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Replicant
A replicant is a fictional bioengineered being in the 1982 film "Blade Runner", and in its 2017 sequel "Blade Runner 2049". The Nexus-series of replicants are virtually identical to adult humans but have superior strength, speed, agility, resilience, and intelligence, to varying degrees depending on the model. A replicant can only be detected by means of the fictional Voight-Kampff test, in which emotional responses are provoked and a replicant's nonverbal responses differ from those of a human. A version of the test, referred to as a Baseline, is taken by K in "Blade Runner 2049" to detect any mental or empathic damage, for which failure means retirement. Throughout the franchise the euphemism "retire" is used when referring to killing Replicants.
Nexus-6 replicants (e.g. Roy Batty) have a safety mechanism, namely a four-year lifespan, to prevent them from developing empathic abilities (and, therefore, immunity to the test). Nexus-7 replicants (e.g. Rachael) were limited experimental models by Tyrell Corporation with a capability to reproduce. Nexus-8 replicants (e.g. Sapper Morton, Freysa), also by Tyrell Corporation, have an open-ended lifespan; however, a rebellion resulting in the "Blackout of 2022" led them to be discontinued and hunted down for retirement. Nexus-9 replicants (e.g. K), by Wallace Corporation, are also open-ended but have increased compliance which makes them incapable of not following human orders, and are thus full slaves. Replicants are sometimes referred to by the slur "skin-job".
In his novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" (the inspiration for "Blade Runner"), Philip K. Dick used the term android (or "andy"), but director Ridley Scott wanted a new term that the audience would not have any preconceptions about. As David Peoples was re-writing the screenplay, he consulted his daughter, who was involved in microbiology and biochemistry. She suggested the term "replicating", the biological process of a cell making a copy of itself. From that, either Peoples or Scott—each would later recall it was the other—came up with "replicant", and it was inserted into Hampton Fancher's screenplay.
Prior to the events of the film, replicants became illegal on Earth after a bloody off-world mutiny by a band of Nexus-6 models. Two weeks before the starting point of the film, six Nexus-6 replicants escaped the off-world colonies, killing 23 people and taking a shuttle to Earth; the film focuses on the pursuit of the replicants by Rick Deckard, a category of police-officer bounty-hunter called a "Blade Runner", who investigates, tests, and retires replicants found on Earth.
Nexus-6 replicants had been designed to copy humans in every way except for their emotions. The Tyrell Corporation "began to recognize in them a strange obsession", and in order to be able to control them better, started to implant false memories into the replicants in order to give them the years of experiences that humans take for granted; these memories created "a cushion or pillow for their emotions".
Early in the film, Captain Bryant tells Deckard that the Nexus-6 units' possible eventual development of emotional responses was the reason the Tyrell Corporation designed them with a four-year lifespan. Dr Eldon Tyrell states in the film they were made as well as they could be with a limited lifespan. All attempts to increase a replicant's lifespan has resulted in death. The unsuccessful procedures they tried were:
Deckard had no experience with Nexus-6 replicants at the beginning of the film; he and Captain Bryant are puzzled as to why they have risked coming back to Earth and Deckard is unsure how effective the Voight-Kampff test would be on them, as they appeared to have developed human emotion.
Escaped replicants (all Nexus-6 models):
Other replicants (possible Nexus-7 models):
According to Deckard, a normal replicant can usually be discovered using the Voight-Kampff test, after being given 20–30 questions. Rachael answers over 100 questions before Deckard determines she is a replicant. The theatrical cut's voice-over ending said that, as an experimental replicant, Rachael did not have the four-year life but the Director's Cut did not address this. Scott said that he had wanted to cast a young actress in the role to emphasise Rachael's naivety and unworldliness.
The second film further developed Rachael's origin, and gave significantly more details about its radical design. It revealed most significantly that it was an experimental reproductive model of replicant (which ultimately produced a daughter with Deckard) with a high percentage of human organs in comparison to replicant parts. It has an internal human bone structure, natural eyes, hair, skin and reproductive organs, which explains its ability to pass as human. Thus, the film suggests it was only its brain and possibly other vital organs which were the replicant parts. As Rachael died during childbirth, its possible survival beyond the four years was undetermined.
In "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", the android manufacturer, known as the Rosen Corporation, did not know how to manufacture an android capable of living beyond four years. The super-soldiers in "Soldier"—the spiritual successor to "Blade Runner"—are intended to be replicants in the film.
The dark, paranoid atmosphere of "Blade Runner", and its multiple versions, add fuel to the speculation and debate over this issue. In "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", Rick Deckard (the protagonist) is at one point tricked into following an android, whom he believes to be a police officer, to a fake police station. Deckard then escapes and retires some androids there before returning to his own police station. Deckard takes the Voight-Kampff test and passes, confirming that he is a human.
Harrison Ford, who played Deckard in the film, has said that he did not think Deckard is a replicant, and has said that he and director Ridley Scott had discussions that ended in the agreement that the character was human. According to several interviews with Scott, Deckard "is" a replicant. Deckard collects photographs which are seen on his piano, yet has no obvious family beyond a reference to his ex-wife (who called him a "cold fish"). The film's Supervising Editor Terry Rawlings remembers that Scott "purposefully put Harrison in the background of the shot, and slightly out of focus, so that you'd only notice his eyes were glowing if you were paying attention... Ridley himself may have definitely felt that Deckard is a replicant, but still, by the end of the picture, he intended to leave it up to the viewer."
Author Will Brooker has written that the dream may not be unique to Deckard and that unicorn dreams may be a personal touch added to some or all of the Nexus-6 replicants' brains. Since we are not privy to the dreams of the other replicants, this is unknown. From this, one could also derive that Gaff is a replicant and may share the same embedded memory.
Paul Sammon, author of "Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner", has suggested in interviews that Deckard may be a Nexus-7, a new generation of replicant who possesses no superhuman strength or intelligence but does have neurological features that complete the illusion of humanity. Scott has mentioned Nexus-7 and Nexus-8 replicants as possibilities in a sequel to the film. Sammon also suggests that Nexus-7 replicants may not have a set lifespan (i.e., they could be immortal).
Sammon wrote that Scott thought it would be more provocative to imply that Deckard is a replicant. This ties back into the theme of "what is it to be human?" What is important is not whether Deckard is a replicant but that the ambiguity blurs the line between humans and replicants.
When Scott was asked about the possibility of a "Blade Runner" sequel in October 2012, he said, "It's not a rumor—it's happening. With Harrison Ford? I don't know yet. Is he too old? Well, he was a Nexus-6, so we don't know how long he can live. And that's all I'm going to say at this stage".
The sequel "Blade Runner 2049" was released in October 2017, which revisited the question while leaving the answer deliberately ambiguous. The film reveals that Deckard was able to naturally conceive a child with Rachael, and this was possible because she was an experimental prototype (designated Nexus-7), the first and only attempt to design a replicant model capable of procreating on its own. The Tyrell Corporation eventually went bankrupt after several replicant rebellions and was bought out by Wallace Corporation, which took over replicant production, but it could not duplicate Tyrell's success with Rachael. Niander Wallace, the sinister CEO of the company, captures Deckard and muses to him about how he met her and fell in love: Wallace thinks it sounds too perfect, and ponders if Deckard himself was designed to fall in love with Rachael, as part of Tyrell's experiment to develop replicants that can procreate (in which case Deckard is a replicant) - but Wallace also admits that with Tyrell dead and the records destroyed, he'll never know, and it is equally possible that Tyrell never planned for Rachael and Deckard to fall in love (in which case, Deckard is probably human).
Although the press kit for the film explicitly defines a replicant as "A genetically engineered creature composed entirely of organic substance", the physical make-up of the replicants themselves is not clear. In the films's preamble, it is noted that replicants are said to be the result of "advanced robot evolution." The preamble also states that replicants were created by genetic engineers. Characters mention that replicants have eyes and brains like humans, and they are seen to bleed when injured. The only way of telling a replicant from a human is to ask a series of questions and analyze emotional responses, suggesting they might be entirely, or almost entirely, organic. The film also shows that at least certain body parts of a replicant are separately engineered and assembled, as shown with Hannibal Chew, a genetic engineer who specifically made replicant eyes. In a deleted scene, J.F. Sebastian was stated to have made replicant hands along with his own personal robotic toys.
During the creation process of a replicant, their physical and mental capacities are separately ranked on a A to C system and designated for each replicant with the C level representing below normal human ability, B level being equal to a normal human and A being above normal human ability, the latter of which leads to superhuman physicality or genius level intelligence.
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" makes mention of the biological components of the androids, but also alludes to mechanical aspects commonly found in other material relating to robots. It states that the bone marrow can be tested to prove whether it is from a human or replicant.
In May 2012, Scott confirmed that the replicants were biological in nature, and contrasted them to the androids in the "Alien" series: Roy Batty was an evolved... He wasn't an engine. If I cut him open, there wasn't metal, he was grown... and then within twenty years you get the first bill not passed in the Senate where they applied for replication of animals, sheep and goats and cattle and animals and they turned it down, but if you can do that, then you can do human beings. If you go deeper into it and say 'Yeah, but if you are going to grow a human being, does he start that big and I've got to see him through everything?'
I don't want to answer the question, because of course he does... Ash in "Alien" had nothing to do with Roy Batty, because Roy Batty is more humanoid, whereas Ash was more metal.
The sequel "Blade Runner 2049" was released in October 2017. In the intervening 30 years, several major events occurred and new replicant lines were introduced.
The sequel retroactively establishes that Rachael was part of a short-lived prototype line of replicants designated Nexus-7, which was not only intended as a test to make replicants more mentally stable with implanted memories, but to develop replicants capable of naturally conceiving children on their own (all other models before or since are sterile). Rachael died in childbirth in 2021, and the child was hidden by the replicant underground.
In 2020, Tyrell Corporation introduced the Nexus-8 replicant, built with open lifespans not limited to only four years. Tyrell himself had been killed during the events of the first movie in November 2019, and the secret of producing replicants that can procreate died with him. The Nexus-8 went into mass production, but a new wave of replicant rebellions occurred, culminating in rogue Nexus-8's detonating a nuclear weapon in orbit over the western United States, to create an electromagnetic pulse that wiped out all of the electronic records. The Blackout destroyed most records about replicants, making it difficult for humans to track them down on Earth, but the terrorist attack led to mass purges and complete shutdown of Nexus-8 production (though many existing units were able to go into hiding in the chaos).
In 2036, however, genetic engineer Niander Wallace designed a new line of Nexus-9 replicants. They also have an open lifespan, but were designed to be unable to resist orders given by a human, even if that order is to commit suicide. Wallace Corporation had solved a global food crisis with genetically modified crops, which combined with the demonstrated effectiveness of Nexus-9 programming, allowed him to successfully push for the ban on replicant production to be lifted.
By 2049, Nexus-9 replicants are extensively used across Earth and the off-world colonies, but they also necessitate special police units tasked with tracking down any that might go rogue, and any remaining Nexus-8's still in hiding (Nexus-7 was never mass-produced, and all the older models like Nexus-6 simply died of old age decades before). These police units are once again called Blade Runners, but are now openly composed of self-aware replicants (such as officer KD6-3.7), who are fully aware that they are replicants themselves. Like Nexus-7, Nexus-9 models also have implanted memories to aid their mental stability, though they are aware that these memories are fabrications. Additionally the use of real memories in replicants is illegal, all memories have to be original fabrications. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26473 |
Roman Jakobson
Roman Osipovich Jakobson (; October 11, 1896 – July 18, 1982) was a Russian-American linguist and literary theorist.
A pioneer of structural linguistics, Jakobson was one of the most celebrated and influential linguists of the twentieth century. With Nikolai Trubetzkoy, he developed revolutionary new techniques for the analysis of linguistic sound systems, in effect founding the modern discipline of phonology. Jakobson went on to extend similar principles and techniques to the study of other aspects of language such as syntax, morphology and semantics. He made numerous contributions to Slavic linguistics, most notably two studies of Russian case and an analysis of the categories of the Russian verb. Drawing on insights from C. S. Peirce's semiotics, as well as from communication theory and cybernetics, he proposed methods for the investigation of poetry, music, the visual arts, and cinema.
Through his decisive influence on Claude Lévi-Strauss and Roland Barthes, among others, Jakobson became a pivotal figure in the adaptation of structural analysis to disciplines beyond linguistics, including philosophy, anthropology, and literary theory; his development of the approach pioneered by Ferdinand de Saussure, known as "structuralism", became a major post-war intellectual movement in Europe and the United States. Meanwhile, though the influence of structuralism declined during the 1970s, Jakobson's work has continued to receive attention in linguistic anthropology, especially through the ethnography of communication developed by Dell Hymes and the semiotics of culture developed by Jakobson's former student Michael Silverstein. Jakobson's concept of underlying linguistic universals, particularly his celebrated theory of distinctive features, decisively influenced the early thinking of Noam Chomsky, who became the dominant figure in theoretical linguistics during the second half of the twentieth century.
Jakobson was born in Russia on 11 October 1896 to a well-to-do family of Jewish descent, the industrialist Osip Jakobson and chemist Anna Volpert Jakobson, and he developed a fascination with language at a very young age. He studied at the Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages and then at the Historical-Philological Faculty of Moscow University. As a student he was a leading figure of the Moscow Linguistic Circle and took part in Moscow's active world of avant-garde art and poetry. The linguistics of the time was overwhelmingly neogrammarian and insisted that the only scientific study of language was to study the history and development of words across time (the diachronic approach, in Saussure's terms). Jakobson, on the other hand, had come into contact with the work of Ferdinand de Saussure, and developed an approach focused on the way in which language's structure served its basic function (synchronic approach) – to communicate information between speakers. Jakobson was also well known for his critique of the emergence of sound in film. Jakobson received a master's degree from Moscow University in 1918.
Although he was initially an enthusiastic supporter of the Bolshevik revolution, Jakobson soon became disillusioned as his early hopes for an explosion of creativity in the arts fell victim to increasing state conservatism and hostility. He left Moscow for Prague in 1920, where he worked as a member of the Soviet diplomatic mission while continuing with his doctoral studies. Then, in 1933, he took up a chair at Brno. Living in Czechoslovakia meant that Jakobson was physically close to the linguist who would be his most important collaborator during the 1920s and 1930s, Prince Nikolai Trubetzkoy, who fled Russia at the time of the Revolution and took up a chair at Vienna in 1922. In 1926 the Prague school of linguistic theory was established by the professor of English at Charles University, Vilém Mathesius, with Jakobson as a founding member and a prime intellectual force (other members included Nikolai Trubetzkoy, René Wellek and Jan Mukařovský). Jakobson immersed himself in both the academic and cultural life of pre-World War II Czechoslovakia and established close relationships with a number of Czech poets and literary figures. Jakobson received his Ph.D. from Charles University in 1930. He became a professor at Masaryk University in Brno in 1933. He also made an impression on Czech academics with his studies of Czech verse.
Jakobson escaped from Prague in early March 1939 via Berlin for Denmark, where he was associated with the Copenhagen linguistic circle, and such intellectuals as Louis Hjelmslev. He fled to Norway on 1 September 1939, and in 1940 walked across the border to Sweden, where he continued his work at the Karolinska Hospital (with works on aphasia and language competence). When Swedish colleagues feared a possible German occupation, he managed to leave on a cargo ship, together with Ernst Cassirer (the former rector of Hamburg University) to New York City in 1941 to become part of the wider community of intellectual émigrés who fled there.
In New York, he began teaching at The New School, still closely associated with the Czech émigré community during that period. At the École libre des hautes études, a sort of Francophone university-in-exile, he met and collaborated with Claude Lévi-Strauss, who would also become a key exponent of structuralism. He also made the acquaintance of many American linguists and anthropologists, such as Franz Boas, Benjamin Whorf, and Leonard Bloomfield. When the American authorities considered "repatriating" him to Europe, it was Franz Boas who actually saved his life. After the war, he became a consultant to the International Auxiliary Language Association, which would present Interlingua in 1951.
In 1949 Jakobson moved to Harvard University, where he remained until his retirement in 1967. His universalizing structuralist theory of phonology, based on a markedness hierarchy of distinctive features, achieved its canonical exposition in a book published in the United States in 1951, jointly authored by Roman Jakobson, C. Gunnar Fant and Morris Halle. In the same year, Jakobson's theory of 'distinctive features' made a profound impression on the thinking of young Noam Chomsky, in this also way influencing generative linguistics.
In his last decade, Jakobson maintained an office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was an honorary Professor Emeritus. In the early 1960s Jakobson shifted his emphasis to a more comprehensive view of language and began writing about communication sciences as a whole. He converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity in 1975.
Jakobson died in Cambridge, Massachusetts on 18 July 1982. His widow died in 1986. His first wife, who was born in 1908, died in 2000.
According to Jakobson's own personal reminiscences, the most decisive stage in the development of his thinking was the period of revolutionary anticipation and upheaval in Russia between 1912 and 1920, when, as a young student, he fell under the spell of the celebrated Russian futurist wordsmith and linguistic thinker Velimir Khlebnikov.
Offering a slightly different picture, the preface to the second edition of "The Sound Shape of Language" argues that this book represents the fourth stage in "Jakobson's quest to uncover the function and structure of sound in language." The first stage was roughly the 1920s to 1930s where he collaborated with Trubetzkoy, in which they developed the concept of the phoneme, and elucidated the structure of phonological systems. The second stage, from roughly the late 1930s to the 1940s, during which he developed the notion that "binary distinctive features" were the foundational element in language, and that such distinctiveness is "mere otherness" or differentiation. In the third stage in Jakobson's work, from the 1950s to 1960s, he worked with the acoustician C. Gunnar Fant and Morris Halle (a student of Jakobson's) to consider the acoustic aspects of distinctive features.
Influenced by the Organon-Model by Karl Bühler, Jakobson distinguishes six communication functions, each associated with a dimension or factor of the communication process [n.b. – Elements from Bühler's theory appear in the diagram below in yellow and pink, Jakobson's elaborations in blue]:
One of the six functions is always the dominant function in a text and usually related to the type of text. In poetry, the dominant function is the poetic function: the focus is on the message itself. The true hallmark of poetry is according to Jakobson "the projection of the principle of equivalence from the axis of selection to the axis of combination". Very broadly speaking, it implies that poetry successfully combines and integrates form and function, that poetry turns the poetry of grammar into the grammar of poetry, so to speak. Jakobson's theory of communicative functions was first published in "Closing Statements: Linguistics and Poetics" (in Thomas A. Sebeok, "Style In Language", Cambridge Massachusetts, MIT Press, 1960, pp. 350–377). Despite its wide adoption, the six-functions model has been criticized for lacking specific interest in the "play function" of language that, according to an early review by Georges Mounin, is "not enough studied in general by linguistics researchers".
Jakobson's three principal ideas in linguistics play a major role in the field to this day: linguistic typology, markedness, and linguistic universals. The three concepts are tightly intertwined: typology is the classification of languages in terms of shared grammatical features (as opposed to shared origin), markedness is (very roughly) a study of how certain forms of grammatical organization are more "optimized" than others, and linguistic universals is the study of the general features of languages in the world. He also influenced Nicolas Ruwet's paradigmatic analysis.
Jakobson has also influenced Friedemann Schulz von Thun's four sides model, as well as Michael Silverstein's metapragmatics, Dell Hymes's ethnography of communication and ethnopoetics, the psychoanalysis of Jacques Lacan, and philosophy of Giorgio Agamben.
Jakobson's legacy among researchers specializing in Slavics, and especially Slavic linguistics in North America, has been enormous, for example, Olga Yokoyama. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26474 |
Rudolph Pariser
Rudolph Pariser (born December 8, 1923) is a physical and polymer chemist. He was born in Harbin, China to merchant parents, Ludwig Jacob Pariser and Lia Rubinstein. He attended the Von Hindenburg Schule in Harbin, an American Missionary School in Beijing and American School in Japan in Tokyo. He left for the United States just before World War II broke out.
He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1944, and his Ph. D. degree from the University of Minnesota in physical chemistry in 1950. From 1944 to 1946, during World War II and shortly afterward, he served in the United States Army. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States of America in 1944.
He spent most of his career as a polymer chemist working for DuPont in the Central Research Department at the Experimental Station. He rose to the level of Director of Polymer Sciences, leading it during a time of great innovation. After retiring from DuPont, he formed his own consulting company.
Pariser is best known for his work with Robert G. Parr on the method of molecular orbital computation now known (because it was independently developed by John A. Pople) as the Pariser–Parr–Pople method (PPP method), published both by Pariser and Parr and by Pople in almost simultaneous papers in 1953.
He married Margaret Louise Marsh on July 31, 1972. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26475 |
Rendezvous with Rama
Rendezvous with Rama is a science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke first published in 1973. Set in the 2130s, the story involves a cylindrical alien starship that enters the Solar System. The story is told from the point of view of a group of human explorers who intercept the ship in an attempt to unlock its mysteries. The novel won both the Hugo and Nebula awards upon its release, and is regarded as one of the cornerstones in Clarke's bibliography. The concept was later extended with several sequels, written by Gentry Lee.
After an asteroid falls in Northeast Italy in 2077, creating a major disaster, the government of Earth sets up the Spaceguard system as an early warning of arrivals from deep space.
The "Rama" of the title is an alien starship, initially mistaken for an asteroid categorised as "31/439". It is detected by astronomers in the year 2131 while it is still outside the orbit of Jupiter. Its speed (100,000 km/h - 62,137 m/h) and the angle of its trajectory clearly indicate it is not on a long orbit around the sun, but is an interstellar object. The astronomers' interest is further piqued when they realise the asteroid has an extremely rapid rotation period of four minutes and is exceptionally large. It is named Rama after the Hindu god, and an unmanned space probe dubbed "Sita" is launched from the Mars moon Phobos to intercept and photograph it. The resulting images reveal that Rama is a perfect cylinder, in diameter and long, and almost completely featureless, making this humankind's first encounter with an alien spacecraft.
The solar survey vessel "Endeavour" is sent to study Rama, as it is the only ship close enough to do so in the brief period Rama will spend in the solar system. "Endeavour" manages to rendezvous with Rama one month after it first comes to Earth's attention, when the alien ship is already inside Venus's orbit. The crew, led by Commander Bill Norton, enters Rama through a dual safety system consisting of two sets of triple airlocks, and explores the 16-km wide by 50-km long cylindrical world of its interior, but the nature and purpose of the starship and its creators remain enigmatic throughout the book. Rama's inner surfaces hold "cities" of geometric structures that resemble buildings and are separated by streets with shallow trenches. A band of water, dubbed the Cylindrical Sea, stretches around Rama's central circumference. Massive cones, which are theorised as part of Rama's propulsion system, stand at its "southern" end. They also find that Rama's atmosphere is breathable.
One of the crew members, Jimmy Pak, who has experience with low gravity skybikes, rides a smuggled skybike along Rama's axis to the far end, otherwise inaccessible due to the cylindrical sea and the 500m high cliff on the opposite shore. Once at the massive metal cones on the southern end of Rama, Jimmy detects magnetic and electric fields coming from the cones, which increase, resulting in lightning. Due to his proximity to the spires, the concussion from a discharge damages his skybike causing him to crash on the isolated southern continent.
When Pak wakes up, he sees a crab-like creature picking up his skybike and chopping it into pieces. He cannot decide whether it is a robot or a biological alien, and keeps his distance while radioing for help. As Pak waits, Norton sends a rescue party across the cylindrical sea, using a small, improvised craft, constructed earlier for exploration of the sea's central island. The creature dumps the remains of the skybike into a pit, but ignores Pak himself, who explores the surrounding fields while waiting for the rescue party to arrive. Amongst the strange geometric structures, he sees an alien flower growing through a cracked tile in the otherwise sterile environment, and decides to take it as both a curiosity and for scientific research.
Pak jumps off the 500m cliff, his descent slowed by the low gravity and using his shirt as a drogue parachute, and is quickly rescued by the waiting boat. As they ride back, tidal waves form in the cylindrical sea, created by the movements of Rama itself as it makes course corrections. When the crew arrives at base, they see a variety of odd creatures inspecting their camp. When one is found damaged and apparently lifeless, the team's doctor/biologist Surgeon-Commander Laura Ernst inspects it, and discovers it to be a hybrid biological entity and robot—eventually termed a "biot". It, and by assumption the others, are powered by internal batteries (much like those of terrestrial electric eels) and possess some intelligence. They are believed to be the drones of Rama's still-absent builders.
The members of the Rama Committee and the United Planets, both based on the Moon, have been monitoring events inside Rama and giving feedback. The Hermian colonists have concluded that Rama is a potential threat and send a rocket-mounted nuclear bomb to destroy it should it prove to pose a threat. Lt. Boris Rodrigo takes advantage of the five minute transmission delay and uses a pair of wire cutters to defuse the bomb and its control.
As Rama approaches perihelion, and on their final expedition, the crew decide to visit the city closest to their point of entry, christened "London", and use a laser to cut open one of the "buildings" to see what it houses. They discover transparent pedestals containing holograms of various artefacts, which they theorise are used by the Ramans as templates for creating tools and other objects. One hologram appears to be a uniform with bandoliers, straps and pockets that suggests the size and shape of the Ramans. As the crew photographs some of the holograms, the biots begin returning to the cylindrical sea, where they are recycled by aquatic biots ('sharks') and the six striplights that illuminate Rama's interior start to dim, prompting the explorers to leave Rama and to re-board "Endeavour".
With "Endeavour" a safe distance away, Rama reaches perihelion and utilizes the Sun's gravitational field, and its mysterious "space drive", to perform a slingshot manoeuvre which flings it out of the solar system and towards an unknown destination in the direction of the Large Magellanic Cloud.
The book was meant to stand alone, although its final sentence suggests otherwise:
Clarke denied that this sentence was a hint that the story might be continued. In his foreword to the book's sequel, he stated that it was just a good way to end the first book, and that he added it during a final revision.
John Leonard of "The New York Times", while finding Clarke "benignly indifferent to the niceties of characterization," praised the novel for conveying "that chilling touch of the alien, the not-quite-knowable, that distinguishes sci-fi at its most technically imaginative." Other reviewers have also commented on Clarke's lack of character development and overemphasis on realism.
The novel was awarded the following soon after publication
The interior of Rama is essentially a large cylindrical landscape, dubbed "The Central Plain" by the crew, 16 kilometres in diameter and nearly 50 long, with artificial gravity provided by its 0.25 rpm spin. It is split into the "northern" and "southern" plains, divided in the middle by a 10-km wide expanse of water the astronauts dub the "Cylindrical Sea". In the center of the Cylindrical Sea is an island of unknown purpose covered in tall, skyscraper-like structures, which the astronauts name "New York" due to an imagined similarity to Manhattan. At each end of the ship are North and South "Poles". The North Pole is effectively the bow and the South Pole the stern, as Rama accelerates in the direction of the north pole and its drive system is at the South Pole.
The North Pole contains Rama's airlocks, and is where the "Endeavour" lands. The airlocks open into the hub of the massive bowl shaped cap at the North Pole, with three 8-kilometre long stair systems, called Alpha, Beta, and Gamma by the crew, leading to the plain.
The Northern plain contains several small "towns" interconnected by roads, dubbed London, Paris, Peking, Tokyo, Rome, and Moscow. The South Pole has a giant cone-shaped protrusion surrounded by six smaller ones, which are thought to be part of Rama's reactionless space drive.
Both ends of Rama are lit by giant trenches (three in the northern plain and three in the south), equidistantly placed around the cylinder, effectively functioning as giant strip lighting.
Clarke paired up with Gentry Lee for the remainder of the series. Lee did the actual writing, while Clarke read and made editing suggestions. The focus and style of the last three novels are quite different from those of the original with an increased emphasis on characterisation and more clearly portrayed heroes and villains, rather than Clarke's dedicated professionals. These later books did not receive the same critical acclaim and awards as the original.
Gentry Lee also wrote two further novels set in the same "Rama" Universe.
A graphic adventure computer game of the same name with a text parser based on the book was made in 1984 by Trillium (later known as Telarium) and ported to other systems such as the Apple II, Commodore 64. Despite its primitive graphics, it had highly detailed descriptions, and it followed the book very closely along with having puzzles to solve during the game.
In Spain there was an official adaptation for the 2nd generation MSX computers called "Cita con Rama" that took advantage of the MSX's ability to produce (at the time) high-quality graphics. It was adapted from the Clarke novel in 1983 by Ron Martinez, who went on to design the massively multiplayer online game "10Six", also known as "Project Visitor".
Sierra Entertainment created "Rama" in 1996 as a point and click adventure game in the style of "Myst". Along with highly detailed graphics, Arthur C. Clarke also appeared in the game as the guide for the player. This game featured characters from the sequel book "Rama II".
In 2009, BBC Radio 4 produced a two-part radio adaptation of the book as part of a science-fiction season. It was adapted by Mike Walker, and was broadcast on 1 March 2009 (Part 1) and 8 March 2009 (Part 2).
In the early 2000s, actor Morgan Freeman expressed his desire to produce a film based on "Rendezvous with Rama." The film has been stuck in "development hell" for many years. In 2003, after initial problems procuring funding, it appeared the project would go into production. The film was to be produced by Freeman's production company, Revelations Entertainment. David Fincher, touted on Revelations' "Rama" web page as far back as 2001, stated in a late 2007 interview that he was still attached to helm.
By late 2008, David Fincher stated the movie was unlikely to be made. "It looks like it's not going to happen. There's no script and as you know, Morgan Freeman's not in the best of health right now. We've been trying to do it but it's probably not going to happen."
In 2010, Freeman stated in an interview that he was still planning to make the project but that it has been difficult to find the right script. He also stated that it should be made in 3D. In January 2011, Fincher stated in an interview with MTV that he was still planning to make the film after he had completed work on his planned remake of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" (which was scheduled to begin production in 2012 but has since been scrapped). He also reiterated Freeman's concerns about the difficulty of finding the right script.
In an interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson in February 2012, Freeman indicated an interest in playing the role of Commander Norton for the film, stating that "my fantasy of commanding a starship is commanding Endeavour". Tyson then asked, "So is this a pitch to be ... that person if they ever make that movie?" to which Freeman reaffirmed, "We ARE going to make that movie." In response to a plea to "make that come out sooner rather than later", Freeman reiterated that difficulty in authoring a high quality script is the primary barrier for the film, stating "... the only task you have that's really really hard in making movies, harder than getting money, is getting a script ... a good script".
Clarke invented the space study program which detects Rama, Project Spaceguard, as a method of identifying near-Earth objects on Earth-impact trajectories; in the novel it was initiated in 2077. A real project named Spaceguard was initiated in 1992, named after Clarke's fictional project and "with the permission and encouragement of Clarke". After interest in the dangers of asteroid strikes was heightened by a series of Hollywood disaster films, the United States Congress gave NASA authorisation and funding to support Spaceguard. By 2017, there were a number of different efforts to detect potentially dangerous asteroids - see figure on right.
On 19 October 2017 an incoming interstellar object was discovered by Pan-STARRS, a system similar to Spaceguard. Like Rama, the object had an unusually elongated shape. Before the official Hawaiian name 'Oumuamua was selected by the International Astronomical Union, a popular choice was "Rama". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26476 |
Rust
Rust is an iron oxide, a usually reddish brown oxide formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the presence of water or air moisture. Several forms of rust are distinguishable both visually and by spectroscopy, and form under different circumstances. Rust consists of hydrated iron(III) oxides Fe2O3·"n"H2O and iron(III) oxide-hydroxide (FeO(OH), Fe(OH)3).
Given sufficient time, any iron mass, in the presence of water and oxygen, could eventually convert entirely to rust. Surface rust is commonly flaky and friable, and it provides no protection to the underlying iron, unlike the formation of patina on copper surfaces. Rusting is the common term for corrosion of iron and its alloys, such as steel. Many other metals undergo similar corrosion, but the resulting oxides are not commonly called rust.
Other forms of rust exist, like the result of reactions between iron and chloride in an environment deprived of oxygen. Rebar used in underwater concrete pillars, which generates green rust, is an example. Although rusting is generally a negative aspect of iron, a particular form of rusting, known as "stable rust," causes the object to have a thin coating of rust over the top, and if kept in low relative humidity, makes the "stable" layer protective to the iron below, but not to the extent of other oxides, such as aluminium.
Rust is a general name for a complex of oxides and hydroxides of iron, which occurs when iron or some alloys that contains iron are exposed to oxygen and moisture for a long period of time. Over time, the oxygen combines with the metal forming new compounds collectively called rust. Although rust may generally be termed as "oxidation", that term is much more general and describes a vast number of processes involving the loss of electrons or increased oxidation state, as part of a reaction. The best-known of these reactions involve oxygen, hence the name "oxidation". The terms "rust" and "rusting" only mean oxidation of iron and its resulting products. Many other oxidation reactions exist which do not involve iron or produce rust. But only iron or alloys that contain iron can rust. However, other metals can corrode in similar ways.
The main catalyst for the rusting process is water. Iron or steel structures might appear to be solid, but water molecules can penetrate the microscopic pits and cracks in any exposed metal. The hydrogen atoms present in water molecules can combine with other elements to form acids, which will eventually cause more metal to be exposed. If chloride ions are present, as is the case with saltwater, the corrosion is likely to occur more quickly. Meanwhile, the oxygen atoms combine with metallic atoms to form the destructive oxide compound. As the atoms combine, they weaken the metal, making the structure brittle and crumbly.
When iron is in contact with water and oxygen it rusts. If salt is present, for example in seawater or salt spray, the iron tends to rust more quickly, as a result of electrochemical reactions. Iron metal is relatively unaffected by pure water or by dry oxygen. As with other metals, like aluminium, a tightly adhering oxide coating, a passivation layer, protects the bulk iron from further oxidation. The conversion of the passivating ferrous oxide layer to rust results from the combined action of two agents, usually oxygen and water.
Other degrading solutions are sulfur dioxide in water and carbon dioxide in water. Under these corrosive conditions, iron hydroxide species are formed. Unlike ferrous oxides, the hydroxides do not adhere to the bulk metal. As they form and flake off from the surface, fresh iron is exposed, and the corrosion process continues until either all of the iron is consumed or all of the oxygen, water, carbon dioxide, or sulfur dioxide in the system are removed or consumed.
When iron rusts, the oxides take up more volume than the original metal; this expansion can generate enormous forces, damaging structures made with iron. See "economic effect" for more details.
The rusting of iron is an electrochemical process that begins with the transfer of electrons from iron to oxygen. The iron is the reducing agent (gives up electrons) while the oxygen is the oxidising agent (gains electrons). The rate of corrosion is affected by water and accelerated by electrolytes, as illustrated by the effects of road salt on the corrosion of automobiles. The key reaction is the reduction of oxygen:
Because it forms hydroxide ions, this process is strongly affected by the presence of acid. Likewise, the corrosion of most metals by oxygen is accelerated at low pH. Providing the electrons for the above reaction is the oxidation of iron that may be described as follows:
The following redox reaction also occurs in the presence of water and is crucial to the formation of rust:
In addition, the following multistep acid–base reactions affect the course of rust formation:
as do the following dehydration equilibria:
From the above equations, it is also seen that the corrosion products are dictated by the availability of water and oxygen. With limited dissolved oxygen, iron(II)-containing materials are favoured, including FeO and black lodestone or magnetite (Fe3O4). High oxygen concentrations favour ferric materials with the nominal formulae Fe(OH)3−"x"O. The nature of rust changes with time, reflecting the slow rates of the reactions of solids.
Furthermore, these complex processes are affected by the presence of other ions, such as Ca2+, which serve as electrolytes which accelerate rust formation, or combine with the hydroxides and oxides of iron to precipitate a variety of Ca, Fe, O, OH species.
The onset of rusting can also be detected in the laboratory with the use of ferroxyl indicator solution. The solution detects both Fe2+ ions and hydroxyl ions. Formation of Fe2+ ions and hydroxyl ions are indicated by blue and pink patches respectively.
Because of the widespread use and importance of iron and steel products, the prevention or slowing of rust is the basis of major economic activities in a number of specialized technologies. A brief overview of methods is presented here; for detailed coverage, see the cross-referenced articles.
Rust is permeable to air and water, therefore the interior metallic iron beneath a rust layer continues to corrode. Rust prevention thus requires coatings that preclude rust formation.
Stainless steel forms a passivation layer of chromium(III) oxide. Similar passivation behavior occurs with magnesium, titanium, zinc, zinc oxides, aluminium, polyaniline, and other electroactive conductive polymers.
Special "weathering steel" alloys such as Cor-Ten rust at a much slower rate than normal, because the rust adheres to the surface of the metal in a protective layer. Designs using this material must include measures that avoid worst-case exposures, since the material still continues to rust slowly even under near-ideal conditions...
Galvanization consists of an application on the object to be protected of a layer of metallic zinc by either hot-dip galvanizing or electroplating. Zinc is traditionally used because it is cheap, adheres well to steel, and provides cathodic protection to the steel surface in case of damage of the zinc layer. In more corrosive environments (such as salt water), cadmium plating is preferred. Galvanization often fails at seams, holes, and joints where there are gaps in the coating. In these cases, the coating still provides some partial cathodic protection to iron, by acting as a galvanic anode and corroding itself instead of the underlying protected metal. The protective zinc layer is consumed by this action, and thus galvanization provides protection only for a limited period of time.
More modern coatings add aluminium to the coating as "zinc-alume"; aluminium will migrate to cover scratches and thus provide protection for a longer period. These approaches rely on the aluminium and zinc oxides reprotecting a once-scratched surface, rather than oxidizing as a sacrificial anode as in traditional galvanized coatings. In some cases, such as very aggressive environments or long design life, both zinc and a coating are applied to provide enhanced corrosion protection.
Typical galvanization of steel products which are to be subjected to normal day-to-day weathering in an outside environment consists of a hot-dipped 85 µm zinc coating. Under normal weather conditions, this will deteriorate at a rate of 1 µm per year, giving approximately 85 years of protection.
Cathodic protection is a technique used to inhibit corrosion on buried or immersed structures by supplying an electrical charge that suppresses the electrochemical reaction. If correctly applied, corrosion can be stopped completely. In its simplest form, it is achieved by attaching a sacrificial anode, thereby making the iron or steel the cathode in the cell formed. The sacrificial anode must be made from something with a more negative electrode potential than the iron or steel, commonly zinc, aluminium, or magnesium. The sacrificial anode will eventually corrode away, ceasing its protective action unless it is replaced in a timely manner.
Cathodic protection can also be provided by using a special-purpose electrical device to appropriately induce an electric charge.
Rust formation can be controlled with coatings, such as paint, lacquer, varnish, or wax tapes that isolate the iron from the environment. Large structures with enclosed box sections, such as ships and modern automobiles, often have a wax-based product (technically a "slushing oil") injected into these sections. Such treatments usually also contain rust inhibitors. Covering steel with concrete can provide some protection to steel because of the alkaline pH environment at the steel–concrete interface. However, rusting of steel in concrete can still be a problem, as expanding rust can fracture or slowly "explode" concrete from within.
As a closely related example, iron bars were used to reinforce stonework of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece, but caused extensive damage by rusting, swelling, and shattering the marble components of the building.
When only temporary protection is needed for storage or transport, a thin layer of oil, grease, or a special mixture such as Cosmoline can be applied to an iron surface. Such treatments are extensively used when "mothballing" a steel ship, automobile, or other equipment for long-term storage.
Special antiseize lubricant mixtures are available, and are applied to metallic threads and other precision machined surfaces to protect them from rust. These compounds usually contain grease mixed with copper, zinc, or aluminium powder, and other proprietary ingredients.
Bluing is a technique that can provide limited resistance to rusting for small steel items, such as firearms; for it to be successful, a water-displacing oil is rubbed onto the blued steel and other steel.
Corrosion inhibitors, such as gas-phase or volatile inhibitors, can be used to prevent corrosion inside sealed systems. They are not effective when air circulation disperses them, and brings in fresh oxygen and moisture.
Rust can be avoided by controlling the moisture in the atmosphere. An example of this is the use of silica gel packets to control humidity in equipment shipped by sea.
Rust removal from small iron or steel objects by electrolysis can be done in a home workshop using simple materials such as a plastic bucket filled with an electrolyte consisting of washing soda dissolved in tap water, a length of rebar suspended vertically in the solution to act as an anode, another laid across the top of the bucket to act as a support for suspending the object, baling wire to suspend the object in the solution from the horizontal rebar, and a battery charger as a power source in which the positive terminal is clamped to the anode and the negative terminal is clamped to the object to be treated which becomes the cathode.
Rust may be treated with commercial products known as rust converter which contain tannic acid or phosphoric acid which combines with rust; removed with organic acids like citric acid and vinegar or the stronger hydrochloric acid; or removed with chelating agents as in some commercial formulations or even a solution of molasses.
Rust is associated with the degradation of iron-based tools and structures. As rust has a much higher volume than the originating mass of iron, its buildup can also cause failure by forcing apart adjacent parts — a phenomenon sometimes known as "rust packing". It was the cause of the collapse of the Mianus river bridge in 1983, when the bearings rusted internally and pushed one corner of the road slab off its support.
Rust was an important factor in the Silver Bridge disaster of 1967 in West Virginia, when a steel suspension bridge collapsed in less than a minute, killing 46 drivers and passengers on the bridge at the time. The Kinzua Bridge in Pennsylvania was blown down by a tornado in 2003, largely because the central base bolts holding the structure to the ground had rusted away, leaving the bridge anchored by gravity alone.
Reinforced concrete is also vulnerable to rust damage. Internal pressure caused by expanding corrosion of concrete-covered steel and iron can cause the concrete to spall, creating severe structural problems. It is one of the most common failure modes of reinforced concrete bridges and buildings.
Rust is a commonly used metaphor for slow decay due to neglect, since it gradually converts robust iron and steel metal into a soft crumbling powder. A wide section of the industrialized American Midwest and American Northeast, once dominated by steel foundries, the automotive industry, and other manufacturers, has experienced harsh economic cutbacks that have caused the region to be dubbed the "Rust Belt".
In music, literature, and art, rust is associated with images of faded glory, neglect, decay, and ruin. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26477 |
Real analysis
In mathematics, real analysis is the branch of mathematical analysis that studies the behavior of real numbers, sequences and series of real numbers, and real functions. Some particular properties of real-valued sequences and functions that real analysis studies include convergence, limits, continuity, smoothness, differentiability and integrability.
Real analysis is distinguished from complex analysis, which deals with the study of complex numbers and their functions.
The theorems of real analysis rely intimately upon the structure of the real number line. The real number system consists of an uncountable set (formula_1), together with two binary operations denoted and , and an order denoted . The operations make the real numbers a field, and, along with the order, an ordered field. The real number system is the unique "complete ordered field", in the sense that any other complete ordered field is isomorphic to it. Intuitively, completeness means that there are no 'gaps' in the real numbers. In particular, this property distinguishes the real numbers from other ordered fields (e.g., the rational numbers formula_2) and is critical to the proof of several key properties of functions of the real numbers. The completeness of the reals is often conveniently expressed as the "least upper bound property" (see below).
There are several ways of formalizing the definition of the real numbers. Modern approaches consist of providing a list of axioms, and a proof of the existence of a model for them, which has above properties. Moreover, one may show that any two models are isomorphic, which means that all models have exactly the same properties, and that one may forget how the model is constructed for using real numbers. Some of these constructions are described in the main article.
The real numbers have various lattice-theoretic properties that are absent in the complex numbers. Also, the real numbers form an ordered field, in which sums and products of positive numbers are also positive. Moreover, the ordering of the real numbers is total, and the real numbers have the least upper bound property: "Every nonempty subset of formula_1 that has an upper bound has a least upper bound that is also a real number." These order-theoretic properties lead to a number of fundamental results in real analysis, such as the monotone convergence theorem, the intermediate value theorem and the mean value theorem.
However, while the results in real analysis are stated for real numbers, many of these results can be generalized to other mathematical objects. In particular, many ideas in functional analysis and operator theory generalize properties of the real numbers – such generalizations include the theories of Riesz spaces and positive operators. Also, mathematicians consider real and imaginary parts of complex sequences, or by pointwise evaluation of operator sequences.
Many of the theorems of real analysis are consequences of the topological properties of the real number line. The order properties of the real numbers described above are closely related to these topological properties. As a topological space, the real numbers has a "standard topology", which is the order topology induced by order formula_4. Alternatively, by defining the "metric" or "distance function" formula_5 using the absolute value function as formula_6, the real numbers become the prototypical example of a metric space. The topology induced by metric formula_7 turns out to be identical to the standard topology induced by order formula_4. Theorems like the intermediate value theorem that are essentially topological in nature can often be proved in the more general setting of metric or topological spaces rather than in formula_1 only. Often, such proofs tend to be shorter or simpler compared to classical proofs that apply direct methods.
A sequence is a function whose domain is a countable, totally ordered set. The domain is usually taken to be the natural numbers, although it is occasionally convenient to also consider bidirectional sequences indexed by the set of all integers, including negative indices.
Of interest in real analysis, a real-valued sequence, here indexed by the natural numbers, is a map formula_10. Each formula_11 is referred to as a term (or, less commonly, an element) of the sequence. A sequence is rarely denoted explicitly as a function; instead, by convention, it is almost always notated as if it were an ordered ∞-tuple, with individual terms or a general term enclosed in parentheses: formula_12.A sequence that tends to a limit (i.e., formula_14 exists) is said to be convergent; otherwise it is divergent. ("See the section on limits and convergence for details.") A real-valued sequence formula_15 is bounded if there exists formula_16 such that formula_17 for all formula_18. A real-valued sequence formula_15 is monotonically increasing or decreasing if formula_20 or formula_21holds, respectively. If either holds, the sequence is said to be monotonic. The monotonicity is strict if the chained inequalities still hold with formula_22 or formula_23 replaced by < or >.
Given a sequence formula_15, another sequence formula_25 is a subsequence of formula_15 if formula_27 for all positive integers formula_28 and formula_29 is a strictly increasing sequence of natural numbers.
Roughly speaking, a limit is the value that a function or a sequence "approaches" as the input or index approaches some value. (This value can include the symbols formula_30 when addressing the behavior of a function or sequence as the variable increases or decreases without bound.) The idea of a limit is fundamental to calculus (and mathematical analysis in general) and its formal definition is used in turn to define notions like continuity, derivatives, and integrals. (In fact, the study of limiting behavior has been used as a characteristic that distinguishes calculus and mathematical analysis from other branches of mathematics.)
The concept of limit was informally introduced for functions by Newton and Leibniz, at the end of the 17th century, for building infinitesimal calculus. For sequences, the concept was introduced by Cauchy, and made rigorous, at the end of the 19th century by Bolzano and Weierstrass, who gave the modern ε-δ definition, which follows.
Definition. Let formula_31 be a real-valued function defined on formula_32. We say that formula_33 tends to formula_34 as formula_35 approaches formula_36, or that the limit of formula_33 as formula_35 approaches formula_36 is formula_34 if, for any formula_41, there exists formula_42 such that for all formula_43, formula_44 implies that formula_45. We write this symbolically as formula_46, or formula_47.Intuitively, this definition can be thought of in the following way: We say that formula_48 as formula_49, when, given any positive number formula_50, no matter how small, we can always find a formula_51, such that we can guarantee that formula_33 and formula_34 are less than formula_50 apart, as long as formula_35 (in the domain of formula_31) is a real number that is less than formula_51 away from formula_36 but distinct from formula_36. The purpose of the last stipulation, which corresponds to the condition formula_60 in the definition, is to ensure that formula_47 does not imply anything about the value of formula_62 itself. Actually, formula_36 does not even need to be in the domain of formula_31 in order for formula_65 to exist.
In a slightly different but related context, the concept of a limit applies to the behavior of a sequence formula_15 when formula_67 becomes large.
Definition. Let formula_15 be a real-valued sequence. We say that formula_15 converges to formula_70 if, for any formula_41, there exists a natural number formula_72 such that formula_73 implies that formula_74. We write this symbolically as formula_75, or formula_76;if formula_15 fails to converge, we say that formula_15 diverges.
Generalizing to a real-valued function of a real variable, a slight modification of this definition (replacement of sequence formula_15 and term formula_80 by function formula_31 and value formula_33 and natural numbers formula_72 and formula_67 by real numbers formula_85 and formula_35, respectively) yields the definition of the limit of formula_33 as formula_35 increases without bound, notated formula_89. Reversing the inequality formula_90 to formula_91 gives the corresponding definition of the limit of formula_33 as formula_35 "decreases" "without bound", formula_94.
Sometimes, it is useful to conclude that a sequence converges, even though the value to which it converges is unknown or irrelevant. In these cases, the concept of a Cauchy sequence is useful.
Definition. Let formula_15 be a real-valued sequence. We say that formula_15 is a Cauchy sequence if, for any formula_41, there exists a natural number formula_72 such that formula_99 implies that formula_100.
It can be shown that a real-valued sequence is Cauchy if and only if it is convergent. This property of the real numbers is expressed by saying that the real numbers endowed with the standard metric, formula_101, is a complete metric space. In a general metric space, however, a Cauchy sequence need not converge.
In addition, for real-valued sequences that are monotonic, it can be shown that the sequence is bounded if and only if it is convergent.
In addition to sequences of numbers, one may also speak of "sequences of functions" "on" formula_102, that is, infinite, ordered families of functions formula_103, denoted formula_104, and their convergence properties. However, in the case of sequences of functions, there are two kinds of convergence, known as "pointwise convergence" and "uniform convergence", that need to be distinguished.
Roughly speaking, pointwise convergence of functions formula_105 to a limiting function formula_106, denoted formula_107, simply means that given any formula_43, formula_109 as formula_110. In contrast, uniform convergence is a stronger type of convergence, in the sense that a uniformly convergent sequence of functions also converges pointwise, but not conversely. Uniform convergence requires members of the family of functions, formula_105, to fall within some error formula_41 of formula_31 for "every value of formula_43", whenever formula_73, for some integer formula_72. For a family of functions to uniformly converge, sometimes denoted formula_117, such a value of formula_72 must exist for any formula_41 given, no matter how small. Intuitively, we can visualize this situation by imagining that, for a large enough formula_72, the functions formula_121 are all confined within a 'tube' of width formula_122 about formula_31 (that is, between formula_124 and formula_125) "for every value in their domain" formula_126.
The distinction between pointwise and uniform convergence is important when exchanging the order of two limiting operations (e.g., taking a limit, a derivative, or integral) is desired: in order for the exchange to be well-behaved, many theorems of real analysis call for uniform convergence. For example, a sequence of continuous functions (see below) is guaranteed to converge to a continuous limiting function if the convergence is uniform, while the limiting function may not be continuous if convergence is only pointwise. Karl Weierstrass is generally credited for clearly defining the concept of uniform convergence and fully investigating its implications.
Compactness is a concept from general topology that plays an important role in many of the theorems of real analysis. The property of compactness is a generalization of the notion of a set being "closed" and "bounded". (In the context of real analysis, these notions are equivalent: a set in Euclidean space is compact if and only if it is closed and bounded.) Briefly, a closed set contains all of its boundary points, while a set is bounded if there exists a real number such that the distance between any two points of the set is less than that number. In formula_1, sets that are closed and bounded, and therefore compact, include the empty set, any finite number of points, closed intervals, and their finite unions. However, this list is not exhaustive; for instance, the set formula_128 is a compact set; the Cantor ternary set formula_129 is another example of a compact set. On the other hand, the set formula_130 is not compact because it is bounded but not closed, as the boundary point 0 is not a member of the set. The set formula_131 is also not compact because it is closed but not bounded.
For subsets of the real numbers, there are several equivalent definitions of compactness.
Definition. A set formula_32 is compact if it is closed and bounded.
This definition also holds for Euclidean space of any finite dimension, formula_133, but it is not valid for metric spaces in general. The equivalence of the definition with the definition of compactness based on subcovers, given later in this section, is known as the Heine-Borel theorem.
A more general definition that applies to all metric spaces uses the notion of a subsequence (see above).
Definition. A set formula_126 in a metric space is compact if every sequence in formula_126 has a convergent subsequence.
This particular property is known as "subsequential compactness". In formula_1, a set is subsequentially compact if and only if it is closed and bounded, making this definition equivalent to the one given above. Subsequential compactness is equivalent to the definition of compactness based on subcovers for metric spaces, but not for topological spaces in general.
The most general definition of compactness relies on the notion of "open covers" and "subcovers", which is applicable to topological spaces (and thus to metric spaces and formula_1 as special cases). In brief, a collection of open sets formula_138 is said to be an "open cover" of set formula_139 if the union of these sets is a superset of formula_139. This open cover is said to have a "finite subcover" if a finite subcollection of the formula_138 could be found that also covers formula_139.
Definition. A set formula_139 in a topological space is compact if every open cover of formula_139 has a finite subcover.
Compact sets are well-behaved with respect to properties like convergence and continuity. For instance, any Cauchy sequence in a compact metric space is convergent. As another example, the image of a compact metric space under a continuous map is also compact.
A function from the set of real numbers to the real numbers can be represented by a graph in the Cartesian plane; such a function is continuous if, roughly speaking, the graph is a single unbroken curve with no "holes" or "jumps".
There are several ways to make this intuition mathematically rigorous. Several definitions of varying levels of generality can be given. In cases where two or more definitions are applicable, they are readily shown to be equivalent to one another, so the most convenient definition can be used to determine whether a given function is continuous or not. In the first definition given below, formula_145 is a function defined on a non-degenerate interval formula_146 of the set of real numbers as its domain. Some possibilities include formula_147, the whole set of real numbers, an open interval formula_148 or a closed interval formula_149 Here, formula_70 and formula_151 are distinct real numbers, and we exclude the case of formula_146 being empty or consisting of only one point, in particular.
Definition. If formula_153 is a non-degenerate interval, we say that formula_145 is continuous at formula_155 if formula_156. We say that formula_31 is a continuous map if formula_31 is continuous at every formula_155.
In contrast to the requirements for formula_31 to have a limit at a point formula_161, which do not constrain the behavior of formula_31 at formula_161 itself, the following two conditions, in addition to the existence of formula_164, must also hold in order for formula_31 to be continuous at formula_161: (i) formula_31 must be defined at formula_161, i.e., formula_161 is in the domain of formula_31; "and" (ii) formula_171 as formula_172. The definition above actually applies to any domain formula_126 that does not contain an isolated point, or equivalently, formula_126 where every formula_175 is a limit point of formula_126. A more general definition applying to formula_177 with a general domain formula_178 is the following:
Definition. If formula_139 is an arbitrary subset of formula_1, we say that formula_177 is continuous at formula_182 if, for any formula_41, there exists formula_42 such that for all formula_185, formula_186 implies that formula_187. We say that formula_31 is a continuous map if formula_31 is continuous at every formula_182.
A consequence of this definition is that formula_31 is "trivially continuous at any isolated point" formula_182. This somewhat unintuitive treatment of isolated points is necessary to ensure that our definition of continuity for functions on the real line is consistent with the most general definition of continuity for maps between topological spaces (which includes metric spaces and formula_1 in particular as special cases). This definition, which extends beyond the scope of our discussion of real analysis, is given below for completeness.
Definition. If formula_139 and formula_195 are topological spaces, we say that formula_196 is continuous at formula_182 if formula_198 is a neighborhood of formula_161 in formula_139 for every neighborhood formula_201 of formula_202 in formula_195. We say that formula_31 is a continuous map if formula_205 is open in formula_139 for every formula_207 open in formula_195.
Definition. If formula_139 is a subset of the real numbers, we say a function formula_177 is uniformly continuous on formula_139 if, for any formula_41, there exists a formula_42 such that for all formula_217, formula_218 implies that formula_219"."
Explicitly, when a function is uniformly continuous on formula_139, the choice of formula_51 needed to fulfill the definition must work for "all of" formula_139 for a given formula_50. In contrast, when a function is continuous at every point formula_182 (or said to be continuous on formula_139), the choice of formula_51 may depend on both formula_50 "and" formula_161. In contrast to simple continuity, uniform continuity is a property of a function that only makes sense with a specified domain; to speak of uniform continuity at a single point formula_161 is meaningless.
On a compact set, it is easily shown that all continuous functions are uniformly continuous. If formula_126 is a bounded noncompact subset of formula_1, then there exists formula_106 that is continuous but not uniformly continuous. As a simple example, consider formula_233 defined by formula_234. By choosing points close to 0, we can always make formula_235 for any single choice of formula_42, for a given formula_41.
Definition. Let formula_238 be an interval on the real line. A function formula_239 is said to be absolutely continuous on formula_146 if for every positive number formula_50, there is a positive number formula_51 such that whenever a finite sequence of pairwise disjoint sub-intervals formula_243 of formula_146 satisfies
then
Absolutely continuous functions are continuous: consider the case "n" = 1 in this definition. The collection of all absolutely continuous functions on "I" is denoted AC("I"). Absolute continuity is a fundamental concept in the Lebesgue theory of integration, allowing the formulation of a generalized version of the fundamental theorem of calculus that applies to the Lebesgue integral.
The notion of the "derivative" of a function or "differentiability" originates from the concept of approximating a function near a given point using the "best" linear approximation. This approximation, if it exists, is unique and is given by the line that is tangent to the function at the given point formula_70, and the slope of the line is the derivative of the function at formula_70.
A function formula_249 is differentiable at formula_70 if the limit
exists. This limit is known as the derivative of formula_31 at formula_70, and the function formula_254, possibly defined on only a subset of formula_1, is the derivative (or derivative function) of formula_31. If the derivative exists everywhere, the function is said to be differentiable.
As a simple consequence of the definition, formula_31 is continuous at formula_70 if it is differentiable there. Differentiability is therefore a stronger regularity condition (condition describing the "smoothness" of a function) than continuity, and it is possible for a function to be continuous on the entire real line but not differentiable anywhere (see Weierstrass's nowhere differentiable continuous function). It is possible to discuss the existence of higher-order derivatives as well, by finding the derivative of a derivative function, and so on.
One can classify functions by their differentiability class. The class formula_259 (sometimes formula_260 to indicate the interval of applicability) consists of all continuous functions. The class formula_261 consists of all differentiable functions whose derivative is continuous; such functions are called continuously differentiable. Thus, a formula_261 function is exactly a function whose derivative exists and is of class formula_259. In general, the classes "formula_264" can be defined recursively by declaring formula_259 to be the set of all continuous functions and declaring "formula_264" for any positive integer formula_28 to be the set of all differentiable functions whose derivative is in formula_268. In particular, "formula_264" is contained in formula_268 for every formula_28, and there are examples to show that this containment is strict. Class formula_272 is the intersection of the sets "formula_264" as "formula_28" varies over the non-negative integers, and the members of this class are known as the smooth functions. Class formula_275 consists of all analytic functions, and is strictly contained in formula_272 (see bump function for a smooth function that is not analytic).
A series formalizes the imprecise notion of taking the sum of an endless sequence of numbers. The idea that taking the sum of an "infinite" number of terms can lead to a finite result was counterintuitive to the ancient Greeks and led to the formulation of a number of paradoxes by Zeno and other philosophers. The modern notion of assigning a value to a series avoids dealing with the ill-defined notion of adding an "infinite" number of terms. Instead, the finite sum of the first formula_67 terms of the sequence, known as a partial sum, is considered, and the concept of a limit is applied to the sequence of partial sums as formula_67 grows without bound. The series is assigned the value of this limit, if it exists.
Given an (infinite) sequence formula_15, we can define an associated series as the formal mathematical object formula_280, sometimes simply written as formula_281. The partial sums of a series formula_281 are the numbers formula_283. A series formula_281 is said to be convergent if the sequence consisting of its partial sums, formula_285, is convergent; otherwise it is divergent. The sum of a convergent series is defined as the number formula_286.
The word "sum" is used here in a metaphorical sense as a shorthand for taking the limit of a sequence of partial sums and should not be interpreted as simply "adding" an infinite number of terms. For instance, in contrast to the behavior of finite sums, rearranging the terms of an infinite series may result in convergence to a different number (see the article on the "Riemann rearrangement theorem" for further discussion).
An example of a convergent series is a geometric series which forms the basis of one of Zeno's famous paradoxes:
In contrast, the harmonic series has been known since the Middle Ages to be a divergent series:
A series formula_281 is said to converge absolutely if formula_291 is convergent. A convergent series formula_281 for which formula_291 diverges is said to converge conditionally (or nonabsolutely). It is easily shown that absolute convergence of a series implies its convergence. On the other hand, an example of a conditionally convergent series is
The Taylor series of a real or complex-valued function "ƒ"("x") that is infinitely differentiable at a real or complex number "a" is the power series
which can be written in the more compact sigma notation as
where "n"! denotes the factorial of "n" and "ƒ" ("n")("a") denotes the "n"th derivative of "ƒ" evaluated at the point "a". The derivative of order zero "ƒ" is defined to be "ƒ" itself and and 0! are both defined to be 1. In the case that , the series is also called a Maclaurin series.
A Taylor series of "f" about point "a" may diverge, converge at only the point "a", converge for all "x" such that formula_297 (the largest such "R" for which convergence is guaranteed is called the "radius of convergence"), or converge on the entire real line. Even a converging Taylor series may converge to a value different from the value of the function at that point. If the Taylor series at a point has a nonzero radius of convergence, and sums to the function in the disc of convergence, then the function is analytic. The analytic functions have many fundamental properties. In particular, an analytic function of a real variable extends naturally to a function of a complex variable. It is in this way that the exponential function, the logarithm, the trigonometric functions and their inverses are extended to functions of a complex variable.
Fourier series decomposes periodic functions or periodic signals into the sum of a (possibly infinite) set of simple oscillating functions, namely sines and cosines (or complex exponentials). The study of Fourier series typically occurs and is handled within the branch mathematics > mathematical analysis > Fourier analysis.
Integration is a formalization of the problem of finding the area bound by a curve and the related problems of determining the length of a curve or volume enclosed by a surface. The basic strategy to solving problems of this type was known to the ancient Greeks and Chinese, and was known as the "method of exhaustion". Generally speaking, the desired area is bounded from above and below, respectively, by increasingly accurate circumscribing and inscribing polygonal approximations whose exact areas can be computed. By considering approximations consisting of a larger and larger ("infinite") number of smaller and smaller ("infinitesimal") pieces, the area bound by the curve can be deduced, as the upper and lower bounds defined by the approximations converge around a common value.
The spirit of this basic strategy can easily be seen in the definition of the Riemann integral, in which the integral is said to exist if upper and lower Riemann (or Darboux) sums converge to a common value as thinner and thinner rectangular slices ("refinements") are considered. Though the machinery used to define it is much more elaborate compared to the Riemann integral, the Lebesgue integral was defined with similar basic ideas in mind. Compared to the Riemann integral, the more sophisticated Lebesgue integral allows area (or length, volume, etc.; termed a "measure" in general) to be defined and computed for much more complicated and irregular subsets of Euclidean space, although there still exist "non-measurable" subsets for which an area cannot be assigned.
The Riemann integral is defined in terms of Riemann sums of functions with respect to tagged partitions of an interval. Let formula_298 be a closed interval of the real line; then a tagged partition formula_299 of formula_298 is a finite sequence
This partitions the interval formula_298 into formula_67 sub-intervals formula_304 indexed by formula_305, each of which is "tagged" with a distinguished point formula_306. For a function formula_31 bounded on formula_298, we define the Riemann sum of formula_31 with respect to tagged partition formula_299 as
where formula_312 is the width of sub-interval formula_313. Thus, each term of the sum is the area of a rectangle with height equal to the function value at the distinguished point of the given sub-interval, and width the same as the sub-interval width. The mesh of such a tagged partition is the width of the largest sub-interval formed by the partition, formula_314. We say that the Riemann integral of formula_31 on formula_298 is formula_317 if for any formula_41 there exists formula_42 such that, for any tagged partition formula_299 with mesh formula_321, we have
This is sometimes denoted formula_323. When the chosen tags give the maximum (respectively, minimum) value of each interval, the Riemann sum is known as the upper (respectively, lower) Darboux sum. A function is Darboux integrable if the upper and lower Darboux sums can be made to be arbitrarily close to each other for a sufficiently small mesh. Although this definition gives the Darboux integral the appearance of being a special case of the Riemann integral, they are, in fact, equivalent, in the sense that a function is Darboux integrable if and only if it is Riemann integrable, and the values of the integrals are equal. In fact, calculus and real analysis textbooks often conflate the two, introducing the definition of the Darboux integral as that of the Riemann integral, due to the slightly easier to apply definition of the former.
The fundamental theorem of calculus asserts that integration and differentiation are inverse operations in a certain sense.
Lebesgue integration is a mathematical construction that extends the integral to a larger class of functions; it also extends the domains on which these functions can be defined. The concept of a measure, an abstraction of length, area, or volume, is central to Lebesgue integral probability theory.
Distributions (or generalized functions) are objects that generalize functions. Distributions make it possible to differentiate functions whose derivatives do not exist in the classical sense. In particular, any locally integrable function has a distributional derivative.
Real analysis is an area of analysis that studies concepts such as sequences and their limits, continuity, differentiation, integration and sequences of functions. By definition, real analysis focuses on the real numbers, often including positive and negative infinity to form the extended real line. Real analysis is closely related to complex analysis, which studies broadly the same properties of complex numbers. In complex analysis, it is natural to define differentiation via holomorphic functions, which have a number of useful properties, such as repeated differentiability, expressability as power series, and satisfying the Cauchy integral formula.
In real analysis, it is usually more natural to consider differentiable, smooth, or harmonic functions, which are more widely applicable, but may lack some more powerful properties of holomorphic functions. However, results such as the fundamental theorem of algebra are simpler when expressed in terms of complex numbers.
Techniques from the theory of analytic functions of a complex variable are often used in real analysis – such as evaluation of real integrals by residue calculus.
Important results include the Bolzano–Weierstrass and Heine–Borel theorems, the intermediate value theorem and mean value theorem, Taylor's theorem, the fundamental theorem of calculus, the Arzelà-Ascoli theorem, the Stone-Weierstrass theorem, Fatou's lemma, and the monotone convergence and dominated convergence theorems.
Various ideas from real analysis can be generalized from the real line to broader or more abstract contexts. These generalizations link real analysis to other disciplines and subdisciplines. For instance, generalization of ideas like continuous functions and compactness from real analysis to metric spaces and topological spaces connects real analysis to the field of general topology, while generalization of finite-dimensional Euclidean spaces to infinite-dimensional analogs led to the concepts of Banach spaces and Hilbert spaces and, more generally to functional analysis. Georg Cantor's investigation of sets and sequence of real numbers, mappings between them, and the foundational issues of real analysis gave birth to naive set theory. The study of issues of convergence for sequences of functions eventually gave rise to Fourier analysis as a subdiscipline of mathematical analysis. Investigation of the consequences of generalizing differentiability from functions of a real variable to ones of a complex variable gave rise to the concept of holomorphic functions and the inception of complex analysis as another distinct subdiscipline of analysis. On the other hand, the generalization of integration from the Riemann sense to that of Lebesgue led to the formulation of the concept of abstract measure spaces, a fundamental concept in measure theory. Finally, the generalization of integration from the real line to curves and surfaces in higher dimensional space brought about the study of vector calculus, whose further generalization and formalization played an important role in the evolution of the concepts of differential forms and smooth (differentiable) manifolds in differential geometry and other closely related areas of geometry and topology. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26478 |
Richie Benaud
Richard Benaud (; 6 October 1930 – 10 April 2015) was an Australian cricketer who, after his retirement from international cricket in 1964, became a highly regarded commentator on the game.
Benaud was a Test cricket all-rounder, blending leg spin bowling with lower-order batting aggression. Along with fellow bowling all-rounder Alan Davidson, he helped restore Australia to the top of world cricket in the late 1950s and early 1960s after a slump in the early 1950s. In 1958 he became Australia's Test captain until his retirement in 1964. He became the first player to reach 200 wickets and 2,000 runs in Test cricket, arriving at that milestone in 1963.
Gideon Haigh described him as "perhaps the most influential cricketer and cricket personality since the Second World War." In his review of Benaud's autobiography "Anything But", Sri Lankan cricket writer Harold de Andrado wrote: "Richie Benaud possibly next to Sir Don Bradman has been one of the greatest cricketing personalities as player, researcher, writer, critic, author, organiser, adviser and student of the game."
Benaud was born in Penrith, New South Wales, in 1930. He came from a cricket family, with his younger brother John Benaud also going on to become an Australian Test cricketer. His father Louis, a third generation Australian of French Huguenot descent, was a leg spinner who played for Penrith District Cricket Club in Sydney Grade Cricket, gaining attention for taking all twenty wickets in a match against St. Marys for 65 runs. Lou later moved to Parramatta region in western Sydney, and played for Cumberland. Benaud also used to live in Coraki, NSW.
It was here that Richie Benaud grew up, learning how to bowl leg breaks, googlies and topspinners under his father's watch. Educated at Parramatta High School, Benaud made his first grade debut for Cumberland at age 16, primarily as a batsman.
In November 1948, at the age of 18, Benaud was selected for the New South Wales Colts, the state youth team. He scored 47 not out and took 3/37 in an innings win over Queensland. As a specialist batsman, he made his first class debut for New South Wales at the Sydney Cricket Ground against Queensland in the New Year's match of the 1948–49 season. On a green pitch which was struck by a downpour on the opening day, Benaud's spin was not used by Arthur Morris and he failed to make an impression with the bat in his only innings, scoring only two. New South Wales were the dominant state at the time, and vacancies in the team were scarce, particularly as there were no Tests that season and all of the national team players were available for the whole summer.
Relegated to the Second XI after this match, he was struck in the head above the right eye by a ball from Jack Daniel while batting against Victoria in Melbourne, having missed an attempted hook. After 28 X-rays showed nothing, it was finally diagnosed that the crater in his forehead had resulted in a skull fracture and he was sidelined for the remainder of the season, since a second impact could have been fatal. He spent two weeks in hospital for the surgery. This was the only match he played for the second-string state team that summer.
In his early career, Benaud was a batting all-rounder, marked by a looping backlift which made him suspect against fast bowling but allowed him to have a wide attacking stroke range. At the start of the 1949–50 season, he was still in the Second XI, but when the Test players departed for a tour of South Africa soon afterwards, vacancies opened up. Benaud was recalled to the New South Wales First XI in late December for the Christmas and New Year's fixtures. With Ray Lindwall, Keith Miller and Ernie Toshack, three of Australia's leading four bowlers from the 1948 "Invincibles" tour of England unavailable, Benaud bowled heavily in some matches. However, he did not have much success in his five games, taking only five wickets at 54.00.
He took the wicket of Queensland batsman Bill Brown in his third match of the season. Benaud erroneously recalled in an autobiography that this was his maiden wicket—it was his fourth—and described the ball as "the worst I ever bowled". He had more success with the bat, scoring 93 and narrowly missing a century against South Australia. He added another fifty and ended with 250 runs at 31.25.
The next season, England toured Australia, and with the Test players back, Benaud was initially forced out of the team. He was recalled for a match against the Englishmen. He was attacked by the touring batsmen, taking 1/75 from 16.5 overs in his first outing against an international outfit. His only wicket was that of the all-rounder Trevor Bailey. He scored 20 not out and was not called on to bowl in the second innings.
In the next Shield match against Victoria, led by Australian captain Lindsay Hassett, Benaud came in for attack. Hassett was known for his prowess against spin bowling, being the only batsman to score centuries in a match against the leg-spin of Bill O'Reilly, regarded as the finest bowler of his age. Hassett struck 179 in four hours, and took 47 runs from Benaud's seven overs. The young leg spinner claimed Hassett in the second innings when a ball landed in a crack and skidded through onto his foot. He ended with 3/56, the first time he had taken three wickets in a match.
In the next match against South Australia, he made 48, took 4/93 and 1/29 and suffered three dropped catches by the wicketkeeper in successive balls. Benaud was cementing his position and was in the senior team for four consecutive matches even with the Test players available. He was selected for an Australian XI match against England, in what was effectively a trial for Test selection, but suffered a chipped bone in his thumb. This put him out of action until the last match of the season, leaving him with little opportunity to impress the national selectors for his rise to international cricket. Benaud returned and scored 37 and took a total of 2/68 in the final match, ending the season with 184 runs at 36.80 and 11 wickets at 34.63.
The 1951–52 season saw a tour to Australia by the West Indies. Benaud was given a chance against the visiting team when New South Wales played them in Sydney after the First Test. On a green pitch, Benaud came in at 7/96 and featured in a century partnership in only an hour, making 43 himself. The Caribbeans were skittled for 134 in reply and went on to lose the match, although they attacked the young leg-spinner, who took 1/130 in total from 36 overs. Benaud scored his maiden first-class century, 117 against South Australia, in the next match, two years after falling short of the milestone by seven runs. In the next four matches, Benaud passed 15 only once, scoring a 34, and took only seven wickets. Up to this point, in seven matches for the season, the young all-rounder had only scored 307 runs at 27.90 and taken ten wickets at 64.80.
Despite this, Benaud was chosen for his Test debut in the Fifth Test against the West Indies in 1951–52 in Sydney. At this point, Australia had already taken an unassailable 3–1 series lead and decided to try out some young players. Selected as a batsman, he scored 3 and 19. Hassett allowed him to bowl only in the second innings, when nine West Indian wickets had fallen and Australia were on the verge of an inevitable victory. Leading opposition batsman Everton Weekes edged Benaud in his first over, but Gil Langley dropped the catch. Benaud went on to dismiss tail-ender Alf Valentine for his first Test wicket, conceding 14 runs from 4.3 overs. Benaud ended his season with 97 and a total of 3/39 in an innings win over South Australia.
The following Australian season in 1952–53, Benaud started modestly and in the five first-class matches before the Tests, scored 208 runs at 26.00 including a 63 and 69, and 14 wickets at 38.64. This included figures of 2/70 and 4/90 against the touring
South Africa. However, this was not enough to ensure his selection in the First Test, where he was made 12th man. After scoring 60 and 37 and taking 1/60 in an Australian XI against the South Africans following the Test, he was selected for the Second Test. He suffered a smashed gum and a severely cut top lip when a square cut by John Waite in the Third Test against South Africa at the Sydney Cricket Ground hit him in the face while he was fielding at short gully.
Doctors told him he was lucky: it could have broken his cheekbones, jaw or removed his eyesight if it had hit any of the surrounding areas. It could have killed him if it had struck him where his skull was previously fractured. He married after the match and had to mumble his wedding vows through a swathe of bandages. Benaud went on to play in the final four Tests. He made 124 runs at 20.66, making double figures in four of seven innings, but was unable to capitalise on his starts, with a top score of 45. His leg spin yielded ten wickets at 30.60, with a best of 4/118 in the Fourth Test in Adelaide when he was given a heavy workload, totalling 58 overs, when Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller broke down during the match. In another match for New South Wales against the touring team, he took a total of 5/95.
Up to this point, his first-class batting average was below 30 and his bowling average close to 40, and he had never taken more than four wickets in an innings or six in a match.
The selectors persisted in Benaud despite his unproductive Test performances, selecting him for the squad for the 1953 Ashes tour of England. He had been seventh and eighth in the domestic runscoring and wicket-taking aggregates for the season, but was yet to convert this into international performance. He justified their decision prior to the team's departure, scoring 167 not out and taking match figures of 7/137 for the touring team against a Tasmania Combined XI, his wickets including Test batsmen Miller, Ian Craig and Neil Harvey. He also put on 167 in a partnership with Alan Davidson, the first collaboration between the pair, who would later go on to lead Australia's bowling in the last five years of their career. Benaud struck an unbeaten 100 and totalled 1/64 in the next match against Western Australia before the Australians departed for England.
On arrival in the British Isles, Benaud quickly made an impression with both bat and ball. After scoring 44 and taking 2/66 in the opening first-class match against Worcestershire, the all-rounder starred in his next match, against Yorkshire. He scored 97 in Australia's only innings and then took 7/46 in the hosts' first innings as the Australians took an innings win. Although his form with the willow dropped off in his remaining six matches before the Tests—a 35 was his only score beyond 20 in seven attempts—Benaud continued to strike regularly with the ball. He took 18 wickets in these matches, including 3/20 and 3/37 against Oxford University, 5/13 against Minor Counties and 4/38 against Hampshire. This was enough for him to gain selection for the start of the Tests.
He managed only eight runs in four innings in the first two Tests, and having taken only two wickets for 136 runs was dropped for the Third. This was part of a month-long run in which he made only 123 runs in eight innings and took only seven wickets in four matches. He was recalled immediately for the Fourth Test, but was dropped for the Fifth after managing seven runs in his only innings and going wicketless. He ended the Test series with 15 runs at 3.00 and two wickets at 87.00. It was thought that the surface at the Oval would favour pacemen, but Australia's selection proved to be a blunder as England's spinners took them to the only win of the series, allowing them to regain the Ashes.
He also showed his hitting ability in a tour match against T.N. Pearce's XI at Scarborough. Opening the batting, he struck 135 in 110 minutes in the second innings, including an Australian record of eleven sixes, four of them in one over. In eight first-class matches after his Test campaign was over, Benaud added a further half-century in addition to the century against Pearce's XI, and took 22 more wickets, including 4/20 against the Gentlemen of England.
After returning home from his first overseas tour, Benaud was prolific during the 1953–54 Australian season, which was purely domestic with no touring Test team. He contributed significantly with both bat and ball in New South Wales' Sheffield Shield triumph, the first of nine consecutive titles. In the opening match of the season, he struck 158 and took 5/88 and 1/65 against Queensland. He made another century in the return match, striking 144 not out and taking a total of 2/55. Midway through the season, he played in Morris's XI in a testimonial match for Hassett, who captained the other team. Benaud scored 78 and 68 and took a total of 5/238, his dismissals being Davidson and frontline Test batsmen in a 121-run win. He then finished the summer strongly, and ended the season with 811 runs at 62.38 and 35 wickets at 30.54. Benaud was the only bowler selected for all five Tests of the 1954–55 series when England visited Australia. He secured his place after scoring 125 against Queensland at the start of the season, although his lead-up form in two matches against England for his state and an Australian XI was not encouraging.
At this stage of his career, he had played 13 Tests with mediocre results. Selected as a batsman who could bowl, he had totalled 309 runs at 15.45 without passing 50, and taken 23 wickets at 37.87 with only two four-wicket innings hauls. Even so, he was promoted to vice-captain above several senior players when Ian Johnson and Keith Miller missed the 2nd Test at Sydney through injury and Arthur Morris was made temporary captain. He also made 113 against the touring side for the Prime Minister's XI.
Australia's selectors persisted and selected him for the squad to tour the West Indies in 1954–55. Their faith was rewarded by an improvement in performances. Benaud contributed 46 and match figures of 2/73 in a First Test victory at Kingston. After a draw in the Second Test, he took three wickets in four balls to end with 4/15 in the first innings at Georgetown, Guyana, before scoring 68 (his first Test half century) as Australia moved to a 2–0 series lead. In the Fifth Test at Kingston, he struck a century in 78 minutes, despite taking 15 minutes to score his first run. He ended with 121 and took four wickets in the match as Australia won by an innings and took the series 3–0. Benaud had contributed 246 runs at 41 and taken wickets steadily to total 18 at 26.94.
During the 1956 tour to England, he helped Australia to its only victory in the Lord's Test, when he scored a rapid 97 in the second innings in 143 minutes from only 113 balls. His fielding, in particular at gully and short leg, was consistently of a high standard, in particular his acrobatic catch to dismiss Colin Cowdrey. He was unable to maintain the standards he had set in the West Indies, contributing little apart from the Lord's Test. He ended the series with 200 runs at 25 and eight wickets at 42.5.
Benaud's bowling reached a new level on the return leg of Australia's overseas tour, when they stopped in the Indian subcontinent in 1956–57 en route back to Australia. In a one-off Test against Pakistan in Karachi, he scored 56 and took 1/36 as Australia fell to defeat. He claimed his Test innings best of 7/72 in the first innings of the First Test in Madras, allowing Australia to build a large lead and win by an innings. It was his first five-wicket haul in a Test innings. After taking four wickets in the drawn Second Test in Bombay,
Benaud bowled Australia to victory in the Third Test in Calcutta, sealing the series 2–0. He took 6/52 and 5/53, his best-ever match analysis, ending the series with 113 runs at 18.83 and 24 wickets at 17.66.
It was the first of his successes against India, against whom he took his wickets at an average of 18. This put him in a small group of spinners whose career averages were inferior to their performances against India, generally regarded as the best players of spin in the world. At this stage of his career, he had yet to perform consistently with bat and ball simultaneously, apart from his breakthrough series in the Caribbean. He had managed, in the 14 Tests since then, 559 runs at 27.95 and 67 wickets at 24.98.
After a break in the international calendar of a year, the 1957–58 tour to South Africa heralded the start of a phase of three international seasons when Benaud was at his peak. The tour saw his bowling talents come to the fore when he took 106 wickets, surpassing the previous record of 104 by England's Sydney Barnes. He scored 817 runs including four centuries, two of them in Test matches. The first of these came in the First Test at Johannesburg, where after conceding 1/115, Benaud struck 122, his highest Test score, to see Australia reach a draw.
In the Second Test at Cape Town, Benaud took 4/95 and then 5/49 in the second innings to secure an innings victory after the home team were forced to follow on. He followed this with 5/114 in a drawn Third Test, before a match-winning all round performance in the Fourth Test in Johannesburg. Benaud struck exactly 100 in the first innings, before taking 4/70 in South Africa's reply. When South Africa followed on, Benaud took 5/84, which left Australia needing only one run to win. He took 5/82 in the second innings of the Fifth Test, the fourth consecutive match in which he had taken five wickets in an innings, as Australia took a 3–0 series win. He had been a major contributor to the series win, scoring 329 runs at 54.83 and taking 30 wickets at 21.93, establishing himself as one of the leading leg spinners of the modern era.
When Ian Craig fell ill at the start of the 1958–59 season, Benaud was promoted to the captaincy ahead of vice-captain Neil Harvey. Harvey and Benaud had been captains of their respective states until Harvey moved in the same season for employment purposes from Victoria to New South Wales and became Benaud's deputy. Benaud had little prior leadership experience, and faced the task of recovering the Ashes from an England team which had arrived in Australia as favourites. He led from the front with his bowling, taking match figures of 7/112 in his debut as captain as Australia claimed the First Test in Brisbane. Benaud's men won the Second Test, before he took 5/83 and 4/94 in the drawn Third Test. Benaud produced an all-round performance of 46, 5/91 and 4/82 in the Fourth Test in Adelaide to take an unassailable 3–0 series lead and regain the Ashes, before scoring 64 and match figures of 5/57 to help take the Fifth Test and a 4–0 series result. Benaud contributed 132 runs at 26.4 and 31 wickets at the low average of 18.83, as well as his shrewd and innovative captaincy. According to Neil Harvey, he also was the first captain who started hosting team meetings, a procedure now followed by his successors after he retired.
Benaud then led Australia on its first full tour of the Indian subcontinent, playing three and five Tests against Pakistan and India respectively. Benaud took 4/69 and 4/42 in the First Test in Dacca (now in Bangladesh), sealing Australia's first win in Pakistan. He took four wickets in a Second Test in Lahore that sealed the series 2–0, the last time Australia would win a Test in Pakistan until Mark Taylor's men in 1998, 37 years later. Six further wickets in the drawn Third Test saw Benaud end the series with 84 runs at 28 and 18 wickets at 21.11. Benaud made a strong start to the series against India, taking 3/0 in the first innings of the First Test in Delhi, before a 5/76-second innings haul secured an innings victory. Benaud had less of an impact on the next two Tests, which Australia lost and drew, totaling 6/244. He returned to form with 5/43 and 3/43 as India were defeated by an innings after being forced to follow on in the Fourth Test in Madras. A further seven wickets from the captain in the Fifth Test saw Australia secure a draw and the series 2–1.
Benaud had contributed 91 runs at 15.16 and 29 wickets at 19.59. The first two seasons of the Benaud captaincy had been a resounding success, with Australia winning eight, drawing four and losing only one Test. Benaud's personal form was a major factor in this success. In the previous seasons when he and his team were at their peak, he had scored 636 runs at 31.8 with taken 108 wickets at 20.27 in eighteen Tests, averaging six wickets a match.
Benaud took over when Australian cricket was in a low phase with a young team. His instinctive, aggressive captaincy and daring approach to cricket – and his charismatic nature and public relations ability – revitalised cricket interest in Australia. This was exhibited in the 1960–61 Test series against the visiting West Indians, in which the grounds were packed to greater levels than they are today despite Australia's population doubling since then.
The First Test in Brisbane ended in the first tie in Test history, which came about after Benaud and Alan Davidson, rather than settle for a draw, decided to risk defeat and play an attacking partnership, which took Australia to the brink of victory. Australia had fallen to 6/92 on the final day chasing a target of 233 with Benaud and Davidson at the crease. Australia's chances of winning looked remote when they reached tea at 6/109 with 124 runs still required with only the tailenders to follow. Despite this, Benaud told chairman of selectors Don Bradman that he would still be going for an improbable victory in accordance with his policy of aggression. With an attacking partnership, the pair took Australia to within sight of the target.
Both men were noted for their hitting ability and viewed attack as their most effective chance of survival. Regular boundaries and quickly-run singles took the score to 226, a seventh-wicket partnership of 134. Only seven runs were required with four wickets in hand as time was running short. Benaud hit a ball into the covers and the pair attempted a quick single when a direct hit from Joe Solomon saw Davidson run out. Australia needed six runs from the final over, in which Benaud was caught and the last two wickets fell to run outs while attempting the winning run.
The Test was tied when Solomon ran out Ian Meckiff with a direct hit. Benaud had an unpenetrative match with the ball, taking 1/162. He took 4/107 in a seven-wicket victory in Melbourne, before the West Indies levelled the series with a 22-run win in Sydney. Benaud had a heavy load in the match taking 8/199 after Davidson tore a hamstring mid-match. In Adelaide, with Davidson absent, Benaud bowled long spells to take match figures of 7/207 in addition to a score of 77 in the first innings. With Davidson back, Australia won the final Test by two wickets, after a controversial incident in which Australian wicketkeeper Wally Grout was not given out hit wicket when a bail was dislodged and the umpires did not notice. Australia won the series 2–1, and although Benaud was below his best, scoring at 21.77 and taking 23 wickets at 33.87, the series was a success for cricket. The unprecedented public interest saw the Caribbean touring party farewelled with a ticker-tape parade by the Australian public. Along with the West Indian captain Frank Worrell, Benaud's bold leadership enlivened interest in Test cricket among a public who had increasingly regarded it as boring.
On his third and final tour to England in 1961, he was hampered by damaged tendons in his right shoulder, which forced him to miss the Second Test at Lord's known as the "Battle of the Ridge". In all he missed a third of the matches due to injury. Despite this impairment to his bowling shoulder, his team played with an aggressive strategy leading them to lose only one Test match and no other matches during the tour, honouring his pre-series pledge. The First Test at Edgbaston was drawn with Benaud taking three wickets. After Harvey led the team to victory at Lord's, Benaud had an unhappy return in the Third at Headingley scoring two runs in two innings and taking match figures of 2/108 as Australia lost within three days. With the series balanced at 1–1, the Fourth Test at Old Trafford initially brought no improvement, with Benaud scoring 2 and taking 0/80 in the first innings. He made 1 in the second before a last-wicket partnership between Davidson and Graham McKenzie of 98 yielded a defendable target.
During England's chase on the final afternoon it became apparent that, with Ted Dexter scoring quickly, Australia would lose the Test unless England were bowled out. Benaud went around the wicket and bowled into the footmarks, having Dexter caught behind and then Peter May bowled around his legs. Benaud's 5/13 in 25 balls instigated an English collapse which saw Australia retain the Ashes. He finished the innings with 6/70. Benaud then took four wickets in the drawn Fifth Test to end the series 2–1. Benaud had a poor series with the bat, scoring 45 runs at 9, but was more successful with the ball, taking 15 wickets at 32.53. He finished the first-class tour with 627 runs and 61 wickets at 23.54. He was appointed an OBE in that year and in 1962 was named as one of the "Wisden" Cricketers of the Year.
The 1961–62 Australian season was purely a domestic one, with no touring international team. Benaud led New South Wales throughout a dominant season, winning the Sheffield Shield with 64 of the 80 possible points. Benaud was the leading wicket-taker of the season with 47 at 17.97. His aggressive tactical style brought large crowds throughout the season, with almost 18,000 watching one match against South Australia.
In another match against Victoria, he ordered his team to attempt to score 404 on the final day to take an unlikely victory in accordance with a promise to score at 400 per day. At one stage, New South Wales were six wickets down with less than 150 runs scored, but Benaud refused to attempt to defend for a draw. He made 140, in a seventh-wicket partnership of 255 in just 176 minutes, an Australian record that still stands.
1962–63 saw an English team under Dexter visit Australia. Fred Trueman with 216 Test wickets and Brian Statham with 229 were poised to overtake the record of 236 Test wickets set by the assistant-manager Alec Bedser. Benaud was another contender with 219 wickets, but it was Statham who broke the record (only to be overtaken by Trueman in New Zealand) and Benaud had to be content with breaking Ray Lindwall's Australian record of 228 Test wickets. In an early tour match Benaud took his best first class innings haul of 18–10–18–7 for New South Wales against the MCC, which lost by an innings and 80 runs, the state's biggest win against the English team. Benaud started the series with seven wickets and a half century as the First Test in Brisbane was drawn. This was followed by three unproductive Tests which yielded only 5/360 and a win apiece. Benaud returned to form with match figures of 5/142 and 57 in the Fifth Test at Sydney, which ended in a draw when Benaud ordered Bill Lawry and Peter Burge to play out the last afternoon for a draw that would retain the Ashes. They were booed and heckled as they left the field and Benaud's reputation as a "go ahead" cricket captain was badly tanished. The draw meant that the series was shared 1–1, the first time he had drawn a series after five successive wins. It was another lean series with the ball, Benaud's 17 wickets costing 40.47, the third consecutive series where his wickets cost more than 30. His batting was reliable, with 227 runs at 32.47.
At the start of the 1963–64 season, Benaud announced that it would be his last at first-class level. The first Test of the season, against the touring South Africans, saw high drama as Australia's left arm paceman Ian Meckiff was called for throwing by Colin Egar and removed from the attack by Benaud after one over. Benaud did not bowl Meckiff from the other end, and at the end of the match Meckiff announced his retirement. Benaud took 5/72 and scored 43 in the First Test, but then injured himself in a grade match, so Bob Simpson captained the team for the Second Test and won the match in Benaud's absence.
Upon his return, Benaud advised the Australian Cricket Board that it would be in the better interests of the team if Simpson continued as captain for the remainder of the season. Benaud took 3/116 to complement scores of 43 and 90 on his return in the Third Test in Sydney. His final two Tests saw no fairytale finish, yielding only four wickets and 55 runs. His batting had been steady though with 231 runs at 33, but his bowling unpenetrative with 12 wickets at 37.42.
Benaud was awarded life membership by the New South Wales Cricket Association, but he returned it in protest in 1970 when his younger brother John was removed from the captaincy. In 1967–68 he captained a Commonwealth team against Pakistan, playing in his last five first-class fixtures.
During Benaud's captaincy, Australia did not lose a series, and became the dominant team in world cricket. His success was based on his ability to attack, his tactical boldness and his ability to extract more performance from his players, in particular Davidson. He was known for his unbuttoned shirt, and raised eyebrows with his on-field exuberance. Benaud embraced his players when opposition wickets fell, something that was uncommon at the time. Benaud's bold leadership coupled with his charismatic nature and public relations ability enlivened interest in Test cricket among a public who had increasingly regarded it as boring.
Benaud was not a large spinner of the ball, but he was known for his ability to extract substantial bounce from the surface. In addition to his accurate probing consistency, he possessed a well-disguised googly and topspinner which tricked many batsmen and yielded him many wickets. In his later career, he added the flipper, a combination of the googly and top spinner which was passed to him by Bruce Dooland. Coupled with his subtle variations in flight and angle of the delivery, he kept the batsman under constant pressure. Benaud had the tendency to bowl around the wicket at a time when he was one of the first players to do so; it had an influence on spin bowlers like Shane Warne and Ashley Giles. Benaud was regarded as one of the finest close-fielders of his era, either at gully or in a silly position. As a batsman, he was tall and lithe, known for his hitting power, in particular his lofted driving ability from the front foot.
Johnnie Moyes said "Certainly Benaud received a little help from the roughened patches, but he could do what the off-spinners could not do: he could turn the ball, mostly slowly, sometimes with more life. His control was admirable, and when Benaud gets a batsman in trouble he rarely if ever gives him a loose one. He keeps him pinned down, probing and probing until the victim is well and truly enmeshed."
After the 1956 England tour, Benaud stayed behind in London to take a BBC presenter training course. He took up a journalism position with the "News of the World", beginning as a police roundsman before becoming a sports columnist. In 1960 he made his first radio commentary in the United Kingdom at the BBC, after which he moved into television.
After retiring from playing in 1964, Benaud turned to full-time cricket journalism and commentary, dividing his time between Britain (where he worked for the BBC for many years before joining Channel 4 in 1999), and Australia (for the Nine Network). Overall he played in or commentated on approximately 500 Test matches, as he himself noted in one of his final interviews in Britain when asked if he would miss Test cricket.
He openly criticized the actions by the Chappell brothers (Trevor and Greg) in the post-match reaction to the underarm bowling incident of 1981, proving his moral integrity far outweighed his unconditional patriotism for Australia. He vacated the commentary booth when New Zealand was about to clinch a test victory at Lord's in 1999, allowing former New Zealand captain-turned-commentator Ian Smith to call the famous victory of his compatriots. Some of his other memorable moments he commentated on included Shane Warne's "Ball of the Century", Ian Botham's dominant all-round display during the 1981 Ashes, Dennis Lillee overtaking Benaud's record for most wickets, and subsequent 300th and 310th wickets, and Andrew Symonds' tackle on a streaker.
The idea for what became his trademark—wearing a cream or white jacket during live commentary—came from Channel 9 owner Kerry Packer, who suggested the look to help Benaud stand out from the rest of the commentary team.
He also helped to design a computer-based parody of himself available for download off Channel 4's website called "Desktop Richie". It was developed by the software company Turtlez Ltd. Having downloaded this, cricket fans would be treated to live Test match updates and weather reports from a cartoon version of Benaud with real voice samples such as "Got 'im!" and "That's stumps ... and time for a glass of something chilled". On Channel 4's live commentary, Benaud often made sarcastic comments regarding the advertisement of Desktop Richie.
In 2004, Benaud starred in a series of television advertisements for the Australian Tourism Commission, aimed at promoting Australia as a tourist destination. Benaud's ad featured him in various scenic locations uttering his signature comment, "Marvellous!". It was also emulated by New Zealand broadcaster John Campbell. He appeared in "Richie Benaud's Greatest XI", a video in which he chooses his own team.
Benaud became a staunch advocate of cricket being available on free-to-view TV. He chose to end his British commentary career, which spanned more than 42 years, when the rights to broadcast live Test match cricket were lost by Channel 4 to the subscription broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting. Thus, the 2005 Ashes series was the last that Benaud commentated on in Britain. His final commentary came near the end of the final day of the Fifth Test at the Oval. His last goodbye was interrupted by Glenn McGrath taking Kevin Pietersen's wicket; Benaud simply wove his description of the dismissal into what he was already saying. Benaud stated he would spend the Northern Hemisphere summer in Britain writing, and would continue working for the Nine Network in Australia.
Benaud commentated for the BBC TV highlights of the 2006–07 Ashes in Australia as part of his continuing commentary work for Australia's Nine Network.
Benaud's distinctive speaking style has been frequently parodied on the Australian comedy series "Comedy Inc." and "The Twelfth Man". In the case of the latter, comedian Billy Birmingham's impersonations of Benaud on The Twelfth Man comedy recordings have become very successful, spanning more than twenty years. Chris Barrie of "Red Dwarf" fame incorporated impressions of Benaud into his stand-up repertoire.
On 18 February 2009, during a radio interview, Benaud announced that he would be retiring from television commentary. Benaud said: "I'll be doing Australian cricket next year—2010—but I don't do any television at all anywhere else now and when I finish next year, then I'll be doing other things ... But that'll be no more television commentary".
It was announced on 15 November 2009, that Benaud had signed a three-year contract with the Nine Network to continue being part of their cricket coverage until 2013, although his role would change from that of ball-by-ball commentary. Benaud said: "I won't be doing live commentary any more." Someone asked me, "Does that mean you'll never again go into the commentary box?", "Well, the answer to that", Benaud replied, "If there is, as there always can be, some emergency or a sensational happening on or off the field where it would be quite ridiculous not to go into the commentary box, of course I'll be in there doing my job and doing it as professionally as I can. But I won't be on the live commentary roster. But I will be doing all sorts of, what I regard as, interesting things for Channel Nine on the cricket—special features on the cricket ...". Richie commentated regularly during the 2011–12 season and was part of Nine's commentating team/roster.
Benaud married Marcia Lavender in 1953 and had two sons, Greg and Jeffery, from this marriage; he divorced Marcia in 1967. In 1967, he married his second wife, Daphne Surfleet, who had worked for the English cricket writer E. W. Swanton. Benaud and Daphne often stayed at their holiday home in Beaulieu-sur-Mer on the French Riviera.
On 29 October 2008, Benaud's mother, Irene, died, aged 104. He said of her, "She improved my love of vegetables by introducing the phrase, 'You can't go out and play cricket until you have eaten all your vegetables.'"
In October 2013 Benaud crashed his vintage 1965 Sunbeam Alpine into a wall while driving near his home in Coogee, a beachside suburb in Sydney's east. He sustained a cracked sternum and shoulder injuries. Slow recovery meant he was unable to commentate for Australia's Channel Nine during the 2013–14 Ashes series.
Benaud had last handed "Baggy green" caps to Simon Katich and Mitchell Starc when they made their test debut, but Benaud's own was lost early in his test career, and former captain, now commentator and Director of Cricket Australia, Mark Taylor was to present the replacement cap to him at the semi-final of the 2015 Cricket World Cup between Australia and India at the SCG, but Benaud was too unwell to attend, and when the cap arrived at Channel 9 headquarters, it was the day before Benaud died. It was presented to his wife.
In November 2014, at age 84, Benaud announced that he had been diagnosed with skin cancer. He died in his sleep on 10 April 2015.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott offered his family a state funeral but his widow, Daphne, declined, respecting his wishes for a private funeral.
Benaud was buried on 15 April, in a private funeral ceremony attended only by his immediate family. Later that same day, there was a commemoration service officiated by former teammate turned lay preacher Brian Booth; attendees included his family and close friends, among them former players Shane Warne and Ian Chappell, and then Australian Test captain Michael Clarke.
Benaud was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1961 for services to cricket. He was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985. In 1999 he was awarded a Logie Award for Most Outstanding Sports Broadcaster.
In 2007, he was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame at the Allan Border Medal award evening and in 2009 he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
In November 2015, Benaud became an honouree at Bradman Foundation, having been a long-serving patron in his life. After rain interrupted the 2016 SCG Test against West Indies, the second day unofficially became Richie Benaud Day as 501 Benaud impersonators stayed at the SCG, which is a day before the annual Jane McGrath Day for Breast Cancer awareness and fundraising, which was again rained out.
In 2017, the Australian Mint issued a 50-cent coin commemorating Benaud.
In October 2018, Benaud became the 40th Legend in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
Benaud wrote a number of books: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26479 |
Religious pluralism
Religious pluralism is an attitude or policy regarding the diversity of religious belief systems co-existing in society. It can indicate one or more of the following:
Religious pluralism, to paraphrase the title of a recent academic work, goes beyond mere toleration. Chris Beneke, in "Beyond Toleration: The Religious Origins of American Pluralism", explains the difference between religious tolerance and religious pluralism by pointing to the situation in the late 18th century United States. By the 1730s, in most colonies religious minorities had obtained what contemporaries called religious toleration: "The policy of toleration relieved religious minorities of some physical punishments and some financial burdens, but it did not make them free from the indignities of prejudice and exclusion. Nor did it make them equal. Those 'tolerated' could still be barred from civil offices, military positions, and university posts." In short, religious toleration is only the absence of religious persecution, and does not necessarily preclude religious discrimination. However, in the following decades something extraordinary happened in the Thirteen Colonies, at least if one views the events from "a late eighteenth-century perspective". Gradually the colonial governments expanded the policy of religious toleration, but then, between the 1760s and the 1780s, they replaced it with "something that is usually called religious liberty". Mark Silka, in "Defining Religious Pluralism in America: A Regional Analysis", states that Religious pluralism "enables a country made up of people of different faiths to exist without sectarian warfare or the persecution of religious minorities. Understood differently in different times and places, it is a cultural construct that embodies some shared conception of how a country's various religious communities relate to each other and to the larger nation whole."
Religious pluralism can be defined as "respecting the otherness of others". Freedom of religion encompasses all religions acting within the law in a particular region. Exclusivist religions teach that theirs is the only way to salvation and to religious truth, and some of them would even argue that it is necessary to suppress the falsehoods taught by other religions. Some Protestant sects argue fiercely against Roman Catholicism, and fundamentalist Christians of all kinds teach that religious practices like those of Paganism and witchcraft are pernicious. This was a common historical attitude prior to the Enlightenment, and has appeared as governmental policy into the present day under systems like Afghanistan's Taliban regime, which destroyed the ancient Buddhas of Bamyan.
Giving one religion or denomination special rights that are denied to others can weaken religious pluralism. This situation was observed in Europe through the Lateran Treaty and Church of England. In modern era, many Islamic countries have laws that criminalize the act of leaving Islam to someone born in Muslim family, forbid entry to non-Muslims into Mosques, and forbid construction of Church, Synagogue or Temples inside their countries.
Relativism, the belief that all religions are equal in their value and that none of the religions give access to absolute truth, is an extreme form of inclusivism. Likewise, syncretism, the attempt to take over creeds of practices from other religions or even to blend practices or creeds from different religions into one new faith is an extreme form of inter-religious dialogue. Syncretism must not be confused with ecumenism, the attempt to bring closer and eventually reunite different denominations of one religion that have a common origin but were separated by a schism.
Cultural and religious pluralism has a long history and development that reaches from antiquity to contemporary trends in post-modernity.
German philosophers of religion Ludwig Feuerbach and Ernst Troeltsch concluded that Asian religious traditions, in particular Hinduism and Buddhism, were the earliest proponents of religious pluralism and granting of freedom to the individuals to choose their own faith and develop a personal religious construct within it (see also Relationship between Buddhism and Hinduism); Jainism, another ancient Indian religion, as well as Daoism have also always been inclusively flexible and have long favored religious pluralism for those who disagree with their religious viewpoints. The Age of Enlightenment in Europe triggered a sweeping transformation about religion after the French Revolution (liberalism, democracy, civil and political rights, freedom of thought, separation of Church and State, secularization), with rising acceptance of religious pluralism and decline of Christianity. According to Chad Meister, these pluralist trends in the Western thought, particularly since the 18th century, brought mainstream Christianity and Judaism closer to the Asian traditions of philosophical pluralism and religious tolerance.
Bahá'u'lláh, founder of Bahá'í Faith, a religion that developed in Persia, though not a sect of Islam, urged the elimination of religious intolerance. He taught that God is one, and has manifested himself to humanity through several historic messengers. Bahá'u'lláh taught that Bahá'ís must associate with peoples of all religions, showing the love of God in relations with them, whether this is reciprocated or not.
Bahá'í's refer to the concept of Progressive revelation, which means that God's will is revealed to mankind progressively as mankind matures and is better able to comprehend the purpose of God in creating humanity. In this view, God's word is revealed through a series of messengers: Abraham, Krishna, Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and Bahá'u'lláh (the founder of the Bahá'í Faith) among them. In the "Kitáb-i-Íqán" ("Book of Certitude"), Bahá'u'lláh explains that messengers of God have a twofold station, one of divinity and one of an individual. According to Bahá'í writings, there will not be another messenger for many hundreds of years. There is also a respect for the religious traditions of the native peoples of the planet who may have little other than oral traditions as a record of their religious figures.
The earliest reference to Buddhist views on religious pluralism in a political sense is found in the Edicts of Emperor Ashoka:
All religions should reside everywhere, for all of them desire self-control and purity of heart. Rock Edict Nb7 (S. Dhammika)
Contact (between religions) is good. One should listen to and respect the doctrines professed by others. Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, desires that all should be well-learned in the good doctrines of other religions. Rock Edict Nb12 (S. Dhammika)
When asked, "Don’t all religions teach the same thing? Is it possible to unify them?" the Dalai Lama said:
People from different traditions should keep their own, rather than change. However, some Tibetan may prefer Islam, so he can follow it. Some Spanish prefer Buddhism; so follow it. But think about it carefully. Don’t do it for fashion. Some people start Christian, follow Islam, then Buddhism, then nothing.
In the United States I have seen people who embrace Buddhism and change their clothes! Like the New Age. They take something Hindu, something Buddhist, something, something… That is not healthy.
For individual practitioners, having one truth, one religion, is very important. Several truths, several religions, is contradictory.
I am Buddhist. Therefore, Buddhism is the only truth for me, the only religion. To my Christian friend, Christianity is the only truth, the only religion. To my Muslim friend, [Islam] is the only truth, the only religion. In the meantime, I respect and admire my Christian friend and my Muslim friend. If by unifying you mean mixing, that is impossible; useless.
For the Romans, religion was part of the daily life. Each home had a household shrine at which prayers and libations to the family's domestic deities were offered. Neighborhood shrines and sacred places such as springs and groves dotted the city. The Roman calendar was structured around religious observances; in the Imperial Era, as many as 135 days of the year were devoted to religious festivals and games ("ludi)". Women, slaves, and children all participated in a range of religious activities. Some public rituals could be conducted only by women, and women formed what is perhaps Rome's most famous priesthood, the state-supported Vestal Virgins, who tended Rome's sacred hearth for centuries, until disbanded under Christian persecution and domination.
The Romans are known for the great number of deities they honored. The presence of Greeks on the Italian peninsula from the beginning of the historical period influenced Roman culture, introducing some religious practices that became as fundamental as the cult of Apollo. The Romans looked for common ground between their major gods and those of the Greeks, adapting Greek myths and iconography for Latin literature and Roman art. Etruscan religion was also a major influence, particularly on the practice of augury, since Rome had once been ruled by Etruscan kings.
Mystery religions imported from the Near East (Ptolemaic Egypt, Persia and Mesopotamia), which offered initiates salvation through a personal God and eternal life after the death, were a matter of personal choice for an individual, practiced in addition to carrying on one's family rites and participating in public religion. The mysteries, however, involved exclusive oaths and secrecy, conditions that conservative Romans viewed with suspicion as characteristic of "magic", conspiracy ("coniuratio"), and subversive activity. Sporadic and sometimes brutal attempts were made to suppress religionists who seemed to threaten traditional Roman morality and unity, as with the Senate's efforts to restrict the Bacchanals in 186 BC.
As the Romans extended their dominance throughout the Mediterranean world, their policy in general was to absorb the deities and cults of other peoples rather than try to eradicate them, since they believed that preserving tradition promoted social stability.
One way that Rome incorporated diverse peoples was by supporting their religious heritage, building temples to local deities that framed their theology within the hierarchy of Roman religion. Inscriptions throughout the Empire record the side-by-side worship of local and Roman deities, including dedications made by Romans to local Gods. By the height of the Empire, numerous international deities were cultivated at Rome and had been carried to even the most remote provinces (among them Cybele, Isis, Osiris, Serapis, Epona), and Gods of solar monism such as Mithras and Sol Invictus, found as far north as Roman Britain. Because Romans had never been obligated to cultivate one deity or one cult only, religious tolerance was not an issue in the sense that it is for competing monotheistic religions. The monotheistic rigor of Judaism posed difficulties for Roman policy that led at times to compromise and the granting of special exemptions, but sometimes to intractable conflict.
Some Christians have argued that religious pluralism is an invalid or self-contradictory concept.
Maximal forms of religious pluralism claim that all religions are equally true, or that one religion can be true for some and another for others. Most Christians hold this idea to be logically impossible from the Principle of contradiction. The two largest Christian branches, the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, both claim to be the "one true church" and that "outside the true Church there is no salvation"; Protestantism however, which has many different denominations, has no consistent doctrine in this regard, and has a variety of different positions regarding religious pluralism.
Other Christians have held that there can be truth value and salvific value in other faith traditions. John Macquarrie, described in the "Handbook of Anglican Theologians" (1998) as "unquestionably Anglicanism's most distinguished systematic theologian in the second half of the twentieth century", wrote that "there should be an end to proselytizing but that equally there should be no syncretism of the kind typified by the Baha'i movement" (p. 2). In discussing 9 founders of major faith traditions (Moses, Zoroaster, Lao-zu, Buddha, Confucius, Socrates, Krishna, Jesus, and Muhammad), which he called "mediators between the human and the divine", Macquarrie wrote that:
I do not deny for a moment that the truth of God has reached others through other channels - indeed, I hope and pray that it has. So while I have a special attachment to one mediator, I have respect for them all. (p. 12)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also teaches a form of religious pluralism, that there is at least some truth in almost all religions and philosophies.
Before the Great Schism, mainstream Christianity confessed "one holy catholic and apostolic church", in the words of the Nicene Creed. Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Episcopalians and most Protestant Christian denominations still maintain this belief. Furthermore, the Catholic Church makes the claim that it alone is the one and only true Church founded by Jesus Christ, but the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches also make this claim in respect to themselves.
Church unity for these groups, as in the past, is something very visible and tangible, and schism was just as serious an offense as heresy. Following the Great Schism, Roman Catholicism sees and recognizes the Orthodox Sacraments as valid but illicit and without canonical jurisdiction. Eastern Orthodoxy does not have the concept of "validity" when applied to Sacraments, but it considers the "form" of Roman Catholic Sacraments to be acceptable, and there is some recognition of Catholic sacraments among some, but not all, Orthodox. Both generally mutually regard each other as "heterodox" and "schismatic", while continuing to recognize each other as Christian, at least secundum quid. (See ecumenicism).
Some other Protestants hold that only believers who believe in certain fundamental doctrines know the true pathway to salvation. The core of this doctrine is that Jesus Christ was a perfect man, is the Son of God and that he died and rose again for the wrongdoing of those who will accept the gift of salvation. They continue to believe in "one" church, an "invisible church" which encompasses different types of Christians in different sects and denominations, believing in certain issues they deem fundamental, while disunited on a variety of doctrines they deem non-fundamental. Some evangelical Protestants are doubtful if Roman Catholics or Eastern Orthodox can possibly be members of this "invisible church", and usually they reject religious (typically restorationist) movements rooted in 19th century American Christianity, such as Mormonism, Christian Science, or Jehovah's Witnesses as not distinctly Christian.
The Catholic Church, unlike some Protestant denominations, affirms "developmental theology," understood to mean that the "Holy Spirit, in and through the evolving and often confused circumstances of concrete history, is gradually bringing the Church to an ever more mature understanding of the deposit of faith (the saving truths entrusted by Jesus Christ to the Apostles--these as such cannot be changed or added to). The Church comes to recognize baptism of desire quite early in its history. Later, the Church realizes that Romans 2:14-16, for example, allows for the salvation of non-Christians who do not have unobstructed exposure to Christian teachings: "When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires . . . . They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts . . . . Various forms of "implicit faith" come to hold standing, until at Vatican Council II, the Church declares: "Nor shall divine providence deny the assistance necessary for salvation to those who, without any fault of theirs, have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of God, and who, not without grace, strive to lead a good life" (#16). Vatican Council II in its Declaration Nostra aetate addresses the non-Christian religions with respect and appreciation, affirming the goodness found in them. Since Vatican Council II, Catholic dialogists in particular are working out the implications of John Paul II's statement, in Redemptor hominis #6 that Christians should recognize "the Holy Spirit operating outside the visible confines of the Mystical Body of Christ." Among these dialogists, Robert Magliola, an affiliate of the Italian community "Vangelo e Zen" ("The Gospel and Zen"), Desio and Milano, Italy, who taught in predominantly Buddhist cultures for years, and practiced Buddhist-Catholic dialogue there and in the West, and who is widely published in this dialogue, argues the following:
If God has willed that all persons be saved (see Catechism of the Catholic Church #851, quoting 1 Tim. 2:4) but has not sent the opportunity of Christian conversion to all, how can we not conclude that God wills those good Buddhists in this latter category to live, flourish, and die as good Buddhists? That God in His providence--at least for now--wants Buddhism to be the setting for millions of good and noble people in the world? (This does not mean that Catholics should not witness to the Catholic faith or even--on the proper occasions and in a courteous way--consider it their duty to preach Catholicism to Buddhists, and to teach it mightily. But it does mean that Catholics would do well to remember that God alone sends the grace of conversion when and to whom He wills.)
Hinduism is naturally pluralistic. A well-known "Rig Vedic" hymn says: "Truth is One, though the sages know it variously" ("Ékam sat vipra bahudā vadanti"). Similarly, in the "Bhagavad Gītā" (4:11), God, manifesting as an incarnation, states: "As people approach me, so I receive them. All paths lead to me" ("ye yathā māṃ prapadyante tāṃs tathāiva bhajāmyaham mama vartmānuvartante manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ"). The Hindu religion has no theological difficulties in accepting degrees of truth in other religions. According to Swami Bhaskarananda, Hinduism emphasizes that everyone actually worships the same God, whether one knows it or not.
While some claim that religious pluralism is controversial in Islam, Islamic civilizations have been characterized as one of the most religiously pluralist. The primary sources that guide Islam, namely Quran and hadiths, promote the fundamental right to practise an individual's belief, even though it may be a false belief. The acceptability of religious pluralism within Islam remains a topic of active debate, however the vast majority of Islamic scholars and historical evidences reveal Islam's commitment to no coercion in religion, supporting pluralism.
In several Surah, Quran asks Muslims to remain steadfast with Islam, and not yield to the vain desires of other religions and unbelievers. These verses have been interpreted to imply pluralism in religions. For example, Surah Al-Ma'idah verses 47 through 49 state:
Surah Al-Ankabut verse 45 through 47 state:
Surah Al-E-Imran verses 62 through 66 state:
Surah Al-Kafiroon verse 1 through 6 state:
Several verses of the Quran state that Islam rejects religious pluralism. For example, Surah Al-Tawba verse 1 through 5 seems to command the Muslim to slay the pagans (with verse 9.5 called the 'sword verse'):
However, this verse has been explained. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26484 |
Calendar-based contraceptive methods
Calendar-based methods are various methods of estimating a woman's likelihood of fertility, based on a record of the length of previous menstrual cycles. Various methods are known as the Knaus–Ogino method and the rhythm method. The standard days method is also considered a calendar-based method, because when using it, a woman tracks the days of her menstrual cycle without observing her physical fertility signs. The standard days method is based on a fixed formula taking into consideration the timing of ovulation, the functional life of the sperm and the ovum, and the resulting likelihood of pregnancy on particular days of the menstrual cycle. These methods may be used to achieve pregnancy by timing unprotected intercourse for days identified as fertile, or to avoid pregnancy by avoiding unprotected intercourse during fertile days.
The first formalized calendar-based method was developed in 1930 by John Smulders, a Roman Catholic physician from the Netherlands. It was based on knowledge of the menstrual cycle. This method was independently discovered by Hermann Knaus (Austria), and Kyusaku Ogino (Japan). This system was a main form of birth control available to Catholic couples for several decades, until the popularization of symptoms-based fertility awareness methods. A new development in calendar-based methods occurred in 2002, when Georgetown University introduced the Standard Days Method. The Standard Days Method is promoted in conjunction with a product called CycleBeads, a ring of colored beads which are meant to help the user keep track of her fertile and non-fertile days.
Some sources may treat the terms "rhythm method" and "fertility awareness" as synonymous. However, fertility awareness is usually used as a broad term that includes tracking basal body temperature and cervical mucus as well as cycle length. The World Health Organization considers the rhythm method to be a specific type of calendar-based method, and calendar-based methods to be only one form of fertility awareness.
More effective than calendar-based methods, systems of fertility awareness that track basal body temperature, cervical mucus, or both, are known as symptoms-based methods. Teachers of symptoms-based methods take care to distance their systems from the poor reputation of the rhythm method. Many consider the rhythm method to have been obsolete for at least 20 years, and some even exclude calendar-based methods from their definition of fertility awareness.
Some sources may treat the terms "rhythm method" and "natural family planning" as synonymous. In the early 20th century, the calendar-based method known as the "rhythm method" was promoted by members of the Roman Catholic Church as the only morally acceptable form of family planning. Methods accepted by this church are referred to as natural family planning (NFP): so at one time, the term "the rhythm method" was synonymous with NFP. Today, NFP is an umbrella term that includes symptoms-based fertility awareness methods and the lactational amenorrhea method as well as calendar-based methods such as rhythm. This overlap between uses of the terms "the rhythm method" and "natural family planning" may contribute to confusion.
The term "the rhythm method" is sometimes used, in error, to describe the behavior of any people who have unprotected vaginal intercourse, yet wish to avoid pregnancy.
The first day of bleeding is considered day one of the menstrual cycle.
It is not known if historical cultures were aware of what part of the menstrual cycle is most fertile. In the year 388, Augustine of Hippo wrote of periodic abstinence. Addressing followers of Manichaeism, his former religion, he said, "Is it not you who used to counsel us to observe as much as possible the time when a woman, after her purification, is most likely to conceive, and to abstain from cohabitation at that time...?" If the Manichaieans practiced something like the Jewish observances of menstruation, then the "time... after her purification" would have indeed been when "a woman... is most likely to conceive." Over a century previously, however, the influential Greek physician Soranus had written that "the time directly before and after menstruation" was the most fertile part of a woman's cycle; this inaccuracy was repeated in the 6th century by the Byzantine physician Aëtius. Similarly, a Chinese sex manual written close to the year 600 stated that only the first five days following menstruation were fertile. Some historians believe that Augustine, too, incorrectly identified the days immediately after menstruation as the time of highest fertility.
Written references to a "safe period" do not appear again for over a thousand years. Scientific advances prompted a number of secular thinkers to advocate periodic abstinence to avoid pregnancy: in the 1840s it was discovered that many animals ovulate during estrus. Because some animals (such as dogs) have a bloody discharge during estrus, it was assumed that menstruation was the corresponding most fertile time for women. This inaccurate theory was popularized by physicians Bischoff, Félix Archimède Pouchet, and Adam Raciborski. In 1854, an English physician named George Drysdale correctly taught his patients that the days near menstruation are the "least" fertile, but this remained the minority view for the remainder of the 19th century.
In 1905 Theodoor Hendrik van de Velde, a Dutch gynecologist, showed that women only ovulate once per menstrual cycle. In the 1920s, Kyusaku Ogino, a Japanese gynecologist, and Hermann Knaus, from Austria, working independently, each made the discovery that ovulation occurs about fourteen days before the next menstrual period. Ogino used his discovery to develop a formula for use in aiding infertile women to time intercourse to achieve pregnancy.
In 1930, Johannes Smulders, a Roman Catholic physician from the Netherlands, used Knaus and Ogino's discoveries to create a method for "avoiding" pregnancy. Smulders published his work with the Dutch Roman Catholic medical association, and this was the official rhythm method promoted over the next several decades. In 1932 a Catholic physician, Dr. Leo J Latz, published a book titled "The Rhythm of Sterility and Fertility in Women" describing the method, and the 1930s also saw the first U.S. Rhythm Clinic (founded by John Rock) to teach the method to Catholic couples.
In the first half of the 20th century, most users of the rhythm method were Catholic; they were following their church's teaching that all other methods of birth control were sinful. In 1968 the encyclical "Humanae vitae" included the statement, "It is supremely desirable... that medical science should by the study of natural rhythms succeed in determining a sufficiently secure basis for the chaste limitation of offspring." This is interpreted as favoring the then-new, more reliable symptoms-based fertility awareness methods over the rhythm method. Currently, many fertility awareness teachers consider the rhythm method to have been obsolete for at least 20 years.
New attention was drawn to calendar-based methods in 2002, when the Institute for Reproductive Health at Georgetown University introduced the Standard Days Method. Designed to be simpler to teach and use than the older rhythm method, the Standard Days Method is being successfully integrated into family planning programs worldwide.
Most menstrual cycles have several days at the beginning that are infertile (pre-ovulatory infertility), a period of fertility, and then several days just before the next menstruation that are infertile (post-ovulatory infertility). The first day of red bleeding is considered day one of the menstrual cycle. To use these methods, a woman is required to know the length of her menstrual cycles.
Imperfect use of calendar-based methods would consist of not correctly tracking the length of the woman's cycles, thus using the wrong numbers in the formula, or of having unprotected intercourse on an identified fertile day. The discipline required to keep accurate records of menstrual cycles, and to abstain from unprotected intercourse, makes imperfect use fairly common. The typical-use failure rate of calendar-based methods is 25% per year.
To find the estimated length of the pre-ovulatory infertile phase, nineteen (19) is subtracted from the length of the woman's shortest cycle. To find the estimated start of the post-ovulatory infertile phase, ten (10) is subtracted from the length of the woman's longest cycle. A woman whose menstrual cycles ranged in length from 30 to 36 days would be estimated to be infertile for the first 11 days of her cycle (30-19=11), to be fertile on days 12–25, and to resume infertility on day 26 (36-10=26). When used to avoid pregnancy, the rhythm method has a perfect-use failure rate of up to 9% per year.
Developed by Georgetown University's Institute for Reproductive Health, the Standard Days Method has a simpler rule set and is more effective than the rhythm method. A product called CycleBeads was developed alongside the method to help the user keep track of estimated high and low fertility points during her menstrual cycle. The Standard Days Method may only be used by women whose cycles are usually between 26 and 32 days in length. In this system:
When used to avoid pregnancy, the Standard Days Method has been claimed to have perfect-use efficacy of 95+% and typical-use efficacy of 88%. However, independent researchers have shown that these figures are probably too optimistic and its efficacy is likely to be much lower.
Several web-based implementations of the cycle method exist, as well as mobile apps such as Natural Cycles.
The Standard Days method (SDM) is increasingly being introduced as part of family planning programs in developing countries. The method is satisfactory for many women and men. The low cost of the method may also enable it to play a useful role in countries that lack funding to provide other methods of birth control.
One concern related to the use of calendar-based methods is their relatively high failure rate, compared to other methods of birth control. Even when used perfectly, calendar-based methods, especially the rhythm method, result in a high pregnancy rate among couples intending to avoid pregnancy. Of commonly known methods of birth control, only the cervical cap and contraceptive sponge have comparably high failure rates. This lower level of reliability of calendar-based methods is because their formulas make several assumptions that are not always true.
The postovulatory (luteal) phase has a normal length of 12 to 16 days, and the rhythm method formula assumes all women have luteal phase lengths within this range. However, many women have shorter luteal phases, and a few have longer luteal phases. For these women, the rhythm method formula incorrectly identifies a few fertile days as being in the infertile period.
Calendar-based methods use records of past menstrual cycles to predict the length of future cycles. However, the length of the pre-ovulatory phase can vary significantly, depending on the woman's typical cycle length, stress factors, medication, illness, menopause, breastfeeding, and whether she is just coming off hormonal contraception. If a woman with previously regular cycles has a delayed ovulation due to one of these factors, she will still be fertile when the method tells her she is in the post-ovulatory infertile phase. If she has an unusually early ovulation, calendar-based methods will indicate she is still in the pre-ovulatory infertile phase when she has actually become fertile.
Finally, calendar-based methods assume that all bleeding is true menstruation. However, mid-cycle or anovulatory bleeding can be caused by a number of factors. Incorrectly identifying bleeding as menstruation will cause the method's calculations to be incorrect.
It has been suggested that pregnancies resulting from method failures of periodic abstinence methods are at increased risk of miscarriage and birth defects due to aged gametes at the time of conception. Other research suggests that timing of conception has no effect on miscarriage rates, low birth weight, or preterm delivery.
Luc Bovens has suggested that unprotected intercourse in the infertile periods of the menstrual cycle may still result in conceptions, but create zygotes incapable of implanting. Bovens maintains that, if one defines abortion to include any destruction of fertilized eggs, then the use of the rhythm method probably results in a large number of abortions. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26485 |
Roulette
Roulette is a casino game named after the French word meaning "little wheel". In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a single number, various groupings of numbers, the colors red or black, whether the number is odd or even, or if the numbers are high (19–36) or low (1–18).
To determine the winning number, a croupier spins a wheel in one direction, then spins a ball in the opposite direction around a tilted circular track running around the outer edge of the wheel. The ball eventually loses momentum, passes through an area of deflectors, and falls onto the wheel and into one of 37 (single zero French/European style roulette) or 38 (double zero American style roulette) colored and numbered pockets on the wheel. The winnings are then paid to anyone who has placed a successful bet.
The first form of roulette was devised in 18th century France. Many historians believe Blaise Pascal introduced a primitive form of roulette in the 17th century in his search for a perpetual motion machine. The roulette mechanism is a hybrid of a gaming wheel invented in 1720 and the Italian game Biribi.
The game has been played in its present form since as early as 1796 in Paris. An early description of the roulette game in its current form is found in a French novel "La Roulette, ou le Jour" by Jaques Lablee, which describes a roulette wheel in the Palais Royal in Paris in 1796. The description included the house pockets, "There are exactly two slots reserved for the bank, whence it derives its sole mathematical advantage." It then goes on to describe the layout with, "...two betting spaces containing the bank's two numbers, zero and double zero". The book was published in 1801. An even earlier reference to a game of this name was published in regulations for New France (Québec) in 1758, which banned the games of "dice, hoca, faro, and roulette".
The roulette wheels used in the casinos of Paris in the late 1790s had red for the single zero and black for the double zero. To avoid confusion, the color green was selected for the zeros in roulette wheels starting in the 1800s.
In 1843, in the German spa casino town of Bad Homburg, fellow Frenchmen François and Louis Blanc introduced the single "0" style roulette wheel in order to compete against other casinos offering the traditional wheel with single and double zero house pockets.
In some forms of early American roulette wheels, there were numbers 1 through 28, plus a single zero, a double zero, and an American Eagle. The Eagle slot, which was a symbol of American liberty, was a house slot that brought the casino extra edge. Soon, the tradition vanished and since then the wheel features only numbered slots. According to Hoyle "the single 0, the double 0, and eagle are never bars; but when the ball falls into either of them, the banker sweeps every thing upon the table, except what may happen to be bet on either one of them, when he pays twenty-seven for one, which is the amount paid for all sums bet upon any single figure".
In the 19th century, roulette spread all over Europe and the US, becoming one of the most famous and most popular casino games. When the German government abolished gambling in the 1860s, the Blanc family moved to the last legal remaining casino operation in Europe at Monte Carlo, where they established a gambling mecca for the elite of Europe. It was here that the single zero roulette wheel became the premier game, and over the years was exported around the world, except in the United States where the double zero wheel had remained dominant.
In the United States, the French double zero wheel made its way up the Mississippi from New Orleans, and then westward. It was here, because of rampant cheating by both operators and gamblers, that the wheel was eventually placed on top of the table to prevent devices being hidden in the table or wheel, and the betting layout was simplified. This eventually evolved into the American-style roulette game. The American game was developed in the gambling dens across the new territories where makeshift games had been set up, whereas the French game evolved with style and leisure in Monte Carlo.
During the first part of the 20th century, the only casino towns of note were Monte Carlo with the traditional single zero French wheel, and Las Vegas with the American double zero wheel. In the 1970s, casinos began to flourish around the world. By 2008, there were several hundred casinos worldwide offering roulette games. The double zero wheel is found in the U.S., Canada, South America, and the Caribbean, while the single zero wheel is predominant elsewhere.
In 2016, The Venetian Las Vegas introduced the first triple-zero wheel, which has since spread to a few additional casinos.
The sum of all the numbers on the roulette wheel (from 0 to 36) is 666, which is the "Number of the Beast".
Roulette players have a variety of betting options. Placing inside bets is either selecting the exact number of the pocket the ball will land in, or a small range of pockets based on their proximity on the layout. Players wishing to bet on the 'outside' will select bets on larger positional groupings of pockets, the pocket color, or whether the winning number is odd or evenThe payout odds for each type of bet are based on its probability.
The roulette table usually imposes minimum and maximum bets, and these rules usually apply separately for all of a player's inside and outside bets for each spin. For inside bets at roulette tables, some casinos may use separate roulette table chips of various colors to distinguish players at the table. Players can continue to place bets as the ball spins around the wheel until the dealer announces "no more bets" or "rien ne va plus".
When a winning number and color is determined by the roulette wheel, the dealer will place a marker, also known as a dolly, on that winning number on the roulette table layout. When the dolly is on the table, no players may place bets, collect bets, or remove any bets from the table. The dealer will then sweep away all other losing bets either by hand or rake, and determine all of the payouts to the remaining inside and outside winning bets. When the dealer is finished making payouts, the marker is removed from the board where players collect their winnings and make new bets. The winning chips remain on the board.
In 2004, California legalized a form of roulette known as California Roulette. By law, the game must use cards and not slots on the roulette wheel to pick the winning number.
The pockets of the roulette wheel are numbered from 0 to 36.
In number ranges from 1 to 10 and 19 to 28, odd numbers are red and even are black. In ranges from 11 to 18 and 29 to 36, odd numbers are black and even are red.
There is a green pocket numbered 0 (zero). In American roulette, there is a second green pocket marked 00. Pocket number order on the roulette wheel adheres to the following clockwise sequence in most casinos:
The cloth-covered betting area on a roulette table is known as the "layout". The layout is either single-zero or double-zero. The European-style layout has a single zero, and the American style layout is usually a double-zero. The American-style roulette table with a wheel at one end is now used in most casinos. The French style table with a wheel in the centre and a layout on either side is rarely found outside of Monte Carlo.
In roulette, bets can either be inside or outside bets.
Outside bets typically have smaller payouts with better odds at winning. Except as noted, all of these bets lose if a zero comes up.
In the United Kingdom, the farthest outside bets (low/high, red/black, even/odd) result in the player losing only half of his/her bet if a zero comes up.
The expected value of a $1 bet (except for the special case of Top line bets), for American and European roulette, can be calculated as
where "n" is the number of pockets in the wheel. The initial bet is returned in addition to the mentioned payout. It can be easily demonstrated that this payout formula would lead to a zero expected value of profit if there were only 36 numbers. Having 37 or more numbers gives the casino its edge.
Top line (0, 00, 1, 2, 3) has a different expected value because of approximation of the correct -to-1 payout obtained by the formula to 6-to-1. The values 0 and 00 are not odd or even, or high or low.
En prison rules, when used, reduce the house advantage.
The "house average" or "house edge or house advantage" (also called the expected value) is the amount the player loses relative for any bet made, on average. If a player bets on a single number in the American game there is a probability of that the player wins 35 times the bet, and a chance that the player loses his bet. The expected value is:
For European roulette, a single number wins and loses :
For triple-zero wheels, a single number wins and loses :
The presence of the green squares on the roulette wheel and on the table is technically the only house edge. Outside bets will always lose when a single or double zero comes up. However, the house also has an edge on inside bets because the pay outs (including the original player's bet) are always set at 36 to 1 when you mathematically have a 1 out of 38 (1 out of 37 for French/European roulette) chance at winning a straight bet on a single number. To demonstrate the house edge on inside bets, imagine placing straight $1 wagers on all inside numbers (including 0 and 00) to assure a win: you would only get back $36, having spent $38. The only exceptions are the five numbers bet where the house edge is considerably higher (7.89% on an American wheel), and the "even money" bets in some European games (French Roulette) where the house edge is halved because only half the stake is lost when a zero comes up. This is commonly called the "la partage" rule, and it is considered the main difference between European and French roulette. There is also a modification of this rule, which is called the "en prison" rule. These rules cut the house edge into half (1.35%) in French roulette, when playing even-money bets, as half of the even-money bets are given back to the player if the zero is drawn in the wheel.
The house edge should not be confused with the "hold". The hold is the average percentage of the money originally brought to the table that the player loses before he leaves—the actual "win" amount for the casino. The Casino Control Commission in Atlantic City releases a monthly report showing the win/hold amounts for each casino. The average win/hold for double zero wheels is between 21% to 30%, significantly more than the 5.26% house edge. This reflects the fact that the player is churning the same money over and over again. A 23.6% hold, for example, would imply that, on average, the player bets the total he brought to the table five times, as 23.6% is approximately equal to . For example, a player with $100 making $10 bets on red (which has a near 50/50 chance of winning) is highly unlikely to lose all his money after only 10 bets, and will most likely continue to bet until he has lost all of his money or decides to leave. A player making $10 bets on a single number (with only 1/38 chance of success) with a $100 bankroll is far more likely to lose all of his money after only 10 bets.
In the early frontier gambling saloons, the house would set the odds on roulette tables at 27 for 1. This meant that on a $1 bet you would get $27 and the house would keep your initial dollar. Today most casino odds are set by law, and they have to be either 34 to 1 or 35 to 1. This means that the house pays you $34 or $35 and you get to keep your original $1 bet.
As an example, we can examine the European roulette model, that is, roulette with only one zero. Since this roulette has 37 cells with equal odds of hitting, this is a final model of field probability formula_2, where formula_3, formula_4 for all formula_5.
Call the bet formula_6 a triple formula_7, where formula_8 is the set of chosen numbers, formula_9 is the size of the bet, and formula_10 determines the return of the bet.
The rules of European roulette have 10 types of bets. First we can examine the 'Straight Up' bet. In this case, formula_11, for some formula_12, and formula_13 is determined by
The bet's expected net return, or profitability, is equal to
Without details, for a bet, black (or red), the rule is determined as
and the profitability
For similar reasons it is simple to see that the profitability is also equal for all remaining types of bets. formula_18.
In reality this means that, the more bets a player makes, the more he is going to lose independent of the strategies (combinations of bet types or size of bets) that he employs:
Here, the profit margin for the roulette owner is equal to approximately 2.7%. Nevertheless, several roulette strategy systems have been developed despite the losing odds. These systems can not change the odds of the game in favor of the player.
It is worth noting that the odds for the player in American roulette are even worse, as the bet profitability is at worst formula_20, and never better than formula_21.
For a roulette wheel with formula_22 green numbers and 36 other unique numbers the chance of the ball landing on a given number is formula_23. For a betting option with formula_24 numbers that define a win, the chance of winning a bet is formula_25
For example, betting on "red", there are 18 red numbers, formula_26, the chance of winning is formula_27.
The payout given by the casino for a win is based on the roulette wheel having 36 outcomes and the payout for a bet is given by formula_28.
For example, betting on 1-12 there are 12 numbers that define a win, formula_29, the payout is formula_30, so the better wins 3 times their bet.
The average return on a player's bet is given by formula_31
For formula_32 the average return is always lower than 1 so on average a player will lose money.
With 1 green number formula_33 the average return is formula_34, that is, after a bet the player will on average have formula_34 of their original bet returned to them.
With 2 green numbers formula_36 the average return is formula_37.
This shows that the expected return is independent of the choice of bet.
Although most often named "call bets" technically these bets are more accurately referred to as "announced bets". The legal distinction between a "call bet" and an "announced bet" is that a "call bet" is a bet called by the player without him placing any money on the table to cover the cost of the bet. In many jurisdictions (most notably the United Kingdom) this is considered gambling on credit and is illegal. An "announced bet" is a bet called by the player for which he immediately places enough money to cover the amount of the bet on the table, prior to the outcome of the spin or hand in progress being known.
There are different number series in roulette that have special names attached to them. Most commonly these bets are known as "the French bets" and each covers a section of the wheel. For the sake of accuracy, zero spiel, although explained below, is not a French bet, it is more accurately "the German bet". Players at a table may bet a set amount per series (or multiples of that amount). The series are based on the way certain numbers lie next to each other on the roulette wheel. Not all casinos offer these bets, and some may offer additional bets or variations on these.
This is a name, more accurately "grands voisins du zéro", for the 17 numbers that lie between 22 and 25 on the wheel, including 22 and 25 themselves. The series is 22-18-29-7-28-12-35-3-26-0-32-15-19-4-21-2-25 (on a single-zero wheel).
Nine chips or multiples thereof are bet. Two chips are placed on the 0-2-3 trio; one on the 4-7 split; one on 12-15; one on 18-21; one on 19-22; two on the 25-26-28-29 corner; and one on 32-35.
Zero game, also known as zero spiel ("Spiel" is German for game or play), is the name for the numbers closest to zero. All numbers in the zero game are included in the voisins, but are placed differently. The numbers bet on are 12-35-3-26-0-32-15.
The bet consists of four chips or multiples thereof. Three chips are bet on splits and one chip straight-up: one chip on 0-3 split, one on 12-15 split, one on 32-35 split and one straight-up on number 26.
This type of bet is popular in Germany and many European casinos. It is also offered as a 5-chip bet in many Eastern European casinos. As a 5-chip bet, it is known as "zero spiel naca" and includes, in addition to the chips placed as noted above, a straight-up on number 19.
This is the name for the 12 numbers that lie on the opposite side of the wheel between 27 and 33, including 27 and 33 themselves. On a single-zero wheel, the series is 27-13-36-11-30-8-23-10-5-24-16-33. The full name (although very rarely used, most players refer to it as "tiers") for this bet is "le tiers du cylindre" (translated from French into English meaning one third of the wheel) because it covers 12 numbers (placed as 6 splits), which is as close to of the wheel as one can get.
Very popular in British casinos, tiers bets outnumber voisins and orphelins bets by a massive margin.
Six chips or multiples thereof are bet. One chip is placed on each of the following splits: 5-8, 10-11, 13-16, 23-24, 27-30, and 33-36.
The tiers bet is also called the "small series" and in some casinos (most notably in South Africa) "series 5-8".
A variant known as "tiers 5-8-10-11" has an additional chip placed straight up on 5, 8, 10, and 11m and so is a 10-piece bet. In some places the variant is called "gioco Ferrari" with a straight up on 8, 11, 23 and 30, the bet is marked with a red G on the racetrack.
These numbers make up the two slices of the wheel outside the tiers and voisins. They contain a total of 8 numbers, comprising 17-34-6 and 1-20-14-31-9.
Five chips or multiples thereof are bet on four splits and a straight-up: one chip is placed straight-up on 1 and one chip on each of the splits: 6-9, 14-17, 17-20, and 31-34.
A number may be backed along with the two numbers on the either side of it in a 5-chip bet. For example, "0 and the neighbors" is a 5-chip bet with one piece straight-up on 3, 26, 0, 32, and 15. Neighbors bets are often put on in combinations, for example "1, 9, 14, and the neighbors" is a 15-chip bet covering 18, 22, 33, 16 with one chip, 9, 31, 20, 1 with two chips and 14 with three chips.
Any of the above bets may be combined, e.g. "orphelins by 1 and zero and the neighbors by 1". The "...and the neighbors" is often assumed by the croupier.
Another bet offered on the single-zero game is "final", "finale" or "finals".
Final 4, for example, is a 4-chip bet and consists of one chip placed on each of the numbers ending in 4, that is 4, 14, 24, and 34. Final 7 is a 3-chip bet, one chip each on 7, 17, and 27. Final bets from final 0 (zero) to final 6 cost four chips. Final bets 7, 8 and 9 cost three chips.
Some casinos also offer split-final bets, for example final 5-8 would be a 4-chip bet, one chip each on the splits 5-8, 15-18, 25-28, and one on 35.
A complete bet places all of the inside bets on a certain number. Full complete bets are most often bet by high rollers as "maximum bets".
The maximum amount allowed to be wagered on a single bet in European roulette is based on a progressive betting model. If the casino allows a maximum bet of $1,000 on a 35-to-1 straight-up, then on each 17-to-1 split connected to that straight-up, $2,000 may be wagered. Each 8-to-1 corner that covers four numbers) may have $4,000 wagered on it. Each 11-to-1 street that covers three numbers may have $3,000 wagered on it. Each 5-to-1 six-line may have $6,000 wagered on it. Each $1,000 incremental bet would be represented by a marker that is used to specifically identify the player and the amount bet.
For instance, if a patron wished to place a full complete bet on 17, the player would call "17 to the maximum". This bet would require a total of 40 chips, or $40,000. To manually place the same wager, the player would need to bet:
The player calls his bet to the croupier (most often after the ball has been spun) and places enough chips to cover the bet on the table within reach of the croupier. The croupier will immediately announce the bet (repeat what the player has just said), ensure that the correct monetary amount has been given while simultaneously placing a matching marker on the number on the table and the amount wagered.
The payout for this bet if the chosen number wins is 392 chips, in the case of a $1000 straight-up maximum, $40,000 bet, a payout of $392,000. The player's wagered 40 chips, as with all winning bets in roulette, are still his property and in the absence of a request to the contrary are left up to possibly win again on the next spin.
Based on the location of the numbers on the layout, the number of chips required to "complete" a number can be determined.
Most typically (Mayfair casinos in London and other top-class European casinos) with these "maximum" or "full complete" bets, nothing (except the aforementioned maximum button) is ever placed on the layout even in the case of a win. Experienced gaming staff, and the type of customers playing such bets, are fully aware of the payouts and so the croupier simply makes up the correct payout, announces its value to the table inspector (floor person in the U.S.) and the customer, and then passes it to the customer, but only after a verbal authorization from the inspector has been received.
Also typically at this level of play (house rules allowing) the experienced croupier caters to the needs of the customer and will most often add the customer's winning bet to the payout, as the type of player playing these bets very rarely bets the same number two spins in succession. For example, the winning 40-chip / $40,000 bet on "17 to the maximum" pays 392 chips / $392,000. The experienced croupier would pay the player 432 chips / $432,000, that is 392 + 40, with the announcement that the payout "is with your bet down".
There are also several methods to determine the payout when a number adjacent to a chosen number is the winner, for example, player bets 40 chips on "23 to the maximum" and number 26 is the winning number. The most notable method is known as the "station" system or method. When paying in stations, the dealer counts the number of ways or stations that the winning number hits the complete bet. In the example above, 26 hits 4 stations - 2 different corners, 1 split and 1 six-line. The dealer takes the number 4, multiplies it by 30 and adds the remaining 8 to the payout: 4 × 30 = 120, 120 + 8 = 128. If calculated as stations, they would just multiply 4 by 36, making 144 with the players bet down.
In some casinos, a player may bet full complete for less than the table straight-up maximum, for example, "number 17 full complete by $25" would cost $1000, that is 40 chips each at $25 value.
Over the years, many people have tried to beat the casino, and turn roulette—a game designed to turn a profit for the house—into one on which the player expects to win. Most of the time this comes down to the use of betting systems, strategies which say that the house edge can be beaten by simply employing a special pattern of bets, often relying on the "Gambler's fallacy", the idea that past results are any guide to the future (for example, if a roulette wheel has come up 10 times in a row on red, that red on the next spin is any more or less likely than if the last spin was black).
All betting systems that rely on patterns, when employed on casino edge games will result, on average, in the player losing money n practice, players employing betting systems may win, and may indeed win very large sums of money, but the losses (which, depending on the design of the betting system, may occur quite rarely) will outweigh the wins. Certain systems, such as the Martingale, described below, are extremely risky, because the worst-case scenario (which is mathematically certain to happen, at some point) may see the player chasing losses with ever-bigger bets until he runs out of money.
The American mathematician Patrick Billingsley said that no betting system can convert a subfair game into a profitable enterprise.
At least in the 1930s, some professional gamblers were able to consistently gain an edge in roulette by seeking out rigged wheels (not difficult to find at that time) and betting opposite the largest bets.
Whereas betting systems are essentially an attempt to beat the fact that a geometric series with initial value of 0.95 (American roulette) or 0.97 (European roulette) will inevitably over time tend to zero, engineers instead attempt to overcome the house edge through predicting the mechanical performance of the wheel, most notably by Joseph Jagger at Monte Carlo in 1873. These schemes work by determining that the ball is more likely to fall at certain numbers. If effective, they raise the return of the game above 100%, defeating the betting system problem.
Edward O. Thorp (the developer of card counting and an early hedge-fund pioneer) and Claude Shannon (a mathematician and electronic engineer best known for his contributions to information theory) built the first wearable computer to predict the landing of the ball in 1961. This system worked by timing the ball and wheel, and using the information obtained to calculate the most likely octant where the ball would fall. Ironically, this technique works best with an unbiased wheel though it could still be countered quite easily by simply closing the table for betting before beginning the spin.
In 1982, several casinos in Britain began to lose large sums of money at their roulette tables to teams of gamblers from the USA. Upon investigation by the police, it was discovered they were using a legal system of biased wheel-section betting. As a result of this, the British roulette wheel manufacturer John Huxley manufactured a roulette wheel to counteract the problem.
The new wheel, designed by George Melas, was called "low profile" because the pockets had been drastically reduced in depth, and various other design modifications caused the ball to descend in a gradual approach to the pocket area. In 1986, when a professional gambling team headed by Billy Walters won $3.8 million using the system on an old wheel at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, every casino in the world took notice, and within one year had switched to the new low-profile wheel.
Thomas Bass, in his book "The Eudaemonic Pie" (1985) (published as "The Newtonian Casino" in Britain), has claimed to be able to predict wheel performance in real time. The book describes the exploits of a group of University of California Santa Cruz students, who called themselves "the Eudaemons", who in the late 1970s used computers in their shoes to win at roulette. This is an updated and improved version of Edward O. Thorp's approach, where Newtonian
Laws of Motion are applied to track the roulette ball's deceleration; hence the British title.
In the early 1990s, Gonzalo Garcia-Pelayo believed that casino roulette wheels were not perfectly random, and that by recording the results and analysing them with a computer, he could gain an edge on the house by predicting that certain numbers were more likely to occur next than the 1-in-36 odds offered by the house suggested. This he did at the Casino de Madrid in Madrid, Spain, winning 600,000 euros in a single day, and one million euros in total. Legal action against him by the casino was unsuccessful, it being ruled that the casino should fix its wheel.
To defend against exploits like these, many casinos use tracking software, use wheels with new designs, rotate wheel heads, and randomly rotate pocket rings.
At the Ritz London casino in March 2004, two Serbs and a Hungarian used a laser scanner hidden inside a mobile phone linked to a computer to predict the sector of the wheel where the ball was most likely to drop. They netted £1.3m in two nights. They were arrested and kept on police bail for nine months, but eventually released and allowed to keep their winnings as they had not interfered with the casino equipment.
The numerous even-money bets in roulette have inspired many players over the years to attempt to beat the game by using one or more variations of a martingale betting strategy, wherein the gambler doubles the bet after every loss, so that the first win would recover all previous losses, plus win a profit equal to the original bet. The problem with this strategy is that, remembering that past results do not affect the future, it is possible for the player to lose so many times in a row, that the player, doubling and redoubling his bets, either runs out of money or hits the table limit. A large financial loss is certain in the long term if the player continued to employ this strategy. Another strategy is the Fibonacci system, where bets are calculated according to the Fibonacci sequence. Regardless of the specific progression, no such strategy can statistically overcome the casino's advantage, since the expected value of each allowed bet is negative.
The Labouchère System is a progression betting strategy like the martingale but does not require the gambler to risk his stake as quickly with dramatic double-ups. The Labouchere System involves using a series of numbers in a line to determine the bet amount, following a win or a loss. Typically, the player adds the numbers at the front and end of the line to determine the size of the next bet. When he wins, he crosses out numbers and continues working on the smaller line. If he loses, then he adds his previous bet to the end of the line and continues to work on the longer line. This is a much more flexible progression betting system and there is much room for the player to design his initial line to his own playing preference.
This system is one that is designed so that when the player has won over a third of his bets (less than the expected 18/38), he will win. Whereas the martingale will cause ruin in the event of a long sequence of successive losses, the Labouchère system will cause bet size to grow quickly even where a losing sequence is broken by wins. This occurs because as the player loses, the average bet size in the line increases.
As with all other betting systems, the average value of this system is negative.
The system, also called "montant et demontant" (from French, meaning upwards and downwards), is often called a pyramid system. It is based on a mathematical equilibrium theory devised by a French mathematician of the same name. Like the martingale, this system is mainly applied to the even-money outside bets, and is favored by players who want to keep the amount of their bets and losses to a minimum. The betting progression is very simple: After each loss, you add one unit to the next bet, and after each win, one unit is deducted from the next bet. Starting with an initial bet of, say, 1 unit, a loss would raise the next bet to 2 units. If this is followed by a win, the next bet would be 1 units.
This betting system relies on the gambler's fallacy—that the player is more likely to lose following a win, and more likely to win following a loss.
There are numerous other betting systems that rely on this fallacy, or that attempt to follow 'streaks' (looking for patterns in randomness), varying bet size accordingly.
Many betting systems are sold online and purport to enable the player to 'beat' the odds. One such system was advertised by Jason Gillon of Rotherham, UK, who claimed you could 'earn £200 daily' by following his betting system, described as a 'loophole'. As the system was advertised in the UK press, it was subject to Advertising Standards Authority regulation, and following a complaint, it was ruled by the ASA that Mr. Gillon had failed to support his claims you could earn £200 daily, and that he had failed to show that there was any loophole. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26487 |
Reference counting
In computer science, reference counting is a programming technique of storing the number of references, pointers, or handles to a resource, such as an object, a block of memory, disk space, and others.
In garbage collection algorithms, reference counts may be used to deallocate objects which are no longer needed.
The main advantage of the reference counting over tracing garbage collection is that objects are reclaimed "as soon as" they can no longer be referenced, and in an incremental fashion, without long pauses for collection cycles and with clearly defined lifetime of every object. In real-time applications or systems with limited memory, this is important to maintain responsiveness. Reference counting is also among the simplest forms of memory management to implement. It also allows for effective management of non-memory resources such as operating system objects, which are often much scarcer than memory (tracing garbage collection systems use finalizers for this, but the delayed reclamation may cause problems). Weighted reference counts are a good solution for garbage collecting a distributed system.
Tracing garbage collection cycles are triggered too often if the set of live objects fills most of the available memory; it requires extra space to be efficient. Reference counting performance does not deteriorate as the total amount of free space decreases.
Reference counts are also useful information to use as input to other runtime optimizations. For example, systems that depend heavily on immutable objects such as many functional programming languages can suffer an efficiency penalty due to frequent copies. However, if the compiler (or runtime system) knows that a particular object has only one reference (as most do in many systems), and that the reference is lost at the same time that a similar new object is created (as in the string append statement codice_1), it can replace the operation with a mutation on the original object.
Reference counting in naive form has two main disadvantages over the tracing garbage collection, both of which require additional mechanisms to ameliorate:
In addition to these, if the memory is allocated from a free list, reference counting suffers from poor locality. Reference counting alone cannot move objects to improve cache performance, so high performance collectors implement a tracing garbage collector as well. Most implementations (such as the ones in PHP and Objective-C) suffer from poor cache performance since they do not implement copying objects.
When dealing with garbage collection schemes, it is often helpful to think of the reference graph, which is a directed graph where the vertices are objects and there is an edge from an object A to an object B if A holds a reference to B. We also have a special vertex or vertices representing the local variables and references held by the runtime system, and no edges ever go to these nodes, although edges can go from them to other nodes.
In this context, the simple reference count of an object is the in-degree of its vertex. Deleting a vertex is like collecting an object. It can only be done when the vertex has no incoming edges, so it does not affect the out-degree of any other vertices, but it can affect the in-degree of other vertices, causing their corresponding objects to be collected as well if their in-degree also becomes 0 as a result.
The connected component containing the special vertex contains the objects that can't be collected, while other connected components of the graph only contain garbage. If a reference-counting garbage collection algorithm is implemented, then each of these garbage components must contain at least one cycle; otherwise, they would have been collected as soon as their reference count (i.e., the number of incoming edges) dropped to zero.
Incrementing and decrementing reference counts every time a reference is created or destroyed can significantly impede performance. Not only do the operations take time, but they damage cache performance and can lead to pipeline bubbles. Even read-only operations like calculating the length of a list require a large number of reads and writes for reference updates with naive reference counting.
One simple technique is for the compiler to combine a number of nearby reference updates into one. This is especially effective for references which are created and quickly destroyed. Care must be taken, however, to put the combined update at the right position so that a premature free can be avoided.
The Deutsch-Bobrow method of reference counting capitalizes on the fact that most reference count updates are in fact generated by references stored in local variables. It ignores these references, only counting references in data structures, but before an object with reference count zero can be deleted, the system must verify with a scan of the stack and registers that no other reference to it still exists.
Another technique devised by Henry Baker involves deferred increments, in which references which are stored in local variables do not immediately increment the corresponding reference count, but instead defer this until it is necessary. If such a reference is destroyed quickly, then there is no need to update the counter. This eliminates a large number of updates associated with short-lived references (such as the above list-length-counting example). However, if such a reference is copied into a data structure, then the deferred increment must be performed at that time. It is also critical to perform the deferred increment before the object's count drops to zero, resulting in a premature free.
A dramatic decrease in the overhead on counter updates was obtained by Levanoni and Petrank. They introduce the update coalescing method which coalesces many of the redundant reference count updates. Consider a pointer that in a given interval of the execution is updated several times. It first points to an object codice_2, then to an object codice_3, and so forth until at the end of the interval it points to some object codice_4. A reference counting algorithm would typically execute codice_5, codice_6, codice_7, codice_8, codice_9, ..., codice_10. But most of these updates are redundant. In order to have the reference count properly evaluated at the end of the interval it is enough to perform codice_5 and codice_10. The rest of the updates are redundant.
Levanoni and Petrank showed in 2001 how to use such update coalescing in a reference counting collector. When using update coalescing with an appropriate treatment of new objects, more than 99% of the counter updates are eliminated for typical Java benchmarks. In addition, the need for atomic operations during pointer updates on parallel processors is eliminated. Finally, they presented an enhanced algorithm that may run concurrently with multithreaded applications employing only fine synchronization.
Blackburn and McKinley's "ulterior reference counting" method in 2003 combines deferred reference counting with a copying nursery, observing that the majority of pointer mutations occur in young objects. This algorithm achieves throughput comparable with the fastest generational copying collectors with the low bounded pause times of reference counting.
Perhaps the most obvious way to handle reference cycles is to design the system to avoid creating them. A system may explicitly forbid reference cycles; file systems with hard links often do this. Judicious use of "weak" (non-counted) references may also help avoid retain cycles; the Cocoa framework, for instance, recommends using "strong" references for parent-to-child relationships and "weak" references for child-to-parent relationships.
Systems may also be designed to tolerate or correct the cycles they create in some way. Developers may design code to explicitly "tear down" the references in a data structure when it is no longer needed, though this has the cost of requiring them to manually track that data structure's lifetime. This technique can be automated by creating an "owner" object that does the tearing-down when it is destroyed; for instance, a Graph object's destructor could delete the edges of its GraphNodes, breaking the reference cycles in the graph. Cycles may even be ignored in systems with short lives and a small amount of cyclic garbage, particularly when the system was developed using a methodology of avoiding cyclic data structures wherever possible, typically at the expense of efficiency.
Computer scientists have also discovered ways to detect and collect reference cycles automatically, without requiring changes in the data structure design. One simple solution is to periodically use a tracing garbage collector to reclaim cycles; since cycles typically constitute a relatively small amount of reclaimed space, the collector can be run much less often than with an ordinary tracing garbage collector.
Bacon describes a cycle-collection algorithm for reference counting with similarities to tracing collectors, including the same theoretical time bounds. It is based on the observation that a cycle can only be isolated when a reference count is decremented to a nonzero value. All objects which this occurs on are put on a "roots" list, and then periodically the program searches through the objects reachable from the roots for cycles. It knows it has found a cycle that can be collected when decrementing all the reference counts on a cycle of references brings them all down to zero. An enhanced version of this algorithm by Paz et al.
is able to run concurrently with other operations and improve its efficiency by using the update coalescing method of Levanoni and Petrank.
Although it is possible to augment simple reference counts in a variety of ways, often a better solution can be found by performing reference counting in a fundamentally different way. Here we describe some of the variants on reference counting and their benefits and drawbacks.
In weighted reference counting, each reference is assigned a "weight", and each object tracks not the number of references referring to it, but the total weight of the references referring to it. The initial reference to a newly created object has a large weight, such as 216. Whenever this reference is copied, half of the weight goes to the new reference, and half of the weight stays with the old reference. Since the total weight does not change, the object's reference count does not need to be updated.
Destroying a reference decrements the total weight by the weight of that reference. When the total weight becomes zero, all references have been destroyed. If an attempt is made to copy a reference with a weight of 1, the reference has to "get more weight" by adding to the total weight and then adding this new weight to the reference, and then splitting it. An alternative in this situation is to create an "indirection" reference object, the initial reference to which is created with a large weight which can then be split.
The property of not needing to access a reference count when a reference is copied is particularly helpful when the object's reference count is expensive to access, for example because it is in another process, on disk, or even across a network. It can also help increase concurrency by avoiding many threads locking a reference count to increase it. Thus, weighted reference counting is most useful in parallel, multiprocess, database, or distributed applications.
The primary problem with simple weighted reference counting is that destroying a reference still requires accessing the reference count, and if many references are destroyed this can cause the same bottlenecks we seek to avoid. Some adaptations of weighted reference counting seek to avoid this by attempting to give weight back from a dying reference to one which is still active.
Weighted reference counting was independently devised by Bevan and Watson & Watson in 1987.
In indirect reference counting, it is necessary to keep track of from whom the reference was obtained. This means that two references are kept to the object: a direct one which is used for invocations; and an indirect one which forms part of a diffusion tree, such as in the Dijkstra-Scholten algorithm, which allows a garbage collector to identify dead objects. This approach prevents an object from being discarded prematurely.
As a collection algorithm, reference counting tracks, for each object, a count of the number of references to it held by other objects. If an object's reference count reaches zero, the object has become inaccessible, and can be destroyed.
When an object is destroyed, any objects referenced by that object also have their reference counts decreased. Because of this, removing a single reference can potentially lead to a large number of objects being freed. A common modification allows reference counting to be made incremental: instead of destroying an object as soon as its reference count becomes zero, it is added to a list of unreferenced objects, and periodically (or as needed) one or more items from this list are destroyed.
Simple reference counts require frequent updates. Whenever a reference is destroyed or overwritten, the reference count of the object it references is decremented, and whenever one is created or copied, the reference count of the object it references is incremented.
Reference counting is also used in file systems and distributed systems, where full non-incremental tracing garbage collection is too time consuming because of the size of the object graph and slow access speed.
Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM) and WinRT makes pervasive use of reference counting. In fact, two of the three methods that all COM objects must provide (in the IUnknown interface) increment or decrement the reference count. Much of the Windows Shell and many Windows applications (including MS Internet Explorer, MS Office, and countless third-party products) are built on COM, demonstrating the viability of reference counting in large-scale systems.
One primary motivation for reference counting in COM is to enable interoperability across different programming languages and runtime systems. A client need only know how to invoke object methods in order to manage object life cycle; thus, the client is completely abstracted from whatever memory allocator the implementation of the COM object uses. As a typical example, a Visual Basic program using a COM object is agnostic towards whether that object was allocated (and must later be deallocated) by a C++ allocator or another Visual Basic component.
C++ does not perform reference-counting by default, fulfilling its philosophy of not adding functionality that might incur overheads where the user has not explicitly requested it. Objects that are shared but not owned can be accessed via a reference, raw pointer, or iterator (a conceptual generalisation of pointers).
However, by the same token, C++ provides native ways for users to opt-into such functionality: C++11 provides reference counted smart pointers, via the class, enabling automatic shared memory-management of dynamically allocated objects. Programmers can use this in conjunction with weak pointers (via ) to break cyclic dependencies. Objects that are dynamically allocated but not intended to be shared can have their lifetime automatically managed using a .
In addition, C++11's move semantics further reduce the extent to which reference counts need to be modified by removing the deep copy normally used when a function returns an object, as it allows for a simple copy of the pointer of said object.
Apple's Cocoa and Cocoa Touch frameworks (and related frameworks, such as Core Foundation) use manual reference counting, much like COM. Traditionally this was accomplished by the programmer manually sending codice_13 and codice_14 messages to objects, but Automatic Reference Counting, a Clang compiler feature that automatically inserts these messages as needed, was added in iOS 5 and Mac OS X 10.7. Mac OS X 10.5 introduced a tracing garbage collector as an alternative to reference counting, but it was deprecated in OS X 10.8 and removed from the Objective-C runtime library in macOS Sierra. iOS has never supported a tracing garbage collector.
One language that uses reference counting for garbage collection is Delphi. Delphi is mostly not a garbage collected language, in that user-defined types must still be manually allocated and deallocated. It does provide automatic collection, however, for a few built-in types, such as strings, dynamic arrays, and interfaces, for ease of use and to simplify the generic database functionality. It is up to the programmer to decide whether to use the built-in types or not; Delphi programmers have complete access to low-level memory management like in C/C++. So all potential cost of Delphi's reference counting can, if desired, be easily circumvented.
Some of the reasons reference counting may have been preferred to other forms of garbage collection in Delphi include:
The GObject object-oriented programming framework implements reference counting on its base types, including weak references. Reference incrementing and decrementing uses atomic operations for thread safety. A significant amount of the work in writing bindings to GObject from high-level languages lies in adapting GObject reference counting to work with the language's own memory management system.
The Vala programming language uses GObject reference counting as its primary garbage collection system, along with copy-heavy string handling.
Perl also uses reference counting, without any special handling of circular references, although (as in Cocoa and C++ above), Perl does support weak references, which allows programmers to avoid creating a cycle.
PHP uses a reference counting mechanism for its internal variable management. Since PHP 5.3, it implements the algorithm from Bacon's above mentioned paper. PHP allows you to turn on and off the cycle collection with user-level functions. It also allows you to manually force the purging mechanism to be run.
Python also uses reference counting and offers cycle detection as well (and can reclaim them).
Squirrel also uses reference counting and offers cycle detection as well.
This tiny language is relatively unknown outside the video game industry; however, it is a concrete example of how reference counting can be practical and efficient (especially in realtime environments).
Tcl 8 uses reference counting for memory management of values (Tcl Obj structs). Since Tcl's values are immutable, reference cycles are impossible to form and no cycle detection scheme is needed. Operations that would replace a value with a modified copy are generally optimized to instead modify the original when its reference count indicates it to be unshared. The references are counted at a data structure level, so the problems with very frequent updates discussed above do not arise.
Xojo also uses reference counting, without any special handling of circular references, although (as in Cocoa and C++ above), Xojo does support weak references, which allows programmers to avoid creating a cycle.
Many file systems maintain a count of the number of references to any particular block or file, for example the inode "link count" on Unix-style file systems. These references are usually called as hard links. When the count falls to zero, the file can be safely deallocated. In addition, while references can still be made from directories, some Unixes allow that the referencing can be solely made by live processes, and there can be files that do not exist in the file system hierarchy. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26490 |
Red-eye effect
The red-eye effect in photography is the common appearance of red pupils in color photographs of the eyes of humans and several other animals. It occurs when using a photographic flash that is very close to the camera lens (as with most compact cameras) in ambient low light.
In flash photography the light of the flash occurs too fast for the pupil to close, so much of the very bright light from the flash passes into the eye through the pupil, reflects off the fundus at the back of the eyeball and out through the pupil. The camera records this reflected light. The main cause of the red color is the ample amount of blood in the choroid which nourishes the back of the eye and is located behind the retina. The blood in the retinal circulation is far less than in the choroid, and plays virtually no role. The eye contains several photostable pigments that all absorb in the short wavelength region, and hence contribute somewhat to the red eye effect. The lens cuts off deep blue and violet light, below 430 nm (depending on age), and macular pigment absorbs between 400 and 500 nm, but this pigment is located exclusively in the tiny fovea. Melanin, located in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and the choroid, shows a gradually increasing absorption towards the short wavelengths. But blood is the main determinant of the red color, because it is completely transparent at long wavelengths and abruptly starts absorbing at 600 nm. The amount of red light emerging from the pupil depends on the amount of melanin in the layers behind the retina. This amount varies strongly between individuals. Light-skinned people with blue eyes have relatively low melanin in the fundus and thus show a much stronger red-eye effect than dark-skinned people with brown eyes. The same holds for animals. The color of the iris itself is of virtually no importance for the red-eye effect. This is obvious because the red-eye effect is most apparent when photographing dark-adapted subjects, hence with fully dilated pupils. Photographs taken with infrared light through night vision devices always show very bright pupils because, in the dark, the pupils are fully dilated and the infrared light is not absorbed by any ocular pigment.
The role of melanin in red-eye effect is demonstrated in animals with heterochromia: only the blue eye displays the effect. The effect is still more pronounced in humans and animals with albinism. All forms of albinism involve abnormal production and/or deposition of melanin.
Red-eye effect is seen in photographs of children also because children's eyes have more rapid dark adaption: in low light a child's pupils enlarge sooner, and an enlarged pupil accentuates the red-eye effect.
Theatrical followspot operators, positioned nearly coincidentally with a very bright light and somewhat distant from the actors, occasionally witness red-eye in actors on stage. The effect is not visible to the rest of the audience because it is reliant on the very small angle between the followspot operator and the light.
Similar effects, some related to red-eye effect, are of several kinds:
The red-eye effect can be prevented in a number of ways.
If direct flash must be used, a good rule of thumb is to separate the flash from the lens by 1/20 of the distance of the camera to the subject. For example, if the subject is 2 meters (6 feet) away, the flash head should be at least 10 cm (4 inches) away from the lens.
Professional photographers prefer to use ambient light or indirect flash, as the red-eye reduction system does not always prevent red eyes — for example, if people look away during the pre-flash. In addition, people do not look natural with small pupils, and direct lighting from close to the camera lens is considered to produce unflattering photographs.
Red-eye removal is built into many popular consumer graphics editing software packages, or is supported through red-eye reduction plug-ins; examples include Adobe Photoshop, Apple iPhoto, Corel Photo-Paint, GIMP, Google Picasa, Paint.NET and Microsoft Windows Photo Gallery. Some can automatically find eyes in the image and perform color correction, and can apply it to many photos at once. Others may require the operator to manually select the regions of the pupils to which correction is to be applied. When performed manually, correction may consist of simply converting the red area of pupils to grayscale (desaturating), leaving surface reflections and highlights intact.
In a photograph of a child's face, if there is red-eye in one eye but not the other, it may be leukocoria, which may be caused by the cancer retinoblastoma. The child's eyes should be examined by a general physician. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26491 |
Ramsay Hunt syndrome type 2
Ramsay Hunt syndrome type 2, also known as herpes zoster oticus, is a disorder that is caused by the reactivation of varicella zoster virus in the geniculate ganglion, a nerve cell bundle of the facial nerve.
Ramsay Hunt syndrome type 2 typically presents with inability to move many facial muscles, pain in the ear, taste loss on the front of the tongue, dry eyes and mouth, and a vesicular rash.
Symptoms include acute facial nerve paralysis, pain in the ear, taste loss in the front two-thirds of the tongue, dry mouth and eyes, and an erythematous vesicular rash in the ear canal, the tongue, and/or hard palate.
Since the vestibulocochlear nerve is in proximity to the geniculate ganglion, it may also be affected, and patients may also suffer from tinnitus, hearing loss, and vertigo. Involvement of the trigeminal nerve can cause numbness of the face.
Ramsay Hunt syndrome type 2 refers to shingles of the geniculate ganglion. After initial infection, varicella zoster virus lies dormant in nerve cells in the body, where it is kept in check by the immune system. Given the opportunity, for example during an illness that suppresses the immune system, the virus travels to the end of the nerve cell, where it causes the symptoms described above.
The affected ganglion is responsible for the movements of facial muscles, the touch sensation of a part of ear and ear canal, the taste function of the frontal two-thirds of the tongue, and the moisturization of the eyes and the mouth. The syndrome specifically refers to the combination of this entity with weakness of the muscles activated by the facial nerve. In isolation, the latter is called Bell's palsy.
However, as with shingles, the lack of lesions does not definitely exclude the existence of a herpes infection. Even before the eruption of vesicles, varicella zoster virus can be detected from the skin of the ear.
Ramsay Hunt Syndrome Type 2 can be diagnosed based on clinical features, however, in ambiguous cases PCR or direct immunofluorescent assay of vesicular fluid can help with the diagnosis. Laboratory studies such as WBC count, ERS, and electrolytes should be obtained to distinguish infectious versus inflammatory etiologies.
On physical exam look for vesicular exanthema on the external auditory canal, concha and or pinna. Dry eyes with possible lower cornea epithelium damage due to incomplete closure of eyelids.
Ramsay Hunt Syndrome type 2 can usually be diagnosed based on clinical features. However, for suspected cases with unclear presentation, varicella zoster virus can be isolated from vesicle fluid. Tear culture PCR can have positive varicella zoster virus. However 25-35% of patients with Bell's palsy can have false positive varicellar zoster virus detected in tears. If central nervous system complications such as meningitis, ventriculitis or meningoencephalitis are suspected, prompt lumbar puncture with spinal fluid analysis and imaging (CT head) are recommended.
Shingles is prevented by immunizing against the causal virus, varicella zoster, for example through Shingrix, a stronger version of chickenpox vaccine.
Treatment with prednisone and the antiviral drug acyclovir 800 mg 5 times a day is controversial, with some studies showing complete recovery in patients if started within the first three days of facial paralysis. Chances of recovery appear to decrease when treatment is delayed. Delay of treatment may result in permanent facial nerve paralysis. However, some studies demonstrate that even when steroids are started promptly, only 22% of all patient achieve full recovery of facial paralysis.
Treatment apparently has no effect on the recovery of hearing loss. Diazepam is sometimes used to treat the vertigo.
The syndrome is named for James Ramsay Hunt, the eminent neurologist who first described it. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26492 |
Race and intelligence
Discussions of race and intelligence, as well as claims of genetic differences in intelligence along racial lines, have appeared in both popular science and academic research since the inception of IQ testing in the early 20th century. The concept of "race" is a social construct, and "intelligence" has no agreed-upon definition; the validity of IQ tests as a metric for general intelligence is itself disputed. In particular, there is no scientific evidence that the average IQ scores of different racial or ethnic population groups can be attributed to any claimed genetic differences between those groups.
The first tests showing differences in IQ scores between different population groups in the United States were the tests of United States Army recruits in World War I. In the 1920s, groups of eugenics lobbyists argued that these results demonstrated that African-Americans and certain immigrant groups were of inferior intellect to Anglo-Saxon white people, due to innate biological differences, using this as an argument for policies of racial segregation. However, soon other studies appeared, contesting these conclusions and arguing instead that the Army tests had not adequately controlled for environmental factors, such as socio-economic and educational inequality between black people and white people. Later observations of phenomena such as the Flynn effect have also highlighted the ways that environmental factors affect group IQ differences.
Claims of differences in intelligence between races have been used to justify colonialism, slavery, racism, social Darwinism, and racial eugenics. Racial thinkers such as Arthur de Gobineau relied crucially on the assumption that black people were innately inferior to white people in developing their ideologies of white supremacy. Even Enlightenment thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson, a slave owner, believed black people to be innately inferior to white people in physique and intellect. At the same time, prominent examples of African-American genius such the autodidact and abolitionist Frederick Douglass and the pioneering sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois stood as high-profile counterexamples to widespread stereotypes of black intellectual inferiority.
The first practical intelligence test was developed between 1905 and 1908 by Alfred Binet in France for school placement of children. Binet warned that results from his test should not be assumed to measure innate intelligence or used to label individuals permanently. Binet's test was translated into English and revised in 1916 by Lewis Terman (who introduced IQ scoring for the test results) and published under the name Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scales. In 1916 Terman wrote that Mexican-Americans, African-Americans, and Native Americans have a mental "dullness [that] seems to be racial, or at least inherent in the family stocks from which they come.".
The US Army used a different set of tests developed by Robert Yerkes to evaluate draftees for World War I. Based on the Army's data, prominent psychologists and eugenicists such as Henry H. Goddard, Harry H. Laughlin, and Princeton professor Carl Brigham wrote that people from southern and eastern Europe were less intelligent than native-born Americans or immigrants from the Nordic countries, and that black Americans were less intelligent than white Americans. The results were widely publicized by a lobby of anti-immigration activists, including the conservationist and theorist of scientific racism Madison Grant, who considered the so-called Nordic race to be superior, but under threat because of immigration by "inferior breeds." In his influential work, "A Study of American Intelligence," psychologist Carl Brigham used the results of the Army tests to argue for a stricter immigration policy, limiting immigration to countries considered to belong to the "Nordic race".
In the 1920s, some US states enacted eugenic laws, such as Virginia's 1924 Racial Integrity Act, which established the one-drop rule (of 'racial purity') as law. Many scientists reacted negatively to eugenicist claims linking abilities and moral character to racial or genetic ancestry. They pointed to the contribution of environment (such as speaking English as a second language) to test results. By the mid-1930s, many psychologists in the US had adopted the view that environmental and cultural factors played a dominant role in IQ test results. The psychologist Carl Brigham repudiated his own earlier arguments, explaining that he had come to realize that the tests were not a measure of innate intelligence.
Discussions of the issue in the United States, especially in the writings of Madison Grant, influenced German Nazi claims that the "Nordics" were a "master race." As American public sentiment shifted against the Germans, claims of racial differences in intelligence increasingly came to be regarded as problematic. Anthropologists such as Franz Boas, Ruth Benedict, and Gene Weltfish did much to demonstrate that claims about racial hierarchies of intelligence were unscientific. Nonetheless, a powerful eugenics and segregation lobby funded largely by textile-magnate Wickliffe Draper continued to use intelligence studies as an argument for eugenics, segregation, and anti-immigration legislation.
As the desegregation of the American South gained traction in the 1950s, debate about black intelligence resurfaced. Audrey Shuey, funded by Draper's Pioneer Fund, published a new analysis of Yerkes' tests, concluding that black people really were of inferior intellect to white people. This study was used by segregationists to argue that it was to the advantage of black children to be educated separately from the superior white children. In the 1960s, the debate was revived when William Shockley publicly defended the view that black children were innately unable to learn as well as white children. Arthur Jensen expressed similar opinions in his "Harvard Educational Review" article, "How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?," which questioned the value of compensatory education for African-American children. He suggested that poor educational performance in such cases reflected an underlying genetic cause rather than lack of stimulation at home or other environmental factors.
Another revival of public debate followed the appearance of "The Bell Curve" (1994), a book by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray that supported the general viewpoint of Jensen. A statement in support of Herrnstein and Murray titled "Mainstream Science on Intelligence," was published in "The Wall Street Journal" with 52 signatures. "The Bell Curve" also led to critical responses in a statement titled "" of the American Psychological Association and in several books, including "The Bell Curve Debate" (1995), "Inequality by Design" (1996) and a second edition of "The Mismeasure of Man" (1996) by Stephen Jay Gould.
Some of the authors proposing genetic explanations for group differences have received funding from the Pioneer Fund, which was headed by J. Philippe Rushton until his death in 2012. Arthur Jensen, who jointly with Rushton published a 2005 review article arguing that the difference in mean IQs between blacks and whites is partly due to genetics, received $1.1 million from the Pioneer Fund. According to Ashley Montagu, "The University of California's Arthur Jensen, cited twenty-three times in "The Bell Curve"'s bibliography, is the book's principal authority on the intellectual inferiority of blacks."
The Southern Poverty Law Center lists the Pioneer Fund as a hate group, citing the fund's history, its funding of race and intelligence research, and its connections with racist individuals. Other researchers have criticized the Pioneer Fund for promoting scientific racism, eugenics and white supremacy.
The concept of intelligence and the degree to which intelligence is measurable are matters of debate. There is no consensus about how to define intelligence; nor is it universally accepted that it is something that can be meaningfully measured by a single figure. A recurring criticism is that different societies value and promote different kinds of skills and that the concept of intelligence is therefore culturally variable and cannot be measured by the same criteria in different societies. Consequently, some critics argue that it makes no sense to propose relationships between intelligence and other variables.
Correlations between scores on various types of IQ tests led English psychologist Charles Spearman to propose in 1904 the existence of an underlying factor, which he referred to as ""g"" or "general intelligence". With regard to this ""g" factor", Spearman claimed that "a person can no more be trained to have it in higher degree than he can be trained to be taller." More recent proponents of this view include Arthur Jensen, who has argued that test score differences, especially in tasks considered to be particularly "g-loaded," reflect the test taker's innate capability. This view, however, has been contradicted by a number of studies showing that even when accounting for "g-loading", education and changes in environment can significantly improve IQ test results.
Other psychometricians have argued that, whether or not there is such a thing as a general intelligence factor, performance on tests relies crucially on knowledge acquired through prior exposure to the types of tasks that such tests contain. This means that comparisons of test scores between persons with widely different life experiences and cognitive habits do not reveal their relative innate potentials.
The majority of anthropologists today consider race to be a sociopolitical phenomenon rather than a biological one, a view supported by considerable genetics research. The current mainstream view in the social sciences and biology is that race is a social construction based on folk ideologies that construct groups based on social disparities and superficial physical characteristics. state, "Race is a socially constructed concept, not a biological one. It derives from people's desire to classify." The concept of human "races" as natural and separate divisions within the human species has also been rejected by the American Anthropological Association. The official position of the AAA, adopted in 1998, is that advances in scientific knowledge have made it "clear that human populations are not unambiguous, clearly demarcated, biologically distinct groups" and that "any attempt to establish lines of division among biological populations [is] both arbitrary and subjective." A more recent statement from the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (2019) declares that "Race does not provide an accurate representation of human biological variation. It was never accurate in the past, and it remains inaccurate when referencing contemporary human populations. Humans are not divided biologically into distinct continental types or racial genetic clusters."
In studies of human intelligence, race is almost always determined using self-reports rather than analyses of genetic characteristics. According to psychologist David Rowe, self-report is the preferred method for racial classification in studies of racial differences because classification based on genetic markers alone ignore the "cultural, behavioral, sociological, psychological, and epidemiological variables" that distinguish racial groups. Hunt and Carlson write that "Nevertheless, self-identification is a surprisingly reliable guide to genetic composition. applied mathematical clustering techniques to sort genomic markers for over 3,600 people in the United States and Taiwan into four groups. There was almost perfect agreement between cluster assignment and individuals' self-reports of racial/ethnic identification as white, black, East Asian, or Latino." Sternberg and Grigorenko disagree with Hunt and Carlson's interpretation of Tang's results as supporting the view that racial divisions are biological; rather, "Tang et al.'s point was that ancient geographic ancestry rather than current residence is associated with self-identification and not that such self-identification provides evidence for the existence of biological race."
Anthropologist C. Loring Brace and geneticist Joseph Graves disagree with the idea that cluster analysis and the correlation between self-reported race and genetic ancestry support the notion of biological races. They argue that while it is possible to find biological and genetic variation corresponding roughly to the groupings normally defined as races, this is true for almost all geographically distinct populations. The cluster structure of the genetic data is dependent on the initial hypotheses of the researcher and the populations sampled. When one samples continental groups, the clusters become continental; if one had chosen other sampling patterns, the clusters would be different. concludes that, while differences in particular allele frequencies can be used to identify populations that loosely correspond to the racial categories common in Western social discourse, the differences are of no more biological significance than the differences found between any human populations (e.g., the Spanish and Portuguese).
The study of human intelligence is one of the most controversial topics in psychology, in part because of difficulty reaching agreement about the meaning of "intelligence" and objections to the assumption that intelligence can be meaningfully measured by IQ tests. Claims that there are innate differences in intelligence between racial and ethnic groups—which go back at least to the 19th century—have been criticized both for relying on specious assumptions and research methods and for serving as an ideological framework for discrimination and racism.
In a 2012 study of tests of different components of intelligence, Hampshire "et al" expressed disagreement with the view of Jensen and Rushton that genetic factors must play a role in IQ differences between races, stating that "it remains unclear, however, whether population differences in intelligence test scores are driven by heritable factors or by other correlated demographic variables such as socioeconomic status, education level, and motivation. More relevantly, it is questionable whether they [population differences in intelligence test scores] relate to a unitary intelligence factor, as opposed to a bias in testing paradigms toward particular components of a more complex intelligence construct." According to Jackson and Weidman, There are a number of reasons why the genetic argument for race differences in intelligence has not won many adherents in the scientific community. First, even taken on its own terms, the case made by Jensen and his followers did not hold up to scrutiny. Second, the rise of population genetics undercut the claims for a genetic cause of intelligence. Third, the new understanding of institutional racism offered a better explanation for the existence of differences in IQ scores between the races.
In the US, generally individuals identifying themselves as Asian tend to score higher on IQ tests than do Caucasians, who score higher than Hispanics, who score higher than African Americans. Nevertheless, greater variation in IQ scores exists within each ethnic group than between them. , in a review of the results of a total of 6,246,729 participants in other tests of cognitive ability or aptitude, found a difference in mean scores between black people and white people of 1.1 SD. Consistent results were found for college and university application tests such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (N = 2.4 million) and Graduate Record Examination (N = 2.3 million), as well as for tests of job applicants in corporate settings (N = 0.5 million) and in the military (N = 0.4 million).
In response to the controversial 1994 book "The Bell Curve", the American Psychological Association (APA) formed a task-force of eleven experts, which issued a report "" in 1996. Regarding group differences, the report reaffirmed the consensus that differences within groups are much wider than differences between groups, and that claims of ethnic differences in intelligence should be scrutinized carefully, as such claims had been used to justify racial discrimination. The report also acknowledged problems with the racial categories used, as these categories are neither consistently applied, nor homogeneous (see also race and ethnicity in the United States).
In the UK, some African groups have higher educational attainment and standardized test scores than the population on average. In 2010 - 2011, white British pupils were 2.3% less likely to have gained 5 A*–C grades at GCSE than the national average, whereas the likelihood was 21.8% above average for those of Nigerian and 5.5% for those of Ghanaian origin. In 2014, Black-African pupils of 11 language groups were more likely to pass Key Stage 2 Maths 4+ in England than the national average. While the White British average was 84.6%, there were four Black African groups (Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa and Amharic speakers) that had a pass rate of over 90%. In 2017/2018, percentage of pupils getting a strong pass (grade 5 or above) in English and maths GCSE (in Key Stage 4) was higher among Black-African pupils (44.3%) than white British pupils (42.67%)..
During the 20th century raw scores on IQ tests were rising; this score increase is known as the "Flynn effect," named after James R. Flynn. In the United States, the increase was continuous and approximately linear from the earliest years of testing to about 1998 when the gains stopped and some tests even showed decreasing test scores. For example, the average scores of black people on some IQ tests in 1995 were the same as the scores of white people in 1945. As one pair of academics phrased it, "the typical African American today probably has a slightly higher IQ than the grandparents of today's average white American."
Flynn has argued that, given that these changes took place between one generation and the next, it is highly unlikely that genetic factors could have accounted for the increasing scores, which must then have been caused by environmental factors. The importance of the Flynn effect in the debate over the causes of the black/white IQ gap lies in demonstrating that environmental factors may cause changes in test scores on the scale of 1 SD. This had previously been doubted.
A separate phenomenon from the Flynn effect has been the discovery that the IQ gap was gradually closing over the last decades of the 20th century, as black test-takers increased their average scores relative to white test-takers. For instance, Vincent reported in 1991 that the black–white IQ gap was decreasing among children, but that it was remaining constant among adults. Similarly, a 2006 study by Dickens and Flynn estimated that the difference between mean scores of black people and white people closed by about 5 or 6 IQ points between 1972 and 2002, a reduction of about one-third. In the same period, the educational achievement disparity also diminished. Reviews by Flynn and Dickens, Mackintosh, and Nisbett "et al" accept the gradual closing of the gap as a fact.
Environmental factors including childhood lead exposure, low rates of breast feeding, and poor nutrition can significantly affect cognitive development and functioning. For example, childhood exposure to lead, associated with homes in poorer areas causes an average IQ drop of 7 points, and iodine deficiency causes a fall, on average, of 12 IQ points. Such impairments may sometimes be permanent, sometimes be partially or wholly compensated for by later growth. The first two years of life is the critical time for malnutrition, the consequences of which are often irreversible and include poor cognitive development, educability, and future economic productivity. The African American population of the United States is statistically more likely to be exposed to many detrimental environmental factors such as poorer neighborhoods, schools, nutrition, and prenatal and postnatal health care. Mackintosh points out that for American black people infant mortality is about twice as high as for white people, and low birthweight is twice as prevalent. At the same time white mothers are twice as likely to breastfeed their infants, and breastfeeding is highly correlated with IQ for low birthweight infants. In this way a wide number of health related factors that influence IQ are unequally distributed between the two groups.
The Copenhagen consensus in 2004 stated that lack of both iodine and iron has been implicated in impaired brain development, and this can affect enormous numbers of people: it is estimated that one-third of the total global population are affected by iodine deficiency. In developing countries, it is estimated that 40% of children aged four and under suffer from anaemia because of insufficient iron in their diets.
Other scholars have found that simply the standard of nutrition has a significant effect on population intelligence, and that the Flynn effect may be caused by increasing nutrition standards across the world. James Flynn has himself argued against this view.
Some recent research has argued that the retardation caused in brain development by infectious diseases, many of which are more prevalent in non-white populations, may be an important factor in explaining the differences in IQ between different regions of the world. The findings of this research, showing the correlation between IQ, race and infectious diseases was also shown to apply to the IQ gap in the US, suggesting that this may be an important environmental factor.
A 2013 meta-analysis by the World Health Organization found that, after controlling for maternal IQ, breastfeeding was associated with IQ gains of 2.19 points. The authors suggest that this relationship is causal but state that the practical significance of this gain is debatable; however, they highlight one study suggesting an association between breastfeeding and academic performance in Brazil, where "breastfeeding duration does not present marked variability by socioeconomic position." Colen and Ramey (2014) similarly find that controlling for sibling comparisons within families, rather than between families, reduces the correlation between breastfeeding status and WISC IQ scores by nearly a third, but further find the relationship between breastfeeding duration and WISC IQ scores to be insignificant. They suggest that "much of the beneficial long-term effects typically attributed to breastfeeding, per se, may primarily be due to selection pressures into infant feeding practices along key demographic characteristics such as race and socioeconomic status." Reichman estimates that no more than 3 to 4% of the black–white IQ gap can be explained by black–white disparities in low birth weight.
Several studies have proposed that a large part of the gap can be attributed to differences in quality of education. Racial discrimination in education has been proposed as one possible cause of differences in educational quality between races. According to a paper by Hala Elhoweris, Kagendo Mutua, Negmeldin Alsheikh and Pauline Holloway, teachers' referral decisions for students to participate in gifted and talented educational programs were influenced in part by the students' ethnicity.
The Abecedarian Early Intervention Project, an intensive early childhood education project, was also able to bring about an average IQ gain of 4.4 points at age 21 in the black children who participated in it compared to controls. Arthur Jensen agreed that the Abecedarian project demonstrated that education can have a significant effect on IQ, but also declared his view that no educational program thus far had been able to reduce the black–white IQ gap by more than a third, and that differences in education are thus unlikely to be its only cause.
A series of studies by Joseph Fagan and Cynthia Holland measured the effect of prior exposure to the kind of cognitive tasks posed in IQ tests on test performance. Assuming that the IQ gap was the result of lower exposure to tasks using the cognitive functions usually found in IQ tests among African American test takes, they prepared a group of African Americans in this type of tasks before taking an IQ test. The researchers found that there was no subsequent difference in performance between the African-Americans and white test takers. Daley and Onwuegbuzie conclude that Fagan and Holland demonstrate that "differences in knowledge between black people and white people for intelligence test items can be erased when equal opportunity is provided for exposure to the information to be tested". A similar argument is made by David Marks who argues that IQ differences correlate well with differences in literacy suggesting that developing literacy skills through education causes an increase in IQ test performance.
A 2003 study found that two variables—stereotype threat and the degree of educational attainment of children's fathers—partially explained the black–white gap in cognitive ability test scores, undermining the hereditarian view that they stemmed from immutable genetic factors.
Different aspects of the socioeconomic environment in which children are raised have been shown to correlate with part of the IQ gap, but they do not account for the entire gap. According to a 2006 review, these factors account for slightly less than half of one standard deviation.
Other research has focused on different causes of variation within low socioeconomic status (SES) and high SES groups.
In the US, among low SES groups, genetic differences account for a smaller proportion of the variance in IQ than among high SES populations. Such effects are predicted by the "bioecological" hypothesis—that genotypes are transformed into phenotypes through nonadditive synergistic effects of the environment. suggest that high SES individuals are more likely to be able to develop their full biological potential, whereas low SES individuals are likely to be hindered in their development by adverse environmental conditions. The same review also points out that adoption studies generally are biased towards including only high and high middle SES adoptive families, meaning that they will tend to overestimate average genetic effects. They also note that studies of adoption from lower-class homes to middle-class homes have shown that such children experience a 12 to 18 point gain in IQ relative to children who remain in low SES homes. A 2015 study found that environmental factors (namely, family income, maternal education, maternal verbal ability/knowledge, learning materials in the home, parenting factors, child birth order, and child birth weight) accounted for the black–white gap in cognitive ability test scores.
A number of studies have reached the conclusion that IQ tests may be biased against certain groups. The validity and reliability of IQ scores obtained from outside the United States and Europe have been questioned, in part because of the inherent difficulty of comparing IQ scores between cultures. Several researchers have argued that cultural differences limit the appropriateness of standard IQ tests in non-industrialized communities.
A 1996 report by the American Psychological Association states that intelligence can be difficult to compare across cultures, and notes that differing familiarity with test materials can produce substantial differences in test results; it also says that tests are accurate predictors of future achievement for black and white Americans, and are in that sense unbiased. The view that tests accurately predict future educational attainment is reinforced by Nicholas Mackintosh in his 1998 book "IQ and Human Intelligence", and by a 1999 literature review by .
James R. Flynn, surveying studies on the topic, notes that the weight and presence of many test questions depends on what sorts of information and modes of thinking are culturally valued.
Stereotype threat is the fear that one's behavior will confirm an existing stereotype of a group with which one identifies or by which one is defined; this fear may in turn lead to an impairment of performance. Testing situations that highlight the fact that intelligence is being measured tend to lower the scores of individuals from racial-ethnic groups who already score lower on average or are expected to score lower. Stereotype threat conditions cause larger than expected IQ differences among groups. Psychometrician Nicholas Mackintosh considers that there is little doubt that the effects of stereotype threat contribute to the IQ gap between black people and white people.
A large number of studies have shown that systemically disadvantaged minorities, such as the African American minority of the United States, generally perform worse in the educational system and in intelligence tests than the majority groups or less disadvantaged minorities such as immigrant or "voluntary" minorities. The explanation of these findings may be that children of caste-like minorities, due to the systemic limitations of their prospects of social advancement, do not have "effort optimism", i.e. they do not have the confidence that acquiring the skills valued by majority society, such as those skills measured by IQ tests, is worthwhile. They may even deliberately reject certain behaviors that are seen as "acting white."
Research published in 1997 indicates that part of the black–white gap in cognitive ability test scores is due to racial differences in test motivation.
However, attempts to replicate studies evincing significant effects of stereotype threat have not yielded the same results. In 2004 Sackett et al. found that eliminating stereotype threat does not eliminate the racial test performance gap, and in 2005 Tyson et al. found that African Americans have motivation similar to or even better than that of white Americans. Self-affirmation exercises promoted by research scientists such as Geoffrey L. Cohen have not been shown to be effective in attempts to replicate his studies. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26494 |
Retirement
Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.
An increasing number of individuals are choosing to put off this point of total retirement, by selecting to exist in the emerging state of pre-tirement. Some people who have retired from a position with a pre-nominal title, particularly military officers, are often listed with a post-nominal indicating retirement, e.g., "Admiral John Smith (ret)" (or rtd or retd).
Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when bodily conditions no longer allow the person to work any longer (by illness or accident) or as a result of legislation concerning their position. In most countries, the idea of retirement is of recent origin, being introduced during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Previously, low life expectancy and the absence of pension arrangements meant that most workers continued to work until death. Germany was the first country to introduce retirement benefits in 1889.
Nowadays, most developed countries have systems to provide pensions on retirement in old age, funded by employers or the state. In many poorer countries there is no support for the old beyond that provided through the family. Today, retirement with a pension is considered a right of the worker in many societies; hard ideological, social, cultural and political battles have been fought over whether this is a right. In many western countries, this is a right embodied in national constitutions.
Retirement, or the practice of leaving one's job or ceasing to work after reaching a certain age, has been around since around the 18th century. Prior to the 18th century, humans had an average life expectancy between 26 and 40 years.
In consequence, only a small percentage of the population reached an age where physical impairments began to be obstacles to working. Countries began to adopt government policies on retirement during the late 19th century and the 20th century, beginning in Germany under Otto von Bismarck.
A person may retire at whatever age they please. However, a country's tax laws or state old-age pension rules usually mean that in a given country a certain age is thought of as the "standard" retirement age. As life expectancy increases and more and more people live to an advanced age, in many countries the age at which a pension is awarded has been increased in the 21st century, often progressively.
The "standard" retirement age varies from country to country but it is generally between 50 and 70 (according to latest statistics, 2011). In some countries this age is different for men and women, although this has recently been challenged in some countries (e.g., Austria), and in some countries the ages are being brought into line. The table below shows the variation in eligibility ages for public old-age benefits in the United States and many European countries, according to the OECD.
"The retirement age in many countries is increasing, often starting in the 2010s and continuing until the late 2020s."
Notes: Parentheses indicate eligibility age for women when different. Sources: Cols. 1–2: OECD Pensions at a Glance (2005), Cols. 3–6: Tabulations from HRS, ELSA and SHARE. Square brackets indicate early retirement for some public employees.
1 In Denmark, early retirement is called "efterløn" and there are some requirements to be met. Early and normal retirement ages vary according to the date of birth of the person filing for retirement.
2 In France, the retirement age was 60, with full pension entitlement at 65; in 2010 this was extended to 62 and 67 respectively, increasing progressively over the following eight years.
3 In Latvia, the retirement age depends on the date of birth of the person filing for retirement.
4 In Spain it was ruled that the retirement age was to increase from 65 to 67 progressively from 2013 to 2027.
In the United States, while the normal retirement age for Social Security, or Old Age Survivors Insurance (OASI) was age 65 to receive unreduced benefits, it is gradually increasing to age 67 by 2027. Public servants are often not covered by Social Security but have their own pension programs. Police officers in the United States may typically retire at half pay after 20 years of service, or three-quarter pay after 30 years, allowing retirement from the early forties. Military members of the US Armed Forces may elect to retire after 20 years of active duty. Their retirement pay (not a pension since they can be recalled to active duty at any time) is calculated on number of years on active duty, final pay grade and the retirement system in place when they entered service. Members awarded the Medal of Honor qualify for a separate stipend. Retirement pay for military members in the reserve and US National Guard is based on a point system.
Recent advances in data collection have vastly improved our ability to understand important relationships between retirement and factors such as health, wealth, employment characteristics and family dynamics, among others. The most prominent study for examining retirement behavior in the United States is the ongoing Health and Retirement Study (HRS), first fielded in 1992. The HRS is a nationally representative longitudinal survey of adults in the U.S. ages 51+, conducted every two years, and contains a wealth of information on such topics as labor force participation (e.g., current employment, job history, retirement plans, industry/occupation, pensions, disability), health (e.g., health status and history, health and life insurance, cognition), financial variables (e.g., assets and income, housing, net worth, wills, consumption and savings), family characteristics (e.g., family structure, transfers, parent/child/grandchild/sibling information) and a host of other topics (e.g., expectations, expenses, internet use, risk taking, psychosocial, time use).
2002 and 2004 saw the introductions of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), which includes respondents from 14 continental European countries plus Israel. These surveys were closely modeled after the HRS in sample frame, design and content. A number of other countries (e.g., Japan, South Korea) also now field HRS-like surveys, and others (e.g., China, India) are currently fielding pilot studies. These data sets have expanded the ability of researchers to examine questions about retirement behavior by adding a cross-national perspective.
Notes: MHAS discontinued in 2003; ELSA numbers exclude institutionalized (nursing homes). Source: Borsch-Supan et al., eds. (November 2008). Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (2004–2007): Starting the Longitudinal Dimension.
Many factors affect people's retirement decisions. Retirement funding education is a big factor that affects the success of an individual's retirement experience. Social Security clearly plays an important role because most individuals solely rely on Social Security as their only retirement option, when Social Security's both trust funds are expected to be depleted by 2034. Knowledge affects an individual's retirement decisions by simply finding more reliable retirement options such as, Individual Retirement Accounts or Employer-Sponsored Plans. In countries around the world, people are much more likely to retire at the early and normal retirement ages of the public pension system (e.g., ages 62 and 65 in the U.S.). This pattern cannot be explained by different financial incentives to retire at these ages since typically retirement benefits at these ages are approximately actuarially fair; that is, the present value of lifetime pension benefits (pension wealth) conditional on retiring at age "a" is approximately the same as pension wealth conditional on retiring one year later at age "a"+1. Nevertheless, a large literature has found that individuals respond significantly to financial incentives relating to retirement (e.g., to discontinuities stemming from the Social Security earnings test or the tax system).
Greater wealth tends to lead to earlier retirement, since wealthier individuals can essentially "purchase" additional leisure. Generally the effect of wealth on retirement is difficult to estimate empirically since observing greater wealth at older ages may be the result of increased saving over the working life in anticipation of earlier retirement. However, a number of economists have found creative ways to estimate wealth effects on retirement and typically find that they are small. For example, one paper exploits the receipt of an inheritance to measure the effect of wealth shocks on retirement using data from the HRS. The authors find that receiving an inheritance increases the probability of retiring earlier than expected by 4.4 percentage points, or 12 percent relative to the baseline retirement rate, over an eight-year period.
A great deal of attention has surrounded how the Financial crisis of 2007–2008 and subsequent Great Recession are affecting retirement decisions, with the conventional wisdom saying that fewer people will retire since their savings have been depleted; however recent research suggests that the opposite may happen. Using data from the HRS, researchers examined trends in defined benefit (DB) vs. defined contribution (DC) pension plans and found that those nearing retirement had only limited exposure to the recent stock market decline and thus are not likely to substantially delay their retirement. At the same time, using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), another study estimates that mass layoffs are likely to lead to an increase in retirement almost 50% larger than the decrease brought about by the stock market crash, so that on net retirements are likely to increase in response to the crisis.
More information tells of how many who retire will continue to work, but not in the career they have had for the majority of their life. Job openings will increase in the next 5 years due to retirements of the baby boomer generation. The Over 50 population is actually the fastest growing labor groups in the US.
A great deal of research has examined the effects of health status and health shocks on retirement. It is widely found that individuals in poor health generally retire earlier than those in better health. This does not necessarily imply that poor health status leads people to retire earlier, since in surveys retirees may be more likely to exaggerate their poor health status to justify their earlier decision to retire. This justification bias, however, is likely to be small. In general, declining health over time, as well as the onset of new health conditions, have been found to be positively related to earlier retirement. Health conditions that can cause someone to retire include hypertension, diabetes mellitus, sleep apnea, joint diseases, and hyperlipidemia.
Most people are married when they reach retirement age; thus, spouse's employment status may affect one's decision to retire. On average, husbands are three years older than their wives in the U.S., and spouses often coordinate their retirement decisions. Thus, men are more likely to retire if their wives are also retired than if they are still in the labor force, and vice versa.
Researchers analyzed factors affecting retirement decisions in EU Member States:
Overall, income after retirement can come from state pensions, occupational pensions, private savings and investments (private pension funds, owned housing), donations (e.g., by children), and social benefits. In some countries an additional lump sum is granted, according to the years of work and the average pay; this is usually provided by the employer. On a personal level, the rising cost of living during retirement is a serious concern to many older adults. Health care costs play an important role.
Provision of state pensions is a significant drain on a government's budget. As life expectancy increases and the health of older people improves with medical advances, the age of entitlement to a pension has been increasing progressively since about 2010.
Older people have poorer health, and the cost of health care in retirement is large. Most countries provide universal health insurance coverage for seniors, although in the United States many people retire before they become eligible for Medicare health cover at age 65.
A useful and straightforward calculation can be done if it is assumed that interest, after expenses, taxes, and inflation is zero. Assume that in real (after-inflation) terms, one's salary never changes over "w" years of working life. During "p" years of pension, one has a living standard that costs a replacement ratio "R" times as much as one's living standard in working life. The working life living standard is one's salary minus the proportion of salary Z that should be saved. Calculations are per unit salary (e.g., assume salary = 1).
Then after "w" years work, retirement age accumulated savings = "wZ". To pay for pension for "p" years, necessary savings at retirement = "Rp(1-Z)"
Equate these: "wZ" = "Rp"("1-Z") and solve to give "Z" = "Rp" / ("w + Rp"). For example, if "w" = 35, "p" = 30 and "R" = 0.65, a proportion "Z" = 35.78% should be saved.
Retirement calculators generally accumulate a proportion of salary up to retirement age. This shows a straightforward case, which nonetheless could be practically useful for optimistic people hoping to work for only as long as they are likely to be retired.
For more complicated situations, there are several online retirement calculators on the Internet. Many retirement calculators project how much an investor needs to save, and for how long, to provide a certain level of retirement expenditures. Some retirement calculators, appropriate for safe investments, assume a constant, unvarying rate of return. Monte Carlo retirement calculators take volatility into account and project the probability that a particular plan of retirement savings, investments, and expenditures will outlast the retiree. Retirement calculators vary in the extent to which they take taxes, social security, pensions, and other sources of retirement income and expenditures into account.
The assumptions keyed into a retirement calculator are critical. One of the most important assumptions is the assumed rate of real (after inflation) investment return. A conservative return estimate could be based on the real yield of Inflation-indexed bonds offered by some governments, including the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The TIP$TER retirement calculator projects the retirement expenditures that a portfolio of inflation-linked bonds, coupled with other income sources like Social Security, would be able to sustain. Current real yields on United States Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) are available at the US Treasury site. Current real yields on Canadian 'Real Return Bonds' are available at the Bank of Canada's site. As of December 2011, US Treasury inflation-linked bonds (TIPS) were yielding about 0.8% real per annum for the 30-year maturity and a noteworthy slightly negative real return for the 7-year maturity.
Many individuals use "retirement calculators" on the Internet to determine the proportion of their pay they should be saving in a tax advantaged-plan (e.g., IRA or 401-K in the US, RRSP in Canada, personal pension in the UK, superannuation in Australia).
After expenses and any taxes, a reasonable (though arguably pessimistic) long-term assumption for a safe real rate of return is zero. So in real terms, interest does not help the savings grow. Each year of work must pay its share of a year of retirement. For someone planning to work for 40 years and be retired for 20 years, each year of work pays for itself and for half a year of retirement. Hence, 33.33% of pay must be saved, and 66.67% can be spent when earned. After 40 years of saving 33.33% of pay, we have accumulated assets of 13.33 years of pay, as in the graph. In the graph to the right, the lines are straight, which is appropriate given the assumption of a zero real investment return.
The graph above can be compared with those generated by many retirement calculators. However, most retirement calculators use nominal (not "real" dollars) and therefore require a projection of both the expected inflation rate and the expected nominal rate of return. One way to work around this limitation is to, for example, enter "0% return, 0% inflation" inputs into the calculator. The Bloomberg retirement calculator gives the flexibility to specify, for example, zero inflation and zero investment return and to reproduce the graph above. The MSN retirement calculator in 2011 has as the defaults a realistic 3% per annum inflation rate and optimistic 8% return assumptions; consistency with the December 2011 US nominal bond and inflation-protected bond market rates requires a change to about 3% inflation and 4% investment return before and after retirement.
Ignoring tax, someone wishing to work for a year and then relax for a year on the same living standard needs to save 50% of pay. Similarly, someone wishing to work from age 25 to 55 and be retired for 30 years till 85 needs to save 50% of pay if government and employment pensions are not a factor and if it is considered appropriate to assume a zero real investment return. The problem that the lifespan is not known in advance can be reduced in some countries by the purchase at retirement of an inflation-indexed life annuity.
To pay for pension, assumed for simplicity to be received at the end of each year, and taking discounted values in the manner of a net present value calculation, the ideal lump sum available at retirement should be:
Above is the standard mathematical formula for the sum of a geometric series. (Or if ireal =0 then the series in braces sums to p since it then has p equal terms). As an example, assume that S=60,000 per year and that it is desired to replace Rrepl=0.80, or 80%, of pre-retirement living standard for p=30 years. Assume for current purposes that a proportion z prop=0.25 (25%) of pay was being saved. Using ireal=0.02, or 2% per year real return on investments, the necessary lump sum is given by the formula as (1-0.25)*0.80*60,000*annuity-series-sum(30)=36,000*22.396=806,272 in the nation's currency in 2008–2010 terms. To allow for inflation in a straightforward way, it is best to talk of the 806,272 as being '13.43 years of retirement age salary'. It may be appropriate to regard this as being the necessary lump sum to fund 36,000 of annual supplements to any employer or government pensions that are available. It is common to not include any house value in the calculation of this necessary lump sum, so for a homeowner the lump sum pays primarily for non-housing living costs.
At retirement, the following amount will have been accumulated:
To make the accumulation match with the lump sum needed to pay pension:
Bring zprop to the left hand side to give the answer, under this rough and unguaranteed method, for the proportion of pay that should be saved:
Note that the special case i rel to pay =0 = i real means that the geometric series should be summed by noting that there are p or w identical terms and hence z prop = p/(w+p). This corresponds to the graph above with the straight line real-terms accumulation.
The result for the necessary zprop given by (Ret-03) depends critically on the assumptions made. As an example, one might assume that price inflation will be 3.5% per year forever and that one's pay will increase only at that same rate of 3.5%. If a 4.5% per year nominal rate of interest is assumed, then (using 1.045/1.035 in real terms) pre-retirement and post-retirement net interest rates will remain the same, irel to pay = 0.966 percent per year and ireal = 0.966 percent per year. These assumptions may be reasonable in view of the market returns available on inflation-indexed bonds, after expenses and any tax. Equation (Ret-03) is readily coded in Excel and with these assumptions gives the required savings rates in the accompanying picture.
Finally, a newer method for determining the adequacy of a retirement plan is Monte Carlo simulation. This method has been gaining popularity and is now employed by many financial planners. Monte Carlo retirement calculators allow users to enter savings, income and expense information and run simulations of retirement scenarios. The simulation results show the probability that the retirement plan will be successful.
Retirement is generally considered to be "early" if it occurs before the age (or tenure) needed for eligibility for support and funds from government or employer-provided sources. Early retirees typically rely on their own savings and investments to be self-supporting, either indefinitely or until they begin receiving external support. Early retirement can also be used as a euphemistic term for being terminated from employment before typical retirement age.
While conventional wisdom has it that one can retire and take 7% or more out of a portfolio year after year, this strategy would not have worked very often in the past.
The chart at the right shows the year-to-year portfolio balances after taking $35,000 (and adjusting for inflation) from a $750,000 portfolio every year for 30 years, starting in 1973 (red line), 1974 (blue line), or 1975 (green line). While the overall market conditions and inflation affected all three about the same (since all three experienced exactly the same conditions between 1975 and 2003), the chance of making the funds last for 30 years depended heavily on what happened to the stock market in the first few years.
Those contemplating early retirement will want to know if they have enough to survive possible bear markets such as the one that would cause the hypothetical 1973 retiree's fund to be exhausted after only 20 years.
The history of the US stock market shows that one would need to live on about 4% of the initial portfolio per year to ensure that the portfolio is not depleted before the end of the retirement; this rule of thumb is a summary of one conclusion of the Trinity study, though the report is more nuanced and the conclusions and very approach have been heavily criticized (see Trinity study for details). This allows for increasing the withdrawals with inflation to maintain a consistent spending ability throughout the retirement, and to continue making withdrawals even in dramatic and prolonged bear markets. (The 4% figure does not assume any pension or change in spending levels throughout the retirement.)
When retiring prior to age , there is a 10% IRS penalty on withdrawals from a retirement plan such as a 401(k) plan or a Traditional IRA. Exceptions apply under certain circumstances. At age 59 and six months, the penalty-free status is achieved and the 10% IRS penalty no longer applies.
To avoid the 10% penalty prior to age , a person should consult a lawyer about the use of IRS rule 72 T. This rule must be applied for with the IRS. It allows the distribution of an IRA account prior to age in equal amounts of a period of either 5 years or until the age of , whichever is the longest time period, without a 10% penalty. Taxes still must be paid on the distributions.
Although the 4% initial portfolio withdrawal rate described above can be used as a rough gauge, it is often desirable to use a retirement planning tool that accepts detailed input and can render a result that has more precision. Some of these tools model only the retirement phase of the plan while others can model both the savings or accumulation phase as well as the retirement phase of the plan. For example, an analysis by "Forbes" reckoned that in 90% of historical markets, a 4% rate would have lasted for at least 30 years, while in 50% of the historical markets, a 4% rate would have been sustained for more than 40 years.
The effects of making inflation-adjusted withdrawals from a given starting portfolio can be modeled with a downloadable spreadsheet that uses historical stock market data to estimate likely portfolio returns. Another approach is to employ a retirement calculator that also uses historical stock market modeling, but adds provisions for incorporating pensions, other retirement income, and changes in spending that may occur during the course of the retirement.
Retirement might coincide with important life changes; a retired worker might move to a new location, for example a retirement community, thereby having less frequent contact with their previous social context and adopting a new lifestyle. Often retirees volunteer for charities and other community organizations. Tourism is a common marker of retirement and for some becomes a way of life, such as for so-called grey nomads. Some retired people even choose to go and live in warmer climates in what is known as retirement migration.
It has been found that Americans have six lifestyle choices as they age: continuing to work full-time, continuing to work part-time, retiring from work and becoming engaged in a variety of leisure activities, retiring from work and becoming involved in a variety of recreational and leisure activities, retiring from work and later returning to work part-time, and retiring from work and later returning to work full-time. An important note to make from these lifestyle definitions are that four of the six involve working. America is facing an important demographic change in that the Baby Boomer generation is now reaching retirement age. This poses two challenges: whether there will be a sufficient number of skilled workers in the work force, and whether the current pension programs will be sufficient to support the growing number of retired people. The reasons that some people choose to never retire, or to return to work after retiring include not only the difficulty of planning for retirement but also wages and fringe benefits, expenditure of physical and mental energy, production of goods and services, social interaction, and social status may interact to influence an individual's work force participation decision.
Often retirees are called upon to care for grandchildren and occasionally aged parents. For many it gives them more time to devote to a hobby or sport such as golf or sailing. On the other hand, many retirees feel restless and suffer from depression as a result of their new situation. Although it is not scientifically possible to directly show that retirement either causes or contributes to depression, the newly retired are one of the most vulnerable societal groups when it comes to depression most likely due to confluence of increasing age and deteriorating health status. Retirement coincides with deterioration of one's health that correlates with increasing age and this likely plays a major role in increased rates of depression in retirees. Longitudinal and cross-sectional studies have shown that healthy elderly and retired people are as happy or happier and have an equal quality of life as they age as compared to younger employed adults, therefore retirement in and of itself is not likely to contribute to development of depression.
Many people in the later years of their lives, due to failing health, require assistance, sometimes in extremely expensive treatments – in some countries – being provided in a nursing home. Those who need care, but are not in need of constant assistance, may choose to live in a retirement home. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26495 |
Boeing RC-135
The Boeing RC-135 is a family of large reconnaissance aircraft built by Boeing and modified by a number of companies, including General Dynamics, Lockheed, LTV, E-Systems, and L3 Technologies, and used by the United States Air Force and Royal Air Force to support theater and national level intelligence consumers with near real-time on-scene collection, analysis and dissemination capabilities. Based on the C-135 Stratolifter airframe, various types of RC-135s have been in service since 1961. Unlike the C-135 and KC-135 which are recognized by Boeing as the Model 717, most of the current RC-135 fleet (with the exception of the RAF's RC-135Ws) is internally designated as the Model 739 by the company. Many variants have been modified numerous times, resulting in a large variety of designations, configurations, and program names.
The first RC-135 variant, the RC-135A, was ordered in 1962 by the United States Air Force to replace the Boeing RB-50 Superfortress. Originally nine were ordered but this was later reduced to four. Boeing allocated the variant the designation "Boeing 739-700" but they were a modified variant of the KC-135A then in production. They used the same Pratt & Whitney J57 turbojet engines as the tanker, but carried cameras in a bay just aft of the nose wheel well where the forward fuel tank was normally located. They had no in-flight refueling system and they were to be used for photographic and surveying tasks. Although the RC-135A was the first designation in the RC-135 family, it was not the first RC-135 in service. That distinction belongs to the RC-135S, which began operational reconnaissance missions in 1961, followed by the RC-135D in 1962.
The next variant ordered was the RC-135B, to be used as an electronic intelligence aircraft to replace the Boeing RB-47H Stratojet, a SIGINT platform. Unlike the earlier variants, the RC-135Bs had Pratt & Whitney TF33 turbofans rather than the older J57s. These ten aircraft were delivered directly to Martin Aircraft beginning in 1965 for installation of their operational electronics suite. By 1967, they emerged as RC-135Cs and all entered service that year. The refueling boom was not fitted and the boom operator station was used as a camera bay for a KA-59 camera. Externally, the aircraft were distinguished by the large “cheek” antenna fairings on the forward fuselage.
The RC-135Bs were the last of the new aircraft built. All further reconnaissance variants that followed were modified aircraft, either from earlier RC-135 variants or from tankers and transports.
In 2005, the RC-135 fleet completed a series of significant airframe, navigation and powerplant upgrades which include re-engining from the TF33 to the CFM International CFM-56 (F108) engines used on the KC-135R and T Stratotanker and upgrade of the flight deck instrumentation and navigation systems to the AMP standard. The AMP standard includes conversion from analog readouts to a digital "glass cockpit" configuration.
The current RC-135 fleet is the latest iteration of modifications to this pool of aircraft dating back to the early 1960s. Initially employed by Strategic Air Command for reconnaissance, the RC-135 fleet has participated in every armed conflict involving U.S. forces during its tenure. RC-135s supported operations in Vietnam War, the Mediterranean for Operation El Dorado Canyon, Grenada for Operation Urgent Fury, Panama for Operation Just Cause, the Balkans for Operations Deliberate Force and Allied Force, and Southwest Asia for Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. RC-135s have maintained a constant presence in Southwest Asia since the early 1990s. They were stalwarts of Cold War operations, with missions flown around the periphery of the USSR and its client states in Europe and around the world.
Originally, all RC-135s were operated by Strategic Air Command. Since 1992 they have been assigned to Air Combat Command. The RC-135 fleet is permanently based at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska and operated by the 55th Wing, using forward operating locations worldwide. The 55th Wing operates 22 platforms in three variants: three RC-135S Cobra Ball, two RC-135U Combat Sent, and 17 RC-135V/W Rivet Joint.
On August 9, 2010, the Rivet Joint program recognized its 20th anniversary of continuous service in Central Command, dating back to the beginning of Desert Shield. This represents the longest unbroken presence of any aircraft in the Air Force inventory. During this time it has flown over 8,000 combat missions supporting air and ground forces of Operations Desert Storm, Desert Shield, Northern Watch, Southern Watch, Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, which continues to this day.
On 22 March 2010 the British Ministry of Defence announced that it had reached agreement with the US Government to purchase three RC-135W Rivet Joint aircraft to replace the Nimrod R1, which was subsequently retired in June 2011. The aircraft, to be styled as 'Airseeker', were scheduled to be delivered by 2017 at a total cost of around £650 million, including provision of ground infrastructure, training of personnel and ground supporting systems. In 2013, the UK government confirmed that crews from the RAF's 51 Squadron had been training and operating alongside their USAF colleagues since 2011, having achieved in excess of 32,000 flying hours and 1,800 sorties as part of the 55th Wing at Offutt AFB. The RAF received the first RC-135W in September 2013, which was deployed from July 2014 to support coalition action against combat Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants in Iraq. The second aircraft was delivered seven months ahead of schedule in September 2015, with over sixty improvements incorporated ranging from upgrades to the aircraft's mission systems to engine improvements providing increased fuel efficiency and durability. In due course, the first Airseeker will receive the same upgrades. The aircraft will be air-to-air refuelled in service by USAF tankers based in Europe, as the UK does not operate boom-equipped refueling aircraft and has no plans to adapt drogue-equipped aircraft.
At least four KC-135A tankers were converted into makeshift reconnaissance platforms with no change of Mission Design Series (MDS) designation. KC-135As 55–3121, 55–3127, 59–1465, and 59-1514 were modified beginning in 1961. That year the Soviet Union announced its intention to detonate a 100 megaton thermonuclear device on Novaya Zemlya, the so-called Tsar Bomba. A testbed KC-135A (55-3127) was modified under the Big Safari program to the SPEED LIGHT BRAVO configuration in order to obtain intelligence information on the test. The success of the mission prompted conversion of additional aircraft for intelligence gathering duties.
Not to be confused with the CFM F108-powered KC-135R tanker, the KC-135R MDS was applied in 1963 to the three KC-135A reconnaissance aircraft under the Rivet Stand program. The three aircraft were 55–3121, 59–1465, and 59–1514; a fourth, serial no. 58–0126, was converted in 1969 to replace 1465 which had crashed in 1967. Externally the aircraft had varied configurations throughout their careers, but generally they were distinguished by five "towel bar" antennas along the spine of the upper fuselage and a radome below the forward fuselage. The first three aircraft retained the standard tanker nose radome, while 58-0126 was fitted with the 'hog nose' radome commonly associated with an RC-135. A trapeze-like structure in place of the refueling boom which was used to trail an aerodynamic shape housing a specialized receiver array (colloquially known as a "blivet") on a wire was installed. This was reported to be used for "Briar Patch" and "Combat Lion" missions. There were four small optically flat windows on each side of the forward fuselage. On some missions a small wing-like structure housing sensors was fitted to each side of the forward fuselage, with a diagonal brace below it. With the loss of 59–1465, KC-135A 58-0126 was modified to this standard under the Rivet Quick operational name. All four aircraft have now been lost or converted to KC-135R tanker configuration. They are among the few KC-135 tankers equipped with an aerial refueling receptacle above the cockpit, a remnant of their service as intelligence gathering platforms.
KC-135R 55-3121 was modified in 1969 by Lockheed Air Services to the unique KC-135T configuration under the Cobra Jaw program name. Externally distinguished by the 'hog nose' radome, the aircraft also featured spinning "fang" receiver antennas below the nose radome, a large blade antenna above the forward fuselage, a single 'towel bar' antenna on the spine, teardrop antennas forward of the horizontal stabilizers on each side, and the trapeze-like structure in place of the refueling boom. The aircraft briefly carried nose art consisting of the Ford Cobra Jet cartoon cobra. It was later modified into an RC-135T Rivet Dandy.
Four RC-135As (63-8058 through 8061) were photo mapping platforms utilized briefly by the Air Photographic & Charting Service, based at Turner Air Force Base, Georgia and later at Forbes Air Force Base, Kansas as part of the 1370th Photographic Mapping Wing. The mission was soon assumed by satellites, and the RC-135As were de-modified and used in various other roles, such as staff transport and crew training. In the early 1980s they were further converted to tankers with the designation KC-135D (of the same basic configuration as the KC-135A and later E, plus some remaining special mission equipment). Due to delays in reinstalling their original equipment, the RC-135As were the last of the entire C-135 series delivered to the USAF. The Boeing model number for the RC-135A is 739–700.
The as-delivered version of the RC-135. The RC-135B was never used operationally, as it had no mission equipment installed by Boeing. The entire RC-135B production run of ten aircraft was delivered directly to Martin Aircraft in Baltimore, Maryland for modification and installation of mission equipment under the Big Safari program. Upon completion, the RC-135Bs were re-designated RC-135C. The Boeing model number for the RC-135B is 739-445B.
Modified and re-designated RC-135B aircraft used for strategic reconnaissance duties, equipped with the AN/ASD-1 electronic intelligence (ELINT) system. This system was characterized by the large 'cheek' pods on the forward fuselage containing the Automated ELINT Emitter Locating System (AEELS – not Side Looking Airborne Radar – SLAR, as often quoted), as well as numerous other antennae and a camera position in the refuelling pod area of the aft fuselage. The aircraft was crewed by two pilots, two navigators, numerous intelligence gathering specialists, inflight maintenance technicians and airborne linguists. When the RC-135C was fully deployed, SAC was able to retire its fleet of RB-47H Stratojets from active reconnaissance duties. All ten continue in active service as either RC-135V Rivet Joint or RC-135U Combat Sent platforms.
The RC-135Ds, originally designated KC-135A-II, were the first reconnaissance configured C-135s given the "R" MDS designation, although they were not the first reconnaissance-tasked members of the C-135 family. They were delivered to Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska in 1962 as part of the Office Boy Project. Serial numbers were 60–0356, 60–0357, and 60–0362. The aircraft began operational missions in 1963. These three aircraft were ordered as KC-135A tankers, but delivered without refueling booms, and known as "falsie C-135As" pending the delivery of the first actual C-135A cargo aircraft in 1961. The primary Rivet Brass mission flew along the northern border of the Soviet Union, often as a shuttle mission between Eielson and RAF Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire, and later RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk, UK. The RC-135D was also used in Southeast Asia during periods when the RC-135M (see below) was unavailable. In the late 1970s, with the expansion of the RC-135 fleet powered by TF33 turbofan engines, the RC-135Ds were converted into tankers, and remain in service as receiver-capable KC-135Rs.
Originally designated C-135B-II, project name Lisa Ann, the RC-135E Rivet Amber was a one-of-a-kind aircraft equipped with a large 7 MW Hughes Aircraft phased-array radar system. Originally delivered as a C-135B, 62-4137 operated from Shemya Air Force Station, Alaska from 1966 to 1969. Its operations were performed in concert with the RC-135S Rivet Ball aircraft (see below). The radar system alone weighed over 35,000 pounds and cost over US$35 million (1960 dollars), making Rivet Amber both the heaviest C-135-derivative aircraft flying and the most expensive Air Force aircraft for its time. This prevented the forward and aft crew areas from having direct contact after boarding the aircraft. The system could track an object the size of a soccer ball from a distance of , and its mission was to monitor Soviet ballistic missile testing in the reentry phase. The power requirement for the phased array radar was enormous, necessitating an additional power supply. This took the form of a podded Lycoming T55-L5 turboshaft engine in a pod under the left inboard wing section, driving a 350kVA generator dedicated to powering mission equipment. On the opposite wing in the same location was a podded heat exchanger to permit cooling of the massive electronic components on board the aircraft. This configuration has led to the mistaken impression that the aircraft had six engines. On June 5, 1969, Rivet Amber was lost at sea on a ferry flight from Shemya to Eielson AFB for maintenance, and no trace of the aircraft or its crew was ever found.
The RC-135M was an interim type with more limited ELINT capability than the RC-135C but with extensive additional COMINT capability. They were converted from Military Airlift Command C-135B transports, and operated by the 82d Reconnaissance Squadron during the Vietnam War from Kadena AB, gathering signals intelligence over the Gulf of Tonkin and Laos with the program name Combat Apple (originally Burning Candy). There were six RC-135M aircraft, 62–4131, 62–4132, 62–4134, 62–4135, 62-4138 and 62–4139, all of which were later modified to and continue in active service as RC-135W Rivet Joints by the early 1980s.
Rivet Ball was the predecessor program to Cobra Ball and was initiated with a single RC-135S (serial 59–1491, formerly a JKC-135A) on December 31, 1961. The aircraft first operated under the Nancy Rae project as an asset of Air Force Systems Command and later as an RC-135S reconnaissance platform with Strategic Air Command under project Wanda Belle. The name Rivet Ball was assigned in January 1967. The aircraft operated from Shemya AFB, Alaska. Along with most other RC-135 variants, the RC-135S had an elongated nose radome housing an S band receiving antenna. The aircraft was characterized by ten large optically flat quartz windows on the right side of the fuselage used for tracking cameras. Unlike any other RC-135S, Rivet Ball also had a plexiglass dome mounted top center on its fuselage for the Manual Tracker position. It holds the distinction of obtaining the very first photographic documentation of Soviet Multiple Reentry vehicle (MRV) testing on October 4, 1968. On January 13, 1969 Rivet Ball was destroyed in a landing accident at Shemya when it overran the runway with no fatalities.
The RC-135S Cobra Ball is a measurement and signature intelligence MASINT collector equipped with special electro-optical instruments designed to observe ballistic missile flights at long range. The Cobra Ball monitors missile-associated signals and tracks missiles during boost and re-entry phases to provide reconnaissance for treaty verification and theater ballistic missile proliferation. The aircraft are extensively modified C-135Bs. The right wing and engines are traditionally painted black to reduce sun glare for tracking cameras.
There are three aircraft in service and they are part of the 55th Wing, 45th Reconnaissance Squadron based at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. Cobra Ball aircraft were originally assigned to Shemya and used to observe ballistic missile tests on the Kamchatka peninsula in conjunction with Cobra Dane and Cobra Judy. Two aircraft were converted for Cobra Ball in 1969 and following the loss of an aircraft in 1981 another aircraft was converted in 1983. The sole RC-135X was also converted into an RC-135S in 1995 to supplement the other aircraft.
KC-135T 55-3121 was modified to RC-135T Rivet Dandy configuration in 1971. It was used to supplement the RC-135C/D/M fleet, then in short supply due to ongoing upgrades requiring airframes to be out of service. It operated under the Burning Candy operational order. In 1973 the aircraft's SIGINT gear was removed and transferred to KC-135R 58–0126, resulting in 55-3121 assuming the role of trainer, a role which it fulfilled for the remainder of its operational existence. Externally the aircraft retained the 'hog nose' radome and some other external modifications, but the aerial refueling boom and trapeze below the tail were removed, and it had no operational reconnaissance role. In this configuration it operated variously with the 376th Strategic Wing at Kadena AB, Okinawa, the 305th AREFW at Grissom AFB, Indiana, and the 6th Strategic Wing at Eielson AFB, Alaska. In 1982 the aircraft was modified with Pratt & Whitney TF33-PW102 engines and other modifications common to the KC-135E tanker program, and returned to Eielson AFB. It crashed while on approach to Valdez Airport, Alaska on 25 February 1985 with the loss of three crew members. The wreckage was not found until August 1985, six months after the accident.
The RC-135U Combat Sent is designed to collect technical intelligence on adversary radar emitter systems. Combat Sent data is collected to develop new or upgraded radar warning receivers, radar jammers, decoys, anti-radiation missiles, and training simulators.
Distinctly identified by the antenna arrays on the fuselage chin, tailcone, and wing tips, three RC-135C aircraft were converted to RC-135U (63-9792, 64–14847, & 64-14849) in the early 1970s. 63-9792 was later converted into a Rivet Joint in 1978, and all aircraft remain in service based at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. Minimum crew requirements are 2 pilots, 2 navigators, 3 systems engineers, 10 electronic warfare officers, and 6 area specialists.
The RC-135V/W is the USAF's standard airborne SIGINT platform. Missions flown by the RC-135s are designated either Burning Wind or Misty Wind. Its sensor suite allows the mission crew to detect, identify and geolocate signals throughout the electromagnetic spectrum. The mission crew can then forward gathered information in a variety of formats to a wide range of consumers via Rivet Joint's extensive communications suite. The crew consists of the cockpit crew, electronic warfare officers, intelligence operators, and airborne systems maintenance personnel. All Rivet Joint airframe and mission systems modifications are performed by L-3 Communications in Greenville, Texas, under the oversight of the Air Force Materiel Command.
All RC-135s are assigned to Air Combat Command. The RC-135 is permanently based at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, and operated by the 55th Wing, using various forward deployment locations worldwide.
Under the "BIG SAFARI" program name, RC-135Vs were upgraded from the RC-135C "Big Team" configuration. RC-135Ws were originally delivered as C-135B transports, and most were modified from RC-135Ms. This is the only difference between the V and W variants; both carry the same mission equipment. For many years, the RC-135V/W could be identified by the four large disc-capped MUCELS antennas forward, four somewhat smaller blade antennae aft and myriad of smaller underside antennas. Baseline 8 Rivet Joints (in the 2000s) introduced the first major change to the external RC-135V/W configuration replacing the MUCELS antennas with plain blade antennas. The configuration of smaller underside antennas was also changed significantly.
The sole RC-135X Cobra Eye was converted during the mid-to-late-1980s from a C-135B Telemetry/Range Instrumented Aircraft, serial number 62–4128, with the mission of tracking ICBM reentry vehicles. In 1993, it was converted into an additional RC-135S Cobra Ball.
The United Kingdom bought three KC-135R aircraft for conversion to RC-135W Rivet Joint standard under the Airseeker project. Acquisition of the three aircraft was budgeted at £634m, with entry into service in October 2014. The aircraft formed No. 51 Squadron RAF, based at RAF Waddington along with the RAF's other ISTAR assets. They are expected to remain in service until 2045.
Previously, the Royal Air Force had gathered signals intelligence with three Nimrod R1 aircraft. When the time came to upgrade the maritime Nimrods to MRA4 standard, Project Helix was launched in August 2003 to study options for extending the life of the R1 out to 2025. The option of switching to Rivet Joint was added to Helix in 2008, and the retirement of the R1 became inevitable when the MRA4 was cancelled under the UK's 2010 budget cuts. The R1's involvement over Libya in Operation Ellamy delayed its retirement until June 2011.
Helix became Project Airseeker, under which three KC-135R airframes were converted to RC-135W standard by L-3 Communications. L-3 also provides ongoing maintenance and upgrades under a long-term agreement. The three airframes are former United States Air Force KC-135Rs, all of which first flew in 1964 but will be modified to the latest RC-135W standard before delivery. The three airframes on offer to the UK are the youngest KC-135s in the USAF fleet. As of September 2010 the aircraft had approximately 23,200 flying hours, 22,200 hours and 23,200 hours.
51 Sqn personnel began training at Offutt in January 2011 for conversion to the RC-135. The first RC-135W (ZZ664) was delivered ahead of schedule to the Royal Air Force on 12 November 2013, for final approval and testing by the Defence Support and Equipment team prior to its release to service from the UK MAA. The second one was once again delivered ahead of schedule on 4 September 2015 at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk. The third was delivered in June 2017, and entered operational service in December 2017.
Three aircraft are in service for crew training, and lack fully functional mission equipment. One TC-135S (62-4133) provides training capability for the Cobra Ball mission, and is distinguishable from combat-ready aircraft by the lack of cheeks on the forward fuselage. It was converted from an EC-135B in 1985 following the crash of the former RC-135T 55–3121, which had been used as a trainer up to that point. In addition, two TC-135Ws (62-4127 and 4129) serve as training aircraft primarily for the Rivet Joint mission, but can also provide some training capability for RC-135U Combat Sent crews. They carry considerably fewer antennas than the fully equipped aircraft, but are otherwise similar in appearance to other Rivet Joint aircraft.
United States Air Force – Air Combat Command
Royal Air Force | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26501 |
Rumiko Takahashi
Rumiko Takahashi was born in Niigata, Japan. Although she showed little interest in manga during her childhood, she was said to occasionally doodle in the margins of her papers while attending Niigata Chūō High School. Takahashi's interest in manga did not start until later. In an interview in 2000, Takahashi said that she had always wanted to become a professional comic author since she was a child. During her university years, she enrolled in Gekiga Sonjuku, a manga school founded by Kazuo Koike, author of "Crying Freeman" and "Lone Wolf and Cub". Under his guidance Takahashi began to publish her first "dōjinshi" creations in 1975, such as "Bye-Bye Road" and "Star of Futile Dust". Koike often urged his students to create well-thought out, interesting characters, and this influence would greatly impact Rumiko Takahashi's works throughout her career.
Takahashi's professional career began in 1978. Her first published work was the one-shot "Katte na Yatsura" ("Those Selfish Aliens"), which garnered her an honorable mention at that year's Shogakukan New Comics Contest. Later that same year, she began her first serialized story in "Weekly Shōnen Sunday"; "Urusei Yatsura", a comedic science fiction story. She had difficulty meeting deadlines to begin with, so chapters were published sporadically until 1980. During the run of the series, she shared a small apartment with two assistants, and often slept in a closet due to a lack of space. During the same year, she published "Time Warp Trouble", "Shake Your Buddha", and the "Golden Gods of Poverty" in "Weekly Shōnen Sunday" magazine, which would remain the home to most of her major works for the next twenty years.
During 1980, Takahashi started her second major series, "Maison Ikkoku", in "Big Comic Spirits" magazine. Written for an older audience, "Maison Ikkoku" is a romantic comedy, and Takahashi used her own experience living in an apartment complex to create the series. Takahashi managed to work on the series on and off simultaneously with "Urusei Yatsura". She concluded both series in 1987, with "Urusei Yatsura" ending at 34 volumes, and "Maison Ikkoku" at 15.
During the 1980s, Takahashi became a prolific writer of short story manga. Her stories "Laughing Target", "Maris the Chojo", and "Fire Tripper" all were adapted into original video animations (OVAs). In 1984, during the writing of "Urusei Yatsura" and "Maison Ikkoku", Takahashi took a different approach to storytelling and began the dark, macabre "Mermaid Saga". This series of short segments was published sporadically until 1994.
Another short work of Takahashi's to be published sporadically was "One-Pound Gospel". Takahashi concluded the series in 2007 after publishing chapters in 1998, 2001 and 2006. One-Pound Gospel was adapted into a live-action TV drama.
Later, in 1987, Takahashi began her third major series, "Ranma ½". Following the late 1980s and early 1990s trend of "shōnen" martial arts manga, "Ranma ½" features a gender-bending twist. The series continued for nearly a decade until 1996, when it ended at 38 volumes. "Ranma ½" and its anime adaption are cited as some of the first of their mediums to have become popular in the United States.
During the latter half of the 1990s, Rumiko Takahashi continued with short stories and her installments of "Mermaid Saga" and "One-Pound Gospel" until beginning her fourth major work, "Inuyasha". Unlike the majority of her works, "Inuyasha" has a darker tone more akin to "Mermaid Saga" and, having been serialized in "Weekly Shōnen Sunday" from 1996 to 2008, is her longest to date. On March 5, 2009, Rumiko Takahashi released her one-shot "Unmei No Tori". On March 16, 2009, she collaborated with Mitsuru Adachi, creator of "Touch" and "Cross Game", to release a one-shot called "My Sweet Sunday". Her next manga series, "Kyōkai no Rinne" started on April 22, 2009. This was Rumiko Takahashi's first new manga series since her previous manga series "Inuyasha" ended in June 2008. She concluded it on December 13th 2017, with a total of 398 chapters, collected in 40 volumes.
"Urusei Yatsura", "Maison Ikkoku", "Ranma ½","Inuyasha", and "RIN-NE" are all published in English in the United States by Viz Comics. Their 1989 release of "Urusei Yatsura" halted after only a few volumes were translated, but began to be reprinted in 2019 in a 2-in-1 omnibus format.
Rumiko Takahashi started a new manga series entitled "MAO" in "Weekly Shōnen Sunday" issue #23 released on May 8, 2019.
In 1981, "Urusei Yatsura" became the first of Takahashi's works to be animated. This series first aired on Japanese television on October 14, and went through multiple director changes during its run. Though the 195-episode TV series ended in March 1986, "Urusei Yatsura" was kept alive in anime form through OVA and movie releases through 1991. Most notable of the series directors was Mamoru Oshii, who made "Beautiful Dreamer", the second "Urusei Yatsura" movie. AnimEigo has released the entire TV series and all of the OVAs and movies except for "Beautiful Dreamer" (which was released by Central Park Media in the U.S.) in the United States in English-subtitled format, with English dubs also made for the first two TV episodes (as "Those Obnoxious Aliens") and for all of the movies.
Kitty Films, the studio that produced "Urusei Yatsura" with animation assistance from Studio Pierrot and then Studio Deen, continued their cooperation and adapted Rumiko Takahashi's second work, "Maison Ikkoku" in 1986; it debuted the week after the final TV episode of "UY". The TV series ran for 96 episodes, 3 OVAs, a movie and also a live-action movie. Studio Deen also provided animation duties on "Maison Ikkoku" and "Ranma".
"Maris the Chojo", "Fire Tripper", and "Laughing Target" were all made into OVAs during the mid-80s. Her stories "Mermaid's Forest" and "Mermaid's Scar" were also made as OVAs in Japan on 1991. They were all released, subtitled in English, in the U.S.
In 1989, Kitty Animation produced its last major series, "Ranma ½". The series went through ups and downs in ratings until Kitty Animation finally went out of business. "Ranma ½" was never concluded in animated form despite being 161 episodes and two movies in length. The TV series ended in 1992 amid internal turmoil within Kitty; Kitty and Studio Deen continued to produce "Ranma" OVAs until 1996.
Sunrise was the first studio after Kitty Animation to adapt a major Rumiko Takahashi series. "Inuyasha" debuted in 2000 and ended in 2004. The TV series went on for 167 episodes and spawned four major films. The first anime ended before the manga did, thus wrapping up inconclusively. However, a second Inuyasha anime series called "Inuyasha the Final Act" debuted in Japan in the fall of 2009 and ended in March 2010, finishing the series.
Viz Communications has released the anime of "Maison Ikkoku", "Ranma" and "Inuyasha" in English, in both subtitled and dubbed formats.
The year 2008 marked the 50th anniversary of "Weekly Shōnen Sunday" and the 30th anniversary of the first publication of "Urusei Yatsura", and Rumiko Takahashi's manga work was honoured in "It's a Rumic World", a special exhibition held from July 30 to August 11 at the Matsuya Ginza department store in Tokyo. Several new pieces of animation accompanied the exhibit, including new half-hour "Ranma ½" and "Inuyasha" ("Black Tetsusaiga") OVAs and an introductory sequence featuring characters from "Urusei Yatsura", "Ranma" and "Inuyasha" (starring the characters' original anime voice talents), which has become a popular video on YouTube. The "It's a Rumic World" exhibit was scheduled to re-open in Sendai in December 2008, at which time a new half-hour "Urusei Yatsura" OVA was scheduled to premiere. A special DVD release containing all three new OVAs was announced as coming out on January 29, 2010, with a trailer posted in September 2009. However, it is not known whether any of the new episodes will ever be released outside Japan.
"Rumiko Takahashi Anthology", animated by TMS Entertainment adapts many of her short stories from the 80s. It features her stories "The Tragedy of P", "The Merchant of Romance", "Middle-Aged Teen", "Hidden in the Pottery", "Aberrant Family F", "As Long As You Are Here", "One Hundred Years of Love", "In Lieu of Thanks", "Living Room Lovesong", "House of Garbage", "One Day Dream", "Extra-Large Size Happiness", and "The Executive's Dog". Also, a TV series of "Mermaid Saga" was produced in 2003, animating 8 of her stories.
Many of Takahashi's works have been translated into English, as well as other European languages. Takahashi said that she did not know why her works are relatively popular with English speakers. Takahashi said "Sure, there are cultural differences in my work. When I see an American comedy, even though the jokes are translated, there's always a moment when I feel puzzled and think, 'Ah, Americans would probably laugh at this more'. I suppose the same thing must happen with my books. It's inevitable. And yet, that doesn't mean my books can't be enjoyed by English-speaking readers. I feel confident that there's enough substance to them that people from a variety of cultural backgrounds can have a lot of fun reading them."
Artists that have cited Takahashi and her work as an influence include Canadian Bryan Lee O'Malley on his series "Scott Pilgrim", American Colleen Coover on her erotic series "Small Favors", Japanese Chihiro Tamaki on her manga "Walkin' Butterfly", Chinese-Australian Queenie Chan, and Thai Wisut Ponnimit. Scottish rock band Urusei Yatsura named themselves after her first work. Matt Bozon, creator of the "Shantae" video game series, cited "Ranma ½" as a big influence on his work.
Takahashi was one of the recipients of the Inkpot Award at the 1994 San Diego Comic-Con.
In 2016, ComicsAlliance listed Takahashi as one of twelve women cartoonists deserving of lifetime achievement recognition, stating that "Any one of her projects would be the career highlight of another talent." In 2017, Takahashi was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame as part of the 2016 class.
In July 2018, Takahashi was inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame. She was previously nominated for entry in 2014, 2016 and 2017.
In January 2019, Takahashi won the Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême, becoming the second woman and second manga artist to win the award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26502 |
Reverse Polish notation
Reverse Polish notation (RPN), also known as Polish postfix notation or simply postfix notation, is a mathematical notation in which operators "follow" their operands, in contrast to Polish notation (PN), in which operators "precede" their operands. It does not need any parentheses as long as each operator has a fixed number of operands. The description "Polish" refers to the nationality of logician Jan Łukasiewicz, who invented Polish notation in 1924.
The reverse Polish scheme was proposed in 1954 by Arthur Burks, Don Warren, and Jesse Wright and was independently reinvented by Friedrich L. Bauer and Edsger W. Dijkstra in the early 1960s to reduce computer memory access and utilize the stack to evaluate expressions. The algorithms and notation for this scheme were extended by Australian philosopher and computer scientist Charles L. Hamblin in the mid-1950s.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Hewlett-Packard used RPN in all of their desktop and hand-held calculators, and continued to use it in some models into the 2010s. In computer science, reverse Polish notation is used in stack-oriented programming languages such as Forth, STOIC, PostScript, RPL and Joy.
In reverse Polish notation, the operators follow their operands; for instance, to add 3 and 4, one would write rather than . If there are multiple operations, operators are given immediately after their second operands; so the expression written in conventional notation would be written in reverse Polish notation: 4 is first subtracted from 3, then 5 is added to it. An advantage of reverse Polish notation is that it removes the need for parentheses that are required by infix notation. While can also be written , that means something quite different from . In reverse Polish notation, the former could be written , which unambiguously means which reduces to (which can further be reduced to -17); the latter could be written (or , if keeping similar formatting), which unambiguously means .
In comparison testing of reverse Polish notation with algebraic notation, reverse Polish has been found to lead to faster calculations, for two reasons. The first reason is that reverse Polish calculators do not need expressions to be parenthesized, so fewer operations need to be entered to perform typical calculations. Additionally, users of reverse Polish calculators made fewer mistakes than for other types of calculators. Later research clarified that the increased speed from reverse Polish notation may be attributed to the smaller number of keystrokes needed to enter this notation, rather than to a smaller cognitive load on its users. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that reverse Polish notation is more difficult for users to learn than algebraic notation.
Edsger W. Dijkstra invented the shunting-yard algorithm to convert infix expressions to postfix expressions (reverse Polish notation), so named because its operation resembles that of a railroad shunting yard.
There are other ways of producing postfix expressions from infix expressions. Most operator-precedence parsers can be modified to produce postfix expressions; in particular, once an abstract syntax tree has been constructed, the corresponding postfix expression is given by a simple post-order traversal of that tree.
The first computers to implement architectures enabling reverse Polish notation were the English Electric Company's KDF9 machine, which was announced in 1960 and commercially available in 1963, and the American Burroughs B5000, announced in 1961 and also delivered in 1963. One of the designers of the B5000, Robert S. Barton, later wrote that he developed reverse Polish notation independently of Hamblin sometime in 1958 after reading a 1954 textbook on symbolic logic by Irving Copi, where he found a reference to Polish notation, which made him read the works of Jan Łukasiewicz as well, and before he was aware of Hamblin's work. Designed by Robert "Bob" Appleby Ragen, Friden introduced reverse Polish notation to the desktop calculator market with the EC-130 supporting a four-level stack in June 1963. The successor EC-132 added a square root function in April 1965. Around 1966, the Monroe Epic calculator supported an unnamed input scheme resembling RPN as well.
Hewlett-Packard engineers designed the 9100A Desktop Calculator in 1968 with reverse Polish notation with only three stack levels, a reverse Polish notation variant later referred to as "three-level RPN". This calculator popularized reverse Polish notation among the scientific and engineering communities. The HP-35, the world's first handheld scientific calculator, introduced the classical "four-level RPN" in 1972. HP used reverse Polish notation on every handheld calculator it sold, whether scientific, financial, or programmable, until it introduced the HP-10 adding machine calculator in 1977. By this time, HP was the leading manufacturer of calculators for professionals, including engineers and accountants.
Later calculators with LCD displays in the early 1980s, such as the HP-10C, HP-11C, HP-15C, HP-16C, and the financial HP-12C calculator also used reverse Polish notation. In 1988, Hewlett-Packard introduced a business calculator, the HP-19B, without reverse Polish notation, but its 1990 successor, the HP-19BII, gave users the option of using algebraic or reverse Polish notation.
Around 1987, HP introduced RPL, an object-oriented successor to reverse Polish notation. It deviates from classical reverse Polish notation by utilizing a stack only limited by the amount of available memory (instead of three or four fixed levels) and which can hold all kinds of data objects (including symbols, strings, lists, matrices, graphics, programs, etc.) instead of just numbers. It also changed the behaviour of the stack to no longer duplicate the top register on drops (since in an unlimited stack there is no longer a top register) and the behaviour of the key so that it no longer duplicates values into Y under certain conditions, both part of the specific ruleset of the so-called "automatic memory stack" or "operational (memory) stack" in classical reverse Polish notation in order to ease some calculations and to save keystrokes, but which had shown to also sometimes cause confusion among users not familiar with these properties. From 1990 to 2003 HP manufactured the HP-48 series of graphing RPL calculators, and in 2006 introduced the HP 50g.
As of 2011, Hewlett-Packard was offering the calculator models 12C, 12C Platinum, 17bII+, 20b, 30b, 33s, 35s, 48gII (RPL) and 50g (RPL) which support reverse Polish notation. While calculators emulating classical models continue to support classical reverse Polish notation, new reverse Polish notation models feature a variant of reverse Polish notation, where the key behaves as in RPL. This latter variant is sometimes known as "entry RPN". In 2013, the HP Prime introduced a "128-level" form of entry RPN called "advanced RPN". By late 2017, only the 12C, 12C Platinum, 17bii+, 35s and Prime remain active HP models supporting reverse Polish notation.
The community-developed calculators WP 31S and WP 34S, which are based on the HP 20b/HP 30b hardware platform, support Hewlett-Packard-style classical reverse Polish notation with either a four- or an eight-level stack. A seven-level stack had been implemented in the MITS 7400C scientific desktop calculator in 1972 and an eight-level stack was already suggested by John A. Ball in 1978.
In Britain, Clive Sinclair's Sinclair Scientific and Scientific Programmable models used reverse Polish notation.
In 1974 Commodore produced the Minuteman *6 (MM6) without key and the Minuteman *6X (MM6X) with key, both implementing a form of "two-level RPN". The SR4921 RPN came with a variant of "four-level RPN" with stack levels named X, Y, Z, and W (rather than T). In contrast to Hewlett-Packard's reverse Polish notation implementation, W filled with 0 instead of its contents being duplicated on stack drops.
Prinz and Prinztronic were own-brand trade names of the British Dixons photographic and electronic goods stores retail chain, later rebranded as Currys Digital stores, and became part of DSG International. A variety of calculator models was sold in the 1970s under the Prinztronic brand, all made for them by other companies.
Among these was the PROGRAM Programmable Scientific Calculator which featured reverse Polish notation.
The Aircraft Navigation Computer Heathkit OC-1401/OCW-1401 used "five-level RPN" in 1978.
Soviet programmable calculators (MK-52, MK-61, B3-34 and earlier B3-21 models) used reverse Polish notation for both automatic mode and programming. Modern Russian calculators MK-161 and MK-152, designed and manufactured in Novosibirsk since 2007 and offered by Semico, are backwards compatible with them. Their extended architecture is also based on reverse Polish notation.
Existing implementations using reverse Polish notation include: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26513 |
Roald Hoffmann
Roald Hoffmann (born Roald Safran; July 18, 1937) is a Polish-American theoretical chemist who won the 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He has also published plays and poetry. He is the Frank H. T. Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters, Emeritus, at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York.
Hoffmann was born in Złoczów, Second Polish Republic (now Zolochiv, Ukraine), to a Polish-Jewish family, and was named in honor of the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. His parents were Clara (Rosen), a teacher, and Hillel Safran, a civil engineer. After Germany invaded Poland and occupied the town, his family was placed in a labor camp where his father, who was familiar with much of the local infrastructure, was a valued prisoner. As the situation grew more dangerous, with prisoners being transferred to extermination camps, the family bribed guards to allow an escape. They arranged with a Ukrainian neighbor named Mykola Dyuk for Hoffmann, his mother, two uncles and an aunt to hide in the attic and a storeroom of the local schoolhouse, where they remained for eighteen months, from January 1943 to June 1944, while Hoffmann was aged 5 to 7.
His father remained at the labor camp, but was able to occasionally visit, until he was tortured and killed by the Germans for his involvement in a plot to arm the camp prisoners. When she received the news, his mother attempted to contain her sorrow by writing down her feelings in a notebook her husband had been using to take notes on a relativity textbook he had been reading. While in hiding his mother kept Hoffmann entertained by teaching him to read and having him memorize geography from textbooks stored in the attic, then quizzing him on it. He referred to the experience as having been enveloped in a cocoon of love.
Most of the rest of the family perished in the Holocaust, though one grandmother and a few others survived. They migrated to the United States on the troop carrier "Ernie Pyle" in 1949.
Hoffmann married Eva Börjesson in 1960. They have two children, Hillel Jan and Ingrid Helena. Hoffmann visited Zolochiv with his adult son (by then a parent of a five-year-old) in 2006 and found that the attic where he had hidden was still intact, but the storeroom had been incorporated, ironically enough, into a chemistry classroom. In 2009, a monument to Holocaust victims was built in Zolochiv on Hoffmann's initiative. He is an atheist.
Hoffmann graduated in 1955 from New York City's Stuyvesant High School, where he won a Westinghouse science scholarship. He received his bachelor of arts degree at Columbia University (Columbia College) in 1958. He earned his master of arts degree in 1960 from Harvard University. He earned his doctor of philosophy degree from Harvard University while working under joint supervision of Martin Gouterman and subsequent 1976 Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner William N. Lipscomb, Jr. Hoffman worked on the molecular orbital theory of polyhedral molecules. Under Lipscomb's direction the Extended Hückel method was developed by Lawrence Lohr and by Roald Hoffmann. This method was later extended by Hoffmann. He went to Cornell in 1965 and has remained there, becoming professor emeritus.
Hoffmann's research and interests have been in the electronic structure of stable and unstable molecules, and in the study of transition states in reactions. He has investigated the structure and reactivity of both organic and inorganic molecules, and examined problems in organo-metallic and solid-state chemistry. Hoffman has developed semiempirical and nonempirical computational tools and methods such as the extended Hückel method which he proposed in 1963 for determining molecular orbitals.
With Robert Burns Woodward he developed the Woodward–Hoffmann rules for elucidating reaction mechanisms and their stereochemistry. They realized that chemical transformations could be approximately predicted from subtle symmetries and asymmetries in the electron orbitals of complex molecules. Their rules predict differing outcomes, such as the types of products that will be formed when two compounds are activated by heat compared with those produced under activation by light. For this work Hoffmann received the 1981 Nobel Prize in chemistry, sharing it with Japanese chemist Kenichi Fukui, who had independently resolved similar issues. (Woodward was not included in the prize, which is given only to living persons, although he had won the 1965 prize for other work.) In his Nobel Lecture, Hoffmann introduced the isolobal analogy for predicting the bonding properties of organometallic compounds.
Some of Hoffman's most recent work, with Neil Ashcroft and Vanessa Labet, examines bonding in matter under extreme high pressure.
In 1988 Hoffmann became the series host in a 26-program PBS education series by Annenberg/CPB, "The World of Chemistry", opposite with series demonstrator Don Showalter. While Hoffmann introduced a series of concepts and ideas, Showalter provided a series of demonstrations and other visual representations to help students and viewers to better understand the information.
Since the spring of 2001, Hoffmann has been the host of the monthly series "Entertaining Science" at New York City's Cornelia Street Cafe, which explores the juncture between the arts and science.
He has published books on the connections between art and science: "Roald Hoffmann on the Philosophy, Art, and Science of Chemistry" and "Beyond the Finite: The Sublime in Art and Science".
Hoffmann is also a writer of poetry. His collections include "The Metamict State" (1987, ), "Gaps and Verges" (1990, ), and "Chemistry Imagined", co-produced with artist Vivian Torrence.
He co-authored with Carl Djerassi the play "Oxygen", about the discovery of oxygen and the experience of being a scientist. Hoffman's play, "Should've" (2006) about ethics in science and art, has been produced in workshops, as has a play based on his experiences in the holocaust, "We Have Something That Belongs to You" (2009), later retitled "Something That Belongs to You.
In 1981, Hoffmann received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which he shared with Kenichi Fukui "for their theories, developed independently, concerning the course of chemical reactions".
Hoffmann has won many other awards, and is the recipient of more than 25 honorary degrees.
Hoffmann is a member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science and the Board of Sponsors of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
In August 2007, the American Chemical Society held a symposium at its biannual national meeting to honor Hoffmann's 70th birthday.
In 2008, the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities awarded him its Lichtenberg Medal.
In August 2017, another symposium was held at the 254th American Chemical Society National Meeting in Washington DC, to honor Hoffmann's 80th birthday. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26514 |
Rhotic consonant
In phonetics, rhotic consonants, or "R-like" sounds, are liquid consonants that are traditionally represented orthographically by symbols derived from the Greek letter rho, including , in the Latin script and , in the Cyrillic script. They are transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet by upper- or lower-case variants of Roman , : , , , , , , , and .
This class of sounds is difficult to characterise phonetically; from a phonetic standpoint, there is no single articulatory correlate (manner or place) common to rhotic consonants. Rhotics have instead been found to carry out similar phonological functions or to have certain similar phonological features across different languages. Although some have been found to share certain acoustic peculiarities, such as a lowered third formant, further study has revealed that this does not hold true across different languages. For example, the acoustic quality of lowered third formants pertains almost exclusively to American varieties of English. Being "R-like" is an elusive and ambiguous concept phonetically and the same sounds that function as rhotics in some systems may pattern with fricatives, semivowels or even stops in others—for example, the alveolar tap is a rhotic consonant in many languages; but in American English it is an allophone of the stop phoneme /t/, as in "water". It is likely that rhotics, then, are not a phonetically natural class, but a phonological one instead.
Some languages have rhotic and non-rhotic varieties, which differ in the incidence of rhotic consonants. In non-rhotic accents of English, /r/ is not pronounced unless it is followed directly by a vowel.
The most typical rhotic sounds found in the world's languages are the following:
In broad transcription rhotics are usually symbolised as unless there are two or more types of rhotic in the same language; for example, most Australian Aboriginal languages, which contrast approximant and trill , use the symbols "r" and "rr" respectively. The IPA has a full set of different symbols which can be used whenever more phonetic precision is required: an "r" rotated 180° for the alveolar approximant, a small capital "R" for the uvular trill, and a flipped small capital "R" for the voiced uvular fricative or approximant.
The fact that the sounds conventionally classified as "rhotics" vary greatly in both place and manner in terms of articulation, and also in their acoustic characteristics, has led several linguists to investigate what, if anything, they have in common that justifies grouping them together. One suggestion that has been made is that each member of the class of rhotics shares certain properties with other members of the class, but not necessarily the same properties with all; in this case, rhotics have a "family resemblance" with each other rather than a strict set of shared properties. Another suggestion is that rhotics are defined by their behaviour on the sonority hierarchy, namely, that a rhotic is any sound that patterns as being more sonorous than a lateral consonant but less sonorous than a vowel. The potential for variation within the class of rhotics makes them a popular area for research in sociolinguistics.
English has rhotic and non-rhotic accents. Rhotic speakers pronounce a historical in all instances, while non-rhotic speakers only pronounce at the beginning of a syllable.
The rhotic consonant is dropped or vocalized under similar conditions in other Germanic languages, notably German, Danish and Dutch from the eastern Netherlands (because of Low German influence) and southern Sweden (possibly because of its Danish history). In most varieties of German (with the notable exception of Swiss Standard German), in the syllable coda is frequently realized as a vowel or a semivowel, or . In the traditional standard pronunciation, this happens only in the unstressed ending "-er" and after long vowels: for example "besser" , "sehr" . In common speech, the vocalization is usual after short vowels as well, and additional contractions may occur: for example "Dorn" ~ , "hart" ~ . Similarly, Danish after a vowel is, unless followed by a stressed vowel, either pronounced ("mor" "mother" , "næring" "nourishment" ) or merged with the preceding vowel while usually influencing its vowel quality ( and or are realised as long vowels and , and , and are all pronounced ) ("løber" "runner" , "Søren Kierkegaard" (personal name) ).
In Asturian, word final is always lost in infinitives if they are followed by an enclitic pronoun, and this is reflected in the writing; e.g. The infinitive form "dar" plus the 3rd plural dative pronoun "-yos" "da-yos" (give to them) or the accusative form "los" "dalos" (give them). This will happen even in southern dialects where the infinitive form will be "dare" , and both the and the vowel will drop (da-yos, not *dáre-yos). However, most of the speakers also drop the rhotics in the infinitive before a lateral consonant of a different word, and this doesn't show in the writing. e.g. "dar los dos" (give the two [things]). This doesn't occur in the middle of words. e.g. the name "Carlos" .
In some Catalan dialects, word final is lost in coda position not only in suffixes on nouns and adjectives denoting the masculine singular and plural (written as "-r", "-rs") but also in the "-"ar", -"er", -"ir"" suffixes of infinitives; e.g. "forner" "(male) baker", "forners" , "fer" "to do", "lluir" "to shine, to look good". However, rhotics are "recovered" when followed by the feminine suffix "-a" , and when infinitives have single or multiple enclitic pronouns (notice the two rhotics are neutralized in the coda, with a tap occurring between vowels, and a trill elsewhere); e.g. "fornera" "(female) baker", "fer-lo" "to do it (masc.)", "fer-ho" "to do it/that/so", "lluir-se" "to excel, to show off".
Final R is generally not pronounced in words ending in -er. The R in "parce que" (because) is not pronounced in informal speech in French.
In Indonesian, which is a form of Malay, the final is pronounced, it has varying forms of Malay spoken on the Malay Peninsula. In Indonesia, it is usually a tap version, but for some Malaysian, it is a retroflex r.
Historical final has been lost from all Khmer dialects but Northern.
In some dialects of Brazilian Portuguese, is unpronounced or aspirated. This occurs most frequently with verbs in the infinitive, which is always indicated by a word-final . In some states, however, it happens mostly with any when preceding a consonant. The "Carioca" accent (from the city of Rio de Janeiro) is notable for this.
Among the Spanish dialects, Andalusian Spanish, Caribbean Spanish (descended from and still very similar to Andalusian and Canarian Spanish), Castúo (the Spanish dialect of Extremadura), Northern Colombian Spanish (in cities like Cartagena, Montería, San Andrés and Santa Marta, but not Barranquilla, which is mostly rhotic) and the Argentine dialect spoken in the Tucumán province may have an unpronounced word-final , especially in infinitives, which mirrors the situation in some dialects of Brazilian Portuguese. However, in Antillean Caribbean forms, word-final in infinitives and non-infinitives is often in free variation with word-final and may relax to the point of being articulated as .
The native Thai rhotic is the alveolar trill. The English approximants /ɹ/ and /l/ are used interchangeably in Thai. That is, Thai speakers generally replace an English-derived R(ร) with an L(ล) and when they hear L(ล) they may write R (ร).
Among the Turkic languages, Turkish displays more or less the same feature, as syllable-final is dropped. For example, it is very common to hear phrases like "gidiyo" instead of "gidiyor", in spoken Turkish. In some parts of Turkey, e.g. Kastamonu, the syllable-final is almost never pronounced, e.g. "gidiya" instead of "gidiyor" (meaning "she/he is going"), "gide" instead of "gider" (meaning "she/he goes"). In "gide", the preceding vowel e is lengthened and pronounced somewhat between an e and a.
Among the Turkic languages, Uyghur displays more or less the same feature, as syllable-final is dropped, while the preceding vowel is lengthened: for example "Uyghurlar" ‘Uyghurs’. The may, however, sometimes be pronounced in unusually "careful" or "pedantic" speech; in such cases, it is often mistakenly inserted after long vowels even when there is no phonemic there.
Similarly in Yaqui, an indigenous language of northern Mexico, intervocalic or syllable-final is often dropped with lengthening of the previous vowel: "pariseo" becomes , "sewaro" becomes .
Lacid, whose exonyms in various literature include Lashi, Lachik, Lechi, and Leqi, is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by the Lacid people. There are various reports of their population size ranging from 30,000 to 60,000 people. The majority are in Myanmar but there are also small groups located in China and Thailand. Noftz (2017) reports finding an example of a rhotic alveolar fricative in Lacid while doing phonological research at Payap University in Thailand in 2015. He was not able to continue his research and expressed the need for further examination of the segment to verify his results. It is postulated that the segment is a remnant of the rhotic fricative in Proto-Tibeto-Burman.
The Shekaki accent of the Kurmanji dialect of Kurdish is non-rhotic, that is the postvocalic flap "r" is not pronounced but the trill "R" is. When r is omitted, a "compensatory lengthening" of the preceding vowel takes place. For example:
Shekaki retains morphological syllables instead of phonological syllables in non-rhotic pronunciation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26515 |
Richard Hell
Richard Lester Meyers (born October 2, 1949), better known by his stage name Richard Hell, is an American singer, songwriter, bass guitarist and writer.
Richard Hell was an innovator of punk music and fashion. He was one of the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on shirts, often held together with safety pins.
Malcolm McLaren, manager of the Sex Pistols, credited Hell as a source of inspiration for the Sex Pistols' look and attitude, as well as the safety-pin and graphics accessorized clothing that McLaren sold in his London shop, Sex.
Hell was in several important, early punk bands, including Neon Boys, Television and The Heartbreakers, after which he formed Richard Hell & the Voidoids. Their 1977 album "Blank Generation" influenced many other punk bands. Its title track was named "One of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock" by music writers in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listing and is ranked as one of the all-time Top 10 punk songs by a 2006 poll of original British punk figures, as reported in the "Rough Guide to Punk".
Since the late 1980s, Hell has devoted himself primarily to writing, publishing two novels and several other books. He was the film critic for "BlackBook" magazine from 2004 to 2006.
Richard Lester Meyers was born in Lexington, Kentucky in 1949. His father, a secular Jew, was an experimental psychologist, researching animal behavior. He died when Hell was 7 years old. Hell was then raised by his mother, who came from Methodists of Welsh and English ancestry. After her husband's death, she returned to school and became a professor.
Hell attended the Sanford School in Delaware for one year, where he became friends with Tom Miller, who later changed his name to Tom Verlaine. They ran away from school together and a short time later were arrested in Alabama for arson and vandalism.
Hell never finished high school, instead moving to New York City to make his way as a poet. In New York he met fellow young poet David Giannini, and moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico for several months, where Giannini and Meyers co-founded "Genesis:Grasp". They used an AM VariTyper with changeable fonts to publish the magazine. They began publishing books and magazines, but decided to go their separate ways in 1971, after which Hell created and published Dot Books.
Before he was 21, his own poems were published in numerous periodicals, ranging from "Rolling Stone" to the New Directions "Annual"s. In 1971, along with Verlaine, Hell also published under the pseudonym Theresa Stern, a fictional poet whose photo was actually a combination of both his and Verlaine's faces in drag, superimposed over one another to create a new identity. A book of poems credited to "Stern", "Wanna Go Out?", was released by Dot in 1973.
In 1972, Verlaine joined Hell in New York and formed the Neon Boys. In 1974, the band added a second guitarist, Richard Lloyd, and changed their name to Television.
Television's performances at CBGB helped kick-start the first wave of punk bands, inspiring a number of different artists including Patti Smith, who wrote the first press review of Television for the "SoHo Weekly News" in June 1974. She formed a highly successful band of her own, the Patti Smith Group. Television was one of the early bands to play at CBGB because their manager, Terry Ork, persuaded owner Hilly Kristal to book them alongside the Ramones. They also built the club's first stage. Hell started playing his punk rock anthem "Blank Generation" during his time in Television. In early 1975, Hell parted ways with Television after a dispute over creative control. Hell claimed that he and Verlaine had originally divided the songwriting evenly but that later Verlaine sometimes refused to play Hell's songs. Verlaine remained silent on the subject.
Hell left Television the same week that Jerry Nolan and Johnny Thunders quit the New York Dolls. In May 1975, the three of them formed the Heartbreakers (not to be confused with Tom Petty's band, which adopted the same name the following year). After one show, Walter Lure joined the Heartbreakers as a second guitarist. Four Heartbreakers demo tracks, recorded while Hell was still in the band, were later released on that band's "L.A.M.F. Definitive Edition" reissue. A live album recorded with Hell in 1975 was released as "What Goes Around..." in 1991.
In early 1976, Hell quit the Heartbreakers and started Richard Hell and the Voidoids with Robert Quine, Ivan Julian and Marc Bell. The band released two albums, though the second, "Destiny Street", retained only Quine from the original group, with Naux (Juan Maciel) on guitar and Fred Maher on drums. Hell's best known songs with the Voidoids included "Blank Generation", "Love Comes in Spurts", "The Kid With the Replaceable Head" and "Time". In 2009, the guitar tracks on "Destiny Street" were re-recorded and released as "Destiny Street Repaired", with guitarists Julian, Marc Ribot and Bill Frisell playing to the original rhythm tracks.
Also in 2009, Hell gave his blessing to the public access program Pancake Mountain to create an animated music video for "The Kid with the Replaceable Head". It was the Voidoids' first and only official music video. The cut used for the animation appears on Hell's 2005 retrospective album, "Spurts, The Richard Hell Story".
Hell's only other album release was as part of the band Dim Stars, for which he came out of retirement for a month in the early 1990s. Dim Stars featured guitarist Thurston Moore and drummer Steve Shelley from Sonic Youth, Gumball's guitarist Don Fleming, and Quine. They formed only to record a 1991 EP and a 1992 album, both titled "Dim Stars", and played one show in public, a WFMU benefit at The Ritz in Manhattan. Hell played bass, sang lead vocals and wrote the lyrics for the album.
Hell also guested on the 1993 "Roller Coaster" album by Shotgun Rationale, and co-wrote and sang lead vocals on the song "Never Mind" by the Heads, a 1996 collaborative effort between three former members of Talking Heads.
"The Voidoid", a novella written in 1973, was finally published by CodeX in 1993. It was reissued in 2009 by 38th Street Publishers with illustrations by Kier Cooke Sandvik.
Early poetry collections by Hell include "I Was a Spiral on the Floor" (1988) and "Across the Years" (1992), both published by Soyo Publications.
"Artifact: Notebooks from Hell 1974–1980", a collection of Hell's punk-era journals, was released in 1990 by Hanuman Books.
In 1996, Scribner published Hell's first full-length novel, "Go Now", set in 1980 and drawn largely from his own experiences.
Hell released a collection of short pieces (poems, essays and drawings) called "Hot and Cold" in 2001. His second novel, "Godlike", was published in 2005 by Akashic Books as part of Dennis Cooper's Little House on the Bowery Series. Also published in 2005 was "Rabbit Duck", a book of 13 poems written in collaboration with David Shapiro. More recent works include "Psychopts" (2008), a collaboration with artist Christopher Wool, as well as "Disgusting" (2010) and "I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp" (2013).
Hell's nonfiction has been widely anthologized, including a number of appearances in "best music writing" collections. "The Toilet Paper Columns" (2007) compiled his columns for the Colorado alternative magazine "Toilet Paper", while "Massive Pissed Love: Nonfiction 2001-2014" was issued by Soft Skull Press in 2015.
Hell's archive of his manuscripts, tapes, correspondence (written and email), journals and other documents of his life was purchased for $50,000 by New York University's Fales Library in 2003.
A mural in Hell's hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, created by students from Lexington Montessori High School, was completed in June 2019. The mural, located in the city's North Limestone neighborhood, has three parts: two profiles of Hell, and a quote from his autobiography, "I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp". "This was in Lexington, Ky. when everybody was a kid. I looked for caves and birds and ran away from home. My favorite thing to do was to run away. The words ‘let’s run away’ still sounds magical to me."
Hell has appeared in several low-budget films, most notably Susan Seidelman's "Smithereens". Other acting appearances include Ulli Lommel's "Blank Generation", Nick Zedd's "Geek Maggot Bingo", Rachel Amadeo's "What About Me?" and Rachid Kerdouche's "Final Reward". Hell had a non-speaking cameo role as Madonna's murdered boyfriend in Seidelman's 1985 "Desperately Seeking Susan".
Hell was married to Scandal's Patty Smyth for two years during 1985–86, and they had a daughter, Ruby. Hell married Sheelagh Bevan in 2002. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26517 |
Referential transparency
Referential transparency and referential opacity are properties of parts of computer programs. An expression is called referentially transparent if it can be replaced with its corresponding value without changing the program's behavior. This requires that the expression be pure, that is to say the expression value must be the same for the same inputs and its evaluation must have no side effects. An expression that is not referentially transparent is called referentially opaque.
In mathematics all function applications are referentially transparent, by the definition of what constitutes a mathematical function. However, this is not always the case in programming, where the terms procedure and method are used to avoid misleading connotations. In functional programming only referentially transparent functions are considered. Some programming languages provide means to guarantee referential transparency. Some functional programming languages enforce referential transparency for all functions.
The importance of referential transparency is that it allows the programmer and the compiler to reason about program behavior as a rewrite system. This can help in proving correctness, simplifying an algorithm, assisting in modifying code without breaking it, or optimizing code by means of memoization, common subexpression elimination, lazy evaluation, or parallelization.
The concept seems to have originated in Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell's "Principia Mathematica" (1910–13). It was adopted in analytical philosophy by Willard Van Orman Quine. In §30 of "Word and Object" (1960) Quine gives this definition:
A mode of containment φ is referentially transparent if, whenever an occurrence of a singular term t is purely referential in a term or sentence ψ(t), it is purely referential also in the containing term or sentence φ(ψ(t)).
The term appeared in its contemporary computer science usage, in the discussion of variables in programming languages, in Christopher Strachey's seminal set of lecture notes "Fundamental Concepts in Programming Languages" (1967). The lecture notes referenced Quine's "Word and Object" in the bibliography.
If all functions involved in the expression are pure functions, then the expression is referentially transparent.
Consider a function that returns the input from some source. In pseudocode, a call to this function might be codice_1 where codice_2 might identify a particular disk file, the keyboard, etc. Even with identical values of codice_2, the successive return values will be different. Therefore, function codice_4 is neither deterministic nor referentially transparent.
A more subtle example is that of a function that has a free variable, i.e., depends on some input that is not explicitly passed as a parameter. This is then resolved according to name binding rules to a non-local variable, such as a global variable, a variable in the current execution environment (for dynamic binding), or a variable in a closure (for static binding). Since this variable can be altered without changing the values passed as parameter, the results of subsequent calls to the function may differ even if the parameters are identical. However, in pure functional programming, destructive assignment is not allowed, and thus if the free variable is statically bound to a value, the function is still referentially transparent, as neither the non-local variable nor its value can change, due to static binding and immutability, respectively.
Arithmetic operations are referentially transparent: codice_5 can be replaced by codice_6, for instance. In fact, all functions in the mathematical sense are referentially transparent: codice_7 is transparent, since it will always give the same result for each particular codice_8.
Assignments are not transparent. For instance, the C expression codice_9 changes the value assigned to the variable codice_8. Assuming codice_8 initially has value codice_12, two consecutive evaluations of the expression yield, respectively, codice_13 and codice_14. Clearly, replacing codice_9 with either codice_13 or codice_14 gives a program with different meaning, and so the expression is not referentially transparent. However, calling a function such as codice_18 "is" transparent, as it will not implicitly change the input x and thus has no such side effects.
codice_19 is not transparent, as if you evaluate it and replace it by its value (say, "Jan 1, 2001"), you don't get the same result as you will if you run it tomorrow. This is because it depends on a state (the date).
In languages with no side-effects, like Haskell, we can substitute equals for equals: i.e. if codice_20 then codice_21. This is a property also known as indistinguishable identicals, see Identity of indiscernibles. Such properties need not hold in general for languages with side-effects. Even so it is important to limit such assertions to so-called judgmental equality, that is the equality of the terms as tested by the system, not including user-defined equivalence for types. For instance, if codice_22 and the type codice_23 has overridden the notion of equality, e.g. making all terms equal, then it is possible to have codice_20 and yet find codice_25. This is because systems like Haskell do not verify that functions defined on types with user-defined equivalence relations be well-defined with respect to that equivalence. Thus the referential transparency is limited to types without equivalence relations. Extending referential transparency to user-defined equivalence relations can be done for example with a Martin-Lof identity type, but requires a dependently typed system such as in Agda, Coq or Idris.
If the substitution of an expression with its value is valid only at a certain point in the execution of the program, then the expression is not referentially transparent. The definition and ordering of these sequence points are the theoretical foundation of imperative programming, and part of the semantics of an imperative programming language.
However, because a referentially transparent expression can be evaluated at any time, it is not necessary to define sequence points nor any guarantee of the order of evaluation at all. Programming done without these considerations is called purely functional programming.
One advantage of writing code in a referentially transparent style is that given an intelligent compiler, static code analysis is easier and better code-improving transformations are possible automatically. For example, when programming in C, there will be a performance penalty for including a call to an expensive function inside a loop, even if the function call could be moved outside of the loop without changing the results of the program. The programmer would be forced to perform manual code motion of the call, possibly at the expense of source code readability. However, if the compiler is able to determine that the function call is referentially transparent, it can perform this transformation automatically.
The primary disadvantage of languages that enforce referential transparency is that they make the expression of operations that naturally fit a sequence-of-steps imperative programming style more awkward and less concise. Such languages often incorporate mechanisms to make these tasks easier while retaining the purely functional quality of the language, such as definite clause grammars and monads.
As an example, let's use two functions, one which is referentially transparent, and the other which is referentially opaque:
int g = 0;
int rt(int x) {
int ro(int x) {
The function codice_26 is referentially transparent, which means that if codice_20 then codice_28. For instance, codice_29. However, we cannot say any such thing for codice_30 because it uses a global variable that it modifies.
The referential opacity of codice_30 makes reasoning about programs more difficult. For example, say we wish to reason about the following statement:
int i = ro(x) + ro(y) * (ro(x) - ro(x));
One may be tempted to simplify this statement to:
int i = ro(x) + ro(y) * 0;
int i = ro(x) + 0;
int i = ro(x);
However, this will not work for codice_30 because each occurrence of codice_33 evaluates to a different value. Remember that the return value of codice_30 is based on a global value that is not passed in and which gets modified on each call to codice_30. This means that mathematical identities such as formula_1 no longer hold.
Such mathematical identities "will" hold for referentially transparent functions such as codice_26.
However, a more sophisticated analysis can be used to simplify the statement to:
int tmp = g; int i = x + tmp + 1 + (y + tmp + 2) * (x + tmp + 3 - (x + tmp + 4)); g = g + 4;
int tmp = g; int i = x + tmp + 1 + (y + tmp + 2) * (x + tmp + 3 - x - tmp - 4)); g = g + 4;
int tmp = g; int i = x + tmp + 1 + (y + tmp + 2) * (-1); g = g + 4;
int tmp = g; int i = x + tmp + 1 - y - tmp - 2; g = g + 4;
int i = x - y - 1; g = g + 4;
This takes more steps and requires a degree of insight into the code infeasible for compiler optimization.
Therefore, referential transparency allows us to reason about our code which will lead to more robust programs, the possibility of finding bugs that we couldn't hope to find by testing, and the possibility of seeing opportunities for optimization. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26526 |
Reaganomics
Reaganomics (; a portmanteau of "[Ronald] Reagan" and "economics" attributed to Paul Harvey), or Reaganism, refers to the economic policies promoted by U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s. These policies are commonly associated with and characterized as supply-side economics, trickle-down economics, or voodoo economics by political opponents, while Reagan and his political advocates preferred to call it free-market economics.
The four pillars of Reagan's economic policy were to reduce the growth of government spending, reduce the federal income tax and capital gains tax, reduce government regulation, and tighten the money supply in order to reduce inflation.
The results of Reaganomics are still debated. Supporters point to the end of stagflation, stronger GDP growth, and an entrepreneur revolution in the decades that followed. Critics point to the widening income gap, what they described as an atmosphere of greed, and the national debt tripling in eight years which ultimately reversed the post-World War II trend of a shrinking national debt as percentage of GDP.
Prior to the Reagan administration, the United States economy experienced a decade of high unemployment and persistently high inflation (known as stagflation). Attacks on Keynesian economic orthodoxy as well as empirical economic models such as the Phillips Curve grew. Political pressure favored stimulus resulting in an expansion of the money supply. President Richard Nixon's wage and price controls were phased out. The federal oil reserves were created to ease any future short term shocks. President Jimmy Carter had begun phasing out price controls on petroleum while he created the Department of Energy. Much of the credit for the resolution of the stagflation is given to two causes: a three-year contraction of the money supply by the Federal Reserve Board under Paul Volcker, initiated in the last year of Carter's presidency, and long-term easing of supply and pricing in oil during the 1980s oil glut.
In stating that his intention was to lower taxes, Reagan's approach was a departure from his immediate predecessors. Reagan enacted lower marginal tax rates as well as simplified income tax codes and continued deregulation. During Reagan's eight year presidency, the annual deficits averaged 4.0% of GDP, compared to a 2.2% average during the preceding eight years. The real (inflation adjusted) average rate of growth in federal spending fell from 4% under Jimmy Carter to 2.5% under Ronald Reagan. GDP per employed person increased at an average 1.5% rate during the Reagan administration, compared to an average 0.6% during the preceding eight years. Private sector productivity growth, measured as real output per hour of all persons, increased at an average rate of 1.9% during Reagan's eight years, compared to an average 1.3% during the preceding eight years. Federal net outlays as a percent of GDP averaged 21.4% under Reagan, compared to 19.1% during the preceding eight years.
During the Nixon and Ford Administrations, before Reagan's election, a combined supply and demand side policy was considered unconventional by the moderate wing of the Republican Party. While running against Reagan for the Presidential nomination in 1980, George H. W. Bush had derided Reaganomics as "voodoo economics". Similarly, in 1976, Gerald Ford had severely criticized Reagan's proposal to turn back a large part of the Federal budget to the states.
In his 1980 campaign speeches, Reagan presented his economic proposals as a return to the free enterprise principles, free market economy that had been in favor before the Great Depression and FDR's New Deal policies. At the same time he attracted a following from the supply-side economics movement, which formed in opposition to Keynesian demand-stimulus economics. This movement produced some of the strongest supporters for Reagan's policies during his term in office.
The contention of the proponents, that the tax rate cuts would more than cover any increases in federal debt, was influenced by a theoretical taxation model based on the elasticity of tax rates, known as the Laffer curve. Arthur Laffer's model predicts that excessive tax rates actually reduce potential tax revenues, by lowering the incentive to produce; the model also predicts that insufficient tax rates (rates below the optimum level for a given economy) lead directly to a reduction in tax revenues.
Ronald Reagan also cited the 14th-century Arab scholar Ibn Khaldun as an influence on his supply-side economic policies, in 1981. Reagan paraphrased Ibn Khaldun, who said that "In the beginning of the dynasty, great tax revenues were gained from small assessments," and that "at the end of the dynasty, small tax revenues were gained from large assessments." Reagan said his goal is "trying to get down to the small assessments and the great revenues."
Reagan lifted remaining domestic petroleum price and allocation controls on January 28, 1981, and lowered the oil windfall profits tax in August 1981. He ended the oil windfall profits tax in 1988. During the first year of Reagan's presidency, federal income tax rates were lowered significantly with the signing of the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, which lowered the top marginal tax bracket from 70% to 50% and the lowest bracket from 14% to 11%. This act slashed estate taxes and trimmed taxes paid by business corporations by $150 billion over a five-year period. In 1982 Reagan agreed to a rollback of corporate tax cuts and a smaller rollback of individual income tax cuts. The 1982 tax increase undid a third of the initial tax cut. In 1983 Reagan instituted a payroll tax increase on Social Security and Medicare hospital insurance. In 1984 another bill was introduced that closed tax loopholes. According to tax historian Joseph Thorndike, the bills of 1982 and 1984 "constituted the biggest tax increase ever enacted during peacetime".
With the Tax Reform Act of 1986, Reagan and Congress sought to simplify the tax system by eliminating many deductions, reducing the highest marginal rates, and reducing the number of tax brackets. In 1983, Democrats Bill Bradley and Dick Gephardt had offered a proposal; in 1984 Reagan had the Treasury Department produce its own plan. The 1986 act aimed to be revenue-neutral: while it reduced the top marginal rate, it also cleaned up the tax base by removing certain tax write-offs, preferences, and exceptions, thus raising the effective tax on activities previously specially favored by the code. Ultimately, the combination of the decrease in deductions and decrease in rates raised revenue equal to about 4% of existing tax revenue.
Federal revenue share of GDP fell from 19.6% in fiscal 1981 to 17.3% in 1984, before rising back to 18.4% by fiscal year 1989. Personal income tax revenues fell during this period relative to GDP, while payroll tax revenues rose relative to GDP. Reagan's 1981 cut in the top regular tax rate on unearned income reduced the maximum capital gains rate to only 20% – its lowest level since the Hoover administration. The 1986 act set tax rates on capital gains at the same level as the rates on ordinary income like salaries and wages, with both topping out at 28%.
Reagan significantly increased public expenditures, primarily the Department of Defense, which rose (in constant 2000 dollars) from $267.1 billion in 1980 (4.9% of GDP and 22.7% of public expenditure) to $393.1 billion in 1988 (5.8% of GDP and 27.3% of public expenditure); most of those years military spending was about 6% of GDP, exceeding this number in 4 different years. All these numbers had not been seen since the end of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War in 1973. In 1981, Reagan significantly reduced the maximum tax rate, which affected the highest income earners, and lowered the top marginal tax rate from 70% to 50%; in 1986 he further reduced the rate to 28%. The federal deficit under Reagan peaked at 6% of GDP in 1983, falling to 3.2% of GDP in 1987 and to 3.1% of GDP in his final budget. The inflation-adjusted rate of growth in federal spending fell from 4% under Jimmy Carter to 2.5% under Ronald Reagan. This was the slowest rate of growth in inflation adjusted spending since Eisenhower. However, federal deficit as percent of GDP was up throughout the Reagan presidency from 2.7% at the end of (and throughout) the Carter administration. As a short-run strategy to reduce inflation and lower nominal interest rates, the U.S. borrowed both domestically and abroad to cover the Federal budget deficits, raising the national debt from $997 billion to $2.85 trillion. This led to the U.S. moving from the world's largest international creditor to the world's largest debtor nation. Reagan described the new debt as the "greatest disappointment" of his presidency.
According to William A. Niskanen, one of the architects of Reaganomics, "Reagan delivered on each of his four major policy objectives, although not to the extent that he and his supporters had hoped", and notes that the most substantial change was in the tax code, where the top marginal individual income tax rate fell from 70.1% to 28.4%, and there was a "major reversal in the tax treatment of business income", with effect of "reducing the tax bias among types of investment but increasing the average effective tax rate on new investment". Roger Porter, another architect of the program, acknowledges that the program was weakened by the many hands that changed the President's calculus, such as Congress. President Reagan raised taxes eleven times over the course of his presidency, but the overall tax burden went down during his presidency. According to Paul Krugman, "Over all, the 1982 tax increase undid about a third of the 1981 cut; as a share of GDP, the increase was substantially larger than Mr. Clinton's 1993 tax increase." According to historian and domestic policy adviser Bruce Bartlett, Reagan's tax increases over the course of his presidency took back half of the 1981 tax cut. Though since the Reagan tax reductions, top marginal tax rates have remained lower than at any point in US history since 1931, when the top marginal rate was raised from 25% to 63%.
Spending during the years Reagan budgeted (FY 1982–89) averaged 21.6% GDP, roughly tied with President Obama for the highest among any recent President. Each faced a severe recession early in their administration. In addition, the public debt rose from 26% GDP in 1980 to 41% GDP by 1988. In dollar terms, the public debt rose from $712 billion in 1980 to $2.052 trillion in 1988, a roughly three-fold increase. The unemployment rate rose from 7% in 1980 to 11% in 1982, then declined to 5% in 1988. The inflation rate declined from 10% in 1980 to 4% in 1988.
Some economists have stated that Reagan's policies were an important part of bringing about the third longest peacetime economic expansion in U.S. history. During the Reagan administration, real GDP growth averaged 3.5%, compared to 2.9% during the preceding eight years. The annual average unemployment rate declined by 1.7 percentage points, from 7.2% in 1980 to 5.5% in 1988, after it had increased by 1.6 percentage points over the preceding eight years. Nonfarm employment increased by 16.1 million during Reagan's presidency, compared to 15.4 million during the preceding eight years, while manufacturing employment declined by 582,000 after rising 363,000 during the preceding eight years. Reagan's administration is the only one not to have raised the minimum wage. The inflation rate, 13.5% in 1980, fell to 4.1% in 1988, in part because the Federal Reserve increased interest rates (prime rate peaking at 20.5% in August 1981). The latter contributed to a recession from July 1981 to November 1982 during which unemployment rose to 9.7% and GDP fell by 1.9%. Additionally, income growth slowed for middle- and lower-class (2.4% to 1.8%) and rose for the upper-class (2.2% to 4.83%).
The misery index, defined as the inflation rate added to the unemployment rate, shrank from 19.33 when he began his administration to 9.72 when he left, the greatest improvement record for a President since Harry S. Truman left office. In terms of American households, the percentage of total households making less than $10,000 a year (in real 2007 dollars) shrank from 8.8% in 1980 to 8.3% in 1988 while the percentage of households making over $75,000 went from 20.2% to 25.7% during that period, both signs of progress.
The job growth (measured for non-farm payrolls) under the Reagan administration averaged 168,000 per month, versus 216,000 for Carter, 55,000 for H.W. Bush, and 239,000 for Clinton. Measuring the number of jobs created per month is limited for longer time periods as the population grows. To address this, we can measure annual job growth percentages, comparing the beginning and ending number of jobs during their time in office to determine an annual growth rate. Jobs grew by 2.0% annually under Reagan, versus 3.1% under Carter, 0.6% under H.W. Bush, and 2.4% under Clinton.
The unemployment rate averaged 7.5% under Reagan, compared to an average 6.6% during the preceding eight years. Declining steadily after December 1982, the rate was 5.4% the month Reagan left office.
The average real hourly wage for production and nonsupervisory workers continued the decline that had begun in 1973, albeit at a slower rate, and remained below the pre-Reagan level in every Reagan year.
The labor force participation rate increased by 2.6 percentage points during Reagan's eight years, compared to 3.9 percentage points during the preceding eight years.
Some commentators have asserted that over one million jobs were created in a single month — September 1983. Although official data support that figure, it was caused by nearly 700,000 AT&T workers going on strike and being counted as job losses in August 1983, with a quick resolution of the strike leading workers to return in September, then being counted as job gains.
Following the 1981 recession, the unemployment rate had averaged slightly higher (6.75% vs. 6.35%), productivity growth lower (1.38% vs. 1.92%), and private investment as a percentage of GDP slightly less (16.08% vs. 16.86%). In the 1980s, industrial productivity growth in the United States matched that of its trading partners after trailing them in the 1970s. By 1990, manufacturing's share of GNP exceeded the post-World War II low hit in 1982 and matched "the level of output achieved in the 1960s when American factories hummed at a feverish clip".
Real GDP grew over one-third during Reagan's presidency, an over $2 trillion increase. The compound annual growth rate of GDP was 3.6% during Reagan's eight years, compared to 2.7% during the preceding eight years. Real GDP per capita grew 2.6% under Reagan, compared to 1.9% average growth during the preceding eight years.
In nominal terms, median household income grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.5% during the Reagan presidency, compared to 8.5% during the preceding five years (pre-1975 data are unavailable). Real median family income grew by $4,492 during the Reagan period, compared to a $1,270 increase during the preceding eight years. After declining from 1974 through 1980, real mean personal income rose $4,708 by 1988. Nominal household net worth increased by a CAGR of 8.4%, compared to 9.3% during the preceding eight years.
The percentage of the total population below the poverty level increased from 13.0% in 1980 to 15.2% in 1983, then declined back to 13.0% in 1988. During Reagan's first term, critics noted homelessness as a visible problem in U.S. urban centers. In the closing weeks of his presidency, Reagan told David Brinkley that the homeless "make it their own choice for staying out there," noting his belief that there "are shelters in virtually every city, and shelters here, and those people still prefer out there on the grates or the lawn to going into one of those shelters". He also stated that "a large proportion" of them are "mentally impaired", which he believed to be a result of lawsuits by the ACLU (and similar organizations) against mental institutions. His policies became widely known as "trickle-down economics", due to the significant cuts in the upper tax brackets, as that extra money for the wealthy could trickle along to low-income groups.
During the Reagan administration, fiscal year federal receipts grew from $599 billion to $991 billion (an increase of 65%) while fiscal year federal outlays grew from $678 billion to $1144 billion (an increase of 69%). According to a 1996 report of the Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress, during Reagan's two terms, and through 1993, the top 10% of taxpayers paid an increased share of income taxes (not including payroll taxes) to the Federal government, while the lowest 50% of taxpayers paid a reduced share of income tax revenue. Personal income tax revenues declined from 9.4% GDP in 1981 to 8.3% GDP in 1989, while payroll tax revenues increased from 6.0% GDP to 6.7% GDP during the same period.
Both CBO and the Reagan Administration forecast that individual and business income tax revenues would be lower if the Reagan tax cut proposals were implemented, relative to a policy baseline without those cuts, by about $50 billion in 1982 and $210 billion by 1986.According to a 2003 Treasury study, the tax cuts in the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 resulted in a significant decline in revenue relative to a baseline without the cuts, approximately $111 billion (in 1992 dollars) on average during the first four years after implementation or nearly 3% GDP annually. Other tax bills had neutral or, in the case of the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, a (~+1% of GDP) increase in revenue as a share of GDP. The study did not examine the longer-term impact of Reagan tax policy, including sunset clauses and "the long-run, phased-in effect of the tax bills". The fact that tax receipts "as a percentage of GDP" fell following the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 shows a decrease in tax burden as share of GDP and a commensurate increase in the deficit, as spending did not fall relative to GDP. Total federal tax receipts increased in every Reagan year except 1982, at an annual average rate of 6.2% compared to 10.8% during the preceding eight years.
The effect of Reagan's 1981 tax cuts (reduced revenue relative to a baseline without the cuts) were at least partially offset by phased in Social Security payroll tax increases that had been enacted by President Jimmy Carter and the 95th Congress in 1977, and further increases by Reagan in 1983 and following years, also to counter the uses of tax shelters. An accounting indicated nominal tax receipts increased from $599 billion in 1981 to $1.032 trillion in 1990, an increase of 72% in current dollars. In 2005 dollars, the tax receipts in 1990 were $1.5 trillion, an increase of 20% above inflation.
Reagan was inaugurated in January 1981, so the first fiscal year (FY) he budgeted was 1982 and the final year was 1989.
Nominal after-tax corporate profits grew at a compound annual growth rate of 3.0% during Reagan's eight years, compared to 13.0% during the preceding eight years. The S&P 500 Index increased 113.3% during the 2024 trading days under Reagan, compared to 10.4% during the preceding 2024 trading days. The business sector share of GDP, measured as gross private domestic investment, declined by 0.7 percentage points under Reagan, after increasing 0.7 percentage points during the preceding eight years.
The federal government's share of GDP increased 0.2 percentage points under Reagan, while it decreased 1.5 percentage points during the preceding eight years. The number of federal civilian employees increased 4.2% during Reagan's eight years, compared to 6.5% during the preceding eight years.
As a candidate, Reagan asserted he would shrink government by abolishing the Cabinet-level departments of energy and education. He abolished neither, but elevated veterans affairs from independent agency status to Cabinet-level department status.
Continuing a trend that began in the 1970s, income inequality grew and accelerated in the 1980s. "The Economist" wrote in 2006: "After the 1973 oil shocks, productivity growth suddenly slowed. A few years later, at the start of the 1980s, the gap between rich and poor began to widen." According to the CBO:
According to a 1996 study by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, on 8 of the 10 key economic variables examined, the American economy performed better during the Reagan years than during the pre- and post-Reagan years. The study asserted that real median family income grew by $4,000 and during the eight Reagan years and experienced a loss of almost $1,500 in the post-Reagan years. Interest rates, inflation, and unemployment fell faster under Reagan than they did immediately before or after his presidency. The only economic variable that was lower during period than in both the pre- and post-Reagan years was the savings rate, which fell rapidly in the 1980s. The productivity rate was higher in the pre-Reagan years but lower in the post-Reagan years. The Cato study was dismissive of any positive effects of tightening, and subsequent loosening, of Federal Reserve monetary policy under "inflation hawk" Paul Volcker, whom President Carter had appointed in 1979 to halt the persistent inflation of the 1970s.
Economic analyst Stephen Moore stated in the Cato analysis, "No act in the last quarter century had a more profound impact on the U.S. economy of the eighties and nineties than the Reagan tax cut of 1981." He argued that Reagan's tax cuts, combined with an emphasis on federal monetary policy, deregulation, and expansion of free trade created a sustained economic expansion, the greatest American sustained wave of prosperity ever. He also claims that the American economy grew by more than a third in size, producing a $15 trillion increase in American wealth. Consumer and investor confidence soared. Cutting federal income taxes, cutting the U.S. government spending budget, cutting useless programs, scaling down the government work force, maintaining low interest rates, and keeping a watchful inflation hedge on the monetary supply was Ronald Reagan's formula for a successful economic turnaround.
Milton Friedman stated, "Reaganomics had four simple principles: Lower marginal tax rates, less regulation, restrained government spending, noninflationary monetary policy. Though Reagan did not achieve all of his goals, he made good progress."
The Tax Reform Act of 1986 and its impact on the alternative minimum tax (AMT) reduced nominal rates on the wealthy and eliminated tax deductions, while raising tax rates on lower-income individuals. The across the board tax system reduced marginal rates and further reduced bracket creep from inflation. The highest income earners (with incomes exceeding $1,000,000) received a tax break, restoring a flatter tax system. In 2006, the IRS's National Taxpayer Advocate's report characterized the effective rise in the AMT for individuals as a problem with the tax code. Through 2007, the revised AMT had brought in more tax revenue than the former tax code, which has made it difficult for Congress to reform.
Economist Paul Krugman argued the economic expansion during the Reagan administration was primarily the result of the business cycle and the monetary policy by Paul Volcker. Krugman argues that there was nothing unusual about the economy under Reagan because unemployment was reducing from a high peak and that it is consistent with Keynesian economics for the economy to grow as employment increases if inflation remains low. Krugman has also criticized Reaganomics from the standpoint of wealth and income inequality. He argues that the Reagan era tax cuts ended the post-World War II "Great Compression" of wealth held by the rich.
The CBO Historical Tables indicate that federal spending during Reagan's two terms (FY 1981–88) averaged 22.4% GDP, well above the 20.6% GDP average from 1971 to 2009. In addition, the public debt rose from 26.1% GDP in 1980 to 41.0% GDP by 1988. In dollar terms, the public debt rose from $712 billion in 1980 to $2,052 billion in 1988, a three-fold increase. Krugman argued in June 2012 that Reagan's policies were consistent with Keynesian stimulus theories, pointing to the significant increase in per-capita spending under Reagan.
William Niskanen noted that during the Reagan years, privately held federal debt increased from 22% to 38% of GDP, despite a long peacetime expansion. Second, the savings and loan problem led to an additional debt of about $125 billion. Third, greater enforcement of U.S. trade laws increased the share of U.S. imports subjected to trade restrictions from 12% in 1980 to 23% in 1988.
Economists Raghuram Rajan and Luigi Zingales pointed out that many deregulation efforts had either taken place or had begun before Reagan (note the deregulation of airlines and trucking under Carter, and the beginning of deregulatory reform in railroads, telephones, natural gas, and banking). They stated, "The move toward markets preceded the leader [Reagan] who is seen as one of their saviors." Economists Paul Joskow and Roger Noll made a similar contention.
Economist William A. Niskanen, a member of Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers wrote that deregulation had the "lowest priority" of the items on the Reagan agenda given that Reagan "failed to sustain the momentum for deregulation initiated in the 1970s" and that he "added more trade barriers than any administration since Hoover." By contrast, economist Milton Friedman has pointed to the number of pages added to the Federal Register each year as evidence of Reagan's anti-regulation presidency (the Register records the rules and regulations that federal agencies issue per year). The number of pages added to the Register each year declined sharply at the start of the Ronald Reagan presidency breaking a steady and sharp increase since 1960. The increase in the number of pages added per year resumed an upward, though less steep, trend after Reagan left office. In contrast, the number of pages being added each year increased under Ford, Carter, George H. W. Bush, Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama. The number of pages in Federal Register is however criticized as an extremely crude measure of regulatory activity, because it can be easily manipulated (e.g. font sizes have been changed to keep page count low). The apparent contradiction between Niskanen's statements and Friedman's data may be resolved by seeing Niskanen as referring to "statutory" deregulation (laws passed by Congress) and Friedman to "administrative" deregulation (rules and regulations implemented by federal agencies). A 2016 study by the Congressional Research Service found that Reagan's average annual number of final federal regulatory rules published in the Federal Register was higher than during the Clinton, George W. Bush or Obama's administrations, even though the Reagan economy was considerably smaller than during those later presidents. Another study by the QuantGov project of the libertarian Mercatus Center found that the Reagan administration added restrictive regulations — containing such terms as "shall," "prohibited" or "may not" — at a faster average annual rate than did Clinton, Bush or Obama.
Greg Mankiw, a conservative Republican economist who served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors under President George W. Bush, wrote in 2007:
I used the phrase "charlatans and cranks" in the first edition of my principles textbook to describe some of the economic advisers to Ronald Reagan, who told him that broad-based income tax cuts would have such large supply-side effects that the tax cuts would raise tax revenue. I did not find such a claim credible, based on the available evidence. I never have, and I still don't ... My other work has remained consistent with this view. In a paper on dynamic scoring, written while I was working at the White House, Matthew Weinzierl and I estimated that a broad-based income tax cut (applying to both capital and labor income) would recoup only about a quarter of the lost revenue through supply-side growth effects. For a cut in capital income taxes, the feedback is larger — about 50 percent — but still well under 100 percent. A chapter on dynamic scoring in the 2004 Economic Report of the President says about the same thing.
Glenn Hubbard, who preceded Mankiw as Bush's CEA chair, also disputed the assertion that tax cuts increase tax revenues, writing in his 2003 Economic Report of the President: "Although the economy grows in response to tax reductions (because of higher consumption in the short run and improved incentives in the long run), it is unlikely to grow so much that lost tax revenue is completely recovered by the higher level of economic activity."
In 1986, Martin Feldstein — a self-described "traditional supply sider" who served as Reagan's chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors from 1982 to 1984 — characterized the "new supply siders" who emerged circa 1980:
What distinguished the new supply siders from the traditional supply siders as the 1980s began was not the policies they advocated but the claims that they made for those policies ... The "new" supply siders were much more extravagant in their claims. They projected rapid growth, dramatic increases in tax revenue, a sharp rise in saving, and a relatively painless reduction in inflation. The height of supply side hyperbole was the "Laffer curve" proposition that the tax cut would actually increase tax revenue because it would unleash an enormously depressed supply of effort. Another remarkable proposition was the claim that even if the tax cuts did lead to an increased budget deficit, that would not reduce the funds available for investment in plant and equipment because tax changes would raise the saving rate by enough to finance the increased deficit ... Nevertheless, I have no doubt that the loose talk of the supply side extremists gave fundamentally good policies a bad name and led to quantitative mistakes that not only contributed to subsequent budget deficits but that also made it more difficult to modify policy when those deficits became apparent. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26529 |
Roland Corporation
Roland has manufactured numerous instruments that have had lasting impacts on music, such as the Juno-106 synthesizer, TB-303 bass synthesizer, and TR-808 and TR-909 drum machines. Roland was also instrumental in the development of MIDI, a standardized means of synchronizing electronic instruments manufactured by different companies. In 2016, "Fact" wrote that Roland "arguably did more to shape electronic music than any other [company] in history".
Having created Ace Electronic Industries Inc in 1960, Ikutaro Kakehashi founded Roland in Osaka on April 18, 1972. While rival companies Moog and ARP targeted professional musicians and academics, Kakehashi, who had no musical training, wanted to appeal to amateurs and hobbyists, and focused on miniaturization, affordability, and simplicity.
The "Roland" name was selected for export purposes, as Kakehashi was interested in a name that was easy to pronounce for his worldwide target markets. The name was found in a telephone directory, and Kakehashi was satisfied with the simple two-syllable word and its soft consonants. The letter "R" was chosen because it was not used by many other music equipment companies, and would therefore stand out in trade show directories and industry listings. Kakehashi did not learn of the French epic poem "The Song of Roland" until later.
With seven employees from his former company, a rented shed, and $100,000, Kakehashi built on his experience at Ace, introducing a drum machine, the TR-77 or Rhythm 77, as Roland's first product, followed by the TR-33 and TR-55 released that same year. In 1973, Roland introduced the first compact synthesizer produced in Japan and the first synthesizer produced by Roland, the SH-1000, as well as their first non-preset synthesizer, the SH-3.
The company was also manufacturing effects pedals, introducing the RE-201 Space Echo in 1974, and expanding into guitar amplifiers the following year with the JC-60 and JC-120 Jazz Chorus, whose chorus circuit would become the first Boss Corporation product, the CE-1 Chorus Ensemble, the following year. In 1976, Roland introduced the semi-modular System 100 and the modular System 700 synthesizers.
In 1977, the company introduced one of the earliest microprocessor-driven music sequencers, the MC-8 MicroComposer, and the first guitar synthesizer, the GR-500. Just one year later, they introduced the CompuRhythm CR-78, the first drum machine that enabled users to program and store their own drum patterns.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Roland released several instruments that have had a lasting influence on popular music. After Kakehashi realized microprocessors could be used to program drum machines, Roland launched the TR-808 drum machine, its first programmable drum machine, in 1980. Although it was not an immediate commercial success, the 808 was eventually used on more hit records than any other drum machine and became a cornerstone of the emerging electronic and hip hop genres. It has been described as hip hop's equivalent to the Fender Stratocaster guitar, which dramatically influenced the development of rock music. The 808 was followed in 1983 by the TR-909, which, alongside the TB-303 synthesizer, influenced the development of dance music such as techno, house and acid. Roland released the Roland Jupiter-8 in 1981.
Roland played a key role in the development of MIDI, a standardized means of synchronizing electronic musical instruments manufactured by different companies. Kakehashi proposed developing a standard with representatives from Oberheim Electronics, Sequential Circuits, Yamaha, Korg and Kawai. He and Dave Smith of Sequential Circuits unveiled MIDI in 1983. It remains the industry standard.
In 1994, Kakehashi founded the Roland Foundation and became Chairman. In 1995 he was appointed the chairman of Roland Corporation. In 2001 he resigned from the position and was appointed as Special Executive Adviser of Roland Corporation. In 2002, Kakehashi published an autobiography, "I Believe in Music." His second book, "An Age Without Samples: Originality and Creativity in the Digital World", was published in 2017.
Roland markets products under a number of brand names, each of which are used on products geared toward a different niche. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26531 |
Rhys ap Gruffydd
Rhys ap Gruffydd or ap Gruffudd (often anglicised to "Griffith"; 1132 – 28 April 1197) was the ruler of the kingdom of Deheubarth in south Wales from 1155 to 1197. Today, he is commonly known as The Lord Rhys, in Welsh "Yr Arglwydd Rhys", although this title may have not been used in his lifetime. He usually used the title "Proprietary Prince of Deheubarth" or "Prince of South Wales", but two documents have been discovered in which he uses the title "Prince of Wales" or "Prince of the Welsh". Rhys was one of the most successful and powerful Welsh princes, and, after the death of Owain Gwynedd of Gwynedd in 1170, the dominant power in Wales.
Rhys's grandfather, Rhys ap Tewdwr, was king of Deheubarth, and was killed at Brecon in 1093 by Bernard de Neufmarché. Following his death, most of Deheubarth was taken over by the Normans. Rhys's father, Gruffydd ap Rhys, eventually was able to become ruler of a small portion, and more territory was won back by Rhys's older brothers after Gruffydd's death. Rhys became ruler of Deheubarth in 1155. He was forced to submit to King Henry II of England in 1158. Henry invaded Deheubarth in 1163, stripped Rhys of all his lands and took him prisoner. A few weeks later he was released and given back a small part of his holdings. Rhys made an alliance with Owain Gwynedd and, after the failure of another invasion of Wales by Henry in 1165, was able to win back most of his lands.
In 1171 Rhys made peace with King Henry and was confirmed in possession of his recent conquests as well as being named Justiciar of South Wales. He maintained good relations with King Henry until the latter's death in 1189. Following Henry's death Rhys revolted against Richard I and attacked the Norman lordships surrounding his territory, capturing a number of castles. In his later years Rhys had trouble keeping control of his sons, particularly Maelgwn and Gruffydd, who maintained a feud with each other. Rhys launched his last campaign against the Normans in 1196 and captured a number of castles. The following year he died unexpectedly and was buried in St David's Cathedral.
Rhys was the fourth son of Gruffydd ap Rhys, ruler of part of Deheubarth, by his wife Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd, daughter of Gruffudd ap Cynan, king of Gwynedd. His next older brother was Maredudd ap Gruffydd, and there were older brothers, Morgan and Maelgwn, who were killed in battle with their mother in 1136. He also had two older half-brothers, Anarawd and Cadell, from his father's first marriage. Rhys married Gwenllian ferch Madog, daughter of Madog ap Maredudd, the last Prince of all Powys.
His grandfather, Rhys ap Tewdwr, had been king of all Deheubarth until his death in 1093. Rhys ap Tewdwr was killed in Brycheiniog, and most of his kingdom was taken over by Norman lords. Gruffydd ap Rhys was forced to flee to Ireland. He later returned to Deheubarth and ruled a portion of the kingdom, but was forced to flee to Ireland again in 1127. When Rhys was born in 1132, his father held only the commote of Caeo in Cantref Mawr.
The death of King Henry I of England, and the ensuing Anarchy arising from the rival claims of Stephen and Matilda to the English throne, gave the Welsh the opportunity to rise against the Normans. A revolt spread through south Wales in 1136, and Gruffydd ap Rhys, aided by his two eldest sons, Anarawd and Cadell, defeated the Normans in a battle near Loughor, killing over five hundred. After driving Walter de Clifford out of Cantref Bychan, Gruffydd set off to Gwynedd to enlist the help of his father-in-law, Gruffudd ap Cynan. In the absence of her husband, Gwenllian led an army against the Norman lordship of Cydweli (Kidwelly), taking along her two oldest sons, Morgan and Maelgwn. She was defeated and killed by an army commanded by Maurice de Londres of Oystermouth Castle. Morgan was also killed and Maelgwn captured.
Gruffydd formed an alliance with Gwynedd, and later in 1136 the sons of Gruffudd ap Cynan, Owain Gwynedd and Cadwaladr ap Gruffydd, led an army to Ceredigion. Their combined forces won a decisive victory over the Normans at the Battle of Crug Mawr. Ceredigion was reclaimed from the Normans, but was annexed by Gwynedd as the senior partner in the alliance. Gruffydd ap Rhys continued his campaign against the Normans in 1137, but died later that year. The leadership of the family now passed to Rhys's half-brother Anarawd ap Gruffydd. In 1143, when Rhys was eleven, Anarawd was murdered, a death arranged for by Cadwaladr ap Gruffydd, brother of Owain Gwynedd, king of Gwynedd. Owain punished Cadwaladr by depriving him of his lands in Ceredigion.
Anarawd's brother, Cadell ap Gruffydd, took over as head of the family. Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, rebuilt Carmarthen castle in 1145 then began a campaign to reclaim Ceredigion. He built a castle in the commote of Mabudryd, but Cadell, aided by Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd who held Ceredigion for Gwynedd, destroyed it in 1146. Rhys appears in the annals for the first time in 1146, fighting alongside his brothers Cadell and Maredudd in the capture by assault of Llansteffan Castle. This was followed by the capture of Wiston in 1147, Carmarthen in 1150 and Loughor in 1151. In 1151 Cadell was attacked while out hunting by a group of Norman and Flemish knights from Tenby, and left for dead. He survived, but suffered injuries which left him unable to play an active role, and in 1153 he left on a pilgrimage to Rome.
Maredudd became ruler of Deheubarth and continued a campaign, begun in 1150, aimed at recovering Ceredigion, which had been held by Gwynedd since 1136. Maredudd and Rhys were able to drive Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd from Ceredigion by 1153. The same year Rhys is recorded as an independent commander for the first time, leading an army to capture the Norman castle of St Clears. Maredudd and Rhys also destroyed the castles at Tenby and Aberafan that year. Maredudd died in 1155 at the age of twenty-five and left Rhys as ruler of Deheubarth. Around this time he married Gwenllian ferch Madog, daughter of Madog ap Maredudd, prince of Powys.
Shortly after becoming ruler of Deheubarth, Rhys heard rumours that Owain Gwynedd was planning to invade Ceredigion in order to reclaim it for Gwynedd. Rhys responded by building a castle at Aberdyfi in 1156. The threatened invasion did not take place, and Turvey claims that Owain's intention may have been to test the resolve of the new ruler.
King Stephen had died in October 1154, bringing to an end the long dispute with the Empress Matilda which had helped Anarawd, Cadell and Maredudd to extend their rule in Deheubarth. With disunity within the realm no longer a problem, the new king of England, Henry II, soon turned his attention to Wales. He began with an invasion of Gwynedd in 1157. This invasion was not entirely successful, but Owain Gwynedd was induced to seek terms and to give up some territory in the north-east of Wales.
The following year, Henry prepared an invasion of Deheubarth. Rhys made plans to resist, but was persuaded by his council to meet the king to discuss peace terms. The terms were much harsher than those offered to Owain: Rhys was stripped of all his possessions apart from Cantref Mawr, though he was promised one other cantref. The other territories were returned to their Norman lords.
Among the Normans who returned to their holdings was Walter de Clifford, who reclaimed Cantref Bychan, then invaded Rhys's lands in Cantref Mawr. An appeal to the king produced no response, and Rhys resorted to arms, first capturing Clifford's castle at Llandovery then seizing Ceredigion. King Henry responded by preparing another invasion, and Rhys submitted without resistance. He was obliged to give hostages, probably including his son Hywel.
The king was absent in France in 1159, and Rhys took the opportunity to attack Dyfed and then to lay siege to Carmarthen, which was saved by a relief force led by Earl Reginald of Cornwall. Rhys retreated to Cantref Mawr, where an army led by five earls, the Earls of Cornwall, Gloucester, Hertford, Pembroke and Salisbury, marched against him. The earls were assisted by Cadwaladr, brother of Owain Gwynedd, and Owain's sons, Hywel and Cynan. However they were forced to withdraw and a truce was arranged. In 1162, Rhys again attempted to recover some of his lost lands, and captured Llandovery castle. The following year Henry II returned to England after an absence of four years and prepared for another invasion of Deheubarth. Rhys met the king to discuss terms and was obliged to give more hostages, including another son, Maredudd. He was then seized and taken to England as a prisoner. Henry appears to have been uncertain what to do with Rhys, but after a few weeks decided to free him and allow him to rule Cantref Mawr. Rhys was summoned to appear before Henry at Woodstock to do homage together with Owain Gwynedd and Malcolm IV of Scotland.
In 1164 all the Welsh princes united in an uprising. Warren suggests that when Rhys and Owain were obliged to do homage to Henry in 1163 they were forced to accept a status of dependent vassalage instead of their previous client status, and that this led to the revolt. Rhys had other reasons for rebellion, for he had returned to Deheubarth from England to find that the neighbouring Norman lords were threatening Cantref Mawr. His nephew, Einion ab Anarawd, who was the captain of his bodyguard, had been murdered at the instigation of Roger de Clare, Earl of Hertford. The murderer had been given the protection of the Clares in Ceredigion. Rhys first appealed to the king to intercede; when this failed, he invaded Ceredigion and recaptured all of it apart from the town and castle of Cardigan. The Welsh revolt led to another invasion of Wales by King Henry in 1165. Henry attacked Gwynedd first, but instead of following the usual invasion route along the north coast he attacked from the south, following a route over the Berwyn hills. He was met by the united forces of the Welsh princes, led by Owain Gwynedd and including Rhys. According to "Brut y Tywysogion":
Torrential rain forced Henry's army to retreat in disorder without fighting a major battle, and Henry vented his spleen on the hostages, having Rhys's son Maredudd blinded. Rhys's other son, Hywel, was not among the victims. Rhys returned to Deheubarth where he captured and burned Cardigan Castle. He allowed the garrison to depart, but held the castellan, Robert Fitz-Stephen, as a prisoner. Shortly afterwards Rhys captured Cilgerran castle.
In 1167 he joined Owain Gwynedd in an attack on Owain Cyfeiliog of southern Powys, and spent three weeks helping Owain besiege the Norman castle of Rhuddlan. In 1168 he attacked the Normans at Builth, destroying its castle. Rhys benefited from the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169 and 1170, which was largely led by the Cambro-Norman lords of south Wales. In 1167 the King of Leinster, Diarmait Mac Murchada, who had been driven out of his kingdom, had asked Rhys to release Robert Fitz-Stephen from captivity to take part in an expedition to Ireland. Rhys did not oblige at the time, but released him the following year and in 1169 Fitz-Stephen led the vanguard of a Norman army which landed in Wexford. The leader of the Norman forces, Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, known as "Strongbow", followed in 1170. According to Warren:
The departure of the Norman lords enabled Rhys to strengthen his position, and the death of Owain Gwynedd in late 1170 left him as the acknowledged leader of the Welsh princes.
In 1171 King Henry II arrived in England from France, on his way to Ireland. Henry wished to ensure that Richard de Clare, who had married Diarmait's daughter and become heir to Leinster, did not establish an independent Norman kingdom in Ireland. His decision to try a different approach in his dealings with the Welsh was influenced by the events in Ireland, although Warren suggests that "it seems likely that Henry began rethinking his attitude to the Welsh soon after the débâcle of 1165". Henry now wished to make peace with Rhys, who came to Newnham to meet him. Rhys was to pay a tribute of 300 horses and 4,000 head of cattle, but was confirmed in possession of all the lands he had taken from Norman lords, including the Clares. They met again in October that year at Pembroke as Henry waited to cross to Ireland. Rhys had collected 86 of the 300 horses, but Henry agreed to take only 36 of them and remitted the remainder of the tribute until after his return from Ireland. Rhys's son, Hywel, who had been held as a hostage for many years, was returned to him. Henry and Rhys met once more at Laugharne as Henry returned from Ireland in 1172, and shortly afterwards Henry appointed Rhys "justice on his behalf in all Deheubarth". According to A. D. Carr:
The agreement between Henry and Rhys was to last until Henry's death in 1189. When Henry's sons rebelled against him in 1173 Rhys sent his son Hywel Sais to Normandy to aid the king, then in 1174 personally led an army to Tutbury in Staffordshire to assist at the siege of the stronghold of the rebel Earl William de Ferrers. When Rhys returned to Wales after the fall of Tutbury, he left a thousand men with the king for service in Normandy. King Henry held a council at Gloucester in 1175 which was attended by a large gathering of Welsh princes, led by Rhys. It appears to have concluded with the swearing of a mutual assistance pact for the preservation of peace and order in Wales. In 1177 Rhys, Dafydd ab Owain, who had emerged as the main power in Gwynedd, and Cadwallon ap Madog from Rhwng Gwy a Hafren swore fealty and liege homage to Henry at a council held at Oxford. At this council the king gave Meirionnydd, part of the kingdom of Gwynedd, to Rhys. There was some fighting in Meirionnydd the following year, but Rhys apparently made no serious attempt to annex it.
Rhys built a number of stone castles, starting with Cardigan castle, which was the earliest recorded native-built stone castle in Wales. He also built Carreg Cennen castle near Llandeilo, a castle set in a spectacular position on a mountain top. He held a festival of poetry and song at his court at Cardigan over Christmas 1176. This is generally regarded as the first recorded Eisteddfod. The festival was announced a year in advance throughout Wales and in England, Scotland, Ireland and possibly France. Two chairs were awarded as prizes, one for the best poem and the other for the best musical performance. J. E. Caerwyn Williams suggests that this event may be an adaptation of the similar French "puys". R.R. Davies suggests that the texts of Welsh law, traditionally codified by Hywel Dda at Whitland, were first assembled in book form under the aegis of Rhys.
Rhys founded two religious houses during this period. Talley Abbey was the first Premonstratensian abbey in Wales, while Llanllyr was a Cistercian nunnery, only the second nunnery to be founded in Wales and the first to prosper. He became the patron of the abbeys of Whitland and Strata Florida and made large grants to both houses. Giraldus Cambrensis, who was related to Rhys, gives an account of his meetings with Rhys in 1188 when Giraldus accompanied Archbishop Baldwin around Wales to raise men for the Third Crusade. Some Welsh clerics were not happy about this visit, but Rhys was enthusiastic and gave the Archbishop a great deal of assistance. Giraldus says that Rhys decided to go on crusade himself and spent several weeks making preparations, but was eventually persuaded to change his mind by his wife Gwenllian, "by female artifices".
Henry II died in 1189 and was succeeded by Richard I. Rhys considered that he was no longer bound by the agreement with King Henry and attacked the Norman lordships surrounding his territory. He ravaged Pembroke, Haverfordwest, and Gower and captured the castles of St. Clear's, Laugharne, and Llansteffan. Richard's brother, Prince John (later King John), came to Wales in September and tried to make peace. He persuaded Rhys to raise the siege of Carmarthen and accompany him to Oxford to meet Richard. Rhys arrived at Oxford to discover that Richard was not prepared to travel there to meet him, and hostilities continued.
In his later years Rhys had trouble keeping control of his sons, particularly Maelgwn and Gruffydd. In 1189 Gruffydd persuaded Rhys to imprison Maelgwn, and he was given into Gruffydd's keeping at Dinefwr. Gruffydd handed him over to his father-in-law, William de Braose. Gruffydd is also said to have persuaded his father to annex the lordship of Cemais and its chief castle of Nevern, held by William FitzMartin, in 1191. This action was criticized by Giraldus Cambrensis, who describes Gruffydd as "a cunning and artful man". William FitzMartin was married to Rhys's daughter Angharad, and, according to Giraldus, Rhys "had solemnly sworn, by the most precious relics, that his indemnity and security should be faithfully maintained". Rhys had also annexed the Norman lordships of Cydweli and Carnwyllion in 1190. In 1192 Rhys secured Maelgwn's release, but by now Maelgwn and Gruffydd were bitter enemies. In 1194 Rhys was defeated in battle by Maelgwn and Hywel, who imprisoned him in Nevern castle, though Hywel later released his father without Maelgwn's consent. Giraldus suggests that Rhys's incarceration in Nevern castle was divine vengeance for the dispossession of William FitzMartin. In 1195 two other sons, Rhys Gryg and Maredudd, seized Llanymddyfri and Dinefwr, and Rhys responded by imprisoning them. Rhys launched his last campaign against the Normans in 1196. He captured a number of castles, including Carmarthen, Colwyn, Radnor and Painscastle, and defeated an army led by Roger de Mortimer and Hugh de Say near Radnor, with forty knights among the dead. This was Rhys' last battle. William de Braose offered terms, and Painscastle was returned to him.
Rhys died on 28 April 1197, unexpectedly, and was buried in St David's Cathedral. The chronicler of "Brut y Tywysogion" records for 1197:
Rhys died excommunicate, having quarreled with the Bishop of St. David's, Peter de Leia, over the theft of some of the bishop's horses some years previously. Before he could be buried in the cathedral, the bishop had his corpse scourged in posthumous penance.
Rhys had nominated his eldest legitimate son, Gruffydd ap Rhys, as his successor, and soon after his father's death Gruffydd met the Justiciar, Archbishop Hubert Walter, on the border and was confirmed as heir. Maelgwn, the eldest son but illegitimate, refused to accept this and was given military assistance by Gwenwynwyn ab Owain of Powys. Maelgwn took the town and castle of Aberystwyth and captured Gruffydd, whom he handed over to the custody of Gwenwynwyn. Gwenwynwyn later handed him over to the king, who imprisoned him at Corfe Castle. Gruffydd was set free the following year and regained most of Ceredigion. In 1201 Gruffydd died, but this did not end the fighting between rival claimants. In 1216 Llywelyn the Great of Gwynedd held a council at Aberdyfi where he allocated parts of Deheubarth to several sons and grandsons of Rhys.
Giraldus Cambrensis frequently mentions Rhys in his writings and describes him as "a man of excellent wit and quick in repartee". Gerald tells the story of a banquet at Hereford in 1186 where Rhys sat between two members of the Clare family. What could have been a tense affair, since Rhys had seized lands in Ceredigion previously held by the Clare family, passed off with an exchange of courteous compliments, followed by some good-natured banter between Rhys and Gerald about their family connections. Rhys gave Gerald and Archbishop Baldwin a great deal of assistance when they visited Wales to raise troops for the crusade in 1188, and Gerald several times refers to his "kindness" and says that Rhys accompanied them all the way from Cardigan to the northern border of Ceredigion "with a liberality peculiarly praiseworthy in so illustrious a prince".
Another contemporary writer also wrote of Rhys if Roger Turvey is correct in stating that Walter Map's piece "Of the King Appollonides" deals with Rhys under a pseudonym. Map was less favourably disposed toward Rhys, describing him as "This king I have seen and know, and hate", but goes on to say "I would not have my hatred blacken his worth; it is not my wish ever to suppress any man's excellence through envy". He tells the following story about Apollonides/Rhys:
Davies provides the following assessment of Rhys:
Davies also notes two flaws in Rhys's achievement. One was the personal nature of his accord with Henry II, which meant that it did not survive Henry's death. The other was his inability to control his sons and to force the other sons to accept Gruffydd as his successor.
Rhys had at least nine sons and eight daughters. Confusingly, three of the sons were named Maredudd and two of the daughters were named Gwenllian. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26532 |
Rachel Summers
Rachel Anne Summers (also known as Rachel Grey) is a fictional superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer John Byrne.
In her first appearance, the character's surname was not revealed; later publications and retcons further expanded her backstory to involve central characters of mainstream continuity. She is the daughter of the alternate future counterparts to Cyclops (Scott Summers) and Jean Grey-Summers from a harsh dystopia, the sister of Nate Grey and half sister of Cable, a niece of Havok and Vulcan, and a powerful mutant in her own right. She inherited her mother's vast telepathic and telekinetic talents, and code names Phoenix and Marvel Girl before later adopting her own code name Prestige. Although the character is considered unique to the Marvel Comics "multiverse", her name has been used to designate the mother of Marvel characters Hyperstorm and Dream Richards in respective timelines.
Rachel first appeared in "The Uncanny X-Men" #141 (January 1981) and has since been affiliated with several comic book superhero teams including the X-Men and Excalibur.
Rachel Anne Summers comes from an alternate future Earth known as Earth-811, as seen in the "Days of Future Past" storyline from "The Uncanny X-Men" #141–142. In this reality, the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly provoked the ratification of the Mutant Registration Act, leading to a dystopian future where the mutant-hunting Sentinel robots rule North America. Rachel was abducted by operatives working for Ahab, who used drugs and hypnotherapy to turn Rachel into a "Hound", a mutant who tracks down other mutants. She fulfilled her duties, but her psychic powers linked her to her victims; fueling her grief and despair until she attacked Ahab and scarred him. In return, he sent her to the mutant concentration camps. There, she befriended the surviving mutant rebels, including Wolverine, Magneto, Colossus, Storm, Kate Pryde, and her lover, the adult Franklin Richards.
Rachel managed to send Kate's consciousness into the past to her younger self to prevent the assassination, but it did not change their time. Rachel sent her astral form into the past to find out why and discovered she had sent Kate into an alternate past. On the way back, she encountered the disembodied Phoenix Force and it followed her to her present. Rachel passed out from the strain of astral projection and the Phoenix Force revealed itself to Kate, who asked it to give Rachel a fresh start.
When Rachel and Kate broke into "Project: Nimrod" on a suicide mission to destroy a new model of Sentinel, they became trapped. When Kate spoke the words "Dark Phoenix," the Phoenix Force ripped Rachel from her timeline and sent her body back to the alternate past to which she had sent Kate's consciousness. This was a past where she learned Jean Grey was dead and that her father was married to someone else. Rachel experienced additional heartache and displacement trauma when she discovered that her father's new wife, Madelyne Pryor, was pregnant with a son (Nathan Summers), because in her timeline she was the first-born child of Scott Summers.
Rachel had a brief membership in the X-Men before finding a Shi'ar holoempathic crystal at her grandparents' home. The crystal was imprinted with a portion of Rachel's mother's essence inside it as a tribute to the family shortly after Jean Grey's death. After Rachel took a vow to remember her mother with the uniform and name of Phoenix, the Phoenix Force fully bonded with her. She was granted access to its power on a cosmic magnitude, albeit in a much more limited fashion than the Dark Phoenix. Soon after, the grudge which she had begun with Selene boiled over when Rachel secretly invaded the Hellfire Club. She did this with the intention of taking vengeance on Selene for the murders she had committed, particularly that of nightclub owner Nicholas Damiano, who had previously taken Rachel into his home after Selene had attacked her. Selene proved to be no match for Rachel's newly increased powers, but just as she was about to finish Selene, Wolverine arrived and was forced to stab Rachel in the chest. Critically injured, Rachel was lured into Spiral's "Body Shoppe."
Months later, while recuperating from injuries on Muir Island, Shadowcat and Nightcrawler both had the same dream, where they were actors on a weird set and helped Rachel, who was trapped there, escape. Shortly thereafter, Rachel escaped from the alternate reality of Mojoworld. Rachel has once been cited having a flashback to her time there where she is held in chains and tortured. The three former X-Men were joined by Captain Britain and Meggan and founded the British superhero team Excalibur. While part of the team, she discovered that this universe's version of her mother, Jean Grey, was alive. She attempted to bond with Jean, but Jean, upon discovering Rachel was the present host for the Phoenix, rejected any contact with her. Jean still resented the Phoenix Force for stealing a portion of her life. She also rejected Rachel because she felt that Rachel's existence was a constant reminder of the dystopian future she feared could still come to pass. Eventually, however, Jean moved past those feelings and formally welcomed Rachel into her life.
Rachel remained with Excalibur until an incident caused Captain Britain to be lost in the timestream. She exchanged places with the time-lost Captain Britain and emerged two thousand years in the future, in a world conquered by Apocalypse and crushed under his iron fist. She gathered together a group of rebels and founded the Askani. She trained one of her followers to travel back in time and bring her "brother" Nathan forward in time when he was infected with a techno-organic virus. The Askani cloned Nathan in case he was not able to survive the virus. Apocalypse's followers attacked the Askani and took the clone (who would later become the supervillain Stryfe), leaving Rachel critically injured. Hooked up to life support, she drew the minds of Scott and Jean into the future, as "Slym" and "Redd", to raise Nathan and tutor him in the use of his powers. Rachel finally died ten years later and sent Scott and Jean back to their original bodies seconds after they had left.
After Nathan, now known as Cable, had finally defeated Apocalypse, he went into the timeline to retrieve Rachel. There, he discovered a Rachel "sans" Phoenix Force. With the premature death of Apocalypse, the Askani timeline had been diverged from the mainstream Marvel Universe, Earth-616. As a result, she had been flung into the far future, yet subjectively a short time after she had been lost in the timestream, as the slave of a creature called "Gaunt", who had used her to lead Cable there for a "battle of the ages". Cable defeated Gaunt in the battle and Rachel, now free, was able to use her residual Phoenix Force to return them both to the present. She then decided to take a break from superheroics and enrolled in college after she made Cable promise he would not tell anyone she was back. Despite her efforts to live a normal life, however, she was kidnapped by the telepath Elias Bogan and subsequently rescued by the X-Men.
She decided to rejoin the X-Men, taking the name "Marvel Girl" to honor her mother (who had recently died yet again) and wearing a costume her mother had designed but never worn; a variation on Jean's first green costume. She also changed her last name to "Grey", possibly to express disapproval at her father's betrayal of Jean, as well as his continuing relationship with Emma Frost; though she and Emma made a truce of sorts during one of the team's missions in Hong Kong. Rachel and Nightcrawler began to have an attraction towards each other, kissing at one point, but nothing came of it as Nightcrawler also had an attraction to Storm at the time, who was in somewhat of a romantic "friendship" with Wolverine. Her stint with this team also included a visit to the Savage Land. In the storyline "World's End", which was heavily criticized by readers, Rachel was subjected to the mind-control of a tribe of advanced dinosaur people, the Hauk'ka, causing her to believe she belonged to their species. Afterward, she subconsciously used her telekinesis to change her own genome in their image. This was eventually reverted. After "House of M" and "Decimation", where most of the world's mutants lost their powers, the government had Sentinels instituted at the X-Mansion to protect the mutants in case any enemies used this low point to attack. Though their intentions were good this time, it reminded Rachel too much of the previous timeline when Sentinels herded mutants into concentration camps.
Rachel had a short stint with newly re-formed Excalibur, reminiscent of the former team, shortly after the "House of M" events. She assisted the team in battling Shadow-X and the Shadow King (in the guise of Professor X).
Rachel spent some time with her grandparents, bonding with her grandfather. At a family reunion with all her relatives, a commando unit under the order of the Shi'ar attacked the party, killing everyone in an effort to wipe out the Grey genome. The commando unit was unable to kill Rachel; instead, one member was able to graft a "deathmark" on her back that would allow them to find her wherever she went. It is assumed that the only remaining member of the Grey family now left on Earth besides Rachel is Cable. Afterward, at the graves of the Grey family, Rachel vowed a terrible vengeance on the Shi'ar and was quoted as saying, "I'm not my mom. I'm not the Phoenix. I'm my own woman. And by the time I'm done... they'll wish I "was" the Phoenix."
The Death Commandos later tracked Rachel to the psychiatry office of Dr. Maureen Lyszinski. Rachel, with the help of Psylocke, Nightcrawler, Bishop, and Cannonball, saved the doctor and took down the Death Commandos. She decided to imprison them, instead of killing them, by telling them, "I mean to find destiny in a way that brings us both [Jean Grey] honor." She is also sometimes referenced as "Starchilde" in this series.
After Rachel was kidnapped, along with Cyclops, by her paternal uncle Vulcan, he freed Darwin from inside him. Later, Professor X recruited Rachel, along with Havok, Nightcrawler, Warpath, Darwin, and Polaris, for a space mission to stop Vulcan from laying waste to the Shi'ar empire. Xavier, who recently was stripped of his powers, recruited Rachel to serve as his telepathic "eyes and ears" during their mission. Aware of Rachel's vendetta against the Shi'ar, Xavier agreed to use their trip into space to find out who in the Shi'ar Empire gave the order to wipe out all members of the Grey family, and he warned Rachel that they will deal with the people responsible for her recent losses Xavier's way.
While in space, the team was attacked by Korvus, a Shi'ar warrior sent to kill Rachel. Korvus' ancestor, Rook'shir, was a previous host of the Phoenix Force, and a small portion of the Phoenix's power was left behind in his sword, the Blade of the Phoenix. With this power, Korvus made short work of the other X-Men, but when Rachel blocked the sword, their minds were involuntarily linked. Through this link, Rachel learned that Korvus' family was also murdered by the Shi'ar government because of their connection to the Phoenix. The remaining echo of the Phoenix power from the sword was then transferred to Rachel. Rachel claimed that rather than having taken the power, the power chose to go to her, saying, "The Phoenix knows me, remember? It likes me." When this happened, Rachel's normally gold energy aura turned blue, the same color as the Blade of the Phoenix. She then telekinetically disabled an explosive implant that the Shi'ar chancellor was using to force Korvus' obedience.
Due to Rachel's connection to Korvus through the sword, she discovers the Phoenix Force formerly in the blade is just an echo, a "blue shadow", of the Force. The shadow of the Phoenix begins influencing Rachel's behavior, causing her to design a new darker uniform and begin a romance with Korvus. She soon breaks off the relationship after she realizes their bond is only because of the residual Phoenix Force.
Leading up to the fight with Vulcan, Rachel is shown using her powers to kill the guards who stand in her way. Havok warns her not to, but Rachel tells him that they deserve to die after what they did to her family. When it comes to the big fight, Rachel shows just how powerful she is by protecting Korvus from one of Vulcan's blasts. Rachel is one of the X-Men stranded in Shi'ar space when their ship is sent back to Earth.
After the death of her other grandfather, Corsair, at the hands of Vulcan, she, along with Havok, Polaris, Korvus, Ch'od, and Raza, become the new Starjammers. They elect to remain in Shi'ar space and restore Lilandra to the throne or die trying. As her uncle states, "If they fail, he has no doubt that Vulcan will head for Earth."
During the conflict, the Starjammers find another threat in the form of the Scy'ar Tal (translates as "Death to the Shi'ar"). Rachel makes contact with the eldest Scy'ar Tal and discovers their true origin. The Scy'ar Tal were originally called the M'Kraan. Early in their history, the Shi`ar attacked them, killing a great number of their people and making the rest flee for their lives. Eventually, the Shi'ar settled on their planet, took the M'Kraan Crystal as their own, and passed down the legend of the M'Kraan Crystal as a sacred gift from their deities, Sharra and K'ythri. The M'Kraan then changed their name to Scy'ar Tal and devoted their culture and society to the destruction of the Shi`ar Empire. With their first attack, they destroyed Feather's Edge by transporting a star to obliterate it. After which, Vulcan made contact with the Starjammers to call a temporary ceasefire.
During the ceasefire, Rachel comes into contact with the Death Commandos again and attempts to kill them to avenge the deaths of her relatives; however, she is deterred by Polaris. At the end, all the Starjammers are captured by the Shi'ar except Rachel, Korvus, and Lilandra.
Rachel and the Starjammers play a large role in the sequel to the "Emperor Vulcan" miniseries called "X-Men: Kingbreaker". She is also seen prominently in the "War of Kings" storyline, which features Vulcan, the Inhumans, Nova, and the Guardians of the Galaxy.
While with the Starjammers, in battle with Vulcan's new guard, the fragment of the "blue" Phoenix within her and Korvus' blade mysteriously leaves them. After the Phoenix echo leaves Rachel, she says "please... not now... Mom." From this frame onward, the "hound" markings reappear on Rachel's face.
In agreement with the Inhumans, the Starjammers and the Guardians of the Galaxy assault a Shi'ar vessel in order to free Lilandra, hoping to end the conflict while restoring her to the throne. Even without her Phoenix powers, Rachel is powerful enough to entrap Gladiator in an illusion in order to keep him distracted from battle. Their gambit pays off and the group is able to free Lilandra.
Rachel is next seen as Lilandra's bodyguard along with the rest of the Starjammers. On the home planet of the Shi'ar, Lilandra assumes her throne, but while making a ceremonial gesture is killed by the murderer known as Razor, who possesses the Darkhawk armor. The only person who perceives this is Rachel, since Razor is shielded from the perceptions of others.
After Lilandra is assassinated, Rachel fights alongside the Starjammers against the Shi'ar Guard and Araki, who has summoned the same Shi'ar commandos that killed Rachel's family and branded her with the Shi'ar death mark. Rachel uses her powers to implode Black Cloak's head, saying, "He was the one... He killed my family," though killing him does not make her feel happier. Gladiator finishes the job by killing Araki himself. Rachel, along with the rest of the Starjammers, regroup later on and mourn the Shi'ar, as they doubt that they will recover from this war.
It is known through Ch'od, and apparently due to the incident where she and Korvus both lost the connection to the Phoenix Force, that Rachel and Korvus, along with Havok and Polaris, have departed for Earth.
While on the way back to Earth, Rachel attempted to contact Professor Xavier or Emma Frost with a message. However at that moment, Moira (a powerful alternate personality of the mutant Legion) warped reality taking Rachel's mind with it creating the amnesic Revenant. Once reality was restored, Rachel's mind is separated from her body which according to her is "half a universe away". Because of Moira's actions, Rachel no longer remembers the message and her mind retains the form of her Age of X counterpart. Scott promised her that they would return her home.
Being actually a mental manifestation, Rachel soon began fading. She asks Rogue to connect with her to see what will happen. When the two of them touch, Rogue sees a vision of where Rachel, Havok and Polaris are as Rachel then returns to her body. When she awakens she is met by an unseen villain holding a gun and telling her he has killed her friends.
Borrowing one of Legion's manifold powers, Rogue teleports alongside Gambit, Magneto and Frenzy to rescue their teammates on the other side of the galaxy. Once there, Rachel is retrieved from a band of pirates as Rogue becomes their new leader. The remaining X-Men discover they've arrived at a space station called Gul Damar which is in a state of upheaval due to the rebellion of insectoid creatures called Grad Nan Holt against their Shi'ar enslavers. They are also being pulled into an exploding sun and the entire civil war is revealed to be orchestrated by a powerful Grad Nan Holt telepath known as "Friendless." A number of battles with the creature proves unsuccessful for Rachel, but with the combined efforts of Rogue and the X-Men they are able to defeat him and return home via the wormhole that was created from the collapsing star.
Rachel as part of a team of Wolverine's X-Men attempted to psychically battle Exodus in an attempt to prevent the assassination of Cyclops. The team is eventually beaten and the X-Men are saved by Generation Hope.
Rachel is then invited to hold a position as senior staff member of the "Jean Grey School for Higher Learning," which was rebuilt from the Xavier Institute and has Wolverine as acting Headmaster and Kitty Pryde as Headmistress.
During the events of AVX, when the X-Men on Utopia escape from the invading Avengers, Rachel contacts Cyclops to provide Hope's location. Afterwards, Rachel states that she knows the Phoenix Force better than anyone else on Earth and that she is living proof that it can be controlled. She also says that if the Phoenix has chosen her and that is the destiny that Hope wants, she will do everything in her power to help her. She and Iceman tell Wolverine at the school that they are going to help Cyclops in the battle. However, when Cyclops and Emma Frost begin to be corrupted by the Phoenix's power, she, like the other X-Men, decide to oppose their rule. Rachel then battled against Cyclops and helped both the Avengers and X-Men in the final battle.
In 2013, Marvel revealed an all new all female series simply named "X-Men". Written by Brian Wood with art by Olivier Coipel, "X-Men" will feature an all female cast including Storm, Jubilee, Rogue, Kitty Pryde, Rachel Grey and Psylocke.
The X-Men are in pursuit of Arkea who has attempted to revive the X-Men's long lost enemies. The X-Men are attacked by the newly formed Sisterhood and Rachel is telepathically locked down by Madelyne Pryor. Storm strikes a deal for Rachels freedom allowing Madelyne and Selene to walk free.
In the AXIS story arc, Storm sends the entire student body against the Red Onslaught in an attempt to save Earth. Rachel is shown to be reverted to her hound form by Dr. Doom and Wanda Maximoffs spell.
Rachel is part of Storm's team of Amazing X-Men who attempts to stop the Living Monolith from becoming the new Juggernaut.
Rachel Grey is distrusting of Spider-Man's newly appointed position as Jean Grey School guidance counseller. Using her telepathy she seeks to expose his secret identity only to lose that memory by being mind-wiped by Martha Johansson.
Rachel is shown as a teacher at the Jean Grey Institute in the battle against Kenji.
When Kitty Pryde returns from space to lead the X-Men, Rachel joins her team in "X-Men Gold" and adopts the unique, new code name Prestige.
Rachel possesses various psionic abilities, generally exhibited through telepathy, psychometry, telekinesis, and limited time manipulation.
Marvel Girl's "virtually unlimited" telepathy allows her to receive, broadcast, and manipulate cognitive processes (such as thoughts) in an intricate manner. Examples of Rachel's aptitudes for this include creating durable mind-links across distances, projecting blasts of psionic energy that disrupt aspects of brain functioning, shielding her mind from other telepaths, creating illusions, and rendering someone imperceptible to the five senses. In addition, Rachel has demonstrated the ability to telepathically suppress superpowers; control, repair, and exchange minds; as well as safely editing memories. Rachel has also harnessed her telepathy to sense, locate, and track other sentient beings based on their thought patterns, but has a moral apprehension about using this skill due to her experiences as a Hound.
It has been suggested that Rachel's telepathy, although immeasurable in raw power, is mitigated by her limited training and finesse. Emma Frost was able to outflank an incredulous Rachel in a contest on the astral plane. In the same issue, Emma offered her educative services; and later still, Rachel received training from Professor Charles Xavier (while he was depowered), giving her access to his vast knowledge and expertise in telepathy.
By using telekinesis, Marvel Girl can remotely manipulate matter even on a sub-atomic level. She can channel this ability to create protective force fields and blasts of concussive force. By using her telekinesis to levitate herself, Marvel Girl can fly at incredible speeds. Rachel has been able to create a micro black hole, levitate an entire city for a time, sustain shields that withstood Jovian atmospheric pressures, and direct blows from Thor's hammer, Mjolnir. Moreover, Rachel's telekinetic fine-motor control has allowed her to alter molecular valences, mentally alter clothing with ease, create a telekinetic/psionic sword (much like Psylocke's telekinetic katana), a telekinetic hammer powerful enough to knock Thor off his feet, and even rewrite human genomes.
While all depictions portray Rachel as an extremely powerful telekinetic, the limitations of her hard-psi capabilities have been somewhat inconsistent. Some instances have depicted Rachel's telekinetic potential to be nigh-unlimited, whereas others have shown her struggling against, and even outmatched by, lesser developed telekinetics such as Psylocke.
Marvel Girl utilizes her psionic talents in conjunction with her ability to manipulate time in a variety of ways. "Chronoskimming" describes her ability to temporarily transplant a person's mind and send it through time into a younger/older version, a close ancestor/descendant, or as a disembodied astral form.
Rachel unconsciously emanates a fourth dimensional pulse, effectively creating a chrono-shield that protects her from changes in the timeline. She can also sense and manipulate residual psychic energy in the form of psychometry.
When Rachel was bonded to the cosmic entity known as the Phoenix Force, she demonstrated heightened psi-powers, the ability to manipulate energy and life-forces, and limited cosmic awareness. Rachel's connection to the Phoenix power was lost in the distant future and did not return with her when she traveled back to the early 21st century (present) of Earth-616 (Marvel's mainstream universe).
Most recently, Marvel Girl absorbed a residual echo of the Phoenix Force left in the sword of a previous host, a Shi'ar named Rook'shir. It was revealed that this energy source was a less powerful (but easier to wield) form of the Phoenix Force. The echo was powerful enough to allow Rachel to survive in and fly through the vacuum of space without the need for additional protection, as well as being able to hold her own in combat against the tremendous physical power of Gladiator. These demonstrations were short lived, however, due to its disappearance, which Rachel attributes to Jean Grey. She now exhibits her standard power levels.
As a host for the Phoenix Force, Rachel manifested the cosmic firebird in displays of great power. During her 2000s "Uncanny X-Men" appearances, Marvel Girl also exhibited a Phoenix emblem over her left eye whenever she demonstrated psionic feats. It was at first accompanied by a "shadow form" (similar to the one Jean Grey manifested when she absorbed the telepathic powers of Psylocke). However, the illustration of this shadow form ceased without explanation. After regaining a small portion of the Phoenix Force (echo), the emblem over her eye changed from a gold Phoenix shape to a static version made of electric blue flame. Her display of power was once more altered in "X-Men: Emperor Vulcan" #3, where she produced the familiar fiery raptor with which the Phoenix Force is commonly associated (see profile image).
At times, Rachel has been shown to learn new skills extremely quickly. For example, she mastered a set of "demon ninja" sword skills simply by watching her teammate Shadowcat perform them. Along with sword fighting, Rachel has experience in lock-picking, vehicular repair (such as engines), and use of advanced technology and weaponry. However, these abilities have not been evident in her more recent appearances.
Rachel's power level and scope of abilities have been inconsistently described by writers over the years. However, she is usually depicted with "virtually unlimited" potential in her dual psionic talents. In most cases, she displayed greater feats as the Phoenix and even matched Gladiator's strength with the aid of a "Phoenix echo". Rachel is considered by many to be an Omega-level mutant (like her mother), but the only literary reference to this attribute is when the future Sentinel, Nimrod, classified Rachel as an "Omega class subject" several years before the term was established in Marvel canon.
Even with the omnipotent strength of the Phoenix, magic and magical objects are able to resist Rachel's powers. When the Soulsword appeared near the Excalibur lighthouse headquarters seeking Kitty Pryde to become its new wielder, Rachel attempted to remove it from bedrock to alleviate her friend's apprehension. Despite using the full extent of power permitted by the Phoenix Force, Rachel was unable to remove the sword, surmising that only Kitty could remove it.
In the very first issue of the "Uncanny X-Men" story arc "Season of the Witch", Rachel and Psylocke were transported to the White Hot Room as an indirect result of the reality-shift performed by a mentally unstable Scarlet Witch. While there, it was established that the Rachel appearing in Earth-616 (originally from Earth-811) has no true alternate counterparts within the Marvel multiverse. Rather, all other incarnations of "Rachel Summers" that exist in parallel timelines (see below) are linked only by having the same name, or attributes.
The subsequent issues had Rachel and Psylocke return to their dimension and thus be engrossed in the Scarlet Witch's reconstruction of the world. In this reality, Rachel was the bodyguard and traveling companion to Psylocke, who was crowned British royalty after her brother, Brian, became ruler of all England. Rachel then became involved with Captain Britain's mission to seal the breach in reality (rift) that was created by the Scarlet Witch's manipulations.
In at least three alternate future timelines derived from "Days of Future Past", a Rachel Summers married Franklin Richards and procreated mutant children. One such child was the time-traveling supervillain Hyperstorm (Jonathan Richards). Hyperstorm was responsible for causing the Fantastic Four to think that Mister Fantastic (Jonathan's grandfather) and Doctor Doom were dead; he was only defeated when he was trapped in another dimension by Galactus. The second child was Dream Summers, who possessed empathic superpowers. She was a superhero who appeared in the "Spider-Man/X-Men: Time's Arrow" trilogy of novels (although Marvel Comics novels tend to be considered non-canon). In a third reality, they produced a child named David Richards, who was rescued from a concentration camp by the interdimensional traveling Exiles and raised by the "Age of Apocalypse" version of Sabretooth. David's traumatic experiences at the camp motivated him to become a fanatical murderer.
In another variation of the "Days of Future Past", shown in "Weapon X: Days of Future Now", a Rachel Summers was captured by Weapon X and detained in the "Neverland" concentration camp.
In the so-called "Legacy Earth" reality, in which the Legacy Virus mutated into a techno-organic plague, a Rachel Summers was a member of the Avengers, the last superhero group. At Morph's behest, she contacted Thor and the Asgardians to help them against the Vi-Locks, a race of beings infected with the techno-organic virus.
The miniseries "" (written by Chris Claremont) details the last adventures of the X-Men in a possible future. In this reality, Rachel played a central role, and was the political campaign manager of Kitty Pryde (Chicago mayoral candidate). However, she abandoned this position after Cassandra Nova led a series of attacks on the X-Men and their allies. She traveled alongside Cable into Shi'ar space. After a Professor X was taken hostage by Nova, and she entered his psyche in order to free him. However, Nova traps her and Lilandra within. She seemingly kills them both, but Rachel used the power of the Phoenix to save herself and incapacitates Nova. They leave Xavier's mind and continue the battle in Rachel's mind, where Rachel is overpowered. Cassandra, using Rachel's body, kills Jean Grey and Cyclops, leaving Rachel forced to watch the ordeal. Nova then leaves Rachel's body, stealing the Phoenix force. The Phoenix being the only thing keeping her alive after her Cassandra destroyed her mental form, she simply died. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26534 |
Richard of Saint Victor
Richard of Saint Victor (died 1173) was a Medieval Scottish philosopher and theologian and one of the most influential religious thinkers of his time. A canon regular, he was a prominent mystical theologian, and was prior of the famous Augustinian Abbey of Saint Victor in Paris from 1162 until his death in 1173.
Very little is known about the origins and upbringing of Richard of Saint Victor. John of Toulouse wrote a short "Vita" of Richard in the seventeenth century. He said that Richard came from Scotland. John added that Richard was received into the Abbey of St Victor by Abbot Gilduin (1114–1155) and was a student under Hugh of St Victor, the most influential of all Victorine teachers (implying that Richard entered the community before Hugh's death in 1141). This account of Richard's early life is not accepted by all modern scholars, however, and some have suggested that Richard entered the abbey after Hugh's death in 1141.
All scholarship agrees, however, that Richard was a magister during the 1150s, and was then promoted to subprior in 1159 (as stated by a document found at the abbey). He served under Achard of St. Victor's elected successor Ernisius, who was unworthy of the position. Richard's life was then burdened by the frustrations of working under a man who was ill-suited for his responsibilities. Ernisius wasted the abbey's resources on overly ambitious building projects and persecuted those who attempted to resist him. Richard was allowed to keep his office but his influence was restricted. Things became so unbearable that an appeal was made to the Pope, who then visited Saint Victor in 1162. Through a multitude of transactions, Ernisius was eventually removed from his position and the Pope commended Richard for his continued involvement in the matter. Letters from England written to Richard show that he was in constant touch with English affairs and give evidence of the international character of intellectual life at this time.
He was then promoted to prior in 1162, a position he held until his death on 10 March 1173.
Richard wrote extensively (Migne's "Patrologia Latina" contains 34 works attributed to him, and this is not Richard's full corpus). There are some problems with establishing the chronology of Richard's works. The earliest ones come before 1153, and the latest were written one or two years before his death. His earlier works are similar to the general teaching and writing of the period. His writing develops from basic exegesis, theology and philosophy to more of a study of purely spiritual questions. In his early writings he relies on the moral interpretations of previous theologians such as Augustine of Hippo, Bede, Pope Gregory I and Hugh. He later became more independent and strayed from Hugh's influence. There is some debate between historians about which of Richard's texts are the most influential and important. Because Richard's work covers many spheres of thought it is somewhat difficult to categorise his work.
"The Book of the Twelve Patriarchs", sometimes titled "Benjamin Minor", is one of Richard of Saint Victor's great works on contemplation. It is not exactly known when it was written, but it would seem to date before 1162. Richard specifies that this work is not a treatise on contemplation but rather prepares the mind for contemplation.
"The Mystical Ark", sometimes called "Benjamin Major" or "The Grace of Contemplation" completes this with the study of the mind in relation to prayer. However, in the last chapters of "Benjamin Major", written later than the Minor, Richard almost abandons his topic and the discussion of the teaching of mystical theology takes up a good portion of every remaining chapter. He is still attempting to instruct his followers on a text but he has also engaged himself in creating a system of mystical theology.
One of Richard's greatest works was the "De Trinitate" which was probably written while Richard was prior, between 1162 and 1173. This is known because it incorporates pieces of theological text which editors are now finding in earlier works. "De Trinitate" is Richard's most independent and original study on dogmatic theology. It stems from the desire to show that dogmatic truths of Christian revelation are ultimately not against reason. Richard's theological approach stems from a profoundly mystical life of prayer, which in the Spirit seeks to involve the mind, in continuation with the Augustinian and Anselmian tradition.
Owing to the fact that until recently this masterpiece has not been available in any English translation, its diffusion has been limited and its influence has seldom gone beyond 'Book III', condemning serious enquiry to an understanding of Richard's argument that is only partial. Finally, in 2011, through the efforts of Ruben Angelici's scholarship, the first, full translation of Richard's 'De Trinitate' has been released for publication in English and now this scholastic masterpiece is readily available to a wider audience to be appreciated in its entirety.
Richard wrote a massive handbook of biblical education entitled "Liber Exceptionum" ("Book of Selections/Book of Notes"), important scriptural commentaries, and many treatises.
"The Four Degrees of Violent Charity", composed about 1170, with its description of how vehement love leads to union with God and more perfect service of neighbour, has been of interest to writers interested in Christian mysticism.
Richard's other treatises are a number of short works which mainly deal with textual difficulties and theological issues. Many of them can be grouped together with larger works. Some of them are correspondence between Richard and his students while others seem to have been written at the request of friends. Although short, they are often interesting because they allow the modern reader to see the mentality of the students and the discussions and issues of the time.
Richard of Saint Victor's "Commentary on Ezekiel" is of special interest in the field of art history because the explanations laid out by the author are accompanied by illustrations. A number of copies have come down to us, none of which are dated, but they are written in a style attributable to the second half of the twelfth century.
What makes Richard of Saint-Victor stand out from other theologians of his time is that he approaches theological problems as more of a psychologist, contributing to 'a careful analysis of contemplative experiences.' | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26535 |
Rose
A rose is a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus Rosa, in the family Rosaceae, or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be erect shrubs, climbing, or trailing, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers vary in size and shape and are usually large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows and reds. Most species are native to Asia, with smaller numbers native to Europe, North America, and northwestern Africa. Species, cultivars and hybrids are all widely grown for their beauty and often are fragrant. Roses have acquired cultural significance in many societies. Rose plants range in size from compact, miniature roses, to climbers that can reach seven meters in height. Different species hybridize easily, and this has been used in the development of the wide range of garden roses.
The name "rose" comes from French, itself from Latin "rosa", which was perhaps borrowed from Oscan, from Greek ρόδον "rhódon" (Aeolic βρόδον "wródon"), itself borrowed from Old Persian "wrd-" ("wurdi"), related to Avestan "varəδa", Sogdian "ward", Parthian "wâr".
The leaves are borne alternately on the stem. In most species they are long, pinnate, with (3–) 5–9 (–13) leaflets and basal stipules; the leaflets usually have a serrated margin, and often a few small prickles on the underside of the stem. Most roses are deciduous but a few (particularly from Southeast Asia) are evergreen or nearly so.
The flowers of most species have five petals, with the exception of "Rosa sericea", which usually has only four. Each petal is divided into two distinct lobes and is usually white or pink, though in a few species yellow or red. Beneath the petals are five sepals (or in the case of some "Rosa sericea", four). These may be long enough to be visible when viewed from above and appear as green points alternating with the rounded petals. There are multiple superior ovaries that develop into achenes. Roses are insect-pollinated in nature.
The aggregate fruit of the rose is a berry-like structure called a rose hip. Many of the domestic cultivars do not produce hips, as the flowers are so tightly petalled that they do not provide access for pollination. The hips of most species are red, but a few (e.g. "Rosa pimpinellifolia") have dark purple to black hips. Each hip comprises an outer fleshy layer, the hypanthium, which contains 5–160 "seeds" (technically dry single-seeded fruits called achenes) embedded in a matrix of fine, but stiff, hairs. Rose hips of some species, especially the dog rose ("Rosa canina") and rugosa rose ("Rosa rugosa"), are very rich in vitamin C, among the richest sources of any plant. The hips are eaten by fruit-eating birds such as thrushes and waxwings, which then disperse the seeds in their droppings. Some birds, particularly finches, also eat the seeds.
The sharp growths along a rose stem, though commonly called "thorns", are technically prickles, outgrowths of the epidermis (the outer layer of tissue of the stem), unlike true thorns, which are modified stems. Rose prickles are typically sickle-shaped hooks, which aid the rose in hanging onto other vegetation when growing over it. Some species such as "Rosa rugosa" and "Rosa pimpinellifolia" have densely packed straight prickles, probably an adaptation to reduce browsing by animals, but also possibly an adaptation to trap wind-blown sand and so reduce erosion and protect their roots (both of these species grow naturally on coastal sand dunes). Despite the presence of prickles, roses are frequently browsed by deer. A few species of roses have only vestigial prickles that have no points.
The genus "Rosa" is subdivided into four subgenera:
Roses are best known as ornamental plants grown for their flowers in the garden and sometimes indoors. They have been also used for commercial perfumery and commercial cut flower crops. Some are used as landscape plants, for hedging and for other utilitarian purposes such as game cover and slope stabilization.
The majority of ornamental roses are hybrids that were bred for their flowers. A few, mostly species roses are grown for attractive or scented foliage (such as "Rosa glauca" and "Rosa rubiginosa"), ornamental thorns (such as "Rosa sericea") or for their showy fruit (such as "Rosa moyesii").
Ornamental roses have been cultivated for millennia, with the earliest known cultivation known to date from at least 500 BC in Mediterranean countries, Persia, and China. It is estimated that 30 to 35 thousand rose hybrids and cultivars have been bred and selected for garden use as flowering plants. Most are double-flowered with many or all of the stamens having morphed into additional petals.
In the early 19th century the Empress Josephine of France patronized the development of rose breeding at her gardens at Malmaison. As long ago as 1840 a collection numbering over one thousand different cultivars, varieties and species was possible when a rosarium was planted by Loddiges nursery for Abney Park Cemetery, an early Victorian garden cemetery and arboretum in England.
Roses are a popular crop for both domestic and commercial cut flowers. Generally they are harvested and cut when in bud, and held in refrigerated conditions until ready for display at their point of sale.
In temperate climates, cut roses are often grown in greenhouses, and in warmer countries they may also be grown under cover in order to ensure that the flowers are not damaged by weather and that pest and disease control can be carried out effectively. Significant quantities are grown in some tropical countries, and these are shipped by air to markets across the world.
Some kind of roses are artificially coloured using dyed water, like rainbow roses.
Rose perfumes are made from rose oil (also called attar of roses), which is a mixture of volatile essential oils obtained by steam distilling the crushed petals of roses. An associated product is rose water which is used for cooking, cosmetics, medicine and religious practices. The production technique originated in Persia and then spread through Arabia and India, and more recently into eastern Europe. In Bulgaria, Iran and Germany, damask roses ("Rosa" × "damascena" 'Trigintipetala') are used. In other parts of the world "Rosa" × "centifolia" is commonly used. The oil is transparent pale yellow or yellow-grey in colour. 'Rose Absolute' is solvent-extracted with hexane and produces a darker oil, dark yellow to orange in colour. The weight of oil extracted is about one three-thousandth to one six-thousandth of the weight of the flowers; for example, about two thousand flowers are required to produce one gram of oil.
The main constituents of attar of roses are the fragrant alcohols geraniol and L-citronellol and rose camphor, an odorless solid composed of alkanes, which separates from rose oil. β-Damascenone is also a significant contributor to the scent.
Rose hips are occasionally made into jam, jelly, marmalade, and soup or are brewed for tea, primarily for their high vitamin C content. They are also pressed and filtered to make rose hip syrup. Rose hips are also used to produce rose hip seed oil, which is used in skin products and some makeup products.
Rose water has a very distinctive flavour and is used heavily in Middle Eastern, Persian, and South Asian cuisine—especially in sweets such as barfi, baklava, halva, gulab jamun, gumdrops, kanafeh, nougat, and Turkish delight.
Rose petals or flower buds are sometimes used to flavour ordinary tea, or combined with other herbs to make herbal teas.
In France, there is much use of rose syrup, most commonly made from an extract of rose petals. In the Indian subcontinent, Rooh Afza, a concentrated squash made with roses, is popular, as are rose-flavoured frozen desserts such as ice cream and kulfi.
Rose flowers are used as food, also usually as flavouring or to add their scent to food. Other minor uses include candied rose petals.
Rose creams (rose-flavoured fondant covered in chocolate, often topped with a crystallised rose petal) are a traditional English confectionery widely available from numerous producers in the UK.
Under the American Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, there are only certain "Rosa" species, varieties, and parts are listed as generally recognized as safe (GRAS).
The rose hip, usually from "R. canina", is used as a minor source of vitamin C. The fruits of many species have significant levels of vitamins and have been used as a food supplement. Many roses have been used in herbal and folk medicines. "Rosa chinensis" has long been used in Chinese traditional medicine. This and other species have been used for stomach problems, and are being investigated for controlling cancer growth. In pre-modern medicine, diarrhodon (Gr διάρροδον, "compound of roses", from ῥόδων, "of roses") is a name given to various compounds in which red roses are an ingredient.
The long cultural history of the rose has led to it being used often as a symbol. In ancient Greece, the rose was closely associated with the goddess Aphrodite. In the "Iliad", Aphrodite protects the body of Hector using the "immortal oil of the rose" and the archaic Greek lyric poet Ibycus praises a beautiful youth saying that Aphrodite nursed him "among rose blossoms". The second-century AD Greek travel writer Pausanias associates the rose with the story of Adonis and states that the rose is red because Aphrodite wounded herself on one of its thorns and stained the flower red with her blood. Book Eleven of the ancient Roman novel "The Golden Ass" by Apuleius contains a scene in which the goddess Isis, who is identified with Venus, instructs the main character, Lucius, who has been transformed into a donkey, to eat rose petals from a crown of roses worn by a priest as part of a religious procession in order to regain his humanity.
Following the Christianization of the Roman Empire, the rose became identified with the Virgin Mary. The color of the rose and the number of roses received has symbolic representation. The rose symbol eventually led to the creation of the rosary and other devotional prayers in Christianity.
Roses symbolised the Houses of York and Lancaster in a conflict known as the Wars of the Roses.
Roses are a favored subject in art and appear in portraits, illustrations, on stamps, as ornaments or as architectural elements. The Luxembourg-born Belgian artist and botanist Pierre-Joseph Redouté is known for his detailed watercolours of flowers, particularly roses.
Henri Fantin-Latour was also a prolific painter of still life, particularly flowers including roses. The rose 'Fantin-Latour' was named after the artist.
Other impressionists including Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne and Pierre-Auguste Renoir have paintings of roses among their works.
In 1986 President Ronald Reagan signed legislation to make the rose the floral emblem of the United States.
Wild roses are host plants for a number of pests and diseases. Many of these affect other plants, including other genera of the Rosaceae.
Cultivated roses are often subject to severe damage from insect, arachnid and fungal pests and diseases. In many cases they cannot be usefully grown without regular treatment to control these problems. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26537 |
Roman Curia
The Roman Curia comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. It acts in the Pope's name and with his authority for the good and for the service of the particular churches and provides the central organization for the church to advance its objectives.
The structure and organization of responsibilities within the Curia are at present regulated by the apostolic constitution "Pastor bonus", issued by Pope John Paul II on 28 June 1988, which Pope Francis has decided to revise.
Other bodies that play an administrative or consulting role in ecclesial affairs are sometimes mistakenly identified with the Curia, such as the Synod of Bishops and regional conferences of bishops. Cardinal Gerhard Müller, former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote in 2015 that "the Synod of Bishops is not a part of the Roman Curia in the strict sense: it is the expression of the collegiality of bishops in communion with the Pope and under his direction. The Roman Curia instead aids the Pope in the exercise of his primacy over all the Churches."
"Curia" in medieval and later Latin usage means "court" in the sense of "royal court" rather than "court of law". The Roman Curia is sometimes anglicized as the Court of Rome, as in the 1534 Act of Parliament that forbade appeals to it from England. It is the papal court and assists the Pope in carrying out his functions. The Roman Curia can be loosely compared to cabinets in governments of countries with a Western form of governance, but the only sections that can be directly compared with specific ministries of a civil government are the Second Section of the Secretariat of State, known also as the Section for Relations with States, the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State (established in 1939 by Pius XII), and the Congregation for Catholic Education,
It is normal for every Latin Catholic diocese to have its own "curia" for its administration. For the Diocese of Rome, these functions are "not" handled by the Roman Curia, but by the Vicariate General of His Holiness for the City of Rome, as provided by the apostolic constitution "Ecclesia in Urbe". The pope has, going back to St. Peter, been the bishop of Rome. There is also the Vicar General of Rome, traditionally a cardinal, and his deputy the vicegerent, who holds the personal title of archbishop, supervise the governance of the diocese by reference to the Pope himself, but with no more dependence on the Roman Curia, as such, than other Catholic dioceses throughout the world. A distinct office, the Vicar General for Vatican City, administers the portion of the Diocese of Rome in Vatican City.
Until recently, there still existed hereditary officers of the Roman Curia, holding titles denominating functions that had ceased to be a reality when the Papal States were lost to the papacy. A reorganization, ordered by Pope Pius X, was incorporated into the 1917 Code of Canon Law. Further steps toward reorganization were begun by Pope Paul VI in the 1960s. Among the goals of this curial reform were the modernization of procedures and the internationalization of the curial staff. These reforms are reflected in the 1983 Code of Canon Law. The offices of the Vatican City State are not part of the Roman Curia, which is composed only of offices of the Holy See. , the Curia comprises the offices listed in the sections below. All members of the Curia except the Cardinal Camerlengo and the Major Penitentiary resign their office immediately after a papal death or resignation. See "sede vacante".
The principal departments of the Roman Curia are called dicasteries. The constitution of the church "Pastor bonus" (1988) provided this definition: "By the word "dicasteries" are understood the Secretariat of State, Congregations, Tribunals, Councils and Offices". Those remain the five principal categories of departments, with the noteworthy change in that there is now more than a single Secretariat. Two new departments that began functioning on 1 August 2016 and 1 January 2017 were identified only as dicasteries – Dicastery for the Laity, Family, and Life and Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Both are headed by a prefect.
The Secretariat of State is the oldest dicastery in the Roman Curia, the government of the Roman Catholic Church. It is headed by the Secretary of State, since 15 October 2013 by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who is responsible for all the political and diplomatic functions of the Holy See. The Secretariat is divided into two sections, the Section for General Affairs and the Section for Relations with States, known as the First Section and Second Section, respectively. The Secretariat of State was created in the 15th century and is now the department of the curia most involved in coordinating the Holy See's activities. Matters not clearly within the competence of another dicastery are dealt with by the Secretariat of State.
The Secretariat for the Economy was established by Pope Francis in 2014, with the Australian Cardinal George Pell, formerly the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, as its Cardinal Prefect (2014 - 12 December 2018).
Two departments of the Roman Curia established by Pope Francis in 2016 have been identified simply as "dicasteries" rather than as one of the traditional department types. A third dicastery was named on 23 June 2018.
Pope Francis announced on 15 August 2016 the creation of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, effective 1 September 2016. It took over the responsibilities of the Pontifical Council for the Laity and the Pontifical Council for the Family. As its first Prefect, Francis named Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas, Texas,
Pope Francis announced the erection of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development on 31 August 2016, effective 1 January 2017. He named Cardinal Peter Turkson its first prefect. Combining the work of four Pontifical Councils established following the Second Vatican Council, Pope Francis gave it responsibility for "issues regarding migrants, those in need, the sick, the excluded and marginalized, the imprisoned and the unemployed, as well as victims of armed conflict, natural disasters, and all forms of slavery and torture". The Pope announced that "temporarily" he would personally direct the department's work on behalf of migrants and refugees.
Pope Francis established the Secretariat for Communications on 27 June 2015, incorporating the Pontifical Council for Social Communications; the Press Office of the Holy See (Vatican Press Office); the Vatican Internet Service (VIS); Vatican Radio; Vatican Television Center; the L'Osservatore Romano newspaper; Tipografia Vaticana; Servizio Fotografico; and the Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Monsignor Dario Edoardo Viganò, formerly the Director of the Vatican Television Center, was named the first Prefect. Viganò resigned on 21 March 2018.
The "Secretariat" was renamed Dicastery for Communications on 23 June 2018, and on 5 July 2018 Pope Francis appointed award-winning lay journalist Paolo Ruffini, as Prefect.
There are nine Roman Congregations in the Roman Curia, the central administrative organisation of the Catholic Church. They are the second highest-ranking departments and are a type of dicastery (department with a jurisdiction) of the Roman Curia. Each Congregation is led by a prefect, who is a cardinal.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), previously known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition, and sometimes simply called the Holy Office, is the oldest of the nine congregations of the Roman Curia. Among the most active of these major Curial departments, it oversees Catholic doctrine. Its most familiar name for most of its history was the Holy Office of the Inquisition. Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer has served as its prefect since 1 July 2017.
The Congregation for the Oriental Churches, established by Pope Benedict XV on 1 May 1917, is responsible for contact with the Eastern Catholic Churches for the sake of assisting their development, protecting their rights and also maintaining whole and entire in the one Catholic Church, alongside the liturgical, disciplinary and spiritual patrimony of the Latin Church, the heritage of the various Oriental Christian traditions. It has exclusive authority over the following regions: Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula, Eritrea and northern Ethiopia, southern Albania and Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Turkey, and Ukraine. Its members include all Eastern Catholic patriarchs and major archbishops, as well as the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Cardinal Leonardo Sandri has served as its prefect since his appointment on 9 June 2007.
The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments handles most affairs relating to liturgical practices of the Latin Catholic Church as distinct from the Eastern Catholic Churches and also some technical matters relating to the Sacraments. It has been headed by Cardinal Robert Sarah as prefect since his appointment on 23 November 2014.
The Congregation for the Causes of Saints oversees the process that leads to the canonization of saints, passing through the steps of a declaration of "heroic virtues" and beatification. After preparing a case, including the approval of miracles, the case is presented to the pope, who decides whether or not to proceed with beatification or canonization. , the prefect is Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu.
The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples is responsible for missionary work and related activities. It is perhaps better known by its former title, the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. Pope John Paul II renamed it in 1982 without altering its mission. Sr. Luzia Premoli, superior general of the Combonian Missionary Sisters, was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in 2014, becoming the first woman to be appointed a member of a Vatican congregation. , Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle is the prefect.
The Congregation for the Clergy is the department of the Roman Curia responsible for overseeing matters regarding priests and deacons not belonging to institutes of consecrated life or societies of apostolic life, as well as for the seminaries (except those regulated by the Congregations for the Evangelization of Peoples and for the Oriental Churches), and houses of formation of religious and secular institutes. The Congregation for the Clergy handles requests for dispensation from active priestly ministry, as well as the legislation governing presbyteral councils and other organizations of priests around the world. The Congregation does not deal with clerical sexual abuse cases, as those are handled exclusively by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Beniamino Stella of Italy has served as its prefect since 2013.
The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life is the congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for everything which concerns institutes of consecrated life (religious institutes and secular institutes) and societies of apostolic life, both of men and of women, regarding their government, discipline, studies, goods, rights, and privileges. João Braz de Aviz of Brazil has served as its prefect since 2011.
The Congregation for Catholic Education is responsible for:
Giuseppe Versaldi has headed it since 2015.
The Congregation for Bishops oversees the selection of new bishops that are not in mission territories or those areas that come under the jurisdiction of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches who deal with the Eastern Catholics, pending papal approval. It consequently holds considerable sway over the evolution of the church. It also schedules the papal audiences required for bishops every five years and arranges the creation of new dioceses. This office is headed by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, PSS.
The Apostolic Penitentiary, more formally the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary, is one of the three tribunals of the Roman Curia. The Apostolic Penitentiary is responsible for issues relating to the forgiveness of sins in the Roman Catholic Church. The Apostolic Penitentiary has jurisdiction only over matters in the internal forum. Its work falls mainly into these categories:
The Tribunal of the Roman Rota is the highest appellate tribunal. While usually trying cases in appeal in third instance (as is normally the case in the Eastern Catholic Churches), or even in second instance if appeal is made to it directly from the sentence of a tribunal of first instance, it is also a court of first instance for cases specified in the law and for others committed to the Rota by the Roman Pontiff. It fosters the unity of jurisprudence and, through its own sentences, is a help to lower tribunals.
The greater part of its decisions concern the nullity of marriage. In such cases its competence includes marriages between two Catholics, between a Catholic and non-Catholic, and between two non-Catholic parties whether one or both of the baptized parties belongs to the Latin or an Eastern Rite.
The court is named "Rota" (Latin for: wheel) because the judges, called "auditors", originally met in a round room to hear cases.
The Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura is the highest judicial authority in the Catholic Church besides the Pope himself, who is the supreme ecclesiastical judge. In addition, it is an administrative office for matters pertaining to the judicial activity of the whole church.
Appeals in standard judicial processes, if appealed to the Apostolic See, normally are not handled by the Signatura. Those go to the Roman Rota, which is the ordinary appellate tribunal of the Apostolic See. The Supreme Tribunal handles some of the more specialized kinds of cases, including the following:
Although a Rotal decision can be appealed, if not "res judicata", to a different panel ("turnus") of the Rota, there is no right of appeal from a decision of the Signatura, although a complaint of nullity on formal grounds is possible. As an administrative office, it exercises jurisdiction (vigilance) over all the tribunals of the Catholic Church. It can also extend the jurisdiction of tribunals, grant dispensations for procedural laws, establish interdiocesan tribunals, and correct advocates.
The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity is dedicated chiefly to the promotion of dialogue and unity with other Christian churches and ecclesial communities, but also, through a closely linked specific commission, to advancing religious relations with Jews.
The Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts has responsibility for interpreting church law.
The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue is the central office of the Catholic Church for promoting of interreligious dialogue in accordance with the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, in particular the declaration "Nostra aetate". It has the following responsibilities:
The Pontifical Council for Culture () has as its mission oversight of the relationship of the Catholic Church with different cultures. The Pontifical Council for Dialogue with Non-Believers was merged with the Pontifical Council for Culture in 1993. On 30 July 2012, Pope Benedict XVI united the Council with the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Goods of the Church.
The Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization is a pontifical council of the Roman Curia dedicated to catechetics and promoting the faith in parts of the world ("the West") where Christianity is well-established but is being affected by secularism.
The Holy See's financial authorities consist of two offices.
The Apostolic Camera was the central board of finance in the Papal administrative system, which at one time was of great importance in the government of the States of the Church and in the administration of justice, led by the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church.
The Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See deals with the "properties owned by the Holy See in order to provide the funds necessary for the Roman Curia to function". It was established by Pope Paul VI on 15 August 1967 and composed of two sections. The Ordinary Section continued the work of the Administration of the Property of the Holy See, a commission to which Pope Leo XIII entrusted the administration of the property remaining to the Holy See after the complete loss of the Papal States in 1870. On 8 July 2014, the Ordinary Section was transferred to the newly established Secretariat for the Economy. The Extraordinary Section administers the funds given by the Italian government to implement the Financial Convention attached to the Lateran Treaty of 1929. These funds were previously managed by the Special Administration of the Holy See.
The Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See was erected on 15 August 1967 and was entrusted with overseeing all the offices of the Holy See that managed finances, regardless of their degree of autonomy. It did not manage finances itself, but instead audited the balance sheets and budgets of the offices that did. It then prepared and published annually a general financial report. It was consulted on all projects of major importance undertaken by the offices in question. On 31 March 2015, Pope Francis transferred its operations into the Secretariat for the Economy.
The Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church was established in 1988 by Pope John Paul II, with the purpose of guarding the historical and artistic patrimony of the entire church which included works of art, historical documents, books, everything kept in museums as well as the libraries and archives. On 30 July 2012, Pope Benedict XVI merged the Commission into the Pontifical Council for Culture.
The Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" was established by Pope John Paul II on 2 July 1988 for the care of those former followers of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre who broke with him as a result of his consecration of four priests of his Society of St. Pius X as bishops on 30 June 1988, an act the Holy See deemed illicit and schismatic. On 2 July 2009 this commission was closely placed under the auspice of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, whose Prefect was ex officio President of the Commission while maintaining its separate identity. On 17 January 2019, Pope Francis merged the Commission into the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The Pontifical Commission for Latin America is a dicastery of the Roman Curia. Established by Pope Pius XII on 19 April 1958, it is charged with providing assistance to and examining matters pertaining to the church in Latin America. The Commission operates under the auspices of the Congregation for Bishops.
The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors () was instituted by Pope Francis on 22 March 2014 for the safeguarding of minors. It is headed by Boston's Cardinal Archbishop, Seán Patrick O'Malley.
The Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology was created by Pius IX on 6 January 1852 "to take care of the ancient sacred cemeteries, look after their preventive preservation, further explorations, research and study, and also safeguard the oldest mementos of the early Christian centuries, the outstanding monuments and venerable Basilicas in Rome, in the Roman suburbs and soil, and in the other Dioceses in agreement with the respective Ordinaries". Pius XI made the Commission pontifical and expanded its powers.
The Pontifical Biblical Commission, established 30 October 1902 by Pope Leo XIII, is a consultative body of scholars placed under the authority of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The commission's duties include:
The International Theological Commission (ITC) consists of 30 Catholic theologians from around the world. Its function is to advise the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) of the Roman Catholic Church. The Prefect of the CDF is "ex officio" the president of the ITC, which is based in Rome.
A temporary commission is sometimes established to deal with a matter involving the work of several departments of the Roman Curia.
The Interdicasterial Commission for the Catechism of the Catholic Church was created in 1993 to prepare the definitive text in Latin of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It produced the authoritative Latin text ("editio typica") of the Catechism in 1997.
Others exist for longer periods. The Standing Interdicasterial Commission for the Church in Eastern Europe, set up by Pope John Paul II on 15 January 1993, as of 2012 is presided over by the Cardinal Secretary of State. Its membership includes the Secretary and the Undersecretary for Relations with States, and the Secretaries of the Congregations for the Eastern Churches, for the Clergy, and for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Since 1506, the "Corps of the Pontifical Swiss Guard" or "Swiss Guard", a small armed force, has been responsible for the safety of the Pope, including the security of the Apostolic Palace and access to Vatican City. It originated as a military combat unit and quickly evolved into a police force with responsibility for border control. Its official language is Swiss German. , it consisted of 134 professional soldiers.
The Labour Office of the Apostolic See is responsible for labor relations of the Holy See with its employees. The office also settles labor issues which arise. It was instituted by Pope John Paul II on 1 January 1989 by an apostolic letter in the form of a "motu proprio". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26538 |
Repo Man (film)
Repo Man is a 1984 American science fiction black comedy film written and directed by Alex Cox in his directorial debut. It stars Harry Dean Stanton and Emilio Estevez, with Tracey Walter, Olivia Barash, Sy Richardson, Vonetta McGee, Fox Harris and Dick Rude among the supporting cast. Set in Los Angeles, the plot concerns a young punk rock enthusiast (Estevez) who is recruited by a car repossession agency and gets caught up in the pursuit of a mysterious Chevrolet Malibu that might be connected to extraterrestrials.
A satire of America under the Reagan administration, consumerism and the Atomic Age, "Repo Man" was developed by Cox in partnership with his fellow film school graduates from UCLA, independent producers Jonathan Wacks and Peter McCarthy. His inspiration for the film came from his own experiences working with repossession agent Mark Lewis. Originally conceiving of it as a road movie, Cox reconfigured the story to take place mostly in Los Angeles to maintain its budget. Michael Nesmith of The Monkees came on board the project as an executive producer, and secured a negative pickup deal with Universal Pictures. Principal photography ran through summer 1983, during which Cox encouraged improvisation from the cast; the film's ending notably differed from what had originally been written. The soundtrack, headlined by a main theme composed and performed by Iggy Pop, is noted as a snapshot of early hardcore punk; Cox wanted the music to underscore the life of repo men.
Despite a troubled initial release due to Universal's scepticism towards the film's commercial viability, "Repo Man" received widespread acclaim, and was deemed by critics to be one of the best films of 1984. It has since gained a cult following, particularly surrounding Cox's re-edited version of the film for television due to its deliberate inclusion of surreal overdubs to replace profanity. A stand-alone sequel based on an unproduced screenplay by Cox, "Waldo's Hawaiian Holiday", was published as a graphic novel in 2008, while a spiritual successor, "Repo Chick", was released in 2009.
In the Mojave Desert, a policeman pulls over a 1964 Chevrolet Malibu driven by J. Frank Parnell. The policeman opens the trunk, sees a blinding flash of white light, and is instantly vaporized, leaving only his boots behind.
Otto Maddox, a young punk rocker in L.A., is fired from his job as a supermarket stock clerk. His girlfriend leaves him for his best friend. Depressed and broke, Otto is wandering the streets when a man named Bud drives up and offers him $25 to drive a car out of the neighborhood.
Otto follows Bud in the car to the Helping Hand Acceptance Corporation, where he learns that the car he drove was being repossessed. He refuses to join Bud as a "repo man," and goes to his parents' house. He learns that his burned-out ex-hippie parents have donated the money that they promised him as a reward for graduating from high school to a crooked televangelist. He decides to take the repo job.
After repossessing a flashy red Cadillac, Otto sees a girl named Leila running down the street. He gives her a ride to her workplace, the United Fruitcake Outlet. On the way, Leila shows Otto pictures of aliens that she says are in the trunk of a Chevy Malibu. She claims that they are dangerous because of the radiation that they emit. Meanwhile, Helping Hand is offered a $20,000 bounty notice for the Malibu. Most assume that the car is drug-related, because the bounty is so far above the actual value of the car.
Parnell arrives in L.A. driving the Malibu, but he is unable to meet his waiting UFO compatriots because of a team of government agents led by a woman with a metal hand. When Parnell pulls into a gas station, Helping Hand's competitors, the Rodriguez brothers, take the Malibu. They stop for sodas because the car's trunk is so hot. While they are out of the car, a trio of Otto's punk friends, who are on a crime spree, steal the Malibu.
After they visit a night club, Parnell appears and tricks the punks into opening the trunk, killing one of them and scaring the other two away. Later, he picks up Otto and drives aimlessly, before collapsing and dying from radiation exposure. After surviving a convenience store shootout with the punks that leaves Bud wounded and punk Duke dead (along with an obnoxious security guard and the poor store clerk), Otto takes the Malibu back to Helping Hand and leaves it in the lot. The car is stolen from the lot, and a chase ensues. By this time, the car is glowing bright green.
Eventually, the Malibu reappears at the Helping Hand lot with Bud behind the wheel, but he ends up being shot. The various groups trying to acquire the car soon show up; government agents, the UFO scientists, and the televangelist. Anyone who approaches it bursts into flames, even those in flame-retardant suits. Only Miller, an eccentric mechanic at Helping Hand who had explained earlier to Otto that aliens exist and can travel through time in their spaceships, is able to enter the car. He slides behind the wheel and beckons Otto into the Malibu. After Otto settles into the passenger seat, the Malibu lifts straight up into the air and flies away, first through the city's skyline and later into space.
"Repo Man" garnered widespread praise upon its release, and is widely considered to be one of the best films of 1984. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 98% approval rating based on 44 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""Repo Man" is many things: an alien-invasion film, a punk-rock musical, a send-up of consumerism. One thing it isn't is boring." In 2008, the film was voted by a group of "Los Angeles Times" writers and editors as the eighth-best film set in Los Angeles in the last 25 years. "Entertainment Weekly" ranked the film seventh on their list of "The Top 50 Cult Films".
Roger Ebert gave the film 3 stars out of a possible 4, and wrote:
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards
Mystfest
American Film Institute Lists
The soundtrack features songs by various punk rock bands such as The Plugz, Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, Suicidal Tendencies, Iggy Pop and others. The film score was created by Tito Larriva, Steven Hufsteter, Charlie Quintana and Tony Marsico of The Plugz. Iggy Pop volunteered to write the title song after his manager viewed a screening of the film.
According to the documentary "A Texas Tale of Treason", Cox wrote a sequel to "Repo Man" which, though filming started, was never finished.
Chris Bones saw the script on Cox's website and asked, and received, permission to adapt the script into a graphic novel. The book, "Waldo's Hawaiian Holiday", was released in March 2008 by Gestalt Publishing.
On December 3, 2008, a sequel was reported to be going into development with the working title "Repo Chick". The story would be set in 2008 and the resulting boom in repossession that extends far beyond cars and homes. On February 13, 2009, Cox announced on his blog that shooting had finished and the film was in post-production. The bulk of the film was shot in front of a green screen, with backgrounds filmed and composited-in during post-production. Universal sent Cox a cease-and-desist notice because he does not possess the rights to do an official sequel, but he ignored it since his film uses none of the characters from the original. The film premiered on September 8 at the Venice Film Festival. It was released to DVD in the United Kingdom on February 7, 2011, and in North America on the following day. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26541 |
Ruth Benedict
Ruth Fulton Benedict (June 5, 1887 – September 17, 1948) was an American anthropologist and folklorist.
She was born in New York City, attended Vassar College and graduated in 1909. After studying anthropology at the New School of Social Research under Elsie Clews Parsons, she entered graduate studies at Columbia University in 1921, where she studied under Franz Boas. She received her PhD and joined the faculty in 1923. Margaret Mead, with whom she shared a romantic relationship, and Marvin Opler, were among her students and colleagues.
Benedict was President of the American Anthropological Association and was also a prominent member of the American Folklore Society. She became the first woman to be recognized as a prominent leader of a learned profession. She can be viewed as a transitional figure in her field, redirecting both anthropology and folklore away from the limited confines of culture-trait diffusion studies and towards theories of performance as integral to the interpretation of culture. She studied the relationships between personality, art, language and culture, insisting that no trait existed in isolation or self-sufficiency, a theory which she championed in her 1934 book "Patterns of Culture".
Benedict was born Ruth Fulton in New York City on June 5, 1887, to Beatrice (Shattuck) and Frederick Fulton. Her mother worked in the city as a school teacher, while her father was a homeopathic doctor and surgeon. Although Mr. Fulton loved his work and research, it eventually led to his premature death, as he acquired an unknown disease during one of his surgeries in 1888. Due to his illness the family moved back to Norwich, New York to the farm of Ruth's maternal grandparents, the Shattucks. A year later he died, ten days after returning from a trip to Trinidad to search for a cure.
Mrs. Fulton was deeply affected by her husband's passing. Any mention of him caused her to be overwhelmed by grief; every March she cried at church and in bed. Ruth hated her mother's sorrow and viewed it as a weakness. For her, the greatest taboos in life were crying in front of people and showing expressions of pain. She reminisced, "I did not love my mother; I resented her cult of grief". Because of this, the psychological effects on her childhood were profound, for "in one stroke she [Ruth] experienced the loss of the two most nourishing and protective people around her—the loss of her father at death and her mother to grief".
As a toddler, she contracted measles which left her partially deaf, which was not discovered until she began school. Ruth also had a fascination with death as a young child. When she was four years old her grandmother took her to see an infant that had recently died. Upon seeing the dead child's face, Ruth claimed that it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
At age seven Ruth began to write short verses and read any book she could get her hands on. Her favorite author was Jean Ingelow and her favorite readings were "A Legend of Bregenz" and "The Judas Tree". Through writing she was able to gain approval from her family. Writing was her outlet, and she wrote with an insightful perception about the realities of life. For example, in her senior year of high school, she wrote a piece called, "Lulu's Wedding (A True Story)" in which she recalled the wedding of a family serving girl. Instead of romanticizing the event, she revealed the true, unromantic, arranged marriage that Lulu went through because the man would take her, even though he was much older.
Although Ruth Benedict's fascination with death started at an early age, she continued to study how death affected people throughout her career. In her book "Patterns of Culture", Benedict studied the Pueblo culture and how they dealt with grieving and death. She describes in the book that individuals may deal with reactions to death, such as frustration and grief, differently. Societies all have social norms that they follow; some allow more expression when dealing with death, such as mourning, while other societies are not allowed to acknowledge it.
After high school, Margery (her sister) and Ruth were able to enter St Margaret's School for Girls, a college preparatory school, with help from a full-time scholarship. The girls were successful in school and entered Vassar College in September 1905 where Ruth thrived in an all-female atmosphere. During this time period stories were circulating that going to college led girls to become childless and never be married. Nevertheless, Ruth explored her interests in college and found writing as her way of expressing herself as an "intellectual radical" as she was sometimes called by her classmates. Author Walter Pater was a large influence on her life during this time as she strove to be like him and live a well-lived life. She graduated with her sister in 1909 with a major in English Literature. Unsure of what to do after college, she received an invitation to go on an all-expense-paid tour around Europe by a wealthy trustee of the college. Accompanied by two girls from California that she'd never met, Katherine Norton and Elizabeth Atsatt, she traveled through France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and England for one year, having the opportunity of various home stays throughout the trip.
Over the next few years, Ruth took up many different jobs. First she tried paid social work for the Charity Organization Society and later she accepted a job as a teacher at the Westlake School for Girls in Los Angeles, California. While working there she gained her interest in Asia that would later affect her choice of fieldwork as a working anthropologist. However, she was unhappy with this job as well and, after one year, left to teach English in Pasadena at the Orton School for Girls. These years were difficult, and she suffered from depression and severe loneliness. However, through reading authors like Walt Whitman and Jefferies that stressed a worth, importance and enthusiasm for life she held onto hope for a better future.
The summer after her first year teaching at the Orton School she returned home to the Shattucks' farm to spend some time in thought and peace. There Stanley Rossiter Benedict, an engineer at Cornell Medical College, began to visit her at the farm. She had met him by chance in Buffalo, New York around 1910. That summer Ruth fell deeply in love with Stanley as he began to visit her more, and accepted his proposal for marriage. Invigorated by love, she undertook several writing projects in order to keep busy besides the everyday housework chores in her new life with Stanley. She began to publish poems under different pseudonyms—Ruth Stanhope, Edgar Stanhope, and Anne Singleton. She also began work on writing a biography about Mary Wollstonecraft and other lesser-known women that she felt deserved more acknowledgement for their work and contributions. By 1918 the couple began to drift apart. Stanley suffered an injury that made him want to spend more time away from the city, and Benedict was not happy when the couple moved to Bedford Hills far away from the city.
In her search for a career, she decided to attend some lectures at the New School for Social Research while looking into the possibility of becoming an educational philosopher. While at the school, she took a class called "Sex in Ethnology" taught by Elsie Clews Parsons. She enjoyed the class and took another anthropology course with Alexander Goldenweiser, a student of noted anthropologist Franz Boas. With Goldenweiser as her teacher, Ruth's love for anthropology steadily grew. As close friend Margaret Mead explained, "Anthropology made the first 'sense' that any ordered approach to life had ever made to Ruth Benedict". After working with Goldenweiser for a year, he sent her to work as a graduate student with Franz Boas at Columbia University in 1921. She developed a close friendship with Boas, who took on a role as a kind of father figure in her life – Benedict lovingly referred to him as "Papa Franz".
Boas gave her graduate credit for the courses that she had completed at the New School for Social Research. Benedict wrote her dissertation "The Concept of the Guardian Spirit in North America", and received the PhD in anthropology in 1923. Benedict also started a friendship with Edward Sapir who encouraged her to continue the study of the relations between individual creativity and cultural patterns. Sapir and Benedict shared an interest in poetry, and read and critiqued each other's work, both submitting to the same publishers and both being rejected. They also were both interested in psychology and the relation between individual personalities and cultural patterns, and in their correspondences, they frequently psychoanalyzed each other. However, Sapir showed little understanding for Benedict's private thoughts and feelings. In particular, his conservative gender ideology jarred with Benedict's struggle for emancipation. While they were very close friends for a while, it was ultimately the differences in worldview and personality that led their friendship to strand.
Benedict taught her first anthropology course at Barnard college in 1922 and among the students there was Margaret Mead. Benedict was a significant influence on Mead.
Boas regarded Benedict as an asset to the anthropology department, and in 1931 he appointed her as Assistant Professor in Anthropology, something impossible until her divorce from Stanley Benedict that same year.
One student who felt especially fond of Ruth Benedict was Ruth Landes. Letters that Landes sent to Benedict state that she was enthralled by the way in which Benedict taught her classes and with the way that she forced the students to think in an unconventional way.
When Boas retired in 1937, most of his students considered Ruth Benedict to be the obvious choice for the head of the anthropology department. However, the administration of Columbia was not as progressive in its attitude towards female professionals as Boas had been, and the university President Nicholas Murray Butler was eager to curb the influence of the Boasians whom he considered to be political radicals. Instead, Ralph Linton, one of Boas's former students, a World War I veteran and a fierce critic of Benedict's "Culture and Personality" approach, was named head of the department. Benedict was understandably insulted by Linton's appointment and the Columbia department was divided between the two rival figures of Linton and Benedict, both accomplished anthropologists with influential publications, neither of whom ever mentioned the work of the other.
Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict are considered the two most influential and famous anthropologists of their time. One of the reasons why Mead and Benedict got along well was the fact that they both shared a passion for their work and they each felt a sense of pride in the fact that they were successful working women during a time when this was uncommon. They were frequently known to critique each other's work; they entered into a companionship which began through their work, but during its early period, it also had an erotic character. Both Benedict and Mead wanted to dislodge stereotypes about women which were widely believed during their time and show people that working women could also be successful even though working society was seen as a man's world. In her memoir about her parents, "With a Daughter's Eye", Margaret Mead's daughter implies that the relationship between Benedict and Mead was partly sexual. In 1946, Benedict received the Achievement Award from the American Association of University Women. After Benedict died of a heart attack in 1948, Mead kept the legacy of Benedict's work going by supervising projects that Benedict would have looked after, and editing and publishing notes from studies that Benedict had collected throughout her life.
Before World War II began, Benedict was giving lectures at the Bryn Mawr College for the Anna Howard Shaw Memorial Lectureship. These lectures were focused around the idea of synergy. Yet, WWII made her focus on other areas of concentration of anthropology and the lectures were never presented in their entirety. After the war was over, she focused on finishing her book "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword". Her original notes for the synergy lecture were never found after her death. She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1947. She continued her teaching after the war, advancing to the rank of full professor only two months before her death, in New York on September 17, 1948.
Benedict's "Patterns of Culture" (1934) was translated into fourteen languages and for years, it was published in many editions and used as standard reading material for anthropology courses in American universities.
The essential idea in "Patterns of Culture" is, according to the foreword by Margaret Mead, "her view that human cultures are 'personality writ large. As Benedict wrote in that book, "A culture, like an individual, is a more or less consistent pattern of thought and action" (46). Each culture, she held, chooses from "the great arc of human potentialities" only a few characteristics which become the leading personality traits of the persons living in that culture. These traits comprise an interdependent constellation of aesthetics and values in each culture which together add up to a unique gestalt.
For example, she described the emphasis on "restraint" in Pueblo cultures of the American southwest, and the emphasis on "abandon" in the Native American cultures of the Great Plains. She used the Nietzschean opposites of "Apollonian" and "Dionysian" as the stimulus for her thought about these Native American cultures. She describes how, in ancient Greece, the worshipers of Apollo emphasized order and calm in their celebrations.
In contrast, the worshipers of Dionysus, the god of wine, emphasized wildness, abandon, letting go, as did Native Americans. She described in detail the contrasts between rituals, beliefs, personal preferences amongst people of diverse cultures to show how each culture had a "personality" that was encouraged in each individual.
Other anthropologists of the "culture and personality" school also developed these ideas, notably Margaret Mead in her "Coming of Age in Samoa" (published before "Patterns of Culture") and "Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies" (published just after Benedict's book came out). Benedict was a senior student of Franz Boas when Mead began to study with them, and they had extensive and reciprocal influence on each other's work. Abram Kardiner was also affected by these ideas, and in time, the concept of "modal personality" was born: the cluster of traits most commonly thought to be observed in people of any given culture.
Benedict, in "Patterns of Culture," expresses her belief in cultural relativism. She desired to show that each culture has its own moral imperatives that can be understood only if one studies that culture as a whole. It was wrong, she felt, to disparage the customs or values of a culture different from one's own. Those customs had a meaning to the people who lived them which should not be dismissed or trivialized. We should not try to evaluate people by our standards alone. Morality, she argued, was "relative" to the values of the culture in which one operated.
As she described the Kwakiutl of the Pacific Northwest (based on the fieldwork of her mentor Boas), the Pueblo of New Mexico (among whom she had direct experience), the nations of the Great Plains, the Dobu culture of New Guinea (regarding whom she relied upon Mead and Reo Fortune's fieldwork), she gave evidence that their values, even where they may seem strange, are intelligible in terms of their own coherent cultural systems and should be understood and respected. This also formed a central argument in her later work on the Japanese following World War II.
Critics have objected to the degree of abstraction and generalization inherent in the "culture and personality" approach. Some have argued that particular patterns she found may be only a part or a subset of the whole cultures. For example, David Friend Aberle writes that the Pueblo people may be calm, gentle, and much given to ritual when in one mood or set of circumstances, but they may be suspicious, retaliatory, and warlike in other circumstances.
In 1936, she was appointed an associate professor at Columbia University. However, by then, Benedict had already assisted in the training and guidance of several Columbia students of anthropology including Margaret Mead and Ruth Landes.
Benedict was among the leading cultural anthropologists who were recruited by the US government for war-related research and consultation after the US entry into World War II.
One of Benedict's lesser-known works was a pamphlet "The Races of Mankind" which she wrote with her colleague at the Columbia University Department of Anthropology, Gene Weltfish. This pamphlet was intended for American troops and set forth, in simple language with cartoon illustrations, the scientific case against racist beliefs.
"The world is shrinking," begin Benedict and Weltfish. "Thirty-four nations are now united in a common cause—victory over Axis aggression, the military destruction of fascism" (p. 1).
The nations united against fascism, they continue, include "the most different physical types of men."
And the writers explicate, in section after section, the best evidence they knew for human equality. They want to encourage all these types of people to join together and not fight amongst themselves. "[A]ll the peoples of the earth", they point out, "are a single family and have a common origin." We all have just so many teeth, so many molars, just so many little bones and muscles—so we can only have come from one set of ancestors no matter what our color, the shape of our head, the texture of our hair. "The races of mankind are what the Bible says they are—brothers. In their bodies is the record of their brotherhood."
Benedict is known not only for her earlier "Patterns of Culture" but also for her later book "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword", the study of the society and culture of Japan that she published in 1946, incorporating results of her war-time research.
This book is an instance of "Anthropology at a Distance." Study of a culture through its literature, through newspaper clippings, through films and recordings, etc., was necessary when anthropologists aided the United States and its allies in World War II. Unable to visit Nazi Germany or Japan under Hirohito, anthropologists made use of the cultural materials to produce studies at a distance. They were attempting to understand the cultural patterns that might be driving their aggression and hoped to find possible weaknesses, or means of persuasion that had been missed.
Benedict's war work included a major study, largely completed in 1944, aimed at understanding Japanese culture. Americans found themselves unable to comprehend matters in Japanese culture. For instance, Americans considered it quite natural for American prisoners of war to "want" their families to know they were alive, and to keep quiet when asked for information about troop movements, etc., while Japanese POWs, apparently, gave information freely and did not try to contact their families. Why was that? Why, too, did Asian peoples neither treat the Japanese as their liberators from Western colonialism, nor accept their own supposedly just place in a hierarchy that had Japanese at the top?
Benedict played a major role in grasping the place of the Emperor of Japan in Japanese popular culture, and formulating the recommendation to President Franklin D. Roosevelt that permitting continuation of the Emperor's reign had to be part of the eventual surrender offer.
Other Japanese who have read this work, according to Margaret Mead, found it on the whole accurate but somewhat "moralistic". Sections of the book were mentioned in Takeo Doi's book, "The Anatomy of Dependence", though Doi is highly critical of Benedict's concept that Japan has a 'shame' culture, whose emphasis is on how one's moral conduct appears to outsiders in contradistinction to America's (Christian) 'guilt' culture, in which the emphasis is on individual's internal conscience. Doi stated that this claim clearly implies the former value system is inferior to the latter one.
The American Anthropology Association awards an annual prize named after Benedict. The 'Ruth Benedict Prize' has two categories, one for monographs by one writer and one for edited volumes. The prize recognizes 'excellence in a scholarly book written from an anthropological perspective about a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender topic'.
A U.S. 46¢ Great Americans series postage stamp in her honor was issued on October 20, 1995.
Benedict College in Stony Brook University has been named after her.
In 2005 Ruth Fulton Benedict was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26542 |
Rosmalen
Rosmalen () is a town in the province of North Brabant, in the south of the Netherlands. The town is located 6 kilometers east of the city of 's-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) and has been part of that municipality since 1996. Its population is around 35,000. In 2005 the town began construction of a new neighbourhood, (named after the large kolks in the area created by flood water), to include 5,000 homes and other buildings.
Rosmalen has a significant and locally well known football club, OJC Rosmalen. Many players from OJC have played for professional football clubs, like FC Den Bosch, RKC Waalwijk, Willem II. Rosmalen is also the home of the second-largest basketball club in the Netherlands: The Black Eagles. Well-known players like Kees Akerboom, Jr., Thijs Vermeulen and Rob van Mil demonstrate the success of the club in developing talented players.
Rosmalen is the location of the , formerly a car museum/attraction park and now a convention center. The park hosts an annual international tennis tournament in the summer, the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships. The park is located about 7 km east of 's-Hertogenbosch and can be reached via the A59. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26543 |
Ruslan Khasbulatov
Ruslan Imranovich Khasbulatov (, ) (born November 22, 1942) is a Russian economist and politician and the Chairman of Parliament of Russia of Chechen descent who played a central role in the events leading to the 1993 constitutional crisis in the Russian Federation.
Khasbulatov was born in Tolstoy-yurt, a village near Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, on November 22, 1942. In February 1944, he was deported to Central Asia during the Chechen deportations.
After studying in Almaty, Khasbulatov moved to Moscow in 1962, where he studied law at the prestigious Moscow State University. After graduating in 1966, he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He continued his studies, focusing on the political, social and economic development of capitalist countries, and received several higher degrees between 1970 and 1980. During the 1970s and 1980s, he published a number of books on international economics and trade.
In the late 1980s, Khasbulatov began to work closely with rising maverick in the Communist Party Boris Yeltsin. He was elected to the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian SFSR in 1990. He followed Yeltsin in the successful resistance to the putsch attempt in 1991. He quit the Communist Party in August 1991, and on October 29, 1991 he was elected speaker of the Supreme Soviet of RSFSR.
Khasbulatov had been an ally of Yeltsin in this period, and played a key role in leading the resistance to the 1991 coup attempt. However, he and Yeltsin drifted apart following the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991.
After the collapse of the USSR, Khasbulatov consolidated his control over the Russian parliament and became the second most powerful man in Russia after Yeltsin himself. Among other factors, the escalating clash of egos between Khasbulatov and Yeltsin led to the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993, in which Khasbulatov (along with Vice-President Aleksandr Rutskoy) led the Supreme Soviet of Russia in its power struggle with the president, which ended with Yeltsin's violent assault on and subsequent dissolution of the parliament in October 1993.
Khasbulatov was arrested along with the other leaders of the parliament. In 1994, the newly elected Duma pardoned him along with other key leaders of the anti-Yeltsin resistance.
Following the end of his political career, Khasbulatov returned to his earlier profession as a teacher of economics as founder and head of the Department of International Economy at the Plekhanov Russian Academy of Economics (REA). He continues to comment on political developments in Russia. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26546 |
Six Nations Championship
The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales. The current champions are Wales, who won the 2019 tournament.
The Six Nations is the successor to the Home Nations Championship (1883–1909 and 1932–39), played between teams from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, which was the first international rugby union tournament. With the addition of France, this became the Five Nations Championship (1910–31 and 1947–99), which in turn became the Six Nations Championship with the addition of Italy.
Wales hold the overall record, with 39 victories (27 outright and 12 shared) to England's 38 (10 shared victories). England hold the record for outright wins with 28. Since the Six Nations era started in 2000, only Italy and Scotland have failed to win the Six Nations title.
The women's tournament started as the Women's Home Nations in the 1996 season.
The tournament was first played in 1883 as the Home Nations Championship among the four Home Nations — England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. However, England was excluded from the 1888 and 1889 tournaments due to their refusal to join the International Rugby Football Board. The tournament then became the Five Nations Championship in 1910 with the addition of France. The tournament was expanded in 2000 to become the Six Nations Championship with the addition of Italy.
Following the relative success of the Tier 2 nations in the 2015 Rugby World Cup, there were calls by Octavian Morariu, the president of Rugby Europe, to let Georgia and Romania join the Six Nations due to their consistent success in the European Nations Cup and ability to compete in the Rugby World Cup.
The tournament begins on the first weekend in February and culminates with Super Saturday on the second or third Saturday in March. The format of the Championship is simple: each team plays every other team once (making a total of 15 matches), with home ground advantage alternating from one year to the next. Prior to the 2017 tournament, two points were awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. Unlike many other rugby union competitions the bonus point system had not previously been used.
On 30 November 2016, the Six Nations Committee announced that a bonus point system would be trialled in the 2017 Championship. The system is similar to the one used in most rugby championships (0 points for a loss, 2 for a draw, 4 for a win, 1 for scoring four or more tries in a match, and 1 for losing by 7 points or fewer), with the only difference being that a Grand Slam winner will be given 3 extra points to ensure they finish top of the table.
Prior to 1994, teams equal on match points shared the championship. Since then, ties have been broken by considering the points difference (total points scored minus total points conceded) of the teams. The rules of the championship further provide that if teams tie on both match points and points difference, the team that scored the most tries wins the championship. Were this decider to be a tie, the tying teams would share the championship. To date, however, match points and points difference have been sufficient to decide the championship.
Also, the team that finishes at the bottom of the league table is said to have won the Wooden Spoon, although no actual trophy is given to the team. A team that has lost all five matches is said to have been whitewashed. Since the inaugural Six Nations tournament in 2000, only England and Ireland have avoided the Wooden Spoon award. Italy are the holders of the most Wooden Spoon awards in the Six Nations era with 14, and have been whitewashed nine times. However, each of the other five nations has accumulated more than that through competing in previous eras.
The winners of the Six Nations are presented with the Championship Trophy. This was originally conceived by the Earl of Westmorland, and was first presented to the winners of the 1993 championship, France. It is a sterling silver trophy, designed by James Brent-Ward and made by a team of eight silversmiths from the London firm William Comyns.
It has 15 side panels representing the 15 members of the team and with three handles to represent the three officials (referee and two touch judges). The cup has a capacity of 3.75 litres – sufficient for five bottles of champagne. Within the mahogany base is a concealed drawer which contains six alternative finials, each a silver replica of one of the team emblems, which can be screwed on the detachable lid.
A new trophy was introduced for the 2015 Championship.
The new trophy was designed and crafted by Thomas Lyte silversmiths and replaces the 1993 edition, which is being retired as it represented the nations that took part in the Five Nations Championship. Ireland were the last team to win the old trophy, and coincidentally, the first team to win the new one.
A team that wins all its games wins the 'Grand Slam'.
The Triple Crown may only be won by one of the Home Nations of England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales, when one nation wins all three of their matches against the others. The Triple Crown dates back to the original Home Nations Championship, but the physical Triple Crown Trophy has been awarded only since 2006, when the Royal Bank of Scotland (the primary sponsor of the competition) commissioned Hamilton & Inches to design and create a dedicated Triple Crown Trophy. It has since been won four times by Ireland, three times by Wales and three times by England.
Several individual competitions take place under the umbrella of the tournament. Some of these trophies are also awarded for other matches between the two teams outside the Six Nations.
As of the 2019 competition, Six Nations matches are held in the following stadia:
The opening of Aviva Stadium in May 2010 ended the arrangement with the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) that allowed the all-Ireland governing body for rugby union, the Irish Rugby Football Union, to use the GAA's flagship stadium, Croke Park, for its international matches. This arrangement was made necessary by the 2007 closure and subsequent demolition of Ireland's traditional home at Lansdowne Road; Aviva Stadium was built on the former Lansdowne Road site. During this construction, Croke Park was the largest of the Six Nations grounds, with a capacity of 82,300.
In 2012 Italy moved their home games from the 32,000 seat Stadio Flaminio, to Stadio Olimpico, also in Rome, with a capacity of 72,000.
The French Rugby Federation (FFR) had planned to build a new stadium of its own, seating 82,000 in the southern suburbs of Paris, because of frustrations with their tenancy of Stade de France. However the project was cancelled in December 2016. France played their 2018 match against Italy at Stade Vélodrome in Marseille.
Bold indicates that the team did not win any matches.
Bold indicates that the team did not win any matches.
Ronan O'Gara of Ireland holds the career scoring record with 557 points. England's Jonny Wilkinson currently holds the records for individual points in one match (35 points against Italy in 2001) and one season with 89 (scored in 2001).
The record for tries in a match is held by Scotsman George Lindsay who scored five tries against Wales in 1887. England's Cyril Lowe and Scotland's Ian Smith jointly hold the record for tries in one season with 8 (Lowe in 1914, Smith in 1925). Ireland's Brian O'Driscoll has the Championship record for tries with 26.
The record for appearances is held by Sergio Parisse of Italy, with 69 appearances, since his Six Nations debut in 2004.
The most points scored by a team in one match was 80 points, scored by England against Italy in 2001. England also scored the most ever points in a season in 2001 with 229, and most tries in a season with 29. Wales hold the record for fewest tries conceded during a season in the Six Nations era, conceding only 2 in 5 games in 2008, but the 1977 Grand Slam-winning France team did not concede a try in their four matches. Wales hold the record for the longest time without conceding a try, at 358 minutes in the 2013 tournament.
The Championship is run from headquarters in Dublin, Ireland by Six Nations Rugby Ltd, which also takes responsibility for the British and Irish Lions tours. Benjamin Morel became the CEO of the Six Nations Championship as of 5 November 2018, replacing John Feehan, who stepped down on 20 April 2018.
The BBC has long covered the tournament in the United Kingdom, broadcasting all matches apart from England home matches between 1997 and 2002, which were shown live by Sky Sports with highlights on the BBC. Between 2003 and 2015, the BBC covered every match live on BBC Sport either on BBC One or BBC Two with highlights also on the BBC Sport website and either on the BBC Red Button or late at night on BBC Two. In 2011, it was announced that the BBC's coverage of the tournament on TV, radio and online would be extended to 2017.
On 9 July 2015, in reaction to bids by Sky for the rights beginning in 2018, the BBC ended its contract two seasons early, and renegotiated a joint contract with ITV Sport for rights to the Six Nations from 2016 through 2021. ITV acquired rights to England, Ireland and Italy home matches, while the BBC acquired rights to France, Scotland and Wales home matches. By ending its contract early, the BBC saved around £30 million, while the new contract generated £20 million in additional revenue for the Six Nations. With the end of the contract nearing, speculation once again emerged in 2020 that Sky was pursuing rights to the Six Nations from 2022 onward; under the Ofcom "listed events" rules, rights to the tournament can be held by a pay television channel if delayed broadcasts or highlights are made available on free-to-air television. It was reported that a bid for CVC Equity Partners to purchase a stake in the Six Nations was being hindered by a desire for a more lucrative broadcast contract; a call for the Six Nations to be moved to Category A (which requires live coverage to air free-to-air) was rejected.
In Ireland, RTÉ have broadcast the championship since RTÉ's inception and continued to do so until 2017, while TG4 televised highlights. However, in late 2015 RTÉ's free-to-air rival TV3 was awarded the rights for every game from the Six Nations on Irish television from 2018–2021.
France Télévisions covered the competition in France.
In Italy, from 2014 to 2017 DMAX of Discovery Communications broadcast all matches, and will do so until 2021.
In the United States, NBC Sports broadcasts matches in English and TV5 Monde airs matches in French. In Wales, S4C also broadcasts matches featuring the Welsh team shown by the BBC in Welsh.
Until 1998, the Championship had no title sponsor. Sponsorship rights were sold to Lloyds TSB for the 1999 tournament and the competition was titled the Lloyds TSB 5 Nations and Lloyds TSB 6 Nations until 2002.
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group took over sponsorship from 2003 until 2017, with the competition being branded the RBS 6 Nations. A new title sponsor was sought for the 2018 tournament and beyond. However, after struggling to find a new sponsor, organisers agreed a one-year extension with the Royal Bank of Scotland Group at a reduced rate. As the RBS initials brand was being phased out, the tournament was named after banking subsidiary NatWest, becoming the Natwest 6 Nations.
On 7 December 2018, Guinness was announced as the Championship's new title sponsor, with the competition to be named the Guinness Six Nations from 2019 to 2024. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26547 |
Reconquista
The (Portuguese and Spanish for "reconquest") was a period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula of about 780 years between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711, the expansion of the Christian kingdoms throughout Iberia, and the fall of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada in 1492.
The beginning of the "" is traditionally marked with the Battle of Covadonga (718 or 722), the first known victory in Hispania by Christian military forces since the 711 military invasion undertaken by combined Arab-Berber forces. In that small battle, a group led by the nobleman Pelagius defeated a Muslim patrol in the mountains of northern Iberia and established the independent Christian Kingdom of Asturias. In the late 10th century, the Umayyad vizier Almanzor waged military campaigns for 30 years to subjugate the northern Christian kingdoms. His armies ravaged the north, even sacking the great shrine of Santiago de Compostela.
When the government of Córdoba disintegrated in the early 11th century, a series of petty successor states known as "taifas" emerged. The northern kingdoms took advantage of this situation and struck deep into Al-Andalus; they fostered civil war, intimidated the weakened "taifas", and made them pay large tributes ("parias") for protection. After a Muslim resurgence in the 12th century, the great Moorish strongholds in the south fell to Christian forces in the 13th century—Córdoba in 1236 and Seville in 1248—leaving only the Muslim enclave of Granada as a tributary state in the south. After 1491, the entire peninsula was controlled by Christian rulers. The conquest was followed by a series of edicts (1499–1526) which forced the conversions of the Muslims in Spain, although later a significant part of them were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula.
Traditional historiography uses the term "Reconquista" starting at the 19th century, for what was earlier thought of as a restoration of the Visigothic Kingdom over conquered territories. The concept of Reconquista, consolidated in Spanish historiography in the second half of the 19th century, was associated with the development of a Spanish national identity, emphasizing nationalistic and romantic aspects.
Since the 19th century traditional historiography has stressed the existence of the "Reconquista", a continuous phenomenon by which the Christian Iberian kingdoms opposed and conquered the Muslim kingdoms, understood as a common enemy who had militarily seized territory from native Iberian Christians.
The concept of a Christian reconquest of the peninsula first emerged, in tenuous form, at the end of the 9th century. A landmark was set by the Christian "Chronica Prophetica" (883–884), a document stressing the Christian and Muslim cultural and religious divide in Iberia and the necessity to drive the Muslims out.
Both Christian and Muslim rulers fought amongst themselves. Alliances between Muslims and Christians were not uncommon. Blurring distinctions even further were the mercenaries from both sides who simply fought for whoever paid the most. The period is seen today to have had long episodes of relative religious tolerance. However, this idea has been challenged by scholars today.
The Crusades, which started late in the 11th century, bred the religious ideology of a Christian reconquest, confronted at that time with a similarly staunch Muslim Jihad ideology in Al-Andalus by the Almoravids, and to an even greater degree by the Almohads. In fact, previous documents from the 10th and 11th centuries are mute on any idea of "reconquest". Propaganda accounts of Muslim-Christian hostility came into being to support that idea, most notably the "Chanson de Roland", a fictitious 11th-century French version of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass (778) dealing with the Iberian "Saracens" ("Moors"), and taught as historical fact in the French educational system since 1880.
The modern idea of "Reconquista" is inextricably linked to the foundational myths of Spanish nationalism in the 19th century, and consolidated by the mid-20th century during Franco's National-Catholic dictatorship, based on a strong underlying Castilian ideological element. The idea of a "liberation war" of "reconquest" against the Muslims, depicted as foreigners, suited well the anti-Republican rebels during the Spanish Civil War who agitated for the banner of a Spanish fatherland threatened by regional nationalisms and communism. Their rebellious pursuit was thus a crusade for the restoration of the Church's unity, where Franco stood for both Pelagius of Asturias and El Cid. The Reconquista has become a rallying call for right and far-right parties in Spain to expel from office incumbent progressive or peripheral nationalist options, as well as their values, in different political contexts as of 2018.
Some contemporary authors consider it proved that the process of Christian state-building in Iberia was indeed often defined by the reclamation of lands that had been lost to the Moors in generations past. In this way, state-building might be characterised—at least in ideological, if not practical, terms—as a process by which Iberian states were being 'rebuilt'. In turn, other recent historians dispute the whole concept of "Reconquista" as a concept created "a posteriori" in the service of later political goals. A few historians point out that Spain and Portugal did not previously exist as nations, and therefore the heirs of the Christian Visigothic Kingdom were not technically "re"conquering them, as the name suggests. One of the first Spanish intellectuals to question the idea of a "reconquest" that lasted for eight centuries was José Ortega y Gasset, writing in the first half of the 20th century. However, the term "reconquista" is still widely in use.
In 711, North African Berber soldiers with some Arabs commanded by Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, engaging a Visigothic force led by King Roderic at the Battle of Guadalete in a moment of serious in-fighting and division across the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania.
After Roderic's defeat, the Umayyad governor of Ifrikiya Musa ibn-Nusayr joined Tariq, directing a campaign against different towns and strongholds in Iberia. Some, like Merida, Cordova, or Zaragoza in 712, probably Toledo, were taken by storm or after resistance, but many agreed to a treaty in exchange for maintaining autonomy, in Theodemir's dominion (region of Tudmir), or Pamplona, for example. The invading Islamic armies did not exceed 60,000 men.
After the establishment of a local Emirate, Caliph Al-Walid I, ruler of the Umayyad Caliphate, removed many of the successful Muslim commanders. Tariq ibn Ziyad was recalled to Damascus and replaced with Musa ibn-Nusayr, who had been his former superior. Musa's son, Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa, apparently married Egilona, Roderic's widow, and established his regional government in Seville. He was suspected of being under the influence of his wife and was accused of wanting to convert to Christianity and of planning a secessionist rebellion. Apparently a concerned Al-Walid I ordered Abd al-Aziz's assassination. Caliph Al-Walid I died in 715 and was succeeded by his brother Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik. Sulayman seems to have punished the surviving Musa ibn-Nusayr, who very soon died during a pilgrimage in 716. In the end, Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa's cousin, Ayyub ibn Habib al-Lakhmi became the "wali" (governor) of Al-Andalus.
The conquering generals were necessarily acting independently, due to the methods of communication available. Successful generals in the field and in a distant province would gain the personal loyalty of their officers and warriors and their ambitions were likely watched by certain circles of the distant government with a degree of concern and suspicion. Old rivalries and perhaps even full-fledged conspiracies between generals may have had influence over this development. In the end, the formerly successful generals were replaced by a younger generation considered more loyal to the government in Damascus.
A serious weakness amongst the Muslim conquerors was the ethnic tension between Berbers and Arabs. The Berbers were indigenous inhabitants of North Africa who had only recently converted to Islam; they provided most of the soldiery of the invading Islamic armies but sensed Arab discrimination against them. This latent internal conflict jeopardized Umayyad unity. The Ummyyad forces arrived and crossed the Pyrenees by 719. The last Visigothic king Ardo resisted them in Septimania, where he fended off the Berber-Arab armies until 720.
After the Islamic Moorish conquest of most of the Iberian Peninsula in 711–718 and the establishment of the emirate of Al-Andalus, an Umayyad expedition suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Toulouse and was halted for a while on its way north. Odo of Aquitaine had married his daughter to Uthman ibn Naissa, a rebel Berber and lord of Cerdanya (and, perhaps, contemporary Catalonia), in an attempt to secure his southern borders in order to fend off Charles Martel's attacks on the north. However, a major punitive expedition led by Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, the latest emir of Al-Andalus, defeated and killed Uthman, and the Muslim governor mustered an expedition north across the western Pyrenees, looted areas up to Bordeaux, and defeated Odo in the Battle of the River Garonne in 732.
A desperate Odo turned to his archrival Charles Martel for help, who led the Frankish and remaining Aquitanian armies against the Umayyad armies and defeated them at the Battle of Tours in 732, killing Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi. While Moorish rule began to recede, it would remain in parts of the Iberian peninsula for another 760 years.
A drastic increase of taxes by the emir Anbasa ibn Suhaym Al-Kalbi provoked several rebellions in Al-Andalus, which a series of succeeding weak emirs were unable to suppress. Around 722, a Muslim military expedition was sent into the north in late summer to suppress a rebellion led by Pelagius of Asturias (Pelayo in Spanish, Pelayu in Asturian). Traditional historiography has hailed Pelagius' victory at Covadonga as the beginning of the "Reconquista". No Muslim source mentions the battle at Covadonga, in contrast with the Battle of Toulouse in 721, with a death toll of perhaps tens of thousands, which was mourned for centuries as a large scale tragedy by the Iberian Muslims. For Pelagius, however, the Christian victory secured his independent rule, while the precise date and circumstances of the battle are unclear. Among the possibilities is that Pelagius' rebellion was successful because the greater part of the Muslim forces were focusing in Septimania and Toulouse (721).
Two northern realms, the Basque Navarre and Asturias, despite their small size, demonstrated an ability to maintain their independence. Because the Umayyad rulers based in Córdoba were unable to extend their power over the Pyrenees, they decided to consolidate their power within the Iberian peninsula. Arab-Berber forces made periodic incursions deep into Asturias, but this area was a "cul-de-sac" on the fringes of the Islamic world fraught with inconveniences during campaigns and little interest.
It comes then as no surprise that, besides focusing on raiding the Arab-Berber strongholds of the Meseta, Alphonse I centred on expanding his domains at the expense of the neighbouring Galicians and Basques at either side of his realm just as much. During the first decades, Asturian control over part of the kingdom was weak, and for this reason it had to be continually strengthened through matrimonial alliances and war with other peoples from the north of the Iberian Peninsula. After Pelayo's death in 737, his son Favila of Asturias was elected king. Favila, according to the chronicles, was killed by a bear during a trial of courage. Pelayo's dynasty in Asturias survived and gradually expanded the kingdom's boundaries until all of northwest Iberia was included by roughly 775. However, credit is due not to him but to his successors, the "Banu Alfons" from the Arab chronicles. Further expansion of the northwestern kingdom towards the south occurred during the reign of Alfonso II (from 791–842). A king's expedition arrived in and pillaged Lisbon in 798, probably concerted with the Carolingians.
The Asturian kingdom became firmly established with the recognition of Alfonso II as king of Asturias by Charlemagne and the Pope. During his reign, the bones of St. James the Great were declared to have been found in Galicia, at Santiago de Compostela. Pilgrims from all over Europe opened a channel of communication between the isolated Asturias and the Carolingian lands and beyond, centuries later.
After the Umayyad conquest of the Iberian heartland of the Visigothic kingdom, the Muslims crossed the Pyrenees and gradually took control of Septimania, starting in 719 with the conquest of Narbonne through 725 when Carcassonne and Nîmes were secured. From the stronghold of Narbonne, they tried to conquer Aquitaine but suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Toulouse (721).
Ten years after halting their advance north, Odo of Aquitaine married his daughter to Uthman ibn Naissa, a rebel Berber and lord of Cerdanya (perhaps all of contemporary Catalonia as well), in an attempt to secure his southern borders to fend off Charles Martel's attacks on the north. However, a major punitive expedition led by Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, the latest emir of Al-Andalus, defeated and killed Uthman.
After expelling the Muslims from Narbonne in 759 and driving their forces back over the Pyrenees, the Carolingian king Pepin the Short conquered Aquitaine in a ruthless eight-year war. Charlemagne followed his father by subduing Aquitaine by creating counties, taking the Church as his ally and appointing counts of Frankish or Burgundian stock, like his loyal William of Gellone, making Toulouse his base for expeditions against Al-Andalus. Charlemagne decided to organize a regional subkingdom in order to keep the Aquitanians in check and to secure the southern border of the Carolingian Empire against Muslim incursions. In 781, his three-year-old son Louis was crowned king of Aquitaine, under the supervision of Charlemagne's trustee William of Gellone, and was nominally in charge of the incipient Spanish March.
Meanwhile, the takeover of the southern fringes of Al-Andalus by Abd ar-Rahman I in 756 was opposed by Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman, autonomous governor ("wāli") or king ("malik") of al-Andalus. Abd ar-Rahman I expelled Yusuf from Cordova, but it took still decades for him to expand to the north-western Andalusian districts. He was also opposed externally by the Abbasids of Baghdad who failed in their attempts to overthrow him. In 778, Abd al-Rahman closed in on the Ebro valley. Regional lords saw the Umayyad emir at the gates and decided to enlist the nearby Christian Franks. According to Ali ibn al-Athir, a Kurdish historian of the 12th century, Charlemagne received the envoys of Sulayman al-Arabi, Husayn, and Abu Taur at the Diet of Paderborn in 777. These rulers of Zaragoza, Girona, Barcelona, and Huesca were enemies of Abd ar-Rahman I, and in return for Frankish military aid against him offered their homage and allegiance.
Charlemagne, seeing an opportunity, agreed upon an expedition and crossed the Pyrenees in 778. Near the city of Zaragoza Charlemagne received the homage of Sulayman al-Arabi. However the city, under the leadership of Husayn, closed its gates and refused to submit. Unable to conquer the city by force, Charlemagne decided to retreat. On the way home the rearguard of the army was ambushed and destroyed by Basque forces at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass. "The Song of Roland", a highly romanticized account of this battle, would later become one of the most famous of the Middle Ages. Around 788 Abd ar-Rahman I died and was succeeded by Hisham I. In 792 Hisham proclaimed a jihad, advancing in 793 against the Kingdom of Asturias and Carolingian Septimania (Gothia). They defeated William of Gellone, Count of Toulouse, in battle, but William led an expedition the following year across the eastern Pyrenees. Barcelona, a major city, became a potential target for the Franks in 797, as its governor Zeid rebelled against the Umayyad emir of Córdoba. An army of the emir managed to recapture it in 799, but Louis, at the head of an army, crossed the Pyrenees and besieged the city for two years until it finally capitulated in 801.
The main passes in the Pyrenees were Roncesvalles, Somport and La Jonquera. Charlemagne established across them the vassal regions of Pamplona, Aragon, and Catalonia respectively. Catalonia was itself formed from a number of small counties, including Pallars, Girona, and Urgell; it was called the "Marca Hispanica" by the late 8th century. They protected the eastern Pyrenees passes and shores and were under the direct control of the Frankish kings. Pamplona's first king was Iñigo Arista, who allied with his Muslim kinsmen the Banu Qasi and rebelled against Frankish overlordship and overcame a Carolingian expedition in 824 that led to the setup of the Kingdom of Pamplona. Aragon, founded in 809 by Aznar Galíndez, grew around Jaca and the high valleys of the Aragon River, protecting the old Roman road. By the end of the 10th century, Aragon was annexed by Navarre. Sobrarbe and Ribagorza were small counties and had little significance to the progress of the "Reconquista".
In the late 9th century under Count Wilfred, Barcelona became the "de facto" capital of the region. It controlled the other counties' policies in a union, which led in 948 to the independence of Barcelona under Count Borrel II, who declared that the new dynasty in France (the Capets) were not the legitimate rulers of France nor, as a result, of his county. These states were small and, with the exception of Navarre, did not have the capacity for attacking the Muslims in the way that Asturias did, but their mountainous geography rendered them relatively safe from being conquered, and their borders remained stable for two centuries.
In the High Middle Ages, the fight against the Moors in the Iberian Peninsula became linked to the fight of the whole of Christendom. The "Reconquista" was originally a mere war of conquest. It only later underwent a significant shift in meaning toward a religiously justified war of liberation (see the Augustinian concept of a Just War). The papacy and the influential Abbey of Cluny in Burgundy not only justified the acts of war but actively encouraged Christian knights to seek armed confrontation with Moorish "infidels" instead of with each other.
From the 11th century onwards indulgences were granted: In 1064 Pope Alexander II promised the participants of an expedition against Barbastro ("Tagr al-Andalus", Aragon) a collective indulgence 30 years before Pope Urban II called the First Crusade. Papal interest in Christian-Muslim relations in the peninsula was not without precedent – Popes Leo IV (847–855), John VIII (872–882) and John XIX (1024–33) are all known to have displayed substantial interest in the region. Not until 1095 and the Council of Clermont did the "Reconquista" amalgamate the conflicting concepts of a peaceful pilgrimage and armed knight-errantry. But the papacy left no doubt about the heavenly reward for knights fighting for Christ ("militia Christi"): in a letter, Urban II tried to persuade the "reconquistadores" fighting at Tarragona to stay in the Peninsula rather than joining the armed pilgrimage to conquer Jerusalem, saying that their contribution for Christianity was equally important. The pope promised them the same indulgences that he had promised to those who chose to join the First Crusade.
Later military orders such as the Order of Santiago, Montesa, Order of Calatrava, and the Knights Templar were founded or called to fight in Iberia. The Popes called the knights of Europe to join the effort to destroy the Muslim states of the peninsula. After the so-called Disaster of Alarcos, French, Navarrese, Castilian, Portuguese and Aragonese armies united against the Muslim forces in the massive "battle of Las Navas de Tolosa" (1212). The large territories awarded to military orders and nobles were the origin of the latifundia in today's Andalusia and Extremadura in Spain, and Alentejo in Portugal.
In an atmosphere of constant conflict, warfare and daily life were strongly intertwined during this period. Small, lightly equipped armies reflected the need for society to be on constant alert during the first chapters of the Reconquista. These forces were capable of moving long distances in short times, allowing a quick return home after sacking a target. The initial battles were mainly waged between clans, expelling intruder armies or sacking expeditions.
In the context of the relative isolation of the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of Europe, and the contact with Moorish culture, there were military strategies and tactics that were slightly different from those found in the rest of western Europe during the early stages of the Reconquista.
Medieval Iberian armies mainly comprised two types of forces: the cavalry (mostly nobles, but including commoner knights from the 10th century on) and the infantry, or "peones" (peasants). Infantry only went to war if needed, which was not frequent.
Iberian cavalry tactics involved knights approaching the enemy, throwing javelins, then withdrawing to a safe distance before commencing another assault. Once the enemy formation was sufficiently weakened, the knights charged with thrusting spears (lances did not arrive in Hispania until the 11th century). There were three types of knights ("caballeros"): royal knights, noble knights ("caballeros hidalgos"), and commoner knights ("caballeros villanos", or "mounted soldier from a villa"). Royal knights were mainly nobles with a close relationship with the king, and thus claimed a direct Gothic inheritance.
Royal knights in the early stages of the Reconquista were equipped in the same manner as their Gothic predecessors: mail hauberk, kite shield, a long sword (designed to fight from the horse), javelins, spears and a Visigothic axe. Noble knights came from the ranks of the "infanzones" or lower nobles, whereas the commoner knights were not noble but were wealthy enough to afford a horse. Uniquely in Europe, these horsemen comprised a militia cavalry force with no feudal links, being under the sole control of the king or the count of Castile because of "fueros" (charters) with the crown. Both noble and common knights wore padded armour and carried javelins, spears and round-tasselled shields (influenced by Moorish shields), as well as a sword.
The "peones" were peasants who went to battle in service of their feudal lord. Poorly equipped, with bows and arrows, spears and short swords, they were mainly used as auxiliary troops. Their function in battle was to contain the enemy troops until the cavalry arrived and to block the enemy infantry from charging the knights. The longbow, the composite bow, and the crossbow were the basic types of bows and were especially popular in the infantry.
In the early Middle Age Iberian armour was typically made of leather, with iron scales. Head protections consisted of a round helmet with nose protector (influenced by the designs used by Vikings, who attacked during the 8th and 9th centuries) and a chain mail headpiece. Shields were often round or kidney-shaped, except for the kite-shaped designs used by the royal knights. Usually adorned with geometric designs, crosses or tassels, shields were made out of wood and had a leather cover.
Steel swords were the most common weapon. The cavalry used long double-edged swords and the infantry short, single-edged ones. Guards were either semicircular or straight, but always highly ornamented with geometrical patterns. Spears and javelins were up to 1.5 metres long and had an iron tip. The double-axe – made of iron, 30 cm long, and possessing an extremely sharp edge – was designed to be equally useful as a thrown weapon or in close combat. Maces and hammers were not common, but some specimens have remained and are thought to have been used by members of the cavalry.
Finally, mercenaries were an important factor, as many kings did not have enough soldiers available. Norsemen, Flemish spearmen, Frankish knights, Moorish mounted archers, and Berber light cavalry were the main types of mercenaries available and used in the conflict.
This style of warfare remained dominant in the Iberian Peninsula until the late 11th century, when lance tactics entered from France, although the traditional horse javelin-shot techniques continued to be used. In the 12th and 13th centuries, soldiers typically carried a sword, a lance, a javelin, and either bow and arrows or crossbow and darts/bolts. Armor consisted of a coat of mail over a quilted jacket, extending at least to the knees, a helmet or iron cap, and bracers protecting the arms and thighs, either metal or leather.
Shields were round or triangular, made of wood, covered with leather, and protected by an iron band; the shields of knights and nobles would bear the family's coat of arms. Knights rode in both the Muslim style, "a la jineta" (i.e. the equivalent of a modern jockey's seat), a short stirrup strap and bended knees allowed for better control and speed, or in the French style, "a la brida", a long stirrup strap allowed for more security in the saddle (i.e. the equivalent of the modern cavalry seat, which is more secure) when acting as heavy cavalry. Horses were occasionally fitted with a coat of mail as well.
Around the 14th and 15th centuries heavy cavalry gained a predominant role, where knights used to wear full plate armors.
The northern principalities and kingdoms survived in their mountainous strongholds (see above). However, they started a definite territorial expansion south at the turn of the 10th century (Leon, Najera). The fall of the Caliphate of Cordova (1031) heralded a period of military expansion for the northern kingdoms, now divided into several mighty regional powers after the division of the Kingdom of Navarre (1035). A myriad of autonomous Christian kingdoms emerged thereafter.
The Kingdom of Asturias was located in the Cantabrian Mountains, a wet and mountainous region in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. It was the first Christian power to emerge. The kingdom was established by a nobleman, Pelagius ("Pelayo"), who had possibly returned after the Battle of Guadalete in 711 and was elected leader of the Asturians, laying the foundations for the Kingdom of Asturias and starting the Astur-Leonese dynasty that spanned from 718 to 1037 and led the initial efforts in the Iberian peninsula to take back the territories then ruled by the Moors. Although the new dynasty first ruled in the mountains of Asturias, with the capital of the kingdom established initially in Cangas de Onís, and was in its dawn mostly concerned with securing the territory and settling the monarchy, the latest kings (particularly Alfonso III of Asturias) emphasized the nature of the new kingdom as heir of that in Toledo and the restoration of the Visigothic nation in order to vindicate the expansion to the south. However, such claims have been overall dismissed by modern historiography, emphasizing the distinct, autochthonous nature of the Cantabro-Asturian and Vasconic domains with no continuation to the Gothic Kingdom of Toledo.
Pelagius' kingdom initially was little more than a gathering point for the existing guerrilla forces. During the first decades, the Asturian dominion over the different areas of the kingdom was still lax, and for this reason it had to be continually strengthened through matrimonial alliances with other powerful families from the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Thus, Ermesinda, Pelagius' daughter, was married to Alfonso, Dux Peter of Cantabria's son. Alfonso's son Fruela married Munia, a Basque from Álava, after crushing a Basque uprising (probably resistance). Their son is reported to be Alfonso II, while Alfonso I's daughter Adosinda married Silo, a local chief from the area of Flavionavia, Pravia.
Alfonso's military strategy was typical of Iberian warfare at the time. Lacking the means needed for wholesale conquest of large territories, his tactics consisted of raids in the border regions of Vardulia. With the plunder he gained further military forces could be paid, enabling him to raid the Muslim cities of Lisbon, Zamora, and Coimbra. Alfonso I also expanded his realm westwards conquering Galicia.
During the reign of King Alfonso II (791–842), the kingdom was firmly established, and a series of Muslim raids caused the transfer of the Asturian capital to Oviedo. The king is believed to have initiated diplomatic contacts with the kings of Pamplona and the Carolingians, thereby gaining official recognition for his kingdom and his crown from the Pope and Charlemagne.
The bones of St. James the Great were proclaimed to have been found in Iria Flavia (present day Padrón) in 813 or probably two or three decades later. The cult of the saint was transferred later to Compostela (from Latin "campus stellae", literally "the star field"), possibly in the early 10th century when the focus of Asturian power moved from the mountains over to León, to become the Kingdom of León or Galicia-León. Santiago's were among many saint relics proclaimed to have been found across north-western Iberia. Pilgrims started to flow in from other Iberian Christian realms, sowing the seeds of the later Way of Saint James (11–12th century) that sparked the enthusiasm and religious zeal of continental Christian Europe for centuries.
Despite numerous battles, neither the Umayyads nor the Asturians had sufficient forces to secure control over these northern territories. Under the reign of Ramiro, famed for the highly legendary Battle of Clavijo, the border began to slowly move southward and Asturian holdings in Castile, Galicia, and León were fortified, and an intensive program of re-population of the countryside began in those territories. In 924 the Kingdom of Asturias became the Kingdom of León, when León became the seat of the royal court (it didn't bear any official name).
Alfonso III of Asturias repopulated the strategically important city León and established it as his capital. King Alfonso began a series of campaigns to establish control over all the lands north of the Douro river. He reorganized his territories into the major duchies (Galicia and Portugal) and major counties (Saldaña and Castile), and fortified the borders with many castles. At his death in 910 the shift in regional power was completed as the kingdom became the Kingdom of León. From this power base, his heir Ordoño II was able to organize attacks against Toledo and even Seville.
The Caliphate of Córdoba was gaining power, and began to attack León. King Ordoño allied with Navarre against Abd-al-Rahman, but they were defeated in Valdejunquera in 920. For the next 80 years, the Kingdom of León suffered civil wars, Moorish attack, internal intrigues and assassinations, and the partial independence of Galicia and Castile, thus delaying the reconquest and weakening the Christian forces. It was not until the following century that the Christians started to see their conquests as part of a long-term effort to restore the unity of the Visigothic kingdom.
The only point during this period when the situation became hopeful for León was the reign of Ramiro II. King Ramiro, in alliance with Fernán González of Castile and his retinue of "caballeros villanos", defeated the Caliph in Simancas in 939. After this battle, when the Caliph barely escaped with his guard and the rest of the army was destroyed, King Ramiro obtained 12 years of peace, but he had to give González the independence of Castile as payment for his help in the battle. After this defeat, Moorish attacks abated until Almanzor began his campaigns. Alfonso V finally regained control over his domains in 1002. Navarre, though attacked by Almanzor, remained intact.
The conquest of León did not include Galicia which was left to temporary independence after the withdrawal of the Leonese king. Galicia was conquered soon after (by Ferdinand, son of Sancho the Great, around 1038). However, this brief period of independence meant that Galicia remained a kingdom and fief of Leon, which is the reason it is part of Spain and not Portugal. Subsequent kings titled themselves kings of Galicia and León, instead of merely king of León as the two were united personally and not in union.
Ferdinand I of León was the leading king of the mid-11th century. He conquered Coimbra and attacked the taifa kingdoms, often demanding the tributes known as parias. Ferdinand's strategy was to continue to demand parias until the taifa was greatly weakened both militarily and financially. He also repopulated the Borders with numerous "fueros". Following the Navarrese tradition, on his death in 1064 he divided his kingdom between his sons. His son Sancho II of Castile wanted to reunite the kingdom of his father and attacked his brothers, with a young noble at his side: Rodrigo Díaz, later known as El Cid Campeador. Sancho was killed in the siege of Zamora by the traitor Bellido Dolfos (also known as Vellido Adolfo) in 1072. His brother Alfonso VI took over León, Castile and Galicia.
Alfonso VI the Brave gave more power to the "fueros" and repopulated Segovia, Ávila and Salamanca. Once he had secured the Borders, King Alfonso conquered the powerful Taifa kingdom of Toledo in 1085. Toledo, which was the former capital of the Visigoths, was a very important landmark, and the conquest made Alfonso renowned throughout the Christian world. However, this "conquest" was conducted rather gradually, and mostly peacefully, during the course of several decades. It was not until after sporadic and consistent population resettlements had taken place that Toledo was decisively conquered.
Alfonso VI was first and foremost a tactful monarch who chose to understand the kings of taifa and employed unprecedented diplomatic measures to attain political feats before considering the use of force. He adopted the title "Imperator totius Hispaniae" ("Emperor of all Hispania", referring to all the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, and not just the modern country of Spain). Alfonso's more aggressive policy towards the taifas worried the rulers of those kingdoms, who called on the African Almoravids for help.
The Kingdom of Pamplona primarily extended along either side of the Pyrenees on the Atlantic Ocean. The kingdom was formed when local leader Íñigo Arista led a revolt against the regional Frankish authority and was elected or declared King in Pamplona (traditionally in 824), establishing a kingdom inextricably linked at this stage to their kinsmen, the muwallad Banu Qasi of Tudela.
Although relatively weak until the early 11th century, Pamplona took a more active role after the accession of Sancho the Great (1004–1035). The kingdom expanded greatly under his reign, as it absorbed Castile, Leon, and what was to be Aragon, in addition to other small counties that would unite and become the Principality of Catalonia. This expansion also led to the independence of Galicia, as well as gaining overlordship over Gascony.
In the 12th century, however, the kingdom contracted to its core, and in 1162 King Sancho VI declared himself king of Navarre. Throughout its early history, the Navarrese kingdom engaged in frequent skirmishes with the Carolingian Empire, from which it maintained its independence, a key feature of its history until 1513.
The Kingdom of Aragon started off as an offshoot of the Kingdom of Navarre. It was formed when Sancho III of Navarre decided to divide his large realm among all his sons. Aragon was the portion of the realm which passed to Ramiro I of Aragon, an illegitimate son of Sancho III. The kingdoms of Aragon and Navarre were several times united in personal union until the death of Alfonso the Battler in 1135.
In 1137 the heiress of the kingdom married the count of Barcelona, and their son Alfonso II ruled from 1162 the combined possessions of his parents, resulting in what modern historians call the Crown of Aragon.
In the following centuries, the Crown of Aragon conquered a number of territories in the Iberian peninsula and the Mediterranean, including the kingdom of Valencia and the kingdom of Mallorca. James I of Aragon, also known as James the Conqueror, expanded his territories to the north, south and east. James also signed the Treaty of Corbeil (1258), which released him from the nominal suzerainty of the King of France.
Early in his reign, James attempted to reunite the Aragonese and Navarrese crowns through a treaty with the childless Sancho VII of Navarre. But the Navarrese nobles rejected him, and chose Theobald IV of Champagne in his stead.
Later on, Ferdinand II of Aragon, married Isabella of Castile, leading to a dynastic union which eventually gave birth to modern Spain, after the conquest of Upper Navarre (Navarre south of the Pyrenees) and the kingdom of Granada.
In 1139, after an overwhelming victory in the Battle of Ourique against the Almoravids, Afonso Henriques was proclaimed the first King of Portugal by his troops. According to the legend, Christ announced from heaven Afonso's great deeds, whereby he would establish the first Portuguese Cortes at Lamego and be crowned by the Primate Archbishop of Braga. In the Treaty of Zamora in 1143, Alfonso VII of León and Castile recognized Portuguese independence from the Kingdom of León.
In 1147, Portugal captured Santarém, and seven months later the city of Lisbon was also brought under Portuguese control after the Siege of Lisbon. By the papal bull Manifestis Probatum, Pope Alexander III recognized Afonso Henriques as King of Portugal in 1179.
With Portugal finally recognized as an independent kingdom by its neighbours, Afonso Henriques and his successors, aided by Crusaders and the military monastic orders the Knights Templar, the Order of Aviz or the Order of Saint James, pushed the Moors to the Algarve on the southern coast of Portugal. After several campaigns, the Portuguese part in the "Reconquista" came to an end with the definitive capture of the Algarve in 1249. With all of Portugal now under the control of Afonso III of Portugal, religious, cultural and ethnic groups became gradually homogenized.
After the completion of the "Reconquista", the Portuguese territory was a Roman Catholic realm. Nonetheless, Denis of Portugal carried out a short war with Castile for possession of the towns of Serpa and Moura. After this, Denis avoided war; he signed the Treaty of Alcanizes with Ferdinand IV of Castile in 1297, establishing the present-day borders.
During the suppression of the Knights Templar all over Europe, under the influence of Philip IV of France and Pope Clement V requesting its annihilation by 1312, King Denis reinstituted the Templars of Tomar as the Order of Christ in 1319. Denis believed that the Order's assets should by their nature stay in any given Order instead of being taken by the King, largely for the Templars' contribution to the "Reconquista" and the reconstruction of Portugal after the wars.
The experience gained during the battles of the "Reconquista" was fundamental to Conquest of Ceuta, the first step to the establishment of the Portuguese Empire. Likewise, the contact with Muslim's navigation techniques and sciences enabled the creation of Portuguese nautical innovations such as the caravel – the principal Portuguese ship during their voyages of exploration in the Age of Discovery.
Minor Christian realms were the Kingdom of Viguera (970–1005), the Lordship of Albarracín (1167–1300) and the (1094–1102).
Clashes and raids on bordering Andalusian lands did not keep the Christian kingdoms from battling among themselves or allying with Muslim kings. Some Muslim kings had Christian-born wives or mothers. Some Christian champions, like El Cid, were contracted by taifa kings to fight against their neighbours. Indeed, El Cid's first battle experience was gained fighting for a Muslim state against a Christian state. At the Battle of Graus in 1063, he and other Castilians fought on the side of al-Muqtadir, Muslim sultan of Zaragoza, against the forces of Ramiro I of Aragon. There is even an instance of a crusade being declared against another Christian king in Iberia.
Following the disastrous defeat of Alfonso VIII, King of Castile, at Alarcos, Kings Alfonso IX of León and Sancho VII of Navarre entered an alliance with the Almohads and invaded Castile in 1196. By the end of the year Sancho VII had dropped out of the war under Papal pressure. Early in 1197, at the request of Sancho I, King of Portugal, Pope Celestine III declared a crusade against Alfonso IX and released his subjects from their responsibilities to the king, declaring that "the men of his realm shall be absolved from their fidelity and his dominion by authority of the apostolic see." Together the Kings of Portugal, Castile, and Aragon invaded León. In the face of this onslaught combined with pressure from the Pope, Alfonso IX was finally forced to sue for peace in October 1197.
In the late years of "Al-Andalus", Castile had the might to conquer the remnants of the kingdom of Granada, but the kings preferred to claim the tribute of the Muslim "parias". The trade of Granadan goods and the parias were a major means by which African gold entered medieval Europe.
The "Reconquista" was a process not only of war and conquest, but also of repopulation. Christian kings moved their own people to locations abandoned by Muslims in order to have a population capable of defending the borders. The main repopulation areas were the Douro Basin (the northern plateau), the high Ebro valley (La Rioja) and central Catalonia. The repopulation of the Douro Basin took place in two distinct phases. North of the river, between the 9th and 10th centuries, the "pressure" (or "presura") system was employed. South of the Douro, in the 10th and 11th centuries, the "presura" led to the "charters" ("forais" or "fueros"). "Fueros" were used even south of the Central Range.
The "presura" referred to a group of peasants who crossed the mountains and settled in the abandoned lands of the Douro Basin. Asturian laws promoted this system, for instance granting a peasant all the land he was able to work and defend as his own property. Of course, Asturian and Galician minor nobles and clergymen sent their own expeditions with the peasants they maintained. This led to very feudalised areas, such as León and Portugal, whereas Castile, an arid land with vast plains and harsh climate, only attracted peasants with no hope in Biscay. As a consequence, Castile was governed by a single count, but had a largely non-feudal territory with many free peasants. "Presuras" also appear in Catalonia, when the count of Barcelona ordered the Bishop of Urgell and the count of Gerona to repopulate the plains of Vic.
During the 10th century and onwards, cities and towns gained more importance and power, as commerce reappeared and the population kept growing. "Fueros" were charters documenting the privileges and usages given to all the people repopulating a town. The "fueros" provided a means of escape from the feudal system, as "fueros" were only granted by the monarch. As a result, the town council was dependent on the monarch alone and, in turn, was required to provide "auxilium" – aid or troops – for their monarch. The military force of the towns became the "caballeros villanos". The first "fuero" was given by count Fernán González to the inhabitants of Castrojeriz in the 940's. The most important towns of medieval Iberia had "fueros", or "forais". In Navarre, "fueros" were the main repopulating system. Later on, in the 12th century, Aragon also employed the system; for example, the "fuero" of Teruel, which was one of the last fueros, in the early 13th century.
From the mid-13th century on, no more charters were granted, as the demographic pressure had disappeared and other means of re-population were created. "Fueros" remained as city charters until the 18th century in Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia and until the 19th century in Castile and Navarre. "Fueros" had an immense importance for those living under them, who were prepared to go to war to defend their rights under the charter. In the 19th century, the abolition of the "fueros" in Navarre would be one of the causes of the Carlist Wars. In Castile, disputes over the system contributed to the war against Charles I (Castilian War of the Communities).
During the 9th century the Berbers returned to North Africa in the aftermath of revolts. Many governors of large cities distant from the capital, Córdoba, had planned to establish their independence. Then, in 929, the Emir of Córdoba (Abd-ar-Rahman III), the leader of the Umayyad dynasty, declared himself Caliph, independent from the Abbasids in Baghdad. He took all the military, religious, and political power and reorganised the army and the bureaucracy.
After regaining control over the dissident governors, Abd-ar-Rahman III tried to conquer the remaining Christian kingdoms of the Iberian peninsula, attacking them several times and forcing them back beyond the Cantabrian Mountains. Abd-ar-Rahman's grandson later became a puppet in the hands of the great Vizier Almanzor ("al-Mansur", "the victorious"). Almanzor waged several campaigns attacking and sacking Burgos, León, Pamplona, Barcelona, and Santiago de Compostela before his death in 1002.
Between Almanzor's death and 1031, Al-Andalus suffered many civil wars, which ended in the division into the Taifa kingdoms. The taifas were small kingdoms, established by the city governors. The result was many (up to 34) small kingdoms, each centered upon its capital. Their governors had no larger-scale vision of the Moorish presence in the Iberian peninsula and had no qualms about attacking their neighbouring kingdoms whenever they could gain advantage by doing so.
The split into the taifa states weakened the Islamic presence, and the Christian kingdoms further advanced as Alfonso VI of León and Castile conquered Toledo in 1085. Surrounded by enemies, taifa rulers sent a desperate appeal to the Berber chieftain Yusuf ibn Tashfin, leader of the Almoravids.
The Almoravids were a Muslim militia composed of Berber, and unlike previous Muslim rulers, they were not so tolerant towards Christians and Jews. Their armies entered the Iberian peninsula on several occasions (1086, 1088, 1093) and defeated King Alfonso at the Battle of Sagrajas in 1086, but initially their purpose was to unite all the taifas into a single Almoravid Caliphate. Their actions halted the southward expansion of the Christian kingdoms. Their only defeat came at Valencia in 1094, due to the actions of El Cid.
Meanwhile, Navarre lost all importance under King Sancho IV, for he lost Rioja to Sancho II of Castile, and nearly became the vassal of Aragon. At his death, the Navarrese chose as their king Sancho Ramírez, King of Aragon, who thus became Sancho V of Navarre and I of Aragon. Sancho Ramírez gained international recognition for Aragon, uniting it with Navarre and expanding the borders south, conquering "Wasqat" Huesca deep in the valleys in 1096 and building a fort, El Castellar, 25 km from "Saraqustat" Zaragoza.
Catalonia came under intense pressure from the taifas of Zaragoza and Lérida, as well as from internal disputes, as Barcelona suffered a dynastic crisis that led to open war among the smaller counties. But by the 1080s, the situation had calmed down, and the dominion of Barcelona over the smaller counties was restored.
After a brief period of disintegration (the second Taifa period), the Almohads, the rising power in North Africa, took over most of "Al-Andalus". However they were decisively defeated at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212) by a Christian coalition, losing almost all the remaining lands of "Al-Andalus" in the following decades. By 1252 only the Kingdom of Granada remained intact but as a vassal state of Castile.
Ferdinand and Isabella completed the "Reconquista" with a war against the Emirate of Granada that started in 1482 and ended with Granada's surrender on January 2, 1492. The Moors in Castile previously numbered "half a million within the realm". By 1492 some 100,000 had died or been enslaved, 200,000 had emigrated, and 200,000 remained in Castile. Many of the Muslim elite, including Granada's former Emir Muhammad XII, who had been given the area of the Alpujarras mountains as a principality, found life under Christian rule intolerable and emigrated to Tlemcen in North Africa.
In 1497 Spanish forces took Melilla, west of Oran, and the island of Djerba, south of Tunis, and went on to more important gains, with the bloody seizure of Oran in 1509, and the capture of Bougie and Tripoli in 1510. The Spanish capture of Tripoli cost them some 300 men, while the inhabitants suffered between 3,000 and 5,000 killed and another 5,000–6,000 carried off as slaves. Soon thereafter, however, they faced competition from the rapidly expanding Ottoman Empire in the east and were pushed back.
As elsewhere in the Muslim world, Christians and Jews were allowed to retain their religions, with their own legal systems and courts, by paying a tax, the "jizya". The penalty for not paying it was imprisonment and death.
The new Christian hierarchy demanded heavy taxes from non-Christians and gave them rights, such as in the Treaty of Granada (1491) only for Moors in recently Islamic Granada. On July 30, 1492, all the Jewish community – some 200,000 people – were forcibly expelled. The next year the Alhambra decree ordered the expulsion of practicing Jews, leading many to convert to Catholicism. In 1502, Queen Isabella I declared conversion to Catholicism compulsory within the Kingdom of Castile. King Charles V did the same to Moors in the Kingdom of Aragon in 1526, forcing conversions of its Muslim population during the Revolt of the Germanies. Many local officials took advantage of the situation to seize property.
Most of the descendants of those Muslims who submitted to conversion to Christianity – rather than exile – during the early periods of the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition, the Moriscos, were later expelled from Spain after serious social upheaval, when the Inquisition was at its height. The expulsions were carried out more severely in eastern Spain (Valencia and Aragon) due to local animosity towards Muslims and Moriscos where they were seen as economic rivals by local workers who saw them as cheap labor undermining their bargaining position with the landlords. Exactions imposed on the Moriscos paved the way to a major Morisco revolt happening in 1568, with the final expulsion of the Moriscos from Castile taking place in 1609; they were driven from Aragon at about the same time.
Making things more complex were the many former Muslims and Jews known as "Moriscos", "Marranos", and "Conversos", who shared ancestors in common with many Christians, especially among the aristocracy, causing much concern over loyalty and attempts by the aristocracy to hide their non-Christian ancestry. Some – the numbers are debated – continued to secretly practice their religions and use their languages well into the sixteenth century. Those that the Spanish Inquisition found to be secretly practicing Islam or Judaism were executed, imprisoned, or exiled. Nevertheless, all those deemed to be "New Christians" were repeatedly suspected of illegally continuing in secret to practice their religions various crimes against the Spanish state including continued practice of Islam or Judaism. New Christians were subject to many discriminatory practices starting in the sixteenth century.
The many advances and retreats created several social types:
Real, legendary, and fictional episodes from the "Reconquista" are the subject of much of medieval Galician-Portuguese, Spanish, and Catalan literature such as the "cantar de gesta".
Some noble genealogies show the close relations (although not very numerous) between Muslims and Christians. For example, Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir, whose rule is considered to have marked the peak of power for Moorish "Al-Andalus" Iberia, married Abda, daughter of Sancho Garcés II of Navarra, who bore him a son, named Abd al-Rahman and commonly known in a pejorative sense as Sanchuelo ("Little Sancho"; in Arabic: "Shanjoul").
After his father's death, Sanchuelo/Abd al-Rahman, as a son of a Christian princess, was a strong contender to take over the ultimate power in Muslim al-Andalus. A hundred years later, King Alfonso VI of Castile, considered among the greatest of the Medieval Spanish kings, designated as his heir his son (also a Sancho) by the refugee Muslim princess Zaida of Seville.
The "Reconquista" was a war with long periods of respite between the adversaries, partly for pragmatic reasons and also due to infighting among the Christian kingdoms of the North spanning over seven centuries. Some populations practiced Islam or Christianity as their own religion during these centuries, so the identity of contenders changed over time.
Currently, festivals called "moros y cristianos" (Castilian), "moros i cristians" (Catalan), "mouros e cristãos" (Portuguese) and "mouros e cristiáns" (Galician), which all mean "Moors and Christians", recreate the fights as colorful parades with elaborate garments and lots of fireworks, especially on the central and southern towns of the Land of Valencia, like Alcoi, Ontinyent or Villena.
A 2016 study found that the "rate of Reconquest"—how rapidly the Christian frontier was expanded—has persistent effects on the Spanish economy to this day. After an initial phase of military conquest, Christians states incorporated the conquered land. When large frontier regions were incorporated at once, the land was mostly given to the nobility and the military orders, with negative effects on long-term development. The incorporation of small regions, on the other hand, generally allowed for the participation of individual settlers and was more likely to fall under the auspices of the crown. This led to a more equitable distribution of land and greater social equality, with positive effects on long-term development.
On the conclusion of Iberian victory over the Moors, the Iberian powers, Spain and Portugal didn't stop their warring against the Muslims solely in their homelands—they extended the conflict against Islam overseas. The Spanish under the Habsburg dynasty soon became the champions of Roman Catholicism in Europe and the Mediterranean against the encroaching threat of the Ottoman Empire. In a similar vein, the Portuguese also extended the Reconquista, this time against Muslim states overseas. The conquest of Ceuta marked the beginning of Portuguese expansion into Muslim Africa. Soon, the Portuguese also went into conflict with the Ottoman Caliphate in the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia as the Portuguese conquered the Ottomans' allies: the Sultanate of Adal in East Africa, the Sultanate of Delhi in South Asia and the Sultanate of Malacca in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, the Spanish also went to war against the Sultanate of Brunei in Southeast Asia. The Spanish sent expeditions from New Spain (Mexico) to conquer and Christianize the Philippines, then a territory of the Sultanate of Brunei. Brunei itself was assaulted during the Castilian War. Spain also went to war against the Sultanates of Sulu, Maguindanao, and Lanao in the Spanish-Moro Conflict. The primary inspiration for these wars against Muslim states overseas was the Reconquista. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26550 |
Raku ware
The Western version of raku was developed in the 20th century by studio potters. Typically wares are fired at a high temperature, and after removing pieces from the kiln, the wares are placed in an open-air container filled with combustible material, which is not a traditional Raku practice in Japan. The Western process can give a great variety of colors and surface effects, making it very popular with studio and amateur potters.
"Raku" means "enjoyment".
In the 16th century, Sen no Rikyū, the Japanese tea master, was involved with the construction of the Jurakudai and had a tile-maker, named Chōjirō, produce hand-moulded tea bowls for use in the wabi-styled tea ceremony that was Rikyū's ideal. The resulting tea bowls made by Chōjirō were initially referred to as "ima-yaki" ("contemporary ware") and were also distinguished as Juraku-yaki, from the red clay (Juraku) that they employed. Hideyoshi presented Jokei, Chōjirō's son, with a seal that bore the Chinese character for "raku". Raku then became the name of the family that produced the wares. Both the name and the ceramic style have been passed down through the family (sometimes by adoption) to the present 15th generation (Kichizaemon). The name and the style of ware has become influential in both Japanese culture and literature.
In Japan, there are "branch kilns" ("wakigama"), in the raku-ware tradition, that have been founded by Raku-family members or porters who apprenticed at the head family's studio. One of the most well-known of these is Ōhi-yaki (Ōhi ware).
After the publication of a manual in the 18th century, raku ware was also made in numerous workshops by amateur potters and tea practitioners in Kyoto, and by professional and amateur potters around Japan.
Raku ware marked an important point in the historical development of Japanese ceramics, as it was the first ware to use a seal mark and the first to focus on close collaboration between potter and patron. Other famous Japanese clay artists of this period include Dōnyū (grandson of Chōjirō, also known as Nonkō; 1574–1656), Hon'ami Kōetsu (1556–1637) and Ogata Kenzan (1663–1743).
It influenced Hōraku ware from Nagoya, Owari province in the later Edo period.
Raku became popular with American potters in the late 1950s with the help of Paul Soldner. Americans kept the general firing process, that is, heating the pottery quickly to high temperatures and cooling it quickly, but continued to form their own unique style of raku.
Raku's unpredictable results and intense color attracts modern potters. These patterns and color result from the harsh cooling process and the amount of oxygen that is allowed to reach the pottery. Depending on what effect the artist wants, the pottery is either instantly cooled in water, cooled slowly in the open air, or placed in a barrel filled with combustible material, such as newspaper, covered, and allowed to smoke. Water immediately cools the pottery, stopping the chemical reactions of the glaze and fixing the colors. The combustible material results in smoke, which stains the unglazed portions of the pottery black. The amount of oxygen that is allowed during the firing and cooling process affects the resulting color of the glaze and the amount of crackle.
Unlike traditional Japanese raku, which is mainly hand built bowls of modest design, western raku tends to be vibrant in color, and comes in many shapes and sizes. Western raku can be anything from an elegant vase, to an eccentric abstract sculpture. Although some do hand build, most western potters use throwing wheels while creating their raku piece. Western culture has even created a new sub branch of raku called horse hair raku. These pieces are often white with squiggly black lines and smoke-like smudges. These effects are created by placing horse hair, feathers, or even sugar on the pottery as it is removed from the kiln and still extremely hot.
Amongst some of the western raku artists are the French ceramist Claude Champy, who received the Suntory Museum Grand Prix. Jane Malvisi is a British artist making raku figurines.
The first Japanese-style kiln in the west was built by Tsuronosuke Matsubayashi at Leach Pottery, St Ives in 1922.
The type and the size of kilns that are used in raku are crucial in the outcome. One aspect that can affect the results is the use of electric versus gas kilns. Electric kilns allow easy temperature control. Gas kilns, which comprise brick or ceramic fibers, can be used in either oxidation or reduction firing and use propane or natural gas. Gas kilns also heat more quickly than electric kilns, but it is more difficult to maintain temperature control. There is a note-worthy difference when using an updraft kiln rather than a downdraft kiln. An updraft kiln has shelves that trap heat. This effect creates uneven temperatures throughout the kiln. Conversely, a downdraft kiln pulls air down a separate stack on the side and allows a more even temperature throughout and allows the work to be layered on shelves.
It is important for a kiln to have a door that is easily opened and closed, because, when the artwork in the kiln has reached the right temperature (over 1000 degrees Celsius), it must be quickly removed and put in a metal or tin container with combustible material, which reduces the pot and leaves certain colors and patterns.
The use of a reduction chamber at the end of the raku firing was introduced by the American potter Paul Soldner in the 1960s to compensate for the difference in atmosphere between wood-fired Japanese raku kilns and gas-fired American kilns. Typically, pieces removed from the hot kiln are placed in masses of combustible material (e.g., straw, sawdust, or newspaper) to provide a reducing atmosphere for the glaze and to stain the exposed body surface with carbon.
Western raku potters rarely use lead as a glaze ingredient, due to its serious level of toxicity, but may use other metals as glaze ingredients. Japanese potters substitute a non-lead frit. Although almost any low-fire glaze can be used, potters often use specially formulated glaze recipes that "crackle" or craze (present a cracked appearance), because the crazing lines take on a dark color from the carbon.
Western raku is typically made from a stoneware clay body, bisque fired at and glost or glaze fired (the final firing) between , which falls into the cone 06 firing temperature range. The process is known for its unpredictability, particularly when reduction is forced, and pieces may crack or even explode due to thermal shock. Pots may be returned to the kiln to re-oxidize if firing results do not meet the potter's expectations, although each successive firing has a high chance of weakening the overall structural integrity of the pot. Pots that are exposed to thermal shock multiple times can break apart in the kiln, as they are removed from the kiln, or when they are in the reduction chamber.
The glaze firing times for raku ware are short: an hour or two as opposed to up to 16 hours for high-temperature cone 10 stoneware firings. This is due to several factors: raku glazes mature at a much lower temperature (under , as opposed to almost for high-fire stoneware); kiln temperatures can be raised rapidly; and the kiln is loaded and unloaded while hot and can be kept hot between firings.
Because temperature changes are rapid during the raku process, clay bodies used for raku ware must be able to cope with significant thermal stress. The usual way to add strength to the clay body and to reduce thermal expansion is to incorporate a high percentage of quartz, grog, or kyanite into the body before the pot is formed. At high additions, quartz can increase the risk of dunting or shivering. Therefore, kyanite is often the preferred material, as it contributes both mechanical strength and, in amounts up to 20%, significantly reduces thermal expansion. Although any clay body can be used, white stoneware clay bodies are unsuitable for the western raku process unless some material is added to deal with thermal shock. Porcelain, however, is often used but it must be thinly thrown.
Aesthetic considerations include clay color and fired surface texture, as well as the clay's chemical interaction with raku glazes.
In a craft conference in Kyoto in 1979, a heated debate sprang up between Western raku artists Paul Soldner and the youngest in the dynastic raku succession, Kichiemon, (of the fourteenth generation of the "Raku" family of potters) concerning the right to use the title "raku". The Japanese artists maintain that any work by other craftsman should hold their own name, (i.e., Soldner-ware, Hirsh-ware), as that was how "raku" was intended.
Raku in the west has been abstracted and is now a more philosophical approach with the emphasis on the spontaneity of surface pattern creation rather than purely a firing technique. Consequently, this has expanded its application from pots to sculptural ceramics.
Reduction firing is when the kiln atmosphere, which is full of combustible material, is heated up. "Reduction is incomplete combustion of fuel, caused by a shortage of oxygen, which produces carbon monoxide" (Arbuckle, 4) Eventually, all of the available oxygen is used. This then draws oxygen from the glaze and the clay to allow the reaction to continue. Oxygen serves as the limiting reactant in this scenario because the reaction that creates fire needs a constant supply of it to continue; when the glaze and the clay come out hardened, this means that the oxygen was subtracted from the glaze and the clay to accommodate the lack of oxygen in the atmosphere. Consequently, the Raku piece appears black or white, which depends upon the amount of oxygen that was lost from each area of the piece. The empty spaces that occur from the reduction of oxygen are filled in by carbon molecules in the atmosphere of the container, which makes the piece blacker in spots where more oxygen was retracted.
In the western style of raku firing, the aluminium container acts as a reduction chamber, which is a container that allows the carbon dioxide to pass through a small hole. A reduction atmosphere is created by closing the container. A reduction atmosphere induces a reaction between oxygen and the clay minerals, which affects the color. It also affects the metal elements of the glaze. Reduction is a decrease in oxidation number. Closing the can reduces the oxygen content after the combustible materials such as sawdust catch fire and forces the reaction to pull oxygen from the glazes and the clay minerals. For example, luster gets its color from deprivation of oxygen. The reduction agent is a substance from which electrons are being taken by another substance. The reaction uses oxygen from the atmosphere within the reduction tube, and, to continue, it receives the rest of the oxygen from the glazes. This leaves ions and iridescent luster behind. This creates a metallic effect. Pieces with no glaze have nowhere to get the oxygen from, so they take it from clay minerals. This atmosphere will turn clay black, making a matte color.
Raku is a unique form of pottery making; what makes it unique is the range of designs that can be created by simply altering certain variables. These variables—which include wax resist, glazes, slips, temperature, and timing—ultimately determine the outcome when firing a piece of clay.
Wax resist: which is painted over the bare untainted clay, results in the suspension of wax in water before the raku glaze goes on. This is done so that the glaze does not cover the area where the wax resist was applied, thus creating a design. When in the kiln, the wax melts off and the carbon, that results from oxygen reduction, replaces the wax. This is the result of the combustion reaction. Raku glazes contain alumina, which has a very high melting point. Therefore, carbon will not replace the glaze as it does the melted wax. Any unglazed areas turn black due to the carbon given off from the reduction of oxygen. Next, the clay is moved from the kiln to a container, usually a trashcan, which contains combustible organic materials such as leaves, sawdust, or paper.
Crackle glazes: is a glaze with a clear base that contain metallic compounds to add color. Metals such as copper, iron, and cobalt; which produce different colors. After the glaze has reached a certain temperature, the metal in the glaze reacts taking on a specific color. For example, cobalt produces dark-blue, and copper produces green but can also produce a red when the oxygen in the glaze is completely gone. Once the lid of the container is closed, the reduction oxidation (redox) process begins. The temperature change from the kiln to the container is where the magic of raku occurs. The change in temperature and in the redox sometimes cause cracking or crazing. Crazing is a consistent cracking in the glaze of a piece, as is seen on the white crackle glaze. This either enhances or detracts from the design. The timing of removal and placement in water directly affects the shades of each color.
Copper glazes: are treated completely different than crackle glazes. While with the crackle glazes you want the piece to go through an oxidation process and to cool so the glaze will crackle while transferring from the kiln to the reduction chamber, the copper glazes should soak up as little oxygen as possible, you want the piece to go from the kiln to the reduction chamber as quickly as possible. This causes the glaze to have as much reduction as possible and can pull out vibrant flashes of color from the glaze and end with either a matte or glossy depending on the type of glaze that you use colorful look.
Naked Raku is done by coating a section of the exterior of the piece with the slip taping off anywhere on the piece that you want to turn black after reduction. Then you place the piece directly into the kiln and slowly heat up to about until the slip has dried. Once dry continue heating until . When you reach temperature you can pull the piece from the kiln and place the piece into the reduction chamber. In reduction the carbon will soak into the clay where the slip has cracked and turn black, but where the slip is stuck on the clay will keep its natural color. Once the piece has cooled enough you can use your finger nails or a credit card to chip off the slip and reveal the design.
Horse hair: Horse hair decoration is a process where the piece is left without glaze and brought up to temperature in the kiln and when removed from the kiln it is not placed into the reduction chamber; instead it is placed in the open where horse hair is strategically arranged on the piece. The horse hair will immediately burn and leave thin linear markings on the pottery.
Hiroshi Teshigahara made the film "Rikyu", which is a nearly documentary story showing how Sen no Rikyu met Chojiro, who made the first genuine Raku tea bowl (chawan) and how Rikyu trained the shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the tea ceremony with Raku chawans.(Ashton D 1997). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26551 |
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as operatic, earning him the nicknames "the Caruso of Rock" and "the Big O". Many of his songs conveyed vulnerability at a time when most male rock-and-roll performers chose to project defiant masculinity. He performed standing still, wearing black clothes to match his dyed black hair and dark sunglasses.
Orbison began singing in a rockabilly and country-and-western band in high school. He was contracted by Sam Phillips of Sun Records in 1956, but enjoyed his greatest success with Monument Records. From 1960 to 1966, 22 of his singles reached the "Billboard" Top 40, and he wrote or co-wrote almost all that entered the Top 10, including "Only the Lonely" (1960), "Running Scared" (1961), "Crying" (1961), "In Dreams" (1963), and "Oh, Pretty Woman" (1964). From the mid-1960s he suffered a number of personal tragedies and his career faltered amidst declining record sales.
In the 1980s, Orbison experienced a resurgence in popularity following the success of several cover versions of his songs. In 1988, he co-founded the Traveling Wilburys, a rock supergroup with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne. Orbison died of a heart attack in December that year at age 52. One month later, his song "You Got It" (1989) was released as a solo single and became his first hit to reach the U.S. Top 10 in nearly 25 years.
Orbison's honors include inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1989, and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2014. "Rolling Stone" placed him at number 37 on their list of the "Greatest Artists of All Time" and number 13 on their list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time". In 2002, "Billboard" magazine listed him at number 74 in the Top 600 recording artists.
Orbison was born on April 23, 1936 in Vernon, Texas, the middle son of Orbie Lee Orbison (1913–1984), an oil well driller and car mechanic, and nurse Nadine Vesta Shults (July 25, 1913 – May 12, 1992). The family moved to Fort Worth in 1942 to find work in the aircraft factories.
Roy attended Denver Avenue Elementary School until a polio scare prompted the family to return to Vernon, and they moved again to Wink, Texas in 1946. Orbison described life in Wink as "football, oil fields, oil, grease, and sand" and expressed relief that he was able to leave the desolate town. All the Orbison children had poor eyesight; Roy used thick corrective lenses from an early age. He was self-conscious about his appearance and began dyeing his nearly-white hair black when he was still young. He was quiet, self-effacing, and remarkably polite and obliging. He was always keen to sing, however. He considered his voice memorable, but not great.
Roy's father gave him a guitar on his sixth birthday. He recalled, "I was finished, you know, for anything else" by the time he was 7, and music became the focus of his life. His major musical influence as a youth was country music. He was particularly moved by Lefty Frizzell's singing, with its slurred syllables, and he adopted the name "Lefty Wilbury" during his time with the Traveling Wilburys. He also enjoyed Hank Williams, Moon Mullican and Jimmie Rodgers. One of the first musicians that he heard in person was Ernest Tubb, playing on the back of a truck in Fort Worth. In West Texas, he was exposed to rhythm and blues, Tex-Mex, the orchestral arrangements of Mantovani, and Cajun music. The cajun favorite "Jole Blon" was one of the first songs that he sang in public. He began singing on a local radio show at age 8, and he became the show's host by the late 1940s.
In high school, Orbison and some friends formed the band Wink Westerners. They played country standards and Glenn Miller songs at local honky-tonks and had a weekly radio show on KERB in Kermit, Texas. They were offered $400 to play at a dance, and Orbison realized that he could make a living in music. He enrolled at North Texas State College in Denton, planning to study geology so that he could secure work in the oil fields if music did not pay. He then heard that his schoolmate Pat Boone had signed a record deal, and it further strengthened his resolve to become a professional musician. He heard a song called "Ooby Dooby" while in college, composed by Dick Penner and Wade Moore, and he returned to Wink with "Ooby Dooby" in hand and continued performing with the Wink Westerners after his first year. He then enrolled in Odessa Junior College. Two members of the band quit and two new members were added, and the group won a talent contest and obtained their own television show on KMID-TV in Midland, Texas. The Wink Westerners kept performing on local TV, played dances on the weekends, and attended college during the day.
While living in Odessa, Orbison saw a performance by Elvis Presley. Johnny Cash toured the area in 1955 and 1956, appearing on the same local TV show as the Wink Westerners, and he suggested that Orbison approach Sam Phillips at Sun Records. Orbison did so and was told, "Johnny Cash doesn't run my record company!" The success of their KMID television show got them another show on KOSA-TV, and they changed their name to the Teen Kings. They recorded "Ooby Dooby" in 1956 for the Odessa-based Je–Wel label. Record store owner Poppa Holifield played it over the telephone for Sam Phillips, and Phillips offered the Teen Kings a contract.
The Teen Kings went to Sun Studio in Memphis, where Phillips wanted to record "Ooby Dooby" again, in his studio. The song was released on Sun 242 in May 1956 and broke into the "Billboard" Hot 100, peaking at number 59 and selling 200,000 copies. The Teen Kings toured with Sonny James, Johnny Horton, Carl Perkins, and Cash. Much influenced by Elvis Presley, Orbison performed frenetically, doing "everything we could to get applause because we had only one hit record". The Teen Kings also began writing songs in a rockabilly style, including "Go! Go! Go!" and "Rockhouse". The band ultimately split over disputed writing credits and royalties, but Orbison stayed in Memphis and asked his 16-year-old girlfriend, Claudette Frady, to join him there. They stayed in Phillips' home, sleeping in separate rooms. In the studio, Orbison concentrated on the mechanics of recording. Phillips remembered being much more impressed with Orbison's mastery of the guitar than with his voice. A ballad Orbison wrote, "The Clown", met with a lukewarm response; after hearing it, Sun Records producer Jack Clement told Orbison that he would never make it as a ballad singer.
Orbison was introduced to Elvis Presley's social circle, once going to pick up a date for Presley in his purple Cadillac. Orbison wrote "Claudette"—about Claudette Frady, whom he married in 1957—and the Everly Brothers recorded it as the B-side of "All I Have to Do Is Dream". The first, and perhaps only, royalties Orbison earned from Sun Records enabled him to make a down payment on his own Cadillac. Increasingly frustrated at Sun, he gradually stopped recording. He toured music circuits around Texas and then quit performing for seven months in 1958.
For a brief period in the late 1950s, Orbison made his living at Acuff-Rose, a songwriting firm concentrating mainly on country music. After spending an entire day writing a song, he would make several demonstration tapes at a time and send them to Wesley Rose, who would try to find musical acts to record them. Orbison attempted to sell to RCA Victor his recordings of songs by other writers, working with and being in awe of Chet Atkins, who had played guitar with Presley. One song he tried was "Seems to Me", by Boudleaux Bryant. Bryant's impression of Orbison was of "a timid, shy kid who seemed to be rather befuddled by the whole music scene. I remember the way he sang then—softly, prettily but almost bashfully, as if someone might be disturbed by his efforts and reprimand him."
Playing shows at night and living with his wife and young child in a tiny apartment, Orbison often took his guitar to his car to write songs. The songwriter Joe Melson, an acquaintance of Orbison's, tapped on his car window one day in Texas in 1958, and the two decided to write some songs together. In three recording sessions in 1958 and 1959, Orbison recorded seven songs at RCA Nashville. Only two singles were judged worthy of release by RCA. Wesley Rose brought Orbison to the attention of the producer Fred Foster at Monument Records.
Orbison was one of the first recording artists to popularize the "Nashville sound", with a group of session musicians known as The Nashville A-Team. The Nashville sound was developed by producers Chet Atkins, Owen Bradley (who worked closely with Patsy Cline), Sam Phillips, and Fred Foster. In his first session for Monument in Nashville, Orbison recorded a song that RCA had refused, "Paper Boy", backed by "With the Bug", but neither charted.
According to musician and author Albin Zak, the studio (with sound engineer Bill Porter, who experimented with close miking the doo-wop backing singers), the production by Foster, and the accompanying musicians gave Orbison's music a "polished, professional sound ... finally allow[ing] Orbison's stylistic inclinations free rein". Orbison requested a string section and with it, he recorded three new songs, the most notable of which was "Uptown", written with Joe Melson. Impressed with the results, Melson later recalled, "We stood in the studio, listening to the playbacks, and thought it was the most beautiful sound in the world." "The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll" states that the music Orbison made in Nashville "brought a new splendor to rock", and compared the melodramatic effects of the orchestral accompaniment to the musical productions of Phil Spector.
"Uptown" reached only number 72 on the "Billboard" Top 100, and Orbison set his sights on negotiating a contract with an upscale nightclub somewhere. His initial success came just as the '50s rock-and-roll era was winding down. Starting in 1960, the charts in the United States came to be dominated by teen idols, novelty acts, and Motown girl groups.
Experimenting with a new sound, Orbison and Joe Melson wrote a song in early 1960 which, using elements from "Uptown", and another song they had written called "Come Back to Me (My Love)", employed strings and the Anita Kerr doo-wop backing singers. It also featured a note hit by Orbison in falsetto that showcased a powerful voice which, according to biographer Clayson, "came not from his throat but deeper within". The song was "Only the Lonely (Know the Way I Feel)". Orbison and Melson tried to pitch it to Elvis Presley and the Everly Brothers, but were turned down. They instead recorded the song at RCA's Nashville studio, with sound engineer Bill Porter trying a completely new strategy, building the mix from the top down rather than from the bottom up, beginning with close-miked backing vocals in the foreground, and ending with the rhythm section soft in the background. This combination became Orbison's trademark sound.
"Only the Lonely" shot to number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and hit number one in the UK and Australia. According to Orbison, the subsequent songs he wrote with Melson during this period were constructed with his voice in mind, specifically to showcase its range and power. He told "Rolling Stone" in 1988, "I liked the sound of [my voice]. I liked making it sing, making the voice ring, and I just kept doing it. And I think that somewhere between the time of "Ooby Dooby" and "Only the Lonely", it kind of turned into a good voice." Its success transformed Orbison into an overnight star and he appeared on Dick Clark's "Saturday Night Beechnut Show" out of New York City. When Presley heard "Only the Lonely" for the first time, he bought a box of copies to pass to his friends. Melson and Orbison followed it with the more complex "Blue Angel", which peaked at number nine in the US and number 11 in the UK. "I'm Hurtin'", with "I Can't Stop Loving You" as the B-side, rose to number 27 in the US, but failed to chart in the UK.
Orbison was now able to move to Nashville permanently with his wife Claudette and two sons Roy DeWayne and Anthony King. Back in the studio, seeking a change from the pop sound of "Only the Lonely" and "I'm Hurtin'", Orbison worked on a new song, "Running Scared", based loosely on the rhythm of Ravel's "Boléro"; the song was about a man on the lookout for his girlfriend's previous boyfriend, whom he feared would try to take her away. Orbison encountered difficulty when he found himself unable to hit the song's highest note without his voice breaking. He was backed by an orchestra in the studio and Porter told him he would have to sing louder than his accompaniment because the orchestra was unable to be softer than his voice. Fred Foster then put Orbison in the corner of the studio and surrounded him with coat racks forming an improvised isolation booth to emphasize his voice. Orbison was unhappy with the first two takes. In the third, however, he abandoned the idea of using falsetto and sang the final high 'A' naturally, so astonishing everyone present that the accompanying musicians stopped playing. On that third take, "Running Scared" was completed. Fred Foster later recalled, "He did it, and everybody looked around in amazement. Nobody had heard anything like it before." Just weeks later "Running Scared" reached number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart and number 9 in the UK. The composition of Orbison's following hits reflected "Running Scared": a story about an emotionally vulnerable man facing loss or grief, with a crescendo culminating in a surprise climax that employed Orbison's dynamic voice.
"Crying" followed in July 1961 and reached number two; it was coupled with an up-tempo R&B song, "Candy Man", written by Fred Neil and Beverley Ross, which reached the "Billboard" Top 30, staying on the charts for two months. While Orbison was touring Australia in 1962, an Australian DJ referred to him affectionately as "The Big O", partly based on the big finishes to his dramatic ballads, and the moniker stuck with him thereafter. Orbison's second son was born the same year, and Orbison hit number four in the United States and number two in the UK with "Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)", an upbeat song by country songwriter Cindy Walker. (Orbison's producer later formed the Candymen quintet, which was Orbison's backing band from 1965 to 1970 and released a few singles and two albums of its own). Also in 1962, he charted with "The Crowd", "Leah", and "Workin' for the Man", which he wrote about working one summer in the oil fields near Wink. His relationship with Joe Melson, however, was deteriorating over Melson's growing concerns that his own solo career would never get off the ground.
Orbison eventually developed an image that did not reflect his personality. He had no publicist in the early 1960s, therefore he had little presence in fan magazines, and his single sleeves did not feature his picture. "Life" called him an "anonymous celebrity". After leaving his thick eyeglasses on an aeroplane in 1963, while on tour with the Beatles, Orbison was forced to wear his prescription Wayfarer sunglasses on stage and found that he preferred them. His biographers suggest that although he had a good sense of humor and was never morose, Orbison was very shy and suffered from severe stage fright; wearing sunglasses helped him hide somewhat. The sunglasses led some people to assume he was blind. His black clothes and song lyrics emphasised the image of mystery and introversion. His dark and brooding persona, combined with his tremulous voice in lovelorn ballads marketed to teenagers, made Orbison a star in the early 1960s. His string of top-40 hits continued with "In Dreams" (US number seven, UK number six), "Falling" (US number 22, UK number 9), and "Mean Woman Blues" (US number five, UK number three) coupled with "Blue Bayou" (US number 29, UK number three). According to the official Roy Orbison U.S. discography by Marcel Riesco, a rare alternate version of "Blue Bayou" was released in Italy. Orbison finished 1963 with a Christmas song written by Willie Nelson, "Pretty Paper" (US number 15 in 1963, UK number six in 1964).
As "In Dreams" was released in April 1963, Orbison was asked to replace Duane Eddy on a tour of the UK in top billing with the Beatles. When he arrived in Britain, however, he realized he was no longer the main draw. He had never heard of the Beatles, and annoyed, asked rhetorically, "What's a Beatle, anyway?" to which John Lennon replied, after tapping his shoulder, "I am". On the opening night, Orbison opted to go onstage first, although he was the more established act. The Beatles stood dumbfounded backstage as Orbison sang through 14 encores. Finally, when the audience began chanting "We want Roy!" again, Lennon and McCartney physically held Orbison back. Starr later said, "In Glasgow, we were all backstage listening to the tremendous applause he was getting. He was just standing there, not moving or anything." Through the tour, however, the two acts quickly learned to get along, a process made easier by the fact that the Beatles admired his work. Orbison felt a kinship with Lennon, but it was Harrison with whom he would later form a strong friendship.
Touring in 1963 took a toll on Orbison's personal life. His wife Claudette had an affair with the contractor who built their home in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Friends and relatives attributed the breakdown of the marriage to her youth and her inability to withstand being alone and bored. When Orbison toured Britain again in the fall of 1963, she joined him. He was immensely popular wherever he went, finishing the tour in Ireland and Canada. Almost immediately, he toured Australia and New Zealand with the Beach Boys and returned again to Britain and Ireland, where he was so besieged by teenaged girls that the Irish police had to halt his performances to pull the girls off him. He travelled to Australia again, this time with the Rolling Stones. Mick Jagger later remarked, referring to a snapshot he took of Orbison in New Zealand, "a fine figure of a man in the hot springs, he was."
Orbison also began collaborating with Bill Dees, whom he had known in Texas. With Dees, he wrote "It's Over", a number-one hit in the UK and a song that would be one of his signature pieces for the rest of his career. When Claudette walked in the room where Dees and Orbison were writing to say she was heading for Nashville, Orbison asked if she had any money. Dees said, "A pretty woman never needs any money". Just 40 minutes later, "Oh, Pretty Woman" was completed. A riff-laden masterpiece that employed a playful growl he got from a Bob Hope movie, the epithet "mercy" Orbison uttered when he was unable to hit a note, it rose to number one in the fall of 1964 in the United States and stayed on the charts for 14 weeks. It rose to number one in the UK, as well, spending 18 weeks total on the charts. The single sold over seven million copies. Orbison's success was greater in Britain; as "Billboard" magazine noted, "In a 68-week period that began on August 8, 1963, Roy Orbison was the "only" American artist to have a number-one single in Britain. He did it twice, with 'It's Over' on June 25, 1964, and 'Oh, Pretty Woman' on October 8, 1964. The latter song also went to number one in America, making Orbison impervious to the current chart dominance of British artists on both sides of the Atlantic."
Claudette and Orbison divorced in November 1964 over her infidelities, but reconciled 10 months later. His contract with Monument was expiring in June 1965. Wesley Rose, at this time acting as Orbison's agent, moved him from Monument Records to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (though in Europe he remained with Decca's London Records) for $1 million and with the understanding that he would expand into television and films, as Elvis Presley had done. Orbison was a film enthusiast, and when not touring, writing, or recording, he dedicated time to seeing up to three films a day.
Rose also became Orbison's producer. Fred Foster later suggested that Rose's takeover was responsible for the commercial failure of Orbison's work at MGM. Engineer Bill Porter agreed that Orbison's best work could only be achieved with RCA Nashville's A-Team. Orbison's first collection at MGM, an album titled "There Is Only One Roy Orbison", sold fewer than 200,000 copies. With the onset of the British Invasion in 1964–65, the direction of popular music shifted dramatically, and most performers of Orbison's generation were driven from the charts.
While on tour again in the UK in 1966, Orbison broke his foot falling off a motorcycle in front of thousands of screaming fans at a race track; he performed his show that evening in a cast. Claudette traveled to England to accompany Roy for the remainder of the tour. It was now made public that the couple had happily remarried and were back together (they had remarried in December 1965).
Orbison was fascinated with machines. He was known to follow a car that he liked and make the driver an offer on the spot.
Orbison and Claudette shared a love for motorcycles; she had grown up around them, but Roy claimed Elvis Presley had introduced him to motorcycles. On June 6, 1966, when Orbison and Claudette were riding home from Bristol, Tennessee, she struck the door of a pickup truck which had pulled out in front of her on South Water Avenue in Gallatin, Tennessee and died instantly.
A grieving Orbison threw himself into his work, collaborating with Bill Dees to write music for "The Fastest Guitar Alive", a film that MGM had scheduled for him to star in as well. It was initially planned as a dramatic Western but was rewritten as a comedy. Orbison's character was a spy who stole and had to protect and deliver a cache of gold to the Confederate Army during the American Civil War and was outfitted with a guitar that turned into a rifle. The prop allowed him to deliver the line, "I could kill you with this and play your funeral march at the same time," with, according to biographer Colin Escott, "zero conviction". Orbison was pleased with the film, although it proved to be a critical and box office failure. While MGM had included five films in his contract, no more were made.
He recorded an album dedicated to the songs of Don Gibson and another of Hank Williams covers, but both sold poorly. During the counterculture era, with the charts dominated by artists like Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, the Rolling Stones, and the Doors, Orbison felt lost and directionless, later saying: "[I] didn't hear a lot I could relate to, so I kind of stood there like a tree where the winds blow and the seasons change, and you're still there and you bloom again."
During a tour of England and playing Birmingham on Saturday, September 14, 1968, he received the news that his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee, had burned down, and his two eldest sons had died. The property was sold to Johnny Cash, who demolished the building and planted an orchard on it. On March 25, 1969, Orbison married German teenager Barbara Jakobs, whom he had met several weeks before his sons' deaths. Wesley (born 1965), his youngest son with Claudette, was raised by Orbison's parents. Orbison and Barbara had a son (Roy Kelton) in 1970 and another (Alexander) in 1975.
Orbison continued recording albums in the 1970s, but none of them sold well. He went an entire decade by 1976 without an album reaching the charts. He also failed to produce any popular singles after the 1960s, except for a few in Australia. His fortunes sank so low that he began to doubt his own talents, and several of his 1970s albums were not released internationally due to low US sales. He left MGM Records in 1973 and signed a one-album deal with Mercury Records. Peter Lehman observed that Orbison's absence was a part of the mystery of his persona: "Since it was never clear where he had come from, no one seemed to pay much mind to where he had gone; he was just gone." His influence was apparent, however, as several artists released popular covers of his songs. Orbison's version of "Love Hurts" was remade by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, again by hard rock band Nazareth, and by blues artist Jim Capaldi. Sonny James' version of "Only the Lonely" reached number one on the country music charts. Bruce Springsteen ended his concerts with Orbison songs, and Glen Campbell had a minor hit with a remake of "Dream Baby".
A compilation of Orbison's greatest hits reached number one in the UK in January 1976, and Orbison began to open concerts for the Eagles that year, who started as Linda Ronstadt's backup band. Ronstadt herself covered "Blue Bayou" in 1977, her version reaching number three on the "Billboard" charts and remaining in the charts for 24 weeks. Orbison credited this cover in particular for reviving his memory in the popular mind, if not his career. He signed again with Monument in 1976 and recorded "Regeneration" with Fred Foster, but it proved no more successful than before.
In late 1977, Orbison was not feeling well and decided to spend the winter in Hawaii. He checked in to a hospital there where testing discovered that he had severely obstructed coronary arteries. He underwent a triple coronary bypass on January 18, 1978. He had suffered from duodenal ulcers since 1960 and had been a heavy smoker since adolescence. He felt revitalized following the surgery, but he continued to smoke, and his weight fluctuated for the remainder of his life.
In 1980, Don McLean recorded "Crying" and it went to the top of the charts, first in the Netherlands then reaching number five in the US and staying on the charts for 15 weeks; it was number one in the UK for three weeks and also topped the Irish Charts. He was all but forgotten in the US, yet he reached popularity in unlikely places such as Bulgaria in 1982. He was astonished to find that he was as popular there as he had been in 1964, and he was forced to stay in his hotel room because he was mobbed on the streets of Sofia. In 1981, he and Emmylou Harris won a Grammy Award for their duet "That Lovin' You Feelin' Again" from the comedy film "Roadie", in which Orbison also had a cameo role, and things were picking up. It was his first such award, and he felt hopeful of making a full return to popular music, though it was several years until this came to fruition. In the meantime, Van Halen released a hard-rock cover of "Oh, Pretty Woman" on their 1982 album "Diver Down", again further exposing a younger generation to Orbison's music.
Orbison originally declined David Lynch's request to allow the use of "In Dreams" for the film "Blue Velvet" (1986). Lynch used it anyway (although his first choice was "Crying"); the song served as one of several obsessions of a psychopathic character named Frank Booth (played by Dennis Hopper). It was lip-synched by an effeminate drug dealer played by Dean Stockwell, after which Booth demanded the song be played over and over, once beating the protagonist while the song played. During filming, Lynch asked for the song to be played repeatedly to give the set a surreal atmosphere. Orbison was initially shocked at its use: he saw the film in a theater in Malibu and later said, "I was mortified because they were talking about the 'candy-colored clown' in relation to a dope deal ... I thought, 'What in the world ...?' But later, when I was touring, we got the video out and I really got to appreciate what David gave to the song, and what the song gave to the movie—how it achieved this otherworldly quality that added a whole new dimension to 'In Dreams'."
By 1987, Orbison's career was fully revived. He released an album of his re-recorded hits, titled "". "Life Fades Away", a song he co-wrote with his friend Glenn Danzig and recorded, was featured in the film "Less Than Zero" (1987). He and k.d. lang performed a duet of "Crying" for inclusion on the soundtrack to the film "Hiding Out" (1987); the pair received a Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals after Orbison's death.
Also in 1987, Orbison was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and was initiated into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Bruce Springsteen, who concluded his speech with a reference to his own album "Born to Run": "I wanted a record with words like Bob Dylan that sounded like Phil Spector—but, most of all, I wanted to sing like Roy Orbison. Now, everyone knows that no one sings like Roy Orbison." In response, Orbison asked Springsteen for a copy of the speech, and said of his induction that he felt "validated" by the honor. A few months later, Orbison and Springsteen paired again to film a concert at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles. They were joined by Jackson Browne, T Bone Burnett, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Bonnie Raitt, Jennifer Warnes, James Burton, and k.d. lang. Lang later recounted how humbled Orbison had been by the display of support from so many talented and busy musicians: "Roy looked at all of us and said, 'If there is anything I can ever do for you, please call on me'. He was very serious. It was his way of thanking us. It was very emotional." The concert was filmed in one take and aired on Cinemax under the title ""; it was released on video by Virgin Records, selling 50,000 copies.
It was also in 1988 that Orbison began collaborating seriously with Electric Light Orchestra bandleader Jeff Lynne on a new album. Lynne had just completed production work on George Harrison's "Cloud Nine" album, and all three ate lunch together one day when Orbison accepted an invitation to sing on Harrison's new single. They subsequently contacted Bob Dylan, who, in turn, allowed them to use a recording studio in his home. Along the way, Harrison made a quick visit to Tom Petty's residence to obtain his guitar; Petty and his band had backed Dylan on his last tour. By that evening, the group had written "Handle with Care", which led to the concept of recording an entire album. They called themselves the Traveling Wilburys, representing themselves as half-brothers with the same father. They gave themselves stage names; Orbison chose his from his musical hero, calling himself "Lefty Wilbury" after Lefty Frizzell. Expanding on the concept of a traveling band of raucous musicians, Orbison offered a quote about the group's foundation in honor: "Some people say Daddy was a cad and a bounder. I remember him as a Baptist minister."
Lynne later spoke of the recording sessions: "Everybody just sat there going, 'Wow, it's Roy Orbison!' ... Even though he's become your pal and you're hanging out and having a laugh and going to dinner, as soon as he gets behind that [mic] and he's doing his business, suddenly it's shudder time." Orbison was given one solo track, "Not Alone Any More", on the album. His contributions were highly praised by the press. "Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1" spent 53 weeks on the US charts, peaking at number three. It reached No. 1 in Australia and topped out at No. 16 in the UK. The album won a Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group. "Rolling Stone" included it in the top 100 albums of the decade.
Orbison was in high demand for concerts and interviews once again, and was seemingly ecstatic about it. He began writing songs and collaborating with many musicians from his past and newer fans, to develop a solo album, "Mystery Girl".
"Mystery Girl" was co-produced by Jeff Lynne, whom Orbison considered the best producer he had ever collaborated with. Elvis Costello, Orbison's son Wesley and others offered their songs to him. The biggest hit from the album was "You Got It", written with Lynne and Tom Petty. It posthumously rose to No. 9 in the US and No. 3 in the UK.
In 2014, a demo of Orbison's "The Way Is Love" was released as part of the 25th-anniversary deluxe edition of "Mystery Girl". The song was originally recorded on a stereo cassette player around 1986. Orbison's sons contributed instrumentation on the track along with Roy's vocals; it was produced by John Carter Cash.
Although the video for the Wilburys' "Handle with Care" was filmed with Orbison, the video for "End of the Line" was filmed and released posthumously. During Orbison's vocal parts in "End of the Line", the video shows a guitar in a rocking chair, next to Orbison's framed photo.
Orbison determinedly pursued his second chance at stardom, but he expressed amazement at his success: "It's very nice to be wanted again, but I still can't quite believe it." He lost some weight to fit his new image and the constant demand of touring, as well as the newer demands of making videos. In the final three months of his life, he gave "Rolling Stone" magazine extensive access to his daily activities; he intended to write an autobiography and wanted Martin Sheen to play him in a biopic. In November 1988, "Mystery Girl" was completed, and "Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1" was rising up the charts. Around this time, Orbison confided in Johnny Cash that he was having chest pains. He went to Europe, was presented with an award there, and played a show in Antwerp, where footage for the video for "You Got It" was filmed. He gave several interviews a day in a hectic schedule. A few days later, a manager at a club in Boston was concerned that he looked ill, but Orbison played the show, to another standing ovation.
Orbison performed at the Front Row Theater in Highland Heights, Ohio, on December 4. Exhausted, he returned to his home in Hendersonville to rest for several days before flying again to London to film two more videos for the Traveling Wilburys. On December 6, 1988, he spent the day flying model airplanes with his sons and ate dinner at his mother's home in Hendersonville. Later that day, he died of a heart attack, at the age of 52.
A memorial for Orbison was held in Nashville, and another was held in Los Angeles. He was buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in an unmarked grave. On April 8, 1989, Orbison became the first deceased musician since Elvis Presley to have two albums in the US Top Five at the same time, with the Traveling Wilburys album at number 4 and his own "Mystery Girl" at number 5. In the United Kingdom, he achieved even greater posthumous success, with two solo albums in the Top 3 in the chart dated February 11, 1989, "Mystery Girl" at number 2 and the compilation "The Legendary Roy Orbison" at number 3.
Rock and roll in the 1950s was defined by a driving backbeat, heavy guitars, and lyrical themes that glorified youthful rebellion. Few of Orbison's recordings have these characteristics. The structure and themes of his songs defied convention, and his much-praised voice and performance style were unlike any other in rock and roll. Many of his contemporaries compared his music with that of classically trained musicians, although he never mentioned any classical music influences. Peter Lehman summarized it, writing, "He achieved what he did not by copying classical music but by creating a unique form of popular music that drew upon a wide variety of music popular during his youth." Orbison was known as "the Caruso of Rock" and "the Big O".
Roys Boys LLC, a Nashville-based company founded by Orbison's sons to administer their father's catalog and safeguard his legacy, announced a November 16, 2018, release of "Unchained Melodies: Roy Orbison with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra" album as well as a fall 2018 Roy Orbison Hologram tour called "In Dreams: Roy Orbison in Concert".
Music critic Dave Marsh wrote that Orbison's compositions "define a world unto themselves more completely than any other body of work in pop music". Orbison's music, like the man himself, has been described as timeless, diverting from contemporary rock and roll and bordering on the eccentric, within a hair's breadth of being weird. Peter Watrous, writing for the "New York Times", declared in a concert review, "He has perfected an odd vision of popular music, one in which eccentricity and imagination beat back all the pressures toward conformity".
In the 1960s, Orbison refused to splice edits of songs together and insisted on recording them in single takes with all the instruments and singers together. The only convention Orbison followed in his most popular songs is the time limit for radio fare in pop songs. Otherwise, each seems to follow a separate structure. Using the standard 32-bar form for verses and choruses, normal pop songs followed the verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-verse-chorus structure. Where A represents the verse, B represents the chorus, and C the bridge, most pop songs can be represented by A-B-A-B-C-A-B, like "Ooby Dooby" and "Claudette". Orbison's "In Dreams" was a song in seven movements that can be represented as Intro-A-B-C-D-E-F; no sections are repeated. In "Running Scared", however, the entire song repeats to build suspense to a final climax, to be represented as A-A-A-A-B. "Crying" is more complex, changing parts toward the end to be represented as A-B-C-D-E-F-A-B'-C'-D'-E'-F'. Although Orbison recorded and wrote standard structure songs before "Only the Lonely", he claimed never to have learned how to write them:
Elton John's songwriting partner and main lyricist Bernie Taupin wrote that Orbison's songs always made "radical left turns", and k.d. lang declared that good songwriting comes from being constantly surprised, such as how the entirety of "Running Scared" eventually depends on the final note, one word. Some of the musicians who worked with Orbison were confounded by what he asked them to do. The Nashville session guitarist Jerry Kennedy stated, "Roy went against the grain. The first time you'd hear something, it wouldn't sound right. But after a few playbacks, it would start to grow on you."
Critic Dave Marsh categorizes Orbison's ballads into themes reflecting pain and loss, and dreaming. A third category is his uptempo rockabilly songs such as "Go! Go! Go!" and "Mean Woman Blues" that are more thematically simple, addressing his feelings and intentions in a masculine braggadocio. In concert, Orbison placed the uptempo songs between the ballads to keep from being too consistently dark or grim.
In 1990, Colin Escott wrote an introduction to Orbison's biography published in a CD box set: "Orbison was the master of compression. Working the singles era, he could relate a short story, or establish a mood in under three minutes. If you think that's easy—try it. His greatest recordings were quite simply perfect; not a word or note surplus to intention." After attending a show in 1988, Peter Watrous of "The New York Times" wrote that Orbison's songs are "dreamlike claustrophobically intimate set pieces". Music critic Ken Emerson writes that the "apocalyptic romanticism" in Orbison's music was well-crafted for the films in which his songs appeared in the 1980s because the music was "so over-the-top that dreams become delusions, and self-pity paranoia", striking "a postmodern nerve". Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant favored American R&B music as a youth, but beyond the black musicians, he named Elvis and Orbison especially as foreshadowing the emotions he would experience: "The poignancy of the combination of lyric and voice was stunning. [Orbison] used drama to great effect and he wrote dramatically."
The loneliness in Orbison's songs that he became most famous for, he both explained and downplayed: "I don't think I've been any more lonely than anyone else ... Although if you grow up in West Texas, there are a lot of ways to be lonely." His music offered an alternative to the postured masculinity that was pervasive in music and culture. Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees stated, "He made emotion fashionable, that it was all right to talk about and sing about very emotional things. For men to sing about very emotional things ... Before that no one would do it." Orbison acknowledged this in looking back on the era in which he became popular: "When ["Crying"] came out I don't think anyone had accepted the fact that a man should cry when he wants to cry."
Orbison admitted that he did not think his voice was put to appropriate use until "Only the Lonely" in 1960, when it was able, in his words, to allow its "flowering". Carl Perkins, however, toured with Orbison while they were both signed with Sun Records and recalled a specific concert when Orbison covered the Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald standard "Indian Love Call", and had the audience completely silenced, in awe. When compared to the Everly Brothers, who often used the same session musicians, Orbison is credited with "a passionate intensity" that, according to "The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll", made "his love, his life, and, indeed, the whole world [seem] to be coming to an end—not with a whimper, but an agonized, beautiful bang".
Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel both commented on the otherworldly quality of Orbison's voice. Dwight Yoakam stated that Orbison's voice sounded like "the cry of an angel falling backward through an open window". Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees went further to say that when he heard "Crying" for the first time, "That was it. To me that was the voice of God." Elvis Presley stated Orbison's voice was the greatest and most distinctive he had ever heard. Orbison's music and voice have been compared to opera by Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and songwriter Will Jennings, among others. Dylan marked Orbison as a specific influence, remarking that there was nothing like him on radio in the early 1960s:
Likewise, Tim Goodwin, who conducted the orchestra that backed Orbison in Bulgaria, had been told that Orbison's voice would be a singular experience to hear. When Orbison started with "Crying" and hit the high notes, Goodwin stated: "The strings were playing and the band had built up and, sure enough, the hair on the back of my neck just all started standing up. It was an incredible physical sensation." Bassist Jerry Scheff, who backed Orbison in his "" concert, wrote about him, "Roy Orbison was like an opera singer. His voice melted out of his mouth into the stratosphere and back. He never seemed like he was trying to sing, he just did it."
His voice ranged from baritone to tenor, and music scholars have suggested that he had a three- or four-octave range.
Orbison's severe stage fright was particularly noticeable in the 1970s and early 1980s. During the first few songs in a concert, the vibrato in his voice was almost uncontrollable, but afterward, it became stronger and more dependable. This also happened with age. Orbison noticed that he was unable to control the tremor in the late afternoon and evenings, and chose to record in the mornings when it was possible.
Orbison often excused his motionless performances by saying that his songs did not allow instrumental sections so he could move or dance on stage, although songs like "Mean Woman Blues" did offer that. He was aware of his unique performance style even in the early 1960s when he commented, "I'm not a super personality—on stage or off. I mean, you could put workers like Chubby Checker or Bobby Rydell in second-rate shows and they'd still shine through, but not me. I'd have to be prepared. People come to hear my music, my songs. That's what I have to give them."
Lang compared Orbison to a tree, with passive but solid beauty. This image of Orbison as immovable was so associated with him it was parodied by John Belushi on "Saturday Night Live", as Belushi dressed as Orbison falls over while singing "Oh, Pretty Woman", and continues to play as his bandmates set him upright again. However, Lang quantified this style by saying, "It's so hard to explain what Roy's energy was like because he would fill a room with his energy and presence but not say a word. Being that he was so grounded and so strong and so gentle and quiet. He was just there."
Orbison attributed his own passion during his performances to the period when he grew up in Fort Worth while the US was mobilizing for World War II. His parents worked in a defense plant; his father brought out a guitar in the evenings, and their friends and relatives who had just joined the military gathered to drink and sing heartily. Orbison later reflected, "I guess that level of intensity made a big impression on me, because it's still there. That sense of 'do it for all it's worth and do it now and do it good.' Not to analyze it too much, but I think the verve and gusto that everybody felt and portrayed around me has stayed with me all this time."
"Rolling Stone" placed him at number 37 on their list of the "Greatest Artists of All Time" and number 13 on their list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time'. In 2002, "Billboard" magazine listed Orbison at number 74 in the Top 600 recording artists.
Video and televised feature performances: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26552 |
Ragtime
Ragtime – also spelled rag-time or rag time – is a musical style that enjoyed its peak popularity between 1895 and 1919. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm.
The style has its origins in African-American communities in cities such as St. Louis.
Ben Harney, a Kentucky native, wrote "You've Been a Good Old Wagon But You Done Broke Down" and helped popularize the style. The composition was published in 1896, a few months after Ernest Hogan's "La Pas Ma La".
Ragtime was also a modification of the march style popularized by John Philip Sousa, with additional polyrhythms coming from African music. Ragtime composer Scott Joplin ("ca." 1868–1917) became famous through the publication of the "Maple Leaf Rag" (1899) and a string of ragtime hits such as "The Entertainer" (1902), although he was later forgotten by all but a small, dedicated community of ragtime aficionados until the major ragtime revival in the early 1970s. For at least 12 years after its publication, "Maple Leaf Rag" heavily influenced subsequent ragtime composers with its melody lines, chord progressions or metric patterns.
In a 1913 interview published in the black newspaper "New York Age", Scott Joplin asserted that there had been "ragtime music in America ever since the Negro race has been here, but the white people took no notice of it until about twenty years ago [in the 1890s]."
Ragtime quickly established itself as a distinctly American form of popular music. Ragtime became the first African-American music to have an impact on mainstream popular culture. Piano "professors" such as Jelly Roll Morton played ragtime in the "sporting houses" (bordellos) of New Orleans. Polite society embraced ragtime as disseminated by brass bands and "society" dance bands. Bands led by W. C. Handy and James R. Europe were among the first to crash the color bar in American music. The new rhythms of ragtime changed the world of dance bands and led to new dance steps, popularized by the show-dancers Vernon and Irene Castle during the 1910s. The growth of dance orchestras in popular entertainment was an outgrowth of ragtime and continued into the 1920s. Ragtime also made its way to Europe. Shipboard orchestras on transatlantic lines included ragtime music in their repertoire. James R. Europe's 369th Regiment band generated great enthusiasm during its 1918 tour of France.
Ragtime was an influence on early jazz; the influence of Jelly Roll Morton continued in the Harlem stride piano style of players such as James P. Johnson and Fats Waller. Dance orchestras started evolving away from ragtime towards the big band sounds that predominated in the 1920s and 1930s when they adopted smoother rhythmic styles.
There have been numerous revivals since newer styles supplanted ragtime in the 1920s. First in the early 1940s, many jazz bands began to include ragtime in their repertoire and put out ragtime recordings on 78 rpm records. A more significant revival occurred in the 1950s as a wider variety of ragtime genres of the past were made available on records, and new rags were composed, published, and recorded. In 1971 Joshua Rifkin released a compilation of Joplin's work which was nominated for a Grammy Award.
In 1973 The New England Ragtime Ensemble (then a student group called The New England Conservatory Ragtime Ensemble) recorded "The Red Back Book", a compilation of some of Joplin's rags in period orchestrations edited by conservatory president Gunther Schuller. It won a Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance of the year and was named Top Classical Album of 1974 by "Billboard" magazine. The movie "The Sting" (1973) brought ragtime to a wide audience with its soundtrack of Joplin tunes. The film's rendering of "The Entertainer", adapted and orchestrated by Marvin Hamlisch, was a Top 5 hit in 1975.
Ragtime – with Joplin's work at the forefront – has been cited as an American equivalent of the minuets of Mozart, the mazurkas of Chopin, or the waltzes of Brahms. Ragtime also influenced classical composers including Erik Satie, Claude Debussy, and Igor Stravinsky.
Ragtime originated in African American music in the late 19th century and descended from the jigs and march music played by African American bands, referred to as "jig piano" or "piano thumping".
By the start of the 20th century, it became widely popular throughout North America and was listened and danced to, performed, and written by people of many different subcultures. A distinctly American musical style, ragtime may be considered a synthesis of African syncopation and European classical music, especially the marches made popular by John Philip Sousa.
Some early piano rags are entitled marches, and "jig" and "rag" were used interchangeably in the mid-1890s. Ragtime was also preceded by its close relative the cakewalk. In 1895, black entertainer Ernest Hogan composed two of the earliest sheet music rags, one of which ("All Coons Look Alike to Me") eventually sold a million copies. The other composition was called "La Pas Ma La", and it was also a hit.
As black musician Tom Fletcher said, Hogan was the "first to put on paper the kind of rhythm that was being played by non-reading musicians." While the song's success helped introduce the country to ragtime rhythms, its use of racial slurs created a number of derogatory imitation tunes, known as "coon songs" because of their use of racist and stereotypical images of blacks. In Hogan's later years, he admitted shame and a sense of "race betrayal" from the song, while also expressing pride in helping bring ragtime to a larger audience.
The emergence of mature ragtime is usually dated to 1897, the year in which several important early rags were published. In 1899, Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" was published and became a great hit and demonstrated more depth and sophistication than earlier ragtime. Ragtime was one of the main influences on the early development of jazz (along with the blues). Some artists, such as Jelly Roll Morton, were present and performed both ragtime and jazz styles during the period the two styles overlapped. He also incorporated the Spanish Tinge in his performances, which gave a habanera or tango rhythm to his music. Jazz largely surpassed ragtime in mainstream popularity in the early 1920s, although ragtime compositions continue to be written up to the present, and periodic revivals of popular interest in ragtime occurred in the 1950s and the 1970s.
The heyday of ragtime occurred before sound recording was widely available. Like classical music, and unlike jazz, classical ragtime had and has primarily a written tradition, being distributed in sheet music rather than through recordings or by imitation of live performances. Ragtime music was also distributed via piano rolls for player pianos. A folk ragtime tradition also existed before and during the period of classical ragtime (a designation largely created by Scott Joplin's publisher John Stillwell Stark), manifesting itself mostly through string bands, banjo and mandolin clubs (which experienced a burst of popularity during the early 20th century) and the like.
A form known as novelty piano (or novelty ragtime) emerged as the traditional rag was fading in popularity. Where traditional ragtime depended on amateur pianists and sheet music sales, the novelty rag took advantage of new advances in piano-roll technology and the phonograph record to permit a more complex, pyrotechnic, performance-oriented style of rag to be heard. Chief among the novelty rag composers is Zez Confrey, whose "Kitten on the Keys" popularized the style in 1921.
Ragtime also served as the roots for stride piano, a more improvisational piano style popular in the 1920s and 1930s. Elements of ragtime found their way into much of the American popular music of the early 20th century. It also played a central role in the development of the musical style later referred to as Piedmont blues; indeed, much of the music played by such artists of the style as Reverend Gary Davis, Blind Boy Fuller, Elizabeth Cotten, and Etta Baker could be referred to as "ragtime guitar."
Although most ragtime was composed for piano, transcriptions for other instruments and ensembles are common, notably including Gunther Schuller's arrangements of Joplin's rags. Ragtime guitar continued to be popular into the 1930s, usually in the form of songs accompanied by skilled guitar work. Numerous records emanated from several labels, performed by Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller, Lemon Jefferson, and others. Occasionally ragtime was scored for ensembles (particularly dance bands and brass bands) similar to those of James Reese Europe or as songs like those written by Irving Berlin. Joplin had long-standing ambitions of synthesizing the worlds of ragtime and opera, to which end the opera "Treemonisha" was written. However, its first performance, poorly staged with Joplin accompanying on the piano, was "disastrous" and was never performed again in Joplin's lifetime. The score was lost for decades, then rediscovered in 1970, and a fully orchestrated and staged performance took place in 1972. An earlier opera by Joplin, "A Guest of Honor", has been lost.
The rag was a modification of the march made popular by John Philip Sousa, with additional polyrhythms coming from African music. It was usually written in 2/4 or 4/4 time with a predominant left-hand pattern of bass notes on strong beats (beats 1 and 3) and chords on weak beats (beat 2 and 4) accompanying a syncopated melody in the right hand. According to some sources the name "ragtime" may come from the "ragged or syncopated rhythm" of the right hand. A rag written in 3/4 time is a "ragtime waltz."
Ragtime is not a meter in the same way that marches are in duple meter and waltzes are in triple meter; it is rather a musical style that uses an effect that can be applied to any meter. The defining characteristic of ragtime music is a specific type of syncopation in which melodic accents occur between metrical beats. This results in a melody that seems to be avoiding some metrical beats of the accompaniment by emphasizing notes that either anticipate or follow the beat ("a rhythmic base of metric affirmation, and a melody of metric denial"). The ultimate (and intended) effect on the listener is actually to accentuate the beat, thereby inducing the listener to move to the music. Scott Joplin, the composer/pianist known as the "King of Ragtime", called the effect "weird and intoxicating." He also used the term "swing" in describing how to play ragtime music: "Play slowly until you catch the swing...".
The name swing later came to be applied to an early style of jazz that developed from ragtime. Converting a non-ragtime piece of music into ragtime by changing the time values of melody notes is known as "ragging" the piece. Original ragtime pieces usually contain several distinct themes, four being the most common number. These themes were typically 16 bars, each theme divided into periods of four four-bar phrases and arranged in patterns of repeats and reprises. Typical patterns were AABBACCC, AABBACCDD and AABBCCA, with the first two strains in the tonic key and the following strains in the subdominant. Sometimes rags would include introductions of four bars or bridges, between themes, of anywhere between four and 24 bars.
In a note on the sheet music for the song "Leola" Joplin wrote, "Notice! Don't play this piece fast. It is never right to play 'ragtime' fast." E. L. Doctorow used the quotation as the epigraph to his novel "Ragtime".
Ragtime pieces came in a number of different styles during the years of its popularity and appeared under a number of different descriptive names. It is related to several earlier styles of music, has close ties with later styles of music, and was associated with a few musical fads of the period such as the foxtrot. Many of the terms associated with ragtime have inexact definitions and are defined differently by different experts; the definitions are muddled further by the fact that publishers often labelled pieces for the fad of the moment rather than the true style of the composition. There is even disagreement about the term "ragtime" itself; experts such as David Jasen and Trebor Tichenor choose to exclude ragtime songs from the definition but include novelty piano and stride piano (a modern perspective), while Edward A. Berlin includes ragtime songs and excludes the later styles (which is closer to how ragtime was viewed originally). The terms below should not be considered exact, but merely an attempt to pin down the general meaning of the concept.
European Classical composers were influenced by the form. The first contact with ragtime was probably at the Paris Exposition in 1900, one of the stages of the European tour of John Philip Sousa. The first notable classical composer to take a serious interest in ragtime was Antonín Dvořák. French composer Claude Debussy emulated ragtime in three pieces for piano. The best-known remains the "Golliwog's Cake Walk" (from the 1908 Piano Suite "Children's Corner"). He later returned to the style with two preludes for piano: "Minstrels", (1910) and "General Lavine-excentric" (from his 1913 Préludes), which was inspired by a Médrano circus clown.
Erik Satie, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, and the other members of The Group of Six in Paris never made any secret of their sympathy for ragtime, which is sometimes evident in their works. Consider, in particular, the ballet of Satie, "Parade (Ragtime du Paquebot)," (1917) and "La Mort de Monsieur Mouche", an overture for piano for a drama in three acts, composed in the early 1900s in memory of his friend J.P. Contamine de Latour. In 1902 the American cakewalk was very popular in Paris and Satie two years later wrote two rags, "La Diva de l'empire" and "Piccadilly". Despite the two Anglo-Saxon settings, the tracks appear American-inspired. "La Diva de l'empire", a march for piano soloist, was written for Paulette Darty and initially bore the title "Stand-Walk Marche"; it was later subtitled "Intermezzo Americain" when Rouarts-Lerolle reprinted it in 1919. "Piccadilly", another march, was initially titled "The Transatlantique"; it presented a stereotypical wealthy American heir sailing on an ocean liner on the New York–Europe route, going to trade his fortune for an aristocratic title in Europe. There is a similar influence in Milhaud's ballets "Le boeuf sur le toite" and "Creation du Monde", which he wrote after a visit to Harlem during his trip in 1922. Even the Swiss composer Honegger wrote works in which the influence of African American music is pretty obvious. Examples include "Pacific 231", "Prélude et Blues" and especially the "Concertino" for piano and orchestra.
Igor Stravinsky wrote a solo piano work called "Piano-Rag-Music" in 1919 and also included a rag in his theater piece "L'Histoire du soldat" (1918).
In the early 1940s, many jazz bands began to include ragtime in their repertoire, and as early as 1936 78 rpm records of Joplin's compositions were produced. Old numbers written for piano were rescored for jazz instruments by jazz musicians, which gave the old style a new sound. The most famous recording of this period is Pee Wee Hunt's version of Euday L. Bowman's "Twelfth Street Rag."
A more significant revival occurred in the 1950s. A wider variety of ragtime styles of the past were made available on records, and new rags were composed, published, and recorded. Much of the ragtime recorded in this period is presented in a light-hearted novelty style, looked to with nostalgia as the product of a supposedly more innocent time. A number of popular recordings featured "prepared pianos", playing rags on pianos with tacks on the hammers and the instrument deliberately somewhat out of tune, supposedly to simulate the sound of a piano in an old honky tonk.
Four events brought forward a different kind of ragtime revival in the 1970s. First, pianist Joshua Rifkin released a compilation of Scott Joplin's work, "", on Nonesuch Records, which was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Classical Performance – Instrumental Soloist(s) without Orchestra category in 1971. This recording reintroduced Joplin's music to the public in the manner the composer had intended, not as a nostalgic stereotype but as serious, respectable music. Second, the New York Public Library released a two-volume set of "The Collected Works of Scott Joplin" which renewed interest in Joplin among musicians and prompted new stagings of Joplin's opera "Treemonisha". Next came the release and Grammy Award for The New England Ragtime Ensemble's recording of Joplin's "Red Back Book." Finally, with the release of the motion picture "The Sting" in 1973, which had a Marvin Hamlisch soundtrack of Joplin tunes edited by Gunther Schuller, ragtime was brought to a wide audience. Hamlisch's rendering of Joplin's 1902 rag "The Entertainer" won an Academy Award, and was an American Top 40 hit in 1974, reaching No. 3 on May 18. Ragtime news and reviews publications during this period included "The Ragtime Review" (1962–1966), "The Rag Times" (bimonthly/sporadic, 1962–2003), and "The Mississippi Rag" (monthly, 1973–2009).
Many modern musicians have again begun to find ragtime and incorporate it into their musical repertoires; such acts include Jay Chou, Curtains for You, Baby Gramps, and Bob Milne., and Tom Brier
In 1980, an adaption of E. L. Doctorow's historical novel "Ragtime" was released on screen. Randy Newman composed its music score, which was all original. In 1998, a stage version of "Ragtime" was produced on Broadway. With music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, the show featured several rags as well as songs in other musical styles. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26553 |
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; , 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (, RAbbi SHlomo Itzhaki), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud and commentary on the "Tanakh". Acclaimed for his ability to present the basic meaning of the text in a concise and lucid fashion, Rashi appeals to both learned scholars and beginner students, and his works remain a centerpiece of contemporary Jewish study. His commentary on the Talmud, which covers nearly all of the Babylonian Talmud (a total of 30 out of 39 tractates, due to his death), has been included in every edition of the Talmud since its first printing by Daniel Bomberg in the 1520s. His commentary on Tanakh—especially on the Chumash ("Five Books of Moses")—serves as the basis for more than 300 "supercommentaries" which analyze Rashi's choice of language and citations, penned by some of the greatest names in rabbinic literature.
Rashi's surname, Yitzhaki, derives from his father's name, Yitzhak. The acronym is sometimes also fancifully expanded as Rabban Shel YIsrael which means the rabbi of Israel, or as Rabbenu SheYichyeh (Our Rabbi, may he live). He may be cited in Hebrew and Aramaic texts as (1) "Shlomo son of Rabbi Yitzhak", (2) "Shlomo son of Yitzhak", (3) "Shlomo Yitzhaki", and myriad similar highly respectful derivatives.
In older literature, Rashi is sometimes referred to as "Jarchi" or "Yarhi" (), his abbreviated name being interpreted as Rabbi Shlomo Yarhi. This was understood to refer to the Hebrew name of Lunel in Provence, popularly derived from the French "lune" "moon", in Hebrew , in which Rashi was assumed to have lived at some time or to have been born, or where his ancestors were supposed to have originated. Later Christian writers Richard Simon and Johann Christoph Wolf claimed that only Christian scholars referred to Rashi as Jarchi, and that this epithet was unknown to the Jews. Bernardo de Rossi, however, demonstrated that Hebrew scholars also referred to Rashi as Yarhi. In 1839, Leopold Zunz showed that the Hebrew usage of Jarchi was an erroneous propagation of the error by Christian writers, instead interpreting the abbreviation as it is understood today: Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki. The evolution of this term has been thoroughly traced.
Rashi was an only child born at Troyes, Champagne, in northern France. His mother's brother was Simon the Elder, Rabbi of Mainz. Simon was a disciple of Gershom ben Judah, who died that same year. On his father's side, Rashi has been claimed to be a 33rd-generation descendant of Johanan HaSandlar, who was a fourth-generation descendant of Gamaliel, who was reputedly descended from the Davidic line. In his voluminous writings, Rashi himself made no such claim at all. The main early rabbinical source about his ancestry, Responsum No. 29 by Solomon Luria, makes no such claim either.
His fame later made him the subject of many legends. One tradition contends that his parents were childless for many years. Rashi's father, Yitzhak, a poor winemaker, once found a precious jewel and was approached by non-Jews who wished to buy it to adorn their idol. Yitzhak agreed to travel with them to their land, but en route, he cast the gem into the sea. Afterwards he was visited by either the Voice of God or the prophet Elijah, who told him that he would be rewarded with the birth of a noble son "who would illuminate the world with his Torah knowledge."
Another legend also states that Rashi's parents moved to Worms, Germany while Rashi's mother was pregnant. As she walked down one of the narrow streets in the Jewish quarter, she was imperiled by two oncoming carriages. She turned and pressed herself against a wall, which opened to receive her. This miraculous niche is still visible in the wall of the Worms Synagogue.
According to tradition, Rashi was first brought to learn Torah by his father on Shavuot day at the age of five. His father was his main Torah teacher until his death when Rashi was still a youth. At the age of 17 he married and soon after went to learn in the yeshiva of Rabbi Yaakov ben Yakar in Worms, returning to his wife three times yearly, for the Days of Awe, Passover and Shavuot. When Rabbi Yaakov died in 1064, Rashi continued learning in Worms for another year in the yeshiva of his relative, Rabbi Isaac ben Eliezer Halevi, who was also chief rabbi of Worms. Then he moved to Mainz, where he studied under another of his relatives, Rabbi Isaac ben Judah, the rabbinic head of Mainz and one of the leading sages of the Lorraine region straddling France and Germany.
Rashi's teachers were students of Rabbeinu Gershom and Rabbi Eliezer Hagadol, leading Talmudists of the previous generation. From his teachers, Rashi imbibed the oral traditions pertaining to the Talmud as they had been passed down for centuries, as well as an understanding of the Talmud's unique logic and form of argument. Rashi took concise, copious notes from what he learned in yeshiva, incorporating this material in his commentaries. He was also greatly influenced by the exegetical principles of Menahem Kara.
He returned to Troyes at the age of 25, after which time his mother died, and he was asked to join the Troyes "Beth din" (rabbinical court). He also began answering halakhic questions. Upon the death of the head of the "Bet din", Rabbi Zerach ben Abraham, Rashi assumed the court's leadership and answered hundreds of halakhic queries.
In around 1070 he founded a yeshiva which attracted many disciples. It is thought by some that Rashi earned his living as a vintner since Rashi shows an extensive knowledge of its utensils and process, but there is no evidence for this. Most scholars and a Jewish oral tradition contend that he was a vintner. The only reason given for the centuries-old tradition that he was a vintner being not true is that the soil in all of Troyes is not optimal for wine growing grapes, claimed by the research of Rabbi Haym Soloveitchik. Earlier references such as a reference to an actual seal from his vineyard are said not to prove that he sold wine but just that fermented his grapes for his own use.
Although there are many legends about his travels, Rashi likely never went further than from the Seine to the Rhine; the utmost limit of his travels were the yeshivas of Lorraine.
In 1096, the People's Crusade swept through the Lorraine, murdering 12,000 Jews and uprooting whole communities. Among those murdered in Worms were the three sons of Rabbi Isaac ben Eliezer Halevi, Rashi's teacher. Rashi wrote several "Selichot" (penitential poems) mourning the slaughter and the destruction of the region's great yeshivot. Seven of Rashi's "Selichot" still exist, including "Adonai Elohei Hatz'vaot"", which is recited on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, and "Az Terem Nimtehu", which is recited on the Fast of Gedalia.
Rashi died on July 13, 1105 (Tammuz 29, 4865) at the age of 65. He was buried in Troyes. The approximate location of the cemetery in which he was buried was recorded in "Seder Hadoros", but over time the location of the cemetery was forgotten. A number of years ago, a Sorbonne professor discovered an ancient map depicting the site of the cemetery, which now lay under an open square in the city of Troyes. After this discovery, French Jews erected a large monument in the center of the square—a large, black and white globe featuring the three Hebrew letters of רשי artfully arranged counterclockwise in negative space, evoking the style of Hebrew microcalligraphy. The granite base of the monument is engraved: "Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki — Commentator and Guide".
In 2005, Yisroel Meir Gabbai erected an additional plaque at this site marking the square as a burial ground. The plaque reads: ""The place you are standing on is the cemetery of the town of Troyes. Many Rishonim are buried here, among them Rabbi Shlomo, known as Rashi the holy, may his merit protect us"".
Rashi had no sons, but his three daughters, Yocheved, Miriam and Rachel, all married Talmudic scholars. Legends exist that Rashi's daughters wore tefillin. While some women in medieval Ashkenaz did wear tefillin, there is no evidence that Rashi's daughters did or did not do so.
Rashi's commentary on the Tanakh—and especially his commentary on the Chumash—is the essential companion for any study of the Bible at any level. Drawing on the breadth of Midrashic, Talmudic and Aggadic literature (including literature that is no longer extant), as well as his knowledge of Hebrew grammar and halakhah, Rashi clarifies the "simple" meaning of the text so that a bright child of five could understand it. At the same time, his commentary forms the foundation for some of the most profound legal analysis and mystical discourses that came after it. Scholars debate why Rashi chose a particular Midrash to illustrate a point, or why he used certain words and phrases and not others. Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi wrote that "Rashi's commentary on Torah is the 'wine of Torah'. It opens the heart and uncovers one's essential love and fear of G-d."
Scholars believe that Rashi's commentary on the Torah grew out of the lectures he gave to his students in his yeshiva, and evolved with the questions and answers they raised on it. Rashi completed this commentary only in the last years of his life. It was immediately accepted as authoritative by all Jewish communities, Ashkenazi and Sephardi alike.
The first dated Hebrew printed book was Rashi's commentary on the Chumash, printed by Abraham ben Garton in Reggio di Calabria, Italy, 18 February 1475. (This version did not include the text of the Chumash itself.)
Rashi wrote commentaries on all the books of Tanakh except Chronicles I & II. Scholars believe that the commentary which appears under Rashi's name in those books was compiled by the students of Rabbi Saadiah of the Rhine, who incorporated material from Rashi's yeshiva. Rashi's students, Rabbi Shemaya and Rabbi Yosef, edited the final commentary on the Torah; some of their own notes and additions also made their way into the version we have today.
Today, tens of thousands of men, women and children study "Chumash with Rashi" as they review the Torah portion to be read in synagogue on the upcoming Shabbat. According to halakha, a man may even study the Rashi on each Torah verse in fulfillment of the requirement to review the Parsha twice with Targum (which normally refers to Targum Onkelos) This practice is called in Hebrew: "Shnayim mikra ve-echad targum". Since its publication, Rashi's commentary on the Torah is standard in almost all Chumashim produced within the Orthodox Jewish community.
Rabbi Mordechai Leifer of Nadvorna said that anyone who learns the weekly Parsha together with the commentary by Rashi every week, is guaranteed to sit in the Yeshiva (school) of Rashi in the Afterlife.
Rashi wrote the first comprehensive commentary on the Talmud. Rashi's commentary, drawing on his knowledge of the entire contents of the Talmud, attempts to provide a full explanation of the words and of the logical structure of each Talmudic passage. Unlike other commentators, Rashi does not paraphrase or exclude any part of the text, but elucidates phrase by phrase. Often he provides punctuation in the unpunctuated text, explaining, for example, "This is a question"; "He says this in surprise", "He repeats this in agreement", etc.
As in his commentary on the Tanakh, Rashi frequently illustrates the meaning of the text using analogies to the professions, crafts, and sports of his day. He also translates difficult Hebrew or Aramaic words into the spoken French language of his day, giving latter-day scholars a window into the vocabulary and pronunciation of Old French.
Rashi exerted a decisive influence on establishing the correct text of the Talmud. Up to and including his age, texts of each Talmudic tractate were copied by hand and circulated in yeshivas. Errors often crept in: sometimes a copyist would switch words around, and other times incorporate a student's marginal notes into the main text. Because of the large number of merchant-scholars who came from throughout the Jewish world to attend the great fairs in Troyes, Rashi was able to compare different manuscripts and readings in Tosefta, Jerusalem Talmud, Midrash, Targum, and the writings of the Geonim, and determine which readings should be preferred. However, in his humility, he deferred to scholars who disagreed with him. For example, in Chulin 4a, he comments about a phrase, "We do not read this. But as for those who do, this is the explanation..."
Rashi's commentary, which covers nearly all of the Babylonian Talmud (a total of 30 tractates), has been included in every version of the Talmud since its first printing in the fifteenth century. It is always situated towards the middle of the opened book display; i.e., on the side of the page closest to the binding.
Some of the other printed commentaries which are attributed to Rashi were composed by others, primarily his students. Akiva Eger stated that the commentary on Nazir was not in fact by Rashi, while Zvi Hirsch Chajes states that the commentary on Taanit was not by Rashi. In some editions of the Talmud, the text indicates that Rashi died before completing the tractate, and that it was completed by a student. This is true of Makkot (the end of which was composed by his son-in-law, Rabbi Judah ben Nathan), and of Bava Batra (finished, in a more detailed style, by his grandson the Rashbam). The commentary attributed to Rashi on Horayot was thought by some to have been written by his son in law Judah ben Nathan but evidence was uncovered indicating that the commentary on Horayot was from the school of Gershom ben Judah. There is a legend that the commentary on Nedarim, which is clearly not his, was actually composed by his daughters. Another legend states that Rashi died while writing a commentary on Talmud, and that the very last word he wrote was 'tahor,' which means pure in Hebrew - indicating that his soul was pure as it left his body.
About 300 of Rashi's responsa and halakhic decisions are extant. Although some may find contradictory to Rashi's intended purpose for his writings, these responsa were copied, preserved, and published by his students, grandchildren, and other future scholars. "Siddur Rashi", compiled by an unknown student, also contains Rashi's responsa on prayer. Many other rulings and responsa are recorded in Mahzor Vitry. Other compilations include "Sefer Hapardes", edited by Rabbi Shemayah, Rashi's student, and "Sefer Haorah", prepared by Rabbi Nathan Hamachiri.
Rashi's writing is placed under the category of post-Talmudic, for its explanation and elaboration on the Talmud; however, he not only wrote about the meaning of Biblical and Talmudic passages, but also on liturgical texts, syntax rules, and cases regarding new religions emerging. Some say that his responsa allows people to obtain "clear pictures of his personality," and shows Rashi as a kind, gentle, humble, and liberal man. They also showed the great deal of common sense and intelligence he had.
Rashi's responsa not only addressed some of the different cases and questions regarding Jewish life and law, but it shed light into the historical and social conditions which the Jews were under during the First Crusade. He covered the following topics and themes in his responsa: linguistic focus on texts, law related to prayer, food, and the Sabbath, wine produced by non-Jews, oaths and excommunications, sales, partnerships, loans and interest, bails, communal affairs, and civil law. Rashi's responsa can be broken down into three genres: questions by contemporary sages and students regarding the Torah, the law, and other compilations.
For example, in his writing regarding relations with the Christians, he provides a guide for how one should behave when dealing with martyrs and converts, as well as the "insults and terms of [disgrace] aimed at the Jews." Stemming from the aftermath of the Crusades, Rashi wrote concerning those who were forced to convert, and the rights women had when their husbands were killed.
A main characteristic of Rashi's writing was his focus on grammar and syntax. His primary focus was on word choice, and "essentially [he acts] as a dictionary where he defines unusual Hebrew words." He searches for things that may not be clear to the reader and offers clarification on the inconsistency that may be present. Rashi does so by "filling in missing information that [helps] lead to a more complete understanding" of the Torah. Rashi focused the majority of his responsa, if not all, on a "meticulous analysis of the language of the text." A portion of his writing is dedicated to making distinctions between the peshat, or plain and literal meaning of the text, and the aggadah or rabbinic interpretation. One of Rashi's grandchildren, Rabbi Samuel B. Meir or Rashbam, heavily critiqued his response on his "commentary on the Torah [being] based primarily on the classic midrashim (rabbinic homilies)."
Rashi also influenced non-Jewish circles. His commentaries on the Bible, especially those on the Pentateuch, circulated in many different communities. In the 12th–17th centuries, Rashi's influence spread from French and German provinces to Spain and the east. He had a tremendous influence on Christian scholars. The French monk Nicolas de Lyre of Manjacoria, who was known as the "ape of Rashi", was dependent on Rashi when writing the 'Postillae Perpetuate' on the Bible. He believed that Rashi's commentaries were the "official repository of Rabbinical tradition" and significant to understanding the Bible. De Lyre also had great influence on Martin Luther. Rashi's commentaries became significant to humanists at this time who studied grammar and exegesis. Christian Hebraists studied Rashi's commentaries as important interpretations "authorized by the Synagogue".
Rashi's influence grew the most in the 15th century; from the 17th century onwards, his commentaries were translated into many other languages. Rashi's commentary on the Pentateuch was known as the first printed Hebrew work. Many of his works were translated into English by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann in London from 1929 to 1934. Although Rashi had an influence on communities outside of Judaism, his lack of connection to science prevented him from entering the general domain and he remained more popular among the Jewish community.
Although Rashi's interpretations were widely respected, there were some who criticized his work. After the 12th century, criticism on Rashi's commentaries became common on Jewish works such as the Talmud. The criticisms mainly dealt with difficult passages. In general, Rashi provides the "pshat" or literal meaning of Jewish texts, while his disciples known as the Tosafot ("additions"), criticized his work and gave more interpretative descriptions of the texts. The Tosafot's commentaries can be found in the Talmud opposite Rashi's commentary. The Tosafot added comments and criticism in places where Rashi had not added comments. The Tosafot went beyond the passage itself in terms of arguments, parallels, and distinctions that could be drawn out. This addition to Jewish texts was seen as causing a "major cultural product" which became an important part of Torah study.
Although often disagreeing with his interpretations, the Tosafot always speak of Rashi with great respect.
Rashi's commentary on the Talmud continues to be a key basis for contemporary rabbinic scholarship and interpretation. Without Rashi's commentary, the Talmud would have remained a closed book. With it, any student who has been introduced to its study by a teacher can continue learning on his own, deciphering its language and meaning with the aid of Rashi.
The Schottenstein Edition Elucidated translation of the Talmud bases its English-language commentary primarily on Rashi’s, and describes his continuing importance as follows:
In 2006, the Jewish National and University Library at Hebrew University put on an exhibit commemorating the 900th anniversary of Rashi's death (2005), showcasing rare items from the library collection written by Rashi, as well as various works by others concerning Rashi.
Voluminous supercommentaries have been published on Rashi's commentaries on the Bible and Talmud, including "Gur Aryeh" by Rabbi Judah Loew (the Maharal), "Sefer ha-Mizrachi" by Rabbi Elijah Mizrachi (the Re'em), and "Yeri'ot Shlomo" by Rabbi Solomon Luria (the Maharshal). Almost all rabbinic literature published since the Middle Ages discusses Rashi, either using his view as supporting evidence or debating against it.
Rashi's explanations of the Chumash were also cited extensively in "Postillae Perpetuae" by Nicholas de Lyra (1292–1340), a French Franciscan. De Lyra's book was one of the primary sources that was used in Luther's translation of the Bible.
The semi-cursive typeface in which Rashi's commentaries are printed both in the Talmud and Tanakh is often referred to as "Rashi script." This does not mean that Rashi himself used such a script: the typeface is based on a 15th-century Sephardic semi-cursive hand. What would be called "Rashi script" was employed by early Hebrew typographers such as the Soncino family and Daniel Bomberg, a Christian printer in Venice, in their editions of commented texts (such as the Mikraot Gedolot and the Talmud, in which Rashi's commentaries prominently figure) to distinguish the rabbinic commentary from the primary text proper, for which a square typeface was used. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26555 |
Redmond, Washington
Redmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located east of Seattle. The population was 54,144 at the 2010 census and an estimated 71,929 in 2019. Redmond is commonly recognized as the home of Microsoft and Nintendo of America. With an annual bike race on city streets and the state's only velodrome, Redmond is also known as the "Bicycle Capital of the Northwest".
Native Americans have lived in the Redmond area for over 10,000 years, based on artifacts discovered at the Redmond Town Center archaeological site and Marymoor Prehistoric Indian Site. The first European settlers arrived in the 1870s. Luke McRedmond filed a Homestead Act claim for land next to the Sammamish Slough on September 9, 1870, and the following year Warren Perrigo took up land adjacent to him. The rivers and streams had so many salmon that the settlement was initially named Salmonberg. More settlers came, and with the establishment of the first post office in 1881, the name of the community was changed to Melrose. The new name was derived from the Perrigos' successful inn, Melrose House, which upset McRedmond. After becoming postmaster, he successfully petitioned to have the name changed to Redmond in 1883.
The abundant forests and fish of Redmond provided jobs for loggers and fishermen, and with those jobs came demand for goods and services, bringing in merchants. The logging industry expanded significantly in 1889 when the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway built a station in the center of town. The first plat for Redmond was filed on May 11, 1891, encompassing much of the area now known as downtown. After reaching the necessary population of 300, Redmond was incorporated on December 31, 1912.
Redmond experienced an economic downturn in the 1920s. Prohibition forced saloons to close, cutting off a large portion of the city's tax base. The forests were declining after heavy logging, causing lumber mills to shut down. The deforested land was suitable for farming. Agriculture became Redmond's primary business, keeping residents fed during the Great Depression. When the U.S. entered World War II, shipyard jobs and other wartime work came to Redmond.
After the war, Redmond's expansion began in earnest. The city expanded over thirty times larger in area through annexations between 1951 and 1967. From 1956 to 1965, Redmond was bordered by the town of East Redmond, which was formed by rural homeowners and later dissolved by the Washington Supreme Court. The completion of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge across Lake Washington in 1963 allowed Redmond to flourish as a suburb of Seattle. In 1978, the U.S. Census Bureau proclaimed Redmond the fastest growing city in the state. Many technology companies made the city their home, and the increasing population demanded more retail shops. By the late 1980s, Downtown Redmond had become "a series of strip centers surrounded by parking lots", sparking plans for a mixed-use revitalized downtown.
Redmond underwent a commercial boom during the 1990s, culminating in 1997 with the opening of Redmond Town Center, a major regional shopping center on the site of a long-defunct golf course. In recent years the city has been experiencing growing pains as a result of its rapid expansion, particularly in the areas of urban sprawl and traffic congestion. During rush hour it can take upwards of two hours to travel from the beginning of SR-520 at Avondale Road to downtown Seattle, a mere away. These problems are being mitigated by the expansion of SR-520 and the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, as well as the planned light rail service via the East Link Extension from Seattle to Redmond to open in 2023.
Redmond is bordered by Kirkland to the west, Bellevue to the southwest, and Sammamish to the southeast. Unincorporated King County lies to the north and east. The city's urban downtown lies just north of Lake Sammamish; residential areas lie north and west of the lake. Overlake, the city's second urban center, is to the west of Lake Sammamish. The Sammamish River runs north from the lake along the west edge of the city's downtown.
Redmond is located at .
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which are land and are water.
Redmond, like most of the Pacific Northwest, has a mild climate for its latitude, but still gets all four seasons. Summers tend to be warm and dry, with low rainfall and sunny or partly sunny from June to September. Winters tend to be cool and wet, with November being the rainiest month. Snowfall is uncommon, with the most common cold air being in a form of a high pressure system, driving out the rains from the area. However, snowfall is not as rare as in other cities like Seattle near the moderating effects of Puget Sound. The average warmest month is August. The highest recorded temperature was on July 29, 2009. On average, the coolest month is January. The lowest recorded temperature was in January 1950. The maximum average precipitation occurs in December.
According to a 2015 estimate, the annual median income for a household in the city was $99,586. The average home value in 2014 was $649,000.
As of the census of 2010, there were 54,144 people, 22,550 households, and 13,890 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 24,177 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 65.2% White, 1.7% African American, 0.4% Native American, 25.4% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 3.2% from other races, and 4.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.8% of the population.
There were 22,550 households of which 32.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.4% were married couples living together, 6.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 38.4% were non-families. 29.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.98.
The median age in the city was 34.1 years. 22.7% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 38.7% were from 25 to 44; 21.6% were from 45 to 64; and 9.5% were 65 years of age or older. The sex ratio of the city was 50.9% male and 49.1% female.
As of the census of 2000, there were 45,256 people, 19,102 households, and 11,346 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,848.8 people per square mile (1,099.7/km²). There were 20,248 housing units at an average density of 1,274.6 per square mile (492.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 79.3% White, 13.0% Asian, 1.5% African American, 0.5% Native American, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 2.5% from other races, and 3.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.6% of the population.
There were 19,102 households out of which 28.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.9% were married couples living together, 7.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.6% were non-families. 30.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.33 and the average family size was 2.95.
In the city, the population was spread out with 21.5% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 37.9% from 25 to 44, 21.9% from 45 to 64, and 9.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $66,735, and the median income for a family was $78,430. Males had a median income of $58,112 versus $37,200 for females. The per capita income for the city was $36,233. About 3.3% of families and 5.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.3% of those under age 18 and 6.5% of those age 65 or over.
Several companies in the high-tech industry are based in Redmond. The largest employer in the city by far is Microsoft Corporation, which moved its headquarters to Redmond in 1986. Microsoft has over 40,000 blue badge FTEs (full-time employee), 45,000 orange badge contractors (as of June 2012, there are over 94,000 workers, and over half are contractors), and more than 8 million square feet (750,000 square meters) of office space in the Seattle area Eastside region, primarily in Redmond, with additional offices in Bellevue and Issaquah (90,000 employees worldwide). In June 2006, Microsoft purchased former Safeco's Redmond campus at 4515–5069 154th Place NE for $220.5 million.
Other companies with headquarters in Redmond include Nintendo of America, Genie Industries, Physio-Control (now part of Stryker), Visible.net, WildTangent, Solstice (acquired by Samsung) and Data I/O.
In 2015, SpaceX and Hyperloop Genesis announced of opening a facility in Redmond. Their focus will be R&D and manufacturing for a proposed internet communications satellite constellation and new transport systems.
Unlike Bellevue and other neighboring cities, the city of Redmond does not have a business and occupation tax on income. However, to help offset the costs of road improvements for businesses, a business license fee of $55 per employee was approved in 1996. , the fee is $107 per employee.
According to Redmond's Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports, the top employers in the city are:
Redmond Derby Days is an annual community festival held the second full weekend of July and celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2015. It began as a race around Lake Sammamish called the Redmond Bicycle Derby in 1939, and since then has become a multi-day event including a bicycle criterium, parade, entertainment stages, beer garden, local food offerings and activities. It also includes a carnival with rides and attractions and a fireworks display at dusk on Saturday.
Performing arts in Redmond include the Eastside Symphony and the Second Story Repertory theater company, as well as artists who play at the Redmond Performing Arts Center. Redmond has a collection of outdoor sculptures throughout its streets and parks, many of which are part of a rotating sculpture exhibition.
Redmond Lights is an annual community festival held the first Saturday of December. It features a special guest each year, a tree-lighting conducted by the mayor on city hall campus, a luminary walk on the Sammamish Trail and Redmond Central Connector with musical and light stations along the way to Redmond Town Center where there are many special attractions such as a carousel, skating rink and food sampling.
The Old Redmond Firehouse is a center for local teens. It has become a hub in the thriving Eastside independent music scene. Local bands perform here with concert style speakers.
Since 2010, by city ordinance, Redmond has appointed a poet laureate. The inaugural laureate was Rebecca Meredith (2010–2012), followed by Jeannine Hall Gailey (2012–2013), Michael Dylan Welch (2013–2015), Shin Yu Pai (2015–2017), Melanie Noel (2018–2019), and Raul Sanchez (2019-2021).
The Concerts at Marymoor is an annual summer series of concerts held at the amphitheater in Marymoor Park. The venue has been host to artists as diverse as Norah Jones, Peter, Paul & Mary, Rob Thomas and Duran Duran. When visiting the Seattle area, Cirque du Soleil has set up in Marymoor since the 2004 tour of Varekai when a concrete base was built for them to set up on. Since then, tours of Corteo (2006), Kooza (2010), Amaluna (2013), Kurios (2015) and Luzia (2017) have played in this spot. Other notable events include the Warped Tour and Cavalia in 2012 and 2014.
Redmond Saturday Market is the oldest farmer's market in the Seattle area's east side. This market is held on Saturdays from May through October on approximately 8,000 square feet of land near the Redmond Town Center. The City of Redmond has approved an ordinance that the current market site be preserved for its community and historic significance.
Redmond has designated the following landmarks:
According to the city's website, Redmond has 47 public parks totaling over . Many of these are neighborhood parks with picnic tables and sports fields or courts. The largest park within the city is not owned by the city – it is King County's Marymoor Park, one of the most popular in King County. It features a climbing rock, a model airplane flying field, a 48-acre off-leash dog park, an outdoor theater, sports fields such as baseball and soccer, a playground, tennis courts, a community garden, cricket pitch, and a velodrome, which hosts the FSA Star Crossed – Redmond cyclo-cross competition in September.
The city offers over of public trails for hiking, bicycling, and horseback riding. The Sammamish River Trail connects to the Puget Power trail, the Burke-Gilman Trail (in Bothell), and the East Lake Sammamish Trail.
60 Acres Park is known for its soccer in the spring through fall and RC electric airplanes and gliders in the winter time.
In 2004, Redmond North Little League won the Northwest region and participated in the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, PA. With Redmond North claiming the Northwest, it is the third team from Washington to claim the Northwest since its inception in 2001. Previous Washington champions were Bainbridge Island (2001), Richland (2003).
Redmond has a non-partisan mayor–council form of government, with the mayor and seven council members elected at large for staggered four-year terms. The city council authorized a ballot measure in March 2003 that would have changed Redmond to a council-manager government. However, it was rejected by the electorate, receiving less than 30% of the vote.
Redmond is part of the Lake Washington School District, which also encompasses Kirkland, and parts of Sammamish and Woodinville. The public schools in Redmond include ten elementary schools (Alcott, Audubon, Dickinson, Einstein, Mann, Redmond, Rockwell, Rosa Parks, Rush and Wilder), five middle schools (Redmond Middle, Evergreen Middle, Rose Hill Middle, Timberline Middle School, Stella Schola), and two high schools (Redmond High School, Nikola Tesla STEM High School (choice)).
Three private schools offer secondary education: The Overlake School (secular), The Bear Creek School (Christian – primary and secondary), and the Conservatory High School (for performing arts students).
The English Hill neighborhood in North Redmond (unincorporated King County) is served by the Northshore School District and Sunrise Elementary. The far east side of Redmond is known as Redmond Ridge. Redmond Ridge and Redmond Ridge East communities are part of the Lake Washington school district. East of 248th to West Snoqualmie Valley Road is served by the Riverview School District.
DigiPen Institute of Technology and the secondary campus of Lake Washington Technical College are located in Redmond.
The city is home to Redmond Regional Library, the second-largest library in the King County Library System. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26558 |
Rise of the Triad
Rise of the Triad: Dark War is a first-person shooter video game, developed and published by Apogee Software (3D Realms) in 1995. The player can choose one of five different characters to play as, each bearing unique attributes such as height, speed, and endurance. Its remake was designed by Interceptor Entertainment and released by Apogee Games in 2013.
Like most early first-person shooter games, the single-player mode's objective is to collect keys in order to proceed through the levels. Occasionally, special tactics and simple problem-solving skills are required to reach locations. Although most levels are fairly linear, there are some maps which have multiple exits.
The player chooses between five characters: Taradino Cassatt, Thi Barrett, Lorelei Ni, Doug Wendt, and Ian Paul Freeley. The characters differ in three characteristics: hit points, speed, and accuracy. Taradino Cassatt is the only character available in the shareware version of the game and has average statistics: average hit points, average speed, average accuracy.
Certain enemies can beg for their life if they take enough damage, or fake their death. Some enemies dodge the player's attacks, while others lie in the ground to ambush the player. Other enemies can shoot nets to restrain the player, or steal and use weapons from the player. There are also four bosses. All enemies are digitized actors, mostly played by Apogee employees and their friends and family.
On random occasions, there are an especially large amount of gibs produced when an enemy is killed, presenting the player with a "Ludicrous Gibs!" message. The amount of gibs can be controlled through the options menu, which allows the player to set the graphics to various levels of goriness, from completely bloodless to extreme.
There are 13 weapons in the game, divided into three groups: bullet weapons (using infinite ammunition), missile weapons (using limited ammunition), and magic weapons. The missile weapons constitute the bulk of the arsenal, and usually have a wide area of effect. Magic weapons, like missile weapons, hold limited ammunition. Players can carry a total of four weapons at once: all three bullet weapons (a single pistol, dual pistols, and a submachine gun) and either a missile or a magic weapon.
Only one power-up can be active at once, and power-up effects last for a limited time.
Jump pads catapult a player in the air. By stepping onto one, the player character is propelled straight up, while by running up to it the player character can make long jumps. Jump pads are often required for getting past certain obstacles or reaching a ledge to retrieve a key. They can also be used for collecting powerups and bonuses.
Destructible objects such as ornaments or plants may block secret doors. If light poles and firepots are shot, the area dims. Glass can be shattered by shooting or running through it.
Bonuses are awarded for various achievements whenever a level is completed. Examples are picking up all the missile weapons in a level, using all the healing items, or ending a level with minimal hit points remaining.
The multiplayer mode (called COMM-BAT in the game) allows up to eleven players simultaneously. Each can have separate uniform colors, but in team mode, teams are defined by uniform color.
There are nine multiplayer modes. These include a standard deathmatch mode, and the similar "Score More", which assigns different points depending on the weapon and way that a kill was done. Other modes consist of collecting or destroying as many triad symbols as possible. There are a few "tag" multiplayer modes, similar to the children's game, where a player must tag another player or moving symbols. There is also a "Hunter" mode, in which a "prey" player with no weapons has to be hunted by the rest, and a capture the flag mode. Options that can be set for a multiplayer game include player attributes, and whether or not health refills, missile weapons, or traps are spawned.
A team of special operatives, known as the HUNT (High-risk United Nations Task-force) is sent to San Nicolas Island to investigate deadly cult activity taking place in an ancient monastery. Their boat, the only way back, is destroyed by patrols, and the team soon learns that the cult plans to systematically destroy nearby Los Angeles. The operatives, now unable to return whence they came, are then left to fight their way into the monastery on the island, and eventually put a stop to the cult's activities.
During its early stages of development, "Rise of the Triad" was initially meant to serve as the sequel to "Wolfenstein 3D", titled "Wolfenstein 3D II: Rise of the Triad". The presence of the Walther PP pistol, the MP 40 submachine gun, the Bazooka, and the outfits worn by the enemies allude to Nazi Germany and imply the original aforementioned intent for the development of "ROTT".
"Rise of the Triad" began its life as a follow-up to "Wolfenstein 3D" (though it reportedly shares some similarities with Hall's "Doom Bible", which laid out Hall's conception of the video game "Doom" and even shares the name of one of the protagonists). The working titles of the game were "Wolfenstein II" and "Wolfenstein 3D: Rise of the Triad". It was to use the same game engine code as "Wolfenstein 3D", and have new levels, art, and characters. The artwork took around six months to do. As the game was getting into deeper development, project leader Scott Miller was contacted by John Romero, informing Miller that the project had been cancelled. Miller suspected that this was because id Software did not want to draw the spotlight away from their upcoming game, "Doom". In order to keep as many of the numerous game assets the team had already created from going to waste, Tom Hall came up with a new storyline which still incorporated the Nazi themes seen in the Wolfenstein series.
According to the Apogee website, the original storyline was the following: After the fall of Hitler, the true powers behind him have drawn into seclusion, planning their next strategy for world domination. Three large corporations guided Hitler as a puppet, and now plan the subjugation of the planet to their organization, the Triad. Their new plan: having developed nuclear weapons and new V-3 rockets to carry them, they plan to get a stranglehold on the world with the threat of Armageddon.
The engine is an enhanced variant of the Wolfenstein 3D engine. The level design uses 90-degree walls and unvarying floor and ceiling heights in individual maps, limitations that are vestiges of the Wolfenstein 3D engine. However, the "Rise of the Triad" engine also includes features not possible with the original Wolfenstein 3D engine, such as elevation, panoramic skies, simulated dynamic lighting, fog, bullet holes, breakable glass walls, and level-over-level environments (made possible by "gravitational anomaly disks", suspended objects that collectively form stairs, floors, etc.). The level layouts were created with Tile Editor version 5 (TED5), which was also released with "Extreme Rise of the Triad" for users to customize their own maps.
The team behind "Rise of the Triad" called itself The Developers of Incredible Power (DIP). Its name was created by Tom Hall, the lead designer of "ROTT". Other members of DIP included Mark Dochtermann, Jim Dose, Steve Hornback, Chuck Jones, Nolan Martin, Tim Neveu, William Scarboro, Joseph Selinske, Susan Singer, and Marianna Vayntrub. "Rise of the Triad" was the only game released by DIP. A second game that was planned, "Prey", never took off, but its title and parts of the original design were eventually recycled by Human Head Studios. The team was disbanded, and some of the members worked on the bestseller "Duke Nukem 3D". Others started their own companies or left the computer games business. Scarboro died from an asthma attack in 2002.
Several planned elements were cut from the game, including female versions of certain enemies, like Low Guards, Strike Force soldiers, and the Overpatrol. Originally the game was going to load both sets of guards into memory, then determine randomly which to place at each appropriate point. This had the side effect of making memory requirements much higher than normal for the time, so in order to conserve performance, the alternate versions of the enemies were removed. Stills of the alternate enemies can be seen during the credits, as "actors who were cut from the game". Other cuts survived, like the ROTT Reject Level Pack (stages that were cut) and some artwork (some can be found on the CD).
As most Apogee games, the game was distributed as shareware, with the first episode released for free. The shareware episode, which contains ten original levels, is titled Rise of the Triad: The HUNT Begins. This version has some limitations, including the ability to play only as Taradino Cassatt, and the availability of only four of the multiplayer modes. A "Deluxe Edition" of the shareware version, marketed in retail by LaserSoft, contains three extra levels, and three extra multiplayer levels that are not available on any other version.
There were several versions of the full or paid game, which included three new episodes. The floppy disk and CD versions both contain 32 game levels for the three new episodes, with the CD version containing more multiplayer levels. Site License version contains several multiplayer levels, and allowed the game to be played in multiplayer mode in up to 11 different computers in a single network, without each requiring a different copy of the game.
On July 25, 1995, Apogee released a "Reject Level Pack" as freeware online. This pack was a collection of multiplayer maps deemed unsuitable for the original release. Some of these were serious attempts at levels (one even attempted to recreate a popular deathmatch level (1-5) from "Doom"), and some were not (like one played inside the popular character Dopefish). The final level of the pack causes the game to crash intentionally.
There was an official retail add-on level pack released by Apogee for "ROTT" entitled "Extreme Rise of the Triad" also released in 1995. The add-on was produced by two key members from the original team, Tom Hall and Joe Siegler. Generally the maps produced in this add-on are considerably harder than the original game's maps due to tricks that Hall and Siegler had learned in the editor since the release of the original. It also includes some user made level editors, a random level generator from Apogee, maps, and sound files. The levels were released as freeware on September 1, 2000. The remaining materials on the "Extreme ROTT" CD were released as freeware online as part of a "ROTT Goodies Pack" on February 15, 2005.
There were a few other level packs released from Apogee, including "Lasersoft Deluxe Shareware Maps". They are identical to the released shareware packs, except that they include six exclusive levels. After Lasersoft went out of business, Apogee released these levels in October 1999.
Another was a level called "Wolf3D", which was done by Siegler as an exercise to see if he could replicate the level geography from "Wolfenstein 3D" in "Rise of the Triad", as "Rise of the Triad" uses the same basic game engine. The level copies the complete level geography from Episode 1 Level 1 of "Wolfenstein 3D". Some of the adjoining levels were added, but not completely.
The final release from Hall and Siegler was the "Ohio RTC" pack. This is a four level multiplayer pack which was designed for a group in Ohio that was holding a game tournament called 'BloodFest 96'. After the tournament was over, the pack was released online for everyone.
The final level to be released by anyone from the original team was one level done by Siegler called "You & Spray" (Spray was an internal nickname given to the NME boss character by the developers). This was done by Siegler as a gag in 1998, mostly as a personal exercise to see if he could remember how to still use the level editor. After mentioning its existence online, Siegler was cajoled into releasing it in November 2000. It was posted for download at the "Rise of the Triad" page on the Apogee website.
In 2009, "Rise of the Triad" was released on GOG.com through DOSBox, making it compatible with Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS.
The source code to "Rise of the Triad" was released under the GNU General Public License on 20 December 2002. Fans of the game ported it to AmigaOS, Linux, Mac OS, Xbox, Dreamcast, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS (homebrew) and 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows. This has led to the game being included in the Fedora software repository, which downloads the free source port engine used as well as a free installer which downloads the shareware version's data.
Scott Miller estimates that the game eventually sold around 110,000 copies.
A reviewer for "Next Generation" assessed that "Rise of the Triad" is an entertaining but ultimately undistinguished "Doom" replica which fails to rank with the best of the genre. Remarking that the game "has its own style but never strays far enough from the "Doom" herd to fully break free", he gave it three out of five stars.
The iOS version was not very well received and has Metacritic and GameRankings scores of respectively 49/100 and 49.00%.
In 2009, Scott Miller said that "Rise of the Triad" would be remade. Gameplay footage of the new "Rise of the Triad" was revealed at QuakeCon 2012. The game was designed by Frederik Schreiber and his company Interceptor Entertainment and was released on July 31, 2013, through Steam and GOG.com. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26559 |
Rurik
Rurik (also Riurik; Old Church Slavonic "Rjurikŭ"; 830 – 879), according to the 12th-century "Primary Chronicle", was a Varangian chieftain of the Rus' who in the year 862 gained control of Ladoga, and built Novgorod in the same year. This legendary figure was considered by later rulers to be the founder of the Rurik dynasty, which ruled the Kievan Rus' and its successor states, including the Kingdom of Ruthenia, the Principality of Tver, Grand Duchy of Vladimir, the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Novgorod Republic and the Tsardom of Russia, until the 17th century.
The only information about Rurik is contained in the 12th-century "Primary Chronicle" written by one Nestor, which states that Chuds, Eastern Slavs, Merias, Veses, and Krivichs "...drove the Varangians back beyond the sea, refused to pay them tribute, and set out to govern themselves". Afterwards the tribes started fighting each other and decided to invite the Varangians, led by Rurik, to reestablish order. Rurik came in 860-862 along with his brothers Sineus and Truvor and a large retinue.
According to the "Primary Chronicle", Rurik was one of the Rus', a Varangian tribe separated by the chronicler to Swedes and Gotlanders. The scholarly disagree about the ethnic origin of Rurik. Sineus established himself at Beloozero (now Belozersk), on the shores of lake Beloye, and Truvor at Izborsk (or at Pskov). Truvor and Sineus died shortly after the establishment of their territories, and Rurik consolidated these lands into his own territory.
According to the entries in the Radzivil and Hypatian Chronicles under the years 862–864, Rurik’s first residence was in Ladoga. He later moved his seat of power to Novgorod, a fort built not far from the source of the Volkhov River. The meaning of this place name in medieval Russian is 'new fortification', while the current meaning ('new city') developed later.
Rurik remained in power until his death in 879. On his deathbed, Rurik bequeathed his realm to Oleg, who belonged to his kin, and entrusted to Oleg's hands his son Igor, for he was very young. His successors (the Rurik dynasty) moved the capital to Kiev and founded the state of Kievan Rus', which persisted until the Mongol invasion in 1240. A number of extant princely families are patrilineally descended from Rurik, although the last Rurikid to rule Russia, Vasily IV, died in 1612.
In the 20th century, archaeologists partly corroborated the chronicle's version of events.
It was discovered that the settlement of Ladoga, whose foundation has been ascribed to Rurik, was actually established in the mid-9th century, although doubt is now cast on this by the dendrochronological evidence that Ladoga existed by the mid-8th century. Earthenware, household utensils, and types of buildings from the period of Rurik's purported foundation correspond to patterns then prevalent in Jutland. However, the excavations denied most of the chronicle's data about Rurik's arrival when it was apparent that the old settlement stretched to the mid-8th century and the excavated objects were mostly of Finno-Ugric and Slavic origin, also dated to the mid-8th century, which showed the settlement was not Scandinavian from the beginning.
The name "Rurik" is accepted to be a form of the Old Norse name "Hrærekr". This has been taken as evidence that Rurik was in some way ethnically Scandinavian. The only similarly named figure described in the Carolingian "Annales Fuldenses" and "Annales Bertiniani" was Rorik of Dorestad (also spelled Rørik, Rörik, Roerik, Hrörek, etc.), a Germanic king from the royal Scylding house of Haithabu in the Jutland Peninsula. Since the 19th century, there have been attempts to identify him with the Rurik of Russian chronicles.
Rorik of Dorestad was a member of one of two competing families reported by the Frankish chroniclers as having ruled the nascent Danish kingdom at Hedeby, and was likely nephew of king Harald Klak. He is mentioned as receiving lands in Friesland from Emperor Louis I. This was not enough for him, and he started to plunder neighbouring lands: he took Dorestad in 850, attacked Hedeby in 857, and looted Bremen in 859, yet his own lands were ravaged in his absence. The Emperor was enraged and stripped him of all his possessions in 860. After that, Rorik disappears from the Western sources for a considerable period of time, while only two years later, in 862, the Russian chronicle's Rurik arrives in the eastern Baltic, builds the fortress of Ladoga, and later moves to Novgorod.
Rorik of Dorestad reappeared in Frankish chronicles in 870, when his Friesland demesne was returned to him by Charles the Bald; in 882 Rorik of Dorestad is mentioned as dead (without a date of death specified). The Russian chronicle places the death of Rurik of Novgorod at 879, three years earlier than the Frankish chronicles. According to Western sources, the ruler of Friesland was converted to Christianity by the Franks. This may have parallels with the Christianization of the Rus', as reported by Patriarch Photius in 867.
The idea of identifying the Rurik of Nestor's chronicle with Rorik of Dorestad of the Carolingian chronicles was revived by the anti-Normanists Boris Rybakov and Anatoly H. Kirpichnikov in the mid-20th century, while modern scholars like Alexander Nazarenko object to it. The hypothesis of their identity currently lacks support among scholars, though support for a "Normannic" ("i.e.", Norse, rather than Slavic) origin of the Rus' has increased.
In Estonian folklore there is a tale of three brothers, who were born as sons of a peasant, but, through great bravery and courageousness, all later became rulers in foreign countries. The brothers were called "Rahurikkuja" (Troublemaker), "Siniuss" (Blue snake) and "Truuvaar" (Loyal man) (estonianized names for Rurik and his brothers Sineus and Truvor), names given to them by their childhood friend, a blue snake.
The Rurik dynasty (or "Rurikids") went on to rule the Kievan Rus', and ultimately the Tsardom of Russia, until 1598, and numerous noble Russian and Ruthenian families claim a male-line descent from Rurik. Vasily Tatishchev (a Rurikid himself) claimed that Rurik was of Wendish extraction and went so far as to name Rurik's wife, Efanda of Norway (Edvina); mother, Umila; his maternal grandfather, Gostomysl; and a cousin, Vadim (apparently basing his account on the lost "Ioachim Chronicle"). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26560 |
Rank (linear algebra)
In linear algebra, the rank of a matrix formula_1 is the dimension of the vector space generated (or spanned) by its columns. This corresponds to the maximal number of linearly independent columns of formula_1. This, in turn, is identical to the dimension of the vector space spanned by its rows. Rank is thus a measure of the "nondegenerateness" of the system of linear equations and linear transformation encoded by formula_1. There are multiple equivalent definitions of rank. A matrix's rank is one of its most fundamental characteristics.
The rank is commonly denoted by formula_4 or formula_5; sometimes the parentheses are not written, as in formula_6.
In this section, we give some definitions of the rank of a matrix. Many definitions are possible; see Alternative definitions for several of these.
The column rank of formula_1 is the dimension of the column space of formula_1, while the row rank of formula_1 is the dimension of the row space of formula_1.
A fundamental result in linear algebra is that the column rank and the row rank are always equal. (Two proofs of this result are given in , below.) This number (i.e., the number of linearly independent rows or columns) is simply called the rank of formula_1.
A matrix is said to have full rank if its rank equals the largest possible for a matrix of the same dimensions, which is the lesser of the number of rows and columns. A matrix is said to be rank-deficient if it does not have full rank.
The rank is also the dimension of the image of the linear transformation that is given by multiplication by "A". More generally, if a linear operator on a vector space (possibly infinite-dimensional) has finite-dimensional image (e.g., a finite-rank operator), then the rank of the operator is defined as the dimension of the image.
The matrix
has rank 2: the first two columns are linearly independent, so the rank is at least 2, but since the third is a linear combination of the first two (the second subtracted from the first), the three columns are linearly dependent so the rank must be less than 3.
The matrix
has rank 1: there are nonzero columns, so the rank is positive, but any pair of columns is linearly dependent. Similarly, the transpose
of formula_1 has rank 1. Indeed, since the column vectors of formula_1 are the row vectors of the transpose of formula_1, the statement that the column rank of a matrix equals its row rank is equivalent to the statement that the rank of a matrix is equal to the rank of its transpose, i.e., formula_18.
A common approach to finding the rank of a matrix is to reduce it to a simpler form, generally row echelon form, by elementary row operations. Row operations do not change the row space (hence do not change the row rank), and, being invertible, map the column space to an isomorphic space (hence do not change the column rank). Once in row echelon form, the rank is clearly the same for both row rank and column rank, and equals the number of pivots (or basic columns) and also the number of non-zero rows.
For example, the matrix formula_1 given by
can be put in reduced row-echelon form by using the following elementary row operations:
The final matrix (in row echelon form) has two non-zero rows and thus the rank of matrix formula_1 is 2.
When applied to floating point computations on computers, basic Gaussian elimination (LU decomposition) can be unreliable, and a rank-revealing decomposition should be used instead. An effective alternative is the singular value decomposition (SVD), but there are other less expensive choices, such as QR decomposition with pivoting (so-called rank-revealing QR factorization), which are still more numerically robust than Gaussian elimination. Numerical determination of rank requires a criterion for deciding when a value, such as a singular value from the SVD, should be treated as zero, a practical choice which depends on both the matrix and the application.
The fact that the column and row ranks of any matrix are equal forms is fundamental in linear algebra. We present three proofs of this result. The first is short, uses only basic properties of linear combinations of vectors, and is valid over any field. The proof is based upon Wardlaw (2005). The second is an elegant argument using orthogonality and is valid for matrices over the real numbers; it is based upon Mackiw (1995). All three proofs can be found in the book by Banerjee and Roy (2014).
Let "A" be an "m" × "n" matrix. Let the column rank of "A" be "r", and let "c"1, ..., "cr" be any basis for the column space of "A". Place these as the columns of an "m × r" matrix "C". Every column of "A" can be expressed as a linear combination of the "r" columns in "C". This means that there is an "r" × "n" matrix "R" such that "A = CR". "R" is the matrix whose "i"th column is formed from the coefficients giving the "i"th column of "A" as a linear combination of the "r" columns of "C". In other words, "R" is the matrix which contains the multiples for the bases of the column space of "A" (which is "C"), which are then used to form "A" as a whole. Now, each row of "A" is given by a linear combination of the "r" rows of "R". Therefore, the rows of "R" form a spanning set of the row space of "A" and, by the Steinitz exchange lemma, the row rank of "A" cannot exceed "r". This proves that the row rank of "A" is less than or equal to the column rank of "A". This result can be applied to any matrix, so apply the result to the transpose of "A". Since the row rank of the transpose of "A" is the column rank of "A" and the column rank of the transpose of "A" is the row rank of "A", this establishes the reverse inequality and we obtain the equality of the row rank and the column rank of "A". (Also see Rank factorization.)
Let "A" be an "m" × "n" matrix with entries in the real numbers whose row rank is "r". Therefore, the dimension of the row space of "A" is "r". Let formula_23 be a basis of the row space of "A". We claim that the vectors formula_24 are linearly independent. To see why, consider a linear homogeneous relation involving these vectors with scalar coefficients formula_25:
where formula_27. We make two observations: (a) "v" is a linear combination of vectors in the row space of "A", which implies that "v" belongs to the row space of "A", and (b) since "A" "v" = 0, the vector "v" is orthogonal to every row vector of "A" and, hence, is orthogonal to every vector in the row space of "A". The facts (a) and (b) together imply that "v" is orthogonal to itself, which proves that "v" = 0 or, by the definition of "v",
But recall that the formula_29 were chosen as a basis of the row space of "A" and so are linearly independent. This implies that formula_30. It follows that formula_24 are linearly independent.
Now, each formula_32 is obviously a vector in the column space of "A". So, formula_24 is a set of "r" linearly independent vectors in the column space of "A" and, hence, the dimension of the column space of "A" (i.e., the column rank of "A") must be at least as big as "r". This proves that row rank of "A" is no larger than the column rank of "A". Now apply this result to the transpose of "A" to get the reverse inequality and conclude as in the previous proof.
Finally, we provide a proof of the related result, rk("A") = rk("A"*), where "A"* is the conjugate transpose or hermitian transpose of "A". When the elements of "A" are real numbers, this result becomes rk("A") = rk("A"T) and can constitute another proof that row rank is equal to column rank. Otherwise, for complex matrices, rk("A") = rk("A"*) is not equivalent to row rank = column rank, and the first proof above should be used. This proof is short, elegant and makes use of the null space.
First note that formula_34 if and only if formula_35. Indeed, one direction is trivial and the other follows from the following chain of reasoning:
formula_36
where formula_37 is the Euclidean norm. This proves that the null space of formula_1 is equal to the null space of formula_39. From the rank–nullity theorem, we obtain formula_40. Each column of formula_39 is a linear combination of the columns of formula_42. Therefore, the column space of formula_39 is a subspace of the column space of formula_42. This implies that formula_45. We have proved: formula_46. Now apply this result to formula_42 to get the reverse inequality and conclude that the ranks are equal.
When the elements of formula_1 are real, the conjugate transpose is the transpose and we obtain formula_49, as desired.
In all the definitions in this section, the matrix "A" is taken to be an "m" × "n" matrix over an arbitrary field "F".
Given the matrix formula_1, there is an associated linear mapping
defined by
The rank of formula_1 is the dimension of the image of formula_54. This definition has the advantage that it can be applied to any linear map without need for a specific matrix.
Given the same linear mapping "f" as above, the rank is "n" minus the dimension of the kernel of "f". The rank–nullity theorem states that this definition is equivalent to the preceding one.
The rank of "A" is the maximal number of linearly independent columns formula_55 of "A"; this is the dimension of the column space of "A" (the column space being the subspace of "F""m" generated by the columns of "A", which is in fact just the image of the linear map "f" associated to "A").
The rank of "A" is the maximal number of linearly independent rows of "A"; this is the dimension of the row space of "A".
The rank of "A" is the smallest integer "k" such that "A" can be factored as formula_56, where "C" is an "m" × "k" matrix and "R" is a "k" × "n" matrix. In fact, for all integers "k", the following are equivalent:
Indeed, the following equivalences are obvious: formula_64.
For example, to prove (3) from (2), take "C" to be the matrix whose columns are formula_57 from (2).
To prove (2) from (3), take formula_57 to be the columns of "C".
It follows from the equivalence formula_67 that the row rank is equal to the column rank.
As in the case of the "dimension of image" characterization, this can be generalized to a definition of the rank of any linear map: the rank of a linear map "f" : "V" → "W" is the minimal dimension "k" of an intermediate space "X" such that "f" can be written as the composition of a map "V" → "X" and a map "X" → "W". Unfortunately, this definition does not suggest an efficient manner to compute the rank (for which it is better to use one of the alternative definitions). See rank factorization for details.
The rank of "A" equals the number of non-zero singular values, which is the same as the number of non-zero diagonal elements in "Σ" in the singular value decomposition formula_68.
The rank of "A" is the largest order of any non-zero minor in "A". (The order of a minor is the side-length of the square sub-matrix of which it is the determinant.) Like the decomposition rank characterization, this does not give an efficient way of computing the rank, but it is useful theoretically: a single non-zero minor witnesses a lower bound (namely its order) for the rank of the matrix, which can be useful (for example) to prove that certain operations do not lower the rank of a matrix.
A non-vanishing "p"-minor ("p" × "p" submatrix with non-zero determinant) shows that the rows and columns of that submatrix are linearly independent, and thus those rows and columns of the full matrix are linearly independent (in the full matrix), so the row and column rank are at least as large as the determinantal rank; however, the converse is less straightforward. The equivalence of determinantal rank and column rank is a strengthening of the statement that if the span of "n" vectors has dimension "p," then "p" of those vectors span the space (equivalently, that one can choose a spanning set that is a "subset" of the vectors): the equivalence implies that a subset of the rows and a subset of the columns simultaneously define an invertible submatrix (equivalently, if the span of "n" vectors has dimension "p," then "p" of these vectors span the space "and" there is a set of "p" coordinates on which they are linearly independent).
The rank of "A" is the smallest number "k" such that "A" can be written as a sum of "k" rank 1 matrices, where a matrix is defined to have rank 1 if and only if it can be written as a nonzero product formula_69 of a column vector "c" and a row vector "r". This notion of rank is called tensor rank; it can be generalized in the separable models interpretation of the singular value decomposition.
We assume that "A" is an matrix, and we define the linear map "f" by as above.
One useful application of calculating the rank of a matrix is the computation of the number of solutions of a system of linear equations. According to the Rouché–Capelli theorem, the system is inconsistent if the rank of the augmented matrix is greater than the rank of the coefficient matrix. If, on the other hand, the ranks of these two matrices are equal, then the system must have at least one solution. The solution is unique if and only if the rank equals the number of variables. Otherwise the general solution has "k" free parameters where "k" is the difference between the number of variables and the rank. In this case (and assuming the system of equations is in the real or complex numbers) the system of equations has infinitely many solutions.
In control theory, the rank of a matrix can be used to determine whether a linear system is controllable, or observable.
In the field of communication complexity, the rank of the communication matrix of a function gives bounds on the amount of communication needed for two parties to compute the function.
There are different generalizations of the concept of rank to matrices over arbitrary rings, where column rank, row rank, dimension of column space, and dimension of row space of a matrix may be different from the others or may not exist.
Thinking of matrices as tensors, the tensor rank generalizes to arbitrary tensors; for tensors of order greater than 2 (matrices are order 2 tensors), rank is very hard to compute, unlike for matrices.
There is a notion of rank for smooth maps between smooth manifolds. It is equal to the linear rank of the derivative.
Matrix rank should not be confused with tensor order, which is called tensor rank. Tensor order is the number of indices required to write a tensor, and thus matrices all have tensor order 2. More precisely, matrices are tensors of type (1,1), having one row index and one column index, also called covariant order 1 and contravariant order 1; see Tensor (intrinsic definition) for details.
The tensor rank of a matrix can also mean the minimum number of simple tensors necessary to express the matrix as a linear combination, and that this definition does agree with matrix rank as here discussed. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26561 |
Marine archaeology in the Gulf of Cambay
Marine archeology in the Gulf of Khambhat - earlier known as Gulf of Cambay - centers around controversial findings made in December 2000 by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) under the Gulf of Khambhat, a bay on the Arabian Sea on the west coast of India. The structures and artifacts discovered by NIOT are the subject of contention. The major disputes surrounding the Gulf of Khambhat Cultural Complex (GKCC) are claims about the existence of submerged "city-like structures", the difficulty associating dated artifacts with the site itself, and disputes about whether stone artifacts recovered at the site are actually geofacts or artifacts. One major complaint is that artifacts at the site were recovered by dredging, instead of being recovered during a controlled archeological excavation. This leads archeologists to claim that these artifacts cannot be definitively tied to the site. Because of this problem, prominent archeologists reject a piece of wood that was recovered by dredging and dated to 7500 BC as having any significance in dating the site. The surveys were followed up in the following years and two palaeo channels of old rivers were discovered in the middle of the Khambhat area under 20-40m water depths, at a distance of about 20 km from the present day coast.
On 19 May 2001, India's Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Science and Technology division, Murli Manohar Joshi, announced that the ruins of an ancient civilization had been discovered off the coast of Gujarat, in the Gulf of Khambhat. The site was discovered by NIOT while they performed routine pollution studies using sonar, and was described as an area of regularly spaced geometric structures. It is located 20 km from the Gujarat coast, spans 9 km, and can be found at a depth of 30–40 meters. In his announcement, Joshi represented the site as an urban settlement that pre-dates the Indus Valley Civilization. Further descriptions of the site by Joshi describe it as containing regularly spaced dwellings, a granary, a bath, a citadel, and a drainage system. However it was later on 22 May, reported that the discovery has not been dated and the discovery (for example, great baths) resembles the Harappan civilization dating 4,000 years ago. Furthermore, the Indus civilization port Lothal is located at the head, Gulf of Khambhat.
A follow-up investigation was conducted by NIOT in November 2001, which included dredging to recover artifacts and sonar scans to detect structures. Among the artifacts recovered were a piece of wood, pottery shards, weathered stones initially described as hand tools, fossilized bones, and a tooth. Artifacts were sent to the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) in Hyderabad, India, the Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany (BSIP) in Lucknow, India, and the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad, India. The piece of wood was carbon dated to an age of 9,500 years old.
NIOT returned for further investigation in the Gulf from October 2002 to January 2003. During these excavations, NIOT reported finding two paleochannels flanked by rectangular and square basement-like features. Artifacts were recovered by means of dredging, including pottery sherds, microliths, wattle and daub remains, and hearth materials. These artifacts were sent for dating at the laboratories of Manipur University and Oxford University. The wattle and daub remains are composed of locally available clay, reed, husk, pottery pieces, and pieces of fresh water shell. The wattle and daub also shows evidence of partial burning.
The most recent work in the Gulf of Khambhat took place from October 2003 to January 2004 and was primarily a geologic study. Techniques used during this investigation include bathymetry survey, sub-bottom survey, side-scan survey, and magnetic survey. One of the major findings from this investigation concerns the orientation of sand ripples at the site. NIOT researchers claim that there are two sets of ripples visible at the site; One set is a natural feature formed by tidal currents, whilst they say the other set has formed in relation to underlying structural features.
One of the main controversies surrounding the GKCC is the dated piece of wood. Dr. D.P. Agrawal, chairman of the Paleoclimate Group and founder of Carbon-14 testing facilities in India stated in an article in Frontline Magazine that the piece was dated twice, at separate laboratories. The NGRI in Hyderabad returned a date of 7190 BC and the BSIP in Hannover returned a date of 7545-7490 BC. Some archeologists, Agrawal in particular, contest that the discovery of an ancient piece of wood does not imply the discovery of an ancient civilization. Agrawal argues that the wood piece is a common find, given that 20,000 years ago the Arabian Sea was 100 meters lower than its current level, and that the gradual sea level rise submerged entire forests.
Another controversial issue are the artifacts retrieved from the site during the various excavations. It is disputed that many of the items that have been identified as artifacts by the NIOT investigators are actually man-made. Instead their artificial nature is contested and they are argued to be stones of natural origin.
Researchers report finding shards of pottery as indicative of hand-made and wheel-turned pottery traditions. The reported shards have simple rims with small incised lines. All of the pottery fragments found so far are small or miniature shards. Part of the controversy is that some of the "shards" are natural geofacts and others lack any proof of any connections, as with the dated pieces of wood, with the purported "ruins" found by NIOT researchers. In addition, their small size also raises the possibility that the real shards have been transported from elsewhere by local, strong tidal currents. But if the pottery is genuine, researchers say it should show some similarities to Harappan pottery, which is typically red and black and stamped with seals. Based on the current pottery collection, a stylistic continuity of Harappan civilization isn't evident. The small size of the artifact collection makes it difficult to analyse the pottery conclusively.
The Gulf of Khambhat was formed by a major rift that resulted in a down sliding of the Khambhat region. The area is very tectonically active today, and several faults can be found in the gulf. Periodic earthquakes also occur here. This knowledge has led several archeologists to state that the site is not in a secure enough context to be reliably dated. Because of the tectonic activity and strong currents, these archeologists claim that there is not sufficient stratification to be sure the recovered artifacts can be associated with the site.
Complaints have arisen because NIOT recovered artefacts by dredging the sea floor of the site. This method might allow errant artefacts to be collected along with those that actually correlate with the site. Analysing stratification is virtually impossible with this method as well. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26563 |
Robert Siodmak
Robert Siodmak (; 8 August 1900 – 10 March 1973) was a German film director who also worked in the United States. He is best remembered as a thriller specialist and for a series of stylish, unpretentious Hollywood films noirs he made in the 1940s, such as "The Killers" (1946).
Siodmak was born in Dresden, Germany, the son of Rosa Philippine (née Blum) and Ignatz Siodmak and the brother of Curt, Verner and Roland. His parents were both from Jewish families in Leipzig (the myth of his American birth in Memphis, Tennessee was necessary for him to obtain a visa in Paris during World War II). He worked as a stage director and a banker before becoming editor and scenarist for Curtis Bernhardt in 1925 (Bernhardt directed a film of Siodmak's story "Conflict" in 1945). At twenty-six he was hired by his cousin, producer Seymour Nebenzal, to assemble original silent movies from stock footage of old films. Siodmak worked at this for two years before he persuaded Nebenzal to finance his first feature, the silent masterpiece, "Menschen am Sonntag" ("People on Sunday") in 1929. The script was co-written by Billy Wilder and Siodmak's brother Curt Siodmak, later the screenwriter of "The Wolf Man" (1941). It was the last German silent and also included such future Hollywood artists as Fred Zinnemann, Edgar G. Ulmer, and Eugen Schufftan. His next film—the first at UFA to use sound—was the 1930 comedy "Abschied" for writers Emeric Pressburger and Irma von Cube, followed by "Der Mann, der seinen Mörder sucht", another comedy, yet quite different and unusual, a likely product of Billy Wilder's imagination. But in his next film, the crime thriller "Stürme der Leidenschaft", with Emil Jannings and Anna Sten, Siodmak found a style that would become his own.
With the rise of Nazism and following an attack in the press by Hitler's minister of propaganda Joseph Goebbels in 1933 after viewing "Brennendes Geheimnis" ("The Burning Secret"), Siodmak left Germany for Paris. His creativity flourished, as he worked for the next six years in a variety of film genres, from comedy ("Le sexe faible" and "La Vie Parisienne" ) to musical ("La crise est finie", with Danielle Darrieux) to drama ("Mister Flow", "Cargaison blanche", "Mollenard"—compare Gabrielle Dorziat's shrewish wife with that of Rosalind Ivan in "The Suspect"— and "Pièges", with Maurice Chevalier and Erich Von Stroheim). While in France, he was well on his way to becoming successor to Rene Clair, until Hitler again forced him out. Siodmak arrived in California in 1939, where he made 23 movies, many of them widely popular thrillers and crime melodramas, which critics today regard as classics of film noir.
Beginning in 1941, he first turned out several B-films and programmers for various studios before he gained a seven-year contract with Universal Studios in 1943. The best of those early films are the thriller "Fly by Night" in 1942, with Richard Carlson and Nancy Kelly, and in 1943 "Someone to Remember", with Mable Paige in a signature role. As house director, his services were often used to salvage troublesome productions at the studio. On Mark Hellinger's production "Swell Guy" (1946), for instance, Siodmak was brought in to replace Frank Tuttle only six days after completing work on "The Killers". Siodmak worked steadily while under contract, overshadowed by high-profile directors, like Alfred Hitchcock, with whom he had been often compared by the press.
At Universal, Siodmak made yet another B-film, "Son of Dracula" (1943), the third in the studio's series of Dracula movies (based on his brother Curt's original story). His second feature was the Maria Montez/Jon Hall vehicle, "Cobra Woman" (1944), made in Technicolor.
His first all-out noir was "Phantom Lady" (1944), for staff producer Joan Harrison, Universal's first female executive and Alfred Hitchcock's former secretary and script assistant. It showcased Siodmak's skill with camera and editing to dazzling effect, but no more so than in the iconic jam-session sequence with Elisha Cook Jr. in throes on the drums. Following the critical success of "Phantom Lady", Siodmak directed "Christmas Holiday" (1944) with Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly (Hans J. Salter received an Oscar nomination for best music). Beginning with this film, his work in Hollywood attained the stylistic and thematic characteristics that are evident in his later noirs. "Christmas Holiday", adapted from a W. Somerset Maugham novel by Herman J. Mankiewicz, was Durbin's most successful feature. Siodmak's use of black-and-white cinematography and urban landscapes, together with his light-and-shadow designs, followed the basic structure of classic noir films. In fact, he had a number of collaborations with cinematographers, such as Nicholas Musuraca, Elwood Bredell, and Franz Planer, in which he achieved the Expressionist look he had cultivated in his early years at UFA. During Siodmak's tenure, Universal made the most of the noir style in "The Suspect", "The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry" and "The Dark Mirror", but the capstone was "The Killers". Released in 1946, it was Burt Lancaster's film debut and Ava Gardner's first dramatic, featured role. A critical and financial success, it earned Siodmak his only Oscar nomination for direction in Hollywood (his German production "Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam", based on the true story of serial killer Bruno Lüdke, was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in 1957).
While still under contract at Universal, Siodmak worked on loan out to RKO for producer Dore Schary in the thriller "The Spiral Staircase", a masterly blending of suspense and horror, which Siodmak said he edited as he pleased, due to a strike in Hollywood in 1945 (the film earned Ethel Barrymore a supporting-Oscar nomination). For 20th Century Fox and producer Darryl F. Zanuck, he directed, partly on location in New York City, the crime noir "Cry of the City" in 1948, and in 1949 for MGM he tackled its lux production "The Great Sinner", but the prolix script proved unmanageable for Siodmak who relinquished direction to the dependable and bland Mervyn LeRoy. On loan out to Paramount in 1949, he made for producer Hal B. Wallis his penultimate American noir "The File on Thelma Jordon", with Barbara Stanwyck at her most fatal—and sympathetic. Siodmak saw in this film a thematic link with "The Suspect" and "The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry", with the failed lovers of these films and significantly their tragic conclusions (ten years later he addressed the same theme in "The Rough and the Smooth"). Perhaps his finest American noir—although not his last—is "Criss Cross" that was to reunite him not only with Lancaster, but also "The Killers" producer Mark Hellinger, who died suddenly before production began in 1949. Working without the hands-on control of Hellinger again, Siodmak was able to make this film his own as he could not the earlier film. Yvonne De Carlo's working-class femme fatal (a high mark in her career) completes the deadly triangle, along with Lancaster and Dan Duryea: the archetype of doomed attraction central to all Siodmak's noirs, but the one he could fully express to its nihilistic conclusion.
Siodmak immersed himself in the creative process and genuinely loved working with actors, acquiring a reputation as an actor's director for his work with many future stars including: Burt Lancaster, Ernest Borgnine, Tony Curtis, Debra Paget, Maria Schell, Mario Adorf, Ava Gardner, Olivia de Havilland, Dorothy McGuire, Yvonne de Carlo, Barbara Stanwyck, Geraldine Fitzgerald, and Ella Raines.
He directed Charles Laughton (a close friend) and George Sanders, and got from both perhaps the unlikeliest, most natural and under-acted performances of their careers. From Lon Chaney, Jr. he drew an uncharacteristically controlled and coldly menacing performance for "Son of Dracula". He managed with Lancaster to capture a youthful vulnerability in "The Killer"—despite the actor's age (he was 33). He was able to get a believable, dramatic performance from Gene Kelly. He also helped raise Ava Gardner's public profile.
Before leaving for Europe in 1952, following the problematic production "The Crimson Pirate" for Warner Bros. and producer Harold Hecht, his third and last film with Burt Lancaster (Siodmak dubbed the chaotic experience "The Hecht Follies"), Siodmak had directed some of the era's best films noirs (twelve in all), more than any other director who worked in that style. However, his identification with film noir, generally unpopular with American audiences, may have been more of a curse than a blessing.
He often expressed his desire to make pictures "of a different type and background" than the ones he had been making for ten years. Nevertheless, he ended his Universal contract with one last noir, the disappointing "Deported" (1951) which he filmed partly abroad (Siodmak was among the first refugee directors to return to Europe after making American films). The story is loosely based on the deportation of gangster Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Siodmak had hoped Loretta Young would star, but settled for the Swedish actress Märta Torén.
Those "different type" of films he had made—"The Great Sinner" (1949) for MGM, "Time Out of Mind" (1947) for Universal (which Siodmak also produced), "The Whistle at Eaton Falls" (1951) for Columbia Pictures (Ernest Borgnine's debut and Dorothy Gish's return to the screen)—all proved ill-suited to his noir sensibilities (although in 1952 "The Crimson Pirate", despite the difficult production, was a surprising and pleasing departure—in fact, Lancaster believed it was inspiration for the tongue-in-cheek style of the James Bond films).
The five months he collaborated with Budd Schulberg on a screenplay tentatively titled "A Stone in the River Hudson", an early version of "On the Waterfront", was also a major disappointment for Siodmak. In 1954 he sued producer Sam Spiegel for copyright infringement. Siodmak was awarded $100,000, but no screen credit. His contribution to the original screenplay has never been acknowledged.
Siodmak's return to Europe in 1954 with a Grand Prize nomination at the Cannes Film Festival for his remake of Jacques Feyder's "Le grand jeu" was a misstep, despite its stars, Gina Lollobrigida (two of them) and Arletty in the role originated by Françoise Rosay, Feyder's wife. In 1955, Siodmak returned to the Federal Republic of Germany to make "Die Ratten", with Maria Schell and Curd Jurgens, winning the Golden Berlin Bear at the 1955 Berlin Film Festival. It was the first in a series of films critical of his homeland, during and after Hitler, which included "Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam", both thriller and social artifact of Germany under Nazi rule, shot in documentary style reminiscent of "Menschen am Sonntag" and "Whistle at Eaton Falls", and in 1960, "Mein Schulfreund", an absurdist comedy, dark and strange, with Heinz Ruhmann as a postal worker attempting to reunite with childhood friend Hermann Göring. Between these films, and "Mein Vater, der Schauspieler" in 1956, with O. W. Fischer (the West German Rock Hudson), he took a detour into Douglas Sirk territory with the sordid melodrama, "Dorothea Angermann" in 1959, featuring Germany's star Ruth Leuwerik. Later the same year he left Germany for Great Britain to film "The Rough and the Smooth", with Nadja Tiller and Tony Britton, yet another noir, but much meaner and gloomier than anything he had made in America (compare its downbeat ending with that of "The File on Thelma Jordan"). He followed with "Katia" also in 1959, a tale of Czarist Russia, with twenty-one-year-old Romy Schneider, mistakenly titled in America "Magnificent Sinner", recalling—unfavorably—Siodmak's other costume melodrama. In 1961, "L'affaire Nina B", with Pierre Brasseur and Nadja Tiller (again), returned Siodmak to familiar ground in a slick, black-and-white thriller about a pay-for-hire Nazi hunter, which could be argued was the start of the many spy themed films so popular in the 1960s. In 1962, the entertaining "Escape from East Berlin", with Don Murray and Christine Kaufman, had all the characteristic style of a Siodmak thriller, but was one that he later dismissed as something he had made for "little kids in America."
His work in Germany returned to programmers like those that had begun his career in Hollywood 23 years earlier. From 1964 to 1965, he made a series of films with former Tarzan Lex Barker: "The Shoot", "The Treasure of the Aztecs", and "The Pyramid of the Sun God", all taken from the western, adventure novels of Karl May.
Siodmak's return to Hollywood filmmaking in 1967 with the wide-screen western "Custer of the West" was another disappointment, receiving mostly negative reviews from critics and failing to generate box-office appeal. Siodmak ended his career with a six-hour, two-part toga and chariot epic, "Kampf um Rom" (1968), a more campy work (perhaps intentionally) than "Cobra Woman" had been. There was a brief and profitable foray into television in Great Britain with the series "O.S.S." (1957–58). Siodmak was last seen publicly in an interview for Swiss television at his home in Ascona in 1971. He died alone in 1973 in Locarno of a heart attack, seven weeks after his wife's death.
The British Film Institute held a retrospective of his career in April and May 2015. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26565 |
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a first-person shooter video game published by Activision, released on November 19, 2001 for Microsoft Windows and subsequently for PlayStation 2, Xbox, Linux and Macintosh. The game serves as both a remake and a reboot to the "Wolfenstein" series. It was developed by Gray Matter Interactive and Nerve Software developed its multiplayer mode. id Software, the creators of "Wolfenstein 3D", oversaw the development and were credited as executive producers. The multiplayer side eventually became the most popular part of the game, and was influential in the genre. Splash Damage created some of the maps for the Game of the Year edition. A sequel, titled "Wolfenstein", was released on August 18, 2009.
Game is played from the first person perspective, where the player's task is to perform a retrieval missions, sabotages or assassinations. Player can be armed with a typical WW2 weaponry and can even use some fictional ones such as German-made minigun or Tesla gun. Player can also use stealth to eliminate the enemies, and some missions even force using it. Enemies vary from the standard soldiers to the undead and experimental creatures. Health is replenished by collecting health packs and food. Armor also can be collected for an additional protection.
Multiplayer is an objective game mode, in which players are split into two teams – Axis and Allies. Each team has a set of objectives to complete, the Allies usually being to destroy some sort of Axis objective, and the Axis objectives being to defend their object(s). These objectives are split into two categories, primary and secondary. Primary objectives are ones which must be completed for victory, generally stealing secret documents or destroying a radar array; however secondary objectives are ones which are optional – they do not have to be completed, but if they are they may aid the appropriate team, such as blowing out a door to allow access into a tunnel which shortens travel time or allows less-noticeable infiltration of the enemy base.
Each team has access to a slightly different set of weapons, matching those used by each side in World War II. Players can choose from four different classes: Soldier, Medic, Lieutenant and Engineer. Soldiers can carry heavy weapons such as the Panzerfaust or Venom Cannon or Flamethrower which are not available to other classes, Medics can revive and heal other teammates, Engineers can breach obstacles and arm and defuse dynamite, and Lieutenants can supply ammo to teammates and are able to call in air strikes.
Each class specializes in a certain aspect of the game, and an effective team will balance players out using all four classes, such as a soldier for blasting through enemy defences, a medic for supporting the team and keeping them alive (Soldier making up for the lack of firepower with medics, medics making up for the lack of health), a Lieutenant to resupply teammates with ammo (especially soldiers) and engineers to complete the objective, having their way cleared by the soldier which is then supported by the Lieutenant.
There are three different modes of play, each allowing for a different experience – objective, stopwatch, and checkpoint. Stopwatch calls for the Allied side to complete a set of objectives within a predefined time limit. The opposing team then become the Allies and have to complete the objectives in a shorter time than the now Axis. Checkpoint gamemode is a mode in which teams capture flags. It may be more commonly known as Capture the Flag (CTF). Whichever team is first to control all the flags at once, wins. The team-based networked multiplayer features different character classes that must work together in order to win. There are four classes — lieutenant, medic, engineer, and soldier — the soldier can be one of several subclasses depending upon the special/heavy weapon that he selects. The multiplayer demo includes a beachhead assault map similar to Omaha Beach.
The year is 1943, World War II. Assigned to the Office of Secret Actions (OSA) from the military, US Army Ranger William "B.J." Blazkowicz and British operative Agent One are sent into Egypt to investigate increasing activity of the Nazi SS Paranormal Division. The duo find themselves witness to the SS blundering and releasing an ancient curse around the dig site, resurrecting scores of zombies from their slumber. Pushing through the mummies and Nazis, B.J and Agent One are led to an airfield and a location to follow. As they tail the SS, the two are shot down near Austria and captured by the Nazis. Agent One and Blazkowicz are carted away and imprisoned in Castle Wolfenstein, a remote, medieval castle that serves as a stronghold, prison, and research station. During their incarceration, Agent One is tortured for information and dies from electrocution. B.J., however, manages to escape Castle Wolfenstein's dungeon and fights his way out of the castle, using a cable car to leave the area and meet up with Kessler, a member of the German resistance in a nearby village.
Meanwhile, the SS Paranormal Division, under Oberführer Helga von Bulow, has long since moved from Egypt and has been excavating the catacombs and crypts of an ancient church within the village itself in search of the resting place of a "Dark Knight". The Division's sloppy precautions have led to the release of an ancient curse and the awakening of hordes of undead creatures, this time including Saxon knights. The majority of the SS finally realize the dangers and seal off the entrance into the catacombs, leaving many soldiers trapped inside. B.J. descends regardless and fights both Nazis and undead until he arrives at the ancient house of worship, the Defiled Church, where Nazi scientist Professor Zemph is conducting a 'life essence extraction' on the corpse of a Dark Knight, which, thanks to some Nazi technology, succeeds. Shortly before B.J.'s arrival, Zemph tries to talk the impatient Helga von Bulow out of retrieving an ancient Thulian artifact, the "Dagger of Warding" from a nearby altar in an isolated area of the church, but she shoots him and proceeds. This final blunder awakens another monster, Olaric, which kills and dismembers her. Blazkowicz, after a heated battle against spirits and demon attacks, defeats Olaric, and then is airlifted out with Zemph's notes and the dagger.
With the lead with Helga seeming to have come to a close, the OSA begins to shift its focus to one of Germany's leading scientific researchers and Head of the SS Special Projects Division, Oberführer Wilhelm "Deathshead" Strasse. Their investigation leads the OSA to realizing that Deathshead is preparing to launch an attack on London. He intends to use a V-2 rocket fitted with an experimental biological warhead, launching it from his base near Katamarunde in the Baltics. Due to the stealthy nature in which the OSA needs to act, Blazkowicz is parachuted some distance from the missile base and separated from his equipment. After collecting his gear, he smuggles himself into a supply truck bound for the base. Once inside, Blazkowicz destroys the V-2 on its launchpad and fights his way out of the facility towards an airbase filled with experimental jet aircraft. There, he commandeers a "Kobra" rocket-plane and flies to safety in Malta.
Eager to know more about Deathshead and his secret projects, the OSA sends Blazkowicz to the bombed-out city of Kugelstadt, where he is assisted by members of the German Kreisau Circle resistance group in breaking into a ruined factory and exfiltrating a defecting scientist. It is there he discovers the blueprints (and prototype) of the Reich's latest weapon, an electrically operated hand-held minigun dubbed the Venom Gun. Blazkowicz eventually breaks into Deathshead's underground research complex, the Secret Weapons Facility. There he encounters the horrific fruits of Deathshead's labors: creatures, malformed, and twisted through surgery and mechanical implants. The creatures escape from their containments and go on a rampage. Blazkowicz fights his way through the facility, only to see Deathshead escape the chaos by U-boat, and learns of his destination by interrogating a captured German officer.
Blazkowicz, with his newly found information, is then parachuted into Norway, close to Deathshead's mysterious "X-Labs". After breaking into the facility, which has been overrun by the twisted creatures he encountered in Kugelstadt (dubbed 'Lopers'), Blazkowicz retrieves Deathshead's journal, its content directly linking Deathshead's research to the rest of the SS Paranormal's occult activity. He then confronts several new prototype creatures called "Übersoldaten" (super soldiers), towering monstrosities coated in armor, powered by hydraulic legs and carrying powerful weapons. Finally catching up with Deathshead, Blazkowicz comes face to face with a completed and fully armored "Übersoldat", and kills the researchers who have developed it. After the "Übersoldat" is destroyed, Deathshead shouts over the speakers in frustration and astonishment before escaping in a Kobra rocket-plane and disappears for the rest of the game.
After studying the documents captured by Blazkowicz, the OSA has become aware of a scheme codenamed 'Operation: Resurrection', a plan to resurrect Heinrich I, a legendary and powerful Saxon warlock-king from 943 AD. Despite the skepticism of senior Allied commanders, the OSA parachutes Blazkowicz back near Castle Wolfenstein, at the Bramburg Dam, where he fights his way until he arrives at the village town of Paderborn. After assassinating all the senior officers of the SS Paranormal Division present there for the resurrection, Blazkowicz fights his way through Chateau Schufstaffel and into the grounds beyond. After fighting two more "Übersoldaten", Blazkowicz enters an excavation site near Castle Wolfenstein.
Inside the excavation site, Blazkowicz fights Nazi guards and prototype "Übersoldaten", and makes his way to a boarded-up entrance to Castle Wolfenstein's underground crypts. There, he finds that the ruined and decaying sections of the castle has become infested with undead creatures, which are attacking the castle's desperate garrison. After fighting his way through the underworkings of the castle, Blazkowicz arrives too late at the site of a dark ceremony to prevent the resurrection of Heinrich I. At the ceremony, SS psychic and "Oberführerin" Marianna Blavatsky conjures up dark spirits, which transform three of Deathshead's "Übersoldaten" into Dark Knights, Heinrich's lieutenants. She ultimately raises Heinrich I, who "thanks" her by turning her into his undead slave. In a climactic battle, Blazkowicz, after exhausting most of his arsenal, destroys the three Dark Knights, the undead Marianna Blavatsky, and eventually Heinrich I. In the distance, "Reichsführer-SS" Heinrich Himmler watches in horror, remarking afterwards "This American ... he has ruined everything" as he leaves for Berlin to face an expectant Hitler.
Back in the OSA, Operation Resurrection is closed and Blazkowicz is off on some "R&R" — shooting Nazis.
"Return to Castle Wolfenstein" is a reboot of the early first-person shooter "Wolfenstein 3D". It includes a story-based single player campaign (which uses certain themes from the original game), as well as a team-based networked multiplayer mode.
In the campaign, Allied agents from the fictional "Office of Secret Actions" (OSA) are sent to investigate rumors surrounding one of Heinrich Himmler's personal projects, the SS Paranormal Division (also see Ahnenerbe). The agents are, however, captured before completing their mission and are imprisoned in Castle Wolfenstein. Taking the role of Blazkowicz, the player must escape the castle. The player soon investigates the activities of the SS Paranormal Division, which include research on resurrecting corpses and biotechnology, while also sabotaging weapons of mass destruction such as V-2 rockets and biological warheads. During the game the player battles Waffen SS soldiers, elite "Fallschirmjäger" (paratroopers) known as Black Guards, undead creatures, and "Übersoldaten" (supersoldiers) formed from a blend of surgery and chemical engineering conducted by Wilhelm "Deathshead" Strasse. The end boss is an undead Saxon warrior-prince named Heinrich I.
The cable car in the castle is based on the 1968 movie "Where Eagles Dare", where a U.S. Army Brigadier General is captured and taken prisoner to the "Schloß Adler", a fortress high in the Alps above the town of Werfen, reachable only by cable car, and the headquarters of the German Secret Service in southern Bavaria. The supernatural element is based on the story of Castle Wewelsburg, a 17th-century castle occupied by the Germans under Heinrich Himmler's control, and used for occult rituals and practices.
One of the multiplayer maps (also released individually as the multiplayer demo) depicts Omaha Beach in Operation Overlord, and is inspired by the opening scene of "Saving Private Ryan". This put "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" in competition with another id Tech 3-powered World War II-themed first person shooter, "" which also features its own take on Omaha Beach.
In the German version of the game, it avoids making direct reference to Nazi Party and the "Third Reich", in order to comply with strict laws in Germany. The player is not battling Nazis but a secret sect called the "Wolves" led by Heinrich Höller, whose name is a pun of the original character Himmler (Himmler roughly translates as ""Heaven"er", Höller as ""Hell"er"). The Nazi swastika is also not present: the German forces use a Wolfenstein logo which is a combination of a stylized double-headed eagle prominent in most Nazi symbolism, a "W" (standing for Wolfenstein), and the "Quake III: Team Arena" "QIII" logo (the game engine and network code that "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" is based upon). The "W" eagle logo is prominently seen on the cover art for the American version.
Music pieces such as Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and Für Elise are used in the single player campaign.
Some sound effects in the game are excerpts heard in the 1968 movie . A radar station and the X-Labs levels of the game feature these sounds prominently to give the effect of working scientific equipment at a research facility.
The game is powered by a modified version of the id Tech 3 engine, with changes made to support large outdoor areas. The "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" engine was subsequently used as the foundation for "" (Splash Damage/Activision), "Trinity: The Shatter Effect" (Gray Matter Interactive/Activision) (shown at E3 in 2003, but assumed cancelled) and "Call of Duty" (Infinity Ward/Activision).
There are many different releases of "Return to Castle Wolfenstein". The original release, version 1.0, came in a game box featuring a book-like flap. A Collector's Edition, packaged in a metal case, was released at the same time. The contents of the Collector's Edition changed depending on when it was purchased and could include a poster and fabric patch, a poster and a bonus CD, or just the bonus CD. The Game of the Year Edition (2002 - v.1.33) came with the original "Wolfenstein 3D", game demos, and seven new multiplayer maps (Trenchtoast, Tram Siege, Ice, Chateau, Keep, The Damned, and Rocket.) The Platinum Edition (2004 - v.1.41) included "", a stand-alone multiplayer expansion, and "Wolfenstein 3D". "Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War" also came with the original "Wolfenstein 3D" as an unlockable after beating the campaign, and included some enhancements like surround sound.
The game was released for Linux and Macintosh platforms in 2002, with the Linux port done in-house by Timothee Besset and the Mac port done by Aspyr Media. In 2003, the game was ported to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox video game consoles and subtitled as "Operation Resurrection" and "Tides of War", respectively.
Both console versions include an additional single player prequel mission, set in the fictional town of Ras El-Hadid in Egypt. The latter half of the level features an extensive underground burial site with many undead enemies, as does the original first mission. This prequel level is likely closer to the developers' true intentions for the story, as indicated by the distinctly Egyptian design of the burial site, including the presence of sand, traps, mummies and hieroglyphs on the walls in some areas (in the original storyline, this site is found in the middle of a German village during the second mission). By contrast, the single player storyline in the Windows version starts at Castle Wolfenstein.
The PS2 version has a bonus feature which allows players to purchase items at the end of each level by finding secrets. In the Xbox version a Secret Bonus is awarded after every level when all the secret areas for that level have been found. It also has several new equipable items and weapons as well as new enemies. The two player co-op mode is exclusive to Xbox and allows the second player to play as Agent One, altering the game in which he was never killed and played out the missions to the end. This allows for the story to support that Agent One either survived. Xbox version also has downloadable content, system link play and had online multiplayer via Xbox Live before Live play was disabled for original Xbox games. A Platinum Hits edition of the game was also released for the Xbox. The PlayStation 2 version does not support online multiplayer.
Completing the Xbox version unlocks a further bonus: the original Wolfenstein 3D.
The source code for "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" and "Enemy Territory" was released under the GNU General Public License (GPL) on August 12, 2010. The "ioquake3" developers at icculus.org announced the start of respective engine projects soon after.
A "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" film was announced in 2002 with Rob Cohen attached to direct. Little information has been available since, however, with the exception of a July 20, 2005 IGN interview. The interview discussed the "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" film with id employees. In the interview, Todd Hollenshead indicated that the movie was in the works, though still in the early stages.
On August 3, 2007, "Variety" confirmed "Return to Castle Wolfenstein", to be written and directed by Roger Avary and produced by Samuel Hadida. On November 2, 2012, Roger Avary has signed on to write and direct the film. The film is being described as a mix of "Inglourious Basterds" and "".
"Return to Castle Wolfenstein" debuted at #3 on NPD Intelect's computer game sales chart for the November 18–24 period, at an average retail price of $57. It fell to position 7 in its second week. By the end of 2001, the game's domestic sales totaled 253,852 units, for revenues of $13.1 million.
In the United States, "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" sold 350,000 copies and earned $17 million by August 2006. It was the country's 48th best-selling computer game between January 2000 and August 2006. Combined sales of all "Wolfenstein" computer games released between January 2000 and August 2006 had reached 660,000 units in the United States by the latter date. "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" received a "Silver" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom. By January 2002, Activision reported that shipments of "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" to retailers had surpassed one million units.
"Return to Castle Wolfenstein" received favorable reviews from critics. At Metacritic, it scores 88/100 (based on 32 reviews), and on GameRankings it scores 86.75% (based on 50 reviews). "Eurogamer"'s Tom Bramwell called "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" "a worthy addition to the stable of id Software affiliated shoot 'em ups. The single player game is average to good and takes quite a while to finish, but the game really earns its salt by shipping with a first class multiplayer element."
In March 2008, the United States Department of State published a report to Congress, "Contemporary Global Anti-Semitism", that described "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" as an "anti-Semitic video game" with no qualifications. The report picked up on an article originally written in 2002 by Jonathan Kay of the New York Times regarding the recent introduction of "Nazi protagonists" in the online gaming market (referring specifically to "Day of Defeat" and Wolfenstein). The article was published just 19 days before "" was released which shares many similar features, and Nazis as playable characters in multiplayer.
Todd Hollenshead, chief executive of id Software at the time of the original article stated: "The trend you're seeing with new games is, to some extent, a reflection of what's going in the culture ... For instance, you've now got games with terrorists and counterterrorists. And World War II games such as "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" and "Day of Defeat" reflect what you see in popular movies ... I don't doubt there are going to be people that go out and distort what the multiplayer gaming experience is and say, 'Oh, I can't believe you guys did this.' There are a lot of critics of the game industry, and they look for things to criticize."
The game was nominated by Sherman Archibald, John Carmack, and Ryan Feltrin for the "Excellence in Programming" category at the 2002 Game Developers Choice Awards.
"PC Gamer US" awarded "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" its 2001 "Best Multiplayer Game" prize. The editors wrote, "No other FPS rewards this level of teamplay, sports this kind of graphics, or is this blissfully free of cheaters."
A multiplayer-only spinoff of the series, "Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory", was originally planned as a full-fledged expansion pack for "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" developed by Splash Damage. The single player component of the game was never completed and thus was removed entirely. The developers at that point decided the multiplayer part would be released as a free, downloadable standalone game. "Enemy Territory" is a team-based networked multiplayer game which involves completing objectives through teamwork using various character classes.
This gameplay was later reutilized in a full-fledged commercial game "" set in id Software's "Quake" universe. A semi-sequel called "Wolfenstein" was developed by Raven Software and id Software and published by Activision, and released on August 18, 2009. A sequel titled "" and a standalone prequel expansion titled "" have also been released in 2014 and 2015. The Old Blood references RTCW with characters with similar names and the X-labs being mentioned.
"The New Order" storyline was followed up in "" which was released in late 2017. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26569 |
Red Faction (video game)
Red Faction is a first-person shooter video game developed by Volition and published by THQ for PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows in 2001, and Macintosh platforms in 2002. A version for the Nokia N-Gage was developed by Monkeystone Games, and the mobile version was developed by Blue Beck. The game was inspired by several works of contemporary science fiction.
"Red Faction" takes place on Mars in the late 21st century. The player controls a miner named Parker who helps lead a rebellion against the Ultor Corporation. The premiere feature of the game is its "Geo-Mod" technology, short for "geometry modification", which provided destructible environments, allowing the player to destroy certain sections of the scenery in the game. For example, instead of opening a door, a player could blast through the rock surrounding the door.
On November 29, 2016, the game was made available for the PlayStation 4 through the PlayStation Network with added features such as trophy support and widescreen resolutions.
The game features GeoMod technology, which allows players to significantly alter and otherwise affect the surrounding terrain and buildings, either with explosives or otherwise. Past games had allowed limited alteration of the environment through scripted means, or special triggered areas which would add or remove certain predefined level elements. "Red Faction" was the first video game that allowed players unscripted level-altering possibilities.
The PC version of "Red Faction" includes an extra level called "Glass House" which allows the player to experiment with GeoMod as a mechanic in a sandbox environment.
The PlayStation 2 version of "Red Faction" uses offline split-screen multiplayer featuring deathmatch rounds with AI bots and up to 4 human players. The PC release of the game, in addition to its offline LAN mode, has competitive online multiplayer featuring deathmatch, team deathmatch, and capture the flag gameplay for up to 32 human players on 25 different levels. 2 additional multiplayer levels for the PC version were each included as exclusive content for players who purchased the game from either GameStop or Electronics Boutique. The later PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 releases of "Red Faction" are direct ports of the PlayStation 2 version and include no multiplayer functionality.
"Red Faction" takes place on Mars around the year 2075. Earth's minerals are being depleted and humans need more of them to survive. The vast Ultor Corporation runs the mining operation on Mars. The living conditions are deplorable, human rights for the miners are few, and a disease called "The Plague" is running rampant throughout the colony with no known antidote available—predominantly within the confines of the mine complex. Parker, a downtrodden miner, came to Mars to make a new start in his life—taken in by the promises and advantages Ultor has to offer in the mines of Mars. After a routine day in the mine with the typical aggression toward miners and cramped living conditions and poor nutrition, he witnesses the spark that starts a rebellion when a security guard abuses a miner at the end of his shift and heartlessly kills him. Parker takes up arms, with the help of Hendrix, a rebellious Ultor security technician who guides Parker through the complex. Hendrix tries to get Parker to join up with a group of miners who are about to steal a supply shuttle and escape the complex, but Parker arrives too late. The shuttle takes off, and is destroyed by missiles moments later.
Parker traverses through the Ultor complex, eliminating any resistance Ultor throws at him, and even (with the help of Orion, a high-ranking Red Faction member) kidnapping a high-ranking Ultor administrator, Gryphon, for Eos, leader of the Red Faction. Parker learns from Gryphon about Dr. Capek, who created "The Plague". Capek has been experimenting with nanotechnology, and the Plague is a side-effect of injections at the miners' annual medical checkup. Hendrix directs Parker to Capek's secret underground laboratory, where he and Eos meet up and take down Capek. As Capek dies, he tells Eos there is a cure for the Plague but refuses to tell her how to make it and bluntly states "Hope you all Die!" With Capek dead the lab's self-destruction sequence initiates, Eos stays behind to find the files on the cure while Parker continues to the Communications center. After sending a distress call to the Earth Defense Force, Parker destroys the missile defense system, so that he can stow away on a shuttle to an Ultor space station in Martian orbit to deactivate a laser defense system without getting shot down.
After destroying the space station, Parker lands back on Mars via an escape pod, Ultor brings out its reserve of mercenaries to help them in their fight against the miners. Hendrix tells Parker that the mercenaries have orders to destroy the mining complex, covering up any proof of Ultor's wrongdoing, Hendrix is killed soon after this by the mercenaries. After fighting his way through the mercenary base, Parker confronts Masako, the mercenary leader. After he kills Masako, Parker sees that Eos is tied up and sitting on the floor next to the bomb, which has been set to explode. After deactivating it, the Earth Defense Force arrives just in time to save Parker and Eos from a fighter aircraft. Eos tells Parker that an antidote for the Plague has been made and it is being given to any sick miners. She also tells him she is leaving Mars, and that Parker should enjoy his new status as a hero.
"Descent 4" was a game being developed by Volition as part of the "Descent" game franchise, as a prequel to "Descent". However, it was cancelled and the technology behind it and some of the plot were incorporated into "Red Faction". Examples include the main character Parker as well as the GeoMod engine.
Similarities between "Red Faction" and the 1990 film "Total Recall" have been pointed out, with its setting on Mars and the rebellion against the guards. Lead designer Alan Lawrance acknowledged the similarities in a 2014 interview but stated the film was not used as the main inspiration; any connection is purely coincidental.
"Red Faction" entered a pre-production phase in 1998. The original intention was for every part of the game to be destructible but this was reduced in scope due to technical challenges and the requirement to guide the player through a linear game. It was created by a small team on a relatively limited budget, and released in 2001.
The PlayStation 2 and PC versions of "Red Faction" received "generally favorable reviews", while the N-Gage version received "mixed" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.
In the PlayStation 2 version, IGN called it "an absolute must-have game for the PlayStation 2, and it's the best single-player first-person shooter by a long shot". GameSpot stated, "Although "Red Faction" rarely outstrips the games it draws inspiration from, the fact that there are times when it shows them up at all is pretty impressive." PlanetPS2 commented, ""Red Faction" delivers a satisfying, if slightly flawed single player experience and a distracting, but ultimately shallow multiplayer mode. The graphics are impressive, and the technology introduced in this game is amazing, it's just unfortunate that it hasn't been used to its fullest potential." However, "Edge" gave it the lowest score of five out of ten.
Chester Barber reviewed the PlayStation 2 version of the game for "Next Generation", rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "Although "Red Faction" isn't the most inventive FPS out there, it proves to be worthy with a solid single-player mode."
Jeff Lundrigan reviewed the PC version of the game for "Next Generation", rating it two stars out of five, and stated that "As middle-of-the-road an RPG as they come – frequently plodding, only sporadically enjoyable, and almost instantly forgettable."
In the PC version, IGN stated, "It's all about the gameplay, and when you crank this baby to hard or, God forbid, im-freaking-possible, you'll find the gameplay to keep you going for hours piled upon days, piled upon weeks." "PC Gamer" commented, "As far as looks go, "Red Faction" is more like the cute girl next door than a hot fashion model from the Upper West Side: It's pretty, but it won't make a man drop to his knees and thank God for giving him sight." GameSpot noted, "Its relative lack of originality can ... undermine "Red Faction"'s appeal for more-experienced players, for whom the game will provide mostly familiar territory. Nevertheless, "Red Faction" is an accomplished shooter in its own right." Game Revolution called the game "a fine FPS with plenty of action and intense gameplay, even if it is derivative, too short and a tad uninspired".
"Maxim" gave the PS2 version all five stars and said, "We have to admit that most first-person games nauseate us, but ["Red Faction"]'s smooth graphics and easy gameplay make it hard to put down." "Playboy" gave the same console version a score of 90% and stated, "Virtually every element of "Red Faction" is nicely polished – even the controls are intuitive, unlike most console shooters, which make PC gaming vets long for a keyboard and mouse." "The Cincinnati Enquirer" gave the N-Gage version four stars out of five and called it "a clever port from the popular console and PC versions".
The sequel, "Red Faction II", was released for PlayStation 2 in October 2002, then GameCube, Xbox and Microsoft Windows the following year. It takes place on Earth and tells the story of a group of supersoldiers, including the main character, who are physically enhanced by the nanotechnology originally developed by Capek on Mars.
On June 15, 2009, THQ released "", for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows. In this iteration, the story again takes place on Mars, where the Earth Defense Force has become as tyrannical an organization as Ultor.
Developed by Locomotive Games, a spin-off of the "Red Faction" games called "Red Faction: B.E.A.S.T." was in a pre-alpha development stage for the Nintendo Wii video game console. However, with the closure of Locomotive Games the game has been abandoned, although several models and a full-length trailer were released to the public upon the closure of the studio.
On June 4, 2010, the next installment was announced with the trailer for "". The story occurs approximately 50 years after the events of "Red Faction: Guerrilla". Players assume the role of Darius Mason, grandson of Alec and Samanya from the last installment of the series. In "Armageddon", the Martian colonists now reside underground following the destruction of the machine responsible for terraforming Mars. Years after this event, creatures encountered in the first game are again released. "Red Faction: Armageddon" was released on June 7, 2011. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26570 |
Ragnar Frisch
Ragnar Anton Kittil Frisch (3 March 1895 – 31 January 1973) was a Norwegian economist and the co-recipient of the first Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1969 (with Jan Tinbergen). He is known for being one of the founders of the discipline of econometrics, and for coining the widely used term pair macroeconomics/microeconomics in 1933.
Frisch was appointed by the King-in-Council as Professor of Economics and Statistics at the Faculty of Law, The Royal Frederick University in 1931. He served as the Dean of the Faculty of Law 1942–1943. Today, the Frisch Centre at the University of Oslo is named in his honour.
Ragnar Frisch was born on 3 March 1895 in Christiania as the son of gold- and silversmith Anton Frisch and Ragna Fredrikke Frisch (née Kittilsen). The Frisch family had emigrated from Germany to Kongsberg in Norway in the 17th century and his ancestors had worked for the Kongsberg Silver Mines for generations; Ragnar's grandfather Antonius Frisch had become a goldsmith in Christiania in 1856. His family had thus worked with precious metals like silver and gold for at least 300 years.
Being expected to continue his family business, Frisch became an apprentice in the David Andersen workshop in Oslo. However at his mother's advice, while doing his apprenticeship Frisch also started studying at the Royal Frederick University. His chosen topic was economics, as it seemed to be "the shortest and easiest study" available at the university, and passed his degree in 1919. In 1920 he also passed his handicraftsman tests and became a partner in his father's workshop.
In 1921 Frisch received a fellowship from the university which enabled him to spend three years studying economics and mathematics in France and England. After his return to Norway, in 1923, although the family's business was having difficulties, he continued his scientific activity, believing that research, not jewellery, was his real calling. He published a few papers about probability theory, started teaching at the University of Oslo during 1925 and, in 1926, he obtained the Dr. Philos. degree with a thesis in mathematical statistics.
Also in 1926, Frisch published an article outlining his view that economics should follow the same path towards theoretical and empirical quantization that other sciences, especially physics, had followed. During the same year, he published his seminal article "Sur un problème d'économie pure" starting the implementation of his own quantization programme. The article offered theoretical axiomatizations which result in a precise specification of both ordinal and cardinal utility, followed by an empirical estimation of the cardinal specification. Frisch also started lecturing a course on production theory, introducing a mathematization of the subject.
Frisch received a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation to visit the United States in 1927. There, seeking other economists interested in the new mathematical and statistical approaches to economics, he associated with Irving Fisher, Wesley Clair Mitchell, Allyn Young and Henry Schultz. He wrote a paper analyzing the role of investment in explaining economic fluctuations. Wesley Mitchell, who had just written a book on business cycles, popularized Frisch's paper which was introducing new advanced methods.
Although his fellowship was extended to travel to Italy and France, the next year Frisch had to return to Norway because of his father's death. He spent one year to modernize and recapitalize his family's workshop by selling family assets and to find a jeweller to manage the business for him. Then he resumed academic work, in 1928 being appointed Associate Professor of statistics and economics at the Oslo University. During 1927 and 1928 Frisch published a series of articles on the statistics of time series. In 1929 he published his first important essay on econometric methodology, "Correlation and scatter in statistical variables", followed in the same year by "Statics and dynamics in economic theory", which introduced dynamics in economic analysis.
Frisch became a full Professor at the university in 1931. He also founded at the university the Rockefeller-funded Institute of Economics in 1932 and became its Director of Research.
Ragnar Frisch received the Antonio Feltrinelli prize from the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in 1961 and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1969 (awarded jointly with Jan Tinbergen) for "having developed and applied dynamic models for the analysis of economic processes".
During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany Frisch was imprisoned in Bredtveit concentration camp from 17 October 1943, then in Berg concentration camp from 22 November 1943, then in Grini detention camp from 9 December 1943 to 8 October 1944.
Frisch married Marie Smedal in 1920 and they had a daughter, Ragna (b. 1938). His granddaughter, Nadia Hasnaoui (Ragna's child), became a Norwegian television performer. After his first wife died in 1952, he remarried in 1953 with childhood friend Astrid Johannessen. who died in 1980.
Frisch was one of the founders of economics as a modern science. He made a number of significant advances in the field of economics and coined a number of new words including econometrics and macroeconomics. His 1926 paper on consumer theory helped set up Neo-Walrasian research. He formalized production theory, especially in addressing nonallocable inputs leading to jointness, meaning less than full control, in production processes (see esp. Chapters 14 and 15).
In econometrics he worked on time series (1927) and linear regression analysis (1934). With Frederick V. Waugh, he introduced the celebrated Frisch–Waugh theorem ("Econometrica" 1933) (sometimes referred to as the Frisch–Waugh–Lovell theorem). In oligopoly theory he developed the conjectural variation approach. Frisch also is credited with introducing the term "model" in its modern economic sense by Paul Samuelson, based on a 1930 Yale University lecture.
His 1933 work on impulse-propagation business cycles became one of the principles of modern New Classical business cycle theory. He also helped introduce econometric modeling to government economic planning and accounting.
He was one of the founders of the Econometric Society and editor of "Econometrica" for over twenty years. The Frisch Medal, so named in his honor, is given every two years for the best paper published in the aforementioned "Econometrica" in the previous five years.
Frisch's most important hobby was bee-keeping, for which Frisch performed genetic studies.
There is a bibliography of Frisch's writings up to 1960 in
and there is a collection of selected essays | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26571 |
Rennet
Rennet is a complex set of enzymes produced in the stomachs of ruminant mammals. Chymosin, its key component, is a protease enzyme that curdles the casein in milk. In addition to chymosin, rennet contains other enzymes, such as pepsin and a lipase.
Rennet is used to separate milk into solid curds (for cheesemaking) and liquid whey, and so it or its substitutes is used in the production of most cheeses.
One of the main actions of rennet is its protease chymosin cleaving the kappa casein chain. Casein is the main protein of milk. Cleavage causes casein to stick to other cleaved casein molecules and form a network. It can cluster better in the presence of calcium and phosphate, which is why it is occasionally added in cheese making especially from calcium phosphate-poor goat milk. The solid truncated casein protein network traps other components of milk, such as fats and minerals, to create cheese.
Calf rennet is extracted from the inner mucosa of the fourth stomach chamber (the abomasum) of young, nursing calves as part of livestock butchering. These stomachs are a byproduct of veal production. If rennet is extracted from older calves (grass-fed or grain-fed), the rennet contains less or no chymosin, but a high level of pepsin and can only be used for special types of milk and cheeses. As each ruminant produces a special kind of rennet to digest the milk of its own species, milk-specific rennets are available, such as kid goat rennet for goat's milk and lamb rennet for sheep's milk.
Dried and cleaned stomachs of young calves are sliced into small pieces and then put into salt water or whey, together with some vinegar or wine to lower the pH of the solution. After some time (overnight or several days), the solution is filtered. The crude rennet that remains in the filtered solution can then be used to coagulate milk. About 1 g of this solution can normally coagulate 2 to 4 L of milk.
Deep-frozen stomachs are milled and put into an enzyme-extracting solution. The crude rennet extract is then activated by adding acid; the enzymes in the stomach are produced in an inactive form and are activated by the stomach acid. The acid is then neutralized and the rennet extract is filtered in several stages and concentrated until reaching a typical potency of about 1:15,000; meaning 1 g of extract can coagulate 15 kg of milk.
One kg of rennet extract has about 0.7 g of active enzymes – the rest is water and salt and sometimes sodium benzoate (E211),
0.5% - 1.0% for preservation. Typically, 1 kg of cheese contains about 0.0003 g of rennet enzymes.
Because of the limited availability of mammalian stomachs for rennet production, cheese makers have sought other ways to coagulate milk since at least Roman times. The many sources of enzymes that can be a substitute for animal rennet range from plants and fungi to microbial sources. Cheeses produced from any of these varieties of rennet are suitable for lactovegetarians. Fermentation-produced chymosin is used more often in industrial cheesemaking in North America and Europe today because it is less expensive than animal rennet.
Many plants have coagulating properties. Homer suggests in the "Iliad" that the Greeks used an extract of fig juice to coagulate milk. Other examples include several species of Galium, dried caper leaves, nettles, thistles, mallow, "Withania coagulans" (also known as Paneer Booti, Ashwagandh and the Indian Cheesemaker), and ground ivy. Some traditional cheese production in the Mediterranean uses enzymes from thistle or "Cynara" (artichokes and cardoons). Phytic acid, derived from unfermented soybeans, or fermentation-produced chymosin (FPC) may also be used.
Vegetable rennet might be used in the production of kosher and halal cheeses, but nearly all kosher cheeses are produced with either microbial rennet or FPC. Commercial so-called vegetable rennets usually contain an extract from the mold "Rhizomucor miehei".
Some molds such as "Rhizomucor miehei" are able to produce proteolytic enzymes. These molds are produced in a fermenter and then specially concentrated and purified to avoid contamination with unpleasant byproducts of the mold growth.
The traditional view is that these coagulants result in bitterness and low yield in cheese, especially when aged for a long time. Over the years, microbial coagulants have improved a lot, largely due to the characterization and purification of secondary enzymes responsible for bitter peptide formation/non-specific proteolytic breakdown in cheese aged for long periods. Consequently, it has become possible to produce several high-quality cheeses with microbial rennet.
It is also suitable for the elaboration of vegan cheese, provided no animal-based ingredients are used in its production.
Because of the above imperfections of microbial and animal rennets, many producers sought other replacements of rennet. With genetic engineering it became possible to isolate rennet genes from animals and introduce them into certain bacteria, fungi, or yeasts to make them produce chymosin during fermentation. The genetically modified microorganism is killed after fermentation and chymosin isolated from the fermentation broth, so that the fermentation-produced chymosin (FPC) used by cheese producers does not contain a GMO or any GMO DNA. FPC is identical to chymosin made by an animal, but is produced in a more efficient way. FPC products have been on the market since 1990 and, because the quantity needed per unit of milk can be standardized, are commercially viable alternatives to crude animal or plant rennets, as well as generally preferred to them in industrial production.
Originally created by biotechnology company Pfizer, FPC was the first artificially-produced enzyme to be registered and allowed by the US Food and Drug Administration. In 1999, about 60% of US hard cheeses were made with FPC, and it has up to 80% of the global market share for rennet.
The most widely used FPC is produced either by the fungus "Aspergillus niger" and commercialized under the trademark CHY-MAX by the Danish company Chr. Hansen, or produced by "Kluyveromyces lactis" and commercialized under the trademark MAXIREN by the Dutch company DSM.
FPC is chymosin B, so is more pure than animal rennet, which contains a multitude of proteins. FPC can provide several benefits to the cheese producer compared with animal or microbial rennet, such as higher production yield, better curd texture, and reduced bitterness.
Cheeses produced with FPC can be certified kosher and halal, and are suitable for vegetarians if no animal-based alimentation was used during the chymosin production in the fermenter.
Many soft cheeses are produced without use of rennet, by coagulating milk with acid, such as citric acid or vinegar, or the lactic acid produced by soured milk. Cream cheese, paneer, and rubing are traditionally made this way (see for others).
The acidification can also come from bacterial fermentation such as in cultured milk.
Vegan alternatives to cheese are manufactured without using animal milk but instead use soy, wheat, rice or cashew. These can be coagulated with acid using sources such as vinegar or lemon juice. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26572 |
Rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha (along with the hare and the pika). "Oryctolagus cuniculus" includes the European rabbit species and its descendants, the world's 305 breeds of domestic rabbit. "Sylvilagus" includes 13 wild rabbit species, among them the seven types of cottontail. The European rabbit, which has been introduced on every continent except Antarctica, is familiar throughout the world as a wild prey animal and as a domesticated form of livestock and pet. With its widespread effect on ecologies and cultures, the rabbit (or bunny) is, in many areas of the world, a part of daily life—as food, clothing, a companion, and as a source of artistic inspiration.
Although once considered rodents, lagomorphs like rabbits have been placed in their own, separate family because of a number of traits their rodent cousins lack, like two extra incisors.
Male rabbits are called "bucks"; females are called "does". An older term for an adult rabbit is "coney" (derived ultimately from the Latin "cuniculus"), while "rabbit" once referred only to the young animals. Another term for a young rabbit is "bunny", though this term is often applied informally (particularly by children) to rabbits generally, especially domestic ones. More recently, the term "kit" or "kitten" has been used to refer to a young rabbit.
A group of rabbits is known as a "colony" or "nest" (or, occasionally, a "warren", though this more commonly refers to where the rabbits live). A group of baby rabbits produced from a single mating is referred to as a "litter", and a group of domestic rabbits living together is sometimes called a "herd".
Rabbits and hares were formerly classified in the order Rodentia (rodent) until 1912, when they were moved into a new order, Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). Below are some of the genera and species of the rabbit.
Order Lagomorpha
Family Leporidae
Family Ochtonidae
Hares are precocial, born relatively mature and mobile with hair and good vision, while rabbits are altricial, born hairless and blind, and requiring closer care. Hares (and cottontail rabbits) live a relatively solitary life in a simple nest above the ground, while most rabbits live in social groups in burrows or warrens. Hares are generally larger than rabbits, with ears that are more elongated, and with hind legs that are larger and longer. Hares have not been domesticated, while descendants of the European rabbit are commonly bred as livestock and kept as pets.
Rabbits have long been domesticated. Beginning in the Middle Ages, the European rabbit has been widely kept as livestock, starting in ancient Rome. Selective breeding has generated a wide variety of rabbit breeds, many of which (since the early 19th century) are also kept as pets. Some strains of rabbit have been bred specifically as research subjects.
As livestock, rabbits are bred for their meat and fur. The earliest breeds were important sources of meat, and so became larger than wild rabbits, but domestic rabbits in modern times range in size from dwarf to giant. Rabbit fur, prized for its softness, can be found in a broad range of coat colors and patterns, as well as lengths. The Angora rabbit breed, for example, was developed for its long, silky fur, which is often hand-spun into yarn. Other domestic rabbit breeds have been developed primarily for the commercial fur trade, including the Rex, which has a short plush coat.
Because the rabbit's epiglottis is engaged over the soft palate except when swallowing, the rabbit is an obligate nasal breather. Rabbits have two sets of incisor teeth, one behind the other. This way they can be distinguished from rodents, with which they are often confused. Carl Linnaeus originally grouped rabbits and rodents under the class Glires; later, they were separated as the scientific consensus is that many of their similarities were a result of convergent evolution. However, recent DNA analysis and the discovery of a common ancestor has supported the view that they "do" share a common lineage, and thus rabbits and rodents are now often referred to together as members of the superorder Glires.
Since speed and agility are a rabbit's main defenses against predators (including the swift fox), rabbits have large hind leg bones and well developed musculature. Though plantigrade at rest, rabbits are on their toes while running, assuming a more digitigrade form. Rabbits use their strong claws for digging and (along with their teeth) for defense. Each front foot has four toes plus a dewclaw. Each hind foot has four toes (but no dewclaw).
Most wild rabbits (especially compared to hares) have relatively full, egg-shaped bodies. The soft coat of the wild rabbit is agouti in coloration (or, rarely, melanistic), which aids in camouflage. The tail of the rabbit (with the exception of the cottontail species) is dark on top and white below. Cottontails have white on the top of their tails.
As a result of the position of the eyes in its skull, the rabbit has a field of vision that encompasses nearly 360 degrees, with just a small blind spot at the bridge of the nose.
The anatomy of rabbits' hind limbs are structurally similar to that of other land mammals and contribute to their specialized form of locomotion. The bones of the hind limbs consist of long bones (the femur, tibia, fibula, and phalanges) as well as short bones (the tarsals). These bones are created through endochondral ossification during development. Like most land mammals, the round head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum of the ox coxae. The femur articulates with the tibia, but not the fibula, which is fused to the tibia. The tibia and fibula articulate with the tarsals of the pes, commonly called the foot. The hind limbs of the rabbit are longer than the front limbs. This allows them to produce their hopping form of locomotion. Longer hind limbs are more capable of producing faster speeds. Hares, which have longer legs than cottontail rabbits, are able to move considerably faster. Rabbits stay just on their toes when moving this is called Digitigrade locomotion. The hind feet have four long toes that allow for this and are webbed to prevent them from spreading when hopping. Rabbits do not have paw pads on their feet like most other animals that use digitigrade locomotion. Instead, they have coarse compressed hair that offers protection.
Rabbits have muscled hind legs that allow for maximum force, maneuverability, and acceleration that is divided into three main parts; foot, thigh, and leg. The hind limbs of a rabbit are an exaggerated feature, that are much longer than the forelimbs providing more force. Rabbits run on their toes to gain the optimal stride during locomotion. The force put out by the hind limbs is contributed to both the structural anatomy of the fusion tibia and fibula, and muscular features. Bone formation and removal, from a cellular standpoint, is directly correlated to hind limb muscles. Action pressure from muscles creates force that is then distributed through the skeletal structures. Rabbits that generate less force, putting less stress on bones are more prone to osteoporosis due to bone rarefaction. In rabbits, the more fibers in a muscle, the more resistant to fatigue. For example, hares have a greater resistance to fatigue than cottontails. The muscles of rabbit's hind limbs can be classified into four main categories: hamstrings, quadriceps, dorsiflexors, or plantar flexors. The quadriceps muscles are in charge of force production when jumping. Complementing these muscles are the hamstrings which aid in short bursts of action. These muscles play off of one another in the same way as the plantar flexors and doriflexors, contributing to the generation and actions associated with force.
Within the order lagomorphs, the ears are utilized to detect and avoid predators. In the family leporidae, the ears are typically longer than they are wide. For example, in black tailed jack rabbits, their long ears cover a greater surface area relative to their body size that allow them to detect predators from far away. Contrasted to cotton tailed rabbits, their ears are smaller and shorter, requiring predators to be closer to detect them before they can flee. Evolution has favored rabbits to have shorter ears so the larger surface area does not cause them to lose heat in more temperate regions. The opposite can be seen in rabbits that live in hotter climates, mainly because they possess longer ears that have a larger surface area that help with dispersion of heat as well as the theory that sound does not travel well in more arid air, opposed to cooler air. Therefore, longer ears are meant to aid the organism in detecting predators sooner rather than later in warmer temperatures. The rabbit is characterized by its shorter ears while hares are characterized by their longer ears. Rabbits' ears are an important structure to aid thermoregulation and detect predators due to how the outer, middle, and inner ear muscles coordinate with one another. The ear muscles also aid in maintaining balance and movement when fleeing predators.
Outer ear
The Auricle (anatomy), also known as the pinna is a rabbit's outer ear. The rabbit's pinnae represent a fair part of the body surface area. It is theorized that the ears aid in dispersion of heat at temperatures above 30 °C with rabbits in warmer climates having longer pinnae due to this. Another theory is that the ears function as shock absorbers that could aid and stabilize rabbit's vision when fleeing predators, but this has typically only been seen in hares. The rest of the outer ear has bent canals that lead to the eardrum or tympanic membrane.
Middle ear
The middle ear is filled with three bones called ossicles and is separated by the outer eardrum in the back of the rabbit's skull. The three ossicles are called hammer, anvil, and stirrup and act to decrease sound before it hits the inner ear. In general, the ossicles act as a barrier to the inner ear for sound energy.
Inner ear
Inner ear fluid called endolymph receives the sound energy. After receiving the energy, later within the inner ear there are two parts: the cochlea that utilizes sound waves from the ossicles and the vestibular apparatus that manages the rabbit's position in regards to movement. Within the cochlea there is a basilar membrane that contains sensory hair structures utilized to send nerve signals to the brain so it can recognize different sound frequencies. Within the vestibular apparatus the rabbit possesses three semicircular canals to help detect angular motion.
Thermoregulation is the process that an organism utilizes to maintain an optimal body temperature independent of external conditions. This process is carried out by the pinnae which takes up most of the rabbit's body surface and contain a vascular network and arteriovenous shunts. In a rabbit, the optimal body temperature is around 38.5–40℃. If their body temperature exceeds or does not meet this optimal temperature, the rabbit must return to homeostasis. Homeostasis of body temperature is maintained by the use of their large, highly vascularized ears that are able to change the amount of blood flow that passes through the ears.
Constriction and dilation of blood vessels in the ears are used to control the core body temperature of a rabbit. If the core temperature exceeds its optimal temperature greatly, blood flow is constricted to limit the amount of blood going through the vessels. With this constriction, there is only a limited amount of blood that is passing through the ears where ambient heat would be able to heat the blood that is flowing through the ears and therefore, increasing the body temperature. Constriction is also used when the ambient temperature is much lower than that of the rabbit's core body temperature. When the ears are constricted it again limits blood flow through the ears to conserve the optimal body temperature of the rabbit. If the ambient temperature is either 15 degrees above or below the optimal body temperature, the blood vessels will dilate. With the blood vessels being enlarged, the blood is able to pass through the large surface area which causes it to either heat or cool down.
During the summer, the rabbit has the capability to stretch its pinnae which allows for greater surface area and increase heat dissipation. In the winter, the rabbit does the opposite and folds its ears in order to decrease its surface area to the ambient air which would decrease their body temperature.
The jackrabbit has the largest ears within the "Oryctolagus cuniculus" group. Their ears contribute to 17% of their total body surface area. Their large pinna were evolved to maintain homeostasis while in the extreme temperatures of the desert.
The rabbit's nasal cavity lies dorsal to the oral cavity, and the two compartments are separated by the hard and soft palate. The nasal cavity itself is separated into a left and right side by a cartilage barrier, and it is covered in fine hairs that trap dust before it can enter the respiratory tract. As the rabbit breathes, air flows in through the nostrils along the alar folds. From there, the air moves into the nasal cavity, also known as the nasopharynx, down through the trachea, through the larynx, and into the lungs. The larynx functions as the rabbit's voice box, which enables it to produce a wide variety of sounds. The trachea is a long tube embedded with cartilaginous rings that prevent the tube from collapsing as air moves in and out of the lungs. The trachea then splits into a left and right bronchus, which meet the lungs at a structure called the hilum. From there, the bronchi split into progressively more narrow and numerous branches. The bronchi branch into bronchioles, into respiratory bronchioles, and ultimately terminate at the alveolar ducts. The branching that is typically found in rabbit lungs is a clear example of monopodial branching, in which smaller branches divide out laterally from a larger central branch.
Rabbits breathe primarily through their noses due to the fact that the epiglottis is fixed to the backmost portion of the soft palate. Within the oral cavity, a layer of tissue sits over the opening of the glottis, which blocks airflow from the oral cavity to the trachea. The epiglottis functions to prevent the rabbit from aspirating on its food. Further, the presence of a soft and hard palate allow the rabbit to breathe through its nose while it feeds.
Rabbits lungs are divided into four lobes: the cranial, middle, caudal, and accessory lobes. The right lung is made up of all four lobes, while the left lung only has two: the cranial and caudal lobes. In order to provide space for the heart, the left cranial lobe of the lungs is significantly smaller than that of the right. The diaphragm is a muscular structure that lies caudal to the lungs and contracts to facilitate respiration.
Rabbits are herbivores that feed by grazing on grass, forbs, and leafy weeds. In consequence, their diet contains large amounts of cellulose, which is hard to digest. Rabbits solve this problem via a form of hindgut fermentation. They pass two distinct types of feces: hard droppings and soft black viscous pellets, the latter of which are known as caecotrophs or "night droppings" and are immediately eaten (a behaviour known as "coprophagy"). Rabbits reingest their own droppings (rather than chewing the cud as do cows and numerous other herbivores) to digest their food further and extract sufficient nutrients.
Rabbits graze heavily and rapidly for roughly the first half-hour of a grazing period (usually in the late afternoon), followed by about half an hour of more selective feeding. In this time, the rabbit will also excrete many hard fecal pellets, being waste pellets that will not be reingested. If the environment is relatively non-threatening, the rabbit will remain outdoors for many hours, grazing at intervals. While out of the burrow, the rabbit will occasionally reingest its soft, partially digested pellets; this is rarely observed, since the pellets are reingested as they are produced.
Hard pellets are made up of hay-like fragments of plant cuticle and stalk, being the final waste product after redigestion of soft pellets. These are only released outside the burrow and are not reingested. Soft pellets are usually produced several hours after grazing, after the hard pellets have all been excreted. They are made up of micro-organisms and undigested plant cell walls.
Rabbits are hindgut digesters. This means that most of their digestion takes place in their large intestine and cecum. In rabbits, the cecum is about 10 times bigger than the stomach and it along with the large intestine makes up roughly 40% of the rabbit's digestive tract. The unique musculature of the cecum allows the intestinal tract of the rabbit to separate fibrous material from more digestible material; the fibrous material is passed as feces, while the more nutritious material is encased in a mucous lining as a cecotrope. Cecotropes, sometimes called "night feces", are high in minerals, vitamins and proteins that are necessary to the rabbit's health. Rabbits eat these to meet their nutritional requirements; the mucous coating allows the nutrients to pass through the acidic stomach for digestion in the intestines. This process allows rabbits to extract the necessary nutrients from their food.
The chewed plant material collects in the large cecum, a secondary chamber between the large and small intestine containing large quantities of symbiotic bacteria that help with the digestion of cellulose and also produce certain B vitamins. The pellets are about 56% bacteria by dry weight, largely accounting for the pellets being 24.4% protein on average. The soft feces form here and contain up to five times the vitamins of hard feces. After being excreted, they are eaten whole by the rabbit and redigested in a special part of the stomach. The pellets remain intact for up to six hours in the stomach; the bacteria within continue to digest the plant carbohydrates. This double-digestion process enables rabbits to use nutrients that they may have missed during the first passage through the gut, as well as the nutrients formed by the microbial activity and thus ensures that maximum nutrition is derived from the food they eat. This process serves the same purpose in the rabbit as rumination does in cattle and sheep.
Rabbits are incapable of vomiting. Because rabbits cannot vomit, if buildup occurs within the intestines (due often to a diet with insufficient fiber), intestinal blockage can occur.
The adult male reproductive system forms the same as most mammals with the seminiferous tubular compartment containing the Sertoli cells and an adluminal compartment that contains the Leydig cells. The Leydig cells produce testosterone, which maintains libido and creates secondary sex characteristics such as the genital tubercle and penis. The Sertoli cells triggers the production of Anti-Müllerian duct hormone, which absorbs the Müllerian duct. In an adult male rabbit, the sheath of the penis is cylinder-like and can be extruded as early as two months of age. The scrotal sacs lay lateral to the penis and contain epididymal fat pads which protect the testes. Between 10–14 weeks, the testes descend and are able to retract into the pelvic cavity in order to thermoregulate. Furthermore, the secondary sex characteristics, such as the testes, are complex and secrete many compounds. These compounds includes fructose, citric acid, minerals, and a uniquely high amount of catalase.
The adult female reproductive tract is bipartite, which prevents an embryo from translocating between uteri. The two uterine horns communicate to two cervixes and forms one vaginal canal. Along with being bipartite, the female rabbit does not go through an estrus cycle, which causes mating induced ovulation.
The average female rabbit becomes sexually mature at 3 to 8 months of age and can conceive at any time of the year for the duration of her life. However, egg and sperm production can begin to decline after three years. During mating, the male rabbit will mount the female rabbit from behind and insert his penis into the female and make rapid pelvic hip thrusts. The encounter lasts only 20–40 seconds and after, the male will throw himself backwards off the female.
The rabbit gestation period is short and ranges from 28 to 36 days with an average period of 31 days. A longer gestation period will generally yield a smaller litter while shorter gestation periods will give birth to a larger litter. The size of a single litter can range from four to 12 kits allowing a female to deliver up to 60 new kits a year. After birth, the female can become pregnant again as early as the next day.
The mortality rates of embryos are high in rabbits and can be due to infection, trauma, poor nutrition and environmental stress so a high fertility rate is necessary to counter this.
Rabbits may appear to be crepuscular, but their natural inclination is toward nocturnal activity. In 2011, the average sleep time of a rabbit in captivity was calculated at 8.4 hours per day. As with other prey animals, rabbits often sleep with their eyes open, so that sudden movements will awaken the rabbit to respond to potential danger.
In addition to being at risk of disease from common pathogens such as "Bordetella bronchiseptica" and "Escherichia coli", rabbits can contract the virulent, species-specific viruses RHD ("rabbit hemorrhagic disease", a form of calicivirus) or myxomatosis. Among the parasites that infect rabbits are tapeworms (such as "Taenia serialis)", external parasites (including fleas and mites), coccidia species, and "Toxoplasma gondii". Domesticated rabbits with a diet lacking in high fiber sources, such as hay and grass, are susceptible to potentially lethal gastrointestinal stasis. Rabbits and hares are almost never found to be infected with rabies and have not been known to transmit rabies to humans.
Encephalitozoon cuniculi, an obligate intracellular parasite is also capable of infecting many mammals including rabbits.
Rabbits are prey animals and are therefore constantly aware of their surroundings. For instance, in Mediterranean Europe, rabbits are the main prey of red foxes, badgers, and Iberian lynxes. If confronted by a potential threat, a rabbit may freeze and observe then warn others in the warren with powerful thumps on the ground. Rabbits have a remarkably wide field of vision, and a good deal of it is devoted to overhead scanning. They survive predation by burrowing, hopping away in a zig-zag motion, and, if captured, delivering powerful kicks with their hind legs. Their strong teeth allow them to eat and to bite in order to escape a struggle. The longest-lived rabbit on record, a domesticated European rabbit living in Tasmania, died at age 18. The lifespan of wild rabbits is much shorter; the average longevity of an eastern cottontail, for instance, is less than one year.
Rabbit habitats include meadows, woods, forests, grasslands, deserts and wetlands. Rabbits live in groups, and the best known species, the European rabbit, lives in burrows, or rabbit holes. A group of burrows is called a "warren".
More than half the world's rabbit population resides in North America. They are also native to southwestern Europe, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, some islands of Japan, and in parts of Africa and South America. They are not naturally found in most of Eurasia, where a number of species of hares are present. Rabbits first entered South America relatively recently, as part of the Great American Interchange. Much of the continent has just one species of rabbit, the tapeti, while most of South America's southern cone is without rabbits.
The European rabbit has been introduced to many places around the world.
Rabbits have been a source of environmental problems when introduced into the wild by humans. As a result of their appetites, and the rate at which they breed, feral rabbit depredation can be problematic for agriculture. Gassing, barriers (fences), shooting, snaring, and ferreting have been used to control rabbit populations, but the most effective measures are diseases such as myxomatosis ("myxo" or "mixi", colloquially) and calicivirus. In Europe, where rabbits are farmed on a large scale, they are protected against myxomatosis and calicivirus with a genetically modified virus. The virus was developed in Spain, and is beneficial to rabbit farmers. If it were to make its way into wild populations in areas such as Australia, it could create a population boom, as those diseases are the most serious threats to rabbit survival. Rabbits in Australia and New Zealand are considered to be such a pest that land owners are legally obliged to control them.
In some areas, wild rabbits and hares are hunted for their meat, a lean source of high quality protein. In the wild, such hunting is accomplished with the aid of trained falcons, ferrets, or dogs, as well as with snares or other traps, and rifles. A caught rabbit may be dispatched with a sharp blow to the back of its head, a practice from which the term "rabbit punch" is derived.
Wild leporids comprise a small portion of global rabbit-meat consumption. Domesticated descendants of the European rabbit "(Oryctolagus cuniculus)" that are bred and kept as livestock (a practice called cuniculture) account for the estimated 200 million tons of rabbit meat produced annually. Approximately 1.2 billion rabbits are slaughtered each year for meat worldwide. In 1994, the countries with the highest consumption per capita of rabbit meat were Malta with , Italy with , and Cyprus with , falling to in Japan. The figure for the United States was per capita. The largest producers of rabbit meat in 1994 were China, Russia, Italy, France, and Spain. Rabbit meat was once a common commodity in Sydney, Australia, but declined after the myxomatosis virus was intentionally introduced to control the exploding population of feral rabbits in the area.
In the United Kingdom, fresh rabbit is sold in butcher shops and markets, and some supermarkets sell frozen rabbit meat. At farmers markets there, including the famous Borough Market in London, rabbit carcasses are sometimes displayed hanging, unbutchered (in the traditional style), next to braces of pheasant or other small game. Rabbit meat is a feature of Moroccan cuisine, where it is cooked in a tajine with "raisins and grilled almonds added a few minutes before serving". In China, rabbit meat is particularly popular in Sichuan cuisine, with its stewed rabbit, spicy diced rabbit, BBQ-style rabbit, and even spicy rabbit heads, which have been compared to "spicy duck neck". Rabbit meat is comparatively unpopular elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific.
An extremely rare infection associated with rabbits-as-food is tularemia (also known as "rabbit fever"), which may be contracted from an infected rabbit. Hunters are at higher risk for tularemia because of the potential for inhaling the bacteria during the skinning process. An even more rare condition is protein poisoning, which was first noted as a consequence of eating rabbit meat to exclusion (hence the colloquial term, "rabbit starvation"). Protein poisoning, which is associated with extreme conditions of the total absence of dietary fat in protein, was noted by Vilhjalmur Stefansson in the late 19th century and in the journals of Charles Darwin.
In addition to their meat, rabbits are used for their wool, fur, and pelts, as well as their nitrogen-rich manure and their high-protein milk. Production industries have developed domesticated rabbit breeds (such as the well-known Angora rabbit) to efficiently fill these needs.
Rabbits are often used as a symbol of fertility or rebirth, and have long been associated with spring and Easter as the Easter Bunny. The species' role as a prey animal with few defenses evokes vulnerability and innocence, and in folklore and modern children's stories, rabbits often appear as sympathetic characters, able to connect easily with youth of all kinds (for example, the Velveteen Rabbit, or Thumper in Bambi).
The rabbit often appears in folklore as the trickster archetype, as he uses his cunning to outwit his enemies.
The rabbit as trickster is a part of American popular culture, as Br'er Rabbit (from African-American folktales and, later, Disney animation) and Bugs Bunny (the cartoon character from Warner Bros.), for example.
Anthropomorphized rabbits have appeared in film and literature, in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" (the White Rabbit and the March Hare characters), in "Watership Down" (including the film and television adaptations), in "Rabbit Hill" (by Robert Lawson), and in the "Peter Rabbit" stories (by Beatrix Potter). In the 1920s, "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit", was a popular cartoon character.
A rabbit's foot may be carried as an amulet, believed to bring protection and good luck. This belief is found in many parts of the world, with the earliest use being recorded in Europe c. 600 BC.
On the Isle of Portland in Dorset, UK, the rabbit is said to be unlucky and even speaking the creature's name can cause upset among older island residents. This is thought to date back to early times in the local quarrying industry where (to save space) extracted stones that were not fit for sale were set aside in what became tall, unstable walls. The local rabbits' tendency to burrow there would weaken the walls and their collapse resulted in injuries or even death. Thus, invoking the name of the culprit became an unlucky act to be avoided. In the local culture to this day, the rabbit (when he has to be referred to) may instead be called a “long ears” or “underground mutton”, so as not to risk bringing a downfall upon oneself. While it was true 50 years ago that a pub on the island could be emptied by calling out the word "rabbit", this has become more fable than fact in modern times.
In other parts of Britain and in North America, invoking the rabbit's name may instead bring good luck. "Rabbit rabbit rabbit" is one variant of an apotropaic or talismanic superstition that involves saying or repeating the word "rabbit" (or "rabbits" or "white rabbits" or some combination thereof) out loud upon waking on the first day of each month, because doing so will ensure good fortune for the duration of that month.
The "rabbit test" is a term, first used in 1949, for the Friedman test, an early diagnostic tool for detecting a pregnancy in humans. It is a common misconception (or perhaps an urban legend) that the test-rabbit would die if the woman was pregnant. This led to the phrase "the rabbit died" becoming a euphemism for a positive pregnancy test. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26573 |
The Hunt for Red October
The Hunt for Red October is the debut novel by Tom Clancy, first published on October 1, 1984 by the Naval Institute Press. It depicts Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius as he seemingly goes rogue with his country's cutting-edge ballistic missile submarine "Red October", and marks the first appearance of Clancy's most popular fictional character Jack Ryan, an analyst working for the Central Intelligence Agency, as he must prove his theory that Ramius had intended to defect to the United States. The book was loosely inspired by the mutiny on the Soviet frigate "Storozhevoy" in 1975.
"The Hunt for Red October" launched Clancy's successful career as a novelist, especially after then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan remarked that he had enjoyed reading the book. A namesake film adaptation was released on March 2, 1990, and several computer and video games based on the book have been developed. Since then, the book has become instrumental in bringing the book genre of techno-thriller into the mainstream.
During the Cold War, Marko Ramius, a Soviet Navy submarine commander of Lithuanian descent, plans to defect to the United States with his hand-picked officers on board the ballistic missile submarine "Red October", a vessel. It is equipped with a cutting-edge silent propulsion system, known as the caterpillar drive, that makes audio detection by passive sonar extremely difficult and enables the submarine to sneak its way into American territorial waters and launch nuclear missiles with little or no warning. As the ship leaves the shipyard at Polyarny, Ramius kills Ivan Putin, his political officer, to ensure that he will not interfere with the defection. Initially, Ramius was instructed to conduct military exercises with Soviet attack submarine "V. K. Konovalov", commanded by his former student Viktor Tupolev, for the purpose of testing the effectiveness of the caterpillar drive. Instead, he plots on a new course for the North American coast, falsely informing the crew that they will be proceeding all the way to Cuba undetected. Before sailing, Ramius had sent a letter to Admiral Yuri Padorin, the uncle of his deceased wife, Natalia, brazenly stating his intention to defect; the Soviet Northern Fleet therefore sails out to sink "Red October" under the pretext of a search and rescue mission.
By sheer happenstance, "Red October" passes near , a under the command of Bart Mancuso, which is patrolling the entrance of a route used by Soviet submarines in the Reykjanes Ridge off Iceland. "Dallas"′s sonar operator hears the sound of the stealth drive but does not immediately identify it as a submarine. As tensions rise between the U.S. and Soviet fleets (due to the unannounced incursion of the Soviet Northern Fleet into Atlantic waters), the crew of "Dallas" analyzes tapes of "Red October"′s acoustic signature and realizes that it is the sound of a new propulsion system. Meanwhile, CIA analyst and former Marine Jack Ryan, who was initially tasked to examine MI6's photographs of "Red October", finds out that the submarine's new construction variations house its stealth drive.
Later putting information about Ramius's letter together with the subsequent launch of the entire Northern Fleet, Ryan deduces Ramius's plans to defect. The U.S. military reluctantly agrees to assist, while planning for contingencies in case the Soviet fleet has intentions other than those inferred. After it is revealed that Ramius has informed Moscow of his plan for him and his officers to defect, Ryan becomes responsible for shepherding Ramius and his vessel away from the pursuing Soviet fleet and meets with an old Royal Navy acquaintance, Admiral John White, commanding a task force from the aircraft carrier .
In order to convince the Soviets that "Red October" has been destroyed, the U.S. Navy rescues her crew after Ramius fakes a reactor meltdown. Ramius and his officers stay behind, claiming they are about to scuttle the submarine to prevent it getting into the hands of the Americans. A decommissioned U.S. ballistic missile submarine, , is blown up underwater as a deception. A depth gauge taken from the main instrument panel of "Red October" (with the appropriate serial number) is made to appear as if it had been salvaged from the "Ethan Allen"′s wreckage. Meanwhile, Ryan, Captain Mancuso, some of his crew, and Owen Williams (a Russian-speaking British officer from "Invincible") board "Red October" and meet Ramius face-to-face.
The deception succeeds in convincing Soviet observers that "Red October" has been lost and the Soviet forces withdraw. However, Igor Loginov, a GRU intelligence officer masquerading as one of "Red October"'s cooks, was suspicious and stayed behind when the crew evacuated. On learning of Ramius' intentions, he attempts to manually launch one of the submarine's missiles in its silo in order to destroy "Red October". Loginov is discovered and he fatally shoots Captain Lieutenant Kamarov (the ship's navigator) and seriously wounds Ramius and Williams. Ryan tries to reason with the GRU agent, who refuses to listen and is killed in a firefight in the submarine's missile compartment. Later, Tupolev, aboard "V.K. Konovalov" which stayed behind when the Soviet fleet withdrew, happens upon what they initially believe is an submarine, being escorted by two other submarines. Based on its acoustical signature, Tupolev realizes that the "Ohio" is in fact "Red October," which was reported sunk, and proceeds to engage it. The two U.S. submarines escorting "Red October" are prevented from firing on the "Konovalov" by rules of engagement. After a tense battle in which the "Red October" is damaged by a torpedo from the "Konovalov", Ramius manages to ram Tupolev and sink him.
The Americans escort "Red October" safely into dry dock in Norfolk, Virginia, where Ramius and his crew are taken to a CIA safehouse to begin their settlement into American life. Ryan is commended and debriefed by his superiors; he later flies back to his posting in London.
"The Hunt for Red October" introduced Tom Clancy's writing style, which included technical details about weaponry, submarines, espionage, and the military. The accurate nature of Clancy's writing was well known among the American military such that Clancy remarked in a 1986 interview: “When I met Navy Secretary John Lehman last year, the first thing he asked me about the book was, ‘Who the hell cleared it?’”
The novel shares elements with James Clavell’s works, particularly "Shōgun" (1975) and "Noble House" (1981), where political power is used instead of physical confrontation with an enemy. Clancy portrays the Soviets, especially Captain Ramius, sympathetically, and most characters are understandable in their actions and fears, while at the same time comparing and contrasting their philosophies and values against their American counterparts, who in turn are shown as more competent in their profession, this being explained by the US Navy being better equipped and trained than the Soviet sailors who are mostly conscripts.
In the novel, the US and its service personnel are unmistakably the "good guys". The central theme of the US being flawed, but ultimately a force for good and hope in the world is something the author would explore more in his later novels. However, unlike "The Hunt For Red October", these later novels often include negative American characters, motivated by power or greed.
In addition, "The Hunt for Red October" is considered a coming-of-age story regarding the main character Jack Ryan. However, instead of running away from responsibilities, a theme common in contemporary American literature, Clancy subverts the convention by having Ryan rushing toward the burdens of the adult world. Moreover, the book introduced Jack Ryan as a new archetype of the American hero — an everyman who uses his prior knowledge instead of physical power in solving a particular crisis.
From a young age, Clancy was an avid reader of naval history and sea exploration. However, he was later rejected from serving in the military because of his poor eyesight. Since graduating from high school and eventually earning an English major, he always wanted to write a novel. He eventually worked as an insurance agent for a small business owned by his then-wife's family.
In his spare time, Clancy started working on "The Hunt for Red October" on November 11, 1982, and finished it four months later on February 23, 1983. Contrary to popular belief that Clancy had access to top-secret intelligence in researching for the novel, he consulted technical manuals, discussions with former submariners and books like Norman Polmar’s "Guide to the Soviet Navy" and "Combat Fleets of the World" in order to maintain accuracy in describing Soviet submarines.
He then submitted the first draft of the novel to the Naval Institute Press, where he previously wrote an article on the MX missile for their magazine "Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute". Three weeks later, the publication company returned his manuscript, along with a request to cut about a hundred pages’ worth of numerous technical details. After fixing his work, Clancy then sold "The Hunt for Red October" to the Naval Institute Press for a modest sum of $5,000.
Having recently decided to publish fiction, the publication company made Clancy's work as their first published novel. Editor Deborah Grosvenor later recalled convincing the publishers: “I think we have a potential best-seller here, and if we don’t grab this thing, somebody else would." She believed Clancy had an "innate storytelling ability, and his characters had this very witty dialogue".
The book received critical acclaim, especially from the American government. U.S. President Ronald Reagan had pronounced the book, which was given to him as a Christmas gift, as “the perfect yarn” and “unputdownable”; his endorsement eventually boosted the novel's sales and solidified Clancy's reputation as a bestselling author. Regarding the reception, Clancy remarked: “I was thunderstruck, dumbfounded, bowled over, amazed. But I wasn't surprised." Many members of the White House were fans of the book.
"The Hunt for Red October" was also popular among the military. On a 1985 visit to the , Clancy discovered 26 copies of the novel among the crew. "The Washington Post", in its original review, praised the novel as "the most satisfactory novel of a sea chase since C.S. Forester perfected the form."
Due to an extensive marketing campaign by the Naval Institute Press for their first published work of fiction, which was initially aimed on the military, the book sold 45,000 copies by March 1985. Clancy said in a 1991 interview: “I thought we’d sell maybe five thousand or ten thousand hardcovers and that would be the end of it. I never really thought about making money.”
After Reagan's endorsement, "The Hunt for Red October" topped the national bestseller lists, particularly "The New York Times". It eventually sold more than 365,000 copies in hardback. After securing the paperback rights to Berkley Books for $49,500, the novel sold another 4.3 million copies.
The novel was adapted as a feature film, which was released in the United States on March 2, 1990, months after the Cold War ended. Captain Marko Ramius was played by Sean Connery, while Alec Baldwin played Jack Ryan. It serves as the first entry in the Jack Ryan film series, which would later follow a chronological order differing from the novels. The movie is a nearly faithful depiction of the novel even though there are many deviations, including "Red October" traveling up the Penobscot River in Maine to dry dock, the omission of the Royal Navy task force including Ryan's time aboard , and the "caterpillar drive" being described as a magnetohydrodynamic drive system, essentially, "a jet engine for the water", rather than a means of disguising the sound created by the screws.
The film received mainly positive reviews from critics, holding an 88% rating from Rotten Tomatoes based on 66 reviews. It was the 6th top-grossing film of the year, generating $122 million in North America and more than $200 million worldwide in box office. In a 1991 interview, Clancy remarked of the film's success: "It was reasonably true to the spirit of the book, although the movie had a lot of technical errors in it and some changes in the story which I do not think is necessary. But you have to remember that the printed word and visual representation on the screen are two different art forms and they have very different roles."
The novel also became the basis for three computer, video, and console games. One version, a combination of a submarine simulator and strategy game, was released in 1987 and received positive reviews. Another game based on the movie was released in 1990. The console game was released in 1991 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. In addition, a board game, published in 1988 by TSR, Inc. became one of the bestselling wargames of all time.
In late 2015, River Horse announced it had acquired the rights and intended to crowdfund another game based on the intellectual property. The 2017 Indiegogo launch failed. The fate of the project is unknown as of late 2017.
"The Hunt for Red October" popularized the book genre of techno-thriller into the mainstream. “Tom Clancy defined an era, not just of thrillers but of pop culture in general," said Jon Land, an author and marketing chair for the International Thriller Writers. "No one encapsulated the mindset and mentality of the Reagan era more, as the Cold War was heating up for the last time and we were entering a new age of modern warfare. Clancy's books tapped into our fears and helped define our psyches, even as he reinvigorated the thriller genre by bringing millions of new readers into the fold.”
The book was instrumental in restoring confidence in the American military and government, which had endured a bitter defeat in Vietnam War and foreign policy failures during the late 1970s. The book also led to a shift in book sales qualifying the bestseller lists from mass market paperback back to hardcover, a trend that other “brand-name” authors such as Stephen King, Clive Cussler, Michael Crichton, and Danielle Steel would later follow.
On April 20, 2018, "The Hunt for Red October" was included in the list of 100 most-loved books in the U.S., compiled by PBS as part of their new series and multi-platform initiative "The Great American Read".
The book appeared in a fake commercial ad serving as a teaser trailer for the third season of the Netflix web television series "Stranger Things", which was released on July 16, 2018. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30761 |
The Cardinal of the Kremlin
The Cardinal of the Kremlin is an espionage thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and released on May 20, 1988. A direct sequel to "The Hunt for Red October" (1984), it features CIA analyst Jack Ryan as he extracts CARDINAL, the agency's highest placed agent in the Soviet government who is being pursued by the KGB, as well as the Soviet intelligence agency's director. The novel also features the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a real-life missile-defense system developed by the United States during that time, and its Russian counterpart. The book debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list.
For thirty years, Colonel Mikhail Semyonovich "Misha" Filitov, a personal aide to the Soviet Minister of Defense and war hero, has been passing military, technical, and political intelligence to the CIA as their highest agent-in-place, codenamed CARDINAL. His latest mission concerns a Soviet anti-ballistic missile research project codenamed "Bright Star", based at a secret defense installation in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
Colonel Filitov sends Gennady Bondarenko, a Soviet colonel skilled with lasers, to Dushanbe to evaluate the facility and unwittingly procure information that Misha will then send to his CIA contacts. Unfortunately, a minor slip-up in passing Filitov's intelligence alerts the KGB, which then aggressively pursues the couriers involved. They later become suspicious of Filitov and place him under surveillance. The courier chain having been quickly shut down by the CIA station chief in Moscow, Edward Foley, Filitov's more important intelligence on Bright Star is delayed; however, he reveals the presence of a KGB agent infiltrating Bright Star's counterpart, Tea Clipper, which alarms the CIA.
The CIA then tasks Foley with extracting CARDINAL out of the country. However, when his wife Mary Pat, also a CIA agent, attempts to make a brush pass to Filitov, the two are arrested by the KGB. The Foleys are then declared persona non grata, while Filitov is imprisoned and psychologically tortured until he eventually confesses to his crimes. In an effort to salvage the mission, CIA analyst Jack Ryan, who had now learned of CARDINAL's identity, concocts a plan to secure the return of Filitov and at the same time force the defection of KGB chairman Nikolay Gerasimov, who has been vying for the position of General Secretary since Filitov's arrest; Ryan tries to prevent his ascension to power due to his anti-American ideology.
Ryan, who is part of the American arms negotiation team, travels to Moscow for the arms reduction talks. There he meets Gerasimov, and blackmails him into releasing Filitov and betraying his country; if his demands are not met, he will reveal what actually happened to the Soviet ballistic missile submarine "Red October", which would disgrace the KGB chairman, who had used the incident to consolidate the KGB's control over the military. As counter-leverage should he refuse to defect, Gerasimov arranges for the kidnapping of Tea Clipper's top SDI researcher, Major Alan Gregory.
Gregory's kidnapping was undertaken by KGB agent Tania Bisyarina, who has been handling a mole inside Tea Clipper. The mole, a lesbian named Dr. Beatrice Taussig who unluckily falls in love with Gregory's fiancée, eventually gives up Bisyarina to the FBI out of guilt, and the Hostage Rescue Team later saves Gregory from his Soviet captors in a shabby desert safe house in New Mexico. Ryan later informs Gerasimov, who finally caves into his demands. The KGB chairman's wife and daughter are later extracted by CIA operative John Clark from Estonia into the submarine . Meanwhile, the secret ABM facility in Dushanbe finds itself under attack by the Afghan mudjahedin, whose leader was known as "the Archer" due to his expertise in using surface-to-air missiles to bring down Soviet ground support aircraft. Colonel Bondarenko, who was there for a second round of evaluations, manages to repel the attackers, protecting Bright Star's scientific and engineering personnel and eventually killing the Archer.
On the last day of the arms negotiation talks, Gerasimov releases Filitov so that they can both proceed to Sheremetyevo Airport, joining Ryan and the American negotiation team in returning to the United States. They successfully board the American delegation's aircraft, but Ryan allows himself to be captured by KGB officer Sergey Golovko, who is his counterpart in the arms talks and had become aware of their planned departure. He is then led to the private dacha of General Secretary Narmonov, where they discuss the CIA's interest in his political position and interference in the Soviet Union's internal security. Meanwhile, the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 attempts to force the American delegation's plane to return back to Russia, but the plane successfully evades it.
Filitov, who was extensively debriefed by the CIA, later dies due to heart disease. He was buried at Camp David, within twenty miles of the Antietam battlefield. His funeral was attended by Ryan and the Foleys, among others, as well as a Soviet military attaché who questions why Filitov would be buried close to American soldiers. Ryan, always working to keep the peace, explains to him, "One way or another, we all fight for what we believe in. Doesn't that give us some common ground?"
"The Cardinal of the Kremlin" is considered to be Clancy's primary example of a traditional espionage novel until "Red Rabbit" (2002). It included “a near fetishist attention to the details of the tradecraft of spying and an exploration of the individuals who take up this dangerous vocation”. In addition, the book was written during the time of Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev’s rule, which was considered by historians as a crucial point in world history where Communism in the Soviet Union began its decline. Clancy affirms his opinion that with reformers in the Soviet government like Gorbachev, the country will be more likely to establish a shift in its relations between the United States, which was later made possible by the dissolution of the country three years later.
The book was also written at the time of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, as well as the Strategic Defense Initiative, a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons. They were both featured in the novel. It also continues elements set forth in previous novel "The Hunt for Red October" (1984), including Filitov and Ramius’s similarities in motivation for committing treason against their own country.
The book became the bestselling novel of the year, selling 1,277,000 hardcover copies. It received positive reviews. Kirkus Reviews praised the book as "less reliant on technoblather than previous Clancy works, and awash in subplots, most of them entertaining. Plenty of action; no mushy stuff." In Robert Lekachman's review of the book for "The New York Times", he hailed it as "by far the best of the Jack Ryan series", adding: "While his prose is no better than workmanlike (the genre does not, after all, attract many budding Flauberts), the unmasking of the title's secret agent, the Cardinal, is as sophisticated an exercise in the craft of espionage as I have yet to encounter." Bob Woodward, reviewing for "The Washington Post", regarded the book as "a great spy novel" which "rivals Clancy's "The Hunt for Red October", surpasses his "Red Storm Rising" and runs circles around his "Patriot Games"".
"The Cardinal of the Kremlin" is also the title of a 1991 video game based on the novel, which is a global management simulation developed for Amiga.
After the release of "Clear and Present Danger" (1994), a film based on the book was planned before it was deemed too difficult to adapt, resulting in producer Mace Neufeld purchasing the rights to "The Sum of All Fears". Harrison Ford was set to reprise his role as Jack Ryan, co-starring with William Shatner. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30762 |
Debt of Honor
Debt of Honor is a techno-thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and released on August 17, 1994. A direct sequel to "The Sum of All Fears" (1991), Jack Ryan becomes the National Security Advisor when a secret cabal of Japanese industrialists seize control of their country’s government and wage war on the United States. The book debuted at number one on "The New York Times" bestseller list. The novel was later noted as containing plot elements which were similar to the circumstances of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93.
Japanese industrialist Raizo Yamata has been plotting to bring back his country to a position of greatness for years, partly as revenge for the death of his family at the hands of American forces invading the island of Saipan during World War II. His opportunity comes when a car accident in eastern Tennessee, caused by faulty gas tanks made in Japan, results in the deaths of six American people. The incident leads to the swift passage of a law allowing the U.S. to mirror trade practices of the countries from which it imports goods, cutting off the American export markets upon which the Japanese economy depends. Facing an economic crisis, Japan’s ruling zaibatsu, led by Yamata, decides to take economic and military action against the United States. Along with covert support from China and India, they plot to curtail the U.S. presence in the Pacific and re-establish the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. After the Japanese Prime Minister Mogataru Koga resigns in disgrace due to the economic situation, the zaibatsu installs Hiroshi Goto, an aggressive nationalist and critic of the U.S., to succeed him. Meanwhile, Japan has covertly developed nuclear weapons, and with SS-18 designs bought from the former Soviet Union, has fabricated and deployed several ICBMs.
Japan launches the first phase of its assault, sending Self-Defense Force units to occupy the Mariana Islands, specifically Saipan and Guam, without casualties. However, during a joint military exercise, Japanese ships "accidentally" launch torpedoes at the U.S. Pacific Fleet, destroying two submarines and crippling two aircraft carriers. An immediate retaliation is forestalled by the second phase of the Japanese offensive: an economic attack, where Japan engineers the collapse of the U.S. stock market by hiring a programmer who is a consultant for an exchange firm to insert a logic bomb into the system, which when triggered blocks the storage of all trade records made after noon on Friday. They also assassinate the chairman of the Federal Reserve. The Japanese government then immediately sue for peace, offering international talks and seemingly free elections in the Marianas to delay a U.S. response.
Meanwhile, Jack Ryan is pulled out of retirement from government service by U.S. President Roger Durling, who appoints him as National Security Advisor. Despite his typical focus on military issues, he advises the president to deal with the economic crisis first, realizing that Japan's deletion of trade records could be an advantage in responding to the economic threat. He engineers a "do-over", where all of the transactions that were deleted on the day of the mass deletion are ignored and all trade information is restored to its condition at noon of that day. The U.S. stock market is successfully restored with only minor disruption, and a group of U.S. investment banks start a massive economic unloading of Japanese investment products, effectively eliminating any gains made by the zaibatsu.
The United States military then proceeds to launch a counterattack on their Japanese counterparts using whatever resources they have. In a staged accident, CIA operatives John Clark and Domingo Chavez blind two incoming Japanese E-767 pilots with a Dazzler that causes them to crash upon landing. The U.S. Air Force then proceeds to eliminate the rest of Japan's AWACS system through low-profile military attacks using widely dispersed U.S. assets, allowing B-2 bombers to destroy the hidden ICBM silos. They later use an attack by stealthy F-22 fighters to further damage Japan's air defenses. An Army special operations team is airdropped into Japan to support covertly inserted Comanche helicopters. One helicopter is used to attack another AWACS plane with air-to-air missiles while several others use Hellfire missiles to kill members of Yamata's cabal. Meanwhile, Admiral Robby Jackson liberates the Marianas with few casualties by using a combination of cruise missiles and carrier air attacks to severely damage the Japanese aircraft stationed on the islands, which forces the Japanese commander to surrender his troops.
Outmaneuvered and cornered by the United States's military and economic response, Goto resigns, ceding power to his predecessor Koga, who was rescued earlier by Clark and Chavez from Yamata. Yamata and his surviving conspirators are arrested for treason, and the new Japanese government accepts the generous U.S. offer of "status quo ante".
Throughout the book, President Durling faces another political crisis: Vice President Ed Kealty is forced to resign after being accused of rape. With the crisis over, President Durling nominates Ryan as vice president for successfully handling the crisis. However, an embittered Japan Air Lines pilot, driven mad by the deaths of his son and brother during the conflict, flies his Boeing 747 directly into the U.S. Capitol during a special joint session of Congress. The president, as well as nearly the entire Congress, the Supreme Court, and many other members of the federal government are killed in the attack. Ryan, who is on his way to be sworn as vice president after being confirmed, narrowly escapes the explosion. He becomes the President of the United States and takes his oath of office before a district judge in the CNN studios in Washington.
"Debt of Honor" was released during a time of American resentment towards the Japanese, which was further popularized by the publication of Michael Crichton's crime thriller novel "Rising Sun" in 1992. In this case, Clancy avoided "Japan bashing" that is evident in Crichton's work, and instead presented a balanced picture of Japanese society, its government, business practices, and values. In the novel, he also discussed currency trading, governmental corruption, car manufacturing and distribution, and power politics in the country.
The novel also reinforces Clancy's belief that the recent downsizing of the military establishment after the Cold War "has so depleted our military resources that the country is vulnerable to aggression that can arise anywhere, anytime", according to "Publishers Weekly"s review of the book.
The novel received positive reviews. Publishers Weekly praised Clancy, who "spins out story threads in a rich but bewildering tangle of plot and setting, then vigorously weaves them together. Here, the heart-stopping climax is unexpected, but oddly appropriate." However, Christopher Buckley, in a review for "The New York Times", called the book a "herniating experience" and criticized its "racist" depictions of Japanese characters.
In later years, the novel was noted for its similarity to the circumstances surrounding United Airlines Flight 93, especially regarding its climax, where an embittered Japanese pilot crashes his 747 on a joint session of Congress in the Capitol. While researching for the novel's ending, Clancy consulted an Air Force officer and described his reaction: "I ran this idea past him and all of a sudden this guy's eyeballing me rather closely and I said, 'Come on general, I know you must have looked at this before, you've got to have a plan for it.' And the guy goes, 'Mr. Clancy, to the best of my knowledge, if we had a plan to deal with this, it would be secret, I wouldn't be able to talk to you about it, but to the best of my knowledge we've never looked at this possibility before.'"
On April 1995, United States senator Sam Nunn outlined a scenario similar to the novel's ending, in which terrorists attack the Capitol on the night of a State of the Union address by crashing a radio-controlled airplane filled with chemical weapons into it. Nunn concluded that the scenario is "not far-fetched" and that the required technology is readily available. However, the 9/11 Commission Report revealed that national security officials did not consider the possibility: “[Counterterror official] Richard Clarke told us that he was concerned about the danger posed by aircraft in the context of protecting the Atlanta Olympics of 1996, the White House complex, and the 2001 G-8 summit in Genoa. But he attributed his awareness more to Tom Clancy novels than to warnings from the intelligence community.”
In the aftermath of the attacks, Clancy was called into CNN and commented on the similarity between a plane crash depicted in the novel and the crash of United Flight 93. CNN anchor Judy Woodruff later remarked: "People in our newsroom have been saying today that what is happening is like right out of a Tom Clancy novel." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30763 |
Jack Ryan (character)
John Patrick Ryan, Sr. is a fictional character created by author Tom Clancy and featured in his Ryanverse novels, which have consistently topped the "New York Times" bestseller list over 30 years. Since Clancy's death in 2013, four other authors have continued the Ryan franchise and its other connecting series with the approval of the Clancy family estate: Mark Greaney, Grant Blackwood, Mike Maden, and Marc Cameron.
The son of a Baltimore police detective and a nurse, Ryan is a former U.S. Marine and stockbroker who becomes a civilian history professor at the United States Naval Academy (USNA). Ryan later joins the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as an analyst and occasional field officer, eventually leaving it as Deputy Director. He later served as National Security Advisor and Vice President before suddenly becoming President of the United States following a terrorist attack on the United States Capitol. Ryan went on to serve two non-consecutive terms and mostly dealt with international crises in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.
Jack Ryan has been portrayed in film adaptations by actors Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck, and Chris Pine. The Jack Ryan film series have an unadjusted worldwide gross revenue of $788.4 million to date, making it the 57th highest-grossing film series. John Krasinski is the fifth and latest actor to portray Ryan in the Amazon Prime web television series of the same name, which premiered on August 30, 2018.
Ryan was born in 1950 to an Irish Catholic family in Baltimore, Maryland. His father, Emmet William Ryan, was a Baltimore Police Department homicide lieutenant and World War II veteran. The elder Ryan had served with the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division at the Battle of the Bulge in western Europe. His mother, Catherine Burke Ryan, was a nurse. "Without Remorse" mentioned that he had a sister, who lived in Seattle. After graduating from Loyola High School (now Loyola Blakefield), a Roman Catholic Jesuit prep school in Towson, Maryland in suburban Baltimore County, Ryan attended Boston College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics (with a strong minor in history) and was a rower.He commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps (via Officer Candidate School). While waiting for the Corps to assign him, he passed the Certified Public Accountant exam.
After officer training at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Quantico, Virginia, Ryan went on to serve briefly as a Marine infantry platoon leader. However, his military career was cut short at the age of 23 when his platoon's helicopter, a CH-46 Sea Knight, crashed during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization exercise over the Greek island of Crete. The crash badly injured Ryan's back. U.S. Navy surgeons at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland inadequately repaired his back. This led to a lengthy recovery process (during which he became addicted to pain medications) after which, complete with a permanent disability and wearing a back brace, he left the Marines. He passed his stockbroker's exam and took a position with Wall Street investment firm Merrill Lynch's Baltimore office.
Ryan's parents died in a plane crash at Chicago Midway International Airport 19 months after his crash in Crete. He developed a fear of flying that persisted for years.
The film version of "The Hunt for Red October" changed Ryan's educational background to being a 1972 graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, 20 miles south of Baltimore in the state capital. As the Red October is sailing into the Penobscot River, Maine Ryan says he grew up in that area. In the film it is also said the helicopter crash happened in his third year at the Academy and he finished his senior year from his hospital bed. The film version of "Patriot Games" also implies that he is a graduate of Annapolis by briefly showing a certificate on the wall of their home. In the 2018 Amazon Prime series, Ryan's Ph.D. is in economics rather than history.
While managing clients' portfolios, Ryan began to invest his own money, banking on a tip he had received from an uncle about the workers' takeover of the Chicago and North Western Railway, making about $6 million off his $100,000 initial investment. He did so well that one of Merrill Lynch's senior vice presidents, Joe Muller, came to Baltimore to have dinner with him, with the objective of inviting him to the firm's New York City headquarters near Wall Street. Also present is Muller's daughter Caroline, nicknamed Cathy, then a senior medical student at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. They immediately fall in love and get engaged.
One night, while having dinner with his fiancée, Ryan throws out his back. Cathy takes him directly to Dr. Stanley Rabinowitz, professor of neurosurgery at famed Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, to be evaluated. Rabinowitz later operates on Ryan's back and cures his chronic pain in relatively short order. (In a later novel, the surgeon is credited as Sam Rosen, a doctor introduced in "Without Remorse".) Ryan subsequently persuades the government to terminate his disability checks. Cathy later becomes an ophthalmic surgeon at the Wilmer Eye Institute of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins.
After creating a net worth of $8 million, Ryan left the firm after four years and enrolled at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. for six doctoral courses in history. He does a brief stint at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, then accepts a position at the U.S. Naval Academy as a civilian professor of history. In addition, he has also written books on naval history: "Options and Decisions", "Doomed Eagles", and "Fighting Sailor", a biography of World War II Admiral William "Bull" Halsey, in which he justifies Halsey's actions during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
Following a recommendation from Father Tim O'Riley, a Jesuit priest and professor at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., to a Central Intelligence Agency contact, Ryan was asked to work as a consultant for the agency, although officially employed by the MITRE Corporation. He agreed and spent several months at agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where he wrote a paper entitled "Agents and Agencies", in which he maintained that state-sponsored terrorism is an act of war. He also invented the canary trap, a method for exposing an information leak, which involves giving different versions of a sensitive document to each of a group of suspects and seeing which version is leaked. By ensuring that each copy of the document differs slightly in its wording, if any copy is leaked, then it is possible to determine the informant's identity.
These accomplishments come to the attention of U.S. Navy Vice Admiral James Greer, the CIA's Deputy Director for Intelligence. The expertise of Ryan's report, plus the application, persuaded Greer to offer him a permanent job in the CIA, but Ryan declined.
While in London with his family, Ryan stumbles upon a kidnapping attempt on the Prince of Wales and his family, which is orchestrated by Irish terrorist group Ulster Liberation Army. He foils the attack by killing one gunman while injuring another and gets wounded in the process. Ryan is later knighted by Queen Elizabeth II as an honorary Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order; in the books, some British characters call him "Sir John" even though honorary knights are not permitted to use the style of "Sir".
Sean Miller, the Irish gunman Ryan wounded, was sentenced to life imprisonment but is freed by his ULA compatriots. Embittered over the failure of the kidnapping attempt, and particularly the death of his brother at Ryan's hands in that attempt, he exacts revenge on Ryan by attacking his wife and daughter. After pleas by Greer, Ryan agrees to join the CIA in a permanent position as an analyst, originally to gather intelligence on the ULA. Later, Miller and his men stage another kidnapping attempt on the Prince and Princess of Wales, who are visiting the Ryan family in their Maryland home; however, they are overpowered by the combined efforts of Ryan, his friend Robert "Robby" Jackson, and the Prince as well as law enforcement and naval officers who are nearby. After the ordeal, Ryan's second child Jack Ryan Jr. was born.
Ryan's first CIA assignment is to London as a member of a liaison group to the British Secret Intelligence Service. Initially called in to assess the Soviet government and economy, Ryan is later tasked to assist in the defection of a KGB communications officer who has discovered that his boss Yuri Andropov had ordered Pope John Paul II's assassination. Although Ryan and a small team of British SIS agents helps the "Rabbit" and his family get to the West, they fail to prevent the attack on the Pope (which actually happened in real life in 1981). Nevertheless, the pope is only wounded and his would-be assassin captured, while the British execute his Bulgarian handler. "Rabbit's" defection proves to be a major coup for both the American and British intelligence agencies. Ryan soon afterward suggests a nonmilitary long-term strategy to help hasten the Soviet Union's collapse and the end of the Cold War.
Captain First Rank Marko Ramius, the Soviet Navy's top submarine commander, takes command of the "Красный Октябрь" ("Krasny Oktyabr", or in English, "Red October"), the newest Typhoon-class ballistic missile submarine, with which he plans to defect with his officers. Having briefly met Captain Ramius at an embassy function several years before, Ryan is asked by Admiral Greer to brief the President's National Security Adviser Jeffrey Pelt and his staff, in his first trip to the White House, on Ramius' background and the deadly new capabilities of "Red October" secret revolutionary silent jet propulsion drive system. Ryan recognizes that the renegade ethnic Lithuanian captain may want to defect rather than attack the West. Ryan works to establish contact with him and support contingency efforts of the tailing American submarine "USS Dallas". Ryan seeks to get Ramius and members of his crew along with the submarine secretly into the U.S., eventually succeeding."
Ryan is reassigned to the CIA headquarters at Langley and becomes Admiral Greer's special assistant. He is sent to Moscow as part of the American nuclear weapons reduction (START) team, and later engineers the extraction of CARDINAL, CIA's highest agent-in-place, from the country. Along the way, he also forces KGB chairman Nikolay Gerasimov to defect due to his anti-American nature, which could jeopardize the arms reduction talks once he becomes General Secretary. His plan involves a disinformation campaign that shows himself under SEC investigation for insider trading, which provides an opening for Gerasimov to help Ryan defect to the Soviet Union and work for the KGB.
Ryan is promoted to acting DDI when Greer is hospitalized with cancer. Despite this, he is not made aware of a highly covert and illegal CIA operation encouraged by the President claiming domestic drug abuse was a "clear and present danger" to American security, and approved by corrupt National Security Advisor Admiral Cutter. This operation targets Colombian drug lords in South America using light infantry troops of Hispanic descent and occasional precision air strikes with sophisticated "smartbombs", in what is usually considered a law enforcement area. Ryan works with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to rescue a small group of American soldiers cut off in Colombia, forcing him to miss Greer's funeral. Also in this operation, he first met the U.S. government operative John Clark, with whom he would become friends. Around this time, Ryan also runs afoul of Elizabeth Elliot, international affairs advisor to then-presidential candidate Governor of Ohio J. Robert Fowler, and one of Cathy Ryan's former professors.
Ryan reaches his highest post at the CIA, Deputy Director of Central Intelligence. His career is jeopardized when Fowler becomes President and Elizabeth Elliott, Fowler's lover/manipulator, becomes National Security Advisor. They not only deny Ryan any credit for an innovative Middle East peace plan (basically turning Jerusalem into a Vatican-like city co-ruled by three Christian, Jewish, and Arab/Muslim mayors), but also panic when Palestinian and former East German terrorists detonate a nuclear bomb in Denver during the Super Bowl and nearly plunge the world into a Soviet-American nuclear war. Ryan defuses the nuclear crisis by commandeering the Washington-Moscow hot line and convincing the Soviet Premier (through his friend Golovko) that the crisis is a setup. He then refuses to confirm Fowler's order to launch a nuclear missile at Qom (thus preventing the attack), where the Iranian ayatollah lives. The crisis and Elliot scandal drives Fowler to resign. On this note, Ryan retires from the CIA and flies to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia to witness the execution of the surviving terrorists, and is then honored by the U.S.'s Middle Eastern allies by being presented with the sword used to execute the terrorists.
The film again departs from the novel, by presenting a younger, unmarried Ryan, an intelligent mistress-free Fowler, a Greer-like Cabot, and the nuclear bomb is detonated over the city Baltimore instead of Denver. The film also changes the identity of the terrorists from Arabs to neo-Nazis.
After a brief stint as a stockbroker, Ryan returns to government service as the National Security Advisor, restoring honor to the job that Cutter and Elliot disgraced. It has been two and a half years since Fowler resigned and his vice president, Roger Durling, is now well into his own term. Jack and the administration must deal with a second war between the U.S. and Japan, as well as an attack on America's economic infrastructure. After a clean sweep of Japan's forces in the South Pacific, Vice President Ed Kealty is forced to resign after a sex scandal and President Durling taps Ryan for the job. Ryan accepts the job on the condition that he will only serve until the end of Durling's term, and sees this as a way of ending his public life. Only minutes after Congress confirms Ryan, though, a Japanese airline pilot deliberately crashes a 747 into the U.S. Capitol building during Congress' joint session, killing most of the people inside, decapitating the U.S. government, and elevating Ryan to the Presidency.
The reluctant yet determined Ryan administration emerges as Ryan slowly rebuilds the government. He is faced with Kealty's political trickery, as the former Vice President disputes his legitimacy as the nation's chief executive by publicly stating that he never actually resigned, when in fact a member of his staff had secretly taken the resignation letter from the office of the now-dead Secretary of State and destroyed it. Initially the lone voice of opposition to Ryan's policies on live television, he later enlists disaffected CIA intelligence officials (affected by the reduction in force at the agency in favor of more field operatives) to procure classified information on Ryan from his time in the CIA. He then suborns NBC news anchor and fellow Ryan critic Tom Donner into ambushing him with questions about his CIA career in a televised interview. Donner later realizes his mistake and publicly apologizes to President Ryan, while Kealty's challenge eventually fails in court.
Along the way, Ryan also has to deal with the dictator of the new United Islamic Republic (a coalition of Iran and Iraq), the Ayatollah Mahmoud Haji Daryaei. The ayatollah regards him as a weakling and seizes the opportunity to stage a multi-pronged attack on the country: a biological attack using a weaponized strain of the Ebola virus, a kidnapping attempt on his youngest daughter Katie, and an assassination attempt on himself through an Iranian sleeper agent disguised as a Secret Service bodyguard; with the U.S. overwhelmed by a multitude of crises, he believes that he can invade Saudi Arabia with little military opposition from the U.S. While the attempt on Katie was swiftly averted by the FBI and the Secret Service, the Ebola epidemic causes Ryan to declare martial law and enforce a travel ban that becomes instrumental in killing the virus, since it cannot survive in the American environment due to its fragile nature. He later deploys what is left of the American military to assist Saudi and Kuwaiti forces in repelling the UIR military, which also becomes successful. The would-be assassin is later arrested on the spot by the FBI after attempting to kill President Ryan inside the Oval Office.
At the end of "Executive Orders", Ryan, in the tradition of Presidents Monroe, Truman, Carter and Reagan, issues a foreign policy doctrine which largely defines his administration's international perspective. The Ryan Doctrine states that the U.S. will no longer tolerate attacks on "our territory, our possessions, or our citizens," and will hold whoever orders such attacks accountable.
This statement comes soon after the Ebola attack on the U.S. ordered by Daryaei. Ryan announces the new doctrine on television, momentarily cutting away to show Daryaei and his UIR advisors being incinerated by laser-guided bombs launched from two F-117s, on Ryan's orders. Therefore, the Ryan doctrine supersedes the executive order put in place by President Ford, which forbids the assassination of foreign heads of state. Ryan, however, believes it is a more ethical alternative than total war, since it punishes the person responsible for the attack instead of the people he rules.
Within the books, the Ryan doctrine is not officially invoked after Daryaei's death (although Ryan threatens to use it on the Chinese leadership in "The Bear and the Dragon", should anything happen to American citizens living in China as a consequence of the Siberian War).
Ryan has completed Durling's term as President and has campaigned for the next election, which he wins. He retains most of his emergency Cabinet and has Robby Jackson as Vice President. He has to deal with the attempted assassination of Golovko, who is now head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (formerly the KGB). This turns out to be an attempt to sow confusion in the Russian government because of China's designs to annex Eastern Siberia, where geologists had recently discovered a large amount of oil and gold. These events lead to the inclusion of Russia into NATO and the assistance of U.S. forces in the Sino-Russian conflict (although attacks on NATO members outside the Atlantic should not trigger Article V).
When the Chinese begin losing the war, U.S. forces target their strategic assets. A U.S. submarine sinks a Chinese ballistic missile submarine, causing the Chinese Politburo to panic and increase the readiness of their 12 land-based ICBMs. U.S. forces do not have the ability to destroy the silos, as they could only use deep-penetrating bombs, which had all been used to destroy Chinese bridges to disrupt the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) logistical support. This causes the U.S. and Russia to send a joint RAINBOW-Spetsnaz team to destroy the silos. They destroy 11 of the 12 ICBMs, but one of them manages to launch and head towards Washington, DC, and with Ryan taking a command initiative at an Aegis missile cruiser, the ICBM is intercepted by ABMs from the .
With the PLA's looming defeat in Siberia, which they were about to learn about via live UAV broadcasts from the CIA through the Internet, student demonstrators in Beijing raid a Politburo meeting, causing reformist minister Fang Gan to take control and arrest the war's perpetrators, making peace negotiations with the U.S. and Russia, and beginning China's transition to democracy.
Following this, Ryan apparently completes his term and refuses to run for a second elected term. Robby Jackson thus campaigns to become the first African American President, but he is assassinated by the Ku Klux Klan on a trip to the South, enabling Kealty, his opponent, to become the next President by default. Before Ryan leaves office, he creates The Campus, a covert counter-terrorism organization that fronts as Hendley Associates, a financial trading firm. He also writes 100 presidential pardons for its members, with Attorney General Pat Martin's assistance.
In his retirement, Ryan is living easy with a net worth of over $80 million. He is working on two versions of his memoirs, one for immediate release, and another detailing his CIA career to be published twenty years after his death. While he is at first publicly silent about his opinion on President Kealty's policies, he becomes increasingly frustrated with the direction in which he is taking the country. Ultimately, he announces that he will come out of retirement to run for a second full term as a Republican presidential candidate. Despite not being originally involved in the Campus's activities due to his high-profile status, he gradually becomes more directly linked to the Campus's operations, aiding them from behind the scenes on occasion. Here, Ryan learns his son, Jack Jr., is a field operative of the Campus, a fact which he reluctantly accepts.
Ryan campaigns against Kealty, facing off against him in various televised debates. It becomes apparent that Ryan will win the election, as the majority of Americans had never entirely accepted Kealty. Despite the efforts of Paul Laska, a high-profile Czech billionaire and a devout enemy of Ryan, and key members of the Kealty administration who labelled Ryan's longtime friend John Clark a fugitive in an effort to expose the Campus (as well as tying Ryan to it by association), Ryan narrowly wins the election, overcoming all of Kealty's efforts to harm him.
Soon after returning to the presidency, Ryan deals with a developing crisis in China, where President Wei Zhen Lin has declared his intentions to annex Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan and expand his country's territory into the South China Sea in a desperate attempt to recoup his country's economic losses. In reality, PLA Chairman Su Ke Qiang has been manipulating President Wei for his expansionist policies, secretly sanctioning cyber attacks on America's infrastructure that compromises the nation's national security apparatus. President Ryan decides to take action by supporting Taiwan, along with India, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines, which would also be affected by an expansion of China's territory.
The Campus later tracks down the nerve center of China's cyberattacks on the U.S. to an office building in Guangzhou. President Ryan orders the destruction of the building, decapitating China's cyberwarfare abilities. He makes contact with Wei and warns him that the cyber attacks are considered an act of war on China's part. After realizing that he has been used by Su for his own gain, Wei intentionally divulges information on Chairman Su's whereabouts, which Ryan interprets as a request from the Chinese president to assassinate the military leader. The Campus, with aid from a local rebel force and the FSB, later carry out a false flag attack on Chairman Su's motorcade outside Beijing. Ryan announces a blockade of China's oil supplies until the war effort is abandoned, calling upon Wei and the Politburo to accept defeat. A cornered Wei later commits suicide, eventually ending the conflict between the United States and China.
The Ryan administration then contends with newly-elected Russian president Valeri Volodin, who is a dedicated communist seeking to restore Russia to its former glory. Volodin had merged the SVR and the FSB into one entity to be led by enigmatic FSB head Roman Talanov, and later decides to invade Ukraine all the way to the capital of Kiev. President Ryan sends American military forces to counter Russia's advance into Kiev.
Ryan later finds out that Talanov is Zenith, a KGB assassin from the Cold War. Volodin had been his control officer, and together they had been employed by rogue elements within the KGB, who had an exit strategy in mind with the imminent fall of communism in the late 1980s by siphoning off billions of dollars from Soviet programs. Volodin then double-crossed his co-conspirators by ordering Talanov as Zenith to kill them all, as well as the bankers involved in order to prevent exposure to the rest of the KGB. In addition, Talanov was planted by his boss into Russian crime organization Seven Strong Men, rising in ranks to become its eventual leader and turning it into a tool for Volodin's policies. Ryan uses this information to blackmail the Russian president into stopping the Russian Army's advance into Kiev. Talanov resigns and is later murdered.
President Ryan deals with North Korean dictator Choi Ji-hoon, who attempts to start production at a rare earth mineral deposit found in their territory and then use the resulting billions of dollars in profit to purchase nuclear weapons technology. Choi decides to order the assassination of the American leader (with the aid of a Mexican drug cartel and an Arab bomb maker) in order to stop his persistent interference. During a state visit to Mexico City, Ryan barely survives the attempt on his life. The Campus later uncovers Choi's involvement in the incident, which leads to the dictator being deposed from power and later executed.
Ryan squares off with Volodin once again, as he observes that a series of seemingly isolated attacks in Europe correspond with an increase in Russia's oil profit. He tries to convince NATO, but they dispute his theory, fearing the consequences of an all-out war. Nevertheless, he sends the United States Navy to dispatch its Russian counterpart in the Baltic Sea. Volodin is later assassinated by the siloviki after his gambit of a covert violent offensive in an effort to recoup Russia's economic losses fails.
President Ryan faces a crisis where American military and intelligence personnel are being targeted by ISIS. The specificity of the target packages make it clear that a massive intelligence breach has occurred. President Ryan finds himself pressured by the media and some of his government advisers to send troops into the Middle East to fight the Islamic State terrorists, but he resists and gathers more intelligence. The culprit was later revealed to be a Romanian hacker, who had obtained an old copy of a database containing personal information on military and intelligence personnel. After footage of terrorist attacks released by ISIS inspires a wave of copycat attacks in the United States, President Ryan orders the bombing of the headquarters of Islamic State's propaganda wing.
Ryan then appears in "Point of Contact" (2017) as he attends a funeral for his son Jack Junior's colleague in Hendley Associates, Paul Brown, who was revealed as a former CIA officer who had helped avert a North Korean plot to crash the Asian stock market.
Ryan deals with the Chinese once again, as a series of seemingly unrelated attacks in Asia, Europe, and Africa show their involvement. The Campus later discovers that a secret cabal composed of hardliners within the Chinese government are plotting to depose current president Zhao Chengzhi for his moderate stance on several issues of importance. The cabal plans to make Zhao look reckless, provoking Ryan to invoke the Ryan Doctrine and have him killed. Jack Ryan Jr. later prevents an assassination attempt on his father and President Zhao in the G20 summit in Tokyo, and the conspirators are later arrested for treason.
Ryan briefly appears in the next released novel "Line of Sight" (2018), where he orders the destruction of a building in Bosnia containing stolen thermobaric warheads to be launched by Serb extremists on a Serbian Orthodox Church event nearby as a false flag attack to provoke war between NATO and the Russians in the Balkans.
President Ryan is faced with a multitude of crises. A flu epidemic as well as spring floods occur in the southeast United States, and Ryan has to deal with his political rival, senator Michelle Chadwick, who has been attacking him using bot-planted fake news stories. He sends the Secret Service to protect her from imminent assassination, and an attempt by Russian foreign intelligence was thwarted. President Ryan later delivers a presidential address showing the dangers of fake news. Overseas, Ryan has to deal with Russia plotting to invade Ukraine yet again disguised as a military exercise, as well as the siege of the United States embassy in Cameroon by the Cameroonian government eager on arresting its opposition leader.
President Ryan expresses caution over a series of protests in Iran, favorably dubbed the Persian Spring. His suspicion was proven true when it was revealed that the leader of the dissidents, Reza Kazem, was a proxy made by the Iranian government on behalf of rogue elements in the Russian government, who have stolen nuclear weapons and are intent on launching them on American military bases in or near Iran. Kazem reneges on his deal and plots to launch the missiles into low earth orbit, creating space junk that would destroy several satellites in its path. Ryan orders the destruction of the nuclear defense facility in Mashhad containing one of the missiles; the other is launched into space but fails to reach its destination at the last minute.
Ryan then appears in the next Jack Ryan Jr. novel "Enemy Contact" (2019). He deals with U.S. senator Deborah Dixon's stonewalling of his proposed foreign policy initiative, which includes building a U.S. military base in Poland to counter Russian aggression to the east. When it was revealed that Senator Dixon's son has unsavory connections to the Chinese, President Ryan blackmails her into passing an anticorruption bill.
President Ryan receives a cryptic text message from his friend and former CIA colleague Father Pat West. He warns him of a next-generation AI program named Calliope, which could be used by the Chinese military to start a conflict with the United States. The Jesuit priest had been imprisoned by Indonesian police for trumped-up charges of blasphemy against Islam, when in fact he had earlier witnessed the murder of an American software engineer who first told him about Calliope.
The chief executive discreetly orders the Campus to investigate Father West's text. Then he calls on the Indonesian president to release his friend, to no avail. Undeterred, he makes a state visit to Indonesia, eventually informing the Indonesian president of China's sinister plans. Father West is eventually released from prison.
Ryan appears in the next Jack Ryan, Jr. novel "Firing Point" (2020). A series container ships mysteriously disappear across the Pacific Ocean, and President Ryan tries to pinpoint whoever is responsible.
Jack Ryan has been featured in 21 novels which have been written by Tom Clancy, Mark Greaney, Mike Maden, and Marc Cameron. Clancy solely wrote most of the novels up to 2010, from which his next novels were co-written with Greaney and Grant Blackwood. After Clancy's death in 2013, Greaney and Cameron took over the character in their own respective contributions to the franchise; Maden briefly featured Ryan in his own entries in the spin-off Jack Ryan, Jr. series.
Five films based on Clancy novels featuring Jack Ryan have been produced. The movie portraying the earliest incarnation of Ryan (fifth film chronologically) is titled "" and stars Chris Pine. Released on January 17, 2014, it follows Ryan's move from his accident in the Marines into his CIA career. Jack Ryan is also portrayed by Alec Baldwin in the 1990 film "The Hunt for Red October", Harrison Ford in "Patriot Games" (1992), and "Clear and Present Danger" (1994), and Ben Affleck in the 2002 film "The Sum of All Fears".
In the novels, "Patriot Games" occurs before "The Hunt for Red October", though the order was reversed in the film versions. Additionally, "The Sum of All Fears" is not part of Baldwin/Ford series, but rather an intended reboot of the franchise which departs significantly from the chronology of the novels. It takes place in 2002, whereas the novel takes place in 1991/1992. "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" is a second reboot of the franchise and departs from all previous films.
It was announced by Deadline that Carlton Cuse and Graham Roland would be working with Michael Bay and his production company Platinum Dunes and Paramount Television on a "Jack Ryan" TV series for Amazon. On April 29, 2016, Deadline announced that John Krasinski would star as Jack Ryan in the series. On August 16, 2016, Amazon Studios announced they had given a series order for a 10-episode first season of "Jack Ryan". On November 4, 2016, Abbie Cornish was cast as Cathy Muller in the series. On January 6, 2017, it was reported that Morten Tyldum would direct the pilot. In February 2017, it was announced that "The Americans" director Daniel Sackheim would direct multiple episodes and produce the series. The series premiered on August 31, 2018, and was said to be inspired by the Harrison Ford Jack Ryan films. Four months before its premiere, the show was renewed for a second season.
Many video games based on the series have been made, some based on the novels, some on the films, and some on the spin-offs. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30765 |
John Clark (Tom Clancy character)
John T. Clark (real name John Terence Kelly) is a fictional character created by Tom Clancy. Clark is Clancy’s second most famous character after Jack Ryan, and has been featured in many of his Ryanverse novels. Although he first appeared in "The Cardinal of the Kremlin" (1987), his origin story was detailed in "Without Remorse" (1993).
Clark has been described by his creator as "Ryan’s dark side" and "more inclined to take physical action than Jack is." A former Navy SEAL, he became an operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency, and at one point served as Ryan’s driver and bodyguard. During Ryan's first term as president of the United States, Clark served as director of a multinational counter-terrorism unit code-named Rainbow, which is composed of elite soldiers from countries part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. After retiring from CIA and Rainbow, he then worked for The Campus, an off-the-books intelligence organization created by President Ryan, later acquiring a higher position as director of operations.
On the big screen, Clark has been portrayed by Willem Dafoe and Liev Schreiber. Michael B. Jordan is slated to be the latest to play the character in his own film series, which will include adaptations of "Without Remorse" and "Rainbow Six". Clark has also appeared in the Rainbow Six series of video games.
John Kelly was born in Indianapolis to Irish American Catholic parents. His father, Timothy Kelly, was a fireman who perished from a heart attack during a fire. John lost his mother to cancer when he was a young boy. He attended Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis.
His first wife Patricia was pregnant when she was killed in a car accident. Six months after his wife died, Kelly had a brief relationship with Pamela Madden, a former prostitute who had been forced into working as a courier for a drug ring. She was later recaptured by her owners in Baltimore and subsequently tortured, raped, and killed; Kelly was gravely wounded. While recovering from his injuries at Johns Hopkins Hospital, he met his future second wife, nurse Sandra "Sandy" O'Toole. They eventually had two daughters, Patricia Doris and Margaret Pamela.
Kelly, who had by now changed his identity to Clark, first met Domingo "Ding" Chavez in the CIA during a black operation in Colombia ("Clear and Present Danger"). They would later work frequently together in succeeding novels. Chavez becomes Clark's son-in-law when he marries his daughter Patricia, and they later have a son, John Conor, who was born in "Rainbow Six", although misnamed as John Patrick in "Threat Vector".
Clark originally joined the Navy during the Vietnam War (as John Terence Kelly) and became a Navy SEAL who participated in several special operations, one of which was the rescue of a naval aviator shot down over North Vietnam. The aviator was the son of Admiral Dutch Maxwell and his rescue earned Kelly a promotion to Chief Boatswain's Mate. After his first tour of duty, Kelly left the service but was later re-hired by the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) Special Activities Division (Special Operations Group) for another mission in Vietnam; a rescue operation on a secret POW camp. At the same time at home, Kelly was carrying out his own war against a drug ring that killed his girlfriend, Pamela Madden. While he succeeded in taking it down, the Baltimore Police Department (including Emmet Ryan, Jack Ryan's father) eventually identifies him as the man who murdered the drug dealers. In response, Kelly faked his own death (with the help of the CIA, which falsifies the identity of the fingerprints found at one of the murder scenes) and goes to work for the CIA full-time, under the pseudonym "John Clark". (See "Without Remorse") His middle name appears variously with one and two 'R's, and the name "John Terrence Clark" appears in the novel "Clear and Present Danger".
Throughout his career, Clark has been through a number of real-life crisis zones. In addition to the Vietnam War, he has also been through the Iran hostage crisis and the Gulf War, plus a number of missions in the Soviet Union, and claims to have "had Abu Nidal's head in my gunsights", but never got the green light allowing him to kill the man ("Clear and Present Danger").
He first enters the Jack Ryan universe in "Without Remorse", which also features police officer Emmet Ryan and his son Jack. Although he does not appear in "Patriot Games", it is later revealed that he was the CIA's liaison with a French black ops unit involved in the campaign against the ULA. He also does not appear in "Red Rabbit", but he is mentioned as giving advice to trainees at The Farm, the CIA training facility. He appears briefly in "The Cardinal of the Kremlin", during which he extracts KGB Chairman Gerasimov's wife and daughter from Leningrad after the Chairman decides to defect to the United States. This marks Clark's first published appearance.
In "Clear and Present Danger," he commands a U.S. Army black-ops unit carrying out a secret war against the Medellín Cartel in Colombia. When the government abandons the men for political reasons, Clark and Jack Ryan fly down to Colombia and rescue the survivors. This is the first time he interacts with Ryan.
In "The Sum of All Fears", he is Ryan's personal driver and bodyguard. Later in the novel, he is returned to the field for one operation, bugging the aircraft of the Japanese Prime Minister in Mexico City. During the operation, a terrorist bombing in Denver occurs and his mission is changed to intercepting the Palestinian terrorists trying to escape through Mexico, which he does successfully. He interrogates them and secures their confessions, then hands them over to the judicial system for eventual Islamic justice (execution by sword) in Riyadh.
In "Debt of Honor", he is again a field officer for the CIA's Directorate of Operations (DO). At the beginning of the novel, he and his partner Domingo Chavez capture an Aidid-like African warlord, Mohammed Abdul Corp, and bring him to justice. Soon thereafter, they are sent to Japan to assess the national mood of the country, where Clark is undercover as a Russian reporter. When the situation turns into a war between Japan and the United States, they establish contacts with the opposition in the Japanese government and are also tasked to eliminate a pair of Japanese AWACS planes.
Clark spends the first half of the next book, "Executive Orders", serving as an instructor for CIA field officers in training. Early in the novel, Jack Ryan, the new President, issues a presidential pardon to John Terence Kelly for his several murders. This clears his name and personal honor, but he will continue his career as John Clark. Towards the end of the book, he and Chavez are returned to the field and ordered to discover who is responsible for the Ebola attack on the United States, an action they quickly trace to the new United Islamic Republic (comprising Iran and Iraq). With the cooperation of the Russian SVR, they are infiltrated into Tehran, where they laser-designate the home of UIR dictator Mahmoud Haji Daryaei so that Air Force stealth aircraft can destroy the house.
The next year, Clark writes a memo to the CIA expressing his concerns over the rise of international terrorism since the demise of the Cold War, and recommends creating a NATO response team that could be rapidly deployed in terrorist situations. This special unit is created soon thereafter, with its base in Hereford, Britain. It is code-named Rainbow, and Clark is put in command of the unit with the simulated rank of Major General.
In the book "Rainbow Six", Rainbow is first put into operation. It responds successfully to three attacks by "Red" terrorists in Bern, Vienna, and Spain. It also succeeds in defending itself from an attack by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) against its home base. This is eventually determined to have been ordered by a radical eco-terrorist group, which Rainbow tracks down and destroys in the last pages of the novel.
Clark's next appearance is in "The Bear and the Dragon", where he is still the head of Rainbow. Initially assigned to train Russian Spetsnaz operatives, Rainbow is temporarily deployed to the Russian-Chinese war being fought in Siberia. In a joint Rainbow-Spetsnaz operation, he is involved in the destruction of China's only ICBM base. The operation is mostly successful: all but one of the missiles is destroyed, and the last one, while it is fired, is destroyed by the Navy before it can reach its intended target.
Neither Clark nor Rainbow appears in "The Teeth of the Tiger", but it is revealed that Rainbow is still operating. Prior to Jack Ryan resigning as President, Clark's Navy Cross was upgraded to the Medal of Honor. During the Medal of Honor ceremony Jack Ryan, Jr. was present in the Oval Office.
Clark returns in "Dead or Alive", in which he is part of a Rainbow team that successfully rescues all hostages taken by terrorists at the Swedish embassy in Libya. This proves to be his last act with the CIA, as he is pushed into retirement by Kealty political appointees. He then joins The Campus, an off-the-books intelligence agency that Ryan had founded before the end of his presidency. Clark is immediately involved with the organization's effort to find and neutralize "the Emir", an international terrorist leader modeled on Osama bin Laden, while also serving as mentor and trainer to Jack's son Jack Jr., a Campus analyst who wants to do fieldwork.
In "Locked On", Clark becomes a pawn in Czech billionaire and Kealty supporter Paul Laska's vendetta to discredit Ryan during the presidential campaign. The Emir had identified him as one of his captors to his Laska-affiliated lawyer. When it was revealed that he killed an East German Stasi operative in Berlin in 1981 (which was not a CIA matter but a personal job by his friend and Berlin station chief who had been blackmailed), he becomes the subject of a manhunt by the FBI and later French investigators hired by Laska.
Clark goes on the run and travels to eastern Europe to clear his name, later finding out that rogue SVR operative Valentin Kovalenko had given the information to Laska, who in turn covertly presented it to Kealty. However, he is captured shortly after and later tortured for information about The Campus by Kovalenko's men. He is later rescued by the Russian government, who then assigns him to temporarily lead Rainbow in order to retake a Russian space station which had been hijacked by Muslim Dagestani terrorists intent on launching nuclear weapons into Moscow.
In "Threat Vector", Clark has been exonerated by the outgoing Kealty administration. After an assassination job on a cell of former Libyan intelligence officers in Istanbul, he briefly retires from The Campus due to old age. However, he later comes out of retirement when Chinese special operations forces attack the headquarters of The Campus. He travels to China with fellow Campus operatives and works with the local rebels and FSB to assassinate People's Liberation Army Chairman Su Ke Qiang, who has been waging war against the United States by trying to annex Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and territories in the South China Sea by military force as well as sanctioning cyberattacks on the U.S.
In "Command Authority", Clark becomes director of operations for The Campus. He travels to Ukraine along with his fellow operatives to gather intelligence on Russian criminal organization Seven Strong Men and its leader Gleb the Scar. They take part in defending a CIA special mission compound in Sevastopol, which came under attack from pro-Russian protesters aided by FSB proxy agents and the Seven Strong Men. Clark later cooperates with Delta Force operatives in capturing Gleb the Scar, revealed to be directly involved in the polonium poisoning of former SVR head Sergey Golovko, in his heavily-guarded base of operations in Kiev.
In "Full Force and Effect", Clark and his fellow Campus colleagues investigate a connection between an American corporate espionage firm and the North Korean government, who are intent on producing nuclear weapons. In "Commander in Chief", he tracks down the accountant of Russian president Valeri Volodin, who has been moving his personal net worth to a safe place in anticipation of his failure to placate the siloviki should his plan of a covert armed offensive across Europe fail to repair the ongoing economic recession in his country. In "True Faith and Allegiance", Clark helps investigate a series of terrorist attacks on American military and intelligence personnel, which is due to a massive intelligence breach. He later assassinates a Saudi technocrat who has been setting up ISIS with the attacks in order to save his country from economic ruin in a quagmire likely to result from American troops being redeployed to the Middle East.
In "Power and Empire", Clark investigates Chinese agent provocateur Vincent Chen's connection to a sex trafficking ring in Texas. He wages a one-man war on the ring in order to save a prostitute as well, who had been instrumental in revealing China's involvement in several false flag attacks designed to blame the current president, whose moderate stance on several issues compelled a secret cabal to act to have him removed from power. Clark was later arrested for murder, but was released from police custody soon after.
Clark briefly appears in "Line of Sight", where he assassinates a Romanian crime boss who had a vendetta against Jack Ryan Jr. in revenge for killing one of his associates in a previous novel.
In "Oath of Office", Clark leads a surveillance operation in Portugal on French arms dealer Hugo Gaspard, who has ties to ISIS. He witnesses Gaspard's murder by French assassin Lucile Fournier, who works under rival arms dealer Urbano da Rocha. Clark and his team then proceed to shadow Da Rocha and Fournier, who later strike a deal intended for Gaspard with a pair of Russian GRU officers. However, the Russians later double cross da Rocha, attempting to kill him in his villa. Clark rescues the arms dealer, who later reveals a plot to provide stolen nuclear weapons to dissident Reza Kazem on behalf of the GRU and the Iranian government.
In "Code of Honor", Clark leads the Campus's efforts to retrieve Calliope, a next-generation AI software, before the Chinese military uses it for sinister purposes. He later tracks down Kang, an assassin working for the People's Liberation Army who had tried to assassinate a former Navy admiral who now works for a communications company.
Outside the novels, John Clark's career continues further in the "Rainbow Six" video game series. In "", Clark retires and passes the leadership of Team Rainbow on to Chavez. Although Chavez appears in "" as Rainbow commander, no mention is made of Clark.
John Clark has been awarded the Navy Cross, Silver Star with an oak leaf cluster, Bronze Star with Valor devices with 3 oak leaf clusters, three Purple Hearts and four Intelligence Stars. He is also a recipient of the Medal of Honor, awarded and presented to him by Jack Ryan (then President of the U.S.) for the rescue of a downed fighter pilot during his time in Vietnam (see "Without Remorse"). He is a simulated major general in the "Rainbow Six" book, though he only reached the rank of Chief Boatswain's Mate (Chief Petty Officer) during his Naval career.
Clark has a small tattoo of a red seal, sitting up on its hind flippers "grinning impudently" on his forearm. Though no other visual details are given, a comment made by Lieutenant Colonel Daniel "Bear" Malloy in "Rainbow Six" indicated that at least some soldiers in Ryanverse who dealt with special operations had heard of the red seal tattoo and understood that it was associated with the Third Special Operations Group (SOG), with whom Clark served during the Vietnam War. Clark stated that everyone in his unit got the tattoo. In the real world, having such a tattoo would violate operations security (OPSEC); however, similar tattoos are not particularly uncommon, so long as the tattoo is not specifically unit identifiable. Also, the Third SOG is not a real military unit, but a similarly named group, the Studies and Observation Group MACV-SOG, was initially named the Special Operations Group and was active in Vietnam in the types of operations and environments referenced in the series, and had Navy SEALs among its personnel. The symbol of the red seal is actually the unit insignia for SEAL Team 1.
The character John Clark appears in the following books:
John Clark has been portrayed by Willem Dafoe in "Clear and Present Danger" (1994) and Liev Schreiber in "The Sum of All Fears" (2002).
In "Clear and Present Danger" Clark is initially depicted as a cynical and opportunistic mercenary, but slowly reveals his virtues. Clark aids Ryan in rescuing Clark’s men from Escobedo and Cortez, saving Ryan’s life.
In "The Sum of All Fears" Clark is depicted as a much more sardonic character, though he, like his novel counterpart, has also participated in numerous CIA operations.
In 2012 Paramount Pictures was developing a film adaptation of "Without Remorse", and were reportedly in early negotiations with Tom Hardy to play Clark. By September 2018, Michael B. Jordan was cast to play John Clark in a new film series. Two films are currently in development including, "Without Remorse" and "Rainbow Six". The series will be produced by Akiva Goldsman. On December 5, 2018, Deadline announced that Stefano Sollima is in talks to direct the film adaptation of "Without Remorse"; Taylor Sheridan is slated to rewrite the screenplay.
In the 2018 Amazon Prime series, a version of the character, either directly inspired by or based on the John Clark character, appears under the pseudonyms Matice and Garth, as a veteran soldier and leader of Special Activities Division. He is portrayed by actor John Hoogenakker. He returns in Season 2 as a regular. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30766 |
The Troubles
The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland during the late 20th century. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict it is sometimes described as an "irregular war" or "low-level war". The conflict began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed to have ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Although the Troubles primarily took place in Northern Ireland, at times the violence spilled over into parts of the Republic of Ireland, England, and mainland Europe.
The conflict was primarily political and nationalistic, fuelled by historical events. It also had an ethnic or sectarian dimension, but despite the use of the terms "Protestant" and "Catholic" to refer to the two sides, it was not a religious conflict. A key issue was the constitutional status of Northern Ireland. Unionists, who were mostly Ulster Protestants, wanted Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom. Irish nationalists, who were mostly Irish Catholics, wanted Northern Ireland to leave the United Kingdom and join a united Ireland.
The conflict began during a campaign by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association to end discrimination against the Catholic/nationalist minority by the Protestant/unionist government of Northern Ireland and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). The authorities attempted to suppress the protest campaign with police brutality; it was also met with violence from loyalists, who believed it was a republican front. Increasing tensions led to severe violence in August 1969 and the deployment of British troops, in what became the British Army's longest ever operation. 'Peace walls' were built in some areas to keep the two communities apart. Some Catholics initially welcomed the British Army as a more neutral force than the RUC, but it soon came to be seen as hostile and biased, particularly after Bloody Sunday in 1972. Armed paramilitary organisations joined the fray, quickly becoming the most violent actors in the conflict.
The main participants in the Troubles were republican paramilitaries such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA); loyalist paramilitaries such as the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Ulster Defence Association (UDA); British state security forces—the British Army and RUC; and political activists and politicians. The security forces of the Republic of Ireland played a smaller role. Republican paramilitaries carried out a guerrilla campaign against British security forces as well as a bombing campaign against infrastructural, commercial and political targets. Loyalists targeted republicans/nationalists and attacked the wider Catholic community in what they described as retaliation. At times, there were bouts of sectarian tit-for-tat violence, as well as feuds within and between paramilitary groups of the same stripe. The British security forces undertook both a policing and counter-insurgency role, primarily against republicans. There were some incidents of collusion between British security forces and loyalist paramilitaries. The Troubles also involved numerous riots, mass protests and acts of civil disobedience, and led to increased segregation and the creation of no-go areas.
More than 3,500 people were killed in the conflict, of whom 52% were civilians, 32% were members of the British security forces and 16% were members of paramilitary groups. Republican paramilitaries were responsible for some 60% of the deaths, loyalists 30% and security forces 10%. There has been sporadic violence since the Good Friday Agreement was signed, including ongoing punishment attacks and a campaign by dissident republicans.
"The Troubles" refers to the three-decade conflict between nationalists (mainly self-identified as Irish or Roman Catholic) and unionists (mainly self-identified as British or Protestant). The word "troubles" has been used as a synonym for violent conflict for centuries. The term was used to describe the Irish revolutionary period in the early twentieth century. It was subsequently adopted to refer to the escalating violence in Northern Ireland after 1969. The violence was characterised by the armed campaigns of Irish republican and Ulster loyalist paramilitary groups and British state security forces (the British Army and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)). It thus became the focus for the longest major campaign in the history of the British Army.
The British government's position is that its forces were neutral in the conflict, trying to uphold law and order in Northern Ireland and the right of the people of Northern Ireland to democratic self-determination. Nationalists regarded the state forces as forces of occupation or partisan combatants in the conflict, while Unionists tended to support the locally recruited RUC. The British security forces focused on republican paramilitaries and activists, and the "Ballast" investigation by the Police Ombudsman confirmed that certain British officers colluded on several occasions with loyalist paramilitaries, were involved in murder, and furthermore obstructed the course of justice when claims of collusion and murder were investigated.
The Troubles were brought to an uneasy end by a peace process that included the declaration of ceasefires by most paramilitary organisations, the complete decommissioning of the IRA's weapons, the reform of the police, and the withdrawal of the British Army from the streets and sensitive Irish border areas such as South Armagh and County Fermanagh, as agreed by the signatories to the Belfast Agreement (commonly known as the "Good Friday Agreement"). One part of the Agreement is that Northern Ireland will remain within the United Kingdom unless a majority of the Northern Irish electorate vote otherwise. It also established the Northern Ireland Executive, a devolved power-sharing government, which must consist of both unionist and nationalist parties.
Although the number of active participants was relatively small, the Troubles affected many in Northern Ireland on a daily basis; their impact sometimes spread to England and the Republic of Ireland, and, occasionally, to parts of mainland Europe.
Peace lines, which were built in Northern Ireland during the early years of the Troubles, remain in place.
In 1609, Scottish and English settlers, known as "planters", were given land escheated from the native Irish in the Plantation of Ulster. Coupled with Protestant immigration to "unplanted" areas of Ulster, particularly Antrim and Down, this resulted in conflict between the native Catholics and the "planters", leading in turn to two bloody religious conflicts known as the Irish Confederate Wars (1641–1653) and the Williamite war (1689–1691), both of which resulted in Protestant victories.
Anglican dominance in Ireland was ensured by the passage of the Penal Laws that curtailed the religious, legal, and political rights of anyone (including both Catholics and Protestant Dissenters, such as Presbyterians) who did not conform to the state church, the Anglican Church of Ireland. As the Penal Laws started to be phased out in the latter part of the 18th century, there was more competition for land, as restrictions were lifted on the Irish Catholic ability to rent. With Roman Catholics allowed to buy land and enter trades from which they had formerly been banned, tensions arose resulting in the Protestant "Peep O'Day Boys" and Catholic "Defenders". This created polarisation between the communities and a dramatic reduction in reformers among Protestants, many of whom had been growing more receptive to democratic reform.
Following the foundation of the republican Society of the United Irishmen by Presbyterians, Catholics, and liberal Anglicans, and the resulting failed Irish Rebellion of 1798, sectarian violence between Catholics and Protestants continued. The Orange Order (founded 1795), with its stated goal of upholding the Protestant faith and loyalty to the heirs of William of Orange, dates from this period and remains active to this day.
With the Acts of Union 1800 (which came into force on 1 January 1801), a new political framework was formed with the abolition of the Irish Parliament and incorporation of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The result was a closer tie between Anglicans and the formerly republican Presbyterians as part of a "loyal" Protestant community. Although Catholic emancipation was achieved in 1829, largely eliminating official discrimination against Roman Catholics (then around 75% of Ireland's population), Dissenters, and Jews, the Repeal Association's campaign to repeal the 1801 Union failed.
In the late 19th century, the Home Rule movement was created and served to define the divide between most nationalists (usually Catholics), who sought the restoration of an Irish Parliament, and most unionists (usually Protestants), who were afraid of being a minority under a Catholic-dominated Irish Parliament and who tended to support continuing union with Britain.
Unionists and Home Rule advocates were the main political factions in late 19th- and early 20th-century Ireland.
By the second decade of the 20th century, Home Rule, or limited Irish self-government, was on the brink of being conceded due to the agitation of the Irish Parliamentary Party.
In response to the campaign for Home Rule which started in the 1870s, unionists, mostly Protestant and largely concentrated in Ulster, had resisted both self-government and independence for Ireland, fearing for their future in an overwhelmingly Catholic country dominated by the Roman Catholic Church. In 1912, unionists led by Edward Carson signed the Ulster Covenant and pledged to resist Home Rule by force if necessary. To this end, they formed the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).
In response, nationalists led by Eoin MacNeill formed the Irish Volunteers in 1913, whose goal was to oppose the UVF and ensure enactment of the Third Home Rule Bill in the event of British or unionist recalcitrance. The outbreak of the First World War in 1914, and Ireland's involvement in the war, temporarily averted possible civil war in Ireland and delayed the resolution of the question of Irish independence. Home Rule, although passed in the British Parliament with Royal Assent, was suspended for the duration of the war.
The Irish Volunteers split, with a majority, known as the National Volunteers, supporting the war effort, and some of them joining Irish regiments of the New British Army. Many of those who stayed were radical nationalists, among them Irish Republican Brotherhood infiltrators. From these ranks came those who launched the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916, led by Padraig Pearse and James Connolly. Two-and-a-half years after the executions of fifteen of the Rising's leaders, the separatist Sinn Féin party won the December 1918 general election in Ireland with 47% of the vote and a majority of seats, and set up the 1919 First Dáil (Irish Parliament) in Dublin. Their victory was aided by the threat of conscription for First World War service. The Irish War for Independence followed, leading to eventual independence in 1922 for the Irish Free State, which comprised 26 of the 32 Irish counties. In Ulster, particularly in the six counties which became Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin fared relatively poorly in the 1918 election, and unionists won a majority.
The Government of Ireland Act 1920 partitioned the island of Ireland into two separate jurisdictions, Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland, both devolved regions of the United Kingdom. This partition of Ireland was confirmed when the Parliament of Northern Ireland exercised its right in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 to ""opt out"" of the newly established Irish Free State. A part of the treaty signed in 1922 mandated that a boundary commission would sit to decide where the frontier of the northern state would be in relation to its southern neighbour. After the Irish Civil War of 1922–1923, this part of the treaty was given less priority by the new Dublin government led by W. T. Cosgrave, and was quietly dropped. As counties Fermanagh and Tyrone and border areas of Londonderry, Armagh, and Down were mainly nationalist, the Irish Boundary Commission could reduce Northern Ireland to four counties or less.
Northern Ireland remained a part of the United Kingdom, albeit under a separate system of government whereby it was given its own parliament and devolved government. While this arrangement met the desires of unionists to remain part of the United Kingdom, nationalists largely viewed the partition of Ireland as an illegal and arbitrary division of the island against the will of the majority of its people. They argued that the Northern Ireland state was neither legitimate nor democratic, but created with a deliberately gerrymandered unionist majority. Catholics initially composed about 35% of its population. A total of 557 people, mostly Catholics, were killed in political or sectarian violence from 1920 to 1922 in the six counties that would become Northern Ireland, both during and after the Irish War of Independence. The result was communal strife between Catholics and Protestants, with some historians describing this violence, especially that in Belfast, as a pogrom, although historian Peter Hart argues that the term is not appropriate given the reciprocity of violence in Northern Ireland.
A marginalised remnant of the Irish Republican Army survived the Irish Civil War. This would come to have a major impact on Northern Ireland. Although the IRA was proscribed on both sides of the new Irish border, it remained ideologically committed to overthrowing both the Northern Ireland and the Free State governments by force of arms to unify Ireland. The government of Northern Ireland passed the Special Powers Act in 1922, giving sweeping powers to the government and police to intern suspects without trial and to administer corporal punishment such as flogging to re-establish or preserve law and order. The Act continued to be used against nationalists long after the violence of this period had come to an end. In 1920, in local elections held under proportional representation, nationalists had won control over many local governments, including the County Councils of Fermanagh and Tyrone, and the Londonderry Borough Council governing Derry City. In response, in 1922 the new unionist government re-drew the electoral boundaries to give its supporters a majority and abolished proportional representation in favour of first past the post voting. This resulted in unionist control of areas such as Derry City, Fermanagh, and Tyrone where they were actually a minority of voters.
The two sides' positions became strictly defined following this period. From a unionist perspective, Northern Ireland's nationalists were inherently disloyal and determined to force unionists into a united Ireland. This threat was seen as justifying preferential treatment of unionists in housing, employment and other fields. The prevalence of larger families and thus the potential for a more rapid population growth among Catholics was seen as a threat. Unionist governments ignored Edward Carson's warning in 1921 that alienating Catholics would make Northern Ireland inherently unstable. After the early 1920s, there were occasional incidents of sectarian unrest in Northern Ireland. These included severe rioting in Belfast in the 1930s and 1950s, and the IRA's brief Northern Campaign in the 1940s and Border Campaign between 1956 and 1962, which did not enjoy broad popular support among nationalists. After the IRA called off its campaign in 1962, Northern Ireland became relatively stable for a brief period.
There is little agreement on the exact date of the start of the Troubles. Different writers have suggested different dates. These include the formation of the modern Ulster Volunteer Force in 1966, the civil rights march in Derry on 5 October 1968, the beginning of the 'Battle of the Bogside' on 12 August 1969 or the deployment of British troops on 14 August 1969.
In March and April 1966, Irish nationalists/republicans held parades throughout Ireland to mark the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising. On 8 March, a group of Irish republicans dynamited Nelson's Pillar in Dublin. At the time, the IRA was weak and not engaged in armed action, but some unionists warned it was about to be revived to launch another campaign against Northern Ireland. In April 1966, loyalists led by Ian Paisley, a Protestant fundamentalist preacher, founded the Ulster Constitution Defence Committee (UCDC). It set up a paramilitary-style wing called the Ulster Protestant Volunteers (UPV) to oust Terence O'Neill, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. Although O'Neill was a unionist, they viewed him as being too 'soft' on the civil rights movement and opposed his policies.
At the same time, a loyalist group calling itself the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) emerged in the Shankill area of Belfast. It was led by Gusty Spence, a former British soldier. Many of its members were also members of the UCDC and UPV. In April and May 1966 it petrol bombed a number of Catholic homes, schools and businesses. A firebomb killed an elderly Protestant widow, Matilda Gould. On 21 May, the UVF issued a statement declaring "war" against the IRA and anyone helping it. The UVF fatally shot a Catholic civilian, John Scullion, as he walked home on 27 May. A month later it shot three Catholic civilians as they left a pub, killing Peter Ward, a Catholic from the Falls Road. Shortly after, the UVF was proscribed (made illegal) by the Northern Ireland government.
In the mid-1960s, a non-violent civil rights campaign began in Northern Ireland. It comprised groups such as the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA), the Campaign for Social Justice (CSJ), the Derry Citizens' Action Committee (DCAC) and People's Democracy, whose stated goals were:
Some suspected and accused NICRA of being a republican front-group whose ultimate goal was to unite Ireland. Although republicans and some members of the IRA (then led by Cathal Goulding and pursuing a non-violent agenda) helped to create and drive the movement, they did not control it and were not a dominant faction within it.
On 20 June 1968, civil rights activists (including Austin Currie, a nationalist MP) protested against housing discrimination by squatting in a house in Caledon. The local council had allocated the house to an unmarried 19-year-old Protestant (Emily Beattie, the secretary of a local UUP politician) instead of either of two large Catholic families with children. RUC officers – one of whom was Beattie's brother – forcibly removed the activists. Two days before the protest, the two Catholic families who had been squatting in the house next door were removed by police. Currie had brought their grievance to the local council and to Stormont, but had been told to leave. The incident invigorated the civil rights movement.
On 24 August 1968, the civil rights movement held its first civil rights march, from Coalisland to Dungannon. Many more marches were held over the following year. Loyalists (especially members of the UPV) attacked some of the marches and held counter-demonstrations in a bid to get the marches banned. Because of the lack of police reaction to the attacks, nationalists saw the RUC, almost wholly Protestant, as backing the loyalists and allowing the attacks to occur. On 5 October 1968, a civil rights march in Derry was banned by the Northern Ireland government. When marchers defied the ban, RUC officers surrounded the marchers and beat them indiscriminately and without provocation. More than 100 people were injured, including a number of nationalist politicians. The incident was filmed by television news crews and shown around the world. It caused outrage among Catholics and nationalists, sparking two days of rioting in Derry between nationalists and the RUC.
A few days later, a student civil rights group, People's Democracy, was formed in Belfast. In late November, O'Neill promised the civil rights movement some concessions, but these were seen as too little by nationalists and too much by loyalists. On 1 January 1969, People's Democracy began a four-day march from Belfast to Derry, which was repeatedly harassed and attacked by loyalists. At Burntollet Bridge the marchers were attacked by about 200 loyalists, including some off-duty police officers, armed with iron bars, bricks and bottles in a planned ambush. When the march reached Derry City it was again attacked. The marchers claimed that police did nothing to protect them and that some officers helped the attackers. That night, RUC officers went on a rampage in the Bogside area of Derry, attacking Catholic homes, attacking and threatening residents, and hurling sectarian abuse. Residents then sealed off the Bogside with barricades to keep the police out, creating "Free Derry", which was briefly a no-go area for the security forces.
In March and April 1969, loyalists bombed water and electricity installations in Northern Ireland, blaming them on the dormant IRA and elements of the civil rights movement. Some attacks left much of Belfast without power and water. Loyalists hoped the bombings would force O'Neill to resign and bring an end to any concessions to nationalists. There were six bombings between 30 March and 26 April. All were widely blamed on the IRA, and British soldiers were sent to guard installations. Unionist support for O'Neill waned, and on 28 April he resigned as Prime Minister.
On 19 April there were clashes between NICRA marchers, the RUC and loyalists in the Bogside. RUC officers entered the house of Samuel Devenny (42), an uninvolved Catholic civilian, and beat him along with two of his teenage daughters and a family friend. One of the daughters was beaten unconscious as she lay recovering from surgery. Devenny suffered a heart attack and died on 17 July from his injuries. On 13 July, RUC officers beat a Catholic civilian, Francis McCloskey (67), during clashes in Dungiven. He died of his injuries the next day.
On 12 August, the loyalist Apprentice Boys of Derry were allowed to march along the edge of the Bogside. Taunts and missiles were exchanged between the loyalists and nationalist residents. After being bombarded with stones and petrol bombs from nationalists, the RUC, backed by loyalists, tried to storm the Bogside. The RUC used CS gas, armoured vehicles and water cannons, but were kept at bay by hundreds of nationalists. The continuous fighting, which became known as the Battle of the Bogside, lasted for two days.
In response to events in Derry, nationalists held protests at RUC bases in Belfast and elsewhere. Some of these led to clashes with the RUC and attacks on RUC bases. In Belfast, loyalists responded by invading nationalist districts, burning houses and businesses. There were gun battles between nationalists and the RUC, and between nationalists and loyalists. A group of about 30 IRA members was involved in the fighting in Belfast. The RUC deployed Shorland armoured cars mounted with heavy Browning machine guns. The Shorlands twice opened fire on a block of flats in a nationalist district, killing a nine-year-old boy, Patrick Rooney. RUC officers opened fire on rioters in Armagh, Dungannon and Coalisland.
During the riots, on 13 August, Taoiseach Jack Lynch made a television address. He condemned the RUC and said that the Irish Government "can no longer stand by and see innocent people injured and perhaps worse". He called for a United Nations peacekeeping force to be deployed and said that Irish Army field hospitals were being set up at the border in County Donegal near Derry. Lynch added that Irish re-unification would be the only permanent solution. Some interpreted the speech as a threat of military intervention. After the riots, Lynch ordered the Irish Army to plan for a possible humanitarian intervention in Northern Ireland. The plan, Exercise Armageddon, was rejected and remained classified for thirty years.
On 14–15 August, British troops were deployed in Derry and Belfast to restore order, but did not try to enter the Bogside, bringing a temporary end to the riots. Ten people had been killed, and 745 had been injured, including 154 who suffered gunshot wounds. 154 homes and other buildings were demolished and over 400 needed repairs, 83% of the buildings damaged were occupied by Catholics. Between July and September 1,505 Catholic and 315 Protestant families were forced to flee their homes. The Irish Army set up refugee camps in the Republic near the border. Nationalists initially welcomed the British Army, as they did not trust the RUC.
On 9 September, the Northern Ireland Joint Security Committee met at Stormont Castle and decided that
On 10 September the British Army started construction of the first "peace wall". It was the first of many such walls across Northern Ireland that still stand today.
After the riots, the 'Hunt Committee' was set up to examine the RUC. It published its report on 12 October, recommending that the RUC become an unarmed force and the B Specials be disbanded. That night, loyalists took to the streets of Belfast in protest at the report. During violence in the Shankill, UVF members shot dead RUC officer Victor Arbuckle. He was the first RUC officer to be killed during the Troubles. In October and December 1969, the UVF carried out a number of small bombings in the Republic of Ireland.
Despite the British government's attempt to do "nothing that would suggest partiality to one section of the community" and the improvement of the relationship between the Army and the local population following the Army assistance with flood relief in August 1970, the Falls Curfew and a situation that was described at the time as "an inflamed sectarian one, which is being deliberately exploited by the IRA and other extremists" meant that relations between the Catholic population and the British Army rapidly deteriorated.
From 1970 through 1972 an explosion of political violence occurred in Northern Ireland. The deadliest attack in the early 70s was the McGurk's Bar bombing by the UVF in 1971. The violence peaked in 1972, when nearly 500 people, just over half of them civilians, lost their lives, the worst year in the entire conflict.
By the end of 1971, 29 barricades were in place in Derry, blocking access to what was known as Free Derry; 16 of these were impassable even to the British Army's one-ton armoured vehicles. Many of the nationalist or republican "no-go areas" were controlled by one of the two factions of the Irish Republican Army—the Provisional IRA and Official IRA. There are several reasons offered for why violence escalated in these years.
Unionists claim the main reason was the formation of the Provisional IRA and Official IRA, particularly the former. These two groups were formed when into the 'Provisional' and 'Official' factions. While the older IRA had embraced non-violent civil agitation, the new Provisional IRA was determined to wage "armed struggle" against British rule in Northern Ireland. The new IRA was willing to take on the role of "defenders of the Catholic community", rather than seeking working-class ecumenical unity across both communities.
Nationalists point to a number of events in these years to explain the upsurge in violence. One such incident was the Falls Curfew in July 1970, when 3,000 troops imposed a curfew on the nationalist Lower Falls area of Belfast, firing more than 1,500 rounds of ammunition in gun battles with the Official IRA, and killing four people. Another was the introduction of internment without trial in 1971 (of 350 initial detainees, none were Protestants). Moreover, due to poor intelligence, very few of those interned were actually republican activists at the time, but some internees became increasingly radicalised as a result of their experiences.
A third event, Bloody Sunday, was the shooting dead of thirteen unarmed men by the British Army at a proscribed anti-internment rally in Derry on 30 January 1972 (a fourteenth man died of his injuries some months later) while fifteen other civilians were wounded. The march had been organised by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA). The soldiers involved were members of the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment, also known as "1 Para".
This was one of the most prominent events that occurred during the Troubles as it was recorded as the largest number of civilians killed in a single shooting incident. Bloody Sunday greatly increased the hostility of Catholics and Irish nationalists towards the British military and government while significantly elevating tensions. As a result, the Provisional IRA gained more support, especially through rising numbers of recruits in the local areas.
Following the introduction of internment there were numerous gun battles between the British Army and both the Provisional and Official IRA. Between 1971 and 1975, 1,981 people were interned; 1,874 were Catholic/republican, while 107 were Protestant/loyalist. There were widespread allegations of abuse and even torture of detainees, and in 1972, the "five techniques" used by the police and army for interrogation were ruled to be illegal following a British government inquiry.
The Provisional IRA, or "Provos", as they became known, sought to establish themselves as the defender of the nationalist community. The Official IRA (OIRA) began its own armed campaign in reaction to the ongoing violence. The Provisional IRA's offensive campaign began in early 1971 when the Army Council sanctioned attacks on the British Army.
In 1972, the Provisional IRA killed approximately 100 members of the security forces, wounded 500 others, and carried out approximately 1,300 bombings, mostly against commercial targets which they considered "the artificial economy". Their bombing campaign killed many civilians, notably on Bloody Friday on 21 July, when they set off 22 bombs in the centre of Belfast, killing seven civilians and two soldiers. Ten days later, nine civilians were killed in a triple car bombing in Claudy, which the IRA are suspected of committing.
In the same year, the Official IRA killed dozens of soldiers and wounded several more, mostly through gun attacks. The Official IRA called off its campaign in May 1972.
British troop concentrations peaked at 20:1000 of the civilian population, the highest ratio found in the history of counterinsurgency warfare, higher than that achieved during the "Malayan Emergency"/"Anti-British National Liberation War", to which the conflict is frequently compared. Operation Motorman, the military operation for the surge, was the biggest military operation in Ireland since the Irish War of Independence. In total, almost 22,000 British forces were involved, In the days before 31 July, about 4,000 extra troops were brought into Northern Ireland.
Despite a temporary ceasefire in 1972 and talks with British officials, the Provisionals were determined to continue their campaign until the achievement of a united Ireland. The UK government in London, believing the Northern Ireland administration incapable of containing the security situation, sought to take over the control of law and order there. As this was unacceptable to the Northern Ireland Government, the British government pushed through emergency legislation (the Northern Ireland (Temporary Provisions) Act 1972) which suspended the unionist-controlled Stormont parliament and government, and introduced "direct rule" from London. Direct rule was initially intended as a short-term measure; the medium-term strategy was to restore self-government to Northern Ireland on a basis that was acceptable to both unionists and nationalists. Agreement proved elusive, however, and the Troubles continued throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and the 1990s within a context of political deadlock. The existence of "no-go areas" in Belfast and Derry was a challenge to the authority of the British government in Northern Ireland, and the British Army demolished the barricades and re-established control over the areas in Operation Motorman on 31 July 1972.
In June 1973, following the publication of a British White Paper and a referendum in March on the status of Northern Ireland, a new parliamentary body, the Northern Ireland Assembly, was established. Elections to this were held on 28 June. In October 1973, mainstream nationalist and unionist parties, along with the British and Irish governments, negotiated the Sunningdale Agreement, which was intended to produce a political settlement within Northern Ireland, but with a so-called "Irish dimension" involving the Republic. The agreement provided for "power-sharing" – the creation of an executive containing both unionists and nationalists—and a "Council of Ireland" – a body made up of ministers from Northern Ireland and the Republic, designed to encourage cross-border co-operation. The similarities between the Sunningdale Agreement and the Belfast Agreement of 1998 has led some commentators to characterise the latter as "Sunningdale for slow learners". This assertion has been criticised by political scientists, one of whom stated that "... there are ... significant differences between them [Sunningdale and Belfast], both in terms of content and the circumstances surrounding their negotiation, implementation, and operation".
Unionists were split over Sunningdale, which was also opposed by the IRA, whose goal remained nothing short of an end to the existence of Northern Ireland as part of the UK. Many unionists opposed the concept of power-sharing, arguing that it was not feasible to share power with those (nationalists) who sought the destruction of the state. Perhaps more significant, however, was the unionist opposition to the "Irish dimension" and the Council of Ireland, which was perceived as being an all-Ireland parliament-in-waiting. Remarks by a young Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) councillor, Hugh Logue, to an audience at Trinity College Dublin that Sunningdale was the tool "by which the Unionists will be trundled off to a united Ireland" also damaged chances of significant unionist support for the agreement. In January 1974, Brian Faulkner was narrowly deposed as UUP leader and replaced by Harry West, although Faulkner retained his position as Chief Executive in the new government. A UK general election in February 1974 gave the anti-Sunningdale unionists the opportunity to test unionist opinion with the slogan "Dublin is only a Sunningdale away", and the result galvanised their support: they won 11 of the 12 seats, winning 58% of the vote with most of the rest going to nationalists and pro-Sunningdale unionists.
Ultimately, however, the Sunningdale Agreement was brought down by mass action on the part of loyalist paramilitaries (primarily the Ulster Defence Association, at that time over 20,000 strong) and workers, who formed the Ulster Workers' Council. They organised a general strike, the Ulster Workers' Council strike. This severely curtailed business in Northern Ireland and cut off essential services such as water and electricity. Nationalists argue that the British Government did not do enough to break this strike and uphold the Sunningdale initiative. There is evidence that the strike was further encouraged by MI5, a part of their campaign to 'disorientate' British prime minister Harold Wilson's government. Faced with such opposition, the pro-Sunningdale unionists resigned from the power-sharing government and the new regime collapsed. Three days into the UWC strike, on 17 May 1974, two UVF teams from the Belfast and Mid-Ulster brigades detonated three no-warning car bombs in Dublin's city centre during the Friday evening rush hour, resulting in 26 deaths and close to 300 injuries. Ninety minutes later, a fourth car bomb exploded in Monaghan, killing seven additional people. Nobody has ever been convicted for these attacks, with the bombings being the greatest loss of life in a single day during the Troubles.
Harold Wilson had secretly met with the IRA in 1971 while leader of the opposition; his government in late 1974 and early 1975 again met with the IRA to negotiate a ceasefire. During the meetings the parties discussed the possibility of British withdrawal from an independent Northern Ireland. The failure of Sunningdale led to the serious consideration in London until November 1975 of independence. Had the withdrawal occurred – which Wilson supported but others, including James Callaghan, opposed – the region would have become a separate Dominion of the British Commonwealth.
The British negotiations with an illegal organisation angered the Irish government. It did not know their proceedings but feared that the British were considering abandoning Northern Ireland. Foreign Minister Garret FitzGerald discussed in a memorandum of June 1975 the possibilities of orderly withdrawal and independence, repartition of the island or a collapse of Northern Ireland into civil war and anarchy. The memorandum preferred a negotiated independence as the best of the three "worst case scenarios", but concluded that the Irish government could do little.
The Irish government had already failed to prevent the IRA from burning down the British Embassy in 1972. It believed that it could not enlarge the country's small army of 12,500 men without negative consequences. A civil war in Northern Ireland would cause many deaths there and severe consequences for the Republic, as the public would demand that it intervene to protect nationalists. FitzGerald warned Callaghan that the failure to intervene, despite Ireland's inability to do so, would "threaten democratic government in the Republic", which in turn jeopardised British and European security against Communist and other foreign nations.
The Irish government so dreaded the consequences of an independent Northern Ireland that FitzGerald refused to ask the British not to withdraw—as he feared that openly discussing the issue could permit the British to proceed—and other members of government opposed the Irish Cabinet even discussing what FitzGerald referred to as a "doomsday scenario". He wrote in 2006 that "Neither then nor since has public opinion in Ireland realised how close to disaster our whole island came during the last two years of Harold Wilson's premiership."
Merlyn Rees, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, lifted the proscription against the UVF in April 1974. In December, one month after the Birmingham pub bombings which killed 21 people, the IRA declared a ceasefire; this would theoretically last throughout most of the following year. The ceasefire notwithstanding, sectarian killings actually escalated in 1975, along with internal feuding between rival paramilitary groups. This made 1975 one of the "bloodiest years of the conflict".
On 31 July 1975 at Buskhill, outside Newry, popular Irish cabaret band the Miami Showband was returning home to Dublin after a gig in Banbridge when it was ambushed by gunmen from the UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade wearing British Army uniforms at a bogus military roadside checkpoint on the main A1 road. Three of the bandmembers, two Catholics and a Protestant, were shot dead, while two of the UVF men were killed when the bomb they had loaded onto the band's minibus detonated prematurely. The following January, eleven Protestant workers were gunned down in Kingsmill, South Armagh after having been ordered off their bus by an armed republican gang, which called itself the South Armagh Republican Action Force. One man survived despite being shot 18 times, leaving ten fatalities. These killings were reportedly in retaliation to a loyalist double shooting attack against the Reavey and O'Dowd families the previous night.
The violence continued through the rest of the 1970s, including a series of attacks in Southern England in 1974 and 1975 by Provisional IRA active service unit the Balcombe Street Gang. The British Government reinstated the ban against the UVF in October 1975, making it once more an illegal organisation. The Provisional IRA's December 1974 ceasefire officially ended in January 1976, although it carried out several attacks in 1975. It had lost the hope that it had felt in the early 1970s that it could force a rapid British withdrawal from Northern Ireland, and instead developed a strategy known as the "Long War", which involved a less intense but more sustained campaign of violence that could continue indefinitely. The Official IRA ceasefire of 1972, however, became permanent, and the "Official" movement eventually evolved into the Workers' Party, which rejected violence completely. However, a splinter from the "Officials"—the Irish National Liberation Army—continued a campaign of violence in 1974.
By the late 1970s, war-weariness was visible in both communities. One sign of this was the formation of the Peace People, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976. The Peace People organised large demonstrations calling for an end to paramilitary violence. Their campaign lost momentum, however, after they appealed to the nationalist community to provide information on the IRA to security forces.
The decade ended with a double attack by the IRA against the British. On 27 August 1979, Lord Mountbatten while on holiday in Mullaghmore, County Sligo, was killed by a bomb planted on board his boat. Three other people were also killed: Lady Brabourne, the elderly mother of Mountbatten's son-in-law; and two teenagers, a grandson of Mountbatten and a local boatman. That same day, eighteen British soldiers, mostly members of the Parachute Regiment, were killed by two remote-controlled bombs in the Warrenpoint ambush at Narrow Water Castle, near Warrenpoint, County Down.
Successive British Governments, having failed to achieve a political settlement, tried to "normalise" Northern Ireland. Aspects included the removal of internment without trial and the removal of political status for paramilitary prisoners. From 1972 onward, paramilitaries were tried in juryless Diplock courts to avoid intimidation of jurors. On conviction, they were to be treated as ordinary criminals. Resistance to this policy among republican prisoners led to more than 500 of them in the Maze prison initiating the "blanket" and "dirty" protests. Their protests culminated in hunger strikes in 1980 and 1981, aimed at the restoration of political status, as well as other concessions.
In the 1981 Irish hunger strike, ten republican prisoners (seven from the Provisional IRA and three from the INLA) died of starvation. The first hunger striker to die, Bobby Sands, was elected to Parliament on an Anti-H-Block ticket, as was his election agent Owen Carron following Sands' death. The hunger strikes resonated among many nationalists; over 100,000 people attended Sands' funeral mass in West Belfast and thousands attended those of the other hunger strikers. From an Irish republican perspective, the significance of these events was to demonstrate potential for a political and electoral strategy.
In the wake of the hunger strikes, Sinn Féin, which had become the Provisional IRA's political wing, began to contest elections for the first time in both Northern Ireland (as abstentionists) and in the Republic. In 1986, Sinn Féin recognised the legitimacy of the Irish Dáil, which caused a small group of members to break away and form Republican Sinn Féin.
The IRA's "Long War" was boosted by large donations of arms from Libya in the 1980s (see Provisional IRA arms importation) due to Muammar Gaddafi's anger at British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher's government for assisting the Reagan government's bombing of Tripoli, which had allegedly killed one of Gaddafi's children. Additionally, it received funding from supporters in the United States and elsewhere throughout the Irish diaspora.
In 1982, the IRA bombed military ceremonies in London's Hyde Park and Regent's Park, killing four soldiers, seven bandsmen and seven horses. The INLA was highly active in the early and mid-1980s. In 1982, it bombed a disco frequented by off-duty British soldiers, killing 11 soldiers and six civilians. One of the IRA's most high-profile actions in this period was the Brighton hotel bombing on 12 October 1984, when it set off a 100-pound bomb in the Grand Brighton Hotel in Brighton, where politicians including Thatcher, were staying for the Conservative Party conference. The bomb, which exploded in the early hours of the morning, killed five people, including Conservative MP Sir Anthony Berry and the wife of Government Chief Whip John Wakeham, and thirty-four others were injured, including Wakeham, Trade and Industry Secretary Norman Tebbit, and Tebbit's wife, Margaret. Margaret Tebbit was left permanently paralysed, while her husband's injuries were less serious.
On 28 February 1985 in Newry, nine RUC officers (seven Protestants and two Catholics), were killed in a mortar attack on the police station in Corry Square. It was planned by the IRA's South Armagh Brigade and an IRA unit in Newry. Nine shells were fired from a mark 10 mortar which was bolted onto the back of a hijacked Ford van in Crossmaglen. Eight shells overshot the station; the ninth hit a portable cabin which was being used as a canteen. On 8 May 1987, eight IRA members attacked an RUC station in Loughgall, County Armagh, using a bomb and guns. All were killed by the SAS - the most IRA members killed in a single incident in the Troubles. On 8 November 1987, in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, a Provisional IRA time bomb exploded during a Remembrance Sunday ceremony for UK Commonwealth war casualties. The bomb went off by a cenotaph which was at the heart of the parade. Eleven people (ten civilians, including a pregnant woman, and one serving member of the RUC) were killed and 63 were injured. Former school headmaster Ronnie Hill was seriously injured in the bombing and slipped into a coma two days later, remaining in this condition for more than a decade before his death in December 2000. The IRA eventually apologised for what it claimed had been a mistake and that its target had been the British soldiers parading to the memorial. The unit that carried out the bombing was disbanded. Loyalist paramilitaries responded to the bombing with revenge attacks on Catholics, mostly civilians. Another bomb had been planted at nearby Tullyhommon at a parallel Remembrance Day commemoration but failed to detonate.
In March 1988, three IRA volunteers who were planning a bombing were shot dead by the SAS at a Shell petrol station on Winston Churchill Avenue in Gibraltar, the British Overseas Territory attached to the south of Spain. This became known as Operation Flavius. Their funeral at Milltown Cemetery in Belfast was attacked by Michael Stone, a UDA member who threw grenades as the coffin was lowered and shot at people who chased him. Stone killed three people, including IRA volunteer Kevin Brady. Stone was jailed for life the following year, but was freed 11 years later under the Good Friday Agreement. Two British Army corporals, David Howes and Derek Wood, drove into Brady's funeral in Andersonstown in a civilian car and clothes, with their guns in their car. They were kidnapped, taken away and shot dead by the IRA. This became known as the Corporals killings.
In the 1980s, loyalist paramilitary groups, including the Ulster Volunteer Force, the Ulster Defence Association and Ulster Resistance, imported arms and explosives from South Africa. The weapons obtained were divided between the UDA, the UVF and Ulster Resistance, although some of the weaponry (such as rocket-propelled grenades) were hardly used. In 1987, the Irish People's Liberation Organisation (IPLO), a breakaway faction of the INLA, engaged in a bloody feud against the INLA which weakened the INLA's presence in some areas. By 1992, the IPLO was destroyed by the Provisionals for its involvement in drug dealing thus ending the feud.
Since the late 1980s, while the IRA continued its armed campaign, its political wing Sinn Féin, led since 1983 by Gerry Adams, sought a negotiated end to the conflict, although Adams accurately predicted that this would be a very long process. He predicted the war would last another 20 years. He conducted open talks with John Hume – the SDLP leader – and secret talks with government officials. Loyalists were also engaged in behind-the-scenes talks to end the violence, connecting with the British and Irish governments through Protestant clergy, in particular the Presbyterian minister, Reverend Roy Magee and Anglican Archbishop Robin Eames.
When a French TV crew filmed the IRA at a training camp in Donegal, a representative of the General Headquarters Staff of the IRA was interviewed. He said the IRA would "[E]ventually sap the political will of the British government to remain in Ireland".
The IRA's South Armagh Brigade had made the countryside village of Crossmaglen their stronghold since the 1970s. The surrounding villages of Silverbridge, Cullyhanna, Cullaville, Forkhill, Jonesborough and Creggan were also IRA strongholds. In February 1978, a British Army Gazelle helicopter was shot down near Silverbridge, killing Lieutenant Colonel Ian Corden-Lloyd.
In the 1990s, the IRA came up with a new plan to restrict British Army foot patrols near Crossmaglen. They developed two sniper teams to attack British Army and RUC patrols. They usually fired from an improvised armoured car using a .50 BMG calibre M82 sniper rifle. Signs were put up around South Armagh reading "Sniper at Work". The snipers killed a total of nine members of the security forces: seven soldiers and two constables. The last to be killed before the Good Friday Agreement, was a British soldier, bombardier Steven Restorick.
The IRA had developed the capacity to attack helicopters in South Armagh and elsewhere since the 1980s, including the 1990 shootdown of a Gazelle flying over the border between Tyrone and Monaghan; there were no fatalities in that incident.
Another incident involving British helicopters in South Armagh was the Battle of Newry Road in September 1993. Two other helicopters, a British Army Lynx and a Royal Air Force Puma were shot down by improvised mortar fire in 1994. The IRA set up checkpoints in South Armagh during this period, unchallenged by the security forces.
On 7 February 1991, the IRA attempted to assassinate prime minister John Major and his war cabinet by launching a mortar at 10 Downing Street while they were gathered there to discuss the Gulf War. The mortar bombing caused only four injuries, two to police officers, while the prime minister and the entire war cabinet were unharmed.
After a prolonged period of background political manoeuvring, during which the Baltic Exchange and Bishopsgate bombings occurred in London, both loyalist and republican paramilitary groups declared ceasefires in 1994.
The year leading up to the ceasefires was a particularly tense one, marked by atrocities. The UDA and UVF stepped up their attacks. The IRA responded with the Shankill Road bombing in October 1993, which aimed to kill the UDA leadership, but killed eight Protestant civilian shoppers and one low-ranking UDA member, as well as one of the perpetrators, who was killed when the bomb detonated prematurely. The UDA retaliated with mass shootings in nationalist areas such as Greysteel and Castlerock. Eight people were killed at Greysteel and four at Castlerock, all but two of whom were Catholic.
On 16 June 1994, just before the ceasefires, the Irish National Liberation Army killed three UVF members in a gun attack on the Shankill Road. In revenge, three days later, the UVF killed six civilians in a shooting at a pub in Loughinisland, County Down. The IRA, in the remaining month before its ceasefire, killed four senior loyalist paramilitaries, three from the UDA and one from the UVF. On 31 August 1994, the IRA declared a ceasefire. The loyalist paramilitaries, temporarily united in the "Combined Loyalist Military Command", reciprocated six weeks later. Although these ceasefires failed in the short run, they marked an effective end to large-scale political violence, as they paved the way for the final ceasefires.
In 1995, the United States appointed George J. Mitchell as the United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. Mitchell was recognised as being more than a token envoy and as representing a President (Bill Clinton) with a deep interest in events. The British and Irish governments agreed that Mitchell would chair an international commission on disarmament of paramilitary groups.
On 9 February 1996, less than two years after the declaration of the ceasefire, the IRA revoked it with the Docklands bombing in the Canary Wharf area of London, killing two people, injuring 39 others, and causing £85 million in damage to the city's financial centre. Sinn Féin blamed the failure of the ceasefire on the British Government's refusal to begin all-party negotiations until the IRA decommissioned its weapons.
The attack was followed by several more, most notably the 1996 Manchester bombing, which destroyed a large area of the centre of the city on 15 June. It was the largest bomb attack in Britain since World War II. While the attack avoided any fatalities due to a telephone warning and the rapid response of the emergency services, over 200 people were injured in the attack, many of them outside the established cordon. The damage caused by the blast was estimated at £411 million. Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick, the last British soldier killed during the Troubles, was shot dead at a checkpoint on the Green Rd near Bessbrook on 12 February 1997 by the IRA's South Armagh sniper.
The IRA reinstated their ceasefire in July 1997, as negotiations for the document that became known as the Good Friday Agreement began without Sinn Féin. In September of the same year Sinn Féin signed the Mitchell Principles and were admitted to the talks. The UVF was the first paramilitary grouping to split as a result of their ceasefire, spawning the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) in 1996. In December 1997, the INLA assassinated LVF leader Billy Wright, leading to a series of revenge killings by loyalist groups. A group split from the Provisional IRA and formed the Real IRA (RIRA).
In August 1998, a Real IRA bomb in Omagh killed 29 civilians, the most by a single bomb during the Troubles. This bombing discredited "dissident republicans" and their campaigns in the eyes of many who had previously supported the Provisionals' campaign. They became small groups with little influence, but still capable of violence.
The INLA also declared a ceasefire after the Belfast Agreement of 1998. Since then, most paramilitary violence has been directed at their "own" communities and at other factions within their organisations. The UDA, for example, has feuded with their fellow loyalists the UVF on two occasions since 2000. There have been internal struggles for power between "brigade commanders" and involvement in organised crime.
Provisional IRA members have since been accused or convicted of involvement in the killings of Robert McCartney, Matthew Burns, James Curran, and Andrew Kearney, among others.
After the ceasefires, talks began between the main political parties in Northern Ireland to establish political agreement. These talks led to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. This Agreement restored self-government to Northern Ireland on the basis of "power-sharing". In 1999, an executive was formed consisting of the four main parties, including Sinn Féin. Other important changes included the reform of the RUC, renamed as the Police Service of Northern Ireland, which was required to recruit at least a 50% quota of Catholics for ten years, and the removal of Diplock courts under the Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007.
A security normalisation process also began as part of the treaty, which comprised the progressive closing of redundant British Army barracks, border observation towers, and the withdrawal of all forces taking part in Operation Banner – including the resident battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment – that would be replaced by an infantry brigade, deployed in ten sites around Northern Ireland but with no operative role in the province.
The power-sharing Executive and Assembly were suspended in 2002, when unionists withdrew following "Stormontgate", a controversy over allegations of an IRA spy ring operating at Stormont. There were ongoing tensions about the Provisional IRA's failure to disarm fully and sufficiently quickly. IRA decommissioning has since been completed (in September 2005) to the satisfaction of most parties.
A feature of Northern Ireland politics since the Agreement has been the eclipse in electoral terms of parties such as the SDLP and Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), by rival parties such as Sinn Féin and the DUP. Similarly, although political violence is greatly reduced, sectarian animosity has not disappeared. Residential areas are more segregated between Catholic nationalists and Protestant unionists than ever. Thus, progress towards restoring the power-sharing institutions was slow and tortuous. On 8 May 2007, devolved government returned to Northern Ireland. DUP leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness took office as First Minister and deputy First Minister, respectively.
There were many incidents of collusion between the British state security forces (the British Army and RUC) and loyalist paramilitaries. This included soldiers and policemen taking part in loyalist attacks while off-duty, giving weapons and intelligence to loyalists, not taking action against them, and hindering police investigations. The "De Silva Report" found that, during the 1980s, 85% of the intelligence loyalists used to target people came from the security forces, who in turn also had double agents and informers within loyalist groups who organised attacks on the orders of, or with the knowledge of, their handlers. Of the 210 loyalists arrested by the Stevens Inquiries team, all but three were found to be state agents or informers.
The British Army's locally recruited Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was almost wholly Protestant. Despite recruits being vetted, some loyalist militants managed to enlist; mainly to obtain weapons, training and information. By 1990, at least 197 UDR soldiers had been convicted of loyalist terrorist offences and other serious crimes, including 19 convicted of murder. This was only a small fraction of those who served in it, but the proportion was higher than the regular British Army, the RUC and the civilian population.
During the 1970s, the Glenanne gang—a secret alliance of loyalist militants, British soldiers and RUC officers—carried out a string of gun and bomb attacks against nationalists in an area of Northern Ireland known as the "murder triangle". It also carried out some attacks in the Republic, killing about 120 people in total, mostly uninvolved civilians. The "Cassel Report" investigated 76 murders attributed to the group and found evidence that soldiers and policemen were involved in 74 of those. One member, RUC officer John Weir, claimed his superiors knew of the collusion but allowed it to continue. The "Cassel Report" also said some senior officers knew of the crimes but did nothing to prevent, investigate or punish. Attacks attributed to the group include the Dublin and Monaghan bombings (1974), the Miami Showband killings (1975) and the Reavey and O'Dowd killings (1976).
The Stevens Inquiries found that elements of the security forces had used loyalists as "proxies", who, via, double-agents and informers, had helped loyalist groups to kill targeted individuals, usually suspected republicans but civilians were also killed, intentionally and otherwise. The inquiries concluded this had intensified and prolonged the conflict. The British Army's Force Research Unit (FRU) was the main agency involved. Brian Nelson, the UDA's chief 'intelligence officer', was a FRU agent. Through Nelson, FRU helped loyalists target people for assassination. FRU commanders say they helped loyalists target only suspected or known republican activists and prevented the killing of civilians. The Inquiries found evidence only two lives were saved and that Nelson/FRU was responsible for at least 30 murders and many other attacks – many on civilians. One victim was solicitor Pat Finucane. Nelson also supervised the shipping of weapons to loyalists in 1988. From 1992 to 1994, loyalists were responsible for more deaths than republicans, partly due to FRU. Members of the security forces tried to obstruct the Stevens investigation.
A Police Ombudsman report from 2007 revealed that UVF members had been allowed to commit a string of terrorist offences, including murder, while working as informers for RUC Special Branch. It found that Special Branch had given informers immunity by ensuring they were not caught or convicted, and blocking weapons searches. Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan concluded that this had led to "hundreds" of deaths and said senior British Government officials pressured her into halting her investigation. UVF member Robin Jackson has been linked to between 50 and 100 killings in Northern Ireland, although he was never convicted for any. It is alleged by many, including members of the security forces, that Jackson was an RUC agent. The Irish Government's "Barron Report" alleged that he also "had relationships with British Intelligence".
The Smithwick Tribunal concluded that a member of the Garda Síochána (the Republic of Ireland's police force) colluded with the IRA in the killing of two senior RUC officers in 1989. The two officers were ambushed by the IRA near Jonesborough, County Armagh when returning from a cross-border security conference in Dundalk in the Republic of Ireland.
During the 1970s and 1980s, republican and loyalist paramilitaries abducted a number of individuals, many alleged to have been informers, who were then killed and secretly buried. Eighteen people — two women and sixteen men — including one British Army officer, were kidnapped and killed during the Troubles. They are referred to informally as "The Disappeared". All but one, Lisa Dorrian, were abducted and killed by republicans. Dorrian is believed to have been abducted by loyalists. The remains of all but four of "The Disappeared" have been recovered and turned over to their families.
British government security forces, including the Military Reaction Force (MRF), carried out what have been described as "extrajudicial killings" of unarmed civilians. Their victims were often Catholic or suspected Catholic civilians unaffiliated with any paramilitaries, such as the Whiterock Road shooting of two unarmed Catholic civilians by British soldiers on 15 April 1972, and the Andersonstown shooting of seven unarmed Catholic civilians on 12 May that same year. A member of the MRF stated in 1978 that the Army often attempted false flag sectarian attacks, thus provoking sectarian conflict and "taking the heat off the Army". A former member stated: "[W]e were not there to act like an army unit, we were there to act like a terror group."
Republicans allege that the security forces operated a shoot-to-kill policy rather than arresting IRA suspects. The security forces denied this and point out that in incidents such as the killing of eight IRA men at Loughgall in 1987, the IRA members who were killed were heavily armed. Others argue that incidents such as the shooting of three unarmed IRA members in Gibraltar by the Special Air Service ten months later confirmed suspicions among republicans, and in the British and Irish media, of a tacit British shoot-to-kill policy of suspected IRA members.
Inter-communal tensions rise and violence often breaks out during the "marching season" when the Protestant Orange Order parades take place across Northern Ireland. The parades are held to commemorate William of Orange's victory in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, which secured the Protestant Ascendancy and British rule in Ireland. One particular flashpoint which has caused continuous annual strife is the Garvaghy Road area in Portadown, where an Orange parade from Drumcree Church passes through a mainly nationalist estate off the Garvaghy Road. This parade has now been banned indefinitely, following nationalist riots against the parade, and also loyalist counter-riots against its banning.
In 1995, 1996 and 1997, there were several weeks of prolonged rioting throughout Northern Ireland over the impasse at Drumcree. A number of people died in this violence, including a Catholic taxi driver, killed by the Loyalist Volunteer Force, and three (of four) nominally Catholic brothers (from a mixed-religion family) died when their house in Ballymoney was petrol-bombed.
The impact of the Troubles on the ordinary people of Northern Ireland has been compared to that of the Blitz on the people of London. The stress resulting from bomb attacks, street disturbances, security checkpoints, and the constant military presence had the strongest effect on children and young adults. There was also the fear that local paramilitaries instilled in their respective communities with the punishment beatings, "romperings", and the occasional tarring and feathering meted out to individuals for various purported infractions.
In addition to the violence and intimidation, there was chronic unemployment and a severe housing shortage. Many people were rendered homeless as a result of intimidation or having their houses burnt, and urban redevelopment played a role in the social upheaval. Belfast families faced being transferred to new, alien estates when older, decrepit districts such as Sailortown and the Pound Loney were being demolished. According to social worker and author Sarah Nelson, this new social problem of homelessness and disorientation contributed to the breakdown of the normal fabric of society, allowing for paramilitaries to exert a strong influence in certain districts. Vandalism was also a major problem. In the 1970s there were 10,000 vandalised empty houses in Belfast alone. Most of the vandals were aged between eight and thirteen.
According to one historian of the conflict, the stress of the Troubles engendered a breakdown in the previously strict sexual morality of Northern Ireland, resulting in a "confused hedonism" in respect of personal life. In Derry, illegitimate births and alcoholism increased for women and the divorce rate rose. Teenage alcoholism was also a problem, partly as a result of the drinking clubs established in both loyalist and republican areas. In many cases, there was little parental supervision of children in some of the poorer districts. The Department of Health has looked at a report written in 2007 by Mike Tomlinson of Queen's University, which asserted that the legacy of the Troubles has played a substantial role in the current rate of suicide in Northern Ireland.
According to the Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN), 3,532 people were killed as a result of the conflict between 1969 and 2001. Of these, 3,489 were killed up to 1998. According to the book "Lost Lives" (2006 edition), 3,720 people were killed as a result of the conflict, from 1966 to 2006. Of these, 3,635 were killed up to 1998. There are reports that 257 of the victims were children under the age of seventeen, representing 7.2% of all the total during this period. Other reports state that a total of 274 children under the age of eighteen were killed during the conflict.
In "The Politics of Antagonism: Understanding Northern Ireland", Brendan O'Leary and John McGarry point out that "nearly two per cent of the population of Northern Ireland have been killed or injured through political violence [...] If the equivalent ratio of victims to population had been produced in Great Britain in the same period some 100,000 people would have died, and if a similar level of political violence had taken place, the number of fatalities in the USA would have been over 500,000". Using this relative comparison to the US, analyst John M. Gates suggests that whatever one calls the conflict, it was "certainly not" a "low intensity conflict".
In 2010 it was estimated that 107,000 people in Northern Ireland suffered some physical injury as a result of the conflict. On the basis of data gathered by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, the Victims Commission estimated that the conflict resulted in 500,000 'victims' in Northern Ireland alone. It defines 'victims' are those who are directly affected by 'bereavement', 'physical injury' or 'trauma' as a result of the conflict.
Approximately 60% of the dead were killed by republicans, 30% by loyalists and 10% by British security forces.
According to Malcolm Sutton's "Index of Deaths from the Conflict in Ireland":
Of those killed by British security forces:
Of those killed by republican paramilitaries:
Of those killed by loyalist paramilitaries:
Approximately 52% of the dead were civilians, 32% were members or former members of the British security forces, 11% were members of republican paramilitaries, and 5% were members of loyalist paramilitaries. About 60% of the civilian casualties were Catholics, 30% of the civilians were Protestants, and the rest were from outside Northern Ireland.
Of the civilian casualties, 48% were killed by loyalists, 39% were killed by republicans, and 10% were killed by the British security forces. Most of the Catholic civilians were killed by loyalists, and most of the Protestant civilians were killed by republicans.
It has been the subject of dispute whether some individuals were members of paramilitary organisations. Several casualties that were listed as civilians were later claimed by the IRA as their members. One Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and three Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) members killed during the conflict were also Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) soldiers at the time of their deaths. At least one civilian victim was an off-duty member of the Territorial Army.
Most killings took place within Northern Ireland, especially in Belfast and County Armagh. Most of the killings in Belfast took place in the west and north of the city. Dublin, London and Birmingham were also affected, albeit to a lesser degree than Northern Ireland itself. Occasionally, the IRA attempted or carried out attacks on British targets in Gibraltar, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30770 |
Theoretical ecology
Theoretical ecology is the scientific discipline devoted to the study of ecological systems using theoretical methods such as simple conceptual models, mathematical models, computational simulations, and advanced data analysis. Effective models improve understanding of the natural world by revealing how the dynamics of species populations are often based on fundamental biological conditions and processes. Further, the field aims to unify a diverse range of empirical observations by assuming that common, mechanistic processes generate observable phenomena across species and ecological environments. Based on biologically realistic assumptions, theoretical ecologists are able to uncover novel, non-intuitive insights about natural processes. Theoretical results are often verified by empirical and observational studies, revealing the power of theoretical methods in both predicting and understanding the noisy, diverse biological world.
The field is broad and includes foundations in applied mathematics, computer science, biology, statistical physics, genetics, chemistry, evolution, and conservation biology. Theoretical ecology aims to explain a diverse range of phenomena in the life sciences, such as population growth and dynamics, fisheries, competition, evolutionary theory, epidemiology, animal behavior and group dynamics, food webs, ecosystems, spatial ecology, and the effects of climate change.
Theoretical ecology has further benefited from the advent of fast computing power, allowing the analysis and visualization of large-scale computational simulations of ecological phenomena. Importantly, these modern tools provide quantitative predictions about the effects of human induced environmental change on a diverse variety of ecological phenomena, such as: species invasions, climate change, the effect of fishing and hunting on food network stability, and the global carbon cycle.
As in most other sciences, mathematical models form the foundation of modern ecological theory.
Ecological models can be deterministic or stochastic.
Species can be modelled in continuous or discrete time.
Models are often used to describe real ecological reproduction processes of single or multiple species.
These can be modelled using stochastic branching processes. Examples are the dynamics of interacting populations (predation competition and mutualism), which, depending on the species of interest, may best be modeled over either continuous or discrete time. Other examples of such models may be found in the field of mathematical epidemiology where the dynamic relationships that are to be modeled are host–pathogen interactions.
Bifurcation theory is used to illustrate how small changes in parameter values can give rise to dramatically different long run outcomes, a mathematical fact that may be used to explain drastic ecological differences that come about in qualitatively very similar systems. Logistic maps are polynomial mappings, and are often cited as providing archetypal examples of how chaotic behaviour can arise from very simple non-linear dynamical equations. The maps were popularized in a seminal 1976 paper by the theoretical ecologist Robert May. The difference equation is intended to capture the two effects of reproduction and starvation.
In 1930, R.A. Fisher published his classic "The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection", which introduced the idea that frequency-dependent fitness brings a strategic aspect to evolution, where the payoffs to a particular organism, arising from the interplay of all of the relevant organisms, are the number of this organism' s viable offspring. In 1961, Richard Lewontin applied game theory to evolutionary biology in his "Evolution and the Theory of Games",
followed closely by John Maynard Smith, who in his seminal 1972 paper, “Game Theory and the Evolution of Fighting", defined the concept of the evolutionarily stable strategy.
Because ecological systems are typically nonlinear, they often cannot be solved analytically and in order to obtain sensible results, nonlinear, stochastic and computational techniques must be used. One class of computational models that is becoming increasingly popular are the agent-based models. These models can simulate the actions and interactions of multiple, heterogeneous, organisms where more traditional, analytical techniques are inadequate. Applied theoretical ecology yields results which are used in the real world. For example, optimal harvesting theory draws on optimization techniques developed in economics, computer science and operations research, and is widely used in fisheries.
Population ecology is a sub-field of ecology that deals with the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment. It is the study of how the population sizes of species living together in groups change over time and space, and was one of the first aspects of ecology to be studied and modelled mathematically.
The most basic way of modeling population dynamics is to assume that the rate of growth of a population depends only upon the population size at that time and the per capita growth rate of the organism. In other words, if the number of individuals in a population at a time t, is N(t), then the rate of population growth is given by:
where r is the per capita growth rate, or the intrinsic growth rate of the organism. It can also be described as r = b-d, where b and d are the per capita time-invariant birth and death rates, respectively. This first order linear differential equation can be solved to yield the solution
a trajectory known as Malthusian growth, after Thomas Malthus, who first described its dynamics in 1798. A population experiencing Malthusian growth follows an exponential curve, where N(0) is the initial population size. The population grows when r > 0, and declines when r < 0. The model is most applicable in cases where a few organisms have begun a colony and are rapidly growing without any limitations or restrictions impeding their growth (e.g. bacteria inoculated in rich media).
The exponential growth model makes a number of assumptions, many of which often do not hold. For example, many factors affect the intrinsic growth rate and is often not time-invariant. A simple modification of the exponential growth is to assume that the intrinsic growth rate varies with population size. This is reasonable: the larger the population size, the fewer resources available, which can result in a lower birth rate and higher death rate. Hence, we can replace the time-invariant r with r’(t) = (b –a*N(t)) – (d + c*N(t)), where a and c are constants that modulate birth and death rates in a population dependent manner (e.g. intraspecific competition). Both a and c will depend on other environmental factors which, we can for now, assume to be constant in this approximated model. The differential equation is now:
This can be rewritten as:
where r = b-d and K = (b-d)/(a+c).
The biological significance of K becomes apparent when stabilities of the equilibria of the system are considered. The constant K is the carrying capacity of the population. The equilibria of the system are N = 0 and N = K. If the system is linearized, it can be seen that N = 0 is an unstable equilibrium while K is a stable equilibrium.
Another assumption of the exponential growth model is that all individuals within a population are identical and have the same probabilities of surviving and of reproducing. This is not a valid assumption for species with complex life histories. The exponential growth model can be modified to account for this, by tracking the number of individuals in different age classes (e.g. one-, two-, and three-year-olds) or different stage classes (juveniles, sub-adults, and adults) separately, and allowing individuals in each group to have their own survival and reproduction rates.
The general form of this model is
where Nt is a vector of the number of individuals in each class at time "t" and L is a matrix that contains the survival probability and fecundity for each class. The matrix L is referred to as the Leslie matrix for age-structured models, and as the Lefkovitch matrix for stage-structured models.
If parameter values in L are estimated from demographic data on a specific population, a structured model can then be used to predict whether this population is expected to grow or decline in the long-term, and what the expected age distribution within the population will be. This has been done for a number of species including loggerhead sea turtles and right whales.
An ecological community is a group of trophically similar, sympatric species that actually or potentially compete in a local area for the same or similar resources. Interactions between these species form the first steps in analyzing more complex dynamics of ecosystems. These interactions shape the distribution and dynamics of species. Of these interactions, predation is one of the most widespread population activities.
Taken in its most general sense, predation comprises predator–prey, host–pathogen, and host–parasitoid interactions.
Predator–prey interactions exhibit natural oscillations in the populations of both predator and the prey. In 1925, the American mathematician Alfred J. Lotka developed simple equations for predator–prey interactions in his book on biomathematics. The following year, the Italian mathematician Vito Volterra, made a statistical analysis of fish catches in the Adriatic and independently developed the same equations. It is one of the earliest and most recognised ecological models, known as the Lotka-Volterra model:
where N is the prey and P is the predator population sizes, r is the rate for prey growth, taken to be exponential in the absence of any predators, α is the prey mortality rate for per-capita predation (also called ‘attack rate’), c is the efficiency of conversion from prey to predator, and d is the exponential death rate for predators in the absence of any prey.
Volterra originally used the model to explain fluctuations in fish and shark populations after fishing was curtailed during the First World War. However, the equations have subsequently been applied more generally. Other examples of these models include the Lotka-Volterra model of the snowshoe hare and Canadian lynx in North America, any infectious disease modeling such as the recent outbreak of SARS
and biological control of California red scale by the introduction of its parasitoid, "Aphytis melinus"
.
A credible, simple alternative to the Lotka-Volterra predator–prey model and their common prey dependent generalizations is the ratio dependent or Arditi-Ginzburg model. The two are the extremes of the spectrum of predator interference models. According to the authors of the alternative view, the data show that true interactions in nature are so far from the Lotka–Volterra extreme on the interference spectrum that the model can simply be discounted as wrong. They are much closer to the ratio-dependent extreme, so if a simple model is needed one can use the Arditi–Ginzburg model as the first approximation.
The second interaction, that of host and pathogen, differs from predator–prey interactions in that pathogens are much smaller, have much faster generation times, and require a host to reproduce. Therefore, only the host population is tracked in host–pathogen models. Compartmental models that categorize host population into groups such as susceptible, infected, and recovered (SIR) are commonly used.
The third interaction, that of host and parasitoid, can be analyzed by the Nicholson–Bailey model, which differs from Lotka-Volterra and SIR models in that it is discrete in time. This model, like that of Lotka-Volterra, tracks both populations explicitly. Typically, in its general form, it states:
where f(Nt, Pt) describes the probability of infection (typically, Poisson distribution), λ is the per-capita growth rate of hosts in the absence of parasitoids, and c is the conversion efficiency, as in the Lotka-Volterra model.
In studies of the populations of two species, the Lotka-Volterra system of equations has been extensively used to describe dynamics of behavior between two species, N1 and N2. Examples include relations between "D. discoiderum" and "E. coli",
as well as theoretical analysis of the behavior of the system.
The r coefficients give a “base” growth rate to each species, while K coefficients correspond to the carrying capacity. What can really change the dynamics of a system, however are the α terms. These describe the nature of the relationship between the two species. When α12 is negative, it means that N2 has a negative effect on N1, by competing with it, preying on it, or any number of other possibilities. When α12 is positive, however, it means that N2 has a positive effect on N1, through some kind of mutualistic interaction between the two.
When both α12 and α21 are negative, the relationship is described as competitive. In this case, each species detracts from the other, potentially over competition for scarce resources.
When both α12 and α21 are positive, the relationship becomes one of mutualism. In this case, each species provides a benefit to the other, such that the presence of one aids the population growth of the other.
Unified neutral theory is a hypothesis proposed by Stephen Hubbell in 2001. The hypothesis aims to explain the diversity and relative abundance of species in ecological communities, although like other neutral theories in ecology, Hubbell's hypothesis assumes that the differences between members of an ecological community of trophically similar species are "neutral," or irrelevant to their success. Neutrality means that at a given trophic level in a food web, species are equivalent in birth rates, death rates, dispersal rates and speciation rates, when measured on a per-capita basis. This implies that biodiversity arises at random, as each species follows a random walk. This can be considered a null hypothesis to niche theory. The hypothesis has sparked controversy, and some authors consider it a more complex version of other null models that fit the data better.
Under unified neutral theory, complex ecological interactions are permitted among individuals of an ecological community (such as competition and cooperation), providing all individuals obey the same rules. Asymmetric phenomena such as parasitism and predation are ruled out by the terms of reference; but cooperative strategies such as swarming, and negative interaction such as competing for limited food or light are allowed, so long as all individuals behave the same way. The theory makes predictions that have implications for the management of biodiversity, especially the management of rare species. It predicts the existence of a fundamental biodiversity constant, conventionally written "θ", that appears to govern species richness on a wide variety of spatial and temporal scales.
Hubbell built on earlier neutral concepts, including MacArthur & Wilson's theory of island biogeography and Gould's concepts of symmetry and null models.
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species in space and time. It aims to reveal where organisms live, at what abundance, and why they are (or are not) found in a certain geographical area.
Biogeography is most keenly observed on islands, which has led to the development of the subdiscipline of island biogeography. These habitats are often a more manageable areas of study because they are more condensed than larger ecosystems on the mainland. In 1967, Robert MacArthur and E.O. Wilson published "The Theory of Island Biogeography". This showed that the species richness in an area could be predicted in terms of factors such as habitat area, immigration rate and extinction rate. The theory is considered one of the fundamentals of ecological theory. The application of island biogeography theory to habitat fragments spurred the development of the fields of conservation biology and landscape ecology.
A population ecology concept is r/K selection theory, one of the first predictive models in ecology used to explain life-history evolution. The premise behind the r/K selection model is that natural selection pressures change according to population density. For example, when an island is first colonized, density of individuals is low. The initial increase in population size is not limited by competition, leaving an abundance of available resources for rapid population growth. These early phases of population growth experience "density-independent" forces of natural selection, which is called "r"-selection. As the population becomes more crowded, it approaches the island's carrying capacity, thus forcing individuals to compete more heavily for fewer available resources. Under crowded conditions, the population experiences density-dependent forces of natural selection, called "K"-selection.
Spatial analysis of ecological systems often reveals that assumptions that are valid for spatially homogenous populations – and indeed, intuitive – may no longer be valid when migratory subpopulations moving from one patch to another are considered. In a simple one-species formulation, a subpopulation may occupy a patch, move from one patch to another empty patch, or die out leaving an empty patch behind. In such a case, the proportion of occupied patches may be represented as
where m is the rate of colonization, and e is the rate of extinction. In this model, if e < m, the steady state value of p is 1 – (e/m) while in the other case, all the patches will eventually be left empty. This model may be made more complex by addition of another species in several different ways, including but not limited to game theoretic approaches, predator–prey interactions, etc. We will consider here an extension of the previous one-species system for simplicity. Let us denote the proportion of patches occupied by the first population as p1, and that by the second as p2. Then,
In this case, if e is too high, p1 and p2 will be zero at steady state. However, when the rate of extinction is moderate, p1 and p2 can stably coexist. The steady state value of p2 is given by
(p*1 may be inferred by symmetry).
If e is zero, the dynamics of the system favor the species that is better at colonizing (i.e. has the higher m value). This leads to a very important result in theoretical ecology known as the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis, where the biodiversity (the number of species that coexist in the population) is maximized when the disturbance (of which e is a proxy here) is not too high or too low, but at intermediate levels.
The form of the differential equations used in this simplistic modelling approach can be modified. For example:
The model can also be extended to combinations of the four possible linear or non-linear dependencies of colonization and extinction on p are described in more detail in.
Introducing new elements, whether biotic or abiotic, into ecosystems can be disruptive. In some cases, it leads to ecological collapse, trophic cascades and the death of many species within the ecosystem. The abstract notion of ecological health attempts to measure the robustness and recovery capacity for an ecosystem; i.e. how far the ecosystem is away from its steady state. Often, however, ecosystems rebound from a disruptive agent. The difference between collapse or rebound depends on the toxicity of the introduced element and the resiliency of the original ecosystem.
If ecosystems are governed primarily by stochastic processes, through which its subsequent state would be determined by both predictable and random actions, they may be more resilient to sudden change than each species individually. In the absence of a balance of nature, the species composition of ecosystems would undergo shifts that would depend on the nature of the change, but entire ecological collapse would probably be infrequent events. In 1997, Robert Ulanowicz used information theory tools to describe the structure of ecosystems, emphasizing mutual information (correlations) in studied systems. Drawing on this methodology and prior observations of complex ecosystems, Ulanowicz depicts approaches to determining the stress levels on ecosystems and predicting system reactions to defined types of alteration in their settings (such as increased or reduced energy flow, and eutrophication.
Ecopath is a free ecosystem modelling software suite, initially developed by NOAA, and widely used in fisheries management as a tool for modelling and visualising the complex relationships that exist in real world marine ecosystems.
Food webs provide a framework within which a complex network of predator–prey interactions can be organised. A food web model is a network of food chains. Each food chain starts with a primary producer or autotroph, an organism, such as a plant, which is able to manufacture its own food. Next in the chain is an organism that feeds on the primary producer, and the chain continues in this way as a string of successive predators. The organisms in each chain are grouped into trophic levels, based on how many links they are removed from the primary producers. The length of the chain, or trophic level, is a measure of the number of species encountered as energy or nutrients move from plants to top predators. Food energy flows from one organism to the next and to the next and so on, with some energy being lost at each level. At a given trophic level there may be one species or a group of species with the same predators and prey.
In 1927, Charles Elton published an influential synthesis on the use of food webs, which resulted in them becoming a central concept in ecology. In 1966, interest in food webs increased after Robert Paine's experimental and descriptive study of intertidal shores, suggesting that food web complexity was key to maintaining species diversity and ecological stability. Many theoretical ecologists, including Sir Robert May and Stuart Pimm, were prompted by this discovery and others to examine the mathematical properties of food webs. According to their analyses, complex food webs should be less stable than simple food webs. The apparent paradox between the complexity of food webs observed in nature and the mathematical fragility of food web models is currently an area of intensive study and debate. The paradox may be due partially to conceptual differences between persistence of a food web and equilibrial stability of a food web.
Systems ecology can be seen as an application of general systems theory to ecology. It takes a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to the study of ecological systems, and particularly ecosystems. Systems ecology is especially concerned with the way the functioning of ecosystems can be influenced by human interventions. Like other fields in theoretical ecology, it uses and extends concepts from thermodynamics and develops other macroscopic descriptions of complex systems. It also takes account of the energy flows through the different trophic levels in the ecological networks. In systems ecology the principles of ecosystem energy flows are considered formally analogous to the principles of energetics. Systems ecology also considers the external influence of ecological economics, which usually is not otherwise considered in ecosystem ecology. For the most part, systems ecology is a subfield of ecosystem ecology.
This is the study of how "the environment, both physical and biological, interacts with the physiology of an organism. It includes the effects of climate and nutrients on physiological processes in both plants and animals, and has a particular focus on how physiological processes scale with organism size".
Swarm behaviour is a collective behaviour exhibited by animals of similar size which aggregate together, perhaps milling about the same spot or perhaps migrating in some direction. Swarm behaviour is commonly exhibited by insects, but it also occurs in the flocking of birds, the schooling of fish and the herd behaviour of quadrupeds. It is a complex emergent behaviour that occurs when individual agents follow simple behavioral rules.
Recently, a number of mathematical models have been discovered which explain many aspects of the emergent behaviour. Swarm algorithms follow a Lagrangian approach or an Eulerian approach. The Eulerian approach views the swarm as a field, working with the density of the swarm and deriving mean field properties. It is a hydrodynamic approach, and can be useful for modelling the overall dynamics of large swarms. However, most models work with the Lagrangian approach, which is an agent-based model following the individual agents (points or particles) that make up the swarm. Individual particle models can follow information on heading and spacing that is lost in the Eulerian approach. Examples include ant colony optimization, self-propelled particles and particle swarm optimization
The British biologist Alfred Russel Wallace is best known for independently proposing a theory of evolution due to natural selection that prompted Charles Darwin to publish his own theory. In his famous 1858 paper, Wallace proposed natural selection as a kind of feedback mechanism which keeps species and varieties adapted to their environment.
"The action of this principle is exactly like that of the centrifugal governor of the steam engine, which checks and corrects any irregularities almost before they become evident; and in like manner no unbalanced deficiency in the animal kingdom can ever reach any conspicuous magnitude, because it would make itself felt at the very first step, by rendering existence difficult and extinction almost sure soon to follow."
The cybernetician and anthropologist Gregory Bateson observed in the 1970s that, though writing it only as an example, Wallace had "probably said the most powerful thing that’d been said in the 19th Century". Subsequently, the connection between natural selection and systems theory has become an area of active research.
In contrast to previous ecological theories which considered floods to be catastrophic events, the river flood pulse concept argues that the annual flood pulse is the most important aspect and the most biologically productive feature of a river's ecosystem.
Theoretical ecology draws on pioneering work done by G. Evelyn Hutchinson and his students. Brothers H.T. Odum and E.P. Odum are generally recognised as the founders of modern theoretical ecology. Robert MacArthur brought theory to community ecology. Daniel Simberloff was the student of E.O. Wilson, with whom MacArthur collaborated on "The Theory of Island Biogeography", a seminal work in the development of theoretical ecology.
Simberloff added statistical rigour to experimental ecology and was a key figure in the SLOSS debate, about whether it is preferable to protect a single large or several small reserves. This resulted in the supporters of Jared Diamond's community assembly rules defending their ideas through Neutral Model Analysis. Simberloff also played a key role in the (still ongoing) debate on the utility of corridors for connecting isolated reserves.
Stephen Hubbell and Michael Rosenzweig combined theoretical and practical elements into works that extended MacArthur and Wilson's Island Biogeography Theory - Hubbell with his Unified Neutral Theory of Biodiversity and Biogeography and Rosenzweig with his Species Diversity in Space and Time.
A tentative distinction can be made between mathematical ecologists, ecologists who apply mathematics to ecological problems, and mathematicians who develop the mathematics itself that arises out of ecological problems.
Some notable theoretical ecologists can be found in these categories: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30773 |
Thomas Nast
Thomas Nast (; ; September 27, 1840 – December 7, 1902) was a German-born American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist often considered to be the "Father of the American Cartoon". He was a critic of Democratic Representative "Boss" Tweed and the Tammany Hall Democratic party political machine. Among his notable works were the creation of the modern version of Santa Claus (based on the traditional German figures of Sankt Nikolaus and Weihnachtsmann) and the political symbol of the elephant for the Republican Party (GOP). Contrary to popular belief, Nast did not create Uncle Sam (the male personification of the United States Federal Government), Columbia (the female personification of American values), or the Democratic donkey, though he did popularize these symbols through his artwork. Nast was associated with the magazine "Harper's Weekly" from 1859 to 1860 and from 1862 until 1886.
Nast was born in military barracks in Landau, Germany (now in Rhineland-Palatinate), as his father was a trombonist in the Bavarian 9th regiment band. Nast was the last child of Appolonia (née Abriss) and Joseph Thomas Nast. He had an older sister Andie; two other siblings had died before he was born. His father held political convictions that put him at odds with the Bavarian government, so in 1846, Joseph Nast left Landau, enlisting first on a French man-of-war and subsequently on an American ship. He sent his wife and children to New York City, and at the end of his enlistment in 1850, he joined them there.
Nast attended school in New York City from the age of six to 14. He did poorly at his lessons, but his passion for drawing was apparent from an early age. In 1854, at the age of 14, he was enrolled for about a year of study with Alfred Fredericks and Theodore Kaufmann, and then at the school of the National Academy of Design. In 1856, he started working as a draftsman for "Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper". His drawings appeared for the first time in "Harper's Weekly" on March 19, 1859, when he illustrated a report exposing police corruption; Nast was 18 years old at that point.
In February 1860, he went to England for the "New York Illustrated News" to depict one of the major sporting events of the era, the prize fight between the American John C. Heenan and the English Thomas Sayers sponsored by George Wilkes, publisher of "Wilkes' Spirit of the Times". A few months later, as artist for "The Illustrated London News", he joined Garibaldi in Italy. Nast's cartoons and articles about the Garibaldi military campaign to unify Italy captured the popular imagination in the U.S. In February 1861, he arrived back in New York. In September of that year, he married Sarah Edwards, whom he had met two years earlier.
He left the "New York Illustrated News" to work again, briefly, for "Frank Leslie's Illustrated News". In 1862, he became a staff illustrator for "Harper's Weekly". In his first years with "Harper's", Nast became known especially for compositions that appealed to the sentiment of the viewer. An example is "Christmas Eve" (1862), in which a wreath frames a scene of a soldier's praying wife and sleeping children at home; a second wreath frames the soldier seated by a campfire, gazing longingly at small pictures of his loved ones. One of his most celebrated cartoons was "Compromise with the South" (1864), directed against those in the North who opposed the prosecution of the American Civil War. He was known for drawing battlefields in border and southern states. These attracted great attention, and Nast was referred to by President Abraham Lincoln as "our best recruiting sergeant".
After the war, Nast strongly opposed the Reconstruction policy of President Andrew Johnson, whom he depicted in a series of trenchant cartoons that marked "Nast's great beginning in the field of caricature".
Nast's cartoons frequently had numerous sidebars and panels with intricate subplots to the main cartoon. A Sunday feature could provide hours of entertainment and highlight social causes. After 1870, Nast favored simpler compositions featuring a strong central image. He based his likenesses on photographs.
In the early part of his career, Nast used a brush and ink wash technique to draw tonal renderings onto the wood blocks that would be carved into printing blocks by staff engravers. The bold cross-hatching that characterized Nast's mature style resulted from a change in his method that began with a cartoon of June 26, 1869, which Nast drew onto the wood block using a pencil, so that the engraver was guided by Nast's linework. This change of style was influenced by the work of the English illustrator John Tenniel.
A recurring theme in Nast's cartoons is racism and anti-Catholicism. Nast was baptized a Catholic at the Saint Maria Catholic Church in Landau, and for a time received Catholic education in New York City. When Nast converted to Protestantism remains unclear, but his conversion was likely formalized upon his marriage in 1861. (The family were practicing Episcopalians at St. Peter's in Morristown.) Nast considered the Catholic Church to be a threat to American values. According to his biographer, Fiona Deans Halloran, Nast was "intensely opposed to the encroachment of Catholic ideas into public education". When Tammany Hall proposed a new tax to support parochial Catholic schools, he was outraged. His savage 1871 cartoon "The American River Ganges", depicts Catholic bishops, guided by Rome, as crocodiles moving in to attack American school children as Irish politicians prevent their escape. He portrayed public support for religious education as a threat to democratic government. The authoritarian papacy in Rome, ignorant Irish Americans, and corrupt politicians at Tammany Hall figured prominently in his work. Nast favored nonsectarian public education that mitigated differences of religion and ethnicity. However, in 1871 Nast and "Harper's Weekly" supported the Republican-dominated board of education in Long Island in requiring students to hear passages from the King James Bible, and his educational cartoons sought to raise anti-Catholic and anti-Irish fervor among Republicans and independents.
Nast expressed anti-Irish sentiment by depicting them as violent drunks. He used Irish people as a symbol of mob violence, machine politics, and the exploitation of immigrants by political bosses. Nast's emphasis on Irish violence may have originated in scenes he witnessed in his youth. Nast was physically small and had experienced bullying as a child. In the neighborhood in which he grew up, acts of violence by the Irish against black Americans were commonplace.
In 1863, he witnessed the New York City draft riots in which a mob composed mainly of Irish immigrants burned the Colored Orphan Asylum to the ground. His experiences may explain his sympathy for black Americans and his "antipathy to what he perceived as the brutish, uncontrollable Irish thug". An 1876 Nast cartoon combined a caricature of Charles Francis Adams Sr with anti-Irish sentiment and anti-Fenianship.
In general, his political cartoons supported American Indians and Chinese Americans. He advocated the abolition of slavery, opposed racial segregation, and deplored the violence of the Ku Klux Klan. In one of his more famous cartoons, the phrase "Worse than Slavery" is printed on a coat of arms depicting a despondent black family holding their dead child; in the background is a lynching and a schoolhouse destroyed by arson. Two members of the Ku Klux Klan and White League, paramilitary insurgent groups in the Reconstruction-era South, shake hands in their mutually destructive work against black Americans.
Despite Nast's championing of minorities, Morton Keller writes that later in his career "racist stereotypy of blacks began to appear: comparable to those of the Irish—though in contrast with the presumably more highly civilized Chinese."
Nast introduced into American cartoons the practice of modernizing scenes from Shakespeare for a political purpose.
Nast also brought his approach to bear on the usually prosaic almanac business, publishing an annual "Nast's Illustrated Almanac" from 1871 to 1875. "The Green Bag" republished all five of Nast's almanacs in the 2011 edition of its "Almanac & Reader".
Nast's drawings were instrumental in the downfall of Boss Tweed, the powerful Tammany Hall leader. As commissioner of public works for New York City, Tweed led a ring that by 1870 had gained total control of the city's government, and controlled "a working majority in the State Legislature". Tweed and his associates—Peter Barr Sweeny (park commissioner), Richard B. Connolly (controller of public expenditures), and Mayor A. Oakey Hall—defrauded the city of many millions of dollars by grossly inflating expenses paid to contractors connected to the Ring. Nast, whose cartoons attacking Tammany corruption had appeared occasionally since 1867, intensified his focus on the four principal players in 1870 and especially in 1871.
Tweed so feared Nast's campaign that he sent an emissary to offer the artist a bribe of $100,000, which was represented as a gift from a group of wealthy benefactors to enable Nast to study art in Europe. Feigning interest, Nast negotiated for more before finally refusing an offer of $500,000 with the words, "Well, I don't think I'll do it. I made up my mind not long ago to put some of those fellows behind the bars". Nast pressed his attack in the pages of "Harper's", and the Ring was removed from power in the election of November 7, 1871. Tweed was arrested in 1873 and convicted of fraud. When Tweed attempted to escape justice in December 1875 by fleeing to Cuba and from there to Spain, officials in Vigo were able to identify the fugitive by using one of Nast's cartoons.
"Harper's Weekly", and Nast, played an important role in the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1864, and Ulysses S. Grant in 1868 and 1872. In September 1864, when Lincoln was running for re-election against Democratic candidate George B. McClellan, who positioned himself as the "peace candidate", "Harper's Weekly" published Nast's cartoon "Compromise with the South – Dedicated to the Chicago Convention", which criticized McClellan's peace platform as pro-South. Millions of copies were made and distributed nationwide, and Nast was later credited with aiding Lincoln's campaign in a critical moment. Nast played important role during the presidential election in 1868, and Ulysses S. Grant attributed his victory to "the sword of Sheridan and the pencil of Thomas Nast." In the 1872 presidential campaign, Nast's ridicule of Horace Greeley's candidacy was especially merciless. After Grant's victory in 1872, Mark Twain wrote the artist a letter saying: "Nast, you more than any other man have won a prodigious victory for Grant—I mean, rather, for Civilization and Progress." Nast became a close friend of President Grant and the two families shared regular dinners until Grant's death in 1885.
Nast and his wife moved to Morristown, New Jersey in 1872 and there they raised a family that eventually numbered five children. In 1873, Nast toured the United States as a lecturer and a sketch-artist. His activity on the lecture circuit made him wealthy. Nast was for many years a staunch Republican. Nast opposed inflation of the currency, notably with his famous rag-baby cartoons, and he played an important part in securing Rutherford B. Hayes' presidential election in 1876. Hayes later remarked that Nast was "the most powerful, single-handed aid [he] had", but Nast quickly became disillusioned with President Hayes, whose policy of Southern pacification he opposed.
The death of the "Weekly"s publisher, Fletcher Harper, in 1877 resulted in a changed relationship between Nast and his editor George William Curtis. His cartoons appeared less frequently, and he was not given free rein to criticize Hayes or his policies. Beginning in the late 1860s, Nast and Curtis had frequently differed on political matters and particularly on the role of cartoons in political discourse. Curtis believed that the powerful weapon of caricature should be reserved for "the Ku-Klux Democracy" of the opposition party, and did not approve of Nast's cartoons assailing Republicans such as Carl Schurz and Charles Sumner who opposed policies of the Grant administration. Nast said of Curtis: "When he attacks a man with his pen it seems as if he were apologizing for the act. I try to hit the enemy between the eyes and knock him down." Fletcher Harper consistently supported Nast in his disputes with Curtis. After his death, his nephews, Joseph W. Harper Jr. and John Henry Harper, assumed control of the magazine and were more sympathetic to Curtis's arguments for rejecting cartoons that contradicted his editorial positions.
Between 1877 and 1884, Nast's work appeared only sporadically in "Harper's", which began publishing the milder political cartoons of William Allen Rogers. Although his sphere of influence was diminishing, from this period date dozens of his pro-Chinese immigration drawings, often implicating the Irish as instigators. Nast blamed U.S. Senator James G. Blaine (R-Maine) for his support of the Chinese Exclusion Act and depicted Blaine with the same zeal used against Tweed. Nast was one of the few editorial artists who took up for the cause of the Chinese in America.
During the presidential election of 1880, Nast felt that he could not support the Republican candidate, James A. Garfield, because of Garfield's involvement in the Crédit Mobilier scandal; and did not wish to attack the Democratic candidate, Winfield Scott Hancock, his personal friend and a Union general whose integrity commanded respect. As a result, "Nast's commentary on the 1880 campaign lacked passion", according to Halloran. He submitted no cartoons to "Harper's" between the end of March 1883 and March 1, 1884, partly because of illness.
In 1884, Curtis and Nast agreed that they could not support the Republican candidate James G. Blaine, a proponent of high tariffs and the spoils system whom they perceived as personally corrupt. Instead, they became Mugwumps by supporting the Democratic candidate, Grover Cleveland, whose platform of civil service reform appealed to them. Nast's cartoons helped Cleveland become the first Democrat to be elected President since 1856. In the words of the artist's grandson, Thomas Nast St Hill, "it was generally conceded that Nast's support won Cleveland the small margin by which he was elected. In this his last national political campaign, Nast had, in fact, 'made a president'."
Nast's tenure at "Harper's Weekly" ended with his Christmas illustration of December 1886. It was said by the journalist Henry Watterson that "in quitting "Harper's Weekly", Nast lost his forum: in losing him, "Harper's Weekly" lost its political importance." Fiona Deans Halloran says "the former is true to a certain extent, the latter unlikely."
Nast lost most of his fortune in 1884 after investing in a banking and brokerage firm operated by the swindler Ferdinand Ward. In need of income, Nast returned to the lecture circuit in 1884 and 1887. Although these tours were successful, they were less remunerative than the lecture series of 1873.
In 1890, Nast published "Thomas Nast's Christmas Drawings for the Human Race". He contributed cartoons in various publications, notably the "Illustrated American", but was unable to regain his earlier popularity. His mode of cartooning had come to be seen as outdated, and a more relaxed style exemplified by the work of Joseph Keppler was in vogue. Health problems, which included pain in his hands which had troubled him since the 1870s, affected his ability to work.
In 1892, he took control of a failing magazine, the "New York Gazette", and renamed it "Nast's Weekly". Now returned to the Republican fold, Nast used the "Weekly" as a vehicle for his cartoons supporting Benjamin Harrison for president. The magazine had little impact and ceased publication seven months after it began, shortly after Harrison's defeat.
The failure of "Nast's Weekly" left Nast with few financial resources. He received a few commissions for oil paintings and drew book illustrations. In 1902, he applied for a job in the State Department, hoping to secure a consular position in western Europe. Although no such position was available, President Theodore Roosevelt was an admirer of the artist and offered him an appointment as the United States' Consul General to Guayaquil, Ecuador in South America. Nast accepted the position and traveled to Ecuador on July 1, 1902. During a subsequent yellow fever outbreak, Nast remained on the job, helping numerous diplomatic missions and businesses escape the contagion. He contracted the disease and died on December 7 of that year. His body was returned to the United States, where he was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City.
Nast's depictions of iconic characters, such as Santa Claus and Uncle Sam, are widely credited as forming the basis of popular depictions used today. Additional contributions by Nast include:
In December 2011, a proposal to include Nast in the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2012 caused controversy. "The Wall Street Journal" reported that because of his stereotypical cartoons of the Irish, a number of objections were raised about Nast's work. For example, "The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things" portrays an Irishman as being sub-human, drunk, and violent.
The Thomas Nast Award has been presented each year since 1968 by the Overseas Press Club to an editorial cartoonist for the "best cartoons on international affairs." Past winners include Signe Wilkinson, Kevin (KAL) Kallaugher, Mike Peters, Clay Bennett, Mike Luckovich, Tom Toles, Herbert Block, Tony Auth, Jeff MacNelly, Dick Locher, Jim Morin, Warren King, Tom Darcy, Don Wright and Patrick Chappatte.
In December 2018, The OPC Board of Governors decided to remove Nast’s name from the award noting that Nast “ exhibited an ugly bias against immigrants, the Irish and Catholics”. OPC President Pancho Bernasconi stated “Once we became aware of how some groups and ethnicities were portrayed in a manner that is not consistent with how journalists work and view their role today, we voted to remove his name from the award.”
The Thomas Nast Prize for editorial cartooning has been awarded by the Thomas Nast Foundation (located in Nast's birthplace of Landau, Germany) since 1978 when it was first given to Jeff MacNelly. The prize is awarded periodically to one German cartoonist and one North American cartoonist. Winners receive 1,300 Euros, a trip to Landau, and the Thomas Nast medal. The American advisory committee includes Nast's descendant Thomas Nast III of Fort Worth, Texas. Other winners of the Thomas Nast Prize include Jim Borgman, Paul Szep, Pat Oliphant, David Levine, Jim Morin, and Tony Auth.
The word "nasty" is erroneously thought to originate from Nast's name, due to the tone of his cartoons. In reality, it has origins in Old French and Dutch, hundreds of years before he was born.
Many pieces of his work can be found in various museums throughout the world. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30775 |
Teutonic Order
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem (official names: , ), commonly the Teutonic Order (', ' or ""), is a Catholic religious order founded as a military order 1192 in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem.
The Teutonic Order was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals. Its members have commonly been known as the Teutonic Knights, having a small voluntary and mercenary military membership, serving as a crusading military order for protection of Christians in the Holy Land and the Baltics during the Middle Ages.
Purely religious since 1810, the Teutonic Order still confers limited honorary knighthoods. The Bailiwick of Utrecht of the Teutonic Order, a Protestant chivalric order, is descended from the same medieval military order and also continues to award knighthoods and perform charitable work.
The full name of the Order in German is "Orden der Brüder vom Deutschen Haus St. Mariens in Jerusalem" or in Latin "Ordo domus Sanctæ Mariæ Theutonicorum Hierosolymitanorum" (engl. "Order of the House of St. Mary of the Germans in Jerusalem"). Thus the term "Teutonic" echoes the German origins of the order ("Theutonicorum") in its Latin name. It is commonly known in German as the "Deutscher Orden" (official short name, literally "German Order"), historically also as "Deutscher Ritterorden" ("German Order of Knights"), "Deutschherrenorden", "Deutschritterorden" ("Order of the German Knights"), "Marienritter" ("Knights of Mary"), "Die Herren im weißen Mantel" ("The lords in white capes"), "etc".
The Teutonic Knights have been known as "Zakon Krzyżacki" in Polish ("Order of the Cross") and as "Kryžiuočių Ordinas" in Lithuanian, "Vācu Ordenis" in Latvian, "Saksa Ordu" or, simply, "Ordu" ("The Order") in Estonian, as well as various names in other languages.
Formed in the year 1192 in Acre, in the Levant, the medieval Order played an important role in Outremer (the general name for the Crusader states), controlling the port tolls of Acre. After Christian forces were defeated in the Middle East, the Order moved to Transylvania in 1211 to help defend the South-Eastern borders of the Kingdom of Hungary against the Cumans. The Knights were expelled by force of arms by King Andrew II of Hungary in 1225, after attempting to place themselves under papal instead of the original Hungarian sovereignty and thus to become independent.
In 1230, following the Golden Bull of Rimini, Grand Master Hermann von Salza and Duke Konrad I of Masovia launched the Prussian Crusade, a joint invasion of Prussia intended to Christianize the Baltic Old Prussians. The Knights had quickly taken steps against their Polish hosts and with the Holy Roman Emperor's support, had changed the status of Chełmno Land (also Ziemia Chelminska or Kulmerland), where they were invited by the Polish prince, into their own property. Starting from there, the Order created the independent Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights, adding continuously the conquered Prussians' territory, and subsequently conquered Livonia. Over time, the kings of Poland denounced the Order for expropriating their lands, specifically Chełmno Land and later the Polish lands of Pomerelia (also Pomorze Gdańskie or Pomerania), Kujawy, and Dobrzyń Land.
The Order theoretically lost its main purpose in Europe with the Christianization of Lithuania. However, it initiated numerous campaigns against its Christian neighbours, the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Novgorod Republic (after assimilating the Livonian Order). The Teutonic Knights had a strong economic base which enabled them to hire mercenaries from throughout Europe to augment their feudal levies, and they also became a naval power in the Baltic Sea. In 1410, a Polish-Lithuanian army decisively defeated the Order and broke its military power at the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg). However, the capital of the Teutonic Knights was successfully defended in the following Siege of Marienburg and the Order was saved from collapse.
In 1515, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I made a marriage alliance with Sigismund I of Poland-Lithuania. Thereafter, the empire did not support the Order against Poland. In 1525, Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg resigned and converted to Lutheranism, becoming Duke of Prussia as a vassal of Poland. Soon after, the Order lost Livonia and its holdings in the Protestant areas of Germany. The Order did keep its considerable holdings in Catholic areas of Germany until 1809, when Napoleon Bonaparte ordered its dissolution and the Order lost its last secular holdings.
However, the Order continued to exist as a charitable and ceremonial body. It was outlawed by Adolf Hitler in 1938, but re-established in 1945. Today it operates primarily with charitable aims in Central Europe.
The Knights wore white surcoats with a black cross. A cross pattée was sometimes used as their coat of arms; this image was later used for military decoration and insignia by the Kingdom of Prussia and Germany as the Iron Cross and Pour le Mérite. The motto of the Order was: "Helfen, Wehren, Heilen" ("Help, Defend, Heal").
In 1143 Pope Celestine II ordered the Knights Hospitaller to take over management of a German hospital in Jerusalem, which, according to the chronicler Jean d’Ypres, accommodated the countless German pilgrims and crusaders who could neither speak the local language nor Latin ("patriæ linguam ignorantibus atque Latinam"). Although formally an institution of the Hospitallers, the pope commanded that the prior and the brothers of the "domus Theutonicorum" (house of the Germans) should always be Germans themselves, so a tradition of a German-led religious institution could develop during the 12th century in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
After the loss of Jerusalem in 1187, some merchants from Lübeck and Bremen took up the idea and founded a field hospital for the duration of the Siege of Acre in 1190, which became the nucleus of the order; Celestine III recognized it in 1192 by granting the monks Augustinian Rule. However, based on the model of the Knights Templar, it was transformed into a military order in 1198 and the head of the order became known as the Grand Master ("magister hospitalis"). It received papal orders for crusades to take and hold Jerusalem for Christianity and defend the Holy Land against the Muslim Saracens. During the rule of Grand Master Hermann von Salza (1209–1239) the Order changed from being a hospice brotherhood for pilgrims to primarily a military order.
The Order was founded in Acre, and the Knights purchased Montfort (Starkenberg), northeast of Acre, in 1220. This castle, which defended the route between Jerusalem and the Mediterranean Sea, was made the seat of the Grand Masters in 1229, although they returned to Acre after losing Montfort to Muslim control in 1271. The Order also had a castle at Amouda in Armenia Minor. The Order received donations of land in the Holy Roman Empire (especially in present-day Germany and Italy), Frankish Greece, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Emperor Frederick II elevated his close friend Hermann von Salza to the status of "Reichsfürst", or "Prince of the Empire", enabling the Grand Master to negotiate with other senior princes as an equal. During Frederick's coronation as King of Jerusalem in 1225, Teutonic Knights served as his escort in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; von Salza read the emperor's proclamation in both French and German. However, the Teutonic Knights were never as influential in Outremer as the older Templars and Hospitallers.
In 1211, Andrew II of Hungary accepted the services of the Teutonic Knights and granted them the district of Burzenland in Transylvania, where they would be immune to fees and duties and could enforce their own justice. Andrew had been involved in negotiations for the marriage of his daughter with the son of Hermann, Landgrave of Thuringia, whose vassals included the family of Hermann von Salza. Led by a brother called Theoderich or Dietrich, the Order defended the south-eastern borders of the Kingdom of Hungary against the neighbouring Cumans. Many forts of wood and mud were built for defence. They settled new German peasants among the existing Transylvanian Saxon inhabitants. The Cumans had no fixed settlements for resistance, and soon the Teutons were expanding into their territory. By 1220, The Teutonics Knights had built five castles, some of them made of stone. Their rapid expansion made the Hungarian nobility and clergy, who were previously uninterested in those regions, jealous and suspicious. Some nobles claimed these lands, but the Order refused to share them, ignoring the demands of the local bishop. After the Fifth Crusade, King Andrew returned to Hungary and found his kingdom full of grudge because of the expenses and losses of the failed military campaign. When the nobles demanded that he cancel the concessions made to the Knights, he concluded that they had exceeded their task and that the agreement should be revised, but did not revert the concessions. However, Prince Béla, heir to the throne, was allied with the nobility. In 1224, the Teutonic Knights, seeing that they would have problems when the Prince inherited the Kingdom, petitioned Pope Honorius III to be placed directly under the authority of the Papal See, rather than that of the King of Hungary. This was a grave mistake, as King Andrew, angered and alarmed at their growing power, responded by expelling the Teutonic Knights in 1225, although he allowed the ethnically German commoners and peasants settled here by the Order and who became part of the larger group of the Transylvanian Saxons, to remain. Lacking the military organization and experience of the Teutonic Knights, the Hungarians did not replace them with adequate defenders which had prevented the attacking Cumans. Soon, the steppe warriors would be a threat again.
In 1226, Konrad I, Duke of Masovia in north-eastern Poland, appealed to the Knights to defend his borders and subdue the pagan Baltic Old Prussians, allowing the Teutonic Knights use of Chełmno Land (Culmerland) as a base for their campaign. This being a time of widespread crusading fervor throughout Western Europe, Hermann von Salza considered Prussia a good training ground for his knights for the wars against the Muslims in Outremer. With the Golden Bull of Rimini, Emperor Frederick II bestowed on the Order a special imperial privilege for the conquest and possession of Prussia, including Chełmno Land, with nominal papal sovereignty. In 1235 the Teutonic Knights assimilated the smaller Order of Dobrzyń, which had been established earlier by Christian, the first Bishop of Prussia.
The conquest of Prussia was accomplished with much bloodshed over more than fifty years, during which native Prussians who remained unbaptised were subjugated, killed, or exiled. Fighting between the Knights and the Prussians was ferocious; chronicles of the Order state the Prussians would "roast captured brethren alive in their armour, like chestnuts, before the shrine of a local god".
The native nobility who submitted to the crusaders had many of their privileges affirmed in the Treaty of Christburg. After the Prussian uprisings of 1260–83, however, much of the Prussian nobility emigrated or were resettled, and many free Prussians lost their rights. The Prussian nobles who remained were more closely allied with the German landowners and gradually assimilated. Peasants in frontier regions, such as Samland, had more privileges than those in more populated lands, such as Pomesania. The crusading knights often accepted baptism as a form of submission by the natives. Christianity along western lines slowly spread through Prussian culture. Bishops were reluctant to have Prussian religious practices integrated into the new faith, while the ruling knights found it easier to govern the natives when they were semi-pagan and lawless. After fifty years of warfare and brutal conquest, the end result meant that most of the Prussian natives were either killed or deported.
The Order ruled Prussia under charters issued by the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor as a sovereign monastic state, comparable to the arrangement of the Knights Hospitallers in Rhodes and later in Malta.
To make up for losses from the plague and to replace the partially exterminated native population, the Order encouraged immigration from the Holy Roman Empire (mostly Germans, Flemish, and Dutch) and from Masovia (Poles), the later Masurians. These included nobles, burghers, and peasants, and the surviving Old Prussians were gradually assimilated through Germanization. The settlers founded numerous towns and cities on former Prussian settlements. The Order itself built a number of castles ("Ordensburgen") from which it could defeat uprisings of Old Prussians, as well as continue its attacks on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland, with which the Order was often at war during the 14th and 15th centuries. Major towns founded by the Order included Allenstein (Olsztyn), Elbing (Elbląg), Klaipėda (Memel), and Königsberg, founded in 1255 in honor of King Otakar II of Bohemia on the site of a destroyed Prussian settlement.
The Livonian Brothers of the Sword were absorbed by the Teutonic Knights in 1237, after the former had suffered a devastating defeat in the Battle of Saule. The Livonian branch subsequently became known as the Livonian Order. Attempts to expand into Rus' failed when the knights suffered a major defeat in 1242 in the Battle of the Ice at the hands of Prince Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod. Over the next decades the Order focused on the subjugation of the Curonians and Semigallians. In 1260 it suffered a disastrous defeat in the Battle of Durbe against Samogitians, which inspired rebellions throughout Prussia and Livonia. After the Teutonic Knights won a crucial victory in the Siege of Königsberg from 1262 to 1265, the war had reached a turning point. The Curonians were finally subjugated in 1267 and the Semigallians in 1290. The Order suppressed a major Estonian rebellion in 1343–1345, and in 1346 purchased the Duchy of Estonia from Denmark.
The Teutonic Knights began to direct their campaigns against pagan Lithuania (see Lithuanian mythology), due to the long existing conflicts in the region (including constant incursions into the Holy Roman Empire's territory by pagan raiding parties) and the lack of a proper area of operation for the Knights, after the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem at Acre in 1291 and their later expulsion from Hungary. At first the knights moved their headquarters to Venice, from which they planned the recovery of Outremer, this plan was, however, shortly abandoned, and the Order later moved its headquarters to Marienburg, so it could better focus its efforts on the region of Prussia. Because "Lithuania Propria" remained non-Christian until the end of the 14th century, much later than the rest of eastern Europe, the conflicts stretched out for a longer time, and many Knights from western European countries, such as England and France, journeyed to Prussia to participate in the seasonal campaigns ("reyse") against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1348, the Order won a great victory over the Lithuanians in the Battle of Strėva, severely weakening them. The Teutonic Knights won a decisive victory over Lithuania in the Battle of Rudau in 1370.
Warfare between the Order and the Lithuanians was especially brutal. It was common practice for Lithuanians to torture captured enemies and civilians, it is recorded by a Teutonic chronicler that they had the habit of tying captured Knights to their horses and having both of them burned alive, while sometimes a stake would be driven into their bodies, or the Knight would be flayed. Lithuanian pagan customs included ritualistic human sacrifice, the hanging of widows, and the burying of a warrior's horses and servants with him after his death. The Knights would also, on occasion, take captives from defeated Lithuanians, whose condition (as that of other war captives in the Middle Ages) was extensively researched by Jacques Heers. The conflict had much influence in the political situation of the region, and was the source of many rivalries between Lithuanians or Poles and Germans, the degree to which it impacted the mentalities of the time can be seen in the lyrical works of men such as the contemporary Austrian poet Peter Suchenwirt.
The conflict in its entirety lasted over 200 years (although with varying degrees of aggression during that time), with its front line along both banks of the Neman River, with as many as twenty forts and castles between Seredžius and Jurbarkas alone.
A dispute over the succession to the Duchy of Pomerelia embroiled the Order in further conflict at the beginning of the 14th century. The Margraves of Brandenburg had claims to the duchy that they acted upon after the death of King Wenceslaus of Poland in 1306. Duke Władysław I the Elbow-high of Poland also claimed the duchy, based on inheritance from Przemysław II, but he was opposed by some Pomeranians nobles. They requested help from Brandenburg, which subsequently occupied all of Pomerelia except for the citadel of Danzig (Gdańsk) in 1308. Because Władysław was unable to come to the defense of Danzig, the Teutonic Knights, then led by Hochmeister Siegfried von Feuchtwangen, were called to expel the Brandenburgers.
The Order, under a Prussian Landmeister Heinrich von Plötzke, evicted the Brandenburgers from Danzig in September 1308 but then refused to yield the town to the Poles, and according to some sources massacred the town's inhabitants; although the exact extent of the violence is unknown, and widely recognized by historians to be an unsolvable mystery. The estimates range from 60 rebellious leaders, reported by dignitaries of the region and Knight chroniclers, to 10,000 civilians, a number cited in a papal bull (of dubious provenance) that was used in a legal process installed to punish the Order for the event; the legal dispute went on for a time, but the Order was eventually absolved of the charges. In the Treaty of Soldin, the Teutonic Order purchased Brandenburg's supposed claim to the castles of Danzig, Schwetz (Świecie), and Dirschau (Tczew) and their hinterlands from the margraves for 10,000 marks on 13 September 1309.
Control of Pomerelia allowed the Order to connect their monastic state with the borders of the Holy Roman Empire. Crusading reinforcements and supplies could travel from the Imperial territory of Hither Pomerania through Pomerelia to Prussia, while Poland's access to the Baltic Sea was blocked. While Poland had mostly been an ally of the knights against the pagan Prussians and Lithuanians, the capture of Pomerelia turned the kingdom into a determined enemy of the Order.
The capture of Danzig marked a new phase in the history of the Teutonic Knights. The persecution and abolition of the powerful Knights Templar, which began in 1307, worried the Teutonic Knights, but control of Pomerelia allowed them to move their headquarters in 1309 from Venice to Marienburg (Malbork) on the Nogat River, outside the reach of secular powers. The position of Prussian Landmeister was merged with that of the Grand Master. The Pope began investigating misconduct by the knights, but no charges were found to have substance. Along with the campaigns against the Lithuanians, the knights faced a vengeful Poland and legal threats from the Papacy.
The Treaty of Kalisz of 1343 ended open war between the Teutonic Knights and Poland. The Knights relinquished Kuyavia and Dobrzyń Land to Poland, but retained Culmerland and Pomerelia with Danzig.
In 1236, the Knights of Saint Thomas, an English order, adopted the rules of the Teutonic Order. A contingent of Teutonic Knights of indeterminate number is traditionally believed to have participated at the Battle of Legnica in 1241 against the Mongols. The combined German-Polish/Lithuanian force was crushed by the Mongol army and their superior tactics, with few survivors.
In 1337, Emperor Louis IV allegedly granted the Order the imperial privilege to conquer all Lithuania and Russia. During the reign of Grand Master Winrich von Kniprode (1351–1382), the Order reached the peak of its international prestige and hosted numerous European crusaders and nobility.
King Albert of Sweden ceded Gotland to the Order as a pledge (similar to a fiefdom), with the understanding that they would eliminate the pirating Victual Brothers from this strategic island base in the Baltic Sea. An invasion force under Grand Master Konrad von Jungingen conquered the island in 1398 and drove the Victual Brothers out of Gotland and the Baltic Sea.
In 1386, Grand Duke Jogaila of Lithuania was baptised into Christianity and married Queen Jadwiga of Poland, taking the name Władysław II Jagiełło and becoming King of Poland. This created a personal union between the two countries and a potentially formidable opponent for the Teutonic Knights. The Order initially managed to play Jogaila and his cousin Vytautas against each other, but this strategy failed when Vytautas began to suspect that the Order was planning to annex parts of his territory.
The baptism of Jogaila began the official conversion of Lithuania to Christianity. Although the crusading rationale for the Order's state ended when Prussia and Lithuania had become officially Christian, the Order's feuds and wars with Lithuania and Poland continued. The Lizard Union was created in 1397 by Prussian nobles in Culmerland to oppose the Order's policy.
In 1407, the Teutonic Order reached its greatest territorial extent and included the lands of Prussia, Pomerelia, Samogitia, Courland, Livonia, Estonia, Gotland, Dagö, Ösel, and the Neumark, pawned by Brandenburg in 1402.
In 1410, at the Battle of Grunwald () – known in Lithuanian as the Battle of Žalgiris – a combined Polish-Lithuanian army, led by Vytautas and Jogaila, decisively defeated the Order in the Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic War. Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen and most of the Order's higher dignitaries fell on the battlefield (50 out of 60). The Polish-Lithuanian army then began the Siege of Marienburg, the capital of the Order, but was unable to take Marienburg owing to the resistance of Heinrich von Plauen. When the First Peace of Thorn was signed in 1411, the Order managed to retain essentially all of its territories, although the Knights' reputation as invincible warriors was irreparably damaged.
While Poland and Lithuania were growing in power, that of the Teutonic Knights dwindled through infighting. They were forced to impose high taxes to pay a substantial indemnity but did not give the cities sufficient requested representation in the administration of their state. The authoritarian and reforming Grand Master Heinrich von Plauen was forced from power and replaced by Michael Küchmeister von Sternberg, but the new Grand Master was unable to revive the Order's fortunes. After the Gollub War the Knights lost some small border regions and renounced all claims to Samogitia in the 1422 Treaty of Melno. Austrian and Bavarian knights feuded with those from the Rhineland, who likewise bickered with Low German-speaking Saxons, from whose ranks the Grand Master was usually chosen. The western Prussian lands of the Vistula River Valley and the Brandenburg Neumark were ravaged by the Hussites during the Hussite Wars. Some Teutonic Knights were sent to battle the invaders, but were defeated by the Bohemian infantry. The Knights also sustained a defeat in the Polish-Teutonic War (1431–1435).
In 1454, the Prussian Confederation, consisting of the gentry and burghers of western Prussia, rose up against the Order, beginning the Thirteen Years' War. Much of Prussia was devastated in the war, during the course of which the Order returned Neumark to Brandenburg in 1455. In the Second Peace of Thorn (1466), the defeated Order recognized the Polish crown's rights over western Prussia (subsequently Royal Prussia) while retaining Teutonic Eastern Prussia, but under Polish suzerainty. Because Marienburg Castle was handed over to mercenaries in lieu of their pay, the Order moved its base to Königsberg in Sambia.
After the Polish–Teutonic War (1519–1521), the Order was completely ousted from Prussia when Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg converted to Lutheranism in 1525. He secularized the Order's remaining Prussian territories and assumed from his uncle Sigismund I the Old, King of Poland, the hereditary rights to the Duchy of Prussia as a vassal of the Polish Crown, the Prussian Homage. The Protestant Duchy of Prussia was thus a fief of Catholic Poland.
Although it had lost control of all of its Prussian lands, the Teutonic Order retained its territories within the Holy Roman Empire and Livonia, although the Livonian branch retained considerable autonomy. Many of the Imperial possessions were ruined in the German Peasants' War from 1524 to 1525 and subsequently confiscated by Protestant territorial princes. The Livonian territory was then partitioned by neighboring powers during the Livonian War; in 1561 the Livonian Master Gotthard Kettler secularized the southern Livonian possessions of the Order to create the Duchy of Courland, also a vassal of Poland.
After the loss of Prussia in 1525, the Teutonic Knights concentrated on their possessions in the Holy Roman Empire. Since they held no contiguous territory, they developed a three-tiered administrative system: holdings were combined into commanderies that were administered by a commander ("Komtur"). Several commanderies were combined to form a bailiwick headed by a "Landkomtur". All of the Teutonic Knights' possessions were subordinate to the Grand Master, whose seat was in Bad Mergentheim.
There were twelve German bailiwicks:
Outside of German areas were the bailiwicks of
The Order gradually lost control of these holdings until, by 1809, only the seat of the Grand Master at Mergentheim remained.
Following the abdication of Albert of Brandenburg, Walter von Cronberg became "Deutschmeister" in 1527, and later Administrator of Prussia and Grand Master in 1530. Emperor Charles V combined the two positions in 1531, creating the title "Hoch- und Deutschmeister", which also had the rank of Prince of the Empire. A new Grand Magistery was established in Mergentheim in Württemberg, which was attacked during the German Peasants' War. The Order also helped Charles V against the Schmalkaldic League. After the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, membership in the Order was open to Protestants, although the majority of brothers remained Catholic. The Teutonic Knights became tri-denominational, with Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed bailiwicks.
The Grand Masters, often members of the great German families (and, after 1761, members of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine), continued to preside over the Order's considerable holdings in Germany. Teutonic Knights from Germany, Austria, and Bohemia were used as battlefield commanders leading mercenaries for the Habsburg Monarchy during the Ottoman wars in Europe.
The military history of the Teutonic Knights was to be ended in 1805 by the Article XII of the Peace of Pressburg, which ordered the German territories of the Knights converted into a hereditary domain and gave the Austrian Emperor responsibility for placing a Habsburg prince on its throne. These terms had not been fulfilled by the time of the Treaty of Schönbrunn in 1809, and therefore Napoleon Bonaparte ordered the Knights' remaining territory to be disbursed to his German allies, which was completed in 1810.
The "Generalkapitel" (general chapter) was the collection of all the priests, knights and half-brothers (German: "Halbbrüder"). Because of the logistical problems in assembling the members, who were spread over large distances, only deputations of the bailiwicks and commandries gathered to form the General chapter. The General chapter was designed to meet annually, but the conventions were usually limited to the election of a new Grandmaster. The decisions of the "Generalkapitel" had a binding effect on the "Großgebietigers" of the order.
The "Hochmeister" (Grandmaster) was the highest officer of the order. Until 1525, he was elected by the "Generalkapitel". He had the rank of ruler of an ecclesiastic imperial state and was sovereign prince of Prussia until 1466. Despite this high formal position, practically, he was only a kind of first among equals.
The "Großgebietiger" were high officers with competence on the whole order, appointed by the "Hochmeister". There were five offices.
The order was divided in three national chapters, Prussia, Livland and the territory of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. The highest officer of each chapter was the "Landmeister" (country master). They were elected by the regional chapters. In the beginning, they were only substitutes of the Grandmaster but were able to create a power of their own so that, within their territory, the Grandmaster could not decide against their will. At the end of their rule over Prussia, the Grandmaster was only "Landmeister" of Prussia.
There were three Landmeisters:
Because the properties of the order within the rule of the "Deutschmeister" did not form a contiguous territory, but were spread over the whole empire and parts of Europe, there was an additional regional structure, the bailiwick. "Kammerbaleien"("Chamber Bailiwicks") were governed by the Grandmaster himself. Some of these bailiwicks had the rank of imperial states
The smallest administrative unit of the order was the Kommende. It was ruled by a Komtur, who had all administrative rights and controlled the "Vogteien" (district of a reeve) and "Zehnthöfe" (tithe collectors) within his rule. In the commandry, all kinds of brothers lived together in a monastic way. Noblemen served as Knight-brothers or Priest-brothers. Other people could serve as Sariantbrothers, who were armed soldiers, and as Half-brothers, who were working in economy and healthcare.
The Roman Catholic order continued to exist in the various territories ruled by the Austrian Empire, out of Napoleon's reach. From 1804 the Order was headed by members of the Habsburg dynasty.
The collapse of the Habsurg monarchy and the Empire it governed in Austria, the Italian Tyrol, Bohemia and the Balkans brought a shattering crisis to the Order. While in the new Austrian Republic, the Order seemed to have some hope of survival, in the other former parts of the Habsburg territories, the tendency was to regard the Order as an honorary chivalric Order of the House of Habsburg. The consequence of this risked being the confiscation of the Order's property as belongings of the House of Habsburg. So as to make the distinction clearer, in 1923 the then High Master, Field Marshal Eugen of Austria-Teschen, Archduke of Austria, a member of the House of Habsburg and an active army commander before and during the First World War, had one of the Order's priests, Norbert Klein, at the time Bishop of Brno (Brünn) elected his Coadjutor and then abdicated, leaving the Bishop as High Master of the Order.
As a result of this move, by 1928 the now independent former Habsburg territories all recognized the Order as a Catholic religious order. The Order itself introduced a new Rule, approved by Pope Pius XI in 1929, according to which the government of the Order would in future be in the hands of a priest of the Order, as would its constituent provinces, while the women religious of the Order would have women superiors. In 1936 the situation of the women religious was further clarified and the Congregation of the Sisters of the Order was given as their supreme moderator the High Master of the Order, the Sisters also having representation at the Order's general chapter.
This completed the transformation of what remained in the Catholic Church of the Teutonic knights into a Catholic religious order now renamed simply the "Deutscher Orden" ("German Order"). However, further difficulties were in store.
The promising beginnings of this reorganization and spiritual transformation suffered a severe blow through the expansion of German might under the National Socialist regime. After Austria's annexation by Germany in 1938, and similarly the Czech lands in 1939 the Teutonic Order was suppressed throughout the "Großdeutsches Reich" until Germany's defeat. This did not prevent the National Socialists from using imagery of the medieval Teutonic knights for propagandistic purposes.
The Fascist rule in Italy, which since the end of the First World War had absorbed the Southern Tyrol, was not a propitious setting, but following the end of hostilities, a now democratic Italy provided normalized conditions, In 1947 Austria legally abolished the measures taken against the Order and restored confiscated property. Despite being hampered by the Communist regimes in Yugoslavia and in Czechoslovakia, the Order was now broadly in a position to take up activities in accordance with elements of its tradition, including care for the sick, for the elderly, for children, including work in education, in parishes and in its own internal houses of study. In 1957 a residence was established in Rome for the Order's Procurator General to the Holy See, to serve also as a pilgrim hostel. Conditions in Czechoslovakia gradual improved and in the meanwhile the forced exile of some members of the Order lead to the Order's re-establishing itself with some modest, but historically significant, foundations in Germany. The Sisters, in particular, gained several footholds, including specialist schools and care of the poor and in 1953 the former house of Augustinian Canons, St. Nikola, in Passau became the Sisters’ Motherhouse. Although the reconstruction represented by the reformed Rule of 1929 had set aside categories such as the knights, over time the spontaneous involvement of laypeople in the Order's apostolates has led to their revival in modernized form, a development formalized by Pope Paul VI in 1965.
With the official title of "Brethren of the German House of St Mary in Jerusalem", the Order today is unambiguously a Catholic religious order, though sui generis. Various features of its life and activities recall those of monastic and mendicant orders. At its core are priests who make solemn religious profession, along with lay brothers who make perpetual simple profession. Also part of the Order are the Sisters, with internal self-government within their own structures but with representation in the Order's General Chapter. Their ultimate superior is the High Master of the Order. The approximately 100 Catholic priests and 200 nuns of the Order are divided into five provinces, namely, Austria, Southern Tyrol-Italy, Slovenia, Germany, Czech Republic and Slovakia. While the priests predominantly provide spiritual guidance, the nuns primarily care for the ill and the aged. Many of the priests care for German-speaking communities outside of Germany and Austria, especially in Italy and Slovenia; in this sense the Teutonic Order has returned to its 12th-century roots: the spiritual and physical care of Germans in foreign lands.
There is an Institute of "Familiares", most of whom are lay people, and who are attached by spiritual bonds to the Order but do not take vows. The "Familiares" are grouped especially into the bailiwicks of Germany, Austria, Southern Tyrol, Ad Tiberim (Rome), and the bailiwick of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as also in the independent commandry of Alden Biesen in Belgium, though others are dispersed throughout the world. Overall, there are in recent years some 700.
By the end of the 20th century, then, this religious Order had developed into a charitable organization and established numerous clinics, as well as sponsoring excavation and tourism projects in Israel. In 2000, the German chapter of the Teutonic Order declared bankruptcy and its upper management was dismissed; an investigation by a special committee of the Bavarian parliament in 2002 and 2003 to determine the cause was inconclusive.
The current Abbot General of the Order, who also holds the title of High Master, is Father Frank Bayard. The current seat of the High Master is the "Church of the German Order" ("Deutschordenskirche") in Vienna. Near the St Stephen's Cathedral ("Stephansdom") in the Austrian capital is the Treasury of the Teutonic Order, which is open to the public, and the Order's central archive. Since 1996, there has also been a museum dedicated to the Teutonic Knights at their former castle in Bad Mergentheim in Germany, which was the seat of the High Master from 1525 to 1809.
Honorary Knights of the Teutonic Order have included:
A portion of the Order retains more of the character of the knights during the height of its power and prestige. Der "Balije van Utrecht" ("Bailiwick of Utrecht") of the "Ridderlijke Duitsche Orde" ("Chivalric German [i.e., 'Teutonic'] Order") became Protestant at the Reformation, and it remained an aristocratic society. The relationship of the Bailiwick of Utrecht to the Roman Catholic "Deutscher Orden" resembles that of the Protestant Bailiwick of Brandenburg to the Roman Catholic Order of Malta: each is an authentic part of its original order, though differing from and smaller than the Roman Catholic branch.
The Knights wore white surcoats with a black cross, granted by Innocent III in 1205. A cross pattée was sometimes used.
The coat of arms representing the grand master ("Hochmeisterwappen") is shown with a golden cross fleury or cross potent superimposed on the black cross, with the imperial eagle as a central inescutcheon. The golden cross fleury overlaid on the black cross became widely used in the 15th century. A legendary account attributes its introduction to Louis IX of France, who is said to have granted the master of the order this cross as a variation of the Jerusalem cross, with the fleur-de-lis symbol attached to each arm, in 1250. While this legendary account cannot be traced back further than the early modern period (Christoph Hartknoch, 1684), there is some evidence that the design does indeed date to the mid 13th century.
The black cross pattée was later used for military decoration and insignia by the Kingdom of Prussia and Germany as the Iron Cross and Pour le Mérite.
The motto of the Order is "Helfen, Wehren, Heilen" ("to help, to defend, to heal").
Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany posed for a photo in 1902 in the garb of a monk from the Teutonic Order, climbing the stairs in the reconstructed Marienburg Castle as a symbol of Imperial German policy.
The German historian Heinrich von Treitschke used imagery of the Teutonic Knights to promote pro-German and anti-Polish rhetoric. Many middle-class German nationalists adopted this imagery and its symbols. During the Weimar Republic, associations and organisations of this nature contributed to laying the groundwork for the formation of Nazi Germany.
Before and during World War II, Nazi propaganda and ideology made frequent use of the Teutonic Knights' imagery, as the Nazis sought to depict the Knights' actions as a forerunner of the Nazi conquests for Lebensraum. Heinrich Himmler tried to idealise the SS as a 20th-century reincarnation of the medieval Order. Yet, despite these references to the Teutonic Order's history in Nazi propaganda, the Order itself was abolished in 1938 and its members were persecuted by the German authorities. This occurred mostly due to Hitler's and Himmler's belief that, throughout history, Roman Catholic military-religious orders had been tools of the Holy See and as such constituted a threat to the Nazi regime.
The converse was true for Polish nationalism (see: Sienkiewicz "The Knights of the Cross"), which used the Teutonic Knights as symbolic shorthand for Germans in general, conflating the two into an easily recognisable image of the hostile. Similar associations were used by Soviet propagandists, such as the Teutonic knight villains in the 1938 Sergei Eisenstein film "Aleksandr Nevskii". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30776 |
Universe of The Legend of Zelda
"The Legend of Zelda" is a video game franchise created by Japanese video game developer Shigeru Miyamoto.
The universe depicted in the "Legend of Zelda" series consists of a variety of lands, the most predominant being .
The kingdom of , a medieval-inspired fantasy land, is the main setting of the series, which first appeared in "The Legend of Zelda." Many of its areas have recurring appearances throughout the series, like the Lost Woods, Kakariko Village, Death Mountain and Lake Hylia. Several games in the series are set outside Hyrule, including "", set on Koholint Island; "", set in Termina; , set in Holodrum and Labrynna, respectively; "" and "", both set on the Great Sea, a flooded Hyrule (although a large portion of "Phantom Hourglass" takes place in the World of the Ocean King in another dimension); "", set in New Hyrule, and "", set on Skyloft, a group of islands above the clouds (although part of the storyline of this last game does take place on an underdeveloped pre-Hyrule).
Hyrule was formed by , , and . It is established in "" that Din created the physical geography of the realm, Nayru created the physical laws to govern the land, and Farore created the races to uphold the law and the flora and fauna that inhabit the world. Once the goddesses had completed their tasks, they departed for the heavens, and left behind three golden triangles. In these, they put their power to govern all things; this relic became known as the Triforce. The realm itself was eventually named Hyrule after its dominant race, the Hylians.
Hylian is a constructed language that first appears in "", where it is identified as "the ancient language of the Hylians" and is composed of symbols that Link must translate to progress. In "The Wind Waker", it is shown that the angler fish-like Jabun, the dragon Valoo, the Great Deku Tree, and the King of Red Lions can speak it. In Japan, an explanation on the Hylian alphabet was written on the back of the instruction manual with a phonographic writing system, or syllabary, like the Japanese language. Since then, five more Hylian scripts have been developed and/or deciphered for the public: the Old Hylian Syllabary used in "Ocarina of Time", the Modern Hylian Syllabary used in "The Wind Waker", the Hylian Alphabet used in "Skyward Sword", the Hylian Alphabet used in "A Link Between Worlds", and the Hylian Alphabet used in "Twilight Princess". The first three are used for transcribing Japanese, while the latter three are used to transcribe English, totaling to six variations of written Hylian.
The universal currency of Hyrule is the , named after the real-world currency. Rupees resemble hexagonal crystals or gems and come in various colors that determine their value. Many other countries in the Zelda universe also use rupees as their currency, the only major exception being the Subrosians from "Oracle of Seasons," who only accept Ore Chunks as currency. In the original game, they were called "Rupies," the singular being "Rupy"; this was later changed. Subsequent games introduced more colors and sizes for Rupees, each denoting a specific value. Generally, green Rupees have the least value, while gold or silver Rupees have the most. In "Skyward Sword, Four Swords," and "Phantom Hourglass," cursed black Rupees called "Rupoor" exist. These steal a certain quantity of Rupees depending on their size.
The , also known as "The Blade of Evil's Bane", the "Sword of Resurrection", or the "sword that seals the darkness" is a divine, magic sword that often acts as the ultimate weapon for the various Links in their quest to save Hyrule. It is one of the few weapons capable of harming Ganon and a key to the Sacred Realm. First introduced in "A Link To The Past", it has the power to "repel evil", which enables it to overcome powerful dark magic and slay evil and demonic beings that otherwise cannot be harmed by conventional weaponry. In "", the blade is revealed to have originally began as the Goddess Sword, which had a sentient female avatar named Fi integrated into it. Near the end of the game, the Goddess Sword transforms into its current state after being infused with the Three Sacred Flames, with Fi's spirit form ceasing to be once the Master Sword absorbs the Demon King Demise's remains.
The sword traditionally rests in a stone pedestal hidden in sacrosanct locations indigenous to Hyrule, such as the Temple of Time or the Lost Woods. Similar to Arthurian legend, the Master Sword can only be removed by someone who is worthy of wielding it. The sword is often not at full power, leading it to need to be "recharged" in some way, or have its power increased beyond its standard level to fight Ganon. There are some situations when the blade, already at full power, can be further improved; in "A Link to the Past", it was tempered to the Tempered Sword. It can later be upgraded to the Golden Sword. Similarly, in "Twilight Princess", the sword's power is increased by the two Sols in the Palace of Twilight. "" establishes that the sword needs the power of two sages praying to the gods to keep its powers, or else it will no longer be able to prevent an evil person from gaining the Triforce. In "" the Master Sword is the only unbreakable weapon in the game, though if it is used too often the sword's power needs to be recharged becoming temporarily unusable. The sword is located in the Korok Forest, which Link can only access by going through the Lost Woods. Zelda moved it there to be guarded by the Great Deku Tree and to protect knowledge of its location from Calamity Ganon. Link can travel to the Korok Forest at any point after receiving the Paraglider, though he can only remove the sword after obtaining 13 or more Heart Containers, as removing it drains Link's hearts as a way to test his strength. In addition to its unbreakability, Link can also fire Sword Beams while he is at full health. The Master Sword has a base damage of 30 but its true power glows when in the presence of pools of Calamity Ganon's Malice, Cursed Enemies, and all of Calamity Ganon's various forms; its durability is greatly increased in this state. It can later be enhanced to 60 damage once completing the "trial of the sword" side quest.
Once removed, Link sees a vision of Zelda entrusting the Master Sword to the protection of the Great Deku Tree 100 years ago. During her conversation with him, Princess Zelda reveals that the sword spoke to her (which is implied to be Fi, whose consciousness apparently still exists within the sword though unable to manifest her spirit form) and told her that her destiny was not finished and that she still had something she must do, leading to Princess Zelda's sealing Calamity Ganon in Hyrule Castle for 100 years while Link slept. The weapon's in-game description reveals that the sword is delighted to be in Link's possession, echoing Fi's words at the end of "Skyward Sword". 100 years after Calamity Ganon was sealed in Hyrule Castle, the sword became known across Hyrule as the Sword that Seals the Darkness and is sought by several travelers Link encounters despite the fact that only the chosen hero can wield its power.
The Master Sword is a double-edged one-handed sword. The blade cross-section is hexagonal with no fuller. On the flats of the blade near the hilt is a Triforce symbol, etched into the steel or emblazoned in gold. It has a purple or blue curved crossguard in the shape of a pair of wings with a small yellow jewel where it meets the hilt. The hilt is often padded red with a non-ornate blue pommel. Since "The Wind Waker", the Master Sword's blade glows white when it is revived by the sages in the mid-game. In "Breath of the Wild", this glow represents the Master Sword's true power. "Breath of the Wild" is the first game to depict the blade showing signs of wear and rust, when Zelda places it in its pedestal in Korok Forest, though 100 years later the Master Sword is shown to have been restored to its undamaged state.
Nintendo Power listed the Master Sword as one of the best weapons in gaming: citing that it is more than just a powerful sword, but also integral to Link's adventures and development as a character.
The , also called and the , is a triangular sacred relic left behind by the three Golden Goddesses when they created Hyrule. It is made up of three smaller triangles known as the , the , and the . These embody the essences of their respective goddesses, and bestow certain boons on their bearers. In most of its appearances, the Triforce or its pieces manifest as a marking on the hands of their bearers. These markings resonate when near each other, and the Triforce pieces can emerge from their bearers as a result.
When united, the Triforce allows one who touches it to make a wish that usually lasts until they die or the wish is fulfilled. If the one who finds it does not possess a balance of the three virtues it represents, however, the pieces split into its three components and the finder is left with the one that represents the characteristic they value most; the other two pieces do likewise with two other characters "chosen by destiny". Ganon makes it his goal to obtain the Triforce in various games, often having a single piece himself (the Triforce of Power) that he uses to further his goals.
The Triforce of Power, which is positioned as the topmost of the three, holds the presence of Din, the goddess of Power, and radiates the physical and magical power of its bearer. It is associated with Ganon, who is power-hungry. The Triforce of Wisdom, positioned on the lower left, embodies the essence of Nayru, the goddess of Wisdom, and amplifies the wisdom and mystical powers of its bearer. It is associated with Princess Zelda, whose great wisdom brings peace and prosperity to Hyrule. The Triforce of Courage, positioned on the lower right, embodies the essence of Farore, the goddess of Courage, and seems to amplify the courage and adventuring skills of its bearer. It is associated with Link, who bravely defends Hyrule from Ganon and other malevolent forces.
is a parallel world to Hyrule that serves as the main setting of "". Link falls into this world from a portal deep within the Lost Woods. The land has very similar geography to that of Hyrule, and many of its citizens have identical names and appearances to (although different personalities from) people in Hyrule. The land itself is split into four distinct regions, one for every compass direction, and each guarded by four giant deities: The swampy Woodfall, home of the Deku Scrubs, to the south; The icy Snowhead Mountains of the Gorons to the north; Great Bay, home of the Zora to the west; and the undead wastelands of Ikana Canyon to the east. Its capital, Clock Town, lies in the center.
is a parallel world to Hyrule in "A Link Between Worlds". It is similar to Hyrule in geography, features Lorulean counterparts of many people found in Hyrule, and is ruled by Princess Zelda's Lorulean counterpart, Princess Hilda. Like Hyrule, Lorule originally had its own Triforce and was the source of various conflicts. However, the Royal Family of Lorule decided to destroy the Triforce in an attempt to put an end to conflict, only to bring calamity to their world as a result. Desperate to save the kingdom and her people, Princess Hilda conspired with her servant Yuga to steal Hyrule's Triforce, unaware that Yuga wanted the Triforce for himself. Eventually Yuga is defeated by Link, and Hilda's former servant Ravio manages to show her the error of her ways. Ultimately Link and Zelda decide to forgive Hilda for her misguided actions and use the Triforce to restore the Lorulean Triforce, which in turn restores the land of Lorule.
Several other parallel worlds to Hyrule exist, such as the Twilight Realm, the World of the Ocean King, and the Dark World from "Twilight Princess", "The Phantom Hourglass", and "A Link to the Past", respectively. Several other lands also exist beyond the kingdom. In "Oracle of Ages" and "Oracle of Seasons", Link travels to Labrynna and Holodrum. "Triforce Heroes" is set in Hytopia, a kingdom connected to Hyrule.
The are a mechanical race from "Skyward Sword". They were created by the Thunder Dragon Lanayru, but their land eventually became a barren desert while they rusted away. By using a Timeshift Stone they can be revived and serve three purposes. Some of them mine for Timeshift Stones, one group protected one of the Sacred Flames, and some act as Lanayru's servants. In addition there is a band of Ancient Robot Pirates, though only two of them are seen: LD-002S Scervo on the Sandship, and LD-003D Dreadfuse in the Sky Keep. During Link's quest for Nayru's Flame, Link is aided by a robot named Skipper, who is captain of the Sandship and lost his ship to the Pirate Scervo. Skipper aids Link in traversing the Lanayru Sand Sea using his Timeshift Stone powered motorboat, which can transform the impassible sea of sand into the ancient sea of water that once existed in the past. Also, Gondo, one of the citizens of Skyloft, owns an Ancient Robot that he inherited from his grandfather; at one point in the game this robot, named Scrapper, is restored to full functionality, and assists Link by carrying items up to Skyloft from the surface. The Ancient Robots require the oil produced by Ancient Flowers to function; because these flowers can no longer be found in the present day Lanayru Desert, it is implied that the flower's disappearance resulted in the decline of the LD-301 Series Ancient Robots. Most ancient robots are part of the LD-301 Series, including LD-301S Scrapper and LD-301N Skipper, while Servo and Dreadfuse are part of the LD-002 and LD-003 series, which unlike the LD-301 Series remain functional in the present.
In "Breath of the Wild", similar robots exist called Guardians and Divine Beasts. The Divine Beasts consist of Vah Ruta of the Zora, Vah Rudania of the Gorons, Vah Naboris of the Gerudo, and Vah Medoh of the Rito. The Guardians are ancient mechanisms with powerful sniper blasts who were intended to be used to defeat Ganon, but Ganon used his power to turn the robots against Hyrule. Mipha, the Zora Champion, Urbosa, the Gerudo Champion, Daruk, the Goron Champion, and Revali, the Rito Champion, who once piloted the Divine Beasts, were killed by the Blight Ganons, creations of Ganon who represent the element of the Divine Beast e.g. Thunderblight Ganon for Vah Naboris.
are an Inuit-like race that appear to be a cross between a reindeer and penguins. There are different variations of them with purple, red, blue, and yellow shirts and facial hair or small or big antlers. They are found on the Isle of Frost in the World of Ocean King and in Anouki Village in New Hyrule. In "Spirit Tracks", the Anouki are the only race who live in the snow realm.
Bokoblins are a race of humanoid goblin-like creatures, that first appeared in "The Wind Waker". Bokoblins come in a variety of colors such as red, blue, and green. They often appear as standard enemies and wield Boko Sticks, machetes, and clubs. Though their appearance varies from game to game, the one thing that remains consistent is they wear loincloths with a single skull. In "Twilight Princess", they are less common and their role as standard enemies is largely taken over by the Bulblins. In "Skyward Sword", Bokoblins are revealed to have been around since ancient times and are common monsters that serve the Demon Tribe, under Demon Lord Ghirahim and the Demon King Demise. The game also introduces different varieties of Bokoblin such as Technoblins, which lived in Lanayru Desert in the distant past and wield ancient technology; and Cursed Bokoblins, undead Bokoblins that can curse Link. The game introduces the bow-wielding Bokoblin Archers and Bokoblin Leaders that can summon other Bokoblins using the Monster Horns they carry.
In "Breath of the Wild", Bokoblin are revealed to have an omnivorous diet that consists of fruits, vegetables, fish, and meat. They also can occasionally be seen hunting wild animals for their meat, which they will consume after a successful kill. Bokoblins can wield a variety of weapons, but tend to favor their own crafted clubs, bats, spears, and bows, the strongest of which are made from Dragonbone. The game also introduces another undead variant of Bokoblin called Stalkoblin, which raise from the ground at night and will continuously regenerate unless all Stalkoblin skulls in the area are destroyed, because a single skull can reanimate its headless comrades. The game also introduces stronger Black Bokoblins and Silver Bokoblins, which are stronger and more resilient. Cursed Bokoblins return in "Breath of the Wild," but are depicted as floating Stalkoblin skulls corrupted by Calamity Ganon's malice.
Red Bokoblins and Stalkoblins drop Bokoblin Horns and Bokoblin Fangs, while Blue, Black, and Silver Bokoblins drop those parts along with Bokoblin Guts. These monster parts can be sold to shops and merchants for Rupees or to Kilton for "Mon" at the Fang and Bone shop, though Link can also cook them with bugs to make Elixirs or use them as materials by the four Great Fairies to upgrade his armor. Link can also buy a Bokoblin Mask from Kilton, which allows him to disguise himself as a Bokoblin and blend in with them.
are a green, horned race that resemble the orcs of classic fantasy. They are led by , who unlike the rest has the ability to talk. Bulblins usually fight with heavy clubs or flaming arrows and commonly ride on boars. They first appeared in "." King Bulblin appears as an obstacle in the Bridge of Eldin stage in "Super Smash Bros. Brawl".
The Cobble are a race that appear in "Phantom Hourglass". The Cobble once inhabited a prosperous land called the Cobble Kingdom. By the time the game takes place, the only Cobble that remain are the ghosts of the soldiers and King Mutoh, who dress in ancient Egyptian-like clothes and live in pyramid-like temples. The Isle of Ruins in the Northeastern Sea is all that remains of the once-mighty kingdom, and Link must visit there to retrieve the Aquanine, a pure metal entrusted to the Cobble by the Ocean King. There, he delves beneath Mutoh's Temple and destroys a corrupt Cobble war machine that is disrupting the king's eternal rest.
The are wooden plant-like creatures introduced in "" that appear mostly in the overworld and dungeons. Deku are small creatures with leaves sprouting out from their heads. They often have red glowing eyes and tube-like mouths that can shoot Deku Nuts. Their bodies consist of wood and leaves and perish quickly if set on fire. They can fly by using large leaves to glide, and some can use the leaves on their head to fly indefinitely after taking off from a Deku Flower. There are four types of Deku depicted in the series: Deku Scrubs, Mad Scrubs, Business Scrubs, and Royal Scrubs. Deku Scrubs are the most common type, which have green leaves and often give information when caught. Mad Scrubs are violent, have red and yellow leaves, and do not talk. Business Scrubs are traders who offer to sell their wares and services. Royal Scrubs have larger heads, bigger eyes, smaller mouths, and extra leaves covering their body. In "Majora's Mask", Link can inhabit the body of an unknown deceased Deku Scrub who is implied to be the son of the Deku King's butler. In this form, Link can temporarily fly using a Deku Flower, shoot bubbles, and hop on deep water five times before sinking.
Dragons are a recurring race that usually appear as benevolent guardians or powerful enemies. In "Ocarina of Time", after becoming the King of Evil, Ganondorf resurrects the evil Goron-eating dragon Volvagia, who had terrorized the Goron people in the distant past before being defeated by Darunia's ancestor, who wielded the Megaton Hammer. When Ganondorf orders his minions to capture and feed the Gorons to Volvagia as a warning to his enemies, Darunia journeys to the Fire Temple to rescue his people and defeat Volvagia, but he is defeated because he could not locate the Megaton Hammer. However, Link manages to free the Gorons, slay Volvagia, and awaken Darunia as the Sage of Fire. In "The Wind Waker", the Sky Spirit Valoo acts as the protector and patron deity of the Rito tribe, providing them with his scales that allow them to grow wings. When Link arrives on Dragon Roost Island, he discovers that Gohma was tormenting Valoo, and defeats Gohma to obtain Din's Pearl. Valoo and the Rito later repay their debt to Link by rescuing him and Tetra from Ganondorf during their encounter with him in Forsaken Fortress. In "Twilight Princess", Link encounters a species of malevolent draconic warriors called Aeralfos and the Twilit dragon Argorok, who is the boss of the City in the Sky. In "Skyward Sword", Link is aided by the Three Dragons that guard the three regions of the Surface. Faron the Water Dragon rules over the Parella and protector of Faron Woods, Lake Floria, and the Ancient Cistern that holds Farore's Flame. Eldin the Fire Dragon guards Eldin Volcano. Lanayru the Thunder Dragon created the Ancient Robots and protects Lanayru Desert. Each dragon was entrusted with part of the Song of the Hero, which provides clues on the location of the Triforce. During his quest for Farore's Flame, Link aids Faron, who had been injured while fighting Ghirahim; she leads him to the Ancient Cistern. During his quest for the Song of the Hero, Link encounters Eldin after he is captured and imprisoned by Bokoblins during an eruption. Link learns that the Fire Dragon had caused the eruption, and the dragon apologizes to Link for all the trouble it caused him. Unlike the other two dragons, Lanayru is shown to have died from an illness in the past, forcing Link to go back in time, cure him of his illness, and prevent his death. After Link cures him and learning his part of the song, Lanayru allows Link to take part in the Lightning Round, which allows him to face a boss battle challenge and a Silent Realm challenge for various prizes. If Link completes eight boss battles, Lanayru will reward him with the unbreakable Hylian Shield, the strongest shield in the game. In "Breath of the Wild", the three dragons Dinraal, Naydra, and Farosh can be found located around Hyrule, and the scales they drop can be used to access certain Shrines. While Dinraal and Farosh are found roaming freely, the dragon Naydra is first found corrupted by Calamity Ganon's Malice, requiring Link to purge the corruption and free the dragon's spirit.
are magical creatures associated with nature and the Goddess Farore that appear as small, winged humanoids often obscured by light. Fairies tend to shy away from human settlements and are most often associated with the Lost Woods, but can be found hiding in many places throughout Hyrule. Fairy Fountains or Fairy Springs are special places that contain sparkling magical water and attract Fairies in large numbers. In most games in the series, fairies will heal Link if he manages to catch one and he can also put them in empty bottles to have them heal him later. If Link dies while he has a bottled fairy in his possession, the fairy will automatically resurrect him instead of receiving a Game Over.
In , Fairies can be found around the Springs of the four Great Fairies when Link has no more than two currently in his inventory (Fairies being held are excluded from the count).
The are a tribe of Amazonian warrior-thieves who mainly live in the desert to the west of Hyrule. Physical Gerudo traits typically include bronzed skin, scarlet hair, aquiline noses, gold eyes and round ears; however, evil Gerudo like Ganondorf and the Twinrova Sisters possess an olive skin color. Gerudo sentries carry polearms reminiscent of the Japanese "naginata". Apart from a single Gerudo male who is born every century and is crowned king of the tribe, the race consists entirely of women. Ganondorf, the main antagonist of the series, is king of the Gerudo in "Ocarina of Time" and the surrogate son of the twin Gerudo witch sisters Kotake and Koume. Gerudo appear as pirates in "Majora's Mask", where they live in the ocean at Great Bay, and are ruled by a woman instead of a man. These Gerudo are enemies of the Zoras. They search for treasures in the sea and assault Zora and fishermen but do not approach Clock Town. In "", only women are permitted in the town, so Link has to crossdress as a female in order to enter the town. After gaining entrance to Gerudo Town, Link has to retrieve a thunder-resistant helmet known as the Thunder Helm from a clan of thieves called the Yiga, a traitorous formation who broke away from the Sheikah tribe. The helm is used to board Vah Naboris, named after the Sage of Spirit, Nabooru, as stated by the spirit of former Gerudo Champion Urbosa.
The are a race of mountain-dwelling giants who first appeared in "". Goron culture revolves around brotherhood and strength, usually referring to each other and those they deem strong as "Brother" or "Big Brother". Gorons show high regard for individuals who display great strength and bravery and enjoy matching their strength with others in competition such as sumo wrestling and racing. While not all "Zelda" games featuring Gorons include full tribes, the games that do depict as tribes depict them as headed by a patriarch who is aided by one or more elders who assume leadership of the tribe in the event that the patriarch cannot. is the patriarch in "Ocarina of Time". The Goron elders in "Twilight Princess" are , , and .
One of the oldest races in Hyrule, Gorons' bodies are resistant to intense heat and lava and they consume rocks and minerals, which they mine from the earth. By adulthood, most Gorons gain rock-like protrusions on their backs and sometimes on their arms and head as well. These stony growths act as a natural armor and continue to grow as the Goron ages. Gorons enter the fetal position when resting, and can also assume this position for self defense or to travel at high speed by rolling. Gorons endowed with magic power can sprout metal spikes from their body while rolling.
For leisure, Gorons enjoy music and dance, rolling and racing, games, sumo wrestling, and bathing in hot springs. Gorons have taken on occupations such as crafting, blacksmithing, sculpting, demolition, and merchantry. Rock Sirloins and Rock Roasts are Goron delicacies, and they also enjoy ores and metal objects such as shields. On the contrary, gems apparently taste awful, so they sell the abundance they mine; it amuses Gorons just how much other Hyrlean people will pay for them.
Three Gorons appear in "Skyward Sword:" Gorko, Golo, and Gortram. Gorko and his assistant Golo, are shown working as archaeologists; Gorko travels the land researching ancient artifacts and ruins, while Golo excavates the Lanayru Caves. Unlike the other two, Gortram works as the proprietor of the Rickety Coaster mine cart ride at the abandoned Lanayru Shipyards. All three Gorons are encountered in the Lanayru Desert region at some point and the Lanayru Caves seems to serve as the base of operations for Gorko and Golo.
Gorons are large humanoids with long muscular arms, stout legs, hulking shoulders and necks, and rotund bellies. Their skin is generally beige in color and their hair is typically white. Gorons lack external hearing organs; Goron ears are instead holes on the sides of their heads. Most are as tall as a human, though some individuals such as can grow as large as a mountain. No female Gorons are seen in the series, however Gorons are capable of having children; Darunia has a son during the events of "Ocarina of Time". There are two Gorons, named Lyndae and Strade, who got into the female-only Gerudo Town, however they then question why they were allowed in. It is likely that Gorons are asexual creatures. Due to their great density, Gorons sink to the bottom of bodies of water and are thus helpless in such an environment. However, they do not need to breath to survive, as a Goron child proves by resting underwater and mentioning that he never feels the need to take a breath. Also, in "Twilight Princess", a Goron becomes submerged in the main pool in Zora's Domain, but enjoys the cold water rather than drowning. Gorons are exceptionally resistant to heat and can easily withstand contact with lava, but still sink in it should it be too deep.
In "Majora's Mask", Link can inhabit the body of the deceased Goron hero Darmani and roll and punch as hard as the Megaton Hammer from "Ocarina of Time."
In "", the Gorons are encountered all over Hyrule, but mostly appear in the Eldin region. They live around Death Mountain, which Link must use heat-resistant armor or elixirs to enter. The Gorons play a central role in the narrative of this game, with Goron City and the surrounding Eldin region being plagued by the Divine Beast Vah Rudania, a giant mechanical salamander once piloted by the Goron Champion Daruk before being corrupted by Calamity Ganon. Link summits Death Mountain to quell Vah Rudania with the help of the Goron youth Yunobo, and receives the ability Daruk's Protection from Daruk's spirit.
are a humanlike race that make up the main population of Hyrule, on which they established organized civilization. They are born with magic-infused blood said to be a gift from the goddesses that grants them psychic powers and magical skill. Their long pointed ears are said to allow them to hear messages sent by the gods. Link and Princess Zelda belong to this race in all games of the series. In some games, such as "Twilight Princess", Hylians are referred to as "humans". In "Skyward Sword", Hylians live on a floating island known as Skyloft and are accompanied by bird-like creatures called Loftwings.
are a three-tailed fox-like race mostly found in Termina. They normally stay hidden from sight, but reveal themselves to Link and challenge him with a quiz if he wears a Keaton Mask. No known Keaton exist in Hyrule in "Ocarina of Time", although at least one of them is a well-known fictional character in Hyrule Castle Town. In "The Minish Cap", however, some thuggish Keaton roam the Hyrule countryside, walking on their hindpaws and having only one tail instead of three; if they injure Link, he loses some Rupees.
The are a race in "Skyward Sword" who inhabit the Faron Woods. They have the appearance of black-and-white masked wingless birds, and can cause a plant to blossom from their backs for camouflage.
The are a pixie-like race who inhabit the Kokiri Forest. They were created by the Great Deku Tree who considers them to be his children, and each receives a small fairy that is their lifelong friend, guardian, and teacher. They do not age once they grow up into kids. Cautious and secretive, the Kokiri believe that they will die if they leave the forest. This belief seems to be false, as Saria leaves the forest when she becomes the Forest Sage. It is also suggested that if they wander too deep into the forest, they will turn into a Skull Kid, although this has not been proven definitively.
A Kokiri named Saria is the Sage of the Forest. Another Kokiri, Fado, is the first Sage of Wind in "The Wind Waker", but he is killed prior to the events of the game, leaving the player to interact with his spirit and locate his successor, the Korok Makar. Link was raised as a Kokiri in "Ocarina of Time", but he is actually a Hylian whose mother entrusted the Great Deku Tree with his care when he was an infant. It wasn't until he traveled into the future when getting the Master Sword that Link found out he wasn't a Kokiri by aging.
The of "The Wind Waker" are said to have been transformed from the Kokiri after the Great Flood. They are small creatures with wood-like bodies and masks made from leaves. They are very light, which allows them to travel by using sprouts as propellers. They leave their home, the "Forest Haven", to plant seeds from the Great Deku Tree all over the world, and return once a year to hold a ceremony and obtain more seeds.
In "", Koroks can be found all over Hyrule. The player must solve puzzles to get Korok Seeds from them. Once the player retrieves Korok Seeds from Koroks, one can trade it with Hestu, a large Korok, for more inventory slots for swords, shields, and bows.
There are four throughout Hyrule in "Twilight Princess".
The first light spirit is , who resembles an Ordon Goat. Ordona has an orb between her antlers and first appears at Ordon Spring when Link has defeated the first Shadow Beast.
The second light spirit, , resembles a monkey. He holds his golden orb with his tail over his head. He appears in Faron Spring when Link has completed the first collection of twilight bugs.
The third light spirit, , resembles an eagle with his orb between his feet. He appears in the lake near the shaman's house in Kakariko Village once Link has completed the second collection of twilight bugs.
The fourth and last light spirit, , resembles a serpent with his orb inside his mouth. He appears in the cave at Lake Hylia when Link has completed the third and final collection of twilight bugs. But after Lanayru tells Link the story of the three goddesses and the three Fused Shadows, Zant appears and embeds the Shadow Crystal in Link's skull that later allows him to transform between his human and wolf form. He also exposes Midna to Lanayru's light causing her to become very ill and sends Link on the quest for the Master Sword.
are a humanoid race who first appear in "". All but one of the encountered Lokomo are sages who reside in the New Hyrule and the Tower of Spirits. They are distinguishable by their pointed ears and short legs, the latter of which forces them to use motorized carts for transportation. However, an exceptionally strong Lokomo named Byrne is capable of walking on his legs.
The are a race of birds with long necks and human-like faces that appear in "Twilight Princess". They live in the , an airborne city that acts as the seventh dungeon in "Twilight Princess". A female Oocca named can warp the player back to the entrance of the game's dungeons. Ooccoo's son, , warps the player to Ooccoo's location. In "Twilight Princess", these creatures are mentioned to be closer to the gods than the Hylians. It is supposed that they created Hylians and created a city in the sky for them to live in. In "Twilight Princess", Link reaches this city by launching himself out of an enormous cannon.
Minish, referred to in their native language as , are small humanoid sprites no bigger than a human thumb that live in secret. They are only visible to children and tend to live in forests, but also appear inside of buildings and holes in and around various spots of Hyrule. There are three variations of the Minish, which can be distinguished by their attire: Forest Minish, Town Minish and Mountain Minish. They first appear in "The Minish Cap". Most Minish are helpful, and like to hide valuable objects for others to find, although one Picori, became evil after becoming obsessed with human nature.
The are long-armed anthropomorphic rodents who debuted in "Skyward Sword." They are demolition experts who like digging for treasure and are known to never go anywhere without their bomb bag. Mogmas are found in Eldin Volcano and play major parts in the plot of the Volcano Summit, Eldin Volcano, the Fire Sanctuary, and the Earth Temple.
The are an aquatic squid-like race who debuted in "Skyward Sword" who live in the underwater spiraling caverns of Lake Floria. Conical spirals appear as their central body and the shape of their dwellings.
The are a race of bird-like humanoids who debuted in "The Wind Waker". They evolved from the Zora species. In that game, they lived on Dragon Roost Island, an island on the Great Sea. They have a tribal elder and elaborately dressed guards. No Rito is born with wings, and instead, must visit their guardian, the Sky Spirit, Valoo, in a coming-of-age ceremony to receive one of his scales, which enables them to grow wings.
Rito appear to be covered by dark shaded skin or feathers. Most Rito have red eyes, but the Rito Chieftain has yellow eyes. They have pointed ears, bird-like feet, and a beak whose shape and size varies from Rito to Rito. Unlike real-life birds, his beak appears to only be used for smelling, and cannot be used as a mouth. However, the Rito have a mouth below this beak.
Throughout a young Rito's childhood, he or she is called a Fledgling and is flightless without any wings. After a child reaches a certain age they can receive their wings after they retrieve a scale from the dragon Valoo. While not in use, Rito wings are mostly white with black colored plumage along the ends. When in flight the top of a Rito's wings are colored brown with black along the edges while the bottoms of the wings contain white plumage along the wings interior. However Medli has pure white wings, possibly suggesting that female Rito have white wings or that her wings are not fully grown yet. Most Rito can fly over a great distance and hover in place, but some have trouble flying for long periods of time, likely due to inexperience.
In , the Rito reside in the Tabantha region in northwest Hyrule. The Rito cannot fly at a preferred height because the Divine Beast Vah Medoh shoots down Rito who fly at its height. The Rito warrior Teba helps Link board Vah Medoh, but is severely injured by Medoh's cannons. After Link defeats Windblight Ganon, the Rito Champion Revali regains control of Vah Medoh and prepares to blast Ganon when Link finally fights him. Notably, Revali resents Link, stating that he has many skills as an archer, and that he was only called to assist Link because Link has the Master Sword.
The are an ancient clan of mysterious ninja-like warriors distinguished by, but not limited to, red eyes, and white hair, who protect the Hylian Royal Family. They bear some physical resemblance to the Hylians, but are a completely different species, with much more technological prowess and lifespans that can extend over many millennia. As revealed in "Skyward Sword", the Sheikah are servants of the goddess Hylia, whose reincarnation is Zelda. The Sheikah crying eye symbol is commonly seen in the series, even in games where the Sheikah are not present. It is alluded that the tear was added after the Hyrule Civil War, which took place some time before the events of "Ocarina of Time". By the events of "Ocarina of Time", the Sheikah are referred to as an extinct race who built the Shadow Temple, with Impa among the last few members. In "Skyward Sword", "Ocarina of Time", and "Majora's Mask", Sheikah Stones or Gossip Stones created by the Sheikah give Link information on where to go and what to do.
Very few Sheikah members are met throughout the games, with the only recurring one being various incarnations of Zelda's nursemaid Impa. Others include Impa's descendant Impaz and the fortune-teller Madame Fanadi, both from "Twilight Princess", and the Composer Brothers from "Ocarina of Time", who researched magical music for the Royal Family before killing themselves when Ganondorf demanded the fruits of their labour. They are met in an undead form, as Poes, in the Kakariko Graveyard.
In "", the ancient Sheikah invented the Divine Beasts and Guardians 10,000 years before the Great Calamity to fight Ganon. The Sheikah reside primarily in Kakariko Village, but can be found elsewhere, such as the two Ancient Tech Labs or in Tarrey Town. An old painter named Pikango left Kakariko Village many years ago to search for beautiful landscapes, and uses his knowledge to help Link locate his memories. Link also possesses a Sheikah Slate, a piece of ancient technology that can be upgraded with various runes. The four primary Runes are Magnesis, which can move metallic objects; Remote Bombs, circular or cube-shaped bombs that can remotely detonate once thrown or dropped; Stasis, which can freeze objects and monsters; and Cryonis, which can create icy blocks on watery surfaces.
Additionally in "Breath of the Wild" is a group of rebellious, antagonistic Sheikah known as the Yiga Clan. 10,000 years ago, after the First Great Calamity, the Sheikah split due to the king of the time exiling them out of fear of their technology. Some remained loyal, and went to live as peaceful farmers in Kakariko Village. Others felt betrayed, and turned against the kingdom, becoming a militant Sheikah group and siding with Calamity Ganon due to both now having a common enemy. They then adopted an upside-down Sheikah eye as their symbol. Just over 100 years ago, when the Calamity's return was inevitable, the militant Sheikah came out of hiding. Spearheaded by Master Kohga, whose family had lead for at least four generations, they called themselves the Yiga Clan and went on the hunt for the enemies of the Calamity, including Link and Princess Zelda, but were pushed back and forced to make a hideout in an abandoned Gerudo archaeological site. Their hideout is located in Karusa Valley in the Gerudo Highlands. They spawn throughout the world and sometimes appear as lost travelers or merchants who will attack Link if he talks to them. There are three types of Yiga Clansmen: Yiga Footsoldiers, who may ambush Link with a Duplex Bow which can fire two arrows at once, or may disguise as a Hylian, only to reveal themselves and fight with a Vicious Sickle or a Demon Carver; Yiga Blademasters, who carry around a Windcleaver, and Master Kogha, a large master of esoteric arts who waits in the Yiga Clan Hideout while his minions search for Link. He is referenced by certain disguised Yiga. One Kakariko Villager, the guard Dorian, is an ex-Yiga member. After being stationed there, he found a wife who bore two daughters with him, Koko and Cottla, all of whom made him want to change his ways; the Yiga murdered his wife when they discovered his defection.
It is also here that the Sheikah are shown as a race with diversity, with many members sporting grey, brown or blue eyes and some having varying hair colour. Only one member, Purah, the ancient researcher and older sister of Impa, is shown to have red eyes. Jerrin, wife of elderly researcher Robbie, and her son Granté are the only two members with blonde hair, and Rola, as well as the entire Yiga Clan, exhibit black hair. Rola and as the elderly couple Steen and Trissa have brown skin; the other members have skin ranging from pale to tan.
are a mysterious race that live in the subterranean world of Subrosia in "Oracle of Seasons". They have large glowing eyes and are always seen wearing either green, blue or red hooded cloaks. There are two exceptions: Rosa, who wears a yellow cloak with a ribbon, and another unnamed yellow-clothed Subrosian who gives Link a Secret to use in "Oracle of Ages". They are shy when around people of other races and prefer to be rarely seen. They can survive in lava and use a currency made of metal rocks found in the ground called Ore Chunks.
are green-scaled lizards who reside on Crescent Island in Labrynna in "Oracle of Ages". They are known to search for valuable items and be deceitful. They are also expert gardeners which can grow scent seeds from seedlings over a course of four hundred years. They have never seen anyone from other races, so when they see Link, they think he is a Tokay without a tail and call him "Strange Tokay".
are a race that come from the Twilight Realm and first appeared in "." The Twili come from a group referred to as the Interlopers, who used awesome magic to dominate a war between Hylians for the Triforce. As well as the Triforce, they also had eyes for the Sacred Realm. Seeing this, the Golden Goddesses ordered the Light Spirits to seal their magic in the Fused Shadow; the Interlopers were then banished to the Twilight Realm, where they adapted and evolved into the Twili. One member of their race is . was also part of this race. He overthrew Midna with Ganondorf's help and helped Ganondorf take over Hyrule.
The skin tone of the Twili is mostly black while their faces, necks, and chest tend to be gray. The Twili have long limbs, necks, and heads, and great variances in appearance.
are magician creatures that wear wizard robes and often use fire and ice magic. In "The Wind Waker," they can also summon other enemies and wear toucan-like or bird-like masks and headdresses. They first appeared in "The Legend of Zelda."
"Breath of the Wild" introduced elemental Wizzrobes, who use various magical Rods to summon elemental attacks, elemental enemies or even change the weather accordingly. The regular types are the Fire, Electric and Ice Wizzrobes, however each has a more powerful counterpart. These are known as Meteo and Thunder Wizzrobes, and Blizzrobes respectively. All have the same appearance of a small, black imp with a large cloak; this cloak has a long, pointed hood to make them seem larger.
Yetis are creatures that resemble the 'real-life' yeti, but have large beaver-like tails and speak with poor grammar. The females are smaller than the males and wear an armless sweater, showing no arms or tail. and , characters who live in Snowpeak Ruins in "Twilight Princess" were . Yeto helps Link by giving him soup that heals up to eight hearts of his health.
The are a race of aquatic piscine humanoids that appear in nearly every game of the series. In the original game and "Link to the Past", Zoras were enemies that attacked Link from the water with projectiles, though the giant Zora King sells Link a pair of flippers in "A Link to the Past", allowing him to swim and to use the network of whirlpools that link far corners of Hyrule. By "Ocarina of Time", their role in most stories had changed to a neutral or friendly race. Zoras rely heavily on water, and can only live on land for limited time periods. Zoras are mostly seen gracefully swimming about and frolicking in water. Besides routine swimming and sports, Zoras also enjoy music.
Most Zoras do not wear clothing, and they are generally covered in silver scales, which give them a pale blue sheen from a distance. Where humans sometimes have long hair, average Zoras have rear-hanging caudal extensions that resemble tails. These tails undulate periodically, which gives a Zora's head the unique semblance of a fish. They are sometimes depicted as having webbed feet and hands. They lack ears in the traditional sense, but do have pronounced noses and gills on their abdomen. Their fins can be used to fight by extending out to serve as sharp weapons. Zoras lay eggs to reproduce. Zora eggs need to be kept in cold, clean water to develop healthily, and every egg from the same clutch must be kept together for them to hatch. Newborn Zoras are tadpole-like with a circular body and a long, skinny tail ending in a fluke.
Zora government is apparently monarchical, either ruled by a king, , or queen, such as Queen from "Twilight Princess". Two different tribes exist: "river Zora" are more violent and can shoot fire, while "sea Zora" make up the friendly Zoras. The Zora Royal Family is responsible for maintaining order among their people, overseeing care for , whom they worship as a guardian god, and assuring that the waters upon which he and all creatures rely are clean and pure.
The Zora appear to be extinct in "The Wind Waker"; a sage named is encountered in spirit. They may be linked to the race, along with Princess . The Zora typically inhabit fresh water such as Zora River and Lake Hylia, while sea-dwelling Zora are known to appear in Termina ("Majora's Mask") and Labrynna ("Oracle of Ages")
In "", Link is able to inhabit the body of the Zora Mikau, who was killed by Gerudo pirates, and can use his fins in the same manner as the boomerang.
In "", Zoras are a major part of the game. Link must head to Zora's Domain in Lanayru to meet with King Dorephan and Prince Sidon. The King called for a Hylian because Zora's Domain was in danger of being washed away by Divine Beast Vah Ruta, who was at the East Reservoir Lake. Muzu, a Zora elder and the King's assistant, resents Link, because him and most Zora elders blame Link for the death of the beloved Zora Champion and Princess, Mipha. After realizing that Link has had a special connection with the princess, he tasks Link with finding 20 Shock Arrows from Ploymus Mountain, which is guarded by a Lynel. After retrieving the arrows, Link heads for the East Reservoir Lake to board Vah Ruta. Once he regains control of the beast, Mipha appears as a spirit and grants Link her healing ability. She then moves Vah Ruta to a location that isn't blocked so she can have a direct lock on Hyrule Castle and assist Link in fighting Ganon.
Note: Some creatures' outlook may vary in different titles of the series.
In their January 2010 issue, "Nintendo Power" listed Hyrule as one of the greatest Nintendo locations, citing the vast number of areas to explore, as well as referencing players' first experiences with the Lost Woods and Death Mountain as highlights of the players' adventures. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30778 |
Tulsa race massacre
The Tulsa race massacre (also called the Tulsa race riot, the Greenwood Massacre, or the Black Wall Street Massacre) took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921, when mobs of white residents attacked black residents and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has been called "the single worst incident of racial violence in American history." The attack, carried out on the ground and from private aircraft, destroyed more than 35 square blocks of the district—at that time the wealthiest black community in the United States, known as "Black Wall Street".
More than 800 people were admitted to hospitals and as many as 6,000 black residents were interned at large facilities, many for several days. The Oklahoma Bureau of Vital Statistics officially recorded 36 dead. A 2001 state commission examination of events was able to confirm 36 dead, 26 black and 10 white, based on contemporary autopsy reports, death certificates and other records. The commission gave overall estimates from 75–100 to 150–300 dead.
The massacre began over Memorial Day weekend after 19-year-old Dick Rowland, a black shoeshiner, was accused of assaulting Sarah Page, the 17-year-old white elevator operator of the nearby Drexel Building. He was taken into custody. After the arrest, rumors spread through the city that Dick Rowland was to be lynched. Upon hearing reports that a mob of hundreds of white men had gathered around the jail where Dick Rowland was being kept, a group of 75 black men, some of whom were armed, arrived at the jail with the intention of helping to ensure Dick Rowland would not be lynched. The sheriff persuaded the group of black men to leave the jail, assuring them that he had the situation under control. As the group of black men was leaving the premises, complying with the sheriff's request, a member of the mob of white men attempted to disarm one of the black men. A shot was fired, and then according to the reports of the sheriff, "all hell broke loose". At the end of the firefight, 12 people were killed: 10 white and 2 black. As news of these deaths spread throughout the city, mob violence exploded. White rioters rampaged through the black neighborhood that night and morning killing men and burning and looting stores and homes, and only around noon the next day did Oklahoma National Guard troops manage to get control of the situation by declaring martial law. About 10,000 black people were left homeless, and property damage amounted to more than $1.5 million in real estate and $750,000 in personal property (equivalent to $ million in ). Their property was never recovered nor were they compensated for it.
Many survivors left Tulsa, while black and white residents who stayed in the city were silent for decades about the terror, violence, and losses of the event. The massacre was largely omitted from local, state, and national histories.
In 1996, seventy-five years after the massacre, a bipartisan group in the state legislature authorized formation of the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921. Members were appointed to investigate events, interview survivors, hear testimony from the public, and prepare a report of events. There was an effort toward public education about these events through the process. The Commission's final report, published in 2001, said that the city had conspired with the mob of white citizens against black citizens; it recommended a program of reparations to survivors and their descendants. The state passed legislation to establish some scholarships for descendants of survivors, encourage economic development of Greenwood, and develop a memorial park in Tulsa to the massacre victims. The park was dedicated in 2010. In 2020, the massacre became part of the Oklahoma school curriculum.
In 1921, Oklahoma had a racially, socially, and politically tense atmosphere. The First World War had ended in 1918 with the return of many ex-servicemen, and the American Civil War was still in living memory, even though it had ended in 1865. Civil rights for disenfranchised peoples were lacking and the Ku Klux Klan was resurgent (primarily through the wildly popular movie "Birth of a Nation", which was released in 1916). Tulsa, as a booming oil city, supported a large number of affluent, educated and professional African Americans. This combination of factors played a part in the rising tensions which were to culminate in the massacre.
The territory of Northern Oklahoma had been established for resettlement of Native Americans from the Southeast, some of whom had owned slaves. Other areas had received many settlers from the South whose families had been slaveholders before the Civil War. Oklahoma was admitted as a state on November 16, 1907. The newly created state legislature passed racial segregation laws, commonly known as Jim Crow laws, as its first order of business. The 1907 Oklahoma Constitution did not call for strict segregation; delegates feared that, should they include such restrictions, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt would veto the document. Still, the very first law passed by the new legislature segregated all rail travel, and voter registration rules effectively disenfranchised most blacks. That meant they were also barred from serving on juries or in local office. These laws were enforced until after passage of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. Major cities passed additional restrictions.
In the early 20th century, lynchings were common in Oklahoma as part of a continuing effort to assert and maintain white supremacy. Between the declaration of statehood and the massacre thirteen years later, at least 31 persons were lynched in Oklahoma; 26 were black, and nearly all were men or boys. During the twenty years following the massacre, the number of known lynchings statewide fell to two.
On August 4, 1916, Tulsa passed an ordinance that mandated residential segregation by forbidding blacks or whites from residing on any block where three-fourths or more of the residents were of the other race. Although the United States Supreme Court declared such an ordinance unconstitutional the following year (see "Buchanan v. Warley"), Tulsa and many other border and Southern cities continued to establish and enforce segregation for the next three decades.
As returning veterans tried to reenter the labor market following World War I, social tensions and anti-black sentiment increased in cities where job competition was high. At the same time, black veterans pushed to have their civil rights enforced, believing they had earned full citizenship by military service. In what became known as the "Red Summer" of 1919, industrial cities across the Midwest and Northeast experienced severe race riots in which whites, sometimes including local authorities, attacked black communities. In Chicago and some other cities, blacks defended themselves for the first time with force but were often outnumbered.
Northeastern Oklahoma was in an economic slump that increased unemployment. Since 1915, the Ku Klux Klan had been growing in urban chapters across the country. Its first significant appearance in Oklahoma occurred on August 12, 1921. By the end of 1921, Tulsa had 3,200 residents in the Klan by one estimate. The city's population was 72,000 in 1920.
Greenwood was a district in Tulsa organized in 1906 following Booker T. Washington's 1905 tour of Arkansas, Indian Territory and Oklahoma. It was a namesake of the Greenwood District that Washington had established as his own demonstration in Tuskegee, Alabama, five years earlier. Greenwood became so prosperous that it came to be known as "the Negro Wall Street" (now commonly referred to as "the Black Wall Street"). Blacks had created their own businesses and services in this enclave, including several grocers, two newspapers, two movie theaters, nightclubs, and numerous churches. Black professionals, including doctors, dentists, lawyers, and clergy, served their peers. Most blacks lived together in the district and during his trip to Tulsa in 1905, Washington encouraged the co-operation, economic independence and excellence being demonstrated there. Greenwood residents selected their own leaders and raised capital there to support economic growth. In the surrounding areas of northeastern Oklahoma, blacks also enjoyed relative prosperity and participated in the oil boom.
It is alleged that at some time about or after 4 p.m., 19-year-old Dick Rowland, a black shoeshiner employed at a Main Street shine parlor, entered the only elevator of the nearby Drexel Building at 319 South Main Street to use the top-floor restroom, which was restricted to black people. He encountered Sarah Page, the 17-year-old white elevator operator on duty. The two likely knew each other at least by sight, as this building was the only one nearby with a restroom which Rowland had express permission to use, and the elevator operated by Page was the only one in the building. A clerk at Renberg's, a clothing store on the first floor of the Drexel, heard what sounded like a woman's scream and saw a young black man rushing from the building. The clerk went to the elevator and found Page in what he said was a distraught state. Thinking she had been assaulted, he summoned the authorities.
The 2001 Oklahoma Commission Final Report notes that it was unusual for both Rowland and Page to be working downtown on Memorial Day, when most stores and businesses were closed. It suggests that Rowland had a simple accident, such as tripping and steadying himself against the girl, or perhaps they had a quarrel.
A common explanation often offered is that Dick Rowland tripped as he got onto the elevator and, as he tried to catch his fall, he grabbed onto the arm of Sarah Page, who then screamed.
Although the police questioned Page, no written account of her statement has been found. However, the police determined that what happened between the two teenagers was something less than an assault. The authorities conducted a low-key investigation rather than launching a man-hunt for her alleged assailant. Page told the police that Rowland had grabbed her arm, but nothing more, and would not press charges.
Regardless of whether assault had occurred, Rowland had reason to be fearful. At the time, such an accusation alone put him at risk for attack by angry mobs of white people. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Rowland fled to his mother's house in the Greenwood neighborhood.
On June 3 the "Morning Tulsa Daily World" reported major points of their interview with Deputy Sheriff Barney Cleaver concerning the events leading up to the Tulsa riot. Cleaver was deputy sheriff for Okmulgee County and not under the supervision of the city police department; his duties mainly involved enforcing law among the "colored people" of Greenwood but he also operated a business as a private investigator. He had previously been dismissed as a city police investigator for assisting county officers with a drug raid at Gurley's Hotel but not reporting his involvement to his superiors. He had considerable land holdings and suffered tremendous financial damages as a result of the riot. Among his holdings were several residential properties and Cleaver Hall, a large community gathering place and function hall. He reported personally evicting a number of armed criminals who had taken to barricading themselves within properties he owned. Upon eviction, they merely moved to Cleaver Hall. Cleaver reported that the majority of violence started at Cleaver Hall along with the rioters barricaded inside. Charles Page offered to build him a new home.
The "Morning Tulsa Daily World" stated, "Cleaver named Will Robinson, a dope peddler and all around bad negro, as the leader of the armed blacks. He has also the names of three others who were in the armed gang at the court house. The rest of the negroes participating in the fight, he says, were former servicemen who had an exaggerated idea of their own importance... They did not belong here, had no regular employment and were simply a floating element with seemingly no ambition in life but to foment trouble." O. W. Gurley, owner of Gurley's Hotel, identified the following men by name as arming themselves and gathering in his hotel: Will Robinson, Peg Leg Taylor, Bud Bassett, Henry Van Dyke, Chester Ross, Jake Mayes, O. B. Mann, John Suplesox, Fatty, Jack Scott, Lee Mable, John Bowman and W. S. Weaver.
On the morning after the incident, Henry Carmichael, a white detective, and Henry C. Pack, a black patrolman, located Rowland on Greenwood Avenue and detained him. Pack was one of two black officers on the city's police force, which then included about 45 officers. Rowland was initially taken to the Tulsa city jail at First and Main. Late that day, Police Commissioner J. M. Adkison said he had received an anonymous telephone call threatening Rowland's life. He ordered Rowland transferred to the more secure jail on the top floor of the Tulsa County Courthouse.
Rowland was well known among attorneys and other legal professionals within the city, many of whom knew Rowland through his work as a shoeshiner. Some witnesses later recounted hearing several attorneys defend Rowland in their conversations with one another. One of the men said, "Why, I know that boy, and have known him a good while. That's not in him."
The "Tulsa Tribune", one of two white-owned papers published in Tulsa, broke the story in that afternoon's edition with the headline: "Nab Negro for Attacking Girl In an Elevator", describing the alleged incident. According to some witnesses, the same edition of the "Tribune" included an editorial warning of a potential lynching of Rowland, titled "To Lynch Negro Tonight". The paper was known at the time to have a "sensationalist" style of news writing. All original copies of that issue of the paper have apparently been destroyed, and the relevant page is missing from the microfilm copy. The Tulsa Race Riot Commission in 1997 offered a reward for a copy of the editorial, which went unclaimed. Other newspapers of the time like the "Black Dispatch" and the "Tulsa World" did not call attention to any such editorial after the event. So, the exact content of the column — and whether it existed at all — remains in dispute. However, James Patton, Chief of Detectives, immediately following the riots, attributed them entirely to the newspaper account, and went so far as to say, "If the facts in the story as told the police had only been printed I do not think there would have been any riot whatsoever."
The afternoon edition of the "Tribune" hit the streets shortly after 3 p.m., and soon news spread of a potential lynching. By 4 p.m., local authorities were on alert. White residents began congregating at and near the Tulsa County Courthouse. By sunset at 7:34 p.m., the several hundred white residents assembled outside the courthouse appeared to have the makings of a lynch mob. Willard M. McCullough, the newly elected sheriff of Tulsa County, was determined to avoid events such as the 1920 lynching of white murder suspect Roy Belton in Tulsa, which had occurred during the term of his predecessor. The sheriff took steps to ensure the safety of Rowland. McCullough organized his deputies into a defensive formation around Rowland, who was terrified. One of Scott Ellsworth's references in the 2001 commission report: The "Guthrie Daily Leader" reported that Rowland had been taken to the county jail before crowds started to gather. The sheriff positioned six of his men, armed with rifles and shotguns, on the roof of the courthouse. He disabled the building's elevator, and had his remaining men barricade themselves at the top of the stairs with orders to shoot any intruders on sight. The sheriff went outside and tried to talk the crowd into going home, but to no avail. According to an account by Scott Ellsworth, the sheriff was "hooted down".
About 8:20 p.m., three white men entered the courthouse, demanding that Rowland be turned over to them. Although vastly outnumbered by the growing crowd out on the street, Sheriff McCullough turned the men away.
A few blocks away on Greenwood Avenue, members of the black community gathered to discuss the situation at Gurley's Hotel. Given the recent lynching of Belton, a white man accused of murder, they believed that Rowland was greatly at risk. Many black residents were determined to prevent the crowd from lynching Rowland, but they were divided about tactics. Young World War I veterans prepared for a battle by collecting guns and ammunition. Older, more prosperous men feared a destructive confrontation that likely would cost them dearly. O. W. Gurley gave a sworn statement to the Grand Jury that he tried to convince the men that there would be no lynching but that they had responded that Sheriff McCullough had personally told them their presence was required. About 9:30 p.m., a group of approximately 50–60 black men, armed with rifles and shotguns, arrived at the jail to support the sheriff and his deputies in defending Rowland from the mob. Corroborated by ten witnesses, attorney James Luther submitted to the grand jury that they were following the orders of Sheriff McCullough who publicly denied he gave any orders:
Having seen the armed blacks, some of the more than 1,000 whites who had been at the courthouse went home for their own guns. Others headed for the National Guard armory at Sixth Street and Norfolk Avenue, where they planned to arm themselves. The armory contained a supply of small arms and ammunition. Major James Bell of the 180th Infantry Regiment had already learned of the mounting situation downtown and the possibility of a break-in which he consequently took measures to prevent. He called the commanders of the three National Guard units in Tulsa, who ordered all the Guard members to put on their uniforms and report quickly to the armory. When a group of whites arrived and began pulling at the grating over a window, Bell went outside to confront the crowd of 300 to 400 men. Bell told them that the Guard members inside were armed and prepared to shoot anyone who tried to enter. After this show of force, the crowd withdrew from the armory.
At the courthouse, the crowd had swollen to nearly 2,000, many of them now armed. Several local leaders, including Reverend Charles W. Kerr, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, tried to dissuade mob action. The chief of police, John A. Gustafson, later claimed that he tried to talk the crowd into going home.
Anxiety on Greenwood Avenue was rising. Many blacks worried about the safety of Rowland. Small groups of armed black men ventured toward the courthouse in automobiles, partly for reconnaissance, and to demonstrate they were prepared to take necessary action to protect Rowland.
Many white men interpreted these actions as a "Negro uprising" and became concerned. Eyewitnesses reported gunshots, presumably fired into the air, increasing in frequency during the evening.
In Greenwood, rumors began to fly—in particular, a report that whites were storming the courthouse. Shortly after 10 pm, a second, larger group of approximately 75 armed black men decided to go to the courthouse. They offered their support to the sheriff, who declined their help. According to witnesses, a white man is alleged to have told one of the armed black men to surrender his pistol. The man refused, and a shot was fired. That first shot may have been accidental, or meant as a warning; it was a catalyst for an exchange of gunfire.
The gunshots triggered an almost immediate response by whites in the crowd, many of whom fired on the blacks, who then fired back at the whites. The first "battle" was said to last a few seconds or so, but took a toll, as ten whites and two blacks lay dead or dying in the street. The black contingent retreated toward Greenwood. A rolling gunfight ensued. The armed white mob pursued the armed black mob toward Greenwood, with many stopping to loot local stores for additional weapons and ammunition. Along the way, bystanders, many of whom were leaving a movie theater after a show, were caught off guard by the mobs and fled. Panic set in as the white mob began firing on any black people in the crowd. The white mob also shot and killed at least one white man in the confusion.
At around 11 p.m., members of the National Guard unit began to assemble at the armory to organize a plan to subdue the rioters. Several groups were deployed downtown to set up guard at the courthouse, police station, and other public facilities. Members of the local chapter of the American Legion joined in on patrols of the streets. The forces appeared to have been deployed to protect the white districts adjacent to Greenwood. The National Guard rounded up numerous black people and took them to the Convention Hall on Brady Street for detention.
Many prominent white Tulsans also participated in the riot, including Tulsa founder and Ku Klux Klan member W. Tate Brady, who participated in the riot as a night watchman. This Land Press reported that W. Tate Brady had in 1917 participated and led the tarring and feathering of a group of men. The article stated that police, "delivered the convicted men into the custody of the black-robed Knights of Liberty." The provided document attached to the article states, "I believe the circumstantial evidence is sufficient to prevent any of them from wanting to give anyone any trouble in the way of lawsuits...all made the same statement with emphasis that Tate Brady put on the tar and feathers in the 'name of the women and children of Belgium.' The same is true as to the part that Chief of Police Ed Lucas took. Not all the witnesses said they would swear in court as to...[document incomplete]". The since uncovered remainder of the document continues, "It is a question as to what extent I could go in establishing beyond a doubt the persons in the mob since their disguise with the robes and masks was complete. I doubt if I could do it in a court in Oklahoma at this time." In the "Tulsa Daily World" article about the incident, the victims were reported to be suspected German spies, referred to as I.W.W.'s. "Harlows Weekly" also explains the contemporary connection between Belgium, the I.W.W. and the Knights of Liberty. The article sympathetically explains the actions as economically and politically motivated rather than racially motivated. A Kansas detective reported over 200 members of the I.W.W. and their affiliates migrated to Oklahoma to organize an open rebellion among the working class against the war effort planned for November 1, 1917. It was reported that police beat the I.W.W. members before delivering them to the Knights of Liberty. The Tulsa Daily World reported that none of the policemen could identify any of the hooded men. The Tulsa Daily World article states that the policemen were kidnapped, forced to drive the prisoners to a ravine and forced to watch the entire ordeal at gunpoint. Previous reports regarding Brady's character seem favorable and he hired black employees in his businesses. Brady married a Cherokee woman and fought for Cherokee claims against the U.S. government.
At around midnight, white rioters again assembled outside the courthouse. It was a smaller group but more organized and determined. They shouted in support of a lynching. When they attempted to storm the building, the sheriff and his deputies turned them away and dispersed them.
Throughout the early morning hours, groups of armed whites and blacks squared off in gunfights. At this point the fighting was concentrated along sections of the Frisco tracks, a dividing line between the black and white commercial districts. A rumor circulated that more blacks were coming by train from Muskogee to help with an invasion of Tulsa. At one point, passengers on an incoming train were forced to take cover on the floor of the train cars, as they had arrived in the midst of crossfire, with the train taking hits on both sides.
Small groups of whites made brief forays by car into Greenwood, indiscriminately firing into businesses and residences. They often received return fire. Meanwhile, white rioters threw lighted oil rags into several buildings along Archer Street, igniting them.
At around 1 a.m., the white mob began setting fires, mainly in businesses on commercial Archer Street at the southern edge of the Greenwood district. As crews from the Tulsa Fire Department arrived to put out fires, they were turned away at gunpoint. Scott Elsworth makes the same claim, but his reference makes no mention of firefighters. Parrish gave only praise for the national guard. Another reference Elsworth gives to support the claim of holding firefighters at gunpoint is only a summary of events in which they suppressed the firing of guns by the rioters and disarmed them of their firearms. Yet another of his references states that they were fired upon by the white mob, "It would mean a fireman's life to turn a stream of water on one of those negro buildings. They shot at us all morning when we were trying to do something but none of my men were hit. There is not a chance in the world to get through that mob into the negro district." By 4 a.m., an estimated two dozen black-owned businesses had been set ablaze.
As news traveled among Greenwood residents in the early morning hours, many began to take up arms in defense of their neighborhood, while others began a mass exodus from the city. Throughout the night both sides continued fighting, sometimes only sporadically.
Upon sunrise, around 5 a.m., a train whistle sounded (Hirsch said it was a siren). Some rioters believed this sound to be a signal for the rioters to launch an all-out assault on Greenwood. A white man stepped out from behind the Frisco depot and was fatally shot by a sniper in Greenwood. Crowds of rioters poured from their shelter, on foot and by car, into the streets of the black neighborhood. Five white men in a car led the charge, but were killed by a fusillade of gunfire before they had traveled one block.
Overwhelmed by the sheer number of white attackers, the blacks retreated north on Greenwood Avenue to the edge of town. Chaos ensued as terrified residents fled. The rioters shot indiscriminately and killed many residents along the way. Splitting into small groups, they began breaking into houses and buildings, looting. Several residents later testified the rioters broke into occupied homes and ordered the residents out to the street, where they could be driven or forced to walk to detention centers.
A rumor spread among the rioters that the new Mount Zion Baptist Church was being used as a fortress and armory. Purportedly twenty caskets full of rifles had been delivered to the church, though no evidence was ever found.
Numerous eyewitnesses described airplanes carrying white assailants, who fired rifles and dropped firebombs on buildings, homes, and fleeing families. The privately owned aircraft were dispatched from the nearby Curtiss-Southwest Field outside Tulsa.
Law enforcement officials later said that the planes were to provide reconnaissance and protect against a "Negro uprising." Law enforcement personnel were thought to be aboard at least some flights. Eyewitness accounts, such as testimony from the survivors during Commission hearings and a manuscript by eyewitness and attorney Buck Colbert Franklin discovered in 2015, said that on the morning of June 1, at least "a dozen or more" planes circled the neighborhood and dropped "burning turpentine balls" on an office building, a hotel, a filling station and multiple other buildings. Men also fired rifles at young and old black residents, gunning them down in the street.
Richard S. Warner concluded in his submission to The Oklahoma Commission that contrary to later reports by claimed eyewitnesses of seeing explosions, there was no reliable evidence to support such attacks. Warner noted that while a number of newspapers targeted at black readers heavily reported the use of nitroglycerin, turpentine and rifles from the planes, many cited anonymous sources or second-hand accounts. Beryl Ford, one of the preeminent historians of the disaster, concluded from his large collection of photographs that there was no evidence of any building damaged by explosions. Danney Goble commended Warner on his efforts and supported his conclusions. State representative Don Ross (born in Tulsa in 1941), however, dissented from the evidence presented in the report concluding that bombs were in fact dropped from planes during the violence.
In 2015, a previously unknown written eyewitness account of the events of May 31, 1921 was discovered and subsequently obtained by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. The 10-page typewritten manuscript was authored by Buck Colbert Franklin, noted Oklahoma attorney and father of John Hope Franklin.
Notable quotes include:
Franklin stated that every time he saw a white man shot, he "felt happy" and he "swelled with pride and hope for the race."
Franklin reported seeing multiple machine guns firing at night and hearing 'thousands and thousands of guns' being fired simultaneously from all directions. He states that he was arrested by "a thousand boys, it seemed...firing their guns every step they took."
As unrest spread to other parts of the city, many middle class white families who employed black people in their homes as live-in cooks and servants were accosted by white rioters. They demanded the families turn over their employees to be taken to detention centers around the city. Many white families complied, and those who refused were subjected to attacks and vandalism in turn.
Adjutant General Charles Barrett of the Oklahoma National Guard arrived with 109 troops from Oklahoma City by special train about 9:15 a.m.. Ordered in by the governor, he could not legally act until he had contacted all the appropriate local authorities, including the mayor T. D. Evans, the sheriff, and the police chief. Meanwhile, his troops paused to eat breakfast. Barrett summoned reinforcements from several other Oklahoma cities.
By this time, thousands of black residents had fled the city; another 4,000 persons had been rounded up and detained at various centers. Under the martial law established that day, the detainees were required to carry identification cards. As many as 6,000 black Greenwood residents were interned at three local facilities: Convention Hall, now known as the Brady Theater, the Tulsa County Fairgrounds (then located about a mile northeast of Greenwood), and McNulty Park (a baseball stadium at Tenth Street and Elgin Avenue).
Barrett declared martial law at 11:49 a.m., and by noon the troops had managed to suppress most of the remaining violence. A 1921 letter from an officer of the Service Company, Third Infantry, Oklahoma National Guard, who arrived May 31, 1921, reported numerous events related to suppression of the riot:
Captain John W. McCune reported that stockpiled ammunition within the burning structures began to explode which may have further contributed to casualties.
Martial law was withdrawn Friday afternoon, June 4, 1921 under Field Order No. 7.
The massacre was covered by national newspapers and the reported number of deaths varies widely. On June 1, 1921, the "Tulsa Tribune" reported that nine white people and 68 black people had died in the riot, but shortly afterwards it changed this number to a total of 176 dead. The next day, the same paper reported the count as nine white people and 21 black people. The "Los Angeles Express" headline said "175 Killed, Many Wounded". The "New York Times" said that 77 people had been killed, including 68 black people, but it later lowered the total to 33. The "Richmond Times Dispatch" of Virginia reported that 85 people (including 25 white people) were killed; it also reported that the Police Chief had reported to Governor Robertson that the total was 75; and that a Police Major put the figure at 175. The Oklahoma Department of Vital Statistics count put the number of deaths at 36 (26 black and 10 white). very few people, if any, died as a direct result of the fire. Official state records recorded only five deaths by conflagration for the entire state in the year of 1921.
Walter Francis White of the N.A.A.C.P. traveled to Tulsa from New York and reported that, although officials and undertakers said that the fatalities numbered ten white and 21 colored, he estimated the number of the dead to be 50 whites and between 150 and 200 Negroes; he also reported that ten white men were killed on Tuesday; six white men drove into the black section and never came out, and thirteen whites were killed on Wednesday; he reported that a major of the Salvation Army in Tulsa, O.T. Johnson said that 37 negroes were employed as gravediggers to bury 120 negroes in individual graves without coffins on Friday and Saturday. The Oklahoma Commission described Johnson's statement being 150 graves and over three dozen diggers. Ground penetrating radar was used to investigate the sites purported to contain these mass graves. Multiple eyewitness reports and 'oral histories' suggested the graves could have been dug at three different cemeteries across the city. The sites were examined and no evidence of ground disturbance indicative of mass graves was found. However, at one site, ground disturbance was found in a five-meter squared area, but cemetery records indicate that three graves had been dug and bodies buried within this envelope before the riot.
Oklahoma's 2001 Commission into the riot provides multiple contradicting estimates. D. Goble estimates 100–300 (also stating right after that no one was prosecuted even though nearly a hundred were indicted), and J. H. Franklin and S. Ellsworth only estimate at least 75–100 and describe some of the higher estimates as dubious as the low estimates. C. Snow was able to confirm 39 casualties all listed as male although four were unidentifiable. 26 were black and 13 were white. The thirteen white fatalities were all taken to hospitals. Eleven of them had come from outside of Oklahoma and possibly as many as half were petroleum industry workers. Only eight of the confirmed 26 black fatalities were brought to hospitals, and as hospitals were segregated, and with the black Frissell Memorial Hospital having burned down, the only place the black injured were treated was at the basement of Morningside Hospital. Several hundred were injured.
The Red Cross, in their preliminary overview, mentioned wide-ranging external estimates of 55 to 300 dead; however, due to the hurried nature of undocumented burials they declined to suggest an estimate of their own stating, "The number of dead is a matter of conjecture." The Red Cross registered 8,624 persons, recorded 1,256 residences burned and a further 215 residences looted as a part of their relief effort. 183 people were hospitalized, mostly for gunshot wounds or burns (they differentiate in their records on the basis of triage category not the type of wound) while a further 531 required first aid or surgical treatment with an estimated 10,000 persons left homeless. 8 miscarriages were attributed to be a result of the tragedy. 19 died in care between June 1 and the 30th of December.
The commercial section of Greenwood was destroyed. Losses included 191 businesses, a junior high school, several churches, and the only hospital in the district. The Red Cross reported that 1,256 houses were burned and another 215 were looted but not burned. The Tulsa Real Estate Exchange estimated property losses amounted to US$1.5 million in real estate and $750,000 in personal property (equivalent to a total of $ million in ).
The Red Cross estimated that 10,000 people, mostly black, were made homeless by the destruction. Over the next year, local citizens filed more than US$1.8 million (equivalent to $ million in ) in riot-related claims against the city by June 6, 1922.
By June 6, the Associated Press reported that a citizens' Public Safety Committee had been established, made up of 250 white men who vowed to protect the city and put down any more disturbance. A white man was shot and killed that day after he failed to stop as ordered by a National Guardsman.
Governor James B. A. Robertson had gone to Tulsa during the riot to ensure order was restored. Before returning to the capital, he ordered an inquiry of events, especially of the City and Sheriff's Office. He called for a Grand Jury to be empaneled, and Judge Valjean Biddison said that its investigation would begin June 8. The jury was picked by June 9. Judge Biddison expected that the State Attorney General would call numerous witnesses, both black and white, given the large scale of the riot.
State Attorney General S.P. Freeling initiated the investigation, and witnesses were heard over 12 days. In the end, the all-white jury attributed the riot to the black mobs, while noting that law enforcement officials had failed in preventing the riot. A total of 27 cases were brought before the court, and the jury indicted more than 85 individuals. In the end, no one was convicted of charges for the deaths, injuries or property damage.
On June 3, a large group of over 1,000 businessmen and civic leaders met, resolving to form a committee to raise funds and aid in rebuilding Greenwood. Judge J. Martin, a former mayor of Tulsa, was chosen as the chairman of the group. He said at the mass meeting:
Despite this promise of funding, many blacks spent the winter of 1921–1922 in tents as they worked to rebuild.
Charles Page was commended for his philanthropic efforts in the wake of the riot in the assistance of 'destitute blacks.'
A group of influential white developers persuaded the city to pass a fire ordinance that would have prohibited many blacks from rebuilding in Greenwood. Their intention was to redevelop Greenwood for more business and industrial use, and force blacks further to the edge of the city for residences. The case was litigated and appealed to the Oklahoma Supreme Court by Buck Colbert Franklin, where the ordinance was ruled as unconstitutional. Most of the promised funding was never raised for the black residents, and they struggled to rebuild after the violence. Willows, the regional director of the Red Cross noted this in his report, explaining his slow initial progress to facilitate the rehabilitation of the refugees. The fire code was officially intended to prevent another tragedy by banning wooden frame construction houses in place of previously burnt homes. A concession was granted to allow temporary wooden frame dwellings while a new building which would meet the more restrictive fire code was being constructed. This was quickly halted as residents within two weeks had started to erect full sized wooden frame dwellings in contravention of the agreement. It took a further two-month delay securing the court decision to reinstate the previous fire code. Willows heavily criticized the Tulsa city officials for interfering in his efforts for their role in the Public Welfare Committee which first sought to rezone the "burned area" as industrial or construct a union station in its place with no consideration for the refugees. Then again for the dissolution of the Public Welfare Committee in favor of the formation of the Reconstruction Committee which simply failed to formulate a single plan, leaving the displaced residents prohibited from beginning reconstruction efforts for several months.
Despite the Red Cross' best efforts to assist with reconstruction of Greenwood's residential area, the considerably altered present-day layout of the district and its surrounding neighborhoods and the extensive redevelopment of Greenwood by people unaffiliated with the neighborhood prior to the riot stand as proof that the Red Cross relief efforts had limited success.
Tulsa's main industries at the time of the riot were banking (BOK Financial Corporation), administrative (PennWell, ONEOK), and engineering (Skelly Oil) services for oil companies, earning Tulsa the title of "Oil Capital of the World." Joshua Cosden is also regarded as a founder of the city, having constructed the tallest building in Tulsa, the Cosden Building. The construction of the Cosden Building and Union Depot were overseen by the Manhattan Construction Company, at the time, based in Tulsa. Francis Rooney is the great grandson and beneficiary of the estate of Laurence H. Rooney, founder of the Manhattan Construction Company.
City planners immediately saw the fire that destroyed homes and businesses across Greenwood as a fortunate event for advancing their objectives, meanwhile showing a complete disregard for the welfare of affected residents. Plans were immediately made to rezone 'The Burned Area' for industrial use. The Tulsa Daily World reported that the mayor and city commissioners expressed that, "a large industrial section will be found desirable in causing a wider separation between negroes and whites." The Reconstruction committee organized a forum to discuss their proposal with community leaders and stakeholders. Naming, among others, O.W. Gurley, Rev. H.T.F. Johnson and Barney Cleaver as participants in the forum, it was reported that all members were in agreement with the plan to redevelop the burned district as an industrial section and agreed that the proposed union station project was desirable. '...not a note of dissension was expressed.' The article states that these community leaders would again meet at the First Baptist Church in the following days. The Black Dispatch describes the content of the following meeting at the First Baptist Church. The reconstruction committee had intended to have the black landholders sign over their property to a holding company managed by black representatives on behalf of the city but which was to be turned over to a white appraisal committee which would pay residents for the residential zoned land at the lower industrial zoned value in advance of the rezoning. Professor J.W. Hughes addressed the white reconstruction committee members in opposition to their proposition, coining a slogan which would come to galvanize the community, "I'm going to hold what I have until I get What I've lost."
Construction of the Tulsa Union Depot, a large central rail hub connecting three major railroads, began in Greenwood less than two years after the riot. Prior to the riot, construction had already been underway for a smaller rail hub nearby. However, in the aftermath of the riot, land on which homes and businesses had been destroyed by the fires suddenly became available, allowing for a larger train depot near the heart of the city to be built in Greenwood instead.
Chief Chuck Jordan described the conduct of the 1921 Tulsa Police as, "...the police department did not do their job then, y'know, they just didn't." Parrish, an African-American citizen of Tulsa, summarized the lawlessness in the state of Oklahoma as a contributing factor in 1922 as, "if...it were not for the profitable alliance of politics and vice or professional crime, the tiny spark which is the beginning of all these outrages would be promptly extinguished." Clark, a prominent Oklahoma historian and law professor completed his doctoral dissertation in law on the subject of lawlessness in Oklahoma specifically on this period of time and how lawlessness led to the rise of the second KKK in order to illustrate the need for effective law enforcement and a functional judiciary.
Chief of Police John A. Gustafson was the subject of a vice investigation. Official proceedings began on June 6, 1921. He was prosecuted on multiple counts: refusing to enforce prohibition, refusing to enforce anti-prostitution laws, operating a stolen automobile laundering racket and allowing known automobile thieves to escape justice for the purpose of extorting the citizens of Tulsa for rewards relating to their return, repurposing vehicles for their own use or sale, operating a fake detective agency for the purpose of billing the city of Tulsa for investigative duties he was already being paid for as chief of police, failing to enforce gun laws, and failure to take any action at all during the riots.
The Attorney General of Oklahoma received a number of letters alleging members of the police force had conspired with members of the justice system to threaten witnesses in corruption trials stemming from the Grand Jury investigations. In the letters various members of the public requested the presence of the state attorney general at the trial. An assistant of the attorney general replied to one such letter by stating that their budget was too stretched to respond, and recommended instead that the citizens of Tulsa simply vote for new officers.
Gustafson was found to have a long history of fraud predating his membership of the Tulsa Police Department. His previous partner in his detective agency, Phil Kirk, had been convicted of blackmail. Gustafson's fake detective agency ran up high billings on the police account. Investigators noted that many blackmail letters had been sent to members of the community from the agency. One particularly disturbing case involved the frequent rape of an 11-year-old girl by her father who had since become pregnant. Instead of prosecuting, they sent a "blackhand letter."
Three days after the massacre Republican President Warren G. Harding spoke at the all-black Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. He declared, "Despite the demagogues, the idea of our oneness as Americans has risen superior to every appeal to mere class and group. And so, I wish it might be in this matter of our national problem of races." Speaking directly about the events in Tulsa, he said, "God grant that, in the soberness, the fairness, and the justice of this country, we never see another spectacle like it."
There were no convictions for any of the charges related to violence. There were decades of silence about the terror, violence, and losses of this event. The riot was largely omitted from local, state, and national histories: "The Tulsa race riot of 1921 was rarely mentioned in history books, classrooms or even in private. Blacks and whites alike grew into middle age unaware of what had taken place." It was not recognized in the "Tulsa Tribune" feature of "Fifteen Years Ago Today" or "Twenty-five Years Ago Today". A 2017 report detailing the history of the Tulsa Fire Department from 1897 until the date of publication makes no mention of the 1921 fire.
A number of people tried to document the events, gather photographs, and record the names of the dead and injured. Mary E. Jones Parrish, a young black teacher and journalist from Rochester, New York, was hired by the Inter-racial Commission to write an account of the riot. Parrish was a survivor, and wrote about her experiences and collected other accounts, gathered photographs, and compiled "a partial roster of property losses in the African American community". She published these in "Events of the Tulsa Disaster". It was the first book to be published about the riot.
The first academic account was a master's thesis written in 1946 by Loren L. Gill, a veteran of World War II, but the thesis did not circulate beyond the University of Tulsa.
In 1971, a small group of survivors gathered for a memorial service at Mount Zion Baptist Church with blacks and whites in attendance.
That same year, the Tulsa chamber of commerce decided to commemorate the riot, but when they read the accounts and saw photos gathered by Ed Wheeler, host of a radio history program, detailing the specifics of the riot, they refused to publish them. He then took his information to the two major newspapers in Tulsa, both of which also refused to run his story. His article was finally published in "Impact Magazine", a new publication aimed at black audiences, but most of Tulsa's white residents never knew about it.
In the early 1970s, "[a]long with Henry C. Whitlow, Jr., a history teacher at Booker T. Washington High School, [Mozella Franklin] Jones had not only helped to desegregate the Tulsa Historical Society, but had mounted the first-ever major exhibition on the history of African Americans in Tulsa. Moreover, she had also created at the Tulsa Historical Society the first collection of massacre photographs available to the public." While researching and sharing the history of the riot, Jones collaborated with a white woman named Ruth Sigler Avery, who was also trying to publicize accounts of the riot. The women encountered pressure, particularly among whites, to keep silent.
In 1996, as the riot's 75th anniversary neared, the state legislature authorized an Oklahoma Commission to investigate the Tulsa Race Riot by appointing individuals to study and prepare a report detailing a "historical account" of the riot. Authorization of the study "enjoyed strong support from members of both political parties and all political persuasions". The commission was originally called the "Tulsa Race Riot Commission", but in November 2018 the name was officially changed to "Tulsa Race Massacre Commission.
The commission conducted interviews and heard testimony to thoroughly document the causes and damages. The Commission arranged for archaeological, non-invasive ground surveys of Newblock Park, Oaklawn Cemetery, and Booker T. Washington Cemetery, which were identified as possible locations for mass graves of black victims of the violence. According to oral histories and other sources, such mass graves existed.
The Commission delivered its final report on February 21, 2001. The report recommended actions for substantial restitution to the black residents, listed below in order of priority:
Tulsa Race Massacre Commission arranged for archaeological, non-invasive ground surveys of Newblock Park, Oaklawn Cemetery, and Booker T. Washington Cemetery, which were identified as possible locations for mass graves of black victims of the violence. Oral histories, other sources, and timing suggested that whites would have buried blacks at the first two locations. Blacks were said to have buried black victims at the third location after the riot was over. The people buried at The Washington Cemetery, which is reserved for black people, were thought to perhaps be those who had died of their wounds after the riot had ended since it was the most distant suspected burial location from downtown.
Investigations of the three potential mass grave sites were performed in 1997 and 1998. Though the total areas could not be surveyed, preliminary data suggested there were no mass graves in these locations. In 1999 an eyewitness was found who had seen whites burying blacks at Oaklawn Cemetery. A team investigated the potential area with more equipment. In the end, searches for any mass graves were made using ground radar and other technology, followed by core sampling. The experts' report, presented to the Commission in December 2000, could not substantiate claims of mass graves in Oaklawn Cemetery, Washington Cemetery, or Newblock Park. A promising spot in Washington Cemetery had turned out to be a layer of clay, and another in Newblock Park had turned out to be an old basement. The suggestion that the bodies had been burned in the city incinerator was also discounted as unfeasible, given the incinerator's capacity and logistical considerations.
In preparation for the 100th anniversary of the massacre, state archaeologists, using ground-penetrating radar, are probing Oaklawn Cemetery for "long-rumored" mass graves. Mayor G. T. Bynum calls it "a murder investigation." After input from the public, officials from the Oklahoma Archeological Survey used three subsurface scanning techniques to survey Newblock Park, Oaklawn Cemetery, and an area known as The Canes along the Arkansas River. The Oklahoma Archeological Survey subsequently announced that they were discontinuing search efforts at Newblock Park after not finding any evidence of graves. On December 17, 2019 the team of forensic archaeologists announced they had found anomalies consistent with that of human-dug pits beneath the ground at Oaklawn Cemetery and the ground where the Interstate 244 bridge crosses the Arkansas River. They announced them as likely candidates for mass graves but further radar survey and physical excavation of the sites is needed. Researchers secured permission from the city to perform "limited excavations" to determine the contents of these sites beginning in April 2020, and while they did not expect to dig up any human remains, asserted they would treat any they find with proper respect.
In March 2001, each of the 118 known survivors of the riot still alive at the time, the youngest of whom was 85, was given a gold-plated medal bearing the state seal, as had been approved by bi-partisan state leaders.
The Tulsa Reparations Coalition, sponsored by the Center for Racial Justice, Inc., was formed on April 7, 2001 to obtain restitution for the damages suffered by Tulsa's Black community, as recommended by the Oklahoma Commission. Also that year, Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor held a "celebration of conscience" at which she apologized to survivors and gave medals to those who could be located.
On June 1, 2001, Governor Keating signed the "1921 Tulsa Race Riot Reconciliation Act" into law. The act acknowledged that the event occurred, but failed to deliver any substantial reparations to the victims or their descendants. In spite of the Oklahoma Commission's recommendation for reparations in their report on the riot, the Oklahoma state legislature opposed the request for reparations and thus did not include them in the reconciliation act. The act fell far short of the Commission's recommendations, only providing for the following:
Five elderly survivors, represented by a legal team that included Johnnie Cochran and Charles Ogletree, filed suit against the city of Tulsa and the state of Oklahoma ("Alexander, et al. v. Oklahoma, et al.") in February 2003, based on the findings of the 2001 report. Ogletree said the state and city should compensate the victims and their families "to honor their admitted obligations as detailed in the commission's report." The federal district and appellate courts dismissed the suit, citing the statute of limitations had been exceeded on the 80-year-old case. The state requires that civil rights cases be filed within two years of the event. The court did not rule at all on the issues. The Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear the appeal.
In April 2007, Ogletree appealed to the U.S. Congress to pass a bill extending the statute of limitations for the case, given the state and city's accountability for the destruction and the long suppression of material about it. The bill was introduced by John Conyers of Michigan and heard by the Judiciary Committee of the House but it did not pass. Conyers re-introduced the bill in 2009 as the John Hope Franklin Tulsa-Greenwood Race Riot Claims Accountability Act of 2009 (H.R. 1843), and in 2012. It has not gotten out of the Judiciary Committee.
A park was developed in 2010 in the Greenwood area as a memorial to victims of the riot. In October 2010, the park was named for noted historian John Hope Franklin, who was born and raised in Tulsa. He became known as a historian of the South. The park includes three statues of figures by sculptor Ed Dwight, representing "Hostility", "Humiliation" and "Hope".
An extensive curriculum on the event was provided to Oklahoma school districts in 2020.
On May 29, 2020, the eve of the 99th anniversary of the event and at the onset of the George Floyd protests, Human Rights Watch released a report titled "The Case for Reparations in Tulsa, Oklahoma: A Human Rights Argument", demanding reparations for survivors and descendants of the violence as the economic impact of the massacre is still visible in the high poverty rates and lower life expectancies in North Tulsa. Several documentary projects were also announced at this time with plans to be released for the 100th anniversary of the event, including "Black Wall Street" by Dream Hampton, and another by Salima Koroma. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30785 |
Tuatara
Tuatara are reptiles endemic to New Zealand. Although resembling most lizards, they are part of a distinct lineage, the order Rhynchocephalia. Their name derives from the Māori language, and means "peaks on the back". The single species of tuatara is the sole surviving member of its order, which originated in the Triassic period around 240 million years ago and which flourished during the Mesozoic era. Their most recent common ancestor with any other extant group is with the squamates (lizards and snakes). For this reason, tuatara are of interest in the study of the evolution of lizards and snakes, and for the reconstruction of the appearance and habits of the earliest diapsids, a group of amniote tetrapods that also includes dinosaurs (including birds) and crocodilians.
Tuatara are greenish brown and grey, and measure up to from head to tail-tip and weigh up to with a spiny crest along the back, especially pronounced in males. They have two rows of teeth in the upper jaw overlapping one row on the lower jaw, which is unique among living species. They are also unusual in having a pronounced photoreceptive eye, the third eye, which is thought to be involved in setting circadian and seasonal cycles. They are able to hear, although no external ear is present, and have unique features in their skeleton, some of them apparently evolutionarily retained from fish. Tuatara are sometimes referred to as "living fossils", which has generated significant scientific debate. While mapping its genome, researchers have discovered that the species has between 5 and 6 billion base pairs of DNA sequence, nearly twice that of humans. The tuatara ("Sphenodon punctatus") has been protected by law since 1895. A second species, the Brothers Island tuatara ("S. guntheri", Buller, 1877), was recognised in 1989, but since 2009 it has been reclassified as a subspecies ("S. p. guntheri"). Tuatara, like many of New Zealand's native animals, are threatened by habitat loss and introduced predators, such as the Polynesian rat "(Rattus exulans)". Tuatara were extinct on the mainland, with the remaining populations confined to 32 offshore islands until the first North Island release into the heavily fenced and monitored Karori Sanctuary in 2005.
During routine maintenance work at Karori Sanctuary in late 2008, a tuatara nest was uncovered, with a hatchling found the following autumn. This is thought to be the first case of tuatara successfully breeding in the wild on New Zealand's North Island in over 200 years.
Tuatara, along with other now-extinct members of the order Sphenodontia, belong to the superorder Lepidosauria, the only surviving taxon within Lepidosauromorpha. Squamates and tuatara both show caudal autotomy (loss of the tail-tip when threatened), and have transverse cloacal slits. The origin of the tuatara probably lies close to the split between the Lepidosauromorpha and the Archosauromorpha. Though tuatara resemble lizards, the similarity is superficial, because the family has several characteristics unique among reptiles. The typical lizard shape is very common for the early amniotes; the oldest known fossil of a reptile, the "Hylonomus", resembles a modern lizard.
Tuatara were originally classified as lizards in 1831 when the British Museum received a skull. The genus remained misclassified until 1867, when Albert Günther of the British Museum noted features similar to birds, turtles, and crocodiles. He proposed the order Rhynchocephalia (meaning "beak head") for the tuatara and its fossil relatives.
At one point many disparately related species were incorrectly referred to the Rhynchocephalia, resulting in what taxonomists call a "wastebasket taxon". Williston proposed the Sphenodontia to include only tuatara and their closest fossil relatives in 1925.. However, Rhynchocephalia is the older name and in widespread use today. "Sphenodon" is derived from the Greek for "wedge" (σφήν, σφηνός/"sphenos") and "tooth" (ὀδούς, ὀδόντος/"odontos").
Tuatara have been referred to as living fossils, due to a perception that they retain many basal characteristics from around the time of the squamate–rhynchocephalian split (240 MYA). Morphometric analyses of variation in jaw morphology among tuatara and extinct rhynchocephalian relatives have been argued to demonstrate morphological conservatism and support for the classification of tuatara as a 'living fossil', but the reliability of these results has been criticised and debated.. Paleontological research on rhynchocephalians indicates that the group has undergone a variety of changes throughout the Mesozoic, and the rate of molecular evolution for tuatara has been estimated to be among the fastest of any animal yet examined. Many of the niches occupied by lizards today were then held by rhychocephalians. There was even a successful group of aquatic rhychocephalians known as pleurosaurs, which differed markedly from living tuatara. Tuatara show cold-weather adaptations that allow them to thrive on the islands of New Zealand; these adaptations may be unique to tuatara since their sphenodontian ancestors lived in the much warmer climates of the Mesozoic. For instance, "Palaeopleurosaurus" appears to have had a much shorter lifespan compared to the modern tuatara. Ultimately most scientists consider the phrase 'living fossil' to be unhelpful and misleading.
A species of sphenodontine is known from the Miocene Saint Bathans Fauna. Whether it is referable to "Sphenodon" proper is not entirely clear, but is likely to be closely related to tuatara.
While there is currently considered to be only one living species of tuatara, two species were previously identified: "Sphenodon punctatus", or northern tuatara, and the much rarer "Sphenodon guntheri", or Brothers Island tuatara, which is confined to North Brother Island in Cook Strait. The specific name "punctatus" is Latin for "spotted", and "guntheri" refers to German-born British herpetologist Albert Günther. A 2009 paper re-examined the genetic bases used to distinguish the two supposed species of tuatara, and concluded they only represent geographic variants, and only one species should be recognized. Consequently, the northern tuatara was re-classified as "Sphenodon punctatus punctatus" and the Brothers Island tuatara as "Sphenodon punctatus guntheri". Individuals from Brothers Island could also not be distinguished from other modern and fossil samples based on jaw morphology.
The Brothers Island tuatara has olive brown skin with yellowish patches, while the colour of the northern tuatara ranges from olive green through grey to dark pink or brick red, often mottled, and always with white spots. In addition, the Brothers Island tuatara is considerably smaller. An extinct species of "Sphenodon" was identified in November 1885 by William Colenso, who was sent an incomplete subfossil specimen from a local coal mine. Colenso named the new species "S. diversum".
The tuatara is considered the most unspecialised living amniote; the brain and mode of locomotion resemble those of amphibians and the heart is more primitive than that of any other reptile. The lungs have a single chamber and lack bronchi.
Both species are sexually dimorphic, males being larger. Adult "S. punctatus" males measure in length and females . The San Diego Zoo even cites a length of up to . Males weigh up to , and females up to . Brother's Island tuatara are slightly smaller, weighing up to 660 g (1.3 lb).
The tuatara's greenish brown colour matches its environment, and can change over its lifetime. Tuatara shed their skin at least once per year as adults, and three or four times a year as juveniles. Tuatara sexes differ in more than size. The spiny crest on a tuatara's back, made of triangular, soft folds of skin, is larger in males, and can be stiffened for display. The male abdomen is narrower than the female's.
The ancestor of diapsids is considered to have possessed a skull with two openings in the temporal region – upper and lower temporal fenestra on each side of the skull bounded by complete arches. The upper jaw is firmly attached to the posterior of skull. This makes for a very rigid, inflexible construction. The skull of the tuatara resembles this condition However, the lower temporal bar (sometimes called the cheek bone) is incomplete in some fossil Rhynchocephalia indicating that its presence in the tuatara is secondary
The tip of the upper jaw is beak-like and separated from the remainder of the jaw by a notch . There is a single row of teeth in the lower jaw and a double row in the upper, with the bottom row fitting perfectly between the two upper rows when the mouth is closed.. This specific tooth arrangement is not seen in any other reptile ; although most snakes have a double row of teeth in their upper jaws, their arrangement and function is different from the tuatara.
The structure of the jaw joint allows the lower jaw to slide forwards after it has closed between the two upper rows of teeth. This mechanism allows the jaws to shear through chitin and bone.
It is a common misconception that tuatara do not have teeth and instead have sharp projections on the jaw bone. However, the tooth like structures are indeed teeth. Histology shows that they are made of enamel and dentine and that they have pulp cavities.
The brain of "Sphenodon" fills only half of the volume of its endocranium. This proportion has actually been used by paleontologists trying to estimate the volume of dinosaur brains based on fossils. However, the proportion of the tuatara endocranium occupied by its brain may not be a very good guide to the same proportion in Mesozoic dinosaurs since modern birds are surviving dinosaurs but have brains which occupy a much greater relative volume in the endocranium.
The eyes can focus independently, and are specialised with three types of photoreceptive cells, all with fine structural characteristics of retinal cone cells used for both day and night vision, and a tapetum lucidum which reflects onto the retina to enhance vision in the dark. There is also a third eyelid on each eye, the nictitating membrane.
The tuatara has a third eye on the top of its head called the parietal eye. It has its own lens, a parietal plug which resembles a cornea, retina with rod-like structures, and degenerated nerve connection to the brain. The parietal eye is visible only in hatchlings, which have a translucent patch at the top centre of the skull. After four to six months, it becomes covered with opaque scales and pigment. Its purpose is unknown, but it may be useful in absorbing ultraviolet rays to produce vitamin D, as well as to determine light/dark cycles, and help with thermoregulation. Of all extant tetrapods, the parietal eye is most pronounced in the tuatara. It is part of the pineal complex, another part of which is the pineal gland, which in tuatara secretes melatonin at night. Some salamanders have been shown to use their pineal bodies to perceive polarised light, and thus determine the position of the sun, even under cloud cover, aiding navigation.
Together with turtles, the tuatara has the most primitive hearing organs among the amniotes. There is no eardrum and no earhole, they lack a tympanum, and the middle ear cavity is filled with loose tissue, mostly adipose (fatty) tissue. The stapes comes into contact with the quadrate (which is immovable), as well as the hyoid and squamosal. The hair cells are unspecialised, innervated by both afferent and efferent nerve fibres, and respond only to low frequencies. Though the hearing organs are poorly developed and primitive with no visible external ears, they can still show a frequency response from 100 to 800 Hz, with peak sensitivity of 40 dB at 200 Hz.
The tuatara spine is made up of hourglass-shaped amphicoelous vertebrae, concave both before and behind. This is the usual condition of fish vertebrae and some amphibians, but is unique to tuatara within the amniotes.
The tuatara has gastralia, rib-like bones also called gastric or abdominal ribs, the presumed ancestral trait of diapsids. They are found in some lizards, where they are mostly made of cartilage, as well as crocodiles and the tuatara, and are not attached to the spine or thoracic ribs. The true ribs are small projections, with small, hooked bones, called uncinate processes, found on the rear of each rib. This feature is also present in birds. The tuatara is the only living tetrapod with well-developed gastralia and uncinate processes.
In the early tetrapods, the gastralia and ribs with uncinate processes, together with bony elements such as bony plates in the skin (osteoderms) and clavicles (collar bone), would have formed a sort of exoskeleton around the body, protecting the belly and helping to hold in the guts and inner organs. These anatomical details most likely evolved from structures involved in locomotion even before the vertebrates ventured onto land. The gastralia may have been involved in the breathing process in early amphibians and reptiles. The pelvis and shoulder girdles are arranged differently from those of lizards, as is the case with other parts of the internal anatomy and its scales.
The spiny plates on the back and tail of the tuatara resemble those of a crocodile more than a lizard, but the tuatara shares with lizards the ability to break off its tail when caught by a predator, and then regenerate it. The regrowth takes a long time and differs from that of lizards. Well illustrated reports on tail regeneration in tuatara have been published by Alibardi & Meyer-Rochow.
Currently, there are two means of determining the age of tuatara. Using microscopic inspection, hematoxylinophilic rings can be identified and counted in both the phalanges and the femur. Phalangeal hematoxylinophilic rings can be used for tuatara up to 12–14 years of age, as they cease to form around this age. Femoral rings follow a similar trend, however they are useful for tuatara up to 25–35 years of age. Around that age, femoral rings cease to form. Further research on age determination methods for tuatara is required, as tuatara have lifespans much longer than 35 years. One possibility could be via examination of tooth wear and tear, as tuatara have fused sets of teeth.
Adult tuatara are terrestrial and nocturnal reptiles, though they will often bask in the sun to warm their bodies. Hatchlings hide under logs and stones, and are diurnal, likely because adults are cannibalistic. Tuatara thrive in temperatures much lower than those tolerated by most reptiles, and hibernate during winter. They remain active at temperatures as low as , while temperatures over are generally fatal. The optimal body temperature for the tuatara is from , the lowest of any reptile. The body temperature of tuatara is lower than that of other reptiles, ranging from over a day, whereas most reptiles have body temperatures around . The low body temperature results in a slower metabolism.
Burrowing seabirds such as petrels, prions, and shearwaters share the tuatara's island habitat during the birds' nesting seasons. The tuatara use the birds' burrows for shelter when available, or dig their own. The seabirds' guano helps to maintain invertebrate populations on which tuatara predominantly prey; including beetles, crickets, and spiders. Their diets also consist of frogs, lizards, and bird's eggs and chicks. In total darkness no feeding attempt whatsoever was observed and the lowest light intensity at which an attempt to snatch a beetle was observed occurred under 0.0125 lux. The eggs and young of seabirds that are seasonally available as food for tuatara may provide beneficial fatty acids. Tuatara of both sexes defend territories, and will threaten and eventually bite intruders. The bite can cause serious injury. Tuatara will bite when approached, and will not let go easily.
Tuatara reproduce very slowly, taking 10 to 20 years to reach sexual maturity. Mating occurs in midsummer; females mate and lay eggs once every four years. During courtship, a male makes his skin darker, raises his crests, and parades toward the female. He slowly walks in circles around the female with stiffened legs. The female will either submit, and allow the male to mount her, or retreat to her burrow. Males do not have a penis; They have rudimentary hemipenes; meaning that intromittent organs are used to deliver sperm to the female during copulation. They reproduce by the male lifting the tail of the female and placing his vent over hers. This process is sometimes referred to as a "cloacal kiss".The sperm is then transferred into the female, much like the mating process in birds. Along with birds, the tuatara is one of the only members of amniota to have lost the ancestral penis.
Tuatara eggs have a soft, parchment-like 0.2 mm thick shell that consists of calcite crystals embedded in a matrix of fibrous layers. It takes the females between one and three years to provide eggs with yolk, and up to seven months to form the shell. It then takes between 12 and 15 months from copulation to hatching. This means reproduction occurs at two- to five-year intervals, the slowest in any reptile. Wild tuatara are known to be still reproducing at about 60 years of age; "Henry", a male tuatara at Southland Museum in Invercargill, New Zealand, became a father (possibly for the first time) on 23 January 2009, at the age of 111.
The sex of a hatchling depends on the temperature of the egg, with warmer eggs tending to produce male tuatara, and cooler eggs producing females. Eggs incubated at have an equal chance of being male or female. However, at , 80% are likely to be males, and at , 80% are likely to be females; at all hatchlings will be females. Some evidence indicates sex determination in tuatara is determined by both genetic and environmental factors.
Tuatara probably have the slowest growth rates of any reptile, continuing to grow larger for the first 35 years of their lives. The average lifespan is about 60 years, but they can live to be well over 100 years old. One such male even reproduced successfully for the first time at 111 years of age with an 80-year-old female. Some experts believe that captive tuatara could live as long as 200 years.
Tuatara were once widespread on New Zealand's main North and South Islands, where subfossil remains have been found in sand dunes, caves, and Māori middens. Wiped out from the main islands before European settlement, they were long confined to 32 offshore islands free of mammals. The islands are difficult to get to, and are colonised by few animal species, indicating that some animals absent from these islands may have caused tuatara to disappear from the mainland. However, "kiore" (Polynesian rats) had recently become established on several of the islands, and tuatara were persisting, but not breeding, on these islands. Additionally, tuatara were much rarer on the rat-inhabited islands. Prior to conservation work, 25% of the distinct tuatara populations had become extinct in the past century.
The recent discovery of a tuatara hatchling on the mainland indicates that attempts to re-establish a breeding population on the New Zealand mainland have had some success. The total population of tuatara is estimated to be greater than 60,000, but less than 100,000.
Tuatara were removed from Stanley, Red Mercury and Cuvier Islands in 1990 and 1991, and maintained in captivity to allow Polynesian rats to be eradicated on those islands. All three populations bred in captivity, and after successful eradication of the rats, all individuals, including the new juveniles, were returned to their islands of origin. In the 1991–92 season, Little Barrier Island was found to hold only eight tuatara, which were taken into "in situ" captivity, where females produced 42 eggs, which were incubated at Victoria University. The resulting offspring were subsequently held in an enclosure on the island, then released into the wild in 2006 after rats were eradicated there.
In the Hen and Chicken Islands, Polynesian rats were eradicated on Whatupuke in 1993, Lady Alice Island in 1994, and Coppermine Island in 1997. Following this program, juveniles have once again been seen on the latter three islands. In contrast, rats persist on Hen Island of the same group, and no juvenile tuatara have been seen there as of 2001. In the Alderman Islands, Middle Chain Island holds no tuatara, but it is considered possible for rats to swim between Middle Chain and other islands that do hold tuatara, and the rats were eradicated in 1992 to prevent this. Another rodent eradication was carried out on the Rangitoto Islands east of D'Urville Island, to prepare for the release of 432 Cook Strait tuatara juveniles in 2004, which were being raised at Victoria University as of 2001.
"Sphenodon punctatus guntheri" is present naturally on one small island with a population of approximately 400. In 1995, 50 juvenile and 18 adult Brothers Island tuatara were moved to Titi Island in Cook Strait, and their establishment monitored. Two years later, more than half of the animals had been seen again and of those all but one had gained weight. In 1998, 34 juveniles from captive breeding and 20 wild-caught adults were similarly transferred to Matiu/Somes Island, a more publicly accessible location in Wellington Harbour. The captive juveniles were from induced layings from wild females.
In late October 2007, 50 tuatara collected as eggs from North Brother Island and hatched at Victoria University were being released onto Long Island in the outer Marlborough Sounds. The animals had been cared for at Wellington Zoo for the last five years and have been kept in secret in a specially built enclosure at the zoo, off display.
There is another out of country population of Brothers Island tuatara that was given to the San Diego Zoological Society and is housed off-display at the San Diego Zoo facility in Balboa. No successful reproductive efforts have been reported yet.
"S. punctatus punctatus" naturally occurs on 29 islands, and its population is estimated to be over 60,000 individuals. In 1996, 32 adult northern tuatara were moved from Moutoki Island to Moutohora. The carrying capacity of Moutohora is estimated at 8,500 individuals, and the island could allow public viewing of wild tuatara. In 2003, 60 northern tuatara were introduced to Tiritiri Matangi Island from Middle Island in the Mercury group. They are occasionally seen sunbathing by visitors to the island.
A mainland release of "S. p. punctatus" occurred in 2005 in the heavily fenced and monitored Karori Sanctuary. The second mainland release took place in October 2007, when a further 130 were transferred from Stephens Island to the Karori Sanctuary. In early 2009, the first recorded wild-born offspring were observed.
The first successful breeding of tuatara in captivity is believed to have achieved by Sir Algernon Thomas at either his University offices or residence in Symonds Street in the late 1880s or his new home, Trewithiel, in Mount Eden in the early 1890s.
Several tuatara breeding programmes are active in New Zealand. Southland Museum and Art Gallery in Invercargill was the first institution to have a tuatara breeding programme; they breed "S. punctatus".
Hamilton Zoo, Auckland Zoo and Wellington Zoo also breed tuatara for release into the wild. At Auckland Zoo in the 1990s it was discovered that the temperature at which the eggs are incubated determines the sex of the animal.
The Victoria University of Wellington maintains a research programme into the captive breeding of tuatara, and the Pukaha Mount Bruce Wildlife Centre keeps a pair and a juvenile.
The WildNZ Trust has a tuatara breeding enclosure at Ruawai. One notable captive breeding success story took place in January 2009, when all 11 eggs belonging to 110-year-old tuatara Henry and 80-year-old tuatara Mildred hatched. This story is especially remarkable as Henry required surgery to remove a cancerous tumour in order to successfully breed.
In January 2016, Chester Zoo, England, announced that they succeeded in breeding the tuatara in captivity for the first time outside its homeland.
Tuatara feature in a number of indigenous legends, and are held as "ariki" (God forms). Tuatara are regarded as the messengers of Whiro, the god of death and disaster, and Māori women are forbidden to eat them. Tuatara also indicate "tapu" (the borders of what is sacred and restricted), beyond which there is "mana", meaning there could be serious consequences if that boundary is crossed. Māori women would sometimes tattoo images of lizards, some of which may represent tuatara, near their genitals. Today, tuatara are regarded as a "taonga" (special treasure).
The tuatara was featured on one side of the New Zealand five-cent coin, which was phased out in October 2006. "Tuatara" was also the name of the Journal of the Biological Society of Victoria University College and subsequently Victoria University of Wellington, published from 1947 until 1993. It has now been digitised by the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre, also at Victoria. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30786 |
Polytetrafluoroethylene
Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene that has numerous applications. The well-known brand name of PTFE-based formulas is Teflon by Chemours. Chemours was a spin-off from DuPont, which originally discovered the compound in 1938. Another popular brand name of PTFE is Syncolon by Synco Chemical Corporation.
PTFE is a fluorocarbon solid, as it is a high molecular weight compound consisting wholly of carbon and fluorine. PTFE is hydrophobic: neither water nor water-containing substances wet PTFE, as fluorocarbons demonstrate mitigated London dispersion forces due to the high electronegativity of fluorine. PTFE has one of the lowest coefficients of friction of any solid.
PTFE is used as a non-stick coating for pans and other cookware. It is nonreactive, partly because of the strength of carbon–fluorine bonds, and so it is often used in containers and pipework for reactive and corrosive chemicals. Where used as a lubricant, PTFE reduces friction, wear, and energy consumption of machinery. It is commonly used as a graft material in surgical interventions. It is also frequently employed as coating on catheters; this interferes with the ability of bacteria and other infectious agents to adhere to catheters and cause hospital-acquired infections.
PTFE was accidentally discovered in 1938 by Roy J. Plunkett while he was working in New Jersey for DuPont. As Plunkett attempted to make a new chlorofluorocarbon refrigerant, the tetrafluoroethylene gas in its pressure bottle stopped flowing before the bottle's weight had dropped to the point signaling "empty." Since Plunkett was measuring the amount of gas used by weighing the bottle, he became curious as to the source of the weight, and finally resorted to sawing the bottle apart. He found the bottle's interior coated with a waxy white material that was oddly slippery. Analysis showed that it was polymerized perfluoroethylene, with the iron from the inside of the container having acted as a catalyst at high pressure. Kinetic Chemicals patented the new fluorinated plastic (analogous to the already known polyethylene) in 1941, and registered the Teflon trademark in 1945.
By 1948, DuPont, which founded Kinetic Chemicals in partnership with General Motors, was producing over two million pounds (900 tons) of Teflon brand PTFE per year in Parkersburg, West Virginia. An early use was in the Manhattan Project as a material to coat valves and seals in the pipes holding highly reactive uranium hexafluoride at the vast K-25 uranium enrichment plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
In 1954, Collette Grégoire, the wife of French engineer Marc Grégoire, urged him to try the material he had been using on fishing tackle on her cooking pans. He subsequently created the first PTFE-coated, non-stick pans under the brandname Tefal (combining "Tef" from "Teflon" and "al" from aluminium). In the United States, Marion A. Trozzolo, who had been using the substance on scientific utensils, marketed the first US-made PTFE-coated pan, "The Happy Pan", in 1961. Non-stick cookware has since become a common household product, nowadays offered by hundreds of manufacturers across the world.
In the 1990s, it was found that PTFE could be radiation cross-linked above its melting point in an oxygen-free environment. Electron beam processing is one example of radiation processing. Cross-linked PTFE has improved high-temperature mechanical properties and radiation stability. This was significant because, for many years, irradiation at ambient conditions has been used to break down PTFE for recycling. This radiation-induced chain scission allows it to be more easily reground and reused.
PTFE is produced by free-radical polymerization of tetrafluoroethylene. The net equation is
Because tetrafluoroethylene can explosively decompose to tetrafluoromethane and carbon, special apparatus is required for the polymerization to prevent hot spots that might initiate this dangerous side reaction. The process is typically initiated with persulfate, which homolyzes to generate sulfate radicals:
The resulting polymer is terminated with sulfate ester groups, which can be hydrolyzed to give OH end-groups.
Because PTFE is poorly soluble in almost all solvents, the polymerization is conducted as an emulsion in water. This process gives a suspension of polymer particles. Alternatively, the polymerization is conducted using a surfactant such as PFOS.
PTFE is a thermoplastic polymer, which is a white solid at room temperature, with a density of about 2200 kg/m3. According to research, its melting point is . It maintains high strength, toughness and self-lubrication at low temperatures down to , and good flexibility at temperatures above . PTFE gains its properties from the aggregate effect of carbon-fluorine bonds, as do all fluorocarbons. The only chemicals known to affect these carbon-fluorine bonds are highly reactive metals like the alkali metals, and at higher temperatures also such metals as aluminium and magnesium, and fluorinating agents such as xenon difluoride and cobalt(III) fluoride. At temperatures above PTFE undergoes depolymerization.
The coefficient of friction of plastics is usually measured against polished steel. PTFE's coefficient of friction is 0.05 to 0.10, which is the third-lowest of any known solid material (BAM being the first, with a coefficient of friction of 0.02; diamond-like carbon being second-lowest at 0.05). PTFE's resistance to van der Waals forces means that it is the only known surface to which a gecko cannot stick. In fact, PTFE can be used to prevent insects climbing up surfaces painted with the material. PTFE is so slippery that insects cannot get a grip and tend to fall off. For example, PTFE is used to prevent ants climbing out of formicaria.
Because of its chemical inertness, PTFE cannot be cross-linked like an elastomer. Therefore, it has no "memory" and is subject to creep. Because of its superior chemical and thermal properties, PTFE is often used as a gasket material within industries that require resistance to aggressive chemicals such as pharmaceuticals or chemical processing. However, because of the propensity to creep, the long-term performance of such seals is worse than for elastomers that exhibit zero, or near-zero, levels of creep. In critical applications, Belleville washers are often used to apply continuous force to PTFE gaskets, thereby ensuring a minimal loss of performance over the lifetime of the gasket.
Processing PTFE can be difficult and expensive, because the high melting temperature, , is above the initial decomposition temperature, . Even when melted, PTFE does not flow, but instead behaves as a gel due to the absence of crystalline phase and high melt viscosity.
Some PTFE parts are made by cold-moulding, a form of compression molding. Here, fine powdered PTFE is forced into a mould under high pressure (10–100 MPa). After a settling period, lasting from minutes to days, the mould is heated at , allowing the fine particles to fuse into a single mass.
The major application of PTFE, consuming about 50% of production, is for the insulation of wiring in aerospace and computer applications (e.g. hookup wire, coaxial cables). This application exploits the fact that PTFE has excellent dielectric properties, especially at high radio frequencies, making it suitable for use as an excellent insulator in connector assemblies and cables, and in printed circuit boards used at microwave frequencies. Combined with its high melting temperature, this makes it the material of choice as a high-performance substitute for the weaker and lower-melting-point polyethylene commonly used in low-cost applications.
In industrial applications, owing to its low friction, PTFE is used for plain bearings, gears, slide plates, seals, gaskets, bushings, and more applications with sliding action of parts, where it outperforms acetal and nylon.
Its extremely high bulk resistivity makes it an ideal material for fabricating long-life electrets, the electrostatic analogues of permanent magnets.
PTFE film is also widely used in the production of carbon fiber composites as well as fiberglass composites, notably in the aerospace industry. PTFE film is used as a barrier between the carbon or fiberglass part being built, and breather and bagging materials used to incapsulate the bondment when debulking (vacuum removal of air from between layers of laid-up plies of material) and when curing the composite, usually in an autoclave. The PTFE, used here as a film, prevents the non-production materials from sticking to the part being built, which is sticky due to the carbon-graphite or fiberglass plies being pre-pregnated with bismaleimide resin. Non-production materials such as Teflon, Airweave Breather and the bag itself would be considered F.O.D. (foreign object debris/damage) if left in layup.
Because of its extreme non-reactivity and high temperature rating, PTFE is often used as the liner in hose assemblies, expansion joints, and in industrial pipe lines, particularly in applications using acids, alkalis, or other chemicals. Its frictionless qualities allow improved flow of highly viscous liquids, and for uses in applications such as brake hoses.
Gore-Tex is a brand of expanded PTFE (ePTFE), a material incorporating a fluoropolymer membrane with micropores. The roof of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, US, was one of the largest applications of PTFE coatings. of the material was used in the creation of the white double-layered PTFE-coated fiberglass dome.
PTFE is often found in musical instrument lubrication product; most commonly, valve oil.
PTFE is used in some aerosol lubricant sprays, including in micronized and polarized form. It is notable for its extremely low coefficient of friction, its hydrophobia (which serves to inhibit rust), and for the dry film it forms after application, which allows it to resist collecting particles that might otherwise form an abrasive paste.
PTFE (Teflon) is best known for its use in coating non-stick frying pans and other cookware, as it is hydrophobic and possesses fairly high heat resistance.
The sole plates of some clothes irons are coated with PTFE (Teflon).
Other niche applications include:
Pyrolysis of PTFE is detectable at , and it evolves several fluorocarbon gases and a sublimate. An animal study conducted in 1955 concluded that it is unlikely that these products would be generated in amounts significant to health at temperatures below .Products like non-stick coated cookware have had their PFOA removed since 2013 and prior to this products containing PFOA weren't found to be major sources of exposure.
While PTFE is stable and nontoxic at lower temperatures, it begins to deteriorate after the temperature of cookware reaches about , and decomposes above . The degradation by-products can be lethal to birds, and can cause flu-like symptoms in humans—see polymer fume fever. Meat is usually fried between , and most oils start to smoke before a temperature of is reached, but there are at least two cooking oils (refined safflower oil at and avocado oil at ) that have a higher smoke point. However these cases of polymer fume fever were mostly present in people who had cooked at for ⪰4 hours.
Several recent legislative and regulatory efforts across the US to address polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have focused on limiting levels in drinking water. However, there has been relatively little conversation about the presence of these chemicals in our everyday lives and the public’s sheer exposure to PFAS through primary contact from commercial products used in our everyday lives. Several peer reviewed studies have shown that the mean and median concentration of PFOA in household dust in the US was found to be between approximately 10,000 and 50,000 parts per trillion (ppt). These studies highlight the fact that there is significantly more PFOA in the ambient dust in the average home than the levels currently being discussed as thresholds for drinking water. Because PFAS is in the products we use, is transported through air and water and has been found in the food we eat, there are numerous public exposure pathways for PFAS beyond drinking water.
Drinking water treatment systems, wastewater treatment facilities, and municipal solid waste landfills are not “producers” or users of PFAS, and none of these essential public service providers utilize or profit from PFAS chemicals. Rather, they are “receivers” of these chemicals used by manufacturers and everyday consumers, and merely convey and/or manage the traces of PFAS coming into our systems daily.
In response to the phase out of PFAS use and appropriate source control and product substitution, continued reduction of trace levels is anticipated. It is important to note that PFAS are also found in paper mill residuals, digestates, composts, and soils. Given the ubiquity of PFAS, and the comparative background levels which may be found in wastewater, biosolids, and leachates, setting requirements near analytical detection limits on these sources may not provide a discernable benefit to protecting public health.
Sodium trifluoroacetate and the similar compound chlorodifluoroacetate can both be generated when PTFE undergoes thermolysis, as well as producing longer chain polyfluoro- and/or polychlorofluoro- (C3-C14) carboxylic acids which may be equally persistent. Some of these products have recently been linked with possible adverse health and environmental impacts and are being phased out of the US market.
Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is sometimes used in the process of making PTFE/Teflon, although it is burned off during this process and is not usually present in significant quantities in the resultant PTFE.
Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, or C8) has been used as a surfactant in the emulsion polymerization of PTFE, although several manufacturers have entirely discontinued its use.
PFOA persists indefinitely in the environment. PFOA has been detected in the blood of more than 98% of the general US population in the low and sub-parts per billion range, and levels are higher in chemical plant employees and surrounding subpopulations. PFOA and PFOS are found in every American person’s blood stream in the parts per billion range, though those concentrations have decreased by 70% for PFOA and 84% for PFOS between 1999 and 2014, which coincides with the end of the production and phase out of PFOA and PFOS in the US.
The general population has been exposed to PFOA through massive dumping of C8 waste into the ocean and near the Ohio River Valley. PFOA has been detected in industrial waste, stain-resistant carpets, carpet cleaning liquids, house dust, microwave popcorn bags, water, food and Teflon cookware.
As a result of a class-action lawsuit and community settlement with DuPont, three epidemiologists conducted studies on the population surrounding a chemical plant that was exposed to PFOA at levels greater than in the general population. The studies concluded that there was an association between PFOA exposure and six health outcomes: kidney cancer, testicular cancer, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol), and pregnancy-induced hypertension.
Overall, PTFE cookware is considered a minor exposure pathway to PFOA.
The Teflon trade name is also used for other polymers with similar compositions:
These retain the useful PTFE properties of low friction and nonreactivity, but are also more easily formable. For example, FEP is softer than PTFE and melts at ; it is also highly transparent and resistant to sunlight.
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Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain) ( – June 8, 1809) was an English-born American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary. He authored the two most influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution and inspired the patriots in 1776 to declare independence from Great Britain. His ideas reflected Enlightenment-era ideals of transnational human rights. Historian Saul K. Padover described him as "a corsetmaker by trade, a journalist by profession, and a propagandist by inclination".
Born in Thetford in the English county of Norfolk, Paine migrated to the British American colonies in 1774 with the help of Benjamin Franklin, arriving just in time to participate in the American Revolution. Virtually every rebel read (or listened to a reading of) his powerful pamphlet "Common Sense" (1776), proportionally the all-time best-selling American title, which catalysed the rebellious demand for independence from Great Britain. His "The American Crisis" (1776–1783) was a pro-revolutionary pamphlet series. "Common Sense" was so influential that John Adams said: "Without the pen of the author of "Common Sense", the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain". Paine lived in France for most of the 1790s, becoming deeply involved in the French Revolution. He wrote "Rights of Man" (1791), in part a defense of the French Revolution against its critics. His attacks on Anglo-Irish conservative writer Edmund Burke led to a trial and conviction "in absentia" in England in 1792 for the crime of seditious libel.
The British government of William Pitt the Younger, worried by the possibility that the French Revolution might spread to England, had begun suppressing works that espoused radical philosophies. Paine's work, which advocated the right of the people to overthrow their government, was duly targeted, with a writ for his arrest issued in early 1792. Paine fled to France in September where, despite not being able to speak French, he was quickly elected to the French National Convention. The Girondists regarded him as an ally. Consequently, the Montagnards, especially Maximilien Robespierre, regarded him as an enemy.
In December 1793, he was arrested and was taken to Luxembourg Prison in Paris. While in prison, he continued to work on "The Age of Reason" (1793–1794). James Monroe, a future President of the United States, used his diplomatic connections to get Paine released in November 1794. Paine became notorious because of his pamphlets. In "The Age of Reason" he advocated deism, promoted reason and free thought and argued against institutionalized religion in general and Christian doctrine in particular. He published the pamphlet "Agrarian Justice" (1797), discussing the origins of property and introduced the concept of a guaranteed minimum income through a one-time inheritance tax on landowners. In 1802, he returned to the U.S. When he died on June 8, 1809, only six people attended his funeral as he had been ostracized for his ridicule of Christianity.
Thomas Paine was born on January 29, 1736 the son of Joseph Pain, a tenant farmer and stay-maker, and Frances () Pain, in Thetford, Norfolk, England. Joseph was a Quaker and Frances an Anglican. Despite claims that Thomas changed the spelling of his family name upon his emigration to America in 1774, he was using "Paine" in 1769, while still in Lewes, Sussex.
He attended Thetford Grammar School (1744–1749), at a time when there was no compulsory education. At the age of 13, he was apprenticed to his father, a staymaker. Following his apprenticeship, aged 19, Thomas enlisted and briefly served as a privateer, before returning to Britain in 1759. There, he became a master staymaker, establishing a shop in Sandwich, Kent.
On September 27, 1759, Thomas Paine married Mary Lambert. His business collapsed soon after. Mary became pregnant; and, after they moved to Margate, she went into early labour, in which she and their child died.
In July 1761, Paine returned to Thetford to work as a supernumerary officer. In December 1762, he became an Excise Officer in Grantham, Lincolnshire; in August 1764, he was transferred to Alford, also in Lincolnshire, at a salary of £50 per annum. On August 27, 1765, he was dismissed as an Excise Officer for "claiming to have inspected goods he did not inspect". On July 31, 1766, he requested his reinstatement from the Board of Excise, which they granted the next day, upon vacancy. While awaiting that, he worked as a stay-maker.
In 1767, he was appointed to a position in Grampound, Cornwall. Later he asked to leave this post to await a vacancy, and he became a schoolteacher in London.
On February 19, 1768, he was appointed to Lewes in Sussex, a town with a tradition of opposition to the monarchy and pro-republican sentiments since the revolutionary decades of the 17th century. Here he lived above the 15th-century Bull House, the tobacco shop of Samuel Ollive and Esther Ollive.
Paine first became involved in civic matters when he was based in Lewes. He appears in the Town Book as a member of the Court Leet, the governing body for the town. He was also a member of the parish vestry, an influential local church group whose responsibilities for parish business would include collecting taxes and tithes to distribute among the poor. On March 26, 1771, at age 34, he married Elizabeth Ollive, his landlord's daughter.
From 1772 to 1773, Paine joined excise officers asking Parliament for better pay and working conditions, publishing, in summer of 1772, "The Case of the Officers of Excise", a 12-page article, and his first political work, spending the London winter distributing the 4,000 copies printed to the Parliament and others. In spring 1774, he was again dismissed from the excise service for being absent from his post without permission; his tobacco shop failed, too. On April 14, to avoid debtors' prison, he sold his household possessions to pay debts. On June 4, 1774, he formally separated from his wife Elizabeth and moved to London, where, in September, mathematician, Fellow of the Royal Society, and Commissioner of the Excise George Lewis Scott introduced him to Benjamin Franklin, who suggested emigration to British colonial America, and gave him a letter of recommendation. In October, Paine emigrated to the American colonies, arriving in Philadelphia on November 30, 1774.
Paine barely survived the transatlantic voyage. The ship's water supplies were bad and typhoid fever killed five passengers. On arriving at Philadelphia, he was too sick to disembark. Benjamin Franklin's physician, there to welcome Paine to America, had him carried off ship; Paine took six weeks to recover. He became a citizen of Pennsylvania "by taking the oath of allegiance at a very early period". In March 1775, he became editor of the "Pennsylvania Magazine", a position he conducted with considerable ability.
Before Paine's arrival in America, sixteen magazines had been founded in the colonies and ultimately failed, each featuring substantial content and reprints from England. In late 1774, Philadelphia printer Robert Aitken announced his plan to create what he called an "American Magazine" with content derived from the colonies. Paine contributed two pieces to the magazine's inaugural issue dated January 1775, and Aitken hired Paine as the Magazine's editor one month later. Under Paine's leadership, the magazine's readership rapidly expanded, achieving a greater circulation in the colonies than any American magazine up until that point. While Aiken had conceived of the magazine as nonpolitical, Paine brought a strong political perspective to its content, writing in its first issue that "every heart and hand seem to be engaged in the interesting struggle for "American Liberty.""
Paine wrote in the "Pennsylvania Magazine" that such a publication should become a "nursery of genius" for a nation that had "now outgrown the state of infancy," exercising and educating American minds, and shaping American morality. On March 8, 1775, the "Pennsylvania Magazine" published an unsigned abolitionist essay titled "African Slavery in America". The essay is often attributed to Paine on the basis of a letter by Benjamin Rush, recalling Paine's claim of authorship to the essay. The essay attacked slavery as an "execrable commerce" and "outrage against Humanity and Justice."
Consciously appealing to a broader and more working class audience, Paine also used the magazine to discuss worker rights to production. This shift in the conceptualization of politics has been described as a part of "the 'modernization' of political consciousness," and the mobilization of ever greater sections of society into political life.
Paine has a claim to the title "The Father of the American Revolution", which rests on his pamphlets, especially "Common Sense," which crystallized sentiment for independence in 1776. It was published in Philadelphia on January 10, 1776, and signed anonymously "by an Englishman". It became an immediate success, quickly spreading 100,000 copies in three months to the two million residents of the 13 colonies. During the course of the American Revolution, a total of about 500,000 copies were sold, including unauthorized editions. Paine's original title for the pamphlet was "Plain Truth", but Paine's friend, pro-independence advocate Benjamin Rush, suggested "Common Sense" instead.
The pamphlet came into circulation in January 1776, after the Revolution had started. It was passed around and often read aloud in taverns, contributing significantly to spreading the idea of republicanism, bolstering enthusiasm for separation from Britain, and encouraging recruitment for the Continental Army. Paine provided a new and convincing argument for independence by advocating a complete break with history. "Common Sense" is oriented to the future in a way that compels the reader to make an immediate choice. It offers a solution for Americans disgusted with and alarmed at the threat of tyranny.
Paine's attack on monarchy in "Common Sense" is essentially an attack on George III. Whereas colonial resentments were originally directed primarily against the king's ministers and Parliament, Paine laid the responsibility firmly at the king's door. "Common Sense" was the most widely read pamphlet of the American Revolution. It was a clarion call for unity against the corrupt British court, so as to realize America's providential role in providing an asylum for liberty. Written in a direct and lively style, it denounced the decaying despotisms of Europe and pilloried hereditary monarchy as an absurdity. At a time when many still hoped for reconciliation with Britain, "Common Sense" demonstrated to many the inevitability of separation.
Paine was not on the whole expressing original ideas in "Common Sense", but rather employing rhetoric as a means to arouse resentment of the Crown. To achieve these ends, he pioneered a style of political writing suited to the democratic society he envisioned, with "Common Sense" serving as a primary example. Part of Paine's work was to render complex ideas intelligible to average readers of the day, with clear, concise writing unlike the formal, learned style favored by many of Paine's contemporaries. Scholars have put forward various explanations to account for its success, including the historic moment, Paine's easy-to-understand style, his democratic ethos, and his use of psychology and ideology.
"Common Sense" was immensely popular in disseminating to a very wide audience ideas that were already in common use among the elite who comprised Congress and the leadership cadre of the emerging nation, who rarely cited Paine's arguments in their public calls for independence. The pamphlet probably had little direct influence on the Continental Congress' decision to issue a Declaration of Independence, since that body was more concerned with how declaring independence would affect the war effort. One distinctive idea in "Common Sense" is Paine's beliefs regarding the peaceful nature of republics; his views were an early and strong conception of what scholars would come to call the democratic peace theory.
Loyalists vigorously attacked "Common Sense"; one attack, titled "Plain Truth" (1776), by Marylander James Chalmers, said Paine was a political quack and warned that without monarchy, the government would "degenerate into democracy". Even some American revolutionaries objected to "Common Sense"; late in life John Adams called it a "crapulous mass". Adams disagreed with the type of radical democracy promoted by Paine (that men who did not own property should still be allowed to vote and hold public office) and published "Thoughts on Government" in 1776 to advocate a more conservative approach to republicanism.
Sophia Rosenfeld argues that Paine was highly innovative in his use of the commonplace notion of "common sense". He synthesized various philosophical and political uses of the term in a way that permanently impacted American political thought. He used two ideas from Scottish Common Sense Realism: that ordinary people can indeed make sound judgments on major political issues, and that there exists a body of popular wisdom that is readily apparent to anyone. Paine also used a notion of "common sense" favored by philosophes in the Continental Enlightenment. They held that common sense could refute the claims of traditional institutions. Thus, Paine used "common sense" as a weapon to delegitimize the monarchy and overturn prevailing conventional wisdom. Rosenfeld concludes that the phenomenal appeal of his pamphlet resulted from his synthesis of popular and elite elements in the independence movement.
According to historian Robert Middlekauff, "Common Sense" became immensely popular mainly because Paine appealed to widespread convictions. Monarchy, he said, was preposterous and it had a heathenish origin. It was an institution of the devil. Paine pointed to the Old Testament, where almost all kings had seduced the Israelites to worship idols instead of God. Paine also denounced aristocracy, which together with monarchy were "two ancient tyrannies." They violated the laws of nature, human reason, and the "universal order of things," which began with God. That was, Middlekauff says, exactly what most Americans wanted to hear. He calls the Revolutionary generation "the children of the twice-born". because in their childhood they had experienced the Great Awakening, which, for the first time, had tied Americans together, transcending denominational and ethnic boundaries and giving them a sense of patriotism.
In late 1776, Paine published "The American Crisis" pamphlet series to inspire the Americans in their battles against the British army. He juxtaposed the conflict between the good American devoted to civic virtue and the selfish provincial man. To inspire his soldiers, General George Washington had "The American Crisis", first "Crisis" pamphlet, read aloud to them. It begins:
In 1777, Paine became secretary of the Congressional Committee on Foreign Affairs. The following year, he alluded to secret negotiation underway with France in his pamphlets. His enemies denounced his indiscretions. There was scandal; together with Paine's conflict with Robert Morris and Silas Deane it led to Paine's expulsion from the Committee in 1779.
However, in 1781, he accompanied John Laurens on his mission to France. Eventually, after much pleading from Paine, New York State recognized his political services by presenting him with an estate at New Rochelle, New York and Paine received money from Pennsylvania and from Congress at Washington's suggestion. During the Revolutionary War, Paine served as an aide-de-camp to the important general, Nathanael Greene.
In what may have been an error, and perhaps even contributed to his resignation as the secretary to the Committee of Foreign Affairs, Paine was openly critical of Silas Deane, an American diplomat who had been appointed in March 1776 by the Congress to travel to France in secret. Deane's goal was to influence the French government to finance the colonists in their fight for independence. Paine largely saw Deane as a war profiteer who had little respect for principle, having been under the employ of Robert Morris, one of the primary financiers of the American Revolution and working with Pierre Beaumarchais, a French royal agent sent to the colonies by King Louis to investigate the Anglo-American conflict. Paine uncovered the financial connection between Morris, who was Superintendent for Finance of the Continental Congress, and Deane. Paine labeled Deane as unpatriotic, and demanded that there be a public investigation into Morris' financing of the Revolution, as he had contracted with his own company for around $500,000.
Wealthy men, such as Robert Morris, John Jay and powerful merchant bankers, were leaders of the Continental Congress and defended holding public positions while at the same time profiting off their own personal financial dealings with governments. Amongst Paine's criticisms, he had written in the "Pennsylvania Packet" that France had "" prefaced [their] alliance by an early and generous friendship"," referring to aid that had been provided to American colonies prior to the recognition of the Franco-American treaties. This was alleged to be effectively an embarrassment to France, which potentially could have jeopardized the alliance. John Jay, the President of the Congress, who had been a fervent supporter of Deane, immediately spoke out against Paine's comments. The controversy eventually became public, and Paine was then denounced as unpatriotic for criticizing an American revolutionary. He was even physically assaulted twice in the street by Deane supporters. This much-added stress took a large toll on Paine, who was generally of a sensitive character and he resigned as secretary to the Committee of Foreign Affairs in 1779. Paine left the Committee without even having enough money to buy food for himself.
Much later, when Paine returned from his mission to France, Deane's corruption had become more widely acknowledged. Many, including Robert Morris, apologized to Paine and Paine's reputation in Philadelphia was restored.
In 1780, Paine published a pamphlet entitled "Public Good," in which he made the case that territories west of the 13 colonies that had been part of the British Empire belonged after the Declaration of Independence to the American government, and did not belong to any of the 13 states or to any individual speculators. A royal charter of 1609 had granted to the Virginia Company land stretching to the Pacific Ocean. A small group of wealthy Virginia land speculators, including the Washington, Lee, and Randolph families, had taken advantage of this royal charter to survey and to claim title to huge swaths of land, including much land west of the 13 colonies. In "Public Good," Paine argued that these lands belonged to the American government as represented by the Continental Congress. This angered many of Paine's wealthy Virginia friends, including Richard Henry Lee of the powerful Lee family, who had been Paine's closest ally in Congress, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, all of whom had claimed to huge wild tracts that Paine was advocating should be government owned. The view that Paine had advocated eventually prevailed when the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was passed.
The animosity Paine felt as a result of the publication of "Public Good" fueled his decision to embark with Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens on a mission to travel to Paris to obtain funding for the American war effort.
Paine accompanied Col. John Laurens to France and is credited with initiating the mission. It landed in France in March 1781 and returned to America in August with 2.5 million livres in silver, as part of a "present" of 6 million and a loan of 10 million. The meetings with the French king were most likely conducted in the company and under the influence of Benjamin Franklin. Upon returning to the United States with this highly welcomed cargo, Thomas Paine and probably Col. Laurens, "positively objected" that General Washington should propose that Congress remunerate him for his services, for fear of setting "a bad precedent and an improper mode". Paine made influential acquaintances in Paris and helped organize the Bank of North America to raise money to supply the army. In 1785, he was given $3,000 by the U.S. Congress in recognition of his service to the nation.
Henry Laurens (father of Col. John Laurens) had been the ambassador to the Netherlands, but he was captured by the British on his return trip there. When he was later exchanged for the prisoner Lord Cornwallis in late 1781, Paine proceeded to the Netherlands to continue the loan negotiations. There remains some question as to the relationship of Henry Laurens and Thomas Paine to Robert Morris as the Superintendent of Finance and his business associate Thomas Willing who became the first president of the Bank of North America in January 1782. They had accused Morris of profiteering in 1779 and Willing had voted against the Declaration of Independence. Although Morris did much to restore his reputation in 1780 and 1781, the credit for obtaining these critical loans to "organize" the Bank of North America for approval by Congress in December 1781 should go to Henry or John Laurens and Thomas Paine more than to Robert Morris.
Paine bought his only house in 1783 on the corner of Farnsworth Avenue and Church Streets in Bordentown City, New Jersey and he lived in it periodically until his death in 1809. This is the only place in the world where Paine purchased real estate.
In 1787, a bridge of Paine's design was built across the Schuylkill River at Philadelphia. At this time his work on single-arch iron bridges led him back to Paris, France. Because Paine had few friends when arriving in France aside from Lafayette and Jefferson, he continued to correspond heavily with Benjamin Franklin, a long time friend and mentor. Franklin provided letters of introduction for Paine to use to gain associates and contacts in France.
Later that year, Paine returned to London from Paris. He then released a pamphlet on August 20 called "Prospects on the Rubicon: or, an investigation into the Causes and Consequences of the Politics to be Agitated at the Meeting of Parliament". Tensions between England and France were increasing, and this pamphlet urged the British Ministry to reconsider the consequences of war with France. Paine sought to turn the public opinion against the war to create better relations between the countries, avoid the taxes of war upon the citizens, and not engage in a war he believed would ruin both nations.
Back in London by 1787, Paine would become engrossed in the French Revolution after it began in 1789, and decided to travel to France in 1790. Meanwhile, conservative intellectual Edmund Burke launched a counterrevolutionary blast against the French Revolution, entitled "Reflections on the Revolution in France" (1790), which strongly appealed to the landed class, and sold 30,000 copies. Paine set out to refute it in his "Rights of Man" (1791). He wrote it not as a quick pamphlet, but as a long, abstract political tract of 90,000 words which tore apart monarchies and traditional social institutions. On January 31, 1791, he gave the manuscript to publisher Joseph Johnson. A visit by government agents dissuaded Johnson, so Paine gave the book to publisher J. S. Jordan, then went to Paris, per William Blake's advice. He charged three good friends, William Godwin, Thomas Brand Hollis, and Thomas Holcroft, with handling publication details. The book appeared on March 13, 1791 and sold nearly a million copies. It was "eagerly read by reformers, Protestant dissenters, democrats, London craftsmen, and the skilled factory-hands of the new industrial north".
Undeterred by the government campaign to discredit him, Paine issued his "Rights of Man, Part the Second, Combining Principle and Practice" in February 1792. It detailed a representative government with enumerated social programs to remedy the numbing poverty of commoners through progressive tax measures. Radically reduced in price to ensure unprecedented circulation, it was sensational in its impact and gave birth to reform societies. An indictment for seditious libel followed, for both publisher and author, while government agents followed Paine and instigated mobs, hate meetings, and burnings in effigy. A fierce pamphlet war also resulted, in which Paine was defended and assailed in dozens of works. The authorities aimed, with ultimate success, to chase Paine out of Great Britain. He was then tried "in absentia" and found guilty, although never executed. The French translation of "Rights of Man, Part II" was published in April 1792. The translator, François Lanthenas, eliminated the dedication to Lafayette, as he believed Paine thought too highly of Lafayette, who was seen as a royalist sympathizer at the time.
In summer of 1792, he answered the sedition and libel charges thus: "If, to expose the fraud and imposition of monarchy ... to promote universal peace, civilization, and commerce, and to break the chains of political superstition, and raise degraded man to his proper rank; if these things be libellous ... let the name of libeller be engraved on my tomb."
Paine was an enthusiastic supporter of the French Revolution, and was granted honorary French citizenship alongside prominent contemporaries such as Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and others. Paine's honorary citizenship was in recognition of the publishing of his "Rights of Man, Part II" and the sensation it created within France. Despite his inability to speak French, he was elected to the National Convention, representing the district of Pas-de-Calais.
Several weeks after his election to the National Convention, Paine was selected as one of nine deputies to be part of the Convention's Constitutional Committee, who were charged to draft a suitable constitution for the French Republic. He subsequentially participated in the Constitutional Committee in drafting the Girondin constitutional project. He voted for the French Republic, but argued against the execution of Louis XVI, saying the monarch should instead be exiled to the United States: firstly, because of the way royalist France had come to the aid of the American Revolution; and secondly, because of a moral objection to capital punishment in general and to revenge killings in particular. However, Paine's speech in defense of Louis XVI was interrupted by Jean-Paul Marat, who claimed that as a Quaker, Paine's religious beliefs ran counter to inflicting capital punishment and thus he should be ineligible to vote. Marat interrupted a second time, stating that the translator was deceiving the convention by distorting the meanings of Paine's words, prompting Paine to provide a copy of the speech as proof that he was being correctly translated.
Regarded as an ally of the Girondins, he was seen with increasing disfavor by the Montagnards, who were now in power; and in particular by Maximilien Robespierre. A decree was passed at the end of 1793 excluding foreigners from their places in the Convention (Anacharsis Cloots was also deprived of his place). Paine was arrested and imprisoned in December 1793.
Paine wrote the second part of "Rights of Man" on a desk in Thomas 'Clio' Rickman's house, with whom he was staying in 1792 before he fled to France. This desk is currently on display in the People's History Museum in Manchester.
Paine was arrested in France on December 28, 1793. Joel Barlow was unsuccessful in securing Paine's release by circulating a petition among American residents in Paris. Sixteen American citizens were allowed to plead for Paine's release to the Convention, yet President Marc-Guillaume Alexis Vadier of the Committee of General Security refused to acknowledge Paine's American citizenship, stating he was an Englishman and a citizen of a country at war with France.
Paine himself protested and claimed that he was a citizen of the U.S., which was an ally of Revolutionary France, rather than of Great Britain, which was by that time at war with France. However, Gouverneur Morris, the American minister to France, did not press his claim, and Paine later wrote that Morris had connived at his imprisonment. Paine narrowly escaped execution. A chalk mark was supposed to be left by the gaoler on the door of a cell to denote that the prisoner inside was due to be removed for execution. In Paine's case, the mark had accidentally been made on the inside of his door rather than the outside; this was due to the fact that the door of Paine's cell had been left open whilst the gaoler was making his rounds that day, since Paine had been receiving official visitors. But for this quirk of fate, Paine would have been executed the following morning. He kept his head and survived the few vital days needed to be spared by the fall of Robespierre on 9 Thermidor (July 27, 1794).
Paine was released in November 1794 largely because of the work of the new American Minister to France, James Monroe, who successfully argued the case for Paine's American citizenship. In July 1795, he was re-admitted into the Convention, as were other surviving Girondins. Paine was one of only three députés to oppose the adoption of the new 1795 constitution because it eliminated universal suffrage, which had been proclaimed by the Montagnard Constitution of 1793.
In 1796, a bridge he designed was erected over the mouth of the Wear River at Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. This bridge, the Sunderland arch, was after the same design as his Schuylkill River Bridge in Philadelphia and it became the prototype for many subsequent voussoir arches made in iron and steel.
In addition to receiving a British patent for the single-span iron bridge, Paine developed a smokeless candle and worked with inventor John Fitch in developing steam engines.
In 1797, Paine lived in Paris with Nicholas Bonneville and his wife. As well as Bonneville's other controversial guests, Paine aroused the suspicions of authorities. Bonneville hid the Royalist Antoine Joseph Barruel-Beauvert at his home. Beauvert had been outlawed following the coup of 18 Fructidor on September 4, 1797. Paine believed that the United States under President John Adams had betrayed revolutionary France. Bonneville was then briefly jailed and his presses were confiscated, which meant financial ruin.
In 1800, still under police surveillance, Bonneville took refuge with his father in Evreux. Paine stayed on with him, helping Bonneville with the burden of translating the "Covenant Sea". The same year, Paine purportedly had a meeting with Napoleon. Napoleon claimed he slept with a copy of "Rights of Man" under his pillow and went so far as to say to Paine that "a statue of gold should be erected to you in every city in the universe". Paine discussed with Napoleon how best to invade England. In December 1797, he wrote two essays, one of which was pointedly named "Observations on the Construction and Operation of Navies with a Plan for an Invasion of England and the Final Overthrow of the English Government", in which he promoted the idea to finance 1,000 gunboats to carry a French invading army across the English Channel. In 1804, Paine returned to the subject, writing "To the People of England on the Invasion of England" advocating the idea. However, upon noting Napoleon's progress towards dictatorship, he condemned him as "the completest charlatan that ever existed". Paine remained in France until 1802, returning to the United States only at President Jefferson's invitation.
Upset that U.S. President George Washington, a lifelong friend, did nothing during Paine's imprisonment in France, Paine believed Washington had betrayed him and conspired with Robespierre. While staying with Monroe, Paine planned to send Washington a letter of grievance on the former President's birthday. Monroe stopped the letter from being sent, and after Paine's criticism of the Jay Treaty, which was supported by Washington, Monroe suggested that Paine live elsewhere.
Paine then sent a stinging letter to George Washington, in which he described him as an incompetent commander and a vain and ungrateful person. Having received no response, Paine contacted his lifelong publisher Benjamin Bache, the Jeffersonian democrat, to publish his "Letter to George Washington" of 1796 in which he derided Washington's reputation by describing him as a treacherous man who was unworthy of his fame as a military and political hero. Paine wrote that "the world will be puzzled to decide whether you are an apostate or an impostor; whether you have abandoned good principles or whether you ever had any". He declared that without France's aid Washington could not have succeeded in the American Revolution and had "but little share in the glory of the final event". He also commented on Washington's character, saying that Washington had no sympathetic feelings and was a hypocrite.
In 1802 or 1803, Paine left France for the United States, also paying the passage for Bonneville's wife Marguerite Brazier and the couple's three sons, Benjamin, Louis and Thomas Bonneville, to whom Paine was godfather. Paine returned to the United States in the early stages of the Second Great Awakening and a time of great political partisanship. The "Age of Reason" gave ample excuse for the religiously devout to dislike him and the Federalists attacked him for his ideas of government stated in "Common Sense," for his association with the French Revolution and for his friendship with President Jefferson. Also still fresh in the minds of the public was his "Letter to Washington" published six years before his return. This was compounded when his right to vote was denied in New Rochelle on the grounds that Gouverneur Morris did not recognize him as an American and Washington had not aided him.
Brazier took care of Paine at the end of his life and buried him after his death on June 8, 1809. In his will, Paine left the bulk of his estate to Marguerite, including 100 acres (40.5 ha) of his farm so she could maintain and educate Benjamin and his brother Thomas. In 1814, the fall of Napoleon finally allowed Bonneville to rejoin his wife in the United States where he remained for four years before returning to Paris to open a bookshop.
On the morning of June 8, 1809, Paine died, aged 72, at 59 Grove Street in Greenwich Village, New York City. Although the original building is no longer there, the present building has a plaque noting that Paine died at this location.
After his death, Paine's body was brought to New Rochelle, but the Quakers would not allow it to be buried in their graveyard as per his last will, so his remains were buried under a walnut tree on his farm. In 1819, English agrarian radical journalist William Cobbett, who in 1793 had published a hostile continuation of Francis Oldys (George Chalmer)'s "The Life of Thomas Paine", dug up his bones and transported them back to England with the intention to give Paine a heroic reburial on his native soil, but this never came to pass. The bones were still among Cobbett's effects when he died over fifteen years later, but were later lost. There is no confirmed story about what happened to them after that, although various people have claimed throughout the years to own parts of Paine's remains, such as his skull and right hand.
At the time of his death, most American newspapers reprinted the obituary notice from the "New York Evening Post" that was in turn quoting from "The American Citizen", which read in part: "He had lived long, did some good, and much harm". Only six mourners came to his funeral, two of whom were black, most likely freedmen. Many years later the writer and orator Robert G. Ingersoll wrote:
Biographer Eric Foner identifies a utopian thread in Paine's thought, writing: "Through this new language he communicated a new vision—a utopian image of an egalitarian, republican society".
Paine's utopianism combined civic republicanism, belief in the inevitability of scientific and social progress and commitment to free markets and liberty generally. The multiple sources of Paine's political theory all pointed to a society based on the common good and individualism. Paine expressed a redemptive futurism or political messianism. Writing that his generation "would appear to the future as the Adam of a new world", Paine exemplified British utopianism.
Later, his encounters with the Indigenous peoples of the Americas made a deep impression. The ability of the Iroquois to live in harmony with nature while achieving a democratic decision-making process helped him refine his thinking on how to organize society.
On March 8, 1775, one month after Paine became the editor of "The Pennsylvania Magazine", the magazine published an anonymous article titled "African Slavery in America," the first prominent piece in the colonies proposing the emancipation of African-American slaves and the abolition of slavery.
Paine is often credited with writing the piece, on the basis of later testimony by Benjamin Rush, cosigner of the Declaration of Independence. Citing a lack of further evidence of Paine's authorship, however, scholars Foner and Alfred Owen Aldridge no longer consider it to be one of his works. By contrast, journalist John Nichols writes that Paine's "fervent objections to slavery" led to his exclusion from power during the early years of the Republic.
In his "Rights of Man, Part Second", Paine advocated a comprehensive program of state support for the population to ensure the welfare of society, including state subsidy for poor people, state-financed universal public education, and state-sponsored prenatal care and postnatal care, including state subsidies to families at childbirth. Recognizing that a person's "labor ought to be over" before old age, Paine also called for a state pension to all workers starting at age 50, which would be doubled at age 60.
His last pamphlet, "Agrarian Justice", published in the winter of 1795, opposed agrarian law and agrarian monopoly and further developed his ideas in the "Rights of Man" about how land ownership separated the majority of people from their rightful, natural inheritance and means of independent survival. The U.S. Social Security Administration recognizes "Agrarian Justice" as the first American proposal for an old-age pension and basic income or citizen's dividend. Per "Agrarian Justice":
In advocating the case of the persons thus dispossessed, it is a right, and not a charity ... [Government must] create a national fund, out of which there shall be paid to every person, when arrived at the age of twenty-one years, the sum of fifteen pounds sterling, as a compensation in part, for the loss of his or her natural inheritance, by the introduction of the system of landed property. And also, the sum of ten pounds per annum, during life, to every person now living, of the age of fifty years, and to all others as they shall arrive at that age.
In 2011, £10 and £15 would be worth about £800 and £1,200 ($1,200 and $2,000) when adjusted for inflation.
Lamb argues that Paine's analysis of property rights marks a distinct contribution to political theory. His theory of property defends a libertarian concern with private ownership that shows an egalitarian commitment. Paine's new justification of property sets him apart from previous theorists such as Hugo Grotius, Samuel von Pufendorf and John Locke. It demonstrates Paine's commitment to foundational liberal values of individual freedom and moral equality.
Before his arrest and imprisonment in France, knowing that he would probably be arrested and executed, following in the tradition of early eighteenth-century British deism Paine wrote the first part of "The Age of Reason", an assault on organized "revealed" religion combining a compilation of the many inconsistencies he found in the Bible.
About his own religious beliefs, Paine wrote in "The Age of Reason":
Though there is no evidence Paine himself was a Freemason, upon his return to America from France he also penned "An Essay on the Origin of Free-Masonry" (1803–1805) about Freemasonry being derived from the religion of the ancient Druids. In the essay, he stated: "The Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the sun, in which they put a man called Christ in the place of the sun, and pay him the adoration originally paid to the sun". Marguerite de Bonneville published the essay in 1810 after Paine's death, but she chose to omit certain passages from it that were critical of Christianity, most of which were restored in an 1818 printing.
While Paine never described himself as a deist, he did write the following:The opinions I have advanced ... are the effect of the most clear and long-established conviction that the Bible and the Testament are impositions upon the world, that the fall of man, the account of Jesus Christ being the Son of God, and of his dying to appease the wrath of God, and of salvation, by that strange means, are all fabulous inventions, dishonorable to the wisdom and power of the Almighty; that the only true religion is Deism, by which I then meant, and mean now, the belief of one God, and an imitation of his moral character, or the practice of what are called moral virtuesand that it was upon this only (so far as religion is concerned) that I rested all my hopes of happiness hereafter. So say I nowand so help me God.
Historian Jack P. Greene stated:
Harvey J. Kaye wrote that through Paine, through his pamphlets and catchphrases such as "The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth," "We have it in our power to begin the world over again," and "These are the times that try men's souls" did more than move Americans to declare their independence:
John Stevenson argues that in the early 1790s, numerous radical political societies were formed throughout England and Wales in which Paine's writings provided "a boost to the self-confidence of those seeking to participate in politics for the first time." In its immediate effects, Gary Kates argues, "Paine's vision unified Philadelphia merchants, British artisans, French peasants, Dutch reformers, and radical intellectuals from Boston to Berlin in one great movement."
His writings in the long term inspired philosophic and working-class radicals in Britain and United States. Liberals, libertarians, left-libertarians, feminists, democratic socialists, social democrats, anarchists, free thinkers and progressives often claim him as an intellectual ancestor. Paine's critique of institutionalized religion and advocacy of rational thinking influenced many British freethinkers in the 19th and 20th centuries, such as William Cobbett, George Holyoake, Charles Bradlaugh, Christopher Hitchens and Bertrand Russell.
The quote "Lead, follow, or get out of the way" is widely but incorrectly attributed to Paine. It can be found nowhere in his published works.
In 1835, when Abraham Lincoln was 26 years old, he wrote a defense of Paine's deism. A political associate, Samuel Hill, burned the manuscript to save Lincoln's political career. Historian Roy Basler, the editor of Lincoln's papers, said Paine had a strong influence on Lincoln's style:
No other writer of the eighteenth century, with the exception of Jefferson, parallels more closely the temper or gist of Lincoln's later thought. In style, Paine above all others affords the variety of eloquence which, chastened and adapted to Lincoln's own mood, is revealed in Lincoln's formal writings.
The inventor Thomas Edison said:
I have always regarded Paine as one of the greatest of all Americans. Never have we had a sounder intelligence in this republic... It was my good fortune to encounter Thomas Paine's works in my boyhood... it was, indeed, a revelation to me to read that great thinker's views on political and theological subjects. Paine educated me, then, about many matters of which I had never before thought. I remember, very vividly, the flash of enlightenment that shone from Paine's writings, and I recall thinking, at that time, 'What a pity these works are not today the schoolbooks for all children!' My interest in Paine was not satisfied by my first reading of his works. I went back to them time and again, just as I have done since my boyhood days.
In 1811, Venezuelan translator Manuel Garcia de Sena published a book in Philadelphia that consisted mostly of Spanish translations of several of Paine's most important works. The book also included translations of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the U.S. Constitution and the constitutions of five U.S. states.
It subsequently circulated widely in South America and through it Uruguayan national hero José Gervasio Artigas became familiar with and embraced Paine's ideas. In turn, many of Artigas's writings drew directly from Paine's, including the "Instructions of 1813", which Uruguayans consider to be one of their country's most important constitutional documents, was one of the earliest writings to articulate a principled basis for an identity independent of Buenos Aires.
The first and longest-standing memorial to Paine is the carved and inscribed 12-foot marble column in New Rochelle, New York, organized and funded by publisher, educator and reformer Gilbert Vale (1791–1866) and raised in 1839 by the American sculptor and architect John Frazee, the Thomas Paine Monument (see image below).
New Rochelle is also the original site of Thomas Paine's Cottage, which along with a 320-acre (130 ha) farm were presented to Paine in 1784 by act of the New York State Legislature for his services in the American Revolution.
The same site is the home of the Thomas Paine Memorial Museum. Thomas Edison helped to turn the first shovel of earth for the museum which serves as a museum to display both Paine relics as well as others of local historical interest. A large collection of books, pamphlets, and pictures is contained in the Paine library, including many first editions of Paine's works as well as several original manuscripts. The holdings, the subject of a sell-off controversy, were temporarily relocated to the New-York Historical Society and have since been more permanently archived in the Iona College library nearby.
Paine was originally buried near the current location of his house and monument upon his death in 1809. The site is marked by a small headstone and burial plaque even though his remains were removed years later.
In the 20th century, Joseph Lewis, longtime president of the Freethinkers of America and an ardent Paine admirer, was instrumental in having larger-than-life-sized statues of Paine erected in each of the three countries with which the revolutionary writer was associated. The first, created by Mount Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum, was erected in Paris just before World War II began but not formally dedicated until 1948. It depicts Paine standing before the French National Convention to plead for the life of King Louis XVI. The second, sculpted in 1950 by Georg J. Lober, was erected near Paine's one time home in Morristown, New Jersey. It shows a seated Paine using a drum-head as a makeshift table. The third, sculpted by Sir Charles Wheeler, President of the Royal Academy, was erected in 1964 in Paine's birthplace, Thetford, England. With quill pen in his right hand and an inverted copy of "The Rights of Man" in his left, it occupies a prominent spot on King Street. Thomas Paine was ranked No. 34 in the "100 Greatest Britons" 2002 extensive Nationwide poll conducted by the BBC.
A bronze plaque attached to the wall of Thetford's Thomas Paine Hotel gives details of Paine's life. It was placed there in 1943 by voluntary contributions from U.S. airmen from a nearby bomber base. Texas folklorist and freethinker J. Frank Dobie, then teaching at Cambridge University, participated in the dedication ceremonies.
In New York City, the Thomas Paine Park is marked by a fountain called The Triumph of the Human Spirit. Located in downtown Manhattan, near City Hall, the 300-ton-plus monument was dedicated on October 12, 2000.
Bronx Community College includes Paine in its Hall of Fame of Great Americans and there are statues of Paine in Morristown and Bordentown, New Jersey and in the Parc Montsouris, in Paris.
In Paris, there is a plaque in the street where he lived from 1797 to 1802 that says: "Thomas PAINE / 1737–1809 / Englishman by birth / American by adoption / French by decree".
Yearly, between July 4 and 14, the Lewes Town Council in the United Kingdom celebrates the life and work of Paine.
In the early 1990s, largely through the efforts of citizen activist David Henley of Virginia, legislation (S.Con.Res 110 and H.R. 1628) was introduced in the 102nd Congress by ideological opposites Sen. Steve Symms (R-ID) and Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY). With over 100 formal letters of endorsement by United States and foreign historians, philosophers and organizations, including the Thomas Paine National Historical Society, the legislation garnered 78 original co-sponsors in the Senate and 230 original co-sponsors in the House of Representatives, and was consequently passed by both houses' unanimous consent. In October 1992, the legislation was signed into law (PL102-407 and PL102-459) by President George H. W. Bush authorizing the construction by using private funds of a memorial to Thomas Paine in "Area 1" of the grounds of the U.S. Capitol. , the memorial has not yet been built.
The University of East Anglia's Norwich Business School is housed in the Thomas Paine Study Centre on its Norwich campus in Paine's home county of Norfolk.
The Cookes House is reputed to have been his home during the Second Continental Congress at York, Pennsylvania. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30795 |
Tyre, Lebanon
Tyre ( Ṣūr) is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, though in medieval times for some centuries by just a tiny population. It was one of the earliest Phoenician metropolises and the legendary birthplace of Europa, her brothers Cadmus and Phoenix, as well as Carthage's founder Dido (Elissa). The city has many ancient sites, including the Tyre Hippodrome, and was added as a whole to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1984.
The historian Ernest Renan noted:""One can call Tyre a city of ruins, built out of ruins"".
Today Tyre is the fifth largest city in Lebanon after Beirut, Tripoli, Aley and Sidon, It is the capital of the Tyre District in the South Governorate. There were approximately 200,000 inhabitants in the Tyre urban area in 2016, including many refugees.
Tyre juts out from the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and is located about south of Beirut.
It originally consisted of two distinct urban centres: Tyre itself, which was on an island just off shore, and the associated settlement of Ushu on the adjacent mainland, later called Palaetyrus, meaning "Old Tyre" in Ancient Greek.
Throughout history from prehistoric times onwards, all settlements in the Tyre area profited from the abundance of fresh water supplies, especially from the nearby springs of Rashidieh and Ras Al Ain in the South. In addition there are the springs of Al Bagbog and Ain Ebreen in the North as well as the Litani River, also known as Alqasymieh.
The present city of Tyre covers a large part of the original island and has expanded onto and covers most of the causeway built by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE. This isthmus increased greatly in width over the centuries because of extensive silt depositions on either side. The part of the original island not covered by the modern city of Tyre is mostly of an archaeological site showcasing remains of the city from ancient times.
Four municipalities contribute to Tyre city's 16.7 km2 built-up area, though none are included in their entirety: Sour municipality contains the heart of the city, excluding the Natural and Coastal Reserve; Burj El Shimali to the East without unpopulated agricultural lands; Abbasiyet Sour to the North without agricultural lands and a dislocated village; and Ain Baal to the South-East, also without agricultural lands and dislocated villages. Tyre urban area lies on a fertile coastal plain, which explains for the fact that as of 2017 about 44% of its territory were used for intra-urban agriculture, while built-up land constituted over 40%.
In terms of geomorphology and seismicity, Tyre is close to the Roum Fault and the Yammouneh Fault. Though it has suffered a number of devastating Earthquakes over the millennia, the threat level is considered to be low in most places and moderate in a few others. However, a tsunami following an earthquake and subsequent landslides and floods pose major natural risks to the Tyrian population.
Vast reserves of natural gas are estimated to lie beneath Lebanese waters, much of it off Tyre's coast, but exploitation has been delayed by border disputes with Israel.
Early names of Tyre include Akkadian "Ṣurru", Phoenician "Ṣūr" (), and Hebrew "Tzór" (). In Semitic languages, the name of the city means "rock" after the rocky formation on which the town was originally built. The official name in modern Arabic is "Ṣūr" ().
The predominant form in Classical Greek was "Týros" (Τύρος), which was first seen in the works of Herodotus but may have been adopted considerably earlier. It gave rise to Latin "Tyrus", which entered English during the Middle English period as "Tyre". The demonym for Tyre is "Tyrian", and the inhabitants are "Tyrians".
Tyre has a Hot-summer mediterranean climate (classified as "Csa" under the Köppen climate classification), characterized by six months of drought from May to October. On average, it has 300 days of sun a year and a yearly temperature of 20.8°C. The average maximum temperature reaches its highest at 30.8 °C in August and the average minimum temperature its lowest at 10 °C in January. On average, the mean annual precipitation reaches up to 645 mm. The temperature of the sea water reaches a minimum of 17 °C in February and a maximum of 32 °C in August. At a depth of 70 m it is constantly at 17–18 °C.
Meanwhile, rising sea levels due to global warming threaten coastal erosion to Tyre's peninsula and bay areas.
The Roman historian Justin wrote that the original founders arrived from the nearby Northern city of Sidon / Saida in the quest to establish a new harbour. Herodotus, who visited Tyre around 450 BCE, wrote that according to the priests there, the city was founded around 2750 BCE as a walled place upon the mainland, now known as "Paleotyre" (Old Tyre). Archaeological evidence has corroborated this timing. Excavations have also found that there had already been some settlements around 2900 BCE, but that they were abandoned.
The Greek historian Eusebius recorded as the common myth that the deity Melqart built the city as a favour to the mermaid Tyros and named it after her. Melqart - who got worshipped as a divine patron of Tyre for millennia - was called Melqart Heracles in Greek, but is not to be confused with the demigod Heracles (Hercules), hero of the 12 labors. However, there are two other main founding legends:
According to the first one, there were two brothers in primeval times – Usoos and Shamenrum – living on the seashore who separated after a fight. Usoos took a tree trunk and was the first to sail in it on the sea. He landed on an island and consecrated two columns there, one to fire and the other to the wind, thus founding Tyre which was called Ushu in Egypt and Mesopotomia. The second legend explains why Astarte as the goddess of fertility was worshipped in Tyre as well: ""Originally the island was not attached to the sea floor, but rose and fell with the waves. An Olive tree of the goddess Ashtart rose there, protected by a curtain of Flames. A snake was wrapped around its trunk and an eagle was perched in it. It was predicted that the island would cease floating, when the bird was sacrificed to the gods. The god Melqart taught people how to build boats, then sailed to the island. The eagle offered itself, and Sur became attached to the sea floor. Since then, the gods have never stopped living there.."."
In Greek mythology, Zeus, the ruler of the gods, took the form of a bull to abduct the Tyrian princess Europa to Crete. There the couple had three sons – Minos.Rhadamanthus, and Sarpedon, whom became kings of Crete and after their deaths the judges of the Underworld. The continent Europe is named after her.
Some sources go on to say that her brothers Cadmus and Cilix went to search for her, in vain. Instead, Cadmus became the founder and king of the Greek city of Thebes, who also introduced the Phoenician alphabet to the Hellenic world. Cilix fell in love during the quest and gave his name to Cilicia in Asia Minor. Their supposed third brother Phoenix became the eponym of Phoenicia. In this way the Ancient Greek culture expressed its appreciation of the influence that the Phoenician civilisation had on their own.""Third and second millenia BC strata from Tyre [..] are buried so deeply under debris of later periods that its early history is somewhat obscure.""The first known textual reference to Tyre comes from a curse text dated to the 19th century BCE. In general, the first half of the second Millennium BCE in the Eastern Mediterranean was ""a time of peaceful trade and Tyre probably shared in the commercial activity"."
In the 17th century BCE, the settlement came under the supremacy of the Egyptian pharaohs. In the subsequent years it started benefitting from the protection by Egypt's Eighteenth Dynasty and prospered commercially.
Archaeological evidence indicates that Tyre had already by the middle of the second millennium BCE established the industrial production of a rare and extraordinarily expensive sort of purple dye, which was famous for its beauty and lightfast qualities. It was exploited from the "Murex trunculus" and "Murex brandaris" shellfishes, known as Tyrian purple. The colour was, in ancient cultures, reserved for the use of royalty or at least the nobility. In fact, the very word "Phoenician" is a Greek designation meaning "red" or "purple": ""Tyrians brought their methods in the purple dye industry near to perfection. Their excellent technique of extraction and blending of dyes is the reason why Tyrian purple was so esteemed in the ancient world.""
And:""The Tyrians were extremely discreet about their industry to ensure absolute monopoly.""
According to mythology, deity Melqart was walking on the beach with the nymph Tyro, whom he courted, when his dog bit a mollusc and the sea snail's blood stained its mouth purple. Tyro desired from Melqart a dyed dress of the same colour and thus the manufacture was born.
However, the ancient author Strabo, who visited Tyre himself, recorded that the dye industry polluted the air so much that its stench made his stay in the city very unpleasant. Experts have calculated that some 8.000 Murex had to be crushed to extract one gram of the dye, which may have cost the equivalent of about twenty grams of gold.
The first clear accounts of the city are given by the ten Amarna letters dated 1350 BCE from the Prince of Tyre, Abimilku, written to Akenaten. The subject is often water, wood and the Habiru overtaking the countryside of the mainland and how that affected the island-city. Eventually, Egyptian forces defeated a Hittite army that besieged Tyre.
While the city was originally called Melqart after the city-god, the name Tyre appears on monuments as early as 1300 BCE. Philo of Byblos (in Eusebius) quotes the antiquarian authority Sanchuniathon as stating that it was first occupied by Hypsuranius. Sanchuniathon's work is said to be dedicated to "Abibalus king of Berytus"—possibly the Abibaal, who became the Phoenician king of Tyre towards the end of the 2nd millennium BCE.
According to some sources, Tyrian sailors ventured to the British Isles and purchased tin there to produce bronze for arms and artefacts as early as in the 13th century BCE.
In the 12th century BCE, Egypt's pharaohs gradually lost political control over the Levant, though Egyptian art continued to influence Tyrian art for more than half a millennium.
During the 11th century BCE the collection of maritime merchant-republic city-states constituting Phoenicia began a commercial expansion. Especially Tyre and Sidon benefited from the elimination of the former trade centers in Ugarit and Alalakh. Hence, Phoenicia came to be characterized by outsiders and the Phoenicians as "Sidonia" or "Tyria". Phoenicians and Canaanites alike were called "Sidonians" or "Tyrians". Yet, such was Tyre's maritime dominance""that the Mediterranean Sea became known as "'the Tyrian Sea""".
There is very little archaeological data from Tyre during this period of Iron Age II and thus it is not known how it imposed its hegemony on others. However, it is widely assumed that it relied on trade as well as cultural exchange, rather than on military conquest. Most prominently, Tyre has been credited for spreading its alphabet and a Vigesimal numerical system.
A decisive factor in this global rise were apparently the extraordinary skills by Tyrian scholars in astronomy to navigate their ships. And as the space on the island city was limited, the inhabitants constructed multi-storey buildings. They thus acquired a reputation for being great masons and Engineers, also in metalworks and especially in shipbuilding.
Written tradition has largely credited one individual with the strong growth of Tyre's prosperity from the 10th century BCE onwards: Hiram I, who succeeded his father Abibaal in 969 BCE. More than a millienium later, Flavius Josephus recorded the legend that Hiram expanded the urban territory by projects connecting two islands or Reefs to form a single island on which he had temples erected for Melqart, Astarte, and Ba'al Shamem.
Beyond the borders of his kingdom, Hiram evidently forged close relations with the Hebrew kings David and Solomon. Reportedly, he sent cedar wood and skilled workers for the construction of the great Temple in Jerusalem. Imports from Cyprus played an important part in this period.
Furthermore, Hiram's regional cooperation as well as his fight against Philistine pirates helped to develop trade with Arabia, and North and East Africa. Commerce from throughout the ancient world was gathered into the warehouses of Tyre, as its fortifications offered protection for valuable goods in storage or transit. And Tyrians not only settled in Memphis, south of the temple of Hephaestus in a district called the Tyrian Camp. They also founded
""colonies on the coasts and neighbouring islands of the Aegean Sea, in Greece, on the northern coast of Africa, at Carthage and other places, in Sicily and Corsica, in Spain at Tartessus and even beyond the pillars of Hercules at Gadeira (Cádiz).""However, after Hiram's reign of 34 years, several Tyrian kings were killed in succession fights: ""the king was chosen among the royal families and reigned for life. He was backed by a council of the elders (or magistrates,) and their decisions were controlled by the great merchant families"."
In the course of the 9th century BCE, the city remained close to the Israelites, as evident through the marriage of Jezebel from a royal Tyrian family with Ahab, King of Israel.
However, Tyre started paying tribute to the Neo-Assyrians who gradually established sovereignty over Phoenicia. It seems though that Tyre only made a nominal subjection and kept a large degree of independence, while benefiting in its commerce from the stability of a strong regional power. Thus, Tyre itself remained one of the more powerful cities in the Eastern Mediterranean. One of its kings, the priest Ithobaal I (887–856 BCE), ruled as far north as Beirut, and part of Cyprus.
According to the myth, the Northern African city of Carthage ("Qart-Hadašt" = "New City") was founded in 814 BCE by Tyre's Princess Elissa, commonly known as Dido ("the wanderer"), who escaped after a power struggle with her brother Pygmalion with a fleet of ships. She has also widely been credited as a pioneer mathematician in planimetrics: Legend has it that she purchased a large piece of land from the local Numid ruler, who granted her the size of land that an oxhide could cover, by having it cut into thin threads. The ancient historians Josephus and Justin give elaborate accounts that a political conflict between the king and the priestly class was at the core of the break-up.
In the course of the 8th century BCE, the Assyrian kings attempted to increase their sovereignty over Tyre. Tiglath-Pileser III (744–727 BCE) demanded tribute from Hiram II and tried to prohibit trade between Tyre and settlements to the South. His successor Shalmaneser V besieged the city with support from Phoenicians of the mainland from around 725 to 720 BCE, but was not able to take it. Cyprus – on the other hand – liberated itself from Tyrian domination in 709 BCE.
Sennacherib, who ruled the Neo-Assyrian kingdom from 705 to 681 BCE, failed to conquer Tyre in his military campaigns, but Tyrian king Luli lost control over the territories outside the city and was forced to flee. He was succeeded by pro-Assyrian monarchs and governors. Tyrian king Balu – or Baal I – reportedly assisted the Neo-Assyrian ruler Esarhaddon (680–669 BCE) in suppressing a Sidonian revolt and as an award gained control over much of the coast of Palestine. Yet, Balu apparently entered an alliance with Egyptian pharaoh Taharqa and was punished by Esarhaddon.
Asurbanipal, Esarhaddon's successor from 669 to 631, reportedly destroyed the hinterland of Tyre, but because of its economic potential preserved the once again rebellious city which reactivated its trade and continued to prosper.
As the Neo-Assyrian empire crumbled during the 7th century BCE, Tyre and the other Phoenician city-states not only enjoyed considerable independence, but also booming trade activities.:
After the fall of the Assyrians in 612 BCE, Tyre and the other Phoenician city-states at first enjoyed another boom of its commerce without the burden of paying tributes. However, this period ended after a few years when Nebuchadnezzar II in 605 BCE started military campaigns in the Levant. The Tyrian rulers allied themselves with Egypt, the kingdoms of Judah, Edom, and Moab as well as other Phoenician cities against the Neo-Babylonian ambitions for regional expansion. They succeeded in keeping their independence
In 586 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar II started a siege of Tyre in that went on for thirteen years. It failed, but the weakened city eventually conceded to pay a tribute. Due to the long siege, Tyre had suffered economically, as its commercial activities were greatly damaged by the instability. Numismatic sources suggest that as a consequence Tyre lost grounds in its traditional rivalry with neighbouring Sidon, which gained back the upper hand.
At the same time, the influence of Egyptian art, which had remained ""a cherished source of inspiration"" even since the end of the Egyptian domination of the region in the 12th century BCE, finally diminished.
The Achaemenid Empire of the Persian king Cyrus the Great conquered the city in 539 B.C. The Persians divided Phoenicia into four vassal kingdoms: Sidon, Tyre, Arwad, and Byblos. They prospered, furnishing fleets for Persian kings. However, when Cambyses II organised a war campaign against Carthage, Tyre refused to sail against its daughter city.
Under Persian sovereignty, Tyre – like the other Phoenician city states – was at first allowed to keep its own kings, but eventually the old system of royal families was abolished:""a republic was instituted [..]: it was the government of the suffetes (judges), who remained in power for short mandates of 6 years.""
Tyre's economy continued to rely largely on the production of purple dye from Murex shellfish, which appeared on a silver coin of Tyre around 450–400 BCE, when the city started minting its own currency. Other motives on coins included dolphins.
Herodotus visited Tyre around 450 BCE and found the temple of Melqart""richly adorned with a number of offerings, among which were two pillars, one of pure gold, the other of emerald, shining with great brilliancy at night""Some historians speculate that the emerald pillar was made of glass and lit up with a lamp.
According to Roman historian Justin, an insurrection of slaves took place during the Persian period, which spared only the life of one slave-master named Straton – who was then selected by the former slaves to be the new king and established a dynasty.
In 392 BCE Evagoras, Prince of Cyprus, started a revolt against the Persian rule with Athenian and Egyptian support. His forces took Tyre by assault – or by secret consent of the Tyrians. However, after ten years he terminated the rebellion and Tyre once again came under Persian control. It abstained from Sidon's insurgency in 352 BCE and profited commercially from the destruction of the neighbouring city.
After his decisive victory over the Persian king Darius III in 333 BCE and the conquest of Persia, Alexander the Great moved his armies south, exacting tribute from all of coastal Phoenicia's city-states. Tired of Persian repressions, they mostly welcomed the new ruler, yet Tyre resisted his ambitions:
Tyre's king Azemilcus was at sea with the Persian fleet, when Alexander arrived in 332 BCE at the gates and proposed to sacrifice to Heracles in the city, which was home to the most ancient temple of Heracles. However, the Tyrian government refused this and instead suggested that Alexander sacrifice at another temple of Heracles on the mainland at Old Tyre.
Angered by this rejection and the city's loyalty to Darius, Alexander started the Siege of Tyre despite its reputation as being impregnable. However, the Macedonian conqueror succeeded after seven months by demolishing the old city on the mainland and using its stones to construct a causeway to the island:
The tallest siege towers ever used in the history of war were moved via this man-made land bridge to overcome the walls of the city, which was running low on supplies. As Alexander's forces moved forward towards linking the fortified island with the mainland, the Tyrians evacuated their old men, women, and children to Carthage. According to some historical sources, fellow Phoenician sailors from Sidon and Byblos, who had been forcefully recruited by Alexander, secretly helped many Tyrians to escape.
Altogether some eight thousand Tyrians were reportedly killed during the siege, while Alexander's troops suffered only about four hundred casualties. After Alexander's victory he granted pardon to King Azemilcus and the chief magistrates. Yet according to Arrian, approximately 30,000 citizens were sold into slavery.
Alexander's legacy still lives on today, since Tyre has remained a peninsula instead of an island ever since.
After Alexander's death in 323 BCE, his empire was divided and Phoenicia given to Laomedon of Mytilene. Ptolemy of Egypt soon annexed the region to his territory, but held it only for a few years.
In 315 BCE, Alexander's former general Antigonus began his own siege of Tyre. The city had recovered rapidly after Alexander's conquest, but was still taken a year later. Antigonus' son Demetrius ruled Phoenicia until 287 BCE, when it once again passed over to Ptolemy. It remained under the control of his successors for almost seventy years, until the Seleucids under Antiochus III invaded Phoenicia in 198 BCE.
Despite those renewed devastations, Tyre regained its standing under Alexander's successors and as a privilege continued to mint its own silver coins. While some of the trade in the Eastern Mediterranean diverted to Alexandria, Tyre profited from the developing Silk Road commcerce. In terms of culture,""Tyre rapidly became Hellenized. Festivals in the Greek manner with offering of sacrifices, gymnastic contests, pageants and processions became part of the life of Tyre.""
Some Arabian authors claim that Tyre was the birth-place of Euclid, the "Father of Geometry" (c. 325 B.C.). Other famous scholars from Tyre during the Hellenistic period included the philosophers Diodorus of Tyre, Antipater of Tyre, and Apollonius of Tyre.
In 275 BCE, Tyre abandoned the concept of monarchy and instead became a republic.
During the Punic Wars, Tyre sympathised with its former colony Carthage. Therefore, in 195 BCE, Hannibal, after his defeat by the Romans, escaped by ship to Tyre before moving on to Antioch.
As the power of the Seleucid Empire started to crumble and Seleucid leaders engaged in dynastic fights, the royal rivals increasingly sought the support of Tyre. In this context, king Alexander Balas gave the city the right to offer asylum in 152. Anyhow, the grip of the Seleucid rulers over Phoenicia increasingly weakened during the next quarter of a century:
In 126 BCE, Tyre regained its independence from the fading Seleucid Empire. One year later, the toppled Seleucid King Demetrius II Nicator fled to Tyre: ""Demetrius [..] was unpopular among his troops and subjects. His pride was his downfall, and he was deposed and imprisoned several times." "Defeated and deserted by his wife and children, the king left Syria, taking a boat to Tyre. He planned to devote himself to the service of the god Hercules, who had a temple there. He arrived safely at the port, but the prefect of Tyre had him killed as he left his ship.""
Also still in 125 BCE, Tyre adopted its own lunar-solar-hybrid calendar, which was used for 150 years. The coins of independent Tyre became the standard currency in the eastern Mediterranean.
After the start of the Mithridatic Wars between the outgoing Roman Republic and the Kingdom of Pontus in 88 BCE, Tyrian trade activities increasingly suffered though from the instability which persisted in the region.
Five years later the ruling classes of the Levant asked Tigranes II, king of Armenia, to become the ruler of Phoenicia in 83 BCE and restore order. Nevertheless, Tyre succeeded in preserving its independence.
Following the 69 BCE defeat of Tigranes' army in the Third Mithridatic War against Roman troops led by Lucius Licinius Lucullus, Antiochus XIII Asiaticus nominally restored the Seleucid rule over the region. However, as a client king thanks to Lucullus' approval he apparently did not wield any actual power over Tyre. Lucullus' successor Pompey had Antiochus assassinated and thus ended the Seleucid dynasty for good.
In 64 BCE the area of "Syria" finally became a province of the late Roman Republic, which was itself about to become the Roman Empire. Tyre was allowed to keep much of its independence as a "civitas foederata". A decree found at Tyre implies that Marcus Aemilius Scaurus – Pompey's deputy in Syria – played the key role in granting Tyre the privileged status of remaining a free city. Scaurus did apparently so ""against a certain payment"".
Thus, Tyre continued to maintain much of its commercial importance. Apart from purple dye, the production of linen became a main industry in the city as well as garum fish sauce, ""comparable to caviar in our days"".
Its geographical location made Tyre the "natural" port of Damascus, to which it was linked through a road during the Roman period, and an important meeting point of the Silk Road. Thus the Tyrians extended their areas of hegemony over the adjoining regions, such as in northern Palestine region, settling in cities such as Kedesh, Mount Carmel and north of Baca.
It is stated in the New Testament that Jesus visited the region of Tyre. Some sources tell that he drank water with John sitting on a rock by the spring of Ain Sur (Source of Tyre), which is also known as Ain Hiram, named after the Phoenician king. According to the bible, Jesus healed a Gentile (; ) and from this region many came forth to hear him preaching (Mark 3:8; Gospel of Luke 6:17, Matthew 11:21–23). Apparently, some of those who followed him hailed from Tyre.
A Christian congregation was founded in Tyre soon after the death of St. Stephen. Paul the Apostle, on his return from his third missionary journey, spent a week in conversation with the disciples there. According to Irenaeus of Lyon in "On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis", the female companion of Simon Magus came from here.
In the early second century CE, Emperor Hadrian, who visited the cities of the East around 130 CE, conferred the title of Metropolis on Tyre: "great city" mother of other cities. This status was of ""utmost importance"", as it settled the ancient rivalry with Sidon in Tyre's favour - for the time being. According to the Suda encyclopedia, the orator Paulus of Tyre, who served as an ambassador to the Imperial court in Rome, played the main role in securing this prestigious title. Hadrian also allowed Tyre to mint its own coins.
Subsequently, the famous Triumphal Arch and the Tyre Hippodrome, one of the largest hippodromes in the world (480m long and 160m wide), were constructed. The amphitheater for the horse-racetrack could host some 30.000 spectators. An aqueduct of about 5 km length was built to supply the city with water from the Ras Al Ain basins in the South.
In the middle of the second century, the cartographer Marinus of Tyre became the founder of mathematical geography, paving the way for Claudius Ptolemy's "Geography." Other famous scholars from Roman Tyre include the pre-eminent jurist Ulpian, as well as the philosophers Maximus of Tyre, who was one of the tutors of emperor Marcus Aurelius, and Porphyry of Tyre.
When in 193 CE Septimius Severus and Pescennius Niger competed against each other for the throne of Rome, Tyre sided with Severus, who was born in Tyre's former colony Leptis Magna. Niger's troops in retaliation looted Tyre and killed many of its inhabitants. Yet after the defeat of his rival, Severus rewarded Tyre's loyalty with the status of a Colony, which enabled the city to regain some of its wealth as it granted Tyrians Roman citizenship, with the same rights as Romans themselves. In 198 CE Tyre became the capital of the province Syria Phoenice.
During the third century CE the Heraclia games – dedicated to Melqart-Heracles (not to be confused with the demigod Heracles, hero of the 12 labors) – were held in the Tyrian hippodrome every four years.
Faced with the growth of Christianity in the third century, the Roman authorities supported paganism and encouraged the practise of Tyre's ancient cults, especially the worshipping of Melqart. When Emperor Decius ordered a general prosecution of Christians in 250–251 CE, followers of Jesus in Tyre suffered as well. According to the ancient bishop and historian Eusebius, the Christian scholar Origen died in Tyre around 253 CE due to injuries from torture.
In the wake of the Diocletianic Persecution as the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, followers of Jesus in Tyre were harshly affected as well. According to religious accounts, one of the most prominent martyrs was Saint Christina, the daughter of the city's governor, who was executed around 300 CE, after her own father had her tortured. In 304 CE, some 500 Christians were reportedly persecuted, tortured and killed in Tyre. Around the same time, a heavy earthquake struck the city once again, causing death and destruction.
However, less than a decade later ""the young, and very rich"" Bishop Paulinus had a basilica constructed upon the ruins of a demolished church, which in turn had probably been built upon the ruins of the ancient Temple of Melqart. Reportedly, Origen was buried behind the altar. In 315 CE, just two years after the Edict of Milan about the benevolent treatment of Christians, the Cathedral was inaugurated by Bishop Eusebius, who recorded his speech and thus a detailed account of the site in his writings. Not only is this considered the oldest description of a church, but:""The Cathedral of Paulinus is considered the oldest in Church history"".Subsequently, Tyre became "caput et metropolis", "head and capital" of the churches of the region.
Saint Frumentius – who was born around that time in Tyre – became the first bishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, after he and his brother Edesius sailed with an uncle to the Red Sea and were shipwrecked on the Eritrean coast. While Edesius returned to Tyre to become a priest, Frumentius has been credited with bringing Christianity to the Kingdom of Aksum.
In 395 Tyre became part of the Byzantine Empire and continued to flourish. Its traditional industries remained prominent during this period but the city prospered most from Tyre's strategic position on the Silk Road, which also allowed it to profit from establishing silk production after the secret procedures had been smuggled out of China.
The necropolis on mainland Tyre with more than three hundred sarcophagi from the Roman and Byzantine periods grew to be one of the largest in the world. A main road of some 400m length and 4,5m width paved with limestone was constructed there during Byzantine times. Close by, two churches with marble decorations were built in the 5th and early 6th century CE respectively, when construction in ancient Tyre reached its zenith.
During the entire period of Byzantine rule, the archbishopric of Tyre had primacy over all the bishops of the Levant. Yet, while Christianity was the main religion, some people reportedly continued to worship the Phoenician deities, especially Melqart.
Over the course of the 6th century CE, starting in 502, a series of earthquakes shattered the city and left it diminished. The worst one was the 551 Beirut earthquake which was accompanied by a Tsunami: it destroyed the Great Triumphal Arch on the mainland, while the Egyptian harbour and parts of the suburb on the Southern part of the peninsula were submerged in the sea.
In addition, the city and its population increasingly suffered during the 6th century from the political chaos that ensued when the Byzantine empire was torn apart by wars.
The city remained under Byzantine control until it was captured by the Sassanian shah Khosrow II at the turn from the 6th to the 7th century CE, and then briefly regained until the Muslim conquest of the Levant, when in 640 it was taken by the Arab forces of the Rashidun Caliphate.
As the bearers of Islam restored peace and order, Tyre soon prospered again and continued to do so during half a millennium of Caliphate rule This was despite the fact that the city stayed reduced to a part of the old island after the devastations of the earthquakes in the 6th century.
In the late 640s, the caliph's governor Muawiyah launched his naval invasions of Cyprus from Tyre, but the Rashidun period only lasted until 661. It was followed by the Umayyad Caliphate (until 750) and the Abbasid Caliphate. Tyre became a cultural center of the Arab world which hosted many well-know scholars and artists.
In the course of the centuries, Islam spread and Arabic became the language of administration instead of Greek, though some people reportedly continued to worship the ancient cult of Melqart. As in previous centuries, there were also Jewish residents, some of whom engaged in trade.
During the Ismaili Shia Fatimid Caliphate, a Grand Mosque was constructed in the place that probably had been the location of the Temple of Melqart before. Meanwhile, Tyre's economy remained part of the Silk Road and continued its traditional industries of purple dye and glass production. Excavation at the Al Mina site have revealed glass furnaces from the early Islamic period that had the capacity to produce in a single-melt session over fifty tonnes of glass. In addition, sugar production from cane fields around the city became another main business.In the Revolt of Tyre (996–998), the populace rose against Fatimid rule, led by an ordinary sailor named 'Allaqa. However, the caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah sent his army and navy to blockade and retake the city. A Byzantine squadron's attempt to reinforce the defenders was repulsed with heavy losses. After two years of siege, the Fatimids looted the city and massacred the insurgents.
In 1086 it fell into the hands of the Seljuks who lost it in 1089 to the Fatimids. By that time, some estimates put the number of inhabitants at around 20,000. The majority of that population were apparently Shiites.
Ten years later, Tyre avoided being attacked by paying tribute to the Crusaders who marched on Jerusalem. In late 1111, King Baldwin I of Jerusalem laid siege on the city, which in response put itself under the protection of the Seljuk military leader Toghtekin. Supported by Fatimid forces, he intervened and forced the Franks to raise the siege in April 1112, after about 2.000 of Baldwin's troops had been killed. A decade later, the Fatimids sold Tyre to Toghtekin who installed a garrison there.
On 7 July 1124, in the aftermath of the First Crusade, Tyre was the last city to be eventually taken by the Christian warriors – a Frankish army on the coast and a fleet of the Venetian Crusade from the sea side – following a siege of five and a half months that caused great suffering from hunger to the population. Eventually, Seljuk leader Toghtekin negotiated an agreement for surrender with the authorities of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem ""on condition that those citizens who wished to be allowed to depart freely with their wives and children and all their substance, while those who preferred to remain at Tyre should be granted permission to do so and their homes and possessions guaranteed them"."
Under its new rulers, Tyre and its countryside were divided into three parts in accordance with the "Pactum Warmundi": two-thirds to the royal domain of Baldwin and one third as autonomous trading colonies for the Italian merchant cities: mainly to the Doge of Venice, who had a particular interest in supplying silica sands to the glassmakers of Venice and in the sugar-cane plantations on the mainland. In addition, there were a Genoese quarter, and a Pisan neighbourhood.
In 1127, Tyre was reportedly shaken by a heavy earthquake that caused many casualties. It was followed by the 1157 Hama earthquake and the 1170 Syria earthquake. Although the loss of lives were reportedly small, some towers were damaged in the latter.
Nevertheless, Tyre became one of the most important cities of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, as it opened the Silk Road to the Western kingdoms. There was much commercial activity, especially glassware by the Jewish community, Sendal silk cloth, purple dye, and sugar factories. The new rulers also continued to mint "Tyre Dinars" that imitated the Fatimid coins.
The city was the see of a Roman Catholic archbishopric, whose archbishop was a suffragan of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem; its archbishops often acceded to the Patriarchate. The most notable of the Latin archbishops was the historian William of Tyre, who held the office from 1175 to 1184 and was also chancellor of the kingdom.While the Venetians quickly constructed the church of San Marco in their quarter and the Pisans built a church of San Pietro, the Saint Mark Cathedral of Tyre was erected upon the ruins of the Fatimid Grand Mosque – which in turn had probably been constructed upon or at least the near the ruins of several iterations of Christian churches, and on the lowest level the ancient Temple of Melqart.
Despite this Christian domination, there was peaceful coexistence of religion: the Jewish community was estimated to number some 500 members, many of whom were arabised. Muslims continued to follow Islam, most prominently Um Ali Taqiyya, ""one of the first Tyrian women who excelled in poetry and literature"". There were reportedly even still followers of the ancient religion of Melqart. Contemporary estimates put the number of residents at around 25,000.After the loss of Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187, many crusaders escaped to Tyre with its strong fortifications: ""The refugee barons of Palestine were now crowded in the city."" Saladin put on the Siege of Tyre twice but gave up on New Year's Day 1188. Thanks to Frankish military and naval reinforcements, Conrad of Montferrat was able to organise an effective defense.
Subsequently, Tyre's Cathedral became the traditional coronation place for the kings of Jerusalem and a venue for royal marriages. While the Venetian influence was considerably weakened, their privileges infringed and Fiefs conifiscated, the position of Genoa and Pisa got strengthened as a reward for their support to Conrad.
When the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, also known as Frederick Barbarossa, drowned in 1190 in Asia Minor while leading an army in the Third Crusade, his bones were reportedly buried in the cathedral of Tyre.Tyre remained for four years the only city of the Latin Kingdom under Frankish rule - until the reconquest of Acre by Richard I of England on 12 July 1191, when the seat of the kingdom moved there.
On 27 April 1192, Conrad of Montferrat – who had been elected as king of Jerusalem just days before – was assassinated at Tyre by members of the Order of Assassins.
Ten years later, the 1202 Syria earthquake caused very severe damages in Tyre. Most of the towers and walls collapsed and many human lives were lost.
In 1210, John of Brienne and his wife Maria of Montferrat were crowned King and Queen of Jerusalem in Tyre.
After the Sixth Crusade, from 1231 onwards, the forces of Riccardo Filangieri occupied Tyre on behalf of Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen for more than a decade. They were defeated in 1242 by the baronial party and its Venetian allies. Balian of Ibelin, Lord of Beirut, was appointed royal custodian of Tyre on behalf of Queen Alice of Cyprus. In 1246, King Henry I of Cyprus separated Tyre from the royal domain and assigned the Lordship of Tyre to Philip of Montfort.
In 1257 – one year after the beginning of the War of Saint Sabas between Genoa and Venice over control of Acre – Philip expelled the Venetians from the one third of the city that had been conceded to them more than a century earlier, though its quasi-exterritorial status was eroded already from early on.
In May 1269, the Mamluk Sultan Baibars led an abortive raid upon Tyre after failed negotiations about a truce. In September of that year, Hugh III of Cyprus was crowned King of Jerusalem in Tyre. A year later, Philip was killed by an assassin, apparently in the employ of Baibars, and succeeded by his eldest son, John of Montfort. He entered a treaty with Baibars, transferring control over five villages to him. In 1277, he also restored Venetian privileges.
After John's death in 1283 and the death of his brother Humphrey of Montfort in 1284, John's widow Margaret of Antioch-Lusignan – the sister of Hugh III – became the Lady of Tyre. Two years later she entered into a land control treaty with Baibars' successor Al-Mansur Qalawun.
In 1291, Margaret ceded the Lordship of Tyre to her nephew Amalric of Lusignan and retired to the monastery of Our Lady of Tyre in Nicosia.
In the same year of Dame Margaret's retirement – in 1291 – Tyre was again taken, this time by the Mamluk Sultanate's army of Al-Ashraf Khalil. Reportedly, the whole population had evacuated the city by ship on the day that Acre as one of the last Crusader strongholds had fallen after two months of siege, so that the Mamluks found Tyre mostly empty. Amalric, the last Lord of Tyre, escaped as well.
Sultan Khalil had all fortifications demolished to prevent the Franks from re-entrenching. The Crusader cathedral, which had been damaged before by the 1202 earthquake, got further destructed by the conquerors as well. The city was subsequently governed from Acre and thus became part of Palestine.
The traditional pottery and glassware industry in Tyre continued its production of artful objects during the early Mamluk period. However, the purple dye industry, which had been a major source of income for the city throughout its previous history, did not get started again, since new dyes entered the market that were cheaper, like for example Turkey red.
While the sultanate was rocked by factional struggles after Khalils death in 1293 and political instability, Tyre – "the London" or "New York City" of the Old World – lost its importance and ""sank into obsurity."" When the Moroccan explorer Ibn Batutah visited Tyre in 1355, he found it a mass of ruins. Many stones were taken to neighbouring cities like Sidon, Acre, Beirut, and Jaffa as building materials.
In 1610, the English traveller George Sandys noted about his visit to Tyre:""This once famous Tyre is now no other than a heap of ruins; yet have they a reverent respect: and do instruct the pensive beholder with their exemplary frailty.""
The Ottoman Empire conquered the Levant in 1516, yet Tyre remained untouched for another ninety years until the beginning of the 17th century, when the Ottoman leadership at the Sublime Porte appointed the Druze leader Fakhreddine II of the Maan family as Emir to administer Jabal Amel (modern-day South Lebanon) and Galilee in addition to the districts of Beirut and Sidon.
One of his projects in Tyre was the construction of a residence for his brother, Prince Younis Al-Maani. Its foundations were evidently built upon ruins from the Crusader period. The ruins of the palace are still standing in the centre of today's Souk marketplace area and are known as Khan Abdo El-Ashqar, or Khan Al-Askar as well as Khan Sour.
Fakhreddine also encouraged Shiites and Christians to settle to the East of Tyre to secure the road to Damascus. He thus laid the foundation of modern Tyre demographics as many of those settlers – or their descendants respectively – later moved to the town. Those development efforts were over-shadowed though when the Emir aspired to establish an independent state that is widely viewed as the earliest vision of Lebanon as a country:
""In 1608, Fakhr al-Din signed a treaty with Ferdinand, the Medici grand duke of Tuscany, which included a secret article clearly directed against the Porte".At the core of this alliance with Florence was the plan to rebuild the harbour for naval support. In this context, he converted the remains of Tyre's former Crusader's Cathedral in 1610 into a military fortress. Notwithstanding, he was chased out by the Turkish army and went into exile in Tuscany.
In 1618, Fakhreddine (also spelled Fakhr-al-Din) returned to the Levant thanks to the removal of some of his enemies within the Ottoman regime. He then also entertained poitical relations with France: after a diplomatic mission sent by King Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu the Maani palace in Tyre ""became the property of the Franciscan fathers."" By 1631, Fakhreddine dominated most of Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, but the Maan era ended when Sultan Murad IV had the Druze Emir executed together with one or two of his sons in 1635 for his political ambitions.
In the following decades, Ali al-Saghir – a leader of the discriminated Metwali, the Shia Muslims of what is now Lebanon – established a dynasty that dominated the area of Jabal Amel for almost three centuries until the mid-twentieth century. The scions of its al-As'ad clan have continued to play a political role even into the 21st century, though of lately a rather peripheral one.
In 1697 the English scholar Henry Maundrell visited Tyre and found only a ""few"" inhabitants, who mainly subsisted upon fishing. Their situation was made even worse by Tuscan, Maltese and Monégasque pirates, who would sometimes raid the Tyrian coast, as well as by heavy taxation. The hinterland of Tyre ""was generally seen as a lawless country where criminals would flee to seek refuge with the Shiites.""
Under these conditions, Tyre also became – at least nominally – the center of the schism within the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch: its archbishop of Tyre and Sidon – Euthymios Saif – had been working on regaining communion with the Holy See in Rome at least since 1683. In 1701, the Congretation Propaganda Fide appointed him by secret decree to be the Apostolic Administrator of the Melkites.
In 1724, one year after Saifi's death, his nephew and student Seraphim Tanas was elected as Patriarch Cyril VI of Antioch. He quickly affirmed the union with Rome and thereby the separation from the Greek Orthodox Church. However, only a handful of Christian families actually lived in Tyre at the time. Church services were held in the ruins of Saint Thomas church near the remains of the Crusaders Cathedral.
Around 1750, Jabal Amel's ruler from the Shiite dynasty of Ali al-Saghir (see above), Sheikh Nasif al-Nassar, initiated a number of construction projects to attract new inhabitants to the almost deserted town. His representative in Tyre was the ""tax-farmer and effective governor"" Sheikh Kaplan Hasan. The main trade partners became French merchants, though both Hasan and Al-Nassar at times clashed with French authorities about the conditions of the commerce.
Amongst Al-Nassar's projects was a marketplace. While the former Maani palace was turned into a military garrison, Al-Nassar commissioned the Serail at the Northern port as his own headquarters, which nowadays houses the police HQ. The military Al Mobarakee Tower from the Al-Nassar era is still well-preserved, too.
In 1752, construction of the Melkite cathedral of Saint Thomas was started thanks to donations from a rich merchant, George Mashakka – also spelled Jirjis Mishaqa - in a place that had already housed a church during the Crusader period in the 12th century. The silk and tobacco trader had been persuaded by Al-Nassar to move from Sidon to Tyre. Numerous Greek Catholic families followed him there. Mashakka also contributed considerably to the construction of a great mosque, which is nowadays known as the Old Mosque.
However, around the same time the resurgence of Tyre suffered some backlashes: the devastating Near East earthquakes of 1759 destroyed parts of the town and killed an unknown number of people as well. In 1781, Al-Nassar was killed in a power-struggle with the Ottoman governor of Sidon, Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzar, who had the Shiite population decimated in brutal purges. Thus, the Shiite autonomy in Jabal Amel ended for a quarter century.
At the beginning of the 19th century though, another boom period set in: in 1810 a Caravanserai was constructed near the former palace of Emir Younes Maani and the marketplace area: Khan Rabu. A Khan was ""traditionally a large rectangular courtyard with a central fountain, surrounded by covered galleries"". Khan Rabu (also transliterated Ribu) soon became an important commercial center. A few years later, the former Maani Palace and military garrison was transformed into a Caravanserai Khan as well.
In 1829, another Town of Tyre was formed: in the United States of America. An early settler – Jason Smith – was ""presumably"" inspired by ancient Tyre when he chose the name, according to the Town Historian in the northern Seneca County of the state of New York. The town – like its Mediterranean namesake – featured an aqueduct, a part of which still exists. The Hiram Lay Cobblestone Farmhouse, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was apparently named after the Phoenician king of Tyre.
In December 1831 Tyre fell under the rule of Mehmet Ali Pasha of Egypt, after an army led by his son Ibrahim Pasha had entered Jaffa and Haifa without resistance. Subsequently, a number of Egyptians settled in the city, which still today features a "Street of the Egyptians" in its old town. Then, the Galilee earthquake of 1837 brought misery and destruction over Tyre:""The wind had risen to a cold, cross gale, which howled through shattered walls and broken windows its doleful wail over ruined Tyre. The people were sleeping in boats drawn up on shore, and in tents beside them, while half-suspended shutters and doors unhinged were creaking and langing in dreadful concert"."Two years later, Shiite forces under Hamad al-Mahmud from the Ali al-Saghir dynasty (see above) rebelled against the occupation. They were supported by the British Empire and Austria-Hungary: Tyre was captured on 24 September 1839 after allied naval bombardments.
For their fight against the Egyptian invaders, Al-Mahmud and his successor Ali al-As'ad – a relative – were rewarded by the Ottoman rulers with the restoration of Shiite autonomy in Jabal Amel. However, in Tyre it was the Mamlouk family that gained a dominant position. Its head Jussuf Aga Ibn Mamluk was reportedly a son of the Anti-Shiite Jazzar Pasha (see above).
Meanwhile, the Egyptian occupation had opened the door for European intervention in Ottoman affairs through various Lebanese communities. Thus France under Napoleon III and its allied Maronite leaders increased their influence across Lebanon from the mid-19th century onwards.
When the Emperor of the French thus sent an expeditionary corps of some 7,000 troops to Beirut during the 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war between Druze and Maronite groups, he also commissioned first archaeological excavations in Tyre that were undertaken by Ernest Renan. After his departure irregular digging activities disturbed the historical sites.
In the same year, the Greek-Orthodox church of Saint Thomas was consecrated near the Greek-Catholic Saint Thomas Cathedral. Around the same time, the Latin-Catholic church of the Holy Land was established by the Franciscan order.
In 1865, Jabal Amel's ruler Ali al-As'ad died after a power struggle with his cousin Thamir al-Husain.
In 1874, the Bavarian historian and politician Johann Nepomuk Sepp led a mission to Tyre to search for the bones of Frederick Barbarossa. The expedition had the approval of Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of the German Empire, and openly pursued ambitions to establish a German colony. While Sepp and his team failed to discover Barbarossa's remains, they did excavate the ruins of the Crusader cathedral and took a number of archaeological findings to Berlin where they were exhibited. For their excavations, Sepp and his team had some 120 people evicted, though with some compensation, with the support of local authorities.
According to Sepp, Tyre had some 5,000 inhabitants in 1874. A traveller from the US, who visited Tyre around the same time put the number at maximum 4,000, about half of them Shiites and half Catholic Christians, with ""a sprinkling of Protestants"." In 1882, the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Apparition founded a school at the Western sea side of the Christian quarter.
Meanwhile, the 1858 Ottoman Land reforms led to the accumulated ownership of large tracts of land by a few families upon the expense of the peasants. While the Al-As'ad descendants of the rural Ali al-Saghir dynasty expanded their fief holdings as the provincial leaders in Jabal Amel, another power player rose from the urban class of the mercantilist "notables" (""Wujaha"' ") to the rank of "Zu'ama" (feudal landlords) in Tyre:
The grain merchant al-Khalil family would go on to play a dominant role in the city for more than a century. It was reportedly a branch of one of the main dynasties in Jabal Amel, the Zayn family in Nabatieh, and connected to another feudal clan, the Sidon-based Osseirans, by marriage:""According to one source, they were supported by the" ulama "in their climb to prominence in an effort to undermine the unpopular dominance of the Sunni al-Mamluk family of that city.""
It was""a 'dark age' of ignorance and feudalism; it was a time when the masses," al ama", were terrified of their masters and landlords, of the Ottoman Officialdom, a time when the flock [..] took life as 'slavery and obedience.""
As a result of this mass-impoverishment, many inhabitants of Tyre and Jabal Amil emigrated in the 1880s to West Africa.
In 1906, construction of the Maronite cathedral of "Our Lady of the Seas" near the modern harbour was finished. It was built on the foundations of an older church.
The 1908 Young Turk Revolution and its call for elections to an Ottoman parliament triggered a power-struggle in Jabal Amel: on the one hand side Rida al-Sulh of a Sunni dynasty from Sidon, which had sidelined the Shia Al-As'ad clan of the Ali al-Saghir dynasty (see above) in the coastal region with support from leading Shiite families like the al-Khalil clan in Tyre. His opponent was Kamil Al-As'ad from the Ali al-Saghir dynasty that still dominated the hinterland. The latter won that round of the power-strugggle, but the political rivalry between al-Khalil and Al-As'ad would go on to be a main feature of Lebanese Shia politics for the next sixty years.
By that time, Tyre had a population of about 2,800 Shi'ites, 2,700 Christians and 500 Sunnis. In the district of Tyre there were altogether some 40,000 Shi'ites and 8,000 Christians.
At the beginning of the First World War in 1914, many Shiites in Jabal Amel were conscripted and thus had to leave their farms. One year later famine struck as locusts devastated the fields. This triggered another wave of emigration to Africa and also to the US.
As opposition to the Turkish rulers grew across the Levant, Arab nationalism was on the rise in Jabal Amel as well. However, in March 1915 the Ottoman authorities launched a new wave repressions and arrested a number of activists of the Decentralisation Party in Tyre as in other cities like Sidon, Nabatiya, and Beirut. Some of them were executed.
Also in 1915, Abdel Karim al-Khalil – the leader of the al-Khalil clan, who were the Tyrian allies of the al-Sulh dynasty from Sidon – was executed by the Ottoman regime ""at the instigation"" of Kamil al-As'ad from the rival Ali al-Saghir dynasty, some believed.
Still in 1915, fighting reached Tyre: in November of that year, four locals spying for the French intelligence were reportedly captured in Tyre and two of them executed in Beirut. The commander of the French Navy protected cruiser "D'Estrés", who had demanded their release, in retaliation ordered the shelling of Tyre's harbour, where four boats were sunk. In February 1917, British intelligence agents undertook another operation to the area of Tyre to gather information about the Ottoman presence there.
In September 1918, following the British victory at the Battle of Megiddo over the Ottoman Yildirim Army Group, the latter's remnants were forced to withdraw towards Damascus. The commander of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force General Edmund Allenby ordered his infantry and corps cavalry to capture the ports of Beirut and Tripoli to supply his forces in their Pursuit to Haritan of the retreating Ottoman troops.
Tyre was a strategic supply post on this route. Within three days, the second column of the British Indian Army's 7th (Meerut) Division paved the way across the Ladder of Tyre by expanding the narrow track over the steep cliff. Meanwhile, the XXI Corps Cavalry Regiment comprising one squadron Duke of Lancashire Yeomanry and two squadrons of 1/1st Hertfordshire Yeomanry advanced quickly and arrived in Tyre on 4 October. On their way they encountered ""few if any Turkish troops"." Three days supplies were delivered by the Royal Navy to the port of Tyre for the infantry columns on their way north first to Sidon and then to Beirut.
After the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman rule started in 1916 and the Sharifian Army conquered the Levant in 1918 with support from the British Empire, the Jamal Amil feudal leader Kamil al-As'ad of the Ali al-Saghir dynasty, who had been an Ottomanist before, declared the area – including Tyre – part of the Arab Kingdom of Syria on 5 October 1918. However, the pro-Damascus regime in Beirut appointed Riad al-Sulh as governor of Sidon who in turn appointed Abdullah Yahya al-Khalil in Tyre as the representative of Faisal I.
While the feudal lords of the As'ad / Ali al-Saghir and Sulh dynasties competed for power, their support for the Arab Kingdom put them immediately into conflict with the interests of the French colonial empire: on 23 October 1918, the joint British and French military regime of the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (OETA) was declared, with Jabal Amel falling under French control.
Subsequently, the French Army used the historical garrison building of Khan Sour as a base, which had apparently been taken over as property by the Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Tyre from the Franciscan Fathers. In reaction, a guerrilla group started military attacks on French troops and pro-French elements in Tyre and the neighbouring areas, led by Sadiq al-Hamza from the Ali al-Saghir clan.
In contrast, the most prominent organiser of nonviolent resistance against the French ambitions in Jabil Amil became the Shi'a Twelver Islamic scholar Sayyid Abdel Hussein Sharafeddine (born 1872), the Imam of Tyre. He had played a decicive role in the 1908 power struggle between the al-As'ad clan of the Ali al-Saghir dynasty on the one hand side and the al-Sulh dynasty with their Tyrian allies of the al-Khalil family (see above) in favour of the former. His alliance with al-As'ad strengthened after WWI, as""He achieved his prominent position in the community through his reputation as a widely respected 'alim [religious scholar] whose books were taught in prominent Shi'ite schools such as Najaf in Iraq and Qum in Iran.""
Thus he became the leading supporter of a Greater Syria, while al-As'ad ""waivered, waiting to see how events would turn out."" When the King-Crane Commission of the US government visited the region in 1919, Sharafeddin demanded US-support for a united Syria with Faisal as king:""This angered the French who apparently encouraged an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Sharaf al-Din.""In early 1920, Sharafeddin led a Shia delegation to Damascus to make the case for unity with Syria. At the same time tensions between Shia and Maronite groups in Jabal Amel increased, while Sharafeddin and al-As'ad promoted a pacifist approach and de-escalation, though many French reports blamed the attacks by armed Shiites on Sharafeddin's financing and encouragement.
When in April 1920 violent clashes took place in the Jabal Amel area between armed Shia and Maronite groups, many Christians living in the hinterland of Jabal Amel had fled to Tyre. A French colonial army assisted by Maronite volunteers then crushed the Shia rebellion. Tyre, which was under siege by the insurgents, and its population suffered from Bombardments by French warplanes and artillery.
On the first of September 1920, the French colonial rulers proclaimed the new State of Greater Lebanon under the guardianship of the League of Nations represented by France. The French High Commissioner in Syria and Lebanon became General Henri Gouraud. Tyre and the Jabal Amel were attached as the Southern part of the Mandate.
Still in 1920, the first municipality of Tyre was founded, which was headed by Ismail Yehia Khalil from the Shia feudal dynasty of al-Khalil. The al-Khalil family had traditionally been allies of the al-Sulh clan, whereas Imam Sharafeddin supported the rival al-Asa'ad clan of the Ali al-Saghir dynasty since 1908 (see above). As the most prominent opponent of the French imperialist project Sharafeddin was forced to flee the city:
""His home in Tyre was looted by French soldiers, his books and manuscripts were confiscated, another home in a neighboring village was burned. He fled to Damascus, but had to quit that city for Egypt and then for a brief stay several months in Palestine before he was allowed to return to his base in Tyre.""
Meanwhile, the common people in Tyre and all of Southern Lebanon suffered from high taxes and fines imposed on their economy to punish them for the failed rebellion. In addition, the French colonial regime forcibly diverted agricultural products from Southern Lebanon to Syria and thus massively reduced trade activity in the port of Tyre. Driven out by mass-poverty, emigration from Tyre via Marseille to Western Africa reached another peak. This trend was only curbed when the French colonial rulers in Africa imposed stricter controls on immigration at the end of the 1920s.
In 1922, Kamil al-As'ad returned from exile and started an uprising against the French occupation, but was quickly suppressed and died in 1924. In contrast, Imam Sharafeddin reached ""rapprochement"" with the colonial regime and entertained friendly relations with the military governor of South Lebanon, Zinovi Pechkoff, whom he would regularly invite as guest of honour to religious events in Tyre.
Sharafeddin thus resurged as the most defining character for the peaceful development of Tyre in the first half of the 20th century. While he succeeded his rival Khalil as head of the municipal council until 1926, he first and foremost changed the city and its hinterland by becoming a social reformer and ""activist"".
In 1926, the colonial regime officially recognised the Shia Ja'fari jurisprudence and subsequently – like in other cities – a Ja'fari tribunal opened in Tyre. It was headed by Sheikh Mughniya throughout the Mandate period. Most visibly though, the first Shi'a mosque in Tyre was constructed in 1928, using local traditional architecture and centered around two Roman granite columns. It was named Abdel Hussein Mosque after Sharafeddine.
Yet despite Sharafeddine's efforts, the colonial appointments policy led to the fact that ""almost all"" of the particularly sensitive positions in the Tyre municipality and government were held by the Christian Salim family, which was headed by Yusuf Salim, a former deputy and the vice-director of "La Compagnie des Eaux de Beyrouth".
According to the 1921 census, 83% of Tyre's population were Shiites, 4% Sunni, and some 13% Christians. The Mandatory regime did little though to correct this gross under-representation of the Shia majority, but instead gave Shiite feudal families like al-As'ad and Khalil ""a free hand in enlarging their personal fortunes and reinforcing their clannish powers"."
In 1936, the colonial authorities set up a camp for Armenian refugees in Rashidieh on the coast, five kilometres south of Tyre city. One year later, another one was constructed in the El Bass area of Tyre. Survivors of the Armenian Genocide had started arriving in Tyre already in the early 1920s. A branch of the Armenian General Benevolent Union was founded there in 1928.
1938 saw a historical turning point, when Imam Sharafeddine founded a school for girls and boys. He pledged his private house to build the school, against the opposition of the feudal al-Khalil family. It soon expanded, also thanks to donations from the As'ad clan. Whereas Christians had been benefitting from missionary schools, education for the Shia community was poor before the establishment of the Jafariya School:""The school became the corner stone that changed the life of the Shi'ites in Jabal 'Amil in general and Tyre in particular"." The teaching staff consisted, however, not just of Shi'ites, but also of Christians, including headmaster Michael Shaban. The school soon also ""became a nucleus for political activity"", with Sharafeddin supporting especially the Palestinian demand for independence. Shortly after the beginning of the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, he had received the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Amin al-Husseini, who evaded a British arrest warrant, in Tyre against the efforts of the French regime and thanks to crowds of popular support.
The borders were open during those times, and many Palestianian Jews used to spend holidays in Tyre, while vice versa many Southern Lebanese would travel freely to Haifa and Tel Aviv.
After the start of the Second World War, French troops once again used the historical garrison building of Khan Sour as a base.
In 1940, French soldiers loyal to Marshal Philippe Pétain dug out an anti-tank trench at Tyre on the road leading South and discovered a marble sarcophagus from the first or second century CE, which is exhibited at the National Museum in Beirut.
In mid-1941, the joint British-Free French Syria–Lebanon campaign began to topple the Vichy regime in Syria and Lebanon. It relied heavily on Indian troops and also included the Australian 21st Brigade. These forces liberated Tyre from the Nazi-collaborators on 8 June.
It is not known how Tyre experienced the end of colonial rule and the transfer of power in the two years leading up to Lebanese independence on 22 November 1943.
When France dispatched troops to Beirut during the 1945 Levant Crisis, it was Imam Sharafeddin who sent a petition to the Legation of the United States in the capital:""We inhabitants of Jabal Amil protest strongly against landing of foreign troops in our country, which is free. This is a slighting of our liberty and a disdain of our honor. We are prepared to defend our independence. We would not hesitate to shed the last drop of our blood to that effect.""
In 1946, Jafariya School was upgraded to be a Secondary School, the first in Southern Lebanon. Imam Sharafeddine appointed as its founding director George Kenaan, a Lebanese Christian. The expansion was possible especially thanks to funding from merchants who had emigrated from Tyre to Western Africa and made their fortunes there.
In contrast, a school project by Sharafeddin's political rival failed despite support from prime minister Riad al-Sulh, to whose family the al-Khalil feudal dynasty was traditionally allied.
Meanwhile, the Maronite political leader Émile Eddé – a former Prime Minister and President – reportedly suggested to the Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann that a Christian Lebanon""should relinquish some portions of the no longer wanted territory, but to the Jewish state-in-the-making. It could have Tyre and Sidon and the 100,000 Muslims living there, but when he put the matter to Weizmann, even he balked at what he called "'a gift which bites"'.""
When the state of Israel was declared in May 1948, Tyre was immediately affected: with the Palestinian exodus – also known as the Nakba – thousands of Palestinian refugees fled to the city, often by boat. Many of them were given shelter by Imam Sharafeddin in the Jafariya School.
On 17 July 1948, two Israeli Frigates shelled Tyre to attack a unit of Fawzi al-Qawuqji's Arab Liberation Army (ALA). When the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducted Operation Hiram in October 1948 to capture Upper Galilee from the ALA, thousands more Palestinians fled to Southern Lebanon. Many of them found refuge in Tyre. Subsequently, its position next to the closed border further marginalised the city, ""which was already sidelined by Beirut and Sidon"."Still in 1948, the Burj El Shimali camp was established next to the Tyre peninsula, mainly for displaced from Hawla, Lubieh, Saffuri, and Tiberias. The same year, an irregular camp was established at the Jal Al Bahar coastal strip in the Northern part of Tyre, mainly by Palestinian refugees from the village of Tarshiha. In Maachouk – 1 km to the West of Burj El Shimali – Palestinian refugees settled on agricultural lands owned by the Lebanese State. In the course of the 1950s, the Armenian refugees from El Bass were resettled to the Anjar area, while Palestinians from the Acre area in Galilee moved into the camp.
Palestinian refugees played a key role in developing the citrus plantations in Tyre area, but were also competing for cheap labour opportunities in this field with the Lebanese precariat. On the other side, many of the teachers at the Jafariya Primary and Secondary school were well-educated refugees from Palestine, amongst them the famous cartoonist Naji al-Ali, who worked as a drawing instructor in the early 1960s and went on to create Handala, the iconic symbol of Palestinian identity and defiance.
In 1950, the new building of the Jafariya School was inaugurated and named "Binayat al-Muhajir" – "Building of the Emigrants" – honouring the contributions from wealthy Tyrians in Africa. At the same time, the number of Lebanese from Tyre joining that diaspora increased once again, corresponding to yet another rise in poverty.
In 1956, the Jafariya School was the platform for a guerrilla group of 25 Lebanese and Palestinian students to launch military strikes in Israel. However, at the end of that year their weapons were confiscated by the military intelligence and the Palestinian headmaster Ibrahim al-Ramlawi was arrested.
It is unclear whether the 1956 Chim earthquake, which killed some 136 people in the Chouf District, caused any injuries or damages in Tyre as well.
On 31 December 1957, Imam Sharafeddine, the founder of modern Tyre, died at the age of 85 and at a point of time when tensions escalated once again:
When President Camille Chamoun introduced a new electoral system in 1957, Ahmed al-Asaad from the feudal Ali al-Saghir dynasty, who at the beginning of the decade had even been the Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, for the first time lost the vote for deputy (MP). He had presented his candidacy in Tyre, the stronghold of his Shia rival , rather than in his traditional home base of Bint-Jbeil.
As a consequence, al-Asaad became a ""major instigator of events against Chamoun"" and his allies, primarily al-Khalil, who likewise was a long-time member of parliament and the scion of a family of large landowners (""zu'ama"") ruling through patronage systems:
""The Khalils, with their age-old ways, [..] were known for being particularly rough and hard.""
During the 1958 crisis, Kazem al-Khalil was the only Shi'ite minister in the cabinet of Sami as-Sulh, to whose family the al-Khalil feudal dynasty was traditionally allied. Thus,
""Kazim's followers had a free hand in Tyre; they could carry Guns on the streets"".
Then, after the formation of the United Arab Republic (UAR) under the leadership of Gamal Abdel Nasser in February 1958, tensions quickly escalated in Tyre between the forces of Chamoun and supporters of Pan-Arabism. In popular reaction, demonstrations took place in Tyre – as well as in Beirut and other cities – that promoted pro-union slogans and protested against US foreign policy. The Jafariya school became the base of the opposition.
Still in February, five of its students were arrested and ""sent to jail for trampling on the Lebanese flag and replacing it with that of the UAR"." Hussein Sharafeddin, one of Imam Abdul Hussein Sharafeddin's sons and as the director of the Jafariya school a dominant figure in the protest movement, was imprisoned as well.
""The issue caused violent parliamentary wrangling between [..] Kazem al-Khalil, and the Greek-Catholic twin brothers Nicolas and Joseph Slam, who were accused by him of fanning riots.""On 28 March, soldiers and followers of Kazem al-Khalil opened fire on demonstrators and – according to some reports – killed three of them. On the second of April, four or five protestors were killed and about a dozen injured. Al-Khalil claimed ""that some of the demonstrators had thrown sticks of dynamite before the gendarmes fired"", but his allegations were not corroborated.
Subsequently, opposition leaders like Rashid Karami expressed support for the people of Tyre, and the neighbouring city of Sidon/Saida joined the strike in Tyre. A US-Diplomat, who travelled the region shortly afterwards, reported though that the clashes were more related to the personal feud between al-Asaad and al-Khalil than to national politics.
In May, the insurgents in Tyre gained the upper hand. They were supported by Ahmad al-As'ad and his son Kamil al-Asaad from the feudal Ali al-Saghir dynasty, also with weapons. Their rival Kazem al-Khalil was expelled from Tyre and the Sharafeddin family ""took over control"" of the city. Al-Khalil returned still in 1958, but was attacked several times by gunmen.
Despite this victory, the power of the al-As'ad dynasty – who had played a dominant role in Tyre and Jabal Amel for almost three centuries – began to crumble at the same time with the arrival of a newcomer:
After Imam Sharafeddin's death in 1957, his sons and other representatives of the Shia community of Southern Lebanon asked his relative Sayyid Musa Sadr to be his successor as Imam. Sharafeddine had invited the Iran-born Sadr for his first visits to Tyre in previous years
In 1959, Sadr moved to Tyre and at first encountered not only suspicion, but also opposition. Yet, within just a few years he managed to create a broad following. As ""one of his first significant acts"" he established a vocational training center in neighbouring Burj El Shimali that became ""an important symbol of his leadership"" as well as other charity organisations. His base became the Abdel Hussein Mosque at the entry of the old town. On the national level, Sadr closely cooperated with the regime of General Fuad Chehab, who succeeded Chamoun in late 1958 as President of the Republic.
In 1960, the feudal lord Kazem al-Khalil lost his seat as deputy in parliament in the national election despite his alliance with wealthy expatriates in West Africa, allegedly also due to intrigues of the Lebanese "Deuxième Bureau" intelligence agency. In contrast, one of Sharafeddin's sons - Jafar Sharafeddin - was elected in 1960 as a Ba'athist. In parliament, to which he was re-elected in 1964, he made the following plea, which arguably summarises the precarious socio-economic situation in the mid-20th century most precisely:""The district of Tyre has sixty villages, to which God Almighty has given all kinds of beauty. But the rulers of Tyre have deprived Tyre and the surroundings of their rights. Of these sixty villages only a dozen or so have anything that could be called a school or a paved road. Forty villages are without a school. These sixty villages go thirsty in this age of science and the machine, while a river [the Litani] passes them by on the way to the sea. All sixty villages lack electricity. Electricity is the fortune of more privileged districts. .. These sixty villages are deserted, inhabited by old men and women; the young ones have departed to toil in the heat of Africa. Thousands more have come to Beirut, to toil among others of their kind. Tyre itself, the heart of the district, has suffered what no city can suffer. It has become a deformed, ruined place. Everything in it falls short of what a civilised place should be. The government should restore to Tyre its splendor.""
By the 1960s, Tyre had a population of some 15,000 inhabitants. In the course of the decade it increasingly became subject to a rural-to-urban movement that has been ongoing ever since. In addition, the arrival of Palestinian refugees continued: In 1963, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) set up a "new camp" in Rashidieh to accommodate refugees from Deir al-Qassi, Alma, Suhmata, Nahaf, Fara and other villages in Palestine.
Towads the end of the decade, public discontent in Tyre grew as it did in other parts of the country. A protest movement started in March 1967 with a long strike by secondary students who amongst other things demanded lower fees: ""In Tyre, the gendarmes fired on a demonstration, killing a student, Edward Ghanima.""
In May 1967, Sadr established the Supreme Islamic Shia Council (SISC) - a strategic move that would go on to change the political landscape not only of Jabal Amel, but also of the whole of Lebanon:
After the Six-Day War of June 1967 another wave of displaced Palestinians sought refuge in South Lebanon. In the following year, there were almost 25,000 registered Palestinian refugees in the camps of Tyre: 3,911 in Al Bass, 7,159 in Burj El Shimali, and 13,165 in Rashidieh. More found shelter in the neighbourhood of Maachouk and the gathering of Jal Al Bahar.
In the 1968 elections for the national parliament, about 40,000 Tyrians were entitled to elect three Shiite representatives as deputies: the greatest number of votes went to the two candidates allied to veteran prime minister Rachid Karami: both lawyer Muhammad Safi Al-Din and businessman Ali Arab, who had made his fortune in South America, were former ministers and long-time deputies. The third seat went to Baathist Jafar Sharafeddin, who was supported by Karami in the 1958 Civil War.
Kazem al-Khalil, Tyre's main feudal lord and long-time MP, who already lost the elections in 1960 and 1964, came in at a close fourth place. Hence, the former minister complained about ""armed demonstrations, bribery, and arrests"". While the extent of apparent irregularities could not be determined, there is evidence that Khalil himself had sought financial assistance from the US Embassy in Beirut.
The solidarity of the Lebanese Tyrians with the Palestinians was especially demonstrated in January 1969 through a general strike to demand the repulsion of Israeli attacks on Palestinian targets in Beirut. However, these expressions of sympathy were not to be confused with Antisemitism, since Lebanese Jews still felt safe to visit Tyre. At the same time though, the arrival of civilian refugees went along with an increasingly strong presence of Palestinian Militants. Thus, clashes between Palestinians and Israel increased dramatically:
On 12 May 1970, the IDF launched a number of attacks in South Lebanon, including Tyre. The Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon escalated further after the conflict of Black September 1970 between the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The PLO allegedly also trained Nicaraguan Sandinista rebels in Tyre.
In the 1972 national elections, former Baathist Ali al-Khalil won one of the deputy seats for Tyre District. His namesake Kazem al-Khalil regained his seat with support from a rich expatriate in Nigeria and became one of the fiercest opponents of the Palestinian fighters in parliament. His traditional opponent Jafar Sharafeddin had been Minister of Water resources from 1970 onwards in a technocratic government by Saeb Salam. Now, he was instead appointed as Presidential Adviser for hydroelectric resources. Meanwhile, as a traditional ally of Kamil al-As'ad from the Ali al-Saghir dynasty, Sharafeddin became more alienated from Sadr, who opposed the "zu'ama" feudal landlords altogether.
In early 1973, growing public discontent manifested itself again in ""wildcat strikes and violent demonstrations"" in Tyre as in other cities.
The 1973 October Yom Kippur War signalled even more Palestinian military operations from Southern Lebanese territory, including Tyre, which in turn increasingly sparked Israeli retaliation.
In this environment, Imam Sadr was balancing the relations between the Maronite-dominated state, the Palestinian resistance with its leftist Lebanese supporters, and his own Shia community, which increasingly harboured popular discontent with the PLO domination in Southern Lebanon and being caught in the crossfire with Israel. There, Sadr's power struggle with the traditional feudal rulers escalated: thanks to the backing of the SISC Sadr managed to gradually break up the inherited power of Kamil al-As'ad – a close ally of President Suleiman Frangieh – from the Ali al-Saghir dynasty after almost three centuries, although al-As'ad's list still dominated the South in the parliamentary elections of 1972 and the by-elections of 1974.
Likewise, the large landlord Kazem al-Khalil in Tyre, who had been a fierce opponent of both As'ad and Sadr, re-gained his parliamentary seat in 1972, but was soon marginalised by two other organisations that Sadr set up:
In 1974, Sadr founded "Harakat al-Mahroumin" ("Movement of the Deprived"). While it reached out beyond the Shia communities of Southern Lebanon to those fragmeted ones in the Bekaa Valley and Beirut for creating a united Shia identity in the Lebanese context, Sadr also sought close cooperation with the Christian minorities, especially the Greek-Catholic Melkites under the leadership of Tyre's archbishop Georges Haddad.
It is estimated that some 80 thousand of Sadr's followers rallied in Tyre on 5 May 1974, with weapons on open display. In 1975, before the outbreak of the civil war and despite his pledges to nonviolent means, Sadr also founded the "de facto" military wing of his movement: the "Afwaj al-Muqawama al-Lubnaniyya" (Amal).
The Iranian director of Sadr's technical school in Tyre, Mostafa Chamran, became a major instructor of guerilla warfare. The US-trained physicist went on to become the first defense minister of post-revolutionary Iran. Other key figures of the Iranian opposition, like Sayed Ruhollah Khomeini's close aide Sadeq Tabatabaei, were frequent visitors of Tyre. In contrast, Khalil al-Khalil - one of the sons of Kazem al-Khalil - served as Lebanon's Ambassador to the Imperial State of Iran from 1971 to 1978.
On the national stage of politics, one of Sadr's main allies was the Lebanese Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt. However, frictions between them led to a break-up of their coalition soon after the beginning of the civil war in 1975: under Jumblatt's leadership the National Lebanese Movement (NLM) allied itself to the PLO..
In January 1975, a unit of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) attacked the Tyre barracks of the Lebanese Army. The assault was denounced though by the PLO as ""a premeditated and reckless act"". Also, one of the residences of feudal lord Kazem al-Khalil ""was dynamited"" and another one of his homes ""was seized by Palestinian guerrillas"".
In February 1975, Tyre saw pro-PLO and anti-government demonstrations after Arab Nationalist MP Maruf Sad had been killed in Sidon, allegedly by the army. Then, in early March 1975, a PLO commando of eight militants sailed from the coast of Tyre to Tel Aviv to mount the Savoy Hotel attack, during which eight civilian Hostages and three Israeli soldiers were killed as well as seven of the attackers. Five months later - on 5 August 1975 - Israel attacked Tyre ""from land, sea and air"". More assaults followed on 16 and 29 August, as well as on 3 September.
In 1976, local commanders of the PLO took over the municipal government of Tyre with support from their allies of the Lebanese Arab Army. They occupied the army barracks, set up roadblocks and started collecting customs at the port. Parts of Kazem al-Khalil's estate were confiscated as well. However, the new rulers quickly lost support from the Lebanese-Tyrian population because of their ""arbitrary and often brutal behavior"". Even Tyre's veteran politician Jafar Sharafeddin, whose family has promoted freedom for the Palestinians over generations, was quoted as criticising the PLO for ""its violations and sabotage of the Palestinian cause"" during that time.
When Syria invaded Lebanon in mid-1976, it committed to a proposal by the Arab League not to cross the Litani River southwards. So while the Lebanese Civil War had started in South Lebanon, it was spared from much of the internal fighting. However, many young men from the area moved northwards to take part in combat. At the same time, Israel started engaging in a naval blockade of Tyre harbour and other Southern Lebanese ports to cut off supplies to the PLO, choking off most other maritime trade there as well.
In July 1977, three Lebanese fishermen in Tyre were killed by an Israeli attack. Palestinian militants retaliated with rocket fire on the Israeli town of Nahariya, killing three civilians. Israel in turn retaliated by killing ""over a hundred"" mainly Lebanese Shiite civilians in the Southern Lebanese countryside.
Thus, it was again especially the common people of Tyre and its hinterlands, who greatly suffered from the political conflicts. Due to growing mass-poverty a new wave of emigration from Tyre area to West Africa, especially to Ivory Coast, though not so much to Senegal as before.
On 11 March 1978, Dalal Mughrabi – a young woman from the Palestinian refugee camp of Sabra in Beirut – and a dozen Palestinian fedayeen fighter sailed from Tyre to a beach north of Tel Aviv. Their attacks on civilian targets became known as the Coastal Road massacre that killed 38 Israeli civilians, including 13 children, and wounded 71. According to the United Nations, thePLO ""claimed responsibility for that raid. In response, Israeli forces invaded Lebanon on the night of 14/15 March, and in a few days occupied the entire southern part of the country except for the city of Tyre and its surrounding area.""
Nevertheless, Tyre was badly affected in the fighting during the Operation Litani, with civilians bearing the brunt of the war, both in human lives and economically: The IDF targeted especially the harbour on claims that the PLO received arms from there and the Palestinian refugee camps. Bombardments by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) destroyed historical buildings, including the estate of Beit Shaddad, and heavily damaged many others, mainly in the Christian quarter.""On 15 March 1978, the Lebanese Government submitted a strong protest to the Security Council against the Israeli invasion, stating that it had no connection with the Palestinian commando operation. On 19 March, the Council adopted resolutions 425 (1978) and 426 (1978), in which it called upon Israel immediately to cease its military action and withdraw its forces from all Lebanese territory. It also decided on the immediate establishment of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The first UNIFIL troops arrived in the area on 23 March 1978.""However, the Palestinian forces were unwilling to give up their positions in and around Tyre. UNIFIL was unable to expel those militants and sustained heavy casualties. It therefore accepted an enclave of Palestinian fighters in its area of operation which was dubbed the "Tyre Pocket". In effect, the PLO kept ruling Tyre with its Lebanese allies of the NLM, which was in disarray though after the 1977 assassination of its leader Kamal Jumblatt.
Only a few months after the conflict, Amal-Leader Musa Sadr mysteriously disappeared following a visit to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on 31 August 1978. His legacy has continued into the present: he has been widely credited with ""bringing the Shi'ite community onto an equal footing with the other major Lebanese communities."" And while the loss of Sadr was great, it also became and has remained a major rallying point for the Shia community across Lebanon, particularly in Southern Lebanon.
Frequent IDF bombardments of Tyre from ground, sea and air raids continued after 1978. In January 1979, Israel started naval attacks on the city. The PLO reportedly converted itself into a regular army by purchasing large weapon systems, including Soviet WWII-era T-34 tanks, which it deployed in the "Tyre Pocket" with an estimated 1,500 fighters.
On the 27th April 1981, the Irish UNIFIL-soldier Kevin Joyce got kidnapped by a Palestinian faction from his observation post near the village of Dyar Ntar and, ""according to UN intelligence reports, was taken to a Palestinian refugee camp in Tyre. He was shot dead a few weeks later following a gun battle between Palestinians and UN soldiers in south Lebanon.""
The PLO kept shelling into Galilee until a cease-fire in July 1981. On the 23rd of that month, the IDF had bombed Tyre.
As discontent within the Shiite population about the suffering from the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian factions grew, tensions between Amal and the Palestinian militants escalated into violent clashes in many villages of Southern Lebanon, including the Tyre area. In the city itself, the heaviest such incident took place in April 1982, when the PLO (Fateh) bombarded Amal's Technical Institute in Burj El Shimali for ten hours.
Following an assassination attempt on Israeli ambassador Shlomo Argov in London the IDF started an invasion of Lebanon on 6 June 1982, which heavily afflicted Tyre once again:
Shelling by Israeli artillery and air raids killed some 80 people on the first day. Though the PLO had reportedly left its positions on the peninsula, urban Tyre with the market area in particular was heavily bombarded as well. Historical buildings like the Serail and Khan Sour were partly destroyed. The latter had been taken over by the Al-Ashkar family from the Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Tyre after WWII and became known as Khan Al-Ashkar.
However, the Palestinian camps were bearing the brunt of the assault, as many guerillas fought till the end. Noam Chomsky recorded that""The first target was the Palestinian camp of Rashidiyeh south of Tyre, much of which, by the second day of the invasion," had become a field of rubble. "There was ineffectual resistance, but as an officer of the UN peace-keeping force swept aside in the Israeli invasion later remarked:" It was like shooting sparrows with cannon."On 7 June, the Greek-Catholic (Melkite) archbishop Georges Haddad succeeded in temporarily halting the attack of an IDF tank column in a bold appeal to the Israeli commander, mediated by a Swiss delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to evacuate the civilian population to the beaches. The fighting stopped after two days, but the humanitarian consequences were severe, also because ""the IDF had few plans for management or detention of masses of civilians, let alone for feeding.""
The government of Lebanon claimed that the IDF attacks killed some 1,200 civilians and injured more than 2,000 Non-combatants, whereras the IDF claimed that "only" 56 civilians were killed in the Tyre District. Estimates of IDF casualties during combat in Rashidieh and Burj El Shimali ranged between 21 and ""nearly 120"".
UNRWA recorded that in Rashidieh alone ""more than 600 shelters were totally or partially destroyed and more than 5,000 Palestine refugees were displaced."" Those in the Burj El Shimali camp were heavily affected as well There were 11,256 registered Palestinian refugees in Burj El Shimali at the time, and 15,356 in Rashidieh, altogether more than the entire population of urban Tyre which was estimated to be around 23,000. Much of the destruction was done ""systematically"" by the IDF after the fighting stopped, leaving some 13,000 Palestinians homeless in the Tyre area. Only El Bass camp with 5,415 registered Palestinians was spared much of the violence.
Still in June 1982, the Israeli forces temporarily arrested some 14,000 men in Tyre and paraded them in front of hooded collaborators who advised the occupators whom to detain. At the same time, the IDF set up a large compound in Burj el-Shemali right next to the Amal technical training center founded by Musa Sadr:""The centre doubled as office of the Amal leader in South Lebanon, Dawud Sulayman Dawud, nicknamed 'David David' because of his alleged readiness to negotiate with Israel. He was a native of Tarbikha, one of the five Shi'ite villages in northern Galilee, which were depoluated in October/November 1948, and his Lebanese opponents often called him a Palestinian. Dawud and other Amal leaders did not avoid discreet contacts with Israelis, but refused open clientship. The IDF soon lost patience and arrested thirteen Amal leaders as early as the summer of 1982.""Moreover, the IDF set up a military post in Tyre and sponsored the return of Shia feudal lord Kazem al-Khalil to the city in July 1982 after an absence of seven years. When his attempts to reconcile with Amal failed, he formed a small militia of some 40 men with Israeli support, recruiting mainly young Shiites from a poor background. However, al-Khalil's collaboration not only ""discredited"" and ""delegitimised him in the eyes of the Shi'a, but also earned him the anger of the Syrians. This simple miscalculation was an act from which he was never able to fully recover politically"".
Amal, on the other hand, in September 1982 managed to mobilise an estimated 250,000 supporters in Tyre to commemorate the disappearance of Musa Sadr. Shortly afterwards, though, a new force appeared that would go on to dominate the scene – Hezbollah:
On 11 November 1982, the fifteen-year-old Ahmed Qasir, who had reportedly lost several members of his family in the Israeli invasion of 1978, carried out a suicide-attack with an explosive-laden car. His target was the Israeli military headquarters in Tyre, a high-rise building that also housed the paramilitary Border Guards. In addition, it was reportedly a hub for the military intelligence A'man and the internal security service Shin Bet. All seven floors collapsed. Statements about casualties of operation "Jal Al Bahar" - named after the Palestinian gathering - differ: according to some sources, ninety Israeli soldiers and officers were killed as well as an unknown number of Lebanese and Palestinians who were detainees in the complex. According to others, 67 IDF and Border Guards personnel along with nine Shin Bet agents were killed, as well as fifteen local detainees. In any event, it was ""one of the deadliest days in Israeli military history.""Almost one year later, in October 1983, another such attack on the new Israeli headquarters in Tyre killed 29 Israeli soldiers and officers, wounding another thirty as confirmed by the Israeli government. 32 Lebanese and Palestinians died as well, most of them detainees. Only in 1985 did Hezbollah claim responsibility for the two operations. In February of that year, an Amal member from Tyre launched a suicide-attack on an IDF convoy in Burj El Shimali, injuring ten soldiers. ""Israeli reprisals in the area east of Tyre killed fifteen and wounded dozens"."
Under the growing pressure the Israeli forces withdrew from Tyre by the end of April 1985 and instead established a self-declared "Security Zone" in Southern Lebanon with its collaborating militia allies of the South Lebanon Army (SLA). Tyre was left outside the SLA control though and taken over by Amal under the leadership of Nabih Berri, who was a graduate of Jafariya High School. Amal arrested the pro-Israeli militia leader in Tyre, Ibrahim Farran, and another main-collaborator, Shawqi Abdallah, but unlike in other areas there were no forced displacements of Christians in Tyre and Tyre area. However,""The priority of Amal remained to prevent the return of any armed Palestinian presence to the South, primarily because this might provoke renewed Israeli intervention in recently evacuated areas. The approximately 60,000 Palestinian refugees in the camps around Tyre (al-Bass, Rashidiya, Burj al-Shimali) were cut off from the outside world, although Amal never succeeded in fully controlling the camps themselves. In the Sunni 'canton' of Sidon, the armed PLO returned in force.""Tensions between Amal and Palestinian militants soon escalated once again and eventually exploded into the War of the Camps, which is considered as ""one of the most brutal episodes in a brutal civil war"": In September 1986, a group of Palestinians fired on an Amal patrol at Rashidieh. After one month of siege, Amal attacked the refugee camp in the South of Tyre. It was reportedly assisted by the Progressive Socialist Party of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, whose father Kamal had entered into and then broken an alliance with Amal-founder Musa Sadr, as well as by the pro-Syrian Palestinian militia As-Saiqa and the "Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command". Fighting spread and continued for one month. By that time some 7,000 refugees in the Tyre area were displaced once more:""Amal [..] overran the unarmed camps of El Buss and Burj el-Shemali, burning homes and taking more than a thousand men into custody.""In February 1988 though, ""Amal seemed to lose control"" when US-Colonel William R. Higgins, who served in a senior position of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), was kidnapped just South of Tyre on the coastal highway to Naqoura by armed men suspected of being affiliated with Hezbollah. The incident took place following a meeting between Higgins and a local Amal leader and led to renewed clashes between Amal and Hezbollah, mainly in Beirut. Amongst the casualties was Amal's leader for South Lebanon leader, Dawood Dawood, causing ""an outpour of popular grief in Tyre"".
The final phase of the Lebanese Civil War in 1990 coincided with the death of feudal lord and veteran Tyre politician Kazem al-Khalil, who succumbed to a heart-attack in his Paris exile.
Following the end of the war in March 1991 based on the Taif Agreement, units of the Lebanese Army deployed along the coastal highway and around the Palestinian refugee camps of Tyre.
The long occupation left Southern Lebanon in general and Tyre in particular ""depressed long after the 1991 cease fire"" of the civil war.
In the 1992 elections, Kamil al-As'ad from the feudal dynasty of Ali al-Saghir headed a list that lost against Amal. Nasir al-Khalil, the son of Tyre's former longtime deputy Kazim al-Khalil who died in 1990, was not elected either and failed again in 1996. However, a decade later another scion of this ""neo-feudal"" clan - Ali Hassan al-Khalil - joined Amal and thus won a parliamentary seat against Ahmed al-As'ad from the arch-rival Ali al-Saghir dynasty, though not in Tyre but in Marjayoun Hasbaiya.
In April 1996, Israel launched the sixteen-day campaign Operation Grapes of Wrath against Lebanon in an attempt to stop rocket attacks by Hezbollah. As part of the conflict, the Israeli Navy blockaded the harbour of Tyre. A UNIFIL convoy carrying food supplies to besieged villagers near Tyre was reportedly shelled by the IDF. Tyrian hospitals were overcrowded with civilian victims of bombardments throughout the conflict.
After Israeli shelling hit the UNIFIL compound in the nearby village of Qana on 18 April, killing 106 civilians and injuring another 116 (as well as 4 UN workers from Fiji), the central mourning ceremony was held in the Roman Hippodrome of Tyre following the ceasefire at the end of April. The number of attendants honouring the victims of the Qana massacre was estimated at more than 20.000, including Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri as well as leading clerics of various Muslim and Christian denominations.
A few weeks later, the Maronite Archeparchy of Tyre gave up a portion of its traditional territory, as the Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Haifa and the Holy Land was created. Until 1996, the archbishop had visited his flock across the Blue Line like in past centuries, when Tyre was part of a Greater Palestine with open borders. This cross-border mandate now became untenable.
In the 1998 Municipal Elections, Amal won ""a startling victory of twenty one seats in Tyre"" ahead of Hezbollah, led by Sayed Hassan Nasrallah. Six years later, Amal held Tyre as its traditional stronghold, but lost support in the District of Tyre to Hezbollah.
During Israel's invasion in the July 2006 Lebanon War, several rocket-launching sites used by Hezbollah to attack Israel were located in rural areas around the city. IDF commandos raided a building on the outskirts of Tyre killing at least two Hezbollah fighters, and Shayetet 13 (Israeli naval commandos) also raided Hezbollah targets within the city.
While some Lebanese army soldiers were killed in such attacks as well, most of the victims were civilians. At least one village near the city was bombed by Israel as well as several sites within the city, causing civilian deaths and adding to the food shortage problem inside Tyre:
– On 16 July around noon a strike by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) on a residential apartment building behind the Jabal Amel Hospital – known as the Sidon Institute – at the outskirts of Tyre killed eight members of a family.
– At about the same time, five civilians were killed by another aerial assault on Burj El Shimali, including two children.
– Later in the afternoon of that same day, another airstrike on a multistorey apartment building in Tyre, which also housed the Civil Defense Forces, killed 14 civilians, amongst them a one-year-old girl and a Sri Lankan maid.
– On 21 July, army soldiers reportedly buried 72 victims in a mass grave in Tyre.
– On 25 July, two ambulances of the Lebanese Red Cross were hit by the IAF as they transported injured civilians to Tyre.
– On 13 August, five civilians were killed in Burj El Shimali, amongst them three children and one Sri Lankan maid.
UNIFIL troops helped with heavy bulldozers to clear debris from those bombardments. Meanwhile, according to the official UN account, on the diplomatic level,""On 11 August 2006, the Security Council, following intense negotiations, passed resolution 1701 calling for a full cessation of hostilities in the month-long war based upon, in particular, 'the immediate cessation by Hizbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations' in Lebanon."
"Aware of its responsibilities to help secure a permanent ceasefire and a long-term solution to the conflict, the Security Council created a buffer zone free of 'any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the Government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL' between the United Nations-drawn Blue Line in southern Lebanon and the Litani River"".
Still in August 2006, Italian reinforcements for UNIFIL landed in amphibian crafts on the shores of Tyre. While UNIFIL had a troops strength of about 2,000 at that point in time, the Security Council soon expanded the mandate of UNIFIL, and increased it to a maximum of 15,000 troops.
At least since 2006, Tyre city and its Southern surrounding areas have been part of the Italian UNIFIL sector, whereas its Northern surrounding areas have been part of the Korean sector. UNIFIL has been assisted by UNTSO.
As UINIFIL has got a budget for small community projects as well, the Italian contingent in particular has supported a variety of civil society activities with great visibility. Amongst them are efforts to preserve the archaeological heritage, to assist Artistic expression and interaction, to conduct medical campaigns, as well as to support the children's right to play by constructing playgrounds and supporting clown therapy for children with special needs.
On 9 December 2011, UNIFIL reported that one of its vehicles ""traveling on a road at the southern outskirts of the city of Tyre was targeted by an explosion."" Five peacekeepers of unnamed nationalities were injured and evacuated.
The mayor of Tyre is Hassan Dbouk. He is also the President of the Union of Municipalities of the District. Dbouk has decried a lack of capacities at the local government level, while arguing that""There is a complete absence of the central government here"".
In the 2018 parliamentary elections, the Tyre-Zahrani district had a 48.1% turnout out of 311,953 registered voters, but only two competing camps. The allied list of Hezbollah and Amal won all seven seats with a 92% landslide, while the one headed by Riad As'ad from the feudal dynasty of Ali al-Saghir only scored 8%.
When the 2019–20 Lebanese protests against government corruption and austerity measures started across the country on 17 October 2019, masses of citizens flocked to the central Elissa Square – named after the legendary founder of Carthage – to join the nonsectarian demonstrations. The venue features the highest flagpole (32.6 meters ) in all of Lebanon with a national flag of 11 X 19 meters.
One day later an arson attack devastated the Rest House hotel at Tyre beach. And then another day later, as UNIFIL reported,""a counterdemonstration by a group of armed individuals reportedly affiliated with the Amal Movement escalated into riots. The Amal Movement denied involvement.""The protesters kept a tented presence inside the roundabout of Elissa Square for months. With the collapse of the Lebanese pound in the first months of 2020 they regained momentum in Tyre as across the country, turning public anger over hyperinflation increasingly towards banks: in one instance, a group of protesters, closed down a bank in Tyre ""as a sign of civil disobedience"", after its management refused to pay out money to a customer for the medical treatment of his mother:""Influenced by the popular drama crime Netflix series" La Casa De Papel", they held the bank’s employees and manager for more than an hour as hostages"." Then, in the early morning hours of April 26, three men threw Molotov cocktails towards a branch of the Credit Libanais bank, causing minor damages.
On May 6, an unknown assailant fired at least eleven shots at the private home of mayor Dbouk, causing damages to the building but without hurting anyone.
By 8 May 2020, the Disaster Management Unit registered 15 confirmed cases of the Coronavirus disease 2019, mostly detected amongst Lebanese repatriated from Africa. Less than a month later, this number had grown to 37 cases.
On May 27, Prime Minister Hassan Diab inspected the Benoit Barakat military barrack in Tyre, where he was received by LAF commander General Joseph Aoun.
Tyre enjoys a reputation of having some of the cleanest beaches and waters of Lebanon. However, a UN HABITAT profile found that ""seawater is also polluted due to waste water discharge especially in the port area"." There is still also considerable pollution by solid waste.
The Tyre Coast Nature Reserve (TCNR) was decreed in 1998 by the Ministry of Public Works. It is long and covers over . The TCNR is within the best preserved stretch of sandy coastline in southern Lebanon and divided into two section zones: a 1.8-km sand lined beach, 1.8 km long and 500 meters wide-ranging from the Tyre Rest House in the north to the Rashidieh Refugee Camp in the South, and a stretch of 2 km with agriculture lands of small family farms and the springs of Ras El Ain with three constantly flowing artesian wells, ranging from Rashidieh to the village of Chaetiyeh in the South.
The former is divided into two zones: one for tourism that features a public beach of 900m and restaurant tents during the summer season hosting up to 20,000 visitors on a busy day, and another 900m of conservation zone as a sanctuary for sea turtles and migrating birds.
Due to its diverse flora and fauna, the reserve was designated a Ramsar Site in 1999 according to the international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Wetlands, since it is considered ""the last bio-geographic ecosystem in Lebanon"". It is an important nesting site for migratory birds, the endangered Loggerhead and green sea turtle, the Arabian spiny mouse and many other creatures (including wall lizards, common pipistrelle, and european badger). Also, there are frequent sighting of dolphins in the waters off Tyre. Altogether, the TCNR includes""275 species distributed over 50 families. In addition, the reserve is home to seven regionally and nationally threatened species, 4 endemic and 10 rare species, whilst 59 species are restricted to the Eastern Mediterranean area. It is also worthy to indicate that, several bio-indicator species as well as 25 medicinal species were recognized. TCNR encloses flora species belonging to the various habitats: the sandy shore, rocky shore, littoral and Freshwater ecosystems. A wide number of Gramineae, Fabaceae, Asteraceae and Umbellifereae families dominate the floristic resources.""However, the biodiversity of the TCNR is threatened as shown by a strong decrease in the numbers of the caspian terrapin Mauremys caspica, the green toad Bufo viridis and the tree frog Hyla savigny. Also, since the 2000s, the North American camphorweed "Heterotheca subaxillaris" has invaded the TCNR as a neophyte from Haifa across the Blue Line. And during the 2006 war, turtle breeding areas were affected when the IDF bombed the conservation site .
Arguably the most lasting Phoenician legacy for the Tyrian population has been the linguistic mark that the Syriac and Akkadian languages have left on the Arabic spoken in the region of Tyre. Most notably, the widely used term "Ba'ali" – which is used especially to describe vegetables and fruits from rain-fed, untreated agricultural production – originates from the Baal religion. The Tyrian municipality of Ain Baal is apparently also named after the Phoenician deity. The most visible part of ancient and medieval history on the other side have been the archaeological sites though:
After the first archaeological excavations by Renan - who became controversial because of his racist view - and Sepp in the 1860s and 1870s respectively, more were undertaken in 1903 by the Greek archaeologist Theodore Makridi, curator of the Imperial Museum at Constantinople. Important findings like fragments of marble sarcophagi were sent to the Ottoman capital.
In 1921, an archaeological survey of Tyre was done by a French team under the leadership of Denyse Le Lasseur in 1921, followed by another mission between 1934 and 1936 that included aerial surveys and diving expeditions. It was led by the Jesuit missionary Antoine Poidebard, a pioneer of aerial archaeology.
Large-scale excavations started in 1946 under the leadership of Emir Maurice Chéhab (1904-1994), "the father of modern Lebanese archaeology" who for decades headed the Antiquities Service in Lebanon and was the curator of the National Museum of Beirut. His teams uncovered most remains in the Al Bass/Hippodrome and the City Site/Roman baths.
During the 1960s, Honor Frost – the Cyprus-born pioneer of underwater archaeology initiated several investigations ""aimed at identifying and documenting the significant archaeological potential for harbour facilities within coastal Tyre"." Based on the results, she suggested that the Al Mobarakee Tower may actually date back to Hellenistic times.
All those works stopped though soon after the 1975 beginning of the Civil War and many records were lost.
In 1984, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) declared Tyre a World Heritage Site in an attempt to halt the damage being done to the archaeological sites by the armed conflict and by anarchic urban development.
In the late 1980s, ""clandestine excavations"" took place in the Al-Bass cemetery which ""flooded the antiquities market"".
Regular excavation activities only started again in 1995 under the supervision of Ali Khalil Badawi. Shortly afterwards, an Israeli bomb destroyed an apartment block in the city and evidence for an early church was revealed underneath the rubble. Its unusual design suggests that this was the site of the Cathedral of Paulinus which had been inaugurated in 315 CE
In 1997, the first Phoenician cremation cemetery was uncovered in the Al Bass site, near the Roman necropolis. Meanwhile, Honor Frost mentored local Lebanese archaeologists to conduct further underwater investigations, which in 2001 confirmed the existence of a man-made structure within the northern harbour area of Tyre.The hostilities of the 2006 Lebanon War put the ancient structures of Tyre at risk. This prompted UNESCO's Director-General to launch a "Heritage Alert" for the site. Following the cessation of hostilities in September 2006, a visit by conservation experts to Lebanon observed no direct damage to the ancient city of Tyre. However, bombardment had damaged frescoes in a Roman funerary cave at the Tyre Necropolis. Additional site degradation was also noted, including ""the lack of maintenance, the decay of exposed structures due to lack of rainwater regulation and the decay of porous and soft stones"".
Since 2008, a Lebanese-French team under the direction by Pierre-Louis Gatier of the University of Lyon has been conducting archaeological and topographical work. When international archeological missions in Syria came to a halt after 2012 due to the war there, someof them instead started excavations in Tyre, amongst them a team headed by Leila Badre, director of the Archeological Museum of the American University of Beirut (AUB), and Belgian archaeologists.
Threats to Tyre's ancient cultural heritage include development pressures and the illegal antiquities trade. A highway, planned for 2011, was expected to be built in areas that are deemed archaeologically sensitive. A small-scale geophysical survey indicated the presence of archaeological remains at proposed construction sites. The sites have not been investigated. Despite the relocation of a proposed traffic interchange, the lack of precise site boundaries confuses the issue of site preservation.
A 2018 study of Mediterranean world heritage sites found that Tyre's City site has ""the highest risk of coastal erosion under current climatic conditions, in addition to 'moderate' risk from extreme sea levels.""
Like many of the cities in the Levant and in Lebanon, the architecture since the Lebanese Civil War in the 1970s has been of poor quality, which tend to threaten the cultural heritage in the built environment before the war. Meanwhile, historical buildings from the Ottoman period like Khan Rabu and Khan Sour / Khan Ashkar have partly collapsed after decades of total neglect and lack of any maintainance whatsover.
In 2013, the International Association to Save Tyre (IAST) made headlines when it launched an online raffle in association with Sotheby's to fund the artisans’ village "Les Ateliers de Tyr" at the outskirts of the city. Participants could purchase tickets for 100 Euros to win the 1914 ‘Man with Opera Hat’ painting by Pablo Picasso. The proceeds totaled US$5.26 million. The painting was won by a 25-year-old fire-safety official from Pennsylvania. IAST president Maha El-Khalil Chalabi is the daughter of feudal lord and politician Kazem el-Khalil.
The Bible makes several references to Tyre:
The first cinema in Tyre opened in the late 1930s when a café owner established makeshift film screenings. Hamid Istanbouli – a fisherman by profession, who was also a traditional storyteller ("hakawati") and thus interested in cinema – projected films on the wall of a Turkish hammam. In 1939 the Roxy opened, followed in 1942 by the "Empire".""By the mid-1950s there were four cinemas in Tyre, and four more soon opened in nearby Nabatieh. Many also hosted live performances by famous actors and musicians, serving as community spaces where people from different backgrounds came together"."
In 1959, the "Cinema Rivoli of Tyre" opened and quickly became one of the prime movie theatres of the country. According to UNIFIL, it was visited ""by celebrity who's whos of the time, including Jean Marais, Brigitte Bardot, Rushdi Abaza and Omar Hariri."" In 1964, the "Dunia" opened, two years later followed by the "Al Hamra Cinema", which became a venue for some of the Arab world's most famous performers, like Mahmoud Darwish, Sheikh Imam, Ahmed Fouad Negm, Wadih el-Safi, and Marcel Khalife.
Meanwhile, two Tyrian artists had a major impact on the development of Lebanese music: Halim el-Roumi (1919–1983) and Ghazi Kahwaji (1945–2017). Some sources claim that the famous musician, composer, singer and actor el-Roumi was born in Tyre to Lebanese parents. However, others suggest that he was born in Nazareth and moved to Tyre from Palestine. For some time, he worked as a teacher at the Jafariya High School there. In 1950 he became director of Radio Lebanon's music department, where he discovered the singer Fairuz and introduced her to the Rahbani brothers. Roumi composed music for and with them in close collaborations.
Kahwaji was Lebanon's first scenographer and for three decades the artistic general director for the Rahbani brothers and Fairuz. He used this prominent position to promote ""against confessionalism and fundamentalism"". Between 2008 and 2010 he published the sarcastic three-volume book series "Kahwajiyat" about social injustice in the Arab world.By then, cultural life in Tyre had been severely affected by armed conflict as well. In 1975, the commercial "Festivals de Tyr" – which had been founded in 1972 by Maha al-Khalil Chalabi, the daughter of feudal landlord and politician Kazem al-Khalil – was stopped at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1975. Some cinemas were damaged by Israeli bombardment in 1982 and all of them eventually closed down, the last ones in 1989: the Hamra and the AK2000.
In the mid-nineties though, first the commercial "Festivals de Tyr" were revived and have been organised since then annually in the ancient site of the Roman hippodrome, featuring international artists like Elton John and Sarah Brightman, as well as Lebanese stars Wadie El Safi, Demis Roussos, Kadim Al-Saher, Melhem Barakat, Julia Boutros, and Majida El Roumi, daughter of Halim el-Roumi. The pop-singer Layal Abboud was born and raised in the Tyrian village of Kniseh. She has returned occasionally to perform in Tyre as well.
In 2006, the "Centre de Lecture et d’Animation Culturelle" (C.L.A.C.) was opened by Tyre's municipality as the first public library of the city, with support from the Lebanese Ministry of Culture and the French Embassy in Beirut. It is located in the historical building of the "Beit Daoud" next to the "Beit El Medina" in the old town.In 2014, the NGO Tiro Association for Arts rehabilitated the defunct cinema Al Hamra under the leadership of ""Palestinian-Lebanese street theater performer, actor, comedian, and theater director"" (*1986). His grandfather was one of the founders of cinema in Tyre and his father used to repair cinema projectors. The Tiro Association launched the Lebanese International Theater Festival (alternating for storytelling, contemporary dance, and women monodrama), the Lebanese International Short film Festival, the Tyre International Music Festival, the Palestinian Culture Festival, Tiro Arts Festival, and a number of other festivals.
In 2018, the Istanbouli Theatre troupe rehabilitated and moved to the Rivoli Cinema, which had been closed since 1988, to establish the non-commercial Lebanese National Theater as a free cultural space with free entrance and a special focus on training children and youth in arts. It also runs the "Mobile Peace Bus", which is decorated with graffiti of Lebanese cultural icons, to promote arts in the villages of the neighbouring countryside. Istanbouli has argued:“"In Tyre, we have 400 shops for shisha, one library, and one theatre. But if there are places, people will come.""In 2019, the film "Manara" (Arabic for lighthouse) by Lebanese director Zayn Alexander, who shot the movie at the Al Fanar resort in Tyre, won the Laguna Sud Award for Best Short Film at the Venice Days strand festival.
The Jafariya School was founded in 1938 by Imam Abdul Hussein Sharafeddin. It soon expanded thanks mainly to donations from rich émigrés and thus was upgraded in 1946 to be a Secondary School, the first in Southern Lebanon (see above). It has remained one of the main schools in Tyre ever since.
An important role in the Tyrian education landscape is played by the charity organisation of the vanished Imam Musa Sadr, which has been headed since his disappearance in 1978 by his sister Rabab al-Sadr. While the foundation operates in various parts of the country, its main base is a compound on the southern entry of the Tyre peninsula close to the sea. A major focus are its Orphanages, but it also runs adult educational and vocational training programmes, especially for young women, in addition to health and development projects.
Musa Sadr also laid the groundwork for establishing the Islamic University of Lebanon (IUL) which was finally licensed in 1996 and opened a branch in Tyre. Its Board of Trustees is dominated by representatives of the Supreme Shiite Council, founded by Sadr in 1967.
The Lebanese Evangelical School in Tyre with a history of more than 150 years is arguably the largest school in town. Collège Élite, a French international school opened in 1996, is another one of a host of private schools in Tyre. The Cadmous College - a pre-kindergarten to grade 12 school, run by the Maronite missionaries - has about 10% Christian and 90% Muslim pupils.
In August 2019, the 17-year-old Ismail Ajjawi – a Palestinian resident of Tyre and graduate of the UNRWA Deir Yassin High School in the El Bass refugee camp – made global headlines when he scored top-results to earn a scholarship to study at Harvard, but was deported upon arrival in Boston despite valid visa. He was readmitted ten days later to start his studies in time.
An accurate statistical accounting is not possible, since the government of Lebanon has released only rough estimates of population numbers since 1932. However, a 2016 calculation by UN HABITAT estimated a figure of 201,208 inhabitants, many of them refugees:
The city of Tyre has become home to more than 60,000 Palestinian refugees who are mainly Sunni Muslim. As of June 2018, there were 12,281 registered persons in the Al Buss camp, 24,929 in Burj El Shimali and 34,584 in Rashidieh. In the ramshackle "gathering" of Jal Al Bahar next to the coastal highway, the number of residents was estimated to be around 2,500 in 2015.
In all camps, the number of refugees from Syria and Palestinian refugees from Syria increased in recent years. Tensions developed since these new arrivals would often accept work in the citrus and banana groves ""for half the daily wage"" that local Palestinian refugees used to earn.
In early 2019, some 1.500 Syrian refugees were evicted from their informal settlements around the Litani river for allegedly polluting the waters which are already heavily contaminated.
The Lebanese nationality population of Tyre is predominantly Shia Muslim with a small but noticeable Christian community. In 2010, it was estimated that Christians accounted for 15% of Tyre's population. In 2017, the Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Tyre counted about 42,500 members. Most of them live in the mountains of Southern Lebanon, while there are just some 500 Maronites in Tyre itself. The Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Tyre – which not only covers the District of Tyre in the South Governorate but also neighbouring areas in the Nabatieh Governorate – registered 2,857 members in that year.
Tyre is known as "Little West Africa". Many families in Tyre have relatives in the Western Africa diaspora, especially in Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivoy Coast and Nigeria. In Senegal, most immigrants originated from Tyre. Member of the Tyrian communities there are ""primarily second-, third-, and fourth-generation migrants, many of whom have never been to Lebanon."" One of Tyre's main promenades is called "Avenue du Senegal".
As there were an estimated 250,000 foreign workers – mostly female Ethiopians – under the discriminatory Kafala system of sponsorship in Lebanon by 2019, there is also a large community of African migrants in Tyre. They are mainly Ethiopian women who work as domestic servants. Some of them celebrate church service at the Greek-Catholic Cathedral of Saint Thomas, which has devoted a chapel on its compound to Tyre-born Saint Frumentius, the first bishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. In April 2014 one Ethiopian made sad headlines in an apparent suicide in Tyre: ""Media reports said the woman had fled last week from her employer’s home. Security forces later detained the Ethiopian and returned her to her employer"."
The 2016 UN HABITAT profile found that ""Approximate calculations suggest that 43% of Lebanese in Tyre urban area are living in poverty.""
The economy of urban Tyre mostly depends on tourism, contracting services, the construction sector, and remittances from Tyrians in the diaspora, especially in West Africa.
UNIFIL contributes greatly to the purchasing power in the Tyrian economy as well, both through spending by its individual members as well as through "quick-impact projects" like gravelling road, rehabilitating public places etc.
As of 2016, Olive trees were reported to comprise 38% of Tyre's agricultural land, but producers lacked a collective marketing strategy. While Citrus reportedly comprised 25% of the agricultural land, 20% of its harvest ended up wasted.
Tyre houses one of the nation's major ports, though its cargo traffic is limited to the periodical import of used cars.
In the harbour area the Barbour family of shipmakers continues to build wooden boats. Tyre is thus one of only a few cities in the Mediterranean that has kept this ancient tradition, although the Barbour business has been struggling to survive as well. By 2004, there were ""over 600 fishermen [..] striving to make ends meet in Tyre alone"".
Lebanon's General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre (GDLRC) recorded for Tyre a 4.4 percent growth rate for land transactions between 2014 and 2018, the highest rate in the country during that period. This increase in real estate prices has been largely attributed to the inflow of remittances from diaspora Tyrians.
Off the Tyrian coast, block 9 has been awarded for deepwater drilling of natural gas to a consortium of French company Total S.A., Italy-based Eni, and Russian Novatek.
Tadamon Sour Sporting Club, or simply Tadamon (meaning "Solidarity"), nicknamed "The Ambassador of the South", was founded in 1946 and is thus the historically most established football club of Tyre. They play their home matches at the Tyre Municipal Stadium, and have won one Lebanese FA Cup (2000–01) and two Lebanese Challenge Cups (2013 and 2018). Tadamon's traditional rivals, Salam Sour Sports Club, are also based in Tyre.
According to BBC reports, Tadamon SC was stripped of its Lebanese Premier League championship title in 2001 following match-fixing allegations.
In the same year the club scored arguably one of its biggest transfers when Roda Antar from its own youth teams was loaned to Germany's Hamburger SV for two seasons. After eight years in Germany with Hamburg, SC Freiburg and 1. FC Köln he played another six years in the Chinese Super League and then returned to Tadamon for one final season before retirement.
A number of Lebanese Premier League professional footballers, who have also played for the Lebanon national team, originate from Tyre, namely Rabih Ataya, and Nassar Nassar.
Tyre is twinned with:
A multi-ring structured region on Europa, the smallest of the four Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter, is named after Tyre, the legendary birthplace of princess Europa. Originally called "Tyre Macula", it is some 140 kilometers in diameter (about the size of the island of Hawaii) and thought to be the site where an asteroid or comet impacted Europa's ice crust.
The asteroid 209 Dido is named after the legendary Tyrian-Carthaginian princess. It is a very large main-belt asteroid, classified as a C-type asteroid which is probably composed of carbonaceous materials. 209 Dido was discovered in 1879 by C. H. F. Peters. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30796 |
Tarja Halonen
Tarja Kaarina Halonen (; born 24 December 1943) is a Finnish politician who served as the 11th President of Finland, and the first woman to hold the position, from 2000 to 2012. She first rose to prominence as a lawyer with the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), and as the Prime Minister's parliamentary secretary (1974–1975) and a member of the City Council of Helsinki (1977–1996). Halonen was a Social Democratic Party member of parliament from 1979 until her election to the presidency in 2000. She also served as a minister at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health from 1987 to 1990, as Minister of Justice from 1990 to 1991, and as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1995 to 2000.
Halonen was an extremely popular president, with her approval ratings reaching a peak of 88 percent in December 2003. She was re-elected in 2006, defeating National Coalition Party candidate Sauli Niinistö in the second round by 51% to 48%. Ineligible to run in the 2012 presidential elections because of term limits, Halonen left office on 1 March 2012 and was succeeded by Niinistö.
Widely known for her interest in human rights issues, Halonen served as the chairperson of the Finnish LGBT rights organization Seta in the 1980s, and she actively participated in the discussion of issues such as women's rights and the problems of globalization during her presidency. In 2006, she was mentioned by various commentators as a potential candidate for the United Nations Secretary-General selection, but she denied an interest at that time, stating that she wanted to finish her term as president before thinking about other career options. In 2009, Forbes named her among the 100 most powerful women in the world.
Halonen is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an international network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers whose mission is to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development.
Tarja Halonen was born on 24 December 1943 in the district of Kallio which is a traditional working-class area in central Helsinki. Her mother Lyyli Elina Loimola was a set-dresser and her father Vieno Olavi Halonen worked as a welder. Halonen's parents married each other at the beginning of World War II and Tarja was born a few years later. Vieno Halonen was at the frontline and Lyyli Halonen was working in a shoe factory when their daughter was born. After the war the couple decided to get a divorce, and in 1950 Lyyli Halonen married her new husband Thure Forss, who worked as an electrician and was very active in the working-class community.
Both Halonen's mother and her stepfather influenced her world view extensively. Halonen later said that her mother was a true survivor, always an extremely active and resilient person who valued good, honest and modest hardworking people. When she entered politics, Halonen stated that these are also the qualities and attributes she respects in people.
In 1950 she began her studies in Kallio Elementary school from where she later moved to Kallio Gymnasium and finally finished her matriculation examination in 1962. She began to study Art History in the University of Helsinki in 1962 but in autumn 1963 she changed her studies to law, and obtained her Master of Laws degree in 1968 specializing in criminal law.
She began to work as a lawyer, already before obtaining her degree, in a credit surveillance company "Luotonvalvonta oy" in 1967. After working there for a few years, she was hired by the National Union of University Students in Finland to work as a Social Affairs and General Secretary from 1969 to 1970. Her work in the Union spurred her interest in politics, and in 1970 she obtained a post as a lawyer in the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions, being the first female ever to work as a lawyer in the Union.
In 2012, Tarja Halonen joined the Nizami Ganjavi International Center Board, it is a cultural, non-profit, non-political organization dedicated to the memory of Persian poet, Nizami Ganjavi, the study and dissemination of his works, the promotion of the principles embodied in his writings, the advancement of culture and creative expression, and the promotion of learning, dialogue, tolerance and understanding between cultures and people.
In 1971 Halonen joined the Social Democratic Party which had close ties with the trade unions in which she worked as a lawyer from 1970 to 1974.
In early 1970 she was elected to represent Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions in a committee that called for the recognition of East Germany. Later she became the Vice-President of the committee, which lobbied then-President Urho Kekkonen. During the presidential elections of 2006 she was criticized by rivals for this. She responded that the committee was formed by members from many different political parties including conservative parties. In 1973 Finland recognized both East Germany and West Germany as sovereign states.
In 1974 Prime Minister Kalevi Sorsa appointed Halonen as his parliamentary secretary. She became acquainted with the world of Finnish politics and government and her political career took a great step forward, as she went on to hold a number of public offices. Sorsa later said that he wanted his parliamentary secretary to have good ties with the trade unions of Finland and have skills in jurisprudence.
Working in Parliament made Halonen even more interested in politics and she decided to take part in the municipal elections of 1976. She was elected to the City Council of Helsinki, a position she held continuously for five terms from 1977 to 1996. Additionally in 1979, she was elected into Parliament as a representative of the Helsinki constituency. She served five full terms and less than a year of her sixth term in Parliament until her inauguration as President in 2000. In Parliament, her first formal post was as the chairman of the Social Committee, which she held from 1984 to 1987.
In 1987, Halonen was appointed Minister of Social Affairs and Health by Prime Minister Harri Holkeri. Halonen held the position until 1990. In addition to this, she served as Minister for Nordic Cooperation from 1989 to 1991, the same year in which she was also appointed the chairman of the International Solidarity Foundation, a post she relinquished in 2000.
From 1990 to 1991 she served as Minister of Justice, and from 1995 until her election to the presidency, she served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Lipponen I Cabinet.
Halonen announced in 1999 that she wished to stand as a candidate for President in the 2000 presidential elections. In the preliminary elections of the Social Democrats Halonen ran against Pertti Paasio, a member of the European Parliament and former party chairman, and Jacob Söderman, the European Ombudsman. The incumbent, Martti Ahtisaari, refused to run in party preliminaries and thus announced that he would not run for a second term. Halonen won the preliminaries by a landslide, getting 7,800 out of 12,800 votes.
Halonen was a surprising candidate as she didn't represent many traditional values: she was known as a left-wing social democratic party member, who lived in a domestic partnership, was a single parent and had resigned from the national church. Despite starting from fourth place in the presidential election polls, in the first round of the elections, Halonen got the most votes, 40.0%. Her nearest opponent, former prime minister Esko Aho of the Centre Party, got 34.4%.
Since neither of the two candidates got over 50% of the votes, a second round was held. In the second round, Halonen narrowly defeated her opponent with 51.6% against 48.4%, thus becoming Finland's first female head of state. Her first term began on 1 March 2000.
After her narrow election victory in the first election, Halonen's approval ratings rose and reached a peak of 88% in December 2003.
In a 2001 interview Halonen said that she was worried about the Russian response if NATO approved membership bids by Baltic countries. Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga asked what she meant and whether Halonen is actively opposing NATO membership of Baltic countries.
In the "Iraqgate" scandal, Halonen's advisor Martti Manninen leaked confidential documents to the Centre Party leader Anneli Jäätteenmäki, who had become Prime Minister. The revelations led to the resignation of Jäätteenmäki.
Halonen has opposed the use of landmines in Finnish military doctrine.
Halonen has defended cluster bombs and did not sign a treaty which would have banned Finland from using these kinds of weapons.
On 20 May 2005, Halonen held a press conference in Mäntyniemi where she announced her willingness to run for a second term. Officially, this was the desired answer for the SDP delegation that had visited her two days earlier. In addition to her own party's support, the leader of the Left Alliance, Suvi-Anne Siimes, gave her support for Halonen's future campaign.
SAK openly lobbied for her re-election. It used its members' money on mudslinging campaigns on behalf of Halonen. In those flyers, "Niinistö is presented as the horror of worker, whereas SAK-supported Halonen is like a worker's dream". Halonen said she approved of the flyers.
A study analyzed newspaper articles and concluded that the main newspaper "Helsingin Sanomat" produced almost exclusively positive tone stories about Halonen and much more negative tone articles about candidates Niinistö, Vanhanen and Hautala.
American talk show host Conan O'Brien made recurring jokes about Halonen on his show, "Late Night with Conan O'Brien", because of his own resemblance to her. He endorsed Halonen and produced humorous mock campaign ads and attack ads against her opponents. He went as far as visiting Finland and meeting Halonen.
On 19 November, the SDP's party council meeting was held; praised as "the president of the whole nation", she was unanimously chosen as the presidential candidate. Shortly thereafter, the party council of the Left Alliance gave the party's official support to Halonen.
Halonen's received 46% of the first round vote in the election. Sauli Niinistö (of the National Coalition Party) was second with 24%. They faced each other in a runoff on 29 January 2006, where Halonen was re-elected with 51.8% of the vote against Mr. Niinistö's 48.2%. The re-election was a close call. She led in the advance voting, but she eventually received fewer votes on the actual voting day than Mr. Niinistö did.
In 2008, Halonen nominated SDP-affiliated Ritva Viljanen for a second term in the Ministry of the Interior. The government had nominated Ilkka Laitinen. Over the course of the previous 50 years, the President had only once chosen to not obey the government's consensus, leading to Halonen thusly being accused of cronyism.
In September 2008, Halonen was perceived as insulting Estonia by saying that the Estonians suffer from a "post-Soviet stress condition". President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves commented on the issue, saying that "Estonia has never condemned, and will not condemn the foreign affairs decisions of another EU country. It will also not assess the psychiatric state of other EU countries". In 2009, Halonen rejected calls to apologize for Finland's attitude towards Estonian independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
At the end of her second term Halonen's presidency and economic views received harsh criticism from Björn Wahlroos, the chairman of the two largest banks in Finland.
Early in her political career Halonen represented the far-left wing of the SDP. She publicly opposed the proposed free trade agreement of the European Economic Community in 1973, by signing a petition along with 500 other prominent social democrats and socialists. Otherwise she was loyal to President Kekkonen's foreign policy, which was founded on Finnish neutrality and good relations with the Soviet Union.
Throughout her political career, Halonen has described herself as a supporter of international solidarity. She describes herself as a "relative pacifist", meaning that she doesn't support unilateral disarmament. She has strongly defended the President's role as the commander in chief of the military. She opposes NATO membership. Her strong stands on these issues have characterised her presidential term and shaped Finnish foreign policy, in part in cooperation with the like-minded former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Erkki Tuomioja.
Halonen has publicly supported the involvement of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) in politics.
The Constitution of Finland and Halonen's decision to take part in some European Union meetings with the Prime Minister has created the so-called "problem of two dinner plates" in Finland. Since most other countries only have their Prime Ministers representing them, it was also decided in Finland that the task is reserved for the Prime Minister in most cases.
On 20 March 2013, Halonen publicly voiced her support for same-sex marriage.
President Halonen says her interests include art history, the theatre and swimming. She says she speaks Finnish, Swedish, and English, and is studying Estonian. Halonen had two cats during her presidential term. After they died, she was given a "Neva Masquerade" cat in 2013 by Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev.
On 26 August 2000, President Halonen married her longtime partner, Dr. Pentti Arajärvi, in a civil ceremony at her official residence, Mäntyniemi, after a relationship of more than fifteen years. Halonen's adult daughter Anna, and Arajärvi's adult son Esko, acted as witnesses. Both children are from previous relationships.
She promotes Finland in her personal accoutrements, such as wearing a Moomin watch.
In the 1960s, she left the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, to which the majority of Finns belong, to protest against its policy of taxing church members and its stance against female priests. Today, the church accepts women as priests and Halonen has stated that she has no personal reason not to return to the church but refrains from doing so in order not to give a signal that might be misinterpreted. In the 1990s, Halonen acted as the chairman of "Suomen setlementtiliitto", a Christian social work organization. After her presidential term, Halonen rejoined the Evangelical-Lutheran Church. According to her statements, she had previously refrained from it as it might have been considered an attempt to garner political support. Since then, Halonen has even preached publicly in a divine service of her home parish of Kallio. This is a privilege that the parish priest may grant only in exceptional cases to persons known for their Christian conviction.
In 1980–1981 Halonen served as the chairman of Seta, the main LGBT rights organization in Finland. When she became Minister of Justice in 1990, there were high hopes among Seta members that she would stand up for gay rights.
According to her authorized biography published in 2005, Halonen is critical of some unnamed members of the Finnish civil service for being gay or lesbian and not coming out and campaigning for sexual equality. She accused these closeted homosexuals of reaping the benefits of other people's work for sexual equality without contributing themselves.
A long-running joke, which stems from the recurring segment "Conan O'Brien Hates My Homeland", is that American talk show host Conan O'Brien resembles Tarja Halonen. After joking about this for several months (which led to his endorsement of her campaign), O'Brien travelled to Finland, appeared on several television shows and met President Halonen. The trip was filmed and aired as a special. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30797 |
Truso
Truso, situated on Lake Drużno, was an Old Prussian (Pomesanian) town near the Baltic Sea just east of the Vistula River. It was one of the trading posts on the Amber Road, and is thought to be the antecedent of the city of Elbląg (Elbing). In the words of Marija Gimbutas, "the name of the town is the earliest known historically in the Baltic Sea area". The main export goods of Truso were amber, furs, and slaves, while blacksmithing and amber working were the major industries. The beginnings of the town can be dated back to approximately the end of the 8th century, while in the second half of the 10th century, the town declined and was eclipsed as a trade center by nearby Gdańsk.
Truso was situated in a central location upon the Eastern European trade routes, which led from Birka in the north to the island of Gotland and to Visby in the Baltic Sea and later included the Hanseatic city of Elbing (since 1945 Elbląg). From there, traders continued further south to Carnuntum in the Alps. This was called the Amber Road. The ancient amber roads led further south-west and south-east to the Black Sea and eventually to Asia. "For formerly Prussia, Truso played the same role as Haithabu (Slesvig) or Hedeby for north-western Germany or Slavic Vineta for Pomerania", Gimbutas has observed.
East–west trade route went from Truso and Wiskiauten (a rival centre in Prussia which sprang up at the south-western corner of the Courish Lagoon), along the Baltic Sea to Jutland, and from there up the Slien inlet to Haithabu/Hedeby, a large trading center in Jutland. Hedeby, which lay near the modern city of Schleswig in Schleswig-Holstein, was pretty centrally located and could be reached from all four directions over land as well as from the North Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Baltic Sea.
Around the year 890, Wulfstan of Hedeby (by his own account) undertook a seven-days boat journey from Hedeby to Truso at the behest of king Alfred the Great. One possible reason for this expedition was because Alfred needed aid in his defense against the Danes or Vikings, who had taken over most of England. The reasons for this journey are fundamentally unclear, since Truso was at the time little more than a trading center, and Alfred the Great, the West Saxon ruler, already kept in close contact with the continental Saxons and the Franks.
First attempts at finding the exact location of the town date back to early sixteenth century. Based on Prussian archaeological finds from 1897 and excavations which began in the 1920s, archaeologists located Truso around Hansdorf near Elbing (since 1945 Janów Pomorski near Elbląg). Found artifacts, dating from the 7th to 12th century, were stored in the Elbing Museum, now the Elbląg Museum. In the 1980s, the Polish archaeologist Marek Jagodziński had resumed excavations and cleared a c. 20 hectare site, in which a series of structures were burnt down around the year 1000 AD.
Gwyn Jones notes that "no true town has been found and excavated" and that the identification of the site in Elbląg with Truso is based on "finds of Norse weapons" and the presence of "a large Viking Age cemetery" nearby, According to Mateusz Bogucki "by now, there is no doubt that the settlement really is Wulfstan's Truso" The Elbląg Museum brochure: "Truso- A Discovered Legend", by Marek F Jagodziński, describes a large number of buildings found during the recent excavations, with burnt remains of posts suggesting buildings of c. 5 x 10 m and long houses of about 6 x 21 m.
Mateusz Bogucki states in the book "Coin finds in the Viking Age Emporium Truso" (Warsaw 2007, page 83) about "...the end of Truso as a port of trade...a strong political power, probably of Piast origin...sent warriors to try to take control...destroyed the town." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30801 |
Tragedy of the commons
The tragedy of the commons is a situation in a shared-resource system where individual users, acting independently according to their own self-interest, behave contrary to the common good of all users by depleting or spoiling the shared resource through their collective action. The theory originated in an essay written in 1833 by the British economist William Forster Lloyd, who used a hypothetical example of the effects of unregulated grazing on common land (also known as a "common") in Great Britain and Ireland. The concept became widely known as the "tragedy of the commons" over a century later due to an article written by American biologist and philosopher Garrett Hardin in 1968. In this modern economic context, "commons" is taken to mean any shared and unregulated resource such as atmosphere, oceans, rivers, ocean fish stocks, or even an office refrigerator.
The term is used in environmental science. The "tragedy of the commons" is often cited in connection with sustainable development, meshing economic growth and environmental protection, as well as in the debate over global warming. It has also been used in analyzing behavior in the fields of economics, evolutionary psychology, anthropology, game theory, politics, taxation and sociology.
Although common resource systems have been known to collapse due to overuse (such as in over-fishing), many examples have existed and still do exist where members of a community with access to a common resource co-operate or regulate to exploit those resources prudently without collapse. Elinor Ostrom was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics for demonstrating exactly this concept in her book "Governing the Commons", which included examples of how local communities were able to do this without top-down regulations or privatization.
In 1833, the English economist William Forster Lloyd published a pamphlet which included a hypothetical example of over-use of a common resource. This was the situation of cattle herders sharing a common parcel of land on which they were each entitled to let their cows graze, as was the custom in English villages. He postulated that if a herder put more than his allotted number of cattle on the common, overgrazing could result. For each additional animal, a herder could receive additional benefits, while the whole group shared the resulting damage to the commons. If all herders made this individually rational economic decision, the common could be depleted or even destroyed, to the detriment of all.
In 1968, ecologist Garrett Hardin explored this social dilemma in his article "The Tragedy of the Commons", published in the journal "Science". The essay derived its title from the pamphlet by Lloyd, which he cites, on the over-grazing of common land.
Hardin discussed problems that cannot be solved by technical means, as distinct from those with solutions that require "a change only in the techniques of the natural sciences, demanding little or nothing in the way of change in human values or ideas of morality". Hardin focused on human population growth, the use of the Earth's natural resources, and the welfare state. Hardin argued that if individuals relied on themselves alone, and not on the relationship of society and man, then the number of children had by each family would not be of public concern. Parents breeding excessively would leave fewer descendants because they would be unable to provide for each child adequately. Such negative feedback is found in the animal kingdom. Hardin said that if the children of improvident parents starved to death, if overbreeding was its own punishment, then there would be no public interest in controlling the breeding of families. Hardin blamed the welfare state for allowing the tragedy of the commons; where the state provides for children and supports overbreeding as a fundamental human right, Malthusian catastrophe is inevitable. Consequently, in his article, Hardin lamented the following proposal from the United Nations:
In addition, Hardin also pointed out the problem of individuals acting in rational self-interest by claiming that if all members in a group used common resources for their own gain and with no regard for others, all resources would still eventually be depleted. Overall, Hardin argued against relying on conscience as a means of policing commons, suggesting that this favors selfish individuals – often known as free riders – over those who are more altruistic.
In the context of avoiding over-exploitation of common resources, Hardin concluded by restating Hegel's maxim (which was quoted by Engels), "freedom is the recognition of necessity". He suggested that "freedom" completes the tragedy of the commons. By recognizing resources as commons in the first place, and by recognizing that, as such, they require management, Hardin believed that humans "can preserve and nurture other and more precious freedoms".
Hardin's article was the start of the modern use of "Commons" as a term connoting a shared resource. As Frank van Laerhoven and Elinor Ostrom have stated: "Prior to the publication of Hardin’s article on the tragedy of the commons (1968), titles containing the words 'the commons', 'common pool resources,' or 'common property' were very rare in the academic literature." They go on to say: "In 2002, Barrett and Mabry conducted a major survey of biologists to determine which publications in the twentieth century had become classic books or benchmark publications in biology. They report that Hardin’s 1968 article was the one having the greatest career impact on biologists and is the most frequently cited".
Like Lloyd and Thomas Malthus before him, Hardin was primarily interested in the problem of human population growth. But in his essay, he also focused on the use of larger (though finite) resources such as the Earth's atmosphere and oceans, as well as pointing out the "negative commons" of pollution (i.e., instead of dealing with the deliberate privatization of a positive resource, a "negative commons" deals with the deliberate commonization of a negative cost, pollution).
As a metaphor, the tragedy of the commons should not be taken too literally. The "tragedy" is not in the word's conventional or theatric sense, nor a condemnation of the processes that lead to it. Similarly, Hardin's use of "commons" has frequently been misunderstood, leading him to later remark that he should have titled his work "The Tragedy of the Unregulated Commons".
The metaphor illustrates the argument that free access and unrestricted demand for a finite resource ultimately reduces the resource through over-exploitation, temporarily or permanently. This occurs because the benefits of exploitation accrue to individuals or groups, each of whom is motivated to maximize use of the resource to the point in which they become reliant on it, while the costs of the exploitation are borne by all those to whom the resource is available (which may be a wider class of individuals than those who are exploiting it). This, in turn, causes demand for the resource to increase, which causes the problem to snowball until the resource collapses (even if it retains a capacity to recover). The rate at which depletion of the resource is realized depends primarily on three factors: the number of users wanting to consume the common in question, the consumptive nature of their uses, and the relative robustness of the common.
The same concept is sometimes called the "tragedy of the fishers", because fishing too many fish before or during breeding could cause stocks to plummet.
The "tragedy of the commons" can be considered in relation to environmental issues such as sustainability. The commons dilemma stands as a model for a great variety of resource problems in society today, such as water, forests, fish, and non-renewable energy sources such as oil and coal.
Situations exemplifying the "tragedy of the commons" include the overfishing and destruction of the Grand Banks, the destruction of salmon runs on rivers that have been dammed – most prominently in modern times on the Columbia River in the Northwest United States, and historically in North Atlantic rivers – the devastation of the sturgeon fishery – in modern Russia, but historically in the United States as well – and, in terms of water supply, the limited water available in arid regions (e.g., the area of the Aral Sea) and the Los Angeles water system supply, especially at Mono Lake and Owens Lake.
In economics, an externality is a cost or benefit that affects a party who did not choose to incur that cost or benefit. Negative externalities are a well-known feature of the "tragedy of the commons". For example, driving cars has many negative externalities; these include pollution, carbon emissions, and traffic accidents. Every time 'Person A' gets in a car, it becomes more likely that 'Person Z' and millions of others will suffer in each of those areas. Economists often urge the government to adopt policies that "internalize" an externality.
The "tragedy of commons" can also be referred to the idea of open data. Scholars have misinterpreted the literature on computer science and statistics, thus clearly exaggerating the futility of anonymising data. Further, the risks posed by anonymised data are theoretical; in nature they rarely occur. Finally, anonymised data are crucial for useful social research and represent therefore a public resource – better said a common good – which is liable to exhaustion. In conclusion, some feel that the law should provide a safe haven for the dissemination of research data, since it can be argued that current data protection policies overburden valuable research without mitigating realistic risks.
More general examples (some alluded to by Hardin) of potential and actual tragedies include:
A parallel was drawn recently between the tragedy of the commons and the competing behaviour of parasites that through acting selfishly eventually diminish or destroy their common host. The idea has also been applied to areas such as the evolution of virulence or sexual conflict, where males may fatally harm females when competing for matings. It is also raised as a question in studies of social insects, where scientists wish to understand why insect workers do not undermine the "common good" by laying eggs of their own and causing a breakdown of the society.
The idea of evolutionary suicide, where adaptation at the level of the individual causes the whole species or population to be driven extinct, can be seen as an extreme form of an evolutionary tragedy of the commons. From an evolutionary point of view, the creation of the tragedy of the commons in pathogenic microbes may provide us with advanced therapeutic methods.
The "commons dilemma" is a specific class of social dilemma in which people's short-term selfish interests are at odds with long-term group interests and the common good. In academia, a range of related terminology has also been used as shorthand for the theory or aspects of it, including "resource dilemma", "take-some dilemma", and "common pool resource".
Commons dilemma researchers have studied conditions under which groups and communities are likely to under- or over-harvest common resources in both the laboratory and field. Research programs have concentrated on a number of motivational, strategic, and structural factors that might be conducive to management of commons.
In game theory, which constructs mathematical models for individuals' behavior in strategic situations, the corresponding "game", developed by Hardin, is known as the Commonize Costs – Privatize Profits Game (CC–PP game).
Kopelman, Weber, & Messick (2002), in a review of the experimental research on cooperation in commons dilemmas, identify nine classes of independent variables that influence cooperation in commons dilemmas: social motives, gender, payoff structure, uncertainty, power and status, group size, communication, causes, and frames. They organize these classes and distinguish between psychological individual differences (stable personality traits) and situational factors (the environment). Situational factors include both the task (social and decision structure) and the perception of the task.
Empirical findings support the theoretical argument that the cultural group is a critical factor that needs to be studied in the context of situational variables. Rather than behaving in line with economic incentives, people are likely to approach the decision to cooperate with an appropriateness framework. An expanded, four factor model of the Logic of Appropriateness, suggests that the cooperation is better explained by the question: "What does a person like me (identity) do (rules) in a situation like this (recognition) given this culture (group)?"
Strategic factors also matter in commons dilemmas. One often-studied strategic factor is the order in which people take harvests from the resource. In simultaneous play, all people harvest at the same time, whereas in sequential play people harvest from the pool according to a predetermined sequence – first, second, third, etc. There is a clear order effect in the latter games: the harvests of those who come first – the leaders – are higher than the harvest of those coming later – the followers. The interpretation of this effect is that the first players feel entitled to take more. With sequential play, individuals adopt a first come-first served rule, whereas with simultaneous play people may adopt an equality rule. Another strategic factor is the ability to build up reputations. Research found that people take less from the common pool in public situations than in anonymous private situations. Moreover, those who harvest less gain greater prestige and influence within their group.
Hardin stated in his analysis of the tragedy of the commons that "Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all." One of the proposed solutions is to appoint a leader to regulate access to the common. Groups are more likely to endorse a leader when a common resource is being depleted and when managing a common resource is perceived as a difficult task. Groups prefer leaders who are elected, democratic, and prototypical of the group, and these leader types are more successful in enforcing cooperation. A general aversion to autocratic leadership exists, although it may be an effective solution, possibly because of the fear of power abuse and corruption.
The provision of rewards and punishments may also be effective in preserving common resources. Selective punishments for overuse can be effective in promoting domestic water and energy conservation – for example, through installing water and electricity meters in houses. Selective rewards work, provided that they are open to everyone. An experimental carpool lane in the Netherlands failed because car commuters did not feel they were able to organize a carpool. The rewards do not have to be tangible. In Canada, utilities considered putting "smiley faces" on electricity bills of customers below the average consumption of that customer's neighborhood.
Articulating solutions to the tragedy of the commons is one of the main problems of political philosophy. In many situations, locals implement (often complex) social schemes that work well. The best governmental solution may be to do nothing. When these fail, there are many possible governmental solutions such as privatization, internalizing the externalities, and regulation.
Sometimes the best governmental solution may be to do nothing. Robert Axelrod contends that even self-interested individuals will often find ways to cooperate, because collective restraint serves both the collective and individual interests. Anthropologist G. N. Appell criticized those who cited Hardin to "impos[e] their own economic and environmental rationality on other social systems of which they have incomplete understanding and knowledge."
Political scientist Elinor Ostrom, who was awarded 2009's Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for her work on the issue, and others revisited Hardin's work in 1999. They found the tragedy of the commons not as prevalent or as difficult to solve as Hardin maintained, since locals have often come up with solutions to the commons problem themselves. For example, it was found that a commons in the Swiss Alps has been run by a collective of farmers there to their mutual and individual benefit since 1517, in spite of the farmers also having access to their own farmland. In general, it is in the interest of the users of a commons to keep them functioning and so complex social schemes are often invented by the users for maintaining them at optimum efficiency.
Similarly, geographer Douglas L. Johnson remarks that many nomadic pastoralist societies of Africa and the Middle East in fact "balanced local stocking ratios against seasonal rangeland conditions in ways that were ecologically sound", reflecting a desire for lower risk rather than higher profit; in spite of this, it was often the case that "the nomad was blamed for problems that were not of his own making and were a product of alien forces." Independently finding precedent in the opinions of previous scholars such as Ibn Khaldun as well as common currency in antagonistic cultural attitudes towards non-sedentary peoples, governments and international organizations have made use of Hardin's work to help justify restrictions on land access and the eventual sedentarization of pastoral nomads despite its weak empirical basis. Examining relations between historically nomadic Bedouin Arabs and the Syrian state in the 20th century, Dawn Chatty notes that "Hardin's argument […] was curiously accepted as the fundamental explanation for the degradation of the steppe land" in development schemes for the arid interior of the country, downplaying the larger role of agricultural overexploitation in desertification as it melded with prevailing nationalist ideology which viewed nomads as socially backward and economically harmful.
Elinor Ostrom and her colleagues looked at how real-world communities manage communal resources, such as fisheries, land irrigation systems, and farmlands, and they identified a number of factors conducive to successful resource management. One factor is the resource itself; resources with definable boundaries (e.g., land) can be preserved much more easily. A second factor is resource dependence; there must be a perceptible threat of resource depletion, and it must be difficult to find substitutes. The third is the presence of a community; small and stable populations with a thick social network and social norms promoting conservation do better. A final condition is that there be appropriate community-based rules and procedures in place with built-in incentives for responsible use and punishments for overuse. When the commons is taken over by non-locals, those solutions can no longer be used.
An example of counteracting the tragedy of commons gets possible, if the total amount of common goods is measurable and if there is a majority who sets up the following rules: people have to pay proportionally for their consumption if they report it, but those who refuse to tell, have to pay an equal portion of the amount that is left of the total consumption after subtracting those of all reporting individuals'. Since people will consume mostly diverse amounts, those who - can - consume less, are interested in joining the club of those who report and pay proportionally. This goes on until only the biggest consumer won't be reporting, but they don't have to, as their share can already be calculated by subtracting all the reported values from the total consumption.
Governmental solutions may be necessary when the above conditions are not met (such as a community being too big or too unstable to provide a thick social network). Examples of government regulation include privatization, regulation, and internalizing the externalities.
One solution for some resources is to convert common good into private property, giving the new owner an incentive to enforce its sustainability. Libertarians and classical liberals cite the tragedy of the commons as an example of what happens when Lockean property rights to homestead resources are prohibited by a government. They argue that the solution to the tragedy of the commons is to allow individuals to take over the property rights of a resource, that is, to privatize it.
In England, this solution was attempted in the Inclosure Acts.
In a typical example, governmental regulations can limit the amount of a common good that is available for use by any individual. Permit systems for extractive economic activities including mining, fishing, hunting, livestock raising and timber extraction are examples of this approach. Similarly, limits to pollution are examples of governmental intervention on behalf of the commons. This idea is used by the United Nations Moon Treaty, Outer Space Treaty and Law of the Sea Treaty as well as the UNESCO World Heritage Convention which involves the international law principle that designates some areas or resources the Common Heritage of Mankind.
In Hardin's essay, he proposed that the solution to the problem of overpopulation must be based on "mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon" and result in "relinquishing the freedom to breed". Hardin discussed this topic further in a 1979 book, "Managing the Commons," co-written with John A. Baden. He framed this prescription in terms of needing to restrict the "reproductive right", to safeguard all other rights. Several countries have a variety of population control laws in place.
German historian Joachim Radkau thought Hardin advocates strict management of common goods via increased government involvement or international regulation bodies. An asserted impending "tragedy of the commons" is frequently warned of as a consequence of the adoption of policies which restrict private property and espouse expansion of public property.
Privatization works when the person who owns the property (or rights of access to that property) pays the full price of its exploitation. As discussed above negative externalities (negative results, such as air or water pollution, that do not proportionately affect the user of the resource) is often a feature driving the tragedy of the commons. "Internalizing the externalities", in other words ensuring that the users of resource pay for all of the consequences of its use, can provide an alternate solution between privatization and regulation. One example is gasoline taxes which are intended to include both the cost of road maintenance and of air pollution. This solution can provide the flexibility of privatization while minimizing the amount of government oversight and overhead that is needed.
One of the significant actions areas which can dwell as potential solution is to have co-shared communities that have partial ownership from governmental side and partial ownership from the community. By ownership, here it is referred to planning, sharing, using, benefiting and supervision of the resources which ensure that the power is not held in one or two hands only. Since, involvement of multiple stakeholders is necessary responsibilities can be shared across them based on their abilities and capacities in terms of human resources, infrastructure development ability and legal aspects etc.
Radical environmentalist Derrick Jensen claims the tragedy of the commons is used as propaganda for private ownership. He says it has been used by the political right wing to hasten the final enclosure of the "common resources" of third world and indigenous people worldwide, as a part of the Washington Consensus. He argues that in true situations, those who abuse the commons would have been warned to desist and if they failed would have punitive sanctions against them. He says that rather than being called "The Tragedy of the Commons", it should be called "the Tragedy of the Failure of the Commons".
Marxist geographer David Harvey has a similar criticism, noting that "The dispossession of indigenous populations in North America by 'productive' colonists, for instance, was justified because indigenous populations did not produce value", and asks generally: "Why, for instance, do we not focus in Hardin's metaphor on the individual ownership of the cattle rather than on the pasture as a common?"
Hardin's work was also criticised as historically inaccurate in failing to account for the demographic transition, and for failing to distinguish between common property and open access resources. In a similar vein, Carl Dahlman argues that commons were effectively managed to prevent overgrazing. Likewise, Susan Jane Buck Cox argues that the common land example used to argue this economic concept is on very weak historical ground, and misrepresents what she terms was actually the "triumph of the commons": the successful common usage of land for many centuries. She argues that social changes and agricultural innovation, and not the behaviour of the commoners, led to the demise of the commons.
Some authors, like Yochai Benkler, say that with the rise of the Internet and digitalisation, an economics system based on commons becomes possible again. He wrote in his book "The Wealth of Networks" in 2006 that cheap computing power plus networks enable people to produce valuable products through non-commercial processes of interaction: "as human beings and as social beings, rather than as market actors through the price system". He uses the term "networked information economy" to refer to a "system of production, distribution, and consumption of information goods characterized by decentralized individual action carried out through widely distributed, nonmarket means that do not depend on market strategies." He also coined the term "commons-based peer production" for collaborative efforts based on sharing information. Examples of commons-based peer production are free and open source software and open-source hardware.
In certain cases, exploiting a resource more may be a good thing. Carol M. Rose, in a 1986 article, discussed the concept of the "comedy of the commons", where the public property in question exhibits "increasing returns to scale" in usage (hence the phrase, "the more the merrier"), in that the more people use the resource, the higher the benefit to each one. Rose cites as examples commerce and group recreational activities. According to Rose, public resources with the "comedic" characteristic may suffer from under-investment rather than over usage.
A modern example presented by Garrett Richards in environmental studies is that the issue of excessive carbon emissions can be tackled effectively only when the efforts are directly addressing the issues along with the collective efforts from the world economies. Collective funding and shared solutions across nations could help identify technologies that can solve carbon emission issues. Additionally, the more that nations are willing to collaborate and contribute resources, the higher the chances are for successful technological developments. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30802 |
Tape bias
Tape bias is the term for two techniques, AC bias and DC bias, that improve the fidelity of analogue tape recorders. DC bias is the addition of direct current to the audio signal that is being recorded. AC bias is the addition of an inaudible high-frequency signal (generally from 40 to 150 kHz) to the audio signal. Most contemporary tape recorders use AC bias.
When recording, magnetic tape has a nonlinear response as determined by its coercivity. Without bias, this response results in poor performance, especially at low signal levels. A recording signal which generates a magnetic field strength less than tape's coercivity is unable to magnetise the tape and produces little playback signal. Bias increases the signal quality of most audio recordings significantly by pushing the signal into more linear zones of the tape's magnetic transfer function.
Magnetic recording was proposed as early as 1878 by Oberlin Smith, who on 4 October 1878 filed, with the U.S. patent office, a caveat regarding the magnetic recording of sound and who published his ideas on the subject in the 8 September 1888 issue of "The Electrical World" as ""Some possible forms of phonograph"". By 1898 Valdemar Poulsen had demonstrated a magnetic recorder and proposed magnetic tape. Fritz Pfleumer was granted a German patent for a non-magnetic ""Sound recording carrier"" with a magnetic coating, on 1 January 1928, but it was later overturned in favour of an earlier US patent by Joseph A. O'Neill.
The earliest magnetic recording systems simply applied the unadulterated (baseband) input signal to a recording head, resulting in recordings with poor low-frequency response and high distortion. Within short order, the addition of a suitable direct current to the signal, a DC bias, was found to reduce distortion by operating the tape substantially within its linear-response region. The principal disadvantage of DC bias was that it left the tape with a net magnetization, which generated significant noise on replay because of the grain of the tape particles. Some early DC-bias systems used a permanent magnet that was placed near the record head. It had to be swung out of the way for replay. DC bias was replaced by AC bias but was later re-adopted by some very low-cost cassette recorders.
Although the improvements with DC bias were significant, an even better recording is possible if an AC (alternating current) bias is used instead. While several people around the world rediscovered AC bias, it was the German developments that were widely used in practice and served as the model for future work.
The original patent for AC bias was filed by Wendell L. Carlson and Glenn L. Carpenter in 1921, eventually resulting in a patent in 1927. The value of AC bias was somewhat masked by the primitive state of other aspects of magnetic recording, however, and Carlson and Carpenter's achievement was largely ignored. The first rediscovery seems to have been by Dean Wooldrige at Bell Telephone Laboratories, around 1937, but the BTL lawyers found the original patent, and simply kept silent about their rediscovery of AC bias.
Teiji Igarashi, Makoto Ishikawa, and Kenzo Nagai of Japan published a paper on AC biasing in 1938 and received a Japanese patent in 1940. Marvin Camras (USA) also rediscovered high-frequency (AC) bias independently in 1941 and received a patent in 1944.
The reduction in distortion and noise provided by AC bias was rediscovered in 1940 by Walter Weber while working at the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (RRG). The German pair received several related patents, including for "high-frequency treatment of the sound carrier".
Possibly independently of Weber and Braunmühl, the UK company Boosey & Hawkes produced a steel-wire recorder under government contract during the Second World War that was equipped with AC bias. Examples still surface from time to time, many having been disposed of as government surplus stock. After the war, Boosey and Hawkes also produced a "Reporter" tape recorder in the early 1950s using magnetic tape, rather than wire, which was based on German wartime technology.
As the tape leaves the trailing edge of the gap in the tape head, the oscillating magnetic field due to the applied AC bias is rapidly reduced to the average magnetic field of the much slower-changing audio signal, and the tape particles are therefore left in this magnetic condition. The non-linearity of the magnetic particles in the tape coating is overcome by having the AC bias field greater by at least an order of magnitude (10× the maximal audio field), which saturates these particles in both magnetic directions while they pass the gap in the recording head. The AC bias level is quite critical and, after being adjusted for a particular tape formulation with a specific recording machine, is usually left unchanged.
The mechanism is similar to the demagnetizing signal which is used to erase the tape except that the desired audio signal is retained on the tape during the recording process. The large AC bias acts as a demagnetizing signal which decays exponentially as the tape moves beyond the head, while the audio signal is the residual field that remains imprinted on the magnetic medium.
A quantitative explanation of AC bias has been given by Bertram.
The characteristics of the recording system change quite markedly as the level of the bias current is changed. There is a level at which the system gives the minimal distortion (which is the highest bias). There is also a level at which the high-frequency response is at maximum (lowest bias). These conditions unfortunately do not occur at the same bias level. Professional reel-to-reel and cassette recorders are always set up for minimal distortion. Consumer equipment, particularly Compact Cassette recorders, have the bias set at a compromise level (usually a little higher) to give good frequency response and acceptably low distortion.
Bang & Olufsen invented and patented the so-called Dolby HX PRO (Headroom eXtension) principle for combining bias control with the Dolby system for better high-frequency response in cassette recorders. Tandberg invented the cross-field recording system for tape recorders where a separate head with the bias was used. Adding bias to the recorded signal in the one head had tended to limit the system's high-frequency response, due to interaction between bias and signal. The cross-field system produced less interference from the bias signal. This allowed extended high-frequency performance compared to mixing the two signals in the recording head, but mechanical tolerances for cross-field are tight. The system required frequent readjustment and was largely abandoned. Japanese manufacturer Akai, however, persisted with cross-field bias and successfully marketed portable and mains-operated machines featuring the cross-field system.
Different amplitudes of bias field are optimal for different types of tape, so most recorders offer a bias setting switch on the control panel, or, in the case of the compact audio cassette, may switch automatically according to cutouts on the cassette shell. Ferric-based tapes require the lowest bias field, while chrome-based tapes (including the pseudo-chromes) requiring a higher level, and metal-particle tapes requires even more. Metal-evaporated tape accepts the highest level of bias, but it is mostly used for digital recording (which does not use bias, as the non-linearity is not a major problem). The same is valid for a combination cassette tape, the FeCr variant, on which a thicker ferric layer was covered by a thinner chrome layer. The idea behind this was that at lower frequencies and higher head currents the ferric layer would be more deeply magnetized, while at higher frequencies only the top Cr layer was active. In practice, this didn't work well, and some claimed that this thin chrome layer was quickly polished off in heavy use. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30805 |
Tree (data structure)
In computer science, a tree is a widely used abstract data type (ADT) that simulates a hierarchical tree structure, with a root value and subtrees of children with a parent node, represented as a set of linked nodes.
A tree data structure can be defined recursively as a collection of nodes (starting at a root node), where each node is a data structure consisting of a value, together with a list of references to nodes (the "children"), with the constraints that no reference is duplicated, and none points to the root.
Alternatively, a tree can be defined abstractly as a whole (globally) as an ordered tree, with a value assigned to each node. Both these perspectives are useful: while a tree can be analyzed mathematically as a whole, when actually represented as a data structure it is usually represented and worked with separately by node (rather than as a set of nodes and an adjacency list of edges between nodes, as one may represent a digraph, for instance). For example, looking at a tree as a whole, one can talk about "the parent node" of a given node, but in general as a data structure a given node only contains the list of its children, but does not contain a reference to its parent (if any).
A tree is a nonlinear data structure, compared to arrays, linked lists, stacks and queues which are linear data structures. A tree can be empty with no nodes or a tree is a structure consisting of one node called the root and zero or one or more subtrees.
Mathematically, an "unordered tree" (or "algebraic tree")
can be defined as an algebraic structure formula_1 where is the non-empty carrier set of "nodes" and is a function on which assigns each node its "parent" node, . The structure is subject to the condition that every non-empty subalgebra must have the same fixed point. That is, there must be a unique "root" node , such that and for every node , some iterative application equals .
There are several equivalent definitions.
As the closest alternative, one can define unordered trees as "partial" algebras
which are obtained from the total algebras described above by letting be undefined.
That is, the root is the only node on which the function is not defined and for every node
, the root is reachable from in the directed graph .
This definition is in fact coincident with that of an anti-arborescence.
The TAoCP book uses the term "oriented tree".
The box on the right contains what can be regarded as a canonical definition of unordered trees. It just describes the partial algebra as a relational structure . Moreover, dedicated terminology can be provided for generalizations of unordered trees that correspond to distinguished subsets of the listed conditions:
(3) – directed pseudoforest,
(4) – directed acyclic graph ,
(3,4) – unordered forest,
(1,2,3) – directed pseudotree.
Another equivalent definition of an unordered tree is that of a set-theoretic tree that is singly-rooted and whose height is at most ω (a finite-ish tree). That is, the algebraic structures are equivalent to partial orders formula_2 that have a top element and whose every principal upset (aka principal filter) is a finite chain.
To be precise, we should speak about an inverse set-theoretic tree since the set-theoretic definition usually employs opposite ordering.
The correspondence between and is established via reflexive transitive closure / reduction, with the reduction resulting in the "partial" version without the root cycle.
The definition of trees in descriptive set theory (DST) utilizes the
representation of partial orders as prefix orders between finite sequences. In turns out that up to isomorphism, there is a one-to-one correspondence between the (inverse of) DST trees and the tree structures defined so far.
We can refer to the four equivalent characterizations as to
"tree as an algebra",
"tree as a partial algebra",
"tree as a partial order", and
"tree as a prefix order".
There is also a fifth equivalent definition – that of a
graph-theoretic rooted tree which is just a connected acyclic
rooted graph.
The expression of trees as (partial) algebras
The Linux VFS where "The root dentry has a d_parent that points to itself" .
The concept of an "instantiation tree"
from object-oriented programming. In this case, the root node is the top metaclass – the only class that is a direct instance of itself.
Note that the above definition admits "infinite" trees. This allows for the description of infinite structures supported by some implementations via lazy evaluation. A notable example is the infinite regress of eigenclasses from the Ruby object model.
In this model, the tree established via codice_1 links between non-terminal objects is infinite and has an infinite branch (a single infinite branch of "helix" objects – see the diagram).
In every unordered tree there is a distinguished partition of the set of nodes into sibling sets.
Two non-root nodes , belong to the same sibling set if
"parent"("x") = "parent"("y").
The root node forms the singleton sibling set }.
A tree is said to be locally finite or finitely branching if each of its sibling sets is finite.
Each pair of distinct siblings is incomparable in ≤.
This is why the word unordered is used in the definition.
Such a terminology might become misleading when all sibling sets are singletons, i.e. when the set of all nodes is totally ordered (and thus well-ordered) by ≤.
In such a case we might speak about a singly-branching tree instead.
As with every partially ordered set, tree structures ("X", ≤) can be represented by inclusion order – by set systemss in which ≤ is coincident with ⊆, the induced inclusion order.
Consider a structure ("U", ℱ) such that is a non-empty set, and ℱ is a set of subsets of such that the following are satisfied (by Nested Set Collection definition):
∅ ∉ ℱ.
(That is, ("U", ℱ) is a hypergraph.)
"U" ∈ ℱ.
For every , from ℱ,
"X" ∩ "Y" ∈ {∅, "X", "Y"}.
(That is, ℱ is a laminar family.)
For every from ℱ,
there are only finitely many
"X" ⊆ "Y".
Then the structure (ℱ, ⊆) is an unordered tree
whose root equals .
Conversely, if ("U", ≤) is an unordered tree,
of all principal ideals of ("U", ≤)
then the set system ("U", ℱ) satisfies the above properties.
The set-system view of tree structures provides the default semantic model – in the majority of most popular cases, tree data structures represent containment hierarchy.
This also offers a justification for order direction with the root at the top: The root node is a greater container than any other node. Notable examples:
An unordered tree ("X", ≤) is well-founded if the strict partial order < is a well-founded relation. In particular, every finite tree is well-founded.
Assuming the axiom of dependent choice a tree is well-founded if and only if it has no infinite branch.
Well-founded trees can be defined recursively – by forming trees from a disjoint union of smaller trees.
For the precise definition, suppose that is a set of nodes.
Using the reflexivity of partial orders, we can identify any tree ("Y", ≤) on a subset of with its partial order (≤) – a subset of "X" × "X".
The set ℛ of all relations that form a well-founded tree on a subset of is defined in stages ,
so that
For each ordinal number , let
where is a subset of ⋃{ℛ"k" | "k" < "i"} such that elements of are pairwise disjoint, and is a node that does not belong to .
Observe that the lowest stage consists of single-node trees {(,)} since only empty is possible. In each stage, (possibly) new trees
are built by taking a forest with components from lower stages and attaching a new root atop of .
In contrast to the tree height which is at most ω, the rank of well-founded trees is unlimited,
see the properties of "unfolding".
In computing, a common way to define well-founded trees is via recursive ordered pairs
("F", "x"):
a tree is a forest together with a fresh node .
A "forest" in turn is a possibly empty set of trees with pairwise disjoint sets of nodes.
For the precise definition, proceed similarly as in the construction of "names" used in the set-theoretic technique of forcing.
Let be a set of nodes. In the superstructure over ,
define sets , of trees and forests, respectively, and a map
assigning each tree its underlying set of nodes
so that
Circularities in the above conditions can be eliminated by stratifying each of , and into stages like in the previous subsection.
Subsequently, define a subtree relation on as the reflexive transitive closure of the immediate subtree relation defined between trees by
where is the projection of onto the first coordinate, i.e.
it is the forest such that for some .
It can be observed that is a multitree: for every , the principal ideal ordered by is a well-founded tree as a partial order. Moreover,
for every tree , its nodes-order structure is given by if and only if there are forests such that both and are subtrees of and .
Another formalization as well as generalization of unordered trees can be obtained by reifying parent-child pairs of nodes. Each such ordered pair can be regarded as an abstract entity – an arrow.
This results in a multidigraph
where
and and
are functions from to assigning each arrow its source and target, respectively.
The structure is subject to the following conditions:
(1)
("A", "s" ○ "t"–1) is an unordered tree, as a total algebra.
(2)
The map is a bijection between arrows and nodes.
In (1), the composition symbol ○ is to be interpreted left-to-right.
The condition says that inverse consecutivity of arrows
is a total child-to-parent map.
Let this parent map between arrows be denoted , i.e.
"p" = "s" ○ "t"−1.
Then we also have
"s" = "p" ○ "t", thus a multidigraph satisfying (1,2) can also be axiomatized as
("X", "A", "p", "t"),
with the parent map instead of as a definitory constituent.
Observe that the root arrow is necessarily a loop, i.e. its source and target coincide.
Arrow tree: the hard-link structure of VFS
An important generalization of the above structure is established by allowing the target map to be many-to-one. This means that (2) is weakened to
(2')
The map is surjective
– each node is the target of some arrow.
Note that condition (1) asserts that
only leaf arrows are allowed to have the same target.
That is,
the restriction of to the
range of
Multidigraphs satisfying (1,2') can be called arrow trees
their tree characteristics is imposed on arrows rather than nodes.
These structures can be regarded as the most essential abstraction of the Linux VFS because they reflect the hard-link structure of filesystems. Nodes are called inodes, arrows are dentries (or hard links). The parent and target maps and are respectively represented by codice_2 and codice_3 fields in the dentry data structure.
Each inode is assigned a fixed file type, of which the
directory type plays a special role of designed parents:
(a) only directory inodes can appear as hard-link source and
(b) a directory inode cannot appear as the target of more than one hard-link.
Using dashed style for the first half of the root loop indicates that, similarly to the parent map, there is a partial version for the source map in which the source of the root arrow is undefined.
This variant is employed for further generalization, see #Using paths in a multidigraph.
Unordered trees naturally arise by "unfolding" of accessible pointed graphs.
Let ℛ = ("X", "R", "r") be a pointed relational structure, i.e. such that is the set of nodes, is a relation between nodes (a subset of "X" × "X"),
and is a distinguished "root" node. Assume further that is accessible, which means that equals the preimage of } under the reflexive transitive closure of , and call such a structure an accessible pointed graph or apg for short.(⁎)
Then one can derive another apg ℛ' = ("X'", "R'", "r'") – the unfolding of – as follows:
is the set of reversed paths to , i.e. the set of non-empty finite sequences of nodes (elements of ) such that
(a) consecutive members of are inversely -related, and (b) the first member of is the root ,
is a relation between paths from such that paths and are -related
if and only if
"p" = "q" ⁎ ["x"] for some node
(i.e. is a maximal proper prefix of , the "popped" ), and
is the one-element sequence ["r"].
Apparently, the structure ("X'", "R'") is an unordered tree in the "partial-algebra" version: is a partial map that relates each non-root element of "X'" to its parent by path popping. The root element is obviously .
Moreover, the following properties are satisfied:
if and only if
(In particular, unfolding is idempotent, up to isomorphism.)
Unfolding preserves well-foundedness: If is well-founded then so is .
Unfolding preserves rank: If is well-founded then the ranks of and coincide.
Notes:
(⁎)
To establish a concordancy between and the map, the presented definition uses reversed accessibility:
(⁑)
We have implicitly introduced a definition of unordered trees as apgs: call an apg ℛ = ("X", "R", "r") a tree if the reduct ("X", "R") is an unordered tree as a partial algebra. This can be translated as: Every node is accessible by exactly one path.
As shown on the example of hard-link structure of file systems, many data structures in computing allow multiple links between nodes.
Therefore,
in order to properly exhibit the appearance of unordered trees among data structures it is necessary to generalize accessible pointed graphs to multidigraph setting.
To simplify the terminology, we make use of the term quiver which is an established synonym for multidigraph.
Accessible pointed quiver (apq): generalization of apg to multidigraphs.
Let an accessible pointed quiver or apq for short
be defined as a structure
ℳ = ("X", "A", "s", "t")
where
and is a total function from to (the target map).
Thus, is a partial multidigraph.
The structure is subject to the following conditions:
There is exactly one root arrow, , whose source is undefined.
Every node is reachable via a finite sequence of consecutive arrows starting with the root arrow .
The unfolding of is formed by the sequences mentioned in (2)
which are the accessibility paths (cf. Path algebra).
As an apq, the unfolding can be written as
ℳ' = ("X'", "A'", "s'", "t'")
where
Like with apgs, unfolding is idempotent and always results in a tree.
The underlying apg is obtained as the structure
where
The diagram above shows an example of an apq with 1+14 arrows.
In JavaScript, Python or
Ruby, the structure can be created by the following (exactly the same) code:
r = {};
r[1] = {}; r[2] = r[1]; r[3] = {}; r[4] = {};
r[1][5] = {}; r[1][14] = r[1][5];
r[3][7] = {}; r[3][8] = r[3][7]; r[3][13] = {};
r[4][9] = r[4]; r[4][10] = r[4]; r[4][11] = {};
r[3][7][6] = r[3]; r[3][7][12] = r[1][5];
Unordered trees and their generalizations form the essence of naming systems.
There are two prominent examples of naming systems: file systems and (nested) associative arrays. The multidigraph-based structures from previous subsections provided anonymous abstractions for both cases. To obtain naming capabilities, arrows are to be equipped with names as identifiers.
A name must be locally unique – within each sibling set of arrows there can be at most one arrow labelled by a given name.
This can be formalized as a structure
For an arrow , constituents of the triple
source, name and target.
The structure is subject to the following conditions.
The reduct is an
accessible pointed quiver (apq) as defined previously.
The name function is undefined just for the source-less root arrow.
The name function is injective in the restriction to every sibling set of arrows, i.e. for every non-root arrows , ,
if and
This structure can be called a nested dictionary or named apq.
In computing, such structures are ubiquitous.
The table above shows that arrows can be considered un-reified as the set
of source-name-target triples.
This leads to a relational structure
which can be viewed as a
relational database table.
Underlines in
codice_4 and
codice_5
indicate primary key.
The structure can be rephrased as a
deterministic labelled transition system:
Nested dictionary
The diagram on the right shows a nested dictionary
that has the same underlying multidigraph as the example in the previous subsection.
The structure can be created by the code below. Like before, exactly the same code applies for JavaScript, Python and Ruby.
First, a substructure, , is created
by a single assignment of a literal codice_6 to codice_7.
This structure, depicted by full lines, is an arrow tree (therefore, it is a spanning tree).
The literal in turn appears to be a JSON serialization of .
Subsequently, the remaining arrows are created by assignments of already existing nodes. Arrows that cause cycles are displayed in blue.
r["b"] = r["a"]; r["c"]["b"] = r["c"]["a"]
r["c"]["a"]["p"] = r["c"]; r["d"]["e"] = r["d"]["self"] = r["d"]
In the Linux VFS, the name function is represented by the codice_8 field in the dentry data structure.
The structure above demonstrates a correspondence between JSON-representable structures and hard-link structures of file systems.
In both cases, there is a fixed set of built-in types of nodes of which one type is a container type, except that in JSON, there are in fact two such types
– Object and Array. If the latter one is ignored (as well as the distinction between individual primitive data types) then the provided abstractions of file-systems and JSON data are the same
both are arrow trees equipped with naming and a distinction of container nodes.
The naming function of a nested dictionary naturally extends from arrows to arrow paths.
Each sequence of consecutive arrows is implicitly assigned a pathname (cf. Pathname)
– the sequence
Local uniqueness carries over to arrow paths: different sibling paths have different pathnames.
In particular, the root-originating arrow paths are in one-to-one correspondence with their pathnames.
This correspondence provides a symbolic representation of the unfolding of via pathnames
the nodes in are globally identified via a tree of pathnames.
The structures introduced in the previous subsection form just the core "hierarchical" part of tree data structures
that appear in computing. In most cases, there is also an additional "horizontal" ordering between siblings. In search trees the order is commonly established by the "key" or value associated with each sibling, but in many trees that is not the case. For example, XML documents, lists within JSON files, and many other structures have order that does not depend on the values in the nodes, but is itself data sorting the paragraphs of a novel alphabetically would lose information.
The correspondent expansion of the previously described tree structures ("X", ≤) can be defined by endowing each sibling set with a linear order as follows.
An alternative definition according to Kuboyama is presented in the next subsection.
An ordered tree is a structure
("X",
≤V,
≤S)
where
and
≤V
and
≤S
are relations on
called vertical (or also hierarchical) order
and
sibling order, respectively.
The structure is subject to the following conditions:
is a partial order that is an unordered tree as defined in the previous subsection.
("X", ≤S)
is a partial order.
Distinct nodes are comparable in «sub>S if and only if they are siblings:
(«sub>S) ∪ (>S) = ((≺V) ○ (≻V)) ∖ id"X".
Every node has only finitely many preceding siblings, i.e. every principal ideal of ("X", ≤S) is finite.
Conditions (2) and (3) say that ("X", ≤S)
is a component-wise linear order, each component being a sibling set.
Condition (4) asserts that if a sibling set is infinite then ("S", ≤S) is isomorphic to
(ℕ, ≤), the usual ordering of natural numbers.
Given this, there are three (another) distinguished partial orders which are uniquely given by the following prescriptions:
This amounts to a "V-S-H-L±" system of five partial orders
≤V,
≤S,
≤H,
≤L⁺,
≤L⁻
on the same set of nodes, in which, except for the pair
≤H },
any two relations uniquely determine the other three, see the determinacy table.
Notes about notational conventions:
The relation composition symbol ○ used in this subsection is to be interpreted left-to-right (as formula_3).
Symbols < and ≤ express the strict and non-strict versions
of a partial order.
Symbols > and ≥ express the converse relations.
The ≺ symbol is used for the
covering relation of ≤ which is the immediate version of a partial order.
This yields six versions
, ≥ for a single partial order relation.
Except for
and
each version uniquely determines the others.
Passing from ≺ to <
requires that < be transitively reducible.
This is always satisfied for all of
«sub>V,
«sub>S and
«sub>H
but might not hold for
«sub>L⁺ or
«sub>L⁻ if is infinite.
The partial orders
≤V and
≤H
are complementary:
(«sub>V)
"X" × "X"
id"X".
As a consequence, the "concordant" linear order
«sub>L⁺
is a linear extension of
«sub>V.
Similarly, «sub>L⁻
is a linear extension of
>V.
The covering relations
≺L⁻ and
≺L⁺ correspond to pre-order traversal and
post-order traversal, respectively.
If x
≺L⁻
y
then, according to whether has a previous sibling or not,
the node is either the "rightmost" non-strict descendant of the previous sibling of or, in the latter case, is the first child of .
Pairs formula_4 of the latter case form the relation
which is a partial map that assigns each non-leaf node its first child node.
Similarly,
assigns each non-leaf node with finitely many children its last child node.
The Kuboyama's definition of "rooted ordered trees" makes use of the horizontal order ≤H as a definitory relation.
(See also Suppes.)
Using the notation and terminology introduced so far, the definition can be expressed as follows.
An ordered tree is a structure
("X",
≤V,
≤H) such that conditions (1–5) are satisfied:
is a partial order that is an unordered tree.
(The vertical order.)
("X", ≤H)
is a partial order.
(The horizontal order.)
The partial orders
≤V and
≤H
are complementary:
(«sub>V)
"X" × "X"
id"X".
(That is, pairs of nodes that are incomparable
in («sub>V)
are comparable in («sub>H) and vice versa.)
The partial orders
≤V and
≤H
are "consistent":
(«sub>H)
(≥V).
(That is, for every nodes , such that
"x" «sub>H "y",
all descendants of must precede all the descendants of .)
Every node has only finitely many preceding siblings. (That is, for every infinite sibling set , ("S", ≤H) has the order type of the natural numbers.)
The sibling order (≤S) is obtained
by
(«sub>H)
(≻V)),
i.e. two distinct nodes are in sibling order if and only if they are in horizontal order and are siblings.
The following table shows the determinacy of the "V-S-H-L±" system.
Relational expressions in the table's body are equal to one of
«sub>V,
«sub>S,
«sub>H,
«sub>L⁻,
or
«sub>L⁺
according to the column.
It follows that except for the pair { ≤S, ≤H },
an ordered tree ("X", ...) is uniquely determined by any two of the five relations.
In the last two rows,
("X", ≤L⁻),
and
("X", ≤L⁺).
In both rows, (≤S) resp. (≥S) can be equivalently replaced by the sibling equivalence
(≤S)○(≥S).
In particular, the partition into sibling sets together with either of
≤L⁻ or
≤L⁺
is also sufficient to determine the ordered tree.
The first prescription for ≺V can be read as:
the parent of a non-root node equals the infimum of the set of all immediate
predecessors of siblings of , where the words infimum and predecessors are meant w.r.t. ≤L⁻.
Similarly with the second prescription, just use supremum, successors and
≤L⁺.
The relations ≤S and
≤H obviously cannot form a definitory pair. For the simplest example, consider an ordered tree with exactly two nodes – then one cannot tell which of them is the root.
The table on the right shows a correspondence of introduced relations
to XPath axes, which are used in structured document systems to access nodes that bear particular ordering relationships to a starting "context" node.
For a context node
, its axis named by the specifier in the left column is the set of nodes that equals the
image of {"x"} under
the correspondent relation.
As of XPath 2.0, the nodes are "returned" in document order,
which is the "discordant" linear order
≤L⁻.
A "concordance" would be achieved, if the vertical order ≤V was defined oppositely, with the bottom-up direction outwards the root like in set theory in accordance to natural trees.
Below is the list of partial maps that are typically used for ordered tree traversal.
Each map is a distinguished functional subrelation of
≤L⁻ or of its opposite.
≺V
... the parent-node partial map,
≻S
... the previous-sibling partial map,
≺S
... the next-sibling partial map,
... the first-child partial map,
... the last-child partial map,
≻L⁻
... the previous-node partial map,
≺L⁻
... the next-node partial map.
The traversal maps constitute a partial unary algebra
that forms a basis for representing trees as linked data structures.
At least conceptually,
there are parent links, sibling adjacency links, and first / last child links.
This also applies to unordered trees in general, which can be observed on the dentry data structure in the Linux VFS.
Similarly to the "V-S-H-L±" system of partial orders, there are pairs of traversal maps that uniquely determine the whole ordered tree structure.
Naturally, one such generating structure is
("X",
≺V,
≺S)
which can be transcribed as ("X", "parent", "nextSibling")
– the structure of parent and next-sibling links.
Another important generating structure is
("X", "firstChild", "nextSibling") known as left-child right-sibling binary tree.
This partial algebra establishes a one-to-one correspondence between binary trees and
ordered trees.
The correspondence to binary trees provides a concise definition of ordered trees as partial algebras.
An ordered tree is a structure formula_5 where
, are partial maps on called
left-child and right-sibling, respectively.
The structure is subject to the following conditions:
The partial maps and are disjoint, i.e.
∅
The inverse of ("lc") ∪ ("rs") is a partial map
such that the partial algebra is an unordered tree.
The partial order structure ("X", ≤V, ≤S)
is obtained as follows:
Ordered trees can be naturally encoded by finite sequences of natural numbers.
Denote ω⁎ the set of all finite sequences of natural numbers. Then any non-empty subset of ω⁎ that is closed under taking prefixes gives rise to an ordered tree: just take
the prefix order for ≥V
and the lexicographical order for
≤L⁻.
Conversely, for an ordered tree "T" = ("X",
≤V,
≤L⁻)
assign each node the sequence formula_6 of sibling indices, i.e.
the root is assigned the empty sequence and for every non-root node ,
let "w"("x") = "w"("parent"("x")) ⁎ ["i"] where is the number of preceding siblings of
and ⁎ is the concatenation operator.
Put }. Then , equipped with the induced orders
≤V (the inverse of prefix order)
and
≤L⁻ (the lexicographical order), is isomorphic to .
As a possible expansion of the "V-S-H-L±" system,
another distinguished relations between nodes can be defined, based on the tree's level structure.
First, let us denote by ∼E the equivalence relation defined by
"x" ∼E "y"
if and only if
This yields a partition of the set of nodes into levels
"L"0, "L"1, ... (, "L""n")
– a coarsement of the partition into sibling sets.
Then define relations
«sub>E,
«sub>B⁻
and
«sub>B⁺
by
It can be observed that «sub>E
is a strict partial order and
«sub>B⁻
and
«sub>B⁺ are strict total orders.
Moreover, there is a similarity
between the "V-S-L±" and "V-E-B±" systems:
«sub>E
is component-wise linear and orthogonal to
«sub>V,
«sub>B⁻
is linear extension of
«sub>E
and of >V,
and
«sub>B⁺
is a linear extension of
«sub>E
and of «sub>V.
There is a distinction between a tree as an abstract data type and as a concrete data structure, analogous to the distinction between a list and a linked list.
As a data type, a tree has a value and children, and the children are themselves trees; the value and children of the tree are interpreted as the value of the root node and the subtrees of the children of the root node. To allow finite trees, one must either allow the list of children to be empty (in which case trees can be required to be non-empty, an "empty tree" instead being represented by a forest of zero trees), or allow trees to be empty, in which case the list of children can be of fixed size (branching factor, especially 2 or "binary"), if desired.
As a data structure, a linked tree is a group of nodes, where each node has a value and a list of references to other nodes (its children). There is also the requirement that no two "downward" references point to the same node. In practice, nodes in a tree commonly include other data as well, such as next/previous references, references to their parent nodes, or nearly anything.
Due to the use of to trees in the linked tree data structure, trees are often discussed implicitly assuming that they are being represented by references to the root node, as this is often how they are actually implemented. For example, rather than an empty tree, one may have a null reference: a tree is always non-empty, but a reference to a tree may be null.
Recursively, as a data type a tree is defined as a value (of some data type, possibly empty), together with a list of trees (possibly an empty list), the subtrees of its children; symbolically:
More elegantly, via mutual recursion, of which a tree is one of the most basic examples, a tree can be defined in terms of forest (a list of trees), where a tree consists of a value and a forest (the subtrees of its children):
Note that this definition is in terms of values, and is appropriate in functional languages (it assumes referential transparency); different trees have no connections, as they are simply lists of values.
As a data structure, a tree is defined as a node (the root), which itself consists of a value (of some data type, possibly empty), together with a list of references to other nodes (list possibly empty, references possibly null); symbolically:
This data structure defines a directed graph, and for it to be a tree one must add a condition on its global structure (its topology), namely that at most one reference can point to any given node (a node has at most a single parent), and no node in the tree point to the root. In fact, every node (other than the root) must have exactly one parent, and the root must have no parents.
Indeed, given a list of nodes, and for each node a list of references to its children, one cannot tell if this structure is a tree or not without analyzing its global structure and that it is in fact topologically a tree, as defined below.
As an ADT, the abstract tree type with values of some type is defined, using the abstract forest type (list of trees), by the functions:
with the axioms:
In terms of type theory, a tree is an inductive type defined by the constructors (empty forest) and (tree with root node with given value and children).
Viewed as a whole, a tree data structure is an ordered tree, generally with values attached to each node. Concretely, it is (if required to be non-empty):
together with:
Often trees have a fixed (more properly, bounded) branching factor (outdegree), particularly always having two child nodes (possibly empty, hence "at most" two "non-empty" child nodes), hence a "binary tree".
Allowing empty trees makes some definitions simpler, some more complicated: a rooted tree must be non-empty, hence if empty trees are allowed the above definition instead becomes "an empty tree or a rooted tree such that ...". On the other hand, empty trees simplify defining fixed branching factor: with empty trees allowed, a binary tree is a tree such that every node has exactly two children, each of which is a tree (possibly empty). The complete sets of operations on the tree must include fork operation.
A node is a structure which may contain a value or condition, or represent a separate data structure (which could be a tree of its own). Each node in a tree has zero or more child nodes, which are below it in the tree (by convention, trees are drawn growing downwards). A node that has a child is called the child's parent node (or "ancestor node", or superior). A node has at most one parent.
An internal node (also known as an inner node, inode for short, or branch node) is any node of a tree that has child nodes. Similarly, an external node (also known as an outer node, leaf node, or terminal node) is any node that does not have child nodes.
The topmost node in a tree is called the root node. Depending on definition, a tree may be required to have a root node (in which case all trees are non-empty), or may be allowed to be empty, in which case it does not necessarily have a root node. Being the topmost node, the root node will not have a parent. It is the node at which algorithms on the tree begin, since as a data structure, one can only pass from parents to children. Note that some algorithms (such as post-order depth-first search) begin at the root, but first visit leaf nodes (access the value of leaf nodes), only visit the root last (i.e., they first access the children of the root, but only access the value of the root last). All other nodes can be reached from it by following edges or links. (In the formal definition, each such path is also unique.) In diagrams, the root node is conventionally drawn at the top. In some trees, such as heaps, the root node has special properties. Every node in a tree can be seen as the root node of the subtree rooted at that node.
The height of a node is the length of the longest downward path to a leaf from that node. The height of the root is the height of the tree. The depth of a node is the length of the path to its root (i.e., its "root path"). This is commonly needed in the manipulation of the various self-balancing trees, AVL Trees in particular. The root node has depth zero, leaf nodes have height zero, and a tree with only a single node (hence both a root and leaf) has depth and height zero. Conventionally, an empty tree (tree with no nodes, if such are allowed) has height −1.
A subtree of a tree is a tree consisting of a node in and all of its descendants in . Nodes thus correspond to subtrees (each node corresponds to the subtree of itself and all its descendants) – the subtree corresponding to the root node is the entire tree, and each node is the root node of the subtree it determines; the subtree corresponding to any other node is called a proper subtree (by analogy to a proper subset).
Trees are often drawn in the plane. Ordered trees can be represented essentially uniquely in the plane, and are hence called "plane trees," as follows: if one fixes a conventional order (say, counterclockwise), and arranges the child nodes in that order (first incoming parent edge, then first child edge, etc.), this yields an embedding of the tree in the plane, unique up to ambient isotopy. Conversely, such an embedding determines an ordering of the child nodes.
If one places the root at the top (parents above children, as in a family tree) and places all nodes that are a given distance from the root (in terms of number of edges: the "level" of a tree) on a given horizontal line, one obtains a standard drawing of the tree. Given a binary tree, the first child is on the left (the "left node"), and the second child is on the right (the "right node").
There are many different ways to represent trees; common representations represent the nodes as dynamically allocated records with pointers to their children, their parents, or both, or as items in an array, with relationships between them determined by their positions in the array (e.g., binary heap).
Indeed, a binary tree can be implemented as a list of lists (a list where the values are lists): the head of a list (the value of the first term) is the left child (subtree), while the tail (the list of second and subsequent terms) is the right child (subtree). This can be modified to allow values as well, as in Lisp S-expressions, where the head (value of first term) is the value of the node, the head of the tail (value of second term) is the left child, and the tail of the tail (list of third and subsequent terms) is the right child.
In general a node in a tree will not have pointers to its parents, but this information can be included (expanding the data structure to also include a pointer to the parent) or stored separately. Alternatively, upward links can be included in the child node data, as in a threaded binary tree.
If edges (to child nodes) are thought of as references, then a tree is a special case of a digraph, and the tree data structure can be generalized to represent directed graphs by removing the constraints that a node may have at most one parent, and that no cycles are allowed. Edges are still abstractly considered as pairs of nodes, however, the terms and are usually replaced by different terminology (for example, and ). Different implementation strategies exist: a digraph can be represented by the same local data structure as a tree (node with value and list of children), assuming that "list of children" is a list of references, or globally by such structures as adjacency lists.
In graph theory, a tree is a connected acyclic graph; unless stated otherwise, in graph theory trees and graphs are assumed undirected. There is no one-to-one correspondence between such trees and trees as data structure. We can take an arbitrary undirected tree, arbitrarily pick one of its vertices as the , make all its edges directed by making them point away from the root node – producing an arborescence – and assign an order to all the nodes. The result corresponds to a tree data structure. Picking a different root or different ordering produces a different one.
Given a node in a tree, its children define an ordered forest (the union of subtrees given by all the children, or equivalently taking the subtree given by the node itself and erasing the root). Just as subtrees are natural for recursion (as in a depth-first search), forests are natural for corecursion (as in a breadth-first search).
Via mutual recursion, a forest can be defined as a list of trees (represented by root nodes), where a node (of a tree) consists of a value and a forest (its children):
Stepping through the items of a tree, by means of the connections between parents and children, is called walking the tree, and the action is a " of the tree. Often, an operation might be performed when a pointer arrives at a particular node. A walk in which each parent node is traversed before its children is called a pre-order walk; a walk in which the children are traversed before their respective parents are traversed is called a post-order walk; a walk in which a node's left subtree, then the node itself, and finally its right subtree are traversed is called an in-order traversal. (This last scenario, referring to exactly two subtrees, a left subtree and a right subtree, assumes specifically a binary tree.)
A level-order walk effectively performs a breadth-first search over the entirety of a tree; nodes are traversed level by level, where the root node is visited first, followed by its direct child nodes and their siblings, followed by its grandchild nodes and their siblings, etc., until all nodes in the tree have been traversed. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30806 |
Tangent space
In mathematics, the tangent space of a manifold facilitates the generalization of vectors from affine spaces to general manifolds, since in the latter case one cannot simply subtract two points to obtain a vector that gives the displacement of the one point from the other.
In differential geometry, one can attach to every point formula_1 of a differentiable manifold a "tangent space"—a real vector space that intuitively contains the possible directions in which one can tangentially pass through formula_1. The elements of the tangent space at formula_1 are called the "tangent vectors" at formula_1. This is a generalization of the notion of a bound vector in a Euclidean space. The dimension of the tangent space at every point of a connected manifold is the same as that of the manifold itself.
For example, if the given manifold is a formula_5-sphere, then one can picture the tangent space at a point as the plane that touches the sphere at that point and is perpendicular to the sphere's radius through the point. More generally, if a given manifold is thought of as an embedded submanifold of Euclidean space, then one can picture a tangent space in this literal fashion. This was the traditional approach toward defining parallel transport and was used by Dirac. More strictly, this defines an affine tangent space, which is distinct from the space of tangent vectors described by modern terminology.
In algebraic geometry, in contrast, there is an intrinsic definition of the "tangent space at a point" of an algebraic variety formula_6 that gives a vector space with dimension at least that of formula_6 itself. The points formula_8 at which the dimension of the tangent space is exactly that of formula_6 are called "non-singular" points; the others are called "singular" points. For example, a curve that crosses itself does not have a unique tangent line at that point. The singular points of formula_6 are those where the ‘test to be a manifold’ fails. See Zariski tangent space.
Once the tangent spaces of a manifold have been introduced, one can define vector fields, which are abstractions of the velocity field of particles moving in space. A vector field attaches to every point of the manifold a vector from the tangent space at that point, in a smooth manner. Such a vector field serves to define a generalized ordinary differential equation on a manifold: A solution to such a differential equation is a differentiable curve on the manifold whose derivative at any point is equal to the tangent vector attached to that point by the vector field.
All the tangent spaces of a manifold may be ‘glued together’ to form a new differentiable manifold with twice the dimension of the original manifold, called the "tangent bundle" of the manifold.
The informal description above relies on a manifold's ability to be embedded into an ambient vector space formula_11 so that the tangent vectors can ‘stick out’ of the manifold into the ambient space. However, it is more convenient to define the notion of a tangent space based solely on the manifold itself.
There are various equivalent ways of defining the tangent spaces of a manifold. While the definition via the velocity of curves is intuitively the simplest, it is also the most cumbersome to work with. More elegant and abstract approaches are described below.
In the embedded-manifold picture, a tangent vector at a point formula_1 is thought of as the "velocity" of a curve passing through the point formula_1. We can therefore define a tangent vector as an equivalence class of curves passing through formula_1 while being tangent to each other at formula_1.
Suppose that formula_16 is a formula_17 manifold (formula_18) and that formula_19. Pick a coordinate chart formula_20, where formula_21 is an open subset of formula_16 containing formula_1. Suppose further that two curves formula_24 with formula_25 are given such that both formula_26 are differentiable in the ordinary sense (we call these "differentiable curves initialized at formula_1"). Then formula_28 and formula_29 are said to be "equivalent" at formula_30 if and only if the derivatives of formula_31 and formula_32 at formula_30 coincide. This defines an equivalence relation on the set of all differentiable curves initialized at formula_1, and equivalence classes of such curves are known as "tangent vectors" of formula_16 at formula_1. The equivalence class of any such curve formula_37 is denoted by formula_38. The "tangent space" of formula_16 at formula_1, denoted by formula_41, is then defined as the set of all tangent vectors at formula_1; it does not depend on the choice of coordinate chart formula_20.
To define vector-space operations on formula_41, we use a chart formula_20 and define a map formula_46 by formula_47 where formula_48. Again, one needs to check that this construction does not depend on the particular chart formula_20 and the curve formula_37 being used, and in fact it does not.
The map formula_51 turns out to be bijective and may be used to transfer the vector-space operations on formula_52 over to formula_41, thus turning the latter set into an formula_54-dimensional real vector space.
Suppose now that formula_16 is a formula_56 manifold. A real-valued function formula_57 is said to belong to formula_58 if and only if for every coordinate chart formula_20, the map formula_60 is infinitely differentiable. Note that formula_58 is a real associative algebra with respect to the pointwise product and sum of functions and scalar multiplication.
Pick a point formula_19. A "derivation" at formula_1 is defined as a linear map formula_64 that satisfies the Leibniz identity
which is modeled on the product rule of calculus.
(For every identically constant function formula_66 it follows that formula_67).
If we define addition and scalar multiplication on the set of derivations at formula_1 by
then we obtain a real vector space, which we define as the tangent space formula_41 of formula_16 at formula_1.
Generalizations of this definition are possible, for instance, to complex manifolds and algebraic varieties. However, instead of examining derivations formula_74 from the full algebra of functions, one must instead work at the level of germs of functions. The reason for this is that the structure sheaf may not be fine for such structures. For example, let formula_75 be an algebraic variety with structure sheaf formula_76. Then the Zariski tangent space at a point formula_77 is the collection of all formula_78-derivations formula_79, where formula_78 is the ground field and formula_81 is the stalk of formula_76 at formula_8.
For formula_84 and a differentiable curve formula_85 such that formula_86 define formula_87 (where the derivative is taken in the ordinary sense because formula_88 is a function from formula_89 to formula_90). One can ascertain that formula_91 is a derivation at the point formula_92 and that equivalent curves yield the same derivation. Thus, for an equivalence class formula_93 we can define formula_94 where the curve formula_48 has been chosen arbitrarily. The map formula_96 is a vector space isomorphism between the space of the equivalence classes formula_38 and that of the derivations at the point formula_98
Again, we start with a formula_99 manifold formula_16 and a point formula_19. Consider the ideal formula_102 of formula_103 that consists of all smooth functions formula_104 vanishing at formula_1, i.e., formula_106. Then formula_102 and formula_108 are real vector spaces, and formula_109 may be defined as the dual space of the quotient space formula_110. This latter quotient space is also known as the "cotangent space" of formula_16 at formula_1.
While this definition is the most abstract, it is also the one that is most easily transferable to other settings, for instance, to the varieties considered in algebraic geometry.
If formula_74 is a derivation at formula_1, then formula_115 for every formula_116, which means that formula_74 gives rise to a linear map formula_118. Conversely, if formula_119 is a linear map, then formula_120 defines a derivation at formula_1. This yields an equivalence between tangent spaces defined via derivations and tangent spaces defined via cotangent spaces.
If formula_16 is an open subset of formula_52, then formula_16 is a formula_56 manifold in a natural manner (take coordinate charts to be identity maps on open subsets of formula_52), and the tangent spaces are all naturally identified with formula_52.
Another way to think about tangent vectors is as directional derivatives. Given a vector formula_128 in formula_52, one defines the corresponding directional derivative at a point formula_130 by
This map is naturally a derivation at formula_1. Furthermore, every derivation at a point in formula_52 is of this form. Hence, there is a one-to-one correspondence between vectors (thought of as tangent vectors at a point) and derivations at a point.
As tangent vectors to a general manifold at a point can be defined as derivations at that point, it is natural to think of them as directional derivatives. Specifically, if formula_128 is a tangent vector to formula_16 at a point formula_1 (thought of as a derivation), then define the directional derivative formula_137 in the direction formula_128 by
If we think of formula_128 as the initial velocity of a differentiable curve formula_37 initialized at formula_1, i.e., formula_143, then instead, define formula_137 by
For a formula_56 manifold formula_16, if a chart formula_148 is given with formula_149, then one can define an ordered basis formula_150 of formula_151 by
Then for every tangent vector formula_153, one has
This formula therefore expresses formula_128 as a linear combination of the basis tangent vectors formula_156 defined by the coordinate chart formula_20.
Every smooth (or differentiable) map formula_158 between smooth (or differentiable) manifolds induces natural linear maps between their corresponding tangent spaces:
If the tangent space is defined via differentiable curves, then this map is defined by
If, instead, the tangent space is defined via derivations, then this map is defined by
The linear map formula_51 is called variously the "derivative", "total derivative", "differential", or "pushforward" of formula_163 at formula_1. It is frequently expressed using a variety of other notations:
In a sense, the derivative is the best linear approximation to formula_163 near formula_1. Note that when formula_168, then the map formula_169 coincides with the usual notion of the differential of the function formula_163. In local coordinates the derivative of formula_163 is given by the Jacobian.
An important result regarding the derivative map is the following:
This is a generalization of the inverse function theorem to maps between manifolds. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30807 |
Tao
Tao (, ) or Dao ( ; from ) is a Chinese word signifying the "way", "path", "route", "road" or sometimes more loosely "doctrine", "principle" or "holistic beliefs". In the context of East Asian philosophy and East Asian religions, Tao is the natural order of the universe whose character one's human intuition must discern in order to realize the potential for individual wisdom. This intuitive knowing of "life" cannot be grasped as a concept; it is known through actual living experience of one's everyday being.
Laozi in the "Tao Te Ching" explains that the Tao is not a "name" for a "thing" but the underlying natural order of the Universe whose ultimate essence is difficult to circumscribe due to it being non-conceptual yet evident in one's being of aliveness. The Tao is "eternally nameless" (Tao Te Ching-32. Laozi) and to be distinguished from the countless "named" things which are considered to be its manifestations, the reality of life before its descriptions of it.
The Tao lends its name to the religious tradition (Wade–Giles, "Tao Chiao"; Pinyin, "Daojiao") and philosophical tradition (Wade–Giles, "Tao chia"; Pinyin, "Daojia") that are both referred to in English with the single term Taoism.
The word "Tao" () has a variety of meanings in both ancient and modern Chinese language. Aside from its purely prosaic use to mean road, channel, path, principle, or similar, the word has acquired a variety of differing and often confusing metaphorical, philosophical and religious uses. In most belief systems, the word is used symbolically in its sense of 'way' as the 'right' or 'proper' way of existence, or in the context of ongoing practices of attainment or of the full coming into being, or the state of enlightenment or spiritual perfection that is the outcome of such practices.
Some scholars make sharp distinctions between moral or ethical usage of the word "Tao" that is prominent in Confucianism and religious Taoism and the more metaphysical usage of the term used in philosophical Taoism and most forms of Mahayana Buddhism; others maintain that these are not separate usages or meanings, seeing them as mutually inclusive and compatible approaches to defining the principle. The original use of the term was as a form of praxis rather than theory – a term used as a convention to refer to something that otherwise cannot be discussed in words – and early writings such as the Tao Te Ching and the I Ching make pains to distinguish between "conceptions of" the Tao (sometimes referred to as "named Tao") and the Tao itself (the "unnamed Tao"), which cannot be expressed or understood in language. Liu Da asserts that the Tao is properly understood as an experiential and evolving concept and that there are not only cultural and religious differences in the interpretation of the Tao but personal differences that reflect the character of individual practitioners.
The Tao can be roughly thought of as the "flow of the Universe", or as some essence or pattern behind the natural world that keeps the Universe balanced and ordered. It is related to the idea of qi, the essential energy of action and existence. The Tao is a non-dualistic principle – it is the greater whole from which all the individual elements of the Universe derive. Keller considers it similar to the negative theology of Western scholars, but the Tao is rarely an object of direct worship, being treated more like the Hindu concepts of karma or dharma than as a divine object. The Tao is more commonly expressed in the relationship between "wu" (void or emptiness, in the sense of wuji) and yinyang (the natural dynamic balance between opposites), leading to its central principle of wu wei (inaction, or inexertion).
The Tao is usually described in terms of elements of nature, and in particular as similar to water. Like water it is undifferentiated, endlessly self-replenishing, soft and quiet but immensely powerful, and impassively generous. Much of Taoist philosophy centers on the cyclical continuity of the natural world, and its contrast to the linear, goal-oriented actions of human beings.
In all its uses, the Tao is considered to have ineffable qualities that prevent it from being defined or expressed in words. It can, however, be "known" or "experienced", and its principles (which can be discerned by observing Nature) can be followed or practiced. Much of East Asian philosophical writing focuses on the value of adhering to the principles of the Tao and the various consequences of failing to do so.
The Tao was shared with Confucianism, Chán and Zen Buddhism and more broadly throughout East Asian philosophy and religion in general. In Taoism, Chinese Buddhism and Confucianism, the object of spiritual practice is to 'become one with the Tao' (Tao Te Ching) or to harmonise one's will with Nature (cf. Stoicism) in order to achieve 'effortless action' (Wu wei). This involves meditative and moral practices. Important in this respect is the Taoist concept of De (; virtue). In Confucianism and religious forms of Taoism, these are often explicitly moral/ethical arguments about proper behavior, while Buddhism and more philosophical forms of Taoism usually refer to the natural and mercurial outcomes of action (comparable to karma). The Tao is intrinsically related to the concepts yin and yang (pinyin: yīnyáng), where every action creates counter-actions as unavoidable movements within manifestations of the Tao, and proper practice variously involves accepting, conforming to, or working with these natural developments.
De ( "power; virtue; integrity") is the term generally used to refer to proper adherence to the Tao; De is the active living or cultivation of the way. Particular things (things with names) that manifest from the Tao have their own inner nature that they follow, in accordance with the Tao, and the following of this inner nature is De. Wuwei (Pinyin: wúwéi), or "naturalness", is contingent on understanding and conforming to this inner nature, which is interpreted variously from a personal, individual nature to a more generalized notion of human nature within the greater Universe.
Historically, the concept of De differed significantly between Taoists and Confucianists. Confucianism was largely a moral system emphasizing the values of humaneness, righteousness, and filial duty, and so conceived De in terms of obedience to rigorously defined and codified social rules. Taoists took a broader, more naturalistic/metaphysical view on the relationship between humankind and the Universe, and considered social rules to be at best a derivative reflection of the natural and spontaneous interactions between people, and at worst calcified structure that inhibited naturalness and created conflict. This led to some philosophical and political conflicts between Taoists and Confucians. Several sections of the works attributed to Chuang Tzu are dedicated to critiques of the failures of Confucianism.
[Tao] means a road, path, way; and hence, the way in which one does something; method, doctrine, principle. The Way of Heaven, for example, is ruthless; when autumn comes 'no leaf is spared because of its beauty, no flower because of its fragrance'. The Way of Man means, among other things, procreation; and eunuchs are said to be 'far from the Way of Man'. "Chu Tao" is 'the way to be a monarch', i.e. the art of ruling. Each school of philosophy has its "tao", its doctrine of the way in which life should be ordered. Finally in a particular school of philosophy whose followers came to be called Taoists, "tao" meant 'the way the universe works'; and ultimately something very like God, in the more abstract and philosophical sense of that term.
The Tao is what gives Taoism its English name, in both its philosophical and religious forms. The Tao is the fundamental and central concept of these schools of thought. Taoism perceives the Tao as a natural order underlying the substance and activity of the Universe. Language and the "naming" of the Tao is regarded negatively in Taoism; the Tao fundamentally exists and operates outside the realm of differentiation and linguistic constraints.
There is no single orthodox Taoist view of the Tao. All forms of Taoism center around Tao and De, but there is a broad variety of distinct interpretations among sects and even individuals in the same sect. Despite this diversity, there are some clear, common patterns and trends in Taoism and its branches.
The diversity of Taoist interpretations of the Tao can be seen across four texts representative of major streams of thought in Taoism. All four texts are used in modern Taoism with varying acceptance and emphasis among sects. The "Tao Te Ching" is the oldest text and representative of a speculative and philosophical approach to the Tao. The "Tao T'i Lun" is an eighth century exegesis of the "Tao Te Ching", written from a well-educated and religious viewpoint, that represents the traditional scholarly perspective. The devotional perspective of the Tao is expressed in the "Ch'ing Ching Ching", a liturgical text that was originally composed during the Han dynasty and is used as a hymnal in religious Taoism, especially among eremites. The "Zhuangzi" (also spelled Chuang Tzu) uses literary devices such as tales, allegories, and narratives to relate the Tao to the reader, illustrating a metaphorical method of viewing and expressing the Tao.
The forms and variations of religious Taoism are incredibly diverse. They integrate a broad spectrum of academic, ritualistic, supernatural, devotional, literary, and folk practices with a multitude of results. Buddhism and Confucianism particularly affected the way many sects of Taoism framed, approached and perceived the Tao. The multitudinous branches of religious Taoism accordingly regard the Tao, and interpret writings about it, in innumerable ways. Thus, outside of a few broad similarities, it is difficult to provide an accurate yet clear summary of their interpretation of the Tao.
A central tenet in most varieties of religious Taoism is that the Tao is ever-present, but must be manifested, cultivated, and/or perfected in order to be realized. It is the source of the Universe and the seed of its primordial purity resides in all things. The manifestation of the Tao is De, which rectifies and invigorates the world with the Tao's radiance.
Alternatively, philosophical Taoism regards the Tao as a non-religious concept; it is not a deity to be worshiped, nor is it a mystical Absolute in the religious sense of the Hindu Brahman. Joseph Wu remarked of this conception of the Tao, "Dao is not religiously available; nor is it even religiously relevant." The writings of Lao Tzu and Chang Tzu are tinged with esoteric tones and approach humanism and naturalism as paradoxes. In contrast to the esotericism typically found in religious systems, the Tao is not transcendent to the self nor is mystical attainment an escape from the world in philosophical Taoism. The self steeped in the Tao is the self grounded in its place within the natural Universe. A person dwelling within the Tao excels in themselves and their activities.
However, this distinction is complicated by hermeneutic (interpretive) difficulties in the categorization of Taoist schools, sects and movements. Some scholars believe that there is no distinction between "Daojia" and "Daojiao". According to Kirkland, "most scholars who have seriously studied Daoism, both in Asia and the West, have finally abandoned the simplistic dichotomy of "Dàojiā" and "Dàojiào", 'philosophical Daoism' and 'religious Daoism.'"
The "Dao", or Way, of Confucius can be said to be 'Truth'. Confucianism regards the Way, or Truth, as concordant with a particular approach to life, politics, and tradition. It is held as equally necessary and well regarded as "De" (virtue) and "ren" (humanity). Confucius presents a humanistic 'Dao'. He only rarely speaks of the t'ien Dao (Way of Heaven). An influential early Confucian, Hsiin Tzu, explicitly noted this contrast. Though he acknowledged the existence and celestial importance of the Way of Heaven, he insisted that the Dao principally concerns human affairs.
As a formal religious concept in Confucianism, Dao is the Absolute towards which the faithful move. In "Zhongyong" (The Doctrine of the Mean), harmony with the Absolute is equivalent to integrity and sincerity. The "Great Learning" expands on this concept explaining that the Way illuminates virtue, improves the people, and resides within the purest morality. During the Tang dynasty, Han Yu further formalized and defined Confucian beliefs as an apologetic response to Buddhism. He emphasized the ethics of the Way. He explicitly paired 'Dao' and 'De', focusing on humane nature and righteousness. He also framed and elaborated on a "dàotǒng" (tradition of the Way) in order to reject the traditions of Buddhism.
Buddhism first started to spread in China during the first century AD and was experiencing a golden age of growth and maturation by the fourth century AD. Hundreds of collections of Pali and Sanskrit texts were translated into Chinese by Buddhist monks within a short period of time. Dhyana was translated as ch'an (and later as zen), giving Zen Buddhism its name. The use of Chinese concepts, such as Dao, that were close to Buddhist ideas and terms helped spread the religion and make it more amenable to the Chinese people. However, the differences between the Sanskrit and Chinese terminology led to some initial misunderstandings and the eventual development of East Asian Buddhism as a distinct entity. As part of this process, many Chinese words introduced their rich semantic and philosophical associations into Buddhism, including the use of 'Dao' for central concepts and tenets of Buddhism.
Pai-chang Huai-hai told a student who was grappling with difficult portions of suttas, "Take up words in order to manifest meaning and you'll obtain 'meaning'. Cut off words and meaning is emptiness. Emptiness is the Dao. The Dao is cutting off words and speech." Ch'an (Zen) Buddhists regard the Dao as synonymous with both the Buddhist Path ("marga") and the results of it; the Eightfold Path and Buddhist enlightenment ("satori"). Pai-chang's statement plays upon this usage in the context of the fluid and varied Chinese usage of 'Dao'. Words and meanings are used to refer to rituals and practices. The 'emptiness' refers to the Buddhist concept of "sunyata". Finding the Dao and Buddha-nature is not simply a matter of formulations, but an active response to the Four Noble Truths that cannot be fully expressed or conveyed in words and concrete associations. The use of 'Dao' in this context refers to the literal 'way' of Buddhism, the return to the universal source, dharma, proper meditation, and nirvana, among other associations. 'Dao' is commonly used in this fashion by Chinese Buddhists, heavy with associations and nuanced meanings.
During the Song dynasty, Neo-Confucians regarded Dao as the purest thing-in-itself. Shao Yong regarded the Dao as the origin of heaven, earth, and everything within them. In contrast, Zhang Zai presented a vitalistic Dao that was the fundamental component or effect of ch'i, the motive energy behind life and the world. A number of later scholars adopted this interpretation, such as Tai Chen during the Qing Dynasty.
Zhu Xi, Cheng Ho, and Cheng Yi perceived the Dao in the context of li (Principle) and t'ien li (the Principle of Heaven). Cheng Hao regarded the fundamental matter of li, and thus Dao, to be humaneness. Developing compassion, altruism, and other humane virtues is following of the Way. Cheng Yi followed this interpretation, elaborating on this perspective of Dao through teachings about yin-yang interactions, the cultivation and preservation of life; and the axiom of a morally just universe.
In total, the Dao is equated with the Absolute. Wang Fuzhi expressed the Dao as the tai chi, The Great Ultimate, as well as the road leading to it. Nothing exists apart from the Principle of Heaven in Neo-Confucianism. The Way is contained within all things. Thus, the religious life is not an elite or special journey for Neo-Confucians. The normal, mundane life is the path that leads to the Absolute, because the Absolute is contained within the mundane objects and events of daily life.
Noted Christian author C.S. Lewis used the word Tao to describe "the doctrine of objective value, the belief that certain attitudes are really true, and others really false, the kind of thing the Universe is and the kind of things we are." He asserted that every religion and philosophy contains foundations of universal ethics as an attempt to line up with the Tao—the way mankind was designed to be. In Lewis' thinking, God created the Tao and fully displayed it through the person of Jesus Christ.
In Chinese translations of the New Testament, (logos) is translated with the Chinese word dao () (e.g. John 1:1), indicating that the translators considered the concept of Tao to be somewhat equivalent to logos in Greek philosophy.
The term "dao" is analyzable in terms of Chinese characters, alternate "dào" "way" or "dǎo" "guide" pronunciations and meanings, a possible Proto-Indo-European etymology, and loanwords such as English "Dao" or "dao".
"Dao" is written with the Chinese character in both Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese. It typifies the most common Chinese character classification of "radical-phonetic" or "phono-semantic" graphs, which compound a "radical" or "signific" (roughly providing semantic information) with a "phonetic" (suggesting ancient pronunciation).
"Dao" graphically combines the "chuo" (or ) "go" radical and "shou" "head" phonetic. Furthermore, "dao" is the phonetic element in "dao" "guide; lead" (with the "cun" "thumb; hand" radical) and "dao" "a tree name" (with the "mu" "tree; wood" radical).
The traditional interpretation of the character, dating back to the (121 CE) "Shuowen Jiezi" dictionary, was a rare "huiyi" "compound ideogram" or "ideogrammic compound". The combination of "chuo" "go" and "shou" "head" (numbers 162 and 185 in the Kangxi radicals) signified a "head going" or "to lead the way".
"Dao" is graphically distinguished between its earliest nominal meaning of "dao" "way; road; path;" and the later verbal sense of "say". It should also be contrasted with "dao" "lead the way; guide; conduct; direct; ". The Simplified character for "dao" has "si" "6th of the 12 Earthly Branches" in place of "dao" .
The earliest written forms of "dao" are bronzeware script and seal script characters from Zhou Dynasty (1045–256 BCE) bronzes and writings. These ancient "dao" characters more clearly depict the "shou" "head" element as hair above a face. Some variants interchange the "chuo" "go; advance" radical with the "xing" "go; road" radical, with the original bronze "crossroads" depiction written in the seal character with two and "footprints".
Bronze scripts for "dao" occasionally include an element of "shou" "hand" or "cun" "thumb; hand", which occurs in "dao" "lead". The linguist Peter A. Boodberg explained,
This ""tao" with the hand element" is usually identified with the modern character "tao" < "d'ôg", "to lead," "guide," "conduct," and considered to be a "derivative" or verbal cognate of the noun "tao", "way," "path." The evidence just summarized would indicate rather that ""tao" with the hand" is but a "variant" of the basic "tao" and that the word itself combined both nominal and verbal aspects of the etymon. This is supported by textual examples of the use of the primary "tao" in the verbal sense "to lead" (e. g., "Analects" 1.5; 2.8) and seriously undermines the unspoken assumption implied in the common translation of "Tao" as "way" that the concept is essentially a nominal one. "Tao" would seem, then, to be etymologically a more dynamic concept than we have made it translation-wise. It would be more appropriately rendered by "lead way" and "lode" ("way," "course," "journey," "leading," "guidance"; cf. "lodestone" and "lodestar"), the somewhat obsolescent deverbal noun from "to lead."
These Confucian "Analects" citations of "dao" verbally meaning "to guide; to lead" are: "The Master said, 'In guiding a state of a thousand chariots, approach your duties with reverence and be trustworthy in what you say" and "The Master said, 'Guide them by edicts, keep them in line with punishments, and the common people will stay out of trouble but will have no sense of shame."
In Modern Standard Chinese, "dao" 's pronunciations are tonally differentiated between 4th falling tone "dào" "way; path" and 3rd dipping tone "dǎo" (usually written ) "guide; lead".
Besides these common 4th and 3rd tonal specifications "dào" "way" and "dǎo" (or ) "guide", has a rare 1st level tone "dāo" pronunciation in the regional idiomatic expression "shénshendāodāo" "odd; bizarre". This reduplication of "shen" "spirit; god" and "dao" occurs in Northeast China speech.
In Middle Chinese (ca. 6th–10th centuries CE) tone name categories, and were "qusheng" "departing tone" and "shangsheng" "rising tone". Historical linguists have reconstructed Middle "way" and "guide" as "d'âu-" and "d'âu:" (Bernhard Karlgren), "dau" and "dau" "daw'" and "dawh" "dawX" and "daws" (William H. Baxter), and "dâu"B and "dâu"C.
In Old Chinese (ca. 7th–3rd centuries BCE) pronunciations, reconstructions for "way" and "guide" are *"d'ôg" (Karlgren), *"dəw" (Zhou), *"dəgwx" and *"dəgwh", *"luʔ", and *"lûʔ" and *"lûh".
The word "dao" has many meanings. For example, the Chinese "Hanyu Da Zidian" dictionary defines 39 meanings for "dào" "way; path" and 6 for "dǎo" () "guide; lead".
John DeFrancis's Chinese-English dictionary gives twelve meanings for "dào" "way; path; say", three for "dǎo" (or ) "guide; lead", and one for "dāo" in an "odd, bizarre" idiomatic expression. Note that brackets clarify abbreviations and ellipsis marks omitted usage examples.
2dào N. [noun] road; path ◆M. [nominal measure word] ① (for rivers/topics/etc.) ② (for a course (of food); a streak (of light); etc.) ◆V. [verb] ① say; speak; talk (introducing direct quote, novel style) … ② think; suppose ◆B.F. [bound form, bound morpheme] ① channel ② way; reason; principle ③ doctrine ④ Daoism ⑤ line ⑥〈hist.〉 [history] ⑦ district; circuit canal; passage; tube ⑧ say (polite words) … See also "4dǎo", "4dāo"
4dǎo B.F. [bound form] ① guide; lead … ② transmit; conduct … ③ instruct; direct …
4dāo in "shénshendāodāo" … R.F. [reduplicated form] 〈topo.〉[non-Mandarin form] odd; fantastic; bizarre
The etymological linguistic origins of "dao" "way; path" depend upon its Old Chinese pronunciation, which scholars have tentatively reconstructed as *"d'ôg", *"dəgwx", *"dəw", *"luʔ", and *"lûʔ".
Boodberg noted that the "shou" "head" phonetic in the "dao" character was not merely phonetic but "etymonic", analogous with English "to head" meaning "to lead" and "to tend in a certain direction," "ahead," "headway".
Paronomastically, "tao" is equated with its homonym "tao" < "d'ôg", "to trample," "tread," and from that point of view it is nothing more than a "treadway," "headtread," or "foretread "; it is also occasionally associated with a near synonym (and possible cognate) "ti" < "d'iôk", "follow a road," "go along," "lead," "direct"; "pursue the right path"; a term with definite ethical overtones and a graph with an exceedingly interesting phonetic, "yu" < "djôg"," "to proceed from." The reappearance of C162 [] "walk" in "ti" with the support of C157 [] "foot" in "tao", "to trample," "tread," should perhaps serve us as a warning not to overemphasize the headworking functions implied in "tao" in preference to those of the lower extremities.
Victor H. Mair proposes a Proto-Indo-European etymology for "dao" , supported by numerous cognates in Indo-European languages, and semantically similar Arabic and Hebrew words.
The archaic pronunciation of Tao sounded approximately like "drog" or "dorg". This links it to the Proto-Indo-European root "drogh" (to run along) and Indo-European "dhorg" (way, movement). Related words in a few modern Indo-European languages are Russian "doroga" (way, road), Polish "droga" (way, road), Czech "dráha" (way, track), Serbo-Croatian "draga" (path through a valley), and Norwegian dialect "drog" (trail of animals; valley). …. The nearest Sanskrit (Old Indian) cognates to Tao ("drog") are "dhrajas" (course, motion) and "dhraj" (course). The most closely related English words are "track" and "trek", while "trail" and "tract" are derived from other cognate Indo-European roots. Following the Way, then, is like going on a cosmic trek. Even more unexpected than the panoply of Indo-European cognates for Tao ("drog") is the Hebrew root "d-r-g" for the same word and Arabic "t-r-q", which yields words meaning "track, path, way, way of doing things" and is important in Islamic philosophical discourse.
Axel Schuessler's etymological dictionary presents two possibilities for the tonal morphology of "dào" "road; way; method" < Middle Chinese "dâu"B < Old Chinese *"lûʔ" and "dào" or "to go along; bring along; conduct; explain; talk about" < Middle "dâu"C < Old *"lûh". Either "dào" "the thing which is doing the conducting" is a Tone B ("shangsheng" "rising tone") "endoactive noun" derivation from "dào" "conduct", or "dào" is a Later Old Chinese (Warring States period) "general tone C" ("qusheng" "departing tone") derivation from "dào" "way". For a possible etymological connection, Schuessler notes the ancient "Fangyan" dictionary defines "yu" < *"lokh" and "lu" < *"lu" as Eastern Qi State dialectal words meaning "dào" < *"lûʔ" "road".
Many languages have borrowed and adapted Chinese "dao" "the way" as a loanword.
In Chinese, this character is pronounced as Cantonese "dou6" and Hokkian "to7". In Sino-Xenic languages, is pronounced as Japanese "dō", "tō", or "michi"; Korean "do" or "to"; and Vietnamese "đạo", "dạo", or "nhạo".
Since 1982, when the International Organization for Standardization adopted Pinyin as the standard romanization of Chinese, many Western languages have changed from spelling this loanword "tao" in national systems (e.g., French EFEO Chinese transcription and English Wade–Giles) to "dao" in Pinyin.
The "tao"/"dao" "the way" English word of Chinese origin has three meanings, according to the "Oxford English Dictionary".
1. a. In Taoism, an absolute entity which is the source of the universe; the way in which this absolute entity functions.
1. b. = "Taoism", "taoist"
2. In Confucianism and in extended uses, the way to be followed, the right conduct; doctrine or method.
The earliest recorded usages were "Tao" (1736), "Tau" (1747), "Taou" (1831), and "Dao" (1971).
A derivative, "Daoshi" (, "Daoist priest"), was used already by the Jesuits Matteo Ricci and Nicolas Trigault in their "De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas", rendered as "Tausu" in the original Latin edition (1615), and "Tausa" in an early English translation published by Samuel Purchas (1625). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30808 |
The Thing (1982 film)
The Thing is a 1982 American science fiction horror film directed by John Carpenter and written by Bill Lancaster. Based on the 1938 John W. Campbell Jr. novella "Who Goes There?", it tells the story of a group of American researchers in Antarctica who encounter the eponymous "Thing", a parasitic extraterrestrial life-form that assimilates, then imitates other organisms. The group is overcome by paranoia and conflict as they learn that they can no longer trust each other and that any one of them could be the Thing. The film stars Kurt Russell as the team's helicopter pilot, R.J. MacReady, and features A. Wilford Brimley, T. K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Charles Hallahan, Peter Maloney, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat, Joel Polis, and Thomas G. Waites in supporting roles.
Production began in the mid-1970s as a faithful adaptation of the novella, following 1951's "The Thing from Another World". "The Thing" went through several directors and writers, each with different ideas on how to approach the story. Filming lasted roughly 12 weeks, beginning in August 1981, and took place on refrigerated sets in Los Angeles as well as in Juneau, Alaska, and Stewart, British Columbia. Of the film's $15million budget, $1.5million was spent on Rob Bottin's creature effects, a mixture of chemicals, food products, rubber, and mechanical parts turned by his large team into an alien capable of taking on any form.
"The Thing" was released in 1982 to very negative reviews. It was described as "instant junk", "a wretched excess", and proposed as the most-hated film of all time by film magazine "Cinefantastique". Reviews both praised the special effects achievements and criticized their visual repulsiveness, while others focused on poor characterization. The film earned $19.6million during its theatrical run. Many reasons have been cited for its failure to impress audiences: competition from films such as "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial", which offered an optimistic take on alien visitation; a summer that had been filled with successful science fiction and fantasy films; and an audience, living through a recession, diametrically opposed to "The Thing"s nihilistic tone.
The film found an audience when released on home video and television. In the years since, it has been reappraised as one of the best science fiction and horror films ever made, and has gained a cult following. Filmmakers have noted its influence on their work, and it has been referred to in other media such as television and video games. "The Thing" has spawned a variety of merchandise—including a 1982 novelization, haunted house attractions, board games—and sequels in comic books, a video game of the same name, and a 2011 prequel film of the same name. A remake was announced in 2020.
In Antarctica, a Norwegian helicopter pursues a sled dog to an American research station. The Americans witness the Norwegian passenger accidentally blow up the helicopter and himself. The Norwegian pilot fires a rifle and shouts at the Americans, but they cannot understand him and he is shot dead in self-defense by station commander Garry. The American helicopter pilot, R.J. MacReady, and Dr. Copper leave to investigate the Norwegian base. Among the charred ruins and frozen corpses, they find the burned remains of a malformed humanoid which they recover to the American station. Their biologist, Blair, performs autopsies on the remains and finds a normal set of human organs.
Clark kennels the sled dog, and it soon metamorphoses and absorbs the station dogs. This disturbance alerts the team and Childs uses a flamethrower to incinerate the creature. Blair autopsies the new creature and learns that it can perfectly imitate other organisms. Recovered Norwegian data leads the Americans to a large excavation site containing a partially buried alien spacecraft, and a smaller, human-sized dig site. Norris estimates that the alien ship has been buried for at least 100,000 years. Blair grows paranoid that the creature could assimilate all life on Earth in a matter of years. The station implements controls to reduce the risk of assimilation.
The "dead," malformed humanoid creature assimilates an isolated Bennings, but Windows interrupts the process and MacReady burns the Bennings-Thing. Blair sabotages all the vehicles, kills the remaining sled dogs, and destroys the radio to prevent escape. The team imprisons him in a tool shed. Copper suggests a test to compare each member's blood against uncontaminated blood held in storage, but after learning that the blood stores have been destroyed, the men lose faith in Garry, and MacReady takes command.
MacReady, Windows and Nauls find Fuchs's burnt corpse and surmise he committed suicide to avoid assimilation. Windows returns to base while MacReady and Nauls investigate MacReady's shack. On their return, Nauls abandons MacReady in a snowstorm, believing he has been assimilated after finding his torn clothes in the shack. The team debate whether to allow MacReady inside, but he breaks in and holds the group at bay with dynamite. During the encounter, Norris appears to suffer a heart attack.
As Copper attempts to defibrillate Norris, his chest transforms into a large mouth and bites off Copper's arms, killing him. MacReady incinerates the Norris-Thing, but its head detaches and attempts to escape before also being burnt. MacReady is forced to kill Clark in self-defense when the latter lunges at him from behind with a knife. He hypothesizes that the Norris-Thing's head demonstrated that every part of the Thing is an individual life form with its own survival instinct. He sequentially tests blood samples with a heated piece of wire. Everyone passes the test except Palmer, whose blood jumps from the heat. Exposed, Palmer transforms and infects Windows, forcing MacReady to burn them both.
Childs is left on guard while the others go to test Blair. They find that Blair has escaped, and has been using vehicle components to assemble a small spacecraft. On their return, Childs is missing and the power generator is destroyed. MacReady speculates that the Thing intends to return to hibernation until a rescue team arrives. MacReady, Garry, and Nauls decide to detonate the entire station to destroy the Thing. As they set explosives, Blair kills Garry and Nauls disappears. Blair transforms into an enormous creature and destroys the detonator. MacReady triggers the explosives using a stick of dynamite, destroying the base.
MacReady sits nearby as the station burns. Childs returns, saying he became lost in the storm while pursuing Blair. Exhausted and slowly freezing to death, they acknowledge the futility of their distrust and share a bottle of scotch.
Development of the film began in the mid-1970s when producers David Foster and Lawrence Turman suggested an adaptation of the 1938 John W. Campbell novella "Who Goes There?" to Universal Pictures. It had been loosely adapted once before in Howard Hawks's and Christian Nyby's 1951 film "The Thing from Another World", but Foster and Turman wanted to develop a project that stuck more closely to the source material. Screenwriters Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins held the rights to make an adaptation, but passed on the opportunity to make a new film, so Universal obtained the rights from them. In 1976, Wilbur Stark had purchased the remake rights to 23 RKO Pictures films, including "The Thing from Another World", from three Wall Street financiers who did not know what to do with them, in exchange for a return when the films were produced. Universal in turn acquired the rights to remake the film from Stark, resulting in him being given an executive producer credit on all print advertisements, posters, television commercials, and studio press material.
John Carpenter was first approached about the project in 1976 by co-producer and friend Stuart Cohen, but Carpenter was mainly an independent film director, so Universal chose "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974) director Tobe Hooper as they already had him under contract. The producers were ultimately unhappy with Hooper and his writing partner Kim Henkel's concept. After several more failed pitches by different writers, and attempts to bring on other directors, such as John Landis, the project was put on hold. Even so, the success of Ridley Scott's 1979 science fiction horror film "Alien" helped revitalize the project, at which point Carpenter became loosely attached following his success with his influential slasher film "Halloween" (1978).
Carpenter was reluctant to join the project as he thought Hawks's adaptation would be difficult to surpass, although he considered the film's monster to be unnotable. Cohen suggested that he read the original novella. Carpenter found the "creepiness" of the imitations conducted by the creature, and the questions it raised, interesting. Carpenter drew parallels between the novella and Agatha Christie's mystery novel "And Then There Were None" (1939), and noted that the story of "Who Goes There?" was "timely" for him, meaning he could make it "true to [his] day" as Hawks had in his time. Carpenter, a fan of Hawks's adaptation, paid homage to it in "Halloween", and he watched "The Thing from Another World" several times for inspiration before filming began. Carpenter and cinematographer Dean Cundey first worked together on "Halloween", and "The Thing" was their first big-budget project for a major film studio.
After securing the writer and crew, the film was stalled again when Carpenter nearly quit, believing that a passion project of his, "El Diablo" (1990), was on the verge of being made by EMI Films. The producers discussed various replacements including Walter Hill, Sam Peckinpah and Michael Ritchie, but the development of "El Diablo" was not as imminent as Carpenter believed, and he remained with "The Thing".
Universal initially set a budget of $10million, with $200,000 for "creature effects," which at the time was more than the studio had ever allocated to a monster film. Filming was scheduled to be completed within 98 days. Universal's production studios estimated that it would require at least $17million before marketing and other costs, as the plan involved more set construction, including external sets and a large set piece for the original scripted death of Bennings, which was estimated to cost $1.5million alone. As storyboarding and designs were finalized, the crew estimated they would need at least $750,000 for creature effects, a figure Universal executives agreed to after seeing the number of workers employed under Rob Bottin, the special make-up effects designer. Associate producer Larry Franco was responsible for making the budget work for the film; he cut the filming schedule by a third, eliminated the exterior sets for on-site shooting, and removed Bennings's more extravagant death scene. Cohen suggested reusing the destroyed American camp as the ruined Norwegian camp, saving a further $250,000. When filming began in August, "The Thing" had a budget of $11.4million, and indirect costs brought it to $14million. The effects budget ran over, eventually totaling $1.5million, forcing the elimination of some scenes, including Nauls's confrontation of a creature dubbed the "box Thing". By the end of production, Carpenter had to make a personal appeal to executive Ned Tanen for $100,000 to complete a simplified version of the Blair-Thing. The final cost was $12.4million, and overhead costs brought it to $15million.
Several writers developed drafts for "The Thing" before Carpenter became involved, including "Logan's Run" (1967) writer William F. Nolan, novelist David Wiltse, and Hooper and Henkel, whose draft was set at least partially underwater, and which Cohen described as a "Moby-Dick"-like story in which "The Captain" did battle with a large, non-shapeshifting creature. As Carpenter said in a 2014 interview, "they were just trying to make it work". The writers left before Carpenter joined the project. He said the scripts were "awful," as they changed the story into something it was not, and ignored the chameleon-like aspect of the Thing. Carpenter did not want to write the project himself, after recently completing work on "Escape from New York" (1981), and having struggled to complete a screenplay for "The Philadelphia Experiment" (1984). He was wary of taking on writing duties, preferring to let someone else do it. Once Carpenter was confirmed as the director, several writers were asked to script "The Thing", including Richard Matheson, Nigel Kneale, and Deric Washburn.
Bill Lancaster initially met with Turman, Foster and Cohen in 1977, but he was given the impression that they wanted to closely replicate "The Thing from Another World", and he did not want to remake the film. In August 1979, Lancaster was contacted again. By this time he had read the original "Who Goes There?" novella, and Carpenter had become involved in the project. Lancaster was hired to write the script after describing his vision for the film, and his intention to stick closely to the original story, to Carpenter, who was a fan of Lancaster's work on "The Bad News Bears" (1976). Lancaster conceived several key scenes in the film, including the Norris-Thing biting Dr. Copper, and the use of blood tests to identify the Thing, which Carpenter cited as the reason he wanted to work on the film. Lancaster said he found some difficulty in translating "Who Goes There?" to film, as it features very little action. He also made some significant changes to the story, such as reducing the number of characters from 37 to 12. Lancaster said that 37 was excessive and would be difficult for audiences to follow, leaving little screen time for characterization. He also opted to alter the story's structure, choosing to open his in the middle of the action, instead of using a flashback as in the novella. Several characters were modernized for contemporary audiences; MacReady, originally a meteorologist, became a tough loner described in the script as "35. Helicopter pilot. Likes chess. Hates the cold. The pay is good." Lancaster aimed to create an ensemble piece where one person emerged as the hero, instead of having a Doc Savage-type hero from the start.
Lancaster wrote approximately 30 to 40 pages, but eventually struggled writing the film's second act and it took him several months to complete the script. After it was finished, Lancaster and Carpenter spent a weekend in Northern California refining the script, each having different takes on how a character should sound, and comparing their ideas for scenes. Lancaster's script opted to keep the creature largely concealed throughout the film, and it was Bottin who convinced Carpenter to make it more visible to have a greater impact on the audience. Lancaster's original ending had both MacReady and Childs turn into the Thing. In the spring, the characters are rescued by helicopter, greeting their saviors with "Hey, which way to a hot meal?" Carpenter thought this ending was too shallow. In total, Lancaster completed four drafts of the screenplay. The novella concludes with the humans clearly victorious, but concerned that birds they see flying toward the mainland may have been infected by the Thing. Carpenter opted to end the film with the survivors slowly freezing to death to save humanity from infection, believing this to be the ultimate heroic act. Lancaster wrote this ending, which eschews a "The Twilight Zone"-style twist or the destruction of the monster, as he wanted to instead have an ambiguous moment between the pair, of trust and mistrust, fear and relief.
Kurt Russell was involved in the production before being cast, helping Carpenter develop his ideas. Russell was the last actor to be cast, in June 1981, by which point second unit filming was starting in Juneau, Alaska. Carpenter had worked with Russell twice before, but wanted to keep his options open. Discussions with the studio involved using actors Christopher Walken, Jeff Bridges, or Nick Nolte, who were either unavailable or declined, and Sam Shepard, who showed interest but was never pursued. Tom Atkins and Jack Thompson were strong early and late contenders for the role of MacReady, but the decision was made to go with Russell. In part, Carpenter cited the practicality of choosing someone he had found reliable before, and who would not balk at the difficult filming conditions. It took Russell about a year to grow his hair and beard out for the role. At various points, the producers met with Brian Dennehy, Kris Kristofferson, John Heard, Ed Harris, Tom Berenger, Jack Thompson, Scott Glenn, Fred Ward, Peter Coyote, Tom Atkins, and Tim McIntire. Some passed on the idea of starring in a monster film, while Dennehy became the choice to play Copper. Each actor was to be paid $50,000, but after the more-established Russell was cast, his salary increased to $400,000.
Geoffrey Holder, Carl Weathers, and Bernie Casey were considered for the role of Childs, and Carpenter also looked at Isaac Hayes, having worked with him on "Escape from New York". Ernie Hudson was the front-runner and was almost cast until they met with Keith David. "The Thing" was David's first significant film role, and coming from a theater background, he had to learn on set how to hold himself back and not show every emotion his character was feeling, with guidance from Richard Masur and Donald Moffat in particular. Masur and David discussed their characters in rehearsals and decided that they would not like each other. For Blair, the team chose the then-unknown Wilford Brimley, as they wanted an everyman whose absence would not be questioned by the audience until the appropriate time. The intent with the character was to have him become infected early in the film but offscreen, so that his status would be unknown to the audience, concealing his intentions. Carpenter wanted to cast Donald Pleasence, but it was decided that he was too recognizable to accommodate the role. T. K. Carter was cast as Nauls, but comedian Franklyn Ajaye also came in to read for the role. Instead, he delivered a lengthy speech about the character being a stereotype, after which the meeting ended.
Bottin lobbied hard to play Palmer, but it was deemed impossible for him to do so alongside his existing duties. As the character has some comedic moments, Universal brought in comedians Jay Leno, Garry Shandling, and Charles Fleischer, among others, but opted to go with actor David Clennon, who was better suited to play the dramatic elements. Clennon had read for the Bennings character, but he preferred the option of playing Palmer's "blue-collar stoner" to a "white collar science man". Powers Boothe, Lee Van Cleef, Jerry Orbach, and Kevin Conway were considered for the role of Garry, and Richard Mulligan was also considered when the production experimented with the idea of making the character closer to MacReady in age. Masur also read for Garry, but he asked to play Clark instead, as he liked the character's dialogue and was also a fan of dogs. Masur worked daily with the wolfdog Jed and his handler, Clint Rowe, during rehearsals, as Rowe was familiarizing Jed with the sounds and smells of people. This helped Masur's and Jed's performance onscreen, as the dog would stand next to him without looking for his handler. Masur described his character as one uninterested in people, but who loves working with dogs. He went to a survivalist store and bought a flip knife for his character, and used it in a confrontation with David's character. Masur turned down a role in "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" to play Clark. William Daniels and Dennehy were both interested in playing Dr. Copper, and it was a last-second decision by Carpenter to go with Richard Dysart.
In early drafts, Windows was called Sanchez, and later Sanders. The name Windows came when the actor for the role, Thomas Waites, was in a costume fitting and tried on a large pair of dark glasses, which the character wears in the film. Norbert Weisser portrays one of the Norwegians, and Jed appears uncredited as the Dog-Thing. The only female presence in the film is the voice of MacReady's chess computer, voiced by Carpenter's then-wife Adrienne Barbeau. Russell described the all-male story as interesting, since the men had no one to posture for without women. Foster, Franco, and Lancaster, along with other members of the crew, make a cameo appearance in a recovered photograph of the Norwegian team. Camera operator Ray Stella stood in for the shots where needles were used to take blood, telling Carpenter that he could do it all day. Franco also played the Norwegian wielding a rifle and hanging out of the helicopter during the opening sequence. Anita Dann served as casting director.
"The Thing" was storyboarded extensively by Mike Ploog and Mentor Huebner before filming began. Their work was so detailed that many of the film's shots replicate the image layout completely. Cundey pushed for the use of anamorphic format aspect ratio, believing that it allowed for placing several actors in an environment, and making use of the scenic vistas available, while still creating a sense of confinement within the image. It also enabled the use of negative space around the actors to imply something may be lurking just offscreen.
Principal photography began on August 24, 1981, in Juneau, Alaska. Filming lasted approximately 12 weeks. Carpenter insisted on two weeks of rehearsals before filming as he wanted to see how scenes would play out. This was unusual at the time because of the expense involved. Filming then moved to the Universal lot, where the outside heat was over . The internal sets were climate-controlled to to facilitate their work. The team considered building the sets inside an existing refrigerated structure, but were unable to find one large enough. Instead they collected as many portable air conditioners as they could, closed off the stage, and used humidifiers and misters to add moisture to the air. After watching a roughly assembled cut of filming to date, Carpenter was unhappy that the film seemed to feature too many scenes of men standing around talking. He rewrote some already completed scenes to take place outdoors to be shot on location when principal photography moved to Stewart, British Columbia.
Carpenter was determined to use authentic locations instead of studio sets, and his successes on "Halloween" and "The Fog" (1980) gave him the credibility to take on the much bigger-budget production of "The Thing". A film scout located an area just outside Stewart, along the Canadian coast, which offered the project both ease of access and scenic value during the day. On December 2, 1981, roughly 100 American and Canadian crew members moved to the area to begin filming. During the journey there, the crew bus slid in the snow toward the unprotected edge of the road, nearly sending it down a embankment. Some of the crew stayed in the small mining town during filming, while others lived on residential barges on the Portland Canal. They would make the drive up a small, winding road to the filming location in Alaska where the exterior outpost sets were built.
The sets had been built in Alaska during the summer, atop a rocky area overlooking a glacier, in preparation for snow to fall and cover them. They were used for both interior and exterior filming, meaning they could not be heated above freezing inside to ensure there was always snow on the roof. Outside, the temperature was so low that the camera lenses would freeze and break. The crew had to leave the cameras in the freezing temperatures, as keeping them inside in the warmth resulted in foggy lenses that took hours to clear. Filming, greatly dependent on the weather, took three weeks to complete, with heavy snow making it impossible to film on some days. It took eight hours to rig the explosives necessary to destroy the set in the film's finale.
Keith David broke his hand in a car accident the day before he was to begin shooting. David attended filming the next day, but when Carpenter and Franco saw his swollen hand, they sent him to the hospital where it was punctured with two pins. He returned wearing a surgical glove beneath a black glove that was painted to resemble his complexion. His left hand is not seen for the first half of the film. Carpenter filmed the Norwegian camp scenes after the end scenes, using the damaged American base as a stand-in for the charred Norwegian camp. The explosive destruction of the base required the camera assistants to stand inside the set with the explosives, which were activated remotely. The assistants then had to run to a safe distance while seven cameras captured the base's destruction. Filmed when the heavy use of special effects was rare, the actors had to adapt to having Carpenter describe to them what their characters were looking at, as the effects would not be added until post-production. There were some puppets used to create the impression of what was happening in the scene, but in other cases the cast would be looking at a wall or an object marked with an "X".
Art director John J. Lloyd oversaw the design and construction of all the sets, as there were no existing locations used in the film. Cundey suggested that the sets should have ceilings and pipes seen on camera to make the spaces seem more claustrophobic.
Several scenes in the script were omitted from the film, sometimes because there was too much dialogue that slowed the pace and undermined the suspense. Carpenter blamed some of the issues on his directorial method, noting that several scenes appeared to be repeating events or information. Another scene featuring a snowmobile chase pursuing dogs was removed from the shooting script as it would have been too expensive to film. One scene present in the film, but not the script, features a monolog by MacReady. Carpenter added this partly to establish what was happening in the story, and because he wanted to highlight Russell's heroic character after taking over the camp. Carpenter said that Lancaster's experience writing ensemble pieces did not emphasize single characters. Since "Halloween," several horror films had replicated many of the scare elements of that film, something Carpenter wanted to move away from for "The Thing." He removed scenes from Lancaster's script that had been filmed, such as a body suddenly falling into view at the Norwegian camp, which he felt were too clichéd. Approximately three minutes of scenes were filmed from Lancaster's script that elaborated on the characters' backgrounds.
A scene with MacReady absentmindedly inflating a blow-up doll while watching the Norwegian tapes was filmed but was not in the finished film. The doll would later appear as a jump scare with Nauls. Other scenes featured expanded or alternate deaths for various characters. In the finished film, Fuchs's charred bones are discovered, revealing he has died offscreen, but an alternate take sees his corpse impaled on a wall with a shovel. Nauls was scripted to appear in the finale as a partly assimilated mass of tentacles, but in the film he simply disappears. Carpenter struggled with a method of conveying to the audience what assimilation by the creature actually meant. Lancaster's original set piece of Bennings's death had him pulled beneath a sheet of ice by the Thing, before resurfacing in different areas in various stages of assimilation. The scene called for a set to be built on one of Universal's largest stages, with sophisticated hydraulics, dogs, and flamethrowers, but it was deemed too costly to produce. A scene was filmed with Bennings being murdered by an unknown assailant, but it was felt that assimilation, leading to his death, was not explained enough. Short on time, and with no interior sets remaining, a small set was built, Maloney was covered with K-Y Jelly, orange dye, and rubber tentacles. Monster gloves for a different creature were repurposed to demonstrate partial assimilation.
Carpenter filmed multiple endings for "The Thing", including a "happier" ending because editor Todd Ramsay thought that the bleak, nihilistic conclusion would not test well with audiences. In the alternate take, MacReady is rescued and given a blood test that proves he is not infected. Carpenter said that stylistically this ending would have been "cheesy". Editor Verna Fields was tasked with reworking the ending to add clarity and resolution. It was finally decided to create an entirely new scene, which omitted the suspicion of Childs being infected by removing him completely, leaving MacReady alone. This new ending tested only slightly better with audiences than the original, and the production team agreed to the studio's request to use it. It was set to go to print for theaters when the producers, Carpenter, and executive Helena Hacker decided that the film was better left with ambiguity instead of nothing at all. Carpenter gave his approval to restore the ambiguous ending, but a scream was inserted over the outpost explosion to posit the monster's death. Universal executive Sidney Sheinberg disliked the ending's nihilism and, according to Carpenter, said, "Think about how the audience will react if we see the [Thing] die with a giant orchestra playing". Carpenter later noted that both the original ending and the ending without Childs tested poorly with audiences, which he interpreted as the film simply not being heroic enough.
Ennio Morricone composed the film's score, as Carpenter wanted "The Thing" to have a European musical approach. Carpenter flew to Rome to speak with Morricone to convince him to take the job. By the time Morricone flew to Los Angeles to record the score, he had already developed a tape filled with an array of synthesizer music because he was unsure what type of score Carpenter wanted. Morricone wrote complete separate orchestral and synthesizer scores and a combined score, which he knew was Carpenter's preference. Carpenter picked a piece, closely resembling his own scores, that became the main theme used throughout the film. He also played the score from "Escape from New York" for Morricone as an example. Morricone made several more attempts, bringing the score closer to Carpenter's own style of music. In total, Morricone produced a score of approximately one hour that remained largely unused, but was later released as part of the film's soundtrack. Carpenter and his longtime collaborator Alan Howarth separately developed some synth-styled pieces used in the film. In 2012, Morricone recalled:
I've asked [Carpenter], as he was preparing some electronic music with an assistant to edit on the film, "Why did you call me, if you want to do it on your own?" He surprised me, he said – "I got married to your music. This is why I've called you." ... Then when he showed me the film, later when I wrote the music, we didn't exchange ideas. He ran away, nearly ashamed of showing it to me. I wrote the music on my own without his advice. Naturally, as I had become quite clever since 1982, I've written several scores relating to my life. And I had written one, which was electronic music. And [Carpenter] took the electronic score.
Carpenter said:
[Morricone] did all the orchestrations and recorded for me 20 minutes of music I could use wherever I wished but without seeing any footage. I cut his music into the film and realized that there were places, mostly scenes of tension, in which his music would not work... I secretly ran off and recorded in a couple of days a few pieces to use. My pieces were very simple electronic pieces – it was almost tones. It was not really music at all but just background sounds, something today you might even consider as sound effects.
"The Thing"s special effects were largely designed by Bottin, who had previously worked with Carpenter on "The Fog" (1980). When Bottin joined the project in mid-1981, pre-production was in progress, but no design had been settled on for the alien. Artist Dale Kuipers had created some preliminary paintings of the creature's look, but he left the project after being hospitalized following a traffic accident before he could develop them further with Bottin. Carpenter conceived the Thing as a single creature, but Bottin suggested that it should be constantly changing and able to look like anything. Carpenter initially considered Bottin's description of his ideas as "too weird," and had him work with Ploog to sketch them instead. As part of the Thing's design, it was agreed anyone assimilated by it would be a perfect imitation and would not know they were the Thing. The actors spent hours during rehearsals discussing whether they would know they were the Thing when taken over. Clennon said that it did not matter, because everyone acted, looked and smelled exactly the same before being taken over. At its peak, Bottin had a 35-person crew of artists and technicians, and he found it difficult to work with so many people. To help manage the team, he hired Erik Jensen, a special effects line producer who he had worked with on "The Howling" (1981), to be in charge of the special make-up effects unit. Bottin's crew also included mechanical aspect supervisor Dave Kelsey, make-up aspect coordinator Ken Diaz, moldmaker Gunnar Ferdinansen, and Bottin's longtime friend Margaret Beserra, who managed painting and hair work.
In designing the Thing's different forms, Bottin explained that the creature had been all over the galaxy. This allowed it to call on different attributes as necessary, such as stomachs that transform into giant mouths and spider legs sprouting from heads. Bottin said the pressure he experienced caused him to dream about working on designs, some of which he would take note of after waking. One abandoned idea included a series of dead baby monsters, which was deemed "too gross". Bottin admitted he had no idea how his designs would be implemented practically, but Carpenter did not reject them. Carpenter said, "what I didn't want to end up with in this movie was a guy in a suit ... I grew up as a kid watching science-fiction monster movies, and it was always a guy in a suit." According to Cundey, Bottin was very sensitive about his designs, and worried about the film showing too many of them. At one point, as a preemptive move against any censorship, Bottin suggested making the creature's violent transformations and the appearance of the internal organs more fantastical using colors. The decision was made to tone down the color of the blood and viscera, although much of the filming had been completed by that point. The creature effects used a variety of materials including mayonnaise, creamed corn, microwaved bubble gum, and K-Y Jelly.
During filming, then-21-year-old Bottin was hospitalized for exhaustion, double pneumonia, and a bleeding ulcer, caused by his extensive workload. Bottin himself explained he would "hoard the work," opting to be directly involved in many of the complicated tasks. His dedication to the project saw him spend over a year living on the Universal lot. Bottin said he did not take a day off during that time, and slept on the sets or in locker rooms. To take some pressure off his crew, Bottin enlisted the aid of special effects creator Stan Winston to complete some of the designs, primarily the Dog-Thing. With insufficient time to create a sophisticated mechanical creature, Winston opted to create a hand puppet. A cast was made of makeup artist Lance Anderson's arm and head, around which the Dog-Thing was sculpted in oil-based clay. The final foam-latex puppet, worn by Anderson, featured radio-controlled eyes and cable-controlled legs, and was operated from below a raised set on which the kennel was built. Slime from the puppet would leak onto Anderson during the two days it took to film the scene, and he had to wear a helmet to protect himself from the explosive squibs simulating gunfire. Anderson pulled the tentacles into the Dog-Thing and reverse motion was used to create the effect of them slithering from its body. Winston refused to be credited for his work, insisting that Bottin deserved sole credit; Winston was given a "thank you" in the credits instead.
In the "chest chomp" scene, Dr. Copper attempts to revive Norris with a defibrillator. Revealing himself as the Thing, Norris-Thing's chest transforms into a large mouth that severs Copper's arms. Bottin accomplished this scene by recruiting a double amputee and fitting him with prosthetic arms filled with wax bones, rubber veins and Jell-O. The arms were then placed into the practical stomach mouth where the mechanical jaws clamped down on them, at which point the actor pulled away, severing the false arms. The effect of the Norris-Thing's head detaching from the body to save itself took many months of testing before Bottin was satisfied enough to film it. The scene involved a fire effect, but the crew were unaware that fumes from the rubber foam chemicals inside the puppet were flammable. The fire ignited the fumes, creating a large fireball that engulfed the puppet. It suffered only minimal damage after the fire had been put out, and the crew successfully filmed the scene. Stop-motion expert Randall William Cook developed a sequence for the end of the film where MacReady is confronted by the gigantic Blair-Thing. Cook created a miniature model of the set and filmed wide-angle shots of the monster in stop motion, but Carpenter was not convinced by the effect and used only a few seconds of it. It took 50 people to operate the actual Blair-Thing puppet.
The production intended to use a camera centrifuge—a rotating drum with a fixed camera platform—for the Palmer-Thing scene, allowing him to seem to run straight up the wall and across the ceiling. Again, the cost was too high and the idea abandoned for a stuntman falling into frame onto a floor made to look like the outpost's ceiling. Stuntman Anthony Cecere stood in for the Palmer-Thing after MacReady sets it on fire and it crashes through the outpost wall.
Cundey worked with Bottin to determine the appropriate lighting for each creature. He wanted to show off Bottin's work because of its detailing, but he was conscious that showing too much would reveal its artificial nature, breaking the illusion. Each encounter with the creature was planned for areas where they could justify using a series of small lights to highlight the particular creature-model's surface and textures. Cundey would illuminate the area behind the creature to detail its overall shape. He worked with Panasonic and a few other companies to develop a camera capable of automatically adjusting light exposure at different film speeds. He wanted to try filming the creature at fast and slow speeds thinking this would create a more interesting visual effect, but they were unable to accomplish this at the time. For the rest of the set, Cundey created a contrast by lighting the interiors with warmer lights hung overhead in conical shades so that they could still control the lighting and have darkened areas on set. The outside was constantly bathed in a cold, blue light that Cundey had discovered being used on airport runways. The reflective surface of the snow and the blue light helped create the impression of coldness. The team also made use of the flamethrowers and magenta-hued flares used by the actors to create dynamic lighting.
The team originally wanted to shoot the film in black and white, but Universal was reluctant as it could affect their ability to sell the television rights for the film. Instead, Cundey suggested muting the colors as much as possible. The inside of the sets was painted in neutral colors such as gray, and many of the props were also painted gray, while the costumes were a mix of somber browns, blues, and grays. They relied on the lighting to add color. Albert Whitlock provided matte-painted backdrops, including the scene in which the Americans discover the giant alien spaceship buried in the ice. A scene where MacReady walks up to a hole in the ice where the alien had been buried was filmed at Universal, while the surrounding area including the alien spaceship, helicopter, and snow were all painted.
Carpenter's friend John Wash, who developed the opening computer simulation for "Escape from New York", designed the computer program showing how the Thing assimilates other organisms. Model maker Susan Turner built the alien ship approaching Earth in the pre-credits sequence, which featured 144 strobing lights. Drew Struzan designed the film's poster. He completed it in 24 hours, based only on a briefing, knowing little about the film.
The lack of information about the film's special effects drew the attention of film exhibitors in early 1982. They wanted reassurance that "The Thing" was a first-rate production capable of attracting audiences. Cohen and Foster, with a specially employed editor and Universal's archive of music, put together a 20-minute showreel emphasizing action and suspense. They used available footage, including alternate and extended scenes not in the finished film, but avoided revealing the special effects as much as possible. The reaction from the exclusively male exhibitors was generally positive, and Universal executive Robert Rehme told Cohen that the studio was counting on "The Thing"s success, as they expected "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" to appeal only to children. While finalizing the film, Universal sent Carpenter a demographic study showing that the audience appeal of horror films had declined by 70% over the previous six months. Carpenter considered this a suggestion that he lower his expectations of the film's performance. After one market research screening, Carpenter queried the audience on their thoughts, and one audience member asked, "Well what happened in the very end? Which one was the Thing...?" When Carpenter responded that it was up to their imagination, the audience member responded, "Oh, God. I hate that."
After returning from a screening of "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial", the audience's silence at a "The Thing" trailer caused Foster to remark, "We're dead". The response to public pre-screenings of "The Thing" resulted in the studio changing the somber, black-and-white advertising approved by the producers to a color image of a person with a glowing face. The tagline was also changed from "Man is the warmest place to hide"—written by Stephen Frankfort, who wrote the "Alien" tagline, "In space, no one can hear you scream"—to "The ultimate in alien terror," trying to capitalize on "Alien"s audience. Carpenter attempted to make a last-minute change of the film's title to "Who Goes There?", to no avail. The week before its release, Carpenter promoted the film with clips on "Late Night with David Letterman". In 1981, horror magazine "Fangoria" held a contest encouraging readers to submit drawings of what the Thing would look like. Winners were rewarded with a trip to Universal Studios. On its opening day, a special screening was held at the Hollywood Pacific Theatre, presided over by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, with free admission for those in costume as monsters.
"The Thing" was released in the United States on June 25, 1982. During its opening weekend, the film earned $3.1million from 840 theaters—an average of $3,699 per theater—finishing as the number eight film of the weekend behind supernatural horror "Poltergeist" ($4.1million), which was in its fourth weekend of release, and ahead of action film "Megaforce" ($2.3million). It dropped out of the top 10 grossing films after three weeks. It ended its run earning a total of $19.6million against its $15million budget, making it only the 42nd highest-grossing film of 1982. It was not a box office failure, nor was it a hit.
Since its release, cultural historians and critics have attempted to understand what led to "The Thing"s initial failure to connect with audiences. In a 1999 interview, Carpenter said audiences rejected "The Thing" for its nihilistic, depressing viewpoint at a time when the United States was in the midst of a recession. When it opened, it was competing against the critically and commercially successful "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" ($619million), a more family-friendly film released two weeks earlier that offered a more optimistic take on alien visitation. Carpenter described it as the complete opposite of his film. "The Thing" opened on the same day as the science fiction film "Blade Runner", which debuted as the number two film that weekend with a take of $6.1million and went on to earn $33.8million. It was also regarded as a critical and commercial failure at the time. Others blamed an oversaturation of science fiction and fantasy films released that year, including "Conan the Barbarian" ($130million), "Poltergeist" ($121.7million), "Mad Max 2" ($34.5million), "" ($97million), and "Tron" ($33million). Some analysts blamed Universal's poor marketing, which did not compete with the deluge of promotion for prominent films released that summer.
Another factor was the R rating it was given, restricting the audience to those over the age of 17 unless accompanied by an adult. "Poltergeist" received a PG rating, allowing families and younger children to view it.
The film received negative reviews on its release, and hostility for its cynical, anti-authoritarian tone and graphic special effects. "Cinefantastique" printed an issue with "The Thing" on its cover asking, "Is this the most hated movie of all time?" Some reviewers were dismissive of the film, calling it the "quintessential moron movie of the 80's," "instant junk," and a "wretched excess". "Starlog"s Alan Spencer called it a "cold and sterile" horror movie attempting to cash in on the genre audience, against the "optimism of "E.T.", the reassuring return of "Star Trek II", the technical perfection of "Tron", and the sheer integrity of "Blade Runner"".
The plot was criticized as "boring", and undermined by the special effects. The "Los Angeles Times"s Linda Gross said that "The Thing" was "bereft, despairing, and nihilistic", and lacking in feeling, meaning the characters' deaths did not matter. Spencer said it featured sloppy continuity, lacked pacing, and was devoid of warmth or humanity. David Ansen of "Newsweek" felt the film confused the use of effects with creating suspense, and that it lacked drama by "sacrificing everything at the altar of gore". The "Chicago Reader"s Dave Kehr considered the dialogue to be banal and interchangeable, making the characters seem and sound alike. "The Washington Post"s Gary Arnold said it was a witty touch to open with the Thing having already overcome the Norwegian base, defeating the type of traps seen in the 1951 version, while "New York"s David Denby lamented that the Thing's threat is only shown externally, without focusing on what it is like for someone who thinks they have been taken over. Roger Ebert considered the film to be scary, but offering nothing original beyond the special effects, while "The New York Times"s Vincent Canby said it was entertaining only if the viewer needed to see spider-legged heads and dog autopsies.
Reviews of the actors' performances were generally positive, while criticizing the depictions of the characters they portrayed. Ebert said they lacked characterization, offering basic stereotypes that existed just to be killed, and Spencer called the characters bland even though the actors do the best they can with the material. "Time"s Richard Schickel singled Russell out as the "stalwart" hero, where other characters were not as strongly or wittily characterized, and "Variety" said that Russell's heroic status was undercut by the "suicidal" attitude adopted toward the film's finale. Other reviews criticized implausibilities such as characters wandering off alone. Kehr did not like that the men did not band together against the Thing, and several reviews noted a lack of camaraderie and romance, which Arnold said reduced any interest beyond the special effects.
The film's special effects were simultaneously lauded and lambasted for being technically brilliant but visually repulsive and excessive. Reviews called Bottin's work "genius," noting the designs were novel, unforgettable, "colorfully horrific," and called him a "master of the macabre". Arnold said that the "chest chomp" scene demonstrated "appalling creativity" and the subsequent severed head scene was "madly macabre," comparing them to "Alien"s chest burster and severed head scenes. "Variety" called it "the most vividly gruesome horror film to ever stalk the screens". Conversely, Denby called them more disgusting than frightening, and lamented that the trend of horror films to open the human body more and more bordered on obscenity, Spencer said that Bottin's care and pride in his craft was shown in the effects, but both they and Schickel found them to be overwhelming and "squandered" without strong characters and story Even so, Canby said that the effects were too "phony looking to be disgusting". Canby and Arnold said the creature's lack of a single, discernible shape was to its detriment, and hiding it inside humans made it hard to follow. Arnold said that the 1951 version was less versatile, but easier to keep in focus.
Gross and Spencer praised the film's technical achievements, particularly Cundey's "frostbitten" cinematography, the sound, editing, and Morricone's score. Spencer was critical of Carpenter's direction, saying it was his "futile" attempt to give the audience what he thinks they want and that Carpenter was not meant to direct science fiction, but was instead suited to direct "traffic accidents, train wrecks, and public floggings". Ansen said that "atrocity for atrocity's sake" was ill-becoming of Carpenter.
"The Thing" was often compared to similar films, particularly "Alien", "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1978), and "The Thing from Another World". Ebert and Denby said that "The Thing" seemed derivative compared to those films, which had portrayed the story in a better way. "Variety" called it inferior to the 1951 version. Arnold considered "The Thing" as the end result of "Alien" raising the requirement for horrific spectacle.
"The Thing from Another World" actor Kenneth Tobey and director Christian Nyby also criticized the film. Nyby said, "If you want blood, go to the slaughterhouse ... All in all, it's a terrific commercial for J&B Scotch". Tobey singled out the visual effects, saying they "were so explicit that they actually destroyed how you were supposed to feel about the characters ... They became almost a movie in themselves, and were a little too horrifying." In Phil Hardy's book "Science Fiction" (1984), a reviewer described the film as a "surprising failure" and called it "Carpenter's most unsatisfying film to date". The review noted that the narrative "seems little more than an excuse for the various set-pieces of special effects and Russell's hero is no more than a cypher compared to Tobey's rounded character in Howard Hawks' "The Thing"". Clennon said that introductory scenes for the characters, omitted from the film, made it hard for audiences to connect with them, robbing it of some of the broader appeal of "Alien".
"The Thing" received nominations from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films for Best Horror Film and Best Special Effects, but lost to "Poltergeist" and "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial", respectively. The film was nominated in the Razzie Awards for Worst Musical Score.
The impact on Carpenter was immediate—he lost the job of directing the 1984 science fiction horror film "Firestarter" because of "The Thing"s poor performance. His previous success had gained him a multiple-film contract at Universal, but the studio opted to buy him out of it instead. He continued making films afterward but lost confidence, and did not openly talk about "The Thing"s failure until a 1985 interview with "Starlog", where he said, "I was called 'a pornographer of violence' ... I had no idea it would be received that way ... "The Thing" was just too strong for that time. I knew it was going to be strong, but I didn't think it would be too strong ... I didn't take the public's taste into consideration." Shortly after its release, Wilbur Stark sued Universal for $43million for "slander, breach of contract, fraud and deceit," alleging he incurred a financial loss by Universal failing to credit him properly in its marketing and by showing his name during the end credits, a less prestigious position. Stark also said that he "contributed greatly to the [screenplay]". David Foster responded that Stark was not involved with the film's production in any way, and received proper credit in all materials. Stark later sued for a further $15million over Foster's comments. The outcome of the lawsuits is unknown.
While "The Thing" was not initially successful, it was able to find new audiences and appreciation on home video, and later on television. Sidney Sheinberg edited a version of the film for network television broadcast, which added narration and a different ending, where the Thing imitates a dog and escapes the ruined camp. Carpenter disowned this version, and theorized that Sheinberg had been mad at him for not taking his creative ideas on board for the theatrical cut.
"The Thing" was released on DVD in 1998 and featured additional content, such as "The Thing: Terror Takes Shape"—a detailed documentary on the production, deleted and alternate scenes, and commentary by Carpenter and Russell. An HD DVD version followed in 2006 containing the same features, and a Blu-ray version in 2008 featuring just the Carpenter and Russell commentary, and some behind-the-scenes videos available via picture-in-picture during the film. A 2016 Blu-ray release featured a 2K resolution restoration of the film, overseen by Dean Cundey. As well as including previous features such as the commentary and "Terror Takes Shape", it added interviews with the cast and crew, and segments that focus on the music, writing, editing, Ploog's artwork, an interview with Alan Dean Foster, who wrote the film's novelization, and the television broadcast version of "The Thing" that runs 15 minutes shorter than the theatrical cut. A 4K resolution restoration was released in 2017 on Blu-ray, initially as a United Kingdom exclusive with a limited run of 8,000 units. The restoration was created using the original film negative, and was overseen by Carpenter and Cundey.
MCA released the soundtrack for "The Thing" in 1982. Varèse Sarabande re-released it in 1991 on compact disc and Compact Cassette. These versions eventually ceased being manufactured. In 2011, Howarth and Larry Hopkins restored Morricone's score using updated digital techniques, and arranged each track in the order it appears in the film. The album also includes tracks composed by Carpenter and Howarth for the film. A remastered version of the score was released on vinyl on February 23, 2017; a deluxe edition included an exclusive interview with Carpenter.
The central theme of "The Thing" concerns paranoia and mistrust. Fundamentally, the film is about the erosion of trust in a small community, instigated by different forms of paranoia caused by the possibility of someone not being who they say they are, or that your best friend may be your enemy. It represents the distrust that humans always have for somebody else and the fear of betrayal by those we know and, ultimately, our bodies. The theme remains timely because the subject of paranoia adapts to the age. "The Thing" focuses on being unable to trust one's peers, but this can be interpreted as distrust of entire institutions.
Developed in an era of cold-war tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, the film refers to the threat of nuclear annihilation by mutually assured destruction. "Diabolique"s Daniel Clarkson Fisher notes that MacReady destroys the chess computer after being checkmated, and similarly vows to destroy the Thing, even at the expense of the team. The Cold War-style isolationism hurts the group, while a lack of trust destroys it. Screen Rants Michael Edward Taylor draws allusions between "The Thing" and the accusatory Red Scares and McCarthyism, as the film conveys an anti-communist fear of infection of civilized areas that will lead to assimilation and imitation. "Slant Magazine"s John Lingsan said the men display a level of post-Vietnam War (1955–1975) "fatigued counterculturalism"—the rejection of conventional social norms, each defined by their own eccentricities.
Lancaster's script eschews female characters because he believed that a female character would be a love interest who inevitably gets in the way. "The Atlantic"s Noah Berlatsky said that unlike typical horror genre films, females are excluded, allowing the Thing to be identified as a fear of not being a man, or being homosexual. Indeed, several assimilations involve penetration, tentacles, and in Norris's case, opened up at the stomach to birth his own replica. The slasher genre favors female stars as they are perceived as weaker and therefore more empathetic, providing a cathartic release when they defeat the villain, but in "The Thing" the men are not meant to survive. "Vice"s Patrick Marlborough considered "The Thing" to be a critical take on masculinity. Identifying the Thing requires intimacy, confession, and empathy to out the creature, but masculinity prevents this as an option. Trapped by pride and stunted emotional growth, the men are unable to confront the truth out of fear of embarrassment or exposure. Berlatsky noted that MacReady avoids emotional attachments and is the most paranoid, allowing him to be the hero. This detachment works against him in the finale, which leaves MacReady locked in a futile mistrust with Childs, each not really knowing the other.
Nerdist's Kyle Anderson and "Strange Horizons"s Orrin Grey analyzed "The Thing" as an example of author H. P. Lovecraft's cosmic horror, the notion that ancient, inhuman beings exist that do not care about humanity in any way. This also includes the fear of losing one's humanity, and being consumed, figuratively or literally, by these ancient eldritch behemoths. The Thing is a being beyond our understanding and possesses the ability to destroy all life on Earth quickly. Just as Lovecraft left his creatures undescribed, the Thing can be seen, but its shape is mostly indescribable, beyond the realm of human knowledge. Grey said that MacReady represents a more traditional Hollywood film protagonist, but Blair represents the Lovecraftian protagonist, who succumbs to his fear of the creature, is driven insane by the implications of its nature, and eventually becomes what he fears.
The Thing never speaks or gives a motive for its actions, and ruthlessly pursues its goal. Grey describes the creature as fear of the loss of self. It attacks, consumes and imitates an individual perfectly with memories and behaviors. The original is subsumed by an alien copy that is virtually impossible to identify. Den of Geeks Mark Harrison and Ryan Lambie said that the essence of humanity is free will, which is stripped away by the Thing, possibly without the individual being aware that they have been taken over. In a 1982 interview, when given the option to describe "The Thing" as "pro-science" like "Who Goes There?" or "anti-science" like "The Thing from Another World", Carpenter chose "pro-human," stating, "It's better to be a human being than an imitation, or let ourselves be taken over by this creature who's not necessarily evil, but whose nature it is to simply imitate, like a chameleon." Further allusions have been drawn between the blood-test scene and the epidemic of HIV at the time, which could only be identified by a blood test.
Since its release, many theories have been developed to attempt to answer the film's ambiguous ending shared by MacReady and Childs. Several suggest that Childs was infected, citing Dean Cundey's statement that he deliberately provided a subtle illumination to the eyes of uninfected characters, something absent from Childs. Similarly, others have noted a lack of visible breath from the character in the frigid air. While both aspects are present in MacReady, their absence in Childs has been explained as a technical issue with the filming. During production, Carpenter considered having MacReady be infected, and an alternate ending showed MacReady having been rescued and definitively tested as uninfected. Russell has said that analyzing the scene for clues is "missing the point". He continued, "[Carpenter] and I worked on the ending of that movie together a long time. We were both bringing the audience right back to square one. At the end of the day, that was the position these people were in. They just didn't know anything... They didn't know if they knew who they were... I love that, over the years, that movie has gotten its due because people were able to get past the horrificness of the monster... to see what the movie was about, which was paranoia." However, Carpenter has teased, "Now, I do know, in the end, who the Thing is, but I cannot tell you."
In the years following its release, critics and fans have reevaluated "The Thing" as a milestone of the horror genre. A prescient review by Peter Nicholls in 1992, called "The Thing" "a black, memorable film [that] may yet be seen as a classic". It has been called one of, if not the best film directed by Carpenter. John Kenneth Muir called it "Carpenter's most accomplished and underrated directorial effort," and critic Matt Zoller Seitz said it "is one of the greatest and most elegantly constructed B-movies ever made".
Trace Thurman described it as one of the best films ever, and in 2008, "Empire" magazine selected it as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time, at number 289, calling it "a peerless masterpiece of relentless suspense, retina-wrecking visual excess and outright, nihilistic terror". It is now considered to be one of the greatest horror films ever made, and a classic of the genre. Several publications have called it one of the best films of 1982, including Filmsite.org, Film.com, and "Entertainment Weekly". Muir called it "the best science fiction-horror film of 1982, an incredibly competitive year, and perhaps even the best genre motion picture of the decade". "Complex" named it the ninth-best of the decade, calling it the "greatest genre remake of all time". Numerous publications have ranked it as one of the best science fiction films, including number four by IGN (2016); number 12 by "Thrillist" (2018); number 17 by "GamesRadar+" (2018); number 31 by "Paste" (2018); number 32 by "Esquire" (2015) and "Popular Mechanics" (2017); and number 76 by Rotten Tomatoes (2017) based on its average review score.
Similarly, "The Thing" has appeared on several lists of the top horror films, including number one by "The Boston Globe"; number two by Bloody Disgusting (2018); number four by "Empire" (2016); and number six by "Time Out" (2016). "Empire" listed its poster as the 43rd best film poster ever. In 2016, the British Film Institute named it one of 10 great films about aliens visiting Earth. It was voted the ninth best horror film of all time in a "Rolling Stone" readers poll, and is considered one of the best examples of body horror. "GamesRadar+" listed its ending as one of the 25 best of all time. Contemporary review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes offers an 84% approval rating from 64 critics—an average rating of 7.39/10, which provides the consensus, "Grimmer and more terrifying than the 1950s take, John Carpenter's "The Thing" is a tense sci-fi thriller rife with compelling tension and some remarkable make-up effects." The film also has a score of 57 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 13 critical reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
In a 2011 interview, Carpenter remarked that it was close to, if not, his favorite film from his own filmography. He lamented that it took a long time for "The Thing" to find a wider audience, saying, "If "The Thing" had been a hit, my career would have been different. I wouldn't have had to make the choices that I made. But I needed a job. I'm not saying I hate the movies I did. I loved making "Christine" (1983) and "Starman" (1984) and "Big Trouble in Little China" (1986), all those films. But my career would have been different."
The film has had a significant impact on popular culture, and by 1998, "The Thing" was already considered a cult classic. It has been referred to in a variety of media, from television (including "The X-Files", "Futurama", and "Stranger Things") to video games ("Resident Evil 4" and "Tomb Raider III") and films ("The Faculty" (1998), "Slither" (2006), "The Mist" (2007)). It is listed in the film reference book "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", which says "one of the most influential horror movies of the 1980s, much imitated but rarely bettered... It is one of the first films to unflinchingly show the rupture and warp of flesh and bone into grotesque tableaus of surreal beauty, forever raising the bar of cinematic horror."
Several filmmakers have spoken of their appreciation for "The Thing" or cited its influence on their own work, including Guillermo del Toro, James DeMonaco, J. J. Abrams, Neill Blomkamp, David Robert Mitchell, Rob Hardy, Steven S. DeKnight, and Quentin Tarantino. In 2011, "The New York Times" asked prominent horror filmmakers what film they had found the scariest. Two, John Sayles and Edgar Wright, cited "The Thing". The 2015 Tarantino film "The Hateful Eight" takes numerous cues from "The Thing", from featuring Russell in a starring role, to replicating themes of paranoia and mistrust between characters restricted to a single location, and even duplicating certain angles and layouts used by Carpenter and Cundey. Pieces of Morricone's unused score for "The Thing" were repurposed for "The Hateful Eight". Tarantino also cited "The Thing" as an inspiration for his 1992 film "Reservoir Dogs".
The film is screened annually in February to mark the beginning of winter at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station.
In January 2010, "Clarkesworld Magazine" published "The Things," a short story by Peter Watts told from the Thing's point of view; it is unable to understand why humans are hostile toward it. The story received a 2011 Hugo Award nomination. In 2017, a 400-page art book was released featuring art inspired by "The Thing", with contributions from 350 artists, a foreword by director Eli Roth, and an afterword by Carpenter.
The 2007 Halloween Horror Nights event at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, featured "The Thing: Assimilation," a haunted attraction based on the film. The attraction included MacReady and Childs, both held in stasis, the Blair-Thing and the outpost kennel.
An excursion of fans to the filming location in British Columbia is currently scheduled to take place in 2022, to celebrate the film's 40th anniversary.
A novelization of the film was published by Alan Dean Foster in 1982. It is based on an earlier draft of the script and features some differences from the finished film. A scene in which MacReady, Bennings, and Childs chase infected dogs out into the snow is included, and Nauls's disappearance is explained: Cornered by the Blair-Thing, he chooses suicide over assimilation.
In 2000, McFarlane Toys released two "Movie Maniacs" figures: the Blair-Thing and the Norris-Thing, including its spider-legged, disembodied head. SOTA Toys released a set featuring a MacReady figure and the Dog-Thing based on the film's kennel scene, and a bust of the Norris-Thing's spider-head. In 2017, Mondo and the Project Raygun division of USAopoly released "The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31", a board game. Players take on the role of characters from the film or the Thing, each aiming to defeat the other through subterfuge and sabotage.
Dark Horse Comics published four comic book sequels starring MacReady, beginning in December 1991 with the two-part "The Thing from Another World" by Chuck Pfarrer, which is set 24 hours after the film. Pfarrer was reported to have pitched his comic tale to Universal as a sequel in the early 1990s. This was followed by the four-part "The Thing from Another World: Climate of Fear" in July 1992, the four-part "The Thing from Another World: Eternal Vows" in December 1993, and "The Thing from Another World: Questionable Research". In 1999, Carpenter said that no serious discussions had taken place for a sequel, but he would be interested in basing one on Pfarrer's adaptation, calling the story a worthy sequel. A 2002 video game of the same name was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, and Xbox to generally favorable reviews. The game's plot follows a team of U.S. soldiers investigating the aftermath of the film's events.
In 2005, the Syfy channel planned a four-hour miniseries sequel produced by Frank Darabont and written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick. The story followed a Russian team who recover the corpses of MacReady and Childs, and remnants of the Thing. The story moves forward 23 years, where the Thing escapes in New Mexico, and follows the attempts at containment. The project never proceeded, and Universal opted to continue with a feature film sequel. A prequel film, "The Thing", was released in October 2011 to a $27.4million worldwide box office gross and mixed reviews. The story follows the events after the Norwegian team discovers the Thing. In 2020, Universal Studios and Blumhouse Productions announced the development of a remake of Carpenter's "The Thing". The remake was described as incorporating elements of "The Thing from Another World" and "The Thing", as well as the novella "Who Goes There?", and its expanded version, "Frozen Hell" that features several additional chapters.
Although released years apart, and unrelated in terms of plot, characters, crew, or even production studios, Carpenter considers "The Thing" to be the first installment in his "Apocalypse Trilogy", a series of films based around cosmic horror, entities unknown to man, that are threats to both human life and the sense of self. "The Thing" was followed by "Prince of Darkness" in 1987, and "In the Mouth of Madness" in 1994. All three films are heavily influenced by Carpenter's appreciation for the works of H. P. Lovecraft. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30809 |
Troff
troff (, short for "typesetter roff") is the major component of a document processing system developed by AT&T Corporation for the Unix operating system.
"troff" features commands to designate fonts, spacing, paragraphs, margins, footnotes and more. Unlike many other text formatters, "troff" can position characters arbitrarily on a page, even overlapping them, and has a fully programmable input language. Separate preprocessors are used for more convenient production of tables, diagrams, and mathematics. Inputs to troff are plain text files that can be created by any text editor.
Extensive macro packages have been created for various document styles. A typical distribution of troff includes the me macros for formatting research papers, man and mdoc macros for creating Unix man pages, mv macros for creating mountable transparencies, and the ms and mm macros for letters, books, technical memoranda, and reports.
"troff"'s origins can be traced to a text-formatting program called RUNOFF, which was written by Jerome H. Saltzer for MIT's CTSS operating system in the mid-1960s. (The name allegedly came from the phrase "I'll run off a document".)
Bob Morris ported it to the GE 635 architecture and called the program roff (an abbreviation of "runoff"). It was rewritten as rf for the PDP-7, and at the same time (1969), Doug McIlroy rewrote an extended and simplified version of "roff" in the BCPL programming language.
The first version of Unix was developed on a PDP-7 which was sitting around Bell Labs. In 1971 the developers wanted to get a PDP-11 for further work on the operating system. In order to justify the cost for this system, they proposed that they would implement a document-formatting system for the Bell Labs patents department. This first formatting program was a reimplementation of McIllroy's "roff", written by Joe F. Ossanna.
When they needed a more flexible language, a new version of "roff" called nroff ("newer "roff"") was written, which provided the basis for all future versions. When they got a Graphic Systems CAT phototypesetter, Ossanna modified "nroff" to support multiple fonts and proportional spacing. Dubbed "troff", for "typesetter roff", its sophisticated output amazed the typesetter manufacturer and confused peer reviewers, who thought that manuscripts using "troff" had been published before. As such, the name "troff" is pronounced rather than *.
With "troff" came "nroff" (they were actually almost the same program), which was for producing output for line printers and character terminals. It understood everything "troff" did, and ignored the commands which were not applicable, e.g., font changes.
Ossanna's "troff" was written in PDP-11 assembly language and produced output specifically for the CAT phototypesetter. He rewrote it in C, although it was now 7000 lines of uncommented code and still dependent on the CAT. As the CAT became less common, and was no longer supported by the manufacturer, the need to make it support other devices became a priority. Ossanna died before this task was completed, so Brian Kernighan took on the task of rewriting "troff". The newly rewritten version produced a device-independent code which was very easy for post-processors to read and translate to the appropriate printer codes. Also, this new version of "troff" (often called ditroff for "device independent troff") had several extensions, which included drawing functions. The program's documentation defines the output format of "ditroff", which is used by many modern "troff" clones like GNU groff.
The "troff" collection of tools (including pre- and post-processors) was eventually called "Documenter's WorkBench" (DWB), and was under continuous development in Bell Labs and later at the spin-off Unix System Laboratories (USL) through 1994. At that time, SoftQuad took over the maintenance, although Brian Kernighan continued to improve "troff" on his own. Thus, there are at least the following variants of the original Bell Labs "troff" in use:
While "troff" has been supplanted by other programs such as Interleaf, FrameMaker, and LaTeX, it is still being used quite extensively. It remains the default formatter for the UNIX documentation.
The software was reimplemented as groff for the GNU system beginning in 1990. In addition, due to the open sourcing of Ancient UNIX systems, as well as modern successors such as the ditroff based open-sourced versions found on OpenSolaris and Plan 9 from Bell Labs, there are several versions of AT&T troff (CAT and ditroff-based) available under various open-source licenses.
Troff includes sets of commands called macros that are run before starting to process the document. These macros include setting up page headers and footers, defining new commands, and generally influencing how the output will be formatted. The command-line argument for including a macro set is "-m"name, which has led to many macro sets being known as the base filename with a leading m.
The standard macro sets, with leading m are:
A more comprehensive list of macros available is usually listed in a codice_2 manual page.
As "troff" evolved, since there are several things which cannot be done easily in "troff", several preprocessors were developed. These programs transform certain parts of a document into "troff" input, fitting naturally into the use of "pipelines" in Unix — sending the output of one program as the input to another (see pipes and filters). Typically, each preprocessor translates only sections of the input file that are specially marked, passing the rest of the file through unchanged. The embedded preprocessing instructions are written in a simple application-specific programming language, which provides a high degree of power and flexibility.
Three preprocessors provide "troff" with drawing capabilities by defining a domain-specific language for describing the picture.
Yet more preprocessors allow the drawing of more complex pictures by generating output for "pic". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30811 |
The Onion
The Onion is an American satirical digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes articles on international, national, and local news. The company is based in Chicago but originated as a weekly print publication on August 29, 1988 in Madison, Wisconsin. "The Onion" began publishing online in the spring of 1996. In 2007, they began publishing satirical news audio and video online as the Onion News Network. In 2013, "The Onion" ceased publishing its print edition and launched Onion Labs, an advertising agency.
"The Onion"s articles cover current events, both real and fictional, parodying the tone and format of traditional news organizations with stories, editorials, and man-on-the-street interviews using a traditional news website layout and an editorial voice modeled after that of the Associated Press. The publication's humor often depends on presenting mundane, everyday events as newsworthy, surreal, or alarming, such as "Rotation of Earth Throws Entire North American Continent into Darkness". In 1999, comedian Bob Odenkirk praised the publication as "the best comedy writing in the country".
"The Onion" also runs "The A.V. Club" and formerly ran "ClickHole". "The A.V. Club" was created in 1993 as a supplement to the parent publication. It is an entertainment and pop culture publication that contains interviews and reviews of newly released media and other weekly features. "ClickHole" is a satirical website founded in 2014 which parodies clickbait websites such as "BuzzFeed" and "Upworthy". "ClickHole" was acquired by Cards Against Humanity in February 2020.
"People always ask questions about where the name "The Onion" came from", said former President Sean Mills in an interview with "Wikinews"; "and, when I recently asked (co-founder) Tim Keck, who was one of the founders, he told me...literally that his uncle said he should call it "The Onion" when he saw him and Chris Johnson eating an onion sandwich. They had literally just cut up the onion and put it on bread." According to former editorial manager, Chet Clem, their food budget was so low when they started the paper that they were down to white bread and onions. This account was disputed by an editor of "The Onion", Cole Bolton, during an event at the University of Chicago. Bolton called Mills's account "the dumbest explanation" and asserted that it is likely wrong. According to Bolton, the most plausible explanation is that "The Onion" was mocking a campus newsletter called "The Union".
Conceived by University of Wisconsin students Tim Keck and Christopher Johnson, "The Onion" was founded as a weekly print newspaper for satirical news in 1988 in Madison, Wisconsin, by Keck and Johnson with their friends Scott Dikkers as cartoonist and Peter Haise as publisher. In 1989, Keck and Johnson sold the paper to Dikkers and Haise for $16,000 ($19,000 according to some sources). After the sale, Keck and Johnson separately became publishers of similar alternative weeklies: Keck of "The Stranger" in Seattle, Washington, and Johnson of the "Weekly Alibi" in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Haise left "The Onion" after 15 years and eventually opened a custom framing shop in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Dikkers, who originally joined the staff as a cartoonist, said he was de facto editor by the third issue and became "The Onion"s longest-serving editor in chief (1988–1999, 2005–2008).
In its earlier years, "The Onion" was successful in a number of university locations (e.g., University of Wisconsin–Madison and University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign). The publication primarily consisted of a mix of Dikkers's cartoons, "Spy" magazine-like satire, and short fiction. The bottom three inches were reserved as ad space for coupons that were typically purchased by local, student-centered or inexpensive establishments, such as eateries and video rental stores.
The June 16, 1993, issue of "The Daily Iowan" ran a profile of Dikkers, in which it stated that "Dikkers still lives in Madison, spending about five hours a week on "Jim's Journal" and the rest of the time as co-owner of a satirical newspaper called "The Onion"".
In a 1994 interview with "U. Magazine", Dikkers discussed Onion, Inc.'s plans to create a new sketch comedy show called "The Comedy Castaways", which they were in the process of pitching to NBC, Fox, and HBO. With a pilot and the first two episodes in post-production, Dikkers said, "I think what sets us apart is we've intentionally formed a tightly knit group of funny performers. A lot of these other shows are created by 50-year-olds, written by 40-year-olds and performed by 35-year-olds".
In the spring of 1996, Ben Karlin and Dikkers collaborated with Robert Smigel and Dana Carvey to create four short "Onion" news segments for "The Dana Carvey Show". Smigel said that after being introduced to "The Onion" by Bob Odenkirk a year earlier, "it jumped out at me as something completely original and great, and I really wanted to use it on the show". Although four fake news segments anchored by Stephen Colbert were recorded, only one of the segments actually aired.
In 1996, when it was still only a print newspaper, an "Onion" article titled "Clinton Deploys Vowels to Bosnia" was widely disseminated online without attribution, spurring the creation of "The Onion"s official website (theonion.com) so they could properly claim credit for content that was being passed around online forums such as Usenet and various mailing lists. The publication received expanded global recognition as a result of the website as well. In a 2002 interview, then-editor in chief Rob Siegel said, "If you look at the breakdown of people who read "The Onion" online, it's like Microsoft, Dell Computers, the Department of Justice and then, like, University of Wisconsin. So it's a combination of students and pretty impressive people. I get the feeling that the print version is read by people hanging out in bars".
In the fall of 1996, Ben Karlin, who had been a writer/editor for the publication since graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1993, moved to Los Angeles and joined other former "Onion" staff members to create a pilot for a news parody titled "Deadline: Now" for the Fox Network. While the 15-minute pilot, which was completed in 1997, was never picked up as a series for production, its creation lead to steady writing work for Karlin and other former "Onion" staffers, such as writing some episodes of "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" on the Cartoon Network. In the wake of Karlin's departure, Siegel assumed the publication's duties as editor of the publication.
Sometime after "The Onion" appeared online in 1996, the publication was threatened with a lawsuit from Janet Jackson because of the article "Dying Boy Gets Wish: To Pork Janet Jackson". "We were very nearly sued out of existence by Janet Jackson", said Siegel, adding that in the past he was forbidden to talk about the legal matter and the celebrity involved.
On January 27, 1998, MTV premiered "Virtual Bill", a collaboration between writers of "The Onion" and 3-D character studio Protozoa. The titular "Virtual Bill" character was a quasi-realistic CGI version of Bill Clinton created by studio Protozoa who introduced music videos and told jokes written by the staff of "The Onion". The voice of "Virtual Bill" was provided by then editor Dikkers. After the initial premiere, "Virtual Bill" returned to MTV on December 17, 1998, with another TV special and an interactive web special produced by Pulse that ported the 3D data into a web compatible format using Pulse's proprietary plug-in.
In January 1999, when Jon Stewart became the host of "The Daily Show" he tapped former "Onion" writer/editor Karlin to be head writer of the newly restructured show. "He had heard about this group of Onion people in L.A. and, in a weird way, I was the "de facto" ringleader of our group in L.A. I came to New York. Jon and I connected. It was kind of like a slightly awkward, but successful, first date. When I got back to Los Angeles, they offered me the head writer job".
From March 3–7, 1999, writers and editors of "The Onion" attended U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado in part to promote the forthcoming "Our Dumb Century" anthology and were met with effusive praise for their work from notable comedians such as Conan O'Brien, Dave Foley and Dave Thomas as well as cartoonist Peter Bagge and musician Andy Prieboy.
On March 18, 1999, "The Onion"s website won its first Webby Award in the category of "Humor".
On March 23, 1999, "The Onion"s first fully original book, "" was released. The book featured mocked-up newspaper front pages from the entire 20th century, presented under the premise that the publication had been continuously in print since before 1900. In the wake of the book's success, networks such as HBO and NBC were in talks to bring "The Onion" to TV with a special based on "Our Dumb Century".
Regardless of the nearly two years of work spent on conceiving and producing "Our Dumb Century", the writers only received bonuses of a few thousand dollars, despite the fact that the two-book publishing deal netted "The Onion" $450,000.
In April 2000, DreamWorks Studios optioned two stories from the satirical newspaper, "Canadian Girlfriend Unsubstantiated"—which was to be written by former "Onion" editor and writer Rich Dahm—and "Tenth Circle Added to Rapidly Growing Hell" with an eye toward producing the latter as a family comedy. "The story is so dark and hate filled—I was shocked", said head writer Todd Hanson. "It's like an Onion joke. I mean, what are they going to do? Add a sickly-but-adorable moppet?" added editor Robert Siegel. DreamWorks planned for the finished "Tenth Circle Added to Rapidly Growing Hell" to involve animation as well as musical singalongs.
In June 2000, writers and editors of "The Onion" participated in Comedy Central panel discussion moderated by Jeff Greenfield titled "The State of "The Onion"" during the "Toyota Comedy Festival 2000".
In July 2000, "The Onion"s editor Robert Siegel was named one of "People" magazine's most eligible bachelors. "If a person is beautiful on the inside", Siegel said, "looks don't really matter".
Beginning in the fall of 2000 to early 2001, the company relocated its editorial offices from Madison, Wisconsin, to a renovated warehouse in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan (New York City) to raise "The Onion"s profile, expand the publication from being simply a humor newspaper into a full production company, as well as develop editorial content in other media—including books, television and movies—and engage more directly with Internet companies as far as advertising revenue goes.
In February 2001, Miramax Films head Harvey Weinstein announced they had reached a first look agreement to develop scripts and features with "The Onion". "As lifelong New Yorkers, we're proud to welcome "The Onion" to our city with this first-look deal", said Harvey Weinstein. "With their witty, sophisticated humor, they will undoubtedly soon be the toast of the town." Weinstein added.
On September 27, 2001, "The Onion" debuted its New York City print edition with an issue focused on the September 11th attacks. The popularity, and critical praise, of the issue resulted in "The Onion"s website's online traffic nearly doubling in the weeks following the attacks.
In November 2002, a humorous op-ed piece in "The Onion" that was satirically bylined by filmmaker Michael Bay titled "Those Chechen Rebels Stole My Idea" was removed from the site without explanation. Entertainment industry trade magazine Variety theorized, "It's not clear if Bay—a frequent object of "The Onion"s satire—requested the move."
In 2003, "The Onion" was purchased by David Schafer, who had previously managed the $2.5 billion investment fund, from previous long time owners Peter Haise and Scott Dikkers. The sale was a process that had been in the works since July 2001 and according to a memo from then owner Haise, "[Schafer] understands our quirky company and knows that we need some time to get to a higher level of operations and sales." In a 2003 CNN profile of "The Onion", Schafer stated with regards to the company and the purchase, ""The Onion"s strong point was never accounting, financial management, or business. Buying it was a bit of a shot in the dark, but we felt we could get a handle on it." Also in 2003, editor Robert Siegel quit his day-to-day role at "The Onion" to focus on writing screenplays full-time. "After the 14,000th headline I felt the itch to use a different part of my brain", he said. "You can go mad thinking in headline form." In the wake of his departure, long time staff writer Carol Kolb assumed the publication's duties as editor of the publication.
In 2005, "The Onion" moved its New York City offices from its initial Chelsea location to downtown on Broadway in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan (New York City).
In 2006, "The Onion" launched a YouTube channel, which was structured as a parody of modern American television news programs. In June 2006, it was also announced that Siegel had been tapped by Miramax Films to write the screenplay for a comedy titled "Homeland Insecurity" which was slated to be about a pair of Arab-Americans who are mistaken for terrorists while traveling to Texas. Additionally, rumors of a potential sale of "The Onion" to media conglomerate Viacom began appearing in various news outlets during July 2006 with The New York Times: DealBook expanding on the discussion by stating, "While a source tells DealBook that such a deal has indeed been discussed, it is in very early stages and may never happen."
In April 2007, "The Onion" launched the Onion News Network, a parody of "the visual style and breathless reporting of 24-hour cable news networks like CNN."
In 2008 Carol Kolb became the head writer of the Onion News Network with the role of the publication's editor being taken over by writer Joe Randazzo. Randazzo first became a writer for "The Onion" in 2006 and—in his role as an editor—became the first editor of the publication that had no connection to "The Onion" during the publication's initial Madison, Wisconsin, era.
In April 2009, "The Onion" was awarded a 2008 Peabody Award noting that the publication provides "...ersatz news that has a worrisome ring of truth."
In November 2009, "The Onion" released "Our Front Pages: 21 Years of Greatness, Virtue, and Moral Rectitude From America's Finest News Source" which was notable in not only compiling dozens of front pages from the publication's history as a news parody but also showcasing front pages from the publication's early, more casual campus humor focused era during the 1980s when the publication featured headlines such as, "Depressed? Try Liposuction on that Pesky Head."
In July 2009, various news outlets began reporting rumors of an impending sale of "The Onion" with further details of the sale to be made on Monday, July 20, 2009. The purported sale was revealed as fictional Publisher Emeritus T. Herman Zweibel stating he'd sold the publication to a Chinese company—Yu Wan Mei Corporation—resulting in a week-long series of Chinese-related articles and features throughout the publication's website and print editions. On Wednesday, July 22, 2009, the publication's editor (Joe Randazzo) clarified the issue on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered", stating: "I'm sure there are many Chinese conglomerates out there that would love to buy "The Onion". We are, in fact, still a solvent independently owned American company."
In August 2011, "The Onion"s website began testing a paywall model, requiring a $2.95 monthly/$29.95 annual charge from non-U.S. visitors who wish to read more than about five stories within 30 days. "We are testing a meter internationally as readers in those markets are already used to paying directly for some (other) content, particularly in the UK where we have many readers", said the company's CTO Michael Greer.
In September 2011, it was announced that "The Onion" would move its entire editorial operation to Chicago by the summer of 2012. The news of the move left many of the writers—who moved with the publication from Madison to New York City in 2000—"blindsided", putting them in a position to decide whether to uproot themselves from New York City and follow the publication to Chicago, which was already home to the company's corporate headquarters. At a comedy show on September 27, 2011, then editor Joe Randazzo announced that he would not be joining the staff in Chicago.
With the publication's core editorial staff now based in Chicago, in March 2012 Cole Bolton—a Brown University graduate of business economics, former associate economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and research associate at Harvard Business School—was named the new editor-in-chief of "The Onion". "I was never in an improv group, never in a sketch group, never wrote for an "Onion" parody in college", said Bolton in a 2014 interview with comedy publication "Splitsider". "It was just sort of a decision that I decided, two years out of college, that I didn’t like where I was going in my life, and I wanted to do something that I cared about more, so I ended up just sending stuff in to "The Onion"."
Additionally, in March 2012 more insight into the internal issues surrounding the Chicago move—including an attempt made by the writers to find a new owner—are explored by articles in "The Atlantic Wire" and "New York" magazine's "Daily Intelligencer". According to an article in the "Chicago Tribune", founding editor Scott Dikkers returned to the publication in light of the Chicago move stating that he hopes to find a "younger and hungrier" pool of talent in Chicago than what was available in New York City. ""The Onion" is obviously always going to draw talent from wherever it is", Dikkers said. "In Madison, people used to just come in off the street [...] and we'd give them a shot. "The Onion" has always thrived on the youngest, greenest people."
In August 2012, it was announced that a group of former "The Onion" writers had teamed up with Adult Swim to create comedy content on a website called "Thing X". According to the comedy website Splitsider, ""The Onion" writers had nothing else going on, and AdultSwim.com wanted to take advantage of that. But only because they smelled a business opportunity. Adult Swim is just looking at it from a business standpoint." In June 2013, it was announced that "Thing X" would be shutting down with some staff moving over to parent website adultswim.com on June 18, 2013. In February 2013 "The Onion" was added to "Advertising Age"s "Digital A-List 2013" because the publication "...has not just survived, it's thrived..." since the publication's 2012 move to consolidate operations and staff in Chicago.
In November 2013, the publication announced in "Crain's Chicago Business" that "The Onion" would move to an all-digital format by December 2013, citing a 30% year-over-year growth in pageviews to the publication's website.
In 2013, "The Onion" received an email from Michael Cohen claiming that an article published about Donald Trump was defamation, and demanded that it be removed with an apology.
In June 2014, "The Onion" launched the spinoff website ClickHole, which satirizes and parodies so-called "clickbait" websites such as BuzzFeed and Upworthy that capitalize on viral content to drive traffic.
In November 2014, "Bloomberg News" reported that "The Onion" had hired a financial adviser for a possible sale. Additionally, in a memo addressing potential sale rumors provided to Walt Mossberg's tech site Re/code Onion CEO Steve Hannah states, "We have had follow-up conversations with numerous parties in recent months. Our advisors will continue to have those conversations and, hopefully, they will lead to the right outcome."
In June 2015 Steve Hannah—the publication's CEO since 2004—announced he would be stepping down from the position with the new CEO role to be passed onto current president of the organization, Mike McAvoy.
On September 21, 2015, "StarWipe"—a spinoff sister site of "The A.V. Club" centered on celebrity culture—was launched. It was closed on June 17, 2016.
In October 2015, CEO Mike McAvoy announced a restructuring of the organization, layoffs as well as a series of management changes. "But even though we’ve done well, we have not been able to keep pace with our ambitious goals for Onion Inc." Kurt Mueller—the company's COO—elaborated on the details stating, "We were overstaffed for the non-media-agency part of the business. We have less demand for a ton of new content for a brand. There's demand, but we just overestimated what the demand is."
In January 2016, CEO Mike McAvoy announced that Univision Communications had purchased a 40% stake in Onion, Inc. "As an independent media company, we’ve always been forced to run a tight financial ship, which has made us smart and lean, but not always ready to invest in the great new ideas that we come up with," Mr. McAvoy said in a memo to staff. "I’m excited to see what we can do with Univision behind us." This brings "The Onion" into the Fusion Media Group arm of Univision, the same media family as the Gizmodo collection of sites (Kotaku, Lifehacker, Deadspin, etc.), which also has led to a consolidated media management platform and aligned content presentation styles with these sister sites.
In January 2017, it was announced that "The Onion" was partnering with Lionsgate Films and production company Serious Business to develop multiple film projects. "We've plotted our takeover of the film industry for some time", said Kyle Ryan, vice president of Onion Studios, in a wry statement. "With the help of Serious Business and Lionsgate, we'll make room on our award shelf for some Oscars. To the basement you go, Pulitzers." Serious Business is a production company run by former UTA Online co-founder Jason U. Nadler, "@midnight" co-creator Jon Zimelis and writer/producer Alex Blagg.
In September 2017, it was announced that the site's editor-in-chief Cole Bolton and executive editor Ben Berkley were stepping down from their posts. Chad Nackers—"The Onion"’s head writer—will take over as the role of editor-in-chief. A source familiar with the situation said that departures were partially due to disagreements about the direction the site was taking under the ownership of Univision.
In July 2018, rumors of pending layoffs at "The Onion" and related websites "Clickhole" and "The A.V. Club" were reported. Corporate parent Univision Communications is said to be looking to reduce the staff of the humor publication by around 15% amidst news of a pending sale of "The Onion" and related websites as well as Gizmodo Media Group assets. As stated an official Univision press release on the topic, "Univision Communications Inc. (UCI) […] today announced that the Company has initiated a formal process to explore the sale of the assets comprising the Gizmodo Media Group (GMG) and "The Onion"."
On April 8, 2019, private equity firm Great Hill Partners announced the acquisition of Gizmodo Media Group—including "The Onion", "The A.V. Club", and "Clickhole"—from Univision for an undisclosed amount. The properties will be formed into a new company named G/O Media Inc.
During "The Onion" print edition's 25-year run—from the publication's initial creation in 1988 to the end of the print edition in 2013—it was distributed for free in various cities across the United States and Canada as well as via paid mail order subscription to subscribers around the world. By the time the print edition of "The Onion" ceased publication in December 2013, it was only available in Chicago, Milwaukee and Providence. At its peak, "The Onion" had a print circulation of about 500,000 while the publication's websites brought in more than 10 million unique monthly visitors. Below is a list of all of the cities in which "The Onion" was distributed freely at different points from 1988 to 2013.
Regular features of "The Onion" include:
As of 2018, the current editor of "The Onion" is Chad Nackers. Past editors and writers have included:
Since the first publication of "Our Dumb Century" in 1999, "The Onion" has produced various books that often compile already produced material into collected volumes. The 2007 publication of "Our Dumb World" and the 2012 publication of "The Onion Book Of Known Knowledge" are the only other fully original books content-wise—other than "Our Dumb Century"—that "The Onion" has released.
In April 2007, "The Onion" launched "Onion News Network"—a daily web video broadcast—with a story about an illegal immigrant taking an executive's $800,000-a-year job for $600,000 a year. The publication reportedly initially invested about $1 million in the production and initially hired 15 new staffers to focus on the production of this video broadcast. On February 3, 2009, "The Onion" launched a spin-off of the "Onion News Network" called the "Onion Sports Network."
In a "Wikinews" interview in November 2007, former "Onion" President Mills said the "Onion News Network" had been a huge hit. "We get over a million downloads a week, which makes it one of the more successful produced-for-the-Internet videos", said Mills. "If we're not the most successful, we're one of the most.'
In January 2011, "The Onion" launched two TV shows on cable networks: "Onion SportsDome" premiered January 11 on Comedy Central. and the "Onion News Network" premiered January 21 on Independent Film Channel (IFC). Later in the year IFC officially announced the renewal of the "Onion News Network" for a second season in March 2011 while Comedy Central officially announced the cancellation of "Onion SportsDome" in June 2011.
In August 2011, the Writers Guild of America, East, AFL-CIO, announced the unionization of the "Onion News Network" writing staff, averting a potential strike which hinged on pay and benefits. It is also not the first time Onion, Inc. has been criticized for the way it treats its employees: In June 2011 "A.V. Club" Philadelphia city editor Emily Guendelsberger was the victim of an attack and—according to the "Philadelphia Daily News"—her job did not provide health insurance to cover hospital bills. According to the WGA, "Onion News Network" was the only scripted, live-action program that had employed non-union writers. "The ONN writers stood together and won real improvements", said WGAE Executive Director Lowell Peterson. "We welcome them into the WGAE and we look forward to a productive relationship with the company." Peterson noted that more than 70 Guild members from all of the New York-based comedy shows signed a letter supporting the "Onion News Network" writers, and hundreds of Guild members sent emails to the producers.
In March 2012, IFC officially announced the cancellation of the "Onion News Network". After the show's cancellation, a pilot for a new comedy series titled "Onion News Empire" premiered on Amazon.com in April 2013, which presented as a behind-the-scenes look of "The Onion"s newsroom. The pilot was one of several candidates for production on Amazon, but was not ultimately selected.
In 2008, "The Onion" launched a series of YouTube videos produced by its Onion Digital Studios division, funded in part by a grant from YouTube and exclusive to the site. Series produced so far:
"The Onion Movie" is a direct-to-video film written by then-"Onion" editor Robert D. Siegel and writer Todd Hanson and directed by Tom Kuntz and Mike Maguire. Created in 2003, Fox Searchlight Pictures was on board to release the movie, originally called "The Untitled Onion Movie", but at some point in the process, directors Kuntz and Maguire—as well as writer Siegel—walked away from the project. In 2006, New Regency Productions took over the production of the troubled project. After two years of being in limbo, the film was released directly on DVD on June 3, 2008. Upon its release it was credited as being directed under the pseudonym of James Kleiner but is still directed by Kuntz and Maguire.
In the spring of 2014, former president, publisher, and CEO of "The Onion" Peter Haise filed a lawsuit Palm Beach County court against the publication's current chairman David K. Schafer with regards to a missing "Executive Producer" credit on the failed film. As stated in the lawsuit, "Onion, Inc. has admitted that Haise was involved in and should have been named as an Executive Producer of the Film, and that the omission in the credits listed for the Film was an error."
The "Onion Radio News" was an audio podcast/radio show produced by "The Onion" from 1999 and 2009. The core voice of the podcast was that of a fictional newsreader named "Doyle Redland" who was voiced by Pete S. Mueller. At its peak "Onion Radio News" was picked up by the Westwood One radio network as well as Audible.com.
On February 5, 2018, "The Onion" published its first podcast, titled "A Very Fatal Murder". It was released in six parts and parodies other true crime podcasts such as "Serial" and "My Favorite Murder". The story follows Onion Public Radio reporter David Pascall (voiced by David Sidorov) as he tries to investigate the murder of a 17-year-old girl named Hayley Price in the fictional town of Bluff Springs, Nebraska.
On January 16, 2020, "The Onion" expanded its podcast formula to include "The Topical", a news podcast which parodies the style and format of NPR drive-time news broadcasts.
Occasionally, the straight-faced manner in which "The Onion" reports non-existent events, happenings and ideas has resulted in third parties mistakenly citing "The Onion" stories as real news.
Several commentators have characterized "The Onion"s satire as overtly political. Noreen Malone characterized the publication as having a left-leaning outlook by stating:
Malone—like other pundits—specifically noted the publication's sharp take on the Syrian Civil War, with David Weigel characterizing the publication's stance as effectively being "…advocacy for intervention in Syria." Weigel attributed the trend toward more news satire—including political news satire—as being a byproduct of the publication's shorter turnaround times after the Internet edition became the main outlet for the publication's voice, endangering "The Onion" of becoming a "…hivemind version of Andy Borowitz, telling liberals that what they already think is not only true but oh-so-arch." Slate's Farhad Manjoo similarly attributed the publication's "…faster, bigger, more strident, and, to me, a little inconsistent…" vibe to the exigencies of the Internet.
Emmett Rensin claimed "The Onion" is an important if unintentional fomenter of Marxist thought in America:
According to Rensin, examples of indictments of false consciousness, commodity fetishization and valorization of the invisible hand also abound. Rensin attributes the material to the humorists' need to work from "obvious, intuitive truth—the kind necessary for any kind of broadly appealing humor" rather than a conscious decision to promote Marxism.
Some of the publication's political impact is unintentional. For example, the "Onion"s long-running caricature of Joe Biden as a blue-collar "creepy but harmless uncle" character is often believed to have positively affected the real Joe Biden's public image. In May 2019, the former "Onion" editor Joe Garden published an op-ed in "Vice" to express his regret over the character, which he felt had distracted from serious concerns about Biden's political record and personal behavior.
In 2017, President Donald Trump expressed confidence that his son-in-law Jared Kushner, whom he had just appointed as an advisor on foreign affairs, could bring peace to the Middle East. An Onion article then made fun of the starry-eyed way in which Trump treated the long, complicated and bloody conflict as a mere organisational issue he could delegate, reporting that peace between Israel and Arabia was just too big for Kushner to achieve within the already started office week and now had to be shifted into the subsequent week. The article was then passed around by White House staffers who were apparently alienated by Kushner's appointment.
In September 2005, the assistant counsel to President George W. Bush, Grant M. Dixton, wrote a cease-and-desist letter to "The Onion", asking the publication to stop using the presidential seal, which it used in an online parody of Bush.
By executive order, President Richard Nixon had enumerated the allowed uses of the seal (), which are more restrictive than the federal statute, but which allows for exceptions to be granted upon formal request.
"The Onion" responded with a formal request to use the seal in accordance with the executive order, while maintaining that its use was legitimate. The letter stated, "It is inconceivable that anyone would think that, by using the seal, "The Onion" intends to 'convey... sponsorship or approval' by the president", but then went on to ask that the letter be considered a formal application requesting permission to use the seal.
During the 85th Academy Awards, a post on "The Onion"s Twitter account called 9-year-old Best Actress nominee Quvenzhané Wallis "a cunt". The post was deleted within an hour, but not before hundreds of angry responses. CEO Steve Hannah issued an apology to Wallis and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, calling the remarks "crude and offensive" and "No person should be subjected to such a senseless, humorless comment masquerading as satire." Scott Dikkers—who was Vice President Creative Development for the publication at the time—said in an interview with NBC 5 Chicago that the publication had sent an apology note to Quvenzhané and her family but also stated, "She's a big star now. I think she can take it." The publication's public apology was denounced by some former "Onion" writers, with one stating, "It wasn't a great joke, but big deal."
On June 16, 2017, "The Onion" featured an article of professional wrestler The Big Show being killed by WWE after a seven-year-old boy wandered into a steel cage during a live event in Indianapolis. The article, meant to lampoon the real-life killing of Harambe, received criticism for satirizing the murder of an actual person, as well as leading many wrestling fans to believe Big Show was dead. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30813 |
Tree rotation
In discrete mathematics, tree rotation is an operation on a binary tree that changes the structure without interfering with the order of the elements. A tree rotation moves one node up in the tree and one node down. It is used to change the shape of the tree, and in particular to decrease its height by moving smaller subtrees down and larger subtrees up, resulting in improved performance of many tree operations.
There exists an inconsistency in different descriptions as to the definition of the direction of rotations. Some say that the direction of rotation reflects the direction that a node is moving upon rotation (a left child rotating into its parent's location is a right rotation) while others say that the direction of rotation reflects which subtree is rotating (a left subtree rotating into its parent's location is a left rotation, the opposite of the former). This article takes the approach of the directional movement of the rotating node.
The right rotation operation as shown in the adjacent image is performed with "Q" as the root and hence is a right rotation on, or rooted at, "Q". This operation results in a rotation of the tree in the clockwise direction. The inverse operation is the left rotation, which results in a movement in a counter-clockwise direction (the left rotation shown above is rooted at "P"). The key to understanding how a rotation functions is to understand its constraints. In particular the order of the leaves of the tree (when read left to right for example) cannot change (another way to think of it is that the order that the leaves would be visited in an in-order traversal must be the same after the operation as before). Another constraint is the main property of a binary search tree, namely that the right child is greater than the parent and the left child is less than the parent. Notice that the right child of a left child of the root of a sub-tree (for example node B in the diagram for the tree rooted at Q) can become the left child of the root, that itself becomes the right child of the "new" root in the rotated sub-tree, without violating either of those constraints. As you can see in the diagram, the order of the leaves doesn't change. The opposite operation also preserves the order and is the second kind of rotation.
Assuming this is a binary search tree, as stated above, the elements must be interpreted as variables that can be compared to each other. The alphabetic characters to the left are used as placeholders for these variables. In the animation to the right, capital alphabetic characters are used as variable placeholders while lowercase Greek letters are placeholders for an entire set of variables. The circles represent individual nodes and the triangles represent subtrees. Each subtree could be empty, consist of a single node, or consist of any number of nodes.
When a subtree is rotated, the subtree side upon which it is rotated increases its height by one node while the other subtree decreases its height. This makes tree rotations useful for rebalancing a tree.
Using the terminology of Root for the parent node of the subtrees to rotate, Pivot for the node which will become the new parent node, RS for rotation side upon to rotate and OS for opposite side of rotation. In the above diagram for the root Q, the RS is C and the OS is P. The pseudo code for the rotation is:
This is a constant time operation.
The programmer must also make sure that the root's parent points to the pivot after the rotation. Also, the programmer should note that this operation may result in a new root for the entire tree and take care to update pointers accordingly.
The tree rotation renders the inorder traversal of the binary tree invariant. This implies the order of the elements are not affected when a rotation is performed in any part of the tree. Here are the inorder traversals of the trees shown above:
Left tree: ((A, P, B), Q, C) Right tree: (A, P, (B, Q, C))
Computing one from the other is very simple. The following is example Python code that performs that computation:
def right_rotation(treenode):
Another way of looking at it is:
Right rotation of node Q:
Let P be Q's left child.
Set Q's left child to be P's right child.
[Set P's right-child's parent to Q]
Set P's right child to be Q.
[Set Q's parent to P]
Left rotation of node P:
Let Q be P's right child.
Set P's right child to be Q's left child.
[Set Q's left-child's parent to P]
Set Q's left child to be P.
[Set P's parent to Q]
All other connections are left as-is.
There are also "double rotations", which are combinations of left and right rotations. A "double left" rotation at X can be defined to be a right rotation at the right child of X followed by a left rotation at X; similarly, a "double right" rotation at X can be defined to be a left rotation at the left child of X followed by a right rotation at X.
Tree rotations are used in a number of tree data structures such as AVL trees, red-black trees, splay trees, and treaps. They require only constant time because they are "local" transformations: they only operate on 5 nodes, and need not examine the rest of the tree.
A tree can be rebalanced using rotations. After a rotation, the side of the rotation increases its height by 1 whilst the side opposite the rotation decreases its height similarly. Therefore, one can strategically apply rotations to nodes whose left child and right child differ in height by more than 1. Self-balancing binary search trees apply this operation automatically. A type of tree which uses this rebalancing technique is the AVL tree.
The rotation distance between any two binary trees with the same number of nodes is the minimum number of rotations needed to transform one into the other. With this distance, the set of "n"-node binary trees becomes a metric space: the distance is symmetric, positive when given two different trees, and satisfies the triangle inequality.
It is an open problem whether there exists a polynomial time algorithm for calculating rotation distance.
Daniel Sleator, Robert Tarjan and William Thurston showed that the rotation distance between any two "n"-node trees (for "n" ≥ 11) is at most 2"n" − 6, and that some pairs of trees are this far apart as soon as "n" is sufficiently large. Lionel Pournin showed that, in fact, such pairs exist whenever "n" ≥ 11. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30816 |
The New York Times Company
The New York Times Company is an American mass media company which publishes its namesake newspaper, "The New York Times". Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. has served as chairman since 1997. It is headquartered in Manhattan, New York.
The company was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones in New York City. The first edition of the newspaper "The New York Times", published on September 18, 1851, stated: "We publish today the first issue of the New-York Daily Times, and we intend to issue it every morning (Sundays excepted) for an indefinite number of years to come."
The company moved into the cable channel industry purchasing a 40% interest in the Popcorn Channel, a theatrical movie preview and local movie times, in November 1994.
The company completed its purchase of "The Washington Post" 50 percent interest in the "International Herald Tribune" ("IHT") for US$65 million on January 1, 2003, becoming the sole owner.
On March 18, 2005, the company acquired About.com, an online provider of consumer information for US$410 million. In 2005, the company reported revenues of US$3.4 billion to its investors.
The Times, on August 25, 2006, acquired Baseline StudioSystems, an online database and research service on the film and television industries for US$35 million.
The company announced on September 12, 2006, its decision to sell its Broadcast Media Group, consisting of "nine network-affiliated television stations, their related Web sites and the digital operating center". "The New York Times" reported on January 4, 2007, that the company had reached an agreement to sell all nine local television stations to the private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, which then created a holding company for the stations, Local TV LLC. The company announced that it had finalized the sale of its Broadcast Media Group on May 7, 2007, for "approximately $575 million".
On May 7 2007, the company announced that its About.com web information service was acquiring Consumersearch.com (formerly productreviewnet.com) a Web site that compiles reviews of consumer products, for $33 million in cash.
The company moved from 229 West 43rd Street to The New York Times Building at 620 Eighth Avenue, on the west side of Times Square, between 40th and 41st streets across from the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey Bus Terminal.
On July 14, 2009, the company announced that WQXR was to be sold to WNYC, which moved the station to 105.9 FM and began to operate the station as non-commercial on October 8, 2009. This US$45 million transaction, which involved Univision Radio's WCAA moving to the 96.3 FM frequency from 105.9 FM, ended the Times' 65-year-long ownership of the station.
In December 2011, the company sold its Regional Media Group to Halifax Media Group, owners of "The Daytona Beach News-Journal", for $143 million. "The Boston Globe" and "The Telegram & Gazette" of Worcester were not part of the sale. In 2011, the Times sold Baseline StudioSystems back to its original owners, Laurie S. Silvers and Mitchell Rubenstein, majority shareholders of Project Hollywood LLC.
Facing falling revenue from print advertising in its flagship publication in 2011, "The New York Times", the company introduced a paywall to its website. As of 2012, it has been modestly successful, garnering several hundred thousand subscriptions and about $100 million in annual revenue.
In 2013, the New York Times Company sold "The Boston Globe" and other New England media properties to John W. Henry, the principal owner of the Boston Red Sox. According to the Times Company, the move was made in order to focus more on its core brands.
In March 2020, the New York Times Company acquired subscription-based audio app, Audm.
The paper bought AM radio station WQXR (1560kHz) in 1944. Its "sister" FM station, WQXQ, would become WQXR-FM (96.3MHz). Branded as "The Radio Stations of "The New York Times"", its classical music radio format was simulcast on both the AM & FM frequencies until December 1992, when the big-band and pop standards music format of station WNEW (1130kHz – now WBBR/"Bloomberg Radio") was transferred to and adopted by WQXR; in recognition of the format change, WQXR changed its call letters to WQEW (a "hybrid" combination of "WQXR" and "WNEW"). By 1999, "The New York Times" was leasing WQEW to ABC Radio for its "Radio Disney" format. In 2007, WQEW was finally purchased by Disney; in late 2014, it was sold to Family Radio (a religious radio network) and became WFME. On July 14, 2009, it was announced that WQXR-FM would be sold to the WNYC radio group who, on October 8, 2009, moved the station from 96.3 to 105.9MHz (swapping frequencies with Spanish-language station WXNY-FM, which wanted the more powerful transmitter to increase its coverage) and began operating it as a non-commercial, public radio station. After the purchase, WQXR-FM retained the classical music format, whereas WNYC-FM (93.9MHz) abandoned it, switching to a talk radio format.
Alongside its namesake newspaper, the company also owns "the New York Times International Edition" and their related digital properties including NYTimes.com, as well as various brand-related properties.
Since 1967, the company has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NYT. Of the two categories of stock, Class A and Class B, the former is publicly traded and the latter is held privately—largely (nearly 90%) by the descendants of Adolph Ochs, who purchased "The New York Times" newspaper in 1896.
On January 20, 2009, "The New York Times" reported that its parent company, The New York Times Company, had reached an agreement to borrow $250million from Carlos Slim, a Mexican billionaire "to help the newspaper company finance its businesses". The New York Times Company later repaid that loan ahead of schedule. Since then, Slim has bought large quantities of the company's Class A shares, which are available for purchase by the public and offer less control over the company than Class B shares, which are privately held. Slim's investments in the company included large purchases of Class A shares in 2011, when he increased his stake in the company to 8.1% of Class A shares, and again in 2015, when he exercised stock options—acquired as part of a repayment plan on the 2009 loan—to purchase 15.9million Class A shares, making him the largest shareholder. As of March 7, 2016, Slim owned 17.4% of the company's Class A shares, according to annual filings submitted by the company. While Slim is the largest shareholder in the company, his investment only allows him to vote for Class A directors, a third of the company's board.
The company sponsors a series of national and local awards designed to highlight the achievements of individuals and organizations in different realms.
In 2007, it inaugurated its first Nonprofit Excellence Award, awarded to four organizations "for the excellence of their management practices". Only nonprofits in New York City, Long Island, or Westchester were eligible.
Jointly with the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the American Library Association, The New York Times Company sponsors an award to honor librarians "for service to their communities". The "I Love My Librarian!" award was given to ten recipients in December 2008, and presented by The New York Times Company president and CEO Janet L. Robinson, Carnegie Corporation president Vartan Gregorian, and Jim Rettig, president of the American Library Association.
In May 2009, the company launched The New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award to honor an American playwright who had recently had his or her professional debut in New York. The first winner was Tarell Alvin McCraney for his play "The Brothers Size". In 2010, Dan LeFranc won for his play "Sixty Miles to Silver Lake". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30830 |
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The club joined the NFL in as an expansion team, along with the Seattle Seahawks and played its first season in the American Football Conference (AFC) West division before switching conferences with the Seahawks the following season, becoming a member of the NFC Central division. During the 2002 league realignment, the Buccaneers joined three former NFC West teams to form the NFC South. The club is owned by the Glazer family, and plays its home games at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
The Buccaneers are the first post-merger expansion team to win a division championship, a playoff game, and to host and play in a conference championship game; all three accomplishments occurring during the 1979 season. They are also the first team since the merger to complete a winning season when starting 10 or more rookies, doing so in the 2010 season. In 1976 and 1977 the Buccaneers lost their first 26 games. They would not win their first game in franchise history until Week 13 in 1977. After a brief winning era in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the team suffered through 14 consecutive losing seasons. Then, for a 10-year period, they were consistent playoff contenders and won Super Bowl XXXVII at the end of the 2002 season, but have not returned to the Super Bowl since.
The name "Tampa Bay" is often used to describe a geographic metropolitan area which encompasses the cities around the body of water known as Tampa Bay, including Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater and several smaller cities. Unlike in the case of Green Bay, Wisconsin, there is no municipality known as "Tampa Bay". The "Tampa Bay" in the names of local professional sports franchises, such as the Buccaneers, Lightning, Rays, Rowdies, and the former Storm and Mutiny, denotes that they represent the entire region, not just the city of Tampa.
The Buccaneers joined the NFL as members of the AFC West in 1976. The following year, they were moved to the NFC Central, while the other 1976 expansion team, the Seattle Seahawks, switched conferences with Tampa Bay and joined the AFC West. This realignment was dictated by the league as part of the 1976 expansion plan, so that both teams could play each other twice and every other NFL franchise once during their first two seasons. Instead of a traditional schedule of playing each division opponent twice, the Buccaneers played every conference team once, plus the Seahawks.
Tampa Bay did not win their first game until the 13th week of their second season, starting with a record of 0–26 (though the Bucs had beaten the Atlanta Falcons, 17–3, in a 1976 pre-season game before their first regular season). Until the Detroit Lions in 2008, the 1976 Bucs were the only Super Bowl-era team to go winless in a whole season. Their losing streak caused them to become the butt of late-night television comedians' jokes. Their first win came in December 1977, on the road against the New Orleans Saints. The Saints' head coach, Hank Stram, was fired after losing to the Buccaneers. Tampa Bay needed one more week to get their second victory, a home win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1977 season finale. The Cardinals also fired their coach, Don Coryell, shortly afterward. The team continued to improve in 1978, although injuries to several key players kept the team from achieving the winning record promised by McKay.
The Bucs' situation improved rapidly in the 1979 season. With the maturation of quarterback Doug Williams and future four-time Pro Bowl tight end Jimmie Giles, the first 1,000-yard rushing season from running back Ricky Bell, and a smothering, league-leading defense led by future NFL Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon, the Bucs kicked off the season with five consecutive victories, a performance that landed them on the cover of "Sports Illustrated."
With four games left in the season, the Bucs needed to win only one of them to make the playoffs. In the first, STP was put all over the goal posts in Tampa to prevent the goalposts from being ripped down in the event of a celebration. Four blocked kicks later, the Bucs wasted the oily substance, falling to the Minnesota Vikings 23–22. STP was wasted again the following week as the Bucs were shut out 14–0 by the Chicago Bears, and in O. J. Simpson's final home game in San Francisco, Tampa Bay lost its third straight attempt to clinch a division title against a 49ers team which came in with a 1–13 record. However, in the season finale at home against the Kansas City Chiefs, which was played in the worst downpour in Bucs history, Tampa Bay pulled out a 3–0 victory. Finishing with a 10–6 record, the Bucs had their first winning season in franchise history, and won the Central Division in a tiebreaker over the Bears. In an upset, the Bucs defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 24–17 in the divisional round of the playoffs. Because the Los Angeles Rams defeated the Dallas Cowboys in the other NFC playoff game, the Bucs hosted the NFC Championship Game the following week in Tampa. The Bucs lost to the Rams 9–0. In their fourth season, the Bucs seemed on the verge of fulfilling McKay's five-year plan.
The Bucs made the playoffs again by winning their division in the 1981 season. It came down to a thrilling final game at Detroit; the winner would take the Central Division crown and the loser would miss the playoffs. The Lions had not lost at home all season. Although the Bucs trailed early, an 84-yard touchdown bomb from QB Williams to WR Kevin House and a fumble recovery for a touchdown by DT David Logan sealed the win for the Bucs. In the playoffs, the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Bucs, 38–0, in the divisional round.
The 1982 season started 0–3 for the Bucs, before a player's strike shut down the NFL for seven weeks. When the league resumed play, the Bucs were nicknamed the "Cardiac Kids" for winning five of their next six games, all in the final moments, to go 5–4 and qualify for the expanded playoff slate. In the first round, the Bucs once again faced the Cowboys at Dallas, losing 30–17. As it turned out, this would be the last winning regular season under Culverhouse's ownership.
Before the 1983 season, Williams bolted to the United States Football League in a salary dispute. The Bucs lost their first nine games of the 1983 season en route to finishing 2–14, the first of 12 consecutive seasons with at least ten losses—an NFL record. Included was the drafting of Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson with the first pick in the 1986 draft. Jackson had let it be known that he would never play a down for Hugh Culverhouse at Tampa Bay. Making good on his threat, he opted instead to play baseball for the Kansas City Royals and would later return for parts of football seasons with the Los Angeles Raiders. Along with Williams, who later was a Super Bowl champion QB for Washington, two other Buc quarterbacks during this era led other teams to Super Bowl wins. Steve Young won with the 49ers and Trent Dilfer won with the Baltimore Ravens.
Under Culverhouse, the Bucs were one of the NFL's more profitable teams during the 1980s; however, this was largely because he kept the payroll among the lowest in the league, hampering their ability to sign quality players. Attendance also sagged; at one point the Buccaneers went parts of three whole seasons without having a home game televised locally, and when they did it was more attributed to a strong visiting team with a large following in the area, such as the Chicago Bears or Green Bay Packers.
Hardy Nickerson, a future 5-time Pro Bowl linebacker, signed as a free agent from the Pittsburgh Steelers. John Lynch, a future Pro Bowl strong safety, was drafted in 1993. In the 1995 NFL draft the Buccaneers drafted two future Hall of Famers: Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks. Pro Bowl Fullback, Mike Alstott, was drafted the next year in the 1996 draft.
Despite the profitability of the Buccaneers in the 1980s, Culverhouse's death in 1994 revealed a team close to bankruptcy, which surprised many observers. His son, Miami attorney Hugh Culverhouse Jr., practically forced the trustees of his father's estate to sell the team, which cast doubt on the future of the franchise in Tampa. Interested parties included New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos, the latter of whom publicly declared he would move the team to Baltimore, as the city did not have an NFL franchise at that time.
However, in a last-minute surprise, real estate magnate Malcolm Glazer outbid both of them for $192 million, the highest sale price for a professional sports franchise up to that point. Glazer immediately placed his sons Bryan, Edward, and Joel in charge of the team's financial affairs. He stated that he had every intention of keeping the team in Tampa, but informed area citizens its current stadium deal would not support the record paid amount and that a new stadium would be required. The Glazers convinced Hillsborough County voters to raise sales taxes to fund the construction of what would become Raymond James Stadium.
The Glazers' deep pockets and serious commitment to fielding a winning team–in Tampa Bay–finally allowed the Bucs to become competitive. The team's performance dramatically improved when the Glazers hired Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Tony Dungy as head coach, jettisoned the old uniform designs (see below).
During Dungy's first season in 1996, the team continued to struggle, starting the season 1–8. But in the second half of the season they finished 5–2, primarily due to the performance of a defense ranked seventh in the NFL led by Hardy Nickerson and the maturing of Sam Wyche's draftees Brooks, Lynch, and Sapp. Dungy, with his even-tempered personality, quickly brought balance and morale to the team, and his Cover 2 defensive scheme, sharpened to perfection by defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin and linebackers coach Lovie Smith, became the foundation for Tampa Bay's future success. Their version of Cover 2 was so successful that it became known as the Tampa 2. It has been brought to the Chicago Bears by Smith, Detroit Lions by Rod Marinelli, Kansas City Chiefs by Herman Edwards and to the Indianapolis Colts by Dungy himself, and copied by several other teams.
The team started the 1997 season 5–0, picking up where they left off the previous year, and this quick start once again landed them on the cover of "Sports Illustrated" twice. The Bucs went 10–6 for their first winning season and playoff appearance since 1982, as a wild-card team. In the Bucs' final home game at Houlihan's Stadium (formerly Tampa Stadium), the team defeated the Detroit Lions 20–10. They lost at Lambeau Field to the eventual NFC champion Green Bay Packers 21–7. Still, there was reason for optimism, and the expectations were high for the following season.
The 1998 season, the first to be played in the newly constructed Raymond James Stadium, saw the Bucs lose several close games en route to a disappointing 8–8 record. The Bucs had to play the first 6 football games of the year (including preseason) on the road as the new stadium was not quite finished.
The 1999 season brought much better fortune. On the strength of the NFL's number 3 overall defense and a performance by rookie QB Shaun King, the Bucs finished the season with an 11–5 record and won their third NFC Central Division Championship. They beat Washington 14–13 in the Divisional round, before losing to the eventual Super Bowl Champion St. Louis Rams in a low-scoring NFC Championship Game, 11–6. The Bucs' loss was controversial, highlighted by the reversal of a pass from King to WR Bert Emanuel, which ended the Bucs' chances at continuing their last-minute drive. In league meetings following the season, the NFL changed the rules regarding what constituted an incomplete pass.
While the Bucs played well in 2000 and 2001 and made the playoffs in each season, they were unable to fulfill their primary goal of a Super Bowl victory. The wild card spots that Tampa Bay earned forced them to go on the road for their postseason opener in each year, and both road games took them into frigid Philadelphia to play the Eagles. The two losses also continued an unusual losing streak for Tampa Bay: they remained winless all-time in games played when the temperature was less than 32 °F (0 °C).
Dungy was fired by the Buccaneers following a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles 31–9 in the Wildcard Round of 2001 and soon thereafter hired as the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, while the Bucs mounted a prolonged and much-maligned search for his replacement. Several potential candidates were offered the job, including University of Florida head coach (and former Buccaneers quarterback) Steve Spurrier, former New York Giants head coach Bill Parcells, and Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis. Spurrier jumped to the Redskins when he was offered the most lucrative salary package ever offered to an NFL head coach, and Parcells eventually passed on the Bucs' offer—the second time he had done so in the history of the franchise. Bucs' general manager Rich McKay threw his support behind Lewis. The Glazer brothers were so displeased with the selection of yet another defensive-minded coach that they overruled McKay and took control of the candidate search themselves. They made it clear that their top choice was Jon Gruden; however, he was still under contract with the Oakland Raiders.
While talks with the Raiders were secretly under way, the Glazers publicly pursued another respected offensive mind, San Francisco 49ers head coach Steve Mariucci. Just when initial reports indicated that Mariucci had agreed to become both the Bucs' head coach and their general manager, Raiders owner Al Davis agreed to release Gruden to Tampa Bay.
The Glazers' shrewd move eventually paid off in acquiring Gruden, but it was costly. The team hired Gruden away from the Raiders on February 20, 2002, but the price was four draft picks, including the Bucs' first and second round picks in 2002, their first round pick in 2003, and their second round selection in 2004, along with $8 million in cash. (The league as a result prohibited any further trading of draft picks for coaches.) Gruden was frustrated by the limitation of his coaching authority by Davis and was more than pleased to return to Tampa Bay. His parents lived in Carrollwood, and he had spent part of his childhood in Tampa in the early 1980s when his father was a running backs coach and later a scout for the Bucs.
Upon his arrival in Tampa, Gruden immediately went to work, retooling a sluggish offense, changing over 50% of the starting offense. With a new Tailback, Wide Receiver, Two Tight Ends, Left Tackle, and Left Guard, Gruden put his stamp on the teams offense to remove the term "Dungy's Team" label. The league's sweeping realignment sent the Bucs to the new NFC South Division, along with the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints.
Led by the league's top defense, the 2002 campaign was the Buccaneers' most successful season to date. Linebacker Derrick Brooks was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year with a tendency to make big plays. They won the NFC South title with the team's best ever record, 12–4, and scored more points in two playoff wins over the 49ers and Eagles than in Bucs playoff history combined. The Philadelphia Eagles were a thorn in Tampa Bay's side, having eliminated the Bucs in each of the last two seasons' wild card games. Tampa Bay entered the game as heavy underdogs and fell behind early. However, the Bucs persevered and took a ten-point lead into the fourth quarter. Ronde Barber sealed the win in dramatic fashion with a late interception return for a touchdown, and a 27–10 victory. The Bucs then went on to rout Gruden's former team, the Raiders, who had the league's number one offense, by a score of 48–21 in Super Bowl XXXVII, nicknamed 'The Pirate Bowl'.
Soon after the Super Bowl victory, a growing number of press reports indicated Gruden's lack of patience with general manager McKay, a major architect of the Bucs' rebuilding effort over the previous ten years. McKay, like Gruden, had long-established ties to the Tampa Bay area. However, during the 2003 season, the Gruden-McKay relationship deteriorated as the Bucs struggled on the field. In November, Keyshawn Johnson was deactivated by the team ten games into the season for his conduct, which included sideline arguments with Bucs coaches and players. Johnson was eventually traded to the Dallas Cowboys for wide receiver Joey Galloway, who later in his career played for the New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Washington Redskins.
In December, the Glazers allowed McKay to leave the Bucs before the end of the regular season, and he promptly joined the Falcons as president and general manager. Thus, McKay watched his first game as a Falcons executive sitting next to owner Arthur Blank in a Raymond James Stadium skybox. The Falcons defeated the Bucs 30–28. The Bucs suffered a sluggish start and finished the season 7–9. With the Raiders' dismal 4–12 performance, neither Super Bowl team reached the playoffs that year.
For 2004, Bruce Allen was hired as general manager. After Allen's arrival, both John Lynch and Warren Sapp were released, stunning many Buccaneer fans. The distracted Buccaneers began the 2004 season with a 1–5 record, their worst start under Gruden. The fading accuracy of kicker Martín Gramática did not help matters, as the team lost many close games en route to a 5–11 record.
In the 2005 season, the Buccaneers celebrated their 30th season in the league, and returned to their winning ways. The Bucs selected Carnell "Cadillac" Williams in the first round of the 2005 draft, and the rookie would provide a running game the Buccaneers had not possessed since the days of James Wilder Sr. in the 1980s. Williams would later go on to receive the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. After starting 5–1, the team entered a midseason slump hampered by a season-ending injury to starting QB Brian Griese. Replacement starter Chris Simms struggled early, but came into his own, leading the team to a last-minute win over the Redskins. The Bucs won the NFC South Division finishing 11–5. The season ended abruptly, however, with a 17–10 loss in the Wild Card round, in a rematch with Washington that saw receiver Edell Shepherd drop the game-winning catch in the endzone.
After winning the division in 2005, the Bucs suffered through an abysmal 2006 season. The season was plagued by injuries, with starters such as guard Dan Buenning, wide receiver Michael Clayton, running back Cadillac Williams, defensive end Simeon Rice, cornerback Brian Kelly, and quarterback Chris Simms all being placed on injured reserve at some point in the season. The season also saw a lot of rookies starting for the Bucs, such as quarterback Bruce Gradkowski, tackle Jeremy Trueblood, and guard Davin Joseph.
The Bucs started off the season 0–3, with Simms throwing one touchdown to 7 interceptions. In the third game of the season, a last-minute loss to the Panthers, Simms's spleen was ruptured, and he was placed on injured reserve for the balance of the season. After their bye week, the Bucs elected to start Gradkowski, a sixth-round pick from Toledo. After nearly beating the Saints, Gradkowski led the team to last-minute wins over the Bengals and Eagles. The success was short-lived, however, and the Bucs lost five of the next six games. Tim Rattay replaced Gradkowski as quarterback late in the season, and the team finished 4–12. The aged defense, with 5 starters who had played there for a decade or more, was ranked 17th overall, the first time a Tampa defense was not ranked in the top ten since 1996.
After the disappointing 2006 season, the Buccaneers for the first time in several seasons had money to spend in free agency. They brought in quarterback Jeff Garcia, offensive tackle Luke Petitgout, defensive end Kevin Carter, and linebacker Cato June. On April 28, 2007, the Buccaneers drafted Clemson defensive end Gaines Adams with the 4th overall pick in the NFL Draft. After the draft the Buccaneers picked up tight end Jerramy Stevens and defensive tackle Ryan Sims.
The off-season changes resulted in the Buccaneers winning the NFC South title in the 2007 season, finishing with a 9–7 record, and the 4th seed in the conference. The division crown was the second one in three seasons under Gruden. In the Wild Card round of the playoffs held on January 6, 2008, the Buccaneers lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants by a final score of 24–14.
During the 2008 offseason, the Bucs re-signed head coach Gruden and general manager Allen through the 2011 season. They also acquired former players Warrick Dunn, who had spent the last 6 seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, and Brian Griese, who was the starting quarterback for the team in 2005 until a knee injury sidelined him for the remainder of the year. Chris Simms was finally released, having not played in a game since his injury in 2006. The Bucs got off to a great start in 2008, with a 9–3 record going into the final month of the season, tied for first place in the division, with a chance at the top seed in the conference. On December 2, it was announced that defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin would be leaving the team after the season's end, for the same job at the University of Tennessee, serving under his son Lane Kiffin, who had just been named the new head coach at the school. After the announcement, the Buccaneers would lose their final four games of the season to finish 9–7 for the second consecutive season. Unlike 2007, it was not enough to secure the division championship, nor a playoff appearance.
Raheem Morris was named the replacement for Monte Kiffin as defensive coordinator in December 2008. A month later, after the huge collapse that ended the 2008 season, the Buccaneers fired Jon Gruden and swiftly elevated Morris to the head coach position. Bruce Allen was also let go, with Mark Dominik his successor as general manager. Several veterans were released including Derrick Brooks, Joey Galloway, and Jeff Garcia. The new staff traded for tight end Kellen Winslow Jr., signed quarterback Byron Leftwich, and drafted Josh Freeman with the 17th overall pick.
The 2009 squad started out 0–7, behind Leftwich and later Josh Johnson. Following their bye week, the team elevated Freeman to starting quarterback, resulting in the team's first win of the season. The team finished 3–13, the worst record since 1991.
In 2010, the Buccaneers surprised many, producing the greatest single-season turnaround in franchise history, going 10–6. This was largely behind the stellar performances of Freeman, rookie receiver Mike Williams, and LeGarrette Blount. Despite the effort, the team narrowly missed the playoffs, losing out on the wild card tiebreaker to eventual Super Bowl XLV champion Green Bay.
Tampa Bay began the 2011 season with high hopes, adding several key defensive players through the draft. After a 4–2 start, however, the Buccaneers collapsed, dropping ten consecutive games to finish 4–12. The day after a 45–24 loss to Atlanta in their final game of the season, the team fired Morris, offensive coordinator Greg Olson and the rest of his corresponding staff. During the Morris era, the lack of on-the-field success, along with several contributing factors, including the recession, saw attendance slip, precipitating local television blackouts for the first time since the mid-1990s. All eight regular season home games were blacked out in 2010, and 5 of 7 were blacked out in 2011 (one "home" game was played in London).
About three weeks after firing Raheem Morris, the Buccaneers hired Greg Schiano from Rutgers as the new head coach. During his introductory conference he stated "There will be Buccaneer men, and there will be a Buccaneer Way." The phrase "The Buccaneer Way" became a slogan among fans and local media, describing the new regime and attitude. The team filled out the coaching staff with new faces, including Mike Sullivan, Bill Sheridan, and Butch Davis. In 2013, Dave Wannstedt was also added as special teams coach. In the first day of free agency, the club signed top prospects Vincent Jackson and Carl Nicks, as well as Eric Wright. The $140 million committed to the team during that 24-hour period is the largest investment the Glazer family has put into the team going back almost a decade.
The team finished the 2012 season at 7–9, notably ranking first in rushing defense. Furthermore, the rushing offense was highlighted by the breakout performance of Doug Martin. After two seasons of game day local television blackouts, the improved team began seeing increased attendance and attention, and some blackouts lifted. 6 games were blacked out in 2012. For the three-year period of 2010–2012 the Bucs led the NFL in local television blackouts with 19 (Cincinnati was second with 11). Schiano's strict and regimented coaching style, however, drew criticism at the end of a game against the Giants (Schiano's return to New Jersey), ordering his defense to continue to aggressively tackle the offense as Giants quarterback Eli Manning was taking a knee to end the game. Afterwards, Schiano was met at midfield by an irate Tom Coughlin, who did not appreciate the Bucs' aggressiveness.
Coming into the 2013 season, fans and analysts had better than average expectations for Tampa Bay. They were expected to improve their record, and potentially make a playoffs run. The predictions proved unfounded, as numerous issues on and off the field saw the team collapse. The team dealt with several players, including Lawrence Tynes, Carl Nicks and Johnthan Banks, contracting antibiotic-resistant MRSA infections, which led to a 2015 lawsuit by Tynes that settled in 2017. During training camp, a reported rift began to divide Schiano and quarterback Josh Freeman. After an 0-3 start, Freeman was benched, and ultimately released. This was after Freeman reportedly missed several team meetings, along with the team's annual photograph. Schiano started rookie Mike Glennon, but the team continued to lose. The fans' confidence of Schiano began to decay rapidly, and after an 0-8 start, the team got its first win of the season on a Monday night against Miami. A brief win streak saw improvements with Glennon at quarterback, and Bobby Rainey took over at running back with stellar numbers after Doug Martin went down with a shoulder injury. There were no blackouts in 2013, as the Glazers bought up the necessary tickets for two of the games to get to the 85% threshold needed to prevent local blackouts.
Despite some individual improvements, and some impressive performances by members of the defense, the team dropped the last three games of the season, and finished 4-12. The team ranked last or near the bottom in almost every offensive category. On December 30, 2013, Schiano and general manager Mark Dominik were fired.
On January 1, 2014, Lovie Smith was hired as the new head coach of the Buccaneers, replacing Greg Schiano. Smith had previously spent 5 seasons with the Buccaneers from 1996 to 2001 coaching the linebackers under Tony Dungy. During his first news conference with the Bucs, Smith talked about restoring the quality of the team from the late 1990s and early 2000s: "There was a certain brand of football you expected from us," Smith said. "You know we would be relentless. There was a brand of football that you got from us each week at Raymond James Stadium. It was hard for opponents to come in and win. We have gotten away from that a little bit, and it’s time ... for us to become a relevant team again."
On January 21, 2014, Jason Licht was hired as the new general manager, replacing Mark Dominik. He was officially introduced at One Buc Place on January 23, 2014. In his first news conference, Licht talked about his philosophy: "Our philosophy is going to be to build through the draft. That's where we find our stars. That's where we find the next generation. But also in the short term and long term we're going to supplement our roster through free agency but we're going to look for value. We're going to spend wisely."
After signing veteran free agent Josh McCown and many more free agents, many analysts predicted that the Buccaneers could be the surprise team of the year and possibly make a playoff run. Those predictions soon went away after the Bucs began the season 0–3, including a 56–14 blowout against the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday Night Football. McCown was injured in that game, and second year quarterback Mike Glennon was named the starter. His first start of the 2014 season ended with the Bucs earning their first victory of the season in Pittsburgh against the Steelers 27–24. The Bucs lost the next 4 games, including two overtime losses against the New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings, one blowout against the Baltimore Ravens, and a 5-point loss against the Cleveland Browns. Going into week 10 at 1–8, McCown returned as the starter. Mathematically, the Bucs were still in playoff contention only being 3 games out of first place in the division. McCown's first game back ended with a 27–17 loss to the Falcons but won the following week in a 27–7 blowout against struggling Washington. The Bucs would lose the next three games and were officially knocked out of playoff contention in week 14. The Bucs finished 2–14, winning 2 less games than the previous season and secured the first-overall draft pick for the 2015 NFL draft.
Despite the team's record, first-round draft pick wide receiver Mike Evans had more than 1,000 receiving yards and he became the youngest NFL player to record more than 200 receiving yards in a single game. Vincent Jackson also had more than 1,000 yards receiving, which represented Tampa Bay's first pair of 1,000 yard receivers in a season. Second-year CB Johnthan Banks led the team with 4 interceptions and has 50 tackles. Danny Lansanah flourished in the Tampa 2 system with 81 tackles, 1.5 QB sacks, and 3 interceptions, with 2 of those interceptions returned for touchdowns for the 2014 season. Jacquies Smith, who was signed from Buffalo after waiving rookie DE Scott Solomon a month into the season, had 17 combined tackles, 13 solo tackles, 6.5 sacks, and 1 forced fumble in only 8 starts for 2014.
In December 2014, a report surfaced that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers used homeless people to sell beer and did not pay them.
After the conclusion of the 2014 season, Tampa Bay hired Ben Steele to become the team's new offensive quality control coach as well as former Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter to be their new offensive coordinator after parting ways with QB coach and interim offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo. Having a 2–14 record, tied for the worst record in the NFL in 2014, Tampa gained the first-overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft. They also made some headlines when they released QB Josh McCown on February 11, 2015, to save $5.25 million in cap space. With the first overall pick in the NFL draft, the Buccaneers selected Jameis Winston from Florida State. Throughout the off-season, there was much debate whether the Buccaneers should pick Winston or Oregon QB Marcus Mariota.
On January 6, 2016, Smith was fired by the Buccaneers after posting a record of 8–24 in his two seasons, including a 6–10 record in the 2015 season.
On January 15, 2016, Dirk Koetter was promoted from offensive coordinator to become the new head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The teams' record sat at 3-5 following a blowout loss to the Atlanta Falcons in a nationally televised Thursday Night Football matchup. Playoff chances grew increasingly more unlikely. However, following the loss, the Buccaneers rattled off five straight victories, the longest winning streak since the 2002 season. During the streak, the Buccaneers earned upset victories over the heavily favored Kansas City Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks. The Buccaneers ended their 2016 season with a 9–7 record, but lost the NFC's sixth seed to the Detroit Lions due to tiebreakers.
On March 9, 2017, the Buccaneers signed former Washington Redskins wide receiver DeSean Jackson, defensive tackle Chris Baker, former Dallas Cowboys safety J. J. Wilcox (traded to Pittsburgh Steelers), former New York Jets kicker Nick Folk, and veteran quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick.
They were hampered with poor performance and an early kicking situation, as they failed to improve or match their 9–7 record from the previous season. After a loss to the Detroit Lions, they were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs with a 4–9 record. The Bucs finished the season 5-11. This was their tenth consecutive season without a playoff appearance, with their last being in the 2007 season. Also, the Bucs finished last in the NFC South for the seventh time in nine seasons.
The Bucs began the 2018 season 2–0 for the first time since the 2010 season. Journeyman quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick started the first two games after Jameis Winston was suspended during the off-season for the first three games. Fitzpatrick threw for over 400 yards and 4 touchdowns in the two-game winning streak, coming against the Saints (the eventual NFC South winner) and the Eagles (the defending Super Bowl champions). Fitzpatrick would continue the success in week 3's Monday night game against the Steelers, throwing for another 400 yards and becoming the first player in NFL history to throw for 400 or more yards in three consecutive games. After Winston's suspension was up following the Monday Night game, Fitzpatrick remained the starter for week 4's matchup against the Bears. Fitzpatrick struggled and was benched after halftime for Winston. Winston returned as the starter in week 6. Despite the quarterback controversy, the Bucs had a top 3 offense, averaging 27.8 points during the first six games. However, their defense continued to struggle. After week 6's loss to the Falcons, defensive coordinator Mike Smith was fired and linebackers coach Mark Duffner was named the interim defensive coordinator. After a close overtime win against the Browns, Winston threw four interceptions against the Bengals the following week. After returning from suspension, Winston threw at least two interceptions per game, and due to that, Fitzpatrick was once again named the starter in week 9. Fitzpatrick, again, struggled, and Winston was renamed the starter for week 12's game against the 49ers. Winston improved, and the team won two straight. However, they dropped their last four games. After a second consecutive last-place season where the team finished with a 5–11 record, Koetter was fired.
Following the termination of Dirk Koetter, the Buccaneers named Bruce Arians as the 12th head coach in franchise history on January 8, 2019. Arians had been out of coaching for a year, having spent the 2018 season in the broadcast booth. Because Arians was still under contract with the Cardinals through the end of the 2019 season, Tampa Bay agreed to give the Cardinals a sixth-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft for the rights to Arians, as well as receiving Arizona's seventh-round pick in the same draft. On the same day it was reported the Bucs would also bring Byron Leftwich onto the staff from the Cardinals as offensive coordinator. The next day the Buccaneers announced the hiring of former New York Jets head coach Todd Bowles as defensive coordinator.
After the 2019 season, Tom Brady, who had only played with the New England Patriots since entering the league, announced he would not be re-signing with the Patriots. On March 20, 2020, Brady announced he had signed with the Buccaneers.
On April 21, 2020, Rob Gronkowski announced he was coming out of retirement to return to the NFL. On the same day, the New England Patriots made an agreement to trade Gronkowski to the Buccaneers, along with a seventh-round pick in exchange for a compensatory fourth round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Throughout their history, the Buccaneers have been known for their suffocating defense. It started with the drafting of Hall of Fame defensive end Lee Roy Selmon with their first pick ever in 1976. Three Buccaneer players have been named the AP Defensive Player of the Year, and the team has led the league in total defense on three occasions, including the 2002 championship season. All four of the Buccaneers Hall of Fame inductees are defensive players or coaches.
Led by Selmon, Linebackers Dewey Selmon, Richard Wood, Dave Lewis, and Mike Washington, Mark Cotney, and Cedric Brown in the secondary, the early years Buccaneers quickly earned an identity as a defensive team. Their 3–4 defense peaked in 1979 when they led the league in total defense, points allowed, and first downs allowed. Lee Roy Selmon was voted NFL Defensive Player of the Year, but they eventually fell 10 points short of the Super Bowl as the offense held them back in the NFC Championship game in a 9–0 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
The team drafted franchise cornerstones John Lynch in 1993, and Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks in 1995 to go along with All-Pro linebacker Hardy Nickerson. That was followed by the hiring of innovative defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin in 1996. The new-look Buccaneers set the stage for one of the greatest defensive runs in NFL history. From 1997 to 2008, the Buccaneers defense finished in the league's top ten every year but one, including eight top-5 finishes, and two top-ranked efforts. Kiffin along with head coach Tony Dungy created the "Tampa 2" defense, a modified version of the established Cover 2 scheme.
Kiffin's defenses were known as gang tacklers with tremendous team speed with a front four that could pressure the quarterback consistently, fast sideline-to-sideline linebackers, and a hard-hitting secondary that caused turnovers. Many teams have copied the Tampa 2, but none have come close to the success the Buccaneers experienced led by numerous Pro Bowlers and Hall of Famers. The Tampa Bay defense featured future Hall of Famers, Derrick Brooks and Warren Sapp, and Pro Bowlers, John Lynch, Ronde Barber, Hardy Nickerson, Simeon Rice, Shelton Quarles, Donnie Abraham, and Super Bowl XXXVII MVP Dexter Jackson. Sapp and Nickerson were named to the 1990s All-Decade 2nd Team while the 2000s All-Decade Team featured Sapp and Brooks as 1st Team players and Ronde Barber on the 2nd Team.
The 2002 Buccaneers defense is widely regarded as one of the greatest defenses in NFL history, rivaled only by the 2000 Ravens, 1985 Bears, 2015 Broncos, 1976 Steelers, and few others. In the regular season Tampa Bay led the league in total defense (252.8 ypg), points allowed (196), first downs allowed (14.8 pg), passing (155.6 ypg), interceptions (31), interceptions returned for touchdowns (5), opponent passer rating (48.4), and shutouts (2). They also finished third in opponent rushing average (3.8 ypc), and sixth in sacks (43). Derrick Brooks was awarded AP Defensive Player of the Year as the defense led the way to a 12–4 regular season. The team was even better in the postseason allowing only 37 points in three games combined – all against top ten offenses. In those three playoff games, they intercepted 9 passes – returning 4 for touchdowns – and collected 11 sacks.
In Super Bowl XXXVII, the Buccaneers delivered one of the most impressive defensive performances in Super Bowl history. Playing against the #1 offense in the league led by league MVP Rich Gannon, the defense actually outscored the Raiders offense, allowing 2 offensive touchdowns while returning 3 interceptions for touchdowns. The defense set two records in the 48–21 blowout, one for most interceptions in a Super Bowl (5), and one for most interceptions returned for touchdowns in a Super Bowl (3). In 19 total games in 2002, the Buccaneers recorded 40 interceptions, 53 sacks, and 9 defensive touchdowns.
Since 1998 the Buccaneers have played their home games at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Prior to that they played in Tampa Stadium since their establishment.
In 1975, the Buccaneers built a small practice complex with offices near Tampa International Airport called One Buccaneer Place - often shorted to "One Buc Place". The team utilized the unspectacular facility through the 1990s and into the early 2000s. As other NFL clubs began replacing and upgrading their respective facilities, Buccaneers players and coaches stepped up their complaints about the constant aircraft noise, cramped offices, small locker rooms, and decrepit condition of One Buc Place. Then-head coach Jon Gruden sarcastically referred to the facility as "The Woodshed", and some of the coaches' offices were actually converted broom closets. For much of the team's existence, the Buccaneers held training camp on the University of Tampa campus, then at the expansive and better-equipped Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando (2002–2008).
In August 2006, the Buccaneers unveiled a new $30 million training facility. Conveniently located across the street from Raymond James Stadium (on the former site of Tampa Bay Center), the state-of-the-art ( facility on ) is one of the largest in the NFL. Its features include offices and meeting rooms, three natural grass practice fields, a theater for meetings and press conferences, an expanded weight room, a fully equipped kitchen and dining room, a rehabilitation center with three separate pools and a locker room twice the size of the former location. The building is capped off with a five-story glass and steel football as a key design element. An indoor practice field, featuring artificial turf, was completed in 2017. In 2009, the team began holding training camp at the new upgraded facilities in Tampa.
In the second week of September 2007, statues of important figures from the Bucs 2002 championship season were moved into the lobby area in an exhibit called "Moment of Victory". The life-size statues included players Mike Alstott, Ronde Barber, Derrick Brooks, Brad Johnson, John Lynch, Shelton Quarles, Simeon Rice, Warren Sapp, and head coach Jon Gruden. The statues are modeled after images from the sideline towards the end of Super Bowl XXXVII.
Initially, the facility might have been unnamed, but for over a decade, it simply was referred to as "One Buc Place", utilizing the same name as the old building. In 2018, the facility was officially named AdventHealth Training Center, as part of a ten-year naming rights deal with AdventHealth (formerly Florida Hospital).
When the team began play in 1976, Culverhouse initially picked team colors of red, green, orange and white. However, the shade of green was too close to the teal that used by the Miami Dolphins. A medium shade of "Florida Orange" was substituted for green. Home uniforms included orange jerseys with white numerals outlined in red—the now-infamous "Creamsicle" uniforms. Road white jerseys originally had orange numerals outlined in red, but these colors were reversed for year two and beyond. The color swap provided better visibility, especially for television coverage purposes.
Long-time "Tampa Tribune" cartoonist and Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla member Lamar Sparkman designed the first team logo. Faced with the challenge of designing a logo that did not closely resemble that of the other pirates in the league, the Oakland Raiders, Sparkman came up with a moustached pirate donning a plumed slouch hat, with a large hoop earring, clutching a dagger in his teeth. The pirate appeared to be winking. For a very brief time he was referred to as "Morgan," and coach John McKay called him "Errol Flynn." Local "St. Petersburg Times" sportswriter Hubert Mizell coined the somewhat belittling nickname "Bucco Bruce" in a February 1976 column, noting almost immediately the mascot's unintimidating and "cavalier" appearance. The nickname stuck, while the logo and the name "Bucco Bruce" became symbols and reminders of the club's ongoing futility. Sports writer and commentator Nick Bakay once said that Bucco Bruce was a pirate who "struck fear in the hearts of no one."
There was controversy over where the cartoonist received inspiration for his Buccaneer. Beloit College, located in Beloit, Wisconsin, received a notice from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the college's illegitimate use of their mascot. Beloit College's buccaneer is the mirror image of the Tampa Bay buccaneer, with the creamsicle colors replaced with Beloit's school colors. Athletic Director Ed DeGeorge said Beloit's Buccaneers have used the logo since the early 1980s, when he chose it from a book while ordering decals for the football team's helmets. The NFL's Buccaneers joined the league in 1976. However, the Buccaneers withdrew their claim against Beloit College because of the independent decision to redesign the logo.
In 1992, the Buccaneers introduced orange pants to be worn with the white jerseys. Prior to the team's season finale in 1995 against the Lions, coach Sam Wyche suggested that the Buccaneers wear the orange pants with their orange jerseys. The idea was vetoed by, among others, Pro Bowl linebacker Hardy Nickerson.
For the 1993 season, following Culverhouse's death, the Buccaneers added a commemorative patch to the right sleeve of their orange away uniforms, which read "Mr C" in cursive script.
For the season, the Buccaneers worked with the NFL to develop a more marketable and intimidating look in order to improve the team's image. The Buccaneers changed their team colors to red, pewter, black, and orange. "Bucco Bruce" was replaced by a red wind-swept flag displaying a white pirate skull and crossed sabres which is a modified Jolly Roger (similar to that of Calico Jack). The flagpole was another larger sabre. The "Buccaneers" team name was written in a new font, "Totally Gothic", and was either red with shadows of pewter or red and white. Orange pinstriping, and an orange football, was used to maintain a visual link to the former colors. Chris Berman nicknamed them "the pirates in pewter pants," a play on the Gilbert and Sullivan opera "The Pirates of Penzance". The Buccaneers staged a ceremony at The Pier on April 7, 1997 in which Bucco Bruce walked the plank of the pirate ship "Bounty" docked in Tampa Bay. But not before he was pardoned at the last minute by Governor Lawton Chiles.
The new uniforms were adopted while Raymond James Stadium was still under construction, and the new colors would be prominent at the new facility. This new color scheme loosely resembled that of the Tampa Bay Bandits, the USFL team that played in the region during their three-season existence from 1983 to 1985 and had a color scheme of red, silver, black and white.
The new uniforms provided a combination of either red or white jerseys with either pewter or white trousers. The white-on-white combination has been used numerous times during preseason and early regular season games, while the red-on-white combination has been used much less sparingly. The red-on-white has been used for some prime time home games, and other selected home games. Most games, home and away, have utilized pewter trousers.
In , the Buccaneers introduced a practice jersey that featured orange piping. In , a pewter practice jersey was used, with numerals in the "Totally Gothic" font. For 2005, the uniform featured a patch commemorating the club's 30th season.
Like many other NFL teams located in subtropical climates, the Buccaneers traditionally wear their white road jerseys at home during the first half of the season – forcing opponents to wear their darker colors during the hot summers and autumns in Tampa. Additionally, the visitors' bench of Raymond James Stadium is located on the east side of the stadium, which is in direct sunlight for games that kick off at 1:00 p.m. Eastern games. The west sideline is in the shade. In , the Buccaneers started to wear white at home to accommodate Vinny Testaverde's color blindness. Vinny Testaverde had bad performances in the darker (orange) uniforms and persuaded head coach Ray Perkins to change the team's home uniform to white. In certain years such as 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1996 – the last year of the original uniforms, the Buccaneers generally wore white at home for the entire season including preseason. Since the new uniforms were adopted, the Buccaneers wear their red jerseys home games during the second half of the season, and for most nighttime home games. During the preseason, the Buccaneers usually wear white for their home games. The Buccaneers have worn their red jerseys for all home postseason games except for a January 6, 2008 playoff match up against the Giants. The Buccaneers wore white that day instead, as the temperature that day was unseasonably high. At Super Bowl XXXVII, in which Tampa Bay was the designated home team, they elected to wear their red home jerseys. This was despite the kickoff temperature of , one of the hottest Super Bowls on record.
The Buccaneers' 1997 uniform change prompted a 2003 lawsuit by the Raiders, who claimed that the NFL and the Buccaneers had infringed upon key trademark elements of the Raiders' brand, including the Raiders' pirate logo. In the same suit, the Raiders challenged the Carolina Panthers' color scheme, which included silver and black. The Raiders wanted the courts to bar the Buccaneers and Panthers from wearing their uniforms while playing in California. However, since the lawsuit was filed in a California state court, the lawsuit was tossed out because only federal courts have jurisdiction on intellectual property issues.
The Buccaneers unveiled a slightly altered logo and helmet on February 20, 2014. On March 3, 2014, they unveiled the entire new uniform to be used starting in the 2014 season. The jersey numbers feature a high-vis reflective outline, the helmet logo has been revamped, and the facemask now has a chrome-effect coating. The Bucs’ original Creamsicle shade of orange has been reintroduced to the uniform. The reaction to the newer uniforms has been mixed. Of note, the jersey numbers have been derisively compared to digital alarm clock numerals.
In 2015, the Buccaneers debuted their Color Rush uniform featuring red jerseys and red pants, with pewter numerals.
The Buccaneers unveiled three new jersey designs on April 7, 2020. The new uniform designs evoke the club's 1997–2013 design, while incorporating modern design elements in the 2014 uniform refresh, including the enlarged flag-and-crossed-swords logo, as well as the modern ship design logo on the sleeves.
Following the uniform change in 1997, the Buccaneers did not wear the old uniform, even during popular league-sponsored "throwback" weekends. The old uniforms were mostly eschewed by the club, and the sale of team merchandise in the old color scheme was scuttled for several years. Fans' opinions of the old uniforms was equally as negative, although after about a decade, a nostalgic affection began to rekindle. In 2008, the team revealed that they would be wearing orange throwback uniforms for at least one game in the 2009 season. Their use was in conjunction with the creation of a Buccaneers Ring of Honor, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the 1979 division championship team.
Throwback merchandise went on sale in the summer of 2009, and referred to the orange color, not as "Florida Orange," but as "Orange Glaze". Considerable research was done using photographs and old uniforms to match the original color schemes. The dagger-biting pirate was given a cleaned-up look, and the orange, red and white uniforms debuted against the Green Bay Packers (Tampa Bay's former division rival) on November 8, 2009. Raymond James Stadium was also transformed via orange banners and classic field logos and fonts back to the classic Tampa Stadium look of the late 1970s. The Buccaneers won their first throwback game (their first victory of 2009) behind rookie quarterback Josh Freeman's first-career NFL start. The throwback game was to become an annual tradition, but has been on hiatus since due to league-wide restrictions suggesting players wear the same helmet throughout the season for safety reasons.
The expansion Buccaneers lost all 14 games during the 1976 regular season, and the first 12 games of the 1977 season, for a record 26 straight losses. They remained the only NFL team in the modern era to experience a winless season until Detroit went 0–16 in 2008, and then Cleveland also went winless in 2017.
In 1991, the organization initiated the "Krewe of Honor" to recognize top players, and featured a mural of the first class of three members. The display was located on the east side of the stadium. Quarterback Doug Williams was inducted September 6, 1992, and owner Hugh Culverhouse on September 5, 1993. No additional members were added before Tampa Stadium was closed and demolished; when the stadium was demolished in 1998, so was the Krewe.
On November 8, 2009, the team unveiled a new Ring of Honor at Raymond James Stadium.
Many former and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers players have represented the franchise in the Pro Bowl:
Former Buccaneer players profiled on "A Football Life" and "The Timeline":
The Bucs created an official cheerleading squad in their first season, called the "Swash-Buc-Lers." In 1999, they were renamed as the "Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders."
"" is a made-for-television movie that recounts the life of the late Buccaneer running back Ricky Bell. The movie takes place through a dramatic reenactment of the 1981 season, including actual footage of gameplay around the dramatized role by Mario Van Peebles playing Bell himself. Bell finds himself befriending an impaired child who inspire each other to become better in their own ways. It also includes other former Buccaneer players, like Lee Roy Selmon, Charley Hannah, and Doug Williams (only through gameplay footage).
The Buccaneers' current flagship radio stations are WXTB 97.9 FM and WDAE 620 AM. The play-by-play announcer since 1989 has been Gene Deckerhoff. Former Bucs tight end Dave Moore joined Deckerhoff as analyst for the 2007 season. T. J. Rives works as the sideline reporter.
Broadcast legend and former Green Bay Packers' announcer Ray Scott was the play-by-play man for the Bucs' first two seasons in 1976 and 1977. Dick Crippen called the team's games in the first half of the 1978 season, with Jim Gallogly taking over for the second half. From 1979 to 1988 Mark Champion, who became the radio voice of the Detroit Lions (1989–2004) and then the Detroit Pistons (2001–present), held that position with the Bucs.
Former Buccaneer Hardy Nickerson served as color commentator for one season in 2006, until he signed with the Bears as a linebackers coach on February 23, 2007. Nickerson had replaced Scot Brantley, who was the commentator from 1999 through 2005. Jesse Ventura, the famous professional wrestler, actor, and former governor of Minnesota, was Deckerhoff's partner on the Bucs radio broadcasts for one year, 1990, and former Buc David Logan held that position after Ventura until his death after the 1998 season. Dave Kocerek and Fran Curci were also color commentors for the Buccaneers during their earlier years.
Ronnie Lane previously worked as a sideline reporter.
The Bucs have broadcast on FM radio since signing with Top 40 station WRBQ-FM in . The team moved to WQYK-FM in , then to WFUS in , and then to WXTB in .
While regular season and post-season games in the NFL are all broadcast by national television contracts on CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN and NFL Network, the television broadcasts are for the most part handled by the individual teams. Effective with the 2011 season, preseason games not picked up for national broadcast are seen on WTSP Channel 10. WESH 2 simulcasts the broadcast in the Orlando area.
CBS, Fox and NBC games are shown respectively in Tampa Bay on WTSP, WTVT channel 13 and WFLA Channel 8, while they are shown respectively in Orlando on WKMG, WOFL and WESH. The great majority of games are aired on Fox owned-and-operated stations WTVT and WOFL, by virtue of Fox owning the rights to NFC games. WTSP and WKMG air any Buccaneers home games against American Football Conference teams. "Monday Night Football" games on ESPN and Thursday night games on NFL Network are simulcast locally on WMOR-TV, who also previously carried the Bucs' "Sunday Night Football" games when they were televised on ESPN and TNT; previously, the Bucs' appearances on the cable networks were seen locally on WFLA-TV and WFTS.
WFLA was the previous home to Buccaneers preseason games, where they have been televised from 2003 to 2010. At WFLA, Chris Myers was the play-by-play announcer with John Lynch as color commentator. Both Myers and Lynch worked nationally with Fox Sports at the time until Lynch became the general manager of the San Francisco 49ers in 2017. Ron Jaworski previously served as color commentator, until he signed with "Monday Night Football" for 2007. Charles Davis also served as color commentator from 2007 to 2008.
WTOG channel 44 also previously broadcast Buccaneers preseason games for many years, ending in 2002. Former CBS play-by-play and ESPN golf broadcaster Jim Kelly was the play-by-play announcer for many of those games in the 1980s, and Joe Namath was a commentator.
In the early years of the franchise, WTVT, then a CBS affiliate, broadcast some Buccaneers preseason games. Sports anchor Andy Hardy handled the play-by-play, and for one game in 1978, his broadcast partner was his friend, Florida State alumni and movie actor Burt Reynolds. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30837 |
Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Previously known as the Houston Oilers, the team began play in 1960 in Houston, Texas, as a charter member of the American Football League (AFL). The Oilers won the first two AFL Championships, and joined the NFL as part of the AFL–NFL merger in 1970.
The team relocated from Houston to Tennessee in 1997, and played at the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis for one season. The team then moved to Nashville in 1998 and played in Vanderbilt Stadium. For those two years, they were known as the "Tennessee Oilers", but changed their name to "Tennessee Titans" for the 1999 season. The team currently plays at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, which opened in 1999 as Adelphia Coliseum. The Titans' training facility is at Saint Thomas Sports Park, a site at the MetroCenter complex in Nashville.
Throughout the club's history, the Titans have played in the Super Bowl once (XXXIV, at the end of the 1999 NFL season); the Titans lost 23–16 to the St. Louis Rams.
When the team debuted as the Houston Oilers in 1960, the club's logo was an oil rig derrick. Except for minor color changes throughout the years, this logo remained the same until the team was renamed the Titans in 1999. The logo was originally called "Ol' Riggy", but this was dropped before the start of the 1974 season.
The Oilers' uniforms consisted of blue or white jerseys, red trim, and white pants. From 1966 through 1971, the pants with both the blue and white jerseys were silver, to match the color of the helmets. The team commonly wore light blue pants on the road with the white jerseys from 1972 through 1994, with the exception of the 1980 season, and selected games in the mid 80s, when the team wore an all-white road combination. For selected games in 1973 and 1974, and again from 1981 through 1984, the Oilers wore their white jerseys at home. The light blue pants were discarded by coach Jeff Fisher in 1995.
From 1960 to about 1965 and from 1972 to 1974, they wore blue helmets; from 1966 to 1971, the helmets were silver; and they were white from 1975 to 1998.
During the 1997–98 period, when they were known as the "Tennessee Oilers", the team had an alternate logo that combined elements of the flag of Tennessee with the derrick logo. The team also wore their white uniforms in home games, as opposed to their time in Houston, when their blue uniforms were worn at home – in the two years as the Tennessee Oilers, the team only wore their colored jerseys twice, for road games against the Miami Dolphins and a Thanksgiving Day game against the Dallas Cowboys; they wore all-white exclusively in their last year under the Tennessee Oilers banner.
When the team was renamed the Titans, the club introduced a new logo: a circle with three stars, similar to that found on the flag of Tennessee, containing a large "T" with a trail of flames similar to a comet. The uniforms consisted of white helmets, red trim, and either navy or white jerseys. White pants were normally worn with the navy jerseys, and navy pants were worn with the white jerseys. On both the navy and white jerseys, the outside shoulders and sleeves were light Titans blue. In a game against the Washington Redskins in 2006, the Titans wore their navy jerseys with navy pants for the first time.
Since 2000, the Titans have generally worn their dark uniforms at home throughout the preseason and regular season. They have worn white at home during daytime contests on many occasions for September home games to gain an advantage with the heat except in the 2005, 2006, and 2008 seasons.
The Titans introduced an alternate jersey in 2003 that was light Titans blue, with navy outside shoulders and sleeves. That jersey was usually worn with the road blue pants. When it was the alternate jersey from 2003 to 2007, the Titans wore the jersey twice in each regular season game (and once in the preseason). They always wore the Titans blue jersey in their annual divisional game against the Houston Texans and for other selected home games which came mostly against a team from the old AFL (American Football League). Their selection in those games were representative of the organization's ties to Houston and the old AFL. In November 2006, the Titans introduced light Titans blue pants in a game at the Philadelphia Eagles. The pants were reminiscent of the ones donned by the Oilers. In December 2006, they combined the Titans blue pants with the Titans blue jersey to create an all Titans blue uniform – Vince Young appeared in this uniform in the cover art for the "Madden NFL 08" video game.
During the 2006 season, the Titans wore seven different uniform combinations, pairing the white jersey with all three sets of pants (white, Titans blue, navy blue), the navy jersey with the white and navy pants, and the Titans blue jersey with navy and Titans blue pants. In a 2007 against the Atlanta Falcons, the Titans paired the navy blue jersey with the Titans blue pants for the first time. They also wore the navy blue jerseys with the light blue pants against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The team paired the Titans blue jerseys with the white pants for the first time on November 14, 2013, in a home game against the Indianapolis Colts.
In 2008, the Titans blue jerseys became the regular home uniforms, with the navy blue jerseys being relegated to alternate status, but not worn until 2013 — "see below".
In 2009, the NFL and the Hall of Fame committee announced that the Tennessee Titans and Buffalo Bills would begin the 2009 NFL preseason in the Hall of Fame Game. The game, played on Sunday, August 9, 2009, at Canton's Pro Football Hall of Fame Field at Fawcett Stadium, was nationally televised on NBC. The Titans defeated the Bills by a score of 21–18. In honor of the AFL's 50th anniversary, the Titans wore Oilers' uniforms for this game. Also in 2009, the team honored former quarterback Steve McNair by placing a small, navy blue disc on the back of their helmets with a white number nine inside of it (nine was the number McNair wore during his time with the Oilers/Titans).
From 2009 to 2012, the Titans did not wear an alternate jersey during any regular season games. It was not until 2013 that the team wore the navy blue jerseys twice in honor of the 15th anniversary as the "Titans." The Titans wore white jerseys for all games in 2014, for the exceptions of two preseason home games, in which the team wore their light Titans blue jerseys, and an October 26, 2014, game against the Houston Texans, in which the Titans wore their navy blue uniforms.
Beginning in 2015, navy blue became the team's primary home jersey color again, marking the first time since 2007 that the Titans wore navy as their primary home jersey, though the team plans to continue wearing white jerseys for early-season hot-weather home games. The light Titans blue jersey, which was the team's primary jersey color from 2008 to 2014, became the team's alternate jersey for a second time.
The Titans debuted new uniforms on April 4, 2018, at an event attended by over 10,000 fans in downtown Nashville. The uniforms retain the color palette of navy blue, Titans blue, and white; with new red and silver elements being introduced. The new helmets are navy blue with one silver sword-shaped stripe through the center and metallic gray facemasks, a change from the previous white helmets with two navy stripes and black facemasks.
The Titans share rivalries with their three AFC South opponents (Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans, and Indianapolis Colts). They also have historical rivalries with former divisional opponents such as the Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens (formerly the original Cleveland Browns) and Buffalo Bills, and during their time as the Houston Oilers, shared an in-state rivalry with the Dallas Cowboys.
Since their founding, the Jaguars have been seen from time to time as the Titans' primary rival due to constantly competitive games between the two franchises. The rivalry was heated in the late 1990s and early 2000s due to the success of both franchises at the time, including a season in which Jacksonville went 14-2 and Tennessee went 13-3. That season, all three of Jacksonville's losses (including the playoffs) came against the Titans, who went on to play in Super Bowl XXXIV. The rivalry then cooled with both teams experiencing misfortune in the late 2000s to early 2010s, but both teams ended lengthy playoff droughts in 2017.
The Texans see the Titans as their primary rival due to the Titans' previous history in Houston until their relocation to Tennessee. The Titans dominated the rivalry in the early 2000s, but the series has since evened out in the 2010s.
The Colts have been very dominant in their rivalry with the Titans since the creation of the AFC South, with quarterbacks Peyton Manning and later Andrew Luck leading the Colts to consistent success against the Titans and the rest of the division. However, the series has become more even as of late, with the Titans sweeping the Colts in 2017 after 11 straight losses.
As the Houston Oilers, the team was first in the same division as the Buffalo Bills in the days of the AFL, but were moved to the AFC Central division following the NFL-AFL merger. There, they developed a strong rivalry with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and later had a briefly intense rivalry with the Baltimore Ravens in the late 1990s and early 2000s after becoming the Titans, which briefly flared up again when former Titans quarterback Steve McNair went to the Ravens. The Steelers were the Oilers' primary divisional rival and to this date, the Titans have played them more than any other NFL team. The Steelers and Oilers were competitive in the 1970s, facing off in back-to-back AFC championship games towards the end of the decade. The teams both underwent hard times in the 1980s before re-emerging in the 1990s. After the Oilers' move to Tennessee and the re-alignment of the NFL's divisions in 2002, the Steelers-Titans rivalry has cooled somewhat as has the rivalry with the Ravens, though the Titans have faced off against Baltimore four times in the postseason, most recently in the 2019–20 NFL playoffs, in which they upset the top-seeded Ravens 28–12 in the divisional round.
Even after the Bills and Oilers were placed in separate divisions following the merger, their rivalry remained strong into the 1980s and 1990s with Warren Moon leading the Oilers up against Jim Kelly and the Bills. Two of the most iconic playoff moments in Oilers/Titans history have occurred against the Bills: the Comeback (known as "the Choke" in Houston due to the team's historic collapse against the Bills) and the Music City Miracle, which occurred after the team moved to Nashville to become the Titans. The Bills and Titans were later featured in an "AFL legacy" game in 2009, as part of festivities commemorating the 50th anniversary of the AFL's foundation. Titans owner Bud Adams was fined $250,000 by the league following the 41-17 Titans win in which he obscenely gestured towards the Bills sideline, as he and Bills owner Ralph Wilson had maintained a friendly rivalry and were the last living original AFL owners at that time (Adams and Wilson would die in 2013 and 2014, respectively).
Bud Adams established the Titans/Oilers Hall of Fame after the 40th season of the franchise to honor past players and management
Bold denotes still active with team
"Italics" denote still active but not with team
Passing yards (regular season) (as of end of 2019 season)
Rushing yards (regular season) (as of end of 2019 season)
Receiving yards (regular season) (as of end of 2019 season)
The flagship radio station of the Titans Radio Network for several years was WKDF 103.3-FM. However WGFX 104.5-FM, the original Tennessee Oilers/Titans Radio flagship station, again serves as the Titans Radio flagship station since the 2010 season. Mike Keith is the team's play-by-play announcer, and former Titans coach Dave McGinnis provides color commentary during games. Previous to McGinnis, former Titans tight end Frank Wycheck provided the color commentary. Larry Stone is also a part of the team, providing injury and scoring updates. The Titans Radio Network is broadcast on some 70 other stations.
The team had long resisted placing any of its games on Sirius XM Radio. According to the Titans Radio Network, this was because the Titans' contract with Citadel Broadcasting (parent of both WKDF and WGFX) predated the arrival of satellite radio, thus there was no provision for the NFL to reserve satellite-radio rights. In 2011, the Titans were able to extend their agreement with existing radio partners while creating a provision allowing home games to be broadcast on SiriusXM. They were the final team in the NFL to reach such a deal.
Most preseason games are televised on WKRN-TV, the ABC affiliate in Nashville. WKRN-TV also airs a weekly show on Tuesday nights. The show, called "Titans on 2", was most recently hosted by head coach Ken Whisenhunt and WKRN-TV anchors Cory Curtis and Audra Martin. The show is an opportunity for the coach to talk about the team's latest matchup and looks forward to the upcoming game.
For regular season games, WTVF, the CBS affiliate for Nashville is the main station airing them. WZTV, Fox affiliate if they host an NFC team, WSMV-TV, NBC for "Sunday Night Football" broadcasts, and WKRN-TV, ABC for simulcasts of ESPN's "Monday Night Football". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30839 |
Tetrarchy
The Tetrarchy is the term adopted to describe the system of government of the ancient Roman Empire instituted by Roman Emperor Diocletian in 293, marking the end of the Crisis of the Third Century and the recovery of the Roman Empire. This tetrarchy lasted until c. 313, when mutually destructive civil wars eliminated most of the claimants to power, leaving Constantine in control of the western half of the empire, and Licinius in control of the eastern half.
The term "tetrarchy" (from the , "tetrarchia", "leadership of four [people]") describes any form of government where power is divided among four individuals.
Although the term "tetrarch" was current in antiquity, it was never used of the imperial college under Diocletian. Instead, the term was used to describe independent portions of a kingdom that were ruled under separate leaders. The tetrarchy of Judaea, established after the death of Herod the Great, is the most famous example of the antique tetrarchy. The term was understood in the Latin world as well, where Pliny the Elder glossed it as follows: "each is the equivalent of a kingdom, and also part of one" ("regnorum instar singulae et in regna contribuuntur").
As used by the ancients, the term describes not only different governments, but also a different system of government from the Diocletianic arrangements. The Judaean tetrarchy was a set of four independent and distinct states, where each tetrarch ruled a quarter of a kingdom as they saw fit; the Diocletianic tetrarchy was a college led by a single supreme leader. When later authors described the period, this is what they emphasized: Ammianus had Constantius II admonish Gallus for disobedience by appealing to the example in submission set by Diocletian's lesser colleagues; his successor Julian compared the Diocletianic tetrarchs to a chorus surrounding a leader, speaking in unison under his command. Only Lactantius, a contemporary of Diocletian and a deep ideological opponent of the Diocletianic state, referred to the tetrarchs as a simple multiplicity of rulers.
Much modern scholarship was written without the term. Although Edward Gibbon pioneered the description of the Diocletianic government as a "New Empire", he never used the term "tetrarchy"; neither did Theodor Mommsen. It did not appear in the literature until used in 1887 by schoolmaster Hermann Schiller in a two-volume handbook on the Roman Empire ("Geschichte der Römischen Kaiserzeit"), to wit: ""die diokletianische Tetrarchie"". Even so, the term did not catch on in the literature until Otto Seeck used it in 1897.
The first phase, sometimes referred to as the diarchy ("rule of two"), involved the designation of the general Maximian as co-emperor—firstly as "Caesar" (junior emperor) in 285, followed by his promotion to "Augustus" in 286. Diocletian took care of matters in the eastern regions of the empire while Maximian similarly took charge of the western regions. In 293, Diocletian thought that more focus was needed on both civic and military problems, so with Maximian's consent, he expanded the imperial college by appointing two "Caesars" (one responsible to each "Augustus")—Galerius and Constantius Chlorus.
In 305, the senior emperors jointly abdicated and retired, allowing Constantius and Galerius to be elevated in rank to "Augustus". They in turn appointed two new Caesars—Severus II in the west under Constantius, and Maximinus in the east under Galerius—thereby creating the second Tetrarchy.
The four tetrarchs based themselves not at Rome but in other cities closer to the frontiers, mainly intended as headquarters for the defence of the empire against bordering rivals (notably Sassanian Persia) and barbarians (mainly Germanic, and an unending sequence of nomadic or displaced tribes from the eastern steppes) at the Rhine and Danube. These centres are known as the tetrarchic capitals. Although Rome ceased to be an operational capital, Rome continued to be nominal capital of the entire Roman Empire, not reduced to the status of a province but under its own, unique Prefect of the City (praefectus urbi, later copied in Constantinople).
The four tetrarchic capitals were:
Aquileia, a port on the Adriatic coast, and Eboracum (modern York, in northern England near the Celtic tribes of modern Scotland and Ireland), were also significant centres for Maximian and Constantius respectively.
In terms of regional jurisdiction there was no precise division among the four tetrarchs, and this period did not see the Roman state actually split up into four distinct sub-empires. Each emperor had his zone of influence within the Roman Empire, but little more, mainly high command in a 'war theater'. Each tetrarch was himself often in the field, while delegating most of the administration to the hierarchic bureaucracy headed by his respective Pretorian Prefect, each supervising several Vicarii, the governors-general in charge of another, lasting new administrative level, the civil diocese. For a listing of the provinces, now known as eparchy, within each quarter (known as a praetorian prefecture), see Roman province.
In the West, the Augustus Maximian controlled the provinces west of the Adriatic Sea and the Syrtis, and within that region his Caesar, Constantius, controlled Gaul and Britain. In the East, the arrangements between the Augustus Diocletian and his Caesar, Galerius, were much more flexible.
However, it appears that some contemporary and later writers, such as the Christian author Lactantius, and Sextus Aurelius Victor (who wrote about fifty years later and from uncertain sources), misunderstood the tetrarchic system in this respect, believing it to have involved a stricter division of territories among the four emperors.
Although power was shared in the tetrarchic system, the public image of the four emperors in the imperial college was carefully managed to give the appearance of a united empire ("patrimonium indivisum"). This was especially important after the numerous civil wars of the 3rd century.
The tetrarchs appeared identical in all official portraits. Coinage dating from the tetrarchic period depicts every emperor with identical features—only the inscriptions on the coins indicate which one of the four emperors is being shown. The Byzantine sculpture "Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs" shows the tetrarchs again with identical features and wearing the same military costume.
One of the greatest problems facing emperors in the Third Century Crisis was that they were only ever able to personally command troops on one front at any one time. While Aurelian and Probus were prepared to accompany their armies thousands of miles between war regions, this was not an ideal solution. Furthermore, it was risky for an emperor to delegate power in his absence to a subordinate general, who might win a victory and then be proclaimed as a rival emperor himself by his troops (which often happened). All members of the imperial college, on the other hand, were of essentially equal rank, despite two being senior emperors and two being junior; their functions and authorities were also equal.
Under the Tetrarchy a number of important military victories were secured. Both the Dyarchic and the tetrarchic system ensured that an emperor was near to every crisis area to personally direct and remain in control of campaigns simultaneously on more than just one front. After suffering a defeat by the Persians in 296, Galerius crushed Narseh in 298—reversing a series of Roman defeats throughout the century—capturing members of the imperial household and a substantial amount of booty and gaining a highly favourable peace treaty, which secured peace between the two powers for a generation. Similarly, Constantius defeated the British usurper Allectus, Maximian pacified the Gauls, and Diocletian crushed the revolt of Domitianus in Egypt.
When in 305 the 20-year term of Diocletian and Maximian ended, both abdicated. Their Caesares, Galerius and Constantius Chlorus, were both raised to the rank of Augustus, and two new Caesares were appointed: Maximinus (Caesar to Galerius) and Flavius Valerius Severus (Caesar to Constantius). These four formed the second tetrarchy.
However, the system broke down very quickly thereafter. When Constantius died in 306, Galerius promoted Severus to Augustus while Constantine, Constantius' son, was proclaimed Augustus by his father's troops. At the same time, Maxentius, the son of Maximian, who also resented being left out of the new arrangements, defeated Severus before forcing him to abdicate and then arranging his murder in 307. Maxentius and Maximian both then declared themselves Augusti. By 308 there were therefore no fewer than four claimants to the rank of Augustus (Galerius, Constantine, Maximian and Maxentius), and only one to that of Caesar (Maximinus).
In 308 Galerius, together with the retired emperor Diocletian and the supposedly retired Maximian, called an imperial "conference" at Carnuntum on the River Danube. The council agreed that Licinius would become Augustus in the West, with Constantine as his Caesar. In the East, Galerius remained Augustus and Maximinus remained his Caesar. Maximian was to retire, and Maxentius was declared a usurper. This agreement proved disastrous: by 308 Maxentius had become "de facto" ruler of Italy and Africa even without any imperial rank, and neither Constantine nor Maximinus—who had both been Caesares since 306 and 305 respectively—were prepared to tolerate the promotion of the Augustus Licinius as their superior.
After an abortive attempt to placate both Constantine and Maximinus with the meaningless title "filius Augusti" ("son of the Augustus"), essentially an alternative title for Caesar), they both had to be recognised as Augusti in 309. However, four full Augusti all at odds with each other did not bode well for the tetrarchic system.
Between 309 and 313 most of the claimants to the imperial office died or were killed in various civil wars. Constantine forced Maximian's suicide in 310. Galerius died naturally in 311. Maxentius was defeated by Constantine at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 and subsequently killed. Maximinus committed suicide at Tarsus in 313 after being defeated in battle by Licinius.
By 313, therefore, there remained only two emperors: Constantine in the West and Licinius in the East. The tetrarchic system was at an end, although it took until 324 for Constantine to finally defeat Licinius, reunite the two halves of the Roman Empire and declare himself sole Augustus.
After the retirement of the two "Augusti" both previous
"Caesares" succeeded them, and two new "Caesares" were appointed. Maximinus Daia was Galerius' nephew.
After the death of Constantius his legions proclaim his son Constantine the new "Augustus", but Galerius elevates Severus to be the new "junior Augustus" and compensates Constantine with the rank of "Caesar".
After the death of Severus, Constantine does not succeed him. At the council of Carnutum, Diocletian decides that
Licinius will be the new "Augustus" of the West.
After the death of Galerius he was succeeded by Maximinus Daia in as "Augustus" of the East, but is crowded by Licinius, who wants to have the status of the "senior Augustus". Maximinus appoints no new "Caesar", although it was assumed that this position should later on be filled out with the son of Severus, Flavius Severianus, or at least that he was scheduled for this position.
Shortly before the turn of the year 316/317, Constantine, now "Augustus" in the West, appointed a "Caesar", while Licinius briefly appointed one of his officers, Valerius Valens, as the third "Augustus". This was apparent from coins, though Valens was apparently inferior to Licinius, who soon executed him. Even the chronology is unclear, as the date stamping could also be the turn of the year 314/315.
The tetrarchic system is at its end. Both "Augusti" appoint their own sons as co-emperors, restoring a dynastic system. However, before his death, Licinius appoints the General Martinianus on 3 July 324 as "Augustus" in name only, as Martinianus was intended to replace Constantine in the west.
Although the tetrarchic system as such only lasted until 313, many aspects of it survived. The fourfold regional division of the empire continued in the form of Praetorian prefectures, each of which was overseen by a praetorian prefect and subdivided into administrative dioceses, and often reappeared in the title of the military supra-provincial command assigned to a magister militum.
The pre-existing notion of "consortium imperii", the sharing of imperial power, and the notion that an associate to the throne was the designated successor (possibly conflicting with the notion of hereditary claim by birth or adoption), was to reappear repeatedly.
The idea of the two halves, the east and the west, re-emerged and eventually resulted in the permanent de facto division into two separate Roman empires after the death of Theodosius I, though it is important to remember that the empire was never formally divided, the emperors of the eastern and western halves legally ruling as one imperial college until the fall of Rome's western empire left Byzantium, the "second Rome", sole direct heir. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30840 |
South Dakota
South Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who compose a large portion of the population and historically dominated the territory. South Dakota is the seventeenth largest by area, but the fifth smallest by population and the 5th least densely populated of the 50 United States. As the southern part of the former Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889, simultaneously with North Dakota. It was either the 39th or 40th state admitted to the union. Before signing the statehood papers, President Benjamin Harrison shuffled the papers so that no one could tell which became a state first. Pierre is the state capital and Sioux Falls, with a population of about 187,200, is South Dakota's largest city.
South Dakota is bordered by the states of North Dakota (to the north), Minnesota (to the east), Iowa (to the southeast), Nebraska (to the south), Wyoming (to the west), and Montana (to the northwest). The state is bisected by the Missouri River, dividing South Dakota into two geographically and socially distinct halves, known to residents as "East River" and "West River".
Eastern South Dakota is home to most of the state's population, and the area's fertile soil is used to grow a variety of crops. West of the Missouri River, ranching is the predominant agricultural activity, and the economy is more dependent on tourism and defense spending. Most of the Native American reservations are in West River. The Black Hills, a group of low pine-covered mountains sacred to the Sioux, are in the southwest part of the state. Mount Rushmore, a major tourist destination, is there. South Dakota has a temperate continental climate, with four distinct seasons and precipitation ranging from moderate in the east to semi-arid in the west. The state's ecology features species typical of a North American grassland biome.
Humans have inhabited the area for several millennia, with the Sioux becoming dominant by the early 19th century. In the late 19th century, European-American settlement intensified after a gold rush in the Black Hills and the construction of railroads from the east. Encroaching miners and settlers triggered a number of Indian wars, ending with the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. Key events in the 20th century included the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, increased federal spending during the 1940s and 1950s for agriculture and defense, and an industrialization of agriculture that has reduced family farming.
While several Democrats have represented South Dakota for multiple terms in both chambers of Congress, the state government is largely controlled by the Republican Party, whose nominees have carried South Dakota in each of the last 13 presidential elections. Historically dominated by an agricultural economy and a rural lifestyle, South Dakota has recently sought to diversify its economy in areas to attract and retain residents. South Dakota's history and rural character still strongly influence the state's culture.
South Dakota is in the north-central United States, and is considered a part of the Midwest by the U.S. Census Bureau; it is also part of the Great Plains region. The culture, economy, and geography of western South Dakota have more in common with the West than the Midwest. South Dakota has a total area of , making the state the 17th largest in the Union.
Black Elk Peak, formerly named Harney Peak, with an elevation of , is the state's highest point, while the shoreline of Big Stone Lake is the lowest, with an elevation of . South Dakota is bordered to the north by North Dakota; to the south by Nebraska; to the east by Iowa and Minnesota; and to the west by Wyoming and Montana. The geographical center of the U.S. is west of Castle Rock in Butte County. The North American continental pole of inaccessibility is between Allen and Kyle, from the nearest coastline.
The Missouri River is the largest and longest river in the United States. Other major South Dakota rivers include the Cheyenne, James, Big Sioux, and White Rivers. Eastern South Dakota has many natural lakes, mostly created by periods of glaciation. Additionally, dams on the Missouri River create four large reservoirs: Lake Oahe, Lake Sharpe, Lake Francis Case, and Lewis and Clark Lake.
South Dakota can generally be divided into three regions: eastern South Dakota, western South Dakota, and the Black Hills. The Missouri River serves as a boundary in terms of geographic, social, and political differences between eastern and western South Dakota. The geography of the Black Hills, long considered sacred by Native Americans, differs from its surroundings to such an extent it can be considered separate from the rest of western South Dakota. At times the Black Hills are combined with the rest of western South Dakota, and people often refer to the resulting two regions divided by the Missouri River as West River and East River.
Eastern South Dakota generally features higher precipitation and lower topography than the western part of the state. Smaller geographic regions of this area include the Coteau des Prairies, the Dissected Till Plains, and the James River Valley. The Coteau des Prairies is a plateau bordered on the east by the Minnesota River Valley and on the west by the James River Basin. Further west, the James River Basin is mostly low, flat, highly eroded land, following the flow of the James River through South Dakota from north to south. The Dissected Till Plains, an area of rolling hills and fertile soil that covers much of Iowa and Nebraska, extends into the southeastern corner of South Dakota. Layers deposited during the Pleistocene epoch, starting around two million years ago, cover most of eastern South Dakota. These are the youngest rock and sediment layers in the state, the product of several successive periods of glaciation which deposited a large amount of rocks and soil, known as till, over the area.
The Great Plains cover most of the western two-thirds of South Dakota. West of the Missouri River the landscape becomes more arid and rugged, consisting of rolling hills, plains, ravines, and steep flat-topped hills called buttes. In the south, east of the Black Hills, lie the South Dakota Badlands. Erosion from the Black Hills, marine skeletons which fell to the bottom of a large shallow sea that once covered the area, and volcanic material all contribute to the geology of this area.
The Black Hills are in the southwestern part of South Dakota and extend into Wyoming. This range of low mountains covers , with peaks that rise from 2,000 to 4,000 feet (600 to 1,200 m) above their bases. The Black Hills are the location of Black Elk Peak (7,242 ft or 2,207 m above sea level), the highest point in South Dakota and also the highest point in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. Two billion-year-old Precambrian formations, the oldest rocks in the state, form the central core of the Black Hills. Formations from the Paleozoic Era form the outer ring of the Black Hills; these were created between roughly 540 and 250 million years ago. This area features rocks such as limestone, which were deposited here when the area formed the shoreline of an ancient inland sea.
Much of South Dakota (except for the Black Hills area) is dominated by a temperate grassland biome. Although grasses and crops cover most of this region, deciduous trees such as cottonwoods, elms, and willows are common near rivers and in shelter belts.
Mammals in this area include bison, deer, pronghorn, coyotes, and prairie dogs. The state bird, the ring-necked pheasant, has adapted well to the area after being introduced from China. Growing populations of bald eagles are spread throughout the state, especially near the Missouri River. Rivers and lakes of the grasslands support populations of walleye, carp, pike, bass, and other species. The Missouri River also contains the pre-historic paddlefish.
Due to a higher elevation and level of precipitation, the Black Hills ecology differs significantly from the plains. The mountains are thickly blanketed by various types of pines, including ponderosa and lodgepole pines, as well as spruces. Black Hills mammals include deer, elk (wapiti), bighorn sheep, mountain goats, pine marten, and mountain lions, while the streams and lakes contain several species of trout.
South Dakota has a continental climate with four distinct seasons, ranging from cold, dry winters to warm and semi-humid summers. During the summers, the state's average high temperature is often close to , although it cools to near at night. It is not unusual for South Dakota to have severe hot, dry spells in the summer with the temperature climbing above several times a year. Winters are cold with January high temperatures averaging below freezing and low temperatures averaging below in most of the state. The highest recorded temperature is at Usta on July 15, 2006 and the lowest recorded temperature is at McIntosh on February 17, 1936.
Average annual precipitation in South Dakota ranges from semi-arid conditions in the northwestern part of the state (around ) to semi-humid around the southeast portion of the state (around ), although a small area centered on Lead in the Black Hills has the highest precipitation at nearly per year.
South Dakota summers bring frequent, sometimes severe, thunderstorms with high winds, thunder, and hail. The state's eastern part is often considered part of Tornado Alley, and South Dakota experiences an average of 30 tornadoes each year. Severe blizzards and ice storms often occur during winter.
South Dakota has several sites administered by the National Park Service. Two national parks have been established in South Dakota, both in the state's southwestern part. Wind Cave National Park, established in 1903 in the Black Hills, has an extensive cave network as well as a large herd of bison. Badlands National Park was created in 1978. The park features an eroded, brightly colored landscape surrounded by semi-arid grasslands. Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills was established in 1925. The sculpture of four U.S. Presidents was carved into the mountainside by sculptor Gutzon Borglum.
Other areas managed by the National Park Service include Jewel Cave National Monument near Custer, the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, which features a decommissioned nuclear missile silo and a separate missile control area several miles away, and the Missouri National Recreational River. The Crazy Horse Memorial is a large mountainside sculpture near Mt. Rushmore being built with private funds. The Mammoth Site near Hot Springs is another privately owned attraction in the Black Hills. A working paleontological dig, the site has one of the world's largest concentrations of mammoth remains.
Humans have lived in what is today South Dakota for several thousand years. The first inhabitants were Paleoindian hunter-gatherers, and disappeared from the area around 5000 BC. Between 500 AD and 800 AD, a semi-nomadic people known as the Mound Builders lived in central and eastern South Dakota. In the 14th century, the Crow Creek Massacre occurred, in which several hundred men, women, and children were killed near the Missouri River.
By 1500, the Arikara (or Ree) had settled in much of the Missouri River valley. European contact with the area began in 1743, when the LaVérendrye brothers explored the region. The LaVérendrye group buried a plate near the site of modern-day Pierre, claiming the region for France as part of greater Louisiana. In 1762 the entire region became part of the Spanish Louisiana until 1802. By the early 19th century, the Sioux had largely replaced the Arikara as the dominant group in the area.
In 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory, an area that included most of South Dakota, from Napoleon Bonaparte, and President Thomas Jefferson organized a group commonly referred to as the "Lewis and Clark Expedition" to explore the region. In 1817, an American fur trading post was set up at present-day Fort Pierre, beginning continuous American settlement of the area. In 1855, the U.S. Army bought Fort Pierre but abandoned it in 1857 in favor of Fort Randall to the south. Settlement by Americans and Europeans was by this time increasing rapidly, and in 1858 the Yankton Sioux signed the 1858 Treaty, ceding most of present-day eastern South Dakota to the United States.
Land speculators founded two of eastern South Dakota's largest present-day cities: Sioux Falls in 1856 and Yankton in 1859. In 1861, the Dakota Territory was established by the United States government (this initially included North Dakota, South Dakota, and parts of Montana and Wyoming). Settlement of the area, mostly by people from the eastern United States as well as western and northern Europe, increased rapidly, especially after the completion of an eastern railway link to Yankton in 1873.
In 1874, gold was discovered in the Black Hills during a military expedition led by George A. Custer and miners and explorers began illegally entering land promised to the Lakota. Custer's expedition took place despite the fact that the Sioux had been granted the entire western half of present-day South Dakota (West River) in 1868 by the Treaty of Laramie as part of the Great Sioux Reservation. The Sioux declined to grant mining rights or land in the Black Hills, and war broke out after the U.S. failed to stop white miners and settlers from entering the region. Eventually the U.S. won and broke up the Great Sioux Reservation into five reservations, settling the Lakota there. In 1980 the Supreme Court and Congress ordered compensation but the Lakota still refuse to accept it, insisting on return of their land.
A growing population and political concerns (admitting two states meant having four new senators for the Republican Party) caused Dakota Territory to be divided in half and President Benjamin Harrison signed proclamations formally admitting South Dakota and North Dakota to the union on November 2, 1889. Harrison had the papers shuffled to obscure which one was signed first and the order went unrecorded.
On December 29, 1890, the Wounded Knee Massacre occurred on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Commonly cited as the last major armed conflict between the United States and the Lakota Sioux Nation, the massacre resulted in the deaths of at least 146 Sioux, many of them women and children. 31 U.S. soldiers were also killed in the conflict.
During the 1930s, several economic and climatic conditions combined with disastrous results for South Dakota. A lack of rainfall, extremely high temperatures and inappropriate cultivation techniques produced what was known as the Dust Bowl in South Dakota and several other plains states. Fertile topsoil was blown away in massive dust storms, and several harvests were completely ruined. The experiences of the Dust Bowl, coupled with local bank foreclosures and the general economic effects of the Great Depression, resulted in many South Dakotans leaving the state. The population of South Dakota declined by more than 7% between 1930 and 1940.
Economic stability returned with the U.S. entry into World War II in 1941, when demand for the state's agricultural and industrial products grew as the nation mobilized for war. In 1944, the Pick–Sloan Plan was passed as part of the Flood Control Act of 1944 by the U.S. Congress, resulting in the construction of six large dams on the Missouri River, four of which are at least partially in South Dakota. Flood control, hydroelectricity, and recreational opportunities such as boating and fishing are provided by the dams and their reservoirs.
In recent decades, South Dakota has been transformed from a state dominated by agriculture to one with a more diversified economy. The tourism industry has grown considerably since the completion of the interstate system in the 1960s, with the Black Hills becoming more important as a destination. The financial service industry began to grow in the state as well, with Citibank moving its credit card operations from New York to Sioux Falls in 1981, a move that has been followed by several other financial companies. South Dakota was the first state to eliminate caps on interest rates.
In 2007, the site of the recently closed Homestake gold mine near Lead was chosen as the location of a new underground research facility, the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory. Despite a growing state population and recent economic development, many rural areas have been struggling over the past 50 years with locally declining populations and the emigration of educated young adults to larger South Dakota cities, such as Rapid City or Sioux Falls, or to other states. Mechanization and consolidation of agriculture has contributed greatly to the declining number of smaller family farms and the resulting economic and demographic challenges facing rural towns.
The United States Census Bureau estimates the population of South Dakota was 884,659 on July 1, 2019, an 8.66% increase since the 2010 United States Census, only North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, and Wyoming have fewer residents.
As of 2019, South Dakota had an estimated population of 884,659, an increase of 70,479, or 8.66%, since the year 2010. 7.3% of South Dakota's population was reported as under 5, 24% under 18, and 14.3% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 50.2% of the population. As of the 2000 census, South Dakota ranked fifth-lowest in the nation in population and population density.
Of the people residing in South Dakota, 65.7% were born in South Dakota, 31.4% were born in another U.S. state, 0.6% were born in Puerto Rico, U.S. Island areas, or born abroad to American parent(s), and 2.3% were born in another country.
The center of population of South Dakota is in Buffalo County, in the unincorporated county seat of Gann Valley.
According to the 2010 Census, the racial composition of the population was:
Ethnically, 2.7% of South Dakota's population was of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin (they may be of any race).
As of 2011, 25.4% of South Dakota's population younger than age 1 were minorities, meaning they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic white.
As of 2000, the five largest ancestry groups in South Dakota are German (40.7%), Norwegian (15.3%), Irish (10.4%), Native American (8.3%), and English (7.1%).
German Americans are the largest ancestry group in most parts of the state, especially in East River (east of the Missouri River), although there are also large Scandinavian-descended populations in some counties. South Dakota has the nation's largest population of Hutterites, a communal Anabaptist group which emigrated in 1874 from Europe, primarily from German-speaking areas.
American Indians, largely Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota (Sioux), are predominant in several counties and constitute 20 per cent of the population in West River. The seven large Indian reservations in the state occupy an area much diminished from their former Great Sioux Reservation of West River, which the federal government had once allocated to the Sioux tribes. South Dakota has the third-highest proportion of Native Americans of any state, behind Alaska and New Mexico.
Five of the state's counties are wholly within the boundaries of sovereign Indian reservations. Because of the limitations of climate and land, and isolation from urban areas with more employment opportunities, living standards on many South Dakota reservations are often far below the national average; Ziebach County ranked as the poorest county in the nation in 2009. The unemployment rate in Fort Thompson, on the Crow Creek Reservation, is 70%, and 21% of households lack plumbing or basic kitchen appliances. A 1995 study by the U.S. Census Bureau found 58% of homes on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation did not have a telephone. The reservations' isolation also inhibits their ability to generate revenue from gaming casinos, an avenue that has proved profitable for many tribes closer to urban centers.
In 1995 the legislature passed a law to make English the "common language" of the state. Since 2019, ""the language of the Great Sioux Nation, three dialects, Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota"" is an official language. As of the 2000 census, 1.90% of the population age5 or older speak German at home, while 1.51% speak Lakota or Dakota, and 1.43% Spanish. As of 2010, 93.46% (692,504) of South Dakota residents age5 and older spoke English as their primary language. 6.54% of the population spoke a language other than English. 2.06% (15,292) of the population spoke Spanish, 1.39% (10,282) spoke Dakota, and 1.37% (10,140) spoke German. Other languages spoken included Vietnamese (0.16%), Chinese (0.12%), and Russian (0.10%).
Over the last several decades, the population in many rural areas has declined in South Dakota, in common with other Great Plains states. The change has been characterized as "rural flight" as family farming has declined. Young people have moved to cities for other employment. This trend has continued in recent years, with 30 of South Dakota's counties losing population between the 1990 and the 2000 census. During that time, nine counties had a population loss of greater than 10%, with Harding County, in the northwest corner of the state, losing nearly 19% of its population. Low birth rates and a lack of younger immigration has caused the median age of many of these counties to increase. In 24 counties, at least 20% of the population is over the age of 65, compared with a national rate of 12.8%.
The effect of rural flight has not been spread evenly through South Dakota, however. Although most rural counties and small towns have lost population, the Sioux Falls area, the larger counties along Interstate 29, the Black Hills, and many Indian reservations have all gained population. As the reservations have exercised more sovereignty, some Sioux have returned to them from urban areas. Lincoln County near Sioux Falls was the seventh fastest-growing county (by percentage) in the United States in 2010. The growth in these areas has compensated for losses in the rest of the state. South Dakota's total population continues to increase steadily, albeit at a slower rate than the national average.
The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2010 were the Roman Catholic Church with 148,883 members; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) with 112,649 members; and the United Methodist Church (UMC) with 36,020 members. (The ELCA and UMC are specific denominations within the broader terms 'Lutheran' and 'Methodist', respectively.)
The results of a 2001 survey, in which South Dakotans were asked to identify their religion, include:
The current-dollar gross state product of South Dakota was $39.8 billion as of 2010, the fifth-smallest total state output in the U.S. The per capita personal income was $38,865 in 2010, ranked 25th in the U.S., and 12.5% of the population was below the poverty line in 2008.
CNBC's list of "Top States for Business for 2010" has recognized South Dakota as the seventh best state in the nation. In July 2011, the state's unemployment rate was 4.7%.
The service industry is the largest economic contributor in South Dakota. This sector includes the retail, finance, and health care industries. Citibank, which was the largest bank holding company in the United States at one time, established national banking operations in South Dakota in 1981 to take advantage of favorable banking regulations. Government spending is another important segment of the state's economy, providing over ten percent of the gross state product. Ellsworth Air Force Base, near Rapid City, is the second-largest single employer in the state.
Agriculture has historically been a key component of the South Dakota economy. Although other industries have expanded rapidly in recent decades, agricultural production is still very important to the state's economy, especially in rural areas. The five most valuable agricultural products in South Dakota are cattle, corn (maize), soybeans, wheat, and hogs. Agriculture-related industries such as meat packing and ethanol production also have a considerable economic impact on the state. South Dakota is the sixth leading ethanol-producing state in the nation.
Another important sector in South Dakota's economy is tourism. Many travel to view the attractions of the state, particularly those in the Black Hills region, such as historic Deadwood, Mount Rushmore, and the nearby state and national parks. One of the largest tourist events in the state is the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. The five-day event drew over 739,000 attendees in 2015; significant considering the state has a total population of 850,000. In 2006, tourism provided an estimated 33,000 jobs in the state and contributed over two billion dollars to the economy of South Dakota.
South Dakota has of highways, roads, and streets, along with of interstate highways. Two major interstates pass through South Dakota: Interstate 90, which runs east and west through the southern half of the state; and Interstate 29, running north and south in the eastern portion of the state. The I-29 corridor features generally higher rates of population and economic growth than areas in eastern South Dakota further from the interstate.
Also in the state are the shorter Interstates 190, a spur into central Rapid City, and 229, a loop around southern and eastern Sioux Falls. Several major U.S. highways pass through the state. U.S. routes 12, 14, 16, 18 and 212 travel east and west, while U.S. routes 81, 83, 85 and 281 run north and south. South Dakota and Montana are the only states sharing a land border which is not traversed by a paved road.
South Dakota contains two National Scenic Byways. The Peter Norbeck National Scenic Byway is in the Black Hills, while the Native American Scenic Byway runs along the Missouri River in the north-central part of the state. Other scenic byways include the Badlands Loop Scenic Byway, the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway, and the Wildlife Loop Road Scenic Byway.
Railroads have played an important role in South Dakota transportation since the mid-19th century. Some of railroad track were built in South Dakota during the late 19th century and early 20th century, but only are active. BNSF Railway is the largest railroad in South Dakota; the Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern Railroad (formerly the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern) is the state's other major carrier. Other state carriers include Dakota Southern Railway, Dakota and Iowa Railroad, Ellis and Eastern Railroad, Sunflour Railroad, Canadian Pacific Railway, and the Sisseton Milbank Railroad. Rail transportation in the state is mostly freight, but there are two passenger heritage railroads: the Black Hills Central and the Prairie Village, Herman, and Milwaukee. However, South Dakota is one of the two contiguous states that lack Amtrak service. (South Dakota is the only contiguous state that "never had" Amtrak—Wyoming used to be served by the San Francisco Zephyr and the Pioneer.)
South Dakota's largest commercial airports in terms of passenger traffic are the Sioux Falls Regional Airport and Rapid City Regional Airport. Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, and Allegiant Airlines, as well as commuter airlines using the brand affiliation with major airlines serve the two largest airports. Several other cities in the state also have commercial air service: Aberdeen Regional Airport, Pierre Regional Airport, and Watertown Regional Airport, some of which is subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.
Like other U.S. states, the structure of the government of South Dakota follows the same separation of powers as the federal government, with executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The structure of the state government is laid out in the Constitution of South Dakota, the highest law in the state. The constitution may be amended by a majority vote of both houses of the legislature, or by voter initiative.
The Governor of South Dakota occupies the executive branch of the state government. The current governor is Kristi Noem, a Republican. The state constitution gives the governor the power to sign into law or veto bills passed by the state legislature, to serve as commander-in-chief of the South Dakota National Guard, to appoint a cabinet, and to commute criminal sentences or to pardon those convicted of crimes. The governor serves for a four-year term, and may not serve more than two consecutive terms.
The state legislature is made up of two bodies, the Senate, which has 35 members, and the House of Representatives, with 70 members. South Dakota is divided into 35 legislative districts, with voters electing two representatives and one senator per district. The legislature meets for an annual session which begins on the second Tuesday in January and lasts for 30 days; it also meets if a special session is called by the governor.
The judicial branch is made up of several levels. The state supreme court, with four justices and a chief justice, is the highest court in the state. Below the supreme court are the circuit courts; 41 circuit judges serve in seven judicial circuits in the state. Below the circuit courts are the magistrate courts, which deal with more minor criminal and civil actions.
As of 2005, South Dakota has the lowest per capita total state tax rate in the United States. The state does not levy personal or corporate income taxes, inheritance taxes, or taxes on intangible personal property. The state sales tax rate is 4.5 percent. Various localities have local levies so in some areas the rate is six percent. The state sales tax does not apply to sales to Indians on Indian reservations, but many reservations have a compact with the state. Businesses on the reservation collect the tax and the state refunds to the Indian Tribes the percentage of sales tax collections relating to the ratio of Indian population to total population in the county or area affected. Ad valorem property taxes are local taxes and are a large source of funding for school systems, counties, municipalities and other local government units. The South Dakota Special Tax Division regulates some taxes including cigarette and alcohol-related taxes.
South Dakota is represented at the federal level by Senator John Thune, Senator Mike Rounds, and Representative Dusty Johnson. All three are Republicans. South Dakota is one of seven states with only one seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. In United States presidential elections, South Dakota is allotted three of 538 votes in the Electoral College. As in all other states except Maine and neighboring Nebraska, South Dakota's electoral votes are granted in a winner-take-all system.
South Dakota politics are generally dominated by the Republican Party. Since statehood, Republicans have carried the state's electoral votes in all but five presidential elections: 1896, 1912 (by Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party), 1932, 1936 and 1964. (Not to mention Democrat George McGovern—a native South Dakotan—who failed in 1972.) Only Alaska has been carried fewer times by a Democrat. Additionally, a Democrat has not won the governorship since 1974. As of 2016, Republicans hold a 15% voter registration advantage over Democrats and hold large majorities in both the state House and the state Senate.
Despite the state's general Republican and conservative leanings, Democrats have found success in various statewide elections, most notably in those involving South Dakota's congressional representatives in Washington. American Indians have been becoming more active in state and county electoral politics. In the 2002 election, American Indian voting carried Tim Johnson as the Democratic candidate by a margin of 532 votes. Until his electoral defeat in 2004, Senator Tom Daschle was the Senate minority leader (and briefly its majority leader during Democratic control of the Senate in 2001–02).
In 2016, South Dakota voted for Republican nominee Donald Trump over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by a margin of 30%. In 2018, Republican congresswoman Kristi Noem defeated Democrat Billie Sutton in the gubernatorial election, and Republican Dusty Johnson defeated Democrat Tim Bjorkman for the state's at-large seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Contemporary political issues in South Dakota include the costs and benefits of the state lottery, South Dakota's relatively low rankings in education spending (particularly teacher pay—recently the State Sales Tax was increased from 4% to 4.5% to finance an increase in teacher pay), and recent legislative and electoral attempts to ban abortion in the state.
A Republican supported bill passed in March 2019 requires that all public schools display "In God We Trust" in a prominent location.
South Dakota's culture reflects the state's American Indian, rural, Western, and European roots. A number of annual events celebrating the state's ethnic and historical heritage take place around the state, such as Days of '76 in Deadwood, Czech Days in Tabor, and the annual St. Patrick's Day and Cinco de Mayo festivities in Sioux Falls. The various tribes hold many annual pow wows at their reservations throughout the state, to which non-Native Americans are sometimes invited. Custer State Park holds an annual Buffalo Roundup, in which volunteers on horseback gather the park's herd of around 1,500 bison.
Black Elk (Lakota) was a medicine man and heyokha, whose life spanned the transition to reservations. His accounts of the 19th-century Indian Wars and Ghost Dance movement, and his deep thoughts on personal visions and Native American religion, form the basis of the book "Black Elk Speaks", first published in 1932. (Among several editions, a premier annotated edition was published in 2008.) Paul Goble, an award-winning children's book author and illustrator, has been based in the Black Hills since 1977.
Laura Ingalls Wilder, whose semi-autobiographical books are based on her experiences as a child and young adult on the frontier, is one of South Dakota's best-known writers. She drew from her life growing up on a homestead near De Smet as the basis for five of her novels: "By the Shores of Silver Lake", "The Long Winter", "Little Town on the Prairie", "These Happy Golden Years", and "The First Four Years". These gained renewed popularity in the United States when "Little House on the Prairie" was adapted and produced as a television series in 1974. Wilder's daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, who became a well-known writer in her own right, was born near De Smet in 1886.
South Dakota has also produced several notable artists. Harvey Dunn grew up on a homestead near Manchester in the late 19th century. While Dunn worked most of his career as a commercial illustrator, his most famous works showed various scenes of frontier life; he completed these near the end of his career. Oscar Howe (Crow) was born on the Crow Creek Indian Reservation and won fame for his watercolor paintings. Howe was one of the first Native American painters to adopt techniques and style heavily influenced by the mid-20th century abstraction movement, rather than relying on traditional Native American styles. Terry Redlin, originally from Watertown, is an accomplished painter of rural and wildlife scenes. Many of his works are on display at the Redlin Art Center in Watertown.
Sioux Falls is the largest city in South Dakota, with a 2010 population of 153,888,
and a metropolitan area population of 238,122.
The city, founded in 1856, is in the southeast corner of the state. Retail, finance, and healthcare have assumed greater importance in Sioux Falls, where the economy was originally centered on agri-business and quarrying.
Rapid City, with a 2010 population of 67,956, and a metropolitan area population of 124,766, is the second-largest city in the state. It is on the eastern edge of the Black Hills, and was founded in 1876. Rapid City's economy is largely based on tourism and defense spending, because of the proximity of many tourist attractions in the Black Hills and Ellsworth Air Force Base.
The next eight largest cities in the state, in order of descending 2010 population, are Aberdeen (26,091), Brookings (22,056), Watertown (21,482), Mitchell (15,254), Yankton (14,454), Pierre (13,646), Huron (12,592), and Vermillion (10,571). Pierre is the state capital, and Brookings and Vermillion are the locations of the state's two largest universities (South Dakota State University and University of South Dakota, respectively). With a population of about 14,000, Pierre is the second smallest state capital in the United States. Of the ten largest cities in the state, only Rapid City is west of the Missouri River.
South Dakota's first newspaper, the "Dakota Democrat", began publishing in Yankton in 1858. Today, the state's largest newspaper is the Sioux Falls "Argus Leader", with a Sunday circulation of 63,701 and a weekday circulation of 44,334. The "Rapid City Journal", with a Sunday circulation of 32,638 and a weekday circulation of 27,827, is South Dakota's second largest newspaper. The next four largest newspapers in the state are the Aberdeen "American News", the "Watertown Public Opinion", the "Huron Plainsman", and the "Brookings Register". In 1981, Tim Giago founded the "Lakota Times" as a newspaper for the local American Indian community on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The newspaper, now published in New York and known as "Indian Country Today", is available in every state in the country. The "Sioux City Journal" also covers parts of South Dakota.
There are nine television stations broadcasting in South Dakota; South Dakota Public Television broadcasts from a number of locations around the state, while the other stations broadcast from Sioux Falls or Rapid City. The two largest television media markets in South Dakota are Sioux Falls-Mitchell, with a viewership of 246,020, and Rapid City, with a viewership of 91,070. The two markets rank as 114th and 177th largest in the United States, respectively. The state's first television station, KELO-TV, began airing in Sioux Falls in 1953. Among KELO's early programs was "Captain 11", an afternoon children's program. "Captain 11" ran from 1955 until 1996, making it the nation's longest continuously running children's television program.
A number of South Dakotans are famous for their work in television and publishing. Former NBC Nightly News anchor and author Tom Brokaw is from Webster and Yankton, "USA Today" founder Al Neuharth was from Eureka and Alpena, gameshow host Bob Barker spent much of his childhood in Mission, and entertainment news hosts Pat O'Brien and Mary Hart are from Sioux Falls.
As of 2006, South Dakota has a total primary and secondary school enrollment of 136,872, with 120,278 of these students being educated in the public school system. There are 703 public schools in 168 school districts, giving South Dakota the highest number of schools per capita in the United States. The current high school graduation rate is 89.9%, and the average ACT score is 21.8, slightly above the national average of 21.1. 89.8% of the adult population has earned at least a high school diploma, and 25.8% has earned a bachelor's degree or higher. South Dakota's 2008 average public school teacher salary of $36,674 was the lowest in the nation (national average was $52,308). In 2007 South Dakota passed legislation modeled after Montana's Indian Education for All Act (1999), mandating education about Native American tribal history, culture, and heritage in all the schools, from pre-school through college, in an effort to increase knowledge and appreciation about Indian culture among all residents of the state, as well as to reinforce Indian students' understanding of their own cultures' contributions.
The South Dakota Board of Regents, whose members are appointed by the governor, controls the six public universities in the state. South Dakota State University (SDSU), in Brookings, is the state's largest university, with an enrollment of 12,831. The University of South Dakota (USD), in Vermillion, is the state's oldest university, and has South Dakota's only law school and medical school. South Dakota also has several private universities, the largest of which is Augustana University in Sioux Falls.
Because of its low population, South Dakota does not host any major league professional sports franchises. The state has minor league and independent league teams, all of which play in Sioux Falls or Rapid City. Sioux Falls is home to four teams: the Sioux Falls Canaries (baseball), the Sioux Falls Skyforce (basketball), the Sioux Falls Stampede (hockey), and the Sioux Falls Storm (indoor American football). The Canaries play in the American Association, and their home field is Sioux Falls Stadium. The Skyforce play in the NBA G League, and are owned by the NBA's Miami Heat. They play at the Sanford Pentagon. The Stampede and Storm share the Denny Sanford Premier Center. The Stampede play in the USHL, and the Storm play in the IFL. Rapid City has a hockey team named the Rapid City Rush that plays in the ECHL. The Rush began their inaugural season in 2008 at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.
Universities in South Dakota host a variety of sports programs. For many years, South Dakota was one of the only states in the country without an NCAA DivisionI football or basketball team. However, several years ago SDSU decided to move their teams from DivisionII to DivisionI, a move followed by the University of South Dakota. Other universities in the state compete at the NCAA's Division II or III levels, or in the NAIA.
Famous South Dakota athletes include Billy Mills, Mike Miller, Mark Ellis, Becky Hammon, Brock Lesnar, Chad Greenway, and Adam Vinatieri. Mills is from the town of Pine Ridge and competed at the 1964 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, becoming the only American to win a gold medal in the 10,000-meter event. Miller, of Mitchell, is a two-time NBA champion who played college basketball at the University of Florida, leading them to the 2000 NCAA Championship game his sophomore year, and won the 2001 NBA rookie of the year award. Ellis, of Rapid City, played for the University of Florida and four MLB teams before retiring in 2015. Hammon, of Rapid City, played for the WNBA's New York Liberty and San Antonio Silver Stars before becoming an assistant coach for the NBA's San Antonio Spurs in 2014. Lesnar, of Webster, is a former heavy-weight champion in the UFC and WWE. Vinatieri is an NFL placekicker who grew up in Rapid City and attended SDSU.
Fishing and hunting are popular outdoor activities in South Dakota. Fishing contributes over $224 million to South Dakota's economy, and hunting contributes over $303 million. In 2007, over 275,000 hunting licences and 175,000 fishing licences were sold in the state; around half of the hunting licences and over two-thirds of the fishing licences were purchased by South Dakotans. Popular species of game include pheasants, white-tailed deer, mule deer, and turkeys, as well as waterfowl such as Canada geese, snow geese, and mallards. Targets of anglers include walleye in the eastern glacial lakes and Missouri River reservoirs, Chinook salmon in Lake Oahe, and trout in the Black Hills.
Other sports, such as cycling and running, are also popular in the state. In 1991, the state opened the George S. Mickelson Trail, a rail trail in the Black Hills. Besides being used by cyclists, the trail is also the site of a portion of the annual Mount Rushmore marathon; the marathon's entire course is at an elevation of over 4,000 feet (1,200 m). Other events in the state include the Tour de Kota, a , six-day cycling event that covers much of eastern and central South Dakota, and the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which draws hundreds of thousands of participants from around the United States.
Some of South Dakota's official state symbols include: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26746 |
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a country situated in the confluence of Western, Central, and Southern Europe. It is a federal republic composed of 26 cantons, with federal authorities based in Bern. Switzerland is a landlocked country bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. It is geographically divided among the Swiss Plateau, the Alps, and the Jura, spanning a total area of , and land area of . While the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory, the Swiss population of approximately 8.5 million is concentrated mostly on the plateau, where the largest cities and economic centres are located, among them Zürich, Geneva and Basel, where multiple international organisations are domiciled (such as FIFA, the UN's second-largest Office, and the Bank for International Settlements) and where the main international airports of Switzerland are.
The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the late medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria and Burgundy. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The Federal Charter of 1291 is considered the founding document of Switzerland which is celebrated on Swiss National Day. Since the Reformation of the 16th century, Switzerland has maintained a strong policy of armed neutrality; it has not fought an international war since 1815 and did not join the United Nations until 2002. Nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. Switzerland is the birthplace of the Red Cross, one of the world's oldest and best known humanitarian organisations, and is home to numerous international organisations, including the United Nations Office at Geneva, which is its second-largest in the world. It is a founding member of the European Free Trade Association, but notably not part of the European Union, the European Economic Area or the Eurozone. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties.
Switzerland occupies the crossroads of Germanic and Romance Europe, as reflected in its four main linguistic and cultural regions: German, French, Italian and Romansh. Although the majority of the population are German-speaking, Swiss national identity is rooted in a common historical background, shared values such as federalism and direct democracy, and Alpine symbolism. Due to its linguistic diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names: "Schweiz" (German); "Suisse" (French); "Svizzera" (Italian); and "Svizra" (Romansh). On coins and stamps, the Latin name, "Confoederatio Helvetica" – frequently shortened to "Helvetia" – is used instead of the four national languages.
The sovereign state is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product. It ranks at or near the top in several international metrics, including economic competitiveness and human development. Zürich, Geneva and Basel have been ranked among the top ten cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with Zürich ranked second globally. In 2019, IMD placed Switzerland first in attracting skilled workers. World Economic Forum ranks it the 5th most competitive country globally.
The English name "Switzerland" is a compound containing "Switzer", an obsolete term for the Swiss, which was in use during the 16th to 19th centuries. The English adjective "Swiss" is a loan from French ', also in use since the 16th century. The name "Switzer" is from the Alemannic ', in origin an inhabitant of "Schwyz" and its associated territory, one of the Waldstätte cantons which formed the nucleus of the Old Swiss Confederacy. The Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for "Confederates", "Eidgenossen" (literally: "comrades by oath"), used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin "Confoederatio Helvetica" ().
The toponym "Schwyz" itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German ', ultimately perhaps related to ' ‘to burn’ (cf. Old Norse "svíða" ‘to singe, burn’), referring to the area of forest that was burned and cleared to build. The name was extended to the area dominated by the canton, and after the Swabian War of 1499 gradually came to be used for the entire Confederation.
The Swiss German name of the country, ', is homophonous to that of the canton and the settlement, but distinguished by the use of the definite article (' for the Confederation, but simply "" for the canton and the town). The long [iː] of Swiss German is historically and still often today spelled rather than , preserving the original identity of the two names even in writing.
The Latin name "Confoederatio Helvetica" was neologized and introduced gradually after the formation of the federal state in 1848, harking back to the Napoleonic Helvetic Republic, appearing on coins from 1879, inscribed on the Federal Palace in 1902 and after 1948 used in the official seal. (for example, the ISO banking code "CHF" for the Swiss franc, and the country top-level domain ".ch", are both taken from the state's Latin name). "Helvetica" is derived from the "Helvetii", a Gaulish tribe living on the Swiss plateau before the Roman era.
"Helvetia" appears as a national personification of the Swiss confederacy in the 17th century with a 1672 play by Johann Caspar Weissenbach.
Switzerland has existed as a state in its present form since the adoption of the Swiss Federal Constitution in 1848. The precursors of Switzerland established a protective alliance at the end of the 13th century (1291), forming a loose confederation of states which persisted for centuries.
The oldest traces of hominid existence in Switzerland date back about 150,000 years. The oldest known farming settlements in Switzerland, which were found at Gächlingen, have been dated to around 5300 BC.
The earliest known cultural tribes of the area were members of the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures, named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel. La Tène culture developed and flourished during the late Iron Age from around 450 BC, possibly under some influence from the Greek and Etruscan civilisations. One of the most important tribal groups in the Swiss region was the Helvetii. Steadily harassed by the Germanic tribes, in 58 BC the Helvetii decided to abandon the Swiss plateau and migrate to western Gallia, but Julius Caesar's armies pursued and defeated them at the Battle of Bibracte, in today's eastern France, forcing the tribe to move back to its original homeland. In 15 BC, Tiberius, who would one day become the second Roman emperor, and his brother Drusus, conquered the Alps, integrating them into the Roman Empire. The area occupied by the Helvetii—the namesakes of the later "Confoederatio Helvetica"—first became part of Rome's Gallia Belgica province and then of its Germania Superior province, while the eastern portion of modern Switzerland was integrated into the Roman province of Raetia. Sometime around the start of the Common Era, the Romans maintained a large legionary camp called Vindonissa, now a ruin at the confluence of the Aare and Reuss rivers, near the town of Windisch, an outskirt of Brugg.
The first and second century AD was an age of prosperity for the population living on the Swiss plateau. Several towns, like Aventicum, Iulia Equestris and Augusta Raurica, reached a remarkable size, while hundreds of agricultural estates (Villae rusticae) were founded in the countryside.
Around 260 AD, the fall of the Agri Decumates territory north of the Rhine transformed today's Switzerland into a frontier land of the Empire. Repeated raids by the Alamanni tribes provoked the ruin of the Roman towns and economy, forcing the population to find shelter near Roman fortresses, like the Castrum Rauracense near Augusta Raurica. The Empire built another line of defence at the north border (the so-called Donau-Iller-Rhine-Limes), but at the end of the fourth century the increased Germanic pressure forced the Romans to abandon the linear defence concept, and the Swiss plateau was finally open to the settlement of Germanic tribes.
In the Early Middle Ages, from the end of the 4th century, the western extent of modern-day Switzerland was part of the territory of the Kings of the Burgundians. The Alemanni settled the Swiss plateau in the 5th century and the valleys of the Alps in the 8th century, forming Alemannia. Modern-day Switzerland was therefore then divided between the kingdoms of Alemannia and Burgundy. The entire region became part of the expanding Frankish Empire in the 6th century, following Clovis I's victory over the Alemanni at Tolbiac in 504 AD, and later Frankish domination of the Burgundians.
Throughout the rest of the 6th, 7th and 8th centuries the Swiss regions continued under Frankish hegemony (Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties). But after its extension under Charlemagne, the Frankish Empire was divided by the Treaty of Verdun in 843. The territories of present-day Switzerland became divided into Middle Francia and East Francia until they were reunified under the Holy Roman Empire around 1000 AD.
By 1200, the Swiss plateau comprised the dominions of the houses of Savoy, Zähringer, Habsburg, and Kyburg. Some regions (Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, later known as "Waldstätten") were accorded the Imperial immediacy to grant the empire direct control over the mountain passes. With the extinction of its male line in 1263 the Kyburg dynasty fell in AD 1264; then the Habsburgs under King Rudolph I (Holy Roman Emperor in 1273) laid claim to the Kyburg lands and annexed them extending their territory to the eastern Swiss plateau.
A female who died in about 200 BC was found buried in a carved tree trunk during a construction project at the Kern school complex in March 2017 in Aussersihl. Archaeologists revealed that she was approximately 40 years old when she died and likely carried out little physical labor when she was alive. A sheepskin coat, a belt chain, a fancy wool dress, a scarf and a pendant made of glass and amber beads were also discovered with the woman.
The Old Swiss Confederacy was an alliance among the valley communities of the central Alps. The Confederacy, governed by nobles and patricians of various cantons, facilitated management of common interests and ensured peace on the important mountain trade routes. The Federal Charter of 1291 agreed between the rural communes of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden is considered the confederacy's founding document, even though similar alliances are likely to have existed decades earlier.
By 1353, the three original cantons had joined with the cantons of Glarus and Zug and the Lucerne, Zürich and Bern city states to form the "Old Confederacy" of eight states that existed until the end of the 15th century. The expansion led to increased power and wealth for the confederation. By 1460, the confederates controlled most of the territory south and west of the Rhine to the Alps and the Jura mountains, particularly after victories against the Habsburgs (Battle of Sempach, Battle of Näfels), over Charles the Bold of Burgundy during the 1470s, and the success of the Swiss mercenaries. The Swiss victory in the Swabian War against the Swabian League of Emperor Maximilian I in 1499 amounted to "de facto" independence within the Holy Roman Empire.
The Old Swiss Confederacy had acquired a reputation of invincibility during these earlier wars, but expansion of the confederation suffered a setback in 1515 with the Swiss defeat in the Battle of Marignano. This ended the so-called "heroic" epoch of Swiss history. The success of Zwingli's Reformation in some cantons led to inter-cantonal religious conflicts in 1529 and 1531 (Wars of Kappel). It was not until more than one hundred years after these internal wars that, in 1648, under the Peace of Westphalia, European countries recognised Switzerland's independence from the Holy Roman Empire and its neutrality.
During the Early Modern period of Swiss history, the growing authoritarianism of the patriciate families combined with a financial crisis in the wake of the Thirty Years' War led to the Swiss peasant war of 1653. In the background to this struggle, the conflict between Catholic and Protestant cantons persisted, erupting in further violence at the First War of Villmergen, in 1656, and the Toggenburg War (or Second War of Villmergen), in 1712.
In 1798, the revolutionary French government conquered Switzerland and imposed a new unified constitution. This centralised the government of the country, effectively abolishing the cantons: moreover, Mülhausen joined France and the Valtellina valley became part of the Cisalpine Republic, separating from Switzerland. The new regime, known as the Helvetic Republic, was highly unpopular. It had been imposed by a foreign invading army and destroyed centuries of tradition, making Switzerland nothing more than a French satellite state. The fierce French suppression of the Nidwalden Revolt in September 1798 was an example of the oppressive presence of the French Army and the local population's resistance to the occupation.
When war broke out between France and its rivals, Russian and Austrian forces invaded Switzerland. The Swiss refused to fight alongside the French in the name of the Helvetic Republic. In 1803 Napoleon organised a meeting of the leading Swiss politicians from both sides in Paris. The result was the Act of Mediation which largely restored Swiss autonomy and introduced a Confederation of 19 cantons. Henceforth, much of Swiss politics would concern balancing the cantons' tradition of self-rule with the need for a central government.
In 1815 the Congress of Vienna fully re-established Swiss independence and the European powers agreed to permanently recognise Swiss neutrality. Swiss troops still served foreign governments until 1860 when they fought in the Siege of Gaeta. The treaty also allowed Switzerland to increase its territory, with the admission of the cantons of Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva. Switzerland's borders have not changed since, except for some minor adjustments.
The restoration of power to the patriciate was only temporary. After a period of unrest with repeated violent clashes, such as the Züriputsch of 1839, civil war (the "Sonderbundskrieg") broke out in 1847 when some Catholic cantons tried to set up a separate alliance (the "Sonderbund"). The war lasted for less than a month, causing fewer than 100 casualties, most of which were through friendly fire. Yet however minor the Sonderbundskrieg appears compared with other European riots and wars in the 19th century, it nevertheless had a major impact on both the psychology and the society of the Swiss and of Switzerland.
The war convinced most Swiss of the need for unity and strength towards its European neighbours. Swiss people from all strata of society, whether Catholic or Protestant, from the liberal or conservative current, realised that the cantons would profit more if their economic and religious interests were merged.
Thus, while the rest of Europe saw revolutionary uprisings, the Swiss drew up a constitution which provided for a federal layout, much of it inspired by the American example. This constitution provided for a central authority while leaving the cantons the right to self-government on local issues. Giving credit to those who favoured the power of the cantons (the Sonderbund Kantone), the national assembly was divided between an upper house (the Council of States, two representatives per canton) and a lower house (the National Council, with representatives elected from across the country). Referendums were made mandatory for any amendment of this constitution. This new constitution also brought a legal end to nobility in Switzerland.
A system of single weights and measures was introduced and in 1850 the Swiss franc became the Swiss single currency. Article 11 of the constitution forbade sending troops to serve abroad, with the exception of serving the Holy See, though the Swiss were still obliged to serve Francis II of the Two Sicilies with Swiss Guards present at the Siege of Gaeta in 1860, marking the end of foreign service.
An important clause of the constitution was that it could be re-written completely if this was deemed necessary, thus enabling it to evolve as a whole rather than being modified one amendment at a time.
This need soon proved itself when the rise in population and the Industrial Revolution that followed led to calls to modify the constitution accordingly. An early draft was rejected by the population in 1872 but modifications led to its acceptance in 1874. It introduced the facultative referendum for laws at the federal level. It also established federal responsibility for defence, trade, and legal matters.
In 1891, the constitution was revised with unusually strong elements of direct democracy, which remain unique even today.
Switzerland was not invaded during either of the world wars. During World War I, Switzerland was home to Vladimir Illych Ulyanov (Vladimir Lenin) and he remained there until 1917. Swiss neutrality was seriously questioned by the Grimm–Hoffmann Affair in 1917, but it was short-lived. In 1920, Switzerland joined the League of Nations, which was based in Geneva, on condition that it was exempt from any military requirements.
During World War II, detailed invasion plans were drawn up by the Germans, but Switzerland was never attacked. Switzerland was able to remain independent through a combination of military deterrence, concessions to Germany, and good fortune as larger events during the war delayed an invasion. Under General Henri Guisan, appointed the commander-in-chief for the duration of the war, a general mobilisation of the armed forces was ordered. The Swiss military strategy was changed from one of static defence at the borders to protect the economic heartland, to one of organised long-term attrition and withdrawal to strong, well-stockpiled positions high in the Alps known as the Reduit. Switzerland was an important base for espionage by both sides in the conflict and often mediated communications between the Axis and Allied powers.
Switzerland's trade was blockaded by both the Allies and by the Axis. Economic cooperation and extension of credit to the Third Reich varied according to the perceived likelihood of invasion and the availability of other trading partners. Concessions reached a peak after a crucial rail link through Vichy France was severed in 1942, leaving Switzerland (together with Liechtenstein) entirely isolated from the wider world by Axis controlled territory. Over the course of the war, Switzerland interned over 300,000 refugees and the International Red Cross, based in Geneva, played an important part during the conflict. Strict immigration and asylum policies as well as the financial relationships with Nazi Germany raised controversy, but not until the end of the 20th century.
During the war, the Swiss Air Force engaged aircraft of both sides, shooting down 11 intruding Luftwaffe planes in May and June 1940, then forcing down other intruders after a change of policy following threats from Germany. Over 100 Allied bombers and their crews were interned during the war. Between 1940 and 1945, Switzerland was bombed by the Allies causing fatalities and property damage. Among the cities and towns bombed were Basel, Brusio, Chiasso, Cornol, Geneva, Koblenz, Niederweningen, Rafz, Renens, Samedan, Schaffhausen, Stein am Rhein, Tägerwilen, Thayngen, Vals, and Zürich. Allied forces explained the bombings, which violated the 96th Article of War, resulted from navigation errors, equipment failure, weather conditions, and errors made by bomber pilots. The Swiss expressed fear and concern that the bombings were intended to put pressure on Switzerland to end economic cooperation and neutrality with Nazi Germany. Court-martial proceedings took place in England and the U.S. Government paid 62,176,433.06 in Swiss francs for reparations of the bombings.
Switzerland's attitude towards refugees was complicated and controversial; over the course of the war it admitted as many as 300,000 refugees while refusing tens of thousands more, including Jews who were severely persecuted by the Nazis.
After the war, the Swiss government exported credits through the charitable fund known as the Schweizerspende and also donated to the Marshall Plan to help Europe's recovery, efforts that ultimately benefited the Swiss economy.
During the Cold War, Swiss authorities considered the construction of a Swiss nuclear bomb. Leading nuclear physicists at the Federal Institute of Technology Zürich such as Paul Scherrer made this a realistic possibility. In 1988, the Paul Scherrer Institute was founded in his name to explore the therapeutic uses of neutron scattering technologies. Financial problems with the defence budget and ethical considerations prevented the substantial funds from being allocated, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 was seen as a valid alternative. All remaining plans for building nuclear weapons were dropped by 1988.
Switzerland was the last Western republic to grant women the right to vote. Some Swiss cantons approved this in 1959, while at the federal level it was achieved in 1971 and, after resistance, in the last canton Appenzell Innerrhoden (one of only two remaining "Landsgemeinde", along with Glarus) in 1990. After obtaining suffrage at the federal level, women quickly rose in political significance, with the first woman on the seven member Federal Council executive being Elisabeth Kopp, who served from 1984 to 1989, and the first female president being Ruth Dreifuss in 1999.
Switzerland joined the Council of Europe in 1963. In 1979 areas from the canton of Bern attained independence from the Bernese, forming the new canton of Jura. On 18 April 1999 the Swiss population and the cantons voted in favour of a completely revised federal constitution.
In 2002 Switzerland became a full member of the United Nations, leaving the Vatican City as the last widely recognised state without full UN membership. Switzerland is a founding member of the EFTA, but is not a member of the European Economic Area. An application for membership in the European Union was sent in May 1992, but not advanced since the EEA was rejected in December 1992 when Switzerland was the only country to launch a referendum on the EEA. There have since been several referendums on the EU issue; due to opposition from the citizens, the membership application has been withdrawn. Nonetheless, Swiss law is gradually being adjusted to conform with that of the EU, and the government has signed a number of bilateral agreements with the European Union. Switzerland, together with Liechtenstein, has been completely surrounded by the EU since Austria's entry in 1995. On 5 June 2005, Swiss voters agreed by a 55% majority to join the Schengen treaty, a result that was regarded by EU commentators as a sign of support by Switzerland, a country that is traditionally perceived as independent and reluctant to enter supranational bodies.
Extending across the north and south side of the Alps in west-central Europe, Switzerland encompasses a great diversity of landscapes and climates on a limited area of . The population is about 8 million, resulting in an average population density of around 195 people per square kilometre (500/sq mi). The more mountainous southern half of the country is far more sparsely populated than the northern half. In the largest Canton of Graubünden, lying entirely in the Alps, population density falls to 27 /km² (70 /sq mi).
Switzerland lies between latitudes 45° and 48° N, and longitudes 5° and 11° E. It contains three basic topographical areas: the Swiss Alps to the south, the Swiss Plateau or Central Plateau, and the Jura mountains on the west. The Alps are a high mountain range running across the central-south of the country, constituting about 60% of the country's total area. The majority of the Swiss population live in the Swiss Plateau. Among the high valleys of the Swiss Alps many glaciers are found, totalling an area of . From these originate the headwaters of several major rivers, such as the Rhine, Inn, Ticino and Rhône, which flow in the four cardinal directions into the whole of Europe. The hydrographic network includes several of the largest bodies of freshwater in Central and Western Europe, among which are included Lake Geneva (also called le Lac Léman in French), Lake Constance (known as Bodensee in German) and Lake Maggiore. Switzerland has more than 1500 lakes, and contains 6% of Europe's stock of fresh water. Lakes and glaciers cover about 6% of the national territory. The largest lake is Lake Geneva, in western Switzerland shared with France. The Rhône is both the main source and outflow of Lake Geneva. Lake Constance is the second largest Swiss lake and, like the Lake Geneva, an intermediate step by the Rhine at the border to Austria and Germany. While the Rhône flows into the Mediterranean Sea at the French Camargue region and the Rhine flows into the North Sea at Rotterdam in the Netherlands, about apart, both springs are only about apart from each other in the Swiss Alps.
Forty-eight of Switzerland's mountains are above sea in altitude or higher. At , Monte Rosa is the highest, although the Matterhorn () is often regarded as the most famous. Both are located within the Pennine Alps in the canton of Valais, on the border with Italy. The section of the Bernese Alps above the deep glacial Lauterbrunnen valley, containing 72 waterfalls, is well known for the Jungfrau () Eiger and Mönch, and the many picturesque valleys in the region. In the southeast the long Engadin Valley, encompassing the St. Moritz area in canton of Graubünden, is also well known; the highest peak in the neighbouring Bernina Alps is Piz Bernina ().
The more populous northern part of the country, constituting about 30% of the country's total area, is called the Swiss Plateau. It has greater open and hilly landscapes, partly forested, partly open pastures, usually with grazing herds, or vegetables and fruit fields, but it is still hilly. There are large lakes found here and the biggest Swiss cities are in this area of the country.
Within Switzerland there are two small enclaves: Büsingen belongs to Germany, Campione d'Italia belongs to Italy. Switzerland has no exclaves in other countries.
The Swiss climate is generally temperate, but can vary greatly between the localities, from glacial conditions on the mountaintops to the often pleasant near Mediterranean climate at Switzerland's southern tip. There are some valley areas in the southern part of Switzerland where some cold-hardy palm trees are found. Summers tend to be warm and humid at times with periodic rainfall so they are ideal for pastures and grazing. The less humid winters in the mountains may see long intervals of stable conditions for weeks, while the lower lands tend to suffer from inversion, during these periods, thus seeing no sun for weeks.
A weather phenomenon known as the föhn (with an identical effect to the chinook wind) can occur at all times of the year and is characterised by an unexpectedly warm wind, bringing air of very low relative humidity to the north of the Alps during rainfall periods on the southern face of the Alps. This works both ways across the alps but is more efficient if blowing from the south due to the steeper step for oncoming wind from the south. Valleys running south to north trigger the best effect.
The driest conditions persist in all inner alpine valleys that receive less rain because arriving clouds lose a lot of their content while crossing the mountains before reaching these areas. Large alpine areas such as Graubünden remain drier than pre-alpine areas and as in the main valley of the Valais wine grapes are grown there.
The wettest conditions persist in the high Alps and in the Ticino canton which has much sun yet heavy bursts of rain from time to time. Precipitation tends to be spread moderately throughout the year with a peak in summer. Autumn is the driest season, winter receives less precipitation than summer, yet the weather patterns in Switzerland are not in a stable climate system and can be variable from year to year with no strict and predictable periods.
Switzerland's ecosystems can be particularly fragile, because the many delicate valleys separated by high mountains often form unique ecologies. The mountainous regions themselves are also vulnerable, with a rich range of plants not found at other altitudes, and experience some pressure from visitors and grazing. The climatic, geological and topographical conditions of the alpine region make for a very fragile ecosystem that is particularly sensitive to climate change. Nevertheless, according to the 2014 Environmental Performance Index, Switzerland ranks first among 132 nations in safeguarding the environment, due to its high scores on environmental public health, its heavy reliance on renewable sources of energy (hydropower and geothermal energy), and its control of greenhouse gas emissions.
However, access to biocapacity in Switzerland is far lower than world average. In 2016, Switzerland had 1.0 global hectares of biocapacity per person within its territory, 40 percent less than world average of 1.6 global hectares per person. In contrast, in 2016, they used 4.6 global hectares of biocapacity - their ecological footprint of consumption. This means they used about 4.6 times as much biocapacity as Switzerland contains. The remainder comes from imports and overusing the global commons (such as the atmosphere through greenhouse gas emissions). As a result, Switzerland is running a biocapacity deficit.
The Federal Constitution adopted in 1848 is the legal foundation of the modern federal state. A new Swiss Constitution was adopted in 1999, but did not introduce notable changes to the federal structure. It outlines basic and political rights of individuals and citizen participation in public affairs, divides the powers between the Confederation and the cantons and defines federal jurisdiction and authority. There are three main governing bodies on the federal level: the bicameral parliament (legislative), the Federal Council (executive) and the Federal Court (judicial).
The Swiss Parliament consists of two houses: the Council of States which has 46 representatives (two from each canton and one from each half-canton) who are elected under a system determined by each canton, and the National Council, which consists of 200 members who are elected under a system of proportional representation, depending on the population of each canton. Members of both houses serve for 4 years and only serve as members of parliament part-time (so-called "Milizsystem" or citizen legislature). When both houses are in joint session, they are known collectively as the Federal Assembly. Through referendums, citizens may challenge any law passed by parliament and through initiatives, introduce amendments to the federal constitution, thus making Switzerland a direct democracy.
The Federal Council constitutes the federal government, directs the federal administration and serves as collective Head of State. It is a collegial body of seven members, elected for a four-year mandate by the Federal Assembly which also exercises oversight over the Council. The President of the Confederation is elected by the Assembly from among the seven members, traditionally in rotation and for a one-year term; the President chairs the government and assumes representative functions. However, the president is a "primus inter pares" with no additional powers, and remains the head of a department within the administration.
The Swiss government has been a coalition of the four major political parties since 1959, each party having a number of seats that roughly reflects its share of electorate and representation in the federal parliament.
The classic distribution of 2 CVP/PDC, 2 SPS/PSS, 2 FDP/PRD and 1 SVP/UDC as it stood from 1959 to 2003 was known as the "magic formula". Following the 2015 Federal Council elections, the seven seats in the Federal Council were distributed as follows:
The function of the Federal Supreme Court is to hear appeals against rulings of cantonal or federal courts. The judges are elected by the Federal Assembly for six-year terms.
Direct democracy and federalism are hallmarks of the Swiss political system. Swiss citizens are subject to three legal jurisdictions: the municipality, canton and federal levels. The 1848 and 1999 Swiss Constitutions define a system of direct democracy (sometimes called half-direct or representative direct democracy because it is aided by the more commonplace institutions of a representative democracy). The instruments of this system at the federal level, known as popular rights (, , ), include the right to submit a federal initiative and a referendum, both of which may overturn parliamentary decisions.
By calling a federal referendum, a group of citizens may challenge a law passed by parliament, if they gather 50,000 signatures against the law within 100 days. If so, a national vote is scheduled where voters decide by a simple majority whether to accept or reject the law. Any 8 cantons together can also call a constitutional referendum on a federal law.
Similarly, the federal "constitutional initiative" allows citizens to put a constitutional amendment to a national vote, if 100,000 voters sign the proposed amendment within 18 months. The Federal Council and the Federal Assembly can supplement the proposed amendment with a counter-proposal, and then voters must indicate a preference on the ballot in case both proposals are accepted. Constitutional amendments, whether introduced by initiative or in parliament, must be accepted by a double majority of the national popular vote and the cantonal popular votes.
The Swiss Confederation consists of 26 cantons:
*These cantons are known as half-cantons.
The cantons are federated states, have a permanent constitutional status and, in comparison with the situation in other countries, a high degree of independence. Under the Federal Constitution, all 26 cantons are equal in status, except that 6 (referred to often as the half-cantons) are represented by only one councillor (instead of two) in the Council of States and have only half a cantonal vote with respect to the required cantonal majority in referendums on constitutional amendments. Each canton has its own constitution, and its own parliament, government, police and courts. However, there are considerable differences between the individual cantons, most particularly in terms of population and geographical area. Their populations vary between 16,003 (Appenzell Innerrhoden) and 1,487,969 (Zürich), and their area between (Basel-Stadt) and (Grisons).
The cantons comprise a total of 2,222 municipalities as of 2018.
Traditionally, Switzerland avoids alliances that might entail military, political, or direct economic action and has been neutral since the end of its expansion in 1515. Its policy of neutrality was internationally recognised at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Only in 2002 did Switzerland become a full member of the United Nations and it was the first state to join it by referendum. Switzerland maintains diplomatic relations with almost all countries and historically has served as an intermediary between other states. Switzerland is not a member of the European Union; the Swiss people have consistently rejected membership since the early 1990s. However, Switzerland does participate in the Schengen Area. Swiss neutrality has been questioned at times.
Many international institutions have their seats in Switzerland, in part because of its policy of neutrality. Geneva is the birthplace of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and the Geneva Conventions and, since 2006, hosts the United Nations Human Rights Council. Even though Switzerland is one of the most recent countries to have joined the United Nations, the Palace of Nations in Geneva is the second biggest centre for the United Nations after New York, and Switzerland was a founding member and home to the League of Nations.
Apart from the United Nations headquarters, the Swiss Confederation is host to many UN agencies, like the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and about 200 other international organisations, including the World Trade Organization and the World Intellectual Property Organization. The annual meetings of the World Economic Forum in Davos bring together top international business and political leaders from Switzerland and foreign countries to discuss important issues facing the world, including health and the environment. Additionally the headquarters of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) are located in Basel since 1930.
Furthermore, many sport federations and organisations are located throughout the country, such as the International Basketball Federation in Geneva, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) in Nyon, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and the International Ice Hockey Federation both in Zürich, the International Cycling Union in Aigle, and the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne.
The Swiss Armed Forces, including the Land Forces and the Air Force, are composed mostly of conscripts, male citizens aged from 20 to 34 (in special cases up to 50) years. Being a landlocked country, Switzerland has no navy; however, on lakes bordering neighbouring countries, armed military patrol boats are used. Swiss citizens are prohibited from serving in foreign armies, except for the Swiss Guards of the Vatican, or if they are dual citizens of a foreign country and reside there.
The structure of the Swiss militia system stipulates that the soldiers keep their Army issued equipment, including all personal weapons, at home. Some organisations and political parties find this practice controversial. Women can serve voluntarily. Men usually receive military conscription orders for training at the age of 18. About two thirds of the young Swiss are found suited for service; for those found unsuited, various forms of alternative service exist. Annually, approximately 20,000 persons are trained in recruit centres for a duration from 18 to 21 weeks. The reform "Army XXI" was adopted by popular vote in 2003, it replaced the previous model "Army 95", reducing the effectives from 400,000 to about 200,000. Of those, 120,000 are active in periodic Army training and 80,000 are non-training reserves.
Overall, three general mobilisations have been declared to ensure the integrity and neutrality of Switzerland. The first one was held on the occasion of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71. The second was in response to the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. The third mobilisation of the army took place in September 1939 in response to the German attack on Poland; Henri Guisan was elected as the General-in-Chief.
Because of its neutrality policy, the Swiss army does not currently take part in armed conflicts in other countries, but is part of some peacekeeping missions around the world. Since 2000 the armed force department has also maintained the Onyx intelligence gathering system to monitor satellite communications. Switzerland decided not to sign the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty.
Following the end of the Cold War there have been a number of attempts to curb military activity or even abolish the armed forces altogether. A notable referendum on the subject, launched by an anti-militarist group, was held on 26 November 1989. It was defeated with about two thirds of the voters against the proposal. A similar referendum, called for before, but held shortly after the 11 September attacks in the US, was defeated by over 78% of voters.
Gun politics in Switzerland are unique in Europe in that 29% of citizens are legally armed. The large majority of firearms kept at home are issued by the Swiss army, but ammunition is no longer issued.
Until 1848 the rather loosely coupled Confederation did not know a central political organisation, but representatives, mayors, and "Landammänner" met several times a year at the capital of the "Lieu" presiding the Confederal Diet for one year.
Until 1500 the legates met most of the time in Lucerne, but also in Zürich, Baden, Bern, Schwyz etc., but sometimes also at places outside of the confederation, such as Constance. From the Swabian War in 1499 onwards until Reformation, most conferences met in Zurich. Afterwards the town hall at Baden, where the annual accounts of the common people had been held regularly since 1426, became the most frequent, but not the sole place of assembly. After 1712 Frauenfeld gradually dissolved Baden. From 1526, the Catholic conferences were held mostly in Lucerne, the Protestant conferences from 1528 mostly in Aarau, the one for the legitimation of the French Ambassador in Solothurn. At the same time the syndicate for the "Ennetbirgischen Vogteien" located in the present Ticino met from 1513 in Lugano and Locarno.
After the Helvetic Republic and during the Mediation from 1803 until 1815 the Confederal Diet of the 19 "Lieus" met at the capitals of the "directoral cantons" Fribourg, Berne, Basel, Zurich, Lucerne and Solothurn.
After the Long Diet from 6 April 1814 to 31 August 1815 took place in Zurich to replace the constitution and the enhancement of the Confederation to 22 cantons by the admission of the cantons of Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva to full members, the directoral cantons of Lucerne, Zurich and Berne took over the diet in two-year turns.
In 1848, the federal constitution provided that details concerning the federal institutions, such as their locations, should be taken care of by the Federal Assembly (BV 1848 Art. 108). Thus on 28 November 1848, the Federal Assembly voted in majority to locate the seat of government in Berne. And, as a prototypical federal compromise, to assign other federal institutions, such as the Federal Polytechnical School (1854, the later ETH) to Zurich, and other institutions to Lucerne, such as the later SUVA (1912) and the Federal Insurance Court (1917). In 1875, a law (RS 112) fixed the compensations owed by the city of Bern for the federal seat. According to these living fundamental federalistic feelings further federal institutions were subsequently attributed to Lausanne (Federal Supreme Court in 1872, and EPFL in 1969), Bellinzona (Federal Criminal Court, 2004), and St. Gallen (Federal Administrative Court and Federal Patent Court, 2012).
The 1999 new constitution, however, does not contain anything concerning any Federal City. In 2002 a tripartite committee has been asked by the Swiss Federal Council to prepare the "creation of a federal law on the status of Bern as a Federal City", and to evaluate the positive and negative aspects for the city and the canton of Bern if this status were awarded. After a first report the work of this committee was suspended in 2004 by the Swiss Federal Council, and work on this subject has not resumed since.
Thus as of today, no city in Switzerland has the official status either of capital or of Federal City, nevertheless Berne is commonly referred to as "Federal City" (, , ).
Switzerland has a stable, prosperous and high-tech economy and enjoys great wealth, being ranked as the wealthiest country in the world per capita in multiple rankings, while at the same time being one the least corrupt countries in the world. It has the world's twentieth largest economy by nominal GDP and the thirty-eighth largest by purchasing power parity. It is the seventeenth largest exporter. Zürich and Geneva are regarded as global cities, ranked as Alpha and Beta respectively. Switzerland has the highest European rating in the Index of Economic Freedom 2010, while also providing large coverage through public services. The nominal per capita GDP is higher than those of the larger Western and Central European economies and Japan. In terms of GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power, Switzerland was ranked 5th in the world in 2018 by World Bank and estimated at 9th by the IMF in 2020, as well as 11th by the CIA World Factbook in 2017.
The World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report currently ranks Switzerland's economy as the most competitive in the world, while ranked by the European Union as Europe's most innovative country. It is a relatively easy place to do business, currently ranking 20th of 189 countries in the Ease of Doing Business Index. The slow growth Switzerland experienced in the 1990s and the early 2000s has brought greater support for economic reforms and harmonisation with the European Union.
For much of the 20th century, Switzerland was the wealthiest country in Europe by a considerable margin (by GDP – per capita). Switzerland also has one of the world's largest account balances as a percentage of GDP. In 2018, the canton of Basel-City had the highest GDP per capita in the country, ahead of the cantons of Zug and Geneva. According to Credit Suisse, only about 37% of residents own their own homes, one of the lowest rates of home ownership in Europe. Housing and food price levels were 171% and 145% of the EU-25 index in 2007, compared to 113% and 104% in Germany.
Switzerland is home to several large multinational corporations. The largest Swiss companies by revenue are Glencore, Gunvor, Nestlé, Novartis, Hoffmann-La Roche, ABB, Mercuria Energy Group and Adecco. Also, notable are UBS AG, Zurich Financial Services, Credit Suisse, Barry Callebaut, Swiss Re, Tetra Pak, The Swatch Group and Swiss International Air Lines. Switzerland is ranked as having one of the most powerful economies in the world.
Switzerland's most important economic sector is manufacturing. Manufacturing consists largely of the production of specialist chemicals, health and pharmaceutical goods, scientific and precision measuring instruments and musical instruments. The largest exported goods are chemicals (34% of exported goods), machines/electronics (20.9%), and precision instruments/watches (16.9%). Exported services amount to a third of exports. The service sector – especially banking and insurance, tourism, and international organisations – is another important industry for Switzerland.
Agricultural protectionism—a rare exception to Switzerland's free trade policies—has contributed to high food prices. Product market liberalisation is lagging behind many EU countries according to the OECD. Nevertheless, domestic purchasing power is one of the best in the world. Apart from agriculture, economic and trade barriers between the European Union and Switzerland are minimal and Switzerland has free trade agreements worldwide. Switzerland is a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).
Switzerland has an overwhelmingly private sector economy and low tax rates by Western World standards; overall taxation is one of the smallest of developed countries. The Swiss Federal budget had a size of 62.8 billion Swiss francs in 2010, which is an equivalent 11.35% of the country's GDP in that year; however, the regional (canton) budgets and the budgets of the municipalities are not counted as part of the federal budget and the total rate of government spending is closer to 33.8% of GDP. The main sources of income for the federal government are the value-added tax (33%) and the direct federal tax (29%) and the main expenditure is located in the areas of social welfare and finance & tax. The expenditures of the Swiss Confederation have been growing from 7% of GDP in 1960 to 9.7% in 1990 and to 10.7% in 2010. While the sectors social welfare and finance & tax have been growing from 35% in 1990 to 48.2% in 2010, a significant reduction of expenditures has been occurring in the sectors of agriculture and national defence; from 26.5% in to 12.4% (estimation for the year 2015).
Slightly more than 5 million people work in Switzerland; about 25% of employees belonged to a trade union in 2004. Switzerland has a more flexible job market than neighbouring countries and the unemployment rate is very low. The unemployment rate increased from a low of 1.7% in June 2000 to a peak of 4.4% in December 2009. The unemployment rate decreased to 3.2% in 2014 and held steady at that level for several years, before further dropping to 2.5% in 2018 and 2.3% in 2019. Population growth from net immigration is quite high, at 0.52% of population in 2004, increased in the following years before falling to 0.54% again in 2017. The foreign citizen population was 28.9% in 2015, about the same as in Australia. GDP per hour worked is the world's 16th highest, at 49.46 international dollars in 2012.
In 2016, median monthly gross salary in Switzerland was 6,502 francs per month (equivalent to US$6,597 per month), is just enough to cover the high cost of living. After rent, taxes and social security contributions, plus spending on goods and services, the average household has about 15% of its gross income left for savings. Though 61% of the population made less than the average income, income inequality is relatively low with a Gini coefficient of 29.7, placing Switzerland among the top 20 countries for income equality.
About 8.2% of the population live below the national poverty line, defined in Switzerland as earning less than CHF3,990 per month for a household of two adults and two children, and a further 15% are at risk of poverty. Single-parent families, those with no post-compulsory education and those who are out of work are among the most likely to be living below the poverty line. Although getting a job is considered a way out of poverty, among the gainfully employed, some 4.3% are considered working poor. One in ten jobs in Switzerland is considered low-paid and roughly 12% of Swiss workers hold such jobs, many of them women and foreigners.
Education in Switzerland is very diverse because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system to the cantons. There are both public and private schools, including many private international schools. The minimum age for primary school is about six years in all cantons, but most cantons provide a free "children's school" starting at four or five years old. Primary school continues until grade four, five or six, depending on the school. Traditionally, the first foreign language in school was always one of the other national languages, although recently (2000) English was introduced first in a few cantons.
At the end of primary school (or at the beginning of secondary school), pupils are separated according to their capacities in several (often three) sections. The fastest learners are taught advanced classes to be prepared for further studies and the matura, while students who assimilate a little more slowly receive an education more adapted to their needs.
There are 12 universities in Switzerland, ten of which are maintained at cantonal level and usually offer a range of non-technical subjects. The first university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel (with a faculty of medicine) and has a tradition of chemical and medical research in Switzerland. It is listed 87th on the 2019 Academic Ranking of World Universities. The largest university in Switzerland is the University of Zurich with nearly 25,000 students.The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ) and the University of Zurich are listed 20th and 54th respectively, on the 2015 Academic Ranking of World Universities.
The two institutes sponsored by the federal government are the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ) in Zürich, founded 1855 and the EPFL in Lausanne, founded 1969 as such, which was formerly an institute associated with the University of Lausanne.
In addition, there are various Universities of Applied Sciences. In business and management studies, the University of St. Gallen, (HSG) is ranked 329th in the world according to QS World University Rankings and the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), was ranked first in open programmes worldwide by the "Financial Times." Switzerland has the second highest rate (almost 18% in 2003) of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia (slightly over 18%).
As might befit a country that plays home to innumerable international organisations, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, located in Geneva, is not only continental Europe's oldest graduate school of international and development studies, but also widely believed to be one of its most prestigious.
Many Nobel Prize laureates have been Swiss scientists. They include the world-famous physicist Albert Einstein in the field of physics, who developed his special relativity while working in Bern. More recently Vladimir Prelog, Heinrich Rohrer, Richard Ernst, Edmond Fischer, Rolf Zinkernagel, Kurt Wüthrich and Jacques Dubochet received Nobel Prizes in the sciences. In total, 114 Nobel Prize winners in all fields stand in relation to Switzerland and the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded nine times to organisations residing in Switzerland.
Geneva and the nearby French department of Ain co-host the world's largest laboratory, CERN, dedicated to particle physics research. Another important research centre is the Paul Scherrer Institute. Notable inventions include lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), diazepam (Valium), the scanning tunnelling microscope (Nobel prize) and Velcro. Some technologies enabled the exploration of new worlds such as the pressurised balloon of Auguste Piccard and the Bathyscaphe which permitted Jacques Piccard to reach the deepest point of the world's oceans.
Switzerland Space Agency, the Swiss Space Office, has been involved in various space technologies and programmes. In addition it was one of the 10 founders of the European Space Agency in 1975 and is the seventh largest contributor to the ESA budget. In the private sector, several companies are implicated in the space industry such as Oerlikon Space or Maxon Motors who provide spacecraft structures.
Switzerland voted against membership in the European Economic Area in a referendum in December 1992 and has since maintained and developed its relationships with the European Union (EU) and European countries through bilateral agreements. In March 2001, the Swiss people refused in a popular vote to start accession negotiations with the EU. In recent years, the Swiss have brought their economic practices largely into conformity with those of the EU in many ways, in an effort to enhance their international competitiveness. The economy grew at 3% in 2010, 1.9% in 2011, and 1% in 2012. EU membership was a long-term objective of the Swiss government, but there was and remains considerable popular sentiment against membership, which is opposed by the conservative SVP party, the largest party in the National Council, and not currently supported or proposed by several other political parties. The application for membership of the EU was formally withdrawn in 2016, having long been frozen. The western French-speaking areas and the urban regions of the rest of the country tend to be more pro-EU, nonetheless with far from a significant share of the population.
The government has established an Integration Office under the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Economic Affairs. To minimise the negative consequences of Switzerland's isolation from the rest of Europe, Bern and Brussels signed seven bilateral agreements to further liberalise trade ties. These agreements were signed in 1999 and took effect in 2001. This first series of bilateral agreements included the free movement of persons. A second series covering nine areas was signed in 2004 and has since been ratified, which includes the Schengen Treaty and the Dublin Convention besides others. They continue to discuss further areas for cooperation.
In 2006, Switzerland approved 1 billion francs of supportive investment in the poorer Southern and Central European countries in support of cooperation and positive ties to the EU as a whole. A further referendum will be needed to approve 300 million francs to support Romania and Bulgaria and their recent admission. The Swiss have also been under EU and sometimes international pressure to reduce banking secrecy and to raise tax rates to parity with the EU. Preparatory discussions are being opened in four new areas: opening up the electricity market, participation in the European GNSS project Galileo, cooperating with the European centre for disease prevention and recognising certificates of origin for food products.
On 27 November 2008, the interior and justice ministers of European Union in Brussels announced Switzerland's accession to the Schengen passport-free zone from 12 December 2008. The land border checkpoints will remain in place only for goods movements, but should not run controls on people, though people entering the country had their passports checked until 29 March 2009 if they originated from a Schengen nation.
On 9 February 2014, Swiss voters narrowly approved by 50.3% a ballot initiative launched by the national conservative Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC) to restrict immigration, and thus reintroducing a quota system on the influx of foreigners. This initiative was mostly backed by rural (57.6% approvals) and suburban agglomerations (51.2% approvals), and isolated towns (51.3% approvals) of Switzerland as well as by a strong majority (69.2% approval) in the canton of Ticino, while metropolitan centres (58.5% rejection) and the French-speaking part (58.5% rejection) of Switzerland rather rejected it. Some news commentators claim that this proposal "de facto" contradicts the bilateral agreements on the free movement of persons from these respective countries.
In December 2016, a compromise with the European Union was attained effectively canceling quotas on EU citizens but still allowing for favourable treatment of Swiss-based job applicants.
Electricity generated in Switzerland is 56% from hydroelectricity and 39% from nuclear power, resulting in a nearly CO2-free electricity-generating network. On 18 May 2003, two anti-nuclear initiatives were turned down: "Moratorium Plus", aimed at forbidding the building of new nuclear power plants (41.6% supported and 58.4% opposed), and Electricity Without Nuclear (33.7% supported and 66.3% opposed) after a previous moratorium expired in 2000. However, as a reaction to the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the Swiss government announced in 2011 that it plans to end its use of nuclear energy in the next 2 or 3 decades. In November 2016, Swiss voters rejected a proposal by the Green Party to accelerate the phaseout of nuclear power (45.8% supported and 54.2% opposed). The Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) is the office responsible for all questions relating to energy supply and energy use within the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC). The agency is supporting the 2000-watt society initiative to cut the nation's energy use by more than half by the year 2050.
The most dense rail network in Europe of carries over 596 million passengers annually (as of 2015). In 2015, each Swiss resident travelled on average by rail, which makes them the keenest rail users. Virtually 100% of the network is electrified. The vast majority (60%) of the network is operated by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS). Besides the second largest standard gauge railway company BLS AG two railways companies operating on narrow gauge networks are the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) in the southeastern canton of Graubünden, which includes some World Heritage lines, and the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn (MGB), which co-operates together with RhB the Glacier Express between Zermatt and St. Moritz/Davos. On 31 May 2016 the world's longest and deepest railway tunnel and the first flat, low-level route through the Alps, the Gotthard Base Tunnel, opened as the largest part of the New Railway Link through the Alps (NRLA) project after 17 years of realization. It started its daily business for passenger transport on 11 December 2016 replacing the old, mountainous, scenic route over and through the St Gotthard Massif.
Switzerland has a publicly managed road network without road tolls that is financed by highway permits as well as vehicle and gasoline taxes. The Swiss autobahn/autoroute system requires the purchase of a vignette (toll sticker)—which costs 40 Swiss francs—for one calendar year in order to use its roadways, for both passenger cars and trucks. The Swiss autobahn/autoroute network has a total length of (as of 2000) and has, by an area of , also one of the highest motorway densities in the world. Zurich Airport is Switzerland's largest international flight gateway, which handled 22.8 million passengers in 2012. The other international airports are Geneva Airport (13.9 million passengers in 2012), EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg which is located in France, Bern Airport, Lugano Airport, St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport and Sion Airport. Swiss International Air Lines is the flag carrier of Switzerland. Its main hub is Zürich, but it is legally domiciled in Basel.
Switzerland has one of the best environmental records among nations in the developed world; it was one of the countries to sign the Kyoto Protocol in 1998 and ratified it in 2003. With Mexico and the Republic of Korea it forms the Environmental Integrity Group (EIG). The country is heavily active in recycling and anti-littering regulations and is one of the top recyclers in the world, with 66% to 96% of recyclable materials being recycled, depending on the area of the country. The 2014 Global Green Economy Index ranked Switzerland among the top 10 green economies in the world.
Switzerland developed an efficient system to recycle most recyclable materials. Publicly organised collection by volunteers and economical railway transport logistics started as early as 1865 under the leadership of the notable industrialist Hans Caspar Escher (Escher Wyss AG) when the first modern Swiss paper manufacturing plant was built in Biberist.
Switzerland also has an economic system for garbage disposal, which is based mostly on recycling and energy-producing incinerators due to a strong political will to protect the environment. As in other European countries, the illegal disposal of garbage is not tolerated at all and heavily fined. In almost all Swiss municipalities, stickers or dedicated garbage bags need to be purchased that allow for identification of disposable garbage.
In 2018, Switzerland's population slightly exceeded 8.5 million. In common with other developed countries, the Swiss population increased rapidly during the industrial era, quadrupling between 1800 and 1990 and has continued to grow. Like most of Europe, Switzerland faces an ageing population, albeit with consistent annual growth projected into 2035, due mostly to immigration and a fertility rate close to replacement level. Switzerland subsequently has one of the oldest populations in the world, with the average age of 42.5 years.
, resident foreigners make up 25.2% of the population, one of the largest proportions in the developed world. Most of these (64%) were from European Union or EFTA countries. Italians were the largest single group of foreigners, with 15.6% of total foreign population, followed closely by Germans (15.2%), immigrants from Portugal (12.7%), France (5.6%), Serbia (5.3%), Turkey (3.8%), Spain (3.7%), and Austria (2%). Immigrants from Sri Lanka, most of them former Tamil refugees, were the largest group among people of Asian origin (6.3%).
Additionally, the figures from 2012 show that 34.7% of the permanent resident population aged 15 or over in Switzerland (around 2.33 million), had an immigrant background. A third of this population (853,000) held Swiss citizenship. Four fifths of persons with an immigration background were themselves immigrants (first generation foreigners and native-born and naturalised Swiss citizens), whereas one fifth were born in Switzerland (second generation foreigners and native-born and naturalised Swiss citizens).
In the 2000s, domestic and international institutions expressed concern about what was perceived as an increase in xenophobia, particularly in some political campaigns. In reply to one critical report, the Federal Council noted that "racism unfortunately is present in Switzerland", but stated that the high proportion of foreign citizens in the country, as well as the generally unproblematic integration of foreigners, underlined Switzerland's openness.
Follow-up study conducted in 2018 found that 59% considered racism a serious problem in Switzerland.
The proportion of the population that has reported being targeted by racial discrimination has increased in recent years, from 10% in 2014 to almost 17% in 2018, according to the Federal Statistical Office.
Switzerland has four national languages: mainly German (spoken by 62.8% of the population in 2016); French (22.9%) in the west; and Italian (8.2%) in the south. The fourth national language, Romansh (0.5%), is a Romance language spoken locally in the southeastern trilingual canton of Grisons, and is designated by Article 4 of the Federal Constitution as a national language along with German, French, and Italian, and in Article 70 as an official language if the authorities communicate with persons who speak Romansh. However, federal laws and other official acts do not need to be decreed in Romansh.
In 2016, the languages most spoken at home among permanent residents aged 15 and older were Swiss German (59.4%), French (23.5%), Standard German (10.6%), and Italian (8.5%). Other languages spoken at home included English (5.0%), Portuguese (3.8%), Albanian (3.0%), Spanish (2.6%) and Serbian and Croatian (2.5%). 6.9% reported speaking another language at home. In 2014 almost two-thirds (64.4%) of the permanent resident population indicated speaking more than one language regularly.
The federal government is obliged to communicate in the official languages, and in the federal parliament simultaneous translation is provided from and into German, French and Italian.
Aside from the official forms of their respective languages, the four linguistic regions of Switzerland also have their local dialectal forms. The role played by dialects in each linguistic region varies dramatically: in the German-speaking regions, Swiss German dialects have become ever more prevalent since the second half of the 20th century, especially in the media, such as radio and television, and are used as an everyday language for many, while the Swiss variety of Standard German is almost always used instead of dialect for written communication (c.f. diglossic usage of a language). Conversely, in the French-speaking regions the local dialects have almost disappeared (only 6.3% of the population of Valais, 3.9% of Fribourg, and 3.1% of Jura still spoke dialects at the end of the 20th century), while in the Italian-speaking regions dialects are mostly limited to family settings and casual conversation.
The principal official languages (German, French, and Italian) have terms, not used outside of Switzerland, known as Helvetisms. German Helvetisms are, roughly speaking, a large group of words typical of Swiss Standard German, which do not appear either in Standard German, nor in other German dialects. These include terms from Switzerland's surrounding language cultures (German "Billett" from French), from similar terms in another language (Italian "azione" used not only as "act" but also as "discount" from German "Aktion"). The French spoken in Switzerland has similar terms, which are equally known as Helvetisms. The most frequent characteristics of Helvetisms are in vocabulary, phrases, and pronunciation, but certain Helvetisms denote themselves as special in syntax and orthography likewise. Duden, the comprehensive German dictionary, contains about 3000 Helvetisms. Current French dictionaries, such as the Petit Larousse, include several hundred Helvetisms.
Learning one of the other national languages at school is compulsory for all Swiss pupils, so many Swiss are supposed to be at least bilingual, especially those belonging to linguistic minority groups.
Swiss residents are universally required to buy health insurance from private insurance companies, which in turn are required to accept every applicant. While the cost of the system is among the highest, it compares well with other European countries in terms of health outcomes; patients have been reported as being, in general, highly satisfied with it. In 2012, life expectancy at birth was 80.4 years for men and 84.7 years for women — the highest in the world. However, spending on health is particularly high at 11.4% of GDP (2010), on par with Germany and France (11.6%) and other European countries, but notably less than spending in the USA (17.6%). From 1990, a steady increase can be observed, reflecting the high costs of the services provided. With an ageing population and new healthcare technologies, health spending will likely continue to rise. Drug use is comparable to other developed countries with 14% of men and 6.5% of women between 20-24 saying they had consumed cannabis in the past 30 days and 5 Swiss cities were listed among the top 10 European cities for cocaine use as measured in wastewater.
Between two thirds and three quarters of the population live in urban areas. Switzerland has gone from a largely rural country to an urban one in just 70 years. Since 1935 urban development has claimed as much of the Swiss landscape as it did during the previous 2,000 years. This urban sprawl does not only affect the plateau but also the Jura and the Alpine foothills and there are growing concerns about land use. However, from the beginning of the 21st century, the population growth in urban areas is higher than in the countryside.
Switzerland has a dense network of towns, where large, medium and small towns are complementary. The plateau is very densely populated with about 450 people per km2 and the landscape continually shows signs of human presence. The weight of the largest metropolitan areas, which are Zürich, Geneva–Lausanne, Basel and Bern tend to increase. In international comparison the importance of these urban areas is stronger than their number of inhabitants suggests. In addition the two main centres of Zürich and Geneva are recognised for their particularly great quality of life.
Switzerland has no official state religion, though most of the cantons (except Geneva and Neuchâtel) recognise official churches, which are either the Roman Catholic Church or the Swiss Reformed Church. These churches, and in some cantons also the Old Catholic Church and Jewish congregations, are financed by official taxation of adherents.
Christianity is the predominant religion of Switzerland (about 67% of resident population in 2016-2018 and 75% of Swiss citizens), divided between the Roman Catholic Church (35.8% of the population), the Swiss Reformed Church (23.8%), further Protestant churches (2.2%), Eastern Orthodoxy (2.5%), and other Christian denominations (2.2%). Immigration has established Islam (5.3%) as a sizeable minority religion.
26.3% of Swiss permanent residents are not affiliated with any religious community (Atheism, Agnosticism, and others).
As of the 2000 census other Christian minority communities included Neo-Pietism (0.44%), Pentecostalism (0.28%, mostly incorporated in the Schweizer Pfingstmission), Methodism (0.13%), the New Apostolic Church (0.45%), Jehovah's Witnesses (0.28%), other Protestant denominations (0.20%), the Old Catholic Church (0.18%), other Christian denominations (0.20%). Non-Christian religions are Hinduism (0.38%), Buddhism (0.29%), Judaism (0.25%) and others (0.11%); 4.3% did not make a statement.
The country was historically about evenly balanced between Catholic and Protestant, with a complex patchwork of majorities over most of the country. Switzerland played an exceptional role during the Reformation as it became home to many reformers. Geneva converted to Protestantism in 1536, just before John Calvin arrived there. In 1541, he founded the "Republic of Geneva" on his own ideals. It became known internationally as the "Protestant Rome", and housed such reformers as Theodore Beza, William Farel or Pierre Viret. Zürich became another stronghold around the same time, with Huldrych Zwingli and Heinrich Bullinger taking the lead there. Anabaptists Felix Manz and Conrad Grebel also operated there. They were later joined by the fleeing Peter Martyr Vermigli and Hans Denck. Other centres included Basel (Andreas Karlstadt and Johannes Oecolampadius), Berne (Berchtold Haller and Niklaus Manuel), and St. Gallen (Joachim Vadian). One canton, Appenzell, was officially divided into Catholic and Protestant sections in 1597. The larger cities and their cantons (Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Zürich and Basel) used to be predominantly Protestant. Central Switzerland, the Valais, the Ticino, Appenzell Innerrhodes, the Jura, and Fribourg are traditionally Catholic. The Swiss Constitution of 1848, under the recent impression of the clashes of Catholic vs. Protestant cantons that culminated in the Sonderbundskrieg, consciously defines a consociational state, allowing the peaceful co-existence of Catholics and Protestants. A 1980 initiative calling for the complete separation of church and state was rejected by 78.9% of the voters. Some traditionally Protestant cantons and cities nowadays have a slight Catholic majority, not because they were growing in members, quite the contrary, but only because since about 1970 a steadily growing minority became not affiliated with any church or other religious body (21.4% in Switzerland, 2012) especially in traditionally Protestant regions, such as Basel-City (42%), canton of Neuchâtel (38%), canton of Geneva (35%), canton of Vaud (26%), or Zürich city (city: >25%; canton: 23%).
Three of Europe's major languages are official in Switzerland. Swiss culture is characterised by diversity, which is reflected in a wide range of traditional customs. A region may be in some ways strongly culturally connected to the neighbouring country that shares its language, the country itself being rooted in western European culture. The linguistically isolated Romansh culture in Graubünden in eastern Switzerland constitutes an exception, it survives only in the upper valleys of the Rhine and the Inn and strives to maintain its rare linguistic tradition.
Switzerland is home to many notable contributors to literature, art, architecture, music and sciences. In addition the country attracted a number of creative persons during time of unrest or war in Europe.
Some 1000 museums are distributed through the country; the number has more than tripled since 1950. Among the most important cultural performances held annually are the Paléo Festival, Lucerne Festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Locarno International Film Festival and the Art Basel.
Alpine symbolism has played an essential role in shaping the history of the country and the Swiss national identity. Nowadays some concentrated mountain areas have a strong highly energetic ski resort culture in winter, and a hiking () or Mountain biking culture in summer. Other areas throughout the year have a recreational culture that caters to tourism, yet the quieter seasons are spring and autumn when there are fewer visitors. A traditional farmer and herder culture also predominates in many areas and small farms are omnipresent outside the towns. Folk art is kept alive in organisations all over the country. In Switzerland it is mostly expressed in music, dance, poetry, wood carving and embroidery. The alphorn, a trumpet-like musical instrument made of wood, has become alongside yodeling and the accordion an epitome of traditional Swiss music.
As the Confederation, from its foundation in 1291, was almost exclusively composed of German-speaking regions, the earliest forms of literature are in German. In the 18th century, French became the fashionable language in Bern and elsewhere, while the influence of the French-speaking allies and subject lands was more marked than before.
Among the classic authors of Swiss German literature are Jeremias Gotthelf (1797–1854) and Gottfried Keller (1819–1890). The undisputed giants of 20th-century Swiss literature are Max Frisch (1911–91) and Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–90), whose repertoire includes "Die Physiker" (The Physicists) and "Das Versprechen" (), released in 2001 as a Hollywood film.
Famous French-speaking writers were Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) and Germaine de Staël (1766–1817). More recent authors include Charles Ferdinand Ramuz (1878–1947), whose novels describe the lives of peasants and mountain dwellers, set in a harsh environment and Blaise Cendrars (born Frédéric Sauser, 1887–1961). Italian and Romansh-speaking authors also contributed to the Swiss literary landscape, but generally in more modest ways given their small number.
Probably the most famous Swiss literary creation, "Heidi", the story of an orphan girl who lives with her grandfather in the Alps, is one of the most popular children's books ever and has come to be a symbol of Switzerland. Her creator, Johanna Spyri (1827–1901), wrote a number of other books on similar themes.
The freedom of the press and the right to free expression is guaranteed in the federal constitution of Switzerland. The Swiss News Agency (SNA) broadcasts information around-the-clock in three of the four national languages—on politics, economics, society and culture. The SNA supplies almost all Swiss media and a couple dozen foreign media services with its news.
Switzerland has historically boasted the greatest number of newspaper titles published in proportion to its population and size. The most influential newspapers are the German-language "Tages-Anzeiger" and "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" NZZ, and the French-language "Le Temps", but almost every city has at least one local newspaper. The cultural diversity accounts for a variety of newspapers.
The government exerts greater control over broadcast media than print media, especially due to finance and licensing. The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, whose name was recently changed to SRG SSR, is charged with the production and broadcast of radio and television programmes. SRG SSR studios are distributed throughout the various language regions. Radio content is produced in six central and four regional studios while the television programmes are produced in Geneva, Zürich, and Lugano. An extensive cable network also allows most Swiss to access the programmes from neighbouring countries.
Skiing, snowboarding and mountaineering are among the most popular sports in Switzerland, the nature of the country being particularly suited for such activities. Winter sports are practised by the natives and tourists since the second half of the 19th century with the invention of bobsleigh in St. Moritz. The first world ski championships were held in Mürren (1931) and St. Moritz (1934). The latter town hosted the second Winter Olympic Games in 1928 and the fifth edition in 1948. Among the most successful skiers and world champions are Pirmin Zurbriggen and Didier Cuche.
The most prominently watched sports in Switzerland are football, ice hockey, Alpine skiing, "Schwingen", and tennis.
The headquarters of the international football's and ice hockey's governing bodies, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), are located in Zürich. Actually many other headquarters of international sports federations are located in Switzerland. For example, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), IOC's Olympic Museum and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) are located in Lausanne.
Switzerland hosted the 1954 FIFA World Cup, and was the joint host, with Austria, of the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament. The Swiss Super League is the nation's professional football club league. Europe's highest football pitch, at above sea level, is located in Switzerland and is named the "Ottmar Hitzfeld Stadium".
Many Swiss also follow ice hockey and support one of the 12 teams of the National League, which is the most attended league in Europe. In 2009, Switzerland hosted the IIHF World Championship for the 10th time. It also became World Vice-Champion in 2013 and 2018. The numerous lakes make Switzerland an attractive place for sailing. The largest, Lake Geneva, is the home of the sailing team Alinghi which was the first European team to win the America's Cup in 2003 and which successfully defended the title in 2007. Tennis has become an increasingly popular sport, and Swiss players such as Martina Hingis, Roger Federer, and Stanislas Wawrinka have won multiple Grand Slams.
Motorsport racecourses and events were banned in Switzerland following the 1955 Le Mans disaster with exception to events such as Hillclimbing. During this period, the country still produced successful racing drivers such as Clay Regazzoni, Sébastien Buemi, Jo Siffert, Dominique Aegerter, successful World Touring Car Championship driver Alain Menu, 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Marcel Fässler and 2015 24 Hours Nürburgring winner Nico Müller. Switzerland also won the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in 2007–08 with driver Neel Jani. Swiss motorcycle racer Thomas Lüthi won the 2005 MotoGP World Championship in the 125cc category. In June 2007 the Swiss National Council, one house of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland, voted to overturn the ban, however the other house, the Swiss Council of States rejected the change and the ban remains in place.
Traditional sports include Swiss wrestling or "Schwingen". It is an old tradition from the rural central cantons and considered the national sport by some. Hornussen is another indigenous Swiss sport, which is like a cross between baseball and golf. Steinstossen is the Swiss variant of stone put, a competition in throwing a heavy stone. Practised only among the alpine population since prehistoric times, it is recorded to have taken place in Basel in the 13th century. It is also central to the Unspunnenfest, first held in 1805, with its symbol the 83.5 stone named "Unspunnenstein".
The cuisine of Switzerland is multifaceted. While some dishes such as fondue, raclette or rösti are omnipresent through the country, each region developed its own gastronomy according to the differences of climate and languages. Traditional Swiss cuisine uses ingredients similar to those in other European countries, as well as unique dairy products and cheeses such as Gruyère or Emmental, produced in the valleys of Gruyères and Emmental. The number of fine-dining establishments is high, particularly in western Switzerland.
Chocolate has been made in Switzerland since the 18th century but it gained its reputation at the end of the 19th century with the invention of modern techniques such as conching and tempering which enabled its production on a high quality level. Also a breakthrough was the invention of solid milk chocolate in 1875 by Daniel Peter. The Swiss are the world's largest consumers of chocolate.
Due to the popularisation of processed foods at the end of the 19th century, Swiss health food pioneer Maximilian Bircher-Benner created the first nutrition-based therapy in form of the well-known rolled oats cereal dish, called Birchermüesli.
The most popular alcoholic drink in Switzerland is wine. Switzerland is notable for the variety of grapes grown because of the large variations in terroirs, with their specific mixes of soil, air, altitude and light. Swiss wine is produced mainly in Valais, Vaud (Lavaux), Geneva and Ticino, with a small majority of white wines. Vineyards have been cultivated in Switzerland since the Roman era, even though certain traces can be found of a more ancient origin. The most widespread varieties are the Chasselas (called Fendant in Valais) and Pinot noir. The Merlot is the main variety produced in Ticino. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26748 |
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; '; "Ilaṅkai"), officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia, located in the Indian Ocean southwest of the Bay of Bengal and southeast of the Arabian Sea. It is geographically separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is its legislative capital, and Colombo is its largest city and centre of commerce.
Sri Lanka's documented history spans 3,000 years, with evidence of prehistoric human settlements dating back at least 125,000 years. It has a rich cultural heritage, and the first known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka, the Pāli Canon, date back to the Fourth Buddhist council in 29 BC. Its geographic location and deep harbours made it of great strategic importance from the time of the ancient Silk Road through to the modern Maritime Silk Road. Its location as a major trading hub made it known to both the far East as well as the European continent from as far back as the Anuradhapura period. The country's trade in luxury goods and spices attracted traders of many nations, creating Sri Lanka's diverse population. During a period of great political crisis the Portuguese, whose arrival in Sri Lanka was largely accidental, sought to control the island's maritime regions and its lucrative external trade. The Portuguese possessions were later taken over by the Dutch. The Dutch possessions were then taken by the British, who later extended their control over the whole island, colonising it from 1815 to 1948. Resistance to the British was immediate. A national movement for political independence arose in the early 20th century; and in 1948, Ceylon became a republic, and it adopted its current name in 1972. Sri Lanka's recent history has been marred by a 26-year civil war, which ended decisively when the Sri Lanka Armed Forces defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009.
Sri Lanka's current constitution stipulates it as a republic and unitary state governed by a semi-presidential system. It has had a long history of international engagement, as a founding member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, the G77, and the Non-Aligned Movement. Sri Lanka is rated "high" on the Human Development Index (HDI), with its HDI rating and per capita income the highest among South Asian nations. The Sri Lankan constitution accords Buddhism the "foremost place", although it does not identify it as a state religion. Buddhism is given special privileges in the Sri Lankan constitution.
Sri Lanka is home to many cultures, languages and ethnicities. The majority of the population are from the Sinhalese ethnicity, while a large minority of Tamils have also played an influential role in the island's history. Moors, Burghers, Malays, Chinese, and the indigenous Vedda are also established groups.
In antiquity, Sri Lanka was known to travellers by a variety of names. According to the "Mahavamsa", the legendary Prince Vijaya named the land Tambapanni ('copper-red hands' or 'copper-red earth'), because his followers' hands were reddened by the red soil of the area. In Hindu mythology, such as the Ramayana, the island was referred to as "Lankā" ('Island'). The Tamil term Eelam (), was used to designate the whole island in Sangam literature. The island was known under Chola rule as "Mummudi Cholamandalam" ('realm of the three crowned Cholas').
Ancient Greek geographers called it "Taprobanā" () or "Taprobanē" () from the word "Tambapanni". The Persians and Arabs referred to it as "Sarandīb" (the origin of the word "serendipity") from Sanskrit "Siṃhaladvīpaḥ". "Ceilão", the name given to Sri Lanka by the Portuguese Empire when it arrived in 1505, was transliterated into English as "Ceylon". As a British crown colony, the island was known as Ceylon; it achieved independence as Ceylon in 1948.
The country is now known in Sinhala as ' () and in Tamil as ' (, ). In 1972, its formal name was changed to "Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka". Later, in 1978, it was changed to the "Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka". As the name Ceylon still appears in the names of a number of organisations, the Sri Lankan government announced in 2011 a plan to rename all those over which it has authority.
The pre-history of Sri Lanka goes back 125,000 years and possibly even as far back as 500,000 years. The era spans the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, and early Iron Ages. Among the Paleolithic human settlements discovered in Sri Lanka, Pahiyangala (named after the Chinese traveller monk Faxian), which dates back to 37,000 BP, Batadombalena (28,500 BP) and Belilena (12,000 BP) are the most important. In these caves, archaeologists have found the remains of anatomically modern humans which they have named Balangoda Man, and other evidence suggesting that they may have engaged in agriculture and kept domestic dogs for driving game.
One of the first written references to the island is found in the Indian epic Ramayana, which provides details of a kingdom named "Lanka" that was created by the divine sculptor Vishwakarma for Kubera, the Lord of Wealth. It is said that Kubera was overthrown by his demon stepbrother Ravana, the powerful emperor who built a mythical flying machine named Dandu Monara. The modern city of Wariyapola is described as Ravana's airport.
Early inhabitants of Sri Lanka were probably ancestors of the Vedda people, an indigenous people numbering approximately 2,500 living in modern-day Sri Lanka. The 19th-century Irish historian James Emerson Tennent theorised that Galle, a city in southern Sri Lanka, was the ancient seaport of Tarshish from which King Solomon is said to have drawn ivory, peacocks, and other valuables.
According to the "Mahāvamsa", a Sinhalese chronicle written in Pāḷi, the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka are said to be the Yakshas and Nagas. Ancient cemeteries that were used before 600 BC and other signs of advanced civilisation have also been discovered in Sri Lanka. Sinhalese history traditionally starts in 543 BC with the arrival of Prince Vijaya, a semi-legendary prince who sailed with 700 followers to Sri Lanka, after being expelled from Vanga Kingdom (present-day Bengal). He established the Kingdom of Tambapanni, near modern-day Mannar. Vijaya (Singha) is the first of the approximately 189 monarchs of Sri Lanka described in chronicles such as the "Dipavamsa", "Mahāvaṃsa", "Cūḷavaṃsa", and "Rājāvaliya".
The Anuradhapura period (377 BC–1017 AD) began with the establishment of the Anuradhapura Kingdom in 380 BC during the reign of Pandukabhaya. Thereafter, Anuradhapura served as the capital city of the country for nearly 1,400 years. Ancient Sri Lankans excelled at building certain types of structures such as tanks, dagobas and palaces. Society underwent a major transformation during the reign of Devanampiya Tissa, with the arrival of Buddhism from India. In 250 BC, Mahinda, a bhikkhu and the son of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka arrived in Mihintale carrying the message of Buddhism. His mission won over the monarch, who embraced the faith and propagated it throughout the Sinhalese population.
Succeeding kingdoms of Sri Lanka would maintain many Buddhist schools and monasteries and support the propagation of Buddhism into other countries in Southeast Asia. Sri Lankan Bhikkhus studied in India's famous ancient Buddhist University of Nalanda, which was destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khilji. It is probable that many of the scriptures from Nalanda are preserved in Sri Lanka's many monasteries and that the written form of the Tipitaka, including Sinhalese Buddhist literature, were part of the University of Nalanda. In 245 BC, bhikkhuni Sangamitta arrived with the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi tree, which is considered to be a sapling from the historical Bodhi tree under which Gautama Buddha became enlightened. It is considered the oldest human-planted tree (with a continuous historical record) in the world. (Bodhivamsa)
Sri Lanka experienced the first of many foreign invasions during the reign of Suratissa, who was defeated by two horse traders named Sena and Guttika from South India. The next invasion came immediately in 205 BC by a Chola named Elara, who overthrew Asela and ruled the country for 44 years. Dutugemunu, the eldest son of the southern regional sub-king, Kavan Tissa, defeated Elara in the Battle of Vijithapura. During its two and a half millennia of existence, the Sinhala Kingdom was invaded at least eight times by neighbouring South Indian dynasties such as the Chola, Pandya, Chera, and Pallava. These invaders were all subsequently driven back. There also were incursions by the kingdoms of Kalinga (modern Odisha) and from the Malay Peninsula as well.
The Fourth Buddhist council of Theravada Buddhism was held at the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya in Sri Lanka under the patronage of Valagamba of Anuradhapura in 25 BC. The council was held in response to a year in which the harvests in Sri Lanka were particularly poor and many Buddhist monks subsequently died of starvation. Because the Pāli Canon was at that time oral literature maintained in several recensions by "dhammabhāṇaka"s (dharma reciters), the surviving monks recognised the danger of not writing it down so that even if some of the monks whose duty it was to study and remember parts of the Canon for later generations died, the teachings would not be lost. After the Council, palm-leaf manuscripts containing the completed Canon were taken to other countries such as Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.
Sri Lanka was the first Asian country known to have a female ruler: Anula of Anuradhapura (r. 47–42 BC). Sri Lankan monarchs undertook some remarkable construction projects such as Sigiriya, the so-called "Fortress in the Sky", built during the reign of Kashyapa I of Anuradhapura, who ruled between 477 and 495. The Sigiriya rock fortress is surrounded by an extensive network of ramparts and moats. Inside this protective enclosure were gardens, ponds, pavilions, palaces and other structures.
In AD 993, the invasion of Chola emperor Rajaraja I forced the then Sinhalese ruler Mahinda V to flee to the southern part of Sri Lanka. Taking advantage of this situation, Rajendra I, son of Rajaraja I, launched a large invasion in 1017. Mahinda V was captured and taken to India, and the Cholas sacked the city of Anuradhapura causing the fall of Anuradhapura Kingdom. Subsequently, they moved the capital to Polonnaruwa.
Following a seventeen-year-long campaign, Vijayabahu I successfully drove the Chola out of Sri Lanka in 1070, reuniting the country for the first time in over a century. Upon his request, ordained monks were sent from Burma to Sri Lanka to re-establish Buddhism, which had almost disappeared from the country during the Chola reign. During the medieval period, Sri Lanka was divided into three sub-territories, namely Ruhunu, Pihiti and Maya.
Sri Lanka's irrigation system was extensively expanded during the reign of Parākramabāhu the Great (1153–1186). This period is considered as a time when Sri Lanka was at the height of its power. He built 1470 reservoirs – the highest number by any ruler in Sri Lanka's history – repaired 165 dams, 3910 canals, 163 major reservoirs, and 2376 mini-reservoirs. His most famous construction is the Parakrama Samudra, the largest irrigation project of medieval Sri Lanka. Parākramabāhu's reign is memorable for two major campaigns – in the south of India as part of a Pandyan war of succession, and a punitive strike against the kings of Ramanna (Burma) for various perceived insults to Sri Lanka.
After his demise, Sri Lanka gradually decayed in power. In 1215, Kalinga Magha, a South Indian with uncertain origins, identified as the founder of the Jaffna kingdom, invaded and captured the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa. He sailed from Kalinga 690 nautical miles on 100 large ships with a 24,000 strong army. Unlike previous invaders, he looted, ransacked, and destroyed everything in the ancient Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa Kingdoms beyond recovery. His priorities in ruling were to extract as much as possible from the land and overturn as many of the traditions of Rajarata as possible. His reign saw the massive migration of native Sinhalese people to the south and west of Sri Lanka, and into the mountainous interior, in a bid to escape his power.
Sri Lanka never really recovered from the impact of Kalinga Magha's invasion. King Vijayabâhu III, who led the resistance, brought the kingdom to Dambadeniya. The north, in the meanwhile, eventually evolved into the Jaffna kingdom. The Jaffna kingdom never came under the rule of any kingdom of the south except on one occasion; in 1450, following the conquest led by king Parâkramabâhu VI's adopted son, Prince Sapumal. He ruled the North from AD 1450 to 1467.
The next three centuries starting from 1215 were marked by kaleidoscopically shifting collections of kingdoms in south and central Sri Lanka, including Dambadeniya, Yapahuwa, Gampola, Raigama, Kotte, Sitawaka, and finally, Kandy. Chinese admiral Zheng He and his naval expeditionary force landed at Galle, Sri Lanka in 1409 and got into battle with the local king Vira Alakesvara of Gampola. Zheng He captured King Vira Alakesvara and later released him. Zheng He erected the Galle Trilingual Inscription, a stone tablet at Galle written in three languages (Chinese, Tamil, and Persian), to commemorate his visit. The stele was discovered by S. H. Thomlin at Galle in 1911 and is now preserved in the Colombo National Museum.
The early modern period of Sri Lanka begins with the arrival of Portuguese soldier and explorer Lourenço de Almeida, the son of Francisco de Almeida, in 1505. In 1517, the Portuguese built a fort at the port city of Colombo and gradually extended their control over the coastal areas. In 1592, after decades of intermittent warfare with the Portuguese, Vimaladharmasuriya I moved his kingdom to the inland city of Kandy, a location he thought more secure from attack. In 1619, succumbing to attacks by the Portuguese, the independent existence of the Jaffna kingdom came to an end.
During the reign of the Rajasinghe II, Dutch explorers arrived on the island. In 1638, the king signed a treaty with the Dutch East India Company to get rid of the Portuguese who ruled most of the coastal areas. The following Dutch–Portuguese War resulted in a Dutch victory, with Colombo falling into Dutch hands by 1656. The Dutch remained in the areas they had captured, thereby violating the treaty they had signed in 1638. The Burgher people, a distinct ethnic group, emerged as a result of intermingling between the Dutch and native Sri Lankans in this period.
The Kingdom of Kandy was the last independent monarchy of Sri Lanka. In 1595, Vimaladharmasurya brought the sacred Tooth Relic – the traditional symbol of royal and religious authority amongst the Sinhalese – to Kandy, and built the Temple of the Tooth. In spite of on-going intermittent warfare with Europeans, the kingdom survived. Later, a crisis of succession emerged in Kandy upon king Vira Narendrasinha's death in 1739. He was married to a Telugu-speaking Nayakkar princess from South India (Madurai) and was childless by her.
Eventually, with the support of bhikku Weliwita Sarankara, the crown passed to the brother of one of Narendrasinha's princesses, overlooking the right of ""Unambuwe Bandara"", Narendrasinha's own son by a Sinhalese concubine. The new king was crowned Sri Vijaya Rajasinha later that year. Kings of the Nayakkar dynasty launched several attacks on Dutch controlled areas, which proved to be unsuccessful.
During the Napoleonic Wars, fearing that French control of the Netherlands might deliver Sri Lanka to the French, Great Britain occupied the coastal areas of the island (which they called Ceylon) with little difficulty in 1796. Two years later, in 1798, Sri Rajadhi Rajasinha, third of the four Nayakkar kings of Sri Lanka, died of a fever. Following his death, a nephew of Rajadhi Rajasinha, eighteen-year-old Kannasamy, was crowned. The young king, now named Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, faced a British invasion in 1803 but successfully retaliated. The First Kandyan War ended in a stalemate.
By then the entire coastal area was under the British East India Company as a result of the Treaty of Amiens. On 14 February 1815, Kandy was occupied by the British in the second Kandyan War, ending Sri Lanka's independence. Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, the last native monarch of Sri Lanka, was exiled to India. The Kandyan Convention formally ceded the entire country to the British Empire. Attempts by Sri Lankan noblemen to undermine British power in 1818 during the Uva Rebellion were thwarted by Governor Robert Brownrigg.
The beginning of the modern period of Sri Lanka is marked by the Colebrooke-Cameron reforms of 1833. They introduced a utilitarian and liberal political culture to the country based on the rule of law and amalgamated the Kandyan and maritime provinces as a single unit of government. An executive council and a legislative council were established, later becoming the foundation of a representative legislature. By this time, experiments with coffee plantations were largely successful.
Soon, coffee became the primary commodity export of Sri Lanka. Falling coffee prices as a result of the depression of 1847 stalled economic development and prompted the governor to introduce a series of taxes on firearms, dogs, shops, boats, etc., and to reintroduce a form of "rajakariya", requiring six days free labour on roads or payment of a cash equivalent. These harsh measures antagonised the locals, and another rebellion broke out in 1848. A devastating leaf disease, "Hemileia vastatrix", struck the coffee plantations in 1869, destroying the entire industry within fifteen years. The British quickly found a replacement: abandoning coffee, they began cultivating tea instead. Tea production in Sri Lanka thrived in the following decades. Large-scale rubber plantations began in the early 20th century.
By the end of the 19th century, a new educated social class transcending race and caste arose through British attempts to staff the Ceylon Civil Service and the legal, educational, and medical professions. New leaders represented the various ethnic groups of the population in the Ceylon Legislative Council on a communal basis. Buddhist and Hindu revivalism reacted against Christian missionary activities. The first two decades in the 20th century are noted by the unique harmony among Sinhalese and Tamil political leadership, which has since been lost.
In 1919, major Sinhalese and Tamil political organisations united to form the Ceylon National Congress, under the leadership of Ponnambalam Arunachalam, pressing colonial masters for more constitutional reforms. But without massive popular support, and with the governor's encouragement for "communal representation" by creating a "Colombo seat" that dangled between Sinhalese and Tamils, the Congress lost momentum towards the mid-1920s.
The Donoughmore reforms of 1931 repudiated the communal representation and introduced universal adult franchise (the franchise stood at 4% before the reforms). This step was strongly criticised by the Tamil political leadership, who realised that they would be reduced to a minority in the newly created State Council of Ceylon, which succeeded the legislative council. In 1937, Tamil leader G. G. Ponnambalam demanded a 50–50 representation (50% for the Sinhalese and 50% for other ethnic groups) in the State Council. However, this demand was not met by the Soulbury reforms of 1944–45.
The Soulbury constitution ushered in dominion status, with independence proclaimed on 4 February 1948. D. S. Senanayake became the first Prime Minister of Ceylon. Prominent Tamil leaders including Ponnambalam and Arunachalam Mahadeva joined his cabinet. The British Royal Navy remained stationed at Trincomalee until 1956. A countrywide popular demonstration against withdrawal of the rice ration, known as Hartal 1953, resulted in the resignation of prime minister Dudley Senanayake.
S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike was elected prime minister in 1956. His three-year rule had a profound impact through his self-proclaimed role of "defender of the besieged Sinhalese culture". He introduced the controversial Sinhala Only Act, recognising Sinhala as the only official language of the government. Although partially reversed in 1958, the bill posed a grave concern for the Tamil community, which perceived in it a threat to their language and culture.
The Federal Party (FP) launched a movement of non-violent resistance (satyagraha) against the bill, which prompted Bandaranaike to reach an agreement (Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact) with S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, leader of the FP, to resolve the looming ethnic conflict. The pact proved ineffective in the face of ongoing protests by opposition and the Buddhist clergy. The bill, together with various government colonisation schemes, contributed much towards the political rancour between Sinhalese and Tamil political leaders. Bandaranaike was assassinated by an extremist Buddhist monk in 1959.
Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the widow of Bandaranaike, took office as prime minister in 1960, and withstood an attempted coup d'état in 1962. During her second term as prime minister, the government instituted socialist economic policies, strengthening ties with the Soviet Union and China, while promoting a policy of non-alignment. In 1971, Ceylon experienced a Marxist insurrection, which was quickly suppressed. In 1972, the country became a republic named Sri Lanka, repudiating its dominion status. Prolonged minority grievances and the use of communal emotionalism as an election campaign weapon by both Sinhalese and Tamil leaders abetted a fledgling Tamil militancy in the north during the 1970s. The policy of standardisation by the Sirimavo government to rectify disparities created in university enrolment, which was in essence an affirmative action to assist geographically disadvantaged students to obtain tertiary education, resulted in reducing the proportion of Tamil students at university level and acted as the immediate catalyst for the rise of militancy. The assassination of Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiyappah in 1975 by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) marked a crisis point.
The government of J. R. Jayawardene swept to power in 1977, defeating the largely unpopular United Front government. Jayawardene introduced a new constitution, together with a free-market economy and a powerful executive presidency modelled after that of France. It made Sri Lanka the first South Asian country to liberalise its economy. Beginning in 1983, ethnic tensions were manifested in an on-and-off insurgency against the government by the LTTE. An LTTE attack on 13 soldiers resulted in the anti-Tamil race riots in July 1983, allegedly backed by Sinhalese hard-line ministers, which resulted in more than 150,000 Tamil civilians fleeing the island, seeking asylum in other countries.
Lapses in foreign policy resulted in India strengthening the Tigers by providing arms and training. In 1987, the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord was signed and the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was deployed in northern Sri Lanka to stabilise the region by neutralising the LTTE. The same year, the JVP launched its second insurrection in Southern Sri Lanka, necessitating redeployment of the IPKF in 1990. In October 1990, the LTTE expelled Sri Lankan Moors (Muslims by religion) from northern Sri Lanka. In 2002, the Sri Lankan government and LTTE signed a Norwegian-mediated ceasefire agreement.
The 2004 Asian tsunami killed over 35,000 in Sri Lanka. From 1985 to 2006, the Sri Lankan government and Tamil insurgents held four rounds of peace talks without success. Both LTTE and the government resumed fighting in 2006, and the government officially backed out of the ceasefire in 2008. In 2009, under the Presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Sri Lanka Armed Forces defeated the LTTE and re-established control of the entire country by the Sri Lankan Government. Overall, between 60,000 and 100,000 people were killed during the 26 years of conflict.
Forty thousand Tamil civilians may have been killed in the final phases of the Sri Lankan civil war, according to an Expert Panel convened by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The exact number of Tamils killed is still a speculation that needs further study. Following the LTTE's defeat, the Tamil National Alliance, the largest Tamil political party in Sri Lanka, dropped its demand for a separate state in favour of a federal solution. The final stages of the war left some 294,000 people displaced. The UN Human Rights Council has documented over 12,000 named individuals who have undergone disappearance after detention by security forces in Sri Lanka, the second highest figure in the world since the Working Group came into being in 1980. In March 2009, 378 people had been killed in one day and at least another 1,212 injured. The report was based only on those casualties brought to the hospital. The UN described the situation as a "bloodbath", and one that its Colombo office had been warning against for some time. Their spokesperson Gordon Weiss said that over 100 children had been killed over the weekend in the "large-scale killing of civilians".
According to the Ministry of Resettlement, most of the displaced persons had been released or returned to their places of origin, leaving only 6,651 in the camps as of December 2011. In May 2010, President Rajapaksa appointed the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) to assess the conflict between the time of the ceasefire agreement in 2002 and the defeat of the LTTE in 2009. Sri Lanka has emerged from its 26-year war to become one of the fastest-growing economies of the world.
Sri Lanka lies on the Indian Plate, a major tectonic plate that was formerly part of the Indo-Australian Plate. It is in the Indian Ocean southwest of the Bay of Bengal, between latitudes 5° and 10° N, and longitudes 79° and 82° E. Sri Lanka is separated from the mainland portion of the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Strait. According to Hindu mythology, a land bridge existed between the Indian mainland and Sri Lanka. It now amounts to only a chain of limestone shoals remaining above sea level. Legends claim that it was passable on foot up to 1480 AD, until cyclones deepened the channel. Portions are still as shallow as , hindering navigation. The island consists mostly of flat to rolling coastal plains, with mountains rising only in the south-central part. The highest point is Pidurutalagala, reaching above sea level.
Sri Lanka has 103 rivers. The longest of these is the Mahaweli River, extending . These waterways give rise to 51 natural waterfalls of or more. The highest is Bambarakanda Falls, with a height of . Sri Lanka's coastline is long. Sri Lanka claims an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) extending 200 nautical miles, which is approximately 6.7 times Sri Lanka's land area. The coastline and adjacent waters support highly productive marine ecosystems such as fringing coral reefs and shallow beds of coastal and estuarine seagrasses.
Sri Lanka has 45 estuaries and 40 lagoons. Sri Lanka's mangrove ecosystem spans over 7,000 hectares and played a vital role in buffering the force of the waves in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The island is rich in minerals such as ilmenite, feldspar, graphite, silica, kaolin, mica and thorium. Existence of petroleum and gas in the Gulf of Mannar has also been confirmed and the extraction of recoverable quantities is underway.
The climate is tropical and warm, due to the moderating effects of ocean winds. Mean temperatures range from in the central highlands, where frost may occur for several days in the winter, to a maximum of in other low-altitude areas. Average yearly temperatures range from to nearly . Day and night temperatures may vary by to .
Rainfall pattern is influenced by monsoon winds from the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. The "wet zone" and some of the windward slopes of the central highlands receive up to of rain each year, but the leeward slopes in the east and northeast receive little rain. Most of the east, southeast, and northern parts of Sri Lanka comprise the "dry zone", which receives between of rain annually.
The arid northwest and southeast coasts receive the least amount of rain at per year. Periodic squalls occur and sometimes tropical cyclones bring overcast skies and rains to the southwest, northeast, and eastern parts of the island. Humidity is typically higher in the southwest and mountainous areas and depends on the seasonal patterns of rainfall.
An increase in average rainfall coupled with heavier rainfall events has resulted in recurrent flooding and related damages to infrastructure, utility supply and the urban economy.
Lying within the Indomalayan realm, Sri Lanka is one of 25 biodiversity hotspots in the world. Although the country is relatively small in size, it has the highest biodiversity density in Asia. A remarkably high proportion of the species among its flora and fauna, 27% of the 3,210 flowering plants and 22% of the mammals ("see List"), are endemic. Sri Lanka has declared 24 wildlife reserves, which are home to a wide range of native species such as Asian elephants, leopards, sloth bears, the unique small loris, a variety of deer, the purple-faced langur, the endangered wild boar, porcupines and Indian pangolins.
Flowering acacias flourish on the arid Jaffna Peninsula. Among the trees of the dry-land forests are valuable species such as satinwood, ebony, ironwood, mahogany and teak. The wet zone is a tropical evergreen forest with tall trees, broad foliage, and a dense undergrowth of vines and creepers. Subtropical evergreen forests resembling those of temperate climates flourish in the higher altitudes.
Yala National Park in the southeast protects herds of elephant, deer, and peacocks. The Wilpattu National Park in the northwest, the largest national park, preserves the habitats of many water birds such as storks, pelicans, ibis, and spoonbills. The island has four biosphere reserves: Bundala, Hurulu Forest Reserve, the Kanneliya-Dediyagala-Nakiyadeniya, and Sinharaja. Of these, Sinharaja forest reserve is home to 26 endemic birds and 20 rainforest species, including the elusive red-faced malkoha, the green-billed coucal and the Sri Lanka blue magpie.
The untapped genetic potential of Sinharaja flora is enormous. Of the 211 woody trees and lianas within the reserve, 139 (66%) are endemic. The total vegetation density, including trees, shrubs, herbs and seedlings, has been estimated at 240,000 individuals per hectare. The Minneriya National Park borders the Minneriya tank, which is an important source of water for numerous elephants (Elephus maximus) inhabiting the surrounding forests. Dubbed "The Gathering", the congregation of elephants can be seen on the tank-bed in the late dry season (August to October) as the surrounding water sources steadily disappear. The park also encompasses a range of micro-habitats which include classic dry zone tropical monsoonal evergreen forest, thick stands of giant bamboo, hilly pastures (patanas). and grasslands (talawas).
Sri Lanka is home to over 250 types of resident birds ("see List"). It has declared several bird sanctuaries including Kumana. During the Mahaweli Program of the 1970s and 1980s in northern Sri Lanka, the government set aside four areas of land totalling as national parks. Sri Lanka's forest cover, which was around 49% in 1920, had fallen to approximately 24% by 2009.
Sri Lanka is the oldest democracy in Asia. The Donoughmore Constitution, drafted by the Donoughmore Commission in 1931, enabled general elections with adult universal suffrage (universal adult voting) in the country. The first election under the universal adult franchise, held in June 1931, was for the Ceylon State Council. Sir Don Baron Jayatilaka was elected as Leader of the House.
In 1944, the Soulbury Commission was appointed to draft a new constitution. During this time, struggle for independence was fought on "constitutionalist" lines under the leadership of D. S. Senanayake. The draft constitution was enacted in the same year, and Senanayake was appointed Prime Minister following the parliamentary election in 1947. The Soulbury constitution ushered in Dominion status and granted independence to Sri Lanka in 1948.
The current political culture in Sri Lanka is a contest between two rival coalitions led by the centre-leftist and progressivist United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), an offspring of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), and the comparatively right-wing and pro-capitalist United National Party (UNP). Sri Lanka is essentially a multi-party democracy with many smaller Buddhist, socialist and Tamil nationalist political parties. As of July 2011, the number of registered political parties in the country is 67. Of these, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), established in 1935, is the oldest.
The UNP, established by D. S. Senanayake in 1946, was until recently the largest single political party. It is the only political group which had representation in all parliaments since independence. SLFP was founded by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, who was the Cabinet minister of Local Administration before he left the UNP in July 1951. SLFP registered its first victory in 1956, defeating the ruling UNP in 1956 Parliamentary election. Following the parliamentary election in July 1960, Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the prime minister and the world's first elected female head of government.
G. G. Ponnambalam, the Tamil nationalist counterpart of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, founded the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) in 1944. Objecting to Ponnambalam's cooperation with D. S. Senanayake, a dissident group led by S.J.V. Chelvanayakam broke away in 1949 and formed the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), also known as the Federal Party, becoming the main Tamil political party in Sri Lanka for next two decades. The Federal Party advocated a more aggressive stance toward the Sinhalese.
With the constitutional reforms of 1972, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) and Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) created a common front called the Tamil United Front (later Tamil United Liberation Front). Following a period of turbulence as Tamil militants rose to power in the late 1970s, these Tamil political parties were succeeded in October 2001 by the Tamil National Alliance. Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, a Marxist–Leninist political party founded by Rohana Wijeweera in 1965, serves as a third force in the current political context. It endorses leftist policies which are more radical than the traditionalist leftist politics of the LSSP and the Communist Party. Founded in 1981, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress is the largest Muslim political party in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka is a democratic republic and a unitary state which is governed by a semi-presidential system, with a mixture of a presidential system and a parliamentary system. Most provisions of the constitution can be amended by a two-thirds majority in parliament. The amendment of certain basic features such as the clauses on language, religion, and reference to Sri Lanka as a unitary state require both a two-thirds majority and approval in a nationwide referendum.
In common with many democracies, the Sri Lankan government has three branches:
For administrative purposes, Sri Lanka is divided into nine provinces and twenty-five districts.
Provinces
There have been provinces in Sri Lanka since the 19th century, but they had no legal status until 1987 when the 13th Amendment to the 1978 constitution established provincial councils after several decades of increasing demand for a decentralisation of the Government of Sri Lanka. Each provincial council is an autonomous body not under the authority of any Ministry. Some of its functions had been undertaken by central government ministries, departments, corporations, and statutory authorities, but authority over land and police is not as a rule given to provincial councils. Between 1989 and 2006, the Northern and Eastern provinces were temporarily merged to form the North-East Province. Prior to 1987, all administrative tasks for the provinces were handled by a district-based civil service which had been in place since colonial times. Now each province is administered by a directly elected provincial council:
Districts and local authorities
Sri Lanka is also divided into 25 districts. Each district is administered under a District Secretariat. The districts are further subdivided into 256 divisional secretariats, and these, in turn, to approximately 14,008 Grama Niladhari divisions. The Districts are known in Sinhala as "Disa" and in Tamil as "Māwaddam". Originally, a Disa (usually rendered into English as Dissavony) was a duchy, notably Matale and Uva. A government agent, who is known as "District Secretary", administers a district.
There are three other types of local authorities: Municipal Councils (18), Urban councils (13) and Pradeshiya Sabha, also called Pradesha Sabhai (256). Local authorities were originally based on feudal counties named "korale" and "rata", and were formerly known as 'D.R.O. divisions' after the 'Divisional Revenue Officer'. Later the D.R.O.s became 'Assistant Government Agents' and the divisions were known as 'A.G.A. divisions'. These Divisional Secretariats are currently administered by a 'Divisional Secretary'.
Sri Lanka is a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). While ensuring that it maintains its independence, Sri Lanka has cultivated relations with India. Sri Lanka became a member of the United Nations in 1955. Today, it is also a member of the Commonwealth, the SAARC, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank, and the Colombo Plan.
One of the two parties that have governed Sri Lanka since its independence, the United National Party, has traditionally favoured links with the West, while its left-leaning counterpart, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, has favoured links with the East. Sri Lankan Finance Minister J. R. Jayewardene, together with then Australian Foreign Minister Sir Percy Spencer, proposed the Colombo Plan at the Commonwealth Foreign Minister's Conference held in Colombo in 1950. At the San Francisco Peace Conference in 1951, while many countries were reluctant, Sri Lanka argued for a free Japan and refused to accept payment of reparations for World War II damage because it believed it would harm Japan's economy. Sri Lanka-China relations started as soon as the PRC was formed in 1949. The two countries signed an important Rice-Rubber Pact in 1952. Sri Lanka played a vital role at the Asian–African Conference in 1955, which was an important step in the crystallisation of the NAM.
The Bandaranaike government of 1956 significantly changed the pro-western policies set by the previous UNP government. It recognised Cuba under Fidel Castro in 1959. Shortly afterward, Cuba's revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara paid a visit to Sri Lanka. The "Sirima-Shastri Pact" of 1964 and "Sirima-Gandhi Pact" of 1974 were signed between Sri Lankan and Indian leaders in an attempt to solve the long-standing dispute over the status of plantation workers of Indian origin. In 1974, Kachchatheevu, a small island in Palk Strait, was formally ceded to Sri Lanka. By this time, Sri Lanka was strongly involved in the NAM and Colombo held the fifth NAM summit in 1976. The relationship between Sri Lanka and India became tense under the government of J. R. Jayawardene. As a result, India intervened in the Sri Lankan Civil War and subsequently deployed an Indian Peace Keeping Force in 1987. In the present, Sri Lanka enjoys extensive relations with China, Russia, and Pakistan.
The Sri Lanka Armed Forces, comprising the Sri Lanka Army, the Sri Lanka Navy, and the Sri Lanka Air Force, come under the purview of the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The total strength of the three services is around 346,000 personnel, with nearly 36,000 reserves. Sri Lanka has not enforced military conscription. Paramilitary units include the Special Task Force, the Civil Security Force, and the Sri Lanka Coast Guard.
Since independence in 1948, the primary focus of the armed forces has been internal security, crushing three major insurgencies, two by Marxist militants of the JVP and a 26-year-long conflict with the LTTE. The armed forces have been in a continuous mobilised state for the last 30 years.
The Sri Lankan Armed Forces have engaged in United Nations peacekeeping operations since the early 1960s, contributing forces to permanent contingents deployed in several UN peacekeeping missions in Chad, Lebanon, and Haiti.
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According to the International Monetary Fund, Sri Lanka's GDP in terms of purchasing power parity is the second most highest in the South Asian region in terms of per capita income.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, Sri Lanka became a plantation economy famous for its production and export of cinnamon, rubber, and Ceylon tea, which remains a trademark national export. The development of modern ports under British rule raised the strategic importance of the island as a centre of trade. From 1948 to 1977, socialism strongly influenced the government's economic policies. Colonial plantations were dismantled, industries were nationalised, and a welfare state established. In 1977, the free market economy was introduced to the country incorporating privatisation, deregulation, and the promotion of private enterprise.
While the production and export of tea, rubber, coffee, sugar, and other commodities remain important, industrialisation has increased the importance of food processing, textiles, telecommunications, and finance. The country's main economic sectors are tourism, tea export, clothing, rice production, and other agricultural products. In addition to these economic sectors, overseas employment, especially in the Middle East, contributes substantially in foreign exchange.
, the service sector makes up 60% of GDP, the industrial sector 28%, and the agriculture sector 12%. The private sector accounts for 85% of the economy. China, India and the United States are Sri Lanka's largest trading partners. Economic disparities exist between the provinces with the Western Province contributing 45.1% of the GDP and the Southern Province and the Central Province contributing 10.7% and 10%, respectively. With the end of the war, the Northern Province reported a record 22.9% GDP growth in 2010.
The per capita income of Sri Lanka has doubled since 2005. During the same period, poverty has dropped from 15.2% to 7.6%, unemployment rate has dropped from 7.2% to 4.9%, market capitalisation of the Colombo Stock Exchange has quadrupled and the budget deficit has doubled. Over 90% of the households in Sri Lanka are electrified. 87.3% of the population have access to safe drinking water and 39% have access to pipe-borne water. Income inequality has also dropped in recent years, indicated by a Gini coefficient of 0.36 in 2010. Sri Lanka's cellular subscriber base has shown a staggering 550% growth from 2005 to 2010. Sri Lanka was the first country in the South Asian region to introduce 3G, 3.5G (HSDPA), 3.75G (HSUPA) and 4G (LTE) mobile telecommunication technologies.
The Global Competitiveness Report, published by the World Economic Forum, has described Sri Lanka's economy as transitioning from the factor-driven stage to the efficiency-driven stage and that it ranks 52nd in global competitiveness. Also, out of the 142 countries surveyed, Sri Lanka ranked 45th in health and primary education, 32nd in business sophistication, 42nd in innovation, and 41st in goods market efficiency. Sri Lanka ranks 5th in the World Giving Index, registering high levels of contentment and charitable behaviour in its society. In 2010, "The New York Times" placed Sri Lanka at the top of its list of 31 places to visit. S&P Dow Jones Indices classifies Sri Lanka as a frontier market as of 2018, and Citigroup classified it as a 3G country in February 2011. Sri Lanka ranks well above other South Asian countries in the Human Development Index (HDI) with an index of 0.750.
Sri Lanka's road network consists of 35 A-Grade highways and two controlled-access highways (E01 and E03). The railway network, operated by the state-run national railway operator Sri Lanka Railways, spans . Sri Lanka also has three deep-water ports at Colombo, Galle, and Trincomalee, in addition to the newest port being built at Hambantota. The port at Trincomalee is the fifth largest natural harbour in the world; during World War II, the British stated that they could place their entire navy in the harbour with room to spare. Sri Lanka's flag carrier airline is SriLankan Airlines. Fitch Ratings has affirmed Sri Lanka's Foreign- and Local-Currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) at 'BB-' with a "stable" outlook. With a grant of 20 million dollars from the US and help from China, a space academy has been set up for the purpose of developing an indigenous space sector to launch satellites of other nations as well as of Sri Lanka. This dual use of launching technology will also serve to develop missile technology. On 26 September 2012 China launched Sri Lanka's first satellite, with plans for more launches in the coming years.
During the past few years, the country's debt has soared as it was developing its infrastructure to the point of near bankruptcy which required a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) The IMF had agreed to provide a US$1.5 billion bailout loan in April 2016 after Sri Lanka provided a set of criteria intended to improve its economy. By the fourth quarter of 2016, the debt was estimated to be $64.9 billion. Additional debt had been incurred in the past by state-owned organisations and this was said to be at least $9.5 billion. Since early 2015, domestic debt increased by 12 percent and external debt by 25 percent.
In November 2016, the International Monetary Fund reported that the initial disbursement was larger than US$150 million originally planned, a full US$162.6 million (SDR 119.894 million), to Sri Lanka. The agency's evaluation for the first tranche was cautiously optimistic about the future. Under the program Sri Lankan government implemented a new Inland Revenue Act and an automatic fuel pricing formula which were noted by the IMF in its fourth review. In 2018 China agreed to bail out Sri Lanka with a loan of $1.25 billion to deal with foreign debt repayment spikes in 2019 to 2021.
Sri Lanka is the 57th most populated nation in the world, with roughly 21,670,000 people, and an annual population growth rate of 1.14%. Sri Lanka has a birth rate of 17.6 births per 1,000 people and a death rate of 6.2 deaths per 1,000 people. Population density is highest in western Sri Lanka, especially in and around the capital. Sinhalese constitute the largest ethnic group in the country, with 74.8% of the total population.
Sri Lankan Tamils are the second major ethnic group in the island, with a percentage of 11.2%. Sri Lankan Moors comprise 9.2%. Tamils of Indian origin were brought into the country as indentured labourers by British colonists to work on estate plantations. Nearly 50% of them were repatriated following independence in 1948. They are distinguished from the native Tamil population that has resided in Sri Lanka since ancient times. There are also small ethnic groups such as the Burghers (of mixed European descent) and Malays from Southeast Asia. Moreover, there is a small population of Vedda people who are believed to be the original indigenous group to inhabit the island.
Sinhala and Tamil are the two official languages of Sri Lanka. The Constitution defines English as the link language. English is widely used for education, scientific and commercial purposes. Members of the Burgher community speak variant forms of Portuguese Creole and Dutch with varying proficiency, while members of the Malay community speak a form of Creole Malay that is unique to the island.
Sri Lanka is a multi-religious country. Buddhists comprise 70% of the population, with the Theravada school being predominant. Most Buddhists are of the Sinhalese ethnic group. Buddhism was introduced to Sri Lanka in the 2nd century BCE by Venerable Mahinda. A sapling of the Bodhi Tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment was brought to Sri Lanka during the same time. The Pāli Canon ("Thripitakaya"), having previously been preserved as an oral tradition, was first committed to writing in Sri Lanka around 30 BCE.
Sri Lanka has the longest continuous history of Buddhism of any predominantly Buddhist nation, with the Sangha having existed in a largely unbroken lineage since its introduction in the 2nd century BCE. During periods of decline, the Sri Lankan monastic lineage was revived through contact with Thailand and Burma. Buddhism is given special recognition in the Constitution which requires Sri Lankans to "protect and foster the Buddha Sasana".
Hinduism is the second most prevalent religion in Sri Lanka and predates Buddhism. Today, Hinduism is dominant in Northern, Eastern and Central Sri Lanka.
Islam is the third most prevalent religion in the country, having first been brought to the island by Arab traders over the course of many centuries, starting around the 7th century CE. Most Muslims are Sunni who follow the Shafi'i school. Most followers of Islam in Sri Lanka today are believed to be descendants of those Arab traders and the local women they married.
Christianity reached the country through Western colonists in the early 16th century. Around 7.4% of the Sri Lankan population are Christians, of whom 82% are Roman Catholics who trace their religious heritage directly to the Portuguese. Sri Lankan Tamil Catholics attribute their religious heritage to St. Francis Xavier as well as Portuguese missionaries. The remaining Christians are evenly split between the Anglican Church of Ceylon and other Protestant denominations.
There is also a small population of Zoroastrian immigrants from India (Parsis) who settled in Ceylon during the period of British rule, but this community has steadily dwindled in recent years. Religion plays a prominent role in the life and culture of Sri Lankans. The Buddhist majority observe Poya Days each month according to the Lunar calendar, and Hindus and Muslims also observe their own holidays. In a 2008 Gallup poll, Sri Lanka was ranked the third most religious country in the world, with 99% of Sri Lankans saying religion was an important part of their daily life.
Sri Lankans have a life expectancy of 77.9 years at birth, which is 10% higher than the world average. The infant mortality rate stands at 8.5 per 1,000 births and the maternal mortality rate at 0.39 per 1,000 births, which is on par with figures from the developed countries. The universal "pro-poor" health care system adopted by the country has contributed much towards these figures.
Sri Lanka ranks first among southeast Asian countries with respect to commitment of suicide, with 33 deaths per 100,000 persons. According to the Department of Census and Statistics, poverty, destructive pastimes and inability to cope with stressful situations, are the main causes behind the high suicide rates.
With a literacy rate of 92.5%, Sri Lanka has one of the most literate populations amongst developing nations. Its youth literacy rate stands at 98%, computer literacy rate at 35%, and primary school enrolment rate at over 99%. An education system which dictates 9 years of compulsory schooling for every child is in place. The free education system established in 1945, is a result of the initiative of C. W. W. Kannangara and A. Ratnayake. It is one of the few countries in the world that provide universal free education from primary to tertiary stage.
Kannangara led the establishment of the Madhya Maha Vidyalayas (Central Schools) in different parts of the country in order to provide education to Sri Lanka's rural children. In 1942 a special education committee proposed extensive reforms to establish an efficient and quality education system for the people. However, in the 1980s changes to this system saw the separation of the administration of schools between the central government and the provincial government. Thus the elite National Schools are controlled directly by the Ministry of Education and the provincial schools by the provincial government. Sri Lanka has approximately 9675 government schools, 817 private schools and Pirivenas.
Sri Lanka has 15 public universities. A lack of responsiveness of the education system to labour market requirements, disparities in access to quality education, lack of an effective linkage between secondary and tertiary education remain major challenges for the education sector. A number of private, degree awarding institutions have emerged in recent times to fill in these gaps, yet the participation at tertiary level education remains at 5.1%. The proposed private university bill has been withdrawn by the Higher Education Ministry after university students' heavy demonstrations and resistance.
The late British science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke served as Chancellor of Moratuwa University in Sri Lanka from 1979 to 2002.
Sri Lanka has an extensive road network for inland transportation. With more than of paved roads, it has one of the highest road densities in the world ( of paved roads per every of land). E-grade highways are the latest addition to Sri Lanka's road network. These are access-controlled, high-mobility roads with permitted speeds up to . These highways connect local communities together, by-passing busy and congested town centres.
A and B grade roads are national (arterial) highways administered by Road Development Authority. C and D grade roads are provincial roads coming under the purview of the Provincial Road Development Authority of the respective province. The other roads are local roads falling under local government authorities.
The rail network of Sri Lanka consists of main lines, coastal lines, and up-country lines. In addition, air- and water-based transportation modalities augment the inland transport of the country.
The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (formerly Radio Ceylon) is the oldest-running radio station in Asia, established in 1923 by Edward Harper just three years after broadcasting began in Europe. The station broadcasts services in Sinhala, Tamil, English and Hindi. Since the 1980s, many private radio stations have also been introduced. Broadcast television was introduced to the country in 1979 when the Independent Television Network was launched. Initially, all Television stations were state-controlled, but private television networks began broadcasts in 1992.
, 51 newspapers (30 Sinhala, 10 Tamil, 11 English) are published and 34 TV stations and 52 radio stations are in operation. In recent years, freedom of the press in Sri Lanka has been alleged by media freedom groups to be amongst the poorest in democratic countries. Alleged abuse of a newspaper editor by a senior government minister achieved international notoriety because of the unsolved murder of the editor's predecessor, Lasantha Wickrematunge, who had also been a critic of the government and had presaged his own death in a posthumously published article.
Officially, the constitution of Sri Lanka guarantees human rights as ratified by the United Nations. However, human rights in Sri Lanka have come under criticism by Amnesty International, Freedom from Torture, Human Rights Watch, and the United States Department of State. British colonial rulers, the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and the government of Sri Lanka are accused of violating human rights. A report by an advisory panel to the UN secretary-general has accused both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government of alleged war crimes during final stages of the civil war. Corruption remains a problem in Sri Lanka, and there is currently very little protection for those who stand up against corruption. The 135-year-old Article 365 of the Sri Lankan Penal Code criminalises gay sex and provides for a penalty of up to ten years in prison.
The UN Human Rights Council has documented over 12,000 named individuals who have undergone disappearance after detention by security forces in Sri Lanka, the second highest figure in the world since the Working Group came into being in 1980. The Sri Lankan government has confirmed that 6,445 of these are dead. Allegations of human rights abuses have not ended with the close of the ethnic conflict.
UN Human Rights Commissioner Navanethem Pillay visited Sri Lanka in May 2013. After her visit, she said: "The war may have ended [in Sri Lanka], but in the meantime democracy has been undermined and the rule of law eroded." Pillay spoke about the military's increasing involvement in civilian life and reports of military land grabbing. She also said that, while in Sri Lanka, she had been allowed to go wherever she wanted, but that Sri Lankans who came to meet her were harassed and intimidated by security forces.
In 2012, the UK charity Freedom from Torture reported that it had received 233 referrals of torture survivors from Sri Lanka for clinical treatment or other services provided by the charity. In the same year, Freedom from Torture published "Out of the Silence", which documents evidence of torture in Sri Lanka and demonstrates that the practice has continued long after the end of the civil war in May 2009.
The culture of Sri Lanka dates back over 2500 years. It is influenced primarily by Buddhism and Hinduism. Sri Lanka is the home to two main traditional cultures: the Sinhalese (centred in the ancient cities of Kandy and Anuradhapura) and the Tamil (centred in the city of Jaffna). In more recent times, the British colonial culture has also influenced the locals. Sri Lanka claims a democratic tradition matched by few other developing countries.
The first Tamil immigration was probably around the 3rd century BC. Tamils co-existed with the Sinhalese people since then, and the early mixing rendered the two ethnic groups almost physically indistinct. Ancient Sri Lanka is marked for its genius in hydraulic engineering and architecture. The rich cultural traditions shared by all Sri Lankan cultures is the basis of the country's long life expectancy, advanced health standards and high literacy rate.
Dishes include rice and curry, pittu, kiribath, wholemeal roti, string hoppers, wattalapam (a rich pudding of Malay origin made of coconut milk, jaggery, cashew nuts, eggs, and spices including cinnamon and nutmeg), kottu, and hoppers. Jackfruit may sometimes replace rice. Traditionally food is served on a plantain leaf or lotus leaf.
Middle Eastern influences and practices are found in traditional Moor dishes, while Dutch and Portuguese influences are found with the island's Burgher community preserving their culture through traditional dishes such as Lamprais (rice cooked in stock and baked in a banana leaf), Breudher (Dutch Holiday Biscuit), and Bolo Fiado (Portuguese-style layer cake).
In April, Sri Lankans celebrate the Buddhist and Hindu new year festival. Esala Perahera is a symbolic Buddhist festival consisting of dances and decorated elephants held in Kandy in July and August. Fire-dances, whip-dances, Kandian dances and various other cultural dances are integral parts of the festival. Christians celebrate Christmas on 25 December to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and Easter to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Tamils celebrate Thai Pongal and Maha Shivaratri, and Muslims celebrate Hajj and Ramadan.
The movie "Kadawunu Poronduwa" (The broken promise), produced by S. M. Nayagam of Chitra Kala Movietone, heralded the coming of Sri Lankan cinema in 1947. "Ranmuthu Duwa" (Island of treasures, 1962) marked the transition cinema from black-and-white to colour. It in the recent years has featured subjects such as family melodrama, social transformation and the years of conflict between the military and the LTTE. The Sri Lankan cinematic style is similar to Bollywood movies. In 1979, movie attendance rose to an all-time high, but has been in steady decline since then.
An influential filmmaker is Lester James Peiris, who has directed a number of movies which led to global acclaim, including "Rekava" (Line of destiny, 1956), "Gamperaliya" (The changing village, 1964), "Nidhanaya" (The treasure, 1970) and "Golu Hadawatha" (Cold heart, 1968). Sri Lankan-Canadian poet Rienzi Crusz, is the subject of a documentary on his life in Sri Lanka. His work is published in Sinhala and English. Similarly, naturalised-Canadian Michael Ondaatje, is well known for his English-language novels and three films.
The earliest music in Sri Lanka came from theatrical performances such as "Kolam", "Sokari" and "Nadagam". Traditional music instruments such as "Béra", "Thammátama", "Daŭla" and "Răbān" were performed at these dramas. The first music album, "Nurthi", recorded in 1903, was released through Radio Ceylon (founded in 1925). Songwriters like Mahagama Sekara and Ananda Samarakoon and musicians such as W. D. Amaradeva, Victor Ratnayake, Nanda Malini and Clarence Wijewardene have contributed much towards the upliftment of Sri Lankan music. Baila is another popular music genre in the country, originated among Kaffirs or the Afro-Sinhalese community.
There are three main styles of Sri Lankan classical dance. They are, the Kandyan dances, low country dances and Sabaragamuwa dances. Of these, the Kandyan style, which flourished under kings of the Kingdom of Kandy, is more prominent. It is a sophisticated form of dance, that consists of five sub-categories: "Ves dance", "Naiyandi dance", "Udekki dance", "Pantheru dance" and "18 Vannam". An elaborate headdress is worn by the male dancers and a drum called "Geta Béraya" is used to assist the dancer to keep on rhythm. In addition, four folk drama variants named "Sokri", Kolam "Nadagam", "Pasu", and several devil dance variants such as Sanni Yakuma and "Kohomba Kankariya" can be also observed.
The history of Sri Lankan painting and sculpture can be traced as far back as to the 2nd or 3rd century BC. The earliest mention about the art of painting on Mahavamsa, is to the drawing of a palace on cloth using cinnabar in the 2nd century BC. The chronicles have description of various paintings in relic-chambers of Buddhist stupas, and in monastic residence.
Theatre moved into the country when a Parsi theatre company from Mumbai introduced "Nurti", a blend of European and Indian theatrical conventions to the Colombo audience in the 19th century. The golden age of Sri Lankan drama and theatre began with the staging of "Maname", a play written by Ediriweera Sarachchandra in 1956. It was followed by a series of popular dramas like "Sinhabāhu", "Pabāvatī", "Mahāsāra", "Muudu Puththu" and "Subha saha Yasa".
Sri Lankan literature spans at least two millennia, and is heir to the Aryan literary tradition as embodied in the hymns of the Rigveda. The Pāli Canon, the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, was written down in Sri Lanka during the Fourth Buddhist council, at the Alulena cave temple, Kegalle, as early as 29 BC. Ancient chronicles such as the Mahāvamsa, written in the 6th century, provide vivid descriptions of Sri Lankan dynasties. According to the German philosopher Wilhelm Geiger, the chronicles are based on Sinhala Atthakatha (commentary), that dates few more centuries back. The oldest surviving prose work is the "Dhampiya-Atuva-Getapadaya", compiled in the 9th century.
The greatest literary feats of medieval Sri Lanka include "Sandesha Kāvya" (poetic messages) such as "Girā Sandeshaya" (Parrot message), "Hansa Sandeshaya" (Swan message) and "Salalihini Sandeshaya" (Myna message). Poetry including "Kavsilumina", "Kavya-Sekharaya" (diadem of poetry) and proses such as "Saddharma-Ratnāvaliya", "Amāvatura" (Flood of nectar) and "Pujāvaliya" are also notable works of this period, which is considered to be the golden age of Sri Lankan literature. The first modern-day novel, "Meena", a work of Simon de Silva appeared in 1905, and was followed by a number of revolutionary literary works. Martin Wickramasinghe, the author of "Madol Doova" is considered the iconic figure of Sri Lankan literature.
While the national sport in Sri Lanka is volleyball, by far the most popular sport in the country is cricket. Rugby union also enjoys extensive popularity, as do athletics, football (soccer), netball and tennis. Sri Lanka's schools and colleges regularly organise sports and athletics teams, competing on provincial and national levels.
The Sri Lanka national cricket team achieved considerable success beginning in the 1990s, rising from underdog status to winning the 1996 Cricket World Cup. They also won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 played in Bangladesh, beating India in the final. In addition, Sri Lanka became the runners-up of the Cricket World Cup in 2007 and 2011, and of the ICC World Twenty20 in 2009 and 2012.
Former Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has been rated as the greatest Test match bowler ever by "Wisden Cricketers' Almanack", and four Sri Lankan cricketers ranked 2nd (Sangakkara), 4th (Jayasuriya), 5th (Jayawardene) and 11th (Dilshan) highest ODI run scorers of all time, which is the second best by a team. Sri Lanka has won the Asia Cup in 1986, 1997, 2004, 2008 and 2014. Sri Lanka once held highest team score in all three formats of cricket, where currently holds Test team total. The country co-hosted the Cricket World Cup in 1996 and 2011, and hosted the 2012 ICC World Twenty20.
Sri Lankans have won two medals at Olympic Games, one silver, by Duncan White at 1948 London Olympics for men's 400 metres hurdles and one silver by Susanthika Jayasinghe at 2000 Sydney Olympics for women's 200 metres. In 1973, Muhammad Lafir won the World Billiards Championship, the highest feat by a Sri Lankan in a Cue sport. Sri Lanka has also won the Carrom World Championship titles twice in 2012, 2016 and 2018, men's team becoming champions and women's team won second place. Aquatic sports such as boating, surfing, swimming, kitesurfing and scuba diving on the coast, the beaches and backwaters attract many Sri Lankans and foreign tourists. There are two styles of martial arts native to Sri Lanka, Cheena di and Angampora.
The Sri Lanka national netball team has won the Asian Netball Championship five times and are the current Asian Champions as well.
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Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, with internal convective motion that generates a magnetic field via a dynamo process. It is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth. Its diameter is about 1.39 million kilometers (864,000 miles), or 109 times that of Earth, and its mass is about 330,000 times that of Earth. It accounts for about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System.
Roughly three quarters of the Sun's mass consists of hydrogen (~73%); the rest is mostly helium (~25%), with much smaller quantities of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon, and iron.
The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star (G2V) based on its spectral class. As such, it is informally and not completely accurately referred to as a yellow dwarf (its light is closer to white than yellow). It formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of matter within a region of a large molecular cloud. Most of this matter gathered in the center, whereas the rest flattened into an orbiting disk that became the Solar System. The central mass became so hot and dense that it eventually initiated nuclear fusion in its core. It is thought that almost all stars form by this process.
The Sun currently fuses about 600 million tons of hydrogen into helium every second, converting 4 million tons of matter into energy every second as a result. This energy, which can take between 10,000 and 170,000 years to escape from its core, is the source of the Sun's light and heat. When hydrogen fusion in its core has diminished to the point at which the Sun is no longer in hydrostatic equilibrium, its core will undergo a marked increase in density and temperature while its outer layers expand, eventually transforming the Sun into a red giant. It is calculated that the Sun will become sufficiently large to engulf the current orbits of Mercury and Venus, and render Earth uninhabitable – but not for about five billion years. After this, it will shed its outer layers and become a dense type of cooling star known as a white dwarf, and no longer produce energy by fusion, but still glow and give off heat from its previous fusion.
The enormous effect of the Sun on Earth has been recognized since prehistoric times, and the Sun has been regarded by some cultures as a deity. The synodic rotation of Earth and its orbit around the Sun are the basis of solar calendars, one of which is the predominant calendar in use today.
The English word "sun" developed from Old English "sunne". Cognates appear in other Germanic languages, including West Frisian "sinne", Dutch "zon", Low German "Sünn", Standard German "Sonne", Bavarian "Sunna", Old Norse "sunna" and Gothic "sunnō". All these words stem from Proto-Germanic *sunnōn. This is ultimately related to the word for "sun" in other branches of the Indo-European language family, though in most cases a nominative stem with an "l" is found, rather than the genitive stem in "n", as for example in Latin "sōl", Greek ἥλιος "hēlios", Welsh "haul" and Russian солнце "solntse" (pronounced "sontse"), as well as (with *l > "r") Sanskrit स्वर "svár" and Persian خور "xvar". Indeed, the "l"-stem survived in Proto-Germanic as well, as *sōwelan, which gave rise to Gothic "sauil" (alongside "sunnō") and Old Norse prosaic "sól" (alongside poetic "sunna"), and through it the words for "sun" in the modern Scandinavian languages: Swedish and Danish "solen", Icelandic "sólin", etc.
In English, the Greek and Latin words occur in poetry as personifications of the Sun, Helios and Sol , while in science fiction "Sol" may be used as a name for our sun to distinguish it from others. The term "sol" with a lower-case 's' is used by planetary astronomers for the duration of a solar day on another planet such as Mars.
The principal adjectives for the Sun in English are "sunny" for sunlight and, in technical contexts, "solar" , from Latin "sol" – the latter found in terms such as "solar day", "solar eclipse" and "Solar System" (occasionally "Sol system").
From the Greek "helios" comes the rare adjective "heliac" .
The English weekday name "Sunday" stems from Old English "Sunnandæg" "sun's day", a Germanic interpretation of the Latin phrase "diēs sōlis", itself a translation of the Greek ἡμέρα ἡλίου "hēmera hēliou" "day of the sun".
The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star that comprises about 99.86% of the mass of the Solar System. The Sun has an absolute magnitude of +4.83, estimated to be brighter than about 85% of the stars in the Milky Way, most of which are red dwarfs. The Sun is a Population I, or heavy-element-rich, star. The formation of the Sun may have been triggered by shockwaves from one or more nearby supernovae. This is suggested by a high abundance of heavy elements in the Solar System, such as gold and uranium, relative to the abundances of these elements in so-called Population II, heavy-element-poor, stars. The heavy elements could most plausibly have been produced by endothermic nuclear reactions during a supernova, or by transmutation through neutron absorption within a massive second-generation star.
The Sun is by far the brightest object in the Earth's sky, with an apparent magnitude of −26.74. This is about 13 billion times brighter than the next brightest star, Sirius, which has an apparent magnitude of −1.46. is defined as the mean distance of the Sun's center to Earth's center, though the distance varies as Earth moves from perihelion in January to aphelion in July. At this average distance, light travels from the Sun's horizon to Earth's horizon in about 8 minutes and 19 seconds, while light from the closest points of the Sun and Earth takes about two seconds less. The energy of this sunlight supports almost all life on Earth by photosynthesis, and drives Earth's climate and weather.
The Sun does not have a definite boundary, but its density decreases exponentially with increasing height above the photosphere. For the purpose of measurement, the Sun's radius is considered to be the distance from its center to the edge of the photosphere, the apparent visible surface of the Sun. By this measure, the Sun is a near-perfect sphere with an oblateness estimated at about 9 millionths, which means that its polar diameter differs from its equatorial diameter by only . The tidal effect of the planets is weak and does not significantly affect the shape of the Sun. The Sun rotates faster at its equator than at its poles. This differential rotation is caused by convective motion due to heat transport and the Coriolis force due to the Sun's rotation. In a frame of reference defined by the stars, the rotational period is approximately 25.6 days at the equator and 33.5 days at the poles. Viewed from Earth as it orbits the Sun, the "apparent rotational period" of the Sun at its equator is about 28 days.
The solar constant is the amount of power that the Sun deposits per unit area that is directly exposed to sunlight. The solar constant is equal to approximately (watts per square meter) at a distance of one astronomical unit (AU) from the Sun (that is, on or near Earth). Sunlight on the surface of Earth is attenuated by Earth's atmosphere, so that less power arrives at the surface (closer to ) in clear conditions when the Sun is near the zenith. Sunlight at the top of Earth's atmosphere is composed (by total energy) of about 50% infrared light, 40% visible light, and 10% ultraviolet light. The atmosphere in particular filters out over 70% of solar ultraviolet, especially at the shorter wavelengths. Solar ultraviolet radiation ionizes Earth's dayside upper atmosphere, creating the electrically conducting ionosphere.
The Sun's color is white, with a CIE color-space index near (0.3, 0.3), when viewed from space or when the Sun is high in the sky. When measuring all the photons emitted, the Sun is emitting more photons in the green portion of the spectrum than any other. When the Sun is low in the sky, atmospheric scattering renders the Sun yellow, red, orange, or magenta. Despite its typical whiteness, most people mentally picture the Sun as yellow; the reasons for this are the subject of debate.
The Sun is a G2V star, with "G2" indicating its surface temperature of approximately 5,778 K (5,505 °C, 9,941 °F), and "V" that it, like most stars, is a main-sequence star. The average luminance of the Sun is about 1.88 giga candela per square metre, but as viewed through Earth's atmosphere, this is lowered to about 1.44 Gcd/m2. However, the luminance is not constant across the disk of the Sun (limb darkening).
The Sun is composed primarily of the chemical elements hydrogen and helium. At this time in the Sun's life, they account for 74.9% and 23.8% of the mass of the Sun in the photosphere, respectively. All heavier elements, called "metals" in astronomy, account for less than 2% of the mass, with oxygen (roughly 1% of the Sun's mass), carbon (0.3%), neon (0.2%), and iron (0.2%) being the most abundant.
The Sun's original chemical composition was inherited from the interstellar medium out of which it formed. Originally it would have contained about 71.1% hydrogen, 27.4% helium, and 1.5% heavier elements. The hydrogen and most of the helium in the Sun would have been produced by Big Bang nucleosynthesis in the first 20 minutes of the universe, and the heavier elements were produced by previous generations of stars before the Sun was formed, and spread into the interstellar medium during the final stages of stellar life and by events such as supernovae.
Since the Sun formed, the main fusion process has involved fusing hydrogen into helium. Over the past 4.6 billion years, the amount of helium and its location within the Sun has gradually changed. Within the core, the proportion of helium has increased from about 24% to about 60% due to fusion, and some of the helium and heavy elements have settled from the photosphere towards the center of the Sun because of gravity. The proportions of metals (heavier elements) is unchanged. Heat is transferred outward from the Sun's core by radiation rather than by convection (see Radiative zone below), so the fusion products are not lifted outward by heat; they remain in the core and gradually an inner core of helium has begun to form that cannot be fused because presently the Sun's core is not hot or dense enough to fuse helium. In the current photosphere the helium fraction is reduced, and the metallicity is only 84% of what it was in the protostellar phase (before nuclear fusion in the core started). In the future, helium will continue to accumulate in the core, and in about 5 billion years this gradual build-up will eventually cause the Sun to exit the main sequence and become a red giant.
The chemical composition of the photosphere is normally considered representative of the composition of the primordial Solar System. The solar heavy-element abundances described above are typically measured both using spectroscopy of the Sun's photosphere and by measuring abundances in meteorites that have never been heated to melting temperatures. These meteorites are thought to retain the composition of the protostellar Sun and are thus not affected by settling of heavy elements. The two methods generally agree well.
In the 1970s, much research focused on the abundances of iron-group elements in the Sun. Although significant research was done, until 1978 it was difficult to determine the abundances of some iron-group elements (e.g. cobalt and manganese) via spectrography because of their hyperfine structures.
The first largely complete set of oscillator strengths of singly ionized iron-group elements were made available in the 1960s, and these were subsequently improved. In 1978, the abundances of singly ionized elements of the iron group were derived.
Various authors have considered the existence of a gradient in the isotopic compositions of solar and planetary noble gases, e.g. correlations between isotopic compositions of neon and xenon in the Sun and on the planets.
Prior to 1983, it was thought that the whole Sun has the same composition as the solar atmosphere. In 1983, it was claimed that it was fractionation in the Sun itself that caused the isotopic-composition relationship between the planetary and solar-wind-implanted noble gases.
The structure of the Sun contains the following layers:
The core of the Sun extends from the center to about 20–25% of the solar radius. It has a density of up to (about 150 times the density of water) and a temperature of close to 15.7 million kelvin (K). By contrast, the Sun's surface temperature is approximately . Recent analysis of SOHO mission data favors a faster rotation rate in the core than in the radiative zone above. Through most of the Sun's life, energy has been produced by nuclear fusion in the core region through a series of nuclear reactions called the p–p (proton–proton) chain; this process converts hydrogen into helium. Only 0.8% of the energy generated in the Sun comes from another sequence of fusion reactions called the CNO cycle, though this proportion is expected to increase as the Sun becomes older.
The core is the only region in the Sun that produces an appreciable amount of thermal energy through fusion; 99% of the power is generated within 24% of the Sun's radius, and by 30% of the radius, fusion has stopped nearly entirely. The remainder of the Sun is heated by this energy as it is transferred outwards through many successive layers, finally to the solar photosphere where it escapes into space through radiation (photons) or advection (massive particles).
The proton–proton chain occurs around times each second in the core, converting about 3.7 protons into alpha particles (helium nuclei) every second (out of a total of ~8.9 free protons in the Sun), or about . Fusing four free protons (hydrogen nuclei) into a single alpha particle (helium nucleus) releases around 0.7% of the fused mass as energy, so the Sun releases energy at the mass–energy conversion rate of 4.26 million metric tons per second (which requires 600 metric megatons of hydrogen ), for 384.6 yottawatts (), or 9.192 megatons of TNT per second. The large power output of the Sun is mainly due to the huge size and density of its core (compared to Earth and objects on Earth), with only a fairly small amount of power being generated per cubic metre. Theoretical models of the Sun's interior indicate a maximum power density, or energy production, of approximately 276.5 watts per cubic metre at the center of the core, | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26751 |
Smiley
A smiley, sometimes referred to as a smiley face, is a basic ideogram that represents a smiling face, which has become part of popular culture worldwide. In modern times, the smiley has mostly been known for its yellow face and has evolved from a simple smiling face to display a range of facial emotions. Drawings of smileys have been traced back to ancient times, often displayed in caves and were often just two eyes and a curved upwards mouth.
The classic form designed by Harvey Ball in 1963 comprises a yellow circle with two black dots representing eyes and a black arc representing the mouth (). On the Internet and in other plain text communication channels, the emoticon form (sometimes also called the smiley-face emoticon) has traditionally been most popular, typically employing a colon and a right parenthesis to form sequences such as codice_1,codice_2,codice_3, codice_4, codice_5, codice_6, or codice_7 that resemble a smiling face when viewed after rotation through 90 degrees. "Smiley" is also sometimes used as a generic term for any emoticon (see Emoji). The smiley has been referenced in nearly all areas of Western culture including music, movies, and art. The smiley has also been associated with late 1980s and early 1990s rave culture.
The plural form "smilies" is commonly used, but the variant spelling "smilie" is not as common as the "y" spelling.
For thousands of years, smiling faces have been used as ideograms and as pictograms. In recent times, the face now known as a smiley has evolved into a well-known image and brand, recognisable for its yellow and black features. It wasn't until the 1900s that the design evolved from a basic eyes and mouth design, into a more recognisable design.
The oldest known smiling face was found by a team of archaeologists led by Nicolò Marchetti of the University of Bologna. Marchetti and his team pieced together fragments of a Hittite pot from approximately 1700 BC that had been found in Karkamış, Turkey. Once the pot had been pieced together, the team noticed that the item had a large smiling face engraved on it, becoming the first item to with such a design to be found. In 1635, a gold smiling face was drawn on the bottom of a legal document in Slovakia, appearing next to lawyer's Jan Ladislaides signature.
The Danish poet and author Johannes V. Jensen was amongst other things famous for experimenting with the form of his writing. In a letter sent to publisher Ernst Bojesen in December 1900, he includes both a happy face and a sad face.
One of the first commercial uses of a smiling face was in 1919, when the Buffalo Steam Roller Company in Buffalo, New York applied stickers on receipts with the word ""thanks"" and a smiling face above it. The face contained a lot of detail, having eyebrows, nose, teeth, chin and facial creases, reminiscent of "man-in-the-moon" style characteristics.
Ingmar Bergman's 1948 film "Port of Call" includes a scene where the unhappy Berit draws a "sad" face closely resembling the modern "frowny", but including a dot for the nose in lipstick on her mirror, before being interrupted. In 1953 and 1958, similar happy faces were used in promotional campaigns for the films "Lili" (1953) and "Gigi" (1958).
In the United States, the first time a combination of yellow and black was used for a smiling face was in late 1962. During the 1960s and early 70s, a number of designers created smiling faces, which were categorised as "happy faces." The WMCA happy face, became synonymous with 1960s culture in New York City. The New York-based radio station used the happy face as part of a competition for listeners. When the station called listeners, any listener who answered their phone "WMCA Good Guys!" was rewarded with a "WMCA good guys" sweatshirt that incorporated the yellow and black happy face into its design. Throughout the 1960s, thousands of these sweatshirts were given away. The features of the WMCA smiley was a yellow face, with black dots as eyes and had a slightly crooked smile. The outline of the face was also not smooth to give it more of a handrawn look. Originally, the yellow and black sweatshirt (sometimes referred to as gold), had WMCA Good Guys written on the front with no smiley face.
According to the Smithsonian Institution, the smiley face as we know it today was created by Harvey Ross Ball, an American graphic artist. In 1963, Ball was employed by State Mutual Life Assurance Company of Worcester, Massachusetts (now known as Hanover Insurance) to create a happy face to raise the morale of the employees. Ball created the design in ten minutes and was paid $45 (). His rendition, with a bright yellow background, dark oval eyes, full smile, and creases at the sides of the mouth, was imprinted on more than fifty million buttons and became familiar around the world. The design is so simple that it is certain that similar versions were produced before 1963, including those cited above. However, Ball’s rendition, as described here, has become the most iconic version. In 1967, Seattle graphic artist George Tenagi drew his own version at the request of advertising agent, David Stern. Tenagi's design was used in an advertising campaign for Seattle-based University Federal Savings & Loan. The ad campaign was inspired by Lee Adams's lyrics in "Put on a Happy Face" from the musical "Bye Bye Birdie". Stern, the man behind this campaign, also later incorporated the Happy Face in his run for Seattle mayor in 1993.
The graphic was further popularized in the early 1970s by Philadelphia brothers Bernard and Murray Spain, who seized upon it in September 1970 in a campaign to sell novelty items. The two produced buttons as well as coffee mugs, t-shirts, bumper stickers and many other items emblazoned with the symbol and the phrase "Have a happy day", which mutated into "Have a nice day". Working with New York button manufacturer NG Slater, some 50 million happy face badges were produced by 1972.
In 1972, Frenchman Franklin Loufrani became the first person to legally trademark the use of a smiley face. He used it to highlight the good news parts of the newspaper "France Soir". He simply called the design "Smiley" and launched The Smiley Company. In 1996 Loufrani's son Nicolas Loufrani took over the family business and built it into a multinational corporation. Nicolas Loufrani was outwardly skeptical of Harvey Ball's claim to creating the first smiley face. While noting that the design that his father came up with and Ball's design were nearly identical, Loufrani argued that the design is so simple that no one person can lay claim to having created it. As evidence for this, Loufrani's website points to early cave paintings found in France (2500 BC) that he claims are the first depictions of a smiley face. Loufrani also points to a 1960 radio ad campaign that reportedly made use of a similar design.
The rights to the Smiley trademark in one hundred countries are owned by the Smiley Company. Its subsidiary SmileyWorld Ltd, in London, headed by Nicolas Loufrani, creates or approves all the Smiley products sold in countries where it holds the trademark. The Smiley brand and logo have significant exposure through licensees in sectors such as clothing, home decoration, perfumery, plush, stationery, publishing, and through promotional campaigns. The Smiley Company is one of the 100 biggest licensing companies in the world, with a turnover of US$167 million in 2012. The first Smiley shop opened in London in the Boxpark shopping centre in December 2011.
In 1997, Franklin Loufrani and Smiley World attempted to acquire trademark rights to the symbol (and even to the word "smiley" itself) in the United States. This brought Loufrani into conflict with Wal-Mart, which had begun prominently featuring a happy face in its "Rolling Back Prices" campaign over a year earlier. Wal-Mart responded first by trying to block Loufrani's application, then later by trying to register the smiley face itself; Loufrani, in turn, sued to stop Wal-Mart's application, and in 2002 after the issue went to court, where it would languish for seven years before a decision.
Wal-Mart began phasing out the smiley face on its vests and its website in 2006. Despite that, Wal-Mart sued an online parodist for alleged "trademark infringement" after he used the symbol (as well as various portmanteaus of "Wal-", such as "Walocaust"). The District Court found in favor of the parodist when in March 2008, the judge concluded that Wal-Mart's smiley face logo was not shown to be "inherently distinctive" and that it "has failed to establish that the smiley face has acquired secondary meaning or that it is otherwise a protectable trademark" under U.S. law.
In June 2010, Wal-Mart and the Smiley Company founded by Loufrani settled their 10-year-old dispute in front of the Chicago federal court. The terms remain confidential. In 2016, Wal-Mart brought back the smiley face on its website, social media profiles, and in selected stores.
The earliest known smiley-like image in a written document was drawn by a Slovak notary to indicate his satisfaction with the state of his town's municipal financial records in 1635. A disputed early use of the smiley in a printed text may have been in Robert Herrick's poem "To Fortune" (1648), which contains the line "Upon my ruins (smiling yet :)". Journalist Levi Stahl has suggested that this may have been an intentional "orthographic joke", while this occurrence is likely merely the colon placed inside parentheses rather than outside of them as is standard typographic practice today -- (smiling yet):. There are citations of similar punctuation in a non-humorous context, even within Herrick's own work. It is likely that the parenthesis was added later by modern editors.
On the Internet, the smiley has become a visual means of conveyance that uses images. The first known mention on the Internet was on September 19, 1982, when Scott Fahlman from Carnegie Mellon University wrote:
Yellow graphical smileys have been used for many different purposes, including use in early 1980s video games. Yahoo! Messenger (from 1998) used smiley symbols in the user list next to each user, and also as an icon for the application.
In 2001, SmileyWorld launched the website "The official Smiley dictionary", with smileys proposed to replace ASCII emoticons (i.e. emojis). In November 2001, and later, smiley emojis inside the actual chat text was adopted by several chat systems, including Yahoo Messenger.
The smiley is the printable version of characters 1 and 2 of (black-and-white versions of) codepage 437 (1981) of the first IBM PC and all subsequent PC compatible computers. For modern computers, all versions of Microsoft Windows after Windows 95 can use the smiley as part of Windows Glyph List 4, although some computer fonts miss some characters.
The smiley face was included in Unicode's Miscellaneous Symbols from version 1.1 (1993).
Later additions to Unicode included a large number of variants expressing a range of human emotions, in particlar with the addition of the "Emoticons" and "Supplemental Symbols and Pictographs blocks in Unicode versions 6.0 (2010) and 8.0 (2015), respectively.
These were introduced for compatibility with the ad-hoc implementation of emoticons by Japanese telephone carriers in unused ranges of the Shift JIS standard.
This resulted in a de-facto standard in the range with lead bytes 0xF5 to 0xF9.
KDDI has gone much further than this, and has introduced hundreds more in the space with lead bytes 0xF3 and 0xF4.
The smiley has now become synonymous with culture across the world. It is used for communication, imagery, branding and for topical purposes to display a range of emotions. Beginning in the 1960s, a yellow "happy face" was used by numerous brands in print to demonstrate happiness.
Franklin Loufrani first introduced the word smiley when he designed a smiling face for the newspaper he was working for at the time. The Loufrani design came in 1971, when Loufrani designed a smiley face for the newspaper, "France-Soir". The newspaper used Loufrani's smiley to highlight stories that they defined as ""feel-good news."" This particular smiley went onto form The Smiley Company. "Mad" magazine notably used the smiley a year later in 1972 across their entire front page for the April edition of the magazine. This was one of the first instances that the smiling face had been adapted, with one of the twenty visible smileys pulling a face.
In the United States, there were many instances of smiling faces in the 1900s. However, the first industry to mass adopt the smiley was in comics and cartoons.
As music genres began to create their own cultures from the 1970s onwards, many cultures began to incorporate a smiling face into their culture. In the late 1970s, the American band Dead Kennedys launched their first recording, "California Über Alles". The single cover was a collage aimed to look like that of a Nazi rally prior to World War II. The usual swastika banners used at rallies, was replaced on the single cover with three large smileys. In the UK, the happy face has been associated with psychedelic culture since Ubi Dwyer and the Windsor Free Festival in the 1970s and the electronic dance music culture, particularly with acid house, that emerged during the Second Summer of Love in the late 1980s. The association was cemented when the band Bomb the Bass used an extracted smiley from the comic book series "Watchmen" on the center of its "Beat Dis" hit single.
In the late-1980s, the smiley again became a prominent image within the music industry. It was adopted during the growth of acid house across Europe and the UK in the late 1980s. According to many, this began when DJ, Danny Rampling, used the smiley to celebrate Paul Oakenfold's birthday. This sparked a movement where the smiley moved into various dance genres, becoming a symbol of 1980s dance music.
In 1980, Namco released the now famous Pac-man, a yellow faced cartoon character. In 2008, the video game used the yellow smiley as part of its branding for the game. The smiley appeared throughout the game and also on the cover. The smiley normally appeared on the side of a grenade, which is something that became synonymous with the Battlefield series.
The logo for the "Watchmen" comic book series includes a smiley with blood on top of it. In the film Suicide Squad, the character Deadshot stares into the window of a clothing store. Behind a line of mannequins is a yellow smiley face pin, which had been closely associated to another DC comic character, Comedian.
As part of his early works, graffiti artist Banksy frequently used the smiley in his art. The first of his major works that included a smiley was his Flying Copper portrait, which was completed in 2004. It was during a period when Banksy experimented with working on canvas and paper portraits. He also used the smiley in 2005 to replace the face of the grim reaper. The image became known as ""grin reaper.""
During the London 2012 opening ceremony, early on in the show a number of giant beach balls were released into the audience. All of them were yellow and had a large smiley face on each of them. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26752 |
Signature
A signature (; from , "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a signature is a signatory or signer. Similar to a handwritten signature, a signature work describes the work as readily identifying its creator. A signature may be confused with an autograph, which is chiefly an artistic signature. This can lead to confusion when people have both an autograph and signature and as such some people in the public eye keep their signatures private whilst fully publishing their autograph.
The traditional function of a signature is to permanently affix to a document a person's uniquely personal, undeniable self-identification as physical evidence of that person's personal witness and certification of the content of all, or a specified part, of the document. For example, the role of a signature in many consumer contracts is not solely to provide evidence of the identity of the contracting party, but also to provide evidence of deliberation and informed consent. In many countries, signatures may be witnessed and recorded in the presence of a notary public to carry additional legal force. On legal documents, an illiterate signatory can make a "mark" (often an "X" but occasionally a personalized symbol), so long as the document is countersigned by a literate witness. In some countries, illiterate people place a thumbprint on legal documents in lieu of a written signature.
In the United States, signatures encompass marks and actions of all sorts that are indicative of identity and intent. The legal rule is that unless a statute specifically prescribes a particular method of making a signature it may be made in any number of ways. These include by a mechanical or rubber stamp facsimile. A signature may be made by the purported signatory; alternatively someone else duly authorized by the signatory, acting in the signer's presence and at the signatory's direction, may make the signature.
Many individuals have much more fanciful signatures than their normal cursive writing, including elaborate ascenders, descenders and exotic flourishes, much as one would find in calligraphic writing. As an example, the final "k" in John Hancock's famous signature on the US Declaration of Independence loops back to underline his name. This kind of flourish is also known as a "paraph".
Paraphe is a term meaning flourish, initial or signature in French. The paraph is used in graphology analyses.
Several cultures whose languages use writing systems other than alphabets do not share the Western notion of signatures per se: the "signing" of one's name results in a written product no different from the result of "writing" one's name in the standard way. For these languages, to write or to sign involves the same written characters. Also see Calligraphy.
Special signature machines, called autopens, are capable of automatically reproducing an individual's signature. These are typically used by people required to sign a lot of printed matter, such as celebrities, heads of state or CEOs. More recently, Members of Congress in the United States have begun having their signature made into a TrueType font file. This allows staff members in the Congressman's office to easily reproduce it on correspondence, legislation, and official documents. In the East Asian languages of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, people traditionally use stamp-like objects known as "name-seals" with the name carved in "tensho" script ("seal script") in lieu of a handwritten signature.
Some government agencies require that professional persons or official reviewers sign originals and all copies of originals to authenticate that they personally viewed the content. In the United States this is prevalent with architectural and construction plans. Its intent is to prevent mistakes or fraud but the practice is not known to be effective.
In e-mail and newsgroup usage, another type of signature exists which is independent of one's language. Users can set one or more lines of custom text known as a signature block to be automatically appended to their messages. This text usually includes a name, contact information, and sometimes quotations and ASCII art. A shortened form of a signature block, only including one's name, often with some distinguishing prefix, can be used to simply indicate the end of a post or response. Some web sites also allow graphics to be used. Note, however, that this type of signature is not related to electronic signatures or digital signatures, which are more technical in nature and not directly understandable by humans. On Wikipedia, an online wiki-based encyclopedia edited by volunteers, the contributors "sign" their comments on talk pages with their username (only the username holder has the right to digitally affix their signature).
The signature on a painting or other work of art has always been an important item in the assessment of art. Fake signatures are sometimes added to enhance the value of a painting, or are added to a fake painting to support its authenticity. A notorious case was the signature of Johannes Vermeer on the fake "Supper at Emmaus" made by the art-forger Han van Meegeren. However, the fact that painters' signatures often vary over time (particularly in the modern and contemporary periods) might complicate the issue. The signatures of some painters take on an artistic form that may be of less value in determining forgeries.
Under British law, the appearance of signatures (not the names themselves) may be protected under copyright law.
Under United States copyright law, "titles, names [I c...]; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring" are not eligible for copyright; however, the appearance of signatures (not the names themselves) may be protected under copyright law.
Uniform Commercial Code §1-201(37) of the United States generally defines signed as "using any symbol executed or adopted with present intention to adopt or accept a writing." The Uniform Commercial Code §3-401(b) for negotiable instruments states "A signature may be made (i) manually or by means of a device or machine, and (ii) by the use of any name, including a trade or assumed name, or by a word, mark, or symbol executed or adopted by a person with present intention to authenticate a writing." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26753 |
Sino-Tibetan languages
Sino-Tibetan, in a few sources also known as Trans-Himalayan, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese languages. Other Sino-Tibetan languages with large numbers of speakers include Burmese (33 million) and the Tibetic languages (six million). Other languages of the family are spoken in the Himalayas, the Southeast Asian Massif, and the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Most of these have small speech communities in remote mountain areas, and as such are poorly documented.
Several low-level subgroups have been securely reconstructed, but reconstruction of a proto-language for the family as a whole is still at an early stage, so the higher-level structure of Sino-Tibetan remains unclear. Although the family is traditionally presented as divided into Sinitic (i.e. Chinese) and Tibeto-Burman branches, a common origin of the non-Sinitic languages has never been demonstrated. While Chinese linguists generally include Kra–Dai and Hmong–Mien languages within Sino-Tibetan, most other linguists have excluded them since the 1940s.
Several links to other language families have been proposed, but none has broad acceptance.
A genetic relationship between Chinese, Tibetan, Burmese and other languages was first proposed in the early 19th century and is now broadly accepted. The initial focus on languages of civilizations with long literary traditions has been broadened to include less widely spoken languages, some of which have only recently, or never, been written. However, the reconstruction of the family is much less developed than for families such as Indo-European or Austroasiatic. Difficulties have included the great diversity of the languages, the lack of inflection in many of them, and the effects of language contact. In addition, many of the smaller languages are spoken in mountainous areas that are difficult to access, and are often also sensitive border zones.
During the 18th century, several scholars had noticed parallels between Tibetan and Burmese, both languages with extensive literary traditions.
Early in the following century, Brian Houghton Hodgson and others noted that many non-literary languages of the highlands of northeast India and Southeast Asia were also related to these.
The name "Tibeto-Burman" was first applied to this group in 1856 by James Richardson Logan, who added Karen in 1858.
The third volume of the "Linguistic Survey of India", edited by Sten Konow, was devoted to the Tibeto-Burman languages of British India.
Studies of the "Indo-Chinese" languages of Southeast Asia from the mid-19th century by Logan and others revealed that they comprised four families: Tibeto-Burman, Tai, Mon–Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian.
Julius Klaproth had noted in 1823 that Burmese, Tibetan and Chinese all shared common basic vocabulary but that Thai, Mon, and Vietnamese were quite different.
Ernst Kuhn envisaged a group with two branches, Chinese-Siamese and Tibeto-Burman.
August Conrady called this group Indo-Chinese in his influential 1896 classification, though he had doubts about Karen. Conrady's terminology was widely used, but there was uncertainty regarding his exclusion of Vietnamese. Franz Nikolaus Finck in 1909 placed Karen as a third branch of Chinese-Siamese.
Jean Przyluski introduced the French term "sino-tibétain" as the title of his chapter on the group in Meillet and Cohen's "Les langues du monde" in 1924. He divided them into three groups: Tibeto-Burman, Chinese and Tai, and was uncertain about the affinity of Karen and Hmong–Mien. The English translation "Sino-Tibetan" first appeared in a short note by Przyluski and Luce in 1931.
In 1935, the anthropologist Alfred Kroeber started the Sino-Tibetan Philology Project, funded by the Works Project Administration and based at the University of California, Berkeley.
The project was supervised by Robert Shafer until late 1938, and then by Paul K. Benedict.
Under their direction, the staff of 30 non-linguists collated all the available documentation of Sino-Tibetan languages.
The result was eight copies of a 15-volume typescript entitled "Sino-Tibetan Linguistics".
This work was never published, but furnished the data for a series of papers by Shafer, as well as Shafer's five-volume "Introduction to Sino-Tibetan" and Benedict's "Sino-Tibetan, a Conspectus".
Benedict completed the manuscript of his work in 1941, but it was not published until 1972. Instead of building the entire family tree, he set out to reconstruct a Proto-Tibeto-Burman language by comparing five major languages, with occasional comparisons with other languages. He reconstructed a two-way distinction on initial consonants based on voicing, with aspiration conditioned by pre-initial consonants that had been retained in Tibetic but lost in many other languages. Thus, Benedict reconstructed the following initials:
Although the initial consonants of cognates tend to have the same place and manner of articulation, voicing and aspiration is often unpredictable.
This irregularity was attacked by Roy Andrew Miller, though Benedict's supporters attribute it to the effects of prefixes that have been lost and are often unrecoverable.
The issue remains unsolved today.
It was cited together with the lack of reconstructable shared morphology, and evidence that much shared lexical material has been borrowed from Chinese into Tibeto-Burman, by Christopher Beckwith, one of the few scholars still arguing that Chinese is not related to Tibeto-Burman.
Benedict also reconstructed, at least for Tibeto-Burman, prefixes such as the causative "s-", the intransitive "m-", and "r-", "b-" "g-" and "d-" of uncertain function, as well as suffixes "-s", "-t" and "-n".
Old Chinese is by far the oldest recorded Sino-Tibetan language, with inscriptions dating from 1200 BC and a huge body of literature from the first millennium BC, but the Chinese script is not alphabetic. Scholars have sought to reconstruct the phonology of Old Chinese by comparing the obscure descriptions of the sounds of Middle Chinese in medieval dictionaries with phonetic elements in Chinese characters and the rhyming patterns of early poetry. The first complete reconstruction, the "Grammata Serica Recensa" of Bernard Karlgren, was used by Benedict and Shafer.
Karlgren's reconstruction was somewhat unwieldy, with many sounds having a highly non-uniform distribution. Later scholars have revised it by drawing on a range of other sources. Some proposals were based on cognates in other Sino-Tibetan languages, though workers have also found solely Chinese evidence for them. For example, recent reconstructions of Old Chinese have reduced Karlgren's 15 vowels to a six-vowel system originally suggested by Nicholas Bodman. Similarly, Karlgren's *l has been recast as *r, with a different initial interpreted as *l, matching Tibeto-Burman cognates, but also supported by Chinese transcriptions of foreign names. A growing number of scholars believe that Old Chinese did not use tones, and that the tones of Middle Chinese developed from final consonants. One of these, *-s, is believed to be a suffix, with cognates in other Sino-Tibetan languages.
Tibetic has extensive written records from the adoption of writing by the Tibetan Empire in the mid-7th century. The earliest records of Burmese (such as the 12th-century Myazedi inscription) are more limited, but later an extensive literature developed. Both languages are recorded in alphabetic scripts ultimately derived from the Brahmi script of Ancient India. Most comparative work has used the conservative written forms of these languages, following the dictionaries of Jäschke (Tibetan) and Judson (Burmese), though both contain entries from a wide range of periods.
There are also extensive records in Tangut, the language of the Western Xia (1038–1227). Tangut is recorded in a Chinese-inspired logographic script, whose interpretation presents many difficulties, even though multilingual dictionaries have been found.
Gong Hwang-cherng has compared Old Chinese, Tibetic, Burmese and Tangut in an effort to establish sound correspondences between those languages. He found that Tibetic and Burmese correspond to two Old Chinese vowels, *a and *ə. While this has been considered evidence for a separate Tibeto-Burman subgroup, Hill (2014) finds that Burmese has distinct correspondences for Old Chinese rhymes "-ay" : *-aj and "-i" : *-əj, and hence argues that the development *ə > *a occurred independently in Tibetan and Burmese.
The descriptions of non-literary languages used by Shafer and Benedict were often produced by missionaries and colonial administrators of varying linguistic skill.
Most of the smaller Sino-Tibetan languages are spoken in inaccessible mountainous areas, many of which are politically or militarily sensitive and thus closed to investigators.
Until the 1980s, the best-studied areas were Nepal and northern Thailand.
In the 1980s and 1990s, new surveys were published from the Himalayas and southwestern China.
Of particular interest was the discovery of a new branch of the family, the Qiangic languages of western Sichuan and adjacent areas.
Most of the current spread of Sino-Tibetan languages is the result of historical expansions of the three groups with the most speakers – Chinese, Burmese and Tibetic – replacing an unknown number of earlier languages.
These groups also have the longest literary traditions of the family.
The remaining languages are spoken in mountainous areas, along the southern slopes of the Himalayas, the Southeast Asian Massif and the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau.
By far the largest branch are the Sinitic languages, with 1.3 billion speakers, most of whom live in the eastern half of China.
The first records of Chinese are oracle bone inscriptions from c. 1200 BC, when Old Chinese was spoken around the middle reaches of the Yellow River.
Chinese has since expanded throughout China, forming a family whose diversity has been compared with the Romance languages.
Diversity is greater in the rugged terrain of southeast China than in the North China Plain.
Burmese is the national language of Myanmar, and the first language of some 33 million people.
Burmese speakers first entered the northern Irrawaddy basin from what is now western Yunnan in the early 9th century, when the Pyu city-states had been weakened by an invasion by Nanzhao.
Other Burmish languages are still spoken in Dehong Prefecture in the far west of Yunnan.
By the 11th century their Pagan Kingdom had expanded over the whole basin.
The oldest texts, such as the Myazedi inscription, date from the early 12th century.
The Tibetic languages are spoken by some 6 million people on the Tibetan Plateau and neighbouring areas in the Himalayas and western Sichuan.
They are descended from Old Tibetan, which was originally spoken in the Yarlung Valley before it was spread by the expansion of the Tibetan Empire in the 7th century.
Although the empire collapsed in the 9th century, Classical Tibetan remained influential as the liturgical language of Tibetan Buddhism.
The remaining languages are spoken in upland areas.
Southernmost are the Karen languages, spoken by 4 million people in the hill country along the Myanmar–Thailand border, with the greatest diversity in the Karen Hills, which are believed to be the homeland of the group.
The highlands stretching from northeast India to northern Myanmar contain over 100 high-diverse Sino-Tibetan languages.
Other Sino-Tibetan languages are found along the southern slopes of the Himalayas, southwest China and northern Thailand.
There have been a range of proposals for the Sino-Tibetan urheimat, reflecting the uncertainty about the classification of the family and its time depth.
James Matisoff (1991) places it in the eastern part of the Tibetan plateau around 4000 BC, with the various groups migrating out down the Yellow, Yangtze, Mekong, Salween and Brahmaputra rivers.
George van Driem (2005) proposes that Sino-Tibetan originated in the Sichuan Basin before 7000 BC, with an early migration into northeast India, and a later migration north of the predecessors of Chinese and Tibetic. Roger Blench and Mark Post (2014) have proposed that the Sino-Tibetan homeland is Northeast India, the area of greatest diversity, around 7000 BC.
Roger Blench (2009) argues that agriculture cannot be reconstructed for Proto-Sino-Tibetan, and that the earliest speakers of Sino-Tibetan were not farmers but highly diverse foragers.
Zhang et al. (2019) performed a computational phylogenetic analysis of 109 Sino-Tibetan languages to suggest a Sino-Tibetan homeland in northern China near the Yellow River basin. The study further suggests that there was an initial major split between the Sinitic languages and the Tibeto-Burman languages approximately 4,200 - 7,800 years ago (with an average of 5,900 years ago), associating this expansion with the Yangshao culture and/or the later Majiayao culture. Sagart et al. (2019) also performed another phylogenetic analysis based on different data and method to arrive at the same conclusions with respect to the homeland and divergence model, but proposed an earlier root age of approximately 7,200 years ago, associating its origin with the late Cishan and early Yangshao culture.
Several low-level branches of the family, particularly Lolo-Burmese, have been securely reconstructed, but in the absence of a secure reconstruction of a Sino-Tibetan proto-language, the higher-level structure of the family remains unclear.
Thus, a conservative classification of Sino-Tibetan/Tibeto-Burman would posit several dozen small coordinate families and isolates; attempts at subgrouping are either geographic conveniences or hypotheses for further research.
In a survey in the 1937 "Chinese Yearbook", Li Fang-Kuei described the family as consisting of four branches:
Tai and Miao–Yao were included because they shared isolating typology, tone systems and some vocabulary with Chinese. At the time, tone was considered so fundamental to language that tonal typology could be used as the basis for classification. In the Western scholarly community, these languages are no longer included in Sino-Tibetan, with the similarities attributed to diffusion across the Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area, especially since .
The exclusions of Vietnamese by Kuhn and of Tai and Miao–Yao by Benedict were vindicated in 1954 when André-Georges Haudricourt demonstrated that the tones of Vietnamese were reflexes of final consonants from Proto-Mon–Khmer.
Many Chinese linguists continue to follow Li's classification. However, this arrangement remains problematic. For example, there is disagreement over whether to include the entire Kra–Dai family or just Kam–Tai (Zhuang–Dong excludes the Kra languages), because the Chinese cognates that form the basis of the putative relationship are not found in all branches of the family and have not been reconstructed for the family as a whole. In addition, Kam–Tai itself no longer appears to be a valid node within Kra–Dai.
Benedict overtly excluded Vietnamese (placing it in Mon–Khmer) as well as Hmong–Mien and Kra–Dai (placing them in Austro-Tai).
He otherwise retained the outlines of Conrady's Indo-Chinese classification, though putting Karen in an intermediate position:
Shafer criticized the division of the family into Tibeto-Burman and Sino-Daic branches, which he attributed to the different groups of languages studied by Konow and other scholars in British India on the one hand and by Henri Maspero and other French linguists on the other.
He proposed a detailed classification, with six top-level divisions:
Shafer was sceptical of the inclusion of Daic, but after meeting Maspero in Paris decided to retain it pending a definitive resolution of the question.
James Matisoff abandoned Benedict's Tibeto-Karen hypothesis:
Some more-recent Western scholars, such as Bradley (1997) and La Polla (2003), have retained Matisoff's two primary branches, though differing in the details of Tibeto-Burman. However, Jacques (2006) notes, "comparative work has never been able to put forth evidence for common innovations to all the Tibeto-Burman languages (the Sino-Tibetan languages to the exclusion of Chinese)" and that "it no longer seems justified to treat Chinese as the first branching of the Sino-Tibetan family," because the morphological divide between Chinese and Tibeto-Burman has been bridged by recent reconstructions of Old Chinese.
The internal structure of Sino-Tibetan has been tentatively revised as the following Stammbaum by Matisoff (2015: xxxii, 1123-1127) in the final print release of the "Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus" (STEDT). Matisoff (2015: xxxi) acknowledges that the position of Chinese as either a sister branch of Tibeto-Burman or a branch within Tibeto-Burman remains an open question.
Sergei Starostin proposed that both the Kiranti languages and Chinese are divergent from a "core" Tibeto-Burman of at least Bodish, Lolo-Burmese, Tamangic, Jinghpaw, Kukish, and Karen (other families were not analysed) in a hypothesis called "Sino-Kiranti". The proposal takes two forms: that Sinitic and Kiranti are themselves a valid node or that the two are not demonstrably close, so that Sino-Tibetan has three primary branches:
Van Driem, like Shafer, rejects a primary split between Chinese and the rest, suggesting that Chinese owes its traditional privileged place in Sino-Tibetan to historical, typological, and cultural, rather than linguistic, criteria. He calls the entire family "Tibeto-Burman", a name he says has historical primacy, but other linguists who reject a privileged position for Chinese nevertheless continue to call the resulting family "Sino-Tibetan".
Like Matisoff, van Driem acknowledges that the relationships of the "Kuki–Naga" languages (Kuki, Mizo, Meitei, etc.), both amongst each other and to the other languages of the family, remain unclear. However, rather than placing them in a geographic grouping, as Matisoff does, van Driem leaves them unclassified.
He has proposed several hypotheses, including the reclassification of Chinese to a Sino-Bodic subgroup:
Van Driem points to two main pieces of evidence establishing a special relationship between Sinitic and Bodic and thus placing Chinese within the Tibeto-Burman family. First, there are a number of parallels between the morphology of Old Chinese and the modern Bodic languages. Second, there is an impressive body of lexical cognates between the Chinese and Bodic languages, represented by the Kirantic language Limbu.
In response, Matisoff notes that the existence of shared lexical material only serves to establish an absolute relationship between two language families, not their relative relationship to one another. Although some cognate sets presented by van Driem are confined to Chinese and Bodic, many others are found in Sino-Tibetan languages generally and thus do not serve as evidence for a special relationship between Chinese and Bodic.
George van Driem (2001) has also proposed a "fallen leaves" model that lists dozens of well-established low-level groups while remaining agnostic about intermediate groupings of these.
In the most recent version (van Driem 2014), 42 groups are identified (with individual languages highlighted in "italics"):
van Driem (2007) also suggested that the Sino-Tibetan language family be renamed "Trans-Himalayan", which he considers to be more neutral.
Roger Blench and Mark W. Post have criticized the applicability of conventional Sino-Tibetan classification schemes to minor languages lacking an extensive written history (unlike Chinese, Tibetic, and Burmese). They find that the evidence for the subclassification or even ST affiliation at all of several minor languages of northeastern India, in particular, is either poor or absent altogether.
In their view, many such languages would for now be best considered unclassified, or "internal isolates" within the family. They propose a provisional classification of the remaining languages:
Following that, because they propose that the three best-known branches may actually be much closer related to each other than they are to "minor" Sino-Tibetan languages, Blench and Post argue that "Sino-Tibetan" or "Tibeto-Burman" are inappropriate names for a family whose earliest divergences led to different languages altogether. They support the proposed name "Trans-Himalayan".
This is the classification scheme proposed in Menghan Zhang, Shi Yan, et al. (2019).
Except for the Chinese, Bai, Karenic, and Mruic languages, the usual word order in Sino-Tibetan languages is object–verb. Most scholars believe this to be the original order, with Chinese, Karen and Bai having acquired subject–verb–object order due to the influence of neighbouring languages in the Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area.
However, Chinese and Bai differ from almost all other SVO languages in the world in placing relative clauses before the nouns they modify.
Hodgson had in 1849 noted a dichotomy between "pronominalized" (inflecting) languages, stretching across the Himalayas from Himachal Pradesh to eastern Nepal, and "non-pronominalized" (isolating) languages. Konow (1909) explained the pronominalized languages as due to a Munda substratum, with the idea that Indo-Chinese languages were essentially isolating as well as tonal. Maspero later attributed the putative substratum to Indo-Aryan. It was not until Benedict that the inflectional systems of these languages were recognized as (partially) native to the family.
Scholars disagree over the extent to which the agreement system in the various languages can be reconstructed for the proto-language.
In morphosyntactic alignment, many Tibeto-Burman languages have ergative and/or anti-ergative (an argument that is not an actor) case marking. However, the anti-ergative case markings can not be reconstructed at higher levels in the family and are thought to be innovations.
Beyond the traditionally recognized families of Southeast Asia, a number of possible broader relationships have been suggested:
One of these is the "Sino-Caucasian" hypothesis of Sergei Starostin, which posits that the Yeniseian languages and North Caucasian languages form a clade with Sino-Tibetan. The Sino-Caucasian hypothesis has been expanded by others to "Dené–Caucasian" to include the Na-Dené languages of North America, Burushaski, Basque and, occasionally, Etruscan. Edward Sapir had commented on a connection between Na-Dené and Sino-Tibetan. A narrower binary Dené–Yeniseian family has recently been well-received. The validity of the rest of the family, however, is viewed as doubtful or rejected by nearly all historical linguists.
Geoffrey Caveney (2014) suggest that the Sino-Tibetan and Na-Dene languages are related but say that his analysis does not support the Sino-Caucasian or Dene-Caucasian hypothesis.
In contrast, Laurent Sagart proposes a Sino-Austronesian family with Sino-Tibetan and Austronesian (including Kra–Dai as a subbranch) as primary branches. Stanley Starosta has extended this proposal with a further branch called "Yangzian" joining Hmong–Mien and Austroasiatic. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26756 |
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples or their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the Early Middle Ages, which in turn is thought to have descended from the earlier Proto-Balto-Slavic language, linking the Slavic languages to the Baltic languages in a Balto-Slavic group within the Indo-European family.
The Slavic languages are conventionally (that is, also on the basis of extralinguistic features) divided intro three subgroups: East, West, and South, which together constitute more than 20 languages. Of these, 10 have at least one million speakers and official status as the national languages of the countries in which they are predominantly spoken: Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian (of the East group), Polish, Czech and Slovak (of the West group) and Bulgarian and Macedonian (eastern dialects of the South group), and Serbo-Croatian and Slovene (western dialects of the South group).
The current geographic distribution of natively spoken Slavic languages includes Southern Europe, Central Europe, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and all of the territory of Russia, which includes northern and north-central Asia (though many minority languages of Russia are also still spoken). Furthermore, the diasporas of many Slavic peoples have established isolated minorities of speakers of their languages all over the world. The number of speakers of all Slavic languages together was estimated to be 315 million at the turn of the twenty-first century.
Since the interwar period scholars have conventionally divided Slavic languages, on the basis of geographical and genealogical principle, and with the use of the extralinguistic feature of script, into three main branches, that is, East, West and South. (From the vantage of linguistic features alone, there are only two branches of the Slavic languages, namely North and South. These three conventional branches feature some of the following subbranches:
Some linguists speculate that a North Slavic branch has existed as well. The Old Novgorod dialect may have reflected some idiosyncrasies of this group.
Mutual intelligibility also plays a role in determining the West, East, and South branches. Speakers of languages within the same branch will in most cases be able to understand each other at least partially, but they are generally unable to across branches (which would be comparable to a native English speaker trying to understand any other Germanic language besides Scots).
The most obvious differences between the East, West and South Slavic branches are in the orthography of the standard languages: West Slavic languages (and Western South Slavic languages – Croatian and Slovene) are written in the Latin script, and have had more Western European influence due to their proximity and speakers being historically Roman Catholic, whereas the East Slavic and Eastern South Slavic languages are written in Cyrillic and, with Eastern Orthodox or Uniate faith, have had more Greek influence. East Slavic languages such as Russian have, however, during and after Peter the Great's Europeanization campaign, absorbed many words of Latin, French, German, and Italian origin.
The tripartite division of the Slavic languages does not take into account the spoken dialects of each language. Of these, certain so-called transitional dialects and hybrid dialects often bridge the gaps between different languages, showing similarities that do not stand out when comparing Slavic literary (i.e. standard) languages. For example, Slovak (West Slavic) and Ukrainian (East Slavic) are bridged by the Rusyn language/dialect of Eastern Slovakia and Western Ukraine. Similarly, the Croatian Kajkavian dialect is more similar to Slovene than to the standard Croatian language.
Although the Slavic languages diverged from a common proto-language later than any other group of the Indo-European language family, enough differences exist between the various Slavic dialects and languages to make communication between speakers of different Slavic languages difficult. Within the individual Slavic languages, dialects may vary to a lesser degree, as those of Russian, or to a much greater degree, as those of Slovene.
Slavic languages descend from Proto-Slavic, their immediate parent language, ultimately deriving from Proto-Indo-European, the ancestor language of all Indo-European languages, via a Proto-Balto-Slavic stage. During the Proto-Balto-Slavic period a number of exclusive isoglosses in phonology, morphology, lexis, and syntax developed, which makes Slavic and Baltic the closest related of all the Indo-European branches. The secession of the Balto-Slavic dialect ancestral to Proto-Slavic is estimated on archaeological and glottochronological criteria to have occurred sometime in the period 1500–1000 BCE.
A minority of Baltists maintain the view that the Slavic group of languages differs so radically from the neighboring Baltic group (Lithuanian, Latvian, and the now-extinct Old Prussian), that they could not have shared a parent language after the breakup of the Proto-Indo-European continuum about five millennia ago. Substantial advances in Balto-Slavic accentology that occurred in the last three decades, however, make this view very hard to maintain nowadays, especially when one considers that there was most likely no "Proto-Baltic" language and that West Baltic and East Baltic differ from each other as much as each of them does from Proto-Slavic.
The imposition of Old Church Slavonic on Orthodox Slavs was often at the expense of the vernacular. Says WB Lockwood, a prominent Indo-European linguist, "It (O.C.S) remained in use to modern times but was more and more influenced by the living, evolving languages, so that one distinguishes Bulgarian, Serbian, and Russian varieties. The use of such media hampered the development of the local languages for literary purposes, and when they do appear the first attempts are usually in an artificially mixed style." (148)
Lockwood also notes that these languages have "enriched" themselves by drawing on Church Slavonic for the vocabulary of abstract concepts. The situation in the Catholic countries, where Latin was more important, was different. The Polish Renaissance poet Jan Kochanowski and the Croatian Baroque writers of the 16th century all wrote in their respective vernaculars (though Polish itself had drawn amply on Latin in the same way Russian would eventually draw on Church Slavonic).
Although Church Slavonic hampered vernacular literatures, it fostered Slavonic literary activity and abetted linguistic independence from external influences. Only the Croatian vernacular literary tradition nearly matches Church Slavonic in age. It began with the Vinodol Codex and continued through the Renaissance until the codifications of Croatian in 1830, though much of the literature between 1300 and 1500 was written in much the same mixture of the vernacular and Church Slavonic as prevailed in Russia and elsewhere.
The most important early monument of Croatian literacy is the Baška tablet from the late 11th century. It is a large stone tablet found in the small Church of St. Lucy, Jurandvor on the Croatian island of Krk, containing text written mostly in Čakavian dialect in angular Croatian Glagolitic script. The independence of Dubrovnik facilitated the continuity of the tradition.
More recent foreign influences follow the same general pattern in Slavic languages as elsewhere and are governed by the political relationships of the Slavs. In the 17th century, bourgeois Russian ("delovoi jazyk") absorbed German words through direct contacts between Russians and communities of German settlers in Russia. In the era of Peter the Great, close contacts with France invited countless loan words and calques from French, many of which not only survived but also replaced older Slavonic loans. In the 19th century, Russian influenced most literary Slavic languages by one means or another.
The Proto-Slavic language existed until around AD 500. By the 7th century, it had broken apart into large dialectal zones.
There are no reliable hypotheses about the nature of the subsequent breakups of West and South Slavic. East Slavic is generally thought to converge to one Old East Slavic language, which existed until at least the 12th century.
Linguistic differentiation was accelerated by the dispersion of the Slavic peoples over a large territory, which in Central Europe exceeded the current extent of Slavic-speaking majorities. Written documents of the 9th, 10th, and 11th centuries already display some local linguistic features. For example, the Freising manuscripts show a language that contains some phonetic and lexical elements peculiar to Slovene dialects (e.g. rhotacism, the word "krilatec"). The Freising manuscripts are the first Latin-script continuous text in a Slavic language.
The migration of Slavic speakers into the Balkans in the declining centuries of the Byzantine Empire expanded the area of Slavic speech, but the pre-existing writing (notably Greek) survived in this area. The arrival of the Hungarians in Pannonia in the 9th century interposed non-Slavic speakers between South and West Slavs. Frankish conquests completed the geographical separation between these two groups, also severing the connection between Slavs in Moravia and Lower Austria (Moravians) and those in present-day Styria, Carinthia, East Tyrol in Austria, and in the provinces of modern Slovenia, where the ancestors of the Slovenes settled during first colonisation.
In September 2015, Alexei Kassian and Anna Dybo published, as a part of interdisciplinary study of Slavic ethnogenesis, a lexicostatistical classification of Slavic languages. It was built using qualitative 110-word Swadesh lists that were compiled according to the standards of the Global Lexicostatistical Database project and processed using modern phylogenetic algorithms.
The resulting dated tree complies with the traditional expert views on the Slavic group structure. Kassian-Dybo's tree suggests that Proto-Slavic first diverged into three branches: Eastern, Western and Southern. The Proto-Slavic break-up is dated to around 100 A.D., which correlates with the archaeological assessment of Slavic population in the early 1st millennium A.D. being spread on a large territory and already not being monolithic. Then, in the 5th and 6th centuries A.D., these three Slavic branches almost simultaneously divided into sub-branches, which corresponds to the fast spread of the Slavs through Eastern Europe and the Balkans during the second half of the 1st millennium A.D. (the so-called Slavicization of Europe).
The Slovenian language was excluded from the analysis, as both Ljubljana koine and Literary Slovenian show mixed lexical features of Southern and Western Slavic languages (which could possibly indicate the Western Slavic origin of Slovenian, which for a long time was being influenced on the part of the neighboring Serbo-Croatian dialects), and the quality Swadesh lists were not yet collected for Slovenian dialects. Because of scarcity or unreliability of data, the study also did not cover the so-called Old Novgordian dialect, the Polabian language and some other Slavic lects.
The above Kassian-Dybo's research did not take into account the findings by Russian linguist Andrey Zaliznyak who stated that in the 11th century Novgorod language differed from Kiev language as well as from all other Slavic languages much more than in later centuries, meaning that there was no common Old East Slavic language of Kievan Rus' from which Ukrainian, Russian and Belorusian languages diverged, but that Russian language developed as convergence of Novgorod language and other Russian dialects, whereas Ukrainian and Belorusian were continuation of developement of respective Kiev and Polotsk dialects of Kievan Rus'.
Also Russian linguist Sergey Nikolaev, analysing historical development of Slavic dialects’ accent system, concluded that a number of other tribes in Kievan Rus came from different Slavic branches and spoke distant Slavic dialects.
Zaliznyak and Nikolaev's points mean that there was a convergence stage before the divergence or simultaneously, which was not taken into consideration by Kassian-Dybo's research.
Ukrainian linguists (Stepan Smal-Stotsky, Ivan Ohienko, George Shevelov, Yevhen Tymchenko, Vsevolod Hantsov, Olena Kurylo) deny the existence of a common Old East Slavic language at any time in the past. According to them, the dialects of East Slavic tribes evolved gradually from the common Proto-Slavic language without any intermediate stages.
The following is a summary of the main changes from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) leading up to the Common Slavic (CS) period immediately following the Proto-Slavic language (PS).
The Slavic languages are a relatively homogeneous family, compared with other families of Indo-European languages (e.g. Germanic, Romance, and Indo-Iranian). As late as the 10th century AD, the entire Slavic-speaking area still functioned as a single, dialectally differentiated language, termed "Common Slavic". Compared with most other Indo-European languages, the Slavic languages are quite conservative, particularly in terms of morphology (the means of inflecting nouns and verbs to indicate grammatical differences). Most Slavic languages have a rich, fusional morphology that conserves much of the inflectional morphology of Proto-Indo-European.
The following table shows the inventory of consonants of Late Common Slavic:
1The sound did not occur in West Slavic, where it had developed to .
This inventory of sounds is quite similar to what is found in most modern Slavic languages. The extensive series of palatal consonants, along with the affricates *ts and *dz, developed through a series of palatalizations that happened during the Proto-Slavic period, from earlier sequences either of velar consonants followed by front vowels (e.g. *ke, *ki, *ge, *gi, *xe, and *xi), or of various consonants followed by *j (e.g. *tj, *dj, *sj, *zj, *rj, *lj, *kj, and *gj, where *j is the palatal approximant (, the sound of the English letter "y" in "yes" or "you").
The biggest change in this inventory results from a further general palatalization occurring near the end of the Common Slavic period, where "all" consonants became palatalized before front vowels. This produced a large number of new palatalized (or "soft") sounds, which formed pairs with the corresponding non-palatalized (or "hard") consonants and absorbed the existing palatalized sounds . These sounds were best preserved in Russian but were lost to varying degrees in other languages (particularly Czech and Slovak). The following table shows the inventory of modern Russian:
This general process of palatalization did not occur in Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian. As a result, the modern consonant inventory of these languages is nearly identical to the Late Common Slavic inventory.
Late Common Slavic tolerated relatively few consonant clusters. However, as a result of the loss of certain formerly present vowels (the weak yers), the modern Slavic languages allow quite complex clusters, as in the Russian word взблеск ("flash"). Also present in many Slavic languages are clusters rarely found cross-linguistically, as in Russian ртуть ("mercury") or Polish mchu ("moss", gen. sg.). The word for "mercury" with the initial "rt-" cluster, for example, is also found in the other East and West Slavic languages, although Slovak retains an epenthetic vowel ("ortuť").
A typical vowel inventory is as follows:
The sound occurs only in some languages (Russian and Belarusian), and even in these languages, it is unclear whether it is its own phoneme or an allophone of /i/. Nonetheless, it is a quite prominent and noticeable characteristic of the languages in which it is present.
Common Slavic also had two nasal vowels: *ę and *ǫ . However, these are preserved only in modern Polish (along with a few lesser-known dialects and microlanguages; see Yus for more details).
Other phonemic vowels are found in certain languages (e.g. the schwa in Bulgarian and Slovenian, distinct high-mid and low-mid vowels in Slovenian, and the lax front vowel in Ukrainian).
An area of great difference among Slavic languages is that of prosody (i.e. syllabic distinctions such as vowel length, accent, and tone). Common Slavic had a complex system of prosody, inherited with little change from Proto-Indo-European. This consisted of phonemic vowel length and a free, mobile pitch accent:
The modern languages vary greatly in the extent to which they preserve this system. On one extreme, Serbo-Croatian preserves the system nearly unchanged (even more so in the conservative Chakavian dialect); on the other, Macedonian has basically lost the system in its entirety. Between them are found numerous variations:
Similarly, Slavic languages have extensive morphophonemic alternations in their derivational and inflectional morphology, including between velar and postalveolar consonants, front and back vowels, and a vowel and no vowel.
The following is a very brief selection of cognates in basic vocabulary across the Slavic language family, which may serve to give an idea of the sound changes involved. This is not a list of translations: cognates have a common origin, but their meaning may be shifted and loanwords may have replaced them.
Most languages of the former Soviet Union and of some neighbouring countries (for example, Mongolian) are significantly influenced by Russian, especially in vocabulary. The Romanian, Albanian, and Hungarian languages show the influence of the neighboring Slavic nations, especially in vocabulary pertaining to urban life, agriculture, and crafts and trade—the major cultural innovations at times of limited long-range cultural contact. In each one of these languages, Slavic lexical borrowings represent at least 15% of the total vocabulary. However, Romanian has much lower influence from Slavic than Albanian or Hungarian. This is potentially because Slavic tribes crossed and partially settled the territories inhabited by ancient Illyrians and Vlachs on their way to the Balkans.
Although also spoken in neighbouring lands, the Germanic languages show less significant Slavic influence, partly because Slavic migrations were mostly headed south rather than west. Slavic tribes did push westwards into Germanic territory, but borrowing for the most part seems to have been from Germanic to Slavic rather than the other way: for instance, the now-extinct Polabian language was heavily influenced by German, far more than any living Slavic language today. The Slavic contributions to Germanic languages remains a moot question, though Max Vasmer, a specialist in Slavic etymology, has claimed that there were no Slavic loans into Proto-Germanic. The only Germanic languages that show significant Slavic influence are Yiddish and the historical colonial dialects of German that were spoken East of the Oder–Neisse line, such as Silesian German (formerly spoken in Silesia and South of East Prussia) and the Eastern varieties of East Low German, with the exception of Low Prussian, which had a strong Baltic substratum. Modern Dutch slang, especially the Amsterdam dialect, borrowed much from Yiddish in turn. However, there are isolated Slavic loans (mostly recent) into other Germanic languages. For example, the word for "border" (in modern German "Grenze", Dutch "grens") was borrowed from the Common Slavic "granica". There are, however, many cities and villages of Slavic origin in Eastern Germany, the largest of which are Berlin, Leipzig and Dresden. English derives "quark" (a kind of cheese, not the subatomic particle) from the German "Quark", which in turn is derived from the Slavic "tvarog", which means "curd". Many German surnames, particularly in Eastern Germany and Austria, are Slavic in origin. Swedish also has "torg" (market place) from Old Russian "tъrgъ" or Polish "targ", "tolk" (interpreter) from Old Slavic "tlŭkŭ", and "pråm" (barge) from West Slavonic "pramŭ".
The Czech word is now found in most languages worldwide, and the word , probably also from Czech, is found in many European languages, such as Greek "".
A well-known Slavic word in almost all European languages is vodka, a borrowing from Russian "водка" ("vodka") – which itself was borrowed from Polish "wódka" (lit. "little water"), from common Slavic "voda" ("water", cognate to the English word) with the diminutive ending "-ka". Owing to the medieval fur trade with Northern Russia, Pan-European loans from Russian include such familiar words as "sable". The English word "vampire" was borrowed (perhaps via French "vampire") from German "Vampir", in turn derived from Serbian "vampir", continuing Proto-Slavic "*ǫpyrь", although Polish scholar K. Stachowski has argued that the origin of the word is early Slavic "*vąpěrь", going back to Turkic "oobyr". Several European languages, including English, have borrowed the word "polje" (meaning "large, flat plain") directly from the former Yugoslav languages (i.e. Slovene, Croatian, and Serbian). During the heyday of the USSR in the 20th century, many more Russian words became known worldwide: "da", "Soviet", "sputnik", "perestroika", "glasnost", "kolkhoz", etc. Also in the English language borrowed from Russian is "samovar" (lit. "self-boiling") to refer to the specific Russian tea urn.
The following tree for the Slavic languages derives from the Ethnologue report for Slavic languages. It includes the ISO 639-1 and ISO 639-3 codes where available.
East Slavic languages:
West Slavic languages:
South Slavic languages:
Para- and supranational languages | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26757 |
International System of Units
The International System of Units (SI, abbreviated from the French "") is the modern form of the metric system. It is the only system of measurement with an official status in nearly every country in the world. It comprises a coherent system of units of measurement starting with seven base units, which are the second (the unit of time with the symbol s), metre (length, m), kilogram (mass, kg), ampere (electric current, A), kelvin (thermodynamic temperature, K), mole (amount of substance, mol), and candela (luminous intensity, cd). The system allows for an unlimited number of additional units, called derived units, which can always be represented as products of powers of the base units. Twenty-two derived units have been provided with special names and symbols. The seven base units and the 22 derived units with special names and symbols may be used in combination to express other derived units, which are adopted to facilitate measurement of diverse quantities. The SI system also provides twenty prefixes to the unit names and unit symbols that may be used when specifying power-of-ten (i.e. decimal) multiples and sub-multiples of SI units. The SI is intended to be an evolving system; units and prefixes are created and unit definitions are modified through international agreement as the technology of measurement progresses and the precision of measurements improves.
Since 2019, the magnitudes of all SI units have been defined by declaring exact numerical values for seven "defining constants" when expressed in terms of their SI units. These defining constants are the speed of light in vacuum, , the hyperfine transition frequency of caesium , the Planck constant , the elementary charge , the Boltzmann constant , the Avogadro constant A, and the luminous efficacy cd. The nature of the defining constants ranges from fundamental constants of nature such as to the purely technical constant cd. Prior to 2019, , , , and were not defined a priori but were rather very precisely measured quantities. In 2019, their values were fixed by definition to their best estimates at the time, ensuring continuity with previous definitions of the base units. One consequence of the redefinition of the SI is that the distinction between the base units and derived units is in principle not needed, since any unit can be constructed directly from the seven defining constants.
The current way of defining the SI system is a result of a decades-long move towards increasingly abstract and idealised formulation in which the realisations of the units are separated conceptually from the definitions. A consequence is that as science and technologies develop, new and superior realisations may be introduced without the need to redefine the unit. One problem with artefacts is that they can be lost, damaged, or changed; another is that they introduce uncertainties that cannot be reduced by advancements in science and technology. The last artefact used by the SI was the International Prototype of the Kilogram, a cylinder of platinum-iridium.
The original motivation for the development of the SI was the diversity of units that had sprung up within the centimetre–gram–second (CGS) systems (specifically the inconsistency between the systems of electrostatic units and electromagnetic units) and the lack of coordination between the various disciplines that used them. The General Conference on Weights and Measures (French: "" – CGPM), which was established by the Metre Convention of 1875, brought together many international organisations to establish the definitions and standards of a new system and to standardise the rules for writing and presenting measurements. The system was published in 1960 as a result of an initiative that began in 1948. It is based on the metre–kilogram–second system of units (MKS) rather than any variant of the CGS.
The International System of Units, the SI, is a decimal and metric system of units established in 1960 and periodically updated since then. The SI has an official status in most countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, with these two countries being amongst a handful of nations that, to various degrees, continue to resist widespread internal adoption of the SI system. As a consequence, the SI system “has been used around the world as the preferred system of units, the basic language for science, technology, industry and trade.”
The only other types of measurement system that still have widespread use across the world are the Imperial and US customary measurement systems, and they are legally defined in terms of the SI system. There are other, less widespread systems of measurement that are occasionally used in particular regions of the world. In addition, there are many individual non-SI units that don't belong to any comprehensive system of units, but that are nevertheless still regularly used in particular fields and regions. Both of these categories of unit are also typically defined legally in terms of SI units.
The SI was established and is maintained by the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM). In practice, the CGPM follows the recommendations of the Consultative Committee for Units (CCU), which is the actual body conducting technical deliberations concerning new scientific and technological developments related to the definition of units and the SI. The CCU reports to the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM), which, in turn, reports to the CGPM. See below for more details.
All the decisions and recommendations concerning units are collected in a brochure called "The International System of Units (SI)", which is published by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) and periodically updated.
The SI selects seven units to serve as base units, corresponding to seven base physical quantities. They are the second, with the symbol , which is the SI unit of the physical quantity of time; the metre, symbol , the SI unit of length; kilogram (, the unit of mass); ampere (, electric current); kelvin (, thermodynamic temperature), mole (, amount of substance); and candela (, luminous intensity). Note that 'the choice of the base units was never unique, but grew historically and became familiar to users of the SI'. All units in the SI can be expressed in terms of the base units, and the base units serve as a preferred set for expressing or analysing the relationships between units.
The system allows for an unlimited number of additional units, called "derived units", which can always be represented as products of powers of the base units, possibly with a nontrivial numeric multiplier. When that multiplier is one, the unit is called a "coherent" derived unit. The base and coherent derived units of the SI together form a coherent system of units called "the set of coherent SI units". Twenty-two coherent derived units have been provided with special names and symbols. The seven base units and the 22 derived units with special names and symbols may be used in combination to express other derived units, which are adopted to facilitate measurement of diverse quantities.
Like all metric systems, the SI uses metric prefixes to systematically construct, for one and the same physical quantity, a whole set of units of widely different sizes that are decimal multiples of each other.
For example, while the coherent unit of length is the metre, the SI provides a full range of smaller and larger units of length, any of which may be more convenient for any given application – for example, driving distances are normally given in kilometres (symbol ) rather than in metres. Here the metric prefix ‘kilo-’ (symbol ‘k’) stands for a factor of 1000; thus, = .
The current version of the SI provides twenty metric prefixes that signify decimal powers ranging from 10−24 to 1024. Apart from the prefixes for 1/100, 1/10, 10, and 100, all the other ones are powers of 1000.
In general, given any coherent unit with a separate name and symbol, one forms a new unit by simply adding an appropriate metric prefix to the name of the coherent unit (and a corresponding prefix symbol to the unit's symbol). Since the metric prefix signifies a particular power of ten, the new unit is always a power-of-ten multiple or sub-multiple of the coherent unit. Thus, the conversion between units within the SI is always through a power of ten; this is why the SI system (and metric systems more generally) are called "decimal systems of measurement units".
The grouping formed by a prefix symbol attached to a unit symbol (e.g. ", ") constitutes a new inseparable unit symbol. This new symbol can be raised to a positive or negative power and can be combined with other unit symbols to form compound unit symbols. For example, is an SI unit of density, where is to be interpreted as ().
When prefixes are used with the coherent SI units, the resulting units are no longer coherent, because the prefix introduces a numerical factor other than one. The one exception is the kilogram, the only coherent SI unit whose name and symbol, for historical reasons, include a prefix.
The complete set of SI units consists of both the coherent set and the multiples and sub-multiples of coherent units formed by using the SI prefixes. For example, the metre, kilometre, centimetre, nanometre, etc. are all SI units of length, though only the metre is a "coherent" SI unit. A similar statement holds for derived units: for example, , , , /, etc. are all SI units of density, but of these, only is a "coherent" SI unit.
Moreover, the metre is the "only" coherent SI unit of length. Every physical quantity has exactly one coherent SI unit, although this unit may be expressible in different forms by using some of the special names and symbols. For example, the coherent SI unit of linear momentum may be written as either or as , and both forms are in use (e.g. compare respectively here:205 and here:135).
On the other hand, several different quantities may share same coherent SI unit. For example, the joule per kelvin is the coherent SI unit for two distinct quantities: heat capacity and entropy. Furthermore, the same coherent SI unit may be a base unit in one context, but a coherent derived unit in another. For example, the ampere is the coherent SI unit for both electric current and magnetomotive force, but it is a base unit in the former case and a derived unit in the latter.
There is a special group of units that are called ‘non-SI units that are accepted for use with the SI’ (see below for a complete list). Most of these, in order to be converted to the corresponding SI unit, require conversion factors that are not powers of ten. Some common examples of such units are the customary units of time, namely the minute (conversion factor of 60, since 1 min ), the hour (), and the day (); the degree (for measuring plane angles, and the electronvolt (a unit of energy,
The SI is intended to be an evolving system; units and prefixes are created and unit definitions are modified through international agreement as the technology of measurement progresses and the precision of measurements improves.
Since 2019, the magnitudes of all SI units have been defined in an abstract way, which is conceptually separated from any practical realisation of them. Namely, the SI units are defined by declaring that seven "defining constants" have certain exact numerical values when expressed in terms of their SI units. Probably the most widely known of these constants is the speed of light in vacuum, , which in the SI by definition has the exact value of = . The other six constants are formula_1, the hyperfine transition frequency of caesium; , the Planck constant; , the elementary charge; , the Boltzmann constant; A, the Avogadro constant; and cd, the luminous efficacy of monochromatic radiation of frequency .
.}}}} The nature of the defining constants ranges from fundamental constants of nature such as to the purely technical constant cd.. Prior to 2019, , , , and were not defined a priori but were rather very precisely measured quantities. In 2019, their values were fixed by definition to their best estimates at the time, ensuring continuity with previous definitions of the base units.
As far as realisations, what are believed to be the current best practical realisations of units are described in the so-called ‘"mises en pratique"’, which are also published by the BIPM. The abstract nature of the definitions of units is what makes it possible to improve and change the "mises en pratique" as science and technology develop without having to change the actual definitions themselves.
In a sense, this way of defining the SI units is no more abstract than the way derived units are traditionally defined in terms of the base units. Let us consider a particular derived unit, say the joule, the unit of energy. Its definition in terms of the base units is ⋅/. Even if the practical realisations of the metre, kilogram, and second are available, we do not thereby immediately have a practical realisation of the joule; such a realisation will require some sort of reference to the underlying physical definition of work or energy—some actual physical procedure (a "mise en pratique", if you will) for realising the energy in the amount of one joule such that it can be compared to other instances of energy (such as the energy content of gasoline put into a car or of electricity delivered to a household).
The situation with the defining constants and all of the SI units is analogous. In fact, purely "mathematically" speaking, the SI units are defined "as if" we declared that it is the defining constant's units that are now the base units, with all other SI units being derived units. To make this clearer, first note that each defining constant can be taken as determining the magnitude of that defining constant's unit of measurement; for example, the definition of defines the unit as = (‘the speed of one metre per second is equal to one th of the speed of light’). In this way, the defining constants directly define the following seven units: the hertz (), a unit of the physical quantity of frequency (note that problems can arise when dealing with frequency or the Planck constant because the units of angular measure (cycle or radian) are omitted in SI.); the metre per second (), a unit of speed; joule-second (), a unit of action; coulomb (), a unit of electric charge; joule per kelvin (), a unit of both entropy and heat capacity; the inverse mole (), a unit of a conversion constant between the amount of substance and the number of elementary entities (atoms, molecules, etc.); and lumen per watt (), a unit of a conversion constant between the physical power carried by electromagnetic radiation and the intrinsic ability of that same radiation to produce visual perception of brightness in humans. Further, one can show, using dimensional analysis, that every coherent SI unit (whether base or derived) can be written as a unique product of powers of the units of the SI defining constants (in complete analogy to the fact that every coherent derived SI unit can be written as a unique product of powers of the base SI units). For example, the kilogram can be written as Thus, the kilogram is defined in terms of the three defining constants , , and because, on the one hand, these three defining constants respectively define the units , , and , while, on the other hand, the kilogram can be written in terms of these three units, namely, True, the question of how to actually realise the kilogram in practice would, at this point, still be open, but that is not really different from the fact that the question of how to actually realise the joule in practice is still in principle open even once one has achieved the practical realisations of the metre, kilogram, and second.
One consequence of the redefinition of the SI is that the distinction between the base units and derived units is in principle not needed, since any unit can be constructed directly from the seven defining constants. Nevertheless, the distinction is retained because 'it is useful and historically well established', and also because the ISO/IEC 80000 series of standards specifies base and derived quantities that necessarily have the corresponding SI units.
The current way of defining the SI system is the result of a decades-long move towards increasingly abstract and idealised formulation in which the
realisations of the units are separated conceptually from the definitions.
The great advantage of doing it this way is that as science and technologies develop, new and superior realisations may be introduced without the need to redefine the units. Units can now be realised with ‘an accuracy that is ultimately limited only by the quantum structure of nature and our technical abilities but not by the definitions themselves. Any valid equation of physics relating the defining constants to a unit can be used to realise the unit, thus creating opportunities for innovation… with increasing accuracy as technology proceeds.’ In practice, the CIPM Consultative Committees provide so-called ""mises en pratique" (practical techniques), which are the descriptions of what are currently believed to be best experimental realisations of the units.
This system lacks the conceptual simplicity of using artefacts (referred to as "prototypes") as realisations of units to define those units: with prototypes, the definition and the realisation are one and the same. However, using artefacts has two major disadvantages that, as soon as it is technologically and scientifically feasible, result in abandoning them as means for defining units. One major disadvantage is that artefacts can be lost, damaged, or changed. The other is that they largely cannot benefit from advancements in science and technology. The last artefact used by the SI was the International Prototype Kilogram (IPK), a particular cylinder of platinum-iridium; from 1889 to 2019, the kilogram was by definition equal to the mass of the IPK. Concerns regarding its stability on the one hand, and progress in precise measurements of the Planck constant and the Avogadro constant on the other, led to a revision of the definition of the base units, put into effect on 20 May 2019. This was the biggest change in the SI system since it was first formally defined and established in 1960, and it resulted in the definitions described above.
In the past, there were also various other approaches to the definitions of some of the SI units. One made use of a specific physical state of a specific substance (the triple point of water, which was used in the definition of the kelvin); others referred to idealised experimental prescriptions (as in the case of the former SI definition of the ampere and the former SI definition (originally enacted in 1979) of the candela).
In the future, the set of defining constants used by the SI may be modified as more stable constants are found, or if it turns out that other constants can be more precisely measured.
The original motivation for the development of the SI was the diversity of units that had sprung up within the centimetre–gram–second (CGS) systems (specifically the inconsistency between the systems of electrostatic units and electromagnetic units) and the lack of coordination between the various disciplines that used them. The General Conference on Weights and Measures (French: "" – CGPM), which was established by the Metre Convention of 1875, brought together many international organisations to establish the definitions and standards of a new system and to standardise the rules for writing and presenting measurements. The system was published in 1960 as a result of an initiative that began in 1948. It is based on the metre–kilogram–second system of units (MKS) rather than any variant of the CGS.
The SI is regulated and continually developed by three international organisations that were established in 1875 under the terms of the Metre Convention. They are the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM), the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM), and the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM). The ultimate authority rests with the CGPM, which is a plenary body through which its Member States act together on matters related to measurement science and measurement standards; it usually convenes every four years. The CGPM elects the CIPM, which is an 18-person committee of eminent scientists. The CIPM operates based on the advice of a number of its Consultative Committees, which bring together the world's experts in their specified fields as advisers on scientific and technical matters. One of these committees is the Consultative Committee for Units (CCU), which is responsible for "matters related to the development of the International System of Units (SI), preparation of successive editions of the SI brochure, and advice to the CIPM on matters concerning units of measurement." It is the CCU which considers in detail all new scientific and technological developments related to the definition of units and the SI. In practice, when it comes to the definition of the SI, the CGPM simply formally approves the recommendations of the CIPM, which, in turn, follows the advice of the CCU.
The CCU has the following as members: national laboratories of the Member States of the CGPM charged with establishing national standards; relevant intergovernmental organisations and international bodies;
international commissions or committees;
scientific unions; personal members;
and, as an ex officio member of all Consultative Committees, the Director of the BIPM.
All the decisions and recommendations concerning units are collected in a brochure called "The International System of Units (SI)", which is published by the BIPM and periodically updated.
The International System of Units consists of a set of base units, derived units, and a set of decimal-based multipliers that are used as prefixes. The units, excluding prefixed units, form a coherent system of units, which is based on a system of quantities in such a way that the equations between the numerical values expressed in coherent units have exactly the same form, including numerical factors, as the corresponding equations between the quantities. For example, 1 N = 1 kg × 1 m/s2 says that "one" newton is the force required to accelerate a mass of "one" kilogram at "one" metre per second squared, as related through the principle of coherence to the equation relating the corresponding quantities: .
Derived units apply to derived quantities, which may by definition be expressed in terms of base quantities, and thus are not independent; for example, electrical conductance is the inverse of electrical resistance, with the consequence that the siemens is the inverse of the ohm, and similarly, the ohm and siemens can be replaced with a ratio of an ampere and a volt, because those quantities bear a defined relationship to each other. Other useful derived quantities can be specified in terms of the SI base and derived units that have no named units in the SI system, such as acceleration, which is defined in SI units as m/s2.
The SI base units are the building blocks of the system and all the other units are derived from them.
The derived units in the SI are formed by powers, products, or quotients of the base units and are potentially unlimited in number. Derived units are associated with derived quantities; for example, velocity is a quantity that is derived from the base quantities of time and length, and thus the SI derived unit is metre per second (symbol m/s). The dimensions of derived units can be expressed in terms of the dimensions of the base units.
Combinations of base and derived units may be used to express other derived units. For example, the SI unit of force is the newton (N), the SI unit of pressure is the pascal (Pa)—and the pascal can be defined as one newton per square metre (N/m2).
Prefixes are added to unit names to produce multiples and submultiples of the original unit. All of these are integer powers of ten, and above a hundred or below a hundredth all are integer powers of a thousand. For example, "kilo-" denotes a multiple of a thousand and "milli-" denotes a multiple of a thousandth, so there are one thousand millimetres to the metre and one thousand metres to the kilometre. The prefixes are never combined, so for example a millionth of a metre is a "micrometre", not a millimillimetre. Multiples of the kilogram are named as if the gram were the base unit, so a millionth of a kilogram is a "milligram", not a microkilogram. When prefixes are used to form multiples and submultiples of SI base and derived units, the resulting units are no longer coherent.
The BIPM specifies 20 prefixes for the International System of Units (SI):
Many non-SI units continue to be used in the scientific, technical, and commercial literature. Some units are deeply embedded in history and culture, and their use has not been entirely replaced by their SI alternatives. The CIPM recognised and acknowledged such traditions by compiling a list of non-SI units accepted for use with SI:
Some units of time, angle, and legacy non-SI units have a long history of use. Most societies have used the solar day and its non-decimal subdivisions as a basis of time and, unlike the foot or the pound, these were the same regardless of where they were being measured. The radian, being of a revolution, has mathematical advantages but is rarely used for navigation. Further, the units used in navigation around the world are similar. The tonne, litre, and hectare were adopted by the CGPM in 1879 and have been retained as units that may be used alongside SI units, having been given unique symbols. The catalogued units are given below:
These units are used in combination with SI units in common units such as the kilowatt-hour (1 kW⋅h = 3.6 MJ).
The basic units of the metric system, as originally defined, represented common quantities or relationships in nature. They still do – the modern precisely defined quantities are refinements of definition and methodology, but still with the same magnitudes. In cases where laboratory precision may not be required or available, or where approximations are good enough, the original definitions may suffice.
The symbols for the SI units are intended to be identical, regardless of the language used, but names are ordinary nouns and use the character set and follow the grammatical rules of the language concerned. Names of units follow the grammatical rules associated with common nouns: in English and in French they start with a lowercase letter (e.g., newton, hertz, pascal), even when the unit is named after a person and its symbol begins with a capital letter. This also applies to "degrees Celsius", since "degree" is the beginning of the unit. The only exceptions are in the beginning of sentences and in headings and publication titles. The English spelling for certain SI units differs: US English uses the spelling "deka-", "meter", and "liter", whilst International English uses "deca-", "metre", and "litre".
Although the writing of unit names is language-specific, the writing of unit symbols and the values of quantities is consistent across all languages and therefore the SI Brochure has specific rules in respect of writing them. The guideline produced by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) clarifies language-specific areas in respect of American English that were left open by the SI Brochure, but is otherwise identical to the SI Brochure.
General rules for writing SI units and quantities apply to text that is either handwritten or produced using an automated process:
The rules covering printing of quantities and units are part of ISO 80000-1:2009.
Further rules are specified in respect of production of text using printing presses, word processors, typewriters, and the like.
The CGPM publishes a brochure that defines and presents the SI. Its official version is in French, in line with the Metre Convention. It leaves some scope for local variations, particularly regarding unit names and terms in different languages.
The writing and maintenance of the CGPM brochure is carried out by one of the committees of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM).
The definitions of the terms "quantity", "unit", "dimension" etc. that are used in the "SI Brochure" are those given in the International vocabulary of metrology.
The quantities and equations that provide the context in which the SI units are defined are now referred to as the "International System of Quantities" (ISQ).
The ISQ is based on the quantities underlying each of the seven base units of the SI. Other quantities, such as area, pressure, and electrical resistance, are derived from these base quantities by clear non-contradictory equations. The ISQ defines the quantities that are measured with the SI units. The ISQ is formalised, in part, in the international standard ISO/IEC 80000, which was completed in 2009 with the publication of ISO 80000-1, and has largely been revised in 2019–2020 with the remainder being under review.
Metrologists carefully distinguish between the definition of a unit and its realisation. The definition of each base unit of the SI is drawn up so that it is unique and provides a sound theoretical basis on which the most accurate and reproducible measurements can be made. The realisation of the definition of a unit is the procedure by which the definition may be used to establish the value and associated uncertainty of a quantity of the same kind as the unit. A description of the "mise en pratique" of the base units is given in an electronic appendix to the SI Brochure.
The published "mise en pratique" is not the only way in which a base unit can be determined: the SI Brochure states that "any method consistent with the laws of physics could be used to realise any SI unit." In the current (2016) exercise to overhaul the definitions of the base units, various consultative committees of the CIPM have required that more than one "mise en pratique" shall be developed for determining the value of each unit. In particular:
The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) has described SI as "the modern form of metric system". Changing technology has led to an evolution of the definitions and standards that has followed two principal strands – changes to SI itself, and clarification of how to use units of measure that are not part of SI but are still nevertheless used on a worldwide basis.
Since 1960 the CGPM has made a number of changes to the SI to meet the needs of specific fields, notably chemistry and radiometry. These are mostly additions to the list of named derived units, and include the "mole" (symbol mol) for an amount of substance, the "pascal" (symbol Pa) for pressure, the "siemens" (symbol S) for electrical conductance, the "becquerel" (symbol Bq) for "activity referred to a radionuclide", the "gray" (symbol Gy) for ionising radiation, the "sievert" (symbol Sv) as the unit of dose equivalent radiation, and the "katal" (symbol kat) for catalytic activity.
The range of defined prefixes pico- (10−12) to tera- (1012) was extended to 10−24 to 1024.
The 1960 definition of the standard metre in terms of wavelengths of a specific emission of the krypton 86 atom was replaced with the distance that light travels in vacuum in exactly second, so that the speed of light is now an exactly specified constant of nature.
A few changes to notation conventions have also been made to alleviate lexicographic ambiguities. An analysis under the aegis of CSIRO, published in 2009 by the Royal Society, has pointed out the opportunities to finish the realisation of that goal, to the point of universal zero-ambiguity machine readability.
After the metre was redefined in 1960, the International Prototype of the Kilogram (IPK) was the only physical artefact upon which base units (directly the kilogram and indirectly the ampere, mole and candela) depended for their definition, making these units subject to periodic comparisons of national standard kilograms with the IPK. During the 2nd and 3rd Periodic Verification of National Prototypes of the Kilogram, a significant divergence had occurred between the mass of the IPK and all of its official copies stored around the world: the copies had all noticeably increased in mass with respect to the IPK. During "extraordinary verifications" carried out in 2014 preparatory to redefinition of metric standards, continuing divergence was not confirmed. Nonetheless, the residual and irreducible instability of a physical IPK undermined the reliability of the entire metric system to precision measurement from small (atomic) to large (astrophysical) scales.
A proposal was made that:
The new definitions were adopted at the 26th CGPM on 16 November 2018, and came into effect on 20 May 2019. The change was adopted by the European Union through Directive (EU) 2019/1258.
The units and unit magnitudes of the metric system which became the SI were improvised piecemeal from everyday physical quantities starting in the mid-18th century. Only later were they moulded into an orthogonal coherent decimal system of measurement.
The degree centigrade as a unit of temperature resulted from the scale devised by Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius in 1742. His scale counter-intuitively designated 100 as the freezing point of water and 0 as the boiling point. Independently, in 1743, the French physicist Jean-Pierre Christin described a scale with 0 as the freezing point of water and 100 the boiling point. The scale became known as the centi-grade, or 100 gradations of temperature, scale.
The metric system was developed from 1791 onwards by a committee of the French Academy of Sciences, commissioned to create a unified and rational system of measures. The group, which included preeminent French men of science, used the same principles for relating length, volume, and mass that had been proposed by the English clergyman John Wilkins in 1668 and the concept of using the Earth's meridian as the basis of the definition of length, originally proposed in 1670 by the French abbot Mouton.
In March 1791, the Assembly adopted the committee's proposed principles for the new decimal system of measure including the metre defined to be 1/10,000,000 of the length of the quadrant of earth's meridian passing through Paris, and authorised a survey to precisely establish the length of the meridian. In July 1792, the committee proposed the names "metre", "are", "litre" and "grave" for the units of length, area, capacity, and mass, respectively. The committee also proposed that multiples and submultiples of these units were to be denoted by decimal-based prefixes such as "centi" for a hundredth and "kilo" for a thousand.
Later, during the process of adoption of the metric system, the Latin "gramme" and "kilogramme", replaced the former provincial terms "gravet" (1/1000 "grave") and "grave". In June 1799, based on the results of the meridian survey, the standard "mètre des Archives" and "kilogramme des Archives" were deposited in the French National Archives. Subsequently, that year, the metric system was adopted by law in France.
The French system was short-lived due to its unpopularity. Napoleon ridiculed it, and in 1812, introduced a replacement system, the "mesures usuelles" or "customary measures" which restored many of the old units, but redefined in terms of the metric system.
During the first half of the 19th century there was little consistency in the choice of preferred multiples of the base units: typically the myriametre ( metres) was in widespread use in both France and parts of Germany, while the kilogram ( grams) rather than the myriagram was used for mass.
In 1832, the German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss, assisted by Wilhelm Weber, implicitly defined the second as a base unit when he quoted the Earth's magnetic field in terms of millimetres, grams, and seconds. Prior to this, the strength of the Earth's magnetic field had only been described in relative terms. The technique used by Gauss was to equate the torque induced on a suspended magnet of known mass by the Earth's magnetic field with the torque induced on an equivalent system under gravity. The resultant calculations enabled him to assign dimensions based on mass, length and time to the magnetic field.
A candlepower as a unit of illuminance was originally defined by an 1860 English law as the light produced by a pure spermaceti candle weighing pound (76 grams) and burning at a specified rate. Spermaceti, a waxy substance found in the heads of sperm whales, was once used to make high-quality candles. At this time the French standard of light was based upon the illumination from a Carcel oil lamp. The unit was defined as that illumination emanating from a lamp burning pure rapeseed oil at a defined rate. It was accepted that ten standard candles were about equal to one Carcel lamp.
A French-inspired initiative for international cooperation in metrology led to the signing in 1875 of the Metre Convention, also called Treaty of the Metre, by 17 nations. Initially the convention only covered standards for the metre and the kilogram. In 1921, the Metre Convention was extended to include all physical units, including the ampere and others thereby enabling the CGPM to address inconsistencies in the way that the metric system had been used.
A set of 30 prototypes of the metre and 40 prototypes of the kilogram, in each case made of a 90% platinum-10% iridium alloy, were manufactured by British metallurgy specialty firm and accepted by the CGPM in 1889. One of each was selected at random to become the International prototype metre and International prototype kilogram that replaced the "mètre des Archives" and "kilogramme des Archives" respectively. Each member state was entitled to one of each of the remaining prototypes to serve as the national prototype for that country.
The treaty also established a number of international organisations to oversee the keeping of international standards of measurement: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26764 |
South America
South America is a continent in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It may also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas, which is how it is viewed in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking regions of the Americas. The reference to South America instead of other regions (like Latin America or the Southern Cone) has increased in the last decades due to changing geopolitical dynamics (in particular, the rise of Brazil).
It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean; North America and the Caribbean Sea lie to the northwest. It includes twelve sovereign states: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela, and French Guiana (a part of France). In addition, the ABC islands of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Falkland Islands, (a British Overseas Territory), Trinidad and Tobago, and Panama may also be considered part of South America.
South America has an area of 17,840,000 square kilometers (6,890,000 sq mi). Its population has been estimated at more than floor(/1e6) million. South America ranks fourth in area (after Asia, Africa, and North America) and fifth in population (after Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America). Brazil is by far the most populous South American country, with more than half of the continent's population, followed by Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela and Peru. In recent decades Brazil has also concentrated half of the region's GDP and has become a first regional power.
Most of the population lives near the continent's western or eastern coasts while the interior and the far south are sparsely populated. The geography of western South America is dominated by the Andes mountains; in contrast, the eastern part contains both highland regions and vast lowlands where rivers such as the Amazon, Orinoco, and Paraná flow. Most of the continent lies in the tropics.
The continent's cultural and ethnic outlook has its origin with the interaction of indigenous peoples with European conquerors and immigrants and, more locally, with African slaves. Given a long history of colonialism, the overwhelming majority of South Americans speak Portuguese or Spanish, and societies and states reflect Western traditions.
South America occupies the southern portion of the Americas. The continent is generally delimited on the northwest by the Darién watershed along the Colombia–Panama border, although some may consider the border instead to be the Panama Canal. Geopolitically and geographically all of Panama – including the segment east of the Panama Canal in the isthmus – is typically included in North America alone and among the countries of Central America. Almost all of mainland South America sits on the South American Plate.
South America is home to the world's highest uninterrupted waterfall, Angel Falls in Venezuela; the highest single drop waterfall Kaieteur Falls in Guyana; the largest river by volume, the Amazon River; the longest mountain range, the Andes (whose highest mountain is Aconcagua at ); the driest non-polar place on earth, the Atacama Desert; the largest rainforest, the Amazon Rainforest; the highest capital city, La Paz, Bolivia; the highest commercially navigable lake in the world, Lake Titicaca; and, excluding research stations in Antarctica, the world's southernmost permanently inhabited community, Puerto Toro, Chile.
South America's major mineral resources are gold, silver, copper, iron ore, tin, and petroleum. These resources found in South America have brought high income to its countries especially in times of war or of rapid economic growth by industrialized countries elsewhere. However, the concentration in producing one major export commodity often has hindered the development of diversified economies. The fluctuation in the price of commodities in the international markets has led historically to major highs and lows in the economies of South American states, often causing extreme political instability. This is leading to efforts to diversify production to drive away from staying as economies dedicated to one major export.
South America is one of the most biodiverse continents on earth. South America is home to many interesting and unique species of animals including the llama, anaconda, piranha, jaguar, vicuña, and tapir. The Amazon rainforests possess high biodiversity, containing a major proportion of the Earth's species.
Brazil is the largest country in South America, encompassing around half of the continent's land area and population. The remaining countries and territories are divided among three regions: The Andean States, the Guianas and the Southern Cone.
Traditionally, South America also includes some of the nearby islands. Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Trinidad, Tobago, and the federal dependencies of Venezuela sit on the northerly South American continental shelf and are often considered part of the continent. Geo-politically, the island states and overseas territories of the Caribbean are generally grouped as a part or subregion of North America, since they are more distant on the Caribbean Plate, even though San Andres and Providencia are politically part of Colombia and Aves Island is controlled by Venezuela.
Other islands that are included with South America are the Galápagos Islands that belong to Ecuador and Easter Island (in Oceania but belonging to Chile), Robinson Crusoe Island, Chiloé (both Chilean) and Tierra del Fuego (split in between Chile and Argentina). In the Atlantic, Brazil owns Fernando de Noronha, Trindade and Martim Vaz, and the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago, while the Falkland Islands are governed by the United Kingdom, whose sovereignty over the islands is disputed by Argentina. South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands may be associated with either South America or Antarctica.
The distribution of the average temperatures in the region presents a constant regularity from the 30° of latitude south, when the isotherms tend, more and more, to be confused with the degrees of latitude.
In temperate latitudes, winters are milder and summers warmer than in North America. Because its most extensive part of the continent is in the equatorial zone, the region has more areas of equatorial plains than any other region.
The average annual temperatures in the Amazon basin oscillate around , with low thermal amplitudes and high rainfall indices. Between the Maracaibo Lake and the mouth of the Orinoco, predominates an equatorial climate of the type Congolese, that also includes parts of the Brazilian territory.
The east-central Brazilian plateau has a humid and warm tropical climate. The northern and eastern parts of the Argentine pampas have a humid subtropical climate with dry winters and humid summers of the Chinese type, while the western and eastern ranges have a subtropical climate of the dinaric type. At the highest points of the Andean region, climates are colder than the ones occurring at the highest point of the Norwegian fjords. In the Andean plateaus, the warm climate prevails, although it is tempered by the altitude, while in the coastal strip, there is an equatorial climate of the Guinean type. From this point until the north of the Chilean coast appear, successively, Mediterranean oceanic climate, temperate of the Breton type and, already in Tierra del Fuego, cold climate of the Siberian type.
The distribution of rainfall is related to the regime of winds and air masses. In most of the tropical region east of the Andes, winds blowing from the northeast, east and southeast carry moisture from the Atlantic, causing abundant rainfall. However, due to a consistently strong wind shear and a weak Intertropical Convergence Zone, South Atlantic tropical cyclones are rare. In the Orinoco Llanos and in the Guianas plateau, the precipitation levels go from moderate to high. The Pacific coast of Colombia and northern Ecuador are rainy regions, with Chocó in Colombia being the most rainy place in the world along with the northern slopes of Indian Himalayas. The Atacama Desert, along this stretch of coast, is one of the driest regions in the world. The central and southern parts of Chile are subject to extratropical cyclones, and most of the Argentine Patagonia is desert. In the pampas of Argentina, Uruguay and South of Brazil the rainfall is moderate, with rains well distributed during the year. The moderately dry conditions of the Chaco oppose the intense rainfall of the eastern region of Paraguay. In the semiarid coast of the Brazilian Northeast the rains are linked to a monsoon regime.
Important factors in the determination of climates are sea currents, such as the current Humboldt and Falklands. The equatorial current of the South Atlantic strikes the coast of the Northeast and there is divided into two others: the current of Brazil and a coastal current that flows to the northwest towards the Antilles, where there it moves towards northeast course thus forming the most Important and famous ocean current in the world, the Gulf Stream.
South America is believed to have been joined with Africa from the late Paleozoic Era to the early Mesozoic Era, until the supercontinent Pangaea began to rift and break apart about 225 million years ago. Therefore, South America and Africa share similar fossils and rock layers.
South America is thought to have been first inhabited by humans when people were crossing the Bering Land Bridge (now the Bering Strait) at least 15,000 years ago from the territory that is present-day Russia. They migrated south through North America, and eventually reached South America through the Isthmus of Panama.
The first evidence for the existence of the human race in South America dates back to about 9000 BC, when squashes, chili peppers and beans began to be cultivated for food in the highlands of the Amazon Basin. Pottery evidence further suggests that manioc, which remains a staple food today, was being cultivated as early as 2000 BC.
By 2000 BC, many agrarian communities had been settled throughout the Andes and the surrounding regions. Fishing became a widespread practice along the coast, helping establish fish as a primary source of food. Irrigation systems were also developed at this time, which aided in the rise of an agrarian society.
South American cultures began domesticating llamas, vicuñas, guanacos, and alpacas in the highlands of the Andes circa 3500 BC. Besides their use as sources of meat and wool, these animals were used for transportation of goods.
The rise of plant growing and the subsequent appearance of permanent human settlements allowed for the multiple and overlapping beginnings of civilizations in South America.
One of the earliest known South American civilizations was at Norte Chico, on the central Peruvian coast. Though a pre-ceramic culture, the monumental architecture of Norte Chico is contemporaneous with the pyramids of Ancient Egypt. Norte Chico governing class established a trade network and developed agriculture then followed by Chavín by 900 BC, according to some estimates and archaeological finds. Artifacts were found at a site called Chavín de Huantar in modern Peru at an elevation of . Chavín civilization spanned 900 BC to 300 BC.
In the central coast of Peru, around the beginning of the 1st millennium AD, Moche (100 BC – 700 AD, at the northern coast of Peru), Paracas and Nazca (400 BC – 800 AD, Peru) cultures flourished with centralized states with permanent militia improving agriculture through irrigation and new styles of ceramic art. At the Altiplano, Tiahuanaco or Tiwanaku (100 BC – 1200 AD, Bolivia) managed a large commercial network based on religion.
Around the 7th century, both Tiahuanaco and Wari or Huari Empire (600–1200, Central and northern Peru) expanded its influence to all the Andean region, imposing the Huari urbanism and Tiahuanaco religious iconography.
The Muisca were the main indigenous civilization in what is now Colombia. They established the Muisca Confederation of many clans, or "cacicazgos", that had a free trade network among themselves. They were goldsmiths and farmers.
Other important Pre-Columbian cultures include: the Cañaris (in south central Ecuador), Chimú Empire (1300–1470, Peruvian northern coast), Chachapoyas, and the Aymaran kingdoms (1000–1450, Western Bolivia and southern Peru).
Holding their capital at the great city of Cusco, the Inca civilization dominated the Andes region from 1438 to 1533. Known as "Tawantin suyu", and "the land of the four regions," in Quechua, the Inca Empire was highly distinct and developed. Inca rule extended to nearly a hundred linguistic or ethnic communities, some nine to fourteen million people connected by a 25,000 kilometer road system. Cities were built with precise, unmatched stonework, constructed over many levels of mountain terrain. Terrace farming was a useful form of agriculture.
The Mapuche in Central and Southern Chile resisted the European and Chilean settlers, waging the Arauco War for more than 300 years.
In 1494, Portugal and Spain, the two great maritime European powers of that time, on the expectation of new lands being discovered in the west, signed the Treaty of Tordesillas, by which they agreed, with the support of the Pope, that all the land outside Europe should be an exclusive duopoly between the two countries.
The treaty established an imaginary line along a north–south meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, roughly 46° 37' W. In terms of the treaty, all land to the west of the line (known to comprise most of the South American soil) would belong to Spain, and all land to the east, to Portugal. As accurate measurements of longitude were impossible at that time, the line was not strictly enforced, resulting in a Portuguese expansion of Brazil across the meridian.
Beginning in the 1530s, the people and natural resources of South America were repeatedly exploited by foreign conquistadors, first from Spain and later from Portugal. These competing colonial nations claimed the land and resources as their own and divided it in colonies.
European infectious diseases (smallpox, influenza, measles, and typhus) – to which the native populations had no immune resistance – caused large-scale depopulation of the native population under Spanish control. Systems of forced labor, such as the haciendas and mining industry's mit'a also contributed to the depopulation. After this, African slaves, who had developed immunities to these diseases, were quickly brought in to replace them.
The Spaniards were committed to converting their native subjects to Christianity and were quick to purge any native cultural practices that hindered this end; however, many initial attempts at this were only partially successful, as native groups simply blended Catholicism with their established beliefs and practices. Furthermore, the Spaniards brought their language to the degree they did with their religion, although the Roman Catholic Church's evangelization in Quechua, Aymara, and Guaraní actually contributed to the continuous use of these native languages albeit only in the oral form.
Eventually, the natives and the Spaniards interbred, forming a mestizo class. At the beginning, many mestizos of the Andean region were offspring of Amerindian mothers and Spanish fathers. After independence, most mestizos had native fathers and European or mestizo mothers.
Many native artworks were considered pagan idols and destroyed by Spanish explorers; this included many gold and silver sculptures and other artifacts found in South America, which were melted down before their transport to Spain or Portugal. Spaniards and Portuguese brought the western European architectural style to the continent, and helped to improve infrastructures like bridges, roads, and the sewer system of the cities they discovered or conquered. They also significantly increased economic and trade relations, not just between the old and new world but between the different South American regions and peoples. Finally, with the expansion of the Portuguese and Spanish languages, many cultures that were previously separated became united through that of Latin American.
Guyana was first a Dutch, and then a British colony, though there was a brief period during the Napoleonic Wars when it was colonized by the French. The country was once partitioned into three parts, each being controlled by one of the colonial powers until the country was finally taken over fully by the British.
The indigenous peoples of the Americas in various European colonies were forced to work in European plantations and mines; along with African slaves who were also introduced in the proceeding centuries. The colonists were heavily dependent on indigenous labor during the initial phases of European settlement to maintain the subsistence economy, and natives were often captured by expeditions. The importation of African slaves began midway through the 16th century, but the enslavement of indigenous peoples continued well into the 17th and 18th centuries. The Atlantic slave trade brought African slaves primarily to South American colonies, beginning with the Portuguese since 1502. The main destinations of this phase were the Caribbean colonies and Brazil, as European nations built up economically slave-dependent colonies in the New World. Nearly 40% of all African slaves trafficked to the Americas went to Brazil. An estimated 4.9 million slaves from Africa came to Brazil during the period from 1501 to 1866.
While the Portuguese, English, French and Dutch settlers enslaved mainly African blacks, the Spaniards became very disposed of the natives. In 1750 Portugal abolished native slavery in the colonies because they considered them unfit for labour and began to import even more African slaves. Slaves were brought to the mainland on slave ships, under inhuman conditions and ill-treatment, and those who survived were sold into the slave markets.
After independence, all South American countries maintained slavery for some time. The first South American country to abolish slavery was Chile in 1823, Uruguay in 1830, Bolivia in 1831, Colombia and Ecuador in 1851, Argentina in 1853, Peru and Venezuela in 1854, Suriname in 1863, Paraguay in 1869, and in 1888 Brazil was the last South American nation and the last country in western world to abolish slavery.
The European Peninsular War (1807–1814), a theater of the Napoleonic Wars, changed the political situation of both the Spanish and Portuguese colonies. First, Napoleon invaded Portugal, but the House of Braganza avoided capture by escaping to Brazil. Napoleon also captured King Ferdinand VII of Spain, and appointed his own brother instead. This appointment provoked severe popular resistance, which created Juntas to rule in the name of the captured king.
Many cities in the Spanish colonies, however, considered themselves equally authorized to appoint local Juntas like those of Spain. This began the Spanish American wars of independence between the patriots, who promoted such autonomy, and the royalists, who supported Spanish authority over the Americas. The Juntas, in both Spain and the Americas, promoted the ideas of the Enlightenment. Five years after the beginning of the war, Ferdinand VII returned to the throne and began the Absolutist Restoration as the royalists got the upper hand in the conflict.
The independence of South America was secured by Simón Bolívar (Venezuela) and José de San Martín (Argentina), the two most important "Libertadores". Bolívar led a great uprising in the north, then led his army southward towards Lima, the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Meanwhile, San Martín led an army across the Andes Mountains, along with Chilean expatriates, and liberated Chile. He organized a fleet to reach Peru by sea, and sought the military support of various rebels from the Viceroyalty of Peru. The two armies finally met in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where they cornered the Royal Army of the Spanish Crown and forced its surrender.
In the Portuguese Kingdom of Brazil, Dom Pedro I (also Pedro IV of Portugal), son of the Portuguese King Dom João VI, proclaimed the independent Kingdom of Brazil in 1822, which later became the Empire of Brazil. Despite the Portuguese loyalties of garrisons in Bahia, Cisplatina and Pará, independence was diplomatically accepted by the crown in Portugal in 1825, on condition of a high compensation paid by Brazil mediatized by the United Kingdom.
The newly independent nations began a process of fragmentation, with several civil and international wars. However, it was not as strong as in Central America. Some countries created from provinces of larger countries stayed as such up to modern times (such as Paraguay or Uruguay), while others were reconquered and reincorporated into their former countries (such as the Republic of Entre Ríos and the Riograndense Republic).
The first separatist attempt was in 1820 by the Argentine province of Entre Ríos, led by a caudillo. In spite of the "Republic" in its title, General Ramírez, its caudillo, never really intended to declare an independent Entre Rios. Rather, he was making a political statement in opposition to the monarchist and centralist ideas that back then permeated Buenos Aires politics. The "country" was reincorporated at the United Provinces in 1821.
In 1825 the Cisplatine Province declared its independence from the Empire of Brazil, which led to the Cisplatine War between the imperials and the Argentine from the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata to control the region. Three years later, the United Kingdom intervened in the question by proclaiming a tie and creating in the former Cisplatina a new independent country: The Oriental Republic of Uruguay.
Later in 1836, while Brazil was experiencing the chaos of the regency, Rio Grande do Sul proclaimed its independence motivated by a tax crisis. With the anticipation of the coronation of Pedro II to the throne of Brazil, the country could stabilize and fight the separatists, which the province of Santa Catarina had joined in 1839. The Conflict came to an end by a process of compromise by which both Riograndense Republic and Juliana Republic were reincorporated as provinces in 1845.
The Peru–Bolivian Confederation, a short-lived union of Peru and Bolivia, was blocked by Chile in the War of the Confederation (1836–1839) and again during the War of the Pacific (1879–1883). Paraguay was virtually destroyed by Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay in the Paraguayan War.
Despite the Spanish American wars of independence and the Brazilian War of Independence, the new nations quickly began to suffer with internal conflicts and wars among themselves.
In 1825 the proclamation of independence of Cisplatina led to the Cisplatine War between historical rivals the Empire of Brazil and the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, Argentina's predecessor. The result was a stalemate, ending with the British arranging for the independence of Uruguay. Soon after, another Brazilian province proclaimed its independence leading to the Ragamuffin War which Brazil won.
Between 1836 and 1839 the War of the Confederation broke out between the short-lived Peru-Bolivian Confederation and Chile, with the support of the Argentine Confederation. The war was fought mostly in the actual territory of Peru and ended with a Confederate defeat and the dissolution of the Confederacy and annexation of many territories by Argentina.
Meanwhile, the Argentine Civil Wars plagued Argentina since its independence. The conflict was mainly between those who defended the centralization of power in Buenos Aires and those who defended a confederation. During this period it can be said that "there were two Argentines": the Argentine Confederation and the Argentine Republic. At the same time the political instability in Uruguay led to the Uruguayan Civil War among the main political factions of the country. All this instability in the platine region interfered with the goals of other countries such as Brazil, which was soon forced to take sides. In 1851 the Brazilian Empire, supporting the centralizing unitarians, and the Uruguayan government invaded Argentina and deposed the caudillo, Juan Manuel Rosas, who ruled the confederation with an iron hand. Although the Platine War did not put an end to the political chaos and civil war in Argentina, it brought temporary peace to Uruguay where the Colorados faction won, supported by the Brazilian Empire, British Empire, French Empire and the Unitarian Party of Argentina.
Peace lasted only a short time: in 1864 the Uruguayan factions faced each other again in the Uruguayan War. The Blancos supported by Paraguay started to attack Brazilian and Argentine farmers near the borders. The Empire made an initial attempt to settle the dispute between Blancos and Colorados without success. In 1864, after a Brazilian ultimatum was refused, the imperial government declared that Brazil's military would begin reprisals. Brazil declined to acknowledge a formal state of war, and, for most of its duration, the Uruguayan–Brazilian armed conflict was an undeclared war which led to the deposition of the "Blancos" and the rise of the pro-Brazilian "Colorados" to power again. This angered the Paraguayan government, which even before the end of the war invaded Brazil, beginning the biggest and deadliest war in both South American and Latin American histories: the Paraguayan War.
The Paraguayan War began when the Paraguayan dictator Francisco Solano López ordered the invasion of the Brazilian provinces of Mato Grosso and Rio Grande do Sul. His attempt to cross Argentinian territory without Argentinian approval led the pro-Brazilian Argentine government into the war. The pro-Brazilian Uruguayan government showed its support by sending troops. In 1865 the three countries signed the Treaty of the Triple Alliance against Paraguay. At the beginning of the war, the Paraguayans took the lead with several victories, until the Triple Alliance organized to repel the invaders and fight effectively. This was the second total war experience in the world after the American Civil War. It was deemed the greatest war effort in the history of all participating countries, taking almost 6 years and ending with the complete devastation of Paraguay. The country lost 40% of its territory to Brazil and Argentina and lost 60% of its population, including 90% of the men. The dictator Lopez was killed in battle and a new government was instituted in alliance with Brazil, which maintained occupation forces in the country until 1876.
The last South American war in the 19th century was the War of the Pacific with Bolivia and Peru on one side and Chile on the other. In 1879 the war began with Chilean troops occupying Bolivian ports, followed by Bolivia declaring war on Chile which activated an alliance treaty with Peru. The Bolivians were completely defeated in 1880 and Lima was occupied in 1881. The peace was signed with Peru in 1883 while a truce was signed with Bolivia in 1884. Chile annexed territories of both countries leaving Bolivia with no path to the sea.
In the new century, as wars became less violent and less frequent, Brazil entered into a small conflict with Bolivia for the possession of the Acre, which was acquired by Brazil in 1902. In 1917 Brazil declared war on the Central Powers and join the allied side in the World War I, sending a small fleet to the Mediterranean Sea and some troops to be integrated with the British and French troops. Brazil was the only South American country that fought in WWI. Later in 1932 Colombia and Peru entered a short armed conflict for territory in the Amazon. In the same year Paraguay declared war on Bolivia for possession of the Chaco, in a conflict that ended three years later with Paraguay's victory. Between 1941 and 1942 Peru and Ecuador fought decisively for territories claimed by both that were annexed by Peru, usurping Ecuador's frontier with Brazil.
Also in this period the first naval battle of World War II was fought on the continent, in the River Plate, between British forces and German submarines. The Germans still made numerous attacks on Brazilian ships on the coast, causing Brazil to declare war on the Axis powers in 1942, being the only South American country to fight in this war (and in both World Wars). Brazil sent naval and air forces to combat German and Italian submarines off the continent and throughout the South Atlantic, in addition to sending an expeditionary force to fight in the Italian Campaign.
A brief war was fought between Argentina and the UK in 1982, following an Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands, which ended with an Argentine defeat. The last international war to be fought on South American soil was the 1995 Cenepa War between Ecuador and the Peru along their mutual border.
Wars became less frequent in the 20th century, with Bolivia-Paraguay and Peru-Ecuador fighting the last inter-state wars. Early in the 20th century, the three wealthiest South American countries engaged in a vastly expensive naval arms race which was catalyzed by the introduction of a new warship type, the "dreadnought". At one point, the Argentine government was spending a fifth of its entire yearly budget for just two dreadnoughts, a price that did not include later in-service costs, which for the Brazilian dreadnoughts was sixty percent of the initial purchase.
The continent became a battlefield of the Cold War in the late 20th century. Some democratically elected governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay were overthrown or displaced by military dictatorships in the 1960s and 1970s. To curtail opposition, their governments detained tens of thousands of political prisoners, many of whom were tortured and/or killed on inter-state collaboration. Economically, they began a transition to neoliberal economic policies. They placed their own actions within the US Cold War doctrine of "National Security" against internal subversion. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Peru suffered from an internal conflict.
Argentina and Britain fought the Falklands War in 1982. The conflict lasted 74 days and ended with an Argentine surrender, returning the occupied Falkland islands to British control.
Colombia has had an ongoing, though diminished internal conflict, which started in 1964 with the creation of Marxist guerrillas (FARC-EP) and then involved several illegal armed groups of leftist-leaning ideology as well as the private armies of powerful drug lords. Many of these are now defunct, and only a small portion of the ELN remains, along with the stronger, though also greatly reduced, FARC.
Revolutionary movements and right-wing military dictatorships became common after World War II, but since the 1980s, a wave of democratization passed through the continent, and democratic rule is widespread now. Nonetheless, allegations of corruption are still very common, and several countries have developed crises which have forced the resignation of their governments, although, on most occasions, regular civilian succession has continued.
International indebtedness turned into a severe problem in the late 1980s, and some countries, despite having strong democracies, have not yet developed political institutions capable of handling such crises without resorting to unorthodox economic policies, as most recently illustrated by Argentina's default in the early 21st century. The last twenty years have seen an increased push towards regional integration, with the creation of uniquely South American institutions such as the Andean Community, Mercosur and Unasur. Notably, starting with the election of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela in 1998, the region experienced what has been termed a pink tide – the election of several leftist and center-left administrations to most countries of the area, except for the Guianas and Colombia.
Historically, the Hispanic countries were founded as Republican dictatorships led by caudillos. Brazil was the only exception, being a constitutional monarchy for its first 67 years of independence, until a coup d'état proclaimed a republic. In the late 19th century, the most democratic countries were Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.
In the interwar period, nationalism grew stronger on the continent, influenced by countries like Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. A series of authoritarian rules broke out in South American countries with views bringing them closer to the Axis Powers, like Vargas's Brazil. In the late 20th century, during the Cold War, many countries became military dictatorships under American tutelage in attempts to avoid the influence of the Soviet Union. After the fall of the authoritarian regimes, these countries became democratic republics.
During the first decade of the 21st century, South American governments have drifted to the political left, with leftist leaders being elected in Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela. The gross domestic product for each of those countries, however, dropped over that timeframe. Consequently, most South American countries are making increasing use of protectionist policies in order to help local economic development.
All South American countries are presidential republics with the exception of Suriname, a parliamentary republic. French Guiana is a French overseas department, while the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are British overseas territories. It is currently the only inhabited continent in the world without monarchies; the Empire of Brazil existed during the 19th century and there was an unsuccessful attempt to establish a Kingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia in southern Argentina and Chile. Also in the twentieth century, Suriname was established as a constituent kingdom of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Guyana retained the British monarch as head of state for 4 years after its independence.
Recently, an intergovernmental entity has been formed which aims to merge the two existing customs unions: Mercosur and the Andean Community, thus forming the third-largest trade bloc in the world.
This new political organization, known as Union of South American Nations, seeks to establish free movement of people, economic development, a common defense policy and the elimination of tariffs.
South America has over floor(/1e6) million inhabitants and a population growth rate of about 0.6% per year. There are several areas of sparse demographics such as tropical forests, the Atacama Desert and the icy portions of Patagonia. On the other hand, the continent presents regions of high population density, such as the great urban centers. The population is formed by descendants of Europeans (mainly Spaniards, Portuguese and Italians), Africans and Indigenous peoples. There is a high percentage of mestizos that vary greatly in composition by place. There is also a minor population of Asians, especially in Brazil. The two main languages are by far Spanish and Portuguese, followed by French, English and Dutch in smaller numbers.
Spanish and Portuguese are the most spoken languages in South America, with approximately 200 million speakers each. Spanish is the official language of most countries, along with other native languages in some countries. Portuguese is the official language of Brazil. Dutch is the official language of Suriname; English is the official language of Guyana, although there are at least twelve other languages spoken in the country, including Portuguese, Chinese, Hindustani and several native languages. English is also spoken in the Falkland Islands. French is the official language of French Guiana and the second language in Amapá, Brazil.
Indigenous languages of South America include Quechua in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile and Colombia; Wayuunaiki in northern Colombia (La Guajira) and northwestern Venezuela (Zulia); Guaraní in Paraguay and, to a much lesser extent, in Bolivia; Aymara in Bolivia, Peru, and less often in Chile; and Mapudungun is spoken in certain pockets of southern Chile. At least three South American indigenous languages (Quechua, Aymara, and Guarani) are recognized along with Spanish as national languages.
Other languages found in South America include Hindustani and Javanese in Suriname; Italian in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela; and German in certain pockets of Argentina and Brazil. German is also spoken in many regions of the southern states of Brazil, Riograndenser Hunsrückisch being the most widely spoken German dialect in the country; among other Germanic dialects, a Brazilian form of East Pomeranian is also well represented and is experiencing a revival. Welsh remains spoken and written in the historic towns of Trelew and Rawson in the Argentine Patagonia. There are also small clusters of Japanese-speakers in Brazil, Colombia and Peru. Arabic speakers, often of Lebanese, Syrian, or Palestinian descent, can be found in Arab communities in Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela and in Paraguay.
An estimated 90% of South Americans are Christians (82% Roman Catholic, 8% other Christian denominations mainly traditional Protestants and Evangelicals but also Orthodox), accounting for c. 19% of Christians worldwide.
African descendent religions and Indigenous religions are also common throughout all South America, some examples of are Santo Daime, Candomblé, Umbanda and Encantados.
Crypto-Jews or Marranos, conversos, and Anusim were an important part of colonial life in Latin America.
Both Buenos Aires, Argentina and São Paulo, Brazil figure among the largest Jewish populations by urban area.
East Asian religions such as Japanese Buddhism, Shintoism, and Shinto-derived Japanese New Religions are common in Brazil and Peru. Korean Confucianism is especially found in Brazil while Chinese Buddhism and Chinese Confucianism have spread throughout the continent.
Kardecist Spiritism can be found in several countries.
Part of Religions in South America (2013):
Genetic admixture occurs at very high levels in South America. In Argentina, the European influence accounts for 65–79% of the genetic background, Amerindian for 17–31% and sub-Saharan African for 2–4%. In Colombia, the sub-Saharan African genetic background varied from 1% to 89%, while the European genetic background varied from 20% to 79%, depending on the region.
In Peru, European ancestries ranged from 1% to 31%, while the African contribution was only 1% to 3%. The Genographic Project determined the average Peruvian from Lima had about 28% European ancestry, 68% Native American, 2% Asian ancestry and 2% sub-Saharan African.
Descendants of indigenous peoples, such as the Quechua and Aymara, or the Urarina of Amazonia make up the majority of the population in Bolivia (56%) and, per some sources, in Peru (44%). In Ecuador, Amerindians are a large minority that comprises two-fifths of the population. The native European population is also a significant element in most other former Portuguese colonies.
People who identify as of primarily or totally European descent, or identify their phenotype as corresponding to such group, are more of a majority in Argentina, and Uruguay and more than half of the population of Chile (64.7%) and (48.4%) in Brazil. In Venezuela, according to the national census 42% of the population is primarily native Spanish, Italian and Portuguese descendants. In Colombia, people who identify as European descendant are about 37%. In Peru, European descendants are the third group in number (15%).
Mestizos (mixed European and Amerindian) are the largest ethnic group in Bolivia, Paraguay, Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador and the second group in Peru and Chile.
South America is also home to one of the largest populations of Africans. This group is significantly present in Brazil, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Venezuela and Ecuador.
Brazil followed by Peru have the largest Japanese, Korean and Chinese communities in South America, Lima has the largest ethnic Chinese community in Latin America. Guyana and Suriname have the largest ethnic East Indian community.
In many places indigenous people still practice a traditional lifestyle based on subsistence agriculture or as hunter-gatherers. There are still some uncontacted tribes residing in the Amazon Rainforest.
The most populous country in South America is Brazil with /1e6 round 1 million people. The second largest country is Colombia with a population of . Argentina is the third most populous country with .
While Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia maintain the largest populations, large city populations are not restricted to those nations. The largest cities in South America, by far, are São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Lima, and Bogotá. These cities are the only cities on the continent to exceed eight million, and three of five in the Americas. Next in size are Caracas, Belo Horizonte, Medellin and Salvador.
Five of the top ten metropolitan areas are in Brazil. These metropolitan areas all have a population of above 4 million and include the São Paulo metropolitan area, Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area, and Belo Horizonte metropolitan area. Whilst the majority of the largest metropolitan areas are within Brazil, Argentina is host to the second largest metropolitan area by population in South America: the Buenos Aires metropolitan region is above 13 million inhabitants.
South America has also been witness to the growth of megapolitan areas. In Brazil four megaregions exist including the Expanded Metropolitan Complex of São Paulo with more than 32 million inhabitants. The others are the Greater Rio, Greater Belo Horizonte and Greater Porto Alegre. Colombia also has four megaregions which comprise 72% of its population, followed by Venezuela, Argentina and Peru which are also homes of megaregions.
The top ten largest South American metropolitan areas by population as of 2015, based on national census numbers from each country:
2015 Census figures.
South America relies less on the export of both manufactured goods and natural resources than the world average; merchandise exports from the continent were 16% of GDP on an exchange rate basis, compared to 25% for the world as a whole. Brazil (the seventh largest economy in the world and the largest in South America) leads in terms of merchandise exports at $251 billion, followed by Venezuela at $93 billion, Chile at $86 billion, and Argentina at $84 billion.
Since 1930, the continent has experienced remarkable growth and diversification in most economic sectors. Most agricultural and livestock products are destined for the domestic market and local consumption. However, the export of agricultural products is essential for the balance of trade in most countries.
The main agrarian crops are export crops, such as soy and wheat. The production of staple foods such as vegetables, corn or beans is large, but focused on domestic consumption. Livestock raising for meat exports is important in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Colombia. In tropical regions the most important crops are coffee, cocoa and bananas, mainly in Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador. Traditionally, the countries producing sugar for export are Peru, Guyana and Suriname, and in Brazil, sugar cane is also used to make ethanol. On the coast of Peru, northeast and south of Brazil, cotton is grown. Fifty percent of the South American surface is covered by forests, but timber industries are small and directed to domestic markets. In recent years, however, transnational companies have been settling in the Amazon to exploit noble timber destined for export. The Pacific coastal waters of South America are the most important for commercial fishing. The anchovy catch reaches thousands of tons, and tuna is also abundant (Peru is a major exporter). The capture of crustaceans is remarkable, particularly in northeastern Brazil and Chile.
Only Brazil and Argentina are part of the G20 (industrial countries), while only Brazil is part of the G8+5 (the most powerful and influential nations in the world). In the tourism sector, a series of negotiations began in 2005 to promote tourism and increase air connections within the region. Punta del Este, Florianópolis and Mar del Plata are among the most important resorts in South America.
The most industrialized countries in South America are Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela and Uruguay respectively. These countries alone account for more than 75 percent of the region's economy and add up to a GDP of more than US$3.0 trillion. Industries in South America began to take on the economies of the region from the 1930s when the Great Depression in the United States and other countries of the world boosted industrial production in the continent. From that period the region left the agricultural side behind and began to achieve high rates of economic growth that remained until the early 1990s when they slowed due to political instabilities, economic crises and neoliberal policies.
Since the end of the economic crisis in Brazil and Argentina that occurred in the period from 1998 to 2002, which has led to economic recession, rising unemployment and falling population income, the industrial and service sectors have been recovering rapidly. Chile, Argentina and Brazil have recovered fastest, growing at an average of 5% per year. All of South America after this period has been recovering and showing good signs of economic stability, with controlled inflation and exchange rates, continuous growth, a decrease in social inequality and unemployment–factors that favor industry.
The main industries are: electronics, textiles, food, automotive, metallurgy, aviation, naval, clothing, beverage, steel, tobacco, timber, chemical, among others. Exports reach almost US$400 billion annually, with Brazil accounting for half of this.
The economic gap between the rich and poor in most South American nations is larger than on most other continents. The richest 10% receive over 40% of the nation's income in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Paraguay, while the poorest 20% receive 4% or less in Bolivia, Brazil, and Colombia. This wide gap can be seen in many large South American cities where makeshift shacks and slums lie in the vicinity of skyscrapers and upper-class luxury apartments; nearly one in nine South Americans live on less than $2 per day (on a purchasing power parity basis).
Tourism has increasingly become a significant source of income for many South American countries.
Historical relics, architectural and natural wonders, a diverse range of foods and culture, vibrant and colorful cities, and stunning landscapes attract millions of tourists every year to South America. Some of the most visited places in the region are Iguazu Falls, Recife, Olinda, Machu Picchu, Bariloche, the Amazon rainforest, Rio de Janeiro, São Luís, Salvador, Fortaleza, Maceió, Buenos Aires, Florianópolis, San Ignacio Miní, Isla Margarita, Natal, Lima, São Paulo, Angel Falls, Brasília, Nazca Lines, Cuzco, Belo Horizonte, Lake Titicaca, Salar de Uyuni, La Paz, Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos, Los Roques archipelago, Gran Sabana, Patagonia, Tayrona National Natural Park, Santa Marta, Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, Cartagena, Perito Moreno Glacier and the Galápagos Islands. In 2016 Brazil hosted the 2016 Summer Olympics.
South Americans are culturally influenced by their indigenous peoples, the historic connection with the Iberian Peninsula and Africa, and waves of immigrants from around the globe.
South American nations have a rich variety of music. Some of the most famous genres include vallenato and cumbia from Colombia, pasillo from Colombia and Ecuador, samba, bossa nova and música sertaneja from Brazil, and tango from Argentina and Uruguay. Also well known is the non-commercial folk genre Nueva Canción movement which was founded in Argentina and Chile and quickly spread to the rest of the Latin America. People on the Peruvian coast created the fine guitar and cajon duos or trios in the most mestizo (mixed) of South American rhythms such as the Marinera (from Lima), the Tondero (from Piura), the 19th century popular Creole Valse or Peruvian Valse, the soulful Arequipan Yaravi, and the early 20th century Paraguayan Guarania. In the late 20th century, Spanish rock emerged by young hipsters influenced by British pop and American rock. Brazil has a Portuguese-language pop rock industry as well a great variety of other music genres. In the central and western regions of Bolivia, Andean and folklore music like Diablada, Caporales and Morenada are the most representative of the country, which were originated by European, Aymara and Quechua influences.
The literature of South America has attracted considerable critical and popular acclaim, especially with the Latin American Boom of the 1960s and 1970s, and the rise of authors such as Mario Vargas Llosa, Gabriel García Márquez in novels and Jorge Luis Borges and Pablo Neruda in other genres. The Brazilians Machado de Assis and João Guimarães Rosa are widely regarded as the greatest Brazilian writers.
Because of South America's broad ethnic mix, South American cuisine has African, South American Indian, South Asian, East Asian, and European influences. Bahia, Brazil, is especially well known for its West African–influenced cuisine. Argentines, Chileans, Uruguayans, Brazilians, Bolivians, and Venezuelans regularly consume wine. People in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, southern Chile, Bolivia and Brazil drink mate, an herb which is brewed. The Paraguayan version, terere, differs from other forms of mate in that it is served cold. Pisco is a liquor distilled from grapes in Peru and Chile. Peruvian cuisine mixes elements from Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, African, Arab, Andean, and Amazonic food.
The artist Oswaldo Guayasamín (1919–1999) from Ecuador, represented with his painting style the feeling of the peoples of Latin America highlighting social injustices in various parts of the world. The Colombian Fernando Botero (1932) is one of the greatest exponents of painting and sculpture that continues still active and has been able to develop a recognizable style of his own. For his part, the Venezuelan Carlos Cruz-Diez has contributed significantly to contemporary art, with the presence of works around the world.
Currently several emerging South American artists are recognized by international art critics: Guillermo Lorca – Chilean painter, Teddy Cobeña – Ecuadorian sculptor and recipient of international sculpture award in France) and Argentine artist Adrián Villar Rojas – winner of the Zurich Museum Art Award among many others.
A wide range of sports are played in the continent of South America, with football being the most popular overall, while baseball is the most popular in Venezuela.
Other sports include basketball, cycling, polo, volleyball, futsal, motorsports, rugby (mostly in Argentina and Uruguay), handball, tennis, golf, field hockey, boxing and cricket.
South America hosted its first Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016 and will host the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2018.
South America shares with Europe supremacy over the sport of football as all winners in FIFA World Cup history and all winning teams in the FIFA Club World Cup have come from these two continents. Brazil holds the record at the FIFA World Cup with five titles in total. Argentina and Uruguay have two titles each. So far four South American nations have hosted the tournament including the first edition in Uruguay (1930). The other three were Brazil (1950, 2014), Chile (1962), and Argentina (1978).
South America is home to the longest running international football tournament; the Copa América, which has been regularly contested since 1916. Uruguay won the Copa América a record 15 times, surpassing hosts Argentina in 2011 to reach 15 titles (they were previously equal at 14 titles each during the 2011 Copa América).
Also, in South America, a multi-sport event, the South American Games, are held every four years. The first edition was held in La Paz in 1978 and the most recent took place in Santiago in 2014.
South American Cricket Championship is an international limited-overs cricket tournament played since 1995 featuring national teams from South America and certain other invited sides including teams from North America, currently played annually but until 2013 was usually played every two seasons.
Due to the diversity of topography and pluviometric precipitation conditions, the region's water resources vary enormously in different areas. In the Andes, navigation possibilities are limited, except for the Magdalena River, Lake Titicaca and the lakes of the southern regions of Chile and Argentina. Irrigation is an important factor for agriculture from northwestern Peru to Patagonia. Less than 10% of the known electrical potential of the Andes had been used until the mid-1960s.
The Brazilian Highlands has a much higher hydroelectric potential than the Andean region and its possibilities of exploitation are greater due to the existence of several large rivers with high margins and the occurrence of great differences forming huge cataracts, such as those of Paulo Afonso, Iguaçu and others. The Amazon River system has about 13,000 km of waterways, but its possibilities for hydroelectric use are still unknown.
Most of the continent's energy is generated through hydroelectric power plants, but there is also an important share of thermoelectric and wind energy. Brazil and Argentina are the only South American countries that generate nuclear power, each with two nuclear power plants. In 1991 these countries signed a peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement.
South American transportation systems are still deficient, with low kilometric densities. The region has about 1,700,000 km of highways and 100,000 km of railways, which are concentrated in the coastal strip, and the interior is still devoid of communication.
Only two railroads are continental: the Transandina, which connects Buenos Aires, in Argentina to Valparaíso, in Chile, and the Brazil–Bolivia Railroad, which makes it the connection between the port of Santos in Brazil and the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, in Bolivia. In addition, there is the Pan-American Highway, which crosses the Andean countries from north to south, although some stretches are unfinished.
Two areas of greater density occur in the railway sector: the platinum network, which develops around the Platine region, largely belonging to Argentina, with more than 45,000 km in length; And the Southeast Brazil network, which mainly serves the state of São Paulo, state of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais. Brazil and Argentina also stand out in the road sector. In addition to the modern roads that extend through northern Argentina and south-east and south of Brazil, a vast road complex aims to link Brasília, the federal capital, to the South, Southeast, Northeast and Northern regions of Brazil.
The Port of Callao is the main port of Peru.
South America has one of the largest bays of navigable inland waterways in the world, represented mainly by the Amazon basin, the Platine basin, the São Francisco and the Orinoco basins, Brazil having about 54,000 km navigable, while Argentina has 6,500 km and Venezuela, 1,200 km.
The two main merchant fleets also belong to Brazil and Argentina. The following are those of Chile, Venezuela, Peru and Colombia. The largest ports in commercial movement are those of Buenos Aires, Santos, Rio de Janeiro, Bahía Blanca, Rosario, Valparaíso, Recife, Salvador, Montevideo, Paranaguá, Rio Grande, Fortaleza, Belém and Maracaibo.
In South America, commercial aviation has a magnificent expansion field, which has one of the largest traffic density lines in the world, Rio de Janeiro–São Paulo, and large airports, such as Congonhas, São Paulo–Guarulhos International and Viracopos (São Paulo), Rio de Janeiro International and Santos Dumont (Rio de Janeiro), El Dorado (Bogotá), Ezeiza (Buenos Aires), Tancredo Neves International Airport (Belo Horizonte), Curitiba International Airport (Curitiba), Brasilia, Caracas, Montevideo, Lima, Viru Viru International Airport (Santa Cruz de la Sierra), Recife, Salvador, Salgado Filho International Airport (Porto Alegre), Fortaleza, Manaus and Belém.
The main public transport in major cities is the bus. Many cities also have a diverse system of metro and subway trains, the first of which was the Buenos Aires subte, opened 1913. The Santiago subway is the largest network in South America, with 103 km, while the São Paulo subway is the largest in transportation, with more than 4.6 million passengers per day and was voted the best in the Americas. In Rio de Janeiro was installed the first railroad of the continent, in 1854. Today the city has a vast and diversified system of metropolitan trains, integrated with buses and subway. Recently it was also inaugurated in the city a Light Rail System called VLT, a small electrical trams at low speed, while São Paulo inaugurated its monorail, the first of South America. In Brazil, an express bus system called Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), which operates in several cities, has also been developed. Mi Teleférico, also known as Teleférico La Paz–El Alto (La Paz–El Alto Cable Car), is an aerial cable car urban transit system serving the La Paz–El Alto metropolitan area in Bolivia. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26769 |
Spindletop
Spindletop is an oil field located in the southern portion of Beaumont, Texas in the United States. The Spindletop dome was derived from the Louann Salt evaporite layer of the Jurassic geologic period. On January 10, 1901, a well at Spindletop struck oil ("came in"). The Spindletop gusher blew for 9 days at a rate estimated at of oil per day. Gulf Oil and Texaco, now part of Chevron Corporation, were formed to develop production at Spindletop. According to Daniel Yergin, the Spindletop discovery led the United States into the oil age. Prior to Spindletop, oil was primarily used for lighting and as a lubricant. Because of the quantity of oil discovered, burning petroleum as a fuel for mass consumption suddenly became economically feasible.
The frenzy of oil exploration and the economic development it generated in the state became known as the Texas oil boom. The United States soon became the world's leading oil producer.
There had long been suspicions that oil might be under "Spindletop Hill." The area was known for its vast sulfur springs and bubbling gas seepages that would ignite if lit. In August 1892, George W. O'Brien, George W. Carroll, Pattillo Higgins, and others formed the Gladys City Oil, Gas, and Manufacturing Company to do exploratory drilling on Spindletop Hill. The company drilled many dry holes and ran into trouble, as investors began to balk at pouring more money into drilling with no oil to show for it.
Pattillo Higgins left the company and teamed with Captain Anthony F. Lucas, the leading expert in the U.S. on salt-dome formations. Lucas made a lease agreement in 1899 with the Gladys City Company and a subsequent agreement with Higgins. Lucas drilled to before running out of money. He secured additional funding from John H. Galey and James M. Guffey of Pittsburgh, but the deal left Lucas with only an eighth share of the lease and Higgins with nothing.
Lucas continued drilling, and on January 10, 1901, at a depth of 1,139 ft (347 m), what is known as the Lucas Gusher or the Lucas Geyser blew oil over in the air at a rate of (4,200,000 gallons). Nine days passed before the well was brought under control.
Spindletop was the largest gusher the world had seen and catapulted Beaumont into an oil-fueled boomtown. Beaumont's population of 10,000 tripled in 3 months and eventually rose to 50,000. Speculation led land prices to increase rapidly. By the end of 1902, more than 500 companies had been formed and 285 wells were in operation.
Spindletop was the first oilfield found on the US Gulf Coast, and prompted further drilling, and further oil-field discoveries. Oil drillers looking for another Spindletop particularly sought out other salt domes, and were often successful. The Gulf Coast turned into a major oil region.
Standard Oil, which then had a monopoly or near-monopoly on the petroleum industry in the eastern states, was prevented from moving aggressively into the new oilfield by state antitrust laws. Populist sentiment against Standard Oil was particularly strong at the time of the Spindletop discovery. In 1900, an oil-products marketing company affiliated with Standard Oil had been banned from the state for its cutthroat business practices. Although Standard built refineries in the area, it was unable to dominate the new Gulf Coast oil fields the way it had in the eastern states. As a result, a number of startup oil companies at Spindletop, such as Texaco and Gulf Oil, grew into formidable competitors to Standard Oil.
Among those drilling at Spindletop was W. Scott Heywood, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, who in 1901 made the first oil discovery in nearby Jeff Davis Parish in southwestern Louisiana. In 1932, Heywood was elected to a single term in the Louisiana State Senate.
Production at Spindletop began to decline rapidly after 1902, and the wells produced only by 1904. Unfortunately the developers had signed a 20-year contract to sell 25,000 barrels per day at $0.25 per barrel to Shell Oil. When the price climbed above $0.35 per barrel, the operation was stressed and Mellon who had lent money for Spindle Top’s development took control of the company, won a lawsuit allowing Mellon to renege on the contract, and created Gulf Oil. On November 14, 1925, the Yount-Lee Oil Company brought in its McFaddin No. 2 at a depth around , sparking a second boom, which culminated in the field's peak production year of 1927, during which 21 million barrels (3.3 GL) were produced. Over the 10 years following the McFaddin discovery, more than 72 million barrels (11.4 GL) of oil were produced, mostly from the newer areas of the field. Spindletop continued as a productive source of oil until about 1936. It was then mined for sulfur from the 1950s to about 1975.
In 1976, Lamar University dedicated the Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum to preserve the history of the Spindletop oil gusher era in Beaumont. The museum features an oil derrick and many reconstructed Gladys City building interiors furnished with authentic artifacts from the Spindletop boomtown period.
The Lucas Gusher Monument is located at the museum. The monument, erected at the wellhead in July, 1941, was moved to the Spindletop-Gladys City Museum after it became unstable due to ground subsidence. According to an article by Nedra Foster, LS in the July/August, 2000 issue of the "Professional Surveyor Magazine," the monument was originally located within 4 ft of the site of the Spindletop well.
Today, the wellhead is marked at Spindletop Park by a flagpole flying the Texas flag. It is located about 1.5 miles south of the museum, off West Port Arthur Road/Spur 93. The site includes a viewing platform with information placards, about a quarter mile from the flagpole. The wellhead site is in the middle of swampland on private land and is not accessible. Directions to the park and viewing platform are available at the museum.
On December 4, 1955, the Spindletop story was dramatized in "Spindletop – The First Great Texas Oil Strike (January 10, 1901)" on the CBS history series, "You Are There". Robert Bray was cast as Pattillo Higgins, Mike Ragan as Marion Fletcher, Parley Baer as Captain Lucas, Jean Byron as Caroline Lucas, DeForest Kelley as Al Hammill, Tyler McVey as Mayor Wheat, and William Fawcett as a farmer. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26771 |
Stendhal
Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, ; ), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels "Le Rouge et le Noir" ("The Red and the Black", 1830) and "La Chartreuse de Parme" ("The Charterhouse of Parma", 1839), he is highly regarded for the acute analysis of his characters' psychology and considered one of the early and foremost practitioners of realism.
Born in Grenoble, Isère, he was an unhappy child, disliking his "unimaginative" father and mourning his mother, whom he passionately loved, and who died when he was seven. His closest friend was his younger sister, Pauline, with whom he maintained a steady correspondence throughout the first decade of the 19th century.
The military and theatrical worlds of the First French Empire were a revelation to Beyle. He was named an auditor with the Conseil d'État on 3 August 1810, and thereafter took part in the French administration and in the Napoleonic wars in Italy. He travelled extensively in Germany and was part of Napoleon's army in the 1812 invasion of Russia.
Stendhal witnessed the burning of Moscow from just outside the city. He was appointed Commissioner of War Supplies and sent to Smolensk to prepare provisions for the returning army. He crossed the Berezina River by finding a usable ford rather than the overwhelmed pontoon bridge, which probably saved his life and those of his companions. He arrived in Paris in 1813, largely unaware of the general fiasco that the retreat had become. Stendhal became known, during the Russian campaign, for keeping his wits about him, and maintaining his "sang-froid and clear-headedness." He also maintained his daily routine, shaving each day during the retreat from Moscow.
After the 1814 Treaty of Fontainebleau, he left for Italy, where he settled in Milan. He formed a particular attachment to Italy, where he spent much of the remainder of his career, serving as French consul at Trieste and Civitavecchia. His novel "The Charterhouse of Parma", written in 52 days, is set in Italy, which he considered a more sincere and passionate country than Restoration France. An aside in that novel, referring to a character who contemplates suicide after being jilted, speaks about his attitude towards his home country: "To make this course of action clear to my French readers, I must explain that in Italy, a country very far away from us, people are still driven to despair by love."
Stendhal identified with the nascent liberalism and his sojourn in Italy convinced him that Romanticism was essentially the literary counterpart of liberalism in politics. When Stendhal was appointed to a consular post in Trieste in 1830, Metternich refused his "exequatur" on account of Stendhal's liberalism and anti-clericalism.
Stendhal was a dandy and wit about town in Paris, as well as an obsessive womaniser. His genuine empathy towards women is evident in his books; Simone de Beauvoir spoke highly of him in "The Second Sex". One of his early works is "On Love," a rational analysis of romantic passion that was based on his unrequited love for Mathilde, Countess Dembowska, whom he met while living at Milan. This fusion of, and tension between, clear-headed analysis and romantic feeling is typical of Stendhal's great novels; he could be considered a Romantic realist.
Stendhal suffered miserable physical disabilities in his final years as he continued to produce some of his most famous work. As he noted in his journal, he was taking iodide of potassium and quicksilver to treat his syphilis, resulting in swollen armpits, difficulty swallowing, pains in his shrunken testicles, sleeplessness, giddiness, roaring in the ears, racing pulse and "tremors so bad he could scarcely hold a fork or a pen". Modern medicine has shown that his health problems were more attributable to his treatment than to his syphilis.
Stendhal died on 23 March 1842, a few hours after collapsing with a seizure on the streets of Paris. He is interred in the Cimetière de Montmartre.
Before settling on the pen name Stendhal, he published under many pen names, including "Louis Alexandre Bombet" and "Anastasius Serpière". The only book that Stendhal published under his own name was "The History of Painting" (1817). From the publication of "Rome, Naples, Florence" (September 1817) onwards, he published his works under the pseudonym "M. de Stendhal, officier de cavalerie". He borrowed this "nom de plume" from the German city of Stendal, birthplace of Johann Joachim Winckelmann, an art historian and archaeologist famous at the time.
In 1807 Stendhal stayed near Stendal, where he fell in love with a woman named Wilhelmine, whom he called Minette, and for whose sake he remained in the city. "I have no inclination, now, except for Minette, for this blonde and charming Minette, this soul of the north, such as I have never seen in France or Italy." Stendhal added an additional "H" to make more clear the Germanic pronunciation.
Stendhal used many aliases in his autobiographical writings and correspondence, and often assigned pseudonyms to friends, some of whom adopted the names for themselves. Stendhal used more than a hundred pseudonyms, which were astonishingly diverse. Some he used no more than once, while others he returned to throughout his life. "Dominique" and "Salviati" served as intimate pet names. He coins comic names "that make him even more bourgeois than he really is: Cotonnet, Bombet, Chamier." He uses many ridiculous names: "Don phlegm", "Giorgio Vasari", "William Crocodile", "Poverino", "Baron de Cutendre". One of his correspondents, Prosper Mérimée, said: "He never wrote a letter without signing a false name."
Stendhal's "Journal" and autobiographical writings include many comments on masks and the pleasures of "feeling alive in many versions." "Look upon life as a masked ball," is the advice that Stendhal gives himself in his diary for 1814. In "Memoirs of an Egotist" he writes: "Will I be believed if I say I'd wear a mask with pleasure and be delighted to change my name?...for me the supreme happiness would be to change into a lanky, blonde German and to walk about like that in Paris."
Contemporary readers did not fully appreciate Stendhal's realistic style during the Romantic period in which he lived. He was not fully appreciated until the beginning of the 20th century. He dedicated his writing to "the Happy Few" (in English in the original). This can be interpreted as a reference to Canto 11 of Lord Byron's "Don Juan", which refers to "the thousand happy few" who enjoy high society, or to the "we few, we happy few, we band of brothers" line of William Shakespeare's "Henry V", but Stendhal's use more likely refers to "The Vicar of Wakefield" by Oliver Goldsmith, parts of which he had memorized in the course of teaching himself English.
In "The Vicar of Wakefield", "the happy few" refers ironically to the small number of people who read the title character's obscure and pedantic treatise on monogamy. As a literary critic, such as in "Racine and Shakespeare", Stendhal championed the Romantic aesthetic by unfavorably comparing the rules and strictures of Jean Racine's classicism to the freer verse and settings of Shakespeare, and supporting the writing of plays in prose.
Today, Stendhal's works attract attention for their irony and psychological and historical dimensions. Stendhal was an avid fan of music, particularly the works of the composers Domenico Cimarosa, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Gioacchino Rossini. He wrote a biography of Rossini, "Vie de Rossini" (1824), now more valued for its wide-ranging musical criticism than for its historical content.
In his works, Stendhal reprised excerpts appropriated from Giuseppe Carpani, Théophile Frédéric Winckler, Sismondi and others.
Stendhal's brief memoir, "Souvenirs d'Égotisme" ("Memoirs of an Egotist") was published posthumously in 1892. Also published was a more extended autobiographical work, thinly disguised as the "Life of Henry Brulard".
His other works include short stories, journalism, travel books ("A Roman Journal"), a famous collection of essays on Italian painting, and biographies of several prominent figures of his time, including Napoleon, Haydn, Mozart, Rossini and Metastasio.
In Stendhal's 1822 classic "On Love" he describes or compares the "birth of love", in which the love object is 'crystallized' in the mind, as being a process similar or analogous to a trip to Rome. In the analogy, the city of Bologna represents "indifference" and Rome represents "perfect love":
When we are in Bologna, we are entirely indifferent; we are not concerned to admire in any particular way the person with whom we shall perhaps one day be madly in love; even less is our imagination inclined to overrate their worth. In a word, in Bologna "crystallization" has not yet begun. When the journey begins, love departs. One leaves Bologna, climbs the Apennines, and takes the road to Rome. The departure, according to Stendhal, has nothing to do with one's will; it is an instinctive moment. This transformative process actuates in terms of four steps along a journey:
This journey or crystallization process (shown above) was detailed by Stendhal on the back of a playing card while speaking to Madame Gherardi, during his trip to the Salzburg salt mine.
Hippolyte Taine considered the psychological portraits of Stendhal's characters to be "real, because they are complex, many-sided, particular and original, like living human beings." Émile Zola concurred with Taine's assessment of Stendhal's skills as a "psychologist", and although emphatic in his praise of Stendhal's psychological accuracy and rejection of convention, he deplored the various implausibilities of the novels and Stendhal's clear authorial intervention.
The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche refers to Stendhal as "France's last great psychologist" in "Beyond Good and Evil" (1886). He also mentions Stendhal in the "Twilight of the Idols" (1889) during a discussion of Dostoevsky as a psychologist, saying that encountering Dostoevsky was "the most beautiful accident of my life, more so than even my discovery of Stendhal".
Ford Madox Ford, in "The English Novel", asserts that to Diderot and Stendhal "the Novel owes its next great step forward...At that point it became suddenly evident that the Novel as such was capable of being regarded as a means of profoundly serious and many-sided discussion and therefore as a medium of profoundly serious investigation into the human case."
Erich Auerbach considers modern "serious realism" to have begun with Stendhal and Balzac. In "", he remarks of a scene in "The Red and the Black" that "it would be almost incomprehensible without a most accurate and detailed knowledge of the political situation, the social stratification, and the economic circumstances of a perfectly definite historical moment, namely, that in which France found itself just before the July Revolution."
In Auerbach's view, in Stendhal's novels "characters, attitudes, and relationships of the "dramatis personæ", then, are very closely connected with contemporary historical circumstances; contemporary political and social conditions are woven into the action in a manner more detailed and more real than had been exhibited in any earlier novel, and indeed in any works of literary art except those expressly purporting to be politico-satirical tracts."
Simone de Beauvoir uses Stendhal as an example of a feminist author. In "The Second Sex" de Beauvoir writes “Stendhal never describes his heroines as a function of his heroes: he provides them with their own destinies.” She furthermore points out that it “is remarkable that Stendhal is both so profoundly romantic and so decidedly feminist; feminists are usually rational minds that adopt a universal point of view in all things; but it is not only in the name of freedom in general but also in the name of individual happiness that Stendhal calls for women’s emancipation.” Yet, Beauvoir criticises Stendhal for, although wanting a woman to be his equal, her only destiny he envisions for her remains a man.
Even Stendhal's autobiographical works, such as "The Life of Henry Brulard" or "Memoirs of an Egotist", are "far more closely, essentially, and concretely connected with the politics, sociology, and economics of the period than are, for example, the corresponding works of Rousseau or Goethe; one feels that the great events of contemporary history affected Stendhal much more directly than they did the other two; Rousseau did not live to see them, and Goethe had managed to keep aloof from them." Auerbach goes on to say:
Vladimir Nabokov was dismissive of Stendhal, in "Strong Opinions" calling him "that pet of all those who like their French plain". In the notes to his translation of "Eugene Onegin", he asserts that "Le Rouge et le Noir" is "much overrated", and that Stendhal has a "paltry style". In "Pnin" Nabokov wrote satirically, "Literary departments still labored under the impression that Stendhal, Galsworthy, Dreiser, and Mann were great writers."
In 2019, rumours began amongst the undergraduate body at the University of Oxford that Stendhal was actually a woman posing as a man. Despite having been reported as such in several essays received by the French Department, this is most likely false.
Michael Dirda considers Stendhal "the greatest all round French writer – author of two of the top 20 French novels, author of a highly original autobiography ("Vie de Henry Brulard"), a superb travel writer, and as inimitable a presence on the page as any writer you'll ever meet."
In 1817 Stendhal was reportedly overcome by the cultural richness of Florence he encountered when he first visited the Tuscan city. As he described in his book "Naples and Florence: A Journey from Milan to Reggio":
As I emerged from the porch of Santa Croce, I was seized with a fierce palpitation of the heart (that same symptom which, in Berlin, is referred to as an attack of the nerves); the well-spring of life was dried up within me, and I walked in constant fear of falling to the ground.
The condition was diagnosed and named in 1979 by Italian psychiatrist Dr. Graziella Magherini, who had noticed similar psychosomatic conditions (racing heart beat, nausea and dizziness) amongst first-time visitors to the city.
In homage to Stendhal, Trenitalia named their overnight train service from Paris to Venice the Stendhal Express. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26773 |
Syndicalism
Syndicalism is a radical current in the labor movement that was most active in the early 20th century. Its main idea is the establishment of local worker-based organizations and the advancement of the demands and rights of workers through strikes. According to the Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm, it was predominant in the revolutionary left in the decade which preceded the outbreak of World War I because Marxism was mostly reformist at that time.
Major syndicalist organizations included the General Confederation of Labor in France, the National Confederation of Labor in Spain, the Italian Syndicalist Union, the Free Workers' Union of Germany, and the Argentine Regional Workers' Federation. Although they did not regard themselves as syndicalists, the Industrial Workers of the World, the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union and the Canadian One Big Union are considered by most historians to belong to this current.
A number of syndicalist organizations were and still are to this day linked in the International Workers' Association, but some of its member organizations left for the International Confederation of Labor, formed in 2018.
The term "syndicalism" has French origins. In French, a "syndicat" is a trade union, usually a local union. The corresponding words in Spanish and Portuguese, "sindicato", and Italian, "sindacato", are similar. By extension, the French "syndicalisme" refers to trade unionism in general. The concept "syndicalisme révolutionnaire" or "revolutionary syndicalism" emerged in French socialist journals in 1903 and the French General Confederation of Labor ("Confédération générale du travail", CGT) came to use the term to describe its brand of unionism. "Revolutionary syndicalism", or more commonly "syndicalism" with the "revolutionary" implied, was then adapted to a number of languages by unionists following the French model.
Many scholars, including Ralph Darlington, Marcel van der Linden, and Wayne Thorpe, apply the term "syndicalism" to a number of organizations or currents within the labor movement that did not identify as "syndicalist". They apply the label to one big unionists or industrial unionists in North America and Australia, Larkinists in Ireland, and groups that identify as revolutionary industrialists, revolutionary unionists, anarcho-syndicalists, or councilists. This includes the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in the United States, for example, which claimed its industrial unionism was "a higher type of revolutionary labor organization than that proposed by the syndicalists". Van der Linden and Thorpe use "syndicalism" to refer to "all revolutionary, direct-actionist organizations". Darlington proposes that syndicalism be defined as "revolutionary trade unionism". He and van der Linden argue that it is justified to group together such a wide range of organizations because their similar modes of action or practice outweigh their ideological differences.
Others, like Larry Peterson and Erik Olssen, disagree with this broad definition. According to Olssen, this understanding has a "tendency to blur the distinctions between industrial unionism, syndicalism, and revolutionary socialism". Peterson gives a more restrictive definition of "syndicalism" based on five criteria:
This definition excludes the IWW and the Canadian One Big Union (OBU). Peterson proposes the broader category "revolutionary industrial unionism" to encompass syndicalism, groups like the IWW and the OBU, and others. The defining commonality between these groups is that they sought to unite all workers in a general organization.
Syndicalism originated in France and spread from there. The French CGT was the model and inspiration for syndicalist groups throughout Europe and the world. Revolutionary industrial unionism, part of syndicalism in the broader sense, originated with the IWW in the United States and then caught on in other countries. In a number of countries, however, certain syndicalist practices and ideas predate the coining of the term in France or the founding of the IWW. In Bert Altena's view, a number of movements in Europe can be called syndicalist, even before 1900. According to the English social historian E.P. Thompson and the anarcho-syndicalist theorist Rudolf Rocker, there were syndicalist tendencies in Britain's labor movement as early as the 1830s. Syndicalists saw themselves as the heirs of the First International, the international socialist organization formed in 1864, particularly its anti-authoritarian wing led by Mikhail Bakunin. Bakunin and his followers advocated the general strike, rejected electoral politics, and anticipated workers' organizations replacing rule by the state. According to Lucien van der Walt, the Spanish section of the First International, formed in 1870, was in fact syndicalist. Kenyon Zimmer sees a "proto-syndicalism" in the influence the anarchist-led International Working People's Association (IWPA) and Central Labor Union, which originated in the American section of the First International, had in the Chicago labor movement of the 1880s. They were involved in the nationwide struggle for an eight-hour day. On May 3, 1886, the police killed three striking workers at a demonstration in Chicago. Seven policemen and four workers were killed the following day when someone, possibly a police member, threw a bomb into the crowd. Four anarchists were eventually executed for allegedly conspiring to the events. The Haymarket Affair, as these events become known, led anarchists and labor organizers, including syndicalists, in both the United States and Europe to re-evaluate the revolutionary meaning of the general strike.
According to Émile Pouget, a French anarchist and CGT leader, from "the United States, the idea of the general strike fertilized by the blood of anarchists hanged in Chicago [...] was imported to France". In the 1890s, French anarchists, conceding that individual action such as assassinations had failed, turned their focus to the labor movement. They were able to gain influence, particularly in the "bourses du travail", which served as labor exchanges, meeting places for unions, and trades councils and organized in a national federation in 1893. In 1895, the CGT was formed as a rival to the "bourses", but was at first much weaker. From the start, it advocated the general strike and aimed to unite all workers. Pouget, who was active in the CGT, supported the use of sabotage and direct action. In 1902, the "bourses" merged into the CGT. In 1906, the federation adopted the Charter of Amiens, which reaffirmed the CGT's independence from party politics and fixed the goal of uniting all French workers.
In 1905, the Industrial Workers of the World were formed in the United States by the Western Federation of Miners, the American Labor Union, and a broad coalition of socialists, anarchists, and labor unionists. Its base was mostly in the Western US where labor conflicts were most violent and workers therefore radicalized. Although Wobblies insisted their union was a distinctly American form of labor organization and not an import of European syndicalism, the IWW was syndicalist in the broader sense of the word. According to Melvyn Dubofsky and most other IWW historians, the IWW's industrial unionism was the specifically American form of syndicalism. Nevertheless, the IWW also had a presence in Canada and Mexico nearly from its inception, as the US economy and labor force was intertwined with those countries.
French syndicalism and American industrial unionism influenced the rise of syndicalism elsewhere. Syndicalist movements and organizations in a number of countries were established by activists who had spent time in France. Ervin Szabó visited Paris in 1904 and then established a Syndicalist Propaganda Group in his native Hungary in 1910. Several of the founders of the Spanish CNT had visited France. Alceste de Ambris and Armando Borghi, both leaders in Italy's USI, were in Paris for a few months from 1910 to 1911. French influence also spread through publications. Emile Pouget's pamphlets could be read in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, English, German, and Swedish translations. Journals and newspapers in a number of countries advocated syndicalism. For example, " L'Action directe", a journal mainly for miners in Charleroi, Belgium, urged its readers to follow "the example of our confederated friends of France". The IWW's newspapers published articles on French syndicalism, particularly the tactic of sabotage and the CGT's "La Vie Ouvrière" carried articles about Britain's labor movement by the British syndicalist Tom Mann. Migration played a key role in spreading syndicalist ideas. The Argentine Regional Workers' Federation ("Federación Obrera Regional Argentina", FORA), openly anarchist by 1905, was formed by Italian and Spanish immigrants in 1901. Many IWW leaders were European immigrants, including Edmondo Rossoni who moved between the United States and Italy and was active in both the IWW and USI. International work processes also contributed to the diffusion of syndicalism. For example, sailors helped establish IWW presences in port cities around the world.
Syndicalists formed different kinds of organizations. Some, like the French radicals, worked within existing unions to infuse them with their revolutionary spirit. Some found existing unions entirely unsuitable and built federations of their own, a strategy known as "dual unionism". American syndicalists formed the IWW, though William Z. Foster later abandoned the IWW after a trip to France and set up the Syndicalist League of North America (SLNA), which sought to radicalize the established American Federation of Labor (AFL). In Ireland, the ITGWU broke away from a more moderate, and British-based, union. In Italy and Spain, syndicalists initially worked within the established union confederations before breaking away and forming USI and the CNT respectively. In Norway, there were both the Norwegian Trade Union Opposition ("Norske Fagopposition", NFO), syndicalists working within the mainstream Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions ("Landsorganisasjonen i Norge" in Norwegian, LO), and the Norwegian Syndicalist Federation ("Norsk Syndikalistik Federation" in Norwegian, NSF), an independent syndicalist organization set up by the Swedish SAC. In Britain, there was a similar conflict between ISEL and the local IWW organization.
By 1914, there were syndicalist national labor confederations in Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Spain, Italy, and France, while Belgian syndicalists were in the process of forming one. There were also groups advocating syndicalism in Russia, Japan, the United States, Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Hungary, and Great Britain. Outside of North America, the IWW also had organizations in Australia, New Zealand, where it was part of the Federation of Labour (FOL), Great Britain, though its membership had imploded by 1913, and South Africa. In Ireland, syndicalism took the form of the ITGWU, which espoused a mix of industrial unionism and socialist republicanism, and was labeled Larkinism.
Scholars have given several explanations for the emergence of syndicalism. Werner Sombart, a German economist and sociologist, commenting in 1905, ascribes the rise of syndicalism to the Italian and particularly the French mentality. He writes: "The only people who could possibly act up to such a system of teaching are Frenchmen and Italians. They are generally men who do things impulsively [...], who are seized upon by a sudden passionate enthusiasm [...], but they have little application, perseverance, calm or steadiness."
There was a significant uptick in workers' radicalism in most developed capitalist countries from 1911 to 1922, though it relented during World War I. Strikes increased in frequency, numbers of workers involved, and duration. According to van der Linden and Thorpe, syndicalism was only one way this radicalization expressed itself. In the United Kingdom, for example, the period from 1910 to 1914 became known as the Great Labour Unrest. Many historians see syndicalism as a consequence of this unrest, but Elie Halévy and the politician Lord Robert Cecil claim it was its cause. Employers in France likewise blamed an upsurge in workers' militancy in the same period on syndicalist leaders. Syndicalism was further encouraged by employers' hostility to workers' actions. The economist Ernesto Screpanti hypothesized that strike waves such as the one from 1911 to 1922 generally occur during the upper turning-points of the periodic global long cycles of boom and bust known as Kondratieff waves. Such waves of proletarian insurgency, claims Screpanti, were global in reach, saw workers breaking free of the dynamics of the capitalist system, and aimed to overthrow that system.
According to van der Linden and Thorpe, workers' radicalization manifested itself in their rejection of the dominant strategies in the, mostly socialist, labor movement, which was led by reformist trade unions and socialist parties. Lenin posited that "revolutionary syndicalism in many countries was a direct and inevitable result of opportunism, reformism and parliamentary cretinism." A feeling that ideological disputes were draining workers' power led Dutch, French, and American syndicalist organizations to declare themselves independent of any political groups. In countries like Italy, Spain, and Ireland, which was still under British rule, parliamentary politics were not seen as a serious means for workers to express their grievances. Most workers were disenfranchised. Yet even in France or Britain, where most male workers had the right to vote, many workers did not trust party politics. The enormous numerical growth of well-organized socialist parties, such as in Germany and Italy, did not, in the minds of many workers, correlate with any real advance in the class struggle as these parties were thought to be overly concerned with building the parties themselves and with electoral politics than with the class struggle and had therefore lost their original revolutionary edge. The socialists preached the inevitability of socialism, but were in practice bureaucratic and reformist. Similarly, the trade unions frequently allied with those parties, equally growing in numbers, were denounced for their expanding bureaucracies, their centralization, and for failing to represent workers' interests. For example, between 1902 and 1913 the German free trade unions' membership grew by 350% but its bureaucracy by more than 1900%.
Another common explanation for the rise of syndicalism is that it was a result of the economic backwardness of the countries in which it emerged, particularly France. Newer studies have questioned this account. According to van der Linden and Thorpe, changes in labor processes contributed to the radicalization of workers and thereby to the rise of syndicalism. This rise took place during the Second Industrial Revolution. Two groups of workers were most attracted to syndicalism: casual or seasonal laborers who frequently changed jobs, and workers whose occupations were becoming obsolete as a result of technological advances. The first group includes landless agricultural workers, construction workers, and dockers, all of whom were disproportionately represented in several countries' syndicalist movements. Because they frequently changed jobs, such workers did not have close relationships with their employers and the risk of losing one's job as a result of a strike was reduced. Moreover, because of the time constraints of their jobs they were forced to act immediately in order to achieve anything and could not plan for the long term by building up strike funds or powerful labor organizations or by engaging in mediation. Their working conditions gave them an inclination to engage in direct confrontation with employers and apply direct action. The second group includes miners, railway employees, and certain factory workers. Their occupations were deskilled by technological and organizational changes. These changes made workers from the second group similar in some respects to the first group. They did not entirely result from the introduction of new technology, but were also caused by changes in management methods. This included increased supervision of workers, piecework, internal promotions, all designed make workers docile and loyal and to transfer knowledge and control over the process of production from workers to employers. Frustration with this loss of power led to formal and informal resistance by workers. Altena disagrees with this explanation. According to him, it was workers with significant autonomy in their jobs and pride in their skills who were most attracted to syndicalism. Moreover, he argues, explanations based on workers' occupations cannot explain why only a minority of workers in those jobs became syndicalists or why in some professions workers in different locations had vastly different patterns of organization. The small size of many syndicalist unions also makes observations about which workers joined statistically irrelevant.
Syndicalism came to be seen as a viable strategy because the general strike became a practical possibility. Although it had been advocated before, there were not sufficient numbers of wage workers to bring society to a standstill and they had not achieved a sufficient degree of organization and solidarity until the 1890s, according van der Linden and Thorpe. Several general or political strikes then took place before World War: in 1893 and in 1902 in Belgium, in 1902 and in 1909 in Sweden, in 1903 in the Netherlands, in 1904 in Italy in addition to significant work stoppages during the Russian Revolution of 1905.
Darlington cites the significance of the conscious intervention by syndicalist militants. The industrial unrest of the period created conditions which made workers receptive to syndicalist leaders' agitation. They spread their ideas through pamphlets and newspapers and had considerable influence in a number of labor disputes. Finally, van der Linden and Thorpe point to spatial and geographical factors that shaped the rise of syndicalism. Workers who would otherwise not have had an inclination to syndicalism joined because syndicalism was dominant in their locales. Workers in the Canadian and American West for example, were generally more radical and drawn to the IWW and One Big Union than their counterparts in the East. Similarly, southern workers were more drawn to syndicalism in Italy. According to Altena, the emergence of syndicalism must be analyzed at the level of local communities. Only differences in local social and economic structures explain why some towns had a strong syndicalist presence, but others did not.
Syndicalism was not informed by theory or a systematically elaborated ideology the same way socialism was by Marxism. Émile Pouget, a CGT leader, maintained that: "What sets syndicalism apart from the various schools of socialism and makes it superior is its doctrinal sobriety. Inside the unions, there is little philosophising. They do better than that: they act!" Similarly, Andreu Nin of the Spanish CNT proclaimed in 1919: "I am a fanatic of action, of revolution. I believe in actions more than in remote ideologies and abstract questions." Though workers' education was important at least to committed activists, syndicalists distrusted bourgeois intellectuals, wanting to maintain workers' control over the movement. Syndicalist thinking was elaborated in pamphlets, leaflets, speeches, and articles and in the movement's own newspapers. These writings consisted mainly in calls to action and discussions of tactics in class struggle. The philosopher Georges Sorel's "Reflections on Violence" introduced syndicalist ideas to a broader audience. Sorel fancied himself the premier theorist of syndicalism and was frequently thought of as such, but he was not a part of the movement and his influence on syndicalism was insignificant, except in Italy and Poland.
The extent to which syndicalist positions reflected merely the views of leaders and to what extent those positions were shared by syndicalist organizations' rank-and-file is a matter of dispute. The historian Peter Stearns, commenting on French syndicalism, concludes that most workers did not identify with syndicalism's long-range goals and that syndicalist hegemony accounts for the relatively slow growth of the French labor movement as a whole. Workers who joined the syndicalist movement, he claims, were on the whole indifferent to doctrinal questions, their membership in syndicalist organizations was partly accidental and leaders were unable to convert workers to syndicalist ideas. Frederick Ridley, a political scientist, is more equivocal. According to him, leaders were very influential in the drafting of syndicalist ideas, but syndicalism was more than a mere tool of a few leaders, but a genuine product of the French labor movement. Darlington adds that in the Irish ITGWU most members were won over by the union's philosophy of direct action. Bert Altena argues that, though evidence of ordinary workers' convictions is scant, it indicates that they were aware of doctrinal differences between various currents in the labor movement and able to defend their own views. He points out that they likely understood syndicalist newspapers and debated political issues.
"Syndicalism" is used by some interchangeably with "anarcho-syndicalism". This term was first used in 1907, by socialists criticizing the political neutrality of the CGT, although it was rarely used until the early 1920s when communists used it disparagingly. Only from 1922 was it used by self-avowed anarcho-syndicalists. Syndicalism has traditionally been seen as a current within anarchism, but in some countries it was dominated by Marxists rather than anarchists. This was the case in Italy and much of the Anglophone world, including Ireland where anarchists had no significant influence on syndicalism. The extent to which syndicalist doctrine was a product of anarchism is debated. The anarchist Iain McKay argues that "syndicalism" is but a new name for ideas and tactics developed by Bakunin and the anarchist wing of the First International, while it is wholly inconsistent with positions Marx and Engels took. According to him, the fact that many Marxists embraced syndicalism merely indicates that they abandoned Marx's views and converted to Bakunin's. Altena too views syndicalism as part of the broader anarchist movement, but concedes there was a tension between this and the fact that it was also a labor movement. He also sees Marxist ideas reflected in the movement, as leading syndicalists such as F. Domela Nieuwenhuis and Christiaan Cornelissen as well as much of the Australian syndicalist movement were influenced by them, as well as older socialist notions. According to Darlington, anarchism, Marxism, and revolutionary trade unionism equally contributed to syndicalism, in addition to various influences in specific countries, including Blanquism, anti-clericalism, republicanism, and agrarian radicalism.
Bill Haywood, a leading figure in the IWW, defined the union's purpose at its founding congress as "the emancipation of the working class from the slave bondage of capitalism". Syndicalists held that society was divided into two great classes, the working class and the bourgeoisie. Their interests being irreconcilable, they must be in a constant state of class struggle. Tom Mann, a British syndicalist, declared that "the object of the unions is to wage the Class War". This war, according to syndicalist doctrine, was aimed not just at gaining concessions such as higher wages or a shorter working day, but at the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism.
Syndicalists agreed with Karl Marx's characterization of the state as the "executive committee of the ruling class". They held that a society's economic order determined its political order and concluded that the former could not be overthrown by changes to the latter. Nevertheless, a number of leading syndicalist figures worked in political parties and some ran for elected office. Jim Larkin, the leader of the Irish ITGWU, was active in the Labour Party, Haywood in the Socialist Party of America. Yet, they saw the economic sphere as the primary arena for revolutionary struggle, while involvement in politics could at best be an "echo" of industrial struggle. They were skeptical of parliamentary politics. According to Father Thomas Hagerty, a Catholic priest and IWW leader, "dropping pieces of paper into a hole in a box never did achieve emancipation for the working class, and to my thinking it will never achieve it". Syndicalist trade unions declared their political neutrality and autonomy from political parties. Political parties, syndicalists reasoned, grouped people according to their political views, uniting members of different classes. Unions, on the other hand, were to be purely working-class organizations, uniting the entire class, and could therefore not be divided on political grounds. The French syndicalist Pouget explained: "The CGT embraces outside of all the schools of politics all workers cognisant of the struggle to be waged for the elimination of wage-slavery and the employer class." In practice, however, this neutrality was more ambiguous. The CGT, for example, worked with the Socialist Party in the struggle against the Three-Year Law, which extended conscription. During the Spanish Civil War the CNT, whose policy barred anyone who had been a candidate for political office or had participated in political endeavors from representing it, was intimately connected with the Iberian Anarchist Federation ("Federación Anarquista Ibérica", FAI).
In the syndicalist conception, unions played a dual role. They were organs of struggle within capitalism for better working conditions, but they were also to play a key role in the revolution to overthrow capitalism. Victor Griffuelhes expressed this at the CGT's 1906 congress in the following manner: "In its day-to-day demands, syndicalism seeks the co-ordination of workers' efforts, the increase of workers' well-being by the achievement of immediate improvements, such as the reduction of working hours, the increase of wages, etc. But this task is only one aspect of the work of syndicalism; it prepares for complete emancipation, which can be realised only by expropriating the capitalist class". For unions to fulfill this role, it was necessary to prevent bureaucrats "whose sole purpose in life seems to be apologising for and defending the capitalist system of exploitation", according to Larkin from inhibiting workers' militant zeal. Battling bureaucracy and reformism within the labor movement was a major theme for syndicalists. One expression of this was many syndicalists' rejection of collective bargaining agreements, which were thought to force labor peace upon workers and break their solidarity. The Wobblie Vincent St. John declared: "There is but one bargain that the Industrial Workers of the World will make with the employing class complete surrender of the means of production." The Argentine Regional Workers' Federation ("Federación Obrera Regional Argentina", FORA) and the OBU did, however, accept such deals and others began accepting them eventually. Similarly, syndicalist unions did not work to build large strike funds, for fear that they would create bureaucracy separate from the rank-and-file and instill in workers the expectation that the union rather than they would wage the class struggle.
Syndicalists advocated direct action, including working to rule, passive resistance, sabotage, and strikes, particularly the general strike, as tactics in the class struggle, as opposed to indirect action such as electoral politics. The IWW engaged in around 30 mostly successful civil disobedience campaigns they deemed free speech fights. Wobblies would defy laws restricting public speeches, in order to clog up prisons and court systems as a result of hundreds of arrests, ultimately forcing public officials to rescind such laws. Sabotage ranged from slow or inefficient work to destruction of machinery and physical violence. French railway and postal workers cut telegraph and signal lines during strikes in 1909 and 1910.
The final step towards revolution, according to syndicalists, would be a general strike. It would be "the curtain drop on a tired old scene of several centuries, and the curtain raising on another", according to Griffuelhes.
Syndicalists remained vague about the society they envisioned to replace capitalism, claiming that it was impossible to foresee in detail. Labor unions were seen as being the embryo of a new society in addition to being the means of struggle within the old. Syndicalists generally agreed that in a free society production would be managed by workers. The state apparatus would be replaced by the rule of workers' organizations. In such a society individuals would be liberated, both in the economic sphere but also in their private and social lives.
Syndicalist policies on gender issues were mixed. The CNT did not admit women as members until 1918. The CGT dismissed feminism as a bourgeois movement. Syndicalists were mostly indifferent to the question of women's suffrage. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, an IWW organizer, insisted that women "find their power at the point of production where they work", rather than at the ballot box. Of the 230 delegates present at the founding of Canada's One Big Union, a mere 3 were women. When a female radical criticized the masculinist atmosphere at the meeting, she was rebuffed by men who insisted that labor only concern itself with class rather than gender issues. The historian Todd McCallum concludes that syndicalists in the OBU advocated values of "radical manhood". Francis Shor argues that the "IWW promotion of sabotage represents a kind of masculine posturing which directly challenged the individualizing techniques of power mobilized by industrial capitalism". Thus, "the IWW's masculine identity incorporated features of working-class solidarity and protest [...] through 'virile' syndicalism." For example, while defending a black fellow worker against a racist insult, an IWW organizer in Louisiana insisted that "he is a man, a union man, an IWW—a MAN! ... and he has proven it by his action". During WWI, one of the IWW's anti-war slogans was "Don’t Be a Soldier! Be a Man!" In some case syndicalist attitudes towards women changed. In 1901, the CGT's agricultural union in southern France was hostile to women, but by 1909 this had changed. The CNT, initially hostile to independent women's organizations, worked closely with the libertarian feminist organization "Mujeres Libres" during the Civil War.
According to the historian Sharif Gemie, the male orientation of parts of the syndicalist labor movement reflected the ideas of the anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who defended patriarchy because women, of their own accord, are "chained to nature".
Syndicalists were involved in a number strikes, labor disputes, and other struggles. In the United States, the IWW was involved in at least 150 strikes including miners' strikes in Goldfield, Nevada in 1906–1907, a steel workers' strike in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania in 1909, a textile workers' strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, timber workers' strikes in Louisiana and Arkansas in 1912–1913, and a silk workers' strike in Paterson, New Jersey. The most prominent was the struggle in Lawrence. Wobblie leaders brought together 23,000 mostly immigrant workers, many of whom did not speak English. They arranged for workers' children to be sent to live with sympathetic families outside of Lawrence for the duration of the strike so their parents could focus on the struggle. Unlike most IWW-led strikes, the struggle was successful. In Mexico, syndicalism first emerged in 1906 during a violent miners' strike in Cananea and an even more violent textile workers' strike in Río Blanco, Veracruz. In 1912, during the 1910–1920 Mexican Revolution, anarchists formed the syndicalist union House of the World Worker ("Casa del Obrero Mundial"). It led a series of successful strikes in 1913 in Mexico City and central Mexico. After the Constitutionalist Army occupied the capital in 1914, syndicalists allied with the government it established to defeat rural forces such as the Zapatistas and therefore received government support. Once those forces had been suppressed, this alliance broke apart and the "Casa" campaigned for workers' control of factories and the nationalization of foreign capital. It contributed to a rise in labor unrest that began in mid-1915. It led general strikes in May and in July–August 1916 in greater Mexico City. The latter was quelled by the army, marking the defeat of the "Casa", which was also suppressed.
In Portugal, the deposition of the King in 1910 was followed by a strike wave throughout the country. After the police occupied the offices of an agricultural union, syndicalists called for a general strike. During the strike, Lisbon was controlled by workers and there were armed uprisings in several other cities. In 1912, the strike wave ebbed off. Italian syndicalists successfully organized agricultural workers in the Po Valley by uniting different parts of agricultural working class. They were most successful in areas where the reformist union "Federterra" had been thwarted by employers. Syndicalists led large strikes by farm workers in Parma and Ferrara in 1907–1908, but these strikes failed as a result of employers' strikebreaking tactics and infighting among workers. In 1911–1913, syndicalists played an important role in a large strike wave in Italy's industrial centers. The syndicalist union confederation USI was formed in 1912 by veterans of both strike movements.
British Wobblies were involved in two major strikes in Scotland, one at Argyll Motor Works and the second at a Singer's sewing machine factory in Clydebank. In 1906, several industrial unionists began to spread their ideas and organize workers at Singer's. In 1911, they organized a strike after a woman was fired for not working hard enough. The strike was cleverly defeated by management and most activists lost their jobs. The ISEL leader Tom Mann was also at the center of several labor disputes during the Great Labour Unrest, including the 1911 Liverpool general transport strike where he chaired the strike committee. In Ireland, Jim Larkin and the ITGWU led 20,000 during the 1913 Dublin lockout. After the ITGWU attempted to unionize Dublin's trams and tram workers went on strike, the city's employers threatened to fire any workers who did not sign a pledge to not support the ITGWU, thereby turning the dispute into a city-wide conflict in late September. Workers' resistance crumbled in January 1914.
There was no international syndicalist organization prior to World War I. In 1907, CGT activists presented the Charter of Amiens and syndicalism to an international audience a higher form of anarchism at the International Anarchist Congress of Amsterdam in 1907. Discussions at the Congress led to the formation of the international syndicalist journal "Bulletin international du mouvement syndicaliste". The CGT was affiliated with the International Secretariat of National Trade Union Centers (ISNTUC), which brought together reformist socialist unions. Both the Dutch NAS and the British ISEL attempted to remedy the lack of a syndicalist counterpart to ISNTUC in 1913, simultaneously publishing calls for an international syndicalist congress in 1913. The CGT rejected the invitation. Its leaders feared that leaving ISNTUC, which it intended to revolutionize from within, would split the CGT and harm working-class unity. The IWW also did not participate, as it considered itself an international in its own right. The First International Syndicalist Congress was held in London from September 27 to October 2. It was attended by 38 delegates from 65 organizations in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Cuba, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Discussions were contentious and did not lead to the founding of a syndicalist international. Delegates did agree on a declaration of principles describing syndicalism's core tenets. They also decided to launch an International Syndicalist Information Bureau and to hold another congress in Amsterdam. This congress did not take place due to the outbreak of World War I.
Syndicalists had long opposed nationalism and militarism. Haywood held that "it is better to be a traitor to your country than to your class". French syndicalists viewed the Army as the primary defender of the capitalist order. In 1901, the CGT published a manual for soldiers encouraging desertion. Similarly, in 1911 British syndicalists distributed an "Open Letter to British Soldiers" imploring them not to shoot on striking workers, but to join the working class's struggle against capital. Patriotism, syndicalists argued, was a means of integrating workers into capitalist society by distracting them from their true class interest. In 1908, the CGT's congress invoked the slogan of the First International, proclaiming that the "workers have no fatherland".
When World War I broke out in July 1914, socialist parties and trade unions both in neutral and belligerent countries supported their respective nations' war efforts or national defense, despite previous pledges to do the opposite. Socialists agreed to put aside class conflict and vote for war credits. German socialists argued that war was necessary to defend against Russia's barbaric Tsarism, while their French counterparts pointed to the need to defend against Prussian militarism and the German "instinct of domination and of discipline". This collaboration between the socialist movement and the state was known as the "union sacrée" in France, the "Burgfrieden" in Germany, and "godsvrede" in the Netherlands. Moreover, a number of anarchists led by Peter Kropotkin, including the influential syndicalist Christiaan Cornelissen, issued the Manifesto of the Sixteen, supporting the Allied cause in the war. Most syndicalists, however, remained true to their internationalist and anti-militarist principles by opposing the war and their respective nation's participation in it.
The majority of the French CGT and a sizable minority in the Italian USI did not. The CGT had long had a moderate, reformist wing, which gained the upper hand. As a result, according to historians like Darlington or van der Linden and Thorpe, the CGT was no longer a revolutionary syndicalist organization after the start of World War I. It followed the French president's call for national unity by agreeing to a no-strike pledge and to resolve labor disputes through arbitration and by actively participating in the French war effort. Most of its members of military age were conscripted without resistance and its ranks shrank from 350,000 in 1913 to 49,000 dues-paying members in 1915. CGT leaders defended this course by arguing that France's war against Germany was a war between democracy and republicanism on the one side and barbaric militarism on the other. Italy did not initially participate in World War I, which was deeply unpopular in the country, when it broke out. The Socialist Party and the reformist General Confederation of Labor opposed Italian intervention in the Great War. Once Italy became a participant, the socialists refused to support the war effort, but also refrained from working against it. From the start of the war, even before Italy did so, a minority within USI, led by the most famous Italian syndicalist, Alceste De Ambris, called on the Italian state to take the Allies' side. The pro-war syndicalists saw Italian participation in the war as the completion of nationhood. They also felt compelled to oppose the socialists' neutrality and therefore support the war. Finally, they gave similar arguments as the French, warning of the dangers posed by the "suffocating imperialism of Germany", and felt obliged to follow the CGT's lead.
USI's pro-war wing had the support of less than a third of the organization's members and it was forced out in September 1914. Its anarchist wing, led by Armando Borghi, was firmly opposed to the war, deeming it incompatible with workers' internationalism and predicting that it would only serve elites and governments. Its opposition was met with government repression and Borghi and others were interned by the end of the war. The anti-war faction in the CGT, on the other hand, was a small minority. It was led by the likes of Pierre Monatte and Alphonse Merrheim. They would link up with anti-war socialists from around Europe at the 1915 Zimmerwald conference. They faced considerable difficulties putting up meaningful resistance against the war. The government called up militants to the Army, including Monatte. He considered refusing the order and being summarily executed, but decided this would be futile. Syndicalist organizations in other countries nearly unanimously opposed the war. "Let Germany win, let France win, it is all the same to the workers," José Negre of the CNT in neutral Spain declared. The CNT insisted that syndicalists could support neither side in an imperialist conflict. A wave of pro-British sentiment swept Ireland during the war, although the ITGWU and the rest of the Irish labor movement opposed it, and half of the ITGWU's membership enlisted in the British military. The ITGWU had also been significantly weakened in 1913 in the Dublin Lockout. After Jim Larkin left Ireland in 1914, James Connolly took over leadership of the union. Because of the organization's weakness, Connolly allied it along with its paramilitary force, the Irish Citizen Army, with the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Together, they instigated the Easter Rising, seeking to weaken the British Empire and hoping that the insurrection would spread throughout Europe. The uprising was quickly quelled by the British army and Connolly was executed. In Germany, the small FVdG opposed the socialists' "Burgfrieden" and Germany's involvement in the war, challenging the claim that the country was waging a defensive war. Its journals were suppressed and a number of its members were arrested. The United States did not enter the war until the spring of 1917. The start of the war had induced an economic boom in the US, tightening the labor market and thereby strengthening workers' bargaining position. The IWW profited from this, more than doubling its membership between 1916 and 1917. At the same time, the Wobblies fervently denounced the war and mulled calling an anti-war general strike. Once America became a combatant, the IWW maintained its anti-war stance, while its bitter rival, the AFL, supported the war. It did not, however, launch an anti-war campaign, as it feared the government would crush it if it did and wanted to focus on its economic struggles. The IWW's practical opposition to the war was limited, 95% of eligible IWW members registered for the draft, and most of those drafted served. Syndicalists in the Netherlands and Sweden, both neutral countries, criticized the truce socialists entered with their governments in order to shore up national defense. The Dutch NAS disowned Cornelissen, one of its founders, for his support for the war.
Syndicalists from Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, France, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, and Cuba met at an anti-war congress in El Ferrol, Spain, in April 1915. The congress was poorly planned and prohibited by the Spanish authorities, but delegates managed to discuss resistance to the war and extending international cooperation between syndicalist groups. Argentine, Brazilian, Spanish, and Portuguese delegates later met in October in Rio de Janeiro to continue discussions and resolved to deepen cooperation between South American syndicalists. While syndicalists were only able to put up a rather limited practical struggle against World War I, they also looked to challenge the war on an ideological or cultural level. They pointed to the horrors of war and spurned efforts to legitimate it as something noble. German syndicalists drew attention to the death, injury, destruction, and misery that the war wrought. German, Swedish, Dutch, and Spanish syndicalists denounced nationalism with "Tierra y Libertad", a syndicalist journal in Barcelona, calling it a "grotesque mentality". The Dutch newspaper "De Arbeid" criticized nationalism, because "it finds its embodiment in the state and is the denial of class antagonism between the haves and the have-nots". German and Spanish syndicalists went further still by putting into question the concept of nationhood itself and dismissing it as a mere social construct. The Germans pointed out that most inhabitants of the German Empire identified not as Germans, but in regional terms as Prussians or Bavarians and the like. Multilingual countries like Germany and Spain also could not claim a common language as a defining characteristic of the nation nor did members of the same nation share the same values or experiences, syndicalists in Spain and Germany argued. Syndicalists also argued against the notion that the war was a clash of different cultures or that it could be justified as a defense of civilization. Various cultures were not mutually hostile, they claimed, and the state should not be seen as the embodiment of culture, since culture was the product of the entire population, while the state acted in the interests of just a few. Moreover, they argued that if culture was to be understood as "high culture", the very workers dying in the war were denied access to that culture by capitalist conditions. Finally, syndicalists railed against religious justifications for war. Before the war, they had rejected religion as divisive at best, but support for the war by both Catholic and Protestant clergy revealed their hypocrisy and disgraced the principles Christianity claimed to uphold, they claimed.
As the war progressed, disaffection with worsening living conditions at home and a growing numbers of casualties at the front eroded the enthusiasm and patriotism the outbreak of war had aroused. Prices were on the rise, food was scarce, and it became increasingly clear that the war would not be short. In Germany, for example, food shortages led to demonstrations and riots in a number of cities in the summer of 1916. At the same time, anti-war demonstrations started. Strikes picked up from around 1916 or 1917 on across Europe and soldiers began to mutiny. Workers distrusted their socialist leaders who had joined the war effort. Thanks in part to their fidelity to internationalism, syndicalist organizations profited from this development and expanded as the war drew to an end.
Disaffection with the war condensed in the post-World War I revolutions that began with the 1917 Russian Revolution. In February 1917, strikes, riots, and troop mutinies broke out in Petrograd, forcing the Russian Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate on March 2 in favor of a provisional government. Immediately, anarchist groups emerged. Russian syndicalists organized around the journal "Golos Truda" ("The Voice of Labor"), which had a circulation of around 25,000, and the Union of Anarcho-Syndicalist Propaganda. Anarchists found themselves agreeing with the Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin, who returned to Russia in April, as both sought to bring down the provisional government. Lenin abandoned the idea that capitalism is a necessary stage on Russia's path to communism; dismissed the establishment of a parliament, favoring that power be taken by soviets; and called for the abolition of the police, the army, the bureaucracy, and finally the state all sentiments syndicalists shared. Although the syndicalists also welcomed the soviets, they were most enthusiastic about the factory committees and workers' councils that had emerged in all industrial centers in the course of strikes and demonstrations in the February Revolution. The committees fought for higher wages and shorter hours, but above all for workers' control over production, which both the syndicalists and Bolsheviks supported. The syndicalists viewed the factory committees as the true form of syndicalist organization, not unions. Because they were better organized, the Bolsheviks were able to gain more traction in the committees with six times as many delegates in a typical factory. Despite the goals they had in common, syndicalists became anxious about the Bolsheviks' growing influence, especially after they won majorities in the Petrograd and Moscow soviets in September.
The Petrograd Soviet established the 66-member Military Revolutionary Committee, which included four anarchists, among them the syndicalist Shatov. On October 25, this committee led the October Revolution; after taking control of the Winter Palace and key points in the capital with little resistance, it proclaimed a Soviet government. Anarchists were jubilant at the toppling of the provisional government. They were concerned about the proclamation of a new government, fearing a dictatorship of the proletariat, even more so after the Bolsheviks created the central Soviet of People's Commissars composed only of members of their party. They called for decentralization of power, but agreed with Lenin's labor program, which endorsed workers' control in all enterprises of a certain minimum size. The introduction of workers' control led to economic chaos. Lenin turned to restoring discipline in the factories and order to the economy in December by putting the economy under state control. At a trade union congress in January, the syndicalists, who had paid little attention to the unions, only had 6 delegates, while the Bolsheviks had 273. No longer depending on their help in toppling the provisional government, the Bolsheviks were now in a position to ignore the syndicalists' opposition and outvoted them at this congress. They opted to disempower local committees by subordinating them to the trade unions, which in turn became organs of the state. The Bolsheviks argued that workers' control did not mean that workers controlled factories at the local level and that this control had to be centralized and put under a broader economic plan. The syndicalists criticized the Bolshevik regime bitterly, characterizing it as state capitalist. They denounced state control over the factories and agitated for decentralization of power in politics and the economy and "syndicalization" of industry. The Civil War against the White Army split anarchists. The syndicalists were criticized harshly, because most supported the Bolshevik regime in the war even as they excoriated Bolshevik policy. They reasoned that a White victory would be worse and that the Whites had to be defeated before a third revolution could topple the Bolsheviks. Yet, syndicalists were harassed and repeatedly arrested by the police, particularly the Cheka, from 1919 on. Their demands had some sway with workers and dissidents within the Bolshevik party and the Bolshevik leadership viewed them as the most dangerous part of the libertarian movement. After the Civil War ended, workers and sailors, including both anarchists and Bolsheviks, rose up in 1921 in Kronstadt, a bastion of radicalism since 1905, against what they saw as the rule of a small number of bureaucrats. Anarchists hailed the rebellion as the start of the third revolution. The government reacted by having anarchists throughout the country arrested, including a number of syndicalist leaders. The Russian syndicalist movement was thereby defeated.
Syndicalists in the West who had opposed World War I reacted gushingly to the Russian Revolution. Though they were still coming to grips with the evolving Bolshevik ideology and despite traditional anarchist suspicions of Marxism, they saw in Russia a revolution that had taken place against parliamentary politics and under the influence of workers' councils. They also, at this point, had only limited knowledge of the reality in Russia. Augustin Souchy, a German anarcho-syndicalist, hailed it "the great passion that swept us all along. In the East, so we believed, the sun of freedom rose." The Spanish CNT declared: "Bolshevism is the name, but the idea is that of all revolutions: economic freedom. [...] Bolshevism is the new life for which we struggle, it is freedom, harmony, justice, it is the life that we want and will enforce in the world." Borghi recalled: "We exulted in its victories. We trembled at its risks. [...] We made a symbol and an altar of its name, its dead, its living and its heroes." He called on Italians to "do as they did in Russia". Indeed, a revolutionary wave, inspired in part by Russia, swept Europe in the following years.
In Germany, strikes and protests against food shortage, mainly by women, escalated and by 1917 had eroded public confidence in the government. The German Emperor was forced to abdicate in November 1918 after sailors' mutinies sparked an insurrectionary movement throughout the country. The syndicalist FVdG, which had just 6,000 members before the war and was almost completely suppressed by the state during the war, regrouped at a conference in Berlin in December 1918. It was active in the revolutionary events of the following years, particularly in the Ruhr area. It supported spontaneous strikes and championed direct action and sabotage. The FVdG started to be held in high regard for its radicalism by workers, particularly miners, who appreciated the syndicalists' ability to theorize their struggles and their experience with direct action methods. Starting in the second half of 1919, workers disappointed by the socialist party's and unions' support for the war and previously non-unionized unskilled workers who were radicalized during the war flocked to the FVdG. The revolution also saw the introduction to Germany of industrial unionism along the lines of the IWW with some support from the American organization, but also with links to the left wing of the Communist Party. In December 1919, the Free Workers' Union of Germany (Syndicalists) ("Freie Arbeiter-Union Deutschlands (Syndikalisten)", FAUD) was formed, claiming to represent over 110,000 workers, more than eighteen times the FVdG's pre-war membership. Most of the new organization came from the FVdG, but industrial unionists, whose influence was dwindling, were also involved. Rudolf Rocker, an anarchist recently returned to Germany after spending several years in London, wrote the FAUD's program.
Class struggle peaked in Italy in the years 1919–1920, which became known as the "biennio rosso" or red biennium. Throughout this wave of labor radicalism, syndicalists, along with anarchists, formed the most consistently revolutionary faction on the left as socialists sought to rein in workers and prevent unrest. The Italian syndicalist movement had split during the war, as the syndicalist supporters of Italian intervention left USI. The interventionists, led by Alceste de Ambris and Edmondo Rossoni, formed the Italian Union of Labor ("Unione Italiana del Lavoro", UIL) in 1918. The UIL's national syndicalism emphasized workers' love of labor, self-sacrifice, and the nation rather than anti-capitalist class struggle. Both USI and the UIL grew significantly during the "biennio rosso". The first factory occupation of the "biennio" was carried out by the UIL at a steel plant in Dalmine in February 1919, before the military put an end to it. In July, a strike movement spread through Italy, culminating in a general strike on July 20. While USI supported it and was convinced by the workers' enthusiasm that revolution could be possible, the UIL and the socialists were opposed. The socialists succeeded in curtailing the general strike and it imploded with a day. The government, unsettled by the radicalism on display, reacted with repression against the far left and concessions to workers and peasants.
In Portugal, working class unrest picked up from the start of the war. In 1917, radicals began to dominate the labor movement as a result of the war, the dictatorship established that year, and the influence of the Russian Revolution. In November 1918, a general strike was called but failed and in 1919 the syndicalist General Confederation of Labour ("Confederação Geral do Trabalho", CGT) was formed as the country's first national union confederation.
In Brazil, in both Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, syndicalists, along with anarchists and socialists, were leaders in a cycle of labor struggles from 1917 to 1919. It included a general strike in 1917, a failed uprising in 1918 inspired by the Russian Revolution, and a number of smaller strikes. The movement was put down by increased organization by employers to resist workers' demands and by government repression, including the closure of unions, arrests, deportations of foreign militants, and violence, with some 200 workers killed in São Paulo alone. In Argentina, FORA had split into the anarcho-communist FORA V and the syndicalist FORA IX. While FORA V called for a futile general strike in 1915, FORA IX was more careful. It called off general strikes it had planned in 1917 and 1918. In January 1919, five workers were by the authorities during a strike led by a union with tenuous links to FORA V. At the funeral, police killed another 39 workers. Both FORA organizations called for a general strike, which continued after FORA IX reached a settlement. Vigilantes, supported by business and the military, attacked unions and militants. In all, between 100 and 700 people died in what became known as the Tragic Week. Nevertheless, strikes continued to increase and both FORA V and IX grew.
The United States underwent an increase in labor militancy during the post-war period. 1919 saw a general strike in Seattle, large miners' strikes, a police strike in Boston, and a nationwide steel strike. The IWW, however, had been nearly destroyed in the previous two years by local criminal syndicalism laws, the federal government, and vigilante violence. It attempted to take credit for some of the strikes, but in reality was too weak to play a significant role. The post-war Red Scare intensified the attacks on the IWW and by the end of 1919 the IWW was practically powerless. In 1919 Canada was hit by a labor revolt, leading to the formation of One Big Union, which was only partly industrial unionist.
Though the Bolsheviks suppressed syndicalism in Russia, they courted syndicalists abroad as part of their international strategy. In March 1919, the Comintern or Third International was founded at a conference in Moscow. The Bolsheviks acknowledged syndicalism's opposition to socialist reformism and saw them as part of the revolutionary wing of the labor movement. No syndicalists attended the founding convention, mainly because the blockade of Russia by the Allies powers made travel to Moscow near impossible. After long discussions, the CNT opted to join the Comintern, though it classified its adherence as provisional as a concession to detractors of Bolshevism. USI also decided to join, though some like Borghi had reservations about the course of events in Russia. In France, the CGT's radical minority that had opposed the war enthusiastically supported Bolshevism. They formed the Revolutionary Syndicalist Committees and attempted to push the CGT as a whole to support the Comintern. The General Executive Board of the IWW decided join the Comintern, but this decision was never confirmed by a convention. German and Swedish syndicalists were more critical of Bolshevism from the start. Rocker declared already in August 1918 that the Bolshevik regime was "but a new system of tyranny".
Syndicalists became more estranged from the Comintern in 1920. The second congress of the Comintern in the summer of 1920 was attended by numerous syndicalists. The Italian USI, the Spanish CNT, the British shop stewards, and the revolutionary minority of the CGT had official representatives, but others like John Reed of the American IWW, Augustin Souchy of the German FAUD, and the Japanese Wobbly Taro Yoshiharo also attended in an unofficial capacity. This was the first major international gathering of syndicalists since the end of the war. Western syndicalists' knowledge of the facts on the ground in Russia was at this point rather limited. They thought of the soviets as organs of workers' control over production and the Bolsheviks depicted them as such. Syndicalists were not aware of the extent to which they were in reality subordinated to the communist party. The congress, however, revealed the irreconcilable differences between the syndicalist and the Bolshevik approach. Before the congress, the Comintern's Executive Committee arranged discussions with syndicalists to challenge the reformist International Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU). A document proposed by Alexander Lozovsky derided the apolitical unions as "lackeys of imperialist capitalism" for their betrayal during the war, to which syndicalists replied that of the syndicalist unions this only applied to the CGT. Throughout the preliminary meetings, syndicalists clashed with other delegates on the questions of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the conquest of state power as well as on relations with communists and the Comintern. Eventually all syndicalists agreed to the formation of a council tasked with spreading revolutionizing the trade union movement. Disagreements continued at the congress itself.
The International Workers' Association, formed in 1922, is an international syndicalist federation of various labour unions from different countries. At its peak, it represented millions of workers and competed directly for the hearts and minds of the working class with social democratic unions and parties.
From the early 1920s, syndicalist movements in most countries began to wane. State repression played a significant role, but movements that were not suppressed also declined. Faced with this decline, syndicalist organizations had three choices: They could stay true to their revolutionary principles and be marginalized. They could give up those principles in order to adapt to new conditions. Finally, they could disband or merge into non-syndicalist organizations. The IWW is an example of the first case. The French CGT, which according to van der Linden and Thorpe was no longer syndicalist after 1914, went the second route. By the end of the 1930s, meaningful legal syndicalist organizations existed only in Bolivia, Chile, Sweden and Uruguay.
Georges Sorel played a role in shaping the views of Benito Mussolini and by extension the wider Italian fascist movement. In March 1921, Sorel wrote that Mussolini was "a man no less extraordinary than Lenin". After Sorel's death in 1922, Agostino Lanzillo, a one-time syndicalist leader who had become a fascist, wrote in the Italian fascist review "Gerarchia", which was edited by Mussolini: "Perhaps fascism may have the good fortune to fulfill a mission that is the implicit aspiration of the whole oeuvre of the master of syndicalism: to tear away the proletariat from the domination of the Socialist party, to reconstitute it on the basis of spiritual liberty, and to animate it with the breath of creative violence. This would be the true revolution that would mold the forms of the Italy of tomorrow". This movement has been often called Fascist syndicalism.
Syndicalists were involved in the resistance against fascism in several countries. In Germany, the FAUD had already been reduced to a small organization, with a membership of just over 4000 in 1932. Augustin Souchy had urged his comrades to prepare for illegality and the FAUD congress in 1932 had made plans for this. When the Nazis took power in January 1933, most local groups preemptively dissolved and hid their money and other resources to use them in their illegal work. On March 9, shortly after the Reichstag fire, the FAUD's headquarters in Berlin were searched by the police and ten people were arrested. As the SS and SA rounded up opponents of Nazism, so too many anarcho-syndicalists were put in prisons, concentration camps, and torture chambers. Syndicalists distributed a number of newspapers, pamphlets, and leaflets, some smuggled from the Netherlands and Czechoslovakia, some printed in Germany. They passed information on the situation in Germany to their fellow syndicalists abroad. They organized clandestine meetings to coordinate their activities and build an underground resistance network. Illegal syndicalist activity peaked in 1934, but by late 1934 the Gestapo started to infiltrate the underground organization and another round of arrests began. Although the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 briefly revitalized syndicalist activity, the syndicalist network was ultimately crushed by the Gestapo by 1937 or 1938. Most syndicalists who had not been arrested gave up at this point. Several dozen German syndicalists went into exile and some ended up in Barcelona, working for the CNT and fighting in the Spanish Civil War. In France, too, many anarchists and syndicalists were involved in the Resistance. For instance, the anarchist Georges Gourdin, an activist in the CGT's Technicians' Federation, organized links between anarchists and aided them and other refugees in escaping the Gestapo. He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1944, tortured without giving up any information, and died at a camp near Nordhausen. The best known French anarchist resister was the pacifist Jean-René Saulière. He organized an anarchist resistance group which included the exiled Russian syndicalist Volin. The same day Toulouse was liberated in August 1944, a leaflet titled "Manifesto of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Libertarian Groups" was distributed by Saulière's network throughout the city.
In Poland, syndicalists were among the first to organize resistance against Nazism. In October 1939, they formed Union of Polish Syndicalists (ZSP) with 2,000–4,000 members. It published newspapers, but also had fighting units in the resistance. In 1942, it joined the Home Army (AK) led by the Polish government-in-exile. Syndicalists also formed the "Freedom" Syndicalist Organisation (SOW), which comprised several hundred activists and also had combatant units. The ZSP and the SOW were involved in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. They formed a company consisting of several hundred soldiers who wore red and black bands and hung red and black flags on the building they captured.
The anarcho-syndicalist revolution during the Spanish Civil War resulted in the widespread implementation of anarchist and more broadly socialist organisational principles throughout various portions of the country for two to three years, primarily Catalonia, Aragon, Andalusia and parts of the Levante, with the main organisation being the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo. Much of Spain's economy was put under worker control—in anarchist strongholds like Catalonia, the figure was as high as 75%.
On the other side, there was a national syndicalist thread represented originally by the Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista of Onésimo Redondo and Ramiro Ledesma, inspired by Georges Sorel and Action Française, and primarily based amongst students in Madrid and workers and peasants in and around Valladolid. Ledesma failed to win approval for his ideas from the CNT in 1931, and instead merged into the Falange, creating the "Central Obrera Nacional-Sindicalista" in 1934. After the nationalist victory in the civil war, a corporatist and vertical Spanish Labour Organization became the sole legal trade union in Francoist Spain.
Syndicalism's decline was the result of a number of factors. In Russia, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands, syndicalist movements were suppressed by authoritarian governments. The IWW in the United States and the Mexican House of the World Worker were weakened considerably by state repression. Syndicalist movements that were not suppressed also declined. According to van der Linden and Thorpe, this was primarily the result of the integration of the working class into capitalist relations. Proletarian families became units of individualized consumption as standards of living increased. This was partly the result of state intervention, particularly the emergence of the welfare state. Avenues for social reform opened up and the franchise was widened, giving parliamentary reformism legitimacy. Altena agrees that the state's growing influence in society was decisive for syndicalism's diminished influence. In addition to the welfare state, he refers to the increased significance of national policies, which eroded local autonomy. This made centralized unions able to negotiate national agreements more important and national and parliamentary politics more enticing for workers. They therefore turned to social democracy in larger numbers. Additionally, according to Altena syndicalism lost out to sports and entertainment in the cultural sphere.
Vadim Dam'e adds to this that the development of capitalist production and changes in the division of labor diminished syndicalism's recruitment base. According to authors like Stearns, Edward Shorter, Charles Tilly, and Bob Holton, who deem syndicalism a transitional form of workers' resistance between older craft-based and modern factory-based industry, syndicalism's decline was a product of that transition having been completed and workers being assimilated to capitalist factory discipline. Darlington counters that syndicalism attracted a variety of workers, not just artisans and skilled workers, but concedes that such changes did play a role in Spain, France, and some other countries.
Several authors claim that syndicalism's demise was the result of workers' inherent pragmatism or conservatism, causing them to only be interested in immediate material gains, rather than long-term goals like overthrowing capitalism. Robert Hoxie, Selig Perlman, and Patrick Renshaw invoke this argument to explain the IWW's decline and Stearns, Dermot Keogh, and G. D. H. Cole do so with respect to French, Irish, and British syndicalism, respectively. Darlington disputes the assumption that workers are incapable of developing a revolutionary consciousness. Seeking material gains is not incompatible, he claims, with developing class consciousness, which entails the awareness that workers' material interests conflict with capitalism, particularly in times of crisis.
According to many Marxists, syndicalism was a reaction to reformism in the labor movement and could not survive without it. The collapse of reformism after the war therefore automatically weakened syndicalism. According Eric Hobsbawm, the biggest reason for syndicalism's decline, however, was the rise of communism. Several communist parties drew their cadres from the syndicalists' ranks. To radical workers, the programmatic distinctions between syndicalism and communism were not all that relevant. The key is that after the war communism represented militancy or revolutionary attitude as such. Darlington, too, sees the effects of the Russian Revolution as an important reason for the decline of syndicalism. The emergence of communism highlighted syndicalism's inherent weaknesses: the contradiction of building organizations that sought to be both revolutionary cadre organizations and mass labor unions, the emphasis on economic struggle to the detriment of political action and the commitment to localism limiting its ability to provide an effective centralized organization and leadership. Bolshevism's overcoming of these limitations and its success in Russia drew syndicalist leaders and members. It also exacerbated splits within the syndicalist camp.
The Nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil War put an end to syndicalism as a mass movement. Immediately after World War II, there were attempts to rekindle anarcho-syndicalism in Germany, but they were thwarted by Cold War anti-communism, Stalinism, and a failure to attract newer younger activists. Syndicalists maintained some influence in Latin American labor movements into the 1970s. The protest movements of the late 1960s saw renewed interest in syndicalism by activists in Germany, the US, and Britain. During its Hot Autumn of 1969, Italy experienced labor actions reminiscent of syndicalism, but syndicalists did not actually exert any influence, according to Carl Levy. In the 1980s, in communist Poland, the trade union Solidarity ("Solidarność"), though not strictly syndicalist, attracted masses of dissident workers by reviving many syndicalist ideas and practices.
The IWA exists to this day, but with very little influence. At most, it is a "flicker of history, the custodian of doctrine" according to Wayne Thorpe. Among its member organizations is the British Solidarity Federation, which was formed in 1994, but has roots going back to 1950. The German Free Workers' Union ("Freie Arbeiterinnen- und Arbeiter-Union", FAU) was formed to carry on the FAUD's tradition in 1977, but has a membership of just 350 as of 2011. It left the IWA in 2018 to form the International Confederation of Labor (ICL). Spain has several syndicalist federations, including the CNT, which has around 50,000 members as of 2018. It, too, was a member of the IWA until 2018, when it joined the FAU in forming the ICT. After being defeated in the Civil War, tens of thousands of CNT militants went into exile, mostly in France. In exile, the organization atrophied, with just 5,000 mostly older members by 1960. During Spain's transition to democracy, the CNT was revived with a peak membership of over 300,000 in 1978. However, it was soon weakened, first by accusations of having been involved in the bombing of a nightclub, then by a schism. Members who favored participation in state-sponsored union elections left and formed an organization they would eventually name the General Confederation of Labor ("Confederación General del Trabajo", CGT). Despite these concessions, the CGT still views itself as an anarcho-syndicalist organization and has around 100,000 members as of 2018.
According to Darlington, syndicalism left a legacy that was widely admired by labor and political activists in a number of countries. For example, the IWW song "Solidarity Forever" became part of the American labor movement's canon. The strike wave, including the recruitment of unskilled and foreign-born workers by the Congress of Industrial Organizations, that swept the United States in the 1930s followed in the IWW's footsteps. The tactic of the sit-down strike, made famous by the United Auto Workers in the Flint sit-down strike, was pioneered by Wobblies in 1906.
In his study of French syndicalism, Stearns concludes that it was a dismal failure. The radicalism of syndicalist labor leaders, he claims, shocked French workers and the government and thereby weakened the labor movement as a whole. Syndicalism was most popular among workers not yet fully integrated into modern capitalist industry, but most French workers had adapted to this system and accepted it. Therefore, syndicalism was not able to seriously challenge prevailing conditions or even scare politicians and employers. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26775 |
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a federal socialist state in Northern Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991 and was the largest country in the world. Nominally a union of multiple national Soviet republics, in practice its government and economy were highly centralized. It was a one-party state governed by the Communist Party, with Moscow as its capital in its largest republic, the Russian SFSR. Other major urban centers were Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, Tashkent, Alma-Ata and Novosibirsk. It spanned over 10,000 kilometers (6,200 mi) east to west across 11 time zones and over 7,200 kilometers (4,500 mi) north to south. Its territory included much of Eastern Europe as well as part of Northern Europe and all of Northern and Central Asia. It had five climate zones such as tundra, taiga, steppes, desert, and mountains.
The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917, when the Bolsheviks, headed by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the provisional government that had replaced the Tsar. They established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (renamed Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1936), beginning a civil war between the revolutionary "Reds" and the counter-revolutionary "Whites." The Red Army entered several territories of the former Russian Empire and helped local Communists take power through soviets, which nominally acted on behalf of workers and peasants. In 1922, the Communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, and Byelorussian republics. Following Lenin's death in 1924, a troika and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all political opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism, and initiated a centrally planned economy. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and post-war dominance of Eastern Europe. Stalin also fomented political paranoia, and conducted the Great Purge to remove opponents of his from the Communist Party through the mass arbitrary arrest of many people (military leaders, Communist Party members, and ordinary citizens alike) who were then sent to correctional labor camps or sentenced to death.
On 23 August 1939, after unsuccessful efforts to form an anti-fascist alliance with Western powers, the Soviets signed the non-aggression agreement with Nazi Germany. After the start of World War II, the formally neutral Soviets invaded and annexed territories of several Eastern European states, including eastern Poland and the Baltic states. In June 1941 the Germans invaded, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the cost of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at intense battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945. The territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged in 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949.
Following Stalin's death in 1953, a period, known as "de-Stalinization" and "Khrushchev's Thaw", occurred under the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev. The country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took an early lead in the Space Race with the first ever satellite and the first human spaceflight. In the 1970s, there was a brief "détente" of relations with the United States, but tensions resumed when the Soviet Union deployed troops in Afghanistan in 1979. The war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters.
In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to further reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of "glasnost" and "perestroika". The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing economic stagnation. The Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well. Central authorities initiated a referendum—boycotted by the Baltic republics, Armenia, Georgia, and Moldova—which resulted in the majority of participating citizens voting in favor of preserving the Union as a renewed federation. In August 1991, a coup d'état was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a high-profile role in facing down the coup, resulting in the banning of the Communist Party. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the remaining twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states. The Russian Federation (formerly the Russian SFSR) assumed the Soviet Union's rights and obligations and is recognized as its continued legal personality.
The USSR produced many significant social and technological achievements and innovations of the 20th century, including the world's first ministry of health, first human-made satellite, the first humans in space and the first probe to land on another planet, Venus. The country had the world's second-largest economy and the largest standing military in the world. The USSR was recognized as one of the five nuclear weapons states. It was a founding permanent member of the United Nations Security Council as well as a member of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the World Federation of Trade Unions and the leading member of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Pact.
The word "soviet" is derived from the Russian word "sovet" (), meaning "council", "assembly", "advice", "harmony", "concord", ultimately deriving from the proto-Slavic verbal stem of "vět-iti" ("to inform"), related to Slavic "věst" ("news"), English "wise", the root in "ad-vis-or" (which came to English through French), or the Dutch "weten" ("to know"; cf. "wetenschap" meaning "science"). The word "sovietnik" means "councillor".
Some organizations in Russian history were called "council" (). In the Russian Empire, the State Council which functioned from 1810 to 1917 was referred to as a Council of Ministers after the revolt of 1905.
During the Georgian Affair, Vladimir Lenin envisioned an expression of Great Russian ethnic chauvinism by Joseph Stalin and his supporters, calling for these nation-states to join Russia as semi-independent parts of a greater union which he initially named as the Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia (). Stalin initially resisted the proposal but ultimately accepted it, although with Lenin's agreement changed the name to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), albeit all the republics began as "socialist soviet" and did not change to the other order until 1936. In addition, in the national languages of several republics, the word "council" or "conciliar" in the respective language was only quite late changed to an adaptation of the Russian "soviet" and never in others, e.g. Ukraine.
"СССР" (in Latin alphabet: "SSSR") is the abbreviation of USSR in Russian. It is written in Cyrillic alphabets. The Soviets used the Cyrillic abbreviation so frequently that audiences worldwide became familiar with its meaning. Notably, both Cyrillic letters used have orthographically-similar (but transliterally distinct) letters in Latin alphabets. Because of widespread familiarity with the Cyrillic abbreviation, Latin alphabet users in particular almost always use the orthographically-similar Latin letters "C" and "P" (as opposed to the transliteral Latin letters "S" and "R") when rendering the USSR's native abbreviation.
After "СССР", the most common short form names for the Soviet state in Russian were "Советский Союз" (transliteration: "Sovetskiy Soyuz") which literally means "Soviet Union", and also "Союз ССР" (transliteration: "Soyuz SSR") which, after compensating for grammatical differences, essentially translates to "Union of SSR's" in English.
In the English language media, the state was referred to as the Soviet Union or the USSR. In other European languages, the locally translated short forms and abbreviations are usually used (for example, "Union soviétique" and "URSS" in French; "Sowjetunion" and "UdSSR" in German). In the English-speaking world, the Soviet Union was also informally called Russia and its citizens Russians, although that was technically incorrect since Russia was only one of the republics. Such misapplications of the linguistic equivalents to the term "Russia" and its derivatives were frequent in other languages as well.
With an area of , the Soviet Union was the world's largest country, a status that is retained by the Russian Federation. Covering a sixth of Earth's land surface, its size was comparable to that of North America. Two other successor states, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, rank among the top 10 countries by land area, and the largest country entirely in Europe, respectively. The European portion accounted for a quarter of the country's area and was the cultural and economic center. The eastern part in Asia extended to the Pacific Ocean to the east and Afghanistan to the south, and, except some areas in Central Asia, was much less populous. It spanned over east to west across 11 time zones, and over north to south. It had five climate zones: tundra, taiga, steppes, desert and mountains.
The USSR had the world's longest border, like Russia, measuring over , or circumferences of Earth. Two-thirds of it was a coastline. Across the Bering Strait was the United States. The country bordered Afghanistan, China, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, Iran, Mongolia, North Korea, Norway, Poland, Romania, and Turkey from 1945 to 1991.
The country's highest mountain was Communism Peak (now Ismoil Somoni Peak) in Tajikistan, at . The USSR also included most of the world's largest lakes; the Caspian Sea (shared with Iran), and Lake Baikal, the world's largest (by volume) and deepest freshwater lake that is also an internal body of water in Russia.
Modern revolutionary activity in the Russian Empire began with the 1825 Decembrist revolt. Although serfdom was abolished in 1861, it was done on terms unfavorable to the peasants and served to encourage revolutionaries. A parliament—the State Duma—was established in 1906 after the Russian Revolution of 1905, but Tsar Nicholas II resisted attempts to move from absolute to a constitutional monarchy. Social unrest continued and was aggravated during World War I by military defeat and food shortages in major cities.
A spontaneous popular uprising in Petrograd, in response to the wartime decay of Russia's economy and morale, culminated in the February Revolution and the toppling of Nicholas II and the imperial government in March 1917. The tsarist autocracy was replaced by the Russian Provisional Government, which intended to conduct elections to the Russian Constituent Assembly and to continue fighting on the side of the Entente in World War I.
At the same time, workers' councils, known in Russian as "Soviets", sprang up across the country. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, pushed for socialist revolution in the Soviets and on the streets. On 7 November 1917, the Red Guards stormed the Winter Palace in Petrograd, ending the rule of the Provisional Government and leaving all political power to the Soviets. This event would later be officially known in Soviet bibliographies as the Great October Socialist Revolution. In December, the Bolsheviks signed an armistice with the Central Powers, though by February 1918, fighting had resumed. In March, the Soviets ended involvement in the war and signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
A long and bloody Civil War ensued between the Reds and the Whites, starting in 1917 and ending in 1923 with the Reds' victory. It included foreign intervention, the execution of the former tsar and his family, and the famine of 1921, which killed about five million people. In March 1921, during a related conflict with Poland, the Peace of Riga was signed, splitting disputed territories in Belarus and Ukraine between the Republic of Poland and Soviet Russia. Soviet Russia had to resolve similar conflicts with the newly established republics of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
On 28 December 1922, a conference of plenipotentiary delegations from the Russian SFSR, the Transcaucasian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR approved the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, forming the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. These two documents were confirmed by the first Congress of Soviets of the USSR and signed by the heads of the delegations, Mikhail Kalinin, Mikhail Tskhakaya, Mikhail Frunze, Grigory Petrovsky, and Alexander Chervyakov, on 30 December 1922. The formal proclamation was made from the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre.
An intensive restructuring of the economy, industry and politics of the country began in the early days of Soviet power in 1917. A large part of this was done according to the Bolshevik Initial Decrees, government documents signed by Vladimir Lenin. One of the most prominent breakthroughs was the GOELRO plan, which envisioned a major restructuring of the Soviet economy based on total electrification of the country. The plan became the prototype for subsequent Five-Year Plans and was fulfilled by 1931. After the economic policy of "War communism" during the Russian Civil War, as a prelude to fully developing socialism in the country, the Soviet government permitted some private enterprise to coexist alongside nationalized industry in the 1920s, and total food requisition in the countryside was replaced by a food tax.
From its creation, the government in the Soviet Union was based on the one-party rule of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks). The stated purpose was to prevent the return of capitalist exploitation, and that the principles of democratic centralism would be the most effective in representing the people's will in a practical manner. The debate over the future of the economy provided the background for a power struggle in the years after Lenin's death in 1924. Initially, Lenin was to be replaced by a "troika" consisting of Grigory Zinoviev of the Ukrainian SSR, Lev Kamenev of the Russian SFSR, and Joseph Stalin of the Transcaucasian SFSR.
On 1 February 1924, the USSR was recognized by the United Kingdom. The same year, a Soviet Constitution was approved, legitimizing the December 1922 union. Despite the foundation of the Soviet state as a federative entity of many constituent republics, each with its own political and administrative entities, the term "Soviet Russia"strictly applicable only to the Russian Federative Socialist Republicwas often applied to the entire country by non-Soviet writers and politicians.
On 3 April 1922, Stalin was named the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Lenin had appointed Stalin the head of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate, which gave Stalin considerable power. By gradually consolidating his influence and isolating and outmanoeuvring his rivals within the party, Stalin became the undisputed leader of the country and, by the end of the 1920s, established a totalitarian rule. In October 1927, Zinoviev and Leon Trotsky were expelled from the Central Committee and forced into exile.
In 1928, Stalin introduced the first five-year plan for building a socialist economy. In place of the internationalism expressed by Lenin throughout the Revolution, it aimed to build Socialism in One Country. In industry, the state assumed control over all existing enterprises and undertook an intensive program of industrialization. In agriculture, rather than adhering to the "lead by example" policy advocated by Lenin, forced collectivization of farms was implemented all over the country.
Famines ensued as a result, causing deaths estimated at three to seven million; surviving kulaks were persecuted, and many were sent to Gulags to do forced labor. Social upheaval continued in the mid-1930s. Despite the turmoil of the mid-to-late 1930s, the country developed a robust industrial economy in the years preceding World War II.
Closer cooperation between the USSR and the West developed in the early 1930s. From 1932 to 1934, the country participated in the World Disarmament Conference. In 1933, diplomatic relations between the United States and the USSR were established when in November, the newly elected President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, chose to recognize Stalin's Communist government formally and negotiated a new trade agreement between the two countries. In September 1934, the country joined the League of Nations. After the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, the USSR actively supported the Republican forces against the Nationalists, who were supported by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.
In December 1936, Stalin unveiled a new constitution that was praised by supporters around the world as the most democratic constitution imaginable, though there was some skepticism. Stalin's Great Purge resulted in the detainment or execution of many "Old Bolsheviks" who had participated in the October Revolution with Lenin. According to declassified Soviet archives, the NKVD arrested more than one and a half million people in 1937 and 1938, of whom 681,692 were shot. Over those two years, there were an average of over one thousand executions a day.
In 1939, the Soviet Union made a dramatic shift toward Nazi Germany. Almost a year after Britain and France had concluded the Munich Agreement with Germany, the Soviet Union made agreements with Germany as well, both militarily and economically during extensive talks. The two countries concluded the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the German–Soviet Commercial Agreement in August 1939. The former made possible the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bessarabia, northern Bukovina, and eastern Poland. In late November, unable to coerce the Republic of Finland by diplomatic means into moving its border back from Leningrad, Stalin ordered the invasion of Finland. In the east, the Soviet military won several decisive victories during border clashes with the Empire of Japan in 1938 and 1939. However, in April 1941, the USSR signed the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact with Japan, recognizing the territorial integrity of Manchukuo, a Japanese puppet state.
Germany broke the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 starting what was known in the USSR as the Great Patriotic War. The Red Army stopped the seemingly invincible German Army at the Battle of Moscow, aided by an unusually harsh winter. The Battle of Stalingrad, which lasted from late 1942 to early 1943, dealt a severe blow to Germany from which they never fully recovered and became a turning point in the war. After Stalingrad, Soviet forces drove through Eastern Europe to Berlin before Germany surrendered in 1945. The German Army suffered 80% of its military deaths in the Eastern Front. Harry Hopkins, a close foreign policy advisor to Franklin D. Roosevelt, spoke on 10 August 1943 of the USSR's decisive role in the war.
In the same year, the USSR, in fulfilment of its agreement with the Allies at the Yalta Conference, denounced the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact in April 1945 and invaded Manchukuo and other Japan-controlled territories on 9 August 1945. This conflict ended with a decisive Soviet victory, contributing to the unconditional surrender of Japan and the end of World War II.
The USSR suffered greatly in the war, losing around 27 million people. Approximately 2.8 million Soviet POWs died of starvation, mistreatment, or executions in just eight months of 1941–42. During the war, the country together with the United States, the United Kingdom and China were considered the Big Four Allied powers, and later became the Four Policemen that formed the basis of the United Nations Security Council. It emerged as a superpower in the post-war period. Once denied diplomatic recognition by the Western world, the USSR had official relations with practically every country by the late 1940s. A member of the United Nations at its foundation in 1945, the country became one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, which gave it the right to veto any of its resolutions.
During the immediate post-war period, the Soviet Union rebuilt and expanded its economy, while maintaining its strictly centralized control. It took effective control over most of the countries of Eastern Europe (except Yugoslavia and later Albania), turning them into satellite states. The USSR bound its satellite states in a military alliance, the Warsaw Pact, in 1955, and an economic organization, Council for Mutual Economic Assistance or Comecon, a counterpart to the European Economic Community (EEC), from 1949 to 1991. The USSR concentrated on its own recovery, seizing and transferring most of Germany's industrial plants, and it exacted war reparations from East Germany, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria using Soviet-dominated joint enterprises. It also instituted trading arrangements deliberately designed to favor the country. Moscow controlled the Communist parties that ruled the satellite states, and they followed orders from the Kremlin. Later, the Comecon supplied aid to the eventually victorious Communist Party of China, and its influence grew elsewhere in the world. Fearing its ambitions, the Soviet Union's wartime allies, the United Kingdom and the United States, became its enemies. In the ensuing Cold War, the two sides clashed indirectly in proxy wars.
Stalin died on 5 March 1953. Without a mutually agreeable successor, the highest Communist Party officials initially opted to rule the Soviet Union jointly through a troika headed by Georgy Malenkov. This did not last, however, and Nikita Khrushchev eventually won the ensuing power struggle by the mid-1950s. In 1956, he denounced Stalin's use of repression and proceeded to ease controls over the party and society. This was known as de-Stalinization.
Moscow considered Eastern Europe to be a critically vital buffer zone for the forward defence of its western borders, in case of another major invasion such as the German invasion of 1941. For this reason, the USSR sought to cement its control of the region by transforming the Eastern European countries into satellite states, dependent upon and subservient to its leadership. Soviet military force was used to suppress anti-Stalinist uprisings in Hungary and Poland in 1956.
In the late 1950s, a confrontation with China regarding the Soviet rapprochement with the West, and what Mao Zedong perceived as Khrushchev's revisionism, led to the Sino–Soviet split. This resulted in a break throughout the global Marxist–Leninist movement, with the governments in Albania, Cambodia and Somalia choosing to ally with China.
During this period of the late 1950s and early 1960s, the USSR continued to realize scientific and technological exploits in the Space Race, rivaling the United States: launching the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1 in 1957; a living dog named Laika in 1957; the first human being, Yuri Gagarin in 1961; the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova in 1963; Alexei Leonov, the first person to walk in space in 1965; the first soft landing on the Moon by spacecraft Luna 9 in 1966; and the first Moon rovers, Lunokhod 1 and Lunokhod 2.
Khrushchev initiated "The Thaw", a complex shift in political, cultural and economic life in the country. This included some openness and contact with other nations and new social and economic policies with more emphasis on commodity goods, allowing a dramatic rise in living standards while maintaining high levels of economic growth. Censorship was relaxed as well. Khrushchev's reforms in agriculture and administration, however, were generally unproductive. In 1962, he precipitated a crisis with the United States over the Soviet deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba. An agreement was made with the United States to remove nuclear missiles from both Cuba and Turkey, concluding the crisis. This event caused Khrushchev much embarrassment and loss of prestige, resulting in his removal from power in 1964.
Following the ousting of Khrushchev, another period of collective leadership ensued, consisting of Leonid Brezhnev as General Secretary, Alexei Kosygin as Premier and Nikolai Podgorny as Chairman of the Presidium, lasting until Brezhnev established himself in the early 1970s as the preeminent Soviet leader.
In 1968, the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact allies invaded Czechoslovakia to halt the Prague Spring reforms. In the aftermath, Brezhnev justified the invasion along with the earlier invasions of Eastern European states by introducing the Brezhnev Doctrine, which claimed the right of the Soviet Union to violate the sovereignty of any country that attempted to replace Marxism–Leninism with capitalism.
Brezhnev presided throughout "détente" with the West that resulted in treaties on armament control (SALT I, SALT II, Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty) while at the same time building up Soviet military might.
In October 1977, the third Soviet Constitution was unanimously adopted. The prevailing mood of the Soviet leadership at the time of Brezhnev's death in 1982 was one of aversion to change. The long period of Brezhnev's rule had come to be dubbed one of "standstill", with an ageing and ossified top political leadership. This period is also known as the Era of Stagnation, a period of adverse economic, political, and social effects in the country, which began during the rule of Brezhnev and continued under his successors Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko.
In late 1979, the Soviet Union's military intervened in the ongoing civil war in neighboring Afghanistan, effectively ending a détente with the West.
Two developments dominated the decade that followed: the increasingly apparent crumbling of the Soviet Union's economic and political structures, and the patchwork attempts at reforms to reverse that process. Kenneth S. Deffeyes argued in "Beyond Oil" that the Reagan administration encouraged Saudi Arabia to lower the price of oil to the point where the Soviets could not make a profit selling their oil, and resulted in the depletion of the country's hard currency reserves.
Brezhnev's next two successors, transitional figures with deep roots in his tradition, did not last long. Yuri Andropov was 68 years old and Konstantin Chernenko 72 when they assumed power; both died in less than two years. In an attempt to avoid a third short-lived leader, in 1985, the Soviets turned to the next generation and selected Mikhail Gorbachev. He made significant changes in the economy and party leadership, called "perestroika". His policy of "glasnost" freed public access to information after decades of heavy government censorship. Gorbachev also moved to end the Cold War. In 1988, the USSR abandoned its war in Afghanistan and began to withdraw its forces. In the following year, Gorbachev refused to interfere in the internal affairs of the Soviet satellite states, which paved the way for the Revolutions of 1989. With the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and with East and West Germany pursuing unification, the Iron Curtain between the West and Soviet-controlled regions came down.
At the same time, the Soviet republics started legal moves towards potentially declaring sovereignty over their territories, citing the freedom to secede in Article 72 of the USSR constitution. On 7 April 1990, a law was passed allowing a republic to secede if more than two-thirds of its residents voted for it in a referendum. Many held their first free elections in the Soviet era for their own national legislatures in 1990. Many of these legislatures proceeded to produce legislation contradicting the Union laws in what was known as the "War of Laws". In 1989, the Russian SFSR convened a newly elected Congress of People's Deputies. Boris Yeltsin was elected its chairman. On 12 June 1990, the Congress declared Russia's sovereignty over its territory and proceeded to pass laws that attempted to supersede some of the Soviet laws. After a landslide victory of Sąjūdis in Lithuania, that country declared its independence restored on 11 March 1990.
A referendum for the preservation of the USSR was held on 17 March 1991 in nine republics (the remainder having boycotted the vote), with the majority of the population in those republics voting for preservation of the Union. The referendum gave Gorbachev a minor boost. In the summer of 1991, the New Union Treaty, which would have turned the country into a much looser Union, was agreed upon by eight republics. The signing of the treaty, however, was interrupted by the August Coup—an attempted coup d'état by hardline members of the government and the KGB who sought to reverse Gorbachev's reforms and reassert the central government's control over the republics. After the coup collapsed, Yeltsin was seen as a hero for his decisive actions, while Gorbachev's power was effectively ended. The balance of power tipped significantly towards the republics. In August 1991, Latvia and Estonia immediately declared the restoration of their full independence (following Lithuania's 1990 example). Gorbachev resigned as general secretary in late August, and soon afterwards, the party's activities were indefinitely suspended—effectively ending its rule. By the fall, Gorbachev could no longer influence events outside Moscow, and he was being challenged even there by Yeltsin, who had been elected President of Russia in July 1991.
The remaining 12 republics continued discussing new, increasingly looser, models of the Union. However, by December all except Russia and Kazakhstan had formally declared independence. During this time, Yeltsin took over what remained of the Soviet government, including the Moscow Kremlin. The final blow was struck on 1 December when Ukraine, the second-most powerful republic, voted overwhelmingly for independence. Ukraine's secession ended any realistic chance of the country staying together even on a limited scale.
On 8 December 1991, the presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus (formerly Byelorussia), signed the Belavezha Accords, which declared the Soviet Union dissolved and established the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in its place. While doubts remained over the authority of the accords to do this, on 21 December 1991, the representatives of all Soviet republics except Georgia signed the Alma-Ata Protocol, which confirmed the accords. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned as the President of the USSR, declaring the office extinct. He turned the powers that had been vested in the presidency over to Yeltsin. That night, the Soviet flag was lowered for the last time, and the Russian tricolor was raised in its place.
The following day, the Supreme Soviet, the highest governmental body, voted both itself and the country out of existence. This is generally recognized as marking the official, final dissolution of the Soviet Union as a functioning state, and the end of the Cold War. The Soviet Army initially remained under overall CIS command but was soon absorbed into the different military forces of the newly independent states. The few remaining Soviet institutions that had not been taken over by Russia ceased to function by the end of 1991.
Following the dissolution, Russia was internationally recognized as its legal successor on the international stage. To that end, Russia voluntarily accepted all Soviet foreign debt and claimed Soviet overseas properties as its own. Under the 1992 Lisbon Protocol, Russia also agreed to receive all nuclear weapons remaining in the territory of other former Soviet republics. Since then, the Russian Federation has assumed the Soviet Union's rights and obligations. Ukraine has refused to recognize exclusive Russian claims to succession of the USSR and claimed such status for Ukraine as well, which was codified in Articles 7 and 8 of its 1991 law On Legal Succession of Ukraine. Since its independence in 1991, Ukraine has continued to pursue claims against Russia in foreign courts, seeking to recover its share of the foreign property that was owned by the USSR.
The dissolution was followed by a severe drop in economic and social conditions in post-Soviet states, including a rapid increase in poverty, crime, corruption, unemployment, homelessness, rates of disease, demographic losses, income inequality and the rise of an oligarchical class, along with decreases in calorie intake, life expectancy, adult literacy, and income. Between 1988/1989 and 1993/1995, the Gini ratio increased by an average of 9 points for all former socialist countries. The economic shocks that accompanied wholesale privatization were associated with sharp increases in mortality. Data shows Russia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia saw a tripling of unemployment and a 42% increase in male death rates between 1991 and 1994. In the following decades, only five or six of the post-communist states are on a path to joining the wealthy capitalist West while most are falling behind, some to such an extent that it will take over fifty years to catch up to where they were before the fall of the Soviet Bloc.
In summing up the international ramifications of these events, Vladislav Zubok stated: "The collapse of the Soviet empire was an event of epochal geopolitical, military, ideological, and economic significance." Before the dissolution, the country had maintained its status as one of the world's two superpowers for four decades after World War II through its hegemony in Eastern Europe, military strength, economic strength, aid to developing countries, and scientific research, especially in space technology and weaponry.
The analysis of the succession of states for the 15 post-Soviet states is complex. The Russian Federation is seen as the legal "continuator" state and is for most purposes the heir to the Soviet Union. It retained ownership of all former Soviet embassy properties, as well as the old Soviet UN membership and permanent membership on the Security Council.
There are additionally four states that claim independence from the other internationally recognized post-Soviet states but possess limited international recognition: Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia, and Transnistria. The Chechen separatist movement of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria lacks any international recognition.
During his rule, Stalin always made the final policy decisions. Otherwise, Soviet foreign policy was set by the Commission on the Foreign Policy of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, or by the party's highest body the Politburo. Operations were handled by the separate Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was known as the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs (or Narkomindel), until 1946. The most influential spokesmen were Georgy Chicherin (1872–1936), Maxim Litvinov (1876–1951), Vyacheslav Molotov (1890–1986), Andrey Vyshinsky (1883–1954) and Andrei Gromyko (1909–1989). Intellectuals were based in the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.
The Communist leadership of the Soviet Union intensely debated foreign policy issues and change directions several times. Even after Stalin assumed dictatorial control in the late 1920s, there were debates, and he frequently changed positions.
During the country's early period, it was assumed that Communist revolutions would break out soon in every major industrial country, and it was the Soviet responsibility to assist them. The Comintern was the weapon of choice. A few revolutions did break out, but they were quickly suppressed (the longest lasting one was in Hungary)—the Hungarian Soviet Republic—lasted only from 21 March 1919 to 1 August 1919. The Russian Bolsheviks were in no position to give any help.
By 1921, Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin realized that capitalism had stabilized itself in Europe and there would not be any widespread revolutions anytime soon. It became the duty of the Russian Bolsheviks to protect what they had in Russia, and avoid military confrontations that might destroy their bridgehead. Russia was now a pariah state, along with Germany. The two came to terms in 1922 with the Treaty of Rapallo that settled long-standing grievances. At the same time, the two countries secretly set up training programs for the illegal German army and air force operations at hidden camps in the USSR.
Moscow eventually stopped threatening other states, and instead worked to open peaceful relationships in terms of trade, and diplomatic recognition. The United Kingdom dismissed the warnings of Winston Churchill and a few others about a continuing communist threat, and opened trade relations and "de facto" diplomatic recognition in 1922. There was hope for a settlement of the pre-war tsarist debts, but it was repeatedly postponed. Formal recognition came when the new Labour Party came to power in 1924. All the other countries followed suit in opening trade relations. Henry Ford opened large-scale business relations with the Soviets in the late 1920s, hoping that it would lead to long-term peace. Finally, in 1933, the United States officially recognized the USSR, a decision backed by the public opinion and especially by US business interests that expected an opening of a new profitable market.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Stalin ordered Communist parties across the world to strongly oppose non-communist political parties, labor unions or other organizations on the left. Stalin reversed himself in 1934 with the Popular Front program that called on all Communist parties to join together with all anti-Fascist political, labor, and organizational forces that were opposed to fascism, especially of the Nazi variety.
In 1939, half a year after the Munich Agreement, the USSR attempted to form an anti-Nazi alliance with France and Britain. Adolf Hitler proposed a better deal, which would give the USSR control over much of Eastern Europe through the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In September, Germany invaded Poland, and the USSR also invaded later that month, resulting in the partition of Poland. In response, Britain and France declared war on Germany, marking the beginning of World War II.
There were three power hierarchies in the Soviet Union: the legislature represented by the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, the government represented by the Council of Ministers, and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), the only legal party and the final policymaker in the country.
At the top of the Communist Party was the Central Committee, elected at Party Congresses and Conferences. In turn, the Central Committee voted for a Politburo (called the Presidium between 1952–1966), Secretariat and the General Secretary (First Secretary from 1953 to 1966), the "de facto" highest office in the Soviet Union. Depending on the degree of power consolidation, it was either the Politburo as a collective body or the General Secretary, who always was one of the Politburo members, that effectively led the party and the country (except for the period of the highly personalized authority of Stalin, exercised directly through his position in the Council of Ministers rather than the Politburo after 1941). They were not controlled by the general party membership, as the key principle of the party organization was democratic centralism, demanding strict subordination to higher bodies, and elections went uncontested, endorsing the candidates proposed from above.
The Communist Party maintained its dominance over the state mainly through its control over the system of appointments. All senior government officials and most deputies of the Supreme Soviet were members of the CPSU. Of the party heads themselves, Stalin (1941–1953) and Khrushchev (1958–1964) were Premiers. Upon the forced retirement of Khrushchev, the party leader was prohibited from this kind of double membership, but the later General Secretaries for at least some part of their tenure occupied the mostly ceremonial position of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the nominal head of state. The institutions at lower levels were overseen and at times supplanted by primary party organizations.
However, in practice the degree of control the party was able to exercise over the state bureaucracy, particularly after the death of Stalin, was far from total, with the bureaucracy pursuing different interests that were at times in conflict with the party. Nor was the party itself monolithic from top to bottom, although factions were officially banned.
The Supreme Soviet (successor of the Congress of Soviets and Central Executive Committee) was nominally the highest state body for most of the Soviet history, at first acting as a rubber stamp institution, approving and implementing all decisions made by the party. However, its powers and functions were extended in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, including the creation of new state commissions and committees. It gained additional powers relating to the approval of the Five-Year Plans and the government budget. The Supreme Soviet elected a Presidium to wield its power between plenary sessions, ordinarily held twice a year, and appointed the Supreme Court, the Procurator General and the Council of Ministers (known before 1946 as the Council of People's Commissars), headed by the Chairman (Premier) and managing an enormous bureaucracy responsible for the administration of the economy and society. State and party structures of the constituent republics largely emulated the structure of the central institutions, although the Russian SFSR, unlike the other constituent republics, for most of its history had no republican branch of the CPSU, being ruled directly by the union-wide party until 1990. Local authorities were organized likewise into party committees, local Soviets and executive committees. While the state system was nominally federal, the party was unitary.
The state security police (the KGB and its predecessor agencies) played an important role in Soviet politics. It was instrumental in the Great Purge, but was brought under strict party control after Stalin's death. Under Yuri Andropov, the KGB engaged in the suppression of political dissent and maintained an extensive network of informers, reasserting itself as a political actor to some extent independent of the party-state structure, culminating in the anti-corruption campaign targeting high-ranking party officials in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The constitution, which was promulgated in 1918, 1924, 1936 and 1977, did not limit state power. No formal separation of powers existed between the Party, Supreme Soviet and Council of Ministers that represented executive and legislative branches of the government. The system was governed less by statute than by informal conventions, and no settled mechanism of leadership succession existed. Bitter and at times deadly power struggles took place in the Politburo after the deaths of Lenin and Stalin, as well as after Khrushchev's dismissal, itself due to a decision by both the Politburo and the Central Committee. All leaders of the Communist Party before Gorbachev died in office, except Georgy Malenkov and Khrushchev, both dismissed from the party leadership amid internal struggle within the party.
Between 1988 and 1990, facing considerable opposition, Mikhail Gorbachev enacted reforms shifting power away from the highest bodies of the party and making the Supreme Soviet less dependent on them. The Congress of People's Deputies was established, the majority of whose members were directly elected in competitive elections held in March 1989. The Congress now elected the Supreme Soviet, which became a full-time parliament, and much stronger than before. For the first time since the 1920s, it refused to rubber stamp proposals from the party and Council of Ministers. In 1990, Gorbachev introduced and assumed the position of the President of the Soviet Union, concentrated power in his executive office, independent of the party, and subordinated the government, now renamed the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR, to himself.
Tensions grew between the Union-wide authorities under Gorbachev, reformists led in Russia by Boris Yeltsin and controlling the newly elected Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR, and communist hardliners. On 19–21 August 1991, a group of hardliners staged a coup attempt. The coup failed, and the State Council of the Soviet Union became the highest organ of state power "in the period of transition". Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary, only remaining President for the final months of the existence of the USSR.
The judiciary was not independent of the other branches of government. The Supreme Court supervised the lower courts (People's Court) and applied the law as established by the constitution or as interpreted by the Supreme Soviet. The Constitutional Oversight Committee reviewed the constitutionality of laws and acts. The Soviet Union used the inquisitorial system of Roman law, where the judge, procurator, and defence attorney collaborate to establish the truth.
Constitutionally, the USSR was a federation of constituent Union Republics, which were either unitary states, such as Ukraine or Byelorussia (SSRs), or federations, such as Russia or Transcaucasia (SFSRs), all four being the founding republics who signed the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR in December 1922. In 1924, during the national delimitation in Central Asia, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan were formed from parts of Russia's Turkestan ASSR and two Soviet dependencies, the Khorezm and Bukharan SSRs. In 1929, Tajikistan was split off from the Uzbekistan SSR. With the constitution of 1936, the Transcaucasian SFSR was dissolved, resulting in its constituent republics of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan being elevated to Union Republics, while Kazakhstan and Kirghizia were split off from Russian SFSR, resulting in the same status. In August 1940, Moldavia was formed from parts of Ukraine and Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (SSRs) were also admitted into the union which was not recognized by most of the international community and was considered an illegal occupation. Karelia was split off from Russia as a Union Republic in March 1940 and was reabsorbed in 1956. Between July 1956 and September 1991, there were 15 union republics (see map below).
While nominally a union of equals, in practice the Soviet Union was dominated by Russians. The domination was so absolute that for most of its existence, the country was commonly (but incorrectly) referred to as "Russia". While the RSFSR was technically only one republic within the larger union, it was by far the largest (both in terms of population and area), most powerful, most developed, and the industrial center of the Soviet Union. Historian Matthew White wrote that it was an open secret that the country's federal structure was "window dressing" for Russian dominance. For that reason, the people of the USSR were usually called "Russians", not "Soviets", since "everyone knew who really ran the show".
Under the Military Law of September 1925, the Soviet Armed Forces consisted of three components, namely the Land Forces, the Air Force, the Navy, Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU), and the Internal Troops. The OGPU later became independent and in 1934 joined the NKVD, and so its internal troops were under the joint leadership of the defense and internal commissariats. After World War II, Strategic Missile Forces (1959), Air Defense Forces (1948) and National Civil Defense Forces (1970) were formed, which ranked first, third, and sixth in the official Soviet system of importance (ground forces were second, Air Force Fourth, and Navy Fifth).
The army had the greatest political influence. In 1989, there served two million soldiers divided between 150 motorized and 52 armored divisions. Until the early 1960s, the Soviet navy was a rather small military branch, but after the Caribbean crisis, under the leadership of Sergei Gorshkov, it expanded significantly. It became known for battlecruisers and submarines. In 1989 there served 500 000 men. The Soviet Air Force focused on a fleet of strategic bombers and during war situation was to eradicate enemy infrastructure and nuclear capacity. The air force also had a number of fighters and tactical bombers to support the army in the war. Strategic missile forces had more than 1,400 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), deployed between 28 bases and 300 command centers.
In the post-war period, the Soviet Army was directly involved in several military operations abroad. These included the suppression of the uprising in East Germany (1953), Hungarian revolution (1956) and the invasion of Czechoslovakia (1968). The Soviet Union also participated in the war in Afghanistan between 1979 and 1989.
In the Soviet Union, general conscription applied.
At the end of the 1950s, with the help of engineers and technologies captured and imported from defeated Nazi Germany, the Soviets constructed the first satellite - Sputnik 1 and thus overtook the United States. This was followed by other successful satellites and experimental dogs were sent. On April 12, 1961, the first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, was sent to the space. He once flew around the Earth and successfully landed in the Kazakh steppe. At that time, the first plans for space shuttles and orbital stations were drawn up in Soviet design offices, but in the end personal disputes between designers and management prevented this.
The first big fiasco for the USSR was the landing on the moon by the Americans, when the Russians were not able to respond to the Americans in time with the same project. In the 1970s, more specific proposals for the design of the space shuttle began to emerge, but shortcomings, especially in the electronics industry (rapid overheating of electronics), postponed the program until the end of the 1980s. The first shuttle, the Buran, flew in 1988, but without a human crew. Another shuttle, Ptichka, eventually ended up under construction, as the shuttle project was canceled in 1991. For their launch into space, there is today an unused superpower rocket, Energia, which is the most powerful in the world.
In the late 1980s, the Soviet Union managed to build the Mir orbital station. It was built on the construction of Salyut stations and its tasks were purely civilian and research. In the 1990s, when the US Skylab was shut down due to lack of funds, it was the only orbital station in operation. Gradually, other modules were added to it, including American ones. However, the technical condition of the station deteriorated rapidly, especially after the fire, so in 2001 it was decided to bring it into the atmosphere where it burned down.
The Soviet Union adopted a command economy, whereby production and distribution of goods were centralized and directed by the government. The first Bolshevik experience with a command economy was the policy of War communism, which involved the nationalization of industry, centralized distribution of output, coercive requisition of agricultural production, and attempts to eliminate money circulation, private enterprises and free trade. After the severe economic collapse, Lenin replaced war communism by the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1921, legalizing free trade and private ownership of small businesses. The economy quickly recovered as a result.
After a long debate among the members of Politburo about the course of economic development, by 1928–1929, upon gaining control of the country, Stalin abandoned the NEP and pushed for full central planning, starting forced collectivization of agriculture and enacting draconian labor legislation. Resources were mobilized for rapid industrialization, which significantly expanded Soviet capacity in heavy industry and capital goods during the 1930s. The primary motivation for industrialization was preparation for war, mostly due to distrust of the outside capitalist world. As a result, the USSR was transformed from a largely agrarian economy into a great industrial power, leading the way for its emergence as a superpower after World War II. The war caused extensive devastation of the Soviet economy and infrastructure, which required massive reconstruction.
By the early 1940s, the Soviet economy had become relatively self-sufficient; for most of the period until the creation of Comecon, only a tiny share of domestic products was traded internationally. After the creation of the Eastern Bloc, external trade rose rapidly. However, the influence of the world economy on the USSR was limited by fixed domestic prices and a state monopoly on foreign trade. Grain and sophisticated consumer manufactures became major import articles from around the 1960s. During the arms race of the Cold War, the Soviet economy was burdened by military expenditures, heavily lobbied for by a powerful bureaucracy dependent on the arms industry. At the same time, the USSR became the largest arms exporter to the Third World. Significant amounts of Soviet resources during the Cold War were allocated in aid to the other socialist states.
From the 1930s until its dissolution in late 1991, the way the Soviet economy operated remained essentially unchanged. The economy was formally directed by central planning, carried out by Gosplan and organized in five-year plans. However, in practice, the plans were highly aggregated and provisional, subject to "ad hoc" intervention by superiors. All critical economic decisions were taken by the political leadership. Allocated resources and plan targets were usually denominated in rubles rather than in physical goods. Credit was discouraged, but widespread. The final allocation of output was achieved through relatively decentralized, unplanned contracting. Although in theory prices were legally set from above, in practice they were often negotiated, and informal horizontal links (e.g. between producer factories) were widespread.
A number of basic services were state-funded, such as education and health care. In the manufacturing sector, heavy industry and defence were prioritized over consumer goods. Consumer goods, particularly outside large cities, were often scarce, of poor quality and limited variety. Under the command economy, consumers had almost no influence on production, and the changing demands of a population with growing incomes could not be satisfied by supplies at rigidly fixed prices. A massive unplanned second economy grew up at low levels alongside the planned one, providing some of the goods and services that the planners could not. The legalization of some elements of the decentralized economy was attempted with the reform of 1965.
Although statistics of the Soviet economy are notoriously unreliable and its economic growth difficult to estimate precisely, by most accounts, the economy continued to expand until the mid-1980s. During the 1950s and 1960s, it had comparatively high growth and was catching up to the West. However, after 1970, the growth, while still positive, steadily declined much more quickly and consistently than in other countries, despite a rapid increase in the capital stock (the rate of capital increase was only surpassed by Japan).
Overall, the growth rate of per capita income in the Soviet Union between 1960 and 1989 was slightly above the world average (based on 102 countries). According to Stanley Fischer and William Easterly, growth could have been faster. By their calculation, per capita income in 1989 should have been twice higher than it was, considering the amount of investment, education and population. The authors attribute this poor performance to the low productivity of capital. Steven Rosenfielde states that the standard of living declined due to Stalin's despotism. While there was a brief improvement after his death, it lapsed into stagnation.
In 1987, Mikhail Gorbachev attempted to reform and revitalize the economy with his program of "perestroika". His policies relaxed state control over enterprises but did not replace it by market incentives, resulting in a sharp decline in output. The economy, already suffering from reduced petroleum export revenues, started to collapse. Prices were still fixed, and the property was still largely state-owned until after the country's dissolution. For most of the period after World War II until its collapse, Soviet GDP (PPP) was the second-largest in the world, and third during the second half of the 1980s, although on a per-capita basis, it was behind that of First World countries. Compared to countries with similar per-capita GDP in 1928, the Soviet Union experienced significant growth.
In 1990, the country had a Human Development Index of 0.920, placing it in the "high" category of human development. It was the third-highest in the Eastern Bloc, behind Czechoslovakia and East Germany, and the 25th in the world of 130 countries.
The need for fuel declined in the Soviet Union from the 1970s to the 1980s, both per ruble of gross social product and per ruble of industrial product. At the start, this decline grew very rapidly but gradually slowed down between 1970 and 1975. From 1975 and 1980, it grew even slower, only 2.6%. David Wilson, a historian, believed that the gas industry would account for 40% of Soviet fuel production by the end of the century. His theory did not come to fruition because of the USSR's collapse. The USSR, in theory, would have continued to have an economic growth rate of 2–2.5% during the 1990s because of Soviet energy fields. However, the energy sector faced many difficulties, among them the country's high military expenditure and hostile relations with the First World.
In 1991, the Soviet Union had a pipeline network of for crude oil and another for natural gas. Petroleum and petroleum-based products, natural gas, metals, wood, agricultural products, and a variety of manufactured goods, primarily machinery, arms and military equipment, were exported. In the 1970s and 1980s, the USSR heavily relied on fossil fuel exports to earn hard currency. At its peak in 1988, it was the largest producer and second-largest exporter of crude oil, surpassed only by Saudi Arabia.
The Soviet Union placed great emphasis on science and technology within its economy, however, the most remarkable Soviet successes in technology, such as producing the world's first space satellite, typically were the responsibility of the military. Lenin believed that the USSR would never overtake the developed world if it remained as technologically backward as it was upon its founding. Soviet authorities proved their commitment to Lenin's belief by developing massive networks, research and development organizations. In the early 1960s, the Soviets awarded 40% of chemistry PhDs to women, compared to only 5% in the United States. By 1989, Soviet scientists were among the world's best-trained specialists in several areas, such as energy physics, selected areas of medicine, mathematics, welding and military technologies. Due to rigid state planning and bureaucracy, the Soviets remained far behind technologically in chemistry, biology, and computers when compared to the First World.
Under the Reagan administration, Project Socrates determined that the Soviet Union addressed the acquisition of science and technology in a manner that was radically different from what the US was using. In the case of the US, economic prioritization was being used for indigenous research and development as the means to acquire science and technology in both the private and public sectors. In contrast, the USSR was offensively and defensively maneuvering in the acquisition and utilization of the worldwide technology, to increase the competitive advantage that they acquired from the technology while preventing the US from acquiring a competitive advantage. However, technology-based planning was executed in a centralized, government-centric manner that greatly hindered its flexibility. This was exploited by the US to undermine the strength of the Soviet Union and thus foster its reform.
Transport was a vital component of the country's economy. The economic centralization of the late 1920s and 1930s led to the development of infrastructure on a massive scale, most notably the establishment of Aeroflot, an aviation enterprise. The country had a wide variety of modes of transport by land, water and air. However, due to inadequate maintenance, much of the road, water and Soviet civil aviation transport were outdated and technologically backward compared to the First World.
Soviet rail transport was the largest and most intensively used in the world; it was also better developed than most of its Western counterparts. By the late 1970s and early 1980s, Soviet economists were calling for the construction of more roads to alleviate some of the burdens from the railways and to improve the Soviet government budget. The street network and automotive industry remained underdeveloped, and dirt roads were common outside major cities. Soviet maintenance projects proved unable to take care of even the few roads the country had. By the early-to-mid-1980s, the Soviet authorities tried to solve the road problem by ordering the construction of new ones. Meanwhile, the automobile industry was growing at a faster rate than road construction. The underdeveloped road network led to a growing demand for public transport.
Despite improvements, several aspects of the transport sector were still riddled with problems due to outdated infrastructure, lack of investment, corruption and bad decision-making. Soviet authorities were unable to meet the growing demand for transport infrastructure and services.
The Soviet merchant navy was one of the largest in the world.
Excess deaths throughout World War I and the Russian Civil War (including the postwar famine) amounted to a combined total of 18 million, some 10 million in the 1930s, and more than 26 million in 1941–5. The postwar Soviet population was 45 to 50 million smaller than it would have been if pre-war demographic growth had continued. According to Catherine Merridale, "... reasonable estimate would place the total number of excess deaths for the whole period somewhere around 60 million."
The birth rate of the USSR decreased from 44.0 per thousand in 1926 to 18.0 in 1974, mainly due to increasing urbanization and the rising average age of marriages. The mortality rate demonstrated a gradual decrease as well – from 23.7 per thousand in 1926 to 8.7 in 1974. In general, the birth rates of the southern republics in Transcaucasia and Central Asia were considerably higher than those in the northern parts of the Soviet Union, and in some cases even increased in the post–World War II period, a phenomenon partly attributed to slower rates of urbanistion and traditionally earlier marriages in the southern republics. Soviet Europe moved towards sub-replacement fertility, while Soviet Central Asia continued to exhibit population growth well above replacement-level fertility.
The late 1960s and the 1970s witnessed a reversal of the declining trajectory of the rate of mortality in the USSR, and was especially notable among men of working age, but was also prevalent in Russia and other predominantly Slavic areas of the country. An analysis of the official data from the late 1980s showed that after worsening in the late-1970s and the early 1980s, adult mortality began to improve again. The infant mortality rate increased from 24.7 in 1970 to 27.9 in 1974. Some researchers regarded the rise as mostly real, a consequence of worsening health conditions and services. The rises in both adult and infant mortality were not explained or defended by Soviet officials, and the Soviet government stopped publishing all mortality statistics for ten years. Soviet demographers and health specialists remained silent about the mortality increases until the late-1980s, when the publication of mortality data resumed, and researchers could delve into the real causes.
Under Lenin, the state made explicit commitments to promote the equality of men and women. Many early Russian feminists and ordinary Russian working women actively participated in the Revolution, and many more were affected by the events of that period and the new policies. Beginning in October 1918, the Lenin's government liberalized divorce and abortion laws, decriminalized homosexuality (re-criminalized in the 1930s), permitted cohabitation, and ushered in a host of reforms. However, without birth control, the new system produced many broken marriages, as well as countless out-of-wedlock children. The epidemic of divorces and extramarital affairs created social hardships when Soviet leaders wanted people to concentrate their efforts on growing the economy. Giving women control over their fertility also led to a precipitous decline in the birth rate, perceived as a threat to their country's military power. By 1936, Stalin reversed most of the liberal laws, ushering in a pronatalist era that lasted for decades.
By 1917, Russia became the first great power to grant women the right to vote. After heavy casualties in World War I and II, women outnumbered men in Russia by a 4:3 ratio. This contributed to the larger role women played in Russian society compared to other great powers at the time.
Anatoly Lunacharsky became the first People's Commissar for Education of Soviet Russia. In the beginning, the Soviet authorities placed great emphasis on the elimination of illiteracy. All left-handed kids were forced to write with their right hand in the Soviet school system. Literate people were automatically hired as teachers. For a short period, quality was sacrificed for quantity. By 1940, Stalin could announce that illiteracy had been eliminated. Throughout the 1930s, social mobility rose sharply, which has been attributed to reforms in education. In the aftermath of World War II, the country's educational system expanded dramatically, which had a tremendous effect. In the 1960s, nearly all children had access to education, the only exception being those living in remote areas. Nikita Khrushchev tried to make education more accessible, making it clear to children that education was closely linked to the needs of society. Education also became important in giving rise to the New Man. Citizens directly entering the workforce had the constitutional right to a job and to free vocational training.
The education system was highly centralized and universally accessible to all citizens, with affirmative action for applicants from nations associated with cultural backwardness. However, as part of the general antisemitic policy, an unofficial Jewish quota was applied in the leading institutions of higher education by subjecting Jewish applicants to harsher entrance examinations. The Brezhnev era also introduced a rule that required all university applicants to present a reference from the local Komsomol party secretary. According to statistics from 1986, the number of higher education students per the population of 10,000 was 181 for the USSR, compared to 517 for the US.
The Soviet Union was an ethnically diverse country, with more than 100 distinct ethnic groups. The total population was estimated at 293 million in 1991. According to a 1990 estimate, the majority were Russians (50.78%), followed by Ukrainians (15.45%) and Uzbeks (5.84%).
All citizens of the USSR had their own ethnic affiliation. The ethnicity of a person was chosen at the age of sixteen by the child's parents. If the parents did not agree, the child was automatically assigned the ethnicity of the father. Partly due to Soviet policies, some of the smaller minority ethnic groups were considered part of larger ones, such as the Mingrelians of Georgia, who were classified with the linguistically related Georgians. Some ethnic groups voluntarily assimilated, while others were brought in by force. Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians shared close cultural ties, while other groups did not. With multiple nationalities living in the same territory, ethnic antagonisms developed over the years.
Members of various ethnicities participated in legislative bodies. Organs of power like the Politburo, the Secretariat of the Central Committee etc., were formally ethnically neutral, but in reality, ethnic Russians were overrepresented, although there were also non-Russian leaders in the Soviet leadership, such as Joseph Stalin, Grigory Zinoviev, Nikolai Podgorny or Andrei Gromyko. During the Soviet era, a significant number of ethnic Russians and Ukrainians migrated to other Soviet republics, and many of them settled there. According to the last census in 1989, the Russian "diaspora" in the Soviet republics had reached 25 million.
In 1917, before the revolution, health conditions were significantly behind those of developed countries. As Lenin later noted, "Either the lice will defeat socialism, or socialism will defeat the lice". The Soviet principle of health care was conceived by the People's Commissariat for Health in 1918. Health care was to be controlled by the state and would be provided to its citizens free of charge, a revolutionary concept at the time. Article 42 of the 1977 Soviet Constitution gave all citizens the right to health protection and free access to any health institutions in the USSR. Before Leonid Brezhnev became General Secretary, the Soviet healthcare system was held in high esteem by many foreign specialists. This changed, however, from Brezhnev's accession and Mikhail Gorbachev's tenure as leader, during which the health care system was heavily criticized for many basic faults, such as the quality of service and the unevenness in its provision. Minister of Health Yevgeniy Chazov, during the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, while highlighting such successes as having the most doctors and hospitals in the world, recognized the system's areas for improvement and felt that billions of Soviet rubles were squandered.
After the revolution, life expectancy for all age groups went up. This statistic in itself was seen by some that the socialist system was superior to the capitalist system. These improvements continued into the 1960s when statistics indicated that the life expectancy briefly surpassed that of the United States. Life expectancy started to decline in the 1970s, possibly because of alcohol abuse. At the same time, infant mortality began to rise. After 1974, the government stopped publishing statistics on the matter. This trend can be partly explained by the number of pregnancies rising drastically in the Asian part of the country where infant mortality was the highest while declining markedly in the more developed European part of the Soviet Union.
Under Lenin, the government gave small language groups their own writing systems. The development of these writing systems was highly successful, even though some flaws were detected. During the later days of the USSR, countries with the same multilingual situation implemented similar policies. A serious problem when creating these writing systems was that the languages differed dialectally greatly from each other. When a language had been given a writing system and appeared in a notable publication, it would attain "official language" status. There were many minority languages which never received their own writing system; therefore, their speakers were forced to have a second language. There are examples where the government retreated from this policy, most notably under Stalin where education was discontinued in languages that were not widespread. These languages were then assimilated into another language, mostly Russian. During World War II, some minority languages were banned, and their speakers accused of collaborating with the enemy.
As the most widely spoken of the Soviet Union's many languages, Russian "de facto" functioned as an official language, as the "language of interethnic communication" (), but only assumed the "de jure" status as the official national language in 1990.
Christianity and Islam had the highest number of adherents among the religious citizens. Eastern Christianity predominated among Christians, with Russia's traditional Russian Orthodox Church being the largest Christian denomination. About 90% of the Soviet Union's Muslims were Sunnis, with Shias being concentrated in the Azerbaijan SSR. Smaller groups included Roman Catholics, Jews, Buddhists, and a variety of Protestant denominations (especially Baptists and Lutherans).
Religious influence had been strong in the Russian Empire. The Russian Orthodox Church enjoyed a privileged status as the church of the monarchy and took part in carrying out official state functions. The immediate period following the establishment of the Soviet state included a struggle against the Orthodox Church, which the revolutionaries considered an ally of the former ruling classes.
In Soviet law, the "freedom to hold religious services" was constitutionally guaranteed, although the ruling Communist Party regarded religion as incompatible with the Marxist spirit of scientific materialism. In practice, the Soviet system subscribed to a narrow interpretation of this right, and in fact utilized a range of official measures to discourage religion and curb the activities of religious groups.
The 1918 Council of People's Commissars decree establishing the Russian SFSR as a secular state also decreed that "the teaching of religion in all [places] where subjects of general instruction are taught, is forbidden. Citizens may teach and may be taught religion privately." Among further restrictions, those adopted in 1929 included express prohibitions on a range of church activities, including meetings for organized Bible study. Both Christian and non-Christian establishments were shut down by the thousands in the 1920s and 1930s. By 1940, as many as 90% of the churches, synagogues, and mosques that had been operating in 1917 were closed.
Under the doctrine of state atheism, there was a "government-sponsored program of forced conversion to atheism" conducted by the Communists. The regime targeted religions based on state interests, and while most organized religions were never outlawed, religious property was confiscated, believers were harassed, and religion was ridiculed while atheism was propagated in schools. In 1925, the government founded the League of Militant Atheists to intensify the propaganda campaign. Accordingly, although personal expressions of religious faith were not explicitly banned, a strong sense of social stigma was imposed on them by the formal structures and mass media, and it was generally considered unacceptable for members of certain professions (teachers, state bureaucrats, soldiers) to be openly religious. As for the Russian Orthodox Church, Soviet authorities sought to control it and, in times of national crisis, to exploit it for the regime's own purposes; but their ultimate goal was to eliminate it. During the first five years of Soviet power, the Bolsheviks executed 28 Russian Orthodox bishops and over 1,200 Russian Orthodox priests. Many others were imprisoned or exiled. Believers were harassed and persecuted. Most seminaries were closed, and the publication of most religious material was prohibited. By 1941, only 500 churches remained open out of about 54,000 in existence before World War I.
Convinced that religious anti-Sovietism had become a thing of the past, and with the looming threat of war, the Stalin regime began shifting to a more moderate religion policy in the late 1930s. Soviet religious establishments overwhelmingly rallied to support the war effort during World War II. Amid other accommodations to religious faith after the German invasion, churches were reopened. Radio Moscow began broadcasting a religious hour, and a historic meeting between Stalin and Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Sergius of Moscow was held in 1943. Stalin had the support of the majority of the religious people in the USSR even through the late 1980s. The general tendency of this period was an increase in religious activity among believers of all faiths.
Under Nikita Khrushchev, the state leadership clashed with the churches in 1958–1964, a period when atheism was emphasized in the educational curriculum, and numerous state publications promoted atheistic views. During this period, the number of churches fell from 20,000 to 10,000 from 1959 to 1965, and the number of synagogues dropped from 500 to 97. The number of working mosques also declined, falling from 1,500 to 500 within a decade.
Religious institutions remained monitored by the Soviet government, but churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques were all given more leeway in the Brezhnev era. Official relations between the Orthodox Church and the government again warmed to the point that the Brezhnev government twice honored Orthodox Patriarch Alexy I with the Order of the Red Banner of Labour. A poll conducted by Soviet authorities in 1982 recorded 20% of the Soviet population as "active religious believers."
The culture of the Soviet Union passed through several stages during the USSR's existence. During the first decade following the revolution, there was relative freedom and artists experimented with several different styles to find a distinctive Soviet style of art. Lenin wanted art to be accessible to the Russian people. On the other hand, hundreds of intellectuals, writers, and artists were exiled or executed, and their work banned, such as Nikolay Gumilyov who was shot for alleged conspiring against the Bolshevik regime, and Yevgeny Zamyatin.
The government encouraged a variety of trends. In art and literature, numerous schools, some traditional and others radically experimental, proliferated. Communist writers Maxim Gorky and Vladimir Mayakovsky were active during this time. As a means of influencing a largely illiterate society, films received encouragement from the state, and much of director Sergei Eisenstein's best work dates from this period.
During Stalin's rule, the Soviet culture was characterized by the rise and domination of the government-imposed style of socialist realism, with all other trends being severely repressed, with rare exceptions, such as Mikhail Bulgakov's works. Many writers were imprisoned and killed.
Following the Khrushchev Thaw, censorship was diminished. During this time, a distinctive period of Soviet culture developed, characterized by conformist public life and an intense focus on personal life. Greater experimentation in art forms was again permissible, resulting in the production of more sophisticated and subtly critical work. The regime loosened its emphasis on socialist realism; thus, for instance, many protagonists of the novels of author Yury Trifonov concerned themselves with problems of daily life rather than with building socialism. Underground dissident literature, known as "samizdat", developed during this late period. In architecture, the Khrushchev era mostly focused on functional design as opposed to the highly decorated style of Stalin's epoch.
In the second half of the 1980s, Gorbachev's policies of "perestroika" and "glasnost" significantly expanded freedom of expression throughout the country in the media and the press.
Founded on 20 July 1924 in Moscow, "Sovetsky Sport" was the first sports newspaper of the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Olympic Committee formed on 21 April 1951, and the IOC recognized the new body in its 45th session. In the same year, when the Soviet representative Konstantin Andrianov became an IOC member, the USSR officially joined the Olympic Movement. The 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki thus became first Olympic Games for Soviet athletes.
The Soviet Union national ice hockey team won nearly every world championship and Olympic tournament between 1954 and 1991 and never failed to medal in any International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) tournament in which they competed.
The advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete" of the Eastern Bloc countries further eroded the ideology of the pure amateur, as it put the self-financed amateurs of the Western countries at a disadvantage. The Soviet Union entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession – in reality, the state paid many of these competitors to train on a full-time basis. Nevertheless, the IOC held to the traditional rules regarding amateurism.
A 1989 report by a committee of the Australian Senate claimed that "there is hardly a medal winner at the Moscow Games, certainly not a gold medal winner...who is not on one sort of drug or another: usually several kinds. The Moscow Games might well have been called the Chemists' Games".
A member of the IOC Medical Commission, Manfred Donike, privately ran additional tests with a new technique for identifying abnormal levels of testosterone by measuring its ratio to epitestosterone in urine. Twenty percent of the specimens he tested, including those from sixteen gold medalists, would have resulted in disciplinary proceedings had the tests been official. The results of Donike's unofficial tests later convinced the IOC to add his new technique to their testing protocols. The first documented case of "blood doping" occurred at the 1980 Summer Olympics when a runner was transfused with two pints of blood before winning medals in the 5000 m and 10,000 m.
Documentation obtained in 2016 revealed the Soviet Union's plans for a statewide doping system in track and field in preparation for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Dated before the decision to boycott the 1984 Games, the document detailed the existing steroids operations of the program, along with suggestions for further enhancements. Dr. Sergei Portugalov of the Institute for Physical Culture prepared the communication, directed to the Soviet Union's head of track and field. Portugalov later became one of the leading figures involved in the implementation of Russian doping before the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Official Soviet environmental policy has always attached great importance to actions in which human beings actively improve nature. Lenin's quote "Communism is Soviet power and electrification of the country!" in many respects it summarizes the focus on modernization and industrial development. During the first five-year plan in 1928, Stalin proceeded to industrialize the country at all costs. Values such as environmental and nature protection have been completely ignored in the struggle to create a modern industrial society. After Stalin's death, they focused more on environmental issues, but the basic perception of the value of environmental protection remained the same.
The Soviet media has always focused on the vast expanse of land and the virtually indestructible natural resources. This made it feel that contamination and looting of nature were not a problem. The Soviet state also firmly believed that scientific and technological progress would solve all the problems. Official ideology said that under socialism environmental problems could easily be overcome, unlike capitalist countries, where they seemingly could not be solved. The Soviet authorities had an almost unwavering belief that man could transcend nature. However, when the authorities had to admit that there were environmental problems in the USSR in the 1980s, they explained the problems in such a way that socialism had not yet been fully developed; pollution in socialist society was only a temporary anomaly that would have been resolved if socialism had developed.
The Chernobyl disaster in 1986 was the first major accident at a civilian nuclear power plant, unparalleled in the world, when a large number of radioactive isotopes were released into the atmosphere. Radioactive doses have scattered relatively far. The main health problem after the accident was 4,000 new cases of thyroid cancer, but this led to a relatively low number of deaths (WHO data, 2005). However, the long-term effects of the accident are unknown. Another major accident is the Kyshtym disaster.
After the fall of the USSR, it was discovered that the environmental problems were greater than what the Soviet authorities admitted. The Kola Peninsula was one of the places with clear problems. Around the industrial cities of Monchegorsk and Norilsk, where nickel, for example, is mined, all forests have been killed by contamination, while the northern and other parts of Russia have been affected by emissions. During the 1990s, people in the West were also interested in the radioactive hazards of nuclear facilities, decommissioned nuclear submarines, and the processing of nuclear waste or spent nuclear fuel. It was also known in the early 1990s that the USSR had transported radioactive material to the Barents Sea and Kara Sea, which was later confirmed by the Russian parliament. The crash of the K-141 Kursk submarine in 2000 in the west further raised concerns. In the past, there were accidents involving submarines K-19, K-8 or K-129. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26779 |
Social science
Social science is the branch of science devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of society", established in the 19th century. In addition to sociology, it now encompasses a wide array of academic disciplines, including anthropology, archaeology, economics, human geography, linguistics, management science, media studies, musicology, political science, psychology, welfare and nursing studies and social history. (For a more detailed list of sub-disciplines within the social sciences see: Outline of social science.)
Positivist social scientists use methods resembling those of the natural sciences as tools for understanding society, and so define science in its stricter modern sense. Interpretivist social scientists, by contrast, may use social critique or symbolic interpretation rather than constructing empirically falsifiable theories, and thus treat science in its broader sense. In modern academic practice, researchers are often eclectic, using multiple methodologies (for instance, by combining both quantitative and qualitative research). The term "social research" has also acquired a degree of autonomy as practitioners from various disciplines share in its aims and methods.
The history of the social sciences begins in the Age of Enlightenment after 1650, which saw a revolution within natural philosophy, changing the basic framework by which individuals understood what was "scientific". Social sciences came forth from the moral philosophy of the time and were influenced by the Age of Revolutions, such as the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution. The "social sciences" developed from the sciences (experimental and applied), or the systematic knowledge-bases or prescriptive practices, relating to the social improvement of a group of interacting entities.
The beginnings of the social sciences in the 18th century are reflected in the grand encyclopedia of Diderot, with articles from Jean-Jacques Rousseau and other pioneers. The growth of the social sciences is also reflected in other specialized encyclopedias. The modern period saw ""social science"" first used as a distinct conceptual field. Social science was influenced by positivism, focusing on knowledge based on actual positive sense experience and avoiding the negative; metaphysical speculation was avoided. Auguste Comte used the term ""science sociale"" to describe the field, taken from the ideas of Charles Fourier; Comte also referred to the field as "social physics".
Following this period, five paths of development sprang forth in the social sciences, influenced by Comte in other fields. One route that was taken was the rise of social research. Large statistical surveys were undertaken in various parts of the United States and Europe. Another route undertaken was initiated by Émile Durkheim, studying "social facts", and Vilfredo Pareto, opening metatheoretical ideas and individual theories. A third means developed, arising from the methodological dichotomy present, in which social phenomena were identified with and understood; this was championed by figures such as Max Weber. The fourth route taken, based in economics, was developed and furthered economic knowledge as a hard science. The last path was the correlation of knowledge and social values; the antipositivism and verstehen sociology of Max Weber firmly demanded this distinction. In this route, theory (description) and prescription were non-overlapping formal discussions of a subject.
Around the start of the 20th century, Enlightenment philosophy was challenged in various quarters. After the use of classical theories since the end of the scientific revolution, various fields substituted mathematics studies for experimental studies and examining equations to build a theoretical structure. The development of social science subfields became very quantitative in methodology. The interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary nature of scientific inquiry into human behaviour, social and environmental factors affecting it, made many of the natural sciences interested in some aspects of social science methodology. Examples of boundary blurring include emerging disciplines like social research of medicine, sociobiology, neuropsychology, bioeconomics and the history and sociology of science. Increasingly, quantitative research and qualitative methods are being integrated in the study of human action and its implications and consequences. In the first half of the 20th century, statistics became a free-standing discipline of applied mathematics. Statistical methods were used confidently.
In the contemporary period, Karl Popper and Talcott Parsons influenced the furtherance of the social sciences. Researchers continue to search for a unified consensus on what methodology might have the power and refinement to connect a proposed "grand theory" with the various midrange theories that, with considerable success, continue to provide usable frameworks for massive, growing data banks; for more, see consilience. The social sciences will for the foreseeable future be composed of different zones in the research of, and sometime distinct in approach toward, the field.
The term "social science" may refer either to the specific "sciences of society" established by thinkers such as Comte, Durkheim, Marx, and Weber, or more generally to all disciplines outside of "noble science" and arts. By the late 19th century, the academic social sciences were constituted of five fields: jurisprudence and amendment of the law, education, health, economy and trade, and art.
Around the start of the 21st century, the expanding domain of economics in the social sciences has been described as economic imperialism.
The social science disciplines are branches of knowledge taught and researched at the college or university level. Social science disciplines are defined and recognized by the academic journals in which research is published, and the learned social science societies and academic departments or faculties to which their practitioners belong. Social science fields of study usually have several sub-disciplines or branches, and the distinguishing lines between these are often both arbitrary and ambiguous.
Anthropology is the holistic "science of man", a science of the totality of human existence. The discipline deals with the integration of different aspects of the social sciences, humanities, and human biology. In the twentieth century, academic disciplines have often been institutionally divided into three broad domains. The "natural sciences" seek to derive general laws through reproducible and verifiable experiments. The "humanities" generally study local traditions, through their history, literature, music, and arts, with an emphasis on understanding particular individuals, events, or eras. The "social sciences" have generally attempted to develop scientific methods to understand social phenomena in a generalizable way, though usually with methods distinct from those of the natural sciences.
The anthropological social sciences often develop nuanced descriptions rather than the general laws derived in physics or chemistry, or they may explain individual cases through more general principles, as in many fields of psychology. Anthropology (like some fields of history) does not easily fit into one of these categories, and different branches of anthropology draw on one or more of these domains. Within the United States, anthropology is divided into four sub-fields: archaeology, physical or biological anthropology, anthropological linguistics, and cultural anthropology. It is an area that is offered at most undergraduate institutions. The word "anthropos" (ἄνθρωπος) in Ancient Greek means "human being" or "person". Eric Wolf described sociocultural anthropology as "the most scientific of the humanities, and the most humanistic of the sciences".
The goal of anthropology is to provide a holistic account of humans and human nature. This means that, though anthropologists generally specialize in only one sub-field, they always keep in mind the biological, linguistic, historic and cultural aspects of any problem. Since anthropology arose as a science in Western societies that were complex and industrial, a major trend within anthropology has been a methodological drive to study peoples in societies with more simple social organization, sometimes called "primitive" in anthropological literature, but without any connotation of "inferior". Today, anthropologists use terms such as "less complex" societies or refer to specific modes of subsistence or production, such as "pastoralist" or "forager" or "horticulturalist" to refer to humans living in non-industrial, non-Western cultures, such people or folk ("ethnos") remaining of great interest within anthropology.
The quest for holism leads most anthropologists to study a people in detail, using biogenetic, archaeological, and linguistic data alongside direct observation of contemporary customs. In the 1990s and 2000s, calls for clarification of what constitutes a culture, of how an observer knows where his or her own culture ends and another begins, and other crucial topics in writing anthropology were heard. It is possible to view all human cultures as part of one large, evolving global culture. These dynamic relationships, between what can be observed on the ground, as opposed to what can be observed by compiling many local observations remain fundamental in any kind of anthropology, whether cultural, biological, linguistic or archaeological.
Communication studies deals with processes of human communication, commonly defined as the sharing of symbols to create meaning. The discipline encompasses a range of topics, from face-to-face conversation to mass media outlets such as television broadcasting. Communication studies also examines how messages are interpreted through the political, cultural, economic, and social dimensions of their contexts. Communication is institutionalized under many different names at different universities, including "communication", "communication studies", "speech communication", "rhetorical studies", "communication science", "media studies", "communication arts", "mass communication", "media ecology", and "communication and media science".
Communication studies integrates aspects of both social sciences and the humanities. As a social science, the discipline often overlaps with sociology, psychology, anthropology, biology, political science, economics, and public policy, among others. From a humanities perspective, communication is concerned with rhetoric and persuasion (traditional graduate programs in communication studies trace their history to the rhetoricians of Ancient Greece). The field applies to outside disciplines as well, including engineering, architecture, mathematics, and information science.
Economics is a social science that seeks to analyze and describe the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth. The word "economics" is from the Ancient Greek "oikos", "family, household, estate", and νόμος "nomos", "custom, law", and hence means "household management" or "management of the state". An economist is a person using economic concepts and data in the course of employment, or someone who has earned a degree in the subject. The classic brief definition of economics, set out by Lionel Robbins in 1932, is "the science which studies human behavior as a relation between scarce means having alternative uses". Without scarcity and alternative uses, there is no economic problem. Briefer yet is "the study of how people seek to satisfy needs and wants" and "the study of the financial aspects of human behavior".
Economics has two broad branches: microeconomics, where the unit of analysis is the individual agent, such as a household or firm, and macroeconomics, where the unit of analysis is an economy as a whole. Another division of the subject distinguishes positive economics, which seeks to predict and explain economic phenomena, from normative economics, which orders choices and actions by some criterion; such orderings necessarily involve subjective value judgments. Since the early part of the 20th century, economics has focused largely on measurable quantities, employing both theoretical models and empirical analysis. Quantitative models, however, can be traced as far back as the physiocratic school. Economic reasoning has been increasingly applied in recent decades to other social situations such as politics, law, psychology, history, religion, marriage and family life, and other social interactions.
This paradigm crucially assumes (1) that resources are scarce because they are not sufficient to satisfy all wants, and (2) that "economic value" is willingness to pay as revealed for instance by market (arms' length) transactions. Rival heterodox schools of thought, such as institutional economics, green economics, Marxist economics, and economic sociology, make other grounding assumptions. For example, Marxist economics assumes that economics primarily deals with the investigation of exchange value, of which human labour is the source.
The expanding domain of economics in the social sciences has been described as economic imperialism.
Education encompasses teaching and learning specific skills, and also something less tangible but more profound: the imparting of knowledge, positive judgement and well-developed wisdom. Education has as one of its fundamental aspects the imparting of culture from generation to generation (see socialization). To educate means 'to draw out', from the Latin "educare", or to facilitate the realization of an individual's potential and talents. It is an application of pedagogy, a body of theoretical and applied research relating to teaching and learning and draws on many disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, computer science, linguistics, neuroscience, sociology and anthropology.
The education of an individual human begins at birth and continues throughout life. (Some believe that education begins even before birth, as evidenced by some parents' playing music or reading to the baby in the womb in the hope it will influence the child's development.) For some, the struggles and triumphs of daily life provide far more instruction than does formal schooling (thus Mark Twain's admonition to "never let school interfere with your education").
Geography as a discipline can be split broadly into two main sub fields: human geography and physical geography. The former focuses largely on the built environment and how space is created, viewed and managed by humans as well as the influence humans have on the space they occupy. This may involve cultural geography, transportation, health, military operations, and cities. The latter examines the natural environment and how the climate, vegetation and life, soil, oceans, water and landforms are produced and interact. Physical geography examines phenomena related to the measurement of earth. As a result of the two subfields using different approaches a third field has emerged, which is environmental geography. Environmental geography combines physical and human geography and looks at the interactions between the environment and humans. Other branches of geography include social geography, regional geography, and geomatics.
Geographers attempt to understand the Earth in terms of physical and spatial relationships. The first geographers focused on the science of mapmaking and finding ways to precisely project the surface of the earth. In this sense, geography bridges some gaps between the natural sciences and social sciences. Historical geography is often taught in a college in a unified Department of Geography.
Modern geography is an all-encompassing discipline, closely related to GISc, that seeks to understand humanity and its natural environment. The fields of urban planning, regional science, and planetology are closely related to geography. Practitioners of geography use many technologies and methods to collect data such as GIS, remote sensing, aerial photography, statistics, and global positioning systems (GPS).
History is the continuous, systematic narrative and research into past human events as interpreted through historiographical paradigms or theories.
History has a base in both the social sciences and the humanities. In the United States the National Endowment for the Humanities includes history in its definition of humanities (as it does for applied linguistics). However, the National Research Council classifies history as a social science. The historical method comprises the techniques and guidelines by which historians use primary sources and other evidence to research and then to write history. The Social Science History Association, formed in 1976, brings together scholars from numerous disciplines interested in social history.
The social science of law, jurisprudence, in common parlance, means a rule that (unlike a rule of ethics) is capable of enforcement through institutions. However, many laws are based on norms accepted by a community and thus have an ethical foundation. The study of law crosses the boundaries between the social sciences and humanities, depending on one's view of research into its objectives and effects. Law is not always enforceable, especially in the international relations context. It has been defined as a "system of rules", as an "interpretive concept" to achieve justice, as an "authority" to mediate people's interests, and even as "the command of a sovereign, backed by the threat of a sanction". However one likes to think of law, it is a completely central social institution. Legal policy incorporates the practical manifestation of thinking from almost every social science and the humanities. Laws are politics, because politicians create them. Law is philosophy, because moral and ethical persuasions shape their ideas. Law tells many of history's stories, because statutes, case law and codifications build up over time. And law is economics, because any rule about contract, tort, property law, labour law, company law and many more can have long-lasting effects on the distribution of wealth. The noun "law" derives from the late Old English "lagu", meaning something laid down or fixed and the adjective "legal" comes from the Latin word "lex".
Linguistics investigates the cognitive and social aspects of human language. The field is divided into areas that focus on aspects of the linguistic signal, such as syntax (the study of the rules that govern the structure of sentences), semantics (the study of meaning), morphology (the study of the structure of words), phonetics (the study of speech sounds) and phonology (the study of the abstract sound system of a particular language); however, work in areas like evolutionary linguistics (the study of the origins and evolution of language) and psycholinguistics (the study of psychological factors in human language) cut across these divisions.
The overwhelming majority of modern research in linguistics takes a predominantly synchronic perspective (focusing on language at a particular point in time), and a great deal of it—partly owing to the influence of Noam Chomsky—aims at formulating theories of the cognitive processing of language. However, language does not exist in a vacuum, or only in the brain, and approaches like contact linguistics, creole studies, discourse analysis, social interactional linguistics, and sociolinguistics explore language in its social context. Sociolinguistics often makes use of traditional quantitative analysis and statistics in investigating the frequency of features, while some disciplines, like contact linguistics, focus on qualitative analysis. While certain areas of linguistics can thus be understood as clearly falling within the social sciences, other areas, like acoustic phonetics and neurolinguistics, draw on the natural sciences. Linguistics draws only secondarily on the humanities, which played a rather greater role in linguistic inquiry in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Ferdinand Saussure is considered the father of modern linguistics.
Political science is an academic and research discipline that deals with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behaviour. Fields and subfields of political science include political economy, political theory and philosophy, civics and comparative politics, theory of direct democracy, apolitical governance, participatory direct democracy, national systems, cross-national political analysis, political development, international relations, foreign policy, international law, politics, public administration, administrative behaviour, public law, judicial behaviour, and public policy. Political science also studies power in international relations and the theory of great powers and superpowers.
Political science is methodologically diverse, although recent years have witnessed an upsurge in the use of the scientific method, that is, the proliferation of formal-deductive model building and quantitative hypothesis testing. Approaches to the discipline include rational choice, classical political philosophy, interpretivism, structuralism, and behaviouralism, realism, pluralism, and institutionalism. Political science, as one of the social sciences, uses methods and techniques that relate to the kinds of inquiries sought: primary sources such as historical documents, interviews, and official records, as well as secondary sources such as scholarly articles are used in building and testing theories. Empirical methods include survey research, statistical analysis or econometrics, case studies, experiments, and model building. Herbert Baxter Adams is credited with coining the phrase "political science" while teaching history at Johns Hopkins University.
Psychology is an academic and applied field involving the study of behaviour and mental processes. Psychology also refers to the application of such knowledge to various spheres of human activity, including problems of individuals' daily lives and the treatment of mental illness. The word "psychology" comes from the Ancient Greek ψυχή "psyche" ("soul", "mind") and "logy" ("study").
Psychology differs from anthropology, economics, political science, and sociology in seeking to capture explanatory generalizations about the mental function and overt behaviour of individuals, while the other disciplines focus on creating descriptive generalizations about the functioning of social groups or situation-specific human behaviour. In practice, however, there is quite a lot of cross-fertilization that takes place among the various fields. Psychology differs from biology and neuroscience in that it is primarily concerned with the interaction of mental processes and behaviour, and of the overall processes of a system, and not simply the biological or neural processes themselves, though the subfield of neuropsychology combines the study of the actual neural processes with the study of the mental effects they have subjectively produced.
Many people associate psychology with clinical psychology, which focuses on assessment and treatment of problems in living and psychopathology. In reality, psychology has myriad specialties including social psychology, developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, educational psychology, industrial-organizational psychology, mathematical psychology, neuropsychology, and quantitative analysis of behaviour.
Psychology is a very broad science that is rarely tackled as a whole, major block. Although some subfields encompass a natural science base and a social science application, others can be clearly distinguished as having little to do with the social sciences or having a lot to do with the social sciences. For example, biological psychology is considered a natural science with a social scientific application (as is clinical medicine), social and occupational psychology are, generally speaking, purely social sciences, whereas neuropsychology is a natural science that lacks application out of the scientific tradition entirely. In British universities, emphasis on what tenet of psychology a student has studied and/or concentrated is communicated through the degree conferred: B.Psy. indicates a balance between natural and social sciences, B.Sc. indicates a strong (or entire) scientific concentration, whereas a B.A. underlines a majority of social science credits. This is not always necessarily the case however, and in many UK institutions students studying the B.Psy, B.Sc, and B.A. follow the same curriculum as outlined by The British Psychological Society and have the same options of specialism open to them regardless of whether they choose a balance, a heavy science basis, or heavy social science basis to their degree. If they applied to read the B.A. for example, but specialized in heavily science-based modules, then they will still generally be awarded the B.A.
Sociology is the systematic study of society, individuals' relationship to their societies, the consequences of difference, and other aspects of human social action. The meaning of the word comes from the suffix "-logy", which means "study of", derived from Ancient Greek, and the stem "soci-", which is from the Latin word "socius", meaning "companion", or society in general.
Auguste Comte (1798–1857) coined the term, Sociology, as a way to apply natural science principles and techniques to the social world in 1838. Comte endeavoured to unify history, psychology and economics through the descriptive understanding of the social realm. He proposed that social ills could be remedied through sociological positivism, an epistemological approach outlined in "The Course in Positive Philosophy" [1830–1842] and "A General View of Positivism" (1844). Though Comte is generally regarded as the "Father of Sociology", the discipline was formally established by another French thinker, Émile Durkheim (1858–1917), who developed positivism as a foundation to practical social research. Durkheim set up the first European department of sociology at the University of Bordeaux in 1895, publishing his "Rules of the Sociological Method". In 1896, he established the journal "L'Année Sociologique". Durkheim's seminal monograph, "Suicide" (1897), a case study of suicide rates among Catholic and Protestant populations, distinguished sociological analysis from psychology or philosophy.
Karl Marx rejected Comte's positivism but nevertheless aimed to establish a "science of society" based on historical materialism, becoming recognized as a founding figure of sociology posthumously as the term gained broader meaning. Around the start of the 20th century, the first wave of German sociologists, including Max Weber and Georg Simmel, developed sociological antipositivism. The field may be broadly recognized as an amalgam of three modes of social thought in particular: Durkheimian positivism and structural functionalism; Marxist historical materialism and conflict theory; and Weberian antipositivism and verstehen analysis. American sociology broadly arose on a separate trajectory, with little Marxist influence, an emphasis on rigorous experimental methodology, and a closer association with pragmatism and social psychology. In the 1920s, the Chicago school developed symbolic interactionism. Meanwhile, in the 1930s, the Frankfurt School pioneered the idea of critical theory, an interdisciplinary form of Marxist sociology drawing upon thinkers as diverse as Sigmund Freud and Friedrich Nietzsche. Critical theory would take on something of a life of its own after World War II, influencing literary criticism and the Birmingham School establishment of cultural studies.
Sociology evolved as an academic response to the challenges of modernity, such as industrialization, urbanization, secularization, and a perceived process of enveloping rationalization. The field generally concerns the social rules and processes that bind and separate people not only as individuals, but as members of associations, groups, communities and institutions, and includes the examination of the organization and development of human social life. The sociological field of interest ranges from the analysis of short contacts between anonymous individuals on the street to the study of global social processes. In the terms of sociologists Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann, social scientists seek an understanding of the "Social Construction of Reality". Most sociologists work in one or more subfields. One useful way to describe the discipline is as a cluster of sub-fields that examine different dimensions of society. For example, social stratification studies inequality and class structure; demography studies changes in a population size or type; criminology examines criminal behaviour and deviance; and political sociology studies the interaction between society and state.
Since its inception, sociological epistemologies, methods, and frames of enquiry, have significantly expanded and diverged. Sociologists use a diversity of research methods, collect both quantitative and qualitative data, draw upon empirical techniques, and engage critical theory. Common modern methods include case studies, historical research, interviewing, participant observation, social network analysis, survey research, statistical analysis, and model building, among other approaches. Since the late 1970s, many sociologists have tried to make the discipline useful for purposes beyond the academy. The results of sociological research aid educators, lawmakers, administrators, developers, and others interested in resolving social problems and formulating public policy, through subdisciplinary areas such as evaluation research, methodological assessment, and public sociology.
In the early 1970s, women sociologists began to question sociological paradigms and the invisibility of women in sociological studies, analysis, and courses. In 1969, feminist sociologists challenged the discipline's androcentrism at the American Sociological Association's annual conference. This led to the founding of the organization Sociologists for Women in Society, and, eventually, a new sociology journal, Gender & Society. Today, the sociology of gender is considered to be one of the most prominent sub-fields in the discipline.
New sociological sub-fields continue to appear — such as community studies, computational sociology, environmental sociology, network analysis, actor-network theory, gender studies, and a growing list, many of which are cross-disciplinary in nature.
Additional applied or interdisciplinary fields related to the social sciences include:
The origin of the survey can be traced back at least early as the Domesday Book in 1086, while some scholars pinpoint the origin of demography to 1663 with the publication of John Graunt's "Natural and Political Observations upon the Bills of Mortality". Social research began most intentionally, however, with the positivist philosophy of science in the 19th century.
In contemporary usage, "social research" is a relatively autonomous term, encompassing the work of practitioners from various disciplines that share in its aims and methods. Social scientists employ a range of methods in order to analyse a vast breadth of social phenomena; from census survey data derived from millions of individuals, to the in-depth analysis of a single agent's social experiences; from monitoring what is happening on contemporary streets, to the investigation of ancient historical documents. The methods originally rooted in classical sociology and statistical mathematics have formed the basis for research in other disciplines, such as political science, media studies, and marketing and market research.
Social research methods may be divided into two broad schools:
Social scientists will commonly combine quantitative and qualitative approaches as part of a multi-strategy design. Questionnaires, field-based data collection, archival database information and laboratory-based data collections are some of the measurement techniques used. It is noted the importance of measurement and analysis, focusing on the (difficult to achieve) goal of objective research or statistical hypothesis testing. A mathematical model uses mathematical language to describe a system. The process of developing a mathematical model is termed 'mathematical modelling' (also modeling). Eykhoff (1974) defined a "mathematical model" as 'a representation of the essential aspects of an existing system (or a system to be constructed) that presents knowledge of that system in usable form'. Mathematical models can take many forms, including but not limited to dynamical systems, statistical models, differential equations, or game theoretic models.
These and other types of models can overlap, with a given model involving a variety of abstract structures. The system is a set of interacting or interdependent entities, real or abstract, forming an integrated whole. The concept of an "integrated whole" can also be stated in terms of a system embodying a set of relationships that are differentiated from relationships of the set to other elements, and from relationships between an element of the set and elements not a part of the relational regime. A dynamical system modeled as a mathematical formalization has a fixed "rule" that describes the time dependence of a point's position in its ambient space. Small changes in the state of the system correspond to small changes in the numbers. The "evolution rule" of the dynamical system is a fixed rule that describes what future states follow from the current state. The rule is deterministic: for a given time interval only one future state follows from the current state.
Social scientists often conduct program evaluation, which is a systematic method for collecting, analyzing, and using information to answer questions about projects, policies and programs, particularly about their effectiveness and efficiency. In both the public and private sectors, stakeholders often want to know whether the programs they are funding, implementing, voting for, receiving or objecting to are producing the intended effect. While program evaluation first focuses around this definition, important considerations often include how much the program costs per participant, how the program could be improved, whether the program is worthwhile, whether there are better alternatives, if there are unintended outcomes, and whether the program goals are appropriate and useful.
Some social theorists emphasize the subjective nature of research. These writers espouse social theory perspectives that include various types of the following:
Other fringe social theorists delve in alternative nature of research. These writers share social theory perspectives that include various types of the following:
Most universities offer degrees in social science fields. The Bachelor of Social Science is a degree targeted at the social sciences in particular, it is often more flexible and in-depth than other degrees that include social science subjects.
In the United States, a university may offer a student who studies a social sciences field a Bachelor of Arts degree, particularly if the field is within one of the traditional liberal arts such as history, or a BSc: Bachelor of Science degree such as those given by the London School of Economics, as the social sciences constitute one of the two main branches of science (the other being the natural sciences). In addition, some institutions have degrees for a particular social science, such as the Bachelor of Economics degree, though such specialized degrees are relatively rare in the United States.
Graduate students may get a Master's degree (Master of Arts, Master of Science or a field-specific degree such as Master of Public Administration) or Ph.D.
The social sciences receive less funding than the natural sciences. It has been estimated that only 0.12% of all funding for climate-related research is spent on the social science of climate change mitigation. Vastly more funding is spent on natural science studies of climate change and considerable sums are also spent on studies of impact of and adaptation to climate change. It has been argued that this is a misallocation of resources, as the most urgent puzzle at the current juncture is to work out how to change human behavior to mitigate climate change, whereas the natural science of climate change is already well established and there will be decades and centuries to handle adaptation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26781 |
Statute
A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by legislative bodies; they are distinguished from case law or precedent, which is decided by courts, and regulations issued by government agencies.
In virtually all countries, newly enacted statutes are published and distributed so that everyone can look up the statutory law. This can be done in the form of a government gazette which may include other kinds of legal notices released by the government, or in the form of a series of books whose content is limited to legislative acts. In either form, statutes are traditionally published in chronological order based on date of enactment.
A universal problem encountered by lawmakers throughout human history is how to organize published statutes. Such publications have a habit of starting small but growing rapidly over time, as new statutes are enacted in response to the exigencies of the moment. Eventually, persons trying to find the law are forced to sort through an enormous number of statutes enacted at various points in time to determine which portions are still in effect.
The solution adopted in many countries is to organize existing statutory law in topical arrangements (or "codified") within publications called codes, then ensure that new statutes are consistently drafted so that they add, amend, repeal or move various code sections. In turn, in theory, the code will thenceforth reflect the current cumulative state of the statutory law in that jurisdiction. In many nations statutory law is distinguished from and subordinate to constitutional law.
The term statute is also used to refer to an International treaty that establishes an institution, such as the Statute of the European Central Bank, a protocol to the international courts as well, such as the Statute of the International Court of Justice and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Statute is also another word for law. The term was adapted from England in about the 18th century.
In the autonomous communities of Spain, an autonomy statute is a legal document similar to the constitution of a federated state, save that it is enacted by the national legislature, rather than the autonomous community it governs. The autonomy statutes in Spain have the rank of "ley organica" (organic law), a category of special legislation reserved only for the main institutions and issues and mentioned in the constitution (the highest ranking legal instrument in Spain). "Leyes organicas" rank between the constitution and ordinary laws. The name was chosen, among others, to avoid confusion with the term "constitution" (i.e. the Spanish constitution of 1978).
In biblical terminology, statute (Hebrew "choq") refers to a law given without any reason or justification. The classic example is the statute regarding the Red Heifer.(Numbers 19:2)
The opposite of a chok is a "mishpat", a law given for a specified reason, e.g. the Sabbath laws, which were given because "God created the world in six days, but on the seventh day He rested" (Genesis 2:2-3).
"That which upholds, supports or maintains the regulatory order of the universe" meaning the "Law" or "Natural Law". This is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26783 |
Sarajevo
Sarajevo ( ; , ; "see ") is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area, including Sarajevo Canton, East Sarajevo and nearby municipalities, is home to 555,210 inhabitants. Nestled within the greater Sarajevo valley of Bosnia, it is surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of the Balkans.
Sarajevo is the political, financial, social and cultural center of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a prominent center of culture in the Balkans, with region-wide influence in entertainment, media, fashion and the arts.
Due to its long history of religious and cultural diversity, Sarajevo is sometimes called the "Jerusalem of Europe" or "Jerusalem of the Balkans". It is one of only a few major European cities to have a mosque, Catholic church, Orthodox church and synagogue within the same neighborhood. A regional center in education, the city is home to the Balkans' first institution of tertiary education in the form of an Islamic madrasa, today part of the University of Sarajevo.
Although settlement in the area stretches back to prehistoric times, the modern city arose as an Ottoman stronghold in the 15th century. Sarajevo has attracted international attention several times throughout its history. In 1885, Sarajevo was the first city in Europe and the second city in the world to have a full-time electric tram network running through the city, following San Francisco. In 1914, it was the site of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by local Young Bosnia activist Gavrilo Princip that sparked World War I, which also ended Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and resulted in the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Later, after World War II, the establishment of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the Second Yugoslavia led to a massive expansion of Sarajevo, then the constituent republic's capital, which culminated with the hosting of the 1984 Winter Olympics marking a prosperous era for the city. However, after the start of the Yugoslav Wars, for 1,425 days, from April 1992 to February 1996, the city suffered the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare, during the Bosnian War and the breakup of Yugoslavia.
Sarajevo has been undergoing post-war reconstruction, and is the fastest growing city in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The travel guide series "Lonely Planet" has named Sarajevo as the 43rd best city in the world, and in December 2009 listed Sarajevo as one of the top ten cities to visit in 2010. In 2011, Sarajevo was nominated to be the 2014 European Capital of Culture and in 2019, it hosted the European Youth Olympic Festival. In October 2019, Sarajevo was designated as a UNESCO Creative City for placing culture at the center of its development strategies, and is one of the world's eighteen Cities of Film.
The earliest known name for the small central Bosnian region of today's Sarajevo is Vrhbosna.
The name "Sarajevo" derives from the Turkish noun "saray", meaning "palace" or "mansion" (from the Persian "sarāy", "house, palace"). The letter "j" in the Bosnian language is equivalent soundwise to the English letter "y" as in "boy" and "yet". The "evo" portion may come from the term "saray ovası" first recorded in 1455, meaning "the plains around the palace" or simply "palace plains".
However, in his Dictionary of Turkish loanwords, Abdulah Škaljić maintains that the ""evo"" ending is more likely to have come from the widespread Slavic suffix ""evo"" used to indicate place names, than from the Turkish ending ""ov"a", as proposed by some. The first mention of name Sarajevo was in 1507 letter written by Feriz Beg. The official name during the 400-year Ottoman period was "Saraybosna" (Palace of Bosnia), and it is still known by that name in modern Turkish.
Sarajevo has had many nicknames. The earliest is "Šeher", which is the term Isa-Beg Ishaković used to describe the town he was going to build. It is a Turkish word meaning an advanced city of key importance ("şehir") which in turn comes from "shahr" (city). As Sarajevo developed, numerous nicknames came from comparisons to other cities in the Islamic world, i.e. "Damascus of the North". The most popular of these was "European Jerusalem".
Sarajevo is near the geometric center of the triangular-shaped Bosnia-Herzegovina and within the historical region of Bosnia proper. It is situated above sea level and lies in the Sarajevo valley, in the middle of the Dinaric Alps. The valley itself once formed a vast expanse of greenery, but gave way to urban expansion and development in the post-World War II era. The city is surrounded by heavily forested hills and five major mountains. The highest of the surrounding peaks is Treskavica at , then Bjelašnica mountain at , Jahorina at , Trebević at , with Igman being the shortest. The last four are also known as the Olympic Mountains of Sarajevo (see also 1984 Winter Olympics). The city itself has its fair share of hilly terrain, as evidenced by the many steeply inclined streets and residences seemingly perched on the hillsides.
The Miljacka river is one of the city's chief geographic features. It flows through the city from east through the center of Sarajevo to west part of city where eventually meets up with the Bosna river. Miljacka river is "The Sarajevo River", with its source ("Vrelo Miljacke") south of the town of Pale at the foothills of Mount Jahorina, several kilometers to the east of Sarajevo center. The Bosna's source, Vrelo Bosne near Ilidža (west Sarajevo), is another notable natural landmark and a popular destination for Sarajevans and other tourists. Several smaller rivers and streams such as Koševski Potok also run through the city and its vicinity.
Sarajevo is close to the center of the triangular shape of Bosnia and Herzegovina in southeastern Europe. Sarajevo city proper consists of four municipalities (or "in Bosnian and Croatian: općina, in Serbian: opština"): Centar (Center), Novi Grad (New City), Novo Sarajevo (New Sarajevo), and Stari Grad (Old City), while Metropolitan area of Sarajevo (Greater Sarajevo area) includes these and the neighbouring municipalities of Ilidža, Hadžići, Vogošća and Ilijaš.
The Metropolitan area was reduced in the 1990s after the war and the Dayton-imposed administrative division of the country, with several municipalities partitioned along the border of the newly recognised Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and Republica Srpska (RS), creating several new municipalities which together form the city of Istočno Sarajevo in the Republica Srpska: Istočna Ilidza, Istočno Novo Sarajevo, Istočni Stari Grad, Lukavica, Pale (RS-section), and Trnovo (RS-section), along with the municipality of Sokolac (which was not traditionally part of the Sarajevo area and was not partitioned)
The city has an urban area of . Veliki Park (Great park) is the largest green area in the center of Sarajevo. It's nestled between Titova, Koševo, Džidžikovac, Tina Ujevića and Trampina Streets and in the lower part there is a monument dedicated to the Children of Sarajevo.
Sarajevo has either a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfb), or an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb), depending on if either the 0 °C or the -3 °C isotherms are used. Sarajevo's climate exhibits four seasons and uniformly spread precipitation, typical of both Cfb and Dfb climates. The proximity of the Adriatic Sea moderates Sarajevo's climate somewhat, although the mountains to the south of the city greatly reduce this maritime influence. The average yearly temperature is , with January ( on average) being the coldest month of the year and July ( on average) the warmest.
The highest recorded temperature was on 19 August 1946, and on 23 August 2008 (41.0) while the lowest recorded temperature was on 25 January 1942. On average, Sarajevo has 7 days where the temperature exceeds and 4 days where the temperature drops below per year. The city typically experiences mildly cloudy skies, with an average yearly cloud cover of 45%.
The cloudiest month is December (75% average cloud cover) while the clearest is August (37%). Moderate precipitation occurs fairly consistently throughout the year, with an average 75 days of rainfall. Suitable climatic conditions have allowed winter sports to flourish in the region, as exemplified by the Winter Olympics in 1984 that were celebrated in Sarajevo. Average winds are and the city has 1,769 hours of sunshine.
Air pollution is a major issue in Sarajevo. According to the 2016 World Health Organization's Ambient Air Pollution Database, the annual average PM2.5 concentration in 2010 was estimated to be 30 μg/m3 based on PM10 measurement, which is 3 times higher than recommended by WHO Air Quality Guidelines for annual average PM2.5. There are no recent direct long-term PM2.5 measurements available in Sarajevo and only estimates can be made from PM10, which is the less health-relevant than PM2.5. Real-time air quality data in the form of PM10, ozone, NO2, CO and SO2 by the Federal Hydrometeorological Institute.
One of the earliest findings of settlement in the Sarajevo area is that of the Neolithic Butmir culture. The discoveries at Butmir were made on the grounds of the modern-day Sarajevo suburb Ilidža in 1893 by Austro-Hungarian authorities during the construction of an agricultural school. The area's richness in flint was attractive to Neolithic humans, and the settlement flourished. The settlement developed unique ceramics and pottery designs, which characterize the Butmir people as a unique culture, as described at the International Congress of Archaeologists and Anthropologists meeting in Sarajevo in 1894.
The next prominent culture in Sarajevo were the Illyrians. The ancient people, who considered most of the West Balkans as their homeland, had several key settlements in the region, mostly around the river Miljacka and the Sarajevo valley. The Illyrians in the Sarajevo region belonged to the "Daesitiates", the last Illyrian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina to resist Roman occupation. Their defeat by the Roman emperor Tiberius in 9 AD marks the start of Roman rule in the region. The Romans never built up the region of modern-day Bosnia, but the Roman colony of Aquae Sulphurae was near the top of present-day Ilidža, and was the most important settlement of the time. After the Romans, the Goths settled the area, followed by the Slavs in the 7th century.
During the Middle Ages Sarajevo was part of the Bosnian province of Vrhbosna near the traditional center of the Kingdom of Bosnia. Though a city named "Vrhbosna" existed, the exact settlement in Sarajevo at this time is debated. Various documents note a place called "Tornik" in the region, most likely in the area of Marijin Dvor neighborhood. By all indications, Tornik was a very small marketplace surrounded by a proportionally small village, and was not considered very important by Ragusan merchants.
Other scholars say that "Vrhbosna" was a major town in the wider area of modern-day Sarajevo. Papal documents say that in 1238, a cathedral dedicated to Saint Paul was built in the area. Disciples of the notable saints Cyril and Methodius stopped in the region, founding a church near Vrelo Bosna. Whether or not the town was somewhere in the area of modern-day Sarajevo, the documents attest to its and the region's importance. There was also a citadel Hodidjed north-east to Old City, dating from around 1263 until it was occupied by the Ottoman Empire in 1429.
Sarajevo was founded by the Ottoman Empire in the 1450s upon its conquest of the region, with 1461 used as the city's founding date. The first Ottoman governor of Bosnia, Isa-Beg Ishaković, transformed the cluster of villages into a city and state capital by building a number of key structures, including a mosque, a closed marketplace, a public bath, a hostel, and of course the governor's castle ("Saray") which gave the city its present name. The mosque was named "Careva Džamija" (the Tsar's Mosque) in honor of the Sultan Mehmed II. With the improvements Sarajevo quickly grew into the largest city in the region. By the 15th Century the settlement was established as a city, named "Bosna-Saraj", around the citadel in 1461.
Following the expulsion of Jews from Spain at the end of the 15th century, and the invitation from the Ottoman Empire to resettle their population, Sephardic Jews arrived in Sarajevo, which over time would become a leading center of Sephardic culture and the Ladino language. Though relatively small in size, a Jewish quarter would develop over several blocks in Baščaršija.
Many local Christians converted to Islam at this time. To accommodate the new pilgrims on the road to Mecca, in 1541 Gazi Husrev-Bey’s quartermaster Vekil-Harrach built a Pilgrim's mosque for which it is still known to this day Hadžijska mosque.
Under leaders such as the second governor Gazi Husrev-beg, Sarajevo grew at a rapid rate. Husrev-beg greatly shaped the physical city, as most of what is now the Old Town was built during his reign. Sarajevo became known for its large marketplace and numerous mosques, which by the middle of the 16th century numbered more than 100. At the peak of the empire, Sarajevo was the biggest and most important Ottoman city in the Balkans after Istanbul. By 1660, the population of Sarajevo was estimated to be over 80,000. By contrast, Belgrade in 1683 had 100.000, and Zagreb as late as 1851 had 14,000 people. As political conditions changed, Sarajevo became the site of warfare.
In 1697, during the Great Turkish War, a raid was led by Prince Eugene of Savoy of the Habsburg Monarchy against the Ottoman Empire, which conquered Sarajevo and left it plague-infected and burned to the ground. After his men had looted thoroughly, they set the city on fire and destroyed nearly all of it in one day. Only a handful of neighborhoods, some mosques, and an Orthodox church, were left standing. Numerous other fires weakened the city, which was later rebuilt but never fully recovered from the destruction. By 1807, it had only some 60,000 residents.
In the 1830s, several battles of the Bosnian uprising had taken place around the city. These had been led by Husein Gradaščević. Today, a major city street is named "Zmaj od Bosne" (Dragon of Bosnia) in his honor. The rebellion failed and for several more decades the Ottoman state remained in control of Bosnia.
The Ottoman Empire made Sarajevo an important administrative centre by 1850. Baščaršija became the central commercial district and cultural center of the city in the 15th century when Isa-Beg Isaković founded the town. The toponym Baščaršija derives from the Turkish language.
Austria-Hungary's occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina came in 1878 as part of the Treaty of Berlin, and complete annexation followed in 1908, angering the Serbs. Sarajevo was industrialized by Austria-Hungary, who used the city as a testing area for new inventions such as tramways, which were established in 1885 before they were later installed in Vienna. Architects and engineers wanting to help rebuild Sarajevo as a modern European capital rushed to the city. A fire that burned down a large part of the central city area ("čaršija") left more room for redevelopment. As a result, the city has a unique blend of the remaining Ottoman city market and contemporary western architecture. Sarajevo also has some examples of Secession- and Pseudo-Moorish styles that date from this period.
The Austro-Hungarian period was one of great development for the city, as the Western power brought its new acquisition up to the standards of the Victorian age. Various factories and other buildings were built at this time, and a large number of institutions were both Westernized and modernized. For the first time in history, Sarajevo's population began writing in Latin script.
For the first time in centuries, the city significantly expanded outside its traditional borders. Much of the city's contemporary central municipality (Centar) was constructed during this period.
Architecture in Sarajevo quickly developed into a wide range of styles and buildings. The Cathedral of Sacred Heart, for example, was constructed using elements of neo-gothic and Romanesque architecture. The National Museum, Sarajevo brewery, and City Hall were also constructed during this period. Additionally, Austrian officials made Sarajevo the first city in this part of Europe to have a tramway.
Although the Bosnia Vilayet "de jure" remained part of the Ottoman Empire, it was "de facto" governed as an integral part of Austria-Hungary with the Ottomans having no say in its day-to-day governance. This lasted until 1908 when the territory was formally annexed and turned into a condominium, jointly controlled by both Austrian Cisleithania and Hungarian Transleithania.
In the event that triggered World War I, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated, along with his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian and self-declared Yugoslav, and member of Young Bosnia. This was followed by the Anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo, which resulted in two deaths and destruction of property.
In the ensuing war, however, most of the Balkan offensives occurred near Belgrade, and Sarajevo largely escaped damage and destruction. Following the war, Bosnia was annexed into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and Sarajevo became the capital of the Drina Province.
After World War I and pressure from the Royal Serbian Army, alongside rebelling Slavic nations in Austria-Hungary, Sarajevo became part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Though it held some political significance as the center of first the Bosnian region and then the Drinska Banovina, the city was no longer a national capital and saw a decline in global influence.
During World War II the Kingdom of Yugoslavia's army was overrun by German and Italian forces. Following a German bombing campaign, Sarajevo was captured on 15 April 1941 by the 16th Motorized infantry Division. The Axis powers created the Independent State of Croatia and included Sarajevo in its territory.
Immediately following the occupation, the main Sephardi Jewish synagogue, Il Kal Grande, was looted, burned, and destroyed by the Nazis. Within a matter of months, the centuries-old Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jewish communities of Sarajevo, comprising the vast majority of Bosnian Jewry, would be rounded up in the Old Synagogue (Stari hram) and deported to their deaths in Croatian concentration camps. Roughly 85% of Bosnia's Jewish population would perish at the hands of the Nazis and the Ustaše during the Holocaust. The Sarajevo Haggadah was the most important artifact which survived this period, smuggled out of Sarajevo and saved from the Nazis and Ustaše by the chief librarian of the National Museum, Derviš Korkut.
On 12 October 1941, a group of 108 notable Bosniak citizens of Sarajevo signed the Resolution of Sarajevo Muslims by which they condemned the Genocide of Serbs organized by the Ustaše, made a distinction between the Bosniaks who participated in such persecutions and the rest of the Bosniak population, presented information about the persecutions of Bosniaks by Serbs, and requested security for all citizens of the country, regardless of their identity. During the summer of 1941, Ustashe militia periodically interned and executed groups of Sarajevo Serbs. In August 1941, they arrested about one hundred Serbs suspected of ties to the resistance armies, mostly church officials and members of the intelligentsia, and executed them or deported the to concentration camps. By mid-summer 1942, around 20,000 Serbs found refuge in Sarajevo from Ustaše terror.
The city was bombed by the Allies from 1943 to 1944. The Yugoslav Partisan movement was represented in the city. In period February–May 1945 Maks Luburić set up Ustaše headquarters in a building known as Villa Luburić and used it as torture and execution place whose 323 victims were identified after the war. Resistance was led by Vladimir "Walter" Perić, who died while leading the liberation of the city on 6 April 1945.
After the war, Sarajevo was the capital of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Republic Government invested heavily in Sarajevo, building many new residential blocks in Novi Grad Municipality and Novo Sarajevo Municipality, while simultaneously developing the city's industry and transforming Sarajevo into a modern city. Sarajevo grew rapidly as it became an important regional industrial center in Yugoslavia. Between the end of the war and the end of Yugoslavia, the city grew from a population of 115,000 to more than 600,000 people. The Vraca Memorial Park, a monument for victims of World War II, was dedicated on 25 November, the "Day of Statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina" when the ZAVNOBIH held their first meeting in 1943.
A crowning moment of Sarajevo's time in Socialist Yugoslavia was the 1984 Winter Olympics. Sarajevo beat out Sapporo, Japan; and Falun/Göteborg, Sweden to host the Olympic games. The games were followed by a tourism boom, making the 1980s one of the city's most prosperous decades.
The Bosnian War for independence resulted in large-scale destruction and dramatic population shifts during the Siege of Sarajevo between 1992 and 1996. Thousands of Sarajevans lost their lives under the constant bombardment and sniper shooting at civilians by the Serb forces during the siege, the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Bosnian Serb forces of the Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army besieged Sarajevo from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996.
When Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia and achieved United Nations recognition, Serbian leaders declared a new Serbian national state Republika Srpska (RS) which was carved out from the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Army of Republika Srpska encircled Sarajevo with a siege force of 18,000 stationed in the surrounding hills, from which they assaulted the city with artillery, mortars, tanks, anti-aircraft guns, heavy machine-guns, multiple rocket launchers, rocket-launched aircraft bombs, and sniper rifles. From 2 May 1992, the Serbs blockaded the city. The Bosnian government defence forces inside the besieged city were poorly equipped and unable to break the siege.
During the siege, 11,541 people lost their lives, including over 1,500 children. An additional 56,000 people were wounded, including nearly 15,000 children. The 1991 census indicates that before the siege the city and its surrounding areas had a population of 525,980.
When the siege ended, the concrete scars caused by mortar shell explosions left marks that were filled with red resin. After the red resin was placed, it left floral patterns which led to them being dubbed Sarajevo Roses. Division of the territory according to the Dayton Agreement resulted in a mass exodus in early 1996 of some 62,000 Sarajevo Serbs from the city and its suburbs, creating today's more monoethnic postwar city.
Various modern buildings now occupy Sarajevo's skyline, most significantly the Bosmal City Center, BBI Centar, Sarajevo City Center and the Avaz Twist Tower, which at the time of its building was the tallest skyscraper in former Yugoslavia.
Recent years have seen population growth as well as increases in tourism. In 2014 the city saw anti-government protests and riots and record rainfall that caused historic flooding.
Sarajevo is the capital of the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its sub-entity, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as of the Sarajevo Canton. It is also the "de jure" capital of another entity, Republika Srpska. Each of these levels of government has its parliament or council, as well as judicial courts, in the city. All national institutions and foreign embassies are in Sarajevo.
Sarajevo is home to the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the operational command of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bosnia and Herzegovina's Parliament office in Sarajevo was damaged heavily in the Bosnian War. Due to damage the staff and documents were moved to a nearby ground level office to resume the work. In late 2006, reconstruction work started on the Parliament and was finished in 2007. The cost of reconstruction is supported 80% by the Greek Government through the Hellenic Program of Balkans Reconstruction (ESOAV) and 20% by Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The city comprises four municipalities Centar, Novi Grad, Novo Sarajevo, and Stari Grad. Each operate their own municipal government, united they form one city government with its own constitution. The executive branch () consists of a mayor, with two deputies and a cabinet. The legislative branch consists of the City Council, or "Gradsko Vijeće". The council has 28 members, including a council speaker, two deputies, and a secretary. Councilors are elected by the municipality in numbers roughly proportional to their population. The city government also has a judicial branch based on the post-transitional judicial system as outlined by the High Representative's "High Judicial and Prosecutorial Councils".
Sarajevo's Municipalities are further split into "local communities" (Bosnian, "Mjesne zajednice"). Local communities have a small role in city government and are intended as a way for ordinary citizens to get involved in city government. They are based on key neighborhoods in the city.
Sarajevo's large manufacturing, administrative, and tourism sectors make it the strongest economic region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Indeed, Sarajevo Canton generates almost 25% of the country's GDP. After years of war, Sarajevo's economy saw reconstruction and rehabilitation programs. The Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina opened in Sarajevo in 1997 and the Sarajevo Stock Exchange began trading in 2002.
While Sarajevo had a large industrial base during its communist period, only a few pre-existing businesses have successfully adapted to the market economy. Sarajevo industries now include tobacco products, furniture, hosiery, automobiles, and communication equipment. Companies based in Sarajevo include BH Telecom, Bosnalijek, Energopetrol, Sarajevo Tobacco Factory, and Sarajevska Pivara (Sarajevo Brewery).
In 2002 the total export for the greater Sarajevo region was worth about 259,569,000KM. Most of Sarajevo's exports (28.2%) head to Germany, with Great Britain following behind at 16.8% and Serbia and Montenegro third with 12.8%. The largest amount of imported goods come from Germany, at 15.8%. With a worth of total import at about 1,322,585,000KM, the total import is almost 5.1 times the total export.
In 1981 Sarajevo's GDP per capita was 133% of the Yugoslav average. Gross pay in Sarajevo in February 2015 was or , while net salary was or .
Sarajevo has a wide tourist industry and a fast expanding service sector thanks to the strong annual growth in tourist arrivals. Sarajevo also benefits from being both a summer and winter destination with continuity in its tourism throughout the year. The travel guide series, "Lonely Planet" named Sarajevo as the 43rd best city in the world, and in December 2009 listed Sarajevo as one of the top ten cities to visit in 2010.
In 2019 573.227 tourists visited Sarajevo, giving 1.060.988 overnight stays, which is 18,8% more than in 2017.
Sports-related tourism uses the legacy facilities of the 1984 Winter Olympics, especially the skiing facilities on the nearby mountains of Bjelašnica, Igman, Jahorina, Trebević, and Treskavica. Sarajevo's 600 years of history, influenced by both Western and Eastern empires, makes it a tourist attraction with splendid variations.
Sarajevo has hosted travellers for centuries, because it was an important trading center during the Ottoman and Austria-Hungarian empires and because was a natural stop for many routes between East and West. Examples of popular destinations in Sarajevo include the Vrelo Bosne park, the Sarajevo cathedral, and the Gazi Husrev-beg's Mosque. Tourism in Sarajevo is chiefly focused on historical, religious, cultural sites and winter sports.
Sarajevo is host to many parks throughout the city and on the outskirts of city. A popular activity among Sarajevo citizens is street chess, usually played at Trg oslobođenja Alija Izetbegović. Veliki Park is the largest green area in the center of Sarajevo. It's nestled between Titova, Koševo, Džidžikovac, Tina Ujevića and Trampina Streets and in the lower part there is a monument dedicated to the Children of Sarajevo. Hastahana is a popular place to relax in the Austro-Hungarian neighborhood of Marijin Dvor. Goat's Bridge, locally known as "Kozija Ćuprija", in the Miljacka Canyon is also a popular park destination along the Dariva walkway and river Miljacka. On December 24 of 2012, a park hosting two brass sculptures resembling two mourning mothers was dedicated as the Friendship Park, commemorating over 45 years of friendship between Sarajevo and Baku.
Sarajevo is also famous for its city lookouts; including an observation deck on Avaz Twist Tower, Park Prinčeva restaurant, Vidikovac lookout (Mt. Trebević), Zmajevac lookout and Yellow/White fortresses lookouts (in Vratnik) as well as numerous other rooftops throughout the city (i.e. Alta Shopping Center, BBI Center, Hotel Hecco Deluxe). A symbol of Sarajevo is the Trebevic cable car which was reconstructed in 2018, also it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city taking visitors from the city center to mount Trebevic.
The last official Yugoslav census took place 1991 and recorded 527,049 people living in the city of Sarajevo (ten municipalities). In the settlement of Sarajevo proper, there were 416,497 inhabitants. The war displaced hundreds of thousands of people, a large majority of whom have not returned.
The first census since Bosnia and Herzegovina became an independent country was not taken until 2013 and as a result, for many years Sarajevo's population was not known clearly and statistics were based on estimates contributed by the United Nations Statistics Division and the Federal Office of Statistics of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, among other national and international non-profit organizations. , the population of the city's four municipalities was estimated to be 411,161, whereas the Sarajevo Canton population was estimated at 578,757. With an area of , Sarajevo has a population density of about . According to these estimates, the Novo Sarajevo municipality is the most densely populated part of Sarajevo with about , while the least densely populated is the Stari Grad, with .
In June 2016, the final results of the 2013 census were published. According to the census, the population of the Sarajevo Canton was 413,593, with 55,181 residents in Centar Sarajevo, 118,553 in Novi Grad, 64,814 in Novo Sarajevo and 36,976 in Stari Grad.
The war changed the ethnic and religious profile of the city. It had long been a multicultural city, and often went by the nickname of "Europe's Jerusalem". At the time of the 1991 census, 49.2 per cent of the city's population of 527,049 were Bosniaks, 29.8 percent Serbs, 10.7 percent Yugoslavs, 6.6 percent Croats and 3.6 percent other ethnicities (Jews, Romas, etc.). By 2002, 79.6 per cent of the canton's population of 401,118 were Bosniak, 11.2 percent Serb, a significantly smaller number of Serbs after the war as a result of the people being forced out, 6.7 percent Croat and 2.5 percent others (Jews, Romas, Arabs, etc.).
According to academic Fran Markowitz there are a number of "administrative apparatuses and public pressures that push people who might prefer to identify as flexible, multiply constituted hybrids or with one of the now unnamed minority groups into one of the three Bosniac-Croat-Serb constituent nations". These include respondents being encouraged by census interviewers to identity as belonging to one of the three constituent peoples. Her analysis of marriage registration data shows, for instance, that 67 per cent of people marrying in 2003 identified as Bosniak or Muslim, which is significantly lower than the 79.6 per cent census figure from 2002 (unlike the census, where people respond to an interviewer, applicants to the marriage registry fill in the form themselves).
Sarajevo's location in a valley between mountains makes it a compact city. Narrow city streets and a lack of parking areas restrict automobile traffic but allow better pedestrian and cyclist mobility. The two main roads are Titova Ulica (Street of Marshal Tito) and the east-west Zmaj od Bosne (Dragon of Bosnia) highway (E761).
Located roughly at the center of the country, Sarajevo is Bosnia's main intersection. The city is connected to all the other major cities by highway or national road like Zenica, Banja Luka, Tuzla, Mostar, Goražde and Foča.
Tourists from Central Europe and elsewhere visiting Dalmatia driving via Budapest through Sarajevo also contribute to the traffic congestion in and around Sarajevo.
The trans-European highway, Corridor 5C, runs through Sarajevo connecting it to Budapest in the north, and Ploče at the Adriatic sea in the south. The highway is built by the government and should cost 3.5 billion Euro. Up until March 2012, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina invested around 600 million Euro in the A1. In 2014 the sections Sarajevo-Zenica and Sarajevo-Tarcin were completed including the Sarajevo Beltway ring road.
Sarajevo's electric tramways, in operation since 1885, are the oldest form of public transportation in the city.
Sarajevo had the first full-time (dawn to dusk) tram line in Europe, and the second in the world. Opened on New Year's Day in 1885, it was the testing line for the tram in Vienna and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and operated by horses. Originally built to , the present system in 1960 was upgraded to . The trams played a pivotal role in the growth of the city in the 20th century.
There are seven tramway lines supplemented by five trolleybus lines and numerous bus routes. The main railroad station in Sarajevo is in the north-central area of the city. From there, the tracks head west before branching off in different directions, including to industrial zones in the city. Sarajevo is undergoing a major infrastructure renewal; many highways and streets are being repaved, the tram system is undergoing modernization, and new bridges and roads are under construction.
To solve traffic congestion in the city, Sarajevo-based architect Muzafer Osmanagić has proposed a study called "Eco Energy 2010–2015", idealizing a subway system underneath the bed of the river Miljacka. The first line of Metro Sarajevo would connect Baščaršija with Otoka. This line would cost some 150 million KM and be financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Trebević Cable Car, Sarajevo's key landmark during 1984 Winter Olympic Games, was rebuilt by JKP GRAS Sarajevo and Sarajevo Canton as one of the new transportation systems in 2017 and it reopened on 6 April 2018 at 11:00 AM. The cable car runs from Sarajevo at Bistrik station to the slopes of Trebević at Vidikovac station.
Sarajevo International Airport , also called Butmir, is just a few kilometers southwest of the city and was voted Best European Airport With Under 1,000,000 Passengers at the 15th Annual ACI-Europe in Munich in 2005.
First regular flights to Sarajevo using an airfield in the suburb of Butmir begin in 1930 when the domestic airliner Aeroput opened a regular route linking Belgrade to Podgorica through Sarajevo. Later, Aeroput opened routed which linked Sarajevo with Split, Rijeka and Dubrovnik, and in 1938 first international flights were introduced when Aeroput extended the route Dubrovnik – Sarajevo – Zagreb to Vienna, Brno and Prague. The airfield in Butmir remained in use all the way until 1969. The need for a new airport in Sarajevo, with an asphalt-concrete runway, was acknowledged in the mid-1960s when JAT, Yugoslav national carrier at that time, began acquiring jet planes. The construction of the airport began in 1966 at its present location, not far from the old one.
Sarajevo Airport opened on 2 June 1969 for domestic traffic. In 1970 Frankfurt became the first international destination served. Most of the time the airport was a 'feeder' airport where passengers embarked for flights to Zagreb and Belgrade on their way to international destinations. Over time the traffic volume steadily grew from 70,000 to 600,000 passengers a year. Later, during the Bosnian war, the airport was used for UN flights and humanitarian relief. Since the Dayton Accord in 1996, the airport retook its role as main air gate to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In 2017, 957,971 passengers traveled through the airport, which was 61,4% of the total airport traffic in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Plans for extension of the passenger terminal, together with upgrading and expanding the taxiway and apron, are planned to start in fall 2012. The existing terminal will be expanded by approximately . The upgraded airport will also be directly linked to the commercial retail center Sarajevo Airport Center, making it easier for tourists and travellers to spend their time before flight boarding shopping and enjoying the many amenities that will be offered.
Between 2015 and 2018 the airport will be upgraded for more than 25 million euros.
Sarajevo has daily international connections which twice a day connect the city with Zagreb and Ploče. There are also connections between Sarajevo and all major cities within Bosnia and Herzegovina. Once, the East Bosnian railway connected Sarajevo to Belgrade.
Sarajevo is twinned with:
Sarajevo is befriended with:
As the largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo is the main center of the country's media. Most of the communications and media infrastructure was destroyed during the war but reconstruction monitored by the Office of the High Representative has helped to modernize the industry as a whole. For example, internet was first made available to the city in 1995.
"Oslobođenje" (Liberation), founded in 1943, is Sarajevo's longest running continuously circulating newspaper and the only one to survive the war. However, this long running and trusted newspaper has fallen behind "Dnevni Avaz" (Daily Voice), founded in 1995, and "Jutarnje Novine" (Morning News) in circulation in Sarajevo. Other local periodicals include the Croatian newspaper Hrvatska riječ and the Bosnian magazine Start, as well as weekly newspapers "Slobodna Bosna" ("Free Bosnia") and "BH Dani" ("BH Days"). "Novi Plamen", a monthly magazine, is the most left-wing publication.
The Radiotelevision of Bosnia-Herzegovina is Sarajevo's public television station and was created in 1945 under the umbrella of the Yugoslav Radio Television. It had its first television program aired in 1961, while continuous programming started in 1969. It is one of three main TV stations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Other stations based in the city include NRTV "Studio 99", NTV Hayat, TV 1, Open Broadcast Network, TV Kantona Sarajevo and Televizija Alfa.
The headquarters of Al Jazeera Balkans are also in Sarajevo, with a broadcasting studio at the top of the BBI Center. The news channel covers Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro and the surrounding Balkan states.
Many small independent radio stations exist, including established stations such as Radio M, Radio Stari Grad (Radio Old Town), Studentski eFM Radio, Radio 202, Radio BIR, and RSG. Radio Free Europe, as well as several American and Western European stations are available.
Higher Education
Higher education has a long and rich tradition in Sarajevo. The first institution that can be classified as a tertiary educational institution was a school of Sufi philosophy established by Gazi Husrev-beg in 1537; numerous other religious schools have been established over time. In 1887, under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a Sharia Law School began a five-year program. In the 1940s the University of Sarajevo became the city's first secular higher education institute, effectively building upon the foundations established by the Saraybosna Hanıka in 1537. In the 1950s, post-bachelor graduate degrees became available. Severely damaged during the war, it was recently rebuilt in partnership with more than 40 other universities.
There are also several universities in Sarajevo, including:
Primary and Secondary Education
, in Sarajevo there are 46 elementary schools (Grades 1–9) and 33 high schools (Grades 10–13), including three schools for children with special needs,
There are also several international schools in Sarajevo, catering to the expatriate community; some of which are Sarajevo International School and the French International School of Sarajevo, established in 1998.
Sarajevo has been home to many different religions for centuries, giving the city a range of diverse cultures. In the time of Ottoman occupation of Bosnia, Muslims, Bosnian Serbs, Roman Catholics, and Sephardi Jews all shared the city while maintaining distinctive identities. They were joined during the brief occupation by Austria-Hungary by a smaller number of Germans, Hungarians, Slovaks, Czechs and Ashkenazi Jews. By 1909, about 50% of the city's inhabitants were Muslim, 25% were Catholic, 15% were Orthodox, and 10% were Jewish.
Historically, Sarajevo has been home to several prominent Bosnian poets, scholars, philosophers and writers. To list only a very few; Nobel Prize-winner Vladimir Prelog is from the city, as are the writer Zlatko Topčić and the poet Abdulah Sidran. Nobel Prize-winner Ivo Andrić attended high school in Sarajevo for two years. Academy Award-winning director Danis Tanović lived in the city.
The Sarajevo National Theatre is the oldest professional theater in Bosnia and Herzegovina, having been established in 1921.
The city is rich in museums, including the Museum of Sarajevo, the Ars Aevi Museum of Contemporary Art, Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Museum of Literature and Theatre Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina (established in 1888) home to the Sarajevo Haggadah, an illuminated manuscript and the oldest Sephardic Jewish document in the world issued in Barcelona around 1350, containing the traditional Jewish Haggadah, is on permanent display at the museum. It is the only remaining illustrated Sephardic Haggadah in the world. The National Museum also hosts year-round exhibitions pertaining to local, regional and international culture and history, and exhibits over 5,000 artefacts from Bosnia's history.
The Alija Izetbegović Museum was opened on 19 October 2007 and is in the old town fort, more specifically in the Vratnik Kapija towers Ploča and Širokac. The museum is a commemoration to the influence and body of work of Alija Izetbegović, the first president of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The city also hosts the Sarajevo National Theater, established in 1921, and the Sarajevo Youth Theatre. Some other cultural institutions include the Center for Sarajevo Culture, Sarajevo City Library, Art Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Bosniak Institute, a privately owned library and art collection focusing on Bosniak history.
Demolitions associated with the war, as well as reconstruction, destroyed several institutions and cultural or religious symbols including the Gazi Husrev-beg library, the national library, the Sarajevo Oriental Institute, and a museum dedicated to the 1984 Winter Olympics. Consequently, the different levels of government established strong cultural protection laws and institutions. Bodies charged with cultural preservation in Sarajevo include the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina (and their Sarajevo Canton counterpart), and the Bosnia and Herzegovina Commission to Preserve National Monuments.
Sarajevo is and has historically been one of the most important musical enclaves in the region. The Sarajevo school of pop rock developed in the city between 1961 and 1991. This type of music began with bands like Indexi, Pro Arte, and singer-songwriter Kemal Monteno. It continued into the 1980s, with bands such as Plavi Orkestar, Crvena Jabuka, and Divlje Jagode, by most accounts, pioneering the regional rock and roll movement. Sarajevo was also the home and birthplace of arguably the most popular and influential Yugoslav rock band of all time, Bijelo Dugme, somewhat of a Bosnian parallel to the Rolling Stones, in both popularity and influence.
Sarajevo was also the home of a very notable post-punk urban subculture known as the New Primitives, which began during the early 1980s with the Baglama Band which was banned shortly after first LP and was brought into the mainstream through bands such as Zabranjeno Pušenje and Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors, as well as the Top Lista Nadrealista radio, and later television show. Other notable bands considered to be part of this subculture are Bombaj Štampa. Besides and separately from the "New Primitives", Sarajevo is the hometown to one of the most significant ex-Yugoslavian alternative industrial-noise bands, SCH (1983–current).
Perhaps more importantly, Sarajevo in the late 19th and throughout the 20th century was home to a burgeoning and large center of Sevdalinka record-making and contributed greatly to bringing this historical genre of music to the mainstream, which had for many centuries been a staple of Bosnian culture. Songwriters and musicians such as Himzo Polovina, Safet Isović, Zaim Imamović, Zehra Deović, Halid Bešlić, Hanka Paldum, Nada Mamula, Meho Puzić and many more composed and wrote some of their most important pieces in the city.
Sarajevo also greatly influenced the pop scene of Yugoslavia with musicians like Zdravko Čolić, Kemal Monteno, Dino Merlin, Seid Memić Vajta, Hari Mata Hari, Mladen Vojičić "Tifa", Željko Bebek, and many more.
Many newer Sarajevo-based bands have also found a name and established themselves in Sarajevo, such as Regina who also had two albums out in Yugoslavia and Letu Štuke, who actually formed their band in Yugoslavia with the famous Bosnian-American writer Aleksandar Hemon and got their real breakthrough later in the 2000s. Sarajevo is now home to an important and eclectic mix of new bands and independent musicians, which continue to thrive with the ever-increasing number of festivals, creative showcases and concerts around the country. The city is also home to the region's largest jazz festival, the Sarajevo Jazz Festival (see "Festival" section below this).
American heavy metal band Savatage, released a song entitled "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)" on their 1995 album Dead Winter Dead, which was about a cello player playing a forgotten Christmas carol in war-torn Sarajevo. The song was later re-released by the same band under the name Trans-Siberian Orchestra on their 1996 debut album Christmas Eve and Other Stories, which the song gave them instant success.
Sarajevo is internationally renowned for its eclectic and diverse selection of over 50 annual festivals. The Sarajevo Film Festival was established in 1995 during the Bosnian War and has become the premier and largest film festival in South-East Europe. It has been hosted at the National Theater, with screenings at the Open-air theater Metalac and the Bosnian Cultural Center, all in downtown Sarajevo. The MESS International Festival is an experimental theatre festival and the oldest living theatre festival in the Balkans. The annual Sarajevo Youth Film Festival showcases feature, animated and short films from around the world and is the premier student film festival in the Balkans. The Sarajevo Winter Festival, Sarajevo Jazz Festival and Sarajevo International Music Festival are well-known, as is the Baščaršija Nights festival, a month-long showcase of local culture, music, and dance.
The first incarnation of the Sarajevo Film Festival was hosted in still-warring Sarajevo in 1995, and has now progressed into being the biggest and most significant festival in south-eastern Europe. A talent campus is also held during the duration of the festival, with lecturers speaking on behalf of world cinematography and holding workshops for film students from across South-Eastern Europe.
The Sarajevo Jazz Festival is the region's largest and most diverse of its kind. The festival takes place at the Bosnian Cultural Center (aka "Main Stage"), just down the street from the SFF, at the Sarajevo Youth Stage Theater (aka "Strange Fruits Stage"), at the Dom Vojske Federacije (aka "Solo Stage"), and at the CDA (aka "Groove Stage").
The city hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics. Yugoslavia won one medal, a silver in men's giant slalom awarded to Jure Franko. Many of the Olympic facilities survived the war or were reconstructed, including Olympic Hall Zetra and Asim Ferhatović Stadion. In an attempt to bring back some of Sarajevo's Olympic glory, the original Olympic luge and bobsled tracks are being repaired, due to the efforts of both the Olympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina and local sports enthusiasts. After co-hosting the Southeast Europe Friendship games, Sarajevo was awarded the 2009 Special Olympic winter games, but cancelled these plans. The ice arena for the 1984 Olympics, Zetra Stadium, was used during the war as a temporary hospital and, later, for housing NATO troops of the IFOR.
In 2011 Sarajevo was the host city of the 51st World Military Skiing Championship with over 350 participants from 23 different nations. This was the first international event of such standing since the 1984 Olympics.
Football (soccer) is popular in Sarajevo; the city hosts "FK Sarajevo" and "FK Željezničar", which both compete in European and international cups and tournaments and have a very large trophy cabinet in the former Yugoslavia as well as independent Bosnia and Herzegovina. Other notable soccer clubs are "FK Olimpik", "SAŠK" and "Slavija".
One of only two stadiums in Bosnia and Herzegovina that has the UEFA category 3 is the Stadion Grbavica, the home stadium of FK Željezničar.
Another popular sport is basketball; the basketball club KK Bosna Sarajevo won the European Championship in 1979 as well as many Yugoslav and Bosnian national championships making it one of the greatest basketball clubs in the former Yugoslavia. The chess club, "Bosna" Sarajevo, has been a championship team since the 1980s and is the third ranked chess club in Europe, having won four consecutive European championships in the nineties. RK Bosna also competes in the European Champions League and is considered one of the most well organised handball clubs in South-Eastern Europe with a very large fan base and excellent national, as well as international results.
Sarajevo often holds international events and competitions in sports such as tennis and kickboxing.
The popularity of tennis has been picking up in recent years. Since 2003, BH Telecom Indoors is an annual tennis tournament in Sarajevo.
Since 2007, the Sarajevo Marathon is being organized in late September. Giro di Sarajevo is also run in the city with over 2,200 cyclists taking part in 2015.
In February 2019, Sarajevo and East Sarajevo hosted the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival (EYOWF). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26786 |
Science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to sci-fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life. It has been called the "literature of ideas", and often explores the potential consequences of scientific, social, and technological innovations.
Science fiction, whose roots go back to ancient times, is related to fantasy, horror, and superhero fiction, and contains many subgenres. However its exact definition has long been disputed among authors, critics, and scholars.
Science fiction literature, film, television, and other media have become popular and influential over much of the world. Besides providing entertainment, it can also criticize present-day society, and is often said to inspire a "sense of wonder".
"Science fiction" is difficult to define precisely, as it includes a wide range of concepts and themes. American science fiction and fantasy writer James Blish wrote: "Wells used the term originally to cover what we would today call "hard" science fiction, in which a conscientious attempt to be faithful to already known facts (as of the date of writing) was the substrate on which the story was to be built, and if the story was also to contain a miracle, it ought at least not to contain a whole arsenal of them."
According to American writer and professor of biochemistry Isaac Asimov, "Science fiction can be defined as that branch of literature which deals with the reaction of human beings to changes in science and technology." American science-fiction author and engineer Robert A. Heinlein wrote that "A handy short definition of almost all science fiction might read: realistic speculation about possible future events, based solidly on adequate knowledge of the real world, past and present, and on a thorough understanding of the nature and significance of the scientific method."
"The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction", edited by John Clute and Peter Nicholls, contains an extensive discussion of the problem of definition, under the heading "Definitions of SF". The authors regard Yugoslav born academic, writer, and critic Darko Suvin's 1972 definition as having been most useful in catalysing academic debate. Suvin's definition is: "a literary genre whose necessary and sufficient conditions are the presence and interaction of estrangement and cognition, and whose main formal device is an imaginative framework alternative to the author's empirical environment".
American science fiction author and editor Lester del Rey wrote, "Even the devoted aficionado or fan—has a hard time trying to explain what science fiction is," and the lack of a "full satisfactory definition" is because "there are no easily delineated limits to science fiction." Author and editor Damon Knight summed up the difficulty, saying "science fiction is what we point to when we say it."
Science fiction had its beginnings in ancient times, when the line between myth and fact was blurred. Written in the 2nd century CE by the satirist Lucian, "A True Story" contains many themes and tropes characteristic of modern science fiction, including travel to other worlds, extraterrestrial lifeforms, interplanetary warfare, and artificial life. Some consider it the first science-fiction novel. Some of the stories from "The Arabian Nights", along with the 10th-century "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" and Ibn al-Nafis's 13th-century "Theologus Autodidactus," also contain elements of science fiction.
Written during the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Johannes Kepler's "Somnium" (1634), Francis Bacon's "New Atlantis" (1627), Athanasius Kircher's "Itinerarium extaticum" (1656), Cyrano de Bergerac's "Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon" (1657) and "The States and Empires of the Sun" (1662), Margaret Cavendish's "The Blazing World" (1666), Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" (1726), Ludvig Holberg's "Nicolai Klimii Iter Subterraneum" (1741) and Voltaire's "Micromégas" (1752) are regarded as some of the first true science-fantasy works. Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan considered "Somnium" the first science-fiction story; it depicts a journey to the Moon and how the Earth's motion is seen from there.
Following the 18th-century development of the novel as a literary form, Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" (1818) and "The Last Man" (1826) helped define the form of the science-fiction novel. Brian Aldiss has argued that "Frankenstein" was the first work of science fiction. Edgar Allan Poe wrote several stories considered to be science fiction, including "The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall" (1835) which featured a trip to the Moon. Jules Verne was noted for his attention to detail and scientific accuracy, especially in "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" (1870). In 1887, the novel "El anacronópete" by Spanish author Enrique Gaspar y Rimbau introduced the first time machine.
Many critics consider H. G. Wells one of science fiction's most important authors, or even "the Shakespeare of science fiction." His notable science-fiction works include "The Time Machine" (1895), "The Island of Doctor Moreau" (1896), "The Invisible Man" (1897), and "The War of the Worlds" (1898). His science fiction imagined alien invasion, biological engineering, invisibility, and time travel. In his non-fiction futurologist works he predicted the advent of airplanes, military tanks, nuclear weapons, satellite television, space travel, and something resembling the World Wide Web.
Edgar Rice Burroughs' "A Princess of Mars", published in 1912, was the first of his three-decade-long planetary romance series of Barsoom novels which were set on Mars and featured John Carter as the hero.
In 1926, Hugo Gernsback published the first American science-fiction magazine, "Amazing Stories". In its first issue he wrote:
In 1928, E. E. "Doc" Smith's first published work, "The Skylark of Space," written in collaboration with Lee Hawkins Garby, appeared in "Amazing Stories". It is often called the first great space opera. The same year, Philip Francis Nowlan's original Buck Rogers story, "Armageddon 2419", also appeared in "Amazing Stories". This was followed by a Buck Rogers comic strip, the first serious science-fiction comic.
In 1937, John W. Campbell became editor of "Astounding Science Fiction", an event which is sometimes considered the beginning of the Golden Age of Science Fiction, which is characterized by stories celebrating scientific achievement and progress. In 1942, Isaac Asimov started his Foundation series, which chronicles the rise and fall of galactic empires and introduced psychohistory. The series was later awarded a one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series." The "Golden Age" is often said to have ended in 1946, but sometimes the late 1940s and the 1950s are included.
Theodore Sturgeon's "More Than Human" (1953) explored possible future human evolution. In 1957, "" by the Russian writer and paleontologist Ivan Yefremov presented a view of a future interstellar communist civilization and is considered one of the most important Soviet science fiction novels. In 1959, Robert A. Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" marked a departure from his earlier juvenile stories and novels. It is one of the first and most influential examples of military science fiction, and introduced the concept of powered armor exoskeletons. The German space opera series "Perry Rhodan", written by various authors, started in 1961 with an account of the first Moon landing and has since expanded in space to multiple universes, and in time by billions of years. It has become the most popular science fiction book series of all time.
In the 1960s and 1970s, New Wave science fiction was known for its embrace of a high degree of experimentation, both in form and in content, and a highbrow and self-consciously "literary" or "artistic" sensibility. In 1961, "Solaris" by Stanisław Lem was published in Poland. The novel dealt with the theme of human limitations as its characters attempted to study a seemingly intelligent ocean on a newly discovered planet. 1965's "Dune" by Frank Herbert featured a much more complex and detailed imagined future society than had previous science fiction.
In 1968, Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?," was published. It is the literary source of the "Blade Runner" movie franchise. 1969's "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin was set on a planet in which the inhabitants have no fixed gender. It is one of the most influential examples of social science fiction, feminist science fiction, and anthropological science fiction.
In 1976, C. J. Cherryh published "Gate of Ivrel" and "Brothers of Earth", which began her Alliance-Union universe future history series. In 1979, "Science Fiction World" began publication in the People's Republic of China. It dominates the Chinese science fiction magazine market, at one time claiming a circulation of 300,000 copies per issue and an estimated 3-5 readers per copy (giving it a total estimated readership of at least 1 million), making it the world's most popular science fiction periodical.
In 1984, William Gibson's first novel, "Neuromancer," helped popularize cyberpunk and the word "cyberspace," a term he originally coined in his 1982 short story "Burning Chrome". In 1986, "Shards of Honor" by Lois McMaster Bujold began her Vorkosigan Saga. 1992's "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson predicted immense social upheaval due to the information revolution. In 2007, Liu Cixin's novel, "The Three-Body Problem", was published in China. It was translated into English by Ken Liu and published by Tor Books in 2014, and won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel, making Liu the first Asian writer to win the award.
Emerging themes in late 20th and early 21st century science fiction include environmental issues, the implications of the Internet and the expanding information universe, questions about biotechnology, nanotechnology, and post-scarcity societies. Recent trends and subgenres include steampunk, biopunk, and mundane science fiction.
The first, or at least one of the first, recorded science fiction film is 1902's "A Trip to the Moon", directed by French filmmaker Georges Méliès. It was profoundly influential on later filmmakers, bringing a different kind of creativity and fantasy to the cinematic medium. In addition, Méliès's innovative editing and special effects techniques were widely imitated and became important elements of the medium.
1927's "Metropolis", directed by Fritz Lang, is the first feature-length science fiction film. Though not well received in its time, it is now considered a great and influential film. In 1954, "Godzilla", directed by Ishirō Honda, began the kaiju subgenre of science fiction film, which feature large creatures of any form, usually attacking a major city or engaging other monsters in battle.
1968's "", directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the work of Arthur C. Clarke, rose above the mostly B-movie offerings up to that time both in scope and quality, and greatly influenced later science fiction films. That same year, "Planet of the Apes" (the original), directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and based on the 1963 French novel "La Planète des Singes" by Pierre Boulle, was released to popular and critical acclaim, due in large part to its vivid depiction of a post-apocalyptic world in which intelligent apes dominate humans.
In 1977, George Lucas began the "Star Wars" film series with the film now identified as ""Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope."" The series, often called a space opera, went on to become a worldwide popular culture phenomenon, and the second-highest-grossing film series of all time.
Since the 1980s, science fiction films, along with fantasy, horror, and superhero films, have dominated Hollywood's big-budget productions. Science fiction films often "cross-over" with other genres, including animation "(WALL-E" - 2008, "Big Hero 6" - 2014), gangster ("Sky Racket" - 1937), Western ("Serenity" - 2005), comedy ("Spaceballs" -1987, "Galaxy Quest" - 1999), war ("Enemy Mine" - 1985), action ("Edge of Tomorrow" - 2014, "The Matrix" - 1999), adventure ("Jupiter Ascending" - 2015, "Interstellar" - 2014), sports ("Rollerball" - 1975), mystery ("Minority Report" - 2002), thriller ("Ex Machina" - 2014), horror ("Alien" - 1979), film noir ("Blade Runner" - 1982), superhero ("Marvel Cinematic Universe" - 2008-), drama ("Melancholia" - 2011, "Predestination" -2014), and romance ("Her (film)" - 2013).
Science fiction and television have consistently been in a close relationship. Television or television-like technologies frequently appeared in science fiction long before television itself became widely available in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
The first known science fiction television program was a thirty-five-minute adapted excerpt of the play "RUR", written by the Czech playwright Karel Čapek, broadcast live from the BBC's Alexandra Palace studios on 11 February 1938. The first popular science fiction program on American television was the children's adventure serial "Captain Video and His Video Rangers", which ran from June 1949 to April 1955.
"The Twilight Zone" (the original series), produced and narrated by Rod Serling, who also wrote or co-wrote most of the episodes, ran from 1959 to 1964. It featured fantasy, suspense, and horror as well as science fiction, with each episode being a complete story. Critics have ranked it as one of the best TV programs of any genre.
The animated series "The Jetsons", while intended as comedy and only running for one season (1962–1963), predicted many inventions now in common use: flat-screen televisions, newspapers on a computer-like screen, computer viruses, video chat, tanning beds, home treadmills, and more. In 1963, the time travel-themed "Doctor Who" premiered on BBC Television. The original series ran until 1989 and was revived in 2005. It has been extremely popular worldwide and has greatly influenced later TV science fiction. Other programs in the 1960s included "The Outer Limits" (1963-1965), "Lost in Space" (1965-1968), and "The Prisoner" (1967).
"" (the original series), created by Gene Roddenberry, premiered in 1966 on NBC Television and ran for three seasons. It combined elements of space opera and Space Western. Only mildly successful at first, the series gained popularity through syndication and extraordinary fan interest. It became a very popular and influential franchise with many films and television shows, novels, and other works and products. "" (1987-1994) led to four additional "Star Trek" shows ("" (1993-1999), "" (1995-2001)"," "" (2001-2005), and "" (2017–present))--with more in some form of development.
The miniseries "V" premiered in 1983 on NBC. It depicted an attempted takeover of Earth by reptilian aliens. "Red Dwarf", a comic science fiction series aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999, and on Dave since 2009. "The X-Files", which featured UFOs and conspiracy theories, was created by Chris Carter and broadcast by Fox Broadcasting Company from 1993 to 2002, and again from 2016 to 2018. "Stargate", a film about ancient astronauts and interstellar teleportation, was released in 1994. "Stargate SG-1" premiered in 1997 and ran for 10 seasons (1997-2007). Spin-off series included "Stargate Infinity" (2002-2003), "Stargate Atlantis" (2004-2009), and "Stargate Universe" (2009-2011). Other 1990s series included "Quantum Leap" (1989-1993) and "Babylon 5" (1994-1999).
SyFy, launched in 1992 as The Sci-Fi Channel, specializes in science fiction, supernatural horror, and fantasy.
Science fiction's great rise in popularity during the first half of the 20th century was closely tied to the popular respect paid to science at that time, as well as the rapid pace of technological innovation and new inventions. Science fiction has often predicted scientific and technological progress. Some works predict that new inventions and progress will tend to improve life and society, for instance the stories of Arthur C. Clarke and "Star Trek". Others, such as H.G. Wells's "The Time Machine" and Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World", warn about possible negative consequences.
In 2001 the National Science Foundation conducted a survey on "Public Attitudes and Public Understanding: Science Fiction and Pseudoscience." It found that people who read or prefer science fiction may think about or relate to science differently than other people. They also tend to support the space program and the idea of contacting extraterrestrial civilizations. Carl Sagan wrote: "Many scientists deeply involved in the exploration of the solar system (myself among them) were first turned in that direction by science fiction."
Brian Aldiss described science fiction as "cultural wallpaper." Evidence for this widespread influence can be found in trends for writers to employ science fiction as a tool for advocacy and generating cultural insights, as well as for educators when teaching across a range of academic disciplines not limited to the natural sciences. Scholar and science fiction critic George Edgar Slusser said that science fiction "is the one real international literary form we have today, and as such has branched out to visual media, interactive media and on to whatever new media the world will invent in the 21st century. Crossover issues between the sciences and the humanities are crucial for the century to come."
Science fiction has sometimes been used as a means of social protest. George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" (1949) is an important work of dystopian science fiction. It is often invoked in protests against governments and leaders who are seen as totalitarian. James Cameron's 2009 film "Avatar" was intended as a protest against imperialism, and specifically the European colonization of the Americas. Its images have been used by, among others, Palestinians in their protest against Israel.
Robots, artificial humans, human clones, intelligent computers, and their possible conflicts with human society have all been major themes of science fiction since, at least, the publication of Shelly's "Frankenstein". Some critics have seen this as reflecting authors’ concerns over the social alienation seen in modern society.
Feminist science fiction poses questions about social issues such as how society constructs gender roles, the role reproduction plays in defining gender, and the inequitable political or personal power of one gender over others. Some works have illustrated these themes using utopias to explore a society in which gender differences or gender power imbalances do not exist, or dystopias to explore worlds in which gender inequalities are intensified, thus asserting a need for feminist work to continue.
Climate fiction, or "cli-fi," deals with issues concerning climate change and global warming. University courses on literature and environmental issues may include climate change fiction in their syllabi, and it is often discussed by other media outside of science fiction fandom.
Libertarian science fiction focuses on the politics and social order implied by right libertarian philosophies with an emphasis on individualism and private property, and in some cases anti-statism.
Science fiction comedy often satirizes and criticizes present-day society, and sometimes makes fun of the conventions and clichés of more serious science fiction.
Science fiction is often said to inspire a "sense of wonder." Science fiction editor and critic David Hartwell wrote: "Science fiction’s appeal lies in combination of the rational, the believable, with the miraculous. It is an appeal to the sense of wonder." Carl Sagan said: "One of the great benefits of science fiction is that it can convey bits and pieces, hints and phrases, of knowledge unknown or inaccessible to the reader . . . works you ponder over as the water is running out of the bathtub or as you walk through the woods in an early winter snowfall."
In 1967, Isaac Asimov commented on the changes then occurring in the science fiction community: "And because today’s real life so resembles day-before-yesterday’s fantasy, the old-time fans are restless. Deep within, whether they admit it or not, is a feeling of disappointment and even outrage that the outer world has invaded their private domain. They feel the loss of a 'sense of wonder' because what was once truly confined to 'wonder' has now become prosaic and mundane."
The study of science fiction, or science fiction studies, is the critical assessment, interpretation, and discussion of science fiction literature, film, TV shows, new media, fandom, and fan fiction. Science fiction scholars study science fiction to better understand it and its relationship to science, technology, politics, other genres, and culture-at-large. Science fiction studies began around the turn of the 20th century, but it was not until later that science fiction studies solidified as a discipline with the publication of the academic journals "Extrapolation" (1959), "" (1972), and "Science Fiction Studies" (1973), and the establishment of the oldest organizations devoted to the study of science fiction in 1970, the Science Fiction Research Association and the Science Fiction Foundation. The field has grown considerably since the 1970s with the establishment of more journals, organizations, and conferences, as well as science fiction degree-granting programs such as those offered by the University of Liverpool and the University of Kansas.
Science fiction has historically been sub-divided between hard science fiction and soft science fiction–with the division centering on the feasibility of the science central to the story. However, this distinction has come under increasing scrutiny in the 21st century. Some authors, such as Tade Thompson and Jeff VanderMeer, have pointed out that stories that focus explicitly on physics, astronomy, mathematics, and engineering tend to be considered "hard" science fiction, while stories that focus on botany, mycology, zoology, and the social sciences tend to be categorized as "soft," regardless of the relative rigor of the science.
Max Gladstone defined "hard" science fiction as stories "where the math works," but pointed out that this ends up with stories that often seem "weirdly dated," as scientific paradigms shift over time. Michael Swanwick dismissed the traditional definition of "hard" SF altogether, instead saying that it was defined by characters striving to solve problems "in the right way–with determination, a touch of stoicism, and the consciousness that the universe is not on his or her side."
Ursula K. Le Guin also criticized the more traditional view on the difference between "hard" and "soft" SF: "The 'hard' science fiction writers dismiss everything except, well, physics, astronomy, and maybe chemistry. Biology, sociology, anthropology—that's not science to them, that's soft stuff. They're not that interested in what human beings do, really. But I am. I draw on the social sciences a great deal."
Respected authors of mainstream literature have written science fiction. Mary Shelley wrote a number of science fiction novels including "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" (1818), and is considered a major writer of the Romantic Age. Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" (1932) is often listed as one of England's most important novels, both for its criticism of modern culture and its prediction of future trends including reproductive technology and social engineering. Kurt Vonnegut was a highly respected American author whose works contain science fiction premises or themes. Other science fiction authors whose works are widely considered to be "serious" literature include Ray Bradbury (including, especially, "Fahrenheit 451" (1953) and "The Martian Chronicles" (1951)), Arthur C. Clarke (especially for "Childhood's End"), and Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger, writing under the name Cordwainer Smith. In his book "The Western Canon", literary critic Harold Bloom includes "Brave New World", "Solaris", "Cat's Cradle" (1963) by Vonnegut, and "The Left Hand of Darkness" as culturally and aesthetically significant works of western literature.
David Barnett has pointed out that there are books such as "The Road" (2006) by Cormac McCarthy, "Cloud Atlas" (2004) by David Mitchell, "The Gone-Away World" (2008) by Nick Harkaway, "The Stone Gods" (2007) by Jeanette Winterson, and "Oryx and Crake" (2003) by Margaret Atwood, which use recognizable science fiction tropes, but whose authors and publishers do not market them as science fiction. Doris Lessing, who was later awarded the Nobel Prize in literature, wrote a series of five SF novels, "Canopus in Argos: Archives" (1979-1983), which depict the efforts of more advanced species and civilizations to influence those less advanced, including humans on Earth.
In her much reprinted 1976 essay "Science Fiction and Mrs Brown," Le Guin asked: "Can a science fiction writer write a novel?"; and answered: "I believe that all novels, . . . deal with character, and that it is to express character–not to preach doctrines, sing songs, or celebrate the glories of the British Empire, that the form of the novel, so clumsy, verbose, and undramatic, so rich, elastic, and alive, has been evolved. . . . The great novelists have brought us to see whatever they wish us to see through some character. Otherwise they would not be novelists, but poets, historians, or pamphleteers." Orson Scott Card, best known for his 1985 science fiction novel "Ender's Game", has postulated that in science fiction the message and intellectual significance of the work is contained within the story itself and, therefore, does not need stylistic gimmicks or literary games.
Jonathan Lethem, in a 1998 essay in the "Village Voice" entitled "Close Encounters: The Squandered Promise of Science Fiction," suggested that the point in 1973 when Thomas Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow" was nominated for the Nebula Award and was passed over in favor of Clarke's "Rendezvous with Rama," stands as "a hidden tombstone marking the death of the hope that SF was about to merge with the mainstream." In the same year science fiction author and physicist Gregory Benford wrote: "SF is perhaps the defining genre of the twentieth century, although its conquering armies are still camped outside the Rome of the literary citadels."
Science fiction is being written, and has been written, by diverse authors from around the world. According to 2013 statistics by the science fiction publisher Tor Books, men outnumber women by 78% to 22% among submissions to the publisher. A controversy about voting slates in the 2015 Hugo Awards highlighted tensions in the science fiction community between a trend of increasingly diverse works and authors being honored by awards, and reaction by groups of authors and fans who preferred what they considered more "traditional" science fiction.
Among the most respected and well-known awards for science fiction are the Hugo Award for literature, presented by the World Science Fiction Society at Worldcon, and voted on by fans; the Nebula Award for literature, presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and voted on by the community of authors; the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, presented by a jury of writers; and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for short fiction, presented by a jury. One notable award for science fiction films and TV programs is the Saturn Award, which is presented annually by The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films.
There are other national awards, like Canada's Prix Aurora Awards, regional awards, like the Endeavour Award presented at Orycon for works from the U.S. Pacific Northwest, and special interest or subgenre awards such as the Chesley Award for art, presented by the Association of Science Fiction & Fantasy Artists, or the World Fantasy Award for fantasy. Magazines may organize reader polls, notably the Locus Award.
Conventions (in fandom, often shortened as "cons," such as "comic-con") are held in cities around the world, catering to a local, regional, national, or international membership. General-interest conventions cover all aspects of science fiction, while others focus on a particular interest like media fandom, filking, and so on. Most science fiction conventions are organized by volunteers in non-profit groups, though most media-oriented events are organized by commercial promoters. The convention's activities are called "the program", which may include panel discussions, readings, autograph sessions, costume masquerades, and other events. Additional activities occur throughout the convention that are not part of the program. These commonly include a dealer's room, art show, and hospitality lounge (or "con suites").
Conventions may host award ceremonies. For instance, Worldcon presents the Hugo Awards each year. SF societies, referred to as "clubs" except in formal contexts, form a year-round base of activities for science fiction fans. They may be associated with an ongoing science fiction convention, or have regular club meetings, or both. Long-established groups like the New England Science Fiction Association and the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society have clubhouses for meetings and storage of convention supplies and research materials. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) was founded by Damon Knight in 1965 as a non-profit organization to serve the community of professional science fiction authors.
Science fiction fandom is the "community of the literature of ideas[,] . . . the culture in which new ideas emerge and grow before being released into society at large." Members of this community ("fans"), as discussed above, are often in contact with each other at conventions or clubs, through print or online fanzines, or on the Internet using websites, mailing lists, and other resources. SF fandom emerged from the letters column in "Amazing Stories" magazine: soon fans began writing letters to each other, and then grouping their comments together in informal publications that became known as fanzines. Once they were in regular contact, fans wanted to meet each other, and they organized local clubs. In the 1930s, the first science fiction conventions gathered fans from a wider area.
The earliest organized online fandom was the SF Lovers Community, originally a mailing list in the late 1970s with a text archive file that was updated regularly. In the 1980s, Usenet groups greatly expanded the circle of fans online. In the 1990s, the development of the World-Wide Web exploded the community of online fandom by orders of magnitude, with thousands and then millions of websites devoted to science fiction and related genres for all media. Most such sites are relatively small, ephemeral, and/or narrowly focused, though sites like SF Site and SFcrowsnest offer a broad range of references and reviews.
The first science fiction fanzine, "The Comet", was published in 1930 by the Science Correspondence Club in Chicago, Illionois. Fanzine printing methods have changed over the decades, from the hectograph, the mimeograph, and the ditto machine, to modern photocopying. Distribution volumes rarely justify the cost of commercial printing. Contemporary fanzines are largely printed on computer printers or at local copy shops, or they may only be sent as email (termed "Ezines") or otherwise made available online (termed "webzines"). One of the best known fanzines today is "Ansible", edited by David Langford, winner of numerous Hugo awards. Other notable fanzines to win one or more Hugo awards include "File 770", "Mimosa", and "Plokta". Artists working for fanzines have frequently risen to prominence in the field, including Brad W. Foster, Teddy Harvia, and Joe Mayhew; the Hugos include a category for Best Fan Artists.
Forrest J Ackerman is credited with first using the term "sci-fi" (analogous to the then-trendy "hi-fi") in 1954. As science fiction entered popular culture, writers and fans active in the field came to associate the term with low-budget, low-tech "B-movies," and with low-quality pulp science fiction. By the 1970s, critics within the field, such as Damon Knight and Terry Carr, were using "sci fi" to distinguish hack-work from serious science fiction. Peter Nicholls writes that "SF" (or "sf") is "the preferred abbreviation within the community of sf writers and readers." Robert Heinlein found even "science fiction" insufficient for certain types of works in this genre, and suggested the term speculative fiction to be used instead for those that are more "serious" or "thoughtful."
Science fiction elements can include, among others: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26787 |
Spirotrich
The spirotrichs are a large and diverse group of ciliate protozoa. They typically have prominent oral cilia in the form of a series of polykinetids, called the adoral zone of membranelles, beginning anterior to the oral cavity and running down to the left side of the mouth. There may also be one or two paroral membranes on its right side. The body cilia are fused to form polykinetids called cirri in some, and are sparse to absent in others.
Forms with cirri are common throughout soil, freshwater, and marine environments. Individuals tend to be flattened, with cirri confined to the ventral surface. These are variously used for crawling over objects, acting as feet, swimming, or assisting in food capture. They are generally divided into hypotrichs and stichotrichs, but were originally all considered hypotrichs.
Forms with sparse or absent body cilia tend to be smaller and are mostly marine, but a few are common in freshwater. Again, they are generally divided into oligotrichs and choreotrichs, but were originally all considered oligotrichs. The latter group includes the tintinnids, which produce loricae or shells and are the predominant fossil ciliates.
As first defined by Bütschli in 1889 the spirotrichs were one of two orders, together with the now-abandoned holotrichs, and included all ciliates with prominent oral cilia: heterotrichs, hypotrichs, oligotrichs, and peritrichs, although the last were soon separated. The heterotrichs have an adoral zone of membranelles, but molecular and ultrastructure studies have shown they are a separate group that diverged from most other ciliates early on. A few of the smaller groups included with them may be genuine spirotrichs, however, such as the Protocruziida.
The remaining spirotrichs form a monophyletic group, but their relationships are uncertain. For the most part the oligotrichs and choreotrichs appear to form closely related, natural groups. However "Halteria" and its close relatives, originally considered oligotrichs, form a separate group and may even be modified stichotrichs. Studies also suggest the hypotrichs are paraphyletic to the stichotrichs, and possibly to the oligotrichs and choreotrichs as well. This stands in contrast to the earlier belief that they were the most advanced of all protozoa. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26788 |
Sexual selection
Sexual selection is a mode of natural selection in which members of one biological sex choose mates of the other sex to mate with (intersexual selection), and compete with members of the same sex for access to members of the opposite sex (intrasexual selection). These two forms of selection mean that some individuals have better reproductive success than others within a population, either because they are more attractive or prefer more attractive partners to produce offspring. For instance, in the breeding season, sexual selection in frogs occurs with the males first gathering at the water's edge and making their mating calls: croaking. The females then arrive and choose the males with the deepest croaks and best territories. In general, males benefit from frequent mating and monopolizing access to a group of fertile females. Females can have a limited number of offspring and maximize the return on the energy they invest in reproduction.
The concept was first articulated by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace who described it as driving species adaptations and that many organisms had evolved features whose function was deleterious to their individual survival, and then developed by Ronald Fisher in the early 20th century. Sexual selection can lead males to extreme efforts to demonstrate their fitness to be chosen by females, producing sexual dimorphism in secondary sexual characteristics, such as the ornate plumage of birds such as birds of paradise and peafowl, or the antlers of deer, or the manes of lions, caused by a positive feedback mechanism known as a Fisherian runaway, where the passing-on of the desire for a trait in one sex is as important as having the trait in the other sex in producing the runaway effect. Although the sexy son hypothesis indicates that females would prefer male offspring, Fisher's principle explains why the sex ratio is 1:1 almost without exception. Sexual selection is also found in plants and fungi.
The maintenance of sexual reproduction in a highly competitive world is one of the major puzzles in biology given that asexual reproduction can reproduce much more quickly as 50% of offspring are not males, unable to produce offspring themselves. Many non-exclusive hypotheses have been proposed, including the positive impact of an additional form of selection, sexual selection, on the probability of persistence of a species.
Sexual selection was first proposed by Charles Darwin in "The Origin of Species" (1859) and developed in "The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex" (1871), as he felt that natural selection alone was unable to account for certain types of non-survival adaptations. He once wrote to a colleague that "The sight of a feather in a peacock's tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick!" His work divided sexual selection into male-male competition and female choice.
These views were to some extent opposed by Alfred Russel Wallace, mostly after Darwin's death. He accepted that sexual selection could occur, but argued that it was a relatively weak form of selection. He argued that male-male competitions were forms of natural selection, but that the "drab" peahen's coloration is itself adaptive as camouflage. In his opinion, ascribing mate choice to females was attributing the ability to judge standards of beauty to animals (such as beetles) far too cognitively undeveloped to be capable of aesthetic feeling.
Ronald Fisher, the English statistician and evolutionary biologist developed a number of ideas about sexual selection in his 1930 book "The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection" including the sexy son hypothesis and Fisher's principle. The Fisherian runaway describes how sexual selection accelerates the preference for a specific ornament, causing the preferred trait and female preference for it to increase together in a positive feedback runaway cycle. In a remark that was not widely understood for another 50 years he said:
This causes a dramatic increase in both the male's conspicuous feature and in female preference for it, resulting in marked sexual dimorphism, until practical physical constraints halt further exaggeration. A positive feedback loop is created, producing extravagant physical structures in the non-limiting sex. A classic example of female choice and potential runaway selection is the long-tailed widowbird. While males have long tails that are selected for by female choice, female tastes in tail length are still more extreme with females being attracted to tails longer than those that naturally occur. Fisher understood that female preference for long tails may be passed on genetically, in conjunction with genes for the long tail itself. Long-tailed widowbird offspring of both sexes inherit both sets of genes, with females expressing their genetic preference for long tails, and males showing off the coveted long tail itself.
Richard Dawkins presents a non-mathematical explanation of the runaway sexual selection process in his book "The Blind Watchmaker". Females that prefer long tailed males tend to have mothers that chose long-tailed fathers. As a result, they carry both sets of genes in their bodies. That is, genes for long tails and for preferring long tails become linked. The taste for long tails and tail length itself may therefore become correlated, tending to increase together. The more tails lengthen, the more long tails are desired. Any slight initial imbalance between taste and tails may set off an explosion in tail lengths. Fisher wrote that:
The female widowbird chooses to mate with the most attractive long-tailed male so that her progeny, if male, will themselves be attractive to females of the next generation—thereby fathering many offspring that carry the female's genes. Since the rate of change in preference is proportional to the average taste amongst females, and as females desire to secure the services of the most sexually attractive males, an additive effect is created that, if unchecked, can yield exponential increases in a given taste and in the corresponding desired sexual attribute.
Since Fisher's initial conceptual model of the 'runaway' process, Russell Lande and Peter O'Donald have provided detailed mathematical proofs that define the circumstances under which runaway sexual selection can take place.
The reproductive success of an organism is measured by the number of offspring left behind, and their quality or probable fitness.
Sexual preference creates a tendency towards assortative mating or homogamy. The general conditions of sexual discrimination appear to be (1) the acceptance of one mate precludes the effective acceptance of alternative mates, and (2) the rejection of an offer is followed by other offers, either certainly or at such high chance that the risk of non-occurrence is smaller than the chance advantage to be gained by selecting a mate. The conditions determining which sex becomes the more limited resource in intersexual selection have been hypothesized with Bateman's principle, which states that the sex which invests the most in producing offspring becomes a limiting resource for which the other sex competes, illustrated by the greater nutritional investment of an egg in a zygote, and the limited capacity of females to reproduce; for example, in humans, a woman can only give birth every ten months, whereas a male can become a father numerous times in the same period. More recently, researchers have doubted whether Bateman was correct. Hubbell and Johnson suggested that variance in reproductive success can be influenced by the time and allocations of mating. In 2005, Gowaty and Hubbell suggested that mating tendencies depend on the choice of strategy; in some cases, males can be more selective than females, whereas Bateman suggested that his paradigm would be "almost universal" among sexually reproducing species. Critics proposed that females might be more subject to sexual selection than males, but not in all circumstances.
Darwin's ideas on sexual selection were met with scepticism by his contemporaries and not considered of great importance until in the 1930s biologists decided to include sexual selection as a mode of natural selection. Only in the 21st century have they become more important in biology; the theory is now seen as generally applicable and analogous to natural selection.
A ten-year study, experimentally varying sexual selection on flour beetles with other factors held constant, showed that sexual selection protected even an inbred population against extinction.
The handicap principle of Amotz Zahavi, Russell Lande and W. D. Hamilton, holds that the fact that the male is able to survive until and through the age of reproduction with such a seemingly maladaptive trait is taken by the female to be a testament to his overall fitness. Such handicaps might prove he is either free of or resistant to disease, or that he possesses more speed or a greater physical strength that is used to combat the troubles brought on by the exaggerated trait. Zahavi's work spurred a re-examination of the field and several new theories. In 1984, Hamilton and Marlene Zuk introduced the "Bright Male" hypothesis, suggesting that male elaborations might serve as a marker of health, by exaggerating the effects of disease and deficiency. In 1990, Michael Ryan and A.S. Rand, working with the Túngara frog, proposed the hypothesis of "Sensory Exploitation", where exaggerated male traits may provide a sensory stimulation that females find hard to resist. Subsequently, the theories of the "Gravity Hypothesis" by Jordi Moya-Larano et al. (2002), invoking a simple biomechanical model to account for the adaptive value for smaller male spiders of speed in climbing vertical surfaces, and "Chase Away" by Brett Holland and William R. Rice have been added. In the late 1970s, Janzen and Mary Willson, noting that male flowers are often larger than female flowers, expanded the field of sexual selection into plants.
In the past few years, the field has exploded to include other areas of study, not all of which fit Darwin's definition of sexual selection. These include cuckoldry, nuptial gifts, sperm competition, infanticide (especially in primates), physical beauty, mating by subterfuge, species isolation mechanisms, male parental care, ambiparental care, mate location, polygamy, and homosexual rape in certain male animals.
Focusing on the effect of sexual conflict, as hypothesized by William Rice, Locke Rowe and Göran Arnvist, Thierry Lodé argues that divergence of interest constitutes a key for evolutionary process. Sexual conflict leads to an antagonistic co-evolution in which one sex tends to control the other, resulting in a tug of war. Besides, "the sexual propaganda theory" only argued that mates were opportunistically led, on the basis of various factors determining the choice such as phenotypic characteristics, apparent vigour of individuals, strength of mate signals, trophic resources, territoriality, etc., but and could explain the maintenance of genetic diversity within populations.
Several workers have brought attention to the fact that elaborated characters that ought to be costly in one way or another for their bearers (e.g., the tail of the swordfish "Xiphophorus montezumae") do not always appear to have a cost in terms of energetics, performance or even survival. One possible explanation for the apparent lack of costs is that "compensatory traits" have evolved in concert with the sexually selected traits.
Sexual selection may explain how certain characteristics (such as feathers) had distinct survival value at an early stage in their evolution. Geoffrey Miller proposes that sexual selection might have contributed by creating evolutionary modules such as "Archaeopteryx" feathers as sexual ornaments, at first. The earliest proto-birds such as China's "Protarchaeopteryx", discovered in the early 1990s, had well-developed feathers but no sign of the top/bottom asymmetry that gives wings lift. Some have suggested that the feathers served as insulation, helping females incubate their eggs. But perhaps the feathers served as the kinds of sexual ornaments still common in most bird species, and especially in birds such as peacocks and birds-of-paradise today. If proto-bird courtship displays combined displays of forelimb feathers with energetic jumps, then the transition from display to aerodynamic functions could have been relatively smooth.
Sexual selection sometimes generates features that may help cause a species' extinction, as has been suggested for the giant antlers of the Irish elk ("Megaloceros giganteus") that became extinct in Pleistocene Europe. However, sexual selection can also do the opposite, driving species divergence—sometimes through elaborate changes in genitalia—such that new species emerge.
Sex differences directly related to reproduction and serving no direct purpose in courtship are called primary sexual characteristics. Traits amenable to sexual selection, which give an organism an advantage over its rivals (such as in courtship) without being directly involved in reproduction, are called secondary sex characteristics.
In most sexual species the males and females have different equilibrium strategies, due to a difference in relative investment in producing offspring. As formulated in Bateman's principle, females have a greater initial investment in producing offspring (pregnancy in mammals or the production of the egg in birds and reptiles), and this difference in initial investment creates differences in variance in expected reproductive success and bootstraps the sexual selection processes. Classic examples of reversed sex-role species include the pipefish, and Wilson's phalarope. Also, unlike a female, a male (except in monogamous species) has some uncertainty about whether or not he is the true parent of a child, and so is less interested in spending his energy helping to raise offspring that may or may not be related to him. As a result of these factors, males can be expected to be more willing to mate than females, while females are expected to be the ones doing the choosing (except in cases of forced copulations, which can occur for example in certain primates and ducks). The effects of sexual selection are thus often more pronounced in males than in females.
Differences in secondary sexual characteristics between males and females of a species are referred to as sexual dimorphisms. These can be as subtle as a size difference (sexual size dimorphism, often abbreviated as SSD) or as extreme as horns and colour patterns. Sexual dimorphisms abound in nature. Examples include the possession of antlers by only male deer, the brighter coloration of many male birds in comparison with females of the same species, or even more distinct differences in basic morphology, such as the drastically increased eye-span of the male stalk-eyed fly. The peacock, with its elaborate and colourful tail feathers, which the peahen lacks, is often referred to as perhaps the most extraordinary example of a dimorphism. Male and female black-throated blue warblers and Guianan cock-of-the-rocks also differ radically in their plumage. Early naturalists even believed the females to be a separate species. The largest sexual size dimorphism in vertebrates is the shell dwelling cichlid fish "Neolamprologus callipterus" in which males are up to 30 times the size of females. Many other fish such as guppies are sexually dimorphic. Extreme sexual size dimorphism, with females larger than males, is quite common in spiders and birds of prey.
Male-male competition occurs when two males of the same species compete for the opportunity to mate with a female. Sexually dimorphic traits, size, sex ratio, and the social situation may all play a role in the effects male-male competition has on the reproductive success of a male and the mate choice of a female. Larger males tend to win male-male conflicts due to their sheer strength and ability to ward off other males from taking over their females. For instance, in the fly "Dryomyza anilis", size shows the strongest correlation to the outcome of male-male conflicts over resources like territory and females.
There are multiple types of male-male competition that may occur in a population at different times depending on the conditions. Competition variation occurs based on the frequency of various mating behaviours present in the population. One factor that can influence the type of competition observed is the population density of males. When there is a high density of males present in the population, competition tends to be less aggressive and therefore sneak tactics and disruptions techniques are more often employed. These techniques often indicate a type of competition referred to as scramble competition. In Japanese medaka, "Oryzias latipes", sneaking behaviours refer to when a male interrupts a mating pair during copulation by grasping on to either the male or the female and releasing their own sperm in the hopes of being the one to fertilize the female. Disruption is a technique which involves one male bumping the male that is copulating with the female away just before his sperm is released and the eggs are fertilized.
However, all techniques are not equally successful when in competition for reproductive success. Disruption results in a shorter copulation period and can therefore disrupt the fertilization of the eggs by the sperm, which frequently results in lower rates of fertilization and smaller clutch size.
Another factor that can influence male-male competition is the value of the resource to competitors. Male-male competition can pose many risks to a male's fitness, such as high energy expenditure, physical injury, lower sperm quality and lost paternity. The risk of competition must therefore be worth the value of the resource. A male is more likely to engage in competition for a resource that improves their reproductive success if the resource value is higher. While male-male competition can occur in the presence or absence of a female, competition occurs more frequently in the presence of a female. The presence of a female directly increases the resource value of a territory or shelter and so the males are more likely to accept the risk of competition when a female is present. The smaller males of a species are also more likely to engage in competition with larger males in the presence of a female. Due to the higher level of risk for subordinate males, they tend to engage in competition less frequently than larger, more dominant males and therefore breed less frequently than dominant males. This is seen in many species, such as the Omei treefrog, "Rhacophorus omeimontis," where larger males obtain more mating opportunities and mate with larger females.
A third factor that can impact the success of a male in competition is winner-loser effects. Burrowing crickets, "velarifictorous aspersus," compete for burrows to attract females using their large mandibles for fighting. Female burrowing crickets, are more likely to choose winner of a competition in the 2 hours after the fight. The presence winning male suppresses mating behaviours of the losing males because the winning male tends to produce more frequent and enhanced mating calls in this period of time.
Male-male competition can both positively and negatively affect female fitness. When there is a high density of males in a population and a large number of males attempting to mate with the female, she is more likely to resist mating attempts, resulting in lower fertilization rates. High levels of male-male competition can also result in a reduction in female investment in mating. Many forms of competition can also cause significant distress for the female negatively impacting her ability to reproduce. An increase in male-male competition can affect a females ability to select the best mates, and therefore decrease the likelihood of successful reproduction.
However, group mating in Japanese medaka has been shown to positively affect the fitness of females due to an increase in genetic variation, a higher likelihood of paternal care and a higher likelihood of successful fertilization.
Sexual selection has been observed to occur in plants, animals and fungi. In certain hermaphroditic snail and slug species of molluscs the throwing of love darts is a form of sexual selection. Certain male insects of the order Lepidoptera cement the vaginal pores of their females.
Today, biologists say that certain evolutionary traits can be explained by intraspecific competition—competition between members of the same species—distinguishing between competition before or after sexual intercourse.
Before copulation, "intrasexual selection"—usually between males—may take the form of "male-to-male combat". Also, "intersexual selection", or "mate choice", occurs when females choose between male mates. Traits selected by male combat are called secondary sexual characteristics (including horns, antlers, etc.), which Darwin described as "weapons", while traits selected by mate (usually female) choice are called "ornaments". Due to their sometimes greatly exaggerated nature, secondary sexual characteristics can prove to be a hindrance to an animal, thereby lowering its chances of survival. For example, the large antlers of a moose are bulky and heavy and slow the creature's flight from predators; they also can become entangled in low-hanging tree branches and shrubs, and undoubtedly have led to the demise of many individuals. Bright colourations and showy ornamenations, such as those seen in many male birds, in addition to capturing the eyes of females, also attract the attention of predators. Some of these traits also represent energetically costly investments for the animals that bear them. Because traits held to be due to sexual selection often conflict with the survival fitness of the individual, the question then arises as to why, in nature, in which survival of the fittest is considered the rule of thumb, such apparent liabilities are allowed to persist. However, one must also consider that intersexual selection can occur with an emphasis on resources that one sex possesses rather than morphological and physiological differences. For example, males of "Euglossa imperialis", a non-social bee species, form aggregations of territories considered to be leks, to defend fragrant-rich primary territories. The purpose of these aggregations is only facultative, since the more suitable fragrant-rich sites there are, the more habitable territories there are to inhabit, giving females of this species a large selection of males with whom to potentially mate.
After copulation, male–male competition distinct from conventional aggression may take the form of sperm competition, as described by Parker in 1970. More recently, interest has arisen in "cryptic" female choice, a phenomenon of internally fertilised animals such as mammals and birds, where a female can get rid of a male's sperm without his knowledge.
Finally, sexual conflict is said to occur between breeding partners, sometimes leading to an evolutionary arms race between males and females. Sexual selection can also occur as a product of pheromone release, such as with the stingless bee, "Trigona corvina".
Female mating preferences are widely recognized as being responsible for the rapid and divergent evolution of male secondary sexual traits. Females of many animal species prefer to mate with males with external ornaments - exaggerated features of morphology such as elaborate sex organs. These preferences may arise when an arbitrary female preference for some aspect of male morphology—initially, perhaps, a result of genetic drift—creates, in due course, selection for males with the appropriate ornament. One interpretation of this is known as the sexy son hypothesis. Alternatively, genes that enable males to develop impressive ornaments or fighting ability may simply show off greater disease resistance or a more efficient metabolism, features that also benefit females. This idea is known as the good genes hypothesis.
Bright colors that develop in animals during mating season function to attract partners. It has been suggested that there is a causal link between strength of display of ornaments involved in sexual selection and free radical biology. To test this idea, experiments were performed on male painted dragon lizards. Male lizards are brightly conspicuous in their breeding coloration, but their color declines with aging. Experiments involving administration of antioxidants to these males led to the conclusion that breeding coloration is a reflection of innate anti-oxidation capacity that protects against oxidative damage, including oxidative DNA damage. Thus color could act as a “health certificate” that allows females to visualize the underlying oxidative stress induced damage in potential mates.
Darwin conjectured that heritable traits such as beards and hairlessness in different human populations are results of sexual selection in humans. Geoffrey Miller has hypothesized that many human behaviours not clearly tied to survival benefits, such as humour, music, visual art, verbal creativity, and some forms of altruism, are courtship adaptations that have been favoured through sexual selection. In that view, many human artefacts could be considered subject to sexual selection as part of the extended phenotype, for instance clothing that enhances sexually selected traits. Some argue that the evolution of human intelligence is a sexually selected trait, as it would not confer enough fitness in itself relative to its high maintenance costs. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26789 |
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