's directly contracted services (mostly in urban areas), 30% by the United States Postal Service (mostly in rural areas), and 14% by UPS. In April 2021, Amazon reported to investors it had increased its in-house delivery capacity by 50% in the last 12 months (which included the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States).
### Supply chain
Amazon first launched its distribution network in 1997 with two fulfillment centers in Seattle and New Castle, Delaware. Amazon has several types of distribution facilities consisting of cross-dock centers, fulfillment centers, sortation centers, delivery stations, Prime now hubs, and Prime air hubs. There are 75 fulfillment centers and 25 sortation centers with over 125,000 employees. Employees are responsible for five basic tasks: unpacking and inspecting incoming goods; placing goods in storage and recording their location; picking goods from their computer recorded locations to make up an individual shipment; sorting and packing orders; and shipping. A computer that records the location of goods and maps out routes for pickers plays a key role: employees carry hand-held computers which communicate with the central computer and monitor their rate of progress. Some warehouses are partially automated with systems built by Amazon Robotics.
In September 2006, Amazon launched a program called FBA (Fulfillment By Amazon) whereby it could handle storage, packing and distribution of products and services for small sellers.
## Corporate affairs
### Board of directors
As of June 2022[update], Amazon's board of directors were:
- Jeff Bezos, executive chairman, Amazon.com, Inc.
- Andy Jassy, president and CEO, Amazon.com, Inc.
- Keith B. Alexander, CEO of IronNet Cybersecurity, former NSA director
- Edith W. Cooper, co-founder of Medley and former EVP of Goldman Sachs
- Jamie Gorelick, partner, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr
- Daniel Huttenlocher, dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing.
- Judy McGrath, former CEO, Paramount Media Networks
- Indra Nooyi, former CEO, PepsiCo
- Jon Rubinstein, former chairman and CEO, Palm, Inc.
- Patty Stonesifer, president and CEO, Martha's Table
- Wendell Weeks, chairman, president and CEO, Corning Inc.
### Ownership
The 10 largest shareholder of Amazon in early 2024 were:
| Shareholder name | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Jeff Bezos | 9.1% |
| The Vanguard Group | 7.5% |
| BlackRock | 4.6% |
| State Street Corporation | 3.3% |
| Fidelity Investments | 3.1% |
| MacKenzie Scott | 1.9% |
| T. Rowe Price | 1.9% |
| Geode Capital Management | 1.8% |
| JP Morgan Investment Management | 1.5% |
| Eaton Vance | 1.5% |
| Others | 63.8% |
### Finances
| Business | share |
|---|---|
| Online Stores | 40.3% |
| Third-party Seller Services | 24.4% |
| Amazon Web Services | 15.8% |
| Advertising | 8.2% |
| Subscription Services | 7.0% |
| Physical Stores | 3.5% |
| Other | 0.9% |
Amazon.com is primarily a retail site with a sales revenue model; Amazon takes a small percentage of the sale price of each item that is sold through its website while also allowing companies to advertise their products by paying to be listed as featured products. As of 2018[update], Amazon.com is ranked eighth on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue. In Forbes Global 2000 2023 Amazon ranked 36th.
For the fiscal year 2021, Amazon reported earnings of US$33.36 billion, with an annual revenue of US$469.82 billion, an increase of 21.7% over the previous fiscal cycle. Since 2007 sales increased from 14.835 billion to 469.822 billion, due to continued business expansion.[ citation needed]
Amazon's market capitalization went over US$1 trillion again in early February 2020 after the announcement of the fourth quarter 2019 results.
| Year | Revenue in million US$ |
Net income in million US$ |
Total Assets in million US$ |
Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 0.5 | −0.3 | 1.1 | |
| 1996 | 16 | −6 | 8 | |
| 1997 | 148 | −28 | 149 | 614 |
| 1998 | 610 | −124 | 648 | 2,100 |
| 1999 | 1,639 | −720 | 2,466 | 7,600 |
| 2000 | 2,761 | −1,411 | 2,135 | 9,000 |
| 2001 | 3,122 | −567 | 1,638 | 7,800 |
| 2002 | 3,932 | −149 | 1,990 | 7,500 |
| 2003 | 5,263 | 35 | 2,162 | 7,800 |
| 2004 | 6,921 | 588 | 3,248 | 9,000 |
| 2005 | 8,490 | 359 | 3,696 | 12,000 |
| 2006 | 10,711 | 190 | 4,363 | 13,900 |
| 2007 | 14,835 | 476 | 6,485 | 17,000 |
| 2008 | 19,166 | 645 | 8,314 | 20,700 |
| 2009 | 24,509 | 902 | 13,813 | 24,300 |
| 2010 | 34,204 | 1,152 | 18,797 | 33,700 |
| 2011 | 48,077 | 631 | 25,278 | 56,200 |
| 2012 | 61,093 | −39 | 32,555 | 88,400 |
| 2013 | 74,452 | 274 | 40,159 | 117,300 |
| 2014 | 88,988 | −241 | 54,505 | 154,100 |
| 2015 | 107,006 | 596 | 64,747 | 230,800 |
| 2016 | 135,987 | 2,371 | 83,402 | 341,400 |
| 2017 | 177,866 | 3,033 | 131,310 | 566,000 |
| 2018 | 232,887 | 10,073 | 162,648 | 647,500 |
| 2019 | 280,522 | 11,588 | 225,248 | 798,000 |
| 2020 | 386,064 | 21,331 | 321,195 | 1,298,000 |
| 2021 | 469,822 | 33,364 | 420,549 | 1,608,000 |
| 2022 | 513,983 | −2,722 | 462,675 | 1,541,000 |
| 2023 | 574,785 | 30,425 | 527,854 | 1,525,000 |
| 2024 | 637,959 | 59,248 | 624,894 | 1,556,000 |
### Corporate culture
During his tenure, Jeff Bezos had become renowned for his annual shareholder letters, which have gained similar notability to those of Warren Buffett. These annual letters gave an "invaluable window" into the famously "secretive" company, and revealed Bezos's perspectives and strategic focus. A common theme of these letters is Bezos's desire to instill customer-centricity (in his words, "customer obsession") at all levels of Amazon, notably by making all senior executives field customer support queries for a short time at Amazon call centers. He also read many emails addressed by customers to his public email address. One of Bezos's most well-known internal memos was his mandate for "all teams" to "expose their data and functionality" through service interfaces "designed from the ground up to be externalizable". This process, commonly known as a service-oriented architecture (SOA), resulted in mandatory dogfooding of services that would later be commercialized as part of AWS.[ citation needed]
### Lobbying
Amazon lobbies the United States federal government and state governments on multiple issues such as the enforcement of sales taxes on online sales, transportation safety, privacy and data protection and intellectual property. According to regulatory filings, Amazon.com focuses its lobbying on the United States Congress, the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Reserve. Amazon.com spent roughly $3.5 million, $5 million and $9.5 million on lobbying, in 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively. In 2019, it spent $16.8 million and had a team of 104 lobbyists.
Amazon.com was a corporate member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) until it dropped membership following protests at its shareholders' meeting on May 24, 2012.
In 2014, Amazon expanded its lobbying practices as it prepared to lobby the Federal Aviation Administration to approve its drone delivery program, hiring the Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld lobbying firm in June. Amazon and its lobbyists have visited with Federal Aviation Administration officials and aviation committees in Washington, D.C. to explain its plans to deliver packages. In September 2020 this moved one step closer with the granting of a critical certificate by the FAA.
During the second Trump Administration, Amazon donated several times to various events and aspects of his presidency. Along with several other major companies, Amazon donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund. In April 2025, Amazon was a corporate sponsor of the White House Easter Egg Roll, after Donald Trump solicited corporate sponsors for the event for the first time.
## Criticism
Amazon has attracted criticism for its actions, including: supplying law enforcement with facial recognition surveillance tools; forming cloud computing partnerships with the CIA; leading customers away from bookshops; adversely impacting the environment; placing a low priority on warehouse conditions for workers; actively opposing unionization efforts; remotely deleting content purchased by Amazon Kindle users; taking public subsidies; seeking to patent its 1-Click technology; engaging in anti-competitive actions and price discrimination; and reclassifying LGBTQ books as adult content. Criticism has also concerned various decisions over whether to censor or publish content such as the WikiLeaks website, works containing libel, anti-LGBT merchandise, and material facilitating dog fighting, cockfighting, or pedophile activities. An article published by *Time* in the wake of social media website Parler's termination of service by Amazon Web Service highlights the power companies like Amazon now have over the internet. In December 2011, Amazon faced a backlash from small businesses for running a one-day deal to promote its new Price Check app. Shoppers who used the app to check prices in a brick-and-mortar store were offered a 5% discount to purchase the same item from Amazon. Companies like Groupon, eBay and Taap have countered Amazon's promotion by offering $10 off from their products.
The company has also faced accusations of putting undue pressure on suppliers to maintain and extend its profitability. One effort to squeeze the most vulnerable book publishers was known within the company as the Gazelle Project, after Bezos suggested, according to Brad Stone, "that Amazon should approach these small publishers the way a cheetah would pursue a sickly gazelle." In July 2014, the Federal Trade Commission launched a lawsuit against the company alleging it was promoting in-app purchases to children, which were being transacted without parental consent. In 2019, Amazon banned selling skin-lightening products after pushback from Minnesota health and environmental activists. In 2022, a lawsuit filed by state attorney-general Letitia James was dismissed by the New York state court of appeals. After the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon faced criticism for complying, under pressure from the Biden Administration, to "reduce the visibility” of books critical of the COVID-19 vaccine, which was revealed after Rep. Jim Jordan (acting on behalf of the House Judiciary Committee) subpoenaed emails between the company and the Biden Administration.
Amazon Prime has been criticized for its vehicles systemically double parking, blocking bike lanes, and otherwise violating traffic laws while dropping off packages, contributing to traffic congestion and endangering other road users.
Jane Friedman discovered six listings of books fraudulently using her name, on Amazon and Goodreads. Amazon and Goodreads resisted removing the fraudulent titles until the author's complaints went viral on social media, in a blog post titled "I Would Rather See My Books Get Pirated Than This (Or: Why Goodreads and Amazon Are Becoming Dumpster Fires)."
In 2024, following years of criticism for providing law enforcement footage in the custody of Ring (a home security company owned by Amazon) without a warrant, Ring has halted this practice. It received cautious praise from privacy-focused organizations such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation for this change.
In February 2025, Sky accused Amazon of not doing enough to prevent the piracy of its sports rights via “jailbroken” Fire Sticks.
## See also
- Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award
- Amazon Pay
- Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN)
- Amazon Storywriter
- Camelcamelcamel – a website that tracks the prices of products sold on Amazon.com
- History of Amazon
- Internal carbon pricing
- List of book distributors
- Statistically improbable phrases – Amazon.com's phrase extraction technique for indexing books
## Further reading
## External links
- Official website
- Amazon on OpenSecrets, a website that tracks and publishes data on campaign finance and lobbying
- Amazon (company) companies grouped at OpenCorporates
- Business data for Amazon.com, Inc.:
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# Germany - Wikipedia
Federal Republic of Germany Bundesrepublik Deutschland | |
|---|---|
Anthem: "Das Lied der Deutschen"The Song of the Germans | |
| Capital and largest city | Berlin |
| Official languages | German |
| Demonym(s) | German |
| Government | Federal parliamentary republic |
| Frank-Walter Steinmeier | |
| Friedrich Merz | |
| Legislature | |
| Bundesrat | |
| Bundestag | |
| Area | |
• Total | 357,596 km2 (138,069 sq mi) (63rd) |
• Water (%) | 1.27 |
| Population | |
• Q3 2024 estimate | 83,555,478 |
• 2022 census | 82,719,540 (19th) |
• Density | 234/km2 (606.1/sq mi) (58th) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2025 estimate |
• Total | $6.161 trillion (6th) |
• Per capita | $72,599 (22nd) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2025 estimate |
• Total | $4.745 trillion (3rd) |
• Per capita | $55,911 (17th) |
| Gini (2023) | 29.4 low inequality |
| HDI (2023) | 0.959 very high (5th) |
| Currency | Euro (€) (EUR) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| UTC+2 (CEST) | |
| Date format |
|
| Calling code | +49 |
| ISO 3166 code | DE |
| Internet TLD | .de |
**Germany**, officially the **Federal Republic of Germany**, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 million in an area of 357,596 km2 (138,069 sq mi), making it the most populous member state of the European Union. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands to the west. The nation's capital and most populous city is Berlin and its main financial centre is Frankfurt; the largest urban area is the Ruhr.
Settlement in the territory of modern Germany began in the Lower Paleolithic, with various tribes inhabiting it from the Neolithic onward, chiefly the Celts. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity. A region named Germania was documented before AD 100. In 962, the Kingdom of Germany formed the bulk of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. Following the Napoleonic Wars and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the German Confederation was formed in 1815.
Formal unification of Germany into the modern nation-state commenced on 18 August 1866 with the North German Confederation Treaty establishing the Prussia-led North German Confederation, which became the German Empire in 1871. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic. The Nazi rise to power in 1933 led to the establishment of a totalitarian dictatorship, World War II, and the Holocaust. In 1949, after the war and a period of Allied occupation, Germany was organised into two separate polities with limited sovereignty: the Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany, and the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany. Berlin continued its *de jure* Four Power status. The Federal Republic of Germany was a founding member of the Council of Europe, the European Economic Community and the European Union in 1951, while the German Democratic Republic was a communist Eastern Bloc state and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the fall of the communist led-government in East Germany, German reunification saw the former East German states join the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 October 1990.
Germany is a developed country with a strong economy; it has the largest economy in Europe by nominal GDP. As a major force in several industrial, scientific and technological sectors, it is both the world's third-largest exporter and importer. It offers social security, a universal health care system, and tuition-free university education. Germany is part of multiple international organisations and forums. It has the third-highest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites: 54, of which 51 are cultural.
## Etymology
The English word *Germany* derives from the Latin *Germania*, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. The German term *Deutschland*, originally *diutisciu land* ('the German lands'), is derived from *deutsch* (cf. *Dutch*), which descended from Old High German *diutisc* 'of the people' (from *diot* or *diota* 'people'), originally used to distinguish the language of the common people from Latin and its Romance descendants. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic **þiudiskaz* 'of the people' (see also the Latinised form *Theodiscus*), derived from **þeudō*, descended from Proto-Indo-European **tewtéh₂-* 'people', from which the word *Teutons* also originates.
## History
### Prehistory
Pre-human ancestors, the *Danuvius guggenmosi*, who were present in Germany over 11 million years ago, are theorised to be among the earliest ones to walk on two legs. Ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The first non-modern human fossil (the Neanderthal) was discovered in the Neander Valley. Similarly dated evidence of modern humans has been found in the Swabian Jura, including 42,000-year-old flutes which are the oldest musical instruments ever found, the 40,000-year-old Lion Man, and the 41,000-year-old Venus of Hohle Fels.
The Germanic peoples are thought to have emerged from the Jastorf culture during the Nordic Bronze Age or early Iron Age. From southern Scandinavia and northern Germany, they expanded south, east, and west, coming into contact with the Celtic, Iranian, Baltic, and Slavic tribes. Southern Germany was inhabited by Celtic-speaking peoples, who belonged to the wider La Tène culture. They were later assimilated by the Germanic conquerors.
Under Augustus, the Roman Empire began to invade lands inhabited by the Germanic tribes, creating a short-lived Roman province of Germania between the Rhine and Elbe rivers. In 9 AD, three Roman legions were defeated by Arminius in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. The outcome of this battle dissuaded the Romans from their ambition of conquering Germania and is thus considered one of the most important events in European history. By 100 AD, when Tacitus wrote *Germania*, Germanic tribes had settled along the Rhine and the Danube (the Limes Germanicus), occupying most of modern Germany. However, Baden-Württemberg, southern Bavaria, southern Hesse and the western Rhineland had been incorporated into Roman provinces.
Around 260, Germanic peoples broke into Roman-controlled lands. After the invasion of the Huns in 375, and with the decline of Rome from 395, Germanic tribes moved farther southwest: the Franks established the Frankish Kingdom and pushed east to subjugate Saxony and Bavaria. Areas of modern eastern Germany were inhabited by Western Slavic tribes.
### East Francia and the Holy Roman Empire
Charlemagne founded the Carolingian Empire in 800; it was divided in 843. The eastern successor kingdom of East Francia stretched from the Rhine in the west to the Elbe river in the east and from the North Sea to the Alps. Subsequently, the Holy Roman Empire emerged from it. The Ottonian rulers (919–1024) consolidated several major duchies. In 996, Gregory V became the first German Pope, appointed by his cousin Otto III, whom he shortly after crowned Holy Roman Emperor. The Holy Roman Empire absorbed northern Italy and Burgundy under the Salian emperors (1024–1125), although the emperors lost power through the Investiture Controversy.
Under the Hohenstaufen emperors (1138–1254), German princes encouraged German settlement to the south and east (*Ostsiedlung*). Members of the Hanseatic League, mostly north German towns, prospered in the expansion of trade. The population declined starting with the Great Famine in 1315, followed by the Black Death of 1348–1350. The Golden Bull issued in 1356 provided the constitutional structure of the Empire and codified the election of the emperor by seven prince-electors.
Johannes Gutenberg introduced moveable-type printing to Europe, laying the basis for the democratisation of knowledge. In 1517, Martin Luther incited the Protestant Reformation and his translation of the Bible began the standardisation of the language; the 1555 Peace of Augsburg tolerated the "Evangelical" faith (Lutheranism), but also decreed that the faith of the prince was to be the faith of his subjects (*cuius regio, eius religio*). From the Cologne War through the Thirty Years' Wars (1618–1648), religious conflict devastated German lands and significantly reduced the population.
The Peace of Westphalia ended religious warfare among the Imperial Estates. The legal system initiated by a series of Imperial Reforms (approximately 1495–1555) provided for considerable local autonomy and a stronger Imperial Diet. The House of Habsburg held the imperial crown from 1438 until the death of Charles VI in 1740. Following the War of the Austrian Succession and the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, Charles VI's daughter Maria Theresa ruled as empress consort when her husband, Francis I, became emperor.
From 1740, dualism between the Austrian Habsburg monarchy and the Kingdom of Prussia dominated German history. In 1772, 1793, and 1795, Prussia and Austria, along with the Russian Empire, agreed to the Partitions of Poland. During the period of the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic era and the subsequent final meeting of the Imperial Diet, most of the Free Imperial Cities were annexed by dynastic territories; the ecclesiastical territories were secularised and annexed. In 1806 the *Imperium* was dissolved; France, Russia, Prussia, and the Habsburgs (Austria) competed for hegemony in the German states during the Napoleonic Wars.
### German Confederation and Empire
Following the fall of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna founded the German Confederation, a loose league of 39 sovereign states. The appointment of the emperor of Austria as the permanent president reflected the Congress's rejection of Prussia's rising influence. Disagreement within restoration politics partly led to the rise of liberal movements, followed by new measures of repression by Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich. The *Zollverein*, a tariff union, furthered economic unity. In light of revolutionary movements in Europe, intellectuals and commoners started the revolutions of 1848 in the German states, raising the German question. King Frederick William IV of Prussia was offered the title of emperor, but with a loss of power; he rejected the crown and the proposed constitution, a temporary setback for the movement.
King William I appointed Otto von Bismarck as the Minister President of Prussia in 1862. Bismarck successfully concluded the war with Denmark in 1864; the subsequent decisive Prussian victory in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 enabled him to create the North German Confederation which excluded Austria. After the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War, the German princes proclaimed the founding of the German Empire in 1871. Prussia was the dominant constituent state of the new empire; the King of Prussia ruled as its Kaiser, and Berlin became its capital.
In the *Gründerzeit* period following the unification of Germany, Bismarck's foreign policy as chancellor of Germany secured Germany's position as a great nation by forging alliances and avoiding war. However, under Wilhelm II, Germany took an imperialistic course, leading to friction with neighbouring countries. A dual alliance was created with the multinational realm of Austria-Hungary; the Triple Alliance of 1882 included Italy. Britain, France and Russia also concluded alliances to protect against Habsburg interference with Russian interests in the Balkans or German interference against France. At the Berlin Conference in 1884, Germany claimed several colonies including German East Africa, German South West Africa, Togoland, and Kamerun. Later, Germany further expanded its colonial empire to include holdings in the Pacific and China. The colonial government in South West Africa (present-day Namibia), from 1904 to 1908, carried out the annihilation of the local Herero and Nama peoples as punishment for an uprising; this was the 20th century's first genocide.
The assassination of Austria's crown prince on 28 June 1914 provided the pretext for Austria-Hungary to attack Serbia and trigger World War I. After four years of warfare, in which approximately two million German soldiers were killed, a general armistice ended the fighting. In the German Revolution (November 1918), Wilhelm II and the ruling princes abdicated their positions, and Germany was declared a federal republic. Germany's new leadership signed the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, accepting defeat by the Allies. Germans perceived the treaty as humiliating, which was seen by historians as influential in the rise of Adolf Hitler. Germany lost around 13% of its European territory and ceded all of its colonial possessions in Africa and the Pacific.
### Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany
On 11 August 1919, President Friedrich Ebert signed the democratic Weimar Constitution. Communists briefly seized power in Bavaria and a few larger cities, while conservative elements failed to overthrow the central government in the 1920 Kapp Putsch. The occupation of the Ruhr by Belgian and French troops and a period of hyperinflation followed. A plan to restructure Germany's war reparations and the creation of a new currency in 1924 helped stabilise the government and ushered in the Golden Twenties, an era of artistic innovation and liberal cultural life.
The worldwide Great Depression hit Germany in 1929, and by 1932 the unemployment rate had risen to 24%. The Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler became the largest party in the Reichstag after the election of July 1932, and President Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor on 30 January 1933. After the Reichstag fire, a decree abrogated basic civil rights, and the first Nazi concentration camp opened. On 23 March 1933, the Enabling Act gave Hitler unrestricted legislative power, overriding the constitution, and marked the beginning of Nazi Germany. His government established a centralised totalitarian state, withdrew from the League of Nations, and dramatically increased the country's rearmament. A government-sponsored programme for economic renewal focused on public works, the most famous of which was the *Autobahn*.
In 1935, the regime withdrew from the Treaty of Versailles and introduced the Nuremberg Laws which targeted Jews and other minorities. Germany also reacquired control of the Saarland in 1935, remilitarised the Rhineland in 1936, annexed Austria in 1938, annexed the Sudetenland in 1938 with the Munich Agreement, and, in violation of the agreement, occupied Czechoslovakia in March 1939. *Kristallnacht* (Night of Broken Glass) saw the burning of synagogues, the destruction of Jewish businesses, and mass arrests of Jewish people.
In August 1939, Hitler's government negotiated the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact that divided Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence. On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, beginning World War II in Europe; Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September. In the spring of 1940, Germany conquered Denmark and Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France, forcing the French government to sign an armistice. The British repelled German air attacks in the Battle of Britain in the same year. In 1941, German troops invaded Yugoslavia, Greece and the Soviet Union. By 1942, Germany and its allies controlled most of continental Europe and North Africa, but following the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad, the Allied reconquest of North Africa and invasion of Italy in 1943, German forces suffered repeated military defeats. In 1944, the Soviets pushed into Eastern Europe; the Western allies landed in France and entered Germany despite a final German counteroffensive. Following Hitler's suicide during the Battle of Berlin, Germany signed the surrender document on 8 May 1945, ending World War II in Europe and Nazi Germany. Following the end of the war, surviving Nazi officials were tried for war crimes at the Nuremberg trials.
In what later became known as the Holocaust, the German government persecuted minorities, including interning them in concentration and death camps across Europe. The regime systematically murdered around 6 million Jews, at least 130,000 Romani, 275,000 disabled, thousands of Jehovah's Witnesses, thousands of homosexuals, and hundreds of thousands of political and religious opponents. Nazi policies in German-occupied countries resulted in the deaths of an estimated 2.7 million Poles, 1.3 million Ukrainians, 1 million Belarusians and 3.5 million Soviet prisoners of war. German military casualties have been estimated at 5.3 million, and around 900,000 German civilians died. Around 12 million ethnic Germans were expelled from across Eastern Europe, and Germany lost roughly one-quarter of its pre-war territory.
### East and West Germany
After the surrender of Nazi Germany, the Allies *de jure* abolished the German state and partitioned Berlin and Germany's remaining territory into four occupation zones. The western sectors, controlled by France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, were merged on 23 May 1949 to form the Federal Republic of Germany (German: *Bundesrepublik Deutschland*); on 7 October 1949, the Soviet Zone became the German Democratic Republic (GDR) (*Deutsche Demokratische Republik*; DDR). They were informally known as West Germany and East Germany. East Germany selected East Berlin as its capital, while West Germany chose Bonn as a provisional capital, to emphasise its stance that the two-state solution was temporary.
West Germany was established as a federal parliamentary republic with a social market economy. In 1948, West Germany became a major recipient of reconstruction aid under the American Marshall Plan. Konrad Adenauer was elected the first federal chancellor of Germany in 1949. The country enjoyed prolonged economic growth (*Wirtschaftswunder*) beginning in the early 1950s. West Germany joined NATO in 1955 and was a founding member of the European Economic Community. On 1 January 1957, the Saarland joined West Germany.
East Germany was an Eastern Bloc state under political and military control by the Soviet Union via occupation forces and the Warsaw Pact. Although East Germany claimed to be a democracy, political power was exercised solely by leading members (*Politbüro*) of the communist-controlled Socialist Unity Party of Germany, supported by the Stasi, an immense secret service. While East German propaganda was based on the benefits of the GDR's social programmes and the alleged threat of a West German invasion, many of its citizens looked to the West for freedom and prosperity. The Berlin Wall, built in 1961, prevented East German citizens from escaping to West Germany, becoming a symbol of the Cold War.
Tensions between East and West Germany were reduced in the late 1960s by Chancellor Willy Brandt's *Ostpolitik*. In 1989, Hungary decided to dismantle the Iron Curtain and open its border with Austria, causing the emigration of thousands of East Germans to West Germany via Hungary and Austria. This had devastating effects on the GDR, where regular mass demonstrations received increasing support. In an effort to help retain East Germany as a state, the East German authorities eased border restrictions, but this actually led to an acceleration of the *Wende* reform process culminating in the *Two Plus Four Treaty* under which Germany regained full sovereignty. This permitted German reunification on 3 October 1990, with the accession of the five re-established states of the former GDR. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 became a symbol of the Fall of Communism, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, German reunification and *Die Wende* ("the turning point").
### Reunified Germany and the European Union
United Germany was considered the enlarged continuation of West Germany, so it retained its memberships in international organisations. Based on the Berlin/Bonn Act (1994), Berlin again became the capital of Germany, while Bonn obtained the unique status of a *Bundesstadt* (federal city), retaining some federal ministries. The relocation of the government was completed in 1999, and modernisation of the East German economy was scheduled to last until 2019.
Since reunification, Germany has taken a more active role in the European Union, signing the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 and the Lisbon Treaty in 2007, and co-founding the eurozone. Germany sent a peacekeeping force to secure stability in the Balkans and sent German troops to Afghanistan as part of a NATO effort to provide security in that country after the ousting of the Taliban.
In the 2005 elections, Angela Merkel became the first female chancellor. In 2009, the German government approved a €50 billion stimulus plan. Among the major German political projects of the early 21st century are the advancement of European integration, the energy transition (*Energiewende*) for a sustainable energy supply, the debt brake for balanced budgets, measures to increase the fertility rate (pronatalism), and high-tech strategies for the transition of the German economy, summarised as Industry 4.0. During the 2015 European migrant crisis, the country took in over a million refugees and migrants.
## Geography
Germany is the seventh-largest country in Europe. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands to the west. Germany is also bordered by the North Sea and, at the north-northeast, by the Baltic Sea. German territory covers 357,596 km2 (138,069 sq mi). Elevation ranges from the mountains of the Alps (highest point: the Zugspitze at 2,963 metres or 9,721 feet) in the south to the shores of the North Sea (*Nordsee*) in the northwest and the Baltic Sea (*Ostsee*) in the northeast. The forested uplands of central Germany and the lowlands of northern Germany (lowest point: in the municipality Neuendorf-Sachsenbande, Wilstermarsch at 3.54 metres or 11.6 feet below sea level) are traversed by such major rivers as the Rhine, Danube and Elbe. Significant natural resources include iron ore, coal, potash, timber, lignite, uranium, copper, natural gas, salt, and nickel.
### Climate
Most of Germany has a temperate climate, ranging from oceanic in the north and west to continental in the east and southeast. Winters range from the cold in the Southern Alps to cool and are generally overcast with limited precipitation, while summers can vary from hot and dry to cool and rainy. The northern regions have prevailing westerly winds that bring in moist air from the North Sea, moderating the temperature and increasing precipitation. Conversely, the southeast regions have more extreme temperatures.
From February 2019–February 2020, average monthly temperatures in Germany ranged from a low of 3.3 °C (37.9 °F) in January 2020 to a high of 19.8 °C (67.6 °F) in June 2019. Average monthly precipitation ranged from 30 litres per square metre in February and April 2019 to 125 litres per square metre in February 2020. Average monthly hours of sunshine ranged from 45 in November 2019 to 300 in June 2019.
Climate change in Germany is leading to long-term impacts on agriculture, more intense heat waves and cold waves, flash and coastal flooding, and reduced water availability. Climate change could cost Germany up to €900 billion by 2050.
### Biodiversity
The territory of Germany can be divided into five terrestrial ecoregions: Atlantic mixed forests, Baltic mixed forests, Central European mixed forests, Western European broadleaf forests, and Alps conifer and mixed forests. As of 2016[update], 51% of Germany's land area is devoted to agriculture, while 30% is forested and 14% is covered by settlements or infrastructure.
Plants and animals include those generally common to Central Europe. According to the National Forest Inventory, beeches, oaks, and other deciduous trees constitute just over 40% of the forests; roughly 60% are conifers, particularly spruce and pine. There are many species of ferns, flowers, fungi, and mosses. Wild animals include roe deer, wild boar, mouflon (a subspecies of wild sheep), fox, badger, hare, and small numbers of the Eurasian beaver. The blue cornflower was once a German national symbol.
The 16 national parks in Germany include the Jasmund National Park, the Vorpommern Lagoon Area National Park, the Müritz National Park, the Wadden Sea National Parks, the Harz National Park, the Hainich National Park, the Black Forest National Park, the Saxon Switzerland National Park, the Bavarian Forest National Park and the Berchtesgaden National Park. In addition, there are 17 Biosphere Reserves, and 105 nature parks. More than 400 zoos and animal parks operate in Germany. The Berlin Zoo, which opened in 1844, is the oldest in Germany, and claims the most comprehensive collection of species in the world.
## Politics
Germany is a federal, parliamentary, representative democratic republic. Federal legislative power is vested in the parliament consisting of the *Bundestag* (Federal Diet) and *Bundesrat* (Federal Council), which together form the legislative body. The *Bundestag* is elected through direct elections using the mixed-member proportional representation system. The members of the *Bundesrat* represent and are appointed by the governments of the sixteen federated states. The German political system operates under a framework laid out in the 1949 constitution known as the *Grundgesetz* (Basic Law). Amendments generally require a two-thirds majority of both the *Bundestag* and the *Bundesrat*; the fundamental principles of the constitution, as expressed in the articles guaranteeing human dignity, the separation of powers, the federal structure, and the rule of law, are valid in perpetuity.
The president, who has been Frank-Walter Steinmeier since 2017, is the head of state and invested primarily with representative responsibilities and powers. He is elected by the *Bundesversammlung* (federal convention), an institution consisting of the members of the *Bundestag* and an equal number of state delegates. The second-highest official in the German order of precedence is the *Bundestagspräsident* (president of the Bundestag), who is elected by the *Bundestag* and responsible for overseeing the daily sessions of the body. The third-highest official and the head of government is the chancellor, who is appointed by the *Bundespräsident* after being elected by the party or coalition with the most seats in the *Bundestag*. The chancellor, who has been Friedrich Merz since 2025, is the head of government and exercises executive power through his Cabinet.
Since 1949, the party system has been dominated by the Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party of Germany. So far every chancellor has been a member of one of these parties. However, the smaller liberal Free Democratic Party and the Alliance 90/The Greens have also been junior partners in coalition governments. Since 2007, the democratic socialist party The Left has been a staple in the German *Bundestag*, though they have never been part of the federal government. In the 2017 German federal election, the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany gained enough votes to attain representation in the parliament for the first time.
### Constituent states
Germany is a federation and comprises sixteen constituent states which are collectively referred to as *Länder*. Each state (*Land*) has its own constitution, and is largely autonomous in regard to its internal organisation. As of 2017[update], Germany is divided into 401 districts (*Kreise*) at a municipal level; these consist of 294 rural districts and 107 urban districts.
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### Law
Germany has a civil law system based on Roman law with some references to Germanic law. The *Bundesverfassungsgericht* (Federal Constitutional Court) is the German Supreme Court responsible for constitutional matters, with power of judicial review. Germany's specialised supreme court system includes the Federal Court of Justice for civil and criminal cases, along with the Federal Labour Court, Federal Social Court, Federal Fiscal Court, and Federal Administrative Court for other matters.
Criminal and private laws are codified on the national level in the *Strafgesetzbuch* and the *Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch* respectively. The German penal system seeks the rehabilitation of the criminal and the protection of the public. With the exceptions of petty crimes, tried by a single professional judge, and of serious political crimes, all charges are adjudicated by mixed tribunals where lay judges (*Schöffen*) and professional judges preside together.
In 2016, Germany's murder rate stood at a low of 1.18 murders per 100,000. In 2018, the overall crime rate fell to its lowest since 1992.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Germany since 2017, and LGBT rights are generally protected in the country.
### Foreign relations
Germany has a network of 227 diplomatic missions abroad and maintains relations with more than 190 countries. Germany is a member of the Council of Europe, NATO, the OECD, the G7, the G20, the World Bank and the IMF. It has played an influential role in the European Union since its inception and has maintained a strong alliance with France and all neighbouring countries since 1990. Germany promotes the creation of a more unified European political, economic and security apparatus. The governments of Germany and the United States are close political allies. Cultural ties and economic interests have crafted a bond between the two countries resulting in Atlanticism.
After 1990, Germany and Russia worked together to establish a "strategic partnership" in which energy development became one of the most important factors. As a result of the cooperation, Germany imported most of its natural gas and crude oil from Russia.
Germany's development policy functions as a distinct sector within its foreign policy framework. It is formulated by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and carried out by the implementing organisations. The German government sees development policy as a joint responsibility of the international community. It was the world's second-biggest aid donor in 2019 after the United States.
### Military
Germany's military, the *Bundeswehr* (Federal Defence), is organised into the *Heer* (Army and special forces KSK), *Marine* (Navy), *Luftwaffe* (Air Force) and *Cyber- und Informationsraum* (Cyber and Information Domain Service) branches. In absolute terms, German military spending in 2023 was the seventh-highest in the world. In response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that German military expenditure would be increased past the NATO target of 2%, along with a one-time 2022 infusion of 100 billion euros, representing almost double the 53 billion euro military budget for 2021. In 2023, military spending according to NATO criteria amounted to $73.1 billion, or 1.64% of the country's GDP, well below the NATO target of 2%. In 2024, Germany reported $97.7 billion to NATO, exceeding the NATO target of 2% at 2.12% of GDP.
As of May 2024[update], the *Bundeswehr* has a strength of 180,215 active soldiers and 80,761 civilians. Reservists are available to the armed forces and participate in defence exercises and deployments abroad. Until 2011, military service was compulsory for men at age 18, but this has been officially suspended and replaced with a voluntary service. Since 2001 women may serve in all functions of service without restriction. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Germany was the fifth-largest exporter of major arms in the world from 2019 to 2023.
In peacetime, the *Bundeswehr* is commanded by the Minister of Defence. In a state of defence, the Chancellor would become commander-in-chief of the *Bundeswehr*. The role of the *Bundeswehr* is described in the Constitution of Germany as defensive only. But after a ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court in 1994, the term "defence" has been defined not only to include protection of the borders of Germany, but also crisis reaction and conflict prevention, or more broadly as guarding the security of Germany anywhere in the world. As of 2017,[update] the German military has about 3,600 troops stationed in foreign countries as part of international peacekeeping forces, including about 1,200 supporting operations against Daesh, 980 in the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan, and 800 in Kosovo.
## Economy
Germany has a social market economy with a highly skilled labour force, a low level of corruption, and a high level of innovation. It is the largest economy in Europe by nominal GDP, as well as the world's third-largest by nominal GDP and sixth-largest by PPP-adjusted GDP. Its PPP-adjusted GDP per capita amounted to 115% of the EU average in 2024. The country's service sector contributes approximately 72% of the total GDP, industry 27%—with Germany having the largest manufacturing sector in Europe—and agriculture 1%, as of 2023[update]. The unemployment rate published by Eurostat amounts to 3.2% as of January 2020[update], which is the fourth-lowest in the EU.
Germany is part of the European single market which represents more than 450 million consumers. In 2017, the country accounted for 28% of the eurozone economy according to the International Monetary Fund. Germany introduced the common European currency, the euro, in 2002. Its monetary policy is set by the European Central Bank, which is based in Frankfurt. Germany is the world's third-largest exporter and third-largest importer, and it has the second-largest trade surplus after China. Its largest trading partners in 2024 were the United States, China, and the Netherlands. Germany's main exports are vehicles, machinery, and chemical goods.
The German automotive industry is regarded as one of the most competitive and innovative in the world. It was the sixth-largest by production and largest by export value in 2023. Germany is home to Volkswagen Group, the world's second-largest automotive manufacturer by vehicle production.
Of the world's 500 largest stock market-listed companies by revenue in 2024, the *Fortune* Global 500, 29 were based in Germany. The DAX, Germany's stock market index operated by the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, includes 30 major Germany-based companies. Well-known international German brands include Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Opel, Siemens, Bayer, Allianz, Adidas, Puma, Hugo Boss, SAP, Bosch and Deutsche Telekom. Berlin is a hub for startup companies and has become the leading location for venture capital-funded firms in the European Union. Germany is recognised for its large portion of specialised small and medium enterprises, known as the *Mittelstand*; these companies represent around 48% of the global market leaders in their segments, labelled hidden champions.
Research and development efforts form an integral part of the German economy, with the country ranking fourth in research and development expenditure since 2005. In 2018, Germany ranked fourth globally in terms of number of science and engineering research papers published and third in the quality-adjusted Nature Index in 2023. Research institutions in Germany include the Max Planck Society, the Helmholtz Association, the Fraunhofer Society, and the Leibniz Association. Germany is the largest contributor to the European Space Agency. The country was ranked 9th in the Global Innovation Index in 2024.
### Infrastructure
With its central position in Europe, Germany is a transport hub for the continent. Its road network is among the densest in Europe. The motorway (Autobahn) is widely known for having no general federally mandated speed limit for some classes of vehicles. The Intercity Express or *ICE* train network serves major German cities as well as destinations in neighbouring countries with speeds up to 300 km/h (190 mph). The largest German airports are Frankfurt Airport, Munich Airport and Berlin Brandenburg Airport. The Port of Hamburg is the third-busiest port in Europe and one of the twenty largest container ports in the world.
In 2019[update], Germany was the world's seventh-largest consumer of energy. All German nuclear power plants were phased out in 2023. Germany meets its power demands using 40% renewable sources (2018), and has been called an "early leader" in solar panels and offshore wind. The country is committed to the Paris Agreement and several other treaties promoting biodiversity, low emission standards, and water management. As of 2017, Germany's household recycling rate is among the highest in the world—at around 65%. In 2023, Germany was the 14th highest emitting nation of greenhouse gases. The German energy transition (*Energiewende*) is the recognised move to a sustainable economy by means of energy efficiency and renewable energy, with the country being called "the world's first major renewable energy economy". Germany has reduced its primary energy consumption by 11% between 1990 and 2015 and set itself goals of reducing it by 30% by 2030 and by 50% by 2050.
### Tourism
Domestic and international travel and tourism combined directly contributed over €105.3 billion to German GDP in 2015. Including indirect and induced impacts, the industry supported nearly 4.2 million jobs in 2015. As of 2023, Germany is the eighth-most-visited country. Its most popular landmarks include Cologne Cathedral, the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the Dresden Frauenkirche, Neuschwanstein Castle, Heidelberg Castle, the Wartburg, and Sanssouci Palace. Europa-Park near Freiburg is Europe's second-most popular theme park resort.
## Demographics
With a population of 84.7 million according to the 2023 German census, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union, the second-most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the nineteenth-most populous country in the world. Its population density stands at 236 inhabitants per square kilometre (610 inhabitants/sq mi). The fertility rate of 1.57 children born per woman (2022 estimates) is below the replacement rate of 2.1 and is one of the lowest in the world. Since the 1970s, Germany's death rate has exceeded its birth rate. However, Germany is witnessing increased birth rates and migration rates since the beginning of the 2010s. Germany has the third oldest population in the world, with an average age of 47.4 years.
Four sizeable groups of people are referred to as national minorities because their ancestors have lived in their respective regions for centuries: There is a Danish minority in the northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein; the Sorbs, a Slavic population, are in the Lusatia region of Saxony and Brandenburg; the Roma and Sinti live throughout the country; and the Frisians are concentrated in Schleswig-Holstein's western coast and in the north-western part of Lower Saxony.
Germany is a major destination for immigrants, ranking second in the world after the United States. In 2015, following the 2015 refugee crisis, the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs listed Germany as host to the second-highest number of international migrants worldwide, about 5% or 12 million of all 244 million migrants. Refugee crises have resulted in substantial population increases; for example, the major influx of Ukrainian immigrants following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, whereby over 1.06 million refugees from Ukraine were recorded in Germany as of April 2023. In 2019, Germany ranked seventh among EU countries in terms of the percentage of migrants in the country's population, at 13.1%. In 2022, there were 23.8 million people—28.7 percent of the total population—who had a migration background.
Germany has a number of large cities. There are 11 officially recognised metropolitan regions. The country's largest city is Berlin, while its largest urban area is the Ruhr.
| Rank | Name | State | Pop. | Rank | Name | State | Pop. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Berlin | Berlin | 3,596,999 | 11 | Essen | North Rhine-Westphalia | 571,039 | ||
| 2 | Hamburg | Hamburg | 1,808,846 | 12 | Dresden | Saxony | 557,782 | ||
| 3 | Munich | Bavaria | 1,478,638 | 13 | Nuremberg | Bavaria | 522,554 | ||
| 4 | Cologne | North Rhine-Westphalia | 1,017,355 | 14 | Hanover | Lower Saxony | 513,291 | ||
| 5 | Frankfurt | Hesse | 743,268 | 15 | Duisburg | North Rhine-Westphalia | 501,415 | ||
| 6 | Düsseldorf | North Rhine-Westphalia | 611,258 | 16 | Wuppertal | North Rhine-Westphalia | 356,768 | ||
| 7 | Stuttgart | Baden-Württemberg | 610,458 | 17 | Bochum | North Rhine-Westphalia | 354,288 | ||
| 8 | Leipzig | Saxony | 598,899 | 18 | Bielefeld | North Rhine-Westphalia | 330,072 | ||
| 9 | Dortmund | North Rhine-Westphalia | 598,246 | 19 | Bonn | North Rhine-Westphalia | 321,544 | ||
| 10 | Bremen | Bremen | 575,071 | 20 | Mannheim | Baden-Württemberg | 313,693 |
### Religion
According to the 2022 census, Christianity is the largest religion at 49.7% of the population; 23.1% identified as Protestant and 25.1% as Catholic.
A study in 2023 estimated that 46.2% of the population are not members of any religious organisation or denomination and that a majority of the population no longer belongs to a Christian denomination (48.5% Christians). Irreligion in Germany is strongest in major metropolitan areas and throughout the former East Germany, which used to be predominantly Protestant before the imposition of state atheism under communism.
Islam is the second-largest religion in the country. In the 2011 census, 1.9% of respondents (1.52 million people) gave their religion as Islam, but this figure is deemed unreliable because a disproportionate number of adherents of this faith (and other religions, such as Judaism) are likely to have made use of their right not to answer the question. In 2019, there were an estimated 5.3–5.6 million Muslims with a migrant background (6.4–6.7% of the population), in addition to an unknown number of Muslims without a migrant background. Most of the Muslims are Sunnis and Alevis from Turkey, but there are a small number of Shi'ites, Ahmadiyyas and other denominations. Other religions each comprise less than one percent of Germany's population.
In 2011, formal members of the Jewish community represented no more than 0.2% of the total German population, and 60% of them resided in Berlin. An estimated 80 to 90 percent of these Jews in Germany are Russian-speaking immigrants from the former Soviet Union, who came to Germany from the 1980s onwards.
### Languages
German is the official and predominantly spoken language in Germany. It is one of 24 official and working languages of the European Union, and one of the three procedural languages of the European Commission, alongside English and French. German is the most widely spoken first language in the European Union, with around 100 million native speakers.
Recognised native minority languages in Germany are Danish, Low German, Low Rhenish, Sorbian, Romani, North Frisian and Saterland Frisian; they are officially protected by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The most used immigrant languages are Turkish, Arabic, Kurdish, Polish, Italian, Greek, Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian and other Balkan languages, as well as Russian. Germans are typically multilingual: 67% of German citizens claim to be able to communicate in at least one foreign language and 27% in at least two.
### Education
Responsibility for educational supervision in Germany is primarily organised within the individual states. Optional kindergarten education is provided for all children between three and six years old, after which school attendance is compulsory for at least nine years depending on the state. Primary education usually lasts for four to six years. Secondary schooling is divided into tracks based on whether students pursue academic or vocational education. A system of apprenticeship called *Duale Ausbildung* leads to a skilled qualification which is almost comparable to an academic degree. It allows students in vocational training to learn in a company as well as in a state-run trade school. This model is well regarded and reproduced all around the world.
Most of the German universities are public institutions, and students traditionally study without fee payment. The general requirement for attending university is the *Abitur*. According to an OECD report in 2014, Germany is the world's third leading destination for international study. The established universities in Germany include some of the oldest in the world, with Heidelberg University (established in 1386), Leipzig University (established in 1409) and the University of Rostock (established in 1419) being the oldest in the country. The Humboldt University of Berlin, founded in 1810 by the liberal educational reformer Wilhelm von Humboldt, became the academic model for many Western universities. In the contemporary era, Germany has developed eleven Universities of Excellence.
### Health
Germany's system of hospitals, called *Krankenhäuser*, dates from medieval times, and the country has the world's oldest universal health care system, dating from Bismarck's social legislation of the 1880s. Since the 1880s, reforms and provisions have ensured a balanced health care system. The population is covered by a health insurance plan provided by statute, with criteria allowing some groups to opt for a private health insurance contract. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Germany's health care system was 77% government-funded and 23% privately funded in 2013. In 2014, Germany spent 11.3% of its GDP on health care.
Germany ranked 21st in the world in 2019 in life expectancy with 78.7 years for men and 84.8 years for women according to the WHO, and it had a very low infant mortality rate of 4 deaths per 1,000 live births. In 2019[update], the principal cause of death was cardiovascular disease, at 37%. Obesity in Germany has been increasingly cited as a major health issue: a 2014 study showed that 52 percent of the adult German population was overweight or obese.
## Culture
Culture in German states has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular, and their scientists, writers and philosophers have played a significant role in the development of Western thought. Global opinion polls from the BBC revealed that Germany is recognised for having the most positive influence in the world in 2013 and 2014.
Germany is well known for such folk festivals as the Oktoberfest and Christmas customs, which include Advent wreaths, Christmas pageants, Christmas trees, Stollen cakes, and other practices. As of 2024[update], UNESCO inscribed 54 properties in Germany on the World Heritage List. There are a number of public holidays in Germany determined by each state; 3 October has been a national day of Germany since 1990, celebrated as the *Tag der Deutschen Einheit* (German Unity Day).
### Music
German classical music includes works by some of the world's most well-known composers. Dieterich Buxtehude, Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Friedrich Händel were influential composers of the Baroque period. Ludwig van Beethoven was a crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras. Carl Maria von Weber, Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms were significant Romantic composers. Richard Wagner was known for his operas. Richard Strauss was a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. Karlheinz Stockhausen and Wolfgang Rihm are important composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries.
In 2013, Germany was the second-largest music market in Europe, and fourth-largest in the world. German popular music of the 20th and 21st centuries includes the movements of Neue Deutsche Welle, pop, Ostrock, heavy metal/rock, punk, pop rock, indie, Volksmusik (folk music), schlager pop and German hip hop. German electronic music gained global influence, with Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream pioneering in this genre. DJs and artists of the techno and house music scenes of Germany have become well known (e.g. Paul van Dyk, Felix Jaehn, Paul Kalkbrenner, Robin Schulz and Scooter).
German painters have influenced Western art. Albrecht Dürer, Hans Holbein the Younger, Matthias Grünewald and Lucas Cranach the Elder were important German artists of the Renaissance, Johann Baptist Zimmermann of the Baroque, Caspar David Friedrich and Carl Spitzweg of Romanticism, Max Liebermann of Impressionism and Max Ernst of Surrealism. Several German art groups formed in the 20th century; *Die Brücke* (The Bridge) and *Der Blaue Reiter* (The Blue Rider) influenced the development of expressionism in Munich and Berlin. The New Objectivity arose in response to expressionism during the Weimar Republic. After World War II, broad trends in German art include neo-expressionism and the New Leipzig School.
German designers became early leaders of modern product design. The Berlin Fashion Week and the fashion trade fair Bread & Butter are held twice a year.
Architectural contributions from Germany include the Carolingian and Ottonian styles, which were precursors of Romanesque. Brick Gothic is a distinctive medieval style that evolved in Germany. Also in Renaissance and Baroque art, regional and typically German elements evolved (e.g. Weser Renaissance). Vernacular architecture in Germany is often identified by its timber framing (*Fachwerk*) traditions and varies across regions, and among carpentry styles. When industrialisation spread across Europe, classicism and a distinctive style of historicism developed in Germany, sometimes referred to as *Gründerzeit* *style*. Expressionist architecture developed in the 1910s in Germany and influenced Art Deco and other modern styles. Germany was particularly important in the early modernist movement: it is the home of Werkbund initiated by Hermann Muthesius (New Objectivity), and of the Bauhaus movement founded by Walter Gropius. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe became one of the world's most renowned architects in the second half of the 20th century; he conceived of the glass façade skyscraper. Renowned contemporary architects and offices include Pritzker Prize winners Gottfried Böhm and Frei Otto.
### Literature and philosophy
German literature can be traced back to the Middle Ages and the works of writers such as Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach. Well-known German authors include Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Theodor Fontane. The collections of folk tales published by the Brothers Grimm popularised German folklore on an international level. The Grimms also gathered and codified regional variants of the German language, grounding their work in historical principles; their *Deutsches Wörterbuch*, or German Dictionary, sometimes called the Grimm dictionary, was begun in 1838 and the first volumes published in 1854.
Influential authors of the 20th century include Gerhart Hauptmann, Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Böll, and Günter Grass. The German book market is the third-largest in the world, after the United States and China. The Frankfurt Book Fair is the most important in the world for international deals and trading, with a tradition spanning over 500 years. The Leipzig Book Fair also retains a major position in Europe.
German philosophy is historically significant: Gottfried Leibniz's contributions to rationalism; the enlightenment philosophy by Immanuel Kant; the establishment of classical German idealism by Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling; Arthur Schopenhauer's composition of metaphysical pessimism; the formulation of communist theory by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; Friedrich Nietzsche's development of perspectivism; Gottlob Frege's contributions to the dawn of analytic philosophy; Martin Heidegger's works on Being; Oswald Spengler's historical philosophy; and the development of the Frankfurt School have all been very influential.
### Media
The largest internationally operating media companies in Germany are Bertelsmann, Axel Springer SE and ProSiebenSat.1 Media. Germany's television market is the largest in Europe, with over 38 million TV households as of 2012. Around 90% of German households have cable or satellite TV, with a variety of free-to-view public and commercial channels. There are more than 300 public and private radio stations in Germany; Germany's national radio network is the Deutschlandradio, while the public Deutsche Welle is the main radio and television broadcaster in foreign languages. Germany's print market of newspapers and magazines is the largest in Europe. The papers with the highest circulation are *Bild*, *Süddeutsche Zeitung*, *Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung* and *Die Welt*. The largest magazines include *ADAC Motorwelt* and *Der Spiegel*. Germany has a large video gaming market, with over 34 million players nationwide. The annual Gamescom held in Cologne is the world's largest gaming convention.
German cinema has made major technical and artistic contributions to film. The first works of the Skladanowsky Brothers were shown to an audience in 1895. The renowned Babelsberg Studio in Potsdam was established in 1912, thus being the first large-scale film studio in the world. Early German cinema was particularly influential with German expressionists such as Robert Wiene and Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. Director Fritz Lang's *Metropolis* (1927) is referred to as the first major science-fiction film. After 1945, many of the films of the immediate post-war period can be characterised as *Trümmerfilm* (rubble film). East German film was dominated by the state-owned film studio DEFA, while the dominant genre in West Germany was the *Heimatfilm* ("homeland film"). During the 1970s and 1980s, New German Cinema directors such as Volker Schlöndorff, Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder brought West German auteur cinema to critical acclaim.
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film ("Oscar") went to the German production *The Tin Drum* (*Die Blechtrommel*) in 1979, to *Nowhere in Africa* (*Nirgendwo in Afrika*) in 2002, and to *The Lives of Others* (*Das Leben der Anderen*) in 2007. Various Germans won an Oscar for their performances in other films. The annual European Film Awards ceremony is held every other year in Berlin, home of the European Film Academy. The Berlin International Film Festival, known as "Berlinale", awarding the "Golden Bear" and held annually since 1951, is one of the world's leading film festivals. The "Lolas" are annually awarded in Berlin, at the German Film Awards.
### Cuisine
German cuisine varies from region to region and neighbouring regions often share culinary similarities, including with the southern regions of Bavaria, Franconia and Swabia, Switzerland, and Austria. International varieties such as pizza, sushi, Chinese food, Greek food, Indian cuisine, and doner kebab are popular as well.
Bread is a significant part of German cuisine, with German bakeries producing about 600 main types of bread and 1,200 types of pastries and rolls (*Brötchen*). German cheeses account for about 22% of all cheese produced in Europe. In 2012 over 99% of all meat produced in Germany was either pork, chicken or beef. Germans produce their ubiquitous sausages in almost 1,500 varieties, including Bratwursts and Weisswursts.
The national alcoholic drink is beer. German beer consumption per capita stands at 110 litres (24 imp gal; 29 US gal) in 2013 and remains among the highest in the world. German beer purity regulations date back to the 16th century. Wine has become popular in many parts of the country, especially near the German wine regions. In 2019, Germany was the ninth-largest wine producer in the world.
The 2018 *Michelin Guide* awarded eleven restaurants in Germany three stars, giving the country a cumulative total of 300 stars.
### Sports
Football is the most popular sport in Germany. With more than 7 million official members, the German Football Association (*Deutscher Fußball-Bund*) is the largest single-sport organisation worldwide, and the German top league, the Bundesliga, attracts the second-highest average attendance of all professional sports leagues in the world. The German men's national football team won the FIFA World Cup in 1954, 1974, 1990, and 2014, the UEFA European Championship in 1972, 1980 and 1996, and the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2017.
Germany is one of the leading motor sports countries in the world. Constructors like BMW and Mercedes are prominent manufacturers in motor sport. Porsche has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race 19 times, and Audi 13 times (as of April 2024[update]). The driver Michael Schumacher has set many motor sport records during his career, having won seven Formula One World Drivers' Championships. Sebastian Vettel is also among the most successful Formula One drivers of all time.
German athletes historically have been successful contenders in the Olympic Games, ranking third in an all-time Olympic Games medal count when combining East and West German medals prior to German reunification. In 1936, Berlin hosted the Summer Games and the Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Munich hosted the Summer Games of 1972.
## See also
## Notes
**Sources**
- Fulbrook, Mary (1991).
*A Concise History of Germany*. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-36836-0. - Murdoch, Adrian (2004). "Germania Romana". In Murdoch, Brian; Read, Malcolm (eds.).
*Early Germanic Literature and Culture*. Boydell & Brewer. pp. 55–73. ISBN 1-57113-199-X.
## External links
- Official site of the federal government
- Official tourism site
- Germany from BBC News
- Germany.
*The World Factbook*. Central Intelligence Agency. - Germany from the OECD
- Germany at the EU
- Geographic data related to Germany at OpenStreetMap
|
# Wales - Wikipedia
Wales | |
|---|---|
Anthem: de facto; " Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau"("Land of My Fathers") | |
| Status | Country |
| Capital and largest city | Cardiff |
| Official languages | |
| Ethnic groups | List |
| Religion (2021) | List |
| Demonym(s) | Welsh (Cymreig) |
| Government | Devolved parliamentary legislature within a parliamentary constitutional monarchy |
| Charles III | |
| Eluned Morgan | |
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | |
| • Secretary of State | Jo Stevens |
| • House of Commons | 32 MPs (of 650) |
| Legislature | Senedd |
| Formation | |
| 1057 | |
| 3 March 1284 | |
| 1543 | |
| 27 July 1967 | |
| 1 July 1999 | |
| Area | |
• Total | 21,218 km2 (8,192 sq mi) |
• Land | 20,737 km2 (8,007 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 2022 estimate | 3,131,640 |
• 2021 census | 3,107,494 |
• Density | 151/km2 (391.1/sq mi) |
| GVA | 2022 estimate |
| • Total | £74.5 billion |
| • Per capita | £23,804 |
| GDP (nominal) | 2022 estimate |
• Total | £85.4 billion |
• Per capita | £27,274 |
| HDI (2022) | 0.910 very high |
| Currency | Pound sterling (GBP; £) |
| Time zone | UTC+0 (GMT) |
| UTC+1 (BST) | |
| Date format | dd/mm/yyyy (AD) |
| Calling code | +44 |
| ISO 3166 code | GB-WLS |
| Internet TLD | .wales .cymru |
**Wales** (Welsh: *Cymru* [ˈkəmrɨ] ⓘ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic Sea to the south-west. As of 2021[update], it had a population of 3.2 million. It has a total area of 21,218 square kilometres (8,192 sq mi) and over 2,700 kilometres (1,680 mi) of coastline. It is largely mountainous with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon (*Yr Wyddfa*), its highest summit. The country lies within the north temperate zone and has a changeable, maritime climate. Its capital and largest city is Cardiff.
A distinct Welsh culture emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, and Wales was briefly united under Gruffudd ap Llywelyn in 1055. After over 200 years of war, the conquest of Wales by King Edward I of England was completed by 1283, though Owain Glyndŵr led the Welsh Revolt against English rule in the early 15th century, and briefly re-established an independent Welsh state with its own national parliament (Welsh: *senedd*). In the 16th century the whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the late 19th and early 20th century by David Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism and the Labour Party. Welsh national feeling grew over the century: a nationalist party, Plaid Cymru, was formed in 1925, and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. A governing system of Welsh devolution is employed in Wales, of which the most major step was the formation of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament, formerly the National Assembly for Wales) in 1998, responsible for a range of devolved policy matters.
At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, development of the mining and metallurgical industries transformed the country from an agricultural society into an industrial one; the South Wales Coalfield's exploitation caused a rapid expansion of Wales's population. Two-thirds of the population live in South Wales, including Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, and the nearby valleys. The eastern region of North Wales has about a sixth of the overall population, with Wrexham being the largest northern city. The remaining parts of Wales are sparsely populated. Since decline of the country's traditional extractive and heavy industries, the public sector, light and service industries, and tourism play major roles in its economy. Agriculture in Wales is largely livestock-based, making Wales a net exporter of animal produce, contributing towards national agricultural self-sufficiency.
Both Welsh and English are official languages. A majority of the population of Wales speaks English. Welsh is the dominant language in parts of the north and west, with a total of 538,300 Welsh speakers across the entire country. Wales has four UNESCO world heritage sites, of which three are in the north.
## Etymology
The English words "Wales" and "Welsh" derive from the same Old English root (singular *Wealh*, plural *Wēalas*), a descendant of Proto-Germanic **Walhaz*, which was itself derived from the name of the Gauls known to the Romans as Volcae. This term was later used to refer indiscriminately to inhabitants of the Western Roman Empire. Anglo-Saxons came to use the term to refer to the Britons in particular; the plural form *Wēalas* evolved into the name for their territory, Wales. Historically in Britain, the words were not restricted to modern Wales or to the Welsh but were used to refer to anything that Anglo-Saxons associated with Britons, including other non-Germanic territories in Britain (e.g. Cornwall) and places in Anglo-Saxon territory associated with Britons (e.g. Walworth in County Durham and Walton in West Yorkshire).
The modern Welsh name for themselves is *Cymry*, and *Cymru* is the Welsh name for Wales. These words (both of which are pronounced [ˈkəm.rɨ]) are descended from the Brythonic word *combrogi*, meaning "fellow-countrymen", and probably came into use before the 7th century. In literature, they could be spelt *Kymry* or *Cymry*, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of these names, *Cambrian*, *Cambric* and *Cambria*, survive as names such as the Cambrian Mountains and the Cambrian geological period.
## History
Although the Welsh nation would not arise until the Middle Ages, the territory of Wales was permanently settled from the end of the last ice age onwards. These first farmers left many impressive funerary monuments, as well as settlement sites that speak to a dispersed culture. With the arrival of the Bronze Age, the Great Orme in North Wales became Britain's premier producer of copper, one of the key ores for smelting bronze. It is likely that the wealth of mineral resources in Britain, and especially Wales, attracted the Roman invasion, but by this time the island had become distinctively Celtic in culture, and the Neolithic population was largely replaced. It was this Iron Age Celtic culture, and their common language, that were called the Britons by the Romans.
With the departure of the Romans, Britain fractured into various kingdoms. Despite this, there is a sense in which the Roman withdrawal of 383 created a post Roman nation of Britons, with Magnus Maximus proclaimed Roman emperor in Britannia and Gaul. Although long before the term Cymry (the Welsh term for the Welsh) had been adopted, the concept of a British people, from which the Welsh would emerge, was created here.
Encroachment by Germanic Anglo-Saxon settlers gradually displaced the indigenous culture and language of the Britons, and one group of these Britons became isolated by the geography of the western peninsula, bounded by the sea and English neighbours. It was these English neighbours who named the land Wallia, and the people Welsh.
The people of Wallia, medieval Wales, remained divided into separate kingdoms that fought with each other as much as they fought their English neighbours. Neither were the communities homogeneously Welsh. Place name, historical records and archaeological evidence point to coastal Viking/Norse settlement in places such as Swansea, Fishguard and Anglesey, and Saxons settled inland amongst the Welsh in places such as Presteigne.
In the 10th century, Hywel ap Cadell, later known as Hywel Dda, formed the kingdom of Deheubarth from inheritances in Dyfed and Seisyllwg, and then gained control of the kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys in 942. With control of nearly all the territory of Wales, he codified Welsh law, a law code that survived the later fracture of his kingdom, and that became a significant step in the creation of the nation. With a common culture and an external threat, the kingdoms of Wales began to see themselves as one people.
A century later the Kingdom of Gwynedd was in ascendency, and Gruffydd ap Llywelyn subdued all opposition by 1057, becoming the only king to unite all of Wales, and parts of England on the border. "Thus, from about 1057 until his death in 1063, the whole of Wales recognised the kingship of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. For about seven brief years, Wales was one, under one ruler, a feat with neither precedent nor successor."
The kingdom did not last, and Gruffydd met his death as a result of a surprise attack by Tostig, brother of the English King, Harold. After Gruffydd's death, Harold married his widow, but she would be widowed again by the Norman invasion of England in 1066.
The Normans followed their invasion of England with incursions into Wales, forming the semi-independent Norman Welsh marches (from the French for borderlands), and dividing them from the unconquered Pura Wallia. The fortunes of Welsh marcher lords and various Welsh princes ebbed and flowed, until Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (Llywelyn the Great) forced all other Welsh princes to submit to him in 1216. Yet Wales was divided again after his death, and it was left for his grandson Llywelyn ap Gruffudd to secure the supremacy once more, recognised as Prince of Wales by the English king, Henry III, in the treaty of Montgomery of 1267.
Relations with Henry's successor, Edward I, broke down and led to a war of conquest, concluding in 1283 with English victory. The following year the statute of Rhuddlan ended Welsh independence. Wales was divided between principality, ruled by Edward, and the marches and ruled by feudal marcher lords. This persisted, despite the Welsh rebellion under Owain Glyndŵr of 1400–1415, until the rise of the Tudors, with Welsh support. With the Laws in Wales Acts of Henry VIII, the Welsh became full citizens in the Kingdom of England, with parliamentary representation. The Welsh border was also formally defined and the territory reunited.
In 1707 the act of union created the Kingdom of Great Britain. The industrial revolution and the beginning of empire led to the rapid increase in mining and exploitation of Welsh natural materials – metals, coal and slate. The population of Wales expanded rapidly and Wales moved to the centre of the British economy, but the changes bred resentment, this time towards industrialists and not the English state. Meanwhile, a series of religious revivals transformed the character of the nation, beginning a tradition of non-conformism. This carried over into the political sphere too. The rapid industrialisation of parts of Wales gave rise to strong and radical Welsh working class movements which led to the Merthyr Rising of 1831, the widespread support for Chartism, and the Newport Rising of 1839. Strong liberal traditions were forged and later replaced by socialism. Since 1922 Wales has voted Labour in every general election.
From the mid 19th century until 1914, Wales experienced a strengthened political culture, religious and cultural revival, renewed interest in Welsh literature, the revival of eisteddfodau. There was a thriving economy a renewed interest in Welsh language, and music, non-conformist Christianity and the emergence of strong national identity, along with the founding of many national institutions. However the period also saw the publication of a report on education that became known as the Treachery of the Blue Books. The report blamed Welsh language and non conformism for poor educational standards and led to a requirement for bilingual education. This fed the rise of the Welsh nationalist movement, expressed in the Cymru Fydd movement, which advocated for greater autonomy and recognition of Welsh identity within the United Kingdom. Calls for devolution grew over the course of a century, and in 1998 the Government of Wales Act created a devolved Welsh assembly for the first time, now renamed the Senedd or Welsh Parliament.
## Government and politics
Wales is a country that is part of the sovereign state of the United Kingdom. ISO 3166-2:GB formerly defined Wales as a principality, with England and Scotland defined as countries and Northern Ireland as a province. However, this definition was raised in the Welsh Assembly in 2010 and the then Counsel General for Wales, John Griffiths, stated, 'Principality is a misnomer and that Wales should properly be referred to as a country.' In 2011, ISO 3166-2:GB was updated and the term 'principality' was replaced with 'country'. UK Government toponymic guidelines state that, 'though there is a Prince of Wales, this role is deemed to be titular rather than exerting executive authority, and therefore Wales is described as a country rather than a principality.'
In the House of Commons – the 650-member lower house of the UK Parliament – there are 32 members of Parliament (MPs) who represent Welsh constituencies. At the 2024 general election, 27 Labour and Labour Co-op MPs were elected, along with 4 Plaid Cymru MPs and 1 Liberal Democrat MP from Wales. The Wales Office is a department of the UK government responsible for Wales, whose minister, the Secretary of State for Wales (Welsh secretary), sits in the UK cabinet.
Wales has a devolved, unicameral legislature known as the Senedd (Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament) which holds devolved powers from the UK Parliament via a reserved powers model.
For the purposes of local government, Wales has been divided into 22 council areas since 1996. These "principal areas" are responsible for the provision of all local government services.
### Devolved Government
Following devolution in 1997, the Government of Wales Act 1998 created a Welsh devolved assembly, the National Assembly for Wales, with the power to determine how Wales's central government budget is spent and administered. Eight years later, the Government of Wales Act 2006 reformed the National Assembly for Wales and allowed further powers to be granted to it more easily. The Act also created a system of government with a separate executive, the Welsh Government, drawn from and accountable to the legislature, the National Assembly. Following a successful referendum in 2011, the National Assembly was empowered to make laws, known as Acts of the Assembly, on all matters in devolved subject areas, without requiring the UK Parliament's approval of legislative competence. It also gained powers to raise taxes. In May 2020, the National Assembly was renamed "Senedd Cymru" or "the Welsh Parliament", commonly known as the Senedd in both English and Welsh.
Devolved areas of responsibility include agriculture, economic development, education, health, housing, local government, social services, tourism, transport and the Welsh language. The Welsh Government also promotes Welsh interests abroad.
### Law
By tradition, Welsh Law was compiled during an assembly held at Whitland around 930 by Hywel Dda, king of most of Wales between 942 and his death in 950. The 'law of Hywel Dda' (Welsh: *Cyfraith Hywel*), as it became known, codified the previously existing folk laws and legal customs that had evolved in Wales over centuries. Welsh Law emphasised the payment of compensation for a crime to the victim, or the victim's kin, rather than punishment by the ruler. Other than in the Marches, where March law was imposed by the Marcher Lords, Welsh Law remained in force in Wales until the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284. Edward I of England annexed the Principality of Wales following the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, and Welsh Law was replaced for criminal cases under the Statute. Marcher Law and Welsh Law (for civil cases) remained in force until Henry VIII of England annexed the whole of Wales under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 (often referred to as the Acts of Union of 1536 and 1543), after which English law applied to the whole of Wales. The Wales and Berwick Act 1746 provided that all laws that applied to England would automatically apply to Wales (and the Anglo-Scottish border town of Berwick) unless the law explicitly stated otherwise; this Act was repealed with regard to Wales in 1967. English law has been the legal system of England and Wales since 1536.
English law is regarded as a common law system, with no major codification of the law and legal precedents are binding as opposed to persuasive. The court system is headed by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom which is the highest court of appeal in the land for criminal and civil cases. The Senior Courts of England and Wales is the highest court of first instance as well as an appellate court. The three divisions are the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice, and the Crown Court. Minor cases are heard by magistrates' courts or the County Court. In 2007 the Wales and Cheshire Region (known as the Wales and Cheshire Circuit before 2005) came to an end when Cheshire was attached to the North-Western England Region. From that point, Wales became a legal unit in its own right, although it remains part of the single jurisdiction of England and Wales.
The Senedd has the authority to draft and approve laws outside of the UK Parliamentary system to meet the specific needs of Wales. Under powers approved by a referendum held in March 2011, it is empowered to pass primary legislation, at the time referred to as an Act of the National Assembly for Wales but now known as an Act of Senedd Cymru in relation to twenty subjects listed in the Government of Wales Act 2006 such as health and education. Through this primary legislation, the Welsh Government can then also enact more specific subordinate legislation.
Wales is served by four regional police forces: Dyfed-Powys Police, Gwent Police, North Wales Police, and South Wales Police. There are five prisons in Wales: four in the southern half of the country, and one in Wrexham. Wales has no women's prisons: female inmates are imprisoned in England.
## Geography and natural history
Wales is a generally mountainous country on the western side of central southern Great Britain. It is about 170 miles (270 km) north to south. The oft-quoted "size of Wales" is about 20,779 km2 (8,023 sq mi). Wales is bordered by England to the east and by sea in all other directions: the Irish Sea to the north and west, St George's Channel and the Celtic Sea to the southwest and the Bristol Channel to the south. Wales has about 1,680 miles (2,700 km) of coastline (along the mean high water mark), including the mainland, Anglesey and Holyhead. Over 50 islands lie off the Welsh mainland, the largest being Anglesey, in the north-west.
Much of Wales's diverse landscape is mountainous, particularly in the north and central regions. The mountains were shaped during the last ice age, the Devensian glaciation. The highest mountains in Wales are in Snowdonia (*Eryri*), of which five are over 1,000 m (3,300 ft). The highest of these is Snowdon (*Yr Wyddfa*), at 1,085 m (3,560 ft). The 14 Welsh mountains, or 15 if including Carnedd Gwenllian – often discounted because of its low topographic prominence – over 3,000 feet (910 metres) high are known collectively as the Welsh 3000s and are located in a small area in the north-west. The highest outside the 3000s is Aran Fawddwy, at 905 metres (2,969 feet), in the south of Snowdonia. The Brecon Beacons (*Bannau Brycheiniog*) are in the south (highest point Pen y Fan, at 886 metres (2,907 feet)), and are joined by the Cambrian Mountains in Mid Wales (highest point Pumlumon, at 752 metres (2,467 feet)).
Wales has three national parks: Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons, and Pembrokeshire Coast (*Arfordir Penfro*). It has five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty: Anglesey, the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley, the Gower Peninsula, the Llŷn Peninsula, and the Wye Valley. The Gower Peninsula was the first area in the United Kingdom to be designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in 1956. As of 2019, the coastline of Wales had 40 Blue Flag beaches, three Blue Flag marinas and one Blue Flag boat operator. The south and west coasts of Wales, along with the Irish and Cornish coasts, are frequently blasted by Atlantic westerlies/south-westerlies that, over the years, have sunk and wrecked many vessels. In 1859 over 110 ships were destroyed off the coast of Wales in a hurricane that saw more than 800 lives lost across Britain. The greatest single loss occurred with the sinking of the *Royal Charter* off Anglesey in which 459 people died. The 19th century saw over 100 vessels lost with an average loss of 78 sailors per year. Wartime action caused losses near Holyhead, Milford Haven and Swansea. Because of offshore rocks and unlit islands, Anglesey and Pembrokeshire are still notorious for shipwrecks, most notably the *Sea Empress* oil spill in 1996.
The first border between Wales and England was zonal, apart from around the River Wye, which was the first accepted boundary. Offa's Dyke was supposed to form an early distinct line but this was thwarted by Gruffudd ap Llewellyn, who reclaimed swathes of land beyond the dyke. The Act of Union 1536 formed a linear border stretching from the mouth of the Dee to the mouth of the Wye. Even after the Act of Union, many of the borders remained vague and moveable until the Sunday Closing (Wales) Act 1881, which forced local businesses to decide which country they fell within to accept either the Welsh or English law.
### Geology
The earliest geological period of the Palaeozoic era, the Cambrian, takes its name from the Cambrian Mountains, where geologists first identified Cambrian remnants. In the mid-19th century, Roderick Murchison and Adam Sedgwick used their studies of Welsh geology to establish certain principles of stratigraphy and palaeontology. The next two periods of the Palaeozoic era, the Ordovician and Silurian, were named after ancient Celtic tribes from this area.
### Climate
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Wales lies within the north temperate zone. It has a changeable, maritime climate and is one of the wettest countries in Europe. Welsh weather is often cloudy, wet and windy, with warm summers and mild winters.
- Highest maximum temperature: 37.1 °C (99 °F) at Hawarden, Flintshire on 18 July 2022.
- Lowest minimum temperature: −23.3 °C (−10 °F) at Rhayader, Radnorshire (now Powys) on 21 January 1940.
- Maximum number of hours of sunshine in a month: 354.3 hours at Dale Fort, Pembrokeshire in July 1955.
- Minimum number of hours of sunshine in a month: 2.7 hours at Llwynon, Brecknockshire in January 1962.
- Maximum rainfall in a day (0900 UTC – 0900 UTC): 211 millimetres (8.3 in) at Rhondda, Glamorgan, on 11 November 1929.
- Wettest spot – an average of 4,473 millimetres (176 in) rain a year at Crib Goch in Snowdonia, Gwynedd (making it also the wettest spot in the United Kingdom).
### Flora and fauna
Wales's wildlife is typical of Britain with several distinctions. Because of its long coastline, Wales hosts a variety of seabirds. The coasts and surrounding islands are home to colonies of gannets, Manx shearwater, puffins, kittiwakes, shags and razorbills. In comparison, with 60 per cent of Wales above the 150m contour, the country also supports a variety of upland-habitat birds, including raven and ring ouzel. Birds of prey include the merlin, hen harrier and the red kite, a national symbol of Welsh wildlife. In total, more than 200 different species of bird have been seen at the RSPB reserve at Conwy, including seasonal visitors. Larger mammals, including brown bears, wolves and wildcats, died out during the Norman period. Today, mammals include shrews, voles, badgers, otters, stoats, weasels, hedgehogs and fifteen species of bat. Two species of small rodent, the yellow-necked mouse and the dormouse, are of special Welsh note being found at the historically undisturbed border area. The pine marten, which has been sighted occasionally, has been reintroduced in parts of Wales since 2015, having previously not been officially recorded since the 1950s. The polecat was nearly driven to extinction in Britain, but hung on in Wales and is now rapidly spreading. Feral goats can be found in Snowdonia. In March 2021, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) granted a licence to release up to six beavers in the Dyfi Valley, the first official beaver release in Wales.
Believed to be home to some of Wales's rarest land invertebrates, some 2,500 disused coal tips are the subject of study by the Welsh Government; the tips are home to a wide variety of other wildlife.
The waters of south-west Wales of Gower, Pembrokeshire and Cardigan Bay attract marine animals, including basking sharks, Atlantic grey seals, leatherback turtles, dolphins, porpoises, jellyfish, crabs and lobsters. Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion, in particular, are recognised as an area of international importance for bottlenose dolphins, and New Quay has the only summer residence of bottlenose dolphins in the whole of the UK. Freshwater fish of note include char, eel, salmon, shad, sparling and Arctic char, while the gwyniad is unique to Wales, found only in Bala Lake. Wales is known for its shellfish, including cockles, limpet, mussels and periwinkles. Herring, mackerel and hake are the more common of the country's marine fish. The north facing high grounds of Snowdonia support a relict pre-glacial flora including the iconic Snowdon lily – *Gagea serotina* – and other alpine species such as *Saxifraga cespitosa*, *Saxifraga oppositifolia* and *Silene acaulis*. Wales has a number of plant species not found elsewhere in the UK, including the spotted rock-rose *Tuberaria guttata* on Anglesey and *Draba aizoides* on the Gower.
## Economy
Over the last 250 years, Wales has been transformed from a predominantly agricultural country to an industrial, and then to a post-industrial economy. In the 1950s, Wales's GDP was twice as big as Ireland's; by the 2020s, Ireland's economy was four times that of Wales. Since the Second World War, the service sector has come to account for the majority of jobs, a feature typifying most advanced economies. in 2018, according to OECD and Eurostat data, gross domestic product (GDP) in Wales was £75 billion, an increase of 3.3 per cent from 2017. GDP per head in Wales in 2018 was £23,866, an increase of 2.9 per cent on 2017. This compares to Italy's GDP/capita of £25,000, Spain £22,000, Slovenia £20,000 and New Zealand £30,000. In the three months to December 2017, 72.7 per cent of working-age adults were employed, compared to 75.2 per cent across the UK as a whole. For the 2018–19 fiscal year, the Welsh fiscal deficit accounts for 19.4 per cent of Wales's estimated GDP.
In 2019, Wales was a net exporter of electricity. It produced 27.9 TWh of electricity while only consuming 14.7 TWh. In 2021, the Welsh government said that more than half the country's energy needs were being met by renewable sources, 2 per cent of which was from 363 hydropower projects.
By UK law, Wales contributes to items that do not directly benefit Wales e.g. over £5 billion for HS2 "which will damage the Welsh economy by £200m pa", according to the UK and Welsh Government's transport adviser Mark Barry. Wales also pays more in military costs than most similar-sized countries e.g. Wales pays twice the amount Ireland spends on the military. The UK government spends £1.75bn per year on the military in Wales, which is almost as much as Wales spends on education every year (£1.8 billion in 2018/19) and five times as much as the total amount spent on the police in Wales (£365 million).
From the middle of the 19th century until the post-war era, the mining and export of coal was the dominant industry. At its peak of production in 1913, nearly 233,000 men and women were employed in the South Wales coalfield, mining 56 million tons of coal. Cardiff was once the largest coal-exporting port in the world and, for a few years before the First World War, handled a greater tonnage of cargo than either London or Liverpool. In the 1920s, over 40 per cent of the male Welsh population worked in heavy industry. According to Phil Williams, the Great Depression "devastated Wales", north and south, because of its "overwhelming dependence on coal and steel". From the mid-1970s, the Welsh economy faced massive restructuring with large numbers of jobs in heavy industry disappearing and being replaced eventually by new ones in light industry and in services. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Wales was successful in attracting an above average share of foreign direct investment in the UK. Much of the new industry was essentially of a "branch (or "screwdriver") factory" type where a manufacturing plant or call centre is in Wales but the most highly-paid jobs in the company are elsewhere.
Poor-quality soil in much of Wales is unsuitable for crop-growing, so livestock farming has been the focus of farming. About 78 per cent of the land surface is used for agriculture. The Welsh landscape, with its three national parks and Blue Flag beaches, attracts large numbers of tourists, who bolster the economy of rural areas. Wales, like Northern Ireland, has relatively few high value-added employment in sectors such as finance and research and development, attributable in part to a comparative lack of "economic mass" (i.e. population) – Wales lacks a large metropolitan centre. The lack of high value-added employment is reflected in lower economic output per head relative to other regions of the UK: in 2002 it stood at 90 per cent of the EU25 average and around 80 per cent of the UK average. In June 2008, Wales made history by becoming the first nation to be awarded Fairtrade status.
The pound sterling is the currency used in Wales. Numerous Welsh banks issued their own banknotes in the 19th century: the last bank to do so closed in 1908. Since then the Bank of England has had a monopoly on the issue of banknotes in Wales. The Commercial Bank of Wales, established in Cardiff by Sir Julian Hodge in 1971, was taken over by the Bank of Scotland in 1988 and absorbed into its parent company in 2002. The Royal Mint, which issues the coinage circulating through the whole of the UK, has been based at a single site in Llantrisant since 1980. Since decimalisation, in 1971, at least one of the coins in circulation emphasises Wales such as the 1995 and 2000 one pound coin (above). As at 2012, the last designs devoted to Wales saw production in 2008.
During 2020, and well into 2021, the restrictions and lockdowns necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic affected all sectors of the economy and "tourism and hospitality suffered notable losses from the pandemic" across the UK. As of 6 April 2021, visitors from "red list" countries were still not allowed to enter unless they were UK residents. Restrictions will "likely be in place until the summer", one report predicted, with June being the most likely time for tourism from other countries to begin a rebound. On 12 April 2021, many tourist facilities were still closed in Wales but non-essential travel between Wales and England was finally permitted. Wales also allowed non-essential retail stores to open.
## Transport
### Main roads
- The M4 motorway running from West London to South Wales links Newport, Cardiff and Swansea. Responsibility for the section of the motorway within Wales, from the Second Severn Crossing to Pont Abraham services, sits with the Welsh Government.
- The A55 expressway has a similar role along the North Wales coast, connecting Holyhead and Bangor with Wrexham and Flintshire. It also links to northwest England, principally Chester.
- The main north-south Wales link is the A470, which runs from Cardiff to Llandudno.
### Rail
Rail transport in Wales includes the Wales & Borders franchise, which is overseen by the Welsh Government with most passenger services operated by Transport for Wales Rail. The Cardiff region has its own urban rail network. Beeching cuts in the 1960s mean that most of the remaining network is geared toward east–west travel connecting with the Irish Sea ports for ferries to Ireland. Services between north and south Wales operate through the English cities of Chester and Hereford and towns of Shrewsbury, Gobowen for Oswestry and along the Welsh Marches Line, with trains on the Heart of Wales Line from Swansea to Llandovery, Llandrindod and Knighton, connecting with the Welsh Marches line at Craven Arms. Trains in Wales are mainly diesel-powered but the South Wales Main Line branch of the Great Western Main Line used by services from London Paddington to Cardiff has undergone electrification, although the programme experienced significant delays and cost overruns. Many of the Valley Lines are also undergoing electrification, under the South Wales Metro project. A North-South railway has been suggested to better link North and South Wales.
### Air and ferries
Cardiff Airport is the international airport of Wales. Providing links to European, African and Asian destinations, it is about 12 miles (19 km) southwest of Cardiff city centre, in the Vale of Glamorgan. Intra-Wales flights used to run between Anglesey (Valley) and Cardiff, and were operated since 2017 by Eastern Airways; as of 2022, those flights are no longer available. Other internal flights operate to northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Wales has four commercial ferry ports. Regular ferry services to Ireland operate from Holyhead, Pembroke Dock and Fishguard. The Swansea to Cork service was cancelled in 2006, reinstated in March 2010, and withdrawn again in 2012.
## Education
A distinct education system has developed in Wales. Formal education before the 18th century was the preserve of the elite. The first grammar schools were established in Welsh towns such as Ruthin, Brecon and Cowbridge. One of the first successful schooling systems was started by Griffith Jones, who introduced the circulating schools in the 1730s; these are believed to have taught half the country's population to read. In the early 19th century, English became the usual language of instruction at schools in Wales. While the country's working class was largely Welsh-speaking at the time, Welsh public opinion wished for children to learn English. Many schools used corporal punishment to stop children from speaking Welsh in the first half of the 19th century; the practice declined in the second half of the century. The British government never prohibited the use of Welsh at schools but it treated English as the assumed language of instruction. More Welsh was gradually used at schools in Welsh-speaking areas in the mid to late 19th century and teaching of the language began to receive moderate government support from the late 19th century.
The University College of Wales opened in Aberystwyth in 1872. Cardiff and Bangor followed, and the three colleges came together in 1893 to form the University of Wales. The Welsh Intermediate Education Act of 1889 created 95 secondary schools. The Welsh Department for the Board of Education followed in 1907, which gave Wales its first significant educational devolution. A resurgence in Welsh-language schools in the latter half of the 20th century at nursery and primary level saw attitudes shift towards teaching in the medium of Welsh. Welsh is a compulsory subject in all of Wales's state schools for pupils aged 5–16 years old. While there has never been an exclusively Welsh-language college, Welsh-medium higher education is delivered through the individual universities and has since 2011 been supported by the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol (Welsh-language National College) as a delocalised federal institution. In 2021–2022, there were 1,470 maintained schools in Wales. In 2021–22, the country had 471,131 pupils taught by 25,210 full-time equivalent teachers.
## Healthcare
Public healthcare in Wales is provided by NHS Wales (*GIG Cymru*), through seven local health boards and three all-Wales trusts. It was originally formed as part of the NHS structure for England and Wales by the National Health Service Act 1946, but with powers over the NHS in Wales coming under the Secretary of State for Wales in 1969. Responsibility for NHS Wales passed to the Welsh Assembly under devolution in 1999, and is now the responsibility of the Minister for Health and Social Services. Historically, Wales was served by smaller 'cottage' hospitals, built as voluntary institutions. As newer, more expensive, diagnostic techniques and treatments became available, clinical work has been concentrated in newer, larger district hospitals. In 2006, there were seventeen district hospitals in Wales. NHS Wales directly employs over 90,000 staff, making it Wales's biggest employer. The National Survey for Wales in 2021–22 reported that 72 per cent of adults surveyed had good or very good general health, 19 per cent had fair general health and 8 had bad or very bad general health. The survey recorded that 46 per cent of Welsh adults had a long-standing illness, such as arthritis, asthma, diabetes or heart disease. The survey also reported that 13 per cent of the adult population were smokers, 16 per cent admitted drinking alcohol above weekly recommended guidelines, while 56 per cent undertook the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity each week. According to the survey, 30 per cent of adults in Wales reported to have eaten at least 5 portions of fruit or vegetables the previous day and 36 per cent reported a healthy weight.
## Demography
### Population history
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1536 | 278,000 | — |
| 1620 | 360,000 | +29.5% |
| 1770 | 500,000 | +38.9% |
| 1801 | 587,000 | +17.4% |
| 1851 | 1,163,000 | +98.1% |
| 1911 | 2,421,000 | +108.2% |
| 1921 | 2,656,000 | +9.7% |
| 1939 | 2,487,000 | −6.4% |
| 1961 | 2,644,000 | +6.3% |
| 1991 | 2,811,865 | +6.3% |
| 2001 | 2,910,200 | +3.5% |
| 2011 | 3,063,456 | +5.3% |
| 2021 | 3,107,500 | +1.4% |
| Estimated (pre-1801); census (post-1801) 2001 census 2021 census |
The population of Wales doubled from 587,000 in 1801 to 1,163,000 in 1851 and had reached 2,421,000 by 1911. Most of the increase came in the coal mining districts, especially Glamorganshire, which grew from 71,000 in 1801 to 232,000 in 1851 and 1,122,000 in 1911. Part of this increase can be attributed to the demographic transition seen in most industrialising countries during the Industrial Revolution, as death rates dropped and birth rates remained steady. However, there was also large-scale migration into Wales during the Industrial Revolution. The English were the most numerous group, but there were also considerable numbers of Irish and smaller numbers of other ethnic groups, including Italians, who migrated to South Wales. Wales also received immigration from various parts of the British Commonwealth of Nations in the 20th century, and African-Caribbean and Asian communities add to the ethnocultural mix, particularly in urban Wales. Many of these self-identify as Welsh.
The population in 1972 stood at 2.74 million and remained broadly static for the rest of the decade. However, in the early 1980s, the population fell due to net migration out of Wales. Since the 1980s, net migration has generally been inward, and has contributed more to population growth than natural change. The resident population of Wales in 2021 according to the census was 3,107,500 (1,586,600 female and 1,521,000 male), an increase of 1.4 per cent over 2011. A decreased change from the 5 per cent increase between 2001 and 2011. Wales accounted for 5.2 per cent of the population of England and Wales in 2021. Wales has seven cities: Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, Wrexham, Bangor, St Asaph and St Davids. (The last two of these have city status in the United Kingdom despite their small populations.) Wrexham, north Wales's largest settlement, became Wales's newest and seventh city in September 2022.
| Rank | Name | Council area | Pop. | Rank | Name | Council area | Pop. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cardiff | City & County of Cardiff | 335,145 | 11 | Caerphilly | Caerphilly County Borough | 41,402 | ||
| 2 | Swansea | City & County of Swansea | 239,000 | 12 | Port Talbot | Neath Port Talbot | 37,276 | ||
| 3 | Newport | Newport City | 128,060 | 13 | Pontypridd | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 30,457 | ||
| 4 | Wrexham | Wrexham County Borough | 61,603 | 14 | Aberdare | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 29,748 | ||
| 5 | Barry | Vale of Glamorgan | 54,673 | 15 | Colwyn Bay | Conwy County Borough | 29,405 | ||
| 6 | Neath | Neath Port Talbot | 50,658 | 16 | Pontypool | Torfaen | 28,334 | ||
| 7 | Cwmbran | Torfaen | 46,915 | 17 | Penarth | Vale of Glamorgan | 27,226 | ||
| 8 | Bridgend | Bridgend County Borough | 46,757 | 18 | Rhyl | Denbighshire | 25,149 | ||
| 9 | Llanelli | Carmarthenshire | 43,878 | 19 | Blackwood | Caerphilly County Borough | 24,042 | ||
| 10 | Merthyr Tydfil | Merthyr Tydfil | 43,820 | 20 | Maesteg | Bridgend County Borough | 18,888 |
### Language
Welsh is an official language in Wales as legislated by the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011. Both Welsh and English are also official languages of the Senedd. The proportion of the Welsh population able to speak the Welsh language fell from just under 50 per cent in 1901 to 43.5 per cent in 1911, and continued to fall to 18.9 per cent in 1981. The results of the 2001 Census showed an increase in the number of Welsh speakers to 21 per cent of the population aged 3 and older, compared with 18.7 per cent in 1991 and 19 per cent in 1981. This compares with a pattern of steady decline indicated by census results during the 20th century. In the 2011 census it was recorded that the proportion of people able to speak Welsh had dropped from 20.8 per cent to 19 per cent (still higher than 1991). Despite an increase in the overall size of the Welsh population this still meant that the number of Welsh speakers in Wales dropped from 582,000 in 2001 to 562,000 in 2011. However this figure was still higher than the 508,000 people (or 18.7 per cent of the population) who said they could speak Welsh in the 1991 census.
According to the 2021 census, the Welsh-speaking population of Wales aged three or older was 17.8 per cent (538,300 people) and nearly three-quarters of the population in Wales said they had no Welsh language skills. Other estimates suggest that 29.7 per cent (899,500) of people aged three or older in Wales could speak Welsh in June 2022.
English is spoken by almost all people in Wales and is the main language in most of the country. Code-switching is common in all parts of Wales and is known by various terms, though none is recognised by professional linguists. "Wenglish" is the Welsh dialect of the English language. It has been influenced significantly by Welsh grammar and includes words derived from Welsh. Northern and western Wales retain many areas where Welsh is spoken as a first language by the majority of the population, and English learnt as a second language. Although monoglotism in young children continues, life-long monoglotism in Welsh no longer occurs.
Since Poland joined the European Union, Wales has seen a significant increase in Polish immigrants. This has made Polish the most common main language in Wales after English and Welsh, at 0.7 per cent of the population.
### Religion
Forms of Christianity have dominated religious life in what is now Wales for more than 1,400 years.
The 2021 census recorded that 46.5 per cent had "No religion", more than any single religious affiliation and up from 32.1 per cent in 2011. The largest religion in Wales is Christianity, with 43.6 per cent of the population describing themselves as Christian in the 2021 census. The patron saint of Wales is Saint David (*Dewi Sant*), with Saint David's Day (*Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant*) celebrated annually on 1 March. The early 20th century saw a religious revival, the 1904–1905 Welsh Revival, which started through the evangelism of Evan Roberts and brought large numbers of converts, sometimes whole communities, to non-Anglican Christianity.
The Church in Wales with 56,000 adherents has the largest attendance of the denominations. It is a province of the Anglican Communion, and was part of the Church of England until disestablishment in 1920 under the Welsh Church Act 1914. The first Independent Church in Wales was founded at Llanvaches in 1638 by William Wroth. The Presbyterian Church of Wales was born out of the Welsh Methodist revival in the 18th century and seceded from the Church of England in 1811. The second largest attending faith in Wales is Roman Catholic, with an estimated 43,000 adherents.
Non-Christian religions are small in Wales, making up approximately 2.7 per cent of the population. Islam is the largest, with 24,000 (0.8 per cent) reported Muslims in the 2011 census. There are also communities of Hindus and Sikhs, mainly in the south Wales cities of Newport, Cardiff and Swansea, while the largest concentration of Buddhists is in the western rural county of Ceredigion. Judaism was the first non-Christian faith to be established in Wales since Roman times, though by 2001 the community had declined to approximately 2,000 and as of 2019 only numbers in the hundreds.
### Ethnicity
The 2021 census showed that 93.8 per cent of the population of Wales identified as "White", compared to 95.6 per cent in 2011. 90.6 per cent of the population identified as "White: Welsh, English, Scottish, Northern Irish or British" in 2021. The second-highest ethnicity in 2021 was "Asian, Asian Welsh or Asian British" at 2.9 per cent of the population, compared to 2.3 per cent in 2011. 1.6 per cent of the population identified as "Mixed or multiple ethnic groups", compared to 1.0 per cent in 2011; 0.9 per cent of the population identified as "Black, Black Welsh, Black British, Caribbean or African", compared to 0.6 per cent in 2011; and 0.9 per cent identified as "Other ethnic group" compared to 0.5 per cent in 2011. The local authorities with the highest proportions of "high-level" ethnic groups other than "White" were mainly urban areas including Cardiff, Newport and Swansea. 5.3 per cent of households in Wales were multiple ethnic group households, up from 4.2 per cent in 2011.
In 2021, the first statue of a named, non-fictional woman outdoors was raised for Wales's first black headteacher, Betty Campbell. In 2023, Patti Flynn (a contemporary of Shirley Bassey, both of Tiger Bay, Cardiff) became the first black Welsh woman to be awarded a purple plaque.
In 2024, Vaughan Gething was elected First Minister of Wales becoming the first black head of government in Europe having previously served as Secretary for Finance.
### National identity
The 2021 census showed that 55.2 per cent identified as "Welsh only" and 8.1 per cent identified as "Welsh and British", giving the combined proportion of 63.3 per cent for people identifying as Welsh. The Welsh Annual Population Survey showed that the proportion of people who identified as Welsh versus another identity was 62.3 per cent in 2022, compared to 69.2 per cent in 2001. A 2022 YouGov poll found that 21 per cent considered themselves Welsh not British, 15 per cent more Welsh than British, 24 per cent equally Welsh and British, 7 per cent more British than Welsh, 20 per cent British and not Welsh, and 8 per cent other; a total of 67 per cent thus considered themselves Welsh to some degree.
## Culture
Wales has a distinctive culture including its own language, customs, holidays and music. There are four UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Wales: The Castles and Town Walls of King Edward I in Gwynedd; Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal; the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape; and The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales.
### Mythology
Remnants of native Celtic mythology of the pre-Christian Britons was passed down orally by the *cynfeirdd* (the early poets). Some of their work survives in later medieval Welsh manuscripts: the Black Book of Carmarthen and the Book of Aneirin (both 13th-century); the Book of Taliesin and the White Book of Rhydderch (both 14th-century); and the Red Book of Hergest (c. 1400). The prose stories from the White and Red Books are known as the *Mabinogion*. Poems such as *Cad Goddeu* (The Battle of the Trees) and mnemonic list-texts like the *Welsh Triads* and the *Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain*, also contain mythological material. These texts include the earliest forms of the Arthurian legend and the traditional history of post-Roman Britain. Other sources of Welsh folklore include the 9th-century Latin historical compilation *Historia Britonum* (the History of the Britons) and Geoffrey of Monmouth's 12th-century Latin chronicle *Historia Regum Britanniae* (the History of the Kings of Britain), and later folklore, such as *The Welsh Fairy Book* by W. Jenkyn Thomas.
### Literature
Wales has one of the oldest unbroken literary traditions in Europe going back to the sixth century and including Geoffrey of Monmouth and Gerald of Wales, regarded as among the finest Latin authors of the Middle Ages. The earliest body of Welsh verse, by poets Taliesin and Aneirin, survive not in their original form, but in much-changed, medieval versions. Welsh poetry and native lore and learning survived through the era of the Poets of the Princes (c. 1100–1280) and then the Poets of the Gentry (c. 1350–1650). The former were professional poets who composed eulogies and elegies to their patrons while the latter favoured the cywydd metre. The period produced one of Wales's greatest poets, Dafydd ap Gwilym. After the Anglicisation of the gentry the tradition declined.
Despite the extinction of the professional poet, the integration of the native elite into a wider cultural world did bring other literary benefits. Renaissance scholars such as William Salesbury and John Davies brought humanist ideals from English universities. In 1588 William Morgan became the first person to translate the Bible into Welsh. From the 16th century the proliferation of the 'free-metre' verse became the most important development in Welsh poetry, but from the middle of the 17th century a host of imported accentual metres from England became very popular. By the 19th century the creation of a Welsh epic, fuelled by the eisteddfod, became an obsession with Welsh-language writers. The output of this period was prolific in quantity but unequal in quality. Initially excluded, religious denominations came to dominate the competitions, with bardic themes becoming scriptural and didactic.
Developments in 19th-century Welsh literature include Lady Charlotte Guest's translation into English of the Mabinogion, one of the most important medieval Welsh prose works of Celtic mythology. 1885 saw the publication of *Rhys Lewis* by Daniel Owen, credited as the first novel written in the Welsh language. The 20th century saw a move from the verbose Victorian Welsh style, with works such as Thomas Gwynn Jones's *Ymadawiad Arthur*. The First World War had a profound effect on Welsh literature with a more pessimistic style championed by T. H. Parry-Williams and R. Williams Parry. The industrialisation of south Wales saw a further shift with the likes of Rhydwen Williams who used the poetry and metre of a bygone rural Wales but in the context of an industrial landscape. The inter-war period is dominated by Saunders Lewis, for his political and reactionary views as much as his plays, poetry and criticism.
The careers of some 1930s writers continued after World War Two, including those of Gwyn Thomas, Vernon Watkins, and Dylan Thomas, whose most famous work *Under Milk Wood* was first broadcast in 1954. Thomas was one of the most notable and popular Welsh writers of the 20th century and one of the most innovative poets of his time. The attitude of the post-war generation of Welsh writers in English towards Wales differs from the previous generation, with greater sympathy for Welsh nationalism and the Welsh language. The change is linked to the nationalism of Saunders Lewis and the burning of the Bombing School on the Llŷn Peninsula in 1936. In poetry R. S. Thomas (1913–2000) was the most important figure throughout the second half of the 20th century. He "did not learn the Welsh language until he was 30 and wrote all his poems in English". Major writers in the second half of the 20th century include Emyr Humphreys (1919–2020), who during his long writing career published over twenty novels, and Raymond Williams (1921–1988).
### Museums and libraries
Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales was founded by royal charter in 1907 as the National Museum of Wales. It operates at seven sites: National Museum Cardiff, St Fagans National History Museum, Big Pit National Coal Museum, National Wool Museum, National Slate Museum, National Roman Legion Museum, and the National Waterfront Museum. Entry to all sites is free. The National Library of Wales, based in Aberystwyth, houses important collections of printed works, including the Sir John Williams Collection and the Shirburn Castle collection, as well as art collections including portraits and photographs, ephemera and Ordnance Survey maps.
### Visual arts
Works of Celtic art have been found in Wales. In the Early Medieval period, the Celtic Christianity of Wales was part of the Insular art of the British Isles. A number of illuminated manuscripts from Wales survive, including the 8th-century Hereford Gospels and Lichfield Gospels. The 11th-century Ricemarch Psalter (now in Dublin) is certainly Welsh, made in St David's, and shows a late Insular style with unusual Viking influence.
Some Welsh artists of the 16th–18th centuries tended to leave the country to work, moving to London or Italy. Richard Wilson (1714–1782) is arguably the first major British landscapist; although more notable for his Italian scenes, he painted several Welsh scenes on visits from London. By the late 18th century, the popularity of landscape art grew and clients were found in the larger Welsh towns, allowing more Welsh artists to stay in their homeland. Artists from outside Wales were also drawn to paint Welsh scenery, at first because of the Celtic Revival.
An Act of Parliament in 1857 provided for the establishment of a number of art schools throughout the United Kingdom, and the Cardiff School of Art opened in 1865. Graduates still very often had to leave Wales to work, but Betws-y-Coed became a popular centre for artists, and its artists' colony helped to form the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art in 1881. The sculptor Sir William Goscombe John made works for Welsh commissions, although he had settled in London. Christopher Williams, whose subjects were mostly resolutely Welsh, was also based in London. Thomas E. Stephens and Andrew Vicari had very successful careers as portraitists, based respectively in the United States and France.
Welsh painters gravitated towards the art capitals of Europe. Augustus John and his sister Gwen John lived mostly in London and Paris. However, the landscapists Sir Kyffin Williams and Peter Prendergast lived in Wales for most of their lives, while remaining in touch with the wider art world. Ceri Richards was very engaged in the Welsh art scene as a teacher in Cardiff and even after moving to London; he was a figurative painter in international styles including Surrealism. Various artists have moved to Wales, including Eric Gill, the London-Welshman David Jones, and the sculptor Jonah Jones. The Kardomah Gang was an intellectual circle in Swansea, centred on the poet Dylan Thomas and the poet and artist Vernon Watkins, which also included the painter Alfred Janes.
South Wales had several notable potteries, one of the first important sites being the Ewenny Pottery in Bridgend, which began producing earthenware in the 17th century. In the 18th and 19th centuries, with more scientific methods becoming available, more refined ceramics were produced: this was led by the Cambrian Pottery (1764–1870, also known as "Swansea pottery"), and later Nantgarw Pottery near Cardiff, which was in operation from 1813 to 1820 making fine porcelain, and then utilitarian pottery from 1833 until 1920. Portmeirion Pottery, founded in 1960 by Susan Williams-Ellis (daughter of Clough Williams-Ellis, creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion, Gwynedd) is based in Stoke-on-Trent, England.
### National symbols and identity
Wales is regarded as a modern Celtic nation which contributes to its national identity, with Welsh artists regularly appearing at Celtic festivals. The red dragon is the principal symbol of national identity and pride, personifying the fearlessness of the Welsh nation. The dragon is first referenced in literature as a symbol of the people in the Historia Brittonum. Vortigern (Welsh: *Gwrtheyrn*), King of the Celtic Britons, is interrupted while attempting to build a fort at Dinas Emrys. He is told by Ambrosius to dig up two dragons beneath the castle. He discovers a red dragon representing the Celtic Britons, and a white dragon representing Anglo-Saxons. Ambrosius prophesies that the Celtic Britons will reclaim the island and push the Anglo-Saxons back to the sea.
As an emblem, the red dragon of Wales has been used since the reign of Cadwaladr, King of Gwynedd from around 655 AD, and appears prominently on the national flag of Wales, which became an official flag in 1959. The banner of Owain Glyndŵr is associated with Welsh nationhood; it was carried into battle by Welsh forces during Glyndŵr's battles against the English, and includes four lions on red and gold. The standard is similar to the arms of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (Llywelyn the Last), the last Prince of Wales before the conquest of Wales by Edward I of England. The design may also be influenced by the arms of Glyndŵr's parents, both of whom had lions in their arms. Owain Glyndŵr Day is celebrated on 16 September in Wales and there have been calls to make it a national bank holiday. The Prince of Wales's feathers is also used in Wales: it consists of three white feathers emerging from a gold coronet, and the German motto *Ich dien* (I serve). Several Welsh representative teams, including the Welsh rugby union, and Welsh regiments in the British Army, including the Royal Welsh, use the badge or a stylised version of it.
On 1 March, Welsh people celebrate Saint David's Day, commemorating the death of the country's patron saint in 589. It is not a recognised bank holiday although there have been calls to make it so. The day is celebrated by schools and cultural societies across Wales, and customs include the wearing of a leek or a daffodil, which are two national emblems of Wales. Children also wear the national costume. The origins of the leek can be traced to the 16th century, while the daffodil became popular in the 19th century, encouraged by David Lloyd George. This is attributed to confusion (or association) between the Welsh for leeks, *cennin*, and that for daffodils, *cennin Pedr* or St. Peter's leeks. A report in 1916 gave preference to the leek, which has appeared on British pound coins. Other Welsh festivals include Mabsant when parishes would celebrate the patron saint of their local church, although this is now rarely observed, and a more modern celebration, Dydd Santes Dwynwen (St Dwynwen's Day), observed on 25 January in a similar way to St Valentine's Day.
"*Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau*" (English: Land of My Fathers) is the *de facto*, national anthem of Wales and is played at events such as football or rugby matches involving the Wales national team, as well as the opening of the Senedd and other official occasions. "*Cymru am byth*" ("Wales forever") is a popular Welsh motto. Another Welsh motto "Y Ddraig Goch Ddyry Cychwyn" ("the red dragon inspires action") has been used on the Royal Badge of Wales when it was created in 1953.
### Sport
More than 50 national governing bodies regulate and organise their sports in Wales. Most of those involved in competitive sports select, organise and manage individuals or teams to represent their country at international events or fixtures against other countries. Wales is represented at major world sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup, Rugby World Cup, Rugby League World Cup and the Commonwealth Games. At the Olympic Games, Welsh athletes compete alongside those of Scotland, England and Northern Ireland as part of a Great Britain team. Wales has hosted several international sporting events. These include the 1958 Commonwealth Games, the 1999 Rugby World Cup, the 2010 Ryder Cup and the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final.
Although football has traditionally been the more popular sport in North Wales, rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Wales national rugby union team takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship and has also competed in every Rugby World Cup, hosting the tournament in 1999. The five professional sides that replaced the traditional club sides in major competitions in 2003 were replaced in 2004 by the four regions: Cardiff Blues, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets. The Welsh regional teams play in the United Rugby Championship, the Heineken Champions Cup if they qualify and the European Rugby Challenge Cup, again dependent on qualification. Rugby league in Wales dates back to 1907. A professional Welsh League existed from 1908 to 1910.
Wales has had its own football league, the Welsh Premier League, since 1992. For historical reasons, five Welsh clubs play in the English football league system: Cardiff City, Swansea City, Newport County, Wrexham, and Merthyr Town. The country has produced a considerable number of footballers who have played at international level. At UEFA Euro 2016, the Wales national team achieved their best ever finish, reaching the semi-finals.
In international cricket, Wales and England field a single representative team, administered by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), called the England cricket team, or simply 'England'. Occasionally, a separate Wales team play limited-overs competitions. Glamorgan County Cricket Club is the only Welsh participant in the England and Wales County Championship. Wales has produced notable participants of individual sports including snooker, track and field, cycling, and boxing.
### Media
Wales became the UK's first digital television nation in 2010. BBC Cymru Wales is the national broadcaster, producing both television and radio programmes in Welsh and English. It has also produced programmes such as *Life on Mars*, *Doctor Who* and *Torchwood* for BBC's network audience across the United Kingdom. ITV, the UK's main commercial broadcaster, has a Welsh-orientated service branded ITV Cymru Wales. S4C began broadcasting in 1982. Its output was mostly in Welsh at peak hours, but shared English-language content with Channel 4 at other times. Since the digital switchover the channel has broadcast exclusively in Welsh. BBC Radio Cymru is the BBC's Welsh-language radio service, which broadcasts throughout Wales. A number of independent radio stations broadcast in the Welsh regions, predominantly in English. In 2006, several regional radio stations broadcast in Welsh: output ranged from two two-minute news bulletins each weekday (Radio Maldwyn) to over 14 hours of Welsh-language programmes weekly (Swansea Sound) to essentially bilingual stations such as Heart Cymru and Radio Ceredigion.
Most of the newspapers sold and read in Wales are national newspapers available throughout Britain. The *Western Mail* is Wales's only print national daily newspaper. Wales-based regional daily newspapers include the *Daily Post* (which covers North Wales), the *South Wales Evening Post* (Swansea), the *South Wales Echo* (Cardiff), and the *South Wales Argus* (Newport). *Y Cymro* is a Welsh-language newspaper, published weekly. *Wales on Sunday* is the only Welsh Sunday newspaper that covers the whole of Wales. The Books Council of Wales is the Welsh-Government-funded body tasked with promoting Welsh literature in Welsh and English. The BCW provides publishing grants for qualifying English- and Welsh-language publications. Around 650 books are published each year, by some of the dozens of Welsh publishers. Wales's main publishing houses include Gomer Press, Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, Honno, the University of Wales Press and Y Lolfa. Journals with a Welsh focus include *Cambria* (a Welsh affairs magazine published bi-monthly in English), *Planet,* and *Poetry Wales*. Welsh-language magazines include the current affairs titles *Golwg* ("View"), published weekly, and *Barn* ("Opinion"), published monthly. *Y Wawr* ("The Dawn") is published quarterly by *Merched y Wawr*, the national organisation for women. *Y Traethodydd* ("The Essayist"), a quarterly publication by the Presbyterian Church of Wales, first appeared in 1845 and is the oldest Welsh publication still in print.
### Cuisine
Traditional Welsh dishes include laverbread (made from *Porphyra umbilicalis*, an edible seaweed), bara brith (fruit bread), cawl (a lamb stew), cawl cennin (leek soup), and Welsh cakes. Cockles are sometimes served as a traditional breakfast with bacon and laverbread. Although Wales has its own traditional food and has absorbed much of the cuisine of England, Welsh diets now owe more to the countries of India, China and the United States. Chicken tikka masala is the country's favourite dish, while hamburgers and Chinese food outsell fish and chips as takeaways.
### Performing arts
#### Music and festivals
Wales, "the land of song", is notable for its solo artists, its male voice choirs and its harpists. The annual *National Eisteddfod* is the country's main performance festival. The *Llangollen International Eisteddfod* provides an opportunity for the singers and musicians of the world to perform. The Welsh Folk Song Society publishes collections of historical songs and tunes. Traditional instruments of Wales include the *telyn deires* (triple harp), fiddle, *crwth* (bowed lyre) and the *pibgorn* (hornpipe). Male voice choirs emerged in the 19th century, formed as the tenor and bass sections of chapel choirs, and embraced the popular secular hymns of the day. Welsh congregations and choirs were known for singing in a rousing four-voice style, becoming characteristic of the country. Many of the historic choirs survive in modern Wales, singing a mixture of traditional and popular songs.
The BBC National Orchestra of Wales performs in Wales and internationally. The Welsh National Opera is based at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay, while the National Youth Orchestra of Wales was the first of its type in the world. Wales has a tradition of producing notable singers in both the classical and pop arenas, as well as some popular bands. The Welsh folk music scene has enjoyed a resurgence in the 21st century.
#### Drama
The earliest surviving Welsh plays are two medieval miracle plays, *Y Tri Brenin o Gwlen* ("The three Kings from Cologne") and *Y Dioddefaint a'r Atgyfodiad* ("The Passion and the Resurrection"). A recognised Welsh tradition of theatre emerged during the 18th century, in the form of an interlude, a metrical play performed at fairs and markets. Drama in the early 20th century thrived, but the country established neither a Welsh National Theatre nor a national ballet company. After the Second World War, the substantial number of amateur theatre companies reduced by two-thirds. Competition from television in the mid-20th century led to greater professionalism in the theatre. Plays by Emlyn Williams and Alun Owen and others were staged, while Welsh actors, including Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins, were establishing international reputations. Wales has also produced some well-known comedians.
#### Dance
Traditional dances include Welsh folk dancing and clog dancing. The first mention of dancing in Wales is in a 12th-century account by Giraldus Cambrensis, but by the 19th century traditional dance had all but died out due to religious opposition. In the 20th century a revival was led by Lois Blake (1890–1974). Clog dancing was preserved and developed by Hywel Wood (1882–1967) and others who perpetuated the art on local and national stages. The Welsh Folk Dance Society was founded in 1949. Contemporary dance grew out of Cardiff in the 1970s. The National Dance Company Wales, formed in 1983, is now resident at the Wales Millennium Centre.
## See also
## Notes
**Citations**
**Sources**
- Census 2001,
*200 Years of the Census in ... Wales*(2001) - Davies, John (1994).
*A History of Wales*. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-014581-6. - Davies, John; Jenkins, Nigel; Baines, Menna; Lynch, Peredur I., eds. (2008).
*The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales*. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6. - Johnes, Martin (2024).
*Welsh Not: Elementary Education and the Anglicisation of Nineteenth-Century Wales*(PDF). University of Wales Press. ISBN 9781837721818.
## External links
- Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament
- BBC Wales
- Geographic data related to Wales at OpenStreetMap
- VisitWales.com. The official international guide to places to stay and things to do in Wales.
- Gathering the Jewels – Welsh Heritage and Culture
- Photographs of Wales on Geograph Britain and Ireland
- Further historical information and sources at GENUKI
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# Jaguar - Wikipedia
| Jaguar | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Suborder: | Feliformia |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Subfamily: | Pantherinae |
| Genus: | Panthera
|
| Species: | P. onca |
| Binomial name | |
Panthera onca | |
| Subspecies | |
| |
| Current range
Former range | |
| Synonyms | |
|
|
The **jaguar** (* Panthera onca*) is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus
*Panthera*that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) and a weight of up to 158 kg (348 lb), it is the biggest cat species in the Americas and the third largest in the world. Its distinctively marked coat features pale yellow to tan colored fur covered by spots that transition to rosettes on the sides, although a melanistic black coat appears in some individuals. The jaguar's powerful bite allows it to pierce the carapaces of turtles and tortoises, and to employ an unusual killing method: it bites directly through the skull of mammalian prey between the ears to deliver a fatal blow to the brain.
The modern jaguar's ancestors probably entered the Americas from Eurasia during the Early Pleistocene via the land bridge that once spanned the Bering Strait. Today, the jaguar's range extends from the Southwestern United States across Mexico and much of Central America, the Amazon rainforest and south to Paraguay and northern Argentina. It inhabits a variety of forested and open terrains, but its preferred habitat is tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest, wetlands and wooded regions. It is adept at swimming and is largely a solitary, opportunistic, stalk-and-ambush apex predator. As a keystone species, it plays an important role in stabilizing ecosystems and in regulating prey populations.
The jaguar is threatened by habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, poaching for trade with its body parts and killings in human–wildlife conflict situations, particularly with ranchers in Central and South America. It has been listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List since 2002. The wild population is thought to have declined since the late 1990s. Priority areas for jaguar conservation comprise 51 Jaguar Conservation Units (JCUs), defined as large areas inhabited by at least 50 breeding jaguars. The JCUs are located in 36 geographic regions ranging from Mexico to Argentina.
The jaguar has featured prominently in the mythology of indigenous peoples of the Americas, including those of the Aztec and Maya civilizations.
## Etymology
The word "jaguar" is possibly derived from the Tupi-Guarani word *yaguara* meaning 'wild beast that overcomes its prey at a bound'. In North America, the word is pronounced disyllabic indigenous peoples in Guyana call it *jaguareté*, with the added sufix *eté*, meaning "true beast".
"Onca" is derived from the Portuguese name *onça* for a spotted cat that is larger than a lynx; cf. *ounce*. The word "panther" is derived from classical Latin *panthēra*, itself from the ancient Greek πάνθηρ (*pánthēr*).
## Taxonomy and evolution
### Taxonomy
In 1758, Carl Linnaeus described the jaguar in his work *Systema Naturae* and gave it the scientific name *Felis onca*.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, several jaguar type specimens formed the basis for descriptions of subspecies. In 1939, Reginald Innes Pocock recognized eight subspecies based on the geographic origins and skull morphology of these specimens.
Pocock did not have access to sufficient zoological specimens to critically evaluate their subspecific status but expressed doubt about the status of several. Later consideration of his work suggested only three subspecies should be recognized. The description of *P. o. palustris* was based on a fossil skull.
By 2005, nine subspecies were considered to be valid taxa:
*P. o. onca*(Linnaeus, 1758) was a jaguar from Brazil.*P. o. peruviana*(De Blainville, 1843) was a jaguar skull from Peru.*P. o. hernandesii*(Gray, 1857) was a jaguar from Mazatlán in Mexico.*P. o. palustris*(Ameghino, 1888) was a fossil jaguar mandible excavated in the Sierras Pampeanas of Córdova District, Argentina.*P. o. centralis*(Mearns, 1901) was a skull of a male jaguar from Talamanca, Costa Rica.*P. o. goldmani*(Mearns, 1901) was a jaguar skin from Yohatlan in Campeche, Mexico.*P. o. paraguensis*(Hollister, 1914) was a skull of a male jaguar from Paraguay.*P. o. arizonensis*(Goldman, 1932) was a skin and skull of a male jaguar from the vicinity of Cibecue, Arizona.*P. o. veraecrucis*(Nelson and Goldman, 1933) was a skull of a male jaguar from San Andrés Tuxtla in Mexico.
Reginald Innes Pocock placed the jaguar in the genus *Panthera* and observed that it shares several morphological features with the leopard (*P. pardus*). He, therefore, concluded that they are most closely related to each other. Results of morphological and genetic research indicate a clinal north–south variation between populations, but no evidence for subspecific differentiation. DNA analysis of 84 jaguar samples from South America revealed that the gene flow between jaguar populations in Colombia was high in the past. Since 2017, the jaguar is considered to be a monotypic taxon, though the modern *Panthera onca onca* is still distinguished from two fossil subspecies, *Panthera onca augusta* and *Panthera onca mesembrina*. However, the 2024 study suggested that the validity of subspecific assignments on both *P. o. augusta* and *P. o. mesembrina* remains unresolved, since both fossil and living jaguars show a considerable variation in morphometry.
### Evolution
The *Panthera* lineage is estimated to have genetically diverged from the common ancestor of the Felidae around to . Some genetic analyzes place the jaguar as a sister species to the lion with which it diverged , but other studies place the lion closer to the leopard.
The lineage of the jaguar appears to have originated in Africa and spread to Eurasia 1.95–1.77 mya. The living jaguar species is often suggested to have descended from the Eurasian *Panthera gombaszoegensis.* The ancestor of the jaguar entered the American continent via Beringia, the land bridge that once spanned the Bering Strait, Some authors have disputed the close relationship between *P. gombaszoegensis* (which is primarily known from Europe) and the modern jaguar. The oldest fossils of modern jaguars (*P. onca*) have been found in North America dating between 850,000-820,000 years ago. Results of mitochondrial DNA analysis of 37 jaguars indicate that current populations evolved between 510,000 and 280,000 years ago in northern South America and subsequently recolonized North and Central America after the extinction of jaguars there during the Late Pleistocene.
Two extinct subspecies of jaguar are recognized in the fossil record: the North American *P. o. augusta* and South American *P. o. mesembrina*.
## Description
The jaguar is a compact and muscular animal. It is the largest cat native to the Americas and the third largest in the world, exceeded in size only by the tiger and the lion. It stands 57 to 81 cm (22.4 to 31.9 in) tall at the shoulders.
Its size and weight vary considerably depending on sex and region: weights in most regions are normally in the range of 56–96 kg (123–212 lb). Exceptionally big males have been recorded to weigh as much as 158 kg (348 lb).
The smallest females from Middle America weigh about 36 kg (79 lb). It is sexually dimorphic, with females typically being 10–20% smaller than males. The length from the nose to the base of the tail varies from 1.12 to 1.85 m (3 ft 8 in to 6 ft 1 in). The tail is 45 to 75 cm (18 to 30 in) long and the shortest of any big cat.
Its muscular legs are shorter than the legs of other *Panthera* species with similar body weight.
Size tends to increase from north to south. Jaguars in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the Pacific coast of central Mexico weighed around 50 kg (110 lb). Jaguars in Venezuela and Brazil are much larger, with average weights of about 95 kg (209 lb) in males and of about 56–78 kg (123–172 lb) in females.
The jaguar's coat ranges from pale yellow to tan or reddish-yellow, with a whitish underside and covered in black spots. The spots and their shapes vary: on the sides, they become rosettes which may include one or several dots. The spots on the head and neck are generally solid, as are those on the tail where they may merge to form bands near the end and create a black tip. They are elongated on the middle of the back, often connecting to create a median stripe, and blotchy on the belly. These patterns serve as camouflage in areas with dense vegetation and patchy shadows. Jaguars living in forests are often darker and considerably smaller than those living in open areas, possibly due to the smaller numbers of large, herbivorous prey in forest areas.
The jaguar closely resembles the leopard but is generally more robust, with stockier limbs and a more square head. The rosettes on a jaguar's coat are larger, darker, fewer in number and have thicker lines, with a small spot in the middle. It has powerful jaws with the third-highest bite force of all felids, after the tiger and the lion. It has an average bite force at the canine tip of 887.0 Newton and a bite force quotient at the canine tip of 118.6. A 100 kg (220 lb) jaguar can bite with a force of 4.939 kN (1,110 lbf) with the canine teeth and 6.922 kN (1,556 lbf) at the carnassial notch.
### Color variation
Melanistic jaguars are also known as black panthers. The black morph is less common than the spotted one. Black jaguars have been documented in Central and South America. Melanism in the jaguar is caused by deletions in the melanocortin 1 receptor gene and inherited through a dominant allele. Black jaguars occur at higher densities in tropical rainforest and are more active during the daytime. This suggests that melanism provides camouflage in dense vegetation with high illumination.
In 2004, a camera trap in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains photographed the first documented black jaguar in Northern Mexico. Black jaguars were also photographed in Costa Rica's Alberto Manuel Brenes Biological Reserve, in the mountains of the Cordillera de Talamanca, in Barbilla National Park and in eastern Panama.
## Distribution and habitat
In 1999, the jaguar's historic range at the turn of the 20th century was estimated at 19,000,000 km2 (7,300,000 sq mi), stretching from the southern United States through Central America to southern Argentina. By the turn of the 21st century, its global range had decreased to about 8,750,000 km2 (3,380,000 sq mi), with most declines occurring in the southern United States, northern Mexico, northern Brazil, and southern Argentina.
Its present range extends from Mexico through Central America to South America comprising Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, particularly on the Osa Peninsula, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. It is considered to be locally extinct in El Salvador and Uruguay.
Jaguars have been occasionally sighted in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, with 62 accounts reported in the 20th century. Between 2012 and 2015, a male vagrant jaguar was recorded in 23 locations in the Santa Rita Mountains. Eight jaguars were photographed in the southwestern US between 1996 and 2024.
The jaguar prefers dense forest and typically inhabits dry deciduous forests, tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, rainforests and cloud forests in Central and South America; open, seasonally flooded wetlands, dry grassland and historically also oak forests in the United States. It has been recorded at elevations up to 3,800 m (12,500 ft) but avoids montane forests. It favors riverine habitat and swamps with dense vegetation cover. In the Mayan forests of Mexico and Guatemala, 11 GPS-collared jaguars preferred undisturbed dense habitat away from roads; females avoided even areas with low levels of human activity, whereas males appeared less disturbed by human population density. A young male jaguar was also recorded in the semi-arid Sierra de San Carlos at a waterhole.
### Former range
In the 19th century, the jaguar was still sighted at the North Platte River 48–80 km (30–50 miles) north of Longs Peak in Colorado, in coastal Louisiana, northern Arizona and New Mexico. Multiple verified zoological reports of the jaguar are known in California, two as far north as Monterey in 1814 and 1826. The only record of an active jaguar den with breeding adults and kittens in the United States was in the Tehachapi Mountains of California prior to 1860. The jaguar persisted in California until about 1860. The last confirmed jaguar in Texas was shot in 1948, 4.8 km (3 miles) southeast of Kingsville, Texas. In Arizona, a female was shot in the White Mountains in 1963. By the late 1960s, the jaguar was thought to have been extirpated in the United States. Arizona outlawed jaguar hunting in 1969, but by then no females remained, and over the next 25 years only two males were sighted and killed in the state. In 1996, a rancher and hunting guide from Douglas, Arizona came across a jaguar in the Peloncillo Mountains and became a researcher on jaguars, placing trail cameras, which recorded four more jaguars.
## Behavior and ecology
The jaguar is mostly active at night and during twilight. However, jaguars living in densely forested regions of the Amazon Rainforest and the Pantanal are largely active by day, whereas jaguars in the Atlantic Forest are primarily active by night. The activity pattern of the jaguar coincides with the activity of its main prey species. Jaguars are good swimmers and play and hunt in the water, possibly more than tigers. They have been recorded moving between islands and the shore. Jaguars are also good at climbing trees but do so less often than cougars.
### Ecological role
The adult jaguar is an apex predator, meaning it is at the top of the food chain and is not preyed upon in the wild. The jaguar has also been termed a keystone species, as it is assumed that it controls the population levels of prey such as herbivorous and seed-eating mammals and thus maintains the structural integrity of forest systems. However, field work has shown this may be natural variability, and the population increases may not be sustained. Thus, the keystone predator hypothesis is not accepted by all scientists.
The jaguar is sympatric with the cougar. In central Mexico, both prey on white-tailed deer, which makes up 54% and 66% of jaguar and cougar's prey, respectively. In northern Mexico, the jaguar and the cougar share the same habitat, and their diet overlaps dependent on prey availability. Jaguars seemed to prefer deer and calves. In Mexico and Central America, neither of the two cats are considered to be the dominant predator. In South America, the jaguar is larger than the cougar and tends to take larger prey, usually over 22 kg (49 lb). The cougar's prey usually weighs between 2 and 22 kg (4 and 49 lb), which is thought to be the reason for its smaller size. This situation may be advantageous to the cougar. Its broader prey niche, including its ability to take smaller prey, may give it an advantage over the jaguar in human-altered landscapes.
### Hunting and diet
The jaguar is an obligate carnivore and depends solely on flesh for its nutrient requirements. An analysis of 53 studies documenting the diet of the jaguar revealed that its prey ranges in weight from 1 to 130 kg (2.2 to 286.6 lb); it prefers prey weighing 45–85 kg (99–187 lb), with the capybara and the giant anteater being the most selected. When available, it also preys on marsh deer, southern tamandua, collared peccary and black agouti. In floodplains, jaguars opportunistically take reptiles such as green anacondas, turtles and caimans. Consumption of reptiles appears to be more frequent in jaguars than in other big cats. One remote population in the Brazilian Pantanal is recorded to primarily feed on aquatic reptiles and fish. The jaguar also preys on livestock in cattle ranching areas where wild prey is scarce. The daily food requirement of a captive jaguar weighing 34 kg (75 lb) was estimated at 1.4 kg (3.1 lb) of meat.
The jaguar's bite force allows it to pierce the carapaces of the yellow-spotted Amazon river turtle and the yellow-footed tortoise. It employs an unusual killing method: it bites mammalian prey directly through the skull between the ears to deliver a fatal bite to the brain. It kills capybara by piercing its canine teeth through the temporal bones of its skull, breaking its zygomatic arch and mandible and penetrating its brain, often through the ears. It has been hypothesized to be an adaptation to cracking open turtle shells; armored reptiles may have formed an abundant prey base for the jaguar following the late Pleistocene extinctions. However, this is disputed, as even in areas where jaguars prey on reptiles, they are still taken relatively infrequently compared to mammals in spite of their greater abundance.
Between October 2001 and April 2004, 10 jaguars were monitored in the southern Pantanal. In the dry season from April to September, they killed prey at intervals ranging from one to seven days; and ranging from one to 16 days in the wet season from October to March.
The jaguar uses a stalk-and-ambush strategy when hunting rather than chasing prey. The cat will slowly walk down forest paths, listening for and stalking prey before rushing or ambushing. The jaguar attacks from cover and usually from a target's blind spot with a quick pounce; the species' ambushing abilities are considered nearly peerless in the animal kingdom by both indigenous people and field researchers and are probably a product of its role as an apex predator in several different environments. The ambush may include leaping into water after prey, as a jaguar is quite capable of carrying a large kill while swimming; its strength is such that carcasses as large as a heifer can be hauled up a tree to avoid flood levels. After killing prey, the jaguar will drag the carcass to a thicket or other secluded spot. It begins eating at the neck and chest. The heart and lungs are consumed, followed by the shoulders.
### Social activity
The jaguar is generally solitary except for females with cubs. In 1977, groups consisting of a male, female and cubs, and two females with two males were sighted several times in a study area in the Paraguay River valley; a radio-collared female moved in a home range of 25–38 km2 (9.7–14.7 sq mi), which partly overlapped with another female. The home range of the male in this study area overlapped with several females. In the Venezuelan Llanos and Brazilian Pantanal, male coalitions were detected, which marked, defended and invaded territories together, hunted together and mated with several females.
The jaguar uses scrape marks, urine, and feces to mark its territory.
The size of home ranges depends on the level of deforestation and human population density. The home ranges of females vary from 15.3 km2 (5.9 sq mi) in the Pantanal to 53.6 km2 (20.7 sq mi) in the Amazon to 233.5 km2 (90.2 sq mi) in the Atlantic Forest. Male jaguar home ranges vary from 25 km2 (9.7 sq mi) in the Pantanal to 180.3 km2 (69.6 sq mi) in the Amazon to 591.4 km2 (228.3 sq mi) in the Atlantic Forest and 807.4 km2 (311.7 sq mi) in the Cerrado.
Studies employing GPS telemetry in 2003 and 2004 found densities of only six to seven jaguars per 100 km (62 mi) in the Pantanal region, compared with 10 to 11 using traditional methods; this suggests the widely used sampling methods may inflate the actual numbers of individuals in a sampling area. Fights between males occur but are rare, and avoidance behavior has been observed in the wild. In one wetland population with degraded territorial boundaries and more social proximity, adults of the same sex are more tolerant of each other and engage in more friendly and co-operative interactions.
The jaguar roars/grunts for long-distance communication; intensive bouts of counter-calling between individuals have been observed in the wild. This vocalization is described as "hoarse" with five or six guttural notes. Chuffing is produced by individuals when greeting, during courting, or by a mother comforting her cubs. This sound is described as low intensity snorts, possibly intended to signal tranquility and passivity. Cubs have been recorded bleating, gurgling and mewing.
### Reproduction and life cycle
In captivity, the female jaguar is recorded to reach sexual maturity at the age of about 2.5 years. Estrus lasts 7–15 days with an estrus cycle of 41.8 to 52.6 days. During estrus, she exhibits increased restlessness with rolling and prolonged vocalizations. She is an induced ovulator but can also ovulate spontaneously. Gestation lasts 91 to 111 days. The male is sexually mature at the age of three to four years. His mean ejaculate volume is 8.6±1.3 ml. Generation length of the jaguar is 9.8 years.
In the Pantanal, breeding pairs were observed to stay together for up to five days. Females had one to two cubs. The young are born with closed eyes but open them after two weeks. Cubs are weaned at the age of three months but remain in the birth den for six months before leaving to accompany their mother on hunts. Jaguars remain with their mothers for up to two years. They appear to rarely live beyond 11 years, but captive individuals may live 22 years.
In 2001, a male jaguar killed and partially consumed two cubs in Emas National Park. DNA paternity testing of blood samples revealed that the male was the father of the cubs. Two more cases of infanticide were documented in the northern Pantanal in 2013. To defend against infanticide, the female may hide her cubs and distract the male with courtship behavior.
### Attacks on humans
The Spanish conquistadors feared the jaguar. According to Charles Darwin, the indigenous peoples of South America stated that people did not need to fear the jaguar as long as capybaras were abundant. The first official record of a jaguar killing a human in Brazil dates to June 2008. Two children were attacked by jaguars in Guyana. The majority of known attacks on people happened when it had been cornered or wounded.
## Threats
The jaguar is threatened by loss and fragmentation of habitat, illegal killing in retaliation for livestock depredation and for illegal trade in jaguar body parts. It is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List since 2002, as the jaguar population has probably declined by 20–25% since the mid-1990s. Deforestation is a major threat to the jaguar across its range. Habitat loss was most rapid in drier regions such as the Argentine pampas, the arid grasslands of Mexico and the southwestern United States.
In 2002, it was estimated that the range of the jaguar had declined to about 46% of its range in the early 20th century. In 2018, it was estimated that its range had declined by 55% in the last century. The only remaining stronghold is the Amazon rainforest, a region that is rapidly being fragmented by deforestation.
Between 2000 and 2012, forest loss in the jaguar range amounted to 83.759 km2 (32.340 sq mi), with fragmentation increasing in particular in corridors between Jaguar Conservation Units (JCUs).
By 2014, direct linkages between two JCUs in Bolivia were lost, and two JCUs in northern Argentina became completely isolated due to deforestation.
In Mexico, the jaguar is primarily threatened by poaching. Its habitat is fragmented in northern Mexico, in the Gulf of Mexico and the Yucatán Peninsula, caused by changes in land use, construction of roads and tourism infrastructure. In Panama, 220 of 230 jaguars were killed in retaliation for predation on livestock between 1998 and 2014. In Venezuela, the jaguar was extirpated in about 26% of its range in the country since 1940, mostly in dry savannas and unproductive scrubland in the northeastern region of Anzoátegui. In Ecuador, the jaguar is threatened by reduced prey availability in areas where the expansion of the road network facilitated access of human hunters to forests. In the Alto Paraná Atlantic forests, at least 117 jaguars were killed in Iguaçu National Park and the adjacent Misiones Province between 1995 and 2008. Some Afro-Colombians in the Colombian Chocó Department hunt jaguars for consumption and sale of meat. Between 2008 and 2012, at least 15 jaguars were killed by livestock farmers in central Belize.
The international trade of jaguar skins boomed between the end of the Second World War and the early 1970s. Significant declines occurred in the 1960s, as more than 15,000 jaguars were yearly killed for their skins in the Brazilian Amazon alone; the trade in jaguar skins decreased since 1973 when the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species was enacted. Interview surveys with 533 people in the northwestern Bolivian Amazon revealed that local people killed jaguars out of fear, in retaliation, and for trade. Between August 2016 and August 2019, jaguar skins and body parts were seen for sale in tourist markets in the Peruvian cities of Lima, Iquitos and Pucallpa. Human-wildlife conflict, opportunistic hunting and hunting for trade in domestic markets are key drivers for killing jaguars in Belize and Guatemala. Seizure reports indicate that at least 857 jaguars were involved in trade between 2012 and 2018, including 482 individuals in Bolivia alone; 31 jaguars were seized in China. Between 2014 and early 2019, 760 jaguar fangs were seized that originated in Bolivia and were destined for China. Undercover investigations revealed that the smuggling of jaguar body parts is run by Chinese residents in Bolivia.
## Conservation
The jaguar is listed on CITES Appendix I, which means that all international commercial trade in jaguars or their body parts is prohibited. Hunting jaguars is prohibited in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, the United States, and Venezuela. Hunting jaguars is restricted in Guatemala and Peru. In Ecuador, hunting jaguars is prohibited, and it is classified as threatened with extinction. In Guyana, it is protected as an endangered species, and hunting it is illegal.
In 1986, the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary was established in Belize as the world's first protected area for jaguar conservation.
### Jaguar Conservation Units
In 1999, field scientists from 18 jaguar range countries determined the most important areas for long-term jaguar conservation based on the status of jaguar population units, stability of prey base and quality of habitat. These areas, called "Jaguar Conservation Units" (JCUs), are large enough for at least 50 breeding individuals and range in size from 566 to 67,598 km2 (219 to 26,100 sq mi); 51 JCUs were designated in 36 geographic regions including:
- the Sierra Madre Occidental and Sierra de Tamaulipas in Mexico
- the Selva Maya tropical forests extending over Mexico, Belize and Guatemala
- the Chocó–Darién moist forests from Honduras and Panama to Colombia
- Venezuelan Llanos
- northern Cerrado and Amazon basin in Brazil
- Tropical Andes in Bolivia and Peru
- Misiones Province in Argentina
Optimal routes of travel between core jaguar population units were identified across its range in 2010 to implement wildlife corridors that connect JCUs. These corridors represent areas with the shortest distance between jaguar breeding populations, require the least possible energy input of dispersing individuals and pose a low mortality risk. They cover an area of 2,600,000 km2 (1,000,000 sq mi) and range in length from 3 to 1,102 km (1.9 to 684.8 mi) in Mexico and Central America and from 489.14 to 1,607 km (303.94 to 998.54 mi) in South America.
Cooperation with local landowners and municipal, state, or federal agencies is essential to maintain connected populations and prevent fragmentation in both JCUs and corridors.
Seven of 13 corridors in Mexico are functioning with a width of at least 14.25 km (8.85 mi) and a length of no more than 320 km (200 mi). The other corridors may hamper passage, as they are narrower and longer.
In August 2012, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service set aside 3,392.20 km2 (838,232 acres) in Arizona and New Mexico for the protection of the jaguar. The Jaguar Recovery Plan was published in April 2019, in which Interstate 10 is considered to form the northern boundary of the Jaguar Recovery Unit in Arizona and New Mexico.
In Mexico, a national conservation strategy was developed from 2005 on and published in 2016. The Mexican jaguar population increased from an estimated 4,000 individuals in 2010 to about 4,800 individuals in 2018. This increase is seen as a positive effect of conservation measures that were implemented in cooperation with governmental and non-governmental institutions and landowners.
An evaluation of JCUs from Mexico to Argentina revealed that they overlap with high-quality habitats of about 1,500 mammals to varying degrees. Since co-occurring mammals benefit from the JCU approach, the jaguar has been called an umbrella species. Central American JCUs overlap with the habitat of 187 of 304 regional endemic amphibian and reptile species, of which 19 amphibians occur only in the jaguar range.
### Approaches
In setting up protected reserves, efforts generally also have to be focused on the surrounding areas, as jaguars are unlikely to confine themselves to the bounds of a reservation, especially if the population is increasing in size. Human attitudes in the areas surrounding reserves and laws and regulations to prevent poaching are essential to make conservation areas effective.
To estimate population sizes within specific areas and to keep track of individual jaguars, camera trapping and wildlife tracking telemetry are widely used, and feces are sought out with the help of detection dogs to study jaguar health and diet.
Current conservation efforts often focus on educating ranch owners and promoting ecotourism. Ecotourism setups are being used to generate public interest in charismatic animals such as the jaguar while at the same time generating revenue that can be used in conservation efforts. A key concern in jaguar ecotourism is the considerable habitat space the species requires. If ecotourism is used to aid in jaguar conservation, some considerations need to be made as to how existing ecosystems will be kept intact, or how new ecosystems will be put into place that are large enough to support a growing jaguar population.
Conservationists and professionals in Mexico and the United States have established the 56,000 acres (23,000 ha) Northern Jaguar Reserve in northern Mexico. Advocacy for reintroduction of the jaguar to its former range in Arizona and New Mexico have been supported by documentation of natural migrations by individual jaguars into the southern reaches of both states, the recency of extirpation from those regions by human action, and supportive arguments pertaining to biodiversity, ecological, human, and practical considerations.
## In culture and mythology
In the pre-Columbian Americas, the jaguar was a symbol of power and strength. In the Andes, a jaguar cult disseminated by the early Chavín culture became accepted over most of today's Peru by 900 BC. The later Moche culture in northern Peru used the jaguar as a symbol of power in many of their ceramics. In the Muisca religion in Altiplano Cundiboyacense, the jaguar was considered a sacred animal, and people dressed in jaguar skins during religious rituals.
The skins were traded with peoples in the nearby Orinoquía Region.
The name of the Muisca ruler Nemequene was derived from the Chibcha words *nymy* and *quyne*, meaning "force of the jaguar".
Sculptures with "Olmec were-jaguar" motifs were found on the Yucatán Peninsula in Veracruz and Tabasco; they show stylized jaguars with half-human faces. In the later Maya civilization, the jaguar was known as *balam* or *bolom'* in many of the Mayan languages, and was used to symbolize warriors and the elite class for being brave, fierce and strong. The cat was associated with the underworld and its image was used to decorate tombs and grave-good vessels.
The Aztec civilization called the jaguar *ocelotl* and considered it to be the king of the animals. It was believed to be fierce and courageous, but also wise, dignified and careful. The military had two classes of warriors, the *ocelotl* or jaguar warriors and the *cuauhtli* or eagle warriors and each dressed like their representative animal. In addition, members of the royal class would decorate in jaguar skins. The jaguar was considered to be the totem animal of the powerful deities Tezcatlipoca and Tepeyollotl.
A conch shell gorget depicting a jaguar was found in a burial mound in Benton County, Missouri. The gorget shows evenly-engraved lines and measures 104 mm × 98 mm (4.1 in × 3.9 in). Rock drawings made by the Hopi, Anasazi and Pueblo all over the desert and chaparral regions of the American Southwest show an explicitly spotted cat, presumably a jaguar, as it is drawn much larger than an ocelot.
## See also
## External links
- "Jaguar
*Panthera onca*". IUCN Cat Specialist Group. Archived from the original on 7 March 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2014. - "Jaguars: Born free".
*BBC Natural World*. 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2021. - People and Jaguars a Guide for Coexistence
- Felidae Conservation Fund
*Encyclopedia Americana*. 1920. .
|
# African Americans - Wikipedia
| Total population | |
|---|---|
Alone (one race):41,104,20012.40% of the total U.S. population In combination (mixed race):5,832,5331.76% of the total U.S. population Alone or in combination:46,936,73314.16% of the total U.S. population | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Predominantly the Southern United States and American urban centers, including: | |
| Texas | 3,552,997 |
| Georgia | 3,320,513 |
| Florida | 3,246,381 |
| New York | 2,986,172 |
| California | 2,237,044 |
| Languages | |
| American English (incl. African-American English and African-American Vernacular English), Gullah, Louisiana Creole | |
| Religion | |
Majority:Christianity (78%) Other:Irreligion (18%) Islam (2%) See: Religion of Black Americans |
**African Americans**, also known as **Black Americans** and formerly also called **Afro-Americans**, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. African Americans constitute the second largest ethno-racial group in the U.S. after White Americans. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of Africans enslaved in the United States. In 2023, an estimated 48.3 million people self-identified as Black, making up 14.4% of the country’s population. This marks a 33% increase since 2000, when there were 36.2 million Black people living in the U.S.
African-American history began in the 16th century, with Africans being sold to European slave traders and transported across the Atlantic to the Western Hemisphere. They were sold as slaves to European colonists and put to work on plantations, particularly in the southern colonies. A few were able to achieve freedom through manumission or escape, and founded independent communities before and during the American Revolution. After the United States was founded in 1783, most Black people continued to be enslaved, primarily concentrated in the American South, with four million enslaved people only liberated with the Civil War in 1865. During Reconstruction, they gained citizenship and adult-males the right to vote; however, due to widespread White supremacy, they were treated as second-class citizens and soon disenfranchised in the South. These circumstances changed due to participation in the military conflicts of the United States, substantial migration out of the South, the elimination of legal racial segregation, and the civil rights movement which sought political and social freedom. However, racism against African Americans and racial socioeconomic disparity remain a problem into the 21st century.
In the 20th and 21st centuries, immigration has played an increasingly significant role in the African-American community. As of 2022, 10% of the U.S. Black population were immigrants, and 20% were either immigrants or the children of immigrants.
African-American culture has had a significant influence on worldwide culture, making numerous contributions to visual arts, literature, the English language, philosophy, politics, cuisine, sports, and music. The African-American contribution to popular music is so profound that most American music, including jazz, gospel, blues, rock and roll, funk, disco, house, techno, hip hop, R&B, trap, and soul, has its origins either partially or entirely in the African-American community.
## History
### Colonial era
The vast majority of those who were enslaved and transported in the transatlantic slave trade were people from several Central and West African ethnic groups. They had been captured directly by the slave traders in coastal raids, or sold by other West Africans, or by half-European "merchant princes" to European slave traders, who brought them to the Americas.
The first African slaves in what is now the United States arrived in the early 16th century. Africans were Among Juan Ponce de León's 1513 voyage that landed in what would become Spanish Florida, and enslaved Africans arrived around the same time to Spanish Puerto Rico.
Africans also came via Santo Domingo in the Caribbean to the San Miguel de Gualdape colony (most likely located in the Winyah Bay area of present-day South Carolina), founded by Spanish explorer Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón in 1526. The ill-fated colony was almost immediately disrupted by a fight over leadership, during which the slaves revolted and fled the colony to seek refuge among local Native Americans. De Ayllón and many of the colonists died shortly afterward, due to an epidemic and the colony was abandoned. The settlers and the slaves who had not escaped returned to the Island of Hispaniola, whence they had come.
The enslaved explorer Esteban arrived in Florida with the Narváez expedition in 1528, a journey that first landed in Santo Domingo and later traveled into Spanish Texas and the Southwest before ending in Mexico.
The marriage between Luisa de Abrego, a free Black domestic servant from Seville, and Miguel Rodríguez, a White Segovian conquistador in 1565 in St. Augustine (Spanish Florida), is the first known and recorded Christian marriage anywhere in what is now the continental United States.
The first recorded Africans in English America (including most of the future United States) were "20 and odd negroes" who arrived in Jamestown, Virginia via Cape Comfort in August 1619 as indentured servants. As many Virginian settlers began to die from harsh conditions, more and more Africans were brought to work as laborers.
An indentured servant (who could be White or Black) would work for several years (usually four to seven) without wages. The status of indentured servants in early Virginia and Maryland was similar to slavery. Servants could be bought, sold, or leased, and they could be physically beaten for disobedience or attempting to running away. Unlike slaves, they were freed after their term of service expired or if their freedom was purchased. Their children did not inherit their status, and on their release from contract they received "a year's provision of corn, double apparel, tools necessary", and a small cash payment called "freedom dues". Africans could legally raise crops and cattle to purchase their freedom. They raised families, married other Africans and sometimes intermarried with Native Americans or European settlers.
By the 1640s and 1650s, several African families owned farms around Jamestown, and some became wealthy by colonial standards and purchased indentured servants of their own. In 1640, the Virginia General Court recorded the earliest documentation of lifetime slavery when they sentenced John Punch, a Negro, to lifetime servitude under his master Hugh Gwyn, for running away.
In Spanish Florida, some Spanish married or had unions with Pensacola, Creek or African women, both enslaved and free, and their descendants created a mixed-race population of mestizos and mulattos. The Spanish encouraged slaves from the colony of Georgia to come to Florida as a refuge, promising freedom in exchange for conversion to Catholicism. King Charles II issued a royal proclamation freeing all slaves who fled to Spanish Florida and accepted conversion and baptism. Most went to the area around St. Augustine, but escaped slaves also reached Pensacola. St. Augustine had mustered an all-Black militia unit defending Spanish Florida as early as 1683.
One of the Dutch African arrivals, Anthony Johnson, would later own one of the first Black "slaves", John Casor, resulting from the court ruling of a civil case.
The popular conception of a race-based slave system did not fully develop until the 18th century. The Dutch West India Company introduced slavery in 1625 with the importation of eleven Black slaves into New Amsterdam (present-day New York City). All the colony's slaves, however, were freed upon its surrender to the English.
Massachusetts was the first English colony to legally recognize slavery in 1641. In 1662, Virginia passed a law that children of enslaved women would take the status of the mother, rather than that of the father, as was the case under common law. This legal principle was called *partus sequitur ventrum*.
By an act of 1699, Virginia ordered the deportation of all free Blacks, effectively defining all people of African descent who remained in the colony as slaves. In 1670, the colonial assembly passed a law prohibiting free and baptized Blacks (and Native Americans) from purchasing Christians (in this act meaning White Europeans) but allowing them to buy people "of their owne nation".
In Spanish Louisiana, although there was no movement toward abolition of the African slave trade, Spanish rule introduced a new law called *coartación*, which allowed slaves to buy their freedom, and that of others. Although some did not have the money to do so, government measures on slavery enabled the existence of many free Blacks. This caused problems to the Spaniards with the French creoles (French who had settled in New France) who had also populated Spanish Louisiana. The French creoles cited that measure as one of the system's worst elements.
First established in South Carolina in 1704, groups of armed White men—slave patrols—were formed to monitor enslaved Black people. Their function was to police slaves, especially fugitives. Slave owners feared that slaves might organize revolts or slave rebellions, so state militias were formed to provide a military command structure and discipline within the slave patrols. These patrols were used to detect, encounter, and crush any organized slave meetings which might lead to revolts or rebellions.
The earliest African American congregations and churches were organized before 1800 in both northern and southern cities following the Great Awakening. By 1775, Africans made up 20% of the population in the American colonies, which made them the second largest ethnic group after English Americans.
### From the American Revolution to the Civil War
During the 1770s, Africans, both enslaved and free, helped rebellious American colonists secure their independence by defeating the British in the American Revolutionary War. Blacks played a role in both sides in the American Revolution. Activists in the Patriot cause included James Armistead, Prince Whipple, and Oliver Cromwell. Around 15,000 Black Loyalists left with the British after the war, most of them ending up as free Black people in England or its colonies, such as the Black Nova Scotians and the Sierra Leone Creole people.
In the Spanish Louisiana, Governor Bernardo de Gálvez organized Spanish free Black men into two militia companies to defend New Orleans during the American Revolution. They fought in the 1779 battle in which Spain captured Baton Rouge from the British. Gálvez also commanded them in campaigns against the British outposts in Mobile, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida. He recruited slaves for the militia by pledging to free anyone who was seriously wounded and promised to secure a low price for *coartación* (buy their freedom and that of others) for those who received lesser wounds. During the 1790s, Governor Francisco Luis Héctor, baron of Carondelet reinforced local fortifications and recruit even more free Black men for the militia. Carondelet doubled the number of free Black men who served, creating two more militia companies—one made up of Black members and the other of pardo (mixed race). Serving in the militia brought free Black men one step closer to equality with Whites, allowing them, for example, the right to carry arms and boosting their earning power. However, actually these privileges distanced free Black men from enslaved Blacks and encouraged them to identify with Whites.
Slavery had been tacitly enshrined in the US Constitution through provisions such as Article I, Section 2, Clause 3, commonly known as the 3/5 compromise. Due to the restrictions of Section 9, Clause 1, Congress was unable to pass an Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves until 1807. Fugitive slave laws (derived from the Fugitive Slave Clause of the Constitution—Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3) were passed by Congress in both 1793 and 1850, guaranteeing the right of a slaveholder to recover an escaped slave anywhere within the US. Slave owners, who viewed enslaved people as property, ensured that it became a federal crime to aid or assist those who had fled slavery or to interfere with their capture. By that time, slavery, which almost exclusively targeted Black people, had become the most critical and contentious political issue in the Antebellum United States, repeatedly sparking crises and conflicts. Among these were the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, the infamous Dred Scott decision, and John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry.
Prior to the Civil War, eight serving presidents had owned slaves, a practice that was legally protected under the US Constitution. By 1860, the number of enslaved Black people in the US had grown to between 3.5 and 4.4 million, largely as a result of the Atlantic slave trade. In addition, 488,000–500,000 Black people lived free (with legislated limits) across the country. With legislated limits imposed upon them in addition to "unconquerable prejudice" from Whites according to Henry Clay. In response to these conditions, some free Black people chose to leave the US and emigrate to Liberia in West Africa. Liberia had been established in 1821 as a settlement by the American Colonization Society (ACS), with many abolitionist members of the ACS believing Black Americans would have greater opportunities for freedom and equality in Africa than they would in the US.
Slaves not only represented a significant financial investment for their owners, but they also played a crucial role in producing the country's most valuable product and export: cotton. Enslaved people were instrumental in the construction of several prominent structures such as, the United States Capitol, the White House and other Washington, D.C.–based buildings. Similar building projects existed in the slave states.
By 1815, the domestic slave trade had become a significant and major economic activity in the United States, continuing to flourish until the 1860s. Historians estimate that nearly one million individuals were subjected to this forced migration, which was often referred to as a new "Middle Passage". The historian Ira Berlin described this internal forced migration of enslaved people as the "central event" in the life of a slave during the period between the American Revolution and the Civil War. Berlin emphasized that whether enslaved individuals were directly uprooted or lived in constant fear that they or their families would be involuntarily relocated, "the massive deportation traumatized Black people" throughout the US. As a result of this large-scale forced movement, countless individuals lost their connection to families and clans, and many ethnic Africans lost their knowledge of varying tribal origins in Africa.
The 1863 photograph of Wilson Chinn, a branded slave from Louisiana, along with the famous image of Gordon and his scarred back, served as two of the earliest and most powerful examples of how the newborn medium of photography could be used to visually document and encapsulate the brutality and cruelty of slavery.
Emigration of free Blacks to their continent of origin had been proposed since the Revolutionary war. After Haiti became independent, it tried to recruit African Americans to migrate there after it re-established trade relations with the United States. The Haitian Union was a group formed to promote relations between the countries. After riots against Blacks in Cincinnati, its Black community sponsored founding of the Wilberforce Colony, an initially successful settlement of African American immigrants to Canada. The colony was one of the first such independent political entities. It lasted for a number of decades and provided a destination for about 200 Black families emigrating from a number of locations in the United States.
In 1863, during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation declared that all slaves in Confederate-held territory were free. Advancing Union troops enforced the proclamation, with Texas being the last state to be emancipated, in 1865.
Slavery in a few border states continued until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865. While the Naturalization Act of 1790 limited US citizenship to Whites only, the 14th Amendment (1868) gave Black people citizenship, and the 15th Amendment (1870) gave Black men the right to vote.
### Reconstruction era and Jim Crow
African Americans quickly set up congregations for themselves, as well as schools and community/civic associations, to have space away from White control or oversight. While the post-war Reconstruction era was initially a time of progress for African Americans, that period ended in 1876. By the late 1890s, Southern states enacted Jim Crow laws to enforce racial segregation and disenfranchisement. Segregation was now imposed with Jim Crow laws, using signs used to show Blacks where they could legally walk, talk, drink, rest, or eat. For those places that were racially mixed, non-Whites had to wait until all White customers were dealt with. Most African Americans obeyed the Jim Crow laws, to avoid racially motivated violence. To maintain self-esteem and dignity, African Americans such as Anthony Overton and Mary McLeod Bethune continued to build their own schools, churches, banks, social clubs, and other businesses.
In the last decade of the 19th century, racially discriminatory laws and racial violence aimed at African Americans began to mushroom in the United States, a period often referred to as the "nadir of American race relations". These discriminatory acts included racial segregation—upheld by the United States Supreme Court decision in *Plessy v. Ferguson* in 1896—which was legally mandated by southern states and nationwide at the local level of government, voter suppression or disenfranchisement in the southern states, denial of economic opportunity or resources nationwide, and private acts of violence and mass racial violence aimed at African Americans unhindered or encouraged by government authorities.
### Great migration and civil rights movement
The desperate conditions of African Americans in the South sparked the Great Migration during the first half of the 20th century which led to a growing African American community in Northern and Western United States. The rapid influx of Blacks disturbed the racial balance within Northern and Western cities, exacerbating hostility between both Blacks and Whites in the two regions. The Red Summer of 1919 was marked by hundreds of deaths and higher casualties across the US as a result of race riots that occurred in more than three dozen cities, such as the Chicago race riot of 1919 and the Omaha race riot of 1919. Overall, Blacks in Northern and Western cities experienced systemic discrimination in a plethora of aspects of life. Within employment, economic opportunities for Blacks were routed to the lowest-status and restrictive in potential mobility. At the 1900 Hampton Negro Conference, Reverend Matthew Anderson said: "...the lines along most of the avenues of wage earning are more rigidly drawn in the North than in the South." Within the housing market, stronger discriminatory measures were used in correlation to the influx, resulting in a mix of "targeted violence, restrictive covenants, redlining and racial steering". While many Whites defended their space with violence, intimidation, or legal tactics toward African Americans, many other Whites migrated to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions, a process known as White flight.
Despite discrimination, drawing cards for leaving the hopelessness in the South were the growth of African American institutions and communities in Northern cities. Institutions included Black oriented organizations (e.g., Urban League, NAACP), churches, businesses, and newspapers, as well as successes in the development in African American intellectual culture, music, and popular culture (e.g., Harlem Renaissance, Chicago Black Renaissance). The Cotton Club in Harlem was a Whites-only establishment, with Blacks (such as Duke Ellington) allowed to perform, but to a White audience. Black Americans also found a new ground for political power in Northern cities, without the enforced disabilities of Jim Crow.
By the 1950s, the civil rights movement was gaining momentum. A 1955 lynching that sparked public outrage about injustice was that of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy from Chicago. Spending the summer with relatives in Money, Mississippi, Till was killed for allegedly having wolf-whistled at a White woman. Till had been badly beaten, one of his eyes was gouged out, and he was shot in the head. The visceral response to his mother's decision to have an open-casket funeral mobilized the Black community throughout the US. Vann Newkirk wrote "the trial of his killers became a pageant illuminating the tyranny of White supremacy". The state of Mississippi tried two defendants, but they were speedily acquitted by an all-White jury. One hundred days after Emmett Till's murder, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus in Alabama—indeed, Parks told Emmett's mother Mamie Till that "the photograph of Emmett's disfigured face in the casket was set in her mind when she refused to give up her seat on the Montgomery bus."
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and the conditions which brought it into being are credited with putting pressure on presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson put his support behind passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that banned discrimination in public accommodations, employment, and labor unions, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which expanded federal authority over states to ensure Black political participation through protection of voter registration and elections. By 1966, the emergence of the Black Power movement, which lasted from 1966 to 1975, expanded upon the aims of the civil rights movement to include economic and political self-sufficiency, and freedom from White authority.
During the post-war period, many African Americans continued to be economically disadvantaged relative to other Americans. Average Black income stood at 54 percent of that of White workers in 1947, and 55 percent in 1962. In 1959, median family income for Whites was $5,600 (equivalent to $60,405 in 2024), compared with $2,900 (equivalent to $31,281 in 2024) for non-White families. In 1965, 43 percent of all Black families fell into the poverty bracket, earning under $3,000 (equivalent to $29,933 in 2024) a year. The 1960s saw improvements in the social and economic conditions of many Black Americans.
From 1965 to 1969, Black family income rose from 54 to 60 percent of White family income. In 1968, 23 percent of Black families earned under $3,000 (equivalent to $27,126 in 2024) a year, compared with 41 percent in 1960. In 1965, 19 percent of Black Americans had incomes equal to the national median, a proportion that rose to 27 percent by 1967. In 1960, the median level of education for Blacks had been 10.8 years, and by the late 1960s, the figure rose to 12.2 years, half a year behind the median for Whites.
Politically and economically, African Americans have made substantial strides during the post–civil rights era. In 1967, Thurgood Marshall became the first African American Supreme Court Justice. In 1968, Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the US Congress. In 1989, Douglas Wilder became the first African American elected governor in US history. Clarence Thomas succeeded Marshall to become the second African American Supreme Court Justice in 1991. In 1992, Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois became the first African American woman elected to the US Senate. There were 8,936 Black officeholders in the United States in 2000, showing a net increase of 7,467 since 1970. In 2001, there were 484 Black mayors.
In 2005, the number of Africans immigrating to the United States, in a single year, surpassed the peak number who were involuntarily brought to the United States during the Atlantic slave trade. On November 4, 2008, Democratic Senator Barack Obama—the son of a White American mother and a Kenyan father—defeated Republican Senator John McCain to become the first African American to be elected president. At least 95 percent of African American voters voted for Obama. He also received overwhelming support from young and educated Whites, a majority of Asians, and Hispanics, picking up a number of new states in the Democratic electoral column. Obama lost the overall White vote, although he won a larger proportion of White votes than any previous non-incumbent Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter. Obama was reelected for a second and final term, by a similar margin on November 6, 2012. In 2021, Kamala Harris, the daughter of a Jamaican father and Indian mother, became the first woman, the first African American, and the first Asian American to serve as Vice President of the United States.[ failed verification] In June 2021, Juneteenth, a day which commemorates the end of slavery in the US, became a federal holiday.
## Demographics
In 1790, when the first US census was taken, Africans (including slaves and free people) numbered about 760,000—about 19.3% of the population. In 1860, at the start of the Civil War, the African American population had increased to 4.4 million, but the percentage rate dropped to 14% of the overall population of the country. The vast majority were slaves, with only 488,000 counted as "freemen". By 1900, the Black population had doubled and reached 8.8 million.
In 1910, about 90% of African Americans lived in the South. Large numbers began migrating north looking for better job opportunities and living conditions, and to escape Jim Crow laws and racial violence. The Great Migration, as it was called, spanned the 1890s to the 1970s. From 1916 through the 1960s, more than 6 million Black people moved north. But in the 1970s and 1980s, that trend reversed, with more African Americans moving south to the Sun Belt than leaving it.
The African American population in the United States declined over time as a percentage of the total population until 1930, and has been rising since then:
| Year | Number | % of total population |
% Change (10 yr) |
Slaves | % in slavery |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1790 | 757,208 | 19.3% (highest) | – | 697,681 | 92% |
| 1800 | 1,002,037 | 18.9% | 32.3% | 893,602 | 89% |
| 1810 | 1,377,808 | 19.0% | 37.5% | 1,191,362 | 86% |
| 1820 | 1,771,656 | 18.4% | 28.6% | 1,538,022 | 87% |
| 1830 | 2,328,642 | 18.1% | 31.4% | 2,009,043 | 86% |
| 1840 | 2,873,648 | 16.8% | 23.4% | 2,487,355 | 87% |
| 1850 | 3,638,808 | 15.7% | 26.6% | 3,204,287 | 88% |
| 1860 | 4,441,830 | 14.1% | 22.1% | 3,953,731 | 89% |
| 1870 | 4,880,009 | 12.7% | 9.9% | – | – |
| 1880 | 6,580,793 | 13.1% | 34.9% | – | – |
| 1890 | 7,488,788 | 11.9% | 13.8% | – | – |
| 1900 | 8,833,994 | 11.6% | 18.0% | – | – |
| 1910 | 9,827,763 | 10.7% | 11.2% | – | – |
| 1920 | 10.5 million | 9.9% | 6.8% | – | – |
| 1930 | 11.9 million | 9.7% (lowest) | 13% | – | – |
| 1940 | 12.9 million | 9.8% | 8.4% | – | – |
| 1950 | 15.0 million | 10.0% | 16% | – | – |
| 1960 | 18.9 million | 10.5% | 26% | – | – |
| 1970 | 22.6 million | 11.1% | 20% | – | – |
| 1980 | 26.5 million | 11.7% | 17% | – | – |
| 1990 | 30.0 million | 12.1% | 13% | – | – |
| 2000 | 34.6 million | 12.3% | 15% | – | – |
| 2010 | 38.9 million | 12.6% | 12% | – | – |
| 2020 | 41.1 million | 12.4% | 5.6% | – | – |
By 1990, the African American population reached about 30 million and represented 12% of the US population, roughly the same proportion as in 1900.
| Years | Non-Hispanic Blacks | Black Hispanics | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | ||
| 2020 | 39,940,338 | 12.1% | 1,163,862 | 0.3% | 41,104,200 |
At the time of the 2000 US census, 54.8% of African Americans lived in the South. In that year, 17.6% of African Americans lived in the Northeast and 18.7% in the Midwest, while only 8.9% lived in the Western states. The west does have a sizable Black population in certain areas, however. California, the nation's most populous state, has the fifth largest African American population, only behind New York, Texas, Georgia, and Florida. According to the 2000 census, approximately 2.05% of African Americans identified as Hispanic or Latino in origin, many of whom may be of Brazilian, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Cuban, Haitian, or other Latin American descent. The only self-reported *ancestral* groups larger than African Americans are the Irish and Germans.
According to the 2010 census, nearly 3% of people who self-identified as Black had recent ancestors who immigrated from another country. Self-reported non-Hispanic Black immigrants from the Caribbean, mostly from Jamaica and Haiti, represented 0.9% of the US population, at 2.6 million. Self-reported Black immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa also represented 0.9%, at about 2.8 million. Additionally, self-identified Black Hispanics represented 0.4% of the United States population, at about 1.2 million people, largely found within the Puerto Rican and Dominican communities. Self-reported Black immigrants hailing from other countries in the Americas, such as Brazil and Canada, as well as several European countries, represented less than 0.1% of the population. Mixed-race Hispanic and non-Hispanic Americans who identified as being part Black, represented 0.9% of the population. Of the 12.6% of United States residents who identified as Black, around 10.3% were "native Black American" or ethnic African Americans, who are direct descendants of West/Central Africans brought to the US as slaves. These individuals make up well over 80% of all Blacks in the country. When including people of mixed-race origin, about 13.5% of the US population self-identified as Black or "mixed with Black". However, according to the US Census Bureau, evidence from the 2000 census indicates that many African and Caribbean immigrant ethnic groups do not identify as "Black, African Am., or Negro". Instead, they wrote in their own respective ethnic groups in the "Some Other Race" write-in entry. As a result, the census bureau devised a new, separate "African American" ethnic group category in 2010 for ethnic African Americans. Nigerian Americans and Ethiopian Americans were the most reported sub-Saharan African groups in the United States.
In the 2020 census, the African American population was undercounted at an estimated rate of 3.3%, up from 2.1% in 2010.
### Proportion in each county
Texas has the largest African American population by state. Followed by Texas is Florida, with 3.8 million, and Georgia, with 3.6 million. Mississippi is the state with the highest African American share of the population at 39%. Followed by Mississippi is Louisiana at 34%, and Georgia at 32%.[ citation needed]
### US cities
After 100 years of African Americans leaving the south in large numbers seeking better opportunities and treatment in the west and north, a movement known as the Great Migration, there is now a reverse trend, called the New Great Migration. As with the earlier Great Migration, the New Great Migration is primarily directed toward cities and large urban areas, such as Charlotte, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Huntsville, Raleigh, Tampa, San Antonio, New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville, Jacksonville, and so forth. A growing percentage of African Americans from the west and north are migrating to the southern region of the US for economic and cultural reasons. The New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles metropolitan areas have the highest decline in African Americans, while Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston have the highest increase respectively. Several smaller metro areas also saw sizable gains, including San Antonio; Raleigh and Greensboro, N.C.; and Orlando. Despite recent declines, as of 2020, the New York City metropolitan area still has the largest African American metropolitan population in the United States and the only to have over 3 million African Americans.
Among cities of 100,000 or more, South Fulton, Georgia had the highest percentage of Black residents of any large US city in 2020, with 93%. Other large cities with African American majorities include Jackson, Mississippi (80%), Detroit, Michigan (80%), Birmingham, Alabama (70%), Miami Gardens, Florida (67%), Memphis, Tennessee (63%), Montgomery, Alabama (62%), Baltimore, Maryland (60%), Augusta, Georgia (59%), Shreveport, Louisiana (58%), New Orleans, Louisiana (57%), Macon, Georgia (56%), Baton Rouge, Louisiana (55%), Hampton, Virginia (53%), Newark, New Jersey (53%), Mobile, Alabama (53%), Cleveland, Ohio (52%), Brockton, Massachusetts (51%), and Savannah, Georgia (51%).
Claiborne County, Mississippi is the Blackest county in the U.S. at 87% Black in 2020. Cook County, Illinois has the largest Black population in the U.S. with 1,185,601 Black residents in 2020.
The nation's most affluent community with an African American majority resides in View Park–Windsor Hills, California, with an annual median household income of $159,618. Other largely affluent and African American communities include Prince George's County (namely Mitchellville, Woodmore, Upper Marlboro) and Charles County in Maryland, DeKalb County (namely Stonecrest, Lithonia, Smoke Rise) and South Fulton in Georgia, Charles City County in Virginia, Baldwin Hills in California, Hillcrest and Uniondale in New York, and Cedar Hill, DeSoto, and Missouri City in Texas. Additionally, there is a significant affluent Black presence in the southern Chicago suburbs of Cook County, Illinois. A report from the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) indicated that 5 of the top 10 municipalities nationwide (with at least 500 Black households) registering the highest Black homeownership rates were in this area - including Olympia Fields, South Holland, Flossmoor, Matteson, and Lynwood. Queens County, New York is the only county with a population of 65,000 or more where African Americans have a higher median household income than White Americans.
Seatack, Virginia is currently the oldest African American community in the United States. It survives today with a vibrant and active civic community.
### Education
During slavery, anti-literacy laws were enacted in the US that prohibited education for Black people. Slave owners saw literacy as a threat to the institution of slavery. As a North Carolina statute stated, "Teaching slaves to read and write, tends to excite dissatisfaction in their minds, and to produce insurrection and rebellion."
When slavery was finally abolished in 1865, public educational systems were expanding across the country. By 1870, around seventy-four institutions in the south provided a form of advanced education for African American students. By 1900, over a hundred programs at these schools provided training for Black professionals, including teachers. Many of the students at Fisk University, including the young W. E. B. Du Bois, taught school during the summers to support their studies.
African Americans were very concerned to provide quality education for their children, but White supremacy limited their ability to participate in educational policymaking on the political level. State governments soon moved to undermine their citizenship by restricting their right to vote. By the late 1870s, Blacks were disenfranchised and segregated across the American South. White politicians in Mississippi and other states withheld financial resources and supplies from Black schools. Nevertheless, the presence of Black teachers, and their engagement with their communities both inside and outside the classroom, ensured that Black students had access to education despite these external constraints.
During World War II, demands for unity and racial tolerance on the home front provided an opening for the first Black history curriculum in the country. For example, during the early 1940s, Madeline Morgan, a Black teacher in the Chicago public schools, created a curriculum for students in grades one through eight highlighting the contributions of Black people to the history of the United States. At the close of the war, Chicago's Board of Education downgraded the curriculum's status from mandatory to optional.
Predominantly Black schools for kindergarten through twelfth grade students were common throughout the US before the 1970s. By 1972, however, desegregation efforts meant that only 25% of Black students were in schools with more than 90% non-White students. However, since then, a trend towards re-segregation affected communities across the country: by 2011, 2.9 million African American students were in such overwhelmingly minority schools, including 53% of Black students in school districts that were formerly under desegregation orders.
As late as 1947, about one third of African Americans over 65 were considered to lack the literacy to read and write their own names. By 1969, illiteracy as it had been traditionally defined, had been largely eradicated among younger African Americans.
Between 1995 and 2009, freshmen college enrollment for African Americans increased by 73 percent and only 15 percent for Whites. Black women are enrolled in college more than any other race and gender group, leading all with 9.7% enrolled according to the 2011 US census.
The average high school graduation rate of Blacks in the United States has steadily increased to 71% in 2013. Separating this statistic into component parts shows it varies greatly depending upon the state and the school district examined. 38% of Black males graduated in the state of New York but in Maine 97% graduated and exceeded the White male graduation rate by 11 percentage points. In much of the southeastern United States and some parts of the southwestern United States the graduation rate of White males was in fact below 70% such as in Florida where 62% of White males graduated from high school. Examining specific school districts paints an even more complex picture. In the Detroit school district, the graduation rate of Black males was 20% but 7% for White males. In the New York City school district 28% of Black males graduate from high school compared to 57% of White males. In Newark County[ where?] 76% of Black males graduated compared to 67% for White males. Further academic improvement has occurred in 2015. Roughly 23% of all Blacks have bachelor's degrees. In 1988, 21% of Whites had obtained a bachelor's degree versus 11% of Blacks. In 2015, 23% of Blacks had obtained a bachelor's degree versus 36% of Whites. Foreign born Blacks, 9% of the Black population, made even greater strides. They exceed native born Blacks by 10 percentage points.
College Board, which runs the official college-level advanced placement (AP) programs in American high schools, have has received criticism in recent years that its curricula have focused too much on Euro-centric history. In 2020, College Board reshaped some curricula among history-based courses to further reflect the African diaspora. In 2021, College Board announced it would be piloting an AP African American Studies course between 2022 and 2024. The course officially launched in August 2024.
In June 2023, the Supreme Court ended race-based affirmative action at American colleges and universities. This landmark Supreme Court decision is widely believed to contribute to a decline in African American enrollment at the nation's most selective and prominent colleges and universities, where African American applicants often have, on average, lower standardized test scores and GPAs compared to the overall applicant pool. In response, many of the nation's most popular historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have reported a significant surge in applications and enrollment.
According to a 2025 study, African Americans have the highest average student debt. African Americans with bachelor's degrees owe an average of $52,726 in student loans. Nearly 70% of African Americans took out a loan to fund their undergraduate education.
#### Historically Black colleges and universities
Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), which were founded when segregated institutions of higher learning did not admit African Americans, continue to thrive and educate students of all races today. There are 101 HBCUs representing three percent of the nation's colleges and universities with the majority established in the Southeast. HBCUs have been largely responsible for establishing and expanding the African American middle-class by providing more career opportunities for African Americans.
### Economic status
The economic disparity between the races in the US has marginally improved since the end of slavery. In 1863, two years prior to emancipation, Black people owned 0.5 percent of the national wealth, while in 2019 it is just over 1.5 percent. Racial disparity in poverty rates has narrowed since the civil rights era, with the poverty rate among African Americans decreasing from 24.7% in 2004 to 18.8% in 2020, compared to 10.5% for all Americans. Poverty is associated with higher rates of marital stress and dissolution, physical and mental health problems, disability, cognitive deficits, low educational attainment, and crime.
African Americans have a long and diverse history of business ownership. Although the first African American business is unknown, slaves captured from West Africa are believed to have established commercial enterprises as peddlers and skilled craftspeople as far back as the 17th century. Around 1900, Booker T. Washington became the most famous proponent of African American businesses. His critic and rival W. E. B. DuBois also commended business as a vehicle for African American advancement.
African Americans had a combined buying power of over $1.6 trillion as of 2021, a 171% increase of their buying power in 2000 but lagging significantly in growth behind American Latinos and Asians in the same timer period (with 288% and 383%, respectively; for reference, US growth overall was 144% in the same period); however, African American net worth had shrunk 14% in the previous year despite strong growth in property prices and the S&P 500. In 2002, African American-owned businesses accounted for 1.2 million of the US's 23 million businesses. As of 2011[update], African American-owned businesses account for approximately 2 million US businesses. Black-owned businesses experienced the largest growth in number of businesses among minorities from 2002 to 2011.
Twenty-five percent of Blacks had white-collar occupations (management, professional, and related fields) in 2000, compared with 33.6% of Americans overall. In 2001, over half of African American households of married couples earned $50,000 or more. Although in the same year African Americans were over-represented among the nation's poor, this was directly related to the disproportionate percentage of African American families headed by single women; such families are collectively poorer, regardless of ethnicity.
In 2006, the median earnings of African American men was more than Black and non-Black American women overall, and in all educational levels. At the same time, among American men, income disparities were significant; the median income of African American men was approximately 76 cents for every dollar of their European American counterparts, although the gap narrowed somewhat with a rise in educational level.
Overall, the median earnings of African American men were 72 cents for every dollar earned of their Asian American counterparts, and $1.17 for every dollar earned by Hispanic men. On the other hand, by 2006, among American women with post-secondary education, African American women have made significant advances; the median income of African American women was more than those of their Asian-, European- and Hispanic American counterparts with at least some college education.
The US public sector is the single most important source of employment for African Americans. During 2008–2010, 21.2% of all Black workers were public employees, compared with 16.3% of non-Black workers. Both before and after the onset of the Great Recession, African Americans were 30% more likely than other workers to be employed in the public sector. The public sector is also a critical source of decent-paying jobs for Black Americans. For both men and women, the median wage earned by Black employees is significantly higher in the public sector than in other industries.
In 1999, the median income of African American families was $33,255 compared to $53,356 of European Americans. In times of economic hardship for the nation, African Americans suffer disproportionately from job loss and underemployment, with the Black underclass being hardest hit. The phrase "last hired and first fired" is reflected in the Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment figures. Nationwide, the October 2008 unemployment rate for African Americans was 11.1%, while the nationwide rate was 6.5%. In 2007, the average income for African Americans was approximately $34,000, compared to $55,000 for Whites. African Americans experience a higher rate of unemployment than the general population.
The income gap between Black and White families is also significant. In 2005, employed Blacks earned 65% of the wages of Whites, down from 82% in 1975. *The New York Times* reported in 2006 that in Queens, New York, the median income among African American families exceeded that of White families, which the newspaper attributed to the growth in the number of two-parent Black families. It noted that Queens was the only county with more than 65,000 residents where that was true. In 2011, it was reported that 72% of Black babies were born to unwed mothers. The poverty rate among single-parent Black families was 39.5% in 2005, according to Walter E. Williams, while it was 9.9% among married-couple Black families. Among White families, the respective rates were 26.4% and 6% in poverty.
Collectively, African Americans are more involved in the American political process than other minority groups in the United States, indicated by the highest level of voter registration and participation in elections among these groups in 2004. African Americans also have the highest level of Congressional representation of any minority group in the US.
#### African American homeownership
Homeownership in the US is the strongest indicator of financial stability and the primary asset most Americans use to generate wealth. African Americans continue to lag behind other racial groups in homeownership. In the first quarter of 2021, 45.1% of African Americans owned their homes, compared to 65.3% of all Americans. The African American homeownership rate has remained relatively flat since the 1970s despite an increase in anti-discrimination housing laws and protections. The African American homeownership rate peaked in 2004 at 49.7%.
The average White high school drop-out still has a slightly better chance of owning a home than the average African American college graduate usually due to unfavorable debt-to-income ratios or credit scores among most African American college graduates. Since 2000, fast-growing housing costs in most cities have made it even more difficult for the US African American homeownership rate to significantly grow and reach over 50% for the first time in history. From 2000 to 2022, the median home price in the US grew 160%, outpacing average annual household income growth in that same period, which only grew about 30%. South Carolina is the state with the most African American homeownership, with about 55% of African Americans owning their own homes.
Black people, who make up 12% of the total U.S. population, make up 32% of all people experiencing homelessness, according to the data.
### Politics
| Year | Candidate of the plurality |
Political party |
% of Black vote |
Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Jimmy Carter | Democratic | 83% | Lost |
| 1984 | Walter Mondale | Democratic | 91% | Lost |
| 1988 | Michael Dukakis | Democratic | 89% | Lost |
| 1992 | Bill Clinton | Democratic | 83% | Won |
| 1996 | Bill Clinton | Democratic | 84% | Won |
| 2000 | Al Gore | Democratic | 90% | Lost |
| 2004 | John Kerry | Democratic | 88% | Lost |
| 2008 | Barack Obama | Democratic | 95% | Won |
| 2012 | Barack Obama | Democratic | 93% | Won |
| 2016 | Hillary Clinton | Democratic | 88% | Lost |
| 2020 | Joe Biden | Democratic | 87% | Won |
| 2024 | Kamala Harris | Democratic | 85% | Lost |
Since the mid 20th century, a large majority of African Americans support the Democratic Party. In the 2024 Presidential election, 86% of African American voters supported Democrat Kamala Harris, while 13% supported Republican Donald Trump. Although there is an African American lobby in foreign policy, it has not had the impact that African American organizations have had in domestic policy.
Many African Americans were excluded from electoral politics in the decades following the end of Reconstruction. For those that could participate, until the New Deal, African Americans were supporters of the Republican Party because it was Republican President Abraham Lincoln who helped in granting freedom to American slaves; at the time, the Republicans and Democrats represented the sectional interests of the North and South, respectively, rather than any specific ideology, and both conservative and liberal were represented equally in both parties.
The African American trend of voting for Democrats can be traced back to the 1930s during the Great Depression, when Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal program provided economic relief to African Americans. Roosevelt's New Deal coalition turned the Democratic Party into an organization of the working class and their liberal allies, regardless of region. The African American vote became even more solidly Democratic when Democratic presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson pushed for civil rights legislation during the 1960s. In 1960, nearly a third of African Americans voted for Republican Richard Nixon.
Conservatism has been steadily growing among African Americans, particularly since the 2020 Presidential election. In the 2024 election, Trump secured a larger share of the African American vote compared to his 2020 performance. Notably, Black men and younger Black voters have increasingly aligned with the Republican Party, adopting more conservative stances, such as supporting stricter crime policies, placing less emphasis on transgender rights, and advocating for an end to illegal immigration, which marks a shift from the views of previous generations.
#### Black national anthem
"Lift Every Voice and Sing" is often referred to as the Black national anthem in the United States. In 1919, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had dubbed it the "Negro national anthem" for its power in voicing a cry for liberation and affirmation for African-American people.
### Religion
- Black Protestant (59%)
- Evangelical Protestant (15%)
- Mainline Protestant (4%)
- Roman Catholic (5%)
- Jehovah's Witness (1%)
- Other Christian (1%)
- Muslim (1%)
- Other religion (1%)
- Unaffiliated (11%)
- Atheist or agnostic (2%)
The majority of African Americans are Protestant, many of whom follow the historically Black churches. The term Black church refers to churches which minister to predominantly African American congregations. Black congregations were first established by freed slaves at the end of the 17th century, and later when slavery was abolished more African Americans were allowed to create a unique form of Christianity that was culturally influenced by African spiritual traditions. One of these early African American Christian cultural traditions in the Black Church is the Watchnight service, also called Freedom's Eve, where African American congregations all over the nation come together on New Year's Eve through New Years morning in remembrance of the eve and New Year of their emancipation, sharing testimonies, being baptized and partaking in praise and worship.
According to a 2007 survey, more than half of the African American population are part of the historically Black churches. The largest Protestant denomination among African Americans are the Baptists, distributed mainly in four denominations, the largest being the National Baptist Convention, USA and the National Baptist Convention of America. The second largest are the Methodists, the largest denominations are the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.
Pentecostals are distributed among several different religious bodies, with the Church of God in Christ as the largest among them by far. About 16% of African American Christians are members of White Protestant communions, these denominations (which include the United Church of Christ) mostly have a 2 to 3% African American membership. There are also large numbers of Catholics, constituting 5% of the African American population. Of the total number of Jehovah's Witnesses, 22% are Black.
Some African Americans follow Islam. Historically, between 15 and 30% of enslaved Africans brought to the Americas were Muslims, but most of these Africans were converted to Christianity during the era of American slavery. During the twentieth century, some African Americans converted to Islam, mainly through the influence of Black nationalist groups that preached with distinctive Islamic practices; including the Moorish Science Temple of America, and the largest organization, the Nation of Islam, founded in the 1930s, which attracted at least 20,000 people by 1963. Prominent members included activist Malcolm X and boxer Muhammad Ali.
Malcolm X is considered the first person to start the movement among African Americans towards mainstream Islam, after he left the Nation and made the pilgrimage to Mecca. In 1975, Warith Deen Mohammed, the son of Elijah Muhammad took control of the Nation after his father's death and guided the majority of its members to orthodox Islam.
African American Muslims constitute 20% of the total US Muslim population, the majority are Sunni or orthodox Muslims, some of these identify under the community of W. Deen Mohammed. The Nation of Islam led by Louis Farrakhan has a membership ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 members.
There is also a small but growing group of African American Jews, making up less than 0.5% of African Americans or about 2% of the Jewish population in the United States. The majority of African-American Jews are Ashkenazi, while smaller numbers identify as Sephardi, Mizrahi, or other. Many African-American Jews are affiliated with denominations such as the Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, or Orthodox branches of Judaism, but the majority identify as "Jews of no religion", commonly known as secular Jews. A significant number of people who identify themselves as "Black Jews" are affiliated with syncretic religious groups, largely the Black Hebrew Israelites, whose beliefs include the claim that African Americans are descended from the Biblical Israelites. Jews of all races typically do not accept Black Hebrew Israelites as Jews, in part because they are usually not Jewish according to Jewish law, and in part because these groups are sometimes associated with antisemitism. African-American Jews have criticized the Black Hebrew Israelites, regarding the movement as primarily composed of Black non-Jews who have appropriated Black-Jewish identity.
Confirmed atheists are less than one half of one percent, similar to numbers for Hispanics.
### Sexuality
According to a Gallup survey, 4.6% of Black or African Americans self-identified as LGBT in 2016, while the total portion of American adults in all ethnic groups identifying as LGBT was 4.1% in 2016. African Americans are more likely to identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender than any other racial or ethnic group in the United States.
### Health
#### General health
The life expectancy for Black men in 2008 was 70.8 years. Life expectancy for Black women was 77.5 years in 2008. In 1900, when information on Black life expectancy started being collated, a Black man could expect to live to 32.5 years and a Black woman 33.5 years. In 1900, White men lived an average of 46.3 years and White women lived an average of 48.3 years. African American life expectancy at birth is persistently five to seven years lower than European Americans. Black men have shorter lifespans than any other group in the US besides Native American men.
Black people have higher rates of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension than the US average. For adult Black men, the rate of obesity was 31.6% in 2010. For adult Black women, the rate of obesity was 41.2% in 2010. African Americans have higher rates of mortality than any other racial or ethnic group for 8 of the top 10 causes of death. In 2013, among men, Black men had the highest rate of getting cancer, followed by White, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander (A/PI), and American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) men. Among women, White women had the highest rate of getting cancer, followed by Black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska Native women. African Americans also have higher prevalence and incidence of Alzheimer's disease compared to the overall average.
African-Americans are more likely than White Americans to die due to health-related problems developed by alcoholism. Alcohol abuse is the main contributor to the top 3 causes of death among African Americans.
In December 2020, African Americans were less likely to be vaccinated against COVID-19 due to mistrust in the US medical system. From 2021 to 2022, there was an increase in African Americans who became vaccinated. Still, in 2022, COVID-19 complications became the third leading cause of death for African Americans.
Violence is a major problem within the African American community. A report from the US Department of Justice states "In 2005, homicide victimization rates for Blacks were 6 times higher than the rates for whites". The report also found that "94% of Black victims were killed by Blacks." Of the nearly 20,000 recorded US homicides in 2022, African Americans made up the majority of offenders and victims despite making up less than 20% of the population. In 2024, all of the top 5 most dangerous US cities have a significant Black population and disturbing Black-on-Black violent crime rate. Black males age 15–44 are the only race/sex category for which homicide is a top 5 cause of death. Black women are 3 times more likely to be killed by an intimate partner than white women. Black children are 3 times more likely to die due to parental abuse and neglect than white children.
#### Sexual health
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African Americans have higher rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) compared to Whites, with 5 times the rates of syphilis and chlamydia, and 7.5 times the rate of gonorrhea.
The disproportionately high incidence of HIV/AIDS among African Americans has been attributed to homophobic influences and lack of proper healthcare. The prevalence of HIV/AIDS among Black men is seven times higher than the prevalence for White men, and Black men are more than nine times as likely to die from HIV/AIDS-related illness than White men. The prevalence of HIV/AIDS among Black women is 20 times higher than White women, and Black women are more than 15 times as likely to die from HIV/AIDS-related illness than White women.
#### Mental health
African Americans have several barriers for accessing mental health services. Counseling has been frowned upon and distant in utility and proximity to many people in the African American community. In 2004, a qualitative research study explored the disconnect with African Americans and mental health. The study was conducted as a semi-structured discussion which allowed the focus group to express their opinions and life experiences. The results revealed a couple key variables that create barriers for many African American communities to seek mental health services such as the stigma, lack of four important necessities; trust, affordability, cultural understanding and impersonal services.
Historically, many African American communities did not seek counseling because religion was a part of the family values. African American who have a faith background are more likely to seek prayer as a coping mechanism for mental issues rather than seeking professional mental health services. In 2015 a study concluded, African Americans with high value in religion are less likely to utilize mental health services compared to those who have low value in religion.
In the United States, counseling approaches are based on the experience of White Americans and do not fit within the African American culture. African American families tend to resolve concerns within the family, and it is viewed by the family as a strength. On the other hand, when African Americans seek counseling, they face a social backlash and are criticized. They may be labeled "crazy", viewed as weak, and their pride is diminished. Because of this, many African Americans instead seek mentorship within communities they trust.
Terminology is another barrier in relation to African Americans and mental health. There is more stigma on the term *psychotherapy* versus counseling. In one study, psychotherapy is associated with mental illness whereas counseling approaches problem-solving, guidance and help. More African Americans seek assistance when it is called counseling and not psychotherapy because it is more welcoming within the cultural and community. Counselors are encouraged to be aware of such barriers for the well-being of African American clients. Without cultural competency training in health care, many African Americans go unheard and misunderstood.
In 2021, African Americans had the third highest suicide rate trailing American Indians/Alaska Natives and White Americans. However, African Americans had the second highest increase of its suicide rate from 2011 to 2021, growing 58%. As of 2024, suicide is the second leading cause of death among African-Americans between the ages of 15 and 24, with Black men being four times more likely to kill themselves than Black women.
## Genetics
### Genome-wide studies
Recent studies of African Americans using genetic testing have found ancestry to vary by region and sex of ancestors. These studies found that on average, African Americans have 73.2–82.1% Sub-Saharan African, 16.7–24% European, and 0.8–1.2% Native American genetic ancestry, with large variation between individuals. Commercial testing services have reported similar variation, with ranges from 0.6 to 2 percent Native American, 19 to 29 percent European, and 65 to 80 percent Sub-Saharan African ancestry.
According to a genome-wide study by Bryc et al. (2009), the mixed ancestry of African Americans in varying ratios came about as the result of sexual contact between West/Central Africans (more frequently females) and Europeans (more frequently males). This can be understood as being the result of enslaved African American females being raped by White males. Consequently, the 365 African Americans in their sample have a genome-wide average of 78.1% West African ancestry and 18.5% European ancestry, with large variation among individuals (ranging from 99% to 1% West African ancestry). The West African ancestral component in African Americans is most similar to that in present-day speakers from the non-Bantu branches of the Niger-Congo family.
Correspondingly, Montinaro et al. (2014) observed that around 50% of the overall ancestry of African Americans traces comes from a population similar to the Niger-Congo-speaking Yoruba of southern Nigeria and southern Benin, reflecting the centrality of this West African region in the Atlantic slave trade. The next most frequent ancestral component found among African Americans was derived from Great Britain, in keeping with historical records. It constitutes a little over 10% of their overall ancestry and is most similar to the Northwest European ancestral component also carried by Barbadians. Zakharia et al. (2009) found a similar proportion of Yoruba-like ancestry in their African American samples, with a minority also drawn from Mandenka and Bantu populations. Additionally, the researchers observed an average European ancestry of 21.9%, again with significant variation between individuals. Bryc et al. (2009) note that populations from other parts of the continent may also constitute adequate proxies for the ancestors of some African American individuals; namely, ancestral populations from Guinea Bissau, Senegal and Sierra Leone in West Africa and Angola in Southern Africa. An individual African American person can have over fifteen African ethnic groups in their genetic makeup alone due to the slave trade covering such vast areas.
Altogether, genetic studies suggest that African Americans are a genetically diverse people. According to DNA analysis led in 2006 by Penn State geneticist Mark D. Shriver, around 58 percent of African Americans have at least 12.5% European ancestry (equivalent to one European great-grandparent and their forebears), 19.6 percent of African Americans have at least 25% European ancestry (equivalent to one European grandparent and their forebears), and 1 percent of African Americans have at least 50% European ancestry (equivalent to one European parent and their forebears). According to Shriver, around 5 percent of African Americans also have at least 12.5% Native American ancestry (equivalent to one Native American great-grandparent and their forebears). Research suggests that Native American ancestry among people who identify as African American is a result of relationships that occurred soon after slave ships arrived in the American colonies, and European ancestry is of more recent origin, often from the decades before the Civil War.
### Y-DNA
Africans bearing the E-V38 (E1b1a) likely traversed across the Sahara, from east to west, approximately 19,000 years ago. E-M2 (E1b1a1) likely originated in West Africa or Central Africa. According to a Y-DNA study by Sims et al. (2007), the majority (≈60%) of African Americans belong to various subclades of the E-M2 (E1b1a1, formerly E3a) paternal haplogroup. This is the most common genetic paternal lineage found today among West/Central African males and is also a signature of the historical Bantu migrations. The next most frequent Y-DNA haplogroup observed among African Americans is the R1b clade, which around 15% of African Americans carry. This lineage is most common today among Northwestern European males. The remaining African Americans mainly belong to the paternal haplogroup I (≈7%), which is also frequent in Northwestern Europe.
### mtDNA
According to an mtDNA study by Salas et al. (2005), the maternal lineages of African Americans are most similar to haplogroups that are today especially common in West Africa (>55%), followed closely by West-Central Africa and Southwestern Africa (<41%). The characteristic West African haplogroups L1b, L2b,c,d, and L3b,d and West-Central African haplogroups L1c and L3e in particular occur at high frequencies among African Americans. As with the paternal DNA of African Americans, contributions from other parts of the continent to their maternal gene pool are insignificant.
## Racism and social status
Formal political, economic and social discrimination against minorities has been present throughout American history. Leland T. Saito, Associate Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California, writes, "Political rights have been circumscribed by race, class and gender since the founding of the United States, when the right to vote was restricted to White men of property. Throughout the history of the United States, race has been used by Whites for legitimizing and creating difference and social, economic and political exclusion."
Those who economically gained the most from slavery were the planter class, owners of large-scale plantations where large numbers of enslaved Africans were held captive and forced to produce crops to create wealth for a White elite. Having a prominent role in politics with eight presidents owning slaves while in office, upon the end of the Civil War the planter class kept control of their land and remained politically influential, with the London School of Economics stating, "this persistence in "de facto power" in turn allowed them to block economic reforms, disenfranchise Black voters, and restrict the mobility of workers."
Although they have gained a greater degree of social equality since the civil rights movement, African Americans have remained stagnant economically, which has hindered their ability to break into the middle class and beyond. As of 2020, the racial wealth gap between Whites and Blacks remains as large as it was in 1968, with the typical net worth of a White household equivalent to that of 11.5 Black households. Despite this, African Americans have increased employment rates and gained representation in the highest levels of American government in the post–civil rights era. However, widespread racism remains an issue that continues to undermine the development of social status.
Economically, of all the racially Black ethnic groups on the globe, African Americans are the wealthiest and most successful, with one in every fifty African American families being millionaires. This equates in 2023 to approximately 1.79 million African American millionaires in the United States, which is more than the total amount of millionaires in any racially Black country, and many other countries, around the world.
### Policing and criminal justice
In the US, which has the largest per-capita prison population in the world, African Americans are overrepresented as the second largest population of prison inmates (38%) in 2023, coming second to Whites who made up 57% of the prison population. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, Blacks are roughly 7.5 times more likely to be wrongfully convicted of murder in the US than Whites. In 2012, the New York City Police Department detained people more than 500,000 times under the city's stop-and-frisk law. Of the total detained, 55% were African-Americans, while Black people made up 20% of the city's population.
African American males are more likely to be killed by police when compared to other races. This is one of the factors that led to the creation of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013. A historical issue in the US where women have weaponized their White privilege in the country by reporting on Black people, often instigating racial violence, difficult White women—who have been given a different name over the centuries by African Americans—calling the police on Black people became widely publicized in 2020. According to *The Guardian*, "The specter of Karen persisted as Black Lives Matter protests and civil unrest spread around the country following Floyd’s murder and reckonings with racism began to roil institutions, toppling careers as well as statues".
In the aftermath of the peak Black Lives Matter protests and widespread police reform efforts, crime rates surged across the nation. Many cities experienced near-record or record levels of violence and other criminal activity. As a result, numerous municipalities scaled back police reform initiatives and increased funding for law enforcement.
### Social issues
After over 50 years, marriage rates for all Americans began to decline while divorce rates and out-of-wedlock births have climbed. These changes have been greatest among African Americans. After more than 70 years of racial parity Black marriage rates began to fall behind Whites. Single-parent households have become common, and according to US census figures released in January 2010, only 38 percent of Black children live with both their parents. In 2021, statistics show that over 80 percent marriages in the African American ethnic group marry within their ethnic group.
The first ever anti-miscegenation law was passed by the Maryland General Assembly in 1691, criminalizing interracial marriage. In a speech in Charleston, Illinois in 1858, Abraham Lincoln stated, "I am not, nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people". By the late 1800s, 38 US states had anti-miscegenation statutes. By 1924, the ban on interracial marriage was still in force in 29 states. While interracial marriage had been legal in California since 1948, in 1957 actor Sammy Davis Jr. faced a backlash for his involvement with White actress Kim Novak. Harry Cohn, the president of Columbia Pictures, with whom Novak was under contract, gave in to his concerns that a racist backlash against the relationship could hurt the studio. Davis briefly married Black dancer Loray White in 1958 to protect himself from mob violence. Inebriated at the wedding ceremony, Davis despairingly said to his best friend, Arthur Silber Jr., "Why won't they let me live my life?" The couple never lived together, and commenced divorce proceedings in September 1958. In 1958, officers in Virginia entered the home of Mildred and Richard Loving and dragged them out of bed for living together as an interracial couple, on the basis that "any white person intermarry with a colored person"—or vice versa—each party "shall be guilty of a felony" and face prison terms of five years. In 1967 the law was ruled unconstitutional (via the 14th Amendment adopted in 1868) by the US Supreme Court in *Loving v. Virginia*.
In 2008, Democrats overwhelmingly voted 70% against California Proposition 8, African Americans voted 58% in favor of it while 42% voted against Proposition 8. On May 9, 2012, Barack Obama, the first Black president, became the first US president to support same-sex marriage. Since Obama's endorsement there has been a rapid growth in support for same-sex marriage among African Americans. As of 2012, 59% of African Americans support same-sex marriage, which is higher than support among the national average (53%) and White Americans (50%).
Polls in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Maryland, Ohio, Florida, and Nevada have also shown an increase in support for same sex marriage among African Americans. On November 6, 2012, Maryland, Maine, and Washington all voted for approve of same-sex marriage, along with Minnesota rejecting a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Exit polls in Maryland show about 50% of African Americans voted for same-sex marriage, showing a vast evolution among African Americans on the issue and was crucial in helping pass same-sex marriage in Maryland.
Black Americans hold far more conservative opinions on abortion, extramarital sex, and raising children out of wedlock than Democrats as a whole. On financial issues, however, African Americans are in line with Democrats, generally supporting a more progressive tax structure to provide more government spending on social services.
### Political legacy
African Americans have fought in every war in the history of the United States.
The gains made by African Americans in the civil rights movement and in the Black Power movement not only obtained certain rights for African Americans but changed American society in far-reaching and fundamentally important ways. Prior to the 1950s, Black Americans in the South were subject to de jure discrimination, or Jim Crow laws. They were often the victims of extreme cruelty and violence, sometimes resulting in deaths: by the post World War II era, African Americans became increasingly discontented with their long-standing inequality. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., African Americans and their supporters challenged the nation to "rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed that all men are created equal ..."
The civil rights movement marked an enormous change in American social, political, economic and civic life. It brought with it boycotts, sit-ins, nonviolent demonstrations and marches, court battles, bombings and other violence; prompted worldwide media coverage and intense public debate; forged enduring civic, economic and religious alliances; and disrupted and realigned the nation's two major political parties.
Over time, it has changed in fundamental ways the manner in which Blacks and Whites interact with and relate to one another. The movement resulted in the removal of codified, *de jure* racial segregation and discrimination from American life and law, and heavily influenced other groups and movements in struggles for civil rights and social equality within American society, including the Free Speech Movement, the disabled, the women's movement, and migrant workers. It also inspired the Native American rights movement, and in King's 1964 book *Why We Can't Wait* he wrote the US "was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race."
## Media and coverage
Some activists and academics contend that American news media coverage of African American news, concerns, or dilemmas is inadequate, or that the news media present distorted images of African Americans.
To combat this, Robert L. Johnson founded Black Entertainment Television (BET), a network that targets young African Americans and urban audiences in the United States. Over the years, the network has aired such programming as rap and R&B music videos, urban-oriented movies and television series, and some public affairs programs. On Sunday mornings, BET would broadcast Christian programming; the network would also broadcast non-affiliated Christian programs during the early morning hours daily. According to Viacom, BET is now a global network that reaches households in the United States, Caribbean, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The network has gone on to spawn several spin-off channels, including BET Her (originally launched as *BET on Jazz*).
Another network targeting African Americans is TV One. TV One is owned by Urban One, founded and controlled by Catherine Hughes. Urban One is one of the nation's largest radio broadcasting companies and the largest African American-owned radio broadcasting company in the United States.
In June 2009, NBC News launched a new website named TheGrio. It is the first African American video news site that focuses on underrepresented stories in existing national news.
### Black-owned and oriented media outlets
- The Africa Channel – Dedicated to programming about African culture.
- aspireTV – a digital cable and satellite channel owned by businessman and former basketball player Magic Johnson.
- ATTV – an independent public affairs and educational channel.
- BET Media Group – The most prominent multimedia outlet targeting Afro-Americans.
- Bounce TV – a digital multicast network owned by the E. W. Scripps Company.
- Fox Soul – a digital television and streaming network primarily airing original talk shows and syndicated programming
- Oprah Winfrey Network – a cable and satellite network founded by Oprah Winfrey and jointly owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and Harpo Studios. While not exclusively targeting African Americans, much of its original programming is geared towards a similar demographic.
- Revolt – a music channel and media company founded by Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs.
- Soul of the South Network – a regional broadcast network.
- TheGrio – a digital multicast network focused on news and opinion-based programming.
- TV One – a general entertainment network targeting adults.
- Cleo TV – a sister network targeting millennial and Generation X women
- We TV – Owned by AMC Networks, became slanted towards Black women during the 2010s
## Culture
From their earliest presence in North America, African Americans have significantly contributed literature, art, agricultural skills, cuisine, clothing styles, music, language, and social and technological innovation to American culture. The cultivation and use of many agricultural products in the United States, such as yams, peanuts, rice, okra, sorghum, grits, watermelon, indigo dyes, and cotton, can be traced to West African and African American influences. Notable examples include George Washington Carver, who created nearly 500 products from peanuts, sweet potatoes, and pecans. Soul food is a variety of cuisine popular among African Americans. It is closely related to the cuisine of the Southern United States. The descriptive terminology may have originated in the mid-1960s, when *soul* was a common definer used to describe African American culture (for example, soul music). African Americans were the first peoples in the United States to make fried chicken, along with Scottish immigrants to the South. Although the Scottish had been frying chicken before they emigrated, they lacked the spices and flavor that African Americans had used when preparing the meal. The Scottish American settlers therefore adopted the African American method of seasoning chicken. However, fried chicken was generally a rare meal in the African American community and was usually reserved for special events or celebrations.
### Language
African-American English is a variety (dialect, ethnolect, and sociolect) of American English, commonly spoken by urban working-class and largely bi-dialectal middle-class African Americans.
African American English evolved during the antebellum period through interaction between speakers of 16th- and 17th-century English of Great Britain and Ireland and various West African languages. As a result, the variety shares parts of its grammar and phonology with the Southern American English dialect. African American English differs from Standard American English (SAE) in certain pronunciation characteristics, tense usage, and grammatical structures, which were derived from West African languages (particularly those belonging to the Niger–Congo family).
Virtually all habitual speakers of African American English can understand and communicate in Standard American English. As with all linguistic forms, AAVE's usage is influenced by various factors, including geographical, educational and socioeconomic background, as well as formality of setting. Additionally, there are many literary uses of this variety of English, particularly in African American literature.
Other languages are spoken by specific sub-communities. The Gullah language is an English-based creole language spoken mostly in the coastal regions of South Carolina and Georgia by the Gullah; an off-shoot of this is Afro-Seminole Creole spoken by Black Seminoles mostly now in Mexico and Brackettville, Texas. Louisiana Creole is a French-based creole and spoken mostly in Louisiana.
#### Traditional names
African-American names are part of the cultural traditions of African Americans, most of these cultural names having no connection to Africa but strictly an African American cultural practice that developed in the United States during enslavement. This new evidence became apparent by census records which show African Americans and White Americans, though they spoke the same language, chose to use different names even during times of enslavement, which is where and when the development of African American cultural names began.
Prior to this newer information, it was only thought that before the 1950s, and 1960s, most African-American names closely resembled those used within European-American culture. Babies of that era were generally given a few common names, with children using nicknames to distinguish the various people with the same name. With the rise of 1960s civil rights movement, there was a dramatic increase in names of various origins.
By the 1970s, and 1980s, it had become common among African Americans to invent new names for themselves, although many of these invented names took elements from popular existing names. Prefixes such as La/Le, Da/De, Ra/Re and Ja/Je, and suffixes like -ique/iqua, -isha and -aun/-awn are common, as are inventive spellings for common names. The book *Baby Names Now: From Classic to Cool—The Very Last Word on First Names* places the origins of "La" names in African-American culture in New Orleans.
Even with the rise of inventive names, it is still common for African Americans to use biblical, historical, or traditional European names. Daniel, Christopher, Michael, David, James, Joseph, and Matthew were thus among the most frequent names for African-American boys in 2013.
The name LaKeisha is typically considered American in origin but has elements that were drawn from both French and West/Central African roots. Names such as LaTanisha, JaMarcus, DeAndre, and Shaniqua were created in the same way. Punctuation marks are seen more often within African American names than other American names, such as the names Mo'nique and D'Andre.
### Music
African American music is one of the most pervasive African American cultural influences in the United States today and is among the most dominant in mainstream popular music. Hip hop, R&B, funk, rock and roll, soul, blues, and other contemporary American musical forms originated in Black communities and evolved from other Black forms of music, including blues, doo-wop, barbershop, ragtime, bluegrass, jazz, and gospel music.
African American-derived musical forms have also influenced and been incorporated into virtually every other popular music genre in the world, including country and techno. African American genres are the most important ethnic vernacular tradition in America, as they have developed independent of African traditions from which they arise more so than any other immigrant groups, including Europeans; make up the broadest and longest lasting range of styles in America; and have, historically, been more influential, interculturally, geographically, and economically, than other American vernacular traditions.
### Dance
African Americans have also had an important role in American dance. Bill T. Jones, a prominent modern choreographer and dancer, has included historical African American themes in his work, particularly in the piece "Last Supper at Uncle Tom's Cabin/The Promised Land". Likewise, Alvin Ailey's artistic work, including his "Revelations" based on his experience growing up as an African American in the South during the 1930s, has had a significant influence on modern dance. Another form of dance, stepping, is an African American tradition whose performance and competition has been formalized through the traditionally Black fraternities and sororities at universities.
### Sports
### Literature and academics
Many African American authors have written stories, poems, and essays influenced by their experiences as African Americans. African American literature is a major genre in American literature. Famous examples include Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison, and Maya Angelou.
African American inventors have created many widely used devices in the world and have contributed to international innovation. Norbert Rillieux created the technique for converting sugar cane juice into white sugar crystals. Moreover, Rillieux left Louisiana in 1854 and went to France, where he spent ten years working with the Champollions deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics from the Rosetta Stone. Most slave inventors were nameless, such as the slave owned by the Confederate President Jefferson Davis who designed the ship propeller used by the Confederate navy.
By 1913, over 1,000 inventions were patented by Black Americans. Among the most notable inventors were Jan Matzeliger, who developed the first machine to mass-produce shoes, and Elijah McCoy, who invented automatic lubrication devices for steam engines. Granville Woods had 35 patents to improve electric railway systems, including the first system to allow moving trains to communicate. Garrett A. Morgan developed the first automatic traffic signal and gas mask.
Lewis Howard Latimer invented an improvement for the incandescent light bulb. More recent inventors include Frederick McKinley Jones, who invented the movable refrigeration unit for food transport in trucks and trains. Lloyd Quarterman worked with six other Black scientists on the creation of the atomic bomb (code named the Manhattan Project) and helped develop the first nuclear reactor.
As part of the preservation of their culture, African Americans have continuously launched their own publications and publishing houses, such as Robert Sengstacke Abbott, founder of the Chicago Defender newspaper, and Carter G. Woodson, the founder of Black History Month who spent over thirty years documenting and publishing African American history in journals and books. The Johnson Publishing Company, founded by John H. Johnson in 1942, is a National Historic Landmark.
## Terminology
### General
The term *African American* was popularized by Jesse Jackson in the 1980s, although there are recorded uses from the 18th and 19th centuries, for example, in post-emancipation holidays and conferences. Earlier terms also used to describe Americans of African ancestry referred more to skin color than to ancestry. Other terms (such as *colored*, *person of color*, or *negro*) were included in the wording of various laws and legal decisions which some thought were being used as tools of White supremacy and oppression.
A 16-page pamphlet entitled "A Sermon on the Capture of Lord Cornwallis" is notable for the attribution of its authorship to "An *African American*". Published in 1782, the book's use of this phrase predates any other yet identified by more than 50 years.
In the 1980s, the term *African American* was advanced on the model of, for example, German American or Irish American, to give descendants of American slaves, and other American Blacks who lived through the slavery era, a heritage and a cultural base. The term was popularized in Black communities around the country via word of mouth and ultimately received mainstream use after Jesse Jackson publicly used the term in front of a national audience in 1988. Subsequently, major media outlets adopted its use.
Surveys in the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century showed that the majority of Black Americans had no preference for *African American* versus *Black American*, although they had a slight preference for the latter in personal settings and the former in more formal settings. By 2021, according to polling from Gallup, 58% of Black Americans expressed no preference for what their group should be called, with 17% each preferring *Black* and *African-American*. Among those with no preference, Gallup found a slight majority favored *Black* "if [they] had to choose."
In 2020, the Associated Press updated its AP Stylebook to direct its writers to capitalize the first letter of *Black* when it is used "in a racial, ethnic or cultural sense, conveying an essential and shared sense of history, identity and community among people who identify as Black, including those in the African diaspora and within Africa." *The New York Times* and other outlets made similar changes at the same time, to put "Black" on the same footing as other racial and ethnic terms, such as Latino, Asian, and African-American.
In 2023, the government released a new more detailed breakdown due to the rise in racially Black immigration into the US, listing African American as a compound termed ethnicity, distinguished from other racially Black ethnicities such as Nigerian, Jamaican etc.
The term *African American* embraces pan-Africanism as earlier enunciated by prominent African thinkers such as Marcus Garvey, W. E. B. Du Bois, and George Padmore. The term *Afro-Usonian*, and variations of such, are more rarely used.
### Official identity
Since 1977, in an attempt to keep up with changing social opinion, the United States government has officially classified Black people (revised to *Black* or *African American* in 1997) as "having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa." Other federal offices, such as the US Census Bureau, adhere to the Office of Management and Budget standards on race in their data collection and tabulation efforts. In preparation for the 2010 US census, a marketing and outreach plan called *2010 Census Integrated Communications Campaign Plan* (ICC) recognized and defined African Americans as Black people born in the United States. From the ICC perspective, African Americans are one of three groups of Black people in the United States.
The ICC plan was to reach the three groups by acknowledging that each group has its own sense of community that is based on geography and ethnicity. The best way to market the census process toward any of the three groups is to reach them through their own unique communication channels and not treat the entire Black population of the US as though they are all African Americans with a single ethnic and geographical background. The Federal Bureau of Investigation of the US Department of Justice categorizes Black or African American people as "[a] person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa" through racial categories used in the UCR Program adopted from the Statistical Policy Handbook (1978) and published by the Office of Federal Statistical Policy and Standards, US Department of Commerce, derived from the 1977 Office of Management and Budget classification.
### Admixture
Historically, "race mixing" between Black and White people was taboo in the United States. So-called anti-miscegenation laws, barring Blacks and Whites from marrying or having sex, were established in colonial America as early as 1691, and endured in many Southern states until the Supreme Court ruled them unconstitutional in *Loving v. Virginia* (1967). The taboo among American Whites surrounding White-Black relations is a historical consequence of the oppression and racial segregation of African Americans. Historian David Brion Davis notes the racial mixing that occurred during slavery was frequently attributed by the planter class to the "lower-class white males" but Davis concludes that "there is abundant evidence that many slaveowners, sons of slaveowners, and overseers took Black mistresses or in effect raped the wives and daughters of slave families." A famous example was Thomas Jefferson's mistress, Sally Hemings. Although publicly opposed to race mixing, Jefferson, in his *Notes on the State of Virginia* published in 1785, wrote: "The improvement of the Blacks in body and mind, in the first instance of their mixture with the whites, has been observed by every one, and proves that their inferiority is not the effect merely of their condition of life".
Harvard University historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. wrote in 2009 that "African Americans...are a racially mixed or mulatto people—deeply and overwhelmingly so". After the Emancipation Proclamation, Chinese American men married African American women in high proportions to their total marriage numbers due to few Chinese American women being in the United States. African slaves and their descendants have also had a history of cultural exchange and intermarriage with Native Americans, although they did not necessarily retain social, cultural or linguistic ties to Native peoples. There are also increasing intermarriages and offspring between non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics of any race, especially between Puerto Ricans and African Americans.
Racially mixed marriages have become increasingly accepted in the United States since the civil rights movement and up to the present day. Approval in national opinion polls has risen from 36% in 1978, to 48% in 1991, 65% in 2002, 77% in 2007. A Gallup poll conducted in 2013 found that 84% of Whites and 96% of Blacks approved of interracial marriage, and 87% overall. Black men are more than twice as likely to date and marry interracially than Black women.
At the end of World War II, some African American military men stationed in Japan and Germany impregnated local non-Black women, resulting in the birth of thousands of mixed-race children. Many of these families later immigrated to the United States.
### Terminology dispute
Author Debra Dickerson has argued that the term *Black* should refer strictly to the descendants of Africans who were brought to America as slaves, and not to the sons and daughters of Black immigrants who lack that ancestry. Thus, under her definition, President Barack Obama, who is the son of a Kenyan, is not Black. She makes the argument that grouping all people of African descent together regardless of their unique ancestral circumstances would inevitably deny the lingering effects of slavery within the American community of slave descendants, in addition to denying Black immigrants recognition of their own unique ancestral backgrounds. "Lumping us all together", Dickerson wrote, "erases the significance of slavery and continuing racism while giving the appearance of progress." Similar comments have been made concerning Kamala Harris, the daughter of a Caribbean immigrant, who was elected vice president in 2020.
Similar viewpoints to Dickerson's have been expressed by author Stanley Crouch in a *New York Daily News* piece, Charles Steele Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and African American columnist David Ehrenstein of the *Los Angeles Times*, who accused White liberals of flocking to Blacks who were *Magic Negros*, a term that refers to a Black person with no past who simply appears to assist the mainstream White (as cultural protagonists/drivers) agenda. Ehrenstein went on to say "He's there to assuage white 'guilt' they feel over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history."
The American Descendants of Slavery (ADOS) movement coalesces around this view, arguing that Black descendants of American slavery deserve a separate ethnic category that distinguishes them from other Black groups in the United States. Their terminology has gained popularity in some circles, but others have criticized the movement for a perceived bias against (especially poor and Black) immigrants, and for its often inflammatory rhetoric. Politicians such as Obama and Harris have received especially pointed criticism from the movement, as neither are ADOS and have spoken out at times against policies specific to them.
Many Pan-African movements and organizations that are ideologically Black nationalist, anti-imperialist, anti-Zionist, and Scientific socialist like The All-African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP), have argued that African (relating to the diaspora) or New Afrikan should be used instead of African American. Most notably, Malcolm X and Kwame Ture expressed similar views that African Americans are Africans who "happen to be in America", and should not claim or identify as being American if they are fighting for Black (New Afrikan) liberation. Historically, this is due to the enslavement of Africans during the transatlantic slave trade, ongoing anti-Black violence, and structural racism in countries like the United States.
### Terms no longer in common use
Before the independence of the Thirteen Colonies until the abolition of slavery in 1865, an African American slave was commonly known as a *negro*. *Free negro* was the legal status in the territory of an African American person who was not enslaved. In response to the project of the American Colonization Society to transport free Blacks to the future Liberia, a project most Blacks strongly rejected, the Blacks at the time said they were no more African than White Americans were European, and referred to themselves with what they considered a more acceptable term, "colored Americans". The term was used until the second quarter of the 20th century, when it was considered outmoded and generally gave way again to the exclusive use of *negro*. By the 1940s, the term was commonly capitalized (*Negro*); but by the mid-1960s, it was considered disparaging. By the end of the 20th century, *negro* had come to be considered inappropriate and was rarely used and perceived as a pejorative. The term is rarely used by younger Black people, but remained in use by many older African Americans who had grown up with the term, particularly in the Southern US. The term remains in use in some contexts, such as the United Negro College Fund, an American philanthropic organization.
There are many other deliberately insulting terms, many of which were in common use (e.g., *nigger*), but had become unacceptable in normal discourse before the end of the 20th century. One exception is the use, among the Black community, of the slur *nigger* rendered as *nigga*, representing the pronunciation of the word in African American English. This usage has been popularized by American rap and hip-hop music cultures and is used as part of an in-group lexicon and speech. It is not necessarily derogatory and, when used among Black people, the word is often used to mean "homie" or "friend". Acceptance of intra-group usage of the word *nigga* is still debated, although it has established a foothold among younger generations. The NAACP denounces the use of both *nigga* and *nigger*.
## See also
- African-American art
- African American cinema
- African-American middle class
- African-American neighborhood
- African-American politics:
- African-American upper class
- African diaspora in the Americas
- Afrophobia
- AP African American Studies
- Black Belt in the American South
- Black Hispanic and Latino Americans
- Black mecca
- Black Ozarkers
- Black Southerners
- Brown Babies
- Civil rights movement (1865–1896)
- Civil rights movement (1896–1954)
- Juneteenth
- National Museum of African American History and Culture
- North Africans in the United States
- Society and Black people in the Spanish Colonial Americas
- South African Americans
- Stereotypes of African Americans
- Timeline of the civil rights movement
- African immigration to the United States
- West Indian Americans
- African American–Jewish relations
- African American–Korean American relations
### Diaspora
### Lists
- Index of articles related to African Americans
- List of African-American neighborhoods
- List of majority-Black counties in the United States
- List of African-American newspapers and media outlets
- List of historically black colleges and universities
- List of African-American astronauts
- List of African-American inventors and scientists
- List of African-American LGBT people
- List of African American poets
- List of African-American visual artists
- List of monuments to African Americans
- List of populated places in the United States with African-American plurality populations
- List of topics related to the African diaspora
- List of African-American holidays
- Lists of African Americans
## Notes
## Further reading
## External links
- Richard Thompson Ford Name Games,
*Slate*, September 16, 2004. Article discussing the problems of defining*African American* *Scientific American*Magazine (June 2006) Trace Elements Reconnecting African Americans to an ancestral past- Black History related original documents and photos
- Frank Newport, "Black or African American?" Archived September 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Gallup, September 28, 2007
- "The Long Journey of Black Americans" – slideshow by
*The First Post*
|
# Native Americans in the United States - Wikipedia
| Total population | |
|---|---|
Alone (one race)3,727,135 (2020 census)1.12% of the total US population In combination (multiracial)5,938,923 (2020 census)1.79% of the total US population Alone or in combination9,666,058 (2020 census)2.92% of the total US population | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Predominantly in Alaska, the Western and Midwestern, with smaller communities in the Eastern United States. | |
| California | 631,016 |
| Oklahoma | 332,791 |
| Arizona | 319,512 |
| Texas | 278,948 |
| New Mexico | 212,241 |
| Languages | |
English Native American languages(including Navajo, Central Alaskan Yup'ik, Tlingit, Haida, Dakota, Seneca, Lakota, Western Apache, Keres, Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Kiowa, Comanche, Osage, Zuni, Pawnee, Shawnee, Winnebago, Ojibwe, Cree, O'odham) Spanish Native Pidgin (extinct) French | |
| Religion | |
| |
| Related ethnic groups | |
**Native Americans** (also called **American Indians**, **First Americans**, or **Indigenous Americans**) are the Indigenous peoples of the United States, particularly of the lower 48 states and Alaska. They may also include any Americans whose origins lie in any of the indigenous peoples of North or South America. The United States Census Bureau publishes data about "American Indians and Alaska Natives", whom it defines as anyone "having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America ... and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment". The census does not, however, enumerate "Native Americans" as such, noting that the latter term can encompass a broader set of groups, e.g. Native Hawaiians, which it tabulates separately.
The European colonization of the Americas from 1492 resulted in a precipitous decline in the size of the Native American population because of newly introduced diseases, including weaponized diseases and biological warfare by colonizers, wars, ethnic cleansing, and enslavement. Numerous scholars have classified elements of the colonization process as comprising genocide against Native Americans. As part of a policy of settler colonialism, European settlers continued to wage war and perpetrated massacres against Native American peoples, removed them from their ancestral lands, and subjected them to one-sided government treaties and discriminatory government policies. Into the 20th century, these policies focused on forced assimilation.
When the United States was established, Native American tribes were considered semi-independent nations, because they generally lived in communities which were separate from communities of white settlers. The federal government signed treaties at a government-to-government level until the Indian Appropriations Act of 1871 ended recognition of independent Native nations, and started treating them as "domestic dependent nations" subject to applicable federal laws. This law did preserve rights and privileges, including a large degree of tribal sovereignty. For this reason, many Native American reservations are still independent of state law and the actions of tribal citizens on these reservations are subject only to tribal courts and federal law. The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 granted US citizenship to all Native Americans born in the US who had not yet obtained it. This emptied the "Indians not taxed" category established by the United States Constitution, allowed Natives to vote in elections, and extended the Fourteenth Amendment protections granted to people "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States. However, some states continued to deny Native Americans voting rights for decades. Titles II through VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 comprise the Indian Civil Rights Act, which applies to Native American tribes and makes many but not all of the guarantees of the U.S. Bill of Rights applicable within the tribes.
Since the 1960s, Native American self-determination movements have resulted in positive changes to the lives of many Native Americans, though there are still many contemporary issues faced by them. Today, there are over five million Native Americans in the US, about 80% of whom live outside reservations. As of 2020, the states with the highest percentage of Native Americans are Alaska, Oklahoma, Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas.
## Background
Beginning toward the end of the 15th century, the migration of Europeans to the Americas led to centuries of population, cultural, and agricultural transfer and adjustment between Old and New World societies, a process known as the Columbian exchange. Because most Native American groups had preserved their histories by means of oral traditions and artwork, the first written accounts of the contact were provided by Europeans.
Ethnographers classify the Indigenous peoples of North America into ten geographical regions which are inhabited by groups of people who share certain cultural traits, called cultural areas. The ten cultural areas are:[ citation needed]
- Arctic, including Aleut, Inuit, and Yupik peoples
- Subarctic
- Northeastern Woodlands
- Southeastern Woodlands
- Great Plains
- Great Basin
- Northwest Plateau
- Northwest Coast
- California
- Southwest (Oasisamerica)
At the time of the first contact, the Indigenous cultures were different from those of the proto-industrial and mostly Christian immigrants. Some Northeastern and Southwestern cultures, in particular, were matrilineal and they were organized and operated on a more collective basis than the culture which Europeans were familiar with. Most Indigenous American tribes treated their hunting grounds and agricultural lands as land that could be used by their entire tribe. Europeans had developed concepts of individual property rights with respect to land that were extremely different. The differences in cultures, as well as the shifting alliances among different nations during periods of warfare, caused extensive political tension, ethnic violence, and social disruption.[ citation needed]
Native Americans suffered high fatality rates from contact with European diseases that were new to them, and to which they had not acquired immunity. Smallpox epidemics are thought to have caused the greatest loss of life for Indigenous populations. "The decline of native American populations was rapid and severe, probably the greatest demographic disaster ever. Old World diseases were the primary killer. In many regions, particularly the tropical lowlands, populations fell by 90 percent or more in the first century after the contact."
Estimates of the pre-Columbian population of the United States vary widely, from 2 million to over 18 million. However, it is universally agreed upon by historians that the Indigenous population underwent a drastic decline following European contact. While infectious diseases were a key factor in these declines, warfare and violence by European settlers played a major role as well, often exacerbating the impact of disease outbreaks. Jeffrey Ostler writes: "Most Indigenous communities were eventually afflicted by a variety of diseases, but in many cases this happened long after Europeans first arrived. When severe epidemics did hit, it was often less because Native bodies lack immunity than because European colonialism disrupted Native Communities and damaged their resources, making them more vulnerable to pathogens." By end of the 18th century, the Indigenous population within the modern borders of the United States had declined to around 600,000 as a result of infectious diseases, warfare, and genocide committed by European settlers.
After the thirteen British colonies revolted against Great Britain and established the United States, President George Washington and Secretary of War Henry Knox conceived the idea of "civilizing" Native Americans in preparation for their assimilation as U.S. citizens. Assimilation, whether it was voluntary, as it was with the Choctaw, or forced, was consistently maintained as a matter of policy by consecutive American administrations.
During the 19th century, the ideology known as manifest destiny became integral to the American nationalist movement. Westward expansion of European American populations after the American Revolution resulted in increasing pressure on Native Americans and their lands, warfare, and rising tensions. In 1830, the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, authorizing the federal government to relocate Native Americans from their homelands within established states to lands west of the Mississippi River, in order to accommodate continued European American expansion. This resulted in what amounted to the ethnic cleansing or genocide of many tribes, who were subjected to brutal forced marches. The most infamous of these came to be known as the Trail of Tears.
Contemporary Native Americans have a unique relationship with the United States because they may be members of nations, tribes, or bands that have sovereignty and treaty rights upon which federal Indian law and a federal Indian trust relationship are based. Cultural activism since the late 1960s has increased the participation of Indigenous peoples in American politics. It has also led to expanded efforts to teach and preserve Indigenous languages for younger generations, and to establish a more robust cultural infrastructure: Native Americans have founded independent newspapers and online media outlets, including First Nations Experience, the first Native American television channel; established Native American studies programs, tribal schools universities, museums, and language programs. Literature is at the growing forefront of American Indian studies in many genres, with the notable exception of fiction—some traditional American Indians experience fictional narratives as insulting when they conflict with traditional oral tribal narratives.
The terms used to refer to Native Americans have at times been controversial. The ways Native Americans refer to themselves vary by region and generation, with many older[ citation needed] Native Americans self-identifying as "Indians" or "American Indians", while younger
[Native Americans often identify as "Indigenous" or "Aboriginal". The term "Native American" has not traditionally included Native Hawaiians or certain Alaskan Natives, such as Aleut, Yup'ik, or Inuit peoples. By comparison, the Indigenous peoples of Canada are generally known as First Nations, Inuit and Métis (FNIM).
*citation needed*][
*citation needed*]## History
The history of Native Americans in the United States began before the founding of the U.S., tens of thousands of years ago with the settlement of the Americas by the Paleo-Indians. The Eurasian migration to the Americas occurred over millennia via Beringia, a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska, as early humans spread southward and eastward, forming distinct cultures and societies. Archaeological evidence suggests these migrations began 60,000 years ago and continued until around 12,000 years ago. Some may have arrived even before this time fishing in kayaks along what is known as the "Kelp Highway". The early inhabitants by land were classified as Paleo-Indians, who spread throughout the Americas, diversifying into numerous culturally distinct nations. Major Paleo-Indian cultures included the Clovis and Folsom traditions, identified through unique spear points and large-game hunting methods, especially during the Lithic stage.
Around 8000 BCE, as the climate stabilized, new cultural periods like the Archaic stage arose, during which hunter-gatherer communities developed complex societies across North America. The Mound Builders created large earthworks, such as at Watson Brake and Poverty Point, which date to 3500 BCE and 2200 BCE, respectively, indicating early social and organizational complexity. By 1000 BCE, Native societies in the Woodland period developed advanced social structures and trade networks, with the Hopewell tradition connecting the Eastern Woodlands to the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. This period led to the Mississippian culture, with large urban centers like Cahokia—a city with complex mounds and a population exceeding 20,000 by 1250 CE.
From the 15th century onward, European contact drastically reshaped the Americas. Explorers and settlers introduced diseases, causing massive Indigenous population declines, and engaged in violent conflicts with Native groups. By the 19th century, westward U.S. expansion, rationalized by Manifest destiny, pressured tribes into forced relocations like the Trail of Tears, which decimated communities and redefined Native territories. Despite resistance in events like the Sioux Uprising and Battle of Little Bighorn, Native American lands continued to be reduced through policies like the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and later the Dawes Act, which undermined communal landholding.
A justification for the policy of conquest and subjugation of the Indigenous people emanated from the stereotyped perceptions of Native Americans as "merciless Indian savages" (as described in the United States Declaration of Independence). Sam Wolfson in *The Guardian* writes, "The declaration's passage has often been cited as an encapsulation of the dehumanizing attitude toward Indigenous Americans that the US was founded on."
Native American nations on the plains in the west continued armed conflicts with the U.S. throughout the 19th century, through what were called generally Indian Wars. Notable conflicts in this period include the Dakota War, Great Sioux War, Snake War, Colorado War, and Texas-Indian Wars. Expressing the frontier anti-Indian sentiment, Theodore Roosevelt believed the Indians were destined to vanish under the pressure of white civilization, stating in an 1886 lecture:
I don't go so far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe nine out of ten are, and I shouldn't like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth.
One of the last and most notable events during the Indian wars was the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. In the years leading up to it the U.S. government had continued to seize Lakota lands. A Ghost Dance ritual on the Northern Lakota reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, led to the U.S. Army's attempt to subdue the Lakota. The dance was part of a religious movement founded by the Northern Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka that told of the return of the Messiah to relieve the suffering of Native Americans and promised that if they would live righteous lives and perform the Ghost Dance properly, the European American colonists would vanish, the bison would return, and the living and the dead would be reunited in an Edenic world. On December 29 at Wounded Knee, gunfire erupted, and U.S. soldiers killed up to 300 Indians, mostly old men, women, and children.
Days after the massacre, the author L. Frank Baum wrote:
The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extermination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries, we had better, in order to protect our civilization, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth.
In the 20th century, Native Americans served in significant numbers during World War II, marking a turning point for Indigenous visibility and involvement in broader American society. Post-war, Native activism grew, with movements such as the American Indian Movement (AIM) drawing attention to Indigenous rights. Landmark legislation like the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 recognized tribal autonomy, leading to the establishment of Native-run schools and economic initiatives. Tribal sovereignty has continued to evolve, with legal victories and federal acknowledgments supporting cultural revitalization.
By the 21st century, Native Americans had achieved increased control over tribal lands and resources, although many communities continue to grapple with the legacy of displacement and economic challenges. Urban migration has also grown, with over 70% of Native Americans residing in cities by 2012, navigating issues of cultural preservation and discrimination. Continuing legal and social efforts address these concerns, building on centuries of resilience and adaptation that characterize Indigenous history across the Americas.
## Demographics
According to the 2020 census, the U.S. population was 331.4 million. Of this, 3.7 million people, or 1.1 percent, reported American Indian or Alaska Native ancestry alone. In addition, 5.9 million people (1.8 percent), reported American Indian or Alaska Native in combination with one or more other races.
The definition of American Indian or Alaska Native used in the 2010 census was as follows:
According to Office of Management and Budget, "American Indian or Alaska Native" refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment.
Despite generally referring to groups indigenous to the continental US and Alaska, this demographic as defined by the US Census Bureau includes all Indigenous people of the Americas, including Mesoamerican peoples such as the Maya, as well as Canadian and South American natives. In 2022, 634,503 Indigenous people in the United States identified with Central American Indigenous groups, 875,183 identified with the Indigenous people of Mexico, and 47,518 identified with Canadian First Nations. Of the 3.2 million Americans who identified as American Indian or Alaska Native alone in 2022, around 45% are of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, with this number growing as increasing numbers of Indigenous people from Latin American countries immigrate to the US and more Latinos self-identify with indigenous heritage. Of groups Indigenous to the United States, the largest self-reported tribes are Cherokee (1,449,888), Navajo (434,910), Choctaw (295,373), Blackfeet (288,255), Sioux (220,739), and Apache (191,823). 205,954 respondents specified an Alaska Native identity.
Native Hawaiians are counted separately from Native Americans by the census, being classified as Pacific Islanders. According to 2022 estimates, 714,847 Americans reported Native Hawaiian ancestry.
The 2010 census permitted respondents to self-identify as being of one or more races. Self-identification dates from the census of 1960; prior to that the race of the respondent was determined by the opinion of the census taker. The option to select more than one race was introduced in 2000. If American Indian or Alaska Native was selected, the form requested the individual provide the name of the "enrolled or principal tribe".
### Population since 1880
Censuses counted around 346,000 Native Americans in 1880 (including 33,000 in Alaska and 82,000 in Oklahoma, back then known as Indian Territory), around 274,000 in 1890 (including 25,500 in Alaska and 64,500 in Oklahoma), 362,500 in 1930 and 366,500 in 1940, including those on and off reservations in the 48 states and Alaska. Native American population rebounded sharply from 1950, when they numbered 377,273; it reached 551,669 in 1960, 827,268 in 1970, with an annual growth rate of 5%, four times the national average. Total spending on Native Americans averaged $38 million a year in the late 1920s, dropping to a low of $23 million in 1933, and returning to $38 million in 1940. The Office of Indian Affairs counted more American Indians than the Census Bureau until 1930:
| Decade | American Indians, Census Bureau | American Indians, Office of Indian Affairs | Alaska Natives |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1890 | 248,253 | 249,278 | 25,354 |
| 1900 | 237,196 | 270,544 | 29,536 |
| 1910 | 265,683 | 304,950 | 25,331 |
| 1920 | 244,437 | 336,337 | 26,558 |
| 1930 | 332,397 | 340,541 | 29,983 |
American Indians and Alaska Natives as percentage of the total population between 1880 and 2020:
| State/Territory | 1880 | 1890 | 1900 | 1910 | 1920 | 1930 | 1940 | 1950 | 1960 | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.6% | 0.7% |
| Alaska | 98.7% | 79.1% | 46.5% | 39.4% | 48.3% | 50.6% | 44.8% | 26.3% | 19.1% | 16.8% | 16.0% | 15.6% | 15.6% | 14.8% | 21.9% |
| Arizona | 37.5% | 34.0% | 21.5% | 14.3% | 9.9% | 10.0% | 11.0% | 8.8% | 6.4% | 5.4% | 5.6% | 5.6% | 5.0% | 4.6% | 6.3% |
| Arkansas | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.7% | 0.8% | 0.9% |
| California | 2.4% | 1.4% | 1.0% | 0.7% | 0.5% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.5% | 0.9% | 0.8% | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1.6% |
| Colorado | 1.4% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0.6% | 0.8% | 1.0% | 1.1% | 1.3% |
| Connecticut | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.4% |
| Delaware | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.5% | 0.5% |
| Florida | 0.3% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.4% |
| Georgia | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.5% |
| Hawaii | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.3% | 0.5% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.3% |
| Idaho | 10.0% | 4.8% | 2.6% | 1.1% | 0.7% | 0.8% | 0.7% | 0.6% | 0.8% | 0.9% | 1.1% | 1.4% | 1.4% | 1.4% | 1.4% |
| Illinois | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.8% |
| Indiana | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.4% |
| Iowa | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.5% |
| Kansas | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0.7% | 0.9% | 0.9% | 1.0% | 1.1% |
| Kentucky | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.3% |
| Louisiana | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.6% | 0.7% | 0.7% |
| Maine | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.6% | 0.6% | 0.6% |
| Maryland | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.5% |
| Massachusetts | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.3% |
| Michigan | 1.1% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0.6% | 0.6% | 0.6% | 0.6% |
| Minnesota | 1.1% | 0.8% | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.6% | 0.9% | 1.1% | 1.1% | 1.1% | 1.2% |
| Mississippi | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.6% |
| Missouri | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.5% |
| Montana | 38.3% | 7.8% | 4.7% | 0.8% | 2.0% | 2.8% | 3.0% | 2.8% | 3.1% | 3.9% | 4.7% | 6.0% | 6.2% | 6.3% | 9.3% |
| Nebraska | 1.0% | 0.6% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.6% | 0.8% | 0.9% | 1.2% | 1.2% |
| Nevada | 13.9% | 10.9% | 12.3% | 6.4% | 6.3% | 5.3% | 4.3% | 3.1% | 2.3% | 1.6% | 1.7% | 1.6% | 1.3% | 1.2% | 1.4% |
| New Hampshire | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| New Jersey | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.6% |
| New Mexico | 23.2% | 9.4% | 6.7% | 6.3% | 5.4% | 6.8% | 6.5% | 6.2% | 5.9% | 7.2% | 8.1% | 8.9% | 9.5% | 9.4% | 12.4% |
| New York | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.6% | 0.7% |
| North Carolina | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.6% | 0.1% | 0.8% | 0.9% | 1.1% | 1.2% | 1.2% | 1.3% | 1.2% |
| North Dakota | 13.0% | 4.3% | 2.2% | 1.1% | 1.0% | 1.2% | 1.6% | 1.7% | 1.9% | 2.3% | 3.1% | 4.1% | 4.9% | 5.4% | 7.2% |
| South Dakota | 20.6% | 5.7% | 5.0% | 3.3% | 2.6% | 3.2% | 3.6% | 3.6% | 3.8% | 4.9% | 6.5% | 7.3% | 8.3% | 8.8% | 11.1% |
| Ohio | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.3% |
| Oklahoma | 100.0% | 24.9% | 8.2% | 4.5% | 2.8% | 3.9% | 2.7% | 2.4% | 2.8% | 3.8% | 5.6% | 8.0% | 7.9% | 8.6% | 16.0% |
| Oregon | 3.5% | 1.6% | 1.2% | 0.8% | 0.6% | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.6% | 1.0% | 1.4% | 1.3% | 1.4% | 4.4% |
| Pennsylvania | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| Rhode Island | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.6% | 0.7% |
| South Carolina | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.5% |
| Tennessee | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.4% |
| Texas | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.6% | 0.7% | 1.0% |
| Utah | 0.9% | 1.6% | 0.9% | 0.8% | 0.6% | 0.6% | 0.7% | 0.6% | 0.8% | 1.1% | 1.3% | 1.4% | 1.3% | 1.2% | 1.3% |
| Vermont | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% |
| Virginia | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.5% |
| Washington | 20.8% | 3.1% | 1.9% | 1.0% | 0.7% | 0.7% | 0.7% | 0.6% | 0.7% | 1.0% | 1.5% | 1.7% | 1.6% | 1.5% | 4.1% |
| West Virginia | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| Wisconsin | 0.8% | 0.6% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.6% | 0.8% | 0.9% | 1.0% | 1.0% |
| Wyoming | 9.6% | 2.9% | 1.8% | 1.0% | 0.7% | 0.8% | 0.9% | 1.1% | 1.2% | 1.5% | 1.5% | 2.1% | 2.3% | 2.4% | 4.8% |
| Washington, D.C. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.5% |
| Puerto Rico | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.5% | ||||||||||||
United States
|
0.7% | 0.4% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.6% | 0.8% | 0.9% | 0.9% | 1.1% |
Absolute numbers of American Indians and Alaska Natives between 1880 and 2020 (since 1890 according to the Census Bureau):
| State/Territory | 1880 | 1890 | 1900 | 1910 | 1920 | 1930 | 1940 | 1950 | 1960 | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 213 | 1,143 | 177 | 909 | 405 | 465 | 464 | 928 | 1,276 | 2,443 | 9,239 | 16,506 | 22,430 | 28,218 | 33,625 |
| Alaska | 32,996 | 25,354 | 29,536 | 25,331 | 26,558 | 29,983 | 32,458 | 33,863 | 42,522 | 50,814 | 64,103 | 85,698 | 98,043 | 104,871 | 111,575 |
| Arizona | 22,199 | 29,981 | 26,480 | 29,201 | 32,989 | 43,726 | 55,076 | 65,761 | 83,387 | 95,812 | 154,175 | 203,527 | 255,879 | 296,529 | 319,512 |
| Arkansas | 195 | 250 | 66 | 460 | 106 | 408 | 278 | 533 | 580 | 2,014 | 12,713 | 12,773 | 17,808 | 22,248 | 27,177 |
| California | 20,385 | 16,624 | 15,377 | 16,371 | 17,360 | 19,212 | 18,675 | 19,947 | 39,014 | 91,018 | 227,757 | 242,164 | 333,346 | 362,801 | 631,016 |
| Colorado | 2,684 | 1,092 | 1,437 | 1,482 | 1,383 | 1,395 | 1,360 | 1,567 | 4,288 | 8,836 | 20,682 | 27,776 | 44,241 | 56,010 | 74,129 |
| Connecticut | 255 | 228 | 153 | 152 | 159 | 162 | 201 | 333 | 923 | 2,222 | 4,822 | 6,654 | 9,639 | 11,256 | 16,051 |
| Delaware | 5 | 4 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 14 | 0 | 597 | 656 | 1,380 | 2,019 | 2,731 | 4,181 | 5,148 |
| Florida | 780 | 171 | 358 | 74 | 518 | 587 | 690 | 1,011 | 2,504 | 6,677 | 24,714 | 36,335 | 53,541 | 71,458 | 94,795 |
| Georgia | 124 | 68 | 19 | 95 | 125 | 43 | 106 | 333 | 749 | 2,347 | 9,876 | 13,348 | 21,737 | 32,151 | 50,618 |
| Hawaii | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 472 | 1,126 | 2,833 | 5,099 | 3,535 | 4,164 | 4,370 |
| Idaho | 3,585 | 4,223 | 4,226 | 3,488 | 3,098 | 3,638 | 3,537 | 3,800 | 5,231 | 6,687 | 10,405 | 13,780 | 17,645 | 21,441 | 25,621 |
| Illinois | 140 | 98 | 16 | 188 | 194 | 469 | 624 | 1,443 | 4,704 | 11,413 | 19,118 | 21,836 | 31,006 | 43,963 | 96,498 |
| Indiana | 246 | 343 | 243 | 279 | 125 | 285 | 223 | 438 | 948 | 3,887 | 9,495 | 12,720 | 15,815 | 18,462 | 26,086 |
| Iowa | 821 | 457 | 382 | 471 | 529 | 660 | 733 | 1,084 | 1,708 | 2,992 | 6,311 | 7,349 | 8,989 | 11,084 | 14,486 |
| Kansas | 1,499 | 1,682 | 2,130 | 2,444 | 2,276 | 2,454 | 1,165 | 2,381 | 5,069 | 8,672 | 17,829 | 21,965 | 24,936 | 28,150 | 30,995 |
| Kentucky | 50 | 71 | 102 | 234 | 57 | 22 | 44 | 234 | 391 | 1,531 | 4,497 | 5,769 | 8,616 | 10,120 | 12,801 |
| Louisiana | 848 | 628 | 593 | 780 | 1,069 | 1,536 | 1,801 | 409 | 3,587 | 5,294 | 12,841 | 18,541 | 25,477 | 30,579 | 31,657 |
| Maine | 625 | 559 | 798 | 892 | 830 | 1,012 | 1,251 | 1,522 | 1,879 | 2,195 | 4,360 | 5,998 | 7,098 | 8,568 | 7,885 |
| Maryland | 15 | 44 | 3 | 55 | 32 | 50 | 73 | 314 | 1,538 | 4,239 | 8,946 | 12,972 | 15,423 | 20,420 | 31,845 |
| Massachusetts | 369 | 428 | 587 | 688 | 555 | 874 | 769 | 1,201 | 2,118 | 4,475 | 8,996 | 12,241 | 15,015 | 18,850 | 24,018 |
| Michigan | 17,390 | 5,625 | 6,354 | 7,519 | 5,614 | 7,080 | 6,282 | 7,000 | 9,701 | 16,854 | 44,712 | 55,638 | 58,479 | 62,007 | 61,261 |
| Minnesota | 8,498 | 10,096 | 9,182 | 9,053 | 8,761 | 11,077 | 12,528 | 12,533 | 15,496 | 23,128 | 36,527 | 49,909 | 54,967 | 60,916 | 68,641 |
| Mississippi | 1,857 | 2,036 | 2,203 | 1,253 | 1,105 | 1,458 | 2,134 | 2,502 | 3,119 | 4,113 | 6,836 | 8,525 | 11,652 | 15,030 | 16,450 |
| Missouri | 113 | 128 | 130 | 313 | 171 | 578 | 330 | 547 | 1,723 | 5,405 | 14,820 | 19,835 | 25,076 | 27,376 | 30,518 |
| Montana | 23,313 | 11,206 | 11,343 | 10,745 | 10,956 | 14,798 | 16,841 | 16,606 | 21,181 | 27,130 | 37,623 | 47,679 | 56,068 | 62,555 | 67,612 |
| Nebraska | 4,541 | 6,431 | 3,322 | 3,502 | 2,888 | 3,256 | 3,401 | 3,954 | 5,545 | 6,624 | 9,059 | 12,410 | 14,896 | 18,427 | 23,102 |
| Nevada | 9,603 | 5,156 | 5,216 | 5,240 | 4,907 | 4,871 | 4,747 | 5,025 | 6,681 | 7,933 | 14,256 | 19,637 | 26,420 | 32,062 | 43,932 |
| New Hampshire | 63 | 16 | 22 | 34 | 28 | 64 | 50 | 74 | 135 | 361 | 1,342 | 2,134 | 2,964 | 3,150 | 3,031 |
| New Jersey | 74 | 84 | 63 | 168 | 106 | 213 | 211 | 621 | 1,699 | 4,706 | 10,028 | 14,970 | 19,492 | 29,026 | 51,186 |
| New Mexico | 33,224 | 150,44 | 13,144 | 20,573 | 19,512 | 28,941 | 34,510 | 41,901 | 56,255 | 72,788 | 106,585 | 134355 | 173,483 | 193,222 | 212,241 |
| New York | 5,958 | 6,044 | 5,257 | 6,046 | 5,503 | 6,973 | 8,651 | 10,640 | 16,491 | 28,355 | 43,508 | 62,651 | 82,461 | 106,906 | 149,690 |
| North Carolina | 1,230 | 1,516 | 5,687 | 7,851 | 11,824 | 16,579 | 22,546 | 3,742 | 38,129 | 44,406 | 65,808 | 80,155 | 99,551 | 122,110 | 130,032 |
| North Dakota | 8,329 | 8,174 | 6,968 | 6,486 | 6,254 | 8,387 | 10,114 | 10,766 | 11,736 | 14,369 | 19,905 | 25,917 | 31,329 | 36,591 | 38,914 |
| Ohio | 130 | 206 | 42 | 127 | 151 | 435 | 338 | 1,146 | 1,910 | 6,654 | 15,300 | 20,358 | 24,486 | 25,292 | 30,720 |
| Oklahoma | 82,334 | 64,456 | 64,445 | 74,825 | 57,337 | 92,725 | 63,125 | 53,769 | 64,689 | 98,468 | 171,092 | 252,420 | 273,230 | 321,687 | 332,791 |
| Oregon | 6,249 | 4,971 | 4,951 | 5,090 | 4,590 | 4,776 | 4,594 | 5,820 | 8,026 | 13,510 | 29,783 | 38,496 | 45,211 | 53,203 | 62,993 |
| Pennsylvania | 184 | 1,081 | 1,639 | 1,503 | 337 | 523 | 441 | 1,141 | 2,122 | 5,533 | 10,928 | 14,733 | 18,348 | 26,843 | 31,052 |
| Rhode Island | 77 | 180 | 35 | 284 | 110 | 318 | 196 | 385 | 932 | 1,390 | 3,186 | 4,071 | 5,121 | 6,058 | 7,385 |
| South Carolina | 131 | 173 | 121 | 331 | 304 | 959 | 1,234 | 554 | 1,098 | 2,241 | 6,655 | 8,246 | 13,718 | 19,524 | 24,303 |
| South Dakota | 20,230 | 19,854 | 20225 | 19,137 | 16,384 | 21,833 | 23,347 | 23,344 | 25,794 | 32,365 | 45,525 | 50,575 | 62,283 | 71,817 | 77,748 |
| Tennessee | 352 | 146 | 108 | 216 | 56 | 161 | 114 | 339 | 638 | 2,276 | 6,946 | 10,039 | 15,152 | 19,994 | 28,044 |
| Texas | 992 | 708 | 470 | 702 | 2,109 | 1,001 | 1,103 | 2,736 | 5,750 | 17,957 | 50,296 | 65,877 | 118,362 | 170,972 | 278,948 |
| Utah | 1,257 | 3,456 | 2,623 | 3,123 | 2,711 | 2,869 | 3,611 | 4,201 | 6,961 | 11,273 | 19,994 | 24,283 | 29,684 | 32,927 | 41,644 |
| Vermont | 11 | 34 | 5 | 26 | 24 | 36 | 16 | 30 | 57 | 229 | 1,041 | 1,696 | 2,420 | 2,207 | 2,289 |
| Virginia | 85 | 349 | 354 | 539 | 824 | 779 | 198 | 1,056 | 2,155 | 4,853 | 9,867 | 15,282 | 21,172 | 29,225 | 40,007 |
| Washington | 18,594 | 11,181 | 10,039 | 10,997 | 9,061 | 11,253 | 11,394 | 13,816 | 21,076 | 33,386 | 61,233 | 81,483 | 93,301 | 103,869 | 121,468 |
| West Virginia | 29 | 9 | 12 | 36 | 7 | 18 | 25 | 160 | 181 | 751 | 2,317 | 2,458 | 3,606 | 3,787 | 3,706 |
| Wisconsin | 10,798 | 9,930 | 8,372 | 10,142 | 9,611 | 11,548 | 12,265 | 12,196 | 14,297 | 18,924 | 30,553 | 39,387 | 47,228 | 54,526 | 60,428 |
| Wyoming | 2,203 | 1,844 | 1,686 | 1,486 | 1,343 | 1,845 | 2,349 | 3,237 | 4,020 | 4,980 | 8,192 | 9,479 | 11,133 | 13,336 | 13,898 |
| Washington, D.C. | 5 | 25 | 22 | 68 | 37 | 40 | 190 | 330 | 587 | 956 | 986 | 1,466 | 1,713 | 2,079 | 3,193 |
United States
|
345,888
|
273,607 | 266,732 | 291,014 | 270,995 | 362,380 | 366,427 | 377,273 | 551,669 | 827,268 | 1,519,995 | 1,959,234 | 2,475,956 | 2,932,248 | 3,727,135 |
| Non-Hispanic | 345,888 | 273,607 | 266,732 | 291,014 | 270,995 | 362,380 | 366,427 | 377,273 | 551,669 | 800,409 | 1,425,250 | 1,793,773 | 2,068,883 | 2,247,098 | 2,251,699 |
### Population distribution
78% of Native Americans live outside a reservation. Full-blood individuals are more likely to live on a reservation than mixed-blood individuals. The Navajo, with 286,000 full-blood individuals, is the largest tribe if only full-blood individuals are counted; the Navajo are the tribe with the highest proportion of full-blood individuals, 86.3%. The Cherokee have a different history; it is the largest tribe, with 819,000 individuals, and it has 284,000 full-blood individuals.
#### Urban migration
As of 2012, 70% of Native Americans live in urban areas, up from 45% in 1970 and 8% in 1940. Urban areas with significant Native American populations include Minneapolis, Denver, Phoenix, Tucson, Chicago, Oklahoma City, Houston, New York City, and Los Angeles. Many live in poverty. Racism, unemployment, drugs and gangs are common problems which Indian social service organizations such as the Little Earth housing complex in Minneapolis attempt to address.
### Population by tribal grouping
Below are numbers for U.S. citizens self-identifying to selected tribal groupings, according to the 2010 U.S. census.
| Tribal grouping | Tribal flag | Tribal seal | American Indian & Alaska Native Alone one tribal grouping reported | American Indian & Alaska Native Alone more than one tribal grouping reported | American Indian & Alaska Native Mixed one tribal grouping reported | American Indian & Alaska Native Mixed more than one tribal grouping reported | American Indian & Alaska Native tribal grouping alone or mixed in any combination |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 2,879,638 | 52,610 | 2,209,267 | 79,064 | 5,220,579 | ||
| Apache | 63,193 | 6,501 | 33,303 | 8,813 | 111,810 | ||
| Arapaho | 8,014 | 388 | 2,084 | 375 | 10,861 | ||
| Blackfeet | 27,279 | 4,519 | 54,109 | 19,397 | 105,304 | ||
| Canadian & French American Indian | 6,433 | 618 | 6,981 | 790 | 14,822 | ||
| Central American Indian | 15,882 | 572 | 10,865 | 525 | 27,844 | ||
| Cherokee | 284,247 | 16,216 | 468,082 | 50,560 | 819,105 | ||
| Cheyenne (Northern and Southern) |
11,375 | 1,118 | 5,311 | 1,247 | 19,051 | ||
| Chickasaw | 27,973 | 2,233 | 19,220 | 2,852 | 52,278 | ||
| Choctaw | 103,910 | 6,398 | 72,101 | 13,355 | 195,764 | ||
| Colville | 8,114 | 200 | 2,148 | 87 | 10,549 | ||
| Comanche | 12,284 | 1,187 | 8,131 | 1,728 | 23,330 | ||
| Cree | 2,211 | 739 | 4,023 | 1,010 | 7,983 | ||
| Creek | 48,352 | 4,596 | 30,618 | 4,766 | 88,332 | ||
| Crow | 10,332 | 528 | 3,309 | 1,034 | 15,203 | ||
| Delaware (Lenape) | 7,843 | 372 | 9,439 | 610 | 18,264 | ||
| Hopi | 12,580 | 2,054 | 3,013 | 680 | 18,327 | ||
| Houma | 8,169 | 71 | 2,438 | 90 | 10,768 | ||
| Iroquois | 40,570 | 1,891 | 34,490 | 4,051 | 81,002 | ||
| Kiowa | 9,437 | 918 | 2,947 | 485 | 13,787 | ||
| Lumbee | 62,306 | 651 | 10,039 | 695 | 73,691 | ||
| Menominee | 8,374 | 253 | 2,330 | 176 | 11,133 | ||
| Mexican American Indian | 121,221 | 2,329 | 49,670 | 2,274 | 175,494 | ||
| Navajo | 286,731 | 8,285 | 32,918 | 4,195 | 332,129 | ||
| Ojibwe | 112,757 | 2,645 | 52,091 | 3,249 | 170,742 | ||
| Osage | 8,938 | 1,125 | 7,090 | 1,423 | 18,576 | ||
| Ottawa | 7,272 | 776 | 4,274 | 711 | 13,033 | ||
| Paiute | 9,340 | 865 | 3,135 | 427 | 13,767 | ||
| Pima | 22,040 | 1,165 | 3,116 | 334 | 26,655 | ||
| Potawatomi | 20,412 | 462 | 12,249 | 648 | 33,771 | ||
| Pueblo | 49,695 | 2,331 | 9,568 | 946 | 62,540 | ||
| Puget Sound Salish | 14,320 | 215 | 5,540 | 185 | 20,260 | ||
| Seminole | 14,080 | 2,368 | 12,447 | 3,076 | 31,971 | ||
| Shoshone | 7,852 | 610 | 3,969 | 571 | 13,002 | ||
| Sioux | 112,176 | 4,301 | 46,964 | 6,669 | 170,110 | ||
| South American Indian | 20,901 | 479 | 25,015 | 838 | 47,233 | ||
| Spanish American Indian | 13,460 | 298 | 6,012 | 181 | 19,951 | ||
| Tohono O'odham | 19,522 | 725 | 3,033 | 198 | 23,478 | ||
| Ute | 7,435 | 785 | 2,802 | 469 | 11,491 | ||
| Yakama | 8,786 | 310 | 2,207 | 224 | 11,527 | ||
| Yaqui | 21,679 | 1,516 | 8,183 | 1,217 | 32,595 | ||
| Yuman | 7,727 | 551 | 1,642 | 169 | 10,089 | ||
| All other American Indian tribes | 270,141 | 12,606 | 135,032 | 11,850 | 429,629 | ||
| American Indian tribes, not specified | 131,943 | 117 | 102,188 | 72 | 234,320 | ||
| Alaska Native tribes, specified | 98,892 | 4,194 | 32,992 | 2,772 | 138,850 | ||
| Alaskan Athabaskans | 15,623 | 804 | 5,531 | 526 | 22,484 | ||
| Aleut | 11,920 | 723 | 6,108 | 531 | 19,282 | ||
| Inupiat | 24,859 | 877 | 7,051 | 573 | 33,360 | ||
| Tlingit-Haida | 15,256 | 859 | 9,331 | 634 | 26,080 | ||
| Tsimshian | 2,307 | 240 | 1,010 | 198 | 3,755 | ||
| Yup'ik | 28,927 | 691 | 3,961 | 310 | 33,889 | ||
| Alaska Native tribes, not specified | 19,731 | 173 | 9,896 | 133 | 29,933 | ||
| American Indian or Alaska Native tribes, not specified | 693,709 | no data | 852,253 | 1 | 1,545,963 |
## Tribal sovereignty
There are 573 federally recognized tribal governments and 326 Indian reservations in the United States. These tribes possess the right to form their own governments, to enforce laws (both civil and criminal) within their lands, to tax, to establish requirements for membership, to license and regulate activities, to zone, and to exclude persons from tribal territories. Limitations on tribal powers of self-government include the same limitations applicable to states; for example, neither tribes nor states have the power to make war, engage in foreign relations, or coin money (this includes paper currency). In addition, there are a number of tribes that are recognized by individual states, but not by the federal government. The rights and benefits associated with state recognition vary from state to state.
Many Native Americans and advocates of Native American rights point out that the U.S. federal government's claim to recognize the "sovereignty" of Native American peoples falls short, given that the United States wishes to govern Native American peoples and treat them as subject to U.S. law. Such advocates contend that full respect for Native American sovereignty would require the U.S. government to deal with Native American peoples in the same manner as any other sovereign nation, handling matters related to relations with Native Americans through the Secretary of State, rather than the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Bureau of Indian Affairs reports on its website that its "responsibility is the administration and management of 55,700,000 acres (225,000 km2) of land held in trust by the United States for American Indians, Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives". Many Native Americans and advocates of Native American rights believe that it is condescending for such lands to be considered "held in trust" and regulated in any fashion by any entity other than their own tribes.
Some tribal groups have been unable to document the cultural continuity required for federal recognition. To achieve federal recognition and its benefits, tribes must prove continuous existence since 1900. The federal government has maintained this requirement, in part because through participation on councils and committees, federally recognized tribes have been adamant about groups' satisfying the same requirements as they did. The Muwekma Ohlone of the San Francisco Bay Area are pursuing litigation in the federal court system to establish recognition. Many of the smaller eastern tribes, long considered remnants of extinct peoples, have been trying to gain official recognition of their tribal status. Several tribes in Virginia and North Carolina have gained state recognition. Federal recognition confers some benefits, including the right to label arts and crafts as Native American and permission to apply for grants that are specifically reserved for Native Americans. But gaining federal recognition as a tribe is extremely difficult; to be established as a tribal group, members have to submit extensive genealogical proof of tribal descent and continuity of the tribe as a culture.
In July 2000, the Washington State Republican Party adopted a resolution recommending that the federal and legislative branches of the U.S. government terminate tribal governments. In 2007, a group of Democratic Party congressmen and congresswomen introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives to terminate Federal recognition of the Cherokee Nation. This was related to their voting to exclude Cherokee Freedmen as members of the tribe unless they had a Cherokee ancestor on the Dawes Rolls, although all Cherokee Freedmen and their descendants had been members since 1866.
As of 2004, various Native Americans are wary of attempts by others to gain control of their reservation lands for natural resources, such as coal and uranium in the West.
The State of Maine is the only State House Legislature that allows Representatives from Indian Tribes. The three nonvoting members represent the Penobscot Nation, Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, and Passamaquoddy Tribe. These representatives can sponsor any legislation regarding American Indian affairs or co-sponsor any pending State of Maine legislation. Maine is unique regarding Indigenous leadership representation.
In the state of Virginia, Native Americans face a unique problem. Until 2017 Virginia previously had no federally recognized tribes but the state had recognized eight. This is related historically to the greater impact of disease and warfare on the Virginia Indian populations, as well as their intermarriage with Europeans and Africans. Some people confused ancestry with culture, but groups of Virginia Indians maintained their cultural continuity. Most of their early reservations were ended under the pressure of early European settlement.
Some historians also note the problems of Virginia Indians in establishing documented continuity of identity, due to the work of Walter Ashby Plecker (1912–1946). As registrar of the state's Bureau of Vital Statistics, he applied his own interpretation of the one-drop rule, enacted in law in 1924 as the state's Racial Integrity Act. It recognized only two races: "white" and "colored".
Plecker, a segregationist, believed that the state's Native Americans had been "mongrelized" by intermarriage with African Americans; to him, ancestry determined identity, rather than culture. He thought that some people of partial black ancestry were trying to "pass" as Native Americans. Plecker thought that anyone with any African heritage had to be classified as colored, regardless of appearance, amount of European or Native American ancestry, and cultural/community identification. Plecker pressured local governments into reclassifying all Native Americans in the state as "colored" and gave them lists of family surnames to examine for reclassification based on his interpretation of data and the law. This led to the state's destruction of accurate records related to families and communities who identified as Native American (as in church records and daily life). By his actions, sometimes different members of the same family were split by being classified as "white" or "colored". He did not allow people to enter their primary identification as Native American in state records. In 2009, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee endorsed a bill that would grant federal recognition to tribes in Virginia.
As of 2000[update], the largest groups in the United States by population were Navajo, Cherokee, Choctaw, Sioux, Ojibwe, Apache, Blackfeet, Iroquois, and Pueblo. In 2000, eight of ten Americans with Native American ancestry were of mixed ancestry. It is estimated that by 2100 that figure will rise to nine out of ten.
## Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a very significant moment for the rights of Native Americans and other people of color. Native Americans faced racism and prejudice for hundreds of years, and this increased after the American Civil War. Native Americans, like African Americans, were subjected to the Jim Crow Laws and segregation in the Deep South especially after they were made citizens through the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. As a body of law, Jim Crow institutionalized economic, educational, and social disadvantages for Native Americans, and other people of color living in the south. Native American identity was especially targeted by a system that only wanted to recognize white or colored, and the government began to question the legitimacy of some tribes because they had intermarried with African Americans. Native Americans were also discriminated and discouraged from voting in the southern and western states.
In the south segregation was a major problem for Native Americans seeking education, but the NAACP's legal strategy would later change this. Movements such as Brown v. Board of Education was a major victory for the Civil Rights Movement headed by the NAACP, and inspired Native Americans to start participating in the Civil Rights Movement. Martin Luther King Jr. began assisting Native Americans in the south in the late 1950s after they reached out to him. At that time the remaining Creek in Alabama were trying to completely desegregate schools in their area. In this case, light-complexioned Native children were allowed to ride school buses to previously all white schools, while dark-skinned Native children from the same band were barred from riding the same buses. Tribal leaders, upon hearing of King's desegregation campaign in Birmingham, Alabama, contacted him for assistance. He promptly responded and, through his intervention, the problem was quickly resolved. King would later make trips to Arizona visiting Native Americans on reservations, and in churches encouraging them to be involved in the Civil Rights Movement. In King's book *Why We Can't Wait* he writes:
Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race. Even before there were large numbers of Negroes on our shores, the scar of racial hatred had already disfigured colonial society. From the sixteenth century forward, blood flowed in battles over racial supremacy. We are perhaps the only nation which tried as a matter of national policy to wipe out its Indigenous population. Moreover, we elevated that tragic experience into a noble crusade. Indeed, even today we have not permitted ourselves to reject or to feel remorse for this shameful episode. Our literature, our films, our drama, our folklore all exalt it.
Native Americans would then actively participate and support the NAACP, and the civil rights movement. The National Indian Youth Council (NIYC) would soon rise in 1961 to fight for Native American rights during the Civil Rights Movement, and were strong King supporters. During the 1963 March on Washington there was a sizable Native American contingent, including many from South Dakota, and many from the Navajo nation. Native Americans also participated the Poor People's Campaign in 1968. The NIYC were very active supporters of the Poor People's Campaign unlike the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI); the NIYC and other Native organizations met with King in March 1968 but the NCAI disagreed on how to approach the anti-poverty campaign; the NCAI decided against participating in the march. The NCAI wished to pursue their battles in the courts and with Congress, unlike the NIYC. The NAACP also inspired the creation of the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) which was patterned after the NAACP's Legal Defense and Education Fund. Furthermore, the NAACP continued to organize to stop mass incarceration and end the criminalization of Native Americans and other communities of people of color. The following is an excerpt from a statement from Mel Thom on May 1, 1968, during a meeting with Secretary of State Dean Rusk: (It was written by members of the Workshop on American Indian Affairs and the NIYC)
We have joined the Poor People's Campaign because most of our families, tribes, and communities number among those suffering most in this country. We are not begging. We are demanding what is rightfully ours. This is no more than the right to have a decent life in our own communities. We need guaranteed jobs, guaranteed income, housing, schools, economic development, but most important- we want them on our own terms. Our chief spokesman in the federal government, the Department of Interior, has failed us. In fact it began failing us from its very beginning. The Interior Department began failing us because it was built upon and operates under a racist, immoral, paternalistic and colonialistic system. There is no way to improve upon racism, immorality and colonialism; it can only be done away with. The system and power structure serving Indian peoples is a sickness which has grown to epidemic proportions. The Indian system is sick. Paternalism is the virus and the secretary of the Interior is the carrier.
## Contemporary issues
Native American struggles amid poverty to maintain life on the reservation or in larger society have resulted in a variety of health issues, some related to nutrition and health practices. The community suffers a vulnerability to and disproportionately high rate of alcoholism:
It has long been recognized that Native Americans are dying of diabetes, alcoholism, tuberculosis, suicide, and other health conditions at shocking rates. Beyond disturbingly high mortality rates, Native Americans also suffer a significantly lower health status and disproportionate rates of disease compared with all other Americans.
Recent studies also point to rising rates of stroke, heart disease, and diabetes in the Native American population.
### Societal discrimination and racism
Native Americans have been subjected to discrimination for centuries. In response to being labeled "merciless Indian savages" in the Declaration of Independence, Simon Moya-Smith, culture editor at *Indian Country Today*, states, "Any holiday that would refer to my people in such a repugnant, racist manner is certainly not worth celebrating. [July Fourth] is a day we celebrate our resiliency, our culture, our languages, our children and we mourn the millions — literally millions — of indigenous people who have died as a consequence of American imperialism."
In a study conducted in 2006–2007, non-Native Americans admitted they rarely encountered Native Americans in their daily lives. This is largely due to the number of Native Americans having dwindled since white settler colonialism, while those who survived were forcibly moved into reservations; both of these factors were referenced by Adolf Hitler in 1928 when he admiringly stated the US had "gunned down the millions of Redskins to a few hundred thousand, and now keep the modest remnant under observation in a cage". While sympathetic toward Native Americans and expressing regret over the past, most people had only a vague understanding of the problems facing Native Americans today. For their part, Native Americans told researchers that they believed they continued to face prejudice, mistreatment, and inequality in the broader society.
#### Affirmative action issues
Federal contractors and subcontractors, such as businesses and educational institutions, are legally required to adopt equal opportunity employment and affirmative action measures intended to prevent discrimination against employees or applicants for employment on the basis of "color, religion, sex, or national origin". For this purpose, a Native American is defined as "A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains a tribal affiliation or community attachment". The passing of the Indian Relocation Act saw a 56% increase in Native American city dwellers over 40 years. The Native American urban poverty rate exceeds that of reservation poverty rates due to discrimination in hiring processes. However, self-reporting is permitted: "Educational institutions and other recipients should allow students and staff to self-identify their race and ethnicity unless self-identification is not practicable or feasible."
Self-reporting opens the door to "box checking" by people who, despite not having a substantial relationship to Native American culture, innocently or fraudulently check the box for Native American.
The difficulties that Native Americans face in the workforce, for example, a lack of promotions and wrongful terminations are attributed to racial stereotypes and implicit biases. Native American business owners are seldom offered auxiliary resources that are crucial for entrepreneurial success.
### Sexual violence as a tool for settler colonialism
Throughout history, settler colonialism has remained a violent and destructive tool to displace and exterminate Native American peoples. The use of sexual violence to perpetuate this is very common. Muscogee Creek law professor Sarah Deer highlights the high number of Native women who still experience this violence: "Since 1999 a variety of reports and studies have come to the same conclusion- namely, that Native women in particular suffer the highest rate of per capita rape in the United States." The continued acts of sexual violence against Native women have been perpetuated by colonization and the actions of colonizers. Native women through time have been portrayed as extremely sexual which only enforces sexual violence. Deer explains, "Dispossession and relocation of indigenous peoples on this continent both necessitated and precipitated a highly gendered and sexualized dynamic in which Native women's bodies became commodities- bought and sold for the purposes of sexual gratification (or profit), invariably transporting them far away from their homes."
### Native American mascots in sports
American Indian activists in the United States and Canada have criticized the use of Native American mascots in sports, as perpetuating stereotypes. This is considered cultural appropriation. There has been a steady decline in the number of secondary school and college teams using such names, images, and mascots. Some tribal team names have been approved by the tribe in question, such as the Seminole Council of Florida approving use of their name for the teams of Florida State University. The NCAA allows the use even though the NCAA "continues to believe the stereotyping of Native Americans is wrong."
Among professional teams, the NBA's Golden State Warriors discontinued use of Native American-themed logos in 1971. The NFL's Washington Commanders, formerly the Washington Redskins, changed their name in 2020, as the term is considered to be a racial slur.
MLB's Cleveland Guardians were formerly known as the Cleveland Indians. Their use of a caricature called Chief Wahoo faced protest for decades. Starting in 2019, Chief Wahoo ceased to be a logo for Cleveland Indians, though Chief Wahoo merchandise could still be sold in the Cleveland-area. On December 13, 2020, *The New York Times* reported that Cleveland would be officially changing their name. On November 19, 2021, the team officially became the Cleveland Guardians.
### Historical depictions in art
Native Americans have been depicted by American artists in various ways at different periods. A number of 19th- and 20th-century United States and Canadian painters, often motivated by a desire to document and preserve Native culture, specialized in Native American subjects. Among the most prominent of these were Elbridge Ayer Burbank, George Catlin, Seth Eastman, Paul Kane, W. Langdon Kihn, Charles Bird King, Joseph Henry Sharp, and John Mix Stanley.
In the 20th century, early portrayals of Native Americans in movies and television roles were first performed by European Americans dressed in mock traditional attire. Examples included *The Last of the Mohicans* (1920), *Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans* (1957), and *F Troop* (1965–1967). In later decades, Native American actors such as Jay Silverheels in *The Lone Ranger* television series (1949–1957) came to prominence. The roles of Native Americans were limited and not reflective of Native American culture. By the 1970s some Native American film roles began to show more complexity, such as those in *Little Big Man* (1970), *Billy Jack* (1971), and *The Outlaw Josey Wales* (1976), which depicted Native Americans in minor supporting roles.
For years, Native people on American television were relegated to secondary, subordinate roles. During the years of the series *Bonanza* (1959–1973), no major or secondary Native characters appeared on a consistent basis. The series *The Lone Ranger* (1949–1957), *Cheyenne* (1955–1963), and *Law of the Plainsman* (1959–1963) had Native characters who were essentially aides to the central white characters. This continued in such series as *How the West Was Won*. These programs resembled the "sympathetic" yet contradictory film *Dances With Wolves* of 1990, in which, according to Ella Shohat and Robert Stam, the narrative choice was to relate the Lakota story as told through a Euro-American voice, for wider impact among a general audience.
Like the 1992 remake of *The Last of the Mohicans* and *Geronimo: An American Legend* (1993), *Dances with Wolves* employed a number of Native American actors, and made an effort to portray Indigenous languages. In 1996, Plains Cree actor Michael Greyeyes would play renowned Native American warrior Crazy Horse in the 1996 television film *Crazy Horse*, and would also later play renowned Sioux chief Sitting Bull in the 2017 movie *Woman Walks Ahead*.
The 1998 film *Smoke Signals*, which was set on the Coeur D'Alene Reservation and discussed hardships of present-day American Indian families living on reservations, featured numerous Native American actors as well. The film was the first feature film to be produced and directed by Native Americans, and was also the first feature to include an exclusive Native American cast. At the annual Sundance Film Festival, *Smoke Signals* would win the Audience Award and its producer Chris Eyre, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, would win the Filmmaker's Trophy. In 2009, *We Shall Remain* (2009), a television documentary by Ric Burns and part of the *American Experience* series, presented a five-episode series "from a Native American perspective". It represented "an unprecedented collaboration between Native and non-Native filmmakers and involves Native advisors and scholars at all levels of the project". The five episodes explore the impact of King Philip's War on the northeastern tribes, the "Native American confederacy" of Tecumseh's War, the U.S.-forced relocation of Southeastern tribes known as the Trail of Tears, the pursuit and capture of Geronimo and the Apache Wars, and concludes with the Wounded Knee incident, participation by the American Indian Movement, and the increasing resurgence of modern Native cultures since.
### Differences in terminology
The most common of the modern terms to refer to Indigenous peoples of the United States are *Indians*, *American Indians*, and *Native Americans*. Up to the early to mid 18th century, the term *Americans* was not applied to people of European heritage in North America. Instead it was equivalent to the term *Indians*. As people of European heritage began using the term *Americans* to refer instead to themselves, the word *Indians* became historically the most often employed term.
The term *Indians*, long laden with racist stereotypes, began to be widely replaced in the 1960s with the term *Native Americans*, which recognized the Indigeneity of the people who first made the Americas home. But as the term *Native Americans* became popular, the American Indian Movement saw pejorative connotations in the term *native* and reappropriated the term *Indian*, seeing it as witness to the history of violence against the many nations that lived in the Americas before European arrival.
The term *Native American* was introduced in the United States in preference to the older term *Indian* to distinguish the Indigenous peoples of the Americas from the people of India. It may have been coined by Mohican Sachem John Wannuaucon Quinney, in an 1852 address to the US Congress where he argued against proposed resettlement.
The term *Amerindian*, a portmanteau of "American Indian", was coined in 1902 by the American Anthropological Association. However, it has been controversial since its creation. It was immediately rejected by some leading members of the Association, and, while adopted by many, it was never universally accepted. While never popular in Indigenous communities themselves, it remains a preferred term among some anthropologists, notably in some parts of Canada and the English-speaking Caribbean.
During World War II, draft boards typically classified American Indians from Virginia as Negroes.
In 1995, a plurality of Indigenous Americans, however, preferred the term *American Indian* and many tribes include the word Indian in their formal title.
Criticism of the neologism *Native American* comes from diverse sources. Russell Means, an Oglala Lakota activist, opposed the term *Native American* because he believed it was imposed by the government without the consent of Native people.
A 1995 U.S. Census Bureau survey found that more Native Americans in the United States preferred *American Indian* to *Native American*. Most American Indians are comfortable with *Indian*, *American Indian*, and *Native American*. That term is reflected in the name chosen for the National Museum of the American Indian, which opened in 2004 on the Mall in Washington, D.C..
Other commonly used terms are *First Americans*, *First Nations*, and *Native Peoples*.
### Colonial ecological violence
Colonial ecological violence, defined by sociologist J. M. Bacon as the result of eco-social disruptions that "generate colonial ecological violence, a unique form of violence perpetrated by the settler-colonial state, private industry, and settler-colonial culture as a whole." The relocation and displacement of Native peoples is a result of the colonizer mindset that land is a commodity. By removing these communities from their Native land, settlers are preventing the ways of life and the use of culture-affirming resources. Gilio-Whitaker, highlights some of the ways in which these practices are reinforced, with the concept of environmental deprivation – "historical processes of land and resource dispossession calculated to bring about the destruction of Indigenous lives and cultures." The reason these lands are so important to Native populations is because, “Since a strong component of many Indigenous cultures is a robust relationship to place, it serves to reason that forced removals, settler resource appropriation, and the ecological damage perpetuated by US settle colonial society contribute to significant "conflict" between "traditional cultural values" and "those of majority culture".
#### Colonial ecological violence in the Pacific Northwest
The Karuk tribe in Klamath, California are one of the many victims to colonial ecological violence. One of the major ways of life to the Karuk tribe is the use of fires to maintain and regulate their environment. Sociologist Kari Marie Norgaard goes into detail about how colonialism disrupted these ways of life. These fires were also used to correct travel routes and optimized hunting, which is a major part of Karuk life. In 1905, the Klamath National Forest was established which prevented the burning of fires on Karuk land- "Fire exclusion, then, has simultaneously produced indigenous exclusion, erasure, and replacement." Norgaard explains that this land is one of the most economically wealthy spots due to the establishment of the forest, which only further demonstrates the ways in which settler-colonialism enables and continues to negatively impact the land that Indigenous people live(d) on.
#### Colonial ecological violence in the Great Lakes region of North America
The Potawatomi tribe had long occupied the Great Lakes region of Northern America, up until they were displaced and spread out around the US. They had previously lived on 30 million acres of land, building cultural, familial, and other-than-human relationships for generations. (Whyte, 2016) Citizen Potawatomi environmental philosopher Kyle Powys Whyte highlights the ways in which this displacement has had violent and detrimental impacts on the tribe. “The consequences of capitalist economics, such as deforestation, water pollution, the clearing of land for large scale agriculture and urbanization, generate immediate disruptions on ecosystems "rapidly" rendering them very different from what they were like before, undermining Indigenous knowledge systems and Indigenous peoples' capacity to cultivate landscapes and adjust to environmental change.”
#### Colonial ecological violence in the Northeast
The Miami tribe, which now occupies Oklahoma, once resided in Oxford, Ohio, where Miami University now is placed. Historian Jeffrey Ostler provides insight into the forced movement of the Miami tribe off their land. In 1818, the tribe agreed to give up a large amount of land to U.S. officials (enough to create twenty-two Indiana counties. It was not until 1826 that Lewis Cass informed them and nearby Potawatomi, "You must remove or perish." This plan did not work, but the officials persisted and eventually the Miami tribe would be forced off their land in 1846. Miami University has a land acknowledgement document and a center dedicated to working with the Miami tribe of Oklahoma, though this is the only tribe from the original Miami tribe that is accredited by the U.S. government.
### Gambling industry
Because Indian reservations have tribal sovereignty, states have limited ability to forbid gambling there, as codified by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988. Tribes run casinos, bingo halls, and other gambling operations, and as of 2011, there were 460 such operations run by 240 tribes, with a total annual revenue of $27 billion.
### Financial services
Numerous tribes around the country have entered the financial services market including the Otoe-Missouria, Tunica-Biloxi, and the Rosebud Sioux. Because of the challenges involved in starting a financial services business from scratch, many tribes hire outside consultants and vendors to help them launch these businesses and manage the regulatory issues involved. Similar to the tribal sovereignty debates that occurred when tribes first entered the gaming industry, the tribes, states, and federal government are currently in disagreement regarding who possesses the authority to regulate these e-commerce business entities.
### Crime on reservations
Prosecution of serious crime, historically endemic on reservations, was required by the 1885 Major Crimes Act, 18 U.S.C. §§1153, 3242, and court decisions to be investigated by the federal government, usually the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and prosecuted by United States Attorneys of the United States federal judicial district in which the reservation lies.
A December 13, 2009 *New York Times* article about growing gang violence on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation estimated that there were 39 gangs with 5,000 members on that reservation alone. Navajo country recently reported 225 gangs in its territory.
As of 2012, a high incidence of rape continued to impact Native American women and Alaskan native women. According to the Department of Justice, 1 in 3 Native women have suffered rape or attempted rape, more than twice the national rate. About 46 percent of Native American women have been raped, beaten, or stalked by an intimate partner, according to a 2010 study by the Centers for Disease Control. According to Professor N. Bruce Duthu, "More than 80 percent of Indian victims identify their attacker as non-Indian".
### Barriers to economic development
Today, other than tribes successfully running casinos, many tribes struggle, as they are often located on reservations isolated from the main economic centers of the country. The estimated 2.1 million Native Americans are the most impoverished of all ethnic groups. According to the 2000 census, an estimated 400,000 Native Americans reside on reservation land. While some tribes have had success with gaming, only 40% of the 562 federally recognized tribes operate casinos. According to a 2007 survey by the U.S. Small Business Administration, only 1% of Native Americans own and operate a business.
The barriers to economic development on Native American reservations have been identified by Joseph Kalt and Stephen Cornell of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development at Harvard University, in their report: *What Can Tribes Do? Strategies and Institutions in American Indian Economic Development* (2008), are summarized as follows:
- Lack of access to capital
- Lack of human capital (education, skills, technical expertise) and the means to develop it
- Reservations lack effective planning
- Reservations are poor in natural resources
- Reservations have natural resources but lack sufficient control over them
- Reservations are disadvantaged by their distance from markets and the high costs of transportation
- Tribes cannot persuade investors to locate on reservations because of intense competition from non-Native American communities
- The Bureau of Indian Affairs is inept, corrupt or uninterested in reservation development
- Tribal politicians and bureaucrats are inept or corrupt
- On-reservation factionalism destroys stability in tribal decisions
- The instability of tribal government keeps outsiders from investing. The lack of international recognition Native American tribal sovereignty weakens their political-economic legitimacy. (Many tribes adopted constitutions by the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act model, with two-year terms for elected positions of chief and council members deemed too short by the authors for getting things done)
- Entrepreneurial skills and experience are scarce
A major barrier to development is the lack of entrepreneurial knowledge and experience within Indian reservations. "A general lack of education and experience about business is a significant challenge to prospective entrepreneurs", was the report on Native American entrepreneurship by the Northwest Area Foundation in 2004. "Native American communities that lack entrepreneurial traditions and recent experiences typically do not provide the support that entrepreneurs need to thrive. Consequently, experiential entrepreneurship education needs to be embedded into school curriculum and after-school and other community activities. This would allow students to learn the essential elements of entrepreneurship from a young age and encourage them to apply these elements throughout life".
### Discourse in Native American economic development
Some scholars argue that the existing theories and practices of economic development are not suitable for Native American communities—given the lifestyle, economic, and cultural differences, as well as the unique history of Native American-U.S. relations. Little economic development research has been conducted on Native American communities. The federal government fails to consider place-based issues of American Indian poverty by generalizing the demographic. In addition, the concept of economic development threatens to upend the multidimensionality of Native American culture. The dominance of federal government involvement in Indigenous developmental activities perpetuates and exacerbates the salvage paradigm.
### Land ownership challenges
Native land owned by individual Native Americans sometimes cannot be developed because of fractionalization. Fractionalization occurs when a landowner dies, and their land is inherited by their children, but not subdivided. This means that one parcel might be owned by 50 different individuals. A majority of those holding interest must agree to any proposal to develop the land, and establishing this consent is time-consuming, cumbersome, and sometimes impossible.
Another landownership issue on reservations is checkerboarding, where tribal land is interspersed with land owned by the federal government on behalf of Natives, individually owned plots, and land owned by non-Native individuals. This prevents Tribal governments from securing plots of land large enough for economic development or agricultural uses. Because reservation land is owned "in trust" by the federal government, individuals living on reservations cannot build equity in their homes. This bars Native Americans from getting loans, as there is nothing that a bank can collect if the loan is not paid. Past efforts to encourage land ownership (such as the Dawes Act) resulted in a net loss of Tribal land. After they were familiarized with their smallholder status, Native American landowners were lifted of trust restrictions and their land would get transferred back to them, contingent on a transactional fee to the federal government. The transfer fee discouraged Native American land ownership, with 65% of tribal-owned land being sold to non-Native Americans by the 1920s. Activists against property rights point to historical evidence of communal ownership of land and resources by tribes. They claim that because of this history, property rights are foreign to Natives and have no place in the modern reservation system. Those in favor of property rights cite examples of tribes negotiating with colonial communities or other tribes about fishing and hunting rights in an area. Land ownership was also a challenge because of the different definitions of land that the Natives and the Europeans had. Most Native American tribes thought of property rights more as "borrowing" the land, while those from Europe thought of land as individual property.
### Land ownership and bureaucratic challenges in historical context
State-level efforts such as the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act were attempts to contain tribal land in Native American hands. However, more bureaucratic decisions only expanded the bureaucracy. The knowledge disconnect between the decision-making bureaucracy and Native American stakeholders resulted in ineffective development efforts.
Traditional Native American entrepreneurship does not prioritize profit maximization; rather, business transactions must align with Native American social and cultural values. In response to Indigenous business philosophy, the federal government created policies that aimed to formalize their business practices, which undermined the Native American status quo. Additionally, legal disputes interfered with tribal land leasing, which were settled with the verdict against tribal sovereignty.
Often, bureaucratic overseers of development are far removed from Native American communities and lack the knowledge and understanding to develop plans or make resource allocation decisions. The top-down heavy involvement in developmental operations, does not mitigate incentives for bureaucrats to act in their self-interest. Such instances include reports that exaggerate results.
### Geographic poverty
While Native American urban poverty is attributed to hiring and workplace discrimination in a heterogeneous setting, reservation and trust land poverty rates are endogenous to deserted opportunities in isolated regions.
### Trauma
#### Historical trauma
Historical trauma is described as collective emotional and psychological damage throughout a person's lifetime and across multiple generations. Examples of historical trauma can be seen through the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890, where over 200 unarmed Lakota were killed, and the Dawes Allotment Act of 1887, when Native Americans lost four-fifths of their land.
#### Impacts of intergenerational trauma
Native American youth have higher rates of substance and alcohol use deaths than the general population. Many Native Americans can trace the beginning of their substance and alcohol use to a traumatic event related to their offender's own substance use. A person's substance use can be described as a defense mechanism against the user's emotions and trauma. For Native Americans, alcoholism is a symptom of trauma passed from generation to generation and influenced by oppressive behaviors and policies by the dominant European-American society. Boarding schools were made to "Kill the Indian, Save the man". Shame among Native Americans can be attributed to the hundreds of years of oppression and annihilation.
### Food insecurity
Studies are being conducted which show Native Americans often experience higher rates of food insecurity than other racial groups in the United States. The studies do not focus on the overall picture of Native American households, however, and tend to focus rather on smaller sample sizes in the available research. In a study that evaluated the level of food insecurity among Indigenous Americans, White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian: it was reported that over the 10-year span of 2000–2010, Indigenous people were reported to be one of the highest at-risk groups from a lack of access to adequate food, reporting anywhere from 20% to 30% of households suffering from this type of insecurity. There are many reasons that contribute to the issue, but overall, the biggest lie in high food costs on or near reservations, lack of access to well-paying jobs, and predisposition to health issues relating to obesity and mental health.
The culture of Pre-Columbian North America is usually defined by the concept of the culture area, namely a geographical region where shared cultural traits occur. The northwest culture area, for example, shared common traits such as salmon fishing, woodworking, and large villages or towns and a hierarchical social structure. Ethnographers generally classify the Indigenous peoples of North America into ten cultural areas based on geographical region.
Though cultural features, language, clothing, and customs vary enormously from one tribe to another, there are certain elements which are encountered frequently and shared by many tribes. Early European American scholars described the Native Americans as having a society dominated by clans.
European colonization of the Americas had a major impact on Native American cultures through what is known as the Columbian exchange, also known as the *Columbian interchange*, which was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, and ideas between the Americas and Eurasia (the Old World) in the 15th and 16th centuries, following Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage. The Columbian exchange generally had a destructive impact on Native American cultures through disease, and a 'clash of cultures', whereby European values of private land ownership, the family, and division of labor, led to conflict, appropriation of traditional communal lands and changed how the Indigenous tribes practiced slavery.
The impact of the Columbian exchange was not entirely negative, however. For example, the re-introduction of the horse to North America allowed the Plains Indians to revolutionize their ways of life by making hunting, trading, and warfare far more effective, and to greatly improve their ability to transport possessions and move their settlements.
The Great Plains tribes were still hunting the bison when they first encountered the Europeans. The Spanish reintroduction of the horse to North America in the 17th century and Native Americans' learning to use them greatly altered the Native Americans' cultures, including changing the way in which they hunted large game. Horses became such a valuable, central element of Native lives that they were counted as a measure of wealth by many tribes.
In the early years, as Native peoples encountered European explorers and settlers and engaged in trade, they exchanged food, crafts, and furs for blankets, iron and steel implements, horses, trinkets, firearms, and alcoholic beverages.
### Ethno-linguistic classification
The Na-Dené, Algic, and Uto-Aztecan families are the largest in terms of the number of languages. Uto-Aztecan has the most speakers (1.95 million) if the languages in Mexico are considered (mostly due to 1.5 million speakers of Nahuatl); Na-Dené comes in second with approximately 200,000 speakers (nearly 180,000 of these are speakers of Navajo), and Algic in third with about 180,000 speakers (mainly Cree and Ojibwe). Na-Dené and Algic have the widest geographic distributions: Algic currently spans from northeastern Canada across much of the continent down to northeastern Mexico (due to later migrations of the Kickapoo) with two outliers in California (Yurok and Wiyot); Na-Dené spans from Alaska and western Canada through Washington, Oregon, and California to the U.S. Southwest and northern Mexico (with one outlier in the Plains). Several families consist of only 2 or 3 languages. Demonstrating genetic relationships has proved difficult due to the great linguistic diversity present in North America. Two large (super-) family proposals, Penutian and Hokan have potential. However, even after decades of research, a large number of families remain.[ citation needed]
Words used in English have been derived from Native American languages.
#### Language education
To counteract a shift to English, some Native American tribes have initiated language immersion schools for children, where an Indigenous American language is the medium of instruction. For example, the Cherokee Nation initiated a 10-year language preservation plan that involved raising new fluent speakers of the Cherokee language from childhood on up through school immersion programs as well as a collaborative community effort to continue to use the language at home. This plan was part of an ambitious goal that, in 50 years, will result in 80% or more of the Cherokee people being fluent in the language. The Cherokee Preservation Foundation has invested $3 million in opening schools, training teachers, and developing curricula for language education, as well as initiating community gatherings where the language can be actively used. Formed in 2006, the Kituwah Preservation & Education Program (KPEP) on the Qualla Boundary focuses on language immersion programs for children from birth to fifth grade, developing cultural resources for the general public and community language programs to foster the Cherokee language among adults.
There is also a Cherokee language immersion school in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, that educates students from pre-school through eighth grade. Because Oklahoma's official language is English, Cherokee immersion students are hindered when taking state-mandated tests because they have little competence in English. The Department of Education of Oklahoma said that in 2012 state tests: 11% of the school's sixth-graders showed proficiency in math, and 25% showed proficiency in reading; 31% of the seventh-graders showed proficiency in math, and 87% showed proficiency in reading; 50% of the eighth-graders showed proficiency in math, and 78% showed proficiency in reading. The Oklahoma Department of Education listed the charter school as a Targeted Intervention school, meaning the school was identified as a low-performing school but has not so that it was a Priority School. Ultimately, the school made a C, or a 2.33 grade point average on the state's A-F report card system. The report card shows the school getting an F in mathematics achievement and mathematics growth, a C in social studies achievement, a D in reading achievement, and an A in reading growth and student attendance. "The C we made is tremendous", said school principal Holly Davis, "[t]here is no English instruction in our school's younger grades, and we gave them this test in English." She said she had anticipated the low grade because it was the school's first year as a state-funded charter school, and many students had difficulty with English. Eighth graders who graduate from the Tahlequah immersion school are fluent speakers of the language, and they usually go on to attend Sequoyah High School where classes are taught in both English and Cherokee.
### Indigenous foodways
Historical diets of Native Americans differed dramatically from region to region. Different peoples might have relied more heavily on agriculture, horticulture, hunting, fishing, or gathering wild plants and fungi. Tribes developed diets best suited to their environments.
Iñupiat, Yupiit, Unangan, and fellow Alaska Natives fished, hunted, and harvested wild plants, but did not rely on agriculture. Coastal peoples relied more heavily on sea mammals, fish, and fish eggs, while inland peoples hunted caribou and moose. Alaskan Natives prepared and preserved dried and smoked meat and fish.
Pacific Northwest tribes crafted seafaring dugout canoes 40–50 feet (12–15 m) long for fishing.
In the Eastern Woodlands, early peoples independently invented agricultural and by 1800 BCE developed the crops of the Eastern Agricultural Complex, which include squash (*Cucurbita pepo ssp. ovifera*), sunflower (*Helianthus annuus var. macrocarpus*), goosefoot (*Chenopodium berlandieri*), and marsh elder (*Iva annua var. macrocarpa*).
The Sonoran Desert region including parts of Arizona and California, part of a region known as Aridoamerica, relied heavily on the tepary bean (*Phaseolus acutifolius*) as a staple crop. This and other desert crops, mesquite bead pods, *tunas* (prickly pear fruit), cholla buds, saguaro cactus fruit, and acorns are being actively promoted today by Tohono O'odham Community Action. In the Southwest, some communities developed irrigation techniques while others, such as the Hopi dry-farmed. They filled storehouses with grain as protection against the area's frequent droughts.
Maize or corn, first cultivated in what is now Mexico was traded north into Aridoamerica and Oasisamerica, southwest. From there, maize cultivation spread throughout the Great Plains and Eastern Woodlands by 200 CE. Native farmers practiced polycropping maize, beans, and squash; these crops are known as the Three Sisters. The beans would replace the nitrogen, which the maize leached from the ground, as well as using corn stalks for support for climbing. The deficiencies of a diet heavily dependent on maize were mitigated by the common practice among Native Americans of converting maize kernels into hominy in a process called Nixtamalization.
The agriculture gender roles of the Native Americans varied from region to region. In the Southwest area, men prepared the soil with hoes. The women were in charge of planting, weeding, and harvesting the crops. In most other regions, the women were in charge of most agriculture, including clearing the land. Clearing the land was an immense chore since the Native Americans rotated fields.
Europeans in the eastern part of the continent observed that Native Americans cleared large areas for cropland. Their fields in New England sometimes covered hundreds of acres. Colonists in Virginia noted thousands of acres under cultivation by Native Americans.
Early farmers commonly used tools such as the hoe, maul, and dibber. The hoe was the main tool used to till the land and prepare it for planting; then it was used for weeding. The first versions were made out of wood and stone. When the settlers brought iron, Native Americans switched to iron hoes and hatchets. The dibber was a digging stick, used to plant the seed. Once the plants were harvested, women prepared the produce for eating. They used the maul to grind the corn into a mash. It was cooked and eaten that way or baked as cornbread.
### Religion
Native American religious practices, beliefs, and philosophies differ widely across tribes. These spiritualities, practices, beliefs, and philosophies may accompany adherence to another faith or can represent a person's primary religious, faith, spiritual or philosophical identity. Much Native American spirituality exists in a tribal-cultural continuum, and as such cannot be easily separated from tribal identity itself.
Cultural spiritual, philosophical, and faith ways differ from tribe to tribe and person to person. Some tribes include the use of sacred leaves and herbs such as tobacco, sweetgrass or sage. Many Plains tribes have sweatlodge ceremonies, though the specifics of the ceremony vary among tribes. Fasting, singing and prayer in the ancient languages of their people, and sometimes drumming are common.
The Midewiwin Lodge is a medicine society inspired by the oral history and prophesies of the Ojibwa (Chippewa) and related tribes.
Another significant religious body among Native peoples is known as the Native American Church. It is a syncretistic church incorporating elements of Native spiritual practice from a number of different tribes as well as symbolic elements from Christianity. Its main rite is the peyote ceremony. Prior to 1890, traditional religious beliefs included Wakan Tanka. In the American Southwest, especially New Mexico, a syncretism between the Catholicism brought by Spanish missionaries and the native religion is common; the religious drums, chants, and dances of the Pueblo people are regularly part of Masses at Santa Fe's Saint Francis Cathedral. Native American-Catholic syncretism is also found elsewhere in the United States. (e.g., the National Kateri Tekakwitha Shrine in Fonda, New York, and the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville, New York). Some Native American tribes who practice Christianity, including the Lumbee, organized denominations, such as the Lumber River Conference of the Holiness Methodist Church.
The eagle feather law (Title 50 Part 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations) stipulates that only individuals of certifiable Native American ancestry enrolled in a federally recognized tribe are legally authorized to obtain eagle feathers for religious or spiritual use. The law does not allow Native Americans to give eagle feathers to non-Native Americans.
### Gender roles
Gender roles are differentiated in many Native American tribes. Many Natives have retained traditional expectations of sexuality and gender and continue to do so in contemporary life despite continued and on-going colonial pressures.
Whether a particular tribe is predominantly matrilineal or patrilineal, often both sexes have some degree of decision-making power within the tribe. Many Nations, such as the Haudenosaunee Five Nations and the Southeast Muskogean tribes, have matrilineal or Clan Mother systems, in which property and hereditary leadership are controlled by and passed through the maternal lines. In these Nations, the children are considered to belong to the mother's clan. In Cherokee culture, women own the family property. When traditional young women marry, their husbands may join them in their mother's household.
Matrilineal structures enable young women to have assistance in childbirth and rearing and protect them in case of conflicts between the couple. If a couple separates or the man dies, the woman has her family to assist her. In matrilineal cultures the mother's brothers are usually the leading male figures in her children's lives; fathers have no standing in their wife and children's clan, as they still belong to their own mother's clan. Hereditary clan chief positions pass through the mother's line and chiefs have historically been selected on the recommendations of women elders, who could also disapprove of a chief.
In the patrilineal tribes, such as the Omaha, Osage, Ponca, and Lakota, hereditary leadership passes through the male line, and children are considered to belong to the father and his clan. In patrilineal tribes, if a woman marries a non-Native, she is no longer considered part of the tribe, and her children are considered to share the ethnicity and culture of their father.
In patriarchal tribes, gender roles tend to be rigid. Men have historically hunted, traded and made war while, as life-givers, women have primary responsibility for the survival and welfare of the families (and future of the tribe). Women usually gather and cultivate plants, use plants and herbs to treat illnesses, care for the young and the elderly, make all the clothing and instruments, and process and cure meat and skins from the game. Some mothers use cradleboards to carry an infant while working or traveling. In matriarchal and egalitarian nations, the gender roles are usually not so clear-cut and are even less so in the modern era.
At least several dozen tribes allowed polygyny to sisters, with procedural and economic limits.
Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota girls are encouraged to learn to ride, hunt and fight. Though fighting in war has mostly been left to the boys and men, occasionally women have fought as well, both in battles and in defense of the home, especially if the tribe was severely threatened.
### Modern education
As of 2020[update] 90% of Native American school-aged children attend public schools operated by school districts. Tribally-operated schools under contracts/grants with the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) and direct BIE-operated schools take about 8% of Native American students, including students who live in very rural remote areas.
In 1978, 215,000 (78%) of Native Americans attended school district-operated public schools, 47,000 (17%) attended schools directly operated by the BIA, 2,500 (1%) attended tribal or other schools that contracted with the BIA, and the remaining 9,000 (3%) attended missionary schools for Native American children or other private schools.
### Sports
Native American leisure time led to competitive individual and team sports. Jim Thorpe, Lewis Tewanima, Joe Hipp, Notah Begay III, Chris Wondolowski, Jacoby Ellsbury, Joba Chamberlain, Kyle Lohse, Sam Bradford, Jack Brisco, Tommy Morrison, Billy Mills, Angel Goodrich, Shoni Schimmel, and Kyrie Irving are well known professional athletes.
#### Team sports
Native American ball sports, sometimes referred to as lacrosse, stickball, or baggataway, were often used to settle disputes, rather than going to war, as a civil way to settle potential conflict. The Choctaw called it *isitoboli* ("Little Brother of War"); the Onondaga name was *dehuntshigwa'es* ("men hit a rounded object"). There are three basic versions, classified as Great Lakes, Iroquoian, and Southern.
The game is played with one or two rackets or sticks and one ball. The object of the game is to land the ball in the opposing team's goal (either a single post or net) to score and to prevent the opposing team from scoring on your goal. The game involves as few as 20 or as many as 300 players with no height or weight restrictions and no protective gear. The goals could be from around 200 feet (61 m) apart to about 2 miles (3.2 km); in lacrosse the field is 110 yards (100 m).
#### Individual sports
Chunkey was a game that consisted of a stone-shaped disk that was about 1–2 inches in diameter. The disk was thrown down a 200-foot (61 m) corridor so that it could roll past the players at great speed. The disk would roll down the corridor, and players would throw wooden shafts at the moving disk. The object of the game was to strike the disk or prevent your opponents from hitting it.
#### U.S. Olympics
Jim Thorpe, a Sauk and Fox Native American, was an all-around athlete playing football and baseball in the early 20th century. Future President Dwight Eisenhower injured his knee while trying to tackle the young Thorpe. In a 1961 speech, Eisenhower recalled Thorpe: "Here and there, there are some people who are supremely endowed. My memory goes back to Jim Thorpe. He never practiced in his life, and he could do anything better than any other football player I ever saw."
In the 1912 Olympics, Thorpe could run the 100-yard dash in 10 seconds flat, the 220 in 21.8 seconds, the 440 in 51.8 seconds, the 880 in 1:57, the mile in 4:35, the 120-yard high hurdles in 15 seconds, and the 220-yard low hurdles in 24 seconds. He could long jump 23 ft 6 in and high-jump 6 ft 5 in. He could pole vault 11 feet (3.4 m), put the shot 47 ft 9 in (14.55 m), throw the javelin 163 feet (50 m), and throw the discus 136 feet (41 m). Thorpe entered the U.S. Olympic trials for the pentathlon and the decathlon.
Louis Tewanima, Hopi people, was an American two-time Olympic distance runner and silver medalist in the 10,000-meter run in 1912. He ran for the Carlisle Indian School where he was a teammate of Jim Thorpe. His silver medal in 1912 remained the best U.S. achievement in this event until another Indian, Billy Mills, won the gold medal in 1964. Tewanima also competed at the 1908 Olympics, where he finished in ninth place in the marathon.[1]
Ellison Brown, of the Narragansett people from Rhode Island, better known as "Tarzan" Brown, won two Boston Marathons (1936, 1939) and competed on the United States Olympic team in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany, but did not finish due to injury. He qualified for the 1940 Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland, but the games were canceled due to the outbreak of World War II.
Billy Mills, a Lakota and USMC officer, won the gold medal in the 10,000-meter run at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He was the only American ever to win the Olympic gold in this event. An unknown before the Olympics, Mills finished second in the U.S. Olympic trials.
Billy Kidd, part Abenaki from Vermont, became the first American male to medal in alpine skiing in the Olympics, taking silver at age 20 in the slalom in the 1964 Winter Olympics at Innsbruck, Austria. Six years later at the 1970 World Championships, Kidd won the gold medal in the combined event and took the bronze medal in the slalom.
Ashton Locklear (Lumbee), an uneven bars specialist was an alternate for the 2016 Summer Olympics U.S. gymnastics team, the Final Five. In 2016, Kyrie Irving (Sioux) also helped Team USA win the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics. With the win, he became just the fourth member of Team USA to capture the NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal in the same year, joining LeBron James, Michael Jordan, and Scottie Pippen.
### Literature
Native American literature, composed of both oral literature and written literature, has a long history. Relevantly, it is considered a series of literatures reflecting the varied traditions and histories of different tribes. Modern authors cover a wide range of genres and include Tommy Orange, Joy Harjo, Louise Erdrich, Stephen Graham Jones, Rebecca Roanhorse, Tommy Pico, and many more.
### Music
Traditional Native American music is almost entirely monophonic, but there are notable exceptions. Native American music often includes drumming or the playing of rattles or other percussion instruments but little other instrumentation. Flutes and whistles made of wood, cane, or bone are also played, generally by individuals, but in former times also by large ensembles (as noted by Spanish conquistador de Soto). The tuning of modern flutes is typically pentatonic.
Performers with Native American parentage have occasionally appeared in American popular music such as Rita Coolidge, Wayne Newton, Gene Clark, Blackfoot, and Redbone (members are also of Mexican descent). Some, such as John Trudell, have used music to comment on life in Native America. Other musicians such as R. Carlos Nakai, Joanne Shenandoah and Robert "Tree" Cody integrate traditional sounds with modern sounds in instrumental recordings, whereas the music by artist Charles Littleleaf is derived from ancestral heritage as well as nature. A variety of small and medium-sized recording companies offer an abundance of recent music by Native American performers young and old, ranging from pow-wow drum music to hard-driving rock-and-roll and rap. In the International world of ballet dancing Maria Tallchief was considered America's first major prima ballerina, and was the first person of Native American descent to hold the rank. along with her sister Marjorie Tallchief both became star ballerinas.
The most widely practiced public musical form among Native Americans in the United States is that of the pow-wow. At pow-wows, such as the annual Gathering of Nations in Albuquerque, New Mexico, members of drum groups sit in a circle around a large drum. Drum groups play in unison while they sing in a native language and dancers in colorful regalia dance clockwise around the drum groups in the center. Familiar pow-wow songs include honor songs, intertribal songs, crow-hops, sneak-up songs, grass-dances, two-steps, welcome songs, going-home songs, and war songs. Most Indigenous communities in the United States also maintain traditional songs and ceremonies, some of which are shared and practiced exclusively within the community.
### Art
The Iroquois, living around the Great Lakes and extending east and north, used strings or belts called *wampum* that served a dual function: the knots and beaded designs mnemonically chronicled tribal stories and legends, and further served as a medium of exchange and a unit of measure. The keepers of the articles were seen as tribal dignitaries.
Pueblo peoples crafted impressive items associated with their religious ceremonies. *Kachina* dancers wore elaborately painted and decorated masks as they ritually impersonated various ancestral spirits. Pueblo people are particularly noted for their traditional high-quality pottery, often with geometric designs and floral, animal and bird motifs. Sculpture was not highly developed, but carved stone and wood fetishes were made for religious use. Superior weaving, embroidered decorations, and rich dyes characterized the textile arts. Both turquoise and shell jewelry were created, as were formalized pictorial arts.
Navajo spirituality focused on the maintenance of a harmonious relationship with the spirit world, often achieved by ceremonial acts, usually incorporating sandpainting. For the Navajo, the sand painting is not merely a representational object, but a dynamic spiritual entity with a life of its own, which helped the patient at the center of the ceremony re-establish a connection with the life force. These vivid, intricate, and colorful sand creations were erased at the end of the healing ceremony.
It has been estimated that the Native American arts and crafts industry brings in more than a billion USD in gross sales annually, nationwide.
Native American art comprises a major category in the world art collection. Native American contributions include pottery, paintings, jewellery, weavings, sculpture, basketry, and carvings. Franklin Gritts was a Cherokee artist who taught students from many tribes at Haskell Institute (now Haskell Indian Nations University) in the 1940s, the *Golden Age* of Native American painters. The integrity of certain Native American artworks is protected by the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, which prohibits the representation of art as Native American when it is not the product of an enrolled Native American artist. Attorney Gail Sheffield and others claim that this law has had "the unintended consequence of sanctioning discrimination against Native Americans whose tribal affiliation was not officially recognized". Native artists such as Jeanne Rorex Bridges (Echota Cherokee) who was not enrolled ran the risk of fines or imprisonment if they continued to sell their art while affirming their Indian heritage.
## Interracial relations
Interracial relations between Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans is a complex issue that has been mostly neglected with "few in-depth studies on interracial relationships".
### Assimilation
European impact was immediate, widespread, and profound already during the early years of colonization and the creation of the countries which currently exist in the Americas. Europeans living among Native Americans were often called "white indians". They "lived in native communities for years, learned native languages fluently, attended native councils, and often fought alongside their native companions".
Early contact was often charged with tension and emotion, but also had moments of friendship, cooperation, and intimacy. Marriages took place in English, French, Russian and Spanish colonies between Native Americans and Europeans though Native American women were also the victims of rape.
There was fear on both sides, as the different peoples realized how different their societies were. Many whites regarded Native people as "savages" because the Native people were not Protestant or Roman Catholic and therefore the Native people were not considered to be human beings. The Native American author, Andrew J. Blackbird, wrote in his *History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan* (1897), that white settlers introduced some immoralities into Native American tribes. Many Native Americans suffered because the Europeans introduced alcohol. Many Native people do not break down alcohol in the same way as people of Eurasian background. Many Native people were learning what their body could tolerate of this new substance and died as a result of imbibing too much.
Blackbird wrote:
The Ottawas and Chippewas were quite virtuous in their primitive state, as there were no illegitimate children reported in our old traditions. But very lately this evil came to exist among the Ottawas-so lately that the second case among the Ottawas of 'Arbor Croche' is yet living in 1897. And from that time this evil came to be quite frequent, for immorality has been introduced among these people by evil white persons who bring their vices into the tribes.
The U.S. government had two purposes when making land agreements with Native Americans: to open up more land for white settlement, and to "ease tensions" (in other words assimilate Native people to Eurasian social ways) between whites and Native Americans by forcing the Native Americans to use the land in the same way as did the whites—for subsistence farms. The government used a variety of strategies to achieve these goals; many treaties required Native Americans to become farmers in order to keep their land. Government officials often did not translate the documents which Native Americans were forced to sign, and native chiefs often had little or no idea what they were signing.
For a Native American man to marry a white woman, he had to get consent of her parents, as long as "he can prove to support her as a white woman in a good home". In the early 19th century, the Shawnee Tecumseh and blonde hair, blue-eyed Rebecca Galloway had an interracial affair. In the late 19th century, three European American middle-class women teachers at Hampton Institute married Native American men whom they had met as students.
As European American women started working independently at missions and Indian schools in the western states, there were more opportunities for their meeting and developing relationships with Native American men. For instance, Charles Eastman, a man of European and Lakota origin whose father sent both his sons to Dartmouth College, got his medical degree at Boston University and returned to the West to practice. He married Elaine Goodale, whom he met in South Dakota. He was the grandson of Seth Eastman, a military officer from Maine, and a chief's daughter. Goodale was a young European American teacher from Massachusetts and a reformer, who was appointed as the U.S. superintendent of Native American education for the reservations in the Dakota Territory. They had six children together.
### European enslavement
The majority of Native American tribes did practice some form of slavery before the European introduction of African slavery into North America, but none exploited slave labor on a large scale. Most Native American tribes did not barter captives in the pre-colonial era, although they sometimes exchanged enslaved individuals with other tribes in peace gestures or in exchange for their own members. When Europeans arrived as colonists in North America, Native Americans changed their practice of slavery dramatically. Native Americans began selling war captives to Europeans rather than integrating them into their own societies as they had done before. As the demand for labor in the West Indies grew with the cultivation of sugar cane, Europeans enslaved Native Americans for the Thirteen Colonies, and some were exported to the "sugar islands". The British settlers, especially those in the southern colonies, purchased or captured Native Americans to use as forced labor in cultivating tobacco, rice, and indigo. Accurate records of the numbers enslaved do not exist because vital statistics and census reports were at best infrequent. Scholars estimate tens to hundreds of thousands of Native Americans may have been enslaved by the Europeans, being sold by Native Americans themselves or Europeans.
In Colonial America, slavery soon became racialized, with those enslaved by the institution consisting of ethnic groups (non-Christian Native Americans and Africans) who were foreign to the Christian, European colonists. The House of Burgesses define the terms of slavery in Virginia in 1705:
All servants imported and brought into the Country ... who were not Christians in their native Country ... shall be accounted and be slaves. All Negro, mulatto and Indian slaves within this dominion ... shall be held to be real estate. If any slave resists his master ... correcting such slave, and shall happen to be killed in such correction ... the master shall be free of all punishment ... as if such accident never happened.
— Virginia General Assembly declaration, 1705
The slave trade of Native Americans lasted only until around 1750. It gave rise to a series of devastating wars among the tribes, including the Yamasee War. The Indian Wars of the early 18th century, combined with the increasing importation of African slaves, effectively ended the Native American slave trade by 1750. Colonists found that Native American slaves could easily escape, as they knew the country. The wars cost the lives of numerous colonial slave traders and disrupted their early societies. The remaining Native American groups banded together to face the Europeans from a position of strength. Many surviving Native American peoples of the southeast strengthened their loose coalitions of language groups and joined confederacies such as the Choctaw, the Creek, and the Catawba for protection. Even after the Indian Slave Trade ended in 1750, the enslavement of Native Americans continued (mostly through kidnappings) in the west and in the Southern states. Both Native American and African enslaved women suffered rape and sexual harassment by male slaveholders and other white men.
### Native American and African relations
African- and Native- Americans have interacted for centuries. The earliest record of Native American and African contact occurred in April 1502, when Spanish colonists transported the first Africans to Hispaniola to serve as slaves.
Sometimes Native Americans resented the presence of African Americans. The "Catawaba tribe in 1752 showed great anger and bitter resentment when an African American came among them as a trader". To gain favor with Europeans, the Cherokee exhibited the strongest color prejudice of all Native Americans. Because of European fears of a unified revolt of Native Americans and African Americans, the colonists tried to encourage hostility between the ethnic groups: "Whites sought to convince Native Americans that African Americans worked against their best interests." In 1751, South Carolina law stated:
The carrying of Negroes among the Indians has all along been thought detrimental, as an intimacy ought to be avoided.
In addition, in 1758 the governor of South Carolina James Glen wrote:
it has always been the policy of this government to create an aversion in them [Indians] to Negroes.
Europeans considered both races inferior and made efforts to make both Native Americans and Africans enemies. Native Americans were rewarded if they returned escaped slaves, and African Americans were rewarded for fighting in the late 19th-century Indian Wars.
According to the National Park Service, "Native Americans, during the transitional period of Africans becoming the primary race enslaved, were enslaved at the same time and shared a common experience of enslavement. They worked together, lived together in communal quarters, produced collective recipes for food, shared herbal remedies, myths and legends, and in the end they intermarried." Because of a shortage of men due to warfare, many tribes encouraged marriage between the two groups, to create stronger, healthier children from the unions.
In the 18th century, many Native American women married freed or runaway African men due to a decrease in the population of men in Native American villages. Records show that many Native American women bought African men but, unknown to the European sellers, the women freed and married the men into their tribe. When African men married or had children by a Native American woman, their children were born free, because the mother was free (according to the principle of *partus sequitur ventrem*, which the colonists incorporated into law).
While numerous tribes used captive enemies as servants and slaves, they also often adopted younger captives into their tribes to replace members who had died. In the Southeast, a few Native American tribes began to adopt a slavery system similar to that of the American colonists, buying African American slaves, especially the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Creek. Though less than 3% of Native Americans owned slaves, divisions grew among the Native Americans over slavery. Among the Cherokee, records show that slaveholders in the tribe were largely the children of European men who had shown their children the economics of slavery. As European colonists took slaves into frontier areas, there were more opportunities for relationships between African and Native American peoples.
Native American identity is determined by the tribal community that the individual or group is seeking to identify with. While it is common for non-Natives to consider it a racial or ethnic identity, it is considered by Native Americans in the United States to be a political identity, based on citizenship and immediate family relationships. As culture can vary widely between the 574 extant federally recognized tribes in the United States, the idea of a single unified "Native American" racial identity is a European construct that does not have an equivalent in tribal thought.
In the 2010 Census, nearly 3 million people indicated that their "race" was Native American (including Alaska Native). Of these, more than 27% specifically indicated "Cherokee" as their ethnic origin. Many of the First Families of Virginia claim descent from Pocahontas or some other "Indian princess". This phenomenon has been dubbed the "Cherokee Syndrome". Across the US, numerous individuals cultivate an opportunistic ethnic identity as Native American, sometimes through Cherokee heritage groups or Indian Wedding Blessings.
Some tribes (particularly some in the Eastern United States) are primarily made up of individuals with an unambiguous Native American identity, despite having a large number of mixed-race citizens with prominent non-Native ancestry. More than 75% of those enrolled in the Cherokee Nation have less than one-quarter Cherokee blood, and the former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Bill John Baker, is 1/32 Cherokee, amounting to about 3%.
Historically, numerous Native Americans assimilated into colonial and later American society, e.g. through adopting English and converting to Christianity. In many cases, this process occurred through forced assimilation of children sent off to American Indian boarding schools far from their families. Those who could eventually pass for white gained the advantage of white privilege, yet often paid for it with the loss of community connections. With the enforcement of blood quantum laws, Indian blood could be diluted over generations through intermarrying with non-Native populations, as well as intermarrying with members of tribes that also required high blood-quantum, solely from one tribe. "Kill the Indian, save the man" was a mantra of nineteenth-century U.S. assimilation policies.
Native Americans are more likely than any other racial group to practice interracial or intertribal marriage among the different tribes and non-Natives, resulting in an ever-declining proportion of Indigenous blood among those who claim a Native American identity (tribes often count only the Indian blood from their own tribal background in the enrollment process, disregarding intertribal heritages). Some tribes disenroll those with low blood quantum. Disenrollment has become a contentious issue in Native American reservation politics.
### Tribal enrollment
Requirements for tribal citizenship vary by tribe, but are generally based on who one's parents and grandparents are, as known and documented by community members and tribal records. Among the tribal nations, qualification for enrolling those who were not logged at birth by their parents may be based upon a required percentage of Native American "blood" (or the "blood quantum") of an individual, or upon documented lineal descent from an ancestor on a specific census or register.
Tribal rules regarding the recognition of members who have heritage from multiple tribes also vary, but most do not allow citizenship in multiple tribes at once. For those that do, usually citizens consider one of their citizenships primary, and their other heritage to be "descent". Federally recognized tribes do not accept genetic ethnicity percentages results as appropriate evidence of Native American identity, as they cannot indicate specific tribe, or even whether or not someone is Native American. Unless requested for a paternity test, they do not advise applicants to submit such things.
To receive tribal services, a Native American must be a citizen of (or enrolled in) a federally recognized tribe. While each tribal government makes its own rules for the eligibility of citizens, the federal government has its own qualifications for federally-funded services. Federal scholarships for Native Americans require the student to be enrolled in a federally recognized tribe *and* to be of at least one-quarter Native American blood quantum, as attested to by a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB) card issued by the federal government.
Tribal membership conflicts have led to a number of legal disputes, court cases, and the formation of activist groups. One example of this is the Cherokee Freedmen. The Cherokee Nation requires documented direct genealogical descent from a Cherokee person listed in the early 1906 Dawes Rolls. The Freedmen are descendants of African Americans once enslaved by the Cherokees, who were granted, by federal treaty, citizenship in the historic Cherokee Nation as freedmen after the Civil War. The modern Cherokee Nation, in the early 1980s, passed a law to require that all members must prove descent from a Cherokee Native American (not Cherokee Freedmen) listed on the Dawes Rolls, resulting in the exclusion of some individuals and families who had been active in Cherokee culture for years.
### Increased self-identification
Since the 2000 census, people may identify as being of more than one race. Since the 1960s, the number of people claiming Native American ancestry has grown significantly and, by the 2000 census, the number had more than doubled. Sociologists attribute this dramatic change to "ethnic shifting" or "ethnic shopping"; they believe that it reflects a willingness of people to question their birth identities and adopt new ethnicities which they find more compatible.
The author Jack Hitt writes:
The reaction from lifelong Indians runs the gamut. It is easy to find Native Americans who denounce many of these new Indians as members of the wannabe tribe. But it is also easy to find Indians like Clem Iron Wing, an elder among the Lakota, who sees this flood of new ethnic claims as magnificent, a surge of Indians 'trying to come home.' Those Indians who ridicule Iron Wing's lax sense of tribal membership have retrofitted the old genocidal system of blood quantum—measuring racial purity by blood—into the new standard for real Indianness, a choice rich with paradox.
Journalist Mary Annette Pember (Ojibwe) writes that non-Natives identifying with Native American identity may be a result of a person's increased interest in genealogy, the romanticization of what they believe the cultures to be, and family lore of Native American ancestors in the distant past. However, there are different issues if a person wants to pursue enrollment as a citizen of a tribal nation. Different tribes have different requirements for citizenship. Often those who live as non-Natives, yet claim distant heritage, say they are simply reluctant to enroll, arguing that it is a method of control initiated by the federal government. However, it is the tribes that set their own enrollment criteria, and "the various enrollment requirements are often a hurdle that ethnic shoppers are unable to clear." Says Grayson Noley, (Choctaw), of the University of Oklahoma, "If you have to search for proof of your heritage, it probably isn't there." In other cases, there are some individuals who are 100% Native American but, if all of their recent ancestors are from different tribes, blood quantum laws could result in them not meeting the citizenship criteria for any one of those individual tribes. Pember concludes:
The subjects of genuine American Indian blood, cultural connection and recognition by the community are extremely contentious issues, hotly debated throughout Indian country and beyond. The whole situation, some say, is ripe for misinterpretation, confusion and, ultimately, exploitation.
### Admixture and genetics
Intertribal marriage is historically common among many Native American tribes, both prior to European contact and in the present. Historically, tribal conflicts might result in the eventual adoption of, or marriages with, captives taken in warfare, with former foes becoming full members of the community. Individuals often have ancestry from more than one tribe, and this became increasingly common after so many tribes lost family members to colonial invasions bringing disease, war and massacres. Bands or entire tribes were often reduced to very small numbers, and at times split or merged to form stronger communities in reaction to these pressures.
Tribes with long trading histories with Europeans show a higher rate of European admixture, reflecting admixture events between Native American women and European men.
The Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism has also said that haplogroup testing is not a valid means of determining Native American ancestry, and that the concept of using genetic testing to determine who is or is not Native American threatens tribal sovereignty. Author of *Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science*, Kim TallBear (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate), agrees, stating that not only is there no DNA test that can indicate a tribe, but "there is no DNA-test to prove you're Native American." Tallbear writes in *Native American DNA* that while a DNA test may bring up some markers associated with some Indigenous or Asian populations, the science in these cases is problematic, as Indigenous identity is not about one distant (and possibly nonexistent) ancestor, but rather political citizenship, culture, kinship, and daily, lived experience as part of an Indigenous community. She adds that a person, "… could have up to two Native American grandparents and show no sign of Native American ancestry. For example, a genetic male could have a maternal grandfather (from whom he did not inherit his Y chromosome) and a paternal grandmother (from whom he did not inherit his mtDNA) who were descended from Native American founders, but mtDNA and Y-chromosome analyses would not detect them."
Given all these factors, DNA testing is not sufficient to qualify a person for specific tribal membership, as the ethnicity admixture tests cannot distinguish among Native American tribes. They cannot even reliably indicate Native American ancestry:
"Native American markers" are not found solely among Native Americans. While they occur more frequently among Native Americans, they are also found in people in other parts of the world.
The only use of DNA testing by legitimate tribes is that some, such as the Meskwaki, may use DNA for paternity tests, or similar confirmation that an applicant who was not enrolled at birth is the biological child of an enrolled tribal member. It is solely about confirming or ruling out biological paternity, and has no relationship to race or ethnicity.
#### African American admixtures
DNA testing and research has provided some data about the extent of Native American ancestry among African Americans, which varies in the general population. Based on the work of geneticists, Harvard University historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr. hosted a popular, and at times controversial, PBS series, *African American Lives*, in which geneticists said DNA evidence shows that Native American ancestry is far less common among African Americans than previously believed. Their conclusions were that while almost all African Americans are racially mixed, and many have family stories of Native heritage, usually these stories turn out to be inaccurate, with only 5 percent of African American people showing more than 2 percent Native American ancestry.
Gates summarized these statistics to mean that, "If you have 2 percent Native American ancestry, you had one such ancestor on your family tree five to nine generations back (150 to 270 years ago)." Their findings also concluded that the most common "non-Black" mix among African Americans is English and Scots-Irish. Some critics thought the PBS series did not sufficiently explain the limitations of DNA testing for assessment of heritage. Another study, published in the *American Journal of Human Genetics*, also indicated that, despite how common these family stories are, relatively few African Americans who have these stories actually turned out to have detectable Native American ancestry. A study reported in the *American Journal of Human Genetics* stated, "We analyzed the European genetic contribution to 10 populations of African descent in the United States (Maywood, Illinois; Detroit; New York; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Baltimore; Charleston, South Carolina; New Orleans; and Houston) ... mtDNA haplogroups analysis shows no evidence of a significant maternal Amerindian contribution to any of the 10 populations." Despite this, some still insist that most African Americans have at least some Native American heritage.
An autosomal study from 2019 found small but detectable amounts of Native American ancestry among African-Americans, ranging from an average of 1.2% in the West South Central region, to 1.9% on the West Coast. The median amount of Native ancestry in African-Americans was found to be 1% nationwide.
#### White and Hispanic admixtures
An autosomal DNA study published in 2019 found evidence of minimal Native American ancestry among non-Hispanic White Americans, ranging from an average of 0.18% in the Mid-Atlantic region to 0.93% in the Pacific region. However, the majority of White Americans were found to have no detectable Native American ancestry, with the median amount of European ancestry being 99.8% in White participants.
Hispanic Americans, on the other hand, were found to have a large and varying amount of Native American ancestry, with a median of 38% nationwide. This ancestry was the highest among Hispanics from the West South Central Region (Texas and Oklahoma) at 43.2%, and the West Coast, at 42.6%, reflecting the predominant Mexican-American population in these regions. Hispanics from the Mid-Atlantic, on the other hand, averaged only 11.1% Native American ancestry, reflecting the predominant Puerto Rican and Dominican-American populations among Hispanics from that region.
#### DNA
The genetic history of Indigenous peoples of the Americas primarily focuses on human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups and human mitochondrial DNA haplogroups. "Y-DNA" is passed solely along the patrilineal line, from father to son, while "mtDNA" is passed down the matrilineal line, from mother to offspring of both sexes. Neither recombines, and thus Y-DNA and mtDNA change only by chance mutation at each generation with no intermixture between parents' genetic material. Autosomal "atDNA" markers are also used, but differ from mtDNA or Y-DNA in that they overlap significantly. Autosomal DNA is generally used to measure the average continent-of-ancestry genetic admixture in the entire human genome and related isolated populations. Within mtDNA, genetic scientists have found specific nucleotide sequences that they have classified as "Native American markers" because the sequences are understood to have been inherited through the generations of genetic females within populations first found in the "New World". There are five primary Native American mtDNA haplogroups in which there are clusters of closely linked markers inherited together. All five haplogroups have been identified by researchers as "prehistoric Native North American samples", and it is commonly asserted that the majority of living Native Americans possess one of the common five mtDNA haplogroup markers.
The genetic pattern indicates Indigenous Americans experienced two very distinctive genetic episodes; first with the initial-peopling of the Americas, and secondly with European colonization of the Americas. The former is the determinant factor for the number of gene lineages, zygosity mutations and founding haplotypes present in today's Indigenous American populations.
The most popular theory is that human settlement of the Americas occurred in stages from the Bering sea coast line, with an initial 15,000 to 20,000-year layover on Beringia for the small founding population. The micro-satellite diversity and distributions of the Y lineage specific to South America indicates that certain Amerindian populations have been isolated since the initial colonization of the region. The Na-Dené, Inuit and Indigenous Alaskan populations exhibit haplogroup Q-M242 (Y-DNA) mutations, however, that are distinct from other Indigenous Amerindians, and that have various mtDNA and atDNA mutations. This suggests that the paleo-Indian migrants into the northern extremes of North America and Greenland were descended from a later, independent migrant population.
Genetic analyses of HLA I and HLA II genes as well as HLA-A, -B, and -DRB1 gene frequencies links the Ainu people of northern Japan and southeastern Russia to some Indigenous peoples of the Americas, especially to populations on the Pacific Northwest Coast such as Tlingit. Scientists suggest that the main ancestor of the Ainu and of some Native American groups can be traced back to Paleolithic groups in Southern Siberia.
## See also
- List of historical Indian reservations in the United States
- List of Indian massacres in North America
- List of Indian reservations in the United States
- List of Native American firsts
- List of Native Americans of the United States (notable Native Americans)
- Racism against Native Americans in the United States
- List of U.S. communities with Native-American majority populations
## External links
- Official website of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, part of the US Department of the Interior
- Official website of the National Congress of American Indians
- American Indian Records from the National Archives and Records Administration
- Official website of the National Museum of the American Indian, part of the Smithsonian Institution
- National Indian Law Library of the Native American Rights Fund – a law library of federal Indian and tribal law
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# Video game - Wikipedia
A **video game** or **computer game** is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual feedback from a display device, most commonly shown in a video format on a television set, computer monitor, flat-panel display or touchscreen on handheld devices, or a virtual reality headset. Most modern video games are audiovisual, with audio complement delivered through speakers or headphones, and sometimes also with other types of sensory feedback (e.g., haptic technology that provides tactile sensations). Some video games also allow microphone and webcam inputs for in-game chatting and livestreaming.
Video games are typically categorized according to their hardware platform, which traditionally includes arcade video games, console games, and computer games (which includes LAN games, online games, and browser games). More recently, the video game industry has expanded onto mobile gaming through mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablet computers), virtual and augmented reality systems, and remote cloud gaming. Video games are also classified into a wide range of genres based on their style of gameplay and target audience.
The first video game prototypes in the 1950s and 1960s were simple extensions of electronic games using video-like output from large, room-sized mainframe computers. The first consumer video game was the arcade video game *Computer Space* in 1971, which took inspiration from the earlier 1962 computer game *Spacewar!*. In 1972 came the now-iconic video game *Pong* and the first home console, the Magnavox Odyssey. The industry grew quickly during the "golden age" of arcade video games from the late 1970s to early 1980s but suffered from the crash of the North American video game market in 1983 due to loss of publishing control and saturation of the market. Following the crash, the industry matured, was dominated by Japanese companies such as Nintendo, Sega, and Sony, and established practices and methods around the development and distribution of video games to prevent a similar crash in the future, many of which continue to be followed. In the 2000s, the core industry centered on "AAA" games, leaving little room for riskier experimental games. Coupled with the availability of the Internet and digital distribution, this gave room for independent video game development (or "indie games") to gain prominence into the 2010s. Since then, the commercial importance of the video game industry has been increasing. The emerging Asian markets and proliferation of smartphone games in particular are altering player demographics towards casual and cozy gaming, and increasing monetization by incorporating games as a service.
Today, video game development requires numerous skills, vision, teamwork, and liaisons between different parties, including developers, publishers, distributors, retailers, hardware manufacturers, and other marketers, to successfully bring a game to its consumers. As of 2020[update], the global video game market had estimated annual revenues of US$159 billion across hardware, software, and services, which is three times the size of the global music industry and four times that of the film industry in 2019, making it a formidable heavyweight across the modern entertainment industry. The video game market is also a major influence behind the electronics industry, where personal computer component, console, and peripheral sales, as well as consumer demands for better game performance, have been powerful driving factors for hardware design and innovation.
## Origins
Early video games use interactive electronic devices with various display formats. The earliest example is from 1947—a "cathode-ray tube amusement device" was filed for a patent on 25 January 1947, by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann, and issued on 14 December 1948, as U.S. Patent 2455992. Inspired by radar display technology, it consists of an analog device allowing a user to control the parabolic arc of a dot on the screen to simulate a missile being fired at targets, which are paper drawings fixed to the screen. Other early examples include Christopher Strachey's draughts game, the Nimrod computer at the 1951 Festival of Britain; *OXO*, a tic-tac-toe computer game by Alexander S. Douglas for the EDSAC in 1952; *Tennis for Two*, an electronic interactive game engineered by William Higinbotham in 1958; and *Spacewar!*, written by Massachusetts Institute of Technology students Martin Graetz, Steve Russell, and Wayne Wiitanen's on a DEC PDP-1 computer in 1962. Each game has different means of display: NIMROD has a panel of lights to play the game of Nim, *OXO* has a graphical display to play tic-tac-toe, *Tennis for Two* has an oscilloscope to display a side view of a tennis court, and *Spacewar!* has the DEC PDP-1's vector display to have two spaceships battle each other.
These inventions laid the foundation for modern video games. In 1966, while working at Sanders Associates, Ralph H. Baer devised a system to play a basic table tennis game on a television screen. With the company's approval, Baer created the prototype known as the "Brown Box". Sanders patented Baer's innovations and licensed them to Magnavox, which commercialized the technology as the first home video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey, released in 1972. Separately, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, inspired by seeing *Spacewar!* running at Stanford University, devised a similar version running in a smaller coin-operated arcade cabinet using a less expensive computer. This was released as *Computer Space*, the first arcade video game, in 1971. Bushnell and Dabney went on to form Atari, Inc., and with Allan Alcorn, created their second arcade game in 1972, the hit ping pong-style *Pong*, which was directly inspired by the table tennis game on the Odyssey. Atari made a home version of *Pong*, which was released by Christmas 1975. The success of the Odyssey and *Pong*, both as an arcade game and home machine, launched the video game industry. Both Baer and Bushnell have been titled "Father of Video Games" for their contributions.
## Terminology
The term "video game" was developed to describe electronic games played on a video display rather than on a teletype printer, audio speaker, or similar device. This also distinguished from handheld electronic games such as *Merlin,* which commonly used LED lights for indicators not in combination for imaging purposes.
"Computer game" may also be used as a descriptor, as all these types of games essentially require the use of a computer processor; in some cases, it is used interchangeably with "video game". Particularly in the United Kingdom and Western Europe, this is common due to the historic relevance of domestically produced microcomputers. Other terms used include digital game, for example, by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The term "computer game" can also refer to PC games, which are played primarily on personal computers or other flexible hardware systems, to distinguish them from console games, arcade games, or mobile games.
Other terms, such as "television game", "telegame", or "TV game", had been used in the 1970s and early 1980s, particularly for home gaming consoles that rely on connection to a television set. However, these terms were also used interchangeably with "video game" in the 1970s, primarily due to "video" and "television" being synonymous. In Japan, where consoles like the Odyssey were first imported and then made within the country by the large television manufacturers such as Toshiba and Sharp Corporation, such games are known as "TV games", "TV geemu", or "terebi geemu". The term "TV game" is still commonly used into the 21st century. "Electronic game" may also be used to refer to video games, but this also incorporates devices like early handheld electronic games that lack any video output.
The first appearance of the term "video game" emerged around 1973. The Oxford English Dictionary cited a 10 November 1973 *BusinessWeek* article as the first printed use of the term. Though Bushnell believed the term came from a vending magazine review of *Computer Space* in 1971, a review of the major vending magazines *Vending Times* and *Cashbox* showed that the term may have come even earlier, appearing first in a letter dated July 10, 1972. In the letter, Bushnell uses the term "video game" twice. Per video game historian Keith Smith, the sudden appearance suggested that the term had been proposed and readily adopted by those in the field. Around March 1973, Ed Adlum, who ran *Cashbox*'s coin-operated section until 1972 and then later founded *RePlay Magazine*, covering the coin-op amusement field, in 1975, used the term in an article in March 1973. In a September 1982 issue of *RePlay*, Adlum is credited with first naming these games as "video games": "RePlay's Eddie Adlum worked at 'Cash Box' when 'TV games' first came out. The personalities in those days were Bushnell, his sales manager Pat Karns, and a handful of other 'TV game' manufacturers like Henry Leyser and the McEwan brothers. It seemed awkward to call their products 'TV games', so borrowing a word from *Billboard*'s description of movie jukeboxes, Adlum started to refer to this new breed of amusement machine as 'video games.' The phrase stuck."[ citation needed] Adlum explained in 1985 that up until the early 1970s, amusement arcades typically had non-video arcade games such as pinball machines and electro-mechanical games. With the arrival of video games in arcades during the early 1970s, there was initially some confusion in the arcade industry over what term should be used to describe the new games. He "wrestled with descriptions of this type of game," alternating between "TV game" and "television game" but "finally woke up one day" and said, "What the hell... video game!"
### Definition
While many games readily fall into a clear, well-understood definition of video games, new genres and innovations in game development have raised the question of what are the essential factors of a video game that separate the medium from other forms of entertainment.
The introduction of interactive films in the 1980s with games like *Dragon's Lair*, featured games with full motion video played off a form of media but only limited user interaction. This had required a means to distinguish these games from more traditional board games that happen to also use external media, such as the *Clue VCR Mystery Game* which required players to watch VCR clips between turns. To distinguish between these two, video games are considered to require some interactivity that affects the visual display.
Most video games tend to feature some type of victory or winning conditions, such as a scoring mechanism or a final boss fight. The introduction of walking simulators (adventure games that allow for exploration but lack any objectives) like *Gone Home*, and empathy games (video games that tend to focus on emotion) like *That Dragon, Cancer* brought the idea of games that did not have any such type of winning condition and raising the question of whether these were actually games. These are still commonly justified as video games as they provide a game world that the player can interact with by some means.
The lack of any industry definition for a video game by 2021 was an issue during the case *Epic Games v. Apple* which dealt with video games offered on Apple's iOS App Store. Among concerns raised were games like *Fortnite Creative* and *Roblox* which created metaverses of interactive experiences, and whether the larger game and the individual experiences themselves were games or not in relation to fees that Apple charged for the App Store. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, recognizing that there was yet an industry standard definition for a video game, established for her ruling that "At a bare minimum, video games appear to require some level of interactivity or involvement between the player and the medium" compared to passive entertainment like film, music, and television, and "videogames are also generally graphically rendered or animated, as opposed to being recorded live or via motion capture as in films or television". Rogers still concluded that what is a video game "appears highly eclectic and diverse".
### Video game terminology
The gameplay experience varies radically between video games, but many common elements exist. Most games will launch into a title screen and give the player a chance to review options such as the number of players before starting a game. Most games are divided into levels which the player must work the avatar through, scoring points, collecting power-ups to boost the avatar's innate attributes, all while either using special attacks to defeat enemies or moves to avoid them. This information is relayed to the player through a type of on-screen user interface such as a heads-up display atop the rendering of the game itself. Taking damage will deplete their avatar's health, and if that falls to zero or if the avatar otherwise falls into an impossible-to-escape location, the player will lose one of their lives. Should they lose all their lives without gaining an extra life or "1-UP", then the player will reach the "game over" screen. Many levels as well as the game's finale end with a type of boss character the player must defeat to continue on. In some games, intermediate points between levels will offer save points where the player can create a saved game on storage media to restart the game should they lose all their lives or need to stop the game and restart at a later time. These also may be in the form of a passage that can be written down and reentered at the title screen.[ citation needed]
Product flaws include software bugs which can manifest as glitches which may be exploited by the player; this is often the foundation of speedrunning a video game. These bugs, along with cheat codes, Easter eggs, and other hidden secrets that were intentionally added to the game can also be exploited. On some consoles, cheat cartridges allow players to execute these cheat codes, and user-developed trainers allow similar bypassing for computer software games. Both of which might make the game easier, give the player additional power-ups, or change the appearance of the game.
## Components
To distinguish from electronic games, a video game is generally considered to require a platform, the hardware which contains computing elements, to process player interaction from some type of input device and displays the results to a video output display.
### Platform
Video games require a platform, a specific combination of electronic components or computer hardware and associated software, to operate. The term system is also commonly used. These platforms may include multiple brandsheld by platform holders, such as Nintendo or Sony, seeking to gain larger market shares. Games are typically designed to be played on one or a limited number of platforms, and exclusivity to a platform or brand is used by platform holders as a competitive edge in the video game market. However, games may be developed for alternative platforms than intended, which are described as ports or conversions. These also may be remasters - where most of the original game's source code is reused and art assets, models, and game levels are updated for modern systems – and remakes, where in addition to asset improvements, significant reworking of the original game and possibly from scratch is performed.
The list below is not exhaustive and excludes other electronic devices capable of playing video games such as PDAs and graphing calculators.
- PC games
- PC games involve a player interacting with a personal computer (PC) connected to a video monitor. Personal computers are not dedicated game platforms, so there may be differences running the same game on different hardware. Also, the openness allows some features to developers like reduced software cost, increased flexibility, increased innovation, emulation, creation of modifications or mods, open hosting for online gaming (in which a person plays a video game with people who are in a different household) and others. A gaming computer is a PC or laptop intended specifically for gaming, typically using high-performance, high-cost components. In addition to personal computer gaming, there also exist games that work on mainframe computers and other similarly shared systems, with users logging in remotely to use the computer.
- Home console
- A console game is played on a home console, a specialized electronic device that connects to a common television set or composite video monitor. Home consoles are specifically designed to play games using a dedicated hardware environment, giving developers a concrete hardware target for development and assurances of what features will be available, simplifying development compared to PC game development. Usually consoles only run games developed for it, or games from other platform made by the same company, but never games developed by its direct competitor, even if the same game is available on different platforms. It often comes with a specific game controller. Major console platforms include Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo.
- Handheld console
- A handheld game console is a small, self-contained electronic device that is portable and can be held in a user's hands. It features the console, a small screen, speakers and buttons, joystick or other game controllers in a single unit. Like consoles, handhelds are dedicated platforms, and share almost the same characteristics. Handheld hardware usually is less powerful than PC or console hardware. Some handheld games from the late 1970s and early 1980s could only play one game. In the 1990s and 2000s, a number of handheld games used cartridges, which enabled them to be used to play many different games. The handheld console has waned in the 2010s as mobile device gaming has become a more dominant factor.
- Arcade video game
- An arcade video game generally refers to a game played on an even more specialized type of electronic device that is typically designed to play only one game and is encased in a special, large coin-operated cabinet which has one built-in console, controllers (joystick, buttons, etc.), a CRT screen, and audio amplifier and speakers. Arcade games often have brightly painted logos and images relating to the theme of the game. While most arcade games are housed in a vertical cabinet, which the user typically stands in front of to play, some arcade games use a tabletop approach, in which the display screen is housed in a table-style cabinet with a see-through table top. With table-top games, the users typically sit to play. In the 1990s and 2000s, some arcade games offered players a choice of multiple games. In the 1980s, video arcades were businesses in which game players could use a number of arcade video games. In the 2010s, there are far fewer video arcades, but some movie theaters and family entertainment centers still have them.
- Browser game
- A browser game takes advantages of standardizations of technologies for the functionality of web browsers across multiple devices providing a cross-platform environment. These games may be identified based on the website that they appear, such as with Miniclip games. Others are named based on the programming platform used to develop them, such as Java and Flash games.
- Mobile game
- With the introduction of smartphones and tablet computers standardized on the iOS and Android operating systems, mobile gaming has become a significant platform. These games may use unique features of mobile devices that are not necessary present on other platforms, such as accelerometers, global positioning information and camera devices to support augmented reality gameplay.
- Cloud gaming
- Cloud gaming requires a minimal hardware device, such as a basic computer, console, laptop, mobile phone or even a dedicated hardware device connected to a display with good Internet connectivity that connects to hardware systems by the cloud gaming provider. The game is computed and rendered on the remote hardware, using a number of predictive methods to reduce the network latency between player input and output on their display device. For example, the Xbox Cloud Gaming and PlayStation Now platforms use dedicated custom server blade hardware in cloud computing centers.
- Virtual reality
- Virtual reality (VR) games generally require players to use a special head-mounted unit that provides stereoscopic screens and motion tracking to immerse a player within virtual environment that responds to their head movements. Some VR systems include control units for the player's hands as to provide a direct way to interact with the virtual world. VR systems generally require a separate computer, console, or other processing device that couples with the head-mounted unit.
- Emulation
- An emulator enables games from a console or otherwise different system to be run in a type of virtual machine on a modern system, simulating the hardware of the original and allows old games to be played. While emulators themselves have been found to be legal in United States case law, the act of obtaining the game software that one does not already own may violate copyrights. However, there are some official releases of emulated software from game manufacturers, such as Nintendo with its Virtual Console or Nintendo Switch Online offerings.
- Backward compatibility
- Backward compatibility is similar in nature to emulation in that older games can be played on newer platforms, but typically directly though hardware and built-in software within the platform. The PlayStation 2 popularized the trend by having the capability of playing past generation games from the PlayStation via inserting the original game media into the newer console, while Nintendo's Wii could play GameCube titles as well in the same manner.
### Game media
Early arcade games, home consoles, and handheld games were dedicated hardware units with the game's logic built into the electronic componentry of the hardware. Since then, most video game platforms are considered programmable, having means to read and play multiple games distributed on different types of media or formats. Physical formats include ROM cartridges, magnetic storage including magnetic-tape data storage and floppy discs, optical media formats including CD-ROM and DVDs, and flash memory cards. Furthermore digital distribution over the Internet or other communication methods as well as cloud gaming alleviate the need for any physical media. In some cases, the media serves as the direct read-only memory for the game, or it may be the form of installation media that is used to write the main assets to the player's platform's local storage for faster loading periods and later updates.
Games can be extended with new content and software patches through either expansion packs which are typically available as physical media, or as downloadable content nominally available via digital distribution. These can be offered freely or can be used to monetize a game following its initial release. Several games offer players the ability to create user-generated content to share with others to play. Other games, mostly those on personal computers, can be extended with user-created modifications or mods that alter or add onto the game; these often are unofficial and were developed by players from reverse engineering of the game, but other games provide official support for modding the game.
### Input device
Video game can use several types of input devices to translate human actions to a game. Most common are the use of game controllers like gamepads and joysticks for most consoles, and as accessories for personal computer systems along keyboard and mouse controls. Common controls on the most recent controllers include face buttons, shoulder triggers, analog sticks, and directional pads ("d-pads"). Consoles typically include standard controllers which are shipped or bundled with the console itself, while peripheral controllers are available as a separate purchase from the console manufacturer or third-party vendors. Similar control sets are built into handheld consoles and onto arcade cabinets. Newer technology improvements have incorporated additional technology into the controller or the game platform, such as touchscreens and motion detection sensors that give more options for how the player interacts with the game. Specialized controllers may be used for certain genres of games, including racing wheels, light guns and dance pads. Digital cameras and motion detection can capture movements of the player as input into the game, which can, in some cases, effectively eliminate the control, and on other systems such as virtual reality, are used to enhance immersion into the game.
### Display and output
By definition, all video games are intended to output graphics to an external video display, such as cathode-ray tube televisions, newer liquid-crystal display (LCD) televisions and built-in screens, projectors or computer monitors, depending on the type of platform the game is played on. Features such as color depth, refresh rate, frame rate, and screen resolution are a combination of the limitations of the game platform and display device and the program efficiency of the game itself. The game's output can range from fixed displays using LED or LCD elements, text-based games, two-dimensional and three-dimensional graphics, and augmented reality displays.
The game's graphics are often accompanied by sound produced by internal speakers on the game platform or external speakers attached to the platform, as directed by the game's programming. This often will include sound effects tied to the player's actions to provide audio feedback, as well as background music for the game.
Some platforms support additional feedback mechanics to the player that a game can take advantage of. This is most commonly haptic technology built into the game controller, such as causing the controller to shake in the player's hands to simulate a shaking earthquake occurring in game.
## Classifications
Video games are frequently classified by a number of factors related to how one plays them.
### Genre
A video game, like most other forms of media, may be categorized into genres. However, unlike film or television which use visual or narrative elements, video games are generally categorized into genres based on their gameplay interaction, since this is the primary means which one interacts with a video game. The narrative setting does not impact gameplay; a shooter game is still a shooter game, regardless of whether it takes place in a fantasy world or in outer space. An exception is the horror game genre, used for games that are based on narrative elements of horror fiction, the supernatural, and psychological horror.
Genre names are normally self-describing in terms of the type of gameplay, such as action game, role playing game, or shoot 'em up, though some genres have derivations from influential works that have defined that genre, such as roguelikes from *Rogue*, Grand Theft Auto clones from *Grand Theft Auto III*, and battle royale games from the film *Battle Royale*. The names may shift over time as players, developers and the media come up with new terms; for example, first-person shooters were originally called "Doom clones" based on the 1993 game. A hierarchy of game genres exist, with top-level genres like "shooter game" and "action game" that broadly capture the game's main gameplay style, and several subgenres of specific implementation, such as within the shooter game first-person shooter and third-person shooter. Some cross-genre types also exist that fall until multiple top-level genres such as action-adventure game.
### Mode
A video game's mode describes how many players can use the game at the same type. This is primarily distinguished by single-player video games and multiplayer video games. Within the latter category, multiplayer games can be played in a variety of ways, including locally at the same device, on separate devices connected through a local network such as LAN parties, or online via separate Internet connections. Most multiplayer games are based on competitive gameplay, but many offer cooperative and team-based options as well as asymmetric gameplay. Online games use server structures that can also enable massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) to support hundreds of players at the same time.
A small number of video games are zero-player games, in which the player has very limited interaction with the game itself. These are most commonly simulation games where the player may establish a starting state and then let the game proceed on its own, watching the results as a passive observer, such as with many computerized simulations of Conway's Game of Life.
### Types
Most video games are intended for entertainment purposes. Different game types include:
- Core games
- Core or hard-core games refer to the typical perception of video games, developed for entertainment purposes. These games typically require a fair amount of time to learn and master, in contrast to casual games, and thus are most appealing to gamers rather than a broader audience. Most of the AAA video game industry is based around the delivery of core games.
- Casual games
- In contrast to core games, casual games are designed for ease of accessibility, simple to understand gameplay and quick to grasp rule sets, and aimed at mass market audience. They frequently support the ability to jump in and out of play on demand, such as during commuting or lunch breaks. Numerous browser and mobile games fall into the casual game area, and casual games often are from genres with low intensity game elements such as match three, hidden object, time management, and puzzle games. Causal games frequently use social-network game mechanics, where players can enlist the help of friends on their social media networks for extra turns or moves each day. Popular casual games include
*Tetris*and*Candy Crush Saga*. More recent, starting in the late 2010s, are hyper-casual games which use even more simplistic rules for short but infinitely replayable games, such as*Flappy Bird*. - Educational games
- Education software has been used in homes and classrooms to help teach children and students, and video games have been similarly adapted for these reasons, all designed to provide a form of interactivity and entertainment tied to game design elements. There are a variety of differences in their designs and how they educate the user. These are broadly split between edutainment games that tend to focus on the entertainment value and rote learning but are unlikely to engage in critical thinking, and educational video games that are geared towards problem solving through motivation and positive reinforcement while downplaying the entertainment value. Examples of educational games include
*The Oregon Trail*and the*Carmen Sandiego*series. Further, games not initially developed for educational purposes have found their way into the classroom after release, such as that feature open worlds or virtual sandboxes like*Minecraft*, or offer critical thinking skills through puzzle video games like*SpaceChem*. - Serious games
- Further extending from educational games, serious games are those where the entertainment factor may be augmented, overshadowed, or even eliminated by other purposes for the game. Game design is used to reinforce the non-entertainment purpose of the game, such as using video game technology for the game's interactive world, or gamification for reinforcement training. Educational games are a form of serious games, but other types of games include fitness games that incorporate significant physical exercise to help keep the player fit (such as
*Wii Fit*), simulator games that resemble flight simulators to pilot aircraft (such as*Microsoft Flight Simulator*), advergames that are built around the advertising of a product (such as*Pepsiman*), and newsgames aimed at conveying a specific advocacy message (such as*NarcoGuerra*). - Art games
- Although video games have been considered an art form on their own, games may be developed to try to purposely communicate a story or message, using the medium as a work of art. These art or arthouse games are designed to generate emotion and empathy from the player by challenging societal norms and offering critique through the interactivity of the video game medium. They may not have any type of win condition and are designed to let the player explore through the game world and scenarios. Most art games are indie games in nature, designed based on personal experiences or stories through a single developer or small team. Examples of art games include
*Passage*,*Flower*, and*That Dragon, Cancer*.
### Content rating
Video games can be subject to national and international content rating requirements. Like with film content ratings, video game ratings typing identify the target age group that the national or regional ratings board believes is appropriate for the player, ranging from all-ages, to a teenager-or-older, to mature, to the infrequent adult-only games. Most content review is based on the level of violence, both in the type of violence and how graphic it may be represented, and sexual content, but other themes such as drug and alcohol use and gambling that can influence children may also be identified. A primary identifier based on a minimum age is used by nearly all systems, along with additional descriptors to identify specific content that players and parents should be aware of.
The regulations vary from country to country but generally are voluntary systems upheld by vendor practices, with penalty and fines issued by the ratings body on the video game publisher for misuse of the ratings. Among the major content rating systems include:
- Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) that oversees games released in the United States. ESRB ratings are voluntary and rated along a E (Everyone), E10+ (Everyone 10 and older), T (Teen), M (Mature), and AO (Adults Only). Attempts to mandate video games ratings in the U.S. subsequently led to the landmark Supreme Court case,
*Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association*in 2011 which ruled video games were a protected form of art, a key victory for the video game industry. - Pan European Game Information (PEGI) covering the United Kingdom, most of the European Union and other European countries, replacing previous national-based systems. The PEGI system uses content rated based on minimum recommended ages, which include 3+, 8+, 12+, 16+, and 18+.
- Australian Classification Board (ACB) oversees the ratings of games and other works in Australia, using ratings of G (General), PG (Parental Guidance), M (Mature), MA15+ (Mature Accompanied), R18+ (Restricted), and X (Restricted for pornographic material). ACB can also deny to give a rating to game (RC – Refused Classification). The ACB's ratings are enforceable by law, and importantly, games cannot be imported or purchased digitally in Australia if they have failed to gain a rating or were given the RC rating, leading to a number of notable banned games.
- Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (CERO) rates games for Japan. Their ratings include A (all ages), B (12 and older), C (15 and over), D (17 and over), and Z (18 and over).
- Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK) rates games for Germany. Their ratings include 0, 6, 12, 16, and 18.
Additionally, the major content system provides have worked to create the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC), a means to streamline and align the content ratings system between different region, so that a publisher would only need to complete the content ratings review for one provider, and use the IARC transition to affirm the content rating for all other regions.
Certain nations have even more restrictive rules related to political or ideological content. Within Germany, until 2018, the Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (*Entertainment Software Self-Regulation*) would refuse to classify, and thus allow sale, of any game depicting Nazi imagery, and thus often requiring developers to replace such imagery with fictional ones. This ruling was relaxed in 2018 to allow for such imagery for "social adequacy" purposes that applied to other works of art. China's video game segment is mostly isolated from the rest of the world due to the government's censorship, and all games published there must adhere to strict government review, disallowing content such as smearing the image of the Chinese Communist Party. Foreign games published in China often require modification by developers and publishers to meet these requirements.
## Development
Video game development and authorship, much like any other form of entertainment, is frequently a cross-disciplinary field. Video game developers, as employees within this industry are commonly referred to, primarily include programmers and graphic designers. Over the years, this has expanded to include almost every type of skill that one might see prevalent in the creation of any movie or television program, including sound designers, musicians, and other technicians; as well as skills that are specific to video games, such as the game designer. All of these are managed by producers.
In the early days of the industry, it was more common for a single person to manage all of the roles needed to create a video game. As platforms have become more complex and powerful in the type of material they can present, larger teams have been needed to generate all of the art, programming, cinematography, and more. This is not to say that the age of the "one-man shop" is gone, as this is still sometimes found in the casual gaming and handheld markets, where smaller games are prevalent due to technical limitations such as limited RAM or lack of dedicated 3D graphics rendering capabilities on the target platform (e.g., some PDAs).
Video games are programmed like any other piece of computer software. Prior to the mid-1970s, arcade and home consoles were programmed by assembling discrete electro-mechanical components on circuit boards, which limited games to relatively simple logic. By 1975, low-cost microprocessors were available at volume to be used for video game hardware, which allowed game developers to program more detailed games, widening the scope of what was possible. Ongoing improvements in computer hardware technology have expanded what has become possible to create in video games, coupled with convergence of common hardware between console, computer, and arcade platforms to simplify the development process. Today, game developers have a number of commercial and open source tools available for use to make games, often which are across multiple platforms to support portability, or may still opt to create their own for more specialized features and direct control of the game. Today, many games are built around a game engine that handles the bulk of the game's logic, gameplay, and rendering. These engines can be augmented with specialized engines for specific features, such as a physics engine that simulates the physics of objects in real-time. A variety of middleware exists to help developers access other features, such as playback of videos within games, network-oriented code for games that communicate via online services, matchmaking for online games, and similar features. These features can be used from a developer's programming language of choice, or they may opt to also use game development kits that minimize the amount of direct programming they have to do but can also limit the amount of customization they can add into a game. Like all software, video games usually undergo quality testing before release to assure there are no bugs or glitches in the product, though frequently developers will release patches and updates.
With the growth of the size of development teams in the industry, the problem of cost has increased. Development studios need the best talent, while publishers reduce costs to maintain profitability on their investment. Typically, a video game console development team ranges from 5 to 50 people, and some exceed 100. In May 2009, *Assassin's Creed II* was reported to have a development staff of 450. The growth of team size combined with greater pressure to get completed projects into the market to begin recouping production costs has led to a greater occurrence of missed deadlines, rushed games, and the release of unfinished products.
While amateur and hobbyist game programming had existed since the late 1970s with the introduction of home computers, a newer trend since the mid-2000s is indie game development. Indie games are made by small teams outside any direct publisher control, their games being smaller in scope than those from the larger "AAA" game studios, and are often experiments in gameplay and art style. Indie game development is aided by the larger availability of digital distribution, including the newer mobile gaming market, and readily-available and low-cost development tools for these platforms.
### Game theory and studies
Although departments of computer science have been studying the technical aspects of video games for years, theories that examine games as an artistic medium are a relatively recent development in the humanities. The two most visible schools in this emerging field are ludology and narratology. Narrativists approach video games in the context of what Janet Murray calls "Cyberdrama". That is to say, their major concern is with video games as a storytelling medium, one that arises out of interactive fiction. Murray puts video games in the context of the Holodeck, a fictional piece of technology from *Star Trek*, arguing for the video game as a medium in which the player is allowed to become another person, and to act out in another world. This image of video games received early widespread popular support, and forms the basis of films such as *Tron*, *eXistenZ* and *The Last Starfighter*.
Ludologists break sharply and radically from this idea. They argue that a video game is first and foremost a game, which must be understood in terms of its rules, interface, and the concept of play that it deploys. Espen J. Aarseth argues that, although games certainly have plots, characters, and aspects of traditional narratives, these aspects are incidental to gameplay. For example, Aarseth is critical of the widespread attention that narrativists have given to the heroine of the game *Tomb Raider*, saying that "the dimensions of Lara Croft's body, already analyzed to death by film theorists, are irrelevant to me as a player, because a different-looking body would not make me play differently... When I play, I don't even see her body, but see through it and past it." Simply put, ludologists reject traditional theories of art because they claim that the artistic and socially relevant qualities of a video game are primarily determined by the underlying set of rules, demands, and expectations imposed on the player.
While many games rely on emergent principles, video games commonly present simulated story worlds where emergent behavior occurs within the context of the game. The term "emergent narrative" has been used to describe how, in a simulated environment, storyline can be created simply by "what happens to the player." However, emergent behavior is not limited to sophisticated games. In general, any place where event-driven instructions occur for AI in a game, emergent behavior will exist. For instance, take a racing game in which cars are programmed to avoid crashing, and they encounter an obstacle in the track: the cars might then maneuver to avoid the obstacle causing the cars behind them to slow or maneuver to accommodate the cars in front of them and the obstacle. The programmer never wrote code to specifically create a traffic jam, yet one now exists in the game.
### Intellectual property for video games
Most commonly, video games are protected by copyright, though both patents and trademarks have been used as well.
Though local copyright regulations vary to the degree of protection, video games qualify as copyrighted visual-audio works, and enjoy cross-country protection under the Berne Convention. This typically only applies to the underlying code, as well as to the artistic aspects of the game such as its writing, art assets, and music. Gameplay itself is generally not considered copyrightable; in the United States among other countries, video games are considered to fall into the idea–expression distinction in that it is how the game is presented and expressed to the player that can be copyrighted, but not the underlying principles of the game.
Because gameplay is normally ineligible for copyright, gameplay ideas in popular games are often replicated and built upon in other games. At times, this repurposing of gameplay can be seen as beneficial and a fundamental part of how the industry has grown by building on the ideas of others. For example *Doom* (1993) and *Grand Theft Auto III* (2001) introduced gameplay that created popular new game genres, the first-person shooter and the *Grand Theft Auto* clone, respectively, in the few years after their release. However, at times and more frequently at the onset of the industry, developers would intentionally create video game clones of successful games and game hardware with few changes, which led to the flooded arcade and dedicated home console market around 1978. Cloning is also a major issue with countries that do not have strong intellectual property protection laws, such as within China. The lax oversight by China's government and the difficulty for foreign companies to take Chinese entities to court had enabled China to support a large grey market of cloned hardware and software systems. The industry remains challenged to distinguish between creating new games based on refinements of past successful games to create a new type of gameplay, and intentionally creating a clone of a game that may simply swap out art assets.
## Industry
### History
The early history of the video game industry, following the first game hardware releases and through 1983, had little structure. Video games quickly took off during the golden age of arcade video games from the late 1970s to early 1980s, but the newfound industry was mainly composed of game developers with little business experience. This led to numerous companies forming simply to create clones of popular games to try to capitalize on the market. Due to loss of publishing control and oversaturation of the market, the North American home video game market crashed in 1983, dropping from revenues of around $3 billion in 1983 to $100 million by 1985. Many of the North American companies created in the prior years closed down. Japan's growing game industry was briefly shocked by this crash but had sufficient longevity to withstand the short-term effects, and Nintendo helped to revitalize the industry with the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America in 1985. Along with it, Nintendo established a number of core industrial practices to prevent unlicensed game development and control game distribution on their platform, methods that continue to be used by console manufacturers today.
The industry remained more conservative following the 1983 crash, forming around the concept of publisher-developer dichotomies, and by the 2000s, leading to the industry centralizing around low-risk, triple-A games and studios with large development budgets of at least $10 million or more. The advent of the Internet brought digital distribution as a viable means to distribute games, and contributed to the growth of more riskier, experimental independent game development as an alternative to triple-A games in the late 2000s and which has continued to grow as a significant portion of the video game industry.
### Industry roles
Video games have a large network effect that draw on many different sectors that tie into the larger video game industry. While video game developers are a significant portion of the industry, other key participants in the market include:
- Publishers: Companies generally that oversee bringing the game from the developer to market. This often includes performing the marketing, public relations, and advertising of the game. Publishers frequently pay the developers ahead of time to make their games and will be involved in critical decisions about the direction of the game's progress, and then pay the developers additional royalties or bonuses based on sales performances. Other smaller, boutique publishers may simply offer to perform the publishing of a game for a small fee and a portion of the sales, and otherwise leave the developer with the creative freedom to proceed. A range of other publisher-developer relationships exist between these points.
- Distributors: Publishers often are able to produce their own game media and take the role of distributor, but there are also third-party distributors that can mass-produce game media and distribute to retailers. Digital storefronts like Steam and the iOS App Store also serve as distributors and retailers in the digital space.
- Retailers: Physical storefronts, which include large online retailers, department and electronic stores, and specialty video game stores, sell games, consoles, and other accessories to consumers. This has also including a trade-in market in certain regions, allowing players to turn in used games for partial refunds or credit towards other games. However, with the uprising of digital marketplaces and e-commerce revolution, retailers have been performing worse than in the past.
- Hardware manufacturers: The video game console manufacturers produce console hardware, often through a value chain system that include numerous component suppliers and contract manufacturer that assemble the consoles. Further, these console manufacturers typically require a license to develop for their platform and may control the production of some games, such as Nintendo does with the use of game cartridges for its systems. In exchange, the manufacturers may help promote games for their system and may seek console exclusivity for certain games. For games on personal computers, a number of manufacturers are devoted to high-performance "gaming computer" hardware, particularly in the graphics card area; several of the same companies overlap with component supplies for consoles. A range of third-party manufacturers also exist to provide equipment and gear for consoles post-sale, such as additional controllers for console or carrying cases and gear for handheld devices.
- Journalism: While journalism around video games used to be primarily print-based, and focused more on post-release reviews and gameplay strategy, the Internet has brought a more proactive press that use web journalism, covering games in the months prior to release as well as beyond, helping to build excitement for games ahead of release.
- Influencers: With the rising importance of social media, video game companies have found that the opinions of influencers using streaming media to play through their games has had a significant impact on game sales, and have turned to use influencers alongside traditional journalism as a means to build up attention to their game before release.
- Esports: Esports is a major function of several multiplayer games with numerous professional leagues established since the 2000s, with large viewership numbers, particularly out of southeast Asia since the 2010s.
- Trade and advocacy groups: Trade groups like the Entertainment Software Association were established to provide a common voice for the industry in response to governmental and other advocacy concerns. They frequently set up the major trade events and conventions for the industry such as E3.
- Gamers: Proactive hobbyists who are players and consumers of video games. While their representation in the industry is primarily seen through game sales, many companies follow gamers' comments on social media or on user reviews and engage with them to work to improve their products in addition to other feedback from other parts of the industry. Demographics of the larger player community also impact parts of the market; while once dominated by younger men, the market shifted in the mid-2010s towards women and older players who generally preferred mobile and causal games, leading to further growth in those sectors.
### Major regional markets
The industry itself grew out from both the United States and Japan in the 1970s and 1980s before having a larger worldwide contribution. Today, the video game industry is predominantly led by major companies in North America (primarily the United States and Canada), Europe, and southeast Asia including Japan, South Korea, and China. Hardware production remains an area dominated by Asian companies either directly involved in hardware design or part of the production process, but digital distribution and indie game development of the late 2000s has allowed game developers to flourish nearly anywhere and diversify the field.
### Game sales
According to the market research firm Newzoo, the global video game industry drew estimated revenues of over $159 billion in 2020. Mobile games accounted for the bulk of this, with a 48% share of the market, followed by console games at 28% and personal computer games at 23%.
Sales of different types of games vary widely between countries due to local preferences. Japanese consumers tend to purchase much more handheld games than console games and especially PC games, with a strong preference for games catering to local tastes. Another key difference is that, though having declined in the West, arcade games remain an important sector of the Japanese gaming industry. In South Korea, computer games are generally preferred over console games, especially MMORPG games and real-time strategy games. Computer games are also popular in China.
## Effects on society
### Culture
Video game culture is a worldwide new media subculture formed around video games and game playing. As computer and video games have increased in popularity over time, they have had a significant influence on popular culture. Video game culture has also evolved over time hand in hand with internet culture as well as the increasing popularity of mobile games. Many people who play video games identify as gamers, which can mean anything from someone who enjoys games to someone who is passionate about it. As video games become more social with multiplayer and online capability, gamers find themselves in growing social networks. Gaming can both be entertainment as well as competition, as a new trend known as electronic sports is becoming more widely accepted. In the 2010s, video games and discussions of video game trends and topics can be seen in social media, politics, television, film and music. The COVID-19 pandemic during 2020–2021 gave further visibility to video games as a pastime to enjoy with friends and family online as a means of social distancing.
### Art
Since the mid-2000s there has been debate whether video games qualify as art, primarily as the form's interactivity interfered with the artistic intent of the work and that they are designed for commercial appeal. A significant debate on the matter came after film critic Roger Ebert published an essay "Video Games can never be art", which challenged the industry to prove him and other critics wrong. The view that video games were an art form was cemented in 2011 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case *Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association* that video games were a protected form of speech with artistic merit. Since then, video game developers have come to use the form more for artistic expression, including the development of art games, and the cultural heritage of video games as works of arts, beyond their technical capabilities, have been part of major museum exhibits, including *The Art of Video Games* at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and toured at other museums from 2012 to 2016.
Video games will inspire sequels and other video games within the same franchise, but also have influenced works outside of the video game medium. Numerous television shows (both animated and live-action), films, comics and novels have been created based on existing video game franchises. Because video games are an interactive medium there has been trouble in converting them to these passive forms of media, and typically such works have been critically panned or treated as children's media. For example, until 2019, no video game film had ever been received a "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but the releases of *Detective Pikachu* (2019) and *Sonic the Hedgehog* (2020), both receiving "Fresh" ratings, shows signs of the film industry having found an approach to adapt video games for the large screen. That said, some early video game-based films have been highly successful at the box office, such as 1995's *Mortal Kombat* and 2001's *Lara Croft: Tomb Raider*.
More recently since the 2000s, there has also become a larger appreciation of video game music, which ranges from chiptunes composed for limited sound-output devices on early computers and consoles, to fully-scored compositions for most modern games. Such music has frequently served as a platform for covers and remixes, and concerts featuring video game soundtracks performed by bands or orchestras, such as *Video Games Live*, have also become popular. Video games also frequently incorporate licensed music, particularly in the area of rhythm games, furthering the depth of which video games and music can work together.
Further, video games can serve as a virtual environment under full control of a producer to create new works. With the capability to render 3D actors and settings in real-time, a new type of work machinima (short for "machine cinema") grew out from using video game engines to craft narratives. As video game engines gain higher fidelity, they have also become part of the tools used in more traditional filmmaking. Unreal Engine has been used as a backbone by Industrial Light & Magic for their StageCraft technology for shows like *The Mandalorian*.
Separately, video games are also frequently used as part of the promotion and marketing for other media, such as for films, anime, and comics. However, these licensed games in the 1990s and 2000s often had a reputation for poor quality, developed without any input from the intellectual property rights owners, and several of them are considered among lists of games with notably negative reception, such as *Superman 64*. More recently, with these licensed games being developed by triple-A studios or through studios directly connected to the licensed property owner, there has been a significant improvement in the quality of these games, with an early trendsetting example of *Batman: Arkham Asylum*.
### Beneficial uses
Besides their entertainment value, appropriately-designed video games have been seen to provide value in education across several ages and comprehension levels. Learning principles found in video games have been identified as possible techniques with which to reform the U.S. education system. It has been noticed that gamers adopt an attitude while playing that is of such high concentration, they do not realize they are learning, and that if the same attitude could be adopted at school, education would enjoy significant benefits.[ dubious – discuss] Students are found to be "learning by doing" while playing video games while fostering creative thinking.
Video games are also believed to be beneficial to the mind and body. It has been shown that action video game players have better hand–eye coordination and visuo-motor skills, such as their resistance to distraction, their sensitivity to information in the peripheral vision and their ability to count briefly presented objects, than nonplayers. Researchers found that such enhanced abilities could be acquired by training with action games, involving challenges that switch attention between different locations, but not with games requiring concentration on single objects.[ citation needed] A 2018 systematic review found evidence that video gaming training had positive effects on cognitive and emotional skills in the adult population, especially with young adults. A 2019 systematic review also added support for the claim that video games are beneficial to the brain, although the beneficial effects of video gaming on the brain differed by video games types.
Organisers of video gaming events, such as the organisers of the *D-Lux* video game festival in Dumfries, Scotland, have emphasised the positive aspects video games can have on mental health. Organisers, mental health workers and mental health nurses at the event emphasised the relationships and friendships that can be built around video games and how playing games can help people learn about others as a precursor to discussing the person's mental health. A study in 2020 from Oxford University also suggested that playing video games can be a benefit to a person's mental health. The report of 3,274 gamers, all over the age of 18, focused on the games Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville and used actual play-time data. The report found that those that played more games tended to report greater "wellbeing". Also in 2020, computer science professor Regan Mandryk of the University of Saskatchewan said her research also showed that video games can have health benefits such as reducing stress and improving mental health. The university's research studied all age groups – "from pre-literate children through to older adults living in long term care homes" – with a main focus on 18 to 55-year-olds.
A study of gamers attitudes towards gaming which was reported about in 2018 found that millennials use video games as a key strategy for coping with stress. In the study of 1,000 gamers, 55% said that it "helps them to unwind and relieve stress ... and half said they see the value in gaming as a method of escapism to help them deal with daily work pressures".
### Controversies
Video games have caused controversy since the 1970s. Parents and children's advocates regularly raise concerns that violent video games can influence young players into performing those violent acts in real life, and events such as the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 in which some claimed the perpetrators specifically alluded to using video games to plot out their attack, raised further fears.[ citation needed] Medical experts and mental health professionals have also raised concerned that video games may be addictive, and the World Health Organization has included "gaming disorder" in the 11th revision of its International Statistical Classification of Diseases. Other health experts, including the American Psychiatric Association, have stated that there is insufficient evidence that video games can create violent tendencies or lead to addictive behavior, though agree that video games typically use a compulsion loop in their core design that can create dopamine that can help reinforce the desire to continue to play through that compulsion loop and potentially lead into violent or addictive behavior. Even with case law establishing that video games qualify as a protected art form, there has been pressure on the video game industry to keep their products in check to avoid over-excessive violence particularly for games aimed at younger children. The potential addictive behavior around games, coupled with increased used of post-sale monetization of video games, has also raised concern among parents, advocates, and government officials about gambling tendencies that may come from video games, such as controversy around the use of loot boxes in many high-profile games.
Numerous other controversies around video games and its industry have arisen over the years, among the more notable incidents include the 1993 United States Congressional hearings on violent games like *Mortal Kombat* which lead to the formation of the ESRB ratings system, numerous legal actions taken by attorney Jack Thompson over violent games such as *Grand Theft Auto III* and *Manhunt* from 2003 to 2007, the outrage over the "No Russian" level from *Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2* in 2009 which allowed the player to shoot a number of innocent non-player characters at an airport, and the Gamergate harassment campaign in 2014 that highlighted misogyny from a portion of the player demographic. The industry as a whole has also dealt with issues related to gender, racial, and LGBTQ+ discrimination and mischaracterization of these minority groups in video games. A further issue in the industry is related to working conditions, as development studios and publishers frequently use "crunch time", required extended working hours, in the weeks and months ahead of a game's release to assure on-time delivery.
## Collecting and preservation
Players of video games often maintain collections of games. More recently there has been interest in retrogaming, focusing on games from the first decades. Games in retail packaging in good shape have become collectors items for the early days of the industry, with some rare publications having gone for over US$100,000 as of 2020[update]. Separately, there is also concern about the preservation of video games, as both game media and the hardware to play them degrade over time. Further, many of the game developers and publishers from the first decades no longer exist, so records of their games have disappeared. Archivists and preservations have worked within the scope of copyright law to save these games as part of the cultural history of the industry.
There are many video game museums around the world, including the National Videogame Museum in Frisco, Texas, which serves as the largest museum wholly dedicated to the display and preservation of the industry's most important artifacts. Europe hosts video game museums such as the Computer Games Museum in Berlin and the Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg. The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment in Oakland, California is a dedicated video game museum focusing on playable exhibits of console and computer games. The Video Game Museum of Rome is also dedicated to preserving video games and their history. The International Center for the History of Electronic Games at The Strong in Rochester, New York contains one of the largest collections of electronic games and game-related historical materials in the world, including a 5,000-square-foot (460 m2) exhibit which allows guests to play their way through the history of video games. The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC has three video games on permanent display: *Pac-Man*, *Dragon's Lair*, and *Pong*.
The Museum of Modern Art has added a total of 20 video games and one video game console to its permanent Architecture and Design Collection since 2012. In 2012, the Smithsonian American Art Museum ran an exhibition on "The Art of Video Games". However, the reviews of the exhibit were mixed, including questioning whether video games belong in an art museum.
## See also
## Notes
### Bibliography
## Further reading
## External links
- Video games bibliography
[by the French video game research association*permanent dead link*]*Ludoscience* - The Virtual Museum of Computing (VMoC) (archived 10 October 2014)
|
# Tiger - Wikipedia
| Tiger Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| A Bengal tigress in Kanha Tiger Reserve, India | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Suborder: | Feliformia |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Subfamily: | Pantherinae |
| Genus: | Panthera
|
| Species: | P. tigris |
| Binomial name | |
Panthera tigris | |
| Subspecies | |
| Tiger distribution as of 2022 | |
| Synonyms | |
The **tiger** (* Panthera tigris*) is a large cat and a member of the genus
*Panthera*native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is traditionally classified into nine recent subspecies, though some recognise only two subspecies, mainland Asian tigers and the island tigers of the Sunda Islands.
Throughout the tiger's range, it inhabits mainly forests, from coniferous and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests in the Russian Far East and Northeast China to tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests on the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. The tiger is an apex predator and preys mainly on ungulates, which it takes by ambush. It lives a mostly solitary life and occupies home ranges, defending these from individuals of the same sex. The range of a male tiger overlaps with that of multiple females with whom he mates. Females give birth to usually two or three cubs that stay with their mother for about two years. When becoming independent, they leave their mother's home range and establish their own.
Since the early 20th century, tiger populations have lost at least 93% of their historic range and are locally extinct in West and Central Asia, in large areas of China and on the islands of Java and Bali. Today, the tiger's range is severely fragmented. It is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, as its range is thought to have declined by 53% to 68% since the late 1990s. Major threats to tigers are habitat destruction and fragmentation due to deforestation, poaching for fur and the illegal trade of body parts for medicinal purposes. Tigers are also victims of human–wildlife conflict as they attack and prey on livestock in areas where natural prey is scarce. The tiger is legally protected in all range countries. National conservation measures consist of action plans, anti-poaching patrols and schemes for monitoring tiger populations. In several range countries, wildlife corridors have been established and tiger reintroduction is planned.
The tiger is among the most popular of the world's charismatic megafauna. It has been kept in captivity since ancient times and has been trained to perform in circuses and other entertainment shows. The tiger featured prominently in the ancient mythology and folklore of cultures throughout its historic range and has continued to appear in culture worldwide.
## Etymology
The Old English *tigras* derives from Old French *tigre*, from Latin *tigris*, which was a borrowing from *tigris* (Ancient Greek: τίγρις).
Since ancient times, the word *tigris* has been suggested to originate from the Armenian or Persian word for 'arrow', which may also be the origin of the name for the river Tigris. However, today, the names are thought to be homonyms, and the connection between the tiger and the river is doubted.
## Taxonomy
In 1758, Carl Linnaeus described the tiger in his work *Systema Naturae* and gave it the scientific name *Felis tigris*, as the genus *Felis* was being used for all cats at the time. His scientific description was based on descriptions by earlier naturalists such as Conrad Gessner and Ulisse Aldrovandi. In 1929, Reginald Innes Pocock placed the species in the genus *Panthera* using the scientific name *Panthera tigris*.
### Subspecies
recent tiger subspecies have been proposed between the early 19th and early 21st centuries, namely the Bengal, Malayan, Indochinese, South China, Siberian, Caspian, Javan, Bali and Sumatran tigers. The validity of several tiger subspecies was questioned in 1999 as most putative subspecies were distinguished on the basis of fur length and colouration, striping patterns and body size of specimens in natural history museum collections that are not necessarily representative for the entire population. It was proposed to recognise only two tiger subspecies as valid, namely *P. t. tigris* in mainland Asia and the smaller *P. t. sondaica* in the Greater Sunda Islands.
This two-subspecies proposal was reaffirmed in 2015 through a comprehensive analysis of morphological, ecological and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) traits of all putative tiger subspecies.
In 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group revised felid taxonomy in accordance with the 2015 two-subspecies proposal and recognised only *P. t. tigris* and *P. t. sondaica*. Results of a 2018 whole-genome sequencing study of 32 samples from the six living putative subspecies—the Bengal, Malayan, Indochinese, South China, Siberian and Sumatran tiger—found them to be distinct and separate clades. These results were corroborated in 2021 and 2023. A 2023 study found validity for all nine recent subspecies. The Cat Specialist Group states that "Given the varied interpretations of data, the [subspecific] taxonomy of this species is currently under review by the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group."
The following tables are based on the classification of the tiger as of 2005, and also reflect the classification recognised by the Cat Classification Task Force in 2017.
| Population | Description | Image |
|---|---|---|
Bengal tiger formerly P. t. tigris (Linnaeus, 1758)
|
This population inhabits the Indian subcontinent. The Bengal tiger has shorter fur than tigers further north, with a light tawny to orange-red colouration, and relatively long and narrow nostrils. | |
† Caspian tiger formerly P. t. virgata (Illiger, 1815)
|
This population occurred from Turkey to around the Caspian Sea. It had bright rusty-red fur with thin and closely spaced brownish stripes, and a broad occipital bone. Genetic analysis revealed that it was closely related to the Siberian tiger. It has been extinct since the 1970s. | |
Siberian tiger formerly P. t. altaica (Temminck, 1844)
|
This population lives in the Russian Far East, Northeast China and possibly North Korea. The Siberian tiger has long hair and dense fur. Its ground colour varies widely from ochre-yellow in winter to more reddish and vibrant after moulting. The skull is shorter and broader than the skulls of tigers further south. | |
South China tiger formerly P. t. amoyensis (Hilzheimer, 1905)
|
This tiger historically lived in south-central China. The skulls of the five type specimens had shorter carnassials and molars than tigers from India, a smaller cranium, orbits set closer together and larger postorbital processes; skins were yellowish with rhombus-like stripes. It has a unique mtDNA haplotype due to interbreeding with ancient tiger lineages. It is extinct in the wild as there has not been a confirmed sighting since the 1970s, and survives only in captivity. | |
Indochinese tiger formerly P. t. corbetti (Mazák, 1968)
|
This tiger population occurs on the Indochinese Peninsula. Indochinese tiger specimens have smaller craniums than Bengal tigers and appear to have darker fur with somewhat thin stripes. | |
Malayan tiger formerly P. t. jacksoni (Luo et al., 2004)
|
The Malayan tiger was proposed as a distinct subspecies on the basis of mtDNA and micro-satellite sequences that differ from the Indochinese tiger. It does not differ significantly in fur colour or skull size from Indochinese tigers. There is no clear geographical barrier between tiger populations in northern Malaysia and southern Thailand. |
| Population | Description | Image |
|---|---|---|
†Javan tiger formerly P. t. sondaica (Temminck, 1944)
|
This tiger was described based on an unspecified number of skins with short and smooth hair. Tigers from Java were small compared to tigers of the Asian mainland, had relatively elongated skulls compared to the Sumatran tiger and longer, thinner and more numerous stripes. The Javan tiger is thought to have gone extinct by the 1980s. | |
†Bali tiger formerly P. t. balica (Schwarz, 1912)
|
This tiger occurred on Bali and had brighter fur and a smaller skull than the Javan tiger. A typical feature of Bali tiger skulls is the narrow occipital bone, which is similar to the Javan tiger's skull. This population went extinct in the 1940s. | |
Sumatran tiger formerly P. t. sumatrae (Pocock, 1929)
|
The type specimen from Sumatra had dark fur. The Sumatran tiger has particularly long hair around the face, thick body stripes and a broader and smaller nasal bone than other island tigers. |
### Evolution
Phylogeny of the genus Panthera based on a 2016 nuclear DNA study
|
The tiger shares the genus *Panthera* with the lion, leopard, jaguar and snow leopard. Results of genetic analyses indicate that the tiger and snow leopard are sister species whose lineages split from each other between 2.70 and 3.70 million years ago. The tiger's whole genome sequencing shows repeated sequences that parallel those in other cat genomes.
The fossil species *Panthera palaeosinensis* of early Pleistocene northern China was described as a possible tiger ancestor when it was discovered in 1924, but modern cladistics places it as basal to modern *Panthera*. *Panthera zdanskyi* lived around the same time and place, and was suggested to be a sister species of the modern tiger when it was examined in 2014. However, as of 2023, at least two subsequent studies considered *P. zdanskyi* likely to be a synonym of *P. palaeosinensis*, noting that its proposed differences from that species fell within the range of individual variation. The earliest appearance of the modern tiger species in the fossil record are jaw fragments from Lantion in China that are dated to the early Pleistocene.
Middle- to late-Pleistocene tiger fossils have been found throughout China, Sumatra and Java. Prehistoric subspecies include *Panthera tigris trinilensis* and *P. t. soloensis* of Java and Sumatra and *P. t. acutidens* of China; late Pleistocene and early Holocene fossils of tigers have also been found in Borneo and Palawan, Philippines. Fossil specimens of tigers have also been reported from the Middle-Late Pleistocene of Japan. Results of a phylogeographic study indicate that all living tigers have a common ancestor that lived between 108,000 and 72,000 years ago. Genetic studies suggest that the tiger population contracted around 115,000 years ago due to glaciation. Modern tiger populations originated from a refugium in Indochina and spread across Asia after the Last Glacial Maximum. As they colonised northeastern China, the ancestors of the South China tiger intermixed with a relict tiger population.
### Hybrids
Tigers can interbreed with other *Panthera* cats and have done so in captivity. The liger is the offspring of a female tiger and a male lion and the tigon the offspring of a male tiger and a female lion. The lion sire passes on a growth-promoting gene, but the corresponding growth-inhibiting gene from the female tiger is absent, so that ligers grow far larger than either parent species. By contrast, the male tiger does not pass on a growth-promoting gene while the lioness passes on a growth inhibiting gene; hence, tigons are around the same size as their parents. Since they often develop life-threatening birth defects and can easily become obese, breeding these hybrids is regarded as unethical.
## Description
The tiger has a typical felid morphology, with a muscular body, shortened legs, strong forelimbs with wide front paws, a large head and a tail that is about half the length of the rest of its body. It has five digits, including a dewclaw, on the front feet and four on the back, all of which have retractile claws that are compact and curved, and can reach 10 cm (3.9 in) long. The ears are rounded and the eyes have a round pupil. The snout ends in a triangular, pink tip with small black dots, the number of which increase with age. The tiger's skull is robust, with a constricted front region, proportionally small, elliptical orbits, long nasal bones and a lengthened cranium with a large sagittal crest. It resembles a lion's skull, but differs from it in the concave or flattened underside of the lower jaw and in its longer nasals. The tiger has 30 fairly robust teeth and its somewhat curved canines are the longest in the cat family at 6.4–7.6 cm (2.5–3.0 in).
The tiger has a head-body length of 1.4–2.8 m (4 ft 7 in – 9 ft 2 in) with a 0.6–1.1 m (2 ft 0 in – 3 ft 7 in) tail and stands 0.8–1.1 m (2 ft 7 in – 3 ft 7 in) at the shoulder. The Siberian and Bengal tigers are the largest. Male Bengal tigers weigh 200–260 kg (440–570 lb), and females weigh 100–160 kg (220–350 lb); island tigers are the smallest, likely due to insular dwarfism. Male Sumatran tigers weigh 100–140 kg (220–310 lb), and females weigh 75–110 kg (165–243 lb). The tiger is popularly thought to be the largest living felid species; but since tigers of the different subspecies and populations vary greatly in size and weight, the tiger's average size may be less than the lion's, while the largest tigers are bigger than their lion counterparts.
### Coat
The tiger's coat usually has short hairs, reaching up to 35 mm (1.4 in), though the hairs of the northern-living Siberian tiger can reach 105 mm (4.1 in). Belly hairs tend to be longer than back hairs. The density of their fur is usually thin, though the Siberian tiger develops a particularly thick winter coat. The tiger has lines of fur around the face and long whiskers, especially in males. It has an orange colouration that varies from yellowish to reddish. White fur covers the underside, from head to tail, along with the inner surface of the legs and parts of the face. On the back of the ears, it has a prominent white spot, which is surrounded by black. The tiger is marked with distinctive black or dark brown stripes, which are uniquely patterned in each individual. The stripes are mostly vertical, but those on the limbs and forehead are horizontal. They are more concentrated towards the backside and those on the trunk may reach under the belly. The tips of stripes are generally sharp and some may split up or split and fuse again. Tail stripes are thick bands and a black tip marks the end.
The tiger is one of only a few striped cat species. Stripes are advantageous for camouflage in vegetation with vertical patterns of light and shade, such as trees, reeds and tall grass. This is supported by a Fourier analysis study showing that the striping patterns line up with their environment. The orange colour may also aid in concealment, as the tiger's prey is colour blind and possibly perceives the tiger as green and blended in with the vegetation.
#### Colour variations
The three colour variants of Bengal tigers – nearly stripeless snow-white, white and golden – are now virtually non-existent in the wild due to the reduction of wild tiger populations but continue in captive populations. The white tiger has a white background colour with sepia-brown stripes. The golden tiger is pale golden with reddish-brown stripes. The snow-white tiger is a morph with extremely faint stripes and a pale sepia-brown ringed tail. White and golden morphs are the result of an autosomal recessive trait with a white locus and a wideband locus, respectively. The snow-white variation is caused by polygenes with both white and wideband loci. The breeding of white tigers is controversial, as they have no use for conservation. Only 0.001% of wild tigers have the genes for this colour morph and the overrepresentation of white tigers in captivity is the result of inbreeding. Hence, their continued breeding will risk both inbreeding depression and loss of genetic variability in captive tigers.
Pseudo-melanistic tigers with thick, merged stripes have been recorded in Simlipal National Park and three Indian zoos; a population genetic analysis of Indian tiger samples revealed that this phenotype is caused by a mutation of a transmembrane aminopeptidase gene. Around 37% of the Simlipal tiger population has this feature, which has been linked to genetic isolation.
## Distribution and habitat
The tiger historically ranged from eastern Turkey, northern Iran and Afghanistan to Central Asia and from northern Pakistan through the Indian subcontinent and Indochina to southeastern Siberia, Sumatra, Java and Bali. As of 2022, it inhabits less than 7% of its historical distribution and has a scattered range in the Indian subcontinent, the Indochinese Peninsula, Sumatra, northeastern China and the Russian Far East. As of 2020, India had the largest extent of global tiger habitat with 300,508 km2 (116,027 sq mi), followed by Russia with 195,819 km2 (75,606 sq mi).
The tiger mainly lives in forest habitats and is highly adaptable. Records in Central Asia indicate that it primarily inhabited Tugay riverine forests and hilly and lowland forests in the Caucasus. In the Amur-Ussuri region of Russia and China, it inhabits Korean pine and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests; riparian forests serve as dispersal corridors, providing food and water for both tigers and ungulates. On the Indian subcontinent, it inhabits mainly tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, tropical moist evergreen forests, tropical dry forests, alluvial plains and the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans. In the Eastern Himalayas, it was documented in temperate forest up to an elevation of 4,200 m (13,800 ft) in Bhutan, of 3,630 m (11,910 ft) in the Mishmi Hills and of 3,139 m (10,299 ft) in Mêdog County, southeastern Tibet. In Thailand, it lives in deciduous and evergreen forests. In Sumatra, it inhabits lowland peat swamp forests and rugged montane forests.
### Population density
Camera trapping during 2010–2015 in the deciduous and subtropical pine forest of Jim Corbett National Park, northern India revealed a stable tiger population density of 12–17 individuals per 100 km2 (39 sq mi) in an area of 521 km2 (201 sq mi).
In northern Myanmar, the population density in a sampled area of roughly 3,250 km2 (1,250 sq mi) in a mosaic of tropical broadleaf forest and grassland was estimated to be 0.21–0.44 tigers per 100 km2 (39 sq mi) as of 2009.
Population density in mixed deciduous and semi-evergreen forests of Thailand's Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary was estimated at 2.01 tigers per 100 km2 (39 sq mi); during the 1970s and 1980s, logging and poaching had occurred in the adjacent Mae Wong and Khlong Lan National Parks, where population density was much lower, estimated at only 0.359 tigers per 100 km2 (39 sq mi) as of 2016.
Population density in dipterocarp and montane forests in northern Malaysia was estimated at 1.47–2.43 adult tigers per 100 km2 (39 sq mi) in Royal Belum State Park, but 0.3–0.92 adult tigers per 100 km2 (39 sq mi) in the unprotected selectively logged Temengor Forest Reserve.
## Behaviour and ecology
Camera trap data show that tigers in Chitwan National Park avoided locations frequented by people and were more active at night than during day. In Sundarbans National Park, six radio-collared tigers were most active from dawn to early morning and reached their zenith around 7:00 o'clock in the morning. A three-year-long camera trap survey in Shuklaphanta National Park revealed that tigers were most active from dusk until midnight. In northeastern China, tigers were crepuscular and active at night with activity peaking at dawn and dusk; they were largely active at the same time as their prey.
The tiger is a powerful swimmer and easily transverses rivers as wide as 8 km (5.0 mi); it immerses in water, particularly on hot days. In general, it is less capable of climbing trees than many other cats due to its size, but cubs under 16 months old may routinely do so. An adult was recorded climbing 10 m (33 ft) up a smooth pipal tree.
### Social spacing
Adult tigers lead largely solitary lives within home ranges or territories, the size of which mainly depends on prey abundance, geographic area and sex of the individual. Males and females defend their home ranges from those of the same sex and the home range of a male encompasses that of multiple females. Two females in the Sundarbans had home ranges of 10.6 and 14.1 km2 (4.1 and 5.4 sq mi).
In Panna Tiger Reserve, the home ranges of five reintroduced females varied from 53–67 km2 (20–26 sq mi) in winter to 55–60 km2 (21–23 sq mi) in summer and to 46–94 km2 (18–36 sq mi) during the monsoon; three males had 84–147 km2 (32–57 sq mi) large home ranges in winter, 82–98 km2 (32–38 sq mi) in summer and 81–118 km2 (31–46 sq mi) during monsoon seasons.
In Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve, 14 females had home ranges 248–520 km2 (96–201 sq mi) and five resident males of 847–1,923 km2 (327–742 sq mi) that overlapped with those of up to five females. When tigresses in the same reserve had cubs of up to four months of age, they reduced their home ranges to stay near their young and steadily enlarged them until their offspring were 13–18 months old.
The tiger is a long-ranging species and individuals disperse over distances of up to 650 km (400 mi) to reach tiger populations in other areas. Young tigresses establish their first home ranges close to their mothers' while males migrate further than their female counterparts. Four radio-collared females in Chitwan dispersed between 0 and 43.2 km (0.0 and 26.8 mi) and 10 males between 9.5 and 65.7 km (5.9 and 40.8 mi). A subadult male lives as a transient in another male's home range until he is older and strong enough to challenge the resident male. Tigers mark their home ranges by spraying urine on vegetation and rocks, clawing or scent rubbing trees and marking trails with faeces, anal gland secretions and ground scrapings. Scent markings also allow an individual to pick up information on another's identity. Unclaimed home ranges, particularly those that belonged to a deceased individual, can be taken over in days or weeks.
Male tigers are generally less tolerant of other males within their home ranges than females are of other females. Disputes are usually solved by intimidation rather than fighting. Once dominance has been established, a male may tolerate a subordinate within his range, as long as they do not come near him. The most serious disputes tend to occur between two males competing for a female in oestrus. Though tigers mostly live alone, relationships between individuals can be complex. Tigers are particularly social at kills and a male tiger will sometimes share a carcass with the females and cubs within this home range and unlike male lions, will allow them to feed on the kill before he is finished with it. However, a female is more tense when encountering another female at a kill.
### Communication
During friendly encounters and bonding, tigers rub against each other's bodies. Facial expressions include the "defence threat", which involves a wrinkled face, bared teeth, pulled-back ears and widened pupils. Both males and females show a flehmen response, a characteristic curled-lip grimace, when smelling urine markings. Males also use the flehmen to detect the markings made by tigresses in oestrus. Tigers will move their ears around to display the white spots, particularly during aggressive encounters and between mothers and cubs. They also use their tails to signal their mood. To show cordiality, the tail sticks up and sways slowly, while an apprehensive tiger lowers its tail or wags it side-to-side. When calm, the tail hangs low.
Tigers are normally silent but can produce numerous vocalisations. They roar to signal their presence to other individuals over long distances. This vocalisation is forced through an open mouth as it closes and can be heard 3 km (1.9 mi) away. They roar multiple times in a row and others respond in kind. Tigers also roar during mating and a mother will roar to call her cubs to her. When tense, tigers moan, a sound similar to a roar but softer and made when the mouth is at least partially closed. Moaning can be heard 400 m (1,300 ft) away. Aggressive encounters involve growling, snarling and hissing. An explosive "coughing roar" or "coughing snarl" is emitted through an open mouth and exposed teeth. In friendlier situations, tigers prusten, a soft, low-frequency snorting sound similar to purring in smaller cats. Tiger mothers communicate with their cubs by grunting, while cubs call back with miaows. When startled, they "woof". They produce a deer-like "pok" sound for unknown reasons, but most often at kills.
### Hunting and diet
The tiger is a carnivore and an apex predator. Abundance and body weight of prey species are assumed to be the main criteria for the tiger's prey selection, both inside and outside protected areas. It feeds mainly on large and medium-sized ungulates, with a preference for sambar deer, Manchurian wapiti, barasingha, gaur and wild boar. It also preys opportunistically on smaller species like monkeys, peafowl and other ground-based birds, porcupines and fish. Occasional attacks on Asian elephants and Indian rhinoceroses have also been reported. More often, tigers take the more vulnerable calves. They sometimes prey on livestock and dogs in close proximity to settlements. Tigers occasionally consume vegetation, fruit and minerals for dietary fibre and supplements.
Tigers learn to hunt from their mothers, though the ability to hunt may be partially inborn. Depending on the size of the prey, they typically kill weekly though mothers must kill more often. Families hunt together when cubs are old enough. They search for prey using vision and hearing. A tiger will also wait at a watering hole for prey to come by, particularly during hot summer days. It is an ambush predator and when approaching potential prey, it crouches with the head lowered and hides in foliage. It switches between creeping forward and staying still. A tiger may even doze off and can stay in the same spot for as long as a day, waiting for prey and launch an attack when the prey is close enough, usually within 30 m (98 ft). If the prey spots it before then, the cat does not pursue further. A tiger can sprint 56 km/h (35 mph) and leap 10 m (33 ft); it is not a long-distance runner and gives up a chase if prey outpaces it over a certain distance.
The tiger attacks from behind or at the sides and tries to knock the target off balance. It latches onto prey with its forelimbs, twisting and turning during the struggle and tries to pull it to the ground. The tiger generally applies a bite to the throat until its victim dies of strangulation. It has an average bite force at the canine tips of 1234.3 newtons. Holding onto the throat puts the cat out of reach of horns, antlers, tusks and hooves. Tigers are adaptable killers and may use other methods, including ripping the throat or breaking the neck. Large prey may be disabled by a bite to the back of the hock, severing the tendon. Swipes from the large paws are capable of stunning or breaking the skull of a water buffalo. They kill small prey with a bite to the back of the neck or head. Estimates of the success rate for hunting tigers range from a low of 5% to a high of 50%. They are sometimes killed or injured by large or dangerous prey like gaur, buffalo and boar.
Tigers typically move kills to a private, usually vegetated spot no further than 183 m (600 ft), though they have been recorded dragging them 549 m (1,801 ft). They are strong enough to drag the carcass of a fully grown buffalo for some distance. They rest for a while before eating and can consume as much as 50 kg (110 lb) of meat in one session, but feed on a carcass for several days, leaving little for scavengers.
### Competitors
In much of their range, tigers share habitat with leopards and dholes. They typically dominate both of them, though with dholes it depends on their pack size. Interactions between the three predators involve chasing, stealing kills and direct killing. Large dhole packs may kill tigers. Tigers, leopards and dholes coexist by hunting different sized prey. In Nagarhole National Park, the average weight for tiger kills was found to be 91.5 kg (202 lb), compared to 37.6 kg (83 lb) for leopards and 43.4 kg (96 lb) for dholes. In Kui Buri National Park, following a reduction in prey numbers, tigers continued to kill favoured prey while leopards and dholes increased their consumption of small prey.
Both leopards and dholes can live successfully in tiger habitat when there is abundant food and vegetation cover. Otherwise, they appear to be less common where tigers are numerous. The recovery of the tiger population in Rajaji National Park during the 2000s led to a reduction in leopard population densities. Similarly, at two sites in central India the size of dhole packs was negatively correlated with tiger densities. Leopard and dhole distribution in Kui Buri correlated with both prey access and tiger scarcity. In Jigme Dorji National Park, tigers were found to inhabit the deeper parts of forests while the smaller predators were pushed closer to the fringes.
### Reproduction and life cycle
The tiger generally mates all year round, particularly between November and April. A tigress is in oestrus for three to six days at a time, separated by three to nine week intervals. A resident male mates with all the females within his home range, who signal their receptiveness by roaring and marking. Younger, transient males are also attracted, leading to a fight in which the more dominant, resident male drives the usurper off. During courtship, the male is cautious with the female as he waits for her to show signs she is ready to mate. She signals to him by positioning herself in lordosis with her tail to the side. Copulation typically lasts no more than 20 seconds, with the male biting the female by the scruff of her neck. After it is finished, the male quickly pulls away as the female may turn and slap him. Tiger pairs may stay together for up to four days and mate multiple times. Gestation lasts around or over three months.
A tigress gives birth in a secluded location, be it in dense vegetation, in a cave or under a rocky shelter. Litters consist of as many as seven cubs, but two or three are more typical. Newborn cubs weigh 785–1,610 g (27.7–56.8 oz) and are blind and altricial. The mother licks and cleans her cubs, suckles them and viciously defends them from any potential threat. Cubs open their eyes at the age of three to 14 days and their vision becomes clear after a few more weeks. They can leave the denning site after two months and around the same time they start eating meat. The mother only leaves them alone to hunt and even then she does not travel far. When she suspects an area is no longer safe, she moves her cubs to a new spot, transporting them one by one by grabbing them by the scruff of the neck with her mouth. A tigress in Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve maximised the time spent with her cubs by reducing her home range, killing larger prey and returning to her den more rapidly than without cubs; when the cubs started to eat meat, she took them to kill sites, thereby optimising their protection and access to food. In the same reserve, one of 21 cubs died in over eight years of monitoring and mortality did not differ between male and female juveniles. Tiger monitoring over six years in Ranthambore Tiger Reserve indicated an average annual survival rate of around 85 percent for 74 male and female cubs; survival rate increased to 97 percent for both males and female juveniles of one to two years of age. Causes of cub mortality include predators, floods, fires, death of the mother and fatal injuries.
After around two months, the cubs are able to follow their mother. They still hide in vegetation when she goes hunting. Young bond through play fighting and practice stalking. A hierarchy develops in the litter, with the biggest cub, often a male, being the most dominant and the first to eat its fill at a kill. Around the age of six months, cubs are fully weaned and have more freedom to explore their environment. Between eight and ten months, they accompany their mother on hunts. A cub can make a kill as early as 11 months and reach independence as a juvenile of 18 to 24 months of age; males become independent earlier than females. Radio-collared tigers in Chitwan started leaving their natal areas at the age of 19 months. Young females are sexually mature at three to four years, whereas males are at four to five years. Generation length of the tiger is about 7–10 years. Wild Bengal tigers live 12–15 years. Data from the International Tiger Studbook 1938–2018 indicate that captive tigers lived up to 19 years.
The father does not play a role in raising the young, but he encounters and interacts with them. The resident male appears to visit the female–cub families within his home range. They socialise and even share kills. One male was recorded looking after cubs whose mother had died. By defending his home range, the male protects the females and cubs from other males. When a new male takes over, dependent cubs are at risk of infanticide as the male attempts to sire his own young with the females. A seven-year long study in Chitwan National Park revealed that 12 of 56 detected cubs and juveniles were killed by new males taking over home ranges.
### Health and diseases
Tigers are recorded as hosts for various parasites including tapeworms like *Diphyllobothrium erinacei*, *Taenia pisiformis* in India and nematodes like *Toxocara* species in India and *Physaloptera preputialis*, *Dirofilaria ursi* and *Uiteinarta* species in Siberia. Canine distemper is known to occur in Siberian tigers. A morbillivirus infection was the likely cause of death of a tigress in the Russian Far East that was also tested positive for feline panleukopenia and feline coronavirus.
Blood samples from 11 adult tigers in Nepal showed antibodies for canine parvovirus-2, feline herpesvirus, feline coronavirus, leptospirosis and *Toxoplasma gondii*.
## Threats
The tiger has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1986 and the global tiger population is thought to have continuously declined from an estimated population of 5,000–8,262 tigers in the late 1990s to 3,726–5,578 individuals estimated as of 2022. During 2001–2020, landscapes where tigers live declined from 1,025,488 km2 (395,943 sq mi) to 911,901 km2 (352,087 sq mi). Habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation and poaching for fur and body parts are the major threats that contributed to the decrease of tiger populations in all range countries.
Protected areas in central India are highly fragmented due to linear infrastructure like roads, railway lines, transmission lines, irrigation channels and mining activities in their vicinity.
In the Tanintharyi Region of southern Myanmar, deforestation coupled with mining activities and high hunting pressure threatens the tiger population.
In Thailand, nine of 15 protected areas hosting tigers are isolated and fragmented, offering a low probability for dispersal between them; four of these have not harboured tigers since about 2013.
In Peninsular Malaysia, 8,315.7 km2 (3,210.7 sq mi) of tiger habitat was cleared during 1988–2012, most of it for industrial plantations.
Large-scale land acquisitions of about 23,000 km2 (8,900 sq mi) for commercial agriculture and timber extraction in Cambodia contributed to the fragmentation of potential tiger habitat, especially in the Eastern Plains.
Inbreeding depression coupled with habitat destruction, insufficient prey resources and poaching is a threat to the small and isolated tiger population in the Changbai Mountains along the China–Russia border.
In China, tigers became the target of large-scale 'anti-pest' campaigns in the early 1950s, where suitable habitats were fragmented following deforestation and resettlement of people to rural areas, who hunted tigers and prey species. Though tiger hunting was prohibited in 1977, the population continued to decline and is considered extinct in South China since 2001.
Tiger populations in India have been targeted by poachers since the 1990s and were extirpated in two tiger reserves in 2005 and 2009.
Between March 2017 and January 2020, 630 activities of hunters using snares, drift nets, hunting platforms and hunting dogs were discovered in a reserve forest of about 1,000 km2 (390 sq mi) in southern Myanmar. Nam Et-Phou Louey National Park was considered the last important site for the tiger in Laos, but it has not been recorded there at least since 2013; this population likely fell victim to indiscriminate snaring. Anti-poaching units in Sumatra's Kerinci Seblat landscape removed 362 tiger snare traps and seized 91 tiger skins during 2005–2016; annual poaching rates increased with rising skin prices.
Poaching is also the main threat to the tiger population in far eastern Russia, where logging roads facilitate access for poachers and people harvesting forest products that are important for prey species to survive in winter.
Body parts of 207 tigers were detected during 21 surveys in 1991–2014 in two wildlife markets in Myanmar catering to customers in Thailand and China. During the years 2000–2022, at least 3,377 tigers were confiscated in 2,205 seizures in 28 countries; seizures encompassed 665 live and 654 dead individuals, 1,313 whole tiger skins, 16,214 body parts like bones, teeth, paws, claws, whiskers and 1.1 t (1.1 long tons; 1.2 short tons) of meat; 759 seizures in India encompassed body parts of 893 tigers; and 403 seizures in Thailand involved mostly captive-bred tigers. Seizures in Nepal between January 2011 and December 2015 obtained 585 pieces of tiger body parts and two whole carcasses in 19 districts. Seizure data from India during 2001–2021 indicate that tiger skins were the most often traded body parts, followed by claws, bones and teeth; trafficking routes mainly passed through the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Assam. A total of 292 illegal tiger parts were confiscated at US ports of entry from personal baggage, air cargo and mail between 2003 and 2012.
Demand for tiger parts for use in traditional Chinese medicine has also been cited as a major threat to tiger populations. Interviews with local people in the Bangladeshi Sundarbans revealed that they kill tigers for local consumption and trade of skins, bones and meat, in retaliation for attacks by tigers and for excitement. Tiger body parts like skins, bones, teeth and hair are consumed locally by wealthy Bangladeshis and are illegally trafficked from Bangladesh to 15 countries including India, China, Malaysia, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan and the United Kingdom via land borders, airports and seaports. Tiger bone glue is the prevailing tiger product purchased for medicinal purposes in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. "Tiger farm" facilities in China and Southeast Asia breed tigers for their parts, but these appear to make the threat to wild populations worse by increasing the demand for tiger products.
Local people killing tigers in retaliation for attacking and preying on livestock is a threat in several tiger range countries, as this consequence of human–wildlife conflict also contributes to the decline of the population.
## Conservation
Internationally, the tiger is protected under CITES Appendix I, banning trade of live tigers and their body parts. In Russia, hunting the tiger has been banned since 1952. In Bhutan, it has been protected since 1969 and enlisted as totally protected since 1995. Since 1972, it has been afforded the highest protection level under India's Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. In Nepal and Bangladesh, it has been protected since 1973. Since 1976, it has been totally protected under Malaysia's Protection of Wild Life Act, and the country's Wildlife Conservation Act enacted in 2010 increased punishments for wildlife-related crimes. In Indonesia, it has been protected since 1990. In China, the trade in tiger body parts was banned in 1993. The Thai Wildlife Preservation and Protection Act was enacted in 2019 to combat poaching and trading of body parts.
In 1973, the National Tiger Conservation Authority and Project Tiger were founded in India to gain public support for tiger conservation. Since then, 53 tiger reserves covering an area of 75,796 km2 (29,265 sq mi) have been established in the country up to 2022. These efforts contributed to the recovery of India's tiger population between 2006 and 2018 so that it occurs in an area of about 138,200 km2 (53,400 sq mi).
Myanmar's national tiger conservation strategy developed in 2003 comprises management tasks such as restoration of degraded habitats, increasing the extent of protected areas and wildlife corridors, protecting tiger prey species, thwarting tiger killing and illegal trade of its body parts and promoting public awareness through wildlife education programmes. Bhutan's first Tiger Action Plan implemented during 2006–2015 revolved around habitat conservation, human–wildlife conflict management, education and awareness; the second Action Plan aimed at increasing the country's tiger population by 20% until 2023 compared to 2015. In 2009, the Bangladesh Tiger Action Plan was initiated to stabilise the country's tiger population, maintain habitat and a sufficient prey base, improve law enforcement and foster cooperation between governmental agencies responsible for tiger conservation. The Thailand Tiger Action Plan ratified in 2010 envisioned increasing the country's tiger populations by 50% in the Western Forest Complex and Dong Phayayen–Khao Yai Forest Complex and reestablish populations in three potential landscapes until 2022. The Indonesian National Tiger Recovery Program ratified in 2010 aimed at increasing the Sumatran tiger population by 2022. The third strategic and action plan for the conservation of the Sumatran tiger for the years 2020–2030 revolves around strengthening management of small tiger population units of less than 20 mature individuals and connectivity between 13 forest patches in North Sumatra and West Sumatra provinces.
Increases in anti-poaching patrol efforts in four Russian protected areas during 2011–2014 contributed to reducing poaching, stabilising the tiger population and improving protection of ungulate populations. Poaching and trafficking were declared to be moderate and serious crimes in 2019.
Anti-poaching operations were also established in Nepal in 2010, with increased cooperation and intelligence sharing between agencies. These policies have led to many years of "zero poaching" and the country's tiger population has doubled in a decade.
Anti-poaching patrols in the 1,200 km2 (460 sq mi) large core area of Taman Negara lead to a decrease of poaching frequency from 34 detected incidents in 2015–2016 to 20 incidents during 2018–2019; the arrest of seven poaching teams and removal of snares facilitated the survival of three resident female tigers and at least 11 cubs.
Army and police officers are deployed for patrolling together with staff of protected areas in Malaysia.
Wildlife corridors are important conservation measures as they facilitate tiger populations to connect between protected areas; tigers use at least nine corridors that were established in the Terai Arc Landscape and Sivalik Hills in both Nepal and India. Corridors in forested areas with low human encroachment are highly suitable. In West Sumatra, 12 wildlife corridors were identified as high priority for mitigating human–wildlife conflicts. In 2019, China and Russia signed a memorandum of understanding for transboundary cooperation between two protected areas, Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park and Land of the Leopard National Park, that includes the creation of wildlife corridors and bilateral monitoring and patrolling along the Sino-Russian border.
Rescued and rehabilitated problem tigers and orphaned tiger cubs have been released into the wild and monitored in India, Sumatra and Russia. In Kazakhstan, habitat restoration and reintroduction of prey species in Ile-Balkash Nature Reserve have progressed and tiger reintroduction is planned for 2025. Reintroduction of tigers is considered possible in eastern Cambodia, once management of protected areas is improved and forest loss stabilized. South China tigers are kept and bred in Chinese zoos, with plans to reintroduce their offspring into remote protected areas. Coordinated breeding programs among zoos have led to enough genetic diversity in tigers to act as "insurance against extinction in the wild".
## Relationship with humans
### Hunting
Tigers have been hunted by humans for millennia, as indicated by a painting on the Bhimbetka rock shelters in India that is dated to 5,000–6,000 years ago. They were hunted throughout their range in Asia, chased on horseback, elephant-back or even with sled dogs and killed with spears and later firearms. Such hunts were conducted both by Asian governments and empires like the Mughal Empire, as well as European colonists. Tigers were often hunted as trophies and because of their perceived danger. An estimated 80,000 tigers were killed between 1875 and 1925.
### Attacks
In most areas, tigers avoid humans, but attacks are a risk wherever people coexist with them. Dangerous encounters are more likely to occur in edge habitats between wild and agricultural areas. Most attacks on humans are defensive, including protection of young; however, tigers do sometimes see people as prey. Man-eating tigers tend to be old and disabled. Tigers driven from their home ranges are also at risk of turning to man-eating.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Champawat Tiger was responsible for over 430 human deaths in Nepal and India before she was shot by Jim Corbett. This tigress suffered from broken teeth and was unable to kill normal prey. Modern authors speculate that sustaining on meagre human flesh forced the cat to kill more and more. Tiger attacks were particularly high in Singapore during the mid-19th century, when plantations expanded into the tiger's habitat. In the 1840s, the number of deaths in the area ranged from 200 to 300 annually. Tiger attacks in the Sundarbans caused 1,396 human deaths in the period 1935–2006 according to official records of the Bangladesh Forest Department. Victims of these attacks are local villagers who enter the tiger's domain to collect resources like wood and honey. Fishermen have been particularly common targets. Methods to counter tiger attacks have included face masks worn backwards, protective clothes, sticks and carefully stationed electric dummies.
### Captivity
Tigers have been kept in captivity since ancient times. In ancient Rome, tigers were displayed in amphitheatres; they were slaughtered in venatio hunts and used to kill criminals. The Mongol ruler Kublai Khan is reported to have kept tigers in the 13th century. Starting in the Middle Ages, tigers were being kept in European menageries. Tigers and other exotic animals were mainly used for the entertainment of elites but from the 19th century onward, they were exhibited more to the public. Tigers were particularly big attractions and their captive population soared. In 2020, there were over 8,000 captive tigers in Asia, over 5,000 in the US and no less than 850 in Europe. There are more tigers in captivity than in the wild. Captive tigers may display stereotypical behaviours such as pacing or inactivity. Modern zoos are able to reduce such behaviours with exhibits designed so the animals can move between separate but connected enclosures. Enrichment items are also important for the cat's welfare and the stimulation of its natural behaviours.
Tigers have played prominent roles in circuses and other live performances. Ringling Bros included many tiger tamers in the 20th century including Mabel Stark, who became a big draw and had a long career. She was well known for being able to control the tigers despite being a small woman; using "manly" tools like whips and guns. Another trainer was Clyde Beatty, who used chairs, whips and guns to provoke tigers and other beasts into acting fierce and allowed him to appear courageous. He would perform with as many as 40 tigers and lions in one act. From the 1960s onward, trainers like Gunther Gebel-Williams would use gentler methods to control their animals. Sara Houcke was dubbed "the Tiger Whisperer" as she trained the cats to obey her by whispering to them. Siegfried & Roy became famous for performing with white tigers in Las Vegas. The act ended in 2003 when a tiger attacked Roy during a performance. In 2009, tigers were the most traded circus animals. The use of tigers and other animals in shows eventually declined in many countries due to pressure from animal rights groups and greater desires from the public to see them in more natural settings. Several countries restrict or ban such acts.
Tigers have become popular in the exotic pet trade, particularly in the United States where only 6% of the captive tiger population in 2020 were being housed in zoos and other facilities approved by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Private collectors are thought to be ill-equipped to provide proper care for tigers, which compromises their welfare. They can also threaten public safety by allowing people to interact with them. The keeping of tigers and other big cats by private people was banned in the US in 2022. Most countries in the European Union have banned breeding and keeping tigers outside of licensed zoos and rescue centres, but some still allow private holdings.
### Cultural significance
The tiger is among the most famous of the charismatic megafauna. Kailash Sankhala has called it "a rare combination of courage, ferocity and brilliant colour", while Candy d'Sa calls it "fierce and commanding on the outside, but noble and discerning on the inside". In a 2004 online poll involving more than 50,000 people from 73 countries, the tiger was voted the world's favourite animal with 21% of the vote, narrowly beating the dog. Similarly, a 2018 study found the tiger to be the most popular wild animal based on surveys, as well as appearances on websites of major zoos and posters of some animated movies.
While the lion represented royalty and power in Western culture, the tiger played such a role in various Asian cultures. In ancient China, the tiger was seen as the "king of the forest" and symbolised the power of the emperor. In Chinese astrology, the tiger is the third out of 12 symbols in the Chinese zodiac and controls the period between 15:00 and 17:00 o'clock in the afternoon. The Year of the Tiger is thought to bring "dramatic and extreme events". The White Tiger is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations, representing the west along with the yin and the season of autumn. It is the counterpart to the Azure Dragon, which conversely symbolises the east, yang and springtime. The tiger is one of the animals displayed on the Pashupati seal of the Indus Valley Civilisation. The big cat was depicted on seals and coins during the Chola dynasty of southern India, as it was the official emblem.
Tigers have had religious and folkloric significance. In Buddhism, the tiger, monkey and deer are the Three Senseless Creatures, with the tiger symbolising anger. In Hinduism, the tiger is the vehicle of Durga, the goddess of feminine power and peace, whom the gods created to fight demons. Similarly, in the Greco-Roman world, the tiger was depicted being ridden by the god Dionysus. In Korean mythology, tigers are messengers of the Mountain Gods. In both Chinese and Korean culture, tigers are seen as protectors against evil spirits and their image was used to decorate homes, tombs and articles of clothing. In the folklore of Malaysia and Indonesia, "tiger shamans" heal the sick by invoking the big cat. People turning into tigers and the inverse has also been widespread; in particular weretigers are people who could change into tigers and back again. The Mnong people of Indochina believed that tigers could shapeshift into humans. Among some indigenous peoples of Siberia, it was believed that men would seduce women by transforming into tigers.
William Blake's 1794 poem "The Tyger" portrays the animal as the duality of beauty and ferocity. It is the sister poem to "The Lamb" in Blake's *Songs of Innocence and of Experience* and he ponders how God could create such different creatures. The tiger is featured in the mediaeval Chinese novel *Water Margin*, where the cat battles and is slain by the bandit Wu Song, while the tiger Shere Khan in Rudyard Kipling's *The Jungle Book* (1894) is the mortal enemy of the human protagonist Mowgli. Friendly tame tigers have also existed in culture, notably Tigger, the Winnie-the-Pooh character and Tony the Tiger, the Kellogg's cereal mascot.
## See also
### Bibliography
- Thapar, V. (2004).
*Tiger: The Ultimate Guide*. New Delhi: CDS Books. ISBN 1-59315-024-5. - Green, S. (2006).
*Tiger*. London: Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1-86189-276-8. - MacDonald, D., ed. (2001).
*The Encyclopedia of Mammals*(Second ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-7607-1969-5. - Tilson, R.; Nyhus, P. J., eds. (2010).
*Tigers of the World: The Science, Politics and Conservation of*Panthera tigris*(Second ed.). London: Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-08-094751-8.* - Mills, S. (2004).
*Tiger*. Richmond Hill: Firefly Books. ISBN 1-55297-949-0. - Schaller, G. B. (1967).
*The Deer and the Tiger: A Study of Wildlife in India*. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-73631-8. - Seidensticker, J.; Christie, S.; Jackson, P., eds. (1999).
*Riding the Tiger: Tiger Conservation in Human-Dominated Landscapes*. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521648356. - Sludskii, A. A. (1992). "Tiger
*Panthera tigris*Linnaeus, 1758". In Heptner, V. G.; Sludskii, A. A. (eds.).*Mlekopitajuščie Sovetskogo Soiuza. Moskva: Vysšaia Škola*[*Mammals of the Soviet Union*]. Vol. II, Part 2. Carnivora (Hyaenas and Cats) (Second ed.). Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation. pp. 95–202. ISBN 978-90-04-08876-4.
## External links
- Media related to
*Panthera tigris*(category) at Wikimedia Commons - Data related to
*Panthera tigris*at Wikispecies - Quotations related to Tigers at Wikiquote
- Tigers travel guide from Wikivoyage
- "Tiger
*Panthera tigris*". IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group.
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# Spanish language - Wikipedia
| Spanish | |
|---|---|
| Castilian | |
| |
| Pronunciation | [espaˈɲol] ⓘ[kasteˈʝano] ⓘ, [kasteˈʎano] ⓘ |
| Speakers | L1: 484 million (2022–2024) L2: 74 million (2022–2024) Total: 558 million (2020–2024) |
Early forms | |
| Latin script (Spanish alphabet) Spanish Braille | |
| Signed Spanish (using signs of the local language) | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |
|
| Regulated by | Association of Spanish Language Academies ( Real Academia Española and 22 other national Spanish language academies) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 |
|
| ISO 639-2 |
|
| ISO 639-3 | `spa` |
Glottolog | `stan1288` |
| Linguasphere | `51-AAA-b` |
Official majority language
Co-official or administrative language but not majority native language
Secondary language (more than 20% Spanish speakers) or culturally important | |
**Spanish** (*español*) or **Castilian **(*castellano*) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a global language with 483 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain, and about 558 million speakers total, including second-language speakers. Spanish is the official language of 20 countries, as well as one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Spanish is the world's second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese; the world's fourth-most spoken language overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu); and the world's most widely spoken Romance language. The country with the largest population of native speakers is Mexico.
Spanish is part of the Ibero-Romance language group, in which the language is also known as *Castilian* (*castellano*). The group evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. The oldest Latin texts with traces of Spanish come from mid-northern Iberia in the 9th century, and the first systematic written use of the language happened in Toledo, a prominent city of the Kingdom of Castile, in the 13th century. Spanish colonialism in the early modern period spurred the introduction of the language to overseas locations, most notably to the Americas.
As a Romance language, Spanish is a descendant of Latin. Around 75% of modern Spanish vocabulary is Latin in origin, including Latin borrowings from Ancient Greek. Alongside English and French, it is also one of the most taught foreign languages throughout the world. Spanish is well represented in the humanities and social sciences. Spanish is also the third most used language on the internet by number of users after English and Chinese and the second most used language by number of websites after English.
Spanish is used as an official language by many international organizations, including the United Nations, European Union, Organization of American States, Union of South American Nations, Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, African Union, and others.
In Spain and some other parts of the Spanish-speaking world, Spanish is called not only *español* but also *castellano* (Castilian), the language from the Kingdom of Castile, contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician, Basque, Asturian, Catalan/Valencian, Aragonese, Occitan and other minor languages.
The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term *castellano* to define the official language of the whole of Spain, in contrast to *las demás lenguas españolas* (lit. 'the other Spanish languages'). Article III reads as follows:
El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. ... Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas...
Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State. ... The other Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities...
The Royal Spanish Academy (*Real Academia Española*), on the other hand, currently uses the term *español* in its publications. However, from 1713 to 1923, it called the language *castellano*.
The *Diccionario panhispánico de dudas* (a language guide published by the Royal Spanish Academy) states that, although the Royal Spanish Academy prefers to use the term *español* in its publications when referring to the Spanish language, both terms—*español* and *castellano*—are regarded as synonymous and equally valid.
The term *castellano* is related to Castile (*Castilla* or archaically *Castiella*), the kingdom where the language was originally spoken. The name *Castile*, in turn, is usually assumed to be derived from *castillo* ('castle').
In the Middle Ages, the language spoken in Castile was generically referred to as *Romance* and later also as *Lengua vulgar*. Later in the period, it gained geographical specification as *Romance castellano* (*romanz castellano*, *romanz de Castiella*), *lenguaje de Castiella*, and ultimately simply as *castellano* (noun).
Different etymologies have been suggested for the term *español* (Spanish). According to the Royal Spanish Academy, *español* derives from the Occitan word *espaignol* and that, in turn, derives from the Vulgar Latin **hispaniolus* ('of Hispania'). Hispania was the Roman name for the entire Iberian Peninsula.
There are other hypotheses apart from the one suggested by the Royal Spanish Academy. Spanish philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal suggested that the classic *hispanus* or *hispanicus* took the suffix *-one* from Vulgar Latin, as happened with other words such as *bretón* (Breton) or *sajón* (Saxon).
Like the other Romance languages, the Spanish language evolved from Vulgar Latin, which was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans during the Second Punic War, beginning in 210 BC. Several pre-Roman languages (also called Paleohispanic languages)—some distantly related to Latin as Indo-European languages, and some that are not related at all—were previously spoken in the Iberian Peninsula. These languages included Proto-Basque, Iberian, Lusitanian, Celtiberian and Gallaecian.
The first documents to show traces of what is today regarded as the precursor of modern Spanish are from the 9th century. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era, the most important influences on the Spanish lexicon came from neighboring Romance languages—Mozarabic (Andalusi Romance), Navarro-Aragonese, Leonese, Catalan/Valencian, Portuguese, Galician, Occitan, and later, French and Italian. Spanish also borrowed a considerable number of words from Andalusi Arabic, as well as smaller amounts from Basque and the Germanic Gothic language through the period of Visigoth rule in Iberia. In addition, many more words were borrowed from Latin through the influence of written language and the liturgical language of the Church. The loanwords were taken from both Classical Latin and Renaissance Latin, the form of Latin in use at that time.
According to the theories of Ramón Menéndez Pidal, local sociolects of Vulgar Latin evolved into Spanish, in the north of Iberia, in an area centered in the city of Burgos, and this dialect was later brought to the city of Toledo, where the written standard of Spanish was first developed, in the 13th century. In this formative stage, Spanish developed a strongly differing variant from its close cousin, Leonese, and, according to some authors, was distinguished by a heavy Basque influence (see Iberian Romance languages). This distinctive dialect spread to southern Spain with the advance of the *Reconquista*, and meanwhile gathered a sizable lexical influence from the Arabic of Al-Andalus, much of it indirectly, through the Romance Mozarabic dialects (some 4,000 Arabic-derived words, make up around 8% of the language today). The written standard for this new language was developed in the cities of Toledo, in the 13th to 16th centuries, and Madrid, from the 1570s.
The development of the Spanish sound system from that of Vulgar Latin exhibits most of the changes that are typical of Western Romance languages, including lenition of intervocalic consonants (thus Latin *vīta* > Spanish *vida*). The diphthongization of Latin stressed short *e* and *o*—which occurred in open syllables in French and Italian, but not at all in Catalan or Portuguese—is found in both open and closed syllables in Spanish, as shown in the following table:
| Latin | Spanish | Ladino | Aragonese | Asturian | Galician | Portuguese | Catalan | Gascon / Occitan | French | Sardinian | Italian | Romanian | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| petra | piedra |
pedra |
pedra, pèira |
pierre |
pedra, perda |
pietra |
piatră |
'stone' | |||||
| terra | tierra |
terra |
tèrra |
terre |
terra |
țară |
'land' | ||||||
| moritur | muere |
muerre |
morre |
mor |
morís |
meurt |
mòrit |
muore |
moare |
'dies (v.)' | |||
| mortem | muerte |
morte |
mort |
mòrt |
mort |
morte, morti |
morte |
moarte |
'death' |
Spanish is marked by palatalization of the Latin double consonants (geminates) *nn* and *ll* (thus Latin
*annum* > Spanish *año*, and Latin *anellum* > Spanish
*anillo*).
The consonant written *u* or *v* in Latin and pronounced [w] in Classical Latin had probably "fortified" to a bilabial fricative /β/ in Vulgar Latin. In early Spanish (but not in Catalan or Portuguese) it merged with the consonant written *b* (a bilabial with plosive and fricative allophones). In modern Spanish, there is no difference between the pronunciation of orthographic *b* and *v*.
Typical of Spanish (as also of neighboring Gascon extending as far north as the Gironde estuary, and found in a small area of Calabria), attributed by some scholars to a Basque substratum was the mutation of Latin initial *f* into *h-* whenever it was followed by a vowel that did not diphthongize. The *h-*, still preserved in spelling, is now silent in most varieties of the language, although in some Andalusian and Caribbean dialects, it is still aspirated in some words. Because of borrowings from Latin and neighboring Romance languages, there are many *f*-/*h*- doublets in modern Spanish: *Fernando* and *Hernando* (both Spanish for "Ferdinand"), *ferrero* and *herrero* (both Spanish for "smith"), *fierro* and *hierro* (both Spanish for "iron"), and *fondo* and *hondo* (both words pertaining to depth in Spanish, though *fondo* means "bottom", while *hondo* means "deep"); additionally, *hacer* ("to make") is cognate to the root word of *satisfacer* ("to satisfy"), and *hecho* ("made") is similarly cognate to the root word of *satisfecho* ("satisfied").
Compare the examples in the following table:
| Latin | Spanish | Ladino | Aragonese | Asturian | Galician | Portuguese | Catalan | Gascon / Occitan | French | Sardinian | Italian | Romanian | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| filium | hijo |
fijo (or hijo) |
fillo |
fíu |
fillo |
filho |
fill |
filh, hilh |
fils |
fizu, fìgiu, fillu |
figlio |
fiu |
'son' |
| facere | hacer |
fazer |
fer |
facer |
fazer |
fer |
far, faire, (or har)hèr |
faire |
fàghere, fàere, fàiri |
fare |
a face |
'to do' | |
| febrem | fiebre (calentura) |
febre |
fèbre, frèbe, (orhrèbe)herèbe |
fièvre |
calentura |
febbre |
febră |
'fever' | |||||
| focum | fuego |
fueu |
fogo |
foc |
fuòc, fòc, huèc |
feu |
fogu |
fuoco |
foc |
'fire' |
Some consonant clusters of Latin also produced characteristically different results in these languages, as shown in the examples in the following table:
| Latin | Spanish | Ladino | Aragonese | Asturian | Galician | Portuguese | Catalan | Gascon / Occitan | French | Sardinian | Italian | Romanian | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
clāvem |
llave |
clave |
clau |
llave |
chave |
chave |
clau |
clé |
giae, crae, crai |
chiave |
cheie |
'key' | |
flamma |
llama |
flama |
chama |
chama, flama |
flama |
flamme |
framma |
fiamma |
flamă |
'flame' | |||
plēnum |
lleno |
pleno |
plen |
llenu |
cheo |
cheio, pleno |
ple |
plen |
plein |
prenu |
pieno |
plin |
'plenty, full' |
octō |
ocho |
güeito |
o, chooito |
oito |
oito (oi)to |
vuit, huit |
uè, chuò, chuèit |
huit |
oto |
otto |
opt |
'eight' | |
multum |
muchomuy |
munchomuy |
muitomui |
munchumui |
moitomoi |
muito |
molt |
molt (arch.) |
très, beaucoup, moult
|
meda |
molto |
mult |
'much, very, many' |
In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish underwent a dramatic change in the pronunciation of its sibilant consonants, known in Spanish as the *reajuste de las sibilantes*, which resulted in the distinctive velar [x] pronunciation of the letter ⟨j⟩ and—in a large part of Spain—the characteristic interdental [θ] ("th-sound") for the letter ⟨z⟩ (and for ⟨c⟩ before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩). See History of Spanish (Modern development of the Old Spanish sibilants) for details.
The *Gramática de la lengua castellana*, written in Salamanca in 1492 by Elio Antonio de Nebrija, was the first grammar written for a modern European language. According to a popular anecdote, when Nebrija presented it to Queen Isabella I, she asked him what was the use of such a work, and he answered that language is the instrument of empire. In his introduction to the grammar, dated 18 August 1492, Nebrija wrote that "... language was always the companion of empire."
From the 16th century onwards, the language was taken to the Spanish-discovered America and the Spanish East Indies via Spanish colonization of America. Miguel de Cervantes, author of *Don Quixote*, is such a well-known reference in the world that Spanish is often called *la lengua de Cervantes* ("the language of Cervantes").
In the 20th century, Spanish was introduced to Equatorial Guinea and the Western Sahara, and to areas of the United States that had not been part of the Spanish Empire, such as Spanish Harlem in New York City. For details on borrowed words and other external influences upon Spanish, see Influences on the Spanish language.
Spanish is the primary language in 20 countries worldwide. As of 2023, it is estimated that about 486 million people speak Spanish as a native language, making it the second most spoken language by number of native speakers. An additional 75 million speak Spanish as a second or foreign language, making it the fourth most spoken language in the world overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindi with a total number of 538 million speakers. Spanish is also the third most used language on the Internet, after English and Chinese.
Spanish is the official language of Spain. Upon the emergence of the Castilian Crown as the dominant power in the Iberian Peninsula by the end of the Middle Ages, the Romance vernacular associated with this polity became increasingly used in instances of prestige and influence, and the distinction between "Castilian" and "Spanish" started to become blurred. Hard policies imposing the language's hegemony in an intensely centralising Spanish state were established from the 18th century onward.
Other European territories in which it is also widely spoken include Gibraltar and Andorra.
Spanish is also spoken by immigrant communities in other European countries, such as the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany. Spanish is an official language of the European Union.
Today, the majority of the Spanish speakers live in Hispanic America. Nationally, Spanish is the official language—either *de facto* or *de jure*—of Argentina, Bolivia (co-official with 36 indigenous languages), Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico (co-official with 63 indigenous languages), Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay (co-official with Guaraní), Peru (co-official with Quechua, Aymara, and "the other indigenous languages"), Puerto Rico (co-official with English), Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Spanish language has a long history in the territory of the current-day United States dating back to the 16th century. In the wake of the 1848 Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty, hundreds of thousands of Spanish speakers became a minoritized community in the United States. The 20th century saw further massive growth of Spanish speakers in areas where they had been hitherto scarce.
According to the 2020 census, over 60 million people of the U.S. population were of Hispanic or Hispanic American by origin. In turn, 41.8 million people in the United States aged five or older speak Spanish at home, or about 13% of the population. Spanish predominates in the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico, where it is also an official language along with English.
Spanish is by far the most common second language in the country, with over 50 million total speakers if non-native or second-language speakers are included. While English is the de facto national language of the country, Spanish is often used in public services and notices at the federal and state levels. Spanish is also used in administration in the state of New Mexico. The language has a strong influence in major metropolitan areas such as those of Los Angeles, Miami, San Antonio, New York, San Francisco, Dallas, Tucson and Phoenix of the Arizona Sun Corridor, as well as more recently, Chicago, Las Vegas, Boston, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Nashville, Orlando, Tampa, Raleigh and Baltimore-Washington, D.C. due to 20th- and 21st-century immigration.
Although Spanish has no official recognition in the former British colony of Belize (known until 1973 as British Honduras) where English is the sole official language, according to the 2022 census, 54% of the total population are able to speak the language.
Due to its proximity to Spanish-speaking countries and small existing native Spanish speaking minority, Trinidad and Tobago has implemented Spanish language teaching into its education system. The Trinidadian and Tobagonian government launched the *Spanish as a First Foreign Language* (SAFFL) initiative in March 2005.
Spanish has historically had a significant presence on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao (ABC Islands) throughout the centuries and in present times. The majority of the populations of each island (especially Aruba) speaking Spanish at varying although often high degrees of fluency. The local language Papiamentu (Papiamento on Aruba) is heavily influenced by Venezuelan Spanish.
In addition to sharing most of its borders with Spanish-speaking countries, the creation of Mercosur in the early 1990s induced a favorable situation for the promotion of Spanish language teaching in Brazil. In 2005, the National Congress of Brazil approved a bill, signed into law by the President, making it mandatory for schools to offer Spanish as an alternative foreign language course in both public and private secondary schools in Brazil. In September 2016 this law was revoked by Michel Temer after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff. In many border towns and villages along Paraguay and Uruguay, a mixed language known as Portuñol is spoken.
Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish-speaking country located entirely in Africa, with the language introduced during the Spanish colonial period. Enshrined in the constitution as an official language (alongside French and Portuguese), Spanish features prominently in the Equatoguinean education system and is the primary language used in government and business. Whereas it is not the mother tongue of virtually any of its speakers, the vast majority of the population is proficient in Spanish. The Instituto Cervantes estimates that 87.7% of the population is fluent in Spanish. The proportion of proficient Spanish speakers in Equatorial Guinea exceeds the proportion of proficient speakers in other West and Central African nations of their respective colonial languages.
Spanish is spoken by very small communities in Angola due to Cuban influence from the Cold War and in South Sudan among South Sudanese natives that relocated to Cuba during the Sudanese wars and returned for their country's independence.
Spanish is also spoken in the integral territories of Spain in Africa, namely the cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean some 100 km (62 mi) off the northwest of the African mainland. The Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands traces its origins back to the Castilian conquest in the 15th century, and, in addition to a resemblance to Western Andalusian speech patterns, it also features strong influence from the Spanish varieties spoken in the Americas, which in turn have also been influenced historically by Canarian Spanish. The Spanish spoken in North Africa by native bilingual speakers of Arabic or Berber who also speak Spanish as a second language features characteristics involving the variability of the vowel system.
While far from its heyday during the Spanish protectorate in Morocco, the Spanish language has some presence in northern Morocco, stemming for example from the availability of certain Spanish-language media. According to a 2012 survey by Morocco's Royal Institute for Strategic Studies (IRES), penetration of Spanish in Morocco reaches 4.6% of the population. Many northern Moroccans have rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, with Spanish being particularly significant in areas adjacent to Ceuta and Melilla. Spanish also has a presence in the education system of the country (through either selected education centers implementing Spain's education system, primarily located in the North, or the availability of Spanish as foreign language subject in secondary education).
In Western Sahara, formerly Spanish Sahara, a primarily Hassaniya Arabic-speaking territory, Spanish was officially spoken as the language of the colonial administration during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Today, Spanish is present in the partially-recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as its secondary official language, and in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf (Algeria), where the Spanish language is still taught as a second language, largely by Cuban educators.
Spanish is also an official language of the African Union.
Spanish was an official language of the Philippines from the beginning of Spanish administration in 1565 to a constitutional change in 1973. During Spanish colonization, it was the language of government, trade, and education, and was spoken as a first language by Spaniards and educated Filipinos (*Ilustrados*). Despite a public education system set up by the colonial government, by the end of Spanish rule in 1898, only about 10% of the population had knowledge of Spanish, mostly those of Spanish descent or elite standing.
Spanish continued to be official and used in Philippine literature and press during the early years of American administration after the Spanish–American War but was eventually replaced by English as the primary language of administration and education by the 1920s. Nevertheless, despite a significant decrease in influence and speakers, Spanish remained an official language of the Philippines upon independence in 1946, alongside English and Filipino, a standardized version of Tagalog.
Spanish was briefly removed from official status in 1973 but reimplemented under the administration of Ferdinand Marcos two months later. It remained an official language until the ratification of the present constitution in 1987, in which it was re-designated as a voluntary and optional auxiliary language. Additionally, the constitution, in its Article XIV, stipulates that the government shall provide the people of the Philippines with a Spanish-language translation of the country's constitution. In recent years changing attitudes among non-Spanish speaking Filipinos have helped spur a revival of the language, and starting in 2009 Spanish was reintroduced as part of the basic education curriculum in a number of public high schools, becoming the largest foreign language program offered by the public school system, with over 7,000 students studying the language in the 2021–2022 school year alone. The local business process outsourcing industry has also helped boost the language's economic prospects. Today, while the actual number of proficient Spanish speakers is around 400,000, or under 0.5% of the population, a new generation of Spanish speakers in the Philippines has likewise emerged, though speaker estimates vary widely.
Aside from standard Spanish, a Spanish-based creole language called Chavacano developed in the southern Philippines. However, it is not mutually intelligible with Spanish. The number of Chavacano-speakers was estimated at 1.2 million in 1996. The local languages of the Philippines also retain significant Spanish influence, with many words derived from Mexican Spanish, owing to the administration of the islands by Spain through New Spain until 1821, until direct governance from Madrid afterwards to 1898.
Spanish is the official and most spoken language on Easter Island, which is geographically part of Polynesia in Oceania and politically part of Chile. However, Easter Island's traditional language is Rapa Nui, an Eastern Polynesian language.
As a legacy of comprising the former Spanish East Indies, Spanish loan words are present in the local languages of Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Marshall Islands and Micronesia.
In addition, in Australia and New Zealand, there are native Spanish communities, resulting from emigration from Spanish-speaking countries (mainly from the Southern Cone).
20 countries and one United States territory speak Spanish officially, and the language has a significant unofficial presence in the rest of the United States along with Andorra, Belize and the territory of Gibraltar.
| Country | Population | Speakers of Spanish as a native language | Native speakers and proficient speakers as a second language | Total number of Spanish speakers (including limited competence speakers) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mexico* | 133,367,428 | 125,098,647 (93.8%) | 125,632,117 (94.2%) | 132,300,489 (99.2%) |
| United States | 334,914,895 | 43,369,734 (13.7% of 316,581,199) | 47,576,361 (15.0% of 316,581,199) | 58,869,734 (17.9% of 316,581,199) |
| Colombia* | 53,110,609 | 52,090,885 (98.1%) | 52 962 217 (99.7%) | |
| Spain* | 49,153,849 | 42,075,695 (85.6%) | 47,187,695 (96%) | 48,908,080 (99.5%) |
| Argentina* | 47,473,760 | 45,574,810 (96.0%) | 46,856,601 (98.7%) | 47,188,917 (99.4%) |
| Peru* | 34,412,393 | 28,527,874 (82.9%) | 29,594,658 (86.6%) | 30,600,340 (88.9%) |
| Venezuela* | 28,460,000 | 27,720,040 (97.4%) | 28,240,466 (99.2%) | |
| Chile* | 20,206,953 | 19,317,847 (95.6%) | 19,945,772 (99.6%) | |
| Ecuador* | 18,013,000 | 16,877,244 (93.7%) | 17,474,448 (97.0%) | 17,642,817 (98.6%) |
| Guatemala* | 18,079,810 | 12,637,787 (69.9%) | 13,722,576 (75.9%) | 16,440,943 (90.8%) |
| Bolivia* | 12,332,252 | 7,485,677 (60.7%) | 9,927,463 (80.5%) | 12,064,523 (97.8%) |
| Cuba* | 11,089,511 | 10,996,367 (99.2%) | 10,996,367 (99.2%) | |
| Dominican Republic* | 10,878,267 | 10,323,475 (94.9%) | 10,747,728 (98.8%) | |
| Honduras* | 10,039,862 | 9,549,917 (95.1%) | 9,949,503 (99.1%) | |
| France | 68,381,000 | 557,001 (1% of 55 700 114) | 1,910,258 (4% of 55 700 114) | 7,798,016 (14% of 55 700 114) |
| Nicaragua* | 6,803,886 | 6,484,103 (95.3%) | 6,599,769 (97.1%) | 6,734,219 (98.9%) |
| Paraguay* | 6,417,076 | 3,946,502 (61.5%) | 4,318,692 (67.3%) | 6,397,823 (99,7%) |
| El Salvador* | 6,029,976 | 6,015,876 | 6,023,946 (99.9%) | |
| Brazil | 212,584,000 | 522,443 | 6,192,887 | |
| Germany | 83,190,556 | 716,772 (1% of 71 677 231) | 2,150,317 (3% of 71 677 231) | 5,734,178 (8% of 71 677 231) |
| Costa Rica* | 5,327,387 | 5,268,786 (98.9%) | 5,326,600 (99.9%) | |
| Panama* | 4,565,559 | 3,944,643 (86.4) | 4,495,892 (98.4%) | |
| Uruguay* | 3,499,451 | 3,348,975 (95.7%) | 3,467,956 (99.1%) | |
| Puerto Rico* | 3,203,295 | 3,049,537 (95.2%) | 3,200,092 (99.9%) | |
| United Kingdom | 68,265,209 | 215,062 (0.4%) | 518,480 (1% of 51,848,010) | 3,110,880 (6% of 51,848,010) |
| Italy | 60,542,215 | 515,597 (1% of 51,862,391) | 1,546,790 (3% of 51,862,391) | 3,093,580 (6% of 51,862,391) |
| Canada | 41,465,298 | 600,795 (1.6%) | 1,171,450 (3.2%) | 1,775,000 |
| Morocco | 36,828,330 | 12,774 | 1,754,485 (10%) | |
| Netherlands | 18,070,000 | 1,328,731 (9% of 14 763 684) | ||
| Equatorial Guinea* | 1,505,588 | 1,114,135 (74%) | 1,320,401 (87.7%) | |
| Portugal | 10,639,726 | 48,791 | 178,312 (2% of 8,915,624) | 1,089,995 |
| Belgium | 11,812,354 | 96,193 (1% of 9,619,330) | 192,387 (2% of 9,619,330) | 961,933 (10% of 9,619,330) |
| Sweden | 10,588,230 | 85,415 (1% of 8,541,497) | 854,149 (10% of 8,541,497) ) | |
| Ivory Coast | 29,389,150 | 798,095 (students) | ||
| Philippines | 114,123,600 | 4,584 | 566,921 | |
| Australia | 27,309,396 | 175,491 | 559,491 | |
| Switzerland | 9,060,598 | 212,970(2.3%) | 556,131 | |
| Romania | 19,051,562 | 485,241 (3 of 16,174,719) | ||
| Denmark | 5,982,117 | 440,213 (9% of 4,891,261) | ||
| Western Sahara | 590,506 | N/A | 423,739 | |
| Benin | 12,910,087 | 412,515 (students) | ||
| Cameroon | 28,758,503 | 403,000 (students) | ||
| Senegal | 12,853,259 | 356,000 (students) | ||
| Poland | 38,036,118 | 319,829 (1% of 31,982,941) | ||
| Austria | 9,198,214 | 76,471 (1% of 7,647,176) | 305,887 (4% of 7,647,176) | |
| Ireland | 5,380,300 | 40,059 (1% of 4,005,909) | 120,177 (3% of 4,005,909) | 280,414 (7% of 4,005,909) |
| Belize | 430,191 | 224,130 (52.1%) | 224,130 (52.1%) | 270,160 (62.8%) |
| Czech Republic | 10,897,237 | 89,820 (1% of 8,982,036) | 269,461 (3% of 8,982,036) | |
| Algeria | 47,400,000 | 1,149 | 263,428 | |
| Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius & Saba | 244,700 | 46,621 | 203,339 | |
| Finland | 5,638,675 | 186,917 (4% of 4,672,932) | ||
| Greece | 10,400,720 | 91,679 (1% of 9,167,896) | 183,358 (2% of 9,167,896) | |
| Bulgaria | 6,445,481 | 59,175 (1% of 5,917,534) | 177,526 (3% of 5,917,534) | |
| Gabon | 2,408,586 | 167,410 (students) | ||
| Hungary | 9,540,000 | 83,135 (1% of 8,313,539) | 166,271 (2% of 8,313,539) | |
| Russia | 146,028,325 | 28,924 | 163,354 (134,430 students) | |
| Japan | 123,440,000 | 131,000 | 160,000 | |
| Slovakia | 5,421,272 | 45,915 (1% of 4,591,487) | 91,830 (2% of 4,591,487) | |
| Israel | 10,045,100 | 104,000 | 149,000 | |
| Norway | 5,594,340 | 13,000 | 132,888 | |
| Aruba | 107,566 | 14,737 | 89,387 | |
| Luxembourg | 672,050 | 16,000 (3% of 533,335) | 37,000 (7% of 533,335) | 80,000 (15% of 533,335) |
| Andorra | 85,101 | 34,132 (43.2%) | 49,018 (57.6%) | 71,677 (80.0%) |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 1,368,333 | 4,000 | 70,401 | |
| China | 1,408,280,000 | 15,130 | 69,028 (53,898 students) | |
| New Zealand | 22,000 | 58,373 (36,373 students) | ||
| Slovenia | 35,194 (2% of 1,759,701) | 52,791 (3% of 1,759,701) | ||
| India | 1,428,627,663 | 4,855 | 51,104 (46,249 students) | |
| Guam | 153,836 | 1,309 | 32,233 | |
| Gibraltar | 29,441 | 22,758 (77.3%) | ||
| Lithuania | 2,972,949 | 28,297 (1% of 2,829,740) | ||
| Turkey | 85,664,944 | 5,460 | 21,660 | |
| Egypt | 105,914,499 | 21,000 | ||
| US Virgin Islands | 16,788 | 16,788 | 16,788 | |
| Latvia | 2,209,000 | 13,943 (1% of 1,447,866) | ||
| Cyprus | 2% of 660,400 | |||
| Estonia | 9,457 (1% of 945,733) | |||
| Jamaica | 2,711,476 | 8,000 | 8,000 | 8,000 |
| Namibia | 666 | 3,866 | 3,866 | |
| Malta | 3,354 (1% of 335,476) | |||
Total
|
8,107,000,000 (total world population) | 489,131,650 (6%)
|
513,512,198 (6.3%)
|
575,833,097 (7.1%)
|
Most of the grammatical and typological features of Spanish are shared with the other Romance languages. Spanish is a fusional language. The noun and adjective systems exhibit two genders and two numbers. In addition, articles and some pronouns and determiners have a neuter gender in their singular form. There are about fifty conjugated forms per verb, with 3 tenses: past, present, future; 2 aspects for past: perfective, imperfective; 4 moods: indicative, subjunctive, conditional, imperative; 3 persons: first, second, third; 2 numbers: singular, plural; 3 verboid forms: infinitive, gerund, and past participle. The indicative mood is the unmarked one, while the subjunctive mood expresses uncertainty or indetermination, and is commonly paired with the conditional, which is a mood used to express "would" (as in, "I would eat if I had food"); the imperative is a mood to express a command, commonly a one word phrase – "¡Di!" ("Talk!").
Verbs express T–V distinction by using different persons for formal and informal addresses. (For a detailed overview of verbs, see Spanish verbs and Spanish irregular verbs.)
Spanish syntax is considered right-branching, meaning that subordinate or modifying constituents tend to be placed after head words. The language uses prepositions (rather than postpositions or inflection of nouns for case), and usually—though not always—places adjectives after nouns, as do most other Romance languages.
Spanish is classified as a subject–verb–object language; however, as in most Romance languages, constituent order is highly variable and governed mainly by topicalization and focus. It is a "pro-drop", or "null-subject" language—that is, it allows the deletion of subject pronouns when they are pragmatically unnecessary. Spanish is described as a "verb-framed" language, meaning that the *direction* of motion is expressed in the verb while the *mode* of locomotion is expressed adverbially (e.g. *subir corriendo* or *salir volando*; the respective English equivalents of these examples—'to run up' and 'to fly out'—show that English is, by contrast, "satellite-framed", with mode of locomotion expressed in the verb and direction in an adverbial modifier).
The Spanish phonological system evolved from that of Vulgar Latin. Its development exhibits some traits in common with other Western Romance languages, others with the neighboring Hispanic varieties—especially Leonese and Aragonese—as well as other features unique to Spanish. Spanish is alone among its immediate neighbors in having undergone frequent aspiration and eventual loss of the Latin initial /f/ sound (e.g. Cast. *harina* vs. Leon. and Arag. *farina*). The Latin initial consonant sequences *pl-*, *cl-*, and *fl-* in Spanish typically merge as *ll-* (originally pronounced [ʎ]), while in Aragonese they are preserved in most dialects, and in Leonese they present a variety of outcomes, including [tʃ], [ʃ], and [ʎ]. Where Latin had *-li-* before a vowel (e.g. *filius*) or the ending *-iculus*, *-icula* (e.g. *auricula*), Old Spanish produced [ʒ], that in Modern Spanish became the velar fricative [x] (*hijo*, *oreja*), whereas neighboring languages have the palatal lateral [ʎ] (e.g. Portuguese *filho*, *orelha*; Catalan *fill*, *orella*).
The Spanish phonemic inventory consists of five vowel phonemes (/a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/) and 17 to 19 consonant phonemes (the exact number depending on the dialect). The main allophonic variation among vowels is the reduction of the high vowels /i/ and /u/ to glides—[j] and [w] respectively—when unstressed and adjacent to another vowel. Some instances of the mid vowels /e/ and /o/, determined lexically, alternate with the diphthongs /je/ and /we/ respectively when stressed, in a process that is better described as morphophonemic rather than phonological, as it is not predictable from phonology alone.
The Spanish consonant system is characterized by (1) three nasal phonemes, and one or two (depending on the dialect) lateral phoneme(s), which in syllable-final position lose their contrast and are subject to assimilation to a following consonant; (2) three voiceless stops and the affricate /tʃ/; (3) three or four (depending on the dialect) voiceless fricatives; (4) a set of voiced obstruents—/b/, /d/, /ɡ/, and sometimes /ʝ/—which alternate between approximant and plosive allophones depending on the environment; and (5) a phonemic distinction between the "tapped" and "trilled" *r*-sounds (single ⟨r⟩ and double ⟨rr⟩ in orthography).
In the following table of consonant phonemes, /ʎ/ is marked with an asterisk (*) to indicate that it is preserved only in some dialects. In most dialects it has been merged with /ʝ/ in the merger called *yeísmo*. Similarly, /θ/ is also marked with an asterisk to indicate that most dialects do not distinguish it from /s/ (see *seseo*), although this is not a true merger but an outcome of different evolution of sibilants in southern Spain.
The phoneme /ʃ/ is in parentheses () to indicate that it appears only in loanwords. Each of the voiced obstruent phonemes /b/, /d/, /ʝ/, and /ɡ/ appears to the right of a *pair* of voiceless phonemes, to indicate that, while the *voiceless* phonemes maintain a phonemic contrast between plosive (or affricate) and fricative, the *voiced* ones alternate allophonically (i.e. without phonemic contrast) between plosive and approximant pronunciations.
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | |||||||
| Stop | p | b | t | d | tʃ | ʝ | k | ɡ | ||
| Continuant | f | θ* | s | (ʃ) | x | |||||
| Lateral | l | ʎ* | ||||||||
| Flap | ɾ | |||||||||
| Trill | r |
Spanish is classified by its rhythm as a syllable-timed language: each syllable has approximately the same duration regardless of stress.
Spanish intonation varies significantly according to dialect but generally conforms to a pattern of falling tone for declarative sentences and wh-questions (who, what, why, etc.) and rising tone for yes/no questions. There are no syntactic markers to distinguish between questions and statements and thus, the recognition of declarative or interrogative depends entirely on intonation.
Stress most often occurs on any of the last three syllables of a word, with some rare exceptions at the fourth-to-last or earlier syllables. Stress tends to occur as follows:[ better source needed]
- in words that end with a monophthong, on the penultimate syllable
- when the word ends in a diphthong, on the final syllable.
- in words that end with a consonant, on the last syllable, with the exception of two grammatical endings:
*-n*, for third-person-plural of verbs, and*-s*, for plural of nouns and adjectives or for second-person-singular of verbs. However, even though a significant number of nouns and adjectives ending with*-n*are also stressed on the penult (*joven*,*virgen*,*mitin*), the great majority of nouns and adjectives ending with*-n*are stressed on their last syllable (*capitán*,*almacén*,*jardín*,*corazón*). - Preantepenultimate stress (stress on the fourth-to-last syllable) occurs rarely, only on verbs with clitic pronouns attached (e.g.
*guardándoselos*'saving them for him/her/them/you').
In addition to the many exceptions to these tendencies, there are numerous minimal pairs that contrast solely on stress such as *sábana* ('sheet') and *sabana* ('savannah'); *límite* ('boundary'), *limite* ('he/she limits') and *limité* ('I limited'); *líquido* ('liquid'), *liquido* ('I sell off') and *liquidó* ('he/she sold off').
The orthographic system unambiguously reflects where the stress occurs: in the absence of an accent mark, the stress falls on the last syllable unless the last letter is ⟨n⟩, ⟨s⟩, or a vowel, in which cases the stress falls on the next-to-last (penultimate) syllable. Exceptions to those rules are indicated by an acute accent mark over the vowel of the stressed syllable. (See Spanish orthography.)
Spanish is the official, or national language in 18 countries and one territory in the Americas, Spain, and Equatorial Guinea. With a population of over 410 million, Hispanophone America accounts for the vast majority of Spanish speakers, of which Mexico is the most populous Spanish-speaking country. In the European Union, Spanish is the mother tongue of 8% of the population, with an additional 7% speaking it as a second language. Additionally, Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States and is by far the most popular foreign language among students. In 2015, it was estimated that over 50 million Americans spoke Spanish, about 41 million of whom were native speakers. With continued immigration and increased use of the language domestically in public spheres and media, the number of Spanish speakers in the United States is expected to continue growing over the forthcoming decades.
While being mutually intelligible, there are important variations (phonological, grammatical, and lexical) in the spoken Spanish of the various regions of Spain and throughout the Spanish-speaking areas of the Americas.
The national variety with the most speakers is Mexican Spanish. It is spoken by more than twenty percent of the world's Spanish speakers (more than 112 million of the total of more than 500 million, according to the table above). One of its main features is the reduction or loss of unstressed vowels, mainly when they are in contact with the sound /s/.
In Spain, northern dialects are popularly thought of as closer to the standard, although positive attitudes toward southern dialects have increased significantly in the last 50 years. The speech from the educated classes of Madrid is the standard variety for use on radio and television in Spain and it is indicated by many as the one that has most influenced the written standard for Spanish. Central (European) Spanish speech patterns have been noted to be in the process of merging with more innovative southern varieties (including Eastern Andalusian and Murcian), as an emerging interdialectal levelled *koine* buffered between the Madrid's traditional national standard and the Seville speech trends.
The four main phonological divisions are based respectively on (1) the phoneme /θ/, (2) the debuccalization of syllable-final /s/, (3) the sound of the spelled ⟨s⟩, (4) and the phoneme /ʎ/.
- The phoneme /θ/ (spelled
*c*before*e*or*i*and spelled ⟨z⟩ elsewhere), a voiceless dental fricative as in English, is maintained by a majority of Spain's population, especially in the northern and central parts of the country. In other areas (some parts of southern Spain, the Canary Islands, and the Americas), /θ/ does not exist and /s/ occurs instead. The maintenance of phonemic contrast is called**th**ing*distinción*in Spanish, while the merger is generally called*seseo*(in reference to the usual realization of the merged phoneme as [s]) or, occasionally,*ceceo*(referring to its interdental realization, [θ], in some parts of southern Spain). In most of Hispanic America, the spelled ⟨c⟩ before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and spelled ⟨z⟩ is always pronounced as a voiceless dental sibilant. - The debuccalization (pronunciation as [h], or loss) of syllable-final /s/ is associated with the southern half of Spain and lowland Americas: Central America (except central Costa Rica and Guatemala), the Caribbean, coastal areas of southern Mexico, and South America except Andean highlands. Debuccalization is frequently called "aspiration" in English, and
*aspiración*in Spanish. When there is no debuccalization, the syllable-final /s/ is pronounced as voiceless "apico-alveolar" sibilant or as a voiceless dental sibilant in the same fashion as in the next paragraph. - The sound that corresponds to the letter ⟨s⟩ is pronounced in northern and central Spain as a voiceless "apico-alveolar" sibilant [s̺] (also described acoustically as "grave" and articulatorily as "retracted"), with a weak "hushing" sound reminiscent of retroflex fricatives. In Andalusia, Canary Islands and most of Hispanic America (except in the Paisa region of Colombia) it is pronounced as a voiceless dental sibilant [s], much like the most frequent pronunciation of the /s/ of English.
- The phoneme /ʎ/, spelled ⟨ll⟩, a palatal lateral consonant that can be approximated by the sound of the ⟨lli⟩ of English
*million*, tends to be maintained in less-urbanized areas of northern Spain and in the highland areas of South America, as well as in Paraguay and lowland Bolivia. Meanwhile, in the speech of most other Spanish speakers, it is merged with /ʝ/ ("curly-tail*j*"), a non-lateral, usually voiced, usually fricative, palatal consonant, sometimes compared to English /j/ (*yod*) as inand spelled ⟨y⟩ in Spanish. As with other forms of allophony across world languages, the small difference of the spelled ⟨ll⟩ and the spelled ⟨y⟩ is usually not perceived (the difference is not heard) by people who do not produce them as different phonemes. Such a phonemic merger is called**y**acht*yeísmo*in Spanish. In Rioplatense Spanish, the merged phoneme is generally pronounced as a postalveolar fricative, either voiced [ʒ] (as in English*measure*or the French ⟨j⟩) in the central and western parts of the dialectal region (*zheísmo*), or voiceless [ʃ] (as in the French ⟨ch⟩ or Portuguese ⟨x⟩) in and around Buenos Aires and Montevideo (*sheísmo*).
The main morphological variations between dialects of Spanish involve differing uses of pronouns, especially those of the second person and, to a lesser extent, the object pronouns of the third person.
Virtually all dialects of Spanish make the distinction between a formal and a familiar register in the second-person singular and thus have two different pronouns meaning "you": *usted* in the formal and either *tú* or *vos* in the familiar (and each of these three pronouns has its associated verb forms), with the choice of *tú* or *vos* varying from one dialect to another. The use of *vos* and its verb forms is called *voseo*. In a few dialects, all three pronouns are used, with *usted*, *tú*, and *vos* denoting respectively formality, familiarity, and intimacy.
In *voseo*, *vos* is the subject form (*vos decís*, "you say") and the form for the object of a preposition (*voy con vos*, "I am going with you"), while the direct and indirect object forms, and the possessives, are the same as those associated with *tú*: *Vos sabés que tus amigos te respetan* ("You know your friends respect you").
The verb forms of the general *voseo* are the same as those used with *tú* except in the present tense (indicative and imperative) verbs. The forms for *vos* generally can be derived from those of *vosotros* (the traditional second-person familiar *plural*) by deleting the glide [i̯], or /d/, where it appears in the ending: *vosotros pensá is* >
*vos pensás*;
*vosotros volvé*>
**i**s*vos volvés*,
*pensa*(
**d**!*vosotros*) >
*pensá!*(
*vos*),
*volve*(
**d**!*vosotros*) >
*volvé!*(
*vos*).
| Indicative | Subjunctive | Imperative | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | Simple past | Imperfect past | Future | Conditional | Present | Past | |
pensás
|
pensaste |
pensabas |
pensarás |
pensarías |
pienses |
pensaraspensases |
pensá
|
volvés
|
volviste |
volvías |
volverás |
volverías |
vuelvas |
volvierasvolvieses |
volvé
|
dormís
|
dormiste |
dormías |
dormirás |
dormirías |
duermas |
durmierasdurmieses |
dormí
|
The forms in coincide with standard bold.
tú-conjugation |
In Central American *voseo*, the *tú* and *vos* forms differ in the present subjunctive as well:
| Indicative | Subjunctive | Imperative | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | Simple past | Imperfect past | Future | Conditional | Present | Past | |
pensás
|
pensaste |
pensabas |
pensarás |
pensarías |
pensés
|
pensaraspensases |
pensá
|
volvés
|
volviste |
volvías |
volverás |
volverías |
volvás
|
volvierasvolvieses |
volvé
|
dormís
|
dormiste |
dormías |
dormirás |
dormirías |
durmás
|
durmierasdurmieses |
dormí
|
The forms in coincide with standard bold.
tú-conjugation |
In Chilean *voseo*, almost all *vos* forms are distinct from the corresponding standard *tú*-forms.
| Indicative | Subjunctive | Imperative | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | Simple past | Imperfect past | Future | Conditional | Present | Past | |
pensái(s)
|
pensaste |
pensabais
|
pensarí(s)pensaráis
|
pensaríai(s)
|
pensí(s)
|
pensarai(s)pensases |
piensa |
volví(s)
|
volviste |
volvíai(s)
|
volverí(s)volveráis
|
volveríai(s)
|
volvái(s)
|
volvierai(s)volvieses |
vuelve |
dormís
|
dormiste |
dormíais
|
dormirísdormiráis
|
dormiríais
|
durmáis
|
durmieraisdurmieses |
duerme |
The forms in coincide with standard bold.
tú-conjugation |
The use of the pronoun *vos* with the verb forms of *tú* (*vos piensas*) is called "pronominal *voseo*". Conversely, the use of the verb forms of *vos* with the pronoun *tú* (*tú pensás* or *tú pensái*) is called "verbal *voseo*". In Chile, for example, verbal *voseo* is much more common than the actual use of the pronoun *vos*, which is usually reserved for highly informal situations.
Although *vos* is not used in Spain, it occurs in many Spanish-speaking regions of the Americas as the primary spoken form of the second-person singular familiar pronoun, with wide differences in social consideration.[ better source needed] Generally, it can be said that there are zones of exclusive use of
*tuteo*(the use of
*tú*) in the following areas: almost all of Mexico, the West Indies, Panama, most of Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and coastal Ecuador.
*Tuteo* as a cultured form alternates with *voseo* as a popular or rural form in Bolivia, in the north and south of Peru, in Andean Ecuador, in small zones of the Venezuelan Andes (and most notably in the Venezuelan state of Zulia), and in a large part of Colombia. Some researchers maintain that *voseo* can be heard in some parts of eastern Cuba, and others assert that it is absent from the island.
*Tuteo* exists as the second-person usage with an intermediate degree of formality alongside the more familiar *voseo* in Chile, in the Venezuelan state of Zulia, on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, in the Azuero Peninsula in Panama, in the Mexican state of Chiapas, and in parts of Guatemala.
Areas of generalized *voseo* include Argentina, Nicaragua, eastern Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Uruguay and the Colombian departments of Antioquia, Caldas, Risaralda, Quindio and Valle del Cauca.
*Ustedes* functions as formal and informal second-person plural in all of Hispanic America, the Canary Islands, and parts of Andalusia. It agrees with verbs in the 3rd person plural. Most of Spain maintains the formal/familiar distinction with *ustedes* and *vosotros* respectively. The use of *ustedes* with the second person plural is sometimes heard in Andalusia, but it is non-standard.
*Usted* is the usual second-person singular pronoun in a formal context, but it is used jointly with the third-person singular voice of the verb. It is used to convey respect toward someone who is a generation older or is of higher authority ("you, sir"/"you, ma'am"). It is also used in a *familiar* context by many speakers in Colombia and Costa Rica and in parts of Ecuador and Panama, to the exclusion of *tú* or *vos*. This usage is sometimes called *ustedeo* in Spanish.
In Central America, especially in Honduras, *usted* is often used as a formal pronoun to convey respect between the members of a romantic couple. *Usted* is also used that way between parents and children in the Andean regions of Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela.
Most speakers use (and the *Real Academia Española* prefers) the pronouns *lo* and *la* for direct objects (masculine and feminine respectively, regardless of animacy, meaning "him", "her", or "it"), and *le* for indirect objects (regardless of gender or animacy, meaning "to him", "to her", or "to it"). The usage is sometimes called "etymological", as these direct and indirect object pronouns are a continuation, respectively, of the accusative and dative pronouns of Latin, the ancestor language of Spanish.
A number of dialects (more common in Spain than in the Americas) use additional rules for the pronouns, such as animacy, or count noun vs. mass noun, rather than just direct vs. indirect object. The ways of using the pronouns in such varieties are called "*leísmo*", "*loísmo*", or "*laísmo*", according to which respective pronoun, *le*, *lo*, or *la*, covers more than just the etymological usage (*le* as a direct object, or *lo* or *la* as an indirect object).
Some words can be significantly different in different Hispanophone countries. Most Spanish speakers can recognize other Spanish forms even in places where they are not commonly used, but Spaniards generally do not recognize specifically American usages. For example, Spanish *mantequilla*, *aguacate* and *albaricoque* (respectively, 'butter', 'avocado', 'apricot') correspond to *manteca* (word used for lard in Peninsular Spanish), *palta*, and *damasco*, respectively, in Argentina, Chile (except *manteca*), Paraguay, Peru (except *manteca* and *damasco*), and Uruguay. In the healthcare context, an assessment of the Spanish translation of the QWB-SA identified some regional vocabulary choices and US-specific concepts, which cannot be successfully implemented in Spain without adaptation.
Around 85% of everyday Spanish vocabulary is of Latin origin. Most of the core vocabulary and the most common words in Spanish comes from Latin. The Spanish words first learned by children as they learn to speak are mainly words of Latin origin. These words of Latin origin can be classified as heritage words, cultisms (learned borrowings) and semi-cultisms.
Most of the Spanish lexicon is made up of heritage lexicon. Heritage or directly inherited words are those whose presence in the spoken language has been continued since before the differentiation of the Romance languages. Heritage words are characterized by having undergone all the phonetic changes experienced by the language. This differentiates it from the cultisms and semi-cultisms that were no longer used in the spoken language and were later reintroduced for restricted uses. Because of this, cultisms generally have not experienced some of the phonetic changes and present a different form than they would have if they had been transmitted with heritage words.
In the philological tradition of Spanish, a cultism is a word whose morphology very strictly follows its Greek or Latin etymological origin, without undergoing the changes that the evolution of the Spanish language followed from its origin in Vulgar Latin. The same concept also exists in other Romance languages. Reintroduced into the language for cultural, literary or scientific considerations, cultism only adapts its form to the orthographic and phonological conventions derived from linguistic evolution, and ignores the transformations that the roots and morphemes underwent in the development of the Romance language.
In some cases, cultisms are used to introduce technical or specialized terminology that, present in the classical language, did not appear in the Romance language due to lack of use; This is the case of many of the literary, legal and philosophical terms of classical culture, such as *ataraxia* (from the Greek ἀταραξία, "dispassion") or *legislar* (built from the Latin *legislator*). In other cases, they construct neologisms, such as the name of most scientific disciplines.
A semi-cultism is a word that did not evolve in the expected way, in the vernacular language (Romance language), unlike heritage words; its evolution is incomplete. Many times interrupted by cultural influences (ecclesiastical, legal, administrative, etc.). For the same reason, they maintain some features of the language of origin. *Dios* is a clear example of semi-cultism, where it came from the Latin *Deus*. It is a semi-cultism, because it maintains (without fully adapting to Castilianization, in this case) some characteristics of the Latin language—the ending in -s—, but, at the same time, it undergoes slight phonetic modifications (change of eu for io). *Deus* > *Dios* (instead of remaining cultist: *Deus* > **Deus*, or becoming a heritage word: *Deus* > **Dío*). The Catholic Church influenced by stopping the natural evolution of this word, and, in this way, converted this word into a semi-cultism and unconsciously prevented it from becoming a heritage word.
Spanish vocabulary has been influenced by several languages. As in other European languages, Classical Greek words (Hellenisms) are abundant in the terminologies of several fields, including art, science, politics, nature, etc. Its vocabulary has also been influenced by Arabic, having developed during the Al-Andalus era in the Iberian Peninsula, with around 8% of its vocabulary having Arabic lexical roots. It has also been influenced by Basque, Iberian, Celtiberian, Visigothic, and other neighboring Ibero-Romance languages. Additionally, it has absorbed vocabulary from other languages, particularly other Romance languages such as French, Mozarabic, Portuguese, Galician, Catalan, Occitan, and Sardinian, as well as from Quechua, Nahuatl, and other indigenous languages of the Americas. In the 18th century, words taken from French referring above all to fashion, cooking and bureaucracy were added to the Spanish lexicon. In the 19th century, new loanwords were incorporated, especially from English and German, but also from Italian in areas related to music, particularly opera and cooking. In the 20th century, the pressure of English in the fields of technology, computing, science and sports was greatly accentuated.
In general, Hispanic America is more susceptible to loanwords from English or Anglicisms. For example: mouse (computer mouse) is used in Hispanic America, in Spain *ratón* is used. This happens largely due to closer contact with the United States. For its part, Spain is known by the use of Gallicisms or words taken from neighboring France (such as the Gallicism *ordenador* in European Spanish, in contrast to the Anglicism *computador* or *computadora* in American Spanish).
Spanish is closely related to the other West Iberian Romance languages, including Asturian, Aragonese, Galician, Ladino, Leonese, Mirandese and Portuguese. It is somewhat less similar, to varying degrees, from other members of the Romance language family.
It is generally acknowledged that Portuguese and Spanish speakers can communicate in written form, with varying degrees of mutual intelligibility. Mutual intelligibility of the *written* Spanish and Portuguese languages is high, lexically and grammatically. *Ethnologue* gives estimates of the lexical similarity between related languages in terms of precise percentages. For Spanish and Portuguese, that figure is 89%, although phonologically the two languages are quite dissimilar. Italian on the other hand, is phonologically similar to Spanish, while sharing lower lexical and grammatical similarity of 82%. Mutual intelligibility between Spanish and French or between Spanish and Romanian is lower still, given lexical similarity ratings of 75% and 71% respectively. Comprehension of Spanish by French speakers who have not studied the language is much lower, at an estimated 45%. In general, thanks to the common features of the writing systems of the Romance languages, interlingual comprehension of the written word is greater than that of oral communication.
The following table compares the forms of some common words in several Romance languages:
| Latin | Spanish | Galician | Portuguese | Astur-Leonese | Aragonese | Catalan | French | Italian | Romanian | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
nōs (alterōs)1,2"we (others)" |
nosotros |
nós, nosoutros3
|
nós, nós outros3
|
, nósnosotros |
nusatros |
nosaltres(arch. )
nós |
nous4
|
noi, noialtri5
|
noi
|
'we' |
| frātre(m) germānu(m) "true brother" |
hermano |
irmán |
irmão
|
hermanu |
chirmán |
germà(arch. )frare6
|
frère
|
fratello
|
frate
|
'brother' |
| die(m) mārtis (Classical) "day of Mars" tertia(m) fēria(m) (Late Latin) "third (holi)day" |
martes |
Martes, Terza Feira |
Terça-Feira
|
Martes |
Martes |
Dimarts |
Mardi
|
Martedì
|
Marți
|
'Tuesday' |
| cantiōne(m) canticu(m) |
canción7(arch. )
cançón |
canción, cançom8
|
canção
|
canción(also )
canciu |
canta |
cançó |
chanson
|
canzone
|
cântec
|
'song' |
| magis plūs |
más(arch. )
plus |
máis |
mais
|
más |
más(also )
més |
més(arch. or pus)
plus |
plus
|
più
|
mai
|
'more' |
| manu(m) sinistra(m) | mano izquierda9(arch. )
mano siniestra |
man esquerda9
|
mão esquerda9(arch. mão sẽestra)
|
manu izquierda9(or ;esquierdaalso )
manzorga |
man cucha |
mà esquerra9(arch. )
mà sinistra |
main gauche
|
mano sinistra
|
mâna stângă
|
'left hand' |
| rēs, rĕm "thing" nūlla(m) rem nāta(m) "no born thing" mīca(m) "crumb" |
nada |
nada(also and ren)
res |
nada (arch. rés)
|
nada(also )
un res |
cosa |
res |
rien, nul
|
niente, nullamica (negative particle)
|
nimic, nul
|
'nothing' |
| cāseu(m) fōrmāticu(m) "form-cheese" |
queso |
queixo |
queijo
|
quesu |
queso |
formatge |
fromage
|
formaggio/cacio
|
caș10
|
'cheese' |
1. In Romance etymology, Latin terms are given in the Accusative since most forms derive from this case.
2. As in "us very selves", an emphatic expression.
3. Also *nós outros* in early modern Portuguese (e.g. *The Lusiads*), and *nosoutros* in Galician.
4. Alternatively *nous autres* in French.
5. *noialtri* in many Southern Italian dialects and languages.
6. Medieval Catalan (e.g. *Llibre dels fets*).
7. Modified with the learned suffix *-ción*.
8. Depending on the written norm used (see Reintegrationism).
9. From Basque *esku*, "hand" + *erdi*, "half, incomplete". This negative meaning also applies for Latin *sinistra(m)* ("dark, unfortunate").
10. Romanian *caș* (from Latin cāsevs) means a type of cheese. The universal term for cheese in Romanian is *brânză* (from unknown etymology).
Judaeo-Spanish, also known as Ladino, is a variety of Spanish which preserves many features of medieval Spanish and some old Portuguese and is spoken by descendants of the Sephardi Jews who were expelled from Spain in the 15th century. While in Portugal the conversion of Jews occurred earlier and the assimilation of New Christians was overwhelming, in Spain the Jews kept their language and identity. The relationship of Ladino and Spanish is therefore comparable with that of the Yiddish language to German. Ladino speakers today are almost exclusively Sephardi Jews, with family roots in Turkey, Greece, or the Balkans, and living mostly in Israel, Turkey, and the United States, with a few communities in Hispanic America. Judaeo-Spanish lacks the Native American vocabulary which was acquired by standard Spanish during the Spanish colonial period, and it retains many archaic features which have since been lost in standard Spanish. It contains, however, other vocabulary which is not found in standard Spanish, including vocabulary from Hebrew, French, Greek and Turkish, and other languages spoken where the Sephardim settled.
Judaeo-Spanish is in serious danger of extinction because many native speakers today are elderly as well as elderly *olim* (immigrants to Israel) who have not transmitted the language to their children or grandchildren. However, it is experiencing a minor revival among Sephardi communities, especially in music. In Hispanic American communities, the danger of extinction is also due to assimilation by modern Spanish.
A related dialect is Haketia, the Judaeo-Spanish of northern Morocco. This too, tended to assimilate with modern Spanish, during the Spanish occupation of the region.
Spanish is written in the Latin script, with the addition of the character ⟨ñ⟩ (*eñe*, representing the phoneme /ɲ/, a letter distinct from ⟨n⟩, although typographically composed of an ⟨n⟩ with a tilde). Formerly the digraphs ⟨ch⟩ (*che*, representing the phoneme /t͡ʃ/) and ⟨ll⟩ (*elle*, representing the phoneme /ʎ/ or /ʝ/), were also considered single letters. However, the digraph ⟨rr⟩ (*erre fuerte*, 'strong r', *erre doble*, 'double r', or simply *erre*), which also represents a distinct phoneme /r/, was not similarly regarded as a single letter. Since 1994 ⟨ch⟩ and ⟨ll⟩ have been treated as letter pairs for collation purposes, though they remained a part of the alphabet until 2010. Words with ⟨ch⟩ are now alphabetically sorted between those with ⟨cg⟩ and ⟨ci⟩, instead of following ⟨cz⟩ as they used to. The situation is similar for ⟨ll⟩.
Thus, the Spanish alphabet has the following 27 letters:
*A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, Ñ, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z.*
Since 2010, none of the digraphs (*ch, ll, rr, gu, qu*) are considered letters by the Royal Spanish Academy.
The letters *k* and *w* are used only in words and names coming from foreign languages (*kilo, folklore, whisky, kiwi*, etc.).
With the exclusion of a very small number of regional terms such as *México* (see Toponymy of Mexico), pronunciation can be entirely determined from spelling. Under the orthographic conventions, a typical Spanish word is stressed on the syllable before the last if it ends with a vowel (not including ⟨y⟩) or with a vowel followed by ⟨n⟩ or an ⟨s⟩; it is stressed on the last syllable otherwise. Exceptions to this rule are indicated by placing an acute accent on the stressed vowel.
The acute accent is used, in addition, to distinguish between certain homophones, especially when one of them is a stressed word and the other one is a clitic: compare *el* ('the', masculine singular definite article) with *él* ('he' or 'it'), or *te* ('you', object pronoun) with *té* ('tea'), *de* (preposition 'of') versus *dé* ('give' [formal imperative/third-person present subjunctive]), and *se* (reflexive pronoun) versus *sé* ('I know' or imperative 'be').
The interrogative pronouns (*qué*, *cuál*, *dónde*, *quién*, etc.) also receive accents in direct or indirect questions, and some demonstratives (*ése*, *éste*, *aquél*, etc.) can be accented when used as pronouns. Accent marks used to be omitted on capital letters (a widespread practice in the days of typewriters and the early days of computers when only lowercase vowels were available with accents), although the *Real Academia Española* advises against this and the orthographic conventions taught at schools enforce the use of the accent.
When *u* is written between *g* and a front vowel *e* or *i*, it indicates a "hard g" pronunciation. A diaeresis *ü* indicates that it is not silent as it normally would be (e.g., *cigüeña*, 'stork', is pronounced [θiˈɣweɲa]; if it were written **cigueña*, it would be pronounced *[θiˈɣeɲa]).
Interrogative and exclamatory clauses are introduced with inverted question and exclamation marks (*¿* and *¡*, respectively) and closed by the usual question and exclamation marks.
The Royal Spanish Academy (*Real Academia Española*), founded in 1713, together with the 21 other national ones (see Association of Spanish Language Academies), exercises a standardizing influence through its publication of dictionaries and widely respected grammar and style guides.
Because of influence and for other sociohistorical reasons, a standardized form of the language (Standard Spanish) is widely acknowledged for use in literature, academic contexts and the media.
The Association of Spanish Language Academies (*Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española*, or *ASALE*) is the entity which regulates the Spanish language. It was created in Mexico in 1951 and represents the union of all the separate academies in the Spanish-speaking world. It comprises the academies of 23 countries, ordered by date of academy foundation: Spain (1713), Colombia (1871), Ecuador (1874), Mexico (1875), El Salvador (1876), Venezuela (1883), Chile (1885), Peru (1887), Guatemala (1887), Costa Rica (1923), Philippines (1924), Panama (1926), Cuba (1926),
Paraguay (1927), Dominican Republic (1927), Bolivia (1927), Nicaragua (1928), Argentina (1931), Uruguay (1943), Honduras (1949), Puerto Rico (1955), United States (1973) and Equatorial Guinea (2016).
The Instituto Cervantes ('Cervantes Institute') is a worldwide nonprofit organization created by the Spanish government in 1991. This organization has branches in 45 countries, with 88 centers devoted to the Spanish and Hispanic American cultures and Spanish language. The goals of the Institute are to promote universally the education, the study, and the use of Spanish as a second language, to support methods and activities that help the process of Spanish-language education, and to contribute to the advancement of the Spanish and Hispanic American cultures in non-Spanish-speaking countries. The institute's 2015 report "El español, una lengua viva" (Spanish, a living language) estimated that there were 559 million Spanish speakers worldwide. Its latest annual report "El español en el mundo 2018" (Spanish in the world 2018) counts 577 million Spanish speakers worldwide. Among the sources cited in the report is the U.S. Census Bureau, which estimates that the U.S. will have 138 million Spanish speakers by 2050, making it the biggest Spanish-speaking nation on earth, with Spanish the mother tongue of almost a third of its citizens.
Spanish is one of the official languages of the United Nations, the European Union, the World Trade Organization, the Organization of American States, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the African Union, the Union of South American Nations, the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat, the Latin Union, the Caricom, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Inter-American Development Bank, and numerous other international organizations.
Article 1 of the *Universal Declaration of Human Rights* in Spanish:
*Todos los seres humanos nacen libres e iguales en dignidad y derechos y, dotados como están de razón y conciencia, deben comportarse fraternalmente los unos con los otros.*
Article 1 of the *Universal Declaration of Human Rights* in English:
*All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.*
- Real Academia Española (RAE), Royal Spanish Academy. Spain's official institution, with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language
- Instituto Cervantes, Cervantes Institute. A Spanish government agency, responsible for promoting the study and the teaching of the Spanish language and culture.
- FundéuRAE, Foundation of Emerging Spanish. A non-profit organization with collaboration of the RAE which mission is to clarify doubts and ambiguities of Spanish.
|
# Hong Kong - Wikipedia
Hong Kong 香港 | |
|---|---|
| Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China Other official names | |
| Sovereign state | China |
| British possession | 26 January 1841 |
| Treaty of Nanking | 29 August 1842 |
| Convention of Peking | 24 October 1860 |
| New Territories lease | 9 June 1898 |
| Imperial Japanese occupation | 25 December 1941 to 30 August 1945 |
| Re-designated as a British Dependent Territory | 1 January 1981 |
| Sino-British Joint Declaration | 19 December 1984 |
| Handover to China | 1 July 1997 |
| Administrative centre | Tamar |
| Largest district by population | Sha Tin |
| Official languages | |
| Traditional Chinese English alphabet | |
| Ethnic groups (2021) | 91.6% Chinese 2.7% Filipino 1.9% Indonesian 0.8% White 0.6% Indian 0.4% Nepalese 2% other |
| Demonym(s) | |
| Government | Devolved executive-led government within a unitary one-party state |
| John Lee | |
| Eric Chan | |
| Andrew Leung | |
| Andrew Cheung | |
| Legislature | Legislative Council |
| National representation | |
| 36 deputies | |
| 203 delegates | |
| Area | |
• Total | 2,754.97 km2 (1,063.70 sq mi) (168th) |
• Water (%) | 59.70% (1,640.62 km 2; 633.45 sq mi) |
• Land | 1,114.35 km2 (430.25 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 957 m (3,140 ft) |
| Lowest elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| Population | |
• 2023 estimate | 7,498,100 |
• 2021 census | 7,413,070 |
• Density | 6,801/km2 (17,614.5/sq mi) (4th) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2024 estimate |
• Total | $569.830 billion (49th) |
• Per capita | $75,128 (17th) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2024 estimate |
• Total | $401.751 billion (41st) |
• Per capita | $53,165 (20th) |
| Gini (2021) | 39.7 medium |
| HDI (2023) | 0.955 very high · 8th |
| Currency | Hong Kong dollar (HK$) (HKD) |
| Time zone | UTC+08:00 (HKT) |
| Date format | dd/mm/yyyy yyyy年mm月dd日 |
| Mains electricity | 220 V–50 Hz |
| Driving side | Left |
| Calling code | +852 |
| ISO 3166 code | |
| Internet TLD | |
| Number plate prefixes | None for local vehicles, 粤Z for cross-boundary vehicles |
**Hong Kong** is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a 1,114-square-kilometre (430 sq mi) territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the world.
Hong Kong was established as a colony of the British Empire after the Qing dynasty ceded Hong Kong Island in 1841–1842 as a consequence of losing the First Opium War. The colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and was further extended when the United Kingdom obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories in 1898. Hong Kong was occupied by Japan from 1941 to 1945 during World War II. The territory was handed over from the United Kingdom to China in 1997. Hong Kong maintains separate governing and economic systems from that of mainland China under the principle of one country, two systems.
Originally a sparsely populated area of farming and fishing villages, the territory is now one of the world's most significant financial centres and commercial ports. Hong Kong is the world's third-ranked global financial centre behind New York City and London, ninth-largest exporter, and eighth-largest importer. Its currency, the Hong Kong dollar, is the ninth most traded currency in the world. Home to the second-highest number of billionaires of any city in the world, Hong Kong has the largest number of ultra high-net-worth individuals. Although the city has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, severe income inequality exists among the population. Despite being the city with the most skyscrapers in the world, housing in Hong Kong is consistently in high demand.
Hong Kong is a highly developed territory and has a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.955, ranking eighth in the world and currently the only place in Asia to be in the top ten. The city has the highest life expectancy in the world, and a public transport usage exceeding 90 per cent.
## Etymology
| Hong Kong | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 香港 | ||
| Jyutping | hoeng1 gong2 | ||
| Cantonese Yale | |||
| Literal meaning | "Fragrant Harbour" | ||
| |||
| Hong Kong Special Administrative Region | |||
| Traditional Chinese |
| ||
| Simplified Chinese |
| ||
| Jyutping |
| ||
| Cantonese Yale |
| ||
|
The name of the territory, first romanised as "He-Ong-Kong" in 1780, originally referred to a small inlet located between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was an initial point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen. Although the source of the romanised name is unknown, it is generally believed to be an early phonetic rendering of the Cantonese (or Tanka Cantonese) phrase *hēung góng*. The name translates as "fragrant harbour" or "incense harbour". "Fragrant" may refer to the sweet taste of the harbour's freshwater influx from the Pearl River or to the odour from incense factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Victoria Harbour was developed. Sir John Davis (the second colonial governor) offered an alternative origin; Davis said that the name derived from "Hoong-keang" ("red torrent"), reflecting the colour of soil over which a waterfall on the island flowed.
The simplified name *Hong Kong* was frequently used by 1810. The name was also commonly written as the single word *Hongkong* until 1926, when the government officially adopted the two-word name. Some corporations founded during the early colonial era still keep this name, including Hongkong Land, Hongkong Electric Company, Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC).
## History
### Prehistory and Imperial China
Earliest known human traces in what is now called Hong Kong are dated by some to 35,000 and 39,000 years ago during the Paleolithic period. The claim is based on an archaeological investigation in Wong Tei Tung, Sai Kung in 2003. The archaeological works revealed knapped stone tools from deposits that were dated using optical luminescence dating.
During the Middle Neolithic period, about 6,000 years ago, the region had been widely occupied by humans. Neolithic to Bronze Age Hong Kong settlers were semi-coastal people. Early inhabitants are believed to be Austronesians in the Middle Neolithic period and later the Yue people. As hinted by the archaeological works in Sha Ha, Sai Kung, rice cultivation had been introduced since Late Neolithic period. Bronze Age Hong Kong featured coarse pottery, hard pottery, quartz and stone jewelry, as well as small bronze implements.
The Qin dynasty incorporated the Hong Kong area into China for the first time in 214 BCE, after conquering the indigenous Baiyue. The region was consolidated under the Nanyue kingdom (a predecessor state of Vietnam) after the Qin collapse and recaptured by China after the Han conquest. During the Mongol conquest of China in the 13th century, the Southern Song court was briefly located in modern-day Kowloon City (the Sung Wong Toi site) before its final defeat in the 1279 Battle of Yamen by the Yuan Dynasty. By the end of the Yuan dynasty, seven large families had settled in the region and owned most of the land. Settlers from nearby provinces migrated to Kowloon throughout the Ming dynasty.
The earliest known European visitor was Portuguese explorer Jorge Álvares, who arrived in 1513. Portuguese merchants established a trading post called Tamão in Hong Kong waters and began regular trade with southern China. Although the traders were expelled after military clashes in the 1520s, Portuguese-Chinese trade relations were re-established by 1549. Portugal acquired a permanent lease for Macau in 1887.
After the Qing conquest, maritime trade was banned under the *Haijin* policies. From 1661 to 1683, the population of most of the area forming present day Hong Kong was cleared under the Great Clearance, turning the region into a wasteland. The Kangxi Emperor lifted the maritime trade prohibition, allowing foreigners to enter Chinese ports in 1684. Qing authorities established the Canton System in 1757 to regulate trade more strictly, restricting non-Russian ships to the port of Canton. Although European demand for Chinese commodities like tea, silk, and porcelain was high, Chinese interest in European manufactured goods was insignificant, so that Chinese goods could only be bought with precious metals. To reduce the trade imbalance, the British sold large amounts of Indian opium to China. Faced with a drug crisis, Qing officials pursued ever more aggressive actions to halt the opium trade.
### British colony
In 1839, the Daoguang Emperor rejected proposals to legalise and tax opium and ordered imperial commissioner Lin Zexu to eradicate the opium trade. The commissioner destroyed opium stockpiles and halted all foreign trade, triggering a British military response and the First Opium War. The Qing surrendered early in the war and ceded Hong Kong Island in the Convention of Chuenpi. British forces began controlling Hong Kong shortly after the signing of the convention, from 26 January 1841. However, both countries were dissatisfied and did not ratify the agreement. After more than a year of further hostilities, Hong Kong Island was formally ceded to the United Kingdom in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking.
Administrative infrastructure was quickly built by early 1842, but piracy, disease, and hostile Qing policies initially prevented the government from attracting commerce. Conditions on the island improved during the Taiping Rebellion in the 1850s, when many Chinese refugees, including wealthy merchants, fled mainland turbulence and settled in the colony. Further tensions between the British and Qing over the opium trade escalated into the Second Opium War. The Qing were again defeated and forced to give up Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters Island in the Convention of Peking. By the end of this war, Hong Kong had evolved from a transient colonial outpost into a major entrepôt. Rapid economic improvement during the 1850s attracted foreign investment, as potential stakeholders became more confident in Hong Kong's future.
The colony was further expanded in 1898 when the United Kingdom obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories. The University of Hong Kong was established in 1911 as the territory's first institution of higher education. Kai Tak Airport began operation in 1924, and the colony avoided a prolonged economic downturn after the 1925–26 Canton–Hong Kong strike. At the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Governor Geoffry Northcote declared Hong Kong a neutral zone to safeguard its status as a free port. The colonial government prepared for a possible attack, evacuating all British women and children in 1940. The Imperial Japanese Army attacked Hong Kong on 8 December 1941, the same morning as its attack on Pearl Harbor. Hong Kong was occupied by Japan for almost four years before the British resumed control on 30 August 1945.
Its population rebounded quickly after the war, as skilled Chinese migrants fled from the Chinese Civil War and more refugees crossed the border when the Chinese Communist Party took control of mainland China in 1949. Hong Kong became the first of the Four Asian Tiger economies to industrialise during the 1950s. With a rapidly increasing population, the colonial government attempted reforms to improve infrastructure and public services. The public-housing estate programme, Independent Commission Against Corruption, and Mass Transit Railway were all established during the post-war decades to provide safer housing, integrity in the civil service, and more reliable transportation.
Nevertheless, widespread public discontent resulted in multiple protests from the 1950s to 1980s, including pro-Republic of China and pro-Chinese Communist Party protests. In the 1967 Hong Kong riots, pro-PRC protestors clashed with the British colonial government. As many as 51 were killed and 802 were injured in the violence, including dozens killed by the Royal Hong Kong Police via beatings and shootings.
Although the territory's competitiveness in manufacturing gradually declined because of rising labour and property costs, it transitioned to a service-based economy. By the early 1990s, Hong Kong had established itself as a global financial centre and shipping hub.
### Chinese special administrative region
The colony faced an uncertain future as the end of the New Territories lease approached, and Governor Murray MacLehose raised the question of Hong Kong's status with Deng Xiaoping in 1979. Diplomatic negotiations with China resulted in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, in which the United Kingdom agreed to the handover of the colony in 1997 and China would guarantee Hong Kong's economic and political systems for 50 years after the handover. The impending handover triggered a wave of mass emigration as residents feared an erosion of civil rights, the rule of law, and quality of life. Over half a million people left the territory during the peak migration period, from 1987 to 1996. The Legislative Council became a fully elected legislature for the first time in 1995 and extensively expanded its functions and organisations throughout the last years of the colonial rule. The handover of Hong Kong to China was at midnight on 1 July 1997, after 156 years of British rule.
Immediately after the handover, Hong Kong was severely affected by several crises. The Hong Kong government was forced to use substantial foreign exchange reserves to maintain the Hong Kong dollar's currency peg during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and the recovery from this was muted by an H5N1 avian-flu outbreak and a housing surplus. This was followed by the 2003 SARS epidemic, during which the territory experienced its most serious economic downturn.
Chinese communists portrayed the return of Hong Kong as a key moment in the PRC's rise to great power status.
Political debates after the handover have centred around the region's democratic development and the Chinese central government's adherence to the "one country, two systems" principle. After reversal of the last colonial era Legislative Council democratic reforms following the handover, the regional government unsuccessfully attempted to enact national security legislation pursuant to Article 23 of the Basic Law. The central government decision to implement nominee pre-screening before allowing chief executive elections triggered a series of protests in 2014 which became known as the Umbrella Revolution. Discrepancies in the electoral registry and disqualification of elected legislators after the 2016 Legislative Council elections and enforcement of national law in the West Kowloon high-speed railway station raised further concerns about the region's autonomy. In June 2019, mass protests erupted in response to a proposed extradition amendment bill permitting the extradition of fugitives to mainland China. The protests are the largest in Hong Kong's history, with organisers claiming to have attracted more than three million Hong Kong residents.
The Hong Kong regional government and Chinese central government responded to the protests with a number of administrative measures to quell dissent. In June 2020, the Legislative Council passed the National Anthem Ordinance, which criminalised "insults to the national anthem of China". The Chinese central government meanwhile enacted the Hong Kong national security law to help quell protests in the region. Nine months later, in March 2021, the Chinese central government introduced amendments to Hong Kong's electoral system, which included the reduction of directly elected seats in the Legislative Council and the requirement that all candidates be vetted and approved by a Beijing-appointed Candidate Eligibility Review Committee.
In May 2023, the Legislative Council also introduced legislation to reduce the number of directly elected seats in the district councils, and a District Council Eligibility Review Committee was similarly established to vet candidates.
## Government and politics
Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China, with executive, legislative, and judicial powers devolved from the national government. The Sino-British Joint Declaration provided for economic and administrative continuity through the handover, resulting in an executive-led governing system largely inherited from the territory's history as a British colony. Under these terms and the "one country, two systems" principle, the Basic Law of Hong Kong is the regional constitution. The regional government is composed of three branches:
*Executive:*The Chief Executive is responsible for enforcing regional law, can force reconsideration of legislation, and appoints Executive Council members and principal officials. Acting with the Executive Council, the Chief Executive-in-Council can propose new bills, issue subordinate legislation, and has authority to dissolve the legislature. In states of emergency or public danger, the Chief Executive-in-Council is further empowered to enact any regulation necessary to restore public order.*Legislature:*The unicameral Legislative Council enacts regional law, approves budgets, and has the power to impeach a sitting chief executive.*Judiciary:*The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal and lower courts interpret laws and overturn those inconsistent with the Basic Law. Judges are appointed by the chief executive on the advice of a recommendation commission.
The chief executive is the head of government and serves for a maximum of two five-year terms. The State Council (led by the Premier of China) appoints the chief executive after nomination by the Election Committee, which is composed of 1500 business, community, and government leaders.
The Legislative Council has 90 members, each serving a four-year term. Twenty are directly elected from geographical constituencies, thirty represent functional constituencies (FC), and forty are chosen by an election committee consisting of representatives appointed by the Chinese central government. Thirty FC councillors are selected from limited electorates representing sectors of the economy or special interest groups. Geographical constituency elected members are chosen by single non-transferable vote (SNTV), yielding two candidates per GC. The 30 limited electorate functional constituencies fill their seats using first-past-the-post or instant-runoff voting.
Twenty-two political parties had representatives elected to the Legislative Council in the 2016 election. These parties have aligned themselves into three ideological groups: the pro-Beijing camp (the current government), the pro-democracy camp, and localist groups. The Chinese Communist Party does not have an official political presence in Hong Kong, and its members do not run in local elections. Hong Kong is represented in the National People's Congress by 36 deputies chosen through an electoral college and 203 delegates in the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference appointed by the central government.
Chinese national law does not generally apply in the region, and Hong Kong is treated as a separate jurisdiction. Its judicial system is based on common law, continuing the legal tradition established during British rule. Local courts may refer to precedents set in English law and overseas jurisprudence. However, mainland criminal procedure law applies to cases investigated by the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the CPG in the HKSAR. Interpretative and amending power over the Basic Law and jurisdiction over acts of state lie with the central authority, making regional courts ultimately subordinate to the mainland's socialist civil law system. Decisions made by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress override any territorial judicial process. Furthermore, in circumstances where the Standing Committee declares a state of emergency in Hong Kong, the State Council may enforce national law in the region.
The territory's jurisdictional independence is most apparent in its immigration and taxation policies. The Immigration Department issues passports for permanent residents which differ from those of the mainland or Macau, and the region maintains a regulated border with the rest of the country. All travellers between Hong Kong and mainland China and Macau must pass through border controls, regardless of nationality. Mainland Chinese residents do not have right of abode in Hong Kong and are subject to immigration controls. Public finances are handled separately from the national government; taxes levied in Hong Kong do not fund the central authority.
The Hong Kong Garrison of the People's Liberation Army is responsible for the region's defence. Although the Chairman of the Central Military Commission is supreme commander of the armed forces, the regional government may request assistance from the garrison. Hong Kong residents are not required to perform military service, and current law has no provision for local enlistment, so its defence is composed entirely of non-Hongkongers.
The central government and Ministry of Foreign Affairs handle diplomatic matters, but Hong Kong retains the ability to maintain separate economic and cultural relations with foreign nations. The territory actively participates in the World Trade Organization, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the International Olympic Committee, and many United Nations agencies. The regional government maintains trade offices in Greater China and other nations.
The imposition of the Hong Kong national security law by the central government in Beijing in June 2020 resulted in the suspension of bilateral extradition treaties by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, and Ireland. The United States ended its preferential economic and trade treatment of Hong Kong in July 2020 because it was no longer able to distinguish Hong Kong as a separate entity from the People's Republic of China. In 2024, the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance was passed by the Legislative Council to grant officials the power to prosecute crimes such as treason and insurrection. Critics state that this expansion will give more powers to crack down on opposition to the central government of China and the Hong Kong government as well as strike a lasting blow to the partial autonomy the city had been promised by China in the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
### Administrative divisions
Hong Kong's administrative divisions are divided into three levels: Areas (區域), Districts (地區), and Sub-districts (分區). Hong Kong is administratively divided into three areas: Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories. They are further divided into 18 districts. The area of Hong Kong Island has four districts, the area of Kowloon has five districts, and the area of the New Territories has nine districts. Each district is represented by a district council. The district councils advise the government on local issues such as public facility provisioning, community programme maintenance, cultural promotion, and environmental policy.
As of 2024,[update] there are a total of 470 district council seats, 88 of which are directly elected. In May 2023, the government proposed reforms to the District Council electoral system which further cut the number of directly elected seats from 452 to 88, and total seats from 479 to 470. A requirement that district council candidates be vetted and approved by the District Council Eligibility Review Committee was also proposed. The Legislative Council approved the reforms in July 2023.
### Political reforms and sociopolitical issues
Hong Kong is governed by a hybrid regime that is not fully representative of the population. Legislative Council members elected by functional constituencies composed of professional and special interest groups are accountable to these narrow corporate electorates and not the general public. This electoral arrangement has guaranteed a pro-Beijing camp majority in the legislature since the handover. Similarly, the chief executive is selected by establishment politicians and corporate members of the Election Committee rather than directly elected. Despite universal suffrage being established as ultimate goals for the election of the chief executive and all members of the Legislative Council in Articles 45 and 68 of the basic law, the legislature is only partially directly elected, and the executive continues to be nominated by an unrepresentative body. The government has been repeatedly petitioned to introduce direct elections for these positions, but has not introduced these direct elections as of 2024.
Ethnic minorities (except those of European ancestry) have marginal representation in government and often experience discrimination in housing, education, and employment. Employment vacancies and public service appointments frequently have language requirements which minority job seekers do not meet, and language education resources remain inadequate for Chinese learners. Foreign domestic helpers, mostly women from the Philippines and Indonesia, have little protection under regional law. Although they live and work in Hong Kong, these workers are not treated as ordinary residents and do not have the right of abode in the territory. Sex trafficking is also an issue, local, mainland Chinese, and foreign women have been trafficked for sex in brothels, homes, and businesses in the city.
The Joint Declaration guarantees the Basic Law of Hong Kong for 50 years after the handover. It does not specify how Hong Kong will be governed after 2047, and the central government's role in determining the territory's future system of government is the subject of political debate and speculation. Hong Kong's political and judicial systems may be integrated with China's at that time, or the territory may continue to be administered separately. However, in response to large-scale protests in 2019 and 2020, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed the controversial Hong Kong national security law. The law criminalises secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign elements and establishes the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the CPG in the HKSAR, an investigative office under Central People's Government authority immune from HKSAR jurisdiction. Some of the aforementioned acts were previously considered protected speech under Hong Kong law. The United Kingdom considers the law to be a serious violation of the Joint Declaration. In October 2020, the Hong Kong Police arrested seven pro-democracy politicians over tussles with pro-Beijing politicians in the Legislative Council in May. They were charged with contempt and interfering with members of the council, while none of the pro-Beijing lawmakers were detained. Annual commemorations of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre were also cancelled amidst fears of violating the national security law. In March 2021, the Chinese central government unilaterally changed Hong Kong's electoral system and established the Candidate Eligibility Review Committee, which would be tasked with screening and evaluating political candidates for their "patriotism", effectively crushing the remainder of the pro-democracy camp.
In February 2024, Xia Baolong, the head of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, said that the "one country, two systems" principle would be kept permanently.
## Geography
Hong Kong is on China's southern coast, 60 km (37 mi) east of Macau, on the east side of the mouth of the Pearl River estuary. It is surrounded by the South China Sea on all sides except the north, which neighbours the Guangdong city of Shenzhen along the Sham Chun River. The territory's 1,110.18 km2 (428.64 sq mi) area (2,754.97 km2 if the maritime area is included) consists of Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula, the New Territories, Lantau Island, and over 200 other islands. Of the total area, 1,073 km2 (414 sq mi) is land and 35 km2 (14 sq mi) is water. The territory's highest point is Tai Mo Shan, 957 metres (3,140 ft) above sea level. Urban development is concentrated on the Kowloon Peninsula, Hong Kong Island, and in new towns throughout the New Territories. Much of this is built on reclaimed land; 70 km2 (27 sq mi) (6% of the total land or about 25% of developed space in the territory) is reclaimed from the sea.
Undeveloped terrain is hilly to mountainous, with very little flat land, and consists mostly of grassland, woodland, shrubland, or farmland. About 40% of the remaining land area is country parks and nature reserves. The territory has a diverse ecosystem; over 3,000 species of vascular plants occur in the region (300 of which are native to Hong Kong), and thousands of insect, avian, and marine species.
### Climate
Hong Kong has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen *Cwa*), characteristic of southern China, despite being located south of the Tropic of Cancer, although closely bordering on a tropical climate. Summers are long, hot and humid, with occasional showers and thunderstorms and warm air from the southwest. The humid nature of Hong Kong exacerbates the warmth of summer. Typhoons occur most often then, sometimes resulting in floods or landslides. Also rarely occurring are waterspouts and tornadoes, which occurred at Hong Kong International Airport on 26 September 2020 and at Victoria Harbour on 28 September 2024. Winters are short, mild and usually sunny at the beginning, becoming cloudy towards February. Frequent cold fronts bring strong, cooling winds from the north and occasionally result in chilly weather. Autumn is the sunniest season, whilst spring is generally cloudy. Snowfall has been extremely rare in Hong Kong; the last reported instance was on Tai Mo Shan in 1975. Hong Kong averages 1,709 hours of sunshine per year. Historic temperature extremes at the Hong Kong Observatory are 36.6 °C (97.9 °F) on 22 August 2017 and 0.0 °C (32.0 °F) on 18 January 1893, record highest daily minimum temperature there was 30.1 °C (86.2 °F) on 18 August 1990 and the lowest daily maximum temperature there was 3.2 °C (37.8 °F) on 16 January 1893. The highest and lowest recorded temperatures in all of Hong Kong are 39.0 °C (102 °F) at Wetland Park on 22 August 2017, and −6.0 °C (21.2 °F) at Tai Mo Shan on 24 January 2016.
| Climate data for Hong Kong (Hong Kong Observatory), normals 1991–2020, extremes 1884–1939 and 1947–present |
|---|
### Environment
Air pollution in Hong Kong is considered a serious problem. It became a concern soon after the start of 2000s. According to the Environmental Protection Department (EPD), the major air pollutants in Hong Kong include nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2), respirable suspended particulates (RSP or PM10), fine suspended particulates (FSP or PM2.5), volatile organic compounds (VOC), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone and lead.
### Architecture
Hong Kong has the world's largest number of skyscrapers, with 554 towers taller than 150 metres (490 ft), and the third-largest number of high-rise buildings in the world. The lack of available space restricted development to high-density residential tenements and commercial complexes packed closely together on buildable land. Single-family detached homes are uncommon and generally only found in outlying areas. The International Commerce Centre and Two International Finance Centre are the tallest buildings in Hong Kong and are among the tallest in the Asia-Pacific region. Other distinctive buildings lining the Hong Kong Island skyline include the HSBC Main Building, the anemometer-topped triangular Central Plaza, the circular Hopewell Centre, and the sharp-edged Bank of China Tower.
Demand for new construction has contributed to frequent demolition of older buildings, freeing space for modern high-rises. However, many examples of European and Lingnan architecture are still found throughout the territory. Older government buildings are examples of colonial architecture. The 1846 Flagstaff House, the former residence of the Commander of the British forces in Hong Kong, is the oldest Western-style building in Hong Kong. Some buildings, such as the Court of Final Appeal Building and the Hong Kong Observatory retain their original functions, and others have been adapted and reused; the Former Marine Police Headquarters was redeveloped into a commercial and retail complex, and Béthanie (built in 1875 as a sanatorium) houses the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. The Tin Hau Temple, dedicated to the sea goddess Mazu (originally built in 1012 and rebuilt in 1266), is the territory's oldest existing structure. The Ping Shan Heritage Trail has architectural examples from several imperial Chinese dynasties, including the Tsui Sing Lau Pagoda (Hong Kong's only remaining pagoda).
*Tong lau*, mixed-use tenement buildings constructed during the colonial era, blended southern Chinese architectural styles with European influences. These were especially prolific during the immediate post-war period, when many were rapidly built to house large numbers of Chinese migrants. Examples include Lui Seng Chun, the Blue House in Wan Chai, and the Shanghai Street shophouses in Mong Kok. Mass-produced public-housing estates, built since the 1960s, are mainly constructed in modernist style.
## Demographics
| Cause of Death | 2001 | 2011 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Malignant neoplasms | 169.9 | 187.2 | 203.8 |
| 2. Pneumonia | 45.1 | 87.8 | 132.6
|
| 3. Diseases of heart | 70 | 89.6 | 89 |
| 4. Cerebrovascular | 46.6 | 47.2 | 42.2 |
| 5. External causes of morbidity and mortality |
27.5 | 22.2 | 26.7 |
| 6. Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis |
15.7 | 21.8 | 24 |
7. Dementia |
3.8 | 10.6 | 20.2
|
| 8. Septicaemia | 6.3 | 10.8 | 16.8 |
| 9. Chronic lower respiratory diseases |
31.5 | 27.8 | 14.3 |
| 10. Diabetes mellitus | 10.1 | 6.5 | 7.4 |
| All other causes | 69.7 | 85 | 118.1 |
| All causes | 496 | 596.6 | 695.2 |
The Census and Statistics Department estimated Hong Kong's population at 7,413,070 in 2021. The overwhelming majority (91.6%) is Han Chinese, most of whom are Taishanese, Teochew, Hakka, and other Cantonese peoples. The remaining 8.4% are non-ethnic Chinese minorities, primarily Filipinos, Indonesians, and South Asians. However, most Filipinos and Indonesians in Hong Kong are short-term workers. According to a 2021 thematic report by the Hong Kong government, after excluding foreign domestic helpers, the real number of non-Chinese ethnic minorities in the city was 301,344, or 4% of Hong Kong's population. About half the population have some form of British nationality, a legacy of colonial rule; 3.4 million residents have British National (Overseas) status, and 260,000 British citizens live in the territory. The vast majority also hold Chinese nationality, automatically granted to all ethnic Chinese residents at the handover. Headline population density exceeds 7,060 people/km2, and is the fourth-highest in the world.
Among the religious population, the traditional "three teachings" of China, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, have the most adherents (20%), followed by Christianity (12%) and Islam (4%). Followers of other religions, including Sikhism, Hinduism, and Judaism, generally originate from regions where their religion predominates.
Life expectancy in Hong Kong was 81.3 years for males and 87.2 years for females in 2022, one of the highest in the world. The birth rate in 2023 was 0.751 per woman of child-bearing age. Cancer, pneumonia, heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and accidents are the territory's five leading causes of death. The universal public healthcare system is funded by general-tax revenue, and treatment is highly subsidised; on average, 95% of healthcare costs are covered by the government.
The city has a severe amount of income inequality, which has risen since the handover, as the region's ageing population has gradually added to the number of nonworking people. Although median household income steadily increased during the decade to 2021, the wage gap remained high; the 90th percentile of earners receive 41% of all income. The city has the most billionaires per capita, with one billionaire per 109,657 people, as well as the second-highest number of billionaires of any city in the world, the highest number of billionaires of any city in Asia, and the largest concentration of ultra high-net-worth individuals of any city in the world. Despite government efforts to reduce the growing disparity, median income for the top 10% of earners is 57 times that of the bottom 10%.
## Economy
One of the world's most significant financial centres and commercial ports, Hong Kong has a market economy focused on services, characterised by low taxation, minimal government market intervention, and an established international financial market. It is the world's 38th-largest economy, with a nominal GDP of approximately US$407 billion. Hong Kong's economy ranked at the top of the Heritage Foundation's economic freedom index between 1995 and 2021. However, Hong Kong was removed from the index by the Heritage Foundation in 2021, with the Foundation citing a "loss of political freedom and autonomy ... [making Hong Kong] almost indistinguishable in many respects from other major Chinese commercial centers like Shanghai and Beijing". Hong Kong is highly developed, and ranks fourth on the UN Human Development Index. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is the seventh-largest in the world, with a market capitalisation of HK$30.4 trillion (US$3.87 trillion) as of December 2018[update]. Hong Kong is ranked as the 18th most innovative territory in the Global Innovation Index in 2024, and 3rd in the Global Financial Centres Index. The city was sometimes referred to as "Silicon Harbor" in the 1990s, a nickname derived from Silicon Valley in California.
Hong Kong is the ninth largest trading entity in exports and eighth largest in imports (2021), trading more goods in value than its gross domestic product. Over half of its cargo throughput consists of transshipments (goods travelling through Hong Kong). Products from mainland China account for about 40% of that traffic. The city's location allowed it to establish a transportation and logistics infrastructure which includes the world's seventh-busiest container port and the busiest airport for international cargo. The territory's largest export markets are mainland China and the United States. Hong Kong is a key part of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It has little arable land and few natural resources, importing most of its food and raw materials. More than 90% of Hong Kong's food is imported, including nearly all of its meat and rice. Agricultural activity is 0.1% of GDP and consists of growing premium food and flower varieties.
Although the territory had one of Asia's largest manufacturing economies during the latter half of the colonial era, Hong Kong's economy is now dominated by the service sector. The sector generates 92.7% of economic output, with the public sector accounting for about 10%. Between 1961 and 1997 Hong Kong's gross domestic product increased by a factor of 180, and per capita GDP increased by a factor of 87. The territory's GDP relative to mainland China's peaked at 27% in 1993; it fell to less than 3% in 2017, as the mainland developed and liberalised its economy. Economic and infrastructure integration with China has increased significantly since the 1978 start of market liberalisation on the mainland. Since resumption of cross-boundary train service in 1979, many rail and road links have been improved and constructed, facilitating trade between regions. The Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement formalised a policy of free trade between the two areas, with each jurisdiction pledging to remove remaining obstacles to trade and cross-boundary investment. A similar economic partnership with Macau details the liberalisation of trade between the special administrative regions. Chinese companies have expanded their economic presence in the territory since the handover. Mainland firms represent over half of the Hang Seng Index value, up from 5% in 1997.
As the mainland liberalised its economy, Hong Kong's shipping industry faced intense competition from other Chinese ports. Half of China's trade goods were routed through Hong Kong in 1997, dropping to about 13% by 2015. The territory's minimal taxation, common law system, and civil service attract overseas corporations wishing to establish a presence in Asia. The city has the second-highest number of corporate headquarters in the Asia-Pacific region. Hong Kong is a gateway for foreign direct investment in China, giving investors open access to mainland Chinese markets through direct links with the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. The territory was the first market outside mainland China for renminbi-denominated bonds, and is one of the largest hubs for offshore renminbi trading. In November 2020, Hong Kong's Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau proposed a new law that will restrict cryptocurrency trading to professional investors only, leaving amateur traders (93% of Hong Kong's trading population) out of the market. The Hong Kong dollar, the local currency, is the eighth most traded currency in the world. Due to extremely compact house sizes and the extremely high housing density, the city has the most expensive housing market in the world.
The government has had a passive role in the economy. Colonial governments had little industrial policy and implemented almost no trade controls. Under the doctrine of "positive non-interventionism", post-war administrations deliberately avoided the direct allocation of resources; active intervention was considered detrimental to economic growth. While the economy transitioned to a service basis during the 1980s, late colonial governments introduced interventionist policies. Post-handover administrations continued and expanded these programmes, including export-credit guarantees, a compulsory pension scheme, a minimum wage, anti-discrimination laws, and a state mortgage backer.
Tourism is a major part of the economy, accounting for 5% of GDP. In 2016, 26.6 million visitors contributed HK$258 billion (US$32.9 billion) to the territory, making Hong Kong the 14th most popular destination for international tourists.[ needs update] It is the most popular Chinese city for tourists, receiving over 70% more visitors than its closest competitor (Macau). The city is ranked as one of the most expensive cities for expatriates. However, since 2020, there has been a sharp decline in incoming visitors due to tight COVID-19 travel restrictions. Additionally, due to the closure of the Russian airspace in 2022, multiple airlines decided to cease their operations in Hong Kong. In an attempt to attract tourists back to Hong Kong, the Hong Kong government announced plans to give away 500,000 free airline tickets in 2023. Hong Kong was the most visited city internationally in the Asia-Pacific in 2023, with over 2 million more international visitors than its closest competitor, Bangkok.
## Infrastructure
### Transport
Hong Kong has a highly developed, sophisticated transport network. Over 90% of the daily trips made by its residents are made with public transport, the highest percentage in the world. The Octopus card, a contactless smart payment card made for Hong Kong, is widely accepted on railways, trams, buses and ferries, and can be used for payment in most retail stores. Alternative payments such as Apple Pay, AliPay, Mastercard and Visa have also been gradually introduced to public transports.
The Peak Tram, Hong Kong's first public transport system, has provided funicular rail transport between Central and Victoria Peak since 1888.
The Central and Western District has an extensive system of escalators and moving pavements, which being the Mid-Levels escalator, the world's longest outdoor covered escalator system.
Hong Kong Tramways’ tram network covers a portion of Hong Kong Island, covering from Kennedy Town to Shau Kei Wan, with a branch to Happy Valley. It operates 6 routes and has had a rideship of 42,558 in 2022. It began servicing Hong Kong since 1904. Hong Kong Tramways currently holds the Guinness World Record as the "Largest double-decker tram fleet in service", certified on 30 July 2021, with a fleet of 165 double-decker trams. The fleet of trams was mostly built by Hong Kong Tramways.
The Mass Transit Railway (MTR) is an extensive passenger rail network, connecting 99 metro stations and 68 light-rail stops throughout the territory. With a daily ridership of almost five million, the system serves 41% of all public transit passengers in the city and has an on-time rate of 99.9%. Cross-boundary train service to Shenzhen is offered by the East Rail line, and longer-distance inter-city trains to Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing are operated from Hung Hom station. This train service has however been suspended since the outbreak of COVID-19, and officially closed by the State Council on 31 July 2024, as announced by the General Administration of Customs, citing that high-speed passenger trains have effectively met the travel needs of passengers between the mainland and Hong Kong. Connecting service to the national high-speed rail system is provided at West Kowloon railway station.
Although public transport systems handle most passenger traffic, there are over 500,000 private vehicles registered in Hong Kong. Automobiles drive on the left (unlike in mainland China), because of historical influence of the British Empire. Vehicle traffic is extremely congested in urban areas, exacerbated by limited space to expand roads and an increasing number of vehicles. More than 18,000 taxicabs, easily identifiable by their bright colours and taxi lights, are licensed to carry riders in the territory. Unlicensed ride-hailing services such as Uber exist in Hong Kong as well, with some operating with licensed taxis to legitimise their business in ride-sharing. Unlicensed drivers have been targeted by the government and taxi drivers in the past, mainly due to the lack of third-party insurance on passengers and taxi drivers fearing the competition from drivers of these ride-hailing services. The government in 2024 has looked into legalising these services.
Bus services operate more than 700 routes across the territory, with smaller public light buses (also known as minibuses) serving areas standard buses do not reach as frequently or directly. Expressways and truck roads, organised with the Hong Kong Strategic Route and Exit Number System, connect all major areas of the territory. The Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge provides a direct route to the western side of the Pearl River estuary.
Hong Kong International Airport is the territory's primary airport, replacing Kai Tak International Airport that ended its operation in 1998. Over 100 airlines operate flights from the airport, including locally based Cathay Pacific (flag carrier), Hong Kong Airlines, low-cost airline HK Express and cargo airline Air Hong Kong. It was the eighth-busiest airport by passenger traffic pre-COVID and handles the most air-cargo traffic in the world. Most private recreational aviation traffic flies through Shek Kong Airfield, under the supervision of the Hong Kong Aviation Club.
The Star Ferry operates two lines across Victoria Harbour for its 53,000 daily passengers. Ferries also serve outlying islands inaccessible by other means. Smaller kai-to boats serve the most remote coastal settlements. Ferry travel to Macau and mainland China is also available. Junks, once common in Hong Kong waters, are no longer widely available and are used privately and for tourism. The large size of the port gives Hong Kong the classification of Large-Port Metropolis.
### Utilities
Hong Kong generates most of its electricity locally. The vast majority of this energy comes from fossil fuels, with 46% from coal and 47% from petroleum. The rest is from other imports, including nuclear energy generated in mainland China. Renewable sources account for a negligible amount of energy generated for the territory. Small-scale wind-power sources have been developed, and a small number of private homes and public buildings have installed solar panels.
With few natural lakes and rivers, high population density, inaccessible groundwater sources, and extremely seasonal rainfall, the territory does not have a reliable source of freshwater. The Dong River in Guangdong supplies 70% of the city's water, and the remaining demand is filled by harvesting rainwater locally. Toilets in most built-up areas of the territory flush with seawater which reduces freshwater use.
Broadband Internet access is widely available, with 92.6% of households connected. Connections over fibre-optic infrastructure are increasingly prevalent, contributing to the high regional average connection speed of 21.9 Mbit/s (the world's fourth-fastest). Mobile-phone use is ubiquitous; there are almost 22 million mobile-phone accounts registered in Hong Kong, which is almost triple the territory's population.
## Culture
Hong Kong is characterised as a hybrid of East and West. Traditional Chinese values emphasising family and education blend with Western ideals, including economic liberty and the rule of law. Although the vast majority of the population is ethnically Chinese, Hong Kong has developed a distinct identity. The territory diverged from the mainland through its long period of colonial administration and a different pace of economic, social, and cultural development. Mainstream culture was derived from immigrants originating from various parts of China; it was then influenced by British-style education, a separate political system, and the territory's rapid development during the late 20th century. Most migrants of that era fled poverty and war, reflected in the prevailing attitude toward wealth; Hongkongers would tend to link self-image and decision-making to material benefits. Residents' sense of local identity has increased post-handover: polling in December 2022 had 32% of respondents identifying as "Hongkongers", 34.1% identifying as "Hongkongers in China" 45.9% purporting a "Mixed Identity", 20.5% identifying as "Chinese" and 11.9% identifying as "Chinese in Hong Kong".
Traditional Chinese family values, including family honour, filial piety, and a preference for sons, are prevalent. Nuclear families are the most common households, although multi-generational and extended families are not unusual. Spiritual concepts such as *feng shui* are observed; large-scale construction projects often hire consultants to ensure proper building positioning and layout. The degree of its adherence to *feng shui* is believed to determine the success of a business. *Bagua* mirrors are regularly used to deflect evil spirits, and buildings often lack floor numbers with a 4; the number has a similar sound to the word for "die" in Cantonese.
### Cuisine
Food in Hong Kong is primarily based on Cantonese cuisine, despite the territory's exposure to foreign influences and its residents' varied origins. Rice is the staple food, and is usually served plain with other dishes. Freshness of ingredients is emphasised. Poultry and seafood are commonly sold live at wet markets, and ingredients are used as quickly as possible when still fresh. There are up to five daily meals: breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and *siu yeh*. Dim sum, as part of *yum cha* (brunch), is a dining-out tradition with family and friends. Dishes include congee, *cha siu bao*, *siu yuk*, egg tarts, and mango pudding. Local versions of Western food are served at *cha chaan teng* (Hong Kong-style cafes). Common *cha chaan teng* menu items include macaroni in soup, deep-fried French toast, and Hong Kong-style milk tea.
### Language
The predominant language today is Cantonese, a variety of Chinese originating in Guangzhou. It is spoken by 93.7% of the population, 88.2% as a first language and 5.5% as a second language. Slightly over half the population (58.7%) speaks English, the other official language; 4.6% are native speakers, and 54.1% speak English as a second language. Code-switching, mixing English and Cantonese in informal conversation, is common among the bilingual population. Post-handover governments have promoted Mandarin, which is currently about as prevalent as English; 54.2% of the population speak Mandarin, with 2.3% native speakers and 51.9% as a second language. Traditional Chinese characters are used in writing, rather than the simplified characters used in the mainland.
Before the First Opium War, Hong Kong did not have significant Cantonese-speaking populations. Instead, the majority of people spoke Hakka varieties, though large areas with Waitaunese and Tanka speakers can be found in the northern New Territories and southern coastal areas respectively. Hong Kong Hakka is a variety of Neo-Hakka, and belongs to the Mei-Hui Hakka subbranch of Yuetai Hakka , making it closely related to Moiyenese. Waitaunese is a variety that is closely related to the Yue Chinese varieties spoken in Bao'an and Dongguan, and was the primary language of the Five Great Clans of the New Territories, brought into Hong Kong during the Song dynasty from Jiangxi. Some of the native Yue Chinese varieties were noticeably Hakka-influenced. Smaller communities of Hoklo speakers also existed, and many villages were multicultural.
Today, communities of other Chinese varieties' (such as Teochew, Szeyap, Hokkien, and Shanghainese) speakers also live in Hong Kong. Southeast Asian languages such as Tagalog and Malay-Indonesian speaking communities also live in Hong Kong. Other minority languages with significant speakerbases in Hong Kong include French, Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Hindustani, Japanese, and Korean, among others.
### Cinema
Hong Kong developed into a filmmaking hub during the late 1940s as a wave of Shanghai filmmakers migrated to the territory, and these movie veterans helped build the colony's entertainment industry over the next decade. By the 1960s, the city was well known to overseas audiences through films such as *The World of Suzie Wong*. When Bruce Lee's *The Way of the Dragon* was released in 1972, local productions became popular outside Hong Kong. During the 1980s, films such as *A Better Tomorrow*, *As Tears Go By*, and *Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain* expanded global interest beyond martial arts films; locally made gangster films, romantic dramas, and supernatural fantasies became popular.
Hong Kong cinema continued to be internationally successful over the following decade with critically acclaimed dramas such as *Farewell My Concubine*, *To Live*, and *Chungking Express*. The city's martial arts film roots are evident in the roles of the most prolific Hong Kong actors. Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen, Jet Li, Chow Yun-fat, and Michelle Yeoh frequently play action-oriented roles in foreign films. Hong Kong films have also grown popular in overseas markets such as Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia, earning the city the moniker "Hollywood of the East". At the height of the local movie industry in the early 1990s, over 400 films were produced each year; since then, industry momentum has shifted to mainland China. The number of films produced annually has declined to about 60 in 2017.
### Music
Cantopop is a genre of Cantonese popular music which emerged in Hong Kong during the 1970s. Evolving from Shanghai-style *shidaiqu*, it is also influenced by Cantonese opera and Western pop. Local media featured songs by artists such as Sam Hui, Anita Mui, Leslie Cheung, and Alan Tam; during the 1980s, exported films and shows exposed Cantopop to a global audience. The genre's popularity peaked in the 1990s, when the Four Heavenly Kings dominated Asian record charts. Despite a general decline since late in the decade, Cantopop remains dominant in Hong Kong; contemporary artists such as Eason Chan, Joey Yung, and Twins are popular in and beyond the territory.
Western classical music has historically had a strong presence in Hong Kong and remains a large part of local musical education. The publicly funded Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the territory's oldest professional symphony orchestra, frequently hosts musicians and conductors from overseas. The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, composed of classical Chinese instruments, is the leading Chinese ensemble and plays a significant role in promoting traditional music in the community.
Hong Kong has never had a separate national anthem to the country that controlled it; its current official national anthem is therefore that of the People's Republic of China, "March of the Volunteers". The song "Glory to Hong Kong" has been used by protestors as an unofficial anthem of the city.
### Sport and recreation
Despite its small area, the territory is home to a variety of sports and recreational facilities. The city has hosted numerous major sporting events, including the 2009 East Asian Games, the 2008 Summer Olympics equestrian events, and the 2007 Premier League Asia Trophy. The territory regularly hosts the Hong Kong Sevens, Hong Kong Marathon, Hong Kong Tennis Classic and Lunar New Year Cup, and has hosted the inaugural AFC Asian Cup and the 1995 Dynasty Cup.
Hong Kong represents itself separately from mainland China, with its own sports teams in international competitions. The territory has participated in almost every Summer Olympics since 1952 and has earned nine medals. Lee Lai-shan won the territory's first Olympic gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and Cheung Ka Long won the second one in Tokyo 2020. Hong Kong athletes have won 126 medals at the Paralympic Games and 17 at the Commonwealth Games. No longer part of the Commonwealth of Nations, the city's last appearance in the latter was in 1994.
Dragon boat races originated as a religious ceremony conducted during the annual Tuen Ng Festival. The race was revived as a modern sport as part of the Tourism Board's efforts to promote Hong Kong's image abroad. The first modern competition was organised in 1976, and overseas teams began competing in the first international race in 1993.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club, the territory's largest taxpayer, has a monopoly on gambling and provides over 7% of government revenue. Three forms of gambling are legal in Hong Kong: lotteries, horse racing, and football.
## Education
Education in Hong Kong is largely modelled on that of the United Kingdom, particularly the English system. Children are required to attend school from age 6 until completion of secondary education, generally at age 18. At the end of secondary schooling, all students take a public examination and are awarded the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education upon successful completion.
Of residents aged 15 and older, 81% completed lower-secondary education, 66% graduated from an upper secondary school, 32% attended a non-degree tertiary program, and 24% earned a bachelor's degree or higher.
Mandatory education has contributed to an adult literacy rate of 95.7%. The literacy rate is lower than that of other developed economies because of the influx of refugees from mainland China during the post-war colonial era; much of the elderly population were not formally educated because of war and poverty.
Comprehensive schools fall under three categories: public schools, which are government-run; subsidised schools, including government aid-and-grant schools; and private schools, often those run by religious organisations and that base admissions on academic merit. These schools are subject to the curriculum guidelines as provided by the Education Bureau. Private schools subsidised under the Direct Subsidy Scheme and international schools fall outside of this system and may elect to use differing curricula and teach using other languages.
### Medium of instruction
At primary and secondary school levels, the government maintains a policy of "mother tongue instruction"; most schools use Cantonese as the medium of instruction, with written education in both Chinese and English. Other languages being used as medium of instruction in non-international school education include English and Putonghua (Standard Mandarin Chinese). Secondary schools emphasise "bi-literacy and tri-lingualism", which has encouraged the proliferation of spoken Mandarin language education.
English is the official medium of instruction and assessments for most university programmes in Hong Kong, although use of Cantonese is predominant in informal discussions among local students and professors.
### Tertiary education
Hong Kong has twelve universities. The University of Hong Kong (HKU) was founded as the city's first institute of higher education during the early colonial period in 1911. The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) was established in 1963 to fill the need for a university that taught using Chinese as its primary language of instruction. Along with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) established in 1991, these universities are consistently ranked among the top 50 or top 100 universities worldwide.
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and City University of Hong Kong (CityU), both granted university status in 1994, are consistently ranked among the top 100 or top 200 universities worldwide. The Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) was granted university status in 1994 and is a liberal arts institution. Hong Kong Metropolitan University (formerly as Open University of Hong Kong prior to 2021) (attaining status in 1997), Lingnan University (in 1999), Hong Kong Shue Yan University (in 2006), Education University of Hong Kong (in 2016), Hang Seng University of Hong Kong (in 2018) and Saint Francis University (in 2024) all attained full university status in subsequent years.
## Media
Most of the newspapers in Hong Kong are written in Chinese but there are also a few English-language newspapers, the major one being the *South China Morning Post*, with *The Standard* serving as a business-oriented alternative. A variety of Chinese-language newspapers are published daily; the most prominent are *Ming Pao* and *Oriental Daily News*. Local publications are often politically affiliated, with pro-Beijing or pro-democracy sympathies. The central government has a print-media presence in the territory through the state-owned *Ta Kung Pao* and *Wen Wei Po*. Several international publications have regional operations in Hong Kong, including *The Wall Street Journal*, the *Financial Times*, *USA Today*, the *Yomiuri Shimbun*, and *The Nikkei*.
Four free-to-air television broadcasters operate in the territory; TVB, HKTVE, HOY and Phoenix Television air eight digital channels. TVB, Hong Kong's dominant television network, has an 80% viewer share. Paid television services operated by PCCW offer hundreds of additional channels and cater to a variety of audiences. RTHK is the public broadcaster, providing seven radio channels and six free-to-air television channels. Ten non-domestic broadcasters air programming for the territory's foreign population. Access to media and information over the Internet is not subject to mainland Chinese regulations, including the Great Firewall, yet local control applies.
## See also
## Notes
## Sources
#### Legislation and case law
### Academic publications
### Institutional reports
### News and magazine articles
### Websites
## External links
- Hong Kong.
*The World Factbook*. Central Intelligence Agency. - Hong Kong from BBC News
- Key Development Forecasts for Hong Kong from International Futures
- Hong Kong in Transition (1995–2020), an open access photographic archive of recent Hong Kong history
**Government**
- GovHK Hong Kong SAR government portal
- Discover Hong Kong Official site of the tourism board
**Trade**
**Maps**
- Wikimedia Atlas of Hong Kong
- Geographic data related to Hong Kong at OpenStreetMap
|
# Birmingham - Wikipedia
Birmingham | |
|---|---|
| Nicknames: | |
| Motto: Forward | |
| Coordinates: | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Country | England |
| Region | West Midlands |
| Ceremonial county and combined authority | West Midlands |
| Historic county | |
| Settled | c.600 |
| City status | 14 January 1889 |
| Metropolitan borough | 1 April 1974 |
| Administrative HQ | The Council House |
| Government | |
| • Type | Metropolitan borough |
| • Body | Birmingham City Council |
| • Executive | Leader and cabinet |
| • Control | Labour |
| • Leader | John Cotton (L) |
| • Lord Mayor | Ken Wood |
| • MPs | 10 MPs |
| Area | |
• Total | 103 sq mi (268 km2) |
| • Rank | 131st |
| Population (2022) | |
• Total | 1,157,603 |
| • Rank | 1st |
| • Density | 11,200/sq mi (4,323/km2) |
| Demonym | Brummie (colloq.) |
| Ethnicity (2021) | |
| • Ethnic groups | List |
| Religion (2021) | |
| • Religion | List |
| Time zone | UTC+0 (GMT) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (BST) |
| Postcode area | |
| Dialling code | 0121 |
| ISO 3166 code | GB-BIR |
| GSS code | E08000025 |
| Website | birmingham |
**Birmingham** ( ⓘ *BUR-ming-əm*) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands region, in England. It is the largest local authority district in England by population and the second-largest city in Britain – commonly referred to as the second city of the United Kingdom – with a population of 1.16 million people in the city proper in 2022. Birmingham borders the Black Country to its west and, together with the city of Wolverhampton and towns including Dudley and Solihull, forms the West Midlands conurbation. The royal town of Sutton Coldfield is incorporated within the city limits to the northeast. The urban area has a population of 2.65 million.
Located in the West Midlands region of England, Birmingham is considered to be the social, cultural, financial and commercial centre of the Midlands. It is just west of the traditional centre point of England at Meriden, and is the most inland major city in the country, lying north of the Cotswolds and east of the Shropshire Hills. Distinctively, Birmingham only has small rivers flowing through it, mainly the River Tame and its tributaries River Rea and River Cole – one of the closest main rivers is the Severn, approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of the city centre. The city does however have numerous canals, collectively named the Birmingham Canal Navigations.
Historically a market town in Warwickshire in the medieval period, Birmingham grew during the 18th century during the Midlands Enlightenment and during the Industrial Revolution, which saw advances in science, technology and economic development, producing a series of innovations that laid many of the foundations of modern industrial society. By 1791, it was being hailed as "the first manufacturing town in the world". Birmingham's distinctive economic profile, with thousands of small workshops practising a wide variety of specialised and highly skilled trades, encouraged exceptional levels of creativity and innovation; this provided an economic base for prosperity that was to last into the final quarter of the 20th century. The Watt steam engine was invented in Birmingham.
The resulting high level of social mobility also fostered a culture of political radicalism which, under leaders from Thomas Attwood to Joseph Chamberlain, was to give it a political influence unparalleled in Britain outside London and a pivotal role in the development of British democracy. From the summer of 1940 to the spring of 1943, Birmingham was bombed heavily by the German Luftwaffe in what is known as the Birmingham Blitz. The damage done to the city's infrastructure, in addition to a deliberate policy of demolition and new building by planners, led to extensive urban regeneration in subsequent decades.
Birmingham's economy is now dominated by the service sector. The city is a major international commercial centre and an important transport, retail, events and conference hub. Its metropolitan economy is the second-largest in the United Kingdom with a GDP of £95.94bn (2014[update]). Its five universities, including the University of Birmingham, make it the largest centre of higher education in the country outside London. Birmingham's major cultural institutions – the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Library of Birmingham and Barber Institute of Fine Arts – enjoy international reputations, and the city has vibrant and influential grassroots art, music, literary and culinary scenes. Birmingham was the host city for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. In 2021, Birmingham was the third most visited city in the UK by people from foreign nations.
The name *Birmingham* comes from the Old English *Beormingahām*, meaning the home or settlement of the *Beormingas* – a tribe or clan whose name means 'Beorma's people' and which may have formed an early unit of Anglo-Saxon administration. Beorma, after whom the tribe was named, could have been its leader at the time of the Anglo-Saxon settlement, a shared ancestor, or a mythical tribal figurehead. Place names ending in *-ingahām* are characteristic of primary settlements established during the early phases of Anglo-Saxon colonisation of an area, suggesting that Birmingham was probably in existence by the early 7th century at the latest. Surrounding settlements with names ending in *-tūn* ('farm'), *-lēah* ('woodland clearing'), *-worð* ('enclosure') and *-field* ('open ground') are likely to be secondary settlements created by the later expansion of the Anglo-Saxon population, in some cases possibly on earlier British sites.
There is evidence of early human activity in the Birmingham area dating back to around 8000 BC, with Stone Age artefacts suggesting seasonal settlements, overnight hunting parties and woodland activities such as tree felling. The many burnt mounds that can still be seen around the city indicate that modern humans first intensively settled and cultivated the area during the Bronze Age, when a substantial but short-lived influx of population occurred between 1700 BC and 1000 BC, possibly caused by conflict or immigration in the surrounding area. During the 1st-century Roman conquest of Britain, the forested country of the Birmingham Plateau formed a barrier to the advancing Roman legions, who built the large Metchley Fort in the area of modern-day Edgbaston in AD 48, and made it the focus of a network of Roman roads. Birmingham was then later established by the *Beormingas* around the 6th or 7th century as a small settlement in the then heavily forested Arden region in Mercia.
The development of Birmingham into a significant urban and commercial centre began in 1166, when the Lord of the Manor Peter de Bermingham obtained a charter to hold a market at his castle, and followed this with the creation of a planned market town and seigneurial borough within his *demesne* or manorial estate, around the site that became the Bull Ring. This established Birmingham as the primary commercial centre for the Birmingham Plateau at a time when the area's economy was expanding rapidly, with population growth nationally leading to the clearance, cultivation and settlement of previously marginal land. Within a century of the charter Birmingham had grown into a prosperous urban centre of merchants and craftsmen. By 1327 it was the third-largest town in Warwickshire, a position it would retain for the next 200 years.
The principal governing institutions of medieval Birmingham – including the Guild of the Holy Cross and the lordship of the de Birmingham family – collapsed between 1536 and 1547, leaving the town with an unusually high degree of social and economic freedom and initiating a period of transition and growth.
The importance of the manufacture of iron goods to Birmingham's economy was recognised as early as 1538, and grew rapidly as the century progressed. Equally significant was the town's emerging role as a centre for the iron merchants who organised finance, supplied raw materials and traded and marketed the industry's products. By the 1600s Birmingham formed the commercial hub of a network of forges and furnaces stretching from South Wales to Cheshire and its merchants were selling finished manufactured goods as far afield as the West Indies. These trading links gave Birmingham's metalworkers access to much wider markets, allowing them to diversify away from lower-skilled trades producing basic goods for local sale, towards a broader range of specialist, higher-skilled and more lucrative activities.
By the time of the English Civil War Birmingham's booming economy, its expanding population, and its resulting high levels of social mobility and cultural pluralism, had seen it develop new social structures very different from those of more established areas. Relationships were built around pragmatic commercial linkages rather than the rigid paternalism and deference of feudal society, and loyalties to the traditional hierarchies of the established church and aristocracy were weak. The town's reputation for political radicalism and its strongly Parliamentarian sympathies saw it attacked by Royalist forces in the Battle of Birmingham in 1643, and it developed into a centre of Puritanism in the 1630s and as a haven for Nonconformists from the 1660s.
By 1700 Birmingham's population had increased fifteen-fold and the town was the fifth-largest in England and Wales. The 18th century saw this tradition of free-thinking and collaboration blossom into the cultural phenomenon now known as the Midlands Enlightenment. The town developed into a notable centre of literary, musical, artistic and theatrical activity; and its leading citizens – particularly the members of the Lunar Society of Birmingham – became influential participants in the circulation of philosophical and scientific ideas among Europe's intellectual elite. The close relationship between Enlightenment Birmingham's leading thinkers and its major manufacturers – in men like Matthew Boulton and James Keir they were often in fact the same people – made it particularly important for the exchange of knowledge between pure science and the practical world of manufacturing and technology. This created a "chain reaction of innovation", forming a pivotal link between the earlier Scientific Revolution and the Industrial Revolution that would follow.
Birmingham's explosive industrial expansion started earlier than that of the textile-manufacturing towns of the North of England, and was driven by different factors. Instead of the economies of scale of a low-paid, unskilled workforce producing a single bulk product such as cotton or wool in large, mechanised units of production, Birmingham's industrial development was built on the adaptability and creativity of a highly paid workforce with a strong division of labour, practising a broad variety of skilled specialist trades and producing a constantly diversifying range of products, in a highly entrepreneurial economy of small, often self-owned workshops. This led to exceptional levels of inventiveness: between 1760 and 1850 – the core years of the Industrial Revolution – Birmingham residents registered over three times as many patents as those of any other British town or city.
The demand for capital to feed rapid economic expansion also saw Birmingham grow into a major financial centre with extensive international connections. Lloyds Bank was founded in the town in 1765, and Ketley's Building Society, the world's first building society, in 1775. By 1800 the West Midlands had more banking offices per head than any other region in Britain, including London.
Innovation in 18th-century Birmingham often took the form of incremental series of small-scale improvements to existing products or processes, but also included major developments that lay at the heart of the emergence of industrial society. In 1709 the Birmingham-trained Abraham Darby I moved to Coalbrookdale in Shropshire and built the first blast furnace to successfully smelt iron ore with coke, transforming the quality, volume and scale on which it was possible to produce cast iron. In 1732 Lewis Paul and John Wyatt invented roller spinning, the "one novel idea of the first importance" in the development of the mechanised cotton industry. In 1741 they opened the world's first cotton mill in Birmingham's Upper Priory. In 1746 John Roebuck invented the lead chamber process, enabling the large-scale manufacture of sulphuric acid, and in 1780 James Keir developed a process for the bulk manufacture of alkali, together marking the birth of the modern chemical industry. In 1765 Matthew Boulton opened the Soho Manufactory, pioneering the combination and mechanisation under one roof of previously separate manufacturing activities through a system known as "rational manufacture". As the largest manufacturing unit in Europe, this came to symbolise the emergence of the factory system.
Most significant, however, was the development in 1776 of the industrial steam engine by James Watt and Matthew Boulton. Freeing for the first time the manufacturing capacity of human society from the limited availability of hand, water and animal power, this was arguably the pivotal moment of the entire Industrial Revolution and a key factor in the worldwide increases in productivity over the following century.
Birmingham rose to national political prominence in the campaign for political reform in the early 19th century, with Thomas Attwood and the Birmingham Political Union bringing the country to the brink of civil war during the Days of May that preceded the passing of the Reform Act 1832. The union's meetings on Newhall Hill in 1831 and 1832 were the largest political assemblies Britain had ever seen. Lord Durham, who drafted the act, wrote that "the country owed Reform to Birmingham, and its salvation from revolution". This reputation for having "shaken the fabric of privilege to its base" in 1832 led John Bright to make Birmingham the platform for his successful campaign for the Reform Act 1867, which extended voting rights to the urban working class.
The original charter of incorporation, dated 31 October 1838, was received in Birmingham on 1 November, then read in the town hall on 5 November with elections for the first Birmingham Town Council being held on 26 December. Sixteen aldermen and 48 councillors were elected and the borough was divided into 13 wards. William Scholefield became the first mayor and William Redfern was appointed as town clerk. Birmingham Town Police were established the following year.[ citation needed]
Birmingham's tradition of innovation continued into the 19th century. Birmingham was the terminus for both of the world's first two long-distance railway lines: the 82-mile (132 km) Grand Junction Railway of 1837 and the 112-mile (180 km) London and Birmingham Railway of 1838. Birmingham schoolteacher Rowland Hill invented the postage stamp and created the first modern universal postal system in 1839. Alexander Parkes invented the first human-made plastic in the Jewellery Quarter in 1855.
By the 1820s, the country's extensive canal system had been constructed, giving greater access to natural resources and fuel for industries. During the Victorian era, the population of Birmingham grew rapidly to well over half a million and Birmingham became the second largest population centre in England. Birmingham was granted city status in 1889 by Queen Victoria. Joseph Chamberlain, mayor of Birmingham and later an MP, and his son Neville Chamberlain, who was Lord Mayor of Birmingham and later the British Prime Minister, are two of the most well-known political figures who have lived in Birmingham. The city established its own university in 1900.
The city suffered heavy bomb damage during World War II's "Birmingham Blitz". The city was also the scene of two scientific discoveries that were to prove critical to the outcome of the war. Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls first described how a practical nuclear weapon could be constructed in the Frisch–Peierls memorandum of 1940, the same year that the cavity magnetron, the key component of radar and later of microwave ovens, was invented by John Randall and Henry Boot. Details of these two discoveries, together with an outline of the first jet engine invented by Frank Whittle in nearby Rugby, were taken to the United States by the Tizard Mission in September 1940, in a single black box later described by an official American historian as "the most valuable cargo ever brought to our shores".
The city was extensively redeveloped during the 1950s and 1960s. This included the construction of large tower block estates, such as Castle Vale. The Bull Ring was reconstructed and New Street station was redeveloped. In the decades following World War II, the ethnic makeup of Birmingham changed significantly, as it received waves of immigration from the Commonwealth of Nations and beyond. The city's population peaked in 1951 at 1,113,000 residents.
21 people were killed and 182 were injured in a series of bomb attacks in 1974, thought to be carried out by the Provisional IRA. The bombings were the worst terror attacks in England up until the 2005 London bombings and consisted of bombs being planted in two pubs in central Birmingham. Six men were convicted, who became known later as the Birmingham Six and sentenced to life imprisonment. They were acquitted after 16 years by the Court of Appeal. The convictions are now considered one of the worst miscarriages of justice in the UK in recent times. The true perpetrators of the attacks are yet to be arrested.
Birmingham remained by far Britain's most prosperous provincial city as late as the 1970s, with household incomes exceeding even those of London and the South East, but its economic diversity and capacity for regeneration declined in the decades that followed World War II as Central Government sought to restrict the city's growth and disperse industry and population to the stagnating areas of Wales and Northern England. These measures hindered "the natural self-regeneration of businesses in Birmingham, leaving it top-heavy with the old and infirm", and the city became increasingly dependent on the motor industry. The recession of the early 1980s saw Birmingham's economy collapse, with unprecedented levels of unemployment and outbreaks of social unrest in inner-city districts.
Since the turn of the 21st century, many parts of Birmingham have been transformed, with the redevelopment of the Bullring Shopping Centre, the construction of the new Library of Birmingham (the largest public library in Europe) and the completed regeneration of old industrial areas such as Brindleyplace, The Mailbox and the International Convention Centre, ongoing rebuilding of Eastside, Digbeth, and Centenary Square, as well as the rationalisation of the Inner Ring Road. In 1998 Birmingham hosted the 24th G8 summit. The city successfully hosted the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
On 5 September 2023, Birmingham city council issued a Section 114 notice to say that it could not meet its financial commitments after an equal pay lawsuit. Effectively this meant the council was bankrupt. Major contributing factors include a £1.1 billion sum that has been paid out since 2010 for equal pay claims, an ongoing bill for £760 million, increasing by £14 million a month, and problems with a new IT system that was projected to cost £19 million, but is now closer to £100 million. There is a projected £87 million deficit for the financial year 2023/2024.
Birmingham City Council has 104 councillors representing 69 wards as of 2024. Its headquarters are at the Council House in Victoria Square. As of 2023[update], the council has a Labour Party majority and is led by John Cotton. Labour replaced the previous no overall control status at the May 2012 elections. The honour and dignity of a Lord Mayoralty was conferred on Birmingham by Letters Patent on 3 June 1896.
Birmingham's ten parliamentary constituencies are represented in the House of Commons as of 2024[update] by one Conservative, one independent and eight Labour MPs.
Originally part of Warwickshire, Birmingham expanded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, absorbing parts of Worcestershire to the south and Staffordshire to the north and west. The city absorbed Sutton Coldfield in 1974 and became a metropolitan borough in the new West Midlands county, comprising Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall, and Wolverhampton. A top-level government body, the West Midlands Combined Authority, was formed in April 2016. The WMCA holds devolved powers in transport, development planning, economic growth, and large-scale investment. The authority is governed by a directly elected mayor, currently Labour's Richard Parker, similar to the Mayor of London.
Birmingham is located in the centre of the West Midlands region of England on the Birmingham Plateau – an area of relatively high ground, ranging between 500 and 1,000 feet (150 and 300 metres) above sea level and crossed by Britain's main north–south watershed between the basins of the Rivers Severn and Trent. To the immediate south west of the city lie the Lickey Hills, Clent Hills and Walton Hill, which reach 1,033 feet (315 m) and have extensive views over the city. Birmingham is drained only by minor rivers and brooks, primarily the River Tame and its tributaries the Cole and the Rea. Birmingham is located significantly inland, and its nearest body of sea is at Liverpool Bay. It lies at the same latitude as Lowestoft, Britain's easternmost settlement; it is therefore much more proximate to the western coast of Wales, at Cardigan Bay.
The City of Birmingham forms a conurbation with the borough of Solihull to the south east, and with the city of Wolverhampton and the industrial towns of the Black Country to the north west, which form the West Midlands Built-up Area covering 59,972 ha (600 km2; 232 sq mi).[ citation needed] Surrounding this is Birmingham's metropolitan area – the area to which it is closely economically tied through commuting – which includes the town of Tamworth and the city of Lichfield in Staffordshire to the north; the city of Coventry and the towns of Nuneaton, Bedworth, Whitnash, Kenilworth, Rugby, Atherstone, Coleshill, Warwick and Leamington Spa to the east in Warwickshire and the Worcestershire towns of Redditch and Bromsgrove to the south west.
As the crow flies, Birmingham lies approximately 100 miles (160 km) north-west of London, 85 miles (137 km) north-east of the Welsh capital Cardiff, 45 miles (72 km) south-west of Nottingham, 70 miles (110 km) south of Manchester, and 75 miles (121 km) north-north-east of Bristol.
Much of the area now occupied by the city was originally a northern reach of the ancient Forest of Arden and the city remains relatively densely covered by oak in a large number of districts such as Moseley, Saltley, Yardley, Stirchley and Hockley. These places, with names ending in "-ley", deriving from Old English *- lēah* meaning "woodland clearing", are named after the former forest.
Birmingham is dominated by the Birmingham Fault, which runs diagonally through the city from the Lickey Hills in the south west, passing through Edgbaston and the Bull Ring, to Erdington and Sutton Coldfield in the north east. To the south and east of the fault the ground is largely softer Mercia Mudstone, interspersed with beds of Bunter pebbles and crossed by the valleys of the Rivers Tame, Rea and Cole and their tributaries. To the north and west of the fault, between 150 and 600 feet (46 and 183 metres) higher than the surrounding area and underlying much of the city centre, lies a long ridge of harder Keuper Sandstone. The bedrock underlying Birmingham was mostly laid down during the Permian and Triassic periods.
The area has evidence of glacial deposits, with prominent erratic boulders becoming a tourist attraction in the early 1900s.
Birmingham has a temperate maritime climate (*Cfb* according to the Köppen climate classification), like much of the British Isles, with average maximum temperatures in summer (July) being around 21.3 °C (70.3 °F); and in winter (January) around 6.7 °C (44.1 °F). Between 1971 and 2000 the warmest day of the year on average was 28.8 °C (83.8 °F) and the coldest night typically fell to −9.0 °C (15.8 °F). Some 11.2 days each year rose to a temperature of 25.1 °C (77.2 °F) or above and 51.6 nights reported an air frost. The highest recorded temperature recorded at the Edgbaston Campus was 37.4 °C (99.3 °F), whilst a temperature of 37.0 °C (98.6 °F) was recorded at Birmingham Airport on the city's eastern edge, both recorded on 19 July 2022.
Like most other large cities, Birmingham has a considerable urban heat island effect. During the coldest night recorded, 14 January 1982, the temperature fell to −20.8 °C (−5.4 °F) at Birmingham Airport, but just −14.3 °C (6.3 °F) at Edgbaston, near the city centre. Birmingham is a snowy city relative to other large UK conurbations, due to its inland location and comparatively high elevation. Between 1961 and 1990 Birmingham Airport averaged 13.0 days of snow lying annually, compared to 5.33 at London Heathrow. Snow showers often pass through the city via the Cheshire gap on north westerly airstreams, but can also come off the North Sea from north easterly airstreams.
The city has been known to experience tornadoes: according to TORRO, Birmingham experienced 15 significant tornadoes between 1946 and 2005, with some being incredibly destructive. Most notably, a deadly F3 tornado on June 14, 1931, and another IF3 tornado which followed a similar path on July 28, 2005, becoming the United Kingdom's costliest tornado on record. On 23 November 1981, during a record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak, three tornadoes touched down within the Birmingham city limits – in Erdington, Selly Oak, and King's Heath–with three more tornadoes touching down within the boundaries of the wider West Midlands county. Notable tornadoes also struck the city in 1946, 1968, and 1999.
| Climate data for Birmingham (Winterbourne), elevation: 140 m (459 ft), 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1959–present | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 14.6 (58.3) |
18.8 (65.8) |
22.8 (73.0) |
25.8 (78.4) |
26.5 (79.7) |
31.7 (89.1) |
37.4 (99.3) |
34.8 (94.6) |
29.4 (84.9) |
28.0 (82.4) |
17.7 (63.9) |
16.2 (61.2) |
37.4 (99.3) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 7.1 (44.8) |
7.7 (45.9) |
10.3 (50.5) |
13.4 (56.1) |
16.5 (61.7) |
19.3 (66.7) |
21.5 (70.7) |
21.0 (69.8) |
18.1 (64.6) |
13.9 (57.0) |
9.9 (49.8) |
7.3 (45.1) |
13.9 (57.0) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 4.3 (39.7) |
4.7 (40.5) |
6.6 (43.9) |
9.0 (48.2) |
11.9 (53.4) |
14.8 (58.6) |
16.8 (62.2) |
16.5 (61.7) |
13.9 (57.0) |
10.5 (50.9) |
6.9 (44.4) |
4.6 (40.3) |
10.0 (50.0) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 1.6 (34.9) |
1.6 (34.9) |
2.9 (37.2) |
4.6 (40.3) |
7.3 (45.1) |
10.2 (50.4) |
12.1 (53.8) |
12.0 (53.6) |
9.7 (49.5) |
7.1 (44.8) |
4.0 (39.2) |
1.9 (35.4) |
6.3 (43.3) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −14.3 (6.3) |
−9.4 (15.1) |
−8.3 (17.1) |
−4.3 (24.3) |
−1.6 (29.1) |
0.5 (32.9) |
4.0 (39.2) |
4.0 (39.2) |
1.1 (34.0) |
−5.0 (23.0) |
−9.0 (15.8) |
−13.4 (7.9) |
−14.3 (6.3) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 72.0 (2.83) |
55.1 (2.17) |
50.9 (2.00) |
56.5 (2.22) |
61.0 (2.40) |
68.4 (2.69) |
65.8 (2.59) |
67.5 (2.66) |
68.2 (2.69) |
81.4 (3.20) |
78.7 (3.10) |
83.9 (3.30) |
809.3 (31.86) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 12.8 | 10.6 | 10.0 | 10.6 | 10.2 | 10.0 | 9.7 | 10.5 | 10.0 | 12.3 | 13.3 | 12.7 | 132.5 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 52.9 | 76.5 | 117.6 | 157.0 | 187.0 | 180.6 | 193.5 | 175.0 | 140.0 | 102.5 | 63.1 | 55.6 | 1,501.3 |
| Source 1: Met Office | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: Starlings Roost Weather |
| Climate data for Birmingham (BHX), elevation: 99 m (325 ft), 1971–2000 normals, extremes 1878–present |
|---|
| Climate data for Birmingham |
|---|
There are 571 parks within Birmingham – more than any other European city – totalling over 3,500 hectares (14 sq mi) of public open space. The city has over six million trees, and 250 miles (400 kilometres) of urban brooks and streams. Sutton Park, which covers 2,400 acres (971 ha) in the north of the city, is the largest urban park in Europe and a national nature reserve. Birmingham Botanical Gardens, located close to the city centre, retains the regency landscape of its original design by J. C. Loudon in 1829, while the Winterbourne Botanic Garden in Edgbaston reflects the more informal Arts and Crafts tastes of its Edwardian origins.
Several green spaces within the borough are designated as green belt, as a portion of the wider West Midlands Green Belt. This is a strategic local government policy used to prevent urban sprawl and preserve greenfield land. Areas included are the aforementioned Sutton Park; land along the borough boundary by the Sutton Coldfield, Walmley and Minworth suburbs; Kingfisher, Sheldon, Woodgate Valley country parks; grounds by the Wake Green football club; Bartley and Frankley reservoirs; and Handsworth cemetery with surrounding golf courses.
Birmingham has many areas of wildlife that lie in both informal settings such as the Project Kingfisher and Woodgate Valley Country Park and in a selection of parks such as Lickey Hills Country Park, Pype Hayes Park & Newhall Valley, Handsworth Park, Kings Heath Park, and Cannon Hill Park, the latter also housing the mini zoo, Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park.
The 2021 census recorded 1,144,900 people living in Birmingham, an increase of around 6.7% from 2011 when 1,073,045 were recorded. It is the 27th largest city in Europe by population within its city boundary. Birmingham's continuous urban area extends beyond the city's boundaries: the Birmingham Larger Urban Zone, a Eurostat measure of the functional city-region approximated to local government districts, had a population of 2,357,100 in 2004. In addition to Birmingham itself, the LUZ (West Midlands conurbation) includes the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull and Walsall, along with the districts of Lichfield, Tamworth, North Warwickshire and Bromsgrove. Beyond this is the wider metropolitan area with a population numbering 3,558,916 in 2019 according to Eurostat. Around 305,688 or 26.7% of the population in 2021 were foreign-born, making it a city with one of the largest migrant populations in Europe.
According to figures from the 2021 census, 48.7% of the population was White (42.9% White British, 1.5% White Irish, 4.0% Other White, 0.2% Roma, 0.1% Irish Traveller), 31% were Asian (17.0% Pakistani, 5.8% Indian, 4.2% Bangladeshi, 1.1% Chinese, 2.9% Other Asian), 10.9% were Black (5.8% African, 3.9% Caribbean, 1.2% Other Black), 4.8% of Mixed race (2.2% White and Black Caribbean, 0.4% White and Black African, 1.1% White and Asian, 1.1% Other Mixed), 1.7% Arab and 4.6% of Other ethnic heritage. The 2021 census showed 26.7% of the population were born outside the UK, an increase of 4.5% percentage points from 2011. Figures showed that the five largest foreign-born groups living in Birmingham were born in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Romania and Jamaica.
In 2011, 57% of primary and 52% of secondary pupils were from non-White British families. As of 2021, 31.6% of school pupils in Birmingham were White, 37.7% were Asian, 12.6% were Black, 9.7% were Mixed race and 8.4% were Other.
There is particularly a large community of Asian descent, especially from Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi backgrounds, as well as Afro-Caribbeans from the Commonwealth, and a solid Chinese presence through migrants from the former colony of Hong Kong. Birmingham also has an older Irish connection, with the city having the largest population of Irish in mainland Britain and home to its only Irish quarter, Digbeth.
In Birmingham, 65.9% of the population were aged between 15 and 64, higher than when compared to the national average of 64.1% in England and Wales. Furthermore, 20.9% of the population were aged under 15, higher than the national average of 17.4% while the population aged over 65 was 13.1%, which was lower than the national average of 18.6% respectively. Birmingham is one of the youngest cities in Europe with 40% of its population below the age of 25 and the median age being 34 years of age, below the national average of 40.
Christianity is the largest religion within Birmingham, with 34% of residents identifying as Christians in the 2021 Census. The city's religious profile is highly diverse: outside London, Birmingham has the United Kingdom's largest Muslim, Sikh and Buddhist communities; its second largest Hindu community; and its seventh largest Jewish community. Between the 2001, 2011, and 2021 censuses, the proportion of Christians in Birmingham decreased from 59.1% to 46.1% to 34%, while the proportion of Muslims increased from 14.3% to 21.8% to 29.9% and the proportion of people with no religious affiliation increased from 12.4% to 19.3% to 24.1%. All other religions remained proportionately similar.
St Philip's Cathedral was upgraded from church status when the Anglican Diocese of Birmingham was created in 1905. There are two other cathedrals: St Chad's, seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham and the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God and St Andrew. The Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Midlands is also based at Birmingham, with a cathedral under construction. The original parish church of Birmingham, St Martin in the Bull Ring, is Grade II* listed. A short distance from Five Ways the Birmingham Oratory was completed in 1910 on the site of Cardinal Newman's original foundation. There are several Christadelphian meeting halls in the city and the Christadelphian Magazine and Publishing Group has its headquarters in Hall Green.
The oldest surviving synagogue in Birmingham is the 1825 Greek Revival Severn Street Synagogue, now a Freemasons' Lodge hall. It was replaced in 1856 by the Grade II* listed Singers Hill Synagogue. Birmingham Central Mosque, one of the largest in Europe, was constructed in the 1960s. During the late 1990s Ghamkol Shariff Masjid was built in Small Heath. The Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha Sikh Gurdwara was built on Soho Road in Handsworth in the late 1970s and the Theravada Buddhist Dhamma Talaka Peace Pagoda near Edgbaston Reservoir in the 1990s. Winners' Chapel also maintains physical presence in Digbeth.
Birmingham grew to prominence as a centre of manufacturing and engineering. The economy of Birmingham is dominated by the service sector, which accounted for 88% of the city's employment in 2012. Birmingham is the largest centre in the UK for employment in public administration, education and health; and after Leeds the second-largest centre outside London for employment in financial and other business services.
The Gun Quarter is a district of the city that was, for many years, a centre of the world's gun-manufacturing industry. The first recorded gun maker in Birmingham was in 1630, and locally made muskets were used in the English Civil War. The Gun Quarter is an industrial area to the north of the city centre, bounded by Steelhouse Lane, Shadwell Street, and Loveday Street, specialising in the production of military firearms and sporting guns. Many buildings in the area are disused but plans are in place for redevelopment including in Shadwell Street and Vesey Street.
The wider metropolitan economy is the second-largest in the United Kingdom with a GDP of $121.1 billion (2014 estimate, PPP). Major companies headquartered in Birmingham include the engineering company IMI plc, Mobico Group, Patisserie Valerie, Claire's, and Mitchells & Butlers; including the wider metropolitan area, the city has the largest concentration of major companies outside London and the South East. hosting headquarters for Gymshark and Severn Trent Water. With major facilities such as the National Exhibition Centre and International Convention Centre, Birmingham attracts 42% of the UK's total conference and exhibition trade.
In 2012, manufacturing accounted for 8% of the employment in Birmingham, a figure below the average for the UK as a whole. Major industrial plants in the city include Jaguar Land Rover in Castle Bromwich and Cadbury in Bournville, with large local producers also supporting a supply chain of precision-based small manufacturers and craft industries. More traditional industries also remain: 40% of the jewellery made in the UK is still produced by the 300 independent manufacturers of the city's Jewellery Quarter, continuing a trade first recorded in Birmingham in 1308. In June 2025, Birmingham was declared a World Craft City by the World Crafts Council, because of its continuing jewellery trade.
Birmingham's GVA was estimated to be £24.8 billion in 2015, economic growth accelerated each successive year between 2013 and 2015, and with an annual growth of 4.2% in 2015, GVA per head grew at the second-fastest rate of England's eight "Core Cities". The value of manufacturing output in the city declined by 21% in real terms between 1997 and 2010, but the value of financial and insurance activities more than doubled. With 16,281 start-ups registered during 2013, Birmingham has the highest level of entrepreneurial activity outside London, while the number of registered businesses in the city grew by 8.1% during 2016. Birmingham was behind only London and Edinburgh for private sector job creation between 2010 and 2013.
| Year | GVA (£ million) |
Growth (%) |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 20,795 | 2.1% |
| 2011 | 21,424 | 3.0% |
| 2012 | 21,762 | 1.6% |
| 2013 | 22,644 | 4.1% |
| 2014 | 23,583 | 4.2% |
| 2015 | 24,790 | 5.2% |
Economic inequality in Birmingham is greater than in any other major English city, exceeded only by Glasgow in the United Kingdom. Levels of unemployment are among the highest in the country, with 10% of the economically active population unemployed in June 2016. In the inner-city wards of Aston and Washwood Heath, the figure is higher than 30%. Two-fifths of Birmingham's population live in areas classified as in the 10% most deprived parts of England, and overall Birmingham is the most deprived local authority in England in terms of income and employment deprivation. The city's infant mortality rate is high, around 60% worse than the national average. Meanwhile, just 49% of women have jobs, compared to 65% nationally, and only 28% of the working-age population in Birmingham have degree level qualifications in contrast to the average of 34% across other core cities.
According to the 2014 Mercer Quality of Living Survey, Birmingham was placed 51st in the world, which was the second-highest rating in the UK. The city's quality of life rating has continued to improve over the years and Birmingham was ranked 49th in the world in the 2019 survey. This is the first time it has featured in the top 50. The Big City Plan of 2008 aims to move the city into the index's top 20 by 2026. An area of the city has been designated an enterprise zone, with tax relief and simplified planning to lure investment. According to 2019 property investment research, Birmingham is rated as the number one location for "the best places to invest in property in the UK". This was attributed to a 5% increase in house prices and local investment into infrastructure.
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra's home venue is Symphony Hall. Other notable professional orchestras based in the city include the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, the Royal Ballet Sinfonia and Ex Cathedra, a Baroque chamber choir and period instrument orchestra. The Orchestra of the Swan is the resident chamber orchestra at Birmingham Town Hall, where weekly recitals have also been given by the City Organist since 1834.
The Birmingham Triennial Music Festivals took place from 1784 to 1912. Music was specially composed, conducted or performed by Mendelssohn, Gounod, Sullivan, Dvořák, Bantock and Edward Elgar, who wrote four of his most famous choral pieces for Birmingham. Elgar's *The Dream of Gerontius* had its début performance there in 1900. Composers born in the city include Albert William Ketèlbey and Andrew Glover.
Jazz has been popular in the city since the 1920s, and there are many regular festivals such as the Harmonic Festival, the Mostly Jazz Festival and the annual International Jazz Festival.
Birmingham's other city-centre music venues include Arena Birmingham (previously known as the National Indoor Arena and the Barclaycard Arena), which was opened in 1991, O2 Academy on Bristol Street, which opened in September 2009 replacing the O2 Academy in Dale End, the CBSO Centre, opened in 1997, HMV Institute in Digbeth and the Bradshaw Hall at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
During the 1960s, Birmingham was the home of a music scene comparable to that of Liverpool. It was "a seething cauldron of musical activity", and the international success of groups such as The Move, The Spencer Davis Group, The Moody Blues, Traffic and the Electric Light Orchestra had a collective influence that stretched into the 1970s and beyond. The city was a centre for early heavy metal music, with pioneering metal bands from the late 1960s and 1970s such as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and half of Led Zeppelin having come from Birmingham.
The next decade saw the metal bands Napalm Death and Godflesh emerge from the city, as well as Benediction and the extreme black death metal act Anaal Nathrakh later. The funeral doom band Esoteric has been operating in the sub-genre since 1992. Birmingham was the birthplace of modern bhangra in the 1960s, and by the 1980s had established itself as the global centre of bhangra culture, which has grown into a global phenomenon embraced by members of the Indian diaspora worldwide from Los Angeles to Singapore. The 1970s also saw the rise of reggae and ska in the city with such bands as Steel Pulse, UB40, Musical Youth, The Beat and Beshara, expounding racial unity with politically leftist lyrics and multiracial line-ups, mirroring social currents in Birmingham at that time.
Other popular bands from Birmingham include Duran Duran, Johnny Foreigner, Fine Young Cannibals, Felt, Broadcast, Ocean Colour Scene, The Streets, The Twang, King Adora, Dexys Midnight Runners, and Magnum. Musicians Jeff Lynne, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, Geezer Butler, GBH, John Lodge, Roy Wood, Joan Armatrading, Toyah Willcox, Denny Laine, Sukshinder Shinda, Apache Indian, Steve Winwood, Jamelia, Oceans Ate Alaska, Fyfe Dangerfield and Laura Mvula all grew up in the city.
Birmingham Repertory Theatre is Britain's longest-established producing theatre, presenting a wide variety of work in its three auditoria on Centenary Square and touring nationally and internationally. Other producing theatres in the city include the Blue Orange Theatre in the Jewellery Quarter; the Old Rep, home stage of the Birmingham Stage Company; and @ A. E. Harris, the base of the experimental Stan's Cafe theatre company, located within a working metal fabricators' factory. Touring theatre companies include the politically radical Banner Theatre, the Maverick Theatre Company and Kindle Theatre. The Alexandra Theatre and the Birmingham Hippodrome host large-scale touring productions, while professional drama is performed on a wide range of stages across the city, including the Crescent Theatre, the Custard Factory, the Old Joint Stock Theatre, the Drum in Aston and the *mac* in Cannon Hill Park.
The Birmingham Royal Ballet is one of the United Kingdom's five major ballet companies and one of three based outside London. It is resident at the Birmingham Hippodrome and tours extensively nationally and internationally. The company's associated ballet school – Elmhurst School for Dance in Edgbaston – is the oldest vocational dance school in the country.
The Birmingham Opera Company under artistic director Graham Vick has developed an international reputation for its avant-garde productions, which often take place in factories, abandoned buildings and other found spaces around the city. More conventional seasons by Welsh National Opera and other visiting opera companies take place regularly at the Birmingham Hippodrome. The first dedicated comedy club outside London, The Glee Club, was opened in The Arcadian Centre, city centre, in 1994, and continues to host performances by leading regional, national and international acts.
In the 1920s, Oscar Deutsch opened his first Odeon cinema in the UK, in Perry Barr. By 1930, the Odeon brand was a household name and still thrives today. The Electric on Station Street opened on 27 December 1909, and is the oldest independent working cinema in the UK, continuing to operate despite multiple threats of closure over the years. In 1931, the Birmingham Film Society was established, with an inaugural screening on 18 January 1931 at the Hampton Cinema in Livery Street. The largest cinema screen in the West Midlands was located at Millennium Point in Birmingham's Eastside, and opened in September 2001 as an IMAX format screen. Unable to maintain commercial viability as large 3D screens became commonplace across commercial cinema multiplexes, the IMAX screen was closed and downgraded in September 2011, before its replacement Giant Screen Cinema was closed in January 2015.
The city's primary film festival, the Birmingham Film Festival, was co-founded by filmmaker Kevin McDonagh and actor Dean Williams in 2015 and has been held every year since. It patrons include *Peaky Blinders* creator Steven Knight and advertising executive Trevor Beattie, whilst its Grand Jury has featured judges including actress Kia Pegg and filmmakers Michael B. Clifford and Joanna Quinn.
Screen West Midlands, the regional screen agency for the West Midlands, is based in the city's Jewellery Quarter. Film Birmingham is the Birmingham City Council's Film and Television office, handling queries and filming requests from national and international productions.
Literary figures associated with Birmingham include Samuel Johnson who stayed in Birmingham for a short period and was born in nearby Lichfield. Arthur Conan Doyle worked in the Aston area of Birmingham whilst poet Louis MacNeice lived in Birmingham for six years. It was whilst staying in Birmingham that American author Washington Irving produced several of his most famous literary works, such as *Bracebridge Hall* and *The Humorists, A Medley* which are based on Aston Hall, as well as *The Legend of Sleepy Hollow* and *Rip Van Winkle*.
The poet W. H. Auden grew up in the Harborne area of the city and during the 1930s formed the core of the Auden Group with Birmingham University lecturer Louis MacNeice. Other influential poets associated with Birmingham include Roi Kwabena, who was the city's sixth poet laureate, and Benjamin Zephaniah, who was born in the city.
The author J. R. R. Tolkien was brought up in the Kings Heath area of Birmingham. He referred to Birmingham as his home town and to himself as a ‘Birmingham man’. There is a dedicated 'Tolkien Trail' across Birmingham which takes those who follow it to the landmarks which are said to have inspired Tolkien's works.
The political playwright David Edgar was born in Birmingham, and the science fiction author John Wyndham spent his early childhood in the Edgbaston area of the city.
Birmingham has a vibrant contemporary literary scene, with local authors including David Lodge, Jim Crace, Jonathan Coe, Joel Lane and Judith Cutler. The city's leading contemporary literary publisher is the Tindal Street Press, whose authors include prize-winning novelists Catherine O'Flynn, Clare Morrall and Austin Clarke.
The Birmingham School of landscape artists emerged with Daniel Bond in the 1760s and was to last into the mid 19th century. Its most important figure was David Cox, whose later works make him an important precursor of impressionism. The influence of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists and the Birmingham School of Art made Birmingham an important centre of Victorian art, particularly within the Pre-Raphaelite and Arts and Crafts movements. Major figures included the Pre-Raphaelite and symbolist Edward Burne-Jones; Walter Langley, the first of the Newlyn School painters; and Joseph Southall, leader of the group of artists and craftsmen known as the Birmingham Group.
The Birmingham Surrealists were among the "harbingers of surrealism" in Britain in the 1930s and the movement's most active members in the 1940s, while more abstract artists associated with the city included Lee Bank-born David Bomberg and CoBrA member William Gear. Birmingham artists were prominent in several post-war developments in art: Peter Phillips was among the central figures in the birth of Pop Art; John Salt was the only major European figure among the pioneers of photo-realism; and the BLK Art Group used painting, collage and multimedia to examine the politics and culture of Black British identity. Contemporary artists from the city include the Turner Prize winner Gillian Wearing and the Turner Prize shortlisted artists Richard Billingham, John Walker, Roger Hiorns, and conceptual artist Pogus Caesar whose work has been acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.
Birmingham's role as a manufacturing and printing centre has supported strong local traditions of graphic design and product design. Iconic works by Birmingham designers include the Baskerville font, Ruskin Pottery, the Acme Thunderer whistle, the Art Deco branding of the Odeon Cinemas and the Mini.
Birmingham has two major public art collections. Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery is best known for its works by the Pre-Raphaelites, a collection "of outstanding importance". It also holds a significant selection of old masters – including major works by Bellini, Rubens, Canaletto and Claude – and particularly strong collections of 17th-century Italian Baroque painting and English watercolours. Its design holdings include Europe's pre-eminent collections of ceramics and fine metalwork. The Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Edgbaston is one of the finest small art galleries in the world, with a collection of exceptional quality representing Western art from the 13th century to the present day.
Birmingham Museums Trust runs other museums in the city including Aston Hall, Blakesley Hall, the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, Soho House and Sarehole Mill. The Birmingham Back to Backs are the last surviving court of back-to-back houses in the city. Cadbury World is a museum showing visitors the stages and steps of chocolate production and the history of chocolate and the company. The Ikon Gallery hosts displays of contemporary art, as does Eastside Projects.
Thinktank is Birmingham's main science museum, with a giant screen cinema, a planetarium and a collection that includes the *Smethwick Engine*, the world's oldest working steam engine. Other science-based museums include the National Sea Life Centre in Brindleyplace, the Lapworth Museum of Geology at the University of Birmingham and the Centre of the Earth environmental education centre in Winson Green.
Nightlife in Birmingham is mainly concentrated along Broad Street and into Brindleyplace. Although in more recent years, Broad Street has lost its popularity due to the closing of several clubs; the Arcadian now has more popularity in terms of nightlife. Outside the Broad Street area are many stylish and underground venues. The Medicine Bar in the Custard Factory, hmv Institute, Rainbow Pub and Air are large clubs and bars in Digbeth. Around Birmingham Chinatown are areas such as the Arcadian and Hurst Street Gay Village, that abound with bars and clubs. Summer Row, The Mailbox, O2 Academy in Bristol Street, Snobs Nightclub, St Philips/Colmore Row, St Paul's Square and the Jewellery Quarter all have a vibrant night life. There are a number of late night pubs in the Irish Quarter. Outside the city centre is Star City entertainment complex on the former site of Nechells Power Station.
Birmingham is home to many national, religious, and cultural festivals, including a St. George's Day party. The city's largest single-day event is its St. Patrick's Day parade (Europe's second largest, after Dublin). The Nowka Bais is a Bengali boat racing festival which takes place annually in Birmingham. It is a leading cultural event in the West Midlands, United Kingdom attracting not only the Bangladeshi diaspora but a variety of cultures. It is also the largest kind of boat race in the United Kingdom. Other multicultural events include the Bangla Mela and the Vaisakhi Mela. The Birmingham Heritage Festival is a Mardi Gras style event in August. Caribbean and African culture are celebrated with parades and street performances by buskers. The Caribbean-style Birmingham International Carnival takes place in odd-numbered years.
The UK's largest two-day Gay Pride is Birmingham Pride (LGBT festival), which is typically held over the spring bank holiday weekend in May. The streets of Birmingham's gay district pulsate with a carnival parade, live music, a dance arena with DJs, cabaret stage, women's arena and a community village. Birmingham Pride takes place in the gay village. From 1997 until December 2006, the city hosted an annual arts festival, ArtsFest, the largest free arts festival in the UK at the time.
The Birmingham Tattoo is a long-standing military show held annually at the National Indoor Arena. The Birmingham Comedy Festival (since 2001; 10 days in October), has been headlined by such acts as Peter Kay, The Fast Show, Jimmy Carr, Lee Evans and Lenny Henry. Since 2001, Birmingham has been host to the Frankfurt Christmas Market. Modelled on its German counterpart, it has grown to become the UK's largest outdoor Christmas market and is the largest German market outside Germany and Austria, attracting over 3.1 million visitors in 2010 and over 5 million visitors in 2011.
The biennial Birmingham International Dance Festival (BIDF) started in 2008, organised by DanceXchange and involving indoor and outdoor venues across the city. Other festivals in the city include the Birmingham International Jazz Festival. Moseley Folk and Arts Festival, and Mostly Jazz Festival.
Birmingham's development as a commercial town was originally based around its market for agricultural produce, established by royal charter in 1166. Despite the industrialisation of subsequent centuries this role has been retained and the Birmingham Wholesale Markets remain the largest combined wholesale food markets in the country, selling meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, and flowers, and supplying fresh produce to restaurateurs and independent retailers from as far as 100 miles (161 km) away.
Birmingham is the only city outside London to have five Michelin-starred restaurants: Simpson's in Edgbaston, Carters of Moseley, and Purnell's, Opheem, and Adam's in the city centre.
Birmingham based breweries included Ansells, Davenport's and Mitchells & Butlers. Aston Manor Brewery is currently the only brewery of any significant size. Many fine Victorian pubs and bars can still be found across the city, whilst there is also a plethora of more modern nightclubs and bars, notably along Broad Street.
The Wing Yip food empire first began in the city and now has its headquarters in Nechells. The Balti, a type of curry, was invented in the city, which has received much acclaim for the 'Balti Belt' or 'Balti Triangle'. Famous food brands that originated in Birmingham include Typhoo tea, Bird's Custard, Cadbury's chocolate and HP Sauce. There is also a thriving independent and artisan food sector in Birmingham, encompassing microbreweries like Two Towers, and collective bakeries such as Loaf. Recent years have seen these businesses increasingly showcased at farmers markets, popular street food events and food festivals including Birmingham Independent Food Fair.
Birmingham is home to many entertainment and leisure venues, including Europe's largest leisure and entertainment complex Star City as well as Europe's first out-of-city-centre entertainment and leisure complex Resorts World Birmingham owned by the Genting Group. The Mailbox which caters for more affluent clients is based within the city.
Birmingham is chiefly a product of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries; its growth began during the Industrial Revolution. Consequently, relatively few buildings survive from its earlier history and those that do are protected. There are 1,946 listed buildings in Birmingham and thirteen scheduled ancient monuments. Birmingham City Council also operate a locally listing scheme for buildings that do not fully meet the criteria for statutorily listed status.
Traces of medieval Birmingham can be seen in the oldest churches, notably the original parish church, St Martin in the Bull Ring. A few other buildings from the medieval and Tudor periods survive, among them the *Lad in the Lane* and *The Old Crown*, the 15th century *Saracen's Head* public house and Old Grammar School in Kings Norton and Blakesley Hall.
A number of Georgian buildings survive, including St Philip's Cathedral, Soho House, Perrott's Folly, the Town Hall and much of St Paul's Square. The Victorian era saw extensive building across the city. Major civic buildings such as the Victoria Law Courts (in characteristic red brick and terracotta), the Council House and the Museum & Art Gallery were constructed. St Chad's Cathedral was the first Roman Catholic cathedral to be built in the UK since the Reformation. Across the city, the need to house the industrial workers gave rise to miles of redbrick streets and terraces, many of back-to-back houses, some of which were later to become inner-city slums.
Postwar redevelopment and anti-Victorianism resulted in the loss of dozens of Victorian buildings like New Street station and the old Central Library, often replaced by brutalist architecture. Sir Herbert Manzoni, City Engineer and Surveyor of Birmingham from 1935 until 1963, believed conservation of old buildings was sentimental and that the city did not have any of worth anyway. In inner-city areas too, much Victorian housing was demolished and redeveloped. Existing communities were relocated to tower block estates like Castle Vale.
In a partial reaction against the Manzoni years, Birmingham City Council is demolishing some of the brutalist buildings like the Central Library and has an extensive tower block demolition and renovation programme. There has been much redevelopment in the city centre in recent years, including the award-winning Future Systems' Selfridges building in the Bullring Shopping Centre, the Brindleyplace regeneration project, the Millennium Point science and technology centre, and the refurbishment of the iconic Rotunda building. Funding for many of these projects has come from the European Union; the Town Hall for example received £3 million in funding from the European Regional Development Fund.
Highrise development has slowed since the 1970s and mainly in recent years because of enforcements imposed by the Civil Aviation Authority on the heights of buildings as they could affect aircraft from the Airport (e.g. Beetham Tower).
People from Birmingham are called Brummies, a term derived from the city's nickname of "Brum", which originates from the city's old name, Brummagem. The Brummie accent and dialect are particularly distinctive.
Partly due to its central location, Birmingham is a major transport hub for motorway, railway and canal networks.
The city is served by the M5, M6, M40 and M42 motorways, and possibly the most well known motorway junction in the United Kingdom: Spaghetti Junction, a colloquial name for the Gravelly Hill Interchange. The M6 passes through the city on the Bromford Viaduct, which at 3.5 miles (5.6 km) is the longest bridge in the UK. The Middleway (A4540) is a ring road that runs around the city centre. In the past there used to be a smaller ring road in the core of the city named Inner Ring Road.
Birmingham introduced a Clean Air Zone from 1 June 2021, which charges polluting vehicles to travel into the city centre.
Birmingham Airport, located 6 miles (9.7 km) east of the city centre in the neighbouring borough of Solihull, is the seventh busiest airport by passenger traffic in the UK and the third busiest outside the London area, after Manchester and Edinburgh. It is a major base for easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair and TUI Airways, and is the former headquarters and main hub of now-defunct airline, Fly:Be. Airline services operate from Birmingham to many destinations in Europe, Africa, the Americas, Middle East, Asia and Oceania.
Birmingham's local public transport network is co-ordinated by Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) which is a branch of the West Midlands Combined Authority.
Birmingham has a high level of public transport usage; in 2015, 63% of morning peak trips into Birmingham were made by public transport, with the remaining 37% made by private car. Rail was the most popular public transport mode, accounting for 36.4% of journeys, followed by buses at 26.3% and the Metro at 0.3%.
There is currently no underground system in Birmingham; it is the largest city in Europe not to have one. In recent years, ideas of an underground system have started to appear, but none so far have been planned in earnest primarily due to the ongoing expansion of the West Midlands Metro tram network being viewed as a higher priority.
The main railway station in the city is Birmingham New Street, which is the busiest railway station in the UK outside London, both for passenger entries/exits and for passenger interchanges. It is the national hub for CrossCountry, the most extensive long-distance train network in Britain, and a major destination for Avanti West Coast services from London Euston, Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley. Birmingham Moor Street and Birmingham Snow Hill are the northern termini for Chiltern Railways trains running from London Marylebone and Oxford. Snow Hill, north on the same line, is another main station serving Birmingham's Colmore Business district, for other services towards Kidderminster and Worcester. Both stations serve West Midlands Railway and Chiltern Railway services to Kidderminster, Worcester Foregate Street, Leamington Spa, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Dorridge. Curzon Street railway station, currently under construction, adjacent to Moor Street, will be the terminus for trains to the city on High Speed 2, the first phase of which will open around 2030.
Birmingham and the surrounding region have a network of local and suburban railways, mostly operated by West Midlands Trains. There are a total of 70 railway stations within the West Midlands county, 34 of which are within Birmingham's city boundaries. Suburban railway lines in Birmingham include the Cross-City Line, the Chase Line, the Snow Hill Lines and the Birmingham loop. In 2016/2017, there were nearly 55 million rail passenger journeys within the TfWM area, a big increase over the 23 million back in 2000/01.
Historically, Birmingham had a substantial tram system operated by Birmingham Corporation Tramways which was closed in 1953. In 1999, trams returned to the city with the West Midlands Metro (formerly known as *Midland Metro*) which operates services to the city of Wolverhampton. Since 2015–2016, after extension work, the tram network runs in the streets of central Birmingham, for the first time since 1953; further expansions of the West Midlands Metro system are underway with extensions planned eastwards to Chelmsley Wood and Birmingham Airport, and new lines being constructed, linking Bull Street and Digbeth High Street.
Bus networks throughout the city and wider region are widespread. 261 million bus journeys were made in the TfWM area in 2016/17. Bus routes are mainly operated commercially by private companies, although TfWM and local councils subsidise socially necessary services. With Mobico Group (formerly National Express Group) being based in Birmingham, National Express West Midlands, accounts for nearly 80% of all bus journeys in the city, with other companies operating within the city including Arriva Midlands, Diamond Bus, Stagecoach Midlands and other smaller independent operators.
The number 11 Outer Circle bus route, run by National Express West Midlands, which operates in both clockwise and anti-clockwise directions around the outskirts of the city, is the longest urban bus route in Europe, being over 26 miles (42 km) long with 272 bus stops.
The headquarters of Mobico Group are located in Digbeth, who own both National Express West Midlands and National Express Coaches, are based in offices above Birmingham Coach Station which also forms the latter's national hub. As well as National Express Coaches, the city is also served by Flixbus and Megabus.
Sustrans' National Cycle Route 5 goes through central Birmingham, connecting with National Cycle Route 81 at Smethwick. National Cycle Route 535 from Sutton Coldfield terminates just north of Birmingham Snow Hill railway station. In 2021, Transport for West Midlands launched a cycle hire scheme involving over 300 bikes and 43 docking stations across the West Midlands, including central Birmingham.
An extensive canal system still remains in Birmingham from the Industrial Revolution. The city has more miles of canal than Venice, though the canals in Birmingham are a less prominent and essential feature due to the larger size of the city and the fact that few of its buildings are accessed by canal. The canals are mainly used today for leisure purposes; canalside regeneration schemes such as Brindleyplace have turned the canals into a tourist attraction.
Birmingham is home to five universities: Aston University, University of Birmingham, Birmingham City University, University College Birmingham and Newman University. The city also hosts major campuses of the University of Law and BPP University, as well as the Open University's West Midlands regional base. In 2011 Birmingham had 78,259 full-time students from all over the world aged 18–74 resident in the city during term time, more than any other city in the United Kingdom outside London. Birmingham has 32,690 research students, also the highest number of any major city outside London.
The Birmingham Business School, established by Sir William Ashley in 1902, is the oldest graduate-level business school in the United Kingdom. Another top business school in the city includes Aston Business School, one of fewer than 1% of business schools globally to be granted triple accreditation, and Birmingham City Business School. Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, part of Birmingham City University, offers professional training in music and acting.
Birmingham is an important centre for religious education. St Mary's College, Oscott is one of the three seminaries of the Catholic Church in England and Wales; Woodbrooke is the only Quaker study centre in Europe; and Queen's College, Edgbaston is an ecumenical theological college serving the Church of England, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church.
Birmingham Metropolitan College is one of the largest further education colleges in the country, with fourteen campuses spread across Birmingham and into the Black Country and Worcestershire. South & City College Birmingham has nine campuses spread throughout the city. Bournville College is based in a £66 million, 4.2 acre campus in Longbridge that opened in 2011. Fircroft College is a residential college based in a former Edwardian mansion in Selly Oak, founded in 1909 around a strong commitment to social justice, with many courses aimed at students with few prior formal qualifications. Queen Alexandra College is a specialist college based in Harborne offering further education to visually impaired or disabled students from all over the United Kingdom.
Birmingham City Council is England's largest local education authority, directly or indirectly responsible for nursery schools, primary schools, secondary schools, special schools, sixth form colleges, further education colleges, and adult education. It provides around 3,500 adult education courses throughout the year.
Most of Birmingham's state schools are academy schools, community schools, free schools and voluntary aided schools. Since the 1970s, most secondary schools in Birmingham have been 11-–-16/18 comprehensive schools, while post GCSE students have the choice of continuing their education in either a school's sixth form or at a further education college. There are eight state grammar schools.
King Edward's School, Birmingham, founded in 1552 by King Edward VI, is one of the oldest schools in the city, teaching GCSE and IB, with alumni including J R R Tolkien, author of the *Lord of the Rings* books and *The Hobbit*. Independent schools in the city include the Birmingham Blue Coat School, King Edward VI High School for Girls and Edgbaston High School for Girls. Bishop Vesey's Grammar School was founded by Bishop Vesey in 1527.
The former Birmingham Central Library, opened in 1972, was considered to be the largest municipal library in Europe. Six of its collections were designated by the Arts Council England as being "pre-eminent collections of national and international importance", out of only eight collections to be so recognised in local authority libraries nationwide.
A new Library of Birmingham in Centenary Square, replacing Central Library, was opened on 3 September 2013. It was designed by the Dutch architects Mecanoo and has been described as "a kind of public forum ... a memorial, a shrine, to the book and to literature". The librar is viewed by the Birmingham City Council as a flagship project for the city's redevelopment. It has been described as the largest public library in the United Kingdom, the largest public cultural space in Europe, and the largest regional library in Europe. 2,414,860 visitors came to the library in 2014 making it the 10th most popular visitor attraction in the UK.
There are 41 local libraries in Birmingham, plus a regular mobile library service. The library service has 4 million visitors annually.
Law enforcement in Birmingham is carried out by West Midlands Police, whose headquarters are at Lloyd House in the city centre. With 87.92 recorded offences per 1000 population in 2009–10, Birmingham's crime rate is above the average for England and Wales, but lower than any of England's other major core cities and lower than many smaller cities such as Oxford, Cambridge or Brighton. Fire and rescue services in Birmingham are provided by West Midlands Fire Service and emergency medical care by West Midlands Ambulance Service.
There are several major National Health Service hospitals in Birmingham. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, adjacent to the Birmingham Medical School in Edgbaston, is one of the largest teaching hospitals in the United Kingdom with over 1,200 beds. It is a major trauma centre offering services to the extended West Midlands region and houses the largest single-floor critical care unit in the world, with 100 beds. The hospital has the largest solid organ transplantation programme in Europe as well as the largest renal transplant programme in the United Kingdom and it is a national specialist centre for liver, heart and lung transplantation, as well as cancer studies. It is the home of the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine for military personnel injured in conflict zones.
Other general hospitals in the city include Heartlands Hospital in Bordesley Green, Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield and City Hospital in Winson Green. There are also many specialist hospitals, such as Birmingham Children's Hospital, Birmingham Women's Hospital, Birmingham Dental Hospital, and the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital. Birmingham saw the first ever use of radiography in an operation, and the UK's first ever hole-in-the-heart operation was performed at Birmingham Children's Hospital.
The Birmingham Corporation Water Department was set up in 1876 to supply water to Birmingham, up until 1974 when its responsibilities were transferred to Severn Trent Water. Most of Birmingham's water is supplied by the Elan aqueduct, opened in 1904; water is fed by gravity to Frankley Reservoir, Frankley, and Bartley Reservoir, Bartley Green, from reservoirs in the Elan Valley, Wales.
Within Birmingham the Tyseley Energy from Waste Plant, a large incineration plant built in 1996 for Veolia, burns some 366,414 tonnes of household waste annually and produces 166,230 MWh of electricity for the National Grid along with 282,013 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Birmingham has played an important part in the history of modern sport. The Football League – the world's first league football competition – was founded by Birmingham resident and Aston Villa director William McGregor, who wrote to fellow club directors in 1888 proposing "that ten or twelve of the most prominent clubs in England combine to arrange home-and-away fixtures each season". The modern game of tennis was developed between 1859 and 1865 by Harry Gem and his friend Augurio Perera at Perera's house in Edgbaston, with the Edgbaston Archery and Lawn Tennis Society remaining the oldest tennis club in the world. The Birmingham and District Cricket League is the oldest cricket league in the world, and Birmingham was the host for the first ever Cricket World Cup, a Women's Cricket World Cup in 1973. Birmingham was the first city to be named National City of Sport by the Sports Council. Birmingham was selected ahead of London and Manchester to bid for the 1992 Summer Olympics, but was unsuccessful in the final selection process, which was won by Barcelona.
Today, the city is home of two of the country's oldest professional football teams: Aston Villa F.C., which was founded in 1874 and plays at Villa Park; and Birmingham City F.C., which was founded in 1875 and plays at St Andrew's. Rivalry between the clubs is fierce and the fixture between the two is called the Second City derby. Aston Villa currently play in the Premier League while Birmingham City currently play in the EFL League One. West Bromwich Albion also draw support within the Birmingham area, being located at The Hawthorns just outside the city boundaries in Sandwell. Rival football team Coventry City also played briefly at St Andrew's for two seasons between 2019 and 2021 due to an ongoing dispute with their landlords over use of the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Warwickshire County Cricket Club play at Edgbaston Cricket Ground, which also hosts test cricket and one day internationals and is the largest cricket ground in the United Kingdom after Lord's. Edgbaston was the scene of the highest ever score by a batsman in first-class cricket, when Brian Lara scored 501 not out for Warwickshire in 1994.
Birmingham is also home to professional Rugby Union clubs such as Birmingham Moseley and Birmingham & Solihull. The city also has a semiprofessional Rugby League club, the Midlands Hurricanes as well as an amateur club the Birmingham Bulldogs. The city is also home to one of the oldest American football teams in the BAFA National Leagues, the Birmingham Bulls and a baseball club, Birmingham Baseball Club, with two teams, the Metalheads and the Bats.
Two major championship golf courses lie on the city's outskirts. The Belfry near Sutton Coldfield is the headquarters of the Professional Golfers' Association and has hosted the Ryder Cup more times than any other venue. The Forest of Arden Hotel and Country Club near Birmingham Airport is also a regular host of tournaments on the PGA European Tour, including the British Masters and the English Open.
The AEGON Classic is, alongside Wimbledon and Eastbourne, one of only three UK tennis tournaments on the WTA Tour. It is played annually at the Edgbaston Priory Club, which in 2010 announced plans for a multimillion-pound redevelopment, including a new showcase centre court and a museum celebrating the game's Birmingham origins.
The Alexander Stadium in Perry Barr is the headquarters of UK Athletics, and one of only two British venues to host fixtures in the elite international IAAF Diamond League. It is also the home of Birchfield Harriers, which has many international athletes among its members. The National Indoor Arena hosted the 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships and the 2003 and 2018 World Indoor Championships, as well as hosting the annual Aviva Indoor Grand Prix – the only British indoor athletics fixture to qualify as an IAAF Indoor Permit Meeting – and a wide variety of other sporting events.
Professional boxing, hockey, skateboarding, stock-car racing, greyhound racing and speedway also take place within the city. Since 1994 Birmingham has hosted the All England Open Badminton Championships at Arena Birmingham.
Birmingham hosted the 2022 Commonwealth Games, which took place between 28 July and 8 August 2022. This was the first time that Birmingham hosted the Commonwealth Games and the 22nd edition of the Commonwealth Games to take place. Alexander Stadium, which hosted the opening and closing ceremonies and athletics was renovated, and the capacity was increased to 30,000 seats. The event contributed £1.2 billion to the economy of the United Kingdom.
Birmingham is home to a media industry that includes news and magazine publishers, radio and television networks, film production and specialist educational media training. Birmingham has several major local newspapers – the daily *Birmingham Mail* and the weekly *Birmingham Post* and *Sunday Mercury*, all owned by Reach plc. *Forward* is a freesheet produced by Birmingham City Council, which is distributed to homes in the city. Birmingham is also the hub for various national ethnic media, lifestyle magazines, digital news platforms, and the base for two regional Metro editions (East and West Midlands).
Birmingham has three mainstream digital-only news publishers, *I Am Birmingham*, *Birmingham Updates* and *Second City*. Birmingham has a long cinematic history; The Electric on Station Street is the oldest working cinema in the UK. Birmingham is the location for several British and international film productions including *Felicia's Journey* of 1999, which used locations in Birmingham that were used in *Take Me High* of 1973 to contrast the changes in the city.
The BBC has two facilities in the city. The Mailbox, in the city centre, is the national headquarters of BBC English Regions and the headquarters of BBC West Midlands and the BBC Birmingham network production centre. These were previously located at the Pebble Mill Studios in Edgbaston. The BBC Drama Village, based in Selly Oak, is a production facility specialising in television drama.
Central/ATV studios in Birmingham was the location for the recording of various programmes for ITV, including *Tiswas* and *Crossroads*, until the complex was closed in 1997, and Central moved to its current Gas Street studios. Central's output from Birmingham now consists of only the *West* and *East* editions of the regional news programme *ITV News Central*.
The city is served by numerous national and regional radio stations, as well as hyperlocal radio stations. These include Hits Radio Birmingham and Greatest Hits Radio Birmingham & The West Midlands, Capital Midlands, Heart West Midlands, and Smooth West Midlands. The city has a community radio scene, with stations including BRMB, New Style Radio, Brum Radio, Switch Radio, Scratch Radio, Raaj FM, and Unity FM.
*The Archers*, the world's longest running radio soap, is recorded in Birmingham for BBC Radio 4. BBC Birmingham studios additionally produce shows for BBC Radio WM and BBC Asian Network in the city.
The late night show Late Night Lycett is filmed in Birmingham.
Birmingham is twinned with:
- Lyon, France (since 1951)
- Frankfurt am Main, Germany (since 1966)
- Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine (since 1973)
- Milan, Italy (since 1974)
- Leipzig, Germany (since 1992)
- Chicago, United States (since 1993)
- Johannesburg, South Africa (since 1997)
- Guangzhou, China (since 2006)
Birmingham also has friendly relations with:
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# Gene - Wikipedia
In biology, the word **gene** has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protein-coding genes and non-coding genes. During gene expression (the synthesis of RNA or protein from a gene), DNA is first copied into RNA. RNA can be directly functional or be the intermediate template for the synthesis of a protein.
The transmission of genes to an organism's offspring, is the basis of the inheritance of phenotypic traits from one generation to the next. These genes make up different DNA sequences, together called a genotype, that is specific to every given individual, within the gene pool of the population of a given species. The genotype, along with environmental and developmental factors, ultimately determines the phenotype of the individual.
Most biological traits occur under the combined influence of polygenes (a set of different genes) and gene–environment interactions. Some genetic traits are instantly visible, such as eye color or the number of limbs, others are not, such as blood type, the risk for specific diseases, or the thousands of basic biochemical processes that constitute life. A gene can acquire mutations in its sequence, leading to different variants, known as alleles, in the population. These alleles encode slightly different versions of a gene, which may cause different phenotypical traits. Genes evolve due to natural selection or survival of the fittest and genetic drift of the alleles.
There are many different ways to use the term "gene" based on different aspects of their inheritance, selection, biological function, or molecular structure but most of these definitions fall into two categories, the Mendelian gene or the molecular gene.
The Mendelian gene is the classical gene of genetics and it refers to any heritable trait. This is the gene described in *The Selfish Gene*. More thorough discussions of this version of a gene can be found in the articles *Genetics* and *Gene-centered view of evolution*.
The molecular gene definition is more commonly used across biochemistry, molecular biology, and most of genetics—the gene that is described in terms of DNA sequence. There are many different definitions of this gene—some of which are misleading or incorrect.
Very early work in the field that became molecular genetics suggested the concept that one gene makes one protein (originally 'one gene – one enzyme'). However, genes that produce repressor RNAs were proposed in the 1950s and by the 1960s, textbooks were using molecular gene definitions that included those that specified functional RNA molecules such as ribosomal RNA and tRNA (noncoding genes) as well as protein-coding genes.
This idea of two kinds of genes is still part of the definition of a gene in most textbooks. For example,
The primary function of the genome is to produce RNA molecules. Selected portions of the DNA nucleotide sequence are copied into a corresponding RNA nucleotide sequence, which either encodes a protein (if it is an mRNA) or forms a 'structural' RNA, such as a transfer RNA (tRNA) or ribosomal RNA (rRNA) molecule. Each region of the DNA helix that produces a functional RNA molecule constitutes a gene.
We define a gene as a DNA sequence that is transcribed. This definition includes genes that do not encode proteins (not all transcripts are messenger RNA). The definition normally excludes regions of the genome that control transcription but are not themselves transcribed. We will encounter some exceptions to our definition of a gene - surprisingly, there is no definition that is entirely satisfactory.
A gene is a DNA sequence that codes for a diffusible product. This product may be protein (as is the case in the majority of genes) or may be RNA (as is the case of genes that code for tRNA and rRNA). The crucial feature is that the product diffuses away from its site of synthesis to act elsewhere.
The important parts of such definitions are: (1) that a gene corresponds to a transcription unit; (2) that genes produce both mRNA and noncoding RNAs; and (3) regulatory sequences control gene expression but are not part of the gene itself. However, there is one other important part of the definition and it is emphasized in Kostas Kampourakis' book *Making Sense of Genes*.
Therefore in this book I will consider genes as DNA sequences encoding information for functional products, be it proteins or RNA molecules. With 'encoding information', I mean that the DNA sequence is used as a template for the production of an RNA molecule or a protein that performs some function.
The emphasis on function is essential because there are stretches of DNA that produce non-functional transcripts and they do not qualify as genes. These include obvious examples such as transcribed pseudogenes as well as less obvious examples such as junk RNA produced as noise due to transcription errors. In order to qualify as a true gene, by this definition, one has to prove that the transcript has a biological function.
Early speculations on the size of a typical gene were based on high-resolution genetic mapping and on the size of proteins and RNA molecules. A length of 1500 base pairs seemed reasonable at the time (1965). This was based on the idea that the gene was the DNA that was directly responsible for production of the functional product. The discovery of introns in the 1970s meant that many eukaryotic genes were much larger than the size of the functional product would imply. Typical mammalian protein-coding genes, for example, are about 62,000 base pairs in length (transcribed region) and since there are about 20,000 of them they occupy about 35–40% of the mammalian genome (including the human genome).
In spite of the fact that both protein-coding genes and noncoding genes have been known for more than 50 years, there are still a number of textbooks, websites, and scientific publications that define a gene as a DNA sequence that specifies a protein. In other words, the definition is restricted to protein-coding genes. Here is an example from a 2021 article in American Scientist.
... to truly assess the potential significance of de novo genes, we relied on a strict definition of the word "gene" with which nearly every expert can agree. First, in order for a nucleotide sequence to be considered a true gene, an open reading frame (ORF) must be present. The ORF can be thought of as the "gene itself"; it begins with a starting mark common for every gene and ends with one of three possible finish line signals. One of the key enzymes in this process, the RNA polymerase, zips along the strand of DNA like a train on a monorail, transcribing it into its messenger RNA form. This point brings us to our second important criterion: A true gene is one that is both transcribed and translated. That is, a true gene is first used as a template to make transient messenger RNA, which is then translated into a protein.
This restricted definition is so common that it has spawned many recent articles that criticize this "standard definition" and call for a new expanded definition that includes noncoding genes. However, some modern writers still do not acknowledge noncoding genes although this so-called "new" definition has been recognised for more than half a century.
Although some definitions can be more broadly applicable than others, the fundamental complexity of biology means that no definition of a gene can capture all aspects perfectly. Not all genomes are DNA (e.g. RNA viruses), bacterial operons are multiple protein-coding regions transcribed into single large mRNAs, alternative splicing enables a single genomic region to encode multiple district products and trans-splicing concatenates mRNAs from shorter coding sequence across the genome. Since molecular definitions exclude elements such as introns, promotors, and other regulatory regions, these are instead thought of as "associated" with the gene and affect its function.
An even broader operational definition is sometimes used to encompass the complexity of these diverse phenomena, where a gene is defined as a union of genomic sequences encoding a coherent set of potentially overlapping functional products. This definition categorizes genes by their functional products (proteins or RNA) rather than their specific DNA loci, with regulatory elements classified as *gene-associated* regions.
The existence of discrete inheritable units was first suggested by Gregor Mendel (1822–1884). From 1857 to 1864, in Brno, Austrian Empire (today's Czech Republic), he studied inheritance patterns in 8000 common edible pea plants, tracking distinct traits from parent to offspring. He described these mathematically as 2n combinations where n is the number of differing characteristics in the original peas. Although he did not use the term *gene*, he explained his results in terms of discrete inherited units that give rise to observable physical characteristics. This description prefigured Wilhelm Johannsen's distinction between genotype (the genetic material of an organism) and phenotype (the observable traits of that organism). Mendel was also the first to demonstrate independent assortment, the distinction between dominant and recessive traits, the distinction between a heterozygote and homozygote, and the phenomenon of discontinuous inheritance.
Prior to Mendel's work, the dominant theory of heredity was one of blending inheritance, which suggested that each parent contributed fluids to the fertilization process and that the traits of the parents blended and mixed to produce the offspring. Charles Darwin developed a theory of inheritance he termed pangenesis, from Greek pan ("all, whole") and genesis ("birth") / genos ("origin"). Darwin used the term *gemmule* to describe hypothetical particles that would mix during reproduction.
Mendel's work went largely unnoticed after its first publication in 1866, but was rediscovered in the late 19th century by Hugo de Vries, Carl Correns, and Erich von Tschermak, who (claimed to have) reached similar conclusions in their own research. Specifically, in 1889, Hugo de Vries published his book *Intracellular Pangenesis*, in which he postulated that different characters have individual hereditary carriers and that inheritance of specific traits in organisms comes in particles. De Vries called these units "pangenes" (*Pangens* in German), after Darwin's 1868 pangenesis theory.
Twenty years later, in 1909, Wilhelm Johannsen introduced the term "gene" (inspired by the ancient Greek: γόνος, *gonos*, meaning offspring and procreation) and, in 1906, William Bateson, that of "genetics" while Eduard Strasburger, among others, still used the term "pangene" for the fundamental physical and functional unit of heredity.
Advances in understanding genes and inheritance continued throughout the 20th century. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was shown to be the molecular repository of genetic information by experiments in the 1940s to 1950s. The structure of DNA was studied by Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins using X-ray crystallography, which led James D. Watson and Francis Crick to publish a model of the double-stranded DNA molecule whose paired nucleotide bases indicated a compelling hypothesis for the mechanism of genetic replication.
In the early 1950s the prevailing view was that the genes in a chromosome acted like discrete entities arranged like beads on a string. The experiments of Benzer using mutants defective in the rII region of bacteriophage T4 (1955–1959) showed that individual genes have a simple linear structure and are likely to be equivalent to a linear section of DNA.
Collectively, this body of research established the central dogma of molecular biology, which states that proteins are translated from RNA, which is transcribed from DNA. This dogma has since been shown to have exceptions, such as reverse transcription in retroviruses. The modern study of genetics at the level of DNA is known as molecular genetics.
In 1972, Walter Fiers and his team were the first to determine the sequence of a gene: that of bacteriophage MS2 coat protein. The subsequent development of chain-termination DNA sequencing in 1977 by Frederick Sanger improved the efficiency of sequencing and turned it into a routine laboratory tool. An automated version of the Sanger method was used in early phases of the Human Genome Project.
The theories developed in the early 20th century to integrate Mendelian genetics with Darwinian evolution are called the modern synthesis, a term introduced by Julian Huxley.
This view of evolution was emphasized by George C. Williams' gene-centric view of evolution. He proposed that the Mendelian gene is a unit of natural selection with the definition: "that which segregates and recombines with appreciable frequency." Related ideas emphasizing the centrality of Mendelian genes and the importance of natural selection in evolution were popularized by Richard Dawkins.
The development of the neutral theory of evolution in the late 1960s led to the recognition that random genetic drift is a major player in evolution and that neutral theory should be the null hypothesis of molecular evolution. This led to the construction of phylogenetic trees and the development of the molecular clock, which is the basis of all dating techniques using DNA sequences. These techniques are not confined to molecular gene sequences but can be used on all DNA segments in the genome.
The vast majority of organisms encode their genes in long strands of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). DNA consists of a chain made from four types of nucleotide subunits, each composed of: a five-carbon sugar (2-deoxyribose), a phosphate group, and one of the four bases adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine.
Two chains of DNA twist around each other to form a DNA double helix with the phosphate–sugar backbone spiralling around the outside, and the bases pointing inward with adenine base pairing to thymine and guanine to cytosine. The specificity of base pairing occurs because adenine and thymine align to form two hydrogen bonds, whereas cytosine and guanine form three hydrogen bonds. The two strands in a double helix must, therefore, be complementary, with their sequence of bases matching such that the adenines of one strand are paired with the thymines of the other strand, and so on.
Due to the chemical composition of the pentose residues of the bases, DNA strands have directionality. One end of a DNA polymer contains an exposed hydroxyl group on the deoxyribose; this is known as the 3' end of the molecule. The other end contains an exposed phosphate group; this is the 5' end. The two strands of a double-helix run in opposite directions. Nucleic acid synthesis, including DNA replication and transcription occurs in the 5'→3' direction, because new nucleotides are added via a dehydration reaction that uses the exposed 3' hydroxyl as a nucleophile.
The expression of genes encoded in DNA begins by transcribing the gene into RNA, a second type of nucleic acid that is very similar to DNA, but whose monomers contain the sugar ribose rather than deoxyribose. RNA also contains the base uracil in place of thymine. RNA molecules are less stable than DNA and are typically single-stranded. Genes that encode proteins are composed of a series of three-nucleotide sequences called codons, which serve as the "words" in the genetic "language". The genetic code specifies the correspondence during protein translation between codons and amino acids. The genetic code is nearly the same for all known organisms.
The total complement of genes in an organism or cell is known as its genome, which may be stored on one or more chromosomes. A chromosome consists of a single, very long DNA helix on which thousands of genes are encoded. The region of the chromosome at which a particular gene is located is called its locus. Each locus contains one allele of a gene; however, members of a population may have different alleles at the locus, each with a slightly different gene sequence.
The majority of eukaryotic genes are stored on a set of large, linear chromosomes. The chromosomes are packed within the nucleus in complex with storage proteins called histones to form a unit called a nucleosome. DNA packaged and condensed in this way is called chromatin. The manner in which DNA is stored on the histones, as well as chemical modifications of the histone itself, regulate whether a particular region of DNA is accessible for gene expression. In addition to genes, eukaryotic chromosomes contain sequences involved in ensuring that the DNA is copied without degradation of end regions and sorted into daughter cells during cell division: replication origins, telomeres, and the centromere. Replication origins are the sequence regions where DNA replication is initiated to make two copies of the chromosome. Telomeres are long stretches of repetitive sequences that cap the ends of the linear chromosomes and prevent degradation of coding and regulatory regions during DNA replication. The length of the telomeres decreases each time the genome is replicated and has been implicated in the aging process. The centromere is required for binding spindle fibres to separate sister chromatids into daughter cells during cell division.
Prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) typically store their genomes on a single, large, circular chromosome. Similarly, some eukaryotic organelles contain a remnant circular chromosome with a small number of genes. Prokaryotes sometimes supplement their chromosome with additional small circles of DNA called plasmids, which usually encode only a few genes and are transferable between individuals. For example, the genes for antibiotic resistance are usually encoded on bacterial plasmids and can be passed between individual cells, even those of different species, via horizontal gene transfer.
Whereas the chromosomes of prokaryotes are relatively gene-dense, those of eukaryotes often contain regions of DNA that serve no obvious function. Simple single-celled eukaryotes have relatively small amounts of such DNA, whereas the genomes of complex multicellular organisms, including humans, contain an absolute majority of DNA without an identified function. This DNA has often been referred to as "junk DNA". However, more recent analyses suggest that, although protein-coding DNA makes up barely 2% of the human genome, about 80% of the bases in the genome may be expressed, so the term "junk DNA" may be a misnomer.
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The structure of a protein-coding gene consists of many elements of which the actual protein coding sequence is often only a small part. These include introns and untranslated regions of the mature mRNA. Noncoding genes can also contain introns that are removed during processing to produce the mature functional RNA.
All genes are associated with regulatory sequences that are required for their expression. First, genes require a promoter sequence. The promoter is recognized and bound by transcription factors that recruit and help RNA polymerase bind to the region to initiate transcription. The recognition typically occurs as a consensus sequence like the TATA box. A gene can have more than one promoter, resulting in messenger RNAs (mRNA) that differ in how far they extend in the 5' end. Highly transcribed genes have "strong" promoter sequences that form strong associations with transcription factors, thereby initiating transcription at a high rate. Others genes have "weak" promoters that form weak associations with transcription factors and initiate transcription less frequently. Eukaryotic promoter regions are much more complex and difficult to identify than prokaryotic promoters.
Additionally, genes can have regulatory regions many kilobases upstream or downstream of the gene that alter expression. These act by binding to transcription factors which then cause the DNA to loop so that the regulatory sequence (and bound transcription factor) become close to the RNA polymerase binding site. For example, enhancers increase transcription by binding an activator protein which then helps to recruit the RNA polymerase to the promoter; conversely silencers bind repressor proteins and make the DNA less available for RNA polymerase.
The mature messenger RNA produced from protein-coding genes contains untranslated regions at both ends which contain binding sites for ribosomes, RNA-binding proteins, miRNA, as well as terminator, and start and stop codons. In addition, most eukaryotic open reading frames contain untranslated introns, which are removed and exons, which are connected together in a process known as RNA splicing. Finally, the ends of gene transcripts are defined by cleavage and polyadenylation (CPA) sites, where newly produced pre-mRNA gets cleaved and a string of ~200 adenosine monophosphates is added at the 3' end. The poly(A) tail protects mature mRNA from degradation and has other functions, affecting translation, localization, and transport of the transcript from the nucleus. Splicing, followed by CPA, generate the final mature mRNA, which encodes the protein or RNA product.
Many noncoding genes in eukaryotes have different transcription termination mechanisms and they do not have poly(A) tails.
Many prokaryotic genes are organized into operons, with multiple protein-coding sequences that are transcribed as a unit. The genes in an operon are transcribed as a continuous messenger RNA, referred to as a polycistronic mRNA. The term cistron in this context is equivalent to gene. The transcription of an operon's mRNA is often controlled by a repressor that can occur in an active or inactive state depending on the presence of specific metabolites. When active, the repressor binds to a DNA sequence at the beginning of the operon, called the operator region, and represses transcription of the operon; when the repressor is inactive transcription of the operon can occur (see e.g. Lac operon). The products of operon genes typically have related functions and are involved in the same regulatory network.
Though many genes have simple structures, as with much of biology, others can be quite complex or represent unusual edge-cases. Eukaryotic genes often have introns that are much larger than their exons, and those introns can even have other genes nested inside them. Associated enhancers may be many kilobase away, or even on entirely different chromosomes operating via physical contact between two chromosomes. A single gene can encode multiple different functional products by alternative splicing, and conversely a gene may be split across chromosomes but those transcripts are concatenated back together into a functional sequence by trans-splicing. It is also possible for overlapping genes to share some of their DNA sequence, either on opposite strands or the same strand (in a different reading frame, or even the same reading frame).
In all organisms, two steps are required to read the information encoded in a gene's DNA and produce the protein it specifies. First, the gene's DNA is *transcribed* to messenger RNA (mRNA). Second, that mRNA is *translated* to protein. RNA-coding genes must still go through the first step, but are not translated into protein. The process of producing a biologically functional molecule of either RNA or protein is called gene expression, and the resulting molecule is called a gene product.
The nucleotide sequence of a gene's DNA specifies the amino acid sequence of a protein through the genetic code. Sets of three nucleotides, known as codons, each correspond to a specific amino acid. The principle that three sequential bases of DNA code for each amino acid was demonstrated in 1961 using frameshift mutations in the rIIB gene of bacteriophage T4 (see Crick, Brenner et al. experiment).
Additionally, a "start codon", and three "stop codons" indicate the beginning and end of the protein coding region. There are 64 possible codons (four possible nucleotides at each of three positions, hence 43 possible codons) and only 20 standard amino acids; hence the code is redundant and multiple codons can specify the same amino acid. The correspondence between codons and amino acids is nearly universal among all known living organisms.
Transcription produces a single-stranded RNA molecule known as messenger RNA, whose nucleotide sequence is complementary to the DNA from which it was transcribed. The mRNA acts as an intermediate between the DNA gene and its final protein product. The gene's DNA is used as a template to generate a complementary mRNA. The mRNA matches the sequence of the gene's DNA coding strand because it is synthesised as the complement of the template strand. Transcription is performed by an enzyme called an RNA polymerase, which reads the template strand in the 3' to 5' direction and synthesizes the RNA from 5' to 3'. To initiate transcription, the polymerase first recognizes and binds a promoter region of the gene. Thus, a major mechanism of gene regulation is the blocking or sequestering the promoter region, either by tight binding by repressor molecules that physically block the polymerase or by organizing the DNA so that the promoter region is not accessible.
In prokaryotes, transcription occurs in the cytoplasm; for very long transcripts, translation may begin at the 5' end of the RNA while the 3' end is still being transcribed. In eukaryotes, transcription occurs in the nucleus, where the cell's DNA is stored. The RNA molecule produced by the polymerase is known as the primary transcript and undergoes post-transcriptional modifications before being exported to the cytoplasm for translation. One of the modifications performed is the splicing of introns which are sequences in the transcribed region that do not encode a protein. Alternative splicing mechanisms can result in mature transcripts from the same gene having different sequences and thus coding for different proteins. This is a major form of regulation in eukaryotic cells and also occurs in some prokaryotes.
Translation is the process by which a mature mRNA molecule is used as a template for synthesizing a new protein. Translation is carried out by ribosomes, large complexes of RNA and protein responsible for carrying out the chemical reactions to add new amino acids to a growing polypeptide chain by the formation of peptide bonds. The genetic code is read three nucleotides at a time, in units called codons, via interactions with specialized RNA molecules called transfer RNA (tRNA). Each tRNA has three unpaired bases known as the anticodon that are complementary to the codon it reads on the mRNA. The tRNA is also covalently attached to the amino acid specified by the complementary codon. When the tRNA binds to its complementary codon in an mRNA strand, the ribosome attaches its amino acid cargo to the new polypeptide chain, which is synthesized from amino terminus to carboxyl terminus. During and after synthesis, most new proteins must fold to their active three-dimensional structure before they can carry out their cellular functions.
Genes are regulated so that they are expressed only when the product is needed, since expression draws on limited resources. A cell regulates its gene expression depending on its external environment (e.g. available nutrients, temperature and other stresses), its internal environment (e.g. cell division cycle, metabolism, infection status), and its specific role if in a multicellular organism. Gene expression can be regulated at any step: from transcriptional initiation, to RNA processing, to post-translational modification of the protein. The regulation of lactose metabolism genes in *E. coli* (*lac* operon) was the first such mechanism to be described in 1961.
A typical protein-coding gene is first copied into RNA as an intermediate in the manufacture of the final protein product. In other cases, the RNA molecules are the actual functional products, as in the synthesis of ribosomal RNA and transfer RNA. Some RNAs known as ribozymes are capable of enzymatic function, while others such as microRNAs and riboswitches have regulatory roles. The DNA sequences from which such RNAs are transcribed are known as non-coding RNA genes.
Some viruses store their entire genomes in the form of RNA, and contain no DNA at all. Because they use RNA to store genes, their cellular hosts may synthesize their proteins as soon as they are infected and without the delay in waiting for transcription. On the other hand, RNA retroviruses, such as HIV, require the reverse transcription of their genome from RNA into DNA before their proteins can be synthesized.
Organisms inherit their genes from their parents. Asexual organisms simply inherit a complete copy of their parent's genome. Sexual organisms have two copies of each chromosome because they inherit one complete set from each parent.
According to Mendelian inheritance, variations in an organism's phenotype (observable physical and behavioral characteristics) are due in part to variations in its genotype (particular set of genes). Each gene specifies a particular trait with a different sequence of a gene (alleles) giving rise to different phenotypes. Most eukaryotic organisms (such as the pea plants Mendel worked on) have two alleles for each trait, one inherited from each parent.
Alleles at a locus may be dominant or recessive; dominant alleles give rise to their corresponding phenotypes when paired with any other allele for the same trait, whereas recessive alleles give rise to their corresponding phenotype only when paired with another copy of the same allele. If you know the genotypes of the organisms, you can determine which alleles are dominant and which are recessive. For example, if the allele specifying tall stems in pea plants is dominant over the allele specifying short stems, then pea plants that inherit one tall allele from one parent and one short allele from the other parent will also have tall stems. Mendel's work demonstrated that alleles assort independently in the production of gametes, or germ cells, ensuring variation in the next generation. Although Mendelian inheritance remains a good model for many traits determined by single genes (including a number of well-known genetic disorders) it does not include the physical processes of DNA replication and cell division.
The growth, development, and reproduction of organisms relies on cell division; the process by which a single cell divides into two usually identical daughter cells. This requires first making a duplicate copy of every gene in the genome in a process called DNA replication. The copies are made by specialized enzymes known as DNA polymerases, which "read" one strand of the double-helical DNA, known as the template strand, and synthesize a new complementary strand. Because the DNA double helix is held together by base pairing, the sequence of one strand completely specifies the sequence of its complement; hence only one strand needs to be read by the enzyme to produce a faithful copy. The process of DNA replication is semiconservative; that is, the copy of the genome inherited by each daughter cell contains one original and one newly synthesized strand of DNA.
The rate of DNA replication in living cells was first measured as the rate of phage T4 DNA elongation in phage-infected *E. coli* and found to be impressively rapid. During the period of exponential DNA increase at 37 °C, the rate of elongation was 749 nucleotides per second.
After DNA replication, the cell must physically separate the two genome copies and divide into two distinct membrane-bound cells. In prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) this usually occurs via a relatively simple process called binary fission, in which each circular genome attaches to the cell membrane and is separated into the daughter cells as the membrane invaginates to split the cytoplasm into two membrane-bound portions. Binary fission is extremely fast compared to the rates of cell division in eukaryotes. Eukaryotic cell division is a more complex process known as the cell cycle; DNA replication occurs during a phase of this cycle known as S phase, whereas the process of segregating chromosomes and splitting the cytoplasm occurs during M phase.
The duplication and transmission of genetic material from one generation of cells to the next is the basis for molecular inheritance and the link between the classical and molecular pictures of genes. Organisms inherit the characteristics of their parents because the cells of the offspring contain copies of the genes in their parents' cells. In asexually reproducing organisms, the offspring will be a genetic copy or clone of the parent organism. In sexually reproducing organisms, a specialized form of cell division called meiosis produces cells called gametes or germ cells that are haploid, or contain only one copy of each gene. The gametes produced by females are called eggs or ova, and those produced by males are called sperm. Two gametes fuse to form a diploid fertilized egg, a single cell that has two sets of genes, with one copy of each gene from the mother and one from the father.
During the process of meiotic cell division, an event called genetic recombination or *crossing-over* can sometimes occur, in which a length of DNA on one chromatid is swapped with a length of DNA on the corresponding homologous non-sister chromatid. This can result in reassortment of otherwise linked alleles. The Mendelian principle of independent assortment asserts that each of a parent's two genes for each trait will sort independently into gametes; which allele an organism inherits for one trait is unrelated to which allele it inherits for another trait. This is in fact only true for genes that do not reside on the same chromosome or are located very far from one another on the same chromosome. The closer two genes lie on the same chromosome, the more closely they will be associated in gametes and the more often they will appear together (known as genetic linkage). Genes that are very close are essentially never separated because it is extremely unlikely that a crossover point will occur between them.
The genome is the total genetic material of an organism and includes both the genes and non-coding sequences. Eukaryotic genes can be annotated using FINDER.
The genome size, and the number of genes it encodes varies widely between organisms. The smallest genomes occur in viruses, and viroids (which act as a single non-coding RNA gene). Conversely, plants can have extremely large genomes, with rice containing >46,000 protein-coding genes. The total number of protein-coding genes (the Earth's proteome) is estimated to be 5 million sequences.
Although the number of base-pairs of DNA in the human genome has been known since the 1950s, the estimated number of genes has changed over time as definitions of genes, and methods of detecting them have been refined. Initial theoretical predictions of the number of human genes in the 1960s and 1970s were based on mutation load estimates and the numbers of mRNAs and these estimates tended to be about 30,000 protein-coding genes. During the 1990s there were guesstimates of up to 100,000 genes and early data on detection of mRNAs (expressed sequence tags) suggested more than the traditional value of 30,000 genes that had been reported in the textbooks during the 1980s.
The initial draft sequences of the human genome confirmed the earlier predictions of about 30,000 protein-coding genes however that estimate has fallen to about 19,000 with the ongoing GENCODE annotation project. The number of noncoding genes is not known with certainty but the latest estimates from Ensembl suggest 26,000 noncoding genes.
Essential genes are the set of genes thought to be critical for an organism's survival. This definition assumes the abundant availability of all relevant nutrients and the absence of environmental stress. Only a small portion of an organism's genes are essential. In bacteria, an estimated 250–400 genes are essential for *Escherichia coli* and *Bacillus subtilis*, which is less than 10% of their genes. Half of these genes are orthologs in both organisms and are largely involved in protein synthesis. In the budding yeast *Saccharomyces cerevisiae* the number of essential genes is slightly higher, at 1000 genes (~20% of their genes). Although the number is more difficult to measure in higher eukaryotes, mice and humans are estimated to have around 2000 essential genes (~10% of their genes). The synthetic organism, *Syn 3*, has a minimal genome of 473 essential genes and quasi-essential genes (necessary for fast growth), although 149 have unknown function.
Essential genes include housekeeping genes (critical for basic cell functions) as well as genes that are expressed at different times in the organisms development or life cycle. Housekeeping genes are used as experimental controls when analysing gene expression, since they are constitutively expressed at a relatively constant level.
Gene nomenclature was established by the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC), a committee of the Human Genome Organisation, for each known human gene in the form of an approved gene name and symbol (short-form abbreviation), which can be accessed through a database maintained by HGNC. Symbols are chosen to be unique, and each gene has only one symbol (although approved symbols sometimes change). Symbols are preferably kept consistent with other members of a gene family and with homologs in other species, particularly the mouse due to its role as a common model organism.
Genetic engineering is the modification of an organism's genome through biotechnology. Since the 1970s, a variety of techniques have been developed to specifically add, remove and edit genes in an organism. Recently developed genome engineering techniques use engineered nuclease enzymes to create targeted DNA repair in a chromosome to either disrupt or edit a gene when the break is repaired. The related term synthetic biology is sometimes used to refer to extensive genetic engineering of an organism.
Genetic engineering is now a routine research tool with model organisms. For example, genes are easily added to bacteria and lineages of knockout mice with a specific gene's function disrupted are used to investigate that gene's function. Many organisms have been genetically modified for applications in agriculture, industrial biotechnology, and medicine.
For multicellular organisms, typically the embryo is engineered which grows into the adult genetically modified organism. However, the genomes of cells in an adult organism can be edited using gene therapy techniques to treat genetic diseases.
- Main textbook
- Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J, Raff M, Roberts K, Walter P (2002).
*Molecular Biology of the Cell*(Fourth ed.). New York: Garland Science. ISBN 978-0-8153-3218-3.
- Comparative Toxicogenomics Database
- DNA From The Beginning – a primer on genes and DNA
- Gene – a searchable database of genes
*Genes*– an Open Access journal- IDconverter – converts gene IDs between public databases Archived 29 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine
- iHOP – Information Hyperlinked over Proteins
- TranscriptomeBrowser – Gene expression profile analysis
- The Protein Naming Utility, a database to identify and correct deficient gene names
- IMPC (International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium) – Encyclopedia of mammalian gene function
- Global Genes Project – Leading non-profit organization supporting people living with genetic diseases
- Encode threads explorer,
*Nature*
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# Record label - Wikipedia
A **record label** or **record company** is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing, promotion, and enforcement of copyright for sound recordings and music videos, while also conducting talent scouting and development of new artists, artist financing and maintaining contracts with recording artists and their managers. The term "record label" derives from the circular label in the center of a vinyl record which prominently displays the manufacturer's name, along with other information.
Within the mainstream music industry, recording artists have traditionally been reliant upon record labels to broaden their consumer base, market their albums, and promote their singles on streaming services, radio, and television. Record labels also provide publicists, who assist performers in gaining positive media coverage, and arrange for their merchandise to be available via stores and other media outlets.
Record labels may be small, localized and "independent" ("indie"), or they may be part of a large international media group, or somewhere in between. The Association of Independent Music (AIM) defines a "major" as "a multinational company which (together with the companies in its group) has more than 5% of the world market(s) for the sale of records or music videos". As of 2012[update], only three labels are "major labels": Universal Music Group, Sony Music, and Warner Music Group. In 2014, AIM estimated that the majors had a collective global market share of some 65–70%.
| Major record label | Year founded | Headquarters | Divisions | Global market share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Universal Music Group (Euronext Amsterdam: UMG) | September 1934 | Hilversum, North Holland, Netherlands (corporate) Santa Monica, California, United States (operational) |
List of Universal Music Group labels | 31.9% |
| Sony Music Entertainment | September 9, 1929 | New York City, New York, United States | List of Sony Music labels | 22.1% |
| Warner Music Group (Nasdaq: WMG) | April 6, 1958 | New York City, New York, United States | List of Warner Music Group labels | 16% |
Record labels are often under the control of a corporate umbrella organization called a "music group". A music group is usually affiliated to an international conglomerate "holding company", which often has non-music divisions as well. A music group controls and consists of music-publishing companies, record (sound recording) manufacturers, record distributors, and record labels. Record companies (manufacturers, distributors, and labels) may also constitute a "record group" which is, in turn, controlled by a music group. The constituent companies in a music group or record group are sometimes marketed as being "divisions" of the group.
- Warner Music Group
- EMI
- Sony Music (known as CBS Records until January 1991)
- BMG (formed in 1985 as RCA/Ariola International)
- Universal Music Group (known as MCA Music until 1996)
- PolyGram
Sony BMG label (which would be renamed Sony Music Entertainment after a 2008 merger); BMG kept its music publishing division separate from Sony BMG and later sold BMG Music Publishing to UMG. In 2007, the remaining record labels—then known as the Big Four—controlled about 70% of the world music market, and about 80% of the United States music market.
EMI were sold off separately by owner Citigroup: most of EMI's recorded music division was absorbed into UMG; EMI Music Publishing was absorbed into Sony/ATV Music Publishing; finally, EMI's Parlophone and Virgin Classics labels were absorbed into Warner Music Group (WMG) in July 2013. This left the so-called Big Three labels.
IPO with WMG starting trading at Nasdaq and UMG starting trading at Euronext Amsterdam and leaving only Sony Music as wholly-owned subsidiary of an international conglomerate (Sony Entertainment which in turn is owned by Sony Group Corporation).
Record labels and music publishers that are not under the control of the big three are generally considered to be *independent* (*indie*), even if they are large corporations with complex structures. The term *indie label* is sometimes used to refer to only those independent labels that adhere to independent criteria of corporate structure and size, and some consider an indie label to be almost any label that releases non-mainstream music, regardless of its corporate structure.
Independent labels are often considered more artist-friendly. Though they may have less sales power, indie labels typically offer larger artist royalty with a 50% profit-share agreement, aka 50–50 deal, not uncommon. In addition, independent labels are often artist-owned (although not always), with a stated intent often being to control the quality of the artist's output. Independent labels usually do not enjoy the resources available to the "big three" and as such will often lag behind them in market shares. However, frequently independent artists manage a return by recording for a much smaller production cost of a typical big label release. Sometimes they are able to recoup their initial advance even with much lower sales numbers.
On occasion, established artists, once their record contract has finished, move to an independent label. This often gives the combined advantage of name recognition and more control over one's music along with a larger portion of royalty profits. Artists such as Dolly Parton, Aimee Mann, Prince, Public Enemy, among others, have done this. Historically, companies started in this manner have been re-absorbed into the major labels (two examples are American singer Frank Sinatra's Reprise Records, which has been owned by Warner Music Group for some time now, and musician Herb Alpert's A&M Records, now owned by Universal Music Group). Similarly, Madonna's Maverick Records (started by Madonna with her manager and another partner) was to come under control of Warner Music when Madonna divested herself of controlling shares in the company.
Some independent labels become successful enough that major record companies negotiate contracts to either distribute music for the label or in some cases, purchase the label completely, to the point where it functions as an imprint or sublabel.
A label used as a trademark or brand and not a company is called an imprint, a term used for a similar concept in publishing. An imprint is often marketed as a "unit" or "division" of the parent label, though in most cases, they operate as pseudonym for it and do not exist as a distinct business operation or separate business structure (although trademarks are sometimes registered).
A record label may give a musical act an imprint as part of their branding, while other imprints serve to house other activities, such as side ventures of that label.
Music collectors often use the term *sublabel* to refer to either an imprint or a subordinate label company (such as those within a group). For example, in the 1980s and 1990s, 4th & B'way Records (pronounced as "Broadway") was a trademarked brand owned by Island Records Ltd. in the UK and by a subordinate branch, Island Records, Inc., in the United States. The center label on a 4th & Broadway record marketed in the United States would typically bear a 4th & B'way logo and would state in the fine print, "4th & B'way™, an Island Records, Inc. company". Collectors discussing labels as brands would say that 4th & B'way is a sublabel or imprint of just "Island" or "Island Records". Similarly, collectors who choose to treat corporations and trademarks as equivalent might say 4th & B'way is an imprint and/or sublabel of both Island Records, Ltd. and that company's sublabel, Island Records, Inc. However, such definitions are complicated by the corporate mergers that occurred in 1989 (when Island was sold to PolyGram) and 1998 (when PolyGram merged with Universal). PolyGram held sublabels including Mercury, Island and Motown. Island remained registered as corporations in both the United States and UK, but control of its brands changed hands multiple times as new companies were formed, diminishing the corporation's distinction as the "parent" of any sublabels.
Vanity labels are labels that bear an imprint that gives the impression of an artist's ownership or control, but in fact represent a standard artist/label relationship. In such an arrangement, the artist will control nothing more than the usage of the name on the label, but may enjoy a greater say in the packaging of their work. An example of such a label is the Neutron label owned by ABC while at Phonogram Inc. in the UK. At one point artist Lizzie Tear (under contract with ABC themselves) appeared on the imprint, but it was devoted almost entirely to ABC's offerings and is still used for their re-releases (though Phonogram owns the masters of all the work issued on the label).
However, not all labels dedicated to particular artists are completely superficial in origin. Many artists, early in their careers, create their own labels which are later bought out by a bigger company. If this is the case it can sometimes give the artist greater freedom than if they were signed directly to the big label. There are many examples of this kind of label, such as Nothing Records, owned by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails; and Morning Records, owned by the Cooper Temple Clause, who were releasing EPs for years before the company was bought by RCA.
If an artist and a label want to work together, whether an artist has contacted a label directly, usually by sending their team a demo, or the Artists & Repertoire team of the label has scouted the artist and reached out directly, they will usually enter in to a contractual relationship.
A label typically enters into an exclusive recording contract with an artist to market the artist's recordings in return for royalties on the selling price of the recordings. Contracts may extend over short or long durations, and may or may not refer to specific recordings. Established, successful artists tend to be able to renegotiate their contracts to get terms more favorable to them, but Prince's much-publicized 1994–1996 feud with Warner Bros. Records provides a strong counterexample, as does Roger McGuinn's claim, made in July 2000 before a US Senate committee, that the Byrds never received any of the royalties they had been promised for their biggest hits, "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Turn! Turn!, Turn!".
A contract either provides for the artist to deliver completed recordings to the label, or for the label to undertake the recording with the artist. For artists without a recording history, the label is often involved in selecting producers, recording studios, additional musicians, and songs to be recorded, and may supervise the output of recording sessions. For established artists, a label is usually less involved in the recording process.
The relationship between record labels and artists can be a difficult one. Many artists have had conflicts with their labels over the type of sound or songs they want to make, which can result in the artist's artwork or titles being changed before release. Other artists have had their music prevented from release, or shelved. Record labels generally do this because they believe that the album will sell better if the artist complies with the label's desired requests or changes. At times, the record label's decisions are prudent ones from a commercial perspective, but these decisions may frustrate artists who feel that their art is being diminished or misrepresented by such actions.
In other instances, record labels have shelved artists' albums with no intention of any promotion for the artist in question. Reasons for shelving can include the label deciding to focus its resources on other artists on its roster, or the label undergoing a restructure where the person that signed the artist and supports the artist's vision is no longer present to advocate for the artist. In extreme cases, record labels can prevent the release of an artist's music for years, while also declining to release the artist from their contract, leaving the artist in a state of limbo. Artists who have had disputes with their labels over ownership and control of their music have included Taylor Swift, Tinashe, Megan Thee Stallion, Kelly Clarkson, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Clipse, Ciara, JoJo, Michelle Branch, Kesha, Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, Paul McCartney, and Johnny Cash.
In the early days of the recording industry, recording labels were absolutely necessary for the success of any artist.[ better source needed] The first goal of any new artist or band was to get signed to a contract as soon as possible. In the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, many artists were so desperate to sign a contract with a record company that they sometimes ended up signing agreements in which they sold the rights to their recordings to the record label forever. Entertainment lawyers are usually employed by artists to discuss contract terms.
Due to advancing technology such as the Internet, the role of labels is rapidly changing, as artists are able to freely distribute their own material through online radio, peer-to-peer file sharing such as BitTorrent, and other services, at little to no cost, but with correspondingly low financial returns. Established artists, such as Nine Inch Nails, whose career was developed with major label backing, announced an end to their major label contracts, citing that the uncooperative nature of the recording industry with these new trends is hurting musicians, fans and the industry as a whole. However, Nine Inch Nails later returned to working with a major label, admitting that they needed the international marketing and promotional reach that a major label can provide. Radiohead also cited similar motives with the end of their contract with EMI when their album *In Rainbows* was released as a "pay what you want" sales model as an online download, but they also returned to a label for a conventional release. Research shows that record labels still control most access to distribution.
Computers and internet technology led to an increase in file sharing and direct-to-fan digital distribution, causing music sales to plummet in recent years. Labels and organizations have had to change their strategies and the way they work with artists. New types of deals called "multiple rights" or "360" deals are being made with artists, where labels are given rights and percentages to artist's touring, merchandising, and endorsements. In exchange for these rights, labels usually give higher advance payments to artists, have more patience with artist development, and pay higher percentages of CD sales. These 360 deals are most effective when the artist is established and has a loyal fan base. For that reason, labels now have to be more relaxed with the development of artists because longevity is the key to these types of pact. Several artists such as Paramore, Maino, and even Madonna have signed such types of deals.
A look at an actual 360 deal offered by Atlantic Records to an artist shows a variation of the structure. Atlantic's document offers a conventional cash advance to sign the artist, who would receive a royalty for sales after expenses were recouped. With the release of the artist's first album, however, the label has an option to pay an additional $200,000 in exchange for 30 percent of the net income from all touring, merchandise, endorsements, and fan-club fees. Atlantic would also have the right to approve the act's tour schedule, and the salaries of certain tour and merchandise sales employees hired by the artist. In addition, the label also offers the artist a 30 percent cut of the label's album profits—if any—which represents an improvement from the typical industry royalty of 15 percent.
With the Internet now being the dominant source for obtaining music, netlabels have emerged. Depending on the ideals of the net label, music files from the artists may be downloaded free of charge or for a fee that is paid via PayPal or other online payment system. Some of these labels also offer hard copy CDs in addition to direct download. Digital Labels are the latest version of a 'net' label. Whereas 'net' labels were started as a free site, digital labels represent more competition for the major record labels.
The new century brought the phenomenon of *open-source* or *open-content* record labels. These are inspired by the free software and open source movements and the success of Linux.
In the mid-2000s, some music publishing companies began undertaking the work traditionally done by labels. The publisher Sony/ATV Music, for example, leveraged its connections within the Sony family to produce, record, distribute, and promote Elliott Yamin's debut album under a dormant Sony-owned imprint, rather than waiting for a deal with a proper label.
In 2002, ArtistShare was founded as the Internet's first record label where the releases were directly funded by the artist's fans.
- List of record labels
- List of largest music deals
- Streaming media
- White label record
- Major film studios, with a "big five" (containing within them all of the three companies above)
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# The New York Times - Wikipedia
All the News That's Fit to Print | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | The New York Times Company |
| Founder(s) | |
| Publisher | A. G. Sulzberger |
| Editor-in-chief | Joseph Kahn |
| Managing editor | |
| Staff writers | 1,700 (2023) |
| Founded | September 18, 1851 |
| Headquarters | 620 Eighth Avenue New York City, 10018, U.S. |
| Country | United States |
| Circulation | 10,800,000 news subscribers (as of May 2024) |
| Sister newspapers | International Herald Tribune (1967–2013)The New York Times International Edition (1943–1967; 2013–present) |
| ISSN | 0362-4331 (print) 1553-8095 (web) |
| OCLC number | 1645522 |
| Website | nytimes |
* The New York Times* (
*) is an American daily newspaper based in New York City.*
**NYT***The New York Times*covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of the longest-running newspapers in the United States, the
*Times*serves as one of the country's newspapers of record. As of 2023
[update],
*The New York Times*had 9.13 million total and 8.83 million online subscribers, both by significant margins the highest numbers for any newspaper in the United States; the total also included 296,330 print subscribers, making the
*Times*the second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States, following
*The Wall Street Journal*, also based in New York City.
*The New York Times*is published by the New York Times Company; since 1896, the company has been chaired by the Ochs-Sulzberger family, whose current chairman and the paper's publisher is A. G. Sulzberger. The
*Times*is headquartered at The New York Times Building in Midtown Manhattan.
The *Times* was founded as the conservative *New-York Daily Times* in 1851, and came to national recognition in the 1870s with its aggressive coverage of corrupt politician Boss Tweed. Following the Panic of 1893, *Chattanooga Times* publisher Adolph Ochs gained a controlling interest in the company. In 1935, Ochs was succeeded by his son-in-law, Arthur Hays Sulzberger, who began a push into European news. Sulzberger's son Arthur Ochs Sulzberger became publisher in 1963, adapting to a changing newspaper industry and introducing radical changes. *The New York Times* was involved in the landmark 1964 U.S. Supreme Court case *New York Times Co. v. Sullivan*, which restricted the ability of public officials to sue the media for defamation.
In 1971, *The New York Times* published the *Pentagon Papers*, an internal Department of Defense document detailing the United States's historical involvement in the Vietnam War, despite pushback from then-president Richard Nixon. In the landmark decision *New York Times Co. v. United States* (1971), the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment guaranteed the right to publish the *Pentagon Papers*. In the 1980s, the *Times* began a two-decade progression to digital technology and launched nytimes.com in 1996. In the 21st century, it shifted its publication online amid the global decline of newspapers.
Currently, the *Times* maintains several regional bureaus staffed with journalists across six continents. It has expanded to several other publications, including *The New York Times Magazine*, *The New York Times International Edition*, and *The New York Times Book Review*. In addition, the paper has produced several television series, podcasts—including *The Daily*—and games through *The New York Times Games*.
*The New York Times* has been involved in a number of controversies in its history. Among other accolades, it has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize 132 times since 1918, the most of any publication.
## History
*The New York Times* was established in 1851 by *New-York Tribune* journalists Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones. The *Times* experienced significant circulation, particularly among conservatives; *New-York Tribune* publisher Horace Greeley praised the *New-York Daily Times*. During the American Civil War, *Times* correspondents gathered information directly from Confederate states. In 1869, Jones inherited the paper from Raymond, who had changed its name to *The New-York Times*. Under Jones, the *Times* began to publish a series of articles criticizing Tammany Hall political boss William M. Tweed, despite vehement opposition from other New York newspapers. In 1871, *The New-York Times* published Tammany Hall's accounting books; Tweed was tried in 1873 and sentenced to twelve years in prison. The *Times* earned national recognition for its coverage of Tweed. In 1891, Jones died, creating a management imbroglio in which his children had insufficient business acumen to inherit the company and his will prevented an acquisition of the *Times*. Editor-in-chief Charles Ransom Miller, editorial editor Edward Cary, and correspondent George F. Spinney established a company to manage *The New-York Times*, but faced financial difficulties during the Panic of 1893.
In August 1896, *Chattanooga Times* publisher Adolph Ochs acquired *The New-York Times*, implementing significant alterations to the newspaper's structure. Ochs established the *Times* as a merchant's newspaper and removed the hyphen from the newspaper's name. In 1905, *The New York Times* opened Times Tower, marking expansion. The *Times* experienced a political realignment in the 1910s amid several disagreements within the Republican Party. *The New York Times* reported on the sinking of the *Titanic*, as other newspapers were cautious about bulletins circulated by the Associated Press. Through managing editor Carr Van Anda, the *Times* focused on scientific advancements, reporting on Albert Einstein's then-unknown theory of general relativity and becoming involved in the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. In April 1935, Ochs died, leaving his son-in-law Arthur Hays Sulzberger as publisher. The Great Depression forced Sulzberger to reduce *The New York Times*'s operations, and developments in the New York newspaper landscape resulted in the formation of larger newspapers, such as the *New York Herald Tribune* and the *New York World-Telegram*. In contrast to Ochs, Sulzberger encouraged wirephotography.
*The New York Times* extensively covered World War II through large headlines, reporting on exclusive stories such as the Yugoslav coup d'état. Amid the war, Sulzberger began expanding the *Times*'s operations further, acquiring WQXR-FM in 1944—the first non-*Times* investment since the Jones era—and established a fashion show in Times Hall. Despite reductions as a result of conscription, *The New York Times* retained the largest journalism staff of any newspaper. The *Times*'s print edition became available internationally during the war through the Army & Air Force Exchange Service; *The New York Times Overseas Weekly* later became available in Japan through *The Asahi Shimbun* and in Germany through the *Frankfurter Zeitung*. The international edition would develop into a separate newspaper. Journalist William L. Laurence publicized the atomic bomb race between the United States and Germany, resulting in the Federal Bureau of Investigation seizing copies of the *Times*. The United States government recruited Laurence to document the Manhattan Project in April 1945. Laurence became the only witness of the Manhattan Project, a detail realized by employees of *The New York Times* following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
Following World War II, *The New York Times* continued to expand. The *Times* was subject to investigations from the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, a McCarthyist subcommittee that investigated purported communism from within press institutions. Arthur Hays Sulzberger's decision to dismiss a copyreader who had pleaded the Fifth Amendment drew ire from within the *Times* and from external organizations. In April 1961, Sulzberger resigned, appointing his son-in-law, The New York Times Company president Orvil Dryfoos. Under Dryfoos, *The New York Times* established a newspaper based in Los Angeles. In 1962, the implementation of automated printing presses in response to increasing costs mounted fears over technological unemployment. The New York Typographical Union staged a strike in December, altering the media consumption of New Yorkers. The strike left New York with three remaining newspapers—the *Times*, the *Daily News*, and the *New York Post*—by its conclusion in March 1963. In May, Dryfoos died of a heart ailment. Following weeks of ambiguity, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger became *The New York Times*'s publisher.
Technological advancements leveraged by newspapers such as the *Los Angeles Times* and improvements in coverage from *The Washington Post* and *The Wall Street Journal* necessitated adaptations to nascent computing. *The New York Times* published "Heed Their Rising Voices" in 1960, a full-page advertisement purchased by supporters of Martin Luther King Jr. criticizing law enforcement in Montgomery, Alabama for their response to the civil rights movement. Montgomery Public Safety commissioner L. B. Sullivan sued the *Times* for defamation. In *New York Times Co. v. Sullivan* (1964), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the verdict in Alabama county court and the Supreme Court of Alabama violated the First Amendment. The decision is considered to be landmark. After financial losses, *The New York Times* ended its international edition, acquiring a stake in the *Paris Herald Tribune*, forming the *International Herald Tribune*. The *Times* initially published the *Pentagon Papers*, facing opposition from then-president Richard Nixon. The Supreme Court ruled in *The New York Times*'s favor in *New York Times Co. v. United States* (1971), allowing the *Times* and *The Washington Post* to publish the papers.
*The New York Times* remained cautious in its initial coverage of the Watergate scandal. As Congress began investigating the scandal, the *Times* furthered its coverage, publishing details on the Huston Plan, alleged wiretapping of reporters and officials, and testimony from James W. McCord Jr. that the Committee for the Re-Election of the President paid the conspirators off. The exodus of readers to suburban New York newspapers, such as *Newsday* and Gannett papers, adversely affected *The New York Times*'s circulation. Contemporary newspapers balked at additional sections; *Time* devoted a cover for its criticism and *New York* wrote that the *Times* was engaging in "middle-class self-absorption". *The New York Times*, the *Daily News*, and the *New York Post* were the subject of a strike in 1978, allowing emerging newspapers to leverage halted coverage. The *Times* deliberately avoided coverage of the AIDS epidemic, running its first front-page article in May 1983. Max Frankel's editorial coverage of the epidemic, with mentions of anal intercourse, contrasted with then-executive editor A. M. Rosenthal's puritan approach, intentionally avoiding descriptions of the luridity of gay venues.
Following years of waning interest in *The New York Times*, Sulzberger resigned in January 1992, appointing his son, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., as publisher. The Internet represented a generational shift within the *Times*; Sulzberger, who negotiated The New York Times Company's acquisition of *The Boston Globe* in 1993, derided the Internet, while his son expressed antithetical views. @times appeared on America Online's website in May 1994 as an extension of *The New York Times*, featuring news articles, film reviews, sports news, and business articles. Despite opposition, several employees of the *Times* had begun to access the Internet. The online success of publications that traditionally co-existed with the *Times*—such as America Online, Yahoo, and CNN—and the expansion of websites such as Monster.com and Craigslist that threatened *The New York Times*'s classified advertisement model increased efforts to develop a website. nytimes.com debuted on January 19 and was formally announced three days later. The *Times* published domestic terrorist Ted Kaczynski's essay *Industrial Society and Its Future* in 1995, contributing to his arrest after his brother David recognized the essay's penmanship.
Following the establishment of nytimes.com, *The New York Times* retained its journalistic hesitancy under executive editor Joseph Lelyveld, refusing to publish an article reporting on the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal from Drudge Report. nytimes.com editors conflicted with print editors on several occasions, including wrongfully naming security guard Richard Jewell as the suspect in the Centennial Olympic Park bombing and covering the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in greater detail than the print edition. The New York Times Electronic Media Company was adversely affected by the dot-com crash. The *Times* extensively covered the September 11 attacks. The following day's print issue contained sixty-six articles, the work of over three hundred dispatched reporters. Journalist Judith Miller was the recipient of a package containing a white powder during the 2001 anthrax attacks, furthering anxiety within *The New York Times*. In September 2002, Miller and military correspondent Michael R. Gordon wrote an article for the *Times* claiming that Iraq had purchased aluminum tubes. The article was cited by then-president George W. Bush to claim that Iraq was constructing weapons of mass destruction; the theoretical use of aluminum tubes to produce nuclear material was speculation. In March 2003, the United States invaded Iraq, beginning the Iraq War.
*The New York Times* attracted controversy after thirty-six articles from journalist Jayson Blair were discovered to be plagiarized. Criticism over then-executive editor Howell Raines and then-managing editor Gerald M. Boyd mounted following the scandal, culminating in a town hall in which a deputy editor criticized Raines for failing to question Blair's sources in article he wrote on the D.C. sniper attacks. In June 2003, Raines and Boyd resigned. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. appointed Bill Keller as executive editor. Miller continued to report on the Iraq War as a journalistic embed covering the country's weapons of mass destruction program. Keller and then-Washington bureau chief Jill Abramson unsuccessfully attempted to subside criticism. Conservative media criticized the *Times* over its coverage of missing explosives from the Al Qa'qaa weapons facility. An article in December 2005 disclosing warrantless surveillance by the National Security Agency contributed to further criticism from the George W. Bush administration and the Senate's refusal to renew the Patriot Act. In the Plame affair, a Central Intelligence Agency inquiry found that Miller had become aware of Valerie Plame's identity through then-vice president Dick Cheney's chief of staff Scooter Libby, resulting in Miller's resignation.
During the Great Recession, *The New York Times* suffered significant fiscal difficulties as a consequence of the subprime mortgage crisis and a decline in classified advertising. Exacerbated by Rupert Murdoch's revitalization of *The Wall Street Journal* through his acquisition of Dow Jones & Company, The New York Times Company began enacting measures to reduce the newsroom budget. The company was forced to borrow $250 million (equivalent to $365.11 million in 2024) from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim and fired over one hundred employees by 2010. nytimes.com's coverage of the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal, resulting in the resignation of then-New York governor Eliot Spitzer, furthered the legitimacy of the website as a journalistic medium. The *Times*'s economic downturn renewed discussions of an online paywall; *The New York Times* implemented a paywall in March 2011. Abramson succeeded Keller, continuing her characteristic investigations into corporate and government malfeasance into the *Times*'s coverage. Following conflicts with newly appointed chief executive Mark Thompson's ambitions, Abramson was dismissed by Sulzberger Jr., who named Dean Baquet as her replacement.
Leading up to the 2016 presidential election, *The New York Times* elevated the Hillary Clinton email controversy into a national issue. Donald Trump's upset victory contributed to an increase in subscriptions to the *Times*. *The New York Times* experienced unprecedented indignation from Trump, who referred to publications such as the *Times* as "enemies of the people" at the Conservative Political Action Conference and tweeted his disdain for the newspaper and CNN. In October 2017, *The New York Times* published an article by journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey alleging that dozens of women had accused film producer and The Weinstein Company co-chairman Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct. The investigation resulted in Weinstein's resignation and conviction, precipitated the Weinstein effect, and served as a catalyst for the #MeToo movement. The New York Times Company vacated the public editor position and eliminated the copy desk in November. Sulzberger Jr. announced his resignation in December 2017, appointing his son, A. G. Sulzberger, as publisher.
Trump's relationship—equally diplomatic and negative—marked Sulzberger's tenure. In September 2018, *The New York Times* published "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration", an anonymous essay by a self-described Trump administration official later revealed to be Department of Homeland Security chief of staff Miles Taylor. The animosity—which extended to nearly three hundred instances of Trump disparaging the *Times* by May 2019—culminated in Trump ordering federal agencies to cancel their subscriptions to *The New York Times* and *The Washington Post* in October 2019. Trump's tax returns have been the subject of three separate investigations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the *Times* began implementing data services and graphs. On May 23, 2020, *The New York Times*'s front page solely featured *U.S. Deaths Near 100,000, An Incalculable Loss*, a subset of the 100,000 people in the United States who died of COVID-19, the first time that the *Times*'s front page lacked images since they were introduced. Since 2020, *The New York Times* has focused on broader diversification, developing online games and producing television series. The New York Times Company acquired *The Athletic* in January 2022.
## Organization
### Management
Since 1896, *The New York Times* has been published by the Ochs-Sulzberger family, having previously been published by Henry Jarvis Raymond until 1869 and by George Jones until 1896. Adolph Ochs published the *Times* until his death in 1935, when he was succeeded by his son-in-law, Arthur Hays Sulzberger. Sulzberger was publisher until 1961 and was succeeded by Orvil Dryfoos, his son-in-law, who served in the position until his death in 1963. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger succeeded Dryfoos until his resignation in 1992. His son, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., served as publisher until 2018. *The New York Times*'s current publisher is A. G. Sulzberger, Sulzberger Jr.'s son. As of 2023, the *Times*'s executive editor is Joseph Kahn and the paper's managing editors are Marc Lacey and Carolyn Ryan, having been appointed in June 2022. *The New York Times*'s deputy managing editors are Sam Dolnick, Monica Drake, and Steve Duenes, and the paper's assistant managing editors are Matthew Ericson, Jonathan Galinsky, Hannah Poferl, Sam Sifton, Karron Skog, and Michael Slackman.
*The New York Times* is owned by The New York Times Company, a publicly traded company. The New York Times Company, in addition to the *Times*, owns *Wirecutter*, *The Athletic*, The New York Times Cooking, and The New York Times Games, and acquired Serial Productions and Audm. The New York Times Company holds undisclosed minority investments in multiple other businesses, and formerly owned *The Boston Globe* and several radio and television stations. The New York Times Company is majority-owned by the Ochs-Sulzberger family through elevated shares in the company's dual-class stock structure held largely in a trust, in effect since the 1950s; as of 2022, the family holds ninety-five percent of The New York Times Company's Class B shares, allowing it to elect seventy percent of the company's board of directors. Class A shareholders have restrictive voting rights. As of 2023, The New York Times Company's chief executive is Meredith Kopit Levien, the company's former chief operating officer who was appointed in September 2020.
### Journalists
As of March 2023, The New York Times Company employs 5,800 individuals, including 1,700 journalists according to deputy managing editor Sam Dolnick. Journalists for *The New York Times* may not run for public office, provide financial support to political candidates or causes, endorse candidates, or demonstrate public support for causes or movements. Journalists are subject to the guidelines established in "Ethical Journalism" and "Guidelines on Integrity". According to the former, *Times* journalists must abstain from using sources with a personal relationship to them and must not accept reimbursements or inducements from individuals who may be written about in *The New York Times*, with exceptions for gifts of nominal value. The latter requires attribution and exact quotations, though exceptions are made for linguistic anomalies. Staff writers are expected to ensure the veracity of all written claims, but may delegate researching obscure facts to the research desk. In March 2021, the *Times* established a committee to avoid journalistic conflicts of interest with work written for *The New York Times*, following columnist David Brooks's resignation from the Aspen Institute for his undisclosed work on the initiative Weave.
### Editorial board
The New York Timeseditorial board |
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*The New York Times* editorial board was established in 1896 by Adolph Ochs. With the opinion department, the editorial board is independent of the newsroom. Then-editor-in-chief Charles Ransom Miller served as opinion editor from 1883 until his death in 1922. Rollo Ogden succeeded Miller until his death in 1937. From 1937 to 1938, John Huston Finley served as opinion editor; in a prearranged plan, Charles Merz succeeded Finley. Merz served in the position until his retirement in 1961. John Bertram Oakes served as opinion editor from 1961 to 1976, when then-publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger appointed Max Frankel. Frankel served in the position until 1986, when he was appointed as executive editor. Jack Rosenthal was the opinion editor from 1986 to 1993. Howell Raines succeeded Rosenthal until 2001, when he was made executive editor. Gail Collins succeeded Raines until her resignation in 2006. From 2007 to 2016, Andrew Rosenthal was the opinion editor. James Bennet succeeded Rosenthal until his resignation in 2020. As of July 2024[update], the editorial board comprises thirteen opinion writers. *The New York Times*'s opinion editor is Kathleen Kingsbury and the deputy opinion editor is Patrick Healy.
*The New York Times*'s editorial board was initially opposed to liberal beliefs, opposing women's suffrage in 1900 and 1914. The editorial board began to espouse progressive beliefs during Oakes' tenure, conflicting with the Ochs-Sulzberger family, of which Oakes was a member as Adolph Ochs's nephew; in 1976, Oakes publicly disagreed with Sulzberger's endorsement of Daniel Patrick Moynihan over Bella Abzug in the 1976 Senate Democratic primaries in a letter sent from Martha's Vineyard. Under Rosenthal, the editorial board took positions supporting assault weapons legislation and the legalization of marijuana, but publicly criticized the Obama administration over its portrayal of terrorism. In presidential elections, *The New York Times* has endorsed a total of twelve Republican candidates and thirty-two Democratic candidates, and has endorsed the Democrat in every election since 1960. With the exception of Wendell Willkie, Republicans endorsed by the *Times* have won the presidency. In 2016, the editorial board issued an anti-endorsement against Donald Trump for the first time in its history. In February 2020, the editorial board reduced its presence from several editorials each day to occasional editorials for events deemed particularly significant. Since August 2024, the board no longer endorses candidates in local or congressional races in New York.
### Unionization
Since 1940, editorial, media, and technology workers of *The New York Times* have been represented by the New York Times Guild. The Times Guild, along with the Times Tech Guild, are represented by the NewsGuild-CWA. In 1940, Arthur Hays Sulzberger was called upon by the National Labor Relations Board amid accusations that he had discouraged Guild membership in the *Times*. Over the next few years, the Guild would ratify several contracts, expanding to editorial and news staff in 1942 and maintenance workers in 1943. The New York Times Guild has walked out several times in its history, including for six and a half hours in 1981 and in 2017, when copy editors and reporters walked out at lunchtime in response to the elimination of the copy desk. On December 7, 2022, the union held a one-day strike, the first interruption to *The New York Times* since 1978. The New York Times Guild reached an agreement in May 2023 to increase minimum salaries for employees and a retroactive bonus. The Times Tech Guild is the largest technology union with collective bargaining rights in the United States. The guild held a second strike beginning on November 4, 2024, threatening the *Times*'s coverage of the 2024 United States presidential election.
## Content
### Circulation
As of August 2024, *The New York Times* has 10.8 million subscribers, with 10.2 million online subscribers and 600,000 print subscribers, the second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States behind *The Wall Street Journal*. The New York Times Company intends to have fifteen million subscribers by 2027. The *Times*'s shift towards subscription-based revenue with the debut of an online paywall in 2011 contributed to subscription revenue exceeding advertising revenue the following year, furthered by the 2016 presidential election and Donald Trump. In 2022, *Vox* wrote that *The New York Times*'s subscribers skew "older, richer, whiter, and more liberal"; to reflect the general population of the United States, the *Times* has attempted to alter its audience by acquiring *The Athletic*, investing in verticals such as *The New York Times Games*, and beginning a marketing campaign showing diverse subscribers to the *Times*. The New York Times Company chief executive Meredith Kopit Levien stated that the average age of subscribers has remained constant.
In October 2001, *The New York Times* began publishing *DealBook*, a financial newsletter edited by Andrew Ross Sorkin. The *Times* had intended to publish the newsletter in September, but delayed its debut following the September 11 attacks. A website for *DealBook* was established in March 2006. *The New York Times* began shifting towards *DealBook* as part of the newspaper's financial coverage in November 2010 with a renewed website and a presence in the *Times*'s print edition. In 2011, the *Times* began hosting the DealBook Summit, an annual conference hosted by Sorkin. During the COVID-19 pandemic, *The New York Times* hosted the DealBook Online Summit in 2020 and 2021. The 2022 DealBook Summit featured—among other speakers—former vice president Mike Pence and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, culminating in an interview with former FTX chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried; FTX had filed for bankruptcy several weeks prior. The 2023 DealBook Summit's speakers included vice president Kamala Harris, Israeli president Isaac Herzog, and businessman Elon Musk.
In June 2010, *The New York Times* licensed the political blog *FiveThirtyEight* in a three-year agreement. The blog, written by Nate Silver, had garnered attention during the 2008 presidential election for predicting the elections in forty-nine of fifty states. *FiveThirtyEight* appeared on nytimes.com in August. According to Silver, several offers were made for the blog; Silver wrote that a merger of unequals must allow for editorial sovereignty and resources from the acquirer, comparing himself to Groucho Marx. According to *The New Republic*, *FiveThirtyEight* drew as much as a fifth of the traffic to nytimes.com during the 2012 presidential election. In July 2013, *FiveThirtyEight* was sold to ESPN. In an article following Silver's exit, public editor Margaret Sullivan wrote that he was disruptive to the *Times*'s culture for his perspective on probability-based predictions and scorn for polling—having stated that punditry is "fundamentally useless", comparing him to Billy Beane, who implemented sabermetrics in baseball. According to Sullivan, his work was criticized by several notable political journalists.
*The New Republic* obtained a memo in November 2013 revealing then-Washington bureau chief David Leonhardt's ambitions to establish a data-driven newsletter with presidential historian Michael Beschloss, graphic designer Amanda Cox, economist Justin Wolfers, and *The New Republic* journalist Nate Cohn. By March, Leonhardt had amassed fifteen employees from within *The New York Times*; the newsletter's staff included individuals who had created the *Times*'s dialect quiz, fourth down analyzer, and a calculator for determining buying or renting a home. *The Upshot* debuted in April 2014. *Fast Company* reviewed an article about Illinois Secure Choice—a state-funded retirement saving system—as "neither a terse news item, nor a formal financial advice column, nor a politically charged response to economic policy", citing its informal and neutral tone. *The Upshot* developed "the needle" for the 2016 presidential election and 2020 presidential elections, a thermometer dial displaying the probability of a candidate winning. In January 2016, Cox was named editor of *The Upshot*. Kevin Quealy was named editor in June 2022.
### Political positions
*The New York Times* has been viewed as a liberal newspaper. An analysis by Pew Research Center in October 2014 placed the *Times* as ideologically liberal. According to an internal readership poll conducted by *The New York Times* in 2019, eighty-four percent of readers identified as liberal.
### Crossword
In February 1942, *The New York Times* crossword debuted in *The New York Times Magazine*; according to Richard Shepard, the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 convinced then-publisher Arthur Hays Sulzberger of the necessity of a crossword.
### Cooking
*The New York Times* has published recipes since the 1850s and has had a separate food section since the 1940s. In 1961, restaurant critic Craig Claiborne published *The New York Times Cookbook*, an unauthorized cookbook that drew from the *Times*'s recipes. Since 2010, former food editor Amanda Hesser has published *The Essential New York Times Cookbook*, a compendium of recipes from *The New York Times*. The *Innovation Report* in 2014 revealed that the *Times* had attempted to establish a cooking website since 1998, but faced difficulties with the absence of a defined data structure. In September 2014, *The New York Times* introduced NYT Cooking, an application and website. Edited by food editor Sam Sifton, the *Times*'s cooking website features 21,000 recipes as of 2022. NYT Cooking features videos as part of an effort by Sifton to hire two former *Tasty* employees from BuzzFeed. In August 2023, NYT Cooking added personalized recommendations through the cosine similarity of text embeddings of recipe titles. The website also features no-recipe recipes, a concept proposed by Sifton.
In May 2016, The New York Times Company announced a partnership with startup Chef'd to form a meal delivery service that would deliver ingredients from The New York Times Cooking recipes to subscribers; Chef'd shut down in July 2018 after failing to accrue capital and secure financing. *The Hollywood Reporter* reported in September 2022 that the *Times* would expand its delivery options to US$95 cooking kits curated by chefs such as Nina Compton, Chintan Pandya, and Naoko Takei Moore. That month, the staff of NYT Cooking went on tour with Compton, Pandya, and Moore in Los Angeles, New Orleans, and New York City, culminating in a food festival. In addition, *The New York Times* offered its own wine club originally operated by the Global Wine Company. The New York Times Wine Club was established in August 2009, during a dramatic decrease in advertising revenue. By 2021, the wine club was managed by Lot18, a company that provides proprietary labels. Lot18 managed the Williams Sonoma Wine Club and its own wine club Tasting Room.
### Archives
*The New York Times* archives its articles in a basement annex beneath its building known as "the morgue", a venture started by managing editor Carr Van Anda in 1907. The morgue comprises news clippings, a pictures library, and the *Times*'s book and periodicals library. As of 2014, it is the largest library of any media company, dating back to 1851. In November 2018, *The New York Times* partnered with Google to digitize the Archival Library. Additionally, *The New York Times* has maintained a virtual microfilm reader known as TimesMachine since 2014. The service launched with archives from 1851 to 1980; in 2016, TimesMachine expanded to include archives from 1981 to 2002. The *Times* built a pipeline to take in TIFF images, article metadata in XML and an INI file of Cartesian geometry describing the boundaries of the page, and convert it into a PNG of image tiles and JSON containing the information in the XML and INI files. The image tiles are generated using GDAL and displayed using Leaflet, using data from a content delivery network. The *Times* ran optical character recognition on the articles using Tesseract and shingled and fuzzy string matched the result.
### Content management system
*The New York Times* uses a proprietary content management system known as Scoop for its online content and the Microsoft Word-based content management system CCI for its print content. Scoop was developed in 2008 to serve as a secondary content management system for editors working in CCI to publish their content on the *Times*'s website; as part of *The New York Times*'s online endeavors, editors now write their content in Scoop and send their work to CCI for print publication. Since its introduction, Scoop has superseded several processes within the *Times*, including print edition planning and collaboration, and features tools such as multimedia integration, notifications, content tagging, and drafts. *The New York Times* uses private articles for high-profile opinion pieces, such as those written by Russian president Vladimir Putin and actress Angelina Jolie, and for high-level investigations. In January 2012, the *Times* released Integrated Content Editor (ICE), a revision tracking tool for WordPress and TinyMCE. ICE is integrated within the *Times*'s workflow by providing a unified text editor for print and online editors, reducing the divide between print and online operations.
By 2017, *The New York Times* began developing a new authoring tool to its content management system known as Oak, in an attempt to further the *Times*'s visual efforts in articles and reduce the discrepancy between the mediums in print and online articles. The system reduces the input of editors and supports additional visual mediums in an editor that resembles the appearance of the article. Oak is based on ProseMirror, a JavaScript rich-text editor toolkit, and retains the revision tracking and commenting functionalities of *The New York Times*'s previous systems. Additionally, Oak supports predefined article headers. In 2019, Oak was updated to support collaborative editing using Firebase to update editors's cursor status. Several Google Cloud Functions and Google Cloud Tasks allow articles to be previewed as they will be printed, and the *Times*'s primary MySQL database is regularly updated to update editors on the article status.
## Style and design
### Style guide
Since 1895, *The New York Times* has maintained a manual of style in several forms. *The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage* was published on the *Times*'s intranet in 1999.
*The New York Times* uses honorifics when referring to individuals. With the *AP Stylebook*'s removal of honorifics in 2000 and *The Wall Street Journal*'s omission of courtesy titles in May 2023, the *Times* is the only national newspaper that continues to use honorifics. According to former copy editor Merrill Perlman, *The New York Times* continues to use honorifics as a "sign of civility". The *Times*'s use of courtesy titles led to an apocryphal rumor that the paper had referred to singer Meat Loaf as "Mr. Loaf". Several exceptions have been made; the former sports section and *The New York Times Book Review* do not use honorifics. A leaked memo following the killing of Osama bin Laden in May 2011 revealed that editors were given a last-minute instruction to omit the honorific from Osama bin Laden's name, consistent with deceased figures of historic significance, such as Adolf Hitler, Napoleon, and Vladimir Lenin. *The New York Times* uses academic and military titles for individuals prominently serving in that position. In 1986, the *Times* began to use Ms., and introduced the gender-neutral title Mx. in 2015. *The New York Times* uses initials when a subject has expressed a preference, such as Donald Trump.
*The New York Times* maintains a strict but not absolute obscenity policy, including phrases. In a review of the Canadian hardcore punk band Fucked Up, music critic Kelefa Sanneh wrote that the band's name—entirely rendered in asterisks—would not be printed in the *Times* "unless an American president, or someone similar, says it by mistake"; *The New York Times* did not repeat then-vice president Dick Cheney's use of "fuck" against then-senator Patrick Leahy in 2004 or then-vice president Joe Biden's remarks that the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 was a "big fucking deal". The *Times*'s profanity policy has been tested by former president Donald Trump. *The New York Times* published Trump's *Access Hollywood* tape in October 2016, containing the words "fuck", "pussy", "bitch", and "tits", the first time the publication had published an expletive on its front page, and repeated an explicit phrase for fellatio stated by then-White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci in July 2017. *The New York Times* omitted Trump's use of the phrase "shithole countries" from its headline in favor of "vulgar language" in January 2018. The *Times* banned certain words, such as "bitch", "whore", and "sluts", from *Wordle* in 2022.
### Headlines
Journalists for *The New York Times* do not write their own headlines, but rather copy editors who specifically write headlines. The *Times*'s guidelines insist headline editors get to the main point of an article but avoid giving away endings, if present. Other guidelines include using slang "sparingly", avoiding tabloid headlines, not ending a line on a preposition, article, or adjective, and chiefly, not to pun. *The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage* states that wordplay, such as "Rubber Industry Bounces Back", is to be tested on a colleague as a canary is to be tested in a coal mine; "when no song bursts forth, start rewriting". *The New York Times* has amended headlines due to controversy. In 2019, following two back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, the *Times* used the headline, "Trump Urges Unity vs. Racism", to describe then-president Donald Trump's words after the shootings. After criticism from *FiveThirtyEight* founder Nate Silver, the headline was changed to, "Assailing Hate But Not Guns".
Online, *The New York Times*'s headlines do not face the same length restrictions as headlines that appear in print; print headlines must fit within a column, often six words. Additionally, headlines must "break" properly, containing a complete thought on each line without splitting up prepositions and adverbs. Writers may edit a headline to fit an article more aptly if further developments occur. The *Times* uses A/B testing for articles on the front page, placing two headlines against each other. At the end of the test, the headlines that receives more traffic is chosen. The alteration of a headline regarding intercepted Russian data used in the Mueller special counsel investigation was noted by Trump in a March 2017 interview with *Time*, in which he claimed that the headline used the word "wiretapped" in the print version of the paper on January 20, while the digital article on January 19 omitted the word. The headline was intentionally changed in the print version to use "wiretapped" in order to fit within the print guidelines.
### Nameplate
The nameplate of *The New York Times* has been unaltered since 1967. In creating the initial nameplate, Henry Jarvis Raymond took as his model the British newspaper *The Times*, which used a Blackletter style called Textura, popularized following the fall of the Western Roman Empire and regional variations of Alcuin's script, as well as a period. With the change to *The New-York Times* on September 14, 1857, the nameplate followed. Under George Jones, the terminals of the "N", "r", and "s" were intentionally exaggerated into swashes. The nameplate in the January 15, 1894, issue trimmed the terminals once more, smoothed the edges, and turned the stem supporting the "T" into an ornament. The hyphen was dropped on December 1, 1896, after Adolph Ochs purchased the paper. The descender of the "h" was shortened on December 30, 1914. The largest change to the nameplate was introduced on February 21, 1967, when type designer Ed Benguiat redesigned the logo, most prominently turning the arrow ornament into a diamond. Notoriously, the new logo dropped the period that had followed the word *Times* up until that point; one reader compared the omission of the period to "performing plastic surgery on Helen of Troy." Picture editor John Radosta worked with a New York University professor to determine that dropping the period saved the paper US$41.28 (equivalent to $389.28 in 2024).
## Print edition
### Design and layout
As of December 2023, *The New York Times* has printed sixty thousand issues, a statistic represented in the paper's masthead to the right of the volume number, the *Times*'s years in publication written in Roman numerals. The volume and issues are separated by four dots representing the edition number of that issue; on the day of the 2000 presidential election, the *Times* was revised four separate times, necessitating the use of an em dash in place of an ellipsis. The em dash issue was printed hundreds times over before being replaced by the one-dot issue. Despite efforts by newsroom employees to recycle copies sent to *The New York Times*'s office, several copies were kept, including one put on display at the Museum at The Times. From February 7, 1898, to December 31, 1999, the *Times*'s issue number was incorrect by five hundred issues, an error suspected by *The Atlantic* to be the result of a careless front page type editor. The misreporting was noticed by news editor Aaron Donovan, who was calculating the number of issues in a spreadsheet and noticed the discrepancy. *The New York Times* celebrated fifty thousand issues on March 14, 1995, an observance that should have occurred on July 26, 1996.
*The New York Times* has reduced the physical size of its print edition while retaining its broadsheet format. *The New-York Daily Times* debuted at 18 inches (460 mm) across. By the 1950s, the *Times* was being printed at 16 inches (410 mm) across. In 1953, an increase in paper costs to US$10 (equivalent to $117.52 in 2024) a ton increased newsprint costs to US$21.7 million (equivalent to $318,492,412.94 in 2024) On December 28, 1953, the pages were reduced to 15.5 inches (390 mm). On February 14, 1955, a further reduction to 15 inches (380 mm) occurred, followed by 14.5 and 13.5 inches (370 and 340 mm). On August 6, 2007, the largest cut occurred when the pages were reduced to 12 inches (300 mm), a decision that other broadsheets had previously considered. Then-executive editor Bill Keller stated that a narrower paper would be more beneficial to the reader but acknowledged a net loss in article space of five percent. In 1985, The New York Times Company established a minority stake in a US$21.7 million (equivalent to $318,492,412.94 in 2024) newsprint plant in Clermont, Quebec through Donahue Malbaie. The company sold its equity interest in Donahue Malbaie in 2017.
*The New York Times* often uses large, bolded headlines for major events. For the print version of the *Times*, these headlines are written by one copy editor, reviewed by two other copy editors, approved by the masthead editors, and polished by other print editors. The process is completed before 8 p.m., but it may be repeated if further development occur, as did take place during the 2020 presidential election. On the day Joe Biden was declared the winner, *The New York Times* utilized a "hammer headline" reading, "Biden Beats Trump", in all caps and bolded. A dozen journalists discussed several potential headlines, such as "It's Biden" or "Biden's Moment", and prepared for a Donald Trump victory, in which they would use "Trump Prevails". During Trump's first impeachment, the *Times* drafted the hammer headline, "Trump Impeached". *The New York Times* altered the ligatures between the E and the A, as not doing so would leave a noticeable gap due to the stem of the A sloping away from the E. The *Times* reused the tight kerning for "Biden Beats Trump" and Trump's second impeachment, which simply read, "Impeached".
In cases where two major events occur on the same day or immediately after each other, *The New York Times* has used a "paddle wheel" headline, where both headlines are used but split by a line. The term dates back to August 8, 1959, when it was revealed that the United States was monitoring Soviet missile firings and when Explorer 6—shaped like a paddle wheel—launched. Since then, the paddle wheel has been used several times, including on January 21, 1981, when Ronald Reagan was sworn in minutes before Iran released fifty-two American hostages, ending the Iran hostage crisis. At the time, most newspapers favored the end of the hostage crisis, but the *Times* placed the inauguration above the crisis. Since 1981, the paddle wheel has been used twice; on July 26, 2000, when the 2000 Camp David Summit ended without an agreement and when Bush announced that Dick Cheney would be his running mate, and on June 24, 2016, when the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum passed, beginning Brexit, and when the Supreme Court deadlocked in *United States v. Texas*.
*The New York Times* has run editorials from its editorial board on the front page twice. On June 13, 1920, the *Times* ran an editorial opposing Warren G. Harding, who was nominated during that year's Republican Party presidential primaries. Amid growing acceptance to run editorials on the front pages from publications such as the *Detroit Free Press*, *The Patriot-News*, *The Arizona Republic*, and *The Indianapolis Star*, *The New York Times* ran an editorial on its front page on December 5, 2015, following a terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, in which fourteen people were killed. The editorial advocates for the prohibition of "slightly modified combat rifles" used in the San Bernardino shooting and "certain kinds of ammunition". Conservative figures, including Texas senator Ted Cruz, *The Weekly Standard* editor Bill Kristol, *Fox & Friends* co-anchor Steve Doocy, and then-New Jersey governor Chris Christie criticized the *Times*. Talk radio host Erick Erickson acquired an issue of *The New York Times* to fire several rounds into the paper, posting a picture online.
### Printing process
Since 1997, *The New York Times*'s primary distribution center is located in College Point, Queens. The facility is 300,000 sq ft (28,000 m2) and employs 170 people as of 2017. The College Point distribution center prints 300,000 to 800,000 newspapers daily. On most occasions, presses start before 11 p.m. and finish before 3 a.m. A robotic crane grabs a roll of newsprint and several rollers ensure ink can be printed on paper. The final newspapers are wrapped in plastic and shipped out. As of 2018, the College Point facility accounted for 41 percent of production. Other copies are printed at 26 other publications, such as *The Atlanta Journal-Constitution*, *The Dallas Morning News*, *The Santa Fe New Mexican*, and the *Courier Journal*. With the decline of newspapers, particularly regional publications, the *Times* must travel further; for example, newspapers for Hawaii are flown from San Francisco on United Airlines, and Sunday papers are flown from Los Angeles on Hawaiian Airlines. Computer glitches, mechanical issues, and weather phenomena affect circulation but do not stop the paper from reaching customers. The College Point facility prints over two dozen other papers, including *The Wall Street Journal* and *USA Today*.
*The New York Times* has halted its printing process several times to account for major developments. The first printing stoppage occurred on March 31, 1968, when then-president Lyndon B. Johnson announced that he would not seek a second term. Other press stoppages include May 19, 1994, for the death of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and July 17, 1996, for Trans World Airlines Flight 800. The 2000 presidential election necessitated two press stoppages. Al Gore appeared to concede on November 8, forcing then-executive editor Joseph Lelyveld to stop the *Times*'s presses to print a new headline, "Bush Appears to Defeat Gore", with a story that stated George W. Bush was elected president. However, Gore held off his concession speech over doubts over Florida. Lelyveld reran the headline, "Bush and Gore Vie for an Edge". Since 2000, three printing stoppages have been issued for the death of William Rehnquist on September 3, 2005, for the killing of Osama bin Laden on May 1, 2011, and for the passage of the Marriage Equality Act in the New York State Assembly and subsequent signage by then-governor Andrew Cuomo on June 24, 2011.
## Online platforms
### Website
The New York Times website is hosted at nytimes.com. It has undergone several major redesigns and infrastructure developments since its debut. In April 2006, *The New York Times* redesigned its website with an emphasis on multimedia. In preparation for Super Tuesday in February 2008, the *Times* developed a live election system using the Associated Press's File Transfer Protocol (FTP) service and a Ruby on Rails application; nytimes.com experienced its largest traffic on Super Tuesday and the day after.
### Applications
The NYTimes application debuted with the introduction of the App Store on July 10, 2008. *Engadget*'s Scott McNulty wrote critically of the app, negatively comparing it to *The New York Times*'s mobile website. An iPad version with select articles was released on April 3, 2010, with the release of the first-generation iPad. In October, *The New York Times* expanded NYT Editors' Choice to include the paper's full articles. NYT for iPad was free until 2011. The *Times* applications on iPhone and iPad began offering in-app subscriptions in July 2011. The *Times* released a web application for iPad—featuring a format summarizing trending headlines on Twitter—and a Windows 8 application in October 2012.
Efforts to ensure profitability through an online magazine and a "Need to Know" subscription emerged in *Adweek* in July 2013. In March 2014, *The New York Times* announced three applications—NYT Now, an application that offers pertinent news in a blog format, and two unnamed applications, later known as NYT Opinion and NYT Cooking—to diversify its product laterals.
### Podcasts
*The New York Times* manages several podcasts, including multiple podcasts with Serial Productions. The *Times*'s longest-running podcast is *The Book Review Podcast*, debuting as *Inside The New York Times Book Review* in April 2006.
*The New York Times*'s defining podcast is *The Daily*, a daily news podcast hosted by Michael Barbaro which debuted on February 1, 2017. Between March 2022 and March 2025, the approximately 30 minute programme was co-hosted with Sabrina Tavernise. Beginning in April 2025 Barbaro was joined by two new regular co-hosts, Natalie Kitroeff and Rachel Abrams.
*The Interview* was launched in 2024 and is hosted weekly by David Marchese and Lulu Garcia-Navarro. Episodes typically last 40 to 50 minutes. Condensed versions of the interviews are published simultaneously in *The New York Times Magazine*. Guests have included politicians, actors, influential experts, media figures and high-profile writers.
In October 2021, *The New York Times* began testing "New York Times Audio", an application featuring podcasts from the *Times*, audio versions of articles—including from other publications through Audm, and archives from *This American Life*. The application debuted in May 2023 exclusively on iOS for *Times* subscribers. New York Times Audio includes exclusive podcasts such as *The Headlines*, a daily news recap, and *Shorts*, short audio stories under ten minutes. In addition, a "Reporter Reads" section features *Times* journalists reading their articles and providing commentary.
### Games
*The New York Times* has used video games as part of its journalistic efforts, among the first publications to do so, contributing to an increase in Internet traffic; the publication has also developed its own video games. In 2014, *The New York Times Magazine* introduced *Spelling Bee*, a word game in which players guess words from a set of letters in a honeycomb and are awarded points for the length of the word and receive extra points if the word is a pangram. The game was proposed by Will Shortz, created by Frank Longo, and has been maintained by Sam Ezersky. In May 2018, *Spelling Bee* was published on nytimes.com, furthering its popularity. In February 2019, the *Times* introduced *Letter Boxed*, in which players form words from letters placed on the edges of a square box, followed in June 2019 by *Tiles*, a matching game in which players form sequences of tile pairings, and *Vertex*, in which players connect vertices to assemble an image. In July 2023, *The New York Times* introduced *Connections*, in which players identify groups of words that are connected by a common property. In April, the *Times* introduced *Digits*, a game that required using operations on different values to reach a set number; *Digits* was shut down in August. In March 2024, *The New York Times* released *Strands*, a themed word search.
In January 2022, The New York Times Company acquired *Wordle*, a word game developed by Josh Wardle in 2021, at a valuation in the "low-seven figures". The acquisition was proposed by David Perpich, a member of the Sulzberger family who proposed the purchase to Knight over Slack after reading about the game. *The Washington Post* purportedly considered acquiring *Wordle*, according to *Vanity Fair*. At the 2022 Game Developers Conference, Wardle stated that he was overwhelmed by the volume of *Wordle* facsimiles and overzealous monetization practices in other games. Concerns over *The New York Times* monetizing *Wordle* by implementing a paywall mounted; *Wordle* is a client-side browser game and can be played offline by downloading its webpage. *Wordle* moved to the *Times*'s servers and website in February. The game was added to the NYT Games application in August, necessitating it be rewritten in the JavaScript library React. In November, *The New York Times* announced that Tracy Bennett would be the *Wordle*'s editor.
## Other publications
*The New York Times Magazine*
*The New York Times Magazine* and *The Boston Globe Magazine* are the only weekly Sunday magazines following *The Washington Post Magazine*'s cancellation in December 2022.
*The New York Times International Edition*
*The New York Times in Spanish*
In February 2016, *The New York Times* introduced a Spanish website, *The New York Times en Español*. The website, intended to be read on mobile devices, would contain translated articles from the *Times* and reporting from journalists based in Mexico City. The *Times en Español*'s style editor is Paulina Chavira, who has advocated for pluralistic Spanish to accommodate the variety of nationalities in the newsroom's journalists and wrote a stylebook for *The New York Times en Español* Articles the *Times* intends to publish in Spanish are sent to a translation agency and adapted for Spanish writing conventions; the present progressive tense may be used for forthcoming events in English, but other tenses are preferable in Spanish. The *Times en Español* consults the Real Academia Española and Fundéu and frequently modifies the use of diacritics—such as using an acute accent for the Cártel de Sinaloa but not the Cartel de Medellín—and using the gender-neutral pronoun *elle*. Headlines in *The New York Times en Español* are not capitalized. The *Times en Español* publishes *El Times*, a newsletter led by Elda Cantú intended for all Spanish speakers. In September 2019, *The New York Times* ended *The New York Times en Español*'s separate operations. A study published in *The Translator* in 2023 found that the *Times en Español* engaged in tabloidization.
*The New York Times in Chinese*
In June 2012, *The New York Times* introduced a Chinese website, 纽约时报中文, in response to Chinese editions created by *The Wall Street Journal* and the *Financial Times*. Conscious to censorship, the *Times* established servers outside of China and affirmed that the website would uphold the paper's journalistic standards; the government of China had previously blocked articles from nytimes.com through the Great Firewall, and the website was blocked in China until August 2001 after then-general secretary Jiang Zemin met with journalists from *The New York Times*. Then-foreign editor Joseph Kahn assisted in the establishment of cn.nytimes.com, an effort that contributed to his appointment as executive editor in April 2022. In October, 纽约时报中文 published an article detailing the wealth of then-premier Wen Jiabao's family. In response, the government of China blocked access to nytimes.com and cn.nytimes.com and references to the *Times* and Wen were censored on microblogging service Sina Weibo. In March 2015, a mirror of 纽约时报中文 and the website for GreatFire were the targets for a government-sanctioned distributed denial of service attack on GitHub in March 2015, disabling access to the service for several days. Chinese authorities requested the removal of *The New York Times*'s news applications from the App Store in December 2016.
## Awards and recognition
### Awards
As of 2023, *The New York Times* has received 137 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any publication.
### Recognition
*The New York Times* is considered a newspaper of record in the United States. The *Times* is the largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States; as of 2022, *The New York Times* is the second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States behind *The Wall Street Journal*.
A study published in *Science, Technology, & Human Values* in 2013 found that *The New York Times* received more citations in academic journals than the *American Sociological Review*, *Research Policy*, or the *Harvard Law Review*. With sixteen million unique records, the *Times* is the third-most referenced source in Common Crawl, a collection of online material used in datasets such as GPT-3, behind Wikipedia and a United States patent database.
*The New Yorker*'s Max Norman wrote in March 2023 that the *Times* has shaped mainstream English usage. In a January 2018 article for *The Washington Post*, Margaret Sullivan stated that *The New York Times* affects the "whole media and political ecosystem".
*The New York Times*'s nascent success has led to concerns over media consolidation, particularly amid the decline of newspapers. In 2006, economists Lisa George and Joel Waldfogel examined the consequences of the *Times*'s national distribution strategy and audience with circulation of local newspapers, finding that local circulation decreased among college-educated readers. The effect of *The New York Times* in this manner was observed in *The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead*, the newspaper of record for Fargo, North Dakota. *Axios* founder Jim VandeHei opined that the *Times* is "going to basically be a monopoly" in an opinion piece written by then-media columnist and former *BuzzFeed News* editor-in-chief Ben Smith; in the article, Smith cites the strength of *The New York Times*'s journalistic workforce, broadening content, and the expropriation of *Gawker* editor-in-chief Choire Sicha, *Recode* editor-in-chief Kara Swisher, and *Quartz* editor-in-chief Kevin Delaney. Smith compared the *Times* to the New York Yankees during their 1927 season containing Murderers' Row.
## Controversies
*The New York Times* has received criticism for its coverage of the Gaza war, and the paper has been accused of holding both an anti-Palestinian and an anti-Israeli bias. In April 2024, *The Intercept* reported that an internal memorandum from November 2023 instructed journalists to reduce using the terms "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing" and to avoid using the phrase "occupied territory" in the context of Palestinian land, "Palestine" except in rare circumstances, and the term "refugee camps" to describe areas of Gaza despite recognition from the United Nations. A spokesperson from the *Times* stated that issuing guidance was standard practice. An analysis by *The Intercept* noted that *The New York Times* described Israeli deaths as a massacre nearly sixty times, but had only described Palestinian deaths as a massacre once.
In December 2023, *The New York Times* published an investigation titled "'Screams Without Words': How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7", alleging that Hamas weaponized sexual and gender-based violence during its armed incursion on Israel. The investigation was the subject of an article from *The Intercept* questioning the journalistic acumen of Anat Schwartz, a filmmaker involved in the inquiry who had no prior reporting experience and agreed with a post stating Israel should "violate any norm, on the way to victory", doubting the veracity of the opening claim that Gal Abdush was raped in a timespan disputed by her family, and alleging that the *Times* was pressured by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America. *The New York Times* initiated an inquiry that received criticism from NewsGuild of New York president Susan DeCarava for purported racial targeting; the *Times*'s investigation concluded in ambiguity, but found that journalistic material was handled improperly.
Critics, protesters, and journalists have charged that the newspaper's biased reporting in favor of Israel during the Gaza war amounts to complicity in and manufacturing consent for the Gaza genocide. An April 2024 internal memo by Susan Wessling and Philip Pan restricted journalists covering the Gaza war from using the words "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing" in their reporting. Writer and editors have left the newspaper due to its coverage of events in Gaza.
### Transgender people
*The New York Times* has received criticism regarding its coverage of transgender people. When it published an opinion piece by Weill Cornell Medicine professor Richard A. Friedman called "How Changeable Is Gender?" in August 2015, *Vox*'s German Lopez criticized Friedman as suggesting that parents and doctors might be right in letting children suffer from severe dysphoria in case something changes down the line, and as implying that conversion therapy may work for transgender children. In February 2023, nearly one thousand current and former *Times* writers and contributors wrote an open letter addressed to standards editor Philip B. Corbett, criticizing the paper's coverage of transgender, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming people; some of the *Times'* articles have been cited in state legislatures attempting to justify criminalizing gender-affirming care. Contributors wrote in the open letter that "the *Times* has in recent years treated gender diversity with an eerily familiar mix of pseudoscience and euphemistic, charged language, while publishing reporting on trans children that omits relevant information about its sources."
## Notes
### Citations
### Works cited
*The New York Times*
#### The New York Times Company
#### Books
#### Reports
#### Magazines
#### Journals
#### Podcasts
#### Articles
## Further reading
*The New York Times*
- Podcasts
- Books
- Articles
## External links
- Official website
*The New York Times*TimesMachine*The New York Times*at The Online Books Page*The New York Times*1854–1969 at the Internet Archive- Works by or about The New York Times at the Internet Archive
- Works by The New York Times at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Official Tor site: nytimesn7cgmftshazwhfgzm37qxb44r64ytbb2dj3x62d2lljsciiyd.onion
(Accessing link help)
|
# Syria - Wikipedia
Syrian Arab Republic | |
|---|---|
Anthem: فِي سَبِيلِ المَجدFī Sabīli al-Majd"In Pursuit of Glory" ( de facto)حُمَاةَ الدَّيَّارِ Ḥumāt ad-Diyār"Guardians of the Homeland" ( de jure) | |
| Capital and largest city | Damascus |
| Official languages | Arabic |
| Ethnic groups (2021) | 80–90% Arabs 9–10% Kurds 1–10% others |
| Religion (2024) | |
| Demonym(s) | Syrian |
| Government | Unitary presidential republic under a provisional government |
| Ahmed al-Sharaa | |
| Legislature | People's Assembly |
| Establishment | |
| 8 March 1920 | |
| 1 December 1924 | |
| 14 May 1930 | |
| 17 April 1946 | |
| 22 February 1958 – 28 September 1961 | |
| 8 March 1963 | |
| 8 December 2024 | |
• Current Interim Constitution | 13 March 2025 |
| 29 March 2025 | |
| Area | |
• Total | 185,180 km2 (71,500 sq mi) (87th) |
• Water (%) | 1.1 |
| Population | |
• 2025 estimate | 25,255,139 (57th) |
• Density | 118.3/km2 (306.4/sq mi) (70th) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2021 estimate |
• Total | $50.28 billion |
• Per capita | $3,300 |
| GDP (nominal) | 2022 estimate |
• Total | $9.8 billion |
• Per capita | $800 |
| Gini (2022) | 26.6 low inequality |
| HDI (2023) | 0.564 medium (162nd) |
| Currency | Syrian pound (SYP) |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (AST) |
| Date format | dd/mm/yyyy |
| Calling code | +963 |
| ISO 3166 code | SY |
| Internet TLD | .sy سوريا. |
**Syria**, officially the **Syrian Arab Republic**, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east and southeast, Jordan to the south, and Israel and Lebanon to the southwest. It is a republic under a transitional government and comprises 14 governorates. Damascus is the capital and largest city. With a population of 25 million across an area of 185,180 square kilometres (71,500 sq mi), it is the 57th-most populous and 87th-largest country.
The name "Syria" historically referred to a wider region. The modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization. Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and a provincial capital under the Mamluk Sultanate. The modern Syrian state was established in the mid-20th century after centuries of Ottoman rule, as a French Mandate. The state represented the largest Arab state to emerge from the formerly Ottoman-ruled Syrian provinces. It gained *de jure* independence as a parliamentary republic in 1945 when the First Syrian Republic became a founding member of the United Nations, an act which legally ended the French Mandate. French troops withdrew in April 1946, granting the nation *de facto* independence. The post-independence period was tumultuous, with multiple coup attempts between 1949 and 1971. In 1958, Syria entered a brief pan-Arab union with Egypt, which was terminated following a 1961 coup d'état. The 1963 coup d'état carried out by the military committee of the Ba'ath Party established a one-party state, which ran Syria under martial law from 1963 to 2011. Internal power-struggles within Ba'athist factions caused further coups in 1966 and 1970, the latter of which saw Hafez al-Assad come to power. Under Assad, Syria became a hereditary dictatorship. Assad died in 2000, and he was succeeded by his son, Bashar.
Since the Arab Spring in 2011, Syria has been embroiled in a multi-sided civil war with the involvement of several countries, leading to a refugee crisis in which more than 6 million refugees were displaced from the country. In response to rapid territorial gains made by the Islamic State during the civil war in 2014 and 2015, several countries intervened on behalf of various factions opposing it, leading to its territorial defeat in 2017 in both central and eastern Syria. Thereafter, three political entities—the Syrian Interim Government, Syrian Salvation Government, and the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria—emerged in Syrian territory to challenge Assad's rule. In late 2024, a series of offensives from a coalition of opposition forces led to the capture of Damascus and the fall of Assad's regime. By 2025, the war had left Syria's economy in a poor state, following years of international sanctions that were later eased.
A country of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts, Syria is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups. Arabs are the largest ethnic group, and Sunni Muslims are the largest religious group.
## Etymology
Several sources indicate that the name *Syria* is derived from the 8th century BC Luwian term "Sura/i", and the derivative ancient Greek name: Σύριοι, * Sýrioi*, or Σύροι,
*, both of which originally derived from Aššūr (Assyria) in northern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and north-eastern Syria). However, from the Seleucid Empire (323–150 BC), this term was also applied to the Levant, and from this point the Greeks applied the term without distinction between the Assyrians of Mesopotamia and Arameans of the Levant. Mainstream modern academic opinion strongly favors the argument that the Greek word is related to the cognate Ἀσσυρία,*
*Sýroi**, ultimately derived from the Akkadian*
*Assyria**. The Greek name appears to correspond to Phoenician*
*Aššur**"Assur",*
*ʾšr**"Assyrians", recorded in the 8th-century BC Çineköy inscription.*
*ʾšrym*The area designated by the word has changed over time. Classically, Syria lies at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, between Arabia to the south and Asia Minor to the north, stretching inland to include parts of Iraq, and having an uncertain border to the northeast that Pliny the Elder describes as including, from west to east, Commagene, Sophene, and Adiabene.
By Pliny's time, however, this larger Syria had been divided into a number of provinces under the Roman Empire (but politically independent from each other): Judaea, later renamed Palaestina in AD 135 (the region corresponding to modern-day Israel, the Palestinian territories, and Jordan) in the extreme southwest; Phoenice (established in 194) corresponding to modern Lebanon, Damascus and Homs regions; Coele-Syria (or "Hollow Syria") and south of the Eleutheris river.
## History
### Ancient antiquity
The Natufian culture was the first to become sedentary around the 11th millennium BC and became one of the centers of Neolithic culture (known as Pre-Pottery Neolithic A), where agriculture and cattle breeding first began to appear. The site of Tell Qaramel has several round stone towers dated to 10650 BC, making them the oldest structures of this kind in the world. The Neolithic period (Pre-Pottery Neolithic B) is represented by rectangular houses of Mureybet culture. At the time, people used containers made of stone, gyps, and burnt lime (Vaisselle blanche). The discovery of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidence of early trade. The ancient cities of Hamoukar and Emar played an important role during the late Neolithic and Bronze Age. Archaeologists have demonstrated that civilization in Syria was one of the most ancient on earth, perhaps preceded by only that of Mesopotamia.
The earliest recorded indigenous civilization in the region was the Kingdom of Ebla near present-day Idlib, northern Syria. Ebla appears to have been founded around 3500 BC and gradually built its fortune through trade with the Mesopotamian states of Sumer, Assyria, and Akkad, as well as with the Hurrian and Hattian peoples to the northwest, in Asia Minor. Gifts from Pharaohs, found during excavations, confirm Ebla's contact with Egypt. One of the earliest written texts from Syria is a trading agreement between Vizier Ibrium of Ebla and an ambiguous kingdom called Abarsal c. 2300 BC. This is known as the Treaty between Ebla and Abarsal. Scholars believe the language of Ebla to be among the oldest known written Semitic languages after Akkadian. Recent classifications of the Eblaite language have shown that it was an East Semitic language, closely related to the Akkadian language. Ebla was weakened by a long war with Mari, and the whole of Syria became part of the Mesopotamian Akkadian Empire after Sargon of Akkad and his grandson Naram-Sin's conquests ended Eblan domination over Syria in the first half of the 23rd century BC.
By the 21st century BC, Hurrians settled in the northern east parts of Syria while the rest of the region was dominated by the Amorites. Syria was called the Land of the Amurru (Amorites) by their Assyro-Babylonian neighbors. The Northwest Semitic Amorite language is the earliest attested of the Canaanite languages. Mari reemerged during this period until conquered by Hammurabi of Babylon. Ugarit also arose during this time, circa 1800 BC, close to modern Latakia. Ugaritic was a Semitic language loosely related to the Canaanite languages and developed the Ugaritic alphabet, considered to be the world's earliest known alphabet. The Ugaritic kingdom survived until its destruction at the hands of the marauding Indo-European Sea Peoples in the 12th century BC in what was known as the Late Bronze Age Collapse.
Aleppo and Damascus are among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Yamhad (modern Aleppo) dominated northern Syria for two centuries, although eastern Syria was occupied in the 19th and 18th centuries BC by the Old Assyrian Empire ruled by the Amorite dynasty of Shamshi-Adad I, and by the Babylonian Empire which was founded by Amorites. Yamhad was described in the tablets of Mari as the mightiest state in the near east and as having more vassals than Hammurabi. Yamhad imposed its authority over Alalakh, Qatna, the Hurrians states, and the Euphrates valley down to the borders with Babylon. The army of Yamhad campaigned as far away as Dēr on the border of Elam (modern Iran). Yamhad was conquered and destroyed, along with Ebla, by the Hittites from Asia Minor circa 1600 BC. From this time, Syria became a battle ground for various foreign empires, these being the Hittite Empire, Mitanni Empire, Egyptian Empire, Middle Assyrian Empire, and to a lesser degree Babylonia. The Egyptians initially occupied much of the south, while the Hittites and the Mitanni occupied much of the north. However, Assyria eventually gained the upper hand, destroying the Mitanni Empire and annexing huge swathes of territory previously held by the Hittites and Babylon.
Around the 14th century BC, various Semitic people appeared in the area, such as the semi-nomadic Suteans who came into an unsuccessful conflict with Babylonia to the east, and the West Semitic speaking Arameans who subsumed the earlier Amorites. They too were subjugated by Assyria and the Hittites for centuries. The Egyptians fought the Hittites for control over western Syria; the fighting reached its zenith in 1274 BC with the Battle of Kadesh. The west remained part of the Hittite empire until its destruction c. 1200 BC, while eastern Syria largely became part of the Middle Assyrian Empire, who also annexed much of the west during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser I 1114–1076 BC. With the destruction of the Hittites and the decline of Assyria in the late 11th century BC, the Aramean tribes gained control of much of the interior, founding states such as Bit Bahiani, Aram-Damascus, Hamath, Aram-Rehob, Aram-Naharaim, and Luhuti. From this point, the region became known as Aramea or Aram. There was also a synthesis between the Semitic Arameans and the remnants of the Indo-European Hittites, with the founding of a number of Syro-Hittite states centered in north central Aram (Syria) and south central Asia Minor (modern Turkey), including Palistin, Carchemish and Sam'al.
A Canaanite group known as the Phoenicians came to dominate the coasts of Syria, (and also Lebanon and northern Palestine) from the 13th century BC, founding city states such as Amrit, Simyra, Arwad, Paltos, Ramitha, and Shuksi. From these coastal regions, they eventually spread their influence throughout the Mediterranean, including building colonies in Malta, Sicily, the Iberian peninsula, and the coasts of North Africa and most significantly, founding the major city-state of Carthage in the 9th century BC, which was much later to become the center of a major empire, rivaling the Roman Republic.
Syria and the western half of Near East then fell to the vast Neo Assyrian Empire (911 BC – 605 BC). The Assyrians introduced Imperial Aramaic as the lingua franca of their empire. This language was to remain dominant in Syria and the entire Near East until after the Islamic conquest in the 7th and 8th centuries AD, and was to be a vehicle for the spread of Christianity. The Assyrians named their colonies of Syria and Lebanon Eber-Nari. Assyrian domination ended after the Assyrians greatly weakened themselves in a series of brutal internal civil wars, followed by attacks from: the Medes, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Persians, Scythians and Cimmerians. During the fall of Assyria, the Scythians ravaged and plundered much of Syria. The last stand of the Assyrian army was at Carchemish in northern Syria in 605 BC. The Assyrian Empire was followed by the Neo-Babylonian Empire (605 BC – 539 BC). During this period, Syria became a battle ground between Babylonia and another former Assyrian colony, that of Egypt. The Babylonians, like their Assyrian relations, were victorious over Egypt.
### Classical antiquity
Lands that constitute modern-day Syria were part of the Neo-Babylonian Empire and had been annexed by the Achaemenid Empire in 539 BC. Led by Cyrus the Great, the Achaemenid Persians retained Imperial Aramaic as one of the diplomatic languages of their empire, as well as the Assyrian name for the new satrapy of Aram/Syria Eber-Nari. Syria was conquered by the Macedonian Empire which was ruled by Alexander the Great c. 330 BC and consequently became Coele-Syria province of the Seleucid Empire (323 BC – 64 BC), with the Seleucid kings styling themselves "King of Syria" and the city of Antioch being its capital starting from 240 BC. Thus, it was the Greeks who introduced the name "Syria" to the region. Originally an Indo-European corruption of "Assyria" in northern Mesopotamia (Iraq), the Greeks used this term to describe not only Assyria itself but also the lands to the west which had for centuries been under Assyrian dominion. Thus in the Greco-Roman world both the Arameans of Syria and the Assyrians of Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) to the east were referred to as "Syrians" or "Syriacs", despite these being distinct peoples in their own right, a confusion which would continue into the modern world. Eventually parts of southern Seleucid Syria were taken by the Jewish Hasmonean dynasty upon the slow disintegration of the Hellenistic Empire.
Syria briefly came under Armenian control from 83 BC, with the conquests of the Armenian king Tigranes the Great, who was welcomed as a savior from the Seleucids and Romans by the Syrian people. However, Pompey the Great, a general of the Roman Empire, rode to Syria and captured Antioch and turned Syria into a Roman province in 64 BC, thus ending Armenian control over the region which had lasted two decades. Syria prospered under Roman rule, being strategically located on the Silk Road, which gave it massive wealth and importance, making it the battleground for the rivaling Romans and Persians.
Palmyra, a rich and sometimes powerful native Aramaic-speaking kingdom, arose in northern Syria in the 2nd century; the Palmyrene established a trade network that made the city one of the richest in the Roman Empire. In the late 3rd century the Palmyrene king Odaenathus defeated the Persian emperor Shapur I and controlled the entirety of the Roman East while his successor and widow Zenobia established the Palmyrene Empire, which briefly conquered Egypt, Syria, Palestine, much of Asia Minor, Judah and Lebanon, before being finally brought under Roman control in 273.
The northern Mesopotamian Assyrian kingdom of Adiabene controlled areas of north east Syria between 10 and 117, before it was conquered by Rome. The Aramaic language has been found as far afield as Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain, with an inscription written by a Palmyrene emigrant at the site of Fort Arbeia. Control of Syria eventually passed from the Romans to the Byzantines with the split in the Roman Empire. The largely Aramaic-speaking population of Syria during the heyday of the Byzantine Empire was probably not exceeded again until the 19th century. Prior to the Arab Islamic Conquest in the 7th century, the bulk of the population were Arameans, but Syria was also home to Greek and Roman ruling classes, Assyrians still dwelt in the north east, Phoenicians along the coasts, and Jewish and Armenian communities were also extant in major cities, with Nabateans and pre-Islamic Arabs such as the Lakhmids and Ghassanids dwelling in the deserts of southern Syria. Syriac Christianity had taken hold as the major religion, although others still followed Judaism, Mithraism, Manicheanism, Greco-Roman Religion, Canaanite Religion and Mesopotamian Religion. Syria's large and prosperous population made Syria one of the most important of the Roman and Byzantine provinces, particularly during the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.
Syrians held considerable power during the Severan dynasty. The matriarch of the family and empress of Rome as wife of emperor Septimius Severus was Julia Domna, a Syrian from the city of Emesa (modern day Homs), whose family held hereditary rights to the priesthood of the god El-Gabal. Her great nephews, also Arabs from Syria, would also become Roman emperors, the first being Elagabalus and the second his cousin Alexander Severus. Another Roman emperor who was a Syrian was Philip the Arab (Marcus Julius Philippus), who was born in Roman Arabia. He was emperor from 244 to 249 and ruled briefly during the Crisis of the Third Century. During his reign, he focused on his home town of Philippopolis (modern day Shahba) and began many construction projects to improve the city, most of which were halted after his death.
Syria is significant in the history of Christianity; Saul of Tarsus, better known as the Apostle Paul, was converted on the road to Damascus and emerged as a significant figure in the Christian Church at Antioch in ancient Syria.
### Middle Ages
Muhammad's first interaction with the people of Syria was during the invasion of Dumatul Jandal in July 626 where he ordered his followers to invade Duma, because Muhammad received intelligence that some tribes there were involved in highway robbery and were preparing to attack Medina. William Montgomery Watt claims that this was the most significant expedition Muhammad ordered at the time, even though it received little notice in the primary sources. Dumat Al-Jandal was 800 kilometres (500 mi) from Medina, and Watt says that there was no immediate threat to Muhammad, other than the possibility that his communications to Syria and supplies to Medina would be interrupted. Watt says "It is tempting to suppose that Muhammad was already envisaging something of the expansion which took place after his death", and that the rapid march of his troops must have "impressed all those who heard of it". William Muir also believes that the expedition was important as Muhammad followed by 1,000 men reached the confines of Syria, where distant tribes had learnt his name, while the political horizon of Muhammad was extended.
By 640, Syria was conquered by the Rashidun army led by Khalid ibn al-Walid. In the mid-7th century, the Umayyad dynasty placed the capital of the empire in Damascus. The country's power declined during later Umayyad rule; this was mainly through totalitarianism, corruption and the resulting revolutions. The Umayyad dynasty was overthrown in 750 by the Abbasid dynasty, which moved the capital of empire to Baghdad. Arabic – made official under Umayyad rule – became the dominant language, replacing Greek and Aramaic of the Byzantine era. In 887, the Egypt-based Tulunids annexed Syria from the Abbasids and were later replaced by the Egypt-based Ikhshidids and then by the Hamdanids originating in Aleppo founded by Sayf al-Dawla.
Sections of Syria were held by French, English, Italian and German overlords between 1098 and 1189 during the Crusades and were known collectively as the Crusader states, among which the primary one in Syria was the Principality of Antioch. The coastal mountainous region was occupied in part by the Nizari Ismailis, the so-called Assassins, who had intermittent confrontations and truces with the Crusader States. Later in history when "the Nizaris faced renewed Frankish hostilities, they received timely assistance from the Ayyubids." After a century of Seljuk rule, Syria was largely conquered (1175–1185) by the Kurdish liberator Salah ad-Din, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty of Egypt. Aleppo fell to the Mongols of Hulegu in January 1260; Damascus fell in March, but then Hulegu was forced to break off his attack to return to China to deal with a succession dispute.
A few months later, the Mamluks arrived with an army from Egypt and defeated the Mongols in the Battle of Ain Jalut in Galilee. The Mamluk leader, Baibars, made Damascus a provincial capital. When he died, power was taken by Qalawun. In the meantime, an emir named Sunqur al-Ashqar had tried to declare himself ruler of Damascus, but he was defeated by Qalawun on 21 June 1280 and fled to northern Syria. Al-Ashqar, who had married a Mongol woman, appealed for help from the Mongols. The Mongols of the Ilkhanate took Aleppo in October 1280, but Qalawun persuaded Al-Ashqar to join him, and they fought against the Mongols on 29 October 1281 in the Second Battle of Homs, which was won by the Mamluks. In 1400, the Muslim Turco-Mongol conqueror Tamurlane invaded Syria, in which he sacked Aleppo and captured Damascus after defeating the Mamluk army. The city's inhabitants were massacred, except for the artisans who were deported to Samarkand. Tamurlane conducted massacres of the Assyrian Christian population, greatly reducing their numbers. By the end of the 15th century, the discovery of a sea route from Europe to the Far East ended the need for an overland trade route through Syria.
### Ottoman Syria
In 1516, the Ottoman Empire invaded the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt, conquering Syria and incorporating it into its empire. The Ottoman system was not burdensome to Syrians because the Turks respected Arabic as the language of the Quran and accepted the mantle of defenders of the faith. Damascus was made the major entrepot for Mecca, and as such it acquired a holy character to Muslims, because of the beneficial results of the countless pilgrims who passed through on the hajj.
Ottoman administration followed a system that led to peaceful coexistence. Each ethno-religious minority—Arab Shia Muslim, Arab Sunni Muslim, Syriac Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Maronite Christians, Assyrian Christians, Armenians, Kurds and Jews—constituted a millet. The religious heads of each community administered all personal status laws and performed certain civil functions as well. In 1831, Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt renounced his loyalty to the empire and overran Ottoman Syria, capturing Damascus. His short-term rule over the domain attempted to change the demographics and social structure of the region: he brought thousands of Egyptian villagers to populate the plains of southern Syria, rebuilt Jaffa and settled it with veteran Egyptian soldiers aiming to turn it into a regional capital, and he crushed peasant and Druze rebellions and deported non-loyal tribesmen. By 1840, however, he had to surrender the area back to the Ottomans. From 1864, Tanzimat reforms were applied on Ottoman Syria, carving out the provinces (vilayets) of Aleppo, Zor, Beirut and Damascus Vilayet; Mutasarrifate of Mount Lebanon was created, and soon after the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was given a separate status.
During World War I, the Ottoman Empire entered the conflict as a Central Power. It ultimately suffered defeat and loss of control of the entire Near East to the British Empire and French Empire. During the conflict, genocide against indigenous Christian peoples was carried out by the Ottomans and their allies in the form of the Armenian genocide and Assyrian genocide, of which Deir ez-Zor in Ottoman Syria was the final destination of these death marches. In the midst of World War I, two Allied diplomats (Frenchman François Georges-Picot and Briton Mark Sykes) secretly agreed on the post-war division of the Ottoman Empire into respective zones of influence in the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916. Initially, the two territories were separated by a border that ran in an almost straight line from Jordan to Iran. However, the discovery of oil in the region of Mosul just before the end of the war led to yet another negotiation with France in 1918 to cede this region to the British zone of influence, which was to become Iraq. The fate of the intermediate province of Zor was left unclear; its occupation by Arab nationalists resulted in its attachment to Syria. This border was recognized internationally when Syria became a League of Nations mandate in 1920 and has not changed to date.
### French Mandate
In 1920, a short-lived independent Kingdom of Syria was established under Faisal I of the Hashemite family. However, his rule over Syria ended after only a few months, following the Battle of Maysalun. French troops occupied Syria later that year after the San Remo conference proposed that the League of Nations put Syria under a French mandate. General Gouraud had according to his secretary de Caix two options: "Either build a Syrian nation that does not exist... by smoothing the rifts which still divide it" or "cultivate and maintain all the phenomena, which require our arbitration that these divisions give". De Caix added "I must say only the second option interests me". This is what Gouraud did.
In 1925, Sultan al-Atrash led a revolt that broke out in the Druze Mountain and spread to engulf the whole of Syria and parts of Lebanon. Al-Atrash won several battles against the French, notably the Battle of al-Kafr on 21 July 1925, the Battle of al-Mazraa on 2–3 August 1925, and the battles of Salkhad, al-Musayfirah and Suwayda. France sent thousands of troops from Morocco and Senegal, leading the French to regain many cities, although resistance lasted until the spring of 1927. The French sentenced al-Atrash to death, but he had escaped with the rebels to Transjordan and was eventually pardoned. He returned to Syria in 1937 after the signing of the Syrian-French Treaty.
Syria and France negotiated a treaty of independence in September 1936, and Hashim al-Atassi was the first president to be elected under the first incarnation of the modern republic of Syria. However, the treaty never came into force because the French Legislature refused to ratify it. With the fall of France in 1940 during World War II, Syria came under the control of Vichy France until the British and Free French occupied the country in the Syria-Lebanon campaign in July 1941. Continuing pressure from Syrian nationalists and the British forced the French to evacuate their troops in April 1946, leaving the country in the hands of a republican government that had been formed during the mandate.
### Independent Syrian Republic
Upheaval dominated Syrian politics from independence through the late 1960s. In May 1948, Syrian forces invaded Palestine, together with other Arab states, and immediately attacked Jewish settlements. President Shukri al-Quwwatli instructed his troops in the front, "to destroy the Zionists". The invasion purpose was to prevent the establishment of the state of Israel. Toward this end, the Syrian government engaged in an active process of recruiting former Nazis, including several former members of the Schutzstaffel, to build up their armed forces and military intelligence capabilities. Defeat in this war was one of several trigger factors for the March 1949 Syrian coup d'état by Colonel Husni al-Za'im, described as the first military overthrow of the Arab World since the start of the Second World War. This was soon followed by another overthrow, by Colonel Sami al-Hinnawi, who was quickly deposed by Colonel Adib Shishakli, all within the same year.
Shishakli eventually abolished multipartyism altogether but was overthrown in a 1954 coup, and the parliamentary system was restored. However, by this time, power was increasingly concentrated in the military and security establishment. The weakness of Parliamentary institutions and the mismanagement of the economy led to unrest and the influence of Nasserism and other ideologies. There was fertile ground for various Arab nationalist, Syrian nationalist, and socialist movements, which represented disaffected elements of society. Notably included were religious minorities, who demanded radical reform.
In November 1956, as a direct result of the Suez Crisis, Syria signed a pact with the Soviet Union. This gave a foothold for communist influence within the government in exchange for military equipment. Turkey then became worried about this increase in the strength of Syrian military technology, as it seemed feasible that Syria might attempt to retake İskenderun. Only heated debates in the United Nations lessened the threat of war.
### United Arab Republic
On 1 February 1958, Syrian President Shukri al-Quwatli and Egypt's Nasser announced the merging of Egypt and Syria, creating the United Arab Republic, and all Syrian political parties, as well as the communists therein, ceased overt activities. Meanwhile, a group of Syrian Ba'athist officers, alarmed by the party's poor position and the increasing fragility of the union, decided to form a secret Military Committee; its initial members were Lieutenant-Colonel Muhammad Umran, Major Salah Jadid and Captain Hafez al-Assad. Syria seceded from the union with Egypt on 28 September 1961, after a coup and terminated the political union.
#### Land reform
Agrarian reform measures were introduced which consisted of three interrelated programs: legislation regulating the relationship between agriculture laborers and landowners; legislation governing the ownership and use of private and state domain land and directing the economic organization of peasants; and measures reorganizing agricultural production under state control. Despite high levels of inequality in land ownership these reforms allowed for more progress in redistribution of land from 1958 to 1961 than any other reforms in Syria's history, since independence.
The first law passed (Law 134; passed 4 September 1958) was in response to concern about peasant mobilization and expanding peasants' rights. This was designed to strengthen the position of sharecroppers and agricultural laborers in relation to land owners. This law led to the creation of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, which announced the implementation of new laws that would allow the regulation of working condition especially for women and adolescents, set hours of work, and introduce the principle of minimum wage for paid laborers and an equitable division of harvest for sharecroppers. Furthermore, it obligated landlords to honor both written and oral contracts, established collective bargaining, contained provisions for workers' compensation, health, housing, and employment services. Law 134 was not designed strictly to protect workers. It also acknowledged the rights of landlords to form their own syndicates.
The instability which followed the 1961 coup culminated in the 8 March 1963 Ba'athist coup. The takeover was engineered by members of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, led by Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar. The new Syrian cabinet was dominated by Ba'ath members. From the 1963 seizure of power by its Military Committee to the fall of the regime in 2024, the Ba'ath party ruled Syria as a dictatorship which has been frequently described as totalitarian, although some scholars have rejected this description. Ba'athists took control over country's politics, education, culture, religion and surveilled all aspects of civil society through its powerful *Mukhabarat* (secret police). Syrian Arab Armed forces and secret police were integrated with the Ba'ath party apparatus; after the purging of traditional civilian and military elites by the regime.
The 1963 Ba'athist coup marked a "radical break" in modern Syrian history, after which Ba'ath party monopolised power in the country to establish a one-party state and shaped a socio-political order by enforcing its state ideology. On 23 February 1966, the neo-Ba'athist Military Committee carried out an intra-party rebellion against the Ba'athist Old Guard (Aflaq and Bitar), imprisoned President Amin al-Hafiz and designated a regionalist, civilian Ba'ath government on 1 March. Although Nureddin al-Atassi became the formal head of state, Salah Jadid was Syria's effective ruler from 1966 until November 1970, when he was deposed by Hafez al-Assad, who at the time was Minister of Defense.
The coup led to the schism within the original pan-Arab Ba'ath Party: one Iraqi-led ba'ath movement (ruled Iraq from 1968 to 2003) and one Syrian-led ba'ath movement was established. In the first half of 1967, a low-key state of war existed between Syria and Israel. Conflict over Israeli cultivation of land in the Demilitarized Zone led to 7 April pre-war aerial clashes between Israel and Syria. When the Six-Day War broke out between Egypt and Israel, Syria joined the war and attacked Israel as well. In the final days of the war, Israel turned its attention to Syria, capturing two-thirds of the Golan Heights in under 48 hours. The defeat caused a split between Jadid and Assad over what steps to take next. Disagreement developed between Jadid, who controlled the party apparatus, and Assad, who controlled the military. The 1970 retreat of Syrian forces sent to aid the Palestine Liberation Organization led by Yasser Arafat during the "Black September (also known as the Jordan Civil War of 1970)" hostilities with Jordan reflected this disagreement.
The power struggle culminated in the November 1970 Syrian Corrective movement, a bloodless military coup that installed Hafez al-Assad as the strongman of the government. Assad transformed a Ba'athist party state into a dictatorship marked by his pervasive grip on the party, armed forces, secret police, media, education sector, religious and cultural spheres and all aspects of civil society. He assigned Alawite loyalists to key posts in the military forces, bureaucracy, intelligence and the ruling elite. A cult of personality revolving around Hafez and his family became a core tenet of Ba'athist ideology, which espoused that Assad dynasty was destined to rule perennially.
On 6 October 1973, Syria and Egypt initiated the Yom Kippur War against Israel. The Israel Defense Forces reversed the initial Syrian gains and pushed deeper into Syrian territory. The village of Quneitra was largely destroyed by the Israeli army.
In the late 1970s, an Islamist uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood was aimed against the government. Islamists attacked civilians and off-duty military personnel, leading security forces to also kill civilians in retaliatory strikes. The uprising had reached its climax in the 1982 Hama massacre, when more than 2,000 to 25,000-40,000 people (Islamist and civilians) were killed by Syrian military troops and Ba'athist paramilitaries. It has been described as the "single deadliest act" of violence perpetrated by any state upon its own population in modern Arab history
In a major shift in relations with both other Arab states and the Western world, Syria participated in the United States-led Gulf War against Saddam Hussein. The country participated in the multilateral Madrid Conference of 1991, and during the 1990s engaged in negotiations with Israel along with Palestine and Jordan. These negotiations failed, and there have been no further direct Syrian-Israeli talks since Assad's meeting with U.S. President Bill Clinton in Geneva in 2000.
#### Involvement of Lebanese war
Hafez al-Assad died on 10 June 2000. His son, Bashar al-Assad, was elected president in an election in which he ran unopposed. His election saw the birth of the Damascus Spring and hopes of reform, but by autumn 2001 the authorities had suppressed the movement, imprisoning some of its leading intellectuals. Instead, reforms have been limited to some market reforms.
On 5 October 2003 Israel bombed a site near Damascus, claiming it was a terrorist training facility for members of Islamic Jihad. In March 2004, Syrian Kurds and Arabs clashed in al-Qamishli. Signs of rioting were seen in Qamishli and Hasakeh. In 2005, Syria ended its military presence in Lebanon. Assassination of Rafic Hariri in 2005 led to international condemnation and triggered a popular *Intifada* in Lebanon, known as "the Cedar Revolution", which forced the Assad regime to end its 29-year-old military occupation in Lebanon. On 6 September 2007, foreign jet fighters, suspected as Israeli, reportedly carried out Operation Orchard against a suspected nuclear reactor under construction by North Korean technicians.
#### Syrian Revolution and Civil War
Nepotism of ruling elites and authoritarian regime caused Syrian Revolution as part of the wider Arab Spring. Public demonstrations across Syria began on 26 January 2011 and developed into a nationwide uprising. Protesters demanded the resignation of Assad, the overthrow of his government, and an end to nearly five decades of Ba'ath Party rule. Since spring 2011, the Syrian government deployed the Syrian Army to quell the uprising, and several cities were besieged, though the unrest continued. According to some witnesses, soldiers, who refused to open fire on civilians, were summarily executed by the Syrian Army. The Syrian government denied reports of defections, and blamed armed gangs for causing trouble. Since early autumn 2011, civilians and army defectors began forming fighting units, which began an insurgency campaign against the Syrian Army. The insurgents unified under the banner of the Free Syrian Army and fought in an increasingly organized fashion; however, the civilian component of the armed opposition lacked an organized leadership.
The Arab League, the United States, the European Union states, the Gulf Cooperation Council states, and other countries have condemned the use of violence against the protesters. China and Russia have avoided condemning the government or applying sanctions, saying that such methods could escalate into foreign intervention. However, military intervention has been ruled out by most countries. The Arab League suspended Syria's membership over the government's response to the crisis, but sent an observer mission in December 2011, as part of its proposal for peaceful resolution of the crisis.
By 2024, the Syrian civil war had resulted in more than 600,000 deaths, with pro-Assad forces causing more than 90% of the total civilian casualties. Between March 2011 and March 2021, more than 306,000 civilians were killed in the civil war.massive refugee crisis, with an estimated 7.6 million internally displaced people (July 2015 UNHCR figure) and over 5 million refugees (July 2017 registered by UNHCR). The war has also worsened economic conditions, with more than 90% of the population living in poverty and 80% facing food insecurity.
Taking an advantage of ongoing civil war, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) won many battles against the rebel factions and the Syrian government in 2014. ISIS was able to seize control of large parts of Eastern Syria, prompting a United States-led coalition to launch an aerial bombing campaign against ISIS, while providing ground support and supplies to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-dominated coalition led by the People's Defense Units (YPG).
In August 2016, Turkey launched a multi-pronged invasion of northern Syria, in response to the creation of the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, also known as Rojava, while also fighting ISIS and government forces in the process. During this time, Turkey helped establish the Syrian National Army (SNA) out of remnants of the Free Syrian Army. Iran and later Russia also intervened in the civil war on behalf of the Assad government to help defeat ISIS and attack both SDF and SNA. The ISIS eventually lost its territory after the fall of IS in Mosul and increasingly resorted to more terror bombings and insurgency operations that continues in present.
In December 2024, violence flared up once again. Rebel factions, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), took control of Aleppo in a lightning offensive, prompting a retaliatory airstrike campaign by Syrian regime forces, supported by Russian aviation assets. The strikes, which targeted population centers and several hospitals in rebel-held city of Idlib, resulted in at least 25 deaths according to the White Helmets rescue group. NATO issued a joint statement calling for the protection of civilians and critical infrastructure to prevent further displacement and ensure humanitarian access. They stressed the urgent need for a Syrian-led political solution, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2254, which advocates for dialogue between the Syrian government and opposition forces.
The rebel offensive, which had begun on 27 November, continued its advance into Hama province following their capture of Aleppo. On 30 November, Brigader General Hossam Louka, director of the General Security Directorate, attempted to stage a coup in Damascus while Bashar al-Assad was in Moscow, but would be foiled by Bashar's younger brother Maher. On 4 December, fierce clashes erupted in Hama province as the Syrian army engaged rebel forces in a bid to halt their advance on the key city of Hama. Government forces claimed to have launched a counteroffensive with air support, pushing back rebel factions, including HTS, around six miles from the city. However, despite reinforcements, the rebels captured the city on 5 December. The fighting led to widespread displacement, with nearly 50,000 people fleeing the area and over 600 casualties reported, including 104 civilians.
Rebel forces reached the outskirts of Homs on 5 December, beginning a three-day battle for the city. Simultaneously, an HTS-coordinated mass uprising led by a coalition of Druze tribes and opposition forces captured the southern cities of Suwayda and Daraa by 6 December, and rapidly advanced northwards to encircle Damascus over the following day. Homs was captured by rebel forces by the early morning of 8 December, leaving no major regime strongholds between the rebel advance and Damascus itself.
Cut off from the Alawite heartland of Tartus and Latakia governorates, faced with a rebel pincer from both north and south bearing down on Damascus, and with no hope of foreign intervention from the regime's Russian and Iranian benefactors, Assadist authority over remaining regime-held territories rapidly disintegrated. The Syrian Arab Armed Forces melted away as its soldiers abandoned their weapons and uniforms, many deserting across the border to Iraq and Lebanon. Opposition forces captured the capital Damascus on 8 December, toppling Bashar al-Assad's government and ending the Assad family's 53-year-long rule over the country. Assad fled to Moscow with his family, where he was granted asylum.
### Transitional Government Syria: Interim Period
Following the fall of the Assad regime, Assad's ninth prime minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali, with support from the opposition and Ahmed al-Sharaa, remained at his post in a caretaker capacity until a caretaker government led by Mohammed al-Bashir was formed the following day. Al-Jalali called for fresh elections so that the Syrian people may choose their new leaders.
Prior to the fall of the Assad regime, Mohammed al-Bashir headed the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG) formed in the province of Idlib by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist militant organization which led the overthrow of Assad in December 2024. In general, the formation of the Transitional Government was scaling of the SSG "to the whole of Syria", as the composition of the new government was almost the same as that of the SSG. According to a report by the Syrian Network for Human Rights, critics and opponents of the HTS were subject to repression in forms of enforced disappearances and tortures. Shortly after the fall of the Assad regime, Israel commenced a ground invasion of the Purple Line buffer zone near the Golan Heights, as well as commencing a series of airstrikes against Syrian military depots and naval bases. The Israeli Defense Forces claims that it is destroying Ba'athist military infrastructure, including chemical weapons plants, so that the rebels cannot use them.
Despite the collapse of the Assad regime, Turkish-backed Syrian National Army fighters in northern Syria continued their offensive against U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) forces until a ceasefire was reached on 11 December. In February 2025, the SDF, the Autonomous Administration, and the Syrian Democratic Council decided in a meeting that SDF would merge with the Syrian Armed Forces. The International Coalition against ISIS voiced support for continued dialogue between the SDF and the new Syrian government as well.
The prime minister of the transitional government, Mohammed al-Bashir, has promised to allow Christians and other minorities to continue practicing their religion without interference. However, this has been met with doubts as many rebel forces had previous connections to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. The use of a variation of the *Tawhid* flag by the new government alongside the opposition flag also raised worries, as it implies that the new state may be less secular. Aisha al-Dibs was appointed as the Minister of Women's Affairs on 22 December 2024.
On 12 December 2024, a spokesman of the transitional government speaking to Agence France-Presse said that during the government's three-month term, the constitution and parliament would be suspended and that a 'judicial and human rights committee' would be established to review the constitution, prior to making amendments.
On 29 January 2025, during the Syrian Revolution Victory Conference in Presidential Palace, the Syrian General Command appointed Ahmed al-Sharaa as president for the transitional period after he had served as the *de facto* leader following the fall of the Assad regime.
In March 2025, the UK-based SOHR reported that Syrian security forces and pro-government fighters had committed a massacre of more than 1500 Alawite civilians during clashes in western Syria.
On 10 March 2025, the SDF agreed to merge with the Syrian Armed Forces after SDF leader Mazloum Abdi met with al-Sharaa. Three days later al-Sharaa signed an interim constitution covering a five-year transitional period.
On 29 March 2025, the Syrian transitional government was announced by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at a ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Damascus, in which the new ministers were sworn in and delivered speeches outlining their agendas. The government replaced the Syrian caretaker government, which was formed following the fall of the Assad regime on 8 December 2024. Since then, a number of Western governments have lifted the sanctions on Syria, most notably the United States and the United Kingdom.
## Geography
Syria's climate varies from the humid Mediterranean coast, through a semi-arid steppe zone, to arid desert in the east. The country consists mostly of arid plateau, although the northwest part bordering the Mediterranean is fairly green. Al-Jazira in the northeast and Hawran in the south are important agricultural areas. The Euphrates, Syria's most important river, crosses the country in the east. Syria is one of the fifteen states that comprise the so-called "cradle of civilization". Its land straddles the northwest of the Arabian plate.
Petroleum in commercial quantities was first discovered in the northeast in 1956. The most important oil fields are those of al-Suwaydiyah, Karatchok, Rmelan near al-Hasakah, as well as al-Omar and al-Taym fields near Dayr az–Zawr. The fields are a natural extension of the Iraqi fields of Mosul and Kirkuk. Petroleum became Syria's leading natural resource and chief export after 1974. Natural gas was discovered at the field of Jbessa in 1940.
### Biodiversity
Syria contains four terrestrial ecoregions: Syrian xeric grasslands and shrublands, Eastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forests, Southern Anatolian montane conifer and deciduous forests, and Mesopotamian shrub desert. The country had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 3.64/10, ranking it 144th globally out of 172 countries.
## Government and politics
Syria is currently undergoing a political transition following the fall of the Assad regime on 8 December 2024. A caretaker government, led by Mohammed al-Bashir has been formed to govern the country. On 29 January 2025, during the Syrian Revolution Victory Conference in Presidential Palace, the Syrian General Command appointed Ahmed al-Sharaa as president for the transitional period after he had served as the *de facto* leader following the fall of the Assad regime.
On 13 March 2025, al-Sharaa ratified the interim constitution, which will be valid for five years. The constitution sets a presidential system, without the position of prime minister. The People's Assembly has been established to serve as an interim parliament during the five-year transition, overseeing the drafting of a new permanent constitution. On 29 March 2025, the Syrian transitional government was announced by al-Sharaa at a ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Damascus, in which the new ministers were sworn in and delivered speeches outlining their agendas. The government replaced the Syrian caretaker government, which was formed following the fall of the Assad regime on 8 December 2024.
The Syrian Arab Republic was a presidential state that nominally permitted the candidacy of individuals who were not part of the Ba'ath-controlled National Progressive Front. Despite this, Syria remained a one-party state with an extensive secret police apparatus that curtailed any independent political activity. The constitution introduced unilaterally by the Assad regime, without the participation of the Syrian opposition, had bolstered its authoritarian character by bestowing extraordinary powers on the presidency, and a Ba'athist political committee continued to be responsible for authorization of political parties.
The ruling Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party governed Syria as a police state through its control of the Syrian military and security apparatus; this system has frequently been described as totalitarian, although some scholars have preferred the term authoritarian. The 50th edition of Freedom in the World, published by Freedom House in 2023, designated Syria as "Worst of the Worst" among the "Not Free" countries and gave it the lowest score (1/100) alongside South Sudan.
According to the 2012 Syrian constitution, the President of Syria was the head of the Syrian state, while the Prime Minister of Syria was nominally the head of government,[ unreliable source?] although real power in the system lay with the presidency. The legislature, the People's Assembly, was the body responsible for passing laws, approving government appropriations and debating policy.
[In the event of a vote of no confidence by a simple majority, the prime minister was required to tender the resignation of their government to the president.
*unreliable source?*][Since the rule of Hafez al-Assad, the Ba'athist political system was centered around a comprehensive cult of personality focused on the al-Assad family; with Alawite loyalists of the Ba'ath party dominating key positions in the military apparatus, secret police, and political establishment.
*unreliable source?*]The executive branch consisted of the president, two vice presidents, the prime minister, and the Council of Ministers (cabinet). The constitution required the president to be a Muslim but did not make Islam the state religion. On 31 January 1973, Hafez al-Assad implemented a new constitution, which led to a national crisis. Unlike previous constitutions, this one did not require that the President of Syria be a Muslim, leading to fierce demonstrations in Hama, Homs, and Aleppo organized by the Muslim Brotherhood and the traditional *ulama*. They labelled Assad the "enemy of Allah" and called for a *jihad* against his rule. The government survived a series of armed revolts led mostly by Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood, between 1976 and 1982, through a series of repressions and massacres. The constitution gave the president the right to appoint ministers, to declare war and state of emergency, to issue laws (which, except in the case of emergency, require ratification by the People's Council), to declare amnesty, to amend the constitution, and to appoint civil servants and military personnel. According to the 2012 constitution, the president was elected by Syrian citizens in a direct election. Syria's legislative branch was the unicameral People's Council. The People's Council primarily served as an institution to validate Syria's one-party system and re-affirm the legislative proceedings of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath party.
There was no independent judiciary in Syria, since all judges and prosecutors were required to be Ba'athist appointees. Syria's judicial branches include the Supreme Constitutional Court, the High Judicial Council, the Court of Cassation, and the State Security Courts. Islamic jurisprudence was a main source of legislation and Syria's judicial system had elements of Ottoman, French, and Islamic laws. Syria had three levels of courts: courts of first instance, courts of appeals, and the constitutional court, the highest tribunal. Religious courts handled questions of personal and family law. The Supreme State Security Court was abolished by Bashar al-Assad in 2011. As a result of the ongoing civil war, various alternative governments were formed, including the Syrian Interim Government, the Democratic Union Party and localized regions governed by sharia. Representatives of the Syrian Interim government were invited to take up Syria's seat at the Arab League in 2013 and was recognised as the "sole representative of the Syrian people" by several nations including the United States, United Kingdom, and France.
Syria's elections are conducted through a sham process; characterised by wide-scale rigging, repetitive voting and absence of voter registration and verification systems. Parliamentary elections were held on 13 April 2016 in the government-controlled areas of Syria, for all 250 seats of Syria's unicameral legislature, the Majlis al-Sha'ab, or the People's Council of Syria. Even before results had been announced, several nations, including Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom, have declared their refusal to accept the results, largely citing it "not representing the will of the Syrian people." However, representatives of the Russian Federation have voiced their support of this election's results. Various independent observers and international organizations have denounced the Assad regime's electoral conduct as a scam; with the United Nations condemning it as illegitimate elections with "no mandate". Electoral Integrity Project's 2022 Global report designated Syrian elections as a "facade" with the worst electoral integrity in the world alongside Comoros and Central African Republic. Three alternative governments formed during the Syrian civil war, the Syrian Interim Government (formed in 2013), Rojava (formed in 2016) and the Syrian Salvation Government (formed in 2017), control northern areas of the country and operated independently of the Syrian Arab Republic.
### Administrative divisions
Syria is divided into 14 governorates, which are subdivided into 61 districts, which are further divided into sub-districts.
| No. | Governorate | Capital |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latakia | Latakia |
| 2 | Idlib | Idlib |
| 3 | Aleppo | Aleppo |
| 4 | Raqqa | Raqqa |
| 5 | Al-Hasakah | Al-Hasakah |
| 6 | Tartus | Tartus |
| 7 | Hama | Hama |
| 8 | Deir ez-Zor | Deir ez-Zor |
| 9 | Homs | Homs |
| 10 | Damascus | Damascus |
| 11 | Rif Dimashq | Douma |
| 12 | Quneitra | Quneitra |
| 13 | Daraa | Daraa |
| 14 | Al-Suwayda | Al-Suwayda |
#### Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), while de facto autonomous, is not recognized by the country as such. The AANES, also known as Rojava, consists of self-governing sub-regions in the areas of Afrin, Jazira, Euphrates, Raqqa, Tabqa, Manbij and Deir Ez-Zor. The region gained its de facto autonomy in 2012 in the context of the ongoing Rojava conflict and the wider Syrian civil war, in which its official military force, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has taken part.
While entertaining some foreign relations, the region is not officially recognized as autonomous by the government of Syria or any state though it has been recognized by the regional Catalan Parliament. The AANES has widespread support for its universal democratic, sustainable, autonomous pluralist, equal, and feminist policies in dialogues with other parties and organizations. Northeastern Syria is polyethnic and home to sizeable ethnic Kurdish, Arab and Assyrian populations, with smaller communities of ethnic Turkmen, Armenians, Circassians, and Yazidis.
The supporters of the region's administration state that it is an officially secular polity with direct democratic ambitions based on an anarchistic, feminist, and libertarian socialist ideology promoting decentralization, gender equality, environmental sustainability, social ecology and pluralistic tolerance for religious, cultural and political diversity, and that these values are mirrored in its constitution, society, and politics, stating it to be a model for a federalized Syria as a whole, rather than outright independence. The region's administration has also been accused by some partisan and non-partisan sources of authoritarianism and support of the Syrian government. However, despite this the AANES has been the most democratic system in Syria, with direct open elections, universal equality, respecting human rights within the region, as well as defense of minority and religious rights within Syria.[ excessive citations]
In 2019, the SDF announced that it had reached an agreement with the Syrian Army which allowed the latter to enter the SDF-held cities of Manbij and Kobani in order to dissuade a Turkish attack on those cities as part of the cross-border offensive by Turkish and Turkish-backed Syrian rebels. The Syrian Army also deployed in the north of Syria together with the SDF along the Syrian-Turkish border and entered into several SDF-held cities such as Ayn Issa and Tell Tamer. Following the creation of the Second Northern Syria Buffer Zone the SDF stated that it was ready to work cooperatively with the Syrian Army if a political settlement between the Syrian government and the SDF was achieved.
### Foreign relations
- Ba'athist era
Ensuring national security, increasing influence among its Arab neighbors, and securing the return of the Golan Heights, have been the primary goals of Syria's foreign policy. At many points in its history, Syria has seen virulent tension with its geographically cultural neighbors, such as Turkey, Israel, Iraq, and Lebanon. Syria enjoyed an improvement in relations with several of the states in its region in the 21st century, prior to the Arab Spring and the Syrian civil war.
Since the ongoing civil war of 2011 and associated killings and human rights abuses, Syria has been increasingly isolated from the countries in the region and the wider international community. Diplomatic relations have been severed with several countries including: Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, United States, Belgium, Spain, and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf.
From the Arab league, Syria continues to maintain diplomatic relations with Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan and Yemen. Following its violent suppression of the Arab Spring protests of the 2011 Syrian Revolution, the Syrian government was suspended from the Arab League in November 2011 for over 11 years, until its reinstatement in 2023. Syria also quit the Union for the Mediterranean. After 11 years, the Arab League readmitted Syria. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation suspended Syria in August 2012 citing "deep concern at the massacres and inhuman acts" perpetrated by forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad.
#### International disputes
In 1939, while Syria was still a French mandate the French allowed a plebiscite regarding the Sanjak of Alexandretta joining to Turkey as part of a treaty of friendship in World War II. In order to facilitate this, a faulty election was done in which ethnic Turks who were originally from the Sanjak but lived in Adana and other areas near the border in Turkey came to vote in the elections, shifting the election in favor of secession. Through this, the Hatay Province of Turkey was formed. The move by the French was very controversial in Syria, and only five years later Syria became independent. Despite the Turkish annexation of the Sanjak of Alexandretta, the Syrian government has refused to recognize Turkish sovereignty over the region since Independence, except for a short period in 1949.
The western two-thirds of Syria's Golan Heights region are since 1967 occupied by Israel and were in 1981 effectively annexed by Israel, whereas the eastern third is controlled by Syria, with the UNDOF maintaining a buffer zone in between, to implement the ceasefire of the Purple Line. Israel's 1981 Golan annexation law is not recognized in international law. The UN Security Council condemned it in Resolution 497 (1981) as "null and void and without international legal effect." Since then, General Assembly resolutions on "The Occupied Syrian Golan" reaffirm the illegality of Israeli occupation and annexation. The Syrian government continues to demand the return of this territory.
During its invasion of Syria in December 2024, Israel took control of the U.N.-patrolled buffer zone on Syrian territory, a move that violated the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria. On 23 February 2025, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded the complete demilitarization of southern Syria in the provinces of Quneitra, Daraa and Suweyda, and the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Syrian territory south of Damascus. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Israeli forces would remain in southern Syria "for an indefinite period of time to protect our communities and thwart any threat." Syria's new regime under transitional President Ahmed al-Sharaa condemned Israel's occupation of Syrian lands and demanded Israel's withdrawal.
The Turkish Armed Forces and its ally the Syrian National Army have occupied areas of northern Syria since 2016, during the Syrian civil war.
In early 1976, Syria entered Lebanon, beginning their 29-year military presence. Syria entered on the invitation of Suleiman Franjieh, the Maronite Christian president at the time to help aid the Lebanese Christian militias against the Palestinian militias. Over the following 15 years of Lebanese civil war, Syria fought for control over Lebanon. The Syrian military remained in Lebanon until 2005 in response to domestic and international pressure after the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Another disputed territory is the Shebaa farms, located in the intersection of the Lebanese-Syrian border and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The farms, which are 11 km long and about 3 kilometers wide were occupied by Israel in 1981, along with rest of the Golan Heights. Yet following Syrian army advances the Israeli occupation ended and Syria became the de facto ruling power over the farms. Yet after Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah claimed that the withdrawal was not complete because Shebaa was on Lebanese – not Syrian – territory. After studying 81 maps, the United Nations concluded that there is no evidence of the abandoned farmlands being Lebanese. Nevertheless, Lebanon has continued to claim ownership of the territory.
### Military
The President of Syria is commander in chief of the Syrian Armed Forces, comprising some 400,000 troops upon mobilization.The military is a conscripted force; males serve 30 months in the military upon reaching the age of 18. The obligatory military service period is being decreased over time, in 2005 from two and a half years to two years, in 2008 to 21 months and in 2011 to year and a half.
The breakup of the Soviet Union—long the principal source of training, material, and credit for the Syrian forces—may have slowed Syria's ability to acquire modern military equipment. It has an arsenal of surface-to-surface missiles. In the early 1990s, Scud-C missiles with a 500-kilometre (310-mile) range were procured from North Korea, and Scud-D, with a range of up to 700 kilometres (430 miles), is allegedly being developed by Syria with the help of North Korea and Iran, according to Zisser.
Syria received significant financial aid from Arab states of the Persian Gulf as a result of its participation in the Persian Gulf War, with a sizable portion of these funds earmarked for military spending. Iran and Russia are biggest suppliers of military aid to the Assad-led Syrian Government.
### Human rights
Prior to the fall of the Assad regime, the situation for human rights in Syria has long been a significant concern among independent organizations such as Human Rights Watch, who in 2010 referred to the country's record as "among the worst in the world." The 2011 Freedom House report ranked Syria "Not Free" in its annual Freedom in the World survey. The Ba'ath regime was a totalitarian dictatorship that has been internationally condemned for its domestic and political repression, including summary executions, massive censorship, forced disappearances, etc. as well as numerous crimes against Syrian civilians perpetrated during the civil war, such as massacres, barrel-bombings, chemical attacks, etc.
The authorities are accused of arresting democracy and human rights activists, censoring websites, detaining bloggers, and imposing travel bans. Arbitrary detention, torture, and disappearances are widespread. Although Syria's constitution guarantees gender equality, critics say that personal statutes laws and the penal code discriminate against women and girls. Moreover, it also grants leniency for so-called honour killing. As of 9 November 2011 during the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, the United Nations reported that of the over 3,500 deaths, over 250 deaths were children as young as two years old, and that boys as young as 11 years old have been gang-raped by security services officers. People opposing President Assad's rule claim that more than 200, mostly civilians, were massacred and about 300 injured in Hama in shelling by the government forces on 12 July 2012.
In August 2013, the government was suspected of using chemical weapons against its civilians. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said it was "undeniable" that chemical weapons had been used in the country and that al-Assad's forces had committed a "moral obscenity" against his own people. "Make no mistake," Kerry said. "President Obama believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world's most heinous weapon against the world's most vulnerable people. Nothing today is more serious, and nothing is receiving more serious scrutiny". The Emergency Law, effectively suspending most constitutional protections, was in effect from 1963 until 21 April 2011. It was justified by the government in the light of the continuing war with Israel over the Golan Heights.
In August 2014, UN Human Rights chief Navi Pillay criticized the international community over its "paralysis" in dealing with the civil war gripping the country, which by 2014 had resulted in 191,369 deaths with war crimes, according to Pillay, being committed with total impunity on all sides in the conflict. Minority Alawites and Christians were targeted by Islamists and other groups. Three years later in April 2017, the U.S. Navy carried out a missile attack against a Syrian air base which had allegedly been used to conduct a chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians, according to the U.S. government. In November 2021, the U.S. Central Command called a 2019 airstrike that killed civilians in Syria "legitimate". The acknowledgement came after a New York Times investigation said the military had concealed the death of dozens of non-combatants.
## Economy
The ongoing civil war have left a negative impact on Syria's economy. However, Syria's economy began changing much before the beginning of the war. Syria's share in global exports has eroded gradually since 2001. The real per capita GDP growth was just 2.5% per year in the 2000–2008 period. Poverty rates increased from 11% in 2004 to 12.3% in 2007. In 2007, main exports included crude oil, refined products, raw cotton, clothing, fruits, and grains. The bulk of imports are raw materials essential for industry, vehicles, agricultural equipment, and heavy machinery. Earnings from oil exports as well as remittances from Syrian workers are the government's most important sources of foreign exchange.
Despite this, prior to the war, Syria was one of the most dynamic markets in the Middle East. The government visioned a transition of Syria into a free market economy. The rising oil reserves triggered rapid growth in the economy, creating business opportunities for foreign firms and investments, as the booming oil and gas industry and infrastructure projects made Syria an attractive market. Prior to the war the government hoped to attract new investment in the tourism, natural gas, and service sectors to diversify its economy and reduce its dependence on oil and agriculture. The government began to institute economic reforms aimed at liberalizing most markets, but those reforms were slow and ad hoc, and were completely reversed since the outbreak of conflict. The UNDP announced in 2005 that 30% of the population lived in poverty, and 11.4% live below the subsistence level. At the outset of the civil war, Syria was classified by the World Bank as a "lower middle income country," though in 2010 Syria remained dependent on the oil and agriculture sectors. The oil sector provided about 40% of export earnings.
During the civil war, the Syrian economy relied upon dwindling customs and income taxes which are heavily bolstered by lines of credit from Iran, Russia and China. Iran is believed to have spent between $6 billion and US$20 billion per year on Syria during the first four years of the civil war. The Syrian pound lost 80% of its value, with the economy becoming part state-owned and part war economy. Proven offshore expeditions have indicated that large sums of oil exist on the Mediterranean Sea floor between Syria and Cyprus. The agriculture sector contributes to about 20% of GDP and 20% of employment. Oil reserves are expected to decrease in the coming years, and Syria has become a net oil importer. As of 2012[update], the value of overall exports was slashed by two-thirds, from the figure of US$12 billion in 2010 to only US$4 billion in 2012.
Since 2012, oil and tourism industries in particular have been devastated, with $5 billion lost. Sanctions have sapped the government's finances. U.S. and European Union bans on oil imports, which went into effect in 2012, are estimated to cost Syria about $400 million per month. Around 40% of all employees in the tourism sector lost their jobs since the beginning of the war. In May 2015, ISIS captured Syria's phosphate mines, one of the Syrian government's last chief sources of income. The following month, ISIS blew up a gas pipeline to Damascus that was used to generate heating and electricity in Damascus and Homs; "the name of its game for now is denial of key resources to the regime" an analyst stated. In addition, ISIS was closing in on Shaer gas field and three other facilities in the area—Hayan, Jihar and Ebla—with the loss of these western gas fields having the potential to cause Iran to further subsidize the Syrian government. Reconstruction will cost as much as $10 billion. Aleppo soap is a popular product of Syria.
The economy was highly regulated by the government, which increased subsidies and tightened trade controls to assuage protesters and protect foreign currency reserves. Long-run economic constraints include foreign trade barriers, declining oil production, high unemployment, rising budget deficits, and increasing pressure on water supplies caused by heavy use in agriculture, rapid population growth, industrial expansion, and water pollution. In 2024, the World Bank estimated that the Syrian GDP had contracted by 84% from 2010 to 2023. As of 2023, its GDP was $6.2 billion. Syria's new government has vowed to stamp out the production of captagon, which makes up a major portion of the informal economy. The new government will also face challenges in securing and resuming the production of oil, as rebuilding the industry will require significant investments with no guarantee of a return.
### Energy
### Agriculture
Despite the crisis in Syria, agriculture remains a key part of the economy. The sector still accounts for an estimated 26 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and represents a critical safety net for the 6.7 million Syrians – including those internally displaced – who still remain in rural areas. However, agriculture and the livelihoods that depend on it have suffered massive losses. Today, food production is at a record low and around half the population remaining in Syria are unable to meet their daily food needs.
Until the mid-1970s, agriculture in Syria was the primary economic activity in Syria. At independence in 1946, agriculture (including minor forestry and fishing) was the most important sector of the economy, and in the 1940s and early 1950s, agriculture was the fastest growing sector. Wealthy merchants from urban centers such as Aleppo invested in land development and irrigation. The rapid expansion of the cultivated area and increased output stimulated the rest of the economy. However, by the late 1950s, there was little land left that could easily be brought under cultivation. During the 1960s, agricultural output stagnated because of political instability and land reform. Between 1953 and 1976, agriculture's contribution to GDP increased (in constant prices) by only 3.2%, approximately the rate of population growth. From 1976 to 1984 growth in agriculture declined to 2% a year, and its importance in the economy declined as other sectors grew more rapidly.
In 1981, as in the 1970s, 53% of the population was still classified as rural, although movement to the cities continued to accelerate. However, in contrast to the 1970s, when 50% of the labor force was employed in agriculture, by 1983 agriculture employed only 30% of the labor force. Furthermore, by the mid-1980s, unprocessed farm products accounted for only 4% of exports, equivalent to 7% of non-petroleum exports. Industry, commerce, and transportation still depended on farm produce and related agro-business, but agriculture's preeminent position had clearly eroded. By 1985 agriculture (including a little forestry and fishing) contributed only 16.5% to GDP, down from 22.1% in 1976.
By the mid-1980s, the Syrian government had taken measures to revitalize agriculture. The 1985 investment budget saw a sharp rise in allocations for agriculture, including land reclamation and irrigation. The government's renewed commitment to agricultural development in the 1980s, by expanding cultivation and extending irrigation, promised brighter prospects for Syrian agriculture in the 1990s.
During the Syrian Civil War, the agricultural sector has witnessed a drop in producing all kinds of commodities such as wheat, cotton and olives, due to the lack of security and immigration of agricultural workforce, especially in Al-Hasakah Governorate and Aleppo Governorate.### Transport
Syria has four international airports (Damascus, Aleppo, Lattakia and Qamishli), which serve as hubs for Syrian Air and are also served by a variety of foreign carriers. The majority of Syrian cargo is carried by Syrian Railways.[ citation needed] As of 2024 there are no international rail services, but high-speed rail in Turkey is being extended close to the border. The road network in Syria is 69,873 kilometres (43,417 miles) long, including 1,103 kilometres (685 miles) of expressways. The country also has 900 kilometres (560 miles) of navigable but not economically significant waterways.
### Internet and telecommunications
Telecommunications in Syria are overseen by the Ministry of Communications and Technology. In addition, Syrian Telecom plays an integral role in the distribution of government internet access. The Syrian Electronic Army serves as a pro-government military faction in cyberspace and has been long considered an enemy of the hacktivist group Anonymous. Because of internet censorship laws, 13,000 internet activists were arrested in 2011 and 2012.
### Water supply and sanitation
Syria is a semiarid country with scarce water resources. The largest water consuming sector in Syria is agriculture. Domestic water use stands at only about 9% of total water use. A big challenge for Syria before the civil war was its high population growth (in 2006 the growth rate was 2.7%), leading to rapidly increasing demand for urban and industrial water.
### Drug industry
Prior to the fall of the Ba'athist regime on 8 December 2024, Syria was home to a burgeoning illegal drugs industry run by associates and relatives of Bashar al-Assad. It mainly produced captagon, an addictive amphetamine popular in the Arab world. As of 2021, the export of illegal drugs eclipsed the country's legal exports, leading the *New York Times* to call Syria "the world's newest narcostate". The drug exports allow the government to generate hard currency and bypass international sanctions. Captagon was Syria's primary export, valued at a minimum of US$3.4 billion annually, surpassing the country's largest legal export, olive oil, which is valued at around US$122 million per year.
## Demographics
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 4,565,000 | — |
| 1970 | 6,305,000 | +3.28% |
| 1981 | 9,046,000 | +3.34% |
| 1994 | 13,782,000 | +3.29% |
| 2004 | 17,921,000 | +2.66% |
| 2011 | 21,124,000 | +2.38% |
| 2015 | 18,734,987 | −2.96% |
| 2019 | 18,528,105 | −0.28% |
| 2019 estimate Source: Central Bureau of Statistics of the Syrian Arab Republic, 2011 |
Most people live in the Euphrates River valley and along the coastal plain, a fertile strip between the coastal mountains and the desert. Overall population density before the civil war was about 99 per square kilometre (258 per square mile). According to the *World Refugee Survey 2008*, published by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Syria hosted a population of refugees and asylum seekers numbering approximately 1,852,300. The vast majority of this population was from Iraq (1,300,000), but sizeable populations from Palestine (543,400) and Somalia (5,200) also lived in the country.
In what the UN has described as "the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era", by 2014 about 9.5 million Syrians, half the population, had been displaced since March 2011; 4 million were outside the country as refugees. By 2020, the UN estimated that over 5.5 million Syrians were living as refugees in the region, and 6.1 million others were internally displaced.
### Largest cities
Largest cities or towns in Syria
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (2004 Census) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Name | Province | Pop. | Rank | Name | Province | Pop. | ||
| 1 | Aleppo | Aleppo Governorate | 2,132,100 | 11 | Tartus | Tartus Governorate | 115,769 | ||
| 2 | Damascus | Damascus | 1,552,161 | 12 | Jaramana | Rif Dimashq Governorate | 114,363 | ||
| 3 | Homs | Homs Governorate | 652,609 | 13 | Douma, Syria | Rif Dimashq Governorate | 110,893 | ||
| 4 | Latakia | Latakia Governorate | 383,786 | 14 | Manbij | Aleppo Governorate | 99,497 | ||
| 5 | Hama | Hama Governorate | 312,994 | 15 | Idlib | Idlib Governorate | 98,791 | ||
| 6 | Raqqa | Raqqa Governorate | 220,488 | 16 | Daraa | Daraa Governorate | 97,969 | ||
| 7 | Deir ez-Zor | Deir ez-Zor Governorate | 211,857 | 17 | Al-Hajar al-Aswad | Rif Dimashq Governorate | 84,948 | ||
| 8 | Hasakah | Al-Hasakah Governorate | 188,160 | 18 | Darayya | Rif Dimashq Governorate | 78,763 | ||
| 9 | Qamishli | Al-Hasakah Governorate | 184,231 | 19 | Suwayda | As-Suwayda Governorate | 73,641 | ||
| 10 | Sayyidah Zaynab | Rif Dimashq Governorate | 136,427 | 20 | Al-Thawrah | Raqqa Governorate | 69,425 |
### Ethnic groups
Syrians are an overall indigenous Levantine people, closely related to their immediate neighbors, such as Lebanese, Palestinians, Jordanians and Jews. Syria has a population of approximately 18,500,000 (2019 estimate). Syrian Arabs, together with some 600,000 Palestinian not including the 6 million refugees outside the country make up roughly 74% of the population. The indigenous Assyrians and Western Aramaic-speakers number around 400,000 people, with the Western Aramaic-speakers living mainly in the villages of Ma'loula, Jubb'adin and Bakh'a, while the Assyrians mainly reside in the north and northeast (Homs, Aleppo, Qamishli, Hasakah). Many (particularly the Assyrian group) still retain several Neo-Aramaic dialects as spoken and written languages.
The second-largest ethnic group in Syria are the Kurds. They constitute about 9% to 10% of the population, or approximately 2 million people (including 40,000 Yazidis). Most Kurds reside in the northeastern corner of Syria and most speak the Kurmanji variant of the Kurdish language. The third largest ethnic group are the Turkish-speaking Syrian Turkmen/Turkoman. There are no reliable estimates of their total population, with estimates ranging from several hundred thousand to 3.5 million. The fourth largest ethnic group are the Assyrians (3–4%), followed by the Circassians (1.5%) and the Armenians (1%), most of which are the descendants of refugees who arrived in Syria during the Armenian genocide. Syria holds the 7th largest Armenian population in the world. They are mainly gathered in Aleppo, Qamishli, Damascus and Kesab.
There are also smaller ethnic minority groups, such as the Albanians, Bosnians, Georgians, Greeks, Persians, Pashtuns and Russians. However, most of these ethnic minorities have become Arabized to some degree, particularly those who practice the Muslim faith. The largest concentration of the Syrian diaspora outside the Arab world is in Brazil, which has millions of people of Arab and other Near Eastern ancestries. Brazil is the first country in the Americas to offer humanitarian visas to Syrian refugees. The majority of Arab Argentines are from either Lebanese or Syrian background.
### Languages
Arabic is the official language of the country. Several modern Arabic dialects are used in everyday life, most notably Levantine in the west and Mesopotamian in the northeast. According to *The Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics*, in addition to Arabic, the following languages are spoken in the country, in order of the number of speakers: Kurdish, Turkish, Neo-Aramaic (four dialects), Circassian, Chechen, Armenian, and finally Greek. However, none of these minority languages have official status.
Aramaic was the lingua franca of the region before the advent of Arabic, and is still spoken among Assyrians, and Classical Syriac is still used as the liturgical language of various Syriac Christian denominations. Most remarkably, Western Neo-Aramaic is still spoken in the village of Ma'loula as well as two neighboring villages, 56 km (35 mi) northeast of Damascus. English and French are widely spoken as second languages, but English is more often used.
### Religion
Islam is the largest and predominant religion in Syria, comprising 87% of the population. Sunni Muslims make up around 74% of the population and Sunni Arabs account for 59–60%. Most Kurds (8.5%) and most Turkmens (3%) are Sunni, while 3% of Syrians are Shia Muslims (particularly Ismailis, and Twelvers but there are also Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens), 10% are Alawites, 10% are Christians (the majority are Antiochian Greek Orthodox, the rest are Syriac Orthodox, Greek Catholic and other Catholic Rites, Armenian Orthodox, Assyrian Church of the East, Protestants and other denominations), and 3% Druzes. Druze number around 500,000 and concentrate mainly in the southern area of Jabal al-Druze. According to the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA), 94.17% of Syrians are Muslims–79.19% are Sunnis and 14.10% are Shias (including Alawites)–and 3.84% of Syrians are Christians as of 2020[update].
Because the Assad family is Alawite, Alawites have historically dominated key government and military positions.
Christians numbering 1.2 million, a sizable number of whom are found among Syria's population of Palestinian and Iraqi refugees, are divided into several sects. The Greek Orthodox make up 45.7% of the Christian population; the Syriac Orthodox make up 22.4%; the Armenian Orthodox make up 10.9%; the Catholics (including Greek Catholic, Syriac Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Maronite, Chaldean Catholic and Latin) make up 16.2%; Assyrian Church of the East and several smaller Christian denominations account for the remainder. Many Christian monasteries also exist. Many Christian Syrians belong to a high socio-economic class. As per one estimate, the count of Christians affiliated with established denominations in Syria has dropped from approximately 2.5 million before the civil war, to about 500,000 in 2023.
Syria was once home to a substantial population of Jews, with large communities in Damascus, Aleppo, and Qamishii. Due to a combination of persecution in Syria and opportunities elsewhere, the Jews began to emigrate in the second half of the 19th century to Great Britain, the United States, and Israel. The process was completed with the establishment of Israel in 1948. The remaining Jewish population dwindled as a result of the civil war. Today 100 Jews live in Syria. The United States is home to a large Syrian Jewish community, which is still considered as Syrian citizens by the Syrian government.
### Education
Education is free and compulsory from ages 6 to 12. Schooling consists of six years of primary education followed by a three-year general or vocational training period and a three-year academic or vocational program. The second three-year period of academic training is required for university admission. Total enrollment at post-secondary schools is over 150,000. The literacy rate of Syrians aged 15 and older is 90.7% for males and 82.2% for females.
There are six state universities in Syria and 15 private universities. The top two state universities are Damascus University (210,000 students as of 2014) and University of Aleppo. The top private universities in Syria are: Syrian Private University, Arab International University, University of Kalamoon and International University for Science and Technology. There are also many higher institutes in Syria, like the Higher Institute of Business Administration, which offer undergraduate and graduate programs in business.
### Health
The ongoing conflict in Syria has profoundly impacted the nation's health demographics and infrastructure. As of 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated Syria's population at approximately 23.6 million.
In 2021, the average life expectancy in Syria was 73.1 years. The infant mortality rate has seen a decline over recent years, with estimates indicating 12.1 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2022. The under-five mortality rate was reported at 21.4 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Prior to the conflict, Syria had a maternal mortality ratio of 52 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2009. However, the ongoing war has disrupted maternal healthcare services, leading to increased risks for pregnant women.
The protracted conflict has severely damaged Syria's healthcare infrastructure. As of recent reports, over half of the country's hospitals are non-functional, and approximately 15.3 million people are in need of health support, representing 72% of the population. This marks a 25% increase from 2022, highlighting the escalating health crisis.
Non-communicable diseases, particularly cardiovascular conditions, were leading causes of death before the conflict. However, since the onset of the war, conflict-related injuries and deaths have surged, significantly altering the health landscape.
## Culture
Syria is a traditional society with a long cultural history. Importance is placed on family, religion, education, self-discipline and respect. Syrians' taste for the traditional arts is expressed in dances such as the al-Samah, the Dabkeh in all their variations, and the sword dance. Marriage ceremonies and the births of children are occasions for the lively demonstration of folk customs.
### Literature
The literature of Syria has contributed to Arabic literature and has a proud tradition of oral and written poetry. Syrian writers, many of whom migrated to Egypt, played a crucial role in the nahda or Arab literary and cultural revival of the 19th century. Prominent contemporary Syrian writers include, among others, Adonis, Muhammad Maghout, Haidar Haidar, Ghada al-Samman, Nizar Qabbani and Zakariyya Tamer.
Ba'ath Party rule has brought about renewed censorship. In this context, the genre of the historical novel, spearheaded by Nabil Sulayman, Fawwaz Haddad, Khyri al-Dhahabi and Nihad Siris, is sometimes used as a means of expressing dissent, critiquing the present through a depiction of the past. Syrian folk narrative, as a subgenre of historical fiction, is imbued with magical realism, and is also used as a means of veiled criticism of the present. Salim Barakat, a Syrian émigré living in Sweden, is one of the leading figures of the genre. Contemporary Syrian literature also encompasses science fiction and futuristic utopiae (Nuhad Sharif, Talib Umran), which may also serve as media of dissent.
### Music
The Syrian music scene, in particular that of Damascus, has long been among the Arab world's most important, especially in the field of classical Arab music. Syria has produced several pan-Arab stars, including Asmahan, Farid al-Atrash and singer Lena Chamamyan. The city of Aleppo is known for its muwashshah, a form of Andalous sung poetry popularized by Sabri Moudallal, as well as for popular stars like Sabah Fakhri.
### Media
Television was introduced to Syria and Egypt in 1960, when both were part of the United Arab Republic. It broadcast in black and white until 1976. Syrian soap operas have considerable market penetration throughout the eastern Arab world.
Nearly all of Syria's media outlets are state-owned. The authorities operate several intelligence agencies, among them Shu'bat al-Mukhabarat al-'Askariyya, employing many operatives. During the civil war many of Syria's artists, poets, writers and activists have been incarcerated, and some have been killed, including famed cartoonist Akram Raslan.
### Cuisine
Syrian cuisine is rich and varied in its ingredients, linked to the regions where a specific dish has originated. Syrian food mostly consists of southern Mediterranean, Greek, and Southwest Asian dishes. Some Syrian dishes also evolved from Turkish and French cooking: dishes like shish kebab, stuffed zucchini/courgette, and *yabraʾ* (stuffed grape leaves, the word *yabraʾ* deriving from the Turkish word *yaprak*, meaning leaf).
The main dishes are kibbeh, hummus, tabbouleh, fattoush, labneh, shawarma, mujaddara, shanklish, pastırma, sujuk and baklava. Baklava is made of filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and soaked in honey. Syrians often serve selections of appetizers, known as meze, before the main course. Za'atar, minced beef, and cheese manakish are popular hors d'œuvres. The Arabic flatbread khubz is always eaten together with meze.
Drinks vary, depending on the time of day and the occasion. Arabic coffee is the most well-known hot drink, usually prepared in the morning at breakfast or in the evening. It is usually served for guests or after food. Arak, an alcoholic drink, is a well-known beverage, served mostly on special occasions. Other Syrian beverages include ayran, jallab, white coffee, and a locally manufactured beer called Al Shark.
## See also
## Notes
## Sources
## Further reading
## External links
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# John Lennon - Wikipedia
John Lennon | |
|---|---|
| Born | John Winston Lennon 9 October 1940 |
| Died | 8 December 1980 New York City, US | (aged 40)
| Cause of death | Gunshot wounds |
| Resting place | Cremated; ashes scattered in Central Park, New York City |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1956–1980 |
| Spouses | |
| Partner | May Pang (1973–1975) |
| Children | |
| Parents | |
| Relatives | |
Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instruments |
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| Labels | |
| Formerly of | |
| Website | johnlennon |
| Signature | |
**John Winston Ono Lennon** (born **John Winston Lennon**; 9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney remains the most successful in history.
Born in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the skiffle craze as a teenager. In 1956, he formed the Quarrymen, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Lennon initially was the group's *de facto* leader, a role he gradually seemed to cede to McCartney, writing and co-writing songs with increasing innovation, including "Strawberry Fields Forever", which he later cited as his finest work with the band. Lennon soon expanded his work into other media by participating in numerous films, including *How I Won the War*, and authoring *In His Own Write* and *A Spaniard in the Works*, both collections of nonsense writings and line drawings. Starting with "All You Need Is Love", his songs were adopted as anthems by the anti-war movement and the counterculture of the 1960s.
In 1969, he started the Plastic Ono Band with his second wife, multimedia artist Yoko Ono, held the two-week-long anti-war demonstration bed-in for peace, and left the Beatles to embark on a solo career. Lennon and Ono collaborated on many works, including a trilogy of avant-garde albums and several more films. After the Beatles disbanded, Lennon released his solo debut *John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band* and the international top-10 singles "Give Peace a Chance", "Instant Karma!", "Imagine", and "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)". Moving to New York City in 1971, his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted in a three-year deportation attempt by the Nixon administration. Lennon and Ono separated from 1973 to 1975, during which time he produced Harry Nilsson's album *Pussy Cats*. He also had chart-topping collaborations with Elton John ("Whatever Gets You thru the Night") and David Bowie ("Fame"). Following a five-year hiatus, Lennon returned to music in 1980 with the Ono collaboration *Double Fantasy*. He was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman, three weeks after the album's release.
As a performer, writer or co-writer, Lennon had 25 number-one singles in the *Billboard* Hot 100 chart. *Double Fantasy*, his second-best-selling non-Beatles album, won the 1981 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. That year, he won the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. In 2002, Lennon was voted eighth in a BBC history poll of the *100 Greatest Britons*. *Rolling Stone* ranked him the fifth-greatest singer and 38th-greatest artist of all time. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (in 1997) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (twice, as a member of the Beatles in 1988 and as a solo artist in 1994).
John Winston Lennon was born on 9 October 1940 at Liverpool Maternity Hospital, the only child of Alfred and Julia Lennon (née Stanley). Alfred was a merchant seaman of Irish descent who was away at the time of his son's birth. His parents named him John Winston Lennon after his paternal grandfather, John "Jack" Lennon, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. His father was often away from home but sent regular pay cheques to 9 Newcastle Road, Liverpool, where Lennon lived with his mother; the cheques stopped when he went absent without leave in February 1944. When he eventually came home six months later, he offered to look after the family, but Julia, by then pregnant with another man's child, rejected the idea. After her sister Mimi complained to Liverpool's Social Services twice, Julia gave her custody of Lennon.
In July 1946, Lennon's father visited her and took his son to Blackpool, secretly intending to emigrate to New Zealand with him. Julia followed them – with her partner at the time, Bobby Dykins – and after a heated argument, his father forced the five-year-old to choose between them. In one account of this incident, Lennon twice chose his father, but as his mother walked away, he began to cry and followed her. According to author Mark Lewisohn, however, Lennon's parents agreed that Julia should take him and give him a home. Billy Hall, who witnessed the incident, has said that the dramatic portrayal of a young John Lennon being forced to make a decision between his parents is inaccurate. Lennon had no further contact with Alf for close to 20 years.
Throughout the rest of his childhood and adolescence, Lennon lived at Mendips, 251 Menlove Avenue, Woolton, with Mimi and her husband George Toogood Smith, who had no children of their own. His aunt purchased volumes of short stories for him, and his uncle, a dairyman at his family's farm, bought him a mouth organ and engaged him in solving crossword puzzles. Julia visited Mendips on a regular basis, and John often visited her at 1 Blomfield Road, Liverpool, where she played him Elvis Presley records, taught him the banjo, and showed him how to play "Ain't That a Shame" by Fats Domino. In September 1980, Lennon commented about his family and his rebellious nature:
A part of me would like to be accepted by all facets of society and
notbe this loudmouthed lunatic poet/musician. But I cannot be what I am not [...] I was the one who all the other boys' parents – including Paul's father – would say, "Keep away from him" [...] The parents instinctively recognised I was a troublemaker, meaning I did not conform and I would influence their children, which I did. I did my best to disrupt every friend's home [...] Partly out of envy that I didn't have this so-called home [...] but Idid[...] There were five women that were my family. Fivestrong,intelligent,beautifulwomen, five sisters. One happened to be my mother. [She] just couldn't deal with life. She was the youngest and she had a husband who ran away to sea and the war was on and she couldn't cope with me, and I ended up living with her elder sister. Now those women were fantastic [...] And that was my first feminist education [...] I would infiltrate the other boys' minds. I could say, "Parents are not gods because I don't live with mine and, therefore, I know."
He regularly visited his cousin Stanley Parkes, who lived in Fleetwood and took him on trips to local cinemas. During the school holidays Parkes often visited Lennon with Leila Harvey, another cousin, and the three often travelled to Blackpool two or three times a week to watch shows. They would visit the Blackpool Tower Circus and see artists such as Dickie Valentine, Arthur Askey, Max Bygraves and Joe Loss, with Parkes recalling that Lennon particularly liked George Formby. After Parkes's family moved to Scotland, the three cousins often spent their school holidays together there. Parkes recalled, "John, cousin Leila and I were very close. From Edinburgh we would drive up to the family croft at Durness, which was from about the time John was nine years old until he was about 16." Lennon's uncle George died of a liver haemorrhage on 5 June 1955, aged 52.
Lennon was raised as an Anglican and attended Dovedale Primary School. After passing his eleven-plus exam, he attended Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool from September 1952 to 1957, and was described by Harvey at the time as a "happy-go-lucky, good-humoured, easy going, lively lad". However, he was also known to frequently engage in fights, bully and disrupt classes. Despite this, he quickly built a reputation as the class clown and often drew comical cartoons that appeared in his self-made school magazine, the *Daily Howl*.
In 1956, Julia bought John his first guitar. The instrument was an inexpensive Gallotone Champion acoustic for which she lent her son five pounds and ten shillings on the condition that the guitar be delivered to her own house and not Mimi's, knowing well that her sister was not supportive of her son's musical aspirations. Mimi was sceptical of his claim that he would be famous one day, and she hoped that he would grow bored with music, often telling him, "The guitar's all very well, John, but you'll never make a living out of it."
Lennon's senior school years were marked by a shift in his behaviour. Teachers at Quarry Bank High School described him thus: "He has too many wrong ambitions and his energy is often misplaced", and "His work always lacks effort. He is content to 'drift' instead of using his abilities." Lennon's misbehaviour created a rift in his relationship with his aunt.
On 15 July 1958, at the age of 44, Julia Lennon was struck and killed by a car while she was walking home after visiting the Smiths' house. His mother's death traumatised the teenage Lennon, who, for the next two years, drank heavily and frequently got into fights, consumed by a "blind rage". Julia's memory would later serve as a major creative inspiration for Lennon, inspiring songs such as the 1968 Beatles song "Julia".
Lennon failed his O-level examinations, and was accepted into the Liverpool College of Art after his aunt and headmaster intervened. At the college he began to wear Teddy Boy clothes and was threatened with expulsion for his behaviour. In the description of Cynthia Powell, Lennon's fellow student and subsequently his wife, he was "thrown out of the college before his final year".
At the age of 15, Lennon formed a skiffle group, the Quarrymen. Named after Quarry Bank High School, the group was established by Lennon in September 1956. By the summer of 1957, the Quarrymen played a "spirited set of songs" made up of half skiffle and half rock and roll. Lennon first met Paul McCartney at the Quarrymen's second performance, which was held in Woolton on 6 July at the St Peter's Church garden fête. Lennon then asked McCartney to join the band.
McCartney said that Aunt Mimi "was very aware that John's friends were lower class", and would often patronise him when he arrived to visit Lennon. According to McCartney's brother Mike, their father similarly disapproved of Lennon, declaring that Lennon would get his son "into trouble". McCartney's father nevertheless allowed the fledgling band to rehearse in the family's front room at 20 Forthlin Road. During this time Lennon wrote his first song, "Hello Little Girl", which became a UK top 10 hit for the Fourmost in 1963.
McCartney recommended that his friend George Harrison become the lead guitarist. Lennon thought that Harrison, then 14 years old, was too young. McCartney engineered an audition on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus, where Harrison played "Raunchy" for Lennon and was asked to join. Stuart Sutcliffe, Lennon's friend from art school, later joined as bassist. Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Sutcliffe became "The Beatles" in early 1960. In August that year, the Beatles were engaged for a 48-night residency in Hamburg, in West Germany, and were desperately in need of a drummer. They asked Pete Best to join them. Lennon's aunt, horrified when he told her about the trip, pleaded with Lennon to continue his art studies instead. After the first Hamburg residency, the band accepted another in April 1961, and a third in April 1962. As with the other band members, Lennon was introduced to Preludin while in Hamburg, and regularly took the drug as a stimulant during their long, overnight performances.
Brian Epstein managed the Beatles from 1962 until his death in 1967. He had no previous experience managing artists, but he had a strong influence on the group's dress code and attitude on stage. Lennon initially resisted his attempts to encourage the band to present a professional appearance, but eventually complied, saying "I'll wear a bloody balloon if somebody's going to pay me." McCartney took over on bass after Sutcliffe decided to stay in Hamburg, and Best was replaced with drummer Ringo Starr; this completed the four-piece line-up that would remain until the group's break-up in 1970. The band's first single, "Love Me Do", was released in October 1962 and reached No. 17 on the British charts. They recorded their debut album, *Please Please Me*, in under 10 hours on 11 February 1963, a day when Lennon was suffering the effects of a cold, which is evident in the vocal on the last song to be recorded that day, "Twist and Shout". The Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership yielded eight of its fourteen tracks. With a few exceptions, one being the album title itself, Lennon had yet to bring his love of wordplay to bear on his song lyrics, saying: "We were just writing songs ... pop songs with no more thought of them than that – to create a sound. And the words were almost irrelevant". In a 1987 interview, McCartney said that the other Beatles idolised Lennon: "He was like our own little Elvis ... We all looked up to John. He was older and he was very much the leader; he was the quickest wit and the smartest."
The Beatles achieved mainstream success in the UK early in 1963. Lennon was on tour when his first son, Julian, was born in April. During their Royal Variety Show performance, which was attended by the Queen Mother and other British royalty, Lennon poked fun at the audience: "For our next song, I'd like to ask for your help. For the people in the cheaper seats, clap your hands ... and the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewellery." After a year of Beatlemania in the UK, the group's historic February 1964 US debut appearance on *The Ed Sullivan Show* marked their breakthrough to international stardom. A two-year period of constant touring, filmmaking, and songwriting followed, during which Lennon wrote two books, *In His Own Write* and *A Spaniard in the Works*. The Beatles received recognition from the British establishment when they were appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1965 Queen's Birthday Honours.
Lennon grew concerned that fans who attended Beatles concerts were unable to hear the music above the screaming of fans, and that the band's musicianship was beginning to suffer as a result. Lennon's "Help!" expressed his own feelings in 1965: "I *meant* it ... It was me singing 'help'". He had put on weight (he would later refer to this as his "Fat Elvis" period), and felt he was subconsciously seeking change. In March that year he and Harrison were unknowingly introduced to LSD when a dentist, hosting a dinner party attended by the two musicians and their partners, spiked the guests' coffee with the drug. When they wanted to leave, their host revealed what they had taken, and strongly advised them not to leave the house because of the likely effects. Later, in a lift at a nightclub, they all believed it was on fire; Lennon recalled: "We were all screaming ... hot and hysterical."
*Evening Standard* reporter Maureen Cleave, Lennon remarked, "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink ... We're more popular than Jesus now – I don't know which will go first, rock and roll or Christianity." The comment went virtually unnoticed in England but caused great offence in the US when quoted by a magazine there five months later. The furore that followed, which included the burning of Beatles records, Ku Klux Klan activity and threats against Lennon, contributed to the band's decision to stop touring.
After the band's final concert on 29 August 1966, Lennon filmed the anti-war black comedy *How I Won the War* – his only appearance in a non-Beatles feature film – before rejoining his bandmates for an extended period of recording, beginning in November. Lennon had increased his use of LSD and, according to author Ian MacDonald, his continuous use of the drug in 1967 brought him "close to erasing his identity". The year 1967 saw the release of "Strawberry Fields Forever", hailed by *Time* magazine for its "astonishing inventiveness", and the group's landmark album *Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band*, which revealed lyrics by Lennon that contrasted strongly with the simple love songs of the group's early years.
In late June, the Beatles performed Lennon's "All You Need Is Love" as Britain's contribution to the *Our World* satellite broadcast, before an international audience estimated at up to 400 million. Intentionally simplistic in its message, the song formalised his pacifist stance and provided an anthem for the Summer of Love. After the Beatles were introduced to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the group attended an August weekend of personal instruction at his Transcendental Meditation seminar in Bangor, Wales. During the seminar, they were informed of Epstein's death. "I knew we were in trouble then", Lennon said later. "I didn't have any misconceptions about our ability to do anything other than play music. I was scared – I thought, 'We've fucking had it now.'" McCartney organised the group's first post-Epstein project, the self-written, -produced and -directed television film *Magical Mystery Tour*, which was released in December that year. While the film itself proved to be their first critical flop, its soundtrack release, featuring Lennon's Lewis Carroll–inspired "I Am the Walrus", was a success.
Led by Harrison and Lennon's interest, the Beatles travelled to the Maharishi's ashram in India in February 1968 for further guidance. While there, they composed most of the songs for their double album *The Beatles*, but the band members' mixed experience with Transcendental Meditation signalled a sharp divergence in the group's camaraderie. On their return to London, they became increasingly involved in business activities with the formation of Apple Corps, a multimedia corporation composed of Apple Records and several other subsidiary companies. Lennon described the venture as an attempt to achieve "artistic freedom within a business structure". Released amid the Protests of 1968, the band's debut single for the Apple label included Lennon's B-side "Revolution", in which he called for a "plan" rather than committing to Maoist revolution. The song's pacifist message led to ridicule from political radicals in the New Left press. Adding to the tensions at the Beatles' recording sessions that year, Lennon insisted on having his new girlfriend, the Japanese artist Yoko Ono, beside him, thereby contravening the band's policy regarding wives and girlfriends in the studio. He was especially pleased with his songwriting contributions to the double album and identified it as a superior work to *Sgt. Pepper*. At the end of 1968, Lennon participated in *The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus*, a television special that was not broadcast. Lennon performed with the Dirty Mac, a supergroup composed of Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell. The group also backed a vocal performance by Ono. A film version was released in 1996.
By late 1968, Lennon's increased drug use and growing preoccupation with Ono, combined with the Beatles' inability to agree on how the company should be run, left Apple in need of professional management. Lennon asked Lord Beeching to take on the role but he declined, advising Lennon to go back to making records. Lennon was approached by Allen Klein, who had managed the Rolling Stones and other bands during the British Invasion. In early 1969, Klein was appointed as Apple's chief executive by Lennon, Harrison and Starr, but McCartney never signed the management contract.
Lennon and Ono were married on 20 March 1969 and soon released a series of 14 lithographs called "Bag One" depicting scenes from their honeymoon, eight of which were deemed indecent and most of which were banned and confiscated. Lennon's creative focus continued to move beyond the Beatles, and between 1968 and 1969 he and Ono recorded three albums of experimental music together: *Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins* (known more for its cover than for its music), *Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions* and *Wedding Album*. In 1969, they formed the Plastic Ono Band, releasing *Live Peace in Toronto 1969*. Between 1969 and 1970, Lennon released the singles "Give Peace a Chance", which was widely adopted as an anti-Vietnam War anthem, "Cold Turkey", which documented his withdrawal symptoms after he became addicted to heroin, and "Instant Karma!".
In protest at Britain's involvement in "the Nigeria-Biafra thing" (namely, the Nigerian Civil War), its support of America in the Vietnam War and (perhaps jokingly) against "Cold Turkey" slipping down the charts, Lennon returned his MBE medal to the Queen. This gesture had no effect on his MBE status, which could be renounced but ultimately only the Sovereign has the power to annul the original award. The medal, together with Lennon's letter, is held at the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood.
Lennon left the Beatles on 20 September 1969, but agreed not to inform the media while the group renegotiated their recording contract. He was outraged that McCartney publicised his own departure on releasing his debut solo album in April 1970. Lennon's reaction was, "Jesus Christ! He gets all the credit for it!" He later wrote, "I started the band. I disbanded it. It's as simple as that." In a December 1970 interview with Jann Wenner of *Rolling Stone* magazine, he revealed his bitterness towards McCartney, saying, "I was a fool not to do what Paul did, which was use it to sell a record." Lennon also spoke of the hostility he perceived the other members had towards Ono, and of how he, Harrison and Starr "got fed up with being sidemen for Paul ... After Brian Epstein died we collapsed. Paul took over and supposedly led us. But what is leading us when we went round in circles?"
When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system's game. The establishment will irritate you – pull your beard, flick your face – to make you fight. Because once they've got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don't know how to handle is non-violence and humor.
Between 1 April and 15 September 1970, Lennon and Ono went through primal therapy with Arthur Janov at Tittenhurst, in London and at Janov's clinic in Los Angeles, California. Designed to release emotional pain from early childhood, the therapy entailed two half-days a week with Janov for six months; he had wanted to treat the couple for longer, but their American visa ran out and they had to return to the UK. Lennon's debut solo album, *John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band* (1970), was received with praise by many music critics, but its highly personal lyrics and stark sound limited its commercial performance. The album featured the song "Mother", in which Lennon confronted his feelings of childhood rejection, and the Dylanesque "Working Class Hero", a bitter attack against the bourgeois social system which, due to the lyric "you're still fucking peasants", fell foul of broadcasters.
In January 1971, Tariq Ali expressed his revolutionary political views when he interviewed Lennon, who immediately responded by writing "Power to the People". In his lyrics to the song, Lennon reversed the non-confrontational approach he had espoused in "Revolution", although he later disowned "Power to the People", saying that it was borne out of guilt and a desire for approval from radicals such as Ali. Lennon became involved in a protest against the prosecution of *Oz* magazine for alleged obscenity. Lennon denounced the proceedings as "disgusting fascism", and he and Ono (as Elastic Oz Band) released the single "God Save Us/Do the Oz" and joined marches in support of the magazine.
Eager for a major commercial success, Lennon adopted a more accessible sound for his next album, *Imagine* (1971). *Rolling Stone* reported that "it contains a substantial portion of good music" but warned of the possibility that "his posturings will soon seem not merely dull but irrelevant". The album's title track later became an anthem for anti-war movements, while the song "How Do You Sleep?" was a musical attack on McCartney in response to lyrics on *Ram* that Lennon felt, and McCartney later confirmed, were directed at him and Ono. In "Jealous Guy", Lennon addressed his demeaning treatment of women, acknowledging that his past behaviour was a result of long-held insecurity.
In gratitude for his guitar contributions to *Imagine*, Lennon initially agreed to perform at Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh benefit shows in New York. Harrison refused to allow Ono to participate at the concerts, however, which resulted in the couple having a heated argument and Lennon pulling out of the event.
Lennon and Ono moved to New York in August 1971 and immediately embraced US radical left politics. The couple released their "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" single in December. During the new year, the Nixon administration took what it called a "strategic counter-measure" against Lennon's anti-war and anti-Nixon propaganda. The administration embarked on what would be a four-year attempt to deport him. Lennon was embroiled in a continuing legal battle with the immigration authorities, and he was denied permanent residency in the US; the issue would not be resolved until 1976.
*Some Time in New York City* was recorded as a collaboration with Ono and was released in 1972 with backing from the New York band Elephant's Memory. A double LP, it contained songs about women's rights, race relations, Britain's role in Northern Ireland and Lennon's difficulties in obtaining a green card. The album was a commercial failure and was maligned by critics, who found its political sloganeering heavy-handed and relentless. The *NME*'s review took the form of an open letter in which Tony Tyler derided Lennon as a "pathetic, ageing revolutionary". In the US, "Woman Is the Nigger of the World" was released as a single from the album and was televised on 11 May, on *The Dick Cavett Show*. Many radio stations refused to broadcast the song because of the word "nigger".
Lennon and Ono gave two benefit concerts with Elephant's Memory and guests in New York in aid of patients at the Willowbrook State School mental facility. Staged at Madison Square Garden on 30 August 1972, they were his last full-length concert appearances. After George McGovern lost the 1972 presidential election to Richard Nixon, Lennon and Ono attended a post-election wake held in the New York home of activist Jerry Rubin. Lennon was depressed and got intoxicated; he left Ono embarrassed after he had sex with a female guest. Ono's song "Death of Samantha" was inspired by the incident.
As Lennon was about to record *Mind Games* in 1973, he and Ono decided to separate. The ensuing 18-month period apart, which he later called his "lost weekend" in reference to the film of the same name, was spent in Los Angeles and New York City in the company of May Pang. *Mind Games*, credited to the "Plastic U.F.Ono Band", was released in November 1973. Lennon also contributed "I'm the Greatest" to Starr's album *Ringo* (1973), released the same month. With Harrison joining Starr and Lennon at the recording session for the song, it marked the only occasion when three former Beatles recorded together between the band's break-up and Lennon's death.
In early 1974, Lennon was drinking heavily and his alcohol-fuelled antics with Harry Nilsson made headlines. In March, two widely publicised incidents occurred at The Troubadour club. In the first incident, Lennon stuck an unused menstrual pad on his forehead and scuffled with a waitress. The second incident occurred two weeks later, when Lennon and Nilsson were ejected from the same club after heckling the Smothers Brothers. Lennon decided to produce Nilsson's album *Pussy Cats*, and Pang rented a Los Angeles beach house for all the musicians. After a month of further debauchery, the recording sessions were in chaos, and Lennon returned to New York with Pang to finish work on the album. In April, Lennon had produced the Mick Jagger song "Too Many Cooks (Spoil the Soup)" which was, for contractual reasons, to remain unreleased for more than 30 years. Pang supplied the recording for its eventual inclusion on *The Very Best of Mick Jagger* (2007).
Lennon had settled back in New York when he recorded the album *Walls and Bridges*. Released in October 1974, it included "Whatever Gets You thru the Night", which featured Elton John on backing vocals and piano, and became Lennon's only single as a solo artist to top the US *Billboard* Hot 100 chart during his lifetime. A second single from the album, "#9 Dream", followed before the end of the year. Starr's *Goodnight Vienna* (1974) again saw assistance from Lennon, who wrote the title track and played piano. On 28 November, Lennon made a surprise guest appearance at Elton John's Thanksgiving concert at Madison Square Garden, in fulfilment of his promise to join the singer in a live show if "Whatever Gets You thru the Night", a song whose commercial potential Lennon had doubted, reached number one. Lennon performed the song along with "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "I Saw Her Standing There", which he introduced as "a song by an old estranged fiancé of mine called Paul".
In the first two weeks of January 1975, Elton John topped the US *Billboard* Hot 100 singles chart with his cover of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", featuring Lennon on guitar and backing vocals - Lennon is credited on the single under the moniker of "Dr. Winston O'Boogie". As January became February, Lennon and Ono reunited as Lennon and Bowie completed recording of their co-composition "Fame", which became David Bowie's first US number one, featuring guitar and backing vocals by Lennon. In February, Lennon released *Rock 'n' Roll* (1975), an album of cover songs. "Stand by Me", taken from the album and a US and UK hit, became his last single for five years. He made what would be his final stage appearance in the ATV special *A Salute to Lew Grade*, recorded on 18 April and televised in June. Playing acoustic guitar and backed by an eight-piece band, Lennon performed two songs from *Rock 'n' Roll* ("Stand by Me", which was not broadcast, and "Slippin' and Slidin'") followed by "Imagine". The band, known as Etc., wore masks behind their heads, a dig by Lennon, who thought Grade was two-faced.
Lennon began what would be a five-year hiatus from the music industry, during which time, he later said, he "baked bread" and "looked after the baby". He devoted himself to Sean, rising at 6 am daily to plan and prepare his meals and to spend time with him. He wrote "Cookin' (In the Kitchen of Love)" for Starr's *Ringo's Rotogravure* (1976), performing on the track in June in what would be his last recording session until 1980.
Sean Lennon, Lennon's only child with Ono, was born on 9 October 1975 (Lennon's thirty-fifth birthday), after which Lennon took on the role of househusband. He formally announced his break from music in Tokyo in 1977, saying, "we have basically decided, without any great decision, to be with our baby as much as we can until we feel we can take time off to indulge ourselves in creating things outside of the family." During his career break he created several series of drawings, and drafted a book containing a mix of autobiographical material and what he termed "mad stuff", all of which would be published posthumously.
Lennon emerged from his hiatus in October 1980, when he released the single "(Just Like) Starting Over". In November, he and Ono released the album *Double Fantasy*, which included songs Lennon had written in Bermuda. In June, Lennon chartered a 43-foot sailboat and embarked on a sailing trip to Bermuda. En route, he and the crew encountered a storm, rendering everyone on board seasick, except Lennon, who took control and sailed the boat through the storm. This experience re-invigorated him and his creative muse. He spent three weeks in Bermuda in a home called Fairylands writing and refining the tracks for the upcoming album.
The music reflected Lennon's fulfilment in his new-found stable family life. Sufficient additional material was recorded for a planned follow-up album *Milk and Honey*, which was issued posthumously, in 1984. *Double Fantasy* was not well received initially and drew comments such as *Melody Maker'*s "indulgent sterility ... a godawful yawn".
## Murder
In New York, at approximately 5:00 p.m. on 8 December 1980, Lennon autographed a copy of *Double Fantasy* for Mark David Chapman before leaving The Dakota with Ono for a recording session at the Record Plant. After the session, Lennon and Ono returned to the Dakota in a limousine at around 10:50 p.m. (EST). They left the vehicle and walked through the archway of the building. Chapman then shot Lennon twice in the back and twice in the shoulder at close range. Lennon was rushed in a police cruiser to the emergency room of Roosevelt Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival at 11:15 p.m. (EST).
Ono issued a statement the next day, saying "There is no funeral for John. Later in the week we will set the time for a silent vigil to pray for his soul. We invite you to participate from wherever you are at the time." She requested that instead of flowers, people could donate to Lennon's personal charitable foundation, the Spirit Foundation. "John loved and prayed for the human race. Please pray the same for him. Love. Yoko and Sean." His remains were cremated at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. Ono scattered his ashes in New York's Central Park, where the Strawberry Fields memorial was later created. Chapman avoided going to trial when he ignored his lawyer's advice and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 20-years-to-life.
In the weeks following the murder, "(Just Like) Starting Over" and *Double Fantasy* topped the charts in the UK and the US. "Imagine" hit number one in the UK in January 1981 and "Happy Xmas" peaked at number two. "Imagine" was succeeded at the top of the UK chart by "Woman", the second single from *Double Fantasy*. Later that year, Roxy Music's cover version of "Jealous Guy", recorded as a tribute to Lennon, was also a UK number-one.
## Personal relationships
### Cynthia Lennon
Lennon met Cynthia Powell (1939–2015) in 1957, when they were fellow students at the Liverpool College of Art. Although Powell was intimidated by Lennon's attitude and appearance, she heard that he was obsessed with the French actress Brigitte Bardot, so she dyed her hair blonde. Lennon asked her out, but when she said that she was engaged, he shouted, "I didn't ask you to fuckin' marry me, did I?" She often accompanied him to Quarrymen gigs and travelled to Hamburg with McCartney's girlfriend to visit him.
Lennon was jealous by nature and eventually grew possessive, often terrifying Powell with his anger. In her 2005 memoir *John*, Powell recalled that, when they were dating, Lennon once struck her after he observed her dancing with Stuart Sutcliffe. She ended their relationship as a result, until three months later, when Lennon apologised and asked to reunite. She took him back and later noted that he was never again physically abusive towards her, although he could still be "verbally cutting and unkind". Lennon later said that until he met Ono, he had never questioned his chauvinistic attitude towards women. He said that the Beatles song "Getting Better" told his (or his peers') own story. "I used to be cruel to my woman, and physically – any woman. I was a hitter. I couldn't express myself and I hit. I fought men and I hit women. That is why I am always on about peace".
Recalling his July 1962 reaction when he learned that Cynthia was pregnant, Lennon said, "There's only one thing for it Cyn. We'll have to get married." The couple wed on 23 August at the Mount Pleasant Register Office in Liverpool, with Brian Epstein serving as best man. His marriage began just as Beatlemania was taking off across the UK. He performed on the evening of his wedding day and would continue to do so almost daily from then on. Epstein feared that fans would be alienated by the idea of a married Beatle, and he asked the Lennons to keep their marriage secret. Julian was born on 8 April 1963; Lennon was on tour at the time and did not see his infant son until three days later.
Cynthia attributed the start of the marriage breakdown to Lennon's use of LSD, and she felt that he slowly lost interest in her as a result of his use of the drug. When the group travelled by train to Bangor, Wales in 1967 for the Maharishi Yogi's Transcendental Meditation seminar, a policeman did not recognise her and stopped her from boarding. She later recalled how the incident seemed to symbolise the end of their marriage. After spending a holiday in Greece, Cynthia arrived home at Kenwood to find Lennon sitting on the floor with Ono in terrycloth robes and left the house to stay with friends, feeling shocked and humiliated. A few weeks later, Alexis Mardas informed Powell that Lennon was seeking a divorce and custody of Julian. She received a letter stating that Lennon was doing so on the grounds of her adultery with Italian hotelier Roberto Bassanini, an accusation which Powell denied. After negotiations, Lennon capitulated and agreed to let her divorce him on the same grounds (adultery). The case was settled out of court in November 1968, with Lennon giving her £100,000, a small annual payment, and custody of Julian.
### Brian Epstein
The Beatles were performing at Liverpool's Cavern Club in November 1961 when they were introduced to Brian Epstein after a midday concert. Epstein was homosexual and closeted, and according to biographer Philip Norman, one of Epstein's reasons for wanting to manage the group was that he was attracted to Lennon.[ citation needed] Later biographer Mark Lewisohn called the claim unsubstantiated and wrote:
Suggestions that it was
onlyhomoerotic fantasy that drew Brian Epstein to the Beatles are distortion ... and perform a malign disservice to both him and them. It may have been part of the mix, but he was, above all else, simply the latest in an ever-lengthening line of people seduced by the Beatles' singular mix of talents.
Almost as soon as Julian was born, Lennon went on holiday to Spain with Epstein, which led to speculation about their relationship. When he was later questioned about it, Lennon said, "Well, it was almost a love affair, but not quite. It was never consummated. But it was a pretty intense relationship. It was my first experience with a homosexual that I was conscious was homosexual. We used to sit in a café in Torremolinos looking at all the boys and I'd say, 'Do you like that one? Do you like this one?' I was rather enjoying the experience, thinking like a writer all the time: I am experiencing this." Soon after their return from Spain, at McCartney's twenty-first birthday party in June 1963, Lennon physically attacked Cavern Club master of ceremonies Bob Wooler for saying "How was your honeymoon, John?" The MC, known for his wordplay and affectionate but cutting remarks, was making a joke, but ten months had passed since Lennon's marriage, and the deferred honeymoon was still two months in the future. Lennon was drunk. He later said: "He called me a queer so I battered his bloody ribs in."
Lennon delighted in mocking Epstein for his homosexuality and for the fact that he was Jewish. When Epstein invited suggestions for the title of his autobiography, Lennon offered *Queer Jew*; on learning of the eventual title, *A Cellarful of Noise*, he parodied, "More like *A Cellarful of Boys*". He demanded of a visitor to Epstein's flat, "Have you come to blackmail him? If not, you're the only bugger in London who hasn't." During the recording of "Baby, You're a Rich Man", he sang altered choruses of "Baby, you're a rich fag Jew".
### Julian Lennon
During his marriage to Cynthia, Lennon's first son Julian was born at the same time that his commitments with the Beatles were intensifying at the height of Beatlemania. Lennon was touring with the Beatles when Julian was born on 8 April 1963. Julian's birth, like his mother Cynthia's marriage to Lennon, was kept secret because Epstein was convinced that public knowledge of such things would threaten the Beatles' commercial success. Julian recalled that as a small child in Weybridge some four years later, "I was trundled home from school and came walking up with one of my watercolour paintings. It was just a bunch of stars and this blonde girl I knew at school. And Dad said, 'What's this?' I said, 'It's Lucy in the sky with diamonds.'" Lennon used it as the title of a Beatles song, and though it was later reported to have been derived from the initials LSD, Lennon insisted, "It's not an acid song." Lennon was distant from Julian, who felt closer to McCartney than to his father. During a car journey to visit Cynthia and Julian during Lennon's divorce, McCartney composed a song, "Hey Jules", to comfort him. It would evolve into the Beatles song "Hey Jude". Lennon later said, "That's his best song. It started off as a song about my son Julian ... he turned it into 'Hey Jude'. I always thought it was about me and Yoko but he said it wasn't."
Lennon's relationship with Julian was already strained, and after Lennon and Ono moved to New York in 1971, Julian did not see his father again until 1973. With Pang's encouragement, arrangements were made for Julian and his mother to visit Lennon in Los Angeles, where they went to Disneyland. Julian started to see his father regularly, and Lennon gave him a drumming part on a *Walls and Bridges* track. He bought Julian a Gibson Les Paul guitar and other instruments, and encouraged his interest in music by demonstrating guitar chord techniques. Julian recalls that he and his father "got on a great deal better" during the time he spent in New York: "We had a lot of fun, laughed a lot and had a great time in general."
In a *Playboy* interview with David Sheff shortly before his death, Lennon said, "Sean is a planned child, and therein lies the difference. I don't love Julian any less as a child. He's still my son, whether he came from a bottle of whiskey or because they didn't have pills in those days. He's here, he belongs to me, and he always will." He said he was trying to reestablish a connection with the then 17-year-old, and confidently predicted, "Julian and I will have a relationship in the future." After his death it was revealed that he had left Julian very little in his will.
### Yoko Ono
Lennon first met Yoko Ono on 9 November 1966 at the Indica Gallery in London, where Ono was preparing her conceptual art exhibit. They were introduced by gallery owner John Dunbar. Lennon was intrigued by Ono's "Hammer A Nail": patrons hammered a nail into a wooden board, creating the art piece. Although the exhibition had not yet begun, Lennon wanted to hammer a nail into the clean board, but Ono stopped him. Dunbar asked her, "Don't you know who this is? He's a millionaire! He might buy it." According to Lennon's recollection in 1980, Ono had not heard of the Beatles, but she relented on condition that Lennon pay her five shillings, to which Lennon said he replied, "I'll give you an imaginary five shillings and hammer an imaginary nail in." Ono subsequently related that Lennon had taken a bite out of the apple on display in her work *Apple*, much to her fury.
Ono began to telephone and visit Lennon at his home. When Cynthia asked him for an explanation, Lennon explained that Ono was only trying to obtain money for her "avant-garde bullshit". While his wife was on holiday in Greece in May 1968, Lennon invited Ono to visit. They spent the night recording what would become the *Two Virgins* album, after which, he said, they "made love at dawn". When Lennon's wife returned home she found Ono wearing her bathrobe and drinking tea with Lennon who simply said, "Oh, hi." Ono became pregnant in 1968 and miscarried a male child on 21 November 1968, a few weeks after Lennon's divorce from Cynthia was granted.
Two years before the Beatles disbanded, Lennon and Ono began public protests against the Vietnam War. They were married in Gibraltar on 20 March 1969, and spent their honeymoon at the Hilton Amsterdam, campaigning with a week-long bed-in. They planned another bed-in in the United States, but were denied entry, so held one instead at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, where they recorded "Give Peace a Chance". They often combined advocacy with performance art, as in their "Bagism", first introduced during a Vienna press conference. Lennon detailed this period in the Beatles song "The Ballad of John and Yoko". Lennon changed his name by deed poll on 22 April 1969, adding "Ono" as a middle name. The brief ceremony took place on the roof of the Apple Corps building, where the Beatles had performed their rooftop concert three months earlier. Although he used the name John Ono Lennon thereafter, some official documents referred to him as John Winston Ono Lennon. The couple settled at Tittenhurst Park at Sunninghill in Berkshire. After Ono was injured in a car accident, Lennon arranged for a king-size bed to be brought to the recording studio as he worked on the Beatles' album, *Abbey Road*.
Ono and Lennon moved to New York, to a flat on Bank Street, Greenwich Village. Looking for somewhere with better security, they relocated in 1973 to the more secure Dakota overlooking Central Park at 1 West 72nd Street.
### May Pang
ABKCO Industries was formed in 1968 by Allen Klein as an umbrella company to ABKCO Records. Klein hired May Pang as a receptionist in 1969. Through involvement in a project with ABKCO, Lennon and Ono met her the following year. She became their personal assistant. In 1973, after she had been working with the couple for three years, Ono confided that she and Lennon were becoming estranged. She went on to suggest that Pang should begin a physical relationship with Lennon, telling her, "He likes you a lot." Astounded by Ono's proposition, Pang nevertheless agreed to become Lennon's companion. The pair soon left for Los Angeles, beginning an 18-month period he later called his "lost weekend". In Los Angeles, Pang encouraged Lennon to develop regular contact with Julian, whom he had not seen for two years. He also rekindled friendships with Starr, McCartney, Beatles roadie Mal Evans, and Harry Nilsson.
In June, Lennon and Pang returned to Manhattan in their newly rented penthouse apartment where they prepared a spare room for Julian when he visited them. Lennon, who had been inhibited by Ono in this regard, began to reestablish contact with other relatives and friends. By December, he and Pang were considering a house purchase, and he refused to accept Ono's telephone calls. In February 1975, he agreed to meet Ono, who claimed to have found a cure for smoking. After the meeting, he failed to return home or call Pang. When Pang telephoned the next day, Ono told her that Lennon was unavailable because he was exhausted after a hypnotherapy session. Two days later, Lennon reappeared at a joint dental appointment; he was stupefied and confused to such an extent that Pang believed he had been brainwashed. Lennon told Pang that his separation from Ono was now over, although Ono would allow him to continue seeing her as his mistress.
### Sean Lennon
Sean Ono Lennon was born on 9 October 1975, his father's 35th birthday. Ono had previously suffered three miscarriages in her attempt to have a child with Lennon. After Ono and Lennon were reunited, she became pregnant again. She initially said that she wanted to have an abortion but changed her mind and agreed to allow the pregnancy to continue on the condition that Lennon adopt the role of househusband, which he agreed to do.
Following Sean's birth, Lennon's subsequent hiatus from the music industry would span five years. He had a photographer take pictures of Sean every day of his first year and created numerous drawings for him, which were posthumously published as *Real Love: The Drawings for Sean*. Lennon later proudly declared, "He didn't come out of my belly but, by God, I made his bones, because I've attended to every meal, and to how he sleeps, and to the fact that he swims like a fish."
### Former Beatles
While Lennon remained consistently friendly with Starr during the years that followed the Beatles' break-up in 1970, his relationships with McCartney and Harrison varied. He was initially close to Harrison, but the two drifted apart after Lennon moved to the US in 1971. When Harrison was in New York for his December 1974 *Dark Horse* tour, Lennon agreed to join him on stage but failed to appear after an argument over Lennon's refusal to sign an agreement that would finally dissolve the Beatles' legal partnership. Harrison later said that when he visited Lennon during his five years away from music, he sensed that Lennon was trying to communicate, but his bond with Ono prevented him. Harrison offended Lennon in 1980 when he published *I, Me, Mine*, an autobiography that Lennon felt made little mention of him. Lennon told *Playboy*, "I was hurt by it. By glaring omission ... my influence on his life is absolutely zilch ... he remembers every two-bit sax player or guitarist he met in subsequent years. I'm not in the book."
Lennon's most intense feelings were reserved for McCartney. In addition to attacking him with the lyrics of "How Do You Sleep?", Lennon argued with him through the press for three years after the group split. The two later began to reestablish something of the close friendship they had once known, and, on one occasion in 1974, even recorded music together (later bootlegged as *A Toot and a Snore in '74*) before eventually growing apart once more. During McCartney's final visit in April 1976, Lennon said that they watched the episode of *Saturday Night Live* in which Lorne Michaels made a $3,000 offer to get the Beatles to reunite on the show. According to Lennon, the pair considered going to the studio to make a joke appearance, attempting to claim their share of the money, but they were too tired. Lennon summarised his feelings towards McCartney in an interview three days before his death: "Throughout my career, I've selected to work with ... only two people: Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono ... That ain't bad picking."
Along with his estrangement from McCartney, Lennon always felt a musical competitiveness with him and kept an ear on his music. During his career break from 1975 until shortly before his death, according to Fred Seaman, Lennon and Ono's assistant at the time, Lennon was content to sit back as long as McCartney was producing what Lennon saw as mediocre material. Lennon took notice when McCartney released "Coming Up" in 1980, which was the year Lennon returned to the studio. "It's driving me crackers!" he jokingly complained, because he could not get the tune out of his head. That same year, Lennon was asked whether the group were dreaded enemies or the best of friends, and he replied that they were neither, and that he had not seen any of them in a long time. But he also said, "I still love those guys. The Beatles are over, but John, Paul, George and Ringo go on."
## Political activism
Lennon and Ono used their honeymoon as a bed-in at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel; the March 1969 event attracted worldwide media ridicule. During a second bed-in three months later at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Lennon wrote and recorded "Give Peace a Chance". Released as a single, the song was quickly interpreted as an anti-war anthem and sung by a quarter of a million demonstrators against the Vietnam War in Washington, DC, on 15 November, the second Vietnam Moratorium Day. In December, they paid for billboards in 10 cities around the world which declared, in the national language, "War Is Over! If You Want It".
During the year, Lennon and Ono began to support efforts by the family of James Hanratty to prove his innocence. Hanratty had been hanged in 1962. According to Lennon, those who had condemned Hanratty were "the same people who are running guns to South Africa and killing blacks in the streets ... The same bastards are in control, the same people are running everything, it's the whole bullshit bourgeois scene." In London, Lennon and Ono staged a "Britain Murdered Hanratty" banner march and a "Silent Protest For James Hanratty", and produced a 40-minute documentary on the case. At an appeal hearing more than thirty years later, Hanratty's conviction was upheld after DNA evidence was found to match, validating those who condemned him.
Lennon and Ono showed their solidarity with the Clydeside UCS workers' work-in of 1971 by sending a bouquet of red roses and a cheque for £5,000. On moving to New York City in August that year, they befriended two of the Chicago Seven, Yippie peace activists Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman. Another political activist, John Sinclair, poet and co-founder of the White Panther Party, was serving ten years in prison for selling two joints of marijuana after previous convictions for possession of the drug. In December 1971 at Ann Arbor, Michigan, 15,000 people attended the "John Sinclair Freedom Rally", a protest and benefit concert with contributions from Lennon, Stevie Wonder, Bob Seger, Bobby Seale of the Black Panther Party, and others. Lennon and Ono, backed by David Peel and Jerry Rubin, performed an acoustic set of four songs from their forthcoming *Some Time in New York City* album including "John Sinclair", whose lyrics called for his release. The day before the rally, the Michigan Senate passed a bill that significantly reduced the penalties for possession of marijuana and four days later Sinclair was released on an appeal bond. The performance was recorded and two of the tracks later appeared on *John Lennon Anthology* (1998).
Following the Bloody Sunday incident in Northern Ireland in 1972, Lennon said that given the choice between the British army and the IRA he would side with the latter. Lennon and Ono wrote two songs protesting British presence and actions in Ireland for their *Some Time in New York City* album: "The Luck of the Irish" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday". In 2000, David Shayler, a former member of Britain's domestic security service MI5, suggested that Lennon had given money to the IRA, though this was swiftly denied by Ono. Biographer Bill Harry records that following Bloody Sunday, Lennon and Ono financially supported the production of the film *The Irish Tapes*, a political documentary with an Irish Republican slant. In February 2000 Lennon's cousin Stanley Parkes stated that the singer had given money to the IRA during the 1970s. After the events of Bloody Sunday Lennon and Ono attended a protest in London while displaying a *Red Mole* newspaper with the headline "For the IRA, Against British Imperialism".
Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it.
According to FBI surveillance reports, and confirmed by Tariq Ali in 2006, Lennon was sympathetic to the International Marxist Group, a Trotskyist group formed in Britain in 1968. However, the FBI considered Lennon to have limited effectiveness as a revolutionary, as he was "constantly under the influence of narcotics".
In 1972, Lennon contributed a drawing and limerick titled "Why Make It Sad to Be Gay?" to Len Richmond and Gary Noguera's *The Gay Liberation Book*. Lennon's last act of political activism was a statement in support of the striking minority sanitation workers in San Francisco on 5 December 1980. He and Ono planned to join the workers' protest on 14 December.
### Deportation attempt
Following the impact of "Give Peace a Chance" and "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" on the anti-war movement, the Nixon administration heard rumours of Lennon's involvement in a concert to be held in San Diego at the same time as the 1972 Republican National Convention and tried to have him deported. Nixon believed that Lennon's anti-war activities could cost him his reelection; Republican Senator Strom Thurmond suggested in a February 1972 memo that "deportation would be a strategic counter-measure" against Lennon. The next month the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) began deportation proceedings, arguing that his 1968 misdemeanour conviction for cannabis possession in London had made him ineligible for admission to the United States. Lennon spent the next 3+1⁄2 years in and out of deportation hearings until 8 October 1975, when a court of appeals barred the deportation attempt, stating "the courts will not condone selective deportation based upon secret political grounds". While the legal battle continued, Lennon attended rallies and made television appearances. He and Ono co-hosted *The Mike Douglas Show* for a week in February 1972, introducing guests such as Jerry Rubin and Bobby Seale to mid-America. In 1972, Bob Dylan wrote a letter to the INS defending Lennon, stating:
John and Yoko add a great voice and drive to the country's so-called art institution. They inspire and transcend and stimulate and by doing so, only help others to see pure light and in doing that, put an end to this dull taste of petty commercialism which is being passed off as Artist Art by the overpowering mass media. Hurray for John and Yoko. Let them stay and live here and breathe. The country's got plenty of room and space. Let John and Yoko stay!
On 23 March 1973, Lennon was ordered to leave the US within 60 days. Ono, meanwhile, was granted permanent residence. In response, Lennon and Ono held a press conference on 1 April 1973 at the New York City Bar Association, where they announced the formation of the state of Nutopia; a place with "no land, no boundaries, no passports, only people". Waving the white flag of Nutopia (two handkerchiefs), they asked for political asylum in the US. The press conference was filmed, and appeared in a 2006 documentary, *The U.S. vs. John Lennon*. Soon after the press conference, Nixon's involvement in a political scandal came to light, and in June the Watergate hearings began in Washington, D.C.. They led to the president's resignation 14 months later. In December 1974, when he and members of his tour entourage visited the White House, Harrison asked Gerald Ford, Nixon's successor, to intercede in the matter. Ford's administration showed little interest in continuing the battle against Lennon, and the deportation order was overturned in 1975. The following year, Lennon received his green card certifying his permanent residency, and when Jimmy Carter was inaugurated as president in January 1977, Lennon and Ono attended the Inaugural Ball.
### FBI surveillance and declassified documents
After Lennon's death, historian Jon Wiener filed a Freedom of Information Act request for FBI files that documented the Bureau's role in the deportation attempt. The FBI admitted it had 281 pages of files on Lennon, but refused to release most of them on the grounds that they contained national security information. In 1983, Wiener sued the FBI with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. It took 14 years of litigation to force the FBI to release the withheld pages. The ACLU, representing Wiener, won a favourable decision in their suit against the FBI in the Ninth Circuit in 1991. The Justice Department appealed the decision to the Supreme Court in April 1992, but the court declined to review the case. In 1997, respecting President Bill Clinton's newly instigated rule that documents should be withheld only if releasing them would involve "foreseeable harm", the Justice Department settled most of the outstanding issues outside court by releasing all but 10 of the contested documents.
Wiener published the results of his 14-year campaign in January 2000. *Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files* contained facsimiles of the documents, including "lengthy reports by confidential informants detailing the daily lives of anti-war activists, memos to the White House, transcripts of TV shows on which Lennon appeared, and a proposal that Lennon be arrested by local police on drug charges". The story is told in the documentary *The US vs. John Lennon*. The final 10 documents in Lennon's FBI file, which reported on his ties with London anti-war activists in 1971 and had been withheld as containing "national security information provided by a foreign government under an explicit promise of confidentiality", were released in December 2006. They contained no indication that the British government had regarded Lennon as a serious threat; one example of the released material was a report that two prominent British leftists had hoped Lennon would finance a left-wing bookshop and reading room.
## Writing
Beatles biographer Bill Harry wrote that Lennon began drawing and writing creatively at an early age with the encouragement of his uncle. He collected his stories, poetry, cartoons and caricatures in a Quarry Bank High School exercise book that he called the *Daily Howl*. The drawings were often of crippled people, and the writings satirical, and throughout the book was an abundance of wordplay. According to classmate Bill Turner, Lennon created the *Daily Howl* to amuse his best friend and later Quarrymen bandmate Pete Shotton, to whom he would show his work before he let anyone else see it. Turner said that Lennon "had an obsession for Wigan Pier. It kept cropping up", and in Lennon's story *A Carrot in a Potato Mine*, "the mine was at the end of Wigan Pier." Turner described how one of Lennon's cartoons depicted a bus stop sign annotated with the question, "Why?" Above was a flying pancake, and below, "a blind man wearing glasses leading along a blind dog – also wearing glasses".
Lennon's love of wordplay and nonsense with a twist found a wider audience when he was 24. Harry writes that *In His Own Write* (1964) was published after "Some journalist who was hanging around the Beatles came to me and I ended up showing him the stuff. They said, 'Write a book' and that's how the first one came about". Like the *Daily Howl* it contained a mix of formats including short stories, poetry, plays and drawings. One story, "Good Dog Nigel", tells the tale of "a happy dog, urinating on a lamp post, barking, wagging his tail – until he suddenly hears a message that he will be killed at three o'clock". *The Times Literary Supplement* considered the poems and stories "remarkable ... also very funny ... the nonsense runs on, words and images prompting one another in a chain of pure fantasy". *Book Week* reported, "This is nonsense writing, but one has only to review the literature of nonsense to see how well Lennon has brought it off. While some of his homonyms are gratuitous word play, many others have not only double meaning but a double edge." Lennon was not only surprised by the positive reception, but that the book was reviewed at all, and suggested that readers "took the book more seriously than I did myself. It just began as a laugh for me".
In combination with *A Spaniard in the Works* (1965), *In His Own Write* formed the basis of the stage play *The Lennon Play: In His Own Write*, co-adapted by Victor Spinetti and Adrienne Kennedy. After negotiations between Lennon, Spinetti and the artistic director of the National Theatre, Sir Laurence Olivier, the play opened at The Old Vic in 1968. Lennon and Ono attended the opening night performance, their second public appearance together. In 1969, Lennon wrote "Four in Hand", a skit based on his teenage experiences of group masturbation, for Kenneth Tynan's play *Oh! Calcutta!* After Lennon's death, further works were published, including *Skywriting by Word of Mouth* (1986), *Ai: Japan Through John Lennon's Eyes: A Personal Sketchbook* (1992), with Lennon's illustrations of the definitions of Japanese words, and *Real Love: The Drawings for Sean* (1999). *The Beatles Anthology* (2000) also presented examples of his writings and drawings.
## Art
In 1967, Lennon, who had attended art school, funded and anonymously participated in Ono's art exhibition Half-A-Room that was held at Lisson Gallery. Following his collaborating with Ono in the form of The Plastic Ono Band that began in 1968, Lennon became involved with the Fluxus art movement. In the summer of 1968, Lennon began showing his painting and conceptual art at his You Are Here art exhibition held at Robert Fraser Gallery in London. The show, that was dedicated to Ono, included a six foot in diameter round white monochrome painting called *You Are Here* (1968). Besides the white monochrome paint, its surface contained only the tiny hand written inscription "you are here". This painting, and the show in general, was conceived as a response to Ono's conceptual art piece *This is Not Here* (1966) that was part of her Fluxus installation of wall text pieces called *Blue Room Event* (1966). *Blue Room Event* consisted of sentences that Ono wrote directly on her white New York apartment walls and ceiling. Lennon's You Are Here show also included sixty charity collection boxes, a pair of Lennon's shoes with a sign that read "I take my shoes off to you", a ready made black bike (an apparent homage to Marcel Duchamp and his 1917 Bicycle Wheel), an overturned white hat labeled *For The Artist*, and a large glass jar full of free-to-take *you are here* white pin badges. A hidden camera secretly filmed the public reaction to the show. For the 1 July opening, Lennon, dressed all in white (as was Ono), released 365 white balloons into the city sky. Each ballon had attached to it a small paper card to be mailed back to Lennon at the Robert Fraser Gallery at 69 Duke Street, with the finder's comments.
After moving to New York City, from 18 April to 12 June 1970, Lennon and Ono presented a series of Fluxus conceptual art events and concerts at Joe Jones's Tone Deaf Music Store called *GRAPEFRUIT FLUXBANQUET*. Performances included *Come Impersonating John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Grapefruit Banquet* and *Portrait of John Lennon as a Young Cloud by Yoko + Everybody*. That same year, Lennon also made *The Complete Yoko Ono Word Poem Game* (1970): a conceptual art poem collage that utilized the cut-up (or *découpé*) aleatory technique typical of the work of John Cage and many Fluxus artists. The cut-up technique can be traced to at least the Dadaists of the 1920s, but was popularized in the early 1960s by writer William S. Burroughs. For *The Complete Yoko Ono Word Poem Game*, Lennon took the portrait photo of himself that was included in the packaging of the 1968 *The Beatles* LP (aka *The White Album*) and cut it into 134 small rectangles. A single word was written on the back of each fragment, to be read in any order. The portrait image was meant to be reassembled in any order. *The Complete Yoko Ono Word Poem Game* was presented by Lennon to Ono on 28 July in an inscribed envelope for her to randomly assemble and reassemble at will.
Lennon made whimsical drawings and fine art prints on occasion until the end of his life. For example, he drew a 1968 comic for the macrobiotic magazine *Harmony* and one printed inside the sleeve of his *Wedding Album* (1969). Lennon exhibited at Eugene Schuster's London Arts Gallery his *Bag One* lithographs in an exhibition that included several depicting erotic imagery. The show opened on 15 January 1970 and 24 hours later it was raided by police officers who confiscated 8 of the 14 lithos on the grounds of indecency. The lithographs had been drawn by Lennon in 1969 chronicling his wedding and honeymoon with Yoko Ono and one of their bed-ins staged in the interests of world peace.
In 1969, Lennon appeared in the Yoko Ono Fluxus art film *Self-Portrait*, which consisted of a single forty-minute shot of Lennon's penis. The film was premiered at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. In 1971, Lennon made an experimental art film called *Erection* that was edited on 16 mm film by George Maciunas, founder of the Fluxus art movement and avant-garde contemporary of Ono. The film uses the songs "Airmale" and "You" from Ono's 1971 album *Fly*, as its soundtrack.
## Musicianship
### Instruments
Lennon played a mouth organ during a bus journey to visit his cousin in Scotland. Impressed, the driver told Lennon of a harmonica he could have if he came to Edinburgh the following day, where one had been stored in the bus depot since a passenger had left it on a bus. The professional instrument quickly replaced Lennon's toy; he often used the instrument during the Beatles' Hamburg years, and it became a signature sound in the group's early recordings. His mother taught him how to play the banjo, later buying him an acoustic guitar. At 16, he played rhythm guitar with the Quarrymen.
As his career progressed, he played a variety of electric guitars, predominantly the Rickenbacker 325, Epiphone Casino and Gibson J-160E, and, from the start of his solo career, the Gibson Les Paul Junior. *Double Fantasy* producer Jack Douglas claimed that since his Beatle days Lennon habitually tuned his D-string slightly flat, so his Aunt Mimi could tell which guitar was his on recordings. Occasionally he played a six-string bass guitar, the Fender Bass VI, providing bass on some Beatles numbers ("Back in the U.S.S.R.", "The Long and Winding Road", "Helter Skelter") that occupied McCartney with another instrument. His other instrument of choice was the piano, on which he composed many songs, including "Imagine", described as his best-known solo work. His jamming on a piano with McCartney in 1963 led to the creation of the Beatles' first US number one, "I Want to Hold Your Hand". In 1964, he became one of the first British musicians to acquire a Mellotron keyboard, though it was not heard on a Beatles recording until "Strawberry Fields Forever" in 1967.
In 2024, a guitar of Lennon's that was thought to have been lost was found in an attic and auctioned at Julien's Auctions for $2.9 million (2.68 million euros)
### Vocal style
Lennon's vocal style was heavily influenced by Little Richard, Larry Williams and Little Willie John; the British music writer Ian MacDonald noted that "no white singer" had been able to imitate them successfully before Lennon and McCartney. MacDonald contrasted Lennon's singing voice, a "brassy northern roar flecked with bluesy moans", with the "conventionally glamorous" voices of earlier artists such as Elvis Presley, Dean Martin and Cliff Richard. The British critic Nik Cohn observed of Lennon, "He owned one of the best pop voices ever, rasped and smashed and brooding, always fierce." Cohn wrote that Lennon, performing "Twist and Shout", would "rant his way into total incoherence, half rupture himself". When the Beatles recorded the song, the final track during the one-day session that produced the band's 1963 debut album, *Please Please Me*, Lennon's voice, already compromised by a cold, came close to giving out. Lennon said, "I couldn't sing the damn thing, I was just screaming." In the words of biographer Barry Miles, "Lennon simply shredded his vocal cords in the interests of rock 'n' roll." The Beatles' producer, George Martin, tells how Lennon "had an inborn dislike of his own voice which I could never understand. He was always saying to me: 'DO something with my voice! ... put something on it ... Make it *different*.'" Martin obliged, often using double-tracking and other techniques.
As his Beatles era segued into his solo career, his singing voice found a widening range of expression. Biographer Chris Gregory writes of Lennon "tentatively beginning to expose his insecurities in a number of acoustic-led 'confessional' ballads, so beginning the process of 'public therapy' that will eventually culminate in the primal screams of 'Cold Turkey' and the cathartic *John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band*." Music critic Robert Christgau called this Lennon's "greatest vocal performance ... from scream to whine, is modulated electronically ... echoed, filtered, and double tracked." David Stuart Ryan described Lennon's vocal delivery as ranging from "extreme vulnerability, sensitivity and even naivety" to a hard "rasping" style. Wiener too described contrasts, saying the singer's voice can be "at first subdued; soon it almost cracks with despair". Music historian Ben Urish recalled hearing the Beatles' *Ed Sullivan Show* performance of "This Boy" played on the radio a few days after Lennon's murder: "As Lennon's vocals reached their peak ... it hurt too much to hear him scream with such anguish and emotion. But it was my emotions I heard in his voice. Just like I always had."
## Legacy
Music historians Schinder and Schwartz wrote of the transformation in popular music styles that took place between the 1950s and the 1960s. They said that the Beatles' influence cannot be overstated: having "revolutionised the sound, style, and attitude of popular music and opened rock and roll's doors to a tidal wave of British rock acts", the group then "spent the rest of the 1960s expanding rock's stylistic frontiers". On National Poetry Day in 1999, the BBC conducted a poll to identify the UK's favourite song lyric and announced "Imagine" as the winner.
Two home recording demos by Lennon, "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love", were finished by the three surviving members of the Beatles when they reunited in 1994 and 1995. Both songs were released as Beatles singles in conjunction with *The Beatles Anthology* compilations. A third song, "Now and Then", was also worked on but not released until 2023 whereupon it was dubbed "the last Beatles song", topping the UK charts.
In 1997, Yoko Ono and the BMI Foundation established an annual music competition programme for songwriters of contemporary musical genres to honour John Lennon's memory and his large creative legacy. Over $400,000 have been given through BMI Foundation's *John Lennon Scholarships* to talented young musicians in the United States.
In a 2006 *Guardian* article, Jon Wiener wrote: "For young people in 1972, it was thrilling to see Lennon's courage in standing up to [US President] Nixon. That willingness to take risks with his career, and his life, is one reason why people still admire him today." For music historians Urish and Bielen, Lennon's most significant effort was "the self-portraits ... in his songs [which] spoke to, for, and about, the human condition." Writing for *El País* in 2024, Amaia Odriozola described Lennon's Windsor glasses as being "known all over the world" and credited him with pioneering glasses as a "style statement" for musicians.
In 2013, Downtown Music Publishing signed a publishing administration agreement for the US with Lenono Music and Ono Music, home to the song catalogues of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, respectively. Under the terms of the agreement, Downtown represents Lennon's solo works, including "Imagine", "Instant Karma (We All Shine On)", "Power to the People", "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", "Jealous Guy", "(Just Like) Starting Over" and others.
Lennon has been the subject of numerous memorials and tributes. In 2002, the airport in Lennon's home town was renamed the Liverpool John Lennon Airport. On what would have been Lennon's 70th birthday in 2010, Cynthia and Julian Lennon unveiled the John Lennon Peace Monument in Chavasse Park, Liverpool. The sculpture, entitled *Peace & Harmony*, exhibits peace symbols and carries the inscription "Peace on Earth for the Conservation of Life · In Honour of John Lennon 1940–1980". In December 2013, the International Astronomical Union named one of the craters on Mercury after Lennon.
There is a John Lennon Park in Havana, Cuba which features a statue in his likeness sitting on a bench.
### Accolades
The Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership is regarded as one of the most influential and successful of the 20th century. As performer, writer or co-writer, Lennon had 25 number one singles in the US Hot 100 chart. His album sales in the US stand at 14 million units. *Double Fantasy* was his best-selling album, at three million shipments in the US. Released shortly before his death, it won the 1981 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. That year, the BRIT Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music was given to Lennon.
Participants in a 2002 BBC poll voted him eighth of "100 Greatest Britons". Between 2003 and 2008, *Rolling Stone* recognised Lennon in several reviews of artists and music, ranking him fifth of "100 Greatest Singers of All Time" and 38th of "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", and his albums *John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band* and *Imagine*, 22nd and 76th respectively of "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) with the other Beatles in 1965, but returned his medal in 1969 because of "Britain's involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam, and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts". Lennon was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
## Discography
### Studio albums
*John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band*(Apple, 1970)*Imagine*(Apple, 1971)*Some Time in New York City*(with Yoko Ono, Apple, 1972)*Mind Games*(Apple, 1973)*Walls and Bridges*(Apple, 1974)*Rock 'n' Roll*(Apple, 1975)*Double Fantasy*(with Yoko Ono, Geffen, 1980)*Milk and Honey*(Posthumous with Yoko Ono, Polydor, 1984)
### Experimental studio albums with Yoko Ono
*Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins*(Apple, 1968)*Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions*(Zapple, 1969)*Wedding Album*(Apple, 1969)
## Filmography
All releases after his death in 1980 use archival footage.
### Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | A Hard Day's Night
|
Himself | |
| 1965 | Help!
|
Himself | |
| 1967 | Bottoms
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 1967 | How I Won the War
|
Gripweed | |
| 1967 | Magical Mystery Tour
|
Himself / Ticket Salesman / Magician with Coffee | Also narrator, writer and director (producer uncredited) |
| 1967 | Pink Floyd: London '66-'67
|
Himself (uncredited) | Documentary short |
| 1968 | Yellow Submarine
|
Himself | Cameo at the end |
| 1968 | Two Virgins
|
Himself | Short film, writer, producer, director |
| 1968 | No. 5
|
Himself | Short film, writer, producer, director |
| 1969 | Bed Peace
|
Himself | Writer, producer, director |
| 1969 | Honeymoon
|
Himself | Writer, producer, director |
| 1969 | Self-Portrait
|
Himself | Short film, writer, producer, director |
| 1969 | Walden (Diaries, Notes, and Sketches)
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 1969 | Muhammad Ali, the Greatest
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 1970 | Apotheosis
|
Himself | Short film, writer, producer, director |
| 1970 | Let It Be
|
Himself | Documentary (executive producer – as The Beatles) |
| 1970 | Fly
|
— | Short film, writer, producer, director |
| 1970 | Freedom
|
— | Short film, music, writer, producer, director |
| 1970 | 3 Days in the Life
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 1971 | Breathing Together: Revolution of the Electric Family
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 1971 | Up Your Legs Forever
|
— | Producer, director |
| 1971 | Erection
|
— | Short film, producer, director |
| 1971 | Clock
|
Himself / Singer | Music, writer, producer, director |
| 1971 | Sweet Toronto
|
Himself | Concert film |
| 1971 | The Museum of Modern Art Show
|
Himself | Documentary short |
| 1972 | Ten for Two: The John Sinclair Freedom Rally
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 1972 | Eat the Document
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 1976 | Chelsea Girls with Andy Warhol
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 1977 | The Day the Music Died
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 1982 | The Compleat Beatles
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 1988 | Imagine: John Lennon
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 1990 | The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 1996 | The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus
|
Himself | Concert film from 1968 |
| 2003 | Lennon Legend: The Very Best of John Lennon
|
Himself | Remastered music video collection |
| 2006 | The U.S. vs. John Lennon
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 2006 | John & Yoko: Give Peace a Song
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 2007 | I Met the Walrus
|
Himself (voice) | Short film, recorded 1969 |
| 2008 | All Together Now
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 2010 | LennoNYC
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 2016 | The Beatles: Eight Days a Week
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 2018 | Looking for Lennon
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 2021 | The Beatles: Get Back
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 2022 | The Lost Weekend : A Love Story
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 2024 | Daytime Revolution
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 2024 | One to One: John & Yoko
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 2024 | No Hamburg No Beatles
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 2024 | Beatles '64
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 2025 | Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade
|
Himself | Documentary |
### Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1963–64 | Ready Steady Go!
|
Himself | Music program, 4 episodes |
| 1964 | Around the Beatles
|
Himself | Concert special |
| 1964 | What's Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A.
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 1964–65 | The Ed Sullivan Show
|
Himself | Variety show, 4 episodes |
| 1965 | The Music of Lennon & McCartney
|
Himself | Variety tribute special |
| 1965–66 | Not Only... But Also
|
Lavatory Attendant / Guest | Episodes: "Episode #1.1" (1965) and "Christmas Special" (1966) |
| 1966 | The Beatles at Shea Stadium
|
Himself | Concert special |
| 1966 | The Beatles in Japan
|
Himself | Concert special |
| 1969 | Rape
|
Himself | Drama/thriller, sound, editor, writer, producer, director |
| 1971–72 | The Dick Cavett Show
|
Himself | Talk show, 3 episodes |
| 1972 | John Lennon and Yoko Ono Present the One-to-One Concert
|
Himself | Concert special |
| 1972 | The Mike Douglas Show
|
Himself | Talk show, 5 episodes |
| 1972 | Imagine
|
Himself | Music film special |
| 1975 | A Salute to the Beatles: Once upon a Time
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 1975 | The Tomorrow Show
|
Himself | Talk show |
| 1977 | All You Need Is Love: The Story of Popular Music
|
Himself | Documentary mini-series |
| 1987 | It Was Twenty Years Ago Today
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 1995 | The Beatles Anthology
|
Himself | Documentary mini-series |
| 2000 | Gimme Some Truth: The Making of John Lennon's Imagine Album
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 2000 | John & Yoko's Year of Peace
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 2008 | Classic Albums: John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
|
Himself | Documentary |
| 2018 | John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky
|
Himself | Documentary |
## Bibliography
*In His Own Write*(1964)*A Spaniard in the Works*(1965)*Skywriting by Word of Mouth*(1986)*Lyrics of John Lennon*(1997)*The John Lennon Letters*(2012)
## See also
- Outline of the Beatles
- The Beatles timeline
- List of peace activists
- List of most valuable celebrity memorabilia
## Notes
### Citations
### Sources
## Further reading
## External links
- John Lennon at AllMusic
- John Lennon in the Hollywood Walk of Fame Directory
- "John Lennon". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
- John Lennon at IMDb
- John Lennon at the TCM Movie Database
- BBC Archive on John Lennon
- NPR Archive on John Lennon
- FBI file on John Lennon
- John Lennon hosted by EMI Group Limited
- Lambiek Comiclopedia biography about John Lennon, with detailed information about his graphic career.
- Coverage of the assassination of John Lennon as heard on various radio stations in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN area.
|
# Chief executive officer - Wikipedia
A **chief executive officer** (**CEO**), also known as a *chief executive* or *managing director*, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization.
CEOs find roles in various organizations, including public and private corporations, nonprofit organizations, and even some government organizations (notably state-owned enterprises). The governor and CEO of a corporation or company typically reports to the board of directors and is charged with maximizing the value of the business, which may include maximizing the profitability, market share, revenue, or another financial metric. In the nonprofit and government sector, CEOs typically aim at achieving outcomes related to the organization's mission, usually provided by legislation. CEOs are also frequently assigned the role of the main manager of the organization and the highest-ranking officer in the C-suite.
The term "chief executive officer" is attested as early as 1782, when an ordinance of the Congress of the Confederation of the United States of America used the term to refer to governors and other leaders of the executive branches of each of the Thirteen Colonies. In draft additions to the *Oxford English Dictionary* published online in 2011, the *Dictionary* says that the use of "CEO" as an acronym for a chief executive officer originated in Australia, with the first attestation being in 1914. The first American usage cited is from 1972.
The responsibilities of an organization's CEO are set by the organization's board of directors or other authority, depending on the organization's structure. They can be far-reaching or quite limited, and are typically enshrined in a formal delegation of authority regarding business administration. Typically, responsibilities include being an active decision-maker on business strategy and other key policy issues, as well as leader, manager, and executor roles. The communicator role can involve speaking to the press and the public, as well as to the organization's management and employees. The decision-making role entails making high-level decisions regarding policy and strategy. The CEO is responsible for implementing the goals, targets, and strategic objectives as determined by the board of directors.
As an executive officer of the company, the CEO reports the status of the business to the board of directors, motivates employees, and drives change within the organization. As a manager, the CEO presides over the organization's day-to-day operations. The CEO is the person who is ultimately accountable for a company's business decisions, including those in operations, marketing, business development, finance, human resources, etc. The CEO of a political party is often entrusted with fundraising, particularly for election campaigns.
The use of the CEO title may be used by for-profit companies or non-profit or charitable organisations, such as the Wikimedia Foundation.
In some countries, there is a dual board system with two separate boards, one executive board for the day-to-day business and one supervisory board for control purposes (selected by the shareholders). In these countries, the CEO presides over the executive board and the chairperson presides over the supervisory board, and these two roles will always be held by different people. This ensures a distinction between management by the executive board and governance by the supervisory board. This allows for clear lines of authority. The aim is to prevent a conflict of interest and too much power being concentrated in the hands of one person.
In the United States, the board of directors (elected by the shareholders) is often equivalent to the supervisory board, while the executive board may often be known as the executive committee (the division/subsidiary heads and C-level officers that report directly to the CEO).
In the United States, and in business, the executive officers are usually the top officers of a corporation, the chief executive officer (CEO) being the best-known type. The definition varies; for instance, the California Corporate Disclosure Act defines "executive officers" as the five most highly compensated officers not also sitting on the board of directors. In the case of a sole proprietorship, an executive officer is the sole proprietor. In the case of a partnership, an executive officer is a managing partner, senior partner, or administrative partner. In the case of a limited liability company, an executive officer is any member, manager, or officer.
Depending on the organization, a CEO may have several subordinate executives to help run the day-to-day administration of the company, each of whom has specific functional responsibilities referred to as senior executives, executive officers or corporate officers. Subordinate executives are given different titles in different organizations, but one common category of subordinate executive, if the CEO is also the president, is the vice president (VP). An organization may have more than one vice president, each tasked with a different area of responsibility (e.g., VP of finance, VP of human resources). Examples of subordinate executive officers who typically report to the CEO include the chief operating officer (COO), chief financial officer (CFO), chief strategy officer (CSO), chief marketing officer (CMO) and chief business officer (CBO). The public relations-focused position of chief reputation officer is sometimes included as one such subordinate executive officer, but, as suggested by Anthony Johndrow, CEO of Reputation Economy Advisors, it can also be seen as "simply another way to add emphasis to the role of a modern-day CEO – where they are both the external face of, and the driving force behind, an organization culture".
In the US, the term "chief executive officer" is used primarily in business, whereas the term "executive director" is used primarily in the not-for-profit sector. These terms are generally mutually exclusive and refer to distinct legal duties and responsibilities. The CEO is the highest-ranking executive in a company, making corporate decisions, managing operations, allocating resources, and serving as the main point of communication between the board of directors and the company.
In the UK, chief executive and chief executive officer are used in local government, where their position in law is described as the "head of paid service", and in business and in the charitable sector. As of 2013[update], the use of the term director for senior charity staff is deprecated to avoid confusion with the legal duties and responsibilities associated with being a charity director or trustee, which are normally non-executive (unpaid) roles. The term **managing director** is often used in lieu of chief executive officer.
Business publicists since the days of Edward Bernays (1891–1995) and his client John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937) and even more successfully the corporate publicists for Henry Ford, promoted the concept of the "celebrity CEO". Business journalists have often adopted this approach, which assumes that the corporate achievements, especially in the arena of manufacturing, are produced by uniquely talented individuals, especially the "heroic CEO". In effect, journalists celebrate a CEO who takes distinctive strategic actions. The model is the celebrity in entertainment, sports, and politics – compare the "great man theory". Guthey *et al.* argues that "...these individuals are not self-made, but rather are created by a process of widespread media exposure to the point that their actions, personalities, and even private lives function symbolically to represent significant dynamics and tensions prevalent in the contemporary business atmosphere". Journalism thereby exaggerates the importance of the CEO and tends to neglect harder-to-describe broader corporate factors. There is little attention to the intricately organized technical bureaucracy that actually does the work. Hubris sets in when the CEO internalizes the celebrity and becomes excessively self-confident in making complex decisions. There may be an emphasis on the sort of decisions that attract the celebrity journalists.
Research published in 2009 by Ulrike Malmendier and Geoffrey Tate indicates that "firms with award-winning CEOs subsequently underperform, in terms both of stock and of operating performance".
Executive compensation has been a source of criticism following a dramatic rise in pay relative to the average worker's wage. For example, the relative pay was 20-to-1 in 1965 in the US, but had risen to 376-to-1 by 2000. The relative pay differs around the world, and, in some smaller countries, is still around 20-to-1. Observers differ as to whether the rise is due to competition for talent or due to lack of control by compensation committees. In recent years, investors have demanded more say over executive pay.
Lack of diversity amongst chief executives has also been a source of criticism. In 2018, 5% of *Fortune* 500 CEOs were women. In 2023 the number rose to 10.4% of for Women CEO's of Fortune 500 companies. The reasons for this are explained or justified in various ways, and may include biological sex differences, male and female differences in Big Five personality traits and temperament, sex differences in psychology and interests, maternity and career breaks, hypergamy, phallogocentrism, the existence of old boy networks, tradition, and the lack of female role models in that regard. Some countries have passed laws mandating boardroom gender quotas. In 2023 Rockefeller Foundation awarded a grant to Korn Ferry to research strategies and then action a plan to help more women to become CEO's.
There are contentious claims that a significant number of CEO's have psychopathic tendencies, often characterized by power-seeking behavior and dominance. These individuals can often conceal their ruthlessness and antisocial behavior behind a facade of charm and eloquence. Traits such as courage and risk-taking, generally considered desirable, are often found alongside these psychopathic tendencies.
Tara Swart, a neuroscientist at MIT Sloan School of Management, has suggested that individuals with psychopathic traits thrive in chaotic environments and are aware that others do not. As a result, they may intentionally create chaos in the workplace. This perspective is explored in the book *Snakes in Suits*, co-authored by Robert D. Hare.
However, Scott Lilienfeld has argued that the attention given to psychopathy in the workplace by both the media and scholars has far exceeded the available scientific evidence. Emilia Bunea, writing in *Psychology Today*, has linked psychopathic traits in managers to workplace bullying, employee dissatisfaction, and turnover intentions. Despite this, Bunea cautions that excessive worry about supposed psychopathic managers could discourage individuals from pursuing careers in corporations and deter employees from addressing issues with difficult bosses.
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- Huang, Jiekun; Kisgen, Darren J. (2013). "Gender and corporate finance: Are male executives overconfident relative to female executives?" (PDF).
*Journal of Financial Economics*.**108**(3): 822–839. doi:10.1016/j.jfineco.2012.12.005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-07-21. - Kaplan, Steven N.; Klebanov, Mark M.; Sorensen, Morten (2012). "Which CEO Characteristics and Abilities Matter?" (PDF).
*The Journal of Finance*.**67**(3): 973–1007. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6261.2012.01739.x. - Shleifer, Andrei; Vishny, Robert W. (1997). "A Survey of Corporate Governance".
*The Journal of Finance*.**52**(2): 737–783. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6261.1997.tb04820.x. S2CID 54538527. - Vancil, Richard F.
*Passing the baton: Managing the process of CEO succession*(Harvard Business School Press, 1987).
- Media related to Chief executive officers at Wikimedia Commons
- Quotations related to Chief executive officer at Wikiquote
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